June Goals - Update

Last Friday, I posted a blog about goals that I was working toward in the month of June. The first goal was to stop drinking soda. That didn't happen, but I am happy to say that I have drank less soda than I usually do, so I'm hoping that is a step in the right direction.

My second goal was the 30 for 30 challenge about spending 30 minutes everyday in the month of June playing with your children. I am happy to say that I have been able to make sure that I play with them every day! I haven't actually timed it, so I don't know if I've hit 30 minutes exactly but I have made the effort to play with them and spend time with them every day.

My third goal was to cut out fast food. We have done really well with this goal. We have still eaten out a few times, but not every day which, unfortunately, we had been doing for the few weeks prior. I actually cooked dinner last night! My husband is a fabulous cook and loves to do it, so whenever he has time he likes to make dinner, which unfortunately has spoiled me and gotten me lazy with meal planning.

All this goal setting got me thinking about how it is good to set goals, even if you don't achieve them. It gives us something to strive toward and work on.

Did you set goals for this month, year, etc? How are you doing in regards to those goals? I welcome all of your comments. :)

Linking up with Our Good Life http://www.ourgoodfamily.org/2012/06/3in30-challenge-link-up.html
and

Linking up with Consider the Lillies at http://www.considertheliliesblog.com/2012/06/homemaking-link-up-10.html

Our Unexpected Benefits of Homeschooling

This is our first year homeschooling. I don't know why I chose to wait to start homeschooling until my son was in fourth grade and my daughter was in first grade. :) I was also pregnant with my fourth child and had a very busy two year old running around. I'm starting to understand why my Mom says that I do everything the hard way. :)

Anyway, I had felt like the Lord had been convicting me to homeschool for a few years before we finally made the decision. There are many reasons why we homeschool, our faith, good education, behavior issues, etc. The thing that I want to talk about in this blog post are the unexpected benefits we found so far in our homeschooling journey.

1.) More family time:  This one is obvious as since the kids do their schooling at home, we are together more often. The unexpected benefit was that even though Daddy works out of the home, we found more time with him too. Running to his work while we were out or taking Daddy lunch provided extra time for the kids to see and talk to him.

2.) More Opportunities to learn: This one was a benefit that I hadn't even thought of before we started homeschooling. Since I know what they are learning in their school lessons each day, it is easier for me to incorporate that into everyday situations. For example, my son and I were learning about caterpillars and how they cocoon and turn into butterflies. Well, a few days after that we were looking at our plants in the backyard and found a cocoon on our cauliflower plant. It was so neat to be able to take what we had read in the Science book and see it before us happening in reality.

3.) More Time for Extracurricular Interests: This one was really a great, unexpected benefit since both of my school-aged children decided they wanted to try playing basketball for the first time this year. Since we can usually get all of our schooling done in around four hours, we have more time to visit friends, take music lessons, and do sports.

4.) More Time for Real World Learning:  Since my children are with me all of the time, I have the benefit of being able to teach them many skills that they will use as adults and parents themselves. When I run to the bank or go to an appointment or pay a bill, they are with me. I can teach them how to deposit money at the bank, clean the house, call for services, etc. My Mother was very good at teaching me how to do all these things, but I've had a few friends who were completely unprepared for running a house. These skills are almost more important that the lessons we learn in schooling since they will be used more often.


These are just a few of the unexpected benefits that I've found in my homeschooling journey. There was a time in my life where I would have never considered homeschooling my children. I'm happy that the Lord has changed my heart and mind and now we are able to enjoy this new chapter in our lives.

 Do you homeschool your kids? Have you ever thought about homeschooling your kids? Are you against homeschooling? Please share your thoughts in the comments! :)


Linking up with Time Warp Wife at http://time-warp-wife.blogspot.com/2012/06/titus-2sdays-link-up-party.html

and Linking with. http://womenlivingwell.org/2012/06/keeping-your-husband-the-man-of-your-dreams-wlww-link-up-party

My children - Mommy and Me Monday

Today is Monday. It is the start of the week. We had a very busy weekend, so I decided that we would all stay in pjs and work on cleaning the house and maybe get a little schoolwork done too.

I have been meaning to teach one or both of the oldest kids to wash the dishes. Well I was washing dishes this morning and my oldest daughter came up and asked me if she could help. So today she learned how to wash dishes.

She did a pretty good job and I think that this will be a regular chore for her from now on. Since we had the camera out, my other children wanted pictures too.

Then, I started thinking about how we have taken fewer pictures with each child. I have often wondered why.

Do you have more than one child? Do you feel that you took more pictures of your first baby than the other baby or babies? I welcome your comments! :)


I'm linking up with Mommy and Me Monday. 

http://www.reallyareyouserious.com/

MDA Lock-up.

 My husband (through his workplace) is participating for the second year in the MDA Lock-up. It is a really fun day. They come and "arrest" my husband at his job and then take him to "jail". There they take his picture and feed him food and have him call people that he knows to help him raise money for the Muscular Dystrophy Association.  You can donate money to help him get out of "jail" or donate money to make him stay in "jail". If you are interested in donating, please click on the link below to help him raise money and stay out of "jail". :)

MDA Lockup

Thank you very much.

Goals for June 2012

I have decided to come up with a few goals for June. Tomorrow (or today depending on your time zone) is June 1st. For the month of June, or longer, I plan on giving up soda, partaking in the 30 for 30 challenge, and reducing our fast food intake.

I am a self-confessed soda addict! I love it. I drink at least 2 or 3 sodas a day. I know that this is wrong. I know that it is terrible for my health and my teeth. I know that it is just empty calories and that I am just basically drinking high fructose corn syrup. Those are the reasons why I am choosing to stop drinking it. I was successful in stopping in the past, for several months actually, and then I tried to slowly add it back in my diet and quicker than I expected it was back to epic proportions!!

My friend posted this on facebook http://www.icanteachmychild.com/2012/05/30-for-30-challenge/#comment-26880. It is a challenge for the month of June to play with your kids everyday for 30 minutes. It really convicted me. I have four beautiful children and I rarely actually sit down and play with them. I do help them figure out what to play and watch them play, but rarely play with them. I remember when I was a kid, how I always loved it when my mother would play with me and give me personal attention. This is something I really want to succeed with.

Oh and now we come to fast food. Unfortunately, due to laziness and/or the failure to adequately plan meals we are regular staples at McDonald's and other fast food restaurants. My husband is well known at Little Caesar's Pizza. I think that they may even know our regular order. I want to start cooking healthy meals at home with my family. It makes me feel so wonderful when I sit down at our table to a home cooked meal that I prepared for my family.

Do you have any goals for the month of June? Please share in the comments! :)

Linking up with Our Good Life  http://www.ourgoodfamily.org/2012/06/3in30-challenge-link-up.html

http://www.considertheliliesblog.com/2012/06/homemaking-link-up-9.html  Linking up with Consider the Lilies.

Do you know the difference between right and wrong?

I was reading the most recent issue of Focus on the Family's magazine, Thriving Family. Like most mothers, I constantly worry about my children and if I'm leading them in the way that they should go. This particular issue had an article that I was very surprised to read. Apparently, parents are no longer teaching their children the difference between right and wrong. The article included a quote about how the only thing young adults had to go on was their gut feelings on whether something was right and wrong.

  The Bible tells us in Proverbs 22:6, "Train up a child in the way he should go, Even when he is old he will not depart from it." We are instructed to teach a child the way he should go, the right way.

My mother always took the time when I was young and in to my teen years to make sure I understood when I was wrong and how to make amends. This is our job as parents, one given to us by God.

What are your thoughts? Is this a surprise to you as well? I welcome your comments. :)

Relaunch 2012

I haven't blogged in over a year. A lot of things changed in my life: We bought our first home. In July of 2011 we moved into a 1500 square foot foreclosure that needed a ton of work. In hindsight, it might have been a bit too much for first time homebuyers, but not nearly as bad as some of the foreclosure that we saw. The yard was ridiculously overgrown, the house smelled that every animal known to man had lived there, and none of the windows seem to have been installed properly. We had our fourth child. Our second son and fourth child was born in January. He is truly a blessing and I honestly don't know how we ever lived without him. We joined a CSA. We joined a Community Supported Agriculture Farm. There will be much more on this later as I plan to devote the blog to this almost exclusively this summer. Those are just a few of the changes in our busy blessed lives. Jessie