Friday, August 28, 2009

Homeschool Help

This week was our first 'official' week as a homeschooling family. It has gone amazingly well and much smoother than I anticipated! I planned for a little more disruption, a little less attention span and in general....more chaos. The week was fun, exciting and full. We have had more than enough time to get schooling done and even plenty of time leftover to go swimming and meet friends at the park. So far, this is IDEAL!


Which is not to say it will always be this peaceful. As my friend Leigh Ann suggested, I'll just post this here and save it as something I can refer back to in the rough times. :) I'm okay with that as I know that God called me to this and He will provide whatever we need to get through it.

Actually, God's provision is what I wanted to post about today. Since I am new to homeschooling and Henry is only in first grade, I chose to start off slowly so as not to overwhelm either one of us. I wanted to begin with basic subjects (Reading, Phonics, Spelling, Handwriting, Mathematics, Bible) and figured I would ease my way into the things I was leaving out. As this week played out I realized that the two subjects weighing heavily on my mind that I was 'skipping' were Science and History.
I wasn't quite sure how I was going to incorporate them, but I knew that I'd better get a plan before too much time passed. (I have a way of filling time, so if I can fit it in the schedule now I'll be much better off!) History seems easy enough to cover with books from the library, so I set that aside and focused on science. Yesterday I spent hours online trying to figure out what I was going to teach without spending any more money than I already have on homeschool materials. A friend (once again, Leigh Ann!) directed me to a site that had some free printables and I put together a Nature Journal for Henry to use/fill out throughout this year. I was pretty excited about it, but still knew I was missing some major science themes. Eventually I just gave it up to God...prayed about it and let it go.
I certainly wasn't expecting an answer to arrive the very next morning!

This morning my best friend called me. She was at a garage sale, saw some homeschool materials and wondered if I might be interested? I asked her to describe them to me and she told me it was a complete first grade curriculum from a Christian publisher for $30. I recognized the name but couldn't picture it. It included Science and History. Anyway, she asked the man running the sale if he would consider splitting it up and selling parts of it separately. He said yes.
So I loaded the kids up in the car and headed over there. Turns out it was the science curriculum that I had wanted to buy for this year in the first place! Earlier in the summer when I was purchasing all of our supplies I went to a bookfair and saw this very same book and thought it would be PERFECT for Henry. In the end I decided it was just too expensive and not completely necessary. Though I hadn't looked at the history book before, it is a wonderful resource also.
The great thing is that it included the text books AND the teacher's manuals and he sold them all to me for $10! Isn't that AWESOME?

God is so good and faithful to provide not just some, but ALL of our needs. He provided for me and not just the bare minimum...the very thing I had wanted all along. I am humbled by the God of the universe! Amazing.
Our memory verse for this week is Hebrews 4:13a "Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight." Apparently, not even my secret desires, which I hadn't shared with ANYONE! :)

6 comments:

Kate B said...

So awesome!!!!!!!! And timely to hear, for me anyway :)

Just Mom said...

YAY!

Jennifer said...

Love to hear stories like this Lisa! Our God is awesome!

Beth said...

Okay, I might be a little teary-eyed after reading that one- how cool! God is just too much, sometimes, too much. He shows out in the best ways! Hey, I had ALOT of fun last night- laughing like that was the best part of my day- falling pitchers and all :) And Ingrid and I have a little birthday gift for you, so be on the lookout for us at church- mooo haha...

Anonymous said...

I'm always amazed at how amazed we are by our God! He promises to provide and maybe he's not always early, but he's never late either!

Wishing you a wonderful year as you venture into this new territory. I'm thankful for great moms like Leigh Ann who are willing to lend their help to moms like you. Once again...God provides :)

michelle said...

Very cool! He is a good God!