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Hi, Can't believe it's almost April and we have 2" of snow. It's all melted now but come on! I wanted to share another great resource by Lorrie Flem from Teach Magazine. It's the Mother Daughter bundle, tying mother daughter heart stings. It's comes with a cd and 3 ebooks as well as a book on writing letters to our daughters and son's. It's something I plan on doing. Letters are something they can keep for a life time and read over and over. It's a way to tell them our hopes and dreams for them with out the eye rolling. Lord bless. Debbie |
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Hi All, Just wanted to share a great marriage resource with you all. Lorrie Flem from Teach Magazine has a great marriage bundle you can down load. It's really great. Also this weekend Cindy Rushton has a marriage study going on. Just thought I'd pass it along to you all as our marriage relationships are the most important relationship to have. It takes constant up keep. You can follow the link on my blog to both websites. Deb |
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Hi All, Well Christmas is over! I am using my daughters new laptop at Starbucks so I can use high speed. Let's see... for Christmas I got an ipod. I love it. I can download tunes and podcasts it's great. I hope to listen to it when I walk. The thing is I can't walk because of the snow and rain. I want SPRING. Okay I did get two seed catalogs in the mail so I feel a little better. My daughter is starting her second quarter at community college on Monday. She did really well last quarter. Got two 4.0's and one 3.5 (script writing) so all you home school moms who are fretting about your high schoolers lacking can relax. My son is in 9th and we are working on the usual. We are doing Beautiful feet Us and World history for highschool. It covers literature, history and one other subject I would have to look up. I like to do multiple subjects with one class. I read Uncle Tom's Cabin out loud to him. It was really hard and I am a good reader. We are now reading Josiah Henson the real uncle Tom and Harriet Beecher Stowe and the Beecher preachers. It's really good. It's written by Jean Fritz on of my favorite authors. If you all want the link for Beautiful feet it's www.bfbooks.com One more favorite of mine is Gooseberry Patch. I looked all over our mall to find a new gooseberry patch calender, I finally found one at Barnes and Noble. www.gooseberrypatch.com Well have to log off and go pick up my children from youth group way out at some nice people's home. It's nice to have a whole huge youth group with almost all homeschoolers. It only meets twice a month too which is nice. Lord bless you all in this new year. 2007 wasn't that great for us so I am looking forward to 2008 being better. Never did sell our house so we took it off the market for now. Could the housing market get any worse? jezzzzz. Debra P.S. okay Christina I posted! |
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Hi All, Anyone trying to sell their house and not getting anywhere? Along with homeschooling I have to make sure my house is clean all the time. After 10 months of our house being on the market, I have gotten really efficient at getting it clean. My daughter (17) is taking college classes at a local Community College. It's really been hard to let her go everyday. She drives herself. Sometimes I want to just tell her to stay home with her mommy. I guess I'm not quite ready to let go. One good thing is when she runs into people who go against our Christian faith she tells me about it. I am sooo glad I homeschooled her and she comes to me and her dad to bounce it off us. We then can give her direction and encouragement. For those of you who are looking into programs for community college I would HIGHLY recommend going to the college bookstore and looking over the text before signing up for the class. There were things we just didn't agree with and my daughter decided to avoid those classes. You can't avoid every bad thing that comes your way but when your paying you can chose for yourself. We feel we don't have to compromise our Christian beliefs for the worlds system of learning. I have also realized how important (and sometimes, yes, thankless) being at home is. I have had to pick up some of the slack since my daughter is busy with school work and can't help out as much. I know this is only for a season in time though and soon I will have to much time on my hands. So I am thankful to the Lord for this time bad and good as I know I will oneday miss it. My Grandmother always said "Don't wish away the days" I am finding that to be so true. God Bless your day. Bad or Good one day we will say " where did all the time go" Debra |
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Haven't updated in a while due to the fact I had surgery. About 6 months ago during my normal physical my dr found a nodule (lump) in my Thyroid. I never noticed the lump but she felt it. So I had pictures galore, biopsy and then (kicking and screaming) had my thyroid totally removed. As I had multiple nodules on both sides. I really had a hard time with this as I really didn't feel it was cancerous. But I went to three Drs and they all said to remove it as we don't know if it is a type of cancer until we have it out to look at it. They knew it wasn't papillary type cancer but there are others. As it turned out (Praise God!) it wasn't cancer at all just thyroid tissue that had grown into tumor type lumps. I did A LOT of praying for healing during this time. It was scarry but God is a healer and I am healed. I have to take thyroid replacement hormone for the rest of my life but it isn't a big deal.(At least that's what I keep telling myself) Lots of people take it. Seems to be a common thing. You know three of the nurses I had in the hospital had theirs removed, weird. Now I am coming down off the spiral and starting to refocus on home and homeschooling. Kind of hard to change gears but I am coming around. Something important I learned in this is prayer. I heard a pastor from City Church Seattle WA talk on a cd about prayer and how to pray. He said he has found that break throughs come when we pray for atleast 20 minutes but 1 hour is better. As Christ said to His desciples in the garden "couldn't you pray with me for 1 hour?" Everytime I finished praying for and hour someone would call and incourage me. It was amazing. Using the Lord's Prayer as an outline it's easy to pray for an hour. I go through verses and just pray what the spirit lays on me. I also speak to my mountains what ever they maybe (sickness, selling our house etc.) I usually stand. Well this is my update. Hope we all enjoy the rest of the summer. I love the fall so I am looking forward to it. In Christ, Debra |
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Hi All, I haven't been very good about updating here. Our house has been for sale for 5 months and its soooooo hard to wait. No takers yet. I have been renewing my mind (as Barb Shelton would say) about highschool. My son isn't as self motivated as my daughter when it comes to school type stuff. I looked at some really great "real book" planned curriculum but I didn't feel there was enough time to add real life skills I wanted. I want to teach him good Christian character such as being a man of God, skills for marriage and fatherhood. Also I really want to have both teens do the Dave Ramsey homeschool finance for teens curriculum. Then there's skills like carpenty, consumer math, computer etc. I don't want to go so far over on history that it's to much for us both. I have settled on Beautiful Feet US & world history for senior high for our history. The books are great and the guides are so easy. It also covers a multitude of subjects. I will probably stick with unit studies for science. Hope to cover geology, fossils, human body, nutrition & nature study. I have been re-reading Barb Sheltons Senior High Form+U+LA and I also bought Cindy Rushtons Charlotte Mason Seminar off her website it is really good! (www.cindyrushton.com) I am taking my time to plan. I also know really life counts to so I use Barb's hours check off sheets. I am thinking of having him take some summer teen classes the local college offers for computer stuff like how to design your own website. Our homeschool convention is this month also. I always like to go so I can look before I buy. Well that's all for now. Deb |
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Hi All, It's a rainy morning here in Belfair WA but everything is definately green. We have had our house for sale for 3 months and nothing yet. I've been a little slow in my updates. I am posting about something we enjoy which is books on tape and movies for school. We use books on tape we get at the library for some of the books on the reading list for different unitstudies. For example we listened to Captian Grey by Avi when we did the pirate unitstudy. Also Watched Blackbeard. Captains Corageous and T he old Man and the Sea for our Oceans unitstudy. For our Revolution study we have watched A&E movies such as The Rebs and The Redcoats and Bennedict Arnold. We also watched The Crossing about Washington's crossing the Delaware River. If we are going to be driving around we listen to books on tape. It really helps the study come alive. Blessings, Debra |
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My son didn't do a lot of "book" work during this time but he learned so much more than in a book. He had to repair and do maintenance on quite a lot to get the jeep in working order. He also paid for all the parts himself. He would go to the auto parts store and buy the parts himself when his dad was at work. Life lessons are so valueable. He spent time with his dad. He learned something about how much his dad loves him without words. He worked on that jeep for Kyle everyday until it ran. Kyle also learned it costs money to have toys like this. He learned it might cost more money than you planned on. (and it did) Kyle also learned about needed repairs on vehicles and how to do them. They even did a complete brake job. This will all be such an asset to his own family as it will save money on paying for repairs. During this time I was struggling with the fact he wasn't doing "school" but I just let it go and knew he was doing school. This is what homeschool is about. Having some real life skills to take with them. I am going to start his highschool record keeping today. I use Barb Shelton's A Senior High Form+U+ La. I keep track of hours spent on subjects. This one will be automotive. If you haven't seen Barb's Website or gotten her book and your worried about High School go to her web. It is one of the BEST homeschool, parenting, and resource websites there is out there Have a Joy filled day, Deb |
My 14 year old son bought a Jeep with his own money. It had sat for awhile so it needed some repairs. His dad and him worked every day his dad was off. Then everyday after he got home from work. |
Hi All, Wanted to share a GREAT Creation science resource. It's called Answers . It's a magazine with great articles, kids pages, scholarship contests and a ton of resources.They also have homeschool curriculum. These are by actual scientist that believe in creation. It's for young adults as well as older adults. I have learned a lot about creation from a sound biblical worldview. I have found subscriptions to magazines a great way to encourage learning. Most people young and old love to get magazines. They also make great gifts. I got my father-in-law (who is hard to buy for) a two year subscription to a woodworking magazine and he tells me all the time how much he loves it. I subscribe to TEACH, Country home and some others. My son loves 4x4 magazines, daughter loves cooking, outdoor recreation and gardening magazines. There's subscriptions for the young and old. Find what interests people have on your gift list and consider a subscription. It's a great year long gift. I hope to get the link to answers here soon. Blessings, Deb |
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I have recently been studying God's word on Joy. Sometimes it gets tough homeschooling. My two Children are 16 & 14 now and have some personality clashes (sounds better than arguements) during the day. I felt like I wasn't very joyful and my attitude was spilling over on my family. So I thought, if I want joy I needed to seek it. Go and find it. I turned to God's word. He has quite a lot to say about joy. Psalm 5:11-12 (NKJV) says: 11 But let all those rejoice who put their trust in You; Let them ever shout for joy, because You defend (protect) them; Let those also who love Your name Be joyful in You. 12 For You, O Lord will bless the righteous; With favor You will surround him as with a shield. Now I don't know about you but that makes me want to SHOUT for joy. God is protecting us. He is protecting our children and our homes. He will bless us and our homeschool time. As I studied the verses on joy I realized the people sought it out through the Lord. When they found it they SHOUTED for joy so loud that the bible says " they could be heard from afar off." We have only a little time with our children before they are grown. The small battles seem insignificant. We need to be persistent with their training even as young adults. We should direct them to God as their moral compass. We need to think of it as training and not defeat. Ask God for strength and wisdom not anger and strife. Ask Him for joy. Look for joy in what God has done in your life. I think if most of us look we have a lot to be joyful for, starting with our salvation. We need to ask God to forgive our short comings with our children and then forgive ourselves. And MOVE ON. Don't let satan beat you up with yesterdays mistakes. God isn't finished with us yet! Bless you today. Read God's word with your children. He is the maker of our homeschool. Deb |
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Hi All, You can download FREE notebook pages for your unitstudies off homeschool estore. This week I see it's gardening. We use these pages in our notebooks. We use deviders for the subjects and put the pages in. Our deviders for Space unit (Amanda Bennett) look like this: Today's Quote (copy work), Words of Wisdom (spelling and vocab), Interesting People and Places (famous scientist, events, places etc), Read and Discover(maps, worksheets, diagrams, places, etc), Timeline (adding events and people under the year), and Favorite findings ( movies, websites, information learned through out the week, family activities, field trips, etc.) After we finish a unitstudy we can either keep it in the three ring binder or sometimes I take it to a office store and get it bound with a plastic cover and spine. The cost is about $2.00. If we do lapbooks (check out hands of a child on estore) then the book is already done. I will try and post pictures of our notebooks. My son did a unitstudy on Pirates which he made into a lapbook. It was fun and looks great. As you can see unitstudies cover a multitude of subjects. You can do a unitstudy on anything your child is interested in. White three ring binders are great for everything. They can be personalized by your child. It makes learning personal which makes them remember what they learned. It also makes learning fun! Blessings |
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Hi, My name is Debra and I live in the Pacific North West. Puget Sound area. I am a born-again Christian. Have been for 21 years. I have been married to Phil for 20 years. I have been homeschooling for 9 years now. I have a daughter who will be 17 years in June and a Son who will be 15 in October. We live on 5 acres with two Labradors and two cats and the neighbors rabbit that got loose a year ago. I love to read, sew, quilt, knit and do crafts. My favorite movies are Christy the whole series, Anne of Green Gables and the Waltons. I love Charlotte Mason, Classical homeschool and Unit studies. I try to fit Unit Studies into the Charlotte Mason approach. Each child is different and we kind of mix and match curriculum. My daughter is now at the stage where she studies what she wants. She loves to learn!!! That is a natural flow of real book homeschooling. Real books mean very few text books. My son likes the unit study approach. We love Amanda Bennett's Unit Studies and are currently doing her Space one. I added a link to Homeschool estore where you can purchase her studies. They are so easy to use. You can download them right away or send for a CD rom version. Homeschool EStore also has free products they give away. Sometimes notebooks pages or ebooks. They are a GREAT store. We did Oceans before space. This is our science. I am also writing a book called "Seek Joy." I hope to help homeschool moms find joy in God's word and apply it to their hearts. Sometimes homeschooling and being a stay at home mom can be tuff, but I wouldn't trade it for the world. When I hear the horror stories of parents whos children are in public school I thank God for the blessings homeschool has brought to our family. My children are helpful, hard working and great people. More Later. |