summer is half over

I cannot believer that summer is half over. I have spent half of it obsessing over what to do next year for curriculum. While "I" love Tapestry of Grace and have learned so much from it my kids are barely tolerating it and we are just dragging our way through the school day. Don has encouraged me to try something new by doing some old. Once upon a time I loved to homeschool and I loved to teach and my kids loved to learn. Soooo we are returning to KONOS. I know my kids will love this I just need to make sure I can be prepared. So now I am obsessing over what units to teach in KONOS and for how long. We have chosen the Russian study and I am not sure how long to make this study and who to include.

Speaking of returning, we have started to use the PEGS chore system again. Mainly it keeps everyone accountable not just in chores but in behavior attitude and communication. It helps me remember to praise and reward for good behavior, attitude or communication. On Sunday Noah came to me to button his pants and I had Aliyah in my arms, Melaina totally unprompted said here I will help you Noah. ah hah, she gets a green disk. They save up their green disks for prizes. http://www.familytools.com/ They are saving for candy bars, rent a dvd, walk with mom or dad, an extra 30 minutes at night etc.

This is Melaina earning a green disk. She is saving for gum

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The Bible is not a self-help book

My dear sweet friend has invited me and my children to come once a week and study I Peter via video web cast. It is a church in Washington State, Mars Hill Church. www.marshillchurch.org. Anyway, he was speaking of the Old Testament being about Jesus and the New Testament being about Jesus. He reviewed many prophesies fulfilled and it was beautiful to be reminded of all that Jesus has done and will do. It is all about Jesus! Out of all the things he said the thing that struck me the most was that the Bible is not a self-help book. Big deal you say. Think about this. How many books in the Christian book store are self-help books. If you do this, you will get this result. If you have this problem read, pray and meditate on this verse, chapter, principle etc. The Bible is not some rule book. Follow the rules and you will get xyz. If you have this problem and follow this formula your results will be..... That is not to say that there is not instruction and warning and tho...

I yearn for order, I love order, I crave order.

Messes seem to paralyze me. You would not guess this from the state of my house. (this is our sock and laundry pile) However, I am also a low key, not a high energy person mostly due to health issues and fatigue. So... I plan. I love to plan actually. I plan meals, I plan organizational ideas, I plan school, I plan to plan. My school year starts out with me reflecting on what I didn't like and did like about the last school year. There are some years I realize that we used a method or curriculum that is diametrically opposed to our homeschool philosophy. This past year is a good example of this reflection. For our family, workbooks aren't necessarily a good tool for us to learn, neither are lapbooks. This year I picked up a workbook for everything. I even had more than one for most subjects. Just the 3 R's took hours, retention was lower than I wanted and the fun Konos stuff tended to be left out in favor for, another workbook. So armed with ...

the worst thing he could think of

We were reviewing the Passover story and I asked what happened when the Pharoah refused to let the Isrealites go. Josiah yelled out. " oh, I know, he sent frogs, bugs, and carrots". Carrots!!! I just love moments like these.

The HerdKeeper

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