With a few things thrown into our upcoming months that hadn’t been put into the schedule originally, the kids and I sat down last week and had a look at the rest of our school year.

Despite the fact that we switched out a few key pieces of our curriculum in October/November, we realized that we can finish the bulk of things up at the end of April! {I can assure you that there were some whoops and hollers from a certain mom as well!}.

Having a set day to signal the end was just what we all needed to get an added burst of excitement for pushing through a few ‘blah’ moments. We won’t be wrapping it all up {history will carry over a bit through the summer and then into the start of next year}, but it is so very encouraging to see the light at the end of the proverbial tunnel. Although the overall schoolwork will be finished, we’ll still be working on a few things in the months of May and June as well as doing our yearly standardized testing {ahhh…state requirements}.

When are you wrapping up your school year? Are you feeling the end of the year itch to finish yet?

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This week has not been the most stellar of all weeks in our house. Or school. Pretty well anything. Monday morning began with cranky kids and an equally cranky mom, partly due to some late nights over the weekend and the lovely time change.

{Note to self: if there were ever a law I would like to see passed in Congress, it would be to stop spring forward and falling back. The End.}

Anyway, we have been plugging along with schoolwork when we can, but the bulk of our school week so far has been spent working on HEART issues {in both the kids and myself} rather than head knowledge. On paper it may not look like we’ve done much, but truthfully I know the things that we are working on mean so much more in the long run.

Respect. Kindness. Joy. Gratefulness. The list could go on and on and on. And although it really is the easiest thing to do, sometimes the hardest thing to do in the heat of the moment is pray {and I’ve been doing a whole lotta that}.

So while this may not be an ‘uplifting’ post ~ I really do want to encourage you all to hang in there!! We all have days {and weeks} that go completely haywire. Right now, you are in an amazing place as you homeschool your children and have the blessing of pouring into their lives and hearts. Be sure that YOU are being filled up too and getting all that you need to pour into those hearts!

This week I am clinging to these verses:

“I am able to do all things through Him who strengthens me.”

Philippians 4:13

“God is able to make every grace overflow to you, so that in every way, always having everything you need, you may excel in every good work.”

2 Corinthians 9:8

Today, know that I am praying for each one of you {and myself too!!}. Hang in there and be encouraged!

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• Grapevine Studies ~ stick figure your way through the Bible
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The weatherman has been predicting snow and lots of it. As homeschool moms, we don’t depend on a bus picking up our child so the whatever the weather ~ school is on, right?

image courtesy of Microsoft

Growing up, snow was a very normal occurrence in our area and snow days were reserved for huge blizzards. Where we live now, snow is a treat and drivers in our area are typically a little unsure of how to handle the weather.

This morning we woke up to about 4” of snow and although the kids don’t know it yet, they are going to have a snow day. Although the trek to our schoolroom isn’t treacherous or unsafe, we’re going to have some fun playing in the snow, drinking hot cocoa and relaxing together.

The beauty of homeschooling is ~ we can have a snow day whenever we want to!

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“Words have the ability to inspire or to depress; to make one happy and feel validated or to deplete and discourage.  When we live with our children day after day, we either build an inheritance, a treasure chest of inspiration, confidence, validation, OR memories of anger, criticism, while storing up in their souls hostility, insecurity, and bitterness.”

-Sally Clarkson

Inspire. Validate. Build.

That seems so simple to do and yet I fail MISERABLY all too often. While this is something to do for a lifetime, I often need the reminder to take things one day at a time ~ truthfully, one minute at a time because things can change so quickly in this house.

Minute by minute. Hour by hour. Day by day. Week by week. Each word that I speak has such power to speak into the lives of my children.

Each day this week I am striving to intentionally encourage my children. One word at a time.

Thanks so much to Joy from Grace Full Mama for reminding me of this quote! Please read the rest of the article she wrote about Encouraging Words along with her challenge too!

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I have a confession to make.

{You’ll have to excuse my thoughts if they are disjointed and random, but the thoughts have been on my heart a lot lately…and I’m never near a pen/paper when they all come rushing in on each other. So for now I’ll just type and hope that my thoughts come through clearly and you hear my heart.}

Over the last few months I’ve really, really struggled with the whole comparison issue. Truthfully, issue isn’t the right word. Trap is a much better one.

Because you can get stuck in the depths of comparison and run things around and around in your mind and never emerge. It’s a really dangerous place to be.

Comparing my children to others ~ because her children are so much more well mannered than mine. Comparing this or that or ANYTHING, fixating on that issue and letting it fester and destroy the joy of what I have been given.

In October I was hit smack in the face with the issue when I was at the Relevant Conference. Thankfully, I was surrounded by some amazing women that I am blessed to call friends and who encouraged me. I cried {the ugly cry} and just let God cover me with His grace and mercy ~ and reminders that He created me to be ME.

Not her. Not you. Not anyone else. I am uniquely me for a reason. And if I am walking in what He has called me to do and who He has called me to be ~ that is enough.

Since that time I’ve had to stop doing some things that may cause me to compare {maybe reading a certain blog or watching a certain show…}. Instead, surrounding myself with encouragement from the most important One of all and others who speak His truth.

God has gifted each of us with abilities that are unique to each one of us. Traits that are special and give us a special role. We are fearfully and wonderfully made {Psalm 139:14}.

Can I just encourage you today? Be the woman that God created you to be!! Know who you are in Christ and cling to THAT truth! Be yourself ~ because you are the only person who can be uniquely you.

Image from Microsoft

Over the last few weeks, I’ve been reading little chunks of the book, Heartfelt Discipline by Clay Clarkson {Sally Clarkson’s husband}. This is a book that is currently out of print, but I purchased used from Amazon and am so thankful that I did.

So often I know that we are looking for that perfect ‘thing’ that will work in shaping the character of our children. Something that will be the key to all of the behavior issues ~ a universal truth that we can apply to every single one of our children and have things magically be just right.

Or maybe that’s just me. :)

This quote from Clay Clarkson really struck me:

“Parenting is not only the process of sowing plenty of good seeds in hopes that some will take root. It is also, and perhaps mostly, about preparing the soil. The task is not to plant enough good seeds to crowd out the world’s weedy influences; it’s about faithfully preparing the soil of our children’s hearts – making it soft and receptive, cultivating it, enriching it with nutrients, watering it, and weeding it. I can throw a zillion seeds of character into my child’s heart, but unless his or her heart has been prepared, and until it is changed by Christ, those seeds will be wasted. There must be hoeing if the seed is to result in growing.”

~ Heartfelt Discipline, p. 11

Am I preparing the seeds for my children’s hearts or just throwing seeds at random, hoping something will ‘stick’?

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