Some Neat Ideas

At the Homeschool Conference this past weekend, I went to a workshop led by Maggie Erber. She had a couple of neat ideas that I thought I'd post. Perhaps one or both will be of interest to you.

First of all, she suggested that each evening have a theme in the home for an activity night. Possibly Monday would be "read aloud with Dad" and Tuesday would be "listen to an audio book or lecture together". Wednesday could be "presentation night" for things the children have been writing, memorizing, for sharing a piece of art or a newly learned piece of music on their instrument. Thursday could be "game night" and Friday "movie night" and Saturday...??? Obviously, you come up with the different ideas, these were just some of her suggestions.

The other helpful hint she shared was to have each night of the week pre-set for meal ideas. Monday would be pasta night, Tuesday stir-fry, Wednesday a meat dish, Thursday a poultry dish, Friday a soup night, Saturday a "favorites" or "comfort foods" night and Sunday “potluck fair” for at church or the special meals that you typically save and serve on the Lord’s Day in your home. You would then make out a list of all the different recipes that your family likes and add them under each nightly category. Then, when it is that particular day of the week, you just look at your ready made list and choose one of the recipes that catch your fancy and that you have the ingredients for. You can always rotate dishes this way so your menu is never boring. And since these lists are made from your family favorites to begin with, most of the time you will already have the ingredients on hand.

If you are at all interested in purchasing audio CD’s or DVD’s from the conference, please check out the Christian Heritage Home Educator's of Washington website. They have a list of the key note sessions with Doug Philips from Vision Forum and the break-out sessions with other wonderful presenters. I thoroughly enjoyed all I attended. I purchased some of the workshops that I missed and have listened to them here at home. They also have the powerful DVD "Exposing a Trojan Horse" that I highly recommend. Check out the CD's and DVD's from the conference in 2007. All of the sessions with Dr. Voddie Baucham are particularly impactful in growing a Godly family with great vision!