Posted in Homeschooling Today Magazine

     This is another reason why I LOVE THIS MAGAZINE!!!! This little experiment was made just for the readers of HST! It caught my eye since my children would love to perform this experiment (as would most children). I especially love it since it just adds to the list of experiments we are thinking of doing. I received a crystal making kit recently (thanks MIL!). My oldest wanted to "play" with it.   I told her we'd have to do the experiment and follow the directions. One direction was to collect rocks as the base for the crystals. My middle child LOVES to collect rocks anyway so we thought that would be perfect for him. We're still getting things ready for it, but now we have another experiment to do so I might just save these to do in the same week or something. This is turning out to be a wonderful summer for my soon to be K'ers!!! Thanks HST!

Posted in Homeschooling Today Magazine

     I am so glad Ruth Beechick wrote this article! At first I didn't know if I would like the new magazine since it's under new management. After reading this article, I've decided: I've always LOVED this periodical and I always will LOVE this periodical!!

     Since I've just been re-educating myself according to biblical beliefs I realize that a lot of what I've been taught is wrong. This article helped me see exactly what I need to re-learn. I've been trying to figure out how early history plays out since the world is only about 6,000 years old. This article states that anything in the history books before 4,000 BC is before creation so it's wrong! That leaves quite a big gap I'd guess. I wonder where all that stuff fits in then. She also states that anything before 2350BC was before the flood and probably should be thrown out too. Wow! This is totally revolutionizing my teaching! I know one thing, I'll be reading Dr. Beechick's books on history before I choose any history curriculum!

 

Posted in Homeschooling Today Magazine

     I just received my Spring issue of Homeschooling Today. I love this magazine becuase it's the only one I've found that actually ministers to my spriit. Maybe it's the writers (R.C. Sproul, Jr. Stacy McDonald). Maybe it's the topics. Whatever it is, this magazine brings the Word of God as it pertains to home schooling, not just hone schooling news and encouragement. I LOVE THAT!!! They come with the pure unadulterated Word of God and then apply it to home schooling, which in turn encourages me! It's the WOrd that encourages me, not just their words of encouragement. It's such a breath of fresh air. It waters my spirit and I'm so thankful they're in the magazine business.

Posted in Homeschooling Today Magazine

      It's coming up. I don't know if you've thought about it but I have. I remember last year when the kids came to ring our doorbell. We just handed them tracts instead of candy. We were just trying to be a light in the darkness. While this was okay, we felt we could do more. I prayed about it and thought there has to be a better way (funny how I never once thought about all this before I had children of my own. Now I'm analyzing every holiday and wondering about the message it's conveying to my highly impressionable preschoolers). 

     I recently read an article in the September/October 2003 issue of Homeschooling Today. It was about October 31 and the major thing that happened in 1517. This is the day Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the doors of the Wittenburg Church. That act is defined as the beginning of the Protestant Reformation.

     The article talks about a  church that celebrates this happening instead of Halloween or an alternative (which in some churches looks just like Halloween). I never knew there was something of worth to be celebrated on Halloween! Priase the Lord for His divine providence! There's a book out by Doorposts that details a celebration your family or church can get involved in on October 31. I am so thankful to Homeschooling Today for adding this in their issue. We have been searching for something of worth to celebrate while everyone else is celebrating the devil. If anyone wants to follow up on this, the book by doorposts is called A Night of Reformation: Celebrating the Reformation with Family and Friends (Doorposts, 2002). You can see the description of the book here

Posted in Homeschooling Today Magazine

       I just wrote about trying to find godly read alouds and what do I read in the issues I picked up from the library but a whole issue on read alouds!!!!  God is so good!!! This is just one more example that God loves home schooling!!!   So now I have a whole list of books and books about booklists! It's wonderful!!!! I'll be writing about my findings.

Posted in Homeschooling Today Magazine

      I'm so glad this article was placed in this magazine and that the publishers think that it is something their readers need to read about. I know I need it. God is actually taking me through the lesson of how much a broken and a contrite spirit mean to Him. I've been travelling in my own way for far too long. To bring this message home God has introduced me to the teachings of  Joyce Meyer. She's been and continues to be broken and has developed a contrite spirit. Her sermons tell of her life lessons learned along the way. I identify with her so much because the way she was when God started working on her big time, is how I am right now. God has been calling me to join Him in His work on my heart for about three years now. This article just confirms the things I have heard Joyce Meyer preach about, what I've read in His Word (logos) and what He's been speaking to my heart (rhema). This article calls for repentance which is the springboard for brokenness and the breeding ground for a contrite spirit.

Posted in Homeschooling Today Magazine

     I am so far from the model presented in this article, but my spirit clings to the images it brings in my mind. The article begins with Stacy re-telling a visit to a friend's house and the warm welcome they received upon arriving. The family seemed to all work together to meet the needs of these weary travellers in joyful harmony. I get the impression that this wasn't the first time this family had entertained guests. They seemed well prepared for it. Which brings up another point. How prepared am I to have guests, expected or unexpected? While my home could not begin to be considered "prepared", I do hope that my guests would feel they were welcomed by my loving attitude. God has given me a gift for making friends and being considerate and kind to people so I don't have a problem there. My struggle is in the presentation of my home to others. I fall prey too many times to doing only what's necessary and easy in housecleaning. For now, I can only read this article and pray that God will bring me to the place where I can do the same as this dear family.

Posted in Homeschooling Today Magazine

      I am so thankful for this article. I didn't know Samuel Morse was a devout Christian. I also didn't know he was buried in Brooklyn. One of these days I'd like to go visit his grave just to see what they wrote on his tombstone and how it's decorated. He was a great inventor to the whole world. I love that they do that in all of their issues. They always have a section on a figure from history that loved the Lord and made a difference in the world for God.

     One thing they mentioned in the article is that he thought God would use his apparent gift at the time, which was painting. When I read a quote of his about that topic, he sounded very prideful. I think that's why God didn't use him to change the world with that talent. Not to say that inventing is a talent. I'm becoming more and more aware that anyone can invent and change the world. I think God wnated to use something that was humble in him. I'm so thankful for encouragement like that in every issue of Homeschooling Today.

Posted in Homeschooling Today Magazine

       I have just received my first issue of The Old Schoolhouse magazine and love it!!! It's chock full of stuff that's encouraging and thought-provoking. While I love this magazine, I feel God pulling my heart to focus on another magazine. 

     I found it in my local library. I didn't think it was all that great since it seemed so focused on old-fashioned things, but as I read it I noticed their outlook on life rings true in my heart. Everything in the magazine focuses on the same thing, which is getting back to the old ways of glorifying God. My modern teaching and mindset just laughs at thir perspective, but my spirit and heart is being aligned to their views nonetheless. In my mind I haven't had a reason to be against the "old ways", except for racism's sake (most people that followed the old ways in history are also criticized for either aiding or doing nothing to stop the slave trade or eradicate the racism it left in our society). If you're coming from my perspective that's quite a big influence to overcome. As I read about those that followed the old wyas in the Homeschooling Today magazines though, I'm struck by how on target they are concerning biblical principles. They amaze me and are becoming the goal to which I aspire. With God putting it on my heart to sew most everything that can be sewn in our household and to become a master homemaker, I see myself steadily following after the old ways. For the divine destiny that God has for me to walk out, I feel this magazine aids in that adventure.

 

     I have therefore decided to start yet another catagory in my blog for logging my thoughts on various articles in their magazine. There's no love lost for TOS. I just feel that this magazine more closely reflects my hearts desires. I'll still be writing about TOS as I think it's a fantastic magazine.

     Since I haven't had the priviledge to own a subscription to this magazine I am forced to read old issues from my library. This makes organization of the comments a tad bit challenging. I have decided to just post date the entries to keep order. So, while I'm writing all of these entries in 2005 the date will reflect the date of the magazine issue. I'm hoping this will allow for easier referenceing of comments on the various articles. As an example I'm writing this entry on August 8, 2005, but I will post date it to be the very first entry in this section. All other entries on articles will be dated after this post but still remain true to their printed issue date.