The Canadians are here. yum!
{My parents arrived two days ago and my sister arrives today, and then on Thursday we’re all heading to Parris Island for my brothers graduation. He’s a marine now!! So proud of him!}
The first week of school activities, savored and noted.
Our read aloud (which we finished in our first week!) and special snack bags to celebrate our first week of school. Check out our favorite read aloud books here.
Snack bags from the Dollar Bin at Target. 
I discovered Post It Note Story and Sketch Pads and have been using them for Judah’s copy work. He copies a sentence from his Playful Pals reader and then illustrates the sentence. He then enjoys posting the pages in random places. Wesley enjoys pattern blocks. {I have a pinterest board of free pattern block printables }
Boys examined geodes and practiced their hammering skills (one of the Life Skills we are working on.) 
We went on a fun nature walk with some friends – we did a little scavenger hunt and drew a fun looking bird we saw. And we saw an alligator!
Thank-you so much to those who left ideas for the first week of school activities!! Our first week of school ended up being sandwiched between visits from grandparents, so we were quite distracted and didn’t quite get to all the special ideas I had dancing around in my head!!
“Find the mean looking mosquitoes” by Taro Gomi from Doodles: A Really Giant Coloring and Doodling Book.
The only coloring book your family will ever need.
Our house is slowly being fitted to meet our family needs – which for the next many years means room for homeschooling. I am thankful for the abundant space our house provides, which gives us the space to create our homeschool rooms throughout.
Perhaps one day it will work best to confine us to one table, in one room for all our homeschool needs. But for now it works best for all of us to be able to switch rooms from time to time.
Our homeschool rooms consist of: our dining room table, our school room/guest room, our living room and our sun room.
The spaces will continue to evolve as our schooling does, but for now here is a closer look at our homeschool rooms.
Dining Room: 
{Shirts are optional at our school}
The dining room offers the luxury of a huge table and several key organization pieces. It’s also right by the kitchen. In the above pictures you can faintly see the built in shelves behind the boys. This is home to many a book.
Below is piece I got for free at a yard sale – it sits near the table and holds writing and drawing paper, coloring books, work books, pattern blocks, a globe, and pencils, crayons, pens and markers.
The boys do all of their pattern block work at this table, some writing exercises, and we play many Uno games here with cups of tea to keep us company.
Our Official School Room {doubles as Guest Room}:
It’s labeled our “official” homeschool room – but we’re just as likely to be in any of the other homeschool rooms as we are to be in this one. This room has my office right off of it {a converted walk in closet} and also a bathroom – super handy for little boy bladders!
It also holds a boy sized table and chairs {above, with a map of the USA puzzle}, our main homeschool bookshelves {you can read more about the organization of the homeschool bookshelves here}, a smaller bookshelf that holds some manipulatives, a rocking chair, two bean bag chairs {for lounging} and a bed.
Oh the bed! Every homeschool room should have a bed. We spend a good bit of our read aloud time snuggled in the bed reading. It feels very un-schoolish.
The Living Room:
Home to Legos, trains, K’nex, a wide assortment of games, instruments, and couches. It is a lovely place to be creative {make messes} or cuddle up and read – or a little mix of both. The boys can quietly play while listening to an audio book or to me read.
The Sun Room:
A cheery room {with a leaky roof!} that is a landing space for all craft items – papers, markers, googley eyes, staplers, glue, scissors, string, play-dough, paints, pom-poms and an assortment of other random things. My Fall 2012 Jewelry Collection has come from this work table.
They very much enjoy crafting and this space is used daily – usually in unguided crafts, but occasionally I will walk them through something to teach them a skill or two for them to use in future crafts. Like how to cut out Olympic Rings. They are proficient in cutting out construction paper rings.
So! There it is – a quick tour of our homeschool rooms and how we will be using them this school year.
If you homeschool, do you have one homeschool room or several?
What’s In the Bible Coupon Code & Giveaway of volume 2
The What’s In the Bible Coupon code to receive 20% off your order plus free shipping on orders over $15 can be accessed right here. It’s a unique coupon code generated each time you click on the link.
I have a digital copy of What’s in the Bible volume 2 to giveaway today – the winner for vl 1 was Erin R. Congrats Erin!! I hope your family enjoys it!
Note: I have a digital copy of almost every volume of What’s in the Bible and will be giving one away each week until they’re all gone so there are lots of opportunities to get a copy of this for yourself!
Here is a short clip from What’s in the Bible volume 2
What’s in the Bible Volume 2 “Let My People Go” covers the second part of Genesis, talks about how the Old Testament and New Testament books were chosen to be in the Bible and then tackles the exodus and discusses “salvation” and “redemption” and how He wants to save us from sin. In the clip below you can watch them explain the word “patriarchal.”
To enter the giveaway please leave a comment on this post- make sure to fill out the box with your email address as the winner will be emailed the code to get their digital copy of What’s in the Bible volume 2. Contest is open to anyone, in any country. The winner will be drawn using random.org next Wednesday.
I wrote a longer review in my previous post What’s In the Bible Coupon Code & Review so be sure to check that out if you want to read more about What’s in the Bible!
Also, What’s in the Bible Coupon Code & Volume 1 Giveaway (now closed) tells you a bit more about the volume 1 dvd.
Developing the Habit of Speaking Well of Others :: August’s Habit
A few days late in sharing this, but here is the introduction for our habit for the month of August! This month we will be focusing on the habit of speaking well of others. We will be focusing on speaking well of others to their face, when we speak of them without them present and when speaking about them in relation to something wrong or hurtful they did. We will also be emphasizing that while we should speak well of others we must also speak truthfully – empty flattery is not our goal.
As with the previous months I have broken this down in to little daily tasks to help us think about and grow in our development of this habit.
1. Discuss the relationship between what we think of people coming out in how we speak to them/of them and how we treat them.
2. Describe an inappropriate way to speak of someone else (say, one brother describing how another brother irritated him) and ask the boys to reword it so that they are speaking truth, communicating the problem and yet also speaking in love.
3. Read the excerpt about Anne of Green Gables on pages 59-64.*
4. Role play people and situations that they might sometime have to deal and let them give their unguided responses and then use that as a basis for gentle instruction in the days to follow.
5. Notice a character trait in someone else and tell us (parents) about it.
6. Read 1 Corinthians 13:4-7, 1 John 4:7,10-12 and 19-20
7. Buy some sour food and some sweet ones and use as an illustration about how our words should be sweet, not sour. (Alternately, use salty food rather than sweet food to illustrate Colossians 4:6 – “Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.”
8. Discuss how it feels to be spoken well of.
9. Describe an inappropriate way to speak of someone else (say, one brother describing how another brother irritated him) and ask the boys to reword it so that they are speaking truth, communicating the problem and yet also speaking in love.
10. Read Joseph’s Coat on pages 71-74*
11. Role play people and situations that they might sometime have to deal and let them give their unguided responses and then use that as a basis for gentle instruction in the days to follow.
12. Notice a character trait in someone else and tell us (parents) about it.
13. Read Esther chapter 7 – the irony of Mordecia being honored when Haman hated him so.
14. Baking Soda Fizz object lesson (last one on the page) to illustrate speaking in love to others.
15. Make a list of people we know that always seem to speak well of others.
16. Describe an inappropriate way to speak of someone else (say, one brother describing how another brother irritated him) and ask the boys to reword it so that they are speaking truth, communicating the problem and yet also speaking in love.
17. Read The Fairy on pages 54-56*
18. Role play people and situations that they might sometime have to deal and let them give their unguided responses and then use that as a basis for gentle instruction in the days to follow.
19. Notice a character trait in someone else and tell us (parents) about it.
20. Read James 3:1-12
21. Moldy bread object lesson (first one on page) to illustrate how things can grow if we are speaking poorly about others.
22. Brainstorms ways that we can speak well of others even when it might be hard to do.
23. Describe an inappropriate way to speak of someone else (say, one brother describing how another brother irritated him) and ask the boys to reword it so that they are speaking truth, communicating the problem and yet also speaking in love.
24. Read an excerpt from Pollyanna on pages 222-227*
25. Role play people and situations that they might sometime have to deal and let them give their unguided responses and then use that as a basis for gentle instruction in the days to follow.
26. Notice a character trait in someone else and tell us (parents) about it.
27. Read Daniel chapter 2, specifically verse 14; “Daniel spoke to him with wisdom and tact.”
28. Pudding Fun (half way down page) to illustrate that we can’t take back what we say.
29. Discuss whether this has been an easy or a hard habit, and if it’s a mix, which parts are easy and which parts are more challenging.
30. Describe an inappropriate way to speak of someone else (say, one brother describing how another brother irritated him) and ask the boys to reword it so that they are speaking truth, communicating the problem and yet also speaking in love.
31. Read an excerpt from The Little Princess on pages 230-235*
*This month all our stories are from Everyday Graces: Child’s Book Of Good Manners - an excellent resource for teaching your children through stories and poems about character traits and manners.
Check out our previous months habits!
January – Developing the Habit of Thankfulness
February – Developing the Habit of Listening
March – Developing the Habit of Encouragement
April – Developing the Habit of Putting Away What You Touch
May – Developing the Habit of Paying Attention to Others Needs
June – Developing the Habit of Putting Away Things Without Being Asked
May my meditation be pleasing to Him as I rejoice in the Lord. -Psalm 104:34
Bible verses are taken from NKJV and NIV.
You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in You. -Isaiah 26:3
Much dreaming and many words are meaningless. Therefore stand in awe of God. – Ecclesiastes 5:7
Some went out on the sea in ships, they were merchants on the mighty waters. They saw the works of the Lord, His wonderful deeds in the deep. – Psalm 107:23-24 {these Bible verses were printed as 16×20 print for Paul’s office!}
Then God saw everything He had made and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day. – Genesis 1:31
The Lord has appeared of old to me saying; “Yes I have loved you with an everlasting love; Therefore with loving-kindness I have drawn you. – Jeremiah 3:13
Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. - Galatians 6:9
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold all things have become new. – 2 Corinthians 5:17
And you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power. – Colossians 2:10
And whatever you do, do it heartily; As to the Lord and not to men. – Colossians 3:23
Be completely humble and gentle; be patient; Bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. – Ephesians 4:23
Please feel free to save the Bible verses {right click, “save image as”} and use as computer screen backgrounds or print for your own use. All photographs were taken by me and I give full permission for people to use these, in an unaltered state, for personal printing.
Wait – by Russel Kelfer
A poem I read yesterday and thought I would share.
Desperately, helplessly, longingly, I cried;
Quietly, patiently, lovingly, God replied.
I pled and I wept for a clue to my fate ,
And the Master so gently said, “Wait.”
“Wait? you say wait?” my indignant reply.
“Lord, I need answers, I need to know why!
Is your hand shortened? Or have you not heard?
By faith I have asked, and I’m claiming your Word.
“My future and all to which I relate
Hangs in the balance, and you tell me to WAIT?
I’m needing a ‘yes’, a go-ahead sign,
Or even a ‘no’ to which I can resign.
“And Lord, You promised, that if we believe,
We need but to ask, and we shall receive.
And, Lord, I’ve been asking, and this is my cry:
‘I’m weary of asking! I need a reply.’”
Then quietly, softly, I learned of my fate,
As my Master replied once again, “You must wait.”
So, I slumped in my chair, defeated and taut
And grumbled to God, “So, I’m waiting… for what?”
He seemed, then, to kneel,
And His eyes met with mine,
And He tenderly said, “I could give you a sign.
I could shake the heavens and darken the sun.
I could raise the dead and cause mountains to run.
“All you seek I could give and pleased you would be.
You’d have what you want—–
But, you wouldn’t know Me.
You’d not know the depth of my love for each saint;
You’d not know the power that I give to the faint;
“You’d not learn to see through clouds of despair;
You’d not learn to trust just by knowing I’m there;
You’d not know the joy of resting in Me;
When darkness and silence are all you can see.
“You’d never experience the fullness of love
When the peace of My Spirit descends like a dove;
You would know that I give and I save, for a start,
But you’d not know the depth of the beat of My heart.
“The glow of My comfort late into the night,
The faith that I give when you walk without sight,
The depth that’s beyond getting just what you asked
Of an infinite God, who makes what you have last.
“You’d never know, should your pain quickly flee,
What it means that, ‘My grace is sufficient for thee.’
Yes, your dearest dreams overnight would come true,
But, oh, the loss, if I lost what I’m doing in you.
“So, be silent, My child, and in time you will see
That the greatest of gifts is to truly know Me.
And though oft’ may My answers seem terribly late,
My most precious answer of all is still, Wait.”
-Wait by Russel Kelfer
What’s In the Bible Coupon Code & Giveaway of volume 1
The What’s In the Bible Coupon code to receive 20% off your order plus free shipping on orders over $15 can be accessed right here. It’s a unique coupon code generated each time you click on the link.
I have a digital copy of What’s in the Bible volume 1 to giveaway today – in fact, I have a digital copy of almost every volume of What’s in the Bible and will be giving one away each week until they’re all gone!!
Here is a short clip from What’s in the Bible volume 1
Volume 1 “In the Beginning” covers the first part of Genesis but also explains what the Bible is and who wrote the Bible. The first 5 minute of volume 1 can be seen here:
To enter the giveaway please leave a comment on this post- make sure to fill out the box with your email address as the winner will be emailed the code to get their digital copy of What’s in the Bible volume 1. Contest is open to anyone, in any country. The winner will be drawn using random.org next Wednesday afternoon.
::Closed:: Erin R is the winner of volume 1!!
I wrote a longer review in my previous post What’s In the Bible Coupon Code & Review so be sure to check that out if you want to read more about What’s in the Bible!
I had so much fun doing their engagement photos this morning – up at 6 in order to get the gorgeous morning light and it was so, so worth it!
“Forever can never be long enough for me to feel like I’ve had long enough with you…
…Promise me you’ll always be happy by my side…
…I promise to sing to you when all the music dies…
…and marry me today and everyday.”
