John 8:12
When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."

School is just around the corner!

We ordered My Father's World, the Kindergarten Deluxe package, and the boys are bursting at the seams to start!  We got our box a couple of weeks ago, and I have been busy reading and getting familiar with everything.  I started cutting out all the papers last night. 

Both of the boys will be doing kindergarten this year too!  I can't wait.  Keep checking back....we plan to start August 4th!

John 8:12

When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."

Thankful Thursdays are always a good thing.  Just to stop and think of what you're thankful for!

I am thankful for my resourceful husband!  Just this week, we acquired a new stove and a new deep freeze, because he always has his eyes and ears open.  We really have been wanting a deep freeze for a LONG time, to be able to start saving food when we can.  Thank you Lord!

I am thankful for my kids' energy!  Although at times it can be a little overwhelming, their love for life is abounding.  They love being busy, doing school, playing outdoors, getting into trouble, etc.  Normal kid stuff!  They keep me on my toes, and I love them with all my heart.

I am so thankful for where we live.  We live in such a nice community!  It's safe, the neighbors are friendly, and the owners of our townhouse complex love our kids like they are there own!  The are times when the boys have included them in our bedtime prayer, which is sweet.  I think our house is comfy and warm and I honestly can't imagine living anywhere else.

I am thankful to God for so much, I feel blessed that I have a loving husband, a solid marriage, beautiful children, family nearby, a great church, our health and our happiness.  We may not have much, but we are rich in other ways. 

John 8:12

When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."

I decided that I during the summer, that I wanted to teach the kids about different countries.  They have just now started noticing that there are people of different colors and races and religiong  We have talked a lot about how it doesn't matter what color people are, and that God loves everyone just the same! 

So, to drive the point home, I thought we would learn about a few different countries and really get into what makes them different, how they do things, etc.

Don't ask me why I started on Egypt of all places.  lol  I just thought it would be cool!  I will save USA for the first week in July, so it will coordinate with Independence Day.

Here are some pictures!

First, I made a cheat sheet with a map of Egypt, it's flag, a picture of the pyramids, a statue of a cat (since they idolized cats), a Phoenix bird picture made into a jewelry piece, and a woman "walking like an Egyptian".

First, we colored a Phoenix bird.

Ben was trying to be so careful and color in each individual circle carefully!  He finally gave up though.  Too many circles!  lol

Jack's picture

Meg coloring

Then we put a string on and hung it around our neck as Egyptian jewelry, like the pharaohs would wear.

Here is Ben trying to "Walk Like an Egyptian!"  (And yes, we did it to the song!  lol)

Then we talked about snakes, because there are lots of poisonous snakes in Egpyt.  So we took out the playdough and started making snakes.

But then they wanted to get more creative!  They just had fun with it then.

It was a blast! 

John 8:12

When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."

I have decided to name our school "Light of Life Academy".  I love the significance of the verse above and being lights here on earth!  I heard that it's a great thing to name your school.  It can be easier for not only the kids to identify with it, but also society.  I've heard of people making school shirts, logos, mascots, everything!  I think that's a neat idea.  Not to wear a uniform every day or something, but maybe if we all go to the zoo together or some kind of field trip, or making reservations, etc.  I told Justin about it tonight and he actually liked it!  It's so nice to have his support in this, especially since he went to public school. 

We haven't done much as in the way of schooling lately, being summer.  Well, structured things anyway.  The other day the kids were asking which side of the body their heart was on, so then we took with it and ran.  We learned all about the heart!  What it is, what it does, what it looks like, how it works, etc.  They LOVED it!  It's all they are talking about now.  Tomorrow we are going on a nature walk.  I plan to bring a notebook and have them draw the different things that we see.  Should be fun!

I'm so sporatic about writing over here right now.  I have a family website that I do update almost daily instead.  Homeschooling things specifically go here though.  Once fall comes, Ben will be in official kindergarten, so I know I'll be on here all the time.  Both to post and to skim other websites for inspiration and advice!!  (If you look on the right side, there is a list of my 'favorite' website to visit on here.)

We have started a new tradition here at our house, called "Fun Friday!"  The kids look forward to it SO much!

It's a day when they have my complete and undivided attention, and they each get to pick out a fun thing to do!  Of course, we do fun things throughout the week, but not this many all jam-packed into one day!  So many days, there are dishes to be done, supper to cook, laundry to do, etc.  Of course the kids are my number 1 priority, but it is hard to give them a full day of Mommy and let everything else go!  So Fridays are very special days now.  And I have come to look forward to them too!  I really really really enjoy being with my children.  A LOT.  They are so spirited, so special, and a barrel of laughs!

Last Friday, I took them outside and they each got to pick out three rocks.  Then we came back inside and painted them with q-tips!  We will make a rock garden later, where they can put them for safe keeping.  Then we colored pictures.  Ben made a "mad face" and said the face was going "ROAR!"  lol  And if you look, you can see it!  And then underneath, he drew mountains.  Fitting, since we live in Colorado!  lol  Jack just scribbled, but also wrote the letter "M" for the first time.  And all on his own!  I thought that was cool and I was impressed.  When Daddy came home from work, he played the Duck game with them.  They got it for Christmas and just love playing it! 

This past Friday, I had bought some bubble wands from Walmart for $1 each (yay!) and that occupied them forever!!  Then they colored up the sidewalk with chalk.  They even let me trace them!  That was neat.  It was a beautiful day, and we just spent all of it outside!  Kate slept in the sling, so that was perfect for her too.  For lunch, I made them Spiderman Mac 'n Cheese.  We NEVER buy the special spiral or shapes kind, so this was a very big deal!  lol  After naps, Daddy was home, so we went back outside and planted some flower seeds, and talked about it being Arbor Day.  It was great!

Here are some pictures of the past two "Fun Fridays!"

This past Friday, 04/25/08:

I love this picture! It definitely captures their personalities!

The Friday before....

Tonight I was doing flashcards with the boys.  It's a great multi pack with shapes, colors, opposites, counting money, telling time, etc., and the boys just love doing them.

I seriously feel so patient in teaching the boys things, and feel very equipped to teach.  But teaching opposites is just the opposite!  lol  It's funny how something so "basic" to us, can be a hard concept to grasp for little ones.  I tried coming at it from every angle.  Explaining it on the flashcard and using their pictures.  Going over to our desk, and opening and shutting the drawer.  Then I used my hands.  I had both hands up, and palms open.  I explained that my hands look the SAME and are open.  Then I shut one hand into a fist, still keeping it up next to my open one.  I asked them what this was.  Ben said, "That's the door handle!"  Kids.......

I was telling my sister about it, because she had great success teaching Hailey her opposites.  Of course, it could be the student and not the teacher.  But I think it's nice to get a different style or person doing it.  So she is going to come over tomorrow after supper and give it a whirl.  We'll see what happens! 

Well, we are back! 

After a long hiatus from this blog, I am going to start it up again. I won't be updating it very much right now, but I will be on more often anyway.  I have been schooling off and on and wherever we can fit it in!  The best time is usually during naps.  I will take one of the boys in my bedroom, and we'll do school while I nurse our new baby.  Then I put her down and we do any writing or hands-on things, and then we all take a nap!  (The other kids are napping in their own rooms during this time)  And then sometimes if the moment is right, we'll all get around their kid table and make projects, or color, or do playdough, etc., so Miss M can be involved too.

I have been thinking a lot about homeschooling next year, and my husband and I have had several discussions about whether we will homeschool or not. I am so thankful for my husband!  Although he is set in his ways and can be stubborn at times, he does have an open heart and mind.  We have been having great discussions where we are both listening to each other's points of view, and then coming back to the discussion at a later time, once we've thought about it more.  And it sounds like we WILL be homeschooling again this year.

I do need to make some changes though.  Some for me, some for the kids, and some for my husband.  For me, the challenge will be keeping up with my wifely duties, as well as homeschooling.  Not one or the other.  That is something I really need to work on.  Making sure laundry is being done, cooking meals, tidying up the house before he gets home, distributing chores appropriately, etc.

For my husband, he needs to SEE school being done.  He still thinks of homeschooling as sitting around the kitchen table, books everywhere, keeping to a timed schedule, etc.  While we won't be doing that, I do recognize that I need to make him more comfortable with it.  He is very interested in homeschooling and has been supportive about it.  I just need to make sure we are doing it on a regular basis, and hanging up worksheets on the fridge, possibly making file books for the kids on each unit we do, etc.  Something tangible for him to actually see and measure their progress.  Hey, maybe we'll have Daddy administer a weekly test on what we learned the past week! 

For the kids, I just want to make sure I'm being consistent as possible.  Breaks are inevitable.  And welcome!  lol  But we took way too long of a break this time, and they truly love to learn.  I realize that it's my responsibility (with God's help) to nurture that as best I can! 

Well, the reason for the long break was mainly due to pregnancy and the birth of our fourth baby!  We had a baby girl at the end of Februrary (11 days overdue!) and she is just a joy.  I honestly thought that having 4 kids was harder to get used to than 3 though!  That surprised me.  But then again, she is only a month old and we're already back in a great routine, so I think that's awesome.  I love having 2 boys and 2 girls!

Here is a newborn picture of Miss K!

In the fall, we are going to be doing My Father's World Kindergarten.  I think I am going to order two copies of the student workbook, one for Mr. B (who will be 5) and one for Mr. J (who will be 4).  We'll do a more watered-down version for Mr. J, or probably do half of it, and save the other half for next year?  Or maybe I'll just order Mr. B's stuff, and see what it looks like, and then if I think Mr. J would benefit from having some of his own materials (which of course he would), I'll see if it's better to simply replicate some of Mr. B's, or get J his own.  Make sense?  Not to me!  Haha!  We'll see what happens.  But we are for sure going with that curriculum now.  I took a look at some other types, and honestly loved them as well (such as Hands on Homeschooling), but I've had my heart set on MFW ever since I first saw it.  I love their practical, Biblical approach, and the way the unit studies are all set up.  I'm so excited!  I guess we'll probably be ordering it when we get this tax rebate check here in May.  And then I'll have the summer to prepare and get everything ready.

The only other thing I need to do is find some place to set up as a homeschooling area.  Our house is the perfect size for us, but there's not a lot of extra room for homeschooling.  And I think that *I* would actually do better if everything was organized in one spot.  So we'll probably be redoing the upstairs/main floor living room for that.

Thanks for reading this, and stay tuned for more!

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I think we've been doing quite a bit of unschooling the past couple of weeks!

We have all still been sick in the house, off and on for....3 weeks now?  Not fun!  You think everyone is fine, and it lasts 3-5 days, and then BAM!  Someone gets sick again!  This "thing" is certainly hard to shake, whatever it is!

So we haven't been doing as much structered school.  I'm trying not to feel bad about it though.  We still do things like puzzles, games, lots of reading, Bible stories, and the alphabet on Starfall.com. It's just been a bit more eclectic!

We have started talking about Thanksgiving, so now I'm trying to find cool things they would enjoy for that.  We made a Turkey out of their hands last year.  That was cute.  We have been talking about things they are thankful for too!  So far, the most popular answer seems to be toy cars.  LOL

Hope everyone is doing well during this holiday season!

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Everyone has been sick in our house.  For almost the past two weeks or so!  First it started out as a head cold, then turned into something like a mini-flu.

We are on "F" right now, but will have to continue it into this next week!  Luckily, their Bible story is down-pat, as well as their Bible verse.  I cut their sight words from 5 to 3, but we need to review them.  And we haven't done anything else yet other than that!!  So we will be playing catch up once everyone is feeling better.   Actually, we probably won't even pick it back up until after Halloween! 

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We wrapped up "D" week and are delving hard into "E" week around here! 

We watched David and Goliath (rather, Dave and the Giant Pickle!) from Veggie Tales.  Those videos are ALL definitely on their Christmas lists!  We don't own any of them, and they just love it!  I had shown them some before, about 1 1/2 years ago, but it couldn't keep their attention for some reason.  Even Meg is in love with these videos!!  So I need to put these on their list for Christmas and get some Bible stories. 

I have been reading to them every night for the Fall Reading Program with the library.  We read to them every night anyway, but it has been longer these past two weeks.  We have been having a blast reading "Captain Underpants".  A MUST have book for every little boy!!  Even Justin has read a chapter or two to them! 

We also learned about dinosauers in the "D" week.  Now, Meg goes all around the house with her hands up, roaring and chasing the boys!  Funny little girl.

This week, we went to the zoo, and of course.....saw elephants!  We are reading the story of Esau and Jacob.  That one is a bit harder to grasp (than David and Goliath from last week), but I have acted it out with them, and they like it.  Jack is Esau, I'm Isaac the Daddy, and Ben is Jacob!  Haha!  It's probably a riot to watch, but it helps them grasp stories so much better!

We have an "egg" science experiment to do over the weekend, and also some "egg" art projects.  We are watching elephants on the National Geographic Africa webcam that I posted about a while ago, and learning about them.  We also watch Elmo!  Haha.  Exercise is our last sight word, and they have been loving that, of course.  I've been trying to teach them all sorts of different types of exercise....stretching, aerobics, sports, dance, karate, etc.  (Okay, so Justin did the karate part!)  The karate was absolutely a sight to see!  Ben had on gloves and a helmet.  Jack had on gloves and a big belt around his tummy.  Each boy knew they could only hit where it was protected.  They would run around the toy room in circles, trying to chase each other, both squealing at the top of their lungs!  They got in some pretty good wallops to each other.  Then Daddy put the helmet on, and gave Meg some gloves, and she went to town!  lol  That was hilarious.  To see her wailing on poor Daddy. 

Another thing we have been working on is beginning handwriting skills.  I have several sheets of paper that I printed out that they trace.  Straight vertical lines, horizontal lines, diagonal lines, circles, etc.  Not actual letters, but beginning tracing, just to get the motion down.  That seems to work well!  The letter "B" was easy for Ben to draw, but "A" was very hard, because of the slanted lines.  So this will help him out a lot.

Tomorrow evening, Grandpa and Grandma are taking the boys (along with their cousin) to the circus!  They have never been there before and are very excited about it.  And of course, you know what will be there......elephants!!! 

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* I am very thankful for my squeaky dryer.  It squeaks the entire 100 minutes of the cycle!  Lol  It is VERY loud...you can hear it all the way upstairs with the door shut!  BUT IT WORKS.  And I don't know what I'd do without it.

* I am thankful for our new mattress!  Hubby happened to get a brand new king-sized Serta pillow-top mattress, absolutely free.  I priced it online and it's $1000!  A lady had bought it and changed her mind, called the furniture store hubby works at and had a new one delivered.  This one is still in the original plastic and everything!  You can't return or exchange mattresses, so they were just going to shred it.  And we were blessed to have it instead!  Lord knows that we really needed it.  We have never had a king-size mattress before, only queen!  We don't have sheets that fit yet, so it's been laying on the living room floor the last couple of days.  We laid on it and it was like a piece of heaven.  We laughed at how far away we seemed to each other!  But....more nights than not, we have a little squirmy child inbetween us, so this will help us from being kicked all night long!

* I am thankful for homeschooling.  Lately, I have been hearing all these stories about kids being left behind on the playground, kids not invited to birthday parties, etc. and it absolutely breaks my heart to hear these things.  There is no reason at all why a little innocent child should have to endure this!  The world can be a scary place, and they will be here the rest of their lives.  Why put all that onto them so early?  I feel so glad that I'm not only protecting our children, in a good and Godly way, but also that I'm raising them to be even more confident when they are READY to be faced with these kinds of issues.

* My dryer has been squeaking for 40 minutes now.....ARGH!.....did I say I was thankful for my dryer?  (sigh)  Yes, I still am.....

* I am thankful that even though money is tight, God always provides.  Sometimes I have no idea how we're going to go onto tomorrow.  I always try to pray and let go of my worries, but that is so hard sometimes!  And yet, God has always blessed us, through thick and thin.  It is VERY evident that God is a huge part of our lives, and that we are blessed because of our continous drive to keep Him first in our family.

* I am SO thankful for children's faith!  What a joy to sit down at the supper table and have the kids say, "Mommy!  Read our devotion!  Please read the Jesus book!"  A child's faith is one of the most awe-inspiring things in the world.  They believe whole-heartedly, and without question.  A wonderful, wonderful reminder of how we all should be!

* And yes, for my never-ending, super-squeaky, always annoying, but always working....DRYER!

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Come join other Homeschoolers! http://z3.invisionfree.com/AMHomeschool/index.php?

Tonight was great!  My sister and I went to the library to get some more books for this week's studies.  I had never been there without the kids before.  Do you know how much STUFF is at the library?!  lol  You probably do. But it's like a whole new world, when you don't have little hands tugging your pants down, listening intently to discern if that baby crying is yoursor not, andspying on your kids making sure they are behaving.  I got to just LOOK.  Imagine that!  Looking at books!

I got a video for the kids that I wanted, plus a baby video for Meg.  I got 3 beginner "chapter books" for the boys, a preschool computer program, a book on CD, a couple books for me, and a Discovery Pack.  The Discovery Packs were the neatest thing!  They are packaged into mesh backpacks, and are on one subject each. One backpack was crammed with things all about learning to tell time, one was about plants, shapes, etc.  The one we got was all about bugs!  I can't wait for the boys to see it tomorrow.

I also enrolled all three of them in the fall reading program at the library, and they were thrilled when I came home with special "train" bookmarks!  I read Ben two chapters of  "Captain Underpants", which he LOVED.  And I read Jack one chapter of "Stuart Goes to School". That one is just okay.  They got to put their special bookmarks in the books, and then it was off to bed!  I really love reading to them.  I hope that they keep this excitement and love for reading for a long time!

Tomorrow I am riding with my sister and going to our women's Bible Study with all the kids.  They started a new series last week, but I wasn't able to go, because they didn't find daycare in time.  They still (to my knowledge) haven't gotten daycare, but I'm going to pack the boys' backpacks and try to make the best of it.  Say a prayer!

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We started "D" week on Monday, and will pick it back up tomorrow!

Usually when hubby has off work (as he did yesterday and today), we don't do school. We just continue it through the weekend!

But we are doing "David and Goliath", which they LOVE.  They are really enjoying this story!  We also practiced their Bible Verse for the week, and talked about "D" words.  We even had a "Dance" session, because it's one of their sight words for the week.

Tonight I am going to the library and getting some good books for the rest of this week.  I'm also getting a video of David and Goliath from the Veggie Tales!  I know they'll get a kick out of that.

We'll start back up tomorrow and as always, I'll be taking pictures!

I think its beneficial to take time out of your day to remember everything God has blessed you with. 

"Thankful Thursday!"

First and foremost, I am thankful for God.  I am thankful for the relationship that I have with Him, grateful that He loves me unconditionally, and aware that He is constantly helping me become a better woman, wife and mother.  Without Him, I am nothing!   Everything I have comes from God....the good times and the bad.  Everytime something "bad" happens, it's a gentle reminder from God, pushing and urging us to return to Him!  And everytime I try to diligently work on my relationship with Him (as best as a sinner can anyway), I am always amazed at all the blessings He bestows!

I am thankful for my husband. What an awesome, awesome man.  He will always do anything for our family, and I am grateful.  We recently celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary, and he surprised me with a romantic e-mail!  I am thankful to be a wife to him.  I hope that I am everything he had been looking for, and will continue to support him and our family as best I can.

I am very thankful for my children!  They are so sweet, and so smart.  They are witty, caring, jovial, and beautiful!  I can't imagine any more perfect children than mind.  Although yes, they are far from perfect on some days, but they more than make up for it.  During naptime today, I laid in my bed with my 4 year old, and we read books together instead.  The way he read his Bert and Ernie book to me was so precious!!  He was going off of the pictures, and made up a completely new story, but it was his animation and zest that made me smile.  I love that my 3 year old comes up to me and says, "Mommy, I need you to hold me, " or "Mommy, I need you to talk to me" and we talk forever.  He is such a softy, but rarely shows it!  I love that my 18 month old is so incredibly beautiful, and she is smart as a whip!  She knows so much more than she lets on, and I can't wait until the day she lets everyone else know it too! 

I am grateful for this new pregnancy.  We are having another little girl, and she is very active!  The miracle of life is truly truly amazing.  I feel extremely blessed to have now 4 uneventful pregnancies, as well as healthy and happy babies.

I am thankful for my family and friends!  Without them, my support system would be very small!  I love each one of them dearly, those close and far away, and miss them when we're gone.  I pray for each and every one of them all the time, in hopes that their lives are being blessed and that they may all see easy times.

I am thankful for the beautiful fall weather we're having!  It's so nice to be able to play outside, start collecting beautiful leaves, lay under the trees and feel the cool breeze on our faces.  i am also thankful that the snow is not here yet!  lol

Today we wrapped up our "C" week.  We did lots on this letter!  The only thing I have left to do is give them their Creation Story mini-book (already color printed this time), and then we're going to go on a "Creation walk" outside tomorrow (or Friday) and marvel at all the wonders God made!

Here are things we did this week:

Sight words: Car, Caterpillar, Circle, Cow and Cookie.

Bible Verse:  Genesis 1:1 "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth."

We learned about cooking, and made chocolate chip cookies!

They got to paint a picture of Cookie Monster and the letter C:

We learned about Cool Cars, car safety and stoplights:

And we also learned all about Colorful Caterpillars!

http://www9.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/wildcamafrica/

This link above was passed onto me by a fellow homeschooler, and now we can't get enough of it!  The absolute best time to view is about 11:30PM (MST).  It's early dawn there and all the animals come to the pond for baths and drinks!  We see baboons, warthogs, elephant families, ostrich, gazelle, wildebeasts, alligators, birds and much more!

Of course, the kids are all sleeping at this time.  BUT...if you click on the little video, it gives you the option to make it into the big "theater version", it says.  Make it big.  Then at the bottom of the page, you can hit "record."  I usually record for about 20-30 minutes every night, label it with the animals I saw, and the date, and then the kids can watch it in the morning!

It's so addicting though.  I have it up all the time!

Have fun with it!

We haven't done much school the first half of this week.  There was just SO much going on! 

We had our big ultrasound for the new baby (found out it's a girl!), Justin got his days off switched, so now it's Tuesdays and Wednesdays, so its harder to do school then too. 

It all works out pretty well though, because I wanted to take one week off.  That way, the letter "H" coincides with Halloween week!  So that was perfect timing.  Today we started back up with "C" week.  We will do it throughout the weekend, probably until Monday.  Then we'll take the 2nd half of next week off, and start back with "D" next week Monday!

Today we learned our new "C" sight words....cookie, car, caterpillar, circle, and cow.  Cicle seems to be the only one they get tripped up on.  The rest they already have down pat!  We have been reading the Creation story all week, and they learned the Bible verse, Genesis 1:1 "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth."  An easy one, since they had already memorized that about a month ago, but that was before "school" started, and I couldn't think of a better one to go with Creation!  So they are having fun with that.  They colored the letter C the other day for the front of their lapbooks.  And then today, they got to paint!  I had them use fingerpaints, but instead of fingers, we used Q-tips.  And they painted a picture of a C with cookie monster hanging off of it, eating some cookies.  They painted it so much, you can't even tell what the picture is anymore!  lol  But I really hate restricting their art right now. So I let them do whatever they'd like, however they want to color, and however they'd like to paint!  I'm not one of those people that tells their kids to "stay in the lines!"  When they are older, sure, I see some importance in it, but definitely not now.  I want them to be expressive as possible!

I got stuff for chocolate chip cookies, and have some more projects for them involving caterpillars and cars.  They have watched the movie "Cars" twice this week....that's their all-time favorite.  Their entire bedroom (which they share) is decorated in the "Cars" movie theme!  lol  So that was a special treat for them to watch.  Especially twice!

I also wanted to thank those of you that take time to comment on this blog.  I know I don't post every day, and I give kudos to those of you who do!  I just can't think of enough things to say!  lol  But wehn you make a comment, it really renews my motivation every single time, so thank you!!!

Who Taught This Kid to Walk, Talk, and Potty? (You, did, Mom, that's who!)

What Didn't Work for Today Can Be Changed for Tomorrow (Homeschooling is flexible.)

Every Day Is a Learning Day, and Life Is Our Classroom (Again, homeschooling is flexible.)

I Give One Grade: 100% -- But You Get to Keep Trying Until You Get It (for as long as it takes, because homeschooling is flexible)

"Family" Is Spelled T-E-A-M (Your children are not your enemies, they are your teammates.)

You and I Drive Different Cars (and teach our children in different ways)

Who Wrote This "Rule Book" and Why Do I Feel I Have to Follow It? (The Official Omnipotent Homeschooling Rule Book does not exist)

"Parent" Is a Verb (Who's in charge here anyway?)

Any Dead Fish Can Float Downstream (And anything worth having is worth working for.)

We're Not Raising Children -- We're Raising Adults (What is your desired outcome?)

Classic Literature Is Not Necessarily Good Literature (Who decides which books are better than others?)

Knowing How to Find the Answer Is the Same as Knowing the Answer (Where in real life are you required to know everything at every given moment?)

If You Can Present Your Case with Facts and Logic and Without Whining, I Will Listen with an Open Mind (Negotiation is an excellent skill to possess.)

Your Children Will Not Always Be Like This (I promise.)

Do the Best Job You Can, and Pray for God to Clean Up the Rest (No one can expect you to do better than "your best.")

copied from http://guiltfreehomeschooling.org/blog/index.html