I am 37 years old and blessed with a wonderful husband and two children. I enjoy watching my children as they learn about God's world. My desire is to teach them to walk in the ways of the Lord and to be dependant on Him for all things. I also enjoy gardening, sewing, and reading/studying God's Word.
My Husband
My husband is a Nascar fan. Dale Earnhardt, Sr. is plastered all over the walls of our garage along with Dale Jr. He owns two older Chevy trucks that he is constantly tinkering with.
My Daughter
Our little girl is 3 1/2 years old! It seems like she was born just yesterday. She is very energetic and curious. She enjoys talking and asks many questions. We are blessed that she is developing a love for Jesus and is seeking to know more about who He is. She loves to do "projects" which can be anything from coloring to crafting or even pre-school work.
My Son
Our son is 9 1/2 years old and he is growing up to be a kind and compassionate young man. He enjoys playing baseball and being outdoors. He also likes to cook and build things. Give him K'nex, Magnetix, or craft sticks and dowel rods and he will spend hours creating things. He also loves the Lord and seeks to learn more about Him. He has made the decision to follow the Lord and be baptized this summer. It is so wonderful to see him desire to be obedient to the Lord.
We live in Arkansas and are blessed to have very few requirements to meet for the state homeschool laws. One of the things all 3rd - 9th graders must do is take the Iowa Test of Basic Skills. When I was in school these types of test were known as achievement tests. This week was our testing week. Unlike public schools, I don't teach "the test" all year long. That is all my son came home talking about when he went to public school...I have to know this for the Iowa test. This went on from week one in school up until the week of testing.
Thankfully, Arkansas has an office devoted to coordinating the testing for home school children. They post a detailed schedule on the web that shows us what tests are taken each day and the types of questions that will be on the test. Because of their efforts I was able to spend the first part of March reviewing the information he needed to know for each test. My goal was to refresh his mind so these things would be familiar to him and not be something that was "pounded" into his head all year long. That doesn't mean that we didn't work on using correct punctuation, capitalization, vocabulary, math skills for his grade level, etc. It means our focus was not on "teaching the test" it was on learning the skills he needed for life! I didn't even tell him he was taking the tests until the day before. Then, we went together, bought him some snacks to take for break time, and made this a positive experience. He came home feeling good about his abilities to complete the tests and had confidence.
Would you like some strategies for taking standardized tests? I am going to share some that I received. They are very helpful. Just click here.
My name is Stacy and I am married to a wonderful man, Brian. We have two wonderful children and we are a blended family. This is our first year to homeschool. I am excited about meeting other moms and learning/sharing new ideas.
