Ashley Ashcraft
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  • Home
  • Military Wife Book
  • 40-Day Wife Challenge
  • ARTICLES
    • Hope In Marriage
    • Hope in Parenting
    • Hope in Military Life
    • Hope In Faith
    • Hope for the Holidays
  • Bible Study Group
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OurFaithful Home

Nature Hunt 

4/30/2016

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​As with most kids, our children love nature. Being outside is cheap and easy entertainment and one we utilize every singe day. Once we move to New York, I'm not sure how that's going to play out in the winter, but until then we'll keep enjoying the Alabama sunshine! While living in Arizona, we had a lush (for Arizona standards) yard filled with a variety of plants and trees. I save our egg cartons for a multitude of projects and decided it would be a perfect container to go on a nature hunt and learn about all the flowers, trees, and foliage in our yard. I asked Addie to collect a sample from each type of plant or tree in our yard. If you don't have a dozen types in your yard, take a walk in your neighborhood or at a park to fill the carton. 
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​After we collected our samples, we used Google to identify the flowers and leaves and I wrote the name by each item. Addie was two at the time so this was a fun way to practice color recognition. Recently, I downloaded an app called LikeThat Garden, which would have made the process much easier! All you do is take a picture of the flower and it returns items that match. We used it in our yard this week and were able to identify our flowers in seconds--a fantastic tool. 
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After we labeled all the specimens, I used our painted chalk table to have Adeline separate the flowers from the leaves. 
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Then, I decided to use the leaves and flowers to create an art project. I drew an outline of a flower and had her glue her findings on the appropriate parts. 
Now that Addie is three, I could take this project further with letter recognition and sounds, tracing, basic mathematics and the like. I enjoyed this project as much as my then two year old did and it's one I look forward to doing again with Lincoln and at a more advanced level with Addie. If you try these activities, let me know any fun variations you add to the mix! 
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Edible Finger Paint

4/18/2016

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Last week I wrote a post about painting with food, and included the fact that Lincoln kept trying (successfully) to eat the finger paint. He desperately wanted to be part of the action, but was limited because I could only keep him from ingesting paint for so long. After a couple minutes I had to remove him from the painting process and he became an audience member instead. A really upset audience member. Luckily, Becky came to the rescue! She suggested I mix yogurt and food dye together so Lincoln (and I!) could more thoroughly enjoy the artistic process. Clearly, he was in complete enjoyment!



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Keeping Your Children Busy While You Cook

4/7/2016

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One of parents' greatest challenges is how to keep their young children from screaming incessantly (or trying to kill one another) while preparing a meal, at least that's true for me. I don't know what it is about dinnertime, but come 5:00 my kids typically decide it's the right time to utterly, and completely melt down. And somehow, I'm supposed to make dinner despite their madness. While making a stew the other night, both children were losing their minds. I knew if there was any hope of us eating that night, I needed to come up with something quick to keep them busy. Cue food painting. 
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How to Keep Your Child Learning All Day

3/30/2016

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Staying at home with my three year old daughter allows me the privilege (and challenge!) of teaching her, well, just about everything. Although she would be happy to climb on a playground and finger paint all day (which we do plenty of), there is an entire world waiting for her to explore its possibilities. When I found myself focusing on similar areas over and over, I decided to create an activity chart to remind me of the array of subjects we can delve into through play. 

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​Welcome, Friend!


​​I'm so happy you're here! You are a beloved child of God with a meaningful story to tell and a calling to answer. I pray that while you visit my little corner of the world you discover that there is hope in the midst of your struggles, and it's found in the Scriptures. 

I'm a military wife, homeschooling mama, author, Down syndrome advocate, and nationally recognized educator whose deepest desire is to help you cultivate a loving relationship with Jesus. 
​
READ MORE ABOUT ASHLEY

- C O N N E C T -

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- M A N I F E S T O - 

THIS IS A PLACE OF GRACE, WHERE MISSTEP TRANSFORMS INTO MATURITY 
AND PRAISE ABOUNDS IN 
TRIAL AND TRIUMPH.