Year: 2009

The Last Day of the Year

It’s the last day… of the year 2009.

I’ve reviewed the year…various aspects of our life and family. Yes, I’ve taught manners, English, Maths and Science. I’ve taught life skills, domestic skills, health, fitness and Bible study. It’s been a pretty good year.

Do you love me?

But what of these are my greatest passion to share? Have I shared my greatest passion with my family? What is my passion? I can say it but is it true? Is my greatest passion truly Christ? Do I love Him before all else?

When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Feed my lambs.”

He said to him a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Tend my sheep.”
John 21:15-16

Feed my lambs

Have I fed the lambs that God has entrusted to my care? Have I fed them Christ Himself? Have I opened up God’s word and shown them Christ… have I taught them to love God, to trust Him and to do His will by way of a living example?

Feed the lambs… tend the sheep. Have I loved the children with a shepherd’s love? Love, protection, guidance and provision of needs is very important but they also need Soul-Food … the pure word of God.

Follow Me (v19)

Evaluation, assessments, outcomes all look for fruit but the truest form of learning in the life of a believer is to follow Christ. Knowledge, even of spiritual matters, may have some value but it does not attain for us that much needed salvation. The outcome of seeing and knowing is living and doing.

All year I have seen Jesus through the gospels. I’ve read His words. Now I need to follow Him. This past year with all its ups and downs cannot be changed. Regrets are a waste of time. However a New Year is upon me. The only way for it to be better is by following Christ more closely – to go where He leads, without questioning or rationalising. I don’t know what 2010 will bring for me or our family. It may be a year of struggles, of trials, of suffering or it may be a year of joy and peace…it may be a year of all! That is not mine to question – my only duty is to obey and follow Him.

As I close this year on my blog I’ll enter a new one – 2010. I want this next year to be fruitful, peaceful and beautiful…not by my circumstances or my surroundings but my walk with Jesus.

Costello buys a computer

My sister-in-law sent this to me via email…I immediately thought of my husband and my dad- two wonderful guys who, in their own unique ways, are very funny. Dad, I know you may not completely understand it but you’ll appreciate it anyway. 😉

You have to be old enough to remember Abbott and Costello, and too old to REALLY understand computers, to fully appreciate this. For those of us who sometimes get flustered by our computers, please read on…

If Bud Abbott and Lou Costello were alive today, their infamous sketch, ‘Who’s on First?’ might have turned out something like this:

COSTELLO CALLS TO BUY A COMPUTER FROM ABBOTT

ABBOTT: Super Duper computer store. Can I help you?

COSTELLO: Thanks I’m setting up an office in my den and I’m thinking about buying a computer.

ABBOTT: Mac?

COSTELLO: No, the name’s Lou.

ABBOTT: Your computer?

COSTELLO: I don’t own a computer. I want to buy one.

ABBOTT: Mac?

COSTELLO: I told you, my name’s Lou.

ABBOTT: What about Windows?

COSTELLO: Why? Will it get stuffy in here?

ABBOTT: Do you want a computer with Windows?

COSTELLO: I don’t know. What will I see when I look at the windows?

ABBOTT: Wallpaper.

COSTELLO: Never mind the windows. I need a computer and software.

ABBOTT: Software for Windows?

COSTELLO: No. On the computer! I need something I can use to write proposals, track expenses and run my business. What do you have?

ABBOTT: Office.

COSTELLO: Yeah, for my office. Can you recommend anything?

ABBOTT: I just did.

COSTELLO: You just did what?

ABBOTT: Recommend something.

COSTELLO: You recommended something?

ABBOTT: Yes.

COSTELLO: For my office?

ABBOTT: Yes.

COSTELLO: OK, what did you recommend for my office?

ABBOTT: Office.

COSTELLO: Yes, for my office!

ABBOTT: I recommend Office with Windows.

COSTELLO: I already have an office with windows! OK, let’s just say I’m sitting at my computer and I want to type a proposal. What do I need?

ABBOTT: Word.

COSTELLO: What word?

ABBOTT: Word in Office.

COSTELLO: The only word in office is office.

ABBOTT: The Word in Office for Windows.

COSTELLO: Which word in office for windows?

ABBOTT: The Word you get when you click the blue ‘W’.

COSTELLO: I’m going to click your blue ‘w’ if you don’t start with some straight answers. What about financial bookkeeping? You have anything I can track my money with?

ABBOTT: Money.

COSTELLO: That’s right. What do you have?

ABBOTT: Money.

COSTELLO: I need money to track my money?

ABBOTT: It comes bundled with your computer.

COSTELLO: What’s bundled with my computer?

ABBOTT: Money.

COSTELLO: Money comes with my computer?

ABBOTT: Yes. No extra charge.

COSTELLO: I get a bundle of money with my computer? How much?

ABBOTT: One copy.

COSTELLO: Isn’t it illegal to copy money?

ABBOTT: Microsoft gave us a license to copy Money.

COSTELLO: They can give you a license to copy money?

ABBOTT: Why not? THEY OWN IT!

(A few days later)

ABBOTT: Super Duper computer store. Can I help you?

COSTELLO: How do I turn my computer off?

ABBOTT: Click on ‘START’…. 😀

My New Year's Resolution

Oh dear, are you sick of re-posts yet? Here’s another one, originally from 2007/2008

I don’t make New Year resolutions! Years ago, after many failed resolutions I declared that I would make only one more New Year resolution. That would be that I would never make New Year resolutions! I can report that I have been successful with that resolution.

I have a few friends and I think I sometimes get on their nerves with my incessant questioning of everything. To everything I ask the 5W’s and a H (I think that might be a theme for my year). If a friend tells me they’re moving interstate, I ask ‘Why?’. Yet another friend will excitedly share a new curriculum to use with their child and I’ll ask, ‘Why?’. I can’t help myself. I don’t do it deliberately, I promise. I just want to know why. So it was with New Year resolutions. I wanted to know why it was such a common practice. Oh, I used to love that feeling of being able to have a fresh start, a blank slate to begin again with but then I truly realised that every day is a new day. There isn’t anything special or empowering about a New Year resolution or any other goal for that matter. About 3000 years ago, the Ancient Babylonians were in the practice of making a New Year resolution. (There truly is nothing new under the sun eh? 🙄 ) I’m not sure I need to model myself after them!

So, why make a resolution? I guess people practice it because of that clean, fresh start feeling. But I’m reminded time and time again that every day is a new day. I don’t have to wait until next week, next term or next year to work to a goal. I can start tomorrow.

Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed,for his compassions never fail.
They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
Lamentations 3:22-23

“We’re not doing things and asking God to bless it. We’re asking God what we should do, and then He provides. There is a difference.”

~ Faith Like Potatoes

My motivation is the important matter in setting goals or resolutions. If God is at the centre then I’ll have greater chance of success. For God’s sovereign will comes into the picture even as a homeschooling mum! If my goal is in accordance with His will, and His will is what I most desire then He will enable me to fulfill that goal…giving me strength as I work through with (learning) diligence.

I can do everything through Him who gives me strength. Philippians 4:13

I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. John 15:5

While I don’t do New Year resolutions, I do practice goal setting. This can and should be done regularly, at all times of the year. For me, it is about setting a goal – breaking it into manageable, attainable, smaller steps with frequent evaluation and assessment. This just becomes a part of life- a natural part of life. Years ago, I taught ‘Miss A’ about goal setting, within the context of her chosen sport. She took the principles, applied them and achieved success. So much so, that she is now a better and more efficient goal setter than I am, in every aspect of her life! Now, that’s real life learning!

Goal setting steps

Firstly, I pray and ask God for wisdom (James 1:5)
Then, I’ll pray (again without ceasing) and ask God for practical steps to fulfilling those goals and breaking them into manageable, little bit by little bit, steps.
Pro actively set out to attain the manageable steps, setting in place measures whereby I can be accountable, all the while relying on His strength.
Thank Him for any success and failure. When I achieve success, be sure to give God the glory and keep an open heart to Him so that I may be humble and not grow in pride. Sure, but what about giving thanks in failure? What? Why give thanks in failing? Oh I am so thankful that our Father has promised to accept all who believe, regardless of their worthiness. John 6:40 I am thankful that when I fail or lose it or don’t achieve my goals, I am thankful that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. Hebrews 13:8

I really liked Leonie’s thoughts about motto’s and themes. (Teehee, she does these but not goals! My, how different we all are 😀 ) I would have to agree with her- at least for my life. I have had themes. I remember a few years ago a theme for me was, Bloom Where You Are Planted. It was just after another interstate move that I didn’t want. I spent a good part of the year sulking and complaining, hibernating from everyone. Until I learned that I need to “Bloom Where I am Planted”! That became my catch-cry for the next year- on until the next move interstate. Another year my theme was “Just Do it!”. I had spent years trying to learn and practice a new method of Bible study…after after it all I found the easiest way was to Just Do It! I’ll figure the finer details out once I start doing it. This past year I guess my theme was Fit n 40.

Unlike Leonie though, I don’t really develop my themes in advance. (Bravo to Leonie for being so gung-ho and proactive though. She has more energy than I do. 😉 ) I’ll have to wait a little while until this year happens to see what my motto or theme will be, although I strongly suspect I have already written of two themes in this post! If you read my blog regularly you’ll probably pick up on it yourself.

Commit your way to the LORD, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass. He shall bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday.
Psalm 37:5-6

So what about you? Do you make New Year resolutions? If so, why? Do they work for you? If so, to what do you credit with your success? Maybe you don’t do goals or resolutions- I’d love to hear from you too! Share with me what works for you.

Hang It!

There is something special and beautiful about hanging one’s clean laundry on the line. I love the fresh crispness of the clothes… knowing that they’ve been additionally whitened, brightened and deodorised by the shining sun. I still use the dryer for some things like socks and underwear and I might also throw the towels in the drier just to fluff them up a little. The added benefit of using the line to dry clothes is that they last longer! Have you ever noticed all the lint that collects in the lint filter of the drier? A lot of that is the clothes slowly wearing away… a good reason to line dry.

In fact I love my washing machine! I love the convenience…but I must tell you that the cleaning power doesn’t come close to that of twin tubs, let alone the old wringer washing machine my mum used to use. On more than one occasion dad offered to buy her an automatic washing machine but she wouldn’t take him up on the offer – she didn’t mind the hard work and she loved the results! I’ve often said to John that our next machine should be a twin tub machine…but we’ll wait and see. It would take a bit of a mind switch for me to develop a new weekly laundry routine, but I’m sure I would manage. What is your laundry routine?

A new year…a new look!

I’ve been at it again…playing around with my site. I just can’t help it. I love web design and seeing what I can do next. I was really happy with the look of my previous theme but I wasn’t overly impressed with its performance so I went for a new theme. However you may be forgiven for thinking that the site doesn’t look all that different, because the basic structure and navigation has stayed the same- because I like it and it works!

The home page tells a little about the site but if you want to go to the blog page, simply click on ‘blog‘ which is the third link along in the navigational menu at the top. don’t forget to hover over the menu to view the drop down items.

As is typical with me the site is not finished…it’s a work in progress. I will continue to tweak it here and there as I have time. I could have waited until I had it ‘just right’ but I really wanted to get it done so I can start on a new look for AussieHomeschool. So it’s not perfect but it’s done. Let me know what you think of it, particularly with regard to page load speed, performance and navigation.

Don’t forget to check out my web development hobby, Kerugma Designs. You can ask for a free quote on any website project, no matter how big or small.

Reviewing My Online Productivity

I’m reviewing…everything I do online.

It’s something I do regularly, more than once a year but I do seem to take it more seriously at the end of the year.

Why do I blog? Why do I tweet and have a Facebook? Why do I have AussieHomeschool? Why do I have AH Twitter, FB and the blog? What fruit do they bear?

What is the aim of these things? Is this the best use of my time?

Truthfully, I don’t know the answers to the question- what fruit do they bear? I know why I do what I do but is it worth it? I know what my aim is…but am I too busy with fingers in too many pies?

It’s right and good that I reassess these things. I have 2 daughters. One is 18, a homeschool graduate and pursuing her interests to the glory of God. My 16yodd has finished school and is a first year apprentice chef. The girls alone keep me fairly busy but add two boys to the mix and I really need to use my time wisely. My 14yods is homeschooling high school (Yr 9/10) in 2010 and is an Air Force Cadet who spends most of his free time training. My 12yods will be homeschooling Yr 7/8 and we’ll be looking to expose him to a few different experiences next year…to ascertain his interests, delights and God given strengths.

I spent nearly 9 months of this year trying to get Fit n 40. It was truly a journey of spurts and spills…and I just started to get somewhere along the road of progress when…I resumed softball. Coaching is great – I love it! I also love playing again, albeit that my mind is more willing than my flesh. However, I either went back to playing too early or I shouldn’t have attempted it at all as I have re-injured my knee. Now, even pottering around the house is incredibly painful and draining. Yes, I do plan to have it looked at…as soon as I get a spare day to go to the doctor.

Next year I want to do more, to give more of myself to the boys and their lessons and to my husband and our marriage. Naturally I still want to be involved in the Australian homeschooling community but how? In what way will be the most productive…will bear fruit? What are my ‘big rocks’? What is the ‘sand‘? Of course I talk to my husband about it…although he trusts me…trusts that I will do what is right. He doesn’t dictate my activities to me, although sometimes I wonder if that would be nice? (Nah, I actually love that about him- he trusts me, he respects me, he thinks I am capable!)

This is where my heart and my head have been over the last few weeks. I’ve been praying about it all, and asking God to reveal to me the things I do in ‘the flesh’ along with the superfluous activities and the things that bear fruit and are productive.

What process do you use to discern which activities are fruitful and which need pruning?

Christian Training of Children

“Christian Training of Children” by Charles Spurgeon

“Parents! Your children are as surely as grown-up people, “dead in trespasses and sins!” May no parent fail fully to realize the spiritual state in which all human beings are naturally found. Unless you have a very clear sense of the utter ruin and spiritual death of your children, you will be incapable of being made a blessing to them. Go to them, I beg you, not as to ‘sleepers’ whom you can by your own power awaken from their slumber–but as to ‘spiritual corpses’ who can only be quickened by a divine power!

If you think that your child is ‘not really depraved’, if you indulge foolish notions about the ‘innocence of childhood’, it should not surprise you if you remain barren and unfruitful.

If you would bring spiritual life to your child–you must most vividly realize that child’s state. It is dead, dead! God will have you feel that your child is dead in trespasses and sins–as you once were. God would have you come into contact with that death by painful, crushing, humbling sympathy. If you would raise your dead child to spiritual life–you must feel the chill and horror of your child’s death yourself. You must have, more or less, a distinct sense of the dreadful wrath of God, and of the terrors of the judgment to come. Depend upon it, when the spiritual death of your children alarms and overwhelms you–then it is that God is about to bless you!”

What do you think?

Fragrance of the heart of Christ

Originally found in my facebook inbox, from the group Disciple Like Jesus

from J. R. Miller’s “Our New Edens”

Parents are the custodians of their children’s lives. If they would meet their responsibility and be able to look God and their children in the face at the judgment, they must make their homes as nearly ‘gardens of Eden’ as possible.

The way to save your children from the temptations of the streets–is to make your home so bright, so sweet, so beautiful, so happy, so full of love, joy and prayer–that the streets will have no attractiveness for them–no power to win them away. “Do not be overcome by evil–but overcome evil with good.” Romans 12:21

The place of the home-life among the influences which mold and shape character, is supreme in its importance. Our children are given to us in tender infancy–to teach them and train them for holy, worthy, beautiful living.

It is not enough to have an opulent house to live in! It is not enough to have fine foods, and luxurious furniture, and expensive entertainments! Most of the world’s worthiest men and women, those who have blessed the world the most–were brought up in plain homes, without any luxury!

It is the tone of the home-life, that is important. We should make it pure, elevating, refining, inspiring. The books we bring in, the papers and magazines, the guests we have at our tables and admit to our firesides, the home conversation, the pictures we hang on our walls–all these are educational. As in everything, LOVE is the great master-secret of home happiness.

The religious influences are also vitally important. In that first ‘garden home’, the Lord came and went as a familiar friend. Christ must be our guest–if our home is to be a fit place either for our children or for ourselves. If there is no sincere prayer in it, it is not a true home at all–it is only a heathen lodging-place!

How can we make ‘new Edens’ of our homes? What are some of the secrets of home happiness? I might gather them all into one word and say–CHRIST! If we have Christ as our guest–our home will be happy! He must be welcomed into all our life. He must be in each heart. He must sit at our tables and mingle with us in all our family interaction. Christ can bless our home, only through the lives of those who make the home circle.

Make your home so sweet, so heavenly, with love and prayer and song and holy living–that all through it, there shall be the fragrance of the heart of Christ!

Safe at 3rd but…

We’ve always taught our children to apply themselves to a given task with intensity and purpose. This sometimes sees them succeed and other times sees a result such as the image below.

: click to enlarge

Yes, this is Miss A’s x-ray of her hand. Whilst playing softball, she slid into third base, doing an avoidance slide, and caught her thumb the wrong way on the base. The result was a nasty thumb dislocation. We have to go to a SportsMed today or tomorrow so that they can assess the hand and see if there is been much ligament damage. The downer about it all is that she has another Open Women’s Tournament in 4 weeks, heading straight into the U/19 Tournament. This is her last year in U/19 and she really wanted to do well. She is also Captain of this team. She’d hate to miss out on playing, so we are praying for a miracle. If you would like to join us in prayer, we would be appreciative.

Oh yes… she was safe at 3rd 😉

Who, Why, What, When: Christmas In Our Home

Yes, yet another re-post from the archives…

We don’t ‘do’ Christmas. Years ago when the children were small, we tried. But we would get a knot in the pits of our stomach. A few years ago, the commercialism of it all used to be a huge bother to me…now I’ve pretty much accepted that is the way it is and I’m not gonna change the world but I can impact or influence my own family so I’ll stick to that. 😉

We have no problem with anyone who does celebrate Christmas though. For us, it is not a divisive issue – we are free to visit people and receive a gift (at the risk of our refusal offending them) and we are free not to. It isn’t an issue of salvation – our salvation is not dependent upon whether we celebrate Christmas or not.

Everything we do should be expressly Christ-centered; God-honoring.

We don’t talk much about it either as it is our walk, our decision, our beliefs and as is isn’t salvation dependent, there are more important issues to preach about! I have many discussions on forums about this and after receiving a personal email about it I thought I’d post here.

a) Why did you make the decision to not celebrate Christmas.
Firstly because of the commercialism but then because it all seemed to so empty and meaningless. We tried hard to think of ways to ‘put Christ back into Christmas’. Some people have said that there is no scriptural basis for celebrating the birth of Christ, but I don’t see that…I see that God desires us to teach our children His ways and he is into object lessons in a big way, so I don’t have a problem with doing things to remember the birth of Christ as it is all part of God’s redemptive story! We teach God’s story but we do it all the time. Plus the whole white Christmas thing is a bit over the top, especially as Aussies! 😉 We did try a few of the unit studies centred around Christmas and the symbols of Christmas, just in case I was being a stickler, but the more often we did them, the more the whole things stuck in my side and I couldn’t get past it. We tried doing Advent readings but I lost track of it all. We have read some of the books by Arnold Ytree but these are beautiful books that can be enjoyed at any time of the year! We’re about to start another one real soon.

When I went researching this whole thing a few years ago, I found some real loopy sites (be wary of what you allow your mind and heart to ingest) …some real genuine sites, some real genuine articles…but the more I read, the more confused I could sense I was getting. One could find a thousand articles against Christmas or celebrating it and another thousand articles for it…a lot of Scripture is thrown in there on both sides. What is one to do? I reckon its like most issues – we each need to seek God, study the Word and trust that in this, the Holy Spirit will lead you in all truth – John 14:26

‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.’
Matthew 15:8

It’s not something I think one can be convinced of – the Holy Spirit needs to convict us, we don’t need to be convinced by man. 🙂 I am glad that I am not saved because of this issue. I do believe that each person must seek God for themselves and not be lead my man’s teaching alone. God is our judge and He alone. I’m also glad that we are not bound by our stance with Christmas. Jesus gives us freedom, not bondage.

b) My family likes Christmas. I can’t not celebrate it. What can I do?
Rather than ask the question of should we or shouldn’t we, maybe we can ask God “how should we”? Sometimes a different question is the way that we can turn our ear and heart to hear His still, small voice. It’s really a matter of personal study, conviction and relating with God and His word. Do your own personal study. Learn the history of Christmas. It’s all very interesting.
If we take Christ out of everything Christmas, what would we do? What would we be left with? A get together, BBQ’s, presents, cards, holidays, lots of food, etc. If we take Christ out of everything Easter, what would we do? Take Christ out of Easter and you still have a holiday, eggs, chocolate, bilbies and lillies.

‘In vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrine the commandments of men.’
Matthew 15:9

I have taught my children how to bless me for Mother’s Day. I’ve taught them how to bless their Dad on Father’s Day. It is about honoring the person. (I teach my children to do this so they can bless and honor others- it isn’t all about me ;0) You wouldn’t honor me on Mother’s Day by giving me a drill and taking me to the hardware store! But you wouldn’t honor John by giving him a box of chocolates or a new PDA. 😉 You would consider the person who is due the honor. In what way would they want to be honored?

We should consider how God wants to be honoured. The things that are honoring to God are the songs we sing, the prayer we pray, the Scriptures we read, the talks we have, the way in which we live and breathe. But these things are to be done all the time or regularly as worship. If we want to have a get together with lots of food and give presents then we can- we don’t need to make an excuse which we think and the world says, is about Christ, when it really isn’t about Christ. The way the world treats Christmas (generalisation) is often nothing more than self indulgence! The world loves Christmas time with all its celebrations. Holidays, food, gifts, etc. Yet it denies the very one whom it is supposedly about! Oh it’s okay to remember Christ as a babe but not the Saviour of the Human race. For many, it is just about *me*. That is largely how the world sees it.

Don’t love the world’s ways. Don’t love the world’s goods. Love of the world squeezes out love for the Father. Practically everything that goes on in the world…wanting your own way, wanting everything for yourself, wanting to appear important?has nothing to do with the Father. It just isolates you from him. The world and all its wanting, wanting, wanting is on the way out…but whoever does what God wants is set for eternity.
1 John 2:15-17

So, if Christmas is going to be something that you do, then how you do it needs to be considered. Who is it about? Why are you doing it? When are you doing it? What will you do? Where will you do it? And how will you go about it? (Sorry my little brain uses the 5 W’s and H) If it is the Lord you are seeking to honor, then go to Him and see how He would be honored? (Like the Father’s Day principle 😉 See, I did have a point in there somewhere)

I know these thoughts are not for everyone, and that’s okay. This is our walk and our journey. But I also want you to know that we don’t judge other’s for celebrating the birth of Jesus the Messiah.

A few links:

Spurgeon on Christmas
The Christmas Irony
What does Jesus want for Christmas
When there is crisis at Christmas
Christmas and Advent
The Babe who will not be tamed
We did this Christmas quiz a few years ago and we’ll go through it again this year.
Is Christmas Necessary?
Robin Sampson’s article: Holiday Dilemma’s.

To celebrate or not to celebrate…

Yes, it’s that time of the year again…I have previously written about how we do, or don’t, celebrate Christmas. Rather than try to rewrite old thoughts I will just copy and paste from the archives. You can find the original post here.

Well it’s that time of year again eh! A time when we get loads of sideway looks from people who question us as to why we don’t ‘do‘ Christmas. In actual fact we do ‘celebrate’ Christmas…every day of the year! The way in which we celebrate is a decision that John and I decided upon…not through reading of others opinions and lifestyle choices rather, through our faith in God and our walk along the path of life.

I have an issue with our modern society and feel that we have been sucked into much consumerism and materialism. Don’t get me wrong; I love tradition. I love creating memories for my children. I love doing things together that form family bonds. But I don’t see how spending money on presents, decorating our homes with unnecessary items (that for those Down-Under are out-of-season) is celebrating the birth of the Saviour of mankind. So many people are caught up ‘doing Christmas’ that they miss the true wonder of it all…they’re drowning in a sea of tradition and of trying to ‘keep up’.

I love to give of my time, money and energy…I look for ways to give. But is it wise or prudent to go into debt in order to give presents simply out of a sense of obligation or because everyone else is or because it is ‘Christmas’. In the name of Christ, I can give to others any day of the year.

I feel prickles whenever I hear children exclaiming to their parents or friends what they WANT for Christmas. As though it is expected! I don’t fully understand how someone can be truly grateful and thankful if they know that their gift is coming. I know, as believers, we do this: as sinners we cry to the Lord for salvation and God delivered us through Christ and it is this that compels me to be thankful for Christ every day…to teach my children the ways of God, every day…to give honor to Him, every day. But to give presents simply because it is this time of year doesn’t teach our children much at all. I still don’t even see how the whole gift giving thing comes into Christmas. Christ was the *gift*. The Father God was the *giver*. The gift has been given. What that has to do with giving my child a new toy or new clothes in December escapes me.

I love getting together and having a family feast and a sweet time of fellowship at any time…and we can do this at any time while also giving thanks to the Lord. The focus can be on the Father, each other and serving but not about decorations, presents or things that can distract us from Jesus, The Truth. In fact, I see a danger in becoming too familiar with the way the world celebrates Christmas: familiarity with Christmas and all things Christian *can* breed familiarity- which isn’t necessarily a positive thing. Luke 4: 16-24 describes how the local people missed seeing the true identity of Jesus, as they were so familiar with Him. That’s why it’s important that the traditions we build are meaningful, rich and not done frivolously.

John and I decided that we would not teach our children about Santa…despite the local Christian school embracing the philosophy. (I remember when I first learnt that Santa wasn’t real…that he didn’t bring my presents and eat the milk and bikkies I left. I wasn’t devastated at the reality of his non-existance…I was devastated to realise that my parents knew about this untruth and let me believe in it…that they found some sort of happiness in having me believe a lie! I couldn’t believe that they lied to me! I recall adamantly telling my Mother that I was very sad because of that. That was my persepctive, as a child.) Anyway, as our children got older, we started to learn about St. Nicholas and the symbols and traditions of Christmas…yet we couldn’t see the relevance of it in the Christian’s life or in the celebration at Christmastime. We found that a lot of the tradition and symbolism was taken from pagan origins…so I started investigating this further and further… We tried celebrating Christmas by putting ‘Christ back into Christmas‘, but it was still like pouring new wine into old wineskins- it still clanged.

So much of our traditions and customs are not based on Scripture. So much of what I believed to be truth actually came from Hallmark and all those greeting cards! I get a little annoyed at how many people get all sentimental at Christmas time and they all are fine with Jesus…as a baby! But, how many recognise that He was God’s purpose and plan to redeem mankind? I like a bit of emotion and sentimentality…but when it comes to matters of faith then I think that if we need to whoop it up, then the thing (object of our faith) our faith is in, isn’t very solid. I like this article: The Power of Christmas Truth

Am I a wet-blanket or a party-pooper? Some will certainly think so! But, this is my walk to tread…I would never propose to tell anyone else that they should or should not celebrate any day in any certain way. I’d rather point out truths and facts and have everyone make an informed decision for themselves. It isn’t so much about whether you do or don’t – it is do you know WHY you do what you do? In it all, WHAT are you passing on to your children– a legacy of timeless truth or of empty consumerism?

A few years ago, Miss R went to the community Carols by Candlelight last week, that was held at our church grounds. The church was working with the local council and hosting the event. The youth leader asked her to go early and help to paint childrens’ faces to which she was more than happy to help. After I picked her up, she was covered in paint, but I was dismayed to see that all the face/body painting was of Christmas trees and non related pictures! Okay, I know it’s a bit hard to paint a true Nativity scene on a face but is that the best that we (as the body of Christ) could do? Oh boy.

“Thus saith the Lord, Learn not the way of the heathen . . . for the CUSTOMS of the people are vain.”
(Jer. 10:1-3)

Speaking of those Hallmark Christmas cards…and the Nativity. A few years ago, when we were ‘putting Christ back into Christmas‘, the children made their own Nativity. It was really nice and sweet. This led us to really examine the Scriptures as to the truth of the Nativity. Here’s a picture of a fairly common nativity scene: Let’s have a quick quiz while we’re looking at it eh?

How many wise men were there?
What animals were present at the Nativity?
How soon after Joseph and Mary reached Bethlehem was Jesus born?

Checking with Scripture (Luke is good here), how many did you get right or how much of your knowledge comes from paintings of the Nativity and greeting cards?

Here’s another quiz to do with your children:

Take the Christmas Quiz!

and discover some more Christmas myths:

What is Christmas to you…really? Is it a time of feasting, laughter, praise, remembrance, sadness, loneliness? How about we remember why the gift was given: The Ugliness of Christmas:

For us, this is not a divisive issue – we are free to visit people and receive a gift (at the risk of our refusal offending them) and we are free not to. It isn’t an issue of salvation – our salvation is not dependant upon whether we celebrate Christmas or not. We don’t believe that Scripture commands believers to celebrate or not celebrate Christmas, despite the fact that Christmas wasn’t observed until after the biblical era. We believe that Romans 14:5-6 and 1 Corinthians says it well.

One man esteems one day above another. Another esteems every day alike. Let each man be fully assured in his own mind. 6 He who observes the day, observes it to the Lord; and he who does not observe the day, to the Lord he does not observe it. He who eats, eats to the Lord, for he gives God thanks. He who doesn’t eat, to the Lord he doesn’t eat, and gives God thanks.

We can set aside any day as a day unto the Lord.

So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.”
1 Corinthians 10:31

Whether you do or don’t, or how you do or don’t, the main point, (in my opinion) is to not be ignorant of what you do (know why you do what you do), don’t be caught up in the worldy ways so that you miss the wonder of the eternal perspective, don’t get caught up in idolatry, consumerism or materialism and don’t treat the Saviour of the world with too much familiarity, lest that familiairty breed contempt.

LINKS

The Truth of the Nativity
Is Christmas Necessary?
Why I don’t celebrate Christmas by Tim Hegg
This paper looks historically at the holiday, showing how many pagan symbols and practices are actually at its core.

How Do You Cope With Laundry?

summer beach clothes

I am convinced that homes are not designed by women – at least women who actually work within the home!! Okay my current pet peeve is clothes- dirty ones, clean ones and ones in the ironing pile. Having in between 6 and 8 people live in our house throughout the years has given me lots of opportunity to ponder the stupidity of walk in robes or wardrobes in bedrooms. When newly married, we designed and built our own home and yes, we did build it with a walk in robe. But I would definitely not do the same again!

Next time, I will build a room next to the laundry. In that room I will have an area set up to fold the clean clothes (with an under-bench area for storage of ironing and other odds n ends) and an area for the ironing board- so it could stay set up. I would build my sliding door robes INTO THIS ROOM! As as usual, each person would be allotted one wardrobe each. Then, every evening or morning, every person could simply choose their clothes, take them to their room and get dressed.

Smart eh? I think so.

As it is now our kitchen table is covered in clean laundry EVERY DAY – clothes that are waiting to be ironed or put away! (We don’t have spare rooms or anything like- nor do we have a separate family room or dining room in which to make use of) In our last few homes we had two lounge/family areas or two dining areas so we utilised one of those rooms as our clothes area. But now we’re living in a small house I am so frustrated. No, the answer isn’t to own less clothes because we really don’t own that many. I believe that the whole concept of individual bedrooms and wardrobes is ridiculous!

How much extra walking is it for a woman? I take the clothes from the dryer or the line to the table. I fold them into piles. I take them to each room. I then arrange the clothes on the bed while I put them away into the wardrobe. I might do this 2 or even 3 times per bedroom, depending upon how many clothes there are! Ridiculous!

Maybe when I’m finished homeschooling I’ll learn how to design the floor plan of homes and start a new business!

Helping the Weak: The Lesson in 1 Thessalonians

And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, (Or ‘disorderly’, or ‘undisciplined) encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all.

Ah, this verse leaped out at me this morning. I don’t know about you but I never know what my day is going to hold. I live with a person who is an emotional roller coaster. When this person is happy the whole world is smiling, the flowers blooming, the sun is shining and life is sweet. But when this person is on the downward side of the coaster, life is… just hard. (And that is a major understatement)

Today, this verse is for me. In my walk as a parent.

I know that Paul was not referring to Susan, the parent when he wrote these inspired words…but nevertheless, they are for me today.

As a parent I need to admonish the idle, the disorderly or the undisciplined child. To warn the child who is being wayward, inconsistent or following their own will. I need to esteem the children when they have put in a good effort- not easy praise but an acknowledgment of their work, effort and attitude.

In fact, after praying and asking the Lord what I need to teach the children today He showed me this passage…and whilst this verse leapt out at me the whole passage is very applicable.

We ask you, brothers, to respect those who labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you, and to esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Be at peace among yourselves. And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all. See that no one repays anyone evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to everyone. Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies, but test everything; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil.
1 THESSALONIANS 5: 12-18

Know my children. Observe them.
Be at peace today…cultivate an atmosphere of peace within the home.
Warn and admonish the disorderly or undisciplined child. Encourage the child when they are downcast.
Acknowledge their efforts and attitudes.
Help them, serve them.
Be patient.
Teach them not to repay evil for evil.
Encourage them to good to one another.
Rejoice!
Pray, without ceasing- develop an attitude of prayer submitting everything to the Father.
Give thanks…encourage the children to always give thanks.

But first I must examine my own heart before I can attempt to teach the children about such things. How is my attitude? Do I need to repent of any attitudes? I need to apply this verse to my own life before I open my mouth. So I’m going to be busy today eh? What about you? What lessons does Father have for you today?

Exercise: The Old Testament Way

Anyone else thinking about next year’s curriculum? I am…it’s part of the process I go through each year. Currently I’m in the praying and pondering stage. I’m working on a system for Master J to use. He’s quite capable of using most systems but considering our eclectic style of learning and curriculum we need a system that he can use fairly independently. The issues that we have with it are that I can schedule till the cows come home…but the practical outworking of that schedule doesn’t match the paper plan and then we can tend to get a bit lost with what is next. As a result, the main subjects get done but it’s those little bitty books that I have planned that get left out. You know, the ones that only require a chapter per week. Any scheduling/planning systems that you use would be well received in the comments section.

Exercise

My health is upside down and inside out…but I do think I’m slowly on the up and up. However, with softball season back I am finding it difficult to juggle my gym fitness with softball fitness combined with the ups and downs of my health. I am learning that being *gym fit* is quite different to being sport fit. I have been working out in the gym for several months and making great strides…and whilst it has helped me immensely with softball it is also a very different type of fitness. Playing sport gives me far more aches and pains than simply working out at the gym. But what does this have to do with a homeschool mama? A lot! But let me ask you a question. Do you exercise? If not, why not? You need to! Not because I say so though…but because it is so good for you… you were created to!

I know many women don’t want to get big or bulky…and others really don’t seem concerned about their weight. I totally get that. I’m quite content with my weight and my appearance- but there is something more important- the physical/emotional and spiritual connection!

Health Benefit

God didn’t create us to be static…or sitting down all day. Oh, I’m a busy homeschool mum I know how tiring and draining life can become. God created us to be strong and physical. Think of the women in the Old Testament- could you keep up with them? Carrying full water jugs up and down the hill, catching and preparing chicken or goats…grinding the wheat and doing all the laundry *BY HAND*… whew! Let me tell you, I could not have kept up…I still don’t know if I’m at that point yet either…but I’m working my way there. These days I don’t have to wash by hand or carry water jugs, but it’s vitally important for me to stay strong. I wonder if a woman’s body is more designed for resistance training/weight workouts rather than cardio – but that’s a hotly debated topic that I cannot do justice here.

Think of the women in the Old Testament- could you keep up with them? Carrying full water jugs up and down the hill, catching and preparing chicken or goats…grinding the wheat and doing all the laundry by hand!

Did you know that exercise, and in particular weight training, will decrease your risk of heart disease, cancer, osteoporosis, arthritis, Alzheimer’s and many more nasties? But at the same time, it will increase your life span, strength and bone density! But wait, there’s more! Weight training also assists in weight loss – even more so than pounding out the kilometres on the treadmill. Yes! Building muscle increases your metabolism! So you can get fit and strong and lose weight without pounding the pavement for countless hours at a time! (Not saying you don’t need to do any cardio but if you’re like me and remember the aerobic classes of the 1980’s you might shudder in horror at the thought of cardio)

Emotional Benefit

I’ve had a fair bit on my emotional plate this year…and to be honest I was not coping with it all despite prayer and Bible study, etc. It’s because I was neglecting an important element of life – physical exercise. I’ve learned that when I work out with weights I feel tired- for sure. But a huge benefit is that I feel rejuvenated and refreshed and full of energy! I’m more able to handle the potholes that I find myself driving over. I love going out to the gym for an hour three times a week. The benefits far outweigh any hurdles that need to be overcome. But you don’t have to go to the gym- remember the OT women: they didn’t have a gym…they worked out as part of life. But they did do some weight training! My dear cyber friend Jenna has shared how she has benefited enormously from exercising…and she wrote about the spiritual/physical connection here.

Spiritual Benefit

There is a lot to learn about the nature of man…and of ourselves. Throughout my health/fitness/exercise I have learned about myself. There are times when I sabotage my efforts…hold bitterness in my heart toward myself, strive for perfection, struggle with pride and/or listen to my own negative self talk. But to walk in the Spirit means that I have God’s perspective about myself and my physical body…I can meditate on God’s word while lifting weights or cycling on the bike or walking down the street. I won’t let the enemy gain a foothold in my life by allowing death-giving thoughts, desires for perfection, thoughts of self loathing or other such issues. Exercise helps me to process the important thoughts from the trivial- so that I can more clearly hear from God.

I know it’s just one more thing to try and cram into your week…but it really is worth it. And after a few weeks it won’t seem like a chore or a ‘must-do’. Please take it from me- a former unfit, unhealthy, computer based, sitting down, vegetative homeschool mum. It is worth it.

A benefit that I haven’t even mentioned yet is the benefit to your marriage and to your children. Oh yes, it is worth it- especially as we are fighting to keep our children’s hearts and keep a proper perspective of self image…really important.

So, are you exercising and working out… like the women of the Old Testament? If not, wanna join me?

Lessons in trust (and family update)

Well, time for a family update I think. But where to start? Life has been so busy and hectic I hardly know where to begin.

My daughter has taught me something recently about trusting in God…really trusting in Father. One of my daughters works part time and studies part time. She pays for softball and her car and everything else but it leaves nothing left over for pocket money or girly things. In fact, with her hours she even struggles to pay for her necessities but she is learning the difficult task of money management well- lessons that will help throughout her adult life. We have always chipped in and covered her bills whenever necessary. Not straight away- we leave it till the last minute as she wants to pay for as much as she can herself. Invariably though, we always help out. Lately, she has been stressing: fretting over how to get more hours at work, what she can sell to bring in a few pennies, etc. She’s actually been worrying about it despite my reassurances that it will all be fine. I started to feel like she didn’t trust us. We had come through for her before. We assured her that we would again. We told her that we were proud of her efforts. But still, she stressed. Yes, I felt like she didn’t trust us.

I wondered if our Father ever feels like that. I realised that I do the same thing to Him regularly! He has always provided for our needs in the past. He assures me in His word that He will continue to. We do try to manage our finances well and be good stewards (although we don’t always succeed)…but still I fret. I worry. I plan and strive…instead of trusting in Him. Oi voi! What a lesson.

Miss A came home this afternoon from softball training…with a black eye! Yep, while fielding at 3rd base the ball bounced nastily and she copped one in the eyebrow. Ugly eh? Meanwhile she is working, studying, gym-ing and training- sure keeps her busy!

Miss R is living back at home. She works at a local cafe, attends school when required and is doing two TAFE courses. However, she has just secured a Chef Apprenticeship at a posh place on the beach in Adelaide.

The boys are doing great! Continuing on with daily Maths and reading…chores and generally being fantastic young men! I love their company and just really enjoy being with them.

I‘ve been back and forth to the doctor recently. About 10 years ago I smashed my ankle while playing softball. The fracture was pretty bad and I had to have a large screw in place, along with a metal plate, secured by several small screws. After the scar line healed I went back in to have 2 inch long screw removed. I was told not to worry about the plate, unless it gave me trouble. Well, I don’t know if it is the weights training or going back to softball but my ankle has been giving me pain. It’s really swollen, red and burning. I had an xray and need to go back to the Dr some time this week with my original xray so they can compare them but the radiographer said it appears that a screw has come loose from the plate and is ‘floating’. Tehee, yes I have felt like I’m coming part at the seams…but my sister in saw said she always knew I had a screw loose. 🙂

I’ve also been at the doctors for my health. Had a large battery of blood tests done which showed nothing overly dramatic except anemia- chronic anemia. Seems my ferritin levels are ridiculously low so have been told to double or triple dose my iron supplements. Boy, do you know how much that costs? Double dose is about $60 per month! Oi voi! So, to help matters along I am using SpaTone in the morning and Floravit in the evening.

I haven’t been back to the gym in what feels like ages. I know I’ve lost condition, but what can I do? I’ve barely been managing to get out of bed some days…let alone to the gym to work out. However, that is only causing me to feel down so I am heading back to the gym this week. I will keep on keeping on! I’ll post another picture update soon, but due to ill health and not being at the gym you’re not in for any great surprises.

I love playing softball. I don’t know why I had those few years off again. I just love it! However, this is one case where the spirit is willing but the flesh is definitely very weak…especially since my health has gone downhill a bit. John has resumed umpiring again too. He really enjoys it so life is almost as full as it was many years ago.

The Diana Waring Conference was here in Adelaide last week! Wow, what a blast! I had a memorable time and learned lots. Get-togethers are always filled with laughter and blessing, aren’t they?

Well it doesn’t seem like much when it’s put onto paper but there it is – the reason for my real life busyness. Friends will always be able to tell when I’m living a full, rich real life as I won’t post much. But when I’m posting a lot it usually means that I’m hermitting away in the house, spending too much time on the computer. 😉

My blog has received a few awards recently. Thank you kind ladies. It is very nice to receive such awards. However, for various reasons I have decided to not ‘do’ awards. Yeah I’m a party pooper eh? But you can read here why I don’t…I really enjoy blogging and being involved in the AussieHomeschool Blogging community and that is where most of my efforts lie – in contributing toward the development and growth of the AussieHomeschool community. Rosemary awarded me with the Kreativ Award but if you want to know more about me you can read this page. Jillian gave me the Gorgeous Blogger Award and as much as I’d like to participate I just can’t right now. But Jillian, thank you very much. 🙂

That’s about it from me, for now. Who knows when I’ll be back. Have a great week all and spend lots of quality and quantity time with your loved ones!

My Doctor Won't Listen

Doctors spend more time looking at their computers instead of at the patient!

I’ve had cause to see the doctor on a weekly basis lately. During our nation-wide travels I’ve seen many different doctors so I’ve had experience with a few. Some are older, many are younger. Either way I am convinced that they all spend more time engaging with their computer than with me, the patient.

The elderly doctors have often seen their computer as a necessary evil. I’ve watched some struggle with it, longing for the ‘good ole days’. Nevertheless, whether they want to or not, most of their attention is given to the computer.

Some of the younger doctors have a pretty good handle on the whole computer thing. They’re proficient at researching, documenting and printing with their computer…yet for some reason their computer still gets more eye contact and more one on one engagement than me, the patient.

I remember when doctor’s would face me, listen to my story and take notes. The thing about taking notes is that the body language is open, toward the patient… eye contact can still be made while the notes are being jotted down. Not so with a computer! I know some people might think I’m a bit loony but I have researched how to talk with doctors. I understand they’re busy and hear the life story of a new patient every 20 minutes or so. I get that. So I try to be organised and concise while conveying my story. Studies have shown that a patient will be interrupted by the doctor within the first 18 – 23 seconds. Whew! That gives me about 18 seconds to get the most important points out…for once I’ve been interrupted it’s hard to get back on track, especially if the story is involved or complicated. Not only that but it’s likely that the doctor’s mind has wandered, thinking about the first few issues I’ve raised.

So where does one start? Do you start with your history or the current issue? the current issue often comes on the back of the history so that’s important. I try to open with a brief statement relating to my current issue…and then delve into the history a little but I seem to lose the doctors attention very quickly. (Of course I also recognise that this may not be the case for everyone… especially those who have had the same doctor for many years. I’ve had a new doctor every 12 months, due to moving interstate)

I love technology. I love my computer. I love the Internet. But just in case I needed the reminder I’ll take it. My computer does not listen to me. It does not need my love or attention. My family does. I need to make more time to fully engage with my family- to really give them my full, undivided attention…eye contact, verbal affirmations, smiles, touches and to turn my body in an open way toward them when they are talking.

Just wish my doctor would do the same…they even get paid to do so!

Using the 5Ws and H to teach

Do you ever have your older children teach a concept to the younger children? That happens on a regular basis here in our home. There are so many advantages to it but that’s for another post. I want to share how I use the principle of teaching as part of the learning process. It’s a good skill for us to develop and a valuable skill for our children to develop as they get older.

Whenever we attempt to teach we must know the information- we must internalise it before we can put it into our own words. Using the tools of narration and the 5W’s and a H are very helpful in learning and teaching. These tools are valuable and beneficial regardless of age, gender, strengths or weaknesses.

Teaching should be as interactive as possible. Lectures can tend to bore students as their minds need to be engaged in order to go through the learning process. I’m not interested in simply filling my lesson time with facts and figures. I want to share ideas, hear their thoughts and questions. Repetition has a place in learning but we need to move beyond that into understanding. Simply telling a story or concept in different words or using pictures or literary metaphors can greatly engage a student, which is why a n older child teaching the younger is so effective.

I’ve taught my older children (girls) to teach using our Kerugma 4 step process and 5 W’s and a H. Here’s how I have taught them:

Have a quick skim over the material and see if you can ask yourself some basic questions. Use the Observation Sheet as a prompt if needed. In one or two sentences introduce the topic, asking probing questions as a way to capture their interest.

Then it’s time to read or make the basic points. My family often laughs at me as I can tend to waffle, despite my claiming to be as concise as possible!

Then, I’ll try to ask questions that are relevant to the subject:

Who is the main character? To whom is this passage referring?
What is happening in this passage?
What did the main character have to say about…?
When does this event occur? When did the main character realise he…[insert relevant question]?
Where did the event occur or when will it occur?
Why is this happening? Why do you think the main character said/did that?
How did this (event) happen? How did it affect the community/situation, etc? How does it affect you?

After some facts (or ideas) have been established, we can then spend a minute or so on looking at possible application to our lives. This doesn’t just apply for Bible study, although anytime we look for practical application it should always be within the boundaries of God’s word- it should line up with the Bible.

Lesson finished!

There are so many ways in which to use the 5W’s and a H. It is also a logical way to think…so you can also include critical thinking as part of your lesson scheduling when using the Observation method. I have devised the prompt sheet for download which might help…but simply using the 5W’s and a H as a natural part of your lessons will come easily and naturally after awhile.

Do you use the 5W’s and a H format in your home? Have you or will you instruct your children how to teach using this method? If not, do you have another method that you use in your home. If so, I’d love to hear of it. Any comments or thoughts?

You can download/print the 5W’s & H (observation) sheet here…the IDEA bookmark from here…see more downloads here.

If you’re new to reading my site and have no idea what I’m talking about when I mentioned the learning process, you might like to see here or this post asking, How Do You Learn? Other posts you might enjoy are:

Poetry using the observation sheets

Using the 5Ws and a H

You are who you are for a reason….

This poem really touches me…means a lot to know that I am not an accident and that God has a purpose for my life.

You are who you are for a reason….
by Russell Kelfer

You are who you are for a reason.
You’re part of an intricate plan.
You’re a precious and perfect unique design,
Called God’s special woman or man.

You look like you look for a reason.
Our God made no mistake.
He knit you together within the womb.
You’re just what He wanted to make.

The parents you had were the ones He chose,
And no matter how you may feel,
They were custom-designed with God’s plan in mind,
And they bear the Master’s seal.

No, that trauma you faced was not easy.
And God wept that it hurt you so;
But it was allowed to shape your heart
So that into His likeness you’d grow.

You are who you are for a reason,
You’ve been formed by the Master’s rod.
You are who you are, beloved,
Because there is a God!

Russell Kelfer (1933-2000) was an elder and Bible teacher at Wayside Chapel in San Antonio, Texas for more than 20 years. During his life time he was active in a broad variety of Christian projects ranging from education to a World’s Fair pavilion. His legacy of practical application Bible studies, poems, and fictional stories know no denominational boundaries.

Homeschooling Isn't About Education

I didn’t write this article, but it’s too good not to share. It was written by Chris Davis, formerly from Elijah Co.

If you have been a recipient of my eNewsletter or if you have heard me speak at a conference you know that I have a concern about the shift I have seen in the reasons families choose to homeschool. I would like to take this opportunity to bring us back to what I perceive to be the reason God began this movement over 20 years ago.

Our good friend Rob Shearer once told me something which I will paraphrase as follows:

About 20 years ago, a group of parents began to feel a deep desire to have their children grow up at home rather than in an institutional setting. Thus began what is now referred to as the Homeschooling Movement. These early “homeschoolers” my friend refers to as Pioneers: parents who knew God wanted them to take total responsibility for raising (including educating) their own children. These Pioneers were determined to have their children home during the day in spite of the difficulties (and sometimes the dangers) this decision created.

During this Pioneer stage, there was another group of parents who heard about the benefits of homeschooling, but who decided to wait to see if the Pioneers would be successful before becoming homeschoolers themselves. These my friend called Settlers. Once the Settlers were convinced of the benefits of homeschooling, they joined in. However, unlike the Pioneers, many Settlers weren’t sure they would homeschool for the long term so they simply copied the public schools’ curricula and sequencing methods just in case it turned out that homeschooling didn’t work for them. And, if it didn’t, their children could be mainstreamed back into “school.”

By the late 1990’s public schools were receiving such negative publicity, and homeschooling such positive publicity, many more parents began to consider homeschooling as a viable alternative. They knew little about homeschooling except that it had to be better than the public school. These families my friend called Refugees: parents who were escaping a negative situation, but with no real understanding of what they were doing or why; nor did many of them want to know. They simply wanted their children to be educated as if the children were “in school” but without the negative context they perceived existed in the public school setting.

As I have described the three kinds of homeschoolers above, you may have noticed a very subtle, yet most important, difference between the Pioneers’ main desire (to have their children grow up at home) and the main desire of the other two groups (to provide a better education, or a less negative context for their children).

The reason I entitled this article, Homeschooling Is Not About Education is because I think we have a tendency to lose sight of or, perhaps, we have never really understood why we were led to homeschool. I draw this conclusion because what I hear as most homeschooling parents’ primary concerns are issues such as, “Will this be the best curriculum for my child?” or “How do I know I’m going to cover it all?”

Let’s take another look at this thing called “Homeschooling.” We all know one or more families whose children would greatly benefit if their children were not in a public school setting. Yet, these families don’t bring their children home. We feel truly blessed to believe in homeschooling and we don’t understand why everyone doesn’t see the obvious benefits. Why do friends and relatives keep sending their children to “school”, anyway? Why do we seem to be among so few who are willing to do this?

I would like to offer my opinion as to why we have become “homeschoolers” and so many others have not: I have a conviction that a historical time is approaching for which a certain “kind” of person will be needed in this nation; indeed, in the world. When this time will come, I don’t know, but my sense is that it will come soon. What I do believe is that God has needed a very specific context within which He can grow up this particular kind of person. And, since a lot of these “persons” are needed, God has asked a lot of us to become homeschoolers. What is this context? It is simply a place where the hearts of the fathers have been turned toward their children and the hearts of the children have been turned toward their fathers. It is a place where children are raised to become proficient at the specific giftings, talents, and callings God has placed within them since their creation.

This is the context which every homeschooling family has the opportunity to create. Yet, what disturbs me is that homes-SCHOOLING has become the primary focus of so many of these families. Homeschooling parents are prioritizing something quite different than what was in the heart of God as expressed in the hearts of those early Pioneers when they brought (or kept) their children home during the day.

For those of you who have “brought the school home,” let me suggest that you rethink what you are really doing with your children. Do you ever consider what kind of person this little boy or girl is to become by the time he or she leaves your home? Have you ever wondered if God Himself, has placed some very specific talents, giftings and callings in this youngster that He expects you to discover and promote during the child’s stay with you? Do such things determine your family’s priorities, weekly schedule or the curricula you purchase?

Or as you look toward the “finish line” of your child’s time at home, do you simply buy a graded curricula and spend your days plowing through it, because you think the highest purpose of your parenting is to see that your child receives the best education you can provide so you can one day say, “My son has a good job.”

If the answers to these questions are something like, “I don’t know”, or, “I don’t want to think about it,” then you may be a “homeschooler”, but I think you’ve missed the point.

Even Pioneers can slowly become Refugees. The very word “homeschooling” can cause us all to forget that what we are doing is not about home-SCHOOLING but about creating that context in which we assist God in raising the little ones in our homes to become His men and women who are truly prepared for what is going to happen in their own generation. To be like King David whom God did not identify as a man “with a good job;” but as a man who “served his generation well.”

Dust Storms

My dad called me this afternoon. That was a little unusual as we usually speak in the mornings. He had called to tell me that it was pitch black – at 3.30 in the afternoon! He said in his 50 years of living in Broken Hill, he has never seen a dust storm as bad as the ones that it there today.

Of course, people have already uploaded their videos to youtube…check out these videos of today’s dust storms. Freaky! I do not envy the cleanup…red dust would be everywhere and in everything.

More links:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLw8dPlxDH0

Why is this of interest to me? Because I’m a Hill gal- born and bred!

Don't Make These Mistakes

As many of my regular readers will know I develop websites– big ones, small ones, ecommerce sites and blogs. Website development is a hobby that keeps me on my toes. The industry is always changing…there is something new to learn every day! Sometimes it is mind blogging, other times it’s just what I need. Mind you, there is a down side to studying web development. One of those downsides is that I have trouble just visiting websites and enjoying them nowadays. I want to look inside…I want to see its engine, know what is running the site, who designed it and what components the site is using. I just can’t look at a custom site and simply enjoy it anymore. Oh well, that’s not really a grumble or a downside, just a curiosity that springs from my delight. 🙂

Anyway I love blogging and studying pro bloggers is also an interest of mine. I have absolutely no aspiration to ever be a pro blogger. Goodness, I don’t even keep a stat counter! I simply do not obsess over comments, visitors or anything like pro bloggers do. Then again my motivation for blogging is quite different to theirs so obviously our sites will be quite different. (I actually started a blog as a place to collect my thoughts that I had been referring to frequently. Threads and posts on forums and email groups had me re-typing my thoughts so I started a blog to keep them all in one place). Despite my lack of blogging aspirations I still like to learn about effective blogging as a mode of communication. Blogging has been a great tool for my continuing learning about communication.

In my travels I’ve come across some beautiful blogs, some blogs with great content and some blogs that I can only read via my RSS feed reader due to the website/blog design. I have a few pet peeves when it comes to site design…and before I ask you to tell me your website pet peeves I thought I’d tell you mine.

Pet Peeves

Music players that are set to autoplay. Usually they are stuffed in a sidebar which makes it near impossible for me to find so I can turn it off. Sometimes I’m reading blogs very early in the morning or occasionally at night when the children are asleep. I may even like your choice in music…but I like to listen to music at a time when it is convenient for me. Bloggers could consider not having the player set to autoplay. As far as web development goes, this option is more courteous.

Spam is yucky. We all hate it but it is a fact of the blogosphere. There are a few plugins and features designed to combat spam but I really have to say that if you want me to leave a comment then please don’t make me jump through firing hoops to do so! make it easy for me to leave a comment. I just don’t like the captcha images where one is supposed to enter a string of numbers/letters. Sometimes I can’t even read the silly image…making commenting quite difficult. (However, this is largely my own personal preference. others may strongly disagree)

Cluttered sidebars…yes I know this is personal preference but for an adult who is highly distractable I find that the very popular trend of cluttering every little available space with images is just mental clutter. Too much for my lil brain. Images, widgets, buttons and ads- oh my! What is most important on your blog? Images, widgets or the content? (Darren is an Aussie ProBlogger who made a video blog on this topic. Take the 2 min to view his thoughts.)

Multiple blogs: let me explain this one. I used to have several blogs. A food/nutrition/fitness blog, a homeschool blog and my family journal blog. Aside from being difficult to keep track of it also made it it hard for my friends who wanted to keep up with my daily activities and thoughts. The beauty of blogging is categories! One blog- many categories. I’d much rather keep up with your one blog and its many categories than try to keep up with 3 or 4 different blogs by you. If I (cyber) know you and have a relationship with you then I want to hear all you have to say! make it easy for me, the reader! (exception to this can be business blogs- but even this should be assessed on an individual basis)

No contact functions. It’s important for readers to know how to contact you privately.

Things that make me subscribe or return to your site:

I love it when I can easily discern who you are, what you like to write about and, where you live. An ‘about me’ page or widget, with a photo. It adds the personal touch and immediately lets me know a little about you and the purpose of your blog.

I also love it when I can easily find content on your site. Give me multiple ways to find information! Search bars, archives, popular posts, recent posts, categories, tags and tag searches, etc are great ways for readers to find relevant content on your site.

When referencing a Scripture I love it when the author actually links to an online Bible! This allows me to dig deeper and run off on bunny trails.

Publishing your RSS feed. This was I can keep up to date with all your posts. (Publishing the feed for your comments is even better!)

Having a ‘contact page‘ or widget. Maybe I’d like to send you an email rather than leave a public comment…sometimes this is more appropriate. Let users know how to contact you.

I love it when bloggers write with paragraphs. Writing for web content is actually a little different to typical or proper writing. Web authors need to use more paragraphs, bullet points and typography than when writing for books or magazines. Breaking your content into more paragraphs makes it easier on the eye for people to read.

When a blogger is relating a story, thought or incident and they link to their previous posts in order to give the readers some background. If we are to develop an online relationship then it’s really helpful to not assume that I know your history or previous thoughts. Link them so I can find out. I love it when bloggers do this!

Okay, I’ve really put myself out there and possibly risked offending some of my readers…but please understand where I’m coming from – a perspective of website development. Of course, you may very well disagree with me and that’s fine too- tell me about it! I love to help homeschool mums with their blog design…I love to encourage the Aussie homeschool community, so let’s brainstorm and tell me what you do and don’t like about website/blog design.

10 Things I've Noticed

1. I get in and out of the car much easier.
2. My bigger size jeans are too baggy on me now.
3. I can do all the grocery shopping in one day!
4. I can leap out of bed rather than roll out of it.
5. I noticed a new muscle in my bicep!
6. I can actually do abdominal training now! (Previously I couldn’t as my back was too weak)
7. I can run for 1min (at10kph) on the treadmill during my HIIT workouts!
8. I feel stronger.
9. I crave less of the foods that aren’t good for me.
10. I feel more fluid and more flexible in my daily activities!

Exercises That Do No Good

CLIMBING
………………the walls

DRAGGING
………………your heels

GRASPING
………………at straws

SKIPPING
………………your meals

TILTING
………………at windmills

SPINNING
………………your wheels

JUMPING
………………the gun

PASSING
………………the buck

KICKING
………………yourself

PUSHING
………………your luck

STRETCHING
………………the truth

RUNNING
………………amok

Quick update

Just a quick post to let readers know that I updated my previous post ( the one with the piccies). For those curious readers who wanted to see a bigger picture, I have uploaded them so you can click on each one separately. The photo isn’t good as they come from a small phone with inadequate lighting, but you get the idea.

I was really tired and muscle heavy yesterday. I tried to do a Billy Blanks DVD but just couldn’t get through it. I had a feeling it was more than DOMS (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness) from my weight workout. It feels like something else. I believe it is inadequate protein intake for the working out I’m doing. So I rested yesterday and today and will try to up my intake of protein. I might do my weights tomorrow or I might wait until Friday- I’ll see how I feel.

Food and eating has been going pretty good – could be better if I’d remember to eat more regularly but I’m a work in progress. We’ve been eating a large salad every night, taking care to get in protein and sufficient carbs. I can officially report that I am now totally loving my daily salad! I look forward to it every single day. The different tastes, colours and textures really do tantalise my taste buds and I can’t believe how much I enjoy my salads now.

All for now…

Before and…during

Jacqui (a dear homeschooling/health buddy) has recently rejoined Weight Watchers Online so she shared her ‘before’ pictures. She’s now dared me to post my ‘before’ pictures so here they are!

The top photos were taken in May, 2009.

Click here for larger photos: Top Left – Top Right

And the bottom ones were taken in August, 2009.

Click here for larger photos: Bottom Left – Bottom Right

Not much change yet (except my hair) but I’m looking forward to leaner, stronger changes. 🙂

Exercise Week 21: get dressed straight away!

I like to go to the gym early in the morning. Sometimes I have been before John goes to work but I do prefer to be at home with him in the mornings to give him breakfast while we chat over a cup of coffee. But I think I’ve discovered a key to exercise! At least it’s a key for me!

Instead of getting up at 6am and putting my dressing gown and ugg boots on I have been having a quick shower and putting on my track pants and runners. This just seems to set the tone– I want to go to the gym ASAP. Rather than want to lounge around and potter I just want to get moving. I’ve been doing this for a few weeks and it really helps my mental attitude.

What about you? When do you exercise? Found any little tips that help you?

Exercise Week 21
	Rest Day
	Weights
	20min HIIT MA_running plan
	Weights +10min cardio blast at end
	20min HIIT (Wk 1 Day 3)
	Show Day! (rest from workouts)
	Weights +10min cardio blast at end

For the time being my weights workout consists of:

5 min warmup on treadmill or elliptical trainer
Leg Press: 3 sets of 10 reps @ 65kg
Lat Pull Down: 3 sets of 10 reps @ 30kg
Shoulder Press: 3 sets of 10 reps @ 9kg (my weakest area)
Chest Press: 3 sets of 10 reps @ 23kg
Cable Row Pulls: 3 sets of 10 reps @ 28kg
FitBall Squats 3 sets of 20 with 10kg weight in each hand
Core training: Hover on ball until fatigue
Back extensions until fatigue
Stretching
Cardio Blast 10min on treadmill or elliptical trainer

Food Intake

A few days ago Jacqui mentioned that she’d love to see my daily food intake…so I did two days worth of food recording and then went to the show yesterday so didn’t get around to posting. Here’s what I’ve eaten on Wednesday & Thursday. Bear in mind that I am still not following my MassAttack plan perfectly but I am still feeling results- like a clearer head, less vague and much more energy. I also haven’t been able to start on the supplements yet so it’s amazing what some ‘good’ foods can do.

Wednesday

Meal 1:
30g of Carman’s: Muesli: Muesli, Original Fruit-Free(to which I add a few goji berries)
100 g of yoghurt: Low Fat, Natural

Meal 2:
Milk Coffee (had planned a protein shake but couldn’t find the blender: Magic Bullet: so got frustrated and resorted to Milk Coffee)

Meal 3: Lunch –
Green leafy salad with Feta Cheese
1 slice wholemeal bread with curried eggs. (1 whole egg + 1.5 egg whites)

Meal 4: (3pm)
Protein Smoothie which contains:
45g Aussiebodies Perfect protein Supplement
3/4 cup reduced fat milk
50g Mixed Berries (frozen)
50g bio organic yogurt

Meal 5:
Chickpea salad with feta which consists of:
Green salad, 45g chickpeas, 45g feta cheese, 45g shaved ham, 1 slice tasty cheese.

Meal 6:
Milk Coffee

I exercised approximately 250 calories. I only had 4 glasses of water.

I used approximately 1311 out of the net daily budget of 1400 calories and had 89 calories remaining. 39% of the calories are from fat, 33% from protein, 28% from carbs and 0% from alcohol.
I use CalorieKing to record my food and exercise occasionally, just to help me keep on track.

THURSDAY

Meal 1:
22g Carman’s Muesli (with a few Goji berries) with 100g bio dynamic yogurt

Meal 2:
1 skinny cappuccino
1/4 choc chip cookie

Meal 3:
Chicken, bacon & cheese on toast but I didn’t eat the toast because I also had:
1 full-cream cappuccino

Meal 4:
30g or so of raw cashews

Meal 5:
Corn Mountain Bread wrap with a tin of Tuna in springwater, lots of lettuce, some feta cheese and a teaspoon of full fat mayonnaise.

Meal 6:
Reduced fat Milk Coffee

You have used 1424 out of your net daily budget of 1400 calories and have -24 calories remaining. 44% of the calories are from fat, 26% from protein, 29% from carbs and 0% from alcohol.

Calories burned in exercise: approximately 250. I drank approximately 1.5 litres of water.

Many of my calories are still coming from fat because of all the milk and cheese, but the good news is that instead of ingesting 400 grams of Parmesan Cheese last week I only allowed myself a 200gram block. See? Progress! I know I have to eat more fruit and veggies and I am trying…slowly.

The best testimony I can give this week is to share what happened earlier in my week. The weekends are my worst for food intake. I tend to either not eat much but when I do it is all the wrong foods. However this week I carried that through to Monday as well. I went to the gym on Monday and I had nothing! No strength, very little energy. I was still weakened on Tuesday although I tried to eat a lot more on Tuesday which gave me more strength and energy for my Wednesday workout! what have I learned the hard way? I have to eat properly!

Anyway, Thursday and Friday I had lots more energy! We went to the show on Friday (which is always tiring) and I made it through the whole day!

Fallen

Well, I’ve been going quite good lately! I’ve been able to up my weights at the gym, add a 5 min cardio blast to the end of the workout and even got to running for 1min, walk for 2 and repeat for 20min. Finally, I have been feeling good!

But I have fallen over the last 2 days. Had some things going on here at home and I have just forgotten to eat! Some might find that hard to imagine but if I drink enough water/tea/coffee I just don’t feel hungry. I ate a good breakfast yesterday and then did weights…and then I’ve eaten very little since then until tonight when I had an omelet on toast with feta cheese. Hmmm, not good Susan! Not what my MassAttack plan says at all!

After tea, I headed outside to get on the treadmill and do my cardio. I haven’t felt energetic all day so I’ve put it off…better get on to it now, I thought. Alas! I could only manage a few minutes before feeling very faint, like I was going to collapse.

So I’ve learned one very valuable lesson. Yes, I’m getting fitter but it’s not just due to the working out – a lot of it has to do with the nutritional food I’m eating. Take that out of the equation and I’m still not doing real good.

Again, I’m reminded of what Bill Phillips says,

“When you eat the right foods, in the right amounts, in the right combos, at the right times, you simply cannot go wrong!”

So tomorrow it’s back to eating properly, which starts with actually eating! Doh!

Exercise: Week 20

Exercise Week 20
	Rest Day
	Weights +20min Exercise Bike +Kathy Smith Core Workout DVD & Stretch
	20min HIIT MA_running plan (Wk 1 Day 1)
	Weights (added calf raises with 25kg)
	20min HIIT (Wk 1 Day 3)
	Rest Day
	Weights (continued with calf raises +added 20kg to the fitball squats)

For the time being my weights workout consists of:

5 min warmup on treadmill or elliptical trainer
Leg Press: 3 sets of 10 reps @ 60kg
Lat Pull Down: 3 sets of 10 reps @ 30kg
Shoulder Press: 3 sets of 10 reps @ 9kg (my weakest area)
Chest Press: 3 sets of 10 reps @ 18kg
Cable Row Pulls: 3 sets of 10 reps @ 28kg
FitBall Squats 3 sets of 20 with 10kg weight in each hand
Core training: Hover on ball until fatigue
Back extensions until fatigue
Stretching
Cardio Blast 5min on treadmill or elliptical trainer

** HIIT Running plan = (see image)

click for larger image

My MassAttack

As I wrote yesterday, I don’t eat much food…much real food. The quality of the food I eat also isn’t the best as I’m not able to swallow and take many foods that I used to like. I loved oranges but I can’t eat them very well now. I like lettuces but can’t take many of them. They get stuck in my upper stomach area and cause me to be in violent pain, which often results in a vomiting episode. So strangely enough I can eat chocolate, Tim tams and all manner of yummies that aren’t nutritional yet I can’t take a lot of god foods. John often makes the most delicious stir fry meals but it usually ends up with me in the bathroom. I’m real fussy when it comes to meat and bread. Sushi. It’s such a good, healthy meal and it’s nice…but not when it ends up in the toilet, which is what happens when I try to indulge in one sushi. So, over the years I’ve found it very easy to just live on tea, coffee and foods which don’t cause me pain or give me other violent reactions. But nutritionally my body is starving, which is quite likely why my body starts to crave certain foods. But often with cravings our body craves that which can be its worst enemy. This is so in my situation.

Anyway, I did say I’d write about my week with MassAttack, instead of blathering on about what I can and can’t eat. I’ll try and cut a long story short so here goes:

Even a slight undetected hormonal imbalance can cause weight gain of approximately 5kg per year.

I was so tired of feeling sick and tired. I read a testimonial in a women’s magazine about a woman who had depression after the birth of her baby…how she couldn’t lose weight, had no energy, etc. Then she started MassAttack and she felt like she was ‘cured’. So, of course, as to my nature I researched it until the wee hours of the night…and the next day…and then next and the next. Hey, it is a lot of money to fork out for something that may or may now work, right? I try to be very careful with my husband’s money, which is partly why I’ve put off something like this- preferring the option of trying to learn it all by myself. I spoke to a naturopath, who told me that she has no idea of why I can’t help my own body get better as I seem to be on the right track and have lots of knowledge (despite the fact that I know knowledge doesn’t necessarily mean application). Anyway, when I search for reviews I never search for positive ones. That’s rather quite silly I think. Any company itself will always promote positive reviews so why start there. I want to make as an informed decision as possible. Therefore I want to hear as many perspectives as I can so I search out negative reviews. Incredibly I couldn’t find any. I found one lady who said she was disappointed with the whole program as she wanted a complete meal plan (meal by meal planning) but that didn’t bother me as I wouldn’t use it anyway. That to me, wasn’t a real negative review.

If I went to see a naturopath IRL I would be seeing one person…with many consultations which take time and cost money. My one time payment covers me with MassAttack for 12 months of free naturopathic support via the Internet, which is my preferred option.

So I went in and signed up!

I liked that it wasn’t just one naturopath…rather a team of specialised health professionals. Apparently my information was to be reviewed by the main naturopath, Narelle, who would go on to speak with her naturopathic team.

Then came an extensive questionnaire for me to fill out. I hit the send button and then waited. It can take between 7-14 days for your plan to arrive but my plan only took 7 days. During this time I tried to clean out the pantry, which is never a bad thing to do anyway. I moved sugars and white flour products to the very top of the pantry where I need a chair to stand on. I put all the healthy foods in the shelves with easiest access. I put nuts, seeds and other nibblies into containers for easy access.

Narelle emailed me to say that my program was ready for download so I headed over to MA, logged in and began downloading and printing! My Hormonal Profile, Food Charts, Nutrient Protocol along with many other pdf documents were all part of the program.

The Food Charts are assembled like stop lights. Green is my go-to list…65% of foods eaten for the day should come from this list. The orange or yellow list are important foods too…very nutritious but must be in balance – about 25% of my daily intake and the red list are foods which I can east occasionally or to be added to a meal = approximately 10%. I like this system as I can still eat with the whole family, no weighing of foods or counting calories and still allows me the occasional treat. I’ve learned some things too.

Narelle sent my Hormonal Profile and believes that I will improve by eating for conditions such as: Glucose Imbalance, Adrenal Burnout, Thyroid Imbalance and Hormone Imbalance. I have long suspected all of these conditions but how to go about fixing them was beyond me!

I knew that my caffeine addiction would need to be addressed as would my craving/weakness for Parmesan Cheese. I knew I’d have to drink more water and all those typical things that we all know but don’t do. What I didn’t realise is that some good foods are not necessarily good for me, and my conditions! All my research over the years has led me to certain foods…but not all of them are best for me!

eg: broccoli is my favourite green veg, along with spinach but they aren’t good green veggies for me. They are in my red list but silverbeet, fennel, cucumber and avocado are in my green list! Goji berries are very much on my green list so I’ve added them to my plan. (I put them in m muesli because I don’t like the taste of them) They’re great for building thyroid function though! Pine nuts and bananas are great foods but they are on my yellow and red list. These are two foods that I did eat a lot of. I would eat about 5 bananas a week and a few years ago, before my Parmesan Cheese craving, I craved and devoured pine nuts. So when I did eat real food they seemed to be the wrong foods for my condition.

I was sent a lot of information…much of it I already knew, some of it was new to me. but more than that, I am committed to the APPLICATION of the program.

Next Narelle gave me a list of nutrient supplements that I would benefit from. These supplements have been selected for me and my needs. It is recommended that you use the nutrients for about 3 months. The recommended nutrients are listed in order of significance. I haven’t yet started on the nutrient protocol…but hope to next week. I will only be starting on one or two of the supplements for now as that is all I can afford. During all this time, I’m supposed to keep in contact with MassAttack regularly…letting them know how I am going all the time.

So for now I have been eating more…and eating more regularly. It has not been hard although I am yet to totally get off sugar and caffeine so I know that will slow any progress. So, that’s enough for week one…I’ll write more later.

My new nutritional program

Being a low energy homeschool mum is no fun. And I’m sure you’ve heard that saying, “If Mama ain’t happy, then no one is happy”. I was sick and tired of being tired all the time. I knew that my fitness levels had something to do with it, so I set out to do something about it. Hmm, a little improvement but very much in the ways of two steps forward, three steps backward. I know my fitness was improving but it didn’t feel like it…I wasn’t reaping the benefits of it.

About five years ago, after much prodding from my husband, I finally got around to visiting a Christian doctor. I wanted to see a doctor as I thought that maybe I had a dysfunctional thyroid gland. The doctor took blood tests and told me what I already knew about my iron levels and megoblastic anemia. he also said that my thyroid levels were low- the were on the cusp of being not normal…but until the levels dropped below average he didn’t want to do anything about it. He did however, prescribe anti depressants for me and warned me about how they may make me feel. I wasn’t overly keen on taking them but I’d finally gathered the energy to get to the doctor, I may as well try to be proactive, right? I tried them for 5 days but I just couldn’t do it. They made me feel nauseous and all I wanted to do was sleep. Not good for a homeschool mum! I threw them away and resigned myself to the fact that this was to be my lot in life – fatigued, down, and lacking in motivation.

In the back of my mind however, has always been the thought that not all is right with me. But what exactly?

I started exercising again. Largely for my own health but also to be an example to my boys. I believed all the articles that talk about exercise will give you more energy, etc. well, I still felt tired most of the time- even upon waking! I wasn’t able to fully reach my Fitn40 goal although I had made some improvement, but I knew there was something missing. And I knew that a lot of my problem was nutritional, or lack thereof. Due to an operation I had about 9 years ago I do not eat a wide variety of foods. I do not eat a lot at once but I can graze all day. Problem is, I rarely get hungry and when I do a cup of tea simply makes me not hungry anymore! So I can actually go for 2 days without eating anything other than drinking milk coffee, cups of tea and a Tim Tam (or two). Nothing nutritional in that!

It’s no wonder that when I started to exercise that I:
1) was tired all the time. It’s like trying to drive a car with no fuel in it!
2) was not losing any weight. My body is holding on to every scrap of fat…because I don’t fuel it regularly.

I know a fair bit about nutrition. Aside from studying it when nursing (before marriage) I am also actively interested in the topic. however, knowledge and application are two different things. Application is my weakness. I would suggest you visit the following site and know about EiyoNutrition.com and how their advanced dietary supplements can help you lose weight in no time.

So I decided to seek help. Thyroid issues or hormones or Syndrome X or whatever, I know I need help. So I have sought the help of MassAttack. I’ll write more tomorrow about how I”m going with my new nutritional program.

Is Fatigue or Stress wearing you down? Got a Belly that Won’t Budge. a Low Libido, or are you Moody?
If this sounds familiar, your hormones may be making you fat …
If your exercise and weight resolutions aren’t working, try massattack.com.au
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Approaching…the corner

Last Monday marked my 19th week of exercising- minus about 4 weeks off during that time. Some readers may remember my goal to be Fit n 40. Well, at first I didn’t think I was going to make that goal…but looking back I do think I have made forward steps toward achieving it. Ok, so I’m not the same fitness level as I was 6 years ago (pre- knee reconstruction and website development) but I have gotten fitter!

I started working out at home…then realised that I was working far too hard thus not working efficiently. Then, I started at Contours, which is an all female gym. It’s pretty soft. Miss A and I joke and call it the wussy gym. I needed it though. Contours helped get me out of the house and into a gym regularly. I had felt some small improvements during the last two months at Contours. I used the Rowing Machine which has helped strengthen my back, which in turn has allowed me to start some abdominal strengthening. I’ve slowly been getting more and more into the board work, which is cardio. I always knew I would move to another ‘real’ gym sooner or later but I needed to be ready. I stayed at Contours for 2 months before moving. Two weeks ago the real gym gave me a free 7 day trial so I tried it a few times plus kept up at Contours.

On Thursday I had a session with the Personal Trainer, who gave me a plan to with with weights. I like working with weights as it is one of the quickest and best ways to lose weight, strengthen muscles and is especially good for women as they get older. Indulge me please? Not only have I always been interested in health and fitness but Miss A is studying and narrates most of her learning to me. So, did you know that:

Resistance training increases your metabolic rate up to 4 days later.
Every one kilogram of muscle burns an extra 100 calories a day.
It improves posture, increases bone density, decreases risk of osteoporosis, increases joint and muscle stability and decreases the risk of degenerative joint disease.

Anyway, as the PT was showing me the weights and machines she mentioned that she thought I was fairly strong and by my strength and technique was ‘not a beginner‘. Tehee, that was boost to my confidence.

Yesterday I came home from a class and I was just buzzing! I had so much energy I didn’t quite know what to do with myself! I felt like I could easily do another class. Until about 3pm. Then, my knees and ankles started to feel it. Yes, they got s bit stiff. But then again, I’m not 20 anymore and I’m still not at a good/high fitness level so I must expect little things like this. But I’m glad to be able to say that I finally feel a benefit to all this exercise!

Anyway, my plan is to work out with weights on Monday, Wednesday and Friday with some cardio work on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. The cardio may be some interval training on the Elliptical trainer or Bike or I may do a class like TBT (Tummy, Butt & Thighs), Pump, Step or a Circuit.

For the time being my weights workout consists of:
5 min warmup
Leg Press: 3 sets of 10 reps
Lat Pull Down: 3 sets of 10 reps
Shoulder Press: 3 sets of 10 reps
Chest Press: 3 sets of 10 reps
Cable Row Pulls: 3 sets of 10 reps
FitBall Squats 2 sets of 20
Core training: Hover on ball until fatigue
Back extensions until fatigue
Stretching

This past week I did:
Monday: Contours Circuit (cardio, light weights & stretching)
Tuesday: Step Class
Wednesday: Contours Circuit
Thursday: (am) Contours Circuit plus first (pm) weights session with PT
Friday: 45min Step class
Saturday: First Weights Session (eek! Bit daunting in a co-ed gym but I survived!)

Please forgive me if I’m starting to sound obsessive. I feel a bit obsessive! It’s all I can think about. However I think that’s a good sign. I believe I am thinking of it constantly at the moment because of the improvement I feel…I know I’m progressing and it’s exciting!

I also started on my new nutritional plan this week…

Favourite Blogs

Grace from Beyond the Black Stump noted me in her Favourite Blog post. That is very sweet. I don’t like to keep or record any awards given but that’s doesn’t mean that they’re not nice to receive. Thank you Grace & Jillian. Even better though – I get to note some of my favourite blogs!

Grab a cup of decaf and spend some time at these blogs:

Two Kid SchoolHouse: Musings of a homeschool mom, very part-time student, and parasitic housewife to a seminary student, all rolled into one.

The Mother Lode: Humorous Straight Talk on Learning Differences, Family Life and the Horrors of Department Store Dressing Rooms

Belinda’s Notes: A place to share the things that happen in my family. The longer I homeschool the quicker I realise that these are not just everyday family happenings – they are the experiences that are educating my children.

Enduring Prize is the blog of Michelle, from Down Under Literature. Always very helpful and informative posts.

Five Peas in a Pod: Learning to grow for eternity

Little Men in my Library always posts such interesting thoughts.

A Modern Day Essene: Posts reflections on life, home schooling, healthy living and family times.

The Life and Times of Jess

Kendra from the Pumpkin Patch is just amazing!

Quo Vadis: Where Are You Going?

Beyond Bluestockings just astounds me with her wit, intelligence and inner beauty.

This week…

I’ve been MIA from the blog but so much has happened in real life. That’s usually the way, isn’t it? I have so much blog fodder but no time to write! 😎

We’ve had a very ‘light academic’ week this week. It wasn’t planned that way but real life took over. I have resumed softball coaching this year and I’m really looking forward to it but I also know that it takes a lot of mental time and energy so in preparation for that I’ve felt the need to declutter. With the help of my boys, I moved 4 bookcases to other rooms in the house, with the aim of making the kitchen/dining area look more open and less cluttered. I’ll also be taking everything out of the buffet hutch and packing it away. I simply don’t have time to dust all the ornaments, as much as I love the atmosphere they help create in the home.

Master J is getting all his gear ready as he heads out for a cadet bivouac this weekend. That’s always exciting for him.

Things seem to be looking more positive for Miss R as she is doing her Cert1 in KitchenHand (already has Cert1 in Hospitality), work experience and part time paid work but she also has an interview today for a full time trainee ship. She still isn’t living home but we saw each other a few times this week again, which is positive.

I have a great story that gives praise to God, even though it isn’t really my story but Miss A has allowed me to share it as she doesn’t have time to write/blog it herself. When the ToolBox cafe closed down we didn’t encourage Miss A to look for another full time job. She already had a part time job lined up with some fellow Christians at their cafe. However, we did recommend that she devote her energy to finishing her Cert3 in Fitness studies. She’s been doing really well with it plus training for the Developmental Australian Tournament, plus fitness training. I’ve really loved having her home again…homeschooling her all over again. 🙂 However, with car registration and 6 interstate softball tournaments this year she really needed some work as well. Softball is a fairly expensive sport once one gets to the higher levels. I suggested that she prioritise a list of her needs and put it before the Lord, asking Him to provide for those needs. I just left the idea with her. (Rewind a few months now) A few months ago she had a great job offer, one which any average young person would love to have but it just wasn’t right for her. She declined the offer. Well, two days ago she received a phone call asking if she could work at this place…any hours of her choosing! We talked about it and agreed that she didn’t go looking for it but instead asked God to provide so we saw this as His provision! Hallelujah! So she is now going back to work 4 days a week…softball takes 2 full days a week and study, fitness and committee work will be managed in between! Ah it’s a good job that she’s young and fit eh?

It’s great having John home again. The time away actually benefited him, physically. He worked out at the gym but didn’t have to drive for hours a day so his back was doing great. However, I’ve noticed that he’s been strained and stiff and in pain again for the last few days. We know it is all the driving but…? He drives an hour to work each day and an hour home each and every day. But it’s not the driving so much as it is this particular trip. It is through the Adelaide Hills which is a little up and down but worse than that it is windy…very windy with hair pin bends and sharp turns while going up and down hills. It’s not a leisurely drive at all…one has to remain braced and fully alert at all times. This is what prevents his back from healing and strengthening properly. In 2007 he had an accident at work and after a few weeks of agony, he had to have a shoulder reconstruction, which had him out of action for months. He went back to full time work too early and did a back injury He’s had x-rays and MRI’s and various other tests in which he has been told that he has a ‘blown disc’…that there is no cartilage between 2 vertebrae. Driving exacerbates the condition and causes pain. However, he’s allergic to many pain relievers and anti inflammatories so it isn’t as easy as taking a few pills.

I’ve been exercising regularly for nearly 19 weeks! In that time I’ve had about 3-4 weeks off but otherwise I’ve exercised at least 3 times per week. I’ve gotten a bit stronger and had a few positive results but am nowhere as fit, strong and healthy as I expected. Actually I’ve been more tired and lethargic than ever. Exercise really tuckers me out! So I have consulted an online naturopath and have received my new nutritional program which I will be starting on Monday. I’d like to blog regularly about it but won’t make any promises.

On top of all that I am teaching my Dad to use a computer and the Internet. Difficulty in that is that he is in Broken Hill and I am in Adelaide! When he was here, John built him a computer and he took it home, set it up and is patiently working on it a little each day. I’m so proud of him as I know how difficult all this new technology is. But I can easily be on the phone with him for 30min or more just trying to instruct him on how to read an email! (I try to remember that I have trouble operating our several remote controls just to watch TV) But he’s keeping his mind active and staving of dementia and other conditions by learning new skills. Go Dad!

I still read my regular blogs but have done very little popping in and commenting this week…sorry! I hope to visit them again next week.

Australian Book Traveller: New Social Studies Essential Resource!

downunder AussieHomeschoolers...are you ready?

Do you have children aged between 5 and 13 years? Do you love literature? Want to teach Australian Social Studies? Want a resource that also teaches you how to teach in a gentle but thorough way? Then look no further than Down Under Literature's newest resource, Australian Book Traveller!

Inspired by Five In A Row, Michelle has put together an affordable, literature based unit study for Australian Social Studies.

You are the travel guide.
The books are the transport.
The children are the tourists.
The journey is ahead!

Included is

an Australia Traveller's Map Journal (extra maps are available for only $5)
Map Markers
The Australian Book Travellers Travel Guide E-Book (on CD)
The Australian History Notebook ebook (on CD) and
An Australian Timeline Notebook Pages

Not included but necessary as the main reference resource is Our Sunburnt Country and the Australian Picture Books. However, these books make a fantastic addition to any family library so it is well worth the money. They're also available from DownUnderLiterature.

You can use this resource with one child or with many. Whilst the core travel books are aimed at children aged 5-9 I know of many older children (and adults) who absolutely love good picture books. Teaching opportunities abound when using picture books! there are even Extension Activities for the slightly older children who don't want to miss out.

Simply add English and Maths to Australian Book Traveller and you have the base for a well rounded primary grade curriculum.

I have used Michelle's products and they are always high quality with plenty of information. Using her products is a breeze as is locating the additional books. I won't say too much more because I really want you to zoom over to DownUnder Literature and check the Australian Book Traveller for yourself.

If you have primary aged children, this is a *must-have* resource in your curriculum library!

(Please note: Michelle of Down Under Literature will be attending the Diana Waring Living Laughing and Learning Conference's in Sydney, Maitland, Melbourne,Canberra and Brisbane ... so be sure to take your purse!)

Setting Up The Schedule

Want to have a peek into one of my son’s course of study? Of course you do. 🙂 I’ve included a copy of his Daily Workload sheet and his Course of Study for you to get an idea of how I schedule. Just be mindful that this is my student, with his unique strengths and weaknesses so his schedule will look quite different to that of another 14yo boy. And that’s how it should be.

Yesterday I shared that after observing my son I realised that he was entering a new season. He needs to learn new sets of skills but in ways that fit with our goals. Our goals are process oriented, not product oriented:

Build and maintain relationships
Develop the character of his heart
Develop needed learning skills and a love for them

ACE paces are set out in such a way that the child simply picks up the book and does 4 pages per day. They know exactly what is required of them each day and they aren’t reliant on the teacher/parent to tell them what to do next. This has always been my weakest area. I’ll give the children a book to work through but when it is finished, then what? It could take awhile before I get around to giving them a new one… 😕 With this in mind, I’ve tried to set up Master J’s schedule in such a way that he can see what is required each day and each week, and which resources to use for each subject.

He has a 2 ring binder with several coloured tabs for different subjects: Bible, Maths, Copywork, Science, Church History, Compositions, Projects, in which he can find the standard sheets to fill in and/or file his completed work.

In the front of the binder he has a [download id=”23″], which outlines the subjects that he should attempt to get done each day. You may notice that I have scheduled Saturday. This is only for a time… to help him learn time management. Once he has the hang of completing all his work in a timely manner he won’t need to do any ‘formal’ work on Saturday. However, it’s there in case it doesn’t get done, for whatever reason.

Another page is the [download id=”24″] and it outlines the resources used for the subject and the course requirement.

Also thought I’d mention that this is not how our lifestyle or homeschool looks every week or month of the year. For this period of time, (a season) this is how it looks. In a few months, it may very well look completely different- but that is the naturalness of seasons. There is a time when we see lots of blossoming and there is a time where things seem to be quiet, almost still and dormant. There is a time when lots of positive, nutritional and rich ideas need to be sown and other times where we see the fruit of that. It doesn’t all happen at once.

Do you notice the seasons in your home? Do you embrace those seasons or do you find that you struggle against them?

A New Season of Learning

Ah, a change of seasons. But no, I’m not talking about the emergence of Spring. Rather, a change of season in our home, more specifically in our learning.

Just like with the natural weather based seasons the calendar doesn’t force them to begin, so it is in our home. The shape or appearance of Master J’s learning is taking on a different look. It isn’t that he is suddenly starting more formal bookwork, rather that I am increasing his workload. Not because I am trying to cram him full of information rather that I want to use the more formal learning time to continue to achieve our goals. You’ll notice that our goals are process oriented, not product oriented:

Build and maintain relationships
Develop the character of his heart
Develop needed learning skills and a love for them

Not all homeschoolers have the same goals so I’ll try to expand on how the above points are our goals and how we use academic and curriculum as a tool:

1. Build and maintain relationships
By working with the child, we grow in intimacy. Using curricula as the tool, I will demonstrate love, grace and patience, thereby building trust. Academics are not the sole priority here but I want him to see that he is much more important to me than forging through a workbook.

2. Develop the character of his heart
Through this time I hope to help my child recognise any wrong attitudes and learn how to deal with them, leading him to submission to Christ.

3. Develop needed learning skills and a love for them
I don’t adhere to any standards of school or state. I don’t follow a syllabus that dictates to me when or how I need to proceed with new disciplines or subjects. Rather, the Holy Spirit reveals my child’s needs to me and I trust that He will shape the approach and requirements for each child. I desire that Jesus Christ become Lord over our education, approach, methodology and processes of learning. Academics and education are secondary to that.

Until we come to grips with the deception that ‘content equals education’ we will never be set free to explore a better way. And what is the better way? Learning how to learn and how to think (process) rather than what to learn and what to think (product).
~Marilyn Howshall

For many years, we followed a literature based approach, then had some years of natural learning or an unschooling approach. The in an attempt to provide more self direction and structure we started to use ACE paces for a few subjects. The ACE paces served a purpose for awhile, as the boys learned some valuable lessons and also learned to work more independently than before. But the flip side of it was that they felt stifled and I found that goal #1 wasn’t being met. Recently (as in the last few months) I’ve observed my son and I sense (through the prompting of the Holy Spirit) that he is indeed becoming ready for growth in academic areas – I’ve sensed a change in seasons, so needed to reassess our lifestyle of learning and what I could do more efficiently to meet our goals.

Homeschooling is never static…as our children are never static. Parenting/homeschooling is never ending and I’m always kept on my toes. Tomorrow I’ll share the system I devised a few years ago. This system worked well with the girls (without less instruction) but it’s only now that Master J is able to keep up with such an organisational system.

Uses for Coconut Oil

Suggestions for using Organic Virgin Coconut Oil.

1. As Edible Oil
To detox the body, takes 1 to 2 tablespoons in the morning. An excellent food supplement, known to help you alleviate thyroid disease, obesity, ill digestion system, and increase your immunity as the Virgin Coconut Oil is a Medium Fatty Acid Chain. It’ll kill the unfriendly bacteria only – leave the friendly bacteria alone. (Ref: The Healing Miracles of Coconut Oil by Fife)

2. As Massage Oil or Face Mask
Massage Oil: Apply to your body liberally as needed. For dry lines around your eyes, apply a small amount and massage it in.

Face Mask: Take 1 medium size ripe avocado (dry skin) or peach (normal skin), peeled, cleaned, and segmented (meaty part only). Put in microwave for 1 or 2 minutes until soft. Mesh with a fork. Add 2 to 3 tablespoons (more or less as appropriate) of virgin coconut oil to the cooked avocado or peach and stir. Mix in uncooked oats (up to 1 cup) until the mixture forms a thick consistency. Apply the facial mixture to your face, dry lines around your eyes, and neck. Avoid direct contact with your eyes. Leave mixture for 10 minutes. Rinse well with cool water.

3. Rash
Spread virgin coconut oil on the allergic area on the skin to make it soft and supple, with intense moisture and healing. The rash will be gone in 1 to 3 days. Virgin coconut oil is effective in curing the baby rash or any red rash caused by clothes irritation and dry weather.

4. Candida Fungus
Virgin Coconut Oil fights candida fungus very well which is generally found on the skin, mucous membranes of the mouth, intestinal tract and female areas. Mix 1 tablespoon of oil in distilled water, shake well and drink it or apply the oil on the infected area.

5. Sores, Cuts and Abrasions
Clean affected area thoroughly and apply the oil on top of it. In order to make sure the oil clean up the wound completely and stop infection, apply and saturate the bandage with oil. Then wrap around the wound with the bandage.

6. Sauna
Put few drops of Virgin Coconut oil in water and allow it to vaporize in the sauna.

7. Stain Remover
Coconut oil is excellent for cleaning stain, ink, carbon and other marks off most plastic and vinyl. Also the oil works well to remove chewing gum, paint and ballpoint ink marks from clothes. Add few drops of oil on top of dirt area; rub it with a damp cloth.

8. Healthy pets!
Many people feed coconut oil to their dogs. I used to feed eggs to our dogs to give them a shiny, healthy, clean coat so even though I haven’t given it to my dog (we don’t have one) if they were unhealthy, overweight or needed some fats in their diet, coconut oil would be a great way to go! Approximately 1/4 teaspoon per day for small dogs or puppies and 1 teaspoon per day for large dogs. However, please be mindful that large amounts of coconut oil can cause diarrhea while the body adjusts.

Some people use coconut oil as a spread on toast, much like one would spread vegemite. Other use it like butter over steamed vegetables, baked potatoes or rice.

However, I just couldn’t take it on toast nor straight on my veggies. We do use it in the following ways:
Any recipe calling for butter, shortening, margarine or vegetable oil can be a “coconut oil” recipe. It is simply a matter of substituting coconut oil for whatever oil is called for in the recipe. We also substitute it for olive oil, only not 100% (we like both types of oil) so we might do 50% of each. We fry or saute anything and everything in coconut oil. We use it with and on our popcorn. I’ve tried to take a teaspoon in hot water for my morning cuppa, but it just doesn’t hit the spot.

I really want to find more ways to get my coconut oil down…any palatable suggestions?

The Banabans

Just like I prefer to use Fair Trade products I can’t help but write about one of my favourite products. I love and use Coconut Oil but only particular brands. The brand I use if Banaban Extra Virgin Coconut Oil. But why that brand?

The Banabans are the ‘Forgotten People of the Pacific’ who have suffered from one of the greatest ecological and environmental disasters over the past century.

The Banabans are an indigenous people from a small Pacific island called Banaban or Ocean Island. In 1900 Banaban was discovered to be made of pure phosphate. This fateful discovery would see the beginning of 80 years of phosphate mining and the virtual destruction of the Banaban’s homeland.

In 1945 the Banaban people were relocated to Rabi Island over 10,000 miles away in the Fiji Island group. The Banabans and their island have now been left, forgotten, still suffering from of of the world’s greatest environment and human rights injustices. The phosphate rich deposits of banaban are now scattered across the farms of Australia, New Zealand and Great Britain.

By purchasing from Nature Pacific and using the Banaban products, proceeds are used to regenerate and rebuild a better future for the Banaban people. If you would like more information you can visit the , Banaban website and/or download a pdf information sheet here.

I purchased my first bottle of oil from the ebay store…and ever since then I have purchased straight from the distributor in QLD. Not only is it a great quality oil and a good cause the service is second to none! I ordered my purchase online at 2pm on a Tuesday and I could not believe it when my oil arrived in my South Australian home on Wednesday afternoon. I mean, have you ever experienced such fantastic service? Once you order and use their products I’m sure you’ll never buy another brand of coconut product.

Nature Pacific Coconut products

Coconut Oil: Oils Ain't Oils

Hmmm, it tastes nice, good for the body: inside and out. But, as with most oils, oils ain’t oils.

I’ve been using coconut oil for years and over that time I’ve learned a few things.

Once wrongly accused of increasing cholesterol levels, coconut oil is now actually being used by doctors in the treatment of a variety of disorders. Clinical studies have shown that coconut oil has anti-microbial and anti-viral properties. Once mistakenly thought to be bad because of its saturated fat content, coconut oil is now known to contain a unique form of saturated fat that actually helps prevent heart disease, stroke, and hardening of the arteries.

The saturated fat in coconut oil is unlike the fat found in meat or other vegetable fats. It is identical to a special group of fats found in human breast milk that have been shown to improve digestion, strengthen the immune system, and protect against bacterial, viral, and fungal infections.

Coconut oil has been used throughout Asia and the Pacific for thousands of years as both a food and a medicine. Another incredible fact about coconut oil is that even though it is a fat, it promotes weight loss!! The reason is again because of the healthy medium chain fatty acids. These fatty acids do not circulate in the bloodstream like other fats, but are sent directly to the liver where they are immediately converted into energy, just like carbohydrates. So the body uses the fat in coconut oil to produce energy, rather than be stored as body fat. Medium chain fatty acids found in coconut oil also speed up the body’s metabolism, burning more calories and promoting weight loss. The weight-loss effects of coconut oil have been clearly demonstrated by many researchers. They offer wonderful health benefits and are nowhere found more abundantly in nature outside coconut oil. For the hypothyroid sufferer the medium chain fats rev up the body’s sluggish metabolism and promote weight loss as well.

But back to how oils ain’t oils:

We should all try to stay away from hydrogenated oils, whether it is coconut oil or vegetable oils. Hydrogenated oils are oils with trans fatty acids, which have been altered from their original chemical composition, and have been shown to raise serum cholesterol levels that can lead to heart disease.

Also try to buy unrefined coconut oil, often labeled as Virgin Coconut Oil.

Most commercial coconut oils are refined, bleached, and deodorized. While these oils do in many cases maintain the beneficial chemical structures of the medium chain fatty acids, they also contain chemicals used in processing.

You want to buy oil that has been cold-pressed. When expeller pressed coconut oil is prepared/heated, it is mostly treated with hexane. Even some oils labelled ‘organic’ have been prepared using hexane. Hexane is a hydrocarbon volatile colourless liquid derived from petroleum and used as a solvent in glue used for shoes, leather products, and roofing. Additionally, it is used in solvents to extract oils for cooking and as a cleansing agent for shoe, furniture and textile manufacturing and because it contains carbon as the primary backbone of the molecule it can be technically listed as ‘Organic’.

Organic
Unrefined
Non hydrogentaed
Non bleached
Non deodorised

But where to get such an oil? Stay tuned… or click on the banner above!

Feel as though I'm 18 again

Oh goodness, I’m like a giddy schoolgirl. I’m so excited that I can barely think straight, let alone do all the necessary things for today.

Guess who got an early mark?

Guess who has just left Victoria (the state) and is driving home today?

Guess who will be home later tonight?

Can you guess? Do I have to spell it out?

Okay, I know the photo is 21 years old but that doesn’t mean that we necessarily feel any older. I still feel the same dizzy happiness at being with my man.

And yes, he’s coming home tonight!

Man from Snowy river recitation with movie clips

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fs_-DKUimeo

Chook the LyreBird

Just a quick thought before I head off to bed…

Not everything we hear (and could that be ‘read on the Internet‘?) is as it seems. Not everything we read or hear is true…sometimes it may be close to the truth, it may sound like the truth yet not be the whole truth. We can learn such a simple lesson from creation.

Chook is a lyrebird at the Adelaide Zoo where much construction work has been done recently and Chook has picked up many of the machine sounds.

All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost;
J.R.R. Tolkien

The zoo keepers can hear the following sounds:
1. Hammer
2. Chainsaw
3. Jack hammer
4. Lawn mower hitting sticks
5. Leaf blower starting
6. Power drill
7. Wood saw
8. Human voices
9. Two-way radio
10.Worker whistling

What can you hear?

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WeQjkQpeJwY

“Great minds discuss ideas. Average minds discuss events. Small minds discuss people.”
~Eleanor Roosevelt

Poetry using the Observation and Activity Sheets

The past few posts have outlined how we gently and naturally enjoy poetry and learn about a variety of topics through it. Sometimes I might ask the boys to fill out a 5W and H sheet but usually it is just an informal process involving discussion. Below are some of the 5W’s and a H we’ve discussed, while enjoying The Man from Snowy River, using the 5W’s and a H Observation sheet, which you can download from the downloads page.

Who wrote the poem?
What can you tell me about A.B. Paterson?
On which Australian banknote would you find a picture of Mr. Paterson?
Do you know when this poem was written?
When do you think this even took place in Australia’s timeline?
Who is major character or who is the poem referring to?
What other people are mentioned?
What is the main event or events?
Tell me what you know about the bushmen. Describe them.
Where did this event take place? Describe the location and surroundings.
Along with the Poet Biographical Outline, I have the boys choose one or more activities from the Activity Sheets (also available from the downloads page) to complete.

I’ve found that using the Observation Sheet is a key element in the art of narration. Whilst the girls seemed to be able to narrate for days on end, the Observation Sheet has been invaluable for the boys. It helps them to look for the main points in a story, poem or movie. Whilst I certainly don’t like to reduce any art form or literary medium to a basic ‘who-why-what-when-where’ format, it is helpful for those who find a rich, literary style rather superfluous.

😉

Learning about the Man from Snowy River

I am not good at writing poetry. I don’t understand a lot of it yet I want to instill an appreciation and basic knowledge of poetry to my children. That is my goal or the *where*. Knowing the ‘where’ dictates how we do poetry appreciation. Other families are different. Some don’t do it at all and others do it very indepth. Keeping the goal in my mind helps me to maintain a light, enjoyable atmosphere in the home. While we’re doing poetry appreciation though, we may as well multi task.

This very simple, time-efficient, gentle and enjoyable activity teaches us how to use beautiful words and how to use words beautifully. The recitation/speaking aloud part is the very beginnings of public speaking. I encourage the children to speak clearly and enunciate carefully. Copywork provides opportunity for handwriting, spelling, poetry structure, and word usage. Memorisation helps to build strong, healthy mental muscles. Learning research skills whilst completing the Author Bio sheet is another worthwhile activity.

Yesterday I wrote about our enjoyment in reading The Man from Snowy River. Today I’d like to share a little more of how we learn through poetry.

We also look at a map of Australia to see whereabouts this poem is taking place. The Snowy Mountains. We have a look at the Snowy Mountains website. I show them the page about the Snowy Hydro’s hydroelectric power stations and we talk about this, for their grandfather (Hi Pop!) worked there as a cook, while it was being constructed.

We look at an Australian $10 note. If you look very closely you will see a likeness of Banjo Paterson…and using a magnifying glass you can even see, in very fine print, the opening stanza from the poem!
“There was movement at the station for the word had passed around…”

I may also strew some art books or pictures, if I have any that depict the location or similar scenery. It adds to our theme but is not necessary. I used to try and make a full blown mini unit study and connect all the dots for the children: explaining how everything was connected together. Now I don’t. I prefer more natural means like strewing. I now know that the children are more than capable of making their own connections and, in fact, when they do so, are more excited about it than when I attempt to spoon feed them with information.

During one morning tea session we got so carried away with reading Banjo Paterson’s poetry that we also read “Clancy of the Overflow” as Clancy is mentioned in Man from Snowy River. During yet another morning, I ask the children to tell me, in their own words, what the whole poem is about, and what their favourite part or line is. I’m not just looking for sentences like, “oh, I like it. It is good”. I have our Observation Sheet printed out and on the wall so we can refer to it often. I want to know Who, Why, What, Where, When and How of the poem.

For those that don’t know of the poem, you can read it here and you can listen to Jack Thomson reciting a snippet here. (#14) But even better is the free pdf download of a whole Banjo Paterson ebook, courtesy of the University of Sydney.

I might leave a copy of The Silver Brumby by Elyne Mitchell lying around the place. One just never know, it might capture one’s interest! The other thing I do, at first without the childrens knowledge, is to play music from the Man from Snowy River music throughout the day. Jessica’s Theme is a gorgeous piece of music, written by Bruce Rowland. You can listen to snippet of it here #4. I used to play this on the piano when I was a lot younger. John and I love it so much that we had it playing in the background of our wedding video tape. Just as much as we can strew books, article, artwork, etc I think that we can strew music as well.

This may all sound like a lot, just for one poem. However, it is naturally how I learn and investigate things that I’m interested in…so it is natural that this is how I would present material to my children. It’s not hard or overly indepth. Everything is fairly accessible,, especially in this day and age of the Internet.

Tomorrow, I’ll write how we tie it together using our Activity and Observation Sheets.

Current poetry appreciation in our home

We’re appreciating The Man from Snowy River by A.B. (Banjo) Paterson. This is the second time through this piece of poetry as we went through it with the girls…and now I get to indulge again with the boys.

🙂

Poetry appreciation is a very gentle affair in our household. I thought I’d share what we do and how we do it. I used to try and connect all the dots for my children and we’d almost do a mini unit study on the poem and poet but I simply lack the energy needed to do this anymore.I realise this poem is fairly lengthy but I sensed the boys would be up for it. hey, they’re boys. They love a challenge!

😀

Over a hot chocolate I ask the boys if they remembered reading this poem many years ago. Nope! They’d forgotten. (I nod my head in an effort to hide the sigh) I ask if they remembered watching the movies, of which we own the classic editions because it is such a *family* favourite. Ha! Nope! They didn’t remember that either. Oi voi, what am I doing? While trying not to choke on my cappuccino I gently explain that we are going to look at this piece of work for a few weeks. Hmm, I was met with quizzical looks. A few weeks on one poem?

In between sips of cappuccino I simply read it aloud.

Then I explain that after a few weeks, I’d like each boy to be able to recite the poem aloud. Oh, now they’re showing signs of interest- or do they realise that they will be very embarrassed if they don’t put in some effort?

I read the first stanza aloud again. And then I went through it line by line, explaining a few (not all unknown words though. I want to keep a little bit of mystery and challenge) words and terms that they didn’t know. Ah, now a bit more interest is being shown.

I asked each boy to have a go at reading the first stanza out loud. For the zillionth time I explain how to project one’s voice, which is different to yelling. Hmm, it would be fair to say that they struggle through the first reading. Nevertheless I offer encouragement and tell them that next time they read it will be easier. And it is.

The next day I read the first two stanza’s aloud. Now, it’s their turn. They breeze through the first stanza and fumbled a little with the second. This is quite typical. By the third day, they read the first two stanza’s beautifully…little by little.

The boys write out one stanza each day (cough cough: when we get around to it) for copywork. They learn about the structure of the poem, spelling, rhythm and new terms.

:coffee: Another day, another hot chocolate. :coffee: (Hmmm, there’s a theme here, revolving around coffee n chocolate) I read the poem out loud again, because we just enjoy it so much! But this time I pause at certain places and expect them to jump in with the rest of it. Sure enough, they do. The words in brackets are the words I’d pause at and the boys would jump in, excitedly.

E.g:

There was [Harrison,] who made his pile when [Pardon won the cup,]
The old man with his [hair as white as snow;]
But [few could ride beside him] when his blood was [fairly up -]
He would go wherever [horse and man] could go.

The next reading this won’t work as well as they will be able to recite the poem from memory. Sometimes I will just read the first word of the line out – that’s enough to jog their memory. It’s fun. The boys get to jump up and down and shout out. What’s not to like if you’re a boy?

Next week sometime, we will nestle down with blankets and chocolate and watch the movie…again. 🙂 Oh, the things a homeschool mama must do eh?

Also, in the near future I will have them do a biographical outline of the author. We’ll use a standard sheet similar to the Author Outline that can be found in my download section. Tomorrow I’ll share on other ways that I multi task using poetry. (Okay, some might call it cross curricula activities but I call it multi tasking- makes me feel efficient). There are so many wonderful ideas and ways to approach poetry, but for me, many of those ideas are simply overwhelming. The way we approach it has evolved over the years: now being gentle and natural…as natural as it can be considering that I’m not overly well educated in this area. However, I can still try to cultivate a love, or at least an appreciation of poetry.

Are you reading or enjoying any poems at the moment? Which ones? I’d love to hear about it.

11 weeks of exercising

Hello, my name is Susan. I’ve been exercising since the 13th April (11 weeks) and I haven’t lost an ounce! Not a pound, not a kilogram. How unfair is that? I know I started off gung-ho. I can tend to get rather zealous with things and fitness is one of those things. I can easily adopt the adage, Go Hard or Go Home…until I do an injury and am incapacitated for weeks.

I learned that I was exercising so my MHR would go too high, which means it is not burning fat. Then I had an epiphany. Later on, I had 2 weeks off. Ugh, getting back into was not easy, despite Miss A’s encouragement and the backyard full of gym equipment. So, I joined Contours. All along, my motivation level has been pretty high, considering how tired I feel. Still, I constantly feel like it is two steps forward, three steps back. It is hard work. I do not enjoy exercising.

My type of leg press-using a machine

Anyway, I joined Contours on a month-by-month basis as I hope to get back to the point where I can join another gym – a *real* gym. 😉 I want to lift weights, heavy weights. I’m just not fit or strong enough yet. I know that might sound strange but I really am not fit. I don’t feel as though I’m progressing or getting anywhere.

So, for now I’m exercising at Contours 3-4 times a week- slowly building strength. Miss A does (real) leg squats with weights. Get this! 100kg weights! Man, that girl is a machine! I wanna do that too. :rotfl: However, I’m using a pin-weighted machine (isolation exercises on a pin loaded machine which are not as effective as compound exercises using free weights) for leg press and just this week I have managed to be consistent with pushing 59kgs!

Last week, I had a scheduled rest day and was supposed to go to the gym the following day. However, life situations happened that prevented me from going in the morning and by the afternoon I was feeling stiff and sore. In one sense, this is nothing new as I’ve been sore and hurting for 11 weeks now. But this was a different sore. This felt like my muscles were starting to tighten and seize. After being ‘good sore’ for awhile I realised that I didn’t like this stiff sore. So with lessons and housework done and Miss A buddying with Master C to cook tea I zipped down to the gym! I don’t usually go there at 5pm

Miss A does this with 100kg barbell

but I just knew I needed to. Golly, was I pumped when that was over! I felt good again. I felt sore, but it was the sore that comes from working out, not a static soreness.

So whilst I am pretty sure that I will not lose any weight and feel destined to be this weight forever I will not stop working out. Because I like the benefit that comes from working out. I don’t like leaving the house and going there, nor do I necessarily like doing it but I do love the benefit of it. So the pay-off is worth it. I may not reach my target goal weight, but I can still reach my other goal – Fit n 40…because it is an attitude. 😉

How are you going with exercising and working out?

Only eighteen days to go

21 years ago...our marriage

Only 18 days left…til John comes home!

In that time I’ve had my dad leave to go back to Broken Hill, my youngest daughter leave home and my eldest son have his first night at Youth group.

Still yet to happen:

Eldest daughter is to go away and return from softball tournament.
Younger daughter to have interview with ADF (Aust. Defence Force)
Youngest son to celebrate his 12th birthday (which will be postponed till John arrives home, no doubt)
Aside from that I need to get some things done- you know, pampering, feminine things in preparation for hubby’s return.

Ah to say that I can’t wait for his return would be a huge understatement… I love him with every dot point of my being. He’s my best friend, my lover, my playmate, my confidant, my shoulder-to-cry-on, my encourager, my truth-teller, father-to-my-children and my husband.

He…is… John.

Things you may not know about my husband:

He has never said a word about my weight, even when I was very overweight.
He always encourages my fitness fads- year after year after year after year.
He listens to me.
He makes me laugh.
He frustrates me.
He has always encouraged me with homeschooling.
He has always supported me in anything I wanted to do or try, even when it meant the yuck factor for him (e.g: my stints with healthy, raw foods).
He has the most gracious man I have ever met (It’s not my story to tell, but he has had some real rubbish thrown at him over the years and has always been the epitome of grace).
He is the most patient and forgiving man I have ever known.
He only knows two speeds – flat out or a complete stop!
When working on a project, will work obsessively until it is finished.
He tirelessly fixes my websites when I crash them.
Is a great husband and provider.
Is a great father.

There is heaps more that I could say… but I won’t. 😉 Suffice it to say that I cannot wait until he gets home!

What To Blog?

A few years ago, I was told that my online persona did not seem to match my real life persona. Apparently, I seemed to give a different impression, a more ‘perfect’ or ‘ideal’ one through my online persona. I was shocked and disappointed but I now believe that it is part and parcel of online communication and I also believe that I have become a better writer because of that comment. However, it has stayed with me many years later and still affects what I write. For some reason many people are aghast to learn that we have many TV’s, watch Science Fiction and enjoy many movies! (I’ve often thought about writing a post outlining the ‘possible’ shocking things about me…who knows, maybe I will one day.) Would you believe that some fellow Christians have doubted the sincerity of my faith once they find out that I watch Sci-Fi. Others seem to take pity on me. Still others, see it as their duty to enlighten me to the truth of the narrow way, as though I have been a believer for over 20 years and never heard or considered ‘their’ ideas before.

Anyway, enough of the ramble and back to the point, which was…er I don’t really think there is a point to this post. Do I ask myself, “Why don’t those people do what I do?” Why don’t they choose XYZ [insert any choice here] instead of what they are doing? Why do they homeschool like that? Why do they dress in THAT? Why do they eat that? Why don’t they eat this? Why don’t they worship in XYZ manner? and the list goes on… (C’mon, surely you have thought these things too eh? Surely I’m not the only one?)

When I hear myself mutter these things I know that I am imposing my values, restrictions, choices or boundaries on someone else. Oh Lord, forgive my self righteousness and my legalism.

There was a time when I felt alone in this Christian walk. Not totally alone but I did feel like there weren’t many other believers like us. Maybe I even felt that there are too few who choose to follow the narrow way…that there aren’t enough other believers who are living in obedience and sacrifice. Well, didn’t I have to really seek the heart of God and ask Him to create in me a clean heart.

Legalism is not obedience. It is adding to obedience. It is not living in freedom and liberty. It is not grace. It is living in boundaries but not by the Holy Spirit. Often when we are writing on our blogs we can speak words of legalism to others. Most often it is under the guise of following the One True Way and all those other martyrdom sounding cliques but the boundaries, rules, ties and bondage it can put upon a fellow believer is almost, but sadly not, unbelievable.

So God has called me to homeschool? Great. But has He called everyone to homeschool? So God has called me to wear plain, brown, ankle length dresses only with no makeup or jewelery. Great. But has He called everyone to do so? Is it my duty to proclaim that this is what walking the narrow way (Christian life) looks like and if they are saved then they would do this too? Maybe to some, adherence to the strict lifestyle or ‘code‘ is the gospel…but not to me. What is the gospel that you proclaim?

(a) Jesus is the Messiah predicted by the OT prophecies. His ministry of teaching, his actions, his death, resurrection and ascension all comport with the prophecies, and affirm him to be Messiah.
(b) His death was God’s act to deal with sin. His resurrection attested to the effective power of the Cross, and affirmed Jesus as Lord over life, death, creation.
(c) Men and women must, therefore, believe his Lordship, believe on him, repent of their sins, and receive forgiveness from their Saviour, Jesus.

Oh how much better to trust in the Holy Spirit…to trust in the grace of our Father that He will produce the good work in us.

Whenever I’m in confusion over an issue or believe that I need to change an area of my life I pray. Pray and ask God to show me my heart motivation, to lead me and to show my husband if this is right. After a little time I will always go and seek my John’s counsel. He’s my husband, my man. He loves me and has my best interest at heart. And I trust that God speaks to him as well…speaks through Him. It isn’t that I can’t receive from God without him, it’s part of marriage.

I am thankful for all the bloggers and writers who share their life in a way that doesn’t smack of self righteousness. I want to be a blogger like that. I’m thankful for God’s word…and that He still speaks to us today.

“For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.”
Hebrews 4:12

Freedom versus Bondage

I’ll confess. I’m struggling with writing online lately. I know what the Lord has done in my life and what he is doing in my life currently but I struggle with writing it in such a way that I will not be misunderstood or that may cause others to stumble.

I know that I will be misunderstood by some, simply because I am not the best writer and when communicating I rely heavily upon tone of voice and facial expressions as well as physical touch. I also rely heavily on knowing a little about who I am talking to, thereby being sensitive their situation.

I can’t begin to tell another person how to live, what decisions to make, the best way to homeschool their children, what to eat or what not to eat…so what can I write about? I can write about the things that I experience, the things God reveals to me and the changes He makes in my life…but there’s always the possibility that it will be misunderstood by some and that they will be led astray. Or maybe the freedom I have will cause them to stumble. Oi voi, what a dilemma!

Self imposed boundaries

There are things that I struggle with in my life. Some things I have even had to set boundaries for. These boundaries give me the opportunity for accountability…they help me to be strong in areas that I am weak. Rules, boundaries, safe-guards, guidelines, do’s, do not’s…call them what you will but they are boundaries nevertheless. We all have them. If not in one area then in another, sometimes known only to ourselves but we all have them. I believe that Christians have many of these self built boundaries…especially Christian homeschooling parents!

Personal Freedoms vs. Scriptural Commands

There are some areas which fall into the ‘freedom‘ category and some which are God’s commands. Clothing is one area, as an example. Dressing modestly is a biblical principle. Women should not dress to look as a man and vice versa. (I won’t go into lengthy detail as way too much opinion and study abounds on the ‘interweb’ already). Scripture tells us all we need to know. But man would like to interpret (or is that control?) and tell us exactly what it means… even down to the fabric, colour and length in centimetres! These things add burdens… yet Christ came to set us free that we may be controlled by the Holy Spirit, not man!

Personally Convinced by the Spirit

Many years ago, (BC: Before Christ) I dressed in a manner that was clearly set to impress the male audience. I know this not because anyone told me but because I know what was in my heart. After being a believer for some time, God spoke to my heart about the way I dressed. He did not tell me to wear dresses only or ankle length skirts only. He didn’t give me the tape measure and a set of measurements to abide by (which would have made it easy for me to try and fudge here and there) However, He did address my heart. Ouch! That was harder hitting! I had freedom to dress how I wanted so long as I followed the boundaries that He set in my heart. The Holy Spirit guided me. Just as He can guide other women. But I also know that God opens each heart at to different things at different times in their walk.

As a young Christian, I found it helpful to put boundaries on myself. These were not so much rules for me to follow, although they could be interpreted as such. Rather, they were steps or markers that I had put in place that offered me some accountability. I had to this because of my weakness in an area. I was weak so I put markers in place to help guide me. Naturally I noticed that other people did not have the same boundaries around themselves…for they weren’t as weak in the same areas as I was.

Perceiving Weakness as Strength

Strangely enough, someone in the youth group noticed my self imposed boundaries and thought this showed a deep spirituality. I was commended for my strong faith. Of course, being young and full of ego (okay, so I may not be so young anymore but am still prone to having my ears tickled) I lapped it up. How sad. What others perceived as strength and tried to imitate was actually my weakness!

Some people esteem some foods as better than others. And while no one actually says it, one can often be left with a feeling that some are more spiritual or holy because of their [self imposed] dietary lifestyle. While other people esteem certain days as being more holy than others. Scripture tells us that the weaker or less mature believers consider these things to be vitally important in the Christian life, while the strong do not place such importance upon those matters.

But food does not bring us near to God; we are no worse if we do not eat, and no better if we do.
1 Corinthians 8:8

Lifestyle

Many new homeschoolers look to the more veteran homeschoolers and want to emulate their lifestyle. There are many reasons for this but amongst fear and doubt is also a certain sense of security. Yet it is false security as it is not found in Christ but in a lifestyle.

Boundaries may be necessary for an individual to put in their life (As in the case of an alcoholic, drug addict, gambler, etc) and I’m not disputing that at all. At times, these boundaries have been ropes of grace in my life. So long as I acknowledge that they are my boundaries set in place because of my weakness. I shouldn’t impose those boundaries upon others nor presume that they aren’t spiritual because they don’t have my boundaries. These boundaries are not freedom or liberty, but neither are they the ‘the narrow way’ nor does it mean that I am living a life of ‘greater obedience’. It may just mean that I am weak in my faith. The difficulty comes when we look at others and see their weaknesses and subsequent boundaries and mistake them for spirituality and we try to emulate that in our own lives. When we do that, we are not living as Christ called us to live.

Living out Romans 14

We need to be clear in using Scripture to divide what is holy, mature and ‘the narrow way’ and what is obedience, freedom and liberty.

I am fully convinced in my own mind of how I live. I try to not do things which conflict with my conscience. My faith guides me in matters of personal freedom but these matters are not the norm or the standard for the homeschool community or any other family. (As if )

I’m trying to be careful in what I proclaim from my blog. I can’t tell someone else what to do, (other than repent and turn to Christ) how they should teach English, what method to use, to avoid all meat or cover their head or observe every Saturday as the Lord’s Day. The difficulty with sharing my daily walk online is that it may be fine for people who follow my blog or know me in real life. But for those who simply stumble onto the blog, they might read something, which can then be taken out of context, and use it in a way that does not bring freedom.

Be careful, however, that the exercise of your freedom does not become a stumbling block to the weak.
1 Corinthians 8:8

It’s one thing to speak, knowing who I am speaking to face-to-face, being able to clarify my words if need be. It’s another thing to write, not knowing who will read it. If I can’t see the reader or communicate with them, then I don’t know if the reader is picking up what I’m putting down. I guess that’s concern that all believers face but I’m struggling with it of late.

Do you struggle with this too or have you reconciled it in your own mind?

Mini MasterChef: Lasagne

Last night (Friday evening) Master J cooked a scrumptious meal for his first meal in our Mini MasterChef competition. It’s always a bit tricky when cooking a traditional family favourite because we have something to compare it to…but he did a fantastic job! And with so little help!

‘Susan’s go-to Lasagne‘ followed by Caramel Orange Slices with a hint of Ginger and a dollop of Ice Cream. (Go-to is a softball term, meaning one’s best pitch or the pitch that one throws when they’re in need of a no-fail pitch)

Unfortunately, I forgot (bad homeschool mama) to take photos of it all. Luckily Master C (good homeschool son) got into the act and tried to take a few shots. However Master J was not impressed with the photographer getting in the way so we don’t have too many photos. We were all so impatient to tuck into our dessert that we also forgot to take photos. Maybe next time.

(Click the picture to open it in a light box at full size)

Preparing the sauce.

The Béchamel sauce, a fancy way of saying a white sauce with cheese added.

The end product…looks good enough to eat. 😉

My serve, lovingly plated.

The difficulty in this dish is that in itself it isn’t hard…except that I don’t use a recipe so Master J was trying to grasp the whole idea with me saying “Oh, just a little bit of this… and a little bit of that” . I used a recipe when I first made a lasagne but since then the dish has evolved and matured. I haven’t used a lasagne recipe for years. None of them seem to taste as good as when I improvise or ‘wing it’. This was the difficult part in teaching Master J: there was no recipe for him to study. I tried my best to write out a recipe at a base level…from here many ingredients can be added for variation- depending upon season, flavour desired, time and/or expense. So he made the basic version but already has a few ideas for how he wants to change it for next time.

He plans to add some form of salad when he prepares this again (to tell the truth, this was not his idea but a suggestion from one of the judges: Miss A). Once he has mastered the technique and *idea* behind the lasagne we will teach the boys to make their own lasagne sheets…as we have taught the girls. If you have not had lasagne with fresh pasta sheets, you have not really had lasagne.

Hmmm delizioso! John is certainly is for some treats when he returns home in 4 weeks time.

Eat Fat to Lose Fat?

I’ve recently finished reading Eat Fat, Lose Fat: The Healthy Alternative to Trans Fat, by Mary Enig and Sally Fallon. It’s an interesting and helpful read.

Eat fat lose fat

Eat Fat, Lose Fat is similar to “Nourishing Traditions: The Cookbook That Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and the Diet Dictocrats”. They both support the consumption of real food: tasty, nutritious, organic, good quality, traditional, seasonal and local foods as opposed to foods that are processed, fast-foods, dead foods, old, has additives or preservatives or comes prepackaged.

Like NT, the book challenges the reader to look at the dietary practices of indigenous cultures and compares them to today’s modern scientific methods. Interestingly, today’s modern, scientific, new information is starting to catch up! 😉

Chapter One dispels the myths surrounding coconut oil. Chapter Two is more of a scientific chapter as the authors explain what ‘fat’ is and its relationship to heart disease and cholesterol. I’ve learned that fats aren’t all the same. In fact, healthy fats are essential to protect the heart from disease. Not useful but essential. The next chapter goes into detail about various fats and their effects upon the body and the major organs and body systems. Following this is the section that informs why low fat diets re so unhealthy and dangerous and it examines the danger in many of the past but popular diets such as Atkins Diet, The Zone Diet, The South Beach Diet, juice fasting and ever Weight Watchers! A must read chapter!

Chapter Five looks at the principles of traditional, healthy diets. many things are discusses from MSG, fermentation, raw versus cooked foods, and superfoods. The next chapter details the four basic principles of the recommended eating lifestyle plan. There is a helpful section with loads of tips on how to take coconut oil. This section also contains shopping lists and menu plans. A large section of the book contains resources and recipes- featuring the star of the book – coconut oil!

This book is very similar to Nourishing Traditions but more laid out in what to do each day and each week. Some things I learned new and other things I knew but applying them is a different story.

Always, always, always eat breakfast.
Eat loads more coconut oil.
Take Cod Liver Oil.
Focus more on nutrition, especially good fats rather than calorie restriction. If you supply the body with necessary, good fats, the body is more likely to release the stored fat instead of going into ‘famine mode’.

I cook a lot with coconut oil. We’ve been using it for years, much to the dismay of John’s army nutritionist. However, combined with green smoothies and moderate exercise, it has helped to lower his cholesterol level and heal his fatty liver. So with that in mind I set about buying myself some Cod Liver Oil and have just started adding that to my diet. I actually find it easier to take than coconut oil, which I cook with but can’t take straight.

Do you take Coconut Oil or Cod Liver oil to help meet your nutritional needs? What brands do you use? How long have you used it? Do you find it beneficial? I’d love to hear about it, especially those who use Cod Liver Oil.

Open Kofta

As part of our Mini MasterChef competition, Master C (aged 11.11yrs) treated us to open Kofta’s, inspired by the MasterClass recipe. You can watch the MasterClass video demonstration and/or download the printable pdf version of the recipe.

Miss A (aged 18yrs) taught him how to do the entire meal. Next time he prepares it, he will do it completely by himself but under supervision.
(I’m not too great with taking photos, nor uploading them to the web so apologies in advance)

Ingredients
1 tbs coriander seeds
1 tbs cumin seeds
4 French shallots, thinly sliced
1 garlic clove, thinly sliced
1 bunch coriander
500g topside beef mince
1 lemon, rind finely grated
1 egg
5 tbs soft white breadcrumbs
1 tbs seeded mustard
1 piece pita bread
½ small red onion, peeled
Extra virgin olive oil
Pinch salt
2 baby cucumbers
Thick Greek yoghurt, coriander sprigs & deep fried shallots, to serve

Method

Toasting the seeds

Spoon coriander and cumin seeds into a frying pan and toast over medium heat for 3-5 minutes until fragrant.

Grinding spices produces a gorgeous aroma

Tip into a mortar and use pestle to finely grind the warm spices.

Cooking onions

Cover base of frying pan with olive oil and add shallots and garlic, cook over low heat until soft and translucent. Spoon into a bowl and refrigerate until cold. Wash coriander root well then finely chop 6cm of the root and stem, set top half of the bunch aside for later.

Grating the lemon rind

Lightly beating the eggs

Mix meat, onions & spices

Combine mince, lemon rind, egg, breadcrumbs, mustard, shallot and garlic mixture, spices and salt and pepper in a bowl. Use clean hands to mix until well combined. Preheat oven grill to medium-high.

Uncooked and assembled

Press beef mixture onto a 22cm round flat bread, leaving a 1cm border around the outer edge.

Lightly cook underside of pita bread

Heat a little oil in an ovenproof frying pan over medium heat, add pita bread and cook 1 minute. Transfer the pan to the oven and grill 4-5 minutes until just cooked through. Remove from the oven. Check the under-side of the bread is golden and crisp if not cook a few minutes on the stove top over high heat.

Dress with yoghurt and salad

Meanwhile, finely slice the onion into a bowl using a mandolin. Season with salt and drizzle with extra virgin olive oil. Thinly slice the cucumbers on the angle and place into a bowl. Season with salt and drizzle with extra virgin olive oil.

A finished open kofta

Remove the kofta from the pan. Spread generously with yoghurt. Top with onion salad, cucumber, coriander sprigs and deep fried shallots to serve.

Open Beef Kofta on Grilled Mushroom

Miss A and I preferred not to have a pita bread so we used a large mushroom instead. It was yummy but obviously a different texture to a pita bread.

Our recipe book

We all love this meal. It is fairly quick and easy, not too expensive but also nutritious. The recipe uses a lot of meat whereas we work on approximately 100grams of meat per person. There is minimal cleanup after the meal, which is always a bonus. Whatever you do, do not skip the toasting of the seeds and spices. Oh, the aroma is just divine- a true sensory experience!

Oh yes! Master C scored pretty well on this dish. 🙂

Our Mini MasterChef Competition

Some people might be lazy. Others might feel that spending too much time in the kitchen is a waste of time. Still, others just might not enjoy cooking but none of those are my reasons. My reasons for not spending too much time in the kitchen are purely noble. I have done it for my children. For their good. See, I really am a good mum eh?

This story obviously needs a little history so I won’t mind if you go get a fresh cuppa. Right now? Let’s move on…

My father was a chef…and a pretty good one at that too! I loved nothing more than working with my dad when he had a big catering job, not because I loved the cleaning up after him but just because I loved working with him. Anyway as I said, he was a chef. He married a woman (my mum) who hated cooking, largely because she never had much money to cook variety and taste…but she did manage to put meat and three veg on the table every night. Regular readers may remember that as a child I was doted upon: left, right and centre. Never did a thing for myself until I got married. Once John and I became engaged to be married I wanted to do a crash course in cooking but in my 18 years of youth I lacked the patience to stay in the kitchen. Every attempt failed because of my impatience. The bottom line was that I simply didn’t need to know how to cook. After being married and teaching myself how to cook (and clean up after myself) I determined to not raise my children the same way (hmm, isn’t that a familiar story?) So, due to the innate sense of self preservation and survival my children have learned and are learning how to cook!

The girls are pretty good cooks and we regularly enjoy meals prepared by them. However, the boys aren’t quite up to the same speed. Not because they are boys, more likely because they are five and six in the family order! There are 4 and 5 other people ahead of them who will cook, so there doesn’t seem to be the same sense of urgency or necessity. However, they can’t live on toast, omelets, cereal and baked beans forever! So with John away for 6 weeks I thought I’d have everyone in the house cook one meal per week. The idea took hold… and grew! Possibly due in part to our fascination with good cooking shows, the current one being MasterChef. Initially we didn’t like it as we preferred the British version of MC but this series has grown on us. However, we also like Jamie Oliver, Nigella, Bill Grainger, Lydia’s Kitchen and many more! Anyway, we are now hosting our very own mini MasterChef competition!

Each week, the boys have to prepare and cook a meal for those of us here at home. They can repeat this meal two weeks later. Then, they can also cook it for the family once John returns home. 6 weeks should mean they have at least two to three meals under their belts. Those of us who are eating the meal have the chance to ‘score’ the meal: presentation, flavour and nutrition. When John returns and the boys cook for the family, the winner will be decided then.

However, this just isn’t about slapping a meal on the table. One has to plan the nutrition of the meal, make sure it is visually appealing with colour and so on. Then, comes the shopping! Master C (aged 11.5yrs) went shopping the other day and asked what Gouda cheese was…Miss A said she didn’t know but suggested that they go and find out. So they did! (In fact, she did know but she is helping to develop a sense of curiosity and also skills of researching in them) Then, they had to look at prices and determine quality and decide whether or not we wanted the cheese we wanted to eat…or the cheese we’d rather pay for! 😉 Then they had to decide which cucumber to buy and what the differences are and if they will be important to the dish. Ah, lessons in decision making and budgeting, discernment and finances!

Then, came buying the mince meat. Premium mince, regular mince, beef, pork, veal or lamb mince or slimmers mince? What’s an 11 yo boy to do? Thankfully, we have a patient butcher who explained the difference between premium and slimmers. We decided to go half and half- half premium and half low-fat mince. We’re experimenting as we usually stick to kangaroo mince but thought it might be a little too ‘gamey’ in flavour.

With an 18yo daughter, who is an excellent cook but is not at home as much now, I am not being as well fed… I’ll have to do something about that. I’ll get these boys up to speed yet. 😉

My lack of cooking has led my children to be wonderful, creative, enthusiastic cooks. See, I told you the reason for my lack of cooking over the years was purely for the childrens’ sake. O:-)

One down, five left to go

One week down only five more weeks to go.

The house is clean, tidy and everything has a place and (here’s the real miracle) everything is actually in its place! A few weeks ago, my dad visited and stayed with us for 3 weeks. During that time Damian also popped over and stayed for a few nights. So in this fairly small house that barely fits six of us, there were 8 people! Chaotic, unruly, disorganised…doesn’t even begin to describe it. Now, however it is clean and tidy. But missing many people. My dad and Damian went home. John has gone to Victoria for a 6 week course and Miss R is not at home.

Our tidy, clean lounge room

It’s quiet, too quiet. It’s clean; too clean. I’m reminded of that saying: When something seems too good to be true, it usually is. There are only four of us in the house. No wonder it’s clean!

I have nothing to write! Well, that’s not exactly true. I have a mind that is overwhelmed with thoughts, ideas and questions but nothing fit for public web consumption. I’m not feeling terribly encouraged in anything at the moment…so it’s probably best for me to be quiet during such times. I become cynical when I read many of the popular parenting blogs or articles. I just don’t have the joy, joy, joy deep in my heart at the moment like so many others do. I don’t have a husband who does everything for me- housework, yardwork, finances, cooking, etc while I sit at the table and instruct the children in the ways of the Lord. I just don’t have perfect children who hardly ever need guidance and correction.

Now I love my husband and my children very much…and in reality I’m not complaining about them or my lot in life. I am speaking about how I feel when I read too many books or blogs where everyone else life seems so perfect and hunky dory…where a post isn’t written without one quoting Scripture that apparently ties in with the theme. Pffftt! Don’t give me a throw away line from the Bible. Tell me what it really means to you. Tell me what you learned from it or how it impacted your life. Don’t just shove it in at the end of a post and think that you’ve written an encouraging blog post! Sometimes I wonder if some Christians aren’t so overly spiritual that they’re of no earthly use!

Yes I do have joy- deep seated joy at knowing I have been given eternal life with the Father God…but that isn’t the same as being happy, happy, happy in everyday circumstances. Is it?

Hmm, I’m frustrated. With life. My life. I want to meet more people. I want to serve people. I want to have relationships, more relationships. I think I’m hungry…hungry for true fellowship – giving and receiving.

What am I doing with my life? With my time? What will stay and be remembered or what will have impacted people long after I’m gone? My blog? AussieHomeschool? A book? A clean house?

Another angle

Argh, I’m longing for some adult conversation…I usually talk with John. He is my best friend, my lover, confidante and my play-mate. If you’ve ever seen us work on our computers together you’ll know what I mean by play-mate. But you can see why I need adult conversation- to mull over the thoughts in my head. John isn’t here so I’ll blog it, which isn’t as good but it will have to do. Maybe short, rambly, incoherent posts that show the maniacal thoughts of a Christian homeschool mum will still be able to give glory to God, in a small way…even if there is not a scripture quote splattered at the end or lovely pictures of well behaved and immaculately dressed children accompanying every post. 😉

Surviving a Book Fair

A repost from 2005

Book Fairs? Curriculum Fairs? Don’t you love them? I do!
But, I had to devise a strategy so that I could get the most from them. Here are the things that I try to do in order to survive a book fair.

Check with friends as to their *must-have* books. Devise plan of action so that we do not fight 😉

Have a pre-arranged amount of spending money and know that I will stick to it.

Take esky and/or thermos for drinks and sandwiches and also doubles as a stool.

Backpack containing : Sandwiches. Water bottles. Snacks for kids.Thermos of tea. Lego or other toys for kids.

Large bags for books. (Red & White stripey bags) Or bag on wheels. (Gee, a shopping trolley would be ideal eh?)

Wear layers of clothing- t-shirt, jumper, etc. I have to be comfortable. Wear comfy shoes.

Take my glasses!

Assign ‘Miss R’ and ‘Miss A’ to areas. Devise their booklists. (‘Miss A’ takes cooking and literature while Miss R takes Rare, Children’s and Nature)

Find suitable area for younger kids to settle.

Go up and down the aisles so that I can read the spines of books.

After collecting and gathering, sit down with a cuppa and go through them all. Weed them out and see if other homeschoolers want to go through discard pile. Ask other homeschoolers if I can peruse their discard pile 🙂

Sort books by category- HB, PB, etc

Queue in lines and pay. Accepts credit and eftpos but take cash!

Have pizza delivery slips on table for easy access or we starve that night because Mum won’t be cooking!

Have table cleaned down to peruse my new books with a fresh cuppa.

I wrote this back in 2004…posted it to on my blog in 2005 so I’m sure that many of you have many more great ideas! (Especially now that some of us have a little more experience now) Feel free to share your book fair survival tips!

Perpetuum Jazzile: vocal ecstasy

The video below is a lovely feast of rich sounds. From their website:

The stage is our canvas, our voices are our colours. We blend and unite them to create masterpieces. Happy faces give us energy and confirm that we are devoted to what we do with our hearts and souls.Perpetuum Jazzile is Slovenia’s only jazz choir, conducted Tomaž Kozlevčar who is also its art director. It thrills its audience with a colourful programme, extraordinary singing and unique joy.

Watch it with the children a few times throughout the day. Music appreciation? You bet!

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjbpwlqp5Qw

Do you tweet?

Twitter is a free social networking and micro-blogging service that enables its users to send and read each others’ updates, known as tweets. Tweets are text-based posts of up to 140 characters, displayed on the author’s profile page and delivered to other users – known as followers – who have subscribed to them. Senders can restrict delivery to those in their circle of friends or, by default, allow open access. Users can send and receive tweets via the Twitter website, Short Message Service (SMS) or external applications.

Click here to tweet with me

So, you want to get started with twittering but don’t know how? Easy! Visit the Twitter website and click “Join for free” to create your account. Consider using your real name as your user name to help your friends find you more easily.

Once your account is created, login and click “Settings.” From here, you can setup your account details, manage your password, register your mobile phone and IM account, configure how you receive Notices, upload your photo and customize your account’s design. Your Twitter page is located at twitter.com/your-username

Some people tweet everything from what they are thinking at any given second to sharing links and deeper thoughts, quotes, Bible verses and more! I used to think it was stupid and a waste of time but once I was set up it’s actually a pretty quick way to gather a whole lot of information. Having said that, I do get annoyed at people who tweet what they had for breakfast or when they shaved their legs! I also get a bit cross when individual people (as opposed to businesses) post the same links over and over again. It’s a bit like spam to me. However, these messages can simply be blocked of hidden so that I don’t see them.

Widgets can be enabled that feed directly from your twitter feeds to your blog or Facebook or anywhere else! That can be a good way to keep friends and family up to date. You can see my latest tweets by either visiting my twitter profile or by simply viewing the front page of my blog.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddO9idmax0o

Do you Tweet? Why don’t you leave me your Twitter name in the comments so I can pop over to your profile?

Parent or Best Friend?

Hands up if you have a teen daughter? A few years ago, I was advised to be my daughter’s parent- not her best friend. The advice was given that I need to be her guiding influence and an authority figure. And with that, I do agree! But…

So I tried being more parental…and nearly lost her heart. It wasn’t in the being parental part that nearly did it- it was the imbalance…being one but not the other. Oh, praise the Lord that he did not keep me at that place for long…for He knows my heart and what I desire. He pulled me from that and set my feet upon a path where I could be both parent and best friend.

2007

My 18yodaughter does not have a best friend, besides her father and I. It’s a lonely world out there for a young adult who holds strong values and convictions (and isn’t afraid to speak them!). She has many acquaintances and friends but none who share the same values with similar depth. Well, there are a few other young ladies who do but they are not in close geographical proximity to each other. Therefore, it’s important that I be there for her- to listen to her, to give to her- to be her role model.

Now I have read quite a lot of articles, blogs and magazines that speak of the parent being the parent and not the best friend…how the two cannot be similar. Well, maybe that is true is some situations as I know that all children are different but I do believe that the homeschooling mum can definitely be her daughter’s ‘besty’. Remember I have four other children and that includes our blended family.

Why does it have to be an either/either situation? Maybe it does and I am truly in a unique situation… but I know of others who are in similar situations like Pearls of Truth and her daughter. Before she *graduated* my own mum was my best friend. She was and always will be my mother…but she was also one that I loved to share with, to listen to and to spend time with. She was a role model, an authority figure and my best friend. She had my heart. And I believe that’s the key. My daughter’s heart is turned toward me (and her father) so this allows me to be both to her. I guide her, instruct her, correct her, laugh with her, play with her, relax with her, pray with her, read God’s word with her and discipline her. She accepts it all graciously (albeit eventually). 😉

We have an understanding that first and foremost I am her mother and this is my God given role…but that doesn’t mean that we can’t have other elements in our relationship. Naturally, this has changed with the age of my daughter. In the early years it was important to establish the boundaries and roles but as the young girls mature and develop to become young women (who are old enough to be married and running their own home but choose to remain at home until that time) I have found it important to accept the natural (creational principles) changes that different ages, stages and seasons bring. With God, all things are possible. There is balance to be found in His wisdom.

I hope no one would take this out of context and become a liberal parent in the hopes of becoming their daughter’s ‘besty’. All family situations are different and each person should seek God and His word for the direction of their own family. If you have any queries on what I’ve written, don’t hesitate to write me or leave a comment.

What do you think? Do you agree or disagree with me? Are you your older daughter’s best friend? What activities do you enjoy doing together?

Some good links that I want to share…for the young unmarried ladies:

A Little Courtship Advice by Nancy Wilson and Unmarried & Fruitful.

Putting it together

Well, so far in this series I’ve posted a little about us and the beginnings of our homeschooling journey, how I felt something was missing despite my planning and working so hard and how God pulled me up and put me on a clearer path, with Him as pilot. I wrote about developing a family mission statement and today I would like to share just a little of our lifestyle and how it looks, what sort of books we use in this pursuit of a Bible based, Cross-centric lifestyle of learning.

There is so much curricula available (and I have owned much of it) but we have prefer to study God’s word directly rather than reading commentaries and regurgitated thoughts of man- regardless of how good or noble those thoughts. We desire that our children go directly to God’s word on matters so this means that the primary curriculum on our shelf is the Bible…it’s our main textbook. We also have a good dictionary, Bible handbook and other reference books.

Many modern publications or Bible study books are good but they may have been watered down or they omit teachings on important biblical matters. Bible study is much more than a fill-in-the-blank approach. To be truly authentic and genuine we must teach by living it, modeling it. This is much more effective than any Bible curriculum one can purchase…but be careful, it’s not for the faint hearted- it’s life changing. I have come to see that this homeschooling journey is actually about me. Not in a modern worldly “me” kind of way but by nature of the fact that God wants me to desire Him, to hunger for Him. God does have an agenda behind all this homeschooling business – That it will lead not only the children, but me, to a closer walk with Him.

God’s initial goal for Christian homeschooling families is not the raising of godly children. Instead, God’s wonderful, but subtly hidden agenda is that the homeschooling experience be so challenging for the parents that they feel the need and hunger for a closer walk with their heavenly Father.”
~Wisdom’s Way of Learning by Marilyn Howshall

The Bible is a window into our own soul and heart so that we can understand ourselves, our needs. God spiritually feeds us through the word. The Bible instructs us as to salvation, forgiveness, how to live, how to please God. It isn’t just ‘history’ rather it is His Story! It [the Bible] does more than tell us facts and figures and stories…it tells us why we are here on earth and where we are going. Many other books can point to God but only this one book shows us what God is like. Other books are helpful and beneficial, encouraging, thrilling, informative, entertaining, comforting and beneficial in other ways but only God’s word is life! This book alone can give a glimpse into the mind of God…give us a perspective of eternity. Just as the body needs to be physically nourished by good food, so our heart and mind needs sustenance. It is not simply the words in this book that satisfy the hunger in our soul rather it is God Himself. Just as regular exercise is necessary for a healthy body, so is daily exercising of the mind. What better to nourish the mind on than the message of God?

Rather than start with a state curriculum or generalised outcome based objectives (that have been decided upon by someone else) and then attempt to use the Bible to fill in any gaps, or cover Bible study as though it is just another subject, we start with the Bible and move forward from there: to learn who God is, what He has done and what He requires. This becomes our world view…and our world view will teach more than any curriculum or textbook. Yes, every subject can be taught through the Bible. After all, what is history if not His Story? What is Science? All scientists must think critically and independently. Geography is really the study of God’s created earth and so on.

We use a variety of resources and methods and they’re all good (CM methods, Classical, notebook, natural-learning, etc) but this approach has been what we have found most successful and achievable in instilling vision, purpose, self motivation in all of us. We believe this will prepare us and our children for vocational, entrepreneurial, career or ministry vision.

I don’t believe it mattered that I’d been homeschooling for a few years already. God is King of New beginnings! I asked Him to give me a vision for our family. Through studying His word I’m learning how to hear Him, how to be guided by him and how to recognise and trust the voice of the Holy Spirit. God knows my teaching style! He knows my children’s learning styles! And He has a purpose for us! He is personally directing and guiding me, as I turn to Him and submit my all to Him. This has accomplished more godly fruit that I’d been able to by my own efforts.

Am I recognising God’s call for our family? Am I seeking Him for direction…for guidance in curriculum choices? Am I resting in Him, submitting everything (academic goals and dreams) to Him? Am I listening to Him and observing my family? Am I putting wholesome, literary books filled with rich ideas before the children? I want to do these things, watch for the spark …then allow the children room and time to dig further.

Write the gospel, a chapter each day…write it by what you say and what you do. Your children read that gospel, whether faithless or true. What is the gospel according to you?

Our Homeschool Journey

A Few Freebies- Christian, homeschool, blogging

Just a quick post to let you know of some goodies that found their way to my Inbox this morning.

I don’t know how long it will last so grab it quickly…a free audio download of Max Lucado’s, “Your Are Special” read aloud by the author.
Need a fun, self-paced, multi-age geography curriculum designed for the busy homeschool family. Globalmania: Master World Geography in Just 7 Months
Oh, another freebie? How about an audio by Robin Sampson: Homeschool Danger goes for 27 minutes.
More? Free Choosing and Using Resources (31 pages PDF) includes classics by grade level .
Lots of free printables at Homeschool-Curriculum for Life
For the WordPress (self hosted) users out there…have you updated to 2.8? I have and I love it!
I know not everyone will get ‘it’ but I love WordPress and thought this was a huge laugh: ‘You might be a wordpress geek…‘ (use discretion- it’s an open blog so who knows who posts what in the comments)
Want another WordPress freebie? Download this pdf that features quite a few tutorials. (helpful for those who use wp)

The Animal School – A Parable

An old story tells of the creation of a school for the animals. In this school, everybody took the same four courses: flying, swimming, climbing, and running. Among the students were a duck, a flying squirrel, a fox, and an elephant. These four were highly motivated, and wanted to get good grades, so they all tried very hard.

The duck did fantastically well in swimming and flying, but he lagged behind his classmates in climbing and running, so focused special attention on those two subjects. However, his feet became so sore from trying to run and his wings were so bedraggled from trying to climb that by the end of the year he not only failed both those subjects, but made C’s in swimming and flying, which had once been his two best subjects.

At the beginning of the school year, the squirrel was first in his class in climbing and running and was second only to the duck at flying. But as the months wore on, he missed so much school from catching pneumonia in his swimming class that he failed everything.

To make matters even worse, because the squirrel constantly squirmed and chattered in class, and had difficulty paying attention, he was diagnosed with a learning disorder. The squirrel eventually was placed in remedial classes and had to be medicated in order to continue with his school work.

The fox was a natural in his running class and scored well in climbing and swimming, but became so frustrated at his inability to get good Grades in flying that he began assaulting his classmates. He even tried to eat the duck. His behavior was so disruptive he was expelled from school. He fell in with a rough crowd and eventually wound up in a center for animal delinquents.

The elephant, meanwhile, developed low self-esteem because he couldn’t do well in any of the subjects. When he sank into clinical depression, his therapist persuaded him to try a different school that focused on subjects such as lifting and carrying. The elephant was disappointed, because careers in lifting and carrying were not as prestigious as careers in flying, swimming, climbing, or running. Even though he always felt inferior, he managed to make a decent living and support his family.

Our Children are Individuals

The point of this silly story about a school for the animals is that modern education sends every child through a program of study that is targeted toward a “generic” child. It expects every student to be able to follow the same course of study in the same sequence, without considering innate aptitudes or individual differences that are crucial to children’s abilities to learn. Schooling does not take into account differing personality types or temperaments.

Parents who understand learning differences can be more sympathetic with the frustrations their children face in school and more helpful in finding alternative approaches. The two major learning differences among children have to do with learning styles and learning readiness.

Article used with permission from Homeschool MarketPlace
Any article appearing on this website may be copied or forwarded electronically provided that proper credit is given and that the article is not substantively modified. No article may appear in whole or in part in a publication sold for profit or as part of any commercial endeavor without the written consent of Home School Marketplace.
© Copyright 2006. Home School Marketplace, 1053 Eldridge Loop, Crossville, TN 38571.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wN7QfjIcVvA

Developing the Vision

Previously I wrote how I felt that I was in control of our homeschool and how I had planned everything out just perfectly, yet struggled under the weight of it all. God doesn’t want us to strive for cookie-cutter children, rather He would have us prepare our children for an individual, definable life purpose. We try to recognise and identify each children’s natural (God-given) strengths, weaknesses, abilities, talents, interests and passions. From there, we can lean on God for direction in devising a flexible plan for developing our children as whole individuals with a purpose, for His service.

Early on we realised the immense benefit of home education but it wasn’t until a little later on that we came to see that homeschooling is more than academics… that it is a natural extension of God’s purpose for the family.

Some points that we consider and discuss:

What is ‘family’?
What things are important to us, as a family?
What abilities and interests and concerns has the Lord given to us, as a family?
What are some skills that we want our strong, capable child to have as an adult?
What are the attitudes, character traits and information/knowledge that we want our children to have as adults?
What are our educational, moral, spiritual personal, ethical, goals for our family?
What direction has God shown us regarding us and our family’s ministry in His Kingdom?
Do our aims line up with the Bible?

Our responses to these points will look different to other families. Our thoughts and goals are based upon personal conviction, values and calling. Whilst we believe our aims (goals) should always line up with the Bible, the practical outworking of them will look different to that of other families. See this video for more information about individuality within homeschooling.

We then go on to ponder:

What is education? What does it mean to us?
What is the purpose of our child’s education?
What is wisdom?
What is more important to us: knowledge or wisdom?
How best can we meet the needs of our child?

This interesting exercise helps us to identify our family’s unique purpose. However, we’ve found that these questions really can’t be answered in quick, easy, mono syllabic words or sentences. They are rich ideas, encompassing our whole view of the world and everything in it. The ideas and thoughts meld together to form our family’s unique life purpose.

Now we focus upon each child:

Yesterday I shared how we observe each child’s:

Strengths and natural ability and aptitude, also called talents
Weaknesses
Interests; what sparks their curiosity or desire to know more
Their passions (things they would do if left to their own devices)

Now we have a big picture. We’ve identified our family’s goals and purpose. We can see what is most important for us and what is most worth our time and energy. Is it academics? Skills? Information or knowledge? Or relationships? Our family has a priority list of:

relationships (with God, others and self) first, then
skills and then knowledge.

One of our highest priority areas is to grow in wisdom, which only comes from God and falls under the category of ‘relationships’.

Now our Family Mission Statement is in place…the next step is writing it down. Have you developed your Family Mission Statement? I’d love to hear about it. Having your mission statement written down is one of the most important things I recommend. when times of hardship or difficulty come (and they do) we turn to our Mission Statement. This gives us direction, focus and motivation. We’ve also found it beneficial to include the children, especially once they are older. This in turn helps to shape their own view of the world, family and education. It’s important to be able to articulate why we do what what we do. Your family vision is part of that.

See more of Our Homeschool Journey

Getting the direction – as co-pilot

A Gospel-driven, Cross-centric, Discipleship approach simply means that we’re teaching each child what he needs to know, with a view to his/her God given strengths, weaknesses, interest, passions, and talents… their natural bents. Rather than just getting an education we can receive a balanced education through our lifestyle. We are free to seek God for each child’s purpose. This is how we can disciple our children…and prepare them for an individual, definable life purpose.

Recognising God’s Call

The first thing we had to do was recognise God’s call. This was pretty easy…to recognise that God has put me, the parent, as the responsible authority in the lives of our children. I often remind myself that when God calls, He also enables!

Prayer

Ah, I read it, thought it and said it so often that it went without saying but in reality it was at times, the most neglected facet of my homeschool and personal life. I had to acknowledge my weaknesses in order to lean on His strength. This is a walk of faith. But as I have looked to God, more and more He has taken care of all our homeschool needs. In other words, the less I have planned and struggled, the more He has been in control and provided for us.

Rest in Him, Listen to Him and Rely on Him

Listening is so important. I need to listen more to God. Once I’ve asked for His help and direction, I need to stop and listen so that I can hear.

Recognize and Identify

I watch and observe. I have sensed the prompting of the Holy Spirit (and gained help and direction) just by watching and observing the children. Recognising the individual make-up of each child and who he/she was created to be is an ongoing process. In fact, I’ve become a student…not only of the word but a student of my children!

It’s important to spend time identifying the following in each child:

Strengths and natural ability and aptitude, also called talents
Weaknesses
Interests; what sparks their curiosity or desire to know more
Their passions (things they would do if left to their own devices)

Once these things have been identified, I’ve prayed and asked God to help me as I’ve devised a plan to develop their strengths and to build up their weaknesses.

Identity

Part of a Biblical or Discipleship based education is based around the child’s identity. Identity Directed education is not child-led. It does not mean that the whim and fancy of each child is indulged. It doesn’t mean only doing what the child is good at and ignoring everything else. While we are free to explore a child’s delights and passions and interests, that isn’t all of it. I’d like to share an analogy with you. It’s my own analogy and so it will show how I think and process information.
An athlete must train the whole body. It would be detrimental to their being to only train the areas of the body that they use most in their sport. A softball pitcher must have strong core muscles, upper body and leg muscles but they risk severe injury if these are the only areas they develop. They must also develop agility and speed, combined with power and explosiveness. They are required to use the muscle which allows them to pitch underarm yet if they don’t develop the muscles that allow them to throw over arm, they risk injury. Athletes use their whole body in a natural way and they never isolate a single muscle group or joint in the competition. In training yes, in order to develop the area but, only with an aim of building a strong whole body, fit for competition. Training with balance in strengths and weaknesses is the key! Just as an athlete has a training routine, so must the education of a child have structure and routine. These things are [natural, God ordained] biblical principles just as day turns to night and autumn comes after summer.

An individual’s strengths and weaknesses and interests are part of their God given make up! By identifying and encouraging their natural bents we will be launching them toward their purpose.

Our Homeschool Journey

Mapping the course- as the pilot

Yesterday I shared how much I had learned about education and homeschooling. Today I’ll share how God tapped me on the shoulder and straightened me out a bit.

We did Bible study and had memory verses and all those right things, yet something was missing. I knew that I was doing what God wanted- after all, I was doing this for Him, for His glory! Right? Oh boy, God was to show me how wrong I had been. After a few years, in His right time, He stepped in and didn’t leave me to wander for too long.

I had mapped out a course to get to the destination; I knew where I wanted to get to. I had gathered the tools for the journey: knew how I wanted to get there. I loaded the plane, buckled everyone in and took off! I turned to my co-pilot and asked him to bless the journey and to look out for us. After awhile, things got a little bumpy and I turned to my co-pilot and asked Him to help…but He was quite relaxed and had, in fact, been waiting for me to look to Him for help. I came to see that I was trying to take on the role of pilot when instead I am only the co-pilot and God is The Pilot. God knows the destination of each journey for each child. God knows what tools they need for the journey. He knows how to fly that plane better than anyone else: all I had to do was to recognise this and go to Him. I’m so thankful to God that He called me to a process of renewing my mind…to seek His design and not man’s. I had wanted to seek God for His plan for our family, but I got lost in the myriad of information regarding homeschooling.

I experimented on my girls with all these methods I was revising my educational philosophy, my dreams, goals and ideals for the children. In actual fact, my dreams and ideals drifted away from God and more to providing a ‘superior, successful, academic education‘. But deep in my heart I knew that something was missing.

A New Chapter

So began a new chapter in my homeschooling journey: that of putting God first…depending solely upon Him. I wanted Him to show me what to teach and when to each child. I was literally asking ‘What would Jesus do? What would Jesus learn? How would Jesus teach?’ Have you ever asked who is responsible before God for teaching your child? How about searching the Bible to see what God desires us to teach them? Hmmm, how about asking the when question? When to teach them? On the weekend? After school? Next question I asked was how do I teach them this then? I’ve always been one to ask questions (it’s how I learn) and so I wanted to know a few things…things that would impact every aspect of my family and the way I approach the concept of education. I have asked and studied these questions and I’d encourage everyone to do so- it’s a great topic! (I use the 5W’s and a H to learn most things and to teach most things. See my free download here; The Observation Sheet!)

God has a special plan for our family, for each of us and for our homeschool. This will look different to other families! But it is supposed to… I’ve learned that rather than look at what other’s are doing, I need to look only to the Lord. If I want Him to guide me, then I must seek Him, not man. God placed our children in our family. He wants me to diligently teach them His commands all throughout the day, every day, using ways and means that convey His eternal truths and build solid, loving, healthy relationships between me and them. He knows my abilities and theirs. He knows my strengths and weaknesses and theirs. He also knows my needs. I’ve learned that I can turn to Him, I can rely upon Him, die to self and trust in him for peace and assurance. This isn’t just something that I’ve learned about on Sunday, it is a result of trusting in God for everything, even homeschooling. Tomorrow I’ll share the ‘how’ we developed a Gospel based, discipleship approach to our family life and homeschooling.

Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart.You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. Deuteronomy 6:4-9

Our Homeschool Journey

Something missing…

Yesterday I shared how we started the journey toward home education. Today is a continuation of that story…

I bought a series of progressive workbooks, worked out some schedules and away we went! I didn’t give the girls a break that Christmas. I had them do the testing to see precisely what levels to start with. Then we started with what I knew of education– public school style. I brought school into the home. It was kinda fun…for awhile. But I started to get bored of doing the same thing day in and day out and wondered if I’d be able to do this for another 10 years or so. A few months later…

We connected to the Internet – wow, a whole huge, new world opened up for me! Even though the ‘net is a lot bigger nowadays there was still a fair amount of information on various methods of homeschooling. I started researching unit studies and we delved into them for awhile. This led me to the Charlotte Mason and the Classical approach which led me to Unschooling and Natural Learning but the CM method was what I really wanted for my family. All methods offer something valuable but as Christian parents, we wanted something more – we wanted to pass our faith onto our children…we want for them to take ownership of that faith and experience a life filled with God for themselves. Throughout the years I started working very hard to become more like a ‘proper CM homeschooler‘ but I’d fall short and then feel like a failure and well, suffice to say that this time was fairly tumultuous for me as I was caught in a vicious circle. It was a great time where I learned a lot but also had its ups and down. I wanted to ‘take the meat and spit out the bones’ but felt an internal pressure to be a CM purist yet I couldn’t attain to the CM ideals! What a quandary…it’s always going to be hard when we keep looking at others instead of God.

Anyway, as I experimented on my girls with all these methods I was revising my educational philosophy, my dreams, goals and ideals for the children. In actual fact, my dreams and ideals drifted away from God and more to providing a ‘superior, successful, academic education‘. But deep in my heart I knew that something was missing. Oh, don’t get me wrong: we did Bible study and had memory verses and all those right things, yet something was missing. I knew that I was doing what God wanted- after all, I was doing this for Him, for His glory! Right? Oh boy, God was to show me how wrong I had been. After a few years, in His right time, He stepped in and didn’t leave me to wander for too long.

Our Homeschool Journey

Our Story: Beginning to homeschool

Post updated 28-4-13

I am Susan, married for nearly 25 years to John. We have a blended family whereby we have four children together and a 26year old son. Currently, the other children are 22yo daughter,a 20yo daughter, an 18yo son and a 15yo son. This is ‘officially’ our 16th year of homeschooling although we don’t think of it that way. We believe that homeschooling is simply a natural extension of parenting. We are a Defence Force family and have recently moved back to Adelaide after several years interstate. We’ve had 7 homes in 7 years and this is the last, for awhile. This is our story.

When John and I were first married we hadn’t heard of home education. We knew that we wanted to have a good, solid relationship with our children and raise them in God’s ways but school was just ‘what you did’. We had goals for our family and our children. We wanted to raise godly adults using a healthy process. We wanted to develop in them a love of learning that would continue throughout their whole life. Our hearts were turned toward our children and we wanted their hearts to be turned toward us and God. The godly training of our children was a priority. We recognized that the family unit is God’s design. We wanted a close relationship with our children…we wanted to capture their heart but we didn’t know about homeschooling…so, we sent our eldest, Miss A, to a small private Christian school. It was a nice school. John ended up as chairman of the P&C committee and I was at the school several times a week helping with reading and cleaning and canteen.

But we started to experience a few problems. Miss A would come home from school and be very emotional. She would either burst into tears for no apparent reason or she’d be snippy with her younger sister. We’d also help her with her homework, which was reviewing the spelling words, reading practice, times tables and Bible verse. On more than one occasion I wondered what on earth she did at school for 6 hours if we needed to do all this work at home. I felt like our days consisted of getting ready for school, being at school and then being tired from school. I felt like we, as parents, were missing out. School was getting the best hours of my child’s day! School was teaching her Bible stories and her character was being moulded by someone other than us. As it turned out that there were no problems at school… Miss A was just very tired. However, the seed had been planted in my mind- I questioned the whole concept of school. I don’t recall where I initially heard about homeschooling but I do remember saying to John,

“Oh, I wish I were one of those women who could homeschool her children”

John asked me what made me think I couldn’t? I responded with,

“Oh no way, I just don’t have enough patience!”

But the question nagged at me. Why couldn’t I? So we thought about it and talked about it. We started talking to others about it. We prayed about it. Eventually, we decided to give it trial run for 12 months. We informed the school principal that Miss A would not be returning to school the following year. Suffice it to say that we were not all that popular from then on.

I bought a series of progressive workbooks, worked out some schedules and away we went! I didn’t give the girls a break that Christmas. I had them complete the testing to see precisely what levels to start with. Then we started with what I knew of education– public school style. Yes, I had brought them home from school but I also brought school into the home. It was kinda fun…for awhile. But I started to get bored of doing the same thing day in and day out and wondered if I’d be able to do this for another 10 years or so. A few months later…

“Hear, O Israel; The LORD our God, the LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.”
Deuteronomy 6:48 (ESV)

Continue reading the rest of this series:

Delight Directed Learning

I’ve always pursued my delights. Pursuing homeschooling was a delight yet has ended up being our lifestyle. I think it’s really important for a mum to pursue a delight. It sets a living example of how we’d like to see our children live and it also keeps us in awe of God as Creator and Giver.

However, there have been times in my life, especially during periods of stress and busyness, where I’ve questioned whether or not I should continue to pursue my delight or interest. I mean, wouldn’t it be selfish of me to do so? But my husband disagrees! So do I, when I think about it sensibly. Of course for the believer, spending time in God’s word will come first but is it healthy for a mum to serve the family to the exclusion of her own needs? Some mums can develop a type of martyrdom complex which is really not healthy at all. Pursuing a delight, a passion, an interest, can give mum the refreshment she needs to continue on with her wifely, motherly and house managing duties with vigor. Working within your delight may also keep you feeling younger! Psalm 103:4-5 What a great living example to the whole family! A refreshing atmosphere of renewal, joy, satisfaction, vigor…

…who satisfies you with good
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
Psalm 103:5

Sometimes, a mother’s passion or delight can be something that the Lord places on your heart…maybe it will grow to be something that will serve others and bring glory to the Father.

I have delights and interests…and my family knows all about it, as do regular readers of my blog. :laugh: Sometimes it is health and green smoothies, other times it is exercising and getting fit, but a lot of the time it is website development. Whenever I’m pursuing an interest I read, read, and read all about it. I make copious notes and I talk about it. I collect ingredients or equipment. I research! I unknowingly use the 4 step process. And yes, at times my learning becomes infectious- the whole family catches on! And yes, currently the family has ‘caught’ my current fitness/exercising interest! 😉 I unconsciously go through all the stages of learning about that interest and I tend to use varied means to express myself. This is true learning. This is the style of learning I want my children to pick up on, for it is lifelong learning- not relegated to one book, one subject or one grade level…rather it is life! Throughout, my mind is refreshed and renewed and nourished- what better than to give to my family from a full well?

Okay, let’s look at it this way. If you had 45 minutes for yourself, what would you like to do? Sew, knit, garden, paint, write, take photo’s, scrapbook, cook, decorate, do hair, make soap, make perfume, play an instrument, read, write poetry, exercise, embroider…pitch a softball, design a website…the list goes on- it’s endless. (However, catching up on housework or sleep is not what I’m talking about, okay?)

It doesn’t have to take hours per week. There’s no ‘delight directed police’ who will tell you you’re doing it wrong. The only criteria is that it is something that you are interested in…something that you would like to try. It doesn’t have to be bigger than Ben Hur…you just have to start.

Will you? Start today?

Will you then share it with me? I’d love to hear of your delight directed learning.

Fifteen Books

This was doing the rounds on FaceBook but thought I’d put it here and hope that some of my blogging buddies join in too! It’s designed to be quick, so don’t take too long to think about it.

Fifteen books you’ve read that will always stick with you. First fifteen you can recall in no more than 15 minutes.

1. Lord of the Rings Trilogy by J R Tolkein
2. Gods and Kings series by Lynn Austin
3. Redeeming Love & Leota’s Garden by Francine Rivers
4. For the Children’s Sake by Susan Schaeffer Macaulay
5. Heart of Wisdom Teaching Approach by Robin Sampson
6. Israel, My Beloved by Elizabeth George
7. Hadassah: One Night with the King by Tommy Tenney
8. The Cross & the Switchblade by D. Wilkerson (when I was younger this had a profound effect on me)
9. Foxe’s Book of Martyrs by John Foxe
10. The Screwtape Letters by CS Lewis
11. Imitation of Christ by Thomas A. Kempis
12. So You Don’t Want To Go To Church Anymore?
13. Practicing the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence
14. Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie (it was my first ever AC book)
15. Pilgrim’s Press by Bunyan

…but I have to mention 3 other really good books and they are:
The Jesus I Never Knew, The Bible Jesus Read and What If Jesus Had Never Been Born? by Philip Yancey

How many Christians does it take to change a light bulb?

:laugh:

Q: How many charismatics does it take to change a light bulb?
A: One, since his hands are in the air anyway.
A: Three, one to cast it out and two to catch it when it falls!
A: Twenty one, one to change it, and twenty to share the experience!

Q: How many Calvinists does it take to change a light bulb?
A: None. God has predestined when the lights will be on.

Q: How many hyper-Calvinists does it take to change a light bulb?
A: None. If God wants the light bulb changed He will do it Himself!

Q: How many liberals does it take to change a light bulb?
A: 10, as they need to hold a debate into whether or not the light bulb exists. Even if they can agree upon the existence of the light bulb they may not go ahead and change it for fear of alienating those who use fluorescent tubes.

Q: How many Anglo-Catholics does it take to change a light bulb?
A: None. They always use candles instead.

Q: How many evangelicals does it take to change a light bulb?
A: Evangelicals do not change light bulbs. They simply read out the instructions and hope the light bulb will decide to change itself.

Q: How many Atheists does it take to change a light bulb?
A: One. But they are still in darkness.

Q: How many Brethren does it take to change a light bulb?
A: Change?????

Q: How many Pentecostals does it take to change a light bulb?
A: Ten. One to change it and nine others to pray against the spirit of darkness.
A: Twenty Five. One to screw in the new lamp. Two dozen to bind the powers of darkness.

Q: How many TV evangelists does it take to change a light bulb?
A: One. But for the message of hope to continue to go forth, send in your donation today.

Q: How many campfire worship leaders does it take to change a light bulb?
A: One. But soon all those around can warm up to its glowing.

Q: How many independent baptist’s does it take to change a light bulb?
A: Only one, anymore than that would be considered ecumenical.

Q: How many Episcopalians does it take to change a light bulb?
A: 10. One to actually change the bulb and 9 to say how much they like the old one.

Q: How many Presbyterians does it take to change a light bulb?
A: Well, it should require about five committees to review the idea first. If each is staffed with half a dozen members, that’s what … Thirty?

Q: How many members of the church of Christ does it take to change a light bulb?
A: Five. One to change the bulb, four to serve refreshments.

Q: How many conservative Anglicans does it take to change a light bulb?
A: Three. One to change it and two to storm out in protest if the person changing it is a woman.

Q: How many missionaries does it take to change a light bulb?
A: Ten. Five to determine how many can be changed by the year 2000, four to raise the necessary funds, one to go find a national to do the job!

Fast and foxy pdf reader

Want another tech talk tip? If you have not yet figured out that InternetExplorer is yuck and Firefox is a superior browser then you don’t know what you’re missing. First, zip over to Mozilla and download and install the free FF browser. Play with it, download themes and add-ons to enhance and speed your webinet (my new word for web stuff and Internet) browsing. But today’s tip is about your pdf viewer. (PDF stands for Portable Document Format) and many computers come pre programmed with Adobe Acrobat.

I used to use it but after a few years I felt it started getting bloated- taking a long time to even start the program and running very sluggish. Add to that the constant updates needed because of security issues. Argh, what a hassle. No more! Mozilla FF to the rescue…again. We have been using Foxit PDF Reader for quite some time now and it has many advantages:

It is lightweight in size and doesn’t use up all your PC’s memory just to run.
Is as secure, or more so, than Adobe.
Is user friendly and super easy to use.
Runs very quick.

There is more but I’ll let you read more about it when you pop over to download/install it from HERE.

It’s available for Windows and Linux users. Oh what? No Mac? For some odd reason, the Adobe reader works much better on Mac than on Windows. Go figure! However, I still use my ‘preview’ viewer on the Mac, which works very good.

Malady of the soul

Shallow lives, hollow religious philosophies, the preponderance of the element of fun in gospel meetings, the glorification of men, trust in religious externalities, quasi-religious fellowships, salesmanship methods, the mistaking of dynamic personality for the power of the Spirit: these and such as these are the symptoms of an evil disease, a deep and serious malady of the soul.

A.W. Tozer, (1897 – 1963 )

Soft Christians

Our churches these days are filled (or one-quarter filled) with a soft breed of Christian that must be fed on a diet of harmless fun to keep them interested. About theology they know little. Scarcely any of them have read even one of the great Christian classics, but most of them are familiar with religious fiction and spinetingling films. No wonder their moral and spiritual constitution is so frail. Such can only be called weak adherents of a faith they never really understood.”

“Lord, send the Holy Spirit to renew within us a depth and seriousness in our pulpits. Give us boldness in our preaching. Amen.”
–

A.W. Tozer, (1897 – 1963 ) on Christian Leadership

Do You Have Fun?

I like to have fun! I love a good belly laugh. But what is fun? Do you ever ask yourself what is fun? I’m not against humour or laughing but how often do I use the word ‘fun’, as though it were really something to strive for…something that is really important. I don’t think God meant for us not to have fun- He is the God of celebration after all! The Bible is full of stories where great celebrations have occurred. The Jewish people are commanded to celebrate their exodus from Egypt…David danced… Jesus even turned water into wine whilst at a wedding! But is this different to what I say when I use the word, fun? Is fun something I should be working toward, desiring, or striving for? Is it a word that I should be using regularly or would I be better off using (and practising) such nouns as ‘happy’ and ‘joy’? Is the seemingly preoccupation with fun more prevalent today than in generations past? We love reading older books (written pre 1950’s) and ‘fun’ just isn’t mentioned as often as in the more modern books…or am I wrong?

Websters 1828 dictionary has this entry:

FUN, n. Sport; vulgar merriment. A low word.

Wow…kinda puts a different spin on it uh? Of course, the word fun’ isn’t found in the older versions of the Bible…so I won’t go there.

Happy:
1. Lucky; fortunate; successful.
2. Being in the enjoyment of agreeable sensations from the possession of good; enjoying pleasure from the gratification of appetites or desires. The pleasurable sensations derived from the gratification of sensual appetites render a person temporarily happy; but he only can be esteemed really and permanently happy, who enjoys peace of mind in the favor of God. To be in any degree happy, we must be free from pain both of body and of mind; to be very happy, we must be in the enjoyment of lively sensations of pleasure, either of body or mind.
3. Prosperous; having secure possession of good.
4. That supplies pleasure; that furnishes enjoyment; agreeable; applied to things; as a happy condition.
5. Dexterous; ready; able.
6. Blessed; enjoying the presence and favor of God, in a future life.
7. Harmonious; living in concord; enjoying the pleasures of friendship; as a happy family.
8. Propitious; favorable.

How about ‘joy‘?
1. The passion or emotion excited by the acquisition or expectation of good; that excitement of pleasurable feelings which is caused by success, good fortune,the gratification of desire or some good possessed, or by a rational prospect of possessing what we love or desire; gladness; exultation; exhilaration of spirits.
2. Gayety; mirth; festivity.
3. Happiness; felicity.
4. A glorious and triumphant state.
5. The cause of joy or happiness.
6. A term of fondness; the cause of you.

JOY, v.i. To rejoice; to be glad; to exult.
JOY, v.t. To give joy to; to congratulate; to entertain kindly.
1. To gladden; to exhilarate.
2. To enjoy; to have or possess with pleasure, or to have pleasure in the possession of.

Just some thoughts that randomly roam through my mind… maybe I’m just too serious? But I’ve often felt a little guilty and yet envious of those who have more fun. I’ve wished I was more ‘funner’…and there is place for that, but not before joy, peace, happiness, contentment, assurance, etc. What do you think?

The message of MSG

I went shopping today and wanted to buy some chicken stock. yeah I know, it’s pretty slack of me to not have made my own (I shall have to hand in my home-grown-homeschooler card) but I needed tea on the table…tonight! I wanted a stock (powder or liquid) that does not contain MSG. Now everyone knows what MSG is, right? Monosodium glutamate, is a sodium salt of the non-essential amino acid glutamic acid. It is used as a food additive and is commonly marketed as a flavour enhancer. When a food is stale, intolerable or the product is inferior, many producers will add MSG. MSG tricks your tongue and taste buds into making you think a certain food is yummy, high in protein and thus nutritious. But it is not. Strangely enough, previous generations lived their lives without adding MSG to their foods (it is naturally found in some foods). Many people believe they have an intolerance to MSG which often produces a variety of adverse reactions. We try to avoid MSG as much as possible as some members of the family do have reactions to it – some slight and others more noticeable.

So, it is a new additive that supposedly enhances that which is stale or inferior…but often ends up causing illness and adverse reactions such as physical symptoms, headaches, nausea, drowsiness and weakness!

I was doing some study at the online Bible gateway tonight and as I was cross referencing a scripture with different Bible versions, I had a wry giggle as I saw the abbreviation:

MSG

Here, take a look. Scroll right to the bottom and see for yourself. (Or click the image below…I couldn’t resist and had to take a screen shot) Hmmm, nothing further to add, methinks. 😕

Joe's logbook and goals

For those who like the idea of CalorieKing but don’t want to record their food intake…or maybe for those that have other daily goals that are not to do with food/health/nutrition, then Joe’s Goals might just be the tool for you!

Joe’s Goals
http://www.joesgoals.com/

Joe’s Goals is a simple yet powerful tool to make tracking your goals the easiest part of accomplishing them. Use the simple single page interface to setup daily goals and track them with just a click. Watch your daily score to gage your success and use negative goals (or vices) to confront and overcome bad habits that finally need to get the boot. Share your success with your friends and family or post your personal score badge to your blog or MySpace page. Add as many Goals as you want and update them all from a single interface. Goals of others are to: read, pray, take vitamins, blog, drink water, clean teeth, eat fruit, money, lessons with children, maths, English, exercise, piano practice and much more! Anything you need to keep track of.

Maybe you’d also like Joe’s LogBook
http://www.joeslogbook.com/

Joe’s Logbook is a simple tracking tool that lets you organize your life using the power of your words. Track your activities by adding daily notes explaining your experiences, victories, and failures. Use the simple, single-page interface to setup and track the specifics of any area of your life. Use it to record your thoughts, track your spending, watch your health, and track your dreams and inspirations. Add as many Logbooks as you want and update them all from a single interface.

This could come handy for many things, including homeschooling. Want to read aloud to the children more? Do some exercise WITH the children? have the children cook a meal once a week?…Ah the possibilities are endless. Just remember to protect your privacy…this is the world wide web!

Enjoy!

Calorie King

Did you know that I’ve lost over 100kilograms? It’s such a pity that they keep finding me again! I worked off 20 kgs in order to become pregnant with Miss A. I put on a ton of weight and fluid with that pregnancy and never lost it again until after Miss R was born, when I worked off another (the same) 20kg.

A few years later and I lost a whopping 55 kgs! Then came a knee injury and then the reconstruction. That wasn’t so bad except I never quite got around to doing the physio and strengthening exercises that would enable me to go back to sport. I just didn’t go back to playing sport again. Oh I coached and ran around a bit but didn’t play. Then we moved to the coldest place in Victoria (well, it seemed like it to me!). Actually we were on the NSW/VIC border and it was so bitterly cold that all I could do each day was rug up, sit next to the heater and read aloud to the kiddos while drinking copious amounts of tea and coffee. So what happened with my weight? Yup, half of the 55 kgs went back on again!

The best way I’ve always found to lose weight is by counting calories. Mind you, I’ve tried just about everything else- portions, low carb, high protein, blah blah blah…But for me, the most successful and easiest way to lose weight as part of my lifestyle is by counting calories – both intake and working them off! For years I’ve used Dr. Allan Borushek’s Calorie Counter, Diary and recipe book and just find it the best way to live. I can still have a glass of wine, milk coffee or a TimTam… just not all at once! :laugh:

I’ve learned heaps from all sorts of books and programs but I still keep going back to Calorie Counting. Well, did you know it’s even easier than ever now? CalorieKing is Australian…it allows you to input all your personal details and will even plan menus for you if you need. It allows all sorts of diet, nutrition and exercise tracking, recipes, forums, blogs and more! I can load in my regular foods so it is easier to keep track of it or I can use the menu plans designed for me and my needs and preferences. Best of all – it is FREE!

If you are struggling with weight and/or nutritional needs, why don’t you pop over to Calorie King? They have every type of tool and help to help you. Let me know if you join up – we can be buddies!

Another passing…Geoffrey Bingham

Oh. I’m lost for words. A dear man, the best teacher I have ever known has gone to be with the Lord.

Geoffrey Bingham.

Mr. Bingham AM, MM, has truly led a full, rich life…he was a preacher, teacher, a doctor of theology, a former POW in WW2, a writer/author and founder of New Creation Teaching Ministries. The lessons that I have learned most through Mr. Bingham are the grace of God and the Centrality of the Cross and forgiveness.

It is my prayer that the Lord will be with the Bingham’s and friends and all those who will miss his input into their lives.

If you don’t yet know much about NCTM or Geoffrey Bingham’s book, now is a good time to do some reading. SydneyAnglicans has written a tribute to Mr Bingham, and if you want to know more about this man, it is a good place to start.

Geoffrey Bingham: Wikipedia entry
New Creation Teaching Ministries
Roman’s study series on YouTube
Geoffrey Bingham on AudioSermon
New Creation TM sermons on SermonAudio

Thank you Father God, that Mr Geoffrey Bingham was such a faithful servant…thank you that You worked through his life to touch many people, both past, present and in the future.

How hard am I working?

Heart rate monitor for under $50

Working too hard. Yup, that was me. I felt like I have been putting in so much hard work and effort and was yielding nothing in the form of increased fitness or weight loss. Well, after doing a little more reading I think I have discovered why. Simply put, I was overworking! See I think that I have to put in maximum effort in order to get a result. Problem is, this maximum effort usually sees me very tired for the rest of the week- which is counter productive. Whilst re-reading Crunch Time I read about the use of a heart rate monitor. Well, on the weekend John bought me one and we sat down to figure out my Maximum Heart Rate and what I need to be working at in order to burn fat.

My MaximumHeartRate (MHR) is 180. My minimum fat burning rate rate is approx 117 and my highest/best heart rate during exercise is 158. I had been heading up into the very high 100’s…as in 180 – 190. This does in fact burn calories but not fat stores. So in all my work I was working against my goals.

Today I did a Billy Blanks Bootcamp session (DVD) and was surprised to know that I did in fact reach my MHR. It was tiring and sore but I was not at the same point that I had been previously. TaeBo is a form of HIIT as well as strength training so it’s a good workout.

Do you use a heart rate monitor? How do you use it?

The other thing I’m trying to develop is my thinking. Yes, I certainly am free to eat that one (but really, who can stop at just one?) delicious Subway cookie but I need to be prepared to workout for a good 30min just to burn off the cookie! So if I workout I won’t even be burning fat, just the cookie. Is it worth it? Sure I am free to eat it…but is it worth it? This is the kind of thinking I’m trying to develop. It should come easy to me for teaching my own children about making wise choices and choosing consequnces is what we spend quite some time on- so why am I finding it so hard?

Coffee Beans, Beans, Beans

This post was originally on the AussieHomeschool forum (yes, it’s amazing what we discuss!) so I thought I’d post it here. I don’t know all that much about coffee but I am learning all the time. Feel free to disagree with me and point me to sources of correct information.

Firstly, if you want to read my previous post on the best domestic machine you can do so here.

tulip

However, it doesn’t matter how great a machine you get if you use cheap coffee. The richness, the sweetness, the strength is all in The Bean!If you get a cheap bean it will be bitter- no matter who makes it on what machine! So, getting a good bean is essential.

Next, a good grinder is also very important because the grounds will determine how good the extraction is- this determines whether or not the extraction is bitter or sour. I use my daughters $600 commercial grinder which is ridiculous for home use! However, I bought a Breville BarAroma Grinder which is pretty good for home use and would do a good job for many years.

I could talk for hours and hours about this…as it used to be a little passion of mine but over the last few years it has become an obsession. I have learned all about the history off beans, growing, harvesting, roasting and grinding methods of beans…machines, extraction, milk texturing and more! Yet, I still know nothing compared to my daughter…who also has a lot to learn still.

I have had some cruddy beans and some beautiful beans and they are what makes the difference.

A not-so-good barista can make a super cuppa from a great bean but a great barista will only make an average cuppa with a cruddy, stale bean. You generally get what you pay for but not always.

The Adelaide market sells heaps of beans- apparent coffee houses…but if you have a good look at the bean it is not fresh! This is awful. Shouldn’t be allowed. Should be a crime!

triple

Anyway, Arabica beans are often the typical bean used. Robusta is another variety but isn’t as nice, IMO. It is higher in caffeine but also more bitter. However, it’s also a little cheaper so some flakey companies will use it. Some even use it as a *filler* so always check that you’re using 100% Arabica. (It’s personal taste but good until you have refined your espresso palette).

You can get single origin beans or a blend and blends are usually the best. The blends complement each providing depth and richness whereas a single origin can be slightly more bitter and quite acidic. It’s fun experimenting to find the blend you like most. My dd makes her own blends but you’ll probably just want to buy your own blend (I advise this as it can be costly to play around, finding your own perfect blend ) Some blends are designed more for straight espresso shots where others are more designed to be used with milk. Some blends are rich and fruity whereas others are more chocolatey. What I do not recommend is those awful cheap and nasty beans that have been artificially flavoured. You know the ones like you can buy in a pack at Gloria jeans and they are caramel flavoured? Ugh, not good. I would never allow those beans near my machine!

Raw, fresh beans, unroasted

Freshness: the most crucial part of it all. We never buy from the supermarket. It can be anywhere from 3 months (if you’re lucky) to over one year old!

The freshness of the bean is not determined by the time that the fruit/bean was picked! It is actually determined since the time of roasting! A bean can keep well for years (in the right conditions) if left unroasted but the roasting brings out the natural oils which can quickly become rancid, as oils do. Roasting beans produces some gasses. Most gas is released in the first few days and stops after about one week. This is then stale coffee!

Oxygen and moisture are two no-no’s for your beans. Some roasters use water to cool the beans after roasting. No! Not good. Air should be used to cool the beans, not water.

Beans should be stored or packed in those bags that are fitted with a one way valve. This allows for the oils/gasses from the bean to escape (and oxygen is removed before sealing the bag) without letting oxygen in.

Do not keep your beans in the fridge or freezer! Ack! I don’t know where this came from but it’s not true. Some older generation Italian families do this but they really have no idea how to bring the best out of a bean- they murder the bean anyway.

But how do you know if the beans are fresh? Yeah it’s not easy unless you know what you’re looking for…and truth be told I still struggle when buying coffee- which is why my dd is in charge of all that. However, a few guidelines are what I try to stick to:

Raw, unharvested

Minimal Surface Oil- The amount of oil on the surface of freshly roasted beans depends on the degree of the roast. Some will look matte and you won’t see much oil whereas others will appear to have more oil. If they are too shiny and wet/oily looking then then they could, in fact, be too old and stale. Best test is to breathe and smell it. If it smells like as ash tray then chuck it! It should be nice, sweet,rich, thick, toasted type of smell.

Once you get it home and make a shot of espresso (which you need even for cappuccino) then the espresso shot should be thick and foamy. This is a sign of fresh beans.

We also are willing to pay a little more for our coffee to get the best taste possible but in a fair as possible way. therefore we try to always buy Fair Trade Coffee.

Last, always try to use filtered water in your machine. Oh, coffee is best served in a porcelain mug- it really does affect the taste of the bean.

Here in Adelaide there are a few good coffee roasters: like The Coffee Barun (fantastic) and Five Senses (both in Vic and WA). Rio is okay (IMO). Some people love Rio coffee but I prefer the Coffee Barun. He’s an artist! Sometimes you can go into a roastery and start talking to the Master Roaster, and you will learn heaps! Coffee will never be the same again! Even my 11 and 14yo sons know heaps about coffee- the science behind it all- just from living and learning coffee.

2art

All coffee photo’s (latte art) posted on my blog are courtesy of my daughter, unless otherwise stated. If you’d like to visit her blog, simply click on any of the images.

Coffee is an interest that helps to pull our family together. I know it might seem a bit ‘over the top’ to some but it is like cords that bind our family together (along with many other things, of course). There are many cords that help tie our family together and they usually come about because of an interest that we each have. Sure, we don’t all have to be equally passionate or interested as each other but relationship building means listening, sharing, going out of our own comfort zones – it is living and learning together.

What passions or interests help to tie your family together?

Sanctification

“You are more sinful than you can imagine! The doctrine of Original Sin is true! You cannot reform your flesh! You cannot become a better person by your own strength no matter how hard you try! But cheer up! If you are a Christian, you have come into union with Christ. Through faith in Jesus Christ you are forgiven. Through faith in Jesus Christ you are sanctified and made holy. Through Christ, you are a new creation! The Holy Spirit lives in you! Therefore, pursue the life of faith in Christ with all diligence.”

Walter Marshall, The Gospel Mystery of Sanctification (updated edition), p. 13

Crunch Time

Regular readers will know that I like the Body for Life program by Bill Phillips, as well as Burn the Fat by Tom Venuto. I think they’re great ways for homeschool mums to get fit, healthy and strong…in a minimum of time. As busy homeschool mums and wives, how can we afford countless hours at the gym each week? I also love to read inspiration books and magazines of those who do live a healthy and fit lifestyle. So, as soon as I saw Crunch Time by Personal Trainer, Michelle Bridges, on the store shelf I grabbed it!

Softcover, 204 pages and it is divided into 4 sections.

Part One is titled Get Real! It’s all about why we do what we do…looking at the excuses we make, the habits we have allowed to form and how we change those beliefs and attitudes by developing a plan. Michelle wants us to know that we can in fact lose weight fast and keep it off. She says,

“show me someone who has put the weight back on because they lost it too quickly and I’ll show you five people who put the weight back on because they lost it too slowly!”

p3

Section Two, titled Get Moving! is where Michelle is photographed doing all the weight loss exercises. Yet for some reason, seeing this thin, well toned woman exercising doesn’t make me mad- rather it inspires me! She talks about body types, body shapes and all the different forms and types of exercise. She also talks about debunking the myths, like “walking is a great way to lose weight and get fit” or another one, “you shouldn’t train with weights everday” and yet another myth in, ” pilates, yoga and stretch classes are great for weight loss” and my favourite, “women get big if they train with weights“. In this section, she also gives a 12 week, Get Moving exercise plan.

“Okay, you’re passionately committed to becoming a leaner, fitter you…Now you are going to exercise. That’s right. You will be an exerciser forever. Not just until you fit into that dress…or until you look great so you can dump your boyfriend while looking hot. No. You are an exerciser. Period.”

The next section is called Get Cooking! and here she outlines what should be in the fridge and pantry and what you should throw out. She goes into the nutrition of it all, which should interest many homeschoolers.She also includes a sample eating plan and her favourite, healthy recipes and tips for eating out.

A theory behind this book is one that I’ve agreed with for years…the key is not so much how quickly or slowly you lose the weight…Rather, the key is whether or not you change your lifestyle habits of eating and exercising. Once one hits their goal weight, if they stop exercising or revert to old eating habits then the kilograms will go back on! It has to be a healthy lifestyle change- not a diet. Because of this she advises that we try to lose the weight fairly quickly with your new lifestyle and then you can get on with living your new lifestyle- the new you!

The last part of the book is about Staying on Track where she gives you a journal and a progress chart.

Why do I like this book? Michelle doesn’t muck around. Just like on the Biggest Loser show, she calls it like it is. She takes away any and all excuses. It is written in a very conversational style…which not all will like but the book is real. It is just as if i were talking with Michelle, in the flesh.

Walking is a waste of time for weight loss unless you either start negotiating some serious hills or you pump up the speed to around 6-8km per hour.

This book is great for me as I’m trying to lose weight and tone/strengthen up. It’s also great for Miss A, who is studying to her Cert 3 in fitness. For her, this book is a ‘living book‘- written by a specialist in her field, in a truly engaging and living way…although I’m not quite sure Charlotte Mason would agree lol. (To be fair, the writing style isn’t rich in literary quality)

Oh, just realised that some may not know what I’m referring to when I mention quick weight loss. No, I do not mean any diet scams, berries, teas, gimmicks, fasting or anything else. I simply mean: calories in, calories out.

Calories in – calories out = calorie surplus or calorie deficit…along with ‘the higher your heart rate, the more calories you smash up‘. Michelle gives an indication of what people may expect to lose:

If you are less than 100kg you can expect to lose between 0.5 – 1.5kg per week
If you are between 100 – 129kg you can expect to lose between 1.5kg – 3kg per week
If you are more than 130kg you can expect to lose between 1.5 – 5kg per week.

If you need to get serious about health and fitness…if you need to become a healthy and positive role model for your children, if you want to lose weight and maintain it, then you need to rush out and beg, borrow or steal (just kidding) Crunch Time. Want to read more…head over to the author’s website and read on… where you’ll find a brief synopsis of the book, author info and downloadable tools. But wait! There’s more…head over to the book publishers website to see even more excerpts from the book!

Impromptu performances: ImprovEverywhere

Imagine being a bystander and watching this in real life. I sat here and watched it, full of glee, clapping my hands. Loved it! The Sound of Music is a long time family favourite yet I love what they did to modernise the soundtrack.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7EYAUazLI9k

More than 200 dancers were performing their version of “Do Re Mi”, in the Central Station of Antwerp, with just 2 rehearsals they created this amazing stunt! You can see more at their youtube page here or visit their website.

Learning in our home…this week

In our home this week…

Husband away, finishing jobs, starting new ones, new books, exercise, movies, softball, websites, food, coffee, resumes, portfolios, lawn, cars, fitness, iron supplements, centrelink…

John has still been away for work. For the second leg of his journey, which was this week, he was out bush on exercise so we’ve had no contact with him. In some ways I wonder if this is better than him being at barrackes because at least when he is on exercise I know that I can’t speak to him. There is no question about it so I don’t even think about it. But when he is just at a base i wonder if I could send him an SMS, just to let him know I’m thinking of him. Where there is room for a question mark, it often makes things that little more difficult, doesn’t it? Sometimes black and whites re just easier to live with.

As regular readers will know, my eldest daughter is a barista. My younger daughter also managed to get a job at the same place as Miss A. However, last Saturday the shop closed down. 🙁 At the beginning of the week both my girls were out of work. Miss 18, who is 18, didn’t want to work in just any cafe or coffee shop so we knew that finding a job (that was also flexible enough to work around her softball) was not going to be easy whereas Miss R, (16yo) really just wants a job and wasn’t going to be quite so particular.

The girls employer helped Miss R get a job at Cibo and she starts on Saturday. Naturally, she is nervous, but I think she’ll get the hang of it. She is really keen to be finished with school (she is doing yr 11 at school, which includes Cert 1 and 2 in Hospitality) and get out into the world.

Miss A decided to looking for a job herself. She approached a few places but despite wanting to give her work, they all said that they can’t at this time, and cited the current economic crisis. Fair enough too. There is a lovely, family-friendly cafe that we have frequented since we’ve been back in SA so she went in spoke to the boss. Well, it would seem that it will all work out as a hand fits to glove as he doesn’t have a lot of work available but only a few hours per week. This is great as Miss A is also studying her Cert3 in Fitness and preparing for a major, short tournement in July is taking much of her time. But the best thing about this place is…it is ministry based, not financially driven! All the workers are believers and the cafe has an outward, serving, open, welcoming, relational style of ministry focus. This suits Miss A to a ‘t’. Hallelujah! She starts on Sunday, which may seem weird for a cafe but they host big breakfasts as an outreach…cool uh? Oh, even better- the boss knows his coffee very well and he uses a Fair Trade blend! She might also be doing some freelance baristering around the place so that will also provide for some interesting learning opportunities.

Master J has been a little distracted this week as he leaves tonight on a bivouac, where they’re heading out bush for the long weekend as part of cadets. He loves it and is so excited. He has been mowing the lawn, polishing boots, ironing clothes, studying manuals and will need to go to the shop today for a few items, like hoochie cord (whatever that is). He’s been going on with his fitness regime. Argh, I find it quite frustrating at how quickly young people can get into shape. It’s just not fair!

Caleb pottered. He did a little on the exercise bike although I’d like to see a little more. However I can’t complain too much as he gets all his lessons done quickly and without grumbling or complaining.

The boys pottered on with their lessons this week although I changed things somewhat. Just changing things up a bit…to keep them on their toes. 😉 John has started a new book for Science: The World of Physics by John Tiner and Caleb has to read out loud to me for a few pages once a week. Both boys are having a season of copywork again. That’s how we work. We don’t do the same thing 160 days of the year…we have times of focus and then we’ll put that on the backburner for a bit while we focus on something else. This helps to keep their focus fresh.

As for me, I’ve had a lovely week, just being with my children. We went to the Drive In last week to watch Night at the Museum 2 which we thought was pretty good. Just clean fun. Not excellent but just good. I’ve had the whole week with Miss A, which has been lovely especially as know it isn’t always like this. Physically and fitness wise I’m a little disappointed. I wanted to work extra hard on my fitness routine while John was away but it hasn’t quite wokred out the way I planned. My varicose veins started getting sore again and I went through a period where I was very weak. I know I have megoblastic anemia but it hasn’t bothered me too much until now…I wonder if it is because I did increase my workout load and there just isn’t enough iron to cope with it. So I also started on a new iron supplement this last week. I am severely anemic but despise taking iron supplements because of the negative side effects. However, I found a new supplement at the Chemist. It is called SpaTone and it is a 100% natural liquid iron supplement. Being natural is a real bonus! I have not any of the usual side effects that come with iron supplements. Only problem is the cost…it’s not what I’d call cheap. If you want to know more about this great product (and I get nothing, no commission, not anything…I just like it) then check out the SpaTone website and read the faq.

But the best part is that John comes home sometime this weekend! Yahoo! Sure both girls will be working in their new jobs, Master J will be away out bush but…but John is coming home! And it’s a long weekend! So if my blog is quiet and I’m not on the forums, you’ll know why.

But please tell me this, if you have any ideas…my husband is not a messy man. Okay he’s certainly not Mr.Clean but he isn’t even home long enough to make too much mess. So how is it that the house has been super easy to keep clean and tidy this last 2 weeks? We’ve done very little housework yet the house is fine. How is this so? My enquiring mind needs to know. I’d love to blame John (evil grin) but in all honesty, I can’t. So what is that?

Aussie Homeschool Suppliers

Used curriculum, books, texts and other resources can be bought, swapped or advertised at AussieHomeschool.

ADNIL PRESS – Australian publishers of Voyages in Language, Voyages in Literature; and Australian distributors for Memoria Press (Latina Christiana), Dinah Zike books, Peace Hill Press (The Well-Trained Mind, Story of the Word), Geomatters, Schonell Spelling, Child Sized Masterpieces (“Mommy, It’s a Renoir”), plus more. We are also now the sole Australian Representative for the ‘Institute for Excellence in Writing!’ Also combined with TRIVIUM-EDUCATIONAL(See Below). Contact us for a combined Adnil Press / Trivium Educational catalogue.

ALWAYS LEARNING BOOKS – Beverley Paine – Writer and publisher of home education books, unschooling and natural learning books. Now stocking books by John Holt, John Peacock, Grace Llewellyn, Linda Dobson, Mary Griffith, Ann Lahrson-Fisher, and others. Publishing Homeschool Australia e-newsletter and Unschool~Kidz! e-zine. http://www.beverleypaine.com and Always Learning Books!

AUSTRALIAN HISTORY PICTURES
Janette’s Pictures Of Australian History and timeline figures; are intended to be used, to teach Australian history. They are a series of pictures or scenes with accompanying notes and rhyme on Australia’s first 100 years of history. They are designed to create windows and hooks; windows that give you a picture of what was going on at a given time and hooks that inform and encourage children (and adults) to investigate further. http://australianhistorypictures.com

CHARIOT PRESS: Suppliers of Learning Language Arts Through Literature, The Learnables, Singapore Mathematics, Doorposts, and more.

CHRISTIAN ACADEMY OF LIFE : Christian based curriculum materials, resources and support.

CORRESPONDENCE PIANO LESSONS: This successful method uses a set of video tapes for demonstration of piano technique and normal phone calls for weekly, individual tuition with music tutor, Ruth Drew ATCL.
http://gdrew.au.com/piano.htm

CREDO TRUST
We are a Christian family supplying Drawn into the Heart of Reading, Bluestocking Press Economics books, Literary Lessons from the Lord of the Rings, Notgrass Exploring World History, Queen Homeschool Supplies, Pearables, and many more…
www.credotrust.com

DOWNUNDER LITERATURE is run by Michelle Morrow,a homeschooling mother of four children. This publishing business provides quality science,english and history homeschooling resources written with the Australian homeschooler in mind. We have developed a few Downunder products for sale but we want to be more than that. We want to serve homeschoolers by giving access (for free when possible) to distinctly Australian and New Zealand books and resource materials.On this site you will find original products for sale and free educational resources. All our products can be found on our product list and resource index. http://www.downunderlit.com

EBENEZER BOOKS – Parrish Family
We specialise in Godly books and music for children and adults which teach and entertain while they
help to build character. We stock a large range including; fiction, biography, historical fiction and non fiction, character building & heritage story books, Bible story books, colour-in and activity books, music and more. Our books will compliment any curriculum.
http://ebenezerbooks.mywebhome.ca/

GOLDEN BEETLE BOOKS – Rudolf Steiner Education and homeschooling teaching manuals.

Grammar On One Hand: A Tool Kit For Writers DVD
(88 minutes) — visit:http://www.vernaheights.com.au

FOUNTAIN RESOURCES – Australian company, specialising in homeschooling titles and Catholic books. If you are looking for a title but can not see it in their catalogue, they may be able to order it in anyway. http://www.fountainresources.com.au/

HOMESCHOOL AUSTRALIA – Beverley Paine is an Australian author, home educational consultant, and publisher of homeschooling books. She has a special interest in unschooling and natural learning, though her site includes material of interest to all Australian home educators, with information, articles, links to newsletters, and more.
http://homeschoolaustralia.beverleypaine.com/ and http://homeschoolaustralia.come/

HOME SCHOOL FAVOURITES – Catalogue put out by Mary Collis, editor of A Living Education – Resources include Usborne Books, homeschooling materials produced by Diana Waring, Cindy Rushton, Penny Gardner, Greenleaf Press, and more.
http://www.homeschoolfavourites.com.au/

HOMESCHOOL HEAVEN – Australian suppliers of audio tapes from Jim Weiss, and modest clothing patterns from Sense and Sensibility.
http://www.homeschoolheaven.com.au

KAREN’S AUSTRALIAN USED HOMESCHOOL BOOKS
Lots of hard-to-find titles! http://www.auhb.net

KINGSLEY EDUCATIONAL (KEPL) – Australian company – sells Christian text-books & other materials, (Saxon maths books and Weaver) provides assistance with home education. http://www.kepl.com.au

LEATHERWOOD BOOKS – Australian family-owned business. Catalogue includes a wonderful selection of living books.
http://www.leatherwoodbooks.com.au/

LIGHT EDUCATIONAL MINISTRIES (LEM) Sells Christian text-books (A Beka, Bob Jones University Press, Christian Liberty Press, etc.) Provides assistance with home education. http://www.lem.com.au

MANY HOME BLESSINGS – Helping you enrich your Home-life through products and resources that encourage excellence and a return to family values.
http://www.manyhomeblessings.com.au/

Math-U-See Australasia– Tony & Esther White
For a free Demonstration DVD, giving an outline of the entire curriculum and philosophy behind Math-U-See phone or email:
Ph: Math-U-See products. Order from MUS website: http://mathusee.com

ST ATHANASIUS BOOKSELLERS – stockists of Catholic books
Ph 08-8345 1522
Opening hours for calling in:Thur, Fri, Sat 10.30am – 5pm.Books on homeschooling: Catholic Education-Homeward Bound; Catholic Homeschool Treasury; Catholic Homeschooling. Living history books including many mentioned in popular curriculum guides such as Greenleaf, 4 reallearning etc.
Email:[email protected]

STEINER EDUCATIONAL MATERIALS and books: www.steiner-australia.org/other/bookshop.html

HEART AND HOME Mail Order – Family Resources for Building Healthy Hearts and Happy Homes. Stockists of quality reading and listening materials for young Christians, including the Miller Family Books, the Moody Family Series, and various character building and training books. Parenting and homeschooling products by the Maxwell Family, Jeff and Marge Bath and Dr S.M. Davis, and health resources such as Grain Master Whisper Mill and Easiyo Products also available at very reasonable prices. Email:[email protected]

Homeschool Glossary

Here are a few of the most commonly used acronyms and terms. This list is by no means exhaustive. Please leave a comment below if you have something to add to this list.
This list does not include vendors or suppliers. I have been slowly compiling this list over the course of a few years. It is also printed at AussieHomeschool.

Acronyms

ACG is A Child’s Geography by Ann Voskamp
ACHOW is A Child’s History of the World (Hillyer)
AO is Ambleside Online, a free online CM based curriculum
ATW180Days is Around the Word in 180 Days
CE is Classical Education, usually using a Classical Curriculum
CM is Charlotte Mason.
ETC – Explode the Code
ETWHC is Educating the Wholehearted Child by the Clarkson’s
FAR is Far Above Rubies
FIAR is Five In A Row and BFIAR is Before FIAR
HEA – Home Education Association of Australia
HOW is Heart of Wisdom by Robin Sampson, also included is the HOWTA which is the HOW Teaching Approach
HWT – Handwriting Without Tears
LA is sometimes the unit study program called Learning Adventures or
LA is also Language Arts (the subject of studying English)
LLATL is Learning Language Arts Through Literature
MMM us Making Math Meaningful
MOH is Mystery of History by Linda Hobar
MUS is Math-U-See
RB is usually Ruth Beechick
SL is Sonlight
SM can be Singapore maths
SOTW is Story of the World (Bauer)
The 3 R’s and YCTYCS is for You Can Teach Your Child Successfully Grade 4-8 by Ruth Beechick
TT can be teaching textbooks
TTT or the Bluedorn’s is Teaching the Trivium by the Bluedorn’s.
TWTM is The Well Trained Mind by Susan Wise Bauer

General Abbreviations

Afterschooling – Refers to supplementing a child’s learning after school. In other words, after a child attends regular public or private school all day, they engage in additional educational classes or activities supervised by their parents, tutors, or others.
AP is usually the Authorised person from the BOS.
BOS – Board of Studies
Burnout is a term used to describe a parent or child who has become exhausted from the process of homeschooling.
Carschooling – A term coined by Diane Flynn Keith to describe learning while riding in the car.
Classical Education – A process of teaching children to learn based on developmental phases and educational principles developed by the ancients. For the primary years, children learn fact-based information. In the middle school years, children learn logic and reasoning, and in the high school period, children develop the art of abstraction and persuasion. Also referred to as “trivium-based.”
CM – Miss Mason was a 19th century educator who believed that education should be based on great literature and the arts. She believed in a leisurely, self-directed style of education based on observation and reflection, often through discussion and journaling. Charlotte Mason education is based on a lifelong quest for knowledge and the skills.
Copywork – This technique is used to help students learn to write — from the initial skill of forming alphabet letters, all the way through learning to write sentences, paragraphs, poetry and more. Once students have the ability to copy sentences and paragraphs, they usually copy excerpts from good/classic literature. The idea is that by copying, they learn the techniques of great writers that they can then apply to their own original writing.
COS – Course of Study
Course of Study – Refers to an outline of academic subjects to be covered by grade level such as: English, Math, Social Sciences, Science, Visual & Performing Arts, Health, Physical Education, etc. Each subject may be broken down into topics and sub-topics with references to the educational textbooks, workbooks, and other materials and resources that will be used for study. See World Book Encyclopedia’s Typical Course of Study for PreK-12.
Curriculum – The materials used for a course, which can include a text-book, a teacher and grading guide, lesson plans, tests, and worksheets.
DE – Distance Education Provider – A school that enrols homeschooling children or families and offers services and curriculum supportive of home education.
Deschooling – Deschooling refers to the period of time, also called decompression, when students (and family) adjusts after leaving a traditional school setting. This period can range from a few weeks to an entire year, depending upon the student’s needs. It has been estimated that a period of deschooling be allowed according to the following: 1 month of deschooling for every one year that the child has been attending school.
Eclectic Approach – A method of teaching that does not rely on any one approach but rather culls the best from multiple approaches.
Lapbooking is a method of recording and tracking learning about a particular subject through the use of “foldables” which are then mounted and stored on file folders that have been refolded from a bi-fold form into a tri-fold form for better presentation. Often associated with Notebooking
Learning Methods – Learning methods focus on the way a person best takes in and processes information.
Learning Styles – This includes Auditory (learning through listening and talking), Visual (learning through seeing) and Kinesthetic/Tactile (learning through movement and touch).
Notebooking – A method used to creatively journal or track homeschool studies and learning experiences by recording them on pages in notebooks or 3-ring binders.
Relaxed homeschooling – Relaxed homeschooling is a similar term to Unschooling but takes more of an eclectic or blended approach, fitting curricula and resources to each student.
School at Home – traditional schooling – A common beginning method of homeschooling in which a family attempts to simply recreate a conventional classroom education within their home. Many times this includes a boxed curriculum and can be somewhat of a rigid daily schedule. Also referred to as Boxed curriculum or School in a Box or Pre-packaged Curriculum.
Scope and Sequence – S & S An outline of skills and information to be taught, typically organised by grade level or by course. Provides information on what will be covered.
Socialisation (The “S” Word) – Many homeschoolers are criticised as not providing appropriate socialisation, meaning the interaction found in a traditional school. As homeschoolers point out, traditional school’s artificial grouping by age, grade, and ability-level, is a dysfunctional and unrealistic situation compared to the socialisation of children within a family and more natural social groupings.
Supplemental Resources – These are educational materials, field trips, and projects that are used to enhance the learning experience.
Textbooks/ Workbooks– Textbooks are just one part of a package of resource materials that includes: a scope and sequence, an educators’ manual with teaching strategies, a student book with content explanations and examples, and a practice workbook. These packages usually offer a workbook or an enrichment workbook that focuses on higher level critical thinking skills.
Unit Study/ Thematic study– A cross-curricular educational approach in which learning is focused around a central, common theme. For instance, a unit study on cars would teach the development and use of early cars (history), major highways (geography), different engine types (science),etc. Proponents of the unit study approach suggest that using unit studies allows students to immerse themselves in a topic and see that topic as a “whole,” rather than learning bits and pieces throughout their education.
Unschooling/Natural Learning – Also known as student-led education, this is a teaching method in which students study those topics that interest them, rather than follow a pre-defined curriculum.

Fair Go for Homeschool Copyright

Part of this post is from a previous writing, but is still relevant today. Will you take three minutes to view this video?

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJmWKb0_aXw

Years ago, like many homeschoolers, I looked for ways to be frugal in our homeschooling. I learned to use the library a lot. They have some great selections of video’s, DVD’s, and CD’s. Sometimes we wouldn’t get around to watching or listening to them so I came upon the idea of making a copy before returning it to the library. I even felt quite frugal while doing so. After all, if I had to buy that CD I would need to have spent about $40. But now I had saved that. Before long, I ended up with a stack of things that I don’t think I would have needed or used, but as they were free I might as well have them on the shelf, just in case. I had even lent out my resources, feeling fairly sure that the person was going to make their own copy! Thing is, I honestly didn’t even think that this might have been wrong or illegal. I know that sounds terribly naive, but it’s true. I didn’t think anything of it except congratulating myself on being frugal and saving my husband’s hard earned money. I certainly didn’t see how I was hurting anyone else!

Oi voi!

Praise God! He taught me the error of my ways. He did not allow me to stay at that place. He showed me my sin. I was convicted of my wrongdoing. I set apart searching for every little bit of illegal stuff in my house and then we burnt it all. It was a whole family affair. Something started fairly innocently. I did not set out to steal or deceive. I just wanted to save a few pennies…but the fallen nature of man, and the enemy that seeks to devour worked and saw me down a path that I hardly recognised…a path I didn’t set out to take, but ended up there anyway. Thank God that He rescued me from that path and put me on the straight and narrow.

As is often the case with reformed drinkers or smokers, I developed a hot spot (a bug-bear, a passion) for copyright protection and violations. I now stringently try to protect the lawful copyright owner and go to great lengths to ensure that everything I do is above board. I encourage others to always check out the law and consider the use of a Fair Use Policy. Copyright is far more than a list of black and white words- it is legal, ethical, moral and Biblical values.

Do you want to homeschool for FREE? Make sure your free materials aren’t breaking the law. HomeschoolCopyright.com

Good homeschooling books

If you are looking at beginning homeschooling, need some ideas or encouragement, here are a few of my favourite books on the topic:

A Biblical Home Education by Ruth Beechick
For the Children’s Sake by Susan Schaeffer Macaulay
I Saw the Angel in the Marble by Chris and Ellyn Davis
Educating the Wholehearted Child by Clay and Sally Clarkson
Heart of Wisdom Teaching Approach by Robin Sampson
Education in the Heart of the Home by Elizabeth Foss
Upgrade by Kevin Swanson (although mainly for the later years)
You Can Teach Your Child Grades 4-8 by Ruth Beechick (later years) and
The 3 R’s by Ruth Beechick (practical) and
Before Five In A Row by Jane Lambert (practical)
Leota’s Garden by Francine Rivers. This book is excellent to teach parents how to use metaphorical language and object lessons in their parenting and teaching.

A few other suggestions AFTER reading the books listed above:

A Charlotte Mason Education by Catherine Levison
More Charlotte Mason Education by Catherine Levison
When You Rise Up by R.C.Sproul Jr.
Pocketful of Pinecones by Karen Andreola
The Preschool Years by Valerie Bendt
Reaping the Harvest – by Diana Waring
Easy Homeschooling Companion by Lorraine Curry
Things we wish we’d known by Diana Waring
Homeschooling: A Patchwork of Days, edited by Nancy Lande
100 Top Picks for Homeschool Curriculum by Cathy Duffy
Guerrilla Learning and The Teenage Liberation Handbook by Grace Llewellyn

Have I missed your favourite? Let me know by leaving the title in the comments.

Getting Started in Homeschooling

Here are a few of my tips for beginning the homeschool journey.

1) Make the Decision
Making the decision to homeschool is not to be taken lightly or quickly. It is a daunting task to take on the full responsibility for your child’s education. Here are some considerations to help you think through the process.

2) Read books
Yes, reading books is actually much better than reading blogs or websites mainly because there is just so much information available that it can be totally overwhelming. I suggest starting off with a few good books on the topic.

3) Understanding Homeschool Laws
It is very important to know and stay within the laws and requirements of your state. In general, it is not wise to start by asking your local school what the homeschooling law is – often they don’t know, and they may give you misleading information. They may quote policy as though it were law…you need to find out the laws regarding home education in your state.

4) Finding a Support Group
If you’re reading this then you’ve already started this step. Join AussieHomeschool and meet others in the forums.However you may also like to get involved with a non online support group. This often takes a great deal of patience and time as you find a group that is a right match for your family. Homeschoolers are very diverse! However, a support group will generally meet on a semi regular basis for outings or parent meetings where they offer encouragement and help along the way. They can help with choosing curriculum, record keeping, meeting the state laws, and much more.

5) Choosing a Curriculum
Selecting your curriculum can be overwhelming. It is possible to over purchase more than you will ever need. Generally I would advise that in the beginning, less is best!

6) Record Keeping/Documenting Learning Activities and Opportunities
It is very important to keep good records of your child’s homeschool years. Your records can be as simple as a daily journal or as elaborate as a purchased computer program or notebook system.

7) Schedules and Routines
Homeschoolers generally have a lot of freedom in setting up and living within their schedule and routine, but it sometimes takes a while to find out what works best for your family. It’s helpful to hear about what others are doing.

8) Learn a little about Homeschool Methods
There are many methods to homeschool your children. Most families find that they do not use one method solely rather take bits and pieces from all approaches as the needs of their family dictates. A method should be seen as a tool to assist you in homeschooling…it is not an approach that needs to be strictly adhered to.

9) Locate curriculum providers.
Peruse their websites as they often contain a lot of valuable information. Continue to look through resource suppliers, vendors and the ‘Homeschool Mall’ section at AussieHomeschool.

10) Consider becoming a member of the HEA:
The Home Education Australia site has been formed to support, promote and encourage the practice of home education. There are many benefits to becoming a member.

Join the AussieHomeschool Community

Coffee with Conscience

abigraceart

I love my coffee. Everyone who knows me knows that. My daughter is a barista and has studied, and continues to study, the art, the history, the science of coffee- from the plant to harvesting, roasting and grinding.

Somewhere along the line I learned about Fair Trade…and fair Trade Coffee. I was shocked. I truly had no idea about the coffee that I consumed and where it had come from and under what conditions. I won’t bore you to a glassy eyed state if you’re not interested…but if you love real coffee (and chocolate) and you want to know more, then I urge you to visit the Fair Trade Campaign and to support Fair Trade products.

Fair trade is an organized social movement and market-based approach that aims to help producers in developing countries and promote sustainability. The movement advocates the payment of a “fair price” as well as social and environmental standards in areas related to the production of a wide variety of goods. It focuses in particular on exports from developing countries to developed countries, most notably handicrafts, coffee, cocoa, sugar, tea, bananas, honey, cotton, wine, fresh fruit, chocolate and flowers.

Other links
Fair Trade Association
Fair Trade and the Coffee Campaign
Checkout fair Trade

If you can’t view the video above, you can view it here.
and if you’re a little more interested, view this one as well.

National Diana Waring Conferences

Diana Waring is well loved for her bright enthusiastic presentation of history. Extremely happily married since 1979, Bill and Diana homeschooled their three children nearly twenty years. The Waring kids (now all grown) were the proving grounds for all the concepts and encouragements Bill and Diana teach in real-life examples of the wonders of home schooling!

They will be visiting Australia around September/October this year. Don’t miss this wonderful opportunity to hear an inspiring and experienced home schooler.

If you would like to receive a list of workshop descriptions, suggest a workshop topic or find out further information about meetings, or other ways to be involved, please contact Bernie via her contact page or ph 02 4938 8142.

Diana and Bill have worked in speaking and writing for the Christian home school and private school community for 18 years. Through their business/ministry Diana Waring Presents (formerly, Diana Waring—History Alive!), they have met and talked with home schoolers in 46 states, half of Canada, and three other continents.

The curriculum for world history study Diana wrote, beginning in 1994, has been growing and expanding. She is in the midst of a five year effort to update and expand the research and presentation of the material. She is well known for her rapid-fire history recordings and workshops, but is also appreciated for her workshops and books of home school encouragement, like Beyond Survival and Reaping the Harvest.

Visit the Diana Waring website to find out all about her history curriculum. There are free sample chapters and audios to download. For a sneak preview of Diana’s speaking, download this inspiring, free interview about homeschooling, the arts, learning styles, history and more, visit Blog Talk Radio .

The Waring’s mission: To serve families by encouraging, equipping, and educating in an entertaining way.

Visit the Diana DownUnder website for more information

Registrations are now being taken for most locations. The AussieHomeschool Calendar has further details, based on each date. However each venue has not been fully decided yet.

Sept 22 Inverell
Sept 25-26 Sydney
Sept 28 Maitland
Oct 10 Brisbane
Oct 16-17 Melbourne
Oct 19-20 Adelaide
Oct 23-24 Canberra

State Allows Growing Trend of Eating At Home

For your tongue-in-cheek giggle for today…

State Allows Growing Trend of Eating At Home

———————-

April 13, 2099

Reunited Press

After much heated debate on the house floor, legislation was passed today to allow a growing number of families to cook meals for their families in their homes. The children must have annual physical examinations to assure proper growth and weight gain. Attempts to require weekly meal plans and monthly kitchen inspections were voted down.

A spokesperson from the National Association of Nutritionists (NANs) condemns this decision. “These children are being denied the rich socialization and diversity that is an essential part of the eating process. Without the proper nutritional background, it is impossible for the average person to feed their own children. We, as child advocates, see this as a step backwards and speak out for the sake of the children who cannot speak for themselves.”

Homecooking parents say the benefits of eating at home include increased family unity and the ability to tailor a diet to a particular need. Elizabeth Crocker, a home cook, states, “We started cooking and eating at home when we realized that my son had a severe allergy to eggs. The public kitchens required him to take numerous medications that had serious side effects in order to counteract his allergy. We found that eliminating eggs was a simpler method and our son has thrived since we began doing so.”

After this experience, the Crockers decided to home cook for all of their children, and converted their media room into a kitchen.

Elizabeth says, “We have experienced so much closeness as we have explored recipes and spent time cooking together and eating together.

We have a dining circle with other families where we sometimes share ideas and meals together.”

The Crocker children have done well physically under their mother’s care, weighing in at optimum weights for their ages and having health records far above average. It should be noted that Mrs. Crocker, while not a professional nutritionist, has a family history rich with nutritionists and home economists. “Surely the success of the Crocker children is due to the background of their mother,” responded the spokesman from NANs. “The results they have achieved should not be viewed as normative.” Mrs. Crocker counters that her background was actually a hindrance to the nutritional principles she follows. “Our paternal great-grandmother was a home economist, but she prepared most meal from pre-made mixes. In our homecooking we try not to duplicate public-kitchen meals, but to tailor our meals to the needs and preferences of our children.”

In a related issue, legislation is in committee that would provide oversight for the emerging homecooking movement. Says the Home Eating Legal Defense Association (HELDA): “We want to provide umbrella kitchens to aid parents in the complicated tasks of feeding their children. Many families lack the expertise of the Crocker family, yet desire to eat at home. As we have seen, the umbrella kitchens meet the needs of all concerned. We are happy to provide this service.”

My Life as an Only but Not Lonely Child

I’m an only child! And I loved it. I just never knew any different.

Being an only, I learned to entertain myself and be creative with my imagination.
Being an only gave me lots of uninterrupted time…to think and ponder.
Being an only child allowed me to have other friends sleep over and become part of our family. My best friend was one of 10 children so she became my mum & dad’s adopted daughter and my sister.
Being an only child afforded me to have a special and close relationship with my Mum and Dad.

As I never knew any different I didn’t really wish for anything different. Oh, I do recall asking Mum and Dad for siblings but most children want what they don’t have- it was a fad. I got over it.

We didn’t have much money…we were always fairly poor. But I knew my parents loved me and would bend over backwards to do anything for me that they could. They had a positive attitude and I knew I was loved. I wasn’t showered with material possessions so selfishness never became an issue. My parents just taught me other ways how to share and how to be giving and kind.

Naturally I went everywhere with my parents, so this gave me lots of opportunity for learning how to get on with many others but especially elderly people. I dearly love the elderly and have a great respect for them.

My parents always told me that they would have loved more children, that they tried but they just couldn’t have any more. Knowing that they wanted more children allowed me to see them as more human…it also allowed me to see that the whole world didn’t revolve around me.

I now have four biological children and am blessed to care for my husband’s son (blended family). Sometimes my girls fight and I do not understand it at all. I don’t know how girls can be catty one second and then talk like ‘besties’ the next minute. They tell me it’s a sister thing…I guess I’ll take their word for it because I simply don’t know. Siblings seem to be quite forgiving of each other.

Another hurdle that I had to get over was when I had my own babies. It was all totally foreign to me! I had no idea of what babies entailed…but there are many ways to get round this. We just didn’t know anyone with little children when I was growing up. My mum was quite a bit older when she had me.

The only other hurdle that I had to deal with was that my mum spoiled me. Not in a good way though, more in the true sense of the word, spoiled. She doted on me hand and foot, meaning I simply didn’t learn how to do most things for myself until I got married and was left to sink or swim! Mum regretted not allowing me to do more for myself. She said it was a big mistake of hers and she hoped I would make my children do chores and do things for themselves. Overall, I loved my childhood and wouldn’t have wished for much different.

Yes, that me!

How about you? Are you an only child? Why don’t you post about your childhood or birthorder and pop back here and let me know so I can visit your blog?

Dealing with My Thorn in the Flesh

John is away for work. He may be away for approximately 10 weeks out of the next 16 weeks. We will miss him like crazy…and I just hope and pray that nothing too technical breaks down on our servers, but we’ll manage. I’m not particularly fazed or scared about him being away so much.

Except.

Except in one area. Those who know me in real life, or have followed my blog for awhile may guess as to my area of concern…which also led to my previous post where I voiced this concern about parenting from grace or law. Not that the two can be separated (imbalance is always the result) but my concern is the daily living. The practical reality of everyday life when it is not perfect or ideal.

My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

There was a time when I was verbally and physically abrasive. I despised that about myself. I also inherited those traits as learned behaviour and I wanted to break that vicious cycle. So, I set about identifying my triggers. Once identified I became proactive in ordering my lifestyle and habits so as to avoid these triggers as much as possible. Yes sadly, I still need to be controlled by externals in some areas of my life. However, by the grace of God, He is doing a work in me and the things He has taught me have helped me to avoid being abusive toward the ones I love. The problem with external controls is that when they are removed or not in place for various reasons, then self control must take over or all hell breaks loose. I live with a situation that is a huge trigger for me. Much of it is allayed by the fact that I am under my husband’s authority and so he handles much of the situation which is a trigger for me. But when he goes away, he trusts me and delegates full authority to me.

I am not scared of the person. I’m scared of myself. I have seen myself in action and it is not pretty. It is harmful. It can be devastating. I am weak. I will be clinging to 2 Cor 12:9-10

Getting back to my previous post: I like to set fairly rigid rules for our family to live by when John isn’t at home. Problem is, we don’t have too many rules normally. As an example, sometimes, I’ll send the children to bed at 9.30pm and other times it will be midnight. There is never any fuss- this is part of how we practically live by grace. But one child cannot live that way. This child needs a concrete line drawn in the sand. Without it, the child simply will not go to bed at all. Even when the line is drawn, they will push, and push and push- nagging, whining, yelling, screaming: doing anything necessary to *win* (as seen in their eyes).

We parent using natural consequences. If one would like to wear clean clothes on Tuesday, then one will need to wash on Monday. Right? Fair enough? If one does not put them in the laundry or wash them for themselves, then they will not be ready. No, I will NOT run down to the store and buy some brand new socks! No, you may not use my socks. You will have to live with the consequences of your own actions. Harsh? maybe…but fair. However, there is one child who refuses to accept this way of life. Simply and point blank refuses.

So with John not home, the only way I know how to cope is to set firm rules and we all live by them. However, it is really quite draining and hard to live by rules all the time. I find it sucks the very life-joy from me. I know not everyone feels this way but in this situation, I do. We have lived by our Family Ways before and most of us can do it…but it’s wearing. It’s wearing because there is only one who sets out to make it very difficult. Hence my dilemma of what to do and who to do it. I do not want to be broken to the point where I resort to past behaviour. I am weak. I am not strong, like some women have mistakenly believed about me. In fact, I’m not even nice. I can be horrible. I need God’s grace. I need His peace. And I need Him to be very real in my life throughout the coming months.

I know God will help me. I know He will be with me. With all my pro activeness and practising of self control, can I, without God, do that which is commanded of me? Can I submit my flesh, to God? Will I ever be at the point where this ‘thorn in my flesh’ will be able to be used for my own good…let alone God’s glory?

Resistance Training

Just learned that weight lifting is the second lowest injury sport one can do. Walking is the safest and then weight lifting bcz it is done in a controlled, supervised way unlike many other activities. However, more than walking, weight lifting after searching supplement reviews and then buying the best one can actually makes your bones stronger!

I want to be able to lift my grandkids up in the air and to keep up with them. Well, while walking is good, it’s not as good for my bones as weight lifting or resistance training.

I don’t worry about getting all huge and masculine like. It’s not likely that I’ll train enough to look masculine. (One has to work VERY hard and take HEAPS of protein to achieve that) Plus, being female, I don’t have the natural advantage of testosterone so I won’t get bulky and huge rather toned and strong. Whoohoo, the Proverbs 31 in physical action!

For those that are keen but don’t have weights or are scared of them or can’t afford them: never fear. A set of resistance bands (AMart, Kmart, Big W, Target will do) will do exactly the same job! And, it’s very safe! Whilst there are many websites that will show you how to use the bands, here is one just to get you started.

How cool is that?

Do you use weights or resistance? How? What is your program? How much do you do? Please share?

Resistance workout

Exercising my Options

OPTION: noun
1) The power of choosing; the right of choice or election.
2) The power of wishing.
3) Choice; election; preference.

Exercising my options…if only that it what I had been doing… really. We all make choices in life. We all live with the consequences of those choices. It’s a principle that I try to teach my children and I thought I lived by.

Wrong! Or rather it’s true…but only with some things. Not with the hard things.

I have two boys at home. Master J is currently 14 and Master C is 11yo, nearly 12. I tell you, it’s tough being a homeschool mum to these two rambunctious fellows. And I thought it was tough with girls…but this is stretching me in other ways- previously untouched by homeschooling the girls. Doing the hard things, going the extra mile, giving a little bit more, perseverance, diligence…these are all traits that all people do well to practice but the way I need to teach it to my girls is quite different to the way I teach it to the boys. Homeschooling is like getting a mirror and holding it up to see myself. I see all the bumps, cracks and crevices, the warts, the pimples, laughter lines and worry lines. I don’t believe any parent can embrace the homeschooling lifestyle and remain untouched or unchallenged!

I love my cup of tea in the morning. It isn’t an option for me. It is what I do. Always. I have 2 cups of tea and then a milk coffee. It has been non negotiable. I didn’t even really think about it…just did it.

I love my daily computer time. It isn’t an option. It’s just what I do. It’s non negotiable…I just do it.

There are some things in life that I do which are not healthy…the fruits of which are not strength, life, joy, peace. So why do I do them? Why have I made them non negotiable?

I don’t like exercise. I don’t like to sweat. I do not like to drink water. These were all options. I could exercise but I choose not to. I can drink water but I prefer not to. Why? Where will these choices or options get me? Why or when did I make exercise an option, that I could choose to do or choose not to? Why was it not a priority for me?

It was easy for me, as a homeschooler, to let go of my athletic nature. Many years ago, I attended a beautiful homeschool fellowship evening, where mums shared and encouraged each other. It was lovely. The leader of the group was quite academic with a strong focus on literature, the humanities and the arts. Nothing wrong with that though. She stated that she considered it more important for a child to be able to recite poetry than to compete in a sport or be athletic. Ackkkk! Our family was the complete opposite- driven by our sport and fuelled by our love of exercise, this comment stuck with me. I’m embarrassed to admit that it stayed with me and I allowed it to shape my own view for many years. Sadly, I allowed an imbalance to take place in our family and in my own life. And I was reaping the fruit of it- bitter, sharp and biting in the form of thrombophlebitis.

I would make excuses like, I don’t have time. I have to teach 4 children, prepare meals, do laundry, etc but the truth is we all have 1,440 minutes in a day. We choose how to spend that time. My sons were a mirror that allowed me to see what I had become and what modelling for them. And I was not pleased with my reflection! I saw a woman who did not like to do hard things…who preferred to take tasks or activities that I knew would be natural or easy for me. I showed no guts, no determination and very little perseverance. How can I teach these growing young men these traits when my life modelled the exact opposite? Ugh what a reality check!

Was I lazy? No, I wouldn’t say that. I simply didn’t understand how it is possible to find the time to build a healthy and strong body. I wasn’t looking ahead to see where my inactivity would lead me. Thrombophlebitis put a little bit of healthy fear in me. When I look at it I only need about 4 hours per week to build a healthy body! How hard is that? Well, in reality it is a little more than 4 hours simply because I need lots of time to focus. Focusing and researching assists me in making something a priority– whether it be homeschooling, website building, gardening, writing, softball, nutrition or fitness. However, 4 hours would be a better start than no hours at all! Hmm, where would I find those 4 hours? Less TV, less computer, less coffee drinking…the list goes on.

First, I had to make the quest (my Fit n 40 quest) a priority. This means that exercise is now not an option! it’s non negotiable. It’s not an option now. It’s just something that I do. Only this non-option is actually good for me! Do I feel like sitting down to check my emails this morning or do I feel like working out? I DON”T FEEL LIKE WORKING OUT! Not one bit! But, I do want the benefit of it. So, I have a plan, which helps me not to get too bogged down with indecision or procrastination, which will invariably lead to me doing nothing. (Remember the 6 P’s: Prior Preparation & Planning Prevents Poor Performance)

Make the decision.
Prioritise and make exercise non negotiable.
Plan my exercise and nutrition to avoid procrastination.

This is only week 4 for me…so I hope I don’t sound like I’m preachy. I’m not. But I am excited about the changes that I’ve seen happen in my own body and life…and in the life of my children! Whoohoo, talk about positive! we are all learning more about self control, self discipline, dying to the flesh and more! I also realised that this concept of options and choices can relate to any area of our life. We all make choices. We all have things which are optional and non option in our daily lives.

What are some of your non optional activities? Why do you have them and how do they work for you? I’d love to hear more.

Exercise Week: Mon 18th – Sun 24th

Monday
AM – Hard HIIT session on bike for 20 min
PM – Upper Body workout with free weights

Tuesday
Rest (Funeral)

Wednesday
AM – 20min HIIT treadmill I HATE that machine! 2.0km in 20min pftttt! LOL
PM – Lower Body & Abs Workout

Thursday
Rest: Busy day out and about. Went to the theatre (Phantom of the Opera) at night. Didn’t eat enough nor drink any water.

Friday
Upper Body Workout, including 5 min cardio warmup

Saturday Free Day
Out and about with hubby…getting new tyres, etc. Also prepared clothes for his trip. Cooked huge meal (Spaghetti Bolognese) and had a house full. Today was my Free Day.
Sunday
Saw hubby off for 2 weeks. Cleaned the house.

Notes
Exercise was harder in intensity this week but also scattered, due to life situations. Ideally I don’t want to do two workouts per day on day one and then nothing on day two…but I’m a work in progress. SO long as I’m doing something it is better than nothing!

Hmm, have noticed that I drink at least 1.2 litres of water on the days that I train. There’s something in that eh?

Whoohoo! 5 workouts done. 1 workout past target.

My Epiphany on Non Negotiables

I am buzzing!

Monday morning I was feeling down after jumping on the scales. I know I don’t like the scales and I don’t even do a weigh in on Monday so why did I even jump on them? That was dumb. Since then, I’ve had an epiphany of sorts, sparked by online conversations with a friend. I enable myself to fail. I allow myself to treat me badly. For some reason, I accept that this way is okay.

Even working out I have been way too soft on myself. If I do what I’ve always done, then I’ll get what I’ve always got. Exercising half heartedly is not going to get me where I want to be, is it?

Too often I make excuses for myself- in the physical and the emotional, which crosses over to real life:

Oh, I can’t coach softball this year
I’m a homeschool mum with a prodigal child- it is too much stress!
I never ‘came back’ from the knee reconstruction so I have to be careful.
I had an altering surgery 10 years ago which totally affected me…therefore I can’t exercise???
I don’t like to sweat
I don’t like to drink water
I don’t like to get puffed

Well, frankly there must be a pay-off for me somewhere. Somewhere, somehow, I must like the way I am. If I didn’t I would do something about it! What is my payoff?

I allow myself to make and live in excuses to win.

I changed that this week. When? Well, I weighed in on Monday and got real grumpy. REAL grumpy. But I decided that I can choose to be a victim or not. I can choose to allow scales or tape measures or clothes dictate how I should feel…or not! I decided to hit the bike, HARD. It felt good. Tuesday I had the funeral and it was a hard day in many ways….I got up yesterday morning and decided to hit the treadmill HARD. Nothing soft. I did. I pushed. I was pooped. But afterward I was pumped. I actually pushed myself. Wahoo! Then yesterday afternoon, I did my Lower Body Workout and pushed it. Whoohoo! I was just pumped.

Good news? Yeah I’ve got that too. We’ve decided as a family (minus one) to enter the City to Bay run! I have been trying to encourage my son’s (Master J) fitness for 12 months…but all he’s interested in is looking buff and muscly. But he just doesn’t seem to listen when I talk about cardio fitness. Well, he went to Cadets on Tuesday night and he has volunteered to run in the Fun Run for charity!!! (He’s funny like that- he wants to experience as much as he can so he tends to volunteer for anything and everything) So, we had the most educational day yesterday, talking and planning and learning AND doing. He is now committed to it. This makes me happy because I know how beneficial training of any kind can be. I believe in the power of sport and training. I don’t like much of what I see in sports today but I’m not about to throw it all out. I know that training for softball has been THE best life coach and trainer for both Miss A and myself. Now Master C wants to do the walk so it looks like John, myself, Miss A, Master J and Master C will all be doing it, God willing.

We’ve talked about goal setting and mini goals and one step at a time, etc and planning and all those things. I don’t know what has happened but I feel as though a switch has been turned on, in me.

For some reason now I am not hoping that I will achieve success in this area. I know I will. But it won’t happen just by my wishing it. I have to make it work. Which means getting up off my butt and working it. It isn’t easy. It won’t be easy but do I want it?

High Intensity Interval Training for Homeschool Mums

If you have read any of my Fitn40 posts you would have seen the acronym HIIT. You may have wondered what on earth it is all about. Quite simply, it is short for High Intensity Interval Training– a method of working out. You can see my initial thoughts on it in a previous post.

What is it?
HIIT or High Intensity Interval Training is a form of cardio that involves intervals of varying intensities, with some of those intensities quite high. A typical HIIT session will involve some bursts of “give-it-all-I’ve-got” training followed by periods of lower intensity that allow for active recovery (this means my body can recover somewhat even though I haven’t completely stopped exercising).

Where can I do it?
Anywhere! I can use a machine as in a treadmill, bike, rower, elliptical trainer or other such things or you can do it while walking around the oval, swimming or jogging. I usually use the exercise bike or the treadmill.

When can I/should I do it?
Anytime is a good time! However, some enthusiasts like to do their HIIT workout before breakfast. I can see how beneficial this might be but it’s usually not viable for me at this time. My daughter loves to do a hard HIIT workout after tea. She says she sleeps like a baby that night.

Why should I do it?

The advantages of HIIT training are that I burn more calories in a shorter period of time.
It trains my cardiovascular system to work under a heavier stress load. Strengthening my heart is a good thing!
HIIT boosts my metabolism for up to 18 hours after the session. Whoohoo! This has to be good! So I can lose weight/burn fat while I sit at the computer.
The disadvantage of HIIT is that it is high intensity and therefore requires time to recover. I (along with most other people) can only manage a few (three or four) HIIT sessions per week. HIIT is not beneficial for everyone- especially for those who are on a very restricted calorie intake, which I’m not. It depends upon your needs.
It doesn’t take me too long. I can’t stand the thought of working out for hours (boring!) nor am a delighted at the prospect of training to get fit only to spend hours more time working out. HIIT gives me a solid cardio workout in a short amount of time. In a word: Efficiency.
I’m able to customise my cardio workout to suit my needs. It can be adapted to suit any fitness level according to the individual’s needs and goals. (Um, why wouldn’t a homeschooler go in for that philosophy? 😉 )
It’s about working smarter- not longer.
To be a good role model for my children. This not only encourages them to be fit and healthy but also encourages me and my family members to push through – to not give up.

How do I do it?
The HIIT method that I use is detailed in Body for Life by Bill Phillips. It involves a few minutes of warm-up, followed by intervals that last a minute. For example, on the treadmill or bike I might do a minute at 5 miles per hour (mph), then a minute at 6mph, a minute at 7mph, a minute at 8mph, then you drop back down to 5mph and repeat.

Body for Life has some information on it, including a handy chart.

Choose a form of aerobic exercise – walking or running on a treadmill or elliptical machine or biking inside or outside. On a scale of 1 -10, 1 being the easiest and 10 the hardest, start exercising at a level 5 intensity (Your level 5 will be different to my level 5).

1. Minute 1 – warm up at Intensity Level 5
2. Minute 2 -3 – move from Intensity Level 5 to 6
3. Minute 3 – Level 7
4. Minute 4 – Level 8
5. Minute 5 – Level 9 – Give It Everything Minute
6. Minute 6 – Back to Level 6
7. Minute 7 – Level 7
8. Minute 8 – Level 8
9. Minute 9- Level 9 – Give It Everything Minute
10. Minute 10 – Level 6
11. Minute 11 – Level 7
12. Minute 12 – Level 8
13. Minute 13 – Level 9 – Give It Everything Minute
14. Minute 14 – Level 6
15. Minute 15 – Level 7
16. Minute 16 – Level 8
17. Minute 17 – Level 9 – Give It Everything Minute
18. Minute 18 – Level 10 – C’mon, Give me Just One More Minute
19. Minute 19 – Back to Level 5 – Cool down
20. Walk gently while stretching out.

Alternate weight-training and cardio workouts for six consecutive days and rest on the seventh day.

I have a printout which is pinned to the wall, right above the tready and bike- so I can easily keep track of where I need to be. You can download it here, (pdf) from my download section.

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