Innocence Lost

I'm sure you know this world is corrupt. I'm sure you know we have an enemy, Satan, who lurks about deceiving people & blinding them to the truth. He also tries to hurt God's children & cause them to fear life & turn from God. Many times our life moves along so smoothly that we forget our enemy is there. But I'm here to tell you that he is real. He wants to destroy families, pervert the innocent & cause us to blame God.

But, (I love that word!), God is bigger & stronger & has already won the war! God is truth! And the truth will prevail. Even when we face our biggest fear, God is with us! And if He is with us, who can stand against us? As we face our fear, we can already praise God & thank Him for standing with us through it!

If you saw your children playing like this, wouldn't you be a proud parent. Your kids love each other & are getting along. They even tell each other "I love you."

Now, add to that a bad attempt at a wedgie. Totally inappropriate especially in public, but totally innocent, right?

But when seen by a man who doesn't know you or your family dynamic, it turns into your worst nightmare. He saw this all as perverted. He called the police!

What followed was a very stressful evening of waiting followed by CPS & police interviews. Thanks to prayers, the truth was seen & the case closed. God was so merciful & provided us with very skilled & professional men to deal with who protected our kids' innocence.

I'm thankful for this incident because it opened our eyes to how unsafe the world is & how foreign & rare a loving family is these days. It also reaffirmed what an Awesome God we serve who comforts us & answers prayers.

I also pray that God will use this situation to bring glory to Himself and use it to maybe help some other family.

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Homeschooling away from Home

This week is International Homeschool Spirit Week. Today was Homeschool Away From Home Day! For us, schooling away from home has dominated our lives over the last several years. So I thought I would do a post reminiscing about all the places we've visited in our travels.

We started our travels in 2008 when Hubby took a traveling job. Here we are at Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. It was the kids first visit to the ocean.

We also got to visit Washington, D.C. on this trip. It was so cool to share our nation's capital with our kids.

In December of 2008, we took a trip to The Creation Museum in Hebron, KY.

In April 2009, we took a rode trip to Tampa Bay, Florida so Hubby could do a test teach for a new client.

We were very blessed to be able to take the kids to Walt Disney World on that trip.

In August of 2009, we visited Muscle Shoals, Alabama.

In August 2009, we visited The Creation Museum again.

In December of 2009, we spent lots of time in Cincinnati, OH.

In April 2010, we visited Wright Patterson Air Force Museum in Dayton, Ohio.

 

In May 2011, we visited Toledo, Ohio.

In October 2011, we visited Apple Works in Trafalgar, Indiana with my parents.

In January of this year, we started several months of visits to Tennessee. We started at Fort Donelson in Dover, Tennessee.

In January, we also visited The Don Platt Museum dedicated to the 101st Airborne.

We also visited Stones River National Battlefield in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.

And Fort Defiance in Clarksville, Tennessee.

And the Cumberland River in downtown Clarksville, Tennessee.

In February, we visited Mammoth Cave National Park in Cave City, Kentucky.

We took 2 cave tours both times we visited Mammoth Caves in February.

In mid-February, we witnessed the surrender at the Dover Hotel. We even got to meet General Grant.

We also got to visit a Union encampment at Fort Donelson.

The next weekend we met General Grant again at Fort Defiance in Clarksville, TN.

At the end of February, we visited Shiloh National Military Park in Shiloh, Tennessee.

In March, we visited my hometown of Hope, Indiana where David was mustered into the Union Army during the Hope Civil War Days.

At the end of March, we returned to Stones River National Battlefield for another reenactment. We got to see canons fired this time.

We also visited Corinth Interpretive Center in Corinth, Mississippi.

And we visited The Tennessee River Museum in Savannah, Tennessee.

In June, all 3 kids embarked on their own adventures, a week at Springhill Camp near Seymour, Indiana.

Finally, in August, we made our way to Tawas City, Michigan on the banks of Lake Huron.

We visited Footesite Park on the AuSable River.

And we visited the Lumberman's Monument, also on the AuSable River.

As you can see, we have been blessed to travel a lot over the last 4 years. Thanks to homeschooling, we have been able to pick up & go with Hubby when he travels. We are all looking forward to continuing our adventures on the road.

 

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Record Keeping & Organization

At the request of a friend, here is a brief look at how I record keep & organize records/papers for our homeschool. I am, by no means, the best record keeper or the neatest, but here's what works for me.

At the beginning of the year, I make a rough weekly plan. I don't always stick to it, but it gives me a rough guideline. I've found that I am not a strict schedule person. I tried it & we never stuck to the schedule. I always felt defeated so I threw out the strict schedule.

When we get new curriculum, I make a spreadsheet with the chapter, worksheets & tests listed.

I make sure I have a place to put the date we completed each lesson. Many times I don't fill in the dates/grades until the end of December & end of June. I make sure to date each lesson/worksheet as we complete it.

Sometimes, I also list any supplies we need for our lessons. My spreadsheets are then printed & kept in a notebook.

I use 3-ring binders to keep worksheets that we use. I also tear all my workbooks apart & put them in 3-ring binders. I find the kids respond better to a single sheet than a big bulky workbook.

Here was my desk last year. You can see all my books & binders.

Here are all my past books & papers. I take all our worksheets out of the 3-ring binders at the end of the year. I rubber-band them together by subject for each child. Just recently I boxed them up. I hope to eventually scan them into the computer so I can declutter some more!

The top of my desk holds all of our current curriculum and the next books we will tackle. I keep them where they are easy to access.

Lastly, here is all our supplies. The filing cabinet stores magazines & coloring books. The containers hold crayons, pencils, glue & other craft/school supplies.

I'm not the most organized or neatest person as you can see, but this system has worked for me. Feel free to ask me questions on how I do things or what stuff we use. It seems weird to me to think that I'm considered a veteran homeschooler. But I have been doing this for 12 years. I count the birth of my oldest as my starting point. So if any of my methods help you, feel free to use them.

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