Crafting Doll Rugs

My daughter and I started doing some doll crafts today. We made 2 doll rugs and started a third. I thought I would share them with you all. We used craft felt, pompom craft balls and hot glue.  We also started some other crafts that we will share when they are done. 

The top one is a diamond and the bottom is an oval. 

Making Memories and Learing Lessons!!

     It is Friday night and I am so happy that it is.  This weekend is very busy for my guys.  My husband and our boys are going to a competition for our area Boy Scout Council.  It is The Klondike Derby Camp.  This happens every year in January, troop from our area work together to complete tasks given to them.  The troops work for about a month or so before the camp to build a sleds, that is used to carry equipment and sometimes even a person.  They are challenged on basic scouting skills.  I know my boys always have wild stories for me when they return home every year.

     So what does mom and little sis do when the guys are away?  Well this weekend we will be doing some crafts, playing with her dolls, and most likely painting our nails.  We will also work on some reading and may even go to the library.  We also go grocery shopping on most weekends.  Mostly we have a fun girls day. 

     I was encouraged today with the moms time meeting at our church.  We are reading through a book called "Mom Enough: The Fearless Mothers Heart and Hope" by Tony and Karalee Reinke.  It is a collection of Blogs that a group of moms wrote.  We read chapters 21 and 22 for this months meeting.  Chapter 21 talked about not worrying about anything.  One of the verses they used was Philippians 4:6- "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God".  It helped remind me that I need to be praying more in time when I am feeling overwhelmed.  Chapter 22 was about how we view our children.  Our children are a gift from God!!!  It talked about how are children are not a to-do-list, but they are to be treasured.  The time with our children is such a small about of time in their lives were we have a huge impact on their lives.  Sitting and talking with the other moms in our church and hearing that they have the same struggles of keeping these thing in mind was refreshing. 

     My quiet times this week, that is when I read my Bible and spend time praying, have had a every clear message.  That message you may ask..... I don't need to stressed and worry all the time.  I think that as moms this can come naturally, but it is not good for anyone to stress or worry.  So how can I stress less, worry less? I am going to look up Bible verses about the subjects and write them down and place them in areas that I can see them during the day.  My hope is that reading them and then praying about what is stressing me will help me to let go of that worry. 

     Well I should go finish up a few things before bed time.  Let me know if you would like for me to share the verses that I find with you.  I might make a printable for you all if that is something you would like.  Let me know in the comments! 

We are a homeschool family!!!!!!

     It was a cold Monday morning.  We are back to the normal homeschool schedule today, even with it being Martin Luther King Jr. day.  We chose a long time ago that we would still do homeschool on holidays like MLK day and Presidents Day.  When I was in school we never got these day off. , we were in school in these holidays to learn about why we honor these men.  So that is just what we do, we learn about these men that had and continue to have an impact on our country.

     Life as a homeschool family is not all that different than families that send their children off to public or privet school. Yet, at the same time it is completely different.  Let me explain what I mean. 

     How is homeschooling the same?  Like other families we care about our children's education.  Like other families we do what we feel is best for our kids education.  Our children learn math, science, history, language arts, and many other subjects. We have expectations for our children with school work, as well as other things. Our children do extra curricular actives.  Homeschool kids make friends and are very well rounded.

     So now you ask ok so how are homeschooling different?  Well we do school really anywhere we choose. What I mean by that is some homeschool families have a dedicated room in their home, others meet around the dinning room table, and still others choose a wide variety of places to hold lessons.  In our home we have a dedicated room, it was our living room. We have a table for the kids to do their work, bookshelves and some over sized chairs to have the kids hand out a read.  There are days like today that we also all sit around our dinning room table.  Our dinning room is right off of the classroom area so it has easy access to every thing we need.  Still there are other days that the local zoo, museum, park, store, or restaurant is our classroom.  We are free to take more "field trips".  Part of the freedom to homeschool is that it looks differently for every family. It will be hard to find an exact match.  Even if families are using the same curriculum it will look different.

     This school year I am teaching 4 kids, all in different grades.  I have a high school student that is a junior.  He does his work on the computer with a program called Switched on Schoolhouse.  His studies are basically independent. I have an 8th grader that does most of his school work on his own.  He still needs reminding about getting things completed. This  a new thing for him with school, up until this fall he did not need much reminding.  I also have a 6th grader, he is very good at math.  We work with struggles in English. Last but not least my 3rd grader.  She loves doing her math, but is not so keen on reading.  We are working very hard on her reading skills.  So as you can see yes homeschool kids also have struggles with school work.

     The point is that our family has chosen homeschool as the right option for our family.  It may not be for everyone, and that is ok.  I am just hoping that you can get a felling for what one homeschool family does in life.