Pollywogs Place Homeschool – Page 213

Would The Real Boaz Please Stand Up?

Published on January 11, 2017January 11, 2017 by Susie @ Pollywog's Place Blog1 Comment

I’ve been reading a lot about Ruth, Naomi, and Boaz. It is one of the most beautiful love stories told in the Bible. It shows how God can use the most tragic of circumstances, the poorest of the poor, and the most humblest people to fulfill His great plans. It shows God’s power and control of our lives, even when we don’t understand what is going on in our lives.

For me, this really hits home. No, I haven’t been widowed, but I am alone. I have been transplanted to a place where I knew almost no one but I am not struggling to get by on a daily basis. Or am I? I do have my struggles but I don’t think they would ever compare to the struggles that Ruth and Naomi faced. Nor do I ever feel that I would be worthy of the blessings that were bestowed upon them.

I do however have hope that there is one out there for me. My ‘Boaz’, if you will. Over the past few months I have met a few men that displayed the character traits of Boaz. I am not talking about men who were rich landowners as I rarely ask about a person’s occupation or income. I am talking about men of integrity and faith. Men that are genuinely kind and give without expecting anything in return. Men that I would consider to be of good moral character and who I would trust to lead my family.

Time and time again I have been let down. There have been various reasons, sometimes they get tired of keeping up the false front, sometimes I may have been to blame in some ways. I know that feelings of rejection can creep up from hurts I’ve had before and affect the way I feel. I do have a hard time trusting people when I’ve opened up my heart to them and they use my weaknesses against me. This is not what my real Boaz would do, he would never want to hurt me or see me hurt. He would want to guard my heart and wipe my tears, not be the cause for them. I still have faith and hope that God is working and I will keep waiting and praying for this man.

I try to pray daily for him even though I don’t know who he is, where he is, or what he is doing. What am I praying for? I pray that he will love God more than anything else and that he will pursue his relationship with God above everything else. I am praying for his health, safety, and protection. I am praying that God will work in his life to help him develop the traits and character qualities, like humility and integrity, that will bring honor and glory to God. I pray that God will guide him to be the leader that I will need him to be. I pray that God will teach him how to love, unconditionally, as he will need to accept my children unconditionally if he is truly my Boaz. I pray that he is successful in whatever he sets his mind to and that God will bring him peace and rest after his hard work. I pray that he is surrounded by friends and family that support him.

I also try to pray that God will shape me and mold me into the person that my Boaz will need me to be. I want to be ready for whenever he comes my way. I pray that God will teach me to be a good help meet. I pray that God will help me to develop the qualities that he will need from me so that I can support and encourage him. I pray that I will be the love of his life, and he will be mine also. I pray that God will give me wisdom and discernment in the choices I am making now that may affect my future. I pray for the strength to overcome any weaknesses I have and that they can be turned into strengths. I pray that I will learn to love unconditionally and accept him for who he is. I pray that God will heal my heart from my past relationships and not allow those feelings to creep into future relationships.

God knows me better than I know myself. He knows my needs and my wants. He knows my strengths and weaknesses. He knows my likes and my dislikes. He knows what I need and when I need it. He shows me glimpses of traits and qualities that my Boaz will have and He gives me hope and encouragement. I trust that He will bring my Boaz along in His perfect timing according to His will and plan for me.

I pray for patience and faith while I am in this state of waiting. I am not actively searching for My Boaz because I know that God will put me where I need to be for him to find me. Who knows maybe he has already found me and God is still working on us before He opens ours eyes to see the plan He has in store for us?

Salad

Published on January 11, 2017January 11, 2017 by Susie @ Pollywog's Place Blog46 Comments

We have a salad with a lot of our dinners through the week. Most of the time it is a very simple salad but it can be made into substantial meal of its own.

Generally I use romaine lettuce and I try to add some baby spinach to it. If it is growing season I will use leaf lettuce and whatever veggies I have available. I look for sales at the store and try to incorporate other veggies as I can get them.

You can add almost anything but normally we have lettuce, spinach, and tomatoes. My kids really like ranch so I will toss the salad with dressing before serving. This helps keep the kids from drowning their veggies in a sea of ranch.

You can also cooked meats to your salad to make it into a meal. Throw in some diced boiled eggs for a little extra protein.

I will sometimes make some chicken salad or tuna salad with a side salad, a scoop of cottage cheese, a sliced boiled egg, anda few slices of peaches on the side. It’s the perfect lunch or light dinner.

Throw in some shredded cheese too if you like. The possibilities are endless. Experiment with different combinations until you find something your family enjoys.

Kids are more likely to eat it if they help with the prep. Mine like to cut the cherry tomatoes in half with a butter knife. They also like to stir the ranch when we mix it up.

Salads are good all the way around. They can help you sneak in some extra servings or fruits or veggies. They are full of fiber and lots of vitamins depending on what you put in it. They can also help you feel fuller. Salads can also help to balance out a meal that may be lacking in certain areas.

T-Rex Pull-apart-cake

Published on January 10, 2017November 7, 2025 by Susie @ Pollywog's Place Blog4 Comments

This was Joey’s 5th birthday cake. He was so into dinosaurs and he couldn’t decide between Chewbacca or a T-Rex. Personally, I think Chewbacca would’ve been easier. Continue reading “T-Rex Pull-apart-cake” →

Chicken in a Biscuit

Published on January 9, 2017November 16, 2019 by Susie @ Pollywog's Place Blog7 Comments

This has been a winner since the first time I made it here. It is fairly simple to throw together and sometimes I let the kids help with rolling up the ‘biscuits’. I think the first time I saw this was on a TLC show. Continue reading “Chicken in a Biscuit” →

Back to School!

Published on January 9, 2017January 9, 2017 by Susie @ Pollywog's Place BlogLeave a comment

You know how it is when you have taken a break from school, whether it be public school or summer school, and then you have to go back to the regular routine. We had two weeks off for the holidays and today was our first day back. A lot of the schools around us are closed because of the weather but seeing as how we didn’t need to go anywhere to have school I decided that we wouldn’t procrastinate any longer. Below are a few of the activities that have been included in our first day back.

First Momma needed to get ready for the day and have a little bit of quiet time as I knew it was gonna be a bit chaotic as everyone got back into school routine. My verse for the day was Proverbs 14:30, and it was such a good verse to start today out with. As usual I got myself ready so I would be prepared for whatever the day may hold.

It is a Monday so that means the little boys need to do have their laundry washed. They brought it in and loaded it. They also switched it over the dryer and then unloaded the dryer. Jacob (3) loves to clean the lint filter. Then he offered to take care of pushing it to my room as Joey (4) was feeling a little under the weather today. I admire the empathy they show at such an early age.

The older kids took care of the morning chores like wiping the table, sweeping the floor, and cleaning up the playroom. Momma took out the trash and cleaned the bathrooms.

Jacob and Joey did their work on the Easy Peasy All-in-One Homeschool first. They were on Day 77 of the Getting Ready 1. (I use Ctrl F to find the day easier.) They loved painting the farm and adding animals. They made a mud pit for the pigs and a pond for the animals to drink from. Jacob also found that he could make the rooster ‘fly’ backwards by tapping on the screen.

Then they went to Discovery K12 and worked on Jacob’s account (Pre-K) On here they practiced some phonics. and learned the proper way to brush their teeth.

While the little boys were working on the computer William was at the island with the new touchscreen laptop. It took him a few minutes to get adjusted to it. He stands while doing this work or he will fidget with everything around him. He started off on the Easy Peasy All-in-One Homeschool site with the McGuffey Primer Day 189.

We work on each lesson for more than a day. Usually a week or two until he is comfortable with the words and can recognize them easily. I have also found that by highlighting the words as he reads them it helps him to focus on each individual word as we go along. He did start independently on his Discovery K12, he is using the K level like Joey, but he ended up joining the boys when Joey started his work. I have to set a timer when William is watching videos or playing games as he will click on something else, that he thinks is more fun than his assignments, and will not get his work done.

I also let him keep a ‘fidget’ beside him as he works to help him stay focused on what he is doing.

When all the boys were

caught up to the same assignments William joined the little boys. They worked on the Discovery K12 site at the K level. They watched some phonics videos, a counting to 100 video, and a video about reading maps which they really enjoyed.

Then they worked at the table on their workbooks. I had also printed out a peacock coloring page from the Discovery K12 site. I printed one for all of the kids as they all like to color.

Around 9:30 we had some snack. Today was Cinnamon Toast….yummy!

After snack it was time for some fun videos. They picked out some nursery rhymes, some counting videos, and some videos about daily routines.

William stayed at the table to color in his new dinosaur book. The little boys were tired of sitting and went to the playroom to play and draw for a little while. Jacob had lots of fun with the dinosaurs while Joey played in the floor.

The workbooks for the boys consist of a variety of things. They have a Daily Activity book that I put together. It has lots of activities with letters and numbers that I put together from free resources on the internet.

I also found a couple of work books at the Dollar Tree and put those in their boxes as well. At Dollar Tree I also found some dinosaur books which are also in the workboxes. We have to have a little fun mixed in and it motivates them to get the other activities completed.

While the boys were working on the computers and doing their school work the girls were also busy. They started out at the table working on spelling and reading.

The reading and math workbooks come from the Easy Peasy All-in-One Homeschool site. Isabella is on Level 2 while Caitlyn is on Level 3.

The spelling was something I found free on the internet a while back and I printed it off and made a book with it. I have their daily activities on the front page and they write it all down in a notebook. (We use one notebook for everything and just label the days.)

The copywork is also a random compilation of things I have found on the internet. The books include bible verses and famous quotes as well as occasional information related to social studies. I found the Disney math books at the Dollar Tree and threw them in the work boxes to give them a little something fun to do.

The girls then take turns on the laptops. Normally we would be using the Easy Peasy All-in-One Homeschool site for our group studies like science and social studies but I got a little sidetracked earlier in the year and decided to use the Discovery K12 site.

They were on Day 77 here and learned about the Constitution and Red Cloud for Social Studies. The site had a lot of reading so I used Youtube to find some videos related to the subjects that were on todays lesson plan.

For science they were learning about the life cycle of frogs and tide pools. Again I used Youtube to find some videos for them to watch.

I am pretty relaxed, at least a lot more than I once was, about the way they learn. I know the girls, especially Caitlyn, have some trouble with comprehension. I try my best to incorporate as many different teaching and learning styles as possible to help them learn and retain the information. We experiment, a lot, to find out what works best for each of them.

The girls use the Easy Peasy All-in-One Homeschool site for their Math and Reading. There are a few other activities that they do on there as well.They do a lot of math games as well as a lot of different grammar games.

I like the Xtramath site as it shows the progress that they are making. The girls really enjoy working on it as well.

After the computer work they go back to the table to finish whatever book work that they may have and then they do some fun stuff.

Usually about 11:00 or 11:30 we start to clean up. The kids put their finished work in their folders. The folders, notebooks, and a few other supplies are color coded. This help them to easily identify where their things belong. It also helps Momma know who left their ruler, notebook, or whatever out on the table or in the floor.

Today we had planned on eating leftovers but there was nothing left over! So we had some good ole PB&J with a banana. (Looks like we may be having banana muffins on Wednesday.)

After eating lunch the kids did a quick cleanup and headed to their rooms for naps. Momma did her ‘House Blessing‘ with big sister’s help. I then decided to upload all of these wonderful pics and write a post. I did not plan on publishing this post right away but sometimes technology gets a little ahead and is quicker than my fingers are. So I thank everyone, who may have seen the published but unfinished draft, for their patience.

This is just one day out of our crazy lives here. We did not do everything that we usually do but it was a day of adjustment as they haven’t been doing the normal school routine. The important thing is that they did learn and they had fun while doing it. I think they will be much more apt to remember these things than if I had sat them down and tried to force them to learn. As you can see, by the choice of ‘fun activities’ that the little boys made, kids have a natural tendency to seek out interesting things and a desire to learn. Everyday is a learning experience for them as well as for me.

I will slowly add in a few other things that we didn’t do today. I will try to post on them another day. But naptime is over and I hear the pitter patter of little feet coming to find me. Ok, who am I kidding? It’s more like the stomping of mini dinosaurs who are looking to devour the first thing in sight that I hear. So I better get off of here and head to the kitchen to find something for these little raptors to munch on.

You can also check our Facebook page for more current things we have been doing.