I Thank God!

What a wonderful week we had in The Lord! I thank God, daily, for this privilege. . . the honor I have to be able to teach my children, diligently, within our home.  It is truly a blessing and I have to give God all of the glory for allowing this to be possible.  

Each and every day this journey has seemed almost impossible, but God gives us all strength, courage, love, and the grace we need to continue. He truly provides us with our daily bread.

So, I had to take a moment to encourage someone else and share that it's by God's might that we make it every day. I lean not on my own understanding, anymore.  I don't trust in myself because over the years, I have learned that self will let me down. What self thinks is impossible, I serve a God who says through Him ALL things are possible. What self thinks is a bad situation, My God has the power to turn that thing around for the good and for His glory. What self stresses about, God says don't worry. . . it's already been paid for!

I trust in The Lord and I know that He can do exceedingly and abundantly above anything that I can do or think. I recognize His power and His authority in our lives and my goal is to exalt Him and lift Him up in everything we do. It's all for His Kingdom. Amen.

Week 1: God is Almighty

Our first week of our curriculum was AWESOME!

A little background . . .
This year, we decided to teach Caleb who God really is and why we serve and worship Him.  As most five year olds, Caleb has A LOT of questions! Lately, as he is beginning to ponder the why's and how's of life, he is asking lots of questions pertaining to our beliefs and God's characteristics.  So the first 26 weeks of this academic year are dedicated to getting to know God a little better.

Christopher and I started a study of God's word specifically for the purpose of giving our children a foundation that we can build on as they grow physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.  We pray that they will understand why mommy and daddy willingly praise, love, live for, and worship God.  I want them to WANT to praise, love, live for, and worship God just as much as mommy and daddy.  (Of course I want them to CHOOSE to do these things - train them up so they won't depart from it when they're older. . . but as in the words of old Joshua . . . As for me and MY house, we WILL serve the Lord!) The hubs and I just want them to know why mommy and daddy truly love the Lord.

We created an alphabetical study of who God is based on His nature and characteristics. Do you know what the hubby and I discovered? God is so good! He is just awesome! We will learn about God starting with A for God is Almighty. Everything is built around our study of who God is for the purpose of putting God first.  To teach our kiddos that if you seek Him first and His righteousness, then everything else will work out.  We want to honor God with more than just our words...

What did we do . . .
This week was all about how mighty God is. We explained what Almighty means and focused on the story of the three Hebrew boys in the furnance (talk about a story boys love...I mean Caleb can narrate the entire story). We also had to share how God is still Almighty in our lives today.  How He is able to do anything and we don't have to worry. Caleb was able to tell us how God had been mighty in his life as well. We recreated the scene at the furnance and we praised God for being so mighty.

Our letter, shape, color, and number of the week were A, circle, red, and one.  We reviewed those things and identified them in our day to day activities. We went to the library and for lots of books to read.  We worked on -igh- words, for easy understanding I taught the 'I is bossy and tells the g and h not to make a sound' method (it works. ..Caleb told everyone about bossy I).

We exercised, sang, played music, counted, added/subtracted, read, wrote danced, laughed, cried . . . all for the glory of God. 

First Day of School

As I've shared before, one of the most wonderful things about homeschooling is doing what we want! :) We started today, AFTER Labor Day WITH a field trip. #BOOM. 

                                  

                                 

                                  

Leah will be one in a few weeks. This year of learning for her will simply consist of having fun! Jeremiah will start preschool material and Caleb is doing a merge of kindergarten and first grade...we have a few more objectives of kindergarten to finish up (we worked through the summer).

                                    This is how we do it!

We visited the C.R. Smith Museum in Ft. Worth, Texas and learned the history behind American Airlines and learned a lot about airplanes. The boys loved it!

Of course, the real reason we visited was because they have an exhibition that would be leaving soon and if PBS showed one more commercial about it and the boys asked me about going...I was going to lose it! 

Yep, Legos. A LEGO Travel Exhibition. It combined vehicles and LEGOs...two things my boys absolutely love...into a wonderful adventure for us all.

We began with a video about the history of American Airlines in a mini theater inside the museum. The screen was HUGE and took us all over the world. The chairs were airplane seats with seat belts. Made me feel like I was really on a plane flying high in the sky. My monsters enjoyed the video...and no, there were no LEGOs in the video.

So many vehicles built with LEGOs! It was amazing. Even Leah was amazed (See picture below)!

                               

                               

                               

                               

Ok, we didn't spend the ENTIRE day playing with LEGOs, ok maybe a big portion of the day. We did read the history, learn how airplanes operate, and were able to actually get onto one of the first American Airlines planes! We saw huge engines, propellers, and other random pieces of planes that made the boys go "WOW"!

                               

The kids were challenged to create vehicles that were capable of flying, floating, and driving in different terrains. I enjoyed hearing Caleb use the words propellers and engines. He really wanted to solve the problem. I encouraged him and probed with questions to challenge his thinking and while listening to his reasoning skills, I was rather impressed.

                           

They were good boys, as much as they could be, so they did receive airplanes from the gift shop. 

                            

As we walked out of the museum and I snapped this one last photo, I took a second to look at it and remind myself that here begins another year of learning, loving, and growing. I'll look back on these photos and think this is where it all started. Who knows what God may bring, I just know we're ready!

Here's to a blessed year full of learning to be Ambassadors for Christ! #a4c