Do-over

Keep Trying!!!



I love starting over.

I know it usualy means you have failed at something. (Hence the word 'over')

But, When it comes to the subject of home and family and organization or management strategies, I am finally finding that each time I start trying a new direction, or rather a new attempt at doing things 'right', things at least get better.

Better is great! If every year I keep only a few of my resolutions, or at least learn some important lessons shaping next year's resolutions, then I'm making progress!!!

Right now, I look around me and I am encouraged by the progress I have made in the last few years!

Does it sound obnoxious that I'm patting myself on the back?




Well, you should know that this is from someone who used to beat herself up a bit about her goals and lack of accomplishing them. I have these ideas about what I should be and what a day in the life of our family should look like, what our home should be like, etc...

And I used to be soooo far from there.

Now, I'm a little closer. Thanks to God's patience and blessings in my life of course.

This makes me want to encourage other people!
I think I will go do that right now...

I was thinking yesterday- you know how you can spot another dreamer? They take time to encourage other people's dreams.

So Thank You, fellow dreamer... you know who you are.

Have a great day!!!
Misty

My other blog....The Drawing One

Greetings, friends...

Just wanted to share my other blog with you real quick.
That one is just for posting a drawing each day(actually night).
So, Go check it out!

Click Here to see my doodling.

Thanks!

Misty

Big Gap in Blogging and New Baby News!

Meet our new addition: Linus Zane

I'm going to blame him for my lack of blogging for the past several months, even though he just got here.
It was a really long pregnancy, ya'll.... it felt like years.

He is almost two weeks old now and I am just now feeling like myself again. I can walk without waddling like a duck and I can sleep! (between feedings that is)

Blogging and Homeschooling were two of the things that were put on hold toward the end of the pregnancy. I wasn't totally useless though, I actually managed to put the nesting instinct to great use in cleaning and organizing my house right up to the last week. I did some artwork, I read some books, handcrafted some Christmas presents, and I finally finished the mural in my son's room.

So what I'm saying is that 'I'm back', and it's possible that more frequent blogs may be coming soon. Hope you all are well!

Misty

How to get some creativity.

I have always been a creative person. Since most of my creativity has been channeled through art, I think most people assume me and the kids probably do lots of crafts. Being known as an artist and a homeschooler, it does make a measure of sense to expect this.

While I have been rather crafty in the past, crafts are not something I enjoy doing with my kids. *Gasp* I know... bad mommy award.

Crafts with kids are messy and time consuming.... and they usually result in something that has all the stability of a three legged hippo.

So you see it's not the mess that bothers me so much, it's the fact that the end result is so fragile and temporary. Anything made with popsickle sticks and toilet paper rolls is probably not going to be produced in this house.

We do like to draw and paint however, and I do save all their creations. We like to build with legos and I take photos of the really great constructions for posterity. I encourage all building and creating with toys and anything they can find.

Creativity is what I am really about.

This past couple of weeks I came across two pieces of writing about kids and creativity that really helped me focus my goals for the kids and our creative home atmosphere.... one was an article in Parents magazine. I would love to link to it here, but I haven't found it online yet. Instead I will give you the basic points. It was called "Inspire Creativity" and the subtitle says it all: Reading and math are the priorities for schools, but out-of-the-box thinking skills will be the key to a kid's success. By Leslie Garisto Pfaff

In the article we learn that statistics show that America's kids are losing their originality and imagination in schools. The reason is cited as the push for proficient levels on state examination leaving no time for anything but the basics, Math and English are the focus, rote learning is prized over critical thinking and more than ever play time is pushed completely out of schools at a very early level. Kids need to learn through play. This is where their imagination is developed. The article cites a recent IBM poll where 1,500 CEO's identified creativity as the single most important trait for leaders of the future.

My take on the article? Kids need time to be kids. Creativity must be encouraged, and there is more to learning than right and wrong answers.

I have much more to say about this ... stay tuned.

Next Blog: Creating creative centers in our home and the need for kids to be bored!

Looking ahead to the School Year

Pictured above is our Sonlight package for Kindergarden for this year. I recieved the package a couple of months ago but am just now getting ready to prepare for the coming year. This isn't everything actually, I ordered the Horizon's Math set seperately and Micah wanted to begin using it as soon as it came in so he has done many lessons in it and likes it alot. I also may be adding a Science component before we get started but first I want to determine if we have our hands too full already.

There isn't much to do by way of preparation, the beauty of Sonlight is that the instructor's guide (pictured in the foreground) does all the planning for you. They also make everything adaptable for you. you can omit activities or add more depending on your needs. They also have the option of a four day or five day schedule for each core curriculum. I have ordered the five day curriculum but I may switch to four days since we will be doing Co-op one day a week. I went ahead and ordered the five day because it comes with more storybooks and read-a-louds and I didn't want to miss out, instead of reading them during the year we can use them next summer, or read them as bedtime stories during vacations.

The absolute best thing I love about Sonlight is that the materials are about 90% reusable for the next student and the next and so on. There are very few consumable items. Basically these are the same books we will read with Allie and Noah. Some workbooks will need to be ordered, such as Math and Handwriting, but overall, it's a great investment for us.

As you can see there are many storybooks. There are maps and a Timeline book as well. As the student goes through the stories and the read-a-louds (basically bigger books that we will read a chapter or two of each day) then they will mark significant events in history on their timeline to create a view of history and time that will help them see the big picture. We will be going through Bible stories each week also, and using the Timeline book to mark events from that too. The maps are also utilized often along with the stories to help kids get a better idea of the world and the places that are talked about.

The intructor's guide encourages us to plan several field trips for this year also. I do hope to do that later. We may visit the Firestation and maybe the Newspaper office, a couple of workplaces and maybe a museum. It will be a tricky situation however, since Noah and Allie will be with us. Maybe I can plan those for days when Joey will be home. Or maybe get him involved in taking Micah on field trips.

We just found out my husband will be home one weekday each week according to his new schedule, this will present a special problem since homeschooling while Daddy is home presents distractions. Hopefully we will find a way to make that work for us, not against us.

I'm excited about this year, the thing I am really nervous about actually is the actual teaching of Micah to read. We have begun this already with the book. Teach your child to read in 200 easy lessons' (which many homeschool friends swear by) but I haven't been enthused by it. I need to redouble my efforts though, because he is doing fine with everything else, handwriting, math, etc. I just have to press on and unfortunately, this is the one area that Sonlight seems to lack most in.

Weary

Have you ever been weary?

Lately I have been thinking of what it means to be truly weary. To me, weary is a word that speaks volumes.

Weary is a state of being.

I'm not just talking about being tired. I am not even just talking about going through a tough problem in life. Those times may be difficult, but sometimes they are quick. Some trials happen all at once.

Other trials take a long time.

That is what I am talking about when I say 'Weary'.

I am thinking of a particular friend now. A particular friend who is going through a tediously long trial. Though I have never lived through a similar experience as the trial she is going through, I still have tears and prayers for her whenever she comes to mind because of one truth.

I have been weary.

Over the last few days I have been mulling this over in my mind. I remember the weary times. Who can forget them. They lasted so very long. Those times in my life when a particular trial lasted for months or years.

Have you had a time where you were weary? Please take a moment to remember with me. Remember the heartache of waiting... I am talking of times in which your situation was stuck... your prayers become so repetitious you finally just stop asking the same things... eventually just your moaning and tears come instead of words and you let the Holy Spirit speak to God for you. You had faith that it would work out, but you wondered..... when? When, God?

Sometimes you may have even lost faith, or at least the strength to keep up hope. Maybe you sunk into a depression. Maybe you lost your joy altogether. Maybe everything else in your life began to suffer.

Maybe it was like a dry wasteland, an endless walk through a desert with no end in sight.

Maybe you were holding on with everything you had but just when your situation seemed completely hopeless... it got worse.

Unfortunately, the times that I am thinking of personally in my life when I was most weary were also the times when nobody seemed to understand.

Reasons for this vary. People are so quick to see answers to other people's situation. The things that mean the world to one person may be nothing to another. Most often it seemed, others had not experienced the same thing or were simply too busy with their own lives to even notice. Maybe they knew I was weary but had no idea how to help.

Maybe the point is, nobody is capable of helping. These situations are often dependent on God. On a miracle, on His perfect timing. Leaning on Him is the only thing a weary traveler can do.

I am thankful that I have been made to lean on Him so much. I am glad I know to go straight to Him when I need Him. I understand the reasons behind the things I have gone through.

I can honestly say, that being in the desert so long makes the rainy oasis so much more like paradise. Weeping may last for a night but Joy does come in the morning. The final outcome has always been a happy one for me. God blesses us for holding on in the weary times.

I just want to say that if you know someone who is weary, even if you don't really understand or are able to relate to their situation, this is your chance.

Lets all just be aware that some people around us are just trying to put one weary foot in front of another. A little help from a brother or sister in Christ could be just what they need to get through another day.

The Long Hot Summer

It has been a while since I have blogged. So many thing have happened in our home in the last few months I have gotten behind. Everything has slowed down to a crawl now though for the rest of the summer, so I thought I might post some things.

First of all, Is it hot where you are? Cause it is hot here... and dry.

(ok, this is not a photo of Louisiana, but it feels like it right now)

It is a drought and over a hundred degrees every day here. This is why I hate summer in Lousiana. I don't like to use the word hate about anything. I know that God has designed everything in nature for a reason. I know plenty of people who seem to prefer summer (though I am sure they have suffered some sort of mini-heat stroke to cause them to say so).


Anyway, I keep checking the weather radar for rain and there hasn't been so much as a shower on the horizon for weeks. Our car's air-conditioning is broken. So even just driving the kids to the store causes them to have red faces like tomatos by the time we get there. I wish the end were near, but there are still many many weeks of hot summer sun before we can spell relief in this area. Our only hope seems to be a hurricane in the gulf that might send nice winds and rains this way, I pray of course that if one comes it will cause little to no damage on it's way.

And when we do get some real rain...

You can be that me and the kids will be out there dancing in it!