Things change so quickly.

 

 

 

  This can be good or bad! And in our case, just  a few days ago, things weren’t exactly good. But God has made the badder… better!  He raises up all who are bowed down. He lifts up those who fall. He is good.


  I’m not going to go into details too much about this particular issue, but my heart was broken. Not sobbing, crying, wailing broken. Just broken. From shock, perhaps. Even though I know I should have known better. However, I went in not thinking like I should have, and unfortunately, I think we’ve lost this… thing. Which probably isn’t all bad. The whole “God making the badder better” thing is unfolding now. Very beautifully, I might add. Actually this is applying to 2 different cases at the moment. Both seemed to crash right around the same time.

  At church on Sunday, we were late. It’s the first time in many weeks this has happened. We got side tracked… eating donuts, playing with the kids, computer, etc. Loading the van I think takes at least 15 minutes, if not longer. And this has absolutely nothing to do with my point… other than I missed singing and worshiping to one of my favorite songs. Very bummed.

  Anyway, so while we are worshiping, my heart still broken, I am praying. “God, please show me what I’m supposed to do. Where am I supposed to turn? Where do we go from here? Give me a sign, please. Work in someone’s heart to tell me.” And then that was it. I just gave it up and kept praying about it… and kept on worshiping.

  Singing ended and Pastor Gary told us to greet for a few moments. So I turned around I and it was like he was waiting for me. I shook his hand and I told him my name and he told me his. I had never met him before, nor seen him, to my knowledge. The next thing he told me was “It’s going to be ok. Everything is going to work out. Don’t worry about it.” HELLO! If that isn’t a message, I don’t know what is.  I was shocked, honestly. I just said “ok… alright.” and sat down. I wish I would have thanked him for listening to the Holy Spirit moving in him… because he did, indeed, deliver to me exactly what I needed to hear. I need to wait. I have a tendency to pull God with me

…

instead, I should be letting Him lead me.

  Now, anyone can tell me what this gentleman told me. But someone I’ve never met? Right after a prayer from a wounded heart?  If you feel the Holy Spirit moving in you to do something… to tell someone something, DO IT! Even if you think you’re going to sound silly. Knowing the meaning of the message is not important, but delivering it is. That could be the answer to someone’s prayer and God has trusted YOU to deliver it.

  I’ve been on the opposite side before, and it wasn’t easy for me to listen but I did. I have no idea what happened after I delivered the message I was ordered. But that’s not what is important. I know I did what I was supposed to do.

  I wish more people would listen to the Holy Spirit instead of fearing that they will sound or look silly. Those people who write up horoscopes don’t care, and people buy them!! They actually count them as credible. Hmmm… listen to the stars or the one who created them? I put my faith in the one above them. I hope you do, too.

   God Bless.

Learning how to teach. Teaching how to learn.

 

 

   I have to say that homeschooling  isn’t what I thought it would be. Mostly, yes, but how I am teaching is different than how I thought it would be. I never really gave much thought that I am also learning how to teach Jack. He learns differently than I would have expected, initially. His little hints to boredom and frustration are obvious, thank goodness, and I’m learning how to work with him in those areas. If I don’t, we end up with heavy lead on lesson paper… from top to bottom… multiple times.


   On the 5th day of schooling (today) I was so pleased with how well Jack did with the Phonics and Reading. He knew what to do and is actually understanding new terms. He gets bored with handwriting in the P&R . “I’m tiiired.” is what I often hear, which usually means that it’s time for a break because the writing comes at the end of the lesson and it takes about an 45min to an hour to get through the P&R. So, it’s probably  partly the truth. He can write, but he doesn’t like doing it in lines.

    However, today for our math lesson (which I put off until about 3pm) He wrote his name perfectly and correctly at the top of the page! Capital J and the rest lower case, written correctly and in the proper place in the lines. I am really thinking hard about the placement of his lessons now. We usually start at 8:45, but tomorrow I think I might either break P&R up (it’s our first subject) or start it an hour later and see how it goes then.

 

    Some ways I am dealing with his frustration and boredom are through breaks, or letting him use a fun colored marker or colored pencil to do his work. Today while we were circling objects that start with “c”, he decided to make the circles “melting” with an orange marker and he loved that. It really spiced up the lesson when he was starting to get bored. He was smiling, learning and having fun. He also drew an udder on a calf…. “because that’s what cow’s have under there.” I’m keeping this lesson forever. I laughed a lot today with him. 

  We had been struggling with the term “alike”. “Different”, he gets, but “alike” we had some issues with. Also with the term “same.”  But today I had a break through. Instead of trying to show him “same” with shapes that were the same but different color in his lesson, I just drew them on the white board identical to the pattern on the paper and he finally understood once color was eliminated. I tried last week with objects around the house and it didn’t work either. Perhaps common sense to you, but it didn’t really occur to me.  And then… once he started to grasp the concept, I let him teach me. I should have figured this out days ago. He’s the oldest child and loves teaching Andy and Alex. By allowing him to teach me, I am teaching him. We’ll be using this method frequently from now on. Also an excellent way to get Andy involved.


   He can also write the number 2 correctly now with out help. Just 6 days ago it looked more like a 5 written from bottom to top. I love seeing him improve and learn. It gives me some strength in what we are doing. It makes me happy to know that I can do this! 


     Many times last week  I was bombarded with thoughts like this: “You can’t do this. It’s too hard. He’s getting frustrated and you need to clean the house. He’s never going to learn from you. Just give up.” I know where the thoughts were coming from. So I fought back with prayer and facts...

 

“Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you.” 1 Peter 5:7

  “For I am the LORD, your God, who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, ‘Do not fear; I will help you’”. Isaiah 41:13

 
    The devil may catch me off guard and try to trip me up. Thank goodness I have a big hand to hold on to! I know I’ll need it through this adventure, because this is only the beginning.

First day of school!

  


   Today was Jack’s first day of school! I teased him by saying “First day of school! First day of school!” just like on the movie  Finding Nemo. He loved that. I hope I remember to do that to him when he’s a senior. Although he’ll probably find it less humorous. I’ll probably cry.

   The day went very well. We got everything done in two hours. I was curious how long it would take so I smooshed everything together. Tomorrow I’m going to try breaking it up into morning and afternoon classes and see how he likes that. Around an hour in he got tired and kind of bored. I asked him if he wanted a break and I told him that was ok. His response was “No. I just want some chocolate milk.” Done! 

   We also did all 5 subjects today- Handwriting, Phonics & Reading, Math, Health and Bible. On a typical day it will only be 3 and then one in the evening with Joe. Handwriting and Health will be 2-3 times a week, with Math and Phonics & Reading and Bible everyday.

    I am so happy that I planned things out very thoroughly weeks ago. I don’t have to sit down and plan again until November. Of course unless something crazy comes up, and then I’ll just move everything back a week.

 

  


WHAT WE CHOSE TO USE:





Alpha Omega Publications: Horizons for  Math, Phonics & Reading and Health.

I really like what I have seen for the next 9 weeks and even farther. I love the layout and style. Very easy to use for each one of the subjects.

 







                           A Reason For: Handwriting for Handwriting.

AOP Horizons does not have a handwriting for grade K. They start at Grade 1. I do love what I have seen from the “A Reason For” company in handwriting. And another bonus is that you buy one teacher guide and it’s good through 6th grade. We will probably continue with this even though AOP does offer this next year.

Beginning with God by Steve T. Barclift for Bible.

While this isn’t part of a curriculum, it’s fantastic from what I have seen of it. Story and bible reading, not to mention thought provoking questions and activities for the whole family. We are using this for Jack, but it is really a family subject. I picked this up for a penny on Amazon, plus $4 shipping. Even if you are not wanting to use it for home school, it is a great seasonal devotional for kids. It starts in September with Fall. This week we are talking about being a good neighbor, based on the Good Samaritan story in Luke 10. We have a neighborly activity to do this week some time as well.

 

 

                                                                                                                  (He was not very happy about his picture being taken at first.)

I am so excited for the weeks to unfold and develop a nice groove. Jack did such a good job today, and I just hope I did, too.

    
He’s double checking that all of the bubbles have been traced.

  Yes, he has grubby nails!
 
He had to draw an ant eating an apple. Color the apple red and the ant black. That black line is the ant’s tongue and the red on it is the apple.