I have been trying to come up with a list of things for Noah (4) and Zoey (2) to be able to play with or do while I am reading or working on school with Chloe. I need for these things to be stuff they can do on their own without help from me.
This is the list I have come up with so far:
Leapster (with headphones)
Computer (with headphones)
Puzzles
Lacing Cards
Coloring Books
Magna Doodle
Playdoh
Matching Game
I don't really want the kids playing the same thing at the same time, cause I don't want them fighting over which color of playdoh, and or wanting the lacing card another child has...I think it would be better to set a timer and tell them they have to play with __________ for 15 minutes or 30 minutes or whatever. Then the other problem is I don't really want them using the computer and Leapster too much, I would like to get organized enough to be able to say only 30 minutes a day for leapster.
How long should I expect them to stick to a particular activity? Is 15 minutes just right, or is 30 minutes too long? The longer the period of time, the more I can get accomplished with another child. Also I would love to hear of other things that are quiet that I could have the kids doing.
Last night I was reading Ten Things to Do with Your Child Before Age Ten and it said that it was a good idea to let the child play or do something while having a Read A Loud time, so we tried that this morning, I put Chloe (5), Noah (4), and Zoey (2) on 3 small blankets, gave Noah - Lacing Cards, Chloe -Activity Workbook (dot-to-dots, and hidden pictures) and Zoey duplo blocks, we set the timer for 15 minutes and read "Little House in the Big Woods", it worked pretty good, but I am afraid they are going to get tired of doing the same stuff all the time. So I need more ideas.
Ok I am going to try this one more time, I have typed half of this message twice and somehow deleted it ...so here it goes. Yesterday I mentioned that Jonah has been fussy lately, usually the second half of the day. He nurses for a few minutes and then starts squirming around and we switch sides and this continues for a while and he get irritated. It makes me kinda depressed, see this has happened with all my children around this age, it is like I start having supply problems, I don't know if I just don't pay enough attention to their nursing demands at this age or what. I have always wanted to nurse my children until they were at least 1 year old. I have been praying about it, see the Bible says be anxious for nothing, and I have been anxious, so I did what the Bible tells me to do, I have prayed, begged God to keep the milk flowing, I have even tried to have faith that God would answer my prayer because he loves me so much and he knows the desires of my heart on this issue, after all this is how He created my body to be able to nourish my child, I have thanked Him for answering my prayer in advance and telling him that I know He has the power to keep the milk flowing...so why do I feel so down about this? This is how I have felt with every child, it is almost like a mourning, and I feel so inadequate, almost like the baby is rejecting me, or like I can no longer give him what he needs. I usually try to hold off on baby food or cereal until they are at least 8 months old (I was able to nurse 2 of the other kids until 8 months)...in my mind if I give them cereal or baby food then they are not going to want to nurse, so when I have this problem I just try to nurse nurse nurse all the time. I just started my cycle back this week, so could that have something to do with it? I don't remember if this happened with the other kids around the time my cycle started or not, I have never really been one to really keep a jounal, so I just remember how awful and depressing it is each time. I want them to nurse and maybe this is crazy but I want to hear my children ask to nurse, I don't them to be talking and stilling wanting that time with mommy.....so anyway I felt so sorry for my little baby tonight that after I nursed him, I broke down and gave him some baby cereal, and he seemed to love it, he has still been fussing some, but seems to be falling asleep now. It just makes me want to cry, cause I don't want this to end and I hate the feeling of not knowing why he is fussing and how to fix it, and not knowing if he is getting full...I don't want him to be starving cause I can't produce what he needs.
Any suggestions, or words of encouragement would be greatly appreciated, I know it seems silly but my heart is breaking.
Today....wow, has it been a day, or should I say yesterday sure was some kind of day...it is 12:18 AM as I write this. I had to take Jonah to the doctor today, he has been fussy and running a low grade fever for about a week or more, and I thought it may have been an ear infection. Thank the Lord, his ears and throat were clear, so I guess it is just teething and possibly nursing problems. Today was very hot, like 99 degrees, even reaching 100 degrees at one point, terribly hot, and the air in my van just did not seem to be cooling, the kids were really whinny today, and it seemed they had to go to the bathroom every few minutes, not to mention my cycle decided to makes it grand entrance (oh how I have been enjoying not having that a part of my life), Jonah screamed for 30 minutes on the way home, and oh did I mention how hot my van was, probably at least 85 degress in the van the entire day. So anyway, my mom called a little bit a go to tell me what Noah (4.5) said to her today while I was in Target buying diapers...."Mimi, you know how long it takes my mama to go in a store? It takes as long as it does to drive to Texas!!" We live in NC.... he knows were NC and Texas are on the US map....so anyway my mom says something like "mmmm", Noah says "No Mimi you don't understand, when me and my daddy go to the store with mama it takes forever, she never comes back!" Poor little guy, but he was a great today, I was so proud of him...the girls on the other hand....well, let's just say I am tired.
Another funny thing said this week to Mimi by one of my kiddos....Sunday night we had a service of just singing, and this one guy from church was singing something and playing an electric guitar, Chloe (5, almost 6) says, "Mimi this church is rocking"...where in the world do these kids come up with such funny stuff....I just wish I was the one hearing all these funny things they say. I am sure I hear them all day everyday and over look them, I need to pay more attention and write down what they say, because these days will be gone all too soon, and I will be wishing I could have a few of these days back...
Zoey's potty training update...I can hardly even believe how easy she was to train....After day one we have had very few accidents, lots of days there are NO accidents at all, occasionally she will have one accident, but I think there has only been one day that had two accidents in the same day. I don't have to remind her go potty, she always tells me, and after about 4-5 days she was sleeping through naptime and the night with no diaper, no accidents!! How Wonderful, What a Blessing!!
Ok and a few weeks ago I promised to blog about Noah's water mess...well I am sure it will not be as good now as it would have been if I had blogged about it that day, but here it goes....I don't remember what was going on that day or what I was doing...oh yes, it was my treasured "Nap/Quiet time" and I was trying to get a few minutes of peace and quiet ... went into Noah's room and there was soaking wet water everywhere, he had took cups full of water into his room and poured them onto his tool bench, water all over his master piece he had build out of duplo blocks and water all in & over his prirate ship....oh my goodness I was not happy, I asked him why he had done this, his reply "I wanted it to be clean and shinney"...Lord knows I wanted to kill him, but it was absolutely amazing how calm I was, I could not even believe how calmly I cleaned up the mess....I had stayed up late the night before praying that I would have a meek and quiet spirit, and that the Lord would give me patience with my children, and I have to say that He answered that prayer in a big way, if it had happened the day before (before I prayed and cried out to God for this patience) I think I probably without a doubt would have have snapped on the poor little guy. When I got finished getting up all the water in his room I had a sopping wet thick bath towel, I probably could have wrung out at least a cup of water out of that towel, and I had another bath towel that was pretty wet. And the thing is, he was quiet as a mouse as he was doing this, usually I can hear him each and everytime he opens and closes his door, but not this day, and all this happened in about a 10 minute period of time. For the next few days after this episode it seemed like everytime I turned around he was into water again, making a mess, doing something like feeling up the sink on the play kitchen set with water...to wash the dishes. So anyway, that was the water mess, and my answered prayer...God showed me in a big way that day that He does answer my prayers, I could hear Him the entire time I was cleaning up all that water, "See I heard your prayers, see how you are reacting to this mess"...it was amazing (the mess and the answered prayer, lol).
I have not blogged much at all, I have good intentions, but I just never make the time to just sit and type. I have been soaking up all kinds of information lately. From God's word, various books, blogs, and Podcast. I am beginning to see how I can allow myself to move away from textbooks so much for my children's education and rely on God and other resources to teach my children. I am learning to relax a little, I mean really how much I mess up my 5 yr old? She can read and write, she knows her phonics, she can can to 100 by 1s, 5s, and 10s, she can count to 20 by 2s, and she can add single digit numbers. She has accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as her savior this year (which is the most important), and she is helping me around the house more and more. She has learned numerous Bible verses this year!! So are we learning - YES, have we done school everyday? NO, have we done school every week, NO, have we been consistent this year at all, NOT REALLY!! At the beginning of the year I thought I had to follow my A Beka curriculum to a T in order for my child to get a good kindergarten education. I guess maybe God has been teaching me through my inconsistency that I don't have to follow a curriculum day by day to a T, I am still striving for a routine, something will show some consistency in what we do, something for my children to be able to know what to expect next...but I have learned that through all my ups and downs, unorganization, hormone rampages, having a baby, trying to keep my house neat, and trying to raise my 2 preschoolers, my kindergartener has still learned a great deal this year, and she did not have to sit in a public school all day everyday!!
On the other hand, it is still hard, or should I say I am hard on myself....we are not even close to finishing our A Beka curriculum, I have not even read through all lessons, and I am still worried about going on to our 1st grade curriculum without covering all the lessons, I still think I am failing by not coving reading, phonics, writing and math everyday - just to prove that I can be consistent, and if I would just find the time, it would take less than 1 hour a day...so why is it so hard to find that time...well that has been my question all year, how to find 1 hour of uninterupted time everyday to dedicated to Chloe's school, well maybe no completely uninterupted, but at least little interuptions, and a peaceful house during the process, and trying to figure out how to do school and not hear "I don't wannnnaaaaaaa doooooo schooooollllllllll"!! But I know I have learned a lot already and by the grace of God learning is happening, so why am I so hard on myself, should I be???? That has been the question....not sure if I know the answer yet....but God has been teaching me a lot about His grace (Mommy in Training)...although I may not do everything right, and we don't have a routine and I don't have this mommy thing down pat, God still loves me, forgives me the many times I mess up everyday (and there are many)....although I look in very place for guidance sometimes before going to His word, He still gently guides me and holds my hand, even when it feels like He is no where around, but then like today I can look back and see where He has been working in my life and the life of my family.
Back to the A Beka stuff, I can feel God telling me to give myself a break, not be so hard on myself, and that feels wonderful, then I see another child Chloe's age and wonder how much more they know than Chloe, have I taught her everything she needs to know, have I kept her up to speed, to the speed of the public school, to the speed of the private school that teaches A Beka? These thoughts haunt me sometimes, it is like I feel God showing me His way to school my children, and I feel relief, and I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, but then I jump back into the moment and try to compare my child to another child, wonder if my teaching is measuring up to all these other children's education...and at these times I can see my list of accomplishments and I am proud...but then I ask but is it enough? is the list enough, do the other children know more??? I know I will get over this in time...
Send me advice I would love to hear, tell me how you felt when you first started homeschooling did you feel the same??
The Mommy in Training stuff, well God is leading me and I am learning all kinds of stuff, a little of what I have touched on here...I am learning about grace, I am learning more about homeschool, classical education, Charlotte Mason...Rountines...the list goes on, but through it all God is guiding me gently and He is holding my hand, even when I blow it, even when I don't listen to Him, even when my priorities are out of wack!!
Well I know last week I put up a post and I was suppose to come back and tell about Noah's water mess, I have never gotten back to it...I have been really searching and seeking God lately about some issues I hope to blog more about later, so that is why I have so many scriptures on my last post. I don't think I have many readers on my blog, so I thought I would try out this Mister Linky thing (that I know nothing about) and see how it works!!
So if you stop by my blog please let me know, maybe I will be encouraged to blog more often.
Meek - mild of temper, soft, gentle, not easily provoked or irriatated.
Quiet - peaceable, not turbulent, not giving offense, mild, meek, and contented.
1Chron. 28:20 (NLT) "Be strong and courageous, and do the work. Don't be afraid or discouraged by the size of the task, for the Lord God, my God, is with you. He will not fail you or forsake you"
"And David said to Solomon his son, Be strong and of good courage, and do it: fear not, nor be dismayed: for the LORD God, even my God, will be with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee, until thou hast finished all the work for the service of the house of the LORD." 1Chron. 28:20 KJV
2 Corinthians 12:9 (KJV) And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness.
Philippians 2:13 (KJV) For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.
Romans 8:31-39
Isaiah 49:15 (NASB) Can a woman forget her nursing child, And have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, but I will not forget you.”
1 Corinthians 14:40 (KJV) Let all things be done decently and in order.
Isaiah 41:4 (KJV) For I the Lord thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee.
Isaiah 40:11 (KJV) He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that with young.
Isaiah 40: 28-31 (KJV) Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding. He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.
Phil 1:6 (KJV) Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.
Psalm 63:1 (KJV) O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee, my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is;
Isaiah 54:13 (KJV) And all thy children shall be taught of the Lord; and great shall be the peace of they children.
Isaiah 66:13 (KJV) As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you; and ye shall be comforted in Jeruselem.
Romans 8:1 (KJV) There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
Phil. 4:6-7 (KJV) Be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your request be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
James 4:14 (KJV) Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appreareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.
Galatians 5:22-23 (KJV) But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith. Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
Galatians 5:17 (KJV) For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.
Matthew 11:30 (KJV) For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
Ephesians 6:12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
Romans 7:15 (KJV) For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I
Romans 7:19 (KJV) For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.
Romans 7:24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
I have two things to talk about today, first potty training Zoey, and second the mess Noah made in his room the other day with water.
I decided it is finally time to start potty training Zoey since she is 2.5 yrs old now. I usually start trying to potty train at around 2 years old. Chloe was a summer baby and turned 2 in July and I had her trained by October I think it was. I really buckled down on Chloe in October and had her trained in about 2 weeks. Then Noah was another story, it seemed like we would never get him trained, but finally, I think it was right before he was 3 we had no more accidents. So why have I waited so long with Zoey? Well she turned two in October, and I was pregnant and did not want to start training when I did not feel all that wonderful, and we were going into the fall weather with long pants, extra clothes to tackle. For months now I have seen that the other children Zoey's age at church have been training, and I felt a little guilty, but did not let it bother me too bad, cause I felt like I just had enough going on with a new baby and the other kids. Well since the weather is getting nice outside, Zoey can now wear just panties and a shirt or a little dress at home, and it makes things so much easier. We started training yesterday, and it went pretty well, it was about half and half with accidents and in the potty. We don't do pull ups, never have, I just think pull-ups help to drag out the training process. So what we did was went and got a bag of M&Ms and I told Chloe, Noah, and Zoey that everytime Zoey pee pees in the potty everyone gets 3 M&Ms!! and if Zoey Poopy's in the potty, everyone get 10 M&Ms!!! It worked pretty well, everyone was excited to get Zoey to go to the bathroom, and since M&Ms were the reward, they were glad to help me train. I did not want to start training if I was not going to be consistent, I don't want months and months of accidents. Zoey has been wearing the thick panties Gerber panties, and for nap and bedtime, she wears a diaper. So today has been wonderful, I almost can't even believe it....We have had no accidents all day until....I started writing this blog, around 8:45 pm...so all in all I am so proud, that is great for the second day of potty training, and she has even come to me several times today to tell me she had to go. I think waiting until she was a little older and could understand what I am expecting of her has really made things much easier.
I know I am really wordy with everything I have to say, but if you knew me you would know I am a big talker when I get the chance, and besides I use this blog more as my personal journal, I don't think I have but 1 or 2 regular readers...I know I am boring!!!
Wow my hands are tried of typing so I am going to take a break, so if you happen to read this tonight, check back later for the rest of the story....
I enjoying reading other blogs and anything I can find online to read, but I just can't seem to make time to blog myself. I really need to make myself blog more often, just so I can look back at my own life and see how things are change in our day to day life.
Jonah is 4.5 months now, and he is such a wonderful blessing. He has the cutest smile, I think he smiles more than any of the other children did at this age. He loves to look into anyone's face and just smile and smile!! He is a people person, he likes to be held, but oh how he loves for you to just look into his eyes...and when I take the time just to look into his eyes instead of just meeting his NEEDS, oh what a blessing I receive. Oh course when I just spend a few minutes letting him look at my face, I see the joy in his eyes and feel guilty that I can't or don't do it more often. He is truly a blessing!! And to thank I cried when I found out I was pregnant with #4!! How could I have ever thought that having 4 children would be too many for us to handle. It is amazing how God works...Jonah brings so many smiles into our family and I can't imagine life without him!! I love that little boy to pieces.
Chloe is going through a whinning stage again....I don't know what it is about whinning but it drives me bannas!! I wish I could make her understand that a normal tone of voice would help her a lot more than whinning. Oh the other hand I am enjoying teaching her and seeing the light bulb come on everytime we do a little school work. She is going to be 6 in July and I can't believe how fast she is growing up...I kinda wish she would slow down, but I am starting to see all the help that a older child can bring the family. She is the leader of kids, and whatever she does, everyone else follows. Chloe loves individual attention, and I need to give her more of it!! Sometimes I can just see the disappointment in her eyes when I come down on her so hard, it really is not fair to her. I do come down on her harder than the other children, I think because she is the leader and I know that whatever the other kids see her do they will be right behind her, but I need to lighten up and have a meek and quiet spirit with her, I need to take the time to just sit and hold her while there is still time. She has recently told me that she just wants me to sit and hold her, there always seems to be so much that needs to be done, and I have good intentions of hold her and showing her the love she wants so much, but time goes on and on, and the bedtime comes and I realize I never just sat with her and enjoyed her for the blessing she is!! So I pray that in the days to come I will just take the time to sit and hold her, while she still wants me too...
Every day around lunch time, I get to the point that I have had enough, and I just need everything in the house put back in the proper places, so I start running around picking up and putting away and trying to get my house back in shape...well usually I do this while the kids head off to another room to destruct, but lately, the kids have started staying "this house is a wreck", and it is always about lunch time, and they start cleaning up their messes around the house. So I have been seeing improvement, now they are not like this all day, just around lunch time...but it sure does feel good!! It is like the house gets to a certain point and they can see that it is not a happy place to be with everything all over the floor where you can't even walk. My kids play hard in the mornings and drag out all kinds of stuff, destroy the house pretty much, but they are so into playing and lovin it, and I want them to enjoy themselves, I hope that when they grow up they will remember the freedom they had to play, and remember that mommy let the house be messy sometimes. And as long as they are they there to help pick up all the pieces I don't care if my house is a told wreck for a few hours everyday!!
I watch the news in disbelief at the things I am hearing...but I have to belief it because the Lord told us these things would happen near the end of time. The limits put on buying rice, the high prices of feul, people not feeding their family breakfast to be able to buy fuel, the economy at such a low point. My heart hurts for all those little children in public schools wasting there time getting "smart"!! Oh how I wish they were at home with thier Mommy learning about God's perfect gift to us to save us from all that is going on around us. I am so sad to see so many people that just don't get it, they just don't get what is really important in life. God, God, he is all that matters in this life!! I thank God even more today for my freedom to keep my kids at home with me, that we can spend our time learning about Him and learning about the wonderful place we will live one day. We will not be here enduring all the terrible things yet to come. I thank God that he has saved my oldest Child, and I pray that he will work in Noah's heart, and that Noah will understand salvation through Jesus Christ. I also pray that he will start to work on my 2 yr old, and even my 4 month old, that he will get their hearts ready to accept him, and I pray that they all will be saved at a young at age!! Today, I am thankful for our devotions as hard as it is to get them to be still and listen, I know they are getting bits and pieces of what I am saying, I am thankful that I am not relying on the Church to teach my Children about the Love & Salvation of Jesus... I thank Him that I am here with my babies, giving them bits of knowledge, bits of knowledge that are the most important in life...I am thankful that I will be able to teach them through the years (how ever many are left) that Jesus loves them, and that we need to always be a witness for Jesus so that others can be saved. I am thankful that God is allowing me to see the importance of homeschooling my children and teaching them, and thankful that he is showing me that phonics and math are not the important things but knowing Him is the most important. There was a time when I thought you were suppose to get most of your spiritual growth and knowledge at church, but now I know that you really grow at home in His word and seeking Him...I know that it is my duty to teaching them about Jesus, it is not the job of the church...I am thankful for my church and my church family, I am thankful that they are there to HELP me to raise my children, but it is not their responsibility, it is mine, and I thank God for letting me see that!! Oh how I thank Him today - that I can rest in Him when it seems the world is falling apart around us!!
My SuperMom vitamins came in last week, can't remember what day, but I have been on them for a probably 6 days now, and I can tell a difference in how I feel in the mornings. I am not as tired when I wake up in the mornings. I am also taking Evening Primrose Oil twice a day...I have been having some very hormonal attitudes going on lately...they have been so bad at some points that I can't even stand myself much less expect anyone else to want to be around me. Jonah is 4 months old now, and I am still nursing, but I am figuring that my hormones are still trying to get back to normal.
I had to take 3 of the 4 kids to the doctor yesterday..Noah had a 4 year check-up, Jonah a 4 month check-up and Chloe has been complaining of her stomach hurting after she eats. So we came away from the visit with the doctor saying Jonah and Chloe have Reflux, and he put them both on Reflux medicine. I just don't know what to think about this...Jonah does not ever seem to be in any pain after eating, and he does spit up, but I don't really think it is anymore than usual, but the doctor saw him spitup in the office yesterday and said he had reflux, he said he could tell by the way it came out of his mouth...I just am not sure I want to be putting my baby on medicine like that. Then Chloe, he did not ask any questions just said she had reflux based on me saying "she says her stomach hurts after she eats all time". I was going to have Noah go ahead and do his 5 yr. old shots, but the doctor said if he was not going to public school he does not have to get them. So what do I do, does he need them or not? Anyway, we just decided to wait on Noah's shots and do a little research before deciding, however Jonah did get shots yesterday.
I have a sinus infection and feel yucky, dh has the sinus allergy stuff going on, and so does Chloe and Noah, so I don't know if it is the sinus infections for what, but it seems like everyone has been unusually ill in this house lately.....Our church Did Operation Inasmuch this past weekend and we were able to witness to a lot of people through this outreach, so maybe it is just the devil hitting us hard trying to bring us done this week after such a successful weekend.
I am starting to really look forward to digging in a learning new things with my kids, I am so excited about learning, now if I could only get the kids on board, without hearing AWWWWW I don't waannnt toooo, we are playing.
Jonah is in a rare mood today, he keeps crying and wanting to nurse and then as soon as he starts to nurse he goes to sleep, I put him down and the cycle starts all over again.
I have been reading Created to Be His Help Meet, and I am so excited to be learning so much. I am amazed at how much I was expecting my dh to be MY help meet. My stinking thinking was causing me to think I deserved his help instead of cherishing the man God gave me. God is really working on me - I am trying to learn to change the way I think so that my days are spent loving my dh and children instead of dreading another task. My thinking has been really really negative, and I have to learn to think differently in order to feel differently.
2 Corinthians 10:5
Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;
I am excited to start practicing what I have been learning, excited to see what God does in my marriage as I learn to be the help meet He designed me to be.
Every day I try to have a quiet time during the middle of the day...this time used to be called nap time, but Chloe and Noah no longer take naps, so recently we started calling it Quiet Time (time to be quiet by yourself so my mommy can have a little quiet time too)...usually during this time I watch a little TV while I nurse and then read a little bit). Today has not been quiet, it started with Chloe and Noah wanting to watch TV instead of being in their rooms by their self, so I said ok, only a few minutes later to hear that Noah is climbing up and down my 6 ft headboard on my bed...so then they want a snack, so I give them carrots, after eating I send Noah to his room and let Chloe watch Mission Organization....few minutes later Noah is back in here wanting me to fix a broken toy, Chloe is coming back in here to let me know her show is off, Jonah is screaming wanting to nurse AGAIN, and now Chloe is trying to explain to Noah that it does not matter that his man is broken and has no legs and 1/2 his arm is gone, it doesn't really matter she explains, you can use him as a baby now(Noah is pitching a little fit about toy at this point)...,anyway, I am trying to finish up my popcorn and a chapter of "Homeschooling with a Meek and Quiet Spirit" (I have already watched a little bit of TV and turned it OFF), while all this is going on, remember Jonah is still screaming....the kids go to Noah's room and I hear something that sounds like it might turn into a fight (they are not being quiet), so what do I do ....I press PAUSE on my remote control to the TV. YEP you heard me right I pressed PAUSE on the remote...it did not work!!! lol The funny thing is, it took me a second to realize I just tried to pause my crying baby so I could hear my other children.
IF only we could press a pause button once in a while!! Well I gotta get back to life, Jonah is screaming again, and Chloe and Noah are being loud, while Zoey is still asleep, I would really appreciate it if I could get everything calmed down a bit so Zoey could finish her nap!! But wait, Noah just screamed so I need to check on him before I get Jonah!!
I went to an A Beka Book Display today, and man oh man my head is spinning....all those books, how would I ever keep it all straight. I met this really nice lately there that was also a homeschooling mom and she suggested to use some of A Beka, but to use something like Son Light or Five in A Row for the other subjects to make it easier with all the other kids in the house. So this is what I am thinking about doing: Using A Beka for Reading, Phonics, Language, Writing, and Arithmetic, not sure what to do about Spelling (I have heard that A Beka Spelling is hard), and then using Five in A Row for the other subjects.
I just don't know what to do, I am so confussed and all those books you have to use with A Beka makes my head spin and spin and spin....not to mention all the Support Materials you are suppose to use.
I am thinking about just buying the Child Kit from A Beka and then buying the Parent Kit items used. I just hate to spend all that money on something and then hate it and only get half price for resale. Makes more sense to me to buy it at used price and then resale....
Just look above...Reading, Phonics, Language, Writing...all different subjects, why can't they all just be combined into one thing....Lets see with A Beka for just the basics I would have 3 Curriculum/Lesson Plan books...not to mention the Test Keys/ Speed Drill Keys (there would be 2 of those)...so
After our talk this morning I told Chloe that I was going to talk to her Daddy this evening about her wanting to be saved and I would see if there was anything else we needed to try to explain to her, then I tried explain to her that we as parents do not decide if it is ok for her to get saved, that that is a personal choice for her to make, and that it is between her and God...I told her " I cannot tell you if you can get saved or not, that is between you and God..you can ask Jesus to be your savior, you can ask Him to forgive you of yoru sins, and tell Him you want to live for Him" then I told her that sometimes it helps to go in your room and just talk to God, I explained again that she did not need me, that she could tell God whatever she wanted to talk to Him about, then I asked her if she wanted to go in her room for a while and just think and pray (talk to God) about whatever was on her mind....when she came out I asked her about what she prayed and this is what she said:
Chloe went in her room to pray and when she came out this is what she said she prayed about...I asked him to help me get saved, that we know how it felt when they put throns on his head, and that it bleeded and we know that it hurt, I told him that Iam sorry that we sinned and help us to be good, and that we know You rose the third day.
Chloe (5) told me this morning that she wants to be saved....how do lead her, is she old enough to understand, or does she just know that being saved is good thing, and that we should want to give our life to Christ? I tried to explain to them this morning that they are not saved, because they have never asked Jesus into their heart, and I hope I am not confussing her...I just think that a lot of times when I am talking to them about God, I imply that the relationship I have with Christ is the same with them...where is the line...how am I suppose to teach this to my children...they know they are suppose to love God and ask forgivness for their sins, they say that they believe Jesus died for their sins, and arose from the grave, so I guess they just assume they are saved as we are.
DH does not have to work this week so yesterday we spent the day with the kids riding around looking at outdoor playsets...dh is planning on building one for the kids, he figures it will be much cheaper than buying one. So today he took apart our old swing set and saved the parts he thought we could use on our new playset. Jonah (3 months) and I went to the church this morning to work on VBS. I am the director at our church and I am having a brief meeting with all of the volunteers tonight. I have not been able to get focused on VBS this year...so I thought I would take today to sort through all the materials we bought...tonight I will give the volunteers their material. Zoey & Jonah are down for a nap and dh has Chloe and Noah over at Mimi's helping them do some yard work, so it is quiet around here for a little while. It is so nice having Toby home this week.
Do you ever wish you could just get organized enough to do all the things you wish you could do on a regular basis? I want to do journal entries with my kids and record their memories as well as mine, but it seems like the days just pass by and by and we never get the important things done. I fear that the kids will be grown before I ever get around to getting the important things accomplished everday. I want to make memories with my kids and really enjoy them while they are soo young and cute. Instead I feel like I am always trying to figure out a better way to deal with things, and I am in the never ending cycle of not know how to train my children. Don't get me wrong, I have a hard time with training my children, but the children are not the probem, I am the problem, the way I train and parent them is the problem not my children. But in mist of the day and the problems it feels like it is the children who are causing the problems. I have to just keep telling myself that I am the one that needs the work....I just pray that God will set me straight so I can get on with life and enjoy my children for the precious little people God has created them to be....oh if I could just get me under control so I can start doing all the wonderfult things I have up here this mind of mine.
Often I think of myself in this light: I get so upset with the children when I have to tell them over and over and over the same things....don't do that...go do such & such...I said don't do that...Obey me right away...on and on, but you know what that is exactly how I am with God, He has to do the same things with me, He has to tell me over and over and over, and I just don't seem to get it, it just does not seem to sink in...sometimes I think I can hear God saying "didn't I tell you to get up ealier and your day would go better, but you did not listen"...or maybe he says "didn't I tell you to spend time with me daily, but you refuse to listen to me"....but you know what else, I think He is much more gentle in telling me the same thing over and over, than I am with my children...isn't that something to think about?
Well, Zoey is awake, and Jonah is wanting to Nurse, and Noah needs a bath before church, so I better listen to the gentle voice telling me "get off the computer"!!
As you can see I have been playing around with my new blog template created by Mission Field Designs, and I have now totally messed it up, I tried to fix it, but just made it worse...I am embrassed to tell Ali about what I have done....I should have saved the template to a file on my computer before I went making all these silly changes. The template was so messed up that I had to chage it back to one of the default templates offered by HSB. Hopefully Ali can help me later to restore my pretty template!!
Just trying out this blog stuff to see how it all works. I am mom to 4 wonderful children; Chloe (5), Noah (4), Zoey (2), Jonah (6 months). I am just beginning the homeschool journey and trying to become the Godly Woman I am meant to be.
