Happy Birthday America!!!!

Anyone who knows me at all knows that I'm extremely patriotic. It's normal to see me cry any time I hear our national anthem, or to break up when trying to sing any patriotic song, or even when I'm reading aloud to my kids something about our country's history. I love my country. I'm so blessed to be an American.

I want to take the time to thank any and all who have sacrificed to make our country what it is. I'm so grateful! Thank you for making it the best place for a person to accomplish their dreams. I love that I can tell my kids, "You can do whatever you want to do. You are citizens of a country that gives you so much opportunity." It's so true!

So, today, God bless America. May we be worthy of that blessing!

Wordless Wednesday #1

These were taken in El Salvador when we were there. We love El Salvador!

It's Been a While!

I've been so busy!!!!

We've been doing all of our wrapping up of last year's materials and getting ready to begin our next phase. The kids have gone to camp and come back and we are now organizing our life to get started on Monday!

We are really ready. It's been a LOOOOOONG week of "I'm bored." When it starts to get like that I dust off the books and get to planning because I know it's time! They are actually excited to start. I'm thinking it will be good to begin new stuff.

Here's the plan so far!

History

We are starting our 2 year study of American History. This year we will be using the Beautiful Feet guide with the Genvieve Foster books as our spine. We will be reading a LOT of living books and my oldest 2 will begin writing monthly term papers based on our studies. We will tie in Art History and Music Appreciation from this time period to enhance our studies on Fridays.

Science

This has been a tough one for me (see posts below). I was struggling with what to do with my oldest who is a rising 9th grader but a very young one (she will just turn 14 in Sept.) Science has been a HUGE commitment for her this year with Biology and all. She's done well, but, it's been a lot of work for her. Also, she is a little more than half way through Algebra 1 (we had some struggles at the beginning!). The natural progression would be for her to start Chemistry this year, but, I'm afraid that her math skills need a little more work.

In the meantime, I've bought Christian Kids Explore Chemsitry (for grades 5-8) for my younger 2 for this year. I've decided to start my oldest out in that with her younger siblings and let her get her math skills further along and then once she starts Geometry, we will begin Chemistry with Apologia as originally planned. She isn't really interested in college yet, but, I want to make sure she's up to par on science in case she changes her mind.

I feel good about this decision because I think she will in the long run excel with this plan instead of struggle her way through science she really isn't ready for.

We will also continue nature journaling, which we enjoy! Another thing we will be implementing is gardening and weather.

Language Arts

This is an easy one for me! We will continue with Learning Language Arts Through Literature for the younger 2 and begin American Literature with KISS grammar for the oldest. We will also begin KISS grammar for my youngest since I forgot to order Ridgewood (my fav grammar program) and now I have to wait until someone who is coming down can bring it for me!

My oldest 2 will be doing Writing Strands and will be working on writing essays this year. This will be a stretch, because, eventhough we've done a lot of writing, I've never really required a full-on essay with notes, bibliography, etc. We will work on this all year.

We will also be doing Shakespeare throughout the year on Fridays. My kids actually love reading these plays and sonnets. They think it's interesting learning about the language and all of the historical things attatched to Shakespeare.

Math

The oldest will continue with Teaching Textbooks. I really love this program. It's been so great for a non-math mom like me!!!!

My middle child is really advanced at math and enjoys it a lot! She is currently doing an intro. to Algebra course with the Key To...books and will be moving on to Teaching Textbooks later this year.

My youngest will be starting Saxon 65. He is good at math, but, a little lazy about it. He doesn't apply himself the way he should so we will be working on that.


There are a lot of other subjects we will be working with, government, world view, etc. but, that's for later! I can only plan so much!

Finishing up!

Since we school year-round, we don't really go from one grade to another all at once. So that means, we can be working on at least 2 grade levels in different subjects at some point during the year. We finish levels to go to the next level. This year we have really plowed ahead and are finishing up levels a little early, which is fabulous!!!!

My oldest finished 8th grade last week and now is officially working on 9th grade in all her subjects. We need to finish up Biology and then we can officially move on to all our next levels with all 3 dc. This year, I did something I've never done before and I started all 3 kids in different periods of history and science. I will probably never do that again! It was so much to plan and teach that it's really too much work. I'm more about teaching one lesson in each subject to all 3, and then assigning different levels of projects to be done within that subject. That's what works well for me, I'm too spread out and stressed any other way!

My other 2 have officially finished the main bulk of their work in their levels and are currently working on art appreciation, composer studies, reading, math, and various science topics including nature study/journaling. We are waiting for the oldest to finish up Biology in order to move on together into the new areas of study.

Here's some new things we will be adding and I've planned out:

1. Geography using the Holling books. We are using this at my kids' request. They loved it when we used it years ago and wanted to use it again. This will be a nice change from Trail Guides.

2. Beautiful Feet Jr. High American History. I'm a dyed-in-the-wool Truthquest user, so this has been a change I haven't embraced too freely! But, when we were home for a visit in February, someone gave me this guide with a lot of the books I need for it. I've looked through it, and I've decided to use it because it really is good, and the best part, it's free!

3. Christian Kids Explore Chemistry. I picked this up for my younger 2 because I wanted to do Chemistry because my oldest was going to be doing Chemistry too. After looking at it and talking with my oldest dd, I realized that we are all going to use this together this year. She was going to do Apologia Chemistry, but, I feel like she will benefit from this as an Intro. to Chemistry class. Next year she will do Apologia. She needs a little break from higher level science.

4. Artist and composer study from Ambleside Online. I will be using the AO guide to these along with the prints in the Yahoo group and the selections of classical music I can find online.

5. More intense Nature study. Maybe intense is the wrong word! What I mean is, more in depth. They are at the age now where I will be requiring more from their journals in way of writing. There will be a little research required as well.

That's about it. I still can't figure out how to post charts and visuals like that. So I guess I won't be able to share menus, lesson plans, or other things for a while yet! Bummer, that I'm so illiterate in the computer. But, I'm learning!

Update!

Well, it's been awhile! It's been crazy for me with missions teams coming down and home schooling, and life in general. I'm at a point now where things, for me, should be slowing down a little! We'll see.

Home schooling update

We are plugging ahead with everything. We did a worm dissection yesterday, and that was real interesting. We were able to find everything and identify everything we needed to. I've been reading so long about worms, I know more than I ever really wanted to. The kids loved it. It was a fun afternoon for them.

I'm receiving some of my stuff for our next phase. Since we home school year round, I don't say "next year" it doesn't make sense because we just go until we start something new so we can be working on several grade levels at once for each child. Anyway, our new geography program is arriving in bits and pieces and I'm really looking forward to starting it. We are going to be doing the unit study with Holling C. Holling books. I'm waiting for 2 more books and the maps to arrive. The kids asked for this specifically because they remember doing it when they were younger and they really loved it. It'll be a nice switch from Trail Guides.

I'm done planning all our government, Chemistry, world view, history, art and music appreciation, poetry, nature studies, Shakespeare and Plutarch, and geography for our next phase. I need to figure out Math and LA, but, we have a little time for that yet, so I'm not too worried about getting it done so quickly.

Things are going well. Christopher finally has his times tables memorized and that is helping him out so much in his math (Saxon 54). Bailey is flying through her intro to Algebra text (Key to...), and Alicia is working through Algebra I (Teaching Textbooks). I'm still figuring out what we are going to do with Christopher for math. I have all the Saxon until Algebra I, so it just kills my frugal little heart to not use them. But, I have to admit, Saxon isn't really his thing. Math is too important, so I'm thinking it's time for a change for him. I'm really leaning toward Developmental Math. We'll see.

Family Update

God is good. He's so faithful. We are so grateful to be serving Him here in Guatemala. I'm so glad we were able to go home for a visit, but, it's good to be back. We are all healthy and happy. Mark is busy, but not so bad that we can't spend time with him.

Mark and I celebrate our 15th anniversary on Thursday. It seems like we just got married, but, it's really been 15 years. I'm so grateful for a Godly husband. I'm so thankful that he prays and seeks God for our family and the direction we will be going in. It's so easy to trust a man like that and it takes the stress off of me. I'm so grateful that he is so grounded and not easily flustered (unlike me). So, here's to another 15 years!

I'm still trying to figure out how to post charts here so I can share our menus and such. I'm not the most computer-savvy person, but, I'm hanging in there!

Daniel

Today our women's Bible study group finished the book of Daniel with Beth Moore. It was a real challenge! The first half of the book we talked about Babylon and what that means. How we are all in our own challenges in Babylon. We deal with materialism, strife, gossip, gluttony, all kinds of things that pull us from God. I realized that there are some things in my life that I need to work on! (Isn't that just the way God works?)

Materialism is something that people relate to the States and how life is there. There's just so much abundance. You can get anything if you work hard enough and want it bad enough. But, I've found something else out about materialism. It's a state of the heart.

Here's why.

I struggle with materialism. Not necessarily buying things I don't need or spending more money than I have (although there was a time, I suppose, when I spent money I didn't need to), but, feeling resentful that even if I wanted too, I couldn't. There's a deep-seeded feeling of resentment at times when I see friends buying things right and left (things, I would argue, that aren't even necessary) and I can't. The ability to do so isn't even there. To cover it, we can get the attitude, "Well, I guess even if I could, I wouldn't because I can think of so many better things to do with my money. There's so much need in the world, I would help that."

Just to knock out that sense of pride, here's a thought. Do you have something right now in your possession that someone else might really need? Maybe you have more than one thing. Do you give it? My husband one time met a man who lived on the street who was wearing a light, long-sleeved shirt. He gave him his sweatshirt we just bought. At first, I'm ashamed to say, I was a little upset with him. How could he do that? It's not like we have the money all the time to just run out and buy more if we need to. (insert indignant look here) Do you know what he said to me? "Honey, since I have 3 more in my closet, we won't need to worry about running right out and buying another one anytime soon. The man doesn't even have a home." (Now you can insert an ashamed look)

What was I thinking? Did it really matter to us, even if it was my husband's last sweatshirt, to give it to a man who didn't even have a home? You get possessive. You see the need, you can even maybe meet the need, but, you justify it by saying that really, you can't afford to. It wouldn't even truly hurt to meet that need, but, we don't. What does Jesus think of that? He who gave us everything we have to begin with? He who gave all He had without even a second thought, when we didn't even deserve it?

Anyway, Daniel did it to me. I hated that study! I hate having to crucify the flesh. It's painful, it hurts, and it's ugly to see what needs to go. Just when I thought, "Wow, I'm doing really well, Lord. I'm serving You here in Guatemala. I'm giving You everything I have." He says, "Really? Let's just see."

God is so good and patient with us. I'm grateful! What would I do if He thought and acted the way I do sometimes? Yikes! Yikes to us all!

I challenge you. Ask Him, truthfully, what you can work on. He'll start to point things out. It's not fun, but, the end result is amazing.

Goals and Visions

On a discussion board I'm a part of, I recently talked about the importance of having goals and a vision for your homeschool. I really think this is important because it helps keep me focused on what our plans are as parents for our kids. It keeps me focused when I'm choosing curriculum and planning for the next year. In other words, it may be wonderful, but, if it doesn't fit our goals it's not for us. Here's what my husband and I have come up with:

Four Winds Academy
Goals and Vision
General Vision

1. To be able to further our personal relationship with Jesus in all aspects of our
lives.
2. To be able to communicate the gospel effectively and in a culturally relevant
way in society.
3. To be solid in the foundations of our faith by having a Christian worldview.
4. To be life-long independent learners and, therefore, successful in all we do.
5. To build strong relationships with fellow believers.
6. To understand the value of service and committment to others.

Goals to attain the vision

1. To be able to further our personal relationship with Jesus in all aspects of our
lives.

a) Teach the necessity of a personal quiet time each day.
b) Be involved in a healthy, spiritually alive church family.
c) Have a daily family prayer time.
d) Start and maintain Bible and Prayer journals at all ages.

2. To be able to communicate the gospel effectively and in a culturally relevant
way in society.

a) Teach a thorough understanding of the gospel and the law.
b) Create opportunities to be evangelistic as a family. Encourage the sharing
of their faith to their friends and others that they meet.
c) Teach them to be culturally relevant by using the newspapers, magazines,
music, and videos as tools to understand the cultural trends.
d) Be open and sensitive to questions they may have about what they see and
hear.
e) Choose curriculum that is fresh and makes God relevant to all they are
learning.
f) To teach a variety of communication skills including: writing, speech, drama,
music, art, and debate.

3. To be solid in the foundation of our faith by having a Christian world view.

a) Attend World View Weekends and Summit camps at appropriate ages.
b) Choose material that clearly represents and defends our Christian heritage.
c) Educate them on other religions and world views so they can compare and
contrast and understand truth.
d) Buy current event materials taught from a Christian World View.
e) Provide videos that teach these concepts.

4. To be lifelong independent learners and, therefore, successful in all we do.

a) Choose curriculum that is self-contained and can be easily done independently.
b) Assign projects that encourage research and discovery.
c) Provide materials to assist in research and discovery.
d) Teach skills effectively: reading, writing, research, etc. This will help to
achieve independence.

5. To build strong relationships with other believers.

a) Attend a spiritually alive church.
b) Provide ample opportunity to build friendships through play dates, co-ops,
and clubs.
c) Teach how to be a good friend and effective communication skills in relation
to others.


6. To understand the value of service and commitment to others.
a) Provide opportunities of service through community volunteer organizations:
nursing home activities department, soup kitchen, animal shelters, crisis
pregnancy centers
b) Teach on commitment and find a place for them to have to commit to being
involved for a short length of time.
c) Help them understand attitude, commitment, and obedience go hand in hand.