Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understandings. In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths. Proverbs 3:5-6
Earlier this year, I memorized these verses with my two oldest kids. James says as much as he can remember, but Jacob and Jaden have them down pat. These past few months I have been thankful that I hid these words in my heart. To say the past couple of months have been a walk in the park would be a huge lie. Don’t get me wrong, I feel so blessed with the addition of a healthy new bundle of joy. But having a baby born prematurely and in the NICU not to mention an emergency c-section has been financially draining for our family.
I am not talking the kind of draining of I wish we could go on vacation or take the kids to the movies (although those thoughts have crossed my mind a few times). I am talking about the kind of draining of I hope we will have enough money for groceries this month or keeping my breath held on the way home from the doctor because the gas hand is in the red. Sometimes I feel very stressed and can get short tempered with my family because I worry about all the doctor bills coming in. Every doctor’s office I talk to always throws in there that they take Visa or MasterCard. And, then I have to explain that we don’t rely on credit cards to pay our debts. They always make me feel half nuts because every grown adult owns a credit card right?
Well, the Lord has been gently reminding me of how He takes care of us. How He is here for us. How He provides our basic needs. One way He has been doing this is through the song “I’d Rather Have Jesus.” It was playing in the vehicle on the way to the dentist the other morning. After wondering where in the world I was going to come up with $400 to pay for the bill, I felt so much peace and happiness listening to this song. Oh how it reminds me how much I’d rather have Him than anything. He loves us and has blessed us beyond measure. He has not let us go hungry one day. He has kept a roof over our head. We have shoes on our feet and clothes on our backs. He has provided our every need. He has unexpectedly sent family and friends to help us out numerous times. He has sent food, diapers, clothes, and even money for doctor visits. We are so grateful for everything that He has done for us.
I have also heard the Holy Spirit asking me, “Why didn’t you ask me to help you with the dentist bill? Why aren’t you on your knees asking for my help? Why are you trying to pay these doctor bills on your own? Why are you trying to hide from me and not listen to me? I blessed you with these children, I will help you take care of them. You have accepted my will for your life, so now you have to trust Me.” So from this day forward, I give all of these financial worries over to the Lord. And, I mean I really give them to Him. I will not only hide Proverbs 3:5-6 in my heart, but I will live by it. He is able. I am not. His gentle reminders this week have opened my eyes and showed me what stress and worry can make you miss. Sweet moments like this…
I’d Rather Have Jesus
- I’d rather have Jesus than silver or gold;
I’d rather be His than have riches untold;
I’d rather have Jesus than houses or lands;
I’d rather be led by His nail-pierced hand
- Than to be the king of a vast domain
And be held in sin’s dread sway;
I’d rather have Jesus than anything
This world affords today.
I’d rather be faithful to His dear cause;
I’d rather have Jesus than worldwide fame;
I’d rather be true to His holy name
He’s sweeter than honey from out of the comb;
He’s all that my hungering spirit needs;
I’d rather have Jesus and let Him lead
Learning God's Way 
Amanda,
Proverbs 3:5-6 is my life’s verse. I have held onto to these verses for the past 3 years. PJ and I have gone through and are still going through financial problems as you and Jamie are but through it all, the Lord has met every single one of our needs and I know He will continue to do so. PJ and I and you and Jamie may be the only people on earth that don’t use credit cards but at least you know you’re not alone. Lol! I have kept a journal for the past 3 years about our quest to pay off all of our debt. My goal is one day to help other couples who have gotten themselves in debt to rely on God to take care of their every need while they are getting out of debt. He definitely has ours. I sometimes try to take care of things myself and it never works. This post has really made me see that I need to give EVERYTHING to God and quit worrying about it. Thank you for starting this blog. It has been a true blessing to me! Love you!
Thanks, Dana. We are in this together! Love you, too.
Wonderful post! That’s what we have to do put our trust in the Lord over all aspects of our life. My family has been there too… scared that we won’t have enough gas to make it home, enough food to feed our children, whether we will get our aep cut off or not…. it’s a hard thing to go through.. Then I read about having faith as big as a mustard seed… Which can move mountains… So we decided to stop the worry, pray, seek God for the answers and life has truly been much more of a blessing… And less stressful. Love your blog! It’s a joy to read. And We know what you mean about the credit cards… We don’t use them either. And I thought we were the only adults who didn’t have a credit card, lol!
Thanks, Amy! Good luck with homeschooling this year. Maybe we will see each other at the park sometime. What curriculum have you decided to use besides All About Reading?
I’m also using some abeka and alpha omega, road trip USA… I just picked a little of everything I thought looked fun and educational. If you look on my site you will see what all we are using and it will also take you to the sites. It’s under the curriculum tab at the top. What about you? Is there any suggestions for curriculum that you have used. Hope we do see you all around sometime!
I have used a little bit of everything: BJU, Sing, Spell, Read and Write, Heart of Dakota, Right Start Math, Rod and Staff etc.. But, I really didn’t like the textbook/workbook approach that BJU and Rod and Staff have. I never really taught that way when I taught public school. I like using Historical fiction and living books to teach with lots of hands on, student lead activities. We liked Heart of Dakota, but in the next level that we would use, they use the Story of the World to teach Ancient Studies. And, I really don’t want to use that book for History. Right now, we are going through the Old and New Testament and Ancient Civilizations using Grandpa’s Box, the Bible, DC Cook Journey Thru the Bible, and BJU 6th grade Heritage Studies Text (mostly for me to reference because I don’t like to teach exclusively from textbooks , but I know that my 8 year old will probably take it from me because he will read anything). We are making fun, creative timelines to go with the events in the Bible/Ancient History, and my 8 year old is doing a vocabulary notebook. We are also tying in Ancient History using Draw and Write Through History and History Pockets Ancient Civilizations. I am not making my children memorize any facts or take tests from the Ancient Civilizations. I just want them to see what it might have been like to live during those times. (I actually don’t give tests or quizzes at all). 🙂 I have the kids narrate or write about what they have learned. If I find a few months down the road that it hasn’t stuck, and I feel like it was an important concept, we briefly revisit that topic. For Geography, we are going to mark the places that they learn about during Ancient Civilizations. We will briefly glance at Old and New Testament Maps as well as current maps. I am going to do a missions study for each place that is talked about. I want them to be aware that others need our prayers. My 8 year old will answer a few questions from each chapter in Grandpa’s Box just to practice reading comprehension. We are also doing a memory verse a day for the chapters that we read. For American History, we are going to briefly study the wars that are mentioned throughout Grandpa’s Box using living books and historical fiction. We will start an American History timeline using these wars. Of course, we are only going to study age appropriate topics pertaining to each war and Ancient Civilization. We will add cooking and nature studies in as we see fit for each Ancient Civilization. My 8 year old has a book basket that has books related to the topic or time period that we are studying. He is also reading A to Z Mysteries for fun, He completes a detective report when he finishes a book. He is reading some of the Magic Tree House books for fun as well ( I don’t like how the time periods are explained in some of the Magic Tree House books, but I have explained to him that they are fiction, and he knows the truth). My five year old and three year old check books out from the library, and we read, read, read.
In reality, if I get a unit started, the kids really know how to create their own projects to learn by. Here are some examples of a few projects that they worked on today: They started making the objects found in Grandpa’s Box, so we will have them to take out of our own treasure box when we read each chapter. All on their own, after we had read a few chapters in Grandpa’s Box and made a few of the objects for his treasure box, they decided to build an Ark from wood and a plastic egg carton. When they were finished, the three oldest jumped in the tub to see if it would float and how many animals could go in each section of the egg carton before it would sink. Then they drained the water and let the animals be on dry land in the tub because the flood was over. They also made fishing poles and electrical poles and lines from craft sticks and wire (don’t ask me where that idea came from). LOL! After lunch, they put themselves in bed for rest time and read books to themselves while I read to my three year old. The two oldest ended up joining us after they heard me reading. They did a timeline page that went along with the book. Before supper, my 8 year old dug trenches to the plants in the garden because he thought that the water would get to the plants more efficiently. This afternoon, the two oldest brought me a song they had written from what they learned from the chapters we read in Grandpa’s box. My five year old taught my three year old letter sounds using a magic board. Most of these projects, they thought of own their own and completed on their own. The only two that I assisted with were the objects for Grandpa’s box and the timeline page.
I have learned that semi-structured is so much better because they learn to use their creativity, and they can use the talents that God has given them. I don’t let them watch any movies during the week, so they will be creative and active. They really don’t mind it though. They love doing “school” this way. They love learning this way. It has taken me a few years to let go and know that they really do learn so much more in a natural environment and from reading meaningful literature. I already knew this, but the first year and a half of homeschooling, I was so afraid not to use a textbook approach. I was afraid I would leave something out doing unit studies. I was so wrong. Our family learns so much more reading good books and doing fun, hands-on projects.
Okay, that was a long description, and it is just a summary of our summer unit study. LOL!! This fall I am going to take about six weeks and do the lessons on ABC I Believe: http://www.daniellesplace.com/homeschool/index.cfm. They look like a lot of fun and most of the work is already done for you. Which is a great plus for me!! They focus on Christian character with science, math, writing, language arts, crafts, and cooking added to each lesson. We are still going to map the characters in each book that we read.
After that I believe I am going to go with Five In A Row. It looks like a great unit study that focuses on awesome children’s literature. The units are similar to the unit study that I have planned for Grandpa’s Box, and a lot of the work will be done for me. This is my style of teaching and my kids’ style of learning. I haven’t used it before, so I will let you know how it goes. It is fairly inexpensive, too.
For the basic subjects:
We use Life of Fred for math (a literature based math program).
We are starting to use All About Spelling (for the two oldest) and All About Reading (only for my 5 year old). She is reading simple books, so I am excited to keep her going with this program. She despises the workbook approach, so I know this will probably be a great fit for her.
Some new things that I am trying for my 8 year old are Writing with Ease Level 1 and Language Lessons Level 1 from the Well Trained Mind. Again these programs are tied to literature passages and deal with copy work and narration. Can you tell we love reading in this house??
Shew, I hope I didn’t overwhelm you too much. I have done a lot of research on curriculum, and I feel like I have found what works for our family. After Jacob hits middle school I may try Learning Adventures with him. It looks like a great program that focuses on reading historical fiction to study history in a chronological order.
I can’t ever explain anything in a few sentences!! Let me know if you have any questions. 🙂
It all sounds amazing. And I understand the love of reading… we read, read, read in our home too. It’s one of my boys favorite things to do! And my daughter too even though she’s 16 and doesn’t want anyone to know that she enjoys reading 🙂 lol! We have started our summer reading challenge of reading our 75 books each and (or chapters) and going on a little adventure of their choice when they are finished. And to may amazement my 6 year old is almost all finish, of course my 5 year old is only reading simple books right now so it’s taking him a little longer.. but he’s doing great! I love love love the All about reading program. It has worked wonders for my 5 year old! Thanks for letting me know what all you use I will have to check those out. A lot of the the curriculum we have chosen I have “extras” I guess you can say to go along with it. I’m not very happy with the Alpha Omega program I bought, it was one of those on sale thought it would work deals, lol! But I have added some reading and writing of my own that I think will help Aidan be more interested in it for this year and next we will move onto something more fun! When I homeschooled my daughter we started out with the all day regular workbook, complete “school work” approach. And I learned very quickly that was not working.. so we stopped took more adventures outside, more time to “play and learn”.. and it worked a lot better. So with the boys I still want a little structure such as trying to start around 9am every morning and having reading and math everyday.. then hopefully the rest will just fall into place.
Do you homeschool all year long? As you probably know Aidan was in public school last year so I thought I’d wait until August to start the majority of our work. We have still been doing fun learning such as on our camping trip we learned about living and non living things and today we went to a snake show and learned and saw many different types of snakes.. which scared me a little but the boys loved it! And we have been going to Contenders of faith which has been fun for the boys to meet new friends. Sorry I ramble when i write.. hope to hear from you again soon and thanks for telling me about what all you use.
Also, you mentioned mission study you wanted to do for each place that is talked about. Could you tell me more about that? That sounds like a great idea. I was just wondering how you were going to go about doing it. One thing I have always wanted to instill into our children was the need to give to others.. weather it was a helping hand, a prayer, or a kind word. I have had them bake things for our neighbor who lost her husband a few years back.. and we visit with her as much as we can. We have donated pj’s to children in the us that were in need through a scholastic program, and currently we are filling boxes for the world help Christmas for an orphan program..
Sorry it has taken so long to reply. I get busy and forget about things. For our missions study, we are going to pray for missionaries who live in the places of the books we are reading. For example, if we are reading a book that mentions China, we will find a missionary who lives in China. We will place a picture of them on the world map. We will remember to pray for them everyday. The kids will email them from time to time. And as the Lord allows, we will send care packages to the missionaries. Our church supports missionaries from all over the world, so we have a huge outreach.
That is wonderful! How do you find the missionaries in that country? I’d love to do something like that with the kids.
Hey Amy! We have two huge missionary boards in front of our church. I get the names from those boards. Here is a neat website, too. http://www.bimi.org/