Updated - finally

Well, I am finally updating my blog.  We have long since arrived at our new home, in beautiful Goodspring, TN.  We feel so blessed to be settled.  So much has happened in the last few months.  We had a very successful craft show and our shawls are a hit.  we have had people stop us in Walmart, on the street and at church asking about them, so we will continue to make them and prayerfully sell them.

Thanksgiving was wonderful!  It was 72 degrees and we had our dinner outside, LOL.  I am including some pics of that.  We also decorated our house for Christmas on Thanksgiving day and it was a blessing to not be freezing cold while we were doing this.

The Lord provided Bill with a job in November and he is cutting meat at a grocery store in Summertown.  Its a 45 minute commute, but we are praying that the Lord will provide something closer in His timing.  He is happy and content with where he is.

Tara and Billy are doing well with their schoolwork.  We just finished our first semester and I just got through entering their scores and reporting their grades, they both did really well.

We are also very blessed to have found a church very quickly.  The Lord brought us to Scotts Hill Baptist Church the first month we were here!  It was the very second church that we had tried and we know that this is the church the Lord has us at right now and we are enjoying it very much.

It is only a few more days till Christmas and we are busy finishing up our Christmas crafts and baking.  I have been doing a lot of cross stitching and just enjoying every minute of it.

We see Tim and Fran and the family weekly, all of us girls are doing a Bible study together, and the guys are doing a study together as well.  We are learning a lot together, God is good in his gentle teachings.

Now here are some pics, they should be self-explanatory!

An Old-Fashioned Quilting Party!

We were so very blessed last week to be able to have a "quilting".  We had read about quiltings and they really do go back a long ways.  Back during the depression era when a young lady turned "of age" (around 16 or so) all of the "women folk" made a square for the young lady.  Now the squares needed to be consistent in size, but any form of needlework was appreciated.  Some squares may have been embroidered, cross stitched, or hand pieced fabric.  It was all done by hand.  The women would set aside a Saturday and all get together at the young ladies house and assemble the quilt and hand tie it or quilt it, whatever the case may be.  I think its a wonderful gesture and a gift that must have been treasured for generations to come.

So last Friday, my mother-in-law, Sally, came over and spent the night.  The next morning she got her quilt out and all of our daughters and myself, hand tied her quilt.  It was such a blessing to all of us.  We had such fun talking and quilting.  It truly was a blessing for the Lord to be able to watch all of the girls work on "Grandmas quilt".  What a wonderful learning experience for all of us.  Thank you Sally for letting us be a part of that.  Here are a few pictures of our "quilting" and the beautiful finished product.

Homeschool Study of Birds

For the past two weeks, we have been learning a lot about various types of birds in our area.  One of the things that we did was we bought bird seed and a suet cake for the feeders to see what type of birds we would attract.

As you can see, Tara and Billy had a lot of fun getting the feeders ready.  During the next week, we saw cardinals, downy woodpeckers, robins, nut hatch and blue jays.  We also attracted more squirrels and chipmunks!  During our study time, we went to the library and brought home a lot of different books.  One of the things we did that Tara and Billy really enjoyed was a guessing game.  They each picked a bird and had to write a description of them. When they were done, they exchanged papers and had to guess each others birds.  Billy had chosed a Crow and Tara chose a Yellow-bellied sapsucker.  Surprisingly, they both guessed each others birds.  I was really happy with their descriptions.  We have a few more mini studies we are going to do over the next month.  Our next one is on weather.

Homeschool Decisions

Well, I was pretty much all set to order My Father's World curriculum.  I kept putting it in my "cart" and just couldn't get myself to click on 'buy'.  So, I decided to continue to pray about it.  My Father's World is an excellent curriculum, it's just sooooo expensive.  I don't want to dish out $375.00, even though I know it is a complete Bible, Geography and History curriculum with all the books you need.  It's very important to our family to have a Christ based curriculum.

 So, I decided to explore...and research....then I went back and looked at all my notes from the homeschool convention I went to.  I enjoyed Sonya Shafer so much that I attended all of her sessions.  I have applied much of what I learned from her to the rest of this years teachings and we have LOVED it! Yes, I said loved it!  There have been no tears, no frustrations.  There has been laughter, learning and exploring. Praise God! Why change this? It's working, leave it be.  But! I don't have  Geography or History implemented.  I do have PictureSmart Bible that we will all be doing, but I need a Geography and History curriculum that is Christ centered.  What to do...? Back to the drawing board? No! Let's go to Sonya Shafers Website and see what she recommends for those subjects.  Well, wouldn't you know, at simplycharlottemason.com she has a free curriculum guide that has all of her suggestions.  She has a History/Geography Module that is around $10.00 and the two books that go with it are $20.00 for both.  Thirty dollars is definitley doable.  Then she has book recommendations and such. So between buying those three books and picking up a few other recommendations from Christian Book Distributors, I can get all that I need for under $150.00! This includes "living books" (woohoo!) and an art and music study and science.  Anything else we need, Sonya Shafer really encourages you to make use of your local library. Now, I ask you, why didn't I think of that?

So...I still haven't clicked buy at simplychartlottemason.com or at Christianbook.com, but I do know this is our plan and we will be saving a boat load of money. Praise God! 

If any homeschooling families are reading this, I encourage you to check out the website www.simplycharlottemason.com. I am not affiliated with the company, just very enthusiastic!

Blessings,
Terry

Billy"s Spanish

Hi, my name is Billy and I am nine. In this picture I am doing spanish. I like to say apple in spanish, it seems my gift from God is doing spanish. I like it and it is fun thing to do. Today's  lesson was hard I don't now what God is going to do with my life but what ever it is I will glorify God


Philippians 4:13 I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.

Word study, "Faith"

Recently, I started a word study during my time with the Lord.  I pray that what I have learned can be an encouragement to all who read this, it was to me.

First, the definition of faith is believe, trust.  Simple words truly, but why are they so hard to apply? I used the NASB bible.
Here are some verses the Lord led me to:

Psalm 146:6 - Who made heaven and earth, the sea and all that in them; who keeps faith forever. This portion of scripture reminds me that God is our abundant helper.

Habakkuk 2:4 - Behold, as for the proud one, His soul is not right within him; But the righteous will live by his faith. Righteous is defined as morally right.

Matthew 9:2 - And they brought to Him, a paralytic, lying on a bed seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralytic, Take courage, son; your sins are forgiven.  The sick man was healed by Jesus because he had faith that Jesus would heal him.

Matthew 17:20 - And He said to the, "Because of the littleness of your faith; for truly I say to you, if you have the faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, "Move from here to there:, and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you." Here Jesus is being asked by the disciples why weren't they able to drive out a demon? This verse was His answer. they had so little faith that they were unable to do it. Jesus said their faith wasn't even the size of a mustard seed, or else they would have been able to. If you have faith just the size of a mustard seed, you will be able to move mountains.

Luke 7:50 - " And He said to the woman, "Your faith has saved you, go in peace." The woman's faith in the Lord that He would forgive her, was why she was forgiven.

Luke 22:32 - ?But I have prayed for you, that your faith will not fail; and you, when once you have turned again, strengthen your brothers." Jesus is telling us to not fail in our faith, our trust and belief (remember that is the definition of faith) that He will provide.  We are to be, as Christians, an example of faith.

Romans 10:17 - "So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ." We have faith that there is a God, not because we have seen Him physically but because we hear Him through the Holy Spirit. In order to hear Him, we need to pray and listen for Him. He is always with us..,

2 Corinthians 5:7 - "For we walk by faith, not by site." The Lord opens up doors for us, we walk thru them believing and trusting (remember that is the definition of faith!) and being guided by Him. Not because we can see ahead of time what is waiting for us, but because we trust in Him.

Galations 2:20 -" I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me." Wow! We trust Him with our eternal life, why do we struggle with trusting him with our life here in on earth today?!

Hebrews 11:6 - "And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him." I believe this a reminder to seek Him throughout the day everyday.

Hebrews 11:8 - "By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed by going out to a place which he was to receive for an inheritance, and he went out not knowing where he was going." God told him to "Go" and he did, not knowing but believing and trusting in Him.

James 1:6 - "But he must ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind." when we ask in faith, not doubting, the Lord shows us.  He provides in a way that we can't even begin to fathom. His only request? We trust in Him and believe in Him.  He wants us to follow Him blindly because if we saw the future, we wouldn't be relying on our faith in Him.

There are many more verses about faith, this is only a handful.  I want to stress that this is what the Lord showed me in these verses. My prayer is that this will be an encouragement to you.  If just one person is encouraged by this post, may the glory be to God.  I have faith that it will be so.

Blessings in Christ,
Terry

Tara's afghan

This is the afghan I made for Carenet.It is 30 squares total,the varigated ones are double crochet and the green ones are double crochet with ridges.The border is two rows of single crochet in varigated yarn and the shell stitch is in green yarn. It took me 5 days to make.  I had a lot of fun making it!

I have also been sewing napkins.  I crocheted a baby sweater ,2 hats and booties. I am happy God has given me the hands to make these things for babies in need.

Blessings,
Tara

Homeschool Convention

Last weekend I attended the MassHope Homeschool Convention and it was such a blessing to me.  I thought it would be a good time of fellowship, homeschool shopping and opportunity to actually look at curriculum before purchasing, it was so much more than that.  The opportunities to sit in on "sessions" and learn different teaching techniques was, for me, the biggest blessing.  I thought the sessions would be encouraging in the sense of  "Come on, you can do it, you can teach your children", and they were encouraging in that sense and more. All of the sessions I attended were centered around Christ and portraying Christ to my children.

 I was particularly guided by the speaker Sonya Shafer. I attended each and everyone of her sessions and had opportunity to speak to her privately as well.  God tells us to: "Train up your child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it"-Proverbs 22:6.  How many times have we, as homeschooling parents,  used this verse as part of our testimony to homeschooling? I know I have. Homeschooling goes beyond "reading, writing and arithmetic", its a way of life. Does our school day end once the books are closed? No, life's most important lessons are through experience. Every day the Lord is busy molding us and conforming us to His image.  Isn't that what He wants us to do in our homeschooling? For me, the answer is most clearly YES!  Homeschooling is a way of life, not just an alternative to schooling.

The Lord showed me so many different ways to "teach". One of my favorite sessions involved learning about living books and narration.  A living book, one example is, obviously, the Bible.  It is factual and teaches in a beautiful way.  I learned the four characteristics of a living book, which are:

1. Living books make the subject come alive, you can see it your "minds eye"
2. Written by one author, who probably has a passion for the subject he/she is writing about
3. Contains ideas, not just facts. Makes the subject come alive, sparks your imagination
4. Well written, not twaddle (twaddle is talking down to a child, short choppy sentences)

As I said, I also learned about narration. Oh what a wonderful time I had learning about this and it is so easy to do with your children. Actually, we have been doing it daily in our schoolwork, but also in our evening devotions. Basically, you read out loud to your children/family. Not for too long, say 10 minutes or so. Pick a "living book", we are reading about Billy Sunday. Then you have them retell you what you read.  If your doing this with more than one child, have the youngest go first. Make sure no one interrupts and also don't tell them what they did not remember.  Just let them talk and you be the listener (or the rest of your family, depending on how many people you have at the time), and it is not only fun, but YOU are finding out what they actually heard and understood.  This has been such a blessing during our schoolwork and our devotionals.  It sounds so simple, and truly it is, but it is also very rewarding. 

In addition to the sessions, there was shopping...and yes it was a lot of fun.  We are definitly going to be using "My Father's World" curriculum for the upcoming year.  I encourage you to look into it if you are looking for a Christ-centered curriculum.  I will be ordering it soon from their website, it was cheaper to order on-line and not pay tax and their shipping is a flat rate of $8.95. I did make a few purchases while at the convention. I purchased Spelling Power, Singapore Math and Rosetta Stone Spanish level 1. We have implemented those this week and so far so good.  I also purchased two bible studies.  One is "Jesus Is Better" a study of Hebrews, it is a family devotional study and we love it!  We have been using that every night along with Fruitful Families. Fruitful families has wonderful stories in it and we having been using "narration" nightly with those stories.  We also purchased a larger Bible study, entitle The Picture Smart Bible.  We had to order it, so I will tell you more when it gets here and when we get started!  It will be a few weeks and will give us ample time to finish up our Hebrews study. 

I believe the next person to update this blog, will be Tara.  She will be sharing with you some of the things she has made for charity.

Blessings in Christ,
Terry

A little bit about us. We are a Christian homeschooling family. Currently we have four children living at home, three girls and one boy. Tabitha is 21, Krista is 17 (graduated yesterday, Praise God!), Tara is 12 and Billy is 9. We also have a 24 year old daughter who has been married for almost 5 years!  My husband Bill and I have been married for almost 26 years, we have been saved almost ten years, Praise God.

The girls and I love working with our hands. We love to knit, crochet, bake and we are in the process of learning to sew. We are raising our daughters according to Titus 2:5, To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home. Also Proverbs 31, a virtuous woman. The majority of the projects the girls work on goes to charity.

The men, my husband Bill and son Billy are very encouraging and supportive. They are both very active and are seeking ways to help the widows and widowers in our church (James 1:27 To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction).

We love to read and learn about missionaries and I have been praying for over a year for the Lord to show us a way that we can help our missionaries.  I tried selling items from a catalog to raise money, but it didn't seem to be the Lords' will.  He will direct our path and we will wait on Him.

Currently we are doing a family Bible Study during our evening devotions entitled "Jesus Is Better", it is a study of Hebrews by Sonya Shafer. She is a leading authority on the Charlotte Mason approach to homeschooling. Recently, I was able to attend a homeschooling conference and was blessed by her sessions that I attended.  The Lord has really opened my eyes in teaching our children and taught me a lot from these sessions. Praise be to God!

We are also reading "Fruitful Families" by Howard Bean. This is a fun devotional for all ages, the younger children especially enjoy the story time.  We first heard about this book from my brother-in-law and family who live in Tennessee. (Hi, if you all are reading this! We miss you!) We enjoyed an almost two week visit with them and their family, the visit truly was a blessing from the Lord.

Well I think that is enough for now. I am praying about my next entry and I think the Lord is leading me to talk more about the homeschooling convention and different curriculum that was and is a blessing.

In Christ,
Terry