I Survived My First Curriculum Fair

So, I attended my very first homeschool curriculum fair Friday evening. Thankfully, I had two very "seasoned" homeschooling moms "escort" me. I'll tell you now, if there are any parents that are thinking of homeschooling, start doing research NOW and pray about it NOW. Even if your child is still in diapers! There is no way anyone can go into one of those fairs without feeling overwhelmed; no matter how much planning you do before hand (and I'm a planner!). I am so thankful that I did a lot of research before hand, reads lots of different books on homeschooling and did lots and lots of praying! Still, I walked away a bit confused and not so sure of the plan that I had before even walking through the doors. I did purchase a few items. (I love the Rod and Staff books!)

We have come to one conclusion for this coming school year; we are going to have fun and not stress! That's probably the only decision we have made so far! I was reminded over and over that evening at the fair, that Anthony is so young, have fun now while you can. We will continue to concentrate on letters and numbers this coming year, but no Latin until he can read. :)

In my opinion, our society (even the parents of the children) wants our children to grow up physically and mentally waaaaaaaay too fast. This is part of the beauty of homeschooling, we don't have to go with the flow of what everyone else is doing. We get to do our own thing. Before I know it though, it will be my turn to be stressing about pre-algerbra. For now, I'll take "stresssing" (not really) about our numbers, colors and letters. God bless the Mom's that are going before me. They have been such a wealth of information and a huge blessing!

So, after I recovered from my first homeschool curriculum fair, we headed out on Sunday to PA to watch the STIHL U.S. Pro-Lumberjack competition. We had no idea that they held them on the east coast. We had always enjoyed watching it on T.V. It was so cool! Anthony enjoyed the spring board competition the most. One guy even fell when his springboard came loose, but was not hurt. He also enjoyed running around with the other children, playing with wood that had been hand cut the day prior during the qualifying, and shaking hands with the Penn State Nittany Lion that was walking around. The event was held on the Penn State Mont Alto campus. Apparently, they have a great Forestry program.

This past week, we had a bit of nice weather so Anthony enjoyed some painting outside. He enjoys painting way better than coloring. We also got a cool little ressurection set. I read from the bible how Jesus was crucified and rose on the 3rd day. He enjoyed playing with the set. We took turns, being the angel, Jesus, Mary, etc. "He has risen, indeed!" As usual though, when we were done, the people (even our risen Savior) ended up with his Thomas Trains and even took rides on the cargo trains. (Boys...) However, the set is now safely back on the table for display or for telling the story again if he wants.

I also had Anthony practice writing by tracing the letters for a thank you letter. Recently I read, (Educating the Wholehearted Child; my current "go-to" homeschooling book) if you are going to make your children practice writing, might as well make them do it so it is actually producing something. Recently, a good friend of ours gave Anthony some gifts. So, I went to http://www.worksheetworks.com/ and talked to Anthony about what his letter should say and typed up the thank you letter, printed it off and then Anthony sat down and traced the letters. It was a little long for a 4 year old, so he would work on it, go play and then come back and work on it some more. He did this until it was finished. He was very proud of himself, as I was. We decided that this letter was his writing for the whole week!

Happy Easter everyone! He is risen!

Rain Down On Me

It's raining today and I have never welcomed the rain like I have today. I have been so busy and today is the first day that I can sit and say "Aahhhhh". I have even decided (after lots of prayer) to step back from several things that I am involved in. At a different season in my life those things will work for me, but right now, my first priority is my family (of course, God above them).

I'm being "still" today and soaking up God's beauty outside. Have you ever noticed when it rains in the springtime, like today, all the new green buds, grass and leaves look even more brilliant and bright? My backyard is beautiful, even with it's patches of mud, thanks to the drought last year. God has painted such a beautiful day, despite the rain. Everything just seems so fresh. And I feel refreshed after making the decision to step back from several things.

It's only 10:30am and we've already finished our school work for today. We worked on addition and counting with dominos and change. Of course, afterwards, he had to see how many dominos he could stack into a tower until they came crashing down.  Then Anthony worked on his online learning course, Time4Learning. http://www.time4learning.com/ By the way, the site is having a special for the month of April, only $4.99 for the month, verses $19.95. Good deal! On there, he worked on patterns, counting syllables, learned about animals, while incorporating each letter of the alphabet and he worked on colors. This site is a lot of fun, especially for little boys who like computers!

Unanswered Prayers

There are no unanswered prayers. God answers all prayers and petitions, in His time, not our time. Sometimes, the answer is "Yes". Sometimes it's "No. I have something even better planned for you that you cannot even fathom." And there is, "Not just yet my child, I am still working on the details. Be patient."

Sometimes I forget that God's timing is totally different than ours. A year for us, is probably barely a blink of His eye. I was reminded this morning by Psalm 46:10 of what I need to do when God is working on the details of answering my prayers and I am having a hard time being patient; "Be still and know that I am God." That verse was so comforting to me. What a simple, but yet powerful verse from His word.

I'm also reminded of one of my favorite quotes from George Mueller. "The great point is to never give up until the answer comes...The great fault of the children of God is, they do not continue in prayer... they do not persevere.  If they desire anything for God's glory, they should pray until they get it."

So for now, I keep on placing my prayers and petitions at His feet and I will be still and know that He is God, while I wait and see how He chooses to answers them.

What We've Been Up To

We've been working on colors (as you already know from our pinkeggs and blue milk) letters, letter sounds, counting and a bit of addition. Got a GREAT idea for practicing letters from our Community Bible Study. In Anthony's class, they put shaving cream on the tables and the kids are allowed to write letters, their names, etc. What a great way to get Anthony to practice! Thank you CBS! Here is the link so you can find one in your neighborhood! They are international too.  http://www.communitybiblestudy.org/ My CBS has a WONDERFUL children's program.

Anthony has also been using his Leapster ClickStart to practice spelling and math. I've included a picture of him playing the Toy Story game. ClickStart isn't as popular these days, but it's a great tool. He has also been using his Leapster Explorer that he got a gift for Christmas. That is an awesome tool too. All of these learning tools come with time restraints though.

Some afternoons we play Sunny Day/Rainy Day charts. I got this fun game from http://teachmama.com/2010/05/rainy-day-rainy-games.html It's been great practice for Anthony for adding numbers together or at least exposing him to the idea of addition and counting in general. It's fun to play with him too. He has no clue he is gaining valuable math skills. I love it!

Far From Genius Most Days

My revolving calendar in our bathroom had the following quote and scripture for yesterday that I thought I'd share.  "The essence of genius is to know what to overlook." -William James-

Well, I can honestly say that I'm about as far from genius as you can get! The scripture that went along with it was, "Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus." Philippians 3:13-14 (NIV). Boy, do I loose perspective ALOT in this life. All the hills and valleys that come along in this life are nothing compared to the moment I see my heavenly Father face to face. Oh what a day that will be! I need to stop being distracted by the things in this life that don't matter and press on toward the goal, Jesus.

Pink Scambled Eggs - Delicious!

Two things that Anthony likes to say these days is, "Dunkin Donuts in my boots!" and "Coconuts in my crocs!". He says them when he is frustrated. It's really comical. Of course, the "Coconuts in my crocs!" was coined by his Daddy while playing Wii one evening together.

This morning we experimented with colors while making breakfast. We've been working on what happens when you mix colors. Anthony chose red for his scrambled eggs and blue for his milk. After he drank his milk, he states, "Just what I thought.....delicious!" I was figuring that the color would trick his mind into it tasting gross. I was suprised. Perhaps it's a boy thing, the more gross it looks, the yummier? I don't know, but I am glad he ate his breakfast and drank his milk. None of it went to waste.

Crazy or Just Plain Nuts

I'm really not sure what in the world I'm doing by creating this blog, but something the past few days has been nudging me to create one for "fun". Fun? I don't consider time on the pc "fun". I actually prefer to be "unplugged" these days. Where in the world will I find the time to blog? Well, I figured I'd give it go. It's fun for family and friends to see what we are doing in regards to homeschooling and since I like to cook and bake, perhaps this will be a channel for me to share those ideas. Enjoy while we "make tracks" in our homeschooling endeavor, which really gears up in August/September of this year.