Jun. 24, 2009 - Homeschooling questions--answered. Part 1
I've had a bunch of questions lately.
From non-homeschoolers...
WHY do you homeschool?
Is it easy?
What about socialization?
And from the homeschoolers, it's always the same....
What curriculum are you going to use next year.
I thought I'd answer these questions and save myself some time. (GRIN)
1. We homeschool first and foremost because we really believe that God has shown us that He wants us to homeschool our children. That doesn't mean we feel everyone should homeschool. It doesn't mean we feel superior because we do. We strictly do it because we feel, for our family, we are being obedient to what God has shown US. We take the verses in Deuteronomy 6 very seriously that we are to teach our children the things of God, "When you rise up, when you sit down and when we walk along the way." I also selfishly want to be the one to teach my children to read. I want to be there when the lightbulb goes off when math finally clicks, when a Bible verse finally makes sense, when they are tempted to hit their little sister and instead learn what self control is all about. I loved that I get to learn and re-learn so many things along with them! I love that we can do school snuggling on the couch, or outside on the porch on a beautiful day too! Which brings me to the next question...
2. NO, it's not easy...are you kidding? (grin) But nothing worth doing is ever easy. It is a whole lot of work, and judging by how many parents tell us, "I could never teach my kids" I guess it's not supposed to be easy. It's hard, but worth the effort.
3. Socialization is precicesly one of the top reasons why we choose to homeschool. I'll leave it at that.
Now to my fellow moms who are in the curriculum choosing frenzy that I just came out of, and so you don't have to keep asking when I'm gonna blog about our curriculum that we're using this year (haha)
It's not pretty, but here's the plan:
NOTE: all the curriculum names are "clickable" if you want to read more about it.
ALL TOGETHER (Kindergarten through 8th grader)
My Father's World Exploring Countries and Cultures
Study for Bible Bee
Aslan (8th grade)
Creative Writing from Student of the Word
Math- Finish Teaching Textbooks Geometry (he's 1/2 way through)
Then Scratch your Brain Geometry from Critical Thinking
Then start Teaching Textbooks Algebra 2
Science- Apologia Physical Science
Language Arts- Applications of Grammar
Total Language Plus--Treasure Island, Hiding Place and The Yearling
Rosetta Stone Spanish
Logic- Fallacy Detective and Thinking Toolbox (1st semester)
Followed by Introductory Logic (2nd semester)
I'm also likely going to have him take an online course in the Spring on Creation Apologetics from Answers in Genesis.
He spends quite a bit of time reading online forums learning how to care for his plants. He is super interested in Horticulture, especially Carnivorous plants, and recently has gotten into some "discussions" with PhD's and has needed to defend creationism. He has done a great job, but falls short in debating with PhD professors. (imagine that) I feel that every Christian, but especially those going into Science fields need to know what they believe, why and defend that.
So that is why the classes in Logic and Creation Apologetics. Plus, he LOVES those subjects.
This is taking a lot more time than I expected, so I'm gonna take a break and share the rest of my plans for the other children next time I blog.
In other news...Gilead got his first tooth yesterday!
I'm taking Hosanna on her birthday trip tomorrow for 1 night to a Horse Ranch. We'll go on a 1/2 day horseback riding trip. (Grandma will help us with Gilead...we're excited she's going with us this year!) Pray for daddy back home with the other 5. = )
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Jun. 15, 2009 - Showing love with Stick Figures
I am one of the most blessed women I know. I regularly get pictures drawn and colored just for me. I get wildflowers, geode's, empty turtle shells, empty or live snails, and fossils from the creek.
My 2 favorite things recently were spontaneously drawn pictures for me.
The first was from my 6 year old son......
Pretty insightful for a six year old, eh?
The next was from my oldest daughter, who turned 9 yesterday....
Full of honesty there, huh? I believe she is referring to potatoes and eggs....her 2 least liked foods.
There is a spiritual truth to that one though....she is thanking me for even what she doesn't like!!
1 Thessalonians 5:18
In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.
Oh, how I wish I could do this as well as my 9 year old!! Did you catch that....give thanks in EVERYTHING. Even the "potatoes and eggs" in my life. How easy it is to thank God for the things in life that we like..the "Chocolate, coffee and pizza's" of life. But when God serves us "beets, or collard greens, or couscous" we still are to thank Him in EVERYTHING. The Bible says "All things work together for GOOD to those who love God." So that is why we thank God when life is going great and why we thank God when it seems to not be turning out the way we wished.
Like the song we sing at church BLESSED BE YOUR NAME says,
Blessed Be Your Name In the land that is plentiful Where Your streams of abundance flow Blessed be Your name Blessed Be Your name When I'm found in the desert place Though I walk through the wilderness Blessed Be Your name Every blessing You pour out I'll turn back to praise When the darkness closes in, Lord Still I will say Blessed be the name of the Lord Blessed be Your name Blessed be the name of the Lord Blessed be Your glorious name Blessed be Your name When the sun's shining down on me When the world's 'all as it should be' Blessed be Your name Blessed be Your name On the road marked with suffering Though there's pain in the offering Blessed be Your name Every blessing You pour out I'll turn back to praise When the darkness closes in, Lord Still I will say Blessed be the name of the Lord Blessed be Your name Blessed be the name of the Lord Blessed be Your glorious name Blessed be the name of the Lord Blessed be Your name Blessed be the name of the Lord Blessed be Your glorious name You give and take away You give and take away My heart will choose to say Lord, blessed be Your nameEvery day is a choice...we choose to praise God in the good and bad or we complain.....let's be womenwho praise God even if we're stressed, or bummed, or hungry, or tired. It glorifies God and is a greatexample to our children too!!!!
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Jun. 6, 2009 - Punctuation and Colon Health--a Conversation.
A conversation at our dinner table tonight...you just never know what to expect.
We were eating lettuce from our garden. (Along with trout that we caught today at a fishing derby and some whole wheat elbow noodles ) I gave the kids each a bunch of big leaves since we didn't have too much salad stuff to go with it today like tomatoes/cucs etc.
Noah asked if he could give one of his lettuce leaves to his 8yo sister who LOVES lettuce cause he thought I gave him too much. I told him that I was making sure he never had colon cancer.
The discussion went to "what is a colon?" (can you believe doctor kids asked that question? Sigh)
So I explained that a colon is the same as the large intestine and that it stays healthy if you eat lots of fiber like fruits and veggies like lettuce.
Aslan then said, "If I have a colon, then Gilead (his 5 month old baby brother) must have a SEMI Colon."
The homeschool dinner table is never dull!
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Jun. 2, 2009 - Raising Engineers
There is one thing that we have done for years, that I realized others may not have thought about before.
Having 4 sons (and 3 curious daughters as well) I know how much kids love to investigate and dissect things. One thing we started way back when our oldest was about 6 was to give them any appliance or electrical "thingy" that had died to completely take apart and investigate. Usually around their 6th or 7th birthday, we give boys their own real toolbox with REAL tools and even their own cordless drill.
When anything around the house comes up that needs to be fixed, I call the boys and they get to use their own tools with daddy's direction or sometimes Aslan's if he's mastered it. They help me put things on the wall, tighten loose door knobs, put on a drawer knob or anything.
Another great use for their tools is to take things apart as I mentioned. They have dissected old printers, computer towers, tv sets, microwaves, toasters, stereos, telephones and, most recently, an old record player. They learn so much from this, and have so much fun too. When they have all adequately destroyed investigated the appliance, it goes in the trash can.
I have even bought cheap appliances for a few dollars at yard sales that we didn't need for them to disassemble.
So the next time an appliance or anything with a screw in it dies, get out the tools and let your boys at it! They will have so much fun...and who knows what it will lead to.....a future engineer? mechanic?
It's a small price to pay.
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May. 30, 2009 - How to teach a child to read 101
One comment I've heard over the years from moms who would love to homeschool, but aren't yet is, "I don't think I could ever teach my child to read." Let me assure you that if you can read, you can teach your child to read! Some parents freak out at the thought of teaching their kids kindergarten, when actually it is just an extension of what you have already been doing. You taught that child to talk...by them listening to you....they aren't speaking Chinese afterall. You teach them coutning by counting toes and everything else, you teach them to go on the potty, what animal sounds are, the shapes, colors. Honestly, kindergarten is just a continuation of that.
To build a solid foundation to reading, a child must be read to. What child doesn't enjoy being read to? As much as you can, read read read to those tiny blessings! From picture books, from the Bible, from picture encyclopedias, anything they love. My 2yr LOVES any Dr Seuss book. (Hello, hello, do you like my hat? I do not like your hat. Good by again, Good bye!)
She has also got the whole family crazy about all the funny little Boynton books. (Red Hat Blue Hat, Snuggle Puppy, my favorite Barnyard Dance, Cows etc)
Anyway, I wanted to share how I teach a child to read. You must know that there are as many different ways to teach as there are homeschoolers...and no method is probably better than any other, though I personally think Phonics is the best way to go...there are thousands of ways to do that.
Here is what has worked for me...who is teaching #5 to read right now.
Read a lot to them the first few years. When they are about 18+ mos, have them begin watching LEAP FROG LETTER FACTORY a few times every week. This 30 minute DVD has taught 2 of my kids letter sounds painlessly without me. And it helps when I put it on when I'm doing school with the older ones and need it quiet for 30 min so we can dig deep into Student of the Word or History. The next one in the series is great too once they are about 2. TALKING WORDS FACTORY. It shows them how 3 letters get put together to make a word.
I also work with 2-4 yr olds in making their very own Alphabet Notebook. I have done this 2 ways and they are both fun. For the 2-3 yr olds, I print out a coloring page of each letter and they color it and we talk about the letter sounds. I find the pages here on LEARNING PLANET.
For the older 3 and 4 yr olds, I get a 3 ringed notebook with 26 pages of cardstock, punch holes and write the big and little letter of each letter on one page near the top about 3" tall. Then I get out some old magazines and they cut out pictures and put the picture on the page that the letter starts with. So if they cut out a dog, it does on the "D" page. A toothbrush goes on the "T' page. They think it's great and it helps them start to hear the beginning letter sounds.
Usually around their 4th birthday, I will have them go through the Explode the Code Primer books.
Once a child knows all their letter sounds, I grab the first set of Bob Books. This is a little box with 12 tiny books in them. The first book, called "Mat" has 8 pages. It goes something like this:
Mat
Sam
Mat sat
Sam sat
Mat sat on Sam
Sam sat on Mat
Mat sat
Sam sat
The End.
Most of my kids have been able to read these around 4. Some as young as 3, but those were the first few when I had more time to work on "school" with them.
They feel so proud that they read a whole book!
Once they start to read the first few Bob Books, I jump into Explode the Code book 1 and have them continue to read Bob books to me each day as they get progressively harder.
Another set of readers that I'm using right now with Jubilee is Christian Liberty Press Kindergarten Readers. She has really been enjoying this. We just work on reading for about 10 minutes, do a page of Explode the Code and she is really taking off in her reading at 4 yrs 10 mos.
That is really all their is to it. She understands the concept of reading and sounding out words. We just plug along with Explode the Code, and spend 10 minutes a day reading the Bob Books or her readers and that is really all a 4 yr old needs and can handle at a time. She BEGS to do school with me, so it's not a chore either. SLowly the readers get harder, introduce new sound combinations, new blends, new sight words and long vowels and before you know it, they are grabbing books off the shelf and reading themselves.
Also, with my first 4 children, I did most of the above, but once they were reading Bob books, I did the Explode the Code and also used Learning Language Arts Through Literature Blue and Red books for 2 years. That was very easy to teach them reading, but the new approach above seems to be working just as well with Jubilee and is much less work for both of us.
Like I said, there are many ways, and mine isn't the best, but it's worked with 5 children. I just thought if you wanted to teach your child to read but had no idea how to start that this would be helpful.
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May. 30, 2009 - Oswald Hits hard again.
This was too good in today's devotional to not share:
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\ / MY UTMOST FOR HIS HIGHEST -- http://www.heartlight.org/
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May 30, 2009
"YES - BUT . . . !"
Lord, I will follow Thee; but ...
Luke 9:61
http://www.SearchGodsWord.org/desk/?query=lu+9:61&sr=1
Supposing God tells you to do something which is an enormous test to
your common sense, what are you going to do? Hang back? If you get
into the habit of doing a thing in the physical domain, you will do
it every time until you break the habit determinedly; and the same is
true spiritually. Again and again you will get up to what Jesus
Christ wants, and every time you will turn back when it comes to the
point, until you abandon resolutely. "Yes, but - supposing I do obey
God in this matter, what about . . . ?" "Yes, I will obey God if He
will let me use my common sense, but don't ask me to take a step in
the dark." Jesus Christ demands of the man who trusts Him the same
reckless sporting spirit that the natural man exhibits. If a man is
going to do anything worth while, there are times when he has to risk
everything on his leap, and in the spiritual domain Jesus Christ
demands that you risk everything you hold by common sense and leap
into what He says, and immediately you do, you find that what He says
fits on as solidly as common sense. At the bar of common sense Jesus
Christ's statements may seem mad; but bring them to the bar of faith,
and you begin to find with awestruck spirit that they are the words
of God. Trust entirely in God, and when He brings you to the venture,
see that you take it. We act like pagans in a crisis, only one out of
a crowd is daring enough to bank his faith in the character of God.
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May. 26, 2009 - Baby Fat
There is baby fat:
And then there is baby fat. The former is absolutely adorable.....sweet and squishy. The latter...well, is squishy. Being 5 mos postpartum from #7, I was reflecting today, while facing a scale that laughs at me every morning and tells me that I have, once again, 30 pounds to lose. I have, more or less, lost these same squishy 30 pounds SIX times, for a total of approximately 180 pounds. Now, I'm thankful that I have lost those 180 pounds, so my scale doesn't say 300+, but, to be totally honest, shhhhhhh (I don't like to lose weight!)
I really enjoy eating whatever I want to, and not wishing I wasn't so "jiggly" and that I could fit into THOSE jeans....the ones that are always my goal. It's pretty easy to be honest cause I know all my mom friends out there can relate. It just seems a little unfair.....I mean, make us gain 40lbs in pregnancy and feel like a blimp, have that adorable baby and feel really skinny for a few weeks cause we can bend again and see our toes...then realize that THIN is more than bending and seeing our shoes. THEN make us absolutely ravenous from nursing....am I the only one who when I'm nursing thinks of FOOD all the time? And then, realizing we need to lose the baby fat in the midst of starving all the time, being sleep deprived and having no time for the treadmill.
Okay, that is reality...I can make excuses all day for what IS....but that won't make the scale begin the countdown from 30 to 29 any faster. A month or so ago, I started a weekly weigh in with 2 friends. It helps a bit cause I think of having to admit to them that I gained or stayed the same every Wednesday. I only have 4 pounds lost to show for that though, so today, I started what is the only way that I've ever been able to lose the baby fat....the 1,700 calorie lifestyle. I don't love the word DIET cause just hearing that word makes me feel hungry. (oh dear...my tummy growled just typing the word.) The thing that I like about the 1,700 calorie lifestyle is that there is nothing I CAN'T eat. It has worked 6 times before and it fairly painless.
I thought I'd share it here...if you have 10, or 30 or 100 lbs to lose, it may work for you too.
I saw a nutritionist back when Aslan was 4 months old. Just to weigh in with every week. It took me 11 weeks to lose 29 pounds and it worked! That was back when I was 24 years old.
I did it also, when Praise was a baby and I was 35 years old and it worked again! So I'm trusting that my 37 yr old body will once again succeed on this 1,700 calorie diet. If I wasn't nursing, then I would probably have to do a lower calorie, like 1,200....but thankfully, nursing lets me eat more calories! Yeah. So, once again, I started the 1,700 game today. And it's 4pm and not too bad!
So far, I've only eaten 600 calories too!
1 banana (100) 1 whole wheat pancake (40cal) 1 cup of coffee (140) 1 whole wheat tortilla with refried beans (250) 1 c strawberries (45) 5 huge leaves of red leaf lettuce (20)
So I still have 1,100 calories to go!
I typically approach the day with 200 calories for bfast, 500 for lunch and 1,000 for dinner cause I don't like going to bed feeling hungry.
I have a nutrition book from College that lists all the calories for me, but I have also used a great website that would work for you.
http://www.nutritiondata.com/tools/nutrient-search
It allows you to type in any food and it tells you how many calories and how many of any nutriet it contains.
So, If you have been putting off losing those pounds, just DO IT! You will be so glad you did!!!
Remember: Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels!
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May. 19, 2009 - God's Chisel
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May. 13, 2009 - Terrestria Chronicles SALE
Hi all!
I just wanted to quickly tell you about a sale on my absolute favorite set of books!
I've mentioned the Terrestria Chronicles before...they are written for ages 10+ but my children 4,6,8 LOVE them as well and Beg me to read "Just one more chapter."
These books are PACKED full of spiritual truths!! I Have been able to use examples from these books SO MANY TIMES to explain spiritual principles to my children.
Usually, he sells the set for around $50 (7books) but he is offering a special, to the first 100 orders only, of only $27.93 + shipping. That is amazing...and I PROMISE you won't regret the purchase!!
Also, to those who have read the Terrestria Chronicles and love it as much as we do, he is offering a discount on book 1 in bulk so you can buy them and hand them out to friends!! I've been hoping he'd do this so I could get other families to enter the world of Terrestria too!
Mr Dunlop is a children's evangelist and former homeschooler. (His children are grown)
He is conservative so you won't find any magic or wizardry in his books.
Hurry though, cause he emailed me and told us he was only offering the special to the first 100 sets.
http://www.talesofcastles.com/
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May. 4, 2009 - 2yo siblings and how they teach character
I just wanted to share what happened this week and brag on my 13 year old. My 13 yos has a hobby that has become a passion of his. It is acquiring, cultivating, caring and researching carnivorous plants.
It all started with a cheap little Venus Flytrap from Wal Mart 2 yrs ago. Now he has dozens and dozens of plants: flytraps, sundews, pitcher plants and others. He truly has a green thumb and enjoys this aspect of botany. He uses his earned money to buy seeds and plants of varieties he doesn't have. He joined the International Carnivorous Plant Society and is a part of a Carnivorous Plant of the Month club as well, which was his favorite birthday present this year.
He had 2 of a certain type of pitcher plant that was due to flower any day. It only flowers one time every year and he had been eagerly awaiting it to do so. He gets up and checks his plants first thing every day before his Bible time. One morning, he headed straight out to the porch to check on this plants to see if the flowers were beginning to open yet, and he was shocked to see that both flowers were just CUT completely, cleanly off. Now, my faithful blog readers probably immediately think of what/who the culprit probably was, but Aslan, who really loves his little sisters, actually first thought a wild turkey might have eaten it on the porch while we were sleeping. When I suggested it "might possibly have been a little sister" he said, "I don't think she would do that." (I have no idea WHY he would esteem her behavior so highly.) Well, 30 min later, 2yo sweet savage woke up. Aslan sweetly says, "Praisey, did you cut off Aslan's flowers?" She says, "Yes!" He says, "Could you please show me where you put them?"
Praise, "OTAY!"
She runs to her little red Radio Flyer tricylcle, opens the "trunk" and hands him two perfectly formed but very cut off flowers. Aslan takes them and patiently says, "Praise, could you please not cut off anymore of Aslan's plants ever again?" "OTAY." She says and that was it!
His beloved flowers---murdered in broad daylight...his flowers he has eagerly waited to bloom for almost a year...and he patiently talks to his sister and even hugs her.
I'd like to say that I would have exhibited so much character, but that might have sealed up my decision for ebay for sure: REALLY sweet, cute 2 1/2 yr old girl, with blond curly hair and blue eyes....cuts off carnivorous plants, drinks Tylenol when you aren't looking, can leap tall buildings in a single bound.....for sale....no reserve.
We do love our Praise, so we forgive her, hug her and continue to train her......you know, I imagine that God feels a lot like I do sometimes. He continues to forgive me when I act like Praise, He continues to love me, and continues to train me. I'm so thankful that God hasn't sold me....cause I'm sure he would have a long time ago. I'm thankful that He has loved me enough to "buy me for a price" as the Bible says when he died on the cross for all the times I act like a 2 1/2 year old!
I must have told Aslan 6 times that day how proud I was of him cause I know how frustrating that must have felt. He said, "Ya know, Mom, I realized today that I love Praise more than I love all my plants, so that helped me to be patient with her." Wow...a lot of wisdom in those words from a 13 year old.
Shortly after this incident, the same day, we were completing the last day of Mystery of History Volume 1 for school, and it told us to each write out our testimonies of when we made the decision to trust Jesus to be our Savior and repent of our sins and ask Him to be Lord of our life.
We decided to have the whole family, 6 yrs on up, do it orally first. I started w/ my testimony, and we all shared the moment that we made the decision that changed us for eternity.
Aslan went last and when he was done said, "You know, I'm positive that if I had not given my life to the Lord, that I would not and could not have responded the way I did this morning with Praise...that is God showing Himself in my life." We couldn't have agreed more. As a family, we Praise the Lord for who He is, that even in our childishness and sin, He loved us enough to die for us, and loves us enough to keep loving us and making an impact in our characters!!!
Romans 5:8
"But God demonstrates His own love for us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."
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Apr. 27, 2009 - 100%
Sometimes I blog more for me than for others. I don't do a journal with a pen, so I also blog about things that I don't want to forget in the future. Because it blessed me, I thought it might be a blessing to others too though.
God has been showing me something this week. When I read Matthew 24 in preparation for teaching the sweet savages that chapter for Student of the Word, when I read Oswald Chambers yesterday,
and when I heard the sermon at church yesterday, they are all about a recurring theme. Now, since I don't believe there are any coincidences in the life of a Christian, I really pay attention when I feel God is trying to show me something.
In Matthew 24, it is talking about the end times. In verse 12 it says "Because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold." In order to grow cold, you have to have been hot or at least warm. I believe this verse is talking about Christians losing their zeal in their relationship with the Lord. My footnote says "with false teaching and loose morals comes a particularly destructive disease--the loss of true love for God and others. Sin cools your love for God and others by turning your focus on yourself. You cannot truly love if you think only of yourself." The sweet savages and I talked about how to be on guard for sin in our lives that will "cool" our relationship w/ the Lord. We talked about how to avoid our love from growing cold.
Later in the chapter it says "False Christs and prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect." We talked about the phrase "IF POSSIBLE" and what makes it possible for Christians to be deceived. We talked about the importance of spending time in the Word to know the Truth, spending time in prayer and guarding ourselves from the decietfulness of Satan, who the BIble says "prowles around like a roaring lion seeking those to devour."
Even our culture has false prophets in it. I read yesterday that some are trying to make Obama out to be like a messiah. Here is what I read in World Net Daily yesterday:
100 days in office, coronated Messiah click to read
Next, when I read Oswald, it was talking about Abraham and God asking him to sacrifice his son Issac:
The great lesson to be learned from Abraham’s faith in God is that he was prepared to do anything for God. He was there to obey God, no matter what contrary belief of his might be violated by his obedience.
And finally, our pastor preached the passage about when Jesus asks Peter if he loves him (he was asking if he Agape loved him (meaning unconditional decision to love) and Peter answered that he did love (Phileo) love him--meaning brotherly love. And the sermon was about how we need to give 100% to our relationship with God.
The conversation today in school was about 100%. Do we give 100% in our Christian walk? (none of us answered "yes.") If we were to give 100% what would it look like and what would we need to do differently? How about giving 100% in our work? our marriage? our relationships with siblings? family? I challenged my children to work on just 1 thing first....striving to give 100% in their relationship with the Lord. Thinking about what they need to change, do more of, less of or differently. In reality, if we are giving 100% in our relationship w/ God, the rest will fall into place though, won't they?
I have tried this today, to give 100% in everything. Of course I fell short, but I noticed a better attitude, better use of my time and more patience overall. I evaluated what my time wasters were and got rid of some of them. Anyway, tomorrow when you wake up, ask God to help you give 100% to whatever you do! As Christians God calls us to giving our all in everything.....but start with your relationship with Him!!!!
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Apr. 27, 2009 - Follow the Leader
Lately, I've received a few emails from different women...some that I know personally, and some that are only E-Friends.....asking for my perspective on a situation in their lives. In at least 3 of these situations, the person was facing a difficult decision or situation, but in every instance, the husband felt direction for how to approach the situation or decision....not strongly, but they felt led a certain way.
My advice to all the women was to follow their husband's lead in that particular area. Our husbands are the leaders of the family. They are ultimately responsible to God for the family and decisions made therein. If they ask our opinion or input, by all means share. If they know how you feel, but still feel led to proceed in a certain direction against what you feel, then may I encourage you to pray for your husband to have wisdom and trust their judgment. That doesn't mean they won't make mistakes, but our job is to be their helpmeets...to stand behind them. Be thankful that we don't have their jobs!
If your husband feels like your family should _______, and it doesnt' go against Scripture, then be his biggest fan!!!! Ask God to change your heart to also embrace that decision. Our children are watching our responses to these situations. They are learning how to be godly wives and husbands from how we function in our marriages. Not only that but our husbands thrive on knowing that we honor their decisions and respect the authority that God has given to them.
We have enought decisions to worry about in a day:
What to cook for breakfast.....lunch....dinner.......how to train the children while dad is gone....what curriculum will work best....how to organize the pantry, how often sheets get washed.....the list goes on and on. Let your man be the man...stand behind him and teach his children to respect and honor him too!
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Apr. 22, 2009 - Homeschool Conventions
This last weekend, I was able to go to the Midwest Cincinnati Homeschool convention with baby Gilead and 3 of my girlfriends who are fellow moms of large homeschooling families.
Every spring, I try to go to a convention, because, like other professions that require continuing education, it is a time to learn what is new out there, remember why we do what we do and be encouraged to KEEP GOING! This year did all of that for me!
Occasionally, it crosses my mind what my life would be like if I had my children in school and wasn't their teacher. I'd have 3 kids at home most of the day..which at first sounds pretty easy, but when I see the public school bus drive by our road at 6:15am (on those rare days I have to be in the van and out--usually to the airport or something).....an hour before I'm even usually awake, that puts it all in perspective. (Grin)
There are a lot of questions we homeschoolers hear...."What about socialization?" (Actually that is exactly WHY we homeschool!) "Is is hard?" (You BET it's hard!!...but worth it!!) "What about the prom?" (What about it?) What about extra curriculur activities? (Soccer, 4-H, PE Day, Homeschool group has all sorts of activities)
The #1 question that you get from OTHER homeschooler, by far, is...."What curriculum do you use?"
For those of you non homeschoolers, you have NO idea how hard that question is..there is SO Much curriculum out there, it is mind boggling. At first, one might be tempted to complain with all the choices. One top of that, what works with your firstborn, will most certainly not be the best for your second born. Multiply that times 7 children and it is a full time job to figure out curriculum for your family. There is curriculum out there where you just buy a set of say, 5th grade and it includes everything. Usually that is more textbooky....the problem is that it is very much like just bringing school home. To me, homeschooling is so much more than just doing school at home. It is a way of life.
I prefer to teach my children together as much as possible, which for us includes Bible, History and Geography. For the rest, they work at grade level.
I loved the convention because I was able to actually look at curriculum that I have seen online and really get an idea if it would work or not for our family. I was also able to learn about a bunch more curriculum that I have either never considered or seen in person.
Along with the hugest exhibit hall that I've ever seen, there were also lectures going on simultaneously all day long. At least TWELVE to choose from every hour....I think there were over 200 in those 3 days.
I only went to 2 lectures because I absolutely LOVE walking through the exhibit hall and looking at all the books!
My favorite lecture, by far though was by David Hazell....creator of My Father's World Curriculum.
He used a great analogy of looking at the different ways to homeschool by comparing them to ways to travel the US.
Getting regular public school textbooks and doing them at home is like travelling on an interstate. You get there, it gets it done, but it's not too exciting.
Using Christian school books at home is like toll ways...it's more expensive, you see some good, exciting sites and it gets it done but is not the most exciting way to learn either.
Classical Education is like travelling Rt 66. You get a good feel for roads you take and learn a lot on those roads, but you miss out on a lot of other stuff.
Unit studies are the scenic route where you actually really see a few sights well. You experience them, learn a lot but miss a whole bunch of other great sights.
Unschooling is like travelling only residential roads. You study a lot of what interests the kids and things they are familiar with but you never leave your immediate area.
Ecclectic is getting a little bit of all of those, but can be disjointed and you can miss some things.
A tour guide is like using the best of those methods following someone who has been there...hitting the highlights deeply and travelling the necessary interstates because you need to but doing it as painlessly as possible.
He used Grammar as an example. He said that we could be like schools that teach grammar every year from 1st through 5th, with lots of tears until they finally hit 6/7th grade and understand it. He recommends not focusing too much on grammar until 6-8th grade and at that age their brains are able to understand it and they will get it in 2 yrs or less. He said the early elementary brains weren't ready to understand concepts like grammar. It's the same reason we don't teach algebra to a 3rd grader.
Up til then, focus on reading, writing and sentence structure and the grammar terms will be easily learned later.
Anyway, that really helped me this year as I was stressing about my younger kids learning grammar....that with a few of them in 2-5th grades, it just wasn't sticking. Now I know why! I'll just let their brains develop more, spend lots of time reading and writing and we'll tackle it in middle school more.
This is getting long. I really just wanted to share what I learned for those who can't go to a convention this year. It also really helped me to choose curriculum for next year which is a huge step as I'll have 5 grades next year: Kindergarten, 1st, 4th, 6th and 8th. Whew.
What I love about homeschooling is that I just don't have to use the same curriculum for all my children whether it is the best for that child or not. I can use a science that works great for my firstborn who is great at science and math, but I don't have to use the same thing for my 2nd born who is a people person and great at art and language arts. I use more of a hands on science and down to earth math.
I teach art to 2 of my kids that LOVE art, and don't require art of my 1 son who doesn't like art at all. That is the beauty of homeschooling. He instead gets extra time to study his passion which is botany.
Stay tuned for another day where I will answer the question that I've gotten a lot this month...WHAT curriculum are you going to use next year.
For you non-homeschoolers...I will one day stop talking about homeschooling but this time of year, planning for next year becomes very mind consuming...please be patient. = )
If you are toying with homeschooling, please do earnestly pray about it and see if it might be God's plan for your family. It may not be for everyone, but at least pray and see if it's an option for you!
I'd be glad to answer any questions too!
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Apr. 7, 2009 - Math: The Life of Fred
With the Cincinnati Midwest Homeschool Convention coming up next week (YIPEE) I've been spending a lot of time lately perusing curriculum online, praying for God to give me vision for next year and thinking way too much about curriculum choices.
I somehow, last week, came upon the FUNNIEST math curriculum I've ever seen. You might be wondering how math curriculum can be "funny" but this one just is a hoot! As I was reading samples of "The Life of Fred" I was laughing and smiling and thinking, "THIS is a curriculum my 2nd born could have written!!" (He is naturally just very funny!)
I have no idea WHY I was looking at math curriculum, as that is one subject I am very happy with what we are using (Teaching Textbooks for the older boys and Singapore Math for the younger crew)
But when I was looking at this curriculum, I just HAD to buy the first book in the series and read it.
Okay, the curriculum is called "The Life of Fred."
Fred is a 5 year old boy, who is a professor at KITTENS University and a math whiz. Through reading the hilarious happenings in the day in the life of Fred, he encouters every math problem imaginable. Through reading about his day, the author interjects math into the reading and at the end of every chapter are math problems called "The Bridge" that you have to pass 90% to go on to the next chapter.
It truly makes math practical, and so far, my kids have loved reading the story too. (So far they have skipped some math problems, but that's okay, they still learned a lot....if/when I use it as a curriculum or a supplement, they will do the problems)
I've read some reviews that this is a complete math program as a stand alone curriculum.
I'll have to look it over closer, but if that is true, I can see this being a favorite curriculum in homeschool circles in no time. (Buy stock now! = )
We bought THE LIFE OF FRED Fractions. It was $19 with free shipping on all his stuff.
Anyway, this book cracks me up and I will be evaluating to see if we could use it as our math curriculum. We love Teaching Textbooks though, but this is much cheaper and much more entertaining.
Check it out...I promise, you've never seen anything like Fred!!!
Meet Fred:
Amazingly too, this series goes through Calculus and Statistics...here are the available books...
Life of Fred: Decimals and Percents
Life of Fred: Beginning Algebra
Fred's Home Companion: Beginning Algebra
Life of Fred: Advanced Algebra
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Mar. 31, 2009 - What kind of soil do you have?
I was doing Student of the Word with the Sweet Savages tonight after dinner and we studied Matthew 13:1-23. The parable of the 4 soils. Something neat came out of it that we had never thought of, so I thought I'd share it with you. I'll paraphrase the 4 soils first that Jesus was talking about and His explanation of what it meant...
1. Seed that was sown on the path--is like someone who hears the truth of God's Word but never understands it and it never grows.
2. Seed that is sown on the rocky soil--is like someone who hears and receives God's Word but it has no depth to them so when trials come, their faith is gone.
3. Seed that is sown in the area with weeds--is like someone who hears the Word, begins to live it, but the things of this world are too tempting and money and "things" choke out their faith.
4. Seed that is sown in the good soil--is like someone who hears the truths of God's Word, understands it, believes it and they bear much fruit in their lives. (Fruit of the Holy Spirit)
Since we usually have a garden every year, albeit one that is small and usually has way too many weeds, we could better relate and talk about this parable for our own lives.
We first talked about it in relation to our own selves being the sowers. We might share the Good News of what the Bible says with a bunch of people, but very few seem changed by it. The seed sown above was ALL good seed, but WHERE the seed landed made all the difference. As children of God, our job is to share what God has done in our lives and, even more important, share the Gospel. If 75% of what we share never shows fruit, that is not our fault. The Bible says that it is the work of the Holy Spirit in people's lives that allow them to understand the Gospel. Our job is to obey God and leave the results up to him. (Hey, that sounds a lot like Facing the Giants main theme!)
On the other hand, if we think of our own individual lives as being ground that seed is sown on, what kind of ground are we? Are we a path? Rocky soil? Weedy soil? or GOOD soil?
We discussed tonight how our lives are not like a nice clean bag of potting soil with no weeds or rocks...our hearts are more like our garden. We might go out and get up all the rocks in the garden and pull all the weeds (The things of this world that lure us away from God/ sin in our hearts/ anything that hinders us from loving God with ALL our hearts, souls, mind and strength) but a few days or weeks later, we somehow find MORE rocks and weeds and need to again deal with that which has worked it's way into our hearts to choke out the good fruit in our lives. Cleaning our hearts is not (unfortunately) a 1 time deal. We need to constantly be hoeing, raking and cleaning our souls and hearts with the Word of God and prayer as the Holy Spirit reveals those things in our "garden" that are hindering our ability to grow good seed.
Pretty neat, huh?
Now, go clean out your garden so the good seed can grow!!
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Mar. 25, 2009 - If it was legal to sell 2 year olds on ebay, I wonder how many there would be?
Those of you that also know me on facebook, might have seen my status today:
Misti Clark Konsavage is thankful you can't sell a 2 year old on ebay...I may be tempted today. (grin) |
That status ended up getting LOTS of funny comments, but not one person asked me WHY I was tempted. Well, this is one of those stories that Petersonclan talks about that "If it's going to be funny someday, it's funny now." I don't agree that it's funny yet, but since I can see laughing about it with her when she's married and has her own crazy stinker houdini 2 year old daughter, I will laugh...so the story will get typed so I can print it out and put it in her baby book along with the Emergency Room results from last night...oh, I'm jumping ahead of myself.
I'd love to say that this mishap happened because I was lounging in my jacuzzi bathtub, eating Hersheys 65% dark chocolate squares with cacao nibs in it (the best there is!!), listening to some really relaxing praise music while reading the book I've almost started reading all week but don't have time (Against the Wind by K.P. Yohannan) with the wonderful aroma of rose petals around me from some tantalizing bubble bath that hasn't already been used on the little savages....while they sweetly all sat on the couch reading as a group quietly. But because my life isn't like the family on tv, it goes like this....
We had just finished dinner. The baby (along with 3 of his siblings) have or are getting over croup. The baby's nose was full of some stuff that desperately needed a bulb syringe and boy was he fussy! (Did I mention that it was a night that Chris was working?) I take cute baby savage to my bedroom to suck out the you know what...leaving most of my kids clearning up the kitchen while listening to Pilgrim's Progress. I suck the nosey a few times which causes some to also come up his throat (these syringes are heavy duty these days, enough to suck your toes back through your nose) I digress. Sorry. Some phlegm got sucked up to his gag area and he proceeded to throw up 4-5 times --all over our bed.
I ran to get a towel to clean up him and the bed, when Noah walks in showing me a medicine cup (one of those tiny ones that comes with Children's liquid medicine) that has red stuff at the bottom.
He proceeds to tell me that energizer baby...the same sweet angel that turned 2 1/2 this week, was found with a kitchen chair against the kitchen counter and her standing on the kitchen counter messing with all the medicines 5 feet in the air...she had gotten the bottle of Children's Tylenol open and had some...how much he didn't know. By the time he noticed the cup was sitting there and she was trying to get the Albuterol syrup open too, that we have been giving for croup.
I take a big sigh (DId I mention Chris was working?) and hand mucus covered baby to biggest brother and grab the phone to call SuperSavage. I say "We have a problem." And I proceeded to recap the above scenario.
He says he'll call Poison Control...you know those people I blogged about in September that we called for, who else, but energizer toddler. They call me...and she says for her weight she would have needed to ingest 2 1/2 oz...or over 1/2 of a full bottle. I really wasn't sure how much was in there but doubted it was 1/2 full to start with. I tell her the whole story and she reassures me that she doesn't think it was that much, probably don't need to give her activated charcoal or take her in or anything unless I thought she had 70 ml or more. Well, I was ALMOSt sure she hadn't but because I wasn't 100% sure, Super savage and I decided to have her acetaminophen levels drawn at 4 hrs to see if it was toxic levels.
Problem is....4 hrs meant 11:30PM. I mean, I'm a night person and all, but I got about 5 hrs of sleep the night before. Well, sweet neighbor came over to sleep at my house so I could WAKE UP not one but TWO sleeping babies and take them to the ER in the middle of the night.
Gilead didn't appreciate that at all....but Praise really didn't when she had to have her finger poked and blood drained for 5 min into a tube. I just kept quietly talking and holding her saying sweetly, "Now Praisey....I'm sorry we have to do this but you did not obey and drank medicine without asking so now you have to have an owie!" I said that quite a few times hoping it all sinks in.
I went back home and daddy called to say her # was 26 and toxic levels are 150 so I can go to sleep now.
In the morning, we repeated the story to all the siblings , emphasizing WHY she had to go through that.
So, my next plan when I have more sleep is to try to trick her into drinking medicine....leaving the same little cup full of water w/ a drop of red food coloring. (insert sinister laugh here) And pouncing on her when she gives into her fleshly sin nature. (Notice I didn't says IF.....)
So ladies and gentlemen, there you have it. Another episode in "The Adventures of what happens a Night Daddy pulls an all-nighter."
This is a true story....my life is way too exciting to make things up!!
And just for the mental imagery, here is the sweet little thing...w/ a coon skin cap on today (God makes them cute for a reason you know!!)
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Mar. 21, 2009 - Half Birthdays
Today was a VERY Special day!!! You see, today is Praise's HALF birthday! That's right, she is Two and a HALF today!!! HUH? You say? Well, we didn't think that 9 birthdays a year were enough days to celebrate. We like to find a reason to celebrate in our family, so we decided years ago, to celebrate half birthdays!!! You know how when you are little, it seems your birthday NEVER arrives....so we decided, in our family, it would be fun to celebrate half birthdays too! For half birthdays, you get to choose where to have either lunch or dinner. You get your choice of dessert. You get to get sung to "Happy Half Birthday to you!" and you get to choose a half birthday gift $20 or less.
Praise got a pink miniature wheelbarrow and pink toddler sized real rake and shovel to help outside this gardening season.
She got funfetti cupcakes with chocolate frosting.
And we ate whole wheat spaghetti for dinner.
You are only 2 1/2 once afterall, you know.
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Mar. 18, 2009 - Interview with the Children
I was recently at one of my favorite blogs MOTHERING IN GRACE. When I saw this interview with the children. I thought it sounded fun, so gave the "interview" to my 5 oldest children ages 4-13. Here are their responses... A=13 N=11 H=8 J=6 Ju=4 1. What is something your mom always says to you? A "Did you check the sheep today?" N "Did you finish all your school?" H "I love you!" J "Can you talk to Gilead until I"m done with this?" Ju "Go put your play clothes on and get the mail." 2. What makes your mom happy? A When I hug her for no reason and say "You’re the best mom in the whole world!" N A rose bush for Mother’s Day H Chocolate! J When I give her a flower Ju When I obey 3. What makes your mom sad? A When we have to sell a turken or a guinea N When we argue or disobey H When someone needs correction J When I disobey Ju When I need correction 4. How does your mom make you laugh? A When she tries to interpret what a letter written in Spanish from our Compassion International Kid says N When she says something funny H Jokes J When she says funny things Ju when she laughs 5. What was your mom like as a child? A Just like me! N a tomboy H She loved matchbox cars J pretty Ju she liked flowers 6. How old is your mom? A 37 N 37 H 37 J 37 Ju 71 (thanks a lot Jubilee!) 7. How tall is your mom? A Me minus 1 inch (he is so happy to have passed me last month!) N 5’ 4" H 5 foot something J 58 feet tall Ju 7 feet 8. What is your mom’s favorite thing to do? A Get a full night’s rest N Walk in the sunshine and flowers after a long night’s rest H Read J Help us do school Ju Pick flowers 9. What does your mom do when you aren’t around? A Look for things online for our birthdays N check email H Eat bon bons...just kidding mom..you take care of the other kids who ARE around J feed Gilead Ju Have someone go see what I’m doing to see if I’m in trouble. (from the mouth of babes!) 10. If your mom becomes famous, what would it be for? A Mrs Universe! (he is trying to get brownie points for sure!!) N Most patience of any woman in the history of the universe H Cooking J Taking care of a whole house Ju Cooking 11. What is your mom good at? A Cooking N Cooking H Cooking J Checking school and making sure it’s all right Ju Sewing (this girl is confused!!) 12. What is your mom not very good at? A Sewing N Sewing H Sewing J Flying (That IS Correct....I cannot fly! LOL) Ju- doing school with a whole bunch of kids trying to talk to her at once (I think she's heard me say a million times...I can't talk to everyone at the exact same time...one at a time please!) 13 What does your mom do for a job? N Housekeeper and babysitter H she’s a mom J takes care of babies Ju cooking (haha...some days I FEEL like cooking is my main job!) 14. What is your mom’s favorite food? A German Chocolate N chocolate H chocolate J chocolate Ju Pizza 15. What makes you proud of your mom? N She’s mine! H She’s my mom J When she makes good food (spoken like a true boy!) 16. What cartoon character would your mom be? A Princess Peach N Elmo-cute and fuzzy H Sleeping Beauty J Cinderella Ju I don’t know 17 What do you do together? A Tube cows that are sick N Play board games H Cook J School Ju Play games 18. How are you similar to your mom? A our personalities N we’re both fun loving H we’re both pretty J we both like each other Ju we like each other 19. How are you different from your mom? A I’m taller N I use the crazy side of my brain, mom doesn’t H I have brown eyes, she has blue J I’m a boy and have short hair, she has long Ju God made her a mom and me a little girl. 20. How do you know she loves you? A She says so N We do things together H She gives me lots of kisses J she lets me eat food (this boy likes food!) Ju you just DO! 21 What does she like most about your dad? A He likes her most of all! N He likes her and helps her a lot H He’s handsome J He’s her best boyfriend (Do I have a bunch?? haha) Ju He’s just her favorite 22. Mom’s favorite place to go? A Taco Bell N to bed H Greek food restaurant J The mall (this one is funny...we never go to a mall) Ju Pizza Hut There you have it....all about me, or at least what my kids THINK I'm like. Some of those just cracked me up. Now YOU try it! Please send me a link so I can read it too!!!
A homemaker
A She’s the best cook in the world.
Ju she is always happy.
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Mar. 17, 2009 - Pizza dough, sick cows and other news
Well, first of all, the pizza dough was EXCELLENT! I took it out the night before to thaw on the table.
In the morning it was ready so I put it in the frig til after Church. When I got home, I sprayed 2 huge pizza pans with non stick spray, and sprinkled some corn meal on it. I smooshed the dough and formed it in the pan to pizza shape. Then I put about 1/2 cup of spaghetti sauce on top followed by lots of mozzarella cheese. For toppings we used: turkey pepperoni, olives, mushrooms, pineapple chunks, fresh tomatoes. Baked it at 425 for about 25 minutes. The crust was perfect and delicious!
So all you pizza lovers, go to Sam's Club and get your case of dough balls now. I give it 2 thumbs up!
Other things on the farm. My husband, 2 sons and some friends went to a livestock auction Friday night. We sold our billygoat Willy, 1 guinea, 7 male ducks and 6 roosters. (We really needed to decrease our male population!)
Noah wanted to buy a bottle fed calf to raise to sell next year, so he won a part Jersey week old calf.
Other than being somewhat skinny, she looked healthy. But, as happens with newborn calves that are bottle fed...it developed scours (diarrhea) which we treated with decreasing her cow "formula" and giving her Immodium. Once that was resolved, she started coughing and having a runny nose. (Pneumonia) So we started her on antibiotic shots. Last night she was very weak and couldn't stand and wouldn't eat. To save her, we had to try tube feeding her. That is essentially putting a tube about 2 feet down the throat the size of a garden hose. So with Chris straddling her mid section and holding her head and putting the tube down, Noah standing holding the milk replacer, me holding the funnel, and Aslan laying on her back end to keep her from trying to get up, we got about 1/2 the half gallon bottle in her when Noah says, "Uh dad, I think I'm going to pass out." (This is my boy that DID pass out in the ER last year watching his dad put stitches in a patient while he went with him to work to do rounds." So we do take HIM seriously.
He and Aslan did a quick switch. Noah pratically laying on the cow to keep from passing out...he was white as a ghost! We got most of the liquid in the girl. She wasn't looking too good though. We knew by morning she would either be perked up or possibly not alive.
We were thrilled this morning when she jumped to her feet and sucked the whole bottle on her own even butting Chris in the process to get more. Wagging her tail even! (I was especially thrilled cause Chris said that if she wouldn't take her bottle this morning, I'd have to GASP get out of bed early and help tube feed.) THis night person wasn't too thrilled with the thought of getting out of bed EARLY to stick a hose down a cows mouth.
Anyway, she seems to be out of the woods, but we will continue to treat her gently until she is back to full strength.
Noah had named her at first "Cocoa" cause that is her color, but after surviving last night, he decided to change it to "Mercy."
We had another calf born on the farm on Saturday morning...a cute black calf with a white face.
And another sheep was born the week before too!
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Mar. 10, 2009 - Pizza Dough
I recently read on an email group that I'm in for large families, that you could go to Sam's Club and buy their pizza dough. I just so happened to be going there the next day and had to check that out.
Sure enough! In the cafe area where they sell pizza and drinks, they had a cart there with many things on it, but one was a huge, heavy box FULL of giant lumps of Sam's Pizza dough. The girl told me you just thaw it out, press it in a pizza pan, put on toppings and bake in the oven!
I bought a box to try it out. They get a box frozen from the back. The box was around $17 and had 20 pizza dough balls in it.
I normally prefer to make whole wheat pizza dough, but since we have a 2 1/2 month old who loves his mama so much, he just doesn't want us to ever be apart--literally---I thought we may never eat pizza again until he graduates from high school or learns to be happy sitting NEXT to me. So I thought we'd try this out. We normally put all sorts of veggies on our pizza and sometimes turkey pepperoni when we can find it, so it's not totally bad for us...and what pizza would be complete without a glass of green drink on the side? (my friends know I'm serious.....our family loves green drink, even the 2yo...or I should say especially the 2yo, who RUNS for a glass when she hears the blender on saying "GREEN DRINK!" even if it's cream and I'm only making butter.) In case you missed that post, green Drink in our family is romaine or green leaf lettuce or spinach topped with frozen strawberries, water added to your choice of consistency, and aTBSP of honey and whizzed in the blender for a minute. Don't say "Gross" until you try it...it's delicious..just ask my usually picky 2 yr old!
Back to pizza....I haven't actually made the pizza yet..it's on tomorrow night's menu...but I've tasted Sam's pizza and it's pretty good. I'll let you know if it's aweful, but I'm sure it won't be! Just had to share this new discovery!
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