I would consider myself artistic. I even enjoy writing and language. After homeschooling for 5 years I am yet to appreciate any curriculum as "art". I know, I know...some people do. Apparantly my children could not be counted among them. When i have time to make games out of parts of speech, art activities out of grammar, speed races to find specific examples in books, my girls are filled with laughter and joy.

Pull out any curriculum thus far and their eyes glaze over. I have one highly distractable child (and hates writing) and one who loves creative writing but dreads being committed to "boring" language arts. I don't have time or desire to think through this subject. So I dream, peruse the internet in search of the perfect, already laid out plans. I hope I find them soon...Any ideas?

Today is one of those days. You know what I mean. Days upon weeks of smooth and joyful homeschooling and then....POW! Chaos seems to erupt. The kids don't listen the first, second, fourteenth time so I get frustrated. Nothing is anyone's "fault", including using their new scissors on my tablecloth with a mysterious cut right beneather their projects.  A sister's placemat is (and I quote) waving around everywhere in the air so she can't clean up her own glue stick etc. Yep, not much fun. I actually sent the kids off to write "Honor your mother" ten times, perhaps not my most shining moment this week :)

It is a good lesson in life though. We are going through a transition with me working part time outside the home. Adjusting to new seasons can shake things up a bit. Although that is uncomfortable I believe it can be a good thing as well. If we get too comfortable in our routine we might miss the opportunity for growth. I will be honest, my growing today is that perhaps I haven't been diligent enough in teaching listening skills if I have to repeat myself so many times. My frustrations might be directly related to my own lack of follow through.

I used to beat myself up for this kind of day, wondering what I did wrong. Not today. I am having a time out,  In a few minutes we will discuss the situation, our choice of reactions and better ways to handle the future. Deep breath in, deep breath out. Cyber friends...give yourselves a break. We are doing an incredible work here. Our God who called us to this ministry will also equip us. We are human so we all make mistakes. How awesome is it that we don't have to learn this all without God's help? He Rocks!  So does homeschooling, I wouldn't trade in a single day, even this one

So the other night I was shutting off the lights for bed and surprise! THere was my 9 year old behind me as perky as she was 2 HOURS previosly when she went to bed I might add...Befofe I could say anything she gleefully told me she had finally spotted the little dipper.  Now, I faced a choice here. Bedtimes have been a huge issue with this child the past year.  Should I stop and enjoy the moment or discipline her? I am so thankful that I realized that this moment was a chance to create a memory.

I took the opportunity and said, "Lets get our shoes and go see" She was ecstatic  and we held hands and looked for any other shapes we might be able to look up later.  I asked her why she saw the stars in the sky this particular night. We had recently oved her bed under her window.She said when she can't sleep she looks at the strs out of the window. It was really a beautiful moment. THanks Lord!

I have realized that although I really enjoy making the school plans every year, they are consistently needing to be readjusted.  LIfe happens and it rarely stops to check my schedule first!  The best intentions can get sidetracked easily when a child gets sick, a friend is in need, or other daily things pop up.

Do we give up and wing it each day?  Here is an idea I was struck with today...I was a bit frustrated and thought I had tried every which way to solve a problem. Suddenly I realized I had not stopped to pray over this area each day, but instead was trying to fix everything with my own power. What a waste of time and energy. God is so sweet to send his reminders to us that He never intended for us to carry our loads alone.  We are called into a unique and wonderful ministry in homeschooling our kids. Of course we have moments of discouragement, but don't let those times rob you of  this journey's blessings. 

We are surrounded by incredible moments each day. I pray that I will be ever reminded to stop and notice each one before they pass away. Enjoy the moments, even (and especially) when they aren't on our schedule

LIving with chronic pain can make homeschooling a challenge. I do and want to encourage others to stick with it. Every second spent training our kids will be fruitful, maybe not right away but in its due time.

Today i woke up in tremendous discomfort. These kids went into blessing Mommy mode. They were able to get my pain meds and water to help me.  They opened my windows to let in light and fresh air and then started and actually almost completed it all without my help. One daughter even brought her books into my bed and we did math there while i waited for the pain to ease up to become functional

Of course everyday is not perfect, but today when I needed them, they were there for me. I was humbled and blessed by the kindness of children. Some people feel they can not homeschool because of challenges in their live; be it illness, single parenting, etc. Please be encouraged...if God called you to homeschool you WILL be able. Joyce Meyers said on Tv this morning, "We do what we can and God does the rest"  That stuck with me and made me smile.

Some days might be a little slower to start, or earlier to finish but every day we follow His leading is a day worth celebrating.

So far so GREAT! Can I just say that this year is starting off surprisingly smooth? I went to a homeschool conference where a speaker was discussing learning styles.  Something clicked and her comments seemed to bring peace to my soul.  She was describing God's plans and how they differ for each of us. It is no surprise to God that our children are wired with their unique personality traits.

I realized that when we step back and just BE with them amazing things can happen. Allow them to BE.  While we can and should embrace and recoznige their strongest learning styles, we can help develop their weaker areas through small amounts of practice time.  We have tools available to quickly learn the Meyer Briggs (?) types. I am not saying that we should put our trust in human studies but they can help us to understand that our kids are not trying to make us crazy when they learn in a way that is natural to them...such as bouncing through your studies. 

What an amazing gift i came away with. By watching our kids and paying attention to how they learn we can help them feel confident in the people God created them to be without condemnation for doing things a "different" way from the norm

We are starting school monday, with or without concrete curriculum plans. The kids are itching to get going and I know we all do better when there is a basic structure in our days.  Funny how we can be so ready for a break, yet can't wait to start again almost as soon as we stop. Monday will mark the beginning of year round school. We learn all the time anyway, I think that long breaks seem more artificial than including a pursual of knowledge into our days. I will let you know how things come along...

I am starting to prepare  for the upcoming school year. I always try to evaluate what works and what could be altered.  I started out rather "by the book" when I began homeschooling but over the years we have become much more relaxed. 

This year instead of focusing on curriculum and other educational tools, my mind has been trying to formulate a different kind of plan. A plan of less planning. It is easier to accomplish things when I have a plan. As I grow in my understanding of God's will for our lives, I feel led to spend even more time on character training than before. This has always been an important part of our schoolwork, but I feel God leading us to have a year focused on teaching servitude.

Clearly our culture places value on being busy but  what does the Bible say about this? ( I will get back to this later) It is disheartening to see how people want to help others, be there for friends, volunteer etc. but often are so overloaded with committments that there is barely time to quickly pray before collapsing each night.

i surely have been guilt of this myself. Over the past few years I have been trying to work on this, slowing weaning out the things that are time stealers from our family life. There are so many good things vying for our time, but are they all truly beneficial? It saddens me to think of opportunities I have missed to be available for people, always trying to fit everything in that "needs" to be done.

So, teaching servitude will be a goal we will purposefully choose this year. Life is not about me, not about my children etc.  Struggling to narrow this down further, I happened to open my Bible to this verse, totally unplanned, that is one I will cling to this year...

Phillipians 2:3-4

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interest of others."

If all of our time is always planned and precommitted, there is no time left to just be.

Be available to people, cirucmstances and needs that come into our lives. Will we falter? Sure, but I believe this is so important we will keep getting up and trying again. One day at a time, right?

My niece came to visit for the first time last week.  Both her and my youngest are 9 years old and got to chatting about school.  Apparently  the converstaion really upset my daughter who promptly came to tell me about it with defiant tears just below the surface. It went something like this,

"Mommy, she said the all teachers are smarter than you!!!"

"Well, maybe they are. That doesn;t offend me, teachers go to college to learn things and probably do know more about certain things than I do, Equally I might know things they don't know."

"But you ARE smart!"

"Sure but it is true that lots of things i learn right along with you. i have no problem with that and you cant let that get to you either."

"But she says I dont go to school! I do school every day!"

I proceeded to try and explain that our niece had never heard of homeshooling, didnt know any homeschoolers, it was a totally forieng concept. I told my child that we can either get defensive, which does little to advance peoples understanding, OR use the opportunity to say "Hey, let me show you what I do..."  I tried very hard to take her seriously but I was smiling on the inside,  My little defender of the family off to protect me. 

It is a funny little story but a good representation of our reality. Lots of people dont "get" what we do. That is ok with me to a certain extent. I dont "get" what lots of people do either. But how we choose to react to those situations speak volumes about our lifestyle, our family and most importantly our faith.

Wow, where does the time slip by? We have had tons of company come through, finishing school, holidays and birthdays etc. Good times but no down time. I am working on that this week before another round comes.  This week one of my dearest friends is coming to Oregon for the first time so I can't wait to see her. I pray for everyone online right now that your homes and families will be blessed

Wow, today we went to the Tulip Festival. The colors were amazing, acres of fields with a spectacular view of Mt. Hood in the background. Bright yellow flowers were the first to greet us, but they quickly gave way to a earthy carpet of pinks, reds, oranges, purples and mixtures of many other colors. Each row was meticulously planted to show off the beauty and probably to make it easier on the farmers to work in. 

As we drove away, we passed several fields of clumped up dirt, wild grasses and irrigation ditches. It struck me that there is a life parallel here. Each of us has a unique beauty waiting to be noticed, discovered and appreciated. On the outside things might look a bit rough, but with a little work and patience amazing things are just below the surface.

I am thankful God sees through our rough spots, carefully tending to us, pruning and feeding. Then when the time is right, we bloom into unexpected  grandeour, complete in his grace.

I wish I could give credit for this, but can't remember where I read it. It really encourages me...

THERE IS NO FORMULA, BUT RATHER A MINUTE BY MINUTE FOCUS

I have heard every argument in favor of organized sports, I really have...and I have given careful consideration to them.  Recently, I have chosen to take a bit of a stand against signing my kids up.  I have observed first hand that they do not always teach team spirit, sportsmanship or how to "be part of a team"... in fact I have seen quite the opposite encouraged many times.

Many people are heavily involved in their kids sports and I say "hooray" if that is where God has called your family. What got me thinking about this was the slow realization that occasionally even among homeschoolers there is some peer pressure...among the parents I

I have taken some slack for supposedly causing my girls to miss out on fun of this social opportunity. When we decided to homeschool, i began to seriously reevaluate what things are important to keep in our dailylife and what needed to be weeded out. There are so many wonderful things to choose, but they can come at a cost if they bump out another plan God has for us. 

My kids have played many sports and usually have a great time...however at a tremendous time sacrifice to parents.  We live in a very sports orientated community, even our pastor bases many sermons around sports themes.  We sometimes feel like odd man out for deciding in this season, no sports.

I resist the notion that kids wont learn to be part of a group if not on some kind of team. Is our family life not a team? Do they perhaps learn to be part of groups as they grow in their daily interactions with people they meet each day? The team my daughter is interested in practices 3 days a week, 2 hours a day and games on Saturdays. She is 11 and this is a beginner team. Does this only seem excessive to me?

I have decided to pray diligently, search our my childrens gifts and callings and pursue them. I have seen too many families stretched beyond a comfortable zone as they shuttle kids here and there. My heart aches for the kids i see that have no time for just playing. I had to tell my child this time the anwser is no. As a family we are choosing to spend our time differently: playing with each other, spending time alone to use imagination to create new opportunities, time to relax and most importlantly time to be avaialble.

Time to be avaialbe is a valuable commodity these days. Time to be there for a friend, listen to needs and practice servitude. There is nothing wrong with sports, they can be great fun. I am just amazed that sometimes I have to defend our choice, indeed our right, to choose a differerent activity...just living and seeing where that takes us.

Well, how crazy am I? After a strange year of schooling due to unforseeable events, I was really looking forward to summer break. Within 2 weeks though I am excitedly planning our next year of study! I can't help it, we have such a good time homeschooling! To be sure, there are many days of "anti math" sentiment or the ever popular "I can't think of anything to write" melodies ringing through our home.

These are just a teeny portion of our lives though. Seeing the priceless expressions on our childrens faces as they "get" something is pure joy. I delight in watching them discover the world God has made, sharing their finds with me with enthusiasm.  Spending extra time cuddling while we learn about history through wonderful books. Witnessing the development of their character as they interact with the world around them. Crazy for getting excited for school to start already? Naahhhh.... Just aware of how blessed we are