The Homeschool Mother's Journal

In my life this week...

This week has just flown by.  Wow!  I can't believe its already Friday!!  I attended a Classical Conversations Informational Meeting Tuesday night, which was very interesting and I met lots of great people.  I also attended the Open House Wednesday, and while I was just as impressed as I was the night before...Im just not sure the program is for us.  I don't really follow the classical method of homeschooling, but I am inspired by it and find myself being drawn to certain aspects of it more and more.  I just don't know if I can justify the cost of CC for my girls to go and try to work it into our school day as well.  I am still praying about it.

In our homeschool this week...

We are wrapping up our migration unit this week and will be moving into Backyard Birds of Winter next week.  We finished watching  Winged Migration on youtube and read several books about migrating birds.  The girls are very excited about participating in  Great Backyard Bird Count  in February which seems to be so fun.   Really?  Did I just say February...that is like next week!!  Time is just flying by!! 

Karsyn learned interjections this week.  Those sentences are always fun!!  Kamryn is still working on prepositions...I think we will be here a while, there is so much to know about those pesky critters!!!  She is enjoying the time alone with me though, that is for sure!

In Math, Karsyn is finally beginning to really catch on to subtraction with borrowing.  She is beginning mixed numbers and even did a little bit with the 13 subtraction table!!  That one is never fun to learn.  Kamryn has been learning about acute, obtuse, and right angles and triangles.  We will review that some more next week and her test on them will be Thursday!!

We are still enjoying our new Bible curriculum from Positive Action and have memorized 1 Corinthians 13:1-5.  They will know all the way to verse 7 by the end of February and I couldn't be more proud.  I strongly recommend this Bible curriculum. 

We joined a field trip group this week as well.  I am so excited! We are getting to be so social...LOL!!  We are looking forward to meeting up with these friends once a month for a fun day!  Our first field trip is to a cupcake shop in town.  The girls will get to make their own cupcakes and learn about operating a cupcake business.  So appropriately fitting with our new obsession with Cupcake Wars!

Places We are Going and People We are Seeing...

This weekend is Karsyn's birthday so we are going ice skating!!  She is very excited!!  We also have a cancer benefit for Jamie Navarre, a dear friend of my sister who was diagnosed with Stage 4 colon, rectal, and liver cancer a week after Thanksgiving.  We are praying and believing that God has this under control and that whatever happens will glorify Him.

My favorite thing this week was...

Going to the Classical Conversations Open House.  I think my girls would say the same because they got to pack up their school work and go to Mrs. Kayce's for school.  Maw Maw Genny came as their substitute teacher and Mrs. Kayce has a hammock in her school room!  SCORE!!

What's working or not working for us...

Do I need to tell yall again how much I LOVE our Bible curriculum.  I really can't emphasize that enough!!

Homeschool Thoughts and Questions I have...

This week I am really trying to figure out what we are meant to do next year in the form of weekly outings.  Do I want something as elaborate as Classical Conversations or would your standard Co-Op work for our family?  We have a group of 12 kids that are homeschooled and we are very close to their parents already.  Could we form our own group that meets once per week or should I join something already in motion?  Lots of wheels spinning in my head right now as far as that goes!!

A Photo to Share...

This has absolutely nothing to do with homeschooling, but look what arrived in my mailbox from my BFF Amazon this week...

I'm so excited to start this book {which I have cheated and read a few pages of already}.  I am participating in the Bloom Book Club's study of this book beginning in just a few days!!!  Its not too late to join!!!

** This post is inspired by Sue at The Homeschool Chick, who has begun keeping a journal of the happenings in her homeschool.  She has inspired me to do the same.  Im linked up at The Homeschool Chick with other moms who want to document their days.  I love the idea!!

1000 Gifts...and the list goes on

Each week I sit and reflect on all of the many blessings we are given each and every day.  I jot them down here because I never want to take them for granted.  Today, I'm a day late, but the list goes on...


0040
cold air and warm fires

0041
electric blankets

0042
afternoon coffee with my favorite man in the world

0043
early morning rising

0044
a God seeking body of believers in a tiny little country church full of love

0045
best friends who can finish your sentences

0046
conversations that never end where they begin and contain very few breaths

0047
lamplight in the evenings

0048
bedtime kisses from sweet smelling little girls

0049
warm socks for bed


0050
Holy Spirit convictions

0051
knowing that the battle for me is already won


0052
doors that He opens...and closes.

Menu Plan Monday...what's on our table

Last week, we didn't really stick to our supper menu as good as I would have liked.  My husband ended up having to work nights several nights, so the girls and I ate very simply.  Because of that my menu is going to repeat a little bit.  Sorry, its a boring week!!!

Monday  January 24th
Breakfast - Waffles and milk
Lunch - Grilled cheese, chips, cookies, oranges
Snack - Chocolate Pudding
Dinner - Fajitas, Refried beans, Southwest Salad

Tuesday January 25th
Breakfast - Blueberry bagels with cream cheese
Lunch - Turkey Wraps, cubed cheese, grapes
Snack - peanut butter crackers
Dinner - Roast, Rice and Gravy, Green beans, Potatoes


Wednesday January 26th
Breakfast - Fried eggs and sausage
Lunch - Chicken Quesidillas, cheetohs, strawberries
Snack - caramel popcorn
Dinner - Subway night {in between gymnastics and church}



Thursday January 27th
Breakfast - French toast, milk
Lunch - Peanut butter and jelly sandwich, applesauce, graham crackers
Snack - Homemade Oatmeal Cookies 
Dinner - Mexican Tostadas

Friday January 28th
Breakfast - Oatmeal and toast
Lunch -  ravioli with marinara sauce, granola bar, grapes, goldfish

Snack - Goldfish, Applesauce
Dinner - Tortilla Soup

Saturday January 29th
Breakfast - Eggs and Grits
Lunch - leftovers of something
Snack - Free Snack day!  
Dinner - Eating at Cancer benefit

Sunday January 30th

Breakfast - Pancakes and bacon
Lunch - Eat at Moms after church
Snack - At Mom's
Dinner - Karsyn's birthday party...PIZZA!!

I'm linked up at orgjunkie.com with lots more menus!!  Head over there and get planning!!!

Figure Life Out - One Thousand Gifts

When I first began reading Ann Voskamp's blog A Holy Experience, my soul just burst wide open. Her blog is a place to be filled. To be emptied. To laugh. To cry.

I find so much peace and comfort there, and when I heard she was writing a book, my heart skipped a beat. Her book One Thousand Gifts is on shelves everywhere and is definitely cheap at Dayspring and Amazon. I got mine for $10! $10! I am already racing through each page, and then I learn that Bloom is going to be doing a book club with this book, and my heart skips a beat again. In just two more weeks Angie and Jessica will be starting their online book club going through One Thousand Gifts with Ann!!!

If you have not gotten this book, watch the trailer below and then get the book. You will not be able to see it any other way, I promise!!! See you in the book club!!!

The Homeschool Mother's Journal

In my life this week...

This week has been a very welcoming "back to normal" sort of week.  Our weather here was actually a little bit warm {its Louisiana, 20 one day 80 the next}, so the kids were able to get outside and work off some of that late January energy on the trampoline.  I have also been spending alot of time going back and forth to Baton Rouge because my grandmother had surgery 2 weeks ago and is still requiring alot of attention from the family. She is seeming to be doing a great deal better this week though, which is music to my soul.  Karsyn's birthday is next weekend, so I am busy starting to plan doing last minute preparations for her party.  She will be 8 and I can hardly believe it!!  Most of my spare time has been spent on my new MacBook Pro {that the big daddy got me for Christmas}, which I love like another child.  I am a huge Mac fan and have had our desktop for a couple of years, but I hated being confined to the school room to play research on the internet.  It is nice to plan for the next school week from my bed after everyone is asleep.  LOVE!  In addition to planning for school, these days have been spent planning for something else.  Something big. Something that I really can't talk much about right now because its too new, but that I will be talking about ALOT really soon.  Like you will probably get sick of hearing me talk about it.  But for now, its tucked away in my heart until things become more clear.  

In our homeschool this week...

We are still getting into our groove from the holidays.  Finally this week has felt normal and both girls told me how happy they were to be back in school.  We have begun an amazing unit study for science on bird migration that is just unreal to say the least.  We have been studying about why birds migrate, why some don't, which ones do and where they go.  We have watched the documentary Winged Migration on youtube that I would recommend for everyone, even if you aren't studying bird migration.  It is a great movie.  We will be participating in the Great Backyard Bird Count  in February which seems to be so fun.  Science has proven to be our most loved subject.  This year we are doing Apologia's Exploring Creation: Flying Creature's of the 5th day, and it is great!!  This semester I want to make sure Science doesn't get pushed to the back burner, like it sometimes did in the fall.  

This week we also took the week to learn {Karsyn} and review {Kamryn} liquid measurement conversion.  We had lots of fun measuring beans and water and kool aid and playing a very fun game that I found online.  If you are doing liquid measurements it is a must for those visual and kinesthetic learners!!  Comment and I will be happy to email it to you.  

In language, Karsyn is memorizing the poem The Year.  She is also learning about interjections!

Kamryn is diagramming like a mad woman and has just started PREPOSITIONS!!  

We started a new Bible curriculum after the holidays after seeing it here and I am in LOVE!!  There are no other words.  This is exactly what I have been looking for in a Bible curriculum that I just couldn't find, until now.  I ordered it immediately and the girls love it.  Plus they do the majority of it on their own which means they are looking up scripture and interpreting scripture and all that good stuff.  There is also a scripture memory program with the curriculum that we are also doing.  So far the girls have both memorized 1 Corinthians 13:1-3.  They will know all the way to verse 7 by the end of February and I couldn't be more proud.  I strongly recommend this Bible curriculum. 

Places We are Going and People We are Seeing...

We didn't have any field trips this week, but we are now going to gymnastics every week and the girls LOVE it!!!  I wish I would have enrolled them years ago!!  They go to a fantastic gym and have an amazing teacher, and we all love to go!!!  They are also still in piano every week and continue to love that as well.  It is so wonderful to begin to see your children come into their own and find their likes and dislikes.  They are certainly loving what they are doing now!  

This weekend is the first LSU girls gymnastics meet at home, and we will be going to that.  I think the girls will love it.  

We are also finding time to get together with friends.  In this cold weather, a play date will save some sanity...QUICK!!

My favorite thing this week was...

By far the Winged Migration movie.  It was fantastic and we enjoyed cuddling up on the couch with hot chocolate to watch it.

What's working or not working for us...

I am definitely going to go another route for history next year.  While we are having fun on our around the world journey, creating your own curriculum week after week is exhausting.  I never thought I would say this, but I'm gonna need history to come in a box next year!!  LOL

I am also finding myself drifting farther and farther away from my traditional side and becoming more and more Charlotte Mason-ey!  I like her.  Alot!

Homeschool Thoughts and Questions I have...

I am really searching for history curriculum.  I am looking for something with good living books, and something simple.  I like Winter Promise {but don't know anybody who actually uses it} and Sonlight {but some of my mentors in blog land are not going back to it next year}.  I think I need a Homeschool Moms Blogging Conference so I can meet all of these ladies that I look up to and that inspire me and pick their brains in person.  That is really what I want!!  Like before I need to order history curriculum.

A Photo to Share...

Because of the cold weather, we spend alot of time a few minutes playing on PhotoBooth!!  Here is one of our favorites this week.  We laugh so hard we cry!!

** This post is inspired by Sue at The Homeschool Chick, who has begun keeping a journal of the happenings in her homeschool.  She has inspired me to do the same.  Im linked up at The Homeschool Chick with other moms who want to document their days.  I love the idea!!

On A Sunday

photo via

The only victory Satan has is the one we give him.

The victory is already won for those who are in Christ Jesus.  We don't have to live in defeat.  Satan has no power over us...unless we give it to him!!

 Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: 
because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.


- 1 John 4:4

Menu Plan Monday

photo courtesy orgjunkie.com

Monday  January 3rd
Breakfast - Blueberry Muffins and milk
Lunch - chicken nuggets, chips, cookies, oranges
Snack - Homemade Applesauce  {best recipe ever}
Dinner - Blackened Tilapia, Potato Casserole, Steamed Squash and Zucchini

Tuesday January 4th
Breakfast - French toast, milk
Lunch - Peanut butter sandwich, Chicken Noodle Soup, applesauce
Snack - Homemade Oatmeal Cookies 
Dinner - Mexican Tostadas

Wednesday January 5th
Breakfast - Breakfast burritos
Lunch - turkey sandwiches, cheetohs, strawberries
Snack - cheese and crackers
Dinner - Subway night {in between gymnastics and church}

Thursday January 6th
Breakfast - Bagels with cream cheese
Lunch -  ravioli with marinara sauce, granola bar, grapes, goldfish
Snack - Goldfish, Applesauce
Dinner - Tortilla Soup

Friday January 7th
Breakfast - Cereal
Lunch - Cheese Quesadillas
Snack - peanut butter crackers
Dinner - Pastalaya, salad, garlic bread

Saturday January 8th
Breakfast - Eggs and Grits
Lunch - leftovers of something
Snack - Free Snack day!  
Dinner - Leftovers

Sunday January 9th

Breakfast - Pancakes and bacon
Lunch - Eat at Moms after church
Snack - At Mom's
Dinner - Leftovers

I'm linked up at orgjunkie.com with lots more menus!!  Head over there and get planning!!!

Planted Bible Study

I cannot tell y'all how excited I am about this new blog and this new Bible study I stumbled upon.  I don't want to confuse you, but I am so excited I am probably talking in circles.  Please bear with me as I try to tell you about the not 1 but 2 amazing new blogs I found!!!

Okay, so in an effort to live more intentionally in 2011, I was searching the web this morning for some new spirit quenching blogs and found this amazing one.  MODSquad.com is a blog for Moms Of Daughters.  Just what my spirit needs.  I was so excited to be able sip my coffee and browse all of the wonderful posts about the calling of a mother.  One of their contributors is this amazing lady.  

This is Melissa and she blogs here.  Her blog is a breath of fresh air I tell you and one that I am so thankful I stumbled upon.  I am most excited about a new Bible study that she is kicking off in February {how bout that for perfect timing, huh}.  The study is entitled PLANTED and here is what it entails...

She describes the study here.

In February, through the online bible study series “PLANTED” 

we’ll discover the harvest yielded from being planted, rooted, pruned and cultivated in the Lord.

***********************************************************

 Oh boy!!!  Doesn't it just sound great!?!  I can't wait!!!  I hope you will join in, and I strongly suggest you go right on over to Madabella and meet Melissa, you will love her, I just know!!!

My Word of the Year

photo found here

I know that we are 10 days into the new year already, but I had to be sure this was going to be my word before I spilled the beans and had it looming over my head all year!!  I have prayed, stewed, and prayed some more and this morning while doing my daily blog reading the Lord really spoke to my heart about this "resolution" of sorts.

As far as resolutions go I LOVE TO MAKE THEM, but I BREAK THEM!!  I am a list maker and a list breaker, so I am no good at the lose 10 pounds, get kids to bed on time, eat only organic, typical resolutions.  That is why I figured I would be better off with a word than a list, so there.

Without further rambling, I give you my word of 2011...


intentional.


Such a huge word, wouldn't you say?

I think this is the best word in the entire dictionary that describes how I want to live this year.

I want to be intentional.  And I'm not.  So, I'm going to try real hard to change that this year.

Here is what I know...

I am a homeschool mom of 2 girls who are growing up faster than I can handle.  I remember my mom from when I was my girls age.  So guess what??  They will remember me.  Uh oh!!

What do I want them to remember about me?  How do I want them to think things are supposed to go in the world?  What legacy do I want to leave for them?

I must be intentional.

There is no more "getting away with it."  No, my girls have caught on.  I can no longer wing it like I did when they were 2 and 4 and just believed everything you said to be right and true.

So this year I want to be intentional about everything I do.

I want to be intentional about our homeschooling. {No more just doing something because its what I bought during the summer or its what everyone else is using.  What is most important for them to learn?}

I want to be intentional about how we live. {No more just doing something because it is what we have always done.  What is truly best for our family?  Even if its a hard decision.}

I want to be intentional about what we say. {No more just saying something because we want to say it.  What are my words doing?  Building up or tearing down?}

I want to be intentional about how we spend our time.  Who we spend time with.  What we eat.  Where we go.  How we communicate.

I believe that my mom was intentional in raising my sister and I.  It was the single most important job she had.  She weeded out all of the other distractions, and just focused on that one most important thing.  And she did it so well.  I want to be just like her and I have come to learn that it isn't going to just happen.

Here is a quote that I stumbled upon this morning while reading the blogs.  It is from Jamie at Simple Homeschool.

“I have come to the frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element. It is my personal approach that creates the climate. It is my daily mood that makes the weather.I possess tremendous power to make life miserable or joyous.

I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration, I can humiliate or humor, hurt or heal. In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis is escalated or de-escalated, and a person is humanized or de-humanized.

If we treat people as they are, we make them worse. If we treat people as they ought to be, we help them become what they are capable of becoming.”

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Wow!!  I POSSESS THE TREMENDOUS POWER TO MAKE LIFE MISERABLE OR JOYOUS.  

I will be intentional.

On A Sunday

Photo found here

After being at church this morning for the first time in 3 weeks {that is so crazy}, my spirit is overflowing!!!   It felt so good to be "home" with everyone and as hard as Satan tried to keep us from going this morning, I am so very thankful that {20 minutes late and all} we still managed to make it.    

We had every reason to just "skip" church this morning...bad weather, out late at a bridal shower last night, my Maw Maw in the hospital, I am fighting a horrendous bladder infection, Big Daddy was working, the Saints lost {just joking}, we didn't wake up until 9, I woke up with a horrific catch in my back that kept me from even getting out of the bed...you get the idea right???

But something whispered in my soul that 3 weeks was too long to be away from church and that no matter what, I had to go.  So please indulge me for just a sec...

As I went out to the chicken coop this morning, their water container was all messed up, and with the freezing temperatures coming I knew that I had to get it fixed unless I wanted to be outside in the freezing rain later today. As I worked on the waterer, I noticed our chickens.  No matter what the situation, they do what they do.  No matter what,  they go out to the yard and peck around hoping to find just a tiny little critter.  It is freezing outside and raining and they are all out pecking around, just as PEACEFUL as can be.  If they were still locked up in their coop at this time of the day, something very much out of their routine, they would be completely different creatures.  One morning I forgot to let them out and when I went out that afternoon to open up their door, they seemed almost possessed.  The flew into the walls, pecked me, flew on top of me, they were LOST without getting what they needed for the day.

As I watched them this morning I realized that when I am distracted by life's hurdles, I become like the chickens {bad analogy maybe, but so true}.  I need to be at church, I need to be in my Bible, I need to be studying constantly.  When I'm not, I am so out of sorts. 

So distant. 

So LOST!

These past few weeks have brought huge distractions for me.  After Christmas Big Daddy's family came in from Texas to stay with us for a week.  We had a great time, but I was very distracted.  There was very little time for things that keep me grounded.  And, honestly, I didn't make the time.  

Tuesday my Maw Maw had hip replacement surgery and while we all thought that it would be a very simple procedure, it has proven to be anything but.  First, the doctor's couldn't wake her from the anesthesia {very scary}, now her liver and 1 kidney {already very poor} are not functioning the way that they should.  She was given 4 units of blood and her liver is not processing it like it should, it doesn't seem like, and instead of focusing on her hip, she is in a totally different area of the hospital trying to get her liver and kidneys back on track. 

I woke up Thursday morning running fever with a brutal bladder infection like I have never had before {for whatever reason I seem to get those alot...TMI??}.  I have felt so yucky and just cannot seem to shake it.  Again, another distraction.  

One thing after another has seemed to happen that just keeps me going off track.   

But, deep in my spirit I could almost hear my Savior whisper to me this morning.    

When we arrived at church {20 minutes late} I wondered why I even bothered, I could always just have waited until next week.  But when the sermon began, I knew that there was a greater purpose for me this morning.  God totally used church this morning to bring me back to where I belong.    

I needed to be reminded of the supernatural comforter we have in the Holy Spirit. 

I needed to be reminded of the warning signs, of the detours in life.   

I needed to hear the alarms going off in my own life and see the red flags flying.   

I NEEDED EVERY WORD THAT WAS SPOKEN this morning.   

I. needed. every. hug. 

Sometimes I am unsure if our pastor knows the power of his sermons.  Sometimes I wonder if he realizes just how much they touch me.  I needed to hear "I Surrender All" played this morning.  I needed an "invitation".  And maybe I didn't feel that I needed to go forward, but I needed that time alone with my Lord to commune, to repent, to confess, to be in gratitude.  This morning I needed that. Often times I need that and this morning I was especially grateful for the service and the invitation.  It was just what I was craving, and yearning for. 

If ye love me, keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;  Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive , because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.  I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you. Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live , ye shall live also.  At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.

- John 14:15-20

I praise God for His Comforter that He has sent to be with me.  I know Him and He dwells in me so I am not alone.  And when I listen, I can hear what He has to say.