HOMESCHOOLING or NEVER SAY NEVER

During our three older kids' middle school years, I home schooled them.  This meant I home schooled from 2008 through 2013.  It was a very enjoyable experience, and one we are glad we chose to do.  

When we adopted our two little boys, however, I remember thinking that homeschooling would probably never be in the cards for them because I figured I wouldn't be very qualified for teaching special education.

So you can imagine the laugh and half I had when I heard 2 weeks ago that our school was closing due to COVID-19!  Something I figured I would never do had just landed on my plate with a big SPLAT!

After needing a day to wrap my head around this overwhelming task (aka prayer!) and then realizing that the boys' teachers at school were going to give me amazing support and encouragement (shout out to them!), I started planning and getting ready!

This is the start of our 3rd week of homeschool.  It's hard, it's fun, it's rewarding, it's challenging.  It definitely helps keep me too busy to worry about the "what-ifs" of COVID-19.  Which is a very good thing for me!  

We try to work from 8:30-11:30 each morning.  

Here is are some snippets from our school day today to show what I am trying to do for a schedule.  The boys work best in an environment that is structured and organized so I am really working to keep each day consistent and for me to be prepared!

To the boys' credit, they have adjusted to this new "school" in an amazing way.  

Of course, I realize this whole experiment could tank quite quickly on us which is why I'm trusting the Lord to help us get through one day at a time.

WHEN YOUR BIG BROTHER IS HOME FROM COLLEGE

With our college kids being home doing school remotely, the boys are lucky to have their big brother as their gym teacher- I'm pretty lucky too!

Besides playing with big brother "E" (Stephen), we also use GoNoodle videos which are fun for me too!  Here's one of the videos from them.  

HOLY WEEK FOR KIDS

Some great videos and other resources to use with kids for Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, and Easter Sunday.

For Maundy Thursday/Good Friday, 
we did the following activity:

Each of us wrote down 2 sins we struggle with on post-it notes.  Then, using building blocks, we built a cross on the floor.  Then we put our notes on the cross.  

We talked about Colossians 2:14:
"having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross."

We read the following devotional for the benefit of our older kids.  For the younger boys, we emphasized how much Jesus loved us to die on the cross for our sins.  And how much Jesus loves us because He forgives us for our sins, past-present-future.

Click HERE for devotional "nailed-to-the-cross"

Then for Saturday night to get ready 
for Easter morning:
we are going to make these Resurrection biscuits as an object lesson about the tomb being empty!  

Click HERE for recipe for Resurrection Biscuits

Click HERE for coloring page PDF "Jesus Loves You and So Do We"

Click HERE for coloring page PDF "He is Risen"

Click HERE for Easter Story Mini-book PDF

We also love using these Resurrection Eggs with the boys.  Well worth the money!

Click HERE for Amazon link to Resurrection Eggs

PERHAPS A PIECE OF THE PUZZLE?

"Can you fathom the mysteries of God? Can you probe the limits of the Almighty?" Job 11:7

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
    neither are your ways my ways,”
declares the Lord.
9 “As the heavens are higher than the earth,
    so are my ways higher than your ways
    and my thoughts than your thoughts. 

Isaiah 55:8-9

Can we as mere humans ever understand God and His ways?  

As Christians, I believe we have to answer "No" to that question.  Faith in our Lord requires us to accept His ways without always fully understanding His ways.  

This is what the following excerpt discusses:  

Does this excerpt fully explain why our world is experiencing the threat of COVID-19?  I don't think it fully explains it, but I think it might be a piece of the puzzle about why is this happening.

If God Can Stop a Pandemic Why Doesn't He?

Let us consider that God may choose not to stop this pandemic, simply because He cares more about the disease in our hearts than disease in our bodies (Ezekiel 36:26, Jeremiah 17:9). My husband recently answered this question in his sermon titled, The Authority of Jesus:

“When disaster strikes, we experience suffering and evil - often we can ask - God how can you allow this? A common objection to the Christian faith is, “How can a good God allow so much evil in the world?” But I wonder if it’s not God’s goodness and grace that allow us to see, experience, and feel the brokenness in the world that is. How can a good God not allow suffering and brokenness in the world? To show humanity the true reality of what it is. It is broken. It seems to me, that God is gracious and kind to show us, and allow us to experience this present world in all of its brokenness, evil and darkness. This reveals not that something is wrong with God but something is wrong with His creation. It calls us to consider that there must be more.”

I am led to believe that God does not put a sudden stop to the COVID-19 pandemic because God is not done revealing the greatness of who He is. Suffering exposes the state of our broken humanity and our great need for a Savior. God allows disease to flood the earth to bring us to our knees—to see His majesty and share Him with others (Hebrews 1:3, Matthew 28:16-20, Philippians 2:9-11). May this season call us to repentance, to turn from our sin and selfishness, and put our faith in the one, true, everlasting God (2 Peter 3:9)
Above excerpt taken from:
https://www.crosswalk.com/faith/spiritual-life/if-god-can-stop-this-pandemic-why-doesnt-he.html?fbclid=IwAR33NVOxA2_qDCuXd407JQrjPchqrhkkYDlLs-RdBj7E2eoa50V85QlN_tQ

OVERCOMING ANXIETY AND FEAR

In response to my last post confessing my tendency to worry, the Lord led me to these devotions today.  They were very helpful and had lots for me to consider.

Click HERE for the devotional "The-valley-we-would-not-choose?"

Click HERE for the devotional "how-do-i-fight-my-coronavirus-fears?"

Click HERE to read "mom-if-youre-panicking-right-now-read-this"

CONFESSIONS OF A WORRIER

I confess I am a master worrier.  

I probably can out-worry the best of you!  

This has always been a sin I have struggled with.  If I can control a situation, I am fine.  But if something is out of my control or is something I can't fix or make better, then I worry about the 

what-ifs.  

Needless to say, this COVID-19 situation is a worrier's smorgasboard!  There are so many what-ifs to fret over, so many unknowns and so many variables for how this is all going to work out in the next few weeks/months.  

And there are so many people to worry about: my family, my friends, health care workers, people who are sick and their families, people affected by financial hardships this is causing, the list just goes on and on...  

I am praying for and trying to claim the peace the Lord promises us in the midst of difficulty.  '

However, the problem is besides being a world-class worrier, I also have a great talent for being stubborn.  I often struggle with wanting things my way and not the Lord's way.  

I want assurance that my loved ones will stay healthy, that life will return to normal sooner rather than later, that this COVID-19 situation would just go away now..

Please Lord, help me to trust this situation to you and know that You will never leave us or forsake us.  You are right beside us, there to give us strength and comfort for whatever we are dealing with as a result of COVID-19.  

Some great uplifting thoughts and challenges for believers!  Especially for me to stop focusing on myself...

BEST READ EVER!

As I listened to the radio this morning, there was the Sunday Morning segment about things that happened in history on this date.  One that was mentioned was the Gutenberg Bible becoming available to the general public.
  
This got me thinking how much I appreciate that God's Word is so easily accessible to so many people.  

And taking it even further, on this Sunday in March 2020 in the middle of the Covid-19 situation, when church buildings are closed, we still have a plethora of choices to watch for church online.  

Hearing and learning God's Word is not inhibited during this difficult time.  Praise the Lord!

So go and give your Bible a big hug today- AND take time to read it each day.  It might be a cliche we use when teaching our children, but it truly is God's love letter to us!

Here are some things to ponder about the Holy Bible:  

1. "The most reliable information about the Bible's date comes from a letter. In March 1455, the future Pope Pius II wrote that he had seen pages from the Gutenberg Bible, being displayed to promote the edition, in Frankfurt.^[11] It is not known how many copies were printed, with the 1455 letter citing sources for both 158 and 180 copies. Scholars today think that examination of surviving copies suggests that somewhere between 160 and 185 copies were printed, with about three-quarters on paper and the others on vellum.^[12][13] However, some books say that about 180 copies were printed and it took about three years to produce them."

Above excerpt taken from HERE

2. THE GUTENBERG PRESS: AN INVENTION THAT CHANGED THE WORLD

Thanks to Johannes Gutenberg, today’s high-speed commercial printing presses can produce up to 15,000 sheets an hour! His invention of metal movable type in 1450 has accurately been called “an invention that changed the world.” And the first major book he printed was the Bible!

It’s estimated there were about 30,000 books in all of Europe before Gutenberg’s press. Less than fifty years later there were as many as twelve million books, and the book that was printed was often the Bible. As people became more interested in studying the Bible, Bibles were printed not only in Latin, but in German, French, and even ancient Greek.

Many believe that without the Gutenberg press, the Protestant Reformation of the sixteenth century might not have been possible.

Above taken from HERE

3. How We Got Our Bible: 

Christian History Timeline

A brief chronology of how we got 'The Good Book'

by PHILIP W. COMFORT

C. 1400–400 B.C. Books of the Hebrew Old Testament written

c. 250–200 B.C. The Septuagint, a popular Greek translation of the Old Testament, produced

A.D. 45–85? Books of the Greek New Testament written

90 and 118 Councils of Jamnia give final affirmation to the Old Testament canon (39 books)

140-150 Marcion’s heretical “New Testament” incites orthodox Christians to establish a NT canon

303-306 Diocletian’s persecution includes confiscating and destroying New Testament Scriptures

c. 305-310 Lucian of Antioch’s Greek New Testament text; becomes a foundation for later Bibles

367 Athanasius’s Festal Letter lists complete New Testament canon (27 books) for the first time

397 Council of Carthage establishes orthodox New Testament canon (27 books)

c. 400 Jerome translates the Bible into Latin; this “Vulgate” becomes standard of medieval church

c. 650 Caedmon, a monk, puts Bible books into verse

c. 735 >Historian Bede translates the Gospels

871-899 King Alfred the Great translates the Psalms and 10 Commandments

950 The 7th-century Lindisfarne Gospels receive English translation

955-1020 Aelfric translates various Bible books

c. 1300 Invention of eyeglasses aids copying

c. 1325 Both Richard Rolle and William Shoreham translate psalms into metrical verse

1380-1382 John Wycliffe and associates make first translation of the whole Bible into English

1388 John Purvey revises Wycliffe Bible

1455 Gutenberg’s Latin Bible—first from press

1516 Erasmus’s Greek New Testament, forerunner to the Textus Receptus used by KJV translators

1525 William Tyndale makes the first translation of the New Testament

Above taken from HERE

4. Click HERE to read "The Word of God: How Am to Love God by Loving It"

5. Click HERE to read "10-reasons-why-i-am-thankful-for-the-God-breathed-Bible?"

6. Click HERE for online 10-day devotional "Love God's Word"  This resource I am sharing with our kids.  Good way to spend some of our extra time!

PASTOR JONAH LIVE

We had nothing to do with this.

Our family was sitting in the living room waiting for our church service to go live on Facebook.

Jonah starting serving us communion using his church snack which is buttered bread and juice.

Very sweet.  Very precious.

Possibly one of the best “sermons” out there today.

Enjoy!

Later in the day, Jonah preached on Noah’s Ark :)

And now because Jonah tends to fixate on things, he “preached” again for us today during online at home church.  Too sweet not to post! 

3-2-1 BLASTOFF!

In the midst of the stress and uncertainty that is a the result of COVID19, let's celebrate WORLD DOWN SYNDROME DAY!

I am very thankful for having Ben and Jonah in our family because they provide comic relief and a sweet perspective to what is most important in life at a time when we can easily become overwhelmed with worries and fears.  They are such a blessing!

For World Down Syndrome Day 2020, Down Syndrome International focuses on the theme "We Decide": all people with Down syndrome should have full participation in decision making about matters relating to, or affecting, their lives.

OUR FAMILY'S GOAL:

Preparing the boys today so that some day they will be ready to fully participate in grown up life and the decisions relating to their lives!

Preparing the world around us so that's it's ready to accept our amazing boys!

The boys are wearing their cute 3-21 t-shirts to "school" today- haha. 

Even their "teacher" is getting on the celebration :)

These bracelets were suppose to be for their teachers at school. WE MISS YOU!

Click HERE for "call-to-action-2020"

SO MANY THOUGHTS

Confused and concerned.

Loving having all the kids under one roof but wish it wasn't for these reasons.  

More busy than usual homeschooling the little boys and overseeing Lydia doing her high school online.  

Wondering how long this social distancing will last- 3 weeks, one month, 3 months, longer?

Anxious about risks to our health and well-being and also about the financial impact of all this social-distancing.

Trying to make sense of all the scientific and medical charts, projections, and predictions being made about this situation.  

Missing seeing my Mom and Dad since we are sort of self-quarantining ourselves because of all the variables we present: little kids who attract germs, Andrew working in the medical field, and college kids who have been traveling to and from their campuses.  Just too many unknowns we could unknowingly expose my parents to so deciding to play it very safe.

Lots of prayers being lifted up for those who are sick, for those who are anxious over this, for the health care workers who are helping us all, for our leaders for wisdom, for all the parents who have become "teachers" overnight, for our kids who are trying to figure out why things have changed for them so quickly, for our churches that cannot meet in our buildings anymore but are trying to figure out how to do this virtually.  

Praying that in someway our family can help those who are suffering because of these current difficulties.  How can we be the hands and feet of our Lord Jesus?

Trying to remember that our Lord is more powerful than any unknown virus.  He is watching over us and wants to comfort us and give us peace as we go through this weird and confusing time for our community, country, and world.  Praying this unique and challenging time for all of us will challenge all of us to become closer to Christ.

Lots to think about...

Click HERE for Interview with Director of National Institutes of Health

Click HERE for article "what-courage-might-corona-unleash" from Desiring God

Click HERE for "10-ways-christians-can-exemplify-faith-and-peace-during-covid-19

And here is a thoughtful prayer guide to use during this time:

DON'T USUALLY DO THIS BUT...

One of our Christmas traditions is to give our girls tickets to a play.  Each January, us Lavey women go out for a nice meal and then enjoy seeing a great performance.

I really don't like sharing a photo with me in it, but this is such a nice picture of my girls, I just had to share.

I'm so proud of these two amazing girls!  They have hearts full of love and are very bright, talented, responsible people who are honorable and trustworthy.  I'm excited and praying about their growing relationships with the Lord Jesus.

HOME SWEET HOME

When you have a problem with this:

PERSONAL SPACE

Then this is rather difficult to handle also:

SOCIAL DISTANCING

So that is why we are going to stay home with our two littles as much as possible.


For their safety and well-being and everyone else's too.

Oh and Father forgive me for I have sinned- I hoarded :)

That’s a freakishly large container of creamer.  I just had to know I wouldn’t run out!

STARTING SOMETHING NEW

Jonah now has a speech device that he can take with him wherever he goes!

This does NOT mean we are giving up on Jonah having effective speech, but after 9 years of working on this goal, we felt it was time to give him some extra help.  

When Jonah interacts with our immediate family (mom, dad, brothers, sisters), we for the most part can understand what he is trying to say to us.  Jonah uses some words, some sign language, and as of late, he spells or draws out his ideas to us.  So in the home setting, Jonah has quite effective speech, although it is not all in the verbal manner. 

However, as of late, we are finding two things are happening to our sweet Jonah:

1. Being 9 years old, Jonah has more thoughts and ideas, and his thoughts are more complex and creative to just be communicated in one word.  Thus, his limited speaking vocab and signing, and his somewhat limited ability to spell and draw are not enough to convey the amazing things he is wants to tell people.

2. Outside of the home, if one of us immediate family members are not present to interpret for Jonah, many people have no idea what Jonah is trying to tell them.  At 9 years old,  Jonah wants to be social, has important thoughts to share, and is getting more frustrated when people don't understand him.

For these reasons, we strongly felt we needed to help Jonah however we can to communicate better.  This is why we have pursued a speech device for Jonah.

Thank you to the teachers at our school who made us aware of such an option being available to Jonah!  I know it was a tedious process to apply for the device. 

Our major concern was that use of the device would cause Jonah to try and speak less because he would instead rely on the device.

However, research shows that speech devices actually encourage speech.  See article below for more formal explanation, but here is my summary about why devices encourage speech:

1. Once Jonah realizes the "power" of his words and how neat it is to be understood, this will motivate him to talk.  To try and talk when not many people even respond to you is disheartening and not very motivating.  

Side note: when I say try and talk, I really mean that it takes Jonah great effort to make sounds.  The sounds that come naturally to us do not come naturally for Jonah.  His speech therapists are literally showing him how to form his mouth to make certain sounds.  If Jonah doesn't get good
feedback after making all this effort to talk, the temptation is to not put forth any effort and remain silent. 

2. The speech device provides a consistent voice speaking the words Jonah is selecting.  This gives Jonah a constant model to imitate which is probably even more effective than hearing the various people in his life pronouncing words with varying intonations etc.  "Joshua", the voice on the speech device, is always the same pronunciations, meaning easier for Jonah to copy.

We have had the speech device for about a month now.  We actually feel like Jonah is talking more and is becoming more understandable!  

My biggest struggle with the device is how people will react to Jonah using it with them.  Some people are very comfortable and patient as he uses the device to talk.  Others, understandably, are a little taken back and don't know how to carry out a normal conversation between themselves, Jonah, and this little device.  

But it  never hurts to spread awareness and educate, right?  So we are considering this speech device just another avenue for us to help people feel comfortable with DS.  

We are hoping and praying that Jonah will continue to use his words- he has a sweet little voice with such beautiful things to share!  I believe the world will be a better place if it can hear from this little boy! 

P.S. Ben, although much more verbal than Jonah, is also utilizing the device.  Mainly, because of the dynamics of Ben being jealous if Jonah gets to use the device.  But we feel it can also benefit Ben so we are trying to work out a "sharing" schedule with the device.



Click HERE for link to speech devices

Click HERE for article about "will-communication-device-hamper-real-speech"