I’m Thankful (craft project)

Am I the only one who can’t believe it is already November? For once though, I actually have Thanksgiving decorations up before Thanksgiving!

Can you guess what my son is thankful for? :) We turned this piece into a Thanksgiving banner. You can find the template and directions over at my post on The Homeschool Village today.

SEEDS

I have enjoyed sharing what we’ve been doing with our garden. My little girls and I have had so much fun observing and learning about seeds and plants. Isn’t it just amazing how different each seed is and that from one seed grows a specific plant?

I’ve felt an urgency --- a realization that I only have a limited amount of time with my kids before they are out from under my wing. I’m finding it’s true---kids grow up fast! What kind of seeds do I want to be planting in my children?

 

I want to be planting the Word of God in their hearts.

I know many of you might be familiar with Seeds Family Worship. They help me plant the Word of God into my kids’ hearts and minds through music. If you haven’t heard of them, I encourage you to check them out. Each song is taken straight from God's own Word using the ESV translation.  Recently their newest cd, Seeds of Character, was placed in my van cd player (I have a captive audience then—lol!) I was looking forward to listening along with my children.

This volume contains the following songs:

1. More Than Conquerors (Romans 8:37)
2. The Wages and The Gift (Romans 3:23 & 6:23)
3. The Life (John 14:6, I John 5:11-12)
4. The Fruit (Galatians 5:16 & 22)
5. Delight (Psalm 1)
6. Teach Them (Deuteronomy 6:4-7)
7. The Perfect Example (John 13:12-17)
8. Children and Fathers (Ephesians 6:1-4)
9. Put On Love (Colossians 3:12 & 14a)
10. The Character Song (Romans 5:1-5)
11. Give Thanks (Psalm 105:1-5)
12. The Only Way (The New Testament Song)

(Click here to listen to the songs)

One day my 4yr. old was arguing with my 12yr. old saying that “testamoment” was a real word and my 12yr. old was saying it wasn’t. I had no clue what was going on or where my 4yr. old came up with that word. Then she said, “Mom, it’s from that song ‘This is the testamoment, that God gave us eternal life-And this life is in His son.” As she sang that song (#3 on the list) my heart smiled. So she misunderstood one word, but she knew the verse! Not only did she know that song, but out of all my kids, she has most of this cd already memorized. She loves it!

My family appreciates that SEEDS songs appeal to all age-ranges. Both my 2yr. old and 12 yr. old enjoy listening to the same songs. I love that SEEDS is serious about planting seeds. Each package has 2 CDs in it, so you can keep one and give one away. How cool is that? I am thrilled to add this newest CD to our collection.

SEEDS is offering a generous discount!  Purchasers will receive 20% off their purchase of cd's at the web store (www.seedsmusicstore.com) for the next 6 months!!  Get the special coupon code over at The Homeschool Village.

Review Disclaimer: Please note that I have been provided a complimentary copy of this resource by The Homeschool Village specifically for review purposes.

A Little of This and That

This post is going to be a bit random....

It's been a busy but good week at the Spell household. We started back with our full school load this week and it's been an adjustment for a couple of my kids. :) Things have gone well overall. I think the schedule we have will work this year(well we'll see after the baby is born--lol). The only thing I have found that I need is another one of me. It's been a big balancing act to stay on schedule with the older kids, work with the younger kids and also try to semi-keep-up with housework, cooking and laundry. It's working for now (well I've kind of ditched the housework/laundry at the moment) but I'm a little nervous for how well things will flow once the baby is born. My last one was a pretty needy newborn and I didn't even feel functional until after 2 months. The previous one fit in like a breeze and I was back to doing things the week after she was born. So I'm praying that this little one will be more like her 3yr. old sister was. :)
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This week at The Homeschool Village the topic was: Rules and Discipline.

I'm on the Homeschool Village panel, and when I was thinking about this question, I realized that we never put our rules in writing. Since this was our 2nd week of school, I thought it was perfect timing to remind my children what I expect of them.

"Maureen ~ Our rules:
1. Try your hardest: Colossians 3:23
Basically don't try to do the minimum just to say your work is done. Don't give up because a task seems too hard. Work at it as if you were working for the Lord, not Mom.

2. Stay on Task.
Pretty self-explanatory. A couple of mine really need to work on this---lol.

3. Be teachable--willing to learn."
Don't shut down because you think there is no way you can learn. Don't think you know it all and don't need to listen and learn. 

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It's almost time for the Homeschool Blog awards! It was an honor to be nominated last year and I'm starting to look through my blog reader and find blogs to nominate. The problem is there are too many wonderful blogs out there that I want to nominate them all! Check out the link below to see the rules, categories and prizes that will be given away.




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 I've got several things to share about bees---hopefully tomorrow or Saturday. Stay tuned!