Home School Launch
TONS of wonderful things can be found for homeschooling moms at:http://www.hslaunch.com/mypage/There are so many wonderful notebooking ideas. I feel like a kid in a candy store. One link leads to another and before long my batteries feel recharged.
I feel a little guilty that these ladies have done so much work so I don't have too. My ideas have trouble getting off the drawingboard...not so these ladies.These are three of my favorites:
samutsari
Jimmie
Betsy Stout
Have a look!
Blessings,
Theresa

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Beauty for Ashes
"Sometimes my ground was stony And sometimes covered up with thorn. And only You could make it what it had to be."
Rich Mullins was one of my favorite artists. He expressed so well the struggle of being a spirit creature in a flesh and blood world. It is the beauty I see around me in this temporal world that reminds me of the diverse and detailed God we serve. He makes everything beautiful in it's time as scripture says.
I took this picture a few months just ago outside of Cambria and the starkness of the gnarled piece of wood draped in a delicate blanket of flowers reminded me of God's principle of beauty for ashes.
As the Lord continues to teach me about seasons I can see the beauty even during this painful season. Each new day the Lord walks me through brings me closer to a another season. I am ready! Here Yeshua Adonai are the ashes, make me something beautiful.
Blessings,
Theresa


Clay Cups

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"Like clay in the hands of the potter, so are you in my hand"

- Jeremiah 18:6


This year we are trying to memorize 17 Bible passages. So far, we have 3 passages under our belts and it is exciting! My children feel so thrilled to be able to memorize the Word of God while training their minds to do more than they thought it could. I am so proud of them!!!


On most days, we take our time in the morning with memorizing. We usually spend about 20 minutes reading from the Bible, reciting the scripture we're memorizing, then praying and talking about what we have learned. Well, today was different. I just couldn't help myself. With a scripture lesson such as Jeremiah 18:6, how could I pass up the opportunity for a hands-on application. The scripture, "Like clay in the hands of the potter, so are you in my hand" , was begging for me to get out our molding clay!!!


While taking our time, molding this lump of clay into a cup, we talked about how Jesus is our Master Potter. We are like the cup that was being formed by our hands. As you know, life sometimes causes hurt and disapointments. It can make us feel sad and alone, maybe even unuseful. However, as Believers, Jesus takes us and heals those cracks and makes us strong and beautiful. Useful again. We become a new creation under Jesus' care.


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Now, our clay cups are not done yet. We will be adding paint and clear varnish later this week. However, our unfinished clay cups reminds me of how Jesus is not done with us either. Putting our lives in Jesus' hands is like putting clay in a master potter's hand. Jesus can take our lives and make them shiny and new if we allow Him to do so. Isnt' that exciting? My prayer for all of us is that we would find healing and strength in Christ. That we would continue to trust Him with our lives and become new in Him... daily.


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Http://homeschoolblogger.com/socalval



Grammy and the Fridge

Who wouldn't want this adorable woman to move in with them? After much cajoling, bribing, begging and, finally, a little (no big) shove, she's on her way. Her room is all ready and so are we. It's long past the time when she should be living on her own in that big old house with all those stairs. She's finally ready to start a new life with us and we are thrilled!

I popped into the hot tub store the other day to pick up new steps for The Grammy since the current ones are ready to collapse and swallow her whole. She LOVES her daily soak and it helps her legs work better. It made me sad when the hot tub guy said his wife would divorce him if he ever brought his Mom to live with them. I was sad for him, for his Mom and mostly for his wife. They are missing out on a very rich journey.

And by "rich journey" I don't mean "nice, neat and tidy." No sir. A journey becomes rich when it is the melting together of the highs and lows, beautiful and messy, awkward and easy. My 20+ years getting to know my Mother-in-Law have been all of those things. But, during those years the two of us stumbled across a little secret experiment that has become the glue in our relationship.

Serving each other.

It started out quite by accident. She needed to live with us for a few weeks about 10 years ago during radiation treatments following a tumor removal. SHE NEEDED ME. And I was fine with folding her into my daily routine of laundry and cooking and diapers because...I NEEDED HER! The peeps were toddler and newborn and what a gift it was to me when she would cuddle and play with toddler peep early in the morning so newborn peep and I could sleep. And how about being able to go grocery shopping without toddler and newborn peep in tow!? That was better than dark chocolate (let me tell ya.) The day she headed back home felt like the day my own Mama left me for the first time to fend for myself with newborn peep #1. "Don't leave me!" I said. "What if he cries?"

The Grammy and I have continued this little experiment of ours over the years since then. She folds my laundry and empties my dishwasher and I make her green smoothies and pick up her favorite yogurt and ice cream when I go to town. She plays board games and cards with the peeps and I help her in and out of the hot tub. This is how we roll. And man is it cool. My heart sinks a little each time she heads for home. But not anymore. THIS is her home now and I can't wait to welcome her with open arms and a cup of tea.

I know I'm fortunate. I like my M.I.L. I've liked her from the start. That doesn't mean I wanted her to live with me from the start though. You see, I was sort of an uptight little newlywed. I had to have things "just so." Her refrigerator was way too cluttered for my comfort zone. And she liked to mix all sorts of leftovers together to make casseroles. (bleck.) We enjoyed one another's company just fine but danced the Mother-in-Law/Daughter-in-Law dance most of the time. I'd get the fridge ready before she'd come to visit and make sure all my leftovers were tossed in the garbage (and rolled out to the curb because I'd seen some of her garage sale "treasures" and figured she might not be above dumpster-diving.) She probably said extra prayers that she wouldn't bump into my easily-offended little hiney or get in the way of my household sterilization routine.

But then......I had kids. Oh sure, I was still able to hold onto my Howie Mandel ways with peep #1. His whole little world was bleached and tidy. But by the time peep #3 came along this is what my fridge looked like: (YIKES!)

And by then The Grammy and I were fast friends and quickly learning how to suck the marrow out of our little experiment. Together we have learned that much fruit comes from choosing to serve one another. I have learned that Hot Husband is blessed when I love on his Mama. She has taught me that pausing for a cup of tea is much more fun than cleaning the fridge. And most, of all, she has taught me to pray unceasingly for the spouses of each of my children -- wherever they may be.

Rather, use your freedom to serve one another in love; that's how freedom grows. Galatians 5:13

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Crochet for Life
Crochet blockOur church does an occasional fundraiser for the Lincoln Crisis Pregnancy Center which involves filling baby bottles with loose change. The children, however, have already claimed our loose change for another project so I've decided to do something a little different this year. I've decided to make a baby blanket. Or two. Or more if I can talk you into helping me!

If you would like to participate, all you have to do is crochet one six inch square and mail it to me. Don't you think a sort of patchwork of unique textures and shade variations would make a beautiful baby blanket? I will stitch them together, add a border and donate them to to the Crisis Pregnancy Center to be given to young women who have chosen life for their babies.

A few guidelines:

  • Please use white, 100% cotton, worsted weight yarn.

  • Final dimensions should be six inches by six inches square.

  • Mail them to me by November 29th.

  • Email me and I will send you my PO Box.


If interested, please let me know so I have some idea what to expect. If there is enough interest, I would like to make this a regular event so if you would like to suggest some charities which would be able to use handmade blankets in the future, please do! Also, if you like the idea and if you would like to help encourage others to join in, here is a nifty button you are free to use:

Crochet for Life


With some nifty code which will hopefully work. If not, and you do not know how to make it work, let me know and I'll email it to you.

<a href="http://principleddiscovery.com/2008/10/26/crochet-for-life/"><img src="http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/kk163/gottsegnet/crochetforlife.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

(Blogger can be weird about copying code, so if that doesn't work for you and you don't know how to make it work, please email me and I'll email you the code.)

If your crochet needs some brushing up, here are a couple of links which may help:


Basic crochet instructions


Basic crochet instructions video


I look forward to seeing how the blankets turn out!




Homeschooling Myth Number 1
Although I've set this up as a series, I thought I'd point out that I can only think of one myth to debunk at the moment, so it may be a very short series. But as a homeschooler and a homeschool advocate, I thought I should discuss a little about the realities of homeschooling.

One of the most pervasive arguments out there is that it takes less time to homeschool.

Joel Turtel says so. HERO of Oklahoma agrees. I think I even vaguely remember making similar claims once upon a time, but can't find it now. Probably just as well, because I'd hate to have to contradict myself, although I'm certain it wouldn't be the first time.

But we started at nine this morning and didn't finish until 5:30. That is one long day. Just a hair longer than your average public school day.

Of course, not all of that was spent in academic pursuits. A lot of it was spent looking for pencils. More was spent upside down on the couch with a book over her face. And a fair amount was spent brushing out the mane of the toy horses grandpa bought her at a garage sale.
So does this mean you are done with your spelling?
I would ask, really wanting to know. Apparently not, however, as the horses would invariably be set aside and her spelling book picked up again.

The thing is, she never complained. Mom wants to concentrate, focus and get done. She wants to piddle around take her time and digest the knowledge. And I'm not so sure that the time she spends in play isn't as important to her truly absorbing the material as the time she spends with her recently found pencil in hand. It is a battle to remember to let her work at her pace and we have been there before. Funny how my thoughts then at the beginning of this independent learning journey were almost identical to my thoughts now.

So what have I learned this year? Not much, apparently. You can't rush a child into learning, and sometimes the days can seem to stretch out before you with no end in sight. Those days, I have to remind myself why it bothers me. My conclusion? At the core of the problem is the fact that I do not value play and see it as a waste of time.

Other than right there, you will likely never hear me say anything like that. It grates on me to even have to admit it. But the discomfort I feel watching her in her minor diversions points clearly to that simple truth.

Now if we could only solve the pencil issue, we'd be making some real progress.

Dana@Principled Discovery

Originally posted at Simple Pleasures.

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Homeschooling the Hyperactive

Hi, my name is Nan and I have a hyperactive child.

Here he is.

15 seconds old!

Oh wait a minute... that's a kind of dated picture.

Here he is...

tbath Soft and Faded minus special tweak

I love this child dearly. But this child is not fond of sitting at a desk. He's not fond of having to look at books because it requires that he sit down to do so. He's not a big fan of anything that doesn't come easily. Having said all of that, I can tell you this; he is not lacking in intelligence. Whenever I do manage to eek out 7 minutes in a row of work from him, I'm amazed at how well he does in almost all of his subjects. He is one smart kid.

He just doesn't quite like sitting down. Unless it's for a movie, of course. Then he seems to have quite a long attention span, strangely enough.

He does quite like repetative noises and large boisterous movements, such as leaping from furniture and onto innocent victims below. We are doomed to have a future drum player on our hands. And if his current knack for keeping a steady beat is worth anything, I think he might be right up there with Larry Mullen Jr.

As you might imagine, school can be a challenge for someone who despises having his bum glued to a chair. And some days teaching someone who thinks you are Atilla the Hun for wanting them to sit down for 10 minutes at a time to do lessons can be quite... (searching for a word that is easy on the ears...) Oh forget it. It can be downright infuriating. The way I usually refer to how I feel after a particularly harrowing day of lessons is, "I want to plunge my head into a vat of hot lard... pity we had none on hand."

So you see, one must begin to become comfortable with doing things a little differently than, "Here kid. Sit in a desk and do these papers. And while you're at it read this totally boring book of disconnected words that have no plot whatsoever. School sucks for everyone. Why should it be any pleasanter for you?" Some days that is how I feel like dealing with my boy. But that isn't exactly going to make him excited about school now is it? In fact it is sure to do the exact opposite and make him feel that all of his feelings about doing school work are completely justified because it really is as torturous as he thinks it will be.

In an effort bring his lessons up to his energy level I have instituted a new methodology. We don't do this every day. Some days we really do just do the glue the bum to the chair and push through the hard lessons whether we like them or not. My new methodology is called Jumping School. Jumping Math. Jumping Phonics. Jumping fill in the blank.

Here is how Jumping Phonics works.

First you get a pad of sticky notes and on them you write all of the letters of the alphabet as well as any phonetic digraphs (like Ch/sh/th/ou, etc.) that you are currently working on with your child. Then you hand the stack of stickies to your child and ask them to take them to the kitchen and stick them all over the floor.

ph8

We have tile style linoleum so I asked the boys to please put one sticky note per square. We made a big long path through the kitchen.

ph9

It looked like the dotted line on a treasure map when we were done laying them all out. Just think of this as a modified form of hopscotch or something.

Then we played games. My younger one joined in too but I made my bigger boy work a little harder. Whenever we do this I come up with different rules that he has to follow. Initially I made him hop on each square that had a note in it and when he hopped on it he had to say the sound that the letters made (note: not the name of the letter.)

ph3

phonics hop1

After we did that, I then changed the rules. I told him to run through the room trying not to step on any sticky notes.

ph2

If he stepped on one I would yell FREEZE and he would have to go back to it and say the sound. We did this with hopping on one foot too. He had to try to dodge the stickies and if he landed on them, he had to say their sounds. Just to drag it out as long as possible, we did another full run through but this time he just had to walk slowly instead of hopping or dodging.

ph4

This is just one of the ways that I have learned to step out of the ordinary and really get creative for my boy who so dislikes his desk and the concept of silent contemplation. (Though let's be real... he doesn't merely dislike it, he has jumping beans filling his entire body cavity and is really almost physically unable to sit still or keep his eyes from being anywhere that they need to be. I say "almost" because he can... it's just extremely difficult.)

Other things I have come up with are The Gross Sentence Game and The Run and Get It Game.

The Gross Sentence Game is played by first making up a whole bunch of 3 x 5 cards with various words on them. You need nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, etc... They all must be present. Now this game can be tweaked for your own child. Perhaps you have a girl who is obsessed with princesses... make it all about fairyland and Disneyland and Lala Land and any other land of make believe that you can conjure up. For my boys, they really get going with this game when we use words that normally would cause me to cringe. Scabs and toe nails and pustules and the like. Like it or not, these nasty words combined with words like Rhinoceros, ate and the make for some pretty interesting sentences. Basically the children go through your big pile of random words and have to construct, hopefully hilarious, sentences. Sentences like, "I ate rhinoceros toe nails and scabs. Yum!" This of course can get very gross but if your children are like mine they will end up crying in laughter on the floor and begging to build more sentences.

The Run and Get It Game is extremely easy to play. I simply tell my little ones to run and find something in the house that begins with a certain sound. I try not to tell them what letter it starts with but rather what sound it begins with. If you have your letter stickies or phonics flash cards you can do this as a silent game (Oh if such a thing exists!!!) Whoever brings the item back first wins that round. You can keep score or not. If you have a single player you can time them or you can just gather everything in a pile and when the game is over stick the correct item with the correct sticky note or phonics flash card.

I figure I can either routinely want to throttle my boy each day and want to throw myself out the nearest second story window or I can do my utmost to come up with different ways, to educate this child of mine, that work with his personality. Frankly, I prefer the latter.

These are just some of my thoughts and ideas on how to keep any other mothers of chair-hating children from leaping off of the nearest suspension bridge. It's really a post about how I manage to maintain my own sanity on some days, because some other days, I don't.

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More Free Time Please!
Wow...science has come a long way! They're telling us kids need more free time...duh! I guess the black eye I got playing baseball in the street with my brothers means my mom was on to something. Thanks Mom!
See the MSN video here.
Blessings,




School Starts Tomorrow...
For us, school starts tomorrow. I don't feel quite ready and yet, it's the sort of thing that I never quite feel ready for until I jump in with both feet and have no choice but to swim, sort of like a glacier fed lake or pregnancy. I could always be more ready than I am at any given time but now is the time and tomorrow is the day and it is going to happen no matter what.

I just don't know how I'm going to wake myself up for it...

This year I have three boys in school for the first time and only one who has yet to formally begin. How is it that I ended up here so quickly? It seems like just last year that I had only one in and three that were yet to begin formally.

What do I have ready?

Students - Check
Desks - Check
Newly sharpened pencils - Check
All of the really important curriculum - Check

What don't I have?

Well, we are missing one Math U See Video that seems to have moved into the same realm that lost socks disappear into -- somewhere out in the ether waiting to be sucked up by alien zombies, no doubt. Unless they are sock loving, math loving alien zombies, I think they are going to be very disappointed with their loot.

We are still waiting on a couple of non-essential curriculum items.

It seems like since I bought everything well in advance this year I don't really have much to stress out about. I just need to wake up ready to start. So, why do I feel so much like a school-hating kid right now? I just don't feel like going back to school yet!!

If you do not school year round and are just gearing up for your start date, how prepared do you feel right now? What do you feel you have left to do in order to feel prepared? Do you have any transition tips for those of us who just aren't "feelin' it" yet?

I suppose it would probably be good to tell about some of the things that I am excited about for this year wouldn't it? I am excited about my oldest son as he is passionate about reading. I look forward to good book discussions and just to watching him eat up his education. I look forward to Rosetta Stone French, which we will all be participating in to some degree. I look forward to getting an annual family swimming pass that we will make use of frequently as one means of not going stir crazy during the long winter months. I look forward to my 4 year old learning to read as he is very excited about it. I look forward to my delving into history with my 6 year old as it is his favorite subject.

What are you most excited about for this school year?

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2 - 1 = 2 (still)

I lost a kid to college this year. Actually she's not "lost", as she's attending community college where hubby works, so she's still at home. She goes "free" for these two years, so don't you know we are praising God for these kind of perks? (Amen?)

But I'm only homeschooling one student this year. I sat around and meditated, attempting my best to define how I feel about this. I finally found a word ... OUCH. Hmm. Why do I feel this "empty nest" kind of feeling anyway? I mean, she's still at home!

Perhaps it's because a month ago she came into the school room (a small extra bedroom that is an office/schoolroom for us) and announced that she's moving downstairs to her bedroom to do school work? Perhaps it's because she put together a small corner desk all by herself... following directions and using power tools? Perhaps it's because she went to the campus bookstore and bought her school books with her own check visa, paid for by a part-time job she's been working for two years? Or maybe it's because I'm sitting at my computer right now blogging in my office that is now minus one desk?

I'm very proud of her. But... I'm missing her and she's not gone! I wonder if it is because my son, who is a junior in high school this year, is not as "hands on" as my daughter has been?

We start school on Monday. My son and I at home, and my daughter begins college... driving in with "Dad" two-three days a week. My prayer is that these last two years has me cementing a better relationship with my son where I'm "missing him" after he moves out of the schoolroom. And my daughter? I'm so glad she's going to get "Dad's" undivided attention for a couple of years!

So how do you move on, when your homeschool begins to "phase out"?

DeniseP
http://hearingelmo.wordpress.com/


To Continue or Not to Continue?
I figured I had better put this out there for everyone to have a say in. I am considering shutting down this blog, purely because I am too busy to put into it what I had initially planned. It's been pretty quiet around here for the most part for several months now so I think all of us are understandably putting our efforts into other things that are more important.

Let me know how you feel about closing down the blog. If one of you current contributors would like to take the reigns I will happily turn the blog title over to you and you can copy the current content of the blog onto a new site. Whoever does this (that is, if someone wants to) will have to re-establish the list of contributors since it's fairly inaccurate and set the blog up at a different URL.

If you are interested in taking this over or taking this on, let me know and we can arrange it. If I don't hear any response I will probably just close the blog down at the end of August.

I hope you all are having a great Summer!

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Strength For The Day
Photobucket My Sword and Shield


In general, it seems that lately that spiritual attacks have been happening more and more on the home front of families. Unfortunately, the computers have made it convenient for the enemy to slip in through the Internet via e-mails and even comments on blogs. I am finding it harder to discern the true intention of people when a blog comment is left or gossip surrounds a situation. Unfortunately, I have also realized that it isn't just affecting me. It is also affecting a lot of you. So, I thought today I would share some encouragement.

Since I can not know exactly what is going to pass by me during the day, I have learned to be obedient (whether I feel like it or not) and bring my life under submission to the Lord early in the day. As a stay-at-home/homeschool mother, life seems to happens as soon as my feet hit the ground... So, I need to be prepared and armed for anything. Therefore, I share with you that by admitting our weaknesses before Christ in the morning, and putting on our Armor Of God, we will be guarded against the enemy and fully armed and prepare for the day.

Here is how I define each piece of armor and how to use it in prayer... I hope it encourages you to use the Word of God for your own spiritual battles and strength. May it bless you today.

Ephesians 6: 11 "Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles (tactics/methods) of the devil."


Ephesians 6: 10 - 20 - The Whole Armor Of God

The Helmet (Eph 6:17) - Protection of your mind - emotions and thoughts
The Breastplate of Righteousness (Eph 6:14) - To live a right life with the LORD
The Shoes (Eph 6:15) - Living a life of peace and walking in peace with the LORD
The Shield (Eph 6:16) - Having confidence in Christ for protection
The Sword (Eph 6:17) - To be able to recall the scripture in order to kill the attacks of the enemy
The Belt (Eph 6:14) - To live for the truth
Prayer (Romans 8: 26, 1 Sam 12:23, 1 Thess 4;17, 1 Tim 2:8) - Keeping in prayer does the following:

  • Defeats the enemy
  • Saves lives
  • Restores life
  • Strengthens the believer
  • Heals
  • Accomplishes the impossible
  • Imparts wisdom
  • Reveals the Will of God


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    Lessons learned while playing Trivial Pursuit

    Remember the Trivial Pursuit craze? (Am I dating myself??) It hit in the mid-80s and we must have received 2 or 3 editions as gifts. My kids grew up playing this game. We would play as a family and typically my eldest and my husband would go head to head until someone got an easy question for the win!

    As they got older, however, I began to dread playing. Inevitably they would miss a question that they should have known. All of a sudden what should have been a fun family game became a display of the gaps homeschooling had obviously created...and of my shortcomings as a teacher. Sounds like fun, huh?

    As my boys got older and left the home, I realized life was going to be like that game and I needed to deal with it. It was unfair and unreasonable to personalize every "wrong answer," poor decision, or misstep they would make. I had to let go of the responsibility and let them become adults in their own way.  This is a toughie for moms, especially homeschooling ones.  When we have carried the weight of their education for 20 plus years, to learn to lay that down can be a challenge.

    I think what would have made it easier would have been to face the reality and regret earlier on in their education.  I needed to face the fact that their education would be imperfect! (Regardless...) All I could do was my best and believe that God would fill in the gaps.  I learned many things as an adult I probably should have learned in school, but for whatever reason, I didn't. No harm done! It would be the same for my boys. This realization will bring you great freedom to relax and even enjoy your kids more.

    So, if you struggle with the fear and pressure of giving your kids a perfect education, feel free to let that go. They will make mistakes when they are older, and it will be no reflection of your ability, your commitment, or your love for them. It's just life...



    Need A Resource and Support?
    I wanted to invite you to view a completely new website of mine that is dedicated to encourage the homeschool family. This website is an all inclusive homeschool site full of FREE information for every educational subject matter, family support, and much more. It's called Weblink Education. The websites debut is today... please come by for a visit.

    http://weblinkeducation.com

    I also want to invite all you Bloggers. If you stop by my blog, you can enter a contest and win a Amazon.com gift certificate!!! It's all in hopes of getting the word out about my new homeschooling site.

    http://homeschoolblogger.com/socalval

    Enjoy!


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    Home Education Week is coming!
    Next week, I am hosting Home Education Week on my blog, in honor of Nebraska Governor Dave Heinemann's proclamation which sets aside March 30- April 5 as Home Education Week. It will be a week to appreciate what home education has brought to us, share stories and find encouragement. Please consider participating!

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