I'm journaling about our homeschool adventure through blogging. I write about all things that affect our homeschool, including my walk with the Lord of lords. I hope to be able to encourage where encouragement is needed through writing about my experiences.
Moments to Remember was developed as a simple way to look back on our week as homeschoolers and find photos that encompass the memories we want to remember. The week may have been tough, there may have been more bumps than smiles, but in the end, these are the moments that keep us going; the ones we need to remember.
Homeschooling does not come without challenges. Some days are more difficult than others. Today was no exception. Little Man got started on the wrong foot from the moment he got out of bed. No matter how hard I tried to be patient and work with his heart attitude, he refused to listen and obey. As a result, he got himself in what is called "in school suspension" (ISS).
This is not the first time he's had to sit by himself to do his work and miss out on fun activities. However, this is the first time I thought of it as ISS.
The blog here has been quiet for 2 weeks. Our schedule has been topsy turvy lately and I wanted to give an update. HMJ is the way to go!
In My Life
Crucifying myself, my pride and my will must be done on a DAILY basis. It's painful too. Not that I want to hang on to my selfish ways (or maybe I do?), but the flesh and the Spirit are at odds with each other. (Galatians 5:17) This war is difficult. Is that just me?
In Our Homeschool
Bible - These past few weeks have been about Jesus being the Head of the Body, the Church. (Col. 1:18). We've been learning how we can grow together and encourage one another in the Body of Christ.
History - This week in our American history studies, there are 4 new states to join the Union: Main - 1820, Missouri - 1821, Arkansas - 1836, and Michigan - 1837.
I learned something about my home state that I didn't previously know. Missouri is sometimes called the Cave State b/c of all the caves that have been discovered there. Tennessee is the only state that has more caves than Missouri. Who knew?
Science - Since we've been talking about Christ being the head of the Body, we've been taking a look at how our physical bodies work. We learned about how our brain and the 5 senses work together.
Math - We're wrapping up learning the addition facts. Then we'll move on to subtraction.
Language Arts - We're still trekking through Switched on Schoolhouse and Easy Peasy. Jonathan still dislikes handwriting practice and Adelle is getting better at composing letters. She's going to start writing a letter on Wednesdays. I'm calling it Letter Writing Wednesday. *smile* She will write a letter to a different friend or family member each week and mail it off.
Read Alouds - We're still in On the Banks of Plum Creek by Laura Ingalls Wilder. My last HMJ post stated that we are in the middle of it. I should've said that we started it. I didn't realize how many chapters are in this book. It's been fun though.
Places We're Going/People We're Seeing
My Sister-in-law (love) came to town for a 2 week visit. We took last week off to spend some time with her. This week we hit the books again during the morning, went to my in-laws house to continue to visit in the afternoon and stayed for dinner in the evenings. Then we had some more visitors! They are friends of my in-laws. Grandma's house has been quite full and our schedule has been full, fun and exhausting!
I'm taking a big ole nap tomorrow..... maybe.
We're Listening To
I'm still listening to and learning old hymns. The kids are listening to Awesome God album by Sovereign Grace Kids. I knew about a singer named Matt Boswell who writes modern hymns, but I have very recently discovered a couple of other modern hymn writers - Keith and Kristyn Getty and Stuart Townend. I still keep an eye on the lyrics to make sure they are Scripturally sound. Oh, and I also recently learned that Grace Community Church has published a new hymn book called Hymns of Grace.
Directly from Grace Community Church website - With more than 100 new hymns and melodies from the last twenty years, Hymns of Grace is truly a new hymnal! The collection features almost forty new hymns from Keith and Kristyn Getty and Stuart Townend, as well as titles from Sovereign Grace, David Ward, Christ Anderson, R.C. Sproul and Matt Boswell, among other modern hymn writers. We have also included classic hymns (some in new musical settings) - and six by John Newton, sixteen by Isaac Watts and eighteen by Charles Wesley.
Yes. I think I'm going to request one... just as soon as they're in stock again.
A Photo, Quote or Video to Share
Let me suggest a fantastic website called Grace Gems; A Treasury of Ageless, Sovereign Grace, Devotional Writings.
I signed up to receive the daily devotions in my email. Wow!
Here is today's Grace Gem:
The best name by which we can think of God! (Martin Luther)
"This, then, is how you should pray:Our Father in Heaven . . . "Matthew 6:9
The best name by which we can think of God is Father. It is a loving, deep, sweet, heart-touching name, for the name of Father is in its nature, full of inborn sweetness and comfort.
Therefore, also, we must confess ourselves to be His children--for by this name we deeply touch our God, since there is not a sweeter sound to the father than the voice of the child.
"He shall cry to Me: You are my Father, my God, and the rock of my salvation!"Psalm 89:26
You need to weigh in on the cost factor and count the costs of being a disciple of Jesus Christ.
It will cost you popularity. It will cost you promotion. Perhaps at times it will cost you an easy life. You will have to discipline yourself. You will have to buffed your body. You will have to say "NO" to temptation. You will have to say "NO" to this world. You will have to break with a crowd. You will have to be willing to stand alone for Christ. You will have to be willing to walk to the beat of a different drummer and to step out of the crowd, even if no one follows after Jesus Christ. You would be willing to stand if you were the only person in the world for Jesus Christ. That's the cost factor.
You will have to be willing to suffer persecution for Christ and let me tell you, it will come. It might even cost you your life.
He is not coming to play games. He is not coming to bedazzle.
He is coming to dominate. He is coming to slaughter.
He is the King of kings and He is the Lord of lords and at the end of this age, He will bolt out of Heaven on a white steed and His garments are dripped in blood; the blood of His own enemies and He is coming back to conquer and to damn.
You need to make terms of peace with this coming King or you will be subjected in damnation forever and Jesus Christ has made terms of peace.
You need to settle out of court with Him. You do not want to go into that final day of conflict with Christ.
For He will be ruthless in the execution of His justice, but He offers you mercy today. For He will agree to terms of surrender. He will agree to terms of peace, but they are His terms of peace, not ours and His terms of peace are very simply this: You must hate your own father and mother and brother and sister and even your own life more than Me or you cannot be My disciple. And you must take up a cross and follow Me or you cannot be My disciple. And if you do not, you will meet Me in the final judgement and it will glorify God in your destruction.
He is pressing you for a decision. He will not be put off. You cannot hit the mute button any longer in your heart. You must answer Him.
Verse 33, "so then", conclusion, "none of you can be My disciple"
"So then, non of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his own possessions." -Luke 14:33
He is saying none of you can be a true Christian. None of you can be in My Kingdom. None of you can be in right relationship with Me or the Father. None of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his own possessions.
What is our Lord saying? He is not backing off.
He is increasing the commitment that He is calling for with every line of this section. Well, He is not saying that you have to buy your way into the Kingdom of Heaven for none of us have enough gold and none of us have enough silver to ever remove the stain of sin that has defiled our inner soul.
What is He saying? Who does give up ALL of his possessions.
Well, this must be taken in context with other texts of Scripture and let me just cut to the bottom line of the bottom line. You must transfer the ownership of all that you are and all that you have to all that He is. That's what He is saying.
Jesus said, "I am the way and the truth and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me." And He is calling out to you today "Come unto Me, all ye who are weary and heavy laden and I will take you in and receive you unto Myself, take My yoke upon you and learn of Me for I am meek and lowly in heart and you shall find rest for your souls. For My burden is easy and My yoke is light."
It is.
You will have the weight of sin lifted off of you and you will now have the yoke of Christ upon you and He gets into that yoke with you and He pulls with you, but it will require the total commitment of your life to Him.
Oh, how we ought to search our hearts here today. Have I come to this place of total commitment in my life? Have I yielded my life to the sovereign lordship of Him who dies upon the cross for me? I want you to know that the gates of Paradise have been swung open to you. The narrow gate is open and if you will take a step of faith and come through this narrow gate, and commit your life to Him - despite the strength of His words. He also says, "him who comes unto Me I will in no wise cast out."
He is calling to you today to come, to come to Him; to take a step of faith and to come to Him, but if you come to Him, don't play games. You must surrender to Christ.
Moments to Remember was developed as a simple way to look back on our week as homeschoolers and find photos that encompass the memories we want to remember. The week may have been tough, there may have been more bumps than smiles, but in the end, these are the moments that keep us going; the ones we need to remember.
This was Terrible Tuesday. Well, maybe not so terrible, but it was chaotic a bit. So at one point when the table looked like this and the room was quiet for 5 minutes, I sat back and breathed a prayer of thanks.
I never knew that 5 minutes of calmness could be so special!
