Striving Day by Day - Homeschool Blogger

HELLLLLPP!! I need Help. (Can you tell?)

Mon, 24 Mar 2008 08:31:00 -0500

I look at all these Mom's wonderful profiles and they seem like they have everything together. They have pictures of their kids doing homeschool activities. They have schedules. Their kids seem happy and are learning new things all the time. I just want to cry. That's what I want!!! Why can't I be that way? I'm so unorganized (which is against my natural tendency - I need organization to function). I have no set schedule. No planned homeschool activities. Lots of wasted time and I don't know how to turn it all around. My efforts just seem to fall apart. I'm always left feeling defeated and depressed. I wish someone could come into my home for a week and show me how to do it. Kind of like those Nanny 911 shows but it would be Homeschool 911.

Okay, enough venting, time to go make another attempt.

Been a long time!

Sun, 10 Feb 2008 22:47:00 -0600

Wow! It's been a few years since I've posted a blog. So much has happened since then. We've moved several times. We now live on the west coast of Florida 3 minutes from the beach. Our boys are 12, 6 and 3. I'm still homeschooling (or trying to). I had put my business on hold while we were moving around but I've revived that and it's going well.

I'll make more entries as time allows. Just wanted to update my info and say "I'm back!".

Brighter Days

Mon, 11 Sep 2006 07:29:00 -0500

A lot of good things have been happening. My husband and I have been more focused on serving the Lord more faithfully and trying to put the pain from the past few years behind us. We workout together everyday. He has lost 50 lbs. My business is going well. I am now a Diamond Distributor. We're working together to write down our goals and desires and we're making a plan on how to get to where we want to be, spiritually, physically and financially.

I'm excited about the new school year. Our oldest is in the 6th grade and I'm going to start our second child with kindergarten activities. It's really cute, our baby (19 months) is going around counting because he hears it a lot.

We're living with more of a focus and purpose now. It started when our kids and I had to go to Alabama for a few weeks to help my Mom who was in a car accident. Chris (my husband) was here at home alone. He was absolutely miserable. The Lord revealed some things to his heart during that time and Chris made some major changes for all of us as a family. It's been absolutely wonderful.

So, in a nutshell, that's what has been going on around here. Now, I'm going to check in on my friends here and see what's been going on with you all.

It's been too long...

Sat, 9 Sep 2006 06:53:00 -0500

I haven't blogged in a very long time. I'm really hoping to get back to it very soon. I want to catch up on what's happening with my friends here. See ya soon!

Time to get caught up again.

Mon, 15 May 2006 06:58:00 -0500

Wow, what a busy month I've had. Mother's Day is one of the busiest times of the year for our business. I had a long list of orders and even more coming in for after Mother's Day. It's a good thing, but boy was I swimming in gift baskets.

All that aside, though, I had a very nice Mother's Day. We went and played some tennis. Then we went to the pool and cooked out. Later in the evening I went and delivered more gift baskets. My husband had rented a movie for us to watch together but both of us were so worn out that we didn't get a chance to watch it. So, maybe tonight we'll be more awake.

A friend of ours sent me the most beautiful e-card. As I watched it, I just sat here with tears rolling down my face. It couldn't have been a more perfect card for me. It caused me to remember a few years ago when we just had one child. I was praying and I asked God what was my purpose. He so clearly told me that my purpose was to raise the child that he had entrusted to us. Since then, he has given us two more children. Sometimes it's so easy to lose focus and this card was such a sweet reminder. If anyone would like to read it, here is the link:

http://www.dayspring.com/ecards/card.asp?ID=031a1185-nwt

The Lord's Continual Encouragement

Wed, 5 Apr 2006 13:13:00 -0500

I've been reading the book "The Power of a Praying Woman" by Stormie Omartian. I have been thoroughly enjoying it. It's as if the prayers she wrote came right from my heart. The Lord has been getting me back on track with my walk and this book has been a blessing in the process.

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I was about ready to give up on homeschooling but God in His goodness brought encouragement through another blogger. I actually found her from another site (Guilt Free Homeschooling) and followed her link to our Homeschool Blog. Her user profile is Dee and her blog is titled Following Him At Home. One of the links on her page is for Students of the Word. I'm looking into possibly using their curriculum next year.

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My oldest son and I had a really nice time today. We sat down to do some math and ended up talking for awhile first and then did some multiplication and division. It was so wonderful. It's been too long since we've just sat and talked. I had been a bit scared of doing multiplication and division with him but it went very smoothly and he totally grasped it. I really like the book that we're using (Strayer-Upton Practical Arithmetics) because as it introduces multiplication, it also goes right into division and fractions. For example, it starts with multiplying 2 then goes to dividing by 2 and then learning about 1/2. It gives practice pages on that section, a test and then moves on to multiplying by 3, dividing by 3 and the fraction 1/3 and so on. It works well for us.

So that's pretty much what has been going on here lately.

Hi mrssulli

Thu, 16 Mar 2006 08:16:00 -0600

Good to know I'm not alone! You are so right, if they were going to public school and daycare I would have way more problems. Thanks for bringing that up.

I see that you're near Mickey. I'm not too far from him either. Nice to meet you! That's funny, you have 3 girls and I have 3 boys.

We'll definitely have to keep in touch and maybe we can meet up and have a play day.

I couldn't sleep last night...

Tue, 14 Mar 2006 14:16:00 -0600

I've been having trouble sleeping because at the end of the day, my spirit is so unsettled. I haven't been happy with the way things have been going. Even though I've been getting more organized something still wasn't right. Well, I believe the Lord has showed me the problem.

I have gotten away from the reasons that I want to be a stay at home mom and homeschool our children. I have been increasingly neglecting them. I have not been sowing into their lives spiritually at all. I always act like they are a burden and treat them like they are interrupting me when I'm working. I let them find their own activities to fill thier time. I'm lacking terribly at teaching them academics. I have no joy, no peace, no happiness, no hope. I have allowed all the other distractions blind me from my purpose.

So what is my purpose? To nurture and raise the children (blessings) that the Lord has given to us for such a brief time. To train them up in the ways of the Lord. To teach them good, Godly character. My spiritual life just went spinning out of control since leaving the church where we were and I just have not had anything to give them spiritually.

Having said that, though, I know there is hope. Our God is a wonderful, merciful Father! He has opened my eyes up to this and I know that He is going to lead me through it and restore back what the enemy has taken.

RESTORE. That seems to be the word that keeps coming up. Even this morning as I was reading my bible, one of the verses that stood out to me was Psalms 19:7, (amp) The law of the Lord is perfect, restoring the [whole] person;

As I spend time with Him and in His word daily and once again start teaching my children to do the same, He is going to restore us! Hallelujah! What a great God!

I did not know Missy, but her passing affected me dramatically. I was not right for days after reading what happened. I even sort of stayed away from the blogging site for a little while because I kept seeing people writing about it (which is a good thing). I couldn't really deal with it (and still can't). However, the Lord has been using that to restore my walk with Him. If I should suddenly die, how would I be remembered? Especially by my husband and children? Would I have a testimony as great as Missy's? At this point, I can't say yes to that question but I have a great example to strive for. I know, of course, that our example is Jesus but I believe that he gives us examples through other people as they are following Him.

What a mighty God we serve!!

Personality Profile

Mon, 13 Mar 2006 22:36:00 -0600

Your Personality Profile

You are pure, moral, and adaptable.
You tend to blend into your surroundings.
Shy on the outside, you're outspoken to your friends.

You believe that you live a virtuous life...
And you tend to judge others with a harsh eye.
As a result, people tend to crave your approval.

http://www.blogthings.com/worldsshortestpersonalitytest/

Thank You!

Sun, 12 Mar 2006 20:50:00 -0600

Thank you all so much for checking in on me and writing. It has been way too long since I have blogged. I've been trying really hard to be more organized with homeschool and doing more work and activities with the children so I've been trying to stay away from the computer more.

We haven't found a church body yet but the Lord has been bringing people into our lives lately. For instance, my neighbor right next door. This is so cool. I have been wanting my children (and myself) to learn Spanish. Also I've been wanting to get my oldest son guitar lessons. Also I've been trying to figure out how I can find time to get to the gym consistently. Well, isn't it just like the Lord to cover everything with one swoop.

My son was outside and he came in to tell us about a boy that was cursing him out for no reason. My husband went out to deal with the situation. A few minutes later my husband comes back in and tells me "Come outside a minute, I've hooked you up".

The boy was gone but my next door neighbor was out there and they were all talking. It turns out, her daughter is homeschooled, they're christians, she is going to teach my sons Spanish, they have a lady come over once a week and teach guitar which they said we could attend at the same time and she is free during the day to help me out with the kids while I workout.

WHOAH!! Talk about opening the windows of heaven and pouring out blessings. We will be helping her out with watching her children and also giving her time to workout or take care of things that she needs to take care of. She's excited to have believers close by to fellowship with because the people that she knew that used to live around here moved.

So that's just a little update on what has been going on around here. I really appreciate the care and concern, it means a lot to me. I will try to be more consistent with blogging. I really, really enjoy it.