A Mother's Heart

I passed a church sign this morning and this is what it said:

"A mother's heart is the child's classroom!"

I loved it

It is SO TRUE!

Think about that and fall in love with Motherhood all over again!

Have a Happy Day!

Do It For The Joy!

I came across this simple phrase while skimming through my readings last week and immediately knew it was going to be our go-to phrase for the year!
Haven't you all heard of the trend of picking a word for the year?
Well, I guess picking a word for the year is supposed to revolutionize your year for greater purpose and happiness.
I came across this simple phrase and that is what we will go with this year!

If we are struggling with getting things done, 
whatever we need to do, no matter how big or how small,
how tedious or insignificant, great or magnificent,
DO IT FOR THE JOY!
I love it!
It totally pulled me out of my Christmas break laziness!
It is our household motto for the year!
I was all inspired to share it with the family so I had the kids do a simple school assignment, though it would be a good assignment for all of us!
Many times already I've had to tell myself to 'do it for the joy' and it spurred me on to finish the task at hand!
Try it!
It really works!
God bless your New Year!

Once On This Island

Our little homeschool just finished a wonderful children's book series by Gloria Whelan!
The first book is called Once on this Island and it takes place on Mackinac Island during the War of 1812!
The other books in the series are, Farewell to the Island and Return to the Island.
We met wonderful, interesting characters and learned so much about what life was like for those living on Mackinac Island during the war between Britain and America.
The second book takes the main character all the way to London which gave us a glimpse of a very different way of life than here in the States during that time and then, of course, the last book is back on the island with more adventure involving a fur trading company and the local Indian tribes.

The little girls were playing Indians all day today in the woods with braids in their hair, beaded necklaces and scarves over their shoulders.
If I were on the ball I would have taken a picture or two!
Anyway, perhaps you'll check these books out from your local library like we did!
LOVED THEM!

Broken Chairs

I'm sighing.
It seems like every other day I find something broken around this house.
A broken toy, basket, dish.
A broken vintage chair.
No one seems to know how any of these things broke.
It's a mystery!
I cried about the chair.
I'm sighing.
Aren't we supposed to take care of the things God gave us?
I'm wondering if we have too many 'things' and we just don't care anymore.
What's the big deal?
Just get a new one!
I think we DO have too many things and you all know how I am trying to simplify by having less stuff.
After I found the broken chair, I threatened to get rid of EVERYTHING!
All the 'extras'.
Why have anything if we won't take care of it.
It just doesn't make sense.
Oh, and I know some darling little children who are probably eagerly awaiting the Christmas gift RECIEVING season.
WE DON'T NEED ANYTHING!
We can't even take care of the things we do have!
Sighing, sighing.
But today is Veteran's Day!
I had the kids attention at the breakfast table.
Listen, children, about those who gave so much to defend our country and fight for freedom.
Your own Grandpa and Uncle.
And countless others I could name.
And what about the ultimate sacrifice of forever freedom in Heaven someday.
Jesus didn't even have a home to call His own and we can't even be thankful for the chair we get to lounge on every day!
We are making an attitude change.
When I cried about the chair it was more for our attitudes and how we are so flippant sometimes with the things God has entrusted us with than just the hole in the chair.
We have been given so much that I wonder if we even realize just HOW MUCH!
We are taking too much for granted.
I want a thankful heart and a desire to take the focus off of ME and onto others.
And I want to truly be thankful for ALL THINGS.
I don't want to be crying over broken chairs.
So today we started 51 Days of Giving!
51 days from today, Veteran's Day, until the end of the year we will focus on giving, not getting.
Giving, because we are given so much.
Giving, because we truly want to be thankful.
We went to the library and found books and VeggieTale's DVD's about giving and one book, of course, about Veteran's Day.

This giving thing is going to be fun!
I think it's the perfect antidote for my broken chair!
The kids and I brainstormed for ways to give (and there's no need to stop after 51 days!)
1) Give thanks to God-give Him our hearts.
2) Use kind words.
3) Call a veteran to give thanks.
4) Tell someone about Jesus.
5) Make bookmarks and leave them in the library.
6) Leave coupons in the grocery store.
7) Invite someone new over for a meal or dessert.
8) Visit someone new.
9) Rake a neighbors leaves or shovel their sidewalk.
10) Send someone a 'thinking of you' card.
11) Decorate lunch bags for Meals on Wheels recipients.
12) Visit a nursing home to pass out treats and sing songs.
13) Bring treats to the fire and police stations.
14) Leave a kind note for the postal carrier.
15) Fill shoeboxes for Samaritan's Purse.
16) Donate to Toys for Tot's.
17) Pick a name off the Giving Tree at the local library and buy a gift for a recipient in need.
18) Give a favorite book to someone you know who'll enjoy it.
19) Make a special craft with a special child.
20) Call an old friend.
21) Give a dollar to a child for no reason
22) Give hugs and kisses.
23) Send an encouraging note to a minister or teacher.

Maybe you will want to join us in our giving quest. Just start where you are and
please feel free to share any ideas you have for the encouragement of all of us to give during this beautiful thankful season!

Train Up A Child

The children are the future of the world.
They will be the mothers, fathers, neighbors, leaders, teachers, mentors of the coming generations!
What they learn today will shape them for the future, yet what are they learning today?
Children learn what they live.
Here is another poem that I remember on Grandma Storm's wall when I was a young girl:

Children Learn What They Live by Dorothy Louise Law Nolte

If children live with criticism, they learn to condemn.
If children live with hostility, they learn to fight.
If children live with fear, they learn to be apprehensive.
If children live with pity, they learn to feel sorry for themselves.
If children live with ridicule, they learn to feel shy.
If children live with jealousy, they learn to feel envy.
If children live with shame, they learn to feel guilty.
But,
If children live with encouragement, they learn confidence.
If children live with tolerance, they learn patience.
If children live with praise, they learn appreciation.
If children live with acceptance, they learn to love.
If children live with approval, they learn to like themselves.
If children live with recognition, they learn it is good to have a goal.
If children live with sharing, they learn generosity.
If children live with honesty, they learn truthfulness.
If children live with fairness, they learn justice.
If children live with kindness and consideration, they learn respect.
If children live with security, they learn to have faith in themselves and in those around them.
If children live with friendliness, they learn the world is a nice place in which to live.

When we first started homeschooling, I worried about what to teach our children.
 I would constantly ask God to just hit me on the head with a brick with a note attached so I would know exactly what to teach the children he loaned to us.
And in His gentle, loving, very patient way, this is what He 'told' me:
"Teach them about Me.
Teach them about Jesus and My love."
So, I asked, "well, what about math and science and history and geography and public speaking and physics and government and foreign language and, and, and,....?"
In His gentle, loving, very patient way, this is what He 'told' me:
"Teach them about Me.
Teach them about Jesus and My love."
Okay, so......hmmm....um, anything else?
The note on the brick came.
And in His gentle, loving, very patient way, this is what He 'told' me:
"Teach them about Me.
Teach them about Jesus and My love."

I am NOT kidding! 
This is EXACTLY how it went!
I worried. I wondered. I read endless books on education, homeschooling, how to teach children, etc.
Would my children measure up?
Are they going to succeed in life?
Will they FAIL???
I was certain they would be the first homeschooled students to FAIL!
And this is the message He sent with the brick!
"Teach them about Me.
Teach them about Jesus and My love."

"Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it."
Proverbs 22: 6

"And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart:
And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up."
Deuteronomy 6:6, 7

And the brick keeps coming!
Thank you, Lord, for being so patient with me! 
I think I've got it!
Ouch! My head hurts!

A Good Book and Barbeque Chicken

I just finished reading one of our favorite children's book to my 'students'. "The Bronze Bow" by Elizabeth George Speare. It is a wonderful book about truly learning to forgive.

It's set in the time of Jesus when the Romans were taking over Israel. A young boy has only one purpose: to avenge his father's death by defeating the hated Romans.

It is full of action, determination, tenderness and hope.

Parts of the story correlated with our Sunday School lessons, which made it come more 'alive' to us. We were hanging on every word and couldn't wait to find out how it ended!

We highly recommend it as a read-aloud book for the children, but would be great for silent reading for older children and adults, alike.

Now, while we were reading, we didn't want to worry about what to have for dinner. I threw a whole chicken in the crock-pot with homemade barbeque sauce. We served it with rice and a salad.

And we read chapter after chapter!

Homemade barbeque sauce:

~2 x 14 oz. cans chopped or diced tomatoes

~1 onion, finely chopped

~1 tablespoon black molasses

~3 tablespoons worcestershire sauce

~garlic powder, as desired

~Mix all together in a bowl and pour on top of chicken in crock pot.

~Set crock pot on low and cook for 8-10 hours.

~The sauce gets nice and thick on the chicken and enough left over to use as a gravy on rice or potatoes.

Have fun reading!

Homeschool Administration Panic!

How do you sum up 12 years of homeschooling your child on one single piece of paper?

Can you really give a grade for each academic 'class' the child took?

Of course, he gets all A's!

How can he not!

I mean, you love this child and you work and work and work with him until he masters whatever he is learning.

It might take him 2 years to get the biology with lab down.

And less than a year to get the Algebra 2 down!

It is a lifetime of learning coming down to one piece of paper~

The high school college transcript!

Well, as his administrator, teacher, guidance counselor, college prep counselor, vice principal, curriculum advisor, etc, etc, I just have to say:

The kid is brilliant!

Not according to the world's views, oh, no!

But coming from a mother that loves her child and learns of every weakness and every strength and watches the child struggle and then overcome~

It's a beautiful thing!

Struggling to read in his early years and then, completely on his own, decides he wants to read Homer and Hippocrates!

Nothing short of amazement in this mother's eyes!

No academic grade or honor can come close to watching a child grow in strength and character, confidence and responsibility, leadership, integrity, perserverence~

And believing that anything is possible.

The doors of learning have opened!

To be able to see that opportunities abound, that learning never ends and that the whole world is your classroom, is what education is all about.

Try putting that into a one page transcript!

Can't do it!

I am sure similiar feelings arise out of every parent, whether your child is homeschooled or taught in the private or public schools.

You can't put a grade on the person that God created in your child!

They are more than a grade!

They are off the charts!

They are NOTHING SHORT OF

BRILLIANT!

Am I right?

Of course, I'm right!

Be proud of your child today!

They are Masterpieces!

The Little Shepherdess

My very longest and dearest friend, Sarah, and I spent Saturday morning together celebrating her birthday. We met at the Antique Mall and enjoyed the next 2 hours roaming in and out of antique booths. We had so much fun! I found an antique book called "The King's Daughters" for one of my teenage daughters for Christmas. It has a red embossed cloth cover and was only $2.00. I have learned to love books from my Mom who has passed that love down to me!

I was happy as a little lark and would have walked around that day as if on a cloud just from that little 'book' find. But.....

I happened to spy a real blue fox fur stole in one booth. Of course, I had to try it on! And of course, the color was perfect for me! And the price was perfect, too! I bought it! I was having so much fun that it felt like MY birthday!

Sarah found a little boy's leather belt with a brass 'bull' buckle. She was happy to find that for one of her boys for Christmas.

I wanted to find some vintage buttons for my sewing and Linda was so very helpful. She showed me 2 booths with fun, pretty buttons and I so enjoyed sifting through all of the packages. I ended up going home with 3 nice little packages of pretty buttons.

It really was feeling like my birthday! I hope Sarah was having as much fun as I was! She said she was. I think she was happy just to see me having so much fun!

So then Sarah and I spotted a vintage feather boa wreath that we thought was so sweet. I said "I shoud just make that myself," which is what I usually say but have learned that I do not always get the darn thing made! So as we are wandering, Sarah spies a white vintage feather boa in another booth. So I add that to my growing pile. (I could get 2 wreaths made out of that 1 boa!)

We turn the corner and we spy this gorgeous oil painting in a gorgeaus antique frame and I absolutely fell in love with it! I would love to hang this beautiful painting above my fireplace!
Of course, it is priced way beyond my budget at this time, but I could not stop thinking about this painting! It reminds me of one of my favorite poems that I posted earlier, 'The Lamb."

It is called "The Little Shepherdess" and the original painting was done by Johann Baptist Hofner in 1866. (I went home and did a little research!) At one time it was auctioned at Christie's of London, so I had to check out their site, too!

I have learned to appreciate art as a homeschooling mom and expose it to my children through books and art calendars, but now I really want some on my wall!
Sarah is actually quite knowledgeable about oil paintings. She knew right away that the painting in the antique mall was not the original but was a copy of the original painted by someone else. I was so impressed!

So now, I am enjoying educating myself on fine art! I don't really need the original as it is just but a dream. I would be very happy with a fake that looked real!
This is so far my favorite painting:

This is a picture of the original painting that I found on the internet.

The reason I love it is because, to me, it reflects God's love for His children and I love children and I love lambs and I love nature and I LOVE this painting!

Sarah and I had a good day! It really felt like MY birthday!

Hyvaa Huomenta, Hyvaa Paivaa

Good Morning, Good Afternoon! The kids and I had a successful first day back to "school"! We want to learn Finn, so I pulled out my Berlitz Finnish Phrase Book and wrote the greeting on the kitchen chalkboard! One of my goals in life is to know 3 foreign languages. It seems like an impossible dream, but I will keep it on my goal list for now! If anyone knows finnish and wants to share, please leave a comment. It will be fun to all learn a few phrases together. I could teach you Jesus Loves Me in Finn, but please correct my spelling if I get some words wrong. My sweet friend Eija taught it to me and the children many years ago. I have since lost touch with her, but I hope to see her again sometime. OK, so here goes!

JESUS LOVES ME (IN FINNISH )
JESUS MUA RAAKASTA

Jesus mua raakasta
Rama tu sin ilmoita
Vaikka lapsi heikokin
Henta hoita helemin

Mua Jesus raakasta
Sua Jesus raakasta
Mua Jesus raakasta
Nin sana opeta.


Ok, that was just the first verse. I can't remember the 2nd or 3rd verses, though we did know them at one time. Eija, if you ever find my blog, please help us with the rest!

A real Finn is probably laughing her head off. I am sure my spelling is atrocious! Oh Well, everyone needs a good laugh! Laughing strengthens the abs!

I hope everyone had a great 'back to school' day!

PS. I finally opened my etsy shop. I have been having tons of fun sewing again! If you want to check it out, I would be so pleased! Thank you! http://www.laurakcollection.etsy.com/

How Many Teachers Do We have In Our Lives?

As a homeschooling family, we often are told by a well-meaning person that it is good for children to have more than one teacher. I thought about this and wondered about the teachers that have been in our children's lives other than us, his parents. I do believe that there are teachers or mentors everywhere in a child's life (or an adult's life, for that matter) and that learning can take place anywhere at anytime. I know when people make this comment they are referring to a 'classroom' teacher or someone who is going to teach them something they need to know. Homeschoolers do not typically learn in a classroom so we find other teachers for our children in a more 'unconventional' kind of a way, though, actually, I would refer to it as a 'natural way of going about life' kind of a way. I have to think of it that way because that is a big part of how homeschooling families learn! These are a few people that have been teachers in our children's lives:
The Sunday School teacher.
The librarian at Storytime.
The leaders of all the classes, seminars and activities that our children participate in.
The coaches of all the sporting events.
The parents of our children's friends.
The employers of places of work.
The director of the places our children volunteer at.
Our children's grandparents and aunts and uncles.
The gardener and his wife down the road.
It was actually quite fun for me to think about all the teachers that have been a big part of our children's life. I think fondly of them and feel very thankful that we had the opportunity to know them. There are teachers EVERYWHERE! In fact, EVERYONE is a teacher. We can learn something from every single person on this earth!
Sometimes we just have to 'listen'.