Book Review "Keeping His Way Pure" by Tammy Wollner

Keeping our kid's way pure is difficult at best.  We are in a spiritual battle.  "Many of us live each day as if we are in natural circumstances, when in reality - the trying circumstance that appears in the natural is a war being waged in the supernatural."(Tammy Wollner)  The fight for us and our children and our purity is supernatural. 

I loved reading this book and Tammy makes it clear that, "We as Christians need to wake up each morning, put on the armor of God mentally and spiritually, and be ready to do battle with Satan at any point in our day. Most of all, we need to train our children to practice this." (Tammy Wollner) I could not agree more.  We have a difficult enough time doing the right thing without a war raging around us.  Add to our own weaknesses and disillusioned desires, plus the desires of the enemy, and we can never go without our armor.  His Word needs to be buried deep within our hearts so we have the ammunition needed to fight the sworn enemy of our soul.

Keeping His Way Pure addresses how this can be done with a great four step plan.  Psalm 119:9 says, "How can a young person stay on the path of purity?  By living according to your word."  That is where Tammy's four steps come in.  The steps are easily laid out and give great pictures through experiences of what each step would look like.  I also like that these things are not just her thoughts on what needs to be done, but that scripture is pulled in many times to show that it is God's word not hers that shows us how to live a pure life.

Along with the four steps Tammy offers sections for when the steps are not working and spiritual warfare.   We all know that even if we do all the things that are right by God's standards, things can still go wrong.  Our kids have a mind of their own and a will of their own.  And this book doesn't forget about that and leave you hanging if the four steps don't work.

What I like most is that while this is written specifically for son's, it can be used for our daughters and for our own lives.  Everyone is called to live a pure life and all of the things taught in this book are excellent things to do for ourselves as well as our daughters and sons.

This book was a great blessing and wonderful surprise.  I highly recommend it to anyone wanting to make sure their children grow in the Lord and live a life of purity in all things.

I was asked to do this review and though I was given this book I was not paid anything for my review.  This review is truthful and honest and given freely.  Thank you so much for the opportunity grow and learn while reading this book.  It was a pure blessing, God Bless.

Proverbs Study

I am part of a homeschool group in my area and sometimes those ladies have some of the greatest ideas!  One of the ideas on the site was about a Proverbs study one of the families did.  I fell in love immediately and decided that it was something that we were going to do.  I thought I would share about it here.  I have added some of my ideas to the study that I didn't see in hers and hopefully you will have some to add to mine.  If you do, please share! I am always looking for more fun ways to learn.

First I looked up the book of Proverbs online in the version I wanted to use.   I chose New King James but you can do any version.  When you find it the hardest part is next, copying it and pasting it to a Word document and then formatting it to look how you want it to look.  This can be a little time consuming but well worth it when it is done.  I chose to separate each Proverb with a page break.  So Proverbs 1 is on two pages, Proverbs 2 on 1 page, but no two proverbs are on the same page.  I made sure it was an easy to read font for my daughter who is 7, then I printed it out.  It was about 60 pages so it was a lot of printing.  I recommend that if you have more than one student to print the first one and then get the rest copied or your ink will dry up fast.  It is ideal for each child to have their own.

Then I put the pages into a 3 ring binder with some lined pages behind each Proverb.  I made a cover page for the front of the book and then we were set and ready to start learning.  The only other things I made sure to have was my Bible and my Muppin's Bible, so my Muppin could see it was truly from the Bible, dictionary, drawing paper, pencils, crayons, markers, construction paper, glue and scissors.  We are going to get creative!

Now comes the fun part!

We are reading 1 proverb a week meaning that everyday we start out by reading the proverb that we are focusing on for the week.  This is great for them to practice their reading skills and gives them a chance to get better at the reading.  I then pick out a verse for us to memorize that week from that proverb (as she gets older, or if she gets excited about one in particular she will pick it out). We just started our study yesterday so our Bible verse is Proverbs 1:8-9.

As we read we are picking out words she doesn't know the meaning of and looking them up in the dictionary for the definition.  We are then choosing a couple words a day that she will learn to spell, they will often be the same as the word she is looking up in the dictionary.  Then we are writing out the same proverb we are memorizing for penmanship practice

One of the most fun things we are doing is picking out a part of the proverb to create a picture, a visual story board, or some other form of art about.  It can just be drawings or it can be something that is cut out and created, such as a shadow box, or other type of art.  The idea is to let creativity run here and to help them get the real meaning down in the heart in a way that kids really get it.  It is so much fun too.   Below is a picture my Muppin did about Proverbs 1:8-9.  She has the dad telling her to be kind, the mom telling her to be loving and because she is obeying she has a crown (or ornament) on her head and necklaces (or chains) about her neck.  She will be coloring it later, she was tired :)

Lastly, depending on the proverb, we are adding some history about the times and how they relate to now in an effort to make it more applicable to today for her.  We have The Archaeological Bible and that is a great resource.  Crosswalk.com has some great ones too with their Bible Study Tools.  I highly recommend them and they are totally free!

All in all, it is so much fun.  After our Proverbs study is done, we are doing the book of Ester, my daughters favorite.  What other ideas do you have that could be added to round out this study?

 

This Week's Journey

IN MY LIFE THIS WEEK...

Last weekend we had a lot of family visiting so our school took a little back seat for a few days.  It was great having my mother and father-in-love visiting.  They are such a blessing to us and especially to our little Muppin.  I can't imagine a world without them.  On Mother's Day we got to go to Northwest Trek again.  It is quickly becoming one of our favorite places and we are starting to feel as if we are getting to know the animals.

IN MY HOMESCHOOL THIS WEEK...

This week we just hunkered down on Wednesday to make up for a couple days for the schooling we missed earlier in the week.  Muppin was awesome and did a great job.  She amazes me how well she does when she wants to.  Of course the important word there is "she."  But isn't that true of us all!

I AM INSPIRED BY...

I am truly inspired by my mother-in-love Shirley.  She is an amazing woman.  She has had many things she has had to struggle through in her life yet she still perseveres and pushes through and is determined to have the best life possible no matter what happens.  She is a dear and truly lovely woman and I am so honored to be married to her son.  God is good!

MY FAVORITE THING THIS WEEK WAS...

Getting things prepared for Muppin's first dance recital coming up in a couple weeks was the highlight of my week.  She has been working so hard for this and to see how happy she was to get her dress and learn how to do her hair and makeup was fun. Of course we need to reassure her because the perfectionist in her wants to be perfect.  She is 7, she is perfect enough just the way she is regardless of how well she does.  But seeing the glow in her eyes, priceless!

I AM GRATEFUL FOR...

Homeschool... I would not have the chance to spend so much time with my Muppin if it weren't for homeschooling.  She is a pure gift from God and a pure joy.  I am blessed beyond measure.

A PHOTO / VIDEO / LINK / QUOTE TO SHARE...

Over Mother's Day my husband's parents were able to visit us and while here they were able to go to Northwest Trek with us on Mother's Day and this is a cute picture of them and my little Muppin!  I love that trio!

 

Spring Sunshine Cancels School!!

The last three days have been totally filled with amazing sunshine and 60 and 70 degree days!  Today it happens to be 77!  We have been in the 50s for a long time and have only had a couple nice days until this weekend and I am for sure in heaven.  

We have even canceled school today (you can do that when you homeschool *wink*) to have a play day with good friends!  We thought we better since the sun is leaving us again tomorrow for another rainy spell.  But our Muppin has made great use of this outdoor weather and has spent most of her time in the sun.  

She got a frog this weekend as well!  That is another story.  His name is Hoppy and she got him from Church of all places.  Well, God sure has a sense of humor because I could have gone the rest of my life and not owned a frog!  LOL

What do you do when you have nice days and the weather has been generally yucky?  Do you cancel school and play?

Here is our precious little Hoppy! 

Homeschool Mother's Journal 11

IN MY LIFE THIS WEEK...

This week has been very busy indeed.  We started it out by going camping last weekend for my birthday and it was fun.  It was on the cool side but we did have sun and the rain did not find us until we packed up and went home, I am grateful for that too! I love my family so much and what better way to spend my birthday than out in the woods, just us and peace and quiet!

IN MY HOMESCHOOL THIS WEEK...

I still struggle with what I am going to do with my daughter for homeschool.  I am using Lifepac right now and it is a great program but still doesn't feel right.

I have been reading a homeschooling blog this week called Sprittibee and it has been such a blessing to me.  She is part of a blog series called "10 Days of Homeschool Series - A group Venture" and she is doing her series on "Accidental Homeschooling" and it is perfect for me at this time.  And because of her I am seriously looking into a mix of unschooling, unit studies and book work.  I know, right!  How crazy of a mix is that!?  But here is the thing.  My daughter is a very creative type person, just like my husband.  And for her, sitting and working in a book for a long period of time is just not fun.

I am thinking of continuing with Lifepac for one or two subjects, not sure yet.  If I do it will be math and language.  But I am not sure if I want to use books for the language or teach her through unit studies or by other means.

Then I am thinking of using some unit studies that really speak to my Muppin's desires and dreams that were created by Amanda Bennett (If you haven't seen her stuff, go to her Pinterest page, there is a lot of awesome stuff.  Just click her name).  One of the first studies we will do will be on horses.  Muppin longs to learn as much as she can about them.  

Then I think we are going to do a lot of unschooling for the rest of the subjects.  I plan on reading a lot of history and science stuff to her as well as getting those books in shorter forms that she can read for herself.  I know am getting Apologia's Exploring Creation with Astronomy, which is another passion of my daughter's.  Yes I know that isn't unschooling, but we will not be regimented about it, but let her learn at her pace and she will have fun with it.

With that I believe our second grade year will be a full one, regardless of the fact that I don't have one style of teaching that I am utilizing.  How awesome is it that we can cater to our kids learning styles in this way!  And because of that I think she will thrive and not be bored in the least bit. 

If any of you have any other great options or ideas then I would love to hear them as well!

HELPFUL HOMESCHOOL TIPS OR ADVICE...

Follow the heart of God for your children, He will never steer you wrong!

QUESTIONS / THOUGHTS I HAVE...

How did I become more busy than I was when I had a full time job that I worked 60 hours a week at???  

I AM GRATEFUL FOR...

Other bloggers out there that encourage us all and make me believe I can do it too!

A PHOTO / VIDEO / LINK / QUOTE TO SHARE...

This is from our visit to Northwest Trek!  It is amazing to see all the wildlife up close and personal in their own habitat, yet remain safe!  This tree was huge and several hundred years old.  Of course Muppin had fun posing!  Have a blessed week!

 

What Other Changes Would You Like To See?

My changes are almost done!  How exciting.  I just have a few more things to change but those will be slower changes.  First I will be changing my Tabs at the top of the page, combining some things and adding others.  I will also be looking into getting some cute buttons for my page for my Twitter and Facebook pages so that is coming soon.  I will also be making a button that can be used on your sites if you want to share the love!  

What other changes would you like to see?  Anything exciting I am not thinking of?

What do you think so far?

This is a good start!  Much softer I think and very spring, which is me!

I have a couple issues though I need to figure out.  There is a ghost image on the left hand side bard about 1/3rd of the way down.  I can see it, can you?  If so, do you know how to get rid of that image? 

I wish I could make the type bigger in the center where my blogs show, it doesn't allow me to change it!  

I also have to fix the Facebook links so they are easier to read.  That will come later.

Do you have any ideas, thoughts, or help?  I would love to hear it!

Blessings!

Changing the look!

 Hi!!!  I am working on a new look for my blog and wanted to warn you that it might take a day or two to get it the way I want it.  It may look strange as I change bits and pieces of it here and there.  It will not be the final look but it will be fun for now.  When this change is done I will be working on some things to make it more personal down the road.  This is just one step closer.  

Thank you all for patience!