Faced with empty wallets, empty bank accounts, empty gas tanks, and a soon empty pantry and refrigerator - sometimes my very soul feels the emptiness that seems to be surrounding me. But I refuse to give in to that emptiness. I refuse to let my heart be empty as well!
Have you ever experienced that sinking feeling when you knew the offering plate was coming your way?
- looking at the offering plate
- last $20 in hand
- 10 more days ahead until more income will come
- a choice
I knew I wanted to plop that $20 into the offering - to demonstrate to the Lord how much I trust Him with our situation. But hubby knew we needed gas - we needed milk - and will need more than that in the days to come. I sat praying that he would put the $20 in the offering plate but I saw that sad, sweet look in his eyes as he slowly put the $20 back in his wallet. The plate passed - both of our heads hung low.
To be totally honest, I began to feel shame, anger, and embarrassment engulf me. But then a whisper in my ear - a whisper of truth from the Lord: "That offering plate is not meant to be a BURDEN - but a BLESSING."
But Lord, I want to give! How do you give when there is nothing to give?
Then I was reminded that sometimes all we can give is ourselves. I am striving to give ALL of myself to the Lord - give my heart to others - give of my time - give of my talents - give my service to ministry - and give encouragement to others who are suffering financially as we are. There are MANY others out there struggling as we are - some much worse. But, we can make offerings to Him every day in countless ways! It does not always have to be financially.
The offering plate is not meant to be a burden - but a blessing. Even when you can't fill it, you still have much to offer Him!
I gave my younger boys the assignment of turning singular words into plurals. They were told to pick 10 words on their own and make a list. Here's what I got in return: SingularPlural car cars
fire fires
fire cracker fire crackers
bottle rocket bottle rockets
gun guns
knife knifes
air soft air softing
paint ball paintballing
four wheel four wheeling
bb gun bb guns
Despite his misspellings and changing of some into verbs, I just had to smile over his list. I love learning with my boys! They can make any assignment interesting and so "GUY - ified"!
One of my boys is playing football on a homeschool football team. It is almost 2 hours away so we are on the road 5 nights a week. Sometimes we don't all go - another mom and I take turns driving, but my son needs something portable to eat every night. I need ideas for meals that we can take on the go. I am getting real tired of making Hoagie sub sandwhiches. Any recipes or ideas you all have would be MUCH appreciated!
Also: I am not having trouble keeping things cold but if I take a hot dinner, I am not sure how to keep it hot, it would need to stay hot (or at least warm) for 4 - 5 hours. Any ideas?
Thanks for your help!
I love The Old Schoolhouse magazine. I always find it packed full of insightful articles and helpful tips. Today I found out they are selling a year subscription for $7.95 as a Labor Day promotion. I was thrilled and immediately had the idea that this would be a wonderful and affordable way to encourage beginning homeschoolers.
I called our support group president to sell my idea. I want to pair up those who are willing and have been homeschooling for a while with those who are brand new to this homeschooling adventure. We will each purchase a gift subscription to The Old Schoolhouse magazine for them. I think it will be a great way to welcome them to our support group and provide them with additional encouragement and support all year long.
If you have a support group, why not take advantage of this great low price and implement a similar program? If your support group has a large budget, maybe they could purchase the subscriptions for your new homeschoolers themselves. Or, you could do it on your own - If you know of a new homeschooler, send them a gift subscription. I know they will be blessed!
Here's the link: $7.95 subscription to TOS
I have blogged about reading the Bible this way before, but this week’s studies have reminded me again just how thankful I am to have this fresh new insight into God’s Word. We are currently studying Unit 3 of Tapestry of Grace Year 1. The topic this week is the Assyrians. We are learning about them as a people group and how they affected the Israelites. Last week we studied how Israel became divided after the reign of Solomon and became known as the seperate Kingdoms of Judah and Israel - each having their own unique kings, prophets, capitals, triumphs and troubles.
The Daily Bible tells these stories in chronological order which is a HUGE help to the boys (and me!).It is hard to explain, but here are some examples of why this Bible makes it SO MUCH EASIER to understand the flow of history:
The boys’ reading assignments were
2 Kings 11-17, Jonah, and Amos
Joash In 2 Kings we learn about Joash, King of Judah.He is crowned at the young age of 7 and reigns for 40 years under the guidance of Jehoiada the priest.2 Kings tells about the reign of Joash – the devastation of the locusts, how he rebuilds the temple, etc. But in The Daily Bible, the story continues . . . sharing how, once the priest Jehoiada dies, King Joash accepts paganism, abandoning the temple he worked so hard on rebuilding and worshiping idols. Had we not been reading from the Daily Bible we might not have known that part of the story because it is actually found in 2 Chronicles, not 2Kings.Had we just read 2 Kings we would still get lots of good information but not ALL the information available on Joash and God’s people. Chronicles and Kings often overlap.They tell the story of the same Kings, same time periods, some of the same details but also some different information.The Daily Bible puts those different parts into one complete whole story to give you the big picture of what is happening and why.
Joel Early in Joash’s reign, a great disaster befalls Judah - and army of locusts swarms, completely destroying crops and food storages. The prophet Joel seizes the opportunity to use the locust invasion as an example of a future invasion which is to come from the north. If you just read Joel separately you might not appreciate the analogy or fully understand the circumstances.But here, in The Daily Bible, the prophesies of Joel are interspersed right in the middle of the story of Joash and Judah – right when the people of Judah would have been hearing those words and experiencing the aftermaths of the locust swarm.The words of Joel have so much more meaning when read in context.
Jonah
2 Kings 14:25 mentions Jonah, but The Daily Bible puts Jonah’s entire story in here, putting it in its historical context. It makes the story come to life even more than just reading the book of Jonah independently.
The Daily Bible has made learning about the ancients, and God’s Word more alive, understandable and real. It is not a narrative - it is the actual Scriptures. Psalms are arranged by theme, Proverbs arranged by topic. Mine is NIV, but other translations are available as well. I highly recommend it! Here is the link if you want to check it out:
"Mom, I need some good non-school books."
A few years ago I would have never imagined hearing these words coming from my most reluctant reader!
It wasn't necessarily that he was reluctant - he was struggling. Which in turn made him frustrated and feeling stupid and that is what made him a reluctant reader.
My first son read well and read early - so of course I expected the same with the others (don't you just shake your head and giggle at all those newbie experiences!).
At first, I really worried over my non-reading son but then I decided to ease off and give it some time. I took it really slow with him and tried to make any reading experiences pressure free and fun.
It took lots of time!
And even after he started reading more fluently (which, by the way, wasn't until he was about 9) he didn't necessarily WANT to read. That took some figuring out too. His love of reading finally began when we found a genre that really interested him - science fiction. I think the first book he really loved was War of the Worlds. After that it became "Can you find me another book like this one".
Now, he is my most avid reader. He reads and comprehends his literature assignments faster than anyone else in this house and looks forward to finding new books to read for pleasure!
And all it needed was a little time and interest - it sounds so simple now. "sigh"
I was driving some of my boys home from a birthday party the other night and somehow we got to talking about some of the fun activites we used to do at the AWANA group hubby and I ran in our old town years ago. They remembered movie nights, all-nighters at the church, dress up nights, craft nights, prayer puppies, all the fun stuff. Since we are not attending AWANA anymore, they commented
"Mom, we need to do more fun things in our TOG co-op" (our history/literature co-op)
"Well, we are going on a field trip to DC to the National Gallery of Art. They are having a special exhibit on Pompeii that will be amazing and right around the time we will be studying Greece and Rome."
"Greece! (protests) we've already studied Greece!"
"Yes, but that was early Greece, the Mycenaeans, the Trojans. Now we will be moving into the golden age of Greece. We will be learning about:
- the Olympics
- the beginnings of philosophy
- Socrates
- Plato."
"Huh?"
"Well, the ideas of the Greeks still linger in our society today so it's important to study them."
"Ok, but I still don't get what play-doh has to do with it!'
My oldest picked up on what was going on started laughing. I still didn't get it, I thought I was going to have to go into a detailed explaination of who Plato was.
"Mom, he thinks you are talking about the philosophy of play-doh - as in clay!"
My boys think I have taught some crazy things throughout our homeschool years and rolled their eyes at many of my ideas, but the philosophy of play-doh? No wonder he was confused!
I only have a few minutes to post but I wanted to share a wonderful resource for the new year.I am planning on reading through the entire Bible this year and have found a free podcast of daily Bible readings which take you through the entire Bible in a year.This is from Learn Out Loud - one of my favorite free audio download websites that I use often.You can download the entire file to your mp3 player or computer and access it whenever it is convenient for you.I still plan on reading the text as well but this is a great resource for auditory learners or people who are on the go a lot.I am planning on having my boys listen to the podcast every evening and do their readings in the mornings.Here is the link: Bible in a Year Podcast
Enjoy!
If Jesus woke up in my shoes today - how would He handle my day?
I am finding myself asking this question more and more often lately. In the everyday challenges of being a mom I sometimes find myself in situations that I don't know instinctively how to handle. Or, I might react in way that produces the desired results but doesn't necessarily get to the heart of the matter.
I am trying to remind myself to look to our Heavenly Father who knows all about our challenges and can walk us through how to best handle each situation.
God has or parenting answers. He knows better than any of us how to handle:
Attitudes
Disobedience
Disrespectfulness
Laziness
ALL these heart issues! (in my children and myself!)
While I will never be Christ-like in ALL that I do, I determined to try to put everything in His hands and act and re-act only after prayer and reflecting on the question of "If Jesus woke up in my shoes today - how would He handle my day?"
Most homeschoolers are already trying to survive on one income in our two income world, and the current economic situation is not making things any better.Lots of families I know are really having to cut back on their expenses.
Our family is no exception, and I have been trying to find ways to enjoy Christmas events and activities without spending a lot of money.I would LOVE to hear what you all do for cheap or free entertainment at Christmas. I haven’t included things like volunteering, making homemade crafts and goodies, caroling, Christmas parades and the other free Christmas activities we all are used to participating in – I’m sure your calendars are already full with plenty of church and outreach events.
But I have found lots of other free special events for our family to do!Some have been hard to find so in this post I thought I would share some of the ways I find cheap or free entertainment.
We live in a fairly small town so there are not many free opportunities right here in our community so I have to get creative in looking for Christmas opportunities.Here are some of the tools I use to find activities:
Churches
Not to sound snobbish, but I don’t really enjoy the typical children’s church Christmas plays unless my children (or children I know well) are in them (doesn’t that sound terrible to say!Sorry – just being honest), so I usually skip going to typical church plays.But, I do check the websites of the larger churches in our community for holiday special events.Most large churches have choirs and put on some kind of free Christmas cantata, carol sing-along, or candle light up service.
You can also usually find a free live nativity scene for the kids to enjoy and the whole family to reflect on. Community choirs & bands
Most cities have a community band and/or choir.They tend to be large and in our experience, very professional.They usually have a free Christmas concert every year. Newspapers
I go to the newspaper websites of my town and the large cities surrounding us.Most papers have a monthly calendar and you can see all upcoming community activities.I don’t like waiting to just read the paper as it comes out – a lot of times you don’t receive much notice of upcoming events – looking at the calendars on the websites allows me time to put them on our family calendar and I get more variety by checking nearby towns (without having to buy all those papers)! Colleges I also check the local college calendars.We have several universities in our area and most have free concerts put on by their bands or choirs, not only around Christmas time, but all year round. Museums Many museums have special Christmas displays and activities.Go to the websites of the museums you are willing to drive to and sign up for their email newsletters, that way you will always know when something special is going on. Libraries Most libraries have Christmas story reading times or craft making activities. Eventful
This website is a wonderful resource for events in your community.Check it out at www.eventful.com You are sure to find something that you love! Parks & Rec
Our state parks put out monthly emails with special events that are going on.I sign up for these so that I don’t have to go to each park’s website to find out their activities.Many parks have hay rides, sleigh rides, star gazing, and other free events this time of year. State website
Our state has a tourism website that is a great resource when looking for activities (and field trip ideas, too).Ours is searchable by area in the state.I typed in our search area and dates and found many activities and places to visit that we had never heard of before!
While you are doing all that web surfing, you might as well listen to some free Christmas music:
Free Christmas Music We LOVE listening to old Christmas classics and I found some websites that let you listen to music stations for free.The one I like best is www.live365.com
They have a great selection of Christmas stations to choose from.
Have any other ideas of how to find free Christmas entertainment?Please share!
After too long of a break, I am back to blogging again! We are finally settled into our new home and surroundings and I have really missed writing. Thank you to all of you who have sent me private emails and left comments while I was away! I have missed reading my favorite blogs and keeping in touch so it is good to be back!
We are moving and if there is one thing that I am definately not good at, it is cleaning! Four of my wonderful friends came with me yesterday to clean the house we are moving into. Three of them are sisters and one is a sister-in-law. They all grew up in mennonite families and these girls know how to clean! They actually enjoy doing it!
Two of them each immediately took a bathroom (now that's love!), one took on the kitchen, and another started cleaning windows while I vacuumed every corner and crevice in all the rooms to remove cobwebs and dust. We then scrubbed the walls, vacuumed the carpets, and mopped all the wood and linoleum floors. The hot water was not working but we still cleaned away with cold water.
Each of the boys cleaned their rooms with some of their friends. In each room I placed a clipboard with a cleaning checklist so that I would not have to continuously have the boys coming to me asking "What do I do next?". Next to each task I included what they were supposed to use to clean it. For example:
- Wash all baseboards using "lysol cleaner" water and a rag
- Clean all windows using windex and paper towels
This saved LOTS of time, helped them to work independently, and prevented us from doubling our efforts. It also allowed us moms to concentrate on our tasks without numerous interruptions.
Four of the teen boys tackled the basement. This was a task that I hadn't really thought through. So, I had my friends come down and help me figure out what should be done first. We sent them to work with the shop vac getting all the cobwebs along the ceiling and in the corners. Then they swept the concrete floor. After that we had them scrub all the walls with a cleaning solution and finish up by mopping the floor with bleach water. Not one of them complained once. I was so thankful to them!
We got the entire house cleaned and even though we were exhausted we had a lot of fun together. Any task is made easier when you have friends alongside you. Now the real work begins - KEEPING it clean!
I recently had a chance to review the new Schoolhouse Planner.I love anything that will help me get organized so really enjoyed reviewing this product.The Schoolhouse Planner is not only a homeschool planner but a household planner as well.This is one of the best features!Instead of flipping back and forth from my home planner to school planner everything is in one place.
Of course, it has lots of calendars:
- a 2008-2009 calendar
- month at a glance calendars in 2 page spreads
And handy lists such as:
- 08-09 holidays
- read the bible in a year schedule chart
It is sprinkled with homeschool articles:
- unit studies by Amanda Bennett
- hands-on history by Amy Pak
- homeschooling through high school by Janice Campbell
There is a huge section of planners for homeschooling - almost 50 various forms:
- annual plans
- curriculum planning sheets
- weekly planning pages
- homeschool goals
- evaluations, grades, and test scores
- logs for recording books read
It helps you keep all your important household information in one place:
- kitchen & measurements conversions charts
- things loaned and borrowed list (boy do I NEED this!)
- emergency contacts
- grocery, and menu planning logs
- household schedules for cleaning and chores (daily, weekly, and monthly)
- budget forms
It even has dinner recipes! I could do without:
- The “Important US Documents” section.These are easily found on the web and seemed out of place in a school year planner.Maybe if I am studying US history this year it would have been helpful.
- The cost.It is more expensive than a lot of other planners I have looked at.
What I love:
- being able to customize my planner to fit my needs. I only print what I want to use.
- except for the calendars, all the forms can be used for many years to come.No need to buy a new planner each year. So maybe the cost is not as high as it seems when you factor this in.
Overall, The Schoolhouse Planner is a great way for homeschooling moms to organize the two most important aspects of their lives – family and school!
If you want more information, click here: The Schoolhouse Planner
In celebration of Museum Day, The Smithsonian Magazine has a coupon for 2 free passes to tons of participating museums. The passes allow you and a guest free general admission on Saturday, September 27th. Here is the link: Museum Day Admission Card
Click on find a venue, then click on your state on the map and it pulls up a list of participating museums. I am glad it is on a Saturday so hubby can go - he and I can get in free and only have to pay admission for our boys.
Stop by Weblink Wednesday by socalval for more great freebies and links
Enjoy!
WIN a 1 year subscription to The Old Schoolhouse Digital Magazine!
I have blogged about my favorite homeschool curriculum, my favorite homeschool resource, and now I would like to share about my favorite homeschool magazine: The Old Schoolhouse magazine.
I have subscribed to a few other homeschool magazines in our homeschool journey, but The Old Schoolhouse is by far my favorite. It is diverse, thourough, insightful, encouraging, and professionally produced.
They have articles from homeschool moms just like us to well known homschool supporters like Ruth Beechick. The content is rich and plentiful - everyone is sure to find an abundance of information and resources that are applicable to their own homeschool setting no matter what their teaching style or philosophy.
Another unique feature about The Old Schoolhouse is that they offer it in a digital version! At first I was skeptical but after looking through it, I was sold.
I have been trying to simplify and declutter anyway and this is a perfect way to do that and still have what I need at my finger tips. The digital version looks exactly like the printed version of the magazine. The pages flip on the screen as if I am flipping them in my hand.
Here are some features I like about having a digital version:
- You can download it to your computer - you don't need to be online to access it
- The contents are searchable (unlike the hard copy!) so if you are trying to quickly get your hands on that article about college scholarships - no problem
- If a company or website on the page interests you, click on it and their web page pulls right up (I love this feature because I am notorious for jotting down sites I want to visit as I come across them but then I will lose the slips of paper or forget all about it!)
- It is cheaper than the print version ($16.95)
- The settings are easy. To zoom in on a page you just click on it. You can also adjust the settings to view a 1 or 2 page spread
- I can't "lose" this version like others that I couldn't find when I needed them!
- You can even email articles to your friends!
I have been thinking of how to celebrate my 100th blog post and when I found the digital version of The Old Schoolhouse I knew it would be the perfect giveaway! So, leave a comment below and a winner will be picked randomly in one week on Sept 9th.
We are only into our 2nd week of school and this momentum might not last but I am trying to figure out how to reward my boys (or decide if I even SHOULD reward them) for completing their school work early.
It started with one of my middle boys last week - he was done with everything by Tuesday. He said he wanted a long weekend . Honestly, I was very proud of him. He has struggled with school in the past but really taken off this past year or two. I wanted to reward him in a small way so I bought him one of his favorite treats - a pack of juicy fruit gum.
The other boys were completing some of their work early too - not because they are perfect little children - don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to brag about them - they were motivated because they just want to get it done! Now that their brother got special recognition and a treat, they are ALL motivated to finish early! They younger ones for the treats and the older ones for the praise and days off. They will all be done with all of their assignments today (Wednesday) except for our senior and his math - math always bogs him down. I have been quizzing and discussing topics with them to ensure they are retaining what they learn and not just speed reading and so far so good. Each one has been able to discuss their history and literature subject matter and pass spelling and math quizzes.
So that leads me to my question. Do any of you reward your children for completing their school work quickly? This is sort of funny to think about because hubby and I were just steaming over a recent news report that some DC schools will start paying students to do well in school!
I want to encourage them to do well, and reward them for going above and beyond but on the other hand I don't want to bribe them (and I don't just want to give them candy either). I would love to hear what you all think about the subject!
We began our school year this past week and had a blast - at least "I" did! Two of my boys even finished their work early so they could have a long weekend - don't know if that momentum will last! We said goodbye to our study of modern history and are looking forward to digging deep into the ancients. Goodbye to The Great Gatsby, World War II, Animal Farm, the great depression, All Quiet on the Western Front, the 70's, Lord of the Flies, modern economics, and 1984!
(these are some of the books we read this past year - I thought it would be good to stack the ones I could get my hands on and see what we accomplished)
I am itching to begin our walk through Biblical history and to study Egypt, Greece, Rome, and ancient science and art. This past week we studied creation through the flood, using books such as The Bible of course, Usborne's Ancient World, Streams of Civilization, Adam and His Kin, The Great Dinosaur Mystery and the Bible, and The Story of Science. Our Biblical studies led to some interesting discussions on topics like - "were T-Rexs on the ark?" and "Why did God put the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the garden if He already KNEW they would eat from it?" What a good discussion on free will that was!
The boys also learned about plate tectonics. I made a puzzle for my youngest boys by laminating and cutting up a map of the tectonic plates for them to piece together. I also made a Pangea puzzle by cutting out the continents for them to fit together to form what the Pangea land mass might have looked like before the flood.
Our Tapestry of Grace co-op also met for our first week. We meet every Friday. Our boys really enjoy these classes and the time with their friends. Here is what the boys did in their co-op classes this week: PROJECTS:
My three youngest boys all did the same project - they are mummifying cornish hens. The entire process will take several weeks but they began by cleaning the cavity and putting the hen in a mixture of salt and baking soda. Each week at co-op they will complete another step in the process until their little mummies are done. After working on their hens they all went outside and measured the length and width of Noah's ark. That was an amazing thing to see! LAPBOOKS: Only the lower grammer kids are putting together lapbooks and my youngest is in this class. He put together pages on creation. JEOPARDY: My youngest is in a jeopardy class with his lower grammar buddies and my middle two dialectic boys are in a seperate jeopardy class. The jeopardy questions are based on what they have learned that week. They love this game because it is competitive and they earn treats when they get to a certain amount of points. LITERATURE: My two middle dialectic boys have a class where they discuss the literature selection that they read that week. RHETORIC: The rhetoric (high school) students only have two classes that last longer than the younger students' classes. They come together for the first half of co-op to discuss the history portion of what they learned that week and then use the second hour to discuss the literature they read. After all the classes the kids have play time outside while us moms visit and clean up.
I am very thankful for this co-op. I could spend at least 6 weeks studying Mesopotamia alone so being in a group where we HAVE to keep moving is really helpful to me! I just love homeschooling!
My favorite curriculum, Tapestry of Grace, has won several Excellence Awards! These awards were published in the Spring, so I am a little behind the times but I am thrilled that more and more moms are hearing about this wonderful curriculum!
What I like most about the excellence awards is that the winners are selected by moms just like you and me who actually use and are blessed by these resources. Votes are tallied by The Old Schoolhouse Magazine - click here to vote for your favorites!
Tapestry of Grace won in several categories this year:
BEST UNIT STUDY
1st place BEST CLASSICAL RESOURCES
1st place BEST OVERALL HOMESCHOOL COMPANY
2nd place BEST RESOURCE BOOK
3rd place FAVORITE BIBLE CURRICULUM
3rd place FAVORITE HISTORY CURRICULUM
2nd place FAVORITE GEOGRAPHY CURRICULUM
2nd place FAVORITE LITERATURE CURRICULUM
2nd place FAVORITE WRITING CURRICULUM
2nd place
They also won 2nd place in the FRIENDLIEST and MOST UNIQUE categories.
Now that is a lot of awards! I am thrilled to see this little known resource getting this much praise. I only wish I had found Tapestry of Grace sooner! If you would like to find out more about this multi-level, multi-subject curriculum for ages K to mom order a free information packet below. It includes a sample cd.
I found this neat survey on the Heart of the Matter website. In honor of fathers day, they surveyed homeschool dads and asked a variety of questions about homeschooling and marriage. Some of the answers are really funny, but my favorite question was:
12. What would their typical school day look like if they took over for the day? Phone calls, school, errands, breakfast, lunch, dinner, and chores.
Wake up.
Eat cereal or waffles.
Sit down and they would do their schoolwork. They would ask questions that I have no idea what the answers are. Then I'd say let's move on to the next subject.
Lunch would be macaroni and cheese or Cici's Pizza.
We'd come home and be too full to finish school. So we'd take a nap.
That's about it.
Field trip!!
We would take a sick day and play video games all day.
Cereal for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I would not answer the phone. We would read books, and watch educational videos all day.
Don't you just love their honesty! Cooking is not very popular. I read the answers to my boys and my oldest said he thinks that my hubby's homeschool day would look different: "He would have no idea what we were supposed to do but he would say - you guys need to get your school done." When hubby gets home I am going to see what his answer is!
If you want to read the entire survey, click here: Heart of the Matter
I am not really good at working my away around this blogging thing. I never know how and where to answer questions that I am sometimes asked in my comments section. I can't figure out how to do that so I decided to start a new category just for questions.
A wonderful blogger friend recently asked: "My oldest son (9) questions our authority, and has struggles with obedience and kindness. I'd love your input if you have one in your brood like that and the things that have worked for you guys."
Oh yes - I have one like that! And let me just say that I hope this doesn't come across as if I think I have all the answers - I will just share what has worked for our family and the rest of you please chime in with what has worked for you too!
We have tried many different things over the years to remedy this problem in our family, but for our boys, we have found that the most effective fix for disobedience or bad attitudes is TIME.
I can always tell when I am not spending enough time with my boys. I will begin to see rolling of the eyes, bad attitudes about chores, procrastination on assignments, arguing and power playing with brothers, and a general distance in the air. Now, certainly these things are normal when it happens occasionally, but I am talking about when this behavior is consistent.
And when I say spending time, I'm not really talking about "school" time. As a homeschool mom, I thought I did spend a lot of time with my boys! Certainly, I'm home with them all day. But the Lord showed me that most of my interactions with them were either specifically about their school work or chores or activities. Not necessarily any FUN stuff, or stuff that was important to them. So, their relationship with me was mostly as teacher and taskmaster.
The Lord revealed to me that I neeed to spend time with them doing the every day tasks of being a boy, and spend time with them doing the things they enjoy doing - yes, even if that involves dirt and bugs, and swords, and taking things apart - ugh!
I know this sounds kind of silly but it really does work.
I compare it to my relationship with the Lord. When I am not spending time with Him and in His Word, it is so much easier for me to think only of myself, to discount His commands and His will, and to seek my own personal pleasures and desires.
But, when I am dwelling in His Word, and spending time with Him in prayer, it is so much harder for me to sin, to ignore His will, to ignore what I know is right.
I think the same principles apply to our children and their relationship with us.
So, my advice is to spend time with that little bundle of attitude, even if he doesn't like it at first. If he truly feels how much you love him, care about what is important to him and want to be with him - issues will still come up but will be resolved much easier because you will have captured his heart, and his desire will be to not dissapoint you!
We are a homeschooling family raising 4 boys in Virginia. This blog is mostly about anything relevant to raising boys or homeschooling in general - but every once in a while I can't help but add some nonsense from our daily life.
. Honestly, I was very proud of him. He has struggled with school in the past but really taken off this past year or two. I wanted to reward him in a small way so I bought him one of his favorite treats - a pack of juicy fruit gum.
