School Daze

We’ve been busy, busy, busy with school. Now that Stacia has arrived, I’m off of bed-rest and the girls have left; it’s time to do “heavy school” as opposed to “light school”!

One thing we’ve realized is that we did NOT require near enough writing of the girls in high school. We apologize to them for this. We SHOULD have required it – it isn’t busy work. This year we are being very deliberate about providing lots of grammar/composition instruction and practice to the children at all levels.

We are in week 4 of Year 3 of Tapestry of Grace. Josiah and Jamin have changed to TOG this year. This curriculum is written to direct a 4 year cycle through history. Ideally a student will do it three times in their school career; once as an elementary student, once as a dialectic student and once as a rhetoric student. We love having all of the kids studying the same subjects, at the same time (though on different levels). For instance in the past weeks Arielle and Nolan were reading “I Crocodile”, while Jared, Jamin and Josiah read “The Diary of a Napoleonic Foot Soldier”. This makes for some awesome discussions. A big part of this curriculum is utilizing the Socratic method of discussion/teaching. Extensive teacher’s notes are provided to bring ME up to speed. The curriculum is billed as being K-Mom and I’m certainly learning as much as the children. An unexpected benefit is that it has provided lots of common ground for discussions with the boys. I had been struggling to relate to high school boys. to check TOG out further visit http://www.tapestryofgrace.com/

Every morning begins with PE for the younger 5 and I. Jared runs. Arielle, Nolan and Alex do interval training….run to catch Jared – sit and wait for Mom. I bring up the end; pushing Stacia as she rides in style. Nolan is learning to write, and the sounds of the alphabet. Arielle and Nolan are both working on spelling the dreaded “G” word. Below are some pictures of the things we’ve gotten involved with this week.

Snapshots from our week:

Boys at the computer desk in our library

The Boys learn military strategy by playing RISK

(studying French Rev/Napoleanic Era)

Jamin collects water for a Biology Experiment

Arielle, Nolan & Zander enjoy painting on the patio

We all brush up on our phonic sounds by playing "Pick a Sound"

A Mom's Tribute to Her Girls

"Making the decision to have a child is momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body." Elizabeth Stone

The above quote has been one of my favorites for years. Two weeks ago it became even dearer. Two big pieces of my heart left home and now reside in WA. For years I had joked about “never having an empty nest” and “never being lonely”. I quickly changed my perspective. We knew that family life would change when the girls left home. We were unprepared for how quickly and how completely life changed. We miss them dearly. A day doesn’t go by that someone doesn’t ask if they’ve called or emailed one of us. However, we are so very proud of BreAnne and Krista. Our pain is actually a testament, a measure of success. Years ago God led us to homeschool as a family lifestyle. This was not out of fear, political motivation or social motivation. It was a response to God’s prompting. It was out of faith in a vision He had given us for family. We saw parts of this vision before our first child was even conceived. Now, 20 years later, we see more of the vision. Our daughters LOVE the Lord with their entire heart, soul, mind and strength. They are seeking God on a daily basis and we are confident that their future paths will become clear to them. They have the confidence and heart to follow hard after Him.

The girls are spending this year at Master’s Commission where. Their days are divided between academics in the morning and hands on ministry and service in the afternoon/evening. In the past this group has done mission trips, youth work, evangelism, camps, VBSs, trips to Alaska (wouldn’t that be fun??? ) and more. For more information you can visit http://www.spokanemasters.com/ . Because the program is intense their time is “not their own” and we don’t hear from them nearly as often as we’d like. BUT we are very proud of them for following HIS leading.

The girls have become adept at running a household, raising children, entertaining church groups and much, much more. They’ve made our family life a joy. I’ve had to totally rethink how much time I can afford to spend outside the home and how much entertaining I can do INSIDE the home since they’ve left. They did all this with willing hearts and big smiles. An example of their hearing from the Lord and serving with thankful hearts is our recent family experience. We talked about them moving to WA when we left Alaska so that they could get established. They prayed and felt that they were to move with us to be a “help to mom”. We discussed and agreed…but I must admit I had questions about the necessity of them moving to help *me*. It turned out to be a move in the 3rd tri-mester of a pregnancy. They unpacked the house, helped entertain children when I was put on bed-rest, walked a colicky baby when my blood pressure went crazy after delivery…they were indispensable. All this done with a heart of joy.

The following excerpt that I wrote about “fingerprints” for a PWOC newsletter clearly describes our daughters. “As often happens God uses every day things to gain my attention. You see my life is a clean surface when I come to believe in Him as my Savior. When I fully submit my life to His. If God is coming into contact with me - there should be fingerprints. Unique fingerprints. Fingerprints that will never deny the identity of my Lord. Fingerprints that should become so apparent that the vision of "me" is obscured by His fingerprints. In fact many things can leave fingerprints in my life. The prints will be determined by what I am in contact with. There is no faking it. Maybe I'm not the best one to view the fingerprints in my life. Maybe I need to ask others whose imprint they see on my life. “

I clearly see the fingerprints of God on the lives of our daughters. Bre sang a song by Avalon at her graduation that is the heart cry of both our daughters: “Everything to Me”. I rejoice in seeing that He truly is becoming more and more their everything.

I am so thankful that we have no huge regrets when looking back at their upbringing. This does NOT mean that we were perfect – far from it. God covered us in His grace and mercy. It does mean that I don’t regret making the children my priority; my mission. The past weeks have sharpened my focus once again.

Somewhere along the way the girls went from being children, to being young adults. They transitioned from being my daughters to also being my “forever friends”. For those just entering the “teen” years, may I encourage you that they can be the best of the child raising years? We love you girls!

~*~*~*~*~*
Some have asked us “how we got” such good “teenagers”. I always hesitate to answer such questions. Much of it is due to their heart relationship with God. However, He has impressed a few basic things on us in our parenting of “young adults”. First, continue to be consistent and second, they still need you. As for books that have influenced our mentoring of the young adults entrusted to our care:

*The Bible* – truly all answers to life can be found in its pages and it is the only book I’ve ever trusted or tried to apply completely.


*Myth of a Teenager* - great article that we discovered over 14 years ago. This greatly shaped our philosophy of parenting. The first link is the complete article. The second link is a transcript of an Elisabeth Elliot program where she discusses this article.
http://www.home-school.com/Articles/PlattTeenagers.html
http://www.backtothebible.org/gateway/today/639

*Age of Opportunity* by Paul David Tripp. Paul calls us to examine our own hearts and then clearly spells out how to make these years COUNT.

Park Day

You know you’re not in Alaska when the top weather story of the day is “no more triple digit temperatures this week”. The calendar says it’s September 28th and it is 102*. Jack Frost is no where to be seen. This is a tad bit ridiculous.

A bright spot was Thursday, September 29th. A “cold” front moved through dropping our temps to 77*. It was a beautiful day. The sort of day that makes one exhilarated to live in Texas. The kids and I found it ironic that we used to wait for a

“warm” day of say high 60*s or low 70*s; rush through school and head to the park. Now we wait for a “cool” day (below 90*) and rush through school and head to the park. Jamin had football practice but the rest of us enjoyed an afternoon at the local park.

Zander falls off the merry-go-round

Cy enjoys blading without the
distraction of snow & slush




Jared prepares to practice for the “swing-off”. Mike and the kids compete to see who can get their head above the top of the swing set first.