Lesson planning: One of my strategies is to plan the hardest subject first. By that I mean, plan the subject or subjects that are most often pushed to the side. At our house that includes science. We meet weekly in a co-op and often find ourselves scrambling at the last minute to finish our notebook journal, or in my case, the lesson plan if it's my week to teach.

 Next up to plan will be Latin. We are working with a new curriculum and I can't wait to sink our teeth into Visual Latin! Writing keeps giving us a run for our money as well, so I need to make some decisions on that.  For History, Bethany is creating and monitoring, I should say, her Ancient History reading and notebook activities on her own, but tonight, I'll make some suggested reading assignments to help her along. Daniel's history is planned out (Notgrass's "America the Beautiful"), so I'll be checking his answers and making sure my planner is up to date with assignments completed and those to come. The children's math and english are mostly planned, and it's a matter of me reviewing the week's upcoming lessons and making a note in the planner of the lessons they'll work on this week.   

I also make a note of the week's appointments and activities to make sure I don't double-book any where.  For the record, I've done that before!  I always say that I don't plan because I am organized, but that I plan because I'm not naturally organized.

Have a great week, and may the Lord crown our efforts with His measurement of success!

Last Night I Dreamed That...

Last night I dreamed I had comments waiting to be moderated on my blog! {insert smile.} And while you're imagining that, here's a brief timeline of the good news of the gospel in video form.

Have a wonderful Sunday.

Honesty Monday

This is my brain on  a Philippians 4:13 Monday.

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. (That's the Philippians 4:13 part.)
I can teach language arts. (I love language arts!)
I can decide between Analytical Grammar Jr. for my 5th grade son OR First Language Lessons for the Well-Trained Mind.
I can pick up the phone and call CBD and ask about their return policy. (Did it!)
I can place the order for both with full knowledge that one will be returned.
I can then choose the best course for my son.
Then I can TEACH that course and return the one we choose not to use.
I will not let this frustration and apparent obstacle deter me from my mission of teaching my children, and how I love the mission!
The end. 

So, this may appear infantile and ridiculous, so yes, I'm a tinge blushed to admit  that these are the kinds of conversations I have every now and then. Yep, honesty can be humbling all right!

"And the King will say, 'I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!' Matthew 25:40

Excess, Extravagance, and Simplicity

Three words: excess, extravagance, and simplicity, and they're all related. In my life I see excess. At times I trip over it, and other times, it is distracting and becomes the fastest shortcut  to a divided heart. It's in those moments where I become lonely for what drew me to Jesus to begin with, and that is the extravagance of His expressed love. There's not enough excess of material things in this temporal world  that could ever compare to the  beauty and the wealth of the eternal extravagance of Jesus. I look again at the excess  in my life, and I become aware that my tendency toward it is an arch enemy to being able to receive the extravagance of the Lord. I cannot receive His extravagant love when I'm so preoccupied with excess.  In the process of the glance upward to Him and then over here and over there, viewing the much, my heart then longs to simplify. When the much is used to fill the place reserved for  His simple extravagance alone, then it must go. This process; the return to simplicity on all fronts,  becomes that wide open basket where He can place the extravagance of His greatness, His love, and His presence.  It's  an act of grace. It's His loosening of my roots out of the material world that causes me to hear better, to see better, and to live more purely in a place that is really not my home.

Random Thoughts for a Saturday

1. Whether or not I'm rested, take a shower first thing. My day will most certainly be more productive.

2. Today I'm not rested, and I haven't accomplished much. That tells you how I came about to the conclusion I've listed in number one.

3. God's grace is sufficient. This is one 24-hour period that I'll not be able to do over again. No sense stressing over that. It's going to be okay.

4. Fast food drive-through's are very cool, and should be easily accessible on days such as today.

5. Children can sweep and scrub too.

6. Tomorrow is a brand new day.

7. Jesus' Lordship isn't dependent upon my sleep. Amen to that!

Today I'm posting an article from Simple Homeschool.  As a family, we've made an effort to not allow pride to be a part of the reflection on our decision to homeschool. We've not desired to isolate our  friends  who do not share a conviction to homeschool. I will say, however, that I've had moments of giving thanks more profusely than others about our choice to homeschool,  and the day of the Newtown, Connecticut school massacre was one of those days. The author of this article writes from the perspective of an event that, for them, hit very close to home. Key word: community.

"Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples." John 13:35