Asher's favorite thing about school is spelling words and spelling tests. He loves getting new words to practice, and he loves when I write 100% in red next to a sticker or a smile-y face. It makes his day. He spends all week practicing those words so he can get them right. It is really cute - and mirrors my own love of words and spelling, writing and reading.
Isaiah, on the other hand, is very hands on. He needs projects and games to help him learn. Let me tell you - this is so not my style it is a challenge, and at times, a frustration. I'm a book smart kinda girl. Give me a book and I will master the subject matter. I have had the opportunity in my life to hear a few lectures, and that is great with me too. I don't really require hands on, although a few times I have gained a deeper understanding by putting into action something I have learned, it's not necessary for me on a regular basis.
Suddenly, I'm faced with the realization that homeschooling will not be what I thought it would. See, the way I remember it, Mom provided a solid curriculum, helped with regular tests, and a lot of the study time was on my own. Mom didn't stand there lecturing, I read, studied, and tested. She administered the tests, but most of the study was self guided (with requirements on number of pages/lessons/chapters completed per day/week). Of course, I was in the third grade when we started, and I'm pretty sure I was reading very fluently then, so it's a little easier to "self-guide" when you can read an entire text book. I doubt, however that even when Isaiah is reading he will be the self-guided student that I remember being.
I've also realized that projects are fun. I want to take the kids places to encourage their understanding of history and geography, I want to watch them build things, and apply science to fun, at home projects. I want to foster in them a love and a passion for learning. I want them to understand that God gave us this beautiful world to explore, and I want them to understand that all things point to Him for His glory.
I want them to discover what they are passionate about, and I want to give them the strength to pursue it. I want to watch them blossom, and I pray that God would give me the wisdom, strength, patience and perseverance to do just that.
So, today I am reviewing plans for the week, building a better structure, preparing to do more guiding, and trying to find ways to draw my children both into the process of learning. They are only 16 months apart in age, and some days that doesn't seem like much, and other days it feels like they are worlds apart.
I thank God for the opportunity to educate my children at home. I pray that He gives me exactly what I need to share with them, and that He opens their hearts and minds wide to learn about the beautiful world He created for us!
Showing posts with label motherhood. Show all posts
Showing posts with label motherhood. Show all posts
Monday, January 17, 2011
Monday, January 10, 2011
Trust....
Today I revise my statement that the biggest lesson is life being what we make it. God is calling me to trust.
He called me to trust Him with my health, which as we know He came through. He brought me through an amazingly hard ordeal, and He is healing my body more and more every day. A week ago today I was NOT breathing on my own - there was a tube in my throat, pumping air into my lungs for me because I just couldn't do it on my own. Praise God for the technology, then for the fact that I survived the technology, and am at home a week later, blogging, sitting on my couch, recovering.
He called me to trust Him with my new year. MY NEW YEAR. The one I had big plans for. The one that I was organizing, arranging, planning for. He stopped my plans, changed my focus, and asked me to trust Him for the coming year.
He also taught me the value of a day....in the course of a week. He is really working in my an understanding of not knowing how many days we have, and how much we are blessed to accomplish in a day. We have so many opportunities to serve and love, every day, and God doesn't want us to miss those because we are planning for a year.
He called me to trust Him with my children. I've been at attachment parenting, baby wearing, my kids never leave me, kind of Mom most of my life as a mom. The boys never go anywhere, other than when they were going to visit Stacy, which was hard. I didn't like having them somewhere other than home, ever. Guess what? God took such good care of my boys. He used wonderfully loving people to do so, and my boys felt all the love in the world as they spent a week with their Pop & Grandma. Talk about a huge lesson, and God put my heart at ease and I am thankful for the help and love shown for my boys!
Now it's money. I feel like it's all going to come crashing in as we run out of the money we already had. I expected Stacy go back to work today and he didn't. I don't want to start loosing things because I got sick. I feel so bad for getting so sick and I feel like it's going to mess everything up. I don't want to make late payments. God keeps saying Trust me, and I keep pointing at the mess on my screen saying "BUT WE DON'T HAVE THAT!!" and sure, money came from thin air, and there was cash in my wallet that Stacy spent. I know God put that there. But somehow that seems different then all the bills getting paid this month. It's not really. So God is calling me to trust Him so more, and this afternoon I'm sitting here at my computer, being honest with you and telling you, this is hard. I made a choice today though, I paid the tithes instead of saving that money for a bill, and I expect that God will do a miracle with that money. He will touch someones life, He will bless them, and He will do a miracle. and I was obedient.
Thank you God for these lessons in trust....give me the strength I need to trust You each day, with each and every thing (good or bad) that I face.
He called me to trust Him with my health, which as we know He came through. He brought me through an amazingly hard ordeal, and He is healing my body more and more every day. A week ago today I was NOT breathing on my own - there was a tube in my throat, pumping air into my lungs for me because I just couldn't do it on my own. Praise God for the technology, then for the fact that I survived the technology, and am at home a week later, blogging, sitting on my couch, recovering.
He called me to trust Him with my new year. MY NEW YEAR. The one I had big plans for. The one that I was organizing, arranging, planning for. He stopped my plans, changed my focus, and asked me to trust Him for the coming year.
He also taught me the value of a day....in the course of a week. He is really working in my an understanding of not knowing how many days we have, and how much we are blessed to accomplish in a day. We have so many opportunities to serve and love, every day, and God doesn't want us to miss those because we are planning for a year.
He called me to trust Him with my children. I've been at attachment parenting, baby wearing, my kids never leave me, kind of Mom most of my life as a mom. The boys never go anywhere, other than when they were going to visit Stacy, which was hard. I didn't like having them somewhere other than home, ever. Guess what? God took such good care of my boys. He used wonderfully loving people to do so, and my boys felt all the love in the world as they spent a week with their Pop & Grandma. Talk about a huge lesson, and God put my heart at ease and I am thankful for the help and love shown for my boys!
Now it's money. I feel like it's all going to come crashing in as we run out of the money we already had. I expected Stacy go back to work today and he didn't. I don't want to start loosing things because I got sick. I feel so bad for getting so sick and I feel like it's going to mess everything up. I don't want to make late payments. God keeps saying Trust me, and I keep pointing at the mess on my screen saying "BUT WE DON'T HAVE THAT!!" and sure, money came from thin air, and there was cash in my wallet that Stacy spent. I know God put that there. But somehow that seems different then all the bills getting paid this month. It's not really. So God is calling me to trust Him so more, and this afternoon I'm sitting here at my computer, being honest with you and telling you, this is hard. I made a choice today though, I paid the tithes instead of saving that money for a bill, and I expect that God will do a miracle with that money. He will touch someones life, He will bless them, and He will do a miracle. and I was obedient.
Thank you God for these lessons in trust....give me the strength I need to trust You each day, with each and every thing (good or bad) that I face.
Friday, December 17, 2010
A jumbled mess of thoughts!
I'm excited to be here for Day 2 - which is actually my third day IN A ROW blogging - and I have no idea what to write about. I thought about something on the way home, and it was particularly brilliant, and now I have no idea what it even was.
I took my two boys out to see Tangled - which was a decent movie, cute, not any vulgar language that I really noticed, and the characters remained fully clothed - which is a huge deal to me. I truly believe it is my duty to protect my boys' minds from sexual imagery that will leaving a lasting imprint on their brains. I feel like I fight this fight alone, but it's worth it to me. I want them to respect women, and especially their wives, in a counter culteral way! I want this respect to include their young lives, and the things they see with their eyes, hear with their ears, and speak about. I want them to understand that the damage done by sexual immorality isn't just done to themselves. It affects their relationships - and especially their relationship with their wife.
Now, I understand, my boys are very young, and they aren't getting married anytime soon - but this is when it starts. This is when it has to be important, or it never will be.
As I'm writing this, my oldest is reading his Bible, and my youngest is "reading" 365 Bible stories for bedtime. I feel a huge sense of peace about this, and I'm watching them, and thinking I should get out my Bible too, it's about time for a good, truthful life-shaping story that will grow me into the Mom they need me to be...the Mom that God is calling me to be...
I took my two boys out to see Tangled - which was a decent movie, cute, not any vulgar language that I really noticed, and the characters remained fully clothed - which is a huge deal to me. I truly believe it is my duty to protect my boys' minds from sexual imagery that will leaving a lasting imprint on their brains. I feel like I fight this fight alone, but it's worth it to me. I want them to respect women, and especially their wives, in a counter culteral way! I want this respect to include their young lives, and the things they see with their eyes, hear with their ears, and speak about. I want them to understand that the damage done by sexual immorality isn't just done to themselves. It affects their relationships - and especially their relationship with their wife.
Now, I understand, my boys are very young, and they aren't getting married anytime soon - but this is when it starts. This is when it has to be important, or it never will be.
As I'm writing this, my oldest is reading his Bible, and my youngest is "reading" 365 Bible stories for bedtime. I feel a huge sense of peace about this, and I'm watching them, and thinking I should get out my Bible too, it's about time for a good, truthful life-shaping story that will grow me into the Mom they need me to be...the Mom that God is calling me to be...
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Super Mom: Enter!
Ah, she never shows up on cue. But lately I've been feeling more super as a mom then I had been. I've been baking and cooking all kinds of fun things - the boys are truly enjoying the homecooked food and so am I. It's nice to be eating something that wasn't prepackaged and frozen. Don't get me wrong, I love to fill my freezer with frozen homemade casseroles, but I get tired of TV dinners and chicken nuggets. So do my kids.
For snack today I cut up some apples and bananas, drizzled with honey, mixed in some greek yogurt, and served. No one had anything left in their bowls, and I had to wash their faces from licking the bowls out.
Before snack, I made a tex-mex chocolate cake. Homemade, from scratch, tex-mex chocolate cake, with homemade chocolate frosting. I can't wait to try it - it's a small group thing.
I also put together a bunch of curriculum for the boys, of which they are always happy to engage in. I found a book I bought at church early this year...a study in Phillipians. I think I'm going to start that book, and I'm also thinking I want to start a 30 day blogging challenge.
I love to write, and when I start, I usually have so many things I want to write about that I stop writing because I get very very overwhelmed by all of my ideas!
So, today is the start...but I'm going to count tomorrow as Day 1.
For snack today I cut up some apples and bananas, drizzled with honey, mixed in some greek yogurt, and served. No one had anything left in their bowls, and I had to wash their faces from licking the bowls out.
Before snack, I made a tex-mex chocolate cake. Homemade, from scratch, tex-mex chocolate cake, with homemade chocolate frosting. I can't wait to try it - it's a small group thing.
I also put together a bunch of curriculum for the boys, of which they are always happy to engage in. I found a book I bought at church early this year...a study in Phillipians. I think I'm going to start that book, and I'm also thinking I want to start a 30 day blogging challenge.
I love to write, and when I start, I usually have so many things I want to write about that I stop writing because I get very very overwhelmed by all of my ideas!
So, today is the start...but I'm going to count tomorrow as Day 1.
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