Did Christmas Happen Already?

Christmas was nice but it came and went in an instant this year. With PopPop (father-in-law) in the hospital with prolonged liver trouble and Daddy leaving before lunch on the 25th for Urbana it was very different. The kids and I spent the whole day and weekend at my parent's house, didn't host, didn't travel. The holiday held less stress in that way but I think I missed it. I missed having a house full and having both families in and out over Christmas day. I really miss Billy (husband) too. I hope Urbana is amazing. I know he'll be exhausted. I'm not looking forward to this week without him. But in the back of my mind I wonder if I'm playing a part in a BIG kingdom work. Urbana is the largest mission conference in the US. I've heard it described as life-changing. I am enabling my husband to go who is helping run the conference, which God is going to use to call students closer, to go, to change the world. :) It's an encouraging thought.

With so much of my family here at my parent's house I've had more time to get away, to think, to pray. Also with all these new toys and games there was a heightened sense of frustration with Super Frog yesterday. He and I both have control issues. I am trying to instruct him and help him with these new building things, board games etc. and we were not jellin' well together. Not encouraging for a hopeful homeschooler mommy. "I can even explain a game to him..."

So yesterday after a day of frustration and anger at my little frog I got away to read and prayed. I read a portion of 1st and 2nd Peter.

1 Peter 5:2,3,5 talks about being a willing shepherd of God's flock, being a godly example and having humility. I felt very convicted. Sometimes I don't feel very willing to shepherd my little flock. I'm dragging my feet, I'm annoyed and angry. Why? Am I too focused on the tasks I want to get done and my children get in the way?

Frog's attitude and unwilling spirit angers me but how do I speak to it?

Am I simply being lazy and selfish?

I am a mother of young children--in the scheme of life it is a short stage, one filled with extreme sacrifice. Can I embrace that and let other things go? Should I really be considering homeschooling?

2 Peter 1:3-8 was right there too and that's a verse that I've clung to many times--He has given everything I need! I am praying and trusting (trying to) that He IS changing me. A couple of things I know need to be dealt with...

enjoy God

enjoy Super Frog and Little Bird more without task oriented motivation

have more respect for Frog as his own individual person

Well that's it.

Today was better and I am enouraged but still feel like I need a kick in the pants or something.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas

Home School Roller Coaster Begins

Homeschooling started January 2009. Super Frog was newly three and Little Bird 3 months. I decided it was a great time to start because the holidays were over and the tree was down--leaving a nice little space to set up a desk. I had grand aspirations--I won't share my schedule because it would be too embarrassing.

The main goal: do something academic and something spiritual every day. Academic was the obvious preschool stuff. We'd try to identify letters, numbers, opposites, colors, shapes, etc. For the spiritual we started with the catechism. I really liked the question and answer set up. And yes, most of it went over his head but I loved having the basis for further conversations later. Specially as he hit his WHY stage. If you go long enough everything can go back to God and why?..."For His Glory!"

Looking back I would have done more fun things, more hands on, more crafts--like that tot school stuff. But since it was so early Super Frog is used to the idea of "learning time" and Mommy teaching him. Also I have made a lot of mistakes and have adjusted a lot--working the kinks out if you will. Not that they are even CLOSE to being all out but I am learning a lot about how we interact together and how to organize and prepare for "learning time."

Yes, we call it "Learning Time." I think it made it sound less formal to me than school--less pressure. So "learning time" has stuck and our "learning station" has evolved into a card table in the play room, where I attempt to keep Little Bird busy while we learn. Her age is very hard right now for our learning time purposes but more on that later.

Happy Birthday Super Frog!

Our crazy frog is 4 years old!! He's sweet too. He LOVES his little sister and said a genuine thank you for all his presents.

Why Blog?

Why am I blogging? Because it's fun.

Why else? I love all these mommy blogs: God and family first, some homeschooling, some crafty and all very uplifting. Maybe one day my blog could fit those descriptions but I think it'll be a slow process. I'm a slow learner. I'm also a little shy and timid. I'm still erasing a lot of what I write when I think about "WHO" could be reading this. No one at the moment--so it's a little easier :)

I'm in the early stages of homeschooling and as I have learned from that--I have a lot of BIG ideas and then find out that i need to scale back--this blog might fall into that category--not as Grand as I'm thinking it will be, or should be. Whatever it will be--it will be an adventure!

Lily pad living?

Lily pads? Sitting by a creek one day I learned a lesson from a lily pad and a water bug. The bug was actively, hopping on the water--looking like it was trying to beat the current and head up the creek. It would "fly up" and land on the water. Each time the creek's current took it back and back until it would fly up again. Needless to say, the water bug wasn't getting anywhere. There was a lily pad nearby that just seemed to be hanging out on the water. The current was flowing around it and under it but the plant stayed put because of its roots.

I watched the bug and the lily pad for a while and, although I know little about the nature of each, here are the thoughts that started to form: As a child of the Living God I am rooted in His Truth, His Love and His Forgiveness. I am often trying to fight the current and the only result is exhaustion. Instead of fighting in vain, I need to surrender and trust my Savior to lead me and give me strength.
The water or life can be still and peaceful, wild and fun, scary and over-whelming or just plain out of control. God roots my life to Him and holds fast no matter what is going on around me. The water/life will flow around me, under me and yes, sometimes over me. But I will not be moved!
So, I'm trying to say no to the crazy, fruitless and exhausting life like that of the water bug for myself and for my young family for the glory of God. What that means and what that looks like...? Some days I think know and some days I have no idea what that means. I think I'll be figuring it out for the rest of my life--but it's worth it.

Our Cheerio Tree

We love our box of Christmas books. I'm glad we put them away and only take them out at Christmas time. It makes them special. We do that with movies and Cds too. This year (mostly because of space issues) I actually put away our other books and cds so we only have Christmas choices. It's a nice change of pace and gives me a good opportunity to not put certain books and movies back out (in plain view anyway).

Super Frog was curious about one of the books where the characters put popcorn on their tree. He thought that was silly. SO we looked it up on line. "Why do people string popcorn on their tree"

Well, in Europe people strung popcorn, cranberries and other things on trees outside for the birds. Frog decided that was a great idea. We went to pop some popcorn but then saw the cheerios and Mommy thought--wow, that would be much easier. Frog was easily convinced and so the stringing began. Little Bird liked eating them.
This is the end result. In the outside picture Frog is actually looking up at a HUGE flock of birds flying by. "Mommy, when are they going to come eat them??" It took a few days but something came by and ate lots of Cheerios.

Thanksgiving Crafts

Our Fall Leaves. It's Super Frog's hand and forearm makes the trunk. We painted leaves and pressed them on.

Aunt J. came over and made this fun turkey for Frog which spurred him on to do one with Daddy's picture. That's a toilet roll Turkey. The Feathers are leaf shaped. I couldn't get Frog to get his hands dirty again. He said it's because he

doesn't like to clean them...:)

The Ten Commandments

This is an old post from last year from a family blog I keep. I want it on this blog so I can readily see what wording we used for the Ten Commandments.
I had trouble finding a kid friendly version that I liked. I adapted different versions of the commandments together to form one with language I thought Frog would understand. I also tried to stay away from the same phrasing over and over (do not, do not...I thought using different words would be less confusing). At the same time I want Frog to have certain words in his "bank" that I know he won't understand till much later.
1. You shall have no other gods before me.
2. We only worship God. No idols!
3. Be careful with God's name. Don't misuse it.
4. Observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.
5. Honor your father and your mother.
6. Do not kill.
7. Keep your marriage promises. No adultery.
8. Do not steal.
9. Do not lie or give false testimony.
10. Do not covet.

In The Beginning...

I.  Jan. 2009: In the Beginning...

The aftermath of Christmas has passed. The house is put back in order, toys have found a home, which they reside 20% of the time. There is an empty space where the tree used to be. What a good time to start something new...LEARNING TIME.
It's easy to get Frog excited about something new--especially when it involves something special for him to open. Mommom had given us a small writing desk and chair some time ago that we had never opened.  It was perfect! It has the alphabet along the bottom and numbers 1-20 on the top.

SCHOOL IS IN SESSION!
Time to swim along in this homeschooling pool...well...at least time to get our feet wet. Mostly, as I learned later- time to start trying, failing, and trying again.

THE PLAN!
Start with a Bible thing and then do an acedemic thing...(real reveolutionary huh?)
One week we'll do colors, one week letters, numbers, opposites, etc.

DAY ONE!
Prayer, Catechism question 1, and numbers 1-3

II.  What is Learning Time?

Learning Time? Homeschooling? Why the funny title?
I think I started calling this learning time because in the very beginning I didn't want to talk about school because I didn't think Frog would understand we're not going anywhere. He knows enough from media that school is a place you go to. He's been to Sunday School and Vacation Bible School. So, call it Home School...I supposed that would have worked.
I also think I didn't want to pressure of admitting I am HOME SCHOOLING. On the other hand, I sometime think I'm getting ahead of my self...he's only 3...

III.  The Catechism

Frog and I have started working on learning the Catechism as the first thing we do during Learning Time. It is so basic, I am really enjoying it. Frog enjoys yelling the answers or pretending that everything pertains to his sister or PopPop.
Learning this comes at a great time because of all his WHY questions. If he asks why long enough it's because God made it that way...why? Why does God make things? "FOR HIM GLORY!"
We made a colorful chart with the questions written out and Frog puts a sticker on the answers he knows. I make the chart as we go along and he asks to make one too. He puts lots of dots everywhere as he says the questions and answers (just like me:)
The Catechism is great because it is so foundational to our faith. It hits on so many major topics. Frog's Sunday School class is learning them too. They do questions 1-10 every year as one of their activities. It's a 3-4yr old class too so this will be reinforced again next year. Who knows how much he is actually understanding but it's a great starting place to knowing who God is and who we are in relation to Him.

IV.  February 2009:  No School: Inservice day...week or two...

We're taking a break!
I'm scaling back my expectation and attitude toward Learning Time. I'm remembering that most pre-school programs only meet twice a week. I'm going to put elaborate plans on hold for a while and take things as they come.
The Bible stuff is most important to me so I am going to continue to do that--we're still on the catechism and I am surprised at how well that is going. I love the set up of the question and answer. The numbers, letters, etc. we still do but it's more random.