How the Very Organized Homeschool Mom Does It All
March 11, 2010 by Bethany
I bound out of bed, full of energy at 6:00 a.m. I read the next chapter in My Utmost for His Highest and the Psalms, then breeze through level 3 of Jillian’s 30-Day Shred workout DVD. I don my chic, size 6, J. Crew outfit. As I saunter into my sparkling kitchen to make omelets and fruit cups for breakfast, my well-mannered teenagers, perfectly groomed, joyfully help to set the table.
Schoolwork is quietly buzzing along by 8:00 a.m., so I decide to start the first load of laundry. After hanging the clothes out to dry, I sweep off the deck and water my spring starter plants. While the girls contentedly self-teach geometry and fractions, I work on an editing job. At mid-morning, we pause for carrot sticks with hummus and a poetry recitation. After our morning recess comes more learning for the teenagers and more work for me.
For lunch, my budding chefs whip up a delicious, healthful recipe from their home economics course. Following a general clean up of the kitchen, we’re ready for our art history lesson accompanied by our classical listening selections. Every afternoon includes a different extra-curricular activity for each well-rounded girl, so my sleek Nissan is always on the go.
A home-cooked meal followed by family devotions sets up our relaxed evenings of enjoying each other’s company as we play Scrabble, Borderline, or Monopoly until bedtime.
Buzz, buzz, buzz!! What’s that? Oh, time to get up. That’s the third time I’ve hit the snooze button on my alarm clock. Too bad, I was having such a lovely dream . . . Maybe next time I’ll be a little more practical about real time organization tips.
Bethany has been married for 16 years, homeschooling for 9 years, and organizing forever. She homeschools her two girls, grade 6 and grade 10, in North Carolina. She is also a partner in Codex Publishing, publisher of The Tutor and classic book reprints. When she isn’t homeschooling or driving the family taxi, Bethany enjoys reading, music, church activities, editing, writing, history, and keeping up with friends.
Forest Fires
March 5, 2010 by Aubrey Lively
Have you ever noticed how difficult it is to see the big picture when you’re living in the middle of it?
One problem crops up, and it gets your full attention, like a little spark in the forest. Then another and another, and pretty soon, all you see is smoke.
The last month and a half has been like that for me: a fog of sickness and small disasters here in my home. We spent the last half of January with sick kids, but not the gravely ill kind, not even the pathetic-pull-at-your-heartstrings kind. They were just sick enough to be picky, grumpy, and difficult. Then Landon and I got picky, grumpy, and difficult. We could barely drag ourselves out of bed for a week.
I remember measuring time by the smoke detector, which began going off randomly for an entire week. Wearing bathrobes and old pajamas, we hit at it with a broom handle, changed the batteries twice, and yelled at it eloquently. Nothing worked, and along with the sneezing, coughing, and shivering, we soon found ourselves twitching. Did I mention tempers were short?
One morning while we were sick and the smoke alarm was making its unimpressive complaints, two-year-old Abby announced that she had to go potty and without warning, she sat down on a load of clean clothes. It was 6AM, and when our oldest came running to tell us, Landon told him to go ahead and put the clothes in the washer and start it, hoping that I would never find out.
A half hour later when I woke Landon up with, “What’s that noise?” it was too late. There had been a load of laundry in the washing machine already, but John was too short to see it.
I spent the next three days hand-washing and line-drying the two over-full loads of clothes that the machine could have done in a couple of hours. Landon spent his evenings looking at diagrams of washing machines, trying to figure out how to repair ours. We had just replaced it in January, and since Landon had lost his job in December, it was hardly the time to be changing out washing machines faster than we clean out our fridge.
When my in-laws invited the kids to go to Houston with them the following weekend, we had to wash clothes at their house in order for the kids to have, um, clean underwear.
Clean was short-lived, though. With the kids’ return home (and vacation laundry), came news that the Abby had spent the last night of the trip throwing up. By Wednesday, baby was throwing up, too. By Thursday, Abby had learned to fake-throw up—eating a bite of food and then spitting it in the toilet, so she could get some more of that “juice-medicine.”
Friday, Landon’s car broke down. It had recently been in a small accident, so the hood wouldn’t open, and it overheated, so it had to be towed. Saturday, our oldest spent the day in bed, and by Saturday night, Landon and I were both throwing up. Our six-year-old joined our ranks on Sunday.
If I tell you the van broke down, too, you’d just laugh. There comes a point when it’s funny, and all you can do is throw up your hands at this thing that is life, and laugh. I’ve laughed quite a bit myself. And I’ve cried and complained.
To say I’ve felt like a failure lately is an understatement. I’m standing here, surrounded by cranky babies and whining kids and piles of laundry and dishes and germs like I’m living in the middle of an apocalypse. I’m the person standing in the middle of the forest, and who can see nothing but the smoke.
Understandable, perhaps, if there had been an actual forest fire, an actual disaster. Understandable, even to the helicopter in the sky, who could see the potential damage, in whose eyes that fire fighter is a hero.
On the ground, though, you’re left with ashes and stinky clothes and a sore throat. You see the destruction instead of the work of a hero. And all you’ve done is fend off a few pesky sparks.
Without a clear picture of being in the trenches, it’s easy to get a skewed picture of things, and that’s exactly what I did. Sometime last week, Landon came home to a puddle of a wife, who was claiming that it was all impossible. I explained to him how the kids’ attitudes were too bad, the babies too fussy, the house too messy, and I too disorganized to accomplish what was before me. See the smoke? I can’t be the Keeper of the Forest—I nearly let it all burn down!
A simple email from a friend made all the difference, though. “How are you?” she asked, because we haven’t been in church in a month. Taking the time to write out the events of the last six weeks helped me to see the forest.
My normally sweet-natured kids have had bad attitudes? No wonder, they’ve been sick. My high-maintenance toddlers have been fussy? Well, sure. My house is a wreck? Not any more than usual, and that’s a miracle, really. Homeschooling has barely happened? What a victory that it’s happened at all!
Thanks to a friend checking in, I’m motivated to start fresh. As soon as I kick this cold that’s just setting in.
Aubrey Lively is a homeschooling mother of four, ages 8, 6, 2, & 1. She has a BA in Literature and an MEd in Teaching and is currently surviving seminary with her husband of ten years. Visit Aubrey online at http://aubreylively.blogspot.com.
Freedom in Following Rules
Yesterday my husband and I were playing games with my son. He loves games. We played Sequence for Kids, Candyland, and Land Before Time Matching. D has reached the point where cognitively he can follow the simple rules of these classic games, all involving counting, color or shape recognition, and taking turns.
Let me say that D is very creative. He comes up with long, detailed, elaborate stories with his action figured, Legos, and drawings. We encourage this. However, he also brings this creativity with him into the games, which can make for some frustration on everyone’s part while playing.
My husband reported that after I left to go back to church last night, while he and D were going through their last game of Sequence before going upstairs for bath time, that D was getting VERY creative with the game. My husband had a little talk with him about rules. That rules are for everyone’s benefit. That when we paint or play with blocks, using our imagination is great. But when we play with board games and card games, that we have to follow rules so that we’re all playing the same game and that we can all have fun. He also explained that we try to win the game but that even if we don’t win, it’s still fun to play anyway! Rules are important so that we can have fun with one another and that way we all win.
D was very receptive to that. He tested a few times, but quickly got the rules and they had a good time completing the game.
As my husband was telling me this story after I got home, I reflected that there is such an impulse in all of us to flout the rules in life; to in some way alter them, manipulate them to our favor or liking, or in some way be independent of them. We resist them at every turn, in small seemingly insignificant ways or ways that make the evening news. It stems from that impulse. We are all in such a spirit of rebellion. We even resist creating structures for our daily lives or making commitments that we actually want to make because we believe that we will be limiting our so-called freedom.
However, if we follow rules, there is a freedom within the structure they provide. That is where faith, trust, and true development takes place. I’m not talking about arbitrary or punitive rules. I’m talking about the basic rules of engagement of morals and ethics. Just like the Saints didn’t win the Superbowl by playing football by their own rules, we can’t win at life constantly making things up as we go. People who are successful understand the groundrules of human interactions and the universal laws at play (think How to Win Friends and Influence People or The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People) and work those rules rather than in spite of them.
Isn’t that one of the best things we can teach our children? That despite what the world may throw our way and despite the fact that many people are playing their own game, that the way to win in life is to play within the boundaries of universal laws set down in our hearts by a higher intelligence? We know if we drop something it falls to the ground. It’s called gravity and there is no use operating as if it doesn’t exist. The laws that govern human relationships and the Spirit are also invisible but should be respected in the same way. What better way to convey this important key to life than by living according to these laws ourselves?
In my life, I found myself trying to make my own rules for many years and couldn’t figure out not only why I wasn’t winning, but why I wasn’t enjoying the game. You simply can’t win at life when your moral and ethical compass is driven by what your friends are doing, mixed signals you get from your family, or what you see on television or popular culture.
In my early 30’s once I accepted His way and began to ground myself in His love and follow His rules something amazing happened. I began to enjoy life and began to experience small yet significant personal victories. I have been diligently studying the Word as well as doing my best to develop practices in my life that bring the power of the Word into my life and the lives of those around me; a living practice to honor a Living God.
But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effective doer, this man will be blessed in what he does. – James 1:25
The Bible talks a lot about accepting the fullness of the Holy Spirit into your life and then you have the freedom to follow His Law and “rejoice and exult in our hope [to cherish a desire with expectation of fulfillment] of experiencing and enjoying the glory of God.“ The freedom. Not following out of obligation or duty or drudgery or fear, which is how we usually following a rule or a law because so many of us have experienced some sort of injustice or tyranny at the hands of authority. God is a loving God. Jesus loved everyone and was here to be a door through which all could choose to enter the glory of God through grace.
My husband set the rules of the game so that he and my son could enjoy one another, enjoy the game; so that they could share their love and joy and both win.
Joonu is a wife and mother to a 3-year old energetic little boy and has one on the way. She is just starting out on her journey in homeschooling and embraces it as a family lifestyle. She is also a successful yoga teacher, the co-founder and President of a charity called Blackstone Valley WomenAid, Inc, coordinator of service activities at her church, and a Chief Dream Officer of an entrepreneurial development community for women called The Dream Factory Community. She enjoys being in nature, spiritual study, reading, golf, chocolate, and spending time with family and friends. She started blogging as a way of recording her observations and got great feedback from family and friends so she kept going. Her intention is that by sharing of her own experience she can offer resources, support, and ultimately enrich someone experience of themselves as whole, perfect, and loved. Please visit her blog at howhomeschoolinghappens.blogspot.com.
Homeschool To Do List
February 11, 2010 by Renae
Melancholy settled in as the hours passed. My to do list unmarked except for what I’d deemed most important: prayer, Bible reading, school lessons, and home-cooked meals.
Those things took all day. Literally, all day. What about the pencil-scratched trail of obligations and ideas for things I wanted to pursue?
My brain tried to focus in the quiet of the night, but darkness and sleep shut out the whispers of failure. That was enough for one day.
I am task-oriented by nature, so my spirit lifts when I can stand back and look at accomplishments. The dullness comes from my weary eyes. They glance around the room and get caught on the undone and the messes. Yes, meals are consumed, but the smiles and laughter linger. Lessons are, hopefully, stored in the hearts of my children. My little prayer book is stashed away to collect even more memories later.
This is my life now. This is what is important.
The lists in my notebook grow each day, but the time I have with these children is short. Oh, some days feel like they last forever. The truth is they don’t.
Now is the time to make messes, so I brought the craft table in off the porch.
Now is the time to read great books, so I let my son devour a biography during our normal math time.
Now is the time to make a home, so I close my eyes to the missing boards around the windows and the torn up bathroom. Those things will be fixed in time, but I don’t want to miss the eternal for a nagging piece of paper. The truly important things I do in a day are hard to check off as done.
Renae teaches her eleven-year-old son and two little girls at home. She has prepared lesson plans, enjoyed children’s literature, and delighted in discovery with her children for five years. By studying Principle Approach philosophy, she realized what she always suspected: the Bible lies at the heart of all subjects. Find her reflections at Life Nurturing Education.
When Irish tempers are flaring!!
February 10, 2010 by HeatherL
Yes, I do argue with my most wonderful, fabulous husband! You might say it’s the Irish in me and the Italian in him. We are loud and exuberant. The first couple of arguments were touchy. We realized very quickly that we needed to set some ground rules.
We have been married 13 years. I am a child of divorce (4 times over). I only knew how to destroy a marriage. My hubby was from a solid marriage. We made these rules to reinforce our determination to stay together through thick and thin. Over the years we have faced financial woes and woo hoos! We have lost two children. We have been blessed with 5 more! We have had decent health. We are now facing chronic health conditions. Through this all our rules held fast. Through this all I would marry my husband again without hesitation!
Here are our three easy rules!
1. NEVER call each other names.
2. NEVER bring up old wrongs.
3. DO NOT go to bed angry.
The first rule is simple when you think about it. You love this person so much you married them! To call each other names is an undermining to your very marriage. This disagreement will be finished today (see rule 3) your marriage will last forever. Treat it as a precious highly valuable commodity.
The second rule, bringing up old wrongs. Try to focus on the problem at hand. If you are always dragging out old arguments you will not move forward. You will also begin building a wall between you and your mate. The past is a weapon we choose to not wield.
Third and vitally important. Finish your arguments as quickly as possible. The more time that passes the more chance there is of causing hurt feelings and damaging your marriage.
Your marriage is worth it! If your marriage is rocky the family is rocky. It isn’t easy but with effort you can create a healthy thriving marriage that nurtures everyone in the family. I know you can do it!
Heather Laurie and her husband, Christopher, have been married for 13 wonderful years, and have been blessed with 7 children, two of whom are awaiting them in Heaven. They began their homeschooling journey eight years ago, amidst trials and unexpected journeys, including genetic disorders, austism, sensory disorders, and lupus. Heather and her husband created the ministry Special Needs Homeschooling as a way to use their trials for the Lord’s glory and to encourage special needs parents and homeschoolers.
A Delightful Place
February 9, 2010 by LauraL
I looked up the word Eden, the first home, in the Hebrew. It means delight, pleasures. So God intended our homes to be delightful places. How then can we make our home a more delightful place for our husband, for our children? How can we make our home have a more delightful atmosphere? A place where everyone wants to be. A place where everyone loves to be. This should be our prayer.
I have been meditating on these things lately and then my sister in law wrote this wonderful article that inspired me to create a challenge for my family….starting with me, of course! There are a few bad attitudes, negative behaviors that have subtly crept in. They’re ugly, selfish, and sinful. And I’ve declared war on anything that robs my home of God’s very best! The first one we are attacking this year as a family is raising our voices at each other. Sometimes it’s out of frustration. I know I’ve been guilty of this when certain children do not focus during school. It’s a tone of voice that we use. And that tone is anything but patient, kind and understanding. Sometimes it’s from anger. Angry that a mistake has been made that (in our opinion) shouldn’t have happened. These are just a couple of our issues.
So I have created a simple chart and it hangs on our bulletin board. We get a tick mark each time we raise our voice because we are not walking in love.
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.
We will be graded at the end of each day as well as at the end of the week. There are rewards for positive change as God Himself is a Rewarder of those who diligently seek Him! Whoever gets the fewest tick marks earns a special reward at the end of each day. But whoever does the best all week gets the Grand Prize! Something all three are VERY excited about!! (And I might add that none of the prizes cost me anything!)
So I challenge you. What can YOU do to make your home a more delightful place? I would love to hear your ideas!!
Laura is in her 7th year as a single homeschool mom to 3 beautiful daughters. Currently they are in the 7th, 6th, and 3rd grades. She enjoys growing and learning along with her children in this journey of life and discipleship at home. She hopes to bring encouragement and hope to women who find themselves in difficult situations. You are invited to follow her homeschooling adventures at www.pillarsinherfathershouse.blogspot.com.
Come as you are
What is your child wearing today?
There are often many articles written about the benefits of homeschooling, but how many talk about the cost saving benefit of NOT having to purchase a back-to-school wardrobe?
The main requirement in our household has been to start the day dressed. We’ve bent that rule when someone is not feeling well or during the years when mom has been up with a baby all night. Most of the time the requirement is adhered to with an occasional reminder to get out of their jammies. However, the term “get dressed” has meant a variety of things through the younger years of our children which I’m reminded of regularly with our youngest who is six years old. I never know who she’ll be when she comes to the kitchen table in the mornings although it typically involves grandma’s jewelry and dress up clothes.
Through the years there’s been pirates, ballerinas, cowboys, princesses, soldiers, pioneers, and a few Disney characters that have worked on math problems, written stories, or labeled maps at the table next to me. Their dress never caused them to skip a beat in their schooling and when the last book was closed they were free to play. If anything, it most likely increased their creativity and definitely increased my sense of humor.
Although that was a season in their younger years, as they grew older I noticed the benefits in other ways. Without the typical peer pressure of fellow classmates they were allowed to become individuals with their own likes and dislikes. They grew comfortable with who they were while developing a healthy self image. The stress of having to dress a certain way, wear their hair in a certain style, have the newest and best only touched them on the edges as they came into contact with others their age. What instead became more noticeable about my children was not the outside stuff, but the inside stuff. They developed character which was often revealed with their smiles and ease of being with others.
So what’s the key? How do you go from a sparkly princess to a confident daughter of the King or from a swarthy pirate to a mighty warrior in God’s army?
“Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.” ~ Deuteronomy 6:5-7
Keeping God’s Word ever before them in all aspects of your daily life helps your children to learn about who God is and how He worked in the lives of people. Common ordinary people filled with imperfections who were used by God for His purposes. The more they know about who God is and His principles for life, the more confident they become of His love and acceptance of who they are as individuals created by Him. They grow from being all dressed up on the outside to having a heart ready and open for Him on the inside. And really, isn’t that the Heart of the Matter?
Married in 1980 and still living in the same house in a woodsy rural setting, Tammy’s homeschooling journey began in the fall of 1987 when her oldest turned six years old. As rather new believers professing Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, homeschooling was a way to live out the principles found in Deuteronomy 6:4-9. Through all the challenges of life Tammy has stayed the course growing to a family with nine children who presently range from preschool age to college graduates married with children. Her role has transitioned from learning everything she could about homeschooling to becoming an encourager to others coming along the way. Please visit Tammy at Garden Glimpses.
Praying and Learning about Haiti
January 30, 2010 by Ann
The horrific news from Haiti has filled your living room. News reports a unimaginable death toll between 100,000 to 200,000 people. 3 million people were affected. Nearly the entire capital city of Port-au-Prince is devastated and covered in rubble. Is it too late to help? The initial media-enthusiasm is waning, yet millions of people in Haiti remain desperately in need.
As Christian families, what can we do?
As headlines begin to focus on other matters, how can you remember Haiti? In your homeschooling, how can you continue to share this situation with your children? Is it too late to give in a way that could genuinely make a difference? And yes, you know you could “pray” with you kids about this situation and need . . . but do you realize that PRAYER, especially as a family, is not a little thing!
PRAYER IS NEEDED. It’s something that your family can do. It’s something BIG.
Does PRAYER really make a difference?
We all know, at least in our heads, that prayer is important. Yet how many of us honestly believe that our prayers, the simple prayers of our far-from-perfect family, can really make a difference? If we could comprehend, deep down in our spirits, the true power of prayer, we would all pray more-and the difference would radically impact our lives and the lives of everyone around us.
James 5:16 tells us, “The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.” We want our prayers to be effective, but what does it mean to stand “righteous” before God?
As a family, we’re very aware of our differences and our faults. We’ve all sinned, and we need to acknowledge that no one of earth can stand blameless before our perfect, holy, and awesome God. No matter how good we try to be, our own works are nothing but filthy rags in His sight (see Isaiah 64:6). To pray effectively as a family, we need to grasp the importance of the “fear of the Lord.” We don’t need to be “afraid” of God in a fearful sense of the word, but we need to realize how powerful and mighty He is.
IDEAS TO HELP YOUR FAMILY PRAY for HAITI:
LOOK AT PHOTOS:
Find pictures of the needs in Haiti, and talk with your kids about specific ways your family can pray. Encourage your kids to PRAY for both those who are hurting & those who are helping. Here are photos from the DAY of the EARTHQUAKE in HAITI, and also encouraging photos from SAMARITANS PURSE of the RESCUE EFFORT.
READ ABOUT HAITI:
For example, read pages about “HAITI – A LAND FREED BY SLAVES” – from children’s world mission book, WINDOW ON THE WORLD, the children’s version of Operation World, published by Authentic/Paternoster.
Other Helpful Links for Teaching about Haiti:
Caribbean Geography Quiz :
http://www.lizardpoint.com/fun/geoquiz/caribquiz.html
Facts about Haiti for Kids:
http://www.thejuliaproject.com/facts-about-haiti.html
Operation World – Praying for Haiti:
http://www.operationworld.org/country/hait/owtext.html
Missions Atlas Project – For World Missions:
http://worldmap.org/
Kids Around the World – Links to Learn about Haiti:
http://www.katw.org/pages/sitepage.cfm?id=154
40-Day Mission-Minded FAMILY CHALLENGE:
8 weeks to become a more effective family, for eternity. Daily 4-5 minute videos.
http://harvestministry.org/challenge
MAKE A POSTER:
Have your children print out pictures of children and people in Haiti. Put the photo up on your fridge, or on your kitchen wall.
USE A MAP:
Put a small map of Haiti on your refrigerator, and use this area to display current international news updates from the Haiti situation. Pray as a family, perhaps around the dinner table, for specific needs in Haiti, physically, emotionally, and spiritually.
LEARN ABOUT FASTING:
WATCH a VIDEO with your CHILDREN about PRAYER & FASTING for KIDS. Consider taking a day, or a few days, to pray, and even to FAST for HAITI. Perhaps they could “fast” just one meal, or eat only fruit and vegetables. Many children in Haiti are deperately in need of food and water. As we fast, it can help us to remember those who are hungry, both physically and spiritually. They need prayer!!!
GIVE SOMETHING!
Your kids need to know that as a family, you care. My dad often said, “A little bit of somethin’ is better than a whole lot of nothin’!” In Luke 21:2, Jesus commended the widow who gave only two small coins!!! Our family knows a national minister in India who receives only $100 a month, and he chose to give $50 of his support to help the needs in Haiti, through Samaritan’s Purse. (And by the way, if your family has ever participated in “Operation Christmas Child” by filling shoeboxes, it’s wonderful to show your children that the ministry of Samaritan’s Purse is far-reaching in many other areas).
PRAY for ORPHANS of HAITI!!!
Even before the earthquake, there were many orphans in the country of Haiti. Now the need is even greater. PRAY HARD for these orphan children. Pray that Christian families around the world would feel God’s love for these children and want to open their homes to ADOPT a child from HAITI. PRAY for orphan children to be brought to a safe place (many orphanages were destroyed, and many orphans are now sleeping outside, with little food or water). Read James 1:27. God has a HUGE heart for orphan children. Do you?
TEACH YOUR KIDS ABOUT PRAYER, WITH FILTHY RAGS:
The next time you come across an extremely dirty rag in your house, use it an opportunity to share an important lesson with your kids. We may think our own self-efforts help us earn “Brownie points” with God. But, to Him, our human works are as worthless as stinky rags. If we try to earn favor with God-instead of trusting in Jesus-it’s like collecting yucky rags. The more they pile up, the more they stink and mildew.
In prayer, each of us must come to God in an attitude of total surrender and humility, keeping our hearts clean and open before Him. Through the cleansing sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross, every mom and dad, and boy and girl, can pray as a “righteous man” before God. Because of Christ’s forgiveness and righteousness, even your family can come before God with boldness and authority to effectively intercede on behalf of others.
Do something BIG for HAITI, as a FAMILY.
PRAY.
Ann Dunagan is a longtime homeschool mother of 7 (with 3 graduates). Since 1987, she and her husband Jon have ministered worldwide with Harvest Ministry. Ann is co-founder of two African orphanages, writer for “Better Parents, Better Families” on the Christian Post and “The Missional Mind” with Biblica, and author of several books including The Mission-Minded Family.
Plan for a MISSION-MINDED 2010
January 26, 2010 by Ann
Have you considered setting aside a few days in early January to seek the Lord’s will for this NEW YEAR? Do you desire for your family and personal life to become more effective for God’s Kingdom, and for ETERNITY?
At the end of each year, our family has always invested a few days to reflect upon the past 12 months, and to seek the Lord’s direction for the coming new year. Financially, as my husband and I close-up our end-of-the-year books, we consider our spending and giving, as we pray for God’s future wisdom and His direction for family needs and mission giving. In our family scheduling, as we consider the past year’s calendar, we take time to review the highs and lows, rejoice in what God has done, learn from past mistakes and challenges . . . then pray and dream about His ideas for our future.
Plan to become a MISSION-MINDED FAMILY in 2010
This year, I put together a FREE Mission-Minded New Year’s Guide to help woman and homeschooling families (like YOU!!!) to evaluate your past year and to seek God’s will for your future in 2010. This FREE guide is especially designed for Christian mothers who desire to become more MISSION-MINDED and eternally effective in this next year.
Take 7 – For Fulfillment, Completion, and Rest
This evaluation and prayer guide focuses on the number 7 (God’s number for fulfillment, completion, and rest), with the idea of investing 7 days at the beginning of this new year to look at the your days (each 24/7), your next 7 weeks, your next 7 months, your next 7 years, and even how your current decisions will look 70 years from now (with the belief that we should live EVERY DAY for God’s purposes, and in light of ETERNITY.)
Here’s a short video that explains more:
Also, for you and your family, here is my favorite One-Year Bible Reading Check-off Plan from www.Bible-reading.com.
Have a MISSION-MINDED New Year! May God bless you and your family, for His purposes, in 2010!
Learn more about The Mission-Minded Family – Releasing Your Family to God’s Destiny, by Ann Dunagan, or download a FREE Sample.
Ann Dunagan is a longtime homeschool mother of 7 (with 3 graduates). Since 1987, she and her husband Jon have ministered worldwide with Harvest Ministry. Ann is co-founder of two African orphanages, writer for “Better Parents, Better Families” on the Christian Post and “The Missional Mind” with Biblica, and author of several books including The Mission-Minded Family.
Heigh-HO! Mining Treasures in 2010
January 3, 2010 by LeslieW
The trees and ornaments are all securely packed away. Wrapping paper, ribbons and bows, returned to their bins and closets, are slumbering until next winter when they’ll reemerge for the next all-night wrapping party. The festive china is stacked neatly in the cabinet and will go unused until the weekend after Thanksgiving.
Our Christmas break has come to a glorious close and it’s time again to transition our lives and homes to the familiar every day kind of living.
The table will begin to transform from the dining table/baking surface/holiday treat-making area to the learning area/science lab/arts and crafts center. The Advent calendar is replaced with the daily calendar and weather chart and world map. Christmas cards and family photos are exchanged for artwork and handwriting practice and math drill sheets. Stacks of boxes and bags become piles of books and athletic equipment. Instead of glitter, the floors are littered with eraser remnants and pencil shavings.
We mothers expend so much energy making the Christmas season a magical and memorable time for our children. We carry on our favorite traditions, we visit with our neighbors, we go carolling, we spend extra time with family, we take time to say the things we need to say, we read special stories. And every Christmas the children declare that this Christmas was the best ever. What I need to remind myself is that the routines of daily life need not be less magical, less filled with tradition.
Learning is fun and a wonder-inducing activity for children: there is so much to see ad experience and understand. As Bill Waterson notes in one of my favorite Calvin & Hobbes strips, “There is treasure everywhere!” I don’t want us to miss it. Indeed, each year of learning can be better than the one before it.
One of my favorite quotes comes from Jim Elliot, missionary who died carrying the gospel to the Auca Indians of Ecuador. He said, “Wherever you are — be all there.”
Being present is one of the most difficult things for me to do because my mind tends to move ahead to the next thing and I miss the moments.
I am guilty of rushing the children through Bible so we can do math. Then I rush through math so we can do history. I rush through history so we can go to co-op. I rush from co-op to the grocery store to home so that I can get dinner on the table. We have to rush through dinner so I can get the kids in bed on time so that we can get up early and do it all again.
My regular response to, “How was your day?” tends to be, “I can’t even remember the day.” As I’ve heard southerners often quip, “That ain’t no way to live.” Well, I don’t want to live that way in 2010.
Here are 10 things (in no particular order) that I hope will help me create a few magical moments and find a little more daily treasure.
1. Plan
I’ve heard that failure to plan is planning to fail. I have a simple plan for us to finish our school year. I only need to execute the plan.
2. Practice living in the moment.
The only time I’m guaranteed is happening right now. I need to stop thinking about what I could be doing or what I’m hoping to do next, or what I regret from yesterday.
3. Preserve our days in a journal.
I do enjoy maintaining a personal journal, but this year I’m going to add a line or two that documents something positive from our home school day. I have four children and I want to remember something special about each one of them from each day.
4. Photograph
I want to take my camera with me more this year. I missed so many memorable moments because I didn’t have my camera. I also need to remember to pack extra batteries. A photograph each day will be a great way to document what we did this year. My challenge will be to take pictures of the frustrating moments. By the time 2010 ends, whatever it was that seemed bad one day may be what makes me laugh in 2011.
5. Participate
So many times I just stand back and watch or make an excuse for not getting involved. I’m going to go to the next Mom’s Night Out. I’ll join the next co-op picnic and play date. This is going to require me to step out of my comfort zone — always a challenge — and grow new relationships. The people in my life are a treasure and I’ll be a happier woman for opening my heart up to them. Why continue to sit back and watch everyone else have all the fun?
6. Pray
I need to pray more that God will bless all my planning. For far too many days, I have put my faith in my plan rather than in the Lord. I probably don’t need to explain to you how far my plans carried us last semester — think lead balloon.
7. Pick it up
To help me enjoy the next day, I’m going to have to get in the habit of filing away all of our work from the current day and cleaning up the messes before they turn into mountains. Many a morning last year I walked into our school room only to be overwhelmed with all I needed to put away before we could get started. This teacher needs to take better care of her classroom so that she can enjoy home schooling.
8. Praise
I want to praise my children more this year. I worry that I’m too negative during our school day, and I want that to change in 2010. I want to give them more than, “Good job!” I want to be specific with my praise and tell them what I think is good. Sometimes it’s okay to give praise that isn’t attached to a certain achievement. I want them to know that I think they’re wonderful just because they are who they are.
9. Play
I say, “No,” too much when the kids want me to play with them. I have their attention during school time, and they want my attention during play time. I need to remember that my children need me to be “Mom” after I remove my “Teacher” hat.
10. Pamper myself
I’m not the kind of woman who goes to the salon for a massage and a mani-pedi. I have many friends who do, but that is not my kind of pampering. I like to take a hot bath in my favorite bath salts or bubbles at the end of the day, read a novel, have a cup of coffee or tea, bake and eat my favorite cookies for dessert, or go for a walk with a friend. I also like to read through my encouragement folder. My encouragement folder is for those days when I feel like throwing in the towel. You know, those days when I will have to steal a moment to cry in my bathroom? In my folder I have placed my favorite home schooling magazine articles (to remind me why I’m home schooling), encouraging Bible verses and quotes, and a home school mom devotional. It’s important to take care of my heart and mind when the days are tough.
What would you like to do this year to mine your daily treasures and make 2010 your best year of school yet?
Leslie Wiggins has been home schooling her four children for five years. She is currently teaching fifth, fourth, second and first grades. She enjoys writing and blogs at Alabamenagerie (http://lesliewiggins.com).
