Tag: homeschooling

Redeeming the Time

Diana B.Leave a comment

Maybe you’ve heard the saying, “Cleaning the house when children are growing is like shoveling the walk while it’s still snowing.”

So true. Productivity often feels elusive as a stay-at-home mom. Just when I get the crumbs beneath the table swept up, it’s time to serve up another meal and do it all over again. Unwelcome housework lurks around nearly every corner, and procrastination tempts me.

So, I’ve been reading about biblical productivity on a C.J. Mahaney blog series this week, and I wanted to share this quote that Mahaney keeps at his desk:

“No unwelcome tasks become any the less unwelcome by putting them off till tomorrow. It is only when they are behind us and done, that we begin to find that there is a sweetness to be tasted afterwards, and that the remembrance of unwelcome duties unhesitatingly done is welcome and pleasant. Accomplished, they are full of blessing, and there is a smile on their faces as they leave us. Undone, they stand threatening and disturbing our tranquility, and hindering our communion with God. If there be lying before you any bit of work from which you shrink, go straight up to it, and do it at once. The only way to get rid of it is to do it.”

-Alexander MacLaren (1826-1910, Scottish preacher)

Mahaney’s blog series discusses the theology of work – fulfilling one’s God-designed role in life. He distinguishes busyness from fruitfulness. He says our roles are “divine Post-It notes” that God has called us to fulfill specific goals.  Biblical productivity, he says, depends on a schedule, which depends on clear goals, which depends on clearly defined roles. Of course! He directs readers to (1) define your present God-given roles, (2) determine specific, theologically informed goals, and (3) transfer these goals into your schedule.

I’m not completely finished with this assignment yet, but I’m not procrastinating, I promise! Mahaney’s biblical productivity blog series isn’t finished yet either, so I’ve gone almost as far as I can go for now. The series is somewhat lengthy, but it’s really worthwhile. Check it out at

http://sovereigngraceministries.com/Blog/post/Biblical-Productivity.aspx

In closing, here’s another great quote before I hit the pillow.

“It is sweet falling asleep knowing we have redeemed the time.”

-C.J. Mahaney

We’re Not Home Alone

Diana B.Leave a comment

Late last spring when we decided to home school Linnea, I was greatly encouraged by the number of family friends we already had who were schooling their kids at home — friends from church and friends we’ve had since our “before children” small group days. Then we joined a home school group and discovered an entire local network of  nearly 40 home school families supporting and encouraging each other.

We are not alone deciding to school at home!

These two recent articles seemed to back up exactly what I’ve been noticing firsthand.

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=85408    

http://www.onenewsnow.com/Education/Default.aspx?id=375476

Visual Reminder: A Prayer Calendar

Diana B.2 Comments

So earlier I posted that one of my resolutions for 2009 is to pray more intentionally for my two daughters. As a visual way to keep reminding myself of this, I created a prayer “calendar” page for all 12 months of 2009. Each month features a specific prayer and verse along with a favorite photo I’ve taken of Laurel, Linnea or both girls. I’ll keep one in my prayer journal and one on the bulletin board in our school room. Just thought I’d share the images here for anyone who wants to modify the idea for their kids. Of course, you are welcome to pray for Linnea and Laurel, too! (By the way, click the thumbnail for a larger view.)

New Favorite Board Game

Diana B.Leave a comment

Our family just played a new board game tonight that’s perfect for family fun at Christmas! It’s called “To Bethlehem” and it’s for ages 4 to 104. A couple families from our homeschool group spoke highly of it, so I ordered it and we all played (including 3-year-old Laurel). We had a great time making our way to Bethlehem with 5 sheckels in hand. You can order the game online from Family Man Ministries at http://www.familymanweb.com/ .

Our Trip to the Pacific Northwest

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Our family just returned from a week-long, pre-Thanksgiving trip to Washington State to spend time enjoying God’s creation, as well as visiting relatives in the Port Angeles-Sequim area. Getting there involves almost every mode of transportation imaginable: airplane, subway train, rental car and ferry boat (and sometimes a shuttle bus, but not this time, thankfully). The girls did amazingly well despite the rigorous travel day and the two-hour difference in time.

One special highlight was re-visiting Sol Duc Falls, where Michael and I got engaged in 1995. Although we’ve made more than half a dozen trips to Washington since then, this was our first trip back to that exact spot, and it was all the more sweeter to have the girls there with us. They loved searching for fairy homes in the rainforest as we hiked 0.8 miles to the falls.

Here are some photos from the journey. Praise be to God for His glorious creation!

 

Sol Duc Falls
Sol Duc Falls
us at Sol Duc
us at Sol Duc
hiking near Sol Duc
hiking near Sol Duc
Linnea at Ediz Hook
Linnea at Ediz Hook
Laurel splashing in the ocean
Laurel splashing in the ocean
The Olympic Mountains greet the Pacific Ocean.
The Olympic Mountains greet the Pacific Ocean.
the girls with cousin Cheyenne on Hurricane Ridge
the girls with cousin Cheyenne on Hurricane Ridge
Fresh snow fell on Hurricane Ridge in the Olympic Mts.
Fresh snow fell on Hurricane Ridge in the Olympic Mts.

Vote for Slushies!

Diana B.Leave a comment

VOTE FOR SLUSHIES: Earlier this month we held a dinner election. Each of us nominated our favorite candidates for dinner in the positions of main entree, side dish, fruit, vegetable, drink and dessert. Pictured are the girls campaigning for slushies and hoping to secure their daddy’s vote. The winners were: BBQ chicken, salad, carrots, watermelon, apple pie, and slushies of course! I wish I could say I came up with this idea, but actually it was an assignment for Linnea’s current events class.

Thou Silver Moon with Softer Gleam

Diana B.1 Comment
Exploring the Moon
Exploring the Moon

This week we are continuing our study of space as we focus on the moon. Today we made an enormous 4 ft. 4 in. diameter sun out of orange construction paper, a tiny yellow moon (using a hole puncher), and a very small green planet Earth (about half an inch in diameter). It was humbling to see how huge the sun is and how tiny we are!

Our words to remember this week are “I am the light of the world.” The idea is that as Christians, we are like the moon. We reflect the Son’s light to the world to help show others the Way. We’ve been singing “This Little Light of Mine” all week, and tomorrow we are doing a couple of service projects as a way to let our little lights shine in our community. We’ve also been learning the hymn “All Creatures of Our God and King,” talking about waxing and waning, playing with the space men in the sensory tub, and reading books about the moon – Goodnight Moon, Happy Birthday Moon, and Little Bear Goes to the Moon (my favorite!)

By the way, our grapes from last week still aren’t officially raisins, but they are looking less and less grapey every day!

School Begins: Days 1-7 in Review

Diana B.1 Comment

Today is Day 7 of our school year, which is moving right along. We are busy walking through the calendar each day, reviewing letter sounds, learning the hymns “This is My Father’s World” and “All Things Bright and Beautiful,” and keeping track of what God created each day of creation week. Linnea is putting together a book and a poster about the seven days of creation. We started Kindergarten already half-way through our reading lesson book (we started it last spring as an experiement), so Linnea is reading pretty well. She is learning more sound blends and words with the long vowel sounds now.

We took our first field trip last Thursday when we studied Day 3 of Creation, when God created the trees and plants and flowers. The Minnesota Landscape Arboretum was the perfect place to take in all the growing things, and the girls loved it! You just can’t imagine how many fairy homes we found — some among the flowers and others deep in the woods! They also enjoyed the maze and the enormous goldfish in the Japanese gardens.

Our second field trip was today; we went to Como Zoo to observe the animals God created on Day 6. We took special note of the birds, zebras, turtles, goats and penguins because we will be studying those and other animals more closely later in the year.

This week we will wrap up the introduction part of the curriculum and move into Lesson 1 on the Sun. The Biblical concept is that Jesus is the Light of the world. We’ll be exploring space, making raisins, talking about shadows and reading the book Bear Shadow by Frank Asch.

For the most part, homeschooling is going well. We are still experimenting, of course. Last week we kicked things off right after breakfast each morning. Linnea loved it, but it seemed to cause some understandable resistence from Laurel. News flash: 3-year-olds don’t go to Kindergarten! Duh! I had been worrying all summer about how to ensure she felt included, and I guess I overcompensated and overlooked that whole short attention span factor. This week we’ve been doing school in the afternoons while Laurel naps, and it has been much easier!

Laurel does enjoy playing in the “classroom” with her bag of school supplies. She doesn’t care much for coloring, but she’s a big fan of Post-It notes, scissors and glue, and she loves to draw stick people and pretend to write her name! She also loved the painting projects we did last week.

Tomorrow is Day 7 of Creation when God rested. I think we will all take a nap!