Dec 12 2012

Glad tidings

This season of advent and anticipation of the birth of our Savior have been particularly joyful for me this year.  Even though I’m falling behind on our Truth in the Tinsel advent readings and crafts, even though I am working a lot, even though there is a massive pile of laundry calling my name and I’m sitting here at 12:30 in the morning typing out a blog post instead- I have had such wonderful joy watching this advent season through the eyes of my little men as I feel the kicks of the little man within.  As I talk to them about who Jesus is, why Jesus came to earth as a baby, what Jesus came to do… and to see this worked out in their own little hearts, has been a huge blessing to me.  I have such wonderful memories of my own childhood Christmas seasons that I want to pass along to them.  We’ve been crafting it up with our Truth in the Tinsel ornaments, enjoying the Scriptures that go along with each day.  We’ve been making cookies together to share with our family when we get together for Christmas dinner.  We’ve enjoyed talking about why we have to wait patiently to open the presents already sitting under the tree that mommy and daddy were blessed enough to be able to get for them.  I want them to understand that this season of giving is what it truly is about, because that is what Jesus humbled himself to come to earth to do.  He gave.  He gave His own life for you, for me, for them, for anyone who will believe that He is the son of God and that He is the WAY, the TRUTH, and the LIFE.  I am so honored to call Him my Savior, my Lord, my Redeemer.  It has been sweet to reflect on who Jesus is, and to focus on Him as a tiny little infant swaddled, who would later give His very life to cleanse me of my sins.

Thank you, sweet Jesus, for… everything!

If you are interested in Truth in the Tinsel, I highly recommend it.  Here is a link:

http://truthinthetinsel.com/buy-the-book/

truthinthetinsel

Nov 23 2012

Season of Thanksgiving

Yesterday was America’s national observance of Thanksgiving. Now observed on the fourth Thursday of November, it has become more about stuffing our faces with a protein of choice (typically turkey but some do venison or ham), lots of side dishes and desserts galore. Then many people settle in for a nice, long afternoon nap or an afternoon of TV watching. However you chose to observe this national day of thanks, I hope yours was a bountiful one in all aspects.
As a family, yesterday was a wonderful day for me as it was the first day in a long, long time that I was able to spend the ENTIRE day with my husband and children with absolutely no concrete plans. This was important to me because Jeff and I have been working extra hard in the last three months. He has had to work a lot of OT at work, and I’ve been working two jobs plus we’ve both been working hard on keeping our humble abode clean (or somewhat clean on our busiest of days!)
To have a day with no plans, no jobs, nothing but spending the day together was so exciting. This is what I am truly thankful for-my family. Take away everything else, as long as I have my precious boys I have more than I could have ever asked for. I have Jesus in my heart and this means I have absolutely everything I need. My verse of meditation this week has been Psalm 107:1 - Oh give thanks to the Lord for He is good, for his steadfast love endures forever! Oh what an amazing verse to remember every moment of every day. God truly is good all the time, He is holy all the time and He deserves our praise and adoration ALL THE TIME! This is what this season of thanksgiving should be about as we enter into this time where commerciality (yes I just made my own word) reigns. Jesus is the one who reigns, and let us always remember this and give thanks! I hope as you tread into this Christmas season this year, you are touched deeply by the One who takes away the sins of the world!

Remember as you gaze at these lights this season…

the true reason for our Christmas season is the light of the world, Jesus!

Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. -John 8:12

Nov 19 2012

A Treat Deal for Thanksgiving

Hello blogger friends, I hope you are finding many, many reasons to give the Lord thanksgiving not only this week but for every week of the wonderful year! I have been so very busy, between two jobs, family, and keeping up with cleaning the home that I haven’t had time to post my thoughts on Thanksgiving, but I have a deal from Treat that I’d like to share with you though that is great to take them up on to share your thanks with your loved ones.
Treat is Shutterfly’s exciting new greeting card brand that makes it easy for people to create and send one-of-a-kind greeting cards. Treat cards are perfect for holidays, birthdays, congrats, thank yous and every occasion in between. It’s crazy fun. It’s super easy. And it’s totally personal. You can create and send a one-of-a-kind card from Treat for FREE (you only have to pay for postage and tax) today and tomorrow with this code: TREATBLOGR
This code is only good for 11/19 and 11/20, for one free personalized card. We all know how much I love sending cards, so I think this is a pretty sweet deal to take them up on. Yet another reason to give thanks! If you do use the code, please let me know how you liked using Treat!
God Bless and I’ll have a longer post up on Thanksgiving day to share about this particular verse:
Oh give thanks to the Lord for He is good, for His steadfast love endures forever. -Psalm 107:1
This gives you something to meditate on until I am able to post a longer train of thought!

Oct 30 2012

Hitting the brick wall

Have you ever hit a brick wall? I did recently, and I can’t stop thinking about it. It was in the middle of cooking dinner last week. I couldn’t function, I had to stop and think about every move and what I needed to do next to keep going (seeing as how I was near extremely hot things). I started crying uncontrollably and all I could think to do was (quite literally) cry out to the Lord. “Jesus, please come rescue me!” was all I could think. Let me back up and I’ll explain why I got to this point.
Ever since finding out about baby #3 and working two jobs now, I feel as if life has been on fast forward and I can’t find the pause button for anything. My relationships have been hurting (with you-name-it and yes it’s hurting), my prayer life has been almost non-existent, my quiet time with my precious Savior completely non-existent. So you see, this brick wall was bound to happen. The only thing is, it’s almost as if I was in a car driving as fast as I could go with this brick wall ever present in front of me and yet I failed to put the brakes on and just kept driving at breakneck speed. The brick wall wasn’t going to disappear, just kept getting closer and closer. Perhaps I needed to run into it. At this point, I am so glad I did. I have been operating in the flesh, and not in the spirit. I haven’t been getting the life blood that I need from God, not drawing near to Him and therefore He hasn’t drawn near to me. So I am thankful for this abrupt stop that has been put in front of me, and oh how I am glad that my God didn’t abandon me, but stood there with open arms waiting for me to run back to Him and fall on my face before Him begging for mercy, grace and love. This grace I have needed, this grace that I have withheld from my beautiful husband and children, this mercy that I haven’t allowed to come in and flood over me because I felt as if I deserved to be in the dark.
Why do I let myself get to this point? When I drink from the living water that is Jesus, my life is complete, good, bountiful, abundant, and I can go through the day with the armor that is needed to battle living in the flesh. So why, why, WHY do I not make this my main focus of each and EVERY day? Somewhere along the way I start believing the lie that I can do this on my own, in my own flesh, and I start to sink. My family is affected, my friends are affected, my soul is affected. Oh how I need thee EVERY HOUR, Jesus! Please don’t let me forget this as I move forward, for it truly ’tis sweet to trust in Jesus. “just to rest upon His promise, just to know – thus saith the Lord” O for the precious life-giving grace to trust Him more! I am so thankful for you, Lord, and how you have changed my life. Please let me be a beacon of light to a dark world, and break down that brick wall that I built before You!

“giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” -Ephesians 5:20 (so I am thankful for hitting this brick wall, and seeing my sin for the ugliness that it is… thank you Lord!)

Oct 15 2012

Photo Christmas Cards!

So my last post was all about how creating our family Christmas card each year puts me in the Christmas spirit.  I love creating it each year, and of course my go to site for creating it is always Shutterfly!  I have the wonderful opportunity to post my first sponsored post via Shutterfly to share with you, my lovely readers, my love of their gorgeous holiday card collection!


You can take a gander at their lovely Holiday 2012 collection over at shutterfly.com, and I would highly suggest creating your own account if you don’t have one already.  This will allow you to save all of your pictures for future photo gift or card use, not to mention creating photo prints if needed.  Also, if you create an account you may receive future offers for various gifts via email that you can save in your account under “My Special Offers”.  You can also access various current special offers on Shutterfly’s Special Offers page, which you can access here: http://www.shutterfly.com/special-offers

Now let’s get on to the cuteness!  I had a few different cards that I had narrowed it down to, which I will showcase here.  My favorite cards are their photo cards, but once you go to Shutterfly’s website you’ll more than likely fall in love with more than just their Holiday 2012 card collection!  This card is the one I ended up going with, and let me tell you it is sooooo cute in hand!  I wanted to send my cards out the day I received them instead of waiting until Thanksgiving (when I traditionally send mine).

I love the juxtaposition of the black and white photo behind the pop of color in the words Be Merry!  I won’t show the rest of the card (I have even more photos inside on the top and bottom and a photo on the back of the card, you can literally add so many photos in these cards!) so as to surprise my family and friends when I actually do send them out.  I used photos from our most recent family photo shoot.  I purposefully spent a lot of money buying the rights to our photos so I can use them in all sorts of photo projects I have planned for Christmas/New Years gifts this year.  This is one great example of how I used one particular photo.

Here are a few examples of other cards that I considered for this year’s Christmas card:

So as you can see from the above, I had a reeeeeeeally hard time choosing a card this year, and this is just the tip of the iceburg!  There are so many adorable Photo Christmas Cards to choose from, and there are cards for more than just Christmas as well (for example, Hanukkah and New Years).  I hope that this post inspires you to run, not walk, to Shutterfly’s website and create an adorable Christmas card, photo gift, photo print, something!  To entice you I have a special surprise, a giveaway!  One lucky commenter will win $50 (in credit which will be applied to your Shutterfly account) towards their total Shutterfly purchase (does not include shipping & cannot be combined with any other promos)  which you can use towards your inspired photo project, woohoo!!!!  One commenter will be chosen at random.  Please leave a comment telling me what your favorite Shutterfly Holiday 2012 card is!  The giveaway starts now and will end October 29th at midnight EST.  I will email the winner, so please leave me your email address in your comment, and I will email you within 48 hours of the end of the deadline.

Blessings everyone!

**I am receiving compensation from Shutterfly for hosting this sponsored post in the form of a Shutterfly credit for Shutterfly products.**

Sep 18 2012

Oh the Christmas spirit!

I saw somewhere that we are officially in the “100 days to Christmas” countdown now.  I believe it started September 16th, but don’t quote me on that.  There is nothing that gets me into that joyous mood more than creating our annual Christmas card from Shutterfly.  Every year there are a few things that I include on the card.  First is a quote on the inside, at first I was doing Bible verses that alluded to (from the Old Testament) or flat out announced (from the New Testament) the coming of the Savior, Jesus Christ.  Last year was the first year I moved to doing a Christmas-y type quote so I wouldn’t be reusing Scripture.  There isn’t anything wrong with reusing Scripture, but I really wanted to make each card unique so that as we look back each year, they are all different.  Second, there are always pictures of the boys.  I typically never include a picture of myself, but this year we had some great family photos taken so I actually put one of me in there, too.  Third, the back is always saved for something whimsical.  Whimsical in the way of (usually) having some reference to Roll Tide for my husband.  This year it was fun because I knew I wanted to announce the new baby some way on the card, so I saved it for the back!  Take a gander at our card for 2012 :)

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AbsWzdu1cNGTtw&cid=SFLYOCWIDGET

I always choose Shutterfly for my Christmas cards.  They have an outstanding collection of cards to choose from (and for more than just Christmas for that matter, for any need you have!) and the process of creating your card is super duper easy!  They look professional, they are printed on a glossy or matte cardstock which gives them a nice local-printer feel to them, and they are just gorgeous!  Their prices are affordable (that’s saying a lot coming from me because we live on one super tight budget) and a lot of times throughout the year they have these awesome promotions where you can get free cards, and sometimes even free photo books, calendars, and mailing labels!  All you have to pay is shipping and handling, which again is quite affordable!  If you are reading this today, September 18, 2012, you can get 10 free holiday cards if you put in the promo code 10FREECARDS after creating a Shutterfly account!  Hurry and get your free cards today before the promotion runs out!

**This is my own opinion, I have not been reimbursed by Shutterfly in any way for stating how awesome they are.  Trust me, go make your own account and try them out, you won’t regret it!**

***Shutterfly – if you are reading this, I would love to be part of your holiday blogger review program if you are doing that this year! :) ***

Sep 6 2012

Touching the Sky

Touching the Sky by Tracie Peterson

Here is my latest book review.  I know, I know, I just did two, right?  I am a little behind on them so I’m going to be posting these next few as soon as I finish them, instead of waiting and posting two at a time like I was doing.  This latest book is Touching the Sky by Tracie Peterson.  This is the second book in the “Land of the Lone Star” series.  The first book, Chasing the Sun, has a character that shows up just briefly in this book, but other than that this is a totally different book.  The heroine, Laura Marquardt, is a young woman who has been affected by the War Between the States in more ways that she would like to count.  She has a younger sister, Carissa, who is carefree and light-hearted, while Laura is more serious minded.  Carissa marries early in the book to a man named Malcolm.  Laura is uneasy with Carissa’s quick romance from the beginning, and finds that Malcolm is indeed a no-good type of man.  Laura’s love interest, Brandon Reid, has come to Corpus Christi, Texas, to muster out of the Union Army after the end of the war but finds himself delaying his retirement to keep tabs on the mischievous Malcolm.  In the process of keeping an eye on Malcolm, Brandon begins to court Laura.

The plot is definintely thick in this book, as there is the love story between Brandon and Laura as well as the story that follows Malcolm and his Confederate Army cronies.  I really enjoyed this book, and took my time reading it to enjoy the story instead of staying awake until all hours of the night to see what happens next.  My body really can’t take that kind of reading right now, and it was nice to have this book stretch over a few days instead of just one.  I do love to read though so if I can set aside an hour block for reading I will do it each evening.  I am really loving Tracie Peterson’s writing style.  When I read Chasing the Sun I was really disappointed to find out that her series wouldn’t be continuing with those particular characters but it worked out, because these characters were just as lovely as William and Hanna of the first book.  On a rating scale, I’m gonna go ahead and give this a 4 clover rating.  I highly recommend this book.

Disclaimer:  I received this book free from Bethany House Publishers to review.  In exchange I am asked to give my honest review here on my blog and on a retail website such as Amazon.com.  This honest review is not required to be positive, just honest.  It just so happens that most of my reviews of the books I receive are positive because I choose books that are really good reading!

Sep 3 2012

Exciting News & Book Reviews

Ever since I started our home school journey, I was hoping to set a personal goal of blogging once each week, not just about home school but to share how this has affected my personal walk with the Lord, and I feel like I am failing on the personal goal aspect, and in more than just this goal of blogging more regularly.  On June 4 of this year, my husband and I started an exercise and weight loss journey together by following the P90X program.  Everyone that I have shared this with has said “Wow! Isn’t that such a hard program to follow?”  Yes, yes it is, but doing it with Jeff was not only exciting but fulfilling as well.  We’d wake up at 5AM each weekday morning and encourage one another through the hour long (sometimes longer) workouts, and text each other during the day if we were having a moment where we were struggling to eat well.  We did very good the first month, Jeff lost 33 lbs (hello man metabolism!) and I lost 11.  Not exactly what I was hoping for but I was so excited, I could do push ups and I was able to get through an entire workout without stopping and panting for breath every 15 minutes.  I could see progress, I felt great.  Then month two rolled along, and life got in the way and after two weeks, the 5 AM mornings were turning in to “let’s do it today after you get home from work” and then by the end of the month we had fallen off the exercise wagon.  We were still both following the nutrition program but the exercise just wasn’t there.  Total weight loss for both= nada, zip, zilch, nothing!  I did notice however that I was EXTREMELY tired all the time.  You see, I have a condition called Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome, or PCOS.  If you don’t follow a pretty specific diet for insulin resistance (low carb/high protein), chronic fatigue can be an issue.  I looked back over my last couple of weeks of eating and thought, well I did eat some carbs here and there, that must be the reason.  Then I started noting a few other symptoms I was having that just seemed to say to me, perhaps I better run to the store and get a pregnancy test… just in case.  Now it isn’t uncommon for me to think that, take the test, see a negative result then just go on about my day as if nothing happened.

This time was different.

I knew it was going to be positive, I just knew it.  Well, guess what?!?!

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I have since been to the doctor and had all of the requisite testing done, an early OB ultrasound, etc. and the little one’s due date is April 10, 2013.  This means that sometime in late March, early April we will have a new little addition to the family (I have to have a scheduled c-section).  The boys are so very excited, as am I.  We are so thankful to the Lord for this precious gift he has given us.  This definitely changed things up a bit though.  I still need to exercise since I am a hefty gal, and still need to watch my carb intake to keep Litttle One healthy, as well as myself (I had multiple issues carrying Joseph and subsequently he was born early at 36 weeks, but he turns 3 today, praise Jesus!)  I have since taken on a second job to get our financial house more in order before this new arrival makes his or her debut into the world, and this put a temporary hold on preschool until we can figure out a better schedule, since I have been home only one day in the week.  We still do lots of learning, just not in the formal mode that we were doing it in.  I have been very sad about this, as it is my heart’s desire to school our children at home.  The boys miss it dearly, and continue asking me when we can get back to doing school at the table, instead of on the go.  If you have some words of encouragement, I’d really appreciate them.  Also, if you have some advice about doing school in a “less formal” structure, please share!  I’m hungry for any tips I can get my hands on!

Now on to some book reviews that I have fallen behind on.  (Disclaimer: These are my honest reviews on books from Bethany House Publishers.  I receive books free of charge from Bethany House Publishers in exchange for my opinion, good or bad, here on my blog and on a retail website such as Amazon.com.  If you are interested in joining this review program, give me a shout and I will hook you up with the information!  It’s a wonderful program.)

First up, The Fiddler by Beverly Lewis

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On a scale of 5 clovers, with 1 as “absolutely wretched” and 5 as “couldn’t put it down”, I’d like to give this book a 4.  It’s a solid Beverly Lewis book, and I have to admit she is one of my favorite historical fiction authors because of my love of everything Amish.  This was actually set in current times, and was a quaint little story about a woman named Amelia DeVries (who goes by the name Amy in certain circles) and her quest to truly find out what she wants out of life.  She is a classically trained/performing violinist, who loves her classical pieces but also has a heart for good ol’ country music fiddlin’.  Her parents want her to go on a grand European playing tour, which would be great for her career, but she doesn’t know if she should continue pursuing classical music and perhaps continue making a name for herself as a country fiddler.  Through this turmoil, she finds herself in a remote Pennsylvania cabin owned by Michael Hostetler, a young Amishman who is struggling himself to make the decision between continuing in the Amish heritage he has grown up with or “going English”.  The love story that unwinds between Amy and Michael is a sweet story, Lewis is always a good crafter of love’s twisting tales.  I have always appreciated the simple yet endearing way that Lewis writes her stories, with lots of underlying plot twists to keep you on your toes.  I have heard other reviewers say her books are all similar, but I appreciate the thought she puts into each new character.  Lewis never disappoints, but I give it a 4 clover review instead of 5 because I’d really like the trilogy to continue with these two characters and where they will go in the future and instead she is following in the footsteps of some other Bethany House authors and creating a totally different set of characters in the next book of the Home to Hickory Hollow series.  I’m a sucker for continuing love stories, which is probably why I am SO IN LOVE with the Anne of Green Gables series.  That has always been my go-to set of books for a really great story, but I digress.  Check this book out, it’s a good one!  Lewis continues to make Christ the center of her stories and you will be forced to look inward with some of the quotes from Michael as he inwardly questions whether he has made Christ the center of his own life.

Up next is a book from a new author, Becky Wade, called My Stubborn Heart.

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This book has a little bit of controversy surrounding it, which I only found out after reading other reviews when I finished the book.  I have to give this book a rating of 5 clovers.  When I say I couldn’t put the book down, I literally made myself stay awake with my very tired, pregnant self to finish this book in one night.  I paid for it the next morning and had to take a long nap the next day but this book was wonderful!  I loved the characters (which I’ll get in to in a second, allow me to indulge for a second), I loved the plot, I loved the tension, I loved the setting, I loved the sub-plots and I loved the secondary characters!  The only thing I didn’t love?  THE ENDING!  I closed the book and thought, she (the author) seriously can’t be ending the book here?  Ugh.  I would love a sequel, but doubt there will be one.  Becky Wade, if you’re reading this by any chance, please make a sequel!

So on to the actual review, hehe.  The main female character is Kate Donovan.  She is a spunky gal from Dallas who accompanies her grandma Beverly on a journey to Pennsylvania where her grandmother grew up to refurbish the house her grandmother grew up in.  The house hasn’t been lived in for a long while and there is a lot to be done so before arriving Beverly hired a handyman/contractor to assist them with the repairs and refurbishing.  Enter the main male character, Matthew Jarreau, an ex-NHL player who returned to his hometown after suffering a broken heart and walking away from the hockey game that he loves and excelled at since childhood.  Their love story is a long, winding road that was put together as delicately as an origami swan.  When the two finally share their love for each other, it just sort of abruptly ends.  I want to have more story, not just the build up to them saying I love you with an epilogue that says, oh yeah they got married and lived happily ever after.  Those types of stories should be reserved for Disney movies, not long books that would benefit from another two chapters or so that delve into their married life together.  Again, this is why I love L.M. Montgomery and the care she put into Anne and Gilbert’s love story.  With that said, this is still a wonderful love story and I found myself rooting for Matt to open up to Kate, and for Kate to let down her walls against Matt.  I’m just a big sap at heart I suppose.  In regards to the controversy surrounding the book, I will let you Google it.  I didn’t find it such a big deal, and when I Google’d it myself, I remember thinking “that is the controversy? I thought it was going to be something else” and I can’t say because you’ll just have to read the book!

So my dear blog followers, until next time! I pray you all have great weeks!

Aug 7 2012

School is Open!

Today was our very first ever “First Day of School”!!  Samuel will be 4 in a few weeks and Joseph will be 3 a week later, so I’ve decided to do a joint, unit study type approach so I can easily tailor their needs but within learning about the same things.  The boys were so excited watching me get all of the materials ready and couldn’t wait to start.  There are so many deals right now in school supplies, which helps on our tight budget, so they each got their own new pencil (the fat kind for learning writers), new composition book (for journaling), glue bottle, glue stick, and box of crayons.  I figure that covers the basics.  I know a lot of mom blogs do a Wordless Wednesday type post, but I couldn’t wait to share these pictures until tomorrow.  I thought I’d give a picture highlight version of our first school day!

School Supplies all ready to go

Students all ready to go!

Practicing the number one for Creation day 1

Joe practicing his ones

Practice writing the number one in powdered sugar

We used Oreo cookies to visualize the difference between Day and Night (creation day 1). This is Day.

and this is Night (and Day and Night are very yummy they say)

look at my white hands mom!

Creating a read along book for Samuel’s sight words we and will

After they colored the pictures, we cut them out and glued them into their journals. I didn’t get a picture of the cutting and gluing, I was having too much fun and forgot to take pictures!

 

 

After we finished with the journals it was time for lunch and nap time.

I am using a lot of material from Hubbard’s Cupboard (Michelle Hubbard), another homeschooling mom from our church, for this first unit – Creation.  She has some wonderful resources on her site, which you can access from my page above, Other Neat Blogs.

Aug 3 2012

The Start of Something Amazing


Image credit: diego_cervo / 123RF Stock Photo

I did it! I joined that crowd of parents who have decided to homeschool. This has not been a quick nor a hastily made decision. As I sit here writing this post at my dining room table, I am surrounded by books. Books on curriculum, books to encourage homeschooling parents, books about unit studies, just books, books and more books! I’ve carefully read each one, taken LOTS of notes, had many discussions with my husband… the list goes on and on. So why did we choose as a family to take this route?

This has been something I always wanted to do, but have wrestled with for a couple of years now, thinking that as it became more of a reality, I wasn’t capable of doing “school” well. I knew as our oldest son approached the age of 4 that we would have to decide between whether or not we wanted to do traditional preschool or keep him home, perhaps even putting him in a daycare that has a preschool type curriculum throughout the day. A large part of our deciding factor on choosing NOT to send him to a traditional preschool is that right now it’s not in the budget. We have no qualms with sending him to a traditional preschool, but I couldn’t find one within our limited budget. So I thought, hey, why not homeschool both boys for preschool before sending them off to Kindergarten (K)? Then that train of thought led to, well perhaps we will just homeschool through Pre-K and K because of two factors: 1 is the date of the boys’ birthdays and 2 is that K is still not a required grade in Indiana. At least not for now, that likely will change. (Another smaller factor is that Indiana is a very lenient state for homeschooling, making the decision a little easier pertaining to what we need to do to be able to homeschool at all.)

Regarding the boys’ birthdays, the oldest turns 4 at the tail end of August and the youngest turns 3 1 week later at the very beginning of September. Depending on which school district you live in, the cutoff date is either August 1 or September 1. In our city, it is September 1. This means that technically the boys would be 2 years apart in school (when they are only 53 wks apart in age) if we followed that formula. Now, I know that we could choose to put the oldest in K when he had just turned 6, but I really feel that he will be ready intellectually for K much earlier than the age of 6. This makes homeschooling the perfect choice for us in this season of life because then the intellectual and emotional state of my son will be nurtured one on one with me as his teacher!

How do you prepare for such an undertaking? I have found bits and pieces from multiple books that have helped us with this decision. A big one that I would recommend reading if you are interested in this path is Homeschooling: Take a Deep Breath, You Can Do This! by Terrie Lynn Bittner. She has an updated version of this book just recently released in 2012, called the 2nd Edition. I had put a hold on this at the library as soon as I saw the title when I was doing my initial research. This is a great book to help you think through some of the logistics of actually homeschooling such as thinking about curriculum and the type you want to use (there are many different “styles” of homeschooling, something I hadn’t ever known about!), what supplies you’ll possibly need to start off depending on the rules of your state (or country!), and so many other things I just simply hadn’t thought to even think about!

So now as I am gathering materials and supplies for the beginning of our preschool year for my soon to be 4 and 3 year olds, I am excited to be counted in that group of homeschooling moms and dads, as well as excited to be sharing my journey with you, my reader. If you have been down this road, I’d love to get some feedback, tips, hints, anything to help me along this journey of homeschooling. I am blessed to have such an amazing homeschooling community within our church and even in our church small group. You can be sure I will be asking lots of questions along the way. I’m also excited because I have no qualms about sharing my nerdiness with you.

I.Love.School!

I’d be a full time student at the university if I could afford it, just because I love learning and I hope that I can pass that on to my new pupils! My grandmother was a teacher for 30+ years in a small community, in fact she started out teaching in a small “country” school, something similar to what you see when you watch reruns of Little House on the Prairie. Growing up in Iowa, there were plenty of those little communities that all shared a small country school. I loved hearing my grandma’s stories of teaching in that little school, I also love listening to my dad’s stories of attending a country school in Kindergarten (my great aunt Verda was his teacher!). There’s something about that smaller ratio that really enables a student to thrive, so I hope I can pass that on to my children!

This is a picture of my grandma, Elizabeth, who I learned a lot from.

This is not a picture of the schoolhouse that my grandmother taught in, but it is similar to many of the country schools that dotted the Iowa prairie long ago.  Many of them have been torn down, but some do still exist.

Image credit: sprokop / 123RF Stock Photo
It is wonderful to have such a rich heritage of learning in my past.  I hope that I can only give my children such a rich and lasting education!

Deuteronomy 6:6-7 (King James Version)
(6) And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: (7) And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.