Book Recommendation

Our church has a Missions Library and I checked-out a book!
The last book I read was a few months ago...so now I am stealing
time to read "Lords of the Earth" by Don Richardson. Incredible book.
I enjoy reading about missions, and this was one of the
best missions books I have ever read. I am now reading it to
my big boys in the evening. I do not recommend it for anyone
younger than high school. The graphic nature of cannibalism &
religious killing is very hard to hear. Praise God for the
men and women who were moved to give up all and share the gospel
with these lost people. How good is our God, that he doesn't want
any to perish but all to come to repentance.

I have been searching the internet for information of how the
christian people are doing there now, and I found THIS great
source of information from a missionary who was there from
1972 until the 1980's. It is extremely long, but he lists
hymns at the end that were written by the Yali people.
I also found THIS DVD movie about how the salvation story was
brought to the Yali, and we cannot wait to watch it.

God is so awesome! Every knee will bow and every tongue will confess He
is Lord! Won't it be great to be there in heaven with believers of all
races!

~Moorea

Group Home Prayer Request

My brother Matt works for an organization that runs group homes for underage non-violent sex offenders. It is a last resort before they go to juvenile hall.
Some are as young as 13. Praise God that our church is able to send an elder
in to teach about 20 boys once a week about the Good News. They are all voluntarily coming to this study and can stop at anytime. PLEASE pray for them. Many want to learn to live righteously, but do do not have the hope for it at home. You can
see from their prayer requests that they just want to be home with their families.

M.C. the adult elder/teacher from our church requests:
Please pray for our Thursday outreach and that we can reach more young men.
Pray for our upcoming changes. Thank you Lord that our worship is up to
three songs.



Prayer requests from the boys:

1) I need to believe God more, have more of the Truth. I pray for my family.
2) I pray that my mom will remember what I ask her to bring when they
(my brother) come here after I call them tonight.
3) What I want and hope for from Jesus and God is that I want to go on a
trip with family and that we can be together. I want a better weekend -
self control.
4) God, please help me with my anger.
5) God help me to do things for myself:
- Help me show others I can control myself too.
- To "find home" and "go home"
6) Pray for my family that they still love me.

Fave Quote

"All our fret and worry is caused by calculating without God."
~Anon

Digging Deeper

I posted a very simple Inductive Bible Study curriculum a few posts ago. HERE
I wanted to add a few resources I find indispensable for digging deeper
into Bible culture. If you can only purchase one resource book, I recommend
the Holman Bible Atlas. It is available HERE through Amazon.com.
It is so beautiful, engaging and easy to read. It is a must have for your
Bible resource shelf.

I would use this as a supplement to the Inductive Bible Study only, unless
you are actually doing Bible History at the time as well. The goal is not to
overwhelm them, but to get them interested in the inductive study method so
that they will continue in it on their own.

The others are Nelson's Illustrated Encyclopedia of the Bible LINK and
Reproducible Maps Charts, Time Lines & Illustrations LINK (elementary grades)

Love, Moorea

The Old Schoolhouse

Visit The Old Schoolhouse website to subscribe and receive
free gifts! What is great about this magazine is that
you can get it online!

Love, Moorea

Trip to the Zoo

It was 80' degrees today- perfect day for the zoo.
The Reptile House was finally open- Erik was so happy!
All the frogs, snakes and gators were out- we even saw
all the poison dart frogs! So cool!!! The zoo also
installed a carousel, complete with dug beetle pushing
a piece of dung (it's a seat) haha- Erik sat in it last
time. This time he got to ride the praying mantis.
It is very magical.

Have a great week!

Love, Moorea

Inductive Bible Study Method

Choosing a Bible curriculum has been very stressful for me some years.
They can be overwhelming for me, and the expense! Frankly, my kids never
finished one until I used the inductive method this year. Our pastor's
wife showed us how to do a simple inductive Bible study and I modified
it for my teens. HERE is the link to print the 3 page curriculum I created that
you can use all year for free! (Scribd is having problems with the printing
of documents; they come out much larger than they should, and they are
working in rectifying the problem, but you can download the document
and print it from your computer by clicking the "Download" button on the
top left, above the document. Adobe Acrobat works well.)



*Do not spend a lot of money on curriculum-
this is free and you can tailor it daily/ weekly.

*Use just a notebook/pen, Strong’s Concordance and Bible/s & dictionary.

*Learn how to use a Strong’s Concordance to look-up Hebrew and Greek meanings.

*Pick your own scripture! You can go through entire book/s, study topically,
or do a "survey" like journeys of Paul, etc. Each child can exegete the
scripture for their particular needs.

*Use it with all ages, having lower expectation for the younger ones.
You can do it along with the younger ones, doing one sentence a day.

*If you use the assignment sheet, give each child one, then you can initial
each week off and keep it in your records. So simple!!!

Love, Moorea

Birthday Boy

Daniel and a few of the 20 Scouts getting ready to travel to L.A.
on Amtrak to go out to a scout camp on Catalina Island.


It was his 14th birthday yesterday- and there he was getting up at 4:30 am
to get to travel to L.A. to hit Universal Studios today before the 2.5 hour
trip out to Catalina Island. I made cupcakes for all the Scouts and Scouters.
Dan & I put together 20 party bags, got party hats and those blower thingies
(I made sure they did not make noise ;o) All the boys were eying this pink
box-mainly because they did not have breakfast!

I miss my Boy, but I know he will have a great time! I cannot wait to see
the pictures he takes. He is going to take Small Boat Sailing, which is
totally foreign to him. He is going to be stretched- just what he needs!

Love, Moorea

Peace

"The peace of God, which transcends all understanding,
will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."
Philippians 4:7

I am hanging onto this promise this week. I seem to be
getting angrier and angrier about C's work schedule and
how it affects our lives. I have had quite a difficult
time of it this past week, although I feel the Lord trying
to speak to me about it and give me peace, I seem to
be content in the place I am at spiritually, which is just
a big temper tantrum. So I ignore Him. It is getting pretty
difficult to ignore that still, small, patient voice. I know
I have to give my anger up to him, but I also know that it is
not a one time thing. Rarely is the peace that comes from
trusting the Captain of our Soul purchased cheaply. Although
there is difficulty in having to give the anger up over and
over, I know that THAT is the lesson; submitting my WILL to
his perfect will. The "peace that passes understanding" sounds
like a purdy good right now! I could use some o' that peace,
I'm durn wurn-out from my frettin' and anger.

"Lord help me to trust in your perfect will. This is what I know
for certain: You provided this job. It is close by and it pays
all the bills and buys food. C gets more sleep on this schedule
and is happier. You are working in him through his submission to
you in this difficult situation. (crying) Please help me to remember
your provision and forgive me for my ugly anger towards my husband.
Amen."

Thanks Sisters! please pray for me!

Love, Moorea

Planning for the Fall

Now is the time of summer that I start thinking about what I am going
to teach this coming year. When I have a pretty good idea, I read
through the text of the toughest subject I am going to teach. If I am
going to use all of the chapters, I then figure out how long each
chapter should take. I can then make a chart showing that I combined
chapters or stretch them out- based on the weeks I determine in the
calendar planning section below. Of course all this could be avoided
if I just purchased SonLight and had them send me the gigantor binder
with the year-at-a-glance schedule! But you PAY for it Baby, you pay!
This method is m-u-c-h cheaper!



To plan the year-out, I start by printing my favorite one page
school year calendar (here.) Then I mark all holidays, my 7 teacher
in-service days and any special days or vacations we may be taking.
(like-Sept 20th! Matt & Jen's wedding!) At this point, I can count all
the weeks from when whenever we begin in August/Sept to the first week in
January as the first semester. (There are usually 16 weeks in the first
semester and 18 in the second.) This way I can see if I need more time and
we can begin a bit earlier. I am also pretty decisive about the end of the
year date. Through the years I've discovered that if I do not draw the
line and set an end date, I tend to become lazy and school seeps into the
summer. Hate that. I cannot have it happen this year- as Josiah will be
graduating, so I need time to get the finals and grading done.

I am using an Abeka textbook I had left over from when I homeschooled Matt.
He really liked it, and I am realizing that Josiah does REALLY well with
textbooks. I am going to use the full extent of the curriculum, as J needs
to be challenged to write more essays. Daniel will jsut answer the questions
in each section.

I enjoy creating grids in Word- as you can see it is 5 pages long,
but I like to leave room for notes as ideas I may come up with later.
Here's my schedule for American Government. (click on it)


Love, Moorea

Get One !

Check out HomeSchool I.D.

"A home-made Student ID card, event when laminated, looks just that: home- made. Anyone can make one, including public school students. HomeSchool ID provides the ONLY Student ID card that assures, with confidence, that your student is really home schooled. Do you really want to trust your child’s rights to anything less?"

"The HomeSchool ID Program was created in 2001 by home school parents, for home school students and parents. We do not sell curriculum, toys or greeting cards. We only offer products directly related to the identification and safety of home school students and educators."

From the HomeSchool ID website

I love these- we ordered them for 3 years in a row until we joined
a private school and they issued IDs, we may still get these for this year.

Love, Moorea

Summer Firsts

Firsts so far for the Littles this summer:

Saw a centipede
Learned to teeter-totter
No diaper at nap time and stayed dry!(E)
planed seeds
Saw the seeds sprout
Got stung by bees
Got a black eye (J)
Figured out how to pump his legs and swing by himself (E)
Took swimming lessons
Recognizing letters of the alphabet and trying to sound them out!
Stayed overnight at Aunty Kims and LOVED every second.
Pet a duck
Saw an anteater...

Love, Moorea

Engagement

I have been neglecting my blog, and there is a good reason!
My brother Matt & his sweetheart Jen have gotten engaged!
He asked her last Friday on a beach at Lake Tahoe. Sweet!
We are all overwhelmed with joy and are looking forward to
a b-e-a-u-t-i-f-u-l wedding! Congrats Matt & Jen! Look at
her ring (click on picture) it is a white gold plumeria with
a diamond in the middle. It's gorgeous.

They are so perfect for each other and what a blessing the
Lord has prepared them for this day! WOW! Love you guys.



Love, Moorea

Household Management

The Book of Household Management
by Isabella Beeton

3. EARLY RISING IS ONE OF THE MOST ESSENTIAL QUALITIES which enter into good Household Management, as it is not only the parent of health, but of innumerable other advantages. Indeed, when a mistress is an early riser, it is almost certain that her house will be orderly and well-managed. On the contrary, if she remain in bed till a late hour, then the domestics, who, as we have before observed, invariably partake somewhat of their mistress’s character, will surely become sluggards. To self-indulgence all are more or less disposed, and it is not to be expected that servants are freer from this fault than the heads of houses. The great Lord Chatham thus gave his advice in reference to this subject:—“I would have inscribed on the curtains of your bed, and the walls of your chamber, ‘If you do not rise early, you can make progress in nothing.’”