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I am unabashedly,unashamedly admitting that I am voting for John Mc Cain and Sarah Palin in the upcoming election.Why? Because I am unabashedly and unashamedly PRO-LIFE!!! In a speech to Planned Parenthood, O'Bama promised that if he were elected ,Freedom of Choice legislation would be his first order of business. John McCain,on the other hand,stated boldly that he believes life begins at conception and Sarah Palin doesn't even support embyonic stem cell research, must less abortion and partial birth abortion. Life has always been my starting point for all presidential candidates.The economy doesn't really matter as long as we are killing babies.I'll just state here that I trust a man with my money no more than I trust him with my children. Straight talk ,but that's how I feel about it.The economy is secondary to values and morals! As Christians we have to trust that our provision will come from God! David said in the Psalms: I have been young and now I am old ;yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken ,nor his seed begging bread. Notice the qualification of righteousness here. We cannot vote in a pro-choice candidate who promises to further the cause of abortion and then just turn our backs and say; Oh well politics are just politics and ones about as good as the other! Am I saying that a McCain/Palin presidency will cure all of the ills in America? Certainly not,no more than you could cure all of the ills in your family! I will say that the platform that McCain and Palin are running is more solidly pro-choice,pro-family than O'Bama's.This is the bottom line for me. I just hope that people will forget about race,party preference,and all of this irrelevant stuff and let's get back to the brass tacks of the matter. It's not about your pocketbook... It's not about your skin color..... For those of you who are African -Americans ,my heart goes out to you.There has always been intense pressure from the Democratic Party placed on the black community.That pressure will be felt even more intensely with an African-American running for president and many blacks may secretly feel that they are betraying their race by voting against O'Bama. The choice, while hard, could not be clearer. We all know that the economy is suffering, but what we fail to realize is that our moral decline is a big part of our financial decline. God will not bless a nation that supports organizations like Planned Parenthood and the ACLU! On another note,let me drop this nugget for thought in ; More liberal president appointed judges will mean more opposition for homeschoolers! The future looks bleak for homeschoolers if the Democrats control the house, the senate and the presidency! The bottom line is this: Our great nation is in a downward spiral. Too long we have turned a deaf ear to the cries of the innocent! We have flaunted our so-called "liberties" like homosexuality and abortion for all the world to see never stopping to realize that God was looking. Now, it's time to pay the piper. O'Bama's campaign slogan is :change. I'm sorry but you don't get change until you pay for what you've bought and it's time for America to pay. I'm not portraying John McCain as the answer because only Jesus is the answer! This does not mean that we have no responsibility as Christains to vote our conscience!!! At this late hour in our nation's history any step in the right direction is a step in the right direction!!! P.S There is alot of good information on some very important issues at focus on the family/citizen link. I would especially encourage anyone that is undecided to read the article about O'Bama's record on the 'Born Alive' legislation. |
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I love this weather! It's not too hot and it's not too cool, it's just right here at my southern home! The kids are getting started in some new curriculum, and once again we enjoyed having school outside. It's just too nice to stay in the house. Our family dog,Bear, wants to get in on the learning too.He and Nick were cute as buttons with a reading handbook while my oldest Nathan stretched out on the grass with his Math. I have recently purchased some Abeka curriculum and they are taking to it like ducks to water. I decided to spend the year focusing on English and Math. We just wing it with social Studies and Science choosing to gather info that appeals to us rather than use a prescribed curriculum. I am interested in doing some creative writing with Nathan and Natalie, as I want to foster in them a love for writing, but I don't want to just do journals. I want to actually give them some story ideas and see what they do with them. I am trying to get Nick to branch out with his reading. I feel like he's ready to take it to the next level but I think he's afraid of leaving behind the easy ,familiar, cat ,hat ,bat,routine. We read aloud a Munro Leaf book called Wee Gillis and had alot of fun with it. Of course, my two olders have to stop everything and come running when I read aloud to Nick. If I were smart enough I think I'd just do a unit study with all of my children because they are all interested in what the others are doing. Happy Homeschooling ! |
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Homeschooling, when you think about it ,is really just a piece of cake. Got your attention didn't I? Now, before you write me off ,just think about it for awhile. We Southern girls like a good piece of poundcake(I'll take mine slathered with whip cream and strawberries) every now and then. There is just one problem: eating poundcake means that first you must make a poundcake! To make a really good poundcake ,you must gather only the finest ingredients, and combine them skillfully. That sounds like a good analogy to homeschooling,doesn't it? We spend our time and energy looking at and searching for good material , then we must combine them skillfully every day. Too much of this ,and not enough of that, and this cake (our children)may not live up to it's full potential! The scary part comes last of all ,when our little cakes are ready for the test. All too soon our children are grown, and they go out into the world to endure the testing heat of life's oven. Fiery trials will reveal if what we instilled in them was of quality or not. Yes, homeschooling is like a piece of cake, so make sure you use only the best ingredients!Above all else: don't forget the sugar !!! |
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Wow! Time really can get away from you.I've been busy as a bee doing alot of fall cleaning. I have severe allergies, so I don't get to do very much spring cleaning. In my rush to get things done around the house, homeschooling has gotten pushed to the back burner. I'm very one track minded!I really think that housekeeping is a big part of homeschooling and I have noticed that we seem to get more done when our house is clean.The kids are less grouchy and more apt to learn. We homeschooled on the porch some last week as the weather has just been gorgeous. It was great to see the kids curled up with their schoolwork just enjoying the sunshine and fresh air. Blessings to all! |
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Sometimes I have a tendency to pity myself. Poor pitiful me. I have three kids that never listen, a husband that doesn't clean yards to suit me, a meesy house that always seems to stay that way no matter that I scrub until my hands are raw. Sometimes my sweet mother even joins in the party with me. I don't see how you take it she groans and then I think, Wow , if it's bad enough for Mama to pity me then it must be bad.In these times I can fall into the pit of despondency and I could stay there for days just feeling sorry for myself. If feeling sorry for myself would do any good then certianly things in my life would have changed already! The fact of the matter is this:Self-pity is selfish by nature. I, as a child of God am called to a higher calling to live a life of sacrifice. I am to expend myself until I have nothing more to expend ,for in losing my life ,Christ says ,that I will gain it. This is not a passage only written for martyrs, this is a passage written for the struggling woman who lives between my two elbows. What does a life of sacrifice mean for me? It is cooking pancakes when I would rather shove the cereal box at my husband. It is allowing him the time and space to help others even when the garbage is overflowing the picnic table. It is cleaning the bathroom yet again today from top to bottom after one too many splashes from the kids.It s praying one more time for an alcoholic brother who seems to be dying lost. It is the essence of being a Christian. How much do I have to give ?, you may ask. The answer is simple: Give until it hurts. Thats what Jesus did! |
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Have you ever had the desire to learn something new but for some reason or the other it just eluded you? That is exactly how I feel as I sit here at the computer having just went to crochet websites trying to find those"easy" insrtuctions that will somehow change the tangled mess at the end of my crochet hook into the lovely afgan I have envisioned. I know that at 2:10 in the afternoon I should be thinking of other things like supper, schooling and HOUSECLEANING but, I am kind of like my kids sometimes in that I want to put off what I should be doing and do something else for a change. I am not having the best of homeschooling weeks. Perhaps Gustav blew me off the course,or perhaps worry and anxiety over my construction working husbands future employment weighed me down. Maybe, just maybe,I am bored with schooling! My thoughts are sometimes as jumbled as my crocheting.I love homeschooling in theory but I sometimes find myself tiring out, kind of like swimming.I start out with grand ideas for making things fun and exciting and then two weeks into the year I realize that I have the same kids that I had before .They still do not like Math,and they still have problems spelling, and they will always have the uncanny knack for knocking the stuffing out of my best laid plans for fun and creativity. But like crocheting,I just have to back up ,unravel the knots and start over again. I am reminded of the Lord who says that his mercies are new to us every morning. He is weaving the tapestry of our lives and though there are dark threads among the gold and silver ones I am sure that the end product will be something of great beauty if we allow Him to work. Blessings to all! p.s. Does learning to crochet count as a teacher work day? |
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Living here in the deep south means that you get to experience weather up close and personal, especially during hurricane season. We are all well and safe and we even managed to get some schooling done today! I think Nathan,my oldest ,wishes that the storm had blown away the Math books but alas, they are all intact. The battle royal goes on with him, me ,and the Math book. There were alot of laughs around my table today as we worked together and just enjoyed being together as a family. New records were set in spelling as my son and daughter breezed through words like cadaver and calabash (which by the way are a dead body and a south american tree respectively.) But before I could pat myself on the back for being such a great teacher and giving birth to such brilliant children I realized that Nathan had misspelled his name of all things!! Lest Nate think that I am picking on him I"ll share the sentence that Natalie came up with for English. She was trying to make a sentence for the word distaff which is a device used for spinning wool. She wrote: Mom I can not make any woot my distaff is droke. Blessings to all! |
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There's an old saying that was later made into a country song that talks about viewing life through rose colored glasses. Sometimes we as homeschool Moms are guilty of this. We tell ourselves that somehow we are superior. Our children will turn out flawless and that we will make no mistakes. This mindset though nice to think about is not realistic. We are all born into a fallen world with an inbred sin nature that cannot be controlled outside of the cross.Homeschooling is a method of teaching and training our children but in the end the choices that they make in life are ultimately theirs. The fact of the matter is this: I can point my children in the right direction but I cannot make them walk it. I can pray for them but I cannot make them pray for themselves. I can try to be a good example but I cannot make them follow me. In spite of this, I must strive to maintain a positive attitude and trust in the Lord. I can believe and hope for the best and above all: I can pray! I can call out their name to God every day. No, there are no rose-colored glasses,but there is a Rose of Sharon ,and because He died among the thorns I can bloom where he planted me in this garden of grace. Blessings to all! |
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Today has been one of those days. We were awakened this morning around 2:30 a.m with the news that we were under tornado warnings in our part of the state and family members began arriving soon after ,seeking shelter in our older ,more substantial house. I left them up laughing and talking at 3:00 and later my husband returned home, unable to work because of the weather. After three days of rain I had a pretty good case of the gloomies myself and really didn't feel like hitting the books. In spite of this there were teachable moments during the evening when my eight year old and I curled up on the couch with our battered World Book encyclopedias. We read about Oliver Cromwell ,cowrie shells and we looked at the colorful pictures together. I often find my children(especially my boys ) looking at these library sale finds, devouring the information inside. This is an excellent reminder for me that teaching material doesn't have to cost a fortune! God Bless |
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Another week has flew by and I'm sitting here contemplating Monday. Looking back at last week I see progress made not only in the amount of information that we covered in school books but more importantly I see life lessons that were learned and experiences that I have shared with my children. I am having problems motivating my very intelligent son to take a real intrest in his work(especially Math). We have been talking alot about education and why it is important. I have begged, cajoled,punished and pleaded ,and there has been some improvement, but I really wish that I could find something that would captivate him and make learning a pleasure. I would probably be harder on him if he didn't remind me of myself so much. Nathan and I are both readers. We are not mathematically inclined. I suppose there comes a time in the life of every homeschool Mom and Dad when you realize that everything you teach will not be exciting and fun. In these moments you have to remember that your job is not to entertain your children but to educate them. Some of the most meaningful people in my life were not highly educated. My grandmother could not read or write. She was born in 1903 and her mother died when she was eight years old leaving my Maw-Maw to take her place in the family. Maw-Maw could remember standing on a lard can to be able to reach the biscuit pan to make biscuits for her younger brothers. She was also one of the most intelligent women that I ever knew.I was blessed to be around her and watch her life and learn some of the things that she had to teach. I would like to think that I'm a little like her and that I can pass on not only some of the wisdom that she taught me but also some reading and writing and even Math skills too. That's why I like homeschooling! We get to teach our children a balanced, well rounded,curriculum and we also get to tell them about the One who created it all! That's what us Southerners call having your cake and eatin' it too!
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