Family Picture

Family Picture

Sunday, September 28, 2014

September and School

Hard to believe September is almost over.  We are rolling right along with our homeschooling.  Anna is in 5th grade this year and doing really well. She can do a lot of her assignments independently while I work with Amy.  I give Amy some workbook pages when I need to work with Anna.  Anna and I later go over all of her lessons together when Amy is doing some school work on the computer.  The girls have learned how to share Mom and work quietly most of the time.  Amy is progressing quickly and because we schooled through the summer, she will be ready to bump up to 1st grade work much sooner than I anticipated.  I am happy to say I had to ship a boxful of kindergarten curriculum back to the bookstore as it would be too easy for her.  She is so proud of being able to read words all my herself! She and I often go to another room to work on phonics and reading out loud. Both girls have their own math dvd lessons to watch, then practice in their workbooks.
Two smart girls. We are blessed! They love being able to homeschool. We can go at their own pace.  We are learning so much and reading so many good books. We are learning some hymns and patriotic songs as we have music time.  We all agree though, one of our favorite times of our day is our Bible time.  When the weather is nice, we often go out on the porch for this.  We are also keeping individual Thankful notebooks.  This keeps each of us a running list of things we are thankful for on any given day.  Small things and big things. We are learning that we have so many little things to be thankful for and we often take them for granted.  Lots of small things add up to a big thing!  Amy is so very happy for us girls to have so much time together.  About once a week, Amy wants me to write in her notebook:  "I'm thankful for my mama because in China, I did not have one!"
Amy doing math at her work table.

Anna working on science at her table

Amy practicing her long vowel sounds.  She wrote them and marked them long.

Bible/devotion/prayer time on the porch

We do all of these together.  A little something for everyone.  

Our chalk board with the Bible verse of the week

Anna's bulletin board/ reading spot

Amy's bulletin board and reading spot


Riding bikes with PAPA

Saturday, September 20, 2014

Watery Eyes and My Daughter Who Prays

I've been having eye troubles.  Since the end of June, my eyes have been watering.  A lot.  Driving me crazy as it looks and feels like I'm crying, much of the time.  After two different opthalmology evaluations and procedures, both conclusions were that my tear ducts are stopped/closed up.  So instead of draining like they are supposed to do, my eyes just fill up and spill over.  Keeps my eyes irritated and my left hand with a tissue in it most of the time.  Not sure why this is happening but the doctors agree that I need to see an ENT to get one more evaluation and then possibly have surgery to make new tear ducts.  Upon being a little nervous for the last exam and procedure, Amy wanted to pray for me.  We were actually in Costco doing some quick shopping where I met Scott (as he was taking the girls home while I went to the doctor). Anna had been teasing me about not being nervous as she knows I do not like doctor visits of any kind.  Amy was worried about me.  I told her she could pray for me when we all left but she didn't want to wait.  Broke out into a prayer, right there in Costco, as we took each others hands.  Made me actually almost cry for real as I love my little prayer warrior.  And truth be told, I was quite nervous about the appointment and procedure to check my tear ducts again. I'm a sissy and I don't like to have my eyes messed with.  Plus I'm thinking that this little girlie's prayers just might availeth much more....... than my own.
Her prayer went like this:

"Dear Jesus,
My mama's eyes are blurry.  She needs your help, dear Jesus.  We need for her to be back to normal because she has lots of things to do. She is a super fantastic Mama. The Best.  She reads to me and Anna and she teaches us school at home. And we sing too. And do crafts. But her eyes are not right.   Her eyes, they get all blurry and that is not good, dear Jesus cause she also needs to cook us food and take care of us and buy groceries.  Will you help my mama's eyes to get all better, and help her not to be afraid?   Dear Jesus, please help her not to feel worried, because I don't want her to feel worried.  In Jesus' name.  Amen"

Then after saying goodbyes for the afternoon and  putting her in the car with Scott, , she rolled down her window to call out to me a Bible verse we learned a few weeks ago:
"Mama, just remember!  When I am afraid, I will TRUST in you, Jesus!  You can do it mama!  You know that verse and you can do it.  Just keep saying it Mama!  Don't be worried!"

It's a really good thing that my car, and my pocket book were loaded down with tissues. This girl of mine, as young as she is, and in spite of all she has been through,  knows how to get to the heart of things and has learned how to pray, any time and any place... the need arises.  Then as I drove my separate way,  boy did I smile.... while the abundance of real tears flowed.
Oh me, of little faith.

Friday, September 5, 2014

August summer days

The first days of August we enjoyed getting our schoolroom ready.  With these dog days of summer it really was not hard to start back to official homeschooling on August the 4th. It is just too hot to be outside until the evening . We have been doing school all summer, but not every subject, every day.  Now that we have more subjects to cover, we are trying to work out our schedule in a way that both girls get plenty of teaching time with me.  It took us about a week to find our footing and figure out how to get the most out of our day.  I will post more on that next time.  Until then, here are a few pictures of these last days of summer.
Sewing cupcake pillows 



The finished cupcake pillow will decorate Anna's reading spot

Amy wants to use her's also, along with some of her other reading buddies


Girls on wheels getting their exercise

Pink Lemonade Cake


Pretending we have a horse on a saddle PaPa bought at a flea market

We have a saddle now Mom, but I  really want a horse!

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