As is the custom for many at this time of the year,
we are reflecting on God's bountiful blessings to our family.  

In years past we have done a  'tree of thanks',
it's a project that we have enjoyed, but this year we are doing something just a bit different....
an 'advent calendar' for Thanksgiving.


First, we made our own envelopes (one for each day of November,)

and then we searched online for cute images and clip-art to decorate them.

Inside the envelopes are small slips of paper that say, "I am thankful for...."
Each day we will each write down one thing that we are especially thankful for, and then place it in the pocket for the day. 

At the end of the month,(or perhaps at our Thanksgiving celebration,)
we will all read our slips and share with one another just how richly we have been blessed.

On last week, I spoke of being stuck in Psalm 27.   My heart and mind has been in so many places that it was, and will still be, hard to articulate.   Though I know the value of writing things down, I haven’t slowed down with my thoughts as school—both with my “big kids” and my own kids—has had me tied down most of the week.   So for today, I don’t think that my thoughts would fit neatly into the usual weekly homeschool wrap-up forum, but for the sake of writing them and later sorting through my self-created visual aid.   I promise no eloquence or tidy conclusions on this one; in fact, I predict that what will be obvious quickly is that I’ve had entirely too much time with my thoughts, which can sometimes be a bad thing.

 

With almost half a school year behind us, it’s not too early for me to begin assessing where we are, and where we might go next year.   I’ll have another year with a high schooler, a middle schooler, and an elementary school student, so I don’t see much changing in terms of my own time commitments.   We’ve had perhaps one of our best years since we began homeschooling seven years ago, and I know this has everything to do with me being humbled enough by last year’s dreadful results to submit myself to much prayer time with the Father.    He’s answered almost all of our plans with a resounding YES!—history/literature, as we teach it here, is seemingly leaping off the page (in spite of the fact that Mom’s ready to check the Iliad off our reading list—only 300 more pages to go!!  LOL), everybody is using the math resources effectively, and we’re in that sweet spot where everyone is learning from everyone else and everything.   As one example, our son has hit a point in his land animal studies that he’s supposedly focusing on spiders.   I say “supposedly” because spiders repulse him.   So I struggle getting him to look at the pages and grasp the concepts.   Almost as if God-sent, his little sister is reading Charlotte’s Web, so guess where he’s learning about the strength of drag lines, the process of egg sac production, etc.?   The coordination of these units was not my planning at all, but everyone is benefiting from keeping their ears glued to what’s happening around them.   Even the oldest is a step ahead in biology as she covers reptiles after interacting—from a safe distance—with Spot, our leopard gecko.

 

I’ve not been one to try and fix what’s not broken, so we’ll continue the same path on next year, for the most part.   I’ll add grammar via English for the Thoughtful Child, to the youngest’s plate.  I wanted to begin this year, but didn’t feel that she was ready for a larger amount of lessons than I remember requiring her to write.   I may place our son on a local homeschool debate group to help him use his propensity to argue effectively.     Because my understanding is that debate requires a lot of research and writing, it would probably replace studying history.   I’m still thinking about reading lists for both he and the oldest, which is, in part, food for thought regarding my current dilemma.

 

I am convinced that as homeschooling parents, we teach according to who we are.   Our passions become the areas that we teach best, and the place where we bring the most to the classroom experience.   The corollary is that there are other areas that we either don’t like or don’t understand (like poetry for me) that become hits and misses—perhaps less hits and more misses—in our school.  Incidentally, I think that traditional school teachers do the same thing, but at older ages, they don’t cover the full gamut of subjects the way that many of us do, so the results might not be as recognizable.   Because of this factor, we have to stay before the Lord regarding agenda.   What do I mean by agenda?    I mean those plans that have more to do with you, or other factors not germane to academic wisdom.    One example might be when you’re determined to prove to the in-laws that homeschooling is a valid alternative to a traditional school, and so you overwhelm a small one to create a “genius” who can parrot information, but has limited knowledge and understanding.     It might not be where you are, but I have had two years—this year and last year—of revelations.   This is after a whole-hearted desire to subjugate academic wisdom to spiritual wisdom.   How humble do I need to be, Lord?    I could detail all the places where my own borderline obsession with producing intellectuals got in the way, as well as all the consequential moments that I could have spent gingerly teaching and encouraging instead of panicking and frowning.   But I won’t.   I’ll speak instead about where we are now.   In the midst of a great year, as I mentioned before, is a high school science class that I don’t think is working.    I mentioned that she didn’t perform well on the first test.    The second was better, and her score was actually above the class average.   Her third test is this week, and she claims to be ready for it. But for a number of reasons that aren’t entirely her fault, this class has become her life.   The pursuit of a good grade means that she is having to study every day for several hours a day and doesn’t get to do hardly anything else.    That was not the plan.    I placed her in a virtual class in part to nurture a budding interest in a science career, and the amount of material thrown at her each week has all but squelched any affection for this subject area.   As I contemplated options over this past week, I had to come face-to-face, yet again, with agenda.    In the midst of our horrendous year last year, I bought into this class in order to give the oldest a peek into how a teacher would treat her that didn’t love her enough to put up with all the crap I did.   I thought it’d be one less thing on my plate.    Instead, I’m having to spend as much time with her on this, if not more, than I did before, and now we’re both dancing to the beat of someone else’s drum.   Spanking received, Lord.   I’ve considered just cutting our losses and going back to our Apologia studies, and I’ve still not shut the door totally on that option.   Yet, my husband, yin to my yang, verbalized the same concern regarding wasting money, which, with the year we’ve had, is almost unthinkable.    I’m more concerned at this point about what messages we’d teach regarding quitting every time something isn’t as we desire.   I’m also sorting through whether there’s another issue with me and agenda:  Do I struggle with releasing some control?   The high school years, at least if your kid plans to leave home, require that you begin to let go.   Am I ready for that?   I talked ad nauseum to her on last year about the calendar spinning on how many days she’d be “safe at home with Mommy” (inclusive of being able to push Mommy’s buttons, knowing just how much or how little to accomplish for Mommy not to fuss).   Maybe she’s not the only one who’s struggling with someone else in the driver’s seat?     Anyway, as I said, the reason this class has had mixed results as far as I’m concerned are multi-faceted.    So as I wait on answers that are beyond yes or no—answers that reveal God’s greater truths and more perfect plans for all of us—I am meditating on these words:

 

7 Hear, O Lord, when I cry aloud;

be gracious to me and answer me!
8 You have said, “Seek [4] my face.”
My heart says to you,
“Your face, Lord, do I seek.” [5]
9 Hide not your face from me.
Turn not your servant away in anger,
O you who have been my help.
Cast me not off; forsake me not,
O God of my salvation!
10 For my father and my mother have forsaken me,
but the Lord will take me in.

11 Teach me your way, O Lord,
and lead me on a level path…

13 I believe [6] that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord
in the land of the living!
14 Wait for the Lord;
be strong, and let your heart take courage;
wait for the Lord!

 

 

 

 

If you would like to join "A Young Maiden's Daybook" or see other's daybooks, please go to hskubesgal's blog!  Thank you!!

Today...

Sunday, November 8th, 09 4:51pm

 
Outside my window..

  It's pretting dark out now and 57 degress (not bad).  But wow, dark at this time of day already!!

  
I am thinking...

  About this post and the salad I am eating. 

  I am thankful for...

   All the blessings and health we've had!

I am wearing...

 jeans and a green t-shirt

  I am reading..

  2 Corinthians & Proverbs (KJV)

  16# in the original Elsie Dinsmore series (sort of, right now I'm mostly rereading the Winnie the Horse Gentler series)

 "So Much More" By Anna Sofia Botkin and Elizabeth Botkin

"Blue Denim And Lace" By Dr. Jack Hyles

 The Girlhood Home Companion Magazine


I am creating...
  An old-time dress, a quilt.  And I was doing a knitting project but I've hit a snag.

 
One of my favorite things...

  Bible Quizzing

   For education this week...

   All regular school things, along with teaching young children (AWANA), sewing, horse riding, and probably other life skills.

A keeper at home skill I am using/learning...

     I'm sewing a small quilt for Home Ec. class.  I also feel like baking this week.  Oh, and I'll probably be cleaning too.

A godly character trait I plan to work on...

  Oh, there's so many I should work on... meekness, not being so shy but not doing all the talking either (I don't know if that will ever happen though :-) being a Godly sister and daughter...

Scripture I am memorizing...

  1Cor. 10, and keeping 1Cor 2 and 9 fresh in my memory.

I am praying for...

  Prayer requests from our church, our country, and others that come up... 

For the rest of the week...

  Wednesday: AWANA (my mom, sister, and I do the 3-5 year olds).  Friday: the long awaited day - we're getting our little Leonberger puppy!!!  And I'm sure other things will arise.
 
A picture thought I'd like to share...
As some of you may know or have hinted from my mentions of it - our church has started a Bible Quizzing team!  We memorize chapters (this year from 1 & 2 Cor. and Titus) and then every first Saturday of the month we compete against other teams.  Well, last time we didn't do so well - let's just our team got 3rd place (last place) every time and I only answered two questions correctly.  This time we got four 3rd places, one 2nd places, and two 1st places!!  And this time I got fourteen questions answered correctly!!!  Anna got five!  So just to say, we are having allot more fun now!!  Below is a picture of us quizzing last month, sorry, no pictures of this time.  
 


Thank you for reading! ~Amber

This week's Featured Blogger is Diamonds In The Rough!

"Mrs. Diamond" and I have been getting to know each other through our blogs. Her "Diamondettes" (I refuse to cal them lumps of coal), have been blog friends with my girls for awhile now. It's fun to meet families as a family on HSB!

Now there are TONS of blog posts I could link you to, but I had such a hard time deciding what to go with. I've opted to link to categories, that way you can see a bunch of posts at one time.

The first category up is Emily's 400 Questions, and Mrs. Diamond isn't kidding when she makes that claim! Some of the questions her daughter comes up with will surely make you chuckle and wonder where that question came from. Others are very thought provoking. All are fun to read! Now if Mrs. Diamond would put the answers she'd have her own Q & A Encyclopedia!

Ever wonder what it's like to live in the desert? Then the category Life in the Desert is what you want to click on! It's hot, it's cold, and it's always full of blessings--and lessons from the Lord.

With the holidays coming up you are more than likely looking for some new recipes. Try this little recipe "book" Recipes From My Kitchen. The recipe that is a family favorite for my family is the Dutch Baby. Yummo!

My all time favorite category though is Diamonds and Other Gems. Wow! There are some lessons to learn here! Like the worth of diamonds--and souls.

Please click on over and say hello to my friend, DiamondsInTheRough!

Tia Linchied
Senior Editor of HSB

That is what mom hears when I find another free download of a photoshop program. So far, I have Adobe Photoshop Elements 2.0 (yes, it is really old...) and Jasc Paint Shop Pro 8 (another older version), Adobe's Artweaver, and now Picasa. The other day I found out what neat things Google's Picasa can do. So I downloaded it. (if you do download it, be warned that it can be a headache and you might end up reinstalling it because you did it all wrong...) Probably my favorite feature is the handy "collage" button. You select the photos, and in one click you have a collage. It takes a few more clicks to get the settings right though. This collage was mady with 250 photos, or something close... The only problem is that with so many photos it makes them really really tiny! Well, they aren't tiny until you resize it... But there was no way I was putting a picture that was abut 5000 pixels wide on my blog!

Visit my dear friend Melody over at With the Fruit of Her Hands for all of your jewelry needs. I can personally attest to the quality of her work.  While you're over there,  join the contest she's currently having!

©2009 Adorning Grace

My word count is 11,725.

And I haven't written anything today yet! I really should, but I've been so busy with tennis and speech co-op... now that is another story. I didn't have my expository speech ready yet this morning, and when I tried to draw an evolutionary tree as my visual (my topic was on convergent evolution), it just didn't work out. So instead of stressing out over my visual, I just wrote a whole new speech!  (And this was like two hours before I had to give it, too.) So I did my expository on CDs instead -- how they work. I was very pleased with the way it turned out, especially since I didn't have a whole lot of preparation on it!

My next speech has to be a humorous interpretation. *dies*

And tennis... it's been great for only day three! Today I took Betsy to the courts for about an hour. She is improving, too. It's fun when other people come to use the courts while we're there -- then I can watch them from a distance and try to imitate their serves. And I only hit the ball over the tennis court fence once this time. Much better than yesterday when I hit like five over the fence (at least). That got to be a pain.

Um wait... this was supposed to be about NaNoWriMo. But my life this week has been more than just NaNo.

I'll leave you with an excerpt from my (still unnamed) novel. I like this scene, even though I was feeling a little goofy when I wrote it. lol.

At the same time that Joel was getting his fishing lesson, William's spirits were sinking lower and lower as he participated in the classes for the handful of children on the island. This was even more dull than school back in Canada!

The teacher was an old man named Thomas who had no hair, and no teeth (which made him very hard to understand). He never smiled, but he didn't raise his voice, either. In fact, he spoke in a monotone. A toothless monotone. If one of the children misbehaved, he would walk over to them and knock sharply on their head for a good two minutes while the class continued.

The children varried in ages from three to fourteen, and Thomas believed in teaching them all at once. As a result of this way of thinking, the older ones had to review the learning material for the three-year-olds every day. The day started out with a pledge to the island, the ocean, and the sun and moon that William found very disturbing. Of course, he did not know the words yet, so he was not expected to participate, but as he listened to the chant of the other children, he knew he could never join in with them. Growing up in Canada, the idea of saying a pledge was completely foreign to him.

Next, they said the ABC's together. Then they counted to 100. After that, Thomas called the students up to the front of the class one at a time and had them spell simple, three-letter words. William was bored to death with all of this.

After this came Science. This was the worst class of the session, William was sure. Thomas gave the class a lecture on some scientific topic (at least William guessed it was scientific, but he couldn't tell at all what the man was teaching them about). Then he asked each of the students questions which they could not understand because of his missing teeth. When they did not know the answers, he calmly walked over to them and started knocking on the child's head.

This man is crazy, William thought, as Thomas was painfully knocking on his head. Why is he allowed to be our teacher? We aren't learning anything here. At least I'm not. I'm not even keeping up on my multiplucation tables!

"Neh we wih do hiftoree," Thomas said in his usual monotone.

William payed close attention. This was his absolutely favorite subject. Hopefully Thomas would not make it as miserable for him as he had the other subjects so far. But "history" turned out to be nothing more than the children saying a chant that went like this:

China, Japan, Russia, and India. These are the countries of Asia. The men of China built a wall around their country to keep out intruders.

England, France, Switzerland, and Germany. These are the countries of Europe. Long ago, some people rebelled against England and started a new country in North America.

Canada, Mexico, and the United States. These are the countries of North America. The United States is made up of that group of people who rebelled against England.

Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, and Argentina. These are the countries of South America. These countries are not important; nothing ever happens down there.

Egypt, Swaziland, Tanzania, and Kenya. These are the countries of Africa. The ancient Egyptians built giant pyramids and a strange looking statue called the sphynx, but other than that, nothing much happens here anymore.

Australia. This is a country that gets a whole continent to itself. No one is really sure what goes on here.

Antarctica. There are no countries here. It is cold and snowy, and no one lives here.

William found this exercise very dull, very uninformative, and very silly. Of course it wasn't true that nothing happened in South America, Australia, or Africa. And there were a lot more countries in the world than those mentioned in that silly chant. He started to raise his hand to say so, and then thought better of it. No sense in saying something that would cause Thomas to come over and start knocking on his head again. One time in Science class was painful enough.

Please excuse any improper grammar, punctuation, or spelling. NaNo is about writing, not editing. I'm stomping all over my inner editor, and it's great! *grins*

Oh, and I finished Algebra II this week!!!! We're having cake and ice cream tonight to celebrate.

From the Heart:

We had a great week.  School went very well.  We are all past our sicknesses.  No drama.  I'm so grateful.

The Lord is speaking to me about being a better friend, about really listening and being there for people.  I need to hear this, and so much want to do this.  I am convicted of keeping my friends at armslength.  I know it stems from being insecure in childhood and feeling like I didn't have any friends, so I stopped trying.  There have been times when the Lord has brought me friends, and still I did not work hard at keeping them.  I want to go beyond that in my life, and work harder at being there for my friends.  If you want to be included in those who want my deeper friendship, just leave a comment, or email me.  I'm going to try.

This is Snow Crystal working on a Christmas present. 

On the Homefront:

We worked on keeping the house cleaner throughout the week, and found that to work well.  I do laundry twice a week (Sundays or Mondays and Thursdays or Fridays).  If the laundry isn't finished, I finish it the next day without adding more from the new day.  This way I know all the laundry gets done twice a week and it isn't as much of a burden.  The older girls are helping me a lot more too.  For example, Snow Crystal is downstairs making cookies right now as I type.  The weather was nice, and got nicer all week.  Feels like summer except for all the snow still on the ground.

This is Snow Crystal following her "directions" of how to make her favorite cookies that she had to do for language arts yesteday.

In the School Room:

Bible:  We continue to read Egermeier's Bible Story Book with Bubbies and the older girls listening in.  We didn't do anything with our Biblical Holidays book.  We also read a few stories from "I Heard Good News", which is a book full of short stories about how different countries and peoples received the gospel.  I am thinking that for the older girls we might try to do some of the articles and activities that go with The Voice of the Martyrs magazine.  You can find it at http://www.kidsofcourage.com.  It looks like it would be a good thing for them to do.

History:  We are now in the post-civil war era.  In Landmark's History of America we learned how Montgomery Ward changed the way business was done for the rural American, and about Richard Sears' imput to this.   

Science:  We moved on to start learning about Alexander Graham Bell and his inventions.

Read-Aloud:  We are ahead with the older girls, so took a break from read-alouds.  I read The Light on Tern Rock with Bubbies.

Reader:  Mountain Princess and Snow Crystal are reading Shades of Gray, by Carolyn Reeder.  It is a good book about a boy who was orphaned during the civil war, and having to live with his mother's sister and family after the war.

Language Arts:  The older girls worked on similies, topic sentences, writing a formal letter, and grammar.  Bubbies reviewed the letter "S" and made a "P" and an "S" letter sheet (I get these from homeschoolshare.com).  She read her first "reader" that comes with her curriculum.  It is a cute little book called "Pam"). It was a proud moment for her to read it to her daddy one evening this week too.

Math:  We had a great week again this week, and the girls continue to make progress in becoming independent.

Spanish:  MP is using Rosetta Stone and seems to be learning and retaining a lot.  SC is using The Complete Book of Spanish (workbook from Wal Mart).  She'll get back to Rosetta next year.

On the Mission Field:

The school had Chris Stanton here.  He suffered from acute mountain sickness for the first day, but finally recovered.  I think they've been having a great time. 

In the Literary Scene:

I am reading Brock and Bodie Thoene's second book in the Galway Series Of Men and of Angels, and I finished the first book too.  Very good reading!

Feeding on His Faithfulness,

Carol

If you would like to join me in this theme, just write up your own weekly summary, using mine or your own categories.  Then sign the Mr. Linky below.  I'd love to read your weekly summaries too!    I hope to post mine on each Friday or Saturday.  At the latest it will be on Sunday.  If you get yours done before I do, just leave your link in my cbox or comments from the week before.  Be sure and check last week's Mr. Linky for any new ones who posted before I did!  It is a great way to meet new people.

It is so sad that events occurred yesterday at Fort Hood, north of state capital Austin, near Killeen, Texas, during the same week that we had chosen to honor our Veterans and write about honoring them. I'm assuming by now everyone has heard that a shooter, a psychiatrist major, opened fire upon his fellow soldiers, killing 12 and wounding 31. Thankfully, he was stopped before the statistics became higher, and in this case, he survived and is in stable condition (as of Thursday night). It is sad that for whatever reason he snapped. Sadder still that he happens to have an ethnic name, helping others to automatically put blame towards domestic terrorism. (Although things are coming out that his religion, Islam, might have contributed to his thoughts and actions.)

Last night, I was at my dog class, which is held at an National Guard Armory in Fort Worth. In fact, due to the Fort Hood event, they were asking us to lock the front door behind us as we came and went. We voiced our support to them. Being there and having to be in a "lock-down" situation helped to put a face on those who serve us by being willing to protect us and our country.

You never know when your path will cross with those who have served (or who are serving). I want to encourage you to voice your support and appreciation for and to them. It can be a simple "thank you for your service;" it doesn't have to be anything elaborate or overly formal. (I usually include our police officers and fire-fighters also, since they serve and protect us "closer to home.")

Reach out to those who come across your path and show them your appreciation for their service. They deserve our respect and gratitude.

Donna Conner lives in Fort Worth, TX with her husband, Glenn, their son, Mike, Donna's mother, Charlotte, and their dog, Lucia. Donna and Glenn have been homeschooling their son since the beginning of his education. Mike completed his homeschooling in the fall of 2008. Donna is an artist and has always enjoyed writing. She wrote Homeschooling Only One in 2003, after discovering that there were many other families homeschooling only one child. Her website is devoted to those with only one student in their homeschool, with listings of online resources. You can find these free resources, including a message board for those who HOO, on her website at  http://donnac.com and read her blog at: http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/DonnaC

copyright © 2009 Donna Conner ~~ All rights reserved. Content may not be reproduced in any form without written permission of author, except in the case of brief passages embodied in critical reviews and articles where the title and author are listed.