Thoughts on Home Schooling

A big change is coming...

2009-02-13T14:14:00.004-05:00

...but hopefully a good one.

I am being held prisoner. I am under house arrest and can go out quite often, but then I am kept home for several days--unable to function beyond the "bare minimum." Because I am married to a most wonderful man, this has been tolerable. He takes over what needs to be done that I cannot seem to accomplish. It has been tolerable when I only work at home.

But, I am going to start working outside the home some time in March (hopefully) and then this prisoner life will be a huge burden.

I went to visit my doctor and asked her what my options were. From the possibilities (hormones, minor surgery, hysterectomy) I rejected the hormones because I am not a nice person when taking them. I thought the minor (outpatient) surgery called an ablation sounded wonderful.

Next stop, the OB/GYN. He does an ultrasound and says that the minor surgery is not a good option because I have fibroid farm in my uterus. Apparently this farm is growing and starting fibroids quite nicely. The anemia and pain with my cycles can be pointed at them.

Next stop was my wonderful niece who is a highly talented nurse/midwife. I asked her for advice on other options. She graciously sent me lists of things I could do that could/may help. I seriously thought about this and realized I can't even remember to take a iron pill--I don't think I'd be capable of keeping up with a regiment type treatment.

So, back to the OB/GYN. I am scheduled to have the hystorectomy March 25th. It will be overnight in the hospital and then 2 weeks or less to recovery. Then I'll never have to think about my prison again!!

The scholarship is still working wonders. There are signs that Sam still isn't ready to do school completely on his own--he is still unable to self-initiate. But he is handling Algebra 2 instructions from his mom--getting algebra instructions from me used to send him into a fit of tears--wanting to "never do school again." I'm so happy that he is growing.

We just started Algebra 2 yesterday. School schedules are for other people!! He is breezing through biology and history. Our writing assignments are all poems and Sam loves it because he can write very little and still be creative and express himself. Do you think his math/computer/science professors will let him write everything in poem form??

Learning

2009-01-22T12:42:00.002-05:00

Sam has won a scholarship! He doesn't have to pay for his education anymore, which is good since he doesn't have a job. This scholarship comes with a small allowance and several responsibilities. He earns $3 each school day. In return he must begin school at 10:30, take no more than an hour off before school work is finished, and be finished by 3:00 at the latest. If he fails to do any of these things, he gets fined.

This scholarship has moved the responsibility of timing from my shoulders to his. His allowance is just big enough that he is willing to follow the rules, but won't break the Kinter Foundation's bank. We have had a peaceful week because of it.

I have tried so many different things to help Sam feel like this is something he should care about, which makes me wonder how long this one will last. The good news is that with this scholarship he feels positive instead of negative about school, so I hope it will work until his frontal lobe develops.

He has now finished Geometry and will be doing some Algebra review and beginning Algebra 2. This is going to be somewhat difficult because he HATES algebra. The review part is going to take a couple of months--I hate to start in on Algebra 2 without some review and it is not Sam's favorite, so he may not remember chunks.

All else in school is going swimmingly!!

What I learned in 2008

2009-01-16T19:50:00.002-05:00

Okay, it has been ages since I posted and since it is still January I figured this was a timely enough subject.

1. Doctors are your friends, but they are not all-knowing.
2. Prescription drugs can greatly improve your life.
3. Mom is right--doing dishes can be pleasant (don't laugh--I know most people learn this before they hit 45).
4. If you step out in faith--God blesses your socks off!
5. True night people never out grow it, but that is okay--God walked with Adam and Eve in the cool of the day (NOT DAWN).
6. Ligaments don't heal.
7. Life with a torn ligament isn't horrible.
8. Dad is right--growing older gets better and better (except physically)
9. God enjoys and desires time with us more than we want and enjoy time with him.
10. What teens want from adults outside their family is love and acceptance.
11. You can be friends with people who do not agree with your theology, political ideals, etc.
12. Age doesn't matter when you're going to live forever. We're all infants compared to God!

So maybe some of these I've learned over the last 10 years rather than in 2008, but there it is. That leads to number 13--you are never too old to learn

Missions Trips are Great Learning Experiences

2008-07-13T15:26:00.002-04:00

Sam experienced his first ever missions trip. The middle school kids (called Rock Solid) went to somewhere in central Pennsylvania and worked really hard. They were removing big rocks from a pasture so horses could safely graze. Then they went rafting. He had a great time. You'll have to ask him about it next time you see him.

I went to NYC with the high school kids. It was again, serving through work. Each day we worked at one or two different ministries. One day we helped sort some yard at a warehouse run by World Vision. This warehouse is a place for teachers from at risk schools and other ministries to "shop" for free supplies. Another day we led worship at a mission before passing out food and clothes. (Can you picture me singing with the teens in front of the service??? I did it!)

So, both of us did useful, helpful things for others. Sam had a fun time tacked on to the end, the high school kids did not. God used this trip to teach me something that my heart just hadn't grasped before. It is something I would have agreed was true, but I wasn't really living it (which means I didn't really understand/believe/trust). That truth is....

Love comes from God. We fallen humans are so pathetic we cannot long for God, seek and find him without Him giving us that longing...and once we do find him we are incapable of loving him (think agape) without getting that love as a gift from him first. It was an amazing discovery when this truth penetrated to my heart. I am changed. So, all of you who were praying, thanks. God is good and powerful and AWESOME!!!

The rest of our summer is filled with little things. We regretfully cannot travel to TX for my nieces wedding (congratulations Megan!!). We are just keeping busy here at home. Anyone wanna come visit???

Summer Plans

2008-06-10T01:16:00.002-04:00

school is tapering off. It will be done by the end of the week. We will then go into summer mode (where we try to get a day's worth done each week).

Our "son" Gordon is now with us again. Our little house is a little fuller, but it is a good full. He is hoping to move to his family home to prepare for his family's return, so he may not be here the whole summer. We are all looking forward to the family's return!!

Sam will be going on his first mission trip to Pennsylvania. June 16 to 20. He is going without parents. He is very eager to go and I think it will be incredibly good for him. The trip involves working to serve and is not a sharing the gospel, but more of a learn to serve and think more deeply about spiritual things. It is for middle school students.

The following week I will be in New York City with the high school group. I am the only mom and the oldest person going. There is a HUGE part of me that is NOT looking forward to this trip, but God very clearly said "go," so I'm going. I am sure he will allow me to be a blessing to the teens and to the folks we will be serving. Each day we will serve in a different ministry and each evening we will eat at a different ethnic restaurant (the eating part I am looking forward to). We will be walking and taking the subway and will have a "native" to help us not get lost and such. I am worried that someone will not get on the subway and get separated--so maybe that will be a job God gives me--to make sure no one does that.

Our church as launched the 3rd (maybe 4th?) annual summer groups. Our home groups (bible study) are suspended for the summer and we instead get involved in special interest groups. I am participating in: "Mom's Paint the Town" which is mom's getting a night out away from children to just chat--great fun! "Cuong Nhu" (of course). "Flick Club" we are assigned a movie to watch each week, then get together to discuss it on Wednesdays. And there is one more, going through a book about learning to be more intimate with God--I can't remember what they are calling it. Since I am not working many hours at all this summer--I decided to have some serious fun!

Sam and Brian played with Zome Tools (www.zometool.com) that Gordon owns. They had so much fun that I purchased a bunch. I also bought the game "The Settlers of Catan" (www.catan.com) which is a very educational game. This will make the summer a very educational unschooling type of time. We like to enrich our days with things that teach without workbooks or "right" answers.

first part (of 3 new posts)

2008-05-19T22:30:00.002-04:00

Since I have no idea how to get pictures anywhere but at the top (advice anyone?). Here is the three parter published so that they appear (I hope) in the order they should be read:

Howdy all. I didn't fall in a lake nor was I captured by space aliens. I was sick for several weeks and it seemed to have cause some asthma symptoms that would NOT go away. I was on every drug there is (or so it seemed) and still coughing my asthma cough. I also felt a little low on energy (hence the lack of posting). But today, my doctor decided to declare war on my asthma. She sent in the BIG GUNS--prednisone. This is the steriod that makes you feel GOOD and gives you LOTS of energy. No, I won't end up looking like the picture--that's another kind of steroid (I hope).

middle part

2008-05-19T22:29:00.002-04:00

This is a picture of me doing the dishes earlier, though and Dwight tells me I’m talking pretty fast, too.

long overdue update

2008-05-19T22:03:00.002-04:00

This is how the stuff makes me feel

So that is the latest from this crew. Dwight and I are heading to NC State (North Carolina State University) for Cuong Nhu camp. Sam will be staying here with our most reliable child care worker. They share an interest in computers and science and such so he’s looking forward to it. She is 18, a senior who got a full ride scholarship and who loves the Lord, And we are supporting her mission’s trip to china this summer as payment, so we are all happy with the arrangement. It will be interesting to be on Prednisone for martial arts camp. I may have to warn people that in 10 days I won’t be quite so amazing!

20 Years!

2008-03-14T18:33:00.002-04:00

Who knew that one could still feel so young when celebrating their 20th wedding anniversay. We didn't do much special since we are all still on the mend. We had crab legs for dinner mmmm. Dwight surprised me with the flowers pictured. The lilies are the same as the ones in my wedding boquet. Isn't he sweet!

Praying Mantis

2008-02-16T14:25:00.003-05:00

Jenny and Sam found a egg case while clearing brush at our church. After some research she thought it was a praying mantis case. Three months of waiting proved her right.
Dwight

Jenny Breaks at NC Test

2008-01-19T19:08:00.000-05:00

During testing in November, Jenny Broke two boards on the first try. Note the deep relaxing breath before the break.

Our snow

2008-01-19T17:03:00.000-05:00

Here is what the roads are like as of 5 pm.

another new happening

2008-01-19T13:06:00.000-05:00

This picture is Sam's official 7th grade photo.

God is good. He brought Andy into our homeschool experience for a specific purpose for us: To train Sam and me to include someone else in our homeschool day. Starting January 30, we will be including a new person, Brian, grade 7 (same as Sam). He is the middle son of one of my dearest and oldest friends here in our area. She and I were a lifeline for each other during our children's toddlerhood and preschool years. Since then we have not seen each other much since our boys have very different interests, but we never lost that sister-like closeness.

Now, her son needs to be home educated and she is working a wonderful ministry-type job that she doesn't want to give up. So, while she's at work, Brian will be here. He'll have his list of things to do and his books and my job will be to keep him on task and tutor him if he needs it. This is all the law allows me to do. Laura will be in charge of his curriculum and etc. (receiving advice from veteran home schoolers like me). don't you like how we are obeying the law and doing what is best for this boy at the same time??

We are still enjoying our hot tub almost daily. There is a winter storm coming that will drop somewhere around 3 inches of snow that will actually stick to the ground. Everyone here is in a rush to buy food, batteries and snow shovels. We northerners are laughing to ourselves over it all. In fact, we are more nervous than we would be back in the north because if we are on the road, we have to drive as if no one else has a clue how to handle slippery roads (which is too close to the truth for me).

Happy 2008

2008-01-02T14:31:00.000-05:00

So, we are all beginning a new year. It is a time to reflect on the past year and plan and resolve to improve the world in the year to come. Our world has improved already--we are proud owners of a hot tub. We actually got to soak in it last night (aahh, so relaxing).

I want to improve my stamina. I am stronger because of martial arts, but my stamina is terrible. It prevented my advancing to brown belt, so I'm determined to change it.

Sam will be working on self-control, whether he likes it or not. He's been acting out on his anger lately and it must stop since he knows how to hit and such from martial arts.

Dwight is just the same. He didn't make it to brown belt either, but in his case the reasons are not so clear. He and I are both going to work on accuracy. The new hot tub is in the garage (for now), so the other half of it can be a gym.

That's all for now, I'll post pictures later.

News

2007-11-28T11:59:00.001-05:00

Andy is back home with his family, so it is back to just Sam and I again. We are taking it easy between Thanksgiving and Christmas and only doing 2 weeks of school. We had a crazy fun Thanksgiving and need a break. We are able to break because of how we do some school over the summer.

I promise to post Thanksgiving pictures soon.

ANTS!!

2007-10-31T19:38:00.000-04:00

Yep, I have ants in my house. I invited them in, in fact I purchased these guys. Sam and Andy are loving them. Below is a video of them. This is an ant farm by Ant Works that I bought from Edmund Scientific. I love how you can see the ants no matter where they are.

actually about school

2007-10-07T22:26:00.000-04:00

Okay, this blog is called "Thoughts on Home Schooling" and all we've been doing is bragging about our board breaking. Well, Dwight is just reporting, but I'm bragging!! So, here is some school news for all those wondering if we're just breaking things all day long...

Sam is enjoying world history (SonLight core 6), geometry, and biology. We have been starting our day with "Tea and Poetry" where we drink some tea and read the poetry that is assigned to read that day. This has been a very good way to start our day. Starting the day the same every day is very comforting for both of us.

Sam is also going to a Spanish class once a week. It is not for credit or anything, more of a intro to Spanish. He is enjoying that. I am enjoying it too, because I get a chance to chat face to face with other homeschool moms.

Another change this year is that Sam has a classmate. We'll call him Andy. He's a fourth grader and his mother is home schooling for the first time this year. She has 5 kids from K to 10th grade as well as a 1 year old. So, Andy is spending his day here in order to lighten her load while she figures out how this is going to work in her house. He is enjoying his time here (he says it is quiet) and getting his work done well. Sam is teaching him his science (for $2 per day). It is fun to watch them read and study Andy's science book together.

So, now I have reported about how our home school is going and now I don't have to change the title of this blog to "Look How Tough Sam's Mom is!" or something.

Board Breaking Practice in Class

2007-10-04T21:21:00.000-04:00

We are practicing for our Brown Belt test in December. This is the first time breaking wooden boards for most of us.
Dwight

Board Breaking Practice

2007-09-30T19:41:00.000-04:00

Jenny has not been updating this, so I (Dwight) am helping.

Jenny and I are working on our board breaking for our Brown Belt test coming up in December. I made the holder for the re-breakable boards. It does not look like much because I designed it as I went along. Re-breakable boards are made out of plastic and can be broken and put back together hundreds of times. The dark green board is equivalent to one board, and the black one is equivalent to two boards. I edited out the failed attempts ;-)
Dwight

haircut

2007-08-25T20:22:00.000-04:00

I never thought I'd give a grown man a haircut, but then a military haircut doesn't take much finesse.

misc doings of the late summer

2007-08-25T20:17:00.001-04:00

So, how are we spending our last days of summer before beginning school full time again? Lazing about and goofing off, of course! See the pictures to see what I mean:

The County Fair

2007-07-23T17:34:00.000-04:00

If you want to visit one of the best Fairs in the world, you must come to Elkhart County in Indiana. We spent the afternoon visiting all the animal sheds. Sam liked the Rabbits best and even got to hold one. Of course, the also set off his asthma, so I guess we won't be taking any home (thank goodness)

Playing Tag

2007-07-20T14:52:00.000-04:00

So, I have been tagged by donnac over at HOO (homeschooling only one). I had heard of this game and now I'm playing. I am supposed to share 8 random facts and then tag 8 bloggers. So here are my facts:

1. I love to read fantasy and some science fiction. I am happiest if I have a whole series before me to read. I just started Robert Jordan's long series "The Wheel of Time." I'm about 1/3 of the way through book 1 of I don't know how many, but lots.

2. I have naturally curly hair

3. I happily live in a house filled with books.

4. We have more computers in our house than people living here.

5. My hope in this life is that God will be glorified in all I do.

6. I have more crowns in my mouth than uncrowned teeth

7. Everyone in our house has allergies, so our only pet is a fish.

8. I think nerds are sweet and cute (I married one almost 20 years ago).

Okay, so I'm tagging my nieces who have blogs, Amber, Sabrina, and Melissa. My sister Marla. Our friends in Zambia who may not have time to respond. The other 3 are arty folks who I have never met, but whose art I have been enjoying so much: doodletillomega, tllt, and seniordoodlin.

new glasses

2007-07-20T10:32:00.000-04:00

Sam has now become a glasses wearer. It surprised me how quickly I got used to how he looked.

Poem

2007-07-10T10:04:00.000-04:00

Sam had an assignment to write a poem last week. He was given the first two words of each line and then a short instruction on what to write. The instructions were very open and did not mention spiritual things. He also had a sample, written by a girl and mentioning unicorns and such. Here is his poem:

I am the one who wants to paint and a Christian too,
I wonder what its like to paint a masterpiece for Him to glorify his name
I hear His thanks and abounding love
I see Him saving me
I am the one who wants to paint and a Christian too.

I pretend to meet Him face to face
I feel his grace on me
I touch the holes in his hands
And I worry about his lost sheep
I cry for those who will never hear His name
I am the one who wants to paint and a Christian too.

I understand that I may change the world
I say that anyone can do so
I dream of judgment day
I try to make an effort to change someone’s life
I hope that this will come true for
I am the one who wants to paint and a Christian too.

throws

2007-06-23T15:14:00.000-04:00

Do you know how to throw? Do you know how to be thrown without getting hurt? We are learning how. (Though the aches seem to tell us the without getting hurt part needs some improvement).

beading bug hits our family

2007-06-23T15:03:00.000-04:00

Okay, this disease is highly contagious and chronic, but at least it isn't fatal. I created this necklace last night. I spent $38 on beads, but that was enough to make 2 necklaces. This is going to be my Friday night fun this summer.

our new family (for the summer)

2007-06-02T15:04:00.000-04:00

So here is our enlarged family. We are having a wonderful time having 2 sons. It helps that our newest son was already trained and disciplined by godly parents--we are just reaping the rewards of their hard work.

A little bragging

2007-05-13T18:35:00.000-04:00

Do you know what kind of bird that is? A pileated woodpecker!! I hear that they rarely come to feeders, but we have a pair that visit our suet every week.

School is officially over, though we are finishing up a couple of subjects: Science we have a few chapters (that is fun for Sam, not hard work) and he has a paper to write (now that is excruciating work).

We have a new family member for the summer, I'll post his picture later. His family is in Africa and he has an internship at the local lab with an electron beam accelerator. I guess getting almost straight A's as a physics major has its benefits.

double push-up at Cuong Nhu

2007-04-27T14:47:00.000-04:00

They guys were goofing off, so I asked them to do it for the camera. Being complete goofballs, they were happy to oblige. B is on the bottom (from the art show two posts back).

science experiment 10-4

2007-04-27T14:42:00.000-04:00

Newton's Second Law "for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction" come to life

Art Show at a local high school

2007-04-27T13:58:00.000-04:00

We went to see our friend "B" (as he's known at martial arts) and his art today. Here he is with his display.

Marx Brothers

2007-04-13T11:18:00.000-04:00

Sam's new favorite comedy team, thanks to Netflix's large library. We have been looking at oldies. It is a good way to see something that you know won't have objectionable content. Groucho uses just the kind of humor that amuses Sam.

Science

2007-04-08T19:16:00.000-04:00

Easter 2007

2007-04-08T17:22:00.000-04:00

Easter should mean no school, but in a homeschool family all learning can be called school. This means that when Sam helps his dad make dinner we can call it home ec. class.

Snow!

2007-04-07T21:00:00.000-04:00

Okay, it didn't really accumulate--just sort of rested on top of the grass for the morning, but snow fell until almost noon. I have never seen snow this late in the year here before.

Of course, snow on Holy Saturday can help us remember that what happened on Good Friday can wash us white as snow.

Letterboxing

2007-03-24T22:35:00.000-04:00

We love to walk in the parks around here. Sam isn't quite so keen on it, but when we combine a walk with letterboxing, then he enjoys it, too. What you see is a photo-journal of our last adventure. We even met this box placer, but I won't post his picture since I didn't ask his permission. He did let us in on a secret that there were more boxes at this park, but they were mislabeled and so I had not found the instructions. To learn more about letterboxing, visit www.letterboxing.org

Sabrina's visit

2007-03-20T17:48:00.000-04:00

We had a great time last week while Sabrina and Munara were here. They ran us ragged, but it was all good. We took the week off school which made it extra special for Sam. And here are some pictures of all the fun.

Daddy School

2007-02-24T10:53:00.000-05:00

Tuesday, I had a workshop in Virginia Beach. That is over an hour drive away through very heavy traffic. The workshop was all day. Dwight stayed home and was the substitute teacher. I planned the day so that they would have lots of time for science and a field trip. This picture was taken at the War Memorial Museum. I think they had a good day. Dad school should not look the same as Mom school! It is nice to know that when I have a commitment, school doesn't have to be put on hold.

This has been a busy week. Sunday night Sam and I went with the middle and high school group from church to Winter Jam. I am a fogey--the music was too loud and I felt frustrated at not being able to understand most of the words, both spoken and sung. Sam wasn't too thrilled with the volume either, but they had a talk in the middle giving people a chance to say a prayer and fill out a card to indicate they had given their life to the Lord either for the first time or in a rededication. Sam rededicated his life to the Lord. I am seeing the fruits of the spirit blossom in his life. It was worth all the loud music and misunderstood words!!

2007-02-10T16:30:00.000-05:00

We spent last weekend traveling to Pennsylvania to honor the passing of a great woman. She was my mother-in-law. She was 81 years old. We miss her, but are also rejoicing that she is now worshiping Jesus face to face. This picture includes her daughter and was taken a few years ago. I hope to be as good a mother-in-law as she always was to me.

New Badge

2007-02-01T11:15:00.000-05:00

This is Sam receiving the badge he earned for memorizing Psalm 91. We are very proud of him.

More Science

2007-01-23T18:48:00.000-05:00

So, the speedy science student is still at it. This is an experiment from Module 4. Sam's been doing a module every week and loving it. I have been especially pleased to see him take ownership of at least one subject. I also enjoy his moments of enlightenmnet--those are things he won't forget quickly. Hearing him cogitate aloud while finishing his math encourages me that he is understands the material quite well--he is usually creating some kind of shortcut when he does this. So, our life here seems to never change when you look from a distance, but then when you focus in, you notice a boy slowly becoming a man. Parenting, what a responsibility!!

Science!

2007-01-02T11:19:00.000-05:00

Here is experiment #1 in the new science book. We are beginning Physical Science now. Sam wants to finish the book by September, but is thinking that doing 2 days of work each day might be too much. We'll have to look at how else we can meet his goal.

The goal of this experiment was to observe molecules breaking down into atom and atom forming into molecules. I'm glad that I'm married to someone who can oversee these things. All I saw were bubbles and the water changing color :)

Merry Christmas

2006-12-19T12:55:00.000-05:00

This Christmas I did not get the cards out (again). I desire to wish everyone a wonderful holiday. I strongly desire to urge everyone to focus on this great moment in history when God entered humanity. I deeply desire to see those I love turn to the Life-giver either for the first time or in a new, deeper way. I just don't seem to have words to express that in a card.

I used to be afraid of offending, or having family who do not believe as I do think me a fool. But I now understand that this is foolishness. I am very likely considered a fool already, so why worry about that? I guess the one thing I am truly concerned about is offending in the sense that my actions and words would make people turn from Jesus instead of to him.

So, for anyone reading this who does not know Jesus. Please understand that his followers are not perfect, wonderful people. They are only forgiven and free from the slavery to sin. (And slowly worming our way out from under the influence of that sin.) We are free to have that relationship that was severed by sin so many years ago--a relationship with our creator. It is the one you are hungry for and you don't even know it. This hunger is why none of the things you've pursued in this life has ever been completely satisfying. Look to Jesus--he will satisfy your soul.

My prayer for my family and others who do believe is that we would be able to demonstrate that soul satisfying, eternity-heading life that makes all sacrifices become nothing compared to the joy we find in Jesus.

Merry Christmas

Eggnog is better...

2006-12-17T23:05:00.000-05:00

After seeing the comic above, Sam decided he had to buy a Santa hat and see for himself. Can you tell by his reaction what he thought?

My Birthday

2006-12-09T22:01:00.000-05:00

What a wonderful few days I have had, I was showered with gifts, got to feast on my favorite foods. Some wonderful folks, the Mattoxes, came all the way from Equador to share my birthday with me--now that's friendship. You see Elizabeth and Hope, Rob left before we got the camera out. We had a wonderful time.

Only 2 more days of school (science day and math day) before we break for Christmas. Maybe just one more gift errand. Sam has joined us in our decorating bah humbug mode, so don't come looking for a tree (we will have lights, a nativity and stockings, but very little else). Maybe we're just minimalists (except when it comes to computers).

2006-12-04T22:13:00.000-05:00

We had a great thanksgiving. Yannick's family now feels like a part of our family. Chieko rocked at Dutch Blitz; she out maneuvered me many times. I just wish someone would have remembered to take pictures. Our camera lay forgotten in the drawer.

We are saving the fruitcake making for a visit from Sabrina. We are also trying to get one more week of school done before all the Christmas stuff totally swamps us. It will be a close call. We're trying the one subject a day style again. I think it goes faster without the change of books so often, but Sam gets tired of the same subject, too. He does like when we do this, but that may be just the novelty.

We wish you a relaxed and non-frantic holiday with the focus on the real reason for the season!!

2006-11-08T13:15:00.000-05:00

I BROKE A BOARD!!! Okay, it was a practice board (plastic and made to come apart). But it wasn't easy. We were taught how to do an elbow strike. The guys were able to break on second try, the females (young, thin teens) were not as successful. I was last. I have a little more mass then the other females :) and I was determined to succeed!! I did it on the second try. I felt powerful and triumphant (and bruised). If you don't have enough body mass to power through the board you technique has to be more precise--that is why the younger girls had trouble. So my weight was a positive for once! I want to do it again--who cares about bruises--I can break boards! Woo-hoo!!

Learning--it just happens

2006-11-04T22:34:00.000-05:00

Okay, this is an excuse to tell you all of the funny thing I found today. We were raking our front yard, and I discovered a fallen bird's nest. The funny part is what the bird had incorporated into the construction---a dryer sheet. Who knew that birds would use them, but apparently at least one did!! I didn't take a picture, because the nest was falling apart and nothing to look at.

Today, we had our test at martial arts for our first brown stripe. We passed, Sam read a book and played gameboy because the kids weren't testing. Afterwards, we are both limping around like we're 90 years old. But it feels good to have our rank rise again. Sparring is now a requirement for our promotion. This is where most of my bumps and bruises come from. I both like and strongly dislike sparring and I can't even tell you why.

I invited one of our fellow artists to join us for Thanksgiving and she said she'd love to. Her birth country is not America, so she is looking forward to the family traditional part of Thanksgiving. My dear friend Yannick is coming and bringing his whole family. So we're having a bit of a mishmash instead of the usual blood relatives. I think it is going to be great fun. Time to buy fruitcake ingredients.

The Ceremony!

2006-10-31T13:26:00.000-05:00

Okay, we invented a ceremony for badge awarding. Sam earned it last night after discussing the meaning of 3 bible passages that mention birds. He certainly worked hard for this badge and I'm proud of him!

Earning his first badge

2006-10-28T15:10:00.000-04:00

We have discovered "Keepers of the Faith." Which is like combining Awanas with scouts. The boy's are referred to as Contenders for the Faith. The parents are the leaders. Some folks do this entirely at home without any large group meetings. We are doing this except for a few group things. The first group activity is earning a badge called "rest home" in which we will visit a home monthly for six months as the bulk of earning the badge. We made our first visit yesterday and it went very well, thanks to Uno cards.

The other badge Sam is working on and almost completed is the bird badge. He had to do some research about birds and make a platform feeder. He and his dad finished the feeder today. It makes an awesome addition to our bird "swingset," don't you think? Now all we have to do is discuss the meaning of several bible verses that mention birds. I'll post a picture of him with his sash and badge when we do the award ceremony (I have to decide what that actually is first).

Life seems to be going very well, here. The newness of video/computer games is wearing off. TV has no appeal (because we don't have cable). So, the boy is learning to enjoy life in ways that do not entail staring at a screen.

Just Pictures of our life

2006-10-28T15:08:00.000-04:00

I'm going to try really hard!

2006-10-26T15:05:00.000-04:00

I heard words today that I never thought to hear from my boy. "I don't know if I can, but I'm going to try really hard." in an earnest, upbeat voice. I was so happy.

Today, I went out to lunch and left him home with 7 school tasks. I have never left him home alone for so long, but he did very well. He didn't complete them all, but he was cheerfully working when I left and when I got home. His honesty about how long he played for "recess" and his willingness to get back to work are things I thought impossible a couple of years ago.

I also love to hear him share what he learns with me. I get snippets from his science book and the translation of this Latin sentence as he works. A joy for learning is growing in this home. This joy had completely disappeared and I wondered if it was ever going to come back. It is back. He still prefers play or watching TV, but it is no longer the only fun thing to do. Today, while he is supposed to be doing math he asked me how a clicky pen works. That cannot replace math class, but it can be investigated before turning on TV or computer! So, the boy will be taking a pen apart after school is officially done and explaining to one of his parents how the clicky pen works. His new enjoyment of learning means that this is not punishment--it would have been perceived as punishment a year ago.

God bless all who read.

What is your useless talent?

2006-10-15T22:18:00.000-04:00

Everybody has one. Everyone has useful talent, too, I hope. My useful talents involve education. My best useless talent is playing Minesweeper. I just want the family to know that I have bested Amber's record by 30 seconds!! I have finished the expert level in 141 seconds. Here is my proof.

Science project, new pet.

2006-10-09T20:21:00.000-04:00

So, since the boy has been cheerfully doing chores when reminded we have decided to choose a "starter pet." Asthma and other allergies have limited our choice. I figured he'd like a fish after he named the houseplants (which we bought to complete science experiments).

Yesterday we bought a betta. His name is Lon-Lon, which according to a source I am not supposed to reveal is saying blue, blue twice in Chinese. It seemed like a good language to use since they are also called siamese fighting fish. We are only out $20, so it seems like a good thing so far. Here is a picture of Lon-Lon.

Who is this woman??

2006-10-09T20:13:00.000-04:00

Okay, extra pumpkin pie for the person who guesses correctly!!

Beginning of a New Era

2006-09-17T20:09:00.000-04:00

Can you believe that Sam is now a middle school student? It is hard to remember since he's still at the same school. He still has the same teacher. He still has the exact same classmates. But he's officially sixth grade, so he qualifies to be a part of Rock Solid. Rock Solid is the name of the middle school ministry at our church.

When a boy leaves his family behind and does something--there is often no way to know what happened. "How was it?" you may ask. "Fine." Is all you'll get.

"Did you have fun?" "It was okay."

"What happened?" "Nothing much."

So, to arm myself and not be the "know nothing" mom, I am getting involved in Rock Solid. I will be working with a small group of girls, being an all around monitor of activities. I survived my first night this evening. I took pictures, but don't have them since it was a borrowed camera.

Sam had fun. Profound. Eric went along as is thinking about getting involved regularly. How cool is that?

How is this related to school? How about answering that question about socialization?? He is interacting with kids his age in a positive environment. I have incredible respect for the youth pastor which increases each time I work with him. This is a good place.

Hope everyone has an incredible week.

Trouble with Tribbles

2006-09-05T14:11:00.000-04:00

It is an episode of the original Star Trek series. The tribble is an alien pet/creature that is just a ball of fur. After watchin it, we were compelled to create some tribbles. They look just like the ones in the show.

rest of the pictures

2006-09-04T10:55:00.000-04:00

Ernesto Pictures

2006-09-04T10:50:00.000-04:00

This stick was sticking in our neighbors back yard. Sam's index finger is marking how deeply it was in the ground. "And it isn't even sharp!" was his comment. We used this to discuss the "wisdom" of playing outside when the wind is blowing that hard.

Ernesto!

2006-09-02T11:37:00.000-04:00

We survived another one. This time the winds weren't as intense, but there was a lot of water falling out of the sky. It seems that no one expected the storm to be this intense in this area. Many folks were caught off guard. We spent almost all of the day without power. There is a lot of debris in our yard to clean up. Other than that we came through the storm with flying colors.

I'll post pictures this afternoon.

First Day of School!!!

2006-08-28T15:28:00.000-04:00

Well, we have finished our first day of school. Sam and I worked well together. We even had an interruption--taking car for appraisal. Once again, our blue car was dented while parked. I take it in Wednesday and pick up a rental. We figure it is the safest kind of accident to have--when you're not in the car--and it is really hard for it to be your fault :).

So, back to the school day. We worked, ate lunch, even did spelling with a good attitude. I'm quite pleased. I think it helps that we don't completely take the summer off. And, over the summer having "No Screen" days means that school will be different. The screens are available when school is done each weekday (though he still has to have either Saturday or Sunday be screen-free).

Algebra is going well, much better than pre-algebra did actually. I have started having him read the textbook as an independent task, then he tackles the problems when I am available (but he rarely needs me). Science is continuing Apologia General Science. He's taking the test for Module 9 this week.

For history, language arts, reading, and Bible we are using SonLight 5. It is centered around the Eastern Hemisphere. Over the summer we looked at the Pacific Islands and Australia. We started looking at New Zealand today.

Spelling, which is still his least favorite subject we have started Sequential Spelling. There are no lists to memorize. All he has to do is take a "test" every day. I say the word, he writes it, then I write it on the dry erase board. He corrects his if it is wrong (I may mention a way to remember that kind of spelling rule or say nothing) then we go on to the next word. That's it. Spelling is done until the "test" the next day. It works because there is lots of repitition, but the repitition doesn't make a poor spelling feel "dumb" because it is there no matter what. Spelling Power based repitition on spelling errors, so when Sam saw the same word over and over he would get discouraged and pout or explode--neither pleasant to deal with.

Right now he is blowing things up on his game cube, enjoying relaxing fun after working hard. It has been a good day. Now, all I have to do is mop the kitchen, do some laundry and then I get to relax. All Dwight has to do is come home from working eight hours, fix dinner, make sure science experiments dont' need any updating then he can relax. Which of us works the hardest in the family? Dwight always wins that prize :)

A Fond Farewell

2006-08-24T17:10:00.000-04:00

The top picture is Dave with Miss Jude. Next are the girls with Rebecca and I (they are in the center). The bottom picture is Sally with only some of their boxes. Now our lives will be quieter and duller with the Lott's gone. But we are so excited to be a part of what God is doing in Africa.

When God said no to us going to the mission field, I knew he was saying yes to being part of sending others to the mission field. Being advocates for the Lotts is a perfect fit!!

2006-08-24T16:55:00.000-04:00

2006-08-24T16:53:00.000-04:00

Now that is a Lott of luggage!

Saying Goodbye

2006-08-24T16:51:00.000-04:00

This is a sad/happy time. We rejoice to see our friends heading out to Africa to increase God's glory and the body of Christ, but we weep that we have to be apart from them for 2 years.

butterflies

2006-08-24T16:46:00.000-04:00

Here is a monarch butterfly--at least it will be one day. Discovering the milkweed plants, we searched and found the tiniest of caterpillars on the bottom of one leaf. School outdoors, the best part of home schooling.

nature walk at grandparents

2006-08-24T16:44:00.000-04:00

We discovered this plant on our walk around the lake at grandparents house. We decided to name it the Yannick plant because the shapes of the flower clusters remind us of Yannick's hair.

visiting grandparents

2006-08-24T16:27:00.000-04:00

This is Sam and Bad Brad. Sam played and played with this young cat. when asked what his favorite part was, Brad got first, second, third....place. This is a very friendly, social cat which made Sam very happy.

a new member of family--at least temporarily

2006-07-26T15:11:00.000-04:00

Blink

Mentos and Diet Coke

2006-07-19T20:04:00.000-04:00

Wimpy in comparison, but then it was our first try.

2006-07-10T16:26:00.000-04:00

The kids weren't the only ones who felt tired after the long day. It was a very fun weekend all around!

2006-07-10T16:23:00.000-04:00

These are our friends we stayed with. They have the three boys you can see. I am almost off the picture to the right and you can see Sam in the background along the rail. We didn't see all the zoo either. The youngest boy was 6 and we stopped when he was tired. We didn't take lots of animal pictures--we took pictures of the people we went with--these are the pictures that are most valued later. So, if you want to see the animal, you have to visit the zoo yourself.

2006-07-10T16:20:00.000-04:00

This is the station where we transfered from the orange line to the red line to go to and from the zoo. Of all of us, I was the only one who had experience with the Metro, so I was in charge. Thankfully it was not hard to figure out. Buying the pass was the most complicated step.

2006-07-10T16:16:00.000-04:00

Do we look tired? This is after walking from the museum past the Washington Monument. This is taken on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. The walk from the museum to the Washington Monument was just as far as the walk from it to Lincoln. My feet were rather tired. Then we walked to the Viet Nam Wall and then about 6 blocks to the nearest metro station.

Guess what was Sam's favorite part? The metro! Not the museum or national icons we visited, but the metro we took to get there. Isn't that just like him?

2006-07-10T16:13:00.000-04:00

Here is our boy at the Smithsonian National American History Museum. He is playing with the controls of a tugboat as we walk the time line transportation. It was a long day and we ran out of energy before we saw even all of this one museum. I guess we'll have to go back.

Near Future

2006-07-04T11:29:00.000-04:00

Praying for Joel! May God speed his recovery and give the doctors insight into the truth about his condition!

Okay, so we had no plans for Independence Day. None. Then on Sunday night, we called our dear friends to plan at least one get-together before they return to Africa. It turned out they had no plans for Independence Day either. So now we all have plans: eat, play, watch fireworks!! Woo-hoo. This family defines fun, so we'll be having a good time.

Thursday, July 6th, we head off to Washington DC. We have friends who moved there last year. We'll be doing Smithsonian (focusing on American History) on Friday and visiting the Zoo on Saturday. Then we'll go to their church on Sunday and come back home. These friends are Korean and are graciously allowing us to taste some of Korea's culture. This coming year we will be studying the Eastern Hemisphere, so this will be a foretaste. Sandy has offered to give us a taste of Korean food and culture. This is learning at its best--to live it rather than just read about it.

Character development: Sam is not a list-checking person. I am. Every time I have tried to get him to learn a routine, I have always started with a list for him to check off. I have never seen success. So, I adapted a FlyLady concept. She has acronyms for many things. If your house is a mess, it is in CHAOS (can't have anyone over syndrome). I am not quite that creative, but was able to list all the tasks Sam is to complete and create a silly sentence.

So, Sam's morning routine is:

Eat Crumbs, Don't Make Burned Toast

Eat breakfast
Clean up after breakfast (bowl in dishwasher, cereal box closed and put away)
Dressed
Medicine
Birdbath (filled unless it rained)
Teeth (brushed)

He loves the sentences and is amazed that I am so talented to be able to come up with them (ego boost for a 10 year old--imagine that!). Once they weren't new anymore, though, we were no longer seeing compliance.

So, according to John Rosemond, a child has free will and can choose not to obey, the parents job is to instill consequences that make it "worth it" to obey and wait for the child to adjust their behavior. For stubborn children, this may take a bit longer, but sticking to your guns is the way to succeed. So, the consequence for running over to Eric's house before the routine is done? No computer gaming time that day.

This morning we had a particularly unattractive meltdown b/c we are sticking to our guns. Aah, there goes the ego boost...down the drain.

Enjoy the freedoms that others laid their lives down for...and pray for those whose lives are in danger right now!

Rescuers of the East Coast

2006-06-23T10:34:00.000-04:00

Hey, did you know we are now entitled to be in a sequel to Rescuer? I don't know if Disney will pick up the option, but we definitely qualify.

The adventure began when Eric came and mentioned seeing a small kitten at the side of the street on Wednesday evening. Sam and I ran down and discovered 2 very small kittens. I'd guess they were about 4-5 weeks old. They were also probably ferral since we couldn't get near them. They jumped down a storm drain and I came home for the cat carrier and some tuna.

I made a trail of tuna from the drain to the inside of the carrier, but kitten #1 (we'll call her Lonely) didn't act hungry. I tried mewing--it made her more skittish, so I purred. She perked up and starting moving toward me (I was behind the carrier). As I kept purring, she came and was looking for her mother. She ended up walking right into the box and I shut the door.

Now it was kitten #2's turn. We'll call him Cautious. Purring had no affect on him--he knew it wasn't mom (or saw the results of Lonely's search for mom). But luckily Cautious was hungry. He followed the trail up near the carrier, but wouldn't go in. Being a very young kitten, he ended up with his back to me and I was able to grab him and push him into the carrier before he even got a scratch in.

The next day, we took them to the animal shelter. They are so young, they are sure to be adopted. If it weren't for Dwight, we would have kept them and tried to tame them. It made me think of Sass and Frass who never tamed, but these little guys were much smaller and I think at least Lonely will warm to humans eventually.

Now what subject was that adventure? I think it was Civics. We protected the kittens from death by car, starvation, or predator. We protected our neighborhood from cats who could contract rabies or other diseases. Sam learned how to think through the rescue of an animal. And we had lots of fun.

Nevermind--nothing in my brain (aparently)

2006-06-22T00:40:00.000-04:00

Okay, so after a couple of hours of dread and reflection on the uncertainties of life, I called the doctor back and asked her some questions.

It seems the spot wasn't in my brain, but on the picture. It was an artifact (which means that it was a glitch in the picture).

I have a clean bill of health and some mystery symptoms. Don't we all have mystery symptoms? Life isn't neat and categorized--there is much of life that is unexplained. It would be pretty boring without some mystery.

So, life is back to normal and if the double vision (which started this whole thing) doesn't return--I'm good to go and satisfied with life.

We have launched our study of the Eastern Hemisphere. We are reading about missions in Indonesia, and a couple of books about pacific island kids of long ago. Fun stuff. There is also some encyclopedia reading on the pacific islands. This year we added the SonLight Language Arts and I like it (Sam will tolerate it). I think we'll see some improvement in his writing and expression with this. He's still in the middle of Latin. We start the Algebra tomorrow and we are in the middle of the General Science book.

Oh, the coolest thing. A local teen, who has often babysat has agreed to teach Sam some computer stuff. They are both pretty excited about it. Classes start next Wed. last an hour and cost me $10 a lesson. Now that is cheap. She's going to start with JAVA and then move to C++. I am thrilled. Sam will eat it up and I don't have to learn the junk or pay through the nose. These two already like each other and work well together. God is good!!

spot on the brain

2006-06-12T16:19:00.000-04:00

News for folks who care: I have a spot on my brain. It may be a brain aneurysm, but it is not a tumor. I will be having a CTA on Thursday to learn more.

Lessons learned:

1. God is in control and he knew about this before the creation of the world. He also knows what kind of spot it is, so he can direct the tests to show the doctors the truth.

2. Waiting isn't fatal. I waited a week and a half from hearing I might have a problem before I got the spot news today. I am still waiting to find out what the spot is and what can be done about it.

3. I have lots of friends.

Thanks for keeping me in your prayers.

half time

2006-06-04T15:33:00.000-04:00

As we slowly finish the school year, I am looking at how Sam spends his time and thinking about how to encourage him not to be a "square eyes." This is the term given to someone who stares at screens all day by my friend, Sally. Sam is very much a square eyes when left to himself. I've decided he needs to spend half or less of his time being a square eyes, but was not sure how to accomplish this when his mother and teacher cannot keep track of time. In the past when we attempt to limit his time on computer or such, I would often forget and he'd get more than his allotted time. Then the next day we would deal with attitude when he was restricted to his allotted time.

So, I brought the problem to the headmaster (Dwight) and he suggested that Sam be restricted from all screens half of his days instead of half of his time each day. Today was our first no screens day and I think it will work. It may take him a while to figure out what to do with himself, but since the neighbor is thinking of doing this, too, starting Tuesday we may have success!!

To be fair, Sam's parents are not using the computers for entertainment purposes on the non-screen days. So maybe the whole family will be more productive...

Our days and evenings are getting busy--it seems the end of the school year is busy even though we homeschool. Probably because we are still a part of the community that doesn't home school. I have 2 graduations (one is a former NILD student), a groundbreaking for our expanded parking lot at church, a meeting with the youth leader since Sam is officially a middle school student once school is over...

But busy is good as long as it isn't stressing us out and so far so good.

Update

2006-05-25T12:38:00.000-04:00

As I was chopping up the strawberries to freeze them, I forgot to save some whole. This means I will live another year in ignorance of the joys of a frozen strawberry on a hot summer day. We sure are enjoying the strawberry shortcake!!

I have been over my business finances every which way and could not find a way to pay for pool membership without another student. Then I asked Sam which he would choose, more time with his mom or pool membership. He chose more time with me without pause. Since neither Dwight or I are much for the water, I guess Sam's the same way. So here I was working hard to give my son something he really wasn't that thrilled about anyway (communication is huge, isn't it?).

Now, what is my summer going to look like? That is the next big question. Light school work, more free time...I guess I don't have to plan it out really, just be ready to do or go when opportunities arise.

We drove over to Virginia Beach today to get free library cards. If you count gas, I'm thinking the cards cost us about $10 and 2 hours of time. Why would we want library cards for a library too far away to visit? Free Rosetta Stone access. We can access 25 different languages free through their website!! I had Sam and I both get a card because I am thinking of dabbling in it, too. Sam wants to learn spanish and who knows what else. Since it is free--we can "play" around however much we feel like it!! City life does have its benefits, I guess.

We have some history reading to do and not much else. The Wendys that is nearby is calling my name and suggesting frosties be purchased...Hope you all are having great weeks.

Strawberry Picking

2006-05-22T14:27:00.000-04:00

Sam and I went strawberry picking today with a group of home schoolers. It was fun. We now have 2 baskets of strawberries to do something with...Dwight will make strawberry shortcake. I want to freeze some to eat like Sabrina suggested one time (just plain and eat while frozen). I think we'll make some strawberry milkshakes, too. Any suggestions?

A ten year old has a lot of power. This one has the power to make a single chore last FOREVER. He can make redoing a math problem last a week. Right now he is under the "no WOW until your math final is corrected," and he is willing to put it off tomorrow (playing something else must be on his mind). Do you think he'll be more willing tomorrow? The training of diligence isn't necessary for children who already have the quality. Sometimes I think my training consists too much of "Get back to work" instead of allowing him to waste his day and suffer the consequences. My annoyance gets in the way of good training and I succumb to the temptation to whine him into high gear. This does not teach him to work diligently, but only teaches him to dawdle until he hears the "mom whine" again.

Dwight turned 46 on Thursday. He picked out a gift that I was incapable of buying for him (for editing video on his computer), so he went and bought it himself. This didn't feel like a present from Sam and me, so we tried to give him a "Dwight Weekend." We did yard work and housework that he normally does on weekends and so he had time to go for a bike ride and play games on his computer. We also conspired with some friends of ours to give him a surprise cake. After church on Saturday night we went to their house to talk about something serious, but instead we had a Cold Stone Ice Cream Cake and played a party game. Dwight was totally surprised and it was lots of fun.

If you don't know what Cold Stone Ice Cream is, I'll take you there next time you visit. It is gourmet ice cream and they mix yummy stuff in while you watch.

Really looking forward to a lighter summer schedule (with mostly independent work).

Keep some old stuff

2006-05-13T12:22:00.000-04:00

I do follow the FLY lady and try to get rid of clutter. I think that when my house is cluttered it dampens my happiness. But I also think it is possible to go too far the other way.

When I was in college I bought this little calculator that could also do some BASIC programming. It was very small and powerful enough for the engineering classes I was taking. Then I bought the printer/microcassette add-on for it. Now I could save my programs on the microcassette and print them out on thermal paper. It was as much a toy and gimmick as it was helpful. It was rather quickly outdated, but it was my first pda.

I never got rid of it mainly because it is so cute and small enough to stick in a corner of a closet. It made me smile when I saw it (so it wasn't weighing me down). When Sam saw it a few years ago he was hooked, but not old enough to really understand it.

But recently his babysitter showed him how to get to a dos command prompt and change directories. He was playing with this like with joy and enthusiasm even tho not much was happening. He was thrilled when he remembered the exact right key sequences.

This made me realize he was ready to learn BASIC so last night I got it back out and he and I wrote a program to calculate the area of a circle when the radius is inputed. He was so excited. This morning with me just showing him where to find information in a book and teaching him the basics of BASIC he wrote a program that generated a dice throw and then a random number from 1 to 100. We also tested the INT(a) command which we found in his pre-algebra book. It worked.

Dwight is looking to find a BASIC platform for Sam's computer that he can truly explore a more modern version of BASIC and I will be trying to find a book that teaches it to him. I don't think I'll have to do anything--I think the boy will run with this faster than I can keep up.

Sam still prefers to play computer games than read. He does his school because playing a computer game is his reward. And yet, his love of learning is back, too. He drinks in anything we talk about. Last night it was how the brain sends messages (electricity and chemical reactions). He took that thought and really got imaginitive with it. He spent the evening picking up signals from one neuron and sending them along to another.

Yesterday Dwight took the day off to see an opthamologist about his cataract. It has grown a lot since the eye doctor saw it (which was four months ago). This doctor thinks that it will need to be taken care of in about three months. Sam went with him (I was testing a student) and so he had a field trip and learned about eyes. He got to see his dad's eye up close with some kind of magnifier.

With that visit, the discussion about the brain and the programming late at night--yesterday was definitely an unschooling day!! There is no way I could relax if that was the way I did all school, but I certainly can see the value of that kind of learning. Since it is child directed you have an eager student. With a mind like Sam's there are so many thing he is curious about. But with my work schedule we can't just up and run to the library whenever his curiosity hits. And to do it well I think all "mindless" entertainment like television, computer games that are not educational, etc. would need to be removed or severely limited.

But combining formal learning with an unschooling spirit seems to work well for us.

As we wrap up this school year, I am looking to what we'll do next year. Here it is so far:

SonLight 5 Eastern Hemisphere
SonLight 5 Language Arts (which goes with same literature)
Algebra 1 (which we'll start this summer)
Apologia Exploring Creation with General Science (finish)
Aplogia Exploring Creation with Physical Science (after above is finished)
Rosetta Stone Latin (finish)--then move to Rosetta Stone Spanish maybe

and maybe continue with Easy Grammar Plus (it depends on what SonLight 5 Language Arts looks like).

Personal news:

We are now advocates for our friends the Lott's who are heading back to Africa this summer. We have come to love them deeply this past year. They will be in the process of moving from Botswana to Zambia when they first return, but don't know where in Zambia. That is their first job when they return--to pick which of two places to go in Zambia.

Summer is still up in the air. Waiting for schedules to be set and get a final answer from some potential students. I will continue working with my first grader. I will be tutoring my neighbor's daughter in algebra. I have a potential NILD student from a recommendation by her neighbor (my church friend). Another first grader may switch to me or continue with her current therapist (I give than less than 50% chance). Another person gave my name to a family who's son needs math tutoring, but haven't heard anything. So things are normal. I won't know anything until beginning of summer--anther opportunity to trust God (he's my boss, financial advisor and schedule problem solver--pretty much CEO and behind the scenes fixer of all problems!)

Is my house cleaning itself?

2006-05-10T14:29:00.000-04:00

Now I'm not saying my house is spotless. But it seems so uncluttered!

My house is not cleaning itself, but maybe this is even more of a miracle--Sam is doing it!!! Sam is doing a couple of room rescues every day. His room and his school stuff and he has another household chore each morning and afternoon.

How do you get a ten year old to do housework? Make it part of school! We are following flylady and doing a "home management" unit in school. My darling boy is passing with flying colors. He does his room by remembering the sentence "Super Wonderful Boy Cleans The Room" which reminds him to clean up Shoes, Water, Bed, Clothes, Trash, and Reading material.

I need an acronym for his morning routine, too because the child never looks at the list. I heard him recite that sentence and he has never forgotten any of those steps...

I love home schooling--always before he never had time to help because of his homework load (which I'm sure he saw the advantage of).

misdiagnosis times 2

2006-05-01T23:41:00.000-04:00

Dwight's chiggers magically turned into poison ivy when he went to the doctor on Sunday. My tick bite ended up with a rash around it--I went to the doctor. No lyme disease, just an allergic reaction to the bite. I had one of my worst allergy attacks ever and canceled both my students and canceled Sam's afternoon class (science review).

Sam is trying to work out when to sleep and when to wake. I am turning this somewhat over to him since it doesn't really matter when we do school. The only thing that matters is that it gets done and Dwight and I get some alone time each evening we are home. Sam's top choice would be to never sleep or to stay up late and get up early. He can do that for one or two days, then his body won't wake up on the third day. This morning he slept as late as I did!! (AMAZING!).

We may not be able to give him this freedom all the time, but for this summer I think it is very doable.

My work schedule for the summer is already full. I have 4 definite students and 2 maybes. I am actually hopeful to only have 4 students. I'm wondering what my CEO is going to do about that. He takes such good care of me, I'm not even worrying about it. Maybe we're going to need the money and I just don't know it yet.

It is time to decide whether to join the pool for the summer, I'm leaning toward yes.

Something New

2006-04-29T14:48:00.000-04:00

I did something brand new in the past couple of weeks. Sometimes my life gets so routine that I am surprised that there are new things to do and discover. (How sad is that?).

I sold something on ebay. It was exciting and scary, but I had a veteran to get me started. That is right, Sabrina is a veteran ebay seller. Now all those books sitting and collecting dust--you know the ones I enthusiastically bought when I started home schooling that are just a BAD fit for Sam and I--are all going to other households where they will, hopefully, be more useful.

I did discover a tick on me after camping, but it is not developing any lyme disease symptoms. Dwight has chiggers which he seems to be reacting allergically to--it is worse than expected. Sam came away unscathed (thank you, God, for that).

The month of May is going to be a big testing month--I will probably be testing every Friday for the whole month. Sam will finish pre-algebra and take his first final exam (mostly to experience it).

Other than that, things are very routine. I'm not complaining, I like routine.

Right now I am on hold with the cable company. They want to charge us $49.95 for a service call when we were paying a monthly fee for "service assurance" or something. Every time someone has come to our house since purchasing this service assurance, the service fee has still appeared on our bill. In order to not pay it we have to dance with the customer service people. Don't you just love that kind of treatment? They won't keep their word unless you call and force them to. That is the kind of integrity I can live without.

Right now Sam and I are reading Little Britches. In there the boy's dad tells him there are two kinds of people, honest people and dishonest people. What race, economic level, language, or any other way of grouping people didn't matter. Whoever at Cox has made the decision to charge and make the customer demand what was promised doesn't fit into the honest category!!

Long time no write

2006-04-22T21:22:00.000-04:00

So much has happened, I haven't had time to post. Sabrina being here for Easter was WONDERFUL!! We had a perfect Easter Day. She is fun to have around. You can read about it on her blog.

Then we had a lazy week of no school! Fun was had by both teacher and student. I saw the orthopedist and got a "healed" diagnosis--really he said "healing" not healed, but I don't need to go back or continue the physical therapy.

Thursday we packed the car and headed to a park near Richmond. We camped Thursday night with six other families from our church. It was fun. Dwight drove back to church to open the doors for our martial arts class, then returned to camping on Friday morning. We hiked--got to experience geo-caching for the first time (letterboxing is better in my opinion). We got rained on, we got lost. We finally returned to our campsites and the sun came out. About the time we were thinking it was going to be a good night, the thunder started--and it rained hard. So, we packed our stuff, ate dinner together and all but one family went home to sleep.

With the walking, lack of sleep and probably dehydration, I ended up with a wonderful migraine headache. I was glad to sleep at home. Sam's asthma flared up because of the damp and pollen and...everything else. I still like camping, but I don't like camping in the rain. This group of families are planning on going again in June to the Eastern Shores. There are tidal pools for the little ones and the bay for the big kids. I think we'll join them...depending on the weather forecast.

We are planning our second annual birdwatching field trip with resident expert, Mr. Marshall. Sam's ability to spot a bird has improved incredibly in the last year, so I think he'll get SO much more out of it this time. Mr. Marshall's generosity and patience is endless so he's willing to take us again.

This next week it is back to a normal school schedule and back to volunteering at Mom to Mom, too. One more chapter to finish pre-algebra. Less than 15 books to read for history. We'll be done with 5th grade. I still plan school-lite over the summer rather than review in the fall.

Bird News

2006-04-09T18:37:00.000-04:00

We have a flock of chipping sparrows visiting our feeders. They are darling cute. They look like female house sparrow with an orange-ish brown yarmulke on their heads. :-) They must be celebrating passover!

We are also seeing hummingbirds at our feeder--yippee!! The backyard bird sanctuary is doing well. During this dry time, the birdbath is a popular site (squirrels are drinking from it, too). The only thing we are missing are birdhouses, but I think that there are many natural nesting sites nearby--lots of trees and bushes.

Come share our bounty with us!

Update

2006-04-06T13:50:00.000-04:00

School:

We are fighting an energy sapping virus here, but managing to get through school in spite of it. Sam has switched back to the textbook I like for math, but now he knows he wants to do it instead of me telling him it is the best way. (peace).

Spring fever is hitting and we are slowing down a bit. We are going to do some outdoor things and take it a little easier. This is so doable when you do school all year round (just lightly in the summer). We don't have to fight our spring fever--just enjoy the beautiful weather!

Good News:

We get to host Sabrina for Easter weekend (I know--you are all jealous!). This holiday is usually not one we celebrate with family since it isn't a good time of year for me to take off work. But this year at least some family is coming to us (and a really FUN segment of family). Sam is excited!

All the rest:

Everything else seems to be same old, same old. I have one more week of physical therapy and then see the orthopedist the following week, my ankle is almost 100% back to normal. The PT says I need to do these instep exercises--I didn't even know I had a muscle in my instep. The only way I am able to flex it is to tense up everything from the waist down (and both feet at the same time). So, I guess everything gets exercise.

Hope you are all doing well. Glad to hear that Dave is on the mend. He's in my thoughts and prayers daily. Keep us posted.

Oops, another adjustment

2006-03-25T12:31:00.000-05:00

Maybe there is never a "Aah, this is it, now we'll do this for the rest of the year." moment in homeschooling. Maybe there shouldn't be. Like all things, there is a balance point between the extremes of "This is what we decided and we're doing it no matter how bad the fit!" to "Oh, you don't like that, let's change it."

The secret is finding that balance.

Math balance: Sam is required to keep trying the internet math program for the rest of the month before deciding he wants to go back to the textbook. Then we can discuss it and decide which works best for both of us.

Writing balance: Like many things, the writing started with willingness, but I think I moved too fast or pushed things to my way of thinking rather than letting Sam think like Sam thinks. So, I'm stepping back. For the rest of the year we are only practicing handwriting (copy work). I am not going to assign any creative writing unless he is open to the idea of a journal with occassional entries. Something that will not be corrected or graded, just a place for him to put pencil to paper on a weekly basis maybe.

Science balance: Stop expecting lab reports to look like an 8th grader made them. Just because he can understand the material doesn't mean he can produce that level of material--this is the most common error that all educators make with gifted kids. "If he can understand pre-algebra, his work should look like an older pre-algebra students would look."

They call these kids twice-exceptional. Sometimes it is self-created (this dichotomy between strengths and weaknesses). They soar quickly through the material they love and are good at, but drag their feet in the subjects tehy are poor in. Guess what happens--they get stronger in their area of strength, but they don't even progress on grade level in their areas of weakness.

I remember in first grade, Sam was average in his weak area on testing and way above grade level on his areas of strength. Now he is below grade level in his weak areas and even farther above in his areas of strength.

According to our pastor, this kind of tension is what God uses to grow us and mature us. So, no complaints here. Just a prayer that God will use this to refine both Sam and I while we struggle together to get him through school.

Compromise isn't always the answer

2006-03-24T00:06:00.000-05:00

I invented a new bedsheet. This wonderful, simple invention provides my husband and I with what we want. When I got rid our our waterbed and bought an electric blanket--it just isn't the same kind of warmth. I have been shivering through the warm-up time in my bed remembering the cozy feeling of the waterbed. Then I recalled the one time I had flannel sheets--they feel much warmer than typical cotton sheets.

Poor husband would sweat to death in flannel sheets, and so I shivered...Then it occurred to me that there was something I could do about this that would make both of us happy. I bought a set of flannel sheets and cut them in half long-ways. I also cut a set of "regular" sheets the same way, a little sewing and now we have 2 sets of hybrid sheets and I'm not shivering and my darling hubby is not sweating.

The added bonus is that I no longer claim the center half as my half of the bed--I stay on the warm, flannel side now.

The martial arts weekend went well, therapy is doing wonders for my ankle.

Sam has decided he doesn't like the new math program, but I'm making him keep doing it for a month. It takes longer than we expected and so one morning I put to much on his morning assignment list. Once we adjusted his morning workload he's really fine with it, but still says he wants to quit. But we aren't seeing melt-downs--he sees that we can tweak the schedule to fit whatever is going on.

In fact, physical therapy takes about 2 hours out of the school day twice a week--this would be unbearable if we didn't flex things. It is working well because several of the books we were assigned to read were at the library on tape or CD. This makes the book much faster to "read" since we take it in the car and Sam also likes to listen for a while at night. So, even though our schedule is crowded--we are actually ahead a little. Isn't God great? He knew we were going to need that boost.

Praying for Dave and the rest of the Flora family--give them all my regards.

Are you a smart alek?

2006-03-19T16:25:00.000-05:00

We are trying a new math curriculum. It is on line and costs about $18 per month. Sam likes that he doesn't have to write and I like that it is the computer and not me telling him that "almost isn't good enough."

We had a tough martial arts weekend. It was six hours worth of instruction of which I was able to do two. It was good getting instruction from the grand master of our style. He's funny, silly and very friendly. At the end of the time our friend, Sheri was surprise promoted up two ranks. She was so shocked. She teaches our kids and rarely has time to train for her own rank promotion. She had been the same rank for about 10 years.

Now our future days look relatively normal (if there is such a thing), except for twice a week visits to the physical therapist. I keep seeing improvements in the strength of my ankle, but I did not participate in the kicking (balancing on one leg is too much) or sparring (the adreniline and bouncing is too much).

We have been borrowing all the books on tape that they have at our local libraries that go with out history curriculum. This is speeding up things--we all like being read to and so listen to them in the car and at bedtime. I think we may finish this curriculum about when school would normally be over (I was thinking it would fill the whole summer). No complaints here. Right now we are listening to "Old Yeller" next it is "Caddie Woodlawn" which I've never heard of. We rarely dislike a book that Sonlight includes and so approach each book with eagerness, ready to be entertained and educated.

With gas prices predicted to rise and rise again, we are not planning any trips to far away places this summer. There is a seed in my head of going to visit the Smithsonian in DC. We have friends that moved there and so could do it relatively cheaply. They keep begging us to come visit and they are the kind of folks that mean what they say.

So fun it seems easy

2006-03-12T23:09:00.000-05:00

I love God's blessings. Even with spring fever hitting us full force (today was shorts weather!!). We are still loving homeschooling. It is hard to concentrate when there are so many birds to watch in the back yard, and the weather is so balmy...

Of course, with the flexibility of home schooling, we can take some of our spring break now--do school lite, and do heavier academic days when the weather turns nasty again. In fact, we can even borrow from summer vacation since we do school lite all summer long!! Aah, freedom, it feels scary when you first see it on your horizon. There were so many questions and no feeling of "I can do this because I've done it before."

But the freedom in homeschooling is like the freedom we have in Christ. Christ's freedom is not license to sin, but freedom to enjoy him forever. Homeschool's freedom is not license to goof off all day, but make the most of every educational opportunity and fine tune my son's education to fit him perfectly (there is no "one size fits all" in home school).

Hope you all are able to enjoy some spring fever, too.

The computer dance

2006-03-04T11:52:00.000-05:00

Dwight bought a new computer. In this family, the most useful ratio of computers to people is 1:1. Each computer also needs to be up to date. So, at first Sam was saving up to buy a new computer. We realized it was going to take him too long, so I was considering buying a new computer and selling mine to him. Then we were discovering that it was a little too expensive for me (my business) to afford a new computer. Dwight started thinking about the uses for a DVD burner...and Dwight has the new computer, I paid him $500 for his not very old computer and Sam paid me $200 for my slightly older computer.

This means that no one has the same computer as last week. All our favorites, emails, documents and software need to be moved around. So far, the documents and email stuff is moved, but not much else.

And another dinosaur of a computer goes to live in our attic. Aah, but Sam having a usable Windows xp computer is so nice. I can't wait until all his software is moved over, too. Then my computer will be MY computer almost all the time!!

All things going well, considering. Just adjusting to gimp-style living and hoping that it is very temporary.

School: Wonderful. No news is good news!!

Building Campaign

2006-02-26T12:03:00.000-05:00

Our church is bursting at the seams. Again. It is a wonderful problem to have. It seems to be contagious. Everywhere you look churches are adding on to their buildings. Is there a spiritual awakening happening in our town? What an exciting thought.

So, as we think about how God wants us to contribute it gives us a chance to teach some economics to Sam. This is economics in God's kingdom, not in the USA alone. God's economy is so different. True riches are not $$$, but relationships--with the ultimate relationship being with our Lord. So, according to our missions pastor about 6 months ago, our goal should be to use the resource of money to amass the true wealth of relationships.

So, we are sacrificing financially in our family so that we can see more lives changed, have more brothers and sisters within our own body at PCC. We are anticipating the blessings that always come with sacrifice. We are searching for ways to infuse this kind of upside down (compared to human logic) into Sam.

This has also inspired me to think about a budget for my business. Dwight has a mental budget for our family finances which he cannot put on paper for me to see and understand (which is fine). I don't think quite the same way, so I am attempting to think about financial planning with my business--which will give me the practice I need in case I ever need to take over the family finances.

As I do this, I am also going to have Sam do the same with his allowance. He likes the idea of using quicken to track his money.

So, school is going great. I realized that the grammar book Sam is working through is a high school freshman English credit, so I worked out a gradebook that will be part of his high school transcript. We are beginning the next to last chapter in pre-algebra, so algebra will be starting soon. That will also be a part of his high school transcript. I have heard that you can do a transcript without dates and no one blinks, but if you indicate that your child did this class at a young age you have to answer lots of questions.

Sam will also begin high school science early. I have to start thinking about high school requirements earlier than expected. One thing I am trying to do is balance pushing Sam to challenge himself with making sure he's enjoying school. Having been in a classroom setting where almost every subject was too easy--he has developed some academic laziness. I want to eradicate that laziness, but at the same time not push to the stress level.

I think we are doing that in math, probably not in science (but without the algebra and algebra 2, he can't do chem and physics which is where that would happen). I am trying to do that in writing, but this is where he resists and the place where he is probably below grade level.

I doubt of the history will ever feel like that kind of level until he gets into college--I sure didn't. The VA advance high school diploma is supposed to have AP classes or college level classes. I know we can do that at the local community college when he gets a little older. The min. age might be 15, so I can wait to investigate.

By the way, I love Microsoft Excel--it is a wonderful platform for a gradebook and transcript!!

A committee of one

2006-02-21T17:20:00.000-05:00

Well, the decorating committee has disbanded. The meeting last night went well. Every decision the committee made was unanimously supported. The entire committee took it very easy today.

You see, I volunteered to be on a committee to help do visuals that would remind people of our store front church days. We are launching a new building campaign, having outgrown our current space. I ended up being the only one who volunteered (ugh!) and had to do or delegate everything. I am good at delegating, but had to do way more decision making than I am comfortable with. Plus, yesterday was a little nerve wracking--wondering if everything was going to look nice, work out, etc.

I had wonderful people who took the vague instructions I gave and ran with them or I would have been a basket case. Sam stayed at the neighbors which helped tons, too.

The after affects of stress are hitting me today. I feel very tired, clumsy, not very smart. I think it takes 2 nights of sleep to overcome the stress hormones.

School is going well. Sam is doing well. We are adding something to our revamped spelling. Someone on one of my lists said that visual-spatial kids can sometimes improve spelling by orally spelling a word both frontwards and backwards. We tried it for the first time today. Sam thinks it is weird--we'll see if it helps.

Heading out to Olive Garden to celebrate the successful set-up/clean-up last night. People laughed a lot and said things like "Oh yeah, I remember that" and lots of laughter.

Oh, yeah, you're probably wondering how Bible is going. It is going well. Both books are nice in their own ways. It is nice to have a launching platform for discussions about spiritual things.

Too Much Delegation

2006-02-16T14:26:00.000-05:00

I love delegating. It means less work for me--which my lazy streak loves. It means I can benefit from talents others have that I lack. It means you get the share the joy of a task done.

Some things cannot be delagated. Some things can, but should not. Education of my son is something I delegated for about 5 years. I paid dearly for others to teach my son. It seemed like the right thing to do and probably was. Since last Easter I have taken over that task myself and we have been very blessed by it (the whole family). I was still delegating parts. The computer and Rosetta Stone software is teaching him Latin. He was learning violin and is now learning art from someone else. These are all good things, since I am incapable of teaching.

I was also delegating his "religious" training. We were both doing Community Bible Study. Their studies were enjoyable for both of us. We were studying the book of John this year. Sam was not enjoying the discussion in his class. He admitted to rarely sharing answers and they did crafts (which he abhors).

I was starting to think that Sam was learning facts, but not developing a deeper relationship with the Lord. I began thinking about what my dear son is like and how he would best learn to develop this relationship. I began to feel proddings from the Lord because I doubt if any classroom setting was going to help in this way at all.

Then, as we shared the Lord's Table at church Sunday night and one man shared during confessing time that he had not been pursuing his daughter enough in this same area--I felt a stronger prodding.

Then in a discussion with our pastor it was just suddenly obvious that he will learn to relate to and love the Lord the best the way he learns everything else the best---one on one.

So, we are no longer going to Bible Study, but are doing a book (Learning About God from A to Z). This book came with out SonLight curriculum and is actually quite fun to do together. When some truth about God really touches my heart and I share that with Sam--he learns more than the facts.

So, now we are doing:

SonLight American History (approx. 5th grade level)--includes Bible and Poetry
Pre-Algebra--almost finished with the book
Easy Grammar Plus (9th grade level)
Exploring Creation through General Science (7th grade level)
Rosetta Stone Latin
Art (private lessons)
Writing Composition--The Write Stuff Adventure (loosely following)
Spelling--incorporated--learning rules he breaks as he breaks them
Typing--blog entries--usually typing his compositions
Handwriting--incorportated

I think we are covering all our bases.

There is a difference between knowing and seeing

2006-02-09T22:13:00.000-05:00

I have had 2 recent events that have showed me the truth of my title.

#1. We were at a night of worship and not at the soundboard--but actually part of the congregation (a rare occurrance). It was a very nice worship. At one point the worship leader suggested we go literally on our knees if we felt led as we sang about kneeling before God in the next song. Watching my husband bow before his creator hit me deep. I've known he was a follower of Jesus since middle of Sam's first grade year, but seeing his submission to his creator with my eyes--what a difference.

#2. We have set up school so that Sam has 4 independent subjects and a chore to do, then he can have "recess" until 10:30. Recess is defined very loosely--basically his activity of choice need not be educational at all. I have known that he was succeeding in this because I would see that he was playing at 9:30 (when I come out of my bedroom) and his work was done. Today I was up while he did those 5 things. I saw my 10 year old boy staying on task, going quickly from one task to the next until they were done!! Again, the difference between seeing it and knowing it is just amazing.

In John 11 Martha got to have the same revelation. Her brother was dead--Jesus had not come soon enough to heal him. When he did arrive, Martha makes this statement, "I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask". She knew it was possible for God to raise him from the dead--even four days (and smelly) dead, but when they got to the tomb and Jesus asked for the stone to be removed she shows some doubt (in my humble opinion) by saying "But Lord, by this time there is a bad odor for he has been dead these four days." The knowing didn't go all the way deep. Imagine the strengthening her faith received when she saw Lazarus walked from the tomb alive. It sure affected the crowd.

I know that God exists and loves me. I know he sent Jesus to pay the price for my sin. But when I experience that forgiveness and experience the presence of the Holy Spirit it is so much more real to me. When I experience victory over a entrenched sin pattern. This is the seeing in my spiritual life. What a difference!

Are you seeing God in your life, or just know the truth?

Update

2006-02-01T11:19:00.000-05:00

Howdy, we are moving along. Here is an update of how things are going:

Subject that are working well: We have three chapters to go in pre-algebra. We finished the first chapter in our Science book. Grammar is moving along nicely. SonLight (History and Reading) is still just as fun as before. Community Bible Study is just fine, too. Writing (Composition) is going very well. Check his blog this weekend to see some of his work. And Latin is smooth sailing.

Improvements: Sam has developed the ability to start school on his own (he has 4 assignments to do and then a recess). He is also doing chores without complaint. His chores are: dishes, keeping water bottles filled, keeping bird feeders and bath filled, and putting school stuff away when school is done. I didn't say he remembers to do them, but he is doing them with a positive attitude--I think that is incredibly good for a 10 year old.

Subjects that need some work: Spelling, handwriting, typing. What is lacking is mostly motivation. If a student doesn't care about spelling or legibility--it is difficult to remediate these things. In some ways, I'm backing off and waiting for him to be frustrated enough to work to improve things.

Needs Improvement: Math attitude is not quite up to par (though, I've seen some improvement just this week). Sam is so easily frustrated when the material isn't easy. When he can't figure it out in less than 30 seconds he tends to start whining and yelling. The strategy that seems to be working is for me to "teach" the material, then send him to his room (where he can whine and complain w/o an audience) and if he wants my help he has to come calmly and respectfully. I tend to want to help him when he starts whining and complaining and then his frustration is thrown at me in anger--trust me, it ain't pretty.

So, all in all, I feel like we have a good thing going here and it will continue to improve. Maybe one reason is because if it isn't working we are all willing to try something new or different. Of course, the real reason it is working is because it isn't just Sam, Dwight and I, but we have a helper who is there to comfort, lead and direct our paths.

Something I noticed in my study of John this year. Jesus said it twice so far--when we obey God, then we get discernment. I can see that has been true in my life as I look back, but I'd never noticed before. Obey what you know God is calling you to be and do (love God and others, do good, be an encouragement, etc.) and then the specific discernment will come. It isn't easy for us folks who want our ducks all lined up, but it is certainly good for us!

A character issue that came up during a math outburst-- we are all born with a god-complex (we want to be god--do all the directing and none of the following). This is the original sin we inherit from Adam and Eve. When we get frustrated with ourselves at our imperfections, this is due to our god-complex--we do not want to face the fact that we are imperfect (and therefore not a god). But sin comes in only when we respond wrongly to this feeling--we sin. When we resist in and cry out to God, only then can we experience victory. If we do not give in to our frustration, but do so without acknowledging God--does it lead to pride?

Anyway, that has been our January. Hope you all are growing in your relationship with God, too.