How fair the realm imagination opens to the view

Preschool. Preschool?

2012-01-24T20:50:00.000-06:00

Hard to believe the little man is starting to be interested in numbers, letters, colors and whatever else he can get his hands on. I'm brainstorming some preschool ideas that will help him have some educational fun while learning a little.
Counting Coconuts is a great site for hands on preschool activities. I'm nowhere near as organized as this blogger, but am inspired nonetheless. I'll be visiting her blog and searching for other sources if ideas in the coming days and weeks.

Victory is Sweeter for the Struggle-I think

2012-01-12T12:34:00.000-06:00

In this, our fourth year of homeschooling, I'm realizing that I may be a little dense in the head. Things that should've been obvious to me have taken me much longer than necessary to actually sink in. Like the fact that we have cycles, or patterns to our moods and attitudes toward schooling, and that nothing is really gonna stay the same way forever. This fact is sometimes good- like when I need to remember that the difficult things will someday not be so difficult- and sometimes bad- like when I realize that what worked yesterday isn't working at all today.
Spelling was a huge struggle for my eldest and we have a spelling program that we really like, but his attitude was one of defeat toward many areas of school. According to our spelling book, Spelling Power, he wasn't able to spell words on his grade level. He would get very upset about any spelling mistake he made. Then we didn't "do" spelling for a while. My excuse at the time was that life kept interfering, but I think I just didn't have the strength to fight that battle! So he read. All the time. About all I can take credit for is pushing him to read things that were in an area of interest for him that were a little above his "reading level" (I don't really know a number for his reading level or a specific definition, but trial and error got us to the books that had a few words he didn't know, or at least didn't use regularly.) This year we did the placement tests again and he tested at his grade level. I probably shouldn't have been surprised, but I was. We had tried learning spelling rules, but that just didn't work for him. His maturity had caught up with where he "should" be (rejecting the the "should be" is a subject for another post entirely) and his love of reading had helped him along. As he read and encountered new words he was motivated to understand and remember them for the sake of the story and didn't even realize that he was gaining vocabulary that would ultimately help him remember how the words were spelled. I think that now, if we discussed them, he would have a deeper understanding of the spelling rules because of the words he read.
This victory is something I need to remember in the midst of the struggles now. My daughter is in fourth grade and has, until now, been my can-we-please-do-school-on-a-Saturday student. Her main struggle now is long division and oh! the conflicts we have over this! I remember hating long division. She can do it; she all but refuses. I know there will be a light someday at the end of this hating math tunnel. I tell myself it can't go on forever. But then I've been at odds with math for much of my life :) I'd kind of hoped that they would be math geniuses and I wouldn't have to do much- that they'd just be born knowing the intricacies of the subject I like least! One plus is that this struggle, though still not completely resolved, has been helped tremendously by a sight my son loves called Khan Academy, with videos to explain concepts and a way to practice online. At least they are not both hating math with equal vigor right now!
At the beginning of the year I felt that our theme for the year was going to be learning to yield, a very difficult lesson to be sure! I feel the spotlight of God's conviction so keenly in this area and yet, though I know that is the focus of the season God has me in, I fight against it! I wish to yield yet pride raises its ugly head again and again. I do know that on the day when Christ brings me to my eternal home, the freedom from this struggle against self will be the sweet.

New

2011-12-30T14:27:00.000-06:00

Our weather has been unseasonably warm and sunny and has gotten me thinking about spring time. I'm perusing seed catalogues and dusting off my gardening books. Botany is on the books for our science in a couple of months and I have already been planning my projects. Raised beds, making a compost bin, using some great online ideas like vertical pallet planters.
The newness of spring, of any fresh start is such a beautiful thing. I am deeply grateful for all the fresh starts I've been given and the new year is no different.
I am starting a radio show with a friend that promises to be great, joining a photography company as editor (working from home and so grateful for the chance to continue homeschooling). Homeschooling changes will come in the form of trying online resources for math for my oldest (who is making leaps and bounds of progress!) as well as renewing our goal of keeping Christ and His Word the center of our schooling.
Days promise to be full and sometimes chaotic.

God promises to be faithful.

What more could a girl ask for?

I don't have it all together

2011-10-18T22:31:00.000-05:00

We returned home from a busy day at the FireEscape coffeehouse and since we hadn't had much family time we all left together for a few minutes to run a quick errand. We are in a small town and sometimes we don't lock the door to our home when we leave. It is still a little crazy to me to do so, as we were living in metro-Houston area and locked the door every time we left. When we got home I noticed that someone from church had returned my daughter's toothbrush (she'd forgotten it after a sleepover at a friend's house) and left it on the very cluttered counter of our kitchen. I've been trying to keep things tidy, but anytime my help is needed with the ministry the housework definitely suffers.

Instantly the downward cycle of negative thoughts began. I have struggled with letting go of the need to impress people and replacing it with a desire to please my God, but pride rises up so quickly. I prayed that as I rest in His grace, my friends in Christ will extend grace to me. I don't have it all together, I may never get any better at juggling everything. I'm beginning to feel that only when I allow the mask to fall and let everyone see me for the mess I really am will they see all that Christ is in my life.

Tonight He was my belt of truth, the force holding me together when I wanted to dissolve into a sobbing mess, mourning over the shame of my messy kitchen. (Ok-the shame of my messy HOUSE.) He was my enough-grace-for-the-moment when the baby was tired, and the big kids were tired and no one was in bed on time, including a tired mommy. Today He was my strength as I went between my ministry role, my mommy role, my teacher role and my housekeeper role. He was my boldness when I tried to obey His leading me out of my comfort zone. How will anyone see all that Christ has been to me today if I am hiding behind a mask of having-it-all-together?

I will be reminding myself of God's grace tonight. I will need it because the enemy will be attacking with the same lies of "not good enough," and "you're the only one." I will lie down tonight asking for the truth to wrap around me and hold me together. I will remember that salvation protects me, the righteousness of Christ enrobes me, that faith shields me.

Jesus Christ is my source, He is my center.

Christmas is Coming

2011-09-20T11:09:00.000-05:00

I learned last year that I'd need more time to work on homemade gifts for Christmas, so I've already started planning. High on my priority list is choosing crafts that will use some of my fabric stash. I've got some great ideas that I'll post soon.

One challenge to handmade gifts for guys is that most crafts are very feminine. I've found a few that may work and will be trying out some. Many of the ideas I've found are on my Pinterest boards. (User name corrielou if you want to find me.) Last year I followed a tutorial to make a messenger bag for my hubby's laptop out of leather from a leather coat I bought in a thrift store. Not quite sure how I'll top that! I haven't found anything that he'll like that I could make.

I did see that 100 Days to Christmas is having a Kindle give-away today. That would be a great gift for my son or hubby! I'm still planning and will soon start crafting!

Crazy Days

2011-08-22T13:48:00.000-05:00

I sincerely believe, somewhere deep in my heart, that routine is best. I can actually remember where I put things when routine is followed! To start the school year, or get us back on track after a break I keep us on schedule almost rigidly. But after about two weeks of that kind of schedule minding, we settle into a rhythm that helps us get most of the things done that we need to do. The one thing that I feel we don't do enough of is a regular family Bible time, to really study God's Word together. We're still trying to figure out what works best for us in that area.

This will be our 4th year of homeschooling. As the big kids are older, I'm enjoying the fact that they can work more independently than ever before and I'm challenging them in that more this year. The two year old can really throw a wrench in any plans I make. One thing that I gleaned from the Heart of the Matter's Online conference was from 's seminar- about trying to make the day more toddler friendly if said toddler is interrupting frequently! So our routine will be undergoing changes in that regard very soon.
My husband and I pre-record an 8 hour radio show for the ministry which has a low power FM radio station (also streaming online here). It takes about 2 hours to record the short music announcements, ministry announcement and Scriptures that we share on air. We also get a little silly sometimes and it is lots of fun. It is so far outside of my comfort zone and definitely is one of the things that I am relying on God to do!

This is a glimpse of our current routine:
So from 6:30-8:30am we are in the studio recording our radio show. Our eldest is responsible for the toddler at this time and has been proving himself to be so responsible.
I'm trying to remember to have something to read to the kids while we prepare breakfast, or just after we eat together. A scripture, an encouraging quote or a bit of our history lesson.
Around 9 we get started with academics, after a prayer together. My 9 year old has Tot School time with the youngest for about 15-20 min. I try to have a simple activity planned for her to do with him. I'm not so good about having these organized, but getting better. While she is with the toddler, I'm discussing the math instructions with the 6th grader. After about 15 minutes the toddler gets to watch a video while I help her understand the math instructions. We move on to Bible, Language Arts, Science, Art, Music-whatever is in our school planner for the day. We do not do all of these things everyday. Sometimes for science we have to use language arts skills. Sometimes in music we take note of math concepts. We're challenging ourselves to memorize lots of Bible this year, but Bible discussion might take place while we look at a work of art. We have discussions about what we think about certain verses while we practice sketching protists for the science blog we'll be starting soon, or coloring a picture for our history timeline.

Usually lunch is around 12:30 and then the toddler naps while we read history and the kids write their summaries of what we read. The kids can finish any of their independent practice for math, science or language arts. I'd love to be fitting in more read-a-loud time with them and more science activities. They will be starting a foreign language next week and hopefully we'll be getting a piano soon.

At any point in the day I am going back and forth between my two students and the toddler as well as switching out laundry, starting meal prep, or doing some work on Photoshop for ministry events announcements so all in all I feel like every day is non-stop!

Sometimes I wonder if there is anything I could simplify- something I could stop doing so my days would be calmer. But I think that right now I'm supposed to be doing what God has placed in front of me. He's calling me to work hard right now and that may look completely different from what He has called someone else to do. They may be working hard for God and for their families in a totally different way. I'm content in knowing that I am following Him and knowing that He gives grace for even the craziest days!

Lawrence Academy 2011-2012

2011-08-15T17:14:00.000-05:00

Lawrence Academy 2011-2012

He doesn't really like to
have his picture taken! So I
snapped one just before
we took off on a bike ride
to the park.

6th grader Loves video games, especially his newest interest, Minecraft
I love to watch how God is growing our oldest into a responsible, caring young man. His strengths are his compassion and leadership skills. He is an avid reader and a deep thinker. He sometimes loves to lead a little too much, even when those he's trying to lead don't want to follow! This year the focus for all of us is yieldedness but this young man will be applying it to academics as well as the changes coming his way as we all navigate the waters of pre-adolescence with him. Since the beginnings of our homeschool journey he has had times of reluctance with writing and struggles with math. This year has been a good start and I am optimistic that we will make great progress!

with "Mystery" the bunny

4th grader Animal lover, jokester of this homeschool. Her sense of humor keeps us all smiling! She is smart and enjoys coloring, completing her work and reading. I love her point of view and am so grateful for the way she just gets right to work most of the time. However, my daughter is so much like me in her stubbornness! This causes us to have some serious conflict. Her challenge this year will be learning to yield, even without begin given all the details or explanations. Obedience without negotiation will be her goal. I love having a sweet girl to share time with in this house of boys!

Pre-pre-pre-schooler

When I see a camera I "cheeeeze!"

The cutest thing is when he scribbles on a random piece of paper and yells, "Me do maff!" He thinks he is doing school with us all day long. His big sis is assigned to him as a tot-school teacher sometimes and will be helping him with some fun hands-on, Montessori inspired activities. Other than that he'll be making us macaroni and hot cocoa in his play kitchen in the school room, or crashing his dump truck into the schoolroom desk. We're most worried when he gets quiet, as was the case when he decided to decorate the front room with permanent black marker (by the way, white toothpaste removes black permanent marker from wood-work without a trace!)

Mom will be trying to squeeze in some writing time, some reading time and hoping to stay more on top of record-keeping this year, in addition to volunteering at the FireEscape Youth Ministry and recording the daily radio show Monday through Friday with my hubby on KFEX. (Sometimes I might just drop everything and get crafty.)

Whew- it's gonna be a busy year!

School Room 2011-2012

2011-08-09T17:05:00.002-05:00

Our home was built around the turn of the century and is a very large house with tons of character and lots more projects to be completed! The school room is where we store and organize our school stuff, and most of the time we start in here, then we move around the house while we live and learn!

The school room is on the first floor of our home.

Just through the doorway is the 'library'. The house was once a doctor's office and residence. The room we use as a school room was once an examination/surgery room! There are 3 living areas, (not counting the school room) so it was obvious to me to use one as a library! I'm envisioning floor to ceiling bookshelves and a rolling ladder!
The school room also has a door to the bathroom that is coming in very handy for potty-training the little one right now.

Our maps and whiteboard on this wall get lots of use.

These are hanging file pockets that I made.

The caddy on the desk is bristling with pens, pencils, highlighters and other things we need to have close at hand. We got the desk when an optometrist in town relocated and got rid of most of their furniture. If you were to open the drawers you would not find organization.

I tried to write a tutorial on how I made the hanging pockets. I'm not sure I'm a tutorial writer. I think it would just be confusing and these are not that expensive. These are helping us keep all the stuff that the kids use daily just a little more organized. My first born is thriving more this year with our attempts to be more organized!

I am so thankful for these closets. This one holds most of our school supplies, our math-u-see blocks and other math manipulatives. The grey shelf holds activities for the two year old, just some hands on stuff he can get into while we try to get school work done including uncooked pasta to poke through holes in the lid of an empty oatmeal container, homemade playdough and coloring books with cute fat crayons. His big sis, who is 9, has time written in her schedule "Tot School Teacher," a fancy way to say- "play with your brother while mom explains math to the 6th grader in the family!"

Our art closet is very messy looking, but I did just organize it! This is a place for art supplies and all the empty containers and toilet paper rolls I save for craft projects. The fact that I can close the door on this closet helps my husband not think I'm a crazy hoarder!
This closet is always accessible to my crafty girl, who loves to get creative. Unfortunately it is also within reach of a very curious two year old, so this room will only be this clean one or two times this year!

Curriculum 2011-2012

2011-08-06T09:38:00.001-05:00

We started My Father's World, Explorers to 1850 last year. Since we didn't finish it we'll be using that as the backbone for our academics, but far more important to me is the heart of what we'll all be learning this year; yieldedness.

I've come to the end of my efforts to "make this work." I am not able to hold it all together anymore- I'm not able to battle the wills of my children, my own pride and stubbornness and fight the war against mess. That is not a pity-party statement. I am at the end. But I don't give up- I yield. In church a couple of weeks ago we were singing a song about God's grace being enough and I was struck with how I wasn't living like I really believed that. I say that God can change me, then I make excuses about how I'm just not a morning person, I'm not an organized person. Hasn't He already begun changing me to be more like Christ? Why limit the changes to spiritual and leave my everyday life unchanged? Why continue to let anger flow from pride instead of laying all at the feet of my Beloved? Why not allow His grace to flow through every part of my day, my life, my heart?

There are changes occurring as a result of this yieldedness. I could boast about them-but my boast is in Christ alone. I am not doing these things to gain approval, but to let His life shine like light through me. I am not doing these things to check them off a list and keep a resolution that is temporary. He is working an eternal change in my life. He is holding all together.

As I prayed about homeschooling for this year God really began to show me that this problem of not yielding is widespread. My oldest, Charles, is starting 6th grade and has struggled with math since 2nd grade when he went to public school for a year. His problem in any subject is not that he doesn't understand, but that he doesn't want to submit to any way but his. Suggest him writing out the step-by-step for a math problem, even when he thinks he can get the same answer his way = immediate attitude and shut-down.

Then a week of me praying for God's insight, yielding to Him personally and talking with the kids about being yielded brought about Charles saying, "I guess you're right mom, this is a better way to do the math problem." Heart full of joy for this momma! Our first full week of school is done and the lesson of yieldedness will be our focus all year. If my life is any indication, it will be a goal for our entire lives to learn to be more and more yielded to the Lord. It will be a difficult year and I'm certain we will have set-backs of many kinds but I trust in God and in His good plans for us.

Fo' Reals

2011-08-02T17:03:00.000-05:00

As summer drew to a close, this was part of the scene of destruction and chaos that the baby exerted on the school room. We hadn't been in here except to use the desk for crafts. In the background my sewing table and ironing board can be seen. I was able to spend some time in here sewing a dress for myself and a few small baby shower gifts.

As for the house, no more progress has been made on the myriad home improvement projects. We have decided to rent instead of buy, and this will benefit us as well as the homeowner, for whom we will be continuing to work on the house as we live here. I feel like we are settled in, even though there are some boxes that have yet to be unpacked, due to the unfinished nature of some rooms.

I'm working on getting our routines back in check after a very busy summer. Here in Kansas there are more close friends and we have made the most of spending much time with them. Pool trips, a visit to the lake, trips to see family, lots of sleepovers and visits to 'country' friends have made this a full summer. We came very close to deciding to enroll the kids in the excellent Christian school in our area, but in the end decided that homeschooling was a better fit. I'll write a post soon detailing the lessons learned from that process.

Today was day two of diving into our full school schedule. Over the summer math was still a priority, as well as reading (what's a summer without reading?!) but it feels good to get back into a routine. I'm looking forward to being stretched in this area and to seeing my kids challenged as well.

I've been praying for God's wisdom and insight. I'm praying to understand each child; how they learn; how best to communicate with them; and most importantly how to point them toward Christ and a closer relationship with Him.

Before and After

2011-05-16T18:11:00.001-05:00

Our house was built around the turn of the century and was in need of much work when we moved in a few months ago. It still is in need of much work! But I think we're making progress. Many of the rooms are in a state of work-in-progress, but I think they will always be that way.

The kitchen needed a coat of paint. We also rearranged the cabinets a bit.

The subfloor is just painted grey for now.
Can't you just imagine a beautiful tile?

I'm grateful for tall enough ceilings for my hanging pot rack.

I'm not sure if the front porch room is my favorite room or not. I just need to learn to not kill houseplants then we'll be doing fine. I'd like to paint the subfloor in this room, maybe even with a pattern.

This front porch is full of light all day!

The downstairs bathroom is probably the most dramatic difference so far. We removed wallpaper, textured the walls, installed flooring, replaced the vanity and toilet and painted the cabinet white. (Not to mention the plumbing that had to be done before we moved in.) The shower has a step-in tiny square tub that is a bright aqua color. Its is just the right size for the toddler in our lives.

We took down wallpaper from the dining room as well as the chair rail and a plate shelf. The fantastic green carpet is still here. I thought about ripping it all up, in every room- but then thought about how cold my feet would be this winter and left it, for now! The light fixture is a gas chandelier that was also wired for electricity. The dining room walls are textured and the paint is a neutral tan. I have grand schemes for some artwork.

I'm dreaming of a china hutch here, but
a dresser will do. I'll be putting up some
shelves to hold my dishes just above the
dresser.

I'm not posting any pics of the school room. It is a perpetual disaster, but it can be hidden behind closed doors! The laundry room is a cheery light yellow but has so many windows that it is difficult to get a good pic. It is a small room that holds our large chest freezer and has a small hand washing sink as well as cabinets. Both the kitchen and laundry room have doors to the back yard. Also not included here are the living room and the library. These rooms have had very little done to them, but I did unpack a few books into some make-do bookshelves this weekend.

This upstairs office may just be my favorite room. The paint is a color I got from mixing paint we had and it is very vibrant, almost too vibrant! I did much of this room all by myself, even learned how to put down laminate flooring. Our pet bunnies were in this room while we built them an outdoor hutch and they nibbled on the trim. I'm not sure if I've forgiven them yet.

I'm not sure if we have a style of decorating, or if the paint on our walls coordinates. But it is so much fun to make this house our home.

So who wants to come over for a glass of sweet tea?

New Things

2011-05-16T16:39:00.000-05:00

I'm reveling today in the thoughts of the new life Christ gives. I love that in His plan He gives a new day with fresh potential. We're making a fresh start this week in many areas of our lives.

In schooling we are forging ahead with a new schedule and a new way to organize our materials. I hope to have my first-ever-tutorial up in a couple of days all about the fabric wall pockets like these that I made to help organize our days. Today was the first day of our new schedule and it worked out so well. I'm confident it will keep the kids on track and keep me accountable to be prepared for each day. I really don't want to just create a public school at home feel, and have been accomplishing the work we needed to do, but a schedule give me the peace of mind that we are progressing and that there is some order to this crazy place. Our schedule is made with room to be flexible and I think even the kids were surprised at how much we all got done today, before lunch, just by starting half-an-hour earlier and staying focussed on the tasks at hand.

In the efforts to have a clean (enough) house we've established some new routines for keeping up with dishes, laundry and other housekeeping tasks. I plan to get up earlier for a quiet moment in God's Word, begin the day with an empty dishwasher and a tidied house. Then I want to make sure that the dishwasher is empty and the kitchen counters are clean when I begin dinner prep. That little bit of amazing wisdom comes straight from Auntie Leila over at Like Mothers, Like Daughters. I only wish she were my aunt in real life.

Homeschooling during a move.

2011-05-08T23:16:00.000-05:00

Over the course of this move we have been in various stages of homeschooling. Although I have not yet completely figured out how to balance my roles as teacher, mom, radio d.j. and ministry helper I feel like there has been some settling. For the first few weeks after we moved into the new house we did the very basics. I had packed all our most important homeschooling books in a rolling crate like this one.

I was amazed that everything fit. Obviously this will not hold all my school supplies, notebooks, art supplies etc. but it will accommodate our all of our My Father's World books and a few basic school supplies as well as my notebooks with household calendars, notes-to-self and whatever else I thought I couldn't live without. This cart (and packing it to hold all that we need for homeschooling) has been what saved our year with all the moving, new schedules and changes.
As we were able to unpack and organize we've been able to gradually adjust our schedule until we've added art study and creative time (mostly for my sweet creative girl), science, and history to our basics of mathematics, Bible, language arts and our everyday life skills. All of this in the middle of trying to keep up with an "all-boy" toddler who is so smart and determined to make messes as soon as I clean them!

I've been able to evaluate our progress so far this year and am pleased that all the transition has not set us back as far as I worried we were. Skills in all areas are progressing and that is reassuring to me! Learning continues to happen, even if it doesn't always take place the way I want or in my timetable. Trusting God to give me grace for each moment has been a big lesson for me this year.
There are so many other things God is placing in front of me and leading me to do that I think He wants to keep me in that place of depending on Him! I really never want to leave that place, but so often I do trust what I can accomplish. I must continue to study and read Scripture, pray and learn to just be in Christ. Sometimes the hardest part of all of the roles I have to fill is when I don't get out of the way and let Jesus live through me.

the still, small Voice

2011-05-02T08:40:00.000-05:00

One of my favorite things about moving is the chance to go through and simplify the stuff we amass by a severe culling. I am the worst culprit of the amassing. Usually we are able to throw away or donate items before we haul boxes. This time the move was made much less organized by the fact that many of our belongings have been in storage for 8 months (but the kids were able to get into the boxes and their digging made what little organization there was be a complete mess!) I've been overwhelmed at the prospect of sorting, organizing and unpacking for those very reasons. This weekend I was motivated and had the time to dig into some boxes. The one thing that slows down my progress is when I come across any of my old journals. I don't always journal regularly, but I love reading notes that remind me of what life was like for us at different times in our journey. But the note I found last night was more than just a sweet reminder, it made my heart stop for a few beats and I felt the gentle whisper of my Beloved.
A few families at church have been welcoming precious new babies. Even with the difficulties our youngest had, I have been feeling the ache of missing a newborn in my arms, and have been praying that we could have a new family member too. My justifications for another baby include the fact that the youngest needs a closer sibling so he won't grow up feeling like an only, and just the fact that I love being around these people and would love the blessing of another person in our family. My husband has not felt the same way and I've been trying to stay in submission to his leadership, even while praying that God would change his mind! :)
Last night I found a note I'd written after a prayer time, detailing some prayer requests I'd had at the time, and the answers I'd felt from the Lord and His Word. It was dated way back when our daughter was about two or three and I had felt the same ache for a baby then too. I put it down without really reading the whole note, because i was sorting! and trying to make progress! and throw things away! Then there was this pressure in my chest, and my attention was drawn to the slip of yellow paper again. The last line read, "Its not God's time for another baby," and made me suck in a quick breath of surprise.
That sentence wasn't just for then. My Jesus reached down into that moment, when there is an entire house full of boxes to be sorted and directed me to that particular page. His peace flooded my heart and with a sigh I breathed thanks for His direction. I don't really like when the answers to my prayers are "no". But I have given Him the reigns to my life and trust that He knows better than I. The hardest part about accepting when Jesus says no is seeing others to whom He has said yes in a similar issue. But my head doesn't need to understand why He answers prayers in a certain way, nor does my heart have to like it. I must obey and know that His plan is good.

Settling

2011-04-24T14:24:00.001-05:00

Our stuff is all moved, though not yet unpacked. There are many completed projects and more to be done, some empty boxes and many more to be sorted, organized and unpacked. But I am thinking about organizing school. We've had about three weeks now of a very light schedule of school work as I keep trying to bring order to the mess of this very unorganized move. We've been able to do the basics and I'm ready for the fun stuff- digging in deeper to history, getting our hands on some science, getting creative with art and thinking ahead by making homemade gifts as well as getting the kids back on track to handling more responsibility.
I'm thinking of revisiting workboxes, tweaking it a bit as these kids keep getting older! They really are working more independently. I want to foster that; it really builds their confidence. On Thursday, Charles woke early and completed his school before any one else was awake. I was so surprised! I'm trying not to let it bother me too much that his motivator was a computer game. At least he was motivated; now I'm thinking we can build on that to help him learn more internal motivators, like the satisfaction of a job well done.

I'm also thinking of tot school for the busy little man in our lives. He may need his own workboxes and activities to build fine motor skill, beginning critical thinking skills and all the other things his busy mind is learning from watching us and from playing. I won't get ultra-structured in his case, but having activities to pull out when he needs something to do will be so helpful.
Tot School ideas that sound so fun are found here.

Hopefully coming soon: some before and after pics of some completed house projects. There are so many incomplete ones, but it will be good to remember what we've accomplished!

DIY

2011-02-27T10:00:00.001-06:00

Anna White is amazing! She has D.I.Y instructions for building all kinds of furniture. Here are a few I'd like to make for the new house.

simple closet organizer
cube bookselves
shoe bin that looks like a dresser
a sofa for the front-porch room

can't you just see this room
full of plants? and patio
furniture?

Some parson chairs for the front-porch room and a table maybe?

It is good to have built-ins for
the school room, but
we need more bookshelves!

Definitely these shelves in the school room and maybe even in the kids' rooms too!

Moments of Grace Radio Show

2011-01-30T14:25:00.001-06:00

Our radio station has started having live and pre-recorded radios shows everyday. Previously there has been pre-programed Christian music around the clock and having "djs" is a welcome addition. The music is an eclectic mix of contemporary and sometimes edgy Christian music. After 8 pm the music played is less mainstream- more Christian alternative and harder Christian rock music. We are working to make sure the alternative & harder rock music doesn't play during the day, so our station can reach a wider audience in our area. We also stream online and are currently being listened to in countries as far away as Africa and New Zealand.
That last fact makes me a little nervous as I have started being on air as well. I never imagined I would be doing something like this. It is amazing to see what God can do with the mess that I am! I am surrendered to doing what He puts in front of me to do, by His strength and grace. I am so thankful for the ways He confirms His beautifully orchestrated plan for our lives!
My radio show is called Moments of Grace and my main goal is to share Scripture on air. I want to be encouraging above all. I want bring the moments that God's grace reaches into our lives to change us into focus. My show is pre-recorded and it airs Monday through Thursday from noon to 4 pm. There are short, two minute segments that I will speak- in between the music. Eventually I'd like to share some of the feedback that we get from the FireEscape website, blog and Facebook page of listeners' comments about their journey with Christ.
This is outside of my comfort zone, but God shows such grace- He is more than enough for me and knows what I need before I do. This is calling me to even more diligence in family, school, Bible study and yieldedness to God.

The website for our ministry is www.FireEscape.net On that page you'll find a link to the radio station KFEX where you can listen online. You'll also find a link to our Facebook page or contact information. If you listen and this music is not your music style, perhaps you know of someone who doesn't realize all that Christian music has to offer, or would benefit from listening to encouraging Scripture and testimonies from people of all walks as they follow Christ. I'll also be posting what I share online on our new blog Moments of Grace.

Collecting ideas for the new old house...

2011-01-25T14:02:00.001-06:00

Family Fun Go: Paint your own play mat

Inspiration for the Master suite- love the mirrored headboard. Coastal Living

I'm planning to paint the floor of the entryway, (which is a huge sunroom with only subfloor right now) maybe with a limestone tile pattern? I'd also like to paint the floor of my "studio"(also subfloor) Maybe with one of these patterns?

Trina Turk's Trellis and Sunglass Prints for Schumacher

Ballard Designs' Trellis Wallpaper

Kelly Wearslter's Asian Trellis Latticework for Schumacher

Wondering about painting some of the very old carpet. I know- sound like a crazy idea. No $$ to replace it right now.
The hardwood floors underneath probably need some attention, but then we'd have cold floors and buying rugs is also not in the budget immediately. Maybe slippers and socks are the cheapest quick solutions! :)
The school room has an entire wall of closets and built in cabinets that will help with organization. I'd love an old soft couch and a huge desk in there too. Maybe some mirrors to enhance the natural light. I'm reading about the Montessori method to get ideas on organizing a part of the school room as pre-school friendly for Miah.
I'd love to paint a space theme for Jeremiah's room with stars on the ceiling and a rocket ship on the wall. Maybe a road and city scene painted on the floor?
Kaity's begging for a horse theme to her room, but I'd like the big kids' rooms to be less themed, easier to grow into as they get bigger. So they may choose colors for their walls, but have Kaity choose some horse themed bedding that could be more easily changed. I'm certain that chalkboard paint will feature in the kids' rooms, maybe the school room and even the kitchen?
I have a journal filled with magazine clippings and ideas for the laundry/mudroom, the kitchen, the kids' rooms...so many fun dreams! Most will wait a while to be realized, but the fun of it is in dreaming of the future...and... I haven't even started thinking about the garden...

A Breakthrough?

2011-01-25T14:01:00.000-06:00

I'm hoping we've made a breakthrough with Charles. It has come in the form of an index card.
I read some posts and comments on the forums of The Homeschool Lounge, which is a website that is so encouraging for homeschool moms. I took some of what I read there as confirmation that these struggles may be in part due to the stage of life he is entering. I decided to back off a little.
I wrote all his assignments on a big index card and gathered his books and papers, showing him exactly where everything was. (It was all gathered, he just never really noticed that his things were organized and placed in the same spot. Now he knows.) I made sure he knew exactly what would happen if he did not complete his work. (The big motivator now is time on the computer. The rule is no screens until school work is complete) I tried to explain the details I knew he'd ask about and then I did not nag him to get work done. I told him that school was done at 4 and that any work not completed by then would have to be done the next day
The first day he wasted time until about 4 pm, only intermittently working and allowing himself to get distracted many, many times. Then I told him he could stop working and put his school things away, but I gave him a choice to finish so he could have screen privileges. He worked longer and completed what he'd been dragging his feet to finish for the past three hours in less than one.
Today Gaylen lectured them about wasting time while I was gone to the library and after that both were more focussed. Charles keeps talking about how the card helps him and I have seen the beginnings of self-motivation.
Time will tell and I'm sure we'll have so many more times when they all push the boundaries, but there may just be a light at the end of the tunnel. I'll be in prayer for more inspiration for those trying times!

Our math journey

2011-01-22T10:59:00.001-06:00

What a journey for a non-math-person! I've always struggled with math, but at first I thought Charles would not. In second grade he was in public school and everything seemed to fall apart. I'm not a public school hater, but we are still undoing the harm done academically for Charles; it was not a good fit for him.
We started with Math-U-See and I took him back to a point that was really below his level, to reinforce and fill in the gaps in his understanding. I loved the focus on mastery of a math skill before proceeding to the next idea with MUS. I didn't do enough additional drills with him, mainly because the drilling done at public school had been so detrimental to him. He really got stressed out about math drills and would emotionally shut down.
We switched this year to Horizons math, starting with book 4 and working quickly. I was optimistic that the mastery he had demonstrated in multiplication and addition with MUS would be a great foundation and math would be a favorite subject again.
Now we've seemed to stall. He seems to understand the concepts, but is not demonstrating self-motivation. Yet when he wants to he completes his work quickly and correctly. In all areas. Discouraging to say the least. I'm praying for insight. Perhaps it is a hormonal issue as we enter the pre-adolescent phase. Perhaps it is a Momma-just-gotta-get-tough issue.
Honestly he is the source of my homeschooling struggles right now. Kaitlyn is a model student. Jeremiah is becoming more of a content toddler, as long as he can express his needs and have them met.
Charles is challenging everything, pushing every boundary, trying every last nerve, endeavoring to tell us all how he thinks it should be! Pre-adolescence here we come...

The Sunny Side

2011-01-21T09:57:00.000-06:00

It is so much easier to remember and write about the negative, but so much of our time together is so sunny! We are still working towards forming good habits. The journal-every-day habit for the kids is going well. They have remembered to do it, have enjoyed putting stickers on the sheet we made to track our progress. These journals have not been checked for spelling or punctuation, it is just a free-writing exercise.
They've also been working hard at helping in the kitchen. Instead of a chore chart that changes who does what every week, I'm giving them a chance to really learn how to do a few things well.
My precious little distraction is such a busy toddler. He has embraced toddlerhood with gusto! Climbing what I thought was impossible for him to climb. Pushing chairs and step stools so he can reach everything. Learning new words every moment and chattering all day long. He still distracts schooling, but is learning to have a little longer attention span with a little toy, or be distracted himself with a preschool video. The big kids have been helping so much with him; I would not be able to participate in the ministry as much as I do without their incredible help.
I am enjoying learning how to use Photoshop and how to help with the coffeehouse website. I am working hard on the girls ministry aspect of the FireEscape youth ministry and will be starting a girls' Bible study, will be prerecording a radio show for women of all ages to broadcast on our radio station. I am also working on blog posts that will go along with the radio show for the girls' website that will be launching soon. Most of that work has been going on in the wee hours and I am sure I have more dark circles under my eyes, but hard work for the kingdom is good work.
My dear husband has been working so hard to make our new old house ready for us to live in. He's torn out all the old, broken plumbing and his brother will come soon to help him install new. The furnace is still a no go, but a dear friend is helping us figure out what is wrong with it, and if we can repair it for a far less cost than replacement. The apartment above the coffeehouse has been such a blessing, but the cost of utilities for us living here full time is taking much needed funds from the ministry we would like to be doing here. So we'll be moving out as soon as the plumbing and furnace are working, even though there will be many other projects to work on in the house while we live there. But that is so exciting to me! I'm sure I'll get tired of endless projects, but we're going to have a house of our own! God provides so beautifully for our desires and our needs! We've previously rented and I know you can nest in a rental, but to me it has felt like we've just been perching. Now that we feel committed to the vision of this ministry, and to the longevity of it, it feels like we can settle

Schedule Changes for the new year

2011-01-14T10:30:00.000-06:00

I love fresh starts and tweaking our schedule to work better for us. I wanted to post about this last week, but the week was horrible!
Our schedule change this time is mainly because I am looking ahead to the next few weeks and the chaos that we will be inflicting on ourselves as we try to move out of the apartment and into a house. To say that the house needs work is a huge understatement, so adding another layer of insanity.
We are taking a break from My Father's World for at least a month.We will have a few subjects that are daily work: math, copywork, reading, Bible, journalling, along with nature walks as often as possible. Instead we will be following this schedule with lots of flexibility built in:
Missionary Monday: Starting with the apostle's missionary journeys we'll read about missionaries, people groups they minister to and places they go.
Timeline Tuesday: Review the history we've studied up to this point. Take time to dig deeper in a time that interested us, but we only touched on in the curriculum. We may even try to watch some history videos that we haven't made time for yet. We'll complete our timeline for the history studies for the year this far. (We started a timeline with Story of the World and haven't used the MFW suggestions because of that. We haven't done timeline entries for any of this year.)
Work-time Wednesday: We'll be working on lapbooks on various natural science topics. Each child can choose the topic that interests them. On this day additional copywork is not required, because they will handwrite what goes into the lapbooks.
Geography Thursdays: (I couldn't think of a clever alliteration!) Reading travel guides, dreaming of places we want to go, connecting geography with missionary journeys, studying maps and the science mapmaking.
Finish up Friday: Finish any work from previous days and complete daily work.
With the exception of Wednesday and Friday, the work we do together will be less than normal and I will be expecting them to be able to work individually. Charles continues to need reminders to stay on task, and to be redirected when he gets distracted. It is a challenge to keep our busy toddler from disrupting everything. It will be especially challenging when packing/moving really begins.

One awful week...and a call about enrolling kids in public school.

2011-01-10T09:29:00.000-06:00

Last week, as we tried to get back in schedule, was horrible. Nobody wanted to do anything, no one was obeying and attitudes were grumpy, argumentative and just plain bad. On Tuesday I even called the local public school and asked what the paperwork would be like to enroll kids who had been homeschooling in the middle of the year! (The principle was very nice and informative. He did say that he thinks kids in Kansas are also incredibly pressured when it comes to standardized tests- that was a major issue for Charles. Kaity hadn't experienced it as she finished Kinder only in public school.)
The Christian school in our area is just too expensive, even though I would feel so much more comfortable about enrolling them there than public. Overall, after prayer and discussion, my husband and I felt that it would be too much to ask them to start in the middle of the year. We'll be prayerfully considering what to do for next year, whether it be the Christian school, public school, or continuing with homeschool.

In all of it I blame myself for the struggles. If I was more consistent with my expectations, then I would have trained them to be more obedient. Yes they have a choice, but they will take the easiest route, unless I train them. I must keep them accountable to obey, to choose good attitudes. My personality is a laid back one, I am too lenient at times. I should say, I have been. I now see that it is more important for me to train the children than anything else.
The plan to work on forming and keeping good habits is still underway, largely because of the issues I've seen in my and the children's characters. The first habit we are working on is journal writing everyday. And with everything I am expecting more of them. I am expecting them to obey the first time they are asked and giving fitting consequences if they do not. I am expecting them to do better work-not letting them get by with half-hearted effort. I am expecting great things of them because of what I see in them, the potential I know they have. I see the amazing people God created them to be. I started out the new year with these higher expectations of myself and them. It may be that the struggle we are in now is the turbulence of getting from where we were to where we need to be. I look ahead and see more turbulence ahead. I know there will be more awful weeks, maybe the working to get through is just what we need to develop better character.

New Beginnings

2011-01-03T12:41:00.000-06:00

Our new year begins with a renewed focus on maintaining and developing good habits. More details later on the habits and the ways we'll be working on those. Today's morning meeting detailed some of the goals for the new year with the kids. We ended up talking for a long time and the conversation eventually found its way to the reason mom hates computer games topic again.
This has been an issue for some time and there are myriad reasons, but for this short post I will say that the end result seemed to be some understanding for why mom wants to limit time on the computer and TV. The part when I really felt like I connected with Charles came when I referred to the book he's reading now, Guardians of Ga'Hool. Good book (movie isn't as good as the book), read it Sunday when I was sick and home with a sick baby. We talked about how the TV and computer/video games can "moon-blink" kids into letting their guard down and parent's jobs are to protect kids who may be defenseless like little owlets.
Today we'll start our first habit of journal writing everyday. If they do this for 14 days in a row they will earn the "Journal Badge" (essentially a cool sticker, I just have to find one) and after 21 days of working on this habit continually they will earn Dangerous Book for Boys, or Daring Book for Girls. They can also start work on their "Chef Badge" (helping with dinner prep and clean-up : they've already been doing this, but without the badge "reward") When they've done these habits for 21 days they'll earn the reward of planning and cooking a meal themselves.
These ideas stem from Charlotte Mason's teachings on habits. You can read more here. And from 2 Corinthians 5:15, as well as Ephesians 5:16.
More tomorrow about our schedule changes for the new year.

Scrutiny continues

2010-11-12T09:00:00.001-06:00

As I examine the homeschool questions ( why homeschool, how, what is my goal in homeschooling?) I am brought to conclusions that homeschooling fits us well. I may not have all the details figured out, I may feel like quitting many, many times but it is a good fit for our family.

There are times that having a flexible schedule is not just nice, it is imperative. There are days that a busy ministry schedule would cause zero family time aside from moments in the middle of the school day when we can pause our schooling.
There are conversations I have been privileged to experience with my son especially, that would not have occurred if we were not already together at home, during a school day. These conversations have revealed his heart, his concerns; they have kept communication lines open and have helped me understand myself and our family better than before

There are things I have to sacrifice in order to homeschool. How much I am willing to let those things go determines the level of peace I will experience in my daily life.
Something I have observed about us, individually and corporately, is that there are habits we have that are not good and good habits that we do not have that we need to get. This is not an easy undertaking, but it is worthwhile and it is even necessary for success.
I have been reading some of Charlotte Mason's work on the subject, courtesy of Ambleside Online, especially Formation of Character. I think this will be extremely helpful in the pursuit of good character forming habits. We have also been reading what the Word has to say about love, fruits of the Spirit and choosing between living by the Spirit, or by our sinful natures.
I am working on a new schedule that is more structured and includes set times that the kids take turns playing with baby while the other gets one-on-one school time with mom. I am tailoring the new schedule to the kids' personality and strength. That would never be an option with any other schooling choice.
This is not easy. This does not have quick results. But I have hope!
The thought that occurred to me today was that the future can be brighter if I lay the foundations of needed structure and character now. The baby will grow, the kids will learn to respect each other and work independently. I must expect great things of my children, but not be held to some outside idea of where they "should" be.
I may even feel at times like "I'm so over homeschooling." But I don't have to give up. There is no easy way to be a good parent. There is grace enough for even these difficult things.

Note to self

2010-11-11T13:24:00.000-06:00

Dear Corrie,
If you ever sign up for a play that requires 4 days a week of evening practices for an entire month, please remember the insanity you are in for! Laundry, cooking, cleaning, even schooling will feel overwhelming. You will feel like crying multiple times and you may experience shortness of breath at the thought of all you are not accomplishing. I'd tell you that you can make it, but since I'm writing this in the middle of the insanity, I'm not sure on that one.
You may be forced to procrastinate crafting wonderful Christmas gifts until the weeks just before the holiday. You may feel like backing out of those obligations you've committed to that begin after the start of the new year. You may feel like digging a hole and hiding there till everything calms down.

Or you may have fun. You may embrace the insanity and laugh. You may see your kids handle more responsibilities with grace and joy. You may feel like this is living- full days, stolen peaceful moments, a surrendered life. You may like living the surrender of doing what is put in front of you with joy and gusto, to His glory, even if it is not at all like you'd have planned.
You may even find yourself dreaming more about the future in this busy time than ever before!
Sincerely,
Corrie
aka the ghost of Christmas Past
in the radio theater production with KFEX
of A Christmas Carol

My Remembrance

2010-11-11T12:04:00.000-06:00

On a Veteran’s Day

the november rain chills me

I smile and wave as you pass

and tell my kids to wave too

I tell them of your sacrifice, your bravery

on far away fields of war

we pause, hand on heart

standing in complete freedom

yet taking that freedom for granted

cold drops are blown into my face

and I think of the discomfort you endured

the loneliness, the pain, the sorrow

I think my smile and waving hand

is little thanks for what you’ve done

so I bend near their ears

and whisper more stories of you

I will not let them forget

I will help them understand

this is my greater thanks

Corrie Lawrence 2010

Homemade Christmas

2010-10-31T18:00:00.001-05:00

I have a large fabric stash and old clothes that are just waiting to be repurposed. I have people I love that never recieve gifts from me cause I can't afford it. I want to make them Christmas gifts this year. I think you either have money or time. I used to think I had time... now I'm not so sure. I really want to make time to do this amid the other chaos. Sometimes when I craft I feel better- like being creative lets me recharge somehow. I've been collecting ideas for a while now and starting some crafting in the few stolen moments when I should be folding laundry! :)

Christmas gift ideas
Girls/Ladies:
cowl scarf tutorial
another cowl scarf
scarf with ruffle (t-shirt fabric)
fabric flower tutorials
ruffled flannel scarf

Girl or Boy:
Doodle Frame
ipod monster cover (yikes this looks complicated, but Charles is using an old iphone (the first generation, Gaylen's old-est phone) and it is nearly impossible to find cases for it. I'll have to give it a try.)

Tonight I'll be making fabric roses and searching this amazing site with sewing patterns of every thing. Seriously anything you can think of is on this site. Well... almost. :)

After that I'll be folding laundry, cause the pile is about to take over my bedroom.

Scrutinize: Our Schedule

2010-10-30T00:50:00.002-05:00

My husband is the program director of a Christian Coffeehouse, whose main outreach is youth ministry in our area. There are big things in the works and I can't wait to see what else God does in us and through us. I love to be involved with the ministries going on, whether it is behind the scenes or front and center. My husband wants me to be involved. We have been participating and leading youth ministry for more than 8 years now. My other involvements include being on the worship team at church, helping from time to time in the nursery there and membership in a Christian writer's group. The ministry at the coffeehouse requires the biggest time investment and is the most un-scheduled of all my involvements. The ministry is where we are at the center of God's will; it is our calling. As a family, for a long while now, we have centered our lives around serving God in whatever way we can. This is non-negotiable in our schedules right now. Some details of what this ministry involves:
   Friday nights is youth ministry night. The big kids help with the baby upstairs, while the coffeehouse is open. When we move to a house and don't live at the coffeehouse, we will have to employ a regular babysitter. I won't miss this night-it is our ministry's main focus.
   My husband cleans the coffeehouse during the week and makes sure the supplies are stocked. He maintains the website, Facebook page, handles some email and phone messages. I can help with these things but am usually not required to. He attends city meetings, goes to interviews for local tv broadcasts, learns about our low power radio station and makes many connections with the goal of raising awareness about the ministry going on here. I am usually not involved in this capacity either.
   Saturday morning coffee. Coffeehouse is open to the public. I usually help run the coffeebar as well as bake something each week to sell. We have some volunteers who are faithful to help. If the other volunteers can't make it, then my husband and I are committed to doing this with the main goal of giving the members of this community opportunity to come in and build connections. So there are times that I could miss this, but not often.
   Saturday evenings are set aside for special events like concerts. I usually don't have many responsibilities then- I do help make meals for visiting bands. Monday night football is another event during the week that I have no involvement in.
With weekends so busy, I have not been faithful to set aside time to plan for school and that has been workable with using MFW- I just take whatever time I can in snippets to plan and get supplies together. I want to do better at this.
This week we've been having a fundraiser all week and that has seriously thrown a wrench in our routine, but obviously that is not a regular occurrence. What I must be prepared for is that there will be many, many things that will upset schedules and routines.
More to come as I examine how to make things work better around here...

Tribute to Kimberly

2010-10-28T15:40:00.000-05:00

Our apartment has no bathtub, just a shower with a glass door. For the baby we put a little rectangle storage tub in the bottom of the tub and fill it with a few inches of water. He loves the water and will splash delightedly for quite a long time. Since the shower is bigger than the storage tub he gets in and out of the water, pours water out to the shower drain and splashes. So I sit with the bathroom door open, pull up a chair and watch him play.
One day I sat with my laptop, glancing every so often directly at him, keeping him in my peripheral vision the whole time. All was great until I heard a "plop." I see his arm move like he is throwing something. I had been reading, trying to catch up on a favorite blog. My mind wasn't completely focussed on what he was doing so it took me a minute to figure it out.
First thought, "Why is he throwing that washcloth? Now there will be bath water out of the shower and all over the floor."
His arm moved again followed by, "plop."

Then realization dawned. It wasn't a washcloth.

He had pooped in the bath and was throwing handfuls of it out of his bath water. Nothing like nice warm water to get things moving, I guess. It wasn't the first time I've wondered how to disinfect the entire baby.
(The first being when I turned around to find him sitting naked in the toilet, splashing away.)

This tops any poo story from the other two kids.

The line from the Madagascar cartoon movie kept going through my head, "If you have any poo, fling it now!"

Scrutinization

2010-10-27T22:07:00.000-05:00

The greatest benefit of homeschooling is being able to shepherd my child's heart and humble myself before God and ask Him to purify mine. (Amelia- The Homeschool Lounge)

We doubt when we see impossibilities, when we see things we cannot do in the realm of natural things. We doubt our calling, we doubt what God has said. In Luke 8:22-23 Jesus had revealed His will of crossing the lake. The disciples lost sight of that when it got difficult. God's will had been revealed. Can we believe that when His will is revealed He will accomplish it? (Milton Hubbard, Living Word Assembly)

These thoughts encourage me today. As did the great time I had with my kids today at a service project at our church, readying supplies to send to kids in Mexico. Still examining how to make this homeschooling thing work. Sanity savers for me right now are
   1) the Bible
   2) an early walk with a friend
   3) journaling- stepping out in writing adventures

I'm so over homeschooling!

2010-10-26T15:24:00.000-05:00

Instead of fresh wind rejuvenating our learning it feels like I am at the end of my patience, of my resolve. A day is filled with me running ragged, putting out the fires of bickering children, calling on distracted students to focus, picking up, sopping up or otherwise cleaning a mess the baby has made- in between being a cute and funny distraction to the big kids- all the while trying to keep up with housework, keep the kids on task for their chores and wondering when I might have a moment to have a complete thought of my own.
There is no place that is baby proof, as he has learned to push chairs and is an expert climber. In our temporary apartment home there is no way to keep him in one area near where we do school, short of baby-gating him in his room (which I have done).
I'm wondering if we are on track academically (I think so, but am doubting myself at every turn).
I'm wondering if I am teaching them, even more importantly, character traits that will give them tools to survive and thrive in life.

I'm wondering if they might do better at our Christian school in town.

On one hand it feels like I am coming to grips with who I am. I know that my personality is laid back and easy going. That can be a strength; I can maintain peace in the Lord and calm in many times of stress. In situations where structure and routine is needed I don't do as well. I can set up a routine and plan a schedule but the smallest bump in our days sends me for a loop! I also admit that things in our living arrangement, in our ministry schedule are less than ideal for keeping routines.
On the other hand it feels like I am admitting defeat. Like I am not good enough- not good enough teacher, time manager, mother, wife, disciplinarian- I can admit my shortcomings when I have complete confidence in my Lord, Jesus Christ. He is the perfect parent when I am not, the perfect teacher when I am not, the perfect disciplinarian. He can redeem all my mistakes. Praise Him! He does redeem and restore!
Where do I go from here? Set up another routine? Try to enforce an existing one? Enroll them in Christian school? It definitely causes me to scrutinize my reasons for homeschooling- Are we schooling for religious reasons? for academic reasons? I feel we can maintain Christ as center if the kids are in Christian school, or homeschool. I feel like God will bring challenges to teach them wherever they are.

?

No resolution yet. I'm sure there will be one. Keeping on in the midst of the wonderings.

Fresh Wind

2010-09-27T09:38:00.000-05:00

We've been completing our schooling assignments subject by subject, moving down our checklists, but I'm craving more. I want to re-inspire the excitement of the beginning. There are these ebbs and flows to our schooling adventure. While it is valuable to learn to keep persevering, even when we don't feel like it, I want the joy of learning- the "I can't wait to learn about..."
For me, finding a fresh start comes when I take time to look at the big picture again; when I look beyond the daily lesson planning to check our overall course. That takes time, a quiet moment to collect my thoughts. That kind of quiet time is difficult to carve out of a busy schedule.
When I do carve out some time to do so I feel rejuvenated and my excitement and sense of purpose is contagious to my precious students.
That is my singular goal this week, to step back, glance at the big picture and bring renewed enthusiasm back to the school table with me. However in making time to do so I do not want to let other things slide- things like housework and family time. Finding that balance will be a challenge!

Plodding Along

2010-09-22T14:03:00.000-05:00

I've started several posts and been interrupted. Life is busy, don't know when I'll get used to that idea. Seems busier here and now...
School is going- somedays the baby changes my plans so much that I wonder if I'm doing any good at all. But we keep going. Doing the next thing.
And now another interruption cutting this post shorter than intended...
Posting it anyway, just to do it!

Still Dreaming in Green

2010-09-02T00:05:00.000-05:00

Our gardening efforts this year have been productive. Friends let us plant vegetables in their back yard. Then we found out about the availability of a plot of land that we could use for even bigger gardening dreams. To say that we bit off more than we could chew is such an understatement. We tilled a huge garden plot and planted many seeds, but didn't see much result. We planted late, there was little rain just after we planted, we didn't weed or water enough...but we had fun getting our hands dirty! The baby loved playing in the dirt and the bigger kids liked planting. So all in all it was a great experience. The only thing left in that garden plot is a giant hill of sweet potatoes. They will be ready mid-October. The hardest part about that garden has been that it is not close to our home. It is a mile away, and even though that is close it is not so close that I can step out the door and weed or water. In our friends' back yard there is a jungle of tomato plants at least 10'x10' and taller than I am. The grape and cherry tomatoes have been bursting with summery sweetness and are certainly best popped into your mouth just moments from being plucked from the branch. Those and the regular Better Boy, Early Girl and Golden tomatoes capture the taste of summer. (Also included in the taste of summer would have to be fresh, sweet melon. The taste of spring is parsley and fresh baby greens, if you wondered!) I have canned tomatoes, frozen tomatoes, roasted tomatoes, made seriously good salsa with tomatoes. I am not unhappy about having more tomatoes than I know what to do with!
I'm dreaming of a home of our own. It seems that we've been in limbo so long that we'll never really settle. I was reading my Bible the other day and read in Jeremiah about a group of Israelites who had sworn to the Lord to always live in tents. That is how I feel- tent dwelling wanderer! I'm praying that the Lord sees fit to settle us a bit more than that! I'm trusting Him to know what's best for us, no matter what His answer is to those prayers!! But as I drive around our small town and see "For Sale" signs in many yards I'm dreaming of a home and a yard that I can dig in! I visit the Urban Homesteading site often and though I don't have any notion of gardening to that level I'm gleaning ideas to use in a yard in-town. (I think at this point in our lives a home in the country may not be compatible with the time we need to pour into the youth ministry and other obligations at the coffeehouse. This kind of insight into the situation is the exact reason we haven't looked for a home yet.) These are other ideas I'm keeping in mind as I wait expectantly for God to provide a home for us!
Companion gardening
Square inch gardening
Espalier pruning
Other produce that has been given to us has included apricot (canned preserves) and cucumber (kosher dill and bread n butter pickles) as well as apples that we picked ourselves then canned 10 quarts of apple pie filling and 24+ 1/2 pint jars of cinnamon-y apple butter. This was my first year to can anything and it was not difficult at all.

Scheduling Flexibility

2010-08-26T14:45:00.000-05:00

I think that homeschooling offers the teacher many opportunities to learn, perhaps more than the students! Aside from a renewed interest in history (I'm discovering what I never knew!) I'm getting the feeling that there is a major focus for my learning this year: flexibility. Adjusting to our new ministry position and all it entails, adjusting to the baby's ever changing needs, figuring out a new curriculum all amounts to my needing to be completely comfortable with constant change! I'm absolutely sure this is something every family goes through, I'm just feeling the Holy Spirit's gentle nudging in my heart about it and turning His attention to the parts of my heart that need His touch. I'm trying to make sure that I examine my heart and keep my attitude about the changes and adjustments very positive.
As a family and as individuals we have usually been laid-back. (That translates to lack of discipline in some areas of our lives that the Lord is continuing to work on in us!) We've been able to roll with the changes that come our way with a sense of humor and a grace that could only come from the Lord.

Today I'm thinking about flexibility as it pertains to the baby. I'm wondering how I can adjust his schedule or ours to benefit him and our school day in the best ways. His morning nap was delayed until after lunch today, it was much longer, and I wonder if it would be better that way.
We've tried in the past, with our year-round schedule, to have a 4 day school week. Our ministry schedule kept the whole family out late on Sunday nights so we would take it easy on Mondays. Now the kids want to continue a four day week (what kid wouldn't?) but I want us to get as much done as possible. I see the time that we "lose" from adjusting to the baby's schedule and wonder if we'll get enough done. I do notice in my overall attitude toward the whole issue a calm peace. In this, our third year, I feel more confident that we will learn "enough." Because of that peace, (from my dear Heavenly Father I'm sure) I feel more able to laugh at the craziness I'm surrounded with day after day!

Bookshelves Idea

2010-08-18T10:02:00.000-05:00

These bookshelves made are made with rain gutters and hold books with the covers facing out. Excellent idea. Great tutorial here

Keeping it Real

2010-08-17T19:13:00.000-05:00

I'm struck in some moments by the futility of it all. Laundry gets cleaned, and then dirtied. Dishes are washed and put away, then used again. Toys are picked up, then dumped out, picked up, dumped out... Kids bicker, I redirect them, again. The baby naps (too short a time to get much schooling done) and then wakes to hit the ground running, always into things! My work seems futile.
Other moments I'm struck deep in the chest with gratitude for all the chaos. We have clothes to wear, a way to clean them. We have dishes, food and hot water to wash up. My kids have toys that they love, that inspire them to imagine, create. We are all healthy. We are all whole. The baby is able to run, breathe, turn our entire world upside down! I am blessed beyond words, beyond what I could've even imagined or asked.
This contrast is what I'm thinking about tonight. Will I focus on how these passing circumstances are not as I wish they were? Will I focus on the good that has come from my Father's hand?

Thank you, Father, for Your blessings. Help me see this through Your eyes. You are the source of all good. Thank you.

Journaling and Reading Aloud

2010-08-11T13:34:00.000-05:00

I just read the article Heather wrote on Heart of the Matter about choosing a different activity with each child and inspiring them to journal about it, called Journal the Adventure. Her article is prompting me to think about how I could incorporate this idea into our learning adventure.
I've wanted to start individual read aloud time with each of my children for some time. I'm not sure exactly how this will work out, but here are my preliminary thoughts.
My oldest is as voracious a reader as I am and it will not be difficult to find a book that we will both enjoy together. I want to choose something, however, that is well above his reading level and that will challenge him. I wrote here about how Andrew Pudewa, from Institute for Excellence in Writing, talked at HOTM's online conference last year of the importance of reading aloud to our children. His article One Myth, and Two Truths goes into detail about why reading aloud to children is crucial to their developing language, reading comprehension and writing skills. There are other great articles there as well on these subjects. I'll be talking to our local librarian about an adventurous book that will fit the bill. I may try to purchase the book we'll read aloud so we can take as much time as we need without the concerns about due dates. (Apparently due dates at the library don't concern me at all. I joke that I make regular contributions to libraries in the form of overdue fines. Except at the library in our new town- three week lending period and a week "grace period" before we start accruing fines. Incredible!)
My daughter will benefit in more ways than just academic with time alone with me. She and I "butt heads" all day, every day. She is the one that tries to negotiate every detail of the day. She is the child that pushes every boundary. I think we conflict so because we are so alike. I know I see stubbornness reflected in her eyes that I have felt in my heart. If I take the time to complement her, to tell her positive things about herself, or the task she just completed, to do a simple craft with her; then she responds so much more positively to me. I think that read aloud time that is "just us" will encourage her and make her feel valued.
The baby is such a kinesthetic little person-pure boy. He'll enjoy the occasional board book, for about 5 seconds. Then he is ready to move, play, go! I know his attention span will increase, but I also know that he will always be kinesthetic. I know this deep down. I will be challenged to come up with creative ways to teach that one! But what fun we will have! Time with him that will encourage him the most is get-down-on-the-floor-and-wrestle-time. Such hard work, to have to wrestle and play with a chubby bundle of giggles? However will I manage?!
I want to plan and create lapbooks for our read alouds that we'll make together, but I want to find a way to make them really special lapbooks. Not sure exactly how but, this will be the way we "journal the adventure."

Where we school (most of the time)

2010-08-10T15:32:00.000-05:00

We are currently staying in a 4 bedroom apartment above a coffeehouse. Originally designed as a place for bands to stay that perform concerts at the coffeehouse, it is a temporary place for us as we have been transitioning from Texas to Kansas. The apartment's general layout is a very open one and the living area is in the same room as this school area. The furniture was already here, except for the bookcase, filing cabinet and sewing table. We also added the wall maps and whiteboards. The walls here are covered in pegboard. While not the most attractive thing for walls, pegboard is incredible for organizing a homeschooling room.

On the right is a cart that holds the sewing machine, notions and current craft projects and supplies. It also holds our old laptop that is primarily used by the kids. A hidden table top can be pulled out to increase the amount of work area on the cart. That is where we'll have science experiments and projects. The white shelves hold our modified workboxes/folders. Both students have a folder for each day of the week, held up by plastic folder dividers (that we got when a local doctor's office was moving). The dividers leave room for books to be placed with the folders. Each also has a clear plastic tub that holds binders, notebooks, flashcards etc. On the front of these tubs are their cards that are used with the workbox system. The file cabinet was given to us a few years ago and hold our extra school supplies, consumable pages and other miscellany. Pegboard holds their individual maps and a pocket chart with the little workbox labels on this wall.

A closer view shows tidy white shelves, a reality that changes as soon as baby arrives on the scene! He is learning to leave things alone, but usually not until after he has thoroughly explored them with dexterous little fingers. The white shelves also hold some books and a few board games as well as art supplies in boxes with lids and latches!

The blue bookshelf holds the majority of our supplies; a tabletop pocket chart for anything from language arts to foreign language study, CDs of classical composers and their music, and the books and student sheets from MFW. The small wicker basket holds math manipulatives, DVDs, CD's and flashcards. The baskets on the bottom shelf hold science kits, lapbooking supplies and current lapbooking projects. A basket that is just out of the frame on the bottom shelf holds recycled boxes, newspaper and cardboard tubes for crafts and projects. Shelves with our rock collection keep the corner tidy along with a black and red rolling tote for our book basket. The terrarium holds a Western Fence lizard, affectionately named Yoshi, and a gecko named Gecker who is very reclusive. The wall is occupied by a world and US map, a whiteboard used for Bible verses and homemade posters of HWT cursive letters. The little filing cabinets are a recent find and are perfect for school supplies to which we need quick access. The wooden drawers hold items that will help keep baby busy during school. He loves to open the drawers himself. I put something new in there every few days so it is a fun discovery. Since he is told "no" so many times for other drawers I think he feels like he is getting away with something!
In Texas we had a huge school room with built-in cabinets and an entire wall of windows. Here I appreciate the need for everything to stay extremely organized. I welcome the chance for us all to develop the discipline to put everything where it goes immediately after we use it. The school area is not visible from the front door to the apartment, so I don't feel so bad if things are left on the table for a while, or if an art project is left out. My favorite thing about this school room is pegboard. I may just have it installed when we find a house of our own. We will take school on the road when we travel, or just to the park on a nice day. We will read together in our beds, couches and sometimes even at our dinner table over a snack or dessert! We will learn together while we cook, shop and serve others.

Curriculum Part II: Mom's Curriculum

2010-08-06T08:09:00.002-05:00

To say that I'm learning more than my kids at our homeschool is such an understatement. Daily I learn new facts and information, from Science to geography! When we watch our Math U See videos together, there are so many "ah ha!" moments for me. Math was never a strong point for me, even though I did my best there are many things I didn't understand. It is also quite an understatement to say that I now know my multiplication facts far, far better than I ever did in school!
I don't want to lose sight of the fact that my "ah ha" moment is not the same as my child's because my learning style is not the same. With that in mind for Teacher Training I'll be reading through Cynthia Ulrich Tobias' The Way They Learn and You can't make me, but I can be persuaded. I have had these on my reading list for ages, and have read some pages. I want to go back and really take note of the wisdom offered. I also find that different things stand out to me when I read a book numerous times. I'm always perusing the public library shelves for books written for public school teachers that can be adjusted to meet my needs. Even some of the books for early childhood have excellent ideas that can be adapted for my older students, or used for baby!
In the parenting category I want to read Dr. James Dobson's Bringing Up Boys. I will also be reading Susie Shellenberger's Raising a Spiritually Strong Daughter.
I will be reading Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster, a book about the disciplines of the Christian walk like fasting and praying among many more. I read this more than a year ago and have thought about it so often. I want to read Character Matters by Mark Rutland again. It was in this book that I read that procrastination is a sin. Ouch! I need ~~some~~ many reminders of the character traits of Christ!
For Writer's Training I'll be working through One Year to a Writing Life by Susan M. Tiberghien and The Christian Imagination edited by Leland Ryken. There's been rumor of a writer's critique group starting in my town and there is a Christian Writer's group that meets about an hour from here so I'll make room in my calendar for meeting with fellow writers. I'll also be checking out a book of poetry every time we visit the public library. I'd love to add a classic novel or ten to this list to read and about which to write literary analysis. Because I'm strange and I love literary analysis; I love peeling back the layers of depth of a story and thinking about the writer and what he or she meant...
Above all these reading plans I will fellowship with my Savior, relishing the words He wrote to me in His beautiful love letters. I've been slowly reading through the Bible again this time in the Amplified version, stopping to study and research other translations or commentaries when the words tug at my heart. I will be going back to Psalms 119 to inspire my heart to love His law more perfectly. I'll be continuing to work through two Bible studies that I've been working on for months.
I don't make a specific plan for any of my reading, other than to open the Word of God daily, even if I just soak in one verse! There are days that I don't get to read a single word, other than the Word :), or days when I'll take a moment to have lunch with a favorite book, because my kids eat so quickly and are off for a bit of play time before finishing their school work or chores. Sometimes I have a book open in front of me to glance at while they work at our school table. I'll bring a book into the kitchen for company while I wait for a pot to boil, have a stack of books by my bed and sometimes a book in my purse. Books have long been like dear friends to me. I read voraciously, too quickly sometimes but re-reading a book is like savoring a good conversation or a delicious meal!

Schooling with Baby

2010-08-05T23:09:00.001-05:00

I'm searching for ideas on what baby will do while we school. I don't like waiting 'till he's napping to start school, but that is when the most productive work is done. I've thought about having one of the older kids play with him while one-on-one time is happening with the other student, but we haven't actually tried that yet. This week I made time to have training time--training the big kids how to do this, (ie. not say they are playing with the baby and get distracted to do their own thing.) I think that will be a helpful approach sometimes. I cleared out a corner for baby toys to be near our school area so he can be steered in that direction if they both need to be with me for corporate learning times like history or science. We also tried play dough with him this week, although I had reservations. He is now 15 months old and he did very well. The big kids played with him, and my daughter got caught up in playing with it herself. Since he didn't ingest or throw much of the play dough at all I thought it was a very good first experience.
I am excited to embrace the teachable moments, from showing the kids how to help with younger ones, to giving him the example of bigger kids helping him, and him learning to help too. I am so excited about this year. I know it will be busy but great!
So baby's "curriculum" will consist of lots of tactile, sensory activities with big kids or with all of us while other schooling is happening. I've got a drawer started with ideas and activities for him. He will hear us read aloud, and see us working together to keep the home. I'll be collecting links to resources for this tremendous time of early learning and I'll try to remember to enjoy his cute, funny interruptions for this all too brief stage of life!
A link I just found that will be visited often: Nurturing the Tender Years great ideas for activities with littles!

Curriculum part 1: Kid's Curriculum

2010-08-02T09:34:00.055-05:00

Once upon a time my kids were in public school and I dreamed of homeschooling. I read Susan Wise Baurer's The Well Trained Mind
and I was inspired. I planned weeks and weeks of lesson plans, activities, and field trips all alone at home while they were gone all day. When time came to start homeschooling the first few weeks went great; the kids thought it was going to be non-stop days full of fun. Then the reality hit that they were going to actually have to do schoolwork, that they were going to need to obey and even that they were going to be required to get along with each other! The plans I'd made still worked, after a few ~~weeks~~ months of adjustment. We learned alot about each other and how to be diligent even when we didn't feel like it. They even realized we could work hard and still have fun.
Our next homeschooling year started somewhat uneventfully. I'd taken time that summer to make lesson plans and pull together another year of schooling with a classical approach. Our curriculum was ecclectic but I felt better about my grasp of my childrens' academic abilities. I had some weeks of lesson plans ready and a vague idea of how I would pull together the rest of the year's lesson plans later on. Then life got really interesting.
September found us weathering the storm--literally. Hurricane Ike hit the Galveston area and we rode out the winds and rain and electricity-free weeks. That was a bit of a hiccup in our schooling, but we read about hurricanes and talked and wrote about hurricanes. We took care of about a dozen tadpoles, we cooked outside on our deck to the tune of a generator keeping our freezer full of food going. We read many books from the library and didn't use any of the online resources I'd planned on using. I started feeling icky and thought it was food poisoning. It was our next hiccup in schooling plans- I was pregnant with a surprise blessing and in the midst of morning sickness. We did our best to keep school rolling through pregnancy, church ministry, welcoming our precious new baby home and moving from Texas to Kansas.
I know that this coming year will bring plenty of surprises and challenges. These are the plans we have laid for this year. I'm excited for our third year of homeschooling and my kids are too. I'm already amazed at how God is blessing us with school resources here in Kansas, like beautiful art prints to study from a fellow homeschooler.

We'll be using My Father's World and are beginning with the year "Exploration to 1850." My oldest son is in 5th grade and my daughter is in 3rd although they are both reading above their grade level. Math U See will be used by my girl for mastery of multiplication facts and my son will be using Horizons Math. We are trying the Primary and Intermediate Language books recommended by MFW, supplemented with a workbook from BJU Press. We'll be continuing with Handwriting Without Tears, Spelling Power, and English from the Roots Up. We saw dramatic improvements in Charles' writing after using Writing Strands. I want to use some online resources to reinforce all these subjects with fun activities. Art study and practice, music and composer study, foreign language and crafting also figure into our plans. We will be memorizing the book of James as a family as well as continuing family Bible and worship time. We will be regulars at our public library, but that is the same whether it is school time or not! As for organizing all that I have a feeling I'm really going to like MFW teacher guide. We will also be using a modified workbox system to pull it all together, and a posted daily schedule with a specific breakfast time for my girl who would rather sleep-in! The kids each have a student planner with their daily and weekly routines as do I based on those from Donna Young.
Whew! That sounds like a busy school year, but we are excited to get started! Heart of the Matter Online is not only the home of this blog hop but also hosts an incredible online homeschool conference that is coming up the second week of August. I attended last year and am still reaping the benefits of the wisdom shared then. I still haven't been able to attend a homeschool conference in person, but I really was encouraged by their conference last year.
My next curriculum post will be about the academic and personal goals I have for myself this year. I'm going to challenge myself to dream big!

Clash of the Titans

2010-07-30T14:42:00.001-05:00

Those blue eyes, the cloud of curls surrounding his head, the cute legs that seem a blur with all the motion are just distractions from the will housed in Jeremiah! You can see him thinking about things all the time, just figuring things out and so I know he is so smart. Sometimes it seems that if he could just communicate what he is thinking he would be more content! And when his stubbornness is out in full force I see my own stubbornness rise up (At least I know where he gets it from)! :) There are many times his will contends with ours, clashing sometimes violently, especially at meal times (not wanting to sit to eat) and bedtime.
I am certain he will be our little kinesthetic learner, always moving, always doing!

Not Back to School

2010-07-30T08:25:00.003-05:00

Last year Darcy started a blog hop featuring links that detailed how other people "do" homeschool. It's time again for the Not-back-to-school blog hop and I'm going to participate this year. I'm deciding to do this mainly to give myself deadlines for a few important things pertaining to our homeschooling.
We've already been easing into a school schedule for a couple of weeks by doing two or three subjects and by the kids keeping up with their daily and weekly routines in their student planners. I've fleshed out my own schedule/routine and am very proud of myself for how many days in a row my laundry was caught up and I went to bed knowing my kitchen was clean. I'm choosing to completely disregard the days those things were not done when we were having fun together, or working hard together or just being together. Such is summer. Such is life.
I thought I would stop blogging altogether. I have missed journaling here and I do see my need to journal about our homeschool journey still. I really want to make time to record what is happening. There are so many other things that are demanding my time, so I'm just taking everything as it comes. I read the wonderful posts last year that were linked up for this blog hop and wished I had the courage to post about our school days. Now I feel more confident with two years of homeschooling under our proverbial belts!
I like that this will help me be accountable to take some photos of our school area, to take photos of the kids for the beginning of this year and to chronicle a day in our lives. I will enjoy looking back on these things. I want the kids to be excited for jumping in to our full schedule and I want to take steps to have things ready so they will be reminded of how important this all is.
As I look at our school table that is currently strewn with books and my teacher planner I know I have work to do before I'll take a photo of our school area! I also have a little more planning to do before we are ready to start our full schedules next week. I'm praying for a great start to another year of homeschooling. I can't wait to see what we learn together this year!

Homemade Gifts

2010-07-29T16:24:00.001-05:00

I've got time scheduled about twice a month for us to make crafts with the specific purpose of giving them away. I think we will have fun crafting, stock up on gifts to give and have such fun being creative while thinking of others. This is a link to a quick sewing project, a hat made from a t-shirt. Very cute. From At Second Street.
Another link is to an art project with the kids' hands. Any grandma would love this! From According to Kelly

Can't wait to get crafting. Maybe we could invite some crafty friends over too!

Undated

2010-07-12T18:50:00.000-05:00

One piece of advice that I've gleaned this summer that may prove to be valuable was from a homeschool mom of many, some of whom are already out of the house testing their wings. She said that she didn't make dated school plans. I've thought about it and this may be the key for me to stay on track.
In the past I've made lesson plans with a specific day in mind. I've made plans for a couple of weeks ahead and feel great about our ability to complete those plans. Then life happens and I feel like throwing out all the plans if things don't happen like I think they were going to!
I'm trying to make plans that are undated. For example, I printed a blocked off sheet, like a calendar without any dates. I wrote "Day 1" in the first block and jotted notes for lesson plans for that day. I kept going until I filled a month's worth of days. When I use the plans I will date that block. I'm giving myself permission this summer to let life happen and not stress if there are a few days between Day 1 and Day 2. When we start a full schedule this month or next I will be less lenient about that.

The land of the evaporating summer

2010-07-12T18:36:00.001-05:00

I'm certain that I've never experienced a summer that is going as fast as this one seems to be. Perhaps it is because I'm trailing a very active almost 15 month old, or because we're settling and unpacking, still. Or maybe because of acclimating to a busy schedule of meetings, youth ministry and dreams for the future of the coffeehouse. Since my blog is primarily to remind me of what I'm certain to forget in busy-ness like this I want to pause and record a bit.
Normally a summer would've included more schooling in the hot weeks of June than this one has. However, I do have our school stuff unpacked, organized and I feel more ready to tackle the books. We will be doing school in July. We will. We will. If I repeat it enough times, with enough feeling, it will happen, won't it?! Today the baby has been happily playing with his toys and not hanging on my legs whimpering and whining. A good day that makes me feel as if we really will be able to accomplish something!
We've gardened a little, too little according to the incredibly high weeds. The corn was really planted too late and didn't grow at all. Neither did the carnations or coneflowers. The sunflowers are already taller than Kaity and will be magnificent. The zinnias are blooming now and are wonderful. Kaity and I took pictures then cut handfuls for a beautiful arrangement. Today we shredded zucchini to freeze for making zucchini bread, about 18 cups of it! More zucchini are on the way as well as yellow squash. The tomatoes are almost ready. We've tasted some of the early tomatoes and it was heavenly. I love homegrown tomatoes so much. We were given sweet corn, which I blanched and froze. We were given apricots, which I canned (it was my first time to can anything.)
We are getting more involved at church and are learning so much about the coffeehouse. Gaylen has been learning the ins and outs of web site design and the FireEscape Coffeehouse website is up, but still being perfected. I'm learning to use Adobe Photoshop and I love it. I wish I had more time to learn the amazing things that program can do.

Adjustments

2010-05-09T15:40:00.001-05:00

Since we are staying in the apartment above the coffeehouse my husband basically works from home. It is wonderful to see him so often (and there are some adjustments he and the kids are making as they interact in this new way) but it is challenging to know how to order our days. His schedule has not been very regular this week because of the efforts to get the apartment settled and unpacked. It will be interesting to see how everything settles down into a routine. I will be helping him get the coffeehouse website updated and will help with regular updates and tweaks to keep that running. I will also be keeping a blog to keep up with events at the coffeehouse, and to share testimonies of lives changed by Christ through the years there. We will also be cleaning the coffeehouse, as well as keeping up the inventory of items needed for the current youth ministry and for ministries that we'll be starting (or helping with) soon. My husband will be learning the processes involved in the upkeep of our low power Christian radio station starting next week. In the coming weeks, we're going to be inviting many friends and new acquaintances to our home to visit about potential ministries and fundraisers.We will be writing and sending out a regular e-newsletter for the coffeehouse to friends and supporters. We will be homeschooling, attending church, deepening friendships and just being together as a family. That is just a vague idea of the direction our energies must take. I am humbled that God would choose us for this. I am excited to see Him energize us and empower us to do His best for this ministry and this community.

I have enjoyed having this blog to journal my ideas and memories of our first years of homeschooling, but it has reached the end of its usefulness to me! I would love to have the time to keep blogging about our homeschool journey, but now I must just focus on the journey. I like the accountability blogging gives me to keep recording these memories, but I feel I must redirect my energies for now.
I will keep this blog going and refer to it myself for the valuable links I like to use. I will probably be adding to these links sometimes as well. I will not allow myself to take the time to post very often, as much as I would love to. I may feel the need to write some quarterly update of our homeschooling ventures. We'll see!
I have not done what is necessary to make this blog more attractive to the host of blog readers, but if you do read these humble ramblings and would like to be included in the list to receive the coffeehouse e-newsletter, please let me know in the comments. I will be posting links soon to the website and the coffeehouse blog.

It is a nice problem to have

2010-05-07T23:29:00.001-05:00

My children read like I would like to read: voraciously and continually. If my son doesn't have a book in hand there is something seriously wrong with his world! My daughter has been a little of a reluctant reader, but is doing so well this year that she also begs for book time before bed. I think it has something to do with genetics because there is little else I would rather do than get utterly lost in a wonderful story. There are too many other things to do, and other interests that I want to make time for so I don't even allow myself to pick up a book unless I can devour it.
The challenging thing about children who also devour books is finding appropriate titles for them! My son is reading ahead of his grade level, but is getting to an age that there are topics in the juvenile fiction section of the library that I would rather him not read about right now. So I'm always keeping an ear open for recommendations and reviews of books that may pique his interest.
I just read Wendy's post on Homeschooling for Life reviewing some Christian fantasy and Christian Sci-Fi books. On her site there are also reviews of many more books. (And I'm interested in finding out more about her planner that is an e-book). I'll be revisiting that helpful site often!

On a greener note, we've planted three kinds of tomatoes, sweet and hot peppers, two kinds of squash, lettuce, dill, cilantro, chives in our friend's backyard, and here at the apartment we have planters with thyme, mint and lavender sitting near a sunny window. Sigh.

Living Word

2010-05-02T22:08:00.001-05:00

I'm so thankful for the Word of God that is living and active. I'm so thankful today for faithful servants, pastors, who proclaim the Word, even when it may not be the easiest message to speak! Today the message was about rejecting the world and embracing Jesus Christ as the Lord of our whole lives, about not letting the world and fleshly desires be our focus. I was grateful to be reminded that although we may stumble, as long as we are seeking to make the Lord the director of our steps and the Lord of our lives we are assured of our place in eternity. I stumble, sometimes it seems so often. But I do seek to honor Him with my life and will continue to do so everyday.
That said I know that the world seeps in, sometimes very subtly, and impacts my life. I was struck again today by the immense responsibility I have to lead these little ones with my life. The words I speak will not matter much at all if my actions do not point to Him. I have been convicted in a few areas where I have allowed myself to compare my Christian walk with the Christians around me and not with the standard held up by my Savior. Mentally, the difficulty in choosing to completely surrender to Christ is the thought, "what if I'm alone in letting Him be Lord extremely?" or even in wondering what others will think of me. I read this earlier today,
"Listen to Me, you who know rightness and justice and right standing with God, the people in whose heart is My law and My instruction; fear not the reproach of men, neither be afraid nor dismayed at their revilings, For in comparison with the Lord, they are so weak that things as insignificant as the moth shall eat them up like a garment. But My rightness and justice and faithfully fulfilled promise shall be forever, and My salvation to all generations." Isaiah 51:7-8(Amplified)
I would rather fear the Lord, who has the power to not only decide where I spend eternity, but also what my life on earth is like. I do not want to know what life would be like without His presence and blessing in my life. That makes the fear of people's opinion seem so much smaller! I would rather live a life in the fear and respect and honor of the Lord in front of these precious children than a life that shows a yearning toward anything the world has to offer. I am so aware of my need for my Savior to continually redirect my life. I am so grateful for the redemptive work He accomplished for me and my children (and my children's children, and...) on the cross!

New Home

2010-04-30T09:19:00.001-05:00

The moving truck has been unloaded and we're beginning to settle in. Friends have already dropped by to welcome us. I can say that it is much more pleasant to move to a town where we know people already than somewhere completely new. I think it will be easier for the kids too. They've had some attitude problems but we're trying to just treat these moments with grace, knowing all they've been through. The baby is not sleeping well at all; I'm hoping that he will get used to the new places soon!
I packed our school stuff in such a way as to have it accessible even if everything else wasn't! So next week I'd like to start easing into our schedule again with math and history. That will still give us plenty of time in the day to unpack, get us back on track and help us finish our current history book before we get to start the new curriculum.
I feel like home here. I have a deep peace knowing that we are at the center of God's will. I want to remember that peace and sure conviction for the times that are more difficult. In my Bible time the Lord is reassuring me of His plan, His provision and protection. He is reminding me to trust Him and not what anyone else says through His living Word. I am so thankful for His presence and all His blessings.
Today will be more unpacking, more thinking of ways to organize a new space.

Dreaming in Green

2010-04-25T18:08:00.001-05:00

Some of my dreams for our future include gardening, as we get ready to leave the Houston metroplex. I would love nothing more than to have an acre or ten with a huge garden, chickens, goat, other various small livestock and a stream running through it all. I am such a idealist and I'm pretty sure I have no idea how much work that would really be! But the idea of self-sufficiency in growing some of our own food is so appealing to me. Right now we are in the middle of suburbia and I feel suffocated! I've felt for the longest time that I don't really fit in with some gals here who love shopping and getting their nails done. Those are fun things to do, but this girl dreams of digging into rich dark earth and watching new life sprout from dead seeds. Some dear friends, Shane and Christina, have offered to share their yard for the interim while we look for a house of our own (we'll be staying in a furnished apartment when we first move.) I'm not sure if they realize just how big my garden dreams are:
Espaliered dwarf or semi-dwarf fruit trees
Composting
Vegetable gardening
Flowers for cutting
Collecting rain water for watering plants

Time will tell if my dreams will become reality. Giving the kids a chance to watch a garden grow will be such a valuable learning experience, even if we have to start small with container gardening and work our way up to my huge garden dreams. I've added some gardening links to my Homemaking page and will be visiting them when I have a few spare moments to daydream!

Family Photo

2010-04-23T15:47:00.003-05:00

Taken Easter 2010

Unexpected Blessings

2010-04-20T23:46:00.000-05:00

God is so amazing. I know I shouldn't be surprised about that, but He just keeps the surprises coming! The ministry position we are moving to is a leap of faith in more ways than one, but one of the most obvious is finances. I know God provides. I could not write about all the times He has provided, from my childhood to now. He is always so faithful, even setting in motion the provision before the need is even made known. In preparing to be on a tighter budget we had sold our minivan, and have been driving our old truck. All five of us fit in it just fine and it has had some issues, but they've been resolved relatively painlessly. We were perfectly content to drive that truck and save our pennies to get another used car at an auction. We are resolved not to finance a car and make payments as a part of our get out of debt, stay out of debt plan. It is an old truck, not pretty at all but it got us where we needed to go.
Last Sunday a friend of ours completely blindsided us with a blessing that we are still having a hard time grasping.
He said that God had been telling him to do something and that it was a little off the wall. He said that he felt like he should've already done it, but he'd not known how to bring up the conversation with us. He said that his wife was on board with him going ahead with it, which was a confirmation to him.
He wants to trade trucks; his for ours. His truck is bigger and newer. He is okay with that. I am so blessed that I can't help but get tears in my eyes. From the physical perspective he is getting the short end of the stick! His obedience to the Lord's leading is such an example to me. We don't want to take advantage of a friend, but he knows the lopsided-ness of this deal and still wants to go ahead with it. We don't want to keep him from obeying what God has told him to do, but it is sometimes hard to accept such generosity.
Today as I packed the kids' clothes I started thinking about how big the kids are getting. I thought about how we'd just bought these clothes and I wasn't sure how we were going to buy them clothes and shoes on a limited budget.
And then I was completely overwhelmed by the Lord's presence. I cried as He reminded me of all the ways He's provided and that He knows exactly what we need. I have no idea what the future holds. I only know He will be with us and He has everything under control.
Our packing is almost done. Tomorrow we are heading to the beach for a break for a few hours. The kids are stressed out and we are too, from all the changes and craziness. I am looking forward to working out our new routines.
God is just so good, I had to write this blessing down!

I hereby disavow all my pack-rat-ing ways

2010-04-17T21:35:00.001-05:00

I am a collector of books, notebooks, papers and pens. In sorting and packing I see this. I won't be allowing myself to buy any notebooks in the near future, no matter how cute they are or how much they will inspire me to write!
We took a break from packing the other day to do a little history. Mainly because we all love Story of the World so much, like I said in this post. We are also needing to finish this volume of it so we can go on to the next with our new curriculum from My Father's World when we start our new school year in June. We've always schooled year-round and I wouldn't have it any other way. The kids don't get so bored in the summer 'cause we're keeping up with school (usually with a little bit lighter schedule) and we don't have to spend as much time reviewing what's been forgotten.
That kind of flexibility is one reason I love homeschooling, the relationships that my kids share is another. I'm so glad we get to homeschool after the move, that gives one less thing for them to adjust to.
We are getting close to the end of the packing and cleaning adventure. I am so ready to be done. I still can't believe we're moving to Kansas in a little over a week. It will be sad to say good-bye to the friends we have here, but I am excited for the new chapter in our lives.
I'm off to relax a bit before bed.

Joys

2010-04-12T10:31:00.002-05:00

This Sunday was such a joy. Charles and Kaitlyn were baptized in a wonderful celebration service at church along with 17 other people making a declaration of faith in Jesus Christ.

We also had the chance to hear about an incredible miracle that God worked in the life of a precious baby in our church. He was born three months ago and doctors were concerned about his motor skills and some developmental delays. The parents were told he had a genetic disorder. About two weeks ago we prayed for this new family. The words of our pastor still echo in my heart,"we are praying a prayer of faith." He encouraged us to pray expecting God to work in this situation, not with hearts full of sadness and hopelessness, even though such a diagnosis would be hopeless in the world's eyes.
This Sunday the mom shared that test results had come back and the doctors were baffled! They had no explanation for the fact that this baby is growing, gaining weight and making developmental progression. They had told the parents that he would only live a year and that his health would be declining all the time. Praise the Lord for answered prayer! God is growing the faith of this body of believers. I know He is going to continue to do amazing things as this church reaches the surrounding community for Christ!

I thank God for the joys He allows us to experience in this life. I thank Him for conversations about our faith with the two older kids. I love hearing them think-out-loud about their own faith, I love seeing them grow in Him. I am so blessed with seeing Jeremiah's new-every-day developments, the babbled words and wobbly steps, his contagious entire face smiles. I love seeing the big kids with their younger brother, taking care of him, being protective of him. I am so blessed with the love of a man who loves the Lord wholeheartedly, who wants to serve Him no matter the cost, who loves me even though I am terrible at ironing, lose motorcycle titles, and break the back window of the only vehicle we have now! I love laughing with him, growing in Christ with him, being with him, raising children with him.
I thank God for connections with His children that He orchestrates so we can be mutually strengthened, encouraged, sharpened. I love the hope I have in His plans for our lives, for our world.
I thank Him for all these precious joys.

Anniversary

2010-04-11T10:00:00.000-05:00

12 years ago today I said "I do" to a wonderful man. I am so blessed to see how God is continually working in his life and in mine. It sounds cliche, but I'm a better person because of the love of this man. I really don't believe I am this blessed; a husband who loves the Lord and follows His leading, who loves his children, who works so hard to provide for us, a husband who loves me so much. I want to be a better person to honor him. I look forward to the years to come, years of growing, trusting the Lord, serving Him; years of watching these children grow in the Lord. I don't know the successes, tears, struggles or times laughter that are in our future but I can't wait to find out!

At the end

2010-04-09T22:15:00.000-05:00

The "churchy" thing for me to say is, "I'm glad to be at the end of myself (at the end of my rope, my sanity, my patience), cause that's where God can use me, less of me more of Him."All good things to consider but really I arrogantly hold on to the idea that I can work harder to be who I am "supposed" to be. Situations in my life daily are bringing me to the end of myself, multiple times a day really. I have let things get to this point so many times before, the point of giving and pouring out so much that I feel empty and drained. I berate myself, "if you'd just read your Bible and pray more you wouldn't feel this way." And then I open the Word and the effort to read and feed is more than I have. The effort to focus with so many distractions is monumental. I have learned that I need routine and during this time of transition there is no routine.
I don't want to flat-line and stop feeling, to just put on the mask of the good girl who is holding it all together. Although that would be one easy way out. No, I want to embrace this struggle and let it make me stronger in my precious Lord.
And oh the struggles there are! Struggles with big kids who push against authority and need to be shown, lovingly and firmly that there is a boundary that they can't cross. Struggles with a headstrong infant who is determined to dive head first into toddler-hood. Struggles with self to teach diligently, correct patiently, love selflessly when it would be easier to do what I want, get angry and let the natives run wild!
I know my Heavenly Father wants me to keep climbing, keep striving for Him. I know He waits with arms open wide, ready to hold me, calm me, fill me. I know He sees the paths before me and knows the best ones, the smoothest ones. I know He loves me even when I choose the hardest, bumpiest, trickiest paths of all. I know He watches me in these times of struggle, not expecting me to fail, but instead, cheering me on, ready to whoop and holler when I make a good choice and yield to Him. I hear His gentle reminders, His voice of peace and calm in all the other ruckus.
I know, deep down, that the end is really the beginning. He's been faithful to show me that before. It does seem that each time He brings me to this place of being at the end that His light of correction shines to an even deeper spot in me. The tearing away of the old to reveal the new goes deeper, and is a little more painful than the times before. So now, at the end, I take a deep breath and step out toward a new beginning.

Reflux, baby and milk sensitivity

2010-04-05T22:26:00.000-05:00

Our struggles with Jeremiah's reflux seemed to have diminished and the spitting up wasn't so bad for a while. He has been an enthusiastic eater and has had little trouble with all sorts of foods. He eats what eat now, as his interest in baby food was very short lived! I stopped nursing him about two months ago because of his enthusiasm for food and he has had a bit of regular formula (I've questioned if I should have weaned him, I've questioned so many things!). But when we tried to gradually introduce dairy, like milk and cheese, the spitting up has increased again. He also has had trouble settling at night, and has some sleepless nights as he woke every hour all night sometimes. After trying a prescription medication that had little effect we have not given him medicine for reflux. Sometimes I wonder if that would help now. The chiropractic visits helped and we may try taking him again, but insurance balks at taking a small child so many times and we will have to pay the whole amount out of pocket, if we go.
My solution for now: cut dairy out of his diet. We've been told numerous times by doctors that it is extremely rare for babies to have milk allergy. I am not a medical expert but I see evidence in Jeremiah that there is at least a sensitivity to cow's milk. The other aspect is that Gaylen also had similar symptoms when he was a baby and dairy was limited in his diet too. I think this will be something that Jeremiah grows out of. Kaity had similar symptoms and has no trouble now with dairy at all. Now, even more than before, we just need to make sure his meals are healthy and balanced and that he gets his liquid vitamins every day. I think that is always a challenge when babies grow from their liquid diets into eating food. We are also making sure he gets enough healthy fats in his diet. We will see how this affects the reflux. Already today, the first day of no dairy, there has been less spitting up.
On a happy note, our Easter celebrations were great. Some friends from church invited us over for lunch and it was good to chat and watch the kids play. It is so moving for us to keep teaching the kids about our faith. I love the depth our faith gives our everyday lives, the hope it brings. I am looking forward to stepping into what God has for us in Kansas. I have no idea what that is, but I love being able to trust Him and knowing that it will be great.

Chores

2010-03-27T23:12:00.001-05:00

We have tried oh so many ways of getting chores completed around here without a chorus of whines and complaints. We've had accounts with online chore charts like Handipoints (which has features you can use without paying for a membership). This was great for Kaity who really enjoyed getting on the computer to track her progress. Sometimes she was distracted by the wish list features of this site. We've used chore charts that were printed by me every week and this approach mixed up who did which chore. That worked for a while, but this mommy kept forgetting to print the charts! Charles really enjoys having a paper to look at that tells him how much work is left. He likes checking things off his lists. We have used student planners which have a set chart in them for each child. These have specific things each child is responsible for on a given day of the week. I laminated the charts and then they could be used with a dry erase marker- instant wipeable chore chart. This was very inexpensive to make and the kids liked the format. I customized a chart and printed it from Donna Young. The only thing lacking from this system was detail (ie expectations for each task; when it is considered done).
The last few weeks have been chaotic because we've begun the preparations around the house for our upcoming move and our student planners with laminated chore charts have not gotten much use. We've instead used index cards (also laminated) that are put together with individual binder rings. Before laminating I wrote step-by-step instructions for each task in a room. For example for the card set for a bedroom some of the instructions are

dirty clothes put in hamper
toys put away
trash can emptied
floor vacuumed

This keeps the kids (especially Kaity) from asking me every few minutes "what do I do next, mommy?" I think it helps when kids can understand on their individual levels what is expected of them. Along with our ongoing discussions and training on Christian character, giving the kids a good idea of what is expected of them is so helpful around here. With younger kids the cards could have pictures of each task. One idea I'll use when Miah is bigger will be taking a picture of the shelf with the toys arranged on it the correct way so that the he will have a visual clue of what is expected. (The binder rings I mentioned are found with office supplies. I used the roll of clear "contact paper" and put it on both sides.)

No matter what system the most important truth we've learned is that consistency equals success. I'm learning how to be more consistent but some days I have such a long way to go!

How do you keep track of chores at your house? What are ways you nip whining in the bud?

Book Review

2010-03-23T18:28:00.001-05:00

We've come to treasure some books these last two years of our homeschool adventure. The Story of the World by Susan Wise Bauer is one. It is a four volume set that studies history chronologically. It is primarily a read aloud, but it does have an activity book can be purchased that has coloring pages, maps, and other hands on activities to go along with the lessons. We started using it with a 1st grader and a 3rd grader in the house and they have loved it. They beg to do history, and it has been an incredible springboard for dicussion of topics from Christianity to politics! The coloring pages are not Charles' favorite, but he doesn't like to color at all. He enjoys the maps and along with our world wall map we've also learned some geography to boot. I love reading the lessons and have learned right along with the kids. The lessons are not too simple or too complex. I think Kaity doesn't absorb as much as Charles, but that is totally to be expected from having two different learning levels going on at once. Even with their different ages, interests and attention levels I am always surprised at the information they retain when we discuss it later, even when I call old lessons to mind before reading a new one.
The idea behind Bauer's Story of the World is to study the four volumes in four years, then repeat the series of books again with greater detail, in more depth and with supplemental reading for older students. The suggestions for supplemental reading are included in the activity book for each volume. I highly recommend the books and activity books. We will continue using them ourselves.

Tweaking

2010-03-21T23:52:00.000-05:00

The house is quiet and I'm up too late. I know I'll be groggy in the morning, but so will everyone else. We usually are tired after youth service on Sunday night. The kids come along with us to youth and get to bed a little later than other nights. It is nice to sit in the quiet and have a few complete thoughts.
I've been wanting to change some things on this blog and I'm not done yet. I like that blogger added "pages" to the things that can be customized. I like that the pages (links at the top) give me opportunity to clean up the sidebar. I don't really like the color scheme and I know there are free layouts to be found, but I tried a couple and they didn't work and now I'm getting tired!
This stage of life is so busy with little ones needing mom's care and it is a precious time that will be over too soon, but at times it is easy to be frustrated with my lack of free time to "do what I want". I see every day how much I still need the Lord to change me. I am a selfish, self-centered person and motherhood is a perfect mirror to see the imperfections that are not a part of who God wants me to be. I really am glad that He is eternally patient with me. Where would we be without such perfect grace?! I never want to lose sight of my deep need for Him.

As for the layout--it will wait, this momma is sleepy!

Boxes, boxes everywhere

2010-03-15T21:07:00.004-05:00

The packing has begun! I started with books, although I'm having trouble deciding which to pack and which to leave out. How will I survive for the next month without having all my books at my fingertips? Its like knowing you won't be seeing a good friend for a long time.
And where are we moving you may be asking...back to Kansas. I would never have believed if you told me even 6 months ago!
I posted a few months back about how my husband's work announced there would be changes that would affect many people in his company. We knew that God would provide for us-He's been so faithful through the years. But that announcement triggered some soul searching, We asked ourselves if we were really doing exactly what we were passionate about. Our work with the church here has definitely been a passion, but there was just something else so that our hearts were not quite settled. Then some dear friends began asking us to consider moving back to Kansas and taking a position as directors of a Christian coffeehouse. We just knew that we wouldn't be doing that yet God kept nudging our hearts in that direction. God has confirmed through His word, through faithful pastors' teachings, through times of praise and worship. He has placed a burden for the coffeehouse firmly in the center of our hearts and minds. In fact He has placed a burden for the entire community in our hearts. Our minds are full of ideas for the coffeehouse and the community.
Last night we announced to our youth group that we would be leaving. Our small group here has become so dear to our hearts. It was difficult to tell them, but it is good because we are ready to move into what God has put in our path.
We love our church here. It is such an example of Christ-likeness and family. We are so grateful for God's hand moving us here to connect with these wonderful people. I know we have made lifelong friends here who will partner with us in prayer for the coffeehouse. I am so glad to be able to be their partners in prayer for all the amazing things God is going to be doing here.

So we have begun to pack. We have begun to think and plan for the future. I am so excited to see what God will do. I am also excited to reconnect with good friends in Kansas. I feel so blessed to have many opportunities to connect with the family of God all over the place.

Changes

2010-03-10T21:28:00.005-06:00

Many big changes are in the works around here that will effect every aspect of our lives. I will share more soon, but since there is so much to consider it has been difficult to keep my head! I've tried to keep school going strong and we've made some progress. I've also kept working on keeping our records up to date.
One thing I know for sure is that we will be homeschooling again next year. There was some question, but now that it is settled I am trying to make some rough plans for the rest of this year and for next year. Mainly my plans for next year are to estimate our curriculum costs so we can plan accordingly. A very daunting fact is that Charles will be starting 5th grade. Oh my. He is growing into such a great young man. I am aware daily of how short our time is left with him before he ventures out on his own. My heart is heavy with that realization. But I take a deep breath and dive back into the here and now.

Kaitlyn will be a third grader next year and since we've already been on that road with Charles I feel more aware of what will come. She is such a smart girl, and willing to sit and work at school. I'm hoping that stays the same. I like thinking that the groundwork we've laid for the last two years will lead to even more success. With Charles' third grade year we were undoing what had happened with public school. The progress he's made recently is with math. We've been memorizing multiplication facts. I remember how much I hated doing that when I was in school, but consequently I now know them better than ever! He also is gaining mastery with these facts.

One change I have been thinking of for some time is to end this blog. The things on our horizon have the potential to be very time consuming, in a good way. This blog has sometimes been just one more thing to do. It also has been therapeutic and a great way to remember our journey.
I am thankful that in times of change I know that God never changes. I am also thankful for times when He shows more of Himself to me through the crazy times in my life. He is my rock.

Fast Part II

2010-02-14T08:39:00.003-06:00

The fast ended last week, it was 21 days long. The outcome of this fast is that I have a clearer picture of how much I need God's saving grace! I have become reminded of how worldly I am, how I follow my flesh reactions so often.
The first week I set aside Jeremiah's first nap time, when we usually are getting lots of schooling done and prayed with the kids. I tried not to have a predetermined notion of how I thought it would go, with their shorter attention spans. They did well. We talked before we started about making a prayer list, listening to God and worshiping with our whole attention and hearts focused on Him. It was good, now I want to keep that as a part of our days. It is difficult to make time to stop and pray, but it is a good thing to do. I tried to model prayer and waiting before the Lord, but it was hard with them interrupting! It didn't feel like I was really focused on the fast or on my time with God. I know He understands and He was faithful to meet me in those moments.
Toward the end of the fast I was getting pretty frazzled, with Gaylen gone. That was part of the Lord working in me, though. I really came to the end of myself and then relied on God. I wish I would've gotten to the "rely on God" part a little sooner, it would've been so much more peaceful than me doing it on my own!
I want to do another fast, to stay focused on the Lord. I want to stay in that place of closeness with Him, meditating on the goodness of His life giving Word.

Back-log

2010-02-14T08:26:00.003-06:00

I said at the outset of this homeschooling adventure that I would keep excellent records of everything and be organized. HA. From last year I kept all the papers, kept an attendance record and did some journaling of our year. I think the whole Hurricane Ike no power thing and then the surprise you're having a baby thing kind of got me off track! The past three weeks I've been going through said papers, attendance records and journal and trying to organize it. Monumental task. When will I learn that it is easier if I don't procrastinate? When?

My husband has been out of town for the past 21 days for work. He is such a hard worker, enduring so much to provide for us. I am grateful for his incredible work ethic. His days have been passed on a small oil rig in the gulf of Mexico, crowded; dealing with bad weather and an uncomfortable bunk bed! To say the past three weeks have been hard, all by myself, is quite an understatement. The kids and I all got sick the first week, I lost my voice, I've done the youth services during this time (with the help of amazing youth sponsors) and now, the day before he returns, Kaity is sick with a stomach bug, keeping her, Jeremiah and I home from church. Some dear friends are picking up Charlie and taking care of youth tonight for me.

The school record keeping has yet to be finished. Then again, I think I function better with multiple things going at once. At least I'm going to keep telling myself that, cause I don't think life is about to get any simpler!

Fast

2010-01-10T15:01:00.005-06:00

Our church does a fast during the month of January. I think it lasts 30 0r 40 days, (I always forget!) and the first year I fasted one meal, choosing to read the Word and pray during that meal time. The kids were in public school that year and I was alone at home, so I fasted lunch and feasted on the Word. It was amazing. I have never had such a rich time in the Word, or such a time of feeling God's presence. The next year I was pregnant and did not fast any food, but entertainment. That was almost more difficult than going without food. I am way too addicted to TV, movies and internet. It was also more difficult to make time when the kids were homeschooling to have completely quiet alone time in the Bible. I am determined to make this year's fast meaningful. I am determined to be intentional about it.
I may fast a food item, like sugar or meat, but I know I am going to fast from reading my favorite blogs. Too often I distract my mind with reading (good, good stuff on) blogs rather than turning to the Word. I do so knowing that I'm choosing to not allow God to work in my life. It is much more comfortable to read a blog, than to read the life changing Word of the Lord.
I also think we'll be cutting out cable TV. We need to be intentional about budgeting and this is one easy area to do so. I will be able to use that time to study the Word and just spend time listening to the heart of my Beloved.
So that's what I hope to do. I have so much to pray about, so much that I want His direction in. I know God is faithful to reveal Himself to us when we seek Him.

Easing into the routine works

2010-01-05T14:21:00.003-06:00

Usually, after a break, I've had our days full. We would do our full schedule. It was never smooth. There was lots of whining and complaining. The kids didn't do very well either :)
This time we've started with a lighter load, an I'm planning on adding subjects gradually. By next week we should be up and running. This has gone much more smoothly. I'm also trying to implement student planners, for the kids to get used to keeping track of their work more independently. That is still a work in progress and I'm figuring it out as we go.
I did complete my writing assignment yesterday and I've finished reading Dobson's Strong Willed Child. I'd like to make some notes about it.
I hear the baby digging in the dog food bowl. Eww.

Stick to It

2010-01-02T21:53:00.008-06:00

Other educators get In-service days, or conferences they attend for professional development. For the next three months I'm going to make personal development a part of my weekly plans. Every day I have a goal of reading from my list of books that are about parenting or educating. I want to read Dobson's Strong Willed Child and Tobias' How They Learn and You Can't Make Me, but I Can Be Persuaded and take notes on what I read that is applicable to the stage my kids are in. I want to listen to webcasts that I recorded from the incredible Heart of the Matter Homeschool Online Conference.
In my last post I mentioned living on purpose. Making excuses is not living on purpose and one area in which I always make excuses is writing. I've had the dream of being a writer for a long time. I usually just tell myself I'm too busy right now, or too tired. In my thoughts of the new year I've been making some writing assignments for myself.
The challenge or assignment is to write regularly. I have a much neglected writing blog that details my weekly assignments. My challenge is oh so corny, but hopefully will inspire me to write more. If you are a fellow writer, hop on over here and think about joining me in challenging yourself in the coming weeks.

The New Year is Staring at Me

2009-12-19T10:21:00.004-06:00

This teacher is so glad for Christmas break! The kids are ready too; getting through our schooling these last few days has been difficult. A break will be good for us all.

With the coming new year I want to make some changes. I know that this whole process is just that. I know we've tried things that worked for us but just need more tweaking. Last year at the new year I introduced a posted homeschool schedule with times penciled in. The kids liked seeing what was up next in our day. This year we've tried the "workboxes" approach and have liked it. I need to be more diligent about prep work before the day actually begins, though. I thrive on "flying by the seat of my pants" but I don't think the kids like it. I think it stresses them out.

So what I see though all these experiences is the Lord directing me toward diligence and self-discipline. -I know-. Still. I would probably characterize it more like dragging-me-kicking-and -screaming toward diligence and self-discipline. I tend to make a plan, follow it for a couple of weeks and then start to let it slide. This has happened over and over. But what I do see is every time I slide less and less. So I may not stick to the plan completely, but I don't backslide completely to laziness. Some things from the numerous organization and time-management plans eventually stick.

What I see in the kids now is that even more consistency is needed. We will be sticking with the workboxes idea because we like it and because I need to be held accountable to prepare everyday. We will be implementing schedules again, like last year, in a bit of a different format.

I've used printables from Donna Young many times. I've personalized one of her housekeeping charts for myself and have begun personalizing one for each of the kids. I'm thinking we'll have the kids keep track of a personal daily planner with a daily routine and weekly routine that they are responsible for following. I'm posting these on my side bar under "Daily Routines" with each of our names. Maybe we'll have some way of stamping their planners when they complete all the tasks/goals for the day and giving an immediate reward. (Kaity would really like the immediate reward, Charlie may not need that as much) I want to stop nagging. I want to instill time management skills in them. Those are big goals for my new year in the realm of schooling. But I'm still figuring out all the details.

What it all boils down to is living on purpose. My husband has been exercising self-control and discipline in the area of exercise and weight loss. His 47 lb weight loss is inspiring. Not to mention that he feels so much better and looks HOT:) . I want that kind of diligence to flow out to all areas of our lives- housekeeping, school work, personal and spiritual development, time management, and ministry. So I'm thinking now about my new year's goals, but not the kind that get left behind by January 8th! We are making lifestyle changes that will last. What are some ways you could start living on purpose? No New Year's resolutions here!

Next post: Teacher Development ideas

Homeschool Triumphs

2009-12-08T10:01:00.003-06:00

Between generous sharing of various colds and viruses, trying to sleep train a very strong willed baby and getting in gear for the Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years holidays I feel as though my head is spinning.
I wanted to take note of some triumphs I've seen recently. The relationship aspect of homeschooling is so amazing to watch. My older kids are closer to each other (although the bickering is not completely gone) and they adore the baby. It is heartwarming to see them take care of him and dote on him. Hopefully they won't spoil him completely!
The major triumph I saw today was in Charles. We started using Writing Strands 3 with him several weeks ago and although we have not been consistent with that book there has been a revolution. When faced with a writing assignment Charles cheered. He was happy about it. He asked if he could write more than he was assigned! This is such a triumph in a child who after a year of the pressure in public school from an unbending second grade teacher would not write. He would shut down and begin saying things like, "I'm stupid," and "Everyone thinks I'm not smart," when asked to write even a sentence.
Other updates are:
Kaity still enjoys worksheets, coloring and just sitting there to "do school." She will even ask to do school on weekends! Sometimes, though, she and I conflict about so many things. She is strong willed child number one. My dear friend, Cheri, told me to stick to my guns. That's what I've been doing. I'm hoping to see results soon. Sometimes it gets very wearing to try and outlast her stubborn will! I pray that this will be used to God's glory and that she will learn to be yielded to Him above all. Charles is just beginning to show the emotional turmoil that is pre-pubescence! Oh my! I am not at all ready for that! The baby is crawling and pulling up to standing on everything, but has not figured out how to go back down to the ground after getting up. He gets around so fast now and he loves to crawl into the nasty, disgusting, hairy, dirty dog kennel that our boxer uses. You should hear the happy little baby noises he makes when he gets in there when I'm not looking. Yuck. I'm thinking of permanently attaching a broom to my hands so that I can keep the floors relatively clean for my little crawler. Hubby says a little dirt will only make him stronger! Seriously, I love the dog, but does anyone want a boxer? :)

Remembering

2009-11-04T22:49:00.003-06:00

The main purpose of this blog was to help me remember various thought that I knew would get lost in the day to day chaos that is my brain! Now as we contemplate the changes coming our way I want to remember somethings about having my in-laws live with us these past few months.
I want to remember the way my mother-in-law bent over backwards to give us our space. She made every effort to not intrude on our lives. I want to remember the humility she expressed without complaint every day. I know it was hard for her to go from running her own home, in her terms, to making it fit with our lives. I want to remember her selfless willingness to watch the kids, to talk to them no matter what she was doing at the time. I want to remember how good it was to hear her laugh and see her smile, how her eyes light up when she is doing something creative, how she treats her husband with the utmost respect. There are not words to express the lessons being lived out in front of me and my children in her life.
My father-in-law is such a hard working person. I see exactly where my husband learned his solid work ethic. His integrity in the workplace is a rare thing. I pray he is always valued for the great worth that he has. I want to remember the sense of humor that never sleeps-that my husband also inherited, that could not really be forgotten anyway.
None of this is to say that it has been easy. "Crowded" begins to describe our living conditions, on their part as well as ours. I felt such a sense of their intruding in my life, my house, my space. I have seen first hand that I place far too much value on "my," "me," & "mine." I have prayed that my bad attitude would be changed and that it would not make them feel uncomfortable. I have prayed that I would not wait until years go by to be grateful for this time with them.

I want to remember how this morning she hugged my eldest son, who is almost as tall as she is and with emotion said, "When I don't live with you anymore I'm sure gonna miss getting hugs and kisses everyday."

Where exactly is home?

2009-10-25T20:47:00.003-05:00

Recently my husband got news that there are major changes at work coming. Changes that would either cause him to be working for a different company in this area or cause him to be looking for work somewhere else. We are not terribly shaken by this. We have, however noticed that this news has brought up some questions about purpose. Are we in the center of God's will? Are we where He wants us to be? Are we ministering exactly where we are supposed to be ministering?
We don't want personal feelings to get in the way of hearing His leading. I know that He has a plan, a good plan for us and how we fit in with His kingdom plan.
A song is coming to mind as I wonder, "where is home, where are we supposed to be..."
lovely are Your dwelling places
thirsty, I come after You
Where He dwells is lovely. I only want to be where He is. All other concerns will be taken care of by the God who loves me and has great plans for my family.

I am not single handedly ruining my childrens' academic future...

2009-09-28T17:39:00.003-05:00

I am not single-handedly ruining my childrens' academic future. I'm repeating this to myself today as I listen to my husband console the baby in the next room. I think we've entered the realm of teething, or the baby has a cold, or some other reason that we haven't thought of. I tell you I was never so glad to see hubby after he got off work today!
We've had a busy month, and I know we've made progress. It seems that it takes one bad day to convince me that there have never been and will never again be good days. Getting into to groove of schooling in any given day is not as structured as I would like.
I'm trying to give myself a break, as a good friend told me. This crazy season of baby and all the other things filling our lives will pass. We will survive. We will probably learn far more than I think we are learning. I find it difficult to take it easy when the kid's education is one of the things I am juggling now. I do tend to over-analyze, though. Can you tell?!
Writing for me has not been happening. I have managed to snatch a few moments of Bible time. My prayer life boils down to what happened today as I rocked a crying baby. I looked toward the ceiling and said to God, "change something here, especially if it is me!!"
I will trust Him. Motherhood is tough. I want to grow in Him and develop fruits of the Spirit, even if it takes this kind of work. He knows what plans He has for me.

Growing Good Writers

2009-08-30T22:54:00.003-05:00

I just finished listening to the speech given by Andrew Pudewa for Heart of the Matter's Online Conference. The conference was a few weeks ago, but the registration fee included MP3s of all the speakers. I am slowly but surely making my way through the speakers and feel that this one may just have revolutionized my homeschooling approach.
Mr. Pudewa is the director for the Institute for Excellence in Writing. I will be researching this program more fully, but there are a few points that his presentation brought up that feel like amazing "ah-ha" moments for me!! There have been a few moments (too few, probably) that I have felt God's immediate nudge, directing me in this homeschooling adventure. I am convinced that I need to slow down more and seek that direction more often. This is one of those nudges! To sum up Mr. Pudewa's points that I will be thinking about and probably posting about in more depth:

-Reading aloud to children in large quantities and increasingly complex quality is the best way to help them develop sophisticated language. When children hear good literature read to them their comprehension increases as well. They develop a resource from which to draw when they are communicating and writing. They will be able to use more sophisticated language when they have a better resource. (He pointed out that many children only have the language they hear in media as their primary resource for language used for communication and writing.) 2 hours a day of reading aloud would not be too much!

-The other way to build their resource is for them to memorize: poetry, scripture and speeches. He said that it is vital to memorize and to continue to review the memorized pieces.

This is a link to his article that contains most of the presentation that I listened to today.

I am left thinking that I have been drifting toward "busy work" and leaving off some essential things that are easier. i.e. "Do this worksheet," instead of really focusing on learning something. I am going to really examine our routine, our day, and see how we can fit in more reading aloud. I did not realize the importance of memorization. Now that I have heard why it is important I am asking myself if I can muster up the diligence to memorize and require my students to memorize! I will be seeking God's grace and strength for that one!
It seems I am constantly discovering ways in which I need more diligence!

Inadequacy

2009-08-28T10:00:00.002-05:00

Inadequacy attacked me today. I was walking out of the library, balancing a stack of books for the kids to use for their studies next week. My stomach was full of a meal I'd prepared in the crock-pot while we did school today. My head was whirring about ideas for them to study next week. Then I saw the poster.

It was an advertisement for the summer reading program party. It was for all participants that met a certain reading requirement in their summer reading. It was bright and colorful, very attention grabbing. I breathed a sigh of relief that the kids were at home with dad.

If they'd been along I'd have to explain why we could not go- we had read more than enough to qualify, the kicker- I had not been diligent about having them write down the pages they read or about turning the list in to the librarian. My shoulders sagged with feelings of not-good-enough. I thought of all the fun they could've had with kids their age, if I'd only been better at my job of super-mom.

I was well on my way to excuses and justifications for myself when I got to my mini-van. As I pulled out of the library parking lot, the local Christian radio station was playing a minute-long monologue of encouraging words. "Our insufficiencies are only to make us look to God. He alone is sufficient."

I smiled, shoulders back, as a weight lifted. I don't have to be super-mom. I can trust my Heavenly Father to be everything. Not just everything I'm not, He is Everything. My inadequacy glorifies His adequacy in all things.

Two weeks

2009-08-27T22:07:00.003-05:00

When I start a new routine I want to go after it diligently for two weeks. I guess I'm hoping that being diligent for a set amount of time will deeply ingrain the new routines. I also do so with an eye on my personal characteristic of not being able to stick with something for very long. Although there were many times in the last two weeks that I thought the new routine we are trying was useless, we kept at it. I don't know if it is becoming second nature or not, but the kids are getting used to it. The main difficulty in this system is the one thing that could be most beneficial: my preparedness. Using the workboxes (drawers in our case) means I must have something in the boxes for them to do before we actually start. That is so difficult for me because I thrive on spontaneous, fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants, plan as I go kind of planning.
The moments that seemed most frustrating were those that Kaity balked at my assignments or requests. There's something in that girl that wants to challenge everything. And I mean everything. I'm trying to understand how to best relate with her, to find her motivators so we can stop butting heads. Because mine hurts and she seems no worse for the wear! I'm reading How They Learn by Cynthia Tobias. Very insightful, I'm praying for revelation into Kaity's learning style(s). I don't totally have Charlie pegged, but have some ideas.
Next week we mix things up and will do a week of Lapbooking. This was an idea that occurred to me today. Don't know if it is a good idea or not. I'm going to approach the week much more organized about specific lapbooking ideas and have many things prepared ahead of time for the kids. I'll try to incorporate the basic subjects in our week, just in ways that bring a breath of fresh change to our days.

Fresh Start

2009-08-19T20:38:00.005-05:00

I like fresh starts. The old is gone. The new is- well, new! We've officially started our school year. We did some random, inconsistent schooling over the summer, but now we're serious! I'd been researching Sue Patrick's Workbox system and then I had the opportunity to hear her speak as a part of Heart of the Matter's Online Conference. (That was awesome in itself. If possible, plan to be a part of Heart of the Matter's Conference next year!) Sue Patrick is a wonderfully imaginative, organized and creative person. Her system really makes sense for keeping students on track.
We customized her ideas in ways that are really working for us. I think we'll continue to change it as we see what works best. We are using a standing plastic drawer set with 5 drawers for both of the kid's work. I got bright pink notecards for Kaity and bright orange for Charlie. In each drawer each student might have two or three different assignments, and they have the option of getting them out one at a time, or all at once. Each assignment has a colored number (made from the notecards) paper-clipped to it along with any instructions. On the front of each drawer are little laminated "task badges" that tell the kids what the task is, attached with Velcro dots. They are required to work in the order that I put the tasks for now. There was discussion today about if they could do their tasks in whatever order they want. The benefit of them following my order is I can have a little control over how the day goes- like having only one on the computer at a time, or having both free to do history, which we do together. They have "task cards" which also have Velcro dots (12 for now). As they do each task they move the task badge from the drawer to their cards. It really helps them visually recognize that they are getting work done and that there is an end. I made the task badges from simple clip-art or just words printed in color. They made the task cards from scrapbook or art paper. I laminated everything with a roll of contact paper.
This is a far cry from the beauty of organization that Sue Patrick's idea is. Really I'm not exaggerating, it would probably be worth it to buy her book just to see all her incredibly creative ideas. (I'm pinching pennies to buy it for myself.) I like that this forces me to have their work ready at the beginning of the day. At first I dreaded that, but it really isn't that bad. It takes a few minutes of preparation and gives me a smooth day of schooling. I am trying to be an organized person, and this really does help. The kids are working and setting goals for themselves. They stayed at work today a couple of times even though I had to leave the room with the baby. There are still a few little kinks to work out and there is the standard, "I don't want to do school" that I have to endure for a few days. Even that is better than last year. They know that momma means business and that negotiations will not be beneficial to them!
Schooling with the baby is not as hard as I thought it would be. I'm hoping it stays that way. Today he played with some toys while laying in the pack-n-play, snoozed in the swing and tried his best to get slobbery fat fingers on the papers and pens on the table while I held him in my lap. He seems to really love the grabbing part, if the rapid kicking of those fat thighs is any indication at all!
The week is off to a great start, even though Charlie is dealing with a low grade fever and I am completely worn out by the end of the day! I really want to schedule in some personal time to do some writing. That will be hard to do. I also want to continue to improve on my consistency with deeper Bible study.

Summer is almost done

2009-08-06T08:55:00.002-05:00

I think it is mainly from boredome, but Kaity is begging to start school! I'm not ready, getting there, but not quite...
We leave tomorrow for summer's last bang. Our trip is normally 10 hours. Taking bets on how much it will be lengthened by numerous baby stops. We will travel to Kansas to see too many people in too few days and then to my parent's and finally to my hubby's family reunion. Yeah, when we get back we're gonna need a vacation from our vacation.
Chiropractic helped Jeremiah tremendously. He's not spitting up as much and he's sleeping better. Yeah for longer naps!!
I'm implementing a version of Sue Patrick's workbox system. I'll post more about it soon. When we get back we'll start school, diving in to a full day of school. I've had such fun this week at Heart of the Matter's online homeschool conference. It was so well worth the registration fee, and I've only had the chance to listen to three speakers. The registration fee includes downloads of all the other speakers' sessions, so I can't wait to listen to them as well, after our trip. I will definitely plan on attending it next year as well and I recommend it to anyone homeschooling or even thinking of homeschooling.
Today's to do list includes shopping for shoes for a boy who is growing like a weed and cleaning house so it will be nice when we come back.

Overdue update

2009-07-17T12:27:00.003-05:00

We've still been trying to get to the bottom of Jeremiah's troubles. The reflux medicine did not seem to help. We took him to a chiropractor today, on recommendation from several people.

The big kids and I have used some of our summer days to do a little schooling. We had much fun going to Houston Children's Museum with family and will return there soon as we purchased a season pass. We can't go soon enough, according to Charlie. I'm trying to get organized for diving into our full schedule this fall. That is a difficult thing to do with an unhappy baby. It seems like his naps are just long enough for me to wish they were longer!

We are looking forward to a road trip in August to go to family reunion. Not sure how the baby will do- it is a very long drive.
I'm wondering if the ad campains for "back to school" know the effect they have on me. Part of me wants to go buy school supplies. Part of me has a little anxiety about my lack of preparation!

Family Fun

2009-07-08T22:18:00.003-05:00

We've had so much fun with family this last week. My brother-in-law and his wife and daughter came for a visit and stayed a week. The big kids had fun playing with their cousin and Jeremiah tried his best to be a charmer! He had some screaming moments, but we were even able to go to the Houston Children's Museum for a fun day. The guys all went on an off-shore fishing trip and brought back lots of Red Snapper and King Mackerel- yummy! Now that family is gone we're trying to get back into routine. Charlie is engrossed in a book already and I'm still trying to entice Kaity with lots of different types of books.

My 32nd birthday came and went, without much fanfare. It does seem so much older to say, "I'm 32" but I don't feel like a grown-up yet. It is okay with me if I never feel like a grown-up. On Saturday my dear husband is taking me to the Phantom of the Opera and to a fancy restaurant. He said we can even dress up. Now that sounds like a grown-up talking, huh?!
I have my dress all picked out. It fits. I wore it before being pregnant for the third time. I was really glad it still fit. I'm thinking about how to do my hair.
In the back of my mind are lots of lists of things to prepare for homeschool for the next year. I'll leave them there to percolate for now.

Playing behind all that is a song of the Lord working in my heart. His presence is quiet in noisy times, but there all the same. I'm working on listening to that song more and the other stuff less.

Looking Back

2009-06-25T11:24:00.003-05:00

I took out my planner and school calendar from last year. I was pleased to find that we had 138 days of formal schooling. That was an accomplishment because of the two major disruptors that happened: Hurricane Ike and the 9th month of my pregnancy (because mommy was severely unmotivated!). That is also not to mention all the other stuff that happens around here like chipping in to help with keeping house, helping dad build bunk beds and the Lego loft, cooking with mom as well as endless discussions about how babies grow and what a baby will be like when he gets here.
After the Hurricane we didn't have power for two weeks, but that didn't stop the learning when the tadpoles we'd been caring for sprouted legs. After the storm we also headed north for a much needed visit to family and friends. We tried to do school on the road and at Grandma's but there were just too many distractions, along with the fact that morning sickness kicked in full force.

I'd thought all along that a year-round schedule would work for us and we are still trying that out, trying to rotate through a few subjects a week, but getting math in every day. There are the obligatory endless hours in a pool and a much more lax bedtime schedule. Besides, what would summer be like without a good book to enjoy in a cool house when the temperatures outside are soaring? Charlie has loved the Warrior series by Erin Hunter. Now he's reading Eragon by Chris Paolini. We're reading Where the Red Fern Grows, by Wilson Rawls aloud together. Kaity and I are going to start Missouri Bound, A little house chapter book, by Roger Lea MacBride along with the picture books that she and I will be reading to Jeremiah.
I've been reading a new favorite author, Karen Hancock. She writes Christian fantasy and Christian scifi books. I recommend all of her books, even those I have yet to devour. Earlier in May I also devoured The Circle series by Ted Dekker. I love fiction that has analogy to our Christian walk.

I'm making reading lists for the coming school year when we kick it in gear in the fall. What are some favorites of your kids? Do you have a reluctant reader like Kaity is? What motivates them to read?

Small Steps

2009-06-16T09:43:00.003-05:00

I really did not remember how much a tiny person disrupts plans! The baby is still too little for a regular napping and eating schedule and I know that will come soon enough. But not having some idea of a plan makes me feel like everything is out of control. I feel like I am losing ground in the area of personal diligence if I don't give some thought to planing our days. I am making flexible goals that I will not let myself stress over. These are ways to help me, not hurt me! Some short term goals I am working on are:
*researching the "workboxes" idea to see if it will work for us and to see how we can adapt this idea to help us stay organized and on task during formal schooling days.
* regular time away to collect my thoughts and plans about homeschool. Or to just have some thoughts :-) These will be short, one hour or less.
* longer periods of time to plan ahead and research for homeschool.
* time to work on long term things like an amended school calendar. The pregnancy and birth of Jeremiah kind of blew the last school calendar to shreds! In a good way, of course.
* my most important short term goal of having Bible study every day. I would like to add to this some family worship time at home. That is a little more out of my control because of Gaylen's work schedule. I want us to always take responsibility for the spiritual instruction of our kids. It becomes too easy to say, "oh, we go to church regularly and the kids participate." That is not enough.
* I want to stay current on homeschool news. This can be a source of fear for some, but I want to be informed so I can voice my concerns to representatives and senators for our area.
* reexamine my habits in the area of housekeeping. Am I being diligent to help my home be a place of refuge for my husband and kids? Am I keeping a servant's heart and an attitude of cheerful obedience in this? I know my attitude affects the atmosphere of our home. I know I can get so lazy in this area and blind to clutter that should and could be taken care of. Although there is an infant in the mix now and standards can be more relaxed- I should not take advantage of that and use the baby as an excuse for laziness. This is an area the Lord convicts me of, because I am so good at coming up with excuses for my laziness!

One great site for the nitty gritty details of home and school management is Donna Young. She has great free printable calendars, lists etc. that are so helpful. There are also lesson ideas listed by subject. Anyone reading should feel free to leave comments about sites you find helpful for anything on the above list!

Although its not an exhaustive list, I will be reading that myself in the coming weeks and months as a reminder to myself. I want to add to the list as God gives more direction too.

The Baby Slept

2009-06-15T10:06:00.004-05:00

It almost felt strange, waking up after such a long stretch of uninterupted sleep. Jeremiah went to sleep after a very colicky afternoon and evening at about 10:30 pm. He woke at 4:30 am. --6 hours in a row--Yipee!

The flip side was that he was so hungry that he nursed ravenously and then the reflux seemed to bother him alot. I thought the trade off was acceptable for one night. It would be great if we were to the point of a long night's sleep, but I'd rather him not be hurting from reflux.

Charles and Kaity and I will stick with our plans to do some math together today and accomplish some housekeeping chores. After that I think we should read lots today- we do have our summer reading logs to fill for the public library summer reading program after all!!

I also will be keeping up with my goal of Bible Study everyday. Not just Bible reading. I've started a Beth Moore study called Stepping Up and am enjoying it. I really don't think I should be surprised anymore when God helps me though my days so much better when I put time with Him first. I've seen His faithfulness throughout my walk with Him. Myself and some friends from church are blogging to stay accountable to spend time in the Word daily. Join us if you want some accountability too at Wings of the Dawn, Bible Study Accountability.

Jekll and Hyde

2009-06-13T09:47:00.003-05:00

There are times when it feels like we are living with two different infants. One is calm and smiling. The other is back-arched, limbs stiffened mouth open wide screaming. Screaming like his limbs are being ripped off.
I've said that my mantra right now is "I just don't know." There are so many things to which I just do not and may never find the elusive answer. Although my goal is not to be whiny, one purpose of this blog is to remember this time period so I will continue. If you don't want to hear about the difficulties we're having with colicky baby behavior, stop now!

I don't know if the Prevacid is working. I may need to ask the Dr. about the dosage. It seems to help a bit, since we've had fewer inconsolable crying jags with it than without it. We still do have periods of inconsolable crying.
I don't know if Mylicon is working for him. I've taken to giving it to him before feedings as a friend mentioned it worked for her babies. I think it might help some.
I don't know if I need to limit dairy further in my diet. I already am abstaining from drinking milk, milk in my morning bowl of cereal, cheese, ice cream (yeah I did tear-up a little at that one. Oh how I miss ice cream). I know there are all sorts of other ways dairy is in our diets. When I have any of the aforementioned dairy sources the baby's crying brings me to tears.
I don't know if the colic we are still experiencing is just normal baby crying. I know babies fuss and cry. I'm not expecting a perfectly angelic baby.
I don't know to what extent the other foods I am eating are affecting my breastmilk. I also don't know, if the foods I eat are affecting my breast milk, how a 2 month has such a discerning palate!
I don't know if milk overproduction and a too strong let-down reflex are a small portion of his fussiness at some feeding times. I don't know how to counter these, as I thought my body is supposed to "just know" what he needs and is eating. I thought it would adjust accordingly (maybe I just need a bit of patience in this!)
I didn't think I could keep breastfeeding, but then we tried giving him soy formula and he got constipated. That was bad crying too. I would rather breastfeed than deal with that. We got a baby swing for him and that helps. He is starting to focus on what is happening around him and that helps too- distracts him from everything else, I think.

I do know that I will survive this. I do know that my sanity will be intact. I do know that there will come a day that I sleep all night long. I do know that it is worth it when Miah's big, deep blue eyes look into mine and make my heart flutter. I know that somewhere in his little heart he knows how much we love him and that we're doing all we can to help him adjust to this big, bad world. I know that he is our gift from God and God knows what He's doing.

It all started with a hermit crab

2009-06-13T08:50:00.003-05:00

Kaity begged for a hermit crab for her birthday, which was last month. She'd seen the pretty painted shells at a vendor in the mall. That request was repeated any time anyone said anything about her birthday. So Gaylen took her to a pet store. He continues to prove his wisdom! There the shells are not painted and the crabs are in a regular looking aquarium, not a cute, colorful plastic container. The whole time they were in the pet store "just looking around" (you see he's wise and sneaky) the hermit crab didn't move. Problem solved, right? NO
After rejecting such a boring pet Kaity began obsessing with the guinea pigs. Yes very cute, but they are very similar to hamsters in my eyes. (About 6 years ago we had dwarf hamsters that we purchased, not knowing one was pregnant, from a pet store for Charles. Before we got rid of them the last hamster count was 35! Yes 35. Not a fun experience.) At the pet store Charles also found a pet he wanted; a bearded dragon lizard.
Now I'm all for pets. I had cats and dogs when I was a kid. I loved having the iguana that we rescued three years ago. I liked the parakeet that we had. I love our dog. I even liked the hamsters (up until there were more than 15 of them). However there are some issues I was having with adding two more pets to the full house we have right now.
The solution: have the kids save up the money to buy the pets and supplies themselves. That was another bit of wisdom from the mouth of my husband. They saved and worked and were getting dangerously close to having enough money for their pets. But you know how money is, you start thinking of all those plastic toys you can buy. It's almost like it is burning a hole in your pocket. Especially when mom suggests we go to Toys R Us. You should have heard the rationalizations "you know if we have a pet we have to clean up after it," Kaity said, "and we'd still have to clean our room." I nodded, "Yes you would." Her blue eyes were all seriousness, "and that would be alot of work."
I'm optimistically chalking this up to a lesson about money!

Just a week?

2009-06-06T12:53:00.004-05:00

I know the last post said I wrote it a short while ago, but that just doesn't seem possible.
We are living at that place where the baby cries so much that even when he's not crying, our ears still hear it. I guess it is colic, or baby-reflux (which I have never heard of till now) or just a baby crying because he can. Whatever it is I have had enough. I told Jeremiah that, but he didn't seem to pay me any attention. He just threw his head back and cried.
Can you tell I've progressed passed the point of frantically trying to find out why he is crying? I do try to tend to all his needs. He is fed regularly, burped, diapered, smiled at, held, sung to, bathed, burped more, introduced to his mobile and laid to sleep in a safe, clean crib. So when he cries still, even after our best efforts to console him, our eyes sort of glaze over. My husband said that this will either drive us insane or enable us to deal with incredibly stressful situations. I let you know which of those is the end result. We have spoken with the doctor about it, we are trying a medication for baby reflux, it is too soon to tell if it will be helpful.
For two weeks now we've been attempting formal homeschooling. Math the first week, Math and Spanish this week. This week we've also focused on getting the kids back on a chore schedule. We've been trying out "Handipoints," an online site for managing chore charts. They can keep track of what they've done, make saving goals and play online games with points they get just for doing what is on their charts. Kaity loves the online games, Charlie doesn't. It seems to be working well, as opposed to me forgetting to print chore charts and forgetting to ask them to complete them. We usually do two morning and two afternoon chores, just simple household tasks. They also have things that are automatic, like keeping the bedroom clean and keeping toys and shoes picked up from around the house.
The school room is no more. It has made its transformation into a bedroom for my in-laws . I am confident that the school storage I have in the dining room will be more than enough. It will also force me to clean up school after each day, a habit I should've been making myself learn anyway! I'd like to use an modified "workboxes" method to organize our daily work, and I have some drawer space set aside for that, but have yet to organize that. In the weeks to come I will, for now I am focusing on day to day goals for myself and for our schooling goals.

Day to day. God's grace is enough for today. I'm confident I will be able to say that about tomorrow too.

Following the Call

2009-05-30T00:45:00.001-05:00

Several months ago my husband's job announced they would be selling a portion of the company and that had a direct impact on his job, and many others' jobs. He knew he would most likely have the opportunity to reapply for a position with the company that would be the buyers. His job is with a major pipeline company, and is a job that God provided when we moved to Texas from SE Kansas. We didn't understand at the time, but we followed the Lord's leading to Texas and were in the right place to be used in worship and youth ministry in a wonderful church in Texas, Lifepointe Fellowship. It has become our church home and a wonderful church family. Gaylen has missed full-time ministry, but has worked hard both at his full-time job and at church. I've also had opportunity to minister on the worship team and with the youth at this church plant that is a growing, 3 year old church. At the time of his company's announcement we thought that God would provide a way for us to go on staff full time at our church, we hoped that would be the direction He would lead! We wondered if we could make some lifestyle changes and budget better so that we could work for the church, even if they couldn't pay a full-time salary.

God began to lead in a different direction at that time; He led us to think and pray about going to work for a Christian coffeehouse in SE Kansas as directors. Currently the coffeehouse has a youth ministry on weekends to high school and college aged youth, as well as other ministries. The leadership would like to grow the coffeehouse's sphere of ministry and we have all been brainstorming ways to positively impact the community. The coffeehouse also has a low power Christian radio station that we will learn how to help run and a concert ministry both to concert attendees and to the bands who come to perform. There are so many . ways we can dream of God using this coffeehouse for impacting the communities of SE Kansas.

This is one of the many relocations we've experienced in following the call God has placed in our hearts. I don't think we've ever had that call strictly defined. I see God revealing more and more to us what gifts He's placed in us, the gifts He is developing through the experiences we have. I see Him revealing Himself in new ways everyday and ways that He can use us if we are yielded to Him. Sometimes it seems like we are without a home, a settling place. At those times I am reminded that I can live and move and breathe and be in Him, that His dwelling places are lovely, that He promises to never, ever leave us. And even more amazingly, He promises to never leave me as I am- to always change me into who He wants me to be. I'm so excited to follow His call

5 weeks old

2009-05-23T10:11:00.004-05:00

Tomorrow Jeremiah is 5 weeks old. I keep marveling at how much such a tiny person can disrupt an entire family! He's had periods of fussy, colicky behavior. But it is not constant. He is healthy and is gaining weight very well. We can't wait to see him really smile.

I have to admit that this stage is not my favorite. The demanding, sometimes screaming infant is not exactly fun. It is a stage, though and the fun interaction is just around the corner.
Formal homeschooling is still disrupted. We've kept reading & doing some science from time to time. I'd love to add math to this next weeks list of things to do. We'll see. I just can't seem to get it together. Exhaustion, and the effects of that on my mind are the main reasons we've not started. I had hoped to start last week. My dear husband said to me last week that I should just ease up and not start school, not to stress myself about it. So I took his wonderful advice!

We've completely cleaned out my school room, to make room for my in-laws to move in in the next month or so. Now our school stuff is in a long shelf in the dining room and it was good to simplify my collection of homeschool stuff I might use "someday." My husband even got me to rid of some stuff I had started saving for Jeremiah. It will be years before he'll use it! I had to laugh at my pack-rat tendencies. I will try to only keep what we will use now. I will try. I want to write more soon about how we'll be reorganizing our schedule. For now we have to get ready for youth group tonight.

11 days old

2009-04-29T15:30:00.003-05:00

Today my Mom, Jeremiah and the big kids all went to the park. Mainly as an effort to curb the cabin fever that seems to be raging with Charlie and Kaity. They've been good, but the transition of welcoming Jeremiah to our family has been a little interesting. Don't think they were expecting a baby to take this much of mom's time and energy! My Mom and I keep telling them it won't always be this way- I don't think they believe us yet. This still want to kiss him, and hold him and help out in other ways, so I'm optimistic!
I feel great and Jeremiah is still doing well. He did have a touch of jaundice, but after a few blood tests, the doctor cleared him. We even went to church Sunday, much to the surprise of everyone there. I wore him in my baby wrap I purchased from etsy.com . I love it and it will be very handy in the coming months. BTW it was made by loveyduds and she has more for sale- very cute and extremely easy to wear. Having him in the baby wrap made me feel more comfortable about his new immune system not being overwhelmed by lots of people wanting to hold him. He is irresistibly kissable, you know!
I'm looking forward to continuing our schooling this summer. I know it will be hard to maintain my motivation with limited sleep, but I think keeping up a routine will be helpful for the kids. And for me.
Right now I have about twenty minutes until he is hungry again! Time for a quick shower- how will I manage when my Mom goes home?!

Going Home Soon

2009-04-21T08:52:00.003-05:00

Jeremiah and I had a slumber party last night at the hospital while Gaylen went home with the big kids. It was a good night. Jeremiah latched on better and even let me snatch a few z's here and there. I am so ready to go home. I look at his sweet face and almost can't believe they're gonna let me keep him! His hair is so soft and his lips are so kissable! Can you tell I'm infatuated?!
I hope to have pictures posted here soon.

Jeremiah is here

2009-04-19T14:02:00.003-05:00

He came this morning at 4:40 a.m. and weighed 7lbs and 5oz. He is 19 inches long. Although we have snatched a few naps here and there we've been up since. Needless to say Gaylen and I are tired. Jeremiah is nursing well, although I think we'll need to work on the latch; I think he's swallowing too much air. He so far has been a very contented baby boy. Kaity and Charlie are excited and did not want to leave when they visited earlier today. I can't wait to get home and get settled into our own routine. The nurses and doctors here have been great. God answers prayers! I am resting in His good blessings today!

Sign of our times

2009-04-18T22:38:00.003-05:00

Crazy that I am blogging and posting on facebook in between contractions! We came to the hospital this evening in a crazy Houston thunder storm. I started feeling contractions this afternoon and Gaylen's mom had stopped by our house because of the storm. Before she left We asked her to watch the kids so we could go to the hospital. I really didn't think that we would stay. The contractions kept going even though it took us about 2 hours to go what should've taken 25 minutes. I had dilated a bit more when we got to the hospital and the doctor said that I was here to stay. That was at about 7:30 pm. Now at 10:45 I'm still contracting and waiting. Will post updates as we move along.

Baby Birds

2009-04-16T10:49:00.003-05:00

Last week Charlie noticed a nest in a tall bush in the far corner of the back yard. A female Cardinal was sitting in it. When she was gone the little tweets coming from the nest were a sure sign of life. We left it alone for a few days, but curiosity got the best of us. We each went out, stood on the trampoline and tried to spot the baby bird in the shadows. (Seeing a 9 month-pregnant woman clambering onto a trampoline is another story entirely!) Over the next few days the squawking noises from the nest were loud enough to hear from the house and Charlie kept an eye on the nest. We were so dismayed when at the end of the week the nest was empty. I thought our attention had scared the parents to do something extreme, but hubby looked around for baby birdy bodies on the ground and found nothing. The next day I was washing dishes and looked up to see the male Cardinal feeding a fledgling. Kaity came quickly to my calls and we watched the baby preen his new feathers.
I was glad our attention didn't lead to his demise! When I tried to sneak up on him and take his picture, he flew away, but I can still hear his loud, demanding cries. We looked it up and read that the parents feed the babies even after they leave the nest.
The cries of the baby are loud and obnoxious! I'm thinking ahead to the moments when an infant's demanding cries are going to be vying for our attention as well...

Don't know if I believe her anymore

2009-04-14T11:32:00.003-05:00

The doctor did say she thought Jeremiah would be here before Easter...
My doctor visit today was good. She believes he'll come before the weekend. Only God knows if she's right! She also guessed that his weight would be 7lbs 14oz. No idea how she gets that accurate of a guess, but time will tell! I am dilated to almost 3 cm, so the string of contractions I had last night were very productive. She said if I start having pains like that again, to just go to the hospital. I know from the previous two labors that it took very little time to progress from 3cm to 10cm. I also remember those kinds of contractions being intense. As in difficult to drive myself to the hospital...hope hubby will be home for that phase! I really have no desire to deliver my baby in my new (to me) minivan!! That would be quite the story, though!! Needless to say all Grandmas are on high alert!

I have laundry and dishes to do...and some walking too, wink-wink. So glad my neck is all better. Formal schooling won't be happening today either...just the fun learning-while-living that always happens around here!

Serious pain in the neck

2009-04-11T14:50:00.003-05:00

I was in tears yesterday. Sure, it was probably due to the hormones that have my emotions on edge right now, but my neck hurt! Still does, but seems to be subsiding. You know that place where you don't know if it would be better to remain absolutely still or try and gently, ever so gently move around to see if the pain would ease itself out? Yeah that's where I am. So when Gaylen let me know of an invitation for he and Charlie to go fishing this a.m., on our 11th wedding anniversary, I could care less. I'm glad they got to go have boy time. Kait and I stayed home to watch movies. And keep heating pads on my neck.
I have been anxious to meet my baby but for the last two days I've prayed not to have this neck pain and the pain of labor at the same time! Gaylen said,"wonder how many really big contractions you'd have before you'd completely forget about the hurting neck!" Probably true, but I sure didn't want to try that one out!
I've been reading about labor and reminding myself what I'm in for. I've contemplated the age old question of natural or epidural-assisted labor. I think I was scared of a needle in my back, but look on my past two natural labors as positive experiences. I remember the pain, but I also remember the incredible rush of knowing that my body did what it was supposed to do and brought a human being into the world. This time I'm not so scared of an epidural. I've wondered what I would say if the Dr. asked me if I wanted to assist labor with Pitocin. I don't know. There are so many view points out there that are conflicting. I just don't know. I'm praying that I won't be faced with that decision, that labor will just start and progress quickly, like with the other two. I don't think any less of women who have chosen to get an epidural-I don't know how their labor felt. I certainly don't think any higher of myself for not getting an epidural. That's just how my story played out.
Last night, in the middle of my neck muscle spasms whenever I tried to get comfortable. I was all for numbing the pain from the eyeballs down. Gaylen just rubbed my neck in silence. Smart man!

Thought he might come on the full moon...

2009-04-10T09:09:00.003-05:00

Though there are still 18 days left till the due date, I thought we may've had a baby by now. I am certainly ready to be done being pregnant! Pregnancy has never been a favorite time for me, especially these last few long weeks! The doctor got my hopes up and said we may have him before Easter. Now she is out of town till Tuesday and I'm half-way hoping he'll wait untill she gets back. But if labor starts I will not be upset. I so want to move into adjusting to our new phase of life. Anticipation is great, but I'm ready to go!
My Grandma's birthday is today and she is hoping to have a great-grandchild born on her b-day. Who knows??!

We luv Math-U-See

2009-04-08T11:25:00.003-05:00

Earlier this week we recieved our Math-U-See curriculum (very quickly after we ordered it, I might add). This was money well spent because it is completely changing how math is percieved in our home! Charlie is definitely a visual learner and is really taking to this curriculum. I wish we would've ordered this sooner. I started him on their most basic level, Alpha, to make sure he understood how this curriculum is taught. I wondered if he would get bored, but it was a great move to start him at that place. His foundation in math was shaky at best, and he was still counting fingers for simple addition problems. The manipulatives give him a visual way to know these important math facts and move away from counting fingers. I really feel that with such a simple starting point, we are just filling in the holes of his math foundation. I can't wait to see how he grasps ever more complex math with this reinforced foundation. I can see his enjoyment of math growing as his confidence in his abilities and knowledge increases. We've only had this a week and it is going so well!

Kaity's attitude needed a little adjustment as she tends to switch off if she thinks it is too easy. I had to ask her to pay attention to the lesson, even if she already knew what the lesson was about. Seeing older brother's enthusiasm helps, though and her attitude today was much better. I have tried to emphasize that these are not grade levels and that this program requires mastery before we can move on. Charlie really gets that. Kaity is still on the level where she just likes to do worksheets. She is more motivated by having one-on-one time with me than anything else. I also am excited to see how this mastery approach will help her in math and in other subject areas, as she sometimes tends to get the work done with little care for the quality of work she does. That is a deeper character issue (and I think it is genetic-she is so much like me sometimes. I remember the struggle I have had to teach myself to become more detail oriented).

I am thanking God for this math curriculum. It is another evidence of His provision!

Long Post about Homeschooling this year

2009-04-04T12:18:00.003-05:00

I was in a journaling mood today and wanted to remember these thoughts about this year of homeschooling. It is a long post!

For Charles 1st grade math was easy and fun. He seemed to feel confident in his abilities to complete work and understand new problems. When in 2nd grade we moved twice and he not only had to adjust to new people and places, he also had to deal with a heavier focus on standardized tests, he struggled. He was so stressed by timed tests and difficult word problems that he would shut down and not even try to do problems that were well within his abilities and understanding. Tears and even anger were an everyday occurrence when he tried to complete homework assignments.
Homeschooling has made major changes in his confidence and his understanding. Toward the end of the year (2008-2009) after working on a word problem that asked him to convert measurements (i.e. inches to yards), he said, “I feel so proud of myself that I could figure that out by myself.” The smile on his face said it all- he grasped a concept that was new and he liked the feeling of working to solve a difficult problem. Concepts that he understands and enjoys include: basic addition, basic subtraction, counting money, telling time, measurement, converting measurements, number lines, beginning multiplication and division.
Concepts that need to be reinforced and practiced in the coming months include: telling time to the minute, making change, using subtraction to solve addition, (and visa versa) memorization of multiplication facts as well as memorization of addition and subtraction facts so as to move away from counting fingers. Building projects, measurements for cooking and sewing projects and online math games will be good avenues for reinforcing these ideas.

Using games like Mad Lib books to review grammar vocabulary has been a source of enjoyment. Both children remind each other the definitions of nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs, as well as exclamatory words. Charles has also used Bob Jones curriculum to study grammar and usage more deeply, looking at predicates and subjects, verb tenses and types of sentences.
One concept that will be focused on more heavily in the future is writing. Letter writing, planning stories and writing them and finding facts for lapbooks are some of the Language Arts goals we will aim for in the coming months. Homeschooling also had a positive effect on his confidence as a writer. He would not be able to complete a writing assignment in public school. He would spend long amounts of time just staring at the page without translating his thoughts onto paper. Lapbooks help him break a big task into smaller, more manageable ideas. He can find facts and write them in mini-books without a problem, whereas he would not read a book or a paragraph and write facts or main ideas from the reading before. He has matured in this aspect. He really enjoys making lapbooks and remembers the facts he writes in them.

Kaitlyn has grown as a reader. She wants to be reading chapter books, although she still must have help with some words in these books. She seems a little bored with the leveled readers at times, but enjoys picture story books. She understands the connection between the pictures and the story. When reading aloud she does not have as much expression and so still needs to work on fluency. But when she encounters a new word in a book she sounds it out, sometimes with help and remembers that word when encountering it again in the same book. She enjoys worksheets and coloring too. The math books that are on a first grade level seem to be boring to her. She not only says they are boring, but also gets distracted more easily and it is more difficult to keep her on task. These have single digit addition and subtraction. She is more interested in measuring and interpreting charts and graphs. When I introduced double digit addition and subtraction she enjoyed it more, but still relies on manipulatives and finger counting to solve these. She understands place value and can “carry” or “rename” to solve double digit addition and subtraction. Simple money counting, and telling time to the hour or half hour are also easy for her.
Concepts that need to be addressed include solidifying her knowledge of addition and subtraction facts (so she can move away from counting fingers), telling time to quarter hour and every 5 minutes, more money counting practice, and fractions. Building projects, measurements for cooking and sewing projects and online math games will be good avenues for reinforcing ideas for her as well.

Story of the World, by Susan Wise Bauer has been a favorite of both children. The chronological history is presented in an interesting and relevant way for them. I had a few concerns about addressing all the world religions with countless gods and goddesses, but open discussions about these ideas have been interesting. The kids really listen to the read-aloud lessons and remember what the lessons discussed. This has opened up ways to talk with them about current events, the influence of history on our present culture and even conversations about religions and how we worship. Charles has not enjoyed the coloring pages but Kaitlyn likes them. He likes the maps and I would like to hang a world map to show where the places are in relation to the rest of the world. Kaitlyn likes the maps too, but not as much as the coloring pages. I regret not doing more of the activities listed in the activity book and would like to go back and do those during the hot summer days. We did a few of the activities and the kids really enjoyed them. I would have been able to do more activities had I been more prepared ahead of time.

Science has not really been ignored, but it has been hands-on and more observational. We’ve taken walks and talked about habitats, how weather affects animals, we’ve identified the trees in the local park, and observed tadpoles changing to tiny frogs (in the middle of recovering from the hurricane) The natural curiosity the kids have is the main ‘curriculum.’ We used the microscope a little and did some worksheets about the human body (mainly digestive system and muscle/ vein/ nervous systems). The changes they’ve observed in me during the pregnancy have led to many questions! I’ve talked openly, (but generally) about pregnancy and baby’s development the entire time. They were able to accompany me to the ultrasound as well. I would like to use some clear summer nights to use our dusty telescope to study astronomy (provided we can find somewhere to do so away from bright city lights!) And with a summer family trip planned to Arkansas to a diamond mine that is open to the public, some studies of geology, possibly topography and other earth science topics are in the future.

Character development has definitely happened, as a result of hours of conversation and reinforcing expectations. This was not accidental, but was not part of a character development curriculum, just an outcome of a family learning to work together. I reiterate “respect each other!” so much that it feels ineffective, but I see the changes in Charles and Kaitlyn’s relationship with each other and with their dad and I. Chore lists helped teach responsibility, but I have been somewhat inconsistent with them- especially in these last two weeks. I need to figure out a straight-forward way to list and share these responsibilities evenly between the two of them. They do chores willingly, and with good attitudes (most of the time). They enjoyed when we had a posted schedule or routine in the school room. They liked telling me what was next on the schedule and were flexible enough when we weren’t exactly “on time” with the posted schedule. Kaity was less flexible-reminding me what we were ‘supposed’ to be doing at that time. The hardest thing about the chore charts is finding a way to take turns with different tasks and remember who did what, when! I know there is a system of managing this- I just need to be trained in it!

Bible memorization has been the most disappointing thing to me about this year! I have completely dropped the ball in this. We pray daily and talk about our faith throughout the day, but Bible verse memorization was one thing I really wanted to focus on that we haven’t. I will be praying about this, to find a way to keep myself accountable to make this a part of every day.

The main lesson I have learned is not about any subject or fact. I have learned that I need to continue to grow in my diligence and personal discipline. Yet again I am reminded that I have not arrived, nor ever will. Further onward and upward!