Wordless Wednesdy

I mean to blog more and what better way than to start with Wordless Wednesday?!

I really have low energy and little time today so it's perfect anyway. So without further ado...

I Can't Help Him...But You Can

For what must have been the third time tonight, Elijah crawled out from under his blanket, tip-toed slowly across the creaking floor, and ended up beside my bed, tear-y eyed and with a quivering voice. I knew what the issue was.  His brother had just talked about the bad dream he had the night before.  Now that he was asleep, Elijah was left alone to face his own fear of the dark.

This has become a pattern. Some nights are better than others. Those nights when both boys are fast asleep before their father and I are ready to climb in bed are like a holiday.

"For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare  are  not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ," (2 Corinthians 10:3-5 NKJV)

I had gotten tired of getting up to put him back to bed. But I prayed for him, guided him to pray for himself, and walked him back to his room...again.  He would not relent. Refusing to lay his little head down and close his eyes, he continued to cry and insist I stay with him.  

"But Mom..." 

I could feel the frustration rising up inside me. 

"Lord, we can't keep doing this every night!  What can I do?!"

I stayed with him a few more minutes, rubbing his curly little hair while trying to put his mind and heart at ease. We said another round of "goodnights" and "I love you's" (Elijah loves to throw "you're beautiful" in the mix) and I headed back to my room. 

"For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh." 

I felt terrible for being so frustrated. Where was my patience?  After repeated attempts to get him to stay in bed, I had resorted to fussing and threatening punishment if he got up again. 

"Lord, why can't I get him to believe what I tell him?  Why can't I get Him to trust You?  If he won't believe that You will protect Him, what can I DO?!"

And in that instance it hit me (or maybe the Holy Spirit smacked me upside the brain).  I really can't GET him to do anything. This wasn't a flesh and blood issue. It wasn't a battle of wills or disobeyed rules.  Don't get me wrong, I sympathize with my children's night fears. I can recall many nights when i was their age being afraid of shadows and imaginings and even, an unexplained figure!  But I tend to sympathize a little too much.  In fact, had my husband been up, our boys would have been asleep long ago for fear of him instead of the night. 

I was frustrated with the situation and unnerved with my lack of patience which, has been a recurring theme on this homeschool journey.  But the source of my frustration went from my son not staying in bed and my inability to do anything about his fear, to realizing that God has the ability to change hearts. I really couldn't DO anything besides pray with him, show him how to pray, and give him empathy, reassurance and affection.  But what seemed so obvious now, I hadn't done...

I wasn't praying for him. 

I know, I know. What kind of mother am I that I wasn't praying for my son?!  It wasn't so much that I wasn't praying.  I had gotten so wrapped up in the "training" part of mothering that I forget all about where the battle was really taking place.  

"For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places." (Ephesians 6:11-13)

I was trying to convince my son that there was nothing to be afraid of. Instead of seeing this as a spiritual battle and an opportunity for God to reveal Himself and use this situation, no matter how typical, for His glory, I was trying to make Elijah trust God. No amount of talking can accomplish that. Only the work of the Holy Spirit can.

Now that I see this, I notice it in more than this aspect of my life. Lord, help me to remember in the midst of being a wife, mother and teacher, that I'm not at war with myself, my husband or my kids. But that there are things taking place in the unseen realm and You alone are Lord over all.

Friday's Favorites and a Few Ramblings

Ahhh...today is one of those days where homeschooling is more of a chore than a joy.  I'm still learning to manage my expectations along with the amount of time I need to spend "doing school" each day.  And also my lack of patience!!  I know this is a learning process, but some days I'm harder on myself than others. I'm holding on to God's promise that  He "is FAITHFUL" 

"God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord."  1 Corinthians 1:9  

God must know where I'm at in this homeschool process because I got a random text message during the week from one of my old pastors, a man I deeply admire and who God has used richly in my life.

"He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it." 1 Thessalonians 5:24

Do I think God has called me to homeschool?  I can't say that I've heard God in a loud booming voice telling me to.  But I do believe that as a parent, I am to be the greatest influence in my children's lives and it's my responsibility to protect them until they are mature enough to decide to follow the path God has laid out for them.

So...even though today I felt like throwing in the towel because my 5 year old would rather roll around on the floor than listen to the history of the world or what plants and animals need to survive, I'll thank God that today is FRIDAY and next week will be brand new.

Here are a few of my favorite things from this week:

                               

Fox in Socks!!  The boys LOVED this book and I loved that Phillip was reading to his brother.

The Cat in the Hat - Elijah's favorite book at the moment.  

Piano Lessons with Aunt Jackie

Phillip said he wants to visit the "Awful" Tower one day.  ;)

Elijah working hard on his numbers.

Moondough 'O's and r'O'cks

But most of all my favorites are superheroes and my boys' smiles!!

<-Spiderman

Hulk and     Thor---->

Update on Isaac

And he did rescue us from mortal danger, and he will rescue us again. We have placed our confidence in him, and he will continue to rescue us. And you are helping us by praying for us. Then many people will give thanks because God has graciously answered so many prayers for our safety. (2 Corinthians 1:10, 11 NLT)




Thank you all for your prayers. Isaac has just now been downgraded to a tropical storm after leaving flooding, wind and rain along the coast. We are now waiting for the worst of it to head our way.


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Hurricane Isaac

Our homeschooling week is not off to a good start. We had been eyeing Tropical Storm Isaac, expecting it to become a category two hurricane. Thankfully Isaac has just made landfall as a category one hurricane with winds at 80 mph instead of a category two with winds at 100 mph.

The beginning of our week was spent running errands to prepare for Isaac's wrath.  We took our learning on the road yesterday, but today was frustratingly wasted waiting for a stalling Isaac.  I should have expected this and I guess not all was lost. Rick was off of work after a very LONG last week.  The boys missed him so they spent the day playing video games.  I wish we would have at least done something school related since its now 7:15 p.m. and this hurricane has finally made landfall.  Now we sit and wait to see if the lights will go out.  Hopefully they won't, and if they do it won't be for too long.  

Being from the bayous of Louisiana, sitting through a hurricane isn't uncommon, but its still no fun.  My family still lives on the flood prone coast and even though their house is up on "stilts" they still have to evacuate the area.  My husband and our family on the other hand live further inland.  Flooding isn't really an issue here but if the power goes out it can be out for days.  Being in the middle of summer, that is no joke.  Prayerfully Isaac won't be so bad and God will be merciful.  He has shown us mercy as this hurricane could have been much stronger.  

Getting ready to boil crawfish under my folks house
(just to give you an idea of how high my folks home sits)

All my gulf coast family and friends, stay safe out there!

Homeschool games

The boys and I eased into our first week of lessons since I wasn't sure how they would take to actually paying attention to what I was saying.  It didn't take long for me to get frustrated because we couldn't get through reading a lesson or filling out worksheets.  Maybe its just because they're boys, but my kids don't like to sit still.  Well, what kids do right?

Indian Letter Craft

I ordered a Kindergarten curriculum complete with handwriting, phonics, math, science, history and bible from Christianbook.com.  I should have gone with my gut and ordered Sonlight's program, but because of the lack of funds we got what was cheapest for the time being.  I hate it.  The boys hate it.  Well...they are getting used to it (and used to doing "school" altogether).  After the beginning of the third week I had to ask myself, "what is the point of homeschooling if we will ALL end up this frustrated?  I might as well ship them off to public school!"


So I started looking for more multisensory things to do with the boys.  I'm still working on it.  They would rather play and I would rather teach them playing than have us all in tears by the end of the day.  They love board games and playing with dice.  I found some great dice math games from Kidscount1234 and made up a quick Number Matching Go Fish game out of index cards to help the boys with recognizing their number words.

Number Match Go Fish

Since we were working on learning the short vowel sounds I decided I needed a board game for that too.  Thank goodness for photography and knowing how to use Photoshop!!  I found a blank board game printable at the ESL-Lounge, opened the PDF in Photoshop, and filled the spaces in with pictures that had the short vowel sounds (at the time we had only covered A and E so only pictures with those sounds are in the photo).  If you would like a copy of this PDF game, or the PSD file to add other photos to it, please message me.  I'd be happy to share.


I got some blank colored cubes from SchoolAids and on one cube, wrote both the lower and uppercase letters for the vowel sounds we were working on.  The boys each chose a colored cube as a game piece and took turns moving through the board.  It proved to be a success!  (Thank GOD.)

Short Vowel Sounds Game

This last week I attempted to add History.  We are using Christian Liberty's History for Little Pilgrims.  We've only gotten through one unit so far so I'm not sure if I will continue to use this curriculum for next year.  I decided not to stress too much if they don't get it since it is technically for first grade.  I will also use some of Abeka's Social Studies worksheets for Kindergarten.

Hard at work with handwriting practice

So far we've had two piano lessons via Skype with my sister.  I'm hoping things go a little smoother for our future lessons after some of the excitement of seeing their Aunt Jackie wears off.  :)  They've learned finger numbers, one clapping song and completed two book pages.  How exciting!!  I can't wait to hear those little hands play their first song!

Piano Lessons

I got a great Geography program from the Homeschool Omnibus package sale last week.  The Geography program is from Erica at ConfessionsofaHomeschooler.  She has a free preschool curriculum and some other great printables on her blog.  Not to mention she is an awesome homeschool mom!!  Definitely check her out if you haven't already.


Although we do bible to start off every morning, I think some of the stories in CLP's bible books are a little over my youngest son's head.  I could be wrong, but for now I am filtering most of the books for next year.  We have been watching Superbook and Veggietales episodes to supplement our readings and by the end of this past week, I decided I was going to go through Proverbs instead.  Their little brains are stimulated much more with Proverbs as its something they can actually relate to.

During the week I let the boys play educational computer games.  They love these and I love that its reinforcing what we're learning through the week.  So far their favorites are Jumpstart Advanced Kindergarten & First Grade, Reader Rabbit's Balloon Town, Reader Rabbit's Capers on Cloud Nine, and Mickey's Kindergarten.  Occasionally they will ask to play Charlie ChurchMouse Kindergarten & First Grade which is great for bible stories.  You can download demo Jumpstart games and other learning games here.

Homeschooling...Another Adventure

I must admit, I'm not at ALL a disciplined blogger. I sometimes have these moments where I dream of doing something great for the world; share some insight...some revelation I've been graced with...some struggle I'm sure others are not a stranger to...and then I think, "hey, maybe I'll blog about this." Other times I desperately need an outlet; some place to vent my joys, fears and frustrations. Sometimes I just want a place to come back to when the memories fade. Alas, here I am. Fashionably (or terribly) late with yet another tale on my tongue. True story.

I should have titled this "Home-schooling...Another Blog?!". God knows I've researched a MILLION of them. Honestly, I've spent the last two to three years researching and collecting homeschooling resources without actually preparing! At least, that's what it feels like. Of course, I don't think I'd have even known how to prepare. Do I even need to prepare? (I'm sure I'm making this out to be way more complicated than it needs to be.)

Bible, Phonics, Handwriting and Math; I can handle this right?  I mean, its only Kindergarten.  But there's a whole world of things to learn out there.  Science, History, Music, Art, Foreign Language.  Where do I start? Do they really need to know all of this right now?  What should I teach?  HOW do I teach? What should my day look like? Am I doing enough? Am I doing too much?! WHY WON'T MY KIDS SIT STILL?!

Remind me again, WHY do I want to home-school?!

Sure I was gung-ho the first week. "I got this."  I was determined; reluctant, but determined. The second week I was frustrated, afraid and short-tempered. By the third week I was in tears and too afraid to let anyone know about it. (Thank God for the goofy YouTube video that someone posted on a local homeschooler group's Facebook page. (Watch it here.  One day, I will "hold my head up high.")

What I was NOT prepared for was the character lessons "Yours truly" was going to learn. Of course I assumed my flaws would come to light, and I expected it and even hoped for it, knowing that:

"...tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope." (Romans 5:3-4 NKJV)

More of Jesus and MUCH less of me was and is the anticipated goal, and even now I am grateful for the struggle. Having this sense of failure and hopelessness however, I am not.

Ah tribulation...The word tribulation literally means “pressure.” In that day, it was the word used to describe the crushing of grapes or olives. In order to produce wine or oil, the grapes or the olives had to go through tribulation. I think it's safe to say that I've been under pressure.

My thoughts have gone in a million different directions. Some of them have been trying to understand why I am the way I am, some of them are hanging on to hope that God will finish the work He started in me ("being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ; "(Philippians 1:6 NKJV), and still others are blaring that I'm a failure of a wife and mother because I can't keep up with cooking and housework, and I've yelled at the kids a bazillion times.

I know I'm not alone.  I've read countless blogs, books and articles on home-school moms who've walked the same road.  I know I'm no different.  Honestly, I welcome it, knowing that when I'm pressed enough I have no other direction to look but up.  I will take being pressed over being stagnant ANY day.  Which has been the theme of my spiritual life these past few years.

I made the decision to home-school for the sake of my children's future and their spiritual maturity (I'm reminding myself).  I want them to know that they are loved beyond measure, and not only if we have a good school day.  I want them to grow up to be strong, passionate, devoted, spirit-filled men of God.  If this is God's plan for our family, and I believe it is, I know He will see me through it.

"And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me."  (2 Corinthians 12:9 NKJV) 

So, this is me boasting in my infirmities.  Let me shout it from the rooftops, I AM WEAK.  I don't just need God's grace and His strength, I need His Spirit to change me.  Then, at the end of our home-school journey, there will hopefully be more fruit of the Spirit being pressed out of me than the junk that's coming out now.

And hey, maybe I won't be a stranger to this blog anymore.  ;)

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law."  Galatians 5:22-23 NKJV)

"Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.

Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whetherthere is knowledge, it will vanish away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away.

When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known.

And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love."  1 Corinthians 13:1-13 NKJV)

P.S.  I am currently reading "Boundaries with Kids: How Healthy Choices Grow Healthy Children" by Henry Cloud and John Townsend.  




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