Our First Day!!

Today was it – the first day of school 2009-2010.  And it was even better than I could have imagined.  We had donuts for breakfast as a treat.  The kids got their chores done without any prompting at all.  They started their schoolwork and stayed with it until it was all finished.

Rosie Girl worked independently without needing any prompting from me today.  She did have a few questions, but otherwise did quite well.  Wild Man read out loud to me and I read his History book to him.  I gave him a Geography workbook to do, and he did the entire lesson and only missed a couple of questions.  His dyslexia showed up by his writing his “p”s backwards, but I’m thrilled that he was able to answer the questions on his own, even the short-answer questions.

Rosie Girl asked me a few days ago if she could start wearing make-up.  I rarely wear make-up, although I have started to do so more frequently.  I never really considered that Rosie Girl might want to, so I was kind of taken off guard when she asked.  We’ve never set a definite age when she could start, so I didn’t have an immediate answer.

The question did present a great opportunity to talk about beauty and the importance of our beauty coming from inside of us.  Rosie Girl seemed to pretty clearly understand the Bible’s emphasis on our character being more important than our appearance.  She’s interested in using make-up to cover her acne and enhance her eyes.

Today, I took her to the store, and we bought her some make-up of her own.  (She actually had some from dance recitals, but it was all old and had to be thrown away.  Besides, it was kind of cool to make a little event out of this.)  We had a little lesson in make-up application tonight (which is, unfortunately, a little like the blind leading the blind, but I only tried to teach the basics, so I don’t think I did any real damage).  Rosie Girl did a great job of using the make-up to just enhance her natural features.

Tomorrow is the start of public school, so the kids have their first day of classes there.  Rosie Girl is quite nervous.  We prayed with her tonight and have reassured her that all the other freshman are just as nervous.  Her classes are second and third period, so she will be home well before lunch.  Wild Man’s class is right after lunch.  I’m looking forward to tomorrow – more great homeschooling and some adventures at public school!!

Almost Ready!!

We start school in this house on August 31, and I am shocked to realize that I will probably be ready!!  All the books and supplies are purchased and put away.  The schedules are almost completely done.  Next Monday, I will meet with each child individually for “orientation” where I will go over their books and types of assignments so they are ready to go on Day 1.  This is particularly important for Rosie Girl since she’s working pretty independently this year.

I have made up a set of grading scales for Rosie Girl’s assignments.  The scales are from 1 to 5 and for such topics as content, completion, labs, etc.  I’ve also decided now how much each item in a course is worth.  At the end of the year, I’ll take her grades and do a weighted average and assign a grade.  While I’ve never been big on grades, Rosie Girl really likes to know exactly what is expected of her and when.  Doing this work on the front end will, I hope, lead to less angst on the back end.

Rosie Girl: For history, she will be doing Core 100 from Sonlight which uses the History of US by Hakim as the spine.  I will have her also read the notes that come with the curriculum and answer about half of the questions in the notes.  I also got the test packet from Amazon and she will do a test about once a month.  In the spring, I’ll have her do a research project, probably with the WriteAtHome workshop.  She and Wild Man will both learn the states, and I have Maps, Charts, and Graphs Book H for her to do.  She also will do a weekly Current Events oral or written report.

Her English course has a lot of components.  She will do composition with WriteAtHome online.  But, I still have her doing the literature portion of Sonlight Core 100, so she will read the books and answer some of the accompanying questions (as well as discussing them with me).  She will do Daily Grams Junior/Senior High, Analogies, and Wordly Wise as well.

Science is Singapore Biology with Castle Heights Biology Lab.  Singapore Biology comes with a workbook and I’m making up a few tests to give throughout the year.  The biology lab includes some microscope work as well as dissection.  At the end of the year, I will have her do some reading on the Creation/Evolution debate.

She will do Sonlight Core 100 Bible which involves a Bible Study Sampler with daily reading and questions along with several other books about prayer and faith.  Math is Life of Fred Beginning Algebra that she will do with her dad.  She will take Art and Chorus at the local public school and do Latin online with PowerSpeak.

Wild Man:  Wild Man will do Core 3+4 which uses The Landmark History of the American People as the spine.  I will probably do most of the reading from this book to him, although he is able to read from his readers on his own a good bit now.  He will learn the states with his sister and do Maps, Graphs, and Charts Book E

His Language Arts uses the Sonlight readers and Grammar Ace from Sonlight.  He will also use All About Spelling, Explode the Code, and Getty-Dubay Handwriting.  For Bible, he’s doing Bible Quest – Promises Fulfilled: Luke and Acts.  I anticipate that we will do that together since it involves a lot of writing.

Science is Crime Scene Investigations.  I have gone through and found the investigations that we will be able to do here at home and ordered the supplies that we need.  I think it’s going to be great!

He will do Math Mammoth with his dad as well as PowerSpeak Spanish.  He’s already done his summer band lessons at the middle school and will be taking band class two days a week.

Getting all this ready and putting the schedules (except the Sonlight part) into Homeschool Tracker has taken far more than the last week, so this isn’t exactly a week in review.  It’s more like a summer in review!  I’m feeling generally ready to go.  This week is my meetings with the kids to introduce them to all the new stuff.  They also have open house at the public school to find their classrooms there.  It’s the week of the Fair, so our town will be busy, although my kids are no longer involved in the Fair.

Check out Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers to see what others have been up to – mostly people who have actually started their school year!!

 

 

To Grade or Not To Grade . . . .

. . . that is the question for this homeschooling mom!!  I am philosophically not a fan of grading, generally believing in an unstructured lifestyle of learning approach to homeschooling.  But things are changing around here.  Rosie Girl needs the structure of knowing what is expected and when.  I need concrete measuring guides for consistency.

One of the really nice things about Mr. Math Tutor having gone back to school to get his teaching certificate is that he learned some good stuff about evaluating students.  For one thing, the purpose of evaluating students is to improve teaching, NOT to determine whether they are doing well or poorly.  In other words, we don’t evaluate to give a grade.  At this point in Rosie Girl’s life, I will give grades so that it’s nice and easy to make a transcript.  Each weekly evaluation, though, is intended to help her see what she needs to do to improve her performance and to help me see where I need to improve teaching.  Grading is to improve my teaching and her learning, not to put a grade on the paper.

Right now, I’m feeling rather overwhelmed by the entire idea of grading.  I’ve read through lots of Sonlight forums to see how other families do it.  This year, we’re going to have to be more structured than previously.  My plan right now is to do some kind of weekly evaluation of most of her subjects.  She’ll also be taking some tests and writing papers.  I’ll be spending this week sorting out how I’ll be doing the evaluating.  Pray for me!!

So, the answer to the question is, Yes, to grade.  But, to grade to help a child learn, not just to have a grade in a grade book.

7 Quick Takes Friday – august 14, 2009

1. My kids are on a Lord of the Rings kick.  Not only are we reading Fellowship of the Ring as a family, but the kids have been watching the movies with commentary.  It’s kind of fun for me to experience them again, but this time with the kids.

2. In an attempt to get ready for the school year, I put up a US map next to our World Map in the dining room.  It’s the only place with enough wall space, and it also sparks great mealtime conversation.  I want the kids to learn the states and some US geography in addition to US history this year.

3. Our DVD player died today so the kids had an impromptu electronics lesson – i.e. they took the DVD player apart!

4. Wild Man is done with summer band lessons but Rosie Girl has her dance intensive next week for four days.  She only takes tap during the school year, but she still enjoys the summer dance intensive where she does some ballet and jazz as well.

5. This weekend is Rock the City where we have our church service at the park.  Mr. Math Tutor will be playing bass guitar and Wild Man will be dancing with the Worship and Music group.  There’s a pig roast followed by a baptism service.  At least this year, it looks to be nice and warm.  The year that Wild man was baptized, it was in the low 60s and drizzly!

5. I’ve been trying to walk for 10-30 minutes in the morning to perk myself up and I’m happy to say that it’s working.  Of course, Wednesday and Thursday this week were migraine days so I didn’t do much of anything, but the walking most other days helps get me going so there’s a chance I can have lunch ready by noon.

6. We start our school year in two and a half weeks.  I really want to have the kids desks clean and organized, but I haven’t gotten it done yet.  Most of the assignments are planned, though.

7. Our little garden is still producing.  We’ve been eating green beans and onions lately  The cucumbers and tomatoes are coming along nicely.

Go check out 7 Quick Takes Friday to see what others have to say !! 

Review – Your Jesus Is Too Safe

In Matthew 16:15, Jesus asks his disciples, “But who do you say that I am?”  That’s a question that we, as Christians, need to ask ourselves today.  For too many of us, Jesus is a great teacher or self-help guru.  As Michael Card said (in “Know You in the Now”), “We’ve made You in our image, so our faith’s idolatry.”  Indeed, the Jesus that shows up too often in middle class America looks an awful lot like a middle class American!!

Jared Wilson wrote Your Jesus Is Too Safe to help us start to better understand who Jesus is and develop a true understanding of the Gospel.  And he’s done an excellent job!  He has twelve chapters, each of which discusses an aspect of Jesus – e.g. Jesus as Shepherd, Jesus as Lord, Jesus as Savior, etc. – to help us find who Jesus really is.

Here are some things I found particularly of interest.  In “Jesus the Man”, Jared skillfully deals with the tension between Jesus’ divinity and humanity.  So many of us as Evangelicals don’t like to think about Jesus being truly human, but our picture of Jesus is incomplete without really understanding this part of Him.  Jared gives a nice birds’ eye view of Jesus’ life and then discusses why Jesus’ humanity was so important.

One of my favorite chapters was “Jesus the Provision”.  As a stay-at-home Mom who enjoys cooking (and has kids who enjoy cooking), I spend a lot of time thinking about food, purchasing food, trying to save money on food, cooking meals, cleaning up from meals, etc. (you get the picture).  In this chapter, Jared shows how Jesus ministry was often based around meals and then goes on to discuss how Jesus is our provision.  He weaves into this both the Gospel and the sacraments.  Powerful stuff.

Jared Wilson’s writing is clear and easy to understand.  He uses a number of cultural references, not all of which I understood, but I’m pretty sure that’s because I’m a 42 year old homemaker and not a 28 year old hip, urban single.  I did have issue with one thing.  He inserted a good bit of humor, which was fine, except that sometimes it came right in the middle of a serious passage and was rather jarring.  I think a little more discretion in the use of humor could have made some of those spots more effective.

So, I give this book an A+ in my rating scale.  It is not hard to read, but it is meaty stuff.  This book has motivated me to go back to the Gospels and re-evaluate my picture of Jesus.  Have I made Him in my image?  Or have I allowed Scripture to speak for itself?

Your Jesus Is Too Safe is on sale now.  Enjoy!  And check out Jared’s website and blog!

 

Jared C. Wilson is a pastor and an award-winning writer whose articles, essays, and short stories have appeared in numerous publications.
A minister for over a decade, he has become known for his passionate gospel-centered teaching and strong calls for missional Christianity.
Jared's book Your Jesus is Too Safe is now available from Kregel Publications wherever Christian books are sold.
Encounter his passion for the ongoing reformation of the evangelical church almost daily at www.gospeldrivenchurch.com.

Menu Plan Monday – August 10, 2009

I’m back to planning meals for the week again.  During the last couple of weeks, I’ve been able to make some food to put into the freezer so we’ll have some yummy meals during the school year, even when I have headaches.

Our family has also started having our main meal at lunchtime instead of supper.  This has been working well because Mr. Math Tutor works online until lunch and then generally has his face-to-face clients after school is out.  It was hard for us last year to have dinner all together, so we decided to try having lunch together.  We’ve been doing it for about a week and really enjoying it.  I kind of feel like my main task for the day (cooking the main meal) is done nice and early so the rest of the day is free (for exciting stuff like laundry – so maybe it’s not really so free!).

Here’s what I have planned for this week:

1. Hoisin Chicken with green beans and sweet corn (from the garden)

2. Spaghetti

3. Spinach pie (and I’ll probably make an extra one to put in the freezer)

4. Garlic Roast Chicken with Vegetables

5. Leftovers

6. Leftovers

7. Lunch at Rock the City

Check out what others are planning at Menu Plan Monday!

I think I’m sexist

Some of my favorite TV shows are the Food Network competitions shows like Chopped and Next Food Network Star.  I’ve noticed that I have a sexist streak in me while watching these shows.  In the very beginning of the shows, I always support the woman (or one of the women) in the competition.  As we learn more about the contestants, my opinion may change, but at the beginning, I always pull for the woman.  And it doesn’t matter the race – I pretty much don’t care what ethnicity the person is.

I don’t know where this comes from.  I have rarely been the object of sexism, even in medical school, residency, and ten years of medical practice.  I guess it’s probably because I feel something in common with other women.  On Next Food Network Star, I started out rooting for Melissa partly because she’s also a stay-at-home mom but I stayed with her because I enjoyed watching her and she’s super-smart about cooking.

So I’m sexist.

Huldah

Do you remember Huldah from your Sunday School classes? No? Don’t worry. Neither do I. I came across her name while reading in 2 Chronicles.

In the 18th year of Josiah’s reign as king of Judah, the book of the Law was found again in the Temple and read to Josiah. King Josiah then gave orders for his helpers to “inquire of the Lord for me and for the remnant in Israel and Judah about what is written in this book that has been found.” (2 Chron. 34:21) So, the guys go out and find the prophetess, Huldah, who proceeds to give them five verses of God promising to all kinds of destruction on the people for forsaking Him, but sparing Josiah because Josiah is turning the people back to God.

And that’s all we hear of her. Apparently, she was known to the people of Judah as a prophetess. There didn’t seem to be some great debate as to who to go see when Josiah said to go “inquire of the Lord”. She didn’t appear to be a “second-choice” or the one prophesying because a man didn’t do his job.

Huldah appears to be a woman that God had placed in Jerusalem for a specific purpose – and she was ready to carry out that purpose. The story of Huldah is a reminder that we need to look at the entire Bible to sort out the whole issue of women’s “roles” and not pick and choose a few verses. Huldah is an example of a woman used by God in a male-dominated profession (prophesying – if you can call that a profession) in a male-dominated culture.

Just some food for thought.

7 Quick Takes Friday – August 7, 2009

1. My headaches come in waves.  Right now, things are going pretty well and I’ve been pretty productive and without a rip-roaring headache for several days.  About three weeks ago, though, I had about two weeks of being able to do very little around the house because of the headaches.  Because of this, I‘ve been making lots of meals for the freezer so that we have something to eat besides frozen pizza when I get into a really bad headache stretch.

2. We are trying a new schedule around here.  Since we are all here at lunchtime, but not necessarily suppertime, our big meal of the day is now lunch.  We’ve done it for two days now with real success and I think it will be even better during the school year.  I have to get used to getting up and starting dinner almost immediately, but I like having a clean kitchen most of the afternoon.  And having a big meal in the middle of the day is definitely healthier all the way around!

3. A local chiropractor has offered to give me a free evaluation and treatment of my headaches.  I’ve had chiropractic treatment before without much success so I haven’t pursued it again.  However, this chiropractor is a Christian and offered to give it another, more comprehensive try.  Unfortunately, since I’m on Medicare (because of disability), he’s not allowed to provide free care for me.  My plan doesn’t cover much chiropractic care, so I’m not sure that we’re in a place to try it right now.  That’s one of the most frustrating things to me about government-run healthcare – physicians are limited in doing even good things.  If someone can’t pay their Medicare or Medicaid co-pay, the provider can’t just waive the fee.  Yet one more reason to keep the government out of our lives.

4. I read somewhere recently that people spend only 22 minutes a day cooking, but 30-60 minutes per day watching cooking shows.  We spend a lot more time around here cooking because cooking from scratch is far less expensive than convenience foods.  But, Rosie Girl and I are also often inspired by cooking shows (especially Food Network) to try new things.  Sometimes we look up recipes, but other times we just go in the kitchen and play around and hope it turns out good.

5. We planted Morning Glories in the first part of June and they just started blooming the first of August.  I don’t know if they took so long because it’s been a cool summer or because we needed to water them more, but I’m glad they finally decided to take off!!

6. For lunch today, I used green beans and an onion from our garden.  The garden has definitely required some work and has been a mixed bag of success, but I’m glad we did it.  The green beans have been a huge success.  The onions are also doing well.  I think the squash and pumpkin will do well.  We have carrots, but they are pretty small!

7. Rosie Girl had golden curls when she was a baby, but her hair became straight by the time she was five years old.  In the last year or so, we’ve noticed that she has had some curls around her face.  She asked to go to the hair stylist last week to have her hair trimmed and figure out what to do about the curls.  It turns out that she has curly hair!!  The stylist layered her hair and, once the weight was taken off, all her hair curls.  All Rosie Girl does in the morning is wash and towel dry it. 

Check out Conversion Diary for more 7 Quick Takes Friday posts!!

 

 

New School Year Tips

This week’s WFMW theme is Back to School, so I thought I’d share some of my homeschool Back to School tips.  My kids have never gone to a traditional school (except for Rosie Girl’s taking an art class in 6th grade).  Mr. Math Tutor was the homeschooling parent for the first five years and I have been doing it now for three years.  You’d think we’d be real experts by now, huh?  We would be except that the kids keep insisting on growing up!  We find one thing that works and then the kids grow out of it or past it.  This year, Rosie Girl is taking Chorus and Art at the high school and Wild Man is taking Band at the Middle School, so we are following the school calendar this year.   But, here are some things that have worked for us in the past:

1. Start the year with one new item for each kid.  One year, we found very inexpensive backpacks, which the kids really needed.  We still have those backpacks and use them regularly.  Another year was pencil boxes.

2. Have a special breakfast for the first day of school.  My kids particularly like pancakes!

3. Start slow – ease into school by starting a couple of subjects each week.

4. End of summer field trip – my kids are requesting a trip to the planetarium and laser show before we start this year.

Well, that’s about it for Back to School tips.  Check out WFMW at We Are That Family for more great ideas.

Potatoes Gratin

Our family LOVES to watch The Next Food Network Star and we were thrilled when Melissa won last week!!!  For the last challenge, Melissa and Jeffrey each had to do a short pilot episode.  Melissa did a chicken dish with a potato gratin.  Last night for dinner, I was making roast, but I had a couple of potatoes, so Rosie Girl and I decided to do a modification of Melissa’s potato gratin.

We sliced 2 large potatoes and grated about a cup of mild cheddar cheese.  We then layered the potatoes and cheese into the cups of a muffin tin which had already been sprayed with baking spray.  We topped each cup with a pat of butter and added a little milk.  It went in the oven for about 30 minutes.  (Melissa’s original recipe called for Swiss cheese instead of cheddar, and cream instead of milk and butter, but I loved the idea of using the muffin tin.)

The potatoes were delicious and perfectly cooked.  The only problem was that the muffin tin could have been sprayed a little more completely so it was an annoyance to wash.  This is definitely a “keeper” of a recipe – quick and easy to make and well-liked by the family.

Check out Blissfully Domestic and Tempt My Tummy Tuesday for more great domestic ideas!!

 

Math Tools

Mr. Math Tutor’s business is up and going!!  His business is called Math Tools and he provides math tutoring services both in person and online.  I’m pretty excited about it because he’s doing what he’s passionate about.  Mr. Math Tutor enjoys working one-on-one with students to help them become successful in math.  I was going to have him write an article for my blog, but he’s going to be writing for both CurrClick and Heart of the Matter, so I’ll link to the articles when they’re up.  In the meantime, check out his website!

Review – Blue Like Play Dough

Ever feel “squished and stretched” by the demands of motherhood?  Then Blue Like Play Dough is for you.  In this book, Tricia Goyer explores how God has used the ups and downs of motherhood to shape her.  We are allowed into Tricia’s life to see her inauspicious entry into motherhood as a frightened teenager and see the glimpses of God working her “like play dough” through the years of mothering her children as toddlers, school age children, and teens.  Through all of it, we get to laugh and cry with her, but always see that God is the one working the clay and molding her life to make her more like Him – and encouraged that God is doing the same with us, if we will let Him.  I found this a very pleasant book to read and definitely recommend it to the moms in your life!!  Go here for more information on purchasing this book.

Tricia Goyer is the author of numerous works of fiction and nonfiction, including Generation NeXt Parenting and the Gold Medallion finalist Life Interrupted. Goyer writes for publications such as Today’s Christian Woman and Focus on the Family, speaks to women’s groups nationwide and has been a presenter at the Mothers of Preschoolers (MOPS) national convention. She and her husband, John, live with their family in Montana.

We Have A Winner!!

First of all, my apologies for not doing the drawing for the book on Friday as planned.  Things got a little derailed by a migraine last night.  But, we had two entrants, one on Facebook and one here on the blog.  And, the winner of the book, A Perfect Mess, is Jean!!!  Jean, I’ll get you your copy ASAP!

This Year’s Curriculum

I think I finally have our curriculum choices finally made.  Yeah, I know I already did a post on curriculum, but a girl can change her mind!!  This looks to be one of the most structured years we’ve had.  The kids requested, and I agreed to, an annual schedule that pretty closely matches the public school schedule.  (The one difference is that I work in full weeks only – not a day off here and a few days off here – too messy.)  Both kids will be taking classes at the school, so they will be following that schedule anyway.

Rosie Girl is in 9th grade now and is going to be working quite independently.  I’m in the process of making up her schedules so she knows when her work is due, but she’s responsible for making it happen.  Wild Man and I are going to be working more closely this year on Language Arts.  Now that he’s really reading, he’s ready for more spelling, grammar, and writing.  So, here’s the plan:

History

Rosie Girl – Sonlight Core 100

Wild Man – Sonlight Core 3+4

Language Arts

Rosie Girl – Sonlight Core 100 Literature, Wordly Wise 3000 Book 8, Analogies 1, Daily Grams Junior/Senior High School, WriteAtHome Online Composition 1 (OK, I know in this post, I said I was sticking with Sonlight for writing, but when I told Mr. Math Tutor and Rosie Girl, Rosie Girl spoke up and said that she didn’t want to do Sonlight and actually gave some very good reasons.  So, after some long discussions and research, we’ve decided to do WriteAtHome’s Composition 1 this year.)

Wild Man – Sonlight Core 3+4 Readers (I don’t know how many of these he’ll actually be able to read this year, but we’ll give it a try!), Explode the Code, All About Spelling with Spelling City online for extra practice, Getty-Dubay Handwriting, Grammar Ace.

Math

Rosie Girl – Life of Fred Beginning Algebra – Mr. Math Tutor is officially in charge of all Math stuff in this house!  Rosie Girl loves the Life of Fred books.  Mr. Math Tutor also loves them, but for different reasons.  I’ll get him to review them one day.

Wild Man – Math Mammoth – also chosen by Mr. Math Tutor.

Foreign Language

Rosie Girl – PowerSpeak Latin

Wild Man – PowerSpeak Spanish

Bible

Rosie Girl – Sonlight Core 100.  The Bible portion looks pretty good to me.  Rosie Girl turned her nose up at it when she saw it.  I told her that if she found a Bible study that she preferred, I’d certainly consider it.  She never went looking, so this is it.  The Core 7 Bible Curriculum was pretty good, too.

Wild Man – Bible Quest: Promises Fulfilled (Luke and Acts).  This requires a good bit of reading and writing, but I think it will be OK if I do it with Wild Man.  The Core 3+4 Bible was too juvenile for him.

Science

Rosie Girl – Singapore Science Biology with Castle Heights Biology Lab.  I’ve put Singapore Science Biology into the first 25 weeks with some of the labs.  Then, she does several weeks of just dissections.  She ends up the year with a couple of weeks of reading on evolution and Creation.  (Singapore Science presumes evolution, but doesn’t actually cover origins.)

Wild Man – Crime Scene Investigations.  This looks like fun, but is a little intense on my part.  It’s very laboratory-intense, but that’s why it’s going to be fun.

Music

Rosie Girl – Piano lessons and Chorus at the local public school.

Wild Man – Percussion in the local public school band (perhaps with supplementary lessons)

Physical Education  (Activity)

Rosie Girl – Dance classes, daily physical activity

Wild Man – Dance class (?), daily physical activity

Electives – Rosie Girl

Fantasy Literature – This is a self-directed elective in which Rosie Girl is reading a variety of fantasy literature.  She and I have an agreement as to how many books she will read and how many papers she will write to receive 1/2 credit.

Study Skills – Rosie Girl will be going through the book Learning on Purpose.  She will also take a partial practice SAT or ACT at home once a month to get used to standardized test-taking.

So, that’s it.  Right now, I’m knee deep in trying to get everything planned out in some reasonable fashion.  I am looking forward to a really great school year with these kids, though!

Check out Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers to see what others are planning for this year!

Thirsty Thursday – July 23, 2009

Before we go any farther, you need to go read this post and sign up for the cool book giveaway which will be on Friday, July 24!!

This is my first time to participate in the Thirsty Thursday meme, but I figured that since I love homeschooling and love to write about it, it would be easy.  But, alas, no.  This week, I perused the Sonlight Core 100 forums, as I am wont to do on occasion, and came across a thread about Core 100 language arts.  The mom who started the thread was quite unhappy with the Core 100 Language Arts.  Many of the responses were other moms telling what Language Arts curriculum they had substituted in place of the Core 100 Sonlight Language Arts.

And all my confidence for this year’s curriculum went down the drain.  We haven’t used Sonlight’s Language Arts for several years, but I thought I had researched it pretty carefully this year and really wanted something that integrated literature and writing.  And, now, all these other moms were saying that I must be wrong.  Right?

Wrong.  Those moms were writing about their experiences with their children while I have to choose what to do with my kids.  After going back and looking at the Core 100 Language Arts curriculum, I have to agree that it isn’t a seriously structured writing program like some others.  But, I chose it knowing that.  Rosie Girl is already a very good writer.  She can structure ideas well and uses words better than most adults.  I already have plans to have her do her research paper with an online writing coach, but otherwise still think that Sonlight is a good fit for her.  I’m pretty sure it won’t be for Wild Man when he gets to be this age because he’s wired so completely differently.

So, my plan is to stick with Core 100 Language Arts this year.  If I’m not happy with her writing at the end of the year, then I’ll probably do something more structured the next year.  In the meantime, I need to remember that I know my kids best.  As my hubbie reminded me – A bad day at home school is better than a good day at public school.  We are committed to homeschooling because it’s the best thing for our kids, not because of the perfect curriculum, but because of the time spent with each other.

Check out Thirsty Thursday for other great homeschooling posts!

  

The Fill-in-the-Blank Letter – WFMW

Before we go any farther, you need to go read this post and sign up for the cool book giveaway which will be on Friday, July 24!! 

My 11 year old son is at summer camp this week for the first time.  EEK!  I’m sure he’s having a blast and will have tons of stories to tell us when he comes home on Friday.  Rosie Girl and I mailed him cookies and a letter on Monday.

The camp information recommends that we send some self-addressed stamped envelopes or postcards to encourage kids to write a letter home.  In seven years of camp, I think Rosie Girl has written us all of two letters, but I thought Wild Man might actually want to send us a note since it’s his first year.  The problem is that he’s not much of a writer (largely because of his dyslexia). 

I solved the problem by writing a fill-in-the-blank letter and putting it in a SASE envelope.  All he has to do is circle the correct answers and fill in a few blanks and then mail it.  Easy, huh?  Mr. Math Tutor suggested I not use this for a WFMW post until we see if Wild Man actually sends it back, but I still think it’s a great idea.  You can use it for family vacations when you want the kids to write notes back to family, but don’t want to have to sit with each child to do a dictated letter.  You can also send it with kids when they leave home to encourage the fine art of pen-and-paper correspondence.

Here’s what the letter looked like:

Dear Mom and Dad,

Hi there. I love you very much – yes/no. I’m having a good/bad time here at Outpost. My favorite food we have had here has been _________. My favorite activity so far has been ____________. The name of one of my new friends is __________. We like to do ___________ together.

One of my counselors’ names is _________________. My speaker’s name is _______________. He is talking about __________________. I have been swimming – yes/no. I have been on the slide – yes/no. I have been on the bipod – yes/no. We played __________________ at the all-camp games.

I miss you – yes/no. I can’t wait to come home -yes/no/maybe.

So, have you ever done anything like this to encourage correspondence with/by your kids?  Did it work?  Check out We Are That Family for more Works For Me Wednesday ideas!!

 

A Perfect Mess – Book Review and Giveaway

A Perfect Mess – yep, that’s my life and that’s the title of Lisa Harper’s new book.  In this book, Lisa shows us from the Psalms how God loves us and wants to stick with us to transform our messiness into His beauty through His grace.  Using a selection of 12 Psalms, the author samples the richness of the psalter while weaving in stories from her own life experience.  In addition, there are interesting sidebars with tidbits of information about the Psalms, such as their classification or insights from theologians.  The end of each chapter includes some questions for personal reflection and/or group discussion.

Lisa Harper has given us an excellent book to help study several of the Psalms as well as encourage us in our walk with God.  I read a chapter of this book each night and enjoyed it.  Not only that, I found myself challenged by her insights.  I was particularly struck by her chapter on Psalm 51 and our need to confront our sin as well as the chapter on Psalm 23 and God’s rest for His people.  My one qualm with this book is that Lisa’s writing gets a little “flowery” for my taste.  I tend to prefer that author’s use a more simple vocabulary when possible.  Frankly, that’s a minor issue in an otherwise outstanding book.  I very highly recommend it.

As a funny little aside, Lisa Harper notes in one chapter that she used to be a lifeguard at Lake Swan Camp in Central Florida.  From what I can figure, she may have been a lifeguard there one of the years that I went to Lake Swan in high school!  Pretty cool, huh?  Well, because it’s summer time and there’s that really cool coincidence about summer camp, if you would like to win a copy of this book, just leave a comment, preferably telling me something about summer camp to do with you or your kids (or, you can just be boring and say hi).  Fair enough?  I’ll do the drawing on Friday, July, 24, when my son comes home from camp – how’s that for a theme?

If you are interested in purchasing a copy of this book, check out Random House.

Lisa Harper is a master storyteller whose lively approach connects the dots between the Bible era and modern life.  She is a sought-after Bible teacher and speaker whose upcoming appearances include the national Women of Faith Conferences. A veteran of numerous radio and television programs and the author of several books, she also is a regular columnist for Today’s Christian Woman magazine. Lisa recently completed a master’s of theological studies from Covenant Theological Seminary. She makes her home outside Nashville.

HOPE!!!

“Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit whom he has given us.” Romans 5:3-5

When I’ve read and meditated on this section of Scripture before, I’ve always focused on verses 3 and 4 that talk about how our suffering produces hope. And that’s important, especially when we’re in the middle of suffering (i.e. this recent week-long migraine!).

Tonight, though, I was struck by verse 5 - “And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit whom he has given us.” Wow!! From our suffering we eventually get hope – which doesn’t disappoint us because of God’s love.

God, the almighty Creator of the Universe, poured out His love for us by giving us Jesus for our salvation and then by giving us the Holy Spirit for our constant comfort. What an amazing promise that is! There are not words enough to express the magnitude of what God has done for us.

In the middle of our suffering or in the middle of our happiness, we have the hope of God. God has poured his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit. Whatever is going on, God bathes our hearts with his love by the Holy Spirit. Amazing. Stupendous. God – who is beyond time and space – cares enough about each of us to love us. There are no words (although I’m sure trying!).

Whatever God has put into your life right now, remember to rejoice because God has given you hope through his Holy Spirit. There is nothing better than that!!

Hanging On . . .

Remember the posters of the kitty cat holding on the knot at the end of the rope with the saying “When you reach the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on!”? That’s how I feel right now. I’ve had this migraine for three and a half days and I’m kind of hanging on. I had an appointment today with my counselor and another with my doctor, both of which were very helpful. Since then, I’ve been thinking a little about hanging on – getting through an acutely difficult phase in life. Here are some of the things that help me.

1. God. I know that there are people out there who manage to cope with chronic pain exacerbations who aren’t Christians, but I don’t understand how. I truly believe that my faith in God gets me through a lot of days when I would otherwise hide under my covers. Even when I feel like (*&%*& and can only pray the simplest of prayers, God is there and provides comfort. (I still wish He’d just take away the headaches, sometimes, though.)

2. Family. My husband is the most supportive guy in the world. He never makes me feel guilty for being in pain (which is good since I do an excellent job of that myself). He very willingly steps in to help when I can’t do what I need to do. He asks how he can help. I don’t know where I’d be without him. Even my kids are great about my illness. They don’t fuss when I ask them to adjust their activities because of how I feel. Wild Man has been very understanding about my missing some of his baseball games because of the headaches.

3. Counseling. One great thing my counselor and I did was to work through a book called The Chronic Pain Care Workbook. I learned a lot about myself, how I react to pain, and how I can structure my life to deal with pain. One of the best things about seeing a counselor, though, is having someone outside my situation to help me “reframe” things. I was in bad shape when I went in to see her today because I was still in pain and felt like everything else was out of control. She helped me see that this headache was not just the normal long migraine; it started after camp, so the house is a mess, we are out of groceries, and we aren’t in a routine. Once I was able to see that, we made a plan for me to get more pain medication (which I was trying to avoid) and to ask Mr. Math Tutor for specific help around the house and to do the grocery shopping. My head still hurts, but I can see the situation more clearly and it doesn’t look nearly as hopeless.

4. Friends. I communicate with lots of my friends on Facebook. I have gotten lots and lots of promises of prayer which makes me feel truly loved. There is nothing like it!

5. Being outward focused. Pain makes me selfish. Basically, I hurt, so I think only about myself. One thing I’ve learned to do to combat this inward focus is to pray for others. Since I don’t sleep well when my head hurts, I get lots of time to pray for others. I have a list of people right now who need specific prayer and the last few days have provided plenty of opportunity to focus on someone else’s needs besides my own (if only for a few minutes).

6. Keeping busy. How can I keep busy when I’m in pain? Well, as long as my pain is below about a level 9 (out of 10), I can usually read or knit. I have to make sure to knit only easy stuff or I’ll have to fix it later, though!! Generally, when I’m in pain, I have to read novels or histories that are pretty easy reads. Theology or other heavy-duty stuff has to wait until my brain is in better shape!

So, I’m hanging on. I’ll be productive again when this migraine has eased up. Until then, God is still good and Jesus still loves me.

What about you? How do you hang on when you reach the end of your rope?