All posts by Cheryl Pitt

About Cheryl Pitt

Cheryl has been homeschooling since 2001. She is currently raising and educating five children. Cheryl is an avid social media user with a heart for strong family values and the companies that promote them. Sensing a need to help establish homeschool bloggers online and support family-friendly business, Cheryl created the 2:1 Conference. 2:1 is a faith based conference for homeschooling parents active in blogging and social media. View all posts by Cheryl Pitt →

How Do We Get Our Boys To Lead And Obey?

October 22, 2014MomStrong ParentingteensCheryl Pitt

Teens. I have 3 of them. Three male teens to be exact. Living with teen boys has proven itself to be an exciting and exhausting endeavor.

For one, they’re a lot of fun! I often share their antics on social media with the hashtag #3teenslater because you never know what might happen. From spontaneous engine tinkering, to pranks gone wrong, to emptying a fridge of all food options in 30 minutes or less – they’re busy! Just as busy as toddlers.

I know that may be hard for young moms to believe, but it’s true. They don’t slow down, they just get bigger!

When my teens were young, I used to think things would get easier. No more changing diapers, no more chopping food into itty-bitty pieces. And that’s true, in some ways things do get easier. Yet different challenges take their place.

Personally, the biggest challenge I’ve had in raising teen boys is learning to let go while still maintaining authority. I think this is especially true with boys.

God created boys to be leaders. Heads of their households. Providers for the family. They often have a natural inclination to arrange, order, and trail blaze. There’s nothing wrong with that. That spirit is a God-given gift of leadership.

We don’t want to extinguish the flame.

However we’re the parents and and they still need to obey. So how do we all survive the dichotomy of subdued leadership? What does that look like? How do we walk that line? Honestly, it will look different for every family. I can only tell you what has worked for us.

My husband and I made the conscious decision to pick our battles (as best we could) and give our boys plenty of decision making experience. They needed to learn to make good decisions, in a safe environment (home), before we could expect them to make good decisions in a volatile environment (free society). We began young, and slowly expanded decision making opportunities as they grew in maturity.

It started with little things, like letting them pick what movie they wanted to watch. (Hint: save yourself some sanity and only give a toddler two or three items to pick from to start.)

As I said, we picked our battles. For the teens, there were decisions they could make…and decisions they couldn’t.

TEEN’S DECISIONS

What to wear (within reason, nothing vulgar, immodest, etc.)
How to spend their free time (that’s why it’s called free time)
The order in which they did chores/school work
How clean (or not) to keep their room

PARENT’S DECISIONS

Curfew/bedtime
The appropriateness of their entertainment choices (books, games, movies)
What chores/school work was expected
The time of day/week the chores/school work need to be completed

This is, of course, not an exhaustive list. Just something to give you an idea of how we work. You can see, we as parents have control of the main decision (curfew/bedtime) but we give our children freedom to make many smaller decisions within those parameters (what to do before bedtime).

Now all that makes everything sound so sweet, and easy, and balanced, doesn’t it? Ha! I will tell you with 100% honesty and openness from one parent to another, we doubted ourselves. We reevaluated and readjusted the parameters as needed.

We took also took away the right to make decisions if a teen repeatedly made bad decisions.

Didn’t get their chores finished? Wouldn’t wake up on time? You better believe we took away freedoms. We tried to do it with kindness, explaining that they weren’t demonstrating maturity or respect, and they would get the freedom back when they demonstrated an increase in maturity or respect.

But teen boys can be headstrong and stiff backed and honestly, we had plenty of heated moments. Even some really ugly moments.

And that’s where love and grace come in to play. We can have all the rules, guidelines and stipulations we want, however they won’t yield a harvest if we fail to love our children. Right. Where. They. Are. Even when they’re standing right in front of us, rolling their eyes. We must love them right where they are.

If our children know we love them, 100% without a doubt, they trust us. They trust our authority over their lives. They are more likely to respect our decisions and rules.

Why do you trust the Lord with your life? Part of the reason I trust Him is because I know (that I know that I know) that He loves me and wants what is best for me. Our relationship with the Father is the perfect example for us to follow with our children. He gave us the Bible – full of rules, guidelines…and love.

Let’s make sure our teens get the same.

~ Cheryl

Who Is Your Hero?

June 30, 2014MomStrong Parentingchild training, counter-culture, teens, tweensCheryl Pitt

Have you read Heidi’s post Teaching Our Kids About Honor? I did, and it resonated deep within me. In the post, Heidi shares the importance of teaching our kids honor and how, as a society, we are bestowing celebrity status upon people who haven’t earned that honor. It caused me to reflect upon my childhood, and my heroes growing up.

Honestly, my “heroes” weren’t the best. Like many teenagers, I was interested in what the world counted as worth – beauty, fame, power. I knew the names and backgrounds of Victoria’s Secret models better than those of the disciples. I looked up to whichever pop artist had the #1 song on the countdown charts more than the Proverbs 31 woman.

And it wasn’t good for my spirit. I could have had better heroes. I wish my heroes had been Ruth or Nehemiah.

Now before you get too upset, let me explain, I’m not saying Victoria (or her secret) is evil. Personally, I don’t believe that our heroes have to be solely from the Bible. What I do believe – wholeheartedly and passionately – is that we should be asking these questions:

Do my heroes point me toward the cross? Do my children’s heroes point them toward the cross?

This country needs a revival of true, faithful heroes! We need men and women who give the glory to God before taking it for themselves. We need less “experts” shouting from their corner of the media and more students of the Word. We are in need of leaders who consult the Truth, not a round table of advisers. Can I get an amen?

Too often our heroes have been athletes that, when caught cheating, continue to lie, blame others and fight their punishment. Or celebrities who are famous for nothing more than being wealthy. Or actors who glamorize the enticing life of sex, drugs and rock & roll.

I don’t expect my heroes to be perfect. But what I want is for them to point me to the Truth. I want them, when they falter, to admit their mistake and share their repentance. I need to be encouraged in my faith. I hope to be reminded daily that the only true hero is the One who sent his son to die on the cross, because He is the reason for this life I lead.

Who is your Biblical hero? Do you have an everyday hero?

What’s For Lunch: The Best List of Lunches

March 31, 2014Recipescrock pot, preschoolers, toddlersCheryl Pitt

Lunch time. Personally, I find the daily “what’s for lunch” question much more difficult than “what’s for dinner”. Lunch is, well, a challenge. Although it’s yummy, I want to feed my children something more than the standard sandwich and chips option. However, I don’t want to spend all day in the kitchen. And neither do you, right?

On an average day, the breakfast mess isn’t cleared until after 9am. Then, in order to get supper on the table at a decent hour, prep begins around 3:30. With errands and homeschool lessons in between, that doesn’t leave much time for a satisfying, thoughtful lunch. So what to do?

As with any successful endeavor, a good lunch starts with a good plan…and a heavy dose of reality! As much as I would love to make an original lunch for my children every day, I know that’s not feasible with our schedule. So rather than overwhelm myself and create extra work, I do my best to fix a crowd-pleasing lunch once a week. No more, no less. The other days of the week we alternate between sandwiches, leftovers, breakfast foods, and sometimes soup.

But what to fix? <insert eye roll> I used to run out of ideas often. That’s why I started to keep a running list of lunch ideas (Evernote is great for this!). Today, I’m going to share some with you. The recipes below run the gambit, from easy, interesting sandwiches, to crock pot and freezer meals and everything in between. They are all sure to help break you out of your lunch rut. Bookmark your favorite ideas and plan a great lunch this week!

Sandwich-ish

Tuna Twister Melts

Waffle Turkey and Cheese Sami

Apple Sandwiches

Pepperoni Pizza Pockets

Roast Beef Cheddar Roll-Ups

Slow Cooker Hamburgers

Club Quesadillas

Grilled Peanut Butter Banana Sandwich

Salads

Crisp Tuna Cabbage Salad

Mashed Chickpea Salad

Grilled Chicken and Fruit Salad

Black Bean Breakfast Bowl

Taco Salad

Veggie Tuna Pasta Salad

Cuban Chicken Salad

Hot Stuff

Sausage and Vegetable Fritatta

Zucchini Tots

Homemade Spaghetti O’s and Meatballs

Easy Stromboli

Quick Beef Burrito Skillet

No-Boil Mac and Cheese Bake

One Pot Spaghetti

Crock Pot Cream Cheese Chicken

Vegetarian Chili Mac

Beef Soup in a Bread Bowl

Pigs in a Blanket

Spicy Spaghetti Squash with Black Beans

Lentil and Brown Rice Casserole

Ham and Cheese Muffins

Queso Potatoes

What are your favorite go-to lunch ideas that offer more than the average sandwich?

Budget Friendly Christmas Game

December 13, 2013MomStrong ParentingChristmas, family fun, holidaysCheryl Pitt

Entertaining during the Christmas season can be fun, exciting and…expensive. The budget can easily be broken by extra goodies to bake and (the big one) presents!

I love to GIVE! It’s exciting to see the joy on a child’s face when you say “I have something special for you”. However, I come from a large, mixed family. Entertaining only my siblings’ immediate families means I’m hosting 25 people at a minimum. So I’ve had to get creative with the budget.

There was a time when I happily broke the budget to get everyone “at least a little something” — racking up debt. Since then I’ve learned that while God calls us to be giving, He also calls us to be responsible with what we’ve been given. I don’t believe God wants us to go into debt giving trinkets at Christmas time.

So, in an effort to honor what God has given us, and my husband who works so hard, I’ve implemented some budget friendly rules for when we entertain like:

Guests contribute (whether it’s a dish, paper products or a bottle of soda)
No store bought decorations
No party favors
GAMES instead of gifts

The last one is my favorite! Not only because it saves a ton of money, but because it builds so many memories. And that’s what the holidays should be about. Children will likely forget that little trinket you bought them; but they will remember the warm, loving, fun time they had.

My favorite budget friendly Christmas game is Yankee Trader. This game is also known as White Elephant…but we’re below the Mason-Dixon, so around here it’s Yankee Trader.

How To Play

Every guest brings a wrapped gift (we set a dollar limit)
Gifts are randomly placed under the tree (or designated spot)
Every guest draws a number
Player 1 picks and unwraps a gift
Players 2 and up have the option of choosing a gift from the pile or “stealing” a gift from any previous player
If someone has their gift stolen, they either steal another gift (not the one taken from them in that turn) or unwrap another gift
This continues (with hilarity) until every player has had their turn
Items may only be stolen 3 (or set your own number) times – this cuts down on gifts going back and forth between two people for “hours”

In order to play Yankee Trader, guests must know to bring a gift ahead of time. You may want to buy a few extra, inexpensive gifts to have on hand in case someone forgets. This game might be a little upsetting for young children who don’t like to have their gift “stolen”, or if there are only adult gifts. Encourage guests to bring fun, goofy gifts kids will enjoy. Have fun, Yankee Trader always brings a TON of laughs and happy memories to our gatherings!

Do you play games at your Christmas parties? What’s your favorite?

Fall Craft Keepsake

November 18, 2013Homemakingfall, family fun, preschoolers, toddlers, tweensCheryl Pitt

I’ll be honest and admit that I am not a crafter. I want to be! I yearn to sew and knit and crochet. I want to be one of those moms who has a closet of craft supplies (which she knows how to use) at the ready. The mom who can make something beautiful out of a snippet of construction paper and a sprinkling of glitter. But I’m not.

I’m the mom with one small drawer of crayons, glue, and construction paper. Craft days are saved for “when we have time”…and we usually don’t. I don’t own a glue gun. And, until recently, mod podge was an intimidating foreign substance.

It’s not that I don’t like crafts, I love them. They excite me! However, crafts simply overwhelm me. Projects seem more complicated in my mind than they are in reality. However, I’ve learned a very special lesson that is helping me overcome my craft aversion.

Crafts are not about the project, the mess, the detail or even the outcome. Crafts are about making memories with your children.

When I look at it like that, crafts suddenly seem much more important. That’s why I’m making a conscious effort to add more crafting to our life. I want to make memories! So, for my first project, I decided to make an autumn keepsake with my son, not just another “craft”.

I love this keepsake craft for four very specific reasons. 1) It has variety! The different materials give it more depth. 2) It can be broken down into several smaller projects. We had 4 different days of crafting. 3) You can make this keepsake no matter what climate you live in, using whatever items you have outside. 4) It easily adapts to different seasons by changing the outdoor items you collect and paint colors.

Supplies:

Leaves or other outdoor items (autumn grasses, pine cone bits, pebbles, etc)
Waxed paper
Books for pressing
Metallic permanent markers (silver, gold and/or bronze)
2 sheets white cardstock paper
Foaming shaving cream
Scissors
Acrylic paint (autumn colors, red, orange, gold, green, brown)
Toothpicks
Rubber/silicone spatula
Mod podge
Paintbrush or sponge
Frame (your choice of size)

Step 1: We started with a “leaf walk”. The kids had a blast walking our property and collecting leaves of all different shapes, sizes and colors. If you live in a hotter climate, or your leaves have already dropped, collect pebbles, wide-leafed grasses, etc. You can even use brown, dried leaves if they’re not too brittle. Don’t forget to collect a few green leaves for contrast.

Step 2: Press the leaves between the pages of the books, lined with waxed paper.

Step 3: When the leaves are sufficiently pressed, carefully color them with the metallic markers. Get creative with designs. The colors really pop! When you’re happy with your leaves, set them aside.

Step 4: Using scissors, cut leaf shapes out of the cardstock. You can do maple, oak, or freestyle it! This is about memories, not perfection, right?

Step 5: On a piece of waxed paper or in a rectangular dish, spray a layer of shaving cream and smooth it out. Next, add drops of the acrylic paint all over. Then, using the toothpick, swirl the paint until it has the design and pattern you like.

Step 6: Press the cardstock leaves face down into the shaving cream/paint mixture. Let is sit for just a moment, then carefully lift out the leaves and lay them paint side up on a piece of waxed paper.

Step 7: Allow the leaves to sit for a minute or two. Then, using your spatula, scrape off the excess paint and shaving cream. Allow your leaves to dry well.

Step 8: Once everything is sufficiently dry, arrange your varying leaves on another piece of cardstock in any design you wish. Then, use the mod podge to glue the leaves securely. Apply a very thin layer with a paintbrush or sponge. Also, be sure to coat the tops of your leaves with mod podge as well. It will enhance the colors and give them a bit of luster! Dry well.

All that’s left to do now is frame your masterpiece. Ours is hanging (on proud display) in our living room. My son likes to gaze at it every so often and comment on the fun we had making it. And that’s what crafts are all about. The happy memories!

Are you a crafter? How often do you incorporate crafts into your home?

Heidi St. John

Speaking the Truth in Love