Cabin Fever

As much as I love winter, by March I am ready for it to be over. I get cabin fever and long for spring. Witnessing the rebirth of God's creation energizes my soul and motivates my creativity. Cabin fever hit a little early this year. In an attempt to ease my jitters, I pulled out my favorite nature book yesterday. The children and I looked longingly through the pages of Maryjo Koch's The Nest. (I've searched for a link for the book, but could only find Koch's site which doesn't mention the book.) Today I found and purchased An Egg is Quiet, by Dianna Aston. It is very similar to The Nest, with the style of a Nature Journal. The sketches and watercolors in these books have created a stirring within me. I can no longer hold out for the robin to grace us with her presence. I've decided that the children and I will make this bird feeder tomorrow. I already have the seeds. We'll hang it outside one of our huge windows and see what new friends we make. Surely, we're not the only ones anxious for spring!

(Please remember to wave your mouse over titles to find links. For some reason this template doesn't bold links.)

Art

Art has always been one of my favorite subjects. That love seems to be rubbing off on my children. Aside from the constant stream of drawings, sticker art and miscellaneous crafts in our home, we have two official days of art per week.

On Mondays, we sit together to do a picture study. We are currently working through Come Look With Me; Enjoying Art with Children. Each portrait not only includes details about the artist and it's subject, but also a list of questions to get discussion going. We also identify the elements of shape and colour included in the portrait. This practice exposes the children to various works of fine art and a wide variety of artist, as well as inspiration for future works of their own. Not to mention more cuddle time!

On Thursdays, Gabriel and I are working through two books. We are using Drawing with Children and How to Teach Art to Children consecutively. Many of the lessons in the latter reinforce those in Drawing with Children. Once we finish Drawing with Children, Part Two of How to Teach Art to Children has many projects to continue practice and to broaden our use of medium.

I've provided links to the books we are using. Just wave your mouse over the title you are interested in. As soon as Gabriel gives me permission, I'll start posting some of his drawings.

Whom Do You Reflect?

After witnessing the beauty of last Wednesday's eclipse, I was inspired to write about our own spiritual eclipse.

When our children are young, we teach them about our solar system. We teach that the earth revolves around the sun and the moon revolves around the earth. The sun is a source of light during the day, as is the moon at night. The moon, however, does not shine on its own. Its light is a mere reflection of the sun.

In John 8:12, Jesus said that he is the light of the world. But wait, in Matthew 5:14, we read that we are the light of the world. How can the two be true? God has given us a wonderful example in his creation to teach us this truth. Jesus (the son) is like the sun. He is the true light of the world. We are like the moon. We cannot give light to the world unless Jesus shines on us, unless he is in our lives. It is through the darkness that we must reflect the light of Jesus, lighting the way for those in the world. Matthew 5:16 tells us how we do that. We do not merely sit in our homes, as if under a bowl. Our light shines through the good things we do and through the praise we give to God.

Occasionally, the earth gets in the way of the sun shining on the moon. This causes a lunar eclipse. For a period of time, the moon does not reflect the light of the sun. Instead, it reflects a shadow of the earth.

We can experience an eclipse on a spiritual level. When we allow the world to cast its shadow on us, the light of Jesus is unable to reflect off of us. Be challenged today. Ask God to show you how the world is keeping you from being a positive light. For some, it may be your words and the attitude behind them. In Philippians 2:14-15, Paul tells us not to argue or complain, so that we can become pure and blameless, shining like stars in the universe. Perhaps you are overshadowed by your choice of clothes. Does your appearance draw attention to yourself or to God's glory? Think about the money you spend, the activities you participate in, the media you allow into your home. So many verses flood into my memory on this subject. Be a living sacrifice... we are the Lord's temple...let there not even be a hint of immorality... Here are some more shadows to consider: food, worry, hate, etc. Everyone can think of something that casts a shadow on their reflection. My challenge is to ask God to forgive you, and to remove that shadow from your life. Ask yourself on a regular basis, "Who am I reflecting?" My prayer is that it will always be Jesus.

This lesson is meant for all who read it, including myself. I plan to tuck it away, saving it for my children to hear during the next eclipse. If only God had brought it to me sooner!

My New Favorite Hangout

Grab a cup of tea and join me!

Why We Educate at Home

I've decided to start this blog off with our reasons for educating at home. As for most, there is not one simple answer. In a nutshell, it's because we believe home is the best choice for our family and we believe God is pleased.

Home schooling is something I wanted to do before I even had kids. It kind of runs in the family. I saw the fruits of home school and wanted that for my children. I thought it would be fun as well as save my children from some of the heart ache I endured throughout my school years. My husband, Scott, was not in complete agreement. He had the usual concerns about our qualifications, the socialization of our children, etc. It only took the birth of our first child to change his mind.

When making decisions for our children, we always consider their spiritual welfare. The same has been true in regards to their education. I love Scottt's statement, "My concern is not whether or not my child turns out to be a geek. My only concern is that my child loves God." Amen.

After prayer and discussion, we decided that public school was not an option. In the beginning, my fears took over and I pushed to have our oldest son, Gabriel, enrolled in a Christian preschool. Gabe's first experience with school was wonderful. At that point, I resigned myself to a lifetime of being classroom mom.

Then we moved. We moved 4500 km away from home. A month later, we dropped Gabriel off for his first day at his new school. As we drove away, Scott was questioning the wisdom in our choice. I was saying, "Scott, I NEED the time alone." (What a dummy I was.) Besides, Gabriel needed a place to make new friends. Right?

Scott continued to give me a guilt trip, but left the decision to me. Had I been wiser, I would have submitted to his leadership and avoided the problems to come. The guilt did eat at me some. I spoke with a friend about the decision and she assured me that I should only home school if God burdened my heart to do it.

It didn't take long for things to go sour. Within two weeks, Gabriel was crying every time I dropped him off. He never talked about school in a positive light and lost interest in learning at all. After some investigation and time in the classroom, I realized that the new teacher was very insensitive to the needs of children out of her range of normal. She always acted frustrated with kids who didn't comply to her standards. In fact, one day she told me that Gabriel had a fear issue and needed to memorize Philippians 4:13. I offered to speak with her further in a phone conversation rather than in front of my son, other children and their parents. We had a nice conversation and I told her that Gabriel would no longer be in her class, effective immediately.

My heart was burdened and I haven't wavered since. As time goes by, we see more and more reasons to keep our children at home. There are so many things in life that pull us away from home. So many children spend so few hours out of the influence of home. In the end, we want to be the primary influence in our children's lives. We want to have time spent with our children developing trust and teaching values to strengthen them for adulthood. We want to teach them that God is really the only thing that matters.

Besides, Scott works nights. Our family time is in the morning. Need I say more?

Now, for a tiny confession. One of our children is in preschool two mornings a week. This was not an easy decision for us. She does have some needs that, due to various reasons, we are unable to meet on our own right now. It is our plan to take her out as soon as she is enrolled in the services for which we await. In the meantime, this homeschooling momma is very irritated by everything that goes along with preschool. I.E., fundraisers, parties, dress-up days, show and tell, etc. Basically, all the things that everyone else loves about school now officially get on my nerves.