Faithful in All Situations – How to Stay the Parenting Course

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adrenal fatigue, breast cancer, cleaning, disney world, faith, homeschooling, jesus, parent, rollercoaster, school, stress

Whether you are a parent of a child in a public, private, or homeschool, I would like to share with you today what will be a short series on some tips on how to overcome doubt and adversity despite the worst year of your life.  This is not a guide to see life wearing rose-colored glasses.  Though my life is scattered with several hardships, today I am going to share how my worst teaching (and probably worst parenting) year ever has made me into the wiser and smarter parent I am today.  First, I will take you into my story.  The year? 2014.  I will share with you what happened as a whole and how it affected me.  On my next post, I will share with you how, following the dreadful school year of 2013-2014, that summer I read a book I had no idea would change my understanding of who I am, where I came from, and where I wanted to go.  The book was about Helen Keller (the blind and deaf girl) as told by her TEACHER.  In it, there were had so many epiphanies on how not just to help my kids….but me.  I am reading it for the second time now and am still blown away by how her teacher struggle is so relevant to all parents today.

Here’s the setup.  It was my second year homeschooling.  I was teaching 2nd grade to my seven-year-old daughter while also learning to manage a one-year-old toddler.  I think I recall our homeschool year began happily with our usual scavenger hunt to ring in the school year. But soon math was a nightmare.  My daughter fought with me or whined about some part of it nearly every day while my son would scream at the top of his lungs begging for someone to pay attention to him.   I quickly learned that my daughter considered subtraction as her enemy – and therefore, since I was making her do it anyway… I also became her enemy. I was losing my joy – fast.  One day I even videotaped our lessons to show my daughter her behavior… except… yikes!  I was so depressed to see the look of numbness on my face – I never showed her.  No excitement was in my eyes.  Worse yet… I had lost how to discuss math with love.  My tone was business only… yet I also felt bad for the reflection of me on the screen.  That lady looking back at me was SO TIRED.  She was out of options for getting such a smart little girl, completely capable of learning to stop being so stubborn!  She could not see that she was against herself.  I could see that inside her she could do it!  I had to turn the video off; it was too dreadful to watch us both suffering.  I then thought to myself… I was a straight-A student in math in school.  In my background, I had tutored math to the most troubled student to the smartest student.  Why was my daughter, who I loved more than life itself, so unbelievably HARD?

My house was a nightmare.  I could never get things clean after feeling so defeated in my lessons.  The mess negatively affected my husband, who was experiencing a new level of stress at work.  It was a snowball effect of disaster.  By Christmas, we decided we needed a vacation!  Actually, I wasn’t sure a vacation would help.  I was ready to throw in the towel and put my daughter in school.  I thought surely she could learn from someone – just not me.  But as I prayed, God kept showing me the word “faith.”  Everywhere I went I saw the word.  When my husband brought me home a new car, the Hyundai “Santa Fe,” which is “Holy Faith” in Spanish… I knew God was telling me not to give up.  His word to me that kept popping up over and over was “faith.”  It seemed clear that it was not just about school, but also to focus on having “faith” for the incoming 2014 New Year.  So casually, I thought…”Thanks God!”  I mean, who couldn’t use more faith?  And yet I also wondered why I needed more faith… because I am a person who tends to already look for the best of things.

But the funny thing is, I know that God both prepared me and must have had a sense of humor.   People!  2014 was like the year of Job for me!!!  God was SERIOUS. He didn’t cause what was to come.  I think He was telling me to have faith because that year would be like a series of hailstorms, hurricanes, and tornadoes all together!!!

We went to Disney World!  Yippee, right?  No.  Head on over to my blog post for how I survived and thrived after that trip.  When we came back, I was shaken, but not overcome.  But by March, things both for me at home and for hubby at work, became closer to hell, or so I thought.  I became scared about how tired I was.  My doctor increased my thyroid medication.  Didn’t work.  I then saw a new doctor who put me on Naturethroid.  I seemed to stabilize.

Well, turns out Naturethroid wasn’t weapon enough to combat my daughter’s attitude, nor my son not sleeping, nor the stress of my husband dealing with a nightmare employee.  By the end of March, my adrenals were shot.  I was scared.  By July, my doctor agreed that my adrenals needed help.  I detoxed my liver.  Seemed to be stabilized.

Seeing a pattern here?  Crash. Stable.  Crash.  Stable.  On some days I was able to cope with all the adversity.  On other days, I just wanted out.  To go somewhere on a mountain and scream.  But because I felt God had signaled me before the year started to have faith, I was able to hang on spiritually, though I was physically weakening fast.  I knew God heard me.  I also felt His presence despite arrow after arrow coming at us month after month.

But then it got WORSE.

On July 13, 2014, I found a lump in my breast.  I made another appointment back to the doctor the next day, who confirmed that she also felt a lump.  She seemed concerned and immediately scheduled me to have a Mammogram three days later to determine if the lump was malignant or benign.  Those were the longest three days of my life. I did not want to call my mom and worry her.  I felt like I couldn’t breathe.  I felt like the past year of fighting over math with my daughter was wasted time.  What if I died?  Who would teach her about the heart things of life?  What about the birds and the bees talk?  Who would be there for her?  Of course, I worried about my son too.  But I was more worried about the things a mother and daughter should do that we could be cut short on.  However, it seemed that every moment that I felt panicked, God would send someone to pray for me or something to encourage me.  I remember driving home from the doctor that day and just breaking down in sobs at a stop sign.  In between my sobs, I could hear a song on the radio come on in that instant with words as if from God to comfort me.  The next day, I took my daughter to a playdate at her friend’s house.  Her mom and I were also friends and was someone I could rely on to earnestly pray for me.  She heard my story and as we both got on our knees and prayed for our families, she also prayed for complete healing for me.

On the third day, July 16th, I finally went for my mammogram.  I was so terrified.  I left our kids home with my husband so my daughter would not worry about me and I would not have to explain to her why I was there.  All alone, I waited for my name to be called.  When it was my turn, an older nurse welcomed me with a caring voice.  She saw the fear in my eyes and got a warm blanket for me to put on my shoulders.  She asked me to locate the lump.  But when I looked for it, I could not even feel it.  I invited her to check.  She couldn’t feel it either!  I wasn’t phased that not feeling the lump meant anything at that moment.  I only thought it had moved or that I was too nervous to locate it correctly.  She left the room for a few minutes and consulted with doctors.  She sweetly smiled and told me that if I couldn’t find the lump and she couldn’t find the lump, then there was no use in putting me through the mammogram.  However, the doctors all agreed that an ultrasound would indeed locate any suspicious matter.  As I was on the ultrasound table, I slowly began to realize that the doctor wasn’t finding ANYTHING.  He said that there was NO lump whatsoever – anywhere.  But when he said everything looked NORMAL, I was in amazement!  Wow!  God had healed me! No lump!  Which meant no cancer!

Words cannot express my gratitude that the lump had disappeared.  I felt in that moment that this was the climax of my year that God had been preparing me to stay the course.  To keep the faith.  I could have easily fallen apart long before.  But He held me up even to the moment.  I also felt it was ironic that I had been spared such a potentially serious diagnosis.  In fact, that very day I found out my lump was gone, a friend I had known for several years, who was my exact same age and also had a child, was diagnosed with breast cancer and is still suffering as I write this.  So many people I know are struggling with cancer or have lost their battle.  I would wonder to God – Why Me?  Why was I spared?  I will never know but I am in some way thankful for those scary three days.  I got to wear the dreaded shoes to the oncologist area and to realize all the millions of terrifying thoughts that go through their minds.  Perhaps I live to be their voice?  But mostly, I think it is to testify that God still heals today and to share His power!  He’s powerful y’all! And He cares about YOU!

Some questions I still had.  After such a rollercoaster year of huge dips and short periods of normalcy… was my family in the position to remain a homeschooling family?  Honestly, I can tell you that I was NOT ready.  Yet all I continued to feel was God’s continual urge for me to continue to have faith.  (For real, God?)  My main focus for the rest of that summer was to rest in Him.  He was not releasing me from my calling to homeschool my daughter.  My health recovered, my lump was gone, and my husband’s job situation were all regenerated.  Whether I could reach my daughter in her math?  That was a matter I left for God.

I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty.  I have learned the secret of being content and in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. ~ Philippians 4:12

I also learned that year to that I will never assume that I know what God intends.  What I thought was going to be a happy go-lucky year of “Faith” really meant for me to be faithful in every situation. I feel God would say not just to me, but to all: “Seek Me, despite anything.  Follow Me and I will uphold you.”  He did just what He promised.

Are you experiencing a drought or storm in your life?  Here are five tips to help you along:

1. Rest.
2. Take it to Jesus.
3. Have Faith!
4. Be Thankful! Even in the darkest of times, a great idea is to find at least three things to be thankful for.  It only takes one good moment to change your circumstances.  Even if it is just a little thing… when we focus on being thankful, we align ourselves more with God’s goodness and are less likely to miss the times He carried us in the day.
5. Surround yourself with scripture.  During this year, I couldn’t always get to my Bible.  But I would be reminded through friends or in the oddest of places verses to encourage me.

Can I pray for you?  Please post in the comments how I can pray for you.  Do you have a story you’d like to share about how you survived an awful year?  I’d like to hear it in the comments too!

(to be continued)… stay tuned for tips I learned that year to regain our household and homeschool joy.

 

St. Patrick – More than Shamrocks and Leprechauns

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preschool st. patrick bible

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!  I was so tickled to create these cute pots of gold for my 2-year-old class I teach every Monday at my Classical Conversations group.  These kids have been so cute all year long and really soaking up every subject we’ve been learning about.  So I really wanted this year to be a time where I could teach them who St. Patrick REALLY was and what the day really signifies.  Whether you are Irish or not, chances are you might now know that the holiday is more than being pinched if you don’t wear green and that it is not about luck.

To explain this, I “read” by summarizing the pictures of this book I found from Voice of the Martyrs called, “St. Patrick: More than Shamrocks and Leprachauns.” I never realized how much his story parallels Joseph in the Bible who was captured and sold as a slave.  Except that St. Patrick was sold as a slave, escaped to return to his family, and obeyed God to go BACK to the land where he could have been hurt for his faith just to tell them to “trust in the Lord with all their heart” and that “nothing is impossible with God.”  Wow!  I know there is more to his story than even this.  But to convey just this much to 2-year-olds is awesome.  They get it.  My 8-year-old was all over it too.

After the story, we talked about how God wants us to store our treasures in heaven.  So we made pots of gold with each child’s treasures: Jesus and each of their family members… people they will all see again in heaven.  But I really loved one girl treasured “learning”… and I think that’s a treasure to totally store in heaven!

I got the idea for these cute pots with a combination of these bloggers.  For the pot, I just took the template from Christianpreschoolprintables.com.  For the back of the pot, I glued a printable that you can also download free from the link above that quoted Matthew 6:20, “But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven.”

 

click here to get these FREE printables for the pot and Matthew 6:20 quote from ChristianPreschoolPrintables.com.

You can see my idea from happyhomefairy.com.  For the coins, I just traced a circular bottle and cut them out.

I think the part the kids in my class liked the most, was the “stickers” I made them from the .pdf file available at Made2BCreative.com’s blog.  Her whole blog is filled with great printables.

Of course, this post would not be complete without mentioning the AMAZING corned beef, cabbage, potatoes, and carrots my husband brought home from Cracker Barrel tonight!  All of us kept saying, “YUM!”  Gluten-Free.  The kids easily understood that the wee bit of Irish in them from my side of the family is equally as fun as it is delicious.  How does it get better than that?

Have a Blessed St. Patty’s Day!

 

Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss!

Today was a Snow Day here in Ohio for the local schools.  Which meant a snow day for our Classical Conversations community as well.  It was bittersweet to miss our extended family of friends – but we had an unexpectedly fun day in our home school instead!

Our Math lesson today covered how to visualize what 1/4 looks like.  We had four, equally sized, clear, empty containers.  I filled one whole jar to the brim with liquid and asked my daughter to fill the other jar halfway (which would cause her original jar to be half).  The lesson brought home how 1/4 is simply half of a half and that all four quarters come together to create a whole.  We are just about finished with this RightStart Mathematics Level B course.  It will take a whole other post to sing my praise about it.  Let me just emphasize, for now, that it is a recurring theme throughout the book that numbers are related.  We do not just add numbers for the sake of adding.  All numbers have a relationship of which are either part or whole.  The way they repeatedly drive this home, visually and kinesthetically, empowers me with the tools I need to teach my daughter, who cried during math last year with a different curriculum.  She can now mentally add double digit numbers plus double digit numbers in her head.

After Math and lunch, a quick browsing of my e-mails reminded me that March 2nd was Theodore Geisel’s birthday.  Who’s that you ask?  The one, the only – Dr. Seuss!  So I continued the day in his honor.  We looked at Pinterest for ways to celebrate.  We found out my almost two-year-old son recognized the Cat in the Hat, and referred to him as the “Go-Guy” (made sense to us after the PBS song the Cat in the Hat sings about “go go go – on an adventure!)  So, we printed coloring pages for him of the “Go-Guy.”

My 7-year-old daughter found images of the famous oobleck and begged to make it.  So we got to it.  Here is a recipe for oobleck if you’ve never heard of it, from Dr. Seuss’ famous story:  Bartholomew and the Oobleck.  This was my son’s first experience with gooey stuff.  At first he was horrified, but you can see his delight below.  My daughter was also curious as to the science behind the mixture.  How did it feel so solid and then turn so liquid the next instant?  Preschool Powol Packets defined the reason is “Oobelck is a suspension (a liquid mixture that has particles large enough to eventually settle out of the mixture).”  This means it operates like quicksand.  The long starch polymers press together when thrown or rolled on the table.  My daughter had fun slapping it on the counter as a ball and then watching it ooze back to its liquid state.  This happens because the polymers in the oobleck easily trap the water when pressed together and then behave like a solid.  But when you let it go, no force, causes it to relax.  The water then flows within the mixture and it behaves like a liquid.  I was impressed she actually repeated this back to me after I explained it to her.  Thank you Preschool Powol Packets!

A Dr. Seuss birthday didn’t seem quite complete without including the Lorax.  So, while  I was boiling an egg for the Lorax creation she wanted to replicate, she drew her own version of Mr. Lorax.

Here is the finished hard-boiled egg version of The Lorax.  Isn’t he loveable? So easy to make.  We used a blank sticker page for the eyes and stuck them on.  Pipe cleaners for the arms.  And we used cotton balls for his eyebrows and bushy mustache.  We tried using yellow food coloring to color the cotton.  That did not work at all.  So she ended up coloring with a marker.  And no, this was not my idea.  It turned out just like what I found on Pinterest.

This was so fun, we are gonna be celebrating all week long.  I found a great site on pinterest that brought creative writing and copywork into the mixture.  Inallyou.com posted GREAT FREE printables for both younger and higher elemetary grades.  We finished the day with great prompts to get our own story juices flowing!
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Did you celebrate Dr. Seuss’ birthday?  Join us this week and tell us what you did.

Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to

get better. It’s not.” ~Dr. Seuss, The Lorax

Valentine’s Day and 100th Day of School Celebration

Whew!  Today was a relaxing sort of day… but with a lot of extra fun!  Little Miss and Little Mister enjoyed a fun Valentine’s Day/100th Day of School Party at home while it snowed the most gigantic flakes outside I have seen in awhile.  Here’s how it played out:

We woke up and both kids enjoyed their very own breakfast in the shape of “100.”

Then at Little Mister’s naptime, we had some extra fun girl bonding by making our own chocolate fudge (from a box – I promise, Aunt Gladys, I will get our actual family recipe down before too long!).  I think the heart molds came out the best, but we also made animal-shaped fudge.  I had a bunch of little heart molds that I had thought would be fun to make 100 of… but it didn’t look good enough to spend our afternoon down that road.  And, of course, Valentine’s Day is not complete without Chocolate Covered Strawberries!  Let me tell you… yum!

My favorite part of the day came next.  Little Miss sat at her desk and drew a picture of her as a 7-year-old and a picture of her when she will be 100 years old (in the year 2106.. actually, mom made an error that it would actually be 2107).  I find it hilarious that the old version of herself still has brown hair.  She informed me that, even at 100, she will still be coloring her hair.  She is not a girl who wants to go gray

 

While she drew her pictures, we read on Wikipedia about what happened 100 years ago in our world.  We discovered that in 1914, President Woodraw Wilson issued the first official Mother’s Day in America.  This was also the first year that World War I was declared in the world.  Automobile workers were paid a daily wage of $5 daily (that is not per hour!).

We then read through some names of famous people who were born in 1914.  Amazingly, a few of them are still alive and about to turn 100!  The person who interested us most is a man named Karl Otto Gotz. He will turn 100 on February 22nd! A German, Gotz loved drawing while he was still in school.  His gift began making abstract paintings… which were banned in Nazi Germany from being displayed.  So, to survive as a professional artist, he was only permitted to paint landscapes.  His work transformed to spreading thick paint and then raking it off.  He was also known for enlarging computer images to the point of only seeing pixels, then hand painting the pixels to make a giant mosaic.

We thought this was cool, so I showed Little Miss what pixels are on Adobe Photoshop.  She thought it was neat that pictures on computers are nothing more than pixels up close and, how, when zoomed out.. they become a normal looking picture.  This was a great opportunity to explain to her that pixels are a lot like our lives.  That each decision we make in life is like a pixel.  We can’t see the big picture until after we’ve lived our life and can see what God did with our lives.  Sometimes we can’t even understand our lives until we are 100!  I didn’t even know if she could grasp this concept, but sure enough later she told my mom all about what she learned on the phone.  Here is her pixelated drawing she made on Paint.

Math was a continuation of adding numbers over 100.  And to end the day, we co-authored a story of her choosing that was 100 sentences long.

I had no idea we’d learn so much today and have so much fun.  What was your 100th day of school and/or Valentine’s Day like?

Prepare Him Room!

Tags

advent calendar, Christmas, jesus, john, listening, llight, ornament

Is it Christmas already?  I can’t believe my favorite time of year is here.  Last year, our first homeschooling Christmas, I learned not to over-plan my days and tried to make the most of our days.  This year, I am thankful that I actually am (somewhat) accomplishing this – so far.  Some of you may have noticed I have not posted for quite some time now.  Out of nowhere, actually, we encountered some educational hurdles.  Hurdles, which I am happy to report, are mostly working themselves out because of today’s freebie I am offering you a few days late – an Advent Calendar.

I don’t know about you, but somewhere between Thanksgiving and Christmas, sometimes I get so overwhelmed about my to-do list or the issues I see my family needing to overcome, that what I’d really rather do is take a Mommy vacation rather than plan for the holiday.  To just let someone else plan it for me and I show up.  I quickly find myself shifting from an abundantly thankful heart on Thanksgiving Day and then the next day can brace myself with worries of how to plan the upcoming weeks for the “perfect” Christmas.  Every year it is so cool to me to see my kids understanding something new about Christmas.  I have to remind myself that it is usually not because of my planning this happens, but because Christ is making moments happen for their lives and making Himself known to them on his supernatural timing.

My anticipation completely changed from being buried underneath plans, when I stumbled upon this freebie Advent Calendar idea at Handmaden.com from pinterest.  With a 7-year-old and a 19-month-old, I needed something fast to create.  I wanted my Advent Calendar NOT to be a mere countdown to Christmas where we get a piece of chocolate or toy and forget that day.  Because attitude has been the issue at large at our house, I wanted each day to lead up to Christ’s birth and to invite an enticing attitude toward learning.  Handmaden.com’s blog provided just that.  Isn’t it pretty?

I thought it would be more fun for my kids if I printed each day on Christmas contrasting red and green colors.  But wait!  You were wanting a Christmas devotional, you say?  I was floored to find out the simplicity of this advent that she has a single scripture passage for each day to be read right on each day of advent.  Simple is what we need over here.  My 7-year-old has LOVED going to the calendar to see what scripture will be for the day, then she looks it up in her Bible, and practices reading aloud.  Even my 19-month-old knows the routine and can’t wait to go to it each morning.  It begins our day with devotions.  It is a beautiful decoration in and of itself.

If you are an involved parent or a homeschooling parent like me; however, you might want to take it to the next level.  Many families also choose to do an activity for the day with their advent calendar.  It could be something as simple as baking cookies or watching a Christmas movie together.  On the back of each day, I wrote the theme word or activity for our daughter to find when she pulled it down.  THEN, we don’t do the activity until AFTER our studies are done as a reward for her good behavior.  This makes our studies sooooo much more enjoyable as we both eagerly await the most fun part of the day that also ties Christ’s theme for the day.

When I first read each verse on my calendar, I was suddenly filled with the wonder of the Christmas story.  How AWESOME IS GOD that the very birth of Christ was spoken into existence in Genesis!  How GREAT is our God who is faithful in our lives today – EVEN when we are hopeless.  Like Abraham and Sarah who were in their old age and couldn’t fathom having God do what He said – making their descendants as numerous as the stars.  And How GOOD HE HAS BEEN in my life alone!  If I were just to think on the ways He has provided for me without even considering my family members… wow!

As I read each scripture, then, I decided I wanted to pick out a “key” word out of each passage and do a craft or activity to convey God’s amazing ways.  I have been amazed so far at how she “gets” it.  I’m soooo excited that “my” anticipation of hearing Christ’s birth is now becoming “our” anticipation.  It is addicting too.  I cannot stop anticipating how God will move on our behalf and the plans He has for us to do in 2014.

Here is a list and links of our 25 days of crafts/activities.  For each I have listed a single word that spoke the theme of the verse and then found an activity that went along with this word.  Feel free to share and find your own theme word.  I hope you feel just as inspired.  What activites will you be doing this Advent season?

Day #1: Prepare.  We made paintings welcoming God to our hearts.  We also talked about how we prepare for guests by cleaning the house, so we need to open the door to Jesus so that HE can be the one to clean our hearts, if we will just prepare a place for Him.  Also, in Isaiah, they were preparing for the birth of a Savior.  Today, we are preparing for the same baby, our now resurrected Messiah, to return.

Day #2: Sing for Joy.   There are many Christmas songs that fit this.  Joy to the World.  You could even pick Ode to Joy.  Over Thanksgiving, a friend told me that Seeds of Praise was offering a free download.  And what was the title of the song that I now LOVE?  You got it!  The theme I had picked!  “Sing for Joy.”  I thought they were only offering through Thanksgiving day.  But it still seems available and the whole album is awesome and helps your little ones memorize scripture to beautiful song.

Day #3: Jesus’ Strong Hand.  I have nothing against Santa and think this is adorable.  Thought it would be fitting to somehow turn this clay creation into either Jesus’ hand or into Abraham.  Love it.

Day #4: We sinned.  I saw in this melted snowman how we feel after we mess up and wish we could go back to being our normal smiling selves.  You can find the original artist and other snowmen to choose from on my pinterest board.

 

Day #5:  Abraham and Sarah.  Trust God and believe Him.  This activity is to make some cardboard cutouts of stars and to wrap them in foil and hang to see. Pretty fun to illustrate how Abraham’s descendants are indeed as numerous as the stars and that Jesus was born under the star of Bethlehem.  I found this wonderful site describing it here.

At our house this year, we don’t have time to decorate with a Christmas tree, but I found this AMAZING “Jesse Tree” craft.  It could actually be an advent calendar or activity to do all alone.  But I will use it along with my own advent calendar.  The ornament listed in this free downloadable .pdf goes wonderfully with the lesson.  All of the historical figures mentioned in this craft all illustrate the root of Christ’s lineage and the people surrounding the birth of Christ.  It is so neat to see how the prophecy we are reading comes alive from the Old to New Testament readings through the week. Later we actually make the tree, but here is the info for printing the ornament here.

Day #6: Listening to God.  We will be playing the song, “Do you Hear What I Hear?” making the Isaiah ornament from Jesse tree and creating the following crafts.  Listening and following directions are my main goals for my 7-year-old.  She’s a good listener in public, but at home… we are working on it.  Since she has Chinese heritage, she loves learning her characters.  I love how the characters portray listening as from the heart!  All found on pinterest.

{Update:  It was so fun! }             

 

Day #7. Believing God’s promises activity.  As in Day #5, this activity is found at the bottom to remind us not to just hear God’s promises, but to believe Him.

Day #8. Root of jesse tree and ornament.

Day #9. HIS Name is The BRANCH.  We will be making a special Jesus branch on our Jesse tree.

Day #10.  Daughter and son of the King craft.  I found this on pinterest also.  You can buy it.  I thought we could make one of our own.

 

 

Day #11. Jesus is fire.  Fire of the Lord Hats.  Again, something you can buy but we will make our own… found on pinterest.

 

Day #12. Jesus was there with God when the earth was made.  I just found this amazing site on pinterest called “Calendar Connections.” We are learning about the months of the year.  Basically, this site can take any occasion or learning topic you can think of and print out corresponding images to illustrate on a calendar for your child.  I love the Christmas one they have provided to teach kids about Christmases around the world!

 

Day #13. Jesus is the Light and the Bible in the flesh.  Candlelight craft

 

Day #14. John the Baptist prepared for Jesus Mark 1:1-3.  In our Jesse Tree, the ornament for the day representing John the Baptist is a sea shell.  When I was a little girl, my grandma lived in Florida.  She was always bringing sea shells, horseshoe crabs, and sand dollars home for all of the grandchildren to hold.  My favorite item she would bring was the sand dollar because of its story about Jesus.  If you’ve never heard the story, please check it out here.  I can’t wait to see my kid’s faces when they find the tiny doves inside the sand dollars I found at orientaltrading.com!

 

Day #15. Luke 1:5-13 Zechariah and Elizabeth ornament on Jesse Tree.

Day #16. Luke 1:14-17 John was pure and not rebellious.  Grow a borax snowflake

Day # 17. More on Zechariah’s transformation when John the Baptist is born. Watch The Nativity Story.  If you haven’t seen this, you MUST watch it.  It is now a tradition in our house and is one of the most awe-inspiring, biblically sound versions I have ever seen.

Day #18. Names of Jesus.  Choose one advent ornament for the Names of Jesus.

Day #19. Mary gives glory to God for blessing her.  Sing songs such as “Gabriel’s Message” by Sting.  Or “10,000 reasons” by Matt Redman.

Write what God has done for you.

Day #20. Zecharias gave his son the name the angel had spoken, “John.”  He was not named after his father and this was unheard of.  What name does God call you by?

Day #21. Zechariah proclaims over his son after not believing.  Make another ornament from day #18, “The Highest”.

Day #22 Make ornament from Day #18, “Immanuel” ornament
Day #23 Mary hears from Gabriel.  We will be making cookies and gingerbread houses to spread Christmas cheer.

Day #24. More names of Jesus!

Day #25. The angel tells Joseph it is ok to take Mary as his wife.  We need to believe God.  He has come!  Hooray, Christmas is here!

Merry Christmas!  Please let me know what you loved the most and ideas of your own!

Easing into It (08/12/13) Week 1, Day 1

Tags

classical conversations, curriculum

Whether you are just starting your first week of homeschool this week or this is your child’s third week of school, I’m sure you are as blown away as I am at how the summer feels suddenly behind you.  It is weird.  It is still so hot out, yet today as I write this in September looking back at our first week of school in August, I am floored at how quickly the night is coming again and I can finally put my kids to bed at an appropriate time again!  The sun just gradually kept setting earlier, and so getting up earlier for school has just naturally begun to get better.

I had not planned to “ease” into my homeschooling as much as I ended up doing.  But am I ever glad that I accidentally did!  This year has been so enjoyable!  Previously, I wrote how “enjoying” is my theme for the year.  My goals began simply for us to understand that we wake early so that we can enjoy the day rather than rushing.  That we need to understand math is not an enemy, but is a cool way to make life easier.

So, on our first day of school, this is how our day unfolded:

*Scavenger Hunt
*Devotions
*History – Charlemagne
*Cursive – Letters A-F
*History Sentence Week 1 Copywork
*Go to Library

For me, the most exciting part of the day was to see how much quality time was spent on such few things and how great an impact it made rather than rushing through review.

For my daughter, she was thrilled about having the scavenger hunt and that we went to the library and found a book about rocks and inside was a picture of rocks forming the word “JOY” (Yes!  She totally saw my theme about enjoying!  Double Bonus:  I didn’t see it as a coincidence that we just learned about glorifying God and here, normally silent rocks, are in a book shouting “joy” to us just like in Luke 19:40 when Jesus spoke, “I tell you, if these [people] be silent, the stones will cry out!”)

Also cool, is that we will be learning about birds this year.  And in another book she found at the library,  she found a book about a thrasher bird and we were able to go right to our materials and find out more about the bird right then and there.

But let’s be real here.  All of the day was awesome., but ice cream always seals the deal for a back-to-school celebration!  I had energy and was not stressed out.  So much so, we all went to Chick-Fil-A for dinner and then had Graeter’s ice cream for dessert.  It was y-u-m-m-y and a day I will never forget.

The most common question I get asked is, what curriculum am I using at home and what am I doing that can be done to supplement a child who already attends school.  While I don’t know how to answer the second question just yet, I have listed below a condensed version of my books for the year. Have something you’re thrilled with that helps your kids learn? Leave a comment and let me know!

Language Arts:

Grammar School Grammar – An Analytical Approach to English Grammar
PreScripts Cursive Words and Drawing
PreScripts Cursive Sentences and Art Lessons
The Original McGuffey’s Eclectic First and Second Readers
The Original McGuffey’s Eclectic Progressive Spelling Book
The Writing Road to Reading and Thinking by Myrna McCulloch
Rod and Staff Bible Nurture and Reader Series, Grade 2 and Reading Workbooks
McCall-Crabbs: Standard Test Lessons in Reading, A & B

Age and skill appropriate readers

Geography:

Classical Conversations Geography
Geography Songs Sing Around the World by Kathy Troxel
 

History:

Story of the World, The Middle Ages, Volume II
Classical Conversations History
RightsofthePeople.com:  Ben’s Guide to U.S. Government for Kids

Related readers and projects aka “living” books

Government:

Age appropriate library books including How the US Government Works by Syl Sobel

Mathematics:

RightStart™ Mathematics Level B
Math-U-See Alpha
Singapore Math
Spectrum Math

Related activities and math games

Science:

God’s Design for Life science curriculum World of Plants and World of Animals Classical Conversations science curriculum including science experiments
Apologia Exploring Creation with Human Anatomy and Physiology

Health:

Age appropriate books and activities related to nutrition and self care. Cooking projects.

Physical Ed.:

Tennis
Running
Dance
Swimming
Cycling
Geopalz Fitness Tracking

Other formal and informal sports and games

Fine Arts:

Classical Conversations fine arts curriculum which includes famous artist study, art
projects, basic music theory, and basic music appreciation.
Discovering Great Artists: Hands-on Art for Children in the Styles of the Great Masters
The Art Chest Teacher’s Manual.  Televised Art and Craft Lessons by Dan Mihuta.
Piano Lessons
Violin Lessons

 
First Aid, Safety, Fire Prevention:!

Age appropriate library books including Fireboy to the Rescue! by Edward Miller and Home Safety by Lucia Raatma
Fire station field trip

In Your Presence, There is Fullness of Joy! / Second Homeschool Year, Second Grade

Tags

classical conversations, God, homeschooling, joy, planning

August 12, 2013

Update: Please note changes providing a better glimpse of how our school days actually come about.  🙂

Our second year of homeschool has begun! I give all the Glory to God for every part of the day, because, had I actually enforced all the work I had planned in my mind, my children (almost 7 and 16 months), would have had a major fit. (Not to mention, I would have been exhausted beyond belief to survive AFTER school!)

Last year, the lesson that I learned was to stop comparing myself to the overflowing bin of projects and work that my daughter brought home from preschool and kindergarten and to realize that quality, not quantity was better. And on that note, I realized at the end of our year while preparing for the end-of-the year portfolio assessment, that our 1st grade bin WAS pretty full with a lot of great things. Not only that… but it was a bin that naturally happened by God’s grace.  He gave me all of my plans and gave me the clarity of mind to line up a wonderful curriculum with a three month old baby.  And on those days that I *thought* I planned something wonderful… it ended up even better things were orchestrated than I could plan.  It was a great learning curve how to teach while managing a household with a growing baby boy and being a part of our Classical Conversations community.  An added bonus was that even in amidst this unchartered territory, my daughter tried for Memory Master for her Timeline from Creation to the present day, History, Science, Latin, Math, Geography, and Presidents.  She did not earn the complete title.. but nailed Timeline, U.S. Presidents, History, and Science… and that was good enough for us!  My hope of a great education has been blessed!

I literally even now look back with goosebumps and thankfulness that God provided. I was even surprised that the teacher who performed our assessment could see how God arranged teachable moments that I did not plan. I mean, who can plan a week on fire safety and then lightning strikes a neighbor’s house and the whole roof and interior is burned up? How was it that I had a blood work appointment and our science lesson for the day ended up being on all the components of what makes up blood? This teacher was so encouraging and I realized that relaxing made a better mom and teacher for us all and kids who were better students (except for Math, which is another story in progress). She explained to me that school outside the home cannot be fully compared to school within the home. Her analogy was that outside school has so many demands made on teachers that it has become like microwave cooking – so much done quickly, but not the same freedom to explore different topics like when home cooking. A home cooked meal takes much more work and careful adding of ingredients… but the outcome is wonderful and ingredients can be changed to enhance a “dish” anytime. I loved this metaphor.

The truth is, though, that I went through mountains and valleys my first year. I am so thankful for the enormous other classical homeschool moms who came around me to encourage me and spur me on.

As we entered summer, I realized that even with all that I learned as a teacher and how much growth I saw in our daughter, I had no clue what teaching the Second Grade would look like with a toddler into everything while running my health and wellness business from home.  I simply could not imagine what my life would be like.  Then I remember one day, I just realized that feeling like this was okay.  It hit me like a ton of bricks, that if God had made our year so wonderful last year, I could jump out into uncharted territory just the same again.

Even still, I planned.  Slowly but surely, I carefully arranged our curriculum for the year.  There was just one problem.  What would our schedule look like for each day?  I thought and I thought.  Weeks I went over different scenarios in my head.  Even after all of this pondering, I STILL could not figure it out!

Suddenly, August 12th, the day I had picked for so long to start our first day of Second Grade, was tomorrow.  I worked feverishly ’till 2 a.m. trying to comprehend my material and what I would teach and exactly how it would look.  You may be thinking how I could be such a procrastinator to wait until the day before… but truly I did not wait… the mass weight of the school year just crept up on my mind!  I was looking for that theme, that glue, that would catapult us into a positive mindset for a great year.  Last year I had done a scavenger hunt for our daughter to search the house high and low for a gold coin.  And we learned about how searching for Wisdom is worth far more than gold.  She loved it!  Our theme was Wisdom for the entire year.  I knew I had to do some sort of hunt again, but for what?

And then… I found it!  I opened up the book to our first day of our devotions and the word literally jumped out at me.  The question of the week was, “What is man’s primary purpose?”

Answer:  “Man’s primary purpose is to glorify God and to ENJOY Him forever!

ENJOY!  I could hear it in my heart at 2 a.m. that this is God’s will for our year!  Why did He even create us?  To glorify HIM, which brings us to ENJOY him!  How much better is it to be around our friends when we edify them?  As a result of thinking highly of them, we begin to see all of their wonderful qualities even more and we ENJOY THEM!

At 2 a.m. in the morning, it became clear to me that in giving Him the Glory for our year before it even began, He would come near to us and bring JOY to our year!  How did I know this?  Our memory work for our first day of school “coincidentally” was:

“You make known to me the path of life; In Your presence there is FULLNESS OF JOY In Your Right Hand, there are pleasures forever.” ~ Psalm 16:11

Wow!  I quickly realized, He would be faithful to make each school day KNOWN to me!  I am merely a translator.  I don’t need to know everything.  He knows it all and will make it known to me!!  He might guide a whole year’s worth my planning, but He always has surprises that show us all who is actually The Teacher in our house.  It all goes back to Him.  Which is the Classical Conversations mission statement.  Why do we homeschool?  To know Him and to make Him known.  At CC orientation last night, even the pastor commented that we, as homeschoolers, have an awesome opportunity.  We can go out into our communities and bring joy to others.

Pondering more about what “enjoying” meant for our homeschool meant for me that I did not need to stay up past 2 a.m. anymore and could trust that a wonderful first day of school would take place. I could use the theme in every part of our day.  We are gonna throw bad attitudes out (like when Math begins) and learn to enjoy it.  We can go outside and enjoy the day.  It is God’s will for us to enjoy each other.  So just like that, my theme for the first day’s scavenger hunt and the year was made:  ENJOY.

You might be wondering how our day went.  I can tell you easing into the day made it enjoyable to the utmost and I will share the details in my next post.

Below are pics of her discovering the fun and what I wrote on each scavenger card she had to find.  Reading it will not make total sense until I share the meaning next time… so stay tuned!  For now, I will go enjoy my bed!  🙂

                                             

I’m not sure if you can see that each card has a letter on it.  After she got them all, she had to scramble to find our word for the year, “ENJOY.”

1st card (Blank on Back):

Welcome to the 2nd grade!  Can you guess and find the prize and solve the word that cuts our thoughts and heart like a blade?  (Hint: Check the mail!) (Note: She was looking for an “e”nvelope.  Words, you find in a letter, was the word I was looking for that cuts like a blade.)

E:

E is for early.  Waking up early gets us ready for the day so we can do anything and be prepared to go anywhere!

Follow the noise to where you hear the sound to find the letter N! (Hint: It is round and silver!) ( Note: Inside was a nickel hidden by the TV making the sound to lure her.)

N:

N is for Nickel.  We use it to buy thing.  We can’t pay unless we can add and subtract.  We only have fun after it is bought!

See if you can find the next clue in the spinning cupboard next to the dishwasher

(Hint: It is something you eat!)  (Note: The clue was found on top of the “J”elly in our lazy susan)

J:

J is for Jelly.  It comes from fruit.  We can’t do our work without it.  It’s something God gave to us.  The come from His Spirit.  One of the yummiest ones also starts with J.  Do you know what it is? (I was getting her to think of “Joy”)

Where is the next clue?  It starts with “O”!  Put on your shoes and go! (Note: “O” is for “o”utside.)

O:

O is for outside.  We will be out here a lot.  Loving God’s creatures and exploring His earth!

The next clue is a color.  Look up in Heaven with your eyes.  I’ll give you a hint, the color starts with “Y.” (Note:  The color was Yellow.)

Y:

Y is for yellow.  It is the color of the sun.  In second grade we will learn all about the heavens, the stars, the sun, and the moons.  Did you know it was all made to give praise to God’s Son?

Y is also for you.  God made YOU so He could smile.  So we must thank Him by doing everything to praise Him!  🙂

E-N-J-O-Y

When she unscrambled them, she found the card with the word spelled out and on the other side, a picture of an ice cream cone.  Hooray!  Enjoying Ice Cream at the end of our first day!

Remember to enjoy your day!

Tasting Ancient Africa – Classical Conversations Week 13

Tags

africa, bananas, classical conversations, dates, instant soy protein, math, timeline

It’s an exciting time whenever a homeschool project brings together multiple subjects we are studying all into one and uses my daughter’s gift of creativity.  But when all of this happens by ACCIDENT?  Oh my word!  It is an absolute wonderful miracle that only God can be given the credit for!

It all started with a great week back at Classical Conversations as we entered Week 13 and the Age of Exploration.  Two moments in our timeline song include “Slave Trade in Africa” and “Songhai in Africa” – which are two of the most fun parts of the week to sing.  Naturally, then, I decided we would study about Africa in our Story of the World curriculum.  At the end of the lesson were two recipes using ingredients found in Africa – dates and plantains (we used bananas).  I thought to myself… “Do I really want to do this?”  “Will it be a good use of my time if they don’t turn out?”  I debated and debated.  Finally, I decided since we have been memorizing also in Classical Conversations, mathematical measurement conversions used in baking, that we would go ahead and try it.  Something inside me told me I wouldn’t regret it.

Wow!  Was I ever right!  Both recipes were not only delicious, but my daughter and I bonded SO well.  She was intently interested in how many teaspoons were in a tablespoon and in mixing thoroughly every ingredient.  We laughed, we talked about so many topics that we wouldn’t normally have.  It was WONDERFUL.  As we baked, I knew it was moments like these that are why I homeschool.  What time would I have with a baby to do extra baking if she were in school?  How would I ever know ahead of time what she was learning to coordinate our activities at home to reinforce her learning?  I just plain old wouldn’t.  An added element for me as a mom was being able to substitute a third of the flour with Instant Soy Protein so I knew both of these treats were not only healthy with fruits, but also that the carbohydrates were dramatically cut and I know my little sweetie will be growing while enjoying.

It was so nice to serve these to my ladies who gathered at my house later that evening.  Baking, math, Africa, memorizing our Timeline, Science, hearts connecting… does it get any better than this?  I treasure these years dearly.

Here are the Recipes:

Date and Banana Protein Bars:

Ingredients:

*1/4 cup butter

*3/4 cup sugar

*1 egg

*1tsp. vanilla

*2 medium bananas

*2/3 c. flour

*1/3 c. Instant Soy Protein

*1/4 tsp. baking soda

*1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

*1/2 cup chopped dates

*(Optional:  1/4 cup almonds)

Icing:
*2 tablespoons butter

* 1 tablespoon lemon juice

*1/2 teaspoon vanilla

*3/4 c. powdered sugar

Directions:

1. Cream together the butter and sugar.

2. Add the egg and vanilla.

3. Stir in the bananas and dry ingredients

4. Add the dates and almonds.

5. Bake in an 8″ x 8″ pan at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes or until edges are turning brown.

Date Protein Chewies:

Ingredients:

* 1 c. chopped dates

* 2 eggs

*1 c. sugar

*1/2 c. flour

*1/4 c. Instant Soy Protein

*1 tsp. baking powder

*1 c. pecans, ground

*1/4 c. powdered sugar

Directions:

1. In a blender, blend eggs and dates together.  Set aside.

2. In mixing bowl, combine sugar, flour, baking powder, and pecans.  Add in egg mixture.

3. Pour into ungreased cookie sheets.  Press the mixture down so it will be as thin as possible.

4. Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes.  Remove from oven and cut into bars while hot.

5. Roll into balls and then roll in the powdered sugar as soon as the chewies are cool enough to handle.

I would love any comments on how you reduce the sugar.  Next time I will try agave syrup and see what happens!  Who knows what other great things will happen because of an accident?