I am taking a little break from blogging.  This school year I have not yet settled into a good routine for everything.  So blogging has taken a back seat to other more pressing things.  I didn't participate in last week's Blogger Friend School Assignment because I lacked anything to say on keeping everything going.  I just can't keep everything going and blog about the going at the same time.  

We are all doing great and the Lord continues to amaze me each day.  One of these amazing things is that Grace is more ready to begin doing kindergarten work than I was ready for.  So I've been working on putting together curriculum for her.

So until the snow flies and the dust settles I won't be blogging much. Around the middle of October,  I will still be having a little party to mark my 21st spiritual birthday.


Soon we will be going on our annual fall campout along the Missippi River.  We are all looking forward to enjoying our family and the beauty of the changing season. 

I never know how many people actually read my blog.  And I am ok if no one does.  But if perhaps you wondered why I wasn't blogging much, I just thought I'd share. 

~Blessings,

Linda

Today we went on a beautiful field trip with some dear friends.  God has blessed me with a wonderful best friend, besides my husband.  This is the first time in my adult life that I have had a real honest to goodness best friend.  I could write a whole post on how the Lord answered my prayers of many years for this friend.  But I'll save it for later. 

The girls and I arrived early so we could do the driving tour and see the bison.

Here the girls are sketching the buffalo.  We received a special gift last year of beautiful sketch notebooks.  My sweet friend even sent one for me. 


A few of our sketches..


Elizabeth's




Grace's


We then enjoyed the inside of the center with our friends.  They had a wonderful scavenger hunt divided by age groups. 



Older kids answering a question together.


Younger girls working on their hunts. 





Then we went outside for a two mile nature walk around the area.

Here is a link for more pictures of the area we walked through. 
The Tallgrass Trail

Elizabeth enjoyed this field trip the most because she is reading "Little House on the Praire". 

We've been reading this book as our read aloud this week:

I personally think the best place to see prairie dog's is by the Badlands in South Dakota.  But that will be next year's field trip. 

~~grateful for His continued sovereign hand of loving mercy and grace in my life,

This school year, instead of Jennifer taking clarinet lessons and participating in home school band.  The girls are taking piano lessons.  The band teacher decided to move the band practice location 45 minutes from our home.   Jennifer has slowly been loosing interest in her clarinet and desired to play the piano.   It has been a pleasure to see/hear the girls begin learning to play an instrument that I had played during my childhood.  I'm praying that I'll be able to relearn how to play also. 

Their teacher is a dear Christian lady, who is so kind to the girls.  She is gracious to let us sit in her front living room.  This is nice to do some school work while one child is learning.


For right now we just have a keyboard, but are praying to locate a nice used piano.  I'm excited to shop for some Christmas music for them soon. 

Miss Elizabeth helping Liz keep on beat.

Jennifer LOVES playing the piano. 



Belle getting into the music!



~~with joy, for His grace is sufficent,

My daughters had fun drawing the winners.  I numbered a piece of paper and wrote everyone's name down.  We then randomly picked a number.  The girls can't wait for my next giveaway.

The winners of my HomeSchool Closet Give Away are:

Rod and Staff Preschool Workbooks

Cammie-

Corduroy

Mrs. Cuddles

Little House on the Prairie

tami

Spanish Mini-Books

Tammy


If the winners would please email your mailing address, it would be appreciated.

Thank you to everyone for participating.

~~hug your little ones and never forget to say "I Love You"

Valerie at Christian Printables is hosting a great contest.  She has some great things she is giving away, I recommend checking then out.
I have a few things that  are doubles in our homeschool classroom closet.  So I've decided to join in. 

Here are the rules, leave a comment telling which item you would like to win, you can put your name in for all four. The contest will end at midnight of September 14th.  On the morning of September 15th, I will put everyone's name in a basket for which book they would like to win.  My daughters will choose one winner for each book. Each winner will also receive a bottle of Bath and Body works antibacterial hand soap.  I will only ship within the United States and to Canada.

Here are the four books I'm giving away. 
Finding the Answers, a Rod & Staff Preschool Workbook



Corduroy by Don Freeman

This book is beloved by all of my daughters, it is in great condition.

Little House in the Big Woods

Scholastic~29 Spanish Alphabet Mini-Books

These would be great to make up for a Spanish lapbook! 



Thank you for joining in the fun! 

Assignment: This would be a good week to tell about your worst struggles with a lifestyle of homeschooling.  Tell about something you’ve struggled with and how God’s mercies gave us the strength to get past it.  Also, share any curriculum/homeschool methods that have been a relief to you, i.e., a particular Teacher’s Manual or Homeschooling method that’s been easier for your family.  Talk about how you felt when the burden was lifted and Oh, What a Relief it is!

__________________________________________________________________________

I shared last week some of the relief that God has shown in our homeschool journey.  He has showered us with blessings and a deeper conviction in the heart of my husband that we will homeschool our three daughters all the way through high school.  The burden comes when I get caught up in the "school" of our home rather than the Lord of our home.  And when I further become distracted by our home.  I see all of the dust, dirt, clutter and other things that grab my attention. 



Each week it seems like He brings a scripture verse or just a little sweet something that lifts me up and through another week.  This week it was a bible verse that is well known and both girls have had to memorize it for Awana. It was Galatians 6:22-23, the "Fruit of the Spirit".  As we read through it and discuss it, then practice memorizing it again, there was a softening of their hearts.  Plus, a focusing of mine.  Which made our week less stress-filled.  Reading His Word each morning has brought relief from the burden of trying to make our homeschool like a public school.  It just isn't and never well be.  As I've stepped out in faith, that reading His word and spending time in it is just as important as any other academic subjects.  God has lifted a burden from me of "stressing" about how much and what we needed to get done.  And the greatest blessing is that we are getting more done than ever!


Besides the Bible, the second thing that has been a huge burden lifter in our home is couch time.  Each daughter gets at least thirty minutes a day of couch time with Mommy.  My husband and I have had many discussions about what our daughters need in our home school.  One thing we both have landed on is that they need the physical presence of their mother.  By sitting next to them on the couch I am less apt to wonder.  I remain focused and we enjoy the closeness of hanging out on the courch.  I have several clipboards for them to write on.  And the library book basket is right by the couch.  I am grateful that this is also next to our school room, so I can keep everyone focused. 


The other thing that has lifted a huge burden is Jennifer joining a writing co-op class.  They are doing Institute for Excellence in Writing Student Continuation Course Level B. 
Here is a a wonderful post on Institute for Excellence in Writing by another blogger here on HomeSchool Blogger: Tea Cups in the Garden

We began usinig IEW in our homeschool last year.  And although I love to read, I'm into the heavy study of grammar and writing style.  I attempted to learn IEW with Jennifer last year, but in the end she was on her own.  I'm sad to admit that.  She was a trooper through it. 

Before she joined the class we did review the material together.  The class began two weeks ago,  it has been a huge blessing to have her say to me a couple times a week, let's go to the couch and go over my writing class lessons. 


Memory Verse:  Psalms 55:22 - Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and He shall sustain thee; He shall never suffer the righteous to be moved.
Thank you for reading my ramblings. 

Looking forward to meeting and developing friendships with my fellow classmates.


Grateful for His faithfulness, abundant grace, and renewing mercies

Yesterday was my blog's third anniversary, and in the busyness of our lives I didn't get it posted.  I've been thinking about this, some bloggers have give aways to celebrate their blogiversary.  I understand that entirely, in blogging I've been given way more than I've gave.  People have blessed me over and over with encouragement, prayers and kind words.  But I'm thinking about a give away at a different time.  I'll get to that at the end of my post. 

But as much as I enjoy blogging I'd walk away from it tomorrow if I thought it came between my relationship with God, my husband, or my children. 

Blogging is fun and connecting but it isn't my all and all.  I believe for me that it is important to constantly review how I am spending my time.  So over the past few months I've had times where I haven't blogged because it wasn't something I felt I should be doing.  I can also become prideful when I'm blogging.  I get this "look at me, I am doing so and so, how great am I" attitude. Another form of this sin for me has been my attitude of not having the newest or greatest thing to say, than why say anything at all.   It is during those times that I am convicted of this sin and back off from blogging.  

But, my main purpose for blogging is to have fun and to connect.  Sometimes it is connecting with our family, sharing what we are doing in our home(schooling and other stuff).  I want to have fun blogging.  I never want blogging to become work.  I want to enjoy sharing, connecting and the encouragement that goes with blogging. 

I am grateful for all of the great friendships and wealth of information I've been blessed with in blogging. 

So as I enter my fourth year of blogging, I've decided on a different kind of celebration.  This is one of more importance to me.  On October 13th I will celebrate my 21st year as a Christian. 

On October 1st I'll anounce a contest to celebrate the best day of my life.  The Lord has done great and mighty things in my life and I want to share with others some resources that He has blessed me with. 

~~Looking forward to His path for me on this journey, and huge {{{{Hugs}}} to anyone who reads my ramblings blog,