The Olive Grove

Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine in the very heart of your house, your children like olive plants all around your table. ~Psalm 128:3

Nov. 23, 2009 - Christmas Resources

Wow!  Time is going so fast.  I can't believe it is almost December!!!  I don't know about you, but I usually start adding Christmas into our homeschool right after Thanksgiving is over.  I am hoping to do an interactive notebook this year of Christmas Around the World, but I will have to see if my printer is fixed in time.  Unfortunately, it started leaking.  Ugh!!!  Well, I wanted to share some resources that I have put together for Christmas.  

Here are my homeschool Christmas resources:

Christmas Lapbook
Christmas Around the World with Children
Christmas Unit Study
Reindeer Animal Study

Here are some other resources for Christmas:

An Organized Christmas
Gift Giving Guide- Do you still need to get a gift for someone?  Here's help!
Make Christmas Cards
Hot Chocolate for the Holidays

I hope these resources help make your Christmas more enjoyable. 




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Nov. 23, 2009 - Intentional Training - Bootcamp

This morning I looked through my blog for some links for a friend so I thought I would share them here with you too.

Intentional Training - bootcamp - an intense period of training for a purpose.

These blog posts are simply my thinking processes.  I share them on my blog not so much to be copied (as each child will have different heart attitudes) but rather to share the thought process and the intentionality that is needed if we are to help our children succeed.

Training Notes  - Boot camp -  Obedience

 

A time of Training

 

Reporting in - 1

 

Reporting in – 2

 

Reporting in – 3

 

Bootcamp – final report and here

 

 

 

Training notes – Boot camp – Diligence

 

The Sluggard

 

Thoroughness

 

Finishing the job

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Nov. 21, 2009 - Change # 1

     I have always  been a girl who likes structure.  I like  knowing  what is going to happen and when it will be happening.   I have previously been of the thought  that I was a flexible  person.  I mean,  my goodness,  I used to be a pre-school teacher,  you need to be flexible  in that line of work.   Something happened, though,  from that life  to the life  that I am inhabiting now.  I think maybe  it is  old age  or,  gasp!  peri-menopausal related.   Whatever the reason,  I do not like going with the flow  anymore.  I am just not good with it.   Surprises  are not my best friend.

     This love of structure  carries over into our learning time.   Now,  when I say structure  I do not  mean every subject has its own handy-dandy  time slot  (I am not that far into OCD land,  not yet anyway.)   My version of structure  comes in the form  of rhythm.  Our  learning time has a flow to it minus the timetable.  Our days start with  Morning Time,  math, reading  and writing,  lunch,  a big break then more learning time.   This was our day  BC  (Before Cancer.)

     Since our little life bump,  I am not finding  comfort  in structure.   Structure is no longer my friend.  Structure  is stifling to me now.  Structure has become  synonomous  with suffocation.   I don't want structure anymore.   I want freedom.   I think that just might be my word  for 2010:   freedom.

     I want the freedom  to start my day off with doing yoga  without those niggling little voices  whispering that this is really the time  for Morning Time, not Mommy Time.   I want the freedom  to be able  to play a game with my kids in the middle of the morning  without  those blasted voices  reminding me that we should be really doing  reading right  now,  not playing around.    

     I have been thinking about this for awhile.  Two weeks ago when I was told that the drama was all over,  I mistakenly  thought  "Yay,  we can go back to the way  life used to be."   That week we went back to our structured days  of learning  and I thought  my head was going to explode.  It all seemed so foreign to me.  By the time  lunch time arrived,  my head was pounding  and I was knee-deep in frustration.  

     i attempted to  do this again the following week  but I bailed after the second day.  I knew  that I could not do school like this  anymore,  well,  not for awhile anyway.   I spent the rest of that week  figuring out  how I was going to manage this.  I mean,  the kids had to learn.  I was definitely not going to send them to public school,  so I needed to come with a plan  on how  to loosen up our days.

     I think  we may have figured it out.   I told the kids  that  each day  they can decide when they want to do school.  If they want to do it in the morning,  then we will do it then.  If something pressing  pops up in the morning, then we can have our learning time  in the afternoon.   We can even do it in the evening if that would float their boat.  Our new  motto  is that learning has to be done every day  ( that will never change)  but  when they do that learning,  that  is up to them.

     Now,  we are fresh into this new motto  but, so far,  it is working out very well.   It has finally dawned on me that we are not morning people.   I have tried so hard to be a morning person  but it just isn't flying.  The kids  do not do well in the morning either.  They need some time  to ease into their day.  So the last few days  have seen them  starting  out with playing  (both inside and outside)  and then  we  spend a bit of time  with our Morning Time.   Mia has been starting  math  just before lunch and then the learning has been continuing after lunch.   

     The neat thing  about this  is that  our days  will not always  look like that.  Everyday  will be different.  Every day  will be fresh!  new!  alive!   I will never know  what to expect  from one day to the next.   You would think  after our rollercoaster ride of the past four months,  that  this kind of life  would scare the liver out of  me.  Quite the opposite.  I find it very refreshing.   I am looking forward  to this coming week  and to all of the surprises  that await us.   I am looking forward  to  next  week's  freedom. 

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Nov. 20, 2009 - Parenting Think Spots

I've just created a new page on my website:  Parenting Think Spot - a collection of short parenting tips, ideas and thoughts.

Two short thoughts are already uploaded

5 Keys to Consistency  The key to training our children is consistency - but how do we maintain that?

Instructions or Example?  When we are teaching our children what is more effective? Our Instruction or our Example?


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Nov. 20, 2009 - Praying in Colour

     I was talking to a friend on the weekend  about  how my life  now seemed like an emotional rollercoaster ride.   She  suggested  that I start 'drawing my prayers."   She said that she had begun to do this  and it  had added depth to her prayer life.

     This concept  comes from a  book,  Praying in Colour.   I looked at the website and was immediately intrigued.  Drawing your prayers  just makes them more visual and is a creative way  to pray for those that are important to me.In the simplest form.  This could just be doodling  or,  for those who are creatively hinged, they could be masterpieces.

     You can use this concept  to pray for one person  and include all of your concerns  on that one drawing,  or you can  bring all of your prayer needs  to that one creation.  It can also be used in helping you to memorize Scripture,  as a visual aid.

     As always,  I am drawn  to the  'next new thing.'   I know,  I am fickle.   But  this idea  intrigues my creative side.  Right now,  that side of me  is aching to break out and I think  praying in colour might help, at least for now.

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