Extra-Curricular Activities

Well, I've definitely over-done it this year. In my attempt to make sure the girls are "socialized" (not like that was really the motive, but I have to make up some excuse)... I have over-socialized our calendar. But, we're sure having fun in the process. Hang on... it's gonna be a bumpy ride of extra-curricular activities:



Monday: Ava has soccer practice (aka P.E.)
Caroline is in Club 19:14 Speech and Debate
Caroline has Youth Bible Study (Erich has fun teaching)
(whew, I'm already tired... and Caroline's basketball season is coming up)

Erich coaching sweet Ava

Tuesday: Caroline and Ava are in Sonflower Literature Club (Caroline studying Shakespeare's "MacBeth" and Ava studying Myths and Legends)

Olivia and Caroline are matchy-matchy at Lit. Club

On the opposite Tuesdays, a few of us get together to study Apologia's Zoology. We have a blast!

Bug pinning... gross (only to me, not to them)

Of course, Caroline (the deprived child whose mother didn't bring a bug collection) had to add to the Donnelly’s. She caught a HUGE bumblebee, doused it in alcohol and performed acupuncture the pinning.

Wednesday: Piano lessons with Ms. Kristin Yost (she is an exellent teacher and the girls just love her)!

Since I don't have pics of the girls at lessons, how about pics of the girls in front of the piano?  :)

Ava is beaming with joy!

Thursday: FREE DAY!  (thank goodness... although we usually find "something" to do to fill it up)

We fill it with fun field trips (this one at the Dallas World Aquarium)...

...  or swingin' on the Donnelly's front porch

... or something real fun like going to the dentist to get a tooth pulled! 

Friday: Ava is in a Word of Mouth Drama class and then goes to Art Class
Caroline is usually working on her speech or baking some yummy treats while Ava is gone.  :)

Showing off her "whoopi pies"... notice that one is already missing (I think in Erich's tummy)

Oh, and I forgot to mention our monthly American Girl Bookclub.  Last quarter we read all the Kaya books and had fun making tee-pees, corn husk dolls and going to the Wycliffe Bible Translators Museum.

Olivia and Ava getting ready to make their corn-husk dolls

Caroline and Jade show off their dolls

Don't know which is creepier: the snake skin or the red eyes?!

This quarter they are studying Felicity and they got off to a good start today sewing potpourri sachets and writing with quill pens and ink.  Looking forward to the girls making samplers and their tea party.  Colonial days seem so elegant (nevermind the fact that there was no indoor plumbing or deodorant)!

Do they look like homeschoolers Colonial girls or what?!

Olivia and Ava concentrating on their backstitch

Yep... those are our extra-curricular activities in a nut-shell.  We don't get out of the house much, do we?!  :)


Have a blessed day!

Back to School... and Back to Routine

After a long and wonderful Winter Break... we woke up this morning to start our Back to School routine. And, boy were we glad not to have to leave the house with the icy rain and dreary weather! Too bad the dogs still had to go outside for potty breaks! :)

We started our break the week of Thanksgiving, and we continued that break (except for some Bible study, Math, Reading & Foreign Language here and there to keep our minds active) all the way up until today. Whew! Our goal was to have as much time as possible to serve others during Christmas and really dig deep into God's Word to prepare for the Celebration of Christ's glorious birth. We also had plenty of fun baking days! It still flew by way too fast, yet the girls were happy to get back to our school routine and have some order around the house again.

The girls were so excited when they awoke this morning... they always have such a zeal for starting the new term with new books and new schedules. Everything "new"! Here was a recap of the "buzz" around the house:

~Had blueberry waffles for breakfast... yum!

~We got back on our chore chart routine that I just love from Managers of their Chores. That means that the girls get everything done in the morning, from Bible devotional to brushing their teeth and the dogs... all without me asking... yea! :)

~Ava recited the Old Testament Books of the Bible (she was afraid she had forgotten them) and Caroline recited the New Testament ones.

~We said our Christian, American and Texas flag pledges and it was Ava's turn to hold the Bible as we did our Bible Pledge of Allegiance.

~We also had the blessing of Erich playing guitar and leading us in our Praise Song this morning, How Great is our God.

~The girls loved drawing the Tabernacle from our Exodus Study. It's amazing how elaborate and beautiful the Israelites created it according to God's detailed instruction!

~Caroline read her Longfellow poetry and Ava read A.A. Milne's poems... they both loved them. (especially Caroline b/c she loves it when her poets have rhyming stanzas... it's that left brain of hers)

~Caroline reviewed her Algebra that she swore to me that she hadn't forgotten... she hadn't. :)

~Ava read Aesop's Fables of the Ant and the Grasshopper... then we read Prov. 6:6-11 and discussed the biblical basis for diligence. (Diligence is a character trait that Ava is working on... so am I)

~Caroline did her spelling while Ava did her copy work... that sounds boring... moving on...

~We studied our Botany lesson and learned about how wonderfully God designed flowers, pollination, bees, and creation. Bees are very fascinating... I won't go into it all here, but the girls were amazed!

~The girls even suited up to brave the cold and collect icicle specimens... that didn't last long. :)

~Caroline read and narrated about The Alamo and The Gold Rush in California. She just loves history!

~Ava worked on counting out change and paying for items in our pretend store. After Ava finished paying for everything, Caroline handed her the items she purchased as if we were in a real store. It was just precious... Ava's eyes lit up when she got a teddy bear, gum, a purse, and even some peppermints... everything she had "purchased". That was a great Math lesson... no wonder Math is Ava's favorite subject! (she likes shopping, too... lol)

~Ava read and narrated her History story. I typed exactly what she said to me so that she could work on grammar and clarity of thought and speech. Here is what she composed:

Narration of “Bruce and the Spider” from Fifty Famous Stories Retold

There was once a King of Scotland whose name was Robert Bruce and another King of England who were at war together. The King of England and his army fought Robert Bruce. Six times the King of Scotland’s men got beaten. So, the King, Robert Bruce, went up to the mountain to hide in a shed. He thought to himself, “I just give up.” Then he saw a spider who was making a web. She tried six times to hatch her string on the other end of the web, but it fell every time. She tried it a seventh time and it hatched onto the other side. He learned from the spider that people shouldn’t give up. So, the King of Scotland told his army to fight one more time and then all his people won.

~Caroline and I finished off the school day reading Oliver Twist... wow... that's a challenging book to read. We had to look up a lot of words... its amazing how many words Dickens writes since he was paid for each one. (If only I was paid for each word I said... lol)

~And, we had some friends stop by for a quick visit... brrrrrrr for them!

~As an after-school treat, we snuggled up in bed, popped Kettle Corn and watched a movie! It was a great first day back to school!

I just love homeschooling my precious children! God has truly blessed their hearts with a desire to have good disciplines, character and a love for learning! I wouldn't give up this precious time I have with them for anything! And that was a sample of our blessed day!

Oh, and since I love looking at schedules, here are our Term 2 Schedules:

Independence

This morning something wonderful happened:

I awoke to our home security alarm blaring loudly, and I turned off my alarm clock in the process of Erich disarming the security alarm. (It was a false alarm, of course) So, since I turned off my alarm clock accidentally, I overslept by two hours!!! The whole house didn't wake up until 8am!!! (That's not the wonderful part, in case you were wondering)

So, knowing that we were going to be 2 hours behind on schedule, I told the girls that we would school until the afternoon today to make up for lost time. I got in the shower and got ready for the day as I normally would, even though we were way behind on time.

When I got done, I went upstairs to check on the girls... and guess what they were doing?...


THEY WERE DOING THEIR SCHOOL STUDIES ALL ON THEIR OWN WITHOUT BEING ASKED AND HAD HUGE SMILES ON THEIR FACES WHEN I DISCOVERED THEIR 'SURPRISE'!!!!! :)


Praise God! One of our school goals is to establish an independence in the girls so that they will be self-starters and have a desire to learn on their own accord. We have always tried to foster in them a true love for learning. Today was awesome to see the fruit from the labor.

Caroline and Ava had done their spelling, copywork, history, geography & even downloaded our weekly praise song so that they could sing to the Lord.

Again, this was all on their own accord!!! It was truly wonderful to know that Caroline and Ava took the initiative to learn and due to their hard work, it made a very smooth and productive school day! :)

I read a wonderful post today on my sweet friend, Meghann's blog that discusses the very point of discipling our children to love learning.

And, for those that like looking at schedules like I do, here is our school schedule for the Fall Term:







They love school so much that Caroline told me yesterday, "I want to be homeschooled as long as I can..." and then started discussing her plans to homeschool her children when she's a mother. What a praise to God for instilling in their hearts the love of learning!

Have a blessed day!

Hodgepodge

*Originally posted February 12, 2008

I came across a few links I wanted to share:

First off, for some creative viewing, here are the winners of the "What's cool about homeschool?" video contest. You can view all of the winners from the link at the bottom of the grand prize winner's video. There are some very creative children out there! :)

I also came across a wonderful article from Jeannie Fulbright on A Mother's Musings blog. Hope this is as encouraging to you as it is to me:

Academics Attack

We all desire great careers and lives for our children. Yet, if our children grew up to be doctors and lawyers but didn't have a relationship with God, a heartrending pain would surely permeate our lives. Our relationship with our adult children, even if strong, would be marked with a deep, unutterable sorrow: both for their soul and because we couldn't talk about the most important thing in our lives. Certainly they would require us to curb religious discussions if we wished to continue a good relationship. Sadly, this is the case for those I know with unbelieving adult children - children that abandoned the faith of their youth when they left home to pursue their academic endeavors. I began my homeschooling journey with a deep conviction that this was God's call upon my family. Many of you felt that same calling. As I stepped out in faith, I discovered an exciting new world: a world of curriculum, educational philosophies, supplementary activities and courses, academic endeavors, field trips, and opportunities abounding for the betterment of my little protégés. With a thrill, I realized that I really could give my children a better education! Only one major problem existed: fitting it all in. So, if we were going to do it all, we had better get on the stick!

Can you guess what fell by the wayside in our zealous efforts? Bible reading, morning devotions, deep spiritual discussions, heart training, and even our dear Lord Jesus. Sadly, I caught a terrible case of "Academics Attack", a malady that strikes many a homeschool mom. Indeed, my quest to provide my children the "best" education and the "best" enrichment resulted in an attack on our true purpose for homeschooling.

Though I believe God desires our children to do all things with excellence and to infiltrate every arena with light, including fields of study and trade, we must intentionally bear in mind our true purpose as home educators. If we are not proactive, we'll pave our homeschool highway with good intentions unfulfilled. There is a way that seems right to man, and focusing on academics and achievement would seem to provide a bright future for our offspring. Yet, in God's economy, we must continually seek first His Kingdom and His Righteousness and all these things shall be added to us as well. Seek ye first.Our first priority should be training the hearts of our children to love the Lord, to love others and to really, really know God. We should be diligent to make heart training the important first in our day - a quest we purposefully and actively pursue, rather than just waiting and hoping for teachable moments to arise.

Frankly, academic or extracurricular interests can quite easily become an idol to our hearts and to the hearts of our children. We find ourselves devoted to these pursuits, dedicating most of our thoughts and attention to these things. It's quite a task to make heart training a priority, but God promises that our diligence to do so will yield tremendous results: He will take care of everything else on our behalf - He will do it. He will fulfill His promises (Psalm 138:8).

When a love for God is truly cultivated, everything else, including academics and other endeavors, will fall into place. In fact, if we neglect the spiritual training, the other pursuits won't yield the fruit that God intended.I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.John 15:5

Apart from God, all our efforts come to naught. Nothing. Zip. Zero. A law degree? Maybe. But in God's eyes, it's worth nothing apart from Him. If we genuinely focus our homeschooling on spiritual training, it will produce fruit, fruit far superior to that which we could ever manufacture through our own efforts. Spiritual maturity produces academic success with less effort. Spiritual Maturity allows our students to be led by their Maker into that which they were created to be, and it's always better than what we could plan or hope for.

After a year or two of relentlessly working to provide the best education and enrichment for my children - putting spiritual maturity on the back burner, I was at the end of my rope. I found myself driving slowly by the public school. Needless to say, things were not going well. My kids were fighting constantly, no one enjoyed school - including me. I realized that all the field trips we took were just an excuse for a day off and no one learned anything, no one wanted to do their work. Each day we were frantically rushing through the school work because we usually had somewhere to be in the afternoon, and anger was the flavor of ice cream I served up on a daily, sometimes hourly, basis. Yum.

Finally, in silent desperation, I did what we do when we find ourselves in a deep, dark pit: I gave up and fell on my face before God. With fresh revelation, I got up with a new plan - morning devotions instead of school. Yes, for a while we just gave it all up and only did devotions. We did them for more than an hour every day.

Within a short time, our entire family life changed. Peace reigned where chaos was once our dictator. Kindness marked our attitudes, and diligence began to sprout in my children's little hearts as they completed their assignments and did what they were asked. When I said it was time for school, I no longer heard the familiar groans. No amount of begging, pleading, rewarding, or threatening to call dad could have produced this behavior. It was the fruit of my children's renewed walk with God. Their faith grew as their prayer lives matured; they began to regularly pray on their own - in every situation, especially before subjects that were the most difficult.
There have been times over the years where we have fallen out of the routine of devotions - either we couldn't find a good devotional book to read, or we went on vacation and couldn't get back in the groove, or I just allowed busyness to distract us. Invariably, within a short time of neglect, things would begin to crumble again. Unfortunately, we simply can't coast on the manna we received last month - we'll ramble along for a bit before we begin to slide downward into another "Academics Attack."

If I could tell moms only one thing that would help their homeschooling, having regular morning devotions would be it. Truly, nothing else has blessed our homeschool experience more.
Over the next few newsletters, I'll be sharing ideas for implementing devotional times and how you can use these ideas to make your morning devotions special. Look for these tips and ideas in the articles entitled Daily Devotion Ideas.I'll also be sharing about various devotional materials our family has enjoyed and giving "curriculum" (devotional and Bible study) reviews. Also, if you have any great devotional ideas or books you would like to pass along, please email me at: jeannie@jeanniefulbright.com

Believing God's Word for Our Children Being the primary educator for our children sometimes fills us with fear and trepidation. The enormity of that responsibility could overwhelm even the most faithful servant of the Lord. Yet, we don't have to experience fear because God has given us many promises for our children.

The question we must ask is: Do we believe God or do we believe our doubts and fears?

Let's look at some promises God has given us to stand on:
1. God thought about our children even before He created the world. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. Eph 1:4
2. God knows our children and has already planned and purposed what they will do and be. For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Eph 2:10
3. God loves our children and will guide us daily as we seek to raise them in His ways.For this God is our God for ever and ever; he will be our guide even to the end. Psalm 48:14

Don't let fear and doubt rob you of the peace, joy and confidence God wants you to have in your homeschooling. He has great plans for your little ones. Let us not put our faith in our fears, let us put our faith in God's truth instead!
"The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me; your love, O Lord, endures forever"Psalm 138:8

Some encouragement

*Originally posted on January 31, 2008

One of our dear friends has this convicting question posted in their home:

Is what I'm doing, or about to do, getting me closer to my objective... of hearing from Jesus, "Well done my good and faithful servant..."?

This brought me to thinking through some things:

Number one: is my #1 objective to hear from Jesus "well done good and faithful servant"? If not, I need to rearrange my priorities and objectives in my life.

Number two: the only way I know what God's will is, is to actively seek it in His Word... am I entrenched in His Word enough to know for sure what He's called me to do while I'm here on Earth? If not, I'm just using human reasoning, and we know from Prov. 16:25 that "there is a way that seems right to man, but in the end, it leads to death".

Number three: if my priorities in life are set-up to achieve my objective, and if I'm reading the Bible so that I know what His will for my life is... am I being obedient?

Hmmmm... good thoughts!

On another note, we're currently reading through Charlotte Mason's Volume 3 in our book club... I just LOVE those ladies in book club!!! They are so insightful, encouraging, and most of all... they value raising their children in the most Godly way possible. Back to Volume 3, Miss Mason is teaching on how to have docility in the home. I first had to look up what docility meant:

~Ready and willing to be taught; teachable.
~Yielding to supervision, direction, or management; tractable.

Don't we all want that in our children's hearts? :) She goes on to stress the importance of good and loving authority... not arbitrary or autocratic. It was all very convicting and encouraging! Here is my favorite line from Chapter II, Page 24:

"Authority is that aspect of love which parents present to their children; parents know it is love, because to them it means continual self-denial, self-repression, self-sacrifice; children recognise it as love, because to them it means quiet rest and gaiety of heart. Perhaps the best aid to the maintenance of authority in the home is for those in authority to ask themselves daily that question which was presumptuously put to our Lord-"Who gave Thee this authority?"

Miss Mason sure hits the nail on the head! I have learned so much from her and when I apply those principals to our homeschool... the outcome, with God's blessing, is docility in the girls' hearts. I'm still working on my role as their authority... it's just a tough job to do it correctly, but thank God that I have Him as my authority. He's the perfect Father to me... I just need to have His character when it comes to raising my children with Godly authority. (easier said than done, right?!) :)

Have a blessed day!

Happy New Year... and Back to School

*Originally posted January 6, 2008

Hope you all had a wonderful start to the New Year! I can't believe it's already 2008 and time to go back to school!... time sure flies. :)

We started off our new year with a new family devotional: Our 24 Family Ways by Clay Clarkson. The first lesson proved beneficial (when is studying the bible with your family not going to be beneficial?) when Erich started explaining how great God's love for us in that He sacrificed His Son for us. It led to a wonderful discussion.

Erich illustrated it this way: "If somebody told me that in order for 100 people to be saved, I would have to let one of you (Caroline or Ava) die, I just couldn't do it. Especially when they told me that those 100 people hated me and were my enemies... I just couldn't imagine letting one of you die for them. But God, in His infinite mercy, compassion and grace, sent His only Son to die for ALL mankind that were His enemies (Romans 5:8) so that we would be saved. Isn't God's love for sinners awesome?!!!"

Ava surprised us by responding humbly and thoughtfully with this: "But, if I died, I'd go to heaven, and the 100 enemies wouldn't... so you'd need to let me die in order to save the others, because I'm already going to heaven."

WOW!!! We got tears in our eyes... we were so shocked that her little 5 year old heart responded with true biblical understanding of sacrifice. All Erich was trying to do was get them to understand how hard it is for us, as humans, to think about one of our children dying in order to save others... in hopes to paint the even bigger picture of how much more God loved us by sending His Son to die for His enemies. But, Ava took it a step further... Praise God that He is actively working in her heart to transform her into His image. Needless to say, we are looking forward to more studies in our new devotional! :)

Tomorrow we start back to school... the girls are excited, and honestly, so am I! As we start Term 2, we have a few "new" books to add to our curriculum as well as a new poet, composer & character from Plutarch's Lives. Caroline and Ava are excited about all the "new-ness" (you know how kids are with something new and different).

I've also prayed for discernment in adding some things into our curriculum. First off, I would like the girls to start their own quiet time with God in the morning. Time for them to pray to Him without my initiation... time for Caroline to meditate on a passage of Scripture and for Ava to look through her Bible. I want to make sure that they are learning how to have a prayer and study time with God, apart from me.

Secondly, Ava brought one of Charlotte Mason's principles to life in which prompted me to make another change. Miss Mason stresses the importance of teaching bible stories directly from the Bible itself, rather than from paraphrased children's bible storybooks. So, I was reading out of a paraphrased bible storybook, (only because it was a beginning reader book and I thought it would be good for Ava to practice reading from it) when Ava said to me, "I like it better when you read me stories out of the Bible... can you do that please?" Duh... what was I thinking?!?! :)
I was reminded of 2 key verses that prove this point. Hebrews 4:12 says: "For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart." and 2Timothy 3:16 says: "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness" So, of course I should rely on God's Holy Word to reach into the girls' hearts to teach them... not a man-made altered version using "easy" words. If we reach a passage in the Bible that seems "over their heads" or if they have questions, of course I will stop down to explain or use other translations to help illustrate the passage. But, I've now decided that we will focus our daily bible studies on a verse-by-verse study of different books of the bible... and we'll start tomorrow with Genesis (good beginning, eh?).

Lastly, I'd like to add a weekly "tea time" to teach table manners. I'm thinking we'll teach things like properly setting the table, passing food around the table, serving food to others, etc. The girls also need refreshing on proper posture at the table as well as common curtesies like not talking with food in your mouth, chewing with your mouth closed, and taking small bites at a time. I want them to have fun with tea time as we'll try different flavored tea and eat sweet treats! Yum! Of course, I'll pull out my china for the tea time, too so we can be true little ladies! :)

School starts tomorrow at 8:00am and I'm prayerful that we'll start off with the right peaceful and patient heart, eager to learn and ready to do God's will! I've attached our Term 2 schedule... I'll keep you posted on how everything goes! Have a blessed day! :)

Christmas Break!

*Originally posted December 17, 2007

Today is the start of our Christmas Break! The girls have finished all of their studies and they both told me that they didn't want school to end! How awesome!!! But, I know it's best to give their little minds a break (and my mind, too). So, we might do some Math and Reading here and there throughout the break, just to whet their appetite for learning!

I recapped with the girls about our Term 1 and here are their answers to my questions:

Q: Ava, what is your favorite thing that you've learned this year in school?

A: Math, Reading, Art... hmmmm... EVERYTHING! (What a testament!)

Q: Ava, what is something you wish were different for next term?

A: That I won't have to keep doing easy things like count by two's or count by even or odd numbers. (Wow... who would have thought that would be "easy" for a 5 year old?!?!)

Q: Ava, what is something new that you learned this year that you didn't know before?

A: That homeschooling would be so much fun!!!! (Does that warm your heart, or what?!)

Q: Caroline, What is your favorite thing that you've learned in school?

A: RightStart Math and reading Poor Richard and Plutarch's Lives. (I would have never guessed her most difficult literature, Plutarch, would also be her favorite! Yea!!!)

Q: Caroline, what is something you wish were different for next term?

A: NOTHING!!! (Again, what a testament!)

Q: Caroline, what is something new that you learned this year that you didn't know before?

A: That RightStart Math would be so much fun! (I'm so glad I switched over to that curriculum... it has stretched her "math reasoning" in so many ways... she just loves it!)

If I were to answer those same questions I would say my favorite thing is: being with my wonderful children all day teaching them and learning with them! God has taught me so much so far, and I couldn't have done any of this without His strength, patience, wisdom and guidance.

Have a Blessed Day! :)

Reading musings

*Originally posted on December 10, 2007

So, I just can't say enough wonderful things about Ambleside's curriculum. The girls have improved in their reading skills by leaps and bounds!! Some of Caroline's most difficult literature books are Robinson Crusoe and Plutarch's Lives. They have stretched her vocabulary and her reading comprehension so much that she will tell me that her brain is tired after her chapter sections. :) Plutarch's Lives has been great because Caroline has learned about Roman culture and good citizenship, which is always a plus. But, Robinson Crusoe has been my favorite for her to read because of the wonderful spiritual content. One of my favorite passages is this:

In the Morning I took the Bible, and beginning at the New Testament, I began to seriously read it, and impos'd upon my self to read a while every Morning and every Night, not tying my self to the Number of Chapters, but as long as my Thoughts shou'd engage me: It was not long after I set seriously to this Work, but I found my Heart more deeply and sincerely affected with the Wickedness of my past Life: The Impression of my Dream reviv'd, and the Words, All these Things have not brought thee to Repentance, ran seriously in my Thought: I was earnestly begging of God to give me Repentance, when it happen'd providentially the very Day that reading the Scripture, I came to these Words, He is exalted a Prince and a Saviour, to give Repentance, and to give Remission: I threw down the Book, and with my Heart as well as my Hands lifted up to Heaven, in a Kind of Extasy of Joy, I cry'd out aloud, Jesus, thou Son of David, Jesus, thou exalted Prince and Saviour, give me Repentance!

This was the first Time that I could say, in the true Sense of the Words, that I pray'd in all my Life; for now I pray'd with a Sense of my Condition, and with a true Scripture View of Hope founded on the Encouragement of the Word of God; and from this Time, I may say, I began to have Hope that God would hear me.

Now I began to construe the Words mentioned above, Call on me, and I will deliver you, in a different Sense from what I had ever done before; for then I had no Notion of any thing being call'd Deliverance, but my being deliver'd from the Captivity I was in; for tho' I was indeed at large in the Place, yet the Island was certainly a Prison to me, and that in the worst Sense in the World; but now I learn'd to take it in another Sense: Now I look'd back upon my past Life with such Horrour, and my Sins appear'd so dreadful, that my Soul sought nothing of God, but Deliverance from the Load of Guilt that bore down all my Comfort: As for my Solitary Life it was nothing; I did not So much as pray to be deliver'd from it, or think of it; It was all of no Consideration in Comparison to this: And I add this Part here, to hint to whoever shall read it, that whenever they come to a true Sense of things, they will find Deliverance from Sin a much greater Blessing, than Deliverance from Affliction.

Wow... all Caroline and I could say was "Wow!" We both were touched at reading Robinson's accounts of truly understanding his sin condition, understanding God's promise of deliverance... and then his "Ah-ha" moment that he needn't pray for deliverance from his affliction on the island... rather it was much more important to receive deliverance from his sin. This is awesome literature being poured into our hearts... Miss Mason has a little bit to say in this area of giving the children beautiful literature instead of "twaddle":

IV. The Habit of Imagining

The Sense of Incongruous.––All their lessons will afford some scope for some slight exercise of the children's thinking power, some more and some less, and the lessons must be judiciously alternated, so that the more mechanical efforts succeed the more strictly intellectual, and that the pleasing exercise of the imagination, again, succeed efforts of reason. By the way, it is a pity when the sense of the ludicrous is cultivated in children's books at the expense of better things. Alice in Wonderland is a delicious feast of absurdities, which none of us, old or young, could

vol 1 pg 152

afford to spare; but it is doubtful whether the child who reads it has the delightful imaginings, the realising of the unknown, with which he reads The Swiss Family Robinson.
This point is worth considering in connection with Christmas books for the little people. Books of 'comicalities' cultivate no power but the sense of the incongruous; and though life is the more amusing for the possession of such a sense, when cultivated to excess it is apt to show itself a flippant habit. Diogenes and the Naughty Boys of Troy is irresistible, but it is not the sort of thing the children will live over and over, and 'play at' by the hour, as we have all played at Robinson Crusoe finding the footprints. They must have 'funny books,' but do not give the children too much nonsense reading.

And, I can testify that the "classic literature" has done wonders in Caroline's growth in reading abilities as well as moral growth!

For Ava, we just finished Black Beauty and are now enjoying reading Beatrix Potter's stories, A Child's Garden of Verses, and she just loves reading on her own from Pathway Readers. We are almost finished with "First Steps" and Ava reads so much more fluently due to that wonderful program! The workbooks have been especially wonderful in teaching Ava phonics rules and reading comprehension. She reads with wonderful inflection in her voice and she practices spelling words every chance she gets! What a joy it is to be teaching her and seeing her reading and spelling skills grow immensely! (not to mention her eyes light up when she knows it's time for her to read!)

Oh, and I found this wonderful condensed version of A Christmas Carol, that was adapted by Charles Dickens himself. This will make a much better "read aloud" for the kids during Advent.

*Here was a lovely quote from Caroline tonight:

"Mom, do you know what I like best about Advent?... We get to spend family time together every night, we learn a lot about God, and it is VERY entertaining!"

Praise God that He is working in and through the girls' hearts and has blessed us in so many ways! The most important "literature" we have is God's Word. As we read it, it penetrates our hearts and convicts us to become more like Him. Have a blessed day! :)

It's so good because God is so Good

*Originally posted on November 26, 2007

I told Erich tonight that I wanted to write a book about how awesome homeschooling is! :)Everyday God renews my mind and shows me His hand in our lives as we go through school and I’m thankful for the wisdom He has given me and pray that I will continue to “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior”. We continually tell others how wonderful homeschooling has been for our family as we have seen such a difference in our lives and in the girls’ lives. We seem to have much more time to do the things that matter eternally and there is much more peace in our home. I am truly honored to have this responsibility to teach the girls and they have learned so much so far (as I have too) and I just can’t say enough about the work God has done in their hearts as well as mine! :)

I was talking with my dear friend, Sara, the other day who said that she’s so surprised that our first year of homeschooling is going this well. She furthered by saying that most people she knows have a “rough” first year adjusting to the changes and such. As much as pride wanted to seep into my heart and for me think, “It’s because I am such a good mother and teacher…” God reined my heart back to Him and instead reminded me that it is all because of Him. He is so good! I responded that our peace in the home is ALL from God and we praise Him for the smooth transition, the desire He’s put in the girls’ hearts to learn and serve Him and most of all… I praise Him that He opened the door for us on this new journey of teaching the kids at home.

It’s so easy to get caught up in only blogging about the “perfect” moments. I promise that it is not my intention to mislead anyone into thinking that our home is perfect, my kids are perfect, and everything we are doing is perfect... none of that is the case (my close friends and family could tell you some funny stories to testify to that). It just ends up being that I get excited about posting all the wonderful stories that I am witnessing and as I am learning so much through the process, I hope my small insight would encourage someone else like so many people encouraged me.

I’ve really been trying to bring home the point to Caroline and Ava that we have a biblical imperative to show Christ to others and tell others about Him. In that, I feel very convicted in my own life that I need to be doing that more. I’ve been telling the girls about my struggles in those areas as well and have asked them to help hold me accountable, too. That’s a scary thought… but it is very necessary! :) When Jesus came to Earth, He showed us EXACTLY what God’s character looked like in human form: Completely obedient, compassionate, Holy and always doing the will of the Father. As I instruct my children to strive to emulate Christ to others, I need to get in front of the mirror and see how I’m emulating Christ to my own children. The past few weeks, God has “cleaned” that foggy mirror of mine so that I can see better what areas I need to work on. I continue to pray and depend on His wisdom and patience to be the Godly wife and mother that He calls me to be.

Back tracking to my phone conversation with Sara, I did tell her that God has answered so many of our prayers regarding "smoothness" in our days and for direction in choosing our curriculum. He even used Sara to tell me about Ambleside and Miss Mason’s books. Of course, at the time, I had no intention of homeschooling so I just brushed aside the advice. Little did I know that God would soon direct us on this wonderful path! I just can’t say enough about how wonderful Miss Mason’s teachings have been for the girls and how much they have learned from the fantastic and rigorous curriculum. Of course, when they learn from God’s word daily, it’s a “no brainer” that He’s going to accomplish His purpose in their hearts and we’re going to see those fruits! :)

The biggest testament to me is how much the girls have a desire to learn:

Ava woke up last Saturday and started crying that we weren’t doing school! Literally, she was crying that it was Saturday and when I told her that we were going to take a break from school, she said back, “But I love school… I don’t want to take a break!” She later told me sweetly, “When I grow up, I want to homeschool my kids.” When I asked her why, she answered, “Because I see how much you love teaching us!” Wow!!!

Caroline has such joy everyday as she learns and is excited to tell me what impressed her the most out of something she read from her studies. She is constantly wanting to read and very eager to learn more from the Bible and more about the world around her. I see God working through her heart in so many ways!

I really love teaching them, and when they get those "Ah-ha" moments (like when Ava just learned all of her OT books of the Bible, or when Caroline finds one of her difficult vocabulary words in one of her reading selections from the day and knows what it means) I couldn't think of trading those special learning milestones with anyone else. The looks on their faces are priceless! As little Ava has progressed to be such a great reader and so good at math and as Caroline has truly learned to "think" through difficult passages and studies... I really see the special-ness in being their teacher and wouldn't want to miss out on any of those moments! Praise God that He has given me these precious girls to instruct in His righteousness… may I glorify Him and be obedient to His Will and His Word in the process! God is good... all the time! Have a blessed day!

My favorite calendar

*Originally posted on November 12, 2007

This calendar from Lakeshore Learning has been the BEST investment I have made for teaching Ava how to read a calendar. After just a few weeks of working with it daily, she had made HUGE improvements! Because everything is magnetic, she can set up the whole month, which is great practice for understanding how the days of the week flow and understanding holidays, etc. Also, as she works on the "Yesterday is_____, Today is______, Tomorrow will be______" section, she truly grasps time and what day is what. Now, 10 weeks into schooling, she is very confident about understanding the calendar, the date, the days of the week, months of the year, seasons, etc. She even looked at it today and said, "Since we went to Church yesterday, and we go to Church on Sunday, today must be Monday!" Yea!!!! She's finally getting it! It's also been great to correspond with our math lessons on even and odd numbers. When we do the pledges each day, Ava gets to hold the Bible for "bible pledge" on even numbered days and Caroline holds it on odd numbered days. Of course, that encouraged Ava to learn her evens and odds quickly so that she made sure she got her turn on holding the bible on the right day. Now, she can look at the calendar and say, "Today is Friday, October 26th, and since the 26th is an even numbered day, it's my day to hold the bible!" I'm so glad that she's able to reason through all of that... and I owe it all to this wonderful magnetic calendar!! Have a blessed day! :)

If it's not Baroque, don't fix it

* Originally posted on November 3, 2007

Korsakov vs. Handel

Wow… I never knew the impact that different styles of "Classical" music would make on my children. This term’s composer study has been on the Russian Nationalists, specifically Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. The girls have enjoyed it immensely. We have listened to his music every Friday during school, we have done research on him and his music, we have watched You Tube videos (don’t worry, I previewed them beforehand) of incredible musicians playing “Flight of the Bumblebee”, we’ve listened to a radio program of “Tsar of Saltan” on Classics for Kids and we’ve done a wonderful little online study of "Scheherazade".

Whew!... if we don’t know Korsakov’s music by now, we’re in serious trouble! Really, the girls have loved it and I have truly enjoyed the studies, too! I asked Ava this week if she remembered our composer’s name that we’ve been studying (just trying to make sure this is sinking into the 5 year old). She answered very proudly, “DaVinci Korsakov!” I tried so hard not to laugh at her morphing this term’s artist with this term’s composer… it was great! At least, both subjects have been sinking in! :)

After looking into the other Russian Nationalist’s music, Modest Mussorgsky, and after reading many posts from the AO yahoo group, we’ve decided to skip his music. Most of his pieces are very “dark” (Not that Korsakov’s were necessarily “light”). “Night on Bald Mountain” has to do with witchcraft, and the piece just sounds plain creepy to me. So, after consulting Erich, we are moving past our Russian composers and starting on our term 2 composer: Georg Friedrich Handel.

What a bright spot of our morning when I turned on his music!! I first asked the girls if they could tell by his name where he was born. Caroline raised her hand enthusiastically and said, “GERMANY!” Good job, Caroline… having a German-blooded daddy with the name spelling of “Erich” has taught you to recognize other German spellings! :)

The other wonderful thing about our composer study was the difference in the girls’ countenance when I played Handel. When I would play Korsakov, they would look very contemplative… but when I played Handel, they both got up and started dancing like ballerinas. Twirling and curtseying around the room to Concerti Grossi op.3 No.1-6 (no, I don’t know what that piece’s title is in English) put such a smile on my face. :)

I asked the girls the main differences they found between Korsakov and Handel, and they had very good answers.

For Korsakov, they came up with descriptions like: Strong, mighty, fierce, loud, like soldiers marching.

For Handel, they said: Light, quiet, joyful, sounds like fairies dancing, reminds me of The Nutcracker… makes me want to dance! :)

I know many studies have shown how the music we listen to affects what we feel and think in either a positive or a negative way. I’m certainly not trying to imply that Korsakov’s music was negative… but seeing what a positive impact Handel’s music conjured up in their little spirits, it was so obvious to me that not only do I need to continue to protect what my children see (i.e., T.V., commercials, movies, internet, etc.) but also to make sure I’m protecting what they listen to (i.e., music lyrics, certain music types that are “harsh”, etc.).

There’s just something wonderful that happens when you listen to Handel’s “Messiah”, that you know your spirit is being fed with something God-honoring. May we all make sure that we are feeding our eyes and ears with things that are pure as Phil. 4:8 instructs: “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things."

So far, we really like Handel… I love the music of Bach & Vivaldi, (wonderful Baroque composers) and Mozart & Beethoven (my other favorites who were influenced by Baroque music), so I’m sure studying the Baroque period of music is going to be a big hit in the family! Studying “Classical” music and the mastermind composers of late has been a real treat so far. I understand why Charlotte Mason found that subject to be an important one in nurturing a child’s “whole-hearted education”. Homeschooling rocks!!! :) Have a blessed day!

More proof is in the pudding

*Originally posted on October 24, 2007

Caroline has had many “Ah-ha!” moments throughout these first few months… here are some of my favorites (most of my favorites are things she’s written or drawn that hopefully soon I’ll figure out how to scan and post on here):

When studying the Proverbs 31 Woman, I read aloud that “wisdom comes out of her mouth and kindness is on her tongue”. Caroline drew “literally” a face with an open mouth with the word “wisdom” coming out of it and drew a tongue hanging out with the word “kindness” on it. Her left brain makes her drawings of bible stories as literal as possible… it’s so cute. She’s a true “dispensationalist”. :) I’ve got to figure out how to attach some of her drawings and poems so that you can see what I’m talking about… hopefully I’ll figure out this blogging thing soon!

Caroline wrote out her characteristics of a “Loving Woman”, and here is what she wrote:
“If I love God, I will show it by: Self-Control, Obedience, Reading the Bible, Showing Love to Others and by Acting Godly”. WOW… that’s a great summary that I need to follow more!

Erich was leading Family Devotion one night and taught on Jesus’ Prayer from Matthew 5. Caroline literally RUNS to get paper and pen and asks energetically, “Can I please take notes?” Of course, Erich was thrilled at her initiative to learn. (I was thrilled that her note taking skills had progressed to evening time after school was over). When I came home that night from Choir, Caroline couldn’t wait to pray with me. She pulled out her notes and used them as a guide to help her prayer be more like Jesus’. It was such an awesome moment… God is putting such a desire in her heart to be more like Him!

Charlotte Mason stresses how important it is to read classical literature to your children. Not only will the children’s vocabulary increase to a higher level, but they will be inspired by the character’s trials and accomplishments as they face moral dilemmas in the story. Charlotte is so right on this point (that’s an understatement). Caroline has been using such mature words in her everyday vocabulary and she phrases her sentences like authors that we’ve been reading! When we read A Little Princess, little Sara Crewe does an amazing thing to help out a “beggar child”… and Caroline was so moved that she got tears in her eyes! What a touching moment… she was truly inspired by a sacrificial act in the story and kept on talking about it.

The best thing we ever did as a family (I have to give Erich credit for this one) was cancel T.V. service and remove the T.V. from our living room. We still have one in my bedroom and one upstairs in the game room… but the T.V. is not the center of our life. We occasionally watch DVD’s… most recently Caroline requests “Little House on the Prairie”. But, without the T.V. as the focal point, Caroline gets excited about things that are much more beneficial… like doing bible study, playing family games, reading good books, playing outside, etc. It’s easier to get Caroline to focus on her educational work without the distraction and “mind candy” that the T.V. has to offer. (can you really call it an “offer"?) It’s been such a joy to see God change her heart since we’ve started homeschooling.

Caroline is a very punctual child… obviously she gets it from me… ha-ha!!! (for those that don’t know me, “punctuality” is the antithesis of a word that describes me!) :) If we are not prepared to start school by 8:00am, Caroline is rushing around trying to help Ava or get out the books for the day, so that she can help us start on time. Sometimes, if I tell her, “It looks like we’re going to start a little later today,”… she will just start doing her Math, Spelling and Copy work on her own. I love how driven she is, but sometimes it causes me stress to try to keep up with her!

Caroline really enjoys playing the piano and Kurt, her piano teacher, says that she’s truly gifted. She is always sitting down to practice, which is a real treat that I don’t have to be “on her” about practicing. She is very driven and goal oriented, so Kurt told her that once she masters her Sonatina, he will teach her Fur Elise… so she is “gung ho” about perfecting the Sonatina. Because of our homeschool schedule, our lessons are from 1:00-2:00pm, which means we're not adding “one more thing” to our evening schedule. Family time is very precious to us, and even though we haven’t done everything we’ve wanted to do yet with our evenings, it still is a sigh of relief that we’re not “overbooked” with activities.

I can’t stress enough how incredible Charlotte Mason’s teachings have been for my girls… how helpful Ambleside Online is… and how incredible the Yahoo groups have been for ideas, support, links, advice, etc. I would NEVER have pictured myself homeschooling… NEVER thought my girls would thrive so much… NEVER thought that we all would love it as much as we do!!! Erich said that it seems like we have MORE time and MORE freedom to be a family, to serve God, and do things that matter ETERNALLY because of homeschool. Praise God that He convicted us to make this move and that He has provided the wisdom, peace and blessing that has made our homeschool so wonderful. May He continue to give us strength and patience as we continue to learn how to emulate Him in all we say and do. Have a blessed day!

The proof is in the pudding

*Originally posted October 14, 2007

God has brought us so far already in this journey that I just had to recap the past couple of months into some of my favorite moments. Here are some of my favorite comments from Ava: (I'll give you some of Caroline's in my next post)

When studying RightStart Math, I asked Ava to picture the number 8 in her mind and then asked her what it looked like. She closed her eyes tight and said, "I see 8 orphans and I see 8 hands feeding the poor". Wow... our bible studies on God's character from Duet. 10:17 are seeping into Ava's math!!! It doesn't get better than that! :)

Ava was drawing the story of Rebekah and Isaac and the "stolen birthright" from our Bible study. She pointed to her pictures and said, "Mommy, this is the Hairy Guy, Esau, and this is the Not Hairy Guy, Jacob." I laughed at Jacob's other name being the "Not Hairy Guy".

We were going to do the Buckner Orphans Shoes for Souls service project, and had prepared ourselves by studying Ruth and several other verses on what God's character is towards orphans and widows. Ava summarized our lessons by saying this: "If you drop something, don't pick it up; leave it for the poor. God lets the orphan have food and He doesn't want them to run out of food and be hungry. I need to help orphans and give them shoes." Hiding God's word in your heart is really paying off! :)

Speaking of hiding God's word in your heart, I got a kick out of Ava quoting her Prov. 16:24 memory verse as this: "Pleasant words are like a honeymoon, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones." Who would have thought that honeycombs and honeymoons could be interchangeable?!

After reading Prov. 14:1 about the wise woman building her house on a good foundation and the foolish woman tearing it down with her hands, I asked Ava if she understood what God is telling us in those verses (not thinking she would get it, but rather thinking that this would be a teachable moment). She answered, "We can take care of our lives by being Godly and not mean." Yep... she got it all right (in a 5 year old version).

Science and Geography lessons are also getting mixed into our Bible, because Ava drew a picture and said, "This is Satan blowing bad ozone everywhere. He's like cooking and blowing smoke." And, yes... she said "like cooking"... spoken like a true valley girl! :)

And you know Ava's tummy gets involved in her bible lesson too when she draws a picture of the foolish woman's house and has hamburgers and French fries coming out of the chimney!!! LOL! :)

Here is proof that reading good literature produces better vocabulary (this literature example came from God's word... so, of course it's going to be good): We studied 1 Cor. 13 and were talking about ways we can show love to others and as we picked apart each verse, I asked the girls to tell me how they could put it into action. When we came to, "Love does not delight in evil", Ava said that her way to put that into action was to, "Emulate nice people." I love it when the 5 year old not only uses the word "emulate", but also says it in context. I am so excited about her progress so far in so many ways! :) God is so good!

Final one for Ava (Caroline actually chimed in on this one first): When I told the girls that this week while we're in San Antonio we were taking a "Fall Break" and were not going to school, they begged me, "Please mom... can we take some of our homeschool lessons in the car and do them on the way there?... PLEASE!!!" OK, so when your kids are begging you to learn more, even when you're trying to give them a vacation, you know something is going right!!! I'll give you some of Caroline's great "lines" soon on my next post!

As I said before, and will keep on saying... all of these wonderful moments are from God. He is the one that is blessing our day with peace and putting the desire in the girls' hearts to study His Word and learn more about His world! To Him be the Glory for all the wonderful things He has done in our homeschool. May we serve Him well and emulate Christ in all that we say and do!!! Have a blessed day!

Our curriculum

*Originally posted October 5, 2007

As I mentioned before, I had searched through MANY different curriculum choices... and the one that seemed perfect for our family is Charlotte Mason. She was a Christian Educator who inspired teachers to teach their children to "love learning for the sake of learning"... that way they will be "lifetime learners". Don't just "teach at them"... but teach them how to learn so that they will continue learning their whole life. She also stressed the importance of "living books"... not dumbed down "twaddle" or boring text-book facts to memorize that they will later forget. She teaches that the more beautiful language they read, they too will use beautiful language. The more wonderful stories they read with good morale, the more they will strive to adopt those same characteristics of their "hero" in the story. She focuses her curriculum on teaching them God's word and centering their lives around the love of God, the love of His world and His people. She teaches that education is an atmosphere, a discipline and a life... she also stresses the motto "I am, I can, I ought, I will." It basically means:

I am . . . a child of God, a gift to my parents and my country. I'm a person of great value because God made me.

I can . . . do all things through Christ who strengthens me. God has made me able to do everything required of me.

I ought . . . to do my duty to obey God, to submit to my parents and everyone in authority over me, to be of service to others, and to keep myself healthy with proper food and rest so my body is ready to serve.

I will . . . resolve to keep a watch over my thoughts and choose what's right even if it's not what I want.

After reading many of her ideas and curriculum suggestions on Ambleside Online, we were totally sold on her method of schooling.

One thing I had figured out about Caroline is that she could memorize ANYTHING that was put in front of her. And, with her quick mind, she would not only catch on quickly, but she would master things immediately. With that ability also came the mindset that after she would take a test, quiz, etc... the information would no longer be needed. She was motivated by the competition of being the smartest kid in class, or the kid who aced the test, or the child who finished first... what she NEEDS to be motivated by is that she needs to learn for the sake of learning... for God's glory and for her sanctification process... and with Charlotte Mason's philosophy, our goal was to inspire Caroline to have a desire to learn more about Him, more about His world and a desire to be more like Christ... for His glory. Grades, competition, awards, etc. are all "self-focused"... what we want her to know is she needs to do work at everything with all her heart as working for the Lord, not for men (Col. 3:23). And we are so excited at the progress we've seen so far in her (and Ava) with this method of teaching! :) Caroline is 9 years old and in 5th grade (AO Year 4) and Ava is doing a "light" Kindergarten b/c she technically wouldn't be of age to do K yet ... but she's so ready academically that we're going ahead and doing reading, math and a few other subjects... while making sure it's a lot of fun! :)

So, here's an outline of what we do:

Every morning we start at 8:00 am with the Pledges (Christian flag, American flag, Texas flag, and Bible). We work on our Scripture memory every day (they already have 11 verses "hidden in their heart" and Caroline just finished the Beatitudes and Psalm 23... and Ava is learning the OT books of the Bible). Our focus in memorizing is for God’s glory… not to just to show-off what they know. (it's hard not to "brag" to the grandparents, though) We sing a Praise song... we Pray and then we do our daily Bible study. Currently, we have been going through a WONDERFUL bible study book by Doorposts called Polished Cornerstones. I have them draw what character lesson I am teaching which is good practice for their "note-taking" skills. Eventually I would like each of the girls to do a private devotional to teach them how to do a "quiet time" with God... but for now, this is how we start our day.

Next is Math. We use A-Beka with Caroline. She is truly gifted in Math... it is her favorite subject and comes very easily to her. Ava uses Right Start Math which I love because it teaches her "mental math" through a lot of games, hands on manipulatives, songs, abacus, etc.
Then we do our Poetry for the day (right now, we're going through Tennyson). Caroline reads aloud to us and sometimes makes up a tune to go with the poem.

Afterwards, Caroline does her Spelling with a book called Spelling Wisdom. It is a WONDERFUL book with very challenging words in it all wrapped up in beautiful poetry, excerpts from classic books, famous quotes, or bible verses. Some of my favorite words that she's worked on are: gregarious, scrutinize, languid, arithmetical. :) This is definitely a notch above what her school spelling words were. She not only learns how to spell the words, but I have her look up the definition, put it in her own words, use it in a sentence, and then picture it in her mind. Then, after 4 days of working on the words, she has a Dictation exercise she does which teaches her to be a good listener, a good writer and write her spelling words in context. It's been working out wonderfully.

We then do Copy work (which is like handwriting practice). Caroline copies from a cursive catechism book that I ordered on Lulu. She also does D'Nealian printing using George Washington's Rules of Civility. She does beautiful work and she's writing beautiful quotes... not redundant words over and over. She really likes it! Ava also works from a D'Nealian book and I'm trying to get her to write more with lower case letters; as of now, she mainly just uses upper case.

Ava has improved in her Reading AMAZINGLY in the last 6 weeks. We read books with Pathway Readers’s program and she does so well! She even has inflection in her voice as she reads instead of "monotonously sounding out words" It's been such a joy to see her flourish in reading! She asks several times a day, "Is ____ spelled like ____?" She has such a desire to improve in her reading and spelling and she LOVES it!

All of those "subjects" are the girl's every day work. After that, depending on what day it is, depends on what other subjects are studied. I'll attach my full schedule on here at some point when I figure out how to do it. :)

For Literature, we're reading Age of Fable, Robinson Crusoe, Pilgrim’s Progress, Little House on the Prairie and are about to start The Secret Garden. Caroline LOVES to read and has such good inflection in her voice that she often reads aloud because it sounds so nice! :) I sometimes read to her to help her practice her listening skills, and other times I'll have her read quietly to teach her to work independently. After reading, she "narrates" back the story. I know she's understood what she's read if she's able to tell it back. Sometimes, she can draw what she's read, type what she's read or even write what she's read. We alternate narration methods to use all the skills. :)

We study History through This Country of Ours, Ben Franklin's biography called Poor Richard, and church history from Trial and Triumph. She gets so excited about history because she's reading about it from interesting tales using intelligent language... not simple bullet point facts from a textbook. It really makes history "come alive"! We also use a Timeline to record our event’s dates in which she really likes. :)

We study Science using Apologia's science material, "Exploring Creation with Astronomy". It's written from a creationism standpoint and refutes the world-view theories out there with great biblical evidence. They have wonderful pictures, fun experiments and tell the facts in a "story-type" manner that keeps the girls interested. It's a wonderful curriculum!

We study Geography using Explore His Earth... very much like Apologia in the creationism, projects, etc. The book is full of wonderful information and very God-glorifying. The girls get so excited when it's time to do Science and Geography!

We also get out once a week and do Nature Study. Charlotte teaches that we need to get the kids out of the house to show them what all God created so that they can love nature and appreciate His creation! The girls will draw and journal what they see on the nature study and they've even written several poems. Caroline's poems are always very literal being the "left brain" that she is... and Ava's are very artsy and symbolic being the "right brain" that she is. :) It's so precious to read their poems... I'll post a few on here soon.

Caroline studies Grammar using a book called Simply Grammar. She also reads Plutarch's lives and Shakespeare.

Fridays we do "Fine Art Friday" We study Latin with Cambridge Latin, study Art (this term is DaVinci), study a Composer (we're currently listening to Korsakov), learn a Hymn (and the verse and background that inspired the writer), and today we started learning American Folksongs (the girls were giggling at some of these). Caroline also does an Art curriculum called Artistic Pursuits. It has taught her a lot... she is a fantastic artist and I see her talents flourishing with this program. She also does Creative writing using a book called Story Starters. I see her writing abilities really improving in creativity and skill because of this book. She has so much fun writing the stories, too. Fine Art Fridays are really a fun day (although, I don't think the girls would say any day isn't fun in some right).

We end every day with Piano practice (the girls take from a wonderful teacher, Kurt Kunzat... I HIGHLY recommend him!) and afterwards the girls have free time to help with chores, work on the computer (Caroline does typing with Mavis Beacon), read or just play. When I tell you the girls absolutely LOVE homeschooling... I mean it!!! God has given them such a desire to learn more from His Word and about His world... and it's AWESOME being their teacher and to learn right beside them.

Ava's quote from this week was, "Please, don't stop teaching us school right now... I want to keep learning!!"

Caroline's quote from this week was, "Homeschooling is more challenging than school and WAY MORE FUN!!"

That's a summary of what we do and I'll journal more soon about more "God-stories" that are evident in our new homeschooling journey. It has been so fun and rewarding so far and I can't wait to write more about it! Have a blessed day! :)

How it all started

*Originally Posted on Tuesday, October 02, 2007

My First Post

After 6 unbelievable weeks of homeschooling... I decided the best way to keep track of all the wonderful things that have happened, was to start a blog to journal about it. Here's my story:

To catch you up to date (hopefully it's not boring, but I have to start somewhere): My daughters have both been in private school their whole life (not that they're that old to sound like "their whole life" is a long time) My eldest, Caroline, started in Montessori and progressed very quickly with the "montessori way" of teaching. Reading well at 3 years of age, memorizing all the states and capitals at 4 years old, being able to spell words backwards (elephant, xylophone & eight were her favorite "party tricks"... lol) showed how much Caroline loved school and had a desire to learn. The school ended up advancing her into Kindergarten when she was 4 years old, in hopes to keep her challenged academically. Soon afterwards, our youngest daughter, Ava was born and Erich encouraged me to become a stay-at-home-mom... little did I know what a huge blessing that would be! :)

When Caroline was 6 years old, we moved her to a Christian Private School for 2nd grade. Being that she was now in a classroom environment, and had to do things at the class's pace, was a little difficult for her to stay challenged academically. But, we LOVED the fact that she was in a Christian school not only getting chapel, biblical teachings, scripture memory, etc... but also the love of the teachers who could pray with her, and teach her using Christian curriculum from a creationism standpoint were some of the main reasons we loved her at the school. (was that a run-on sentence or what?) So, we stayed there 3 years and even started our youngest, Ava, in their 2 day Preschool program.

But, "something" was still nagging at me that we hadn't "arrived" at what God's Will was for our family...

Starting Spring of 2007, God put a few families in my life that He used to show me that homeschooling is not as I had thought it to be in the past. Then came the "challenge" from my husband... "how about we pray about it?" That led me to searching the bible for God's will for our family... and Duet. 6:6-9 was constantly standing out to me: how can I teach my daughters the ways of God ALL THE TIME when they are away from me MOST OF THE DAY? I know some people do it just fine... their children are in school during the day, and they make sure they don't overbook their schedules with "extra stuff" so that they have plenty of family time, family devotions, service projects, bible reading, scripture memorizing, etc. and raise up their children with the focus of glorifying God and advancing His Kingdom while balancing having them in school 8:00am-3:00pm. But, that way was not what we were feeling called to do with our kids... it seemed very evident through prayer, searching God's word and seeking wise counsel... that God's will for our family was to homeschool.

But, just as God starts "speaking" to you, Satan "whispers" doubt and fear into your ear to try to throw you off course. My fears were: How am I going to keep Caroline challenged academically? How do I teach Ava how to read better? How am I going to have the patience to train their hearts to be Virtuous "little" Women? How am I going to teach 2 girls at different age levels? What are my friends and family going to think? (and being the big "people-pleaser" that I am... this really mattered to me) I thought homeschooling was for kids that couldn't "hack" school... How do they stay "socialized"? The list went on and on...

Every time I would talk with Erich about it or pray about it... I felt SUCH PEACE in our decision. Researching homeschool curriculum was very exciting and I spent many hours every day reading about different methods in order to pick the best one for us. Erich is such a supportive and encouraging husband, and he continued to help me battle Satan's attacks of doubt and kept me focused on the most important goal: "To train up our children in the way they should go". He kept on asking me to figure out what matters ETERNALLY... to have the star athlete... the brain surgeon child... (all the things the world says are most important and I was mislead into thinking) OR to have a child after God's heart... to raise them to be Kingdom minded... to be Christ-like to others... to love God and serve Him... all the TRULY good stuff. How wonderful it would be to teach them throughout the day with that focus in mind! Erich kept on telling me that all that "other stuff" academically, socially, athletically was just icing on the cake. But I had to start out my cake with biblical foundations and that would mean more time with the kids... teaching more of God's word... holding them accountable when they slip-up... and teaching them about God's world and their purpose in it. "Seek ye first the Kingdom of God... and all these things will be added unto you..." With that focus in mind... the doubt was lessened and I started on my new journey of not just daughter of God, wife and mom but now... teacher to Caroline and Ava! WOW!!! :)

I hope this blog serves not only as an opportunity for me to journal what God is teaching me through this journey... but also an opportunity to encourage others. Most importantly, I pray this blog is glorifying to God... for it is to HIM that I give all my praise to for making homeschooling possible and for being my strength through this all!

Next entry will go into more detail of how we've "done school" the past 6 weeks and all the wonderful things God is doing in it... Have a blessed day!