Archive for November, 2005
Proof that evolution is bunk
I am falling down the evolutionary ladder. If evolution were true, that'd be impossible. I have been a Flappy Bird for quite some time now, but woe is me, now I'm a Slimy Mollusc!!!
(I thought it was because I just haven't been blogging much lately, let alone about anything controversial like Created To Be His Help Meet, but as I went to get links to type this post, I discovered that there may be another reason I've devolved.)
My honey and me :-)
This was taken a couple weeks ago. 
We’ve barely begun this school year…
...and I'm already looking ahead to next year!
This year we are using a mixture of Bob Jones that I teach and Bob Jones HomeSat. The only non-BJU curriculum we use right now is Handwriting Without Tears.
I really like our curriculum. It works well. The kids enjoy it. Well, for being school, they enjoy it.
They are learning a lot.However, for history and science I would like to combine them for next year. I think they would enjoy it and learn even more if we had our own little "class" going on. If I stick with BJU I'll have 3 different history classes and 3 different science classes, and although HomeSat makes that so much easier than teaching myself, I just would prefer us all doing it together. (Plus, and I do hope I'm wrong, the 4th grade HomeSat teachers for science and history look so boring from what I've seen!!! *sigh* )
So! Here are my thoughts for next year, in case y'all are just chomping at the bit to know. I'll have a 4th grader, 2nd grader, 1st grader, and PreK.
Bible: BJU Bible 2 for the older 3, done together; haven't quite figured out what I want to do with the PreKer since I'd like to combine him with S when she is in PreK and have them do Bible together. Any suggestions on a PreK Bible curriculum???
Math: BJU HomeSat
Handwriting: HWT
English/Reading: For the 1st grader, most likely HomeSat (or I MAY teach it myself); For the 2nd and 4th graders I'll use HomeSat for reading and Rod & Staff for English. It was a toss-up between R&S and BJU this year for English, and I went ahead with BJU because BJU has a stronger writing program. But for next year I won't need their writing program (I'll get to that in a minute
).Spelling: For the younger 2 at least, HomeSat; for the 4th grader I'm not sure if I'm going to stick with HomeSat or go with Spelling Power. I like the BJU uses word families, and they love the journal entries involved, but I like the way Spelling Power only has the child work on the words he doesn't know. Suggestions???
History: Oh I'm so excited about this one. Tapestry of Grace. We used it a couple years ago, and it was a total flop, but I'm seeing now where I screwed up. I started at the very beginning, which is majorly ancient history. Well, I was working with a 1st grader. He didn't give a flying flip about ancient history. It was way too abstract for him, even with the hands-on stuff. I also wasn't real sure about just what to expect out of him, how to present the material in an interesting way, what all I needed from the curriculum guides, etc. So NOW, I'm going to start with Year 2, Unit 3, which is Colonial America. It will be right where C leaves off in his history from this year, and G won't mind backtracking a bit. It deals with America, something familiar to them, so they will be able to grasp things better. TOG also has several more articles on their website with tips and teaching suggestions. I'm feeling so much more confident about it!!!!!
TOG includes writing, so that is why I don't need a writing curriculum.
Science: I'm sort of stumped on this one, so I'd like your input! Right now it's a toss-up between Living Learning Books and Apologia Elementary Science. And really since neither one has 6 different levels, I'll probably end up using both at some point. But I'm not sure which I should use next year. I love how LLB incorporates video suggestions, but I've just heard how wonderful Apologia's is. Decisions, decisions!!!
(At some point in time I'm looking at Considering God's Creation, but I think my crew will be too young for it next year. I may wait until J and S are old enough to join in the fun. )And I can't forget J's PreK: HomeSat HomeSat HomeSat - he is sooooooo excited about getting to do Chester & Friends next year!
So excited! And I'd love to hear y'all's input on my questions!
Homeschooling Blogger Awards 2005
Spunky is hosting the Homeschooling Blogger Awards 2005. You can nominate someone in the following categories:
Best Homeschooling Mom Blog
Best Homeschooling Dad Blog
Best Homeschooling Family blog
Best Homeschooling Teen blog
Best Informational Homeschool blog
Best Inspirational Homeschool blog
Best Homeschooling Humor blog
Best Team / Group Homeschool Blog
Best Homeschool Curriculum / Business Blog
Best Homeschool Blog Design
Best Canadian Homeschool Blog
Best International Homeschool Blog
Best Current Events Homeschool Blog
Best Homeschool Arts Blog
Best Homeschool Photo Blog
Nominations will be open through December 11, and then voting will be from Dec. 12-25.
Who Would I Be in 1400 AD?
The Paladin
You scored 18% Cardinal, 46% Monk, 55% Lady, and 51% Knight!You are highly moral but also don't shy away from using force if your lord commands it. You are honourable to the point that you would readily sacrifice yourself for a noble cause. Your name will be the subject of tales and song for generations, however their concentration will be less on your deeds in life as on your martyrdom.
You scored high as both the Knight and the Lady. You can try again to get a more precise description of the Knight or the Lady, or you can be happy that you're an individual.
My test tracked 4 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender: 
You scored higher than 13% on Cardinal You scored higher than 58% on Monk You scored higher than 89% on Lady You scored higher than 55% on Knight Link: The Who Would You Be in 1400 AD Test written by KnightlyKnave on OkCupid Free Online Dating, home of the 32-Type Dating Test
School memories
Got this from Shades of Pink, let me know if you do it too!
School memories (the object is to share one memory from each grade)
Kindergarten: Going on a field trip to an apple orchard and watching them make apple cider
First Grade: TECHNICALLY this was the same year as kindergarten since kindergarten lasted a whole 9 weeks for me, but I guess it was separate grades, so I'll separate them LOL. I remember, shortly after being put in my new class, doing one of the worktext pages that we weren't supposed to do. (It was one of those routine things that had been discussed prior to my joining the class.) I cried and cried and cried, and the teacher had to take me out in the hall to talk to me about it.
Second Grade: Borrowing Nancy Drew books from the library.
Third Grade: Learning about how ancient Egyptians used to remove the organs from the dead people and would pull their brains out through their noses.
Fourth Grade: Breaking my arm ice skating on the road.
Fifth Grade: Going to Deerfield Village and the Henry Ford Museum on a field trip.
Sixth Grade: Going to a week-long camp...I think it was called Calwood????? I had a huge crush on one of the counselors LOL.
Seventh Grade: Doing a flag routine in the talent show with a couple friends of mine.
Eighth Grade: Walking into 1st period history at my new school, and Melanie Luningham saying, "Hah!" (translation: "Hi") to me. We are still friends.
Ninth Grade: Complaining with the rest of the drill team about being penalized in a competition because we hadn't slathered on the make-up.
Tenth Grade: My first real boyfriend. Most of my time was spent waiting for him to show up at the movie theater...he and his parents were about 30-60 minutes late EVERYWHERE they went. LOL.
Eleventh Grade: Playing Red Rover at my 16th birthday party at the park. Who'da thought a child's game could be so much fun????
Twelfth Grade: Reciting the Dagger Speech from MacBeth in Teddie Faye Raines's English class. "Is this a dagger I see before me...handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee...I have thee not, and yet I see thee still."
Random Ramblings
Sorry I haven't blogged much lately. Now that I'm "officially" schooling 3 (with a 3yo and 13mo in tow), although I do have "time" to sit at the computer, my brain is pretty much shot. I just have wayyyyyyyyy too many things going on in there!
Anyway, I have a free moment (sort of LOL), so I thought I'd share what's been going on, some assorted "Wow!" things I've been getting from my Breaking Free study, etc.
A few weeks back, on the drive in to church for the study, I was just laying it all out before the Lord. I told Him that I felt like the Apollo 13 astronauts. I felt like I'm being asked to make an oxygen tank out of duct tape, a hanger, a toilet paper roll, some chewing gum, and some dryer lint. I've been given a particular set of circumstances and "oh, by the way," maintain your home (and trust me, my standards are NOT high
), raise your children in the ways of the Lord, get enough sleep, make sure the children get a decent education (again, the standards are not too high), etc. I felt just very OVERWHELMED. I've been praying about this for YEARS. YEARS YEARS YEARS. The circumstances have sort of changed but not really. So I quoted God's Word back to Him. I quoted Luke 11:11-13:"Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!" (NIV)
So I get to Bible study, and the chapter was about brokenheartedness. I struggled with this chapter because, to be quite honest, much of my heart has been broken by God. He is my All, however, so I knew that for whatever reason, He was doing something by breaking my heart, but throughout this chapter it was tough dealing with that. For example, one of the questions Beth asks is,
If you've ever felt betrayed, was part of your injury knowing that the other person would have been aware how hurt you would be?
I marked the "Yes" box with a big ol' X (larger than normal LOL). Because since God knows everything about me, I knew He'd know, and yet for whatever reason, He did it anyway.
Anyway, then in the video time Beth talked about finding satisfaction in Christ. Empty places are in our lives for a reason, so that God can fill them. (I am so not doing this justice LOL!) But toward the end of the video, Beth quoted Luke 11:11-13...the exact Scripture I had quoted to God on the way there that very night!!!!
Still working through all of this, but I just though it was, ahem, "coincidental" (cough cough sputter sputter) that I had just prayed that Scripture a few hours before.
Another thing that hit me between the eyes occurred when we were taking a deeper look at Isaiah 30:15:
This is what the Sovereign LORD, the Holy One of Israel, says: "In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength, but you would have none of it." (NIV)
Beth shares in the study guide that
Isaiah 30:15 is telling us that in returning to God and resting confidently in His promises and His power, we will continually find salvation.
We all know that God wants us to return and rest, but what kind of equation would tend to more readily reflect the practices of your past? I'll give you mine so you can the idea: In repenting plus being determined to do better on my own strength has often been my downfall. (empasis mine)
I don't know about you, but this is SO TRUE for me!!! I get so determined that I'm gonna do xyz or I'm NOT gonna do abc, and then I fall flat on my face!!! When really I need to REST IN THE LORD!
In the same section she said something that I found very poignant:
The exact Hebrew word translated trust in this verse appears only once in the Old Testament. The word bitchah means "there is nothing more that one can do."
We are simply to obey God. Period. And then we wait for Him to do what He is going to do, rather than obeying and then trying to help things along a bit.
Something else that struck me in this chapter on obedience was just what obedience IS. So often we think of obedience as following a set of rules. "Do this...don't do this...etc." And ohhhhhhhh how popular this line of thinking is among conservative Christians!!! "This is what obedience looks like." But that is so not true.
Obedience does not mean sinlessness but confession and repentance when we sin. Obedience is not arriving at a perpetual state of godliness but perpetually following hard after God. Obedience is not living miserably by a set of laws but inviting the Spirit of God to flow freely through us so the power to be victorious comes from God and not from us. Obedience is learning to love and treasure God's Word and see it as our safety.
HOW FREEING THIS IS!!!!!
OK so then there came a section about God's Daily Rule. Beth states
We don't develop an appreciation for His presence from crisis points.
We must walk with Him DAILY,
perhaps in the mundane more than the miraculous.
And sometimes this requires a shift in our thinking.
For years I asked God to walk with me...I realized God wanted me to walk with Him. For years I asked God to bless what I did...I formerly wanted to take my feet of clay and walk where my heart led and count on the Potter to bless my sweet-if-selfish little heart...Suddenly I realized God's blessing would come when I did what He said...For our own safety and for the pure enjoyment of God, we are so wise and blessed to learn to walk with God instead of begging Him to walk with us. (emphasis mine)
And then Beth shares this AWESOME word picture:
Imagine going to heaven and standing by God as He lovingly shows you the calendar of His plan for your earthly life. It begins with the day you are born. Once you received Christ as Savior, every day that follows is outlined in red. You see footprints walking through each day of each week of your life. On many of the days, two sets of footprints appear. You inquire: "Father, are those my footprints on the calendar every day and is the second set of prints when you joined me?"He answers, "No, My precious Child. The consistent footprints on your calendar are Mine. The second set of footprints are when you joined Me."
"Where were You going, Father?"
"To the destiny I planned for you, hoping you'd follow."
"But, Father, where are my footprints all those times?"
He answers, "Sometimes you went back to look at old resentments and habits while I was still going forward, hoping you'd join Me. Sometimes, you departed from My path and chose your own calendar instead. Other times, your footprints can even be seen on another person's calendar because you thought you liked their plan better. At other times, you simply stopped because you would not let go of something you could not take to the next day."
"But, Father, we ended up OK even if I didn't walk with You every day, didn't we?"
He holds you close and smiles. "Yes, Child, we ended up OK. But, you see, OK was never what I had in mind for you."
"Father, what are those golden treasure boxes on certain days?"
"Blessings, My child, I had for you along the way. those that are open are those you received. Those still closed were days you did not walk with Me."
All I have to say is "WOW."
So that's what has been going on Bible study wise. Here at home...well it's the same ol', same ol', I guess. Dh has been traveling. His boss and his boss's boss have been in town this week, so they have been traveling around to the different plants that my dh has authority over, checking things out. He has several vacation days that he has to use by the end of the year or he will lose them, so he is planning to take off every Friday until the end of the year. Woo hoo. He needs the break too - he is just run ragged with his job!
G is learning that more is expected out of him now that he is in the 3rd grade. This is somewhat hard for me too because it's hard for me to know if I should be expecting mastery out of certain things or not. He's not very self-motivated, so I have to prod him some.
But he did like making a three-corner hat in history the other day and wore it around saying, "The British are coming! The British are coming!" LOL!C (1st grade) is sloooooowwwwwllllllllly starting to read. I think sometimes he gets in the way of himself, ya know? OH! (Kelli, this one is for you.
) The other day he was doing his math. He had to look at a picture of squares and then determine if there were enough ones to rename into tens. He looked at the picture and said, "17," before I even got a chance to count them. I was amazed. Visions of Rain Man were dancing in my head. (C was diagnosed with PDD-NOS after all, which IS on the autistic spectrum, so hey, I guess it could be possible LOL!) I said, "C, how did you count that fast?????" He said, very nonchalantly, "Mrs. Vick told me." (He does his math with the HomeSat DVD, and she HAD already told him how many were there.) LOL!!!!L loves her kindergarten DVD. (I do too!) She is learning to read (sort of LOL), and she is really doing well at memorizing her verses for Sparks. She is BEGGING for a Barbie house for Christmas.
J (3.5) has taken well to his daily "storytime with Mom." I realized that since I don't do school with him and don't have to nurse him anymore, he just sort of flits through the day and falls through the cracks (which typically gets him into trouble!). So I've put a storytime in our schedule, right in the middle of the morning. We go up to his room and read a book, just he and I. Ohhhhhh how he loves this, and he is sure to remind me!!! We are reading through the Complete Book of Farmyard Tales, and we are really enjoying that.
S (13.5 months) SLEPT FOR SEVEN HOURS STRAIGHT LAST NIGHT!!!!! THAT HAS NEVER HAPPENED BEFORE!!! I felt like a new woman! LOL!!!! I have no idea what was different about last night than oh, the past YEAR, but I am thrilled to bits that it happened!!! I put her to bed around 10 (she had fallen asleep in the van on the way to AWANA, which pushed her bedtime back a bit...doncha hate it when that happens???), she woke up at FIVE (we couldn't believe it!!!), I nursed her in my bed and she passed back out, I got up at 6:20, and then she woke up at 7:50. WOO HOO!!!!! I have been praying for God to do SOMETHING with the whole nighttime situation because it was just FRUSTRATING BEYOND ALL GET OUT, and He finally did!
We're thinking about rearranging our house. We have a four-level split (note: this is one of the dumbest house plans I've ever seen). Since we have such a massive dining table, we currently have it in what should be the living room upstairs on the main floor, and we have our living room in the den, which is 2 levels down in the basement. I don't really care for this arrangement either, though, so I think we are going to try to get the dining table in the actual dining room (well, they call it a "room," I call it an "area" LOL) so we can have the living room upstairs and the school room down in the basement. I'm so tired of having school books covering the dining table all the time.
I think we may do that this weekend. We'll see.And last, but certainly not least, check out this video. (HT: Sal) A few comments:
1. OH MY WORD ARE THEY FUNNY
2. The guy behind them cracks me up. Does he not see them? Is he ignoring them? Or is he in on it and there for effect?
3. I wonder if they think this is how Americans are.
4. I miss having a friend that I can do dorky stuff like this with.
Feast Sixty-Nine
Appetizer
If someone made a statue of you, in which pose would you like to be?
Smiling and holding one of my children.Salad
What perfume/cologne does your best friend wear?
I don't have a best friend.Soup
Name something satisfying about your work.
It has eternal ramifications.Main Course
What was the last excuse you made, and why did you need to make it?
(Probably not the actual last excuse I've made, but I can't remember that so...) "Sorry I can't come the homeschool meeting. My dh is going to be out of town."Dessert
Complete this sentence: I wonder why children have more energy than their parents.
Feast Sixty-Eight
Appetizer
What was the last game you purchased?
Probably a croquet set.Soup
Name something in which you don't believe.
Any other way to God besides Jesus.Salad
If you could choose a television personality to be your boss, who would you pick?
I honestly have NO idea.Main Course
What was a lesson you had to learn the hard way?
Sometimes in order to obey God you may have to be "unsubmissive." (NOTE THE QUOTES since from a Biblical perspective it wouldn't be unsubmissive.)
Oh yeah, and if a relative wants to sell you a house...get it inspected and appraised first to find out if 1) it's in the condition he/she says it's in, and 2) it's worth what he/she says it is.
(I learned more lessons through this whole fiasco, but I'll spare you.)Dessert
Describe your idea of the perfect relaxation room.
Nice music playing (what music would depend on my mood), scented candle burning, lots of pillows to sit/lie on, books to read, hubby to give me a nice back rub. NO ONE SAYING "MOM MOM MOM MOM MOM MOM MOM MOM MOM MOM MOM."
So far so good
Thanks for y'all's prayers! I guess God is answering them 'cuz I'm still fine.
Hubby comes home tomorrow evening, and I'm so ready. I'm pooped. I don't sleep well at all when he's gone - it takes me forever to fall asleep, and then it's a really light sleep. I guess it's because I feel like I can't fully relax??? One time a couple years ago, I had told him how I just don't sleep when he's gone, and I'm not sure if he really believed me or not. But his first night home we went to bed and I was out in less than five minutes. He was amazed. I mentioned to him this week how poorly I sleep while he's not home, and he was shocked - he thought it was just at that point in time that I struggled with it. Nope.
I sure hope he lets me sleep in Saturday.
I’m in denial
No, my throat doesn't feel funny, like that pre-sore-throat, "off" feeling.
My sinuses aren't feeling odd either.
I am NOT GETTING SICK WHILE MY HUSBAND IS GONE!!!
