I am excitedly working on publishing my new journal/scrapbook while keeping up with my household and homeschooling responsibilities and it is not easy. I love that God is giving me wonderful ideas and even sending me the resources to complete this project. I also pray that He will bless me with balance as I attend to my most important jobs of serving Him and serving my family.

Alyssa and Chase get more adorable every day. I am so blessed to have them. They also keep me challenged. I was cross this morning and Chase noticed. After reassuring him that my mood had nothing to do with him ( I was pretty tired as Alyssa woke up several times probably because of the sound of the rain on the roof and then she woke up for good at 6am), he suggested that I pray to God to help me. So I did, right there and then, ask God to please fix my attitude, take away my anger and irritability and help me to get enough sleep tonight.

We ended our day in laughter playing silly games like patty cake and "So Big" so God was once again faithful  in answering my prayer. Oh, to serve such a compassionate and merciful God! How grateful I am that His mercies are new everyday.

How do some of you wonderful moms out there deal with a bad day and a cranky attitude?

My mentor gave me a tip that may seem obvious to some but I was not doing this. She told me to ask God in prayer before I set my schedule, before I accept another obligation, before I set out on an unexpected errand. Just a few minutes ago, I began debating with myself about going to the library this evening. I had planned to go but I feel so tired after a full day of co-op. I realized I was talking to someone who did not have the answer (myself) so I decided to ask the One who knows best. About one minute of prayer later, I felt a total peace about not going to the library and instead staying home to finish some chores, play with Chase and check on my eBay listings. My life has become so much more peaceful since I rely on God so much more for the "little" things.

We are preparing for homeschooling and dealing with the deaths of two extended family members in one week. It seems like a lot but we must persevere.

Organizing our homeschool materials and toys has actually been fulfilling and fun as we have even more than I thought we did!

We will be slowing down a bit as we attend to family matters but we should be back on track next week.

How would you like to have your blog featured in a book?

I am working on a book titled Homeschooling, Blogging and Loving It: The Best of Christian Homeschool Blogs and I am seeking blog posts on various topics to be featured in the book. I envision the book to be a source of encouragement, inspiration and information for both new and veteran homeschoolers through the lens of everyday stories from a wide range of Christian homeschooling families. The book will be arranged according to various categories. Feel free to submit entries to more than one category. I am still seeking a publisher or agent for the book so I am not able to offer any compensation for your entry at this time.

Please e-mail me your submission before July 31, 2005. I will keep you posted on the book's progress. Please let all of your blogging buddies know about this!

Hit the "send to a friend" button by the comments.

Book topics are posted below-let me know of any others you feel should be added:

• Why We Blog
• Why We Homeschool
• How We Homeschool- A Typical Day:

o Traditional Homeschool

o Eclectic Homeschool

o Classical Christian Homeschool

o Christian Unschooling

o Bible-based

o Unit Studies

o Notebooking

o Carschooling

• Prayers and Devotionals

• Curriculum Reviews

• Subjects:

o Science

o History

o Reading

o Writing

o Bible

o Math

o Early Childhood

o Sports/Physical Education

o Field Trips

• Favorite Recipes

• Organizational and Scheduling Tips

• Family Relationships:

o Life With Teens

o Little Ones and Homeschooling

o Multiple age levels

o Marriage

• Controversial Opinions

• Most Popular Posts

• Populations:

o African-American Homeschoolers

o Parents of Learning-challenged Children

o Single Parents

o Working Parents

o Home Business Families

o Homeschool Dads

o Home Educated Children

 

I am challenged very much in the issue of maintaining a tidy, organized household.  I have had these tendencies since I was a young girl.  I spent so much time studying and reading that my room was always a mess. Times seem to have not changed much as I feel as if I am fighting against the currents of a very strong river as I put things away and tidy up and they almost immediately get messed up again.  I feel like I am either too busy on other chores or working from home to organize or I would rather be spending time with my children. Yet, I know that I should maintain a neat and organized household.  Like the apostle Paul though, I constantly find myself doing that which I know I should not do. I have prayed on this issue and God just tells me to keep trying.

Of course, I realize that organizational skills and habits come more easily to some than to others. You natuarally organized types may not be able to help me because I have talked to many of "you people" and it is (rightfully) very difficult for you to imagine how a person could be so messy. You may not have had to struggle as much with the issue.  So my question is this: for those of you out there who have a temperament that leads you tend to be messy (perhaps other creative types) but have overcome that, what tips and tricks can you offer from a Christian perspective to help me overcome my tendency to disorganization?

It has been fun getting up every morning to take Chase (and Alyssa) to soccer camp.  Chase is enjoying the sport and I am enjoying the fellowship with other moms as he plays.

I get the same interesting comment every time I mention that I am homeschooling Chase. Moms usually say the same thing: "Wow! That is great! I wish that I could homeschool my kids.  But I just can not do it.  I am too____________ (fill in the blank) disorganized, not smart enough, don't like being around my kids that much, impatient". I try to explain to these well-meaning moms that I am no superhero and I depend on prayer and God to get me through so far.  I try to let them know that there are many groups and other resources available today to help any motivated mom homeschool her children. I stop short of telling moms that where this is a will, there is a way because, well, it sounds so trite although I believe it to be true.

I am a big homeschool advocate and I take my role of "evangelizing" about homeschooling, especially to Christian parents, very seriously.  I would like to see much larger numbers of Christian parents taking a serious role in educating their children.  I want to be very effective in helping parents see why homeschooling is the best route for most and understand that they too can homeschool. I do not want to be off-putting however and would like to build non-adversarial relationships with non-homeschool moms.

What do other homeschool moms say to these comments?

It seems what veteran homeschoolers say is true.  Learning never has to stop, even in the summer.

We love summer around here.  See my post here for more.

But I notice that Chase is as interested in learning as ever.  From wanting to know more about the skin and pores of the shark to learning about phytoplankton, he truly seems thirsty for new information. I don't know if I could stop him from learning if I wanted to do so!

I do find it interesting that there are those in lur life who do not want Chase to learn too much.  As if I am tying down and making him sit in a corner to learn all day!  I do not like it when others make learning seem like a chore within earshot of my son. He is still at the age in which he thinks learning is fun.

 I hope it stays that way.

Overall, have most of you found that the love of learning stays with homeschoolers even as they get older?