This Is How We Do It!

The Howard Homeschool has been in session for five weeks now and we have settled into a sort of groove with our curriculum for the 2012-2013 school year. We've learned alot and most of all we've almost figured out what doesn't work and what is working great for us, so far!

I thought I would share what we are using this year and you can link up and share what you are doing!

Grant ~ Age 5

• Bible/Memory Verse/Chracter Builders/Health, Safety, and Manners - Bright Beginnings
• Character Builders DVDs
• Catechism - First Catechism
• Math - Rod and Staff Beginning Arithmetic 1
• Phonics - Primary Phonics 1-3 & Readers
• History - Christian Liberty Little Pilgrims in God's World 
• Science - Christian Liberty Nature Reader K
• Corresponding craft
• Handwriting/Art - Draw -Write - Now - On the Farm
• Social Studies - Abeka Social Studies K
• Calendar/Weather/Seasons - Rod and Staff My Calendar Book

Morgan ~ Age 3

• Bible/Memory Verse/Chracter Builders/Health, Safety, & Manners - Bright Beginnings
• Character Builders DVDs
• Catechism - First Catechism
• Science - Christian Liberty Nature Reader K
• Corresponding craft
• Colors/shapes/pre-writing activities - Rod and Staff Preschool workboooks (4)
• Puzzle & Activity time

We are also using some fun workbooks that focus on cutting skills, pasting, and following directions with both boys. I find many fun work sheets online at Homeschool Creations to help bring in other themes that the boys love as well. We are using the Memoria Press Kindergarten reading list as a spring board for our read alouds this year and are getting our books from the library.

Have you started yet? What will you be using??

How is the school year going for you??? I'd love to hear!!

Motherhood Monday: Cast the First Stone

Last Monday, I shared my heart break over the outlook of many women's view of home. I was moved by their responses and saddened about the state of our world over the fact that being home with kids, family, and responsibility led these women to talk in such negative terms.

Thankfully God has transformed my heart, but yes, I used to be one of those women.

And some days my heart reverts.

When we had our first child, I felt it was my duty to load this little one up, drive all over town for play dates and activities. This little guy, who was so young, had no clue what we were doing, but I felt this urge to be busy. To fill our time with constant motion. To focus on things that had no lasting value or purpose. To do anything to pass these boring, mundane hours.

At that time, I had no grasp on the notion of being a homemaker, a helpmeet, and a mother. Sure food was cooked, laundry wasn't piling up, and things were pretty clean, but I wasn't focusing on making our home a haven for my family. I wasn't nourishing my marriage or children. I would love to be able to go back to that time and tell that 23 year old to just enjoy the "being". I love that term.....being. Psalm 46:10 comes to mind when I think of this term, "Be still and know that I a God."

God has such an awesome role for women who are willing to accept it and thrive in it. Don't get me wrong, there are many days when it takes a LOT of effort to enjoy this job. But God has helped me to see the blessing that come from being home.

I'm not sure when home turned into a four letter word, but from the comments I read on that blog page, I saw a true distaste and hostility towards being home. Home, by definition is "one's place of residence, a congenial environment". That sound like a wonderful place to be and it sounds like one has to actually be there for it to fall under this description.

Next time, I'm going to share some of the benefits and blessings we have gained first hand by my being home!

What's your view of home? Sanctuary or sanatorium?

What A Terrible Place

Trapped:  to place in a restricted position

Confine: a: to hold within a location b: imprison

Stranded:: to leave in a strange or an unfavorable place especially without funds or means to depart

These words tend to make me think of horror movies, killers, kidnappers, and prison....sounds scary doesn't it? All the words I listed above were used to describe being at, wait for it, HOME.

I read this encouraging post on Money Saving Mom this past week and thought all the Likes were a positive vote for this great idea, then I read the comments. :( The post was about how this family is living with one car in a two car world. What a novel, inventive idea! Yes, I'm being sarcastic! However, when I see posts like this I'm encouraged about some of our family's choices, but at the same time it makes me scratch my head and wonder if some really think this is some original idea. It feels like sometimes, people really have no grasp of reality. (I may have just been born in the wrong time period.)

Anyway, as I read through the comments, it became all to clear what the overarching theme was. A few comments agreed with what the lady had said, but even many of those comments also included qualifiers like, "not by choice", "just barely surviving", and "too much longer or I'll be in an asylum". Then it hit me, what must these homes be like to invoke such strong and negative terms? Are there husbands locking them in closets and beating them?? Were they inner city slums in crime torn areas?

While I don't know these women, from them FB profiles and the other information in their comments, I highly doubt that many of them are living in a real life horror film.....they said things about how being forced to stay home with children would make the crazy, how their schedule was so full it would be impossible to stay home one day, and that cabin fever with the kids was not good for their mental health.

My heart broke, what a sad picture of culture today. Women, wives, mothers not wanting to be at home. Not enjoying the blessing of seeing little ones grow, leading little lives to Christ, and just enjoying the down time to grow as a close family unit. They were filling their lives with things, stuff, and activities.

Then I stopped, was I one of those women?

The 2%

So last Monday I shared our outlook on training our children now so that they could be responsible adults in the future! I don't want you too get the wrong idea....that 98% I spoke of takes time, effort, patients.......things that on some days I don't possess.

I also wanted to show you the 2%.

The "I'm getting nothing done, but cleaning up messes, nursing babies, cooking food, and doing laundry days".....it's it amazing that those days always seem to occur when my hubs either has to work late, has a meeting, or is on call.........hmmm

No the playroom didn't get cleaned up before nap time, no the lunch table isn't cleaned up, and no today's chores didn't get completed. Today we have welcomed the stomach flu into our home, yippee!! Nothing like bathing kids 3 times before noon and having laundry coming out your ears.

We are not perfect, no where near.

Every good intention on our part to have a scheduled and organized home has flown out the window and that's ok. So remember, if you are looking at someone's blog and thinking they have it all together --- They don't, I sure don't. It's good to be real, truthful, and open.

I'm a broken, imperfect sinner just like the next gal but I'm happy to say that someday I will be perfect!

Motherhood Mondays: Training Today

Last week we chatted about how we have to weigh the Now vs the Future. Some days choosing Now takes alot more effort that it should. Sometimes Now get's pushed to later or even tomorrow. I'm not proud of those decisions, but the great news is that - His mercies are new every morning - and I usually get another chance to do the right thing, NOW!

If you come over to my house on an average day, this is what our playroom would look like......

 and

 and sometimes.

Scary huh??

But during the 1pm-4pm quiet time we observe, and when it's time to hop in the tub at 8pm each night, this is what you would find 98% of the time.....

much better.

Does this room miraculously suck toys back onto shelves, reassmble millions of toys with tiny pieces, or wipe up spills from snacks? Oh I wish that was the truth!

Hardly! It took intentional training and that training is still happening each day. And I'm thinking it will be going on for many, many years to come..... :)

Would it be faster for me to run in there every day after the kids are asleep and clean everything up? Yes, for the now, it would be faster. Or wouldn't it be even easier to just leave everything out? I mean they are going to be playing with that stuff again tomorrow and after naptime right?

Sometimes, easier isn't better. Sometimes, faster isn't better.

If I cleaned up for them, the kids would never learn the skill of being responsible for the messes they make. They would never have the oportunity to learn how to do it for themselves. My 5 year old is a super helper. There has been many a time I've been nursing a baby or on the phone and I have been able to ask him to start picking up the playroom and to my surprise I have found it completely finished upon my arrival. On a super day, I may even overhear him showing his 2 year old brother how to clean up too.

Did God instill this boy with super cleaning and organizing genes? Of course not, it has taken 3-4 years of instructing and modeling how to clean up the playroom to get to this point. Because I sacrificed in the NOW, the FUTURE has gotten easier.

How about the idea of leaving it all out everywhere?? Well let's start with the truth......I would go absolutely crazy!!!  I would also be failing my children in leading them to believe that that is how God wants us to live. Self-descipline would fly out the window and quickly the entire house would be overtaken with items out everywhere. Because they know that twice a day they will be cleaning up their mess, they also start to rethink dragging out every board game, train, and item of dress up clothing, which makes the room easier to clean.

Training them NOW teaches them skills that they will need in the FURTURE at their job, in their home, and in their world. By taking the time to pause now and do the right thing, I benefit in the future by having children that are a help and a blessing, not a burden.

So is it worth it to SHOW them 15-20 times or DO it for the next 15-20 YEARS?

Motherhood Mondays: Future Dividends

I have a pet peeve....it's putting a trash bag in the kitchen trash can. Pretty silly, huh? My husband is fabulous at always rounding up the trash, dumping it together, and taking it out to the dumpster. Many a night he remembers that he forgot to put the dumpster out for the trash man and goes out in any weather to put it out on the curb, yet still, I have this "problem".

I just hate to get out the bag and put it in! But you know what else I hate?

When I have to pull out a bag, try to juggle dumping the overflowing trash into it, sweep up what I've split, grab damp trash with my bare hand, scrub out the can, wait for it to dry .........and then put a fresh bag in!

We have to make decisions like this all day, every day as moms. Do I unload the dishwasher now, so I don't have to stack dishes in the sink or will I wait and then have to unload it and immediately reload it, run it, and have to scrub the sink as well?? Will I run a load of laundry now and completely put it away or will I leave in somewhere waiting until a little one unfolds it or gets it dirty and I have to rewash and refold??

The underlying question to any dilemma like this is:

Is it worth it to invest the time in the NOW, to reap the benefits in the FUTURE?

Head back next Monday to see how this problem spills over into our parenting.....

Project Simpliy: Week One ~ Kid's Stuff!

Time to jump right in! If you are ready to join the ranks of declutterers get the scoop over at Simple Mom! I will be posting before and after pictures on Fridays of the kid's closets, toy room, and drawers and linking up in order to be entered to win a prize.

There's no time like the present to free yourself from the weight of unneeded items. Less to clean, less to organize, less to store!!

Motherhood Mondays: Guest Interview

Today I'd like to welcome author and speaker Susie Larson. Susie's new book Growing Grateful Kids has just released and I've invited her to share a little bit about this great resource.

Tell us a little bit about yourself and your family.

My husband and I have been married 25 years and have three grown sons (all in their early twenties). Our oldest son Jake works on the business side of the Christian music industry. Our middle son Luke is married to his beautiful wife Kristen; he works full time at a bank and part time as a worship pastor. Our youngest son Jordan is studying to become a surgical nurse. My husband Kevin is a commercial construction manager by day and manages my ministry by night (and weekends). Bless his heart.  I am an author, speaker, and an on-call radio host for Christian talk radio. Together, Kevin and I serve as advocates for justice on behalf of modern day slaves and human trafficking victims.

Tell us about your new book, Growing Grateful Kids: Teaching Them to Appreciate an Extraordinary God in Ordinary Places.

Even when economic times are tight, our children enjoy an abundance of material possessions. Yet, amidst all this wealth, discontentment and competition seem to be on the rise. Instead of teaching children virtues such as gratefulness and patience, many parents are bending over backwards to get their children the latest and greatest item - or feeling guilty when they can't. In spite of the currents of materialism and entitlement that flow so strong, it is possible to raise children who are simply grateful. Though teaching perspective and gratitude to our children is critical, it is not difficult.

Why did you want to write this book?

To be completely honest, I never wanted to write a book on parenting. I wanted to protect my kids’ privacy and give them time and space to become the men God wants them to be. But in the last few years, I have been especially burdened with the level of selfishness, entitlement and disrespect I see among children today. Furthermore, moms seem more stressed than ever. When I asked my sons their thoughts on writing this book, without pausing they all said, “Do it, mom; that book needs to be written!” I think I wrote a book that not only equips young moms to raise humble, grateful world-changers, but also one that nourishes the soul of the reader and encourages her personally.

Throughout the book you remind the reader that we cannot impart what we do not possess. Can you explain?

If we never deal with our own fears, insecurities, and hang ups, but we try to teach our children to believe in their divine value, over time, our words will not ring true to them. First God wants to do His work in us before He does it through us. They say that lessons are more often caught than taught. If we parent from a place of conviction and real freedom, our children will be affected by what we teach them.

One of your chapters is titled, “Take Time to Play.” How does taking time to play teach our kids to be grateful?

To me, taking time to play says a lot about the level of faith we possess.

If our children hear us confess that we love and serve a BIG God and yet they see us striving and straining through life, they will come to believe that more is on our shoulders than on God’s. If we can trust God enough to step away from our busy-important lives, to make a fort in the basement, or play a game with our children – even in the most desperate of economic situations – we will give our children a sense of much needed security and that all is well in their world.

What do you want readers to take away from this book?

To answer this question (I hope you don’t mind), I would like to share an endorsement from one of my sample readers. She expressed my deepest desire for my reader:

“Growing Grateful Kids is such a great source of conviction, encouragement, and inspiration to spur me on to finishing this parenting race well and not sputter out along the way. This book compels me to submit my own character to the refining of the Holy Spirit that I may be equipped to impart those lessons onto my children. Thank you, Susie, for taking the time, for submitting in obedience, and writing this down for a generation in desperate need of this kind of parenting book!” –Gail Miller

Any closing thoughts?

I am very excited about the message in this book. It is my prayer that every one who reads it will be nourished, encouraged, and equipped to parent from a place of fullness, conviction, and confidence. Raising grateful, confident kids will be one of the most heroic, important things you do in your lifetime. God’s blessings to you!

Motherhood Mondays: Guest Interviews

For the next two Motherhood Mondays, I will be featuring some guest interviews from the authors of two wonderful new books from Hearts at Home! I hope you enjoy hearing about these great books and the wonderful ideas they have presented in their books! Enjoy!

Today I'd like to welcome Jill and Mark Savage. Jill and Mark's newest book Living with Less so your Family has More just released and I've invited them to share a little bit about this great resource!


Tell us a little bit about yourself and your family.

We have been married for 27 years…17 of them happily. After finding ourselves in a marriage counselor’s office around year 8 or so, we realized that we really didn’t know how to be married. We worked hard to turn things around and now we like to share that hope with other couples.

We have five children ranging from 13 to 25. Our oldest three are married. Anne (25) and her husband, Matt, live in Zion, IL, and are expecting our first grandchild in April. (We are very excited!) Evan (22) and his wife, Julie, have been married a year and a half and they live just a few miles from us. Erica (19) married her husband Kendall last September. They live in Augusta, GA, and wherever else the Army takes them.

We have two teenagers still at home. Kolya just turned 16. He’s learning to drive and we’ve nearly worn a hole in the carpet on the floor in the passenger seat trying to find that non-existent brake pedal. Kolya is the newest member of the Savage family. We adopted him at the age of nine from Russia.

Austin is 13 and in the 8th grade. He wants us to make sure and tell the world that this “living with less” life is a real bummer because he’s the ONLY kid in 8th grade who doesn’t have a cell phone.

Tell us about your newest book Living With Less So Your Family Has More?

The world screams the message that bigger is always better, but we have found that is not often true. When it comes to raising a family, less materially can actually result in more relationally. Children don’t need the best houses, the best lessons, the best cars, or the best clothes. What they really need is the best home life and the best family relationships we can give them.

Why did you want to write this book?

We didn’t start out with the “less is more” mindset. We started as a double income family wanting to have the “best” of everything. Then Mark decided to pursue ministry. We went from the “high life” to the “frugal life” very quickly as we moved to another state for him to go to Bible College full-time.

That experience introduced us to the concept that less is more. We definitely had less money, but we had more time. We had less stress and more peace. We had less activities and more fun.

Since that experience, we’ve continued to live primarily on one income for the past twenty years. We’ve had to battle cultural peer pressure and make different decisions for our family than many other families in our neighborhood have made. But we’ve never felt that we were materially depriving ourselves or our kids…instead we’ve focused on what we’ve actually been able to provide for them emotionally and relationally.

What do you hope your readers will gain from this book?

We hope the reader is encouraged to evaluate how they are living their life, spending their money, and thinking about family matters. Our goal is to introduce families to the “less is more” concept and then equip them with the attitudes and actions to actually make that happen.

For families that are already committed to less is more, we hope to bolster their resolve and help them stay focused on the long-term goal of providing relationally for their kids.

In today’s economy, there are many families being forced to live with less. We want to help them see the opportunity they have with this unexpected downsizing they’ve been forced to do.

And for those who have just been a little discontent with their life and saying things like, “I’m tired of the rat race of life,” or “Is there more to life than drive-thru meals for dinner?” we hope to help them see other choices they have and how they can lead their family in a different direction.

What unique elements will the reader find in Living With Less So Your Family Has More?

For couples who want to read the book together, we’ve included discussion questions at the end of every chapter. This helps move the readers to discussion and eventually actions. Even a single parent can use the discussion questions for personal evaluation.

Readers will find this book a practical guide to changing your attitude and your actions to live a successful “less is more” life. They’ll find our writing style to be a warm, casual, honest discussion where we not only share our victories but our mistakes along the way. We are an average couple living successfully on an average income who want to help others to see the possibilities before them.

This is a Hearts at Home book. What is Hearts at Home?

Hearts at Home is an organization that encourages, educates, and equips women in the profession of motherhood. Hearts at Home encourages moms through annual conferences, our extensive website (www.hearts-at-home.org), a free electronic newsletter, a radio program, and an entire line of books designed to meet the needs of moms all over the world!

Any closing thoughts?

It’s healthy for parents to occasionally pause and evaluate their vision for their family and the choices they are making. We hope this resource will help them do that together and that it will lead them to live a life of little regret.

Motherhood Mondays: Potty Training!

So tomorrow morning we have decided to no longer put Grant into diapers. He has been going on the potty really well for a couple months now, but we were unsure how it would go leaving the house without a diaper on. So Tom and I talked and we are just going cold turkey and will see what happens. Grant is not dry in the morning, so we will still put him in something at bedtime, but hopefully the day time will continue to go smoothly. Hopefully my laundry pile won't grow at an insane rate! Grant loves to be naked and wear his cars underwear around the house....I might need to buy more undies!!!!

For those of you with boys (or girls is guess too), Grant has no trouble going pee-pee on the potty, but when he needs to poop he goes and hides and if we try to get him to sit on the potty, he just screams and panics. He really likes to stand while he is pooping.......anyone had this experience? Any ideas??

Motherhood Mondays: Home Management

Do you treat the blessing of being able to stay home like you would a job outside the home? Do you have objectives for each day, maybe even a checklist, or planner that you use to stay focused?


I love being home, but some days it feels like 5:30PM rolls around super quickly and I look at the house and can't remember ANYTHING that I did that day.....then there are some days that the day drags on and again, I look around at total chaos and wonder what I did that day too.


The days I find that I accomplish the most are those days that I make a checklist or write down things that need to be done and check them off. I love lists, lists for chores, lists for menu items, lists for appointments, lists for lists! Yes, I'm obsessed!


I think my main reason for this post is to see if anyone has any fun ideas on how to stay more focused as a home manager. I know that at an outside job I wouldn't be listening to Moody radio all day, chatting on the computer, or watching some TV.....but again, that's why I'm blessed to stay home. I do try to regulate how much I'm watching the TV or are on the computer, but some days I walk around trying to think what to do next......not that there aren't TONS of things to do, but sometimes it's just overwhelming to do the same thing again or start something that I know will be interrupted in 2 minutes.


I am really looking forward to hearing some ideas, personal triumphs and flubs, and maybe even some fun tools that you use to clean, organize, or schedule your life!!!

Motherhood Mondays: Less is More

I've been fighting with this problem for a while. We have so much stuff!!

Where did all this stuff come from?? When we moved to Michigan we had to pack TWO moving trucks. I begged Tom, my mother and dad to go to storage and help me drag everything we owned out, go through it and donate/trash tons of items, but I think that they just thought this was the request of a crazy 9 months pregnant woman.

I think most of the problem is that we moved out of our townhouse, into my parent's house, since we were going to be on the road 7 months for out of state rotations. Then with everything, but bare essentials, packed into storage you start needing other items, so you buy them. Then you pack even less and load it into your SUV and travel from Oklahoma, to Texas, to Florida, to Pennsylvania, to New Jersey, to Pennsylvania, to home(not to mention your husband flies 8 different places during these same months to interview with programs as well) and you find you need more items........so you buy them. Do you see where I'm going with this??

We ended up with duplicates, triplicates, and tons of stuff we only needed once and will never use again. Not to mention we weren't the best judges of NEEDS when we first got married and neither were the people that bought insane items to celebrate our marriage (Did I mention we DIDN'T register for a 9 piece champagne bouquet. For those of you who don't know what this is, including me, this is a glass vase with long stem champagne glasses with NO bases-meaning you can sit the glasses down, they only stand in their vase and are multi-colored glass. For people who don't drink and aren't at the height of the social ladder, these proved to be the chocolate milk and soda cups we've ever had)

Anyway, we've finally realized what our priorities should be and stuff to tote around the country or store, didn't make the top 50. So, we are in the process of scaling back, giving away, and selling all this unneeded stuff. We found that our stuff was making my life harder, in that I had to clean it, organize it, look at it, and live with it. It started to weigh us down and after living in a house with unpacked boxes for 9 months, we realized that if we hadn't used it in months, possibly years, then we really didn't need it and it needed to stop taking up precious room and time.

We live in a country where we are so blessed by the Lord. We take so many things for granted and are so dependent on our stuff, instead of God. We are always looking for new ways to cut back, live simpler, save money and give more. That's why I was so excited when I received this email from Hearts at Home this week. I can't wait to read this book and I hope that it might bless you too!

I am excited to share a fun opportunity with you!

To celebrate the release of Hearts at Home’s newest book: Living With Less So Your Family Has More, by Jill and Mark Savage, the Hearts at Home blog is launching the Living with Less Contest.

Email Hearts at Home a story or money-saving tip that gives a peek into your daily experiences representing the humor, richness, or spiritual aspects of what it’s like to live with less.

Better yet, blog readers will benefit as many of the money-saving entries will be posted on the Heart’s blog throughout the month of February!

For contest details go here!

Hearts At Home!

Have you ever felt alone as a mom? Lost in your chosen field of mothering?

There is an organization that was created to encourage, educate and equip women in the profession of motherhood. Hearts at Home helps thousands of moms love their lives through their many resources including conferences, website, and books.

Recently I partnered up with this organization as a blogger. Over time I hope to share with you the many resources this ministry has to offer (old ones and new). To learn more about the Hearts at Home Blogging team go here.

In the meantime I would like to encourage you to explore their website and blog for an immediate dose of mothering encouragement.