Homeschool Mother's Journal #5

Life has been interesting to say the least.  I can't wait until things slow down a bit!  Wait!  It is only supposed to get busier from what I hear!!  Nuts!!!  hehe  Anyway, life is challenging, but God is good, all the time. So here goes...

In My Life This Week...

Our week started with a ministry meeting on Saturday that was all day.  It was a great blessing and nice time away from normal routines.  I am now officially working with Stairways International Ministry, helping them with all things technical, clerical and nerdish!  Fun!  I am excited and blessed to be part of this ministry.

The week moved on with lots of work to do for the ministry, as well as work for my own jewelry business, homeschooling and regular home life.  Thursday night is ballet/tap and this week we get the pleasure of seeing our little Muppin dance for creative night.  I love seeing her flourish and be so happy.  She is a true performer regardless of her skill level (she is only 7)!

In Our Homeschool This Week...

We worked on a lot of reading, math and cursive as well and taking the time to learn about Christmas.  I love this time of year, it is my favorite time.  Today we are starting to make our traditional Christmas candy and treats and Muppin will be learning more math and reading by reading and measuring out all the ingredients.  Great hands-on learning. Next week we will be delivering them as gifts to all our friends.

People We Are Going To See...

This weekend grammy and poppi will be coming to town.  Well, they will be camping at a nearby campsite for a few days (only a 1/2 hour away) so we will still get to see them a lot.  Then next week sometime they will be coming to our house for a few days.  Muppin is so excited she can barely stand it!

Things I Am Working On...

I am working on my jewelry a lot and hope to be selling it on Etsy soon.  I have my site with a couple snow flakes but it has been difficult to get pictures of my jewelry uploaded due to computer problems.  I have a love/hate relationship with my computer!

Anyway, I am working on earrings and some necklaces for now and have sold quite a few but hope to get them online and out there to sell more.  Check out my Etsy site online at http://www.etsy.com/shop/Inspirationsbycarri .  I would love the feedback!

Photo...

This is a picture of one of my earrings that are for sale.  I need a better camera so I can take better pictures, but they are made with Swarovski crystals and I have a blast working with them.  Very pretty and sparkly.  I love making jewelry and wish I had tons of money to make more.. LOL

That is it for this week.  I hope you are all having a blessed week, please know that you are loved!  If you have not been to The Homeschool Chick's website please check it out.  Click the graphic below that says "Homeschool Mother's Journal" and see what this blog party thing is all about!  God Bless!

Holiday Questions with Tricia Goyer!

Author Tricia Goyer is having a blog party contest and these are the questions she is asking.  It looks like a lot of fun so I am going to give it a try!

1. What's your favorite holiday song?  

      My favorite song would be "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen."  Not only does it have a fun catchy old world tune, but I love the lyrics.  Always reminds me of what is important this time of year.

2. What's your favorite holiday tradition?

     I love going out on the day after Thanksgiving in search of our tree.  It is always fun finding the perfect one, cutting it down down and then taking it home to decorate it.  I must admit that I do not enjoy pulling out all the boxes and packing up the normal everyday stuff in order to let Christmas shine through.  But the hunt for the tree and the beauty afterwards, pure joy!

3. If you could travel one place with an elderly family member where would you go?

     Montana!  Not very adventurous I know.  But for some reason Montana has always drawn me in for some reason.  I love the outdoors and the solitude and beauty.  I have never been blessed enough to visit so I would love to go there and find all the historical stuff I could.

4. What questions would you ask?

     What kinds of things we have seen and visited remind you of your life growing up?  What do they love about that part of the country?  Did they prefer living with less kitchen gadgets and appliances or do they prefer the ease of technology? 

5. What is a non-tangible gift have you received from an elderly relative?

     Love and acceptance.  More than anything I have always just wanted to be loved and accepted.  I am blessed to say that I have received that with more than one elderly person.  I have not been around many elderly relatives.  Our family was not close with our relatives so I have relied a lot on my Mother-in-love for that and she has been great.

6. What is the best/worst/strangest gift you've received from an elderly relative?

     Best ~ Old comforters or hand towels made by my Mother-in-love or her mom.  Old antiques or pictures given to us by my mom.  Anything the speaks to family tradition or that is handmade!

     Worst ~ lingerie from my mother's friends at my wedding shower.

     Strangest ~ I can't say, but it was from one of my mom's friends for my wedding shower!  ;)

That is it for Tricia's questions.  I would love for you to answer these questions on here in response to my blog, or go to Tricia's site and join the event for yourself.  Enjoy and have a wonderful Christmas holiday!

October and November Update!

It has been a long couple months and I have been busy and missing writing and sharing our lives with you all.  Each and every time I would think about writing, I would not.  Procrastination!  Our worst enemy, for sure.

So Here I am, a couple months later and ready to get back into the flow of things.  I am going to share a couple updates of the last couple months.  They have been busy ones.

First we were visited by Halloween.  Not my favorite holiday but it was fun none-the-less.  We were able to have fun and praise the Lord through this holiday and it was a great time.

First we were on the hunt for the perfect pumpkin, so the trek began.  We went to Hunter's Farm this year.  Great place, check it out here --> Hunters  It was a wonderful place.  Not only nice pumpkins for great prices, but very nice people as well.  It was a great adventure!

First we enjoyed the goats and other animals they had around that we could watch.  This little guy was super cute and soft.  His mother was already pregnant again and often wanted to be petted first!  Her tummy was HUGE!  Haha... Then we got to ride on a wagon being pulled by a tractor.  She thought this was especially fun!

After that we were at one of the many pumpkin patches they had.  It was huge!  The search was on! How do you pick a pumpkin when there are soooooo many to choose from!

It was a successful day with  more than one pumpkin to bring home!  You will see them later.  First, I had fun taking pictures and here is my beautiful daughter with and awesome old red tractor!

We also had a lot of fun carving the pumpkins.  Our Muppin was not about to touch anything though.  Gross!  That is what daddies are for, didn't ya know???  They both had a blast together.

Super silly kids!  I mean both of them too!

This is the only pumpkin picture I have on this computer. Our other computer is being worked on so this is the only thing I can show you for now.  But I think it shows where our hearts were.  It was a great night.

Then it was time to celebrate Muppin's birthday.  It is only a couple days after Halloween and it is always difficult figuring out when to have her party.  It was a blast this year though.  She wanted it to revolve around horses, she loves horses!  So she dressed up like a cowgirl and we had a great friend loan us a saddle and stand along with hay to complete the atmosphere.  She had lots of friends come and the best surprise of all was that her gramma and grandpa were able to visit for a couple days.  That made it really special.  Here is a picture of our proud birthday girl!

 

 

Well, I have lots more photo's to share but I will call that it for now.  I will post some more stuff soon.  I am glad to be back with you all.  I love you and miss you!  God Bless and have a wonderful Christmas!

Top 10 Reasons I Love My Man!

10. He is a thinker.

 9.  He is an incredible artist.

 8.  He thinks outside the box.

 7.  He is an amazing dad.

 6.  He always makes me feel safe.

 5.  He always puts me and the family first, before himself, working hard for us.

 4.  He makes me laugh, a lot!

 3.  He is fiercely loyal and honorable.

 2.  He is my best friend!

 1.  He loves God!

My husband Mark is an amazing man!  I could go on and on with this list.  :)  I am grateful to God today for the amazing man I call my husband and I pray God blesses his life beyond what he can imagine!

Thank you Mark for always being there!  I love you!

September 11th

September 11, 2001 was my dad's birthday and that day I was particularly sad because it was his first birthday since he passed away earlier that year.  I woke up thinking about my dad and filled with all the grief that comes with losing a parent to cancer.

The house was quiet, I was alone with my grief and I didn't know what I was going to do with myself.  I finally got up and went to the living room and turned on the television.  It was early so I crawled onto the sofa and began looking for the news, and when I found the news it was a picture of the first World Trade Tower with smoke billowing out of it.   At first I was confused.  I remember thinking, "this is a terrible show I want the news."  I quickly realized that it was not a movie and sadly it was very real. 

As I watched in horror the unfolding events I witnessed the second plane fly into the second tower live.  Alone in my living room I gasped and screamed "NO!" and the tears began to flow.  I could not believe that what I was seeing was really truly happening.  It couldn't be, this had to be some sick joke like Orson Welles "War of the Worlds" radio broadcast in 1938.  This had to be mass hysteria all over again.  But it wasn't, this was truly happening, it was sadly real.

So for the next several hours I watched as things unfolded and untold numbers of people died.  The tragedy was heart breaking and nothing was going to make it better.  Nothing would fix this.  Moms, dads, husbands, wives, sons, daughters, friends and heroes would die and no one would bring them back.  September 11th was nothing but pain for me because of my memories of my dad who was lost to cancer and now the American people would share in my grief but for a different horrifying reason.

Today I still cry on this day for my lost time with my dad, but I also cry for all the lives lost and changed by the World Trade Center attacks.  My life was forever changed by the attacks.  My heart is especially saddened for all the children who will never get to see their parents again.  No child should have to lose their parents but especially not this way.  

Our country has been forever changed by this day and I pray that more people have been changed for the good than bad.  I end in a prayer that the Lord would bless all the survivors, the families and friends of those lost and all the people who worked tirelessly and selflessly during and after the attacks.  I would also pray that those still here today will look at what happened and know that there is one they could turn to for peace they could never have alone.  Our Lord Jesus.  I pray the Lord blesses you and keeps you all safe, Amen.

The Homeschool Mother's Journal 4

In my life this week....

It was a great week.  We started the week out by laying under the stars as a family in our back yard while we had a nice fire going.  It was amazing.  We looked at star constellations and Charis had fun picking them out and creating them herself. 

I then got to spend some time with the ladies from my Bible study group.  I missed them over the summer and it was a refreshing time.  I can't wait for it to start up again.

And most exciting for us is that our daughter started her ballet class and she LOVES it!  She doesn't just like it, she loves it.  I know she dreamed of ballet last night and she is still dressed as a ballerina right now and has been practicing all day!

In our homeschool this week...

We are getting a bunch of books from the library because Charis wants to learn about the stars and horses!  So that is what we will be focusing on.  Reading about them will be fun and it will be interesting to see how many subjects we can cover while learning about them!

My favorite thing this week was...

Laying under the stars with my hubby and daughter!  They are the best ever!

Things I am working on...

Being more pro-active!  Getting the hard stuff done first.  I am good at not getting things done, especially since summer started.  I am getting back my groove and trying to stay on top of things.  My plate is so full, I sometimes wonder why I do everything.... writing, photography, homeschool... then I remember.  I love them all!

I am cooking...

Orange chicken in the crock pot!  We will see how that turns out!  If I like it, I will share the recipe soon!

I am praying for...

All the family members of those lost on 9/11 and for all of those who have given so much of themselves after that horrible day to rescue people and to take care of a city, state, and country that was hurt.  My heart especially goes out to all the children who lost moms and dads.  Thank you all.  I pray blessings over each of you.  I also pray for our enemy, that the Lord would meet them on their path like they did Paul and open their eyes to the truth.

My photo of the week...

My Little Ballerina! 

Gratitude

Often times we live our lives trying to catch up with what others are doing, with what the world says we should have, trying to look as happy as someone else looks.  Or we think of everything we don't have, how pretty we are NOT, how fat or ugly we think we are, how little we have in comparison to the friend we have or our neighbor, or with everything everyone else has that we don't.  Because of this type of thinking we often do not see what we should be grateful for that is clearly right in front of our faces.

I tend to be one of those people.  Many times I will go to someones house for a birthday party, or play date and think, "I could NEVER have these people over to my house!  My house is too small, too simple, too basic!"  I would go as far as to say I would even feel ashamed of my home.  The sad thing is that there is NOTHING wrong with my home!  We live on almost 2 acres of property.  It is beautiful too!  We are out in the country with neighbors that aren't too close.  We have fresh air, quiet days and star filled nights.  Our home is small compared to most peoples these days.  We don't have extra storage space or extra rooms for people to stay the night in.  But it is cozy and we have made it ours.  It still needs some work that will be completed when the money allows but that is ok.  Our house is nice and it is a gift from God!

It is truly sad because far too often I spend so much time thinking about what I don't have and what others do that I do not see the incredible blessings that are right in front of my face!  I get to live in a beautiful place, with great neighbors and I get to enjoy nature all around me.  I get to live in a place that allows me to homeschool my daughter even when someone else may not understand it.  I have plenty of food to eat, friends that love me and that I love and the most incredible husband and daughter on the planet.  And I get to worship MY God however I choose.  That may not be popular by a lot of people but it is still legal in our country.

So I am on a gratitude journey.  After asking for forgiveness for not appreciating all that God has given me, and repenting of it I am going forward and searching out all the gifts God is giving me each and every single day.  I am going to be posting those things from time to time and I encourage you to do the same.  If you are abundant in your life, even if it doesn't look like what someone elses abundance looks like, give up the praise to God!  Because when we are faithful with the little He gives us then we will be blessed with abundance because He can trust what we will do with it.

God bless each and every one of you.  I am grateful for each person that came here today to read what I had to say...  What God has put on my heart... And what God has planned for each and every one of you!

Our Week in Review!

In my life this week...

The week started out quiet and ended very busy!  We got to go visit with friends we had not seen in a long time and that was a great blessing.  We also got to see some other friends who have been traveling and that was much fun as well.  Today I have been busy writing for an exam I am taking and it has been more fun than I expected!

In our homeschool this week... 

We did a lot of relaxed learning things.  We spent most of our time playing and visiting and just reading.  It was a great week.

My favorite thing this week....

Was blueberry picking!  We went earlier in the season with the grandparents and had a blast.  This week we went with some friends and it was fun as well.  However this time it had been a super foggy morning and we got very wet!!  Regardless of getting wet, we came home with 15 pounds of blueberries to freeze!  Yum!

What is working/not working for us...

A rigid homeschool schedule!!!  It isn't working for us!  So we are flying by the seat of our pants so we can do school anytime and have fun while doing it.

A photo, video, link or quote to share...

I would like to share a couple things, number one being my link to my site. I have been working hard on promoting my work so I can start to add some income to our family while still being home.  Take a look if you have a chance.  Just click here --> My Store

She is the reason for everything I do!

The Fun of Homeschooling

I am a new homeschooling mom and it seems that the different techniques of homeschooling are limitless and that is exciting and intimidating all at the same time.  My research journey over the last eight months or so has been incredible.  I love research, yes, I am a research nerd and love it.  When I want to know about something I set my sites on it and do everything I can to learn as much as possible about it.  I have learned so much yet have way to many untapped resources to learn from still.

The library has of course been one of my best buddies as I have gotten several books there so that I can read what everyone has to say about this subject.  I have spoken to several people about their journey, each being different completely from the others.  I have also gone to countless blogs, read articles online, followed people on Twitter and Facebook just so I could catch a glimpse into the "real life" of homeschooling.  And finally I have been taking a course meant to prepare me to homeschool and certify me in my state.  The course has given me a lot of the same information but it has also given me some new things to consider as well.  For all four resources I am grateful.

I have been able to learn what kind of learning style I have, what kind my daughter is and how that will affect each of us.  What a wonderful thing to know and how sad that the schools do not learn this about each child or implement their best learning technique to help them.  It isn't the school's fault, this is not school bashing.  How could they possibly be able to be so uniquely different for each student?  The amount of classes would be incredible to tailor each class for such needs.  

This is where homeschooling makes so much sense to me.  Now that I know what my daughter needs and my abilities, I can give her the best possible education she could get.  I can nurture her in all her needs and help her realize all her desires and show her how to be the best girl she can be.  No one can love her like I do.  No one can be as invested in her education like I am.  No one can be more focused on what she needs than me.  And no one can give her the one-on-one attention that I will.  How awesome is this!!!

This is where some of the fun comes in.  Creativity!  Who needs to learn like all the other kids?  Who wants to do that?  Let's make it FUN!

So one thing we are starting tomorrow is a journal.  Now my daughter is writing and reading but her writing is limited and she gets frustrated because she can't write everything she thinks yet.  She is just starting 1st grade.  She can spell many words and read quite a bit, but it is still frustrating for her.  So what we will be doing is this... I am going to sit with her with a journal and ask her to tell me what she wants to say.  I will write it in her journal for her and at the end if she wants to add anything then she can.  This will be used to just get her in the habit of thinking about things to write every day, to record her thoughts.  And one day soon she will be taking over.  

Another thing we will be doing is a note journal.  I have wanted to do this since she was born but never thought she was old enough.  But I now think she will do great because I am going to tweak it!  How it works is this...  In the morning I will write something in a journal for her to read sometime during the day.  That evening she will leave me a note after she goes to bed telling me something she wants to say... in her best words... or pictures.  It will be a running dialog for us.  

I got the idea from a friend that said that her and her daughter did the same thing from grade school until her daughter moved out of the home.  Her daughter got to the point where at night she would share all her pain and "embarrassing" questions in the book when it was either to scary or to painful to say out-loud.  My friend was grateful for this journal because she was able to give feedback to her daughter without her daughter seeing her reaction to some things.  She was able to think about her response and that was so valuable to her daughter.  Her daughter to this day says it was the most amazing gift her mother ever gave her... and open un-judged forum.  A place where she always felt safe and loved an unconditional acceptance.  I want that for my daughter.

The third thing we are doing is note cards.  When my daughter learns a word we are writing it on a note card and putting it into a recipe box.  We will make up sentences with these cards daily and see what kind of silly things we can come up with. 

Finally, we will be learning about one state or country each month.  How they came to be, how old they are, who lives there, what are their cultural differences, what do they eat and all that kind of fun stuff.  I think it will be a blast.

Of course there will be some of the normal stuff in there too,  but these four things will cover a lot of areas and be fun at the same time.  I am so grateful to be able to be with my daughter and see her get so excited to learn and have fun doing it.  God is good and He knows us and takes care of all we need, even when we are not sure what those needs are.  Be blessed and enjoy your homeschooling days!

As the button says bellow, check out the Hip Homeschool Hop!  Just click on the button and it will take you right there!  This is my first Hop, and I got a bit long-winded!  Unfortunately, I am a writer and that happens.. LOL   Enjoy!

Homeschool Mother's Journal #3!

In our homeschool this week...

This week we focused on getting started.  It has been interesting figuring out when is best for both me and my daughter.  When does she learn best, when am I at my best?  All good questions that I still don't know the answer to.   :)   

We were not rigid on school this week though because it was one of the hottest weeks on record for us "this year"... and that isn't saying much.  We were actually in the 80s most the week so I couldn't keep her from playing when we had this wonderful weather.  Most of our summer has been in the high 60s and low 70s... so one of the benefits with homeschool in my opinion is flexibility!  I know it won't be beautiful for long, so I am taking advantage of those days that are and not feeling guilty about it.

Things I am working on.... 

I love photography so I have been working on my website (click here to check out my site).  It is a blast and I would love feedback. 

While working on my photography I ran across a painting that made me remember a dream and wrote about it on my blog.  It is called "Visitation."  I was blessed to remember such a special time.

I am also taking another writing workshop on how to write memoirs so I am excited about that.

The third thing I am working on is a certification course I need to have to be able to teach my daughter in the state of WA.  I have schooling but it is technical school so they don't recognize my degree.  So now I have to become certified by reading a bunch of stuff, writing a book report, and taking an essay test.  There is more to it than that, but it means a lot of reading and work on top of my homeschooling, 2 businesses I run, all the other regular homemaking activities.  Little stressed about this.  I only have 30 days to complete it.

I am reading....

For my certification course one of the books I am reading for my book report is "The Unschooling Handbook"  by Mary Griffith.  So far very interesting.

The other book I am reading is "Get Out of That Pit" by Beth Moore.  So far I love it, even though I just finished chapter one!

My picture of the week....

This picture was taken two weeks ago at the Western Washington Fair.  There was a pirate show that was really about parrots and these were two of the parrots that were resting in the trees not far away from the pirate ship.  They clearly love each other and it was a sweet picture.  I hope you enjoy!

If you love to write and share about your journey as a homeschool mother, click on the signature below that says "The Homeschool Mother's Journal" and join along.  Lots of amazing moms out there!