Homeschooling for His Glory

Both my boys love Lego, so I thought I should sit down and write down what good things  can come out of them spending so much time playing lego (then I'll hopefully feel better . . .) 1 . Promotes and develops creativity. 2 . Gives them a chance to learn and develop sharing skills. 3 . Sharpens their story telling skills. 4. Opens them to new interests. My boys have discovered the world of kingdoms and knights through Legos.  Legos also has caused them to dig deeper into fire fighting and police stuff. 5 . Gives me long quiet times (except when there are disagreements). 6 . Develops critical thinking and problem solving. 7. Encourages spatial thinking and awareness: structural relationships, balance, and form. 8 . Stimulates your imagination. 9 . Develops motor skills. 10 . Stimulates concentration So what do you think?

With Every Breath by Sixpence None the Richer Hallelujah from the heavens Hallelujah in the heights above the earth Hallelujah all His angels Hallelujah for the last will be first Let everything that has breath praise the Lord Let everything that has breath praise the Lord Hallelujah in the morning Hallelujah for the beauty of His scars Hallelujah in the twilight Hallelujah sun and moon and shining stars Let everything that has breath praise the Lord Let everything that has breath praise the Lord When the night seems so long (throw your hands to the sky) You can sing a new song (wipe the tears from your eyes) When you're weak, He is strong He can heal your wounded soul And calm the storm inside For all your times of laughter In every hopeful prayer When the world weighs on your shoulders Through sorrow and your despair With everything, with every breath, praise the Lord Let everything, let every breath praise the Lord Let everything that has breath praise the Lord Let everything th...

All is Well by Robin Mark He lowers us to raise us So we can sing His praises; Whatever is His way all is well. He makes us rich and poor That we might trust Him more; Whatever is His way all is well. All my changes come from Him, He who never changes. I'm held firm in the grasp of the Rock of all the ages All is well with my soul, He is God in control. I know not all His plans, But I know I'm in His hands. He clothes us now then strips us Yet with His Word equips us; Whatever is His way all is well. And though our seasons change We still exalt His name; Whatever is His way all is well. All my changes come from Him, He who never changes. I'm held firm in the grasp of the Rock of all the ages. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z07ArXGi-s4[/youtube]

In my life this week... For the past few weeks I have been struggling with discipline issues, which is a big fault in my personality and temperament. That is the one thing I find challenging about homeschooling, but that is also a good thing as it forces me to keep working at it - my kids depend on it. Another thing that has been going on with me is  that I am so out of shape that I have a lot of annoying muscle and tension pains. Last week I decided that, since we live on the 8th floor of an apartment building, to use the stairs to my advantage by using them as exercise. I take the boys and we run down and up the 8th sets of stairs twice. Last week we did it once or twice, this week we did it 3 times. I am pleased and really hope to keep that up. The boys really like doing it. In our homeschool this week... This week we were able to cover much more school than last week, so I am happy about that. Wednesday I was sick with a stomach flu so we only did Math, which ended up having us do...

We all have many reasons why we homeschool, but for many of us one of the reason is the ability of being the primary influence on our kids as opposed to their peers or school teachers, on top of the added advantage of being able to teach in "the moment". One of the things we want to teach our kids is christian character and attitude. We all know that the best way is by modeling it to them ( I need to write a separate post on that since I am really learning that), but we can also use means. I just wanted to share here some of the things we have been and are using in our home to help us teach our boys godly character, attitudes and traits. 1. A Little Boy After God's Own Heart 2. Teach Them to your Children 3. Leading Little Ones to Christ 4. A Child's Book of Character Buiding 5. God's Wisdom for Little Boys 6. Parenting with Scripture 7. Bible memory verse system from Charlotte Mason 8. Characterjournal.com 9. A Catechism : We used Westmins...

Count It All Joy   Lord I’ll count it all joy When my troubles Close me in on every side. Lord, I’ll count it all joy When this road of faith Runs through the darkest night For I know You’re at work in me; Yes I know You’ll provide All the grace I need   Chorus: You have always been my Rock I will trust You forever, forever; You have never failed me God I will trust You forever, forever   Lord I’ll count it all joy When the weight of sorrow Drives me to my knees. Every heartache and pain In Your mighty hands Is forming Christ in me. And I know that Your Word is true; Yes, I know every trial Will only prove   Bridge Who can separate us From You and Your great love   Count it All Joy by Steve & Vikki Cook © 2004 Sovereign Grace Worship (ASCAP

Again, it's been 2 weeks since my last weekly wrap-up. Last week we had a week off and I am not sure where the week went. The playdates I had hoped to set up did not materialized, so we mainly stayed home and the boys did lots of playing, while I caught up on some reading. We did start preparing for our coming project fair for which Zach wants to do a presentation on Police (since that is his passion - recurring - at the moment), and for Joho  on boats. We've made up a prospective plan of what the board will look like, and Zach has been reading practically all the books we picked up from the library on the subject.  Now to actually work on it  . . .  Joho has been reading on his topic as well. We still need to pick out a model boat(s) to make. This week we started back on Monday, then we had a playdate on Tuesday and the rest of the week kind of went by. Wednesday it seems that Zach spent the whole day doing 4 pages of Math (nothing to do with ability but with diligence). The f...