Homeschool December

Sometimes, when i don't have the words - I like to use the words of others to share my heart. 

"Moms, as the nation seems to be crumbling. Don't leave your post. Make your home a sanctuary for your children. Cultivate a loving and stable home where the gospel is often shared and scripture often read. It will be the difference. Ground your family and build up your home." 

“Don’t feel sorry for or fear for your kids because the world they are going to grow up in is not what it used to be. God created them and called them for the exact moment in time that they’re in. Their life wasn’t a coincidence or an accident.

Raise them up to know the power they walk in as children of God. Train them up in the authority of His Word. Teach them to walk in faith knowing that God is in control. Empower them to know they can change the world. Don’t teach them to be fearful and disheartened by the state of the world but hopeful that they can do something about it.

Every person in all of history has been placed in the time that they were in because of God’s sovereign plan. He knew Daniel could handle the lions den. He knew David could handle Goliath. He knew Esther could handle Haman. He knew Peter could handle persecution. He knows that your child can handle whatever challenge they face in their life. He created them specifically for it!

Don’t be scared for your children, but be honored that God chose you to parent the generation that is facing the biggest challenges of our lifetime. Rise up to the challenge. Raise Daniels, Davids, Esthers and Peters!

God isn’t scratching His head wondering what He’s going to do with this mess of a world.

He has an army He’s raising up to drive back the darkness and make Him known all over the earth.

Don’t let your fear steal the greatness God placed on them. I know it’s hard to imagine them as anything besides our sweet little babies, and we just want to protect them from anything that could ever be hard on them, but they were born for such a time as this.” - Alex Cravens

Here are some homeschooling highlights from December: 

-Lydia helping me address Christmas Cards (handwriting for the win) 

-Austin is doing SO well with math. It's amazing to watch his brain learn and grasp new concepts. We were playing the game "I Sea 10" about adding numbers up to ten. At the end of the game, I told him to count how many pogs he had collected. He counted them individually, then unprompted - he started adding the numbers on top of each pog together. (They have numbers 1-9 on them). He counted each one, adding it to the total, all the way to 88. I was so impressed with his motivation and his addition skills. 

Also pictured are a computer learning game that Austin loves and a screenshot of a game that he plays with his speech therapist via video chat. It's amazing what a gift technology can be for learning (although I don't let them play lots of games, I have vivid memories of learning to smell kumquat and quince on a Reading Rabbit computer game and I hope that they have fond memories of the few games they are allowed to play as well.) 

I think I may forever treasure these photos of Austin and Lucy. He's such a good brother to her and he's not worried at all when she comes over and hangs around his neck while he's trying to do schoolwork. These sweet sibling relationships mean the world to me and make me so grateful for the opportunity to homeschool. 

This picture was taken to show Lucy hanging with David - but I wanted to point out the pictures hanging on the right side. There are three pictures you can see, each one is four papers taped together. I wish I had a closer shot but each picture is of the universe/space. The sun, earth, planets, etc.. Lydia worked on each one unprompted after bedtime for a week in a row. She was so proud of them and we have them hanging in our bedroom.  Lydia is doing so well with homeschool this year. She's doing her work without complaint, she's learning so much, and she's happy. I'm so grateful for this time and space that she has to be a child and to be fed and nurtured through it. 

-A wood/paint project. (Bless you Home Depot - we love you and your monthly wood projects.) 

-For Lydia's piano lessons, they held a Virtual Christmas Recital this year. Lydia performed two pieces: Away in a Manger and We Three Kings. She has also been practicing Samuel Tells of Baby Jesus, which far above the level that she is currently at, but she has (self-movtivated) been working hard to learn one line each week before Christmas. It's been amazing to watch her skill improve and her dedication to working hard increase. 

We took the two weeks before Christmas to "Christmas School". We are learning about Christlike  attributes in Christmas Celebrations around the world. This includes geography (learning about many different countries, pieces of history and culture), language arts (each country has a story to read and reflect on), and even math/science/STEM (many have recipes and other STEM activities associated.) The kids are loving it! 

The favorite activity so far was absolutely making Christmas Crackers from Great Britain and wrapping up our homemade Christmas candy to place inside each one.