Homegrown Thoughts

We no longer hold the title of “Last Christian Homeschooling Family With Children Over the Age of Six Who Have Not Read or Seen The Chronicles of Narnia.” That’s LCHFWCOASWHNRSTCON, for short. Please, hold your applause and do not faint. It is true.

We have owned the movie probably since it first came out on DVD and never watched it. I also have the entire set of Chronicles of Narnia and it had not been cracked open. Well, we watched the movie tonight (even the 7 year old who claimed he did not want to watch it, but couldn’t stay away!) and said 7 year old has now requested that I read him part of the book, starting with the Magician’s Nephew, every day. Oh, yes he did!

Part of my hesitation was that I thought it might be too deep or that the boys (or me) wouldn’t like it, but we were all glued to it. That was a fast 2 hours! Tomorrow, I think my older son will be watching EVERY bonus feature on the DVD. I think the boys are officially hooked. Whew! :-)

So, I can now stop cringing in fear whenever the topic of Narnia comes up lest my total ignorance be revealed to the world. And yes, I did cry. A couple of times.

I must go now. He who wants to be read to is insisting we start NOW because he just can’t wait until tomorrow.

In case anybody hasn’t looked at the rest of my site lately, I thought I’d highlight some of the newer items that have been added.

Eye Spy! Vision Lapbook - How to make a lapbook about vision, including optical illusions.

Lapbooks For Everyone - Our first lapbook and resources to help you make yours with children of any age!

Also, some free printables for notebooking (and maybe lapbooking, too) can be found on the Fun Stuff page:

• In the Geography section, there are pages for recording information about any country in the world.
• In the History section are blank basic timeline pages and a continent legend page.

I have plans to add many more articles and printables in the near future.  As my kids are getting older, I’m finding there are more and more topics that I can add to my site.  I hope you find these helpful!

I came across this prayer card that I received at a homeschool meeting awhile back. I thought I’d share it here for others that might find it beneficial. The idea is to pray for each virtue according to the day of the month.

I found the original article online here, if you’d like to read the full text. Below is the prayer list. I believe the Bible translation used is “The Message”, except where noted.

1. Salvation. “Lord, let salvation spring up within my children, that they may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory” (Is. 45:8, 2 Tim. 2:10).
2. Growth in grace. “I pray that my children may grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Pet. 3:18).
3. Love. “Grant, Lord, that my children may learn to live a life of love, through the Spirit who dwells in them” (Gal. 5:25, Eph. 5:2).
4. Honesty and integrity. “May integrity and honesty be their virtue and their protection” (Ps. 25:21).
5. Self-control. “Father, help my children not to be like many others around them, but let them be alert and self-controlled in all they do” (1 Thess. 5:6).
6. Love for God’s Word. “May my children grow to find Your Word more precious than much pure gold and sweeter than honey from the comb” (Ps. 19:10).
7. Justice. “God, help my children to love justice as You do and act justly in all they do” (Ps. 11:7, Mic. 6:8).
8. Mercy. “May my children always be merciful, just as their Father is merciful” (Lk. 6:36).
9. Respect (for self, others, authority). “Father, grant that my children may show proper respect to everyone, as your Word commands” (1 Pet. 2:17).
10. Biblical self-esteem. “Help my children develop a strong self-esteem that is rooted in the realization that they are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus” (Eph. 2:10).
11. Faithfulness. “Let love and faithfulness never leave my children, but bind these twin virtues around their necks and write them on the tablet of their hearts” (Prov. 3:3).
12. Courage. “May my children always be strong and courageous in their character and in their actions” (Dt. 31:6).
13. Purity. “Create in them a pure heart, O God, and let that purity of heart be shown in their actions” (Ps. 51:10).
14. Kindness. “Lord, may my children always try to be kind to each other and to everyone else” (1 Thess. 5:15).
15. Generosity. “Grant that my children may be generous and willing to share, and so lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age” (1 Tim. 6:18–19).
16. Peace-loving. “Father, let my children make every effort to do what leads to peace” (Rom. 14:19).
17. Joy. “May my children be filled with the joy given by the Holy Spirit” (1 Thess. 1:6).
18. Perseverance. “Lord, teach my children perseverance in all they do, and help them especially to run with perseverance the race marked out for them” (Heb. 12:1).
19. Humility. “God, please cultivate in my children the ability to show true humility toward all” (Titus 3:2).
20. Compassion. “Lord, please clothe my children with the virtue of compassion” (Col. 3:12).
21. Responsibility. “Grant that my children may learn responsibility, for each one should carry his own load” (Gal. 6:5).
22. Contentment. “Father, teach my children the secret of being content in any and every situation, through Him who gives them strength” (Phil. 4:12–13).
23. Faith. “I pray that faith will find root and grow in my children’s hearts, that by faith they may gain what has been promised to them” (Lk. 17:5–6, Heb. 11:1–40).
24. A servant’s heart. “God, please help my children develop servants’ hearts, that they may serve wholeheartedly, as if they were serving the Lord, not men” (Eph. 6:7).
25. Hope. “May the God of hope grant that my children may overflow with hope and hopefulness by the power of the Holy Spirit” (Ro. 15:13).
26. Willingness and ability to work. “Teach my children, Lord, to value work and to work at it with all their heart, as working for the Lord, not for men” (Col. 3:23).
27. Passion for God. “Lord, please instill in my children a soul that ‘followeth hard after thee’ (Ps. 63:8, KJV), one that clings passionately to you.”
28. Self-discipline. “Father, I pray that my children may acquire a disciplined and prudent life, doing what is right and just and fair” (Prov. 1:3).
29. Prayerfulness. “Grant, Lord, that my children’s lives may be marked by prayerfulness, that they may learn to pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests” (Eph. 6:18).
30. Gratitude. “Help my children to live lives that are always overflowing with thankfulness and always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Eph. 5:20, Col. 2:7).
31. A heart for missions. “Lord, please help my children to develop a desire to see your glory declared among the nations, your marvelous deeds among all peoples” (Ps. 96:3).

I hope you find this list helpful as you pray your kids through life!

I have this habit of blogging about things that are going to happen and then forgetting to post about how they turned out. So I’ll try to tie up some loose ends here and hopefully I won’t forget any.

1. Lapbooking and Notebooking presentation for our homeschool group - This went pretty well. My co-presenter and I have different approaches (I’m all about colored paper and customization and she is all about simple, easy and basic), so we were a good match. We didn’t have nearly enough time to cover both lapbooking and notebooking (and mini-offices, for that matter), but we tried! I had an outline of things to cover and we didn’t use it much at all - we just kind of went with the flow and answered questions. If anyone is interested in seeing some of what we were teaching about lapbooks, you can see my page on lapbooking here. :-)
2. My son’s MRI - He did have to be sedated for the MRIs. This wasn’t as bad as I feared it would be and he’s actually glad that’s how it worked out because he wasn’t scared that way. Well, once the iv was in. That was an ordeal. The worst part was getting the bill - it was almost 3 times as much as I’d been led to believe it would be. And we get to pay most of it out-of-pocket. Ouch. But the good news is that it ruled out any neurological or spinal conditions and he got a completely clean report. The next step is getting approval from the insurance company for leg braces that he will wear at night to stretch out the tendons in his calves to where they should be. Homeschooling bonus: I was able to save copies of his x-ray images on my computer for future use in science lessons. How many people get to use their own body for anatomy?!?
3. Our Compassion child - We got our packet this week, so we’re officially official. There wasn’t a lot of additional information in it, but we are able to write to her now. I’ll be doing that very soon. I’ve been learning some Swahili, which is fun! It’s an interesting language. It’s fun to say “good night”. Lala salama! From what I can tell, the words for airplane and bird are the same - ndege. That’s fun to say, too. I don’t have a lot of need for this knowledge in everyday life, but I tend to make a habit of storing information with limited use in my noggin. Every once in awhile it comes in handy or at least surprises people.
4. My exercise program - I’m about to the end of my 10 week program. We have final testing next week. I’m testing early so that will be next Wednesday night. I did see improvement at my 5 week evaluation, although I haven’t really lost weight. I have lost inches and I can tell that I have more energy and endurance. So I would say I’m more ‘fit’ even if it doesn’t really look like it so much. I’m not sure how the testing will go this week. I don’t feel like I’ve improved as much in this 2nd five weeks, but we’ll see. I did my own mile walk/run test this week and I took a couple minutes off of my time, so that was better. I’m opting out of the group run because my legs just can’t take it. I think I have issues with my calves, too, and I simply can’t do a lot of running or even fast walking without serious pain, even after all this exercise I’ve been doing. And I’m fine with that. There are plenty of other things I can do with pretty much the same results. I’ll try to remember to report in with my final numbers next week.
5. Mission: Self-Control is going pretty well. I don’t think I’ve really bought too much ‘extra’ stuff. I try not to look too closely at the ads in the newspaper and delete the ones I get via e-mail without even looking at them, most of the time. Removing that temptation has helped a lot. I’m still working on clearing out the accumulated ’stuff’. Our spring cleanup day is coming up soon and hopefully I’ll have a lot to put at the curb that day!

I think that’s about it. Feel free to remind me, my faithful handful of readers, if I’ve forgotten anything.

So many movies today, even the ones marketed for kids, are full of material that is objectionable to parents. It’s nearly impossible to know just by movie descriptions and trailers how much profanity and ‘adult situations’ will be included.

I thought I’d share some resources to help you find out the ‘family-friendly’ level of movies before you head to the theater or rent a video.

• Common Sense Media - Besides movies and DVD’s, this site also reviews books, games, tv, and music.
• Plugged In Online - Online version of the magazine. Also includes reviews of games and music.
• Kids-in-mind - Unique rating system that immediately shows the level of objectionable material in 3 categories.
• Dove - Make sure you read each title’s review here. Some movies are ‘Dove approved’ but only for those above a certain age. The Dove approval does NOT indicate that it is appropriate for the entire family.

There are other family movie review sites but I find these pretty much cover anything you’d need to know before making a decision.