Keepers at Home

This week at our Keepers at Home meeting, the girls made pumpkin pie tarts as part of their Snacks and Drinks skill award. First, we all washed our hands. In addition to learning how to bake, cook, etc...  the girls also learn about all the different appliances, utensils, and kitchen safety.

I usually divide the girls into 2 groups, with a nice age range. This way, all the girls have a chance to do several different jobs, and the older ones are able to teach the younger ones things they may already know.

Each group is given a Keeper mom to assist with the preparations.

Each girl was able to create 3 of their own pumpkin pie tarts.

The best part came when we were finally able to eat our little tarts! So yummy... This little Keeper gave it a "thumbs up".

Keepers at Home

This week at our Keepers at Home meeting, the girls learned how to make a casserole! They each were assigned different jobs to do, and it was so nice seeing how well they followed directions and worked together.

I am so thankful to have a wonderful bunch of moms here each week to help.

We made Tater Tot Casserole, and each girl was given their own little foil container so they could make individual servings.

While the casseroles were baking, the girls worked on some pumpkin patch sticker scenes, and then they continued working on their cross stitching. Several of the girls have started Christmas projects already!

And here are our finished casseroles!

Don't they look delicious? Well they WERE! My girls gobbled up theirs for dinner and gave my husband and me a nice taste too. The girls really had a fun time and for some of the girls, this was their first time making a casserole. I think they all did great!

Keepers at Home

Today we had our Keepers at Home club meeting. It was so nice seeing all of our friends again!

We celebrated the birthday of one of the girls with some delicious cupcakes.

The girls continued working on Charity and we listened to a story called "Have You Filled a Bucket Today?" The girls also copied Matthew 6:20 into their notebooks. The Bible memory challenge right now is "The Good Samaritan" and one of the girls has already recited it! This is one of the more difficult Bible memory challenges, and so I was very impressed that she learned the whole passage already.

The girls also filled these cute little jars with stones that we brought back with us from our trip to Europe. Everytime we went to the beach, we would see these little tiny stones along the shore. The waves would be crashing and it was such an amazing sight. It constantly reminded me of God's awesome power and the beauty of all his creations. So, we decided to bring back enough stones for the girls in our Keepers Club.

It was really fun watching them all dig through the piles and pick the "perfect" stones for their own personal jars. They each received a copy of the Bible verse "He is the Rock, his works are perfect and all his ways are just."  Deuteronomy 32:4

We had a great meeting and it was so good to be back! We have many fun projects to work on in the next several months, as well as some projects that we will be continuing to work on such as cross stitch, snacks and drinks, and casserole making!



Keepers at Home

Today at our Keepers at Home meeting, we were quite busy! We started our meeting with our club song, Stepping in the Light. Then, 3 of the girls played the piano as part of their Musical Instrument Skill Award. Award pins were given out today for all the different skills they worked on throughout the month. We had quite a variety of earned pins today including Hygiene, Butterflies, Patience, Home Decorating, and many more!

Next, we had some yummy ice cream sundaes, to celebrate the start of the new homeschool year for everyone! This was also our last meeting until October, since we will be away on our trip for a month.

While the girls ate their sundaes and talked, they worked on their Miniatures Skill Award, and created some delightful little miniature homes for their ladybug friends! It was so cute watching them all work and seeing the great variety and creativity that went into each little home.  Here is a finished product. This one particular little Keeper decided to make a tent for her ladybug and she added some tiny accessories as well to complete the project.

This was a very productive and fun meeting for all of us, and I look forward to what the fall has in store for us! Some upcoming skills the girls will be working on include making casseroles and soups, potpourri making, a continuation of cross stitch, and much more.

Keepers At Home

Today, our Keepers at Home club worked on the swimming skill award pin. We met at one of the member's homes to complete this skill. Prior to today's meeting, the girls learned about water safety, and we discussed all the different requirements of this award.

First, the girls demonstrated how to tread water. Depending on their age, they either had to tread water for 2 minutes, or five minutes.

Next, they had to float on their backs for several minutes.

After that, they each had to take turns showing their ability to do free style swimming, the back stroke or breast stroke, and demonstrate how to rescue someone who is drowning.

After we were all done with our skills, the girls had a nice snack of cupcakes and juice.

After their snack, the girls were able to just have fun and swim! They had a fun time with each other and it was a great day for us all!

Keepers At Home

"Follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men." Matthew 4:19

Today at our Keepers at Home club meeting, the girls started working on a new character quality: charity. We read and copied Luke 12:33 into our notebooks. We also discussed what it means to be a charitable person, and ways that we could show the love of Jesus by helping others.

Then, we discussed swimming safety, as we will be working on our swimming skill award next week. Since we will all be like little swimming fish,  the girls decorated some cardboard fish with all sorts of sequins and jewels, and on the back they glued the scripture mentioned at the beginning of this post. Aren't they just beautiful???

Keepers at Home

This week at our Keepers at Home club meeting, the girls participated in a fun game of "pass the beach ball". The purpose of the game was to teach the girls how to patient with others, as well as with ourselves. Each girl had to pass the ball to the next friend in line, without actually grasping or holding onto it! So, the only way they could accomplish this was by carefully balancing the ball on the palm of their hand.

They all did a really great job at passing the ball, and they were definitely patient with each other.

We also made some trail mix as part of the Snacks and Drinks skill award. There were all sorts of yummy sweet and salty things to add to our bags!

I believe they all gave it a "thumbs up" in the taste category!

Keepers at Home

Today we had our weekly Keepers at Home Club meeting. The girls received award pins for the first time and were very excited about it! Many of them received awards for memorizing all the books of the Old Testament as well as their Card Making skill pin. Others completed various skills at home and were awarded pins for Insects, Pets, Witnessing, and more!

After our award ceremony, the girls completed their lessons on Compassion by creating these cute little booklets to help them remember what compassion is, and how to be compassionate towards others.

The outside cover says Compassion Is... and then you open it up and the inside is shaped like a cross, with a reminder on each portion of the cross.

The girls did a great job creating their little books. I found the idea on one of my favorite blogs called http://makingbookswithchildren.blogspot.com/   There are all sorts of creative books you can make with your kids and the directions are very easy to follow!

Next, we worked on our Snacks and Drinks skill and the girls made a fruit tray with strawberry yogurt dip.

They really seemed to enjoy this activity and had a lot of fun talking with each other while mashing strawberries, cutting fruit, and mixing the ingredients to make the dip.

The fruit dip was absolutely delicious and really was the perfect snack for this hot, humid day! It looks like summer is already here!

Cross Stitch Lessons

Today at our Keepers at Home Club meeting, the girls were introduced to the skill of cross stitching. Several of them were able to catch on right away and I was very impressed by how even the youngest girls tried their best and kept at it!

As part of our continuing lessons on Compassion, the girls copied scripture from their Bibles and did a word search puzzle. I am thoroughly enjoying our weekly meetings and it has been such a blessing to be part of such a wonderful club. Not only are the girls getting to spend quality time with their moms, but each family is so unique and special and we have all made new friends.