One reason that I want to organize my home is so that when it comes time to officially "homeschool" my kids, the house will be running smoothly in working order. I'm very excited about our choice to homeschool. There are so many benefits; I can't even begin to list them, but there is one draw back, and that is the huge time and effort requirement which is soooooo worth it! I can't think of anything more important to invest my time and energy in. There is a homeschooling convention coming up at the end of July that seems very promising. I hope to learn a lot and I hope it's an opportunity for Jeff and I to get on the same page. It seems like Jeff just kind of goes with the flow on a lot of things, and doesn't really lead this family like we need. It has really been grieving me for a while now, and I've been praying that God set his heart on fire for Him. Little by little, I see different changes like reading a Proverb a day with the children and cancelling the Netflix subscription, but he still just seems to go along with whatever I want. I don't know what to do; I just need to trust in You Lord. I know that You have GOOD things planned for us...
Anyway, I feel that the most important things I can teach my children right now is how to love the Lord their God with all their hearts, minds, and strength; and to love their neighbor as themselves, and to "drive the foolishness away from them." It's truly daunting to think of what a huge responsibility I have as a parent, but Lord I trust in You alone, not my talents, my abilities, not my persuasions. One way to do this is to teach God's character qualities to them, including truthfulness (one of Audrey's weaknesses), obedience, self-control, humility, etc using Bible verses, definitions, demonstrations, and Bible stories. My biggest desire is for my children to know, love and serve the Lord and others in every area of their lives. For curriculum, I'm using a learning board with a certain number, letter, theme, Bible verse, song, and character quality posted to it. We also have a family devotional/prayer time and then a calendar time. Here's what our schedule looks like:
| <> | Audrey | <>Claire | <><> |
| 7:00 | <>Wake/Quick Clean | <>Wake/Quick Clean | <>√ | <>
| 7:30 | <>Dress/Groom/Bed | <>Dress/Groom/Bed | <><> |
| 8:00 | <>Breakfast | <>Breakfast | <><> |
| 8:30 | <>Devotion/Prayer | <>Devotion/Prayer | <><> |
| 9:00 | <>Calendar/Board | <>Calendar/Board | <><> |
| 9:30 | <>Workbook | <>Free Time | <><> |
| 10:00 | <>Free Time | <>Workbook | <><> |
| 10:30 | <>Quick Clean/Snack | <>Quick Clean/Snack | <><> |
| 11:00 | <>Outside/Free Time | <>Outside/Free Time | <><> |
| 11:30 | <>Outside/Free Time | <>Outside/Free Time | <><> |
| 12:00 | <>Quick Clean/Lunch | <>Quick Clean/Lunch | <><> |
| 12:30 | <>DEAR | <>DEAR | <><> |
| 1:00 | <>Nap | <>Nap | <><> |
| 1:30 | <>Nap | <>Nap | <><> |
| 2:00 | <>Nap/Free Time | <>Nap/Free Time | <><> |
| 2:30 | <>Sing-a-Long | <>Sing-a-Long | <><> |
| 3:00 | <>Quick Clean/Snack | <>Quick Clean/Snack | <><> |
| 3:30 | <>DEAR | <>Workbook | <><> |
| 4:00 | <>Workbook | <>DEAR | <><> |
| 4:30 | <>Craft | <>Craft | <><> |
| 5:00 | <>Quick Clean/Outside | <>Quick Clean/Outside | <><> |
| 5:30 | <>Outside/Free Time | <>Outside/Free Time | <><> |
| 6:00 | <>Quick Clean/Dinner | <>Quick Clean/Dinner | <><> |
| 6:30 | <>Bath | <>Bath | <><> |
| 7:00 | <>PJ's/Teeth | <>PJ's/Teeth | <><> |
| 7:30 | <>Read-Aloud/Prayer | <>Read-Aloud/Prayer | <><> |
| 8:00 | <>Good Night | <>Good Night | <><> |
| <> | <> | <> | <> |
| <> | <> | <> | <> |
| <> | <> | <> | <> |
| <> | <> | <> | <> |
We don't follow it to a T, but it really helps us get more things done...
As for the "certain endeavors" I feel the Lord leading me to, I've been thinking a lot lately about mentoring teenage girls. I remember being a teenager and feeling out of the loop because of my faith in God. People thought I was a "weirdo" because I felt so strongly about God and His truth, the Bible. It hurt to not fit in, but it was very necessary to develop my faith and passion in God. I was ridiculed, persecuted, singled-out; Satan would throw everything my way to push me off balance, but God had a purpose and ended up using me to lead five girls to Him. I give Him all the Glory. I didn't want to switch schools in the middle of high school, but I totally see His purpose in retrospect! Anyway, God's not done with me yet. He is sooo good! I feel a desire to teach and facilitate a class on worship. The Lord has brought so many ideas into my head. I want to teach them to worship in "spirit and in truth" reading a Psalm every class, to teach chords, to pick a worship song to play according to an attribute of God (faithfulness, truth, mercy), and to discover what these things really mean; not worshipping God with emptyness, but in truth. I would give an assignment each week to embed His truth in their hearts. It's all kind of jumbled in my head right now, but I'm excited about what the Lord has given me! Oh Lord, lead me in Your ways...Your timing.
*Audrey's a daredevil: she put her choo-choo up on the slide, sat atop it, and came barreling down scraping the left side of her face and reopening a gash on her forehead
*Audrey came running into our room, tripped and plowed right into my hope chest (hence the gash on forehead)
*Over Madison's house, under Jeff's supervision, Audrey jumped on the trampoline, lost control, cut open her lip on the coils before flying off the trampoline
*conversation with Daddy:
*Claire said, "I will hit the bad people in the head with the trash can, stomp on them, and then I will eat them"
*Claire said as she's whipping a belt around in a ninja stance, "I will fight them, I will go to jail and hit them, and then I will drive them" Sounds like Jeff has made a good influence...! Hey... she said she will only fight the bad people in jail!
