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!