Parenting....

Each day of our lives we make deposits in the memory banks of our children. ~Charles R. Swindoll, The Strong Family


If I had my child to raise all over again,
I'd build self-esteem first, and the house later.
I'd finger-paint more, and point the finger less.
I would do less correcting and more connecting.
I'd take my eyes off my watch, and watch with my eyes.
I'd take more hikes and fly more kites.
I'd stop playing serious, and seriously play.
I would run through more fields and gaze at more stars.
I'd do more hugging and less tugging.

~Diane Loomans, from "If I Had My Child To Raise Over Again"

Marriage..Winning Your Husband

1 Peter 3:1

In today's churches, many women have failed to win their husbands because they have tried to be evangelists instead of wives.

Reverencing a man changes him.

Help Meet~ Debi Pearl

Friday's Goings

Yae....Friday!

I am feeling better, it seemed that mucus monster was staying forever...ugh. I know my immune system is down. I tend to get colds and thing more often.

I have a busy schedule today.First grocery shopping...then Becky, April, Carey and I are meeting for coffee at 9am. I so enjoy fellowship with my dear sisters in the Lord. We all need the encouragement. After coffee we will go to the church to work on homeschool, Austen will get some extra guidance in math with April, and they will have PE in the afternoon. I have lots of correcting to catch up on. This week was not a real productive week. Austen has been so good though about getting up at 5:30 am and starting his school work. My boy has a very hard time with distractions. He likes to get up before brother gets up so it is totally quiet. As I homeschool him I am learning so much about his learning style.
Hubby
Dear hubby, is having more issues with his teeth. I felt so bad last night for him. I did call the dentist and let him know......long story. He has been in 3 times for the same area, and they have not got to the bottom of it. Wayne doesn't think he has any time today to go to the dentist. I really worry about him having pain over the weekend. I am praying though! God knows.
BLOG BROWSING
Yesterday I had some extra down time. (well, not really there was a huge pile of laundry to fold, lol) Wayne and the kids were out working on his truck. I enjoyed browsing through blogs. I came across one in particular about a godly marriage. I some time need to share my testimony of how God has worked in my marriage. My heart is really to help other ladies strengthen their marriages, thus fullfilling Titus 2.There are so many out there who are in the dark.

Well I am off to start my day. Blessings dear blogging friends...
Brandie

Marriage (Created To Be His Helpmeet)

This is an OUCH! convicting....
From
Created To Be His Helpmeet By Debi Perl

Proverbs 15:13
A merry heart maketh a cheerful countenance: but by sorrow of the heart the spirit is broken.

Being pitiful, hurt, discouraged, and even sickly is one side of a "bad marriage"
Men in general (your husband in particular), are repulsed by women who project this image. A man's spirit tells him his woman is rejecting him and manipulating him when she regulary manifests a broken spirit, and will react with anger. The other side of the bad coin includes having a bitter, angry, and resentful spirit.

My thoughts on this later.....Please add your thoughts on this matter?

Marriage Quote

The goal in marriage is not to think alike, but to think together.~Light For My Path

Homeschool Stats

This is amazing! I have several of them....I looked up today.

Note First:
I am so tired of people putting me and my family down for choosing to homeschool . For instance, yesterday I went to the dollar tree and got a few extra things to decorate our school room. The lady at the checkout was asking all kinds of silly questions. One comment she made was "Do your kids like it? Do they miss out on socializing? Akkkkkk, people truley do not know the facts!!!


Just how prevalent is home education today? The data indicate there are approximately 1.23 million American children being taught at home. This finding (which has an estimated margin of error of ± 10%)

Homeschool Works!!!!
Why are so many parents choosing to home school? Because it works. This study shows that home educated students excel on nationally-normed standardized achievement exams. On average, home schoolers out-perform their public school peers by 30 to 37 percentile points across all subjects
Do You have to have a teachers degree to homeschool?
Critics often claim that only parents with teaching credentials can effectively home school. The data from this study suggest otherwise. Home school students’ test scores segmented by whether their parents have ever held a teaching certificate reveal a differential of only three percentile points — the 88th percentile versus the 85th percentile

The overwhelming majority of home schooling parents are married couples (97.3%), compared to only 72% of families with school-age children nationwide (Figure 10). Furthermore, 76.9% of home school mothers do not work for pay, while 86.3% of those who do work, only work part-time. Nationwide, in 1996, only 30% of married women with children under 18 did not participate in the labor force.

WHO HOMESCHOOLS?

The home schooling community contains a smaller percentage of racial minorities (6%) than public schools nationally (32.8%). The religious preferences of home schooling mothers who participated in this study are most often Independent Fundamental (25.1%), Baptist (24.4%), Independent Charismatic (8.2%), Roman Catholic (5.4%), Assembly of God (4.1%), Presbyterian (3.8%), or Reformed (3.4%). In 93.1% of families, the religious preference of the father was the same as that of the mother.
Another distinguishing characteristic is that home schooled children tend to watch significantly less television than do average American children. On average, only 1.6% of home schoolers in the 4th grade watch more than three hours of television per day, compared to nearly 40% of 4th graders nationwide

Quote~ Bible Reading People Proverbs 13:13

It is impossible to mentally or socially enslave a Bible-reading people. The principles of the Bible are the groundwork of human freedom.
~ Horace Greeley

Blessings~ Oh YES I'm Blessed!

You know there are times when you wonder what your kids are learning? Is God's Word working in their heart? Many of you know I homeschool Austen (13). Austen has been so good about getting up early (5:30-6) to get his school work done. He has his list for chores he is responsible for every day. For the most part he is pretty good at making sure his chores are done before he has free time.

Well, yesterday I had to go work at the school with Blake (He goes to public about 2 days a week). I spend Monday's with him in class. There are times when Austen will go with me and work in the classroom, but sometimes he stays home and does his school work. I tell you, yesterday was a BIG breakthrough! When I got home Austen had totally went above and beyond his chore list and cleaned the whole house.....even the dishes (yes, that's a shock,lol)! I was really happy and praised him for doing that for me. He then told me, that he has been reading (his literature book) and he learned about how God wants us to work hard without expecting anything in return (Go to the ant thou sluggard, consider her ways and be wise).

He is learning some great principles out of the Word of God, that he would NOT learn in public school! As we look around at today's society there are so many lazy teens, who have no sense of work ethic. It is my desire to train my sons that working hard at everything you do is a MUST! This lesson was not profound, however for Austen, it is. We have really been working on this area in his life. There will be a day he will have to support his own family. It is our responsibility to train them to work hard at all they do!

Proverbs~ Today's Devotion

Proverbs 12:25Heaviness in the heart of man maketh it stoop: but a good word maketh it glad.

Heaviness- sorrow; fear; anxiety
stoop- to depress; to fall down
good- bountiful; cheerful; gracious
glad- brighten up; cheer up; to rejoice

How can you apply this verse to your life?

For me, God has really been working on my heart towards parenting. I daily need to give up my want to serve myself. God has called me to train my children up in the Lord. There are times though that my own adgenda can sometimes spoil that. I don't know about you but, for me I struggle when I am feeling overwhelmed with the worries and cares of this world. My dear hubby likes a clean, organized home. There are times when I get busy cleaning, (esspecially the afternoons before Wayne get's home)and one of my children will start goofing off and interupting me. I get real aggrevated and short with them. This verse reminds me that my words DO have a huge impact on my children.

Homeschool Daily Focus

Reflections
Monday / January 26, 2009
aophomeschooling.com

"Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God" (2 Corinthians 3:5).

As my eight-year-old son and I observed the craters on the moon for science class, his simple observation of the moon's reflection left a profound teaching on both our minds.

"Mom," he asked. "The moon really has no light of its own, does it?"

"No," I replied. "It simply reflects the light from the sun. If the sun was gone, the moon wouldn't shine either."

Thinking deeply, he looked at me and said, "That's the same way we would be without Jesus."

Amazed at his understanding of the two concepts, I answered, "Yes, that's right honey."

As homeschooling parents, we like to think that we are the ones who teach our children. But anyone who has homeschooled for more than a few years knows this fact-apart from Christ, we are totally inadequate to teach our children. No college degree, teaching certificate, or earthly intelligence can prepare you to teach your children the right lesson at the right time or how to incorporate into your lesson the true wisdom that comes from above. Like the moon without the sun, we have no understanding on our own to impart the truths that will forever change our children's lives.

However, the good news is that you have Christ, the "Light of the world" in you (John 9:5). Not only are you filled with His presence for teaching your children, but you also have the ability to reflect God's love to others by shining hope and encouragement into a very dark world. Just as Moses needed his shining face veiled after being with God (Exodus 34:29-35), your challenge as a homeschooling parent is to live in close obedience to God to reflect His light into your family and the world. "Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the LORD is risen upon thee. For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the LORD shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee" (Isaiah 60:1-2).

Lord, let me reflect Your love and wisdom as I homeschool my children. Reveal any sin in my heart that would block Your light from shining in my life. In Christ's name I pray, Amen.

Parenting~Unholy Anger Part 1

Let's take a look at Ephesians 6:4
(see also Genesis 18:19,and Deuteronomy 6:2)

This verse commands us to bring our children up in the training and instruction of the Lord. This is a simple principle that enables us to think clearly about our responsibility as parents. You as a parent are under the authority of the Lord. Your job as a parent is to point your children to the Lord. You and your children are in the same boat. Both parents and the child is under God's authority. You have different roles, but the same Master.

If we allow unholy anger to muddle the correction process, we are wrong. We need to ask for forgiveness. Our right to discipline our children is tied to what God has called us to do, not to our own agenda. Unholy anger~ anger over the fact that we are not getting what we want from our children.....will muddy the waters of discipline. What this does is it frames the discipline as a problem between the parent and the child, not as a problem between the child and God.
It is God who is not being obeyed when we are disobeyed. It is God who is not being honored when we are not honored. The issue is not an interpersonal contest, it is rather your insistence that your child obey God, because obeying Gos is good and right.

Question you can ask yourself....
What do you think is the nature of your authority as a parent? How does this square with a biblical view?

Stay tuned for part 2

Family memories.....

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Have A Blessed Sunday :)

Proverbs

By mercy and truth iniquity is purged : and by the fear of the LORD [men] depart from evil .