A Homeschool Funny and FULL FRIDAY Linkup

X is in kindergarten this year and we’ve been learning about the first peoples and civilizations.  As part of this, I’ve told him about cave drawings, shown him paintings, and explained that people used to live in caves and use pictures to write about their lives.    We learned that people did this thousands of years ago and were part of the earliest civilizations.

The other day, we visited a local park that is separated into two parts by a path that goes underneath a road overpass.  As we walked under it for the first time, my boys were enthralled by the colorful nature of the walls in the overpass tunnel.

With enthusiasm, X exclaimed, “Mommy, were these cave drawings made by some of the first people God made?”

Needless to say, I was nearly falling on the ground laughing, and had no idea how to explain to him that he was just a few years off and this was not a great archeaological find.

How about you?  Got a great family funny or moment to share?  Link up with Full Friday!  Just make sure and add a link back to Discovering Jubilee in your post!

Seeking to fully live,

 

 
Full Fridays is a place to post about the joy and life your kids bring you, allowing others to join in with you. It’s the end of the week: set aside the chore list, the fix it list, and posts about deep topics. Write and share about the humorous and joy filled moments that remind you why it’s a blessing to be raising a family!


ALLUME…Been There, Done That….Will Do It Again!

Allume Community

The third Allume (used to be known as Relevant) blogging conference is over, and can I just say that once again….it was AWESOME!

But then, what isn’t awesome about meeting amazing women with incredible God stories, being exposed to wisdom of long time mom bloggers (oh, and also the Problogger himself, who obviously isn’t a mom), connecting with new ministries that are reaching out to the world….and essential coffee and chocolate that makes every get together for women complete.

This past weekend was that recalibration that I needed, and though physically exhausting, it helped remind me of what my priorities really are.

How does any of this apply to you?

1. If you blog, or are even thinking about it, consider attending Allume next year because you will be blessed.

2. There will be giveaways in future posts. Who doesn’t like those? So, stay tuned….

Seeking to fully live,

Our 2012-2013 Homeschool Plan

After taking a big break from blogging during the summer, I’m attempting to get back in the swing of things.  The school year has started, and we are finally getting back into a routine around my house.

This year is kindergarten for Xander, and we have commenced with official homeschool year #1.  I tried to homeschool Xander the first semester of last year, but with the move from Indiana to New York, life was beyond crazy and our attempts were less than consistent.

After hemming and hawing about whether to just send Xander to public school, Mike and I finally solidified our reasons for homeschooling and resolved to give it a go.  I knew that I needed some level of accountability, or at least a “I know someone who is doing something similar to me” , so we enrolled in Classical Conversations.

I’m a fan of the classical and Charlotte Mason approaches to homeschooling, and while I don’t adhere religiously to either, I’m definitely keeping both in mind while planning what we do, and obviously Classical Conversations is classical, so Xander is getting a big dose there.  The basic plan for this year is the following:  (I”m implementing slowly each week instead of trying to immediately get every subject in from the beginning)

History/Geography:  Classical Conversation, The Story of the World, borrowing some from Tapestry of Grace I had from last year

Science:    Classical Conversation, and impromptu lessons just from me being a biochemist

Math:   Horizons K  (really liking this spiral type of learning…Xander is flying through the book)

Phonics/Reading: Horizons K

Art:  impromptu art lessons stemming what time period we are discussing in CC, and a weekly artist study

Music:  Beginning piano lessons (Bastien) and  weekly composer/style study

Finally, Xander is fascinated with archery and is learning to shoot a bow with his dad, and of course, we spend lots of time outside.

I’m very aware of how unorganized and inconsistent I can be, but I actually feel pretty confident after the last couple of weeks of school that this homeschool thing is going to be doable.  Looking forward to the rest of a good year, and blessings to all out there who are attempting to do the education at home thing for their kids!

Seeking to fully live,

Kids Flag Page from Family Matters: A Long Overdue Review

A long time ago I went to a wonderful blog conference in Harrisburg called Relevant.

OK, so it just feels a really long time ago…it was actually just October of 2010, but alot has happened since then.

While there, Family Matters and Tim Kimmel were giving out free Kids Flag Page sets to bloggers who would try them out and write a review on their blogs.  I gladly took one because I can use whatever help people will give me in parenting.  I was eager to try it out with my oldest son, but realized I really needed to wait until he was older to be able to use it more effectively.

Well, that time has come, and a couple of weeks ago my 4 and 1/2 year old and I sat down to determine what his Home Country and Adopted Country are.

For anyone not familiar with this, the Kids Flag Page is basically a simple personality/temperament test for kids from about 5 to 15ish.  Knowing how our kids are wired is so helpful when it comes to parenting them, knowing what motivates and discourages them, and in determining their gifts and talents.

I was really thrilled with this kit.  I sat down and read through the instructions provided and part of the short book included by Tim Kimmel.  I then went through the test on my own to determine what I thought my son’s top countries would be.  Next, I sat Xander down, explained the “game” to him, and let him have at it.  Surprisingly, his results were very close to mine, with only slight differences, and the more I thought about it, the more I realized that his conclusion was much more accurate than mine.

The Flag Page helped me verify what Xander’s leanings are towards personality, Kimmel’s book provided alot of insight on how to parent a child with this type of personality.  Furthermore, even though my other two sons are two young to test yet, based on these resources I can already pretty much narrow down what personality types they are going to fall into, and how I need to steer them as a result.

This tool was simple, easy to understand and use, and I wholeheartedly recommend it to any parent.  At the very least, take a look at it and consider how better understanding the type of personality and temperament your children have will be a tremendous help in knowing how to parent them.

Seeking to fully live,

A Little Linky Love

There are some GREAT blogs out there that make me really happy.   I love it when I start surfing around and land upon a blog I’ve never seen before that inspires me to persevere in mothering and Christ following, and I decided to share a few of my favorites  with the hope of making your day a little happier too!  :)

Mama Jenn

Mama Jenn’s blog is just a wealth of great ideas for kids’ crafts and homeschooling. It is incredibly helpful for people like me who aren’t inherently crafty and rely on others for tutorials and inspiration.

This is one of those sweet all around blogs for marriage, home, and parenting…and yes, Courtney is that smiley and charming in person as on her blog.

Passionate Homemaking
If there is a blog I read daily and never miss, it is this one. The topics written about have my name written all over them…I’ve been inspired to make so many changes in my life because of the contributors to Passionate Homemaking.

raising olives button

If these mamas with lots of kids can survive homeschooling and daily life, I can too with my three little guys. I come visit these blogs when I need some encouragement and practical advice.

And finally, I blog I just recently found….

The Gracious Pantry
This is an awesome tutorial on clean eating with great recipes. Definitely worth checking out!

The blogs above are certainly not an exhaustive list of the ones I regularly visit, but they are indicative of all of those that make me glad the world of blogging exists! Have fun checking them out!

How about you?  What blogs inspire you?

Seeking to fully live,

Seven days left in the current Giveaway!