I was reading through the Heart of Wisdom blog (www.homeschoolblogger.com/heartofwisdom), there is so much incredible stuff there.  This one especially caught my attention, and I decided to repost it...if for no other reason than to remind myself often of "God's Top Ten List".  I hope it brings encouragement to you as well today!  (It is from an email, not sure who wrote the original.)

EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY:

Please be aware that there are changes YOU need to make in YOUR life. These changes need to be completed in order that I may fulfill My promises to you to grant you peace, joy and happiness in this life. I apologize for any inconvenience, but after all that I am doing, this seems very little to ask of you. Please, follow these 10 guidelines:

1. QUIT WORRYING: Life has dealt you a blow and all you do is sit and worry. Have you forgotten that I am here to take all your burdens and carry them for you? Or do you just enjoy fretting over every little thing that comes your way?

2. PUT IT ON THE LIST: Something needs done or taken care of. Put it on the list. No, not YOUR list. Put it on MY to-do-list. Let ME be the one to take care of the problem. I can't help you until you turn it over to Me. And although My to-do-list is long, I am after all God. I can take care of anything you put into My hands. In fact, if the truth were ever really known, I take care of a lot of things for you that you never even realize.

3. TRUST ME: Once you've given your burdens to Me, quit trying to take them back. Trust in Me. Have the faith that I will take care of all your needs, your problems and your trials. Problems with the kids? Put them on My list. Problem with finances? Put it on My list. Problems with your emotional roller coaster? For My sake, put it on My list. I want to help you. All you have to do is ask.

4. LEAVE IT ALONE: Don't wake up one morning and say, "Well, I'm feeling much stronger now; I think I can handle it from here." Why do you think you are feeling stronger now? It's simple. You gave Me your burdens and I'm taking care of them. I also renew your strength and cover you in my peace. Don't you know that if I give you these problems back, you will be right back where you started? Leave them with Me and forget about them. Just let Me do My job.

5. TALK TO ME: I want you to forget a lot of things. Forget what was making you crazy. Forget the worry and the fretting because you know I'm in control. But there's one thing I pray you never forget. Please, don't forget to talk to Me -- OFTEN! I love YOU! I want to hear your voice. I want you to include Me in the things going on in your life. I want to hear you talk about your friends and family. Prayer is simply you having a conversation with Me. I want to be your dearest friend.

6. HAVE FAITH: I see a lot of things from up here that you can't see from where you are. Have faith in Me that I know what I'm doing. Trust Me; you wouldn't want the view from My eyes. I will continue to care for you, watch over you, and meet your needs. You only have to trust Me. Although I have a much bigger task than you, it seems as if you have so much trouble just doing your simple part. How hard can trust be?

7. SHARE: You were taught to share when you were only two years old. When did you forget? That rule still applies. Share with those who are less fortunate than you. Share your joy with those who need encouragement. Share your laughter with those who haven't heard any in such a long time. Share your tears with those who have forgotten how to cry. Share your faith with those who have none.

8. BE PATIENT: I managed to fix it so in just one lifetime you could have so many diverse experiences. You grow from a child to an adult, have children, change jobs many times, learn many trades, travel to so many places, meet thousands of people, and experience so much. How can you be so impatient then when it takes Me a little longer than you expect to handle something on My to-do-list? Trust in My timing, for My timing is perfect. Just because I created the entire universe in only six days, everyone thinks I should always rush, rush, rush.

9. BE KIND: Be kind to others, for I love them just as much as I love you. They may not dress like you, or talk like you, or live the same way you do, but I still love you all. Please try to get along, for My sake. I created each of you different in some way. It would be too boring if you were all identical. Please, know I love each of your differences.

10. LOVE YOURSELF: As much as I love you, how can you not love yourself? You were created by me for one reason only -- to be loved, and to love in return. I am a God of Love. Love Me. Love your neighbors. But also love yourself. It makes My heart ache when I see you so angry with yourself when things go wrong. You are very precious to me. Don't ever forget.

I so need to remember this, and to teach it daily.

Blessings!

Wow, I've given birth to Captain Kirk...not even kidding :-)  Ty's just finishing up his math, and he tends to get going on a rhythm and miss little details - you know, like whether the equation says to add or subtract?  So his solution, instead of to erase and do it correctly, is to change the function sign to what he wants it to be, and move on to the next question.  Oy...all of this while buzzing off the song from "Crazy Frog" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zMFsBjoAyUs&mode=related&search= (way too funny!)

Wow, I've been off here for a long time!  December was pretty much a sleep-in rest month, which I realized we haven't taken in ages...like ever.  We worked some on our Symbols of Christmas lapbook from www.handsofachild.com (fun!), made lots of cookies, played with toys and games, and slept in.  We're back in full swing now, but it sure was nice :-)

Let's see.  We're studying Bats in Zoology (which I thought I'd hate, but they're pretty interesting!) and Ty's writing "The Wolf Who Cried Boy" for a self-imposed IEW assignment - while I'm laughing so hard I can barely type it out with him!  He decided he's ready for a deeper Bible Study time, so I went looking around and found Heart of Wisdom (www.heartofwisdom.com) - which I love!  They have some great ebook specials, so I went ahead and got some - I've got to say I'm impressed!  We're going to start using their history unit - Adam to Abraham - in a couple of years, and we'll start with their science next year as an extra unit.  I think we'll start with their Bible study stuff next week!

He's also decided he's ready for cursive, which he's working on right now with A Reason For Handwriting T.  It's going pretty well!

Well, we got hit by the ice storm, but not as badly as some.  We have power, which we're thankful for!  The whole place is under about 3-4 inches of ice...it took me 40 minutes to make a 5-mile round trip yesterday to take dh to work!

Let's see...today we're going to make some Redwall recipes, check his rock tumbler, read a bunch of Mattimeo by Brian Jacques and King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table by Emma Gelders Sterne.  We'll probably get some Ranger and Scout stuff done, all while I'm trying to talk him out of setting off his rocket in the living room (because it's just too cold outside, you see!).  Whew!

Whew!  We're done with the semester.  I made Ty a deal, that if he could get any outstanding assignments completed (and done well) by Tuesday night, that Christmas vacation would officially begin after Co Op was done yesterday afternoon.  He worked his little behind off, but he did it!  We go through the summer, so that we can take December off.  We're done until January 6th!

And d'ya know what the first thing he wanted to do this morning was?  Math!  We found the M&M Math book that we had gotten months ago while looking through a bookshelf earlier this week...and it was the first thing on his mind this morning.  After that, he played on the computer for a while, and then we got out the Christmas tree.  He put it up all by himself this year!  He was so proud of himself...and he knew that Daddy wasn't looking forward to it, so he was really happy to have it done before Dad came home from work.  We had a lot of fun decorating it!

Now, it's time to bake cookies, and paint/sew/cook presents, and learn Christmas songs...and take a well-deserved rest.  I'm looking forward to it!  And to getting back into the swing of things in January - we've got some fun things planned!

Mmmmm...I love the smell of French Onion Soup!  Just never have time to make it...until I found this great recipe!

I was a little wary, it involves the slow cooker.  But it already smells so darn good!  We're carmelizing the onions now...and I'll make the soup tomorrow.

Basically, you slice up 3 pounds of onions (I found that a mandoline works best) and stick them in a crock pot with a stick of butter on Low for 12-14 hours.  Stir it occasionally, so the butter gets all through and the edge pieces don't get fried to a crisp :-)  You can tell they're done when they're a dark mahogany color.  (It's apparently almost impossible for them to burn in there!)

(I know the stick of butter is a lot, but after you get the onions out of the cooking liquid and cool it, you can skim the butter right off.  Then you can add little bits of it to other cooking projects - soups, veggies, browning meat, whatever!)

When that's done, keep 3 to 4 cups of the onions (they reduce, so it'll probably be pretty much the whole thing) and the cooking liquid in there - add enough beef or vegetable broth to make 6 cups.  Salt and pepper to taste, simmer it in there over medium-high heat for another 12-14 hours.

Put it in bowls, top each one with a slice of toasted french bread and cheese (Gruyere and Swiss work well), and broil it for a couple minutes until the cheese melts and begins to bubble.

It takes a day or two, but the slow cooker does all the work and the house smells terrific (if you like French Onion Soup, that is!)  I've always been scared to try it, because I'm either not home long enough for the thing to simmer on the stove, or I can't devote the block of time to making sure that it works right.

Yum!!!

Well, we got our first snow...yesterday morning, it was low 70's when we left for co-op, and when we got done around 3, it was 45.  Brr!  It was in the 20's when we left church last night, and we woke up this morning to snow.  It's been going ever since!  (We don't get it that often in Oklahoma, so it's worth blogging about!)

Ty slept in this morning, he's been going through this wierd growth spurt.  He didn't sleep or eat for about 2 weeks, and now he's eating 5-6 meals a day and always tired.  He hasn't done this in years, but when he did, he grew about an inch a week.  I'm scared to buy him clothes until it stops, lol!  A hair cut is probably in order, though :-)  That's growing quicker than the rest of him!

Well, due to the weather (and the fact that nobody knows how to drive in it, lol), we're inside today - a good chance to get the Christmas tree up and get our lapbooks done.  He's got 3 going right now - Genesis from HOAC that he's close to being done with; Anglo-Saxons from HOAC that he's about halfway through (but most of the research is done); and a homemade one on the Fruit of the Spirit that he's itching to do :-)

Right now he's apparently building a prison for the dog out of empty popcorn cartons...I have a feeling I should go intervene :-)  Later!

I swear, I've got the sweetest boy in the world :-)  We've been up to our eyeballs in Cub Scout Popcorn to deliver (something like 30 cartons full to deliver - wow...), on top of school, church and everything else; he's got a pretty rigorous school and extra-curricular schedule this year, and instead of complaining about how busy he is, he thanked me for putting the work into doing it along with him.  (Aww...tear :-) )

Ok, gonna brag on my kid a bit :-)  He took a job with a local business delivering flyers, for which he gets paid each month.  What did he do with his October paycheck?  He bought 3 tins of popcorn - one for his dad (so he wouldn't get into the tin that's for Ty's birthday, lol), one for himself (so he wouldn't get into the birthday tin :-) ) and one for me, as a thank you for taking him selling for 6 weeks straight.  (It was chocolate-covered caramel corn...yummmm :-) )  Tonight, he and Daddy were baking up some left over cookie dough, and he very carefully put 4 swirled chocolate chips on each one, or so I thought :-)  While I was resting and reading a book, he brought a cookie to me that he made "just for me" - with 7 chips in a circle, so there would be one in every bite :-)

Just the fact that he would think up things like that, on his own, tug at my heart - I am so blessed to have such a beautiful son.  Not saying that he has a perfect attitude every day - he doesn't - but he tries so hard, both to work hard to succeed, and to glorify God in whatever he does. 

Just had to put that in writing and share! 

We've spent the last year and a half using Story of the World for history, we're in Vol. 2: The Middle Ages.  However, there's so much cool stuff in this period of history, and SotW skips through it so quickly...Ty begged to stay on some of it for longer, to go into a lot more detail.  Lapbooks, here we come!

He got really fascinated with the Celts and Anglo-Saxons, so we've been on that for a while.  We're about halfway through the Anglo-Saxons project pack (lapbook) from www.handsofachild.com, and he's loving it!  Where last year he would listen, but get bored quickly, he's now asking to read and research - and is able to do his mini-books and foldables pretty indepth.  He is now able to pick out the farm tools that came from their culture, as well as cultural foods and festivals, trade patterns, word derivations, and geography - and he's having a blast being able to do it.  We should be finishing up on it by the start of Winter Break (first week of December), and we're planning to start back up in January with the Middle Ages, the Norman Conquest, and the Renaissance - all from HOAC.  (We'll be doing some smaller ones in there too, that I'm working on putting together - the Byzantine Empire, Feudalism in Japan, and the African Kingdoms.)

I just finished my basic prep for the Middle Ages, and I'm excited to get started!  I actually want to do one of these myself, right along with him, because it looks like so much fun :-)  It's got great activities on Knights and the Code of Chivalry, the different types of castles and why/how they were built, what life was like for the commoners vs. the nobles, and major events of the time, like the Plague.  It's also got some great comparison activities on the three sections of the Middle Ages, and what major traits characterized them.  Timelines, very manageable (but still challenging) writing projects, and a great bibliography - I can't wait!  We're going to supplement with activities out of In the Days of Knights and Damsels...I have a feeling the whole house is going to be involved in this one!

By the time we finish this one, we should have our digital camera, and I'll put up pics - he's really getting into it!

We've spent the last year and a half using Story of the World for history, we're in Vol. 2: The Middle Ages.  However, there's so much cool stuff in this period of history, and SotW skips through it so quickly...Ty begged to stay on some of it for longer, to go into a lot more detail.  Lapbooks, here we come!

He got really fascinated with the Celts and Anglo-Saxons, so we've been on that for a while.  We're about halfway through the Anglo-Saxons project pack (lapbook) from www.handsofachild.com, and he's loving it!  Where last year he would listen, but get bored quickly, he's now asking to read and research - and is able to do his mini-books and foldables pretty indepth.  He is now able to pick out the farm tools that came from their culture, as well as cultural foods and festivals, trade patterns, word derivations, and geography - and he's having a blast being able to do it.  We should be finishing up on it by the start of Winter Break (first week of December), and we're planning to start back up in January with the Middle Ages, the Norman Conquest, and the Renaissance - all from HOAC.  (We'll be doing some smaller ones in there too, that I'm working on putting together - the Byzantine Empire, Feudalism in Japan, and the African Kingdoms.)

I just finished my basic prep for the Middle Ages, and I'm excited to get started!  I actually want to do one of these myself, right along with him, because it looks like so much fun :-)  It's got great activities on Knights and the Code of Chivalry, the different types of castles and why/how they were built, what life was like for the commoners vs. the nobles, and major events of the time, like the Plague.  It's also got some great comparison activities on the three sections of the Middle Ages, and what major traits characterized them.  Timelines, very manageable (but still challenging) writing projects, and a great bibliography - I can't wait!  We're going to supplement with activities out of In the Days of Knights and Damsels...I have a feeling the whole house is going to be involved in this one!

By the time we finish this one, we should have our digital camera, and I'll put up pics - he's really getting into it!

Well, yesterday went pretty well - he didn't start to show signs of lost sleep till around dinner time :-)  And since he caught up on school in the middle of the night, we had a pretty relaxed day.  Family night was fun, we made homemade pizza and watched a good movie from the library, then read the final battle scene from Mossflower by Brian Jacques.  Ty is so loving this series of books!

This morning, Daddy and Ty made chocolate chip-M&M cookie dough, that's in the fridge until Dad gets home from work this afternoon.  Not sure what all they're going to do with 9 dozen cookies, lol...some for the librarians, some for Grandma and Grandpa, and some for a "cookie castle", complete with candy decorations and frosting to hold it all together.  Should be fun!

Not much else going on.  I'm working this morning on getting his lapbook materials together for the rest of the year.  I've decided to keep them in the portfolio folders, the ones with the 3 prongs, until we're ready to use them.  I printed out the research stuff and activity notes on plain paper at the library, and printed off the foldables on cardstock at home.  I hole-punched the research info and inserted it into the prongs, and I've got the cardstock in the folder part waiting to be cut out and used.  I 3-hole punched a gallon plastic ziploc bag and put it behind the research info, to hold the completed foldables.  I've got the cut, uncompleted foldables in a smaller plastic baggie, in order so they're easy to find when we get to the point of using them.

I am so loving the lapbooking!  Ty gets upset if we can't do some research or foldables each day (the way he used to get upset at having to do the workbooks).  We're about halfway through the Anglo-Saxons, and I'm prepping the Middle Ages one next.  (both from www.handsofachild.com)  I'll write in a few days about that one :-)  Can you tell I'm having fun, too? :-)

Wow...a day and night with almost no sleep. 

School went so well today, and Ty's attitude was great - he was checking his chore chart, adding things to it, and so excited to get every single thing checked off :-)  And then he just plain kept going - all night long!

I was up with him till around 11:30, he was just so awake.  He took a shower to see if that would calm him down, no dice...I set out schoolwork for him (6 subjects, I figured that would either keep him busy or bore him to sleep, lol) and told him to finish what he could without waking me up.  (Do you want happy mommy or grumpy mommy tomorrow?  Happy?  Then let me sleep...:-) )

He finished all of his schoolwork - even the stuff he really doesn't like to do - and then came and asked me, what next?  Well, this was around 1 or so, so it gets blurry from there :-)  As far as I remember, he went up and played in his gameroom for quite a while, then finally came down and sacked out on the couch.  We'll see how today goes...well, at least school's caught up!

Well, we just keep plugging on through :-)  Ty's really enjoying this year, even though it's a lot more work.  Today he asked me what he gets to cut down on next year, he was kind of floored when I told him, "nothing".  He decided he likes the challenge in the end, though.

He started Bible Blast with one of his best friends this week, he loves it!  He's made me make him wall charts so that he can get on with memorizing, he's already done with the Lord's Prayer and on to several other things.  He's also really enjoying working on his Scout pins and Royal Ranger badges.

I think what he's liking most this year is lapbooking and notebooking.  Right now, we're working on several from Hands of A Child (www.handsofachild.com), including Genesis from the Bible Prospectors and the Anglo-Saxons for History.  He actually asked to do the Anglo-Saxons, and is really enjoying it!  We read about them nearly every day, and he is getting really excited to see the finished product, when he's all done with the foldables.  I like it too - it comes with great research (that I certainly never learned about in school) and an awesome bibliography - we found so much incredible stuff online to go with the unit - which is great, because there are very few good children's books on the Anglo-Saxons!

I can't say enough about the Bible packs either...a month ago, he was insisting that I needed to read his Bible to him; the moment I brought out the lapbook, he opened up his Bible, read his chapter, and did the foldable!  It's been that way nearly every day for a month, and he can't wait to start Exodus.  Finally, a curriculum tool he really enjoys - and gets a lot out of!

He decided he wants to do an "extra" lapbook unit each month - as a reward for getting his schoolwork done!  Still looking into what we'll do during December, some sort of Christmas unit...January is History of Sports from HOAC (as baseball will be starting up), and February will be something on Botany and Carnivorous Plants.  It's cool to see how excited he is!

We're having fun gearing up for Thanksgiving, too.  We got some great cookbooks from the library, and he can't wait to try out the recipes!  With all that he wants to do, Thanksgiving may last through Easter, lol...

Not much else going on.  Just trying to keep up with everything!  This is the first year I can honestly say we're both looking forward to Winter Break :-)  School is going really well this year, but we kicked it up a few notches, and wow, are we both looking forward to the break in December.  I think we'll make very good use of it this year!