THURSDAY'S THOUGHTS - Homeschool Blogger

An update on us

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 14:21:00 -0500

I really don't want to make this update...two days after I posted our announcement, we had a miscarriage. The ultrasound showed that the baby had no heartbeat and was about 8 weeks old. I am actually glad that I did not know this until the actual miscarriage began. It would have been extrememely disheartening.

My heart goes out to all the women who do know ahead of time and just have to wait it out.

We know that God is in control and we thank Him for his sovereignty.

Our new news!

Tue, 29 Sep 2009 15:03:00 -0500

We have added to our family and as the Lord wills this little hiding one will make his or her entry into the world around the first week of May!

other news!
Faith got her cast off last week!! She was given a brace and is expected to be brace-free in about a week and a half!

School has started and already an adventure!

Tue, 25 Aug 2009 15:29:00 -0500

First, I am still in shock that Faith is in first grade! Not that this in itself is surprising--just means that NEXT year will be 2nd grade and that just seems soooo...BIG! Wow!

I had all sorts of plans for starting this year well. I didn't. My room is not what I want it to be. I still have some serious organization to do.

My brain is trying to get around this Phonics , English, and Reading stuff...What the curriculum is doing right now is sooo easy, but it sort of all blends in together, so i am afraid that if I have her jump ahead too much, she's going to miss something...

Then we have this other challenge! She broke her arm (Her WRITING arm) two weeks ago! Here is a pic of her and her arm ! She has one of her sunflowers that she grew with her...it's as big as her face! Anyway, back to school and organization: I am planning to make chair pockets for the chairs from pillow cases and need to rearrange the bookcases so that some of the TE's are easier to access and some of the toys are more difficult to access.
You know, I am sort of low on words and ideas right now ( no, really I am.... at least low on ability of how to express them) But here's a thought for you. Feel free to email me and let me know what you think--if you want a quick reply.
If you have been growing in Christ, there mayb be some desires that God has just taken from your life or perhaps it's just something that you have not participated in for a long time and you recently thought about it and it just is not THAT important to you anymore. That can't really be considered a sacrifice for the sake of Christ, can it?
I was challenged by our pastor's sermon this past week .
http://columbiabiblechurch.org/cmsms/index.php?page=sermons
( click on the August 23 message)
I really wasn't sure what I need to sacrifice...after some thought, I realized that it wasn't this thing or that specifically ( although I am sure there are many specifics that different people would say I should give up, yet that is coming from them and not from God)...if came down to selfishness. in time mostly....Still need to consider this...

recent pics

Tue, 28 Jul 2009 15:11:00 -0500

I forgot to send the last entry to everyone on my list, and that's the one with pics!
To see the pics, you need to go to the entry before this one!

Somewhere between Summer and School

Tue, 28 Jul 2009 14:57:00 -0500

Well, we are "starting" school next week...actually it's a trial run but with the real curr. I need to work out some schedule bugs and don't really know what the "bugs" will be so I guess this will be the week to find out.
This will be the first year we are doing school that will require mastery of skills on Faith's part and the first year that nobody will be taking a morning nap, so I have some shoe boxes for Elijah's blanket time.

Isaiah will only be doing about 40 min. of school in the morning and then will be able to play with Elijah after that.

This will be interesting.
Here's some pics I took a while ( month) ago, but I don't think I've posted them yet!
Time to eat lunch...more later!

Frog Day

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 15:40:00 -0500

Well, We attended our first "Frog Day" ( an event held at the home of church family members).. We didn't find any frogs, but we did discover a fish! Faith loves "swimming!" ( floating around with a life jacket!)

The surprise was that as much as Elijah loves bathtime, he would NOT get into the baby pool or the pond!

So, here are some pics!
HOMESCHOOLING:
I talked to a woman in line at the post office last week who mentioned that she hated to send her child to school but was so relieved when she did. When we told her we homeschooled, she looked at me like I had 6 heads to want to stay home with my children all day, everyday for the next 20 years.

Surprisingly, she's the only one who has ever given me "that" look!!

I just sent our curriculum consultant our order for next year! As soon as she emails me the totals, I can send her a check! whooppee!! Hopefully, the books will be here in a couple of weeks!! I'm wiggling like a puppy, I'm so happy and excited!

a collection of posts

Tue, 23 Jun 2009 14:24:00 -0500

The following posts are what I wrote at home and saved to my thumbdrive until I could access some internet time.

There are pics at the bottom...so keep reading!

Musing (NO date--forgot to look at calendar)

Well, this is just wonderful and does not happen often (if ever) around here. I opened the dryer this afternoon and there were a handful of already dry things. Just a little handful. So, realistically thinking, I made a note to myself that as soon as I finished my kitchen work, I'd head upstairs to fold that huge pile....I made it upstairs about 10 minutes later and guess what! There was NO pile!! What would you think if this happened to YOU? I immediately got excited over the idea that I might actually GET to start working on that other pile of clean laundry that met it's near-demise with a purple crayon!!

I had to laugh at the fact that I was excited about finally getting to that "project" and that there are people in the world who would shake their heads and tell me that I "need" to get out more!

TRAINING UP A CHILD. June 14

Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old, he will not depart from it. Prov.

I was just standing in my kitchen munching on microwave popcorn while meditating on this. I am not a Bible scholar in the sense that my shelves are filled with Greek and Hebrew translations ( However, I do have an unfinished copy of Spanish in 10 min. a Day!), but I love the Lord and want to know Him more intensely and desire to be more consistent in my part of our relationship. I have heard that this verse means to train a child according to his bent (or, what he is made up of.) I am not completely sure it's translated well all the time.How about training up your child not according to his own little bent, but according To God's word??

Okay, there is a place for that "bent" thing...I can venture to say putting the littles on the narrow path is one thing, keeping them there is another. Very few will walk in the center of that path..they are more likely to stray to one side or another. Also, I am not the strictest Mama in the world and sometimes a bit permissive in the eyes of some, especially when they read the next part. I honestly do not have a problem with how my children stay on the path as long as they are moving towards God continually and as close to the center of that narrow path as possible, oh... and also keeping their eyes fixed on HIM the whole time. They can run, walk, stroll, tiptoe, March (in reverence that is), skip, hop....etc...I guess that is where the "bent" part comes in. I think that too many put a bigger emphasis on the "bent" than on the actual path.

I might be wrong about this. You are free to set me straight.

Isaiah is Disappointed.

June 15

"I am very disappointed!" is what he actually said. "All of my cars go under the hutch and I can't get them out!"

So, big deal...Jen's kid is disappointed...I guess the funny thing is that he is only 3-and-a-half and he said it with such gusto.

This would be a good place for a soundbite. Wish I had one.

Also, two wonderful friends of mine and faithful readers of this blog is coming to Idaho soon ( I hope) because Nancy's "baby" is getting married. I am so looking forward to seeing you again Nancy and Jessica! Her "baby" happens to be engaged to a girl that my little guy ( see above story) is head over heels for himself....sigh...

Did you get all the way through...okay...here are the pics I promised!

Faith with her two week old sunflowers!

Now they are 4wks old! Watch out big sister! They are catching up!

protect the children in your life!

Tue, 9 Jun 2009 13:35:00 -0500

Something to Read:

A parent’s right to raise their children as they see fit is a time-honored American tradition, but today it is being threatened. The Supreme Court’s Troxel v. Granville decision in 2000 undermined a 75-year heritage of Constitutionally-protected, fundamental parental rights, which 8 of the 9 justices abandoned. At the same time, a growing body of international law fuels activist judges to legislate foreign standards from the American bench, while treaties such as the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child would subject parental decisions to government oversight and international review.

Rep. Pete Hoekstra (MI-2) has proposed HJR-42, the Parental Rights Amendment, to stop the erosion of parental rights in American courts while simultaneously defending our laws from international invasion. Please, visit parentalrights.org to learn more about the Amendment, and to join their email network by signing the petition to protect parental rights.

Life around here...

Tue, 19 May 2009 15:26:01 -0500

We are done with Kindergarten!! Mostly... that is... we still have some fun activity stuff to do and some snacks of the week to do!

I can't believe she'll be in FIRST grade!!

Just wanted to share a pic from Ressurection Day:

More to come later!

my first visit back

Tue, 3 Mar 2009 12:27:00 -0600

It's my first visit back to my blog from the land of no net. I had everything all written out and saved to a disk, but since our home computer is a mac and my buddie's is not, I could not open it, so now I have to think about what to write. Next time, I think I'll try to save it as a pdf file. We'll see if that works. So, first things first, I did find the pics from Faith's birthday party! Here they are:

Kiddos with the balloons sent from Grandpa and Grandma.

Here's the attempt at a princess cake...

Her actual birthday was the day AFTER her party...Doesn't she look grown up?

THE NEWEST NEWS...
Our dryer died! We had to put up a clothesline, but I am using my buddie's dryer today because it looked like rain. and look! raindrops on the window as I glance up!

Yesterday, God granted us about 45 minutes of beautiful weather in the low 60's. I decided to let Elijah explore the back yard.. He had quite the struggle of crossing over the "line" that separates the cement patio from the garage even though the level didn't change ( no steps). I was thinking I should have brought my camera outside! It was so fun to watch him explore!

More next time!