Dec. 7, 2009 - Classical Education ~ An Anchor for Homeschooling
During the homeschooling journey, one will come across many times of stress, pressure and doubts. The journey is full of waves knocking us to and fro as we try to maneuver our way down the path of educating our children. It is always important to have God's Word in our heart. When we are in the middle of a storm, though, life is more manageable when we have His Word embedded in our heart. When we can cite His Words that bolster us up and incite courage into our very being, this makes the going a bit more bearable. His Word becomes our anchor as we are being tossed every which way by the waves of life. His Word calms our spirit and clears the emotional fog.
I have been in need of that anchor in the last few months as I have been dealing with health issues. These issues and the ensuing effects have caused me to doubt myself and my ability to educate my children. I have even gotten so far as to seriously consider putting them in school after the Christmas break. I feel like I have let my children down. Not only am I not giving them a Classical Education but it might also be debated whether I am giving them any kind of education at all.
Those are the words that I mutter to myself when I sink into that bad place. That dark, suffocating place that does not abide in hope. I don't like that place so I combat it by turning to God's Word. I read His Word and commit it to my spirit, so that when the darkness starts to enfold me, I can hold it off by the light of His Word.
When I am at this place, there are quite a few scriptures that wards off the darkness. Here are a few that I have relied on in the last few months.
For thou art my rock and my fortress; therefore for thy name's sake lead me, and guide me. Pull me out of the net that they have laid privily for me: for thou art my strength. Into thine hand I commit my spirit: thou hast redeemed me, O LORD God of truth. (Ps. 31:3-5)
Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the Lord. (Ps. 31:24)
Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness . (Isaiah 41:10)
My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O LORD; in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up. (Ps. 5:3)
I am so thankful for God's Word that I can cling to as my anchor through this rough time. In clinging to His Word, I am assured that He will lead me to higher and drier ground in time.
Julia lives on the Canadian Prairies with her husband, homeschooling their 3 children (10,8,6) and is attempting to give them a Classical Education. You can read more at her blog.
Dec. 7, 2009 - Craft Corner ~ Bible Crafts
- Quilted Bible Cover ~ Although the Lord doesn't care whether our Bibles have a nifty cover, it's still a fun thing to make and use! Not to mention it can be very handy for holding paper and pen for sermon notes.
- Stenciled Bible Verses ~ I saw this done at a church once, and the result was pretty and charming. Get some lettering stencils, choose an appropriate verse, color, and wall, and get painting! You could also stencil your verse on other things.
- Another way to burn verses into your memory, almost literally, is to burn them onto a piece of wood using a woodburning tool. This technique is also called pyrography. It produces a simple, yet lovely, effect if you merely write out your verse in plain letters with your woodburning iron, and then decorate it with pressed flowers.
- Still another way to display your favorite verses would be to print or write them out on a piece of paper, decorate it, frame it, and then hang it on your wall. You could also choose to use counted cross-stitch to embroider your verse.
Dec. 6, 2009 - It's pet time
This add is made by BubbaScotter96 for Bubba's Pet Adoption Center. If you want to join, please contact Bubbascotter96. You can find him on my friends page.
Dec. 5, 2009 - This is a true story (though it didn't happen to me, I don't have a sister)
One night while I was sound asleep, I felt my self falling into a hole. The deeper I sank the more my two blankets got wrapped around me, like a burrito. I started to wake up and tried to grab the sheets but, I just kept falling. I was squishified between the wall and my bed, which is like twelve inches. And I am like more than twelve inches. I felt my books poking me in the back as I landed on the floor. With my one free hand I tried to pull myself back up onto the bed. My other arm was too squished to move. All this work and the two blankets made me very, very hot. And I hate being hot! I still wasn't getting anywhere, so I turned over on my stomach and the blankets got wrapped around me even more. I tried to do a push up with my arms and stand up at the same time. Eventually it worked and I flopped over onto my bed like a breaching whale. I share a room with my sister and she stayed asleep the whole time.
This happened to Volleyball98.
Dec. 5, 2009 - As time passes yet again....
Hey. I suppose you've all missed me, hm? Me and my dark, toxically sarcastic, incredibly creepy comments. Me, beating the bad guys to hell where they belong. Me, telling everything just like it is. Me, being so incredibly cynical sometimes you just get sick of it. Me, complaining about how lonely I am and you get sick of that too.
It's surprising what a little makeup can do.
Ok. So everybody here knows that I've been attending public school for the past....has it been almost FOUR?.....months? Some of you--in fact MOST of you--don't know that I met a boy that was surprisingly like Richard Matthews and yes, I dated him for about two months. He said he loved me; he said he loved me forever. He still says that. But now that he's broken up with me....I don't know.
Everybody knows that with my personality, I was an outcast by my own choice. I was the pretty, long-haired, innocent little blonde who didn't know about things that most kids my age shouldn't know yet still know, and since I was sheltered for 15 years, I didn't understand what they meant when they were cracking dirty jokes.
Everybody thought, she's too different to hang out with.
From time to time, I would be extremely cynical, toxically sarcastic. Sometimes I flat-out made people mad; others I just made them laugh. Sometimes I tried to be funny with my cynicism. Most of the time, though, I wasn't on my dark side. I was too nice to be mean to anybody. Humph.
When Alex broke up with me, I decided, I will never love again. But how, since I'm so pretty and innocent(most guys like innocent girls, ya gotta admit), was I supposed to keep them all back? I decided, let's try Goth for awhile. Didn't like it. Dropped the game after two weeks. Besides, too many people said I couldn't be Goth without black hair. And there are tooooo many weiiiiird and creepy things about Goths that you don't want to know about that I found out about not too long after...even though I was just pretending so that I could scare other boys away, I couldn't go around having people think that about me.
OK, I told myself, how about I just try to be so weird that no one can figure me out? So, sometimes I dressed in black, sometimes I dressed in pink, sometimes I dressed in camoflage.....sometimes I dressed like a fourth grader. Figure Me Out, this new label was called.
But I was still that innocent little girl.
So scratch that.
The last label I attempted was Giant Screaming Rainbow, stolen from an icon that said, "I remember being attacked by a giant screaming rainbow...but it was just technical difficulties." I dressed in bright colors that kinda...well....screamed. And I was planning to be my strange, hard to understand, hyper, confusing, authoress self. But while I dressed like that, I was being sharp and sarcastic and cynical and insulting to EVERYONE....Raynea when she's in a good mood. (we never defined that, but whenever I was messing around with Johnny and Martin, that was my good mood.)
So I left THAT idea behind, and for awhile I wore whatever I wanted to and was in whatever mood I wanted to be in.
Just so you know, while all this was happening, Alex was still acting like we were going out.....not with everybody around, of course. When we were alone, I still had hope.....
And then one day he decides to tell me that he doesn't want to do anything like that anymore, because there's this girl coming back from New York who was his first love.
*growl*
I thought this kid was DIFFERENT!!!!!!!
For a couple more weeks after that, I kept looking at him, talking to him with my lovelorn heart showing through. Sometimes I would be really downcast, sometimes I would be really happy but I was faking it. Sometimes I'd be happy when I wasn't faking it. Whatever.
He told me, even so, he still loves me.
But was he lying to me now just so I won't cry?
Unfortunately, I've already cried twice over it(even though other girls would have cried buckets over a situation like this), once when I was actually IN school, but never in his presence.....because I don't know who to trust anymore, and I'm sick of it.
So, just like Raynea, I started hiding my pain,---but taking it out on others with my anger and cynicism.
This started last week. I don't know why, I can't help it, but I started lashing out at the other boys. The boys I've been talking to....the boys I'm just friends with. (I was too weird for the girls, so I only had friends who were boys.) I suppose it isn't really fair....no, it's NOT fair....but I can't help it anymore.
I started wearing black again, not all the time but here and there. And I've been wearing this black sweatshirt over top my other clothes. And doing my makeup. Which never was much--just blush and sort of bright blue eyeshadow. And lipstick. I consider lipstick a sort of shield against kisses. Weird but true.
One day this girl named Emily--a girl I help in math class--asked me if she could put some makeup and eyeliner on me. I shrugged and said OK, I didn't really care. So she did, and she did my hair so part of it swipes over my forehead from one side to the other and tucks behind my ear.
Then when I went to Japanese class, this other girl that I talk to occasionally--and is punk/emo--said I looked pretty Goth to her.
Hummmmmm.......
I had Emily do my mascara again the next day, and that day we had a rehearsal for choir. As we were getting into our places, this one girl named Alyssa(one of those "normal" girls) gasped and said I looked soooooooo pretty. In under two minutes I had five other girls--all her friends--fawning over me. They wanted to give me a makeover.
So I shrugged and said, "OK, as long as you don't cut or dye my hair." (Side note: I do NOT refuse to have my hair touched because of what I believe or anything.....it's just that I'm proud of my long hair and so is my dad. Although I do believe that you should not change your natural hair color because that's what God gave you and that's what He wanted you to have....but it doesn't have ANYTHING to do with some crazy religion!!!)
So yesterday, they did my makeup and gave me a new hairdo, and EVERYBODY was fawning all over me, saying I looked so pretty they just couldn't get over it. A couple girls said they wanted to do me up too, and that I should do my makeup like that more often; when I replied that I don't have the money to go buying all that stuff, they said they'll give me some for Christmas.
Now I have all KINDS of friends that are girls.
Jealous much?
It's surprising what a little makeup can do.
Dec. 5, 2009 - Long time.
Hey guys it's been awhile, I don't even remember how all this works haha. Anyways that isn't the point. I thought i would let everyone know what has been going on with me lately.
Lets see where to start... um... well first off I graduated in April!!! I have already started college and i am enrolled in the Fireman/EMT training i am about to finish my first quarter and get all the core classes out of the way. Then in Jan. I start my fireman training.
Also I bought a brand new car 3 months ago and have already paid it off!!!! Which means i got rid of my red truck that was falling apart 
but hey it was free lol.
Lets see what else... I was in 3 bands, but i slowly worked down to just playing in the one at my church so that is cool. We finally have a building for our church. Me and my dad built one, it cost to much to rent a place.
I guess the last thing that happened to me in a year is I started dating a wonderful girl named Rachel 
, you guys know her as babyrach91. I met her years ago then we got back to talking 2-3 years back. Now i go to school with her. So all and all i would say it has been a great year!
I will try to be on more guys so just message or comment and i will do my best to reply.
Later guys
Jake Cashon
Dec. 4, 2009 - Featured Blogger ~ PearceFamily
It's time to get back to Featured Blogger again! It's been a nice break and it was nice to have Amanda Bennett on the HSB home page for two whole weeks, but there are so many other bloggers to meet!
This week I want to introduce you to the PearceFamily of Planted Oaks and Little Acorns. This fun family takes time to enjoy life and homeschooling.
We've been talking about preparing for Christmas here on the Porch but how about preparing for a baby? Lori is one blessed mama! Her oldest daughter gives her a pedicure before the new bundle of joy arrives. What a special treat!
Have you joined the workbox craze? Then meet another mom who has fallen in love with this way of doing homeschooling! She has a whole category dedicated to workboxes.
Now here's a fun idea for blessing other families this Christmas! Give them 12 days of gifts that fit with the 12 Days of Christmas song. Lori blogged about it in 2 separate posts, days 1-4, and days 5-12.
Go wish the PearceFamily a Merry Christmas!
Tia Linschied
Senior Editor of HSB
Dec. 4, 2009 - Take Our Survey and Get 2 Free E-Books!
- Turning Points in Homeschooling offers ample support and incredible insight that will help answer many of the troublesome questions you may have.
- Fiesta of Freebies 2nd Edition offers incredible organization of the many Freebies that were offered throughout 2008 in the Freebie Friday E-Newsletter and The Homeschool Minute.
Dec. 4, 2009 - Molly Makes Merry
Comfort and Joy
for Christmas
Just in time for Christmas!
A link to the free E-Books will be available upon checkout.
Are you worried about gift-giving? Get excited about giving to others! Make some spectacular gifts yourself quickly and easily. Enjoy phenomenal tips to keep the holiday season stress-free right into January as you put Molly's ideas to good use!
Tucked neatly within the pages of Molly's Digest, you'll find:
- Ideas for teaching your children gratitude and generosity.
- A beautiful, decorative use for last year's calendar as the year comes to a close.
- Great suggestions for family gifts, generic gifts, and even food gifts.
Would you like to be more "PC"? You can be practical and cost-conscious this Christmas season when you use Molly's ideas! Be "pleasantly confident" this year when using these inspirational gifts. Discover . . .
- When socks are a great Christmas gift.
- How to use popcorn as a gift to strengthen families.
- Practical gift options you can give to everyone by simply making small variations.
- Begin the countdown to Christmas with Eat a Red Apple Day.
- Include discussing tree decorations with Mitten Tree Day.
- Make your card deadline day December 9.
- Study worldwide celebrations on International Children's Day.
"In this edition, you will also find recipes as well as ideas for special days during the month of December. For example, I had no clue that December 8 was a National Brownie Day. Mmmm! Sounds delicious and good to me . . . My favorite article was definitively the "Eight Frugal Family Crafts." It gave me special ideas not only for extended family members but for my own family as well. I really love the Movie Night and the Super Sundaes ideas. Very creative and fun to put together . . . For me, I would love a Book Lovers' Basket or a Scrapbook Box of Surprises--anything to brighten my holidays. Once again, I think that Molly's Money-Saving Digest for the month of December 2009 is wonderful. Thanks Molly for this full year of your wonderful ideas!"
Monthly Feature--"Comfort and Joy for Christmas" will be exactly what your family feels when you simplify and minimize. Be courageous this Christmas and eliminate obligation and guilt, consider family gift-giving, agreeing to end gift exchanges or to make homemade gifts--Molly tells you how!
- Eight Frugal Family Gifts will ignite creativity in your entire family as you gather to design gift baskets for a Movie Night, Snacks and Desserts, and gaming fun for other families this Christmas.
- Twelve Generic but Sensible Gift Ideas could bring everything from safety to convenience into the life of the recipient and are incredibly fun to choose and personalize!
- Ten Fabulous and Frugal Foodie Gifts provide the thoughtfulness of both time and taste to friends and family with ideas to dress up cheesecake, present incredible bread as a present, and give the gift of baking fresh cookies in a two-part gift experience!
- Let's Get Together! Foodie gifts create incredible opportunity for a get together and can make hosting a holiday brunch much simpler than you ever imagined!
- All the Trimmings includes tips for decorating, wrapping, and all the holiday trimmings with a thrifty perspective. A quickie list will help keep your holiday sanity as you get it all done.
- Great Expectations for Kids helps you develop a lifelong attitude of gratitude in your children with five guidelines you can easily implement.
Do you love details? Check out each and every part of the December Molly's Money-Saving Digest right here:
- Molly's Minute--Year-end blessings from Molly remind you to focus on family, friends, and faith this Christmas season--regardless of how you choose to celebrate. The first full year of Molly's Money-Saving Digest is complete with this December issue, and more great things are coming in 2010!
- Begin With the Basics--"Candy Making 101" will warm your heart and pleasantly fill the tummies of friends and loved ones. As a frugal art, candy making gets off to a great start, and this article brings recipes, tips, and wrapping ideas. Even some historical reading is thrown in for good measure! You'll love making homemade toffee and mints, and you'll learn what important piece of equipment will help most in your candy making.
- On Sale This Month--With all the Christmas shopping going on, you won't want to miss the list of sale items this month. The list goes far beyond Christmas gifts to items you'll be thankful you found on sale now--you'll use them all year long.
- Keeping it all Together--"Staying Sane During the Holiday Season" isn't just a great title for this article--it is possible for you! This section offers perfect direction for staying on track this season and will prevent you from doing too much. Links galore will also save you time and money!
- Feather Your Nest Frugally--What 6-foot-by-2-foot decorative item could you be working on that will be enjoyed all year long? It isn't your Christmas tree. This great idea will call for you to "pull the tubs from under your bed, dance through the garage, and send your husband up to the attic." Aubrey Lively shares this project she and her mother haven't even officially named because it is too fantastic and beyond words! Pictures and instructions will motivate you to completion as Aubrey walks Molly readers through the entire process with a specially made item just for the Digest.
- Pull Up a Chair--Another great gift idea awaits, along with the usual week's worth of weeknight menus. From tasty Mandarin Almond Salad and old-faithful meat loaf that makes a house a home, to elegant but frugal meals the children will love, Molly's meals have you covered. The Turkey Noodle Leftover Casserole will make the whole house sing--perfect for caroling preparation! Recipes include an ingredient list, easy-to-follow instructions, and even a few more great gift ideas will be found sprinkled within this week of menus.
- Parenting That Pays--Dividends are great when you invest in your children; find wonderful ideas for serving others while instilling consideration and generosity in your children. Get motivated as Jennifer Sikora shares ways her family chooses to serve others, and she encourages your family to do the same.
- Something Old, Something New--"Old Calendars to New Art" will close the 2009 year in style as you learn about a great recycling idea for calendars. Get long-term use from the pictures you loved in your calendar far longer than one year!
- Goal-Getter Spotlight--"Today a Laptop, Tomorrow a Castle" takes you into the life of Aubrey Lively as you hear from an all-around goal-getter. She shares her heart for writing and her story of a small-step process to reaching big success!
- Readers Write In--Molly opens this section this month to fellow readers sharing family traditions. Exactly what did happen to Paula's disappearing gingerbread man's arms and legs? Enjoy her story with a recipe for cinnamon ornaments. Delight in Lisa's very creative final hidden gift that will help your family when it comes time to tear down the Christmas tree. Perfect personalized gifts, tips for gift-giving, even tips for opening gifts can all be found in wonderful advice from fellow Molly's Digest readers.
- Molly's Question of the Month--Are you signed up for Molly's free, weekly E-Newsletter? If not, you are missing out on tips and creative ideas to stay frugal throughout your household. You don't want to miss it!
- Words Worth Saving--Perfect for a monthly memorization activity, Scripture is found throughout Molly's Money-Saving Digest. Enjoy God's Word as you celebrate this Christmas season and all of December.
- Directory of Links--Count on this directory of the links found in the Digest, enabling you to instantly reach websites while viewing your Digest online. Or print the list for a great resource of money-saving sites to refer to again and again.
New Molly readers, veteran Molly readers, homemakers, homeschoolers, and moms very much like you have previewed the December Molly--what did they say?
"As always, there are money-saving tips and recipes in the pages of the latest Digest. An entire week's worth of menu-planning meals for suppertime are shared, including a terrific recipe for frozen meat loaf. There are a few recipes for making your own candy, along with links for others and how to turn the goodies into great gifts. In addition, there is fantastic idea after idea for low-cost gift-giving--much appreciated in my household this year! . . . And there are ideas for decorating too, such as yummy-smelling cinnamon ornaments, as well as some non-Christmas decorating ideas for your home. I'm going to be referring to this copy of the Digest often as the Christmas season approaches!"
"Knowing that this issue was December and would be directly linked to the holiday season, I was so pleased to read that the writing for the Digest would be directed towards Christians with diversity in convictions and beliefs and traditions in mind. With that said I was able to grab the Digest and sit to glean cheerfully from its contents without worrying about whether or not to avoid or pass through any of the writings . . . I got my cooking thinking cap back on in the recipe section and am making my lists for cooking up those extra meals for the freezer. Once I'm in the habit of doing it, boy, does it make life easier in the kitchen on co-op and errand days for us. On a personal note, it always makes me wonder why people only decide to help out others during the holiday season. Is Christ not in our lives EVERY DAY of the year, EVERY month as well? Setting our children up for service projects and helping the homeless and families in need should be a part of our everyday living, not just the last month of the year. I enjoyed reading all the gift ideas, and I think I might even do those year 'round, especially to families with multiple siblings--giving is so much fun! I love the idea of giving for the body, soul, and spirit; wow, what a great concept to teach with as well! All in all, another wonderful Digest full of ideas and encouragement for the homeschooling Christian family."
"December's Molly's Money-Saving Digest is perfect for this year. I had already been stressing over how to still celebrate a meaningful Christmas with less money and less time. Molly's Digest has so many great ideas to de-stress my Christmas time. I had to grab pen and paper to write down recipes and ideas. The candy-making section inspired me to try something new. The family gift ideas are a great way to make someone know they are special without having to spend too much. I also thoroughly enjoyed the ideas from readers on new Christmas traditions--at least new to me. Now I can hardly wait for the holidays to begin."
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Spend $4.95 and save much more in time and money with superb gift ideas, scrumptious recipes, planning help, and encouragement for making the most of the Christmas season--without losing your sanity and while keeping your focus on the reason for the season, Jesus Christ!
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Dec. 4, 2009 - Special Words for Special Needs ~ A Calm Heart for the Holiday Season
I love the holidays! Around here it takes some effort though. I have to think through all my decor...can it be swallowed, chewed on, obsessed over or otherwise some danger that will require me to call the poison control guy? Are the meals at my house or somewhere else? Then what about our diet restrictions? If we are going to somewhere else is it safe enough that my little one who runs away will not get out? And so the list continues.
This is not say that I get uptight and overwrought for the holidays. I have done that before and as much as I would like to say it's not going to happen again... I just don't know. I have found a calm that helps me deal with the season.
Part of the calm comes from an acceptance of what can and cannot be. My husband and I have collected small Hallmark ornaments for years. The past 5+ years they cannot come out. We tried they were broken. So now we stow them away knowing that a time will come later in our life when we can put them out. I read an article in a country decor magazine that sung to me. The lady being interviewed had two children on the spectrum. She had made all her ornaments out of rolled stripes of cloth, very country looking, and nice when one of her sons flung one across the room!
Another one that hurts but is necessary, is that we cannot schedule everything and meals with everyone. In the holiday season it seems that there is a place to be every weekend and many week days. We could get a babysitter but is that truly what the season is about? For us no. We choose what we can do reasonably and then in the end if we have to we are ready to cancel. I don't like be so soft about meal commitments and events. It can be hard for others to understand but I know that my responsibility as a parent to a wonderfully special child comes before my social calendar.
As for diet restrictions I make a meal for us ahead of time. We bring a portion of the meal. We quietly load up the kids plates with the good stuff. I also go understanding that we will most likely have some contamination of glutens or caseins. It happens. I am not happy and I do not take that as a reason to break our diet in a big way. We get right back to work doing the best you can and eating the best you can.
All of this happens the easiest if I have a grand plan for the month. I mark out on a calendar, we hang on the wall, the whole month. The kids and I go over it repeatedly. As my son says,"If you don't tell me. I don't know and I get icky feeling inside when you jump up and say it's time to go." That was such a perfect insight into how he sees a change in schedule. It isn't an inconvience for him, it is a physically unpleasant response. Be clear about your plans!
Your holiday season can be wonderful! Carefully and thoughtfully think about your expectations. Plan the season accordingly. Get the whole family involved in keeping a calendar for events. In the end talk about and live out what is the most important part of the season. I believe if you do that you will feel fufilled and at peace! May the Lord bless your holiday season!
Heather lives in West Virginia. She and her husband have been homeschooling their 5 children for 8 years. Due to a genetic disorder their children have multiple special needs. Heather is also dealing with personal health difficulties. Living life to the fullest for the glory of God is their goal! Visit Heather's page at www.homeschoolblogger.com/gfcfmomofmany/ or at Special Needs Homeschooling.
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