10 million miles

I’m just five years into this parenting thing, but I can tell already that holding a consistent expectation of obedience creates a peaceful home full of healthy people! Though we really try to prioritize obedience here, we go through seasons where we aren’t vigilant about it and things quickly spiral out of control: without it, we all become selfish, distracted, unhappy whiners. With it, we learn how to love sacrificially, obey God himself, and study the peace of our family. I’ve grown to love obedience and am happy to continually return to it, so that it is a crowning jewel in our home.

Resources to check out:

Say Goodbye to Whining, Complaining, and Bad Attitudes…in You and Your Kids! – Scott Turansky

Subscribe to the National Center for Biblical Parenting encouraging email updates (materials by Turansky and Miller)

Shepherding a Child’s Heart – Ted Tripp

To Train up a Child – Michael and Debi Pearl

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I’ve said it a million times: nothing – nothing – has inspired my prayer life like having a husband and children.

I don’t know about you, but these days, I’m prayin’ all day long: from the constant whispers of, “Thank you, Father! She is adorable! You are a genius!” to the panicky, “Oh-yikes-oh-yikes-oh-yikes! She’s JUST. LIKE. ME. Help, Father!!”

A household of precious people and animals keeps a woman’s heart busy!

How quickly I have learned… (read the rest at Raising Homemakers!)

(Tomorrow, my daughters will share our “obedience song” at 10 Million Miles… Subscribe today so you can start humming it, too!)

That we have arms and eyes and hearts with which to hold love!

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This post links up with Heart of the Matter’s Student Photo Week.

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Is it summer, beauty, youthfulness, flavor, or joy?

Whatever good is before you today, savor it full…

and your heart will well up in grateful praise.

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(Oh, you never know the tidbit of inspiration that may come your way at 10 Million Miles… Subscribe today!)

I was a week late with my curriculum posts, but I’m just in time for the School Room week at the Not Back to School Blog Hop!

In truth, I’m counting on the whole farm being a sufficient school room, but here are some snapshots of our indoor workspace. It’s so sunny! You would love it! I am grateful to have this little slice of a school room in our new home.

Here’s looking to the right:

To the left: (Even I am jealous of our bookshelves! They really are a dream-come-true.)

Here’s a little corner of the world in which to enjoy audio books. A hot spot for Viv.

And, here is a corner of the world for outdoor specimen.

(NOT in the house. Decidedly not.

Though, come to think of it, we do find plenty of specimen in the house and move them delicately out.

Or, of course, we suck them up with the vacuum cleaner.)

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What’s on the docket?

{Yes, yes, Vivienne is only just 5, and other children her age are heading off to Kindergarten this year. But we’re plowing ahead into first grade. I know. True educators are mortified. But we do have good reasons, I promise! I realize that I’ve never explained this to the skeptics or the genuinely concerned educators! Here’s why we feel comfortable calling this “first grade”: I’m convinced that God led us to begin her education a year early, and gave us peace to call it “Kindergarten” even though we otherwise actually support the concept of  helping a child to soar academically, while taking good old sweet time to advance through the “grade levels”.  So, although our decision contradicts our educational theories, obedience to the Lord’s leading just seems more important. We cannot begin to know why this may be important for her in the future, but we feel certain that it will be. And, so, we tackled Kindergarten-level work with gusto last year and are moving smoothly into 1st-grade-level work this year, that’s all.}

And so, glorious first grade it is!

Bible: Mighty Acts of God

Five in a Row: If curricula were love letters, FIAR would be the one I’d keep under my pillow. These week-long units are based upon beautiful picture books, and they cover all areas of study. Both of our daughters can engage at different levels. We paint, sculpt, eat, graph, map, cry, pray, and sing our way through lovely-book, after lovely-book.

The Phonics Museum: Grade 1 (We LOVED the K program. But be warned: it’s totally classical education and comes with a big thick workbook.  For all of our hands-on, face-in-the-wind learning we do, we also love a couple of good workbook pages every day. Yes, I actually wrote that: we love workbook pages. And The Phonics Museum has lovely ones.)

First Language Lessons for the Well Trained Mind

Saxon Math

Usborne First Book of Science,

The Little Hands Nature Book,

The Berenstain Bears’ Big Book of Science and Nature, and

Kid Concoctions, Creations & Contraptions.

(Don’t you want to be in-the-know when we dissect a frog or blow up the kitchen with baking soda? Subscribe today!)

AH, I can finally get down to the business of talking CURRICULUM.

LOVE IT.

But, first, you’ve just gotta tell me about your curriculum plans for the fall?! (In case you didn’t know, many homeschool moms LOVE to have this conversation! Over and over and over again…) Let me know in the comments or send me a link to your curriculum post, okay??

Here’s what we’ve decided for 2010 – 2011…

I’ll start with my youngest student: Lia.

Lia is so ready to begin her own little studies. I’ve been admiring Carisa’s Raising Rock Stars Preschool curriculum for months now, and think that it’s just the right program for our little girl.

Why it works for us:

1. It’s all about God’s Word; exactly what we want to feed our children.

2. Each week’s lesson is based on a story and a song… right up Lia’s alley.

3. It’s based upon Susan Hunt’s My ABC Bible Verses, one of the best ABC Scripture books I’ve ever read.

4. It covers the very basics: ABCs, 123s, and one sight word a week. Since Lia is so young, these little lessons will be just enough!

5. Every lesson follows the same format; papers are changed in/out of ONE posterboard. Simplicity at its best.

6. Every lesson will take 15 minutes at the most. Just right for our precious 2 year old.

7. It’s FREE. The quality of work that Carissa does is outstanding. The fact that she is still offering her materials for free is astounding. (Shhh! Don’t tell her, though!)

One million thanks to Carissa from 1+1+1=1 the perfect way to begin Lia’s formal education!

(Next year, I hope to purchase The Learning Parent’s Character Concepts for Preschoolers package. The year after that, I’ll do our good-old Learning at Home.)

Next post: First grade!

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Tip: If you’ve gone to the trouble of developing a voice for a character, use it! Pull it into the parts of the story that aren’t direct quotations, but are expressions of the character’s thoughts or feelings. Here’s what I mean:

Get a real accent!

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