Homeschool Mother's Journal ~ 9/27/13

I've gotten out of the routine of doing this each week and I really need to get back to it. Journaling in the purpose behind this blog. So here it goes....

IN MY LIFE THIS WEEK...

I have been seeking ways to be more mindful of God throughout the day. I am seeking to be closer to God in an intimate way. I don't want to think of Him only during my prayer times. I want to pray without ceasing and have my mind set on Him constantly! I have also been under the weather with my sinuses hurting and swelling. I'm also discovering that I am not Super Woman... I can't do it all.

IN OUR HOMESCHOOL THIS WEEK...

We have had to rearrange our schedule a little due to doctor appointments. Nonetheless, we are marching forward. In Bible, we're discovering the book of Proverbs and are committing Proverbs 9:10 to memory. In phonics, we have reviewed the vowel sounds and are beginning to learn different sounds that letters make. For example, s sometimes sounds like z. In math we're discovering number order. We are continuing to practice handwriting as well. This all sounds exciting, eh?

PLACES WE ARE GOING, PEOPLE WE'RE SEEING...
Tuesday we had a field trip to Krispy Kreme. We all got a free hot donut and a drink. We were supposed to listen to one of the bakers talk about the process of making the donuts, but they were short-staffed and he wasn't able to come talk to us. It's ok. At least we got to spend some time with our fellow homeschool friends. Wednesday the kids got to hang out with our Pastor for a bit while I went to the doctor for some lab work... my annual check-up. Thursday I had a dental cleaning appointment, so Adelle and Jonathan got to spend some time with Grandma. It has been a crazy week!

HELPFUL HOMESCHOOL TIPS/ADVICE...

If you move into a new house at the beginning of the school year, go ahead and focus on getting most of the boxes unpacked and organized. It's ok to start school at a later date. Flexibility is the beauty of homeschooling... a lesson I'm still learning. 

MY KIDDO'S FAVORITE THING WAS...

Adelle really enjoyed cooking dinner with me this week. I need to get better at involving the children more in things like that. Jonathan enjoyed playing aggravation with Grandma and winning!

I AM READING...

A book called Follow Me written by David Platt. The back of the book says, "Is it possible for people to say they believe in Jesus but not truly be born again? Is it possible for people to claim they have accepted Christ into their hearts yet not actually be Christians? Pastor David Platt is convinced that many people in our churches today are misled as to what it truly means to be a follower of Christ." This is a very intriguing book and it says some things that I believe are true. It is thought-provoking indeed!

A QUOTE TO SHARE...
"My word for the day: Purity. I desire for my motives to be pure, in everything I say, in everything I do and even in my thoughts - that they will be captive to the obedience of Christ." ~Me

Loving Our New Curriculum

Last school year was a tremendous struggle for us. Our previous curriculum was very rigorous and left us exhausted. By the time April rolled around, the kids were done learning and I was done teaching. We were left unmotivated to carry on with it.  So I decided to look at the other curriculums for this school year. Choosing a curriculum is quite the task! I finally choose My Father's World.  This year is much more relaxed and fun. Wanna know why I am loving My Father's World?

1. MFW is a scripture-centered curriculum. Children memorize God's word and develop a Biblical world view right along with learning phonics, math and science. While academics are important, raising believers in Jesus Christ and following Him is far more important to me. At the end of the day, and our lives, God isn't going to look at our academic achievements. He is looking at our hearts and whether we love Him or not. 

The children also learn character virtues with MFW. I didn't know that when I first bought it and I had bought Character Concepts for this purpose before purchasing MFW.  It's all good though because having both sets of curriculum gives me a great many ideas to cover the character virtues. They have gone together beautifully.

2. MFW applies the Charlotte Mason Method of learning. I absolutely loved the CM methods when I first ran across it a year and a half ago. I need a lesson plan that someone else made to follow. If I don't have a plan, I'm just lost and developing my own lesson plan was stressful and very overwhelming. Learning that MFW was developed around the CM method pretty much sold me. 

3. MFW takes a hands-on approach to learning. The curriculum packs are loaded with engaging manipulatives and activities for exploring all the subjects. Adelle and Jonathan both are having fun learning this way. 

Sorting and Classifying

4. MFW provides curriculum for preschool through high school. MFW begins with a learning unit for toddlers and preschoolers and advances to kindergarten through high school. Everything I will need for each grade level is provided.  One stop shopping. I like that. 

I think it's safe to say that we will probably stick with this curriculum for a long time.  

Transition Time

Lunch outside

We moved into our house about a month ago. We are lacking, lacking, lacking organization at this point. We don't even have a house phone yet let alone internet access. Therefore, I haven't been able to keep up with blog posts here. I promise that once we get settled, I will start blogging again. Until then, just know that we are moving forward with our home studies and the house is getting in order at turtle pace.  

Enjoy the pictures to highlight what we've been doing behind the scenes. 

Watching a worm in the dirt.

Handwriting, handwriting.
Jonathan actually enjoys his paper work.

Life skills.

Learning to put shirts on the hanger. 

They got to help paint their bedrooms. 

Thanks to Grandpa and Grandma

More to come soon!

First Day Success

We have started our school year in the middle of a big move. We started the process of purchasing a house back in March. Our plan was to buy it, move in and use the summer to organize everything. Funny how life doesn't happen the way you plan it. We waited 4 long months for this purchase to go through (it's a long story). We closed on it end of July and we just moved in last weekend. I moved our school start date back twice. I seriously didn't want to wait to start in September, although I guess I could have since homeschooling gives me that kind of flexibility.  Anyway. The kids have been asking to do school work again (imagine that!) so I decided to go for it.  I was able to get all of our curriculum books and very basic supplies organized on a small shelf, just enough for us to begin. And we are sitting in the middle of the move pile in our dining room. Enjoy the pictures and don't look at all the boxes and such.  :-)

Checking out new school supplies. 

Checking out new books. 

Learning the globe.

 Land vs. water. 

Exploring

wooden shape blocks.

Chalkboard

writing. 

Future performers

We are going to have a fantastic school year! 

Creative Chore Chart Ideas

This is a chore chart made of felt. Seriously! It is! And HERE is where you can read about it and learn how to make it, should it float your boat. It's floating my boat!  Ha Ha Ha

I don't remember how I came across this, but I think it is BRILLIANT! It's creative, it's fun and I think it will be very motivational for my children.  They are into being big helpers right now, but I think this will give them a boost. 

And HERE is an ice cream cone chore chart. I like these ideas very much!


I'm not into felt and I'm not sure about making a cheeseburger, but this has inspired me to come up with a creative chore chart of my own.  I am currently working on an apple tree chart made from construction paper (to be laminated for duration) just in time for the fall. I hope to make more seasonal ones for Christmas, Winter and Spring. When I am done, I will share what I have created. In the mean time, check out these chore charts and be inspired! 

Character Concepts

Thanks to my friend Jill, I discovered a very good an excellent Bible curriculum a few months ago.  It's called Character Concepts. This curriculum is a tool for parents to teach their children good character qualities such as obedience, patience, respectfulness, responsibility, kindness, etc.... Children learn each character quality with a simple definition (that is easy to understand and remember), a corresponding scripture, an example of a real life story, a story of someone in history, and an example out of the Bible. It also comes with academic activities, but I've already gotten other plans. Anyway. We haven't started our new school year yet, but we have begun these lessons. 

This curriculum is written by Rick & Marilyn Boyer, who home schooled their many children. They  just basically wrote down how they taught their own children. I don't know about anyone else's children, but mine needed some character training a long time ago and I just didn't know how to do it. This curriculum comes with a Mom's Guide book that gives me lots of different ideas of how to teach these character qualities on a practical level. There is also a book called Leading Little Ones to God, which the curriculum strongly suggests, to teach Bible doctrine. It is so good fantastic! One lesson out of that book explains God on a child's level (without watering anything down), a suggested passage out of the Bible to read, a hymn to sing and an example prayer to pray with the children. I am loving it! I am also encouraged and enjoy reading the Boyer's blog. It's so good. (Can you tell I am just thrilled about this new find?!? LOL)

I really want to get Uncle Rick's Audio collection, but that's going to have to wait for now. 

Did I mention that this goes all the way through high school level? That excites me!

I know my children need this training pretty badly, but I am needing it just as much as them!

All Things New: My Testimony

God has been doing an awesome work in my life these past few months. Homeschooling my children has played a vital role in this miracle and I wanted to share it. It's a little lengthy so bear with me. 

I grew up in church. I learned all the Bible stores, songs, & memory verses. However, God was not real in my home as a child, and therefore He was not real in my life. I completely missed the point. I got to such a prideful place that I truly did not see my own sin. For 35 years, I tried to earn salvation by following the list of "do's" and "don'ts", the "church rules".  I just went through the motions, never abandoning myself, surrendering to God. For 35 years I struggled with pride, wore a mask and "faked it". My outward person looked real good, but I was dying on the inside.  It took living with my in-laws and trying to homeschool 2 young children for me to see who I really was. My true sinful-self was being reflected in my children. Upon seeing this, I began to try to overcome.... in my own strength. I was still depending on myself to make changes that only God Almighty could make and I was still making it about the list of rules, rather than a relationship with God. I struggled and fought this way for 2 years. Fear and anxiety began to grip me severely. I began to feel my soul dying and crying out for help. Night after night I would weep over the condition of my heart, cold and stony. I wept over my sins and still struggling to overcome in my own strength. Still hanging on to my own understanding, I felt that I didn't deserve to ask God to help me. After all, I wasn't even following the rules anymore. I continued to just wear the mask and wallowing in self-pity. February 15, 2013, I  reached my lowest point and reached out to a few people. My precious friend from KC, Wendi, and my Pastor, Mark began to intercede for me and ministered to me. It was that night that my eyes were opening to God's love for me. God loves me indeed! About 10 days later came the realization that I needed God Almighty to give me a heart transplant. I needed the stony cold heart taken out and a new heart of flesh to be given as mentioned in Ezekiel 36:25-27:

"Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.  I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances."

For 3 months I could pray only this scripture and praises to God. Nothing more. Nothing less. Then on a Friday night in May (wish I remembered the exact date here), a few people of our congregation came together for prayer. Words cannot express the beauty of the Holy Spirit freely working in that prayer meeting! Dorothy came in a little later and the ladies were led to pray for her. She asked us to pray for Tim, for his heart. She explained how has had so much hurt and his heart was hard and cold. (no kidding!)  We prayed. She was sitting in a chair. I knelt down with one of my hands on her leg and I began to pray Ezekiel 36:25-27 for Tim. I understood his burden and my heart broke for him. I wept for him. I didn't know it that night, but as I prayed for someone else, something clicked in my heart. My breakthrough came. A couple of weeks later, I desperately surrendered my life, my will, my desires to God and asked Him to not let this be any more lip service. I was desperate to get rid of myself and to receive more of Him, of His Spirit. I surrendered and surrendered several times that week. Our Pastor was holding a water baptism service on June 9, 2013. I decided that I would make this proclamation of surrendering to God known. I would publicly proclaim that I am turning my back on sin and anything the world has to offer. I publicly proclaimed that I was done living life on my own strength. I publicly proclaimed that I am new and I have crucified my flesh, abandoned myself to be God's servant, no matter what happens. Before I stepped into that water, I knelt on the stairs and asked God to make this the beginning of my new life IN HIM.  

2 Corinthians 5:16-17

         "Therefore from now on we recognize no one according to the flesh; even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him in this way no longer. Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come."

I am made new. I am redeemed! 

The words of the song “What Do I Know of Holy” can really sum it all up for me:

I made You promises a thousand times

I tried to hear from Heaven, But I talked the whole time

I think I made You too small, I never feared You at all No

If You touched my face would I know You?

Looked into my eyes could I behold You?

(CHORUS)

What do I know of You Who spoke me into motion?

Where have I even stood But the shore along Your ocean?

Are You fire? Are You fury? Are You sacred? Are You beautiful?

What do I know? What do I know of Holy?

I guess I thought that I had figured You out

I knew all the stories and I learned to talk about

How You were mighty to save

Those were only empty words on a page

Then I caught a glimpse of who You might be

The slightest hint of You brought me down to my knees

What do I know of Holy?

What do I know of wounds that will heal my shame?

And a God who gave life "its" name?

What do I know of Holy?

Of the One who the angels praise?

All creation knows Your name

On earth and heaven above

What do I know of this love?

What do I know of You Who spoke me into motion?

Where have I even stood But the shore along Your ocean?

Are You fire? Are You fury? Are You sacred? Are You beautiful?

What do I know? What do I know of Holy?