A Joyful Keeper

Even though it is winter and things are supposed to be quiet on the homestead, in reality it has been quite busy! I haven’t had a chance to sit by the fire and quilt, although I have knitted two shawls and done a few little sewing projects. You’d think it was spring around here instead of winter, because I’ve had three chickens go broody and we have a little lamb we are bottle feeding!

With regards to the chooks, to cut a long story short, one has three chicks and the others have not been allowed to sit. Here is Mama Chook Silky with her three babies:

I love to sit and watch them scratch around. The other day one of the chicks had found something yummy and its sibling was trying to “share” it. They played a game of catch for at least five minutes, until the chick gave up and left the other one alone to eat! It was so funny!

Lacy the lamb has joined our homestead. Elizabeth got her from her grandpa. Grandpa is a retired farmer with a few sheep (um,.. like,…. 200!). One of his ewe’s had twins and he brought one of them over for Elizabeth. She was so excited! She has been very good with making up Lacy’s milk and feeding her 4 times a day…. and Lacy is growing like a weed!!!

We’ve also added some ducks to our menagerie. We got three females and a drake. Unfortunately the other day we lost one - she didn’t come in at night. In fact, they all stayed out and only three were there in the morning. We are guessing a fox got her. I love sitting by the dam (pond) and watch them in the water. We bring them crusts and they are getting used to us as time passes.

There is more to tell you, but I’ll save that for tomorrow!!!

We have been “officially” homeschooling for seven and a half years, ever since Daniel was 7 years old. Of course I have been teaching them since they were born…. but in the eyes of the world/government, this is how long we’ve been doing school at home.

I have always set the curriculum. I have chosen a mixture of Australian and American products, and developed a certain style that really doesn’t fit in any box. We read lots of living books. We use workbooks. We do unit studies. We unschool. I really don’t have a name for our type of school!

Over the last year and a half, there have been so many changes in our lives and I have been growing weary. I have noticed that I have spent more time in organizing the children’s curriculum than in “doing school” with them. By this I mean, table time… sitting at the table and doing structured work. I have pieced together things that had me running from the school table to the computer to print out “one more thing”…. which interrupted the nice flow we had going. Then I would remember another thing…. back to the computer… back to the table… We struggled to finish projects because I would add more things to the topic, trying to delve deeper or stretch the children. In the end, I wore myself out.

I didn’t want to give in for a long time and go to a “structured curriculum”, but I felt I had to for the sake of my sanity and the children’s education! So I began to look at things on the web. Many things I looked at had teacher’s books which gave you a myriad of extras to challenge the children with. I steered away from these because I knew I would just get stressed and try to do too much again. To cut a long story short, we chose to give ACE/School Of Tomorrow a try.

We’ve been loathe to follow this path because of many negative reports we’ve had. However, we know two homeschooling families whose children have used ACE and have turned out into lovely, godly young men and women. This encouraged us to give it a go until the end of this year. (Remember, we in Australia start in January and end in December.)

The children have been doing diagnostic tests for the past week and a half. We are just about ready to send it all back to the school, Australian Christian Academy, to get them assessed. In the meantime, I took time to put away ALL of our old school work, because I knew that if I kept it out, I’d be tempted to do extra things again… I have resolved to do ACE and only ACE for the rest of the year. We will continue to voraciously read living books, however!

I am hoping that this will give us time to do some other family related things - spend time together in the garden, with the animals, playing games. If I don’t have to do as much planning, I am hoping the house will run a bit smoother! I will have time to do some sewing occasionally, etc.

So far the test results show the children at the levels I would have judged them to be at - strong in spelling, comprehension and reading, weak in grammar (we just haven’t done much!) and reasonable in Maths. Daniel is ahead in Maths, but the two youngest haven’t learned their times tables well, so that has put them a bit “behind”. But, they will continue to pick that up slowly. All in all, I am quite happy with where they are at.

The children themselves are happy to try this new curriculum. They are looking forward to working at their own pace. We will see how it goes. I’d love to hear from any others who are using this curriculum.

So, that is the news in the homeschool department! Tune back in later in the week for news from the homestead.

Hosted by My Cup Runneth Over

1. Bibles Study/Devotions

I was blessed last week by Lylah - she gave me a copy of her ebook “Power Prayers for Your Mighty Man“. It is a Prayer and Bible study guide. I printed it out and want to make a start on it this week. It looks great! I will keep you posted when I find out more about it.

2. Must Do

· iron the BIG pile of washing on the couch! Yay! Did this today!!!

· sew seams on table cloth

· finish ACE tests and send them off (I’ll post about this another day!)

· tidy up front porch

· prune creepers around front porch

3. In the Home

This week I want to spend time in the boys’ room. Ever since we had my sister and family here, I haven’t taken out the spare mattress, or put some of the cupboards back in. I hope I can get stuck into that this week.

4. Train Them Up

Getting back into routines this week with chores and baking. I’d like to get the chore charts up on the wall again so that it is easier for the kids to see what they are supposed to be doing.

5. Menu Planning

Hosted by Orgjunkie

Monday

Tuna Casserole and Rice

Tuesday

Chicken Burgers

Wednesday

Tasty Crockpot Beef with potatoes and veggies

Thursday

Leftovers

Friday

Silverside (Corned Beef) in crockpot

Saturday

Leftover Silverside and Macaroni Casserole

Sunday

Not sure yet! Maybe takeaway… or something quick and easy!

Have a great week everyone!

It’s funny how sometimes when you let go of something that God asks you to let go of, He gives it back to you. It’s a test. It’s Him asking whether you are willing to let go of something - a dream, a physical possession, a person. Hmm, reminds me of Abraham and Isaac, although my blog is no where near as precious as a child, the principle is there.

I had to write the last post. God was prompting me to do so for so long . But I didn’t want to write something so final. I wanted options to return. To just take a break for a while. To have my cake and eat it if I wanted to.

As soon as I obeyed, peace came into my heart and God started speaking to me about what HE wanted me to do with this website, not me. He reminded me that it was supposed to be a “website” initially, not a blog. It was supposed to be a place to share encouragement and materials that I have collected over the years. It was supposed to be a tool to help me be a keeper, not to take me away from being a keeper. And so I am going to start taking small steps back to where I believe He wants this site to go.

Sometimes I may blog, sometimes I will put freebies up, sometimes I will write articles. Ideas that He placed in my head & heart at the beginning - I need to develop these.  So, we will see what happens in the next months….

When He started to speak to me about this I thought - oh no! I can’t write another post now - I just said goodbye! People will think I am so fickle!!! So, I resisted…. I guess I must have learned something because I didn’t resist as long as I did when I wrote the “goodbye” post! And is there peace? Yes. There is peace in listening and obeying, no matter how big or small the situation is.

I am thankful that I can still have this website and blog. Mostly I am thankful that the Lord is speaking to me about it, because doing His will is my heart’s desire.

Over the past weeks the Lord has been speaking to me and telling me to stop blogging. He’s been speaking to my heart and preparing me for this for a while now. As you can tell, I haven’t been blogging much lately, and I have found that it has been better for me and the children when I have limited my time on the computer.

As I’ve said before, when I start something new, I jump in enthusiastically with both feet! I know that this blog has had its purpose over the past two years. God has taught me many things through it and through the people I have met. You have all blessed my life with your comments and emails and your own blogs, and I am so thankful.

I’ve also said that when the time was right, I would let go…. and so, I’d better do that! It is hard, and yet I know that the call God has for me is His perfect call. I want to keep moving, and to do this I need to leave some things behind.

I will still drop by your blogs from time to time. I don’t know yet if I will take this blog down. I will leave it for a while, and see what happens. If it disappears one day, don’t be surprised!

May God bless each and every one of you, and thank you for the blessing you have been to me.

I subscribe to Mom and Dad’s Corners from the Maxwells. This morning’s Mom’s Corner was a challenging one, about things that get in the way of us and our relationship with Christ. You can go here to read the article, but I will post the hymn that Terri mentioned.

Nothing Between

1.            Nothing between my soul and my Savior, 

               naught of this world’s delusive dream;

               I have renounced all sinful pleasure; 

               Jesus is mine, there’s nothing between. 

Refrain:

               Nothing between my soul and my Savior, 

               so that his blessed face may be seen; 

               nothing preventing the least of his favor; 

               keep the way clear! let nothing between.

2.            Nothing between, like worldly pleasure; 

               habits of life, though harmless they seem, 

               must not my heart from him ever sever; 

               he is my all, there’s nothing between. 

               (Refrain) 

3.            Nothing between, like pride or station; 

               self or friends shall not intervene; 

               though it may cost me much tribulation, 

               I am resolved, there’s nothing between. 

               (Refrain) 

4.            Nothing between, e’en many hard trials, 

               though the whole world against me convene; 

               watching with prayer and much self denial, 

               I’ll triumph at last, there’s nothing between. 

               (Refrain) 

I know there are things between me and my Saviour. I am working through some of those things at the moment, hence my absence from the blog world! I am seeking a simple and balanced life. If it takes time to reach it (which I know it will), I will take that time.

	       Nothing between my soul and my Savior, 

               so that his blessed face may be seen; 

               nothing preventing the least of his favor; 

               keep the way clear! let nothing between.

I found a book I’d been looking for, for a long time. I didn’t even really know what it was called, but I knew it was about an orphan who wrote to her benefactor and called him “Daddy-Long-Legs”. Of course it turns out that the books is called the same and I found it and printed it out from here.

It’s a fun book and I really enjoyed it…. Here are a few quotes that struck me as worth remembering:

It isn’t the big troubles in life that require character.  Anybody can 

rise to a crisis and face a crushing tragedy with courage, but to 

meet the petty hazards of the day with a laugh–I really think

 that requires SPIRIT.

AND:

It isn’t the great big pleasures that count the most; it’s making a

great deal out of the little ones–I’ve discovered the true secret of

happiness, Daddy, and that is to live in the now.  Not to be for ever

regretting the past, or anticipating the future; but to get the most

that you can out of this very instant.  It’s like farming.  You can

have extensive farming and intensive farming; well, I am going to have

intensive living after this.  I’m going to enjoy every second, and I’m

going to KNOW I’m enjoying it while I’m enjoying it.  Most people don’t

live; they just race.  They are trying to reach some goal far away on

the horizon, and in the heat of the going they get so breathless and

panting that they lose all sight of the beautiful, tranquil country

they are passing through; and then the first thing they know, they are

old and worn out, and it doesn’t make any difference whether they’ve

reached the goal or not.  I’ve decided to sit down by the way and pile

up a lot of little happinesses…..