Relationship, relationship, relationship...

Yesterday, after church, Maddie was asked what she learned in Sunday school. Without missing a beat she said; " That Jesus died on the cross again". She didn't realize it, but she told me a lot in that small sentence. I am thankful the Holy Spirit allowed me to read between the lines and realize some pieces of the Salvation puzzle that Maddie is missing.

Today, during circle time we did our usual prayer time, color time, number time, etc. With this being the week before Easter, our books during circle time are revolving around Jesus' death and resurrection. However, I am taking our look at the cross and the resurrection in a bit of a different direction. We are still reading Easter books (It's all new to Naomi and Titus), but taking it deeper for Maddie and Owen. Maddie and Owen are ready for the bigger picture. They are ready and must know what the cross and Resurrection mean for their lives!

First, they needed to understand what a relationship is and how to have one. Second, teaching my kid's how we can get to know Jesus. I have a deep passion to make sure my kid's know God the Father and Creator, Jesus who set them free, and the Holy Spirit who brings them help. Third, our relationship with God goes beyond religious traditions, it goes beyond going to church every Sunday, and being baptized.  These things, while beneficial are not what will save their souls from hell. What will save their soul is confessing with their mouths that Jesus is Lord, believing in their hearts in the Lord Jesus Christ and they shall be saved. Going to church is were we are able to encourage and be encouraged by other believers. Baptism allows us to take off our old self and put on our new self, but the act alone will not save us from hell.


This morning during circle time I read a simple Easter story board book. I asked them if they knew what a relationship is, I explained that a relationship is getting to know someone. I explained that Jesus already knows all about them. He knows Maddie loves pink and green, Owie loves monster trucks, Titus is a goofy boy, and that Naomi is stubborn. I got our white board out and we (I) wrote down what they know about Jesus. The kid's came up with he's kind, loves, the only way (as in the only way to heaven), Always obeyed, and he is a good friend. I thought that was a  super good place to start. I then explained the gospel to them (I asked for wisdom from the Holy Spirit the whole time I was doing this).  I told them that we have to use our lips (hence the picture of the lips) to confess our sin. We talked about what sin is and I shared with them that God had a plan for our sin the whole time (the picture of the map), we have to believe in our hearts that Jesus is Lord. I then told them that when we talk with God it is called prayer. I told them that we have to admit that we disobey and we have sin, we have to acknowledge that Jesus died and is the only way to heaven. After explaining all of this, I asked if anyone would like to pray and ask Jesus into their hearts, making him their forever best friend. Owie and Maddie both said; "yes"! I then lead them in a sinners prayer. After we prayed we celebrated and I told them that the angels in heaven are so excited that they chose to be Jesus' friend!

The angels, as well as Tim and Emily and Mark and I are celebrating. Jesus knocked on Owen and Maddie's heart and they said yes!! Praise God from whom all blessings flow! Praise his mighty, awesome name!

Our fall curriculum looks like this

When Maddie started preschool I felt fairly confident that I could get her academically were she needed to go and I was right. However, because I now have one in first grade and three in preschool, I need to be on my game and not wing it quite so much. This fall I need a game plan, I need to be organized so that learning can easily happen without much stress to me. 

Here are some things that are going to make preschool successful this fall.

* Hand writing without tears, a preschool curriculum that helps build motor skill and hand muscle, preparing little hands to be able to write letters and numbers correctly.

* Bible time and bible memorization is very important to Mark and I, to help write God's word on our kid's hearts we are going to use Hide'em in your heart vl. I & vl. II, by Steve Green. 

* Circle time is a great way to start the school day. Our circle time is a time when I pray over them and pray with them. We say the pledge of allegiance, we sing two ABC songs, one to learn letter sound and one to learn alphabet sequence. We practice the days of the week, months of the year, and discuss today, tomorrow, and yesterday. Circle time is great because it is a short amount of time when they learn there are times when you have to be quiet and wait to be called on. Times when you have to fight to not let the wiggles come out. We only meet for about 10-15 minutes, but to a three or four year old, that can seem like a long, long time. But, it is still an important skill they need to learn.

* The company Leap frog has produced videos that have been super helpful with my kiddo's learning math, as well as learning letter sounds. The videos are great for Minnesota cold winter months.

* Reading lots and lots and lots of books together. 

* What do dried beans, dried noodles, corn, rice, gravel/sand, shaving cream, finger paint, and play-doh all have in common? They all make fantastic sensory bins! Engaging kid's in sensory play is so important, because while they think they are playing, which they are doing, they are also learning. They are learning to measure and pour. They are learning about the world around them. To a preschooler all the world can be a science lap!

* One very important part of our schooling this year is going to be monster truck based! We will use them to create art, trace numbers, learn shapes, colors, and many, many other important lessons only monster trucks can teach!

* Field trips are not only super fun, but they get us out with people and let us have some social interaction. We love going bowling, ice skating. This year Naomi gets to start dance for the first time! We are also going to go to our local golf course and let the kids hit some balls at the driving range. 

* We have begun to learn sign language using signing time videos. The kid's have really enjoyed these video's. 

* Character training is very important to us. Being honest, obeying right away without delay, putting others before themselves, learning to pray and rely on the Lord for all of our needs. There is no greater character training guide than the bible! 

* Along with character training, home skills are important to pass on and teach my kid's. Learning to cook and bake, learning how to clean toilets, sweep and mop. How to organize a bookshelf, and line up shoes neatly.

* Art is another area we want our kid's to experience.  We have been listening to Say yes to Classical Music, we love what we call "Katie Books" by James Mayhew, books about a little girl who goes to art museums with her Grandma. We are also going to use a book called How to teach art to children.

Fall is a long ways away, so I am quiet confident that this list will get tweaked as we go through spring and summer, but it is a good place to start. 

Incorporating Montessori principles...

It is important to me that as we home school our children their education is applicable to life situations. I want  their education to be as hands on as possible. There are times when we have to do quiet sit down work, but, I want this to take as little time as possible.

Here are some ways we are trying to make our home more kid friendly.

 There are a couple ways are making our kitchen kid friendly. One way is to bring the kid's dishes down to their level. That way they can reach their dishes to set the table, reach a cup to get water, reach a fork to scramble eggs. Another way we are making our kitchen kid friendly is by having the kiddo's help out in the kitchen. Added to Madeline's chores in the morning has been to get the scrambled eggs ready for the frying pan. Mark or I turn the burner on under the frying pan and then we stand beside her at the stove while she cooks the eggs. She loves being apart of creating our meals. We are going to start teaching the kid's to wash, peel, and cut fruit and veggie's. I'm also hoping that making my kiddos part of the food prep will help them be even better eater's.

We bought a kid size broom, mop, and dust pan. My kid's love sweeping!  I have also retired old socks and my kid's put them on their hands and use those to dust around the house.

I have my kid's take the sheets off of their beds.  Maddie takes the sheets off and the twins bring them to the basement door so I can throw them down the steps. The twins then go down the stairs and take the sheets to the washing machine. Maddie gets clean sheets and places them on each bed and her and I make the beds together.

Mark and I are looking for small rakes and shovels for the kid's to help with yard work. The more I can teach my kiddo's to do, the more I  know they will be equipped when it is time for them to go out in the world. The more they can do, the easier my day becomes.

How we choose our curriculum

I have only been officially home schooling for two years. The first year we started, Maddie was in preschool and I didn't use a curriculum. I figured I could help her learn her letters, numbers, shapes, colors, etc. without the use of a curriculum. Preschool went just fine without someone holding my hand. Then, we approached Kindergarten, this time I wanted a curriculum, I wanted to make sure we would not miss any holes in her education. This is when I got overwhelmed.

My head was swarming with every kind and type of curriculum. There were unit studies, text books, online classes. There was Abeca, Horizon, Alpha and Omega, there is My Father's World and LOTS, LOTS more companies and families who are selling curriculum to choose from. One family says they absolutely LOVES their curriculum, another family who has a completely different one says they love theirs too! Equally confusing! Then I have a friend who uses four or five different companies for each different study they are doing. Ufta! How was I to know which direction to go. Then I had the fear of starting a curriculum and it NOT fitting our family or maybe needing to do something different. Thus, spending money on something that wouldn't work.

Thankfully, my husband and I had sat down and talked and written out what we wanted in an education. We knew we wanted a classical style of education, we knew we wanted it to be hands on and applicable, we wanted it to be affordable. We wanted it to be able to teach to our Kindergartner-first grader, as well as be able to fit our soon to be preschoolers. We wanted culture in our education. We wanted our kids to explore not only the places around the world, but the people in those places. Matching faces with the places! Sitting down with your spouse would be the first place I would start! Make out a list of things you want in an education and things you might have in mind you do NOT want to do. This will help you narrow your choices as you look at all your options.

The second thing I did was sit down and have a heart to heart chat with the Lord. I shared my overwhelming feelings, I asked for his guidance and direction in choosing a curriculum. I asked for a neon sign in which direction to go. Literally the next day, a brochure came in the mail from a company called My Father's World. As I was reading through the kindergarten curriculum it had a biblical basis, check. It had lesson plans all planned out for me, ready to use, another check. It is based on unit studies, which means I could water it down for my preschoolers, check. It came with a classical cd and we were to learn composes as well as the pieces, another qualification from our list. As I checked off each one, I prayed about this curriculum. If we bought the deluxe package we would then have all the science experiments we would need too. Which meant I would not have to go looking for other things to piece with our curriculum. I could if I had time, but it wasn't a requirement. Another check! After showing the brochure to my husband, he and I prayed about it, and we knew this was what we were suppose to use.

We are in the middle of our Kindergarten year and I am so thankful we choose this curriculum. I am so thankful I didn't try to pick it on my own and invited God in the process. I can easily incorporate my preschoolers into each lesson, while helping them understand it at their level. The activities and biblical concepts are fantastic. Each reading lesson, math lesson, etc. flows into the other.

We choose our curriculum with prayer, careful consideration of our desires for educating our children, and by doing our homework. Requesting brochures from different companies, talking with friends who home school, and trusting the Lord.

Heart Surgery, the healing of the inner woman.

The Lord has been leading my husband and I in heart surgery. He has been showing us to that if we are to live passionately, then He, the great I AM, Yahweh MUST be apart of our lives. We must live him, breath him, speak of him when we lie down and when we stand. We must eat, sleep, and breath him.

When I was in my twenties I moved every two to three years. I always felt unsettled, I always felt the need to look for something or someone more. I started praying for wisdom, asking the Lord what it was I was running from, what it was I was looking for. The answer shocked me. The Lord told me it was HE I was looking for. In all of my running, it was the thing I already had, that I wanted. I wanted passion, an adventure, I wanted to be loved. For some reason, I felt the need to look outside of Christ for my answers. Which, by the way, is never a good idea. Scripture tells me that if I am not abiding in the vine I am NOTHING. John 15:5, I am the vine, you are the branches he who abides in me and I in him will bear much fruit, apart from me you can do nothing. Which means there is not an adventure, a person, a circumstance that can fill me with the passion, love, and romance I am craving...none BUT the power of Christ!The song "In Christ alone", says it well "In Christ alone my hope is found, he is my light, my strength, my song"!

I was molested when I was 8 years old by my grandpa. A man who was suppose to protect me with his life. A man who was suppose to love me, but didn't. It is amazing the destruction one man cause. It is amazing the generational hurt one man can cause. I have so much anger I feel like I will explode. It is not a matter of forgiving, I choose to forgive, but it is an inner battle at times to forgive, to move past the hurting. I am learning as Mark and I uncover our hearts that my heart is more wounded than I had thought. The scab is coming off my heart and the Lord is removing some gangrene that has sprouted there. The gangrene could kill me if I wanted it to, I could become bitter, filled with hatred. I could let myself burro into a pit that is slimy and nasty. No one would blame me. But, there is life outside the pit. There is a life of forgiveness, that forgiveness allows me a life more potent, stronger than hatred or unforgiveness.

I am a hurting being right now. The hurt, the gangrene is deep, and it's going to take tears and some poking and prodding of my Saviour. But, I trust my Savior, I trust my heart surgeon  You see, he too, was rejected and abandoned. My Saviour, he knows my pain and suffering. He with his Abba Father's help was able and did forgive the men who hurt him. I was one of those men who hurt him and he loves me anyways. I know that my God, the great redeemer and lover of my soul, will heal me.

I look forward with sharing with you the chunks of gangrene God pulls out and I look forward to sharing with you victorious freedom that awaits me. God has given me amazing family and friends that will encourage me, love on me, and let me cry. I do think it is tears that need to still come, tears that will lead to healing. Healing that will lead me to freedom!

The twins become preschoolers.

circle time is a great time for learning shapes, colors, etc. But,
it is also good for little ones to learn to sit still, sit quiet,
and to pay attention.

The twins turned three this month and are showing me signs that they are ready to move into being preschoolers. When Maddie started Kindergarten at the beginning of the year, the twins joined us durning circle time. They began to learn the alphabet, the sounds letters make, days of the weeks, months of the year. Now that the twins are showing me they are ready to learn more I have started bringing in number 1-10 flash cards, working with them on letter recognition, we are working on shapes, colors. The twins also get to be a part of Maddie's curriculum and be apart of exploding volcano's, getting in on sinking and floating objects.

A big part of the twins preschool is hands-on. Touching, tasting, seeing, hearing, and experiencing the sweetness of strawberries, the tartness of lemons. Touching rough tree bark and smooth stones by the lake. Hearing classical pieces such as "The March of the Soliders",  "The Nutcracker sweet", hearing choo-choo trains, and learning to listen to authorities voices louder than any other noise. Watching a duck land on the water with his webbed feet for skies. Watching mommy load the dishwasher, daddy mow the lawn, watching mommy and daddy interacting in kindness to one another. Watching Mommy and daddy as we are patient and loving with each kid.

Exploding volcano's!
 Does hands-on learning get better than that

The twins hands-on learning includes colored glue for painting and making things stick. Play-doh for making sculptures, pretending to roll it out and cut out cookies. Learning to string beads, pound nails into boards. Using kid size rakes to help mommy and daddy clean up the yard. Small child size shovels to learn to clear away the snow on the sidewalks.

 What are your favorite toddler/preschool activities to do with your kiddos?

Our Typical Homeschooling Day!

Mark and Maddie's Volcano 

Our day typically starts around 7 am. The kids have jobs as soon as they hop out of bed. They are to go potty, get dressed, make their beds, and make sure their rooms are picked up. We have breakfast around 8 am. Our school time begins as soon as breakfast is cleaned up. We begin with circle time, a time to come together. A time for me to pray blessings upon each one of them. A time to learn biblical concepts, a time to learn colors, shapes, numbers, the alphabet. A time to learn songs. Circle time also teaches that there are times we have to sit still, times we have to wait our turn to talk, times we have to sit, listen, and learn. Even if there are monster trucks to play with, crayons to color with, or anything else close by that might be vying for our attention.

Naomi working on fine motor skills

After circle time we head to the kitchen table. Maddie begins her kindergarten sit down work. The curriculum we have chosen to go with is My Father's world. A classical education style of learning that is a unit study curriculum. 

At the beginning of this school year the twins would sit down in their chairs for their "sit down work". Because, again I am training the twins that there are times and places we have to sit and do "work". The twins started the year coloring, learning to use scissors. The twins turned three this month, with the graduation to the three year bench mark, the twins are now entering preschool. 

Titus, also working on his fine motor skills
and practicing counting

Now, while Maddie is doing her kindergarten sit down work, the twins will be doing their sit down preschool work. Their preschool work  includes picking up cotton balls with clothes pins, using syringes to pick up water and move it from one place to another, molding and shaping play-doh. Experiencing rough textures, smooth textures, experiencing the five senses. These are all very important, but just as important, the twins are learning they are to listen AND obey the FIRST time! They are learning character such as being honest, telling the truth, loving unconditionally. They are learning that there is a Lord Jesus Christ and he loves them VERY much. They are learning they are sinners in need of grace and there is ONLY one person who is able to save them from their sin. Math, reading, and science are important here on earth, our kids need to know them. But character training and biblical training are just as important
! These are eternal matters that Mark and I as parents cannot ignore.

After our work is done at the kitchen table, we either watch an educational video that goes along with what we are learning. For example since our unit this week is on rocks, we watched a video on Rocks and Minerals, we also watched a video on Volcano's. If there is not an educational video to watch, then the kids may either go play and ware off energy or they may sit quietly and read/look at books.

My dad made this for Titus to start learning how to build

After lunch time it is rest time/nap time. Rest time for Maddie is less and less about sleeping. These days she gets a bit of computer time, practices reading from her reading basket (books I know she can read by herself). Her and I play learning games or sometimes games just for fun. This is also a rest time for me! A time for me to finish laundry, watch a movie, take a nap, etc. The twins at three years old still need naps to function till bedtime. They do ok without naps from time to time, but it's not a good idea long term.

After nap time is usually considered free time. They are encouraged to play downstairs in the basement were we have our toy room. We often cuddle and read books, have snack time.

This is a typical day, a glimpse into what we shoot for our day to look like. This does not mean this is what we always do. There are times when one of the kids is sick or I'm sick. Times were my husband has a day off, so we take the day off to enjoy our time with him. There are also times when Maddie needs a mental break from sit down work. We take breaks to go ice skating with our homeschool group. We take time to go bowling, be a part of 4-H. Which requires constant schedule changes. Our schedule works for us, we don't work for our schedule. Which means there are times when we have to adjust our schedule for everyone"s sanity! There are times we need to adjust our schedule because God has brought something into our day we cannot ignore. Flexibility is the name of the home schooler's schedule.