Homeschool Summer

Hello dear readers.  Sorry that my posts have been averaging one every other week or so if not more.  As many of you know, I freelance write and blog for multiple sites and one of them being a homeschooling site.  My goal is to keep up with my personal homeschooling blog because eventually, I would like to turn it into a book.  How cool is that? You can turn your blog into a book.  I found this out through Blurb.com and will definitely be utilizing this feature when our homeschool days come to an end.  I am anticipating this will be after I graduate them, God willing.

So far we have been doing summer homeschool sharpeners.  My goal is to make sure the girls stay on top of their math, reading, and writing skills.  These subjects can easily be lost and forgotten if not exercised at least 3 times a week if not more.  I thought it would be fun to mix it up with online learning games, recipes, and other activities as to not steer them into boredom.  Many of us know what that can be like, haha!

 Just recently, I signed Lyssa up for an online learning site designed specifically for girls called: Always Ice Cream.  It was $11.90 for a two month membership.  I figured this was perfect as when it runs out we will be starting our normal homeschool year.  This site was created by a panel of educational experts, teachers, and even homeschooling parents.  They have games on there ranging from Language arts, foreign language, and math, to reading, life skills, etc.  Children earn "Scoop Points" and parents receive email progress reports on their learning.  It's definitely a great supplement for the summer.  It is also Christian based so there are Bible drills etc., on there as well.  Kelly is doing the free version of this program at this time because I am having her do summer journaling, math, and a summer reading program.  They seem to be having fun so this makes me smile.  If you are a parent of a boy(s) they also have a site for boys called: Clever Dragons

What do you do with your children over the summer whether you are a homeschooler or non-homeschooler?  Would love to read your ideas.

Many Blessings!

Lindsey
Blessed to be a wife and mom

Homeschooling and Obedience

As a Christian Homeschooling mom of three precious girls, I desire to be obedient to the Lord's calling not only for my life but for the lives of my girls. 

Now heading into our second homeschooling year, I know that in my heart I am being obedient to His call and I most definitely will not turn back.  Have I been tempted to just drop everything and send them off to school whether private or public? Oh yes.  And in more ways than one.  But then again at the same time, I wouldn't trade homeschooling for anything else.  Sure, it can be a major challenge some days and other days it can be very rewarding.  God prunes and shapes us in every single one of our callings to be sure that we do hear his voice and that we are willing to be obedient.  I thank you Lord that I have passed this test.  Did I pass with flying colors?  I would say not with flying colors, but God knows our hearts and will continue to test them.

With a new homeschool year ahead, I renewed my membership with HSLDA, ordered our curriculum, and enrolled in our co-op classes.  At this point in time I thought we were set until I attended a meeting through Homeschooling Connections. 

Okay, let me rewind our homeschool journey a bit.  Just before the Lord showed me I was to homeschool with a Christian curriculum, I enrolled Lyssa and Kelly in Michigan Virtual Charter Academy and Connections Academy.  Both online public schooling.  I felt the go ahead and peace about it until I learned and realized that if I wanted the ways of the public school system, I might as well just put them back into the public schools.  This was the advice of amazing homeschool moms at Ward Homeschool Fellowship.  Within days I decided to pull them off the waiting list.  Shortly after that they were still accepted.  Did I want to do this?  The truth is, to do online public schooling you still have to follow that of a public school system according to your state rules and laws.  As a new homeschooling mom I most definitely wanted the flexibility of homeschooling without a system breathing down my neck.  So, it made sense that this wasn't the route that was expected of me.  The Lord above showed me very clearly and put me back on track.  Thank you Lord for directing my steps.

Okay, back to present day.  Last Thursday, June 21st, I attended an amazing meeting through Homeschool Connections.  An online virtual academy has now partnered with Homeschool Connections providing wonderful opportunities as traditional schoolers but with homeschooling flexibility, free homeschooling classes etc.  When I received the email update about this opportunity by a absolutely wonderful lady, Tarla Gernert, I was skeptical and figured there would be a catch.  What? I have to sign up for online public schooling to get free homeschool classes? Does this even make any sense?  Isn't this against what homeschoolers are?  Wasn't I steered away from this?  Haha, well the meeting weighed on my heart and the words and testimony of how Tarla partnered with OVA (Oxford Virtual Academy) was beyond a blessing.  I am not sure if I will be going this route this year or not, but I do feel this is another direction I will be heading as a homeschooler.  One of the amazing partnership opportunities is college programs for homeschoolers, etc.  OVA is unique and not like any other state online school.  They offer flexibility which is perfect for the homeschooler.  There will be another meeting coming up that I think I will be attending to get my questions answered and wait to receive confirmation in my heart and spirit.  I so wanted to just toss this whole idea, but now this time, God is showing me something different!  Thank you Lord for giving me the desires of my heart.

So with all of that said as a homeschooling mom, I desire to be obedient and not knock down every opportunity that comes my way.  Another awesome thing about this is, I currently blog and write for a truly awesome woman that happens to be good friends with the Homeschool Connections Director.  How amazing is that?  God is truly leading me where I need to go and I am beyond thrilled and ecstatic!

Have a blessed week!

Lindsey
Blessed to be a wife and mom

Dreams of a Homeschooling Mom

Wow, it has been I while since I last posted on here.  Our busy schedules have been the main reason for my posting absence.
We are completing our final week of homeschooling.  We made it through our very first year and super excited and blessed.  I think I know now how I want to run our homeschool beginning this fall.  Here it is:

• Start our day at 8 a.m. sharp and end at 12:00 p.m sharp
• After lunch do our choirs for one beautiful hour
• Have a fun afternoon of extracurricular activities: dance, piano etc.,
• Have a stress free and fun evening

Am I a dreamer?  Ha! Yeah, I know this is definitely a dream and if you are a homeschooling family, you understand that there is no such thing as a strict schedule that sticks and with flowers and bows attached.  Boy, did I learn this very quickly.  While I would love for our homeschool schedule to pan out this way, it's just realistically not going to happen as life is not perfect.  Even though I do plan to tighten up our schedule I know that there must be room for flexibility.  At least flexibility is a dream come true for any mom so I most definitely cannot complain.  God is so good!

Well, I think that is all I have for now.  Have a blessed week.

Lindsey
Blessed to be a wife and mom!

Image: www.bloggersclipart.com

We are almost finished with our first homeschool year!!

I am so excited to say we are just a few weeks away from completing our very first homeschool year.  It has been a joy but I am not going to lie,  it has also been a struggle and very challenging.  It has most definitely been life changing but for the better and yes I can freely say that now with a deep breath of fresh air, ahhhh.

The first few weeks of our homeschool year (back in August 2011) was very trying on my part.  Even as a teacher I felt so lost and very overwhelmed.  I just didn't know what I was doing, at least it felt that way.  I faced discouragement and feeling like a failure in the beginning.  My girls were confused and fought all the time.  I prayed "Lord, if you called me into this please show me how to be diligent and organized.  Lead me to resources so I know it's been you all along."  The next day I was led to Palaestra (homeschool co-op), a local Christian homeschool fellowship, and precious families. It just all gelled together in that aspect.  After speaking with a few seasoned homeschool moms, my heart was full and I started feeling joy again.  Did it get easier after that?  Absolutely not!  I was informed by a few of these seasoned homeschool moms that I would just have to really "get to know my kids first and myself even if it meant skipping academics for a few weeks."  Well, if you know me you know I was very skeptical of this.  No academics, what?   Even though I did lay low a little bit it was true.  I got to know myself better and even my children.  We are still getting to know each other and learning how to get along and work together.  I was told it could take from 1-4 years for this to happen, yikes!  Thanks to chore charts etc., this is becoming a little easier.

Like I briefly mentioned earlier, the girls really had a hard time in the beginning being with each other all the time.  This was our very first homeschool learning experience.  Oh boy this mommy wanted to pull her hair out sometimes.  Disciplining and educating was becoming a pain and something I almost felt was hopeless.  I simply just had to give it all time.  I mean, everything new involves adjustment periods right?  Well, some days felt like weeks and some weeks felt like months, ugh it was taking a toll.  I knew that the devil was attacking me as he did not want me being obedient to this call, obviously!  I became crabby all the time and just didn't know who I was anymore.  My husband basically just said "I want my wife back!  If this is what it's going to do, just send them back to school."  Tempted?  Oh yes, a little.  But I knew it's not something that I wanted to do but what God called me to do.   My husband knew this too.  Pushing through these hurdles I can honestly say, I/We made it!  Thank you to my precious hubby for seeing us through and being my prayer support all the way.

The girls have come so far and have exceeded my expectations.  Kelly is (9) is reading at the 6th grade level and doing very well in all her subjects.  Lyssa (5.5) is doing first grade work and reading at the first grade, almost second grade level!  I just gave her a first grade math assessment.  Mind you this thing was 15 pages long and I feared she wouldn't be able to do it.  I even broke it up into two days but she had so much fun she insisted on doing it all.  She only got two wrong! YAY!  Bethany (3) well she is most definitely ready for preschool.  Now, if we can only get her potty trained 100%, haha!

I am so blessed and grateful to the Lord above for bringing us to where we are now.  It's still a challenge some days but we most definitely have adjusted and are doing a schedule that we can live with.  We enjoy the flexibility of homeschooling and being able to travel for field trips.  We have enjoyed meeting new families and creating life-long friendships.  God is so awesome! I have also expanded my writing business through it all and God in turn is blessing it more than I could have ever expected. Whoot!  Thank you Jesus for bringing us through and showing yourself!  With God, all things are possible!

I am looking forward to planning our next homeschool year.  I will be doing enrichment over the summer (skill sharpeners) and starting something new in the fall. Kelly will be continuing with A Beka curriculum and I will be introducing Lyssa to First Grade A Beka.  But, and this is a big BUT,  We will be year round homeschoolers.  I will be doing three weeks on one week off all year round.  This should be interesting but something I am willing to try.  I have met a few homeschoolers that are currently doing this and love it.  I understand this might not be for us but hey, it's worth a shot! All homeschool families are unique and not one is the same.  This I have learned very quickly!

If you are feeling the call toward homeschooling continue to seek the Lord on it.  It was a full year until it became reality for me.  The Lord will show you what he intends for your family if you diligently seek Him.  It may even mean sacrificing a few things in your life to make this possible.  Be encouraged and don't give up.  God is on  your side and will bless you and your children and your entire family.  If you will be new homeschoolers this fall, I pray for peace, comfort, and joy as you start a new journey with your family.  It will most definitely be quite a ride and guess what?  You are not alone!

Many Blessings,

Lindsey
Blessed to be a wife and mom!

Our Princess is 9 Today!

Image by Diane C.

Happy Birthday to you sweet Kelly Nichole.  We can't believe you are 9 years old today.  You have been a major blessing and joy to mommy and daddy.  The day you were born was full of excitement as that marked the day that we officially became parents.

If this past 9 years went by this fast, we cannot imagine the next 9 years.  Oh my, it just makes our head spin.  We are so very proud of you and what you are becoming as a young lady.  I, (mommy) tear up as I type this (sniff sniff, tear tear.)  Mommy and daddy look forward to seeing you exercise your gifts and callings for Jesus as you continue to grow.  

Your sisters love you so much and they may make you want to pull your hair out sometimes, haha, but we know you love them just as much.  Continue being a Godly example to them and they will want to follow in your footsteps.  I know if Brandon were here he would also admire you and love you just as much as your sisters.  I know he is watching you from heaven and is proud to call you his sister.

Mommy and daddy are beyond amazed at how far you have come along in our very first year of homeschooling!  We look forward to many more years not only being your mommy and daddy but being your teachers.  We wouldn't trade it for anything.

So again, Happy Birthday sweet Kelly Belly!  You are a dream come true and we love you sweet princess.

Love,

Mommy and Daddy

Designs by Kelly

Kelly Design #1

Kelly has thoroughly enjoyed taking Fashion Design for third-fifth graders at Palaestra.  Prior to this class she was designing her own Barbie dresses but without the needle and thread.  She would even sketch them before she tried them out.  Now that she has learned how to sew it's been an amazing thing to sit back and watch.  She's not even 9 years old as of yet and can probably sew better than me.

This dress is her very first hand sewn creation from her fashion design class and we are so proud and thrilled at what she is accomplishing.  I most definitely do not want to overlook these talents as one day she could be the next Donna Karen or Vera Wang, wow you never know.

Kelly Design #2 Finished Product!

She just recently asked me if she could start a blog of her very own where she can post pictures of all her designs.  I of course love the idea.  I have been searching a very private blog design (diary platform) for her to avoid weirdos out there, haha.  Can never be too careful.  We will let you know when it becomes available, probably over the summer.  She wants to name it: Kelly's Fashion for Jesus.  How cute.  It rhymes with "Passion" like "Passion for Jesus."  Perfect!

Have a blessed Thursday everyone!

Lindsey
Blessed to be a wife and mom!

Pondering Good Friday

I am so thankful and blessed that the Lord Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sins.  He chose to do this to save us.  It just blows my mind as Jesus loves us so very much.

Good Friday has so many meanings to me so I thought I would share it as an Acronym:

God is my salvation
Omnipotent is He
Omnipresent for eternity
Died on this day for our sins.

Faithful is He preparing for His great return.
Reminds me that Jesus is the Son of God.
Invites us to love and serve Him on our own free will!
Dead He is NOT!
Alive is He!
Yes, the tomb is empty!

Thank you Lord that you are indeed off of the cross.  I want to always ponder this day and the importance of what you did for us.  You love us so much and for that Father, I love you.

Many Blessings!