Drum roll please… My best education post of 2015 was from my Creation Story for Kids Series: Birds & Fish. This whole series is awesome because it includes crafts, activities and experiments to help children learn about the days of creation! I’m in love with it so I’m so glad that people feel the same way.

Please browse the other 29 best education posts of 2015 below for more great teaching ideas! You’ll find so many other talented blogs to follow too. Happy New Year!

The post 30 of the Best Education Posts of 2015 first appeared on True Aim.

Best Gifts for New Moms: What they Really Want

Not the traditional list! Some of these gifts don’t cost a thing, but mean a lot more to new mom’s than anything you can buy at the store.

To the Mom Who Does Too Much…

There was a time in my life when everything was in chaos, this is what I would have said to myself!

Baby Play: Newborn Exercise

I know I’m biased, but this post is just too cute to resist! Good for your baby too.

The Use and Misuse of Timeout

The hows and whens of timeout. If you’re looking for a guide, this is a good place to start.

The Ultimate List of Non-toy Gift Ideas for Kids

If you haven’t seen my contributor’s posts, you’ll want to check them out! Amy’s crafty and down to earth. You’ll love her style!

Teach Multiplication the Easy Way

My 7-yr-old learned how to play this game when she was 5 and her mental math skills are way beyond 1st grade level.

Sight Word Fortune Tellers

An old playground activity turned learning activity, your kids will love this!

How to Homeschool Preschool: What to Teach

This is what I teach my prechoolers! Get some new ideas on how to teach your children.

Cooking with Kids: Top 10 Recipes

Cooking opens a whole new world of learning to kids. These recipes are easy and healthy!

10 Preschool Math Activities

You’ll love these ideas I’ve collected from around the web, from Moms and teachers like you.

Find more Popular Posts from Homeschoolers like me. Click the link below.

The post Best Parenting and Education Posts of 2014 first appeared on True Aim.

This post contains and awesome giveaway! For more information read my full disclosure.

Easy Christmas Traditions

Sometimes the best traditions aren’t planned, but just happen out of the delight of the holiday.

1. The Perfect Christmas Tree

One of my favorite Christmas traditions was getting to decorate the tree all by myself. It started when I was about 7 years old and looked like a mess the first year, but it got a lot better as the years went by. My grandmother always said it looked perfect.

Now that my children are doing the tree, I understand why grandma said that; she found joy in my delight. Who cares what it looked like, it was in a happy home.

2. Christmas Cards

This sounds like a big job, and it is if you send them out to everyone you can think of. We used to do that, but time and money are limited. My girls love crafting so they make a few handmade cards every year and send them to different people that they love.

3. A Free Light Show

One of my cousins proposed to his girlfriend at a Christmas light show. I had never seen one; tens of thousands of flashing Christmas lights on one building, dancing to blaring music. You really need sunglasses to watch a big one like that.

They don’t appeal to me as much as the free light shows that I went to in the back of my mom’s old Chrysler. We took hot cocoa in a thermos and drove around town with soft Christmas music playing on the radio; she always new where the best decorated houses were.

4. Finding Jesus

Sometimes the best gift we can give is some encouragement to other Christians. Have you ever had a stranger come up to you and thank you for something unexpected? Go looking for Jesus in people’s yards and do just that. Thank them with this free printable on their doorstep for keeping Christ in Christmas!

5. An Act of Kindness

We always try to do at least one thing to stir up compassion and generosity in our children. Sometimes we deliver goodies to the neighbors, other times we give thank you cards to people in the community, or bring a meal to someone in need. It doesn’t need to be elaborate or anything planned, there are lots of random acts of kindness you can do to spread the Christmas Cheer.

6. Christmas Eve

Some people don’t like this tradition, but I love it. It’s a sneak peak into what’s to come on Christmas Morning. Who doesn’t want that? Ok, maybe it’s just because I’m so impatient and can’t keep secrets. We always let our children open one gift on Christmas eve.

7. Christmas Movie

We have 1 – 3 movies that we only get to watch on Christmas eve. Think they get old? No way! We love being able to recite, lines and sing the movie songs together.

8. Christmas Slumber Party

My kids do this more than just at Christmas time in our bed. But for some reason, if you change up the room, kids think it’s a whole new thing. So we get out all the blankets and camp out in the living room on Christmas eve, for a family slumber party. A tickle fest before sleep is a must!

9. Christmas Morning

The movies where the kids come running down the stairs to rip open their presents, that never happened in my home. No one wanted to open gifts alone.? We always waited for everyone to gather around the tree. Then we passed out gifts and took turns opening them. It was really fun to see what everyone else got and to be able to say thank yous and give hugs.

10. The Christmas Story

Sometimes it’s hard with the ribbons, lights, and ornaments to bring a child’s mind back into focus on the true meaning of Christmas. Now, before any presents are opened, we dress our best and read about the birth of Christ. We remember God’s gift to us, and what an amazing gift that was!

What Christmas traditions do you have in your family? I’d love to hear them!

For more Christmas inspiration, check out more posts below!

Mega Cash Christmas Giveaway!

To celebrate the season, I’m joining other kid bloggers to giveaway $2000 in cash! That’s $500 to 4 lucky winners!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The post 10 Easy Christmas Traditions first appeared on True Aim.

It wasn’t white snow that had miraculously appeared in a single night. I stepped into my garage, with barefeet, and while it did look like it had snowed, the snow was a million tiny black mouse droppings. Only a few days earlier I’d seen nothing and now everything was covered.

There were droppings on shelves several feet off the ground, in my buckets, in my work bench, on my shoes, on my kids’ shoes everywhere. And then out of the corner of my eye I saw a tiny flash dart under a shelving rack and disappear. I grabbed a piece of wood and ran over, but the mouse had vanished without a trace.

The next time Janine was at the store, she bought several mouse traps. I filled them with peanut butter, but the little rodent wouldn’t touch them. I have no clue why. I saw him all the time; I just couldn’t catch him. He’d go under something and “poof,” he was gone.

Until one day, he made a terrible miscalculation. He hid under a pile of rags in a plastic basket. I carefully lifted the bin into the air and set it down into a huge box. Then I peeled back some of the rags and he shot out as usual, only this time he had no where to run. He tried to jump out, but the box walls where too high. He was caught!

I am not a terribly sensitive man. The plan was to grab a shovel and put an end to his mischief. But to begin with, he was baby mouse. Probably only 4 weeks old. It wasn’t his fault he’d been born in my garage.

Besides that, I’d been writing a Bible app. that week on creation, and I started thinking about how God had entrusted us to care for the animals. If God took the time to create mice then why should I treat His creation so carelessly? That led me to thinking about a Bible verse: “Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them…” (Matthew 6:26a).

If God cared enough about the birds of air, maybe I could take a little effort to care for this helpless mouse.

While I thought the matter over in the house, my children got wind of the mouse. They wanted to keep him. My 2-year son, Colton, even warned me not to hurt the mouse because it was “HIS” mouse. They’ve watched too much Cinderella and Theo, I think.  So, I decided to let the mouse live.

I bought a tank and wheel, and resolved to keep him for the winter and release him in the spring. I traded out my kill-traps for live-traps. And mice must be pretty smart, because where they wouldn’t touch the other traps, they flooded into my live traps. We now have 9 “pet” mice, 7 babies, a mother and father.

I don’t let my children touch them, just in case, but they are thrilled to just sit and giggle as the silly mice race around their cage. I even used it as homeschooling lesson to teach our kids about compassion for animals. We named all nine mice Mercy Mouse, because we showed them mercy.

I’m not saying that was the right answer to our mice problem. Some mice carry diseases, especially deer mice (ours are house mice, similar to what you buy in a pet store). I wouldn’t judge anyone who did the sensible thing and killed them. This is just what we did.

Have you ever caught a wild animal for a pet and released it?

The post Mercy Mouse first appeared on True Aim.

To help you wrap your mind around this monstrosity I want you to imagine a country where killing someone based on their race is legal. Take that a step further and imagine that it’s your country. Imagine it is legal for someone to take your neighbor down to a local “kill-zone” to be burned, dismembered, and their skull crushed.

This isn’t in our imaginations.

It is really happening.

The real reason feminists should be outraged is that their uterus is being used as a legitimate “kill-zone”. It’s disguised as women’s rights and the race being sacrificed is their own children.

Last week the Huffington Post featured a poem called, “I Think She Was A She”. The author used that “kill-zone” and ended her child’s life because quote, “you came at the wrong time.”

The purpose of the poem is to help other women not to feel the natural shame associated with killing your own child and to call out the ignorance of people who speak truth and “mutter murder” when they see it.

Let me quote her to show the popular themes that are being fed to young women today,

“But I would have supported her right to choose a life for herself, a path for herself. I would have died for that right like she died for mine…When I become a mother it will be when I choose.”

She has been lied to and is perpetuating those lies to millions of young women across the country. This woman has already become a mother and failed to do the very thing that she said she would do for her daughter. Something overcame her natural instinct to protect, to love and nurture. And for what? A career? Like being a slave to the boss man or material things is so much more rewarding than loving and being loved?

Here are the messages being espoused again and again to weaken our rebuttals and condition malleable  minds:

• Life is all about you.
• Some life is not as important as others.
• Having babies is misery.

Throughout history, power hungry men have used these three messages to enslave other people. Just as young “feminists” are being bamboozled, tricked into becoming one of the many cogs in a materialistic and industrialized society. They are being conditioned to think that there is such a thing as an innocent life not worthy to be lived.

Let me give you an example of what I mean by reading a passage from the book, More Blood.

At a very young age, girls begin to exhibit a natural desire to nurture and care for things. Whether it be a baby doll, a plant, or an animal; girls love to pretend to be “mommy”.

Soon the little girls go off to school and suddenly they are told that getting a job is the only path to success and fulfillment in life. Being “just a mom” is silly, miserable, and scary. In fact, everything traditionally feminine is bad. Thus the industrial machine starts to create the perfect human resource for their labor force, addicted to the material and blind to life’s sources of true happiness.

Women, your uterus has become a tool. Don’t let them use it! Yell at the top of your lungs, or at least share this post to show your outrage! If not for yourself, for your neighbor in another women’s uterus.

You can join in saving lives by joining the 40 Days for Life campaign on September 24 – November 2 with me. I’ll be praying, fasting, and participating in a peaceful vigil at my local abortion center. This is not to shame women, but to shine light on the lies they are being fed. Learn more in the video below. If you know someone in a crisis pregnancy, please recommend a local center like Birthright that offers free, non-judgmental care for unplanned pregnancies  1-800-550-4900.

“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, And before you were born I consecrated you; I have appointed you a prophet to the nations.” Jeremiah 1:5

The post Why Feminists Should Really be Outraged first appeared on True Aim.

I didn’t see this as a big deal because we are, after all, “ONE.” The problem was, we have different voices and unique tones. My wife’s tone is softer, gentler… just overall more gracious. My tone is more sarcastic, opinionated and aggressive. So, I wrote the post in my tone and then poor Janine got to handle the firestorm it created.

That is why I now have my own account on her blog. Some people loved my style, but others condemned my “unGodly” tone.

I disagree that all people, or even just Christians for that matter, must tow the same line, sound off in the same tone, and with the same talking points. I don’t understand this crusade to silence opposing views, tones, styles or voices.

I get more condemnation from people who share the same beliefs, but don’t like my tone than I do from people with opposing views. Of course, we cannot be all things to all people. There is no perfect tone that suits all audiences, all the time.

That is why it is so important to welcome all voices and tones that speak God’s truth.

But lately, people, especially Christians, seem to think that only a wimpy, soft, meek, and nice voice is Christ-like. They vehemently attack other Christians who dare raise their “off-key” voices. I know these people mean well, so instead of ignoring them, I want to make this appeal:

In the Bible, God used a myriad of different people, voices and tones to get His message across.

• Moses boldly commanded Pharaoh to release the Hebrew slaves and threatened him with plagues.
• David cursed the Philistines, and went on to cut their champions’ head off.
• Elijah sarcastically mocked the prophets of Baal.
• Isaiah walked the streets naked to get his point across (definitely not my style).
• Daniel was solemn and humble, quietly refusing to compromise his faith.
• Esther humbly begged for her people’s lives, not condemning the king, but pleading for mercy.
• John the Baptist publicly called out King Herod and condemned his adulterous affair.
• Jesus always acted in love, but rarely with the same voice. At one point he played with children, another time he healed the sick, another time forgave an adulterer, and on the cross, He forgave His own murders because they, “know not what they do.” This seems to be the only voice modern Christian accept as valid. But then there are Jesus’s other tones, like when he called the Pharisees “sons of Satan” and “whitewashed tombs,” chased people out of the Temple with a whip, shamed his disciples for falling asleep on Him, and told Peter, “Get behind me, Satan!”

Even Jesus had more than one voice and tone, yet who can say that they weren’t all in truth and love? You see, there is more than one way to speak the truth in love.

I encourage Christians to find their own voice, or voices; and not to condemn those who mean well, but speak the truth in a different tone.

What is your voice? How do you use it for God’s glory?

The post What’s Your Voice, or Voices? first appeared on True Aim.

But the pain didn’t stop!

The little line went back up and plateaued for about 15 minutes as nurses came filing into the room.  All of them offering words of encouragement that didn’t really register, but created a calming white noise effect.  I abandoned my breathing and all reservations of how I looked to these other women or my husband.  Flipping from my back to my hands and knees, I rocked and hummed and breathed.

Hallelujah, it worked!

Finally, the mountain plateau that was on the monitor came down and I got to rest for a few minutes.  All the nurses seemed impressed and asked if it was really my first time giving birth.  Yes, I had no idea what I was getting into!  And after four children that was still the worst contraction I’ve ever experienced.

Some would say that I’m tough, but in reality I’m deathly afraid of huge needles going into my back!  So, I  labor naturally because for me, there is no other option.  If you’re deciding on what path you want to take with your delivery, my piece of advice is to go in with an open mind.

Each and every labor experience is different and every woman has a different threshold of pain.  If you go into labor only wanting one thing, you may be disappointed or feel bad about doing something different.

Don’t.  Go with your gut and make the experience your own.

Of course there is some pain involved with every delivery so here are 5 Ways to Ease Labor Pain that I’ve used with all my children.

Ease Your Labor Pains

When I was pregnant with my third child I was also caring for 3-4 other children in my home preschool on any given day.  My due date was a week after Christmas vacation ended and I was hoping that my son would come a little early so I wouldn’t inconvenience my students’ parents.

That didn’t happen.  So, I was caring for kids when I started having labor pains.  I didn’t want to call the parents home from work too early if I didn’t have to so I waited until the usual pick up time and then sped off to the hospital.

I really didn’t feel too bad and was worried that we had come in too soon and they would make me walk around and around in circles in the halls of the labor and delivery unit.  I wasn’t soon enough.

The nurse calmly checked my uterus and then got this wide eyed look.

I was 8 centimeters dilated already and as she hurriedly pushed my bed into a delivery room she said that I didn’t look like I was in labor at all, totally fooled her!  That brings me to my first pain control technique.

1.  Heat

As soon as I feel a little contraction I put a menstrual heat pad on.  They are activated by the heat in your skin, stay warm for about 8 hours and you can get them anywhere.  Just like any muscle cramp, the heat helps the muscle relax.  You could also take a warm bath and most hospitals and birthing centers let you take one in the delivery room.

2.  Cat Pose

Yoga during labor?  Well not exactly.  I just think this is a better name for getting on your hands and knees.  If you are having back labor, this is THE position to get in.  Rocking, humming, and having your spouse push on your lower back, bottom, or hips toward your head will really help relieve your pain; when I say push I mean REALLY hard.  Make sure you continue to breathe while getting into different poses.

In fact, try any position that makes you feel better.  Don’t be self conscious!  Do what feels right and listen to your body.

3.  Breathing

Seems like common sense right?  There are lots of different breathing strategies, but all help to distract yourself from the pain and deliver more oxygen to you and baby.

I used the breathing coach method. My husband would put up a number with his fingers and that is how many breaths I would take.  I never knew what number would come next so instead of thinking about the pain, I was concentrating on how many breaths I needed to take.  If he held up 4 fingers, I would take 3 short “hee” breaths and one big deep “hooo” breath.  Another technique that worked was to start with 5 breathing patterns (hee-hee-hee-hee-hooo’s), work my way down to 1 (hooo) and then go back up to 5.

Whatever breathing strategy you use, it is worth it.  Take your time practicing different techniques to see which one you like the most.

4.  Focus

Focus on anything you can that will distract you from your pain.  Is there a game that you like to play, Candy Crush perhaps?  A book you like to read?  A picture of you in Hawaii you can focus on while you breathe?  Remember to bring these things and see if they help.

With my 2nd child, I was shopping when my contractions first started.  I was so focused on getting everything on my list before the baby came that I barely felt any pain in the beginning.  I wouldn’t do this now because I’ve had a lot of kids and my labors are really quick, but if this is your first time shopping might do the trick!

5.  Prepare

Although there is nothing like the real deal, labor pain will be a lot less severe for you if you prepare yourself by exposing yourself to natural pain.  If you already experience braxton hicks, try not to take any pain relievers and focus on what that pain feels like so you won’t be surprised when you start experiencing real labor.

I tried not to take anything for head aches or back pain during my pregnancy because I just don’t like taking medicine all the time, but it also prepared my mind for what was coming. If you’re used to the sensation, it is a lot easier to deal with.

Another way to prepare is to make a birth plan. If the pain gets really intense what pain management techniques do you want to use? Are you open to the suggestions your Doctor or Midwife have for you? Mapping out the steps you would like to take helps providers take better care of you. You won’t have to tell everyone what you want while trying to deal with the pain; they’ll already know what to expect.

How do you deal with labor pain?  I’d love to hear some new tips to try with my next delivery.

For more on pregnancy and newborns, like me on Facebook or follow on Pinterest!

The post 5 Ways to Ease Labor Pains first appeared on True Aim.

It is a beautiful place, where I lived.

I used to escape to my grandfather’s old barn after school, running as fast as I could so the fresh fall air would blow my hair and make me look wild. He built that sturdy red barn himself and I used to marvel at it’s height as I stepped in the front entrance and escaped to the back, pretending that I was stepping into another world.

Every year since I left, we visit my old home. And the first thing that struck me was the wonderful Oregon smell. I think it’s all the rain that gives of a clean aroma and makes everything smell more, if that’s possible. It’s like cutting grass when it’s wet.

I could probably tell you where we are as we drive just by the smells! When we get to the country road where my old house was located, the field smells of dirt and whatever crop was planted that year. Sometimes it’s mint and other times it’s hay or sugar beets.

And with each smell, waves of memories flood my conciousness. Four wheeling in the fields in the winter, the slew in the summer; picking blackberries from the back of my uncle’s truck; riding down the pully swing over the crick; days swimming in the river, nights standing by a bonfire’s warmth and glow; every memory I have is brought back by the smells of that place.

I absolutely love it.

Maybe I’ll move back someday, but for now I’m happy that I get to spend our family vacations there and make new memories with my kids.

From the experience of moving away and going back, I know that scents are the most powerful memory trigger. That’s why I’m excited to announce that for the first time, Arm & Hammer Laundry has launched a collection with 3 scents inspired by nature in partnership with the National Park Foundation (which Arm & Hammer is proud to contribute). The newest A&H Laundry detergent line, Clean Scentsations, gives your clothes the pristine freshness of the great outdoors while Arm & Hammer Baking Soda help power out dirt and odors and at a fraction of the cost.

I know you have a favorite memory of traveling that can be recalled from a simple scent so make sure you enter the Sensational Memories Contest by submitting your story! The winner will receive a family vacation to Yosemite National Park with an expert-curated travel itinerary!

Scholastic is also partnering with Arm & Hammer to provide families with outdoor trip ideas on it’s Smart Family Travel platform. There, you’ll find the top 20 trips for families plus fun activities for kids and a free educational printable for each destination. Even if you can’t visit them, this is a great resource to learn more about our great country.

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Arm & Hammer. The opinions and text are all mine.

The post The Smell of Memories and a Sensational Giveaway! first appeared on True Aim.

A fellow blogger and, more importantly, a fellow sister in Christ has experienced that immeasurable loss.  Her family was getting ready to make a huge journey to South America to spread the gospel when their 3-month-old little girl Zoe died unexpectedly.

That made me look at my 3-month-old and think, “What if this was the last time I held my baby?”  Every yawn, every smile, and every moment, I want to treasure forever because, it could very well be.

I feel blessed to be a mom 4 times over.  Time after time, each of my children bring me immense joy, while at the same time, a strong conviction.  I see the same effect playing out in the lives of so many others.

For example, My husband and I like to watch reality TV competitions.  Survivor, the Ultimate fighter, Master Chef, and Hells kitchen are some of our favorites.  And we see it again and again.  These people were broken and headed down the wrong path, but then they had a child of their own and it made them want to straighten out; living a better life so the ones they love will have it even better still.

Of course there is an ugly side to Motherhood.  It is all the little things your children do that urk you, but then you realize; monkey see, monkey do.  There is no where to hide.  Your children emulate your behavior, the good and the bad.

But that’s what’s so wonderful about Motherhood – the motivation to change bad to good and good to better, the opportunity to experience unconditional love first hand, no matter what you were like before or who you are now.  Motherhood is more than an experience, it is a miracle.

And just like other miracles, it can be brushed aside as simple coincidence, probability, or so diluted that it becomes an ordinary inconvenience.

But in the memory of Zoe and others lost, join me and 30 other bloggers in giving Motherhood the admiration it deserves.  Let’s rejoice in the amazing gift God has given us!  Let’s shout to the world and tell of the great rewards children bring to their parents!  Let’s treasure the time that we have because it is fleeting.

In the next 2 week’s I’ll be participating in the Ultimate Guide to Baby’s First Year.  Over 30 bloggers have gathered together to bring you advice, ideas, resources and more on everything you might need for your baby!  To make sure you don’t miss anything, please follow our Collaborative Everything Baby Pinterest Board!

The post Time After Time first appeared on True Aim.

I was ecstatic to learn that I was having you!  After your two sisters, I was ready to buy some blue, hear some car noises and play cops and robbers.  Then I met you and it wasn’t what I thought it was going to be.

You stole my heart.

Of course I get the boy noises and rough and tumble play I wanted.  I never taught you to turn your broom into a gun or have epic battles with your fork and spoon.

But it was the gentleness and kindness of your unprompted hugs, they way you like to play with my hair while we watch your favorite movie and comfort me with a pat on the back and an unspoken look of concern if you think I am hurt, that surprised me.

Now you have me wrapped around your little finger.  Discipline is hard to do when you melt my heart even with fits and tears.

But there’s something else too.  I’ve noticed that I treat you differently.  I make excuses for you and hold you to a slightly lower standard.

I’ve tried not to, but some little voice in my head keeps saying, “Oh, he’s just a boy.”

The stereotypes that I’ve heard over and over again about how boys develop slower intellectually and boys are unruly, dug into my subconsciousness when I wasn’t looking.  It is a self-fulfilling prophesy.

Maybe I’ve watched way too many movies where the men are bumbling idiots; their only purpose of existence is to satisfy their selfish desires.  Maybe it is because, when I was in school, the men who were my classmates were all insensitive bullies; treated like little boys and so they acted like little boys.

I was never taught to show respect for the future leaders of homes, and they didn’t expect it because being the leader of a family was the last thing on their mind.

And that is what it is.  After years of prepping for SATs and memorizing the digits of pi, I failed to train in the discipline of respect.  The esteem I have for men in my ideals, I lack in my actions and words.  This habit of disrespect is so ingrained I’ve been imposing it on you; my son.

I love you more than life itself and that’s why I want to warn you.

Don’t marry your mother.

Marry someone who has had practice showing respect to men.  She doesn’t allow them to act like little boys in her presence.  She doesn’t discount their opinion or blow off their requests simply because they came from men.  She is attentive when they speak and makes them feel important.

In the mean time, I’m sorry for my preconceived notions of how boys are supposed to act and what they are capable of.  I’m sorry for putting you in a box.  Most of all, I’m sorry I’ve been treating you like a little boy when I should be treating you like a little man.

I’ll get better with time, and diligence I promise.

Love,

Your Mother.

The post Dear Son, Don’t Marry Your Mother first appeared on True Aim.