First Month Done! (Well minus 1 day)!

Ok so the first month of school is complete! For those of you wondering, it has been going really good! We have a daily routine (which I try to stick to but doesn't always happen!) Our day starts around 8:40 and begins with prayer, a song, then exercise. I have a different person assigned to prayer each day then that person also gets to pick the worship song and gets to use the exercise bike. After all that is done we settle down and get to work. Language arts was a struggle for Aliyah at first, she would just give up and shut down really easily, whoo am I glad that didn't last long! Kaitlin and Joshua have been doing a novel study on Farmer Boy this first month and Monday is the first day I will have to sit down and teach them LA, I may have to readjust my schedule which doesn't make me too happy, pretty sure I worked on schedules for at least 10 hours! I'd spend time on one then find out nope, don't like it, start a new one, nope don't like it, onto my third and I'm liking it. So this may sound strange but I feel more calm, less hassled homeschooling than I did when my kids went to school. Always having to be on the go go go, was really stressful and I feel like our whole family has calmed down. No more stress of being up at 6:40 and out the door by 7:25, no more stress of getting homework done before bedtime, no more stress of bedtime! Yes they still have a bedtime but if they go over, big deal! The weight of time and not enough of it has been lifted up off our shoulders (for the most part anyways), which is funny because I'm reading the book The Time Keeper by Mitch Albom. Interesting story to say the least. The only day that is a wee bit stressful time wise is thursdays which have swimming at 2. So with all this time and all this curriculum money we are keeping really busy. The kids have Pioneer Club on tuesdays. This is a great badge earning program put on by the Salvation Army that is bible based. I couldn't be more happy than to send my kids to this free club. Wednesdays the girls have Highland dance, (which of course they are really happy about!). Thursday is swimming. Kate will take gymnastics in the spring and Josh will take soccer then too. I must say that I am so very thankful to my husband. He is here during the day and he does math with Kaitlin, Josh and even Aliyah most of the time. Math is not my thing so this makes me able to concentrate on other things. Also it enables me to teach Aliyah and Ally while Kate and Josh are doing math with help from dad. Also my husband has helped me out by cooking. He cooked dinner for me two times last week since I was getting home late from lessons. It's really been a blessing to not have to think about dinner on those days when I do school, rush to drive them to one of their activities and then come back home and have dinner ready. So this month I have seen what needs changing and I will introduce these changes on monday. I am going to be stricter on keeping the school room clean, these kids are pigs! Ha ha. I have put a point system in place and weekly jobs to help the kids put away their books and clean up after themselves. I have a giant bin of toys and things that they can cash their points in for at the end of each week. I'm looking forward to the changes and the kids were even excited when I told them they'd have jobs! Now I will leave you with some pictures, until next month....

                                                                Kate, feeling the vibrations

                                                   Alexandra made her name using clay for LA

                                              Aliyah wearing her communities project as a hat!

      Joshua making music with a science experiment

Artwork, I'm enjoying doing it with them too!

Let the countdown begin...

Summer is nearly over and our home school adventure is about to begin! I`m excited, yet nervous. I`m praying into this. This is important. This is my children`s education. I get to be a part of this, yet it`s such a huge responsibility! I`m glad that my God will give me strength, that He will fill my every need. I pray that I see my children grow academically and spiritually this year. That they will surprise me by their knowledge...yesterday Alexandra was reading a book and blew me away when she sounded out the word doctor...I`d have never thought she could tackle that word yet but she did. I need to remember to step back and let them try. This is going to be a learning experience for me, I just know it!
 Recently my pastor did something really neat. He just stood up and read the book of James. Did not preach on it, did not teach on it, he just read it. I LOVE James, its so full of tidbits we can learn from and apply to our lives. It`s timeless. I was perplexed when Pastor Brian read this scripture before starting the reading of James: 1 Timothy 4:13 (Niv) Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching. Do we do this in the modern church? Devote ourselves to the public reading of scripture? We are keen to preach and teach but this is lacking.  I've never been a part of it before that day and it was so amazing to just let the Holy Spirit do His work and speak to us. This is what jumped out at me, (I have read this verse countless times but that day it jumped out at me, this was what the Holy Spirit was wanting me to hear...) My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry. James 1:19 Niv.  Good advice for me, a mom, with 4 kids who easily looses patience, I often find myself doing the opposite of this verse, Lord help me!
So like I said, our adventure is nearly here. I am trying to figure out student learning plans, a schedule, making file folder games and downloading some great lapbooks. I'm eager to shop and decorate my school room even more and get some new school supplies. We will start this Tuesday but plan to ease in to it a bit. On the agenda the first week: All about Me lapbook, math, bible and Kaitlin and Joshua need to read Farmer Boy. The week after that, it's full gear, oh boy!

Floods, Ninja's, lakes, weddings and Baptisms!

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So it's been a busy summer. We've been going to the lake lots, enjoying a crazy nice summer this year in the Cariboo, especially nice since last year (or was it the year before?) summer really didn't happen here. This year we discovered Kosta's Cove, the back side of the popular lake here in town that is a really nice spot to go and the water seems cleaner there is no seaweed and it comes with a Tarzan swing much to Kate's delight!  Another bonus is it is only an 8 minute drive from our house! Not everything has been sunshine and lollipops though...awhile back we had a flood in the basement when the hot water tank broke. Insurance will cover it thankfully but what a pain. I had set up my school room already in the basement, luckily no books were down there yet and really none of our stuff was damaged. When something bad happens though I always try to find positives from the situation....life is too short to get depressed and to let our problems overtake us and really a flood in the basement not big on my list of problems this year...more an annoyance :) So maybe I can teach someone how to give a positive spin to a negative situation, (and in doing so that would be another positive thing to come out of my flood, haha!) 1. At least I have a house to flood. 2. It could have been way worse, we could have been out when it happened. 3. Insurance! 4. New carpet and a wall had to be replaced in the kids room downstairs (some of which had never been on in the first place, just the framework of part of the wall but no wall) and when all the carpet was out before the new carpet was added I painted and it looks so much better! 5. Another opportunity for God to work on my patience! I really want to get everything set up again :) Soon Tina, Soon I tell myself! Anyways the flood is really the only thing at home that hasn't gone good this summer and that is a blessing. Speaking of blessings this is the summer of weddings, yes love is in the air. My sister got married in June (I'm so proud of her).  I don't know how to put why I am into words but I am and she knows it! My bestfriend's mom also got married in June. She's like a mom to me and is grandma to my kids. She is a widower and her husband that passed away was not only my beloved pastor but like a second father to me also. I thought her getting married again would be hard but I really like her new husband and no one can deny his adoration for her and the love they share with one another, so really all I am is completely happy for them! This summer also brought probably the highlight of not my summer but my year and one of the proudest moments I've had as a mother. Back in June Aliyah, (my 7 year old) told me she wanted to get baptized at church camp. She understood what baptism is about and was SO excited about it. She was telling everyone and counting the days till the big day. But.....the big day came and she froze...she would not do it. I was thankful that our pastor was so understanding. So some time passed and then Kaitlin tells me she wants to be baptized, then Joshua is talking about it too! Then Aliyah says she wants to try again. All talk at our house for awhile is baptism. We go out to Kosta's cove and Aliyah and Alexandra are baptizing their life jackets, haha! So we decide at the last minute to have all 3 of them baptized at Kosta's cove. Grandma baptized Kaitlin and Aliyah (with daddy's help) and Joshua was baptized by his uncle who he decided he wanted to ask all on his own and so called him up, it was really special. As a christian mother what a joy it was to see 3 of my 4 children commit their lives to Jesus in such a way and to publicly display their faith in Him. Wow, I'm still overwhelmed thinking about it! Kaitlin had a vision of heaven when she was baptized...already the Holy Spirit is at work! Robin (an AMAZING) photographer from church took some photos...er Robin, where are they??? It was just a great day! And now I will end with Ninja's. I think I should start calling my children little ninja's...they have been cracking me up the last day or so. The older two are obsessed with the show American Ninja Warrior and have since (along with the little girls) make up their own American Ninja Warrior courses in the yard using the swing set. My favourite stunt is the Warp wall. On the show the warp wall is this huge wall that competitors have to run up and there isn't alot of space in front to get a good run at it....my kids version, run up the slide...so funny! So that in a very big nutshell is a glimpse of our summer. Above is an American Ninja Warrior video and also a link to Robin's blog which is beautifully written and of course has amazing photography.

Almost Done!!!

Ok so I`m not sure who is more excited for school to be done, me or the kids. Today is sports day and awards ceremony and tomorrow is the last day. Today as I woke up the girls all I could think was after today one more day of waking you up at such an early hour. My little girls are not morning people and like to wake up on their own, sometimes I spend a full 10 minutes waking them up...most times actually! Letting them wake up on their own is one of the biggest draws for me to homeschool. I think if they slept as much as they needed to they would be much happier girls. Speaking of draws I shall write them down in point form for anyone who may be thinking ``is she crazy or what?" (in no particular order!)
1. Being able to work in our own time frame! I am going to have a strict schedule however we will start when we start, I want them well rested.
2. Flexibility at bedtime. Not having to be so very strict with bedtime, it will be so nice to be able to on occasion be out past their bedtime or to be able to finish that show we were watching as a family.
3. Getting to be a part of their learning and being able to choose which books to use. A good example of this is Kate and Josh's Science. I am overwhelmed with the content. I chose Apologia' s Exploring Creation with Zoology 3: Land Amimals of the Sixth Day. God is so throughout this book it's amazing! Often I look through it in amazement and just read it on my own time!
4. Getting to spend more time as a family. Mike has gotten a sweet sleeping night shift so he is home daily and will be able to be around if I need help during the day...this is a BIGGIE! Also when school work is done we then can do things as a family if we want.
5. To learn! When I was in school I really didn't like it and I just know that throughout this experience I'm going to learn alot, (as an adult I love learning! Probably the reason I like to read historical fiction and fiction books on other cultures. Reading such books often has me searching and making sure the content was accurate.)  I will learn not only academically but about myself. I think this will be a real character building adventure not just for me but our whole family. I really think homeschooling will bring us closer together <3
6. I love my kids! Simple as that! As I stated before in my previous post I want to be there to see the wonder on their faces as they learn something new that excites them. Don't get me wrong I know it's not all going to be sunshine and lollipops and that they are going to do their work grudgingly  sometimes too...and there is where the character building will take place, something we shouldn't shy away from but rather should embrace.
7. A greater need for God! I can NOT do this on my own. I will and am already leaning on God to guide me through. Our relationship will only get better and better as I call on him to help me.

So I'm sure there are many more but that is all I can think of now. I've been sitting here trying to think of a witty way to end this post but nothing is coming so that's it :)

What`s in a name....

Ok here it is, my first blog post! I`ve wanted to do a blog for awhile ever since I saw my friends Sarah`s. She`s a home school mom and since I`m homeschooling in the fall I thought what a great way to share our home schooling adventures with loved ones. Then my best friend started blogging. Beautiful blogs that bring me to tears! I was eager. Yet I also wanted a witty name. Once I get something in my head I go crazy until I can figure it out. Originally I was going to only blog about home school however although most of my blogs will be about that I decided I wanted a blog that encompassed my life. My life as a mother as well as a follower of Jesus. My best friend gave me a couple names...Learning as I go...which would in fact apply to both areas of my life. She also gave me Mrs. Mom which, while funny only applied to my life as a home school mom. So I tell my husband who says he isn`t creative at all and yet he always succeeds to prove himself wrong. His first blog name was Dingbat Diaries...not nice! I admit though I was a bit hyper last night and acting a wee bit crazy. His second name the winner. A Fruitful Heritage. It has so much meaning. There is so much behind that name! The first is a verse found in Genesis 9:7 -As for you, be fruitful and increase in number; multiply on the earth and increase upon it. (taken from the NIV). I think having 4 kids in this day and age we`ve done our share of being fruitful...the second meaning of the name is found in Psalm 127:3, again this is the NIV: Children are a heritage from the Lord, offspring a reward from him. I have an amazing heritage and a wonderful reward from my Jesus in my children! I want to be a part in their learning. I want to be in their lives in such a way that I can fully train up my children in the way they should go! I want their lives and my life to bear fruit for Jesus Christ! The third meaning behind the name is simple. The school we are going through when we home school is called Heritage Christian Online school. All these reasons made the blog name perfect. Thank you my husband.