I'm a christian wife and homeschooling mom enjoying the journey as God leads us. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/followingtheShepherd/ en-us Homeschool Blogger Mon, 9 Feb 2009 21:34:00 -0600 Mon, 9 Feb 2009 21:34:00 -0600 I've started a new blog at http://adelightfulinheritance.blogspot.com/ .  Feel free to peek over there. :) http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/followingtheShepherd/656463/ Mon, 9 Feb 2009 21:34:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/followingtheShepherd/656463/ Hi! We are still here - life's just been happening! :) A quick recap - we've about gotten settled. There are a few boxes that need to be taken care of but I'm not quite sure what to do with the contents. (I want more bookshelves.) :) One of my favorite parts of summer is the extra time the girls have and the imagination that kicks in. My second sweet girl coordinated a colonial tea party for us one afternoon. The table: The hostess: Music: My honey (with the help of our neighbor) built one side, the front portion and the gate of our new privacy fence. We put up an above ground pool for the girls (and us) to enjoy! We enjoyed a summer visits with friends. We've also started back with school. Although we've homeschooled all along, it's always changing - new ages and gradually adding more siblings in the mix - makes it feel a bit new each year. Not all days are filled with "fun" but we have enjoyed some nature study God sent our way. We've also enjoyed learning about Indians. Birthday season is also officially here! We had a family get together with my side of the family. (We celebrated 6 birthdays among us!) My youngest had a few friends come over one day and then went to Chuck E. Cheese the day before her birthday for a birthday lunch. On her actual birthday, we celebrated at the lake. Fun at the lake! My birthday was lots of fun. (It's the day after my youngest's birthday.)  My family was very sweet to me. My oldest and my younget made me bookmarks. (They knew I've been reading lots of books at a time and always need more bookmarks.) My second sweet girl and a friend planned a surprise birthday party for me in Sunday school. I walked into the classroom to find it all decorated, a class full of kiddos singing happy birthday, and coffee cake with "Happy Birthday" spelled out on it. She also cooked dinner for us (and cleaned up) as my gift; she fed the girls first and then had my honey and I eat in the dining room by ourselves so it would be a date. My family is very sweet to me! They all let me know how much they love me.  Oh - my birthday we also went to a baseball game. I love attending games. :) That's our life the last month or so. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/followingtheShepherd/585947/ Sat, 6 Sep 2008 07:24:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/followingtheShepherd/585947/ Just wanted to post for anyone who still peeks in to see if I still blog. I'm still here.  I intend to post to fill you in on what's been going on in our lives.  (I often think of what I'd post, just don't quite get around to it.)  Hopefully it's coming soon. :) The unpacking's going great and we're pretty much settled in - just a few boxes of things I need to do organize.  (These are things that needed organized before the storm anyway.)  We're loving the house and it's so nice to be back home.  I hope to include pics of what all we've been doing in the next post. We're praying for those in Gustav's path.  (Sure feel even more empathy after the bit of damage we had to deal with after the tornado.) Hope you're having a wonderful, worshipful day. In His love.  http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/followingtheShepherd/582978/ Sun, 31 Aug 2008 12:49:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/followingtheShepherd/582978/ Praise the Lord, we're back in our house.  It's wonderful to be back home!  We're still getting unpacked.  (I foolishly thought we'd be unpacked by now - I really underestimated the time it would take to declutter while unpacking and the time that life takes away from unpacking.) :)  It'll come though and mean while we're rejoicing to be home and loving the updated features of our house.  God is so good.  Thanks for your prayers! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/followingtheShepherd/560086/ Sat, 12 Jul 2008 07:55:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/followingtheShepherd/560086/ I wanted to share with you an encouraging find.  I love to go to Kelly Crawford's blog http://generationcedar.blogspot.com/ and read her posts.  I am greatly encouraged by her thoughts (and I enjoy her humor).  When she recently released an ebook, Relaxed Homeschooling, I knew I wanted to read it.  I've been homeschooling for years - my oldest daughter is 13 and we've taught her at home all along.  Before I had her, I taught 2nd grade.  When we decided to homeschool, I thought I'd stay home and teach her just like I taught in the classroom - except at home.  I even called some of the local private schools to see what curriculum they used so that I could use that material and plug her into a school if homeschooling didn't work out.  How funny!   God graciously led me down a completely different path before I even began walking on the "school" path I thought I would be taking.  God led us to relaxed homeschooling and I truly saw the benefits - my children were truly learning for keeps - not just stuffing the info in their brains to spit it out on a test and then forget all about it again.  As time has marched on, I've added 3 more children into our teaching times not to mention higher level materials.  I'm also planning to begin "high school" level materials for my oldest because she would like to the opportunity to graduate a year early.  (Throw a tornado in the mix for good measure.)    I'm sure you can imagine that my brain has been somewhat on overload and I again find myself at the place I did when we began our homeschooling adventure - what will homeschooling high school look like for us?  (I know that each family/each child is different and that God leads us all to the paths appropriate for us - no two paths will look exactly the same because He has different paths for all of us.) What a wonderful time to enjoy Kelly's book.  It was a timely reminder that relaxed homeschooling does work.  It's okay - actually very beneficial - to think outside of the box.  She begins by writing about how we think about education - our philosophy of education, our objectives, keeping relationships with our children high in our priorities.  (Again, a timely reminder as God has brought this to my thoughts time and again the last few days.  This time after the tornado has been tough on our family in that we've been so busy with the work that's needed to be taken care of, we've had very little down time enjoying and being with each other.  God's really shown me that the last couple days and I've been trying to redeem the time on hand - it's passing quickly and I want the relationships in our family to be close!)  Sorry - back to the book. :) Kelly then talks about a lifestyle of learning and how to foster it in our daily lives with our children.  She then shares with us how their family implements their teaching objectives for their children.  She also gives us practical learning ideas that are easy to implement in our homes.  She answers common questions people express about relaxed homeschooling.  Finally she shares some of her favorite resources and websites. One of my favorite parts of the ebook are her quotes through out the book.  These are applicable quotes from people such as Beatrix Potter and Albert Einstein. Thank you, Kelly, for the encouragement.  It works wonders! If you're interested in purchasing her ebook, you can get it at the following link http://www.generationcedar.com/homeschoolingebook.html .  Right now it's on a promotional special (1/2 price). Hope you enjoy and wishing you all a great weekend and a meaningful time of worship tomorrow. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/followingtheShepherd/560082/ Sat, 12 Jul 2008 07:29:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/followingtheShepherd/560082/ I realized as I posted the last post that I hadn't posted pictures of the house that I thought I had.  Here they are.  We are very pleased with how the house has turned out. :)  (These photos are from mid June.  The ones I posted with the light fixtures are the finished product.) Here's our new backsplash & kitchen color. Here's our new dining room color & hardwood floor. Here's our den with the tile at the back door & carpet in the rest of the den. The bedrooms- the hallway - http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/followingtheShepherd/556369/ Fri, 4 Jul 2008 08:16:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/followingtheShepherd/556369/   Just a quick note to let you know it's finally here! The house is finished and it's time for us to move back home! The girls and I have packed and moved a few boxes the last couple days, we've gotten the front bathroom all set up and all the kitchen shelves & drawers lined. Today we plan to celebrate the 4th at the lake with my family. Tomorrow we've rented a moving truck and have some friends coming over to help us move the big stuff. (Sorry about the bold print above - I don't have time to figure out why it did that or fix it.) Meanwhile, here are a couple more photos of our cabinet doors in the kitchen & our new kitchen & dining room light fixtures. Oh - here's a photo of our bench seat too. (I don't think you were able to see it well before.) Actually, as I uploaded the photos I realized that I must not have taken a photo of the cabinet doors. Thought I had - anyway, you can see the doors under the window seat and that's the style (just bigger) or our cabinet doors. Happy 4th of July! Also - here are some photos of our beach trip next week.   Last weekend at the beach was WONDERFUL!!!! What a treat to have such a relaxing family weekend. (With everything going on with the house the last 4 months, we appeciated it even more.) Here's the relaxing scene that greeted us when we woke up Friday morning. (We arrived after 11 p.m. Thursday night.) God truly is THE master artist. We absolutely loved the beach!  (Notice the photo of the jellyfish. There were tons of them - nature study, right?) Have a wonderful 4th of July! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/followingtheShepherd/556353/ Fri, 4 Jul 2008 07:18:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/followingtheShepherd/556353/  Have you ever had days where you know God has a sense of humor and wants to use laughter to break the stress? To be honest, I have been feeling a lot of stress over the unknown. We're so close to being done with the house.  They're saying by Friday - but there's still stuff to be done. (Of course there's stuff left - otherwise they'd be done now and not Friday).   I don't know yet when exactly we're moving, if we're packing ourselves or hiring a moving company, etc. I'm not, by nature, a patient person. (My husband, I'm sure, would put in a big amen.) :) But I know God's working on that and using all the circumstances for good. He's got it all in His hands - I just sometimes get ahead of myself trying to figure it all out. Anyway, yesterday morning I went over to the house to wait on the cable guy. (We were getting it installed early so that he'd be done with the attic by today when they're scheduled to blow in the insulation.) My cell phone belt clip broke a couple weeks ago, so I had it in my front pocket. Nature called and, midflush, the phone fell out of my pocket and was flushed down the toilet!!!! I heard it hit, turned, & saw it disappear. I tried to rescue it. No luck. Next I tried to pull myself together - I couldn't believe it and had to laugh (and laugh and laugh). I went to a neighbor to borrow a phone and call my honey to fill him in. He told me I had to be making this up; I assured him I wasn't that imaginative! The funny thing - I could hear the phone vibrating in the toilet and, when my honey called the number to see what would happen, he got a recording that they were trying to locate me!!! Long story short, the plumber who happened to be working on our house yesterday tried to reach it with a tool, felt it, but couldn't pull it up. (So now I'm learning humility along with patience!) Luckily though, the plumber pushed it on through in the process. My husband uninstalled he toilet last night and it wasn't stuck in it - glad we don't have to buy a new toilet since it was brand new. Tonight we hope to install the toilet again and today I hope to go get a new cell phone. Meanwhile, if you call my cell phone and get a message that they're trying to locate me - you'll know why! :) http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/followingtheShepherd/552839/ Wed, 25 Jun 2008 07:21:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/followingtheShepherd/552839/ Finally, some photos of the progress on our house.  We are still not home yet, but it's coming. :) All the carpet's being replaced in the house, so one day we set the kids lose with markers and told them to enjoy. Here are some of the results: Home Sweet Home just past our entry way and welcome at the hallway entrance. All kinds of art work in each bedroom.   One carpet was already up so our daughter wrote Psalm 34:4 on her floor to go under her carpet: "I soght the Lord and He answered me. He delivered me from all my fears." Her sister also wrote a sweet note on her floor. Okay, here's the rest of the house. For quite a while, this was our den. That's our trim on the floor there. (For the record, it got put on last week.) :) Here's one bedroom. The photo doesn't show it very well but it's a really pretty light blue.   Here's another room. It's a beautiful bright blue. This room is staying the same since it's so perfect for its cccupant. :) All the girls have magentic paint on the front of their bedroom doors (painted over with white so it looks good) and chalkboard paint on the back of their doors so they can enjoy. :) Our bedroom is a pretty, restful sage color.  Both bathrooms and the hallway are this beige color. (Again, hard to tell in the photo but it's pretty.) :) Our contractors are great. They used to have a cabinet shop and custom built our cabinets here in the garage. Here are photos of our cabinets in the different stages of being made & finished, sitting in our living room, being installed, & finally installed like they are today. I'm really excited about the changes. We now have a little bar the kids can pull bar stools up to and a window seat, which I love! Also they laid the tile Friday & Saturday, so you can see that in the last photos. And here's the front of the house with new siding & shutters. That's all folks. :) The painters are scheduled for today to paint the front of the house. I'm about to head over there to paint the touch ups in the back of the house. The carpet & hard wood is supposed to come in the end of the week. (Thus we're going crazy trying to get as much done as possible before the flooring.) Please pray for us. All this working on the house is really getting old for the kids. Their fun meter has been met and they're really fed up with it. Have a great week. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/followingtheShepherd/548330/ Mon, 16 Jun 2008 06:32:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/followingtheShepherd/548330/ Just a quick update for those of you who may still peek on my blog every now and then. We've officially finished our "school work" of the year.  We were so ready for a break.  We're not yet back home.  Hopefully soon.  We've been so busy painting.  We're painting the rooms not affected by the tornado while our contractors are taking care of the big parts.  We've painted 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, & a hallway.  We've finished the bathroom cabinets & trims in the bathrooms and 2 bedrooms.  We've still got to finish the hall, on bedroom and paint all the closets.  Whew!  We'll be so ready to be done and get home.  Meanwhile, in the rest of the house, we have a garage & laundry room again, a new roof, new windows, new doors, & new cabinets.  The tile should come this week, painters for the front of the house the end of the week, & hardwood & carpet the end of next week.  Counter tops should be somewhere in there and cabinet doors not too far after that - I think.  Whew!  It's been a long haul but will be so great to get back home. Meanwhile, God's been teaching us so much.  I know that I fail miserably in the patience department and I'm sure He's working on that through all this.  We've all seen His hand at work in all this and KNOW that He's present and working on our behalf.  It's been awesome to see this.  Last week I was quite frustrated.  God chose that time to show me a neat picture.  We've been so focused on the work at our "tornado house" (as we call it).  We keep up our rental house - cleaning, mowing, etc. but we aren't really taking time to make this house our home.  We don't have anything on the walls, aren't doing any landscaping, and aren't putting any money into beautifying it.  It's a great house and, if it were our home, I'd love it - but it isn't our home, so my heart isn't hear.  What a neat parallel.  Right now, Jesus is in heaven preparing our home.  That's where my focus needs to be.  That's where my heart, my effort, my time, my money, etc. need to be focused.  I still live in this world and need to take care of things, but I need to remember to keep my focus on my true home. :) Hope you all have a wonderful week. In His love, Tina http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/followingtheShepherd/545737/ Tue, 10 Jun 2008 16:04:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/followingtheShepherd/545737/