Looking for something fun?

My wonderful parents recently gave the kids and I a TON of fun homeschool stuff. The kids have really enjoyed working their way through the Travel the States workbook and using the flash cards to practice the capitals. Their new workbooks look anything but new. The pipe cleaners are all bent, and the I now have about 20 potholders from the very cool weaving loom.

One of the very favorite things we received was the game Quiddler. This is serious fun, people. The game is similar to rummy, but with letters. It's also similar to Scrabble. Basically, if Rummy and Scrabble got together and had a baby, it would be Quiddler.



Each card has a letter, or a combination of letters like "in" or "er." They've even thoughtfully included "qu." The first round, each player receives three cards, the next round four, and so on until each player receives ten cards. The winner of the round is the player who can put all of his or her cards into a word, and have one card to discard.

My oldest has trouble with spelling, reading, and phonics. I am ecstatic to say that he whooped up on us, including me- the Scrabble queen.

I would whole-hardheartedly recommend this game. It would make a great family gift, and it's very reasonably priced. We will be playing this game for a long, long time.

Don't remind the kids they are learning.

Math Monday- Love the Freebies!

It's been a while since I've joined in on Math Monday. It feels like forever! Things got a little crazy here in my little household. Praise God, we've turned the corner. Things are looking way up!

Last week, we really enjoyed this money freebie that I found over at Classroom Freebies.

The purpose of the game is to place your markers on coin values and try to get exactly $1.00. The boys really enjoyed this one. They played for about 25 minutes, which is a good long time for a "simple" game. Dad played too!

Another great freebie I found from CF was this game. The purpose is to create a double digit subtraction problem with a solution of 20. The closer to 20, the better the score.We will be playing this game this week.

I love giving the guys a chance to practice skills they've mastered in a completely new way. The strategy involved in both of these games really makes them work at it!

Good News!

We have been blessed with great news! The husband got a job! Not only is it a job...but it's the job that answers our prayers. All of them.

Why is it that we doubt God can give us the answer to all of our prayers? This is the God that made the universe, yet we fear that He can't answer a prayer like a new job request. Is it the fear that we are not worthy of His care and concern? Are we afraid of disappointment? Does the enemy instill that fear and doubt? I don't know the answer, but I do know that God answers prayers.

Before my husband lost his job, he was looking for a new one. He was unhappy with business practices, and he was concerned that these practices were making the company unstable. But it took losing that job to have him consider really looking into another field. We've wanted him to get out of restaurant work for a long time. We've prayed for a job with normal, steady hours, a job that challenged him, and a job that meets our financial needs. We prayed he would find a job that allowed us to keep homeschooling, not have to move, and didn't require him to leave town over the holidays for training. Since we've joined our church, we've hoped to join a life group. We couldn't because of my husband's work schedule. We've dreamed of having a "normal" life, one that doesn't revolve around the capricious demands of the restaurant industry.

Guess what? God is big enough to handle ALL of those prayers, wishes, and dreams. The same God that devised a plan to save us from ourselves cares enough to answer our prayers. I am awed and humbled by that. He loves us that much.

Did He answer us right away? No, He followed His time. But I see clearly that His plans for us were to amaze, astound, delight, and provide for us. He gave abundantly. We would have been happy with just a few of those prayers granted. We would have settled, and been thankful and joyful. But God had bigger plans for us.

And I am so grateful.

It's been a while...

Oh my stars! It's been forever since I updated our blog. No worries, we are still homeschooling. Life has thrown us a major curveball.

My husband has been downsized.

Those five small words have changed our lives. We are trusting in our God to provide for us. He has blessed us abundantly already. For example, my (very generous) parents filled up our freezer for us. So we have minimal groceries to buy for the month. Praise God!

We stand in faith knowing he has a plan for us, something far better than we can even imagine. Our God is not a God of small dreams...He's a God of grand adventures.

In the meantime, my husband is taking over some of the school responsibilities. Right now, he is teaching a lesson on Westward Expansion and the Louisiana Purchase. Planned, prepared, and delivered by him.

I love that man.

We enjoyed a bout of illness last week that put us slightly behind in our learning, but we are pushing through the delay and catching up on our work.

Life is good.

Favorite Resource This Week

This week, we studied Egypt. Well, we attempted it. The boys were totally NOT into it. AT ALL. The only we did that they enjoyed was making their own pyramid. I even let them loose on a couple of kids' websites just for Egypt. Nothing about it seemed to spark their interest.

Anthony, in fact, was kind of offended about the whole Egyptian concept of multiple gods. I'm thrilled that he is so dedicated to God, but I also want to balance that with the understanding that different people believe different things. We don't have to agree with them, but we do have to keep an open mind and learn what we can from it. I don't know. This is a new thing for me. Any advice?

One thing I especially enjoyed was studying Exodus with the boys. Exodus is one of my favorite books. I read it repeatedly, even before becoming a Christian. I love the story aspect of it: the drama, the power. It's wonderful. Of course, now it means even more to me, knowing that the God of the Hebrews is my God too!

To study Exodus, we used some worksheets and listened to the NIV version of Exodus via Youversion. My mentor Debbie Green introduced me to this website. It has literally hundreds of versions and translations of the Bible. Many of them can be listened to as well. Youversion also has reading plans, and if you already have Glo, you can sync the two. Another great feature is that you can download it to your smartphone, and any progress you make on your phone is synced to your Youversion account as well.



Adding Bookmarks is a great feature as well. I know it's not a great picture, but I wanted you to see how great this resource is. We are working to include more Bible study into our schooling, and Youversion is a great resource for that!

Linking up with learning ALL the time!!