Hello Mornings

I've followed Kat over at Inspired to Action on twitter and through her blog for quite a while.  I'm ashamed to admit how long I've been familiar with her blog yet never read there much.  A few weeks ago the Lord began to do some things in me and I found her blog and began to read.   I was instantly impressed for a couple of reasons.  1. She totally must have a camera in my house. 2. She has written some excellent things to help me and anyone else that cares to read them and put them out for FREE.  Now I have no problem paying for the work that people write or create but put quite simply money is very tight right now.  I can't express how blessed I am that her materials are FREE.  Did I mention they are FREE right now?  

One thing I struggle with is is going to bed at reasonable time and getting up early in the mornings.  I've always struggled with this and I hate that it's so hard for me to do what I need to do to take care of my family and myself properly.  I WANT to get up before the sun rises and have my quiet time with the Lord but I don't.  I WANT to be up and showered before the boys so that I'm ready to tackle the day with them but I don't. I DON'T WANT to be exhausted and short tempered with my boys and husband but I am.  I DON'T WANT to be consistently behind in house work and laundry but I am.  The answer is so simple.  Go to bed early and get up in the morning early.  By doing this I would have my sweet time with the Lord before the day. I would be showered and ready to cuddle with Jacob when he wakes.  I love having a few minutes to sit and hug him and discover what's in that brilliant little 5 year old mind.  If I woke early I could have Bible study with Joshua.

I've read so many books, blog posts, Cd's etc. on this very topic.  We as Christians and homeschoolers have multitudes of help out there to us and I've used facets of all of those materials.  But I never was able to make them my own, so to speak, and follow through with them.  It's hard to take someone else's specific answer to prayer to their own issues and make it your answer to prayer to YOUR specific issues.  If you know what I mean.  All the other materials out there have helped and I've used them in some fashion.  Kat's materials have been different.

So what made Kat's materials different for me you ask?  I'm so glad you asked!!  Kat kept things simple and gave step by step actions to take to help you begin to Maximize Your Mornings.  She doesn't cram her specific morning routine at you and tell you you are failing if you don't follow it to a T.  She includes forms for you to fill out that will help YOU develop YOUR OWN morning routine.  The best part?  Maximize Your Mornings is only 32 pages long!  I  was able to read it in one sitting and the forms were not time consuming in the least.  They were direct and to the point.  Time is of the essence for me.  If I'm sitting down not doing anything something is not getting done (I won't bore you with how many loads of laundry aren't done and how bad my living room and school room look right now). I needed straight forward and Kat gave it to me.  Kat has also graciously included calendars that will help you pray for your kids and husband and so much more.  Really!!  All FREE.  Did I say that already?  Be sure and read through all of Kat's resources HERE.

So this next week begins a NEW journey for me.  I'm going to set my alarm and get up early no matter what time I go to bed.  I'm going to do that until it's a habit for me.  I'm going to do my best to go to bed earlier.  If I'm up earlier and getting things done it should be easier for me to go to bed without feeling like late night is the only time I can get some things done....or feel like that's the only alone time I can get.

I know this will be hard.  I know there are days when I will want to just give up and go take a nap.  But I'm committed to changing things. I'm tired of feeling like a failure.

Is there anything that has motivated you to action lately?  Tell me about it.  I'd love to hear all about it.

Heart of Dakota Box Day!

Well admittedly our box day was a few weeks ago but I never managed to get the pictures up for it.  I was going back over pictures for our week in review and found the box day pictures and I just had to post those too!  Heart of Dakota is such a blessing to us and the rich literature is just outstanding.

Here is what I saw when I opened my box and pulled out the packing paper:  Beautifully packed!

Here are the History books that are the spine of our History studies using Preparing Hearts for His Glory.

Here are the Science books for Preparing Hearts:

Preparing Hearts includes an independent history study.  These are the books used for the independent history study:

We are already enjoying Preparing and I hope you enjoyed a quick peak into the rich literature of Heart of Dakota.

A Few Changes & Next Years Curriculum

Just a quick update on what we are using right now and what the plans are for next year's curriculum for both boys. We have been using BJU's Distance Learning classes with Joshua.  It's going very well but when I started BJU math with Joshua I knew he might not thrive well with it.  Since I had to pay for the complete grade kit for the BJU Distance Learning classes I wanted to give it a try.  I've learned that Joshua does much better with incremental lessons and consistent daily review of those concepts.  Mastery based math just doesn't seem to be enough review for him. So we decided to move him to Saxon math.  We are also using Teaching Tape Technology dvd's with the Saxon books.  With the English he was doing ok but again he seemed to need the same constant review of grammar concepts that he needed in math.  I learned that Saxon had a grammar and writing curriculum also so I took a look at that and have decided to move Joshua to Saxon for grammar also.  I will be picking up the Grammar & Writing at convention this coming weekend in Memphis so we will start that the following Monday.  If all goes well with it we will continue with it for the next level.

My research for next years curriculum brought me back to Heart of Dakota.  We have enjoyed BJU but I wanted to shorten our school day and I've always wanted to do HOD with Joshua. I just couldn't seem to make it work for us in the past.  I knew that we could go back to using HOD for next year so I began looking into the Creation to Christ manual.  I was completely sold on coming back to HOD for both boys starting next year.  It hit me one day that I could do Preparing right now with Joshua and it would help him with the skills he will need for CtC in the fall.  We will receive our Preparing materials on Tuesday and get started on that for Bible, History, Geography, and Science.  We are really looking forward to Preparing and HOD in general.

For Spelling, Reading, and Cursive Handwriting we are continuing with the BJU Distance Learning classes. Next year for Reading we will be doing HOD's Drawn Into the Heart of Reading. I'm really liking BJU"s Spelling. As we get closer to fall I'll make some final decisions regarding Spelling but at this point I'm leaning heavily towards doing BJU Spelling again only teaching it myself.  Joshua's cursive is coming along very with BJU right now. For next year he'll do all of the writing & copywork required in CtC in cursive to serve as his handwriting.

I'm also considering enrolling Joshua in an IEW writing class taught by a licensed IEW instructor.  IEW stands for Institute for Excellence in Writing.  If I don't do a class then we will get the Student Writing Intensive dvd's for him.  I'm leaning towards a class for accountability and to start giving him an idea of what high school might be like.  I likely will make use of tutorials, etc. in high school and I want him to start understand what it's like to have to do work and turn it into someone other than me.

Jacob is turning 5 in April and he's doing so well with "school" type stuff I feel confident in going ahead and doing K with him in the fall.  He will be 5.5 years old at that time and he's already chomping at the bit to learn his letters and numbers. Right now he enjoys playing on Starfall, doing Abeka's ABC 123, Readiness Skills, and Art workbooks. I'm also using Learning at Home by Ann Ward with him.  I plan to start him in Little Hearts for His Glory at half speed in the fall for K.  I will be going half speed so that LHFHG can be used his K and 1st years.  I will be using the appropriate levels of math and phonics for him each of those years. At this point I plan to use Saxon Math and Phonics for him. We'll see how that works out.  I'm really looking forward to it.

Well this went much longer than I had planned. If you stayed with me bless your heart.  I really appreciate it!

I hope everyone has a wonderful school week!

Time4Learning Review

I've been invited to try Time4Learning for one month in exchange for a candid review. My opinion will be entirely my own, so be sure to come back and read about my experience. Time4Learning is an online educational program that can be used as an online homeschooling curriculum or for afterschool enrichment. Find out how to write your own curriculum review for Time4Learning.

What's motivating me? Why do we homeschool?

I want to thank Daisy for bringing this Holy Experience post back to my memory. In light of my previous post about making sure I'm not chasing the wind with all my toiling this was a very fitting post by Ann Voskamp.

I'm linking you to Mrs. Voskamps post because I really couldn't say it any better myself. I hear I'm in good company with that sentiment.

So please. If you would like to know what's motivating me with homeschooling please read here.

Labor and Achievement: What's motivating me?

"And I saw that all labor and achievement spring from man's envy of his neighbor. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind." Ecclesiastes 4:4

In my Bible reading earlier the Lord reminded me through this verse to check myself on why I do the things I do. If I am not motivated to do the Lord's will in ALL things then it's MEANINGLESS and I might as well be chasing the wind.

Wow that knocked the wind out of me. I mean one of the things that stresses me out each day is feeling like there is not enough hours or minutes to get it all done. I sure do not want to be wasting my time chasing the wind. I'll be taking this to heart and really examining what's motivating me with every minor action. Making sure I'm not chasing anything but the Lord Jesus Christ.

What's motivating you? Is it really meaningless in the big picture of Jesus' will for you? Are you running around chasing the wind?

Precious Jesus,

How often I delight in what I have done: my achievements, my family...my victories, my possesions, my family...my, my, my. But what is it all worth apart from You, Holy One? "Unless the Lord builds the house, its builders labor in vain." Lord, unless You work through me, my labors will be empty. Unless I abide in You, I can do NOTHING THAT MATTERS. Unless I do Your bidding, my life will never bear fruit that will last. But when I live by Your grace and for Your glory, then my toil will not be in vain. Help me, Lord, to devote my life to doing Your will, for then I will have treasures in heaven, treasures that will last for eternity. (Ps. 127:1; Isa. 65:19-23; Mt. 6:19-21; Jn. 15:5)

In Your name, the name ABOVE all names,
Amen

Prayer: why we struggle (and how not to)

Ann Voskamp's Walk with Him Wednesday post does it again. Don't miss her blog period but by all means do not miss this post.

http://www.aholyexperience.com/2009/08/prayer-why-we-struggle-and-how-not-to.html

One Of My Favorite Blogs

A Holy Experience

Words can not do it justice. Get a cup of coffee or tea and read, read, read.

I never fail to be speechless as I am now having just come from reading there.