Monday Multitude

The blog, holy experience, hosts this and I loved the idea behind it. If you are full of gratitude and thanksgiving for the blessings that God has given you then it's harder for the enemy to bring you down with envy, hurt or any of the things you "think" you lack.

Essentially, to participate, each Monday you add to the list and you gradually build your way up to 1,000 individual items you are grateful for...

So, here's my first dip into the pool of Thanksgiving.

1) God. Without Him, life wouldn't be worth living.
2) A good, working washing machine.
3) Cool, fall days
4) Of course, my darling groom, Mr. Z.
5) And our blessings, Taters, Toughy and Roughy
6) Homeschooling
7) Paper (to make all kinds of fun things with)
8) The ability to meet other sisters in Christ (online) that I wouldn't have been able to before
9) Long chats with friends I haven't spoken to in a while.
10) Apple butter, mmm.

Each week, I'll try to add more. I sure hope you'll join me and if you blog that you consider doing your own "thankful" list on your blog!

New Week

Good morning!

If you've read previous posts then you know that I love Mondays! Yeah, oddballs that we are, we just seem to get more accomplished around here on Mondays...could be that we follow the Biblical model of resting and fellowship on Sundays. At any rate, today is sunny and though cool, it's beautiful outside so today is especially wonderful!

We have lots to do today, but we wanted to make sure everyone knew about the Fall Giveaway Carnival over at heavenlyhomemakers.com


Good morning!

Be sure to stop in and see what various blogs are giving away and to try for a chance at some of them!

Have a blessed homeschool week!

New Directions...

Mr. Z and I have been praying and discussing a lot lately the roles each of us have in raising our children and lately the Lord has been moving in him to take our eldest son under his wing extensively.

After much thought and talk, we are switching gears for the upcoming school year.

You see, this past summer my eldest turned 12 and my husband is realizing that time flies by too quickly. He wants to the be the one to teach our sons to be be the young men God designed them to be.

So, starting this week my husband will handle the majority of my eldest son's education. He would love to take him to work with him, but it's not really considered a good thing at his job (security reasons) so this is the next best thing he can do right now. They do spend a lot of time together with the martial arts, but this just helps us establish him as the head of the household even more and teaches our sons to do so when they grow and have their families later in life.

I will only teach Toughy some of the "extras". I do want him to know how to function (basic cooking, cleaning and mending, etc.) because while we pray he finds a Godly homeschool girl to marry when he grows up, I do want him to not fall for the first girl who can do all those things for him. My husband agrees. We want him to be able to pray and decide to marry (should that be God's plan) for the real reasons, the Godly heart reasons. Also, we want him to know how to help out when his future wife is unable to (illness, giving birth, etc.). My husband tries to model this for the boys too. They know it's mom's job primarily but daddy isn't afraid to pitch in either.

I will be handling all of Roughy's schooling (he's younger) for the next few years, then when he's about thirteen or fourteen, my husband will take over his education as well.

As mom, I will still provide the love and nurturing they need, but only daddy can really teach them to be men of God. I am just thankful to have a husband who is obedient to God.

So, say a prayer for us as we do as the Spirit directs.

A new week

We are already half-way through September and we've had some good days and crazy days as we got back into the balance of school. However, we have decided that we will do our best to remember that this is the day the Lord made and so we will keep our cheer no matter what happens. He's a God of newness and each day gives us a chance to start over and praise Him properly not only with words but with our attitudes and with our actions.

So, with that in mind, we thank the Lord that we live in a place where we can homeschool and are determined to show our gratefulness to Him by taking pleasure in it. In fact, the poem my youngest is memorizing tells us just how much He cares about us. (Will try to post it after our school day.)

Today's homeschool schedule:

Roughy -
1) Silent reading (30 mins) from Song of the Brook
2) Study for spelling test, then Test of List one
3) Poetry memorization - Overheard in an Orchard by Elizabeth Cheney
4) Language lesson
5) PE - (light day since he has judo tonight)
6) Math lesson
7) Science lesson - Dinosaurs unit
8) Corrections (if needed)


Toughy -
As his father teaches the majority of his subjects to him, I don't have as much scheduled for him
1) Language lesson
2) Silent reading (30 mins) A Boy and His Horse
3) PE - (light day since he is going to judo with brother and dad)
4) Corrections (if needed)


Mom -
1) Teach
2) Record daily hour log
3) Tally last week's hours
4) Grade assignments and erase wrong answers for corrections
5) Grade tests
6) Prepare for Tuesday



Will update at the end of the day. God bless you as you go about your homeschooling today!

September Apples

Hi all! Hope you have been just as busy as we have, schooling and enjoying the lovely "early fall" weather. Just thought I'd update and see where you are at...

We're still struggling to find that back-to-the-books balance, but getting closer each day. :) The boys are doing great at their lessons this year. I'm not sure if it's because they are older or if it's because we are all more relaxed as each school year comes and goes, but that is going much better.

We had our first field trip of the school year with the co-op group. We went to the City Museum (St. Louis). The kids had a ball running around the indoor "non" skate park (all the ramps, none of the wheels) and the outdoor climbing trails (you'd have to see it to understands) and of course loved the 7-story slide. Daddy got to go with us this time, so I was able to spend time with my SIL and niece in "Art City" section of the museum. We made paper flowers from colorful magazine pages, necklaces from bottle caps and keys, masks and crowns from overstocked company folders/letterhead, etc. It was really a fun day for all of us!

We are also near the half-way mark of the co-op classes. The boys are enjoying their classes (Toughy is helping his father with that class) and I'm proud to say that my awesome creative novel-writing class is zooming right along. The girls in there are just so like sponges and I'm hoping this class helps them prevent some of the pitfalls that a lot of would-be authors encounter!

We need to plan an apple-picking day and sometime head to the pumpkin patch soon.

So, that's been homeschool life in a nutshell for the month (so far).

Gearing up for the new school year

Wow, it's now August and our family is preparing for the new school year.

Yesterday we went to our co-op group and registered for Fall session. Toughy is going to help his daddy teach Tae Kwon Do to the younger children. Roughy has decided that he wants to take Math Games Lab and then second hour he wants to take Recycled Science.

Hubby and I have filled out the sheets for background checks so we can teach at the co-op this year. We are really excited to be a part of this wonderful group.

Textbooks are ordered and the extras are being planned.

One thing I am considering doing with Roughy this year is lapbooking. A friend mentioned it and I've looked into and found some great lapbook ideas and unit studies online. We are going to lapbook for those subjects that don't have textbooks such as character building, cooking, etc.

Our planners finally arrived. Thanks very much to the ladies at Thehomeschoolplanner.com for helping us get that taken care of so quickly. :)

Now, for the next week I want to clean out and prepare the homeschool corner of our kitchen! :)

After the crazy year we had last year with family emergencies (surgeries, funerals, etc.) it will be nice to get back into a routine and I'm very much looking forward to the coming school year.

Can you believe summer break is almost over?

Neither can I!

So much as happened this summer and I look forward to seeing what the rest of summer will unfold.

We received our planners for the current school years, so transferred notes we had waiting into the planner and added up the hours spent on schooling so far (reading, etc.).

Worked on the "general" schedule so I know what we are doing on any given day of the week. Will need to make specific for each day, but at least won't have to drag out all the books, etc.

Toughy had been ill over his birthday weekend, so today we are just resting. Need to work on some language with Roughy.

Otherwise, letting my mind think and focus on gearing up for the school year!

Hope you are thinking of it too.

Summer is Speeding By

I cannot believe July is almost half over. Where is the summer going to?

I hope you all are enjoying your summertime. We've been to the lake a few times and were able to turn those frog hunts and minnow catching sessions into mini science lessons. :) They learned about habitats, etc. I think they like those times the best.

My husband and I have been working on our homeschool for the upcoming year. We've decided on duties and now it's a matter of finishing up our goals and work on lesson plans.

Today I started Roughy on his language. Since he didn't "get" it last year, we are going back to the beginning. I would rather he start the book over and learn it the first time than let him move on without the knowledge. But I don't want him to get too far behind either, so we started today, reviewed types of sentences and most of the capitalization rules. He did three pages in his workbook.

Both boys did some film studies work with their father, and now are taking their jui jitsu lesson. Each did their reading today.

My prayers are with all my fellow homeschool moms out there and ask that you keep us in your prayers as well.

Happy Monday

No, it's not an oxymoron in our household.

I used to hate Mondays, but since we began homeschooling I've rather looked forward to them as fresh starts. Sunday is a day of rest and praise to our God, the day of renewal spiritually and physically. So, Mondays I'm at the most sharp I'll be all week, and should use it for His good.

And some of that includes getting back into blogging. A lot has happened since I've been on here, but my boys are still doing great and growing up to be wonderful gifts of God. I've had a couple of surgeries so my husband had taken over some of the kids' schooling. He always taught history, but he enjoyed it so much he's doing all of Toughy's CORE teaching. We have really made this a family effort.

We are still using A Beka for my youngest, but think we might switch some of it up (like Math U See). My oldest son is now doing Alpha Omega Life Pacs and he loves those.

Currently we are taking a break from CORE lessons, but are continuing with other things and plan to do a lesson in manners over the summer (or early fall) and art, etc.

We recently joined the C.H.E.C.K. Homeschool group through our church. My husband and I feel that this is a group our whole family can be part of (not just mom and once in a while, the kids) and we are really excited about the upcoming year. :)

I was reading through older posts and realized that I'd' forgotten the boys did Royal Rangers for a short bit. Toughy didn't care for it (not his cup of tea), he would rather sit in service and listen to pastor. He's really growing spiritually and it's a blessing. Though right now, cartoons are on...I'll probably shoo them outside in a bit for some fresh air and fun.

So, in a nutshell, that's what's been going on in our home lately. I will try to keep up with this blog more often in the future and hope to share the homeschooling journey with you all.