Blogging by iPhone

Sitting in my office at MVCF, trying to figure out how to blog from my phone. Pretty sure thanks to Katie M. I did it!


- Psalm 37:4 Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you your heart's desires.

Some of the ways I organize my school...

Well the pictures loaded out of order and since I don't want to reload them, I will just talk about them as they appear. :-) Gotta be flexible.

This first picture is the school schedules attached to the boys bedroom doors.

Each child has their own schedule. It lasts 3 weeks. Every day needs to be signed off by the parent that it all was completed. It includes their schoolwork, chores, hygiene, bible reading etc. It was very easy to make in word on my PC and now I make it in pages on my Mac. I have used one of these every year. Every 3 weeks I sit down at my computer and plan out what needs to be done. Some stuff stays the same and I cut and paste. It doesn't take long. Maybe 1 hour every 3 weeks. I use ACE paces, so they typically take 3 weeks to get through which is why I use the 3 week schedule.





This is part of my dining room where we do school. We have lined the walls with bookcases which hold all kinds of books, and inside the cabinets I have puzzles, flashcards, other school stuff. A small desk, my laptop and printer are new additions to this years layout.

This is a small bookcase that is next to my small desk. It holds the extra ACE paces that they will use throughout the year. I set a small amount of money aside every month so that I can buy all the curriculum for the year at one time, but then that means I need a place to store it. Also stored here is coloring books for Olivia, markers, crayons, and other supplies the kids might need. The case labeled school forms holds where I keep attendance, my grade book, forms that www.gracechristianschools.com requires.

We at one point had a bedroom that was a classroom and the kids had desks set up. However the minute I would need to leave the room, the play time would begin. So having them do school, right where I can be the entire time helps tremendously. However the problem of having them all work at the dining table is that they face each other. Well at lakeshore (a school supply store) they sell these lovely dividers. I can then post on the inside of them important things for the kids to see and remember, and they can't see each other.

Each child has their own basket which is where they keep their bibles, daily journals, school books, a small pencil case with a few pencils and pens in it. A slim dictionary I found at target and anything else that they might need for each 3 week session. They take it to their spot at the table, and then when they are done, clean up and back on the shelf it goes. I found silver duct tape to place across the bottom so that I could label them.

This is a calendar I make every year to show the kids what days they will have school. This year I added the local public school days their friends go to, so that they could see that they will have similar vacations.

This is a close up of Stephan's schedule. He has spanish this year. I hope I learn it too.

Well that is some of the ways I have organized my school. The number 1 thing I have learned in home schooling, organizing and scheduling... Is leave time for life. One of the blessings of home schooling is that we get to keep our own schedule. So when I schedule things to the very half hour, I am throwing away the very benefit of home school. So we have our lists and we get them done, but at our own daily pace and schedule.

1st Day of School

I started my 10th year of homeschool today. It is hard to believe that time has gone by so fast.

We started our morning with 8AM bible study with Dad. Then we went over our behavior contracts, prayed for our day and had breakfast.

Stephan is 14 and in 9th grade. He has decided to take a full class load plus 2 electives as he is hoping to graduate a year early.

Robert is happy with his 8th grade work and was pleasantly surprised that his first day of math wasn't as hard or frustrating as he expected.

Abigail had 2 different projects the first day of school, but we only had the supplies for one, so she will have to make up the other, but even she stayed focused and finished school relatively early for her.

David, is only 4.5, but wanted to start school like the big kids. Kindergarten is a lot of work for me to plan and prepare and then sit with him every day and do, but I was willing to try since he wanted to. The nice thing is there is absolutely no pressure. If he doesn't get it, we can just repeat next year and he won't be behind age wise.

Olivia slept in like usual, which was incredibly helpful for the first day of school. I was able to do K with David before she woke up.

I decided to set an alarm clock this year and start my day at 6:45 am. Yes I know that is sleeping in for some of my friends, but for my 1-2 am bedtime, it is EARLY! I am hoping though that after a week, my body clock will change and I will be able to go to bed at 11PM like a normal person.

Today has been a great day, the kids are now having PE in the pool while I get to peruse FB and Blogs. So thankful for a great day.

Worst Blogger Ever....

Just call me the worst blogger ever.....

I have been so busy since overseeing MVCF women's ministry. Here is a link to the latest studies I have taught.

http://www.mvcf.com/ministries/women/womenMinistry.php

Enjoy!

Ok the family update....

Stephan is entering high school this year. I can't believe this will be my 10th year of home schooling. I always said I wanted to teach all the way through 12th grade, but that I knew from wisdom I gained from my mom to just take each year as it came and do what worked that year for our family. So with that said... yes I will be home schooling him this year. He is so funny, he cracks me up all the time. He has a great sense of humor. We get each others jokes. I love spending time with him. He isn't always patient with his siblings, but him and I are both praying that he grows in that area. I tell him weekly I can't wait until he is driving, he is 14.5 and I have no doubt he will be a great driver. The deal is he has to do really well this year of high school and if he does we will let him get a job and his learners permit next summer.

Robert Jr. is a ladies man.... every where we go all the girls think he is so cute. He of course loves the attention. He is very athletic. Not in a sports kind of way, but he can do flips and parkour and basically anything he tries to do physically he does well. He is super patient with his younger siblings, but doesn't share as much or hang with me as much as Stephan does. He is a social bug and loves to always be spending time with friends. He has no problems entering himself into the center of any group of friends.

Abigail..... what can I say about her.... well in my opinion she is absolutly gorgeous. She is turning into such a beautiful woman. She is super sweet with the her little siblings, and feisty and always trying to get the attention of her older brothers. She is funny and shy. She sits with me in church and I LOVE THAT! She has the prettiest hands, such long fingers, and she plays the piano beautifully. I think she plays by ear like her grandpa does, but I don't think her piano teacher knows that yet.

David. He is going through a new stage of testing me, and he can say no and scream like the rest of them. But.... then he comes up and looks me in the eye with his big sweet eyes and says I lub you mom, and I am melted. He is starting Kindergarten this year. He is a young K and if we were in school I wouldn't do it, but since we are at home and its easy to repeat if he isn't ready we are gonna try. He is very excited about starting school. I think he is going to be like Stephan and school is going to come very easy to him.

Olivia, the baby of the family. She has us all wrapped around her cute little finger. We do as she says. She is feisty, sweet, funny, and incredibly smart. She is at a stage where I have to constantly follow through with discipline and teaching her to share and be kind all day long. She says something hilarious pretty much every day. She has timing. It is just born into her you can tell.

Well that's the update for now.

Rob and I are great. Madly in love, I couldn't do what I do without him.

No weight loss for me, but we have been through months of crazy health issues with me. I had an appendectomy and was 7 days away from having one of my ovaries removed when at my pre op she did one more ultrasound and the issue I was having was gone.... So we are praying that soon we will have the time to dedicate to exercise and weight loss, but in the mean time we are so busy with family and ministry that it just takes a back seat.

A few thoughts as I finish out this school year....

Moms and Dads....

Especially to those who homeschool. Do you ever feel like you aren’t teaching your kids enough.... like you are somehow failing your kids and their futures. Let me encourage you....

I just finished my 9th year of homeschooling and God continues to show me over and over just how important His word in my life and in my children's lives is.

I as a christian have decided in my heart that I believe the whole bible to be true. I believe every word and so it is to it that I look for wisdom in all areas of my life.

Our pastor at church (who is also my dad) encourages us to read our bibles an hour every day. Well if you do this you get through the bible a good 2-5 times a year. So since starting this I have ready many many times through the first 5 books of the bible and the whole bible, but especially in those first 5 books God continues to have these verses stand out to me. There are many of them, but I am just going to share a few.

Exodus 36:1 “The Lord has gifted Bezalel, Oholiab, and the other skilled craftsmen with wisdom and ability to perform any task involved in building the sanctuary. Let them construct and furnish the Tabernacle, just as the Lord has commanded.”

Deuteronomy 11:18-20 “So commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these words of mine. Tie them to your hands and wear them on your forehead as reminders. Teach them to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up. Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates,

What do these scriptures mean to me... Well the first, which is just one of many in the bible where God says this, is that God, the Lord is going to skill people for his Work.

The second verses in Deut. also in other places in the bible talk of how God tells parents commit yourself to God’s words (the bible) and teach them to your children. Talk about them, use them in your disciplining and raising of your kids, post them in your houses, listen to them in your cars etc. Have it be so much a part of who you are that it just comes out in all you do.

Wait... does that mean I am not the one who has to worry about if I am teaching my kids enough math, or english or failing in their schooling? Failing in setting up their future careers... Yep, thats right, it is God who is going to skill them for what work He wants them to do. I am to know the Word of God and teach the Word of God to them.

Here is another scripture that I want to end with...

Exodus 35:34 And the Lord has given both him and Oholiab son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, the ability to teach their skills to others.

Sometimes in the training of our children we think college college college... we need to get them into college.... well I think there can be another way.

We had a guest at church the other night and he briefly shared that statistics show that 80% of Christian kids who go into non christian colleges come out not believing in God.

I don’t know about you, but for me those are odds I don’t want to go up against....

I am praying for my kids that the right person who is skilled in an area that God knows my kids need for their future and at the right time to come along side them and teach them the skills that God is going to gift them with. Its called apprenticeship.

These are my thoughts, my insight to parenting my children... maybe they will encourage you, maybe they will make you angry or disagree with me... I am not concerned with that. Its what is right for my family and for me.

I get discouraged and want to quit all the time... but then if I was doing a bad thing and screwing them up, why would satan tell me such lies that I fail and am lousy at this, not organized enough, don't push them hard enough, not teaching them enough... his lies to me go on and on.... but I think to myself, why would he be telling me this if it were true??? He wouldn't he would leave me alone, he wouldn't care.... but he knows... He can't speak the truth the bible says, but it says he knows it when he sees it....

Does God direct through Fear?

Does God direct through Fear?

SCRIPTURE
Jeremiah 32:40b "I will put My fear in their hearts so that they will not depart from Me."

WORD

I have been a christian many years and it's not always sin or really big evil things that Satan uses to distract us from where God has told us to go. It says in the bible that Satan can come to us as an angel of light. Recently I was presented with a life changing choice, it was noble and good. It was even a choice that I strongly desired to do, a God given desire of my heart. Yet we were having to make this decision in a matter of days. Fear came in, crazy fears, all kinds of stuff. Everyone is my house was suddenly anxious and stressed, some were having nightmares. We were having to make this decision way too fast.
We all know the verse about Gods wisdom bringing peace.... So what did this fear mean?
A wise friend shared with me "the enemy is always trying to destroy the righteous, those that are running well, staying in their own lanes and boom the enemy comes in and blindsides them and uses their earnest desires and prayers and urgently tries to shove them down our throats when God doesn't deliver answered prayers like that." Satan used scripture and the promise of good things when he tried to tempt Jesus off of the path that was perfect for him. Why would I be any different.
Yes God was directing me through fear, using the Fear of God, the fear of departing from His way for me, that fear He has instilled in me because I asked Him to. He used that fear to keep me on the right path of what He was directing me to.

A PRAYER
Father God, thank you for all my blessings in life. Thank you for how you give me everything I need. I receive and believe Your Word today which is truth and life to my soul. Help me keep my mind focused on You and what you have given to me to do. And please always guide me for you perfect will for me. In Jesus’ Name. Amen

Do you really want an update???

I have been busy! So busy that I barely get to read my friends blogs, and I for sure don't have time to write one of my own...... What have I been doing, you ask... or maybe you didn't, but here goes.

The kids - I still home school, so that is a constant thing in my life that keeps me busy. Not too many field trips this year as most seem to only allow either just my older kids, or just my younger kids and that just doesn't work for me. We have participated in Grace Christian Schools class days and that has been fantastic. Only drawback is the cost, but so far God keeps providing so we will keep going. The kids really look forward to that day out of the house.

We have a once a month park day we attend with friends from church, and we have ended up at least 1 other time a month at the park with various friends. Its nice, simple and not a lot of work for me.

Rob - He has taught more this new year then he has in awhile... While I love his teaching, I am sad that means my dad is sick. He is super busy with work at the church, and he still helps me with everything I do... What would I do without him??? GO CRAZY!

Dixie and Sparky - Still the best dogs ever! I love them so much. They are learning to like other people, but they are so small that I think its just a self defense thing when they growl an foreign little hands trying to pick them up and squeeze them. If I was only 3 lbs I think I would do that too.....

Myself - Well no weight loss for me. I have been having some pretty major health stuff and am currently getting testing done to figure out the source of my problems. I fasted for a week and lost nothing.... its like fighting a losing battle to diet and the Dr.s agree that until my other stuff is fixed that nothing will work diet wise. So not that I am using this as an excuse to eat whatever, I am not exactly eating my best. We still eat 80% organic and try to cut out as much fast food and sugar as we can. We are very busy so sometimes all there is time for is McDonald's.... I taught again at the women's study. It was fun and scary all at the same time. I did a fake talk show, called Health Chat with Janet. That was a lot of fun interviewing Dr.s and others with personal testimonies of making healthy changes. We are going to continue it online with a weekly podcast. My church's retreat is coming up and I have been planning and shopping and meeting and deciding and putting it all together. I have some great help with it, so that makes it easier, but still the buck stops here and if it doesn't come off well its all on me.... I think its gonna be amazing though, God has been so good to bring all the women's ministry stuff together I am not worried I just keep praying!

Well that's all that's new that I can think of anyways.....