Giving Thanks

As we celebrate thanksgiving 2006, take time to thank the Lord for :


Your life - When there is life there is hope

Your spouse

Your Kids

The opportunity to homeschool your kids

The sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross (where will we be without Him)

Just take the time to thank the Lord for who He is!

He is the King of Kings

He is the Lord Of Lords

He is the wonderful counsellor

The mighty God

The everlasting father

The Prince of Peace

The I AM that I AM

The ancient of Days

The Lion of the tribe of Judah

The rose of Sharon

The lilly of the valley

The bright and morning Star

He is:

Jehovah Jireh

Jehovah Nissi

Jehovah Shalom

Jehovah Elohim

Jehovah Rafa

Thank Him because

No one can bless like Him

No one can forgive like Him

Just take the time to give God thanks! HALLELUYAH!

Outward Appearance

Today's Scripture: ISam.16:6-7

So it was, when they came, that he looked at Eliab and said, “Surely the LORD’s anointed is before Him!”
But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him. For the LORD does not see as man sees;[a] for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”

As a homeschooling mom, how do you measure your children's success? What does success mean to you? How can you tell if your kids are learning anything? Do you measure their homeschooling success by the number of books they read in a month, or how well they have memorized their multiplication table or how good they are in science and history?

There is nothing wrong with all the things mentioned above, infact I know that 90% of the time, homeschooling does help kids excel more than their peers in academics, however as a Christian if we measure educational success only by what we can see outwardly, then we have missed the point.

We see from our scripture reading today that the Lord sent Samuel to annoint a king over His people. When Samuel saw Eliab he thought for sure this was the one because Eliab "looked" like kingly material, however Eliab was not God's choice. Infact God had been preparing someone after His own heart out in the field with the Sheep.

My husband and I decided to homeschool not just for academics, but because we wanted to raise kids with a Biblical worldview, we wanted to raise godly kids. This does not mean that we do not care about their academics, infact my 8 year old is alreading learning math at the 5th grade level and reads on an 8th grade level this is all well and good, but it does not tell us how well they are learning. What we try to do is measure their homeschooling success by their character and understanding of scripture according to their level. How they treat others and those who are not as privileged as they and also how they show respect to us as well to the other grown ups / authority in their lives.

David said in Psaml 84:10

For a day in Your courts is better than a thousand.
I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God
Than dwell in the tents of wickedness.

As a Christian parent, it is more important to raise a godly child that exhibits godly character and has a heart that seeks after God than to have an Einstein who has no fear of God or worse, has a form of godliness, but denys the power.

Just like David, I would rather they are doorkeepers in the house of the Lord, than to be kings in the house of wickedness.

Have a blessed day.

God's Mercies

Today's Scripture Ps.89:1

I will sing of the mercies of the LORD forever;
With my mouth will I make known Your faithfulness to all generations.

As we travel through this homeschooling journey, it is easy to become so busy and so stressed out that we might fail so see God's mercies and faithfulness being demonstrated on our behalf everyday. I want to encourage all the moms out there to take some time and pause to reflect on how merciful God has been to you and your family. In Lamentations 3:22-23 we learn that it is

Through the LORD's mercies we are not consumed,
Because His compassions fail not.
They are new every morning;
Great is Your faithfulness.

Think about that! It is because of God's mercies and His faithful nature that we have not been run over and under by life. God is a faithful God and His mercies are new every morning. That means, every morning, He puts things, people and circumstances in place to help bear our burden and draw us closer to Him. There are times when it does not seem that way, but that is the truth.

Take time like the Psalmist to reflect on God's mercies today and all the ways He has been faithful to you even when you did not deserve it and it will definitely surprise you what the Lord has done.

Have a blessed day!

Testing

since I hace not boogged in so long, I am testing my server connection

Hand Selected By God

I was listening to Moody radio some time ago as I was serving the kids lunch and Dennis Rainey of Family Life Today was on and he said something very interesting. He said "Do you know you have been hand selected by God to introduce each one of your children to him?"

Now, this is very interesting because not only are we chosen by God to raise our kids, we were "hand selected" to introduce them to God Almighty! It sure gives parenting a whole new meaning when you look at it that way. I will go a step further and say, not only where you hand selected by God to introduce each one of your children to Him, you were also hand selected to disciple them. This is one of the reasons I decided to educate my kids at home. So I can disciple them more effectively.

As we carry out this God given job of introducing our kids to God and discipling(making disciples of) them, let us remember that more is caught than taught. They will learn more from what they see us do and how we react to situations than what we tell them. In the daily devotional "Our Daily Bread" for Tuesday, September 12, 2005 here is how the writer talks about discipleship:

In the first century, a Jewish man who wanted to become a disciple of a rabbi (teacher) was expected to leave family and job to join his rabbi. They would live together 24 hours a day walking from place to place, teaching and learning, studying and working. They discussed and memorized the Scriptures and applied them to life.

The disciple's calling, as described in early Jewish writings about basic ethics, was to "cover himself in the dust of [the rabbi's] feet," drinking in his every word. He followed his rabbi so closely that he would "walk in his dust." In doing so, he became like the rabbi, his master.

Our calling is to disciple our kids by example. We are to do this by living together 24 hours a day walking from place to place, teaching, learning, studying, working together as well as discussing and memorizing the Scriptures and applying them to life.

God Bless You,
Elizabeth
elizabeth@homeedug.org

Center of the Method

As homeschoolers, we all know that there are different methods used by different families in educating their kids. There is the Charlotte Mason method of education, the Classical method, the "relaxed" method, etc. I personally prefer the classical method of education because this is one method that has been time-tested. I also like the "relaxed" method, which is really great when you have small kids in the family.

As some of us are aware, the classical method is based on the Trivium- 3 stages of learning, namely the grammar, logic and rhetoric stages. In the grammar stage (grades K-5), the child is drilled in the basic knowledge (there is a lot of memorization in this stage). By the second stage of the Trivium (grades 6-8), the child has become argument-oriented and is ready to be taught logic and critical thinking. In the last stage (grades 9-12), the rhetoric stage, the child learns how to express their opinions about what they have learned.

Whatever educational method you choose, you should not forget to put the Lord at the center of it all by acknowledging Him in all you do. Proverbs 3:5 tells us to trust in the Lord with all our hearts and not to lean on our own understanding, it goes on to say that we should acknowledge Him in all our ways and He will direct our paths. I believe that with all my heart. God will direct your path as you trust in Him by showing you which method is appropriate for your family. I believe He will lead you to the educational method that will help to draw your family into a deeper walk with Him.

God Bless You,

Elizabeth
elizabeth@homeedug.org

Called to the Impossible

As one reads the Bible, it seems that God has always called people to great tasks that always seem impossible. Take Abraham for example, God called him out of his country and from amongst his kin to a land he did not know. Gen 12:1 says "Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred and from thy father's house unto a land that I will show you". Notice that God did not even tell him where he was going, but only that He was taking Abraham somewhere and when he gets there, he will let him know.

Then God chooses Joseph as the person he would use to preserve the life of the Patriarchs during a great famine, but allows him to go through slavery and jail before he gets to position he was chosen for. Moses was also called to lead God's people out of Egypt into the Promised Land, a task that proved to be one of the hardest jobs of all time. When the people came out of Egypt, they had to overcome Amalek, Jericho and a host of other nations before they could go in and possess the land that God had for them.

As a home schooling mom, do you sometimes feel that you have been called to an impossible task? If so, you are not alone, but you do not have to despair because the Lord who has called you to this task has already equipped you with all you need to do a great job. Eph.1:3 says "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ" also 2nd.Pet.1:3 tells us "....his divine power hath given us all things that pertain unto life and godliness........"

Beloved, He has promised never to leave you nor forsake you. So if you feel overwhelmed or feel like you have been called to the impossible, do not be discouraged, be of good cheer. As long as you keep your eyes and focus on him and not on the waves around you, trust me, you will be able to walk on water just like He did, because "Faithful is he that has called you who also will do it" IThess.5:24.

God bless You,


Elizabeth

So You Did Not Feel Like "Doing" School Today?

Did you have one of those mornings were you did not feel like getting out of bed not to mention spending a few hours at the dining table going through workbook after workbook? Well, you are not alone, neither are you a lazy mom if you felt like spending a few more hours in bed. When you get one of these days, that is when it becomes necessary to focus more on the fact that education goes beyond workbooks. No matter what home schooling method you use, days like this call for the "relaxed" method of home schooling. This way, you are not only focusing on your reason for home schooling, you and your kids are also learning in a very relaxed way which is really fun and at the same time your "batteries" are begin re-charged.

We decided to home school because we wanted to our kids to grow up with Biblical world view and also wanted to be co-laborers with the Lord in raising godly seed. So when I get one of these days, I gather the kids in bed and we read lots of Bible stories and talk about them. This morning, we read about the Exodus and started a whole discussion on how archeological excavation supported the story of the Exodus. That pretty much took care of our history lesson for the day. We then proceeded to read a book on the life of Charles Dickens (Famous People)and talked about how the life of Dickens influenced his writings and generally what life was like in Dickens' day. We identified verbs, adverbs, adjectives, conjunctions and figures of speech such as similes and metaphors in the story (English). Since today was Friday and we had worked on math problems for at least 2 hours each day from Monday - Thursday, I decided to skip math for the day.

By lunch time I was completely relaxed and ready to go grocery shopping as well as run a few errands for the house. Home schooling is a lot of fun for me and my kids enjoy a lot of the things we do together. I have an eight year old and a four year old. The Bible tells us in Prov. 4:23 to guard our hearts with all diligence for out of it flows the issues of life. We should always be on guard and not allow the enemy to take a wholesome family activity like home schooling and turn it into a drag.

God bless you richly.

Elizabeth

Why Home Education?

Why did you choose to home educate your child / children? The answer to this question will play a very vital role in shaping what and how you educate your kids. There are lots of people home schooling today. Atheists are home schooling, Muslims are home schooling, Mormons are home schooling, Christians are home schooling, etc. However as a Born Again Christian, your reason for home schooling should be different from everyone else. Before we can even begin to home school, we ought to understand what our calling is in the Lord.

What kind of relationship do you want with the Lord? Do you want a very intimate relationship with God, the kind he had with people like Elijah, Elisha, Samuel, Joshua, Paul, etc. These people were mightily used by God not because they were special, but because they separated themselves unto the Lord, they spent a lot of time in the word of God and in prayer.

Apostle Paul said in 2nd Tim.2:20 that in a house there are vessels unto honor and vessels unto dishonor, but if we can purge ourselves from worldliness, we will be vessels unto honor, fit for the Master’s use. We should always strive in our personal work with God to be vessels unto honor. Our desire as believers is to surrender our lives to Him, so that Jesus is not just our savior, but also our LORD. We should be willing to be set apart for the Masters' use.

Whether you are new to home education or already veteran remember to fix your eyes on the Lord at all times. Your mission as a home educator is not just to educate your kids, but also to sit at the master's feet so you can learn from Him also.

My mission as a home educator is to:

To Love the Lord my God with all my heart, soul and mind and to diligently teach the word of God to my children, and talk of it when we sit in the house, when we walk by the way, when we lie down and when we rise up. Deut.6:1-9

To understand that education is discipleship.

To understand that the center of my calling is to raise up godly seed, to teach them what the Bible teaches.

To understand that teaching my children is my delight, my joy, my opportunity.

To always remember that I am not only a teacher, but also a student. God who commands that I call Him Father is my teacher.

God Bless You.

Elizabeth