The Mother's Homeschool Journal #2

 

 

In my life this week…
I am trying to get our monthly missions newsletter done along with some other projects.  The need to meet goals and deadlines has borderlined overwhelming but I have sought to lean into God for peace (hence some of the blog topics I posted this week!)

In our homeschool this week…
We met all our math goals in effort to finish the year strong.... but only half our Language Arts hopes were realized.  We did have forward momentum, which is better than being stationary!  Ashley started on some Algebra and was excited to learn it wasn't as hard as she feared.  

The strange thing this week was the length of our day.  Normally we finish Bible study and the 3R's by lunch time.  However, this week we were lucky to be done by 3:00 every single day... just with the 3R's and no bonus material!  It wouldn't have been so bad, but this happened during the busiest week of the month, it took a lot of prayer to be at peace!  Praise God for that!

Also, we finally finished reading "Pollyanna" and retrieved the video from the library so we can watch the movie.  The kids love reading a book and watching the movie!  We started on a darling book by Kate DiCamillo, "The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane" because Brooke LOVES rabbits and we all love Kate's brilliant writing style!

Places we’re going and people we’re seeing…
Bus trip again on Monday (hopefully!) run errands.  We are hoping to see our friend Raju tomorrow.  He is a missionary friend from India working with pastors in our area.  He wanted to sit in on one of our Truth Project lessons so we offered for him to visit during our last episode (I can't believe it is the last!).  Our group will be learning about community and our hope is that he will talk with them about outreach and ministry.  Now that this group is complete, we are praying for the next place/group of people to present to.

My favorite thing this week was…
... is a testimony.  As many of you know, we gave our car back to our lender at the beginning of March.  We lifted our transportation up to the Lord and have truly enjoyed taking the bus, walking, and otherwise being without our own car!  (A long amazing story for another time!)  We decided to keep our need for a car in prayer and slowly build a fund towards the purchase of a new one when God provided a way.

Then, Brooke had a busted inner-tube.  I dove into our envelopes (our budget/filing system) to see if I had funds for a tube.  None.  So I prayed and God led me to our "vehicle" envelope.  Inside lay (a whopping) $5!!  (we had just started saving!)  I felt like God was pulling and tugging me to give it up... so I did.

That evening, my oldest son came home and announced his buddy, Jonner, was getting a new car........ and his family wanted to GIVE us his old one!!!

We were speechless and in awe of how God works.  Last week I talked with Jonner's mom and confirmed all the details.  The only snags are that the transmission is not in great shape (the car can't go in reverse!) and it is a 5-seater (we are family of 6), BUT, it is amazing.  We won't have to borrow a car to go to the grocery store or visit our storage and excursions beyond walking or bus radius are no longer out of the question.  We do still plan to walk locally and bus to long distances in hopes of saving on (already expensive) gas.

I stood, as Jonner's mom handed me the keys on Wednesday, and thought 'Who am I to deserve such blessings.'  I felt God saying, 'Have peace, you are Mine, and I always take care of My children.'  I am humbled and amazed at His grace.
 

What's working/not working for us...

Brenden and Brooke struggled with their math today.  I couldn't figure out why and it was frustrating us all.  I stepped outside and breathed and prayed and sought God's council.  When I came back in we had lunch and I told the kids we would give it another "go" after they ate.

On the second run through I figured out that Brenden just wasn't ready to divide a 3-digit number in long division.  He does great with 2-digits but his poor dyslexic brain just was not ready for 3.  

 

I set him up with an order of operations of sorts.  The down arrow is to remind him to bring down his next number.

A trick I figured out to get him working at it better.  He used the lines to keep everything aligned.

 So we scaled back to 2-digits and he did fine.  I think we need to just train his brain up repetitively on the smaller numbers before we move on to the big ones.  I think I jumped ahead too quick.

 Brooke wouldn't settle her sweet mind to realize carrying subtraction was not as complicated as she wanted to make it..  Then it just clicked!  I love it when things just click!  

 Afterwards, however, I was left wondering if Addison Wesley is really the route I want to go for her math next year. 

Homeschool questions/thoughts I have…
 I found out that our local homeschool association is having their annual garage and curriculum sale June 4th and I am sooooo excited!  I want to go through my old and un-used curriculum and put it in the joint area at the sale to (maybe) make a little cash!  

If your area doesn't have one of these, I highly recommend it... they are wonderful!  I will be keeping my eyes pealed for a good math program for Brooke (and maybe Brenden).  My system of curriculum worked for me this year, but it is getting overwhelming having to coordinate 5 different math books (sometimes  more!) for one child.  Not to mention, if our ministry calls us elsewhere, I can't pack allllllll those books everywhere we go!

A photo, video, link, or quote to share…

Every time I look at it, I thank God for His amazing blessing on our lives!  I love having my socks blown off by His blessings!!

May you experience sock blowing blessings this week!