Our schedule

I had a friend ask me yesterday about my schedule and how I fit everything in. I really think that I am no expert on scheduling, but I have read several books on the subject and I feel pretty content with my schedule so I will share.

7-7:30: Jason starts Lily on math while I get ready for the day
7:30-8: Lily's reading and Valerie's alphabet work
8-8:30: Get girls dressed and we clean house
8:30-9:15: Bible time (JBQ questions and worship or odyssey)
9:15-9:30: Silent reading time
9:30-12:30: Mon.-playgroup, Tues.-homeschool co-op, Wednes-Stay home and get stuff done or run errands, Thurs.-Volunteer or playgroup, Friday-Mops

*No watching t.v. before noon...even if I do like Good Morning America! :)

12:30-1: Lunch
1-3: Daphne's nap and Lily finishes school work (writing, social studies and special classes such as p.e., music, art, etc.)

3-7: Family time- cooking, playing games, dancing, neighbor kids over, dinner, movie(but no t.v. on when we are doing other activities) etc. We also have Jason coaching JBQ on Wednesday nights and lifegroup on Sundays. Once or twice a week, I go out with girlfriends.

7:00: Bedtime for the kids and time for Jason and I to connect.

*Also I believe in the quote at the top of this blog. A schedule is great for organization and living a balanced life, but I am always flexible so that I can be there for others. "Only a life lived for others is worth living." Albert Einstein

*When I look back on my life, I want there to be no way that I can count the number of times that I danced around the house with my girls! Those are the best moments! Looking at their smiling faces never gets old! :)

Homeschooling in a Pubic School World

Tact! Let me start with saying that I am writing this from my own persepective and thoughts and that I hope to write this tactfully so as not to offend anyone!

I constantly see the struggles that moms have with deciding what they want to do for their children's education. Just this week, I saw one mom talking about how her son was getting bullied and hit by another boy who had been in trouble at school a lot, two of my mom friends decided to put their daughters back into public school after homeschooling for a year to a few years, and another mom decided to pull her son out of public school and homeschool. Wow! I feel for each mom as she makes the decision that is right for her children!

For me, I think that the norm is public school. It seems easier to decide to send your child to get educated. You then get a little bit of a break and they get to be with friends and learning. However, I knew even before my children were born that I intended to homeschool. I knew this based off my own school issues. I remember the stress that I had at school and I know that my dad helping me with homework was truely what helped me learn. I needed his one on one attention and knowledge of how I learn! I also taught for several years and I knew that the social interaction wasn't how I wanted my daughters learning about how to treat people.

So is homeschooling an easy decision? No, our world says that sending them to school is the norm and why not! Lily came into my world and she was a handful! Wouldn't it be easier to send her to school? I wouldn't have to worry about scheduling her school work and what about when life is hectic and their is a new baby in the home? Or, I struggle with Valerie's learning style. Would it be easier on me if I just sent her to preschool? On the other side though...What if my daughter gets lost in the school system and they don't even notice that she isn't learning to her full potential? What if my child is getting hurt by another child and I don't even know until it is too late? What if a teacher is unfair to my child and it breaks her spirit? I am not saying that there is a right or wrong answer!

At the end of the day, I love homeschooling my daughters! I love that they don't leave my side for 7 hours a day! I love that I get to help my kids through their issues and that I get to see first hand what they are learning. I don't have to wait until parent teacher conferences to know how they are doing. I get to move their education along at the rate that works for them! I love that everything we do together is a learning experience! I get to bring the bible into their education! We also have more time for extra curricular activities like music and sports! I love that my girls are so close because they spend most of their time together and are best friends! Being with my girls each day is the greatest joy that I could ever imagine!!!

Being Purposeful!

Lately the cry of my heart has been to be purposeful! It is easy to live a life of staying busy or of getting distracted by chores and responsibilities. We can think of all the small things or we can look at the big picture.

First and foremost, I want to live a life for God. I want to serve Him and others. Galations 5:13-14. For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”        

So to live a life of serving, I know that I need to do that through loving and serving my husband and kids first. I was created to help Jason as his wife and then raise up my children in the way they should go so that they will not depart from it. That sounds pretty simple, but I am learning that I need to be purposeful so that I do those things to the fullest. Jason and I do devotionals with the girls each day and we have bible time as part of our homeschooling (and so that I can get in my quiet time). However, I realized that I do this almost to check it off my list of things to do. I have always wanted to teach them the word, but was I really thinking through what things they should be hearing right now.  Picking a devotional to use doesn't allow us to really decide what our family needs to hear that day. So based off of that, Jason and I are trying to plan our own topics to teach the kids about. Praying about it and then choosing to teach them about the fruit of the spirit, baptism, serving others, etc. Also my friend Rae-Ann has a weekly family night that involves a bible, character building lesson. The first lesson is on becoming a new creation when Jesus comes into our heart and we will be reading the Pumpkin Gospel while carving our pumpkin! I think we are going to try to implement something like that. I know it will take more planning on my part, but building my children up is my priority!

I have also learned that to be purposeful, I need to get rid of activities that aren't aiding in the purpose. I don't just need to fill my time to keep myself busy and having fun. I need to make sure that my time is going to the right things.

Relationships

So this blog post is born out of a bumper sticker that someone posted on facebook. lol. Funny how simple words can get you thinking.

I love people. For the most part, I try to invest in everyone I can. I know that we are all flaud and let others down, but I value people and do try to give my best! Sometimes I think that facebook has made this easier because I get to talk to people often and see their needs. However, facebook can also make it harder by giving us almost too many people to be close to. Is it better to give more people a little effort or a few people alot of effort? Just a thought!

So another thought on relationship. Relationships are hard! They take work and effort! I have a friend, Katie Gibson and I love reading her blog. I just read this statement that her husband told her and I loved it so I am borrowing it!

"Investment sometimes hurts, that is why people don't do it. You will lose someone, or be hurt by someone, sometime. It is easier to keep everything on the surface. When you love someone, you are vulnerable to anything."  Daniel Gibson

Courageous

A few days ago we wateched the movie Courageous, which is in theaters right now! It is made by Sherwood Films and is being distributed by Sony Films. I think even if you don't think they are as high of quality as some main stream movies, they are still worth your time and money. First, the message is such a needed one in our society and second, I want more of these family friendly movies for myself and my children. I hate that I give my time and money to movies that don't represent my values.

So really, I didn't mean to get on here and market the movie. lol. I really was getting on here to talk about how important fathers are. Besides this movie, I have also been reading Dobson's book on Raising Girls! These two things have echoed each other in the same message! 

One of my favorite scenes in the movie was when one of the dads spoke with his daughter about courtship and purity. He didn't go into great detail, but his words were so profound. He is to guard his daughter's heart until it is given to her husband! The other thing that impacted me is how important it is to be intentional in our parenting. This movie was blunt and didn't just shyly add their view in small areas. God should be the biggest, most important thing in our lives! That means that it shouldn't be where He just sometimes comes up in conversation. We should be talking as husband and wife about our relationship with God and how we are going to follow Him and then teach our kids to follow Him!

For Jason and I this movie was great for us to talk about how to intentionally teach our children and show our children love. It also reminded us to not let other things distract us or our girls from our priorities. On that note, we got rid of our wii for the the month. That means that we aren't playing video games or watching hardly any t.v. since we also don't have cable. We had decided in Eureka Springs that it was a distraction and hard to monitor time wise. I thought it would be hard on the girls, but they haven't asked for it once. They are enjoying more time playing outside and doing board games and puzzles and talking as a family! We will probably allow the wii back on occassion, but I am enjoying more quality time with my girls right now!

Okay, one last thing! I am so excited that Christians are stepping up and demanding Christian values in films. This movie has made over 8.8 million in just a few days and beat out 50/50 in its opening weekend and that was open in more theaters. We are making our voice heard! Also Dolphin Tale did really well which is suppose to be another great family film! :)

Eureka Springs

I think Eureka Springs was the first trip that Jason and I have taken with less emphasis being on all of the experiences we could share and more on just connecting as a couple and talking about our hopes, dreams, and plans for the future. We still did have a few first together like a train ride and horse back riding, but we mainly sat on the deck and talked. It was a perfect three day, two night trip!

Out of this time, I decided that I would write this blog. I already have the blog with fun stuff that our family is doing, but I wanted this one more as my journal. I think that I find it much easier to just tell people what I am up to and fun projects. However, I am just at a place where I want to write and try to open up about what God is teaching me and what is really going on in my head. I guess that I will find out if I am any good at that. lol. I have a few friends who are excellent at blogging and I feel intimidated to even try!

This last year has been one of trials and struggles for me. Everytime I think I know what is going to happen in our lives, something stops it. It has been discouraging, but I feel like I am starting to look back on it with added wisdom and that God has used this time to really talk to me and maybe even change some of my thoughts. I am thankful for a God who is always faithful! I will share more and hopefully often! Blessings on all my friends and family!