Love is spelled T.I.M.E

She left the comment on my Facebook picture. This picture:

 It said, "Love is spelled T.I.M.E"

It was profound to me. It spoke to where I have been lately.

Two young ladies, mature young ladies, they were having fun. They were including the little girls (can't find my pic of them all) and wondering how in the world we got our hair so big in the 80's. My honey told them they looked good, but that "Momma could do the big hair, back in the day, she did it the best." :) (The kids think its funny when he refers to me as Momma and I call him Daddy...who would have ever thought...)

We were making TIME for the kids to spend together because life is getting so busy, and there are so many happy things coming up, but that will also mean that we don't get to spend much time together. My friend and I sat and talked about the passing of time. How the girls have grown so fast. How we thanked God for more little ones because by the time you come to know how fast children grow, well, they are grown. We talked about homeschooling and how much of a blessing it is. How we never thought it would be what it is. About how losing that idea of "school at home" was the greatest gift and how we still, after all of these years, felt like we could still improve some things. You see, though, while you are planning and reading and learning all of these wonderful philosophies that you want to incorporate into your home, children are growing. There is no pause or rewind. Time is unrelenting sometimes and this momma wants to scream and make it stop so I can get it all together then press the "go" button when I am good and ready.  I want my vision in my head to be our reality, but there was no time to learn this before the children came.

This has been a learn as you go way.
Life.
Only one go at it.
Make the most of it!

No one told me that I would have Charlotte Mason dreams. No one told me that I would desire to cook three meals a day, teach phonics for years, clean up what will become a mess again tomorrow, learn hard-for-me math right along with my kids.

Everyone dreams glamorous dreams..... Then I come to see that this life is my glamorous life. What could be more glamorous then shaping souls and being adored by your children and loved unconditionally by the man who you fell in love while he was still  a boy?

So, you come to see the battle against time. How do you use that time? Do you win hearts or become a slave to educational and cultural ideas that are all failing? You only have so many days before that little baby is an adult and you have to let go. I know, moms of toddlers, it seems never ending, but it's not.  I guess what has brought this all so heavy on me is that my oldest is on the brink of 18. It has freaked me out. Period. She is fine. She wants to stay here and study more. She loves home. She has never said, " I am outta here as soon as I hit 18."  My husband tells me all of the time, when I feel so unlovable,  "You just don't see how your kids adore you. They love and care for you more than anything I've ever seen." Why can't I see that? I am working hard at living life from that truth instead of the lie that says I have messed up. 

So here is a little note to myself:

When the little one interrupts cooking with "Mom! Look!"  Melanie, look, smile and praise them.

When the young man want to show you what is fascinating him, be it gross, Melanie, look, listen, get excited with him.

When the 17 year old begs you to read The Scarlet Letter with her so that you can talk about it. Melanie, read it.....that is what those books you are reading now are trying to tell you anyway.... be with her, now!

When the little ones have drug out every dress-up dress and have red lipstick everywhere, take pictures and hug them, kiss them. Dance around like a princess with them.

When it is night time, Melanie, please, take the time to speak gently with them all instead of declaring how it is late and you are tired and to GO TO SLEEP!

Time is moving so fast. It wasn't long ago that Jessie was Janie's age and oh how I didn't know anything about how time can rob you. Like my favorite book, One Thousand Gifts, says:

“When I fully enter time’s swift current, enter into the current moment with the weight of all my attention, I slow the torrent with the weight of me all here.” 

And she also writes this: “Being in a hurry. Getting to the next thing without fully entering the thing in front of me. I cannot think of a single advantage I've ever gained from being in a hurry. But a thousand broken and missed things, tens of thousands, lie in the wake of all the rushing.... Through all that haste I thought I was making up time. It turns out I was throwing it away.”  -Ann Voskamp

My goal is to teach them well through the gate of their heart. If I give them all knowledge and lose their heart. I have failed.

Capturing those hearts take TIME.

Be in the moment today, with gratitude, you will never get today back. How will they remember this day?

2012-2013 School Year - Picking Curriculum {and blog hop}

This is big!

I am just as surprised as the little guy above!

This will be my THIRD year using My Father's World!!!! I am still in shock myself!
All of those years I spent wandering through the wilderness of homeschool curriculum choices. The countless times that UPS man came up my driveway. The thrill that eventually gave way to a sale on eBay. For three years I have been done with that routine!

Did I say yet that I love My Father's World? Okay, I did? Just checking. :)


Let's start with Jessie, my upcoming high school junior. (That is equally as shocking to me)

MFW US History to 1877 (photo from MFW website)

Her core is the US History to 1877. Yes, the price is a little much to us homeschool moms. But really, is it? Considering what this education would cost at a private, Christian school I think it is a great investment. I have 3 others to come up through this program.

What will be new this year? This:

Don't get me wrong, I can really appreciate Dr. Wile's love for science and his Apologia Science books, but I just can't go there again with this child. Ah, the beauty of homeschooling! This is Biology 101. A DVD series that the entire family can and will want to watch and learn together. With the included Course Accreditation Program and Guide book ( you print these yourself) then it is a full years credit for high school Biology. I am beyond excited!  I purchased mine here: Biology 101 @ Rainbow Resource

Jessie will continue with her Viola lessons in the Suzuki method. She will also use Artistic Pursuits. She is my artsy child and I love to see her create. She has spent the last year beginning to take photographs for people and make money! She also taught herself Photoshop and by the looks of that program that is quite an accomplishment!

For the dreaded math we will continue and finish with Math-U-See. Bless her heart! :)

For ACT prep we are using this book

She will continue on through French although we are not sold on Rosetta Stone. (Any advice here is appreciated, please, leave a comment!)

To round it out she will complete the Logic course detailed on the MFW site for one semester and then this: One semester of Health. 



Whew! She is going to be a busy young lady!


Now, onto Josh (7th) and Jenna (2nd)

Exploration to 1850

MFW Exp to 1850 (MFW image)

The core for Josh and Jenna is Exploration to 1850. Awesome!

Josh is using Teaching Textbooks math and I could not be more happy about that!

For Science we will use Apologia General Science, and he will watch the Biology 101 DVD's. 

I found this awesome stack of papers lapbook to accompany this course. I chose to purchase it already printed. I also picked up the lesson plans for this level. 

L@@k at that stack...in a 3 inch binder.....what was I thinking??? Okay, I was thinking that it made this textbook look a little more fun and a little less intimidating! I will let you know how it all works out. 

For Jenna she will use the 2nd grade supplement that goes with this plan. I added these finds for her: Emma Serl's Primary Language Lessons Teacher's guide...I never knew...and I am glad I do know now!

Primary Language Lessons, Teacher's Guide

Also, I care not for Drawing With Children, I am sorry! I tried it twice! So above is a shot of the art I have added.

Beginning Drawing
I have purchased for Jenna Artistic Pursuits, but I don't understand why any art curriculum would start by asking the child to draw without showing them how to draw first.  So, that is why I added that DVD. Thanks to Tara for sharing the knowledge!

Jenna will continue with Singapore Math.  with plans to move into Teaching Textbooks.

On the topic of Jenna, I am still amazed at how she learned to read so well. I am in love with the fact that she learned to read not with only "Mat sat on Pat", but with starting at Genesis and reading through the MFW First Grade Bible Reader.


I am sure that there is more, but this post is long enough and gives a good idea about our year. Not to leave out little Janie, she will just tag along and will watch a lot of Leap Frog Letter Factory. I greatly attribute that DVD to Jenna being so ready to start MFW K.

Have a wonderful time planning your homeschool!
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Sprucing up the Blog

In great anticipation for the lovely change of weather we hopefully experience real soon in the south, I have revamped the blog. I hope you find it pleasing to look at. Many thanks to my lovely daughter Jessie for making the wonderful header to match the new layout.

Week 1 Rome to the Reformation & Beginning 1st

So the happy day! The day finally arrived when we got to start our new books! So, here is a little re-cap of how the week went.

As you can see the girls had their picture made with the subject of our first couple of history lessons. We live near Rome (not Italy) and our Rome has a little statue of Romulus and Remus. My son, the one who is studying RtR, would not have his picture made with that "gross" statue! (his words) :)

Really, I don't have a lot to share about our first week. We just picked up the books and went with it. I did add in the "Story of the World" on CD where I could. I love the format of MFW and they just make it easy to pick up and go.

Now, on to 1st grade!

Little Jenna is just the most excited little girl about her new books and she thought we were never going to start. Finally we did and although I had kind of got freaky about not having a grid (I did wind up with a very nice grid, btw) It is going well and I am WRITING IN THE TEACHER'S MANUAL! *GASP*
Yes, I am making myself notes about read-aloud books and other things that I am afraid I will forget. I use the grid and make notes. I am most afraid of forgetting something to do with math. I ran across a site just full of ideas Mama Jenn (if you have not been there and you are using MFW check it out!) I LOVED the Calendar Notebook idea and quickly made one for Jenna. I put our Number of the day sheets and 100 chart in it also.Very cool!

One more thing we did a little different was the base ten sticks. The idea of trying to glue beans on a stick just made me shiver with dread. My Jenna is a girly-girl and someone on the MFW boards had said they used stickers instead of beans ( I think it was Crystal). I knew for Jenna that stickers would be a lot more attractive than beans, then the idea of some bling instead of beans hit me!!! So , here is Jenna's base ten stick in the works.

I found these jewels in the craft section of Walmart.

She loves it already!

For the scroll, instead of making one I purchased one from Miller Pad and Paper. It is working out great!

So, we are off to a great start!

I have worked hard tweaking our schedule and it paid off this week. We were in revival meetings nightly with my husband preaching and we did all of our school, kept the house clean and had 3 healthy, home-cooked meals a day! Now I feel like I have accomplished something!!! What a great feeling! Thanks in no small part to the ease of use this curriculum offers. What a blessing from God!

A few more snap shots:

Little Janie is always by our side!

He did not want his picture made....shhh... don't tell him!

She works so hard!

Playing while we read :)

So what is missing??

She is! My Jessie! She is in high-school you know and that means that she is working in her own space for the biggest part of the day and I MISS HER being in the books with me. Always an eager one to learn, especially when it comes to history! So, I am still trying to adjust to this and she is beginning 10th grade!(doing WHL) I know that she has to have quiet to do all of that studying and writing, but sometimes I just want them all around the table. So, I may just start a family read-aloud and use an awesome Lamplighter book! You just never know what I will come up with!

Happy Homeschooling!

{this post is linked to Homeschool Highlights in MFW at 2 Ladybugs & a Lizard}

Deadly Disclosures by Julie Cave - A Book Review

Well, I am not a professional book reviewer and this will not be a long review.

Every once in a while I get to wanting something to read in the fiction department. I normally go for factual reading on nutrition, homeschooling, spiritual matters...that sort of stuff. So, every once  in a blue moon I need to just get lost in a story. I am a hard sell when it comes to what I call 'brain fluff". It can't be too fluffy, or too predictable. Bored is where I found myself  when it came to reading some of the leading Christian fiction writers.

As I was catching up on facebook one day I read where Ken Ham was promoting the writer Julie Cave and her Dinah Harris Mysteries series.

I quickly jumped over to Amazon and grabbed up the first in the series. Two days after it arrived I read the last page and order the second.



What I enjoyed most was the accurate story line of conflict of a Christians battle with Creationism verses Humanism and evolution. The facts presented were intriguing and the story was well written. My teenage daughter also devoured the book in no time and enjoyed it as well.

I have also finished the second book.


It was just as well written and so far is my favorite one of the series. It deals with the subject of eugenics. So as you can see, to call these "brain fluff" my not be fitting.

I highly recommend these books! I think they would serve well for any high-school student also and would fit well in your curriculum for teaching your teens to understand these very current topics from a Christian viewpoint.

Time to Do Things Differently

We have a schedule.

This week was to include homeschool in the morning and VBS in the evening.

I'm cooking for VBS. Last night we did 450 mini corn dogs. Served the children in shifts. Enjoyed the fellowship. Became really tired.

The schedule....oh yes....I forgot. We have been so tired, we {Mom}have been so tired in the mornings.

The mornings have moved slow, but good.

I have not minded the schedule very well.

We have read library books, played board games. Mom has laughed {does Mom do this enough?}

Today I have decorated a "hip hipster bag" won at the Library Summer Reading Program.

 While saying in my mind, "I don't have time for this."
While thinking, at the same time, "When will I have time for this?"
When? When they are big and don't care about mom helping with an iron on?
What am I waiting for?
I know, for the schedule to run like clock work, then I will be successful.
Really? I've been grasping at that for many moons and it don't feel good anymore.

"Mommy, can you paint my fingers?"

My usual response.....Not right now I have to______(fill in the blank with any task that really doesn't matter)

I painted 20 little toenails and 20 little fingernails.

(wait...what was on the schedule?)

We washed Jake. {cute little new puppy who had too many fleas} Cowboy has been asking for a week.

So I had to get this tired to slow down enough to see that those who are most important need time with me. Not just clean clothes, although important, the bodies in those clothes need hugs and smiles and I've been stingy with those because I have a schedule.

Now look, I am not bashing a schedule. We all need some order and there are things that have to be done. But as I played that game of Trouble and decorated that bag I realized that I had not done those things in a very, very long time.

Here was the reward, Little Jenna says, "Thanks Mom, that means so much to me." You don't know how profound those little words were.

Then to top it all off, Ann had this amazing blog post today.

Yes, I think I understand. Thank you Lord, for the time to learn this. That today I will live with one less regret.

Now, we will swim. Then the little ones will nap { I will rock that little Janie, singing her favorite "Rock-a-bye Baby" and I will enjoy every minute of it! }

We will go and try to reach out to the little children in our community that have been so sweet
{and hungry :)}

Yes, this week has been different.
Am I stressed? Not one bit.
Is that unusual? Oh yeah!



{A big thanks to Jessie, for the always wonderful pictures & coffee}

A Recital

This morning we hosted the recital for my daughter. It was a lovely time! Here is a clip of Jessie playing her pieces ,accompanied by her teacher.

Day 63 & 64 of 100 Days of Health Habit

Where do I start without sounding like I am whiny?

Day 63 had a great and promising start. We parked in town and walked to a friends house, had a great day and walked back. Then suddenly, without warning what I think is a nasty UTI hit me hard. All night and all day has just been yuck and nausea....

This is life. Setbacks happen. I really missed my workout and the energy to do them. I did notice that the last one I did felt like I was having to force myself through every moment. I felt just like I was lifting my legs through quicksand. Now I understand why.

In other news, we are still schooling and will continue throughout the summer months. That is just how we like to do it. Little Jenna is doing so good with her reading. I am enjoying teaching her more, I am sure this has something to do with 11 years of homeschooling under my belt. She loves books. We went to the library yesterday and she got all the books she could carry. Little Janie is just as taken with books and pushes a buggy full of them all over the house.

I must also say a little thanksgiving for the oldest two who are just like the men who held up the arms of Moses. They keep everything going and are so careful about me and how I feel. So precious. This homeschool lifestyle has blessings so much beyond academics. These relationships and this time together, I have no words to describe my gratitude for what God has worked in our home.

See, now that is something to be proud of!

Did She Capture Me or What?

My dear daughter, Jessie, loves nothing more than to snap pictures. And I think she is quite good at it too. Here is a photo she shot and posted on her blog. If she had found some way to get that iPhone in the shot it would have told my story. (I really do love my technology) But most of all, I love the one behind the lens.

Snow Day

I told the kiddos last night that we wouldn't take snow day,  we would do school. They really believed me....for a minute.

It is so beautiful outside. It is so warm and cozy inside. All together. :)

Thankful...... sometimes the world does slow down.