Wednesday, September 10
Habit Training: Sowing Seeds of Character Cards
Category: Home and Schooling
I had to take down the original post on this topic as well as the corresponding page at our website so that I can focus time on providing an updated version of the cards and system. I had no idea so many would enjoy this way of training their children! Time is precious and since we receive LOTS of questions regarding the system, I'm going to put all of this info together in a more user-friendly format.
I'll let you know when it's ready!
Wednesday, January 30
TAG: Indulging Angi!
My first official TAG from Angi!
Scattergories... it's harder than it looks. Copy and paste into a new post. Erase my answers and fill in your own. Use the 1st letter of your name to answer each of the questions...they have to be real places, names, and things...and you can't use your name for the boy/girl name question.
SCATTERGORIES - THE LETTER D
(Hey do I get double points on some of these?!)
What is your name? Debra
4 letter word: Diet
Vehicle: Dodge Durango
City: Desoto, Missouri
Boys name: David
Girls name: Deidre
Movie: Dirty Dozen
Occupation: Deputy Sheriff
Something you wear: Dimples
Celebrity: Dominic Monaghan (from LOTR, although I've heard he's now on TV - I'm not a TV buff!)
Food: Ding Dongs
Something found in a kitchen: Dirty Dishes
Something found in a bathroom: Devotionals
Reason for being late: Daydreaming
Cartoon character: Daffy Duck
Something you shout: DINNER-TIME!
Animal: Diplodocus (dinosaur- Alex helped me with this one!)
Body Part: Dermis
Monday, January 21
Taylor's Art: Cow
Category: Handicrafts
God has gifted my almost 13 yo adopted niece Taylor with artistic abilities. She's not had any formal instruction yet, but has enjoyed browsing some of the lessons over at www.teachartathome.com and the links they provide. She found a photograph for this drawing here that she left open while completing her drawing. She used the Prismacolor colored pencils and graphite drawing sets she received for Christmas from her grandmother. She used Canson drawing paper. When I figure out how to use my new scanner, I'll upload more of her work. :)
Wednesday, January 9
Seventeen Dollars and Thirty Cents!!
Category: Home and Schooling
For those of you who are on top of your library books and have gloriously avoided fines, you may already know about the Library Elf. For those of you like me, who are really neglectful about renewing your heaps of library books and get denied access (like I did) to future holds until their fines (which were $17.30 today!) are paid IN PERSON (ugh! an hour drive!), you may want to check this out.
 http://www.libraryelf.com/
Your Personal Email Library Reminder Service
Why have I never heard of this before?? I'll tell you why - because I never got denied access to place holds for books before and wouldn't have thought I needed it! The rejection was horrid! 
After giving the Library Elf permission to nag me about my overdue books, I received an email from The Homeschool Mom informing me of their "Site of the Week": http://www.gurulib.com . GuruLib is an online home library catalog system. So I took a peek over there given my lack of library organization skills. It looks pretty cool! I'll have to give you an update at a much later time when I've actually had enough free time to do this with our current library of books, CDs, DVDs, etc.
Friday, November 9
Our New Home is Almost Ready!...Update - We're Home!
Category: Notebooking
I just wanted to put a brief blurb here for anyone passing through . . .
Our website, www.NotebookingPages.com is getting a fantastic makeover! We are right in the middle of transferring everything over (which is why I am up SOOO way past my bedtime). I had all of my blog photos at my site instead of at one of these handy place like Photobucket. Honestly, if I had known how easy it was to use Photobucket I would have put my photos there a long time ago!
So, everything is getting a facelift including our blog here. It may just take a week or so to fix all of the photos and links. Let me know if you need help finding anything!
UPDATE *-* UPDATE *-* UPDATE *-* UPDATE *-* UPDATE *-* UPDATE *-* UPDATE
We have been open now at the new site for a couple of weeks and I have to say I feel quite at home! Come for a visit! (New orders get $5 off their order through the end of December!)
I hope to be blogging more, returning emails (finally!), and seeing you all in the groups a lot more! :)
Tuesday, August 28
Kindness - What an Awesome Gift!
I had 2 very special blessings this morning! First, one of our caterpillars emerged today - beautiful snowy moth (sorry no pics - caught me by surprise and I needed to release him). Second, my awesome online friend Angi of PeakmoreAcademy sent me this wonderful award:
"This award is for those bloggers who are nice people; good blog friends and those who inspire good feelings and inspiration. Also for those who are a positive influence on our blogging world. Once you've been awarded please pass it on to others who you feel are deserving of this award."
Thanks Angi! YOU deserve this award right back from me ten times over for all of the encouragement , creativity, & inspiration you've shared with me in so many ways great & small! It amazes me how God brings his children together even through the internet to provide just what we need at all the right times! I mostly appreciate your willingness to lovingly speak truth to me. You make eternal differences in my life. 
I'm passing this award on to:
Jennifer over at Angels with a Purpose. She's been an awesome inspiration to me these last few months after leaving a "chance" comment here at my blog. The ways the Lord works! She's always behind the scenes praying for me & encouraging & exhorting me as the Lord leads her. "Nice" is just one way to describe her commitment to the Lord & to her family in Christ. Stop by and encourage her. This is her first year homeschooling ~ don't we all remember those days!
Molly over at HomeschoolwithIndexCards. Molly has been a source of great friendship since the early days of NotebookingPages.com. It's been an exciting year for us both as we've learned our way around the online business world. She's been there to listen to all my "junk" (you all thought everyday was perfect for me didn't you?!) LOL! & to rejoice in all of the victories. She always points me back to the Lord in the most honest, humble way and I SO appreciate it. Thanks Molly!
Kate & Jeff over at Our Quiverfull Many of you from homeschoolblogger probably know Kate & her family. They have been a shining light to so many this year as they have walked a difficult path with their dear son Noah. They are pure inspiration. I cannot say much more without just completely losing myself here. PLEASE continue to pray for this family & visit their blog often. What a calling God has placed on their lives! What a blessing they have been to the homeschool community! Thanks Kate & Jeff & all the Estes children!
Tuesday, July 24
Our Little Cowpokes
Category: Home and Schooling
This photo is from VBS back in early June. We had an AWESOME time at Avalanche Ranch!
God is Real! ...wah-hoo!
God is with Us! ...wah-hoo!
God is Strong! ...wah-hoo!
God is Awesome! ...wah-hoo!
God is In Charge! ...wah-hoo!
Dad had a big part this year playing "Rowdy", a novice cowboy! Check out this city slicker!
Tuesday, July 24
Nature Study - Eastern Hog-nosed Snake (Dead or Alive?)
Category: Nature Study
While doing some cleaning up along the edge of the woods, my husband came across this little guy, an eastern hog-nosed snake:
The first thing he did was send our son in to get me because we have to document everything we find (nature study you know!). So I came out with camera in hand just as they had finished observing him regurgitating his dinner (a large toad ~ sorry no photo of that!). The snake then proceeded to coil up his body, flip over, stick out his tongue and crack his mouth open really wide.
Well it seemed to us that maybe he had tried to eat too much and overexerted himself. So I picked him up, put him in jar, and brought him inside to try to identify him with our snake chart (courtesy of the MO dept of conservation). He didn't move a bit! He looked dead. Any other snake would have darted at the first step we would have taken toward him, but this guy looked really sick.
It didn't take Austin, our snake expert, long to recollect reading about this particular snake and he thought that perhaps the snake was "playing dead". Playing dead? That seemed so odd! Turns out, he was right! The eastern hognosed snake will in fact turn himself over and play dead as a way of defense. After a few minutes in the jar, he came out of his "playing dead" phase and began moving around. So we took him back to the woods to release him. As soon as we let him out of the jar, he went back to playing dead again. It was hilarious! Finally, I guess he realized we were not a threat and began to leave the area, but not without giving us a final big "hiss". Great nature find!
Tuesday, July 24
Dad & Daughter Date
Category: Home and Schooling
For each of the kids' birthdays, they get a special treat...a day out with Dad! Jessie picked to go out to breakfast & horseback riding at a friends' house (thanks Judy!). What a special time they had!
Tuesday, July 24
Nature Study - Swallowtail Emerges!
Category: Nature Study
Last fall, Austin found a great caterpillar & brought it in the house to observe. Within a week, he looked like this.
We had given up hope that this little guy was going to make it, but kept the jar on the shelf because it still looked really cool. Well, after at least 9 months, he (or she maybe) finally emerged! I put my finger into the jar and the butterfly crawled right up and stayed there until I nudged him into our little garden.
This was either a Black Swallowtail or an Ozark Swallowtail.
Either way, what a beautiful little miracle he was!
We did some research and found that these little guys will overwinter.
So neat!
Tuesday, July 24
Baking Cookies with Marmee Dear
Category: Handicrafts
My daughter, Jessie, has found two new best friends! They are www.MarmeeDear.com & www.HopeChestLegacy.com . These two delightfully quaint websites have so many goodies! Right now, Jessie has her hand in several sewing projects thanks to the birthday gifts we purchased from these sites. Here are some pictures of Jessie & her two little sisters baking cookies (in their Home Depot aprons!) from a recipe she found in Marmee Dear's catalog:
 These were awesome!
Tuesday, July 24
Nature Study - The Black Widow
Category: Nature Study
We have a great little garden pond and stream that brings us lots of entertainment and special guests from time to time. Well, a few weeks ago, while repairing the bridge, my husband came face to face with this little creature:
A Black Widow Spider
Now my husband isn't all too fond of anything that creeps or crawls, but this little guy sure got his attention and he actually caught him for us! Yeah Dad! We'll convert him to an official "Nature Nut" one of these days!
Tuesday, July 24
Nature Study - A Day in & at the Creek
Category: Nature Study
There's a great state park about 15 minutes from our home. We recently spent the afternoon there playing in the creek, riding bikes, walking the trails, & just hanging out. Here are some pictures of the kids having fun! 
Searching for Crawdads...
Still Searching...
Caught One!
Jessie & Allison would rather ride bikes
than get into the "icky creek"!
Of course, throwing rocks into the "icky creek" is fun!
Saturday, April 28
Incorporating Narrations into Our Studies
Category: Notebooking
This is a post I made in our notebooking group regarding the topic of "Narrations".
We do narrations for just about every read aloud and the kids do occasional narrations for me from their independent reading. I am able to group my 4 middle children quite a bit for the read alouds. As a matter of fact, right now, they do the following subjects together: Bible, History, & Science. For each of these, there is at least one read aloud (usu more) and one or more independent books they are reading at their own level.
BIBLE
For Bible, we use the VOS story Bible as a family. First, I assign the actual Bible passages for them to read during their quiet times from their own Bibles (& I do this as well). They have a quiet time journal they keep where they keep track of prayer requests and notes about what they feel the Lord is teaching them at the time. I assign their readings for 2-3 days and they choose what to read for the remaining days. See this blog for more info on the kids’ quiet times. Then we come together for the reading from the story Bible. They tag-team narrate, orally, after each small section of reading. (Narration is simply the telling-back of what was just read.) If the reading was particularly full of lots of details, we may jot some key words on the white board for a very informal outline of what was read. I esp like to write any names & dates we come across so that they’ll be more inclined to use them. Then after we’ve covered the reading for the day, they do a written narration for their notebooking pages. My 3 older ones in this group (ages 9-12) write their own narrations without much aid from me. The youngest, 8yos, has throughout this year been becoming more independent with writing his own as well. On occasion, I will still write for him after he has begun on his own with a few sentences. This whole process takes up to an hour including our quiet times, memorization practice, read aloud, and written narration. I keep our read aloud short, perhaps 2 pages or so. We follow this process for about 3 days for a particular story continuing the written narration from where we last left off. Then we spend the next 2-3 days filling in our notebooking pages with drawings, maps, timeline figures, etc. During those days, the kids choose their own Bible readings for quiet times and for read aloud, I’ll read from a book like Missionary Stories with the Millers or devotional book while they finish their notebooking pages.
HISTORY
For History, we usu have one or two main read alouds we do as a family & at least one literature book for each child. We do the same process as above – orally narrating after small sections of reading, but we do not always write the same day that we read. If possible we do, but it’s not always the case. With the Bible, you are usually following one main story line, whereas with History you are possibly covering several story lines, several (to many) people, and events. It may take several days before we finish a whole concept. Also, with the Bible, I’m more concerned about getting as much of each story into the children’s hearts and mind. In History, I’m more concerned that they are getting the bigger picture. If the kids do not do a written narration on a day of reading, I make sure to write down a key word outline from their oral narrations to keep on the white board until their day of writing. Then after 2-3 days of reading, I usu let the kids pick a person, event, place, or major theme (or combination of these) for them to focus on in their notebooking pages and we set down to writing the narrations and filling up our notebooking pages with all of the other elements. So we do 2-3 days of mostly reading and then about 3 days of notebooking. Each of these days, the kids will be reading their own literature books independently and doing occasional oral narrations for me from them (just to make sure they are comprehending what they are reading). Typically, we do not notebook from their independent literature books unless they are inclined to do so.
SCIENCE
For now, my younger ones do most of their science work on their own during their free afternoons – truly! They are so naturally drawn to God’s creation and will sit down with books, experiments, bugs, reptiles (& other creatures) and just study to satisfy their hunger for knowledge. A couple of weeks ago, one of our jars was filled with a worm “farm”, another with an ant farm, and one with a millipede (mistakenly taken for a caterpillar by dd who was quite disappointed that it was going to become a butterfly!). This week has been great for nature study, too. We found a 3-toed box turtle, baby robins, mating toads, & tadpoles. We haven’t had time to get it all into our notebooks yet! You can see pictures here.
I do have several science books and curriculum guides that we use as well as many field guides and “living” nature books. Usually after about a week’s study in history, we’ll take 3-4 days to study something specific in science. I love the combination of books/curriculums I have (106 Days of Creation/Considering God’s Creation/Elementary Apologia Series). We notebook whatever we are studying in a variety of ways. We’ll do biography pages (short written narrations based on snippets we read from a book or encyclopedia), experiment pages, narration pages on specific topics covered. We also try to go out once a week to find something in nature to do a page about. This week has brought us LOTS to notebook. We’ll do more nature study throughout the summer as well and back off on some of our history study. This works well because in the winter months it can be a bit difficult to study nature. So we focus more heavily on the history during those months.
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Well, I hope that was beneficial to someone! ;) Let me know if you have any questions. . Narrations are a top priority for me. If we do not have time for anything else, we make sure to do at least oral narrations from our main studies. I cannot tell you how amazing this skill is. I’m convinced that it truly prepares the kids to become greater writers. After much practice, the words just flow for my kids. With a little formal training to help “dress up” their writing and to structure it properly, they’ll be great writers! I get pumped up thinking about how God will use my children in their future with these skills they are developing. I know it is from practiced narrations that my children are able to sit through a sermon on Sundays and come away knowing more & remembering more than most adults. Even though they sit and color for most of the sermon, their ears have truly been listening. It’s awesome!
One last note, I’m very fortunate to be able to group my middle four children for the above three subjects. If at all possible, find a way to combine your children for these main subjects. Not only is it easier on you, but it makes the learning that much more meaningful for them because of the discussions you will be able to have as a group, as a family. I have two younger daughters who will be joining their older sibling more and more in the next couple of years. It will be interesting to see how I incorporate them into our studies. My two older daughters will become more independent I think, so I’ll probably group my younger 4 at that time. We’ll see…always something new to learn!
To see my favorite homeschooling resources, go to this link.
Saturday, April 28
Nature Study - Toads & Tadpoles
Category: Nature Study
We have a small garden pond and stream - breeding ground for countless toads & frogs!
Thank you Taylor for Our Awesome Nature Photos! She's a budding nature photographer!
Saturday, April 28
Nature Study - Update on the Robins
Category: Nature Study
Dad watching & chirping at us!
Babies at attention! They love having their picture taken!
Show off!
Thursday, April 26
How we study with TOG (Tapestry of Grace)
Category: Home and Schooling
I'm posting a response to this question
"So, you use TOG mixed with Charlotte Mason? :o) What parts of Tapestry do you use?"
here because it's a frequently asked question and I can more easily reference it through the blog.
FYI: TOG stands for Tapestry of Grace, a wonderful history curriculum! (http://www.tapestryofgrace.com)
________________________________________________
Simple Answer: most, but very lightly.
My Longer answer:
We are still fairly new to Charlotte Mason. I just began implementing some of her ideas last spring. I’ve also been researching Thomas Jefferson Education principles this year. You can read more about “where I’m at” in my homeschooling methods here: http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/NotebookingPages/302205/ .
What has changed most since implementing CM is my overall home & schooling schedule. When reading CM, I knew that I craved the shorter school day and the shorter lessons. By the end of most days, I was so completely burned out. My kids, who tried so hard to please me and be diligent students, were burned out too. I felt guilty at the end of the day for putting them through such a long day. They would be too wiped out to play, plus who had time? (Primarily here, I’m talking about my younger kids ages 12 & under. The oldest is more independent and his days would not go so long unless he dawdled.) All of the great planning and preparations I made to “do it all”, took everything out of us. I got caught up in all of the wonderful aspects and fullness of TOG, but paid no attention to the recommendations to pick and choose. It can be tough to choose with so many wonderful books and laid-out ideas right there in front of us! I didn’t want to waste any part of it LOL! So anyway, after learning my lesson about doing too much & after much praying about what God would have me to do for THIS season in our family, I sat down to rethink my schooling schedule. We were spending long hours each day (to 4:00 or better each day) trying to fit everything in. Instead of having a great learning experience, we began to just do things for the sake of “getting them done”. So I sat down with each subject, incl. TOG, to see what was most essential and determined a max time limit we would spend on each subject.
Here's a schedule I put together at the beginning of the year. We still pretty much follow this layout with a few minor differences. It gives you an idea of how I've tried to incorporate shorter lesson times and still get most subjects in: http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/NotebookingPages/210938/ This year has had some interesting twists as I've had to learn how to handle an online business. So there have been some adjustments here and there LOL!
Here’s kind of a hodge-podge outline/guideline of what I try to follow with TOG (I don’t know that I would call this TOG-CM style, but more what God has led me to do with our family for this season):
*limit our time to about 1 hour on history studies each day: incl readings, narrations (oral &/or written), discussions & TOG mapwork (usu pick books from the overview & worldview, occasionally in-depth books). We tend to do mostly reading for the first few days (some mapwork as we come across places in our reading) and discussions/oral & written narrations as they fit. Then for the latter part of the week, we finish up with more discussion, maps and notebooking. To keep this to an hour, you have to teach your children to be diligent and you have to be willing to really pick & choose from all of the available options. You’ll revisit this time period/subject again most likely, so keep that in mind. Also, I’m in no hurry to finish all four year plans in four years. That’s taken A LOT of pressure off me. My younger kids have at least another time to go through these time periods. So the next time through, we’ll probably pick up the pace. For now, we’re really enjoying our leisurely stroll! ;) When we find a topic that really draws us in, we camp there until we’re ready to move on.
*30 minutes a day set aside for any additional notebooking time that’s needed. We rotate this time through our subjects. It’s not just for history studies, but also for Bible & science. I do not usually cover science and history on the same days. We’ll take a few days to work on science every other week or so (and not do history on these days) and also do some nature study about once a week usu in the afternoons. With my girls getting older, they’ll probably do more formal science in the next couple of years, but they’ll be able to do this independently I think like their oldest brother does now. My younger boys spend plenty of extra time exploring science studies on their own... it's amazing ...I had my doubts when freeing up those afternoons, but they really do dig into what interests them!
*30-60 minutes a day for literature & discussion (we do most of this reading in the evenings or split the reading between AM/PM). I skim over the SAPs for ideas for literature discussion, but the younger kids rarely do any specific SAP work. I'm trying to learn how to better utilize socratic methods in our literature studies using Teaching the Classics by Adam Andrews.
*formal writing – up to 30 minutes a day. It depends on how much other writing they’ve done for the day. We’re still using IEW right now. If the rest of our writing is light for the day, then we may spend up to 30 minutes working on formal writing skills. At this age, with my younger kids, I feel like our time is better spent in our oral and written narrations. We love IEW though and implement its ideas & principles in our writing whether it’s a formal assignment or a written narration. I think I may plan for more structure with this next year though and block out some solid weeks throughout the year for specific writing instruction. Our kids enjoy writing and I think that’s because they are so accustomed to giving narrations that it’s become natural for them to put what they’ve learned into words. Formal instruction just helps them to “dress it up” and make it more, well, formal!
*hands-on TOG activities – I leave this totally up to the kids. Most days we are through with school around the lunch hour, sometimes a little later. The kids have the afternoons to explore their interests and boy do they! I was so skeptical of having free afternoons at first. After completely shutting down the TV, the video & computer games though and limiting our “busyness” with outside activities, the kids have flourished. It’s been simply amazing. I’ve tried to put everything they need at their fingertips … art supplies, musical instruments, electronic “toys” like Snap Circuits, wood-working tools, sewing, knitting & crocheting supplies…they have taught themselves some amazing things. I’ve bought how-to books, art videos, scouts manuals, etc. and have learned to say “yes” to a lot of their requests to try new and different activities. I cannot tell you what a joy this has brought to our home! The confidence that has been given to the kids by being able to read and learn new skills (ones they’ve chosen) is wonderful. ;) When it seems like they need some motivation, I’ll sit down with them for a focused lesson on some topic and that usu keeps them going for a week or more. We also use at least one afternoon (or morning sometimes) a week for nature study.
*fine arts – we do composer & artist studies following what I’ve learned from AmblesideOnline.org mostly. We read short bio’s on the composer/artist for the specific term and then listen to the music or study the art print and do a notebooking page for our notebooks. Real simple.
I guess that about sums it up! I think the key for me has been to figure out what the Lord wants our schooling to look like. We each have such unique families full of unique children and unique circumstances. There's no way for there to be one right way to do anything LOL! So whether it's TOG or any other curriculum, take time to pray! Ask God to help you wisely plan your days and to make decisions about what methods and tools will work for you and your children. Be prepared to think outside of the box!
Just recently, we've started adding AmblesideOnline's reading list to our history studies and we're loving it! Now I know we definitely cannot handle doing both TOG & AO reading. I went to AO to find some optional spines for a few of our TOG weeks and wanted to see what AO suggested. Well after some reading and research, I found that I really liked AO's overall year plans. So what am I going to do now LOL?! Well, I LOVE my TOG and all that it offers, so I'll continue to use it as we have been - mostly as a great resource for me! TOG prepares me to teach and gives me SO MANY options. It helps me to fill in all of the gaps and helps me to know how to lead our discussions. So I guess I'll find some way to use them both! ;) It's quite a journey isn't it?!
Wednesday, April 25
Nature Study - Three Toed Box Turtle
Category: Nature Study
Since beginning our reading of Minn of the Mississippi, my 8yo son Alex has been turtle hunting. He & his little sister have spent several afternoons together searching for turtles in the woods. Well yesterday, while doing the morning dishes, his older brother spotted a turtle just off the back patio behind the bird bath. You should have seen the boy run! His little sister was no more than two steps behind him. A turtle!
We snatched him up for observation and some great nature sketching. He was a great sport, so friendly and outgoing! We let him venture around the family/school room a bit to watch him move and then we released him back to the yard.
Here are a couple of photos of our 3-toed box turtle:
They are called 3-toed because their hind feet have 3 toes. His front feet have 5 toes!
Wednesday, April 25
Nature Study - New Robins!
Category: Nature Study
My daughter breathlessly ran inside today to tell me, "h-h-h- Mom! -h-h-h- There's -h-h-h- a nest -h-h-h- and babies! -h-h-h- The momma h-h-h is feeding h-h-h them!" Then she dashed back out the door with six siblings chasing after her while I grabbed the camera! The momma was gone gathering food so we got a close look at her baby robins. Then when we saw the momma land in a nearby tree, we backed away and waited to get a good shot of her feeding them. Here are the photos of our baby robins and their Momma (or Papa?), not sure! I'll have to get out all of our nature books to see if we can figure this out!
Aren't they sweet! And so photogenic today!
Thursday, April 5
Computer Chaos!
Well it's been quite a crazy week for computers at my house! We thought things would be easier for me if I had a laptop that I could take with me throughout the house, outside the house, on trips, etc. So dh went and found a great deal on the last Windows-based laptop Best Buy had available...marked down even! Let's just say things didn't go so smoothly with the changeover LOL!
I am currently sitting at my make-shift desk on my old computer trying to do what little work I can get by with until my new one is fixed. Actually, that's not the plan anymore. I just got word that they're (Best Buy's Geek Squad) officially retiring the junky new laptop. No one can figure out what's wrong with it. So they've wiped it out and are setting me up with a new one. Great, right? Well, I'm a bit apprehensive as this new, new one will have Vista instead of the familiar Windows. Now I'm all for change. Those who've been with my site since the beginning last year have watched it change multiple times, as well as this blog. I LOVE change. However, from what I'm being told, some of my software packages will not "play" well with Vista. So it looks like we'll need to hold on to this old machine for a while longer.
Please bare with me in the coming weeks as some of my projects have been put on hold for just a bit until we can get this all straightened out! If you're so inclined, please say a prayer for this transition as well. Moving files from one computer to another makes me SO nervous! ;)
Tuesday, March 20
A Chosen Generation...Called Out of Darkness
Category: Transforming Moments
1 Peter 2:9-10 "But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy."
"A Chosen Generation...Called Out of Darkness"
I've spent the last week seeking the Lord's guidance for our home and schooling. Feeling a bit overwhelmed, I knew something needed to change. If there is anything I've learned during our homeschooling adventure, it is that this should not be a journey of chains or bondage. When I begin to feel strapped down, I know that I have enslaved myself to something. When preparing to teach Sunday School this week, the Lord used this passage of scripture to open my eyes to what He's doing in my family and why I'm feeling tied down.
Anytime I begin to feel overwhelmed with schooling, I know it's time to pull out my favorite collection of homeschooling books...Teaching the Trivium by the Bluedorns, Charlotte Mason books, Ruth Beechick books, Cindy Rushton books & audios, etc. to find inspiration and motivation. So I did that this last week. But this time I also pulled out some new resources that had been sitting on the shelf. I read "A Thomas Jefferson Education" earlier in this school year. Although it really resonated with me, I knew it would require some changes in our schooling. Some of these changes would cut to the heart of our homeschooling and would take some time for me to wrap my brain around. So I went ahead and ordered more materials on TJEd with the intent to read through them at my leisure and perhaps rework our schooling during the summer months. Well this turned out to be the week to read them.
I'm not the best person to give you a synopsis of TJEd, but I'll tell you which parts have really drawn me to this methodology. In TJEd, you become a mentor to your children. Instead of being the dictator of their education, you inspire them to learn and to seek knowledge on their own. You do this by seeking to educate yourself first. You may not consider yourself a dictator, you may feel like your children already seek knowledge on their own, you may have a college degree and feel like you're fairly well educated ... I did too. But what I found in myself this week, is that I try too hard to make my children love to learn. Having a background of public education and being a public educator for a time, that system is so deeply ingrained into my being, that I'm often times blind to the way that it affects me, my behaviors, and the way I think. Even though we do not do "school at home" and we implement a number of Classical, Charlotte Mason, & Ruth Beechick ideas, my "big picture" is still boxed up within my old ways of thinking. I realized that this week. My children do sincerely love to learn, but I think a large part of their love for learning may come from a desire to impress me or to gain approval from me. There is some value in that, but overall is this what I want driving their love of learning? No.
I'm reminded of the times my children have come to know the Lord. Did I want them to come to know Him because I had somehow pressured them to want to know Him? No. Did I want them to do it because they sought my approval? NO! I wanted them to come to know Him because they felt His calling. I wanted them to come to Him because they knew they needed Him. In a similar way, I want my children to want to learn because they feel that drive within themselves. God will plant this desire within them. Isn't it God that should give us the desires of our hearts? I do not want to plant my desires into the hearts of my children, they will only fail and be temporary. I want them to crave what the Lord desires for them.
What happens though is that we feel, especially as homeschooling mommies, that we need to "do" something to bring about all of the good characteristics and qualities that we want our children to have, including this "love of learning". While it is true that we should provide an environment that provides for the ingredients to nourish this, it is God that will truly produce these characteristics and qualities within our children. I know, I know, I know we must train them and we must lead them and we must discipline them. I'm not saying that we let them completely loose. I'm saying that God has equipped them with the ability to grow into the man or woman He has called them to be, and we need to make sure as parents that we are not hindering His natural ways of producing this in them.
I'm not going to even try to lay out all of the ways that I see God calling me to do this in my own home. First of all, I do not have this all figured out yet! Second of all, I wouldn't want you to think that the way He calls me to do it, will be the way He calls you to do it. That's what has been so refreshing to me. Each of our children has been so uniquely created that only God could know what makes the child truly tick! I have 7 dc, 4 of which are adopted, and I can tell you that part of my journey has been about learning how different God makes each of His children. I feel freed especially when I look back over the years of our homeschooling to see how God has been chipping away at me leading me to a closer relationship with Him while also leading me to a greater understanding of who He wants me to be, specifically in this case, to my children. I don't look back over the past however many years with regrets for doing some things the wrong way or for not learning about better methods sooner. Each experience has taught me much and likewise it has taught my children. This is what is refreshing - God knows us from beginning to end. We do not have to figure out every detail of the plan, He already knows it. We just have to seek where He is working and join Him.
Right now my focus is on learning more about the phases of my children's development and letting them alone to see what they are naturally drawn to. God has called them. They are a "chosen generation" with a purpose. Only God knows what that purpose is. I think part of my job as a parent is to help my children find that purpose, that mission. It's not all about math or science. I think the math and the science will be helpful to them in finding their mission, but these subjects themselves are not the mission. What about my mission? Well before this week, I thought I had this pretty well thought out. But now, I too am feeling challenged. I'm challenged to educate myself so that I can be the mentor my children will need. I'm also challenged to find what mission God has for me to those who are still in the dark. I know my greatest mission right now is to my children, but I'm also feeling the call (& this is why I know I've been struggling lately) to be a light to those around me who are in the dark, to those families who are still in the darkness.
Whatever method, whatever philosophy, whatever curriculum (or lack thereof) that you are following, ask yourself if the learning process is being taught TO your children or if you are allowing it to be BORN in your children. Are they learning to seek (knowledge, love, the Lord,...) because of a desire to seek and find what they need or do they do it because it's what is expected? If you back up to the early part of this chapter in 1 Peter 2, you will find this: "as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby, if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious".
Peter is not talking to just new Christians here, but instead is saying that we should all have a heartfelt desire and need for God's word and that we need His word in order to grow. If we have tasted His goodness, then we will crave this growth. Let your children become as babes, let them taste what the Lord has to offer, let them crave growth, ... let the Lord do amazing things through you as you mentor your children. Let them begin to work on their mission while they are young. Help them to find this within themselves. It may require a renewing of your mind. I know it is for me.
Monday, March 12
Some Rambling Thoughts...Balance vs. Juggling?
Category: Transforming Moments
These last few weeks have been quite busy around here! Most days, or nights I should say, I fall into bed wondering, "Where did all of the time go? How will I possibly finish everything that I didn't finish today & everything else that tomorrow brings?" You know the feeling! ;)
We've added some new things to our plate this last year both at individual levels and as a family. Lately, these commitments are requiring more and more of our time and it's getting to the point where Mom is about to lose her mind! (Well, whatever bit is left, you know!) So I've been praying & thinking about all the different ways we could reorganize, reschedule, re-blah, blah, blah everything to make it all work. We need to find some balance. Well, then the Lord showed me a picture one day. (By the way, I am still sitting at His feet wondering what He wants me to do at this point.)
Have ever tried to juggle? I have. It's a tough skill to learn. I'm an *okay* juggler as long as I'm using a particular type of ball, of a certain size, & I'm sitting or standing a certain way...without any distractions! Okay, so I'm not so good! ;) When I was learning to juggle though, I didn't start with a lot of balls. I started with 2, one for each hand. After I got the feel of what I was doing with 2 balls, I moved to 3, then 4.
God made me realize something about our current choatic family situation that I should have learned from my juggling experiences. Instead of adding activities gradually with some of our new commitments, we've just kind of piled them all on. Now it's not like we're running multiple children to a variety of practices every night or ball games two-three time a week either. (We learned our lesson about that kind of "busy-ness" a few years ago.) Our commitments are to our family businesses, to AWANAs, to teaching a Sunday School class, to youth activities, etc. These are all good things that I don't feel we should necessarily give up. The problem is that we allowed ourselves to take on each of these new activities without trying to find some balance for our family in between. So what it feels like is trying to juggle 10 balls when you've only got the skills to juggle 3. So what happens it that the 3 balls you were juggling well are now lost with the rest of the others that you're constantly dropping. And balance? Balance isn't even part of the equation when you do that to yourself.
So now, instead of praying for God to bring me a miraculous balance to our lives that would be fixed with the "perfect schedule", I'm asking Him what is it exactly that I can juggle well. Of course, you know that we cannot juggle anything without His perfect provision in the first place. So I guess the real question for me is, what is it exactly that He has called for me to juggle? I don't have all the answers to this yet. As I said I'm still sitting at His feet. I think right now, He's working on just building some patience in me to help me slow down with everything. Instead of trying to continue juggling anything, I need to be still, quiet and have my cup re-filled.
Thanks for listening... ;)
Tuesday, February 6
Free Valentine Notebooking Pages
Category: Notebooking
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Happy Valentine's Day!
My Free Valentine Holiday Pages are now ready! I've loaded thirty-something new free pages, several foldable cards, make-your-own envelope templates (my ds loves these!), and a few recipe cards & labels.
Hope you & your children enjoy them!
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Saturday, February 3
Time to Hibernate!
Category: Home and Schooling
Wow! Except for the 2 ice storms that hit our area, this winter had really been mild. Not anymore! I think I'll start my hibernation now! LOL!
Friday, January 5
Personalized Ornaments - Cute!
Category: Home and Schooling
My husband was out of town for the two weeks prior to Christmas & then had to work all day Christmas Eve & most of Christmas Day (he had to go in at 10am). Well, each year the kids get to pick out a new ornament for themselves to put on the tree. We've got quite the collection! This year though, to make it a little more special since he was gone, he went out and found special ornaments for each of them to open on Christmas Eve. They are so cute!! He had each of them personalized with their names/dates and picked out ornaments that fit their personalities. They're so precious that I have them hanging from a shelf now & I think they'll stay there until next year when they can go back on the tree. Here's a photo:
Way to go Dad!
Friday, January 5
Quilted Christmas Stockings
Category: Handicrafts
Welcome to Lilliput Station's Christmas Party Visitors! This is a post from last January. If you make your own, let me know! My girls will be making their own this year for gifts to family & friends.
We also have FREE Christmas Notebooking Pages, Foldable Cards, Recipe Cards & Labels at our website. Click here for a direct link to our free holiday section!
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In case you've read my entries about the girls' sewing abilities, I just wanted to say that I'm not completely without any sewing skills. I have...a little. ;) Here are the kids with their stockings hung on the wall (no mantle in our home). This was taken 2 years ago. Each stocking is trimmed with special buttons at the top according to the kids' personalities/interests.
I found the directions for this project at www.sewingweb.com . Here's a direct link.
Friday, January 5
Favorite Klutz & Sewing Books
Category: Handicrafts
Here are some of Taylor & Jessie's favorite sewing books. They've been very successful with all of them except for Knitting because it's still new to them. It's just a matter of time though before they'll be knitting up a storm! Right now they are crocheting in most of their spare time - currently making scarfs.
The text below this book photos are all linked to Amazon.com which is where I usually buy the books. I find they have the cheapest prices and if you spend $25 shipping is FREE on most items. Please let me know if you have any questions. I'd be happy to answer them (or let the girls answer them!).
Friday, January 5
Jessie is Crocheting...Wow!
Category: Handicrafts
Well it's been almost a year now since we started researching Charlotte Mason & her homeschooling methods. Is it working? YES! One of the most rewarding aspects of Charlotte Mason is finding more & more joy-filled days. We minimized our lesson workload, cut out the busywork, & kept only the best of what was truly needed maximizing on those. This opened up our afternoons for the kids to pursue their own interests. Skeptical? So was I. However, it wasn't long before I realized that if the children were freed from their TV/computer/video games opportunities, they would eventually find something to do on their own. And they actually do!
This particular entry is about my daughter Jessie, now 10 years old. Last year at this time she had some basic sewing skills and a little interest in learning more. I jumped at this opportunity and started gathering materials & tools. We found some wonderful Klutz books (a little pricey - I always purchase at Amazon & wait until I have $25 in my cart to get free shipping) with simple sewing directions, pictures, patterns, fabrics and bought some extra materials for her to use. Well, a year later, and several more Klutz books later, she's now sewing & crocheting up a storm! (By the way, I have very limited skills here. She's going to have to teach me how to crochet because I'm just not getting it LOL!) I'll blog about her sister-cousin Taylor a little later as she too has been learning some new skills!
Jessie & Her Recent Projects
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Jewelry Roll
& Envelope Purse
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Jessie & Cutie
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A "Princess" Felt Pillow She Uses for a Doorstop
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Awesome Work Jessie!
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Fish Mat for "Cutie" *see above pic*
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Monday, December 4
Our Beautiful Storm!
Category: Nature Study
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Praise God, the ice is melting!
We spent the better part of two days at my brother & parents' homes due to the widespread power failure after our recent storm. Our in-house temp dropped to 48 degrees - BRRRRR! No water either since we have a well. I think it may be time to invest in a generator! Someone from church made this statement:
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"Think of how powerful our walk with the Lord would be
if we depended on Him as much as we do electricity!" .
No kidding! Everything was so quiet & still with all of the ice - we actually had very little snow. The kids said everything looked like a scene from Narnia. It was very beautiful...
Monday, November 27
Sample-Assignment Book
Category: Home and Schooling
Here's a sample page from this year's assignment book. This is a page that actually folds along the dotted line and the opposite side of the page contains the same assignment grid but also a place to record my 2 Kindergartners' activities instead of the calendar. That part of the page is a flap that folds in & out depending on if it's needed or being used. The pages are printed double-sided and in landscape format, then zipped with our Proclick punching tool and put together with the Proclick spines. It makes a very nice-sized assignment book that I can easily add pages to. Size is 8.5" x 6.5". Check my other post for a similar idea for my kids' Quiet Time Journals.
Monday, November 27
Sample-Quiet Time Journals
Category: Home and Schooling
This is a winter-themed page from the quiet time journal I put together for my kiddos a couple of weeks ago. I designed myself an assignment book that works the same way earlier this year & decided to just copy that idea for them as a quiet time journal. We used our Proclick binding tool & spines to put them together. Each page is printed landscape and then you fold/unfold the flap on the dotted line depending on what side of the page you're using in order to write on it. (Every page is printed double-sided.) This "flap" contains their actual journal entry for the day and the rest of the page is documentation of their prayer requests, what verses they read that day, and what AWANA verses they studied. Each page or piece of paper has enough space for 4 days. The whole thing ends up being about 8.5" x 6.5". They love it. I'll post a picture of our assignment book as well if the picture file of this one loads well.
Sunday, November 26
Let's Catch Up!
Category: Home and Schooling
WOW! It's been over a month since my last entry! Well, we've been a *little* busy this last month.
First, we put out our first notebooking CD "History Pages - Ancient Times" and finished our free Bible pages! You can check both of these out using our Notebooking links in the right sidebar. We're very excited about both of these because they make notebooking history and the Bible a cinch to do - no excuses! We've used a ton of great historical clipart to make each page specific to its topic. The plan is to have all time periods finished by the end of summer. Right now I'm working on the Middle Ages as we work through this time period ourselves. Hopefully, it will be ready late spring. Then the remaining set(s) (depending on how I divide it), we'll work on over the summer. I keep saying "we" because my dh & kids are pitching in to help with these efforts. From finding the clipart, to downloading & organizing the clips, editing & proofreading (at least "prooflooking" for any lines/frames that don't match up), creating CDs & packaging them for shipping, and also learning bookkeeping - they all have their own jobs with paid commission. It's been lots of fun for all!
Besides our notebooking project, we've taken every child, all seven of them, to their pediatricians for checkups, to their dentists for cleanings/checkups & back again for fillings (bummer!), & to their eye doctors. I also went to the eye doctor and found out that the prism they put in my left lens for my double vision was put in upside down last year! Instead of correcting the problem, it was making it worse causing my left eye to work twice as hard to not see doubles (which was now more like quadruples)! Anyway, that is now fixed, praise the Lord! Oh yes, another one had to get glasses which brings the total to 3 of the kids now & he's not very happy about that. Then, finally, our 10yod has had several trips to the orthodontist and she is now sporting her new braces! She looks so cute! I guess that's just about it. Next year, we'll try to be a little smarter about this and get all of these checkups before school starts. Normally we do, but the summer got away from us and so here we are.
Let's see....we had a Fall Festival at church (complete with pony rides & a hayride!), we hosted a bonfire party for my parents' anniversary & birthdays in late October which was a hit for all of us, trunk-or-treating at church & Old Testament night at AWANAs, a birthday party for Elizabeth who is now 6, and we just finished up Thanksgiving at my brother's house this weekend...
Schooling? Well, we went into "basic mode" for a couple of weeks, keeping pace with our math, lang arts, and reading. You know, I make our schooling schedule so that doctor visits do not interfere and so that there's room to move things around, but it's just crazy to think that 25-30 doctor appointments is not going to interfere, right? The original appointments were fine I guess, it was all the re-visits for fillings, fittings, prescriptions, and "new hardware". So anyway, I've put off the Christmas decorations for now so that we can focus on getting at least 3 more solid weeks in before our Christmas break. Dh is out of town for the two weeks prior to Christmas and also works day shift Christmas Eve & Christmas Day so things are a little out of whack as far as our holiday planning anyway. I think I may shift the calendar a bit and have our own family celebration the two days following Christmas Day, not sure though.
Okay, now that brings us up to date!
Today, we're working on switching out our closets and seasonal clothes...making granola bars for our morning snacks this week...blowing leaves off the pond & bog so we can catch some fish to bring inside for the winter (goldfish & shbunkins)...preparing for this week's lessons...doing some last minute practicing for AWANAs tonight...updating this blog...& oh, yes, blowing the dust off the treadmill because mom's going to start walking again tomorrow! I don't know that this is going to as much of a weight-loss effort as it is a try-not-to-gain-any-weight effort during this holiday season. Either way, I'm ready to shed a few pounds (or 40)! Anyone need an accountability partner for this?
Saturday, October 7
Are Your Kids Hearing God's Voice?
Category: Transforming Moments
Wow! Don't neglect teaching your children how to have a quiet time! The Lord really impressed upon me this week that I wasn't doing enough to teach the kids how to have a quiet time. So we took almost a whole morning one day to just chat about what our time with God should look like. It has been an amazing week!
I read some entries from my personal quiet time journal and the kids were begging for more. It was so cool! The entries I read to them were my "thankful" entries, thanking God for the specific things he had done in the preceding days, things that the kids knew about but didn't realize I had been specifically praying for. I then asked each of them to think of something that they each were individually thankful for, something specific & personal (not just the general "I'm thankful for my family" response - which they should be, but I wanted them to dig deeper). It was hard for them! So I reminded them of how easy it was for the Israelites to grumble over and over even after God had repeatedly shown his miraculous provisions for them. We are the same way! If we don't take the time to remember each of God's wonderful blessings and thank Him for them, we will take them for granted. Instead of being able to name all the things we are thankful for, we'll instead focus on all the negative things.
So I helped them to each find one thing they could specifically be thankful for and they each prayed and thanked God. Then, we talked about how our quiet times should be a two-way conversation with God. We need to not only talk to God, but then also listen for Him to talk to us. Although they know that God "talks" to mom, they really couldn't grasp how God would speak to them individually. So we discussed how the #1 way God speaks to us is through His word. When we sit down to read His word, we need to focus on hearing His voice through the words we read. So I had them each think of something that was bothering them that they felt they needed the Lord's help with and they wrote this down in their journal and then prayed a short prayer about it before opening their Bibles.
I didn't tell them where to read, but told them to find a place to read and then to read until they found either something that interested them or seemed really important. Then they should reread that section until they found something they could write down in their journals about what they learned. WOW! It was so exciting to watch their faces light up with what the Lord taught each of them.
Here are some details:
8yos: He was confused by mom's NKJV of the Lord's Prayer that morning & he just happened to open up to this passage in his Bible - God showed him how easy it was to understand at his level! He was then directed to the verse 1 Peter 5:7 "Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you."
9yos: To my "future preacher or evangelist", God spoke to him from Proverbs 1:1-3. His prayer request for himself was to be able to stay on task with his chores and not be distracted. The verse that jumped out at him was verse 3 "their purpose is to teach people to live disciplined and successful lives". He said it was "scary" (weird scary) the way that God's word spoke to him so specifically. COOL!
10yod: Her request was to have help with 1st time obedience. Well she didn't find this exactly in what she read, but instead she found a verse that directly confronts a heart issue she has that is also related to 1st time obedience. Being naturally organized and mostly well-behaved, she can tend to be judgmental of others instead of helping others where they fall short. God led her to several scriptures, this one being the real eye opener: 1 John 3:17 "But if anyone has enough money to live well and sees a brother or sister in need and refuses to help - how can God's love be in that person?" . Wow!
11yod: This daughter asked for help in concentrating. (She lives with a disorder caused from her prenatal exposure to alcohol that greatly affects some her cognitive abilities.) Here's what the Lord showed her this day: there was a subtitle written across the page she opened up to that said "Should I bother God with my problems?". The scripture that went with it was Psalm 9:9-12 which in part says "The LORD is a shelter for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble. ....He does not ignore those who cry to him for help."
Can I just say, WOW!!! one more time. The most awesome thing about the experiences that day was that my kids felt God in a tangible way. He was more real to them than ever before! He directly spoke to their hearts and they heard Him. "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me." (John 10:27) Praise the Lord!
Be encouraged! Take some time to disciple your children in the area of their quiet times and watch how God will take your obedience and bless your children!
Monday, October 2
Spiral Spines for Notebooking
Category: Notebooking
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This is one of the greatest little tools I've found for notebooking.
I thank "Angi B" for introducing it to me! It's called ProClick and it's a binding tool. Basically, it's one long hole puncher that punches little holes all down the side of your paper to fit into the special ProClick spiral spines.
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What is awesome about these spines is that you can easily open and close them. So you can start your new notebook with just your front/back cover (designed by the author of course, your child!) and then as they create their pages, they simply slide the puncher down the side of their paper, "unzip" their spine, put in the page, and zip it back up. The spines come with a little plastic "zipping" tool that opens and closes the spines. You can do it manually, but the zip tool is so much more fun!
You can make just about any size notebook that you want because the spines are very easy to cut. You can even create a landscape-style notebook! We're doing this for history this year and I love it! The kids enjoy making mini-scrapbooks with all of our scraps and leftover supplies. The only downside is that the largest spines do not hold much more than 85-100 sheets of regular paper, so even less if using cardstock. What I do for our bigger notebooking subjects, like history, is to either keep separate notebooks for different time periods or put the pages into sheet protectors at the end of the year into one big 3-ring binder.
We used to use the big 3-ring binders for all of our notebooking, but they became so cumbersome for little hands. I LOVE the ProClick spines because the notebooks are easier to handle, they lay flat so you can keep your pages in the notebook while you work on them if you like, you can easily put pages in and take pages out, and unlike "unprotected" sheets in your 3-ring binders they don't rip out so easily.
It's also great for combining the mini-books that you do for lapbooking with notebooking. If you're used to putting your finished notebooking pages in sheet protectors, it's a little hard to view the minibooks. Since these spines are better at keeping your pages intact, you really don't need the extra protection of a sheet protector and so the mini-books are more accessible. Of course, a lot of hands-on contact will begin to show without the protection of sheet-protectors, but that's just the sign of a well-loved notebook, isn't it? Oh, I also have used it to punch through transparencies without any problems. I don't know that it's recommended, but just thought I'd tell you it works for me!
The best place I've found for purchasing this tool is at Amazon (let me know if the link doesn't work), but you could certainly do an online search. I search online for the spines and buy them in bulk for a better deal.
You can view a close-up of one our kids' notebooks here to see a close-up of the spines.
Thursday, September 28
Getting It All Done w/o Losing My Mind!
Category: Home and Schooling
This has been the best start to a school year we have ever had in our homeschooling journey thus far and I would love to share with you what has been working for us. Just remember, what works for one family may or may not work for yours. My best free advice: find what works for the unique needs of your family & realize that seasons change ! This is one of our easier seasons for a variety of reasons, one of which is that my baby is now 5yo - WOW! - and is having the time of her life not needing mommy to help keep her busy. (Does that sound depressing to you?)
One thing that is unique about my family is that we have a blended family with 7 children.
My oldest son is my dh's biological son (my adopted son), we have 3 of our own biological children, and 3 adopted children (2 nieces and a nephew). Everyone is related in one way or another, but when studying the genetics of our children, we have a grand total of 7 biological parents! Needless to say, there is quite the sampling of personalities, tendencies, and emotional & behavioral differences in our children. Due to a variety of circumstances (from the very good to the very sad), each child brings some unique needs, challenges, gifts, skills & delights to our homeschooling experience. It has been my job as the "coordinator" of their studies to get on my knees before the Lord and seek His wisdom in how to adapt our chosen curriculums & methods of teaching to each child while doing this for each of their 6 siblings at the same time. It's been quite a journey these last 6-7 years to say the least!
So, rather than give you all the details of where we've journeyed, I'll try to show you where we are, what we're doing, and how we're implementing things this year. Please feel free to ask any questions. I'm certainly no expert, except when it comes to what doesn't work for us , but I'll gladly share my experiences if it might help you on your journey!
Please be patient with me as it will take me awhile to share everything I'd like to share with you! So keep checking back!
This Year's Schedule (For Now)
Let's start with this year's schedule. (I think you'll need to click on it in order to read it.)
This is the "framework". I've put times in there to show you that in the perfect world on a perfect day, this schedule will work for us. But, in case you haven't figured this out for yourself (and if you haven't then I'm assuming you haven't started homeschooling yet), no schedule is perfect & there is no perfect day! So this is more like my guide through the day. There's not been one day yet that has followed this schedule exactly (for example - no morning walks - YET!), but for the most part we have covered each subject as laid out and have stayed on target with my general goals for each week.
For example, I have 30 minutes blocked for math. Some days we may only do math for 15 minutes so that we have extra time for Lang Arts. I have 60 minutes for history or science (depending on where we are in the rotation) and 30 minutes following for notebooking. Well for our first 3 days into our history study we do almost all reading, anywhere from 30-90 minutes (which runs into our "notebooking" slot). The last 3 days of history are spent doing mostly notebooking activities, so we end up spending closer to 90 minutes on just the notebooking. For science, it's kind of all mixed together, so there's actually 90 minutes allowed for science, notebooking and all those fun experiments.
I'll share more details about each subject later!
You'll see my 10th grader's "framework" on the right side. He, too, just follows this as a guide. Some days a subject may take a little longer and he'll have to cut another one short. I do not require too much "makeup" work for him if he runs into some particular problem that messes up his schedule for the day. We just try to adjust his studies the next day to make up for it. There are certain subjects like math, science, and writing that I have a stringent schedule for, so we try to keep these on target. Most of the others are a little more flexible, so we nudge these around to round out the day for him. He does most of his AM work independently and then will check in with either his dad or I in the afternoons or evenings to go over the day's work. His dad is his primary teacher which works out wonderfully. I'm trying to find ways to blend him into some of his younger siblings studies though.
As for my PreK & K daughters (ages 5 & 6yo), they are really great at entertaining themselves in the morning hours. They do bounce back and forth to do some activities with the older kids. For the most part though, they play dress-up, draw/color/paint, and just have make-believe fun during the morning hours - no TV! I've also learned to make myself more available during the morning school hours for the times they need me - more on this as I detail each of our subjects later. I've set aside time on MWF for them to spend with me in the afternoons for "table time" and we cover the basic RRR for their age & ability. On Tues/Thur, I try to plan for hands/on activities, PE, and nature study for their older siblings and I encourage the 5 & 6yo to participate with us as they are able.
Thursday, September 28
Giving It A GO!
Okay, I know next to nothing about blogs. Let me rephrase that - I know absolutely NOTHING about blogs! (Hopefully you'll see a title for this entry if I can figure out what I've done wrong to eliminate being able to do that!) When I have the chance, I do love to read everyone else's blog, but that's about all the experience I have. I have no idea what a "permanent link" is or what "RSS" means & what in the world are "Pings"??? LOL! ... I guess I'll learn.
I have taken some time to learn about designing websites as mine needed a MAJOR update from its original format. So after a few hours (or more)  , I have a lot more experience that I hope will somehow spill over here into this blog. I played around a bit with the HTML code and I think I've finally got this ready for me to start "blogging" (is that what you would call it?). Yes, I know, I've got lots and lots to learn! Don't be surprised to see the look of this blog change because I absolutely LOVE change & cannot stand to work with something that doesn't work for me! PLUS, this is something I can change that won't cause my husband to have to rearrange his daily routine, schedule, or his normal path of travel through our house!  Hopefully, these side bars will start filling up soon - they look so bare!
So here are some of my goals (in no certain order):
1 - To get to know more of YOU!
2 - Give you a glimpse into our homeschooling day & personal lives
3 - Share what I'm learning as I walk with the Lord
4 - Share more of my charts, templates, ideas, pictures, etc. for school & home
5 - Give back what's been given to me by so many wonderful homeschool moms out there in cyberspace - encouragement to keep running the race set before us!
I don't know how often I'll post here, but I hope it will be more frequent than not. The Lord has been challenging me this school year to be a better steward of our time and finances. As I've taken time to REALLY listen to Him regarding our homeschooling schedule (among other things), I'm finding more and more time to fill some of my own passions - like having time to fellowship with other hs moms!
So, I'm glad you're here & I hope you enjoy yourself!
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