Category Archives: My Family

Diggin’ the Library

Our library’s summer reading program started this week. The reading challenge this year is read twelve books and when completed the kids get a book bag/back pack! This is a big deal for us. We have been getting new library bags this way for many summers. Z is confident that he’ll be first to complete the challenge in our house. The kids names will be entered in a drawings for e-readers and such, too.

I took Z and J to the library the library to get their challenge forms, check out some books and to see the first of five wonderful weekly children’s programs, Animal Tales! This is an “edZOOcational” live animal show. Today, we got a close up look at some very unusual creatures, Paraguayan Screaming Hairy Armadillo, Harris Hawk, Woma Python, and Egyptian Fruit Bat.

Z was called on to assist with the African Spurred Tortoise from by enticing it with a tomato to come out of his shell and crawl.

Z got to pet the Woma Python!J’s favorite place away from home is the library, and one of his least favorite places to be is anywhere where he has to sit still, be in a group, pay attention to someone, or listen to spontaneous sounds like laughing, clapping, or animals. I tried to be hopeful but prepared for a meltdown. I have learned that I can expect the unexpected with J. I had help come with us. A23 (the girl who adopted our family and who I love like a daughter) had a day off and agreed to come with us. She would have stayed with Z had it been necessary for me to leave with J. I explained to J that whether or not he got to bring home DVD’s and Wii games depended on how he acted during the animal show.

J did not sit with the children, but laid in the floor in front of A and me in the adult section. I thought he was “zoning out”, but then I caught him looking at the animals each time the handler introduced a new one. I was proud of him. I know it’s not normal behavior to go to a program and lay in the floor, but he was calm and quiet which is a BIG improvement. I didn’t notice any looks of disgust or sympathy from the other moms or librarians and I heard no comments about him either. Very unusual, but very nice. J was happy when the animal show was over and he was able to pick out some DVDs to bring home.

If your local library doesn’t have a summer reading program, you can do it yourself with help from PBS and Education.com http://www.education.com/summer-reading/?cid=20.311 or here for some cute printables http://creativemamma.com/free-printable-summer-reading-kit-for-kids/

For more about Animal Tales (they travel all over performing for schools, churches, and libraries) http://www.animaledzoocation.com/programs/

For another post about J https://stilllearningsomethingnew.com/2013/04/02/autism-i-am-aware/

betty jo

Attentiveness

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This past school year I added some character development studies to our homeschooling lessons. These studies have proved to be a great opportunity for our family. Homelife Ministries has wonderful family character quality guides. E and B found much to notebook and journal about and as a family, we found much to discuss, memorize, and put into practice. J, Z, and I made several lapbooks of the same studies from Homeschool Share. The Homeschool Helper Online has some good ideas for character studies, too. (Links are at the end)

I was able to include the subjects of Bible, History, Science, Music and Language Arts into each study making for simplified days with lots of time to pursue elective interests. These charactier development lessons were a welcome break in between topics in our usual history studies. We completed six such studies this past year. We will be adding more next school year.

“Pay attention! ” “Watch what you’re doing.” “Listen.” These are things parents say to their children on a regular basis. I know I say these often during our homeschooling days, whether it is during math, cooking, art, or whatever. If I would listen, I would hear the Father saying those same words to me just as often. Attentiveness seems to be an across the board kind of character trait that both my children and myself need to further develop. Attentiveness was good place to start with our new studies. Though all of our character development lessons were good, this one was my favorite. This one is also the most reviewed one.

This is J’s and Z’s attentiveness lapbook. I covered the back with clear contact paper so they can do the wordsearch puzzle with washable markers again and again.

Below are the free resources I used for this and our other character development studies. These are the links I’ll be going to again as we continue our lessons when our homeschooling starts back full time in the fall.

Hymns, Scriptures, application, examples, and science connections for copywork, notebooking, journaling, and discussion from http://www.characterjournal.com/ (scroll down a little bit then select the character quality from the list on the right sidebar)

Lapbooking and notebooking materials http://www.homeschoolshare.com/character_lapbook.php

A few more ideas from http://www.homeschoolhelperonline.com/character_studies.shtml

For other posts about character development https://stilllearningsomethingnew.com/2013/03/08/keeping-the-code/ and https://stilllearningsomethingnew.com/2013/03/10/calling-for-reinforcements/ and https://stilllearningsomethingnew.com/2013/05/10/but-he-has-a-good-heart/ and https://stilllearningsomethingnew.com/2013/06/10/1654/

betty jo

Rewinding

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I did not just “fall off the turnip truck”, and I have “been around the block a few times”, meaning that I’m not naive, inexperienced, or immature.

I know that from time to time I will be in a disagreement with others. I am aware that conflicts happen within families, churches, neighborhoods, and groups. I find myself currently involved in yet another conflict that the outcome will affect others. This time the differences in opinions have left me shocked, angry and hurt.

It has been a week since the disagreement and I am still devoting too much of my time and energy dwelling on it. Dwelling on the disagreement, not the solution. My family knows about this situation that I’m having a difficult time with. My kids are watching me and my reactions. I realize that lately I have not been “practicing what I preach” or “walking the walk”. I’m showing my kids what not to do instead of showing the right thing to do.

As of this very moment I am prayerfully changing my attitude. The Holy Spirit is reminding me of the Scriptures I should be applying. First there is this one,

Matthew 5:9 Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.

I desire to be a blessed child of God. I will allow peace to take over my attitude so that the hurt and anger will no longer have a place.

Next, the Word reminds me of more principles to apply,

1 Corinthians 13:5It [love] does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.

Ouch! I’m guilty of not acting in love. I have dishonored those I’ve disagreed with. I’ve thought badly of them. I’ve spoken some of those dishonorable thoughts out loud. I have been rather self-seeking, self righteous, and closed minded. I was easily, very easily, angered. I know why, too. It’s because of the records of wrongs I keep against them. It’s true, I keep a mental list of everything, both little and big, that has ever offended me. This list is not helping with finding solutions. It is keeping my focus off of the matters at hand ,therefore keeping us from resolving the issue. I’m laying my list down and will try not to pick it up again.

Proverbs 19:11 A person’s wisdom yields patience; it is to one’s glory to overlook an offense.

I’ll be getting over my hurt ego now and letting go of the anger. I’ll be moving forward toward a resolution with both wisdom and patience. This new and improved attitude is not just for my own benefit, but for the group of people this disagreement affects. I also want my kids to see me doing what is right, setting a good example for them to follow. They will always be involved in conflicts, too. It’s just part of life.

God isn’t done with us any of us yet. He guides and equips us through conflict. He forgives us. He encourages us with hope. He reminds us of who we are and sometimes rewinds us to start over with the right attitudes.

betty jo

Our Homeschooling Week Ending June 7

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The highlight from our week was Graduation/Achievement Night. My daughter and I were on the decorating committee for our homeschooling support group’s year end celebration.

We had an expected head count of 120 guests for the reception. We planned for more, which was a good thing because we had close to 200 guests attend!

SALT (homeschool creative ministries) and Silver Lining (homeschool color guard) performed for the night’s entertainment.

As part of this celebration, families set up display tables featuring awards, photos and projects from the year. This was our homeschool’s display.

Also, as part of the celebration, parents present their kids with awards for something well done during the year. These are the ones my husband presented to our kids.

He gave our homeschool a history award for our unit studies of the Middle Ages and Renaissance.

E17 received Honor Roll and Supergirl awards.

B15 was awarded for “Scriptural Character Studies and Application”. J10 earned the “All Around Improvement” award.

Z7 was given the “Independent Study” award. I wasn’t left out of the awards. My family gave me one too, “Computer Achievement”.

Saturday morning we awoke to a flash flood! Our front yard looked like this.

Our back yard was worse.

The water poured into our cellar and flooded our garage. Thank goodness we had access to a pump. It took nearly 6 hours to get the water out from under our house.

We were quite concerned about our garden when we saw it. Our pepper plants were partially uprooted and leaning over. The box floating away in this photo was our homeschool’s weather station. I’m still not sure where it ended up. We found some of our yard things in the empty lot on the next street over, but not the weather station.

By Sunday afternoon, all looked fine. The yard barely even had a puddle left in it.

The garden recovered from the down pour. We even have some baby tomatoes and peppers growing now.

Monday and Tuesday we put summer school on hold to dry out some of our things we had stored in the garage. Our Christmas books got the worst damage, but most will be alright. We feel blessed not to have had more ruined.

June 5 was the anniversary of the first hot air balloon flight (1783). Last year as part of our summer school calendar studies Z, J, and I decided to learn everything we could about hot air balloons. Last year’s lapbook made a good review for us this year.

We are hoping for the upcoming weekend and next week to be uneventful and peaceful. And maybe we’ll start a new art project for our chalkboard wall. We erased the last mural and now our kitchen/school room looks very plain. I’m thinking we need something summery and fun, maybe a summer camp scene?

Here’s the links to related posts:

Year End Celebration https://stilllearningsomethingnew.com/2013/06/04/year-end-celebration/

Homeschool creative ministries https://stilllearningsomethingnew.com/2013/05/20/salt/

Homeschool color guard https://stilllearningsomethingnew.com/2013/03/16/silver-lining/

Homeschool Gardening https://stilllearningsomethingnew.com/2013/04/14/homeschool-gardening/

Our one day study on Hot Air Balloons https://stilllearningsomethingnew.com/2013/06/05/hot-air-balloons/

Our chalkboard wall murals https://stilllearningsomethingnew.com/one-of-our-favorite-things-the-wall/

betty jo

Hot Air Balloons

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June 5 is the anniversary of the first hot air balloon flight (1783). Last year as part of summer school calendar studies Z, J, and I decided to learn everything we could about hot air balloons.

Fantastic Resource and Activity List! https://www.franw.com/2014/06/hot-air-balloons.html

We made this lapbook from

http://www.homeschoolshare.com/hot_air.php

and added a few of our own ideas.

Our library had a few children’s books about hot air balloons. These two were our favorites.

Here is a link to a cute craft idea we tried, of course we had to use batman action figures in the basket instead of the child picture http://www.dltk-holidays.com/summer/mballoon.html

We thought this video from the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta was fascinating!

betty jo

By Your Side

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This mommas heart has been heavy. My first born, A21 is leaving the nest. Not for a job or different college, but for love. A love that is not here in Kentucky, but in Michigan. I knew this day would eventually come, but that doesn’t help my emotions any. This is not some surprise news, they have been planning this for months. I have imagined the worst possible outcomes. I’ve cried rivers. I have thrown fits. This was not in my plan for my son!

I have very close friends in our homeschooling support group. As I whined and complained about my A quitting his job (it’s a cruddy job) and not signing up for the fall semester at college, one of the moms looked right at me and said I just simply had to trust God with my son now. I replied, “I trust God, just not my son!”

For days, no weeks, that conversation has haunted me. That other mom was right. I wasn’t trusting God with this situation.

I don’t know the plans HE has for my son. I know A belongs to God and has a personal relationship with Christ Jesus. I know the WORD is in his head and his heart. And, if he makes a mistake or two, the Lord will use it for his good. He will grow from it. And, if this move is God’s plan, then it won’t be long before I have a daughter-in-law and a very happy son!

The girl is beautiful and sweet. She loves him. I truly cannot blame him for wanting to be with her. His moving so many miles away may even be Biblical if the courtship goes right. “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife” (Genesis 2:24)

It’s time for this momma to let him go. His dad and I have educated him. We have taught him the best that we could . We believe that he knows what to do to be a man. We have shared our faith and A made it his own years ago. He is smart and talented. He works hard and loves much.

I am assured that my A isn’t going away totally on his own, but he is taking his Best Friend with him. He will stay by his side, He will teach him. He will spark A’s memory of what he has learned from being a child of God.

I have this same Best Friend who will stay by my side too. He’ll comfort me, dry these tears, and remind me that He’s got this under control. He sees the big picture, not I.

For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” (Hebrews 13:5)

But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you. (John 14:26)

Dear reader, pray with me to get my emotions under control and actually start trusting the One with the plan. He will lead and guide my child. God does not require my interference, opinion, or my controlling nature with what He has in store for my first born.

betty jo

But, He Has A Good Heart

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“No, he’s not a Christian, but he’s got a good heart.”

“NO, he’s unemployed! He lives in his van down by the river. He smokes weed for dinner…”

“But, he’s got a good heart!”

The van in the photo does not have anything to do with our family, it just happened to be parked at the neighbor’s across the street from our house. And that conversation, thank GOD, was not between my E17 and me, or about one of my boys. It was from last Sunday’s sermon. My church is just one of many Life Church TV locations. That means when we meet, we watch a sermon on a video feed along with people all over the world. This past Sunday Pastor Craig tackled the message of purity in the second part of the sermon series, Bless This Home.

Matthew 5:8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.”

Usually I do not think much about my long-term goals as a homeschooling mom because I’m so busy just trying to meet our immediate daily goals. But I do have some long term goals. One is to help my children learn to “see God”.

According to Matthew 5:8, this means that I must teach them the importance of purity. I have found that trying to teach my kids purity is most difficult as so much of the world seems so very determined to teach them impurity.

Sunday’s message has me asking myself these questions, and realizing that I currently have much that can be improved on about the attitude of purity in both my personal life and teaching about this Godly attribute to my kids.

1) How would you describe the current condition of your heart? 2) What impurities have you allowed into your family? What can you do to remove them? 3) What steps do you need to take to create a permanent culture of purity in your family?

As my kids and I seek answers to those questions we’ll be meditating on these Scriptures from my sermon notes.

Jeremiah 17:9-10 “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? “I the lord search the heart and examine the mind, to reward each person according to their conduct, according to what their deeds deserve.”

Ephesians 4:18-19 NIV “They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, and they are full of greed”.

Psalm 119:9-10 NIV “How can a young person stay on the path of purity? By living according to your word. I seek you with all my heart; do not let me stray from your commands.”

Proverbs 4:23 NIV “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.”

1 Samuel 16:7 NIV “But the lord said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the lord looks at the heart.”

Ephesians 5:3 NIV “But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people”

.Ezekiel 36:26 NIV “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.”

To view other teaching purity related posts click here https://stilllearningsomethingnew.com/2013/03/08/keeping-the-code/ and here https://stilllearningsomethingnew.com/2013/03/10/calling-for-reinforcements/

You can view Bless This Home 2 here http://www.lifechurch.tv/watch

betty jo

Happy 10th!

Why And How

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When others learn that we do not buy curriculum, but that I design ours myself, they often stare at me as if I’ve grown a third eye, and ask me, “Why?” or “How?”. My answer to both questions is, “By the grace of GOD”. However, upon request, I can explain a bit more.

We pulled our oldest out of public school kindergarten 16 years ago. At that time we just used some cheap workbooks for language arts and math along with plenty of books to read to finish up that school year.

Over the following summer, I poured over curriculum catalogs taking in all the information I could. I could not decide on anything and truthfully, we couldn’t afford anything either. As August approached we still did not have curriculum.

That same summer our son went to Space Adventures Vacation Bible School. His head stayed in outer space even when the week long program was over. Outer space was his favorite topic of conversation and play.

We went to a used curriculum sale and I was talking to some experienced homeschool moms about our lack of school books when one of them asked my son, “What do you like to study?” Of course he replied, “Outer space!” He then shocked me with, “I’m going to start a space club!” She then told him that astronomy was one of her favorite unit studies and a space club sounded like a marvelous idea.

I had to have these moms explain what a unit study was. I had not seen anything like that in my catalogs. She invited us to her house so she could show me how they did school.

Her coffee table was covered with library books and notebooks. Apparently, her kids picked a subject they were interested in, and checked out everything the library had on it. Then they read, bookmarked pages, and took notes. They made trivia games and art projects that related to their topic. Their spelling and vocabulary came from those library books too. When they got tired of one study, they picked another. They were only spending money for paper and art supplies. Those kids were smart. Everyone seemed happy with their homeschooling. She even had a son who had graduated and was attending college. Smart and happy and going to college is what I wanted for us, too.

These moms assured me that since I had at least graduated from high school, I was capable to teach my children what they needed to learn. And that I could do it without spending hundreds of dollars. They told me I would want a large map, dictionary, thesaurus, grammar guide, good pencil sharpener, Bible and Bible dictionary. I mentioned that I did not have a Bible dictionary and could they recommend one. One of these sweet moms went out to her car and got hers. She gave it to me , not let me borrow but gave it as a gift! She showed me how to use it for a space study. “Look up a word such as “stars”, then look up the Scriptures for copy and memory work.”

That August we founded the Space Adventure Club. I even found a math workbook that had a rocket on the cover and cute space pictures on the worksheets. We borrowed library books about the solar system and space travel. We made a telescope, a solar system model and a mini planetarium. We wrote and memorized Scriptures about stars. We learned of ancient ideas about the heavens. We watched space themed movies. We researched space careers. We sang space themed songs. This unit study idea was working well.

The next ~~study~~ club was Nature Scouts, followed by a series of different clubs. This is how we schooled for the first couple of years. I had to add spelling as a separate class because my son was able to spell difficult words but was having trouble with the more common ones. We picked up a used grades 3-12 spelling course and have stuck with that same one for all the years since. We have also been given or bought some phonics readers as the other kids have started their road to reading. We have added current events to our non-unit study list of classes.

There was one year when I made the mistake of comparing my homeschool to others. I thought what they were using would be best for us too. That year we spent over $700 for three children to learn with a “regular” curriculum. We hated it! The following year, we ditched the idea of regular curriculum and went back to our unit study approach.

It’s been years since we’ve called our unit studies clubs, but our studies are still made like those were. For the past six years I have designed our unit studies based on historical period timelines. We have also added technology, free web resources, to how we homeschool.

So now you have my answers to “why” and “how” we homeschool like we do.

betty jo

http://www.faithfulmomof9.com/