Fix your eyes on Him....

As I lay in bed that warm Saturday morning tired from being up with a feverish 4 year old, I am reminded of my dream. In the dream a group of young girls and older ladies gathered in a circle with me to pray and one of the ladies looked at me and said, "You begin the prayer." I looked at her with the look I often give in the natural of ......noooo,you pray. So I raised my head and said, " Oh, Lord you know how I feel about prayer like this (in a group setting), so please give me the words to say. Help me!" Then I began to pray and declare...Fix your eyes on Jesus, no matter the trial or circumstance, no matter the heart ache or test, no matter the blessings or joys....Fix your eyes on Him day after day after blessed and gifted day :)

And there it was....He had given me what I asked for; a verse to cling to

throughout this school year.

Hebrews 3:1 

This is just what I needed.

So it is....we began our school year slowly but with a focus on what it is that God wants to accomplish each day through us. I planned through the summer to drastically change our curriculum but through much prayer decided not to. I had been reading up on another curriculum that sounded so great and works very well for others. The reviews were amazing.

But it was not for us....
 

I did make a few changes that I felt was right on time. So, we are continuing with the Abeka book curriculum with all four children. I chose Easy Grammar and Easy writing with writing strands 2 and 4 for my older two. I am also creating a reading list of read alouds to do through out the school year. My girls will be joining the local American Heritage Girls troop and my boys will continue in Royal rangers. Both girls will also do the Swim and Gym at the YMCA.


Prayer, prayer and more prayer is what I intend to bathe this school year in....


How did your school year start off?
Let me encourage you along the path of prayer. We, as mothers first, then teachers will need it throughout this year.



Much needed.....

After having such a busy and jam packed summer; when it was time for school to start I was drained. Desperate for a much needed dose of strength straight from the throne room of God.

 

 

 

Anyone else out there ever experience anything like this?

If so, how did you overcome it?


In His Grace,
Along the way

Only by His Grace...

As I drove away slowly from the church, watching my twelve year old walk in; I think how he has grown up.  One more glance toward the door and I can see him waving the I Love You sign. Something we often do when i drop them off. He was on his way to the Pinewood Derby. He really takes great joy in building his car but spending time with the other boys and there dad's, building relationships; is what this mama treasures. Does he? There is so much I want to give him as he grows. The desire to love others and putting his whole heart into the things he do; are things that rank pretty high on my list. A genuine desire to draw younger boys under his wing and encourage them seem to come so naturally to him.

"But Mary was treasuring up all these things in her

 heart and meditating on them." Luke 2:19 

Thinking on the things God has given me over the years about him and watching God perform those very things in him; is astounding. The role of motherhood is to be treasured and honored. Though disciplining is necessary; God truly performs the work. He does the growing. He is the One in control.
"Commit your way to the Lord; trust in Him, and He will act....." Psalm 37:5 
I think so much of the time how we, as mothers, get to be there and witness the miracle of God's word in action. And I am so thankful.
As homeschool moms, we can get so caught up in the things that need to be done each day and forget that we are mothers first and that we must allow love to grace our actions and words. It is only by HIS grace that we complete the task well.

I challenge you to slow down this last half of your school year (for those of you that take a summer break) and perhaps regroup; and meditate on this miraculous work of the our Father.

Many Blessings,

Along THE Way



"But by God's grace I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not ineffective." 
1 Corinthians 15:10a

Winding down for the holidays....

We hit the ground running with school early August with many hopes that when we arrived at this point in the year; we could just relax and enjoy the season. Turns out that we needed the cushion because everyone was going to be sick. Worked out anyway right.Ha! I could use a laugh right about now.

Something I'm learning this school year is to 

place my trust in God and remember that He is God alone. 

No matter what it looks like, God is still God!!! And He is so good. He knows exactly where we are and where we are going.

A little side note for me: God will get me there :) 

I don't have to worry about it. Which is something for me because I like to fit all the pieces together or at least see them coming together before I leap. 

We decided not to do extra-curricular activities aside from swim and gym for Indya; and Isaiah will do basketball in the winter. We will begin both in January. I think we will re-evaluate this decision for next year. We are still using all Abeka book curriculum with Easy Grammer to help when needed. The reading program has done it again for me. My sweet 6 year old is reading amazingly well. I have used it with three of my children now and it has been great. They all have different learning styles.This curriculum has worked so well for us. I keep thinking....I should at least look around but I always fall back to this one. It's just plain good for us ;) I will be sending in grades for the mid-term and putting away the books. Ahhh...this is just awesome.

"In everything set them an example by doing what is good." Titus 2:7

End of our school year continued.....

Now that we are well into our summer, I have managed to do a large amount of decluttering. This was a major problem during the school year because nothing seemed to really be clean. We did not have a lot designated places for certain things. So those things just got stuffed somewhere. So chore time has been pleasant this summer. With many hopes we can continue this during our 2012-2013 school year.

Some of the things that I absolutely loved this school year were...... my weekly planning times, arranging my active teaching time where I began with the little's(2yo and 4yo) first and ended with my 5th grader, realizing that it is okay to school after lunch time, this did wonders to keeping me stress-free.....starting a load of laundry first thing in the morning, and the most important of all; getting up about 45 mins. earlier and working out and having a devotion time before the kids got up.

And just letting go...and trusting God to take care of the things I couldn't 

or

 did not have strength to do.

Some things that I was not pleased with were......not completing as much of the curriculum that I had planned on, implementing more character skills, being too busy outside the house, not doing nearly enough service time, and just being consistent.

And so, we bring another school year to a close with many ups and a few downs.....but we survived by the grace of God and infused with more love and joy because of His mighty hand in our lives. I am convinced that there really is nothing impossible with God; I've seen first hand the extreme change He has done this year as a whole with our family :) And what He is continuing to do in and through us. Our school this year looked completely different than the previous year. My prayer is that we continue to grow in the ways of the Lord and that our lives be living testimony of what God can do if you "put your trust in Him."(Psalm 2:12)


"Then you will know that I am the LORD; those who hope in me will not be disappointed." Isaiah 49:23


"May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable to You, Lord, my rock and my Redeemer." Psalm 19:4

End of our school year....

Our school year started so much better than I had expected....I was so happy with all the energy and preparations that were actually used through out the year. I don't know about you but I tend to not follow through with all my plans....I somehow just like the idea that they are out there somewhere..LOL! So this year was a real treat :)

So with that in mind, I decided for this year to be more relaxed and focus more on my organization. I didn't try to mass produce lesson plans before the year started. I decided to have lesson planning Sunday's. I would plan out my lessons for each week on Sunday afternoon while the children played outside. It would take me maybe an hour to plan for 2 children (my third child just did the next page in her text book and I would read to her and my youngest). I put each lesson and child in a time slot. If you are wondering what I mean by that the book "Managers of the home" by Steve and Teri Maxwell gave me this idea. You can find there products at www.titus2.com .

I also set up a specific chore time and big clean up/declutter time. Which was a big improvement from last year. In the previous years, I would get so frustrated and stressed when I woke up to a huge mess of a house that school would be the last thing on my list to do. The cycle of that led me to feeling so guilty and like a failure that I would further slip away from school work and later try to push to finish the year without over working the kids. Which left me a very frustrated mama. I thought, "If God is calling me to this...there has to be a better way." And there was. Though I am still tweaking it all....I have realized that being a wife and mother to four kids organization is a major key. And while my house is not as neatly organized as I would like for it to be; we have clean and clear spaces to actually live in. 


And on another note :)



Guitar lessons have come along beautifully and he is still really enjoying it. We also decided to do American Heritage Girls for my Indya and she really enjoyed it, as well. She learned a lot and developed new friendships. We discovered that she really is a servant. When given the opportunity; she opened up.


........more to come on how we schooled this year..........

"You will keep the mind that is dependent on you in perfect peace, for it is trusting in you." 

Isaiah 26:3

And it begins.....

God is orchestrating such a sweet change this school year. He is turning my focus back to the heart of "why" He desires for me to homeschool and let me say, it has been amazing. There is a much more relaxed environment. Don't misunderstand, we are still completing our school work(schedule and all,LOL) but we are coming about it in a much more loving and patient way. More Encouragement than must do's.  My kids have been totally receptive and they love this "new way". Which is the way God planned from the beginning. 


We are all learning.....we are all becoming more christian( looking more like Christ) everyday we embrace him. Everyday we allow him to shape and mold us. Everyday we commit to walking with him. Everyday choosing to sit at HIS feet, gleaning from HIS fields and on occasion sitting in HIS lap.


God has such a way of using everything we encounter to shape us and draw us to himself. And I am so thankful for that.


I say all that to say, we had a great first week of school. Our kick off day was Wednesday August 10; and it ended with a special milkshake/slushy treat from Sonic. They really enjoyed that. Our schedule was easy to begin implementing since we did it a little the second half of last school year. Though we had some discipline issues to weed through they were still over joyed at beginning school. 


Here is our curriculum:

For my 5th grader-

Abeka 5 Language arts

Abeka 5 Arithmetic

Abeka 5 Spelling
Abeka 5 reading program
Simply music guitar DVD program
Bible:Proverbs People, Abeka 5 bible memorization
Homemade handwriting curriculum
Abeka 5 science, health and history


For my 1st Grader-

Abeka 1 Language arts/Phonics
Abeka 1 Arithmetic
Abeka 1 Spelling
Abeka 1 reading program
Simply music piano DVD program
Bible:Abeka 1 bible memorization
Abeka 1 handwriting with phonics
Abeka 1 community helpers


For my K4 child-

Abeka ABC-123 letter/number recognition
Abeka k4 writing with phonics


We have field trips and at home projects to keep us good and busy through this first half of the the year :)

...................And the journey begins.........................






"It should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, 
which is of great worth in God's sight." 1 Peter 3:4

  

Excitement Rings.....

Oh, the joy in beginning a new school year.I know the type of school was in question just a few short weeks ago, but oh how sweet it is in knowing that I have the opportunity to pour the love of Jesus into my children through school. And allow "the peace of God which surpasses all understanding" to resonant in my inner most being. Don't get me wrong, this is not an easy task. And most days are just down right hard but," Don't grow weary in well doing, for in due time you will receive your reward". But then there are other days, just grace filled days, when you can see a glimpse into the sweet rewards of teaching your children at home.

So we have been scurrying around the house cleaning and organizing for the first day kick off (I like to make it big and exciting for my little ones, to get them all giddy inside). 

Of course we started with the homeschool cabinet. This is where I keep all of my teacher books and there workbooks. Just everything school here.

I plan to post our curriculum for 5th, 1st, and k4 in the coming days :)

Along with some of the kick off field trips. 

So exciting........

Then we moved to cleaning and clearing out their bedrooms. This will make it easier to do their morning chores.

"Show the wonder of your great love, you who save by your right hand those who take refuge in you" 

~Psalm 17:7~

New adventures....

We are having so many exciting things going on in the Southerland family, lately :) I have been absolutely over joyed! I will be posting more on this subject in the coming weeks but here is a sneak peak at one of them. My 10 year old just got his brand new guitar in the mail. He is so excited to begin taking guitar lessons. The next step is to, of course, find an instructor that we can afford. Though he has been practices a lot from what he can remember of the Simply music guitar DVD. Maybe i will just find a dvd series for him.....hmmm

sounds like a good thought :))

"Delight yourself in the LORD and He will give you the desires of your heart." ~Psalm 37:4~

Update...

As you read in the previous post, I decided to choose peace rather continue to argue about what was in the best interest of our family concerning homeschooling. Prayer, prayer and more prayer :) ! In that moment of total surrender I began to feel the peace and rest I so desired from the LORD. So after a couple of days I approached my hubby and this topic again with a different attitude. We discussed our differences, though he did not change his  mind he still feels strongly about the structure of a school system; but, we did decided since i have already purchased all the materials for this upcoming school year we would carry on with homeschool for this next year and look at it again for the next year. 


I realized what had affected me so deeply with our first conversation.....I saw it as a direct threat to my abilities. He had, in my mind, affirmed what I had already toiled with and that is...." I'm failing them". Some way some how I was not measuring up. All the things i had tried was not changing my children's behavior. 


I will continue to pray and petition the Father for wisdom and a right spirit in and through all of this. HE WILL affirm me. 

"For I know the thoughts that i think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you." ~Jeremiah 29:11-12~

homeschool or public school?

I have so enjoyed homeschooling for the past 4 years. It has been such a blessing to see and know God as I have during this time.But the question has arouse yet again in discussion with my hubby; whether to continue homeschooling or send them to a nearby public school, as we cannot afford a private christian school. 

He strongly desires for them to go to school. His reasons are noble and understanding. My heart literally is breaking even as I am typing. I long to shape my children's world and guide their filtering processes through the word and personhood of God the Father. But I cannot ignore a very real desire of my husband's. So, as painfully as this is for me; I am going to wave my white flag.

So, Please be in prayer and intercession for me and my family as we step into a journey that deeply breaks my heart. Though this is but one element of motherhood and homemaking; it is a very rooted area for me.

~"Aim for perfection, listen to my appeal, be of one mind, live in peace. And the God of love and peace will be with you."~ 2 Corinthians 13:11


~"There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven."~Ecclesiastes 3:1


~"Trust in the Lord with all your heart; And lean not on your own understanding...."~Proverbs 3:5


~"So there is HOPE for your future, declares the LORD. Your children will return to their own land."~ Jeremiah 31:17

Indya's Kindergarten Graduation

My precious Indy-girl just finished kindergarten. She accomplished so much. I am so proud of her.

Indya and Eden

Indya in her cute cap and gown.

                                                           

                   

"Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that wehn He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is."

1 John 3:2