Two highlights from today

I hate paper...I can't stand stacks all around the house...it bothers me and it makes me itch.  My most amazing husband has come up with a plan to keep all the paper at a minimum....obviously there has to be some way to keep, file, have all the documents, notes, pamphlets, etc for homeschooling...every meeting I go to, I come away with a spiral notebook full of scratched out notes...not to mention the oodles and oodles of emails I have saved from the two or three homeschool groups I am in about curriculum, helps, field trips, subjects, etc.  So the process has begun to file it all on a tiny little flash drive that fits in both computers we have!  The flash drive will have file folders on it all labeled and organized.  If the computers crash, the flash drive still exists! When I go to another meeting...instead of taking a pen or pencil......I can take the little laptop I have, plug in my flash drive and type up what I want in the proper folder.  Now to just get everything transferred into folders to save on the flash drive!  I can also scan documents and put them on the flash drive!  No more carrying around 4 or 5 different spiral notebooks with notes and saving a hundred emails! When I get an email I want to save..simply copy it, label it, file it in the correct folder and viola! Yay for technology on this one!  It will be a process though for sure!

Maybe the most important highlight was the grace that I showed to my child today.  I won't go into the details but this person of mention was wrong and usually would have been punished BUT I realized before I spoke or yelled....it was a chance to show love, grace, and teach this person that yes, he/she was wrong but I understood the reasoning behind it and I was there with loving arms saying I love you and it is O.K.  It also let me hug on he/she and explain something from my own childhood that makes me just like he/she....which I know this person appreciated!  It was the right thing to do and so unlike me....my usual reaction would have been to yell, get impatient, and punish....thank you God for tugging at my heart before those words came out of my mouth!  His way is always better!

Our favorite nearby get-a-way...

One of our favorite places is only 40 minutes away...The Wacissa River!  There is wildlife galore, beautiful water, blue springs, and rope swings!  It really is beautiful.  We got in the canoe in the back swampy area of the river behind the canoe rental man's house, paddle downstream finding all the fish, crab, birds, gators, turtles that we can....we saw 5 gators this trip!  And they were close!

Little Molly went this tme and she did great!

We took some friends that had never been and they LOVED it!  The river is like a really cool surprise in your backyard!  We were the only ones out there for awhile!

My favorite pic!  Note John getting ready to swing into the spring on the right.  This spring is named Big Blue!

The water is freezing and so refreshing after canoeing in the hot sun!

We found a new spring this time call Chasity Spring.  Here, Ms. H is standing on top of a rock formation...there is a huge hole/tunnel under it that my daring, crazy, adventuresome husband swam through...

See his feet...going down through the tunnel to the other side on the Left of Ms. H.

She was looking for him....it took a few minutes for him to swim out...kind of freaky!  John said there were huge fish under there!

And to end the trip, there is always the fun rope swing that the kids get to try at the landing....

even the biggest of kids...John trying to do a flip!

Wacissa has become one of our favorite cool off spots during the summer.  We have been three times in a year!  It is certainly a favorite and only takes half a day and a cooler full of snacks!  Fun times!

Quotes I like that I read today

"This cross of domestic patience here is really but driftwood for the spiritual midgets, but I’m grateful that He knows my frame and what I am made of."  (From the blog Holy Experience)


“Children are made readers on the laps of their parents.” —Emilie Buchwald

colored pencils and 1 John

I'm not a big journal writer which is weird because I do this but it just doesn't interest me enough...I've tried.  My pastor and best friend have told me to journal about my spiritual journey and time with the girls I am having a Bible Study with but I haven't done it yet...so I write about it here sometimes...and again, I've been blessed by these women...maybe not the women so much but so truly amazed at how wonderful God is! 

We are studying 1 John using an inductive study guide.  Now John writes this letter as a tough love kind of love letter...not the sentimental type.  He compares light to dark, lost to found, love and hate, etc. Some of it is difficult to swallow but he is trying to get across to the readers (I think) that you either love God or don't...you either know you are going to have eternal life or you don't, you are walking in light or you aren't.  And he says over and over and over again that Christ is our advocate, our Mercy Seat, our propitiation.  It is amazing the things that these women gain from this...and to sit there and be a part of the Holy Spirit working on them is out right amazing and I tell them this!  One of the gals was so excited for today, was there before I was, told me that she wanted to read the scripture more than once to take it all in, and answering questions.  They all discussed loving their brother and what that means...they were feeling convicted and it was so crazy to me...the Holy Spirit working on seekers after reading His word....they want to do some intentional acts of kindness and I said go for it but here is the issue....WHY is it that you want to do it...do you want to earn a reward, do you want to prove your goodness, do you want to do it because you love as Christ did, are you walking in the light?  I feel so amazingly, unbelievably, extremely (can't think of any other cool words) privileged to be a part of this!  I wasn't feeling so hot yesterday and today and I sent them all an email (a way out) to let me know who exactly was going to be there so I knew whether to show up (summer is a whole different beast when it comes to scheduling and vacations and kids being out of school)...and I immediately got texts and emails back saying 6 of them would be there...well there you have it!  The pull of the Holy Spirit...what else could be dragging them to Chick-fil-a at 8:30 in the morning before they have to work a 12 hour shift!

The what not...

These are just things going on in my brain about life in our house right now....

One of the women from my Bible Study showed up at church with her son last Wednesday night....truly one of the highlights of my year! 

I'm on an organizational rampage...I have the rest of our summer planned out with play dates, field trips, school shopping, and date nights.  I have decided that will will finish up the school year bits and pieces, shop and get ready for the new school year, start our new co-op on August 22nd, and then start regular school right after labor day!  There are a few odds and ends that I want to finish up from this year so this will give us enough time to do so.

My next goal is to get a daily schedule in writing made up for us.  I have bought a curriculum for little Molly called Before Five in a Row that will hopefully engage her.  It is focused on 2-4 year olds and the premise is you read one book on the first day...and then it has activities that reinforce the book over the next 4 days.  Some of them are very easy like talking and doing a finger play about the book...they are good preschool age books...I will do it during preschool time with Molly while the other kids are reading alone.  We are also going to have "Circle Time" which is basically like "Table Time" but with preschoolers, "Circle Time will work best"...we will talk about geography, memorize our scripture from our co-op, discuss the weather, hopefully some current events both local and nationally, prayer requests, talk about problems that we are having and solutions, maybe read some of our Peacekeepers book, art appreciation, and discuss the days activities and schedule....I'm still gathering ideas for this.  I also have the idea of a school box for Molly....or a busy bag (I've heard it called both).  I'm thinking a M,W,F box and a T, Th box or something like that....the kids will get the box off the shelf and can help her with anything in it...my plan is to do this during Math and take turns with the big kids while the other one does the box with Molly....It will have number and letter cards, shape puzzles, color books, play dough, manipulative's, books, musical instruments, etc.  This will hopefully keep her busy so I can do Math with each kid. 

I'm also reading and trying to figure out our chore issue...ONCE AGAIN!  It is ever changing! 

Our new Co-op has us busy all day Monday and we go straight to Ballet.  So Monday is totally booked.  It will be a crock pot meal every Monday for sure!  But that will give us a good start to the week!  That way Sunday I can tweak our lesson plans and again on Monday and be really ready for Tuesday to roll around.  I'm going to need to take advantage of every moment, even time around the lunch table which I think is when we will do our Bible lesson.  I do want to have fun!  I'm excite because our Co-op has science experiments built right in and lots of fun activities that are suited for the curriculum so I think Friday will be a more fun type of day.....still n school but doing review work, maybe go to the park and do school if everyone has been diligent, science, etc.

I've made lists of people we want to see and places we want to go before the summer is out and we are doing good getting fun things planned.....I just love lists!  All doctor appts and dentist appts and dog appts and car appts will be out of the way before summer ends! 

The plans look great in writing....now let's see what happens in reality!

The Case For Christ

I think I have mentioned before that I "lead"a small women's Bible Study made up of women from my work place.  It was a nudge (shove) from the Holy Spirit that lead to it and now it has been going on for about 6 months.  We met at first and I had NO idea where anyone was spiritually and now I think I kind of know everyone better, understand more where they are coming from and know where we stand, although, I have had ups and downs, uncertainties, and have been over zealous at times.  Thankfully these women know me well enough to know that my greatest desire is to show them God's love for each and every one of them.  They have heard the Gospel.  I think any of them could tell you that "all have sinned and fall short of the Glory of God", I think they could all tell you that the Bible says that "Jesus is the son of God and no one comes to the Father except through Him."  I think they all understand the basics of coming to belief in Jesus....now the question is do they buy it.  I was sort of frustrated after going through the first study because I wasn't really sure what my purpose was...I had given them the Gospel and I was expecting results (and by the way I have been very transparent to them and they have heard everything that I am writing)....but forgetting that each person comes to God in their own way, own timing, and No one comes to the Father unless they have been called by HIM!  They told me they weren't sure yet but wanted to continue to meet and keep learning more which is AWESOME!  They have been so faithful and so open...really how could anyone get frustrated with that!  They know what I believe, they know what the Bible says, we have studied the reliability of the Bible, introduced them to Jesus, talked about why Jesus died and that they can be forgiven.  I like this saying:  I'm just one beggar trying to show another beggar how to find bread!  I think after much prayer and contemplation that my job now is to just mentor them and show them truth.  Give them the material and let the Holy Spirit work.  Give them good stuff to think about and let the Holy Spirit work.  I have been very blessed in my life to read good books that were recommended by wonderful people, hear great speakers, listen to great messages, and have been exposed to wonderful, inspiring, interesting thoughts.....so that I believe is my job right now...to share these things with these women as long as the will listen.  I find myself wanting to pass on info, teach them what I'm trying to teach my kids and like my children....their faith, their beliefs have to be their own...I cannot force it!  Just recently, John and I watched The Case for Christ on netflix which is a documentary based on the book Case For Christ by Lee Strobel.  We both thought it was fantastic.  Lee Strobel was an atheist and a journalist.  His wife started becoming interested in Christianity and to prove her wrong and save her from this cult, he launched a two year investigation to prove Christianity wrong.  After two years, he discovered that it would take more faith NOT to believe than to believe and he became a follower of Jesus.  The movie is a case study into his findings, shows historical accounts, dates, interviews,discusses the Gospels, the resurrection, etc.  I'm sure like everything else critics could find things they believe to be holes but I do think that his case was/is very strong it is just plain interesting to learn all the historical stuff.  I DON'T need anything like this to believe....my faith is big enough that I don't need proof or a bunch of data to believe but oh how interesting it is to learn new stuff.  I wanted to share it with the girls so bad so last night my family invited them all over to watch it.  We made dinner for them and several came to see the movie.  We are going to have two showings of it (trying to work around a bunch of nurse's schedules is hard) and then discuss it!  They all seem interested and I'm excited just to give them more good stuff to think about!  My dear husband even volunteered to watch their kids if needed!  We are also starting a new study called, "How do I know God is my Father"  by Kay Arthur.  And then there is another Netflx movie by Lee Strobel called, "The Case for Faith' that is excellent.  I love sharing the good stuff....

Evaluation~on to 4th Grade!

Having never been "evaluated" before I was very nervous for us!  When I look back over the year, I realize #1~it went soooo fast, #2~I forgot to have fun and be creative some of the times when I should have, #3~I want to do more science, #4~I've got to figure out how to teach Emily that math can be fun, will be used all the time and everyday  for the rest of her life, and figure out what makes her "tick" in that area, and #5~when I finally got everything together that we did, it really was A LOT even though I continually doubted myself!  One of my longest friends did the evaluation and she has done many of them over the years.  She is even listed as an evaluator on the TEACH home school website evaluator list.  She said luckily Florida Law is very simple and easy to follow.  As evaluators, they have to "prove" the following sentence, "I have found that the student has demonstrated progress at a level commensurate with his/her ability."  So as you can see this can be vague and it is up to the parent and child to show the evaluator what they have do and what the student can do....and this can be a very wide range of things.....She took notes on all the different areas, looked at all of our things, projects, books, math and writing.  I had made a photo album of about 150 pictures from field trips to science projects to vacations to book club activities to science topics, etc and she said it was helpful to see the wide variety of learning that took place.....which goes along with one of my favorite quotes taken from a friend, "Education is an atmosphere, a discipline, a life"  Charlotte Mason.  I am sure Emily would have "passed" even without me pulling everything out but it also helped me to see our progress...got me excited about getting everything ready for next year and reaffirming to myself and to John why we are doing this!  He said, "Wow, look at all those books we have read!"  The evaluator also asked Emily some questions about what she liked about homeschooling, what her favorite subject was, what she could improve upon, and had her read a paragraph out of her favorite book.  It was an encouraging experience and best of all.....WE PASSED!!!! On to 4th grade!!!!

A couple of highlights other than the normal school subjects that we will definitely do again:

1.  Book club and all the great books we are reading
2.  Bread Wagon Bakery field trip
3.  Washington DC as a "living field trip" that goes along with what we are studying.
4.  TeenPact at the State Capitol
5.  The home school Science Fair

Crazy chickens!

Our newest chickens have started laying so we are back to getting more eggs...one of the older ones has stopped due to the heat we think.  Betsy (the one that stopped laying) has decided that she likes to sleep and roost in the tree house on top of the fireman's pole extension.  She stays in the pen all day long and then has figured out how to get over the fence, walk up the steps to the tree house, hop on the side railing and then hops again up to the top of the fireman's pole.  She only does this in the evening.  One of the younger chickens, Charlotte, follows her sometimes.  John Daniel and John have tried moving her and getting her out of the tree house but now we have decided its no use...she still returns.  John Daniel was out there in his boxers one night getting two chickens out of the tree house....I caught it on camera!  He is so funny and such a little man sometimes!

The Fourth Part Two!

As you can see we had a great time trying out some new things....my children, especially Emily, really came out of her "shell" and went full force into learning something new that can be a little scary!  We spent three days at Cherry Lake in Madison with our friends the Brew Crew...staying in very close quarters in a two bedroom double wide trailer on their family's property!  We did great though except that I forgot Molly's bed so she took over mine and John's and we didn't sleep the greatest!  We stayed in the water pretty much the entire three days except to eat and rest a little in the air conditioning...the kids turned into prunes!  Even little Molly took to the water and didn't want to get out of the lake.  John, Mr. Jeff and Mrs. Harriet all wake boarded, we all tubed, and the kids and John all belly boarded and knee boarded.  My kids had NEVER done anything like this....we would lay them on the wake board and they would hold onto the rope which was attached to the boat, the boat would take off and we would pull them all over the huge lake.  When they would get tired, they would let go and bob in the water in their life vest until the boat could turn around and come back and get them.  Once they got that down, we let them try the knee board.  John would balance them on it and hold them on it until the boat would take off....my kids both did awesome!  They took to it the first time!  Emily then tried out the "real" way to do it which is to start off on your belly and then once in motion with the boat pulling her, she pulled her body up on the board and got in a kneeling position and put her knees under the strap ALL WHILE IN MOTION and going really fast, balancing and holding on to the rope!  We were all so impressed!  They loved it!!!!  It was so cute seeing them laying on the board in the middle of the lake or bobbing around in this huge body of water.....I could only pray that all the many boats saw them.....there wasn't ever a close call and I'm pretty sure their Daddy would have jumped in and made sure they were safe!  It was great to watch them have fun like that!  Molly enjoyed jumping in off the dock and even bobbed around in the water without holding on to one of us in her own little tube or life vest!  We watched fireworks over the lake one night and enjoyed good food together!  Great, great weekend~

This is Emily going from a lying position to a kneeling position while being pulled by the boat!