With all of the stress going on now with the uncertainty of the economy I think that it is extremely important that we do not lose sight of who is in control here. 

Is wallstreet in control?  I say no!  But there are many at this time who do believe that wallstreet is in charge.  Thankfully I have spent the last year working on becoming debt free.  Because of this I am not at all concerned that the economy seems to be heading in a downward spiral. 

I cannot stress enough how important I think it is to be completely debt free. 

One of the best options for getting rid of the credit cards is debt consolidation.  This is a much better option than bankruptcy. And it gives you a jump start on those out of contol rates on several cards.

When I started we had several credit card with high balances.  This was just the way we lived.  And I know that there are a lot of people who live every day using their credit cards to float them from month to month. 

We live paycheck to paycheck.  But now that our credit is under control it is possible to start saving.  I do not think we will be able to save a ton of money right away.  But even starting by putting aside $5 a week is progress.  Before you know it, it won't seem so hard to squeeze $20 a week or more from your paychecks. 

If you are a homeschooling mom like I am then I'm sure that one of the things that you're concerned about is how you are going to homeschool your highschooler.
Maybe you are already doing high school like I am. My daughter is in the tenth grade. Or maybe your looking ahead and you see that high school isn't all that far off. My son is in sixth grade and this is the perfect time for me to start thinking about the goals we would like to set for his high school season. Or possibly your children are still young and enjoying days filled with play dough, read alouds, and sing alongs.
High school seems like an eternity away and so you'll barely give it a thought for a few more years.
No matter where you fall in the homeschool categories above there is a very valuable resource available for free to help you avoid some of the biggest mistakes parents can make when homeschooling a highschooler.
Lee from the Homeschool Scholar is offering a 5 part mini course called The Five Biggest Mistakes Parents Make When Homeschooling High School.
When Kalene was in seventh grade I had been homeschooling for only a couple of years and I began to panic a little. How in the world was I going to do highschool. Elementary didn't seem like such a big deal for me. But high school was serious stuff.
I hadn't felt this way since I was teaching Richie to read.
But the Lord has shown me once again that I may not be able on my own. But He has called me to walk this path and he will give me the grace to do so.

Be sure to go check out the latest contest on the HSB Company Porch! Two winners will receive a Christmas Solitude CD. Find out more HERE.

Tia Linschied
Senior Editor of HSB

A public school dedicated to just kindergarten. The idea of kindergarten being vitally important to every child's educational career is growing. Along with that idea is that the state is the one who needs to be in control, making sure every five year old is up to their academic standard before they head off to 1st grade. Then, when they don't accomplish that goal, they will set up all kinds of remedial helps that wind up tearing a child down when all they needed was just a little more time, a little more patience, and a whole lot less pressure. Keep them home, where they belong.

Tia Linschied
Senior Editor of HSB

Who I am is not what I am.

What I am is disabled. What I am is a writer. What I am is a failure. What I am is a success. A provider, a dependant, the list goes on. What I am comes from what describes me, what I do, and what happens to me. What I am is not who I am.

Who I am is a son. Who I am is a father. Who I am is a brother. Who I am is a husband. Most importantly, I am a child of God who is loved by Him without any regard of what I am or what happened or will happen to me. Who I am is loved.

(Happy Thanksgiving!)

Here's some lighthearted reading before tomorrow. Just try to not think about how close ducks are to turkeys.

Making a Jesse Tree as a family during the Advent season over the last three years really helped our family to focus on Jesus during the holidays. In fact, the first year we did a Jesse tree was the first year that we had a fairly relaxed holiday season, and that was with four children, ages 6, 8, 10 and 11. I think that purposefully taking the focus off ourselves and our own little family had a lot to do with that.

Last year we discovered the inductive method Advent study that I posted about and attempted to do that and the Jesse tree. That was a bit too much. We managed to do the Jesse tree and our usual Advent readings, but we didn't do much with the study.

We sat down as a family a few weeks ago to plan out the holidays a bit, and the kids asked if we could skip the Jesse tree this year and do the Advent study instead. We'll miss it, but we agreed. New traditions are good too!

If you are interested in learning about the Jesse tree and possibly using one this season, it starts this Friday, November 28. The links from my past Jesse tree posts are still active and updated for this year, so I will re-post those.

This site has simple printable ornaments in two sizes and Jesse Tree readings here. I printed the ornaments out on card stock and had my daughters cut them out, hole-punch them, and tie ribbon around each one. I already had a miniature Christmas tree, so I decided to use that rather than make one. The "Advent Reflections" (updated for 2008) include a short Scripture reading, a synopsis of the actual Bible story mentioned, and the Bible verses to read the whole story. When we are busy, we just do the short reading and synopsis. When we have more time, we read the entire story from the Bible.

Here are some other Jesse Tree links if anyone is interested:


Enjoy!

~Andrea

I'm always amazed at people who say that what a teacher does at home has no real effect on his/her students in the classroom. You might want to take a closer look at what those teachers are doing from home. World Net Daily covers teachers that have gone wild over the internet. PLEASE NOTE - There are images on that article that you would not like for your children to see. For that matter, you may not like to see them. The link is there for you to find out more on how teachers are communicating with their students via the internet and it isn't to help correct their grammar.

Home Where They Belong has posted about several other articles regarding teachers who like to get entirely too friendly with their students.

You can read about the list of teacher offenders HERE.

You can read how some feel that the teachers are doing nothing wrong, HERE.

You can read my thoughts on a BBC program that leaned more towards the teachers being the victims, not the students, HERE.

Tia Linschied
Senior Editor of HSB 

My wife and I have recently been struggling to learn how to work with our youngest child, a daughter who is “mighty in spirit. ” What Dobson called the strong-willed child seems to manifest in our daughter’s personality several times a day. She reminds me so much of myself at that age! I had an intensely strong personality with my own preferences and mandates. My reaction to authority was best expressed through the title of a book I ran across a couple of years ago, titled You Can’t Make Me, But I Can Be Persuaded. Things worked best for me when I understood my options and I was allowed to make my choice. That didn’t always happen.

Violations of my independence were met with strong, sometimes violent resistance. As a result, elementary school had to be one of the most frustrating, torturous experiences I’ve ever endured. It made such an impression that it figured into my reasoning behind our decision to homeschool our children. If there is one objective for elementary school besides the obvious education factor, it is to remold young minds to be docile and easily lead. Why else is there pressure to fit in, to follow instruction without question, to do everything the same way as everyone else? Like thousands of other strong-willed children, my struggles with such institutionalized brainwashing nearly destroyed me. My teachers had labeled me unintelligent, frustrating, stubborn, disruptive, irresponsible, and lots of other things. It took me until my mid-20s to begin to figure out why I had struggled so much.

Strong-willed children have such strength for a very good reason. If they survive childhood, and if they are given what they need, they will be very strong, capable leaders. They will know right and wrong, and they will choose wisely. Their road is not an easy one, nor will they always be right. But they can learn, think and respond as well as—if not better than—their peers. I’m so glad my youngest doesn’t have to go through the pain that I went through to find that out. We can work with her and help her learn how to respond to those challenges. She can learn at home where her independence and creativity can be nourished, not stifled. She will make mistakes and she will learn the consequences, but she will not be devalued or rejected. She has a bright future; all we need to do is help her choose it.