Saturday, December 20, 2014

Week # 16 Recap

We finished our last week of school for 2014!!  In some ways, it's still hard to believe we are homeschoolers....and in other ways, it's hard to imagine that Raymond went to public school up until June this year!  

Raymond got some cool "extra curriculars" to start the week with archery with Mr Jesse (and Daddy) and then geometry and angles (aka billiards) with Daddy!   Yes, he does stay in feeties most mornings and I'm okay with that.  Love that cute boy in his feeties.




Daddy is a great teacher for Evelyn.  They really connect in the way they think and he has that patient & calm teaching style that is perfect for her! She is SO close to reading.  The flip hasn't totally been switched yet but she can write all her letters & knows most of the sounds!  In this pic, they are working on writing and reading rhyming words.   



Evie is doing great at writing her name each morning with all capitals & then upper/lower combo.  She has great handwriting and finally got that lowercase "y" correct!



All the free Frozen & Christmas themed printables have lasted to keep Annabelle occupied.  Her fave words at the table are, "what else can I do?"  I will have to get some more piles ready for January! :) 









These sticks from Celeste are coming in real handy now.  And the sight word puzzle.   Evelyn is SO close to reading 1st reader books.  We just have to continue lots of reading together, lots of sight words like this and writing and I know it will all click. 



I am very proud of the amount of snuggles & quality time I've gotten with the kiddos.  Wintertime is so perfect for lots of couch time for books & moving & snuggles and I am really enjoying it!  Just look around the house and you will be able to tell how much time I've spent "just being" instead of rushing around doing!!   I know the kids just want ME more than anything... and I'm trying hard to give that best present of ME especially in this season. 


Good job, Daddy - following through on doing science with RR for me.  Here they are doing some electricity learning again.   This concludes Unit 1 in RR's curriculum.  We have done very little desk work on science but when we did the Unit 1 Review and "Test" - he aced that.  Science is learned all over the place!  This unit was physics & chemistry.  Unit 2 is geology & botany I believe. 



All of Annabelle's birthday presents have come in handy the past 2 weeks - keeping the girls occupied in the mornings. 


I seriously LOVE when the kids all play together, work together or just BE together all working on separate things.  I try not to even talk about it or interrupt at all - because whenever I do - it all breaks down :)  I just sit quietly and observe and thank God and take pictures to remember!! 


RR did a great job on this village!









We enjoyed doing mazes together this week with the chalk.  His maze was actually pretty complex & tricky and I actually gave my best when I made mine - but he still zoomed right through it. 


I was real proud of myself this day, too.  I had run that morning and was just so tired but the kiddos wanted ME so badly and wanted me to play tag and so I did it.  They were SO happy and just squealing and smiling so big.  God, help me give them these moments EVERY DAY.  I LOVE hearing them laugh and seeing them SMILE SO big.  It's such a SIMPLE thing to give them - help me give it more!!!!!  There's not a better sound & sight then seeing them ALL happy and laughing over a small thing like tag or tickle. 




The kiddos love word searches and we had fun at the cubscout POlar Express themed Christmas party!!








RR doing his line, "well what do you have??"  After the cubscout party, the kiddos & I went to help with the Manna Ministries boxing up of donated cans.  I was real proud of their good attitudes & willingness to work.  We talked on the way home a lot about giving, serving and how we give money to Manna and all that.  It was a great great night and great conversation.   I am loving these ages and really being able to mold their hearts and talk and teach them!!




Raymond had SUCH great behavior at the beginning of this week especially.  When Evelyn slept late one day, he asked if he & Annabelle could watch a show and I said no (we don't do TV on school day mornings) and instead of badgering me, he just went back upstairs.  When I checked on them..... he had got out markers for ANnabelle & they were just coloring.  He said, "she was beginning to wake up Evelyn so I had to find something for her to do".   What a big boy, initiator move there!!  Very proud of that.  He normally isn't like that in the mornings :) 




So what REALLY seems to help Raymond a lot is a "schedule".  I told him I would only write down what he is doing each day if he promises not to rush through it and just try to fly through to check it off..... but when it comes down to it.... he really DOES seem to help him to SEE what the day is going to hold.    Every day is SO different in homeschooling unlike public school so that transition out of security/routine has probably been hard on him.... and if this makes it easier, then I will do it.  It's working great so far!!!  I recognize that I was really beginning to resent his attitude of "what else?"... "what next?" ....and it's nice to not have to hear that question!!!  I really did NOT want to give him a schedule so he could learn to have NO control and just TRUST ME.... but seriously?? he isn't perfect and God is so patient & gracious & willing to work WITH me and my perosnality and teach me slow.  Let's take the marathon view & not the sprint!  


WE HAVE LOVED having Daddy with us in the mornings!!  Wow it really helps me a lot! :)   This graphing/dice game was a hit with all 3 of them.  We will use this for fractions later on with RR, too.  





We got to the beach this week!!  And had a great time! 



And did crafts at the library afterward.  This about sums them up... Mr rush through..... Ms Sugar...and Ms Spice :) 


ANd again,.. LOTS of snuggles & couch time this season.  HEre's the ROoks' nightly couch choo choo pulling into the station :) 



We tried to read ALL our Christmas books in one night.  We couldn't make it! 





More snuggle time.  Best lessons, ever. 






Best Christmas present ever.  It's 6 years old and going strong.  They have been playing so good on this and TOGETHER.  I love it!  Like I said, I can't draw attention to them, interrupt or even thank them for playing so good - I just have to become invisible and enjoy the moment however long it lasts.  I am SUPER thankful especially that they got train-re-inspired this week because at the end of this week I got one of those pinched nerves in my neck and just didn't feel like doing anything but resting with heat on me so it was perfect timing for them to be into the train and occupying themselves without complaint.  Another gift from God!! 


In history, we moved on from Native Americans & early explorers and are now reading Rush Revere & the Mayflower and learning about the pilgrims and 1600s!  

Raymond cruises right through our desk work each morning without a problem - Math, Spelling, Handwriting, Grammar, Language review.  He has a great rhythm of that down and excels through all of them!  He is doing great at his piano scales and we read lots of "extra" stuff as I find interesting things in music, art, social studies, etc.  

Homeschooling is soo great and 2015 will be even better!!! :) 

Friday, December 19, 2014

End of 2014 Thoughts - Our Father's Heart

As we close up this year of 2014, I reflect on this sweet boy.  I am forever grateful for these months I've gotten to bond with him more. I know exactly what God is trying to work out in me by bringing Raymond home to my heart.  Raymond humbles me like no other.   He is such a wild card!   I really just don't know which Raymond is going to come down those stairs in the morning and what our day will look like.

This boy.... this sweet curly cutie who can look like this one moment...... 




play Joy to the World so sweet and gentle like this.... 



......and then look and act like this the next moment.... 


.... I mean, wow.

In this last moment, he was not joking.  He was sincerely giving me the angry cat face and cat noises like a 3 year old would do.  Do normal 3 year olds even do that?  I don't know.  He was genuinely MAD and that's how he wanted to communicate it.   When I snapped a picture, he probably screamed like a terror, slammed down his stuff, stomped upstairs & slammed the doors.   I don't know - Mommy amnesia blocked that part out.  Talk about 10 steps forward, 5 years back :)

Oh the ups and downs of this journey.

Even today as I write this entry,  I am still trying to process a terrible mistake he made this afternoon.  Being too impulsive in a boy wrestling thing (what is with boys & the need to touch each other anyway) he hurt a good friend of his.  Like I say, he humbles me.   How can one who is SOO sweet & knows the Lord and is so insightful and compassionate.... have such ridiculous behavior sometimes?   Sometimes, it is SO HARD to focus on the long term view of the HEART and not just use whatever tactic I can think of to get his behavior under CONTROL!!!  Oh life would be so much easier if I just stayed in super duper control of his behavior and just whipped him into right behavior at all times.  But easier isn't what God has asked of me.

God has asked me to steward Raymond's heart.   Raymond's HEART is what was created in God's image.  This heart belongs to God. I have been given stewardship for a short while.  It is my job to shepherd it to The Shepherd, with The Shepherd, for The Shepherd.

Over the years of knowing this,   I have found it is impossible to shepherd the heart when I am focused on what others think.   When I'm focused on how things appear.  When I'm focused on trying to find MY value and approval in how "good" or well behaved or loving my child is.  When I'm focused on getting RR to live up to any expectations *I* might have.  When I'm focused on trying to control every moment of behavior so I will look good or he will look good or even God will look good.

No, none of those can be the focus.  The only thing that works to shepherd a heart properly... is to focus on THE Heart-Shepherd,  The One who created it, The One who sustains it, The one who unfreezes it, The King, Love Himself, Christ Jesus.  

And THAT has been the biggest blessing of this journey.

I wanted God to use me to train Raymond in humility, obedience & waiting on the Spirit.  I wanted RR to learn to TRUST God & OBEY and to depend on the Lord at all times.  To BREATHE and slow down and PRAY and THINK before he reacts. 

And it's amazing....

I found that God is using Raymond to train ME in humility, obedience & waiting on the Spirit.  He is teaching ME to TRUST & OBEY and to depend on the Lord at all times.  To BREATHE and slow down and PRAY and THINK before I react. 

And He did it... by bringing me closer to His heart in every high & every low.

Homeschooling has been like "extreme parenting" or something.  It has just taken everything to a new level.   All those things I mentioned above that I should NOT focus on... ohhh they have been SO much harder to NOT focus on since I started homeschooling!  Looking for judging eyes, worrying about how we appear, stressing about how the children are representing me/ homeschoolers/ God,  seeking affirmation or praise for how we are "doing".  All the temptations to WORRY or FEAR & get tighter CONTROL have been so much stronger.

BUT  I praise God!! Because I know that HE is being glorified and will be glorified in this ministry I have to my children!   He is helping me turn my eyes and focus on HIM!  I think it's very evident to everybody that *I* am not cut out for this.   From the beginning of this calling even moreso than when I become a mom, I just felt GOd telling me.... daughter this is MY thing.  This is MY work.  These are MY children.  Just let me work through you.   Homeschooling is SO FAR above me and I just knew that *I* could not do this.   I KNEW I was so weak and so because of that.... I was strong and have been strong!    God turns everything upside down!!   He has made me strong because of my weakness & dependence on Him!

Depending on God has been the greatest lesson these past 4 months.  GOD'S guidance, undeserved LOVE & undeserved grace & undeserved mercy have been very evidence in our home & DREAM Academy.

His LOVE & MERCY are amazing!!  We should be in AWE of His love!  His HEART is the most beautiful thing in the entire world!!!!!!!!  One of the things I believe to be true about His heart that just brings me to tears any time I think about it..... is that, Our Father, is never ashamed to call us His own.  I need to write that again.  He is never ashamed to claim us as His.

When we are cold....like beyond lukewarm -  just bitter, hard, uncaring, no warmth, frozen heart type - cold.    When we've been disobedient.  When we've blown it again.  When we have forgotten to be still and when we've rushed ahead.  When we've defiantly put self above others.  When we hurt others.  When we make terrible decisions......He never disowns us!  He never disowns His children!

In any of our darkest, ugliest moments, if a person in the crowd around us stood up and shouted indignantly,  "who is this Child's Father!?!?  Whose Child is THIS!?!?!?"...Our Father would stand right up, proudly and He would claim us.  "This is MY child.  I created this child in MY image and I gave up EVERYTHING to adopt him back when he was separated from me.  He is MINE.  I love him and nothing will ever change that, ever"

This visual has changed the way I relate to my children.  He seriously beyond measure LOVES my children and they are HIS.

His love is so much greater than we can understand.   His love won't give up on us.  His love WILL convict us and sanctify us and discipline us & correct us so we can be more like Him!!   But His HEART.  It's the most captivating & amazing and AWEsome thing in the universe!   At this Christmas, I know it!! God is with us!!  He finished the work needed to tear down the separation between us.  He is with us right here, standing with His arms spread wide open, always!  Waiting for us to lean back in.

How GREAT is the love HE has lavished on us that we should be called children of God.  And that is what we are - children of God!!!

I want my children to know this lavish love.  I want to help my children give Him their hearts!

This giving & receiving with the Lord.  He gave us His heart.... nailed it on a cross for us!!   for all to see the extreme & radical LOVE He offers........in response, we give Him our hearts.... and in response, we know His more more more!!

And whenever we experience and KNOW the heart of the Father, our hard heartedness is cracked again, another frozen piece falls away and His light is able to pour out brighter than ever before.

Yes!  Our Father's Heart is the most powerful, uncontainable, indescribable, unfailing, AWEsome beauty in the whole universe!  And we get to be wrapped all up in it!! 

Sunday, December 14, 2014

Week #15 Recap

There's so many fun things to do & learn this time of year.  

The kiddos are enjoying the advent devotional & putting up the matching ornament each day.  



 I'm happy that RR is enjoying his k'nex and he has been doing a great job of keeping his room organized and putting things away!  I am super pumped about progress in that area!


Monday was just a TOTALLY awesome day!! Because it was Daddy's last day of class!  The last 2 weeks of each semester has been grueling for me every time.  It is miserable & I basically am always at the breaking point right when the break comes!  


Games are definitely our fave way to learn. RR is helping E with number recognition in Go Fish.  I sure do love seeing them play together. 


Not sure what inpsired RR to do a leaf display box or where he got the idea - but it came out cute. 


They've been enjoying adventuring in the backyard as usual.  I say it every day....thank you God for that backyard to give me even 15 minutes of quiet every day!! :)


The kids have been doing SO good this week at cleaning.  I don't know what inspires them - maybe just seeing Mommy getting run down - but I LOVE when they are on cleaning modes.  :)   And I don't try to correct what they are doing or re do it or anything - they are great cleaners and I'm so happy for the help.  Maybe it's the Christmas music being on that gets them moving! 


The sweetie Santa babies. 


More Frozen themed desk work! I found this free website of preschool printables and that is what we do the most of.  Lots of number / letter recognition, sequencing, cutting, gluing (wow that is a weird word - is that how it's spelled?)  and coloring. 





We love when Daddy can be with us!!!!!!!



I'm reading another book from my fave parenting authors Turansky/Miller and it's really helping me get back on track.  WOW how quickly I revert to just focusing on CONTROL and BEHAVIOR rather than focusing on the HEART and parenting firmly but gentle.  Gracious and calm. I am very thankful God sent this book into my life - perfect timing and I notice a real change in all of us because of the reminders. 



 I am so proud of Evelyn - she writes all the capital letters of the alphabet each day and does their sounds.  She really can "read" --- just needs the confidence and lots more practice!! 



They really have been working really hard and doing their desk work without issue each morning so Wednesday we got a special treat...just because!!  It was the "end of Daddy's school semester treat"!!!



 Moments like this will be some of our faves from this month of No Daddy school!! 


And we are so thankful for all the opportunities we have to get out and be social!  Raymond certainly is playing and getting FREE play & fun time more than ever it seems - so that's a great thing. 

This Jesus' birthday party was so great.  Snow ball fights (marshmallows) tree decorating (ice cream cone with candy), read the 3 trees story which we love, and other fun games.  Rochelle did such a great job & I loved the 3 trees and how she incorporated Jeremiah 29:11 into it all.  





We closed the week with parades, parties & fun on Saturday.  I am proud of the way Raymond can enjoy being around kids of ALL ages, any age.  At Keira's party, he was able to see some "old" school friends and they were all so happy to see him.  He got some good craft/arts time in so that was a plus, too!


Then we were on to Hannah's and he enjoyed 3 year old Elliot the most. (the only boy there so that makes sense) I love how he is smiling & happy for Hannah blowing out her candle. 


The girls are just plain sweet :)  I really do pray I can homeschool these sweeties a long time - what a gift to give them - the gift of being able to be with your best friends ALL the time. 


Each night during this season,  we seem to find ourselves snuggled under warm blankets watching Christmas movies.  Some moments I just can't believe my life.   I am so blessed. 

So very THANKFUL for the gift of TOGETHERNESS.  It's HARD and it's the BEST.  God is using all this togetherness for SUCH good.   






So why do I include all these non subject related lessons and things we are doing?  Because these really are the most important & impactful ones.  The lessons I hope they remember.  Being thankful for each other, the gift of togetherness, learning to love and be social with ALL different kinds of people.  

In actual "school work",  Raymond is doing so great!  He breezes so easily through math/english.  I am really proud of his work this week!  We are still enjoying Rush Revere & the pilgrims right now for history.  Daddy is gonna do some science the next 2 weeks - so I am happy for him to take that subject.  During "break" - I am going to plan out more science/history for Jan 5 and on.  I will be happy to get that on paper.  Science is his fave subject and I want to do more.  He learns a lot of "science" things in every day life, books, Nat Geo magazines, etc.  But I want to do more and plan it out more starting in January!  I just want to be more intentional about it and make it a more concrete part of our week somehow.  

It's ALL going good!  God consistently guides us and weaves so many cool lessons together.  It's really just a WONDER to watch it all work.  I LOVE IT!!!!!!!! :)