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Saturday, September 29, 2012

open tabs (home school stuff to consider for Christopher)

 

DAILY NOTEBOOK - http://shared.confessionsofahomeschooler.com/calendar/DailyNotebook.pdf

 

TVO GAMES - http://www.tvokids.com/games

 

EASY PEASY ALL IN ONE HOME SCHOOL - http://allinonehomeschool.wordpress.com/how-to-use-this-curriculum/

 

HAND WRITING WORKSHEET - http://www.writingwizard.longcountdown.com/multi-word_handwriting_worksheet_maker.html

 

CHARLOTTE MASON FAQ - http://amblesideonline.org/FAQ.shtml#started

 

ABCYA.COM - http://www.abcya.com/third_grade_computers.htm

 

LESSON PATHWAYS - http://www.lessonpathways.com/Splash

 

TEACH THEM TO TEACH THEMSELVES - http://www.robinsoncurriculum.com/view/rc/s31p993.htm

 

http://www.scribd.com/doc/49616309/Teaching-Your-Children-In-Dependance

We Have Enough Victims, Not Enough Heroes

http://www.thechurchofnopeople.com/2012/09/we-have-enough-victims-not-enough-heroes/

“God will never give you more than you can handle.”

God Will Always Give You More Than You Can Handle

September 28, 2012 — 39 Comments

http://www.thechurchofnopeople.com/2012/09/god-will-always-give-you-more-than-you-can-handle/

time to refresh me

an update about my crisis

Thank you to all of you you have reached out to me with your love and words about my time of crisis.  This has been building for a while in my life and I have mostly been strong throughout all that life has handed me but this month I have run out of strength.  So my task now is to figure out how to juggle all of what is on my plate right now and not drop anything.  And to give everyone what they need and deserve but not run myself so ragged.  And last but not least I have come to realize that I need to put myself on the list of who has to be taken care of too. 

Here is what I am juggling:

1.  I am a mom to two teenagers whom we home school. 

-  My oldest “graduated” (meaning he is no longer a full time student) in June.  He is currently working full time here at our ranch plus we are preparing for him to move out this fall to his own place.  We have spent the past few weeks ripping up the ground for all the utilities to be put in place and get his new home hooked up and running before winter.

-  My daughter is 15 and I think she currently finds herself in her most confusing years of her teen life.  She is a social butterfly online (which I appreciate because of our rural life and I hate because “friends” invade our home all the time).  Friends take up all her time and I struggle to get her to manage her time to focus on the things she doesn’t want to do like school work, home responsibilities and ranch work.  I have yet to find a way to put boundaries around her time that fit with my chaotic life and time away from home.  (We just finished up a discussion about this and what my game plan is for October to hopefully address this. She is not happy with me.  I finished the talk with how I need to be a parent and I have been shirking my parental duties AND that being a parent really sucks sometimes.  Sigh.)

2.  I have been assisting my mom with her medical needs for over a year now.  It has been quite a journey.  And since January we have been spending 2-3 days per week at the hospital for magnesium infusions plus traveling for specialist appointments.  Even that was all going well till this summer when I just ran out of gas.  But I ran out because…

3.  In June we had our 7 year old nephew come to live with us after a crisis with his father.  So not only have I had to adjust to have a youngster in our home again but one with a lot of emotional baggage from his broken family life.  He has anger issues and has social interaction problems.  But we have decided to home school him (for his own benefit) and we are currently pursuing guardianship of him.  BUT he is not an easy student to teach and I feel pressure to meet grade level standards just in case he has to go back to public school next year. 

Sooooo, if I was dealing with just ONE of any of the above scenarios I could handle it no problem.  But all three (along with all regular life things – bills, housework, business to run, friends and family and so much more), is just more than I can handle in this moment.  I think what has happened is that I have run dry, I am running on empty.  So the other day the thought occurred to me that I need to have something for me, something that doesn’t involve my family and my job with them at home.  Something that will hopefully refresh me.  Jordan and Deanna go to Knighthaven weekly.  Wes and Deanna are part of the community choir.  But I have nothing.  It is like being at your job 24 hours a day, 365 days per year.  Anyone would burn out working that schedule. 

So my game plan so far is:

1.  Find something for me to do that allows me to be me, not serving others.

2.  Set up boundaries and accountability for Deanna to meet in her daily life.

3.  Find a school method that will work for my nephew.

4.  Stop “managing” my mom.  Be there to assist but stop taking over, stop trying to convince her of things and  stop trying to make her think like me and deal with things like me. 

5.  Learn the importance of rest.  God told us to rest once a week and there is great wisdom in that.  I need to to do this.

Thursday, September 27, 2012

I am in crisis…

I am overwhelmed with life right now.  I feel like I am drowning in the chaos of my life.  I do not want to parent anymore.  I don’t want to homeschool anymore.  I don’t want to manage people anymore.  I am stuck and suffocating.  How do I find my way through this?

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

quote

From George Washington Carver’s grave:
“He could have added fortune to fame, but caring for neither, he found happiness and honor in being helpful to the world.”

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

I do hope you decide to stay

I just read this blog post about a person wrestling on what a missionary is as reflected in their own life (you can read it here – http://www.prodigalmagazine.com/the-acceptable-time/).

I really loved this portion of the post:

““What would you say to someone who doesn’t believe?”

He asks this as he’s pulling up to the curb. I have known this was to come, I have rolled around in my mind the question of what to say. I hate the Roman road, the pithy pitch, the overly trite explanation of an overly infinite God.

“I read a book once, by Holly Ordway. She was an atheist who ended up converting to Christianity. She writes that on her journey, there came a point where she was aware of God, but was uncertain what that meant. Her friend, aware of this, answers rather simply that he could give a lot of quotes, a lot of arguments, but the truth was she was standing on the edge of the most radiant and beautiful kingdom, that it was a beauty so good how could anyone ever want something else. And he said then what I would say to someone who doesn’t believe: I do hope you decide to stay.””

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Pizza Log

Pizza Log    submitted by Leah B.
1 store bought pizza dough
1 8oz can pizza sauce (or 8oz pasta sauce)
2 cups mozzarella cheese
1/2 package of Hormell Turkey Pepperoni (less greasy and healthier)
sauteed veggies of your choice - optional (sauteing the veggies will keep the moisture out when cooking on the grill)
1 Tbsp dried basil
Roll out pizza dough to form a rectangle.  Spread pizza sauce over top of dough leaving 1 inch space on edges.  Top with 1 cup cheese, and additional toppings and remainder of 1 cup cheese, add basil.  Roll pizza up to form a log and tuck edges in.  Wrap in thick foil.  Place in freezer until ready for camping trip.  Place in cooler until almost thawed during your trip.  Place pizza log, still in its foil on hot grill or fire pit.  Cook for about 10-15 minutes flipping over and cook an additional 10-15 minutes.  Slice pizza for family & friends.  Enjoy!

http://www.applecreekcamping.com/recipe.html

self-discipline

"In reading the lives of great men, I found that the first victory they won was over themselves... self-discipline with all of them came first."
~ Harry S. Truman

Sunday, September 9, 2012

quote

"Jesus was gentle and accepting with the adulterous woman but hammered the clerical leaders for enslaving people with religion in the name of God." Jim Palmer

Sunday, September 2, 2012

attitudes

“We cannot change our past... we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it. And so it is with you... we are in charge of our Attitudes.” - Charles R. Swindoll