MFW Update Weeks 29

I had so much running to do this week. I had appointments three days this week. It's also been rainy and dreary and blech. Aside from that I've had a a great week. We did manage to finish all of our weekly school work except for a little bit of reading in History. I plan to catch that up before Monday and we will be right on track moving forward to week 30.

Moving right along.........................

MFW Update Weeks 28

I had to force the week to get everything completed. I've been running to the doctor with my older daughter a lot so we didn't get to have our typical school days. One of the glorious benefits of homeschooling is that just because you don't get to school in the day you always have the evenings. Since I've created schedules for Sky she is able to do her work each day regardless if I'm there to tell her what to do or not and this has made for a more productive school year for her as well. We are finishing up week 28 today and will be moving into week 29 next week. I'm hoping to slow down a little next week so we can hop back to those double weeks. I'd love to finish this history by Christmas!

We are studying the history of the hymn Amazing Grace. I've found some fabulous things online. I also plan to rent the move Amazing Grace so the girls get a more vivid picture of John Newton's life. I love this hymn. Learning about how and when it was written touched me all the more and reminds me of what a wretched sinner I am. I'm so thankful for the redemptive blood of Jesus Christ.

Have a blessed weekend!

MFW Update Weeks 26 & 27

Last week was a fabulous school week. Everyday we dug in and moved forward. I can't describe how good it feels. We have started a new book called Bound for Oregon and we are really enjoying it. We continue to move forward with our study of the states and presidents. It's been a good productive week.

MFW Update Week 25

We finished week 25 last week but didn't get to move onto week 26 as I had hoped. That is perfectly fine, these next few weeks are jam packed with history reading, state reports and presidents!

We had a great homeschool week. We finished our missionary book about William Carey. Once again I learned so much. I think it is so awesome to see (well read about) people with patience and trust in the Lord. William had to deal with many unpleasant situations and people. As I was reading there were several times that I found myself fed up and thinking, "I would have done this".....or "I would have said that"....but as I kept reading I was shown a whole new way of handling things.

I stopped and thought to myself, at the age of 38 is that possible? It would seem that being a Christian myself and living the life we live that this kind of behavior would be typical in our environment and every day life. Sadly, it isn't.

I was once again reminded of how far I have to go, and that I am not setting the best example for my children.

Lord, forgive me. Show me, mold me. Let me MORE like YOU!

This is one of my favorite things about My Father's World. It deepens my relationship with Christ, it convicts me and brings me to repentance. A place I never want to find myself short of.

We did go on our field trip to see the Tabernacle. I'm going to link it below so that you can see it for yourself and later this week when I have more time I will load and post our pictures. I had such a great time. It was a huge blessing and opportunity for our family to have the honor of being able to go and visit something of this magnitude. It brought the plan of Redemption to life. It really focused on repentance and the need for the covering of Jesus' blood to wash away that sin.

The Traveling Tabernacle

MFW Update Weeks 23 & 24

We moved along so slowly last year with My Father's World-Explorations to 1850's. This year we are moving along in a pattern that feels fast but looking back at my weekly reports I can see, that its not nearly as quickly as it could be. I guess with Sky's surgery and the field trips it has held us back a little. I do like that I blog our progress so that I can keep up with where we've been and where we are without having to dig out our lesson plans. :)

This week we completed week 24. The girls are studying the states and presidents and are really enjoying learning. Their retention has been amazing also, I love it when they share with my family the new information we've covered. Sky really has a great memory and never ceases to amaze me with the facts she keeps hidden away in her mind.

I'm hoping to finish My Father's World-Explorations to 1850's and move onto the following year My Father's World-1850's to Modern by December. If this happens and we do history through the summer we may just be able to finish American History before the girls move onto separated years of My Father's World. This would make a mom's heart really happy and satisfied! :)

I continue to learn as much as the girls are. I just love American History and would be content never studying anything else. The girls would beg to differ!

Tomorrow we are going on another field trip to a D Day Memorial. Tony is off work and will going with us. I am so excited. I'll be sure to take pictures and post our field trip soon.

Praying you all have a blessed weekend!

(As I type the girls are teaching themselves to play Yankee Doodle Dandy on the piano! I love those perfect homeschooling moments, don't you?)

Long Time No Update!

Sorry!! I've just been so incredibly busy. We were forced by life to take a few weeks off and are just now getting back on track. The girls have been doing the basics but the rest was put on hold. This week we are picking back up. I'm happy if they finish Math and English but ecstatic at the thoughts of picking up our history with My Father's World again. I'm not sweating it. We've had some glorious family time and gotten a lot of house work done. It's going to be a little harder to post by the week though. While we are still in week 13 of MFW the girls have moved beyond that in their other work. I'll stick to the MFW schedule and move them up grades according to their math, and move into the next year's MFW when we complete this years. I was truly hoping to take the summer off but I think if we can get 2-3 days a week in through the summer it'll be a good thing. We are planning to join the pool this year and if we stay on a good schedule we can finish school in the mornings!

I love how learning doesn't stop when you aren't in the books. The girls find the neatest ways to do things. Meadow and Sky spent yesterday logging all of Meadow's pet shops. There were 72 to be exact. I was quite impressed with the list and the counting that Meadow done. Both girls have also taken it upon themselves to move their rooms around and clean. I'm so pleased with them.

I'll try to do better with my updates. :) Till next time!

Updating

Weeks 11 and 12 went well. I have been so busy lately it seems hard to find the time to share specifics and take pictures. I'm going to try to be better at this in the coming weeks. We will be working on week 13 this week but there is sickness in the house and there was no school today. It seems everyone has a touch of something! If you are reading send up prayers for us and I'll get back and update more as soon as I can. I want to post pictures of Meadow with her trophy that she received for completing Sing Spell Read and Write!

Weekly Report wk 10

I've been so busy lately that I just didn't have the time to do a weekly report. Last week we finished all of our work for MFW week 10. We had a couple of days off since Tony was out of work. One day was weather and the other day was that the work truck broke down.

Meadow has finished her Sing Spell Read and Write! She is ecstatic! We are ordering her a trophy to present her with for this accomplishment, I can't wait! I'll post pictures as soon as I can. Meadow is moving along in math, completing around a chapter each week. She has almost finished her spelling book and we will be moving into Primary Language Lessons soon. I'm very proud of her.

Sky is doing great too. She has finished the first module in her Apologia General Science and tested. This is one tough course for us and I'm so pleased that she has transitioned well with it. Teaching Textbooks continues to be one of the biggest blessings that our homeschool has come across for math. It is a perfect fit for our family and doesn't carry the high price tag that BJU dvds did. This is a math that we can afford!

I'll have to take some pictures of the lovely art history work that Sky is doing and share with you. I love that their notebooks are filling up after only a few months of school. It shows that we are accomplishing alot.

This week we are doing week 11. I'll report in soon! Happy homeschooling!

Staggering Along

Sky had her surgery on Tuesday and all went well. The recovery is taking longer than I had anticipated. Her swelling seems to be more as the days go by instead of less but I have been reassured that this can continue for up to a week or so. It's funny that I had it in my mind that we would get to do at least a few days of school this week! Ha! There is simply no way that Sky is capable of school at this point and its Friday!

I did manage to do a little Sing Spell Read and Write with Meadow, a page of math and a spelling lesson. She has enjoyed her time off this week! To be quite honest I don't feel my best either. I don't know if its the traveling and messed up sleep schedule or what but today I've had a headache that doesn't want to leave. I've taken Tylenol and am moving on to Motrin praying that something works.

So at this point the plan is to begin My Father's World week #10 on Monday.

Off Day

I guess we all have them. I know they hit here quite often, although I'm thankful that it has been a while. This week has felt so forced. I prefer flow to force. I've been thinking today and trying to figure out what has changed. If there is anything that is different. The girls are bickering and bickering and bickering. I get so tired of hearing it between them. I have them stop, we pray outloud together, they apologize, then hug. Then it starts again. There are moments I want to scream! These are the tough times in homeschooling. The times when if you allow yourself to, your thoughts can wander to thinking that the grass may be greener on the other side. Thankfully, I know better. So I hunker down, I pray, I cry, sometimes I yell but I stand. That is the most important thing. I REFUSE to give in and I REFUSE to give up.

I know the battle is hard because we are having great success this year and the enemy doesn't like it one bit. In thinking about causes or changes, the Lord has shown me a few things. One, the girls were very disappointed that it didn't snow. Two, Sky has upcoming oral surgery Tuesday next week, with doctor's appointments on Friday this week and on Monday next week. So, we will miss three days of school and that adds some pressure on me trying to keep us caught up. Three, our schedules have slipped some. I've had Aiden (he is the 5 month old little baby boy that my sister in law is caring for) last week and this week. Last week went well, this week its been harder with him. I'm not sleeping as well and I end up sleeping later or napping during the days which means our time isn't being spent wisely.

Tonight Meadow tested at 10:00 pm, Sky drew two of her art history summaries, she'll have to color them tomorrow. We didn't finish our music study on Mendelssohn but will try to get it in before Monday. I don't like schooling that late in the evenings and the girls don't either so that is frustrating to all of us. I know that I'll work to get us back on schedule and we will see better days. I mainly wanted to share with my readers that our homeschool days isn't always perfect!

On the up side of things we are learning about such interesting people! This week we learned about another missionary named John Elliot. John had a heart to see the Indians saved. He taught himself to speak their language, and he preached to them in their tongue. Many came to know the Lord and they became known as the praying Indians. Another interesting person we are learning about is Madeleine Di Vercheres. She was a very strong 14 year old girl who protected and held the fort that was her home for 8 days, from the Indians, until help arrived. We are reading deeper about her in our new book Madeleine Takes Command by Ethel C. Brill. We are also reading The Courage of Sarah Noble by Alice Dalgliesh, which is geared more for Meadow's age. The middle book is Meadow's last Sing Spell Read and Write book! Yep, you heard right! Her last one! She is on step 34 and should be completing the series by the end of next week. We are both so excited!



My favorite thing this week is our new hymn. It's called Alas, And Did My Savior Bleed, written by Isaac Watts. The version we are listening to is sung by Sovereign Grace Music on the Songs for the Cross-Centered Life album. I'm going to try and embed it below so that if you like you can listen to it. It's so beautiful, so deep and it just touches my heart so. I hope it speaks to you as strongly as it did to me. Have a blessed week!

Alas, and Did My Savior Bleed - Sovereign Grace Music

It Was Trying to Snow

It makes me feel so bad for the girls. We haven't had snow in so long and we all just long and pray for the Lord to open up the Heavens and rain SNOW down on us!!! Today it flurried for about 10 minutes. Meadow and her friend Mowpheth (pronounced Mafaith) ran outside to try and play a few minutes.

Meadow running trying to catch snow in her mouth!

Silly girls!

This is the only picture that you can really see the snow in.

Both girls had company last night so school was a bit slow going but we managed to finish our day. They are calling for a 70% chance of snow tonight so we are really praying hard that we get it. We have to get our school done by Thursday this week because we have doctor's appointments on Friday and Monday next week. Sky is having some oral surgery done on Tuesday so that will be three days that we'll be off schedule. I'm hoping to catch us up if Sky recuperates well.

Just for the record, if it snows tonight the girls will be playing in it tomorrow!

An Important Lesson

Our day today went well, it was very productive. We finished our read alouds in history and then the girls worked on their maps and Sky did a small sketch on a missionary named Jacques Marquette 1637-1675. We had never heard of him before, we are learning about a lot of people we had never heard of before.

Below is a picture of Meadow working on her own. I love the image of her working at her desk. She is completing her math, Sing Spell Read and Write worksheets and her Spelling from Rod and Staff.


This is a picture of Sky's and Meadow's maps and the sketch that Sky drew. The little books above the maps are replicas (not exact) of the New England Primer that was commonly used by homes and school in New England and other areas. It was printed in 1690 and widely used through the 1800's. It was a simple project but a good one that also showed the girls how different the language was then. They are creating very nice, full notebooks this year.


For me the real learning came tonight. I'm a planner, I love learning about different curriculum and figuring out what we will cover for the year, but in times past we haven't always completed everything. For the most part it was because I would tend to get lazy. The Lord dealt with me a lot on this last year so this year I seen a great need for a schedule. In my zeal I have plunged into My Father's World head on and added a few things of my own. Our days aren't what I would call strenuous but sometimes I believe my attitude is. I want things to go smoothly, which means no interruptions. I want them to listen and learn. I want to get it done.

So tonight we had a science lesson we hadn't gotten to today. I planned to use the hour before Meadow's bedtime to finish it with her. We are using God's Design For Life the Animal Kingdom.

So we pile up on the couch along with The World of Animals which we add in mostly for nice pictures and I begin to read. Meadow doesn't want to sit still, she keeps pointing to pictures in the The World of Animals making comments about this amphibian and that reptile. I started to fuss at her and all of a sudden I thought to myself, "What are you doing?" I closed my mouth and I let Meadow show me, I let her talk. Then she informed me that she wanted to read the science lesson for tonight. So she took The Animal Kingdom and she began to read. I was blown away. What had I thought? That this book was too hard for her? That she wasn't capable of reading and comprehending what she read? Yes she stumbled on a few words. Yes she asked the meanings of a few words, but I'm willing to say that she learned more tonight about amphibians and reptiles than she would have remembered had she been forced to sit and listen.

It wasn't that I'd never read about this, or heard about it. It wasn't that I had never followed their lead before. Its just that somewhere along the way I became so focused in getting school done that I had lost how real learning occurs.

Today was a good day. Thank-you Father, I pray that You continue to reveal to me and teach ME.

A Great Week

I am so happy that this week was well accomplished. We were able to finish up week 6 in My Father's World by Wednesday. We doubled up on our reading and did a little homework so that we were able to take Thursday and Friday off. One of the books we are really loving is called American Pioneers and Patriots, it contains wonderful humorous stories. Another one that we are loving is Story of the World, Volume 3, Early Modern Times. I also have the cds for this and I really enjoy listening to these as it eases my work load too. :)

The girls have had friends over, so the house has been full of laughter. I love these times! Last night I fixed a new dish called Pasta Carbonara at The Pioneer Woman's Cooking with Pastor Ryan. It was a winner here and there was not a morsel left!

Today Meadow and I are going to make an edible bird nest with shredded wheat, those crunchy Chinese noodles, peanut butter, and melted chocolate. I'll post pictures later!

God is so good!

Happy New Year!

Finally

After all the mishaps, Christmas, visiting and business of the holiday season, we actually got a full days school in today! I was ever so grateful! Meadow wasn't very cooperative but in the end she gave in. Sky done wonderfully and my voice adjusted to the reading aloud. It just felt SO good to get school done. The girls didn't want to start back until next week but since we missed a week with my brother's accident I just didn't feel I could wait another week.

It was a good day!

Moving along

Schooling well but not covering as much as I would like. The holidays threw me for a loop. We spent the time with my father and mother in law, helping to cook, clean and other chores they needed help with. It was an enjoyable but tiring experience.

It's so hard to keep schedule and get things done through the holidays. So many things pop up unexpectedly. But we finished this week all but a little reading in history which I do hope to get done before Monday so we can catch up on things.

We just finished the book Almost Home from the Daughters of the Faith Series, A Story Based on the Life of the Mayflower's Mary Chilton. It was awesome and really enhanced our depth of understanding for what the Pilgrims went through. It gives you such a great appreciation for what others went through to build America. Our freedoms didn't come free and they paid a high price.

The other subjects were finished in a timely manner and the girls are doing pretty well working on their own. Our Apologia science continues to move along very very slowly. Dd has just finished the 3rd module. TT is moving along great and continues to be a success. I cannot express how grateful I am for this program and cannot wait to be able to start Meadow in it. We made horn books this week, learned more about Frans Shubert. The girls aren't developing much of a taste for classical music but are recognizing some of the musics from Disney films, which is a plus.

Scripture memorization is coming along well. They have James 1:1-11 down. No new scriptures this week just practice.

We will add a new hymn next week. Probably a Christmas Carol.

We didn't make the skate with our homeschool group or the Christmas play at the Homestead. I was just too pooped to do the running and wanted to finish our school. Schedules were messed up this week as we were up late many night and therefore slept late too. One night I had to drive to my best friends house to pick up her 4 littles so that she could go and visit her grandmother in the hospital. It was late and unexpected and we didn't get tucked into bed until almost 2 am.

We finished up week 5 of MFW today. I had a migraine so much of the read alouds had to be done by the girls.

Tonight we watched the new American Girl Movie "Kit Kittredge". It was very moving and touched my little Meadow and gave her a new appreciation for money and material things. It was just what she needed. I'll have to make sure this is added to our library.

Hopefully the make over will be finished soon. I'm excited to have a new look here. :)

I pray that your Thanksgiving was blessed.

Weekly Report......wk 5

We had a few interruptions this week, I had to take both vehicles on different days and have the oil changed. We had company two different days, unannounced during school hours which makes it hard to stay on schedule. I didn't get to do all that I wanted but we got most of our school done, except for the last lesson of history so we will have some reading to do tomorrow. IEW is still coming along well, we slowed way down with Apologia's General Science and reviewed a lot. Teaching Textbooks and Phonetic Zoo are continuing to be a blessing.

We didn't keep schedule to a *T* as we ran about 45 minutes behind each morning but I'm not that unpleased with that. We've gotten ALOT done here at home. We cleaned out our basement and still have about 1/4 more to go, the laundry is caught up and the rest of the house is right in line. It feels so good to have a clean home. I feel like we accomplish so much more in a neater environment. We've also added the chore of bring in the fire wood. I actually like doing that one.

I'm still LOVING MFW EXP-1850 and the studying of Thanksgiving has fallen at the perfect time.

Next week will slow down some too, we are volunteering at a home alone/feeding program all day on Wednesday. I do believe dh has the whole week off! And we will try to get back in the saddle again the week after.

Today was a long day

Especially after such a relaxed week last week. It took the girls a bit to get back into the swing of things. Sky's science Apologia General Science is a huge adjustment for her. I'm not as informed as I should be on learning styles but I know that she can't just read something and understand it. The companion cd helps us out a lot with this program but I also have to come behind her and read the lessons to her, pulling out definitions adding in deeper explanations or giving different examples. I do ask that she read her lesson first. I'm hoping that over time she will begin to process the information on her own better, but until then I must make the time to reread her the lessons in the afternoons. This can make for long days sometimes. I myself, don't mind the reading, I'm learning a great deal. It's the time that can be hard to come by. I know its time well spent and there will be a great reward for it later.

History with My Father's World Exploration to 1850's, just keeps getting better and better. We have finished reading Squanto and are learning more about the pilgrims and the development of their colony. I want the girls to do a Thanksgiving diorama. I'm going to go to Walmart and see if I can find a few nifty things in the crafts section. We had made wigwams the second week and I want to use those in something, they turned out so pretty.

If you have any neat ideas for crafts for Thanksgiving please share them.

My Father's World Week #4

Monday was great, as we finished our school that day. Monday night we started painting Sky's room and dh didn't work Tuesday so we took the day off from school to finish painting. This week was also my totm and I have felt rotten.

So Wednesday and Thursday we ended up not doing regular school days and we talked about My Father's World and their ministry God's Word for the Nations and how I feel led to give to the ministry. We discussed how people didn't have God's word and how they needed the bible printed in their own language. We ran into a wall with my youngest daughter Meadow. She just thought that giving money to people we didn't know was absolutely absurd! She said, "Well momma if we go around giving all our money and our stuff away what are we gonna do?" I had to laugh and yet at the same time I was concerned. I tried to explain it to her but she didn't understand. So I left it alone, I asked some questions on my homeschool boards and I prayed.

We do give but not like we should and usually when dh and I give we don't always share with the kids. Sometimes its to people in need, other times its to ministries and you just don't think to tell your children that you've written a check to support so and so. So it isn't that we wouldn't share with them, we just don't think about it sometimes. This really opened my eyes to things that *I* need to change around here. It also opened my eyes to how many different ways there are to give, not just monetary giving. Maybe this is what my children were missing, seeing us give of ourselves and becoming servants to others and not just to ourselves.

Today we had our prayer, bible and hymns. While reading the story behind our new hymn, "The Lord is my Shepherd" from Hymns for a Kid's Heart the Lord spoke clearly as I read, "Did you know that God has put you in just the right place to give a gift to someone today?"

Thank-you Lord for opening up the door for me again!

So then we discussed different ways of giving, that it doesn't have to be money, it can be time, or services, or even just kind words. How giving comes from the heart and we prayed for the desire to give.

A friend on one of my homeschooling boards had a great idea for us on giving so I shared it with the girls and now they are simply ecstatic that we are going to be helping some who are very near and dear to us. I think it helped Meadow to understand a little more to begin with giving to someone she can actually see and be able to participate in the act of giving.

As always God had more in store for us, Heaven had gone to the mail box and brought me the mail. There were two letters in the pile, one from my sister who lives a long way from us and another from a lady in jail. Both in desperate need, just needing to know that someone cares. We all agreed to start sending them letters, postcards or something to encourage them. The girls were very excited at this point.

We also found a very beautiful purple box to set in our school room. Inside of this box we are going to place offerings from our hearts. We are going to pray about ways to make some extra money to place inside of the purple box. Our goal is to be able to send $100 to My Father's World's Ministry, God's Word for the Nations by then end of the year . Take a moment and read about them, pray about supporting them. Oh the souls that will be reached by the sharing of God's Word.

All of this to say that while we didn't do official school this week the Lord taught us a lot! So we will be picking back up with My Father's World week #4 next week. Prayerfully we'll get back on schedule. We slept in a lot this week so I'm sure it will not be an easy task for me and it will take some discipline on my part. But I know, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

:)

Homeschooling Week 3 Ending

This week went pretty well. Our work load lowered some from the first two weeks and I have to admit I was very grateful. I kept up but the pace was pretty stout. I had read it would slow after week 2 and week 3 definitely let up. We were able to take Wednesday and go skating with the homeschool group. We all had a really good time.

Our hymns thus far are My Father's World, O For a Thousand Tongues (I added it in early), and My Country Tis of Thee or America as it is also called. We will be adding The Lord is My Sheppard on week 5.

The girls are memorizing James 1:1-8 and I'll test them on Monday. So far they can recite through 5 without stumbling!

We are studying the Indians, England, Spain, Pioneers, the New World and such. The girls actually made wigwams and they turned out really nice. We are reading from several books, including Story of the World 3 (I just ordered the cds so it will cut down some on my read aloud load), Exploring American History, In God We Trust, & Building a City on a Hill.

I didn't think I would enjoy reading pieces of several books but the way MFW ties them all together its like reinforcements and it really sinks in. Plus these aren't boring history facts. I love having them put in somewhat of a story form. I'm learning so much!!! I am also reading Squanto, Friend of the Pilgrims and from American Pioneers and Patriots. The girls keep begging for more Squanto and I really like American Pioneers and Patriots. The last book we are adding in is from the Daughters of the Faith series and its called, Almost Home a story about Mary Chilton. Today my voice gave a little from reading so much out loud but I didn't want to stop!

We don't have as much reading everyday, but we do read a lot. That is one of my favorite things, reading aloud, I usually just don't make enough time for it, so I really love how My Father's World has this included in our school day. The three of us pile up on the couch together while I read. Then the girls do an art picture of the person we have studied. I am so impressed with the pictures they are creating. We usually have music once or twice a week while doing art, and this too is another favorite of mine. Not so much with the girls but they are learning a lot about Franz Shubert.

Sky (7th grade) then works on her own completing TT math, IEW, Phonetic Zoo Spelling, and Apologia Science. Of course I'm nearby as she works here in the living room with me. (We schedule all projects and labs with dh in the evening and I make sure to read her science to her after she has read it that day as reinforcement too).

While Sky is working I do Meadow's SSRW or PLL, Spelling and Science and then we are through for the day. I try to encourage Meadow to look through her book basket during breaks but she doesn't show much interest after all of the other school we've done.

I grade Meadow each day and grade Sky at the end of the week, then I read through my lesson plans for the upcoming week and make necessary copies among other preparations and I'm done!

I've never ever schooled this way before. Not ever. I've always been so laid back. Its hard work but I have to admit I'm taking more pride in teaching the girls and we are accomplishing so much more. Our days aren't forced or overloaded, just very full and satisfying.

We finished the entire 3rd week. I feel accomplished.

Homeschooling is Going Great!

We are using a variety of things. I have several *favorite* things and the first one is My Father's World which is a small unit study that includes Bible, History, Science, Music and lots of read-alouds. We are using Year Four, Exploration to 1850. One of my favorite things about My Father's World this year is that we are studying old hymns and their history, who wrote them and how they came about. We begin each morning singing praises to our King and then move directly into the bible study. We are studying James and doing a lot of memory work. I'm very excited about what I see transpiring in the girls even in such the short time of a two week period.

The first hymn we are studying is actually called My Father's World. It was written by a young man named Maltbie Babcock. We have studied how Maltbie was a very well liked young man, he was very talented in most anything he done, including music and sports. He stood up for what he believed in and he confronted others when their language or behavior was not appropriate. He was very aware of the beauty of God's creation and he spent a lot of time enjoying it. Observing the wonders of this world is how he came to write the song My Father's World.

I had never heard this hymn before and I have very much enjoyed becoming aquainted with it. I found a neat little book called Hymns for a Kid's Heart that includes a great version of My Father's World. In the My Father's World curricula they add a new hymn every two weeks. The girls and I decided to add a new hymn to our studies this week. Meadow chose 'O For a Thousand Tongues to Sing, written by Charles Wesley. Charles was also homeschooled, and his mother used the Bible as their text. He wrote over six thousand hymns in his lifetime! I thought it a good idea to go ahead and cover all of the hymns included in this book, even though it only has three of the hymns studied in My Father's World.

Once we finish in prayer we begin our history. I love doing history as a family. I love studying U.S. History. I didn't pay a lot of attention to it when I was in school so I missed out on a lot. The girls don't love it as much as I do but they are learning and remembering so much. They are both creating art pictures several days a week of what we cover that day. They are drawing explorers, ships and other things. These make for a beautiful notebook.

Then we break for lunch and come back to work separately. Sky is using Teaching Textbooks grade 7 for math. It has truly become a huge blessing in our home. She can work completely on her own and the program even grades each lesson for me. You can see examples of how it works by visiting the link. She is using Phonetic Zoo for spelling and this has proved, thus far, to be a wonderful hit. I love finding things that make my job easier and learning more fun for the girls. For science Sky is using Apologia General Science. My Father's World has conveniently created a schedule that makes Apologia General Science easy to implement in our studies.

Sky is also using the recommended curricula from My Father's World for English and Writing. I have another Writing program that I hope to move her into soon but just getting started out I haven't had the time. I will be sure to share when we do.

Meadow is finishing up Sing Spell Read and Write with only a few more steps to go. This program has been my all time favorite for teaching kids to read. Its catchy and loads of fun with the music, games and prizes. We have also moved into Primary Language Lessons and Spelling by Sound and Structure by Rod and Staff. Somedays we have enough time and stamina to complete all of these and other days we alternate. For math Meadow is using BJU Math 2. I used BJU Math with Heaven all the way through school and I love it. However since finding Teaching Textbooks once Meadow reaches the fourth grade level we will be switching over. Teaching Textbooks is just to easy and fun and I have to say the price is much better than BJU's dvds.

I'm hoping to add in God's History of Art and Rosetta Stone Spanish as funds allow. Our days are full and eventful. I feel so accomplished when our work is complete. I praise the Lord for leading us back home and for continuing His work in me. I look forward to sharing more of our days soon!