Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything! Tell God what you need and thank him for all that he has done.
Philippians 4:6
This scripture has been on my heart for quite some time! It seems like I need to refer to it daily lately. I am not usually prone to worry but lately it seems that every time I turn a corner there is something in front of me that causes stress..... Perhaps this is another of God's gentle reminders that I am not surrendering everything and if I don't I will continue to live with this nagging feeling!! I know that this is the result of selfish pride..... we are never stronger than God and we can never get better results than God, so why I wonder do I sometimes go down this path, knowing exactly where it leads.
I do however treasure the fact that each time I weather one of these insane seasons in my life God rewards me with the reminder that Anything is possible with God on my side!!! I know that each time we have been in need He has provided for our family above and beyond what we needed, so why then do I still have these times of doubt. Wouldn't it just be easier to have faith that God will step in at just the right time and everything will be as it should be!!!! Yes!! of course it would, but sometimes I am like the Israelites, walking around in the desert with the manna falling from the sky and still not seeing the miracle in front of me!
Anyway..... enough of that! We will be starting our learning year again next week! I am excited but do not have everything that I wanted to begin the year with. Perhaps God is leading me in a different direction? Perhaps my curriculum choices do not follow His plan for our year. It sounds like my husband and I need to pray for guidance.
Night Night and much Love
Until next time....
Saturday, August 8, 2009
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
First year down!
Well the first year flew by! I didn't blog 1 single time......
Well I think maybe I was a bit ambitious in thinking that I could jump into homeschooling 4 children and blogging all at the same time! Hehe but that is my nature, to always bite off more than I can chew! So.... it went well, this homeschooling venture was a huge success!! I got to know my children. I mean REALLY know them. God truly blessed us in a way that I had not even imagined. It took us a couple of months for me to figure out that I did not have to follow the standards set forth by the state of Tennessee. Once I realized that and started to lead them toward learning everyday instead of having school in our home, they just SOARED! I think at first even though I didn't want to admit it, I was trying to prove to my parents and my husbands parents that "I WAS WORTHY enough to educate their grandchildren!". Then I read an article written by David Parkerson titled "A Heart For Learning" (You can read it here )
That article changed how I looked at the whole process. I began to study them also, so that they could show me what peaked their curiosity, which of my cues they responded to the most and what they were most interested in learning. Wouldn't you just know that when I let go of the "school room" structure they worked harder and they were more eager to start the day!
I learned that Zak loves math (my most dreaded subject), but he hates doing it out of workbooks!! So we found computer games (some online, some we had on cd, and we made some fun colorful flashcards ) he learned all of his multiplication and division tables in 1 month and has retained them. ZAK'S FAVORITE (he asked me to add the link to his fav, so there it is back there) I was so suprised at all of the great tools I found for him online so that we could minimize the time we had to spend in the workbook. I learned that Zayne and Cooper are voracious readers!!! we made many extra trips to the library for those two because they had read all of their books and wanted some more. I LOVE that, especially since the public school system sent Zayne to a reading specialist because they believed he was so far behind in his "Sight Words" not books, just words.... And I learned that Zoie is a perfectionist (well I really already knew that), she did not excel at school because she got so nervous about doing the wrong thing that she didn't get anything done!! Once she learned that she got to "do it until it was right" she relaxed and discovered a little self confidence! What a bonus!
The most valuable thing I learned was that my children are amazing little creatures, all different, all eager to learn in their own way, and that YES I can stand being around them 24 hours a day 7 days a week. I LOVE who they are! Did I pull my hair out some days? YOU BETCHA! Was everyday easy? NO SIR! Did I do it all right the first time? NO STINKIN WAY! Was it worth it anyway? EVERY SINGLE MINUTE, MISTAKES AND ALL!!!
Until next time.....
Well I think maybe I was a bit ambitious in thinking that I could jump into homeschooling 4 children and blogging all at the same time! Hehe but that is my nature, to always bite off more than I can chew! So.... it went well, this homeschooling venture was a huge success!! I got to know my children. I mean REALLY know them. God truly blessed us in a way that I had not even imagined. It took us a couple of months for me to figure out that I did not have to follow the standards set forth by the state of Tennessee. Once I realized that and started to lead them toward learning everyday instead of having school in our home, they just SOARED! I think at first even though I didn't want to admit it, I was trying to prove to my parents and my husbands parents that "I WAS WORTHY enough to educate their grandchildren!". Then I read an article written by David Parkerson titled "A Heart For Learning" (You can read it here )
That article changed how I looked at the whole process. I began to study them also, so that they could show me what peaked their curiosity, which of my cues they responded to the most and what they were most interested in learning. Wouldn't you just know that when I let go of the "school room" structure they worked harder and they were more eager to start the day!
I learned that Zak loves math (my most dreaded subject), but he hates doing it out of workbooks!! So we found computer games (some online, some we had on cd, and we made some fun colorful flashcards ) he learned all of his multiplication and division tables in 1 month and has retained them. ZAK'S FAVORITE (he asked me to add the link to his fav, so there it is back there) I was so suprised at all of the great tools I found for him online so that we could minimize the time we had to spend in the workbook. I learned that Zayne and Cooper are voracious readers!!! we made many extra trips to the library for those two because they had read all of their books and wanted some more. I LOVE that, especially since the public school system sent Zayne to a reading specialist because they believed he was so far behind in his "Sight Words" not books, just words.... And I learned that Zoie is a perfectionist (well I really already knew that), she did not excel at school because she got so nervous about doing the wrong thing that she didn't get anything done!! Once she learned that she got to "do it until it was right" she relaxed and discovered a little self confidence! What a bonus!
The most valuable thing I learned was that my children are amazing little creatures, all different, all eager to learn in their own way, and that YES I can stand being around them 24 hours a day 7 days a week. I LOVE who they are! Did I pull my hair out some days? YOU BETCHA! Was everyday easy? NO SIR! Did I do it all right the first time? NO STINKIN WAY! Was it worth it anyway? EVERY SINGLE MINUTE, MISTAKES AND ALL!!!
Until next time.....
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Jumping in
I must first say that this "homeschooling thing" was my husband's idea. We had a really bad year with our twins in 1st grade and he asked me to consider homeschool as an option. I really like the teachers at the school we attended, but I am saddened by the lack of control that they are allowed to have over the unruly students. The conditions are less than sanitary (one of my children had 18 sick days of school in 3 months and my youngest daughter brought home head lice that took 13 days to conquer). Also, the things that they were exposed to at such a young age are increasingly more difficult to explain to our children. So with that said we prayed that God would lead us. And He has.
I didn't really know where to start, I don't know anyone that homeschools. So I did what I do every other time I want to know something.... I Googled! Well, my eyes were glazed over with the pretty packages of curriculum! But our budget doesn't stretch that far. So I Googled again, but this time I started looking for free homeschool resources. Goldmine! I found so many fabulous websites. I will share the ones I love in another post for anyone that is interested.
The only subject that I decided to purchase textbooks for was math. So I researched until I found the one that I felt was the most successful; I chose Primary Mathematics by Singapore Math (maybe it is, maybe it isn't, we will see). I went to a local used curriculum fair that I found online (with $15.00 and a stubborn attitude) and what do you know, someone was selling that curriculum. So, the very informative mother of 1, sold me the textbooks and teachers manuals for Primary Mathematics levels 1A thru 3B for the convenient price of $15.00. She even threw in a science textbook (Our Fathers World),some tests that went along with it and two books full of activities that correspond with the Curious George books. I considered this a FANTASTIC gift, because before I went I was sure that I would find nothing under my allotted fifteen dollars.
We started our school year in July, sort of..... I was still scared to death that I would be totally inadequate and impatient. I wanted to try it out before the public school year started. We began with a daily Bible study, Math, Reading and Handwriting. I figured that was enough for me to try to organize at first. The first week was an amazing adventure. We went to the library, signed up for the summer reading club and each of us checked out 2 books. We got up each morning at 8am and got dressed, made the beds, ate breakfast and then sat down for our bible study. We finished everything before lunch and the rest of the day was free. We sailed through the week having a blast and did what I read that many homeschooling families do; we declared Friday as Field Trip Friday and we packed a picnic and went to the Parthenon. Oh My Gosh! Can it really be this easy?! Haha yeah, NO. By Tuesday of week two they were wondering why they had to get up so early during their summer break, why they couldn't go to the lake and why they had all this extra school work during the summer. But I didn't give up, just re-evaluated how much time I needed to spend trying this out.
Throughout the next two and a half months, I gained so much from reading blogs written by many homeschool families. Sharing their positive experiences as well as their negative. So, I thought I would pay it forward. I thought just maybe I would be able to help some other family that is considering homeschool on an extremely tight budget.
Much Love until next time,
G
I didn't really know where to start, I don't know anyone that homeschools. So I did what I do every other time I want to know something.... I Googled! Well, my eyes were glazed over with the pretty packages of curriculum! But our budget doesn't stretch that far. So I Googled again, but this time I started looking for free homeschool resources. Goldmine! I found so many fabulous websites. I will share the ones I love in another post for anyone that is interested.
The only subject that I decided to purchase textbooks for was math. So I researched until I found the one that I felt was the most successful; I chose Primary Mathematics by Singapore Math (maybe it is, maybe it isn't, we will see). I went to a local used curriculum fair that I found online (with $15.00 and a stubborn attitude) and what do you know, someone was selling that curriculum. So, the very informative mother of 1, sold me the textbooks and teachers manuals for Primary Mathematics levels 1A thru 3B for the convenient price of $15.00. She even threw in a science textbook (Our Fathers World),some tests that went along with it and two books full of activities that correspond with the Curious George books. I considered this a FANTASTIC gift, because before I went I was sure that I would find nothing under my allotted fifteen dollars.
We started our school year in July, sort of..... I was still scared to death that I would be totally inadequate and impatient. I wanted to try it out before the public school year started. We began with a daily Bible study, Math, Reading and Handwriting. I figured that was enough for me to try to organize at first. The first week was an amazing adventure. We went to the library, signed up for the summer reading club and each of us checked out 2 books. We got up each morning at 8am and got dressed, made the beds, ate breakfast and then sat down for our bible study. We finished everything before lunch and the rest of the day was free. We sailed through the week having a blast and did what I read that many homeschooling families do; we declared Friday as Field Trip Friday and we packed a picnic and went to the Parthenon. Oh My Gosh! Can it really be this easy?! Haha yeah, NO. By Tuesday of week two they were wondering why they had to get up so early during their summer break, why they couldn't go to the lake and why they had all this extra school work during the summer. But I didn't give up, just re-evaluated how much time I needed to spend trying this out.
Throughout the next two and a half months, I gained so much from reading blogs written by many homeschool families. Sharing their positive experiences as well as their negative. So, I thought I would pay it forward. I thought just maybe I would be able to help some other family that is considering homeschool on an extremely tight budget.
Much Love until next time,
G
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