I wanted to let you all know that while I really enjoy writing for this blog, I have once again taken on too much at one time in my life and as a result, I am in a spot where I am feeling like I have sacrificed and put off my true priorities (what I feel Gods calling is for me, to actually homeschool and plan more fun things with and for my kids) to get other things I want to do accomplished. I am working on getting myself together in that department. It is a fine line between not having enough to do or then having way too much. I need to learn how to balance!!
Anyway, in sayinig this, I have got to forgo some things to allow my priorities to take a front seat again, as they should. I am not sure if anyone really reads this (besides Pam and Ellen, who I see anyway), but for now, I need to put the blog on the back burner instead of my kids.
I have enjoyed writing for you all and I hope that you have gotten something good for your own homeschooling out of this!
Thanks for tuning in and reading!
Angela
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Day 14
A recap and a question
Here is a recap on what we have talked about so far this series, I hope this will help you (as it did me as I was looking at it this morning) to shine a light on different areas in order to possibly set some new goals for yourselves and your families.
*We talked about using resources to help our kids find their own answers
*Using a timer to help us stay on track and motivated
*Help us to think of what is more important, finishing every subject or help our kids become better people
*Finding and planning a great schedule for our unique families
*Looking at what our insecurities are, where they may have come from and looking at how we can change them
*Looking at and sticking to our true priorities
*Looking at our biggest homeschool struggle to shed light for change in that area
*Remembering to Love and give Mercy to our children as God gives to us
*Slowing down in order to enjoy what you already have in your life
Question for you all:
For our next series, what would you like it to be about??
Nutrition and excercise for ourselves and our families?
Putting Organization into our lives?
Putting creativity back into our school days?
Other?
Please give your feedback on this so we can see what topic seems to be the most desired.
Peace in your day!
Here is a recap on what we have talked about so far this series, I hope this will help you (as it did me as I was looking at it this morning) to shine a light on different areas in order to possibly set some new goals for yourselves and your families.
*We talked about using resources to help our kids find their own answers
*Using a timer to help us stay on track and motivated
*Help us to think of what is more important, finishing every subject or help our kids become better people
*Finding and planning a great schedule for our unique families
*Looking at what our insecurities are, where they may have come from and looking at how we can change them
*Looking at and sticking to our true priorities
*Looking at our biggest homeschool struggle to shed light for change in that area
*Remembering to Love and give Mercy to our children as God gives to us
*Slowing down in order to enjoy what you already have in your life
Question for you all:
For our next series, what would you like it to be about??
Nutrition and excercise for ourselves and our families?
Putting Organization into our lives?
Putting creativity back into our school days?
Other?
Please give your feedback on this so we can see what topic seems to be the most desired.
Peace in your day!
Monday, March 1, 2010
Day 13
Slowing down.......................................
I have been riding on a consistently moving hamster wheel for years. I take on numerous tasks at one time as if I am super women or mom in this case and I end up spreading myself so thin that I am not allowing myself to fully enjoy any of it. I burn myself out and wonder "what happened?"
A couple of years ago, God interrupted my hurried and worried thoughts one day with a comment that literally stopped me in what I was doing. I had, again, been wondering if I was doing the right thing with homeschooling the kids, were we doing enough, were we using the right curriculum, etc. Along came God and said "Give up your selfish ways and teach them what YOU feel is important". It is funny how when people say things to you, you may remember the jist of what they said but not the exact words over time. Not with this. I remember His words as if He spoke them to me just a few minutes ago. Now, I have thought about what those words really mean for 2 years now but have still continued on my treadmill of life getting involved in anything and everything, changing curriculums like the changing of the winds and not really settling on any one teaching approach either.
Yesterday, it finally hit me. How can I focus and think clearly about anything when I allow my mind and body to be involved in too many things at one time? No wonder why I burn out every other month (ok, maybe every 3 months or so).
So, last night, I set some time aside and thought about what I could do to change this. It hit me, I need to SLOW down and smell the roses of my life, to enjoy where God needs me the most.
I have really wanted to teach the kids with unit studies for years (for subjects like science, history and character and bible) but have never had the time or energy to put into going that route. I have continued to pretty much do school at home type learning because it was easy, predictable and did not take much energy from me. What has happened is that I have sacrificed time put into planning for boredom, being unsatisfied and unfocused with our school. So, my goal is to clear our schedule of fillers and clutter to create time to really be able to delve into planning fun, hands on, inspiring homeschool experiences for myself and the kids to do together.
God is good, if we only listen to Him!
Peace in your day
I have been riding on a consistently moving hamster wheel for years. I take on numerous tasks at one time as if I am super women or mom in this case and I end up spreading myself so thin that I am not allowing myself to fully enjoy any of it. I burn myself out and wonder "what happened?"
A couple of years ago, God interrupted my hurried and worried thoughts one day with a comment that literally stopped me in what I was doing. I had, again, been wondering if I was doing the right thing with homeschooling the kids, were we doing enough, were we using the right curriculum, etc. Along came God and said "Give up your selfish ways and teach them what YOU feel is important". It is funny how when people say things to you, you may remember the jist of what they said but not the exact words over time. Not with this. I remember His words as if He spoke them to me just a few minutes ago. Now, I have thought about what those words really mean for 2 years now but have still continued on my treadmill of life getting involved in anything and everything, changing curriculums like the changing of the winds and not really settling on any one teaching approach either.
Yesterday, it finally hit me. How can I focus and think clearly about anything when I allow my mind and body to be involved in too many things at one time? No wonder why I burn out every other month (ok, maybe every 3 months or so).
So, last night, I set some time aside and thought about what I could do to change this. It hit me, I need to SLOW down and smell the roses of my life, to enjoy where God needs me the most.
I have really wanted to teach the kids with unit studies for years (for subjects like science, history and character and bible) but have never had the time or energy to put into going that route. I have continued to pretty much do school at home type learning because it was easy, predictable and did not take much energy from me. What has happened is that I have sacrificed time put into planning for boredom, being unsatisfied and unfocused with our school. So, my goal is to clear our schedule of fillers and clutter to create time to really be able to delve into planning fun, hands on, inspiring homeschool experiences for myself and the kids to do together.
God is good, if we only listen to Him!
Peace in your day
Friday, February 26, 2010
Day 12
Mercy..................
Probably the biggest thing that came to light for me over the last couple of days during the wake and funeral service for our nephew was just how much God gives us his mercy for the things we do and the decisions we make. I never realized just how much He loves us and forgives us for the things we do. I used to wonder if people who took their own lives went to heaven, because what they did was certainly not Gods will for their lives, right? Now I know that God forgives us and gives us His mercy for SO much that we do. WE are our worst judge, not God. God is all merciful and all loving!
So how does that relate to homeschooling our kids? In the same exact way. God is the ultimate example of the love and mercy we should be showing our kids as well. No one is perfect and everyone makes mistakes, it is our reaction to what is going on that makes the difference in the learning experience for them. Do we blow up at them because we ourselves are so frustrated (and never make mistakes ourselves, lol)? Do we stop loving them for what they have done? Or, do we just love them and take them under our wing to teach them what is right, teach them how to do something well.
There is a fine line in finding a happy medium in this quest for creating independent thinkers................for myself, I think, would God just put me into a situation I had never encountered and say "Good luck with that, let me know when you figure out the answer" or would he gently guide me through it and give me lots of support, encouragement and His love along the way, without exactly giving me the answer. How do we accomplish this in homeschooling our children? What do you guys think this would look like? How do you think God would run his homeschool?
I would love to hear your answers on this because I don't know about you but I have got a long way to go in finding this happy medium in homeschooling and independent thinking/learning. I think that I value education so much that I am just so afraid to take my hands off of "Gods wheel" here and let Him take control.
What are your thoughts?
Probably the biggest thing that came to light for me over the last couple of days during the wake and funeral service for our nephew was just how much God gives us his mercy for the things we do and the decisions we make. I never realized just how much He loves us and forgives us for the things we do. I used to wonder if people who took their own lives went to heaven, because what they did was certainly not Gods will for their lives, right? Now I know that God forgives us and gives us His mercy for SO much that we do. WE are our worst judge, not God. God is all merciful and all loving!
So how does that relate to homeschooling our kids? In the same exact way. God is the ultimate example of the love and mercy we should be showing our kids as well. No one is perfect and everyone makes mistakes, it is our reaction to what is going on that makes the difference in the learning experience for them. Do we blow up at them because we ourselves are so frustrated (and never make mistakes ourselves, lol)? Do we stop loving them for what they have done? Or, do we just love them and take them under our wing to teach them what is right, teach them how to do something well.
There is a fine line in finding a happy medium in this quest for creating independent thinkers................for myself, I think, would God just put me into a situation I had never encountered and say "Good luck with that, let me know when you figure out the answer" or would he gently guide me through it and give me lots of support, encouragement and His love along the way, without exactly giving me the answer. How do we accomplish this in homeschooling our children? What do you guys think this would look like? How do you think God would run his homeschool?
I would love to hear your answers on this because I don't know about you but I have got a long way to go in finding this happy medium in homeschooling and independent thinking/learning. I think that I value education so much that I am just so afraid to take my hands off of "Gods wheel" here and let Him take control.
What are your thoughts?
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Day 11
Hi Everyone,
I have been in the midst of being with our family for wake and funeral services for our nephew. I will plan to return to the blog on Thurs. or Fri. but will need to adjust my postings to 3 times a week or so instead of 6.
God bless you all.
I have been in the midst of being with our family for wake and funeral services for our nephew. I will plan to return to the blog on Thurs. or Fri. but will need to adjust my postings to 3 times a week or so instead of 6.
God bless you all.
Friday, February 19, 2010
Day 10
Well, I find myself at a loss of words today so I wanted to post a question for everyone to be able to comment on.
What has been your biggest homeschool struggle? and what has been your biggest homeschool joy?
If you have found a way to manage your homeschool struggle, let us know.
Your words of wisdom may be just the answer someone else needed to hear.
Peace in your day!
What has been your biggest homeschool struggle? and what has been your biggest homeschool joy?
If you have found a way to manage your homeschool struggle, let us know.
Your words of wisdom may be just the answer someone else needed to hear.
Peace in your day!
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Day 9
Remembering what is truely improtant................How important is it to accomplish everyting on our list in a day? Finishing each school subject before we can be "done",cleaning our houses, driving our kids around to all kinds of activities,etc. I for one can tend to let all kinds of things get in the way of the 2 most important things God put us on this earth to do; Love Him, and Love Others.
Yesterday, I came home from a very busy day to find out that one of my nephews (23 yrs old) had died. They are not sure at this point but they think he either intentionally took his own life or he died from a drug overdose.
The question I ask myself is "Why"? Why would anyone take their own life, no matter how it was done? I can't help to wonder if he just did not feel loved enough, if he did not feel he was good enough, or if he just did not have others he felt he could really turn to that would REALLY listen to him. It made me think more about what seems to be becoming a key part of the missing puzzle in our society.....................connection with others. We get ourselves so busy caring about accomplishing THINGS that we forget that the most important thing in this life is connecting and loving others.
I can't help but think...............what if that was my son. Whould I have cared as much if we did not get to that one or two school subjects that day, would it have mattered to me that I got the house cleaned completely that day, or finished everything on my to do list for the day? What I do know is that I would have regreted worrying and stressing over all of those little things and not having just spent more of those days connecting and loving him.
Go out and be a blessing to your children, love them and thank God for them!
Try to remember in those times where accomplishments are seeping in to take first place over relationships...................What is most important here!
Peace in your day
Yesterday, I came home from a very busy day to find out that one of my nephews (23 yrs old) had died. They are not sure at this point but they think he either intentionally took his own life or he died from a drug overdose.
The question I ask myself is "Why"? Why would anyone take their own life, no matter how it was done? I can't help to wonder if he just did not feel loved enough, if he did not feel he was good enough, or if he just did not have others he felt he could really turn to that would REALLY listen to him. It made me think more about what seems to be becoming a key part of the missing puzzle in our society.....................connection with others. We get ourselves so busy caring about accomplishing THINGS that we forget that the most important thing in this life is connecting and loving others.
I can't help but think...............what if that was my son. Whould I have cared as much if we did not get to that one or two school subjects that day, would it have mattered to me that I got the house cleaned completely that day, or finished everything on my to do list for the day? What I do know is that I would have regreted worrying and stressing over all of those little things and not having just spent more of those days connecting and loving him.
Go out and be a blessing to your children, love them and thank God for them!
Try to remember in those times where accomplishments are seeping in to take first place over relationships...................What is most important here!
Peace in your day
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