Getting Well

After having my first baby, I was afflicted with postpartum depression. Then it struck me again after my next baby. This is the story of my experience of God’s powerful healing the first time I walked in darkness. My experience the second time is reserved for another post.

I was anxious and stressed out. Everyone walked on pins and needles around me trying to avoid upsetting me. I just couldn’t be comforted. It was so difficult for me to admit what was happening to me – postpartum depression. That happens to other people, doesn’t it? I waited a really long time to treat it because I was embarrassed by it. How could I feel this way? Children are a blessing from God, right? I was meant to be a mother, right? What would people think of me?

The reality of motherhood didn’t match my perceptions of what it would be like. I felt burdened by the responsibility that I now had. God gave me this precious child who was helpless and completely dependent on me. What if I made a mistake? I was terrified that something would make my baby sick, so I became obsessed with hand washing and insisted that others wash their hands before touching the baby. I also obsessively checked on the baby after bed time because I needed to know that my beautiful baby was safe.

I was in the dark. The fear was paralyzing.

The Bible repeatedly tells us that God is light. I needed to come out of the darkness and into the light. “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.” (Psalm119:105) I learned about the power of praying God’s word through a Beth Moore Bible study, Breaking Free. I prayed God’s word during that dark time, and I experienced God’s healing.

When I read Psalm 103:1-5Psalm 103:1-5
English: World English Bible - WEB
103 By David. ¹ Praise Yahweh, my soul! All that is within me, praise his holy name! ² Praise Yahweh, my soul, And don’t forget all his benefits; ³ Who forgives all your sins; Who heals all your diseases; ⁴ Who redeems your life from destruction; Who crowns you with loving kindness and tender mercies; ⁵ Who satisfies your desire with good things, So that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

the other day, I remembered the feeling I had during that time.

¹ Praise the LORD, my soul;
all my inmost being, praise his holy name.

² Praise the LORD, my soul,
and forget not all his benefits—

³ who forgives all your sins
and heals all your diseases,

⁴ who redeems your life from the pit
and crowns you with love and compassion,

⁵ who satisfies your desires with good things
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

God heals His people. Growing closer to God and learning more about Him is essential to the process of healing. You learn to trust Him during that time. But you also have to take time to listen to Him when you pray. What action does He want you to take? I am reminded of the story in the Bible of the man who was at the healing pool for thirty-eight years.

When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?” (John 5:6John 5:6
English: World English Bible - WEB
6 When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he had been sick for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to be made well?”

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It is an interesting question. I have to ask myself that – Did I and do I want to get well? Do I prefer to be ill so that other people see me? Is it easier to feel badly because that’s what I know best?  When I think about my actions in the past, I do wonder if I really wanted to get well. I was paralyzed just like the man by the healing pool. I needed someone to ask me if I wanted to be healed, though.

Jesus knows the human heart, doesn’t He? He knows that we need to be seen. Rest assured, Jesus sees you! He sees you in the same way that he saw the man at the healing pool. He knows all of your hurts – better than you do. He wants you to be whole.

Will you let him heal you? I did.

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Motherhood: Long Days, Short Years

Tonight is a monumental event in our house. We have taken down the crib, and everyone is now in a “big kid” bed for the first time. They have been eager to make this move, and my nearly two year old sped up the process by climbing out of the crib. This is an exciting moment for the children, but a sad one for Mommy. Besides the fact that switching sleeping arrangements tends to undo all of our hard work to make bed time go smoothly, now I don’t have a baby in my house. No more swaddling, rocking, and soothing. No one completely adores me just for being me. This is a particularly difficult change for me.

I am watching my babies grow up so fast. Someone told me that motherhood is full of long days and short years. This statement didn’t make sense to me when I was on the cusp of motherhood with a baby growing inside of me, but now that I am on the front lines of motherhood, I find that it is so very true. Things change at lightning speed with children, yet they need constant repetition to learn those important lessons. The mundane things that are so much a part of mothering seem to overwhelm us and prevent us from taking a step back to see the whole picture. We often keep our noses to the grind stone and forget to look up to see what is happening right now.

Then there are moments that make us take notice, like tonight. My little one was nervous about sleeping in a toddler bed, so my four year old said, “Just remember that I am always here. (They share a room.) Mommy is always here. Daddy is always here. And remember this…God is always with you. All you have to do is pray. You are safe and sound.” My heart just melted! Yes, all of that repetition, all of the hard work, all of that prayer is paying off! Someone – my dear God – is listening to me. “Thank you, God, for the encouragement! Tonight I desperately needed it.”

My kids have finally settled down to sleep after much fuss about the new sleeping situation. (It took both of us to settle them down and figure out that the little one only needed a new diaper and not comfort. Go figure!) Now I am going to take a deep breath, take a sip of my cup of memories, and enjoy the fact that my babies are growing up in amazing ways. I will always have the memories of my babies, but now they are blossoming into people who love each other and, most of all, who love God. How incredible is that!

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Protect Your Home School

If you are a homeschooler who uses either Bob Jones or A Beka for your curriculum, have you been keeping an eye on what is happening in California with the UC case?  SpunkyHomeschool gives a thoughtful and thorough report of this in her article, “Another California Ruling”. What does this mean for home education? The fact that there is a debate about whether or not your homeschool curriculum will be accepted by a college or university should be enough to make you stand up and take notice.

After reading the most recent ruling, without getting into whether or not your right to educate your child can be legislated by the government, it appears that there are specific issues with the courses that were not accepted. The English course did not have students read entire texts of good literature, but instead offered only excerpts. The other problems focused mainly on crtitical and analytical thinking skills. These issues are important to note because good educational practice includes both of tehse elements.

What are you doing to address these areas of your children’s education? First, it is essential that you are keeping organized records of your children’s work. Documentation is helpful for you for assessment purposes, but it is also essential to have good records for your school district in case there are ever any concerns. With thorough documentation, you can prove that your curriculum is meeting all of the requirements.

If you find that you are not really addressing critical thinking skills, which involves expecting your child to put information together in order to solve problems and form opinions, you can build it into your program on your own. When you do that, make sure that you keep good records about it. If your curriculum only includes excerpts from good literature, make sure that you document all of the reading that your children do outside of the textbook. Use the excerpts as a jumping board, but read the piece in its entirety.

Take a look at your curriculum to find any holes. Document your work. Follow the UC case closely. Protect your home school by following good teaching practices.

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Blueberries for Homeschoolers

Homeschoolers, are you looking for a family afternoon activity this month? August is blueberry season! It is really a short season, so get out there and pick some blueberries! We had such a great time when we went blueberry picking the other day. We learned a few things about blueberries along the way, and that has inspired us to use that as a theme for learning.

While we were picking, the children discovered that blueberries grow on bushes, and ripe blueberries are blue. Don’t pick the green ones! Smaller blueberries are sweeter than the bigger ones. We also learned that it takes a long time to fill a two quart container. It’s fun to sample a few blueberries while you pick, too! It was such a special afternoon for our family to spend together. We were able to just chat about the happenings in our life. We laughed and played in and amongst the bushes. It is an experience that I will treasure because of the memories I hope we are creating for our children.

We also borrowed the book Blueberries for Sal by Robert McCloskey on cd. I read the book to the kids, and they listened to it on cd several times. This is really a charming book that the kids really enjoy. This book is inspiration for the other things that we will learn and do together. (That’s another blog post on the way!) I think that having the experience of blueberry picking helps the children make connections to the story while we read and ultimately understand a little more about the book.

I hope you take advantage of the short blueberry season!

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Homeschool Composting

I am one of those homeschoolers who try to use kinesthetic activities to improve learning, and I am always looking for creative ways to connect our learning to real life. The other day I was thinking about all of the waste that leaves my kitchen every day and how to reduce that. The it occurred to me that we can make our home more eco-friendly. Even though we recycle, there is a lot of organic waste that goes down the drain. I would rather put it to good use and since we are growing a garden this year, it dawned on me that we should start composting. Children can learn more about being “green” by maintaining a compost pile than from reading books about it or simply recycling. They also find out more about all of the science concepts involved in the process of composting. What a fun way to learn!

Since I myself have a brown thumb, I know nothing at all about composting – or gardening for that matter. I started researching it and found some great information which will get us started. Hopefully this will help you out, too!

Cornell University has a wonderful website filled with information about composting called Cornell Composting. It is a great place to start your composting journey. It is a thorough website with photos to help you. You can also check out The Organic Gardener to learn about compost containers that will make home composting easier.

If you are not new to composting, but you are looking for a new approach to try out, you can attempt the Berkley Thermophilic Compost method. This video gives you plenty of information about this method and even shows you what your compost should look like.

If you want to delve deeper into the topic of permaculture with older children, you can go to Permaculture Reflections, a blog all about the topic. It would be a good jumping off point to help you find topics to research.

I also plan to start a science journal just for our compost pile. The kids will be able to chronicle the process in it, and we can reflect on the changes that we see. We can even include any research that we do about composting. Another part that I like about composting is that it is an ongoing project. We will spend quite some time working with the compost pile. Our learning and understanding of the topic will deepen over time. Then it will simply become part of what we do together.

There is so much to find out about composting. Find a place to set up your compost pile and get started especially since fall is just around the corner and you’ll have plenty of leaves to add to the pile!

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Try Out Lapbooking

As I have been researching homeschooling curriculum ideas, I have stumbled upon lapbooking. Have you ever tried it? It has the potential to be a combination of thematic learning and portfolio assessment at its best. This is something that I am very excited about and interested in trying.  If you have never tried it before, I encourage you to look into it and try at least one to see if it is a good match for you and your children.

There are many lapbooking options available to you. You can purchase a commercial lapbook plan book from Five in a Row (FIAR). This curriculum is structured so that you “row” a book, complete five days of lessons based on a particular book that touch on each of the curriculum areas. There are a few groups of homeschoolers who get together and share FIAR resources, too.

You can purchase curriculum from In the Hands of a Child. This is similar to FIAR. There is a guide with printables for your mini books. Essentially you purchase an ebook to print from.

Of course there are also many free resources online. Try the website Lapbooking for many ideas and lists of resources. You can plan your own lapbooking lessons using the lesson guide at Vintage Garden Graces. You can also watch some videos about lapbooking on YouTube.

I hope you try something new this school year by making a lapbook or two! I know that I am going to try it out.

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Taking the Sabbath

Have you thought about the command to take a Sabbath recently? How many of you homeschooling moms really take the Sabbath? I know that our schedules are so busy that it seems impossible to do that. I know that I don’t take a rest often, and when I don’t, I get very run-down. Exodus 20:10Exodus 20:10
English: World English Bible - WEB
10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to Yahweh your God. You shall not do any work in it, you, nor your son, nor your daughter, your man-servant, nor your maid-servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates;

tells us that we should keep the seventh day holy and rest. Even the Hebrews did not work on the Sabbath when they were in the desert because God provided enough manna for two days on the sixth day. (Exodus 16:26Exodus 16:26
English: World English Bible - WEB
26 Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day is the Sabbath. In it there shall be none.”

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) I have tried to take this command to heart before and found that taking a rest – not always on the seventh day mind you – has really helped me to slow down and enjoy life. I feel refreshed the following day, and the kids do, too.

I have been thinking about this for a while now, so now it is time to do something about it. Taking the Sabbath is something that I will strive to do from now on. One step forward includes not posting on my blog on Sundays. I challenge you to also look at your schedules to see if you are taking a Sabbath. If not, try to for a month and see what the results are. You may find that you are more productive and much happier as a result. Plus you will have more time available to make memories with your family – your precious gift from God.

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8 Ways to Encourage Curiosity

Homeschooling has given me a new lens to look at the world of education through. Many times I have my own plans for what we are going to do, but my children and my husband definitely have shown me that there are may different ways to approach learning. My experience with my own children has revealed to me that I can let my children take the wheel more often than not, and I can encourage them to question.

My children have a strong desire to know more. They ask “why” constantly – more than I would like to hear!  It has made me think about ways to encourage children’s natural curiosity and desire to learn. Here are some strategies that I have found successful:

1. When your child asks a question or a series of questions, answer them the best that you can, and find the answers if you don’t know them. I like to think that since I answer my kids’ questions to the best of my ability, they are encouraged to be that much more inquisitive. If you brush off your child’s questions, s/he will simply stop asking.
2. If you are truly exasperated by the shear number of questions (and I am often), turn the questions back on your child. Find out if your child can make a hypothesis or a deduction based on the information at hand or prior experiences.
3. Ask your child lots of questions when you are out and about or in the middle of a teachable moment. Expect your child to use higher order thinking skills, too. For example, today we went to Plimoth Plantation. I asked my children to deduce what a room was used for based on the clues they found in the room. I also asked them to make observations about the houses and compare them to our home. What does our home have that these homes do not? Why do you think these homes do not have those things?
4. Ask your own genuine questions when your child is with you. For example, I have wondered why certain plants will not grow in particular parts of our yard, and I want to find ones that will grow. Then it is my job to find the answers to those questions. Remember that you are your child’s model. Children imitate adult behavior – even older kids – so give them a great example for what it means to be curious, and show them where you can find the answers to your own questions.
5. Go on adventures! Novel experiences stimulate the mind. Your child will be more likely to have questions if you give your child a wide variety of experiences to draw from. Go hiking. Go to museums. Try gardening. try something new.
6. Here is your chance to live vicariously through your children. Play with them and encourage imaginative play!Your involvement in imaginative play will change the play scenarios and encourage thinking skills.
7. Read to your child. Remember to read a variety of genres – poetry, nonfiction, historical fiction, science fiction, etc. Try reading aloud genres that your child typically does not read on his/her own to broaden his/her horizons. The new ideas presented as you read will open your child up to new ways of thinking. This is also an opportunity to ask more of those questions. Encourage your child to also ask questions while you read.
8. Let your child take the lead. Observe your child in one of those new situations. What is interesting? What is your child drawn to? Now take some time to draw that out of your child. Maybe you can also plan other adventures that incorporate more of your child’s interests.

Enjoy your children’s natural curiosity and let yourself be taken away by it from time to time.

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Homemade Puzzles

Here is another great idea for extra photos for those of you who have boxes lying around your house like I do. Let’s make some puzzles! You and the kids can make a few memories while practicing fine motor coordination and working on spacial relation skills. It is also a great rainy day activity.

This project is so simple and really fun for the kids. This particular project was done with preschool kids. Older kids can help you make the puzzles for the younger kids. All you need is scissors, a pen, baggies, photos, and a little time to spend with the kiddos reminiscing.  I gave the kids a pile of photos to choose from. Then I cut the photos into two, three, or four parts. I marked the back of each puzzle piece with a number (or you could use a color instead) to distinguish between the different puzzles and put the individual puzzles into baggies (or envelopes if you like). You can also make old Christmas and birthday cards into puzzles. Once the holiday is over, you can still enjoy the cards. You will reignite memories every time you put together your homemade puzzles!

Personalized puzzles are more fun than the ones that you buy in the store, and if one gets lost, it isn’t a big loss. Try out this rainy day idea with your kids and see how much fun it can be!

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Homemade Books

Do you have tons of old photos hanging around the house from your days before digital photos or ones that were printed for a scrapbook but they didn’t quite make into the album? I have boxes of pictures that I am storing right now. I really want to put those photos to good use. How about you? Enhance your home school reading curriculum with this great idea.

My daughter is on the brink of reading right now, and I am trying to give her lots of learning materials that will help her along. We created books that she can “read” with old baby pictures. This project requires at least two sessions that last about 45 minutes each (depending on your children’s ages). You will need glue, mounting paper, construction paper, stapler, and a permanent marker.

I gave my daughter a few old photos to select her favorites from. Then we mounted the photos onto scrapbooking paper, and I organized them into categories that made sense for a few short books. We put each group of photos in order and glued them onto construction paper. We talked about what was happening in each of the photos and came up with a sentence for each picture that I wrote in permanent marker on each page. Then we stapled the book together and added a paper binding to cover the staples. Finally, we read the book together pointing to each word on the page. Presto! Now she has books that she “wrote” and made, and she can read them!

The key here is that making books is getting my daughter interested in actually reading the books. She is intimately involved in the process of illustrating and writing the books. Plus the books are all about her and the familiar things in her life. She is more likely to return to these books now because they are her books. Practice makes progress, so the more I can get her to reread and practice sight words, the better able she will be to apply that in other books.

When you write your own books with your children, be sure to include repetition of sight words, your child’s name, and the vocabulary that s/he uses. Your child will reread these books time and again so s/he will have plenty of practice with those critical words. The project lends itself to teaching reading strategies, too, like using the picture clues to understand the book and figure out unknown words.

Older children also enjoy making their own books. You can try having your older child write the story that goes along with the photos. You could even use the computer to type the words. There could be more than one photo on each page with much more text. You could require your older child to use particular spelling and vocabulary words in the story, too. Use your imagination and have fun making books about your family together!

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