Hole and Whole

I am learning to listen to the Holy Spirit as I lead our homeschool. And over the last 5 weeks, I have watched God do some pretty amazing things in our lessons.

For our Bible curriculum, my kids are working through grade appropriate workbooks. Each lesson has Scripture(s) which they use to complete the lessons. Many times I expound on the Scriptures. And some days, the Holy Spirit really grows the lessons. Today was one of those days.

Today's lesson was in Judges 6. We were discussing Gideon and the Lord's instructions for him to tear down the idol Baal and the Asherah pole because it was idolatry. They were amazed that people actually worshiped statues and such. And I explained that it is still happening today in many religions and cultures.

Then I brought it home - to their hearts. I asked "What are some things that you worship?" And I explained what and how we worship idols that may not be statues, but are the exact same as statues. I defined 'worship' as things that consume our minds and hearts, things we think will bring us happiness or joy, things that if we think we have them we will be complete.

Each one of us (including myself) went around the table and said out loud the things that we worshiped. I'm always so thankful for my kids transparency. Then I pulled out construction paper to demonstrate this. I cut out a heart (us) and then a shape out of the middle of the heart. With a separate piece of paper, I cut out different shapes (representing the stuff we worship). We went around the table trying to put the wrong sized shapes (idols) into the hole to see if they fit. Of course they didn't. And then we put the piece that I had cut out (Jesus). And of course it fit perfectly.

The fun part was that they all got to cut out a heart and a shape inside the heart.

I explained that only God can fill that hole perfectly. No one or thing can complete us or make us whole. And yet we try try try to fill it, day in and day out - with things, people, affirmation, cell phones, a new job, a new toy, a car, a house, ourselves. And we think "If I just had ______, then I would be happy." And yet it's a lie. Nothing but Jesus makes us whole.

So here's the most amazing part of this lesson. I checked my email as the kids were working on their hearts and this was the Proverbs 31 Ministries devotion for the day 'Letting God Fill My Empty Places' (http://proverbs31.org/devotions/devo/). As I read through the devotion, I was amazed - it was the exact same lesson from the perspective of the woman at the well (John 4)!

I read it to them and they were amazed too! 

I couldn't do this great task of schooling my kids without the strength of the Lord. He is alive and active, and teaching in the midst of our little school! And I am so so thankful that this broken gal get's to be apart of God's amazing work!

An 'Out of the Box' Day

I really love homeschooling my kids. The possibilities are endless when it comes to learning. I wanted to post some of the things we did yesterday, because I think it really shows how 'out of the box' homeschooling can be...

Lego Building. We had to get a 'real life' shot of S's creation!

S is working on a project that she will eventually send
in to Lego magazine!

We are learning right and left

Peanut made a fish with her hand!

E had to get in on the action

Guilty as charged!

Painting

A, taking a moment to catch the rain in his mouth!

Along with all this fun, we did our typical day of school - Math, English, Writing, Spelling, History and Science.  Plus we did some chores and had free time.

But the crown jewel of the day was the conversation I had with my son. He was learning Proverb 11:30 which says "The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, And he who is wise wins souls.." I could tell he had no idea what a soul was and that he was curious as to how he would win one! So I began teaching him what this verse really meant. Oh if you could have seen his face as the Holy Spirit began to open his eyes to God's Truth! He was so excited! At the end of an amazing conversation, he told me he wanted to learn how to share the Good News of Jesus with his friends and our neighbor. And so next week during school, I will begin doing just that - teaching my oldest children how to share the gospel with the folks who are lost and dying and in great need of a Savior.

My journey as a homeschool mom hasn't been all peaches and cream. It's definitely been a growing process with the Lord (and continues to be)! But yesterday really encompassed what this ministry to my children is all about. I am incredibly thankful to God, that in His great Sovereignty, He set me on this path of homeschooling my kids. He leads us every step of the way!

FINALLY!!! PICTURES ARE HERE!!!!

After MONTHS of not being able to figure out how to post a picture on this blog, I finally talked to God about it. I really don't know why that hadn't crossed my mind before, but TODAY I asked God to fix my blog. And friends, TONIGHT He did. 

I asked my hubby to help me figure out the hows and whys to my picture posting problem, and literally in 5 minutes I had a picture posted on the blog!!!! God used my hubby to get me up and running again!

Thank you B for helping me. I love you!

God has been training me to talk to Him about everything. Every detail. Every concern. Every praise. Every thing. And this was definitely a training time for me!

My Daddy loves me a lot! wink!

So I have tons and tons of updates! But instead of going back months, I decided to start with the recent stuff....

Sarah turned 11 in August! Can you believe it? 11! Where has the time gone. So for her birthday, she invited a friend to see a 3D movie and after large Icee's and a refillable bucket of buttery popcorn, we grabbed seats in the empty theater and watched Despicable Me 2 (a cute movie by the way!).

Don't they look groovy in those chic looking glasses!!?

Sparkler candles that relit when she blew them out!

Sarah showing her 11!

We also started back school and here are some pictures from our first day!

Andrew working on his lego man - it had to reflect something about him...

Sarah loved this project!

Ellie hard at work with dot-to-dots!

Eli was proud of the color game that he completed!

Here is a picture of Sheldon - the bookworm that dropped in as our first day of school guest!

Of course we had to measure him to see if he was really an inch!

I will be posting more pictures soon! It's so good to be back up and running!!!

Why We Homeschool...

Every week without fail, someone asks my kids if they are out of school for a holiday. And each time they tell the person, "No, I'm homeschooled." It's always fun to see the responses. Some people look confused, some are congratulatory, and some give looks of disapproval. But so far to date, not a single person has asked me why we made the choice to homeschool.

My story of homeschool started in 2006. We lived in a large homeschool community where most families we knew were homeschooling. In fact, we were the oddballs for having our kids in public school. Sarah was in kindergarten and we LOVED her teacher, her school and her friends. We had no reason to entertain the idea of homeschool. Then, without us really noticing, God so gently began to turn our heads in that direction. Three quarters of the way through her school year, the teacher informed us that Sarah had mastered all the necessary tasks for kindergarten. I politely asked the teacher what we needed to do and she said "Teach her when she gets home." (Now you need to know that my sweet Sarah was fried when I picked her up from school. She was so tired that she wouldn't talk to me for atleast 30 minutes. Then, like we all do when our kids get home from school, we would eat a quick snack, start the homework, roll into dinner, take a bath, maybe have some play time and then off to bed to restart the same routine again.)  There was no way I was going to teach her more school after she'd spent 8 hours in school.

And that, my friends, is what put us on the journey to begin homeschooling our kids. Here are some of the main reasons why we homeschool to date.
1. The galaxy is the limit to learning. If our kids work hard enough to complete a grade early or a subject early, we can move on to the next one without having to wait till the next school year.
2. One on one learning. There are so many positives to sitting down with my kids and teaching them in the ways they have been created to learn. Whether visual, auditory or tactile learners, I customize their learning to their needs. Also if they don't understand a concept, we can take as much time as needed to work out the questions.
3. Freedom! We have so much freedom. Freedom with our time. Freedom with the curriculum we think is the best fit for our kids. Freedom to take field trips to wherever we want and stand at the monkey exhibit 10 extra minutes - Oh sorry, I digress. Freedom to minister to the people around us while we're doing school. Freedom to do 2 days of school in 1 day if we're on the ball and then take a long weekend! Freedom to take a vacation during the school week!
4. Teaching unlimited. Our kids are learning how to love each other, how to have quiet times, how to serve each other, how to walk with Jesus; how to cook meals, prepare menus, grocery shop; how to do home skills (from changing the toilet paper roll to cleaning dishes...) Andrew occasionally goes to work (and really 'works') with Bryan. All the while, I get to train them (and hopefully ground them) in the Truth of God's Word.
5. We can do school anytime, anywhere. We have done school in the car, while waiting in doctors offices, in the grocery store, on weekends (although rarely!), and through the summer. We've traveled out of state and not missed a beat. And it seems there is always a teachable moment for us to capture wherever we go!
6. Condensed time. On average I spend 30 minutes with my preschooler, 2 hours with my 1st grader, and 4 hours with my 5th grader teaching and working. We start around 8:30 or 9 and wrap up in the afternoon. It is wonderful!
7. Biblical training and life application. This, to me, is the most important reason why we homeschool. Being home with my kids gives me a day to day opportunity to really model walking with Jesus. They get to see my imperfections and failures and God's grace and forgiveness in the midst of them. They get to see me work through struggles like fear, anger and laziness, with Jesus helping me. We pray together over life issues throughout the day and they hear me praying out loud, talking to Jesus about life. They see me reading the Bible. I'm also able to point out to them when God repeats scriptures and Biblical themes to help them learn to recognize His voice and hand. We work on applying Truth to difficult situations too. And that, to me, is the gold nuggets of parenting.

Alot of people say "I could never spend that much time with my kids. They would drive me crazy" or "I could never homeschool my kids. I need me-time during the day" or "I'm not smart enough to teach my kids. I don't have a degree in teaching." Let me just say that I don't believe homeschooling is for everyone, just as I don't believe public school is for everyone. It is definitely something that parents (and kids depending on the age of the child) should pray about and seek the Lord for direction. But, let me encourage you in this: If God is leading you to homeschool, don't let fears of failure, fears of days spent all day with your little ones, or fears of the seemingly overwhelming task of teaching, stop you from moving ahead.

Recently my mentor pointed out to me that I have only 16 years left with my kids, compared to the 40 or so that I will have afterwards without them. It really hit me. 16 years left to teach them everything that I want them to learn. Is homeschooling challenging? For me, at times, yes. But is it worth it? Absolutely.

Red Rover,Red Rover, Miss Mary, Come Over!

We love our children's pastor, Miss Mary! Although she fits into an adult category, she is no doubt a big kid at heart! She really loves kids with the love of Jesus and does an amazing job at relating to them on their level. And it shows continually - my kids absolutely LOVE her.

She has made it her goal to have a school lunch with each one of the elementary school kids at our church. This week was our turn! And because we homeschool, Miss Mary not only ate lunch with us (treating us to Chick-fil-a), but she also spent the afternoon playing outside with Sarah, Andrew and Ellie and then everyone came inside and played some boardgames. What a fun fun time!

A fierce game of headbandz!

Thank you Miss Mary!!! You are a blessing to our family!

A Hunting We Will Go...

This week we did a really fun science experiment on how God created animals with built-in camoflauge so they could catch their prey! We talked about how the lions can hide in the brush because their fur is the same color as their hunting enviornment and how snakes are difficult to see because they are the same color of the ground covering. Here's what we did:

The kids ripped up construction paper and put it in a basket.

Then they sorted out M&M's and Skittles into color piles and guessed which color they'd find the most/least.

 Next they put on their preditor faces... to go hunting for the M&M prey of course...

 I dumped the candy into the basket and mixed it around so it was hidden.

 Then the kids went hunting. They had 1 minute to find as many candies as possible.

 Happy little lions and tigers.... they know they get to eat their 'prey'!

 Eli had to get in on the action!!! Can you see the chocolate on his face?

After they found their M&M's, they had to sort the colors back in the piles and see which color they found the most/least! And then we discussed why it was easier to find blue, but harder to find orange. So fun!!!!

I HIGHLY recommend this science curriculum: Exploring Creation by Apologia. It is a textbook meant to be read by the teacher to the students, and it is designed for children preschool age to 6th grade. So it's perfect for homeschool families teaching a wide range of grade levels. There are accompaning journals that you can purchase as well as a science kit, but the items in the kit are all household items, so you are basically buying convience. The book is around $35.00. We are in Zoology 3 (animals), but there is also Zoology 1 & 2 which teaches birds and fish. They also have a book on Botany and Astronomy. I hope to cover all these books over the next few years.