Another year of homeschooling on my mountain...

When I was a kid I loved the last day of school , I loved looking forward to 3 months of nothingness…"No more teachers, no more books, no more teacher's dirty looks! " The end of the school year was like a large gate being flung open the shackles fell off and I was finally FREE!!
Needless to say I still love SUMMER and all it means and brings!!

 I think that its important to give my kids that same feeling. I want them to experience the satisfaction of knowing they have completed a good stretch of focused learning , and look forward to new goals in the fall. So this summer due to  Obama Care we could not take a vacation or afford those wonderful side trips and attractions that come with living in one of America's Finest Cities …So we made the best of it and opted for a days on the beach AND a last minute ' Staycation " so that we could soak up every last bit of sun and calories before the the first day of formal teaching and learning begins .

( I'm writing from a bed in a hotel after finishing a waffle topped with strawberries and whipped cream  that I did not make. )

In one way or another we are learning, experimenting, experiencing life but I like to use our summers to ingrain a cycle of refreshment and rest and to bring about an excitement over new fresh starts.  So summer we play hard and live out the saying " Lazy summer" and then as we wrap up season   I try to come up with goals for the new year, what do I want my kids to take a way by the end of next summer. A new skill?  a new perspective of the world?  a deeper love of God?  a passion for His Word?  ministry ? I try to focus on a couple of things for each kid, some over lap some don't but thats just the nature of the beast when you have more than one child at home . Still the point is GOALS..What are you aiming at? What are your priorities in life?

I don't want to vent about the specifics , I just want to remind my self that the public school was the mirror that reflected our priorities a long time ago and why we placed our kids in the school system in the first place, and the mirror quickly shattered. We thought these schools were  to help create community and a group of friends that our kids would have into adult school, we thought it would make Drs, Lawyers, and Engineers  , we thought school was safe and that teachers were to be trusted to inspire and encourage our kids to greatness and most of all self respect and love for all mankind ….Somebody slap me..What where we thinking! (I do believe there are schools out there that are like and this and more …but not on my side of the mountain…)
What we want for our  kids is to learn to love God with all their heart mind soul and strength.  We want them to learn to worship Him through Science,  respect and obey Him through history , love their neighbor through Social Studies and be disciplined and self control through Health and Fitness. We want them to love to learn first and foremost about the things of God through their education .

Do I want them to be successful in that big blue world? ABSOLUTELY , but successful in who's eyes? What is the goal of my instruction? If I am to teach my children in the way they should go so when they are old they will not depart , what way is that?

So this is my goal and what I hope to accomplish by the end of their school career…

 I want my teaching and their learning to come from the center of God's heart, God's Word , I want it to begin and end there not the world's books, information bound up in leather created by souls now resting in hell.
 I want to saturate my kids in education that flows from hearts in tune with God's goodness and perspective , and the mind of Christ . I want my children to learn godly wisdom to make daily and life decisions. I want my children to be givers not just receivers, to sacrifice for others not just fend for themselves.

In the end I know full and well that the best education in the world will not save them or mend their marriage , it won't  help them deal with cancer or the loss of a child and the same things goes for a poor education … In the end, they will give an account for their own actions and motives  but one day I too will stand and give an account for what I instilled in my kids and why...

the proof is in that darn pudding !

( I just found this in my draft folder, read todays post with this one then you will get it ) here we go into our 3rd year..and I feel as if we are doing something wrong! its all going smoothly, our first week has come and gone, WITH NO GLITCHES! the kids are doing their work,getting it done ,learning the material AND excited about learning. WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE! it scares me to think this is working.

our summer was better than expected since we had not planned anything special. no vacation, no special treat, toy or purchase nothing major..except that life happened. it happened and we enjoyed it to the fullest.

little brown boy caught and took a nibble from his first fish, my buggy girl learned how to jet ski and kayak, my tall boy drove a small boat all over big bear lake , hubbins started a marriage bible study and i napped . life is good

Im only posting this to make sure I have a record of it but its a prime example of things I start and don't finish . This has probably been in my draft folder for a few years ..sigh…

Breathing in Time...

It really does slip away. We wake up wanting to be moved, inspired to re create our selves and our little world , then in the  instant we begin breath a new day and  live in newness of  hope something DISTRACTS us …and the time floats away .

Each time I shelve a project or new start its a bad mark in my psyche, it mars me as a person, a great white hair grows in place of my blond one ( OK brown one ) its another notch in my whipping post. I know I sound dramatic , and it isn't the worse thing in the world like loosing a limb for Pete's sake but in that moment when I stop to think about it I go back and I'm reminded that I never finished. I never finished organizing that closet, or creating that cool colorful container for the kids baby clothes, I didn't finish that painting or poem  I was working on, never mind the blog I started that would be my daily journal, I forgot about the new Bible Study book, and the yoga videos I was bent on starting ( yes I bought the pink mat to mark my new start with becoming a de- stressed  mama )  I still have new organizers for my socks for the love of frogs!  I am my worse example of a domestic mama and I tend to start a lot and forget even more and this makes me feel … sigh…  like I failed at something again... something at least for me. THERE! I said it.

I think I need something to look to in the future, something to remind me of my past, something to move me and remind me that I need to be growing ( insert OLD in here ) all the time. I don't want to be the same person I was last week. I want to progress, I think its a natural instinct if you have blood running through your veins, at least it should be don't you think? Regardless I think at my age these small things should not be a big deal but as I stand at the top of My Mountain I look down one side and out the other ,  down is inevitable and I'd like to at least leave some cool stuff and memories behind and maybe have them organized . 

So today , I'm posting Thirty Days of New . Yep, another beginning. 

 I will learn, , taste , touch, smell, see,  listen to something I've never experienced for thirty days in hopes that I grow a little taller by the end  I will in other words live with purpose on purpose one day at a time ( because I figured out that I'm not wired for long term goals so daily just might be for me!) 

 If there is anything I'm good at
its not giving up,
 how about you ? 

Surrounded

This morning I realized that I am surrounded..


I am surrounded and saturated and over flowing with God's grace and mercy. 


As I took into account the people in my life that call me friend or family  I realized that each person in my sphere  is a conduit that leads into my life as love, grace, healing, encouragement and growth, whether they like it or not!!!! 


He uses the pain that the few inflict to push me towards Himself, the hurtful words or attitudes, disapproving looks and under the breath remarks hurt me just the way people who do them want to, but the awesome thing is that God uses it for GOOD. 


He grows me, He loves Me , He wraps His arms around me and fills my heart with His abundant pure love. HE BLESSES ME MORE!!! Sounds nuts I'm sure, but seriously, the pain that others inflict are actually under Gods control and He uses it , but not the way others want it to. Isn't that funny? What some meant for evil God means for good! Ha! I love this!


Then there are those that purposelessly go out of their way to love me..There are much more of "these folks" in my life than the others.." These folks" that  me to grow too... My heart is encouraged as I see God through them, the love, the forgiveness, the tender grace of Jesus. It's as If I'm surrounded by HIM and no one can touch me with their intentions...God wins every time..I think Ill get on HIS side. 


Lord let me be aware of what you are wanting to do in others lives through me. Pierce my heart to its core when I am mean or hurtful to others because they have been that way to me. Remind me to run to you for shelter and to remember that those you place in my life are also surrounded ...

Im glad I took the road home...

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveller, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference

...Robert Frost

sleep

 i crave it, i dream it , i want  it yet it escapes me as the moments in between my heart beats are filled with thoughts of tomorrow. i have little sticky notes floating around in my head right now, actually all the time, they are to remind me that it is the little things in life that count. my big tall boy, my little brown boy and my buggy boo girl. its the laundry and cooking i need to plan for and lessons that need to be taught , the dances that need to be danced,the jokes that need to be laughed at,the moments that need to be soaked up for later, for when i am old and all i do is sleep because my big tall boy , my little brown boy and my buggy boo girl are all gone off trying to take care of the little things on their sticky notes...

Ain't No Mountain High Enough

We've began our slow accent into our second year of home schooling. The books arrived the crayons and pencils were purchased from Target and a smile came over my husbands face when I told him it felt odd not having to buy school clothes again this year. 


Ive worked hard at trying to create a " Home School Home" I've searched high and low for ideas, organized book cases and shelves and asked a dozen other moms" How do you do it?" . All have responded with some tips and a " You just do...you figure it out as you go don't worry  ..." Well as comforting and easy as that sounds, its just not me. 


I love the idea of being layed back and easy peasy but I love the idea of being organized and having order in my home and pretty colored bins all stacked in a row.

The problem is that Im neither! 


I am chaos and order with no rhyme or reason. I have good days and bad days, I have productive days and lazy days, fun days and work days, I skip days and I know how to pack 2 days into one...


So now what?


 HOW DO I DO IT?  

How do I run, my home, educate my children, keep the hubbins happy, wave hello to the neighbor and have some sort of life? How do I organize all the school supplies drag them out then put them away so that my dining room table doesn't look like cyclone came through my home. How do I make sure the kids do chores , get to piano lessons, dance lessons..gosh have I mentioned Bible study, quiet time for me and the Lord, getting my hair cut? and what about the laundry?

The mountain looms over me, it looks like it has 99 switch backs carved on its side and the summit is far beyond my ability and stamina to hike. I think about it and my eyes glaze over and my breathing gets shallow and in my head I hear " How am I going to do this Lord?"

It is finished!

Its June 21, 2010 and I am listening to Christmas music as I type..because I can...Little Drummer Boy to be exact. Why I am doing this I am not certain except lately I'm trying to crawl out of a confined space in my mind so I find myself unintentionally " breaking rules". Rules imposed on me by way of society and so called government not God's law.
 I'm clawing  my way through a  space where there are walls and rules and schedules that can not be brought down, broken or adjusted with out the threat of losing my right to love, nurture and instruct my children in the way they should go.  Don't get me wrong, I see some of the benefit within these lines that keep me safe and on track and help me guide my children BUT after my first year of home schooling I realized two things
#1   I do not want to school at home , I want my home to be where my children learn
#2   I need to make my own walls, rules and schedules because only do me and my husband know what is best for my three young ones and our family as a whole not the government.

So while I did learn a few valuable skills and emotional lessons during our first time around , I'm happy to close the door and mark it our first year and open the one to the next 10 years of home schooling,
 God willing.