Homeschool Play~ January 14, 2009

This year we have decided to participate in the Homeschool Players annual play.  Last year the group did Alice in Wonderland. This year the play is

I am excited and nervous all the same. Excited to be apart of this and see how it all turns out in the end and nervous because my three boys are all very passive. I haven’t quite figured out if Mikayla is or not. Sometimes she comes off as shy and other times, she is outgoing and talkative to anyone who will listen. I can’t wait to see how the kids do. This will be the first time doing a play. Actually it will be theirfirst time being in front of an audience of any sort. I will keep updates on here. Check out the Homeschool Players website at www.homeschoolplayers.org

Also if you have a business of your own or work at a business that would like to generate some publicity, Homeschool Players are selling ads for their program book. This ad will go onto the web site above also for a year. All proceeds are used directly to offset the costs of production. If you don’t have a business to promote, you can buy an individual ad just congratulating the cast or a special someone that is in the play. Make that certain someone feel special. Or embarrass them, whatever the case may be.  All the details are on the web site above. If you have any questions email me at reutertanya@yahoo.com.  Thank you in advance for supporting Homeschool Players. Those of you reading this that are local, we hope you can come and see the play in March.

Check out my Slide Show! December 30, 2008

Queen Elizabeth~ December 30, 2008

                  (1533-1603)

I don’t know why I have been so fascinated with Queen Elizabeth lately. I have spent my last few days doing research on the internet and I went to the library and checked out two different movies on her just to compare the two. I guess I am just intrigued with the kind of lifestyle she led. Not at first of course because she was a prisoner the first part of her life but as a queen, she wore the oddest of clothing. I couldn’t imagine having to drag around those heavy jeweled and layered dresses with the addition of jewelry on her fingers, wrists, ears, neck, and even hair. Let’s not forget the sword she carried around her waist because she feared for her life all the time. My only thought right now is wondering what it was like to have to wear all of that in the heat of the summer with no air conditioning. :::UGH:::  I like the way they dance and talked back then to. I remember thinking while I was watching the movie how neat it would be if people spoke that way today. What better an education we would have if all students now days used the vocabulary they used back then. Most kids now days probably wouldn’t even have a clue to what the word splendid means or what it means to patronize someone. We really have been dumbed down over time. 

The life of Queen Elizabeth is quite interesting which is probably why I am so drawn to her. She was very head strong and stood up for herself and didn’t let anyone get in her way. Her father was Henry VIII and her mother was Anne Boleyn(Henry’s second wife). Elizabeth’s mother was executed when Elizabeth was barely three years old. Anne has been called “the most influential and important queen consort England has ever had”. Henry was said to have fallen head over heels for Anne but he was already married to another. There were some mistresses in the picture as well, one being Anne’s sister Mary. He tried to get his marriage annulled but the Pope would not allow it. This is England remember and the prime religion being Catholicism. Or so, there were those trying to make it the prime. Henry, not being allowed to get his marriage annulled, stirred up the breaking away of the power of the Roman Catholic Church. There were some people that were dismissed from public office because of this and Anne’s family chaplain came aboard. A wedding between the two happened, they had a baby girl naming her Elizabeth and they lived happily ever after. Until, three years later when Anne was plotted against and accused of treason, adultery, and incest. There was no proof to convince otherwise so she was beheaded leaving Elizabeth an illegitimate orphan. I say this because Henry later married Jane Seymour and she gave Henry his first son(Edward). Now there is a son that can take the throne. Elizabeth is now just chopped liver. Actually just a princess. I guess that’s better than nothing. Jane Seymour died due to complications giving birth to Edward. During Edward’s reign, Protestantism was established for the first time to England. Edward was the third monarch of the Tudor Dynasty and England’s first Protestant ruler. During Edward’s reign, the realm was governed by a Regency Council. Look up what a Regency Council is and you will understand how Edward became protestant rather than Catholic. Edward became ill and died at the age of fifteen. Before his death he and his Council drew up plans to not include his two sisters oldest being Mary(daughter from Henry’s first marriage) and Elizabeth. I think the reasons were because Mary was very much Catholic and Elizabeth was Protestant. Maybe there would be some friction there but I could be all wrong on this analogy. He instead named his cousin, Lady Jane Grey as his heir. This of course was disputed and Jane was only blessed nine days of being queen before Mary took over. As queen, Mary proceeded to undo many of Edward’s Protestant ways, but  Elizabeth’s religious reformation of 1559 was to secure his Protestant legacy. When Mary was queen, she had a title known to all. They called her bloody Mary. She burned a number of about three hundred people at the stake for their religious beliefs not being compared to hers. In other words, because they were not catholic. Mary married but never had children. She died of what they think might have been a cancerous tumor. While she was queen, she had Elizabeth locked up as a prisoner for fear she might try to take over her throne some how. Now that she was dead, Elizabeth was free in more ways than one. Free from her prison, and free to have her religion. Not only was she free. Everyone else became free. She was a different queen from Mary. Much more love and compassion.She lead the way to breaking the chains and bondage of having to practice a religion you don’t believe in. For having to partake in practices of the catholic church that you know are against the Bible and against God. In the movie I watched she says “there is but one God”. To her the fight was pointless.

I can’t wait to get the few books I ordered from paperbackswap.com so I can learn more. I am especially interested in a love interest she had with Robert Dudley. That’s a whole other chapter to write on.  He was a childhood protestant friend she grew up with when she was locked up. They were both madly in love but for odd reasons Elizabeth remained unmarried and a supposed virgin her whole life. That’s to bad that she resisted that courtship. Deep down inside, I think she might have regretted her choice on that. I know I would have.

The legend of the candy cane December 20, 2008

This is real cute about the candy cane.  Enjoy.

http://www.angelrays.com/fla/legend.html

Check out my Slide Show! December 20, 2008

Snow!! December 20, 2008

We have been getting alot of snow lately. It is really white and beautiful outside. Especially with all the Christmas lights on all the houses. It really hasn’t been that bad as far as temperatures go either. It snowed quite a bit last night and I thought I heard we are suppose to get even more tonight. I love shoveling outside. I don’t know why. There is just something about going out in all that white(especially when it looks glittery) and shoveling.I don’t like to go out if it is really cold out or windy.The temperature has to be just right.  It’s fun for the kids to. It’s a great way to make some memories for the kids. We have some neighbors next to us that are elderly so whenever I go out to shovel, I do their side for them to. I noticed that the kids have been doing it to when they do the shoveling. Seeing this made me think of a verse I read this past week on a You Tube video of Voddie Bauchum. The verse is Luke 6:40 and states A student is not above his teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like his teacher.  It reminded me that my children are with me day and night. I need to constantly be working on myself and keeping in check with things because there are little eyes always watching me. What I do and say in my life reflects onto my kids and what I am is what my kids could become. I hope and pray that for the glory of God, it will all turn out to be good. I think we are doing a pretty good job for God so far.

Mikayla is feeling better now. She threw up for 2 days and slept and didn’t eat for another two days after that. Whatever she had was pretty bad but mysteriously the boys or anyone else for that matter has not gotten it. I’m glad it is done and over with though. It was not fun watching her like that.

We have a real tree this year. We haven’t had a real tree in about five years so I was excited about buying one this year. I soon realized why I liked the fake ones. I am not thrilled with the needles on the floor and having to water it. It also looks like it is getting pretty dried out already. I might rethink this one again for next year and convert back.

Homeschooling is going well. I was just talking with hubby the other day about year round school. I have heard that some people will do a three week on and one week off schedule. One I just read about was a three months on and one month off. This has always been more appealing to me than taking three months off all at once. Taking the last two Summers off I noticed that when it was time for school to reside again, the kids forgot alot. I know it’s not like that for all kids but I think the younger they are, the harder it is because they are just learning all new concepts. I think it would be easier to take a whole Summer off if they have been working on a concepts for a few years and really have it down.   I am going to talk with hubby more and possibly pursue one of these options. I want to at least give it a shot and see if it works for us. I have been doing alot of reading and research on Charlotte Mason. I have read two books so far on her method of teaching and have fallen in love with her techniques. I am not interested in creating a school in my home for my kids anymore. I am not interested in this for many reasons, one being we just don’t have the room for it. Another reason being, we have had a school room for them in the past and we much of the time ended up not even doing school in it. Sometimes the kids just wanted to lounge around in the living room. Austin alot of times will go up on his bed and read. I think my biggest reason though is I don’t want to have a separation there. I want to intertwine school with our life. I don’t want to be so stressed out because I didn’t get X amount of worksheets done with the kids on a certain day. I felt like my days were more focused on making sure they did this many worksheets or workbook pages just to make sure they finished the book by the end of the year. If we fell behind, then I would have a boo hoo party for myself and really beat myself up saying things like “maybe I should just put the kids in school”, or “Maybe this is not what God wants for us”, or “maybe I am just not cut out for this”. All the typical things Satan wants you to believe so that you will give up. We are still going to continue doing a math and a grammar out of text books. Matthew and Mikayla still need phonics to. What I am leaning towards are doing all of our learning out of real life books for the subjects of history, health, geography and some science. I say some science because right now we are doing Apologia and the way the books are written, it is like you are reading a book. They are laid out really nice and simple for a child to understand. We will just add some books to read along with Apologia. Austin has begun to read real life books more than ever this year but because he is in high school now, he has text books for most of his subjects. I am still learning alot about this style of learning so I’m sure there will be lot’s of tweeks here and there. So far I am less stressed and I truly believe the kids are learning so much more from reading a whole book on a topic than just a few paragraphs from a text. It is also more enjoyable to sit around and read together. Dylan’s reading has really taken off this year and Matthew has come along way to. My hope is for them to have a love of reading like I do. So far this is not the case for Dylan. He might take after his dad in that aspect. There is always hope though.

Happy Holidays~ December 13, 2008

I hope that everyone had a good Thanksgiving. Lord knows there is much to be thankful for. I am anticipating the next holiday, Christmas. We have our tree up and decorations out. I decided to do something different this year and go with blue lights on the tree. I really like it! We also got a real tree instead of our usual artificial one. There are some perks to an artificial one. Like not having to water it and having to vacuum up needles on the floor underneath it. Other than that, I am pleased. I know I haven’t been blogging much lately. I really need to get back in the habit of it. I won’t be able to do much tonight because Mikayla is passed out on the living room floor with the flu. Yuk! I was sipping off her drinks earlier before I knew she was sick. I hope I don’t catch it to.  Anyway, the kids are getting big and doing well. We got a puppy. Her name is Molly. She is a poodle-bichon mix(above picture) and is so cute. I will post updated pictures  of the kids maybe this weekend if I don’t end up getting the bug. Hope everyone has a good weekend. Stay warm!

Free stories your children will love~ July 28, 2008

I found this online and thought I would share….

http://wiredforbooks.org/kids.htm

At least someone can stand up for God! July 26, 2008

This Pastor Has Guts 

It seems prayer still upsets some people. Please read….

When Minister Joe Wright was asked to open the new Session of the Kansas Senate, everyone was expecting the usual generalities, but this is what they heard:

       

‘Heavenly Father,

We come before you today

To ask your forgiveness and

To seek your direction and guidance.

We know Your Word says,

‘Woe to those who call evil good’,

But that is exactly what we have done.

We have lost our spiritual equilibrium

And reversed our values.

We have exploited the poor and

Called it the lottery.

We have rewarded laziness

And called it welfare.

We have killed our unborn

And called it choice.

We have shot abortionists

And called it justifiable.

We have neglected to discipline

Our children and called it

Building self esteem.

We have abused power

And called it politics.

We have coveted our neighbor’s

Possessions and called it ambition.

We have polluted the air

With profanity and Pornography and called it

Freedom of speech and expression.

We have ridiculed the time Honored values of our Forefathers and called it enlightenment.

Search us, Oh, God, And know our hearts today; Cleanse Us from every sin and set us free.

Amen!

The Homeschoolers 23rd Psalm July 22, 2008

I saw this and thought it was so cute….

The Lord is my shepherd,
I shall not want.
He maketh me to live on less sleep:
He leadeth me through the noise of many voices.

He restoreth my soul: He leadeth me to teach
The right lessons each day, for His name’s sake.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of undone
Laundry and kitchen messes, I will fear no evil:
For thou art with me, my teacher’s guides and
Answer keys, they comfort me.

Thou preparest a table before me in the presence
Of threatening school officials and critical family members:
Thou anointest my head with heavenly wisdom, my cup runneth over.

Surely educated and godly children shall follow after me
All the days of my life: and I will dwell again one day
In a clean house with the Lord forevermore.