Mandi Ehman's Blog, page 50

Healthy, Dairy-Free Lactation Cookies

If you’re not a nursing mama, you’ll probably want to just skip this post, or you could save this recipe to make some of these cookies for a new mom in your life!

Although I’ve never had major supply issues as a breastfeeding mom, pumping and feeding Jackson from a bottle is a bit of a different story. Combined with the amount of traveling we’ve done over the past month, I’m having to work to keep my supply up so that he can continue to drink mostly breastmilk until 12 months old (in part because he’s supplemented with special formula that costs an arm and a leg!).

In the past, I’ve had a lot of success with oatmeal and Earth Mama Angel Baby Milkmaid tea, but I’ve seen quite a bit about lactation cookies — containing brewer’s yeast and flax seed in addition to oats — over the last year, so I decided to try a batch. I started with the basic recipe from Milkin’ Mamas and made a few changes based on Jackson’s dairy intolerance and my own tastes.

Here’s what I ended up with. The texture is a little bit thicker than a traditional cookie, but they’re pretty tasty even without chocolate or dried fruit. And you can easily flash freeze the dough in cookie-sized balls so that you can have fresh cookies whenever you want to boost your supply or satisfy your sweet tooth!

Healthy, Dairy-Free Lactation Cookies   Print Serves: 24 Ingredients 2 tablespoons milled flax seed 4 tablespoons water 1 cup virgin coconut oil 1-1/4 cups coconut sugar 2 eggs, room temperature 1-1/2 tablespoons vanilla 2 cups white whole wheat flour 4 tablespoons brewer’s yeast 1 teaspoon baking soda 1 teaspoon sea salt 1-1/2 tablespoon cinnamon 3 cups old-fashioned oats Optional: add 1 cup chocolate chips, raisins, coconut flakes or other dried fruit Directions Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Before you begin, combine the flax seed with water and set aside for at least 5 minutes. In a large bowl, combine coconut oil and sugar and mix well. Add flax seed mixture, eggs and vanilla and stir until combined. In a medium bowl, sift together flour, brewer's yeast, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Mix well. Add dry mixture to wet ingredients and stir to combine. Add oats and any add-ins. Using a medium scoop, place cookie balls on a baking stone or cookie sheet and press down slightly to flatten. Bake for 12 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool for 5 minutes. 3.2.1311

Mandi Ehman is the blogger behind Life Your Way. She and her husband have four beautiful girls plus one baby boy, and together they live, work and homeschool on a little slice of heaven in wild, wonderful West Virginia. Mandi loves coffee, chocolate, easy meals, beautiful things and minimalist spaces.

Healthy, Dairy-Free Lactation Cookies

© 2010-2014 Purple Martin Press, LLC | All rights reserved

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How to Collect, Collaborate, and Share Photos from an Event

The following post is from Lauren Rothlisberger of Get Me Geeky :

This past weekend we baptized my son Will. We were fortunate enough to have family and lots of friends join us for the event. Just as with any modern occasion everyone whipped out their phones sure to capture the moment from all different angles. I love it. How lucky are we to be able to hold onto all these memories so easily!

What stinks though is the method in which we collaborate and share our photos. Friends texted over the photos they have, which means I then have to remember to save them in my camera roll. While this isn’t a huge deal for an event like this, it gets pretty tough when you are talking about big events with lots of people. Weddings, family reunions, and vacations are all at a peak high in the summer. There are so many pictures taken let’s look at a way to collaborate and put them all in one location.

*Note: This is not a post on photo storage. That is a whole other nightmare. This purely covers was to dump photos from different people in one location.

Shared PhotoStream (iPhone Users)

If you are an iPhone user you can create a shared photo stream. In this stream others with iPhones or up to date iPhoto software can all drop there photos into the same photo stream. This works well for one event and for an ongoing stream. To read more about this type of sharing check out my post on the Shared Photo Stream. The issue with photo stream of course is that not everyone at your event uses an iDevice. This may work in small groups, but doubtful in larger ones.

Dropbox

Using Dropbox you can create a folder say, “Smith Wedding”. Then you can invite all the friends and family of the wedding to add their best wedding photos to this folder. This definitely one way to get the photos in one location, but can have a few drawback. One, Dropbox does confuse some people (see note below for help on this). Two, depending on your space you could start running out of room. Three, there isn’t a built in method to do anything to actually present these photos. That is not a huge deal as several other programs allow you to access your Dropbox folder.

Note: Be sure to check out EntourageBox if you use Dropbox. They offer a very simple interface making it much easier for a non-Dropbox user to add to your account.

Dropmark

This program might be a bit too professional for the everyday user, but it is too cool not to mention. The collaboration capabilities are pretty impressive. Especially since they go way beyond just photos. At first it appears that you have to pay to sign up, but there is a basic plan that you can get started with.

DropEvent

I think DropEvent really hits the nail on the head. It is a site dedicated specifically to the purpose of inviting everyone to share their photos in one location. The events are even free. The one catch is the free event only lasts six months. This is no biggie as long as you get all the photos in a permanent location before this point.

Yogile

This has a very simple interface, but does have a 1000MB limit. If your event is small this may not be a big deal, but for something like a wedding you might have to upgrade.

Lirdy

Lirdy stands out because they have many of the same features as the above site, but also offer mobile apps. Obviously this offers the simplicity of getting photos off a smartphone where they often are to begin with.

If you are a Flickr or Picasa user you can also consider using their groups feature. The drawback to these is the hurdles to get non-users to share their photos. Neither of these sites make it simple to just add photos to a group if you don’t have accounts with them.

What do you do when you have a big group event? How do you go about sharing photos with each other?

Lauren Rothlisberger blogs and consults over at Get Me Geeky. As a military wife and mom of three girls five years old and under, she loves focusing on technology and productivity and finding new ways to simplify her life. She recently started putting together MacMinis, which are easy to follow videos for Mac users, and also wrote an ebook, Evernote for Moms.

How to Collect, Collaborate, and Share Photos from an Event

© 2010-2014 Purple Martin Press, LLC | All rights reserved

     

On Gender Roles, Equality and the #BoyMom Hashtag

I’m afraid I’m on another soapbox today.

This time it’s about gender roles and equality. And why, as the mom of four exceptional girls, I hate certain uses of the #boymom hashtag.

Here’s the thing: I firmly believe that gender differences are real, natural and good. But those differences are hard to define and have very little to do with the activities kids choose or their skills and talents.

With four daughters, there is a lot of the 3 Ps {pretty, pink and princess} in our home. This is not about denying our girls’ femininity or pretending they don’t have a need to feel beautiful.

But while we embrace and encourage their girly sides, I refuse to pigeonhole them because of their gender. (And I feel the same way now that we’re raising a son as well.) The problem with trying to define gender roles or characteristics in concrete terms is that it inevitably leaves someone feeling abnormal for their innate personality, passions or interests.

For example, Sean and I often get frustrated with marriage books/classes/etc. because so many of the stereotypes don’t fit us. I work, manage the money and am more likely to fly off the handle. He’s a stay-at-home dad, chooses our home decor and puts up with my Italian temper, often giving me a hug when I’m in the middle of a snit, because he knows that’s what I really need.

But he also handles all house, yard and car maintenance while I plan the meals and the homeschool curriculum. And while I’m the one who works right now, I’m also the one who is more likely to be up with unhappy or sick babies, not because he won’t do it, but because I want to.

I wouldn’t necessarily call myself a feminist (I happen to like the idea of being married to a strong man who makes me feel safe) but I also know that girls are capable of pretty much anything boys are…and vice versa.

Our girls are about frills and fashion, but they’re also rough and tumble. They like archery, climbing trees (often in dresses), building forts, playing in the mud, collecting bugs, etc. They’ve gone through pirate and dinosaur phases. They fight over our Black & Decker toy tool set. And they love to race Daddy on his mountain bike and jump from the top of the swingset.

So when I see one of these activities labeled with the #boymom hashtag — as if they’re things that only boys do — I get more than a little annoyed. I don’t think “boy moms” would appreciate me labeling pictures of my girls cooking or painting as girl activities, but the #boymom hashtag is used liberally for activities that plenty of girls enjoy.

I’m sure the differences between raising boys and girls will become more obvious as our little man grows, and I’m not talking about ignoring our children’s gender altogether.

What I am talking about is letting our kids discover their own interests and talents without gender bias. Let’s not limit our girls by making them feel like they should stick with princesses and babies while leaving the bugs and dirt and science experiments to the boys.

Mandi Ehman is the blogger behind Life Your Way. She and her husband have four beautiful girls plus one baby boy, and together they live, work and homeschool on a little slice of heaven in wild, wonderful West Virginia. Mandi loves coffee, chocolate, easy meals, beautiful things and minimalist spaces.

On Gender Roles, Equality and the #BoyMom Hashtag

© 2010-2014 Purple Martin Press, LLC | All rights reserved

     
CommentsMandi, I use the #boymom hashtag not to exclude others, but to ... by Brooke McGlothlinI really do understand your point, Mandi, but I have used the ... by Erin @ Home with the BoysNot to start a debate but since I am one of those boy moms who ... by Elizabeth @ Warrior WivesThis is so true, and it goes either way. Boys can enjoy ... by The Frugal GirlI'm with you. I think I get most annoyed when the #boymom ... by JessieLeighRelated StoriesOn Documenting Our Life in PicturesWhat If We Gave Them the Benefit of the Doubt?On Pumping and Bottles, Formula and Shame

On Documenting Our Life in Pictures

Have you noticed that certain topics gain popularity, popping up again and again on various blogs? The current topic du jour — at least in my corner of the blogosphere — seems to be our culture’s obsession with social media and especially with picture taking. The posts I’ve seen suggest that our relationships are shallow, our experiences lacking and our priorities misplaced because of camera phones and sharing photos on social media. They go on to recommend that we “get out from behind the phone” and actually experience life rather than just taking pictures of it.

While I certainly understand the sentiment — and I will admit that I have to monitor my social media usage just as much as the next person — it’s almost as if it’s become trendy to talk about the negatives of social media and taboo to admit you actually enjoy it or think it’s a good thing.

I’ve shared my love for social media (and using it in a way that feeds my soul) before, but today I want to address the picture-taking conversation specifically.

For me, taking and sharing photos isn’t something I do just for social media, and it’s not something I’m likely to give up any time soon, for one simple reason: I have a horrible memory, and many moments would be lost to me forever if it wasn’t for the pictures I’ve taken.

I literally have tens of thousands of photos since our oldest was born, and I love to scroll through them and remember all of the moments I would have forgotten otherwise.

And honestly? Snapping pictures of the moments that I want to remember takes very little time away from experiencing the actual event.

I can take a video of the girls’ piano recital with a huge grin plastered across my face as I watch them perform the pieces they’ve practiced.

I can quickly snap a picture of the baby splashing in the bathtub for the first time before setting my phone down and focusing my attention on his giggles and splashes.

I can yell for everybody to “freeze!” so I can capture a moment on camera before we continue on our way.

Will my kids remember me with my phone held in the air trying to capture the perfect shot? Probably. But I’m not convinced that’s a bad thing.

Parents have been taking photos for as long as cameras have been available, but juggling a big camera with multiple kids, diaper bags, lunch sacks, etc. can be cumbersome and frustrating. That’s why camera phones are so popular: they make it easy to grab the shots that we might have otherwise missed.

There are definitely times when I’m not able to take any pictures (I didn’t get a single photo on Christmas morning last year because there was so much going on), but there are also plenty of times when taking a photo ensures the memory will be mine to recall in the future rather than lost to time like so many other little moments.

That is why I take photos of the big occasions and the everyday ones. It’s why I try to focus on the beauty of our life rather than the stress and frustration.

And yes, I like to add an artistic touch to my photos when I can — a filter here, a creative angle there. But it’s not for the sake of social media, to show off, or to pretend my life is perfect. I do it to document the things I want to hold on to. Getting to share those moments with other people — like our parents and grandparents and friends who I rarely get to see in person — is just an added bonus.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, it’s been more than 24 hours since I’ve taken a picture of my sleeping baby and I’m getting twitchy.

Mandi Ehman is the blogger behind Life Your Way. She and her husband have four beautiful girls plus one baby boy, and together they live, work and homeschool on a little slice of heaven in wild, wonderful West Virginia. Mandi loves coffee, chocolate, easy meals, beautiful things and minimalist spaces.

On Documenting Our Life in Pictures

© 2010-2014 Purple Martin Press, LLC | All rights reserved

     
CommentsI LOVE this–I totally agree! I am so thankful for the ... by GiniRelated StoriesWhat If We Gave Them the Benefit of the Doubt?On Pumping and Bottles, Formula and ShameScheduling Your Day Without Losing Your Mind

Weekend Reading: July 12, 2014

From Instagram: One benefit of no power for 48 hours is my fridge and freezer are now sparkling clean! {Tip from my sister-in-law: river rocks make great ice packs because they get super cold and don’t sweat!}

The best laid plans, right? I made a list for the week with some projects I wanted to get done. Things were moving swimmingly along…until a storm rolled through our area on Tuesday evening. We lost power before it even reached our house, and Sean began ushering everybody down into the basement as we watched the trees bend almost perpendicularly to the ground.

All in all, it lasted less than 7 minutes, but when we came upstairs, we found that the wind had been so strong it had sucked our attic cover right out of the opening!

As I got on my phone to report the loss of power to our power company, I noticed that the map was covered in outages, with more popping up every few minutes. We were among more than a thousand separate outages affecting tens of thousands of customers, and the company estimated that “all customers will have power by 7/12/14 at 11:00 p.m.” Those aren’t encouraging words on Wednesday the 9th!

Thankfully, our power came back on Thursday evening {and then went out…and then came back on…and then went out…and then came back on}. We also had multiple offers of freezer space and were able to save most of our frozen food.

But as I type this, I’m so thankful for air-conditioning and outlets that work!

Here are some of my favorite posts from this week. As always, check out what I’m reading and what I’m pinning to see the other posts that make me stop and think (or, you know, drool…). You’ll find new posts all week long!

Life Your Way

When you are tightly wound. | Kate Baer


How to Plan Neglect: Saying No to Good Things So We Can Say Yes to the Best | A Holy Experience


Could a slight schedule-switch work wonders for you? | Simple Homeschool

Living Intentionally

I know what my “why” looks like. | K. Elizabeth Fleck


How to Live a Happy Life: Louis CK Explains the Science | TIME


The American Dream Does Not Cost $130,000/year | Becoming Minimalist

Living Creatively

30 Magical Photos Of Children Playing Around The World | Bored Panda


oh, how happy I am when creativity wins | SortaCrunchy


Free-Range Phineas and Ferb | Free Range Kids

How She Does It

Despite the fact that her book recommendations and Kindle deals are costing me money (ha!), Anne Bogel of Modern Mrs. Darcy continues to be one of my favorite bloggers.

While she’s quickly becoming known as the book blogger to follow, she also talks a lot about personality tests and work-sharing among couples.

In How She Does It, Anne shares the stories of 30 women who have found creative solutions to juggling work and family. From stay-at-home moms working at nap time to full-time entrepreneurs who have let go of the guilt, this ebook is packed full of innovative solutions, creative thinking and encouragement for every working mom!

Click here to get your Kindle copy today. {And if you’re an Amazon Prime member, you can borrow it FREE!}

Have a great weekend!

Mandi Ehman is the blogger behind Life Your Way. She and her husband have four beautiful girls plus one baby boy, and together they live, work and homeschool on a little slice of heaven in wild, wonderful West Virginia. Mandi loves coffee, chocolate, easy meals, beautiful things and minimalist spaces.

Weekend Reading: July 12, 2014

© 2010-2014 Purple Martin Press, LLC | All rights reserved

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When It’s Time to Reevaluate Your Life, Passion & Purpose

For the past few years, I’ve felt pretty comfortable in my skin as a working mom, entrepreneur and homeschooler. But the last year has been…different.

It’s not that I’m unhappy exactly, because my life is pretty amazing and I work really hard at choosing happiness even when things aren’t perfect. But I do feel a little less comfortable in my own skin, like I’m not exactly sure what my purpose, passion or goals are anymore.

Some of the outwork of these feelings has been obvious: the launch of the new Life Your Way, consolidating some of my other sites, sharing more of me here on the blog.

I’m also feeding the non-working mom part of myself (a side that’s been too often neglected): getting a tattoo (or two?), volunteering with Grace & Glory, studying for my role as an Essentials tutor at our Classical Conversations campus next year, and starting piano lessons in the fall.

While I’ve made a lot of progress in reclaiming what Brené Brown calls “wholeheartedness” in my life, I’m still working through the feelings. I’m finding myself doing a lot more navel gazing: seeking input from other people, journaling, and looking for exercises to help me see my life more clearly.

(This feels a bit like a mid-life crisis, but I certainly hope 32 doesn’t represent the middle of my life. Maybe it’s a mid-career crisis instead.)

Because I know through conversations with other people that I’m not alone in these feelings (although the feelings try to make me feel like I am alone…kind of like junior high all over again!), I thought I’d share some of the resources I’m turning to.

It’s an eclectic bunch. Some of these are specifically for entrepreneurs or business settings. Some are for Christians. Some are for women. But I’ve found them all to be really valuable in guiding me through this process:

Teach Your Life to Be Extraordinary from Lisa Grace Byrne


In this course, Lisa walks participants through exercises to discover their purpose, passion, path of service and priorities. I’m enjoying the exercises, and I found those in the first chapter — defining my purposes as a woman, wife and mother — especially helpful.


A Million Little Ways by Emily Freeman


I loved this book so much that I kept reading passages out loud to my husband in the hopes that he would really get why I was so excited about Emily’s words and the idea of living art. Living out my purpose, my art and the love of Christ in a million little ways? Yes, please.


Daring Greatly by Brené Brown


The INTJ in me loves Brené’s style even though it’s on the complete opposite end of the spectrum from Lisa’s and Emily’s. With research-based data, Brené outlines exactly why vulnerability is so important for living an authentic life. I love that she has all of the facts and research and still shares her personal struggles with living wholeheartedly and how she’s overcoming them.


Support & Accountability


I was invited to be part of a mastermind group a couple months ago, right as I really began diving into this process. I was considering hiring a life/business coach to work with, but I’ve found that having a place to talk with women who also run businesses and homeschool has been really helpful and encouraging both on the big picture ideas and the nitty gritty day-to-day details.

There are a ton of books/resources still on my list, and I fully expect that this self-reflection will characterize 2014 as a whole and continue into next year as I work my way through them:

Creating Your Life Plan with Donald Miller


The Measure of Success by Carolyn McCulley and Nora Shank


The Gifts of Imperfection by Brené Brown





Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg Mckeown


Margin: Restoring Emotional, Physical, Financial, and Time Reserves to Overloaded Lives by Richard Swenson

Making time for these pursuits has been a whole ‘nother issue (as evidenced by the fact that the to-read list is longer than the read list), but one of the best parts of my new morning routine is that it includes time for listening to podcasts as well as for Bible study and self-reflection, including journaling, course work and various other personality tests and worksheets. And one of the benefits of having a baby in the house is that it’s also easier for me to make time to read as I feed or snuggle him, so I’m finding plenty of time to read both fiction and nonfiction, both of which nourish my soul in different ways.

I also think it’s worth saying that while I’ve always been a fan of personality tests and I think self-reflection can be a really important part of living a fulfilling life, I don’t want to be stuck in this place of uncertainty and searching either. That’s why I’ve already done things like arranging my piano lessons for September; all of the self-discovery in the world won’t do me any good if I don’t actually do something with the things I learn along the way!

Have you ever found yourself in a place like this, where you’re trying to figure out who you are and what your purpose is? What did you do to answer those questions?

Mandi Ehman is the blogger behind Life Your Way. She and her husband have four beautiful girls plus one baby boy, and together they live, work and homeschool on a little slice of heaven in wild, wonderful West Virginia. Mandi loves coffee, chocolate, easy meals, beautiful things and minimalist spaces.

When It’s Time to Reevaluate Your Life, Passion & Purpose

© 2010-2014 Purple Martin Press, LLC | All rights reserved

     
CommentsI'll be 32 next month and I'm feeling the same way. Thanks for ... by Lindsey Glasheen-CrawfordI am so right there with you! Feeling like I want more out of ... by DonielleI think that this all something that we struggle with at one ... by Heather @ My Overflowing CupI am a 56 year old who will be “home alone” for the first ... by Brenda Sue RogersThanks for sharing all those resources–I'm adding many of ... by Ana @ Lessons From YesterdayPlus 4 more...Related StoriesHappy 4th {And Finding Freedom from Other People’s Expectations}What If We Gave Them the Benefit of the Doubt?How to Offer Advice {And How Not To!}

Three More Things You Do NOT Have to Throw Away!

The following post is from Katie of Kitchen Stewardship:

I’m always very proud of the small amount of trash our family produces in a week and wish we could have even less recycling, but packaging continues to come into our house, grrr…

We use reusable snack and sandwich bags, washable hankies and cleaning rags (my toddler barely knows what a paper towel is!), avoid plastic wrap and styrofoam, cloth diapered for a while, take our own containers to restaurants for leftovers and do our darndest to create as little waste as possible.

I’ve written often here on the subjects of reusing, recycling, and avoiding disposables…so I’ve already covered the fact that your school can sign up to reclaim strange items like cheese wrappers, foil drink pouches, and even personal product waste like makeup tubes via Terracycle, which my son loved helping with. And we’ve discussed how to save things like orange peels and potato skins from the garbage and put them to good use instead. (My kids can never decide if they like our homemade potato salad better or the “potato crispies” we get from the skins!)

In fact, I shared 200 ways to practice the 3Rs to save the earth last year and then another very specific 101 things you can reuse instead of recycle this year.

You’d think I’d be out of ideas.

But when I was asked what to do with bacon grease and some other things that people felt guilty about throwing away (you can’t compost meat products), I knew I had to share just a few more ideas.

Don’t Throw Away Good Bacon Grease

Did you know lard is over 50% monounsaturated fat? That’s the same healthy fat lauded in avocados.

You read that right – pig fat is good for you. Blame Crisco’s brilliant marketing decades ago for making the American public think otherwise. (More here if you’re the curious type.)

So how do I “dispose” of bacon grease? Into a glass jar, into my fridge (although it can hang out at room temp for many days too), and back into my skillet to pan fry asparagus or green beans. It’s also ah-maz-ing incorporated into hamburgers, about 1-2 tablespoons per pound. It’s what steakhouses do to get that crispy outside and the “what’s the awesome taste?” burger.

One caveat is that chemicals, hormones, pesticides, etc. accumulate in the fat of an animal, so if you’ve got conventionally raised store bacon, it’s your call whether you pitch or reuse.

But if you’ve splurged for pastured bacon anyway, oh, man, you gotta save the fat to improve your investment! (If you are throwing away grease, pour it into a tea cup, let it solidify, then scrape into the garbage.)

You Can Eat Strawberry Tops

I shared this tip with a neighbor who had just picked many, many pounds of strawberries and was looking at the rest of the day hulling and freezing them.

Wide-eyed in disbelief, she cried, “You just saved half my day!”

I had asked her how she uses the berries, and when I found out most of them are frozen whole for smoothies, I told her that we’ve been leaving the hulls (the green tops) on for years and are still around to tell about it. We make green smoothies anyway, so those greens completely disappear.

I also leave the tops on when I make strawberry fruit rolls (here’s a video tutorial to show how I make over 4 square feet in about 3 minutes) and they truly cannot be seen there either, even though the only ingredient in our dehydrated snack is “strawberries.”

This tip may be too late for most of the U.S. strawberry season, but I hope you can remember it for next year and save yourself some time (and avoid that pile of strawberry hulls for the garbage and compost that always makes me bummed out that I paid money per pound for such a heap!).

Chicken Bones…Off the Plate!

I hope you already know that you can make homemade chicken stock from a chicken carcass, and even that you can reuse the bones three or more times until they’re practically falling apart.

But what about when you serve fried chicken or grilled bone-in chicken and have all those un-compostable bones on the plates?

Why not put them in your stock too? It’s going to boil and cook four or more hours – will there really be any germs that survive? Nope.

So grab those chicken bones, steak bones, and  ham bones from the plates and don’t ever throw them away without using them for at least one batch of stock (ham bones go in our slow cooker beans, mmmmmm…). If you just have a few, freeze them in a bag until you have enough for a good pot of stock.

If you hide this fact from your family, that’s okay. They might not understand the beauty of reusing!

The same “throw everything in the stock” mentality also applies to those slimy bags of internal organs you’ll find inside your chicken, the onion and garlic skins you’ve probably been throwing away or composting, and carrot and celery ends as well as fresh herbs like parsley, cilantro, thyme and more that you can’t use fast enough. Just don’t put greens or broccoli in your stock; they’re too bitter.

When the carcass or random bones have done their duty and expended all the nutrition they have to give, you typically do have to throw them away at that point, but readers with high-powered blenders tell me they just blend up the soft bones in their last batch of stock and use that portion for thick soups or cooking rice anyway so it doesn’t matter if it’s clear. One way to save more from the garbage can…

I guess I could have called this post “Things You Didn’t Know You Could Eat” since that’s the main idea here: Don’t toss it, eat it!

What do you reuse that most people just throw away?

Katie Kimball has been “green” since 5th grade when she read 50 Things Kids Can Do to Save the Earth. She remains slightly disappointed that she didn’t actually save the whole thing back then, but now that she has 3 kiddos counting on her, she keeps plugging away hopefully. Katie blogs at Kitchen Stewardship about real food and natural living and is the author of Healthy Snacks to Go and other eBooks, available for Kindle.

Three More Things You Do NOT Have to Throw Away!

© 2010-2014 Purple Martin Press, LLC | All rights reserved

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9 Picture Book Treasuries for Your Home Library

I love children’s books with a passion, but I especially love picture books!

When I first began adding treasuries to our library almost 10 years ago (many of them recommended by Sonlight), I wasn’t sure I was a fan. These anthologies took my beloved picture book from a light, easy-to-hold-while-juggling-babies-and-toddlers book to a thing that often required both hands.

But overtime, these collections have grown on me, both for the stories I discover that I might not have otherwise and because they put a variety of stories right at my fingertips without creating a precarious pile of individual books. They’re great for keeping next to the couch or packing when we travel, and they offer the opportunity to reread our favorites again and again.

We now have more than 20 treasuries, but these 9 are our very favorite:

Note: There are a few stories that are found in more than one of these treasuries, but we don’t mind an extra opportunity to read them!

The Lion Storyteller Bedtime Book

This collection features 40 stories from around the world. These stories are short, feel-good stories that are specifically tailored for reading aloud and accompanied by beautiful illustrations. They’re sure to usher in sweet dreams, but we enjoy reading them at any time of day!

The 20th-Century Children’s Book Treasury

While most of the treasuries on this list have a very specific focus, this one offers a wide range of books — from wordless stories to beloved picture books — covering a variety of topics. Discover favorites like Winnie-the-Pooh, Guess How Much I Love You and Alexander & The Terrible, No Good Very Bad Day.

The Family Storybook Treasury with CD

Our third daughter is especially fond of treasuries, and this one is her current favorite with stories like Curious George and the Firefighters, Sheep in a Jeep and The Great Doughnut Parade. And the accompanying CD means she can listen even when I can’t read them!

HarperCollins Treasury of Picture Book Classics

If I had to choose one favorite, this one would be among the final contenders. Caps for Sale, Goodnight Moon, Harold & the Purple Crayon and Crictor are among my favorite stories to read, and we’ve read these stories over and over and over again since our oldest was just a toddler.

James Herriot’s Treasury for Children

From James Herriot, the author of All Creatures Great and Small, this collection of children’s stories enchants my animal-loving girls. With beautiful illustrations and written dialogue that makes you want to practice your British accent, these fun animal adventures hold everybody’s attention.

A Treasury of Children’s Literature

This treasury is the perfect introduction to the classics, with dozens of rhymes, poems, fables, and stories like The Nutcracker, Peter Pan, Goldilocks and Robert Louis Stevenson’s A Child’s Garden of Verses.

Make Way for McCloskey

I cannot even put my love for the works of Robert McCloskey into words, but his stories are my very favorites, and his illustrations stand on their own as some of the most charming in our library as well. If I could only have a few books, this would be among them (with the Virginia Lee Burton collection by its side!).

 
A Family Treasury of Little Golden Books

When she was alive, my grandmother would gift each of the girls with a new Little Golden Book for every holiday or birthday, and that collection of gold-spine books is one that we treasure. But rather than continuing to buy individual titles, we love that this treasury includes 46 of the best Little Golden Books all in one place!

Mike Mulligan and More

This list would not be complete without this collection, and while it’s the smallest treasury of the bunch — with only 4 stories — they’re stories that every home library needs! I first fell in love with Virginia Lee Burton’s The Little House, which reminds me of the little house my grandparent’s lived in for more than 50 years in Morningside, MD, but we love all four of these stories. The girls get excited every single time I pull it off the shelf to read!

Okay, your turn: is there a treasury missing from my list? Which is your favorite?

Mandi Ehman is the blogger behind Life Your Way. She and her husband have four beautiful girls plus one baby boy, and together they live, work and homeschool on a little slice of heaven in wild, wonderful West Virginia. Mandi loves coffee, chocolate, easy meals, beautiful things and minimalist spaces.

9 Picture Book Treasuries for Your Home Library

© 2010-2014 Purple Martin Press, LLC | All rights reserved

     
CommentsDr. Seuss and Shel Silverstein are some favorites in our home. ... by Heather @ My Overflowing CupWe only have a few of these – though some of the ones we're ... by MelissaWe have most of these, but I didn't know that there was a ... by L.L.I love Caps for Sale too, Sara — it's such a cute story and ... by Mandi @ Life Your WayWe have the Harper Collins Treasury. It is quite heavy, but ... by Sara KilpatrickRelated StoriesAny Bets on How Many of These Books I’ll Actually Read? {Summer Reading List}Who’s Your Favorite Strong Female Character?

Why Memorization Gets a Bad Rap in Modern Education

It’s inevitable. Anytime I read about the problem with modern education or any type of educational reform, there’s a line slipped in among the rest that basically says there’s no need/benefit/joy in rote memorization.

It’s rarely the focus and is often the only reference to memorization in the entire article, and it gets me worked up every time, for a couple reasons:

1) I think there’s actually very little memorization happening in modern education. What these authors are referring to is the fact that we teach a lesson on X or Y or Z and expect students to remember the facts of the lesson…at least until they’re tested on it. But they’re not actually focusing on long-term memorization, teaching students how to memorize, or reviewing the memorized facts over a longer period of time.

2) Memorization of the grammar of a subject, as outlined by the classical education model, is actually really beneficial.

Let’s talk about what that type of memorization looks like:

As I’ve mentioned before, classical education focuses on depth of knowledge rather than breadth. So instead of trying to teach unit studies on every event of history over a 13-year school career — which I know is an oversimplification but pretty much sums up what I originally thought I’d be doing as a homeschooler — classical education focuses on a core set of facts that provide pegs for the information children will encounter throughout their life. (We’ll come back to the idea of pegs in a minute.)

So, as an example, Classical Conversations uses a 24-week, 3-cycle model. That means that students essentially memorize 72 history sentences, repeating the same 24 sentences every 3 years throughout the elementary years.

Many people will disparagingly call this rote learning, but it’s very different than the methods of modern education, where that information is taught and reviewed over a relatively short period of time and then set aside as new information is taught. And here’s why it works:

When a student memorizes facts about history in an intentional way, those names, dates, places and events stick in their mind. When they later encounter those same names, dates, places and events through books, news stories, and in conversation, that information fits into the framework of their mind and they experience a lightbulb moment where the facts suddenly come alive. This is why we refer to those facts as the pegs that future information hangs on.

So rather than focusing on detailed unit studies with fun, hands-on projects in an effort to capture their imagination and attention and make that information stick, we focus on the memorization of those core facts so that they’ll be ready for the facts to come alive on their own. And let me tell you, there is no better feeling than hearing your 9-year-old gasp from the backseat because she’s reading a book where they reference the Magna Carta or The Hundreds Year War or the phases of the moon, and suddenly it’s all clicked into place.

It’s worth noting that elementary school children are great at memorization, soaking up facts and figures and committing them to memory easily, and that — when done right — they actually really enjoy it too. (As anyone whose child can recite the entire Frozen script can attest!)

The idea behind the classical model is that children intentionally memorize information in the early elementary years, start asking really good questions about that information as they head into the middle school years, and then use it to form their own ideas — and to express those ideas — during the high school years.

And that’s why memorization works.

Mandi Ehman is the blogger behind Life Your Way. She and her husband have four beautiful girls plus one baby boy, and together they live, work and homeschool on a little slice of heaven in wild, wonderful West Virginia. Mandi loves coffee, chocolate, easy meals, beautiful things and minimalist spaces.

Why Memorization Gets a Bad Rap in Modern Education

© 2010-2014 Purple Martin Press, LLC | All rights reserved

     
CommentsThis is very true! As a student teacher (20 years ago), I was ... by Mimi Withers BerckI totally agree. My friends and I have had this conversation at ... by DionneThanks for clarifying that! I only looked into Classical ... by DonielleRelated StoriesScholastic Teacher Express Summer StealsMy Top 10 Tips for New HomeschoolersYou Can Do It Too! {Encouragement and Resources for Homeschoolers}

Weekend Reading: July 5th, 2014

Well, that’s one way to help hold your bottle…

As Hurricane Arthur slammed the Outer Banks with rain, wind and storm surges, it ushered in a break from the oppressive heat here in the Eastern panhandle of West Virginia with gorgeous temperatures yesterday and today, perfect for catching fireflies as we waited for the fireworks on TV to start. The heat returns tomorrow, but we’re enjoying the break in the meantime!

Here are some of my favorite posts from this week. As always, check out what I’m reading and what I’m pinning to see the other posts that make me stop and think (or, you know, drool…). You’ll find new posts all week long!

 Summer Goals

My (Introverted) Guide to Surviving Summer. | Modern Mrs. Darcy


The One Thing No Parent Can Forget To Do This Summer | Momastery

Natural Medicine Cabinet

Herb Profile: Plantain for Wound Healing and Inflammation | Wellness Mama


6 Effective & Natural Alternatives To Ibuprofen | Raw for Beauty

Strawberry Sweets

Strawberry Shortcake Cheesecake | Life, Love & Sugar


Glazed Strawberry Bread | Sally’s Baking Addiction


Simple Strawberry Pie | Living Locurto

Simple Strawberry Pie
Simple Strawberry Pie
Simple Strawberry Pie
Content Cookbook

If you’re a blogger, business owner or entrepreneur, be sure to check out the brand new Content Cookbook from Prerna Malik. More than an ebook, this interactive guide will walk you through all aspects of content creation — from identifying your audience and strengthening your voice to brainstorming blog topics and creating social  media posts that engage your audience and strengthen your brand.

I’m excited to work through the Content Cookbook myself, and you’ll save $50 (and be entered to win a slew of great prizes!) when you preorder this e-workbook before it officially launches on July 9th!

Click here to read more about the Content Cookbook and all the goodies it includes!

Have a great weekend!

Mandi Ehman is the blogger behind Life Your Way. She and her husband have four beautiful girls plus one baby boy, and together they live, work and homeschool on a little slice of heaven in wild, wonderful West Virginia. Mandi loves coffee, chocolate, easy meals, beautiful things and minimalist spaces.

Weekend Reading: July 5th, 2014

© 2010-2014 Purple Martin Press, LLC | All rights reserved

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