God's Eternal Masterpiece

I was impressed. So impressed in fact that I knew I had to share on my blog about this amazing family business! Jesse and Becky have eight kids and they have been homeschooling for eighteen years. My husband and I worked with a couple of their children at a camp for the summer a few years ago and let me just say - they amaze me!

My family has known their family for quite some time and I knew that they had this business but after I started teaching and homeschooling my own children - suddenly their business takes on a whole new meaning! This family sells books, and homeschooling materials, and devotional books, and church materials, and DVDs and audio Cd's and you name it stuff! 

This may sound like a NORMAL business but here's the thing - either they have USED it themselves and loved it or it has been recommended to them at least THREE times by other people THAT THEY KNOW. Do you know what this means? No more purchasing something that may not be helpful! No more purchasing something that you don't like! Everything they have in their store is TRIED and TRUE! For a rookie like me who is just starting to look for books and resources to help teach my family, this is a GOD-SEND! 

CAN YOU BEAT THAT? 

And guess what - I want them to FLOURISH! Their ministry is amazing! I'm thinking of doing ALL of my Christmas shopping through them and with this special 15% off that they are offering to Stringer Mama readers - we all can go shopping crazy! Okay - be good stewards but PLEASE check out this family website! You will be glad you did! 

Here are some things I have MY eye on! 

 

  

By the way - God's Eternal Masterpiece did not come to me, I went to them and asked if I could do this for them so trust me - I'm not being reimbursed for telling you about their business - I just really think you should check them out! 

For 15% off of your ENTIRE order 

use Coupon Code - SAVE15

(this only works one time per customer)

Now head off to God's Eternal Masterpiece and check them out! Then head back over here and let me know what you think! 

In HIS Grip, 

               

ABC Bible Verses in ESV

I just took on a project that took WAY TOO much time NOT to share it with people! I wanted to have my children memorize one Bible verse each week for school. Since we are studying one letter of the alphabet a week, I thought having a verse for each letter would be perfect! I would just Google a search for "ABC Bible Verses" and Wah-lah! Done. It was not to be. What I wanted could not be found. What I did find all used the King James Version - which I don't have a problem with at all for myself, but I prefer using words my kids will or have already spoken to improve understanding. Some lists had a verse about how drunkards would not enter heaven! Honestly, I was a little baffled by THAT one! WHY I would want to use a verse about drunkenness for my child who is learning the ABC's I have NO IDEA! So I made one myself.

Here's what I wanted:

1. A verse that BEGAN with the letter 
2. A verse that was relevant to my children 
3. A verse in a version that was easy to understand 
4. A verse that was an entire verse or obvious section of the verse. 
5. A verse that is short enough for my two-year-old to learn in a week.

I am too picky apparently. But have no fear! If I want something done right, (or at least my way!) I will do it myself! So here they are - ABC Bible Verses in the English Standard Version that are short, easy to understand and contextual AND they all start with the letter of the alphabet - except for X - not happening!

Feel free to use these however you want to! Just leave me a comment and let me know that my hours of effort were appreciated! ;0)

A - All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Romans 3:23

B - “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved.” Acts 16:31

C - Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Ephesians 6:1

D – Delight yourself in the Lord. Psalm 37:4

E - Even a child makes himself known by his acts. Proverbs 20:11

F - Fear not, for I am with you. Isaiah 41:10

G – “Give thanks to the Lord of hosts, for the Lord is good.” Jeremiah 33:11

H - Honor your father and mother. Matthew 19:19

I - If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God James 1:5

J - Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. Hebrews 13:8

K - Know that the Lord, he is God! Psalm 100:3

L - Listen to advice and accept instruction. Proverbs 19:20

M - Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth! Psalm 100:1

N – No one can serve two masters Matthew 6:24

O – Oh come, let us worship and bow down; Psalm 95:6

P – Pray without ceasing. 1 Thessalonians 5:17

Q – Let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; James 1:19

R – Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.” Exodus 20:8

S – Submit yourselves therefore to God. James 4:7

T – Teach me to do your will, for you are my God! Psalm 143:10

U – Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture 1 Timothy 4:13

V – Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord. Romans 12:19

W – “We must obey God rather than men.” Acts 5:29

X – Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. 2 Corinthians 13:5

Y – You shall love your neighbor as yourself. Matthew 22:39

Z – “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today.” Luke 19:5

In HIS Grip, 
               

Our Homeschool Curriculum

In my opinion, choosing curriculum is one of the most challenging and potentially frustrating parts of homeschooling. I was home-schooled and my mom would get out all of her catalogs and just POUR over them for EVER! She was extremely picky and very good at picking out the best stuff. However, sometimes the curriculum just did not fit. I switched Grammar curriculum 3 times and it was so confusing trying to get the right one that it wasn't until I went to college that I finally grasped the concepts. 

But that was BEFORE! Now us home-school moms are BLESSED! We have so many resources at our fingertips! There are curriculum swaps and homeschooling conferences and FACEBOOK! So that's what I did. I had a shout-out on Facebook and asked if anyone had used the curriculum I was interested in. I had 4 of my friends who had used it and HIGHLY recommended it and now I highly recommend it too! I use My Father's World.

I can only vouch for the Kindergarten curriculum but let me tell you - this is GREAT! It's set up for a six-day week but the sixth day is primarily a book day. Which my kids LOVE! Each week is assigned a letter and each day of the week has different emphasis -- Introducing the letter, Handwriting, Math, reading/phonics, Art. But while having different emphasis, every day works on identifying and understanding the sound the letter makes as well as blending the sound with other letters. 

Not only does each week have a letter but it has a topic for each week. For example O- Octopus. So each day has different lessons relating to the topic. Presenting information about sea creatures, Making a hand octopus, coloring a map of the world and showing the blue ocean, go on an ocean outing or start an aquarium, creating an ocean mural. Then on book day it recommends 3 different books and a guide for each book. 

This works perfectly for me because I struggle with IDEAS! I am not blessed with the gift of teaching but I can use other people's ideas with no problem! 

I painted the letters to further define them! 

The ONE thing I'm not really crazy about is it doesn't follow the alphabet - for example the first week is S. This all works out when it comes to blending letters to make words but kind of different. 

I only bought the curriculum, I did not buy any of their extra things - but you will want something for the textile letters. I had ABC bath toys and they work great! And they are fairly cheap at Wal-Mart. It gives a hands-on experience that I can tell is helpful. 

So there it is - my curriculum for my kiddos! I am using it for both my 4-year-old and my 2-almost-3-year-old. I don't know yet if I will use My Father's World curriculum every year - I'll have to see what people say! 

Trash to School Desk!

I wanted school desks. I had no school desks. I had a table and that was fine but they weren't school desks. So I found some! I found two small tables that were left in the parsonage. I ALMOST threw them away but found random places to stick them so they would be useful. I'm SOOO glad I kept them!

BEFORE!!! 

They had been painted quite a lot so I did some research about paint stripping and it seemed to not be too daunting so I tackled them with paint stripper.

I slapped the stuff on and watched it do this! I was impressed - this should be easy! 

HA HA HA!!! Let me tell you - this was NOT easy! I scraped it off and it wasn't coming off. This stuff was ridiculous! After slathering on 3 layers of paint stripper and 4 chemical burns - this stuff eats through plastic gloves! I gave up and called a friend with a sander. I sanded that puppy down. Why I did not do that in the first place - heaven knows. God probably decided He would teach me a thing or two about patience and persistence. I don't think I got the persistence lesson though. To all who consider using paint stripper - think again and you will be glad you did. 

Here it is after being sanded (see the paint is STILL not all the way off!) and I started priming. 

AFTER! 

Here is the finished project! I was pretty pleased with how it came out and now it is no longer a trash possibility but it can be used for a desk for my schoolroom or if I find actual desks, I have a spot picked out in my hallway for this small table! 

This post is linked up with:


     

Why We Homeschool Right Now

I was homeschooled my entire life and my husband went to public and Christian schools growing up. We could have gone either way. We could have made the decision to send our kids to school or homeschool. To be honest, when I was growing up I had made up my mind that I would NEVER homeschool my kids and I would NEVER be a stay-at-home mom. HA HA HA! God has a way of changing your mind and laughing at the words "NEVER" and "WON'T." 

So here we are - I'm a stay-at-home mom and now a homeschooling one at that! But my husband and I came to the decision to homeschool fairly easily. For one thing, I was willing to do it and for another, we were heading into ministry and that can often mean a lot of moving. But those really weren't the REAL reason for choosing this option. 

We chose to homeschool because we feel that is what God led us to do. That's it. I could go on and on about the pros and cons of homeschool or public school or private school. But the truth of the matter is, I believe that God sets us up for a certain path and if we choose to follow God's ways and not our own, He will be glorified in His choice. The issue isn't homeschool versus sending your kids to school, the issue is following God's choice for you. For us, God made it pretty clear we should homeschool. 

It's incredible how God has given me a desire to teach my own kids. From the time that I taught Aimee how to write her first "A" for Aimee, I have gotten a thrill from teaching my kids and watching the light turn on in their eyes when understanding happens. It's fantastic and I wouldn't want it any other way. At least for now, unless God changes the direction of our path! 

Organization: Homeschool Room

Right now, the ONLY clean room in my house is: MY SCHOOLROOM!!! Does this ever happen to you? I worked really hard on my schoolroom last week to get it ready for the first days of school and the rest of the house fell into disrepair. Sigh. 

BUT! I am in love with our room! And I just HAVE to show it off with you and give you my ideas on decorating CHEAPLY but creatively!

I hung twine on the walls and paper-clipped the ABC cards from the curriculum I'm using across the top of the two walls you can see here. The posters were very exciting because on Amazon they cost about $5 a piece and I was NOT excited about that so I contemplated making my own but wasn't really excited about that either but then DOLLAR TREE came to my rescue and they had 2 for $1! They are pretty good except they have a baseball hat for the letter "C" which is a little confusing for little people - but oh well it's fifty cents! I also hung twine across the walls above my kids' desks so they could attach their artwork or other accomplishment papers with clothes pins - they thought these were AWESOME and proceeded to fill them up right away! 

As you can see, my desk and my chair on wheels is in between my kids two desks and it works great going from one desk to the other and back - AND I can do my own thing when they are doing worksheets on their own. I also was able to show them a science Youtube video yesterday which was a really fun addition to the curriculum. 

Emily even has her little nook all figured out by my bookcase which has paper, books, and puzzles - makes it easy to have all of that in here if I decide to use them in my teaching. Oh and have to tell you about the "Tell Me About Today" calendar in the corner - it was FIFTY CENTS!!! Yes, at a thrift shop! I was jumping UP and DOWN about that one! These babies run anywhere from $40 and up!  

What do you think? Do you have any thrifty ideas for decorating a schoolroom? 

I'm linked up with these AMAZING ladies at:

     

Life in Our Fishbowl: School and the Pastor's Kids

Today is our first official day of homeschooling! It's our first year and I'm super excited! So this week's posts will all be about homeschooling! Today I want to talk about Pastor's kids and school. 

It's always interesting to me to see what Pastor's families choose when considering schooling their kids. Sometimes it surprises me, sometimes it doesn't. But what I have noticed among our friends who are pastor's families, it's pretty evenly distributed between homeschooling and sending their kids to school. 

My dad became a pastor when I was 13 years old and he was looking for a church for a little over a year before God called him to a church. But I remember that some of the churches we visited were quite opinionated on whether or not the Pastor's family should homeschool. Sometimes it was a matter of whether or not the other families in the church homeschooled or not. But one particular church was very interested in my dad becoming the pastor there if my dad would change one thing. They wanted him to send his kids to public school even though all of their kids homeschooled. My dad said no to that church because he felt as though God wanted his kids to be taught at home.

When we first moved here and began our ministry, we started to meet people in the town and I will never forget meeting a couple of the school bus drivers. Their first question was "How old are your kids? We drive the in-town school buses." As soon as I told my kids ages which were then 3 and 2 - it was obvious that we would not be sending them to school on the buses. But I chose to not tell them that we were going to homeschool because I did not want the first impression of the Pastor's family to be misunderstood as antagonistic towards our public schools.

A lot of small towns have a wonderful school pride and they can often become offended at homeschoolers because they think we won't support the area schools. It's often misunderstood that ALL homeschoolers have a problem with public schools. That's not entirely true. For us, we are willing to send our kids to school, we just feel that we chose the best choice for OUR family by choosing to homeschool. 

If you've been following me for a while you know that I believe that it's important to hold yourself to the standard of God and not the standard of men or even our own standards. This applies to homeschooling as well. You can only make the decision for your family and you should not force your own opinions of righteousness on others. Homeschooling is not the best choice unless it is also God's choice. 

Ta-Da!! New Blog Design!

I have been wanting to change the design of my blog for quite a while but finding the time to learn how to do what I wanted was quite demanding! So I took a little break first for our family vacation (which was wonderful!) and a few more days off from posting so I could focus on the design of my blog! Let me know what you think! Oh and if you haven't figured it out yet, the header is clickable so check out my different pages! And if you would like a prettier button to link to my page - here it is!


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I have a lot of exciting things coming up - next week we start our first official day of HOMESCHOOLING!!! Hooray! So if you click on the homeschooling link above, you won't find much there yet - but next week you will! I'll be talking about the Pastor's kids and school, showing off our homeschool room and letting you in on our decision to homeschool!

Are you a new homeschool mom too? Let me know and we can cheer each other on!