Monday, January 9, 2012

Beautiful Temple Prints for the Home

washdctemple

We are told to display pictures of temples and the Savior in our homes. I love that in my home we have beautiful pictures of these sacred things. It just makes your home feel comfortable and it makes it a haven. While searching for a new Nauvoo Temple print to hang in our dining room… I came across this amazing artist thru etsy.com She not only paints beautiful pictures, but she donates 40% of the profit to the LDS Temple Patrons Fund. What a saint!!!! Unfortunately for me she doesn’t have the Nauvoo temple done yet, but she has plenty of others and her prices are amazing. This one at the top is Washington DC- where me and my parents and sister were sealed together. If you have time, go check her out, because what an amazing thing she is doing, using her talent and giving back.

www.ashmaetemples.etsy.com

Happy Parenting!

Sunday, January 8, 2012

What to teach your kids

 

ArtBook__005_005__AdamAndEveTeachingTheirChildren_th___

We have this picture from the gospel art kit hanging in our dining room, one of my absolute favorites, it is adam and eve teaching their children.

 

What to teach your kids in these latter days

There is so much! I have researched and researched and these are just a few of the things I have found that the prophets, scriptures etc have specifically said to teach our children!

What to teach your children in these latter days:
The Doctrine of Repentance
Faith in the living Christ
Baptism and the Gift of the Holy Ghost
Repentance
The Plan of Salvation
The importance of living in accord with the commandments of God
How to use their time, talents, tithing, and substance to establish the Church and kingdom of God upon the earth
to walk in the ways of light
to work and have responsibility
how to pray, make sure you pray with them
teach their children the importance of God in their lives
.teach our children to honor their parents
obedience
wickedness never was happiness
modesty and virtue
scripture study
Family Values:
Love
Loyalty
Respect
Gratitude
Truth
Reverence
Contentment
Devotion
optimism
Unity

And the WINNER IS…….

drum-roll-please

Thanks to random.org for helping me to be fair…. The winner of our New Years Family Fun Night Giveaway is……

EMILY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I will be contacting you via email for your addy Smile

I’m so excited everyone!! Keep coming back for new articles and of course more giveaways, I just cant help it, I love doing it :)

HAPPY NEW YEAR AND HAPPY PARENTING!

Love, JL

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

New Year Giveaway!!!!

familyfungiveaway
Here at LDS Parenting we feel that spending time as a family is important!! That is why we are offering a new years giveaway! Your family will win:
one movie- a family friendly film that I get to choose Smile
one cd- Alexander’s Amazing Adventures – check it out at www.valuesparenting.com
one game- a fun family game that I get to choose Smile hehe I love shopping for fun family stuff! ( Im thinking Headbandz cause we love it and you look ridiculous playing it and its just fun!)
one book – a family friendly book that can be used for family reading time!
Multiple snacks for family fun night!!!!
The box o’ fun will be shipped to you if you win!!!
Here are the rules :
Mandatory entry- comment and tell me something you guys like to do as a family, like what movie you like to watch together or game you like to play.
* bonus entry- facebook about this giveaway- please comment to tell me you’ve done this!
* bonus entry- twitter about this giveaway- please comment to tell me you’ve done this!
* bonus entry-email your friends about this giveaway- please comment to tell me you’ve done this!
*Bonus entry- Become a follower to the site- please comment to tell me you’ve done this
* Bonus entry-Join our facebook fan page- its under LDS Parenting- please comment to tell me you’ve done this!
This giveaway starts NOW and ends January 8th. You may come back daily and do each entry once a day. Smile Lots of chances to win a super fun family fun pack ( and I may throw extra stuff in the gift box… I tend to do that! )

HAPPY PARENTING!!!!!! LOVE JL

Home Education Council of America SO COOL!!

 

hecoa

This week at Home Education Council of America, we are announcing the Grand Opening of our all-new co-op classroom portal.  Remember, part of the freedom in home education is that you don't have to do it all.  You can seek the best outside resources to enhance your child's learning journey.

 

To read more about the grand opening and get a tour, check out the blog post at:

 http://hecoa.com/tour-the-hecoa-classroom

 

You have seen that we've already been offering some classes, to sort of test out the platform.  While the platform we were using didn't really meet our expectations, it did help us to understand what was needed.  The new platform is going to blow you away! 

 

Normally, courses are $97.00 and Plus Members get them for half off (just $48.50).  But this week only, to celebrate the grand opening, EVERYONE can register for classes and get the discount.  That offer will end on Saturday, so hurry and register. 

 

You don't have to be a Plus member to take advantage of this offer - but it is just for a limited time.  Imagine - just $48.50 for the best online Chemistry course you have ever seen - and YOU don't have to teach it!  Just sit back and enjoy the fun and the incredible academics in this course.  These classes are not pre-recorded downloads - they are taught LIVE so there's a lot of interaction and fun activities.  You won't find another homeschool platform like this one online.  And there's a complete money back guarantee - Visit the blog post I referenced above to read about it and get all the details of "how" these classes are delivered. 

 

There are currently 7 courses to choose from to kick off the winter schedule:

 

Chemistry - Matter

Astronomy - Rocks Around the Sun

KidBudget - money management for ages 8-12

Economics - money management for ages 12 and up

Spanish - for ages 9 and up - excellent course!

American Government - for ages 10 and up


Remedial Math - for students struggling with pre-algebra concepts


 

We are also considering and currently reviewing course materials for a college prep course (to prepare students to take the ACT and SAT); a creative writing course; a Shakespeare Made Easy course; and English.  If you have suggestions for courses, please let us know!

 

Oh, and thanks for all the great feedback on what kind of topics for the upcoming Super Summit.

 

Dianne McLean

HECOA Director

http://hecoa.org

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Note from JL—Dianne is amazing, she has pulled these courses together and found the greatest teachers, I am totally digging on the chemistry course…. hurry it starts next week! Give your kids the gift of an online fun class for the new year!!!!

Happy Parenting!

Reading in the Evenings- Guest Post

It was the beginning of June, right after dinner on a Friday evening. My husband asked me what we should do for fun that night—something relaxing, maybe, like watch a movie . . . ?

I thought for a moment. The older kids had already run outside to play, and it was so nice and warm out, and the sunshine was beautiful. It seemed a crime to call the kids in to the house to watch a movie. Perhaps we should think of something to do out of doors this summer that would keep us outside more in the evening.

As a result of this musing, we devised a plan. Reading a book together in the evenings, but with rules to keep it special:

Rule #1, All of us had to be there together (no reading without Daddy when he was at orchestra, etc.).

Rule #2, It had to be evening.

Rule #3, We had to read outside.

The first book that we picked out was Summer of the Monkeys by Wilson Rawls. We had the old copy that my mother-in-law had read to her kids when they were little.

It was a success! Right away the kids started looking forward to reading together outside every evening that we could. They would rush through any evening chores or cleanup that we asked of them. One evening, Captain even jumped right up after finishing his dinner, then went over and filled up the sinks and started doing the dishes himself! Hurrah!

The book was a definite hit. The kids loved Summer of the Monkeys—all of us did. The kids would sit on the swings of our backyard set, or lounge on the blanket I had spread on the grass, and listen, fully enthralled. Captain was the most involved in the story, and we all got a big kick out of his expressions when we would reach a twist in the story line.

Alice in Wonderland was the next book we read. The kids weren’t quite as involved in that one, but it was fun, and it was short. We read this one while waiting for or watching fireworks outdoors more than once.

After that came Treasure Island. This, too, we enjoyed. However, half way through the book it got too chilly to read outside all the time, so we changed the rules with the season. Now we could read indoors, sitting around our fireplace together. We switched off for a week or two, reading sometimes indoors and sometimes out as we straddled the seasons. But we’ve had snow on the ground for three days now and I’m pretty certain now that we’ll stay in.

Last Friday evening we stayed up late finishing the last few chapters of Treasure Island. I can’t wait for our next book. We’ve had so much fun reading while the TV stayed on the rolling cart in the closet.

What are your favorite ways to read as a family?

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You can find Tia at www.homemadelearning.com and it is well worth it! The pictures she takes of her children are beautiful and the many activities they do together as a family make me jealous !Smile in a good way of course! What an amazing mommy she is!

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Tuesday, January 3, 2012

A Year of F.H.E. !!!

 

fhe

My new years resolution ( well one of them!) is to hold Family Home Evening each week!!! A friend of mine sent me to this site : www.ayearoffhe.blogspot.com and I am in love!!! I contacted the owner and she is fantastic!! I asked her a few questions and was thrilled to get a response back and I want to share it with you! Make sure you check her site out, you will be inspired to hold FHE and man, she does all the work for ya!!!

Interview with Emilie Ahern

1. What are FHE's like at your house? Like most families they vary. Sometimes they are pretty successful and other times we think about renaming it "Family Home Screaming". When it's not going well, we condense it and keep it short, but my husband and I always bear our testimony...no matter what.

2. Why did you start the blog?
I started it in 2010 as a goal towards our family having 100% FHE in that year and to share it with our extended family which we live VERY far away from. And although I did write 52 Lessons, we did not meet our goal that year. Like every other family we forget, struggle, get busy and de-prioritize FHE. But writing the blog has definitely helped us do better. I only intended to write it for 1 year, but as I started getting positive comments and sincere emails from readers I realized that this was a way I might use my talents to help others and so I have continued, even when it was hard.

3. What is the biggest blessing your family receives from holding regular FHE's?
So many. Besides teaching gospel principles to our kids I truly see a difference in our family's interactions with each other when we are holding consistent FHE. My husband and I get to bear our testimonies to each other and our children which brings the Spirit into our home (which, believe me, can be fleeting. We have 3 drama-filled little girls). And, on a selfish level, I feel a lot of personal satisfaction, as if I am actually doing something right as a parent. My kids are at the age where they actually love FHE and I feel like if we keep going during this time that we will be more successful when they get old enough to not like it so much (like in 2023 when we will have a 17 year old, a 15 year old and a 12 year old girl). Oh boy.

 

Isn’t she fantastic??? Go , quick, check out the site! www.ayearoffhe.blogspot.com !!!!!!!

Happy Parenting! Love, JL

Sunday, January 1, 2012

Poppy Seed Dressing- Guest Post

 

poppies

(note from JL- aren’t poppy flowers so pretty? )

By Michelle

Not being a big salad fan I almost didn't try this. I was glad I did, I ate 3 bowls! You can add apples, parmesan cheese & dried cranberries on top. I like at least the cheese & cranberries. I love this dressing & make it a lot in the summer. And anywhere you take it people will say "wow, that's a good salad!" Toss the dressing well with the lettuce & toppings. This does taste better with darker green lettuce, rather than iceberg. This recipe will fill a quart mason jar. I usually make half.
Ingredients:
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup rice vinegar
2 Tbs mustard
2 Tbs poppy seeds
1 medium red onion
1 pint corn oil
Directions:
Chop onion in very fine small pieces. I use my food processor and it kind of makes mushy onions but then the pieces are not big. Add all the ingredients to a blender & run for about 5 minutes on liquify. If the dressing starts to separate after a while, you can put it back in the blender for more mixing.

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Michelle is a single mom super woman! Check her out at www.singlemompreparedness.blogspot.com for some amazing ideas on food preparedness and more! We are blessed to have her as a writer here at LDS Parenting!

Family Fun

family fun night

Spending time with our family is one of the most important things we will ever do! A lot of times we spend time as families riding in the car to various activities, or maybe grabbing a quick meal at the end of a busy day. For me, I have always felt that family time was about teaching the gospel, and taking the kids to cultural activities etc. Recently, I have been studying old Relief Society Manuals and I came across a great lesson on family fun! It’s important to just have fun as a family too, without a certain purpose, like just playing frisbee as a family, or playing a board game.

 

One mother writes:

“When I think back on my childhood and my teenage years I recall with an almost reverent attitude those pleasant memories of the things we children and mother and father did as a family. … I wouldn’t trade the memories of our family parties and other family recreation for all of today’s theatres, bowling alleys, and restaurants. …

“I am determined to do all I can to plan activities for my family that will bring the Lord’s Spirit into our home the way the Spirit filled the home of my parents. I want my children to have the great blessing of having the memories that are so dear to me” (Family Home Evening Manual 1968, 184–85).

I adore my family. I love spending time with them. I think that we spend more time then the average family because we homeschool. The kids are always with me. My husband feels it is important as a father to spend a lot of time with the kids. He goes to work, then comes home and is with his family. We enjoy doing a lot of activities together. Now, after studying this lesson, I see just how important this is for our family! It brings love and unity into our families! Our homes are happier ! Tomorrow night we are holding a family fun night for family home evening. Something fun to begin the new year. Gospel lessons are very important to me, we have them daily as part of our homeschool, so tomorrow night we are doing family fun night and I will share this quote with my family :

“ Thank God for the joys of family life. I have often said there can be no genuine happiness separate and apart from a good home. The sweetest influences and association of life are there. “ Ezra Taft Benson , God, Family, Country : Our three great loyalties 1974 page 178

Do you spend family fun time with your kids? Do you find wholesome recreation to do? What are some of your favorite things to do as a family that brings fun, love and unity into your home? Happy Parenting!