New School Year and New Recipes

Meredith and I are so busy getting ready for the school year to start. It’s true. We are keeping our old fashioned schedules and waiting till September to start school. We are working hard to start two co-ops this week. Busy, busy, busy. We hope you are all doing well with your busy schedules as well.

On top of everything else, our dear sweet friend Sarah is getting married at the beginning of November and we are working on a very special gift for the bride. The truth is that this is as much for the groom as for her. It’s a cookbook. We’re filling it with all the essential information that a new homemaker must have, like conversion tables, substitution lists, and formal dining advice. We are also filling it with all of her and Mike’s favorite recipes. Mike is the lucky groom. In addition to all the old favorites we’ve been trying out some new ones. Here is a simple meal that I recently made for my family. The “Love Bread” is a sweet quick bread recipe that makes 2 loaves – one for your family to eat and one to share.

Spiral Cut Ham (Cold or heated it’s always great!!)

Corn and Avocado Summer Salad

Cinnamon Love Bread

Corn and Avocado Summer Salad

Ingredients:

Directions:

Cut corn of cob and place in a large bowl. Add sliced tomatoes. Stir in lime juice and cilantro. Add salt a pinch at a time to suit your taste.

Cover and refrigerate for  at least 30 minutes.

Right before serving dice avocados and sure them in.

Lemon Poppyseed Love Bread

Ingredients:

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Grease the bottom of 2 loaf pans and sprinkle a dusting of sugar on the bottom. Set aside 2 tsp. of sugar to top batter before baking. Use the remaining sugar in the batter.

Combine all ingredients and mix well. Pour into 2 well prepared pans. Sprinkle 1 tsp. sugar on top of each. Bake at 325 degrees F for 75 minutes, or until a knife stuck in the center comes out moist but without any batter. Let cool.

You Can’t Export What You Don’t Import

Imagine you live on a tiny island and it’s your job to bring in money from off the island. The best way to do this is to export something produced on the island. Look around you for resources to make something to export. There is no livestock, no large scale farming, nothing valuable to mine or collect. You don’t even have fishing boats and supplies to make an industry of that. In short you will need to import supplies to grow, or manufacture something else. To farm you will need seeds. To raise livestock you will need animals. To make chocolates you will need cocoa beans. It doesn’t matter what you want to produce, you need to bring in the resources.

I bring this up because we are homeschooling our children. This is a form of exporting. Many subject that we teach require little preparation. We imported the seeds years ago (when we went to school) and now we can grow the lessons and export that knowledge. Other subjects we spend more time in preparation because we have never studied the subject, or we just don’t remember it well enough.

The most important “subject” that we can teach our children is to love the Lord. Their spiritual life is the most important part of their education. After all, the Word of God says in Proverbs 22:6, “train up a child in the way he should go:” (KJV) That’s a command with a promise, “and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” We need to do it because it’s a command. We want to do it because we love them and want them to benefit from the promise. After all, isn’t that why we’re homeschooling. Just in case there was any question about what was the “way he should go,” the Apostle Paul talked about it in the New Testament. Paul said in the letter to the Ephesians,  ”Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.” (Ephesians 6:4, NIV) On August 16, 2011, Meredith Curtis wrote a great little article in her latest Joyful and Successful Homeschooling column over at Take Root and Write.

Here’s the important part. We need to be filling ourselves up with the Word of God and an appreciation for what he has done and continues to do in our lives. We need to be importing the good spiritual life into ourselves before we can export it to our children, or anybody else. To fill ourselves up with the Word of God, we must read it, study it, pray about it, memorize it, and meditate on it.

READ THE BIBLE

I have made it a habit to read through the Bible every year. It takes me less than 20 minutes each day to read approximately 1/365th of the Bible. I started attempting this years ago and struggled. The first time I read through the entire Bible actually took a few years. The only way to finish a task like that is to keep pressing through. Every time I got behind on the schedule I just picked up where I left off, until I had completely read the entire Old and New Testament. After a couple of times through I got in such a habit of it that I almost never go through a day without reading my daily passages. This year I am changing my pattern a little by reading through the Bible in chronological order. (The Bible does not follow a straight time path. You have to rearrange the books to do that.) Whenever I miss a day (or days) of reading I just double up until I’m back on schedule.

This is what one might called uninspired reading. It’s a schedule. Beyond knowing that God wants me to get to know Him by reading the Book in which He revealed Himself, I don’t involve God in the choosing of the particular passages. It’s already scheduled. Inspired reading is important too. For inspired reading you seek God for direction. Pray and ask God where he wants you to read. This is important. He can always teach you when you’re reading through a schedule, but sometimes He wants to teach you something that’s not on that schedule. If you don’t think you are hearing from God on this direction, there are a few places that are always good, Psalms, Proverbs, and the Gospels.

If your just now beginning a discipline of reading your Bible every day start small. The more you do it the more time you can take to do more. Include your children. Read out loud together. Have fun with it. Try never to allow yourself to view this as a chore. Always choose to think of it as a blessing. Not everybody can read a Bible in their own home, you know. Thank the Lord that you can.

STUDY THE BIBLE

In addition to a daily reading schedule we need to make time to study the Bible. There are many Bible study workbooks out there. My favorites are written by our own Meredith Curtis and can be found on the Books page of this blog. Lovely to Behold is the best place to start. It’s all about Godly Womanhood. If you have a godly friend who can go through these workbooks with you, you’ll have someone to discuss the concepts. This can really be a blessing to you both.

You can put together your own inductive Bible Study.

It’s really very simple. You select a passage of scripture, Romans 8 for example. First you read through it. Then sit down with your Bible, pen, and paper, and go through it, one verse at a time, and write down observations. Nothing is too obvious to be written. Don’t read into any of the verses yet, nor should you try to explain anything here. For example from Romans 8:1-2 we get two things. 1. There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, and 2. through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. I have basically just written out the scripture, minus a few words.

Next in your notes list interpretations of what you have read. This is where you go back through the scriptures looking for important word like, “therefore,” “because,” “if…then…” Then explain the connections. In our example, Romans 8:1 began with the word “Therefore,” so we’ll need to read Romans 7 to see what was said there to explain why there is now no condemnation. Romans 8:2 begins with, “because,” so we know that this is a further explanation. Make special note of words like “love” and “know” because the original Greek has multiple words and multiple meanings for these words. Find out which ones are actually being used. This may make a significant difference in the meaning of the verse.

Once you have gone through in interpreted everything you can, ask yourself, “so what?” Now it’s time to look at application. “The Word of God is alive and active,” (Hebrews 4:12 NIV) It can change us if we will only apply what it says to our lives. So now look at the notes you have taken about the scripture your studying and write down exactly what you can do to implement what you have just read. In our example of Romans 8:1 we can write down that from now on when we feel discouraged because we lost our temper, or had a lazy day, or said something that we should not have, we will repent, ask forgiveness of whomever necessary, including God, then we will rest in the fact that God DOES forgive us and there is no condemnation.

In John 14:23, Jesus is quoted as saying, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.” (NIV) Let’s do a little interpretation and application with this verse. We can demonstrate our love for Jesus by obeying His teachings, thus inviting Him and God into our hearts, to operate, cleanse, and make us whole. The only way we can obey His teachings is if we read them and then find out how to apply them in our lives. An inductive Bible Study will help us to do that very thing. Just remember:
Observation
Interpretation
Application

A final way to study your Bible, that I will mention here today, is to do a word study of some kind. One way uses a concordance with Greek and Hebrew dictionaries. The other way does not.

To use the concordance you pick a passage of scripture, say Romans 8 again. Then you pick key words from the scriptures that beg further inquiry. In our example we’ll look up: life, free, spirit, present sufferings, glory, and hope. One at a time, look up each word in the Greek dictionary of your Bible concordance. (Words from New Testament books should be looked up in the Greek dictionary, where words from Old Testament books should be found more in the Hebrew dictionary.) Next to the word’s citation in the Greek dictionary you will find a definition, then a list of other scriptures that use the exact same word. Carefully read each of these scriptures then write down the definition as written in the dictionary. Then write a summary of the overall impression of the word’s deeper meaning according to all these scriptures you just read involving the word. Always look and pray for application in these word studies.

The second type of word study that I would like to share with you works very nicely with Psalms and Proverbs. You are going to categories the Psalms or Proverbs. Use a highlighter to color code the scriptures. Concentrate on major categories like:

 
• Adversity and protection
• Anger
• Diligence and laziness
• Fear of God
• God’s commands
• God’s way versus man’s ways
• Happiness
• Hope and mercy
• Humility and pride
• Wealth and poverty
• The mouth
• Parents and children
• Strength

These are just suggestions. There are many books out there with lists and explanations about the book of Proverbs, but the point here is for you to read it and see what you can find. Once you have colored in the all the Proverbs pick one of your topics and go back through and find them all. Read just those scriptures again and write down what you learn.

I’ve said alot about studying the Bible. You’ve probably heard much of it before, but it’s worth saying again. Try out each method and see which works best for you. If your like me and don’t have a favorite. Use them all at one time or another.

PRAY ABOUT THE BIBLE

I haven’t mentioned much about praying yet but please don’t mistake my lack of mentioning it for complete absence. Prayer is very important. Don’t even skimp on the prayer. Pray before you read the Bible. Ask the Lord to bless your time in the Word. Ask the Lord to show you where to read, if your not reading from a schedule. And most of all, ask the Lord to teach you from where ever you are reading, even if you are reading from a schedule.

Pray before during and after you study the Bible. Each time you are looking at a scripture for interpretation and application ask the Lord to give it to you. Each time you are trying to summarize the deeper meaning of a certain word used in scripture, ask the Lord to give it to you and show you exactly where in your life you can apply that truth. Each time you categorize a chapter or book of scripture, ask the Lord to bring to mind those scriptures the next time that you are in the type of situation that calls for that particular truth.

Continue praying that the Lord will make Himself more real to you every day. Our value is in Him. No where else. Continue praying that you will know Him and understand what a great gift that is.

MEMORIZE SCRIPTURE

Scripture memory is not just for kids. When I was a little girl we won prizes by learning the Lord’s Prayer and Psalm 23. I admit that I did not really understand what I was saying at the time, but I won my Bible anyway. That kind of memorization can lead to something helpful but in itself it is minimally helpful. Like we said before the Word is alive and active, so memorizing puts it in your mind and therefore it will act on your mind, in a positive way. In my case, as a child I thought that Psalm 23 was talking about a shepherd that I did not want. I didn’t realize it was actually talking about a shepherd that would take care of me so well that I would want for nothing. That little misunderstanding made for some awkward years in my walk with the Lord. That’s why we study first then memorize.

It’s important to memorize scripture because most of the times that we need to remember what we have read are the times when we are not holding our Bible. When we are in the middle of a tough event, and we’re just about ready to give up, and maybe even sin, we can remember that scripture says, “I can do everything through Christ who give me strength.”
(Philippians 4:13 NIV). We don’t need to remember the address. We just need to remember the scripture.

It’s important to memorize these scriptures exactly correctly so that we can refute the lies of the devil. That sneaky serpent has been lying from the beginning. First he misquoted God when he asked the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” Then the women also misquoted God in response, making her own situation more restricted and apparently unbearable that it really was. She said, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’” None of us have been happy with her since that very moment.

It’s important to understand proper application of the scriptures you are memorizing. Satan loves to twist God’s Word in our minds too. He even tried to get Jesus Himself to miss God’s Heart by mis-applying scripture. In Matthew 4 we see Jesus tempted by Satan who quoted Psalms. Jesus understood His relationship with God and so he quoted the scriptures that refuted satan’s plans.

MEDITATE ON SCRIPTURE

Once you have memorized scriptures you can meditate on them. That simple means to think about them, and contemplate them. We see Godly men as far back as Joshua meditating on the Word of God. When God commissioned Joshua to take over leading the people into the promised land, He told him to “Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night…” He was telling him to memorize the Law and think about it day and night.

There are at least 16 Psalms that talk about meditating on God’s Word, deeds, works, or statutes. I think He is trying to make it clear that He wants us thinking about His Word day and night. It’s a good thing that we have been memorizing it, isn’t it. Now we can meditate on exact scriptures instead of vague recollections of what may or may not actually be scripture.

You’ve heard me talk about these things before, but I really believe it’s so important as we start a new school year that it is definitely woth repeating. For more information about preparing yourself to homeschool your children check out Meredith Curtis column from August 2, 2011, at Take Root and Write.

Be Blessed and encouraged!
Laura

An Orphan at the Door

I read a book years ago about a family that started a boarding school in their rather large home. On occasion this couple would take in orphans if the came recommended and the family believed that they could make something of the boy. One day a boy who had lived on the streets for years came looking for a home. The only one who could recommend him was another boy at the home who had known the boy on the street. The mother really believed that the new orphan would reform his wild ways and become a fine young man so, based only on the boys need and their own loving hearts they took him in.

The home had a number of rules intended to protect the children and train them to grow up to be virtuous citizens. They included things like no smoking or drinking. Go to bed on time and stay there. Study hard and do all you school assignments to the best of your ability. Respect one another’s property and be kind. They were not unreasonable or difficult. Nor were there too many rules. The children who loved the parents always did their best to obey the rules to honor the parents. The new boy seemed to be so grateful for his new home and family that he too would obey the rules and reap the promised benefits.

Unfortunately, it didn’t take long to see that the boy loved his wild ways more and he ran away. The parents had come to love him anyway and were very sad that he left. They continued looking for his return and praying for him for much of the book. He did return. He was very scared about the consequences of his betrayal but he humbled himself anyway and returned looking for a home. He was not rejected (his biggest fear), or turned away. This time he really appreciated what he had in this family. His new “father” and all his rules were a blessing and the boy was happy to obey them all just to show how much he loved his father and appreciated his home.

This is a picture of many Christians walk with the Lord. They come off the streets into church and are touched by the love of Christ but they don’t really love Him back. They like the benefits that Jesus offers but they are convinced that they can have it both ways. They think they can enjoy the benefits of salvation and life in Christ but continue sinning and feeding their own selfish desires for their old sinful ways. Eventually the strain of living a double life gets to them. That’s what it is, a double life. See the truth is that sin and selfishness don’t allow room for Christ. It’s what Paul talked about in Romans. Our sinful old selves don’t let go.

When we think our selfish desires seem better than God’s ways, we need to pray for love.

When we think we know a better way to live our lives than what God shows us in His Word, we need to pray for love.

When what God offers us doesn’t seem good enough, we need to pray for love.

When people we love are showing signs of pulling away from the Lord and going back to sin, we need to pray for love.

When people we love have left the church and are out there doing it their own, way we need to pray for love.

We need to pray for love. Not to receive love, because God promises that he always loves. We need to pray that we love Him. That’s where the world changes. That’s what makes the difference. That’s when we have breakthrough.

Dear God,

Please fill my heart with love for You. Jesus you are the best thing that ever happened to me. I want to love you more and more every day. Please fill my heart with love for You God, Father, Son, AND Holy Spirit. Please fill my heart with love for everything about You. Help me to love Your statutes and regulations as well as your blessings and gifts. Please also fill my heart with love for Your people and the lost. Amen!

Be Blessed and Encouraged!

Laura

Finish Well is Back Again

We want to equip homeschooling families to finish the high school years well with a firm foundation of faith before hitting college or the workplace. It’s about more than just finishing school to “get it over with”; it’s about preparing the next generation to change the world, to stand firm in their beliefs, and to succeed…not merely survive.

We want to see both academia and the business world won over by strong Christian values and worldviews through the teens we are raising today.

We think we can help you join us in this vision.

If you are looking for a place to be encouraged, and meet other homeschool families with a similar vision for their families, join us at the Finish Well 12 Homeschooling High School Conference.

February 24th & 25th, 2012

We’re putting together a schedule full of great speakers and fun activities for Teens and Parents!

Keep your eyes on this site for updates as they come available.

You can also follow us on Twitter at finishwellcon,

Check out our Finish Well Conference page on Facebook,

or register at the web site: http://finishwellcon.com!

Mark your calendars!!

Looking forward to seeing you all there!!

Math Success in High School

Last night I was interviewed for the Ultimate Homeschool Expo on the topic of Math Success in High School. I thought I’d share the highlights with you here today.

It takes two things to succeed at High School math.

1. Your student must believe they can do it.
2. Your student must have good “math” work habits.

They must believe they can do it!

Help them to be confident!

Satan will always try to discourage you. It doesn’t matter what you are trying to do. It seems that one of his favorite tricks is to tell students that they aren’t good enough.

Remind them every day that they CAN do it. They are hearing lies from the enemy every day, so they need to hear the truth from you. The Bible says, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” Algebra is not “too small of a thing” for God to care or give you strength. Remind your students of that fact.

Keep this in mind. The Kingdom of God needs educated people to go out there and win back our colleges, universities, companies, and governments for the work of Jesus Christ. Your students cannot get into colleges or universities without a certain amount of high school math. They cannot even get good jobs without a high school education, which includes math. God WILL give you the strength to teach and your student the strength to excel in math.

Talk to your kids about those voices in his head telling him he cannot do this. Every time you look at a difficult problem together talk about the truth. Every time she is reluctant to begin math remind her where her strength comes from. Don’t let satan win a single battle on this front.

Help them to remember the basics!

If they are stumbling over things learned in elementary school they will feel discouraged. Don’t let that happen. Some common basic elements that kids don’t remember but really make the difference in high school math are…

1. Making 10 (add 0+10, 1+9, 2+8, etc. Know them by heart.)
2. Multiplication Tables (0×0 thru 12×12)
3. Fractions (adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing)
4. Order of Operation (PEMDAS – Parentheses, Exponents, Multiply, Divide, Add, Subtract)
5. Basic Formulas (Area, Circumference, etc. Remember any formulas ever taught in math)
6. The Math Language (In word problems, “and” means ADD, “the sum of” means ADD, “the difference of” means SUBTRACT, “to be” means EQUALS, “The same as” means EQUALS, “Of” means MULTIPLY, “Each contributed” means MULTIPLY, “Each received” means DIVIDE, “Out of” means DIVIDE or FRACTION, “Per” means DIVIDE or FRACTION, “Percent” means hundredths (the fraction, something over 100)

If you build them up in these areas they will have fewer reasons to feel intimidated by what they are working on in high school. Constantly remind them that they know this stuff. Never stop telling them that these lessons are just baby steps beyond what they already know. They can do it!

They must have good “math” work habits

Good math work habits are surprisingly simple.

1. Have your student do math every day. Have your students to math at least four times per week for as long as you are doing one math class. With math you are constantly building on material you have already learned. Sometimes you are building on material you have only mostly learned. By working everyday you reinforce what you learned the day before as well as learn a new skill. Daily reinforcement makes all the skills solid.
2. Have your student show all of their work. Make them write out everything and turn it all in with their answers. Math teachers love to give partial credit but they can only do that if they see all the work. As a homeschool mom you need to know that the most important reason is that it helps them learn the material. You and your student can go over any incorrect problems and see where they made their mistakes. If all they do is hand you a sheet of answers, all you can do is compare it to an answer key and mark everything right or wrong.
3. Have your student work all the problems until they get them correct. Because math lessons build on one another, a mistake in one problem can reveal a misunderstanding in a previous lesson. When you student completes a problem, or set of problems, check it. If there are incorrect answers, and they claim to understand all the material, have them go back and work it again, up to three times. If after 4 attempts the problem is still incorrect, say something encouraging like, “Don’t worry. It’s probably something simple. Let’s look at how you have been working this and see what we need to change.” and guide them to the corrections by going over the problem line by line until it is correct.

Don’t forget to help yourself, Mom!

If you are feeling discouraged or even a little lost in this area, seek help. Sometimes all you really need is somebody to encourage you. You need somebody to remind you that you can do this. Don’t be afraid to reach out to your friends, especially the encouraging ones.

If there is a specific math topic which is giving you and your student a tough time, search the internet for help. If you don’t know how to do this ask your friends for help. You know which ones are always finding things out the on “the net”.

For more on this topic by Laura grab your ticket to the Ultimate Homeschool Expo and hear the entire interview.

Be Blessed and Encouraged!

Laura