Nothing bad had happened.
Nothing bad, unless you count breaking bad news to your children as “bad.” I guess I do.
I have often reflected on the fact that my sons have had a blessed life — not wealthy or pampered, but blessed.
They have never experienced any of the tragedies that occur in our world on a daily basis: death of a family member, terminal/chronic illness, war, catastrophic accidents, divorce/separation of parents, etc. They have never been exposed to the sinful behaviors of those who would take advantage of them, abuse them, or harm them in any way.
My children have been blessed by a family, friends, and church who have done nothing but love on them and nurture them physically, spiritually, and mentally.
I am so thankful.
Although we do try to live the way we believe God wants us to, according to scripture, I know there are many other parents who have done the same and have still been touched by these heart-breaking experiences, and they have had to assist their children in understanding and coping with the ramifications. They haven’t had a choice about when.
Of course we have made every attempt to surround our children with safety and happiness. In having done so, however, we have found ourselves in the position of having to choose when and how to reveal these sad realities to them.
So I was crying because my husband and I were discussing one of the horrors of the world, contemplating how to discuss it with the boys. I tried to concentrate on the facts, but I kept imagining the face of my 7-year-old, with the innocence of his childhood falling away, and then the tears would come again.
Oh that we could keep these secrets from them!
Although we believe the boys must be informed, as their momma, I shudder at the idea of them trying to process the facts of abortion or sexual abuse or murder. It doesn’t seem right that these horrific thoughts should mingle with their childish thoughts of building Lego creations, jumping off a high-flying swing, or planning to hold their next spy club meeting.
Nevertheless, we know that they need to have the information — not just for their own safety but in order to show compassion to those in the world who have experienced pain and suffering.
They must begin to glean wisdom about the sinfulness of the human heart so that the reality of Jesus on the cross becomes relevant and needful in their own lives.
What’s something difficult that you’ve had to share with your children? How did you see God work in that discussion or situation?
This post is being shared at
The Better Mom Monday Link-up,
No Ordinary Blog Hop,
Mama Moments Monday,
Mothering Monday, and
Monday Musings at What Joy is Mine.
There are many other great posts linked there, so check them out too!
Photo credit: Tim Ebbs
What should you write about?
Whatever makes your life meaningful–big or small! How do you provide for your family? How do you interact with your spouse? What perspective do you have on your relationships with your children? How do you treat creation and the world around you? What are your goals for your homeschool? What do you do to serve others? How do you receive love from the Father? How do you give it back to the world? This link-up is very broad, but I hope you will try to make each post pointed.
An Optional Twist:
To that end, there is an additional (not required) challenge: try to maximize every word of your post, get in all the depth of your feelings, and still keep the post under 400 words! This is a goal that I’m working on for myself, and you are welcome to join me!
My two requests of you:
1) Please read at least one other post and take the time to interact with that post’s author (that could be meaningful, right?).
2) Please either link back to my blog through a text link or use the Make Life Meaningful Monday button in your post or on your sidebar. As always, I would sure appreciate a comment as well!
Nope. Homeschooling is still happening, but I admit that each day requires more fortitude than the day before. The temptation to close up shop is strong, and the reality is that my boys wouldn’t be any worse off, academically, for my having done so. It’s just a couple of weeks.
I might be a little strange, however, because the stronger the temptation to quit, the more I dig in my heels, determined to finish this school year well.
Finish well doesn’t mean that I continue to school as if it were February — freezing cold, nothing else to really do anyway, and hardly any daylight!
No! We definitely need to acknowledge, embrace, and welcome the beautiful spring season that we are in, so we’re altering our days, trying to incorporate a bit of whimsy now and again, but we are still going to finish well.
Yes. We are going to finish well.
Oh sure, I’ve had to whip out a few tricks to keep up morale when the sun shines and wants to hypnotize them. For example, I tried to get them psyched up by telling them “Today is par-tay Mon-day!” They thought that was great until I overused it, and they figured out that I could rhyme “par-tay” with every day of the week!
I have been adding chocolate chips to a few more breakfast foods…not just for their sake!
Sure, we all need a little something to coax us along, but I have to be the one to lead the charge! They are watching me!
So why do I keep at it when I could simply tell the boys to close their books — schools out for summer or simply let our studies fall by the wayside?
When I’ve run in races, it doesn’t matter how tired I am at the end,
once the finish line is in sight, I can always find a little more juice to cross that line
looking strong or at least stronger than I looked 10 minutes ago
when I thought I might die from exhaustion.
I want them to experience that feeling of having finished well, persevering through something that is difficult just because that is the goal that was set. They have to experience it themselves in order to reap the reward.
I want them to develop mental discipline that will cause them to stay any course they set themselves to in life.
There will be many more challenges in their lives that are much tougher than this one, but I want to help them start to build that habit now.
I want them to be strange like me, unable to do less than the goal they set for themselves.
How do you teach your children perseverance?
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Photo Credit: Tretherras News
Today, I went out to clean my flowerbed. It has been neglected this spring, even with all the beautiful weather that we’ve had.
There were tiny saplings and weeds growing everywhere! Creeping Charlie, nameless broad-leaf weeds, thistles, and dandelions to name just a few!
They distorted my view and made the whole yard seem horrid to me.
Today I got the chance to grab the hoe and get to work on those weeds!
I hardly looked at the flowerbed; I simply started furiously hoeing out the weeds, trying to erase them from my sight. It took a long while, but I started to feel like I was making progress. Suddenly, when I was about half done, I noticed this plant staring at me –
It’s my chive plant, and it’s just about to bloom! This caused me to stop and look around more carefully. These beauties were right in front of my eyes:
I had barely noticed my grape hyacinths before, but now I thought they were just stunningly perfect!
And my all time favorite plant — my bleeding heart. How did the beauty of those delicate little hearts escape my view?
I know the answer and so do you: I was dwelling only on the ugly in my yard and flowerbed. The opportunistic and invasive weeds were so consuming my thinking that they stole my enjoyment of all the good in my flowerbed.
I was talking with someone today, and he became very upset thinking about all the sad circumstances in the lives of people around us. I could hear that his heart was breaking over the pain and injustice that others, whom he loves, were suffering. I had to agree with him, but, somehow, although I’ve been a notorious glass-half-empty girl my whole life, I didn’t feel hopeless about these situations. I could still see the potential that existed in the lives of those people.
Though I haven’t attained the perfect outlook on life, I believe the hope I felt today is because of my hope in Jesus.
Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things. Philippians 4:8
Because of Jesus, there is always hope. As grim as it may seem, there is no use in becoming despondent about the circumstances of life because God is not finished, and He can redeem any circumstance and any person at any time!
The question is, do we believe it?
If we do, then we will do our part and not let the enemy defeat us with sadness and despair. We can, instead, choose to change our thinking.
Rather than continually rehearsing the worrisome situation — becoming vexed, anxious, or depressed about it — each time the thought comes to your mind, choose to turn it into prayer for that person! Doing so will renew our own hope and usher in the presence of God over those circumstances.
How do you help yourself to “dwell on the good?”
What should you write about?
Whatever makes your life meaningful–big or small! How do you provide for your family? How do you interact with your spouse? What perspective do you have on your relationships with your children? How do you treat creation and the world around you? What are your goals for your homeschool? What do you do to serve others? How do you receive love from the Father? How do you give it back to the world? This link-up is very broad, but I hope you will try to make each post pointed.
An Optional Twist:
To that end, there is an additional (not required) challenge: try to maximize every word of your post, get in all the depth of your feelings, and still keep the post under 400 words! This is a goal that I’m working on for myself, and you are welcome to join me!
My two requests of you:
1) Please read at least one other post and take the time to interact with that post’s author (that could be meaningful, right?).
2) Please either link back to my blog through a text link or use the Make Life Meaningful Monday button in your post or on your sidebar. As always, I would sure appreciate a comment as well!
At lunchtime today, my boys had a brilliant idea.
Okay, I didn’t think much of it at first (it was going to upset my apple cart), but I warmed up to it as we talked.
They wanted us to ride our bikes down to the river, about half a mile away, so that they could show me the boat launch area and the new dock. Their dad had ridden there with them last weekend, but they wanted to be the ones to show me.
I started to think about my afternoon school plans, trying to figure out how to adjust them and still accomplish the necessities… maybe the necessities are an illusion.
So I agreed, and as we cleared the lunch plates and locked up the house, I could feel their excitement: they were talking faster, moving faster, and making plans!
Once we arrived, they were delighted to see that the new, wooden dock, previously sitting on shore, was now stationed in the river. They walked all around, like little ants covering the inches and making note of the details.
You might have seen sparks fly from Oliver’s eyes when I suggested they take off their socks and shoes to test the water. Gawking at his brother in disbelief, Oliver whipped off his shoes, anxious to feel the squishy, slate-colored mud between his toes.
Once Elliot was comfortable with the water lapping about his ankles, he prodded me to join them, and I instinctively shook my head no. He continued with a persuasive tone, and finally the thought occurred to me, “Why am I saying no?” So off came my socks, and the bewildered boys rejoiced over my shrieks about the cold water!
They tried to skip rocks that were destined to go ker-plunk, so I helped them to recognize the flat skippers and gave them a little demonstration of my skills. Their zest for skipping rocks must be unparalleled anywhere in the universe!
After a good while, I did manage to do a bit of science reading with them, but the warm sun, the cottonwood seeds floating with the current, the rocks just waiting to be “skipped” — these were powerfully enticing.
And really, why should it be any different for them than it was for me? If you asked me what I read about in my science book when I was eight, you’d be waiting a long time for an answer. If you asked me what I loved to do during my childhood summers, this would be my reply:
Waking up in a camper to the smell of sunscreen, mosquito spray, and campfire.
Eggs and bacon splattering angrily on the camp stove as Mom made us breakfast.
Trying to catch fireflies in a jar. Chasing grasshoppers across our yard, aiming to capture them between my tented hands and the hard ground. Trapping yellow-jackets, monarchs, and dragon flies in a coffee can and then pinning them to a piece of cardboard for display.
Endless hours of swimming at the lake. Plugging my nose, taking a deep breath and diving in over and over. Digging in the sand with my toes for freshwater clams. Jumping off the dock, plunging to the bottom of the lake, scraping my backside on the sandy bottom.
Sitting around a campfire with my family, poking one end of a stick into the fire and watching it begin to pulse with the flame.
Fishing off the dock. Cutting the thick, writhing night crawlers in half with my bitten fingernails (Yuk! I know.).
The feeling of holding onto the perfect sunfish — not too small but not too big for me to get my hand around, sliding my hand from it’s head and down over the pokey fins of its back, carefully, so that I don’t get pricked. Then working the hook ever so gently out of its gasping mouth.
Searching the sandy beach, hunting for delicate , white shells and agates with which to fill my pockets.
Riding in the fishing boat with my dad. The motor wide open and the wind pressing hard on my face, as I watch the shoreline properties shrink in the distance.
Walking barefoot everywhere, until my feet are black at the end of each day.
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I was having a conversation with someone the other day. She is not a close friend, but when our paths cross I always enjoy visiting with her, and I often leave the conversation wishing that we had more opportunities to get together. Although she and I do have a few common interests, there are also many differences between us. That doesn’t bother me at all because I like her immensely.
During that whole conversation, I was strongly aware of my relationship with God. Although I was fully engrossed in the conversation with my friend, and there was nothing spiritual being discussed, I noticed that He was with us, and I wondered what He had in mind.
It’s not always like this for me; I wish I could say that it was. I wish I could say that I walked through life with an one eye on the Lord at all times.
Sadly, as I buy my postage stamps, return books at the library, or checkout at the grocery store, I notice that, all too often, I am set on auto-pilot. I may be thinking deeply about my list of tasks to be completed, worrying about the time, or I may not be thinking about much of anything at all.
Unfortunately, the people that I see in these routine endeavors, often suffer the same treatment as the errands themselves, being relegated to the status of “task to be accomplished” or simply becoming invisible to me.
Many years ago, I was able to spend some time in Ireland. Ireland, beautiful and inspiring as it is, is not the important part. I discovered something, however, while I was traveling around the country. In my lack of day-to-day routine, I was visiting with God and mindful of Him much more often than I ever was when I was at home with all the familiar people and places.
I liked that period of my life. I found that every time I met a person, or even whether or not I met a person, I was looking to God to provide reason and explanation about the events that took place. I was in communion with Him.
Maybe, when we are clearly mindful about the temporary nature of our existence on this earth, it become more obvious to us that we need to be connected to the eternal.
That experience, freely traveling without any daily obligations or duties, has been helpful to me. It made me aware of a different standard in my day-to-day life.
I know that it is possible (not necessarily easy) to act, accomplishing all that we need to do, and, at the same time, be mindful of God’s Presence as we interact with others. Doing so honors God by giving our attention and primary consideration, not to the completion of temporal tasks, but to Him and to His eternal creations — the people He loves and puts in our paths.
Do you have any tips or ideas about how we can live our daily lives while keeping one eye on God?
This post is being shared at
A Handful of Heart,
The Better Mom Monday Link-up,
No Ordinary Blog Hop,
Mama Moments Monday, and
Monday Musings at What Joy is Mine.
There are many other great posts linked there, so check them out too!
Photo Credit: IrishFireside
Whatever makes your life meaningful–big or small! How do you provide for your family? How do you interact with your spouse? What perspective do you have on your relationships with your children? How do you treat creation and the world around you? What are your goals for your homeschool? What do you do to serve others? How do you receive love from the Father? How do you give it back to the world? This link-up is very broad, but I hope you will try to make each post pointed.
An Optional Twist:
To that end, there is an additional (not required) challenge: try to maximize every word of your post, get in all the depth of your feelings, and still keep the post under 400 words! This is a goal that I’m working on for myself, and you are welcome to join me!
My two requests of you:
1) Please read at least one other post and take the time to interact with that post’s author (that could be meaningful, right?).
2) Please either link back to my blog through a text link or use the Make Life Meaningful Monday button in your post or on your sidebar. As always, I would sure appreciate a comment as well!
It [Love] is not conceited (arrogant and inflated with pride); it is not rude (unmannerly) and does not act unbecomingly. Love (God’s love in us) does not insist on its own rights or its own way, for it is not self-seeking; it is not touchy or fretful or resentful; it takes no account of the evil done to it [it pays no attention to a suffered wrong]. 1 Corinthians 13:4-6
I’m coming to a sad realization. I’m a little surprised that it’s taken me this long, but I think I have kept myself sufficiently busy to ward off any chance of the Still Small Voice being noticed by me. Yes, sufficiently busy.
There is always so much to be done after all. I’m a busy mom.
They have been with me for awhile, the “touchy, fretful, and resentful” feelings, but whenever they rose to the surface, I would try to justify myself and then feel slightly guilty, which would prompt me to try to repent, “I’m sorry… [that I feel that way, but I just do!]…as if that counted for anything.
I had convinced myself that these imagined wrongs really mattered, though they may not even be true.
It’s so insidious. So sneaky. How is it that I can be offended by absolutely…nothing. That’s right. No one said anything or did anything to me, and yet I feel that I have been wronged. I sense that I have been slighted and probably maligned too…I don’t know it for a fact, but I can just feel it.
I’m very intuitive — except when I’m being paranoid, of course.
I have actually developed a whole scenario around the wrongdoings that, for all I know, is probably complete fiction. I have chosen to entertain these tiny thoughtletts, nurturing them along for such a length of time, breathing little puffs of life into them, and now, finally budding into self-pity and anger, they are stealing my joy.
How many times have I tried to counsel my own children about letting the enemy steal their joy over some small or even imagined slight? Hypocrite.
I could probably go on thinking badly about a person for quite a while without you knowing it (am I uniquely skilled at this?), but not only is this situation stealing my joy, it is keeping me from Him. He’s been watching it all, and I have to come clean with Him.
You can’t hide from God–nothing. Still, I have been trying.
I have avoided praying because I knew that His conviction would come. Oh sure, I could still have devotions with my children, and I could tell them all about the Lord and how good He is. I could pray for meals or pray for others, but I could not sit alone with Him because if I did, He would confront me about my sin, and I wasn’t ready to give it up.
Since God chose you to be the holy people he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others. Colossians 3:12-13
The truth is, I will either be forgiving true offences, or I will be forgiving imagined offences (seems silly when I say it that way).
Either way, I’m ready now because I do not want to exist being separated from Him.
Ever try to hide your sin from God? How’d that work for you?
Photo credit: stevendepolo
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I don’t know about you, but even with a mother who is a great cook and baker, I grew up with box-mix pudding as the standard.
Then I discovered custard, and I realized the sad truth–homemade is better.
But custard is kind of touchy, right? The whole temper-the-eggs thing makes me sweat! I’ve lived through it, but I never feel confident about the results.
Well, I have some soured raw milk in my fridge, and I hate to throw it out, plus I love pudding — I just hate using boxed mixes anymore for cooking or baking. Sure, in an emergency I may still do that, but not as a regular practice.
I have time to cook from scratch now — I’m at home all day!
With all of the changes in our diet that we’ve made over the past couple of years, I’ve gotten pretty good at knowing how to make the changes stick. Here’s how I do it:
I was very happy to have found this video tutorial of how to make pudding without having to temper the eggs!
This no-fuss vanilla pudding recipe, from Lynn’s Kitchen Adventures, is the one we tried today. She also has flavor variations on her blog.
I’m delighted to know exactly what is in the pudding (unlike store bought mix or snack packs!), but I’m not thrilled about the sugar. I try to limit sugar in our diet, so I cut back the amount of sugar, and I’m happy to report that it still tastes delicious!
Ingredients:
1/2 c sugar (next time I will use 1/4 c sugar and 1/4 c xylitol)
4 T cornstarch
1/8 t salt
1 c cream
2-1/2 c milk
3 egg yolks
1 T butter
1 T vanilla
Directions:
1. In a saucepan, combine sugar, cornstarch, and salt.
2. Stir in the cream, milk, and egg yolks (by the way, I used 1 c of sour, raw milk, and 2-1/2 c of whole milk.
I think you can easily vary the combination as long as it equals 3-1/2 c total).
3. Cook over med-high heat stirring with a whisk the entire time. Cook until it thickens (mine took at least 5-6 minutes).
4. Remove from the heat, and whisk in the butter and vanilla.
5. Pour pudding mixture through a fine metal strainer to remove any lumps (mine had very few).
6. To avoid a “skin” on the top of the pudding, lay plastic wrap right onto the surface of the pudding.
Although I could just eat this pudding plain, I let the boys make a strawberry parfait in a fancy glass…what is it about a fancy glass?
This recipe is very easy to make, is not very time consuming, and it really does beat a box mix from the store (for health and taste)! I’ve pinned this recipe for myself, and it will become my new “standard” in pudding. I can’t wait to try the other flavors!
If you give it a try, let me know what you think!
I’m happily linking up today with my friend Lisa over at Try A New Recipe Tuesday and Kids in the Kitchen! Go see what else is cooking!
Motherhood is not what I thought it would be. Truthfully, it’s not even what it started out to be — at least not in my life.
Before I was married, I was working full-time as an autism teacher. The days were long as well as physically and emotionally challenging. The issues of my students were so many and often so complex that there were always problems to be solved, materials to be prepared, and people and schedules to be organized.
Now, I suppose that was fine before my babies came along, but once my boys were with us, I found parenting and teaching incompatible and highly stressful.
Yes, I realize that most people think of teaching as a terrific mom job — school holidays off and summers off, so you can be home with your children. Sure the summers off were nice, but what about the long hours, work, and worry during the other 10 months of the year? The summers off just served to remind me, painfully, of what I was missing the rest of the year!
In order to survive with my sanity, I had to cut myself some slack at home. Sure, I was still mom, and I was working very hard. No one would ever suggest that I could have done more. Still, I was only giving my family second best — less time, less quality, less attention, less effort.
I was tired! The best of me was what I had expended all day long at school.
Why did I give my best to others? It wasn’t intentional; it was just a consequence of my choices. When you are employed, you owe obligations to others.
At home, my husband was ever gracious because he knew I felt stressed and overwhelmed about my job much of the time, and he picked up a lot of the slack. Blessedly, my boys were too young to make demands or hold me accountable to being an attentive parent.
These days things are different. Parenting, teaching, providing for, and nurturing my children are my primary responsibilities.
The most important factor in that equation is that most of my waking hours are designated to them. For me, more times does equal more and better attention.
I would not have imagined it back then, but I have found unfathomable job satisfaction in meeting the needs of my family by giving them my BEST!
How do you go out of your way to give your family your best?
Photo credit: tropicofkansas
This post is linked to A Handful of Heart, The Better Mom Monday Link-up, Mama Moments Monday, and What Joy Is Mine. There are many other great posts linked there, so check them out too!
What should you write about?
Whatever makes your life meaningful–big or small! How do you provide for your family? How do you interact with your spouse? What perspective do you have on your relationships with your children? How do you treat creation and the world around you? What are your goals for your homeschool? What do you do to serve others? How do you receive love from the Father? How do you give it back to the world? This link-up is very broad, but I hope you will try to make each post pointed.
An Optional Twist:
To that end, there is an additional (not required) challenge: try to maximize every word of your post, get in all the depth of your feelings, and still keep the post under 400 words! This is a goal that I’m working on for myself, and you are welcome to join me! (I wrote 484 words this week!)
My two requests of you:
1) Please read at least one other post and take the time to interact with that post’s author (that could be meaningful, right?).
2) Please either link back to my blog through a text link or use the Make Life Meaningful Monday button in your post or on your sidebar. As always, I would sure appreciate a comment as well!
KONOS Unit Study on Stewardship/Fun/Circus
I’ve had many, many jobs over the years — waitress, mail clerk, sales assistant, retail store worker, front-desk clerk, teaching assistant, para-professional, personal care attendant, and, finally, special education teacher. I’m sure there were more.
All of these jobs served the ultimate purpose of paying the bills at some point in life. The last few positions moved me closer to my calling and afforded more in the way of personal fulfillment because I felt they actually helped other people.
The truth is, every job is important and can “help other people.” There are few jobs that don’t involve working with people, so God is certainly moving in the workplace! I guess it just depends on personal preferences and values.
These days, although I do work a part-time job, my primary career is certainly as a homeschool mom, which includes being a teacher as well as all the other domestic tasks we moms are given to.
I don’t think you would be surprised if I told you that there are some domestic tasks that I absolutely detest! Doesn’t every job have some loathsome responsibilities? Regardless, being a homeschool momma is definitely the best job I’ve ever had!
I love –
…applying my skills as an organizer and teacher for the benefit of my children.
…tackling domestic tasks, like baking bread, washing clothes, or preparing a meal while my kids are doing school work in the kitchen.
…sitting in the rocking chair, in front of the east window, reading books or having devotions with my children every morning.
…creating opportunities for my children outside of the home that reinforce concepts they are learning about inside the home (i.e. their school books).
…teaching and modeling to my children how to persevere and be diligent in our work habits even when we really, really don’t feel like it.
…allowing our schedule to accommodate time out for hugs, tickles, prayer, discipline, or encouragement whenever it is needed.
…selecting our next chapter book and then reading out loud as the boys play Legos, draw, or sit next to me on the couch.
…watching and encouraging my boys as they begin to take on more responsibilities around the house, like doing chores and taking care of pets.
…attempting to foster the individuality of each of my children, especially their strengths and interests.
…listening for the Lord’s direction, when I remember to, about the next step to take on a particular activity for the boys.
…delighting my sons by occasionally granting some whimsical request that throws a monkey wrench into our schedule.
…incorporating short morning workouts with my sons, so that both they and I master the habit of taking good care of our bodies.
…taking advantage of the gift of being at home to provide more wholesome, natural, home cooked foods for my family — I’m taking care of them!
…prioritizing the completion of school work during the day so that there is no homework to disrupt family time or other activities in the evening.
…digging deep inside of myself to trust the Lord that, as I apply myself to educating our sons, He will continually provide whatever they need.
None of these “loves” are perfectly lived-out every day, but all of them are regularly occurring enough to provide a goal to which we may aspire. When we do fail, we know that we will wake up again tomorrow with God’s grace and the day at our disposal.
Whether you’re a homeschool momma or not, what is something that you love about your job?
This post is being shared at Proverbs 31 Thursday, Thankful Thursday, Thought-Provoking Thursday, Thursday Favorite Things, and Mama Kat’s Losin’ It! so head over and check them out!
Homeschooling offers an endless variety of ideas to pursue. I have been guilty of trying to accomplish too many things and neglecting an invaluable activity: time outside!
It’s easy for me to keep my kids busy all day long in the house. There are great books, wonderful projects, and let’s not forget how they adore Legos! I won’t lie, it feels more productive to me than just letting them play freely outside, and maybe, in the short-term, it is.
But I have also felt regret about what they have not yet experienced in nature.
I remember being a kid, playing in the wooded creek area at the back of our big yard in the country. We would spend time out there with neighborhood friends, unsupervised, just messing around in the shallow creek, climbing fallen trees, and generally being kids.
But times have change, haven’t they? There are lots of supervised park and recreational activities, which are have their place, but what about just going outside to play — without anyone organizing or supervising what you do while you’re out there? We have always lived in close proximity to a lot of other people, and we don’t know them all, so our children are usually somewhat supervised even in our own yard!
We’ve been too close to our boys, I think, for them to really explore the outdoors the way we’d like them to.
I decided to force myself to get my kids out there by following these 10 Outdoor Hour Nature Challenges! It’s just like me to have to schedule my children to have free time, but I’ve got to start somewhere!
Wanting to make the most of the opportunity, I invited a couple of homeschool friends to join us, and I just know it’s going to be great, for the kids and for the moms! We’ll be meeting once per week for a couple of hours until 10 weeks or whenever we feel like we’re finished.
Beginning this new adventure at the end of the school year is like a breath of fresh air for us all!
If you find yourself just treading water as the year winds down, consider throwing in something new to revitalize everyone’s zest for learning! And, in this beautiful time of the year, why not make it a nature study?
Do you have any wonderful nature study resources you’d like to share? I’d love to have more ideas!
If you are enjoying Changed By the Maker, please consider subscribing to Changed By The Maker by Email or follow me on Facebook to receive posts in your news feed. You can also follow me on Twitter.
This post is linked to A Handful of Heart, The Better Mom Monday Link-up, Mama Moments Monday, and What Joy Is Mine. There are many other great posts linked there, so check them out too!
Whatever makes your life meaningful–big or small! How do you provide for your family? How do you interact with your spouse? What perspective do you have on your relationships with your children? How do you treat creation and the world around you? What are your goals for your homeschool? What do you do to serve others? How do you receive love from the Father? How do you give it back to the world? This link-up is very broad, but I hope you will try to make each post pointed.
An Optional Twist:
To that end, there is an additional (not required) challenge: try to maximize every word of your post, get in all the depth of your feelings, and still keep the post under 400 words! This is a goal that I’m working on for myself, and you are welcome to join me! (It’s really hard! I wrote 530 this week!)
My two requests of you:
1) Please read at least one other post and take the time to interact with that post’s author (that could be meaningful, right?).
2) Please either link back to my blog through a text link or use the Make Life Meaningful Monday button in your post or on your sidebar. As always, I would sure appreciate a comment as well!
I have secretly worried about my boys.
I’ve noticed something that bothers me: they often seem totally absorbed with themselves and their material goods.
I’ve been reassured that, with maturity and guidance, children will learn to put others ahead of themselves, but, to this mama, the progress sometimes seems slow.
Their prayers of thanksgiving often comprise a long list — it starts with their most preferred toys and continues until they can’t think of any other great toys, and they just begin to name objects in the room that they can see, like the lamp, and the bed!
I’m puzzled. Being thankful is as natural as breathing! So I begin to worry, that not only are my boys’ prayers superficial, but that they don’t feel more connected to other people.
Why are there so few people in their prayers?
What if their hearts aren’t wired properly, and they never learn to feel gratitude or compassion for others.What if they grow into adulthood without feeling thankful for their family, friendships, and experiences that have shaped them? What if they only perform kindnesses to others because they know that we expect if of them? What if they never appreciate the gifts that others have sacrificed to give them? What if they never (gulp) fully embrace for themselves the gift of Jesus?
It’s a challenge to feel confident about the results of parenting while you’re still in the middle of it. And really, will it ever end?
Parenting will remind you everyday that you cannot completely control the ultimate character of your children!
Trusting God with the character development of our children is the only way to have peace in all the years of parenting.
As parents, we have done all that we know to do, and we will continue doing it!
I am extremely thankful when we see a little fruit from all of our labor.
Today, Oliver, out of the blue, offered to use his own money to pay for something that Elliot cannot afford.
Later in the day, Elliot, without hesitation, said that he was going to do all of Oliver’s chores on his birthday.
In these two separate moments of the day, I was refreshed and encouraged in my parenting journey.
What fruit have you seen lately? Let’s encourage each other by sharing!
photo credit: crazy8photography
This post is being shared at Proverbs 31 Thursday, Thankful Thursday, and Thought-Provoking Thursday, so head over and check them out!
This cartoon was floating around on Facebook. It’s not new, but this week it really struck a chord.
My little Oliver is going to turn 7 this week. He’s my youngest, so every year that he kisses good-bye is a year of childhood that neither he nor I will ever experience again.
Every year, about this time, I wrestle Oliver into my lap and, looking deeply into his laughing eyes, I ask him if he would please consider staying the same age instead of moving on, and every year he giggles, waiting for the tickle he knows is coming, and squeaks that it’s not possible, and and he refuses to even consider it! So what choice do I have? I must tickle him into misery!
I don’t know how I came to be so syrupy about this motherhood-gig. I distinctly remember, somewhere in my twenties, confidently telling whoever was interested that I had no desire to be a mother. And I meant it! I wasn’t interested in cooing over infants or dreaming of the day I would have my own.
I wanted to travel and live abroad. I wanted to conquer something, to make my mark on the world in a way that really mattered to others. I wanted to do something different and important.
Did you frown as you read that last sentence? Me too.
Could there be anything that matters more than participating with God in the creation of another human being?
Just taking on the challenge of raising a child, all the way to adulthood, safely is an enormous task, full of risks!
And then being responsible to nurture all of the potential that exists in that child — potential that, frankly, I think we can barely conceive of — is serious business!
That’s it, you see! We have no idea what God will do in the life of that child!
To compromise my child’s potential, especially for the sake of my own fading glory, is just simply selfish and short-sighted.
I don’t know when I really realized it, but, I’m on my way out of here! Not soon, hopefully, but my life cannot be all about me and my personal ambitions anymore. There is something bigger at stake – the potential of my children, and God has given my husband and me responsibility to help bring that potential to fruition – not just for our children’s sake but for His kingdom!
I don’t need to be the judge of what “selfish” looks like in the life of a parent because, I’m sure it manifests itself in all of our lives to one degree or another. I’m pretty confident that you know in your heart when you’ve put your own desires, ambition, or interests ahead of what is best for your child or even, unfortunately, what is necessary for your child to be secure and safe.
I’m not talking about who gets to choose the restaurant for dinner. I’m talking about our time, effort, and money.
It’s a big responsibility, but God has also, gratefully, provided parents with multitudes of rewards along the way during our faithful service. Feeling the arms of my soon-to-be 7-year-old around my neck or having him come and plop into my lap with a snuggly “I love you Momma” are just two of the more obvious ones.
I know there will be more rewards down the road as my boys make their way to adulthood, and I look forward to them, but I don’t want to miss one single hug-around-the-neck now.
It’s these affections that, over the years, have cemented my commitment to this motherhood-gig.
What rewards of faithful parenting mean the most to you?
Whatever makes your life meaningful–big or small! How do you provide for your family? How do you interact with your spouse? What perspective do you have on your relationships with your children? How do you treat creation and the world around you? What are your goals for your homeschool? What do you do to serve others? How do you receive love from the Father? How do you give it back to the world? This link-up is very broad, but I hope you will try to make each post pointed.
An Optional Twist:
To that end, there is an additional (not required) challenge: try to maximize every word of your post, get in all the depth of your feelings, and still keep the post under 400 words! This is a goal that I’m working on for myself, and you are welcome to join me! (I hit 600 words this week!)
My two requests of you:
1) Please read at least one other post and take the time to interact with that post’s author (that could be meaningful, right?).
2) Please either link back to my blog through a text link or use the Make Life Meaningful Monday button in your post or on your sidebar. As always, I would sure appreciate a comment as well!
One of the benefits of homeschooling is that, as your child is learning, you can evaluate how it’s going and, if it stinks big-time, you can CHANGE DIRECTION!
I don’t advocate doing that every six weeks or anything, but sometimes a method or a curriculum is just not working. Sometimes you find your child struggles with a concept in a way in which you did not anticipate, and you need to change directions.
If you want to be an expert on your child, homeschooling will bring that about! You simply must learn your child’s strengths and weaknesses and have a good idea about his/her learning style so that you can be effective.
I had to learn a few things. Enter–MATH.
My oldest is one of those “right-brain” learners. He’s all about language, reading, and creativity. He’s clever and can create anything he sets his mind to.
But that’s not exactly how math works. Math is not about being creative; it’s about learning the facts, by rote, and drilling, drilling, drilling those facts in there until you know them so well that you can recite them forwards and backwards while riding a unicycle and juggling chiwawas!
Elliot enjoyed Right Start Math. Not too many worksheets, no memorization, and, as the first child, he was probably a little ahead, so kindergarten was grand, for both of us.
Elliot obediently used his workbook to demonstrate knowledge of his adding facts as we slowly, with much repetition, worked our way up. He didn’t enjoy it. He used to tell me there were no pictures on the workbook pages. I had thought that would be good for him. He can be visually distracted so easily. Wouldn’t plain text help him to focus better?
It wasn’t good. He was always looking for ways to make the workbook “interesting,”which caused him to think as little as possible about the facts that I wanted him to learn.
Instead of getting faster, he started getting slower, and we would both wind up being upset. He understood the concept of adding just fine. The problem was methodically memorizing number facts! Then the lessons, oblivious to my child’s lack of enthusiasm and my dismay, marched onward to subtraction!
By the end of first grade, after just about daily confabs with my spouse about what to do, try, or change, I was under orders to do nothing except “not teach Elliot to hate math!” By that, my husband meant, put the books aside, play math games, do some baking, and work with numbers in real life, anything number-related, but don’t continue pushing with the same curriculum!
So first grade was a fizzle. But I was learning.
After much discussion and reflection, I came to a few conclusions:
a) No time testing! — it stresses him, he can’t remember what he knows, he performs poorly, and he is mad at himself. He walks away learning “I’m bad at math.” Any thought of timing him to speed him up had to go!
b) I needed to be FREE to change up and decide on a day-to-day basis what I wanted him to practice. I could not follow a strict curriculum because, well…I’m too rule-bound myself, and I tend to push too hard to keep up with the curriculum’s expectations. That was simply punishing to Elliot.
c) I did need an overarching plan of what he needed to learn in second grade. With a plan in hand, I could cover skills in whatever way I chose, and I would feel free to teach more responsively to my son.
Coincidentally (I don’t believe in coincidences), just about that time, a friend gave me a book called “Math for Your First and Second Grader: All You Need To Know to be Your Child’s Best Teacher.”
It looked like a reasonable list of skills. and it provided steps for teaching and a little practice. So, with a hodge-podge collection of math workbooks and on-line math websites, we were set.
He enjoyed the variety of work, and I wasn’t stuck following a specific schedule. It wasn’t perfect, I won’t lie, but overall it was a ginormous improvement from first grade, and he did achieve the necessary skills. Mission accomplished.
Elliot’s feelings about his math competency had improved so much by the end of second grade!
We chose Math-U-See. This is a curriculum that has so many supporters and positive reviews, I just had to give it a shot. I was enticed by the idea that I could use a DVD to teach each lesson (which might mean watching a 5-minute video once or twice a week).
Math-U-See doesn’t suggest that you don’t have to memorize, and it does use rather plain worksheets, but there is variety in the way that problems are presented, and the instructor offers many “secrets” to help students remember their facts.
It is structured so that I am able to decide how many days of practice Elliot needs on a particular lesson before moving on.
There are practical word-problems in every lesson, providing “concrete” examples of how to apply the lessons to every day life. These are helpful for Elliot.
Elliot was moving along pretty well in Math-U-See, but I could see signs that all of that skip-counting was starting to get jumbled up in his beautiful brain.
Depending on the day, he might struggle to perform multiplication problems across a variety of the families, always hitting a stumbling block with actual memorization. He got very few problems wrong, but he wasn’t speedy, and it felt like a precarious balance each day.
Then, a few weeks ago, we attended a homeschool convention, and, although I wasn’t dissatisfied with Math-U-See, I still browsed around for something that would make learning those multiplication facts less stressful.
AND I FOUND IT!!!
The concept is perfectly suited to my visual learner who loves a story and has great recall of text or images that he sees.
First, each number is drawn into a cartoon-like character and given a name. For example, the 8 is made into a feminine creature and called “Mrs. Snowman.”
Next, Elliot memorized the characters for 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, and 9 (1, 2, 5, 10′s are skipped since they are typically easier to learn).
Then, the characters are presented within a 1-page “story” for each multiplication fact. Remembering the story, in order, teaches the multiplication fact.
For example, “Mrs. Snowman (8) stood on a chair (4) to reach 3 buttons and 2 mittens.”
There’s a simple, black and white illustration for each story.
Now, when Elliot sees 8×4, he thinks “Mrs. Snowman and the chair,” and answers 32! It’s sooooooooo much better than skip counting!
Okay, reality. Your child does have to understand the concept of multiplication in order for this to strategy to be sensible, so we haven’t thrown over Math-U-See.
If simple memorization is what is holding up your child’s skills or causing frustration, I would definitely encourage you to give Times Tales a try.
Elliot has been spending 15-20 minutes a day, for the past 2 weeks, memorizing the stories and practicing the flashcards (online, which he enjoys!), and I can see such a difference in his approach to math.
Before, he appeared to be treading water — some days better than others! Now he seems relaxed, like he’s floating, and the images just come into his mind when he sees the problem. He’s confident that they will, so he is relaxed, and I can tell you, that is such a blessing to me!
I just couldn’t be more delighted, and I just had to share because I’m sure we are not the only ones who have struggled with learning math facts!
This is not just for homeschoolers! If your child in public school is having trouble with memorization, please give this program a try!
This post is linked to Proverbs 31 Thursday, Thankful Thursday, and Thought-Provoking Thursday! Check them out!
*I am an affiliate of Times Tales. If you were to purchase Times Tales through this link, I would receive a small portion of that sale, and I would use that to support this sight and my own curriculum purchases! It does not increase the cost of the product to you. Whether you use this link or not, I strongly encourage parents who have kids that are struggling with this skill to give it a try!
photo credit: svintus2010
Would this environment make you more mindful of God? Me too!
I just did a search on Flickr for “hearing from God.” There were five pages of images: people climbing Mt. Fuji, nature, churches and church spires, evangelists, statues, stained glass windows, beaches, angels, and crucifixes, etc. I found it very interesting that, among the five pages of images, the only picture of the Bible was one that was open to Hebrew writing.
That made me wonder….
Today is Easter — Resurrection Day, and I have so enjoyed testifying to the Lord and sharing with my church family and friends traditional greetings like “He is risen! He is risen, indeed!” I love that! Frankly, I have just enjoyed saying “Resurrection Day” over and over!
This morning, as my boys removed the blue paint tape from the oven door, and took out our Easter story cookies, we read about the stone being rolled away from the tomb. I reveled in remembering that event (again) with our sons. Then I cranked up the song Amen, by Larnelle Harris, on the stereo and starting preparing my heart with joy for our church service.
As I’ve gone through my day, I found myself whispering to Him, sharing concerns for family members, asking advice, praying for my children. I have been mindful today of my relationship with Jesus. I have demonstrated that I believe He is always with me. I do believe it.
So why do I walk through so many days as though I am absent from Him, being steered this way and that by the urgent demands of the day? Why, like the Flickr search, is the Word of God no where to be found, even when I most need it? What is the force that keeps believers from choosing to access the key to our heart, the very Word of God, when we know well there is nothing like it?
We were busy yesterday all day at home. I was hunkered down in the kitchen (where else?), working at a forming little meatballs, and I felt my eyebrows beginning to furrow. I felt weary. I felt put-upon. My legs felt like stumps attached to the floor. I felt like grousing. No one asked me to make those meatballs — it was my choice to serve my family, so why was I feeling sour?
In a remarkable turn of events, I went to the CD player and put in some worship music, arguably one of my best moves all day. Singing along, scriptures and words of praise passing over my lips, seemed to transform that task of making meatballs into a worthwhile act, as it was intended to be. What changed? Only the direction of my thoughts.
Maybe you’re like me, and you need some help moving your thoughts in the right direction, so I’m going to help you out. I’m linking to Revelation Song by Jesus Culture (I wasn’t able to embed it, but please go have a listen!). Be mindful today and everyday that Jesus is with you. Overcome that force that immobilizes us, keeping us from reaching out for what we need most: Jesus.
What helps you to be mindful of God in your day-t0-day life?
Photo credit: lazy jane
This post is linked with Monday’s Musings, The Better Mom’s Monday Link-Up, and A Handful of Heart! Please check out these sites!
Now it’s your turn!
(Grab the code from the sidebar!)
What should you write about?
Whatever makes your life meaningful–big or small! How do you provide for your family? How do you interact with your spouse? What perspective do you have on your relationships with your children? How do you treat creation and the world around you? What are your goals for your homeschool? What do you do to serve others? How do you receive love from the Father? How do you give it back to the world? This link-up is very broad, but I hope you will try to make each post pointed.
An Optional Twist:
To that end, there is an additional (not required) challenge: try to maximize every word of your post, get in all the depth of your feelings, and still keep the post under 400 words! (Mine was about 500 words this week!) This is a goal that I’m working on for myself, and you are welcome to join me!
My two requests of you:
1) Please read at least one other post and take the time to interact with that post’s author (that could be meaningful, right?).
2) Please either link back to my blog through a text link or use the Make Life Meaningful Monday button in your post or on your sidebar. As always, I would sure appreciate a comment as well!
It’s Easter week. I hate to let each day pass without, in some way, drawing my children’s thoughts back to the cross.
And yet, I hadn’t really planned anything special for us to do — too many bunny rabbits and Easter eggs floating around! These symbols, although Christians have found ways to apply Christian truth to them, have become so common as to become meaningless, at least for me.
That’s the way of symbols. If they are experienced in exactly the same way over and over again, they seem to lose their power to convey meaning.
Then I came across this recipe for hot cross buns, which reminds me of time that I spent in Ireland, where they are traditionally eaten around Easter.
As I read this online newsletter about the tradition of hot cross buns, three thoughts stuck with me:
Although hot cross buns are just another symbol, for our family, they are a fresh symbol for this Easter, not one we will necessarily repeat. Eating these will, hopefully, provide further discussion of the cross, the events of Good Friday, and a little history too.
Click here for the original recipe that I used, which has very thorough instructions.
Ingredients:
FOR THE BUNS:
1/2 cup milk
3 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup cold water
1 large egg
1-1/2 tablespoons instant or bread machine yeast
3 cups flour, plus more for dusting
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup dried currants/raisins
FOR THE EGG WASH:
1 large egg
1 teaspoon water
FOR THE ICING:
1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1-1/2 teaspoons milk
Instructions:
1. Heat the milk, butter, and sugar together in a small saucepan until the butter melts and the milk bubbles. Remove from the heat, and stir in the cool water. Let it all cool until it’s lukewarm.
2. Whisk the egg into the milk mixture.
3. In a large bowl, mix together the dry ingredients and currents, then add the milk mixture and stir until you get a sticky dough.
4. Kneed the dough for 3 or 4 minutes, adding flour as needed, until it is smooth.
5. Put the dough back into the bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and let it rise for about 2 hours.
6. Punch down the dough, cover and let it rest another 10 minutes.
7. Cut the dough into 12 pieces and pinch into little balls. Set them onto a parchment lined cookie sheet, about 1 inch apart. Cover and let them rise about 45 minutes.
8. Preheat the oven to 375F, and proceed to make the egg wash. Brush the tops of the rolls with the wash.
9. Bake the rolls until brown, about 20 minutes. Let them cool completely.
10. Make the icing, and put it into a small ziplock baggy. Draw a cross onto each bun.
What are you doing to remember the crucifixion this Good Friday? I’d love to hear from you, so please leave take a minute to comment!
I’m linking this post with Lisa at Try a New Recipe Tuesday and Look What We did!
I have recently been encouraging my sons to start running with me.It seems like a good thing to do: it’s a healthy habit, it teaches self-discipline, and I enjoy it so I get to do it with them! Win-win, right?
That’s kind of how I think — two birds with one stone. I’m very efficient…and a little bit selfish. It’s easy to do activities with my sons that I also enjoy doing.
Doing an activity with them that I dislike just because they love it, now that is sacrificial, and it doesn’t come so easy for me.
My husband is my model in this area!
He’s been known to hunker down onto the floor and play legos, and I don’t mean just build them; I mean making them talk to each other and interact in an appropriate play scenario–like Star Wars, medieval warriors, or pirates, complete with funny voices!
My husband has been seen brandishing a plastic sword or light saber and jumping out from behind doorways talking in pirate language, just because his sons begged him to play pirates!
Playing spies is near and dear to my boys’ hearts, so Lon has also been known to try and act deceptively (he’s not very convincing) and covert — I think it’s the way he “covertly” rolls his eyes at me while he’s uttering spy lingo at the same time that is the most fun!
And board games — one of the boys received Star Wars Monopoly for Christmas, and Lonnie made sure it was played with vigor over our Christmas break.
Just today, after we came home from church, the boys happily clamoured down the steps from their bedroom and announced on the way past me, “We’re going to shoot our guns!” Lonnie was not far behind, resigned that he would be spending the next hour teaching the boys how to safely use their air soft guns and shoot a few cans while they were at it.
The amazing aspect of all of this is that Lon doesn’t enjoy any of those activities. He doesn’t do any of them because he enjoys them (though he winks at me while he’s playing). He does these things for the boys.
He doesn’t limit their interests to his own, which happen to be listening to music, reading good books, and looking at or making art! These are the pursuits that would bring Lon pleasure on a leisurely Sunday afternoon.
But he wants to nurture the hearts of his boys. He wants them to know that they come ahead of his own comforts and desires, so he lays those aside for the day, or for a couple of hours, and instead finds his own joy in the joy of his children.
I would sure enjoy hearing from you! What is something that you choose to do with your children that you don’t really enjoy but that you know makes their little hearts sing?
If you are enjoying reading Changed by the Maker, you can subscribe to receive each post in your email, or you can follow Changed by the Maker on Facebook and receive two or three posts per week in your news feed! And, please, follow me on that big, black hole — Twitter! 
This post is being linked to Monday’s Musings, The Better Mom Monday’s Link-Up, and A Handful of Heart. Come and join me to read more!
Whatever makes your life meaningful–big or small! How do you provide for your family? How do you interact with your spouse? What perspective do you have on your relationships with your children? How do you treat creation and the world around you? What are your goals for your homeschool? What do you do to serve others? How do you receive love from the Father? How do you give it back to the world? This link-up is very broad, but I hope you will try to make each post pointed.
An Optional Twist:
To that end, there is an additional (not required) challenge: try to maximize every word of your post, get in all the depth of your feelings, and still keep the post under 400 words! This is a goal that I’m working on for myself, and you are welcome to join me! (I managed about 500 this week!)
My two requests of you:
1) Please read at least one other post and take the time to interact with that post’s author (that could be meaningful, right?).
2) Please either link back to my blog through a text link or use the Make Life Meaningful Monday button in your post or on your sidebar. As always, I would sure appreciate a comment as well!
Sometimes I have to think hard about what I have to be thankful for. Other times, it jumps right out at me. Tonight was a case of the latter.
When I picked up my boys from wrestling this evening, they informed me that the coach had them jump rope at practice. Neither of them knew how to do it. Without flinching, I remarked, “Of course you don’t. You’ve never been taught how to jump rope.”
My youngest shed a couple of tears and scrunched his face. I looked intently into my rear view mirror, angled to meet his eyes, and reassured him, “Oliver, how can you know how to do something that you don’t know how to do?”
I felt a bit irritated, but I’m not sure at whom exactly.
Myself? I didn’t care that they didn’t know how to jump rope. They could certainly learn if they wanted to. But, if they were in school, maybe they would have known how….
The other kids? People are conditioned to notice what is different, so maybe my sons stood out as being particularly unskilled?
The coaches? My oldest said that if they couldn’t jump rope they were to do push-ups or crunches instead. He seemed to feel as though he had been punished. (My husband didn’t feel that was the case, but this was my son’s perception of the situation.).
Sitting behind the steering wheel, I tried to listen to their hearts, and I felt my protective urges rising.
In my frustration, I interrogated them, “Didn’t you just tell the coach you didn’t know how to jump rope because you’d never done it before?”
So as I was processing this situation with my husband, I immediately realized that I felt thankful — thankful that I’ve made it to this ripe old age of “not caring about how I look when I don’t know something.” But I remember feeling quite differently when I was a kid.
There was no reason for my boys to feel bad, but we are so absorbed with being just like the person next to us. We measure ourselves constantly against those we view as our peers, and it starts young. Is this just human nature? Or is this the result of the way we are taught, grouping children together in same-age groups and grading them against how others their age are performing?
The question is, why do we think we all have to do everything at exactly the same time or we’re somehow defective? Or our life experience is insufficient?
Or we’re…not good enough?
Although I may be ambivalent about myself and how others think I rate, I am not immune to trying to make sure my kids are “okay” in the eyes of others.
Fortunately, the homeschool convention was last weekend. I received encouragement and affirmation about our choice to homeschool. Otherwise, honestly, situations like this jump-rope incident can really stress me out.
I can start to worry about how others will view my sons if they don’t know certain things at certain ages!
Are we doing the correct history for third grade?
Shouldn’t he know how to swim by now?
How old should they be when they learn to type?
When should I teach them to write a book report?
Of course there are times when, developmentally, kids are most inclined to learn or be interested in certain ideas and activities, and I need to pay attention to those cues in my kids.
But those homeschoolers at the convention — they let me right off the hook about standardization. They reminded me that my children are individuals who have special skills and interests. My sons don’t have to achieve skills at exactly the same time as every other child! Whether we’re talking about academics or athletics or extra-curricular activities!
Schools simply have to organize and standardize their subjects (scope and sequence), and it’s easy to see why. What if a child moves from one school to another? There has to be some consistency so that the child doesn’t receive the same material repeatedly or miss out on another subject entirely! Starting at the beginning of a topic, the foundation, is also important.
But I have two students. I can keep track of what they learn and when they learn it.
I just have to be comfortable with the fact that they may stand out in the proverbial crowd. But that’s not bad.
They can learn what they want when they are motivated–right now they are motivated to learn how to jump rope, which is perfect because we are working on a unit about how to be good stewards of our bodies — nutrition, exercise, rest, and fun!
If you don’t already know it, I’d like to let you off the hook too! Let your child be an individual — not just another face in the crowd!
Does your child have a strong interest or lack of interest in something that causes you to fret or rejoice? When do you feel the rub between how you choose to teach your child and the world around you? I’d love to hear from you, so please leave a comment!
This post is linked with Proverbs 31 Thursday, Thankful Thursday, and Thought Provoking Thursday! Check them out!
photo credit: andrewmalone
We all need some encouragement, don’t we?
But as adults, we know better than to go around asking for it! It would just make us seem so needy!
My husband is very encouraging to me. He’s not one to say much, but he actively shows me his support by serving me and accommodating my needs. I cannot express how thankful I am for him. His encouragement should be enough then, right?
Well, today I really wanted to go out for a run. However, the lazy part of me really wanted to stay home and relax. My dear husband, knowing that I would be ultimately unhappy if I didn’t go out for a run, quickly encouraged me by helping me plan, reminding me that I could go out to run right after church. He even set up the ipod for me so that it would be ready. I’m telling you, I married a gem.
When I got home from my run, he dutifully asked me how the run had gone, and I shared with him. I thanked him for helping me to do it and for allowing me to take the time away from the house. And that is meaningful to me, there’s no question about it.
But what did I do next? I hopped on Daily Mile and logged my run to share it with my running friends. My runs are not really anything to brag about, so that’s not the reason I post them onto a social networking site. I do it because I enjoy receiving encouragement from other runners. I know that they have struggled through the same weather, issues with shoes and equipment, mental hurdles, and injuries that I have. They can give me insights that will help me to be a better runner and to enjoy running more.
This past weekend my family and I attended the North Dakota Homeschool Convention in Jamestown, North Dakota.
This is the first year that, thanks to the generosity of friends, our whole family was able to attend the convention together. The Jamestown Civic Center was teaming with families, but I guess that’s just how we like it.
Now that we’ve been homeschooling for a few years, I don’t go to the conventions looking for a myriads of new information, though I’m always listening and, ineveitably, I do acquire new ideas while I’m there. I go — and look forward to going — in order to be encouraged as a homeschool mom and part of a homeschooling family.
I have many friends and family who don’t homeschool and who are supportive of our efforts to do so, but there is nothing like being surrounded by a bunch of folks who daily encounter the same struggles and triumphs that we do.
Walking through the halls, every mom I came upon gave a timid smile, as if to say “I’m here for a little encouragement too.” I felt connected to them.
One of the convention speakers, Marcia Washburn, homeschooled five boys for 19 years! Listening to her stories and struggles was greatly encouraging for me. She provided a few insights that seemed to sort of “set me free” in regard to the way our school days operate. Sometimes I need someone to tell me directly what my own heart has been suggesting for quite a while!
It was a very satisfying experience for me and my family. I can honestly say that I felt hugged…repeatedly. What could be more meaningful?
Where do you receive the most encouragement in your life?
Photo credit: Jesslee Cuizon
This post is linked to Monday’s Musings, The Better Mom Monday, and A Handful of Heart. Check them out!
(Grab the code from my sidebar!)
NOW IT’S YOUR TURN!
What should you write about?
Whatever makes your life meaningful–big or small! How do you provide for your family? How do you interact with your spouse? What perspective do you have on your relationships with your children? How do you treat creation and the world around you? What are your goals for your homeschool? What do you do to serve others? How do you receive love from the Father? How do you give it back to the world? This link-up is very broad, but I hope you will try to make each post pointed.
An Optional Twist:
To that end, there is an additional (not required) challenge: try to maximize every word of your post, get in all the depth of your feelings, and still keep the post under 400 words! (I wrote just over 600 words this week.) This is a goal that I’m working on for myself, and you are welcome to join me!
My two requests of you:
1) Please read at least one other post and take the time to interact with that post’s author (that could be meaningful, right?).
2) Please either link back to my blog through a text link or use the Make Life Meaningful Monday button in your post or on your sidebar. As always, I would sure appreciate a comment as well!
About 2pm I realized, for at least the third time today, that I had still not taken out anything to make for dinner.
I roused myself because dinner time would eventually come, and I traipsed out to the freezer to scrounge for something to cook. I took a peak and easily decided on chili. It’s nothing fancy, but it’s tried, true, and tasty.
Most importantly, I have all the ingredients without having to shop for them!
1 lb. grass-fed ground beef (so happy we finally made that purchase!)
2 packages of whole, skin-on frozen tomatoes (from last year’s garden)
1 qt. package frozen tomato sauce (from last year’s garden)
2 packages of previously soaked and cooked, frozen kidney beans
chili powder
1 onion (from last year’s garden…wait — where are all the onions?) They’re gone??!! Already?
Well, this time we had to cook chili without onions. That made Oliver, at least, cheerful.
When we sat down to dinner, and I contemplated that bowl of chili, I recalled last fall and how every last speck of red in our bowls had come from those beautiful tomatoes grown in my garden. The onions too, had I not run out of them. There is something special about providing food for your family by your own effort.
Why? I know I don’t spray any pesticides on my vegetables. I don’t use any chemical fertilizers because I have my own compost. I know that the veggies stayed on the plants until they were ripe. I know they are fresh or were frozen fresh. And they’re mine. Okay, maybe that’s a bit strong. I didn’t create them, but I did produce them. Without my efforts, they would not exist.
I’ve never thought of myself as creative, but this is my creativity. No, it’s not original; lots of other people garden too, but these vegetables are mine. And when I feed them to my family, when I sit down and note that much of the food on our plates came from my garden, I feel…satisfied. I relish being able to nurture my family this way.
My blood-pressure rises when I see the neighborhood cats using my freshly tilled garden (my husband does that job, so the veggies are partly his too) as their litter box.
Those first heavy rains, the ones that inevitably show up right after I put the tiny, defenseless seeds into the ground, make me pace as I watch the embryonic rivers of water multiply and begin to run through the garden rows.
The heavy gusts of wind (or stray cats and dogs) do occasionally break off one of my seedlings, and it must be replaced.
I invest hours at a time ripping away invasive tendrils of creeping charlie, which are encroaching on my garden.
And that one summer hail storm could destroy some of the plants….
But all of those obstacles must be the reason that, when the vegetables do appear — and they always do, one way or another! — I feel utterly delighted and thoroughly rewarded for all my efforts!
If you have never grown a vegetable of your own, this is the year! At the very least, put a tomato plant in the ground and see what happens.
If you’re not sure where to begin, here is one resource to help you start your garden.
If you are a new gardener, what are you going to plant? Does anyone have a crucial gardening tip to share?
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photo credit: normanack
This post is linked with Proverbs 31 Thursday, Thankful Thursday, and Thought Provoking Thursday. Go check out more great posts!
Yesterday Elliot, my 9-year old, went running with me. Our first real, intentional run together.
I’ve been modeling my passion for running for most of his life, and now he actually wants to go with me.
As he ran ahead of me — he was always ahead of me — it felt like he and I were starting a new part of our lives together–one where we will help each other. In the past, I nurtured him, but in this activity, we can encourage each other. He has youth, vitality, and energy. I have knowledge, experience, and… creaky joints!
Elliot wanted to go faster. He wanted to go farther. I was trying to help him with his form (legs and elbows everywhere!), and trying to help him understand pace. It was a joy to follow him, and I sure hope I’ll be see more of his backside in the future
As a parent, I want to help my children to avoid mistakes that I’ve made. I want to set them on a better road with good habits that will cause them to thrive. I’m aware of the genetics that are shaping who my children will become. Nothing is in stone, of course, but we know our own physical strengths and weaknesses and can help our children to avoid pitfalls.
Truth be told, my children are the reason I have kept running, even in the bedlam of being a mom. More than I want to be healthy myself (and I really do!), I want them to be healthy adults, healthy in their spirits, minds, and bodies.
Model Discipline: It’s one thing to do a sport because you are gifted and love it. It’s quite another to keep active for health even when you don’t appear to have any particular skill or reap any (significant) external rewards! But that’s how life is sometimes! Teach your kids how to persevere anyway.
Exercise With Them: Start a routine of daily exercise, and do it along with your children. It will benefit you as well as them. I found the following list of exercises that takes about 10 minutes to complete (ok, we cut the numbers in half to begin!). My boys and I do it most mornings. I confess to wanting a day off now and then, but they have held me to it! My own little personal trainers!
Teach Stewardship: God has given us the responsibility of taking care of our human bodies (among other things). For some kids, just teaching them about how God views our bodies may encourage them to try to stay physically fit.
Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit which you have from God? You are not your own. You were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body. I Cor. 6:19-20
Pace Yourselves: It is better to start with a small goal and do it consistently than to be over-zealous and fizzle. Think of something active that you can incorporate into your time with your children (or maybe just getting your own habit started), and then master it. Tweak it if you need to but keep going until it fits you and your family and becomes a way of life.
Although I truly don’t want the years to fly by, I’m looking forward to a time when my grown sons and I can go running together — they will have to slow-up for old Mom!
Have you developed passion for a sport or another activity in your life that you dearly want to pass onto your children? I’d love to hear about it, so leave me a comment!
Photo credit: jenni from the block
(grab the code from my sidebar!)
So now it’s your turn!
What should you write about?
Whatever makes your life meaningful–big or small! How do you provide for your family? How do you interact with your spouse? What perspective do you have on your relationships with your children? How do you treat creation and the world around you? What are your goals for your homeschool? What do you do to serve others? How do you receive love from the Father? How do you give it back to the world? This link-up is very broad, but I hope you will try to make each post pointed.
An Optional Twist:
To that end, there is an additional (not required) challenge: try to maximize every word of your post, get in all the depth of your feelings, and still keep the post under 400 words! (Mine was 618 words this week!) This is a goal that I’m working on for myself, and you are welcome to join me!
My two requests of you:
1) Please read at least one other post and take the time to interact with that post’s author (that could be meaningful, right?).
2) Please either link back to my blog through a text link or use the Make Life Meaningful Monday button in your post or on your sidebar. As always, I would sure appreciate a comment as well!
I used to be an autism teacher; now I stay at home and teach my own children. It doesn't pay as well (Ha!), but the "benefits" are beyond wonderful! I blog because I love to write about my passions, and I love to connect with people.
