Storyman & I are toward the end of My Father's World Exploring Countries & Cultures, & although we will revisit world geography another time in more detail, this has been a real nice way to "travel" around the world learning new things.

Years ago I "met" another mom on a special needs Yahoogroup, & we've kept in touch. She & her pastor husband are missionaries in Japan, & they have 13 homeschooled children. Ten of their children are biological, the oldest, twins, are adopted, & most recently they've adopted a 10 year old Japanese girl who has Down's Syndrome. They've also recently opened a Christian school as part of their ministry.

Since we had been studying Japan, & I was blessed with a personal resource, I emailed some questions from myself & Storyman, & my friend, Cheryl, was gracious enough to answer. She also graciously agreed to let me blog her answers & offer up her family's website & school site as well.

Praying friends please pray for Japan & for my friend's family personally & for their ministry to this country!

Question:

"We've studied that the major religions in Japan are Shinto & Buddhist, & some mix the two. It seems most Japanese believe in worshipping many gods. Is that mentality a stumbling block for many to the Christian faith, since we worship the only true God? Seems like many cultures with this issue have trouble reconciling to themselves that it's not okay to just mix the one true God in with all their others."

Her answer:

"The majority of Japanese are Buddhist, few are Shinto, but in general it's out of tradition more than actual belief.  (Sadly the same as many church goer's in the US, or many Catholics.)  For some it's like this..... I am Japanese, and therefore I am Buddhist.  BUT, their Buddhist religion is completely different from Buddhism in Thailand.  They have also mixed in the Chinese worship of ancestors in with it.  Basically weddings are Shinto (few, mostly chapel weddings are more popular these day), and funerals are Buddhist and most don't even know WHAT they believe anyway.    Yes, it's a stumbling block, but not so much in beliefs, rather than splitting from their family in traditional customs.  The Japanese, probably more than any other culture in the world, are tied-down by culture and peer pressure.  It controls their lives and way of thinking in ways that are very difficult for Americans to comprehend.  The "fear of man", worry of what neighbors and relatives will think, stops many from giving their life to Christ.  We pray against that spirit all the time."

Question:

"Culturally, what is life like there, in particular, being Christians? How long have you been missionaries there? Was the language difficult to learn?"

Answer:

"Americans are liked and admired, more than other cultures (in general).  People are very kind here, understanding that we are Christian and don't join in many cultural festivals because they are tied to Buddhism, etc.    I've been here 17 years, Paul since age 5, so about 40 years, and his parents originally came here right after the war, over 50 years.  His mom is still here and witnessing (84 and going strong).  I was OK with learning Japanese, as I grew up in SE Asia, learning a different language about every 2 years.   So my tongue is a bit more flexible than most Americans, and my ear a bit more tuned.  It still took me 10 years of listening before I was able to carry on a decent conversation.  Paul grew up here, so he learned naturally as a child and is fluent.  People on the phone think he's Japanese."

Question:

"How large is your church, & how do you reach folks there for Christ?"

Answer:

"We have about 50 church members, and try to witness in our area all during the week.  We have occasional music and evangelistic outreaches, and also share Jesus when conversations go that way in English classes during the week.  There is no forbidding of sharing the Gospel, but the main way we share testimony tends to be through daily and family life, as people see a difference in our lives."

Question:

"How do the kids get involved?"

Answer:

"The teenagers are doing so much through music, dance, and outreach now, it's amazing.  They're also helping teach English classes, and get to share personally as well.   They're an encouragement to us. Younger ones are an amazing testimony to other mothers we see regularly, in their kindness and patience with other children."

Question:

"The Japanese seem to put a lot of emphasis on schooling & success etc. (here as well); is that a problem for them reg. the Christian faith &/or growth within?"

Answer:
"Yes, too much emphasis on schooling and success, and teachers, rather than parent/child relationships.  That's where God has used our family in the biggest way, by being an example.  Families are falling apart, and youth are discouraged about their future.  NO praise from parents, only criticism.  Highest suicide rate in the modern world countries."

Question:

I decided as an encouragement to Butterfly we'd celebrate her completing her kindergarten work. Some of what she's been doing lately would be considered 1st grade work, but the lines blur with homeschooling. Officially, she has completed "K".

This came as a total surprise to her, which is what I wanted. I made a cake & bought a few little gifts so we could have a family celebration. Our homeschooling kiddos work hard too, & I felt it deserves acknowledgment now & then, & again, I had hoped it would be an encouragement as well.

I found a kindergarten diploma here. I downloaded & saved it, put her name on it in big, bold type, the name of our school (I Can Do All Things...Phi 4:13 Christian Homeschool Academy), printed it out, & I signed it (in pink ink of course) with my name, & then "Mommy/Teacher", with the date.

Here she is holding up a version without her name on it, for the blog:



I lamenated her real diploma for her so it's a nice keepsake.

Here she is with her presents (stuffed animals of course):



There were a couple of things she had in mind lately, such as stuffed lambs & a walking, talking pig, which I happened to find for her on Amazon. The pig is her favorite. Ladybug I thought it was interesting, as did Little Guy, but it scared Ladybug II, who clings to me whenever it's on, which isn't very often, but hopefully she'll get used to it.

Storyman has done a lot of work this year which was acknowledged as well. He's been wanting a couple of "limited" Thomas items, & some road to work around the track, & was very happy & surprised to receive them:



Storyman had put together this great track a few weeks ago, with a few helpful revisions from his daddy, so the new "residents" joined in the scene today:



I guess I had better get that first grade program lined up now.

School is rolling along, although there are changes that I'll probably make for Fall, if not sooner. He loves history & science. Storyman is still working through My Father's World Exploring Countries & Cultures. It's been interesting but I haven't the time to do library runs, so I'll just purchase a reader or two from the book lists if I feel it's worth it. Noeo science may continue, but he'll go to higher level. Math U See will stay, which I now supplement with ACE's PACE booklets; he's doing those for English now as well (I liked Shurley English but found it too repetitive), along with supplemental cursive handwriting. A writing program will be added; he has a real interest (& skill, I believe), there, so he'll probably be welcoming of that in particular.

Butterfly is continuing her K work. Her interest in reading has picked up. We had a bookstore trip recently so I picked her up some more beginning readers. I'm still very pleased with Phonics Pathways, although she needs more supplemental reading to really "bring home" the lessons & put them into practice, so that's increasing lately. She continues to enjoy math, & I've been very happy with our Modern Curriculum Press workbook. I might go back to adding in Math U See again, although I have Saxon for first grade so that's a possibility as well. Handwriting Without Tears was wonderful for her. I was going to move on to another program but the lines are much smaller & I think that would be frustrating, so I may just get her the next level of HWT. All About Spelling has been excellent, so that will continue.

I'm making decisions on her first grade program at the moment. She's a bit tougher than Storyman to settle on something as she's more of a "wiggle worm" & has trouble focusing for too long. It has to be engaging enough to keep her interest, challenging enough to be learning but not boring. Some of the more ideal programs for her are not in keeping with what's best for the whole, so some compromising needs to be done. Everyone has lots of different needs to be met in our household.

I've got lots of "plan making" going on, & I hope to work on that a bit more tomorrow, along with some reading for a program for Little Guy. It also looks like we may have a new RDI consultant, so I have to get us started on their OS & get our "e-training" going. Even though we've done 6 months I don't believe we learned enough, clearly enough, so I hope this training will get us going better this time. The consultant I've found seems to have good experience with the older severe children like our Big Guy, & I'm hoping that will help us with implementing appropriate activities with him.

I'm not much of a mother's day person anyway; it's a "Hallmark kinda day". I really don't understand what about it requires a "special day". There are lots of personal reasons I don't get into these kinds of days. It's not like even all of my kiddos can say "Happy Mother's Day", or "I love you", or even "Mommy" ... 

Everyday being a mom is a gift, a blessing that I'm thankful for; I don't need any special honor for that. If anything I need to take tomorrow & ponder just how special, precious, & incredibly important this gift of motherhood is, & how much work I need to do to become better for them.

Life on the spectrum continues ...

It's been fairly peaceful homeschooling lately. We now start out the day with a devotion from Devotions for the Children's Hour by Kenneth N. Taylor which they are both really enjoying. It's not too long, written in a friendly, easy way, has a pertinent Bible reading to go along with it, a hymn to sing, a few questions on what was taught, & a prayer. I still intend on finishing up our Child's Story Bible by Catherine F. Vos. Storyman really enjoys it but Butterfly tends to daze out during those readings. Our Train Up A Child Bible program continues as well, although slowly. There will probably be a new lesson this Sunday or next week.

We started reading Making Brothers and Sisters Best Friends, by Sarah, Stephen, & Grace Mally a couple of weeks ago. Written by three Christian siblings & illustrated by their father, this book is chock full of wise, Biblically based guidance. The roots of a good relationship with siblings begins in childhood, & reading this makes it a lot easier to not write off even those little spats without resolution. I always insist on a "Will you forgive me?" and most definitely "I forgive you." Most people have no idea how to apologize or even that it's necessary when someone is hurt never mind being able to forgive others. Of course that doesn't mean tolerating bad behavior continuously, but that's another topic. They know they must forgive, even if it's not asked for, but it's okay to walk away & avoid someone who is hurting them without care. It's a good lesson for the person doing the hurting as well! I've had many lessons in this & a lot of application in recent years...

Storyman really enjoys this book, atlhough not always applying the information yet; I hope it's at least planting the seeds. Butterfly tends to daze on this one sometimes too but she's picking up things here & there. I am sure I will be reading this again in the not so distant future. Of course guidance is always needed.

Butterfly & I have been reading Devotions for Girls; God & Me! for ages 2-5. There are simple, quick lessons on topics such as Selfishness, Caution, Sensitivity, Patience, Fear, Sadness, Faith, Family, etc. There is a Bible verse, a few questions, a short prayer & a little activity. It's a nice little book for moms & daughters (although Storyman is always listening in too) & comes in other versions for older girls as well. She is almost 6 but with her attention issues this one is good for her right now.

Butterfly is learning to read using Phonics Pathways. This is still not her favorite thing to be doing, although I think she will enjoy it more as we use more fun, easy readers. Storyman has Reading Pathways, also by Dorbooks. He didn't like this at first but now feels it's helping him a bit with the longer words with more syllables & where to put the emphasis. Both are using Singapore Math at the moment & enjoying it. Math U See was great for them but not going over well anymore, so we needed a change. I still have it & will refer to it for some lessons. There are other things coming with math. For a bit of extra math practice Butterfly is working in a Modern Curriculum Press K book; I skip past the redundancy of certain skills & topics.

Handwriting Without Tears has been great for Butterfly so far. Storyman is working in a copybook, Writing With Power. I'm also using Learning Language Arts Through Literature with him & we like it so far. It's a level lower then he probably really needs but because it's so very different from what we were using I decided to go with that & just skip past a lot of the things he already knows. We'll be onto the next level soon enough.

For science Noeo still remains a favorite. Since we're inbetween history programs I plan on going back to Storyman's favorite, Mystery of History. I'm going to go with a new "themed" program for both he & Butterfly & see how that works out until Fall. It may be too easy for Storyman & a bit above Butterfly, but topically it's a favorite for both, so this should be interesting. There will be more on that soon!

Still a huge learning curve on a program for my Big Guy, & bio treatments continue for all this week. I hope to chelate again in a day or two. That always throws an "interesting" twist into life...

Homeschool is rolling along pretty well so far. I'm still waiting on a few new things to add to our day, but for now it's not too overwhelming. Presently they are building on skills to soon move on to more challenging work.

The other day we had another lesson in our Bible program "Train Up A Child". We read the story of Noah & discussed how Jesus is our "ark" of salvation. Everyone in the ark was safe & saved from the flood. When we receive Jesus as our Savior we are safe & saved in Him. There was a nice craft to further demonstrate this point.

I still do the cutting for Butterfly as she's a bit "scissor challenged", & many of the animals were very small for cutting. I have some easy, simple artwork type stuff for her to practice her cutting, but this had many small pieces & was way too challenging. There are some parts of this program that are better to have ready for certain children. Storyman did his own cutting work.

There were two sides of an ark to be cut out & pasted on each side of a white piece of paper. On one of the arks were pasted the cut out Noah & his wife with the animals they colored:



On the other side, in the open door, they were to draw themselves:



When the door is shut, it says:



"I am safe in Christ"

Little Guy has a new habit of hiding behind things. I found him behind this stroller recently:



And he likes to "hide" behind the high chair sometimes. This backfired on him this morning, when his jeans got caught:



So when he tried to walk away, the high chair came with him! I thought this was really funny. He was patient while I released him .



And finally, the Ladybugs... "Chewey, anyone?"



They were sitting on my nursing pillow, which is how I type sometimes. They are both teething - teething twice over! Whew...

We're in full school swing again, pretty much. There are a couple of things I'll be adding into the mix probably next week or the week after, but those will be especially fun for them, I think (I hope). I've already warned Storyman school will probably stretch into the afternoon hours as I may have to get a new routine in with Big Guy more in the AM when he's "fresher". I'm still learning a new technique with him which didn't go too well today so I'm feeling a bit discouraged. Back up again tomorrrow...

Since it is technically a new "term" for us we did our First Day of School surveys. I got this idea from a friend of mine. I take their picture & underneath I date the term, the present first day of school date & grade level. Then there are just a few fun questions to answer so we can compare the answers at the end of the school year.

This was Storyman's "first day" pic:

Questions & his answers:

Favorite Bible Character/Story, or Verse:  Paul  & Deuteronomy 10:17
Favorite Color: Yellow
Favorite Dessert: Strawberry Ice Cream
Favorite Book: The Case of the Giggling Geeks
Favorite Video/DVD: Wrath of Rage; Prince of Pride; Bonds of Disobedience; Toxic Tonic (all Bibleman)
A Goal for this School Year: Study More History

I had a heavy science in mind for this term...

Butterfly (it was tough getting her to smile for some reason):

Favorite Bible Character/Story or Verse:  Nativity - When Jesus Was Born
Favorite Color: Pink
Favorite Dessert: Soy Pudding
Favorite Book: The Crippled Lamb
Favorite Video/DVD: GiGi: God's Little Princess
A Goal for this School Year: Learn to Write

Good; that's a goal I had in mind as well... (She has some bad habits I'm trying to break with Handwriting Without Tears).

Speaking of The Crippled Lamb, this is one of my favorites as well. It's all about how "God has a special place for those who feel left out". Boy do I love that message...

I did one for Big Guy too, but he wouldn't smile for a picture. I set goals for him myself, such as detoxing through chelation & yeast treatments, less stimming, better sensory organization, etc.

This was a funny picture of him sitting on Storyman's lap. Sometimes Big Guy doesn't realize how big he is!

And Little Guy made the list this year as well...

I think he braces himself for the flash.

For him I had similar goals written out as for Big Guy.

This week they have been doing a variety of things. I threw in a couple of simple crafts from our Bible program that we didn't get to finish before the Ladybugs came.

They made a cross picture they could hang in their rooms. I cut out the crosses, they painted them, & glued them onto the construction paper. Written on them is "Christ died for our sins... & rose again." A real short version of 1 Corinthians 15:3-4. They enjoyed it. Storyman hung his above his bed so he could see it & Butterfly put hers on her bedroom door.

Today they made hanging plates with Abraham on them. We cut out black circles, pasted them on the plates along with Abraham after they colored him. Then they made grass & trees & put star stickers on it. It says "Abraham believed God, & it was counted unto him for righteousness". They enjoyed this one too & hung them in their rooms also (they're running out of places to hang them, especially with 2 autistic brothers who like to grab! A lesson in patience...):

We may be trying Nystatin out for yeast again this week. We tried it years ago for Big Guy but it didn't go well. I saw our natural practitioner this past weekend & she suggested giving it another try, low & slow, for him & Little Guy. We'll get it today & I may try it out this week. More on that one as it happens...

And, whenever I need a smile I know I can always count on these little ones!

This was too funny! Add autism into the mix & wow...

Need a good laugh? Check this out:

http://www.doublesh arpevideo. com/HomeSchool2/ Homeschool2. html

Well, we got back to school, then 4 out of 6 kiddos got sick, so we took off again. Now we're back at it again...

I'm sticking with the basics at the moment, math & language arts mostly, with reading times. Those are nice, particularly because my Big Guy is joining in with us more. He still goes off on his own, verbally stims a bit here & there, & some days I'm not so sure he's paying much attention. But I think he knows more then I know he knows ... make sense?   I have a not so little something up my sleeve to test that theory - more soon.

Storyman isn't minding math too much these days, probably because it's review right now. Most everything is brushing up so we can move on soon. Butterfly is enjoying math. She loves making shapes on the geoboard & working with patterns. She still isn't loving reading, but is really doing well with it regardless. The practical work isn't too much fun for her, but using it in real little books & readers is much more enjoyable.

I was also surprised to see my Big Guy join us at the table this week, as he usually doesn't like to sit still much. He's a bit blurry as he was "stimmily rocking at that moment":

More on that in a future post - soon.

Storyman is really into creation science, hence the title of his blog "In The Beginning... Genesis 1:1". He's started explaining a bit about that in his new entry today. Go check it out!

Butterfly (5-1/2 years old) got a bit excited yesterday & wanted her own blog, but I think we'll wait a while for that yet!

Our "summer" is coming to a close...

I purposely worked through most of July up until the twins birth so we could have some time off afterward. It's been worth it. We don't do much in the summers anyway so we'll continue through next summer, taking some "relax time" breaks here & there, but nothing too long.

I seem to have completed the massive undertaking of organizing our office (how I wish I had before & after pics - wow). I cleaned out many old books & curriculum that I just won't be using again, & posted the list to both local homeschooling groups. Several things have been taken off my hands but there's more to get rid of, so some things may be going on Ebay soon, others may be donated to libraries etc.

Today I've worked on setting up the new subject & activity list I keep for each child. I list all the subjects we'll be tackling & what I will be using or even just may be trying. Then I have a subject sheet with everything typed out & a table set up with boxes for each day. I write in whatever we do in each subject, each day.

Each child has one, even my Little Guy. (Well, the Ladybugs don't have one yet!).

I have a wide variety of things to try for Storyman in Language Arts in particular. I will vary it from day to day & see if they complement each other. Whatever doesn't work will be removed. They are all along the same Charlotte Mason style, except for one. I'm trying to transition into more of the CM way. I think he'll enjoy it too.

Most everything else will be the same except history, but we won't be starting anything new there for a little while yet. We'll finish our geography program with My Father's World Exploring Countries & Cultures.

I hope to throw in a few new things to keep us feeling more "fresh" & having more fun.

All children will have neurodevelopmental activities on their plan, with a focus on my Big & Little Guys for these therapies. I have something new I'm trying to get time to learn for my Big Guy so when I get that down better I'll blog on it.

We're talking to some new RDI consultants about re-starting this valuable therapy (see my sidebar under autism resources for more info). We finished 6 months before I was expecting the twins; then we took a break so I could get through the pregnancy & this time afterward.

We also weren't quite "clicking" with our consultant at that time. With RDI, the consultant absolutely must click with the parents - it has to work well for it to work for the child. I had heard from several parents who tried a few consultants before finding one they could work with well. Many even work with ones long distance because they were best for their family. The new ones we're speaking with sound pretty good so far but we're still in the talking phase; we'll be making a decision on that pretty soon so we can get started again. It's not a cheap therapy!

We're getting ready for lots more biomed for both boys. I'm constantly doing research it seems. It's very hard to keep up with everything, especially when it's new as many of the things we're trying or going to try are for us. As I get further along with our kiddos on these things there will be more blogging on that as well.

I have a Monday helper. My friend's daughter came on Monday to help out with things. She tried to get Little Guy to connect with her but he wasn't too receptive just yet. I saw some potential & I think that he will come around bit by bit the more he sees her. She's known my Little Guy since he was a little baby & just loves him.  She's very patient & sweet with him.

She played with Butterfly for most of the time yesterday while Storyman went over to her house to play with her little brother who is about his age. Meanwhile, I was supposed to be getting things done. Well, with twins around that's still a challenge, but it's nice having another set of hands around. Storyman is a great helper for me as well. I did start getting my subject list done that day, so it helped a bit.

As we get started with school she will probably help with some of that for Little Guy & Butterfly. Most likely with the way our days are going we'll be working into the afternoon most of the time.

I still have to setup our "schedule", which is mainly just a list of the subjects for the day & what to strive to get done. I'm not a rigid schedule type person. Our last RDI Consultant told us that probably has served our autistic son well. It's been said that autistic people "thrive" on schedules. Well, that may be so, but many of them come to lean on them way too much. If there's a deviation of any sort it can create a huge problem. That is not the case with our Big Guy who is able to go with the flow, thankfully. She feels this is because he was never made to live with a rigid schedule.

Ironically, Storyman has more trouble with changes then anyone else. As he's gotten older he's handling it a little better, & it's not always an issue anymore. I give him warning when I can which helps as well.

Soccer was rained out today -Storyman was not very happy about that.   But by next week he'll have his shin guards (which came in today) & his cleats, which I'm expecting to come in any day now (hopefully they'll fit).

Next week on soccer day I have to take the Ladybugs for their check ups. My husband will take Storyman & our Big Guy to the park with him while I take all the others to the doctor with me. I don't think we'll all fit in the exam room but they'll have to put up with my little crowd for that day!

Storyman has wanted his own blog for quite some time, so now I've approved the request. However, I will be overseeing it very closely. It will be here on Homeschoolblogger. Once we've got it all set up I'll announce it here on my blog. His penpal has a blog here & I'm sure he will have fun making many blogger friends!

If you've been listening to the news & have heard of a "homeschooled" teen from a Philadelphia suburb who had weapons & was supposedly going to attack a school, you need to know that crucial information was left out of that report, of course.

The "homeschooled" teen was only homeschooled for the past 18 months due to bullying from his classmates... click here for the story.

My son & I played a geography game that I made according to the directions in the My Father's World Exploring Countries & Cultures teacher's manual. It was the one for Central America. I still have to make one for South America, which we're working on now.

You pick a card with a country name on it, then try to put a penny down on the number you think the country is. Then you turn the card around to see if it's the right matching number.

Guess who won??

For this lesson I didn't need my flannel graph. My son was really bummed out; he likes that. Hopefully, he got the message anyway.

We talked about what wages are; how daddy goes to work & gets wages & supports our family. Wages are payment for work done for something you do. We earn wages by working for them.

God says what we have earned & deserve, is death because we sin. 

Our verse for this week is Romans 6:23.

"For the wages of sin is death..."

But God wants to give us a very special gift. We deserve death, but He wants to give us life - eternal life. Eternal means forever. Eternal life is living with God forever in heaven. 

We discussed how our bodies die but our souls will live on - somewhere. Our bodies house our souls. When we die our souls will either go to heaven with God or be separated from God forever in hell. Going to hell is called death.

God does not want anyone to go to hell, but because we sin we deserve it. Eternal life is a gift. 

I gave each child a small gift of a VeggieTales bookmark. (Any small, appropriate gift would do).

We talked about the gift I gave them.

What did they do to get the gift? Nothing.

Did they earn it? No.

Did they pay for it? No.

It's the same with eternal life. We cannot do anything to earn or deserve it. Why? Because we'd have to be perfect, but we are all sinners. 

Who paid for the gift I gave them? I did; the one who gave it to them.

Do I expect them to pay me back? No.

It is the same with God's gift of eternal life.

Who paid for it? God.
With what? Jesus' blood.
Does God expect us to pay Him back? No.
Could we? NO!

The price has been paid in full & we cannot add anymore to it. Trying to pay for it (through works) is like telling God He didn't do enough.

"...by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast." Ephesians 2:8-9

Grace is the opposite of works. If we could earn our way into heaven by doing things salvation would not be a gift, & we could boast about our earning it. But we cannot; all praise & glory go to God.

Would you have your gift if you did not receive it? No.

Many people will not receive God's gift. Many do not believe Christ's work is enough, & add their own works. But they don't understand we'd have to be perfect to earn eternal life, & since we are all sinners no one is ever perfect (except Jesus!).

So the only way to eternal life is to receive it by trusting in Christ's work on the cross; we need to receive it as a gift from Him.

Romans 6:23  "...the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."

God does not take away eternal life if you sin; the price has been paid. We cannot earn it; it's a gift & it is eternal - forever! But, God does care about how we live. It cost Jesus His life to "buy" our salvation. If we understand this we should be thankful & want to serve Him in love. 

Romans 6:23
"For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."

We had a cute craft afterward. They put together & decorated little "gifts" that had their new verse printed on it. I had one ready for my daughter to decorate, & my son did his cutting & taping & decorating.






From "Train Up a Child...In Sound Biblical Doctrine" by Lori Verstegen

They were having fun pushing my little guy in this block wagon (after the blocks were removed), & my little guy loved it too!:



Some of my daughter's recent K work... these are mostly sound matching with cut & paste practice, one color by letter, & one regular coloring page for fun:

Here's one with number practice & cut & paste:

She has fun coloring them when finished.

Here's one of my son's recent verses from A Reason For Handwriting:

I take some time inbetween lessons to practice our memory verses (right now they are Romans 3:23, & 1 Corinthians 15:3-4 shortened a bit). Our newest lesson is "Removing the Sin Barrier".  There are pictures below courtesy of my trusty flannelgraph.

So first we have a group of people who want to get to God, however, sin is in the way...



Psalm 145:17 says : "The Lord is righteous in all His ways, and holy in all His works."

Romans 3:23 says: "All have sinned & fallen short of the glory of God."

So sin is separating them from God. God is holy & they cannot get past the sin barrier to Him. They need to get it out of the way somehow. They began asking around as to how to do that.

Someone told them to keep the 10 Commandments (the law) & that would get them to God.

Here they are trying that:



Uh oh. The law didn't remove the sin barrier - it made it stronger!

The law condemns all sin. People typically don't even know what they are doing is sinful, until they get into the law. The law just condemned them more!  We are all sinners, so we cannot keep the law which is perfect.

Someone else told them to go to church, so they went every Sunday & did what the church told them to do. But it was not a church that taught from the Bible clearly. So what happened?

Tough to see action here, but the church piece fell off.

Going to church cannot remove sin.

So they started doing good works. They gave food & money to the poor, helped the sick & everyone they could. They really thought this would excuse their sins & get them to God finally.

But...

That fell off too!

Good works are not going to remove the sin barrier. God is a just God & must deal with the sin.

So the same thing happened with the prayers they prayed -

It fell off as well. Nothing is removing the sin barrier! They couldn't DO anything to remove that sin barrier & get to God.

Then they felt afraid, &...

"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." Psalm 111:10

They decided to see if God had the answer to their problem.

They looked in the Bible, & saw 1 Corinthians 15:3-4 "Christ died for our sins...was buried...and...rose again..."

They found many other verses as well telling them that the cross blotted out the sin & law against them. So there's the answer!

We had sang the hymn "What can wash away my sins - nothing but the blood of Jesus." I made the cross red because it stands for the blood of Christ, which blots out the sin & law. So we sang that again, & then...

Look at that! The cross made a bridge for them to get to God! He has washed away their sins!

"For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; Who gave Himself a ransom for all..." 1 Timothy 2:5

There's a game to play with this lesson as well, which we haven't done yet but I intend to do. I have 3 sets of index cards with pictures of things that wash on them. One of the cards has a cross on it (colored red) with the words "Nothing but the blood of Jesus!" written on it.

The players sing only the words "What can wash away my sins?" & one player turns over one card. Ask the players if that can wash away their sins. If not (it may be the mop, vacuum, washing machine etc card), they replace it face down. Then they repeat the song & the next player does the same thing.

When someone finds the card with the cross & wording on it, everyone sings "Nothing but the blood of Jesus!" & that person is the winner. This can be played several times.

I hope to get to our next lesson & new memory verse this week, but I haven't prepared it yet. So I'll try to work on that today.

All lessons coming from "Train Up a Child... In Sound Bible Doctrine".

Why am I homeschooling my children?

There are many reasons. Some say it's a "calling". I guess that may be the case. I do believe I've been shaped throughout my life in such a way that left me open to the option. I don't pretend it's perfect, but nothing is perfect. As all schools & teachers are different, all homeschools & their children are different as well. The difference is as my children's teacher I get to cater to their individual needs & learning styles, whereas a teacher with 30 different students in his/her class cannot possibly do such a thing.

So many children fall through the cracks at school. I do believe, from my own experiences as well as hearing about a multitude of others, that unless you "fit inside the box" school is going to do you a disservice in some way. What about the child struggling to understand some math concept that the teacher has explained a couple of times, in the same way, but s/he still does not understand it? In our homeschool this has happened, & I can change my approach several times if need be, & go over it as long as it takes, so that my child does not feel frustrated or like a failure. S/he can understand it, feel successful, & move on with the ability to build on the newly acquired skill.

In particular math is one of those subjects that if you do not understand a concept you are forever stuck there. It is a horrible task to try to build on something that was never fully grasped; this is something I know firsthand. I won't let that happen to my children. They will have the opportunity to fully understand & be able to implement with ease what is being taught before moving on; every child deserves that.

Many subjects that are incredibly dry in school can be brought to life in a homeschool setting. Because we have time & flexibility, we can use "living books" rather than textbooks for subjects such as history. This is more well rounded & makes the subject much more interesting. There's really no limit to what most homeschools can do to bring a subject to life for their student(s).

Just as I can adapt to each of their learning styles I can also adapt to their way of learning. For instance, I have the "wiggle worm" types. This is quite common for boys but I don't feel they should be singled out. My daughter is as much of, if not more of, a wiggle worm than her big brother. They sit on their feet, scoot around in their chairs, play with pencils etc, all while learning - & yes, they are learning. They can get up & stretch or run about a few minutes to let off steam before continuing their studies. They can color while I read history, science, or a fun read aloud story to them. This very often helps certain types of learners grasp subjects more easily. I've noticed they are often paying attention better this way!

Boys are often being left behind in school these days. With all the "girl power" going on there are more & more boys not doing well in school, getting drugged up just for being active boys (who don't fit "in the box", so they will make them "fit in the box" with drugs), being left behind because they didn't get the attention they needed, & dropping out earlier because they feel like failures in a system that has actually failed them. More & more the numbers of girls moving onto to college is higher than the number of boys.

This is a very bad turn of events, as any Christian should be aware. The Lord's plan is the man is to care for his family, while his wife is his helpmeet & keeper of the home. How are these boys going to be able to care for their families someday?

The public school system is extremely hostile to Christianity, very often teaching things that are in direct conflict to Christian morals & values. Even many Christian schools have embraced such secular teachings such as evolution. Get some of Ken Ham's (AiG) DVD's & take hold of his message - undermining the creation message of the Bible is destroying our children's faith as they grow older. It's infested schools, churches, & Christian homes everywhere. It's definitely straight from the pit of hell. If you don't understand & embrace creationism, why in the world would one need a Savior?? True understanding starts in the beginning, & faith builds from there.

I often read & hear from homeschoolers who believe homeschooling their children will make them excel above their schooled peers. I don't necessarily believe that's the case for everyone nor do I embrace that message for homeschooling. Yes, the test results prove, pretty much across the board, that homeschoolers are doing just as well, if often better, than their schooled peers, & that colleges are searching out homeschooled students. So most of us seem to be doing pretty well. But I also often hear about our struggles, which are real, & our kiddos are not immune to school-related &/or learning difficulties. As I stated before, the big difference is we are able to cater to these problems & help them through it before they move on, instead of leaving them struggling in a system that just cannot keep account of everyone.

Special needs - this is a biggie. Why would anyone in their right mind homeschool a special needs child, never mind one that is severe? I have children with various degrees of issues. Our homeschool can cater to that as well. Might my severely autistic son be doing better in the school system? Well, not necessarily. I've had many concerns for him over the years, but I've also often heard from many parents about their nightmarish experiences with special education. The children are shuffled from one school to the other, never able to settle in completely, anywhere. Imagine how difficult it would be for a neurotypical ("NT") child to have to change schools constantly. Well, why is it acceptable to do that to children with autism & other special needs? They need consistency as much if not moreso than NT children!

I've also heard from many of these weary parents about how their children are actually doing, & the spectrum is, as usual, extremely wide, for schooled & homeschooled children. They are all individuals, & I have a HUGE problem with any child being compared to another, special needs or not. Everyone is different & has a right to have their differences acknowledged as normal & natural. They should not be constantly reminded of how "so & so" is doing, & nor should their parents, because it has no bearing on what or how another child is doing at all.

If anyone needs more concerns on autistic children in the school system, please read here. The article is only a small account. There are multitudes of children being abused by teachers & others within the system, as well as deaths by restraint & in "rehabilitation" centers, all the time.

I've heard a few times in churches how alarmed & concerned the pastors are about Christians being more concerned about their child's future earnings than their salvation. Honestly, I am much less concerned about whether my children will attend college than where they end up spending enternity. My son has addressed the question of his future & what to do with his life before, & the advice I *always* give him, to the point where he can recite it back to me now, is that he must pray & ask for the Lord's guidance & direction for his life. He cannot ever be truly "successful" without His will being done with his life.

I don't define "success" the way the world does. I don't define it in terms of how many degrees someone has, what schools they've attended, or how much they earn. I don't define it in terms of what kind of house they live in, what kind of car they drive, or what they own. If someone is saved & walking with the Lord they are truly successful. The Lord will take care of all their other needs, as long as they are following His direction for their lives.

I want the boys to grow up learning they are to be the spiritual head of their households, & to take care of their wives & children. I want my daughter (& daughters coming soon!) to grow up learning of their special place as their future husband's helpmeets & godly mother's to their children. I am not the best example! I have lots of growing to do, but that's my hope & prayer for them. I hope they don't chase degrees, worldly success, or money, & I especially hope for my daughters to have their hearts (& bodies!) close to home for their future families.

They need to seek His will for their lives, in everything.

Well, I guess I cannot close this without addressing that oldie but goodie of a "concern" for non homeschoolers - socialization!

I've seen the village, & I don't want it raising my children...

I've heard this saying many times & have to sadly agree. I did an entry on a great book on the Myth of Socialization here.

My 9yr old is a bit of an "aspie", meaning a higher functioning sort. He's played with kids he barely knows on many occasions, most of them homeschoolers or kids from church, & always did fine. I usually have to monitor his play a bit, as he misses some cues & can go "overboard" (typical for his issues). The only time there has ever been a problem is the one or two times he has played with the neighbor kids (who are all schooled, public & parochial). I watched from afar, but I got the jist of what was happening. He was not "outrightly" mistreated, but there were things going on that were so obviously not good.

During that short time there was a period of being ostracized, talked about, & conjoled into direct disobedience that they were very aware of... no details now (maybe some other time), but my son came inside near tears. He asked for me to tell them he could not play with them, if they were to come by again. I wasn't going to allow it anyway, but I'm so glad it was his own choice.

Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child... Proverbs 22:15

Put a bunch of foolish 8-10 year olds together without adult supervision & you have potential for lots of trouble. Kids need a lot more supervision than adults believe, & don't belong in groups of their own "foolish" peers, of all places.

The book I cited in a previous entry (link provided) has a lot of great information on this topic.

We're not perfect, never will be. Thankfully, He accepts us as we are, & when we accept Him He will be faithful to guide us & lead our paths, if we only ask & listen.

I'll close with this link here to a site I found with a nice prayer calendar for parents with prayers for their children according to scripture, because that's the best we can really do for them - pray for them daily!