Today I have done something that I was not sure I was going to be able to do. I have had a new entry on my blog every day for the past 31 days. It was because I took part in the Ultimate Blog Challenge. It is amazing to think I found things to write about every single day. I have enjoyed sharing, remembering, feeling and writing about so many things our family has experienced over the years.
I want to be able to continue this journey. I know I have many more words, stories and posts to share. I have more pictures, recipes and homeschooling posts to share. I love getting the opportunity to record my thoughts to where years down the road, my children will be able to read them and gain insight into their mother. So even though the Ultimate Blog Challenge ends today. Tomorrow, I am starting a new challenge. I am beginning the NaBloMoPo November Challenge. Plus I am beginning the NaNoWriMo challenge.
The NaBloMoPo challenge will involve blogging every day during the month of November. So stayed tuned to see what topics come up. The NaNoWriMo challenge involves me trying to write a novel. I have tons of material to share thanks to my husband and family. So my goal will be to write 50,000 words by the end of the month. I have some ideas of what I want to write about, but we will have to wait and see what develops.
As my children grow up, I really enjoy sharing memories and stories with them. But more importantly I enjoy making memories with them. Every day is a blessing given to us by God. Each day deserves us giving our best
Today is not just the ending of the Ultimate Blog Challenge, it is also the final day of the Proverbs 31 Ministries Online Bible Study for "The Best Yes" by Lysa Terkeurst. I have learned so much from this book. I don't want to focus on "people pleasing" instead I want to focus on pleasing and honoring God. I want to spend time in His Word and in prayer. I want to draw closer to God. After all, He is God the Father. He is a father who willingly sent His Only Begotten Son to die on a cross for our sins. He was the perfect sacrifice. I need to give Him my best yes. This means I need to give my best yes in everything I do, say or think. I know I will never be perfect. As Romans 3:23 - 24 says, "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; 24 Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus".
I want to strive to honor God, even if it means I give "small no's", so I save time to give my "Best Yes". It means I need to take time to listen to the sometimes small, still voice of God - even when it is not the answer I want to hear. I pray you strive to give your "Best Yes" as well. I pray you have enjoyed the journey this month. I would love to hear from you.
So today I say good bye to this past month and this past study. But I say hello to new challenges and around the middle of the month I will be saying hello to a new Bible study as we begin Max Lucado's book Before Amen and I invite you to come along with us for the journey. This study is all about prayer. And what better time to begin a study on prayer than in the month before we celebrate Jesus' birth. The best part about this study is that the conference calls are FREE! That is right for this study the conference calls cost NOTHING! So I hope you will join us.
If you have been reading my blog recently, you know I have been talking about how our family spends our Sundays. Today is a special Sunday though. We will be attending church and Sunday School this morning as usual. Then we will come home to prepare for our company that is coming to dinner. Our youngest three have all had birthdays in the past two weeks. It began on October 14, continued on the 20th and finished on the 23rd. If you want to read about their births and other things I shared about each on their own birthday you can go to the posts for those dates.
So we tend not to do regular birthday parties. Since we moved to Pennsylvania, I have tended to have special family dinners. So today we are having friends of our family over to eat. We are preparing Bar-b-cue Pork (thanks to my father-in-law for the awesome sauce we will be using), boneless pork ribs, greens trio sauteed in olive oil, potatoes, green beans, and corn. I may make some homemade bread to have as well. For dessert we will be having cake. I love opening our home to friends and family. Tune back in on Monday when I will be sharing pictures of the food that we created and ate.
I hope you have a restful and wonderful Sunday afternoon. Please feel free to comment. I look forward to reading what you have to share.
So this year we are in our 9th year of homeschooling. When we began our journey, I really did not know a lot about homeschooling. Nor did I know a lot about what was out there for homeschoolers. So today I thought I would write about my top 9 favorites for homeschoolers. These are my "go-to" items, and are especially the items I recommend to families who are thinking about or are brand new to the homeschooling journey. But they are also great for even the most experienced homeschoolers to have.
1) I believe an absolute necessity is Cathy Duffy's Top 101 Picks for Homeschoolers. This book is incredible. (Although when I was first introduced to it it was only her top 100 picks). It breaks down homeschooling into manageable pieces and her recommendations I have found to be spot on. She includes a section to determine your philosophy of education, your teaching type, and your student(s)' learning type. Then she goes through each subject and breaks the subjects down into what matches up with what teaching AND learning style. So it is easy to make wise choices. She also has a website with a lot of the information on it - but I still recommend getting the book. I share mine often.
2) The Rainbow Resource Catalog - OK, I admit this book is a monster - I mean it is huge and it is heavy. But it is jammed packed full of incredible homeschool supplies, materials and more. Getting it each year is like an adventure that lasts an entire year. Everything is broken down by subject, topic and even grades so you can easily find things. Their website is awesome as well. Their customer service is fantastic.
3) Homeschool Conventions - I firmly believe in attending homeschool conventions, especially if they are good ones. When we began our journey 9 years ago, I was blessed to be part of a military community - so we had lots of ladies with lots of experiences and knowledge. But more importantly they were so willing to share that knowledge - especially with someone who was brand new to the world and needed guidance. I remember several of the ladies giving me some sage advice that I use to this day - never buy on the very first day. Our family always spends the first first day just looking around (well I should say my husband, my mom and I), while our children typically participate in the Children's Conferences (well they used to participate - now all but our youngest are old enough to help instead). I bring the entire family. We use the opportunity as a family vacation. But I will be devoting an entire post in the future to conventions. I will end by saying there is nothing like a homeschool convention to be able to see, touch and connect with homeschoolers and homeschool materials.
4) Homeschool Magazines and catalogs - There are a wealth of maganzines and catalogs homeschoolers can choose from that assist in choosing curriculum and such. Some of my favorites include "The Old Schoolhouse Magazine" and "Practical Homeschooling". I love Christianbook.com for homeschooling materials as well.
5) The Internet: In these days and times there are a wealth of sites online that can assist with your homeschool journey. Or even if you don't want to homeschool full time, on those rainy or snowy or dreary days when the children claim they are bored, you can go online and find activities for them to do.
6) Educational Manipulatives: I love manipulatives. I love giving our children a chance to experience learning "first-hand" - if you will pardon my pun. Some children just learn better by doing, touching or creating. So they need outlets for those experiences.
7) Patience and a Sense of Humor: Homechooling parents need a healthy dose of patience and wonderful sense of humor. Some days will just not go like you planned, and you need to understand that. There will be fantastic days where everything just clicks and moves along smoothly. But then there will also be days when everything and anything that can go wrong does. But if you keep the right perspective, you will all come out on the other side having learned something.
8) Some kind of Homeschool record-keeping system: Whether your state requires it or not, you should maintain some type of records. We have only homeschooled in two states: North Carolina and Pennsylvania. But for both I have used some kind of record keeping system. In Pennsylvania where we have lived for the past 6 years, I am required to turn in a portfolio at the end of the year that has to include a list of what books we used on what days of the years. Doing this by hand is tedious. So instead, I had a friend recommend a wonderful online program called "Homeschool Skedtrack". I love the flexibility of this program. While it is somewhat time consuming to enter everything in initially, the end result is marvelous. Each subject/course is entered individually. Assignments are marked off as they are completed. If the students are responsible enough, you can assign them their own login to where they keep up with what needs to be done each day and mark it off as completed. At the end of the day, the parent goes through and approves what they have done. Then the next assignment pops up for the net day. If for some reason a student does not complete something, it automatically moves it to the next day. Also the parent can schedule days off and what courses are on what days. This program is one of the best I have seen. And the fact that it is free is terrific.
9) A Homeschooling community (whether it be found online, in a group, with one or two friends or a co-op). You need to connect with other homeschoolers. It is okay if this takes a while to find the right fit for your family. When we began our journey, I became part of a group that met once a week - moms (dads if they could come) and children. We did various activities based on the week of the month. It fit our family perfectly. I have found tons of community online to give me support. It is nice to know when I have a question, an answer is as close as my computer screen. I have never participated in a co-op, simply because I have not found the right fit for our family. But I know lots of people who have participated in them and found them to be very useful.
So these are my top 9 favorites for homeschoolers. I hope you enjoyed reading about them.
We have three children who share the same birthday month, which happens to be this month (October). Two are sons and one is our only daughter. When they were younger and we lived in North Carolina still, we would rent the local rollerskating rink and have a huge party. The nice thing about that was we could invite a lot of people without it costing a lot of money - beyond renting the rink, getting the cake and things.
Now they are older (my youngest just turned 12) and we live about 12 hours away from our immediate family. So we have to try different things. This year we will be attending church this morning as we always do. Then we will be having friends over for dinner. To me there is nothing like spending a Sunday afternoon with family and/or friends.
I really enjoy cooking, so this gives me a chance to do this for more than just my own immediate family. Today we are having Bar-b-Que Pork that I am fixing in my Ninja cooking system (I love this machine). Plus we are going to have ribs cooked on the grill. We will have a salad, vegetables and some type of potatoes. Actually I think I am going to have my oldest son and his father make their special oven baked bacon cheesy potatoes. This is their new creation and it is fantastic!
So what are you doing special today? What are you having for dinner? I look forward to reading what you share!
