Lois's Writing

Life Happens

This has been a busy week.  We've done some school work, but not nearly what  I had planned.  Now we're getting ready to evacuate due to hurricane Gustav.   My husband will stay and board up windows and secure everything, but the kids and I will head out tomorrow.  The evacuation 3 years ago for hurricane Rita was a nightmare.  A trip that would normally take us 7 hours took 17 hours! It was horrible.     As the title says - life happens - and it doesn't always fit into our planbooks.    I always tell new homeschool moms that when it comes to schedules and plans, be flexible because something will always come up that will change your plans. 

That reminds me of the poor children that took refuge in our city when hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans.  We housed many families in our church, and within  a day of the families getting settled in the gym, they were ready to enroll their kids in the local schools!  I was shocked!  Those poor children were just uprooted from their homes and needed the security of being with their parents and instead all the parents could think of was putting them right back in school.   It floored me.   Would it have stunted their education to miss a few weeks, traded for the security of being with their parents in a strange place?  Absolutely not! 

Ladies -    evacuations, family problems, illness, etc.   - we are blessed to hold our kids in our arms and give them the security they need.

Thank you Lord Jesus for providing for our families and allowing us this awesome privilege. 

Many blessings to all of you as you enter the school year with your kids by your side.

A Coup - of sorts

Well, where do I start?  Our  first day of school was interesting - to say the least.  I was so excited. I was feeling great - ready to take on my two boys  - with a smile on my face.  I started out the day with great creativity - I took them to Sonic for breakfast!  That's right!  I thought it would be fun to be out on that first morning of hustle and bustle, dodging school buses and teenage drivers.   We had the advantage, though. The majority of the kids were already in school by the time we headed down Main Street to Sonic.  Needless to say - the kids were happy about our first little outing.

When we got back is when the real fun began.  We started off with our devotional time consisting of me reading from Making Brothers and Sisters Best Friends.  Then I pulled out our first read-aloud from Sonlight.   This year we're doing World History, so we are (were) using Sonlight 6  - World History.  I began our history time by telling the boys that we would be studying about Romans, Greeks, and other cultures.  I showed them the first book and proceeded to get started, when my 15 year old said "Mom, is this curriculum from a Christian perspective?"    UHHHHHHHHHH I said, as I stared blankly at my son.   "Well, it's a Christian company, but the novels they use are not Christian."    My 9 year old chimed in and said "Mom, I don't want to read about a bunch of other gods."  15 yr. old says "Yeah, mom.  It's too much when they go on and on about all the different gods.  It's too much."   Then he proceeds to remind me (I hate when they do that) of the time I got very heated over the fact that the Christian Academy he played guitar in last year, doesn't use a Christian curriculum for Science or History.  I made a big deal out of that because the teachers were choosing secular books and throwing a scripture in now and then.   

As he's speaking these words to me, God's conviction is coming all over me!  I just stared at my kids and realized what I had done.  I had picked a curriculum that was not from a Christian perspective, although a Christian company.    I felt sickened at the thought that I had a shelf full of novels that were full of stories and details of other gods.    I was going to be forcing my son to read these all year!   I've never thought about this before when choosing Sonlight, and I'm sure I'll get some negative feedback, but this is just my experience with conviction about this particular subject matter.   

So.......that was the coup - of sorts - my sons over threw my reign and refused to study about other Gods all year long.    Here's the crazy part......right then, after apologizing to my boys.....I got a big bag and started bagging up all the sonlight books.   I called the homeschool store in Houston and packed up the kids, ate lunch, got gas, and headed an hour and a half up the highway to the Homeschool Store (which is great - I love it there!) and sold my books - just like that.      

With all the credit from my sale, I was able to buy the Mystery of History Vol II, and Progeny press for Literature, and several other things we needed.  Mystery of History is told completely from a Christian perspective.  Yes, it introduces other cultures, gods, people, etc. but all in light of God's word.  Progeny press  is filled with scripture and done from a Christian perspective. 

  I am so glad I did this for many different reasons.  But here is what thrills me about what happened:   My kids held me accountable for the importance of learning everything from God's perspective.   MY KIDS did this!!!   That means they've been listening to us all these years!  That means they believe what we say about the importance of having a Christian worldview.   I'm so pleased and blessed!

This throws a kink in my planning though.  Now I'll be spending this week getting my history act together as I try to organize my plans for the MOH.     Then this morning as we started to do Science (Sonlight) my son asks "Is is from a Christian perspective?"   I kind of shake my head yes as I leave his room and head for the book shelf.   "Oh Lord, please let it be ok" I say to myself and I begin to quickly begin to flip through the first book Evolution; The Grand Experiment.    Tune in later for the verdict. 

Thanks for listening (or reading),

Blessings!

The Heart of the Matter Character Place Mats.....

The next step I took was I handed out blank pieces of white card stock to each child who was in the boot camp. They were instructed to take some colored pencils and or crayons and do the following:
 
On one side of the card stock they were to use light and pretty colored pencils and crayons and draw things that they found to be beautiful to look at, touch, listen to and taste.  Pictures of all things beautiful to them and to God.  Things they find themselves doing that they know is a thing of beauty.  I wanted them to draw the beauty that is in the deepest desires they have and hold in their hearts to accomplish, achieve and become all that God has created them to be.

On the other side of the card stock they were to use dark colors. This time the pictures that they were instructed to draw were pictures of things that they know are ugly and unpleasant to look at, touch, taste, and smell.  I wanted them to draw pictures of the things that they do in their lives that they know are wrong.  I wanted them to draw the sin and struggles that they face in their lives on a day to day, moment to moment, minute to minute basis.  The temptations that they are faced with and lose the battle many times because the devil entices and dangles fleshly pleasures before their eyes during their most weakest moments, so they make the wrong choice.

After they were done drawing on both sides I took their pictures and then pulled out my "Proverbs for Parenting" book to look up scripture verses that fit the things that are full of beauty and scripture verses that fit the things that are full of ugliness.  For the side that showed sin and struggles I wrote out scriptures that reminded them that God sees everything they do whether it be good or bad.  He sees it all even when I may miss some things they do wrong God never does.  He always sees everything and God is the one that counts in the end.   I shared scriptures about how  God feels about sin and how it makes Him sad when they choose to commit sin in their lives.  For they are sinning against Him.  I put scriptures telling them how God will always help them in their times of struggles.  All they have to do to call upon Him and He promises to always give them a way out.  He promises to never leave them nor forsake them.  He also promises to never give them more than they can handle.  So there is never a situation that they will be faced with that they cannot overcome and escape if they call upon the Lord for His help.  Even though their areas of temptations that the devil encourages them to do may seem big, God is always bigger.

For the beauty side I wrote out scriptures on how God is very pleased with those areas of their lives when they choose to do good and it comes from their hearts. 

School Creativity

Today is our first day of school.  I'm excited about it because I've been praying for creativity and I think God is blessing!  Last night we did something special.  I made a cake and we gathered around the table.  I had a folder for each boy that contained a copy of our daily schedule and their individual weekly school checklist.  We talked about the schedule and the checklists and what the expectations were.  I talked about how important their responsibility is, to do well in school, not complain, and work at it "as working for the Lord"  ( Colossians 3:23).   I always use this scripture because I want them to be accountable to Jesus, not only their parents.

So then I read them this scripture out of Luke (1:66b)  that says "What then is this child going to be?  For the Lord's hand was with him."   I pointed out to them that God has known since He created them what His plans were (are) for each of them.  Therefore, they need to learn all they can and truly apply themselves, even in areas they don't like, because God may use them in  that area to glorify Himself.   I wanted them to realize that God has intentions for them, most we know nothing about, so far.   The point being - apply yoursef to learning all you can and see what God does with you!

My husband then asked each boy to pray for what they wanted to get out of this year of learning, then he prayed for our school year, asking God to bless me and anoint me.  It was very special and yes - I needed a tissue!   Then we had cake! 

Yep, I've been MIA, but here's some of what we did today.

All the onions from our garden.
Behind K under the blanket is about half of the potatoes.

Update to my envelope system

This is a little tiny update to my very long entry (earlier today) about my homemade budgeting envelope system.   I went to the grocery store today and my little file came in very handy.  I had all my coupons right there and whenever I saw something on sale, even though it wasn't on my list, I was able to pull my coupon right out and use it.   Usually what happens is - I only take the coupons that go along with my list - and then, I get to the store and all the other coupons are at home.  This means I miss out on getting a good deal. 

So there.  If you're interested in a handy little system to budgeting - read my previous blog.

Food budgeting

I forgot to mention in my last post about my food planning.  To make my menu planning and my grocery budget planning a little easier, I have opted to participate in a monthly food prep kitchen.   There is one in town and it is a great way to have all your dinner entrees at your fingertips.    You make 12 meals at the kitchen and you bring them home and stick them in the freezer.  Each Sunday I will pull out 3 meals for the week, put them in the fridge to thaw, and then make sure I have the sides to go with them when I do my weekly shopping.

I have a list of all the meals (that are in the freezer) on my fridge and I just check them off once they are eaten.  That way I know what I have left. 

The way this helps my budget is that it costs the same amount every month.  That way I know exactly how much I'm spending on dinners and I can budget accordingly.   The rest of my grocery money is for breakfast, lunches, snacks, and non-food items.  

The kitchen is called Your Main Dish and it works like this:

Each month they have a new menu.  You book your appt. online (I always go on Sat. morning so the kids are at home with dad) and you pick your entrees online.  There are always 13 choices and you pick 12.  You can pick up to 2 of each dish.   I usually double the entrees that I think would make good dishes for having company over or taking a meal to a friend.    Each meal has 6 servings.  This is perfect for a family of 4 or 5.  We usually have leftovers.   Some of the dishes I will put in 2 smaller containers for the kids and I to have for lunches.   

  When you go to the studio kitchen you have the option of putting your meal in one big container or 2 smaller ones.    Some of them (like the crockpot meals or grill meals) will already be in a container so you don't have to do any prep.   

Anyway, I won't go into all the details of how it works, but I will say, it makes budgeting for food alot easier.   

For those of you who are curious about the price - it costs $259 for 12 meals, which comes out to a little over $3 a serving.    How do 12 meals last all month?  Most of us will have 3 fixed meals per week, then eat something quick and easy on some nights and maybe eat out once or twice.  It really turns out to be enough and stretches throughout the month with leftovers for lunch many times.

If you're interested in finding one near you the website address is YourMainDish.com

This week

Well, this was my "planning week" where I was going to really  focus on getting all the small details worked out on our school subjects.  I did that for most of the day on Monday.  The rest of the week I've worked on the budget.  Where did that come from?  I don't know.  I think I had a panic attack suddenly and realized that in 3 years we'll be paying for college, and one thing (or thought) led to another and the next thing I knew, I was knee deep in budget planning!

Last summer I had bought Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover Kit, that had the 2 books (Financial Peace and TMM), 2 DVD's, and the very nice Envelope system.  I read the books last summer and tried to implement the different steps, but didn't really suceed and finally resorted back to old habits.

BUT.....this time it feels different. So I went crazy this week planning the budget, creating my own envelope container that includes a place for restaurant coupons and grocery coupons.  I even created our 3 year Debt Snowball Plan (named by Dave Ramsey) that will have us debt free in the summer after my son's senior year.   It was so much fun, if you like that sort of thing.  In fact, I have one friend who thrives on organizing as much as I do.  So...I called her and very excitedly told her what I was working on and even got her excited about the envelope system.

For those of you not familiar with the envelope system I'll explain:  once you make out your budget you take the categories that can be paid by cash  and you place that cash in designated envelopes.  You pay with cash only and when the envelope is empty - no more spending.

The kit envelope wallet is very nice - black leather case with about 10 paper envelopes that have lines on the outside for you to document how the money in that envelope was spent.    This is ok except this:  I don't want to pull it out at the store and have everyone see my money figures written on the envelopes.  Call me crazy but I'm private and I don't want to flash this to everyone!  Also, you have the problem of having to buy new envelopes once those are written on.   SO.....this is what I did instead....I bought a $2.50, envelope-sized plastic accordian file.   It's the size of a regular, letter-sized envelope and has a flap that snaps shut.  Inside it has about 10 pockets with tabs.  

I labeled each tab according to my "cash" categories which are:  Groceries, gas, entertainment, hair, meds, allowance, misc.     I then added a tab for restaurant coupons, and about 3 pockets for my grocery coupons.   This is a great system!  That way my store coupons are always with me.  I can't tell you how many times I've run into the store for something, knowing that I had a coupon for that at home.   This way, I'll just keep my coupons with me at all times.   I put an index card in each cash pocket, to record how the money is spent.  Each month I can compare this with the budget and then just throw it away.  The next month - just stick another index card in there!    The file is perfect size for your purse and it's discreet.

So....that's what I've been doing all week and it feels great!  I'm excited to be faced with this challenge and excited about what the results could be.

At TotalMoneyMakeover.com you can get on a trial membership for 7 days and create your budget and enter your debt and track your spending.  It's easy and you might be inspired to challenge yourself in this area.

By the way....we will be using this course (the books and dvd's) as Consumer Math for my son's senior year.  This is more important than algebra or geometry will ever be!

Have a blessed day and happy planning!

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