All I could do for the past several hours was bawl. I learned last night, by accident almost, that my blogger friend, Marshy’s, three-year-old son was missing, and they were looking in their pond. Amanda and Jocelyn know Marshy’s sons better, and when I was in a conference room, and I read Marsha and HOTM, I just knew it was our sweet Marshy from HSB.

And, I ran. I ran down the stairs, and asked Amanda and Jocelyn if one of her son’s was Christian, and they said yes, and I related the story. I was speechless. We all gathered and Matt prayed.
I emailed groups and friends and waited.

I am heart-broken to have to ask you to pray for the Drews family in Texas as they mourn the passing of their sweet little boy. Yes, a life to celebrate, but we don’t get to go with him, and I know he will be so missed.

Heather asked a poignant question: “How Do You Say Good-bye To A 3 Year-old?“. You don’t say good-bye to a three yo, do you? You don’t say good-bye to any of your children forever, do you? How could you? You keep remembering, and you look at all the photos you are so thankful you took of their life, and you cry and love him all over again, but I don’t know about saying good-bye. Maybe, as they said on the HOTM post, “See you soon,” but not good-bye. Or maybe I am still in shock.

I have friends in AL and LA who lost her husband and Daddy who are still - and always will be - suffering. I have requested prayer for and kept up with Rachael Kligmann’s family, Pete and Corinne and children. You walk in it forever. My heart is broken for all of them.

I keep hugging on Caleb, because, HE would have gone back to the lake (it’s a BIG pond!). He has escaped death already very many times in his short life. That is just how he is. And, at three, he is just learned enough to understand what you say, but not quite ready to really fully understand the consequences. That is how it is. My heart aches for a family and a little boy I have never met, but am grieving with deeply. You can’t say good-bye. Can you? You can only hold on to memories and the hope of seeing him again with the Lord.

Dianne mentioned something that I also felt last night, when I found out Christian was missing: All these other “important” things are just so trivial. Who cares? I am going to be watching and loving my children today. I am going to be content today with my life. My husband. My children. My home. I am going to cry today for a friend.

As I told Marshy in an email: No words, just tears. I am heartbroken for them. I wish I was there to go over and hug her right now. I wish there was something I could do, but there isn’t. The only thing I can do is to pray that my Father will wrap His arms around this sweet family and just hold them all the way through.

“Dear Father, I am so heartbroken right now, you will have to read my heart. Please hold David and Marshy and their little boys right now as they walk knowing Little Christian is with you. Please turn their sorrow into joy as they remember him and talk about him and all miss him together. I pray that you will be their comfort and their peace and their protection and encircle them with your people for everything they need.“

I am so sorry my dear friend. Praying for you all.

LOVE and HUGS

Be sure to read Celebrating the Life of Little Christian “Dozer” Drews. You can see some cute pictures of him there and read the condolences. Little Sweetie.

Amanda is Heartbroken.

Jocelyn, too, is heartbroken, and asks Please Pray For DrewsFamilyTX

Heather wrote up How Do You Say Good-bye To A 3 Year-old?. You can see a list of other posts on her blog.

Lisa wrote up an important post about How to Help During the Loss of a Child. It would apply to LOSS, period. I mentioned one of the important points in a different post: They will always walk through this, even after cards and calls stop. Don’t let them stop.

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I love to plan. I am a planning queen. It is the follow-through that sometimes gets me! No, not really. We all need to have a little bit of latitude to change plans midstream and do what works, right? My biggest problem is not planning or even follow through, it’s remembering I actually have a plan, and that I can follow it if I get it out. I realized yesterday that there is a reason all my planning items are on the table and the floor… I need a desk to put it all there for me to work at!

But I digress.

This week’s Homeschool Memoirs theme is Homeschool Agendas. I already did a post outlining a lot of the curriculum we are using this year, 2008-2009 Homeschool Plans.
Here is a more detailed list of what, where, when and how. Ok, maybe just what and when. For each of the ages on the lapbook and studies, I am sure Caleb, the 3yo, will also be getting into the cutting and pasting, though he won’t be writing anything down, so his lapbook will be more like a glorified coloring book.

Bible-Ancient History-Jewish Culture Study

(ALL AGES) Reference: A Family Guide to the Biblical Holidays by Robin Sampson.
The Bible
We will be making lapbooks for these studies for at least the Littles and Middles. Not sure how my high schooler and graduate gal will do them.

Sept.~Oct.~Nov. Section 4: Fall Holidays

Rosh Hoshana (Feast of Trumpets - Praise and Worship)
Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement - Grace)
Sukkoth (Feast of Tabernacles - Trees)

Dec.~Jan. Section 5: Post-Mosaic Holidays

Hannukah
Purim (the Feast of Lots)

Feb~March Section 6: The 7th Day, The Sabbath

Purpose of The Sabbath
Sabbath in Bible Times
Messianic Significance of Sabbath
Celebrating Sabbath

Each study will discuss these five aspects of the holidays:

Purpose of —-
— in Bible Times
Jewish customs of celebrating today
Messianic Significance of —–
Celebrating —-

Each study also has Activities to do for that particular study. We will be putting these studies into a lapbook and making the activities part of the booklets and such.

Bible-Wisdom Unit Study

April~May~June (For children around the ages of 12 and up) Text Reference: Wisdom Unit Study by Heart of Wisdom

Bible-Modesty Study

April~May~June (Girls, ALL AGES) Resource: Knowledge Box Central Modesty Lapbook (for girls) K-8th Grade
Hannah, age 8, and Rachel, age 14 will be doing lapbooks. The oldest girls (17 and 18) may use notebooks or something. We will see. I may have them print off what they have already written on their blogs about modesty and compile a portfolio. Another great idea would be to have them actually teach this part. Sounds like a good plan.

An on-going study will be the Doorposts studies. I have had these books for about 5 years, and I am currently creating separate lapbook activities from those in the curriculum. I will be letting them work on these as they can as a personal Bible study, not as a group study (I will be posting more about these at a later date):

Doorposts: Plants Grown Up
Doorposts: Polished Cornerstones

Copywork

Isaac, age 5: The Bible
Hannah, age 8: The Bible, A Beka Writing with Phonics 2
Eric, age 11: The Bible, A Beka Writing 2
Rachel, age 14: The Bible, A Beka Cursive Handwriting

Lindafay has some excellent tips on Dictation and Copywork, and Oral and Written Narrations. Another book we plan to use for copywork is George Washington’s Rules of Civility.

History

Sept~ American and World History
Resources:
In the Hands of A Child Project Pack Cowboys!

Oct~Nov~Dec American Government and History
Resources:
Knowledge Box Central Presidential Election Process Lapbook (K-5th)
Notebook Learning The Election of A President
In the Hands of A Child Project Pack American Government, Grades 4 - Up
I will be using these with all the Littles and Middles. We will be making lapbooks, and fitting in the information from each resource as necessary.

Jan~Feb~March My State Notebook ~ Indiana
Resources:
A Beka My State Notebook
America’s 50 States by Learning with Weblinks
All of our children, ages 5 to 14 will be creating their own lapbooks. When they are finished with Indiana, they will be choosing another state or country.

Arithmetic ~ Mathematics

Amanda, graduated: Accounting, working on her own.
Jocelyn, senior year,
Rachel
Eric: Multiplication, Division review, A Beka 5
Hannah: A Beka 2
Isaac: A Beka 1 a bit.
For the Littles, we will be mostly counting things around the house. Adding things for recipes, counting monies. I have some Kumon Publishing My Book of Addition 5-6-7 and other books I still need to publish reviews for, so we will be putting their workbooks to good use.

Science

We will be using the Handbook to Nature Study by Anna Botsford Comstock as a supplement as we walk and draw and write and classify in our nature journals.
Much of the information we use we will be getting from Wikipedia and the following resources.

Sept~Oct. Biology/Life Science
Resources: In the Hands of A Child Project Pack Plants, Grades 4-8
Supplement Resource: Exploring Creation with Physical Science and Exploring Creation with Biology, both by Apologia

Nov~Dec Study of the Planets
Resources: still compiling this list.

Jan~Feb~March Nutrition Study
Resources: Reader’s Digest book of Nutrition
A Guide to Motherhood
http://Mercola.com
Study topics:

Diseases
Sugar and other Junk food in your diet
GMO’s and their harmful effects on the body and environment
Herbs and Vitamins

Reading

Our children read whole books. They are always welcome to pick out a novel or an acceptable book series to read at their leisure. I do not assign books to read, though I do have an assigned reading list around here somewhere….

Writing and Grammar

The majority of grammar learned in this household is by hearing properly-spoken, grammatically-correct English. The majority of writing is done on personal weblogs and in journals, and also for articles written in Growing in Grace Magazine. It is important for children to see and hear proper grammar, therefore, they read books that use proper grammar and no slang in the formative years of gaining a knowledge and understanding of these concepts.

I edit their grammar in their written articles, discussing the whys and wherefores about it if necessary, and give it back to them. I do not miss an opportunity to include them in the understanding of grammar if possible.
Other Resources: Simply Grammar (elementary ages)
Easy Grammar (middle-to-high school ages)

Spanish - All-year-round

Resources:A Beka Spanish Year one and Two
Lapbooking this one too! The curriculum has a lot of graphics I can use to make vocabulary lists and other booklets for a lapbook.

Whew! Is that all we are doing? I know I have to be forgetting something! We will be starting formal piano and guitar lessons when we are living next door to my sister and Adrian, because they can play and teach those. Right now, we do have a piano and lesson books, and we will be squeezing those in too.

Jocelyn asked us to share a Bible verse that has encouraged you or inspired you during this planning-process, and how. There are several verses that I would choose that encourage me as I plan, but I will share a couple:

Isaiah 26:3 “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.”
3 John 1:4 “I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth.”

I hope your homeschool year is great! One thing to keep in mind is that all of this is important, but sometimes it is the distractions where we touch our children’s lives and notice real life is where the real learning takes place. Be planned-out enough that you have goals and a direction, but be flexible enough that God will take precedence over the plans and He will be able to change them if necessary!

blessings!

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Sign my linky to let me know you were here and read my Homeschool Memoirs post! Oh… and you can comment too!! What do you think about my plans???

Related Articles:
2008-2009 Homeschool Plans
Lapbooking Links, Groups and Ideas

I can’t wait until this movie comes out!!! It will be showing in Fort Wayne. I have read up on the movie, and it looks really good. You can click on the Watch Videos to see some clips.

I also would recommend the site The Way of the Master.

Read the interview at Apples of Gold:

blessings!

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blessings!

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You can also find me today blogging at Homeschool Blog Awards:

Living Learning Homesteading Moments:

A compilation of simple homesteading ideas, projects and resources to do in any home with your children.

Related Articles:

Lapbooking Links, Groups and Ideas

Homeschool Links

“The first theme begins today, August 20th, 2008. This week, we want to hear about YOU. The author behind the words. The Momma behind all the homeschooling kiddos. Just write up something about you, your family, and your home. How long you’ve been homeschooling and why you decided to homeschool. It doesn’t have to be anything lengthy at all, but we’d love to hear it! You might include a family photo too!”

I actually have a whole About Me page here on my blog with all the details about me - probably more than you even want to know! Why is it so hard to write about myself? I feel like a bumbling idiot as I write this.

Me, the Me

I am almost forty. That sounds weird to me. I have eight children, who help me daily to look at myself. I have realized (in the past two weeks, especially) that I am nothing. I am nothing, striving to be the best I can be. Only because of Christ can I be a good wife and mother. Mostly, I feel as though it isn’t me at all anyway, but God in my children.

I love staying home with my children. Believe it or not, I feel like I am still new at learning what a stay-at-home mom is, though. I have only recently learned I like being “at home”. In addition to keeping the home and teaching our children, I write with my daughters at Growing in Grace Magazine and Homeschool Blog Awards. Growing in Grace has changed our lives and has given me so many homeschool assignments! I have so loved getting to know Sisterlisa. She has become one of my dearest friends. Same with the HSBA ladies.

Though I didn’t start out blogging with this intention, online friends have become some of my very best friends. God has blessed us with meeting many of them IRL, and I am so thankful! We are blessed with many IRL friends, but it is amazing how God have allowed us to be a part of so many wonderful friends lives through the internet, email, and also on the phone!

Me, The Wife

Matt and I met just over twenty years ago. We were young (hindsight is 20/20, isn’t it?). We met each other for about five months before tying the knot. I got saved in between those times, and we were both Believers when we married, but it has been a learning process.

My husband is an awesome man. He is a good provider, a hard worker, and a funny guy (well, he thinks so! :)) He is still the most handsome man I know, and I do love him dearly. We have been through so much, and I am still learning to be the wife God has created me to be, but God is faithful and merciful. And my husband is patient. Amazing that people have praised me that I “must be patient to homeschool and to have so many children.” I think they are more patient with me and my faults.

Me, The Homeschool Mom

The first time someone asked me how old Amanda was and where she was going to school, I was dumbfounded that anyone would expect me to send her anywhere.

After all, we were learning Bible verses, she knew how to tie her shoes, she was taking care of her baby sister, we read books, I mean, what did she need to go to school for and socialize with a bunch of other children in a classroom of strangers?

She even sat with us in church and lifted her hands in worship and at home, because she spent time with us, instead of in the nursery and classes with other people. I had never even heard of homeschooling. A friend invited me to go with her to the homeschool convention, and I knew that if this was legal, we were doing it! Of course, Matt was in agreement, and we decided we were homeschooling when Amanda was almost 4, Jocelyn was 2 and a half, and Rachel was on the way.

Here we are, 15 years later, still homeschooling, and with five more wonderful children. We are now eclectic homeschoolers, a big change from using all A Beka, the whole works. I am in the process of making up a lapbook plan for using Doorposts’ Polished Cornerstones and Plants Grown Up. We now homeschool anything that comes our way, like baby goats being born and building horse stalls or hope chests. Writing, as I mentioned, has become so easy since we discovered blogging in 2006.

Some days seem to be a bust as far as my plans go, but that is life. And it is often the best learning for us.

Me and Other Stuff

I believe the whole Bible.

I am Pro-life. When I was younger, I didn’t understand it, and it is so important for everyone to understand what it means to be Pro-life or Pro-choice.

I’m a breastfeeding momma. I am pro-breastfeeding. It is natural, and it is best. And Loolie is now 16m old, and to the playful stage. Love it!

We buy organic fruits and veggies and free range natural beef. Read all about it people. Ok… so I have a slight addiction to Dr. Pepper. I am working on that.

I have one brother and one sister. I am the oldest daughter.

I grew up about 90 miles from where we now live. I went to a private Catholic school from K-6th grade, and then I moved to the ominous giant government middle school that was about 1000 times bigger. Weird.

We are looking to move to Texas, but would love to live in Las Cruces, just to be near grandparents we have not lived near for 11 years. We miss our parents. We miss them as grandparents.

I have been a Believer for 20 years, and I still am a baby. I know so much about the Lord and the Word, and I have not even begun to scratch the surface. Thank you Lord for teaching me daily.

Anything else you want to know, look around my blog. I have pages and posts, and a link to my first blog. Better yet, look around my children’s blogs.

I am happy that God put it in Jocelyn’s heart to do this meme. She is such a Godly, bright young lady, and I am proud to be her Mother Dear. She has so many ventures God is using in her life to grow her. I am truly awed at how all of this homeschooling takes God out of the box and removes the limits this world places on our children. My oldest daughters are simply three awesome daughters I now get to see blossom in the Lord.

Sign my linky if you did Homeschool Memoirs!! I have read some of the posts, and I can’t wait to find time to read yours!

blessings!

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Mom and I were talking tonight. She was supposed to meet with a friend today, and she called her friend to see where she was, but she was busy doing something else. And that was ok with mom, but she was talking about how friendships change. They just change. People change. Or you change. It doesn’t make you dislike them or feel like you are better than they are, you just aren’t as close as before.

My friend, Danielle, and I use to do everything together. Everything. For a few years. Both of our lives changed, and while we are still friends, we don’t talk everyday. Sometimes we don’t talk for months. I don’t despise her or think she despises me or is plotting against me or whatever (because she just wouldn’t do that!), but our relationship changed! (I still expect you to come over a day with all your Littles and see the babies, though, Danielle!)

It is a blessing to know that though I may change, and my friends may change, that God never does. He is the same yesterday, today and forever. I know He will never change, and because of this, though the friendships do change, He can still be in them, and the friendship can remain, but even if it doesn’t, Jesus is the friend that sticketh closer than a brother! Oh, what a Friend we DO have in Jesus! (Proverbs 18:24) Jesus is the friend of many. He is the friend of those who love Him and believe on him as the Saviour today, as He was the friend of many 2000 years ago.

Luke 12 says:

1In the mean time, when there were gathered together an innumerable multitude of people, insomuch that they trode one upon another, he began to say unto his disciples first of all, Beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. 2For there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; neither hid, that shall not be known. 3Therefore whatsoever ye have spoken in darkness shall be heard in the light; and that which ye have spoken in the ear in closets shall be proclaimed upon the housetops.

4And I say unto you my friends, Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. 5But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him.

He cared about his friends, so he told them what is bad for their souls. He warned them of whom to fear or watch out for. He told them because he loved them. He was warning them about the religious men of the day. Men in authority in that day. Men who did not know God, nor did they recognize the Saviour.

Jesus was giving a warning about something that appeared holy, because it was necessary for them to know this. Just like what we are told about in the Word of all the things that God hates and will not be allowed in heaven. We aren’t told those things to put a damper on our fun or to keep us down or to make us appear ‘holier-than-thou”, but because He LOVES us!

The Ten Commandments.

The Books of the Law.

These are laws for the same reasons we tell our children to stay out of the street. The street is a dangerous place, and we love them and want to protect them. God loves us. Jesus loves us. He is our Friend, our Best Friend, and He tells us things even if we don’t want to hear them.

Jesus told His Disciples many things. He could not make them heed His warnings; He could only hope that they would trust Him and believe His words. When his words were too unbelievable for them, like Peter and the cock crowing, they did find out in the end that Jesus was telling them things out of His love for them, to warn them. He is our best friend. We can put our trust in Him, because He will not let us down.

Psalm 41:9
Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me.

People will.

People do.

I do.

When I let you down, my friends, I can only point you to Jesus, the best friend and Saviour of the world.

Do you know Him? Would you believe His warnings? Do you know why we need them?

blessings!

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