Frugal Friday: Early Math Learning Without Expensive Curricula

Here's a great resource I discovered this week for folks wondering how to teach their wee ones early math skills without spending hundreds of dollars on curricula over the first few years.  Although we've heard it a million times before, "You don't need to spend that kinda dough for them to really know," it's sometimes easier, especially for visual folks like me, to see some tangible objectives smack dab in front of our respective faces, especially if we're wondering, "What do they really need to know?"

Although it would not be entirely fair to lovely Dr. Ruth Beechick to give away her fabulous 2-buck secrets, here's a basic list for preschool through grade three:

1. Counts to 10, 100, 1000

2. Uses & Understands Ordinal Numbers

3. Recognizes Groups on Dominoes & Dice

4. Can Add (2) Groups to a Sum

5. Can Remove from a Group and Tell What's Left

6. Can Count by 2's, 5's, and 10's

7. Experience with Time, Measurement & Money

8. Understands Fractions

9. Uses Words of Quantity, Shape & Size

10. May Have Experience with Advanced Concepts, such as "Plus, Minus, Equals"

So, save yourself the time, energy, and headache of researching the very best mathematics curriculum for your wee ones, and put those hard-earned pennies to a higher, more profitable use: Dinner for two by candlelight.

Do you think it's nut-so to teach math skills without curricula?  What resources have you found that rock your socks?  If you were challenged to give your husband ten kisses anywhere, would it change his day...year...life?

Careful: I'm linked to Life as Mom for Frugal Friday.  

Click at your own spendthrift peril!

Frugal Friday: Activity Overload No More

This morning, instead of posting a frugal idea of my own, due to what I considered a sad lack of inspiration, I found myself responding to one of my fave money-wise blogs, Saving Money In Real Life.  

I love how she provides a practical response to every nugget of financial wisdom she shares with her readers.  Reading how one woman, wife, and mom applies this saving wisdom really helps me to get a handle on it.  Obviously, I need some hand-holding.  

Anyway, I realized that I am not without inspiration when surrounded by all of you wonderful penny-pinching peeps.  Forgive me if you read about this before, but I'm just so thrilled to see what it's done for our family and budget that I'm going to write about it again.

Hello, my name is Laura and I was once an Activities Junkie.

...paying out of the nose for a bevy of lessons I really thought my children needed.

No more.

Last year, we were out of the house every day of the week and happily so.  I mean, my children and I were living with near-strangers, and I was suffering under a strained relationship with them at that.  I wanted to be away--far away.

We had piano lessons, ballet twice each week, gymnastics thrice each week, and soccer lessons, too.  Not all of my children did all of these activities, but, when you have four babes in tow, activities multiply like rabbits and add up to one very busy momma.  Again, happily so.

But no more.

Last fall, husb'd and I reconciled and brought our family together again and under one roof.  We agreed, although much more emotionally hard for me, that for this first year of healing, we would drop all activities.  The kids and I needed not to be running all over town every night of the week, whilst he waited for us at home with a lonely fork and a slow over-cooker meal.  Nothing against slow cookers...use it twice each week.  You get  it, right?  We needed time together, no matter how hard it might get sometimes.

Now, six months later, the two oldest kiddos are back tickling the ebonies and ivories, with an accomplished teenaged gal who charges us only $10/week ((!!!!)).  And, thanks to a new and dear friend, we've joined a local homeschool PE club.  

This PE club is so amazing as it provides lessons for my three oldest children in a different sport every month--swimming, gymnastics, FENCING, track & field, soccer--for less than the cost of one month's tuition for one child!  It's a win-win situation entirely: a sporting business opens itself to a new market and we single-income families get great activities for our kids all in one place, all at one time, and for pennies on the dollar!  And with the doom-and-gloom of the economy, you just cannot beat this deal...unless you stay home and do nothing, which I have a hard time doing...obviously.  Did anyone else notice I didn't make it the whole pledged year?

Get over to Biblical Womanhood and glean whilst you can.  Frugal Fridays are moving soon!

Frugal Friday: Begging to Be Choosey

Living on one income in infamously expensive California, I appreciate frugality.  I mean, I really appreciate it.  But, after a week or so of perusing and subscribing to the most popular blogs bent toward being penny-wise-and-tight, I walked away confused and discouraged.  Most of the peeps I once followed were surely spending less than I to feed their families, but what they were feeding them really bothered me, a life-long lover of whole foods.  Sure, you could spend less, sometimes very much less, if you follow the empty foods coupon-and-rebate train, but what stewardship is there when our bodies, and the bodies of our husband and children who depend upon us to feed them well, are suffering from poor nutrition, at best?

But then--heaven be blessed!--I stumbled upon Laura.  Not me, silly goose, but another.  Perhaps it's in the name, but I cannot help but feel all warm and fuzzy when I read her blog called, of all things!, Heavenly Homemakers.  Indeed she is more than a whole-foodie, she is a lovely Christian woman who is an all-around encouragement to someone like me, who is laboring for God's glory to give what is best each day and in every way, while enjoying the challenge of providing for my family from a 32-square-foot kitchen in suburban California.

This morning, we made her Simple Sourdough Pancakes:

Soaking the flour overnight in buttermilk to release all of those brilliant nutrients.

Eggs, butter, baking powder and salt...

Added a wee bit of milk to make a nice batter.

Can you hear the sizzle?!

Oh yum!!  A first encounter with sourdough pancakes for us all.  Usually, I make Bette's Buttermilk Pancakes, which are to. die. for., even after substituting whole wheat for white flour.  But these were good, and the overnight soak made me feel like a super-foodie-heroine.  Although it took a great deal of restraint not to change the recipe ((wretched and perpetual modifier that I am)), next time I will tinker with it a bit, and make it my own.

Good grief! I'm such a Laura.

Find more Frugal Friday ideas galore here.

Frugal Friday: Satisfying a Meat-and-Potatoes Man by Meal Planning

This week's Frugal Friday is right up my alley.  About seven years ago, when my then toddling Negotiator started eating real meals at table, I knew I needed a plan.  Previously to his demanded inclusion in evening mealtimes and with only one solid-foods eating child, I was a committed and relentless day-and-evening-long snacker.  Having a husband who oft missed dinnertime made it much more of a haggard chore than a pleasure to cook full meals for myself and a babe alone.  But, with the addition of my son, my hand was forced.  

Thankfully, I had an older woman whom I called friend.  She helped me to develop a weekly plan so that my ravenous children were receiving the nutrition their growing bodies required, and--lo and behold!--once I started learning to cook preparing gourmet dinnertime cuisine, my husband, a ruh-ruh-ruh-man, miraculously began showing up at home just in time to share the table with us.  Funny how that works sometimes.

Having a true blue meat-and-potatoes husband at table has its challenges, though.  But, I thank God, that through His work in our lives via hardship and testing, which blessedly begat humility, my husband is thankful for nearly every meal I've ever served.  It's because of his gracious attitude toward my cooking that I am lovingly compelled to include something rich and pleasing once. each. week.  

That's right--only once.  Most days we eat meals packed with legumes, whole grains, and plenty of vegetables.  These meals, although nutrient-packed, are c-h-e-a-p!  And because they cost pennies to make for our growing family of six, I have plenty of money left over in the week's budget for a roast, loin, fresh fish, or (rare) steak dinner.  This special dinner at the end of our week has become something to which everyone looks forward: we set the table prettily, use fancy napkin rings and glass water goblets--even for the kids.  And this dinner, which caps the working week for my husband, is just lovely enough for him to feel blessed in his ability to provide richly for us all.  I must say, there is nothing better for a family than a satisfied lord.

Do you plan meals to save money? sanity? time?  Or, are you more adventurous [read: organized] and cook dinners off-the-cuff?  

If you'd like more Frugal Friday ideas, check out the many fantastic ladies posting at Biblical Womanhood and be richly blessed!