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Well, I think that I finally have narrowed down what I will be doing/using this year. It is always subject to change! I know all of you homeschoolers know what I mean
Austin 11 & Alexa 10 Math- Math U See Language Arts- Copywork 2x week; dictation 1x week; lots of oral/written and typed narrations that go along with our Science and History studies. I am using alot of suggestions from BraveWriter, which goes along the lines of Ruth Beechick. McGuffey Readers- I have him read one story a week and we take most of the above from these stories. They are also required to read a chapter from a specific novel I have assigned. History- Mystery of History w/ lots of notebooking Science- Apologia Astronomy w/ lots of notebooking; I am doing this with 3 other families in a co-op. Typing- probably Mavis Beacon Spanish- Rosetta Stone
Anna 7 Math- Math U See Language Arts- Copywork and Dictation; Lots of Reading aloud to me Science, History- same as above... but I don't require as much from her. We are also working our way through the Five in a Row books, which she narrates to me while I type it out for her and then she illustrates it and puts it in her notebook.
Aspen 2- Math- Scattering the blockes EVERYWHERE.... duck, because she may throw one at you Language Arts- Scribbling on anything that is near her... couch, table, paper, wall:) Science- Eating bugs and dirt. Well you get the idea.... She keeps everything very interesting!!!!!
I hope to keep you updated on our days.... It is very amusing!!!
jen |
. We are expecting again....it was VERY soon after my last miscarriage, we were all shocked. I am 25 weeks preggo with a boy!!!! So, I am trying to keep it simple around here. I only want to do the bare minumum with maximum learning. I would love your comments....|
With all the talk going on about respecting our husbands, it has really make me step back and look at the way I treat my hubby. We have been through many rollercoasters and I have had to let go and forgive alot. It is soooo easy to hold on to unforgiveness, but it does you no good. Out of the mouth the heart speaks... isn't that just so true. I know many people who cover up their hurt instead of letting that monster come to the surface so the Lord can kill it. I know I did that for a looooong time. I was so good at acting like a wonderful wife! Then I would always give my husband the cold shoulder because he hurt me and he owed me!!! He deserved "my cold shoulder". I was a great wife...I keep the house clean, take care of the kid's, ect... ect... It was ALL him not me... no never, never me!! Then one day the Lord showed me, me. It was very ugly. I have learned that I will never be able to change anybody. That is the Lord's job. I can pray and give unconditional love. I have learned that my joy comes from the Lord and nobody else. If only we could all get that. Joy comes from the Lord. Not from having a good day. Not for having good finances... ect.. ect.. Joy only comes from the Lord. It is amazing, the change the Lord has done in me. Only the Lord could change me... not anything or anyone else. He is still changing me. He has also done a major work in my husband, which is truly a miracle. I rejoice in every trial he has brought our way. I can see all the "stuff" he wanted to purge. He is a good God and he wants to see His children healed. He wants us to be joyful and have an intimate relationship with Him. Sit at his feet and soak up his living word. So, I can say that with the help of the Holy Spirit, I choose Love, Peace and Joy over grumbling and complaining. I never expect ANYTHING from my husband. Anything I receive is simply a gift from the Lord. I know this may sound extreme to some, but if you expect something from your husband and do not receive it, then it will let you down. I love my hubby, no matter what. I want him to come home to a clean and peaceful enviroment. I use to have to have him tell me how well of a job I did.....(expecting something) If he did not go on and on about how great I was, then I would just pull out the ole "cold shoulder" routine. Poor guy...he he. I WANT to do it now... I do not need any approval from him. Now he comes home and always asks me if I need help with anything.... wow. He is such a big helper. He always wants to help me do things. I am truly blessed. He always asks if I need to go run an errand or just get out for a few hours too... Funny thing is, I usually say no, I just want to be here with you and the kid's. I do go away for a weekend once a year...usually to a conference ect... which I am truly grateful for. If I "expected" any of these things...I know I would get upset if my husband did not meet my "expectations"... But when I quit "expecting" anything from him....everything became a blessing. I hope this all made sense:) sometimes I have a hard time expressing myself. I also want to thank TaminAZ, Brenda (his willing vessel), and many others out there who take the time to share what the Lord has taught them and pass it on to others. I am always learning...I hope I never stop learning. I always want to going from "glory to glory".... becoming closer and closer to my Lord Jesus:) Blessing to you all, Jennifer |
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Hi all,
I ended up miscarrying.... The kid's are devastated!! I feel very empty and very sad. I know this was the Lord's will, and he will bless us again. Love, Jen |
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I hope everyone had a wonderful New Year!!! I cannot believe it is 2006 already. 2005 just flew by so fast. We sat around and watch many Little House on the Prarie dvd's from season 1. I just love Little House. The simplicity of it. My girls want a dress and bonet like they wear.
Well, I found out we are expecting #5!! Everyone is so very excited. However, I started spotting some a few days ago. I am very nervous about this. My dr. will not be in until tomorrow, so we will try to get in to see what is going on. I do remember spotting just a little with my first baby, but nothing like I have with this pregnancy so far. Please pray for us.... I know the kid's will be devastated. On a funny note... we have taken 7 pregnancy tests!!! They were all positive. He He..
I better go for now. Love, Jen |
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We have already opened presents and have been very blessed. I think I was blessed the most! Not only by the gifts I received, but by learning to really slow down and enjoy my children. I love them so much and have always truly enjoyed them, but in the back of my mind I was always thinking about when I would have my time. All of my "me" "stuff" is dying a slow and painful death. I am still reading The Excellent Wife and have really been convicted in many areas. I will be doing and online study with other women and then I will begin sharing with you all that I am learning.
I also have to say thanks to TaminAZ, Brenda (hiswillingvessel) and Laine from Laines Letters. The Lord has used these very willing vessel to teach me so much. Like I said, I am very thankful, but I am dying to self more and more and it is painful. The Lord is good.
Well, I better go and put more playmobil together. Such fun...like a big ole puzzle.
In Christ, Jen |
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The following really ministered to me today. After reading Belinda's post on abiding in God's rest, I felt moved to post the following....
The following is from a book called Adoration by, Martha Kilpatrick. All of her material is excellent... here is a link to her website...
The Rest of Mary Work does not begin with work. Gods work must begin from rest. It then moves out from rest to Power and performance.
Work that does not start with rest is Work without Christs approval or Participation.
Life is confusing, insolvable Pressures of this realm load us up With expectations and feverish works.
Need screams your name. Duty puts strings on your hands and makes a puppet of you. Affections tie your heart in knots of obligation.
And the temptation is to move, move quickly, so much to do! "A crisis! It is waiting and Im the only one who can do it!" Time seems inadequate to cover the task and Energy, meager for the size3 of the demand!
Rest is the first step of work, the beginning of What is a process. To find your particular work And to shed false labors, takes An intense search for your destiny and That is only found in stillness before Him. Making Jesus Lord and Master and initiator Of your deeds.
Jesus declared His last human words, "It is finished."
In that Divine Declaration, The entire human dilemma was solved, Sin conquered Death defeated but these were not Our only two problems! There was also the problem of Life and life is made up of work
The curse on the ground was broken and Jesus Himself solved the human Problem of work by The most amazing solution! He would perform our work Himself. This is our Sabbath rest. He works, we rest.
Gods quiet call is simply to come to Him And cease striving.
You must unburden before you can take up His undistorted burden. By simply coming, to take off that human load And lay it on His Divine Shoulders, Only then can you bear the divine Yoke.
Come to Him _ sit at His feet and let Him sort through The maze of your demands and worries. Let Him eliminate what is not yours And separate the possible from the irrational.
Rest is a place to live, one to which you Must return every day, Because of the wandering human will and Its propensity to slide into Ridiculous efforts.
This is the genius of Mary. She would not move until she rested with Jesus. She refused to be the puppet of human madness. Her will was set and fiercely fixed on Him.
And her calm was the proof of it. No one could pressure or shame her out of it. You have nothing to give TO Him Until you are filled WITH Him
I hope you find and enjoy the Lord's rest... Love Jennifer
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Hi all..
Well we had a nice and quiet Thanksgiving. It was just me, dh and the 4 kiddo's. We are not close to our family, not by my choice...but they just have different priorities:( However, it really was a great day. We played lots of games and enjoyed the nice weather.
The kids have been making books from the book "Creating books with Children" by Valerie Bednt. It is a neat book!! When we are done, they will have a precious hand sewn book of their own. It is really a 6 week project, but it will probably only take us 2. Once I get a digital camera, maybe I can post some picture of our books, family ect... We are a little behind the times in technology!!
Bye, Jennifer |
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is in the toungue. Yes, I have known this verse for some time now. I have really been trying to always speak life. It is either life or death we speak and I always want it to be life. However, death comes out much too often. Our sweet children are watching us always. Our body language can be death too... you know the rolling of the eyes, ect.... When I see this in my children, I usually see a reflection of me and what I have taught them. OUCH!!!
I am still sslloowwllyy making it through the Excellent wife. I end up looking up a scripture reference and then end of staying in the word and going on lot's and lot's of bunny trails. I am learning to be joyful always....RUN to the word when I am not....speak life always!! And, enjoy my children, even in the tough times. When I get past my selfish evil desires....I am amazed at how much I truly enjoy my children's company.....especially when the world tells me otherwise!!
I know I have said it before, but I am sooooo thankful for these blogs... There are some incredible women out there who have ministered to me... and they don't even know it.:) I appreciate everyones little thoughts and ramblings. One of these days we need to have a Blog real life retreat/get together:) In Christ, Jen
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We had such a relaxing lazy day yesterday. It was so nice. We just all really enjoyed each other. I love those kinds of days. We always watch Extreme family makeover on Sunday's and I always cry like a baby!! I love that show. The kids were in bed by 8pm. Then my 6yo comes running out of her room at 9pm and starts a throwing up bug thing....YUCK YUCK. I tried not to throw up myself and just love on her and smile. She was soooo sweet, at one point she looked up at me and said in a very sweet voice, "I love you Mommy". I almost started blubbering right then and there. So, I stayed up with her and loved and we just talked together, in between throw up sessions until 1a.m. I hated that she was so sick, but I really enjoyed this sweet time together. She woke up fine this morning and ever ate the homemade pancakes my 10yob made. (taminaz gave me the encouragement to let them "more" loose in the kitchen...and he did a fab job!!) Then she went to write in her "writing book". This is what she wrote... I love Jesus, He is our protecter. Of course there were a few cute reversals and mispellings, but this just warmed my heart. He is our protector. She is my little prayer warrior too... She prays about everything. Sorry, I did not mean to be so braggy and prideful about my sweet little Anna-bug, SIGH, but I just could not resist. Don't worry, I really love my other munchkins too, and I am sure you will here LOTS of braggin about them too
Well, I must go and finish lot's of "throw up laundry" now.
Have a great day and remember "JESUS IS OUR PROTECTOR" Jennifer |
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Hi everyone,
I am still reading my book The Excellent Wife and am learning so much from it. I am learning that I have alot of fear in my life about many things. I really am not sure where it came from, but am glad I am aware of it now. I have learned how very blessed I am with my sweet hubby. Everything I have read so far, has been all about my heart!! He is a wonderful guy.... now he is not perfect, none of us are, but I am so blessed by him and my children.
Well, want to hear a funny?? I was going to take a nice long hot bath while my 15m old was taking a nap and could not find the bath plug anywhere!! I looked everywhere for it.....except for the toilet!! ha ha. I just about gave up looking and was going to take a shower instead. I went to the bathroom first and there it was... at the bottom of the toilet...along with her pacifier!! HMMMM where was I when that all happened? She has been a very busy beaver:) Sooooo if you ever lose anything, don't forget to check the toilet too.
Have a happy turkey day:) Jennifer |
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I just love reading everyones blogs. They have truly been a God send in my life. When I read TaminAZ blog, it just blesses me so much. It is nice to know that I am not the only one who struggles with certain things! I just love all the rich, wonderful wisdom these ladies have.
I just started reading The Excellent Wife by Martha Peace. Wow, very convicting. It is funny, because my husband and I have an absolute wonderful marriage. He cooks, cleans, helps with the kids, surpises me all the time and is just such a loving wonderful man.... and on the outside, I seem really happy. However, on the inside I have been struggling with fear, doubt, worry, anxiety... I realize that it is major attack from the enemy, but I also realized that I was ultimately not trusting the Lord in his Sovereignty (hmm did I spell that right?) I am only on chapter one, but I can tell this is exactly what I needed. I need a heart change in me.... I will be blogging on what I have learned/been convicted of here...
I am also trying to get over the fear of having more kid's. My husband really wants more, but I need to get over being selfish. I am afraid I will not have anytime to myself (heart issue) and how will I be able to handle it all (heart & trust issue)!!! Please pray for me! Most of my close friends here think I am nuts for even considering more children! It is so hard when you hear these types of things...
Have a blessed day, Jennifer
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Today during breakfast I had 2 of my children, my husband and the baby who was demanding more food...trying to talk to me ALL AT THE SAME TIME!!! I was thinking, do I have like 10 ears or something??? I know I am a very multi-task person, but geez. I had to grab for the tylenol bottle after that episode and then I looked at the clock...which read 7:20am and realized this is going to be a loooooong day!! Just joking, I love my day's with my kiddo's, at least most of the time:) He He...
Baby is up from nap, I must go... Have a wonderful blessed day in our Lord Jesus Christ! Jennifer |
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Why do we always fall into competition with others? It may not be a voiced competition, but maybe a silenced one in our heads, which could also lead to rejection and shame. Do you look at others and think they have it all together and if you could just "try" a little harder, God would love and use you more? I have done this many many many times. You know what though, God does not play favorites. We are ALL his favorites. He loves us all. I have come to a place that my only desire is NOT to be the best wife I can be, NOT be the best mom I can be, NOT "try" and be used of God more, NOT make my homeschool like so and so... My only desire is to TRULY know HIM and hear only HIM. If we hear HIM, everything will naturally fall in place. I am so tired of legalism and religion too. If we *look* like this or follow *this* doctrine, everything will go well. Nope, I do not believe it anymore. The Lord cannot be put in a box. He is calling us...Son's and Daughter's of the most High God. You are a Daughter of the most High!!! He wants you to come and sit on HIS lap and HE just wants to love on you. There are some words to a song that really spoke to me...
It goes... I am not looking over I am not looking under I am looking upward I am looking onward to a place where they cry holy and the greatest man bows lowly from the wonder of a lover crying out...
I love this song!! Cause, when you keep looking over ect... at other people, it makes you strive and compete with one another... especially in the church. All of the activities that go on. What is the use of all that stuff, if we do not know the Father... Love, Jennifer |
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I really would love to stick to an hourly rigid schedule. However, it just does not work for us AT ALL. So I just write what needs to be done on the white board and mark it off as we go. They know that they will not get a break until English and Math are at least done. Then we get to all the more enjoyable subjects.
First, we wake up and do chores, the eat breakfast, clean up and get dressed. Bible is next. I have tried several Bible curriculums, but just reading the Bible and discussing it seems to work well for us. We are also memorizing Psalm 27, my favorite Psalm. I am amazed at how well they are learning this BIG chunk of scripture. The best part, is that I am learning it too:) We then read from a quick little devotion book, they love the cute simple stories. Then we go over greek/latin words from English from the roots up. They really think these words are cool. You can really see the lightbulb go on!! Prayer is next and then we begin on school.
We use Saxon Math with the DIVE cd's. They don't love it, but don't hate it either. I am thinking of moving my kiddo's up a level. They are tired of review, review, review!! I usually have them practice their math facts(our downfall) with flashcards or Math it.
Next, is English. We use Shirley English and we all love it. These guys know their english. I really like their writing instruction as well. Easy for Mom:) My 9yo really wants to use Learn to Write the Novel way soon. I will probably start that next semester with her. She loves to write stories and poems! For spelling we use The Grammar of Spelling. It is simple and to the point. We make color coded spelling flash cards and use a game on the computer to help them study their words. It really seems to be working. My 6 & 9yo use A reason for handwriting. My 10yo does not use a formal handwriting program anymore.
I use The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Reading with my 6yo. I LOVE this program. She is reading sooooooo well.
We use Diana Waring's History Alive Ancient Times and the Bible. Actually we just got this in the mail. I will let you know how it goes.
For science we use Jeannie Fullbright's programs. Right now we are using the Astronomy.... I LOVE her programs!!
We try to get to spanish most days. We use Rosetta Stone for that.
My 10yo takes piano and does a Cyberstorm Lego class. My 9yo takes gymnastics(she never stops moving and loves to flip flop everywhere!!) and guitar. My 6yo just wants to stay home and play with her horses!! My sweet 15month old is into everything!! I love being at home with these precious sweethearts!!
Oh, and we always have a read aloud going!! We are reading The Pilgrims Progress, not the origional version but the one for kids. It is really a great book. We also have read and done most of the Five in a Row books. We love books and you can usually find my kid's looking, reading something. My 10yo boy loves his science encyclopedias:)
Have a great day!! Jen |
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I purchased Diana Warings History Alive, and we cannot wait to get started!! My son (10yo) wants to start at the beginning of History. Well, we did do a little of The Story of the Word, by the well trained mind. It was interesting, but we want something biblical!! This history is awesome, especially with her What in the World is going on here cd's. I will give you guys and update on how it goes!!
Jen |
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Hi everyone,
I am just sitting here listening to my favorite worship leader, Jason Upton. He is different but his music is real and ministers to me!! He has some video footage of one of the conferences he did that you can download and watch. It is really good. I enjoy watchig/listening to it as I get ready for the day. Here is a link to his website: www.jasonupton.com Also, if you are interested in watching the videos here is a link to that... http://www.jasonupton.net/com/index.php?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=222 there are five parts to download. I hope you are blessed by them as much as I have been.
I pray that each of you have a wonderful day in Christ. I pray that there will be peace in joy in your home today. Have a great day:)
Jennifer |
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Hi everyone...
I secretly escaped getting the house ready for home church to come blog. We have home church at our house today and expect about 15-18 kids.
I just love reading other blogs.. I have been so blessed by many of them!! I will "talk" to you guys later.
I pray the Lord will give you peace and joy today. Love, Jennifer |
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Hi everyone,
I am in a weird place in my walk with the Lord. I feel so incredibly dry, but so loved by Him at the same time. It is really hard to explain it. I guess He is preparing me for a new level.
The Lord has brought our family through so much. My husband use to be addicted to pain killers. It was such a trying time in our family. Funny thing is, he hid it so well. Everyone thought he was this incredible man of God. Which he really was, he loves the Lord with all his heart. He just had a hard time overcoming this addiction. God showed him how he had major unforgiveness in his past and all kinds of things that had happened to him that he had not let go of yet. He took the pain pills to get relief from the pain. I do not know why I am sharing all this with you. I hope that it will minister to someone else who may be experiencing the same thing. I must go now.... I will write more on this later. In Christ's Love, Jennifer |