Catacomb Craziness~~Ms. Wise & Otherwise

My living room turned into a catacomb as the kids studied about the Christians that hid from the Roman soldiers. A view from inside.

Best seat in the house!

Or perhaps this one is the best. I know they enjoyed doing all their schoolwork in the catacombs. I let them leave it up for a while.Peanut was not happy when I made him take down the large catacomb tent in the living room after about 3 days. Seriously? Don’t we need our living room for other purposes???

As soon as he took down the catacomb tents in the living room, I let him set up a more elaborate one in his bedroom. He used blankets and sheets and books and rope and strings and buckets and all sorts of things to secure it. It encompassed the entire bedroom.

He has slept on the floor for about a month since he has tent support beams in the middle of his bed. But, whatever makes him happy. Lol

Now, however, that one had to come down too. Gotta make room for his brother's return from college for the summer.

Track Your Child's Internet Usage with Ms. Wise & Ms. Otherwise

Ever wish you had a system that allowed you to easily keep track of what your kids are doing on the internet? Perhaps you would like a system that makes it difficult for a child that is grounded to be able to access certain sites on the internet? Here's something we have been using for a little while that is very helpful. I thought I would pass the info along to you. This is FREE!

1. Go to www.fss.live.com.

2. Once there, set up an account. (If you already have a .msn or .live email address, you probably already have an account.)

3. Add each child. On each of the computers in your home, you need to set up each of the kids as a user (unless of course you have a computer they are denied use of, then simply do not set them up as a user on that computer). When they want to use the computer, they must log in using their own password. This allows fss to track their usage.

No one will want to log in as someone else, because you have set things up specifically for each child. For instance, in my household, web filtering is higher for Princess than the older kids. So, if Sticky or Bub decided to outsmart the system by logging on as Princess because they won't be able to get to where they want to go! Even still, we have cautioned the kids about sharing their passwords with their siblings because they wouldn't want to risk someone else racking up computer time using their name.

4. When a user is done on the computer, they can do one of two things. They can "log out" or "switch user". If they choose the "switch user" option, they do not need to shut down all their browsers, documents, etc. If they choose "log out" everything must be closed. When someone is planning to get back on the computer, switching user is a good way to go. The only downside of using the "switch user" option is that it leaves a bunch of programs running in the background and this can slow down your computer. (Side note: If your computer is not showing both options, go to "help" on your computer and type in those terms and it will show you step-by-step how to make them show up.)

5. Choose the level of filtering you would like. This can vary from blocking only "adult" content sites to customized filtering to allowing only child friendly sites.

6. Turn the activity reporting on. This allows you to see where your child has been and how long they have spent at the computer. It can also tell you if anything has been downloaded to that computer.

7. ou can use the contact management aspect of the program to control who your child is chatting and emailing with through a few places.

8. If a child wants to view a website that you have prohibited, they can send you a request, or if you are nearby, you can simply type in your password right then to allow access if desired.

9. When you find that your child has been spending too much time on a certain site, or is otherwise in trouble, you can go in and block specific sites that they are grounded from. Or, you can block everything and have them ask for your permission every time they want to access something on the internet until you feel they are ready for computer privileges again. (This definitely gets to be a drag after a while.)

10. The key to this program is to regularly check up on internet usage. If you simply sign up for the program and never or rarely check up on the kids, you aren't taking full advantage of the system. You can use it as just a tool to block specific sites, or you can use it more effectively by seeing where your kids are spending their time. If you do this, you can take the time to talk to them about questionable sites, give them input on how to stay safe on a certain site, possibly find a fun site that you would like to join with them, and you can also share information from you to your child and from your child to you. It is really incredible the things children are able to figure out about the computer that most of us parent's would never have thought of.

While it may seem like quite a bit of work to get this system up and operational, it is worth the effort. As with the examples mentioned above, it opens communication lines to help us protect our children until they are mature enough to understand things and to know how to discipline themselves. It is a good tool to help teach these things.

Has anyone else used this system? What tips & tricks do you have to share?

Free Schooling with YouTube and Other Web Resources Found by Ms. Wise & Ms. Otherwise

Try art projects, painting, and similar search words to find easy to follow how to's for what your kids are interested in learning for art. Here's one youtube member that has several art projects--painting, jewelry making & kid art.

Lapbooks are a way to allow your children to creatively display what they are learning. Here is a place to get started on what it is and how to do it. After you see what it is all about, there are a ton of unit studies available on youtube that you can look into. There's everything from princesses to civil war to bugs.

Want to try a little Earth Science? How about some help from NASA? Bill Nye could help you out as well.

History can include tours of submarines. Here's a German sub. You can look up a sub diving and get the view from the periscope. Check out subs from other countries and different decades.

For literature, you can watch (yes, in bits and pieces) Jane Austen's works put in video form to go along with your readings. Search for other authors too!

You can get som foreign language help on youtube also! Here's a little Spanish ABC's.

If you go to www.expertvillage.com you can watch videos there as well on a variety of topics. They even have an education category that has a homeschooling section. Their videos begin with short ads.

You can also go to youpublish.com to find many different forms of media. Simply type in a subject that interests you and wade through the files that come up. You'll find pictures, videos, documents, powerpoint presentations, audio files and more. Many are free. Here's the link to my youpublish homepage. I have music, homeschool articles, golf helps, games and more. Feel free to browse through my things, or just type away into the search engine the things that interest you!

Ms. Wise & Ms. Otherwise Learn Tribal Names!

Studying about Native Americans? Here is just the song to help you learn all those Indian tribal names. Challenge yourself and your kids to see who can remember the most names!

If you click on this link, you can hear a computer generated version of the song. There are two different versions of the song. Using the version you just heard, you can burn that .mp3 to a cd and sing along with it using the sheet music in your car and around the house. (Or you can always just listen to it on your computer.) This version is for the sheet music accompanied only by piano.

If you like the tune and want to purchase the sheet music, you don't have to create a new account if you are a facebook user. Wahoo! You can use the same information you would use to log in to facebook to purchase this song!

And, don't worry...I really don't anticipate the song putting 'em on the warpath!

Please adhere to copyright restrictions. If you have friends, family, coworkers and others that would like a copy of this music, send them a link to this page or to www.completelee.com where they can download their own. Thank you.

Science Experiment Cleaning by Ms. Wise & Ms. Otherwise

You know that baking soda and vinegar experiment that all kids love to do? Well, guess what?! It can make cleaning fun! (Okay, maybe not fun, but at least more interesting!)

I have no idea why I didn't think about these things sooner. But I have now, and am happy about it. I have learned that just about anything can be cleaned with baking soda, vinegar and hydrogen peroxide. These products have a LOT going for them.

• They are inexpensive.
• They are kid friendly. If the kids spray them on something they shouldn't, or forget to wash their hands after using, or leave it out and the baby gets into it...you have far less to worry about than with commercial cleaners. And, you can watch them foam!
• They are non toxic, and non smelly.
• You probably have them in your house right now.
• They work!

Here's a picture showing what I did with mine to make them very easy to use. The baking soda is in an old taco seasoning container. The lid can be removed completely, or you can open it partially and just shake out a little bit at a time. The vinegar is in a plain old spray bottle. I mixed the vinegar with a few drops of peppermint essential oil (see picture below). Doing this masks the vinegary smell when cleaning. The peroxide is in a non-clear container that squirts. (I read that light can cause hydrogen peroxide to change back into water.) Here are some things I have tried that definitely work.

• Sprinkle baking soda all over the bathtub. Spray vinegar all over the baking soda. When fizzing stops, scrub out the tub with a washrag. It got rid of soap scum and gunk quite nicely.
• Spray vinegar onto a folded paper towel. Wipe a mirror. Dry it with a second folded paper towel. Looks great--no streaks.
• Flush the toilet to coat the toilet bowl with water. Shake baking soda liberally into the bowl of the toilet. Scrub with toilet scrubber.
• Squirt peroxide onto bloodstains. It will fizz a bit. It removes the blood wonderfully well. It also works on grass and mud. Haven't figured out yet if it does strawberry stains and other things.
• Spray vinegar on your chrome faucets and wipe dry for a shiny look.
• Shake baking soda around faucets, spray vinegar onto the soda. Scrub with a toothbrush to remove gunk that starts to build around the faucet. Works decently. Fun to shake and spray.
• Use vinegar as kitchen counter spray.
• Did you cook all the water out and burn a pot? Baking soda works great!
• Use baking soda in place of scouring powder.

Some sites I visited said that peroxide was great for pet stains and other general cleaning, including using it in place of bleach. Here is an interesting site that lists all kinds of natural cleaners.

One reason I never made my own natural cleaners is that I just thought it was going to take too much effort. But, I would have to say that using these three items that I listed above, really can't get much simpler. I really love the idea of getting things clean and disinfected without the dangers and smells.

As far as the science experimenting goes, I am happy to hand a bottle of vinegar and a shaker of baking soda to one of my kids and saying, "have at it!" If they are feeling like making a large volcano, why not do it in the bathtub rather than outside and get my tub cleaned in the process?

You can use these products to help you accomplish more Spring Clean for 5 tasks!

Oh! And please feel free to share with me what else you have used these cleaners for!

Ancient Art with Ms. Wise & Ms. Otherwise

We studied ancient Greek myths. Here is what Princess came up with for a Medusa mask. She says even Medusa's eyelashes are snakes! Here I found these "ancient" hieroglyphs on Nan's wall. Isn't decorating fun?

How about these African designs made by Peanut from self-hardening clay? Know what they are?

Ear bobs! Or rather, ear rings, take your pick. Wouldn't those make "your ears hang low" and "wobble to and fro"!

It is always fun to see what the kids come up with for art projects. Often they come up with their own unique twist to things.

Fit for 5? Now is a good time!

Ms. Wise & Ms. Otherwise Learn Something

St. Patrik's Day was upon us. Here's Princess, all decked out in her greenest of greens. As a family we had different places to go, things to do. I met up with Kevin to swap some kids--he staying away, I, heading home. When we were nearly home, Peanut asked if we could stop for a little while at the "double-decker" park. I figured I could spare a half an hour, so we went.
It was there at the park that I discovered I didn't have my house key. It was there that I also discovered that I had more than half an hour to spare. Missing a house key made it so that I had lots of time to spare. I couldn't get home to rush in and do all those really important things that couldn't wait. Instead of getting home and getting busy, I spent time having my legs encased in cool sand by two smiling blondies. It actually felt quite nice. :)I "wasted" several pictures trying to get Chubby to stay still and look at me for more than .0000025 seconds. Here's one of those failures. (Or maybe not a failure--see that precious little footsie?)Chubby was completely opposed to putting his feet down into the sand, so he stayed on the bench with me when he couldn't coerce Peanut into taking him down more slides. Eventually I was able to capture this picture as he studied the grains of sand on his fingers.

I watched Princess & Peanut carve extensive roadways across the playground.

I breathed fresh air. I enjoyed a cool breeze. I relished the scene placed before me in nature--the blue, blue sky, the flowers, the trees. I also admired climbing skills.
Between keeping sand out of Chubby's mouth and watching the antics of the other two, I pondered things that needed pondering. It was peaceful. It was nice. I learned that I actually did have time for the really important things and that the really important things didn't have anything to do with my "to do" list waiting for me at home. (And who says I can't make St. Patrik's Day dinner & cookies today instead anyway?)

Name that Book from Ms. Wise & Ms. Otherwise

I want to know what book first comes to mind when you see this picture of Chubby in his desired attire. I'll tell you what I thought later. I just wanted to see if anyone else comes up with the same answer. :)

Did you do your Fit for 5 today?

Fruity "Bugs" with Ms. Wise & Ms. Otherwise

Sticky was teaching Princess about the difference between spiders and insects. Then, they made some bugs together. Princess used apples with raisins for spots and marshmellow antennae, glued together with peanutbutter. One bug is 3, the other 6. Sticky went with a kiwi fruit base and marshmellow legs. A couple of carrot shreds became antennae.

Peanut couldn't resist joining in on the fun by using a theme similar to the one Sticky did.

The book actually suggested using all sorts of different candies to make the insects, but we scrounged around the kitchen and came up with a more healthy alternative. The creating was fun, the lesson was learned, the eating was nutritious and delicious {Okay, okay...minus the marshmallows}.

And, this also went along well with my mission accomplished goal for the month. :) Hmmm. I wonder if I can make a "fruity gram" instead of a "candy gram". It could work--Orange you glad you are the apple of my eye? You're grape! You are berry special to me. We cantaloupe...we're already married!...LOL

Ms. Wise & Ms. Otherwise LOVE the Library

Didya miss me? We've been crazy busy and had sick people around here, so I have been slacking with my posting! I've been attempting to keep up with everything else. Today, however, I took two munchkins and got out of the house for a little bit. It was really quite nice to just take a few moments to do something enjoyable.

I am so lucky because I have access to lots of libraries within 1/2 hour of my house. We have big libraries, small libraries and in between sized libraries. We frequent the small one closest to our house the most often. But there are things I like about each of the different libraries we have around.

Here's the way Princess, Peanut and I like to do things at the library. Usually we have a book or two in mind that we want to get. We go find those first. Then we peruse the fiction shelves for something that just leaps out and says, "I am it! Take me!"

Next, it is on to the nonfiction section where we think about what we have been studying in science, history, etc. As we ramble around the aisles, we try to spot titles that have something to do with anything we have recently learned. When we find such a treasure, we exclaim excitedly (in hushed tones, of course). This time, we found a couple of books about Troy and the Trojan War. We picked up a couple of dvd's and videos to accompany our science projects. Unfortunately we didn't spot any "Popular Mechanics for Kids" dvd's which the kids really like.

As we were meandering along, {actually it was more toward gallivanting than meandering since we were late picking up Nan, but I like the word meander, so I used it.} Anywho... As we were meandering along, my eye gravitated toward the books pictured below. I had been intending to read "The Well-Trained Mind" and haven't gotten around to it yet, so I thought--why not!

What else have I been reading lately? I just polished off "The Hiding Place" by Corrie Ten Boom. {Okay, someone refresh my memory. Am I supposed to use italics, quotes or something else when writing the title of a book?? I always forget that, even though I have taught it more than once!} The Hiding Place is such an amazing book. If you haven't read it, I highly, highly, highly recommend it! It reads like a novel, but teaches profound principles and truths. The story is of a woman and her family who hid Jews during WWII. She wound up in a concentration camp, yet she and here sister were able to find miracles and goodness around them. This book is a great pick-me-up for faith and gives you wonderful new ideas of how to find more gratitude in your life. Now I am in the middle of reading the sequel "Tramp for the Lord". I've read both before, but they are worth reading over and over.

I seem to always be in the middle of many books at once. That way, there's always something that I am in the mood for when I get time to read. I read abundantly using little snippets of time. I am a book nut--I am genetically inclined to be so. My parents have bookcases overloaded with books. I have noticed the same trend in at least some of my sibling's homes. And then there's my home. I have more bookcases than bedrooms. Here's a random sampling from my shelves:

Several classics that become beloved, start with these that are easier to read.
Little Golden Books, Go Dog Go! And many more! (Incidentally, you must read Go Dog Go! with a decidely Brittish accent for the reading to be at its most enticing.)

There you have it. My trip to the library refreshed and rejuvenated me. Snapping silly pictures of my books helped me reminisce. Mmmmm! Aaaaah! Feels good. :)

Now, it is your turn. Tell me, what are you reading? What is your favorite way to visit the library? How many bookcases do you have? Which book must YOU read with a foreign accent?

Free Educational & Self-Improvement Classes Online: Discovered by Ms. Wise & Ms. Otherwise

Whether you are looking for something for yourself, or to supplement the education of your children, these free classes are a great tool!


Free Ed -- This gives a pretty comprehensive guide of free internet courses in varying subjects. You simply click on the desired course and start learning. They have attempted to locate courses for which you don't need to purchase extra materials

BYU Independent Study -- It appears that everything you need for each course is right there online for you. They have a lot of free family history courses, religion, relationships, physical fitness and other courses. (If you are participating in the NVBL, the bowling course would be great!)

About.com -- This site is a place to find more places that offer free online courses. It is not too comprehensive a list.

Online Education Database --Here they list 200 college courses you can take for free in varying categories. It includes a short description of each.

Word2Word --This site has compiled a listing of language courses from all over the internet. There are too many to evaluate well. Interested in a language? take a look around.

Good Typing -- Simply learn to type here in several lessons.

Yale Open Ware Courses -- These courses use prerecorded lectures, etc. Some of the classes give you a final exam, some give you the final exam review, some have none, you can check back through your lessons to see how you did. It appears that you need to purchase some texts at least on the courses I looked at.

Berklee Music -- These courses appear to be partial courses of the complete course.

Notre Dame Open Ware Courses -- Here you probably need additional texts. The lectures appear to be class notes with some extra links to full-read materials and videos

Utah State University Open Ware Courses -- The courses I tried to preview didn't give a lot of information, but it looks like you simply have to click the button to download the course in its entirety. Some of the courses are right there for you without having to download, (ie the math). It is complete with lessons to read, homework, answer sheets, and quizzes.

Have you done any of these? Do you know of any more? Let us all know about them! Hope these are helpful.

Ms. Wise and Ms. Otherwise Learn about the Haka Dance

The boys had an opportunity to get a little culture. They, along with several other teenage boys, learned the Haka dance from a Polynesian group. {What's Haka?} With minimal practice, they pulled off a very entertaining show complete with make-up and costume. Here is Sticky after the performance. I think he is ready to never don make-up again. And here you have Bub hamming it up for the camera (surprise, surprise). He really is a handsome kid--I swear it!

The video for your enjoyment:

A little loud. A little crazy. But definitely fun and entertaining. The boys loved doing it.

p.s. See other show and tells here.

Ms. Wise & Ms. Otherwise Say: Yay! A Clogged Drain!

It is true. I was actually a kinda excited about our kitchen sink not draining. No, I am not crazy. It is just that I came into the kitchen to find this scene... What is awesome about the picture above is that I caught Bub in the act of explaining the fine art of plumbing to Peanut and Sticky. I happen to think it is incredibly cool to catch big kids teaching their siblings useful things.

Here's the scoop. It was Bub's dish night and he (obviously) wasn't done yet when he discovered the water wasn't going anywhere. He got the plunger to see if he could force the clog through. However, it was a tough one, so that didn't work. The little boys {They aren't so little any more, they are just smaller than the bigger boys, so they will probably always be "the little boys".} ...anyway, as I was saying, the little boys came to check up on Bub's dish progress and found interesting actions at hand. That's when Bub started explaining and I captured the moment.

Together we got a little more aggresive with the clog and took out most everything from under the sink. We were able to talk about the U-trap as we unscrewed the pvc pipes from each other and dumped the contents (tons of eggshells, FYI). That did the trick and the sink was working properly again.
Thus the "Yay!" comment to an otherwise annoying inconvenience. Just goes to show that when life hands you clogged drains, make teaching moments. ;)

Ms. Wise & Ms. Otherwise Learn About Morocco While Shopping

Two of my boys and I were at a busy store doing a little Christmas shopping. We could hear two ladies in line behind us conversing in a foreign language. Bub sidled up next to me to discreetly ask, “What language are they speaking?”

I wasn’t sure so I told him, “Why don’t you ask one of them?”

He responded with something like, “Uh, that isn’t high on my priority list of things to do.”

We were pretty intrigued, however, because the language wasn’t one that we hear a lot. I decided to be brave. “Pardon me, would you mind telling me what language you are speaking?”

She grinned, “I knew you were talking about us. We are speaking Moroccan.”

We then took the opportunity to banter back and forth about the benefits of speaking a second language when in public. She said some people think she is rude when she speaks a different language. Perhaps it is so. Personally, I like to hear other languages.

Here’s what Moroccan sounds like in case you are interested. I really have no idea what they are saying, but it is one of the few videos I could find on youtube that showed someone speaking Moroccan. I just thought it sounded kind of cool and you might want to hear what it sounds like.



I was just about ready to have my items tallied up by the cashier, so I wished the ladies a “Merry Christmas” and planned to focus on my purchases. Even as the words were coming out of my mouth, I realized that she probably didn’t celebrate Christmas since she wore the telltale headwear of a Muslim.

She kindly wished me a “Merry Christmas” in return, after which I ventured, “You probably don’t celebrate Christmas, do you.”

She cheerfully said, “No, I don’t, but if someone wishes me a Merry Christmas, I will say Merry Christmas back.”

I inquired as to whether they have a holiday that they do celebrate this time of year. She told me it was too hard to pronounce. I told her to tell me a little about it and I would go home and look it up on the internet to find out more. She told me it is a celebration commemorating the willingness of Abraham to sacrifice his son, after which the Lord provided a lamb to sacrifice instead. On the chosen day families gather together and slaughter a lamb for the feast and give out a few gifts.

I love learning about other cultures, so this was a great spot to have a starting point for learning something new. We had a personal experience with someone speaking Moroccan to make it more memorable and then I follow up with more interesting things for my kids to find out about. (And myself of course.)

If you want to read a little more, click here, here, or here.

Wasn’t that fun? A friendly conversation. A little learning. Very easily done. Memorable. And, I have to say I was greatly appreciative of the woman's approach to a holiday that she doesn't participate in. Wouldn't it be nice if we all could accept other people's differences with cheer and grace.

Ms. Wise & Ms. Otherwise Feast with Indians

{Thanks momdot for the idea for this blog post today. Sponsors Shishu Style and Mimsi Bags. Also posted at 5minutesformom.com}

After studying about Pilgrims, Indians and the first Thanksgiving feast, why not show up on Thanksgiving day as Indians like we did one year? The other guests enjoyed it, and the kids had fun coloring, cutting and adorning their feathered headbands. :)

Ms. Wise & Ms. Otherwise: How to Learn with Legos!

Quote of the day, "It isn't fun to teach your kids when it isn't fun." Yes, obvious, I know, but sometimes we need reminders to change things up, do things differently to have fun! So, how about playing and learning at the same time. I like building with Legos. Legos and other building toys are so awesome for schooling with. The big Legos, the little Legos, the Lego kits, the extra “cool” pieces…all are useful! We have tons and tons of Legos of all sizes.

Where do I get ‘em? (And, where could I look?)

*Clearance sales
*Yard/garage sales
*One place to get “cool” pieces is from http://www.ldfr.com/. Once there, type the word Lego into the search engine to find Lego products.
*eBay
*At http://www.lego.com/ you can shop online or find a store.

Here are some ideas

HISTORY:

Study Ziggurats and Pyramids, then create them. Talk about the differences, the materials used, the people who made them, why they were made, the lasting effects.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ziggurat
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyramid
http://www.historyforkids.org/learn/egypt/architecture/egyptarchit.htm
http://www.historyforkids.org/learn/westasia/architecture/westarch.htm

Here you can see Princess trying to build AND protect her ziggurat from the invading destroyer (Chubby).


Learn about specific battles in wars, learn strategies. What clever ways did U.S. Generals use to help win? Lay out elaborate battle scenes from various wars and reenact them. We like to incorporate army guys and Lincoln Logs for this one.
http://cybersleuth-kids.com/sleuth/History/Wars/World_War_I/Important_Battles/index.htm
http://www.socialstudiesforkids.com/subjects/civilwar.htm

Build famous buildings in history that you have been learning about.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tower_of_Babel
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hagia_Sophia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eiffel_tower
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Ben

SCIENCE:

Study about pulleys, rotation, speed and angles.
http://www.lego.com/education/school/default.asp?l2id=3_3&pageName=4_1

Join a FIRST Lego League and learn about robotics and compete! They have different divisions for younger and older kids. We have participated in this and it is a great lot of fun for the kids and they have the opportunity to learn and present themselves and to work together as a team.
http://firstlegoleague.org/

Learn about dinosaurs, elephants or other large animals and then build the biggest one you can.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinosaur
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elephant

ART:

Learn about what makes for sound architecture and then try out unstable foundations and stable foundations.

Make any sort of fun creation on your own.

Draw something or make a clay sculpture and then try to recreate it with Legos.

LITERATURE:

Build a Lego theater/stage and then do a puppet show, live show (if you have lots of Legos), or a play using dolls as actors using the stage.

Learn about what a setting is and then build the setting of a book with Legos.

Build and enact a “Tall Tale” with Legos

Ms. Wise & Ms. Otherwise Report: On Math, Groceries and Feeling Good

Ms. Wise says, "Life is school, school is life. There's always learning going on whether we are purposefully trying to teach or not."

Yesterday I went to the grocery store. Alone. Just me, and my own self. I did what I nearly always do at the store. I tallied as I went. My system of tallying is pretty accurate. I am usually within $5.00 or less of the actual total. Here's how it goes. (Note to self: teach this little trick to all the kids.)

Everything I place in the cart adds $1.00 to the total. Actually, I should say that anything $.50 or more adds $1.00 to my tally. For instance, if the actual cost is $.64, it equals $1.00 towards my total. If there is an item that costs $.29 and another that costs $.25, then I would combine those two to make another dollar. If something costs more than $1.00, I add an additional dollar or two, as the situation warrants. By rounding up all the time, that takes care of the tax that will be applied at the end. (I don't weigh all my produce. I just make a guess.)

My tally this time at the grocery store came to $95.00. ~~Why do I tally? Why do I watch the items for errors as they scan them in? (Tough to do when they begin scanning before you have all your items out of the cart. Also tough to do because each store scans them in a different way to make it hard for you to decipher.) Someone wealthy and wise said doing this is a wise idea.~~

Wow! I am going in and out of my story today--Sorry! Back on track...hmmm, where was I. Oh, yes. $95.00. I had brought with me two competitor's coupons to use. One was for $.99 peanut butter and another for $5.99 for an 8 pack of paper towels.

The cashier rang up the peanut butter and paper towels somewhere in the middle of the order. Then, at the end, he tried to scan in the coupons. I had already questioned one item that he had scanned and didn't want to hold up the line again or look stupid if I was wrong again, so I didn't say anything about it.

The total amount I was to pay came to $80.26! Based on my tallying calculations, it didn't seem like the correct total. I had that niggling feeling in the back of my mind. But, before I could really take the time to process my thinking, I was done with my transaction.

I grabbed my mile long receipt from the case lot sale, and started to look it over. My eyes scanned the length of it two or three times seeking confirmation of items that were not appearing on the receipt. It seemed to be that the cashier had not charged me at all for the peanut butter or the paper towels. In addition to not charging me, he had also taken off $6.98 for the coupons. I had the items in my cart and was being paid to take them away.

AAARGH! I say this because now I had to visit the customer service desk. Did I have to? Yes, even though I had already been at the store longer than I had wanted to be and was reluctant to stay longer. I admit. I hesitated for a moment knowing how long it would take and the hassle of it all. Drat! {Ms. Wise wins again}

Yes, it took forever. Once it was my turn, they had to call a manager since they didn't know what to do with me. In the end though, I paid the 7 bucks for the items, but they couldn't do anything about the coupons, so I ended up essentially getting the items for nothing rather than having them pay me to take them. However, as is always the case, choosing the right made me glad I had.

What's the point of this long and probably boring story? It's the lessons of course! I can teach my kids math calculations, which is great and very useful. But, I can also teach them about making the right choice when you are by yourself or in a crowd. I can teach them about the good feeling you get when you make a good choice that wasn't the easiest thing to do.

Thanks, Ms. Wise, for coming through.