Writing Help

Here is a link to a "Planning Sheet for Writers."
This could really help ME with accountability to keep them writing.
Thanks DoriAnn!


I am having great success with the Five Finger Paragraph writing program!
The boys got the concept in one short teaching session and were excited
to have a PLAN as to HOW to go about it! Once we refine the paragraph
writing, we can move on to the Five Finger Essay- which Josiah came very
close to accomplishing today- all on his own, it just happened naturally
with the topic I gave him. If you'd have told me two weeks ago that I
would be seeing the work they are doing- I would have laughed at you.
This program works!!!!

Love, Moorea

Veterans Day

"Veteran's Day is November 11, a day to reflect and offer thanks to all the brave men and women who have fought to protect our American way of life. There is an old saying, "freedom isn't free", and nowhere is this more apparent than in reference to the soldiers who have fought to protect our freedom. Our freedom has been secured and perpetuated by the selfless courage and action of the brave men and women in our armed forces. We are so grateful!"
Karen England of Capitol Resource Institute

History of Veterans Day
Battle Maps of WWI
Veterans Day crafts @ Enchanted Learning
Veterans Day Teaching Resources

Mastery Before Moving On

Correcting my children's work daily is probably the hardest thing to do next
to getting all the laundry done. I can always scrounge something for them to
wear, but they cannot truly learn if I do not point out what they got wrong
and have them find out why and correct it. This is one of the advantages of
home schooling, I can stop, give personal instruction, and make sure they know
what they are supposed to know. But what happens if I get lazy?

All of us homeschool Moms have been convicted at various times for not correcting
homework- Daniel did Math during the summer. At one point I corrected 22 lessons
I had not gotten to. I had him go back and work on corrections. He was incredulous,
"Mom, why did you let me go on if I was getting the concept wrong?" I was pretty
much speechless. What could excuse could I give? I had none. I had been lazy and
it frustrated him so much. So, I vowed to stay on top of the correcting this year.
I have done pretty well, but a change of season is upon us and I seem to get
that "itch" where nothing gets completely finished as we are looking to make
adjustments for weather, schedules, time changes, etc. I must persevere!
Homeschooling is hard work. I just is. I have to sacrifice personal time to
make sure that work is corrected and sometimes my flesh does not like it. I got
some real encouragement through a concept that I heard at the Andrew Pudewa
conference I went to for my birthday. The concept of consistent correcting plays
into the "Mastery before moving on" he spoke about. He told us about the utter
frustration one of his elemenatry daughters had with math- a story of the progression
some of us take with math- "It will get better next year." But every year more hair
was being pulled out, tears being cried and the book didn't get finished, yet again.
So he sent her to Kumon learning center where he knew the teacher. This sensei,
a Japanese lady knew her stuff. She tested and began the daughter back at the
beginning with such basics as 1 + 1. Ouch. The reason? "Mastery before moving on."
Pure and simple. This sensei would not budge one bit about the progression the
daughter had to take. She determined the girl had not truly mastered any of the
basics, so she was frustrated with having slow speed in solving problems and
learning new ones. "Wash on, wash off." Guess what? His daughter began
to progress rapidly and had success. Eventually, she took the SAT to get into a
private Christian college and scored 3 points below what they they would accept,
so she studied harder and took more math classes (Trig) and was able to score 2
points over what the college wanted. She is now at her private college.

My point is that, sensei @ Kumon corrected work so that she would know exactly
what her student needed daily. She was able to tailor her needs; giving her the
repetition she needed for success. This story was just the shot in the arm I
needed at this two month point into the year- I am so glad to know that others
have done the same silly things with their kids, but that it can be turned around
and we can have success! Praise be to God!

Love, Moorea

An Award with Unknown Facts about me

I was given this award by Cori at Brambleberry Cottage




Winning this award involves two things:
1) Nominating three others blogs and
2) Answering a few questions about yourself (myself).
So here we go:

What's your current obsession? Keeping paperwork filed. If I do not keep
up with all the papers that sneak their way into my house, I become paralyzed
with indecision as to what to do with it all!

What's your zodiac sign? As a teen, I always read my astrological symbol. But
I realized that half of what it said was always wrong, and the other half could
for anyone! HA! so I gave up reading it and began to trust the One called me
friend.

What's your latest purchase? A handmade $2- Pippi Longstocking doll from the
thrift store just last week.

What do you think about the girl who gave you this award? Lovely & wise woman.

What did you last have for dinner? My Hubbie's famous and perfect spaghetti.

What's your favourite decade? The 1980's. I love all the girl bands and
the fun, bright clothes. Teens were still somewhat innocent then.

What are your must haves for summer? a modest swim suit and huge soft cotton
t-shirt to sleep in.

What would you love to be able to do? Fix up all the houses in my
neighborhood so no one would have to worry about leaky roofs, old windows,
cracked driveways and ugly 1940's kitchens & bathrooms or crabgrass lawns.

What is your favourite piece in your closet? Brown corduroy skirt & white sweater.

What's your dream job? I have it, being a stay at home mom.

What's your favourite magazine? Victoria

What do you consider a fashion no-no? huge breast augmentation. It looks disgusting.

Describe your personal style: Thrift store, hand-me-down, plus sized.

Who is your favourite Beatle? Paul McCartney

What are you proud of? Being married for 19 years. Praise the Lord!


Here are my two fellow nominees:
Jenn @ Spejory
L.H. @ Virtuous Living

Our battle...

God’s Provision in Our Battle (an excerpt of THIS article)

by C. Fred Dickason
May 27, 2009

Every believer is engaged, either knowingly or unknowingly, in direct conflict with Satan and his demons. This is the point of Paul’s warning in Ephesians 6:10–18. If we Christians submit to God, we can depend upon His strengthening for this conflict. We must avail ourselves to God’s provision of spiritual armor.

We should consider ourselves already equipped with the first three pieces of armor, which we received as a result of our position in Christ. We have the belt of truth because we are in Christ, who is the truth of God, and we need not seek truth within any other religion or philosophy. We have the breastplate of Christ’s righteousness through justification by faith. Our feet are covered by the non-slip shoes of peace with God, which we received through the blood of Christ. When we run into opposition, we must remember that God is not against us. He is for us!

In everyday life, we must consciously take up the next three pieces of armor. The shield of faith is confidence in God, His character, and His Word that wards off demonic lies. We must put on the helmet of the hope (certainty) of deliverance in the battle, for we are on the winning side. We are never to give up. Wielding the sword of the Spirit means living by and applying the appropriate sayings of scripture when we face the enemy, just as the Lord Jesus did when He was tested (Matthew 4:1–11).

Comment added 11/01/09 I never knew about "suicide clusters" HERE is an article that
reveals the spiritual nature of suicide and the power Satan has in non believers' minds.
Of course the community will look to any other answer than God- and we need to make
sure our kids are grounded in the Truth of the Word so they understand the power of
spiritual warfare.

Love, Moorea

I REFUSE to be belittled for homeschooling...

I REFUSE to be belittled for homeschooling when public schools turn out
adults this stupid. ~Moorea

Iowa cops nab 'permanent marker' burglary suspects
AP SEE PHOTO HERE

In this Oct. 23, 2009, police mug photo provided by the Carroll, Iowa, Police Department,
Joey Lee Miller, …Wed Oct 28, 9:11 pm ET

CARROLL, Iowa – Police had no trouble identifying two men accused of trying to break into a Carroll apartment. Police were responding to a call about an attempted burglary when they pulled over a car matching the alleged suspects' vehicle. Inside the car, officers found two men with their faces blackened with permanent marker. Police said the caller described two men with painted faces attempting to break into an apartment Friday night before driving off.

Matthew McNelly, 23, and Joey Miller, 20, were arrested at gunpoint after officers were told they might be armed. Neither man had a weapon. McNelly and Miller were each charged with attempted second-degree burglary. Both men were released after posting bond.

Attorneys for the men declined comment Tuesday.

___hahahahahahaahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!!!!!

Information from: Daily Times Herald

Joy

"The joy of the Lord is your strength." Nehemiah 8:10

Strong's says: joy= rejoicing- all the entries for joy meant "rejoicing."
strength= fortified place.


It is beautiful to read it as "Your rejoicing in the Lord is your strong place."

Isn't that the truth- if we are rejoicing, He can keep our minds in the protected place! I sure am thankful for that. My prayer today is to keep my mind rejoicing in the Lord's provision and salvation.

Love, Moorea

Taming the Books

The chalkboard is up in the dining room and it looks pretty good! I don't miss
the plates too much, yet! We are using this all the time and it will be great
to have it up for the winter- so I do not have to go into the cold school room.





Here is a little homeschool sanity I purchased for $4.95 at the thrift store
last year. I had it out side, but cleaned it up to use here. It has wheels!
It works splendidly. Like so many of you, I have struggled in vain to get
the books under control- book shelves, cabinets, baskets, boxes & book
shelves again. Oh my! What I really needed was this- Command Headquarters!
I sit right there in front of the china hutch as I instruct, dictate, correct
& smile oh so sweetly at my students (right!) from that chair-and since I am
running this company, it stands to reason that like any CEO, I would have
everything at my disposal. It works to have it in the dining room- Like most
homeschoolers, our live revolve around this area.


I LOVE LOVE LOVE these vertical binder holders. Three- 1/2 inch binders fit
in one slot! I do not have to get up to dole out or FIND books; they are used
and returned to me, I correct them and into their happy little slots on this
cart they go! Yippee! I wish my whole life could be organized that easily.

Please leave a comment telling how you store the books in your neck of the
woods! I encourage you- If you have not hit upon that perfect system
for keeping track of school stuff, do not give up! Keep trying different
things until you are satisfied.

You must see this blog posting about Workbook bins/boxes from Heart of Wisdom.

Love, Moorea

Group Home Prayers

Thanks for praying for these young men- Who knows how the Lord will use
them in the future. The fact that a group home can even have a Bible Study
is a miracle in itself. You must read #8. PRAISE GOD!

From the Thursday Young Men's Group @ the Group Home:

1. Pray for my family to get better even though I’m not there to help them. So help my Grandfather and Grandmother get better and my whole family get better also. Thank you.

2. I am just not stopping and thinking before I do anything and my brain is just not in my head, and I am getting into a lot of trouble and I need help on my behavior.

3. I pray that everyone in this place, including me, would have a narrow road in our program.

4. I need prayer for my family to become stronger in their lives. Pray for me to be strong in my life and not give up when times get hard. Pray for my family that is there for me to stay strong and keep working hard in their jobs.

5. Dear Lord, I pray for the ones who don’t believe in You. Open their eyes to see You and I pray to You Lord because everyone is the same and He’s almighty and just bless us.

6. What I want help with this weekend is to do good and have good luck too. I want help with my Grandma.

7. I need help praying by opening up to God more. I need you to pray for my family and help me go home to my sister’s.

8. M.C. (leader) wants to praise the Lord for these young men as they now pray for each other out loud in the open and giving glory to the Lord. They open and close with prayer as well as for each other with boldness. They have also challenged each other to evangelize to their peers, stating the importance of their accepting Jesus. Also, we have a music ministry. Please pray for our worship leader, and that our worship team will grow.

Work Permits

New link in the sidebar to: Private & Home Educators of California website Regarding new information in Work Permits

JOINT LEGISLATIVE NEWSFLASH UPDATE - October 13, 2009

From: Roy Hanson's Private & Home Educators of California and HSLDA

***** ***** ***** *****

Bill: AB 66 - California Work Permits - Effective January 1, 2010,

Author: Assembly Member Joel Anderson

Position: Strongly Supported - worked behind the scenes to get it
passed

Status: Signed into Law - A Wonderful Victory!!

We are very grateful to God to be able to report that AB 66 has been
signed into law by Governor Schwarzenegger! A big thanks to all who
wrote the Governor.

Mary Schofield has worked diligently as our (Family Protection
Ministries') special consultant for several years to make it easier
for private homeschool high school students to be able to obtain work
permits. AB 66 represents an incredible step forward from the past
requirements.

For the first time, private school principals or other administrators
will be able to issue work permits to their students without having to
obtain authorization from the local school superintendent. This
provision of AB 66 includes both campus-based private schools and
private school satellite programs (PSPs). Another provision of AB 66
clarifies additional options for any private school student to obtain
a work permit if the principal or administrator of his private school
does not issue work permits.

You will want to read our paper, New Work Permit Law - Effective
January 1, 2010, at www.pheofca.org for more on this new work permit
law, and to understand some important details.

NO further action is needed on AB 66