Field Trip - Test Flight Museum

This entire month of March, my husband has Honor Guard duty and with us only having one vehicle, it has been really hard to do anything with the kids. However, today he got back from a funeral early in the afternoon so we decided to head over to the Test Flight Museum here on base.

We have lived here for 4 years now and have driven by the Test Flight Museum many times but never have stopped to look at the static displays they have. Many of the planes are in desperate need of a good cleaning and a new paint job but there were plenty of rare prototypes and historical planes for us to enjoy.

Afterwards, we headed over to the NASA Armstrong unit to look at a few planes they had on display. Once we were airplaned out, we spend about an hour at the park before heading home.

The building used in Iron Man as Stark Industries Aviation Division

 OOh and we also snuck over to "Stark Industries Aviation Division" but unfortunately, we didn't see Iron Man. ;)

Math Analogies Beginning (A Schoolhouse Crew Review)

Many homeschool families might be familiar with the Math Analogies Beginning book: a reproducible workbook for grades K-1 where the student is presented with a series of pictures and has to pick a fourth picture that falls into a specific thought presented by the first two pictures. (If A=B then C=D.)   The Critical Thinking Co.has taken this series to a new platform by introducing a software version of their popular workbook. The kids and I had the opportunity to use and review Math Analogies Beginning software available for the Windows platform over the last few weeks and were really impressed with it.


When it comes to teaching our kids mathematics, we tend to see only addition, subtraction, multiplication and division problems but fail to think about critical thinking skills. Having children solve analogies helps to make new and unfamiliar concepts more meaningful to students by connecting what they already know to what they are learning.  Teaching these skills at an early level will carry though with them through higher levels of not only mathematics but all subjects of study.  The Critical Thinking Co. understands the importance of these skills and have developed the series of both the workbooks and the software for grades K-7th (The software currently follows to grade 5 with a workbook covering grades 6-7).

What we received:

Math Analogies – Beginning Software for Windows Download
Purchase of this award winning software allows for downloading and registering it to two computers (an option for 6 computers is also available on their website) using the serial number sent by The Critical Thinking Co. The download is currently only for the Windows PC platform, however there is also a version available for both Ipad and Android tablets. An fully functional online browser based demo is available on their website.  
The software consists of 152 analogy styled problems that fit the grade-appropriate standards identified by the National Council of Teaching Mathematics. The question is presented and beneath  is four possible answer choices. Students must click and drag their selected answer up to complete the analogy.  The questions can be answered at a pace comfortable to the student and will autosave and allow to resume where they last left off.  After the student finishes the first attempt at the 152 problems, the program will tell the student how many questions they completed on that attempt as well as show a percentage as to how many they got correct. It will then allow the student to answer the questions they got incorrect on the next attempt. The student is given a total of 4 attempts to answer all the questions correctly. However, if after 4 attempts all the questions have not been answered correctly, the program can be reset and a new attempt from the beginning can be made.   Questions can be reviewed to see which ones were correct and which ones were incorrect.

How we used it:

I found that the program did not use much resources on my computer and ran extremely smooth. Installation was easy and quick. In the weeks that we used the program we did not experience any unstableness or crashing. It ran as it was meant to run and had no issues whatsoever.
Since I have two kids that are both 1st graders, it works really well for us to hook my laptop up to my television so that both kids can see the screen well.  Three times a week, we would work on a set of 20 problems – 10 for each child.  The kids enjoyed working on the analogies and many times my youngest would get upset that she couldn’t answer more than her 10 questions for the day.   Each session of 20 questions took us only about 10 minutes total and much of that was spent sounding out words that they did not know.
 

Final Thoughts and Impressions:

The first thing I should point out is that this software is a digital copy of the workbook with the same 152 problems. However, if your child is a more visual learner, like my son, who dislikes anything printed in a book, this is a great alternative for introducing critical thinking skills.  My kids really enjoyed the problems but I did feel that they were too easy for my kids and I would have been better off selecting a higher level for them.  Together they only missed a combined total of 4 on their first attempt and none on other attempts and  the four they originally missed  were because they selected a random answer so that they didn't have to read certain words. The Beginnings level would probably be great for a Gifted Pre-K and an Average Kindergartner but unless your first grader is lagging behind,  I would suggest the Math Analogies Level 1 for grades 2-3 (also available on the same platforms) to make your student work a bit harder.  (Or maybe, just maybe, my kids are further along then I give them credit for lol)

Overall, my kids really liked what they dubbed “Owl Math” (the mascot of this series being a wise looking owl in a wizards hat) and I believe this makes for a really great distraction when kids are frustrated with their other lessons. My kids viewed this more as a game rather than actual schoolwork and play it even though they have completed it a few times now using the reset option.  The program does not take up much space on the hard drive, does not require much RAM to run, runs smoothly and does not crash, all important factors when considering software. It’s also a very easy program for younger children to manipulate once they understand the mechanics and would be a great exercise for learning to use a mouse as well.  It is also a very quiet program, no music or sound effects to distract your child from what they should be doing.  Overall, I can found it a very useful tool in my homeschooling repertoire and considering how much my children enjoyed it, I will definitely continue with this series.
Both the workbook and software versions of all the Math Analogies series can be purchased at The Critical Thinking Co. website. In addition to their website, The Critical Thinking Co can also be found on the following social media site: Facebook, Google +, Twitter, and Pinterest.

Pepperoni Pizza Meatz

We love pizza in this house.  I have a teenager and two rug rats so of course pizza is a popular meal choice. I have Domino's on speed dial, Tombstone's are almost always found in our freezer and every other week Schwan's pulls up to the front of my house and usually delivers at least a Mexican pizza.  

When I saw this recipe for a "meatza pizza" which uses hamburger meat for a crust, I wasn't too sure about it. Pizza should have a bread, something you can grab onto. Growing up we always called the edge of the crust the "Pizza Bone" - eating pizza without a pizza bone was a strange concept. However, my oldest daughter is all about anything that is meat so she wanted to try it. I'm glad I listened as it turned out to be very tasty and I did not miss the crust at all.

Portions are much smaller then what you would typically expect for pizza but we found that the two small slices, along with a salad with roasted veggies was more than enough to fill all of us up, including my husband who is a hearty eater, however, I would say this recipe is best for a family of 4 and would recommend adjusting accordingly for larger families :)

Step 1:  After mixing the spices with the meat, press it into a casserole dish (or pie dishes - this recipe should make two round pie sized pizzas). The layer is very thin and will cook quickly. However, be warned that by cooking out the grease, the "crust" will shrink.

Step 2:  Remove the "crust" from the casserole dish and put on a cookie sheet.  It lifts up pretty easily and stayed together during transferring from dish to cookie sheet.  Put a thin layer of pasta sauce (for this I used Ragu Garden Vegetable to sneak even more veggies into the kids - however they did end up eating plenty of the zucchini and squash).

Step 3:  When it comes to pizza, the one thing that cannot be skimped on is the cheese.. My kids would revolt and would hang me by my toes from the ceiling fan if I didn't put gobs and gobs of cheese. I could probably get away without the pepperoni but not the cheese..  This one is ready to go into the oven for 5 minutes.

Step 4:  NOM NOM NOM NOM!!   The one meatza was enough for each of the 5 of us to have 2 slices but I would actually say that the original recipe would probably feed 4 people better than a family of 5. Next time I will make two separate meatzas so that the servings would be a bit bigger and so that the husband and I could add more toppings such as tomatoes, mushrooms, onions and bell peppers to ours.  The "crust" was extremely flavorful and we all enjoyed it very much.

I also shared this recipe  at  . Click over to find other recipe ideas from other bloggers every Tuesday.

Digital Science Online (A Schoolhouse Crew Review)

Anyone who knows us knows that we are huge fans of Science in our house.  My children have grown up with having science around them in one form or another all their lives: from their father’s various telescopes, to mom baking bread (which we made into a science experiment once), to watching The Magic Schoolbus. Science is one of those things you either love or dislike and luckily for my children, science is coded into their genes. That is why when were given the opportunity to use and review Digital Science Online by Visual Learning Systems we were over the moon.

Digital Science online is a online science program that offers videos and curriculum for either Elementary Grades (K-5) or Secondary School (6-12th) levels.  The Elementary version more than 140 videos for study while the Secondary has roughly another 130 videos available.

The Elementary version is broken even further into a Primary (K-2) section with videos that are shorter and easier to understand for younger students to pick up concepts before moving on to the Elementary (3-5) level videos.  Videos are broken into categories such as Life Science, Physical Science, Heath, and Earth Science to help make it easier to sort through video topics. Each video is accompanied by resources such as teachers guides that help walk you through teaching the video, pre and post tests to evaluate how much your child knew before you started and how much they learned after the video presentation and handouts that reinforce what they just learned. Many of the teachers guides also include hands on experiments.

Example of the Teachers Guide 

The videos are the true backbone of the program. Visual Learning Systems produces all the videos completely : they wrote script, did the filming and did all the editing.  They also created all the animations used.  The Primary level videos are roughly 10 minutes and the Elementary Level videos are around 12 minutes long. The Secondary Level videos for Middle and High School Levels are about 20 minutes long. Each video is broken into chapters that are 2-3 minutes long. These chapters are self contained concepts. This means that while watching the video on “Simple Animals”, you have the option to either watch the video straight though or instead watch the 2-3 minute section involving only types of worms if you plan on studying only worms that day. There is a quiz at end of video that consists of 5 questions for elementary videos or 10 questions for the Secondary Level videos as well as “You Decide” questions throughout the videos to make students concentrate on what they are learning.  All videos are close captioned in English for the hearing impaired.

Each Video has Stand Alone Chapters that can be used independently 

How We Used It

At the beginning of this review period, we were between Science curriculums. We had just finished our previous book and were waiting to receive a new book. It was during this time that I allowed the kids to dictate what they wanted to learn about each day. Since we do science three days a week, we would typically watch the video on Monday, accompanied by one of the printouts provided by Visual Learning Systems, rewatch the video as a review on Wednesday along with a few more handouts and then on Friday we would do a more hands on activity.  The kids have a very wide field of interest so one week Garrett picked and we spent the week learning about measuring lengths and weight and another week learning about the three forms of matter. Ashleigh likes life sciences and so for her choices we learned about invertebrate animals, what is a fish and the cycle of life.

A VERY small sampling of the over 140 videos available for the Elementary Edition of Digital Science Online

When our new science textbook finally came in, we switched gears from the children picking our topics and instead used the Digital Science Online as a supplement in addition to what we were studying about in our textbook. With Digital Science Online's very easy to use search function, we quickly found videos that related to the topics we wanted to dig a bit deeper into. For example, while discussing taxonomy, we did a search and were directed to the video "Classifying Living Things" which gave us a much more thorough discussion then our text had given us, allowing the kids to get a better understanding.

The kids really enjoy the crisp, vivid images of the videos and seeing rather than just being read to and hearing about what we're talking about proved to be a wonderful addition to our textbook.

Captivated kids learning about fish

I found the high quality resolution of the videos to be an added plus. Typically, I hook my laptop up to my  television set via HDMI cord and often, videos I try to stream look grainy or fuzzy on  the our high definition tv.    All the videos streamed from the Digital Science Online collection looked very clear as if I were instead playing a DVD instead of streaming from computer.

The videos in the Primary section (where we sampled from) are about 10 minutes long and seem to be the perfect length for my kids who have a very short attention span. There are questions throughout the video to get students to think about what they are learning. When they came on, I would pause the video and the kids and I would discuss what was being reviewed. I was very surprised at how much the kids absorbed from just the first viewing of the videos and how much what they learned carried over to subsequent videos that we watched.

After watching every video, we took advantage of what was provided in the teachers guide.  Each teacher's guide contains a full copy of the video's script which makes for

great material to pull random questions from. The printable handouts were a huge hit with the kids who for the most part enjoy word finds which are often included. Between using a ruler to measure various objects (including themselves) to labeling various parts of a fish to learning about worms, exploring the stages of matter or learning about the life cycle of frogs or the root system of plants, there were plenty of activities to keep the kids engaged.

I think it's a safe assumption to say my kids enjoyed Digital Science Online

Final Thoughts and Impressions:

I found Digital Science Online to be a wonderful supplement to add to our existing curriculum. My only recommendation to the company would be to make it easier for teachers/parents to index the videos in such a way that we can go straight to what video we would like next. As it stands right now, every time the user logs in, it automatically begins playing the first listed video in Digital Science Online's index. I would like to see it set up where if I were currently teaching life science, the login screen would take me to a customizable list of videos I have selected to review with my children.  Beyond that, I have no complaints with this curriculum at all and found it to be a very in depth science curriculum covering many topics I wouldn't have even thought about covering.

I also want to point out that the initial pricing shown on their website can be a bit of a sticker shock when you see "minimum order $300" under the pricing on the home page. Please note the listed price is for actual brick and mortar classrooms. Visual Learning Systems offers pricing for homeschooling families which includes all the videos, teacher's guides as well as discounts on their physical products for a much reasonable cost.

Visual Learning Systems can be found on Facebook and on Twitter.

Egglo Entertainment (A Schoolhouse Crew Review)

 

 
 
I have only recently returned my life to Christ and have begun the process of trying to introduce my children to the life of Jesus as our Savior. In December, we concentrated on the birth of Jesus and the reason for that season but had not yet discussed the Crucifixion and Resurrection. So when I saw the Egglo Eggs from Egglo Entertainment, I knew that it would be something I would like to use as a tool to introduce my children to the true meaning of Easter. I was fortunate to be selected to review for Egglo Entertainment and spent the last few weeks using their products with my two youngest children. Our Egglo Adventure began when we received our package in the mail containing a box of 12 Glow in the Dark Egglo Eggs (6 with a cross embossed on them, 6 which are plain) , One copy of The Egg-cellent Easter Adventure Book, 12 Egglo Treasures Scripture Scrolls, and a pack of 12  Egglo Bible Verse Stickers. We also received the Egglo Glow in the Dark Egg Hunt Event Curriculum as a downloadable PDF file.


Egglo Entertainment is a company started by Darcie Cobos with the idea of bringing the focus of Easter back to it's true meaning. Focusing on the scripture from John 1:5 (The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.), a fully illustrated 40 page story book helps children draw the connection between the glowing eggs to Jesus representing the light of the world in the darkness as they go on an exciting adventure with Hardy, Anastasia, their cousin Pascal, and their dog Zeke.

The Egg Hunt curriculum is a great addition in helping to plan an egg hunt event on both a small or large scale.  It includes many activity suggestions, printables and even recipe ideas that each put emphasis on the Easter story.  Also included are printable sheets to be used for decoration ideas, such as pennants for banners and signs.

How did we use this? 

What we received: Book, Eggs, Treasure Scrolls and Scripture Stickers

My kids were too young to read the storybook on their own and while only 40 pages, each page is quite lengthy so we ended up reading it over a period of a week. Each day we would read a section of the book and then discuss what the three children in the story were learning either from the experience they were having or from the wisdom of the scrolls. Ashleigh really enjoyed this story and the colorful illustrations in the story book. Garrett, who has a very short attention span (especially when it comes to being read to), did surprisingly well and really enjoyed the adventures.  The Egg Hunt Event Curriculum I was provided with had several printable pages that the kids really enjoyed coloring while being read to. Each day we also put one of the bible verse stickers on our coloring sheet, which the kids looked forward to each day and eventually started demanding asking for.  At the completion of the story, we were able to have a very nice discussion in regards to the cross, the crucifixion (which they actually did better with then I had expected) and the Resurrection.

Eggs being charged in the hot box

Unfortunately for us, the weather was still way too cold once the sun went down for us to have an outdoor Easter Egg hunt. My original plan was to take the eggs out the park behind our house, hide the eggs and then call my husband from my cell phone to have him bring the children out. However, with temperatures in the 40s once the sun went down, we opted instead for an indoor egg hunt. That day, I placed all the eggs inside the hot box that we made to start our seedlings which is currently lit with a 14 watt compact florescent bulb. While the instructions from Egglo Entertainment says to charge in sunlight for 20 minutes, fluorescent light for 40 minutes, or incandescent light for 60 minutes,  I went ahead and let the eggs sit in the box all day and that evening they were charged.

Split from side to side allows for lots of room for filling

The eggs are split from end to end as opposed to split at the center circumference like most eggs which made it a lot easier to fill the eggs with jellybeans,  a chocolate candy and  one of the scrolls that had came with the Adventure kit. My oldest daughter brought the kids into the utility room while my husband and I hid the 11 eggs (one of my kids had snuck one out of the box during the day without us knowing) throughout the house.

With the lights off, the kids were released and the fun began.

Right off the bat my son began grabbing eggs. The glow they produce is very bright and even in total darkness they are very  visible. My youngest, however, refused to pick up any eggs saying she was scared. At first I thought that she was afraid  of the dark. She explained that she was instead afraid of touching the glowing eggs for fear that she would be transported to ancient Egypt or to an erupting volcano. I assured her that the eggs would not take her anywhere and she joined in on the fun
.

Very Bright Egg hidden under the couch

Once all the eggs were collected, we sat down and divided them up (I felt it was only fair, since Ash had missed out on getting more eggs that all eggs be evenly divided with dad getting the extra) and the kids had fun opening them up and reading the scrolls (and of course stuffing their faces with candy).




 
We also turned the lights off so that the kids (as well as my husband) could have some fun with the eggs.

My Buggy Eyed Kids

Which they learned from their Dad

Did my kids learn about the true meaning of Easter from this experience? While they might not have picked up the complete understanding of what the crucifixion was and why it had to happen (which the book itself doesn't go into anyway), they did understand the entire “Jesus is the Light of the World” that is stressed by the book as well as the eggs. At one point my husband was reading one of the scrolls to my daughter which said something about Jesus being the light in our lives to which my daughter told him “No, Daddy, Jesus is the light of the WORLD!!”. My son also pointed out the cross that is embossed into half of the eggs and proceeded to tell us that Jesus died on the cross but that 3 days later he came back to life. (Okay, I admit it, Mom was beaming just a bit after hearing them).

Final Thoughts and Impressions:

My family really enjoyed the Egglo Activity kit by Egglo entertainment and I think this is an eggcellent (pardon the pun, I couldn’t help myself) product for either a family with young children or a church with a youth program to use during the Easter holiday. The Egg Hunt Curriculum has some wonderful suggestions for activities that teach or represent the symbolism of the Easter Story and as we get closer to Easter, my family plans on using the curriculum again  for these ideas, especially the recipes.  .

The storybook was very enjoyable and there were many lessons learned from it. Each child in the story has a major character flaw that they learn to overcome through scriptures which makes for a great teaching moment. However, be aware that younger kids, like my own daughter, MAY come to the same conclusions in regards to the glowing eggs and may be hesitant to want to touch them when they find them.

Fully charged Eggs ready to be hidden

One HUGE thing I should point out that really impressed me is the strength of the eggs. We've all purchased plastic eggs and as most know, they are pretty flimsy and crack fairly easily. After our egg hunt, the kids left one half of an egg on the floor and of course, I stepped on it. I expected that egg was history but to my surprise, it didn't crack, bend or warp. I should also point out, I am NOT the petite thing I was back when I was 16. Three kids and a few too many chocolate bunnies has left me looking more like an Easter Egg.. I think this speaks volumes as to the longevity of these eggs.

I can easily see us making a Easter tradition of reading the book and hiding the eggs each year just to reinforce the Easter Story.

The Glow in the Dark Egglo Eggs, The Egg-cellent Easter Adventure Book, the Egglo Treasures Scripture Scrolls, the Egglo Bible Verse Stickers and the Egglo Glow in the Dark Egg Hunt Event Curriculum  can all be purchased from the Egglo Entertainment website both individually or together as a kit. Egglo Entertainment is also offering sales prices on some items as well as bulk discounts.

Egglo Entertainment can be found on facebook, pinterest, twitter, instagram, youtube, google plus and tumblr. 

What's In The Skies This Month - March

When it comes to astronomical happenings, the month of March is a bit dry this year. There are no major celestial events slated to occur in the next 31 days, with the exception of a very remote solar eclipse. However, some of the events from last month can still be enjoyed.

Moon Phases for March

March 5th is the date of the full moon for the month of March. This full moon is known as the Full Worm Moon because warmer March temperatures cause the ground to start thawing and the earthworms re-emerge. It is also known as the Full Sap moon because it occurs during the time of year when maple trees are tapped to collect sap.

The 20th of March is a new moon. This is an excellent time to view deep sky objects with telescopes and binoculars since there will be no moonlight to interfere with observations.

Planets in March

Jupiter came to opposition in the first week of February, but the giant planet is still putting on a great show right now. It is still quite large in the sky and will show impressive detail even in modestly sized telescopes. Look for features such as the north and south equatorial belts (the two major dark colored bands) and the Great Red Spot. Jupiter's ever changing moons put on a different show every night.

Venus is another planet to watch closely for changes. As the month rolls on the planet will appear to get brighter and brighter in the western sky. Through a telescope, Venus will look very much like a little version of a waxing gibbous moon. In actuality, it is waning from our point of view. Over the next few months, it will slowly turn into a large, brilliant crescent.

Phases of Venus (courtesy of Dept of Astronomy University of Virginia)

Saturn is starting to make a come back, but it doesn't even begin to rise out of the east until the early morning hours. While you might be able to catch an early glimpse of the ringed wonder if you stay up late enough, the best views wont come until May when it reaches opposition.

Special Events

The only special celestial event occurring this month is a total solar eclipse on March 20th. Unfortunately, this one will only be visible from the northern Atlantic and Arctic Oceans...far too remote for many to witness. But not to worry, there is an eclipse of another kind occurring next month.

Notes

For those in the USA, March 8th is the beginning of Daylight Savings Time. The clocks will jump one hour ahead at 2:00am.

March 20th is the vernal equinox for the northern hemisphere and the first day of spring! For those south of the equator, this is your autumnal equinox, or first day of fall.

NASA's Dawn space probe will reach the dwarf planet Ceres on March 6th. Dawn was launched to study the two most massive bodies in the asteroid belt, Vesta and Ceres. It completed it's survey mission of asteroid Vesta in 2012, and is now approaching Ceres and will enter orbit on the 6th. The probe is expected to begin high resolution imaging of the surface of Ceres around this time.

Learning Patience

Learning Patience...

This is something I really need to work on. I get upset with myself a lot because I find as I have gotten older, my temperament fuse has gotten much shorter. A short fuse is not a good thing when you are homeschooling.

I hate being this way.. I hate when I raise my voice at my kids when the day isn't going well. I know my kids do not like it either.

Today I had one of those moments. We were sitting together working on our school work, which already

The Face of a Frustrated Child

wasn't going the way I would have liked. It took almost an hour just to get though a reading of “Oh, The Places You'll Go” by Dr Seuss, a book that should have taken about 5 minutes. My daughter's cat was being annoying, climbing over everything and wanting attention – my youngest daughter hates the cat and is scared of it so as soon as the cat came into proximity, Ash was freaking out. I finally ended up having to lock the cat in my bedroom just to get through the book but the tone had already been set.

I gave the kids a handout with a word find to go along with the book.. The kids normally enjoy word finds but not today. Garrett wouldn't even look at it and even cried when he was told he needed to write his name and Ash threw her pencil at me and declared she didn't know what the letter B was, much less the word Balloons (a word she knows and had read only a few minutes before).

Somehow we managed to get through our reading and moved on to Botany. I only got two pages into the reading and even that took close to an hour.. I'm not sure what happened that actually caused me to snap, that's how insignificant it was, but snap I did. I am ashamed to say, I yelled at my kids and I am sure it was something along the lines of “Sit your butts down, turn around and pay attention or you'll go to your room and there will be no games and no kindle today”..

That's when my son looked at me and he said “Mom, are you frustrated?”

“Yes, Garrett, I am frustrated and I am sorry I yelled at you because of it.”

I then realized that none of us were going to get much accomplished for the day so we decided instead to have lunch early. Along with their grilled chicken, the kids also had smoked peanuts in their shells as a snack.

Guess what? We ended up having a very nice discussion about peanuts came from plants, what day did God create plants, why we use latin in science and why it's considered a dead language. Basically, we ended up having our lesson without the kids even realizing we were having a lesson, we accomplished most of what we were suppose to do today (I'm letting them slide today on our math program) and we both got to calm down. That's a win in my book.

Frustration Happens to the Best of Us

There's not a parent in this world who hasn't lost their cool at some point or another and if anyone tells you differently, they are a liar. We've all been to that point where something very minor results in a major blowout. It might not be at your kids – maybe you hold it in til your spouse gets home and you blow up at them instead. Maybe you take it out on another parent at your kid's sports practice or dance lesson. Maybe it was yelling at someone you don't know in another car. No matter who or what caused it, we have all had one of those moments and we almost always immediately feel ashamed of it.

One of the things I've been asking myself a lot lately is if my kids were in public schools and they came home one day and told me that their teacher had yelled at them and said some of the things I have said in my own frustration, how would I react. Would I be okay with someone else talking to or treating my kids that way? If not, then I should not be doing it either.

In the past few weeks, I have found myself praying a lot for patience. I even told my husband I had been asking God to help me with finding patience. In this search for patience, I'm finding insight not only with my own temper but also with the kids as well, things I don't necessarily like. I'm learning that my kids have basically gotten use to mom raising her voice and don't pay much mind to it. Some parents would justify their behavior by saying “It's better to yell at them then to physically discipline them”.. Luckily, I have never been on to spank my kids but I feel terrible for kids who do get spanked because they don't perform the way a parent thinks they should in homeschooling.

In my asking for patience, God pressed upon my heart the true meaning of “Discipline”.. When we hear the word discipline, we often think of a punishment of some sort in response to a wrong doing. However, that is not what the word actually means. Discipline is a Biblical concept that simply meaning to train, teach, and to instruct. The 12 Disciples were called disciples because they were learning from Jesus. Jesus did not instruct them by yelling at them, hitting them or by other forms of punishment. Instead, he instructed them with love and compassion and we as Christian parents should learn from him and instruct our children the same way.

What To Do When Frustration Gets to You

Next time you find yourself on the brink of losing it, try a few of these suggestions and see if it helps.

1. Take a Break - sometimes just taking a breather from the situation will help to snuff out your fuse. Let the kids have a snack, tell them to read independently (if they like reading) or have them color/draw while you take 15 minutes to relax and reset.
2. Attempt the lesson in a different setting – Many times a change in scenery will make a huge difference. Turn on or turn off some lights, open the curtains and let some sunlight in. Open the windows and left in some fresh air or even go outside.
3. Physical activity – If your kids are being hyper and won't sit down for lessons, physical activity might be just the thing to help burn off that excess energy and allow them to concentrate. Buy a cheap $3.88 rubber ball from Walmart and have an impromptu kickball game.
4. Essential Oils – It is believed by many that certain smells can trigger receptors in the brain that stimulate emotional responses. Lavender, rosewood, chamomile, and clary sage have all been said to help create a calming environment. Try putting them in a diffuser in the room to help sooth both you and your kids.
5. Take ten deep breaths – Grandmaw was right when she said close your eyes and take 10 cleansing breaths before saying something you'll regret. It forces you to focus on calming and centering yourself before making the situation worse.
   
   If all else fails, take the day off.. Your children (and you) will be much better off picking up the lesson the next day then to try to deal with it while one or both of you are frustrated.