C.A.P.E.

Scheduling Secrets for the Homeschool Family

Psst! A Secret to Scheduling Success!
by Cindy Rushton

Want to know one of my biggest secrets to homeschooling the easy way? Want to know one of my biggest secrets to scheduling success? This one secret can make your daily schedule finally fit. It can end your scheduling frustrations forever.

I am not a “schedule by the minute” type of person. (GRIN) I fail with schedules like that. They don’t meet my needs. My life includes too many areas that have different needs daily. Timed schedules just do not work for me.

So, what has worked for me? Setting up a framework to my day. This is one incredibly powerful tip. It can make a HUGE difference in your day as well. It just might be the secret that has alluded you through the years.

Wondering what I mean by a “framework” for your day? By framework, I mean a general flow to each day that includes all of the areas of my life that I juggle. But, how do I do that? Here are some quick tips:

1. Decide what should be included in your daily schedule. Look at what you are all about. Look at your goals, activities, values, priorities. Look at your husband’s schedule–wrap everything around him. Look at what you need to include in your day to get everything done–quiet times, lessons, homemaking, read alouds, work, etc. This is important. Otherwise, you will include things in your schedule that may not be the very best choices. And…one big risk…you may never get around to the things that matter the most. Decide what really needs to be a part of each and every day for your day to be successful.

2. Decide the best time for the tasks you need to complete each day. This will help you get a good flow to your day. For me, quiet times are just best at the beginning of the day. Chores are great right after them–I need them completed so my brain can focus on the table time. Our business work and errands need to be done in the early afternoon. Read alouds are best before bedtime. You get the picture. When I tried to read aloud over lunch, we had so many distractions that we could never fit it in. Trying to work the business in the morning would never work…and of course, we couldn’t take care of business errands at night. See how important it is to really look at the best time to get tasks done. Look at the best time for all of the tasks that need to be done. Look at the best flow to get everything done easily each day. You may not get this right at the beginning, but you will get closer and closer each day. You will love it!

3. Balance your day. Don’t let any one area of your life get out of balance. Everything that we do in our day has a tendency to grow into a big time thief–homeschooling, homemaking, home business. Those important aspects of our life can easily grow out of their boundaries. While I love each of them, they can get rather exhausting if we don’t keep them in balance with the other things that we have to do. The best way for me to stay balanced is to be reasonable about what I expect for each day, keep things simplified and easy, and keep everything inside of its time of the day. I don’t mind those days that we want to dig deeper in a topic that we are studying. I also don’t mind those days that we tackle a messy room. I don’t even mind those days that we have a special business project that needs more time. But, if those areas were demanding extra time every day, it would be easy to get burned-out, frustrated and battle with our time each day. Want to make it work? Find a balance for your day.

4. Set up routines. Talk about a HUGE help for me. Without routines, things can get so frustrating every day–there are constant decisions, there is more strife in the family, there is no consistency. Routines help us to make things go faster, without the strife and struggle of figuring things out DAILY. Routines reduce the stress of making decisions daily. Routines help our children to know what to expect so they can move through all of the things that they need to do each day. Routines are crucial. They assure a smooth ride. They keep us on track. They keep us out of the ruts. They take us in the direction that we want to go. One of the toughest things I ever did was develop routines in my home. However, one of the most rewarding things that I ever did was develop routines in my home. When I got very, very sick, everything kept going. During those times that I have been stretched, things kept on going. All because of routines. Set up routines. Then, your children will know what to expect. They will learn what is next and next and next. The decisions will be made for you. They will be able to “just do it” with or without you. Set up routines for your family. Develop one set of routines at a time–look for the time of day that things go haywire. If it is morning, for example, look at all that needs to be done. Brainstorm. Make a to-do list for that routine. Write it out. Work it as a checklist until it becomes a habit. If you see other things that need to be added into that set of routines, add them. Tweak it until it is smooth. Then, move to the next troublespot. Do this for all of the times of your day. Watch to see how much it helps!

5. Prune anything that is not necessary. Truth is, we cannot do everything. What we do in our day keeps us from doing other things. It zaps our time, energy, strength. We need to be picky about what we add to our day. Every single thing that we do costs us something. We need to constantly prune those things that are not necessary. Prune anything that hinders, distracts. Be honest. Be ruthless. Prune. Even the good things! Go for the best!

6. Take the squeeze out of your schedule. Watch out for the squeeze in your schedule. Don’t fill every minute of your day with something to do. Why? Because there are always going to be crisis situations, interruptions, melt-downs, delays. If we have our schedule maxed out, we will constantly be overwhelmed, overworked, and squeezed. Find ways to take the squeeze out of your daily schedule–cut out extra running, watch out for time thieves, prioritize your daily to-do’s (and eliminate any that make the day too tight), cut out extras that are unnecessary, keep the day simple and easy. Keep a relaxed atmosphere. Constantly, take the squeeze out of your daily schedule.

7. Stay flexible! Stay adaptable! Actually, one of the reasons that we really want to develop a framework to our day is so we have more flexibility, so we have more “space” in our day to be adaptable. We want to be able to seize opportunities that come our way. We want to be able to slow down and enjoy our children. We don’t want to miss teachable moments. These days just go by too fast. We want to enjoy every second. We want to make sweet, sweet memories. This requires that we stay flexible and adaptable. So, take the time to develop your own framework to your day. Do the tough work. Get your plans together. Work on these suggestions. Then, stay flexible. Stay adaptable. Grasp on to all that God has in store for you!

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How about the ULTIMATE mom-time? Yep! Check out our Ultimate Homeschool Expo! Cindy Rushton is the hostess of the Ultimate Homeschool Expo, the very first online homeschool convention. She is recording Preview Chats for the Ultimate Homeschool Convention RIGHT NOW! Join her wonderful guests FREE as they count down to the Ultimate Homeschool Expo (June 1-5, 2009–BUT! NEVER ENDING because it is an ONLINE Convention!)

Nature Notebooks for Spring

It is Spring! Why Not Begin a Science Notebook?
by Cindy Rushton

Today being inside just tortures me! It is STUNNING outside! Even the little birds are begging us to go outside.

Are you like me, dying from “cabin fever” and ready for spring? This is the perfect time to begin Nature Notebooks! Not only will you have an abundance of treasures awaiting your exploration, but these are perfect days to try something fresh. Ready? Let me help…

Chances are you already have many things that could be included in a Science Notebook around your home. Look for those “goodies” that do not have their own special place and add them to your Science Notebooks. This is the perfect opportunity to develop “a place” for those “goodies” while developing a nice product for displaying all the growing knowledge of nature all while your children are keeping special memorabilia! One of the things that I like about using supplies intended for scrapbooking is that there are so many products that enable us to keep bulky materials safely inside of our notebooks. Not to mention, scrapbooking makes EVERY notebook so much cuter! J And…to imagine that we call this “school!”

Want some ideas of things to include in your notebooks???

· Sketches…Don’t forget to include date, time, place, Latin name, and common name. Oh! Don’t forget to document where you found it.

· Snapshots…Don’t forget to journal about your snapshot!

· Pressed flowers, leaves, feathers, butterflies, etc.

· Glossary of terms studied…

· Artwork… (Nature art, original drawings, coloring pages…)

· Diagrams…

· Poetry…

· Information about discoveries…

· Lists of new findings…

· Handouts from trips…

· Narrations from trips, outings, hikes, nature walks, books read about nature or scientists/naturalists…

· Timeline…Mark your excursions, inventions, famous men and women, so on!

· Instruction Sheets on “How to Care for…” or “How to Collect…” etc.

· Booklets…

· Project data…

· Bible verses…

· Journal entries…

· Details from outings…

· Favorite quotes about nature…

· Reading list…

· Research…

· Reports…

· Essays…

· Science experiment logs…

· Notes from any Science study…

You can add a lot of life to your Science Notebooks with special supplies you find along the way! I have found that the little touches have made our notebooks so much more fun and in the process hooked my children.

Encourage your children to use die-cuts, frames, stencils, shapes, and edgings galore to make their notebooks fun and beautiful! My children now beg each weekend to work on our binders/scrapbooks. We have taken these simple skills into other projects for our Science studies such as creating books or booklets…making cards with pressed flowers, sketches, poetry and Scripture verses…and displaying our collections. The key is to just have fun and enjoy making your notebooks all yours!

Happy Notebooking!

Cindy

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Spring fever? Learn outdoors instead

It’s Spring! Time for Nature Studies!
By guest blogger, Cindy Rushton

Spring is here!

Anybody else having Spring Fever? Ready to get outside to soak up the beauty and fresh air? Oh! This is the perfect time to make up any excuse to get outside. But, what if we call it “school” as we enjoy this gorgeous Spring?

Yep! It is Spring and and time for Spring themed Nature Studies. Yep! Time for that weekly Nature Walk! Time to pull out those Nature Notebooks and begin a fresh new study. NO pressure. Just with atmosphere of fun and delight! Want some ideas that are EASY? How about some of our favorites? Let’s dig in…

Trees…
• Hunt for new leaves (buds!). Mark the date for each tree.
• Look for blossoms on your tree. Describe and draw.
• Mark the date that your tree is in full foliage.
• Measure the height of your tree.
• Determine the age of the tree. Measure 5 feet from the ground around the tree trunk. Divide this measurement by 1 inch to get the approximate age in years.
• Collect and press leaves. Mount some in your nature notebook.
• Sketch your tree in watercolor or crayon for your nature notebook.
• Hunt for spring poetry about trees! Copy into your nature notebook.
• Look up Scripture verses about trees. Copy into your nature notebook.

Flowers…
• Each week take a walk to collect new wildflowers around your neighborhood. Press into a scrapbook/nature notebook.
• Sketch and label flower parts.
• Hunt for poetry about the flowers that are blooming each week.
• Find Scripture verses to copy into your nature notebook about all flowers.
• Plant some flowers outside in your yard.

Birds…
• Set out a bird feeder for birds around your home. Put one right outside of a big window so the children can watch the birds up close.
• Listen for early birds…they should be coming soon.
• Set out nesting materials for birds common to your area.
• Try building your own nest.
• Learn birdcalls and songs.
• Watch the birds as they gather materials for their nests…maybe you can see where they are building their nests and watch them as they feed their young.
• Hunt for nature poetry about the birds native to your yard. Copy into nature notebooks.
• Hunt for Scripture verses about the birds native to your yard. Copy into nature notebooks.

Insects…
• Start an ant farm.
• Begin your bug collection.

Animals…
• Hunt for animal tracks.
• Go on a night hunt for salamanders. You may want to make a home for one as a pet.
• Set up an aquarium for a frog home. Go to a local pond to collect some frog eggs—watch their life cycle! Be sure to document in your nature notebook!
• Make a chart of animal characteristics. Study how animals are classified.

Plants…
• Hunt for woodland flowers.
• Choose seeds or plants for spring planting. Start seeds now to have an early bloom.
• Grow plants from pits. (see Ideas Section)
• Gather samples from the woods of plants without flowers. (Good resource is Plants That Never Ever Bloom)
• Go on a hike through the woods. Look for tree seedlings.
• Hunt for spring mushrooms.

Astronomy…
• Keep a chart of the moon phases for a month—try March.
• Take an evening to spend stargazing.

Weather…
• Keep weather chart for the first two weeks of the season—begin March.
• Find out how rain is formed.
• Find any poems about rain for nature notebook.
• Find out about lightning. Add information to nature notebook.
• Hunt for rainbows.

Collections…
• Take a day for each of your collections to maintain. (Rocks… shells… feathers… so on.)

Seasonal Table Ideas…
• Budding branches
• Tulips
• Bird’s nest
• Fresh flowers
• Potted Wild Violets
• Dyed eggs
• Tissue Paper Butterflies
• Colors…pastels and jewel tones

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Setting Up Your Home to Learn

By guest blogger, Cindy Rushton

Homeschooling? Thinking about Homeschooling? BUT…do you have to turn your home into a school? No, my dear friend, you do not need to turn your home into a school. Your home can still be a HOME. A home ready to learn! Ready?

Ready? This is EASY as ABC…

–> Find a good nook! It does not have to be huge. Certainly does not need to be expensive. All that is needed is a place that invites your children (and YOU!) to think, work through the studies (writing, reading, studying, proofreading, projects, experiments…). Ask yourself, “Where do they gravitate toward to read…to research…to write…to print?” Keep in mind that each and every student in your family will be very different during the learning process, but most will appreciate having all of the supplies and equipment in a safe, quiet, comfortable place to study. When deciding on a spot, make sure that the spot has good lighting and a good, solid, clean, work surface. Make sure it is a good spot to think AND work on lessons.” Set up the area with a nice table or desk with plenty of work area…comfortable chairs…limited distractions…shelves for books and notebooks…space for a computer and printer…convenient power supply…space for you to sit down and work with them during their lessons…and a specific spot for organizational bins that will hold supplies.

–> Get supplies together! You probably have supplies ALREADY in your home. Use our list to remind you of which supplies you will need to gather for homeschooling. Gather them and organize them so they will be ready to use when your children can snatch time to dig into their studies.

–> Give easy access to materials and supplies! Don’t just gather supplies, give your children easy access to those supplies! Nothing else can encourage your children to dig deeper into studies like having the materials needed to learn AND free reign to use them. Gather the supplies you will need and store them in clearly marked plastic bins and containers. There are SO many options available. Find what will work for you and your family. Get paper and printable pages together. I have always stored ours in our school materials so the children had their materials on hand as they needed it. A quick glance can remind me that we need more. I buy all of our paper, ink pens, pencils, 3-ring binders, etc in bulk at Sam’s Warehouse. During the school breaks, many stores have supplies and paper in bulk for better prices than all year round. That is when we also stock up. We store it on our school shelves and have what we need as we work.

–> Invest in the best tools! It may seem to be an added expense, however tools make all of the difference in the world! For example, you can buy a cheap stapler for under $5.00 OR you can buy a long-arm stapler for $29.95 at an office supply store. The difference? Well, we have bought SO MANY cheap staplers. They simply do not last. Plus, they are limited in what they can do. Now, contrast that with the long-arm stapler? They are built to last. You can use those for making any size booklet and for regular stapling. Just watch your most reluctant writer when they figure out ALL that they can do with one stapler! $29.95 will be the best investment ever! J Buy the best as you can. The investment is more than just for equipment, it is investing in your child’s education!

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Quick Tips For the Perpetually Late, Disorganized, Stressed Out Mom!

Quick Tips For the Perpetually Late, Disorganized, Stressed Out Mom!
By guest bloggerCindy Rushton

Does this SPEAK to you? Nothing is more frustrating than great intentions but failure with the time management, organization, and gentle spirit thing! So, what can REALLY help? Need a bit of hope? Practical ideas? Well, beloved, here are a few tips that have made a world of difference for me:

–> Be sure to slow down and have a quiet time EACH DAY! Take time for God to fill YOUR cup each day. Let Him give you HIS peace, order, and best of all, schedule! Take time to hear HIS plans for your day. Throughout the day, listen to His gentle direction. Be sure that you are willing to let go of the things that God wants to prune away. Without this, all else is only a band-aid!

–> Invest in a Planner! I am the world’s worst at trying to do it all while trying desperately to remember those incredible details that are doomed to slip my brain! I decided to take a long, honest look at the things that were creating chaos. Most often, the biggest culprit was overcommitment or an underestimate of time involved with commitments. Writing down ALL commitments, along with an honest look at the time commitment involved (even going and coming OR planning the details around that commitment!), has made an indescribable impact on my life! Not to mention, another breeder of chaos in my life was constantly looking for information that needed to be in a dependable place like phone numbers, ordering information, etc. Keeping ONE binder with my information included eliminates the chaos, but it does even more! It gives my brain a rest!

–> Evaluate to find the BEST that God has designed for YOU to do! Sure, there are many “little things” that must be done to manage our homes, but if you are really struggling with balance, discipline yourself to write down everything that you are doing for a little while. Pray over the importance of each and every thing. Time is so very precious. God gives us everything that we need to do all that He has designed for us to do, but He will not anoint those things that will choke out His best for our lives. So, really pray through…think through…weigh out everything. Listen to God for HIS goals for you. Prune those things that are not in line with His goals for you. Get rid of any time wasters. Prioritize every activity, every day! Combine activities that can be done together to make the most of time. Delegate those things that others can do to help you be a good steward of your time. Then, make the most of your time doing the very best things that God has designed for you to do!

–> Write IT down! Yep! Give your brain a break! This may seem to compound your problem, but trust me this will help more than you know! It is NOT another thing to do! Rather, once things are written down, the work is done FOR you! For example, keeping a calendar of events in your planner will help to alleviate conflicts in your schedule. Blocking off plenty of time for each entry will help you to give yourself enough margin left over for LIFE! I may live less than five miles from downtown, but if there is an appointment there, I KNOW to give myself 30 minutes to get there! Also, I cannot tell you how much my lists from years ago are beginning to really help me! I have lists for school lessons, shopping, traveling, producing the magazines, speaking, etc. I may have to add to my generic list, but I cannot tell you how many times my lists have helped me to be sure that NOTHING was left out or forgotten. Plus, now the planning process is simplified. I just pull out my list, go over the list, add anything that is missing, and get busy! Several of my lists are typed into my computer, ready to print. Talk about EASY planning! Find ways that you can simplify what you are doing—writing it down will probably be one of your first steps too!

–> Keep your STUFF ready to use! Whether your planner or your purse or even your Bible/journal for church, get things together and in their special spot, ready to go. I have a tote that includes all of the things that I need for Church. I keep it together, ready to go. Our school books stay in a milk crate (one for each child), ready to use at the table or to grab for our trips with the business. Everything that we need is ready at all times. My planner stays at my chair, ready to grab to leave the house. So on. Decide on what you need for planning, church, homeschooling, or your business. Get everything together. Find its very best spot for it to be easy to use, but not in the way or forgotten. You will be surprised at how much stress this will alleviate!

–> Put limits on your day! For years, I battled the different aspects of my day that tend to become monsters! Funny thing, I have never seen my family life ever become one of those monsters. My sweetheart and my children are so much more patient than my nasty kitchen! Memories will always wait for schoolwork to be completed. Laughter will always let the business monster rant and rage! The best (but most difficult) lesson of my life to date was that if I wanted the legacy that God had planned for me, then I had to diligently guard the different aspects of life. I had to consciously purpose to make memories and build relationships with those I love much, much more than a clean house or thriving business or successful homeschool. A whole day can zoom by just on the internet with the business…or working through our lessons…or even re-organizing a closet. Plus, those things wear me down till I am completely zapped! Oh, and then, I am not the nicest person on earth! (ouch—confessions hurt!) While these things are precious and wonderful in their boundaries, I have to CONSTANTLY place limits to insure that we have a balanced life that makes the most of each day AND builds a legacy.

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Getting started with Charlotte Mason-style narration

Ready to Try Narration?
by Cindy Rushton

Heard about narration, but wonder what it is and how to do it? Been intrigued, but what you have heard just sounds a bit too tough—like another thing to do in your busy day? Well, my dear friend, narration is as easy as A, B, C! It is as easy as talking! When you see how easy and natural narration can be, I think you will be hooked! Want to give it a chance? Here is how…

Read a book to your children.

Yes, why not grab a neat book today and cuddle up with your children for a nice time of reading aloud. There is something about reading aloud to anyone of any age that just nurtures and makes sweet memories. Learning becomes easy. If there is one thing that can bring life and closer relationships into the home, it is reading.

In our home, we love biographies. We just love digging into the lives of great people! Right now, we are reading biographies produced by Youth with a Mission (YWAM Publishing). They are just THE BEST! Through the years, we have gone back in time with those that leave their legacy with us through the life-stories. Why not pull out a biography today?

Of course, biographies are not the only great books for narrations. My son has always been a “fact” kid. He loved digging out information from non-fiction books, magazines, and research materials. He spent hours digging out information and then just poured out the information in his own “literary” style through oral narration (talking!). It was so natural! My only job as a teacher was to LISTEN! Can’t beat that!

Grab a great book, cuddle up, and read!

Let them retell the story to you.

That brings me to the next point…listen to them retell what you read to them. Don’t make it stiff or “school-y.” Make it a relationship thing!

Listen to them share what THEY are truly “getting” from the selection. Listen to what they deem as important. Goodness, all of those wonderful teachers manuals out there dig into questions that someone else deems as important. Many of those are written by adults who have lost the wonder of learning that is still locked up in our children. Their questions are not about the most interesting things in a book or material. In fact, many miss the whole point in many books or studies. They simply cannot see the great mind-food that is there!

So, instead of feeling as though your children need to learn a certain amount of information, sit back and enjoy just listening to all that they are extracting from the material. It will change YOUR life!

Just listening will help you to know that they are truly absorbing from their studies. You will never see education the same again! It will feed YOUR mind too!

Want to Write It Down? Sure! But first…

There is something in us from our school days that feels as though we need to have info recorded for education to happen. That is fine. Of course, before I tell you how, I want to caution about this. I simply LOVE paper trails. I love notebooks. I love to see LOTS of “proof” for what I do with our time. This is something I had to learn about myself as I began homeschooling. Without quite a bit of paper, I just do not always “see” what we have accomplished. If I cannot see it, I battle with feeling as though we are doing enough. Make sense? Well, you have to know this in order to understand that this is one of the reasons that we began notebooking and found notebooking to be such a blessing for our home. With notebooking, we could SEE what was really being accomplished. It helped me to relax and enjoy learning with my children. Now, with that said, all things that we do must be used as tools. We cannot let anything be set up above ministering to the hearts of our children. If we do, then it will burn them out…and most likely, it will cause us to burn out too.

Ok…with that said, this is one of my greatest concerns with narrations. After years of using narration, copywork, dictation, writing books, and making lapbooks, I see the danger in feeling that everything MUST be written down. One of the best perks about narration is that it CAN be entirely oral. There are so many fruits with oral narration—teaching our children how to express their thoughts, how to present what they are learning, how to share with others what they find important, on and on. It is a wonderful preparation for public speaking. They need all of those skills throughout their education. But, there is even more to education.

Even after they become great writers, keep in mind that they will always need to talk. Narration encourages us to develop a relationship with our children early—really listening to them. In the teen years, this is one of the most vital needs for our relationship with them. We need to keep them talking to us. So, as you move through the process of writing, don’t lose your children in the process. Move slow and steady. Keep them talking and sharing. Don’t sacrifice them on the “high places” of education.

Ok…Now…Let’s Write It Down!

You have read the book. Now, what? Either JUST listen or you can let them narrate the story while you take down the story with dictation on paper to keep in a notebook. I really want to stress that writing down narrations is a great way to train your young writers, but it can be very dangerous. Our children can share SO much more from very young ages when they share verbally. Don’t begin this step too early OR make it every day.

How do you know that you are ready? Well, let me share about what happened with my daughter one day.

Elisabeth was always so adorable when narrating. She usually shared twice as much as we would read! Actually, both of my children were like that—humm…could it be having a mom who is a writer? Ha! No, I really think that when we listen to our children and WANT to know what they know, they will all share verbosely.

Well, one day, we were reading while we were traveling. Normally, we would read while dad was at work, then when he would come in from work, the children would be about to bust to share with him every single detail about what we had read or learned during the day. He was a great sport in listening to them go on and on about what we had studied. But, until this day, he had never heard them listen to a story and then make it their own and share it back. I thought it would really excite him to see how much they grasp from their studies. Well, the lesson that day was not for anyone else, but me!

We read the book. It was such a great story. Then, I asked Elisabeth to retell it for Daddy. She had a perplexed look on her face and then asked, “But, Mom, didn’t he just listen?” This was going to get good here… I told her that Daddy HAD listened, but that I wanted for him to see how much she could remember and how neat she shared it back. Of course, my children have never “performed” in front of others like I wanted—it began when they were little and would not say those new words for anyone but me…or walk for anyone but me…or show ANY signs of genius for anyone but me! I always felt that they were trying to make me look like a nut in front of the world—actually, that is what I get for being so very excessively proud of my children! Ha!

Long story, short here…Elisabeth and I had a clash that day. It simply did not make any sense to her that she tell Daddy what she had learned when he could hear it at the same time as her. God whispered to my heart to just drop it that day. I was aggravated with her so much! Of course, God had a treat in store for me!

It was only about a week later. Harold was off work that day. They wanted to go to the park for lunch and to try out their metal detectors. I took my lawn chair and computer to enjoy writing outside. While we were there, Elisabeth ran up to me and asked me how it was going. She loved to hear me tell her what I was working on—in her mind, it was “my schoolwork” that I worked on. I told her what I was doing—working on my Homeschooling The Easy Way Magazine. She asked me if she could do a narration for me—on the same book she would not narrate the week before. Something in me wanted to choke her—in a non-abusive way, of course! Ha! (Why, oh why don’t they do their “tricks” when you want them too?) God had a treat for me!

She began to dictate her narration to me as normal—she would dictate to me, holding her thoughts bit-by-bit until I typed it in for her. By the way, this is SUPER training for the young writer. It helps them to learn how to keep their thoughts in mind while writing down the thoughts. They have to learn this skill before they can become great writers. Of course, there is so much to learn when learning to write—how to manually write, how to spell, how to set up writing, how to punctuate. All of those things are best learned by Copywork through the years. Copywork works great alongside of Narration. They need to be learned parallel. Students are not ready for written narration until they can copy at least ¾ of a page of Copywork easily and effortlessly. Another thing that they really need to know well before beginning to write their own narrations is how to keep their thoughts while writing. This is best learned by learning how to dictate their narrations while mom or dad write them down.

Back to my story…She began the typical process of dictating her narration to me while I typed it into the computer. It was beautiful. The process was the same as so many other days. But, as she asked me to read back over it to let her “see how it sounded,” she had the “light-bulb” go on! She declared to me, “OH! Mommy! That sounds like the book! It is better than the book!” Yes! That was where we wanted to be. We want for our children to get the idea that THEY TOO can be a writer. We want for them to know that their words can be powerful too. When they get here, then they are able to move into even more written narration and their own original composition. They will be great writers!

Wondering how much should be written? Well, I found that I personally got very weary helping them write down narrations. We decided that we would not do this with EVERY book we read. We just read too much material. It was too artificial to have a written narration on everything that we read. It’s perfectly OK to just listen to them as they share oral narrations along the way. In our home, we only use written narration as a tool to train our children to compose on their own or to write easy homemade books. This keeps it fresh and fun, but never artificial!

Using Narrations as Copywork

Before we move on, one thing that we enjoyed doing during the process of training our young writers was to use our narrations for copywork. When they narrated to me, I took the narration down by dictation. Then, I re-copied the narration for them to use as Copywork assignments or I typed them into the computer for a printed copy of the narration for their notebooks.

This worked great for my children. Usually we would sit down for me to take down their narration and I would set it up for them to use as Copywork selections over a period of several days (their narrations were so long). These made nice “stories” for their notebooks and mini-books. Plus, it trained them to copy longer and longer passages. This was perfect training to help them stretch into writing more and more. In addition, this made it easy for them to become accustomed to getting those narrations on paper. Eventually, they no longer needed for me to take down their dictation, they could hold their thoughts until they could get it all on paper. It was amazing to watch the process. Since we allowed it to happen naturally, they never decreased the amount of material that they narrated. They naturally had nice, long, descriptive writing—the easy way!

So…What Now? In High School?

Now, as our children have grown up, they continue to use narration on a daily basis. What does it look like? It looks like real writing today!

You see, nothing is new under the sun. All writing is a form of narration. All speaking is a form of narration. We are retelling what we have learned. Sure, much of what we learn comes from a variety of sources—books, people, real life, personal experiences, etc. As I share this article, I am retelling things I have learned by reading, by experience, by learning from my children, and by God’s leadership in my life. The same happens with our children too.

As they grow into the high school years, they begin to research areas that need to be learned for a complete education. They research areas of study that they want to pursue for their professions and for marriage and parenting. They can use these skills for that education. In fact, if they haven’t had a good background in narration, this is a MUST for the high school student. They need to know how to read material, make it their own, and share it back in an articulate manner.

These are the years that they can research topics deeply, decide what they think is interesting and share that information in research papers, articles, homemade books, or very deeply detailed narrations. Of course, one of my favorite methods for High School students to use narration is by just “talking” with them. We have had incredible discussions based upon what my children have been reading and studying through the years. We have kept the communication lines open by talking, discussing, debating, and problem solving ideas from books and studies. Completely priceless!

So…What About Narration?

Narration is one of those old-paths in education that has been around from the beginning of time. It is the method that God used to preserve His Word. It is the method He instructed parents to use to teach their children about Himself. It has been used all throughout history to teach, to learn, to share. Narration is in REAL LIFE…it happens naturally as you go along the way, talking with one another about life and what is being learned. What could be a more effective way to teach our children? A sure-fire method. A GREAT education. Sweet memories. Relationships. Plus! It is just that easy! So, why not dig in today???

Happy Homeschooling!
Cindy

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Keeping your life balanced

Restoring Balance To Completely Overloaded Lives!
By Cindy Rushton

Ever had an “unbalanced tire?” Recently, I had a tire that was driving me crazy! It made the ride horribly rough. I was wore-out just from trying to drive to town because it kept pulling me off the road—obviously in the wrong direction! Just a simple trip to town was completely stressful. My hands were blistered from trying to hold on to the steering wheel the whole way to town and back! I was certain that my car was about to blow up…that something was permanently wrong! Imagine my relief to find that my problem was from one tire that was out of balance! Easy to fix. The smooth ride only took a few moments to restore.

Ever had an “unbalanced life?” Well, the similarities are unbelievable! Talk about a rough ride! Talk about a pull in the wrong direction! Talk about stress! Sure it is easy to fix—but, oh so hard to do!

We are overloaded! Every area of our lives suffers from overload: commitments… possessions… work… information…relationships!

We are a culture that can be characterized as overloaded! We are busy. Hurried. Overworked. Stressed. Rushed. We exceed our limits. We take on WAY TOO MUCH! As my pastor says, “We write checks that our body and mind cannot cash!” Our productivity suffers. Our bodies suffer! Our vital relationships suffer. We no longer can hear God as He whispers direction, encouragement, and wisdom along our path. We miss the best! We wonder why we end our days empty and without meaning or accomplishment.

We forget what is most important—or at minimum, put it off for another day. The important seldom screams for attention, but the urgent, often insignificant, constantly screams for MORE and more! We get so busy and distracted doing the urgent and demanding in life that we lose the opportunity to impact the important, that in which we are given to leave a legacy!

So, how on earth do we get out of this rat race? How are we to restore balance? If we could restore balance, how could we maintain balance? How could we make life really count for something? Here are some things that the Lord has been teaching me this year as He has pulled me back from so many GOOD things to restore balance and keep me on the path to leaving a legacy!

SLOW DOWN!

Does that one hurt or what? We are so fast paced! We live on the “fast track!” Think of the rat race we live in: one-hour print…ten-minute oil changes…instant cameras…instant potatoes…instant MICROWAVE meals! Our homes have dishwashers, slow-cookers (don’t be fooled by the name—turn them on as you run out the door for work and have a healthy meal ready to serve at the end of the day!), microwaves, and computers! Oh, and the computer thing! Yep, I am on my computer now (at our local coffee shop—yep, priorities are nice at times!) enjoying the benefits of my blessed computer complete with its battery, cd-writer, and all of the other MUSTS that I am so spoiled with! BUT! For heavens’ sake…think of how spoiled we REALLY are! The computer age has taken over sweet little country stores! We have the Internet (which has faced the demand to have MORE instant connections—remember all of those ads this summer?), E-mail (to instantly communicate!), E-books (to instantly receive our products so we don’t have to wait for the dreaded postal service to deliver!!), E-zines, Auto-responders (didn’t REALLY think those were REAL people there all hours of the day and night??!!), Auto-processing of orders/credit cards, and don’t forget Instant Messenger—for those who find Email to be too slow! We have “Drive-Thru’s” for EVERYTHING—food, cleaners, pharmacies, oil changes, and even (PLEASE GASP WITH ME!) funeral homes! Well…that is where I drew the line! Drive-thru funeral homes! Where are we as a culture? On the fast track!

What do we do? Why not Slllllooooowwwww DDDDoooooowwwnnnnn??? I am not advocating that we STOP using technology. Rather, we should use those tools to make life easier and to make the most of our time. HOWEVER, where it really matters—relationships, home, family, homeschooling, our witness, life…where it REALLY matters, we must slow down! Restoring balance and eliminating overload is simply not possible without slowing down!

Ephesians 5: 15-16 says, “Look carefully then how you walk! Live purposefully and worthily and accurately, not as the unwise and witless, but as the wise (sensible, intelligent people), Making the very most of the time [buying up each opportunity], because the days are evil.” What does this look like? Well, let’s go back to Genesis 33 for a look at the life of Jacob after he completely surrendered his entire life to the Lord. “My lord knoweth that the children are tender, and the flocks and herds with young are with me: and if men should overdrive them one day, all the flock will die. Let my lord, I pray thee, pass over before his servant: and I WILL LEAD ON SOFTLY, according as the cattle that goeth before me and the children BE ABLE TO ENDURE, until I come unto my lord at Seir.” Want to slow down, but how? Where do we begin? What can really make a significant difference? Try these:

–> Decide what is MOST important! Think over life for a little while! What is it that only YOU can do in this life? Why did God create YOU? What is your life purpose? What is it that God created YOU to do? What can go? Just as our house cannot be cleaned without getting rid of the clutter—otherwise all we are doing is shuffling the clutter around—likewise, we must take an occasional inventory to de-clutter our life! I find this to be a battle JUST as many of you probably do and trust me, this is a life principle that I really stick to! Long ago, God impressed upon my heart that if I were going to be able to truly fulfill my calling that He had for my life, I would HAVE to only do the things that *ONLY I* could do—if it were something that anyone else on earth could do, it would have to go! Still, I will go through periods of my life and begin to get overloaded again only to find when I evaluate the value of all that I do, there are things that sneak into my schedule that vie for my focus and energy! Usually that requires that I take out those really tough pruning shears again to cut back—either by delegating the tasks to someone else so I can be more productive at what ONLY I can do—or even more difficult, get rid of what is overloading me! I know that this is hard, but it is SO key! Take a deep look now at what you are doing. Is it really eternal? Is it the “main thing?” Is it essential? Can anyone else do it? Is it hindering you from the very best? Decide what is most important. You won’t be sorry!

–> Examine Your Lifestyle! Take a little while to jot down a journal of what makes up your day? Your week? Your month? Your year? REALLY BE HONEST! Do those things count? What are the days filled with: things that are really important…or lots of fires to put out? Take a bit longer to write out what you would REALLY like to be accomplishing. What do you think that a “perfect day,” if it were possible, would look like? How can you change your day to really slow it down so your life really counts?

–> Examine Your Motives! Motives will fool us in a heartbeat! Scripture is so very true as it warns us to beware of our heart. We simply cannot trust our hearts. They will lead us astray every time! What really motivates us? What drives us? If we can determine this, we can evaluate activities and obligations much more effectively! So, what drives you? Ambition? Your life call? The desire to be in control? Don’t trust others to do things? Passion? Guilt? Ego? Insecurity (Can’t say “no?” Afraid that you have no value unless you are “seen” busy?) Constantly trying to please others? Revenge? Money? Oh, I could go on and on…motives are so very deceptive and there are so many. What is your motive? What drives you to do all you do?

Busyness does not mean that we are accomplishing. Nor does busyness guarantee fulfillment. Often, busyness is the very thing that keeps us from the very things that will bring us satisfaction, fulfillment, and contentment. Busyness, given the chance, will keep us from fulfilling our life purpose!

It is all up to us! We can choose which way to go! Enjoy the journey or wait to enjoy the brief delight of the destination? A wasted, bitter, defeated life or a life full of purpose and meaning? Burn out or real accomplishment? Deep, passionate relationships or very real regrets?

Why not slow down? Relax? Enjoy the whole journey—the process getting there AND the destination! Build deep relationships! Stick to those priorities! Simplify life so you reach for the very best! Seize each moment!

REDEEM THE TIME!

Time! Friend or foe? Have enough time in your day? Or are you a truly kindred spirit, asking God for just a few good 80-hour days and the energy to use them to the fullest? Ha! I have a good feeling that if your prayer is for that one, that you will also find that God will whisper sweetly in your ear to say that the problem is not that we do not have enough time…or that we are using time to the fullest…or even that we waste time. Rather, He would say that we need to make it our ambition to redeem the time—each and every moment we are given!

A few months back, my pastor taught a series of messages entitled From Burnout to Balance. In his series, he challenged us to look at time as a great big “bank account.” He said that this account is one that we are guaranteed to have daily deposits made on our behalf by God each and every day. We each get our fair share. No one gets more. No one gets less.

Think of this awesome gift! Each and every day we are given a gift that can impact all of eternity—or be squandered away into oblivion. Each day we are given this gift without any regard to our stewardship from the day before! TWENTY-FOUR HOURS! ONE-THOUSAND, FOUR HUNDRED, FORTY MINUTES! EIGHTY-SIX THOUSAND, FOUR HUNDRED SECONDS! Deposited in our “account” each and every day!

And…with this gift, we are free to use it in any way we choose. We can waste it or use it wisely. We can make a difference—or misuse it! But! One thing is guaranteed each day with all that is deposited on our behalf—it must be used up before the end of the day…it cannot be carried into tomorrow!

We all have 24 hours put into our spending account each and every day. What we do with that time is in our hands! Will we be faithful? Will we use it wisely? Will we make it count for eternity? Will we use our gift to the fullest? Will we use our gift for what really counts?

If we want to live a life of balance, we must guard this precious gift! We must measure our time as one of our greatest resources we have to invest in this life! This requires that we go back to our precious Giver and seek HIM for how we can most faithfully invest each moment! We must let Him be the Lord of our schedule, our to-do’s, our calendar. We must commit our way—ALL OF OUR WAY—to Him from our work to our studies that we pursue to our commitments to our books that we read to the activities that we participate.

We must be careful to set a guard on our time to be sure that we do not flippantly do without thinking or take on too much that we forfeit the best! We need to purpose to really do those things that are “NEEDFUL” (remember Luke 10: 38-42?) and not just the “stuff” that we think MUST be done! We need to constantly evaluate our choices and weigh them to see if they are truly those things that help us to reach our life call.

Time…what do you think? Redeem this precious gift so our lives can be balanced? You bet!

SELL OUT COMPLETELY TO GOD’S WILL!

Does this scare you to death? Are you seeing visions of little grass huts…no electricity…bugs…complete with the stench of underarm odor?

Oh, beloved! My first image of total surrender to God admittedly envisioned life on a continent that was far, far away from all of the comforts of home. Still have no idea if there is a continent that could be as disgusting as my visions were. Sure, I trusted God for eternity, but never thought of heaven in the same way that I thought of my life on earth totally surrendered to Him!

Now, as we move into our 21th year as a ministry, I HAVE to tell you that God has a very, very good plan for us! He does not call us, equip us, and then send us to an assignment that forfeits our trust and confidence in Him! In fact, one thing that I am thrilled to say is that although there IS work in our calling, there is delight and fulfillment that cannot be found in anything else under the sun! Seeing His provision is unbelievable. Watching His anointing fall is indescribable! Plus! No grass huts so far!

Give your ALL to God! Sell out! Don’t hold anything in reserve! Abandon ALL for the call!

Scared? Just give Him a try! Take a look at Jeremiah 29 in The Message Bible. God says to us, “I know what I’m doing, I have it all planned out—plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for. When you call on me, when you come and pray to me, I’ll listen. When you come looking for me, you’ll find me. Yes, when you get serious about finding me and want it more than anything else, I’ll make sure you won’t be disappointed.” Oh, beloved, not only will you never, ever be disappointed, but you will find that His GOOD plan will be truly good–satisfactory for you, satisfying, fullfilling, completely sufficient!

Wonder JUST WHAT could YOU do? Too young? Too old? Too poor? Not qualified—or so you think? Well, beloved! Know that God has called each and everyone of us to function in His Body. We are the mouthpieces here on earth for Him. We are the feet for Him. We are the hands here in our community for Him! He has called and equipped each and every one of us to be a part of His Body here on earth! We each have talents, spiritual gifts, natural bents and interests, and experiences that can minister to those that are growing in the Body AND those that need to join the Body of Christ! God needs ALL of us working and functioning properly if His Kingdom—His way of doing things—will come to earth! He needs for us to be that light that shines in the darkness to bring others to Him. Just go into a dark, dark room… Light one candle… See what a difference YOU can make right where you are!

Have no idea what His plan is for you? Take a look at Romans 12: 1-2. He promises in verse two that YOU can know His good, perfect, and acceptable will for you! Yes, YOU can know that plan! How? Going back through this passage, we see how:

–> Become a living sacrifice—EVERYDAY! Completely yielded. Completely dedicated. Completely committed to Him and His Way! Giving Him our ALL! All that we are: our plans…gifts…bents…talents… ambitions… ideas… methods… techniques… fears… delights…concerns… all presented to God as a living sacrifice EVERY SINGLE DAY! If we truly desire to know the good, acceptable, perfect will of God for ourselves or our children, we must first obediently present ourselves as a complete, living sacrifice. There may be things in our lives (things that are very precious and difficult to get rid of) that must be burnt up as a sacrifice for us to be prepared to receive God’s very best OR we may find that what we bring to sacrifice before the Lord is acceptable in His sight and can return home with us (like Abraham as he willingly prepared to sacrifice his beloved Isaac). However, the key is not in what God does with our sacrifice, it is in our heart coming before Him daily, presenting ourselves and all that we have before His throne!

–> Don’t not conform to the world; but conform to Christ!! Yep! We either conform to the world or to Christ! We cannot live for one without forsaking the other! Want to know God’s plan? Let go of the world’s standards, the world’s ways, the world’s requirements, the world’s traditions, and the world’s bondage. Let go of the lies of the world! We must stop serving the world at the expense of becoming ALL that God wants for us to become! If we want to live an abundant life—a balanced life—the world’s way will never work! Only God’s way brings balance, freedom, and true, abundant LIFE that we are really searching for! As we grow in relationship with Christ, daily become LIKE HIM, we find security and LIFE! We find peace! We find hope! We find the direction that we have been looking for all along the way! We find freedom to become ALL that God designed for us to become! Talk about LIFE! We move beyond balance to abundant life!

–> Be transformed by the daily renewal of your mind! The last key to getting to know God’s plan! However, this one is SO VITAL! If we truly want to live a balanced, abundant life, we must sell out to God’s will. BUT, however much we want to sell out, unless we truly let Him change our life, we will just spin our wheels in the same ruts, never becoming all that God wants for us to become! How is our mind transformed? Life changed? This life transformation begins as we sit at the feet of Jesus. As we daily immerse ourselves in His Word, we will begin to be transformed. Then, we will soon have different priorities… different beliefs… different ambitions… and soon, we will be able to prove what is good, acceptable, and perfectly in the will of God. If we never experience this transformation, we will always find ourselves burdened under a yoke of bondage. We will always find ourselves looking in all the wrong places for direction, approval, meaning, purpose, and rest! We will constantly battle overload. We will find life bumpy and pulling us into life’s “ditches!”

God has a precious plan EVEN for you! Surrender ALL to Him! Let Him have it all! Let Him do His work in you! Don’t rush! Don’t drag around! Don’t run from it! Live EACH day letting Him have your ALL in complete abandonment! Balance will come—but, beloved there is so much more that will rush into your life! Purpose, meaning, abundant life! Go for it!

BUILD MARGIN—BREATHING ROOM—INTO YOUR LIFE!

Ever been at rock bottom? We see many of our favorite Bible characters that we get to know during good times, but I think my favorites are those that we get to see when they are rock bottom, with NO breathing room, at the point that my mother would have said, “I’ve HAD IT!” Ever just “HAD-IT?”

Imagine for yourself the grief and utter pain that Job was experiencing as he cried out in Job 3:26, “I have NO peace, NO rest, NO quiet!”

Drop into the conversation with Paul as he declared that he got to his “breaking point” in 2 Corinthians 1: 8-9, “For we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about the affliction and oppressing distress which befell us in the province of Asia, how we were so utterly and unbearably weighed down and crushed that we despaired even of life itself. Indeed, we felt within ourselves that we had received the very sentence of death, but that was to keep us from trusting in and depending on ourselves instead of on God Who raises the dead.”

Finally, journey back to 1 Samuel as we are first introduced to Hannah at the point of utter desperation—you probably know a bit about her story. Barren. Broken. Taunted (by her husband’s other WIFE!! Who had NO problem bearing children!). Empty. Crushed in soul. Oh, let’s join her at the point that she had “HAD IT!”… “Crushed in soul, Hannah prayed to God and cried and cried—inconsolably. Then, she made a vow: Oh, God-of-the-Angel-Armies, If you’ll take a good, hard look at my pain, if you’ll quit neglecting me and go into action for me by giving me a son, I’ll give him completely, unreservedly to you. I’ll set him apart for a life of holy discipline…” As she was praying, she sunk even lower as she was completely misunderstood by the priest, who thought she was DRUNK! We hear more of her heart in her reply to him… “Oh no, sir—please! I’m a woman hard used. I haven’t been drinking. Not a drop of wine or beer. The only thing I’ve been pouring out is my heart, pouring it out to God. Don’t for a minute thing I’m a bad woman. It’s because I’m so desperately unhappy and in such pain that I’ve stayed here so long!”

Relate? I know that these precious vessels were crying out in the midst of trials and life events that were too much. However, I don’t think that we find ourselves at the point of desperation without first pushing limits for quite some time! We haven’t got margin to deal with the daily-ness of life—much less those life struggles, crisis situations, losses, and persecutions that inevitably knock most of us off our “rocker” into despair!

Think about it…if you are the average person in our society today, you live on fast-food, crazy hours, no sleep. You are chronically rushed (or late), overworked, exhausted, overloaded! What is the solution? Build MARGIN! Build some BREATHING ROOM! Simplify life so there is room for change…space for disruptions. How? Here are some suggestions that I am trying to implement in my own life:

–> Accept HUMAN Limitations! Can you sense how HARD that is for ME to type? Oh, here it where it gets harder, it is not MY idea, it is the Word of God too: “I have seen that EVERYTHING HUMAN has its limits and end no matter how extensive, noble, and excellent.” (Psalm 119: 96a) OUCH! If there is a battle for balance (and YOU KNOW there is!), this is one of the biggies! We ALL have limits! But, where we need more margin is that we don’t say “NO” when we face limitations! As I shared above, we “write checks our body and mind cannot cash!” The world says, “You can have it ALL!” “You can do it all!” Even the church gives the illusion that “I can do ALL THINGS through Jesus Christ.” However, the Bible is very clear that we can ONLY DO those things that are HIS THINGS—HIS WILL! WE have limits! We have space limits. We have body limits. We have emotional limits. Jesus does not give us a blank check to do ALL THINGS. Much less, Jesus WILL NOT empower us to do ALL THINGS. He only empowers us to do those things that HE CALLS us to do. He never gives us anything that is beyond our abilities and resources to do. One clear way to judge what we are called to do from those things that we are not called to do is to look at our limitations: our red lights, shut downs, overloads, crashes. We need to look at those warning signs: pain, fatigue, stress, irritability, frustrations. Our human limitations are God’s boundaries in our lives that help us to know that we are overextended and writing checks our bodies and minds cannot cash. Respecting human limitations will restore balance to even the most overloaded life!

–> Expect Interruptions! Proverbs 22:3 says, “A prudent man sees trouble coming and ducks—a simpleton walks in blindly and is clobbered!” If there is one thing in life that is FOR SURE, we can be sure that life seldom goes as planned. Life cannot be predicted. Just think about it…what truly messes up your schedule? Traffic? Car trouble? Delays? Crisis situations? Special needs along the way? We must plan for interruptions or our lives will constantly be out of balance, our schedules will never work, and much of life will be squandered! Expect interrruptions and plan room for them into every day!

–> Put SPACE Into Your Schedule! Ever had your PDA/Planner/Calendar/ Briefcase complain about an overstuffed schedule? Actually my planner looks so much more “professional” when it is PACKED OUT! Only I don’t handle it so well! For the last few years, I have really evaluated what I was doing that was causing me to get off my schedule and not get around to all of my to-do’s. Now, granted, some days it is ME or my darling little ones! But, overall, 95% of my schedule woes are also the culprit behind life getting just way too busy—OVER-SCHEDULING! Schedules, like daily life, only work when there is SPACE in each day! Just like we see with the life of Christ (see Matthew 5-10), our life is filled with distractions, interruptions, crisis situations. We can battle against these OR we can add margin (space) into our lives that gives us room to use these as THE MAIN THING—opportunities for ministry, opportunities for the very best lessons, teachable moments, hands-on discipleship! Not only are we able to step up to the call as it beckons us, but we are less likely to spin out of balance constantly!

–> Prune Life To Yield MORE Fruit! Several years ago, one of my dearest friends bought her DREAM land. Every time that I go to visit her, our family laughs because just driving up her driveway I begin to see a view that rivals that of the gorgeous view on The Sound of Music, thus tempting me to begin to sing—“The HILLS ARE ALIVE…with the sound of music…” The land is gorgeous. But it is more than that. It is also productive! However, at first it wasn’t. Rhea bought the land, complete with an orchard. Sound ready to go? Well, not exactly! Needing a bit of help with her fruit trees, she called in a professional. To her shock, she looked outside to find her precious orchard looking like a bunch of sticks in the dirt. Pruning began to have a whole new meaning! What looked like devastation actually was the key to those best fruit ever! Bigger fruit! Sweeter fruit! MORE fruit! I remember the year that Rhea was getting her first fruits after the pruning. It was a year that I needed that practical example of pruning just so I would have the nerve to let God loose with His pruning shears! I can’t say it was easy! It was probably one of the most challenging times in my entire life. I had lived my life pretty much just without much thought. However, God was wanting for me to yield up EVERYTHING so He could prune back all that was diseased…all that was broken…all that was zapping my strength…all that was causing double-vision…all that was keeping me from bearing the fruit He had planned from the foundation of the earth. 1 Corinthians 6: 12a says, “Everything is permissable (allowable and lawful) for me; but not all things are helpful (good for me to do, expedient and profitable when considered with other things).” There are many GOOD things that God would not have a problem if I were to do them. However, those good things can keep me from producing all of the fruit that I can bear. It becomes a choice thing for me. I can choose whether I will allow Him total control of my entire life—even the schedule… commitments… my going… my doing. I am the ONE who can sit down, yield to the shears, and stay ready to bear more and more fruit. Likewise, I can also resist. But…I don’t really like that alternative!

At the end? At your limit constantly? “HAD IT?” Take a good look look at life! Check for margin! Not enough? Build margin! Create space! Watch what happens!

DE-STRESS!

Yep! Gulp! De-stress! This one got you out of whack before too? You are not alone, beloved!

Want to know the #1 complaint in our culture? What about among homeschool moms? The booger behind despair? The reason that most quit? The reason that many never begin? You have got it! The stress! The chaos! The mess! The lack of organization or ability to “keep it together.” Want to battle for balance? This little devil will give you quite a challenge!

Yep! If there is a need among the body of Christ, this JUST might be it! But, how? Here are some quick tips for restoring balance when it all gets bumpy from the stresses of life…

–> Find Your Stressors! What throws YOU for a loop? What takes you into a “nose-dive?” What “stalls” your flight? What are your biggest stressors? What causes YOUR stress? Identify the REAL culprit—HINT: it is NOT your husband (!!) or your children (!!) or God (!!). Look at your life honestly! What REALLY stresses you out? Holding onto your stress? Carrying a burden you do not have to carry? Anxiousness? Discontent? Strife? Expectations? Willfulness instead of willingness and total surrender and total abandonment? Find YOUR stressors! Know what REALLY “punches” your buttons!

–> PLAN! Plan ahead! Well in advance! One saying that always pops into my head when I think of the word plan is, “If we fail to plan, we really plan to fail!” Nothing brings MORE stress than living life without direction, without a plan, always under “crisis” management, making decisions on a moment-by-moment basis. If this is stressing you out, try to plan ahead! Plan out your goals. Plan out your schedule. EVEN the mundane things—plan out those daily routines, even going so far as to write them out! How does this help? Well, decisions are made, saving those precious brain-cells for other uses! Trust me this works WONDERS! So, plan! Plan well! Don’t wait until the last minute! Plan…then, you can settle in to go a slow pace!

–> Write it DOWN! Give your brain a rest! Talk about stressing out—our brains will stress out if we are keeping all of our to-do’s…plans…goals…heartbeats…EVERYTHING on our brain! Write it down! Not only will it help to keep things from slipping between the cracks, but it will also help us to evaluate where we have come from and where we have to go. Plus, the best yet! We will have a sense of accomplishment when we look back!

–> Watch that attitude! There are going to be some life-stresses that quite honestly cannot be changed! However, we need not walk in a life of defeat and stress! Instead, when we recognize life-stresses that cannot change, that is the time to sit right down at the feet of Jesus! Ask Him to show the purpose. At minimum, KNOW that victory is guaranteed! There is no temptation or trial that is original with any of us! Nor is there anything that we are allowed to walk in that is not first filtered through the loving hands of God. He always guarantees VICTORY! So, watch that attitude! When things cannot change, change what can—that perspective…that attitude!!

–> Delegate! What is it that makes it so hard for moms to get help? Our children LOVE to be Mommy’s helpers! We really steal their blessings when we do not delegate to them. Even toddlers can help fold a load of laundry! Don’t try to do it all by yourself! Delegate and you will find some of the stress dissipating!

–> Get enough rest! Oh! This one is soooo tough for me! But, let’s honestly look at what happens in our families when we get tired: don’t get enough sleep>get cranky>don’t enjoy life>not too great to be around> others get cranky> irritates you more>get more tired… Why not simply get that rest?? Sleep AND that rest in body, spirit, and soul!

–> Self-control! Hummmm… Such a challenge! However, we will find ourselves constantly stressed out until we learn to say “NO” to those activities, commitments, all that stuff! Bit-by-bit, they wear us down. Saying, “NO” eliminates the whole threat of stress from the onset!

–> Keep it simple! Don’t overload! We already KNOW we cannot do everything, but we have to remember this when choices are there to be made! Always look at anything new, whether an activity or a possession, judging its importance by what you are willing to swap for it. This works for everything—shoes, books, activities, commitments. Keep it simple! You can’t do or have everything, so go for the very best!

–> Give yourself a break! Don’t pick yourself to death NOR let others pick you to death either! It is so easy to focus on the negative, get overwhelmed by the weaknesses and inadequacies, and get frustrated about how far you have to go! Then, PEOPLE sure do not help! Let another person loose in your life with the license to critique you or your situation and you will be ready for the nut-farm! Give yourself a break! See this thing as a process—you will not arrive until it is all over but the shoutin’ so relax, enjoy life, and give yourself a break!

–> Find ways to fill your cup! We are each wired so very different. Certain things stress some of us that do not bother others. Likewise, certain things just fill our cup! STOP! Step back! Shift into low gear –or reverse! Do what it takes to DE-STRESS! Rest! Relax! Rejuvenate! Renew! Refill! Whatever it takes, find those things that fill YOU back up! Oh! The benefits go beyond de-stressing and restoring balance—you finally have living water to pour forth into the lives of others!

–> Make the most of EVERY minute! Cherish this time! Make sweet memories! Take time for the most important—the best things! Your husband! Your children! Your family life! Don’t let life just slip by! Look at life and decide what you would do if this were your last year…last month…last week…last day? Would you go to the park to enjoy watching them play? Would you cuddle up and read a great book? Would you take off to the beach? Why not make those things YOUR thing? Oh, and probably find that education can be EASY along the way too!

De-stress! Crawl up into the great big comfy arms of our loving Heavenly Father! Let Him hold you during the most turbulent or trivial stresses of life! Let Him restore your spirit! What you are doing is vital! Your enemy wants you stressed out, overloaded, out of balance! He is defeated! When he snarls, throws forth his darts, and lies to you, just snuggle up closer to your Lord! Give Him the struggles! Give Him expectations! Give Him every single burden! You won’t be sorry!

GET BACK TO THE MAIN THING! RELATIONSHIPS!

Remember Matthew 22: 37-40? Jesus was asked, “What IS the most important thing? The bottom line? The main thing?” I love Jesus’ ability to summarize ALL of life in ONE response! He summed up the main thing in three commands: to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and body…to love others as ourselves…and obviously, to love ourselves! Do you see this? The MAIN THING…the BOTTOM LINE..THE most important thing was relationships! However, when we get overloaded, the very first thing that we skimp on is relaitonships!

Want to restore balance and get rid of all of that overload? Take a deep look at the MAIN THING! Anytime things are out of balance, take a look to see how relationships are doing? Are they being “put off” until the pressures go away? Are they quiet while the rest of the “stuff” screams, demands, and pulls you to pieces?

Ask God to constantly keep you attuned to relationships in which you are charged with ministry. Ask God to show you ways that you can love and minister to Him. Ask Him to quicken you all along the way with ideas and precious opportunities for ministering to those you are called to minister to—your husband, your children, your parents, your siblings, those that come within your sphere of influence. Cry out to Him to help you guard your time so moments do not slip away leaving a hole in this vital area of life!

SO…WHAT DO YOU THINK???

Ready to get out of this rat race? Ready to restore balance? Make life really count? Sit at the feet of Jesus! Snuggle up close! Listen for each beat of His heart! Let Him pull you back from that “stuff.” Let Him show you how to let go of those GOOD things and grab onto the very best! Give Him a chance to restore balance and set us on the path to leaving a legacy!

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FUN with homeschool history

Quick Ideas for Making History Fun!
by guest blogger Cindy Rushton

Want to make this school year better than ever? Want studies
that are interesting for the whole family? I think I can help you!

How about some quick tips for making your history studies fun? I
think you will find these to make lessons fun and easy. Let’s dig
in…

* Get Out to See History as Much as Possible… Hunt up any
Living History Days scheduled in your area. Get out to all
historical sites and museums…even hands-on children’s museums.
Don’t miss any historical reenactments and plays within driving
distance! These all give wonderful opportunities to get your
children in touch with those that love History and know it best.

* Begin a History Notebook… This is the cure to dull, lifeless
texts. Let your children create their own notebooks of study!
Include anything from great quotes to poetry to pictures to
sketches to newspaper clippings to photographs to mementos from
history sites, reenactments and postcards from friends to
narrations from books read. These personalized curricula will
bring life into all areas of study.

* Tap Into Grandparents, Elderly, Family, and Friends… Our
family and friends have been a key source of finding out neat
stories that are not recorded in the history books. Sitting at
their feet, we have learned many details from history that would be
long lost without the gift of story telling. The key to making this
come alive is to listen and record their stories for your History
Notebooks. Keep this part of history alive for you and for
generations to come!

* Find Treasures at Antique Stores… One of our favorite
past-times is “junking” at antique stores, junk shops and flea
markets. Take your time to find wonderful treasures from the past,
which will breathe life into your History studies. You can find
journals, uniforms, books, dress up clothes, and even play gadgets
to make history come alive for your little ones!

* Let the Little Ones Make Up Their Own Costumes… I have always
enjoyed researching and creating authentic costumes from other time
periods. I used to have more time and energy to create costumes
for every time period we studied. Now, my children are using their
extra time and endless supply of energy to create their own
costumes. I love to see them as they pull together little things
from around the house to create their own costumes!

* Let Them Make Doll Clothes… This tangent began for us when my
daughter got her first American Girl doll. We combined my love of
creating authentic doll clothes with my deep passion for making
doll clothes. Each year for the past five years, I have spent time
each December creating matching outfits for Elisabeth and her
dolls. This is easy to do with today’s patterns. Just take basic
designs and create your own “historical” costumes for the dolls.
If you have a beginning seamstress interested in some quick
projects, this would be a wonderful way to learn the basics of
sewing while learning History!

* Make a Timeline…Timelines are priceless! We have had two
different kinds of timelines for our studies in History. We had a
huge one that took up an entire wall in our old home. It was
fascinating to watch the little ones as they would “review” and
“test” each other on history as they went by! When we built our
home, my husband would not allow that one back on the wall, so we
made our own Book of Centuries on our computer, which includes all
of our history facts. We simply developed a notebook with the dates
marked. We record key events, people we study and the key events
of their life, our family’s key events, illustrations which remind
the children of those historical figures and events, pictures that
the children have collected from books and trips that we have
taken, information from our Computer Encyclopedias and Internet
Sites, and even charts we have collected or made ourselves. These
are another “text” that we create about our studies. How priceless!

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Homeschool History Notebooking

by CAPE’s Guest Blogger, Cindy Rushton
Yes! Notebooking for History Studies! Notebooking for our History Timelines!

What great literature does to feed the mind, Notebooking does to deepen the studies, teach research skills, and record the real education that your children are receiving. Old path? Yep! But not a path that has been overgrown.

Notebooking goes as far back as eternity.

In Scripture, we find that the kings were trained and prepared for leadership by copying the law and keeping it in a book (isn’t that too cute??).

Want to know something even better? We find that EVEN God has a Book of Remembrance that He is keeping until that day that we join Him in heaven for that “Heavenly read aloud time” we will enjoy some day soon. Oh. Don’t worry! We will ENJOY this time. His Book of Remembrance does not contain a list of sins and transgressions that we have committed that He wants to be sure not to forget. Instead, it is filled to overflowing with precious quotes of praises that His servants speak to one another (My PERSONAL goal is for Him to have PLENTY to quote from my life!).

Up until about a hundred years ago, Notebooking was used in the education of every child. But, something called textbooks and “progressive” education eliminated them from the education of children today. With that elimination, we find the need for more and more artificial methods of education. Well, until we find this old path.

My friend, of all the ideas I could share with you as you homeschool your children, this one is certain to change the atmosphere of your home while equipping your children to learn more deeply now AND more voraciously for the rest of their lives.

Although I cannot begin to do justice explaining Notebooking in one simple article, I have to tell you a few perks (if you want more help in this area, take a look at my book Notebooking! YES! You Can Be A Binder Queen Too!). You have to know that this is a WONDERFUL way to teach more than just the historical facts that we want for our children to learn. There are LOTS of perks!

First of all, Notebooking encourages deeper research on topics of study. As my children have found a “place” to keep their special “finds” along the way, they have had more interest in hunting for more information on every topic they run across. They may think of this as a treasure hunt, but while they are having a blast finding great ideas, facts, and heirlooms, they are learning the skills of researching that will serve them all of their life. That is not all! While our children are building notebooks on topics as they study, they are also learning how to record what they are really learning. Besides relieving mom of the pressure of keeping records of every minute of their day, this teaches them the skill of record keeping and keeps a more accurate account of what is being done each and every day. Oh, and need I mention, Notebooking also teaches our children Language Arts skills and techniques the EASY WAY!

So, how do you use this old path as you teach History the easy way?

First, find great resources that can be used for building notebooks.

I am constantly on the lookout for great resources with neat Copywork. My children began using Copywork when they were very little and STILL use Copywork for building their notebooks in High School. There are many, many great resources. The very first thing we used was a large print edition of the Bible. It was easier for my young readers/writers to copy from. I also look for books with poems, quotes, narratives, songs, speeches, etc. As we travel, my children also look for special mementos to add to their notebooks. Anything from art prints to recipes to maps to pictures of the people and events from History are game for their notebooks. The key is in having a “place” to keep the information that contributes to each and every study. That place is our notebooks!

Second, encourage your children to USE those notebooks every day.

It is so easy to put projects on the shelf only to collect dust. It is also easy for us to let the children do work that we pile away in a box to put away later for them. Notebooking is NOT another thing for YOU TO DO! Well, unless you are going to keep a notebook for your own studies.

My dear friend, the greatest benefits come from our children doing the work for themselves. Sure, you may have gone to every local Scrapbooking crop in your city and state. But, this is not a contest for the most creative memory book. It is a discipline that we can pass on to our children so they can learn the skills of writing, researching, recording their own education, and collecting information in a logical and understandable way. Simply find some great resources for them to copy from…buy just ONE NOTEBOOK (3-ring binder) and sheet protectors (to keep their work stored nicely in each day)…and turn them loose! The fruit you gather along this old path is simply too good to miss!

Happy Homeschooling…the easy way

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Introduction to notebooking for homeschoolers

by Guest Blogger Cindy Rushton

Notebooking … ahhh, just the thought makes me hyper! If I could ask every homeschooling family to do just one thing, it would be to just give notebooking a try. This is the one technique that pulls everything together—studies, research, real life, personal interests—everything! It reaches even the most reluctant writer! It makes homeschooling fun and easy! Who wouldn’t want to try that?

Not just that! Everything that normally clutters up the busy homeschool home can be tucked away into a notebook! All of those precious narrations can be safely protected in notebooks. All of those daily copywork lessons can find their home in notebooks on each of the topics that your children love so much. Even those awesome handouts that you have piled up from field trips can find the perfect home in your notebooks! Homeschooling is recorded. An heirloom is built!

Want to Give It a Try?

Getting started is as easy as ABC. Let me take you through the easy steps:

1. Gather your supplies. Your supplies can be as simple as a three-ring binder per child, plastic sheet protectors, and a pencil per child. You can make this as simple or as crafty as you like! Over the years, notebooking has worked so wonderfully in our home that we are constantly on the lookout for different and fun supplies during our daily notebooking time. By doing so, our daily lessons are as fun as a scrapbooking party—every day! If you have no idea where to begin, see our shopping list on www.TheHomeschoolMagazine.com for quick ideas on supplies that work great!

2. Make your supplies accessible. Set aside a place for your material and a place for your children to work. There is something wonderful about having a place fore everything and everything reliably in its place. The work in the beginning is well worth the time during the school year. We have a shelf that contains books that I find along the way with great copywork that I would like for my children to add to their notebooks on those “no ideas are flowing” days. Just having everything there, ready to go, is such a blessing on those busy mornings. Plus, I have learned over the years that this is the best way to really utilize the resources that I have on my shelves.

Just file away any pages or pictures in either manila envelopes or file folders. If the children know where they are, they are more than likely to use them on their own. Also, you will want to use anything else that you have in your home. I keep our paints, papers (plain and colored cardstock and 20 lb. paper; writing paper, etc.), glues, templates, cutting utensils, rulers, markers, pens, pencils, etc. on a shelf and in plastic bins by our dining table (where we do our daily lessons). They are in their spot and that spot is close by. If we want to encourage our young writers, we must give them free access to the best materials.

3. Turn your children loose! Yep! This is all that is left! Inevitably, when I teach workshops on notebooking, I can almost see the brains of mothers clicking away with one tough reality—“If only I had more time to do this!” Oh, beloved! Notebooking is not another thing for you to do! The hard part is learning what this is all about and how to get everything together so we can turn our children loose!

When we began notebooking, I copied a Bible verse a day as a model for my son to copy. As he copied his verse, he would place his page for the day in a plastic sheet protector and add it to his notebook. The next day, his page for that day would slide in behind that page. The next day, he would add another page in another page protector. We built the entire notebook; not specific divisions or subjects. We chose not to divide by subjects because we wanted a nice full “product” built over time. As we added to the notebook each day, I could see the delight building in my young writers. they would sit and just flip through the pages. They loved seeing success. They loved seeing the notebook build up.

As time went on, my son began to find and copy poems that he liked, songs from the church hymnal or from his history lessons. He began a collection of art prints. He added maps that highlighted journeys. At the end of the first year, we had a bulging notebook and a young writer who had gone from reluctant to really excited! The notebook quickly became “his own” notebook. At the end of the year, we divided our notebooks (there was no room to add anything else) into obvious divisions. We had a Bible notebook, a history notebook, a poetry notebook, and another copybook. All of these have continued and several have divided into other notebooks through the years (he now has four history notebooks—Great Men and Women of the Civil War, Battles of the Civil War, Military Notebook, and World History Timeline Notebook! And that is just history!). As your children dig into their interests, they may have other notebooks that develop. Let them go! You will learn more about your children as they learn more about topics and writing!

So, What Do You Think?
Want to give it a try? If I could ask every homeschooling family to do just one thing, it would be to just give notebooking a try. So, think about it. Pray about it. Then, get those supplies. Set aside a spot for your supplies. Then, turn those budding young writers loose!

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Setting Up Your Home to Learn

Quick Tips For the Perpetually Late, Disorganized, Stressed Out Mom!

Getting started with Charlotte Mason-style narration

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FUN with homeschool history

Homeschool History Notebooking

Introduction to notebooking for homeschoolers

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