Unschooling

I'm reading "The Unschooling Handbook : How to Use the Whole World As Your Child's Classroom." It reminds me of what I love about homeschooling. Every now and then I start straying back toward a more textbook style of education.  Then I just need to read a book like The Unschooling Handbook to get me back on track.

The more book work I add, the more stressed out I get :) The other day was great. We did calculadders, then I read Story of the World while they colored in historical coloring books. Since we are just beginning US history, I hung a US map and started reading “Paddle to the Sea”. We talked about the Great Lakes.

Paddle to the Sea mentioned a wolverine and Lucas went to the computer to look up wolverine. While reading about a wolverine, he saw "caribou" and looked that up, also. He was reading animal facts to Elijah because Elijah wanted him to "learn it to me". And Arianah drew her "A" and showed me all the things she was writing. In the meantime, Rebekah is busy looking at poses and other things to help her in her photography shoots.

That was just an hour snippet of what we did that day. But it makes me happy to take note of the education that goes on when I make my lesson plan a guideline.  The kids love learning and, when facilitated well, they can learn a lot.

Calculadders

I found something else for homeschooling that seems to be working well.  The kids have never done very well with memorizing their math facts.  I have seen Calculadders in various catalogs for years.  I finally decided to try them and they work really well.

It's a quick speed drill for math facts.  Each one page drill is designed to be finished in 2-3 minutes. You do the same page over and over until it is completed in the time frame and without error.  The kids still enjoy them, even though we've been doing them a couple of months.  And, they're actually making progress.

You can buy Calculadder books, but I bought them on CD.  It's really easy.  Each  morning, I simply print up one worksheet for each kid.  They do the worksheet and I correct them.  The program provides a great record keeping sheet for their progress also, so I have it all at my fingertips.

Pencils & Erasers

Why is it that you can never have enough pencils or erasers in the house?  No matter how many we have, there is always someone that can't find a pencil or an eraser.  So, I bought this box of erasers.  There are 144 in the box.  I wonder how long they will last.

Scripture Memory

I finally found something that works for scripture memory.  I am so excited!  I got the idea from this website: http://simplycharlottemason.com/timesavers/memorysys/

With a simple 3x5 card system, we have memorized several verses already.  And, the whole family is doing it.  I have tried different things for years, to no avail.  The plan always went by the wayside.

I have done a couple of things to the instructions on the website.  First of all, I added one more divider.  As I find verses that I want to memorize, I write them on a card and put them behind this divider.  One of the problems I had in the past with memory verses is that I would need a new one and I wouldn’t have one handy, so we just ended up not doing one.  Now, I have a stack of memory verses waiting their turn.

The other thing I added is a couple of large copies of the verse.  I hang one on the bulletin board in the school room and one where it is visible from the dining table.  Originally, I had some in different areas of the house, but we found the only ones we looked at were in the school room and in the dining room.  So, during school, we review the current verses. The readers can easily read the verse until they have it memorized.  Then, they recite the verse. The non-readers are prompted by a reader, so they can memorize the verses. Then, I review the past verses from my card file.  At meal times, the whole family reviews the memory verses. 

This system has been working great for us. I’m so happy to find a system that works.

Sukkot - A Time of Refreshment

Acts 3:19

Times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord

Sukkot is a glorious example of finding a time of refreshing in the presence of the Lord. It’s hard to explain how incredibly blessed we were in so many ways as we celebrated Sukkot together. We had times of corporate worship, praise, dancing and study of the Word. And, in between those group gatherings, we could always find somewhere in the camp where someone was enjoying praise, worship, dance, fellowship, study of the Word and, sometimes, just plain old relaxation and recreation. Funny how the main thing He tells us to do during Sukkot is to rejoice. We definitely did plenty of that!

We enjoyed living together in unity as family. We rolled out of bed and stepped out of the tent and we were with 150 of our closest family members. We brushed our teeth at the same sink. We got by with 2 showers, 3 toilets and 4 port-a-potties. (That, in itself, is amazing!) We shared our meals, taking turns cooking for the whole family and serving one another.

Everyone was free to share their gifts – serving, teaching, singing, dancing, facilitating, organizing, etc. Bring a gift and share it with others. There was such joy in the camp as we freely served one another.

The camp was not without trials and discomforts. We had extreme heat, swarms of flies, bugs of various kinds, spraying of nearby crops, illness, etc. But even in the midst of this, we rejoiced and praised Yahweh. We didn’t let the discomforts get us down (as a general rule). Many of us felt these were a way of Yahweh testing our attitude. Hopefully we passed that test J

It truly felt like a rehearsal for living in Yahweh’s Kingdom. To dwell in unity with so many other believers was wonderful. Relationships were renewed. Healing took place in more ways than one. We could safely leave valuables lying around the camp, whether it was cameras or computers or phones, just as comfortably as we would do that at home. When others were in need financially, physically, emotionally or spiritually, others were ready to give whatever was necessary to help them.

It’s hard to describe the joy and contentment felt as we celebrated this appointment with Yahweh together with so many others. It creates a bond that can only be formed by God’s Spirit. I’m thinking that’s one of the blessings Yahweh had in mind when He invited us to share in this appointed time with Him. (Lev 23:33-43) Our obedience to His call paid off a thousand fold, as it always does.

Why We Strive to Be Torah Observant

Someone on one of my email lists asked this question:

Could you please explain to me why you think it is necessary to observe Old Testament laws in light of the New Covenant and New Testament Scriptures?

This is my response:

It’s a hard thing to explain. I don’t believe keeping the law is necessary for salvation. That is because the only thing necessary for salvation is to accept Jesus Christ as my personal savior.

As a result of loving and accepting Jesus as my Savior and loving my Father and Creator, I choose to obey them to the best of my ability.

If you keep my commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love. John 15:10

If you love me, keep my commandments. John 14:15

Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He who says, “I know Him” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked. 1 John 2:3-6

We choose to walk as He walked. We choose to do what Jesus did. Jesus did not look for an excuse to disobey His Father. He was obedient and followed the law and commandments. Jesus did not celebrate Christmas or Easter or any other pagan holiday disguised as a Christian one. He kept the days that His Father commanded us to keep throughout our generations. (Leviticus 23 shows us that these are God’s feasts, not the Jews’ feasts.) I can’t figure out why I would want to use some replacement holiday instead of celebrating the joyous feasts that God has blessed us with.

We just celebrated Yom Teruah yesterday (Lev 23:23-25) – a day that God has not yet fulfilled the meaning of. It was such a joyous day. We worshipped and praised together with dance and song and musical instruments (Psalm 150). We ate yummy food together. We made a loud noise as we are commanded to do. (The kids loved it. They could yell and blow trumpets over and over again without us stopping them, because God commanded us to make a loud noise. :) We’re not quite sure why that is commanded. But someday God will show us and, in the meantime, we just walk in obedience.

And it shall be that whichever of the families of the earth do not come up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, on them there will be no rain . Zech 14:17

People kept the appointed times in the past. We will be expected to keep them in the future. There is no place in the Bible that says we should no longer keep the appointed times that God commanded us to keep throughout our generations (that means ‘forever’, people!). So, why would I not keep them now? Again, I prefer to keep God’s days than counterfeit days. They are an incredible blessing to our family and we anticipate them for months before they arrive

God asks us to not to worship Him the way the pagans worship their God. Yet people use pagan holidays disguised as Christian holidays to worship Him all the time. I would not be pleased if my husband came to me and said, “I am so excited to celebrate your birthday. But, I have decided to celebrate it on my ex-girlfriend’s birthday. It seems like a good day and we always had some really good traditions for her birthday celebration. So, I will take those traditions and use them to honor you and show I love you.” I most certainly would NOT feel loved or honored by that. Christmas is the same thing. The day was originally used to worship the pagan God Nimrod. That is easily found in any encyclopedia. Because of that, we choose not to celebrate Christmas or Easter. (And, because nowhere in the Bible are we told to celebrate Jesus’ birth. It doesn’t even tell us when He was born. If God wanted us to celebrate Jesus’ birth, He would have told us when it was and asked us to celebrate it.)

I am always learning and growing by honoring Him the way He has asked me to in His Word. I don’t have any need or desire to add extra days that He hasn’t requested. We choose to honor Him the way He has asked us to honor Him.

We choose to follow all of the 10 commandments simply because He asked us to. We don’t leave any out for the sake of convenience or for any other reason. We strive to follow all of them, including the Sabbath (sunset Friday to sunset Saturday as He commanded us) because He made it for us. And He said to them, "The Sabbath was made for man , and not man for the Sabbath.” Mark 2:27-28 God made the Sabbath for us! It is His gift to us! Why would I not accept a gift from God!? I think that would be crazy!!!

We choose to follow the laws of clean and unclean meats because God put them in His Word for us. He knows how He made us and He knows how he made those animals. As a result, He knows what is best for us to eat. Research shows that the meats Our Creator has labeled as unclean are unhealthy for us to eat. It’s not surprising to me that He knew that before men did J

I follow other laws in the Bible that people don’t typically follow. I don’t need to go into details. Suffice it to say, I obey Him because I love Him. Simple as that.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I don’t follow any of these laws perfectly – not by a long shot! I fall short every single day, just like everyone else. As a result of falling short, which is ‘sin’, plain and simple, I need the sacrifice of my Savior. So, His sacrifice is very important to me. Without it, I would suffer eternal death, but because He is my Savior, I can live with Him forever. HalleluYah!!

Missi who, along with her family, is excitedly looking forward to Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement) and Sukkot (Feast of Tabernacles) - 8 glorious days of celebrating His millennial rule!!! HalleluYah!

Sabbath - A Day of Rest

Ahhhhh! Sabbath. God was so good to give us a day of rest. I don't know how anyone could call the Sabbath a burden. It is such a blessed day and we look forward to it all week. Our countdown to Sabbath tends to start pretty early in the week. At some point, a little bitty one will ask,"Mommy, when is Sabbath?" Then I tell them and they continue to ask until we get to the Sabbath.

I love sitting here in the morning enjoying a cup of coffee, chatting with my hubby, reading the Bible, looking at facebook. The little kids love eating "Sabbath Cereal" (aka, junk food like Capn Crunch, etc.) and watching Sabbath videos. The bigger kids love sleeping in and eating Sabbath Cereal. Then we start the day fellowshipping at congregation. Every week we have a potluck afterwards and the kids hang out with their friends and play on the playground. After that, we continue fellowshipping at our house, since several of the teens, and often other people, come over to our house to hang out for the rest of the day - or maybe even to spend the night.

It's a day filled with God and the people we love. It's all about relationship. What could be better than that?

Emotional Roller Coaster

I love roller coasters. I always have enjoyed the thrill of the ride. However, I do not like emotional roller coasters. It's been quite a week and it's only Tuesday. I started with the happiness of being pregnant and feeling great - really starting to look forward to a sweet baby to hold.

Then, Sunday, I had a friend with preeclampsia who had to deliver her baby at 31 weeks. This sweet lady has had such a time trying to have a baby of her own - very difficult with various health issues and miscarriages. But, after over a day of waiting and praying, she did deliver her little girl and both Mommy and baby seem to be doing fine. HalleluYah!

Before that day was over, I started having signs of impending miscarriage. And, this morning, I awoke with really no doubt that a miscarriage is in progress. I think it's a tiny bit easier, since I more than halfway expected it from the beginning. But it's still heartbreaking.

I was at the place where I was perfectly content not having another baby. I have 7 children and I am 45 years old. I wasn't yearning for another baby as I have in the past. And, I know more people who have miscarried at 45 than who have carried to term at 45, so I had no desire to join that statistic.

But, I was pleasantly surprised when I got two pink lines on the pregnancy test. A little life growing inside me is a miracle that never grows old. And, as the weeks went by, I got more and more excited. I can't help but get excited at the prospect of a sweet new baby head to smell.

And yet, today, here I am resting in bed, waiting. I hate the waiting. The uncertainty of how this is actually going to play out. Even though this is my 3rd miscarriage, they still have a feeling of uncertainty about them.

I'm familiar with full term birth. I've delivered 7 of my own at home and been privileged to be present at several births besides my own. I know the stages. I know the end result. But with miscarriage, there are no stages. You're not quite sure when the baby will come or if you'll even know when it came. It's all too uncertain.

I'm not quite sure why God decided to bless us with another life for such a short time. I am thankful that He did But I am sad that I won't get to hold this little one in my arms and sniff its little head.

Eat to Live

Well, I'm up to seven weeks pregnant now. I know that's not a major feat usually, but each day that passes uneventfully makes me thankful. The thought of miscarriage is always in the back of my mind. Not just because of my two previous miscarriages, but also because of my age. I don't really worry about it, but the thought is still there.

But things are going really well. I feel great. I actually feel better than I did the last couple of pregnancies. I don't remember the pregnancies before that - too long ago I guess. LOL! I take the same supplements, so I don't think that's the reason I feel so good.

I'm thinking it's either the exercise or the Eat to Live diet, or both. I always exercised during pregnancies, but I am exercising more now than I did before.

And the Eat to Live diet had me feeling great before pregnancy. I didn't follow it stricly before I was pregnant, but I did follow it several days a week. I lost 40 pounds and I was just feeling all around good.

I don't follow it strictly right now as I don't think a vegan diet is a good idea period, but especially not when pregnnat. But I do base the beginning of my eating each day on one pound of cooked greens, one pound of raw greens, 4 servings of fruit and 1 cup of beans as a beginning. I don't limit any of the things the diet says to limit - nuts, avocadoes, etc. But I do strive to eat the minimums and then I allow myself to eat whatever suits my fancy. I don't often crave junk food, so that's not a problem. But I often eat cheese, eggs, grass fed beef and raw milk. Those are all no-nos on the ETL. I never considered them no-nos, but I don't limit them now, whereas I did limit them them before.

I feel great. I have lots of energy. I hardly ever even need a nap, which is amazing for me when I'm pregnant. I haven't gained any weight yet. I usually gain 5 pounds before I know I'm pregnant and then continue on from there. Anyway, whatever I'm doing seems to be working. I guess I better keep it up!

Thoughts on Legalism

I've been thinking lately about keeping God's laws and how often that results in getting labeled a "legalist". I don't really understand why a believer in God and His ways would be antagonistic towards me if I choose to follow the ways that our Creator has spelled out in His Word.

I am often labeled a legalist. It's just that since I believe God loves me, He created me and He knows what's best for me, I'm not looking for an excuse to not obey Him. I strive to obey Him in ALL things, to the best of my ability. The more I learn, the more I try to do what He says. I strive to be Torah observant (Gasp! That term is sure to have some pointing fingers and labeling me a legalist), but I'm not sure I do a very good job.

My obedience doesn't earn me salvation, but it certainly brings me joy.

Two Pink Lines

It's been an exciting week. Here are some excerpts from my journal for the last week:

June 28, 2010

Out of the blue in the middle of the day today, my feet started burning like they do when I’m pregnant. I thought that was really odd. I wasn't late, but I took a pregnancy test, anyway. At first there was no second pink line, and I didn't think anything of it. But, as I waited longer, I thought maybe there was possibly the faintest possible, maybe almost imaginary pink line. This was the middle of the day when I wasn’t even late and I was doing a watermelon juice fast, so a negative response would not have been the least bit surprising.

So, not only was I not “sure”, but I had no one to tell. Jim left for Israel yesterday and the big girls left for camp yesterday L

Quite honestly, I was thinking I was done having babies. After all, I am 45 years old and this is the longest spacing (except for once back when we really tried to prevent pregnancy ;) between pregnancies. Being "done" didn't bother me. I was just beginning to contemplate getting rid of the baby stuff.

And, I'll admit, I’m a little apprehensive. I believe I know of more people who have miscarried at 45 than people that have carried to term at that age.

And then there’s the weight loss. I just hit the 40 pound weight loss mark. I’ve been working on that since the beginning of the year. Alas, pregnancy brings and end to weight loss for now. I am glad I lost weight before I got pregnant, though. I can continue to eat the way I have been eating, with a little adjustment for pregnancy and work out 6 days a week like I have been. That way I’ll be a step ahead in getting in shape after baby is born.

June 29, 2010

Time for test number two. This time I took it early in the morning and there was a pretty definite line. Light, but definitely there. And still, no one to tell.

June 30, 2010

I took another test. Gotta be sure, right? Absolutely a second line. And, all week, I’ve been trying to figure out how to tell Jim – just the logistics of getting the news to him in Israel. I could call, but it’s very expensive. I could wait til he get’s home, but I don’t honestly think I could wait that long. The next best option is texting him. After all, I’ve never texted him the results of a pregnancy test before J

So, I texted him a picture of the pregnancy test with the caption "two pink lines" and his response was, "See I go to serve Yahwey in Israel and the blessings come in right away. LOL" Have I mentioned I love that man? :)

July 1, 2010

The girls got home tonight, but between alternate showers and talking to friends on the phone, I didn’t get a chance to tell them.

July 3, 2010

I finally told the girls this morning. They were so happy. I thought Rebekah was going to explode! We all agreed that Justin would find out by facebook because he’s a big stinker and would not be a happy camper. So, for timing purposes, the girls had to keep it a secret for a few hours, too.

Due date March 5, 2011. Rebekah says I might as well just say mid-March. She’s so right.

Break Time

Yesterday, Rebekah brought her chickens in for school break time. Actually, it wasn't break time, but when she brought the chickens in, we had to take a break...

Front Yard

When we bought our house last year, it was bank owned. The lawn hadn't been watered in months. We started watering it and found that it was all weeds. The parkway had lots of prickly weeds which made it hard to walk on barefoot. So, we covered the whole yard in plastic to kill off the lawn, the weeds and anything else in the ground.

It's been about six months and last week we started lifting the plastic. The plastic was already off the parkway for a while (Don't use white plastic, it deteriorates.). We had some really good rains, so I figured now was a good time to start removing the new weeds from the parkway.

We spent a couple of days last week removing the weeds. Jim started shoveling off the top two inches of soil because the dirt was too high. We put it into the front yard to deal with in the days to come.

We loosened up the top of the soil left on the parkway. (That was a tough job.) Then we layered on some garden soil. I mixed the creeping thyme seed with sand and sprinkled it on the dirt. Then we put some sphagnum moss to help keep it moist. We also need to get some stepping stones to put here and there so people can cross easily. I'm really looking forward to the ground cover when it's grown.

Funny Boy

I haven't blogged for a while. So, I figured I'd start off with an easy one.

While we were on vacation, Elijah kept telling this story about how his name isn’t Elijah, it’s Johnny. Cuz, you know, his other family named him Johnny. He's 5 years old. (He's really only 4, but he's wanted to be 5 ever since his older siblings were in a class that you had to be 5 to be enrolled in.) His Dad’s name was Sukkah and his mom was Sukkah 2. His mom died and his dad gave him a map to go live with us. Too funny. He goes into all this detail. And he even answers to the name Johnny.

Uncle John came and visited us while we were up there and he just had a heyday with the whole thing. John and Johnny shared a room the night he stayed. And John would just do all kinds of stuff to bug “Johnny” or get him to tell more of his story.

On the way home, we stopped at Taco Bell for dinner. There were highway patrolmen eating there and Elijah wanted to talk to them, but he was too shy to go by himself. Rebekah took him over to say hi. The patrolmen stopped eating, said hi to him and then asked him his name. After a long pause, he said "Johnny". Then they asked how old he was. Another pause and "5". Too funny! I think the kid is starting to believe his own stories. :)