The Homeschool Mother's Journal ~ October 16, 2015

IN MY LIFE THIS WEEK

I just want more of the Lord. He must increase, but I must decrease.  I'm not satisfied doing it my own way. I'm not satisfied to "do" Church (only on Sundays) and walk away. I'm not satisfied living in yesterday's hour. I'm not satisfied to have the form but not the power. Where's the power of the cross in my life? Lord, help my unbelief.

IN OUR HOMESCHOOL THIS WEEK

Bible - These last 2 weeks, we've been learning and talking about how Jesus is the Rock, a firm foundation, the cornerstone upon whom we build our faith and lives. We've been memorizing Mattew 7:24 - ..Everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock.

History - We've been learning about George Washington and touched a bit on the French and Indian War and events leading up to the Revolutionary War. I don't know who is learning more, the children or me! (I have forgotten a lot of history). 

Science - We've learned how we get our seasons. We put a lamp in the middle of the table w/o its shade to represent the sun. We then moved the globe around the lamp, demonstrating the earth's orbit around the sun, thus showing how that gives us seasons. Granted, our earth size to the sun size was by no means correct, but this lesson certainly got the point across. Today, we are going to draw a tree outside, exactly how we see it. Then we'll go back to that same tree and draw it again in the winter, spring and summer. (I'll have to add notes in my curriculum books to remind myself to do that the rest of the year.)

Our Read Aloud

Language Arts - These children continue to amaze me with the way they can remember what they're being taught. Adelle's handwriting is coming along nicely. Poor Jonathan.... He's trying. 

Math - We started to learn how to add 9 this week. Those unit blocks are helping a great deal with that! I really like Math-U-See. 

Reading - As a read aloud, we are reading through Sarah Whitcher's Story. Little Sarah wanders away from her family's cabin into the New Hampshire forest and settlers come from all across the countryside to help find her. As the long days pass, the searchers grow desperate, but her father's trust in God holds firm. We're only in the 2nd chapter, but my children are quite engrossed!

MY FAVORITE THING THIS WEEK

I must say, I had fun helping the children make salt dough rocks. To reinforce that Jesus is our Rock, we made rocks, or paper weights, out of salt dough. I etched Jesus the Rock into the dough before we baked them. 

MY CHILDREN'S FAVORITE THING THIS WEEK

Adelle's favorite thing this week was making her "Jesus the Rock" paper weight. Jonathan's favorite thing this week was moving the "earth" around the "sun" in science. 

I'M READING

Voice of the Martyrs

I just finished reading Voice of the Martyr's book Hearts of Fire. It is a collection of testimonies of 8 women from different backgrounds and the struggles they each faced ringing with similarity. From Pakistan, India, Romania, the former Soviet Union, China, Vietnam, Nepal and Indonesia, these women shared similar experiences of hardship and persecution -- all for their faith in Christ -- yet they have emerged from adversity as leaders and heroines. Persecution of the Church is not new and it certainly still going on today. I don't normally read these kinds of books. It was free and when I got it in the mail, I put it away and it stayed in my drawer for weeks. One Sunday afternoon, I picked it up and began to read. I'm in my recliner sobbing at the first story yet I can't put the book down. I couldn't put it down for the next 2 weeks! The amazing thing that stuck out to me was the fact that each story talked about how God's peace filled these ladies as they were going through their persecutions. Maybe the Lord was trying to show me this fact about Himself through this book. I don't have to worry about what's going to happen to me b/c He is always there and He will give grace and peace to sustain me.

I know absolutely nothing about persecution. Nothing at all. In fact, I am quite embarrassed to call myself a Christian. If faith costs me nothing, is it even faith at all? That's not to say that I'm looking for torture, but is there hard evidence in my life that would make someone accuse me of following Christ at all costs? I should say not. Wretched indeed. 

I'M LISTENING TO

Tommy Walker

Hymns! Old and new. Back in January this year, I made a goal to learn to sing and play (on the piano and sax) hymns that I didn't know previously. I have learned several hymns this year. The lyrics of these hymns are deep and rich with theology. We can learn a lot from the old hymns and learn about God from them. These modern contemporary surface only songs do not compare.  

Matt Boswell

Selah does a fabulous job arranging the hymns. I just found an album by Tommy Walker called Generation Hymns where he has added choruses and even rearranged the melodies. I do
like a hymn with a great chorus added to it, a chorus that doesn't change the focus of the song. I've heard hymns that have been added to that just doesn't make sense.

Matt Boswell has also added to old hymns as well as written new ones. 

I'M LEARNING.... 

I'm learning all kinds of things in History that I had forgotten or that I didn't learn at all. I didn't know all the inventions and great work Ben Franklin achieved (from last week). I certainly have forgotten about the French and Indian War!

I'm also learning that this is a family, not a dictatorship. See the video below. I've been trying to rule in this home without developing relationships. Yeah, that's not right and it hasn't been working; nor have I been demonstrating God's character and love. Ggggrrrrrr.....

A QUOTE TO SHARE
"Rules without relationships lead to rebellion." ~ Josh McDowell

SCRIPTURE OF THE WEEK
Therefore, since Christ suffered in the flesh [and died for us], arm yourselves [like warriors] with the same purpose [being willing to suffer for doing good for what is right and pleasing God], because whoever has suffered in the flesh [being like-minded with Christ] is done with [intentional] sin [having stopped pleasing the world] so that he can no longer spend the rest of his natural life living for human appetites and desires, but [lives] for the will and purpose of God.
1 Peter 4:1-2 Amplified Bible

Here is the latest hymn I've been learning....

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My Heart's Desire

This post is mainly for myself, yet, I share it in hopes to encourage others also. 

Scripture says, "Suppose someone wants to love life and see good days. Then they must keep their tongues from speaking evil. They must keep their lips from telling lies. They must turn away from evil and do good. They must look for peace and go after it. The Lord's eyes look on godly people, and he blesses them. His ears are open to their prayers. But the Lord doesn't bless those who do evil." (Psalm 34:12-16)

Who is going to hurt you if you really want to do good? But suppose you do suffer for doing what is right. Even then you will be blessed. Scripture says, "Don't fear what others say they will do to hurt you. Don't be afraid." (Isaiah 8:12) But make sure that in your hearts you honor Christ as Lord. Always be ready to give an answer to anyone who asks you about the hope you have. Be ready to give the reason for it, but do it gently and with respect. 

Christ suffered in His body. So prepare yourselves to think in the same way Christ did. Do this because whoever suffers in their body is finished with sin. As a result, they don't live the rest of their earthly life for evil human desires. Instead, they live to do what God wants. 

Ungodly people are surprised that you no longer join them in what they do. They want you to join them in their wild and wasteful living. So they say bad things about you. But they will have to explain their actions to God. 

Dear friends, don't be surprised by the terrible things happening to you. The trouble you are having has come to test you. So don't feel as if something strange were happening to you. Instead, be joyful that you are taking part in Christ's sufferings. Then you will have even more joy when Christ returns in glory. 

Suppose people say bad things about you because you believe in Christ. Then you are blessed, but God's Spirit rests on you. He is the Spirit of glory. If you suffer, it shouldn't be because you are a murderer. It shouldn't be because you are a thief or someone who does evil things. It shouldn't be because you interfere with other people's business. But suppose you suffer for being a Christian. Then don't be ashamed. Instead, praise God because you are known by the name of Christ. 

Here is what people who suffer because of God's plan should do. They should commit themselves to their faithful Creator. And they should continue to do good. 

1 Peter 3:10-14, 

             4:1-2, 4-5, 12-16, 19

I pray that I may be so zealous for the Lord that I truly don't care a thing about what happens to me. I want Him to be enough, because He IS enough.

This is my heart's desire.

And I pray my children are set ablaze for Christ's name sake as they learn the ways of the One True God.


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DIY Moon Sand, err, Cloud Dough

Moon sand, or Cloud Dough, is easy to make and a fun sensory play experience. It's almost like wet sand, but not gritty.  It's pretty soft, pliable and a little messy. 

So much fun! 

I actually heard of this about 4 years ago under the name "Cloud Dough" and made up a batch. I store it in an airtight plastic container and it has kept for all this time. When we got it out a couple of weeks ago, I had to add a little more oil to it, otherwise, it was still good! That is just amazing. 

Even though I already had some on hand, I wanted the kids to experience making the concoction themselves. The list of ingredients is quite extensive..... NOT!  

Just flour and oil! The first time we made it, we used baby oil. This time we used vegetable oil, making it edible should the Little Tot wanted to taste it. 

The original batch used 4 cups oil and 3/4 cups baby oil. I wanted the kids to make just enough for themselves so they could take it home with them. So we measured 1 c. flour. To figure how much oil to use, we began with 1 Tbs and adding slowly by the tablespoons until we got the right texture.  

The "right" texture is when it starts to stick together, but not wet. 

After we got it all measured and mixed, I think we ended up using 2 Tbs or maybe 3. I can't remember. I waited too long to blog about it. 

          

           

As you can see, the children had fun with this. 

Maybe a little TOO much fun!  

Don't see Adelle and Jonathan pictured? Yeah, that's because their unacceptable behavior that day resulted in being grounded to their rooms and missing out on this fun activity. 

NOTE: I came across a blog where a mom and her son made Cloud Dough and Moon Sand. I guess there is a difference in the textures. She used corn starch and flour together with water. 

We might have to try that recipe sometime. 

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Making Homemade Butter: FAIL

After learning about life in America during colonial times last week, we were to going make butter this week.  I had directions in my teacher manual to put some heavy cream into a jar and shake for 20 minutes. Then I went to the internet to see if anyone else put their butter making experiences out there. 

They did. 

We watched lots of butter making videos. Some people shook it in a jar while others used food processors and electric mixers. We thought we were set to go ahead and give butter-making a try using the food processor. 

Here's what happened:

I was all ready, with camera in hand, to make butter, take pics and show off our butter making experience. 

I didn't know I was going to broadcast a FAILed experience! LOL

Anyway...

We poured some regular heavy whipping cream into the food processor. After about 3 minutes, we stopped to see if we had whipped cream yet. 

It was not quite whipped cream; 'twas a little thicker but not whipped cream consistency. Drippy drippy off the spoon. 

So we turned the machine on again. After about 5 minutes, we checked again. The substance looked a little more like whipped cream. On again we go.....

  

So after about 10 more minutes, it looked like it was beginning to separate. We left the machine on after that and watched the outside of it until we saw the butter clumping and the butter milk separating from the butter.

We never really saw that happening. So we checked it again and decided we needed to scrape down the sides. 

We mixed more and it never turned to butter and butter milk. 

So, not knowing what in the world I'm doing, I thought that maybe the mixer was too big or we didn't have enough heavy cream, so I decided to transfer to my teeny food processor.

You'll never guess what happened after that! 

After mixing in the itty bitty processor, the cream turned into liquid. All liquid! No thickness. No clumps!  What in the world?!?  

At that point I decided to pour into 2 mason jars. 

I thought maybe we needed to shake by hand. So the kids shook and shook. They took the jars outside and ran around the yard with them and shook, shook, shook and shook some more.  This whipping cream never got passed thick cream, but not even to whipped cream consistency. 

We spent a total of 45 minutes trying to turn this cream into butter.  Ach!

I don't know if we used the wrong kind of whipping cream or if the cream was bad, or if we mixed too much or if maybe I shouldn't have let it sit out at room temp for a bit before we started. Whatever the reason, we did NOT make homemade butter! 

I can only laugh. This was quite the experience. 

Linking up with Fellowship Fridays.

Our 2015-2016 Curriculum

I had a LOT to think about when it came time to plan for this school year, especially after I agreed to take on 2 more children. I knew we were going to do something different for Adelle's 3rd grade. I have spent plenty of time on the internet researching different curriculums, checking out blogs and watching homeschooling videos on Youtube. And I thought I knew what I was going to use for 1st grade b/c I already had curriculum books. Here we are, having chosen some things and bought the books and still, changing things up a bit. Here is what curriculum we are using this school year (and some of the changes still being made).

Believe me, it's all more than just easy peasy! 

All Together

We are learning most subjects together. This is a HUGE help! Bible, History, Science, & Music. I like Charlotte Mason's philosophy about children's learning environment and I'm so the type that needs help to plan everything so we went with My Father's World again, since it is based on the CM method of teaching.

K5

For phonics, reading and handwriting we are using Abeka. It's a little tough, but it's very thorough and Mr. K5 really needs it. 

1st Grade

We started out with Abeka for 1st grade, but I am so done with Abeka.  I've stopped using it (all except for handwriting) and we are supplementing with Easy Peasy free online homeschool program. I'll continue with that until I figure something else out. 

                     

3rd Grade

As stated before, we are using My Father's World. American History, Science, and Bible are included in that curriculum. MFW suggested Language Lessons for Today and Spelling Power to complete language arts. Language Lessons has been great. It's very easy to use. On the other hand, Spelling Power has been a bit of a challenge. I really can't make up my mind if I want to muddle through it or change to something else. I am considering Spelling You See. 

                       

 

Math

Math-U-See.  When I watched the overview video on the Math-U-See website, it got me excited about math! I jumped us all in with both feet! Mr. K5 is starting with the Primer level and I went ahead and placed Adelle and Jonathan at the Alpha level together. 

We are 6 weeks into our school year and still making adjustments, but it's all good. Figuring everything out is part of this journey. 

The Homeschool Mother's Journal ~ Sept. 5, 2015

IN MY LIFE THIS WEEK

The Lord is always amazing me. He is so gentle and patient. His reproof is so necessary in our training in righteousness. I must welcome it... ALL of it. It is difficult to bear sometimes and my flesh literally cries at the rebukes, but my spirit always testifies with His. He must increase. I must decrease. 

Everything boils down to the 2 greatest commandments: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength, and You shall love your neighbor as yourself. (Mark 12:30-31) If I haven't loved Almighty God with everything fiber of my being, then I have sinned. If I haven't loved others with the same potency that I am loving myself, then I have sinned.  Any "should I?" questions must be weighed against those 2 greatest commands. 

At the end of the day, the question is, "Which master am I going to serve?" We can't serve two masters.

Yes. I despise my own behavior a lot of the time.  

IN OUR HOMESCHOOL THIS WEEK
Bible - We've been studying that Jesus is the Light and have memorized John 8:12.
History - We are learning American History this year. This week we learned about the Pilgrims. I, myself, didn't know the pilgrims tried to live in Holland before making their way to the New World. I also didn't realize they weren't the first people from across the sea to make America their new home. I guess I didn't retain much from my school days! LOL
Science - We've been learning about the stars, sun, constellations and the universe - in general terms.
Math, Language Arts, Reading - Not very interesting stuff to write about. Adelle's handwriting and reading skills continue to improve. Jonathan is blowing my mind with his reading abilities! He's learning cursive writing and tries very hard to do it correctly.
Music - We have listened to 2 patriotic songs and Jesus is the Light by Carman. Both children have started piano lessons back up. Adelle attends rehearsal for girl choir  on Monday evenings and Jonathan attended a rehearsal for the boy choir. 
Art - The kids continue to make little crafts at the Library Story time each week. We have also made some crafts in Bible to reinforce that Jesus is the Light.

HELPFUL HOMESCHOOL TIPS/ADVICE

#1 - You don't have to follow your curriculum lesson plans to a tee. Use what will best fit your children and schedule. 

#2 - Plan ahead! Just saying. 

These little tips are just reminders to myself.

I'M COOKING
Yeah.... I'm cooking, or we don't eat. That's just how our budget works right now. Sometimes I have to get creative and that is difficult for me. I do not enjoy being in the kitchen, yet I'm in there 75% of the time!

WHAT'S WORKING/NOT WORKING FOR US

I don't think the boy choir is going to work out for us this year. I hate that! I want Little Man to be involved in the boy choir this year so much! That type of instruction and structure will be a good thing for him, but we're just going to have to wait until next year. Not only are we not going to be able to pay for it, but I, as a parent volunteer to the choir, will not be able to make that kind time commitment. There is too much on my plate already. 

I AM THANKFUL FOR

My husband. He fears God. His pursuit of God and His righteousness inspires and challenges me.

I AM WATCHING
I watched Audacity this week. You might find it interesting.

A QUOTE TO SHARE

"By perseverance the snail reached the ark. It is not how much we have, but how much we enjoy that makes happiness.  Trials teach us what we are; they dig up the soil and let us see what we are made of." ~Charles Spurgeon

SCRIPTURE OF THE WEEK
This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we life and do not practice the truth; but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us.  1 John 1:5-10


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I Need a Break Already?!?

We just finished our 4th week of school. As you know, I am schooling my own 2 littles with an additional 2 littles and I am co-leading our homeschool support group this year. By the end of today, I am feeling stressed and overwhelmed.

I know that there are other women out there with so much more on their plates than me. There are other families with more than 2 and 4 children. I know that balancing all these responsibilities can be done. I just don't know how they do it!

I'm not sure if I'm just wired differently or if I'm just plum lazy. Either way, I don't have the capacity at this point to be able to balance all this all the time and not get overloaded. I just can't.

There is a solution!

I have come across something called Sabbath Schooling. It is a schedule where you school for 6 weeks, then take the 7th week off.

School 6 weeks.

Rest 1 week.

Repeat.

You can read more detailed posts on Sabbath Schooling on other blogs here, here and here. 

I have looked at this before, but never really needed to apply it until now. After taking a look at the calendar, we will school for 2 more weeks, then take one week off. During that time we can get other things done that have kinda been pushed to the back burner, such as: finishing making some file folder games and other homemade learning games: going through Jonathan's closet - again, reorganizing the school shelf, etc....  With a 35 Week school year, we can still be done by the end of May, unless life happens and we have to extend the lessons a little. 

Yes, this will save my sanity & the children's little spirits and keep everyone from burn out.

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