I recently finished reading a book and on the last page came upon a passage that got me thinking. The passage is from James Patterson's "Witch and Wizard" and reads as such:
"So, how are you doing--wherever you are? Listen, please: seize the moment, however worried you may be about what's coming next. It's your brain, it's your life, it's your attitude....Go out there and fill up with sights, sounds, and ideas that are bigger than yourself. We all know from history--to say nothing of this current reality--what can happen if we stay quiet and just do what's put in front of us."
When I read this passage, I got a sense that the Holy Spirit was drawing my attention to it. Urging me to read it for more than words written into a book. You see, there are a lot of terrible things going on in this world right now. So many ideas and actions are being forced upon us as "normal" and "acceptable" and even, dare I say it, "appropriate." Ideas including, but certainly not limited to, the LGBT agenda, abortion, and sexual abuse by those who are to be the ones shepherding us in the Church. What much of the world wants us, God's people, to do is stay silent and be tolerant, because when that happens, evil wins.
They don't want us sitting outside of Planned Parenthood clinics offering information or prayers to those seeking to end a child's life. "It's the woman's body and the has the prerogative to do with it what she wants!" they scream. Never mind that in her womb one of the most miraculous occurrences is taking place...Until she decides that this isn't part of her plan, and thanks to Roe v. Wade, has the choice to "take care of the problem."
The world wants us to join in the chant "Love is love!!!" regardless that the Bible teaches that that kind of love is to be between a man and a woman. And now, in this thoroughly messed up world we live in, Storytime with a Drag Queen is becoming more and more commonplace, and our library shelves are overflowing with books such as "Heather Has Two Mommies" and "A Tale of Two Daddies" and "The Boy Who Cried Fabulous." Yes, we are all sinners, but when did it become okay to try and teach children that homosexuality is not a sin, and in fact is NORMAL!? Matthew 18:6 says, "But whoever causes one of the little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea."
You see, when I read the passage in Patterson's novel, I saw those words printed on the paper, but my heart heard something more like, "Do something about these things that you KNOW are wrong! Don't be afraid of what others are going to think and say, because if you're doing the right thing for the right reasons, that's all that matters. If you do nothing, then you're condoning that which you so thoroughly abhor." In other words, pray for those women who are contemplating abortion. Pray that their eyes might be opened, and their hearts softened. Let your voice be heard on Capital Hill in the March for Life and in the elections when you have the opportunity to vote to elect a Pro Life candidate. Also, teach your children that although God calls us to love everyone, he also calls us to judge them if we know that they are doing something that could keep them from salvation. Love those in the LGBT community by informing and educating them that the lifestyle they are living is wrong and hazardous to their eternity. If you really care about another you will talk with them about these things, hard though it may be, because that's what you do when you love someone. Please don't take all this to mean that I think I am perfect, because I am far from it. These are just two examples that I feel passionately about!
Tuesday, September 25, 2018
Tuesday, August 21, 2018
Beginning of Year 3!!!
Okay, so as I stated in my initial post, I can be a VERY on-again off-again blogger, which is probably pretty evident when you look at the dates of my entries. Consider yourself warned :) Anyhow, today marked the beginning of year THREE of our homeschooling journey!!! I can't believe that we now have a second grader and one doing Kindergarten Prep. Last year E really excelled at her reading and mathematics, yet O struggled greatly with her curriculum. I attribute this partially to the fact that we didn't get good control over her seizures until January or February (using a new medication), and also partially to her perhaps just not having been ready cognitively/developmentally. She made great strides in her motor skills, both gross and fine, thanks to Occupational Therapy and her wonderful therapist! Today O showed much progress in her attention span, pencil control, and perseverance compared to last year. I am hopeful that this will be a good year in preparation for Kindergarten next year.
E did very well today, also. I need to make some tweaks to the order in which we tackle the subjects in order to streamline our days a bit and so that they don't take as long. I also plan to go back to our previous reading curriculum "Little Angel Readers", as the one we began today from Catholic Heritage Curricula entitled "Bigger Stories for Little Folks" just seems way off of where we left off of our curriculum last year. For example, I probably had to help her with 60% of the words as they were unknown, longer words, or contained diagraphs we haven't learned yet. We tried CHC's 1st grade reading curriculum last year and had to switch back to Little Angel Readers after a few weeks, so I can't say I'm surprised.
Something different this year is that we have decided to join a homeschool co-op that meets on Fridays from September 7th until November 16th. E is really excited, O doesn't quite understand, and I, quite honestly, am dreading it. Not because of the interacting with other parents (although I'm much more comfortable at home, being the introvert I am), but because I am afraid we will be overwhelmed here at home because we will be giving up a day that we usually "do school" on and so will have to incorporate that work into our schedule throughout each week. Frankly, I'm afraid of getting burned out and being exhausted come Friday night. Therefore, I have told the girls that we will do it this semester as a sort of trial run, and see how we are all feeling about it at the end of November, then reassess if need be. I want it all to work out well because they are excited, which makes it hard to argue against :) I hope to be more consistent in my blogging this year if, for no other reason, to be able to look back through and see what worked, what didn't, and to remind myself on the hardest of days, that this is what God called me to and if he brought me to it, he will bring me through it. Godbless!!
E did very well today, also. I need to make some tweaks to the order in which we tackle the subjects in order to streamline our days a bit and so that they don't take as long. I also plan to go back to our previous reading curriculum "Little Angel Readers", as the one we began today from Catholic Heritage Curricula entitled "Bigger Stories for Little Folks" just seems way off of where we left off of our curriculum last year. For example, I probably had to help her with 60% of the words as they were unknown, longer words, or contained diagraphs we haven't learned yet. We tried CHC's 1st grade reading curriculum last year and had to switch back to Little Angel Readers after a few weeks, so I can't say I'm surprised.
Something different this year is that we have decided to join a homeschool co-op that meets on Fridays from September 7th until November 16th. E is really excited, O doesn't quite understand, and I, quite honestly, am dreading it. Not because of the interacting with other parents (although I'm much more comfortable at home, being the introvert I am), but because I am afraid we will be overwhelmed here at home because we will be giving up a day that we usually "do school" on and so will have to incorporate that work into our schedule throughout each week. Frankly, I'm afraid of getting burned out and being exhausted come Friday night. Therefore, I have told the girls that we will do it this semester as a sort of trial run, and see how we are all feeling about it at the end of November, then reassess if need be. I want it all to work out well because they are excited, which makes it hard to argue against :) I hope to be more consistent in my blogging this year if, for no other reason, to be able to look back through and see what worked, what didn't, and to remind myself on the hardest of days, that this is what God called me to and if he brought me to it, he will bring me through it. Godbless!!
Sunday, September 17, 2017
Year One in Review
Two weeks ago we began our second year of homeschooling here in the great state of Missouri. Let me say how much I wish I would have begun my homeschool blogging adventure then, so that I could look back now and see the progress we have made! I tried to make notes in a notebook daily for the first week or so of things that worked well that day, struggles we encountered, or ideas to come back to in the future. Maybe I will post some of those here sometime and then reflect on how things have changed/progressed since then.
I guess I will start by talking about our first year homeschooling and trying to get you up to speed on where we are now. Last year I was working full-time up until mid-September at a preschool teaching 3 and 4 year olds. Homeschooling was an idea that we had toyed with when living in Omaha, and when we moved to Missouri I figured we would go the public school route because the schools were smaller, class sizes were smaller, etc. Our oldest, let's call her Em, attended summer school in our small town, and although I knew how she likes to exaggerate (something I remind the hubby that she got from him!), some of the things she was telling me that happened and were being said, well, let's just say it left an unsavory taste in our mouths. As the days continued on after the conclusion of summer school, the more we thought about it, the less we were sure of sending our innocent, impressionable, six year old to a place where we couldn't monitor what she was learning and hearing, both in and outside of class. Here is where some people might remark that "Kids are going to hear and learn things you don't want them to, whether or not you keep them home," and while yes, that is partially true, it's also true that I want to keep her innocent as long as possible. I don't want her to hear about the terrible things going on in our world, or the choices that people are trying to make "normal" and such. Along with the things I didn't want her to hear about, there were things that wouldn't be taught in school that I DID want her to learn, namely about our Lord and God.
We didn't make the decision to homeschool until probably the beginning of August, so we were a little late starting (October 3rd was our first official day). However, that is the beauty of homeschooling! We started in October with my oldest starting Kindergarten, took two weeks off for Christmas, a few days in the spring around Easter, and a sick day here and there, and we still managed to finish our year on the same day as the public schools in the area. Em had been in preschool/Kindergarten Prep for two years and was more than ready to start Kindergarten. For our first year we used Our Lady of Victory for our curriculum. In the beginning quite a lot of what she was learning was simply review of what she had previously learned (thanks to a wonderful preschool!) As we progressed through the school year we became aware of things that were and were not working for us within that curriculum. For example, the math consisted mainly of math fact drills, with little instruction on how to go about implementing that part of the curriculum. About half-way through our year I began to compile a binder of math materials that I wanted to work with her on to supplement what I felt to be a lacking math curriculum. The reading and phonics curriculum was really a wonderful one using Spectrum Phonics as a good introduction to phonics, in addition to Little Angel Readers to begin learning to read. In fact, I am preparing to go back to the Little Angel Reader series in a week or so as the Little Stories for Little Folks is just not working for us. There were other parts that we liked about OLVS and some that we did not, and in the end I made the decision to make a change for first grade.
In our first year homeschooling Em began to learn to read, improved her handwriting, and grew by leaps and bounds! I worked more on my patience, understanding, encouragement, and understanding that there is more than one right way to do many things! I hope to grow more in my patience this year, as well as leading by example because I became almost painfully aware of how much my girls watch and imitate what I do. I want to make sure I'm giving them a good role model to imitate!
I guess I will start by talking about our first year homeschooling and trying to get you up to speed on where we are now. Last year I was working full-time up until mid-September at a preschool teaching 3 and 4 year olds. Homeschooling was an idea that we had toyed with when living in Omaha, and when we moved to Missouri I figured we would go the public school route because the schools were smaller, class sizes were smaller, etc. Our oldest, let's call her Em, attended summer school in our small town, and although I knew how she likes to exaggerate (something I remind the hubby that she got from him!), some of the things she was telling me that happened and were being said, well, let's just say it left an unsavory taste in our mouths. As the days continued on after the conclusion of summer school, the more we thought about it, the less we were sure of sending our innocent, impressionable, six year old to a place where we couldn't monitor what she was learning and hearing, both in and outside of class. Here is where some people might remark that "Kids are going to hear and learn things you don't want them to, whether or not you keep them home," and while yes, that is partially true, it's also true that I want to keep her innocent as long as possible. I don't want her to hear about the terrible things going on in our world, or the choices that people are trying to make "normal" and such. Along with the things I didn't want her to hear about, there were things that wouldn't be taught in school that I DID want her to learn, namely about our Lord and God.
We didn't make the decision to homeschool until probably the beginning of August, so we were a little late starting (October 3rd was our first official day). However, that is the beauty of homeschooling! We started in October with my oldest starting Kindergarten, took two weeks off for Christmas, a few days in the spring around Easter, and a sick day here and there, and we still managed to finish our year on the same day as the public schools in the area. Em had been in preschool/Kindergarten Prep for two years and was more than ready to start Kindergarten. For our first year we used Our Lady of Victory for our curriculum. In the beginning quite a lot of what she was learning was simply review of what she had previously learned (thanks to a wonderful preschool!) As we progressed through the school year we became aware of things that were and were not working for us within that curriculum. For example, the math consisted mainly of math fact drills, with little instruction on how to go about implementing that part of the curriculum. About half-way through our year I began to compile a binder of math materials that I wanted to work with her on to supplement what I felt to be a lacking math curriculum. The reading and phonics curriculum was really a wonderful one using Spectrum Phonics as a good introduction to phonics, in addition to Little Angel Readers to begin learning to read. In fact, I am preparing to go back to the Little Angel Reader series in a week or so as the Little Stories for Little Folks is just not working for us. There were other parts that we liked about OLVS and some that we did not, and in the end I made the decision to make a change for first grade.
In our first year homeschooling Em began to learn to read, improved her handwriting, and grew by leaps and bounds! I worked more on my patience, understanding, encouragement, and understanding that there is more than one right way to do many things! I hope to grow more in my patience this year, as well as leading by example because I became almost painfully aware of how much my girls watch and imitate what I do. I want to make sure I'm giving them a good role model to imitate!
Welcome!
I have been an on-again-off-again blogger for several years now. It started as my diaries did M.A.N.Y. years ago, when I needed somewhere to just write. Then, after having children it evolved into a blog about how our daughters were growing and changing, as well as any big new changes in our lives. However, I had found myself to have less and less interest in that blog because, let's face it, life got busy and my "free time" in the evenings became more precious than ever. A little over a year ago, however, my hubby and I made when I believe to be a life-altering decision...that to homeschool our daughters. Now, I find myself being drawn to the idea of blogging again, but not just the occasional posting that I had been making, but rather a few times a month. This time I plan to focus on our life as homeschoolers, which could range from struggles that we are having, curriculum reviews, fun activities that we have done, and any other information that I feel could be useful to myself, or perhaps others, in the future. So, if you've managed to make it to the end of this awkward introduction I want to thank you :) Welcome to what I hope will be a helpful, fun, and enlightening new perspective into our lives!
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