The adventures of a city homeschool mom...learning to live in the country! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/CountryMomof4/ en-us Homeschool Blogger Thu, 19 Jun 2008 12:13:00 -0500 Thu, 19 Jun 2008 12:13:00 -0500  Well, I don't want my blog to get erased. I'd hate to loose it so I thought I'd better post something before homeschool blogger comes and deletes it. ~K http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/CountryMomof4/549892/ Thu, 19 Jun 2008 12:13:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/CountryMomof4/549892/ So here is is... My new blog address. Feel free to come and visit. It's different... but a God thing. Blessings ~Karlie http://conservachick7.blogspot.com/ http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/CountryMomof4/320677/ Sat, 28 Apr 2007 00:03:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/CountryMomof4/320677/    Wow, I've been on HSB for almost a year! I have so enjoyed pouring out my thoughts these months, and getting to know all of you! So, why goodbye? God has been doing some very powerful things in my life lately. I am learning to trust him more. I am breaking free from life long strongholds and I am FINALLY beginning to understand what faith REALLY is.  With that said, I am making several changes in my life... the best one... walking closer to my father! I plan on setting up a new blog elsewhere. I'll post the address here later, if your interested... but be warned, it's going in an entirely different direction!                                                                                                Blessings ~Karlie http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/CountryMomof4/318921/ Tue, 24 Apr 2007 11:20:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/CountryMomof4/318921/  Today I had an interesting conversation with a woman at t-ball. She was not a Christian, had been divorced, worked full time, and didn't see her kids nearly enough.... lots of strikes against her in my legalistic little mind. Then she started to talk about her job. She is a social worker (yes, I know, homeschool danger zone). She started to talk about several mothers that lost their children due to drug use. My comment... "those people make me sick". Her kind reply "I know, most people say that, but as I get to know these ladies, I start to care for them. They are so trapped in a cycle of drugs and poverty and really don't know how to get out. They just need someone to love them."  HELLO! Since when did this unsaved, woman become more like Christ than I? She had grace and love for the unlovable, and all I had was a harsh judgment. I need to get my butt of my homeschooling high horse, stop hiding my fears and laziness behind my christian "label" and be a bit more like Christ! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/CountryMomof4/314940/ Sun, 15 Apr 2007 21:18:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/CountryMomof4/314940/  So, last night I wrote my blogging masterpiece. It dealt with legalism and deliverance. It was filled with my usual sarcastic over tones and my cameo donut reference. But alas, I lost it. My husband (whom I read it to just seconds before it was lost) said it was probably a good thing because it was slightly offensive (One of my more tamer subjects was how God can't want us to wear "dresses only" because I know that my stretchy Gap jeans that say size 6 on the tag (when I really wear a 10) are a gift from God). See how God delivers me from legalism! How can such happy pants be wrong? Ugh, needless to say, it was probably a good thing that the post was lost or struck down by God as my husband puts it (he says I need to work on being nicer).  So, I'm off to bed leaving you all with a substandard post. You only get a taste of my insensitivity. I often think I should start another blog elsewhere, where I can say everything I am REALLY thinking, and I can just lie to y'all on this one. Let you think I'm the perfect homeschool mom I often wish I was. Oh, that sounds fun! Here.... I'm going to to try it now.   Sample of my new perfect homeschooler blog.   Good Morning my Dear Homeschooling Sisters,      Let me share with you my daily delights!  This morning after I got up at 3:00am and had my 3 hour devotion time, I made a whole grain breakfast of wholewheat pancakes (with wheat  I ground myself) and homemade maple syrup.  After breakfast my joyful children did all the housework (in 10 minutes of course) and sang happy songs as they worked.  With my perfect little schedule I homeschooled my children in Latin, Political Science, and the Westminster Catechism, then went off to sew a quilt.  I made bread and gardened, and read all my Sonlight books to my children that are in my truly impossible teachers manual.  Then my husband came home (on time) to a perfectly clean house, 4 clean children with nicely combed hair (and NO attitudes) and a nice hot dinner waiting for him on the table (Of course I am dressed in a Donna Reed outfit ).  Then we all sat around reading devotions and went frolicking off into the sunset picking daisies and singing the theme to the Sound of Music. Ugh, all that lying is exhausting! Maybe I just better stick to the real thing and leave the perfect homeschooling mom persona to those trying to sell a book. ~Karlie http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/CountryMomof4/312518/ Tue, 10 Apr 2007 23:56:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/CountryMomof4/312518/ Life is well life....     We are so busy here these days. T ball for both boys, looming dance recitals (2 ballet, 1 hip hop), gymnastics (my younger daughter was asked to join team last week and I'm struggling, can we really afford the time it takes? Emily... I want your 2 cents on this one.) 11 year old daughter attitudes UGH. Fellowships, churches, birthday parties, Bible studies, house work, LAUNDRY, cooking, dieting, not dieting, exercise, avoiding exercise (that takes serious time and effort you know), bed time stories, homeschooling, phonics games, all intermingled with desperate prayers and occasional quiet time when my body shuts down from exhaustion, but my mind won't quit racing.  Making time for blogging has been tough this month, but as I write this I find the process of venting so therapeutic, I'm thinking maybe I should squeeze it in more often.   http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/CountryMomof4/308173/ Mon, 2 Apr 2007 09:47:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/CountryMomof4/308173/  I had insomnia last night, and while I was counting sheep, my mind wandered off into things that scare me. Not in a scary monster under the bed type of scary, but "scary" on a different level. I'll see if I can remember some of them.......   1. Hillary Clinton 2. Twinkie Filling 3. 1980's Passenger Vans 4. Women with lots of earrings up in one ear, with short boy hair, and too tight faded black jeans (these items must all be existing TOGETHER to qualify as scary, except the tight faded black jeans, those stand on their own). 5. Fast Food 6. Convenience Store Burritos (heck lets just say convenience stores) 7. The rising house market 8. Loose Borders 9. Mega Churches (ooh, I hear toes crunching) BTW, I'm not  saying there is anything wrong with them here, I'm just saying they scare me! 10. Unruly Dogs 11. Laundry 12. Store bought meat, spinach, strawberries, peanut butter, etc. It's good to have a healthy fear of FDA cutbacks and the unhealthy elimination practises of migrant workers...GROSS 13. Hollywood "Stars" and where they put their money 14. Men in boas and butterfly hair clips (I saw a bit of cable last week... enough said) 15. Feminists 16. Calories (my fear of all food might help this) 17. Bikers (no, not  men on Harleys, but people on BIKES. You know, with those tight little yellow shorts, and those pointy hats, and they always are in the middle of the road on dangerous curves, or zooming by you when you are trying to run., and they travel in SWARMS... did I mention the little yellow shorts? Oh, I so need therapy.) 18. Carnies 19. Chipmunks (bad camping experiences) 20. People who wear those funny little phone things attached to their heads ALL the time. I went to a party the other night and some one had one on, then at the homeschool meeting a lady had one on too! At first I thought that they were some high tech hearing aid, but when I found out they were phones, all I could think was DUMB. For work, fine, what ever, but in social settings? Could ya get any tackier? OK, I've come to the conclusion i could go on with this list FOREVER, so maybe I better stop before I've offended all the chipmunk loving boa wearing men in faded black jeans! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/CountryMomof4/296439/ Thu, 8 Mar 2007 09:18:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/CountryMomof4/296439/  The problem with having a large (ish) family, is that if a illness gets in the house, it has a field day taking out each member of the family, one by one. Each of us wondering "who's next?" It all started last Friday with my little guy. Then Monday it hit my 6 year old son. This morning... me. Oh and the saga continues as my 8 year old dd wouldn't eat lunch today because her "tummy hurt". I have spent a good portion of the day laying on my bare mattress (because my 6 year old puked on my bed last night) waiting for my HUGE comforter to dry in my aging and insufficient dryer. I'm up to about 15 loads of laundry including sheets, quilts, towels, and pajamas all covered in various chunks of hastily thrown together dinners, re-hydrating drinks, and the pity dessert I gave my sickly children. Today as I heave yet another load of vomit covered sheets into the wash and nauseously wipe projectile puke from my walls I regret all snacks, and from this point on I vow to only serve non stain producing foods (grape juice still stains the second time around). On the plus side, the netflix movies I rented 2 weeks ago have finally been watched although Strawberry Shortcake wasn't the hit I'd hoped it would be. Jeeze, let your kids watch Lord of the Rings just once, and a singing cartoon girl with a berry on her head looses it's appeal. Who knew. I have read quite a few books these last few days as I have been up with feverish little boys most of the night, and I just can't sleep with sick kids. I really can't. SO, I read a great book called Hidden Places. It was surprisingly good. It is a Christian novel but had a little steak of feminism in it. Still, I would recommend it as it was a beautiful story that painted God's grace accurately. I started on Billy Letts "Shoot the Moon". I LOVED "Where the Heart Is", but so far this book isn't measuring up. The author obviously favors Democrats and even though I know I should be able to overlook it, It ruins the whole story for me. Yes, I am THAT black and white. Finally I'm reading God's in Alabama. It was recommended by fellow hsb chickadee. It is humorous and well written, but it is VERY explicit. I certainly wouldn't want it to get in the hands of one of my children, so I wouldn't recommend it. It does however keep my attention (it's my dirty sinful mind eh?). Also the main charicter is a Baptist, and I'm assuming a Republican so I have much more tolerance for it than the more "clean cut" book "Shoot The Moon". My mind works in strange ways.  Well, my house looks nearly condemnable right now and my four year old is requesting fruit snacks (all I can think of is red, orange, and yellow half digested gelatinous chunks on my floor) so I need to quickly direct his attention elsewhere. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/CountryMomof4/291999/ Tue, 27 Feb 2007 15:54:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/CountryMomof4/291999/  My oldest daughter (almost 11) and I are going to have a girls night in. You know, do each others nails, pop popcorn, and watch a movie. Now the tricky part is WHAT MOVIE? I could use some suggestions on a clean cut movie that would appeal to a preteen girl. It can even be an oldie. Thanks a bunch. ~Karlie http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/CountryMomof4/289960/ Fri, 23 Feb 2007 15:27:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/CountryMomof4/289960/  Today I'm feeling sorry for myself. I have always been surrounded by friends, until now. We have moved around a lot and in each place we have lived God has provided me with an abundance of GOOD friends. Now my husband says we are finally staying put. As glad as I am to be settling, I have yet to make even one  "good" friend, and I have lived in this town almost 2 years.  I know, I'm being a big baby, but this is a BIG deal for me. I have always cherished my friendships, and to have that part of my life completely missing is pretty tough for a super social gal like me.  I can't help but wonder what's going on. Does God want me to spend a season alone so that I learn to rely more heavily on HIS friendship? Do I need to sow the seeds of my time into my children instead friendships? Am I too picky? Is it ME?  I was starting to finally make friends, but my choice to homeschool again this year scared most of them away. Moving out to the country caused a few more to jump ship. Now that I am following my convictions to take my children out of "kid's church" I feel like the last person has pulled away. Harsh judgment and scorn has taken the place coffee dates. People have no desire to socialize with my children present. I am constantly shocked by the way I have been criticized by following my convictions. Why is God calling me down such an isolated road? I want to follow his will, but I sure could use a partner for the journey. My dear husband has no desire to hear my sorrows as he has little need for "friends" and does not understand my heart in this way.  So I cry these silly tears of loneliness, wondering "Does God have a purpose for this season?" Or is it just circumstance?     http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/CountryMomof4/288177/ Tue, 20 Feb 2007 13:06:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/CountryMomof4/288177/