His Mercy is New

Learning from the Clarksons {TTD notes}

2013-05-23T08:00:00.000-04:00

{affiliate links used in this post. thank you for supporting this blog.}

I was so blessed to be able to attend the Teach Them Diligently homeschool conference in Nashville last weekend. I shared about how God wanted me there and provided all the necessary items: room, ride, conference fee. And I'm so thankful. The sessions I attended were so fabulous, I wanted to share all my notes with you!!

Here are the speakers, I will go back after this series and link them all together:

Clay & Sally Clarkson
Pam Tebow
Mark Hamby
Norm Wakefield
Deb Bell

Clay Clarkson ~ Organic Parenting

What is organic?
What is the source of life in your home?
Organic means LIVING and WHOLE.

Are we more concerned that we look like the perfect homeschool family than the hearts of our children?
When you plant a garden you have to WORK to create good health in the life of your plants.
Parable of the Sower
Matthew 13:1-23, Mark 4:1-25, Luke 8:4-18
Parables are always about the kingdom of God and bringing it to earth. The message of the kingdom is the gospel.
Throwing seeds in this parable: some fell on rock, some among thorns, ONE SEED, 4 landing spots. Only one good soil that produces a yield.

The sower is sowing the Word.
Along the path...
1. Well traveled, rocky path, the seed can't survive. Easy pickings for the devil. They do not believe.
2. On the rock, they receive with joy but have no root. Believe for awhile, but fall away when life gets hard.
3. Among thorns, they hear but are chocked by life's worries, riches and pleasures
4. Good ground, actual soil. What makes it good? It's been prepared, loosened, cleared and tilled. Ready for the seed. A prepared heart ready to receive the gospel. They hear, they retain and cling to the word and produce a crop. Produce = bear fruit.

We want our children to be that good soil that can receive the gospel and bear fruit. Like the good soil, we have to work to prepare their hearts and cultivate soil that can be worked.
What creates good soil in my child's heart? How do we prepare our kids hearts so they are prepared to receive Christ and understand the kingdom of God? With GOODNESS and ORGANICS - adding life, truth, goodness to our homes.
Focus more of your attention on being organic rather than organized. We need some of both, but don't spend so much time on the organization/curriculum/book work to the detriment of their hearts.
It's easier to depend on the organization stuff - "if you've got a problem, we've got a book." This can be based on fear - I can't do this, I need a formula. There are no formulas!
Organized focuses on mind.
Organic focuses on heart.
We do need both, though.

3 ways to tend our child's heart:
1. Soil preparation - loosening the ground, avoiding worldliness. REMOVE rocks from your home, anything that distracts or pulls us towards evil.
2. Soil cultivation - the goodness of God's nature - cultivating a heart that values the goodness of God, cultivating a heart that seeks the beauty in creative arts, seeks truth and wisdom of God.
3. Soil formation - teaching, hearing and doing the Word of God.

Sally Clarkson ~ Seasons of a Mother's Heart

No matter how idealistic you are, you will never live up to your own expectations.
Culture will always give you permission to not live well, to be lazy, to compromise.
How big is your desire to please and trust God? How much are you willing to lay down your life? You can build a condo or an estate, the choice is up to you.
We are either growing and flourishing or we are dying. There is no in between.
What you cherish in your heart is what you become. Are you cherishing the Word of God?
None of us is perfectly holy. Yet we should be continually striving and moving towards it. Training in holiness like an athlete goes for gold.
God has chosen my children and me to live in this generation. I have to guard my heart so that I can shine the light of Jesus and protect my heart from the evil of this world. And if I don't, my kids may never see it anywhere else.
We are living in times like Babylon. We must be faithful. We must be Daniels.
We must guide our children...they could be the next Daniel or Esther!

I have loved Clay and Sally Clarkson's teachings and books for quite some time. I consider Sally one of my mothering mentors, from afar. :) It was so awesome to hear her in person for the first time. I had planned to go up to her after a session or at their booth, but by the time I had made plans to do it she was gone. Oh well, hopefully there will be a next time!!

Here are some of my favorite Clarkson books:

Simplified Pantry {paperless planning review}

2013-05-23T07:00:00.000-04:00

I was very, very excited to review this next product from the Simplified Pantry! I received the e-book Paperless Home Organization written by Mystie Winckler, which will be the main focus of this review. I did also receive the Simplified Dinner e-book and the Simplified Dinner Gluten-Free & Dairy Free version as well!

If you happen to follow me on facebook, you may have seen my pleas for help regarding organization recently. Before receiving this ebook for review, I asked for help with remembering things around my home. I would find myself at the end of the day having forgotten to ask Caleb to practice piano. Now, mind you, he had a checklist to be accomplished each day, but being the 8yr old boy that he is, his list would be lost, forgotten or possibly eaten by the new puppy. :) But there were other things forgotten also, one day it would be piano, the next day it would be a library book, sometimes it was even simple things like take the puppy out every hour while she is potty training!

I honestly was feeling like I was losing my mind. TOO many things to remember. And TOO many things were being forgotten on a regular, daily basis.

I began looking for help and researching my options because in December I was blessed to receive the iphone 5 for my birthday! I knew there were tools and apps available, but I didn't know where to start.

Paperless Home Organization was just the help and boost I needed!

This e-book was very fun for me to read, I enjoy learning new things that I can do on my phone AND to help with keeping our home organized. I loved reading about the tools that the author was using and figuring out how I could implement them in my home.

I eagerly sat down at my computer and opened up all the documents and began reading. Being used to my paper planners for years and years, it was a little overwhelming for me to try and take all the steps outlined in this book for going paperless. But, I kept plugging along.

One thing I found very helpful was reminding myself that this was a TOOL. I needed to take the advice, glean as much as I could through it and ultimately find what would work for me personally. I may not be able to utilize every single instruction given in this book. But that's ok!! I need to find how to organize our home and make it work for ME.

And that is what this book helped me to do. I had to personalize some of her suggestions...tweak them just a bit. But these are things I would not have thought to do or try if I had never read this book. I'm thrilled to say that so far, I feel like I'm making GREAT headway in getting more organized. This e-book sells for $3.99 and I think that is a few dollars well spent towards a more organized home!

New tools I'm using to help me get organized:

lists on my phone - not on paper that I can't find and/or forget at home!
using my reminder app - something BEEPS at me so I remember to make Caleb practice piano
calendar on my phone, our computer & our iPad - David and I are both using this now and it is GREAT. I can see what he adds and he can see what I've added!
Evernote - this is one of the BIGGIES from Mystie's book. I haven't totally gotten it yet, mostly I forget to look at it, it doesn't beep at me. ha! But, I am using it for checklists and a grocery list. I also have started keeping documents in it - like our new co-op schedule that was emailed to us, etc.

Overall, I'm happy with the progress I'm making! I think I have a long way to go...but I'm getting there and this e-book definitely helped get me motivated to make some very needed changes.

Discount Available: for our readers, Mystie is offering 30% off of her e-books if you use the code TOS2013 from May 20th-June 3rd.

If you'd like to read what more homeschool moms are saying about these tools, please click over to the TOS Crew blog!

Sharing my notes from Teach Them Diligently...

2013-05-22T07:00:00.000-04:00

Starting tomorrow I will be sharing a series of posts with you from my experience at Teach Them Diligently!! My plan is to have a post for each of the main speakers I heard, because I have a lot of notes from each session!! I was blessed to really attend sessions that were perfect for where our family is right now, and I'm excited to share with you my notes!!

If you are anywhere near Omaha, you should try and go in a few weeks!!

My posts will cover the following speakers:

Clay & Sally Clarkson
Pam Tebow
Mark Hamby
Norm Wakefield
Debra Bell

Real Life Homeschooling #7

2013-05-21T07:00:00.000-04:00

Today we are blessed to have a guest post for our 7th week of Real Life Homeschooling! Please welcome Karyn! Karyn is a homeschooling mom to three young kids in UT. She loves being a mom! She also enjoys baking, sewing, gardening, reading, running and singing. She blogs at Teach Beside Me and Things That Make You Say: "Mmmmm!" She'd love to have you stop by for a visit!

As a homeschooler you have probably heard people tell you that you must be so patient to homeschool. Wow! I could never do that!" they say to you. Like what you do is beyond anyone's capacity. They think you have it all together as a mom and can do more than the average person. I am here to tell you that this just is nowhere near the truth. I am just a regular person who made a choice that is different than the norm. That does not make me better than the average mom. I struggle with it and I definitely have faults.

Patience is something I have to work on each and every day in our homeschool. There are days that school turns into a battle of wills (with my 5-year-old daughter especially). Sometimes I sit back and wonder what in the world I got myself into. Why can't I just be like the rest of the world and send my kids off to school for the whole day? I am not always the most patient person, but I am certainly learning & growing. Homeschooling is definitely helping with that. HOMESCHOOLING IS HARD WORK!

Another thing that is REALLY hard for me is organization. There is so much stuff that comes with homeschooling. And now for peek into the reality of our homeschool... I am a disorganized mess!

I barely know what to do with all of our papers, folders, books, note cards, pencils, crayons, scissors, craft supplies, and more. I try. Things just never seem to be put back where they belong. My kids each have their own desks, but they are overflowing with papers, too. Every year I start off clean and organized. I think- "this year will be better!" But here we are almost at the end of the school year and I am buried in papers and books again. Maybe someday I will get it! I am sure some of you are laughing at this lesson that I have never seemed to learn.

A few more things you may need to know about how imperfect our homeschool is:

Sometimes my school calendar doesn't get changed until a week or two into the month.
Occasionally we'll skip most of our regular assignments and sit on the couch and read together.
When my sister calls & invites us to the park, we can get school done in 20 minutes.
I often want to do school even less than my kids (but I try not to let them know)
Art projects sometimes take up half the day.
Lots of days I would rather blog than teach my kids.
I usually over plan at the beginning of the year, but never follow my plans.

But then... here are those perfect days that come along, reminding me of exactly why I chose this path. I love those special moments with my kids. The times when they just love what they are learning and are thrilled with what you are reading to them. Everything runs smoothly and even the toddler is happy. Those days are not as frequent as I would like them to be, but I am grateful for them.

I love homeschooling my kids. They love it, too. I ask them all the time if they are happy with it. They always say they love it and don't want to go to school. I love the freedom it allows us. I love the time I get with my children. I love learning along side them. While it's hard & is never as perfect as it looks on the surface, I am glad I made this choice.

Click over to read all of the Real Life Homeschooling series.

Guest Posters wanted: the response to this post has been so great. ya'll are great. :) SO, I'm going to open up this series for GUEST POSTERS!! If you are a homeschooler and want to contribute your own "real like homeschooling" post, please email me with your post! I would like to have a picture to go with it. And if you have a blog, I will link back to you! :) If you want to "grab" the picture in the top of this post, I will let you know when your post will go live and you can use this graphic as a teaser and point people here to read! I really think these will be encouraging to all of us as homeschooling mamas! I hope to share one post per week on this series!!

Jesus, The One and Only {book review}

2013-05-18T08:00:00.000-04:00

{this post contains affiliate links, thank you for supporting this blog!}

I jumped at the chance to review another of Beth Moore's books called Jesus, the One and Only. This book was first created as a Bible Study. I love Beth Moore's Bible studies and admit that I think I get more out of a book/study when I do the workbook pages each week. But, we don't always have time for in depth studies with lots of homework. And if that's the case, reading a book like this is a good alternative.

This book is an invitation to study the life of Jesus in a more in depth way. This book shows Beth Moore's heart for Jesus, I think. You can just see how much she loves her Savior. And the book draws you in to do the same. The chapters are very short and very readable.

There is no one else like Jesus. No one like our Savior. No one can compare. This book shows us how and why Jesus truly is the One and Only.

This book takes you on a chronological walk through the life of Jesus. Starting before His birth, walking through the relationship between Mary & Elizabeth, all the way to His death and resurrection. Beginning with the Word Made Flesh, Beth Moore describes her relationship with Jesus as a romance...and you can see so much of that in her writing. Her invitation, through this book, is for you to do the same.

His One and Only Son

Our One and Only Savior

Your Closest Friend Today and Forever

{taken from the back of book}

Follow me in Nashville at TTD!

2013-05-16T07:30:00.000-04:00

I know there are many of you who would LOVE to be at the Teach Them Diligently conference in Nashville this weekend! Believe me, I wish you could all come too!!

But, the next best thing?

Follow the hashtag #hsttd on twitter!!
Follow me too @HisMercyIsNew

You will feel like you are there with us! I have gleaned so many little nuggets of truth and wisdom by following along and am excited to share with you as I listen in on my sessions over the weekend!!

Guest Post: Meet Heather

2013-05-16T07:00:00.000-04:00

Today I would like to introduce you to a new friend: Heather Von St. James. I would love for you to read her story and click over to her site if you would like to read further!

Battling Cancer and Finding Strength

Before my cancer diagnosis, I was like many new mothers. All that mattered to me was the love and protection I provided my daughter. When the doctor told me about my diagnosis with malignant pleural mesothelioma, my entire life was put on hold as I fought to survive and see my daughter grow up.

When my husband Cameron and I decided to have our daughter, I was 35 years old. We had waited seven years after we got married to have our first child. As my pregnancy progressed, I experienced many of the feelings that other mothers talk about. I thought about the type of mother I would be and wondered what the daughter growing inside my belly would be like. The entire pregnancy was a breeze and the first sign of any issue was the birth. My daughter Lily was breech so the doctors performed an emergency C-section. When I finally held her, she was the most beautiful baby in the world. At no point in the past had I ever experienced that overwhelming sense of love and I just wanted to protect my daughter from any harm.

Cameron and I were able to enjoy being parents for three and a half months before disaster struck. My doctor told us that I had malignantpleural mesothelioma. I could not move or think as I tried to grasp what that meant. Cameron took over for me as I sat in fear and decided on a treatment option in Boston. It involved more traveling, but meant I would be operated on by one of the top specialists in mesothelioma in the world.

The treatment process was grueling. At the hospital, they removed my left lung, and parts of the lining from my heart and a diaphragm. Afterward, I had to stay in Boston for 18 days before I could leave the hospital. From there I stayed at an outpatient facility for two weeks before recuperating at my parent’s home for two more months. Because of the treatment, I missed out on a crucial month of my daughter’s life. This is one of the hardest things I ever had to do, but I had to if I did not want to miss out on the rest of her life.

Throughout the stress, I told myself that I had to do it. Mesothelioma kills 95 percent of people who are diagnosed. I could not be one of those people. I had to live to see my daughter grow up and to raise her with my husband. Thanks to my daughter, I found the will to fight cancer. Once the recovery at my parents ended, I had to endure the chemotherapy and radiation that followed. My daughter saved my life and is the reason I am here today. When she tells people that she saved my life, Lily could not be more right.

End of Year: What Worked, What Didn't

2013-05-15T07:00:00.000-04:00

I love these posts every year! Part of it is the planner in me, finding what we will do for the coming year is exciting. But, when I look back at what we've done for the entire school year, I am ENCOURAGED. I see that we really did accomplish a lot! And that boosts me to keep on keeping on.

{one of our egg experiments from our chicken unit study}

What Worked Well

I have loved our last 2 years with American History. I have learned SO much myself. And, getting together with other families and adding in hands-on and group activities really helps the kiddos to retain and learn in a more in depth way. The 3 moms in our group took turns doing a history activity/lesson with the kids each week and we all learned so much.
We reviewed Math-U-See for the TOS Crew and found an awesome math program that I wish we had found sooner. We have finished the Gamma level with all 3 kids and will be moving to the next level in the next 1-2 weeks.
In our little 3-family-co-op we also used Atelier Art and that went well also. We completed Level 4 and the kids enjoyed it. The dvds are a bit dated, as in the teacher outfits and classroom visuals, etc. But, the projects are great and I was thrilled to give my art-loving girls some regular art instruction!
Lots of memory work: scriptures, and poems using Linguistic Development from IEW.
Our new chicks and learning all about them, with our chicken unit study and egg experiments was a fabulous 2 months of learning!
Piano lessons & practice for all 3 kids - a fabulous teacher is what makes this possible!!

{field trip to the Titanic with friends}

What Didn't Work Well

Spanish - with our little co-op we tried out Spanish for Children from Classical Academic Press. While the dvds and workbook were fine and well put together, it was simply WAY too much in my opinion. Too much, too fast. There was no way to have hundreds AND HUNDREDS of vocabulary memorized as quickly as they put it in the book. This program is designed for grades 4 and up, and the majority of our kids in this little co-op were this age. But, even the older kids had trouble with the sheer amount of memorizing words. There was little review built into the curriculum, and we had trouble with that too. I like how the workbooks and dvd lessons are laid out, but it just was too much for us.
Reading Aloud - we did this everyday, LOTS of reading. But my kids drive crazy nearly every.single.day. They fight, they are disruptive, I just don't know how to make it work. Tips? Would love to hear from you!! We did still get in a lot of reading!! But, the actual time each morning leaves me super frustrated nearly everyday.
While we LOVED our group time and read alouds for American History, I just did not use the Biblioplan Companion guide like I thought I would. I am finding that reading a lot of great books and doing some hands-on things is our favorite way to learn history. I just didn't need that extra text.
We did not love the Apologia Swimming Creatures this year like we've loved our science in the past. We had a great time with the Astronomy last year, and we did do some fun things with the Swimming Creatures, but the last few chapters of this book seemed to be lacking. It seemed like they had to get in a certain number of chapters and were just grasping at the end to find info. The experiments were a little lacking as well. I ended up finding better things on pinterest. (I did start off blogging about this but ended up not posting all the chapters because the activities/experiments just weren't always worth sharing! ha!)
We also didn't find a writing program or routine for the girls like I had hoped. We did some journaling off and on and then used the picture writing prompts a lot - which the girls did love! But I don't feel like we grew much in our writing skills this school year.

{field trips with our family}

In the next few weeks I will be sharing what our plans are for the coming year!! Stay tuned! We have some exciting things coming up!

Real Life Homeschooling #6

2013-05-14T07:00:00.000-04:00

Today we are blessed to have our 6th post in the Real Life Homeschooling series. This post and pictures are shared by Sara at Embracing Destiny. Sara blogs hoping to bring encouragement to other homeschool moms on this journey. She loves being at home with her three daughters, ages 11, 5, and 3, and being a wife to Dave. She is neither Betty Crocker nor Martha Stewart, but she's learning everyday that it's okay to be authentic and embrace the destiny God has given her. Sara enjoys connecting with other moms on Facebook and Twitter.

I have a few confessions to make as a homeschool mom. Our days don't always go as I plan them or as I'd envisioned them to be before I actually started homeschooling for real. Having worked in a Montessori school B.C. (before children), I imagined a nice, neat little classroom full of brightly colored manipulatives, cute little tables and chairs, and everything in its place in orderly bins in little cubbies. *deep breath* I will not covet my neighbor's organizational skills. Or her budget to buy all that cool stuff we can't afford.

Reality check: when school is home and home is school, there's bound to be a little chaos. At least in my experience there is. Can you relate to any of the following?

Sometimes math is delayed because we can't find the math manipulatives. Usually because the three-year-old has run off with them to see how many she can stuff in her purse. Does that count as math time?

Aha, there they are!

Sometimes we don't finish one lapbook before starting another just because we've lost interest in the first one.

Sometimes that book or curriculum we just had to have right now sits on the shelf for a few months before we actually get around to starting it.

Sometimes the only shoes I wear for days are my favorite comfy slippers. No, I don't stay in my jammies all day. What do you think yoga pants are for? Yoga? You've got to be kidding me!

Sometimes I read other homeschool blogs and marvel, "How does she do it all? Why can't I?"

That's when it gets serious, folks. We are each uniquely called to homeschooling for many different reasons. God put us each in our special place and time, with our individual children, for a specific purpose. Your kids aren't mine and mine aren't yours for a very important reason. God has a plan. Who are we to second guess it?

I thank God His mercies are new everyday because I sure need Him. I also thank Him for the precious gifts of my children and the privilege I have in educating them at home, even when real life homeschooling isn't easy.

Click over to read all of the Real Life Homeschooling series.

Lego History Lesson: Communism/Democracy

2013-05-13T07:00:00.000-04:00

My friend, Linda, who we meet with weekly for our little co-op, had a wonderful Lego lesson prepared for us last week to teach the kids some of the differences between a communist society and a democratic society. It was such a great idea that I had to share with you all!

First, we gave Legos to the kids and told them to build their own house, whatever they wanted it to look like. We gave them 10-15 minutes to complete their homes.

We told the kids that we were living in a democratic society and that they could go to college and study to become just about anything they wanted to be. So, she passed out job titles telling each child what their career was. She gave each child Monopoly money according to their job.

Then, we had an election. Our candidates were the mini-fig characters from Lego. :) We told the kids that living in a democratic society allows us each to have our vote in elections and to help choose our leaders.

Next, Linda said we were going to show the differences and what it would be like if our society was communist.

First things first, no elections, but this fellow was their new leader:

After we had our new leader in the communist society, Linda proceeded to go around the room and take everyone's black and gray blocks out of their homes - they could only use the colors given to them by the government. Then, she took all of the money from their previous careers and divided it up equally. Then, she told them they couldn't have 2-3-4 kids, but only one.

This was a GREAT visual and discussion time for helping the kids to understand what it would be like to live in a different kind of society than we have in America.

Mother's Day gifts

2013-05-12T21:02:00.001-04:00

Found this picture of my mom and me in 1976 when I was a few weeks old!

God gifted me with the best mom in the world.

My husband and kids had a few gifts waiting for me. :)

My mother-in-law helped each of my kids make a bracelet for me!

These kids made me a momma!

And my awesome husband made this awesome dessert

for Mother's Day supper! YUM!

So much to be thankful for on this Mother's Day weekend!

first church service in our new sanctuary!

11 baptisms in one day! (including a niece and nephew!!)

seeing God at work

spontaneous Mother's Day hug from one of my kids

my favorite mexican food for lunch!

peanut butter pie from MY mom for Mother's Day!

and awesome strawberry dessert from my hubs

grilled burgers and eating outside with my family

excitement for the Teach Them Diligently conference in a few days!!

finishing up a good year of school {for the most part, right?!}

reading words of comfort and encouragement

sweet emails that come at just the right moment

#3638 - 3649

Getting ready for Nashville...

2013-05-11T08:00:00.000-04:00

I'm counting down the days til I head to Teach Them Diligently in Nashville! Less than a week to go!

Have you ever been to a homeschool conference? Are you attending one this year? I attended TTD last year in Spartanburg and shared here about God providing for me to go to Nashville this year. The blessings found in the encouragement at TTD are worth every effort and penny it takes to get there. As a homeschool mom that struggles often with homeschooling, I need this time. And I believe that you probably do as well.

I've checked out the schedule and here are the sessions I am MOST excited about:

Clay Clarkson Organic Parenting: Preparing the Soil of Your Child’s Heart for Spiritual Growth
Debra Bell Developing Motivation and Interest in Kids of All Ages
Hal & Melanie Ballistic Homeschooling: Teaching Boys
Sally Clarkson My Mom Heart Matters: Reclaiming Motherhood, Shaping the Future
Pam Tebow An Evening with Pam Tebow

And in addition to hearing awesome speakers that will inspire and motivate me, I'm going to get to room with my dear friend, Marcy!! And meet some other homeschool bloggers while I'm there!

This year, my goal is to stay OUT of the vendor hall as much as possible. I have little self-control when it comes to books and curriculum. I want it all! ha! So, in order for my husband to agree to let me go, I had to promise to not bring home hundreds of dollars of new stuff.

More conference tips:

bring water bottles
keep a few small snacks (nuts, etc.) in your bag/purse
wear comfy shoes
don't worry about your big camera! (especially if you have a phone that takes good pics!)
bring a big notebook to take notes in
bring several pens
a bag that is COMFY to carry on your shoulder ALL day
come prepared with a list of curricula that you NEED for next year, don't walk around aimlessly with no plan and no list. ask me how I know what happens when you do that! :)

So, tell me, are you going to a conference this year?

Will you be at Nashville?

Do you have any tips that I've forgotten to mention??

InstaFriday!

2013-05-10T07:26:00.001-04:00

A little glimpse into our week from pictures on my iPhone.
my instagram name: candacecrabtree

Just for the record: our church isn't perfect, no church is.

But I love my church so very much!

Our egg shell mosaics

My girls LOVE Awana and they had award night last week!

I'm such a proud momma that these 2 girls are such

self-motivated awana members.

they memorized all these verses on their own,

with no help or direction from me!

We are still loving Math-U-See!

So thankful we were able to review this program.

Found a backpack in the back yard.

Emptied it, and this was what we found.

love my boy. :)

Desperate times. desperate measures.

this was the only sugar in the house: chocolate chips. :)

our new sanctuary!!

sunday will be the first day in the new building!

can't wait!

not a great picture,

but I had to capture this fella who lives near us

and it always at one of our feeders or in one of our trees!

World War 2 {history resources}

2013-05-08T07:00:00.000-04:00

{this post contains affiliate links, thank you for supporting this blog!}

World War 2 is such a huge event from our country's history that I found it difficult to find and read and share everything with my kids that I felt was important!! So, I started collecting ideas and books in this post so that I could share them with you!!

My favorite book for this study of WW2 is Great World War II Projects You Can Build Yourself ! It is more than a project book, so the title might be a little misleading, because I also used this as a book I read to my kids! Each section or chapter had a great summary of each of the huge subjects related to WW2.

Topics from the book:

life in the U.S. while the troops were away
supporting the troops
food rationing
fashion from the time period
prisons & concentration camps
spies
women in battle and in the workforce
war technology
important people

In addition to reading 1 section of this book each day, we also read lots of other great books about this time period.

Books We Read

Movies We Watched

The Hiding Place - if you have not read the story of Corrie Ten Boom or seen the movie, I beg you, READ IT!! Her life will inspire you to faith and greatness! These are the kinds of stories I want my children's education to center around!! Amazing!
The Diary of Anne Frank

More Resources

Homeschool in the Woods ~ 20th Century Lapbook (we were privileged to review this product at exactly the right point in our american history studies! You can read more about this here.)
The Butterfly - free unit study from HSS
The Harmonica - free unit study from HSS
Anne Frank website - this is really cool! You can go on a "virtual tour" of the hidden home that the Frank's lived in.
Holocaust Museum website - on this particular page there is video from Holocaust survivors

Activities

The start of WW2 ~ helping kids figure it out
Ration book activity
Barter activity - bring various items in for each child and have them practice bartering with each other! (one child could have 10 pencils, one child 10 hershey kisses, one child 10 sticker sheets, etc.)
Field Trip to see my grandpa ~ my grandfather was a pilot in WW2 and is still living in Knoxville, TN! We went to visit him specifically for him to tell us about the war a few years ago. We also read Grandfather's Journey at the time.

Curriculum & books for sale

2013-05-07T12:07:00.000-04:00

These all come from a smoke-free home. Any damage done to books will be noted with each book. These prices INCLUDE your shipping price! I will accept paypal and also a check, if you send a check I will probably wait til I receive it before mailing your book to you.

Leave a comment here or email me if you wish to purchase one of these. :)

candacepsalm27_1 AT yahoo.com

~~Atelier Art ~ Level 4, $75ppd~~

ABeCeDarian Reading program ~ $30 for all this: teachers manuals and student books for levels A1 and A2, including all the student readers also. I reviewed this program here and am still using level B with Caleb. One of the readers was left in the van and got "sunburned." :) faded in the sun...

Five in a Row - all great condition, volume 4 is the only one that is spiral.
~~Five in a Row, Volume 1 $20ppd~~
~~Five in a Row, Volume 2 $20ppd~~
Five in a Row, Volume 3 $20ppd
~~Five in a Row, Volume 4 $45ppd~~

Apologia Exploring Creation with Zoology 1: Flying Creatures $20

Apologia Exploring Creation with Zoology 2: Swimming Creatures $20

Biblioplan Companion, Year 4 (american history, year 2) ~ $45 - this is the U.S. and world history from 1850-2000, it is the text book printed and spiral bound, it's a pretty hefty book. It is in great shape except for one top corner that was chewed by our new puppy. The book is still completely readable, etc. Here is a link that tells more about the companion and has samples.

IEW Student Writing Intensive A DVD's ~ $50 - this is the DVD's only. 4 DVD's in this set. This picture shows exactly the case this comes in...and explains the level.

Church History in Plain Language by Bruce Shelley ~ $15, a little bit of highlighting in the first few pages

Stories of the Pilgrims, 2nd edition, by Pumphrey ~ $10

Trial and Triumph by Hannula ~ $12

I hope to be adding more later!

Real Life Homeschooling #5

2013-05-07T07:00:00.000-04:00

Homeschooling is hard.
Mothering is hard.
This being at home with my kids and teaching them, day in and day out, it's the hardest thing I've ever done. In my life. Ever. And amen.

I have a confession to make to you today. I'm going to share with you something that you won't read on many other homeschooling blogs. (because they are a lot smarter than me to not bring it up! ha!)

I don't love it.

There, I said it. Outloud. I wish I did love it, but I don't.

I don't love homeschooling. Most days, I don't enjoy it. It makes me sad to say that...but at this stage in our lives, it's true. Back in the kindergarten & crafts stage, I did love it. I'm a former kindergarten teacher and I guess that was just my favorite age.

But now? I have had serious doubts. I have prayed and begged God to give me another option. I have actually looked into other options. But I have no peace about any other option.

All the fighting my kids do, seemingly non-stop. The middle school hormones have started. The annoying little brother has showed up big time. The arguments over clothing, food and free time options have begun. It's not fun. I'm no good at this. And for some reason, my kids seem to have minds and opinions of their own! Ha! Who told them they could do that???

But, here is what it boils down to...

I homeschool my children because God called me to do so.

I don't homeschool my children because I'm a good teacher. (or even better than public school teachers. I'm not.)
I don't homeschool my children because I'm super patient.
I don't homeschool my children because I find such joy in serving my family. (ouch)
I don't homeschool my children because I'm so organized and just love having everything under control. (ha)

I'm not good at this. I mess up everyday. I get frustrated with my children and they see it in me. I apologize and apologize again 5 minutes later.

And, this is the verse I cling to:

"Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, than I am strong." 2 Corinthians 12:9-10

I love my children. I truly feel blessed to be living this life. I'm so thankful. I'm thankful because God shows me my weakness and I know that I am totally and completely dependent on Him to do a good work in the hearts of my children. I continue to place my FAITH in Him and the promise He has made to me to finish what He has begun.

Click over to read all of the Real Life Homeschooling series.

Gratitude: a small thing?

2013-05-06T07:00:00.000-04:00

Why is it when we discuss having a thankful heart people's eyes glaze over? It seems like such a simple thing. And maybe the beauty of gratitude is that it is simple. Maybe the fact that such a simple thing can completely change our lives is why we miss it so often. I don't know about you, but I don't want to miss it. The small joys. The everyday moments. But, so often...I admit, I do!!

So, for today, another week...I'm counting these small gifts, these everyday joys...and giving thanks to the ONE who gives so freely.

a new pastor for our church ~ so, so many answered prayers in this short statement!!

an awesome sermon

such a sweet time of worship for the last week in our "old" sanctuary

a beautiful new building to be moving into next week

small group discussions

american history - I have learned SO much with my kids these past 2 years. I'm a little sad to see it end!!

the end of a long week (hey! i found a reason to be thankful for last week! ha!)

getting VERY excited about Teach Them Diligently, Nashville, in a few weeks!!

our chickens ~ I just love having them!!

SPRING is here!!

blooming, everywhere

freshly mowed grass

lots of kids jumping on the trampoline

#3625 - 3637

Blogger woes, missing pictures & new blog...

2013-05-05T07:38:00.000-04:00

If you happened to have scrolled through any of my old posts, like a year ago or more, you may have noticed my pictures from those posts are gone!! (And yes, that is more than HALF of my blog.)

I'm feeling quite distressed over this...can't contact blogger. From every search and attempt I've made, it appears that they don't want to be contacted. :) If you do a google search for "contacting blogger" you will see what I mean. Ugh. I've been to their help boards and no one seems to be able to "help" there either.

So...I've decided to move my blog over to a wordpress.org blog. (I'm not doing the moving myself, lest you worry that I might blow up the internet!! ha!) It will likely still be a few weeks before the "new" site is ready...moving my stuff to wordpress is a HUGE task. If I wanted to just start a new blog, it would be a lot easier. But I hate to give up everything I've written here for the last 7 years, ya know??

My blog address will STILL be www.mercyisnew.com - yay!! So, you will not have any changes to make to read! But, I wanted to let you know that we are working on it. I have no idea what is going to happen with all those pictures and if we can recover them or not. I'm not hopeful.

But, if anyone has any clue as to what has happened or suggestions for me, I would LOVE to hear from you!!

I have never gotten a notification that my blogger account is full. I can still upload NEW pictures...it is just the OLD pictures disappearing?!!? Boo.

Unglued Devotional {review & give away!}

2013-05-03T09:16:00.001-04:00

Update: Give Away closed
Winner: Ronda! (my neighbor, how fun!)

{affiliate links used in this post, thank you for supporting this blog!}

Have you read the book Unglued by Lysa TerKeurst? I have been slowly reading it over a period of months...slowly because it was speaking right to me and I had to chew on bits of it for awhile. :) Then, I was given the opportunity to review the devotional that goes along with it from BookSneeze, and I knew I would love the devotional guide.

I was right.

I hate to admit it, but I *needed* this book. I have never considered myself an out of control person. But, I do NOT generally feel like I have control over my emotions. I feel like my whole being is swayed from day to day depending on my kids behavior, how well our school day goes, unkind words spoken to me from others, etc.

So, yes, you could say I have come unglued a time or two.

I have used this book exactly as Lysa describes using it...just for a few moments of inspiration and challenge in the morning. I love that there is a "thought for the day" each that that is just a small nugget of truth for me to ponder and take with me on my day.

Some of these thoughts for the day that have really resonated with me:

The answer to keeping God's power with me and working in me to produce self-control is letting His Word get inside me.
Feelings are indicators, not dictators.
Am I trying to prove I'm right or improve this relationship?
I can be the unglued woman made gentle, patient and peaceful.

What about you? Do you struggle with coming unglued? Have you read this book? Would you like to win a copy of the devotional??

Give Away Details
1. Leave me a comment here on this post telling me the one thing that triggers your coming unglued more than anything else.
2. Please leave your email also so I can contact you if you win!
3. Leave your comment by Friday, May 10th and I will announce the winner that day.

Learning All About Chickens with the Kids!

2013-05-02T07:00:00.000-04:00

{this post contains affiliate links, thank you for supporting this blog!}

Since we were getting new chicks as a family, I wanted to incorporate this into our schooling...and we did! And it's been great!! Here are tons of ideas & books & resources we have used!

We started off with the free lapbook from Homeschool Share, as well as this post on learning about Eggs from Wende at the HSS blog...and the unit just took off from there!

Books We Read

The Enormous Egg (fabulous chapter book read aloud!!)
Chicks & Chickens (one of the main books we used for our info in lapbook)
Chickens Aren't the Only Ones (great science book that shows all the animals that lay eggs!)
Where Do Chicks Come From?
Chicken Sunday
Rechenka's Eggs (Paperstar)

Egg Experiments

Egg Drop Experiment ~ lots of fun!!

Squeezing Egg Experiment ~ this was awesome and so funny! none of us believed it would work!

Air Pressure Egg experiment ~ this one didn't work for us! ha!!

Raw egg in Vinegar experiment ~ we did this with our little co-op and sent the jars home with each family...then we came back the next week to show pictures and tell what happened with our eggs!

More Resources & Links

Chicken lapbook ~ free from HSS

My Pinterest Board for this chicken study

Meet our chickens!

Draw a Chicken art lesson

Chalk Pastel Chicks ~ these turned out so cute and are so simple!! (see pic directly above)

Our Swing Set turned Chicken Coop

Chick cupcakes we made using idea found here!

We drew the chicks in our nature journals

and labeled all the parts!!

Here is a really cool video we watched showing a chick hatching out of the egg!! So amazing!

BlogHer featuring our coop!

2013-05-01T08:00:00.000-04:00

I'm so excited to share that our Swing Set Turned Chicken Coop post is being shared on BlogHer today!! Woo-hoo!!

I hope you will click on over and give our coop some linky love today...

I did not even realize there was a BlogHer GREEN page! That is where I'm being featured today, as well as on the DIY page! You can also follow along on twitter @BlogHerGreen.

Home School in the Woods {history product review}

2013-05-01T07:00:00.000-04:00

As a part of the TOS review crew, we were blessed to try out our first Home School in the Woods product! I have heard many great things about this company, but had never tried any of it before. Because we have been in American history for our 2nd year now, the Hands-On History Lap-Pak: 20th Century in America was perfect for us!!

We have enjoyed many lapbooks over the years. I know they aren't for everyone, but my crafty girls have loved them. We don't do them every week of every year, or I think they probably would grow tired of them. But, when I see a fabulous one that goes with something we are learning about, I love to add them in! You can see many of the lapbooks we have done here.

These lapbooks from Homeschool in the Woods take lapbooks up a notch, in my opinion. They are perfect for the upper elementary and middle school age, with lots of deeper questions, topics and writing to go along with the folding, cutting and pasting. I found that my girls, 5th and 4th grade, seemed to be at the perfect age to work on these! The website suggests using this with grade 3-8 and my girls are right in the middle of that age span and did beautifully with this lap-pak.

Another thing that is different about these from other lapbooks we have done is that they are in depth and FULL of information and research topics. These lap books are not going to be done in one week, in my opinion. In fact, we have had this lapbook in our possession for nearly a month and we've only completed several pieces! That is because we are reading other books along with the reading material {32-page file you can print or just read on the computer} that came with our Homeschool in the Woods project pak.

The lapbook contains 22 projects and the 32-page reading material to go along with these projects. The reading material consisted of generally 1 paragraph about each "topic" that will give you and your children an overview of that event or person. Because we are in the middle of American History already and because so much happened in the 20th century in our country, I felt like we needed to dive in a bit more than just a paragraph on some of these topics! That is why we were able to use this lap-pak (lapbook with projects) for nearly 2 months!

When you purchase the lap-pak/lapbook for $21.95 from Home School in the Woods, you receive the files to download on your computer, or you can purchase a CD for $22.95. I, personally, would not be able to purchase many of these in my school year at this price and wish the printable version could cost a little less, because you still do a lot of printing for this and that adds to your cost! However, on the other hand, you get a LOT of files/documents and I know a lot of time went into creating these products!!

I say that it must have taken a lot of time to create because I was immediately overwhelmed when I opened the documents and saw how many files and lapbook pieces and topics were covered!! It is truly amazing all that is included! These are elaborate lap books, compared to what we have done in the past!

Some of the topics covered in the 20th century lap-pak are both World Wars, Temperance, Women's Suffrage, the Great Depression, art movements and medicinal advancement of the 20th century, and many more.

Overall, we were very, very pleased with this lap-pak. I'm very impressed with ALL that you get in this one project pak. It is very well thought out, very well put together and covers so much for your students to dig in and study!

Here is a collage of some of my girls work on this lap-pak:

Please go check out the TOS crew blog if you'd like to read what other families are doing with Homeschool in the Woods products!

Independent Reads & Read Alouds 2012-13 (updated)

2013-05-01T06:30:00.000-04:00

{this post contains affiliate links, thank you for supporting this blog!}

**Trying to update this list at least once per month so I can keep up with it! :)

This year, for the independent reading my girls will do, I wanted to make a list of "must reads" for the 4th-5th grade age group. I bought many of these books at our local bookstore and they are now in a basket in our school room. I wanted to make sure my girls were getting to read the GOOD STUFF and not just the books that correlate with our history! So, that will be their independent reading for this year! So many great books, so little time...this is a great way for me to make sure they are reading some great books this year. And whatever we don't read this year, will just stay in the basket to be added to next year's books!

Here is what we have read this year so far...in the 2012-2013 school year. (Our school year started at the beginning of June.)

Read Alouds
Little House in the Big Woods
Farmer Boy
Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt
Kisses from Katie
Little House on the Prairie
On the Banks of Plum Creek
Clara Barton: Founder of the American Red Cross (Childhood of Famous Americans)
Island of the Blue Dolphins (audio)
My Side of the Mountain (audio)
Caddie Woodlawn
Across Five Aprils (audio)
Shades of Gray
Thomas Edison: Young Inventor (Childhood of Famous Americans Series)
A Bear Called Paddington (audio)
Cowboys of the Wild West
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
Hatchet (audio) - another survival story we enjoyed
A Wrinkle in Time (audio, we loved this!! and watched the movie after finishing the book!)
The Night the Bells Rang
Tree By Leaf
The Enormous Egg
Who Was Anne Frank?
Number the Stars

Hannah's Independent reads
Civil War On Sunday
Family Under the Bridge
The Hundred Dresses
Hour of the Olympics
Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing
Ginger Pye
Pinky Pye
The Boxcar Children Mysteries Box Set: Books One Through Twelve - books 1-3 ( so far)
Tonight on the Titanic (Magic Tree House, No. 17)
Amelia Earhart: Young Aviator (Childhood of Famous Americans)
Penguins (Our Amazing World Series)
Rufus M.

Emily's Independent reads
Civil War On Sunday
From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
Bridge to Terabithia
The Hundred Dresses
Hour of the Olympics
Animal Rescue: Honey the Unwanted Puppy
Dear Mr Henshaw
Helen Keller (Scholastic Biography)
Frederick Douglas, Voice of Freedom (can't find exact book link)
Harriet Tubman: Freedom's Trailblazer (Childhood of Famous Americans)
Thomas Edison: Incredible Inventor
Cora Frear
The Boxcar Children Mysteries Box Set: Books One Through Twelve - book 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 (so far)
Tonight on the Titanic (Magic Tree House, No. 17)
Penguins (Our Amazing World Series)

More Books in the Basket (to be read)
All-Of-A-Kind Family
An Extraordinary Life: The Story of a Monarch Butterfly
Anne of Green Gables
Bedknobs and Broomsticks
By the Great Horn Spoon!
The Black Stallion
The Giver (which I didn't realize til recently was a trilogy!)
Heidi
The Mouse and the Motorcycle
Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh
Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters
The Ordinary Princess
Princess Academy
The Shakespeare Stealer
The Saturdays
The Swiss Family Robinson
The View from Saturday
Walk Two Moons
The Witch of Blackbird Pond
The Wolves of Willoughby Chase

**full disclosure: amazon affiliate links used.
**I have not pre-read all of these books. I took the titles from various lists I found online and just compiled a list of books I owned and could find at the used bookstore. I will read at least the beginning of each book before the girls start a new one, if I'm not familiar with it. If you see any questionable titles in my post, please let me know! :)

My Reading in 2013!!

2013-05-01T06:00:00.000-04:00

{this post contains affiliate links, thank you for supporting this blog!}

Wow! I still am having a hard time grasping that it is now 2013. I am excited, though, about a new year of reading great books and discussing them here with you!! :) I always love your comments - here and on Facebook or email - about what I'm reading, what you're reading and how those books stretch us, teach us or just bring us joy.

Here is my 2012 list of books I read in case you haven't seen it.
And here are all the posts I've written about some of these books.

So, this will be my running list of books I'm reading (& finishing) this year...ready, set, GO!
These are books I have *finished* and in order of completion. I'm trying to post an update at least monthly.

1. Hungry: Lessons Learned on the Journey from Fat to Thin - I got this free for kindle awhile back and it was really good and really funny. It's real, this man's addiction to food had me cringing a few times - meaning it hit a little too close to home. This is not a how-to or a diet plan, he is just sharing his story.

2. Almost Amish - LOVED this book on living simpler lives. I wrote more about living a simple life, my thoughts on this book and A Dirty Life here.

3. Desperate - another great book from Sally Clarkson!! Sarah Mae was her co-author and I enjoyed this book a lot!! May be one of my new favorite parenting books to recommend!! Here are more of my thoughts on this book.

4. The Dirty Life - I have a post discussing this book and Almost Amish. This book is a memoir and I really enjoyed it!! This book showed me the tremendous amount of work that goes into starting up a farm! I'm thinking I'm too lazy to ever do this...

5. Hannah Coulter - I loved this fiction title...written by Wendell Berry. I have never read any of his books before but I really enjoyed his writing style. I am looking for more of his books to read now from the library! And I seem to be reading a lot of farming, amish, simpler life type books!! Loving these books so far!!

6. Growing Up Amish: A Memoir - I really enjoyed this man's memoir of growing up in the Amish world, his struggles within himself and the Amish community. His leaving and returning. Very fascinating.

7. Come to the Table - my review of this book here. Love Neta Jackson's books!!

8. Abundant Simplicity: Discovering the Unhurried Rhythms of Grace - can't say enough good things about this book! I have written about it here and more coming weekly, hopefully. Also, now I have a whole category about this book, a series of sorts going through the book.

9. Bread & Wine: A Love Letter to Life Around the Table with Recipes - another book I really, really enjoyed. Even though it was a bit different than what I usually enjoy/read. I will have more about this book coming soon...

10. The Repurposed And Upcycled Life by Michelle Rayburn. I wrote a book review for this book here. I enjoyed this book, it was an encouragement to me.

11. Respectable Sins: Confronting the Sins We Tolerate - we read this with our small group and discussed a chapter each week. This wasn't one of my favorite reads...but I think it is definitely good for believers (especially those of us who have been christians for most of our lives or have been in the church for many years) to read and pray about and ask God to search our hearts about. These "little" sins are not little and have a way of creeping into our lives without us even thinking about it! So it's good to ask God to search us and think about these things.

12. The Christian Parenting Handbook ~ excellent, practical parenting wisdom!! Read my review here!

13. Delight Directed Learning: Guide Your Homeschooler Toward Passionate Learning - this book was a short, fast read and was inspirational for those of us wishing to homeschool with more of our kids interests at heart! The only thing I wish there had been more of is practical ideas for elementary aged kids.

14. Getting the Most Out of Your Homeschool This Summer: Learning Just for the Fun of it! - this was another quick read that was really encouraging for getting some schooling done in the summer!

15. Sparkly Green Earrings: Catching the Light at Every Turn - loved this book. Read it in 2 evenings. Melanie Shankle is hilarious. Reading this book happened for me at a time I really needed the laughter!! Easy, quick, delightful read on motherhood.

**And here are some books I'm wanting to read in 2013!! Can you believe I have all these on our iPad/kindle?? I got nearly every one of them for FREE and a few of them I paid $1 or $2 for!! These are all GOOD books...and I want to read more of them in 2013! :)

Going to Teach Them Diligently: Nashville!!

2013-04-30T07:46:00.000-04:00

{this post contains affiliate links, thank you for supporting this blog!}

I am so unbelievably excited. You may remember that last year I was blessed to attend the Teach Them Diligently homeschool conference in Spartanburg. Well this year, God has completely provided a way for me to attend in Nashville!

I wasn't planning to attend, we have sort of decided to not spend money on ANY trips until we have saved enough for all 5 of us to go to Guatemala to visit my brother. Well, as you know, that is going to take awhile to save...we aren't even close. But, when God provided (within 30 minutes of each other) a room from one person, a ride from another person and a registration fee from somewhere else, I began thinking that He wanted me to be there!!

This is one of the speakers I am most excited about...drumroll...

I shared last year that one of my favorite speakers was Ann Dunagan who shared about having a Mission Minded Homeschool. I went to all of her sessions and was SO blessed, I went on to purchase all her books and continued to be blessed. I wrote about her practical ideas for having a mission minded homeschool here. I also shared about her session about the 3 dynamics of a mission minded family. If you want to read her book, you will glean all of these ideas and more...it will be like your very own private convention session. :) If you can't attend, that is!

I also shared here {very briefly} about a few other speakers I enjoyed!!

Maybe you are just THINKING and PRAYING about homeschooling. Maybe you are going to have a high schooler this year. Or, maybe you're like me and need all the encouragement & help you can get in this homeschooling journey. Well, if any of those are you, try to get to one of these conferences.

Honestly, when I went last year, I came home and told myself I would try to go to something like this once or twice a year. We don't have the extra money in our budget for lots of traveling. But, it needs to be a priority. I need to make every effort to find support and encouragement on this journey. It's the hardest thing I've ever done (mothering and homeschooling) and walking it alone is just not an option!!

"Therefore, encourage one another and build each other up..." 1 Thess. 5:11

**affiliate links included