I have gotten behind on participating in the HSBA Homeschool Memoires meme. I have loved each theme but stuff just always seems to come up!!

Tonight I thought I'd kill two birds with one stone (I promise -- no "tweet-tweets" were hurt in the making of this blog post) and do a bit of catch up. Enjoy!!

(from top left to right) 

1. The Pear -- This was a bronze sculpture that I fell in love with at The Castle in New York.

2. Decorating -- We are getting our house put together. We moved from Arizona to North Carolina in May.

3. My Honey -- We were out looking for beaches and took the ferry. This is a reflection of Mike in the driver side mirror. He was standing with the boys and watching the birds fly over the water.

4. The Statue of Liberty -- The ferry to the Island was closed when Victoria and I arrived but we were able to take pictures from both Liberty Park on the Jersey side and Manhatten on the New York side.

5. Garden Statue -- I guess I just like statues and scultpures :-) This fair lady is in the gardens at Tryon Palace in New Bern, North Carolina.

6. My Boys -- We did a lot of swimming this summer trying to decide if we could afford to be on the Carteret Currents team down in Morehead City. We had to forego the team for now because of the expense but are saving, and practicing, to give it a go after the first of the year.

7. Taco Bell Volcano Taco -- Our children LOVE hot and spicy food. They didn't believe it was really hot. I'm still not sure what they believe about it except they had a contest to see who could down it first so I'll probably never learn the truth... ya know, since they are boys and all!

8. My Honey and Me -- Our daughter snapped this photo of us at Tryon. Isn't it sweet?

9. The 57 Chevy -- We saw this car at a Military Appreciation Day. It started raining but Mike was willing to get soaked to get the perfect shot!

10. Mo aka 7169 -- Mo is the squirrel we rescued after Hurricane Hanna blew her out of a tree. We got her warm and fed her and kept her protected for a day until we found out about our local animal rescue, The WildARC.

11. Victoria, my girl -- Victoria and I went to New York this summer on an all expense paid trip she won because of her paper last year on Habeas Corpus. She made me a proud mama by interacting maturely and intellectually with peers much older than her!!

 Hmmm... what is our favorite snacks??? Well, this one is kinda easy for us because we do like to eat...LOL.. I think I'll just give ya our top 10.

1. Grilled Cheese Sandwiches

2. BLT on wheat with baby spinach

3. Snap Peas and Baby Carrots with Ranch

4. White Cheddar Popcorn

5. Chicken Tortilla Soup

6. Monkey Bread

7. Baked Potatoes (soak 'em in olive oil, put in a paper bag, sprinkle with salt and microwave.. yummy!!)

8. Apple slices with Peanut Butter

9. Cheese (any kind of cheese... sticks... cubes.. slices... I mean ANY kind of cheese!!)

10. Chicken Wraps (a good piece of chicken, some baby spinach, veggie cream cheese, all wrapped up in a nice soft wheat wrap... some more YUM!!)

Thanks for catching up with me this week.... I hope you enjoyed my post :-)

Have a blessed weekend!

Sallie

Train Up A Child Thursday is based off of Proverbs 22:6 which says "Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it."  

1 Thessalonians 4:11-12 (Amplified Bible)

11 To make it your ambition and definitely endeavor to live quietly and peacefully, to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we charged you,

12 So that you may bear yourselves becomingly and be correct and honorable and command the respect of the outside world, being dependent on nobody [self-supporting] and having need of nothing.

I don't know very many families I've talked to over the last few weeks where the economy has not been an issue discussed around the family dinner table or in general conversation in the home.  Frankly, it isn't just limited to discussions within immediate family either. My sister in law and I talked for over an hour on the phone about it. My mother in law and I have talked about it. My mom, sister, niece, and I have talked about it. Friends at church sit and talk about it. Walking down the aisle of the commissary I overheard a guy on his cell phone talking about it. The economy has finally found a way to permeate every morsel of our interest. Unfortunately, it isn't in a good way!

My husband and I are blessed that we don't have a huge amount of debt. We have chosen to live this way for a purpose. We figured out what things we are not good at early on in our marriage and finances are pretty much at the top of the list for both of us. Because of stupidity and immaturity in the early stages of our marriage, we learned some hard lessons rather quickly but that has made us better in the long run. We want to live a debt free lifestyle, or at least as debt free as possible, and we strive to teach our children that as well.

The most important lesson we are teaching our children is to tithe. God does not ask a lot of us and He doesn't really need it. He just wants us to be obedient. We haven't always been perfect in this area, and I know we will fail in the future, too. It is a payday by payday step for us but one that we strive for constantly.  

We tell the children not to get credit cards. They aren't a necessity because if you don't have cash to buy it in the first place, then you probably don't really need it.

We tell them to be wise with student loans if they feel they MUST get them. It is irresponsible to get student loans and then use that money on other things, even living expenses. Instead of student loans, we have taught our children that schools that have work programs are better. Scholarships and grants are better. Part time school over a longer period of time is better. CLEP testing is better. We have also saved some money in college accounts for them.  This is not a lot of money and they all understand that by getting help from mom and dad, and essentially their brothers or sister, then that means they must be willing to help the younger siblings as they go through school as well.

We are teaching our children to live within their means. Our last vehicle was 13 years old before we were finally concerned enough about its traveling capability (knowing we had a 3500 mile move in front of us). We would have been wiser to save money for a new one but we didn't so we make that payment regularly and on time. There were several things we did though that saved us money. We did our research and bought the best car for the money with the highest safety standards available. We could have easily purchased a $30,000 vehicle but chose not to. It would have been above our means and would have been basically a "look at me" bit of lifestyle showmanship. By choosing to do our research over a long stretch of time (about 6 months) and really praying over the purchase and waiting for God to show us the right time, we saved approximately $10,000 on the purchase of our van. It's not everyday that the dealership manager turns to the salesman and says "Just give her what she wants!" That was a God-thing!

We invest and save for our retirement. My husband is a Marine and so we can count on having his retirement check monthly but we also know this won't be enough to live on either. We chose about 10 years ago to try and make some bit of good investing/retirement goals and to keep an eye on them to make sure we were continually being good stewards with that money. So far so good and even though it is only a small amount every month that goes to it, it is more than nothing and we feel blessed to have those accounts there.

We do not own our own home yet. We live in base housing. I won't say a mortgage is bad, or that I wouldn't be happy owning our own home, but I will say purchasing a home beyond your means is bad. God has consistently shown our family that we fit fine in smaller homes and that what we want doesn't always jive with what we need or what is best for us.  We are continually teaching our children that no matter what a great deal something sounds like, it doesn't mean it is. My husband and I pray continually for Gods guidance on a home purchase. It probably won't be bought until after we get out of the Marine Corps but we are OK with that. It probably won't be very big but we are OK with that, too.

We make money, tithing, investing, and savings part of our normal home school routine. Some of the websites I have found to teach the children about money are:

http://www.theteacherscafe.com/Math/Money_Lessons_Worksheets.php
http://www.moneyinstructor.com/
http://www.kidsfinance.com/
http://www.crown.org/LIBRARY/default.aspx?catId=52
http://cob.jmu.edu/econed/Elementary.htm

 

In the end, we don't want to have to depend on anyone, or any government to take care of us. We want to be able to say "Do you see what good and great things God has done for us?" and know that it all was indeed because of the blessings of God that we are where we are. That lays the glory squarely at the foot of the throne of God... where it always should be.  

What are you teaching your children today? Feel free to leave a comment and a link to share with others! 

Would you like to join in on Train Up A Child Thursday and be added to the list in my sidebar? Just send me an email with train up a child in the subject line and a link to a devotion you have written on your blog about training your children in the way of the Lord.

Sallie

Dana is hosting the carnival of homeschooling this week at her blog. She's titled it the simple pleasures of homeschooling for this go around. I know she had 60 or so posts to add to the carnival this week so please hop over and take a look at her blog and check out all the great posts that have been put together.

The post I submitted can be found here.  It is one of my Homeschool Focus moments... of which I need to get back on track and write a few more...lol..

Enjoy the carnival!!

Sallie

"Hello. My name is Sallie and I homeschool my son who has Asperger's Syndrome."

Sometimes it almost feels like we are introducing ourselves at a 12-step meeting when we talk about our children who have disabilities. Like maybe there is something we can do to make it all go away or make it better if we just confess our "sins" to the right group of people. The truth is, nothing we say will make our children any different than what they already are. And, really, would we want that? I think for most of us the answer would be a resounding NO!

We began the diagnosis process for Asperger Syndrome, an autistic spectrum disorder, for our son Caleb in December of 2003. It's hard to believe we've nearly reached the 5 year mark of the initial diagnosis. He was 9 at the time and far past the normal age for diagnosis. There are many reasons for that.

First, we just thought our son was the strongest willed creature God had ever created. Really, really, REALLY strong willed! We had problems feeding. We had problems crawling. We had problems sitting. We had problems driving. We had problems sitting. We just had problems!

Second, I had been a pharmacy technician in the Air Force in the early 90's when our first child was born, and saw many zombie-like children coming in with their parents to refill prescriptions for Ritalin, the most common drug of the day for ADD/ADHD. I also had some behind the scenes looks at the way pharmaceutical companies ran, and though I'm not completely against using medicine, I promised myself I would never have one of my children on Ritalin. Frankly, I couldn't justify medicating my child simply to make him more tolerable for other people! When the schools started saying "He must have ADD" but their own tests showed otherwise, and yet they still pushed for medication of some sort, we refused to let them test him anymore and brought him home to learn.

Lastly, God put the right people in the right places over the years to give us just the information we needed for child rearing that was perfect for our son, in our situation, at exactly the right moments. One of my favorite scriptures throughout this time became Ecclesiastes 3:11 "He has made everything beautiful in its time." God's timing is perfect and we have learned that lesson many times over again in the past four years.

For example, as strong as it may sound to many people, the first tip ever given to us by a parenting counselor was to restrain our son by holding him down in a dark and quiet room. Sitting quietly in the middle of the room with all four of my limbs wrapped around my then 2 year old was the first step in teaching him that tantrums, or meltdowns as they are commonly called with autistic children, would not be tolerated. The first time I sat with him lasted over an hour and I needed a nap and recovery period when it was all over.

Each time we had to do this, the time of restraint got shorter and shorter and by the end of a few weeks, I merely had to walk to the bedroom and turn off the light and the inappropriate behavior stopped immediately. We now know those tantrums were the results of over-stimulation and Caleb was processing all the sensory issues he had the only way his two year old mind could grasp to do it. God's timing in teaching us this lesson is one that I have pondered many times.

We had to suck up our pride (BIG TIME) to enlist the help of a professional, and then we had to be consistent with holding him and whispering sweetly to him, or sometimes just not saying anything (remember your momma used to tell you if you can't say something nice...), but I firmly believe we would not be where we are today if we hadn't listened to that counselor. We've talked to many counselors since then who said they can't believe she told us to do that. Maybe she was just "old school" in her training or something but I fully believe she was sent to us by God and I will forever be thankful to her.

During this fresh start of the new year I'd like to ask you to resolve to gain a better understanding about the uniqueness of each of your children. What can you do to help them learn better? To learn easier? The following are some great links that have been so pivotal in helping me find the information I needed to help my son, and others I know, succeed in everyday learning. I hope they will help you too!

http://www.nathhan.com/ ~ National Challenged Homeschoolers Associated Network
http://www.nacd.org/labels/homeschooling.html ~ National Association for Child Development
http://www.learningabledkids.com/ ~ Learning Abled Kids
http://www.chadd.org/ ~ Children and Adults with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder
http://www.nhen.org/specneed/default.asp?id=271 ~ National Home Education Network
http://www.udel.edu/bkirby/asperger/ ~ Online Asperger Syndrome Information and Support
http://www.stompproject.org/ ~ Specialized Training of Military Parents (specifically for military members with special needs children)
http://www.uniquelygifted.org/ ~ Uniquely Gifted: Resources for Gifted Children with Special Needs
http://www.joniandfriends.org/ ~ Joni Eareckson Tada: offers camps for disabled children and family retreats
http://www.awana.org/parents/default.aspx?id=84 ~ AWANA clubs are great resources to teach your children social and emotional skills in a loving Christ-centered environment!
http://christianadhd.com/index.php ~ ADHD of the Christian Kind
http://www.woodbinehouse.com/ ~ Books on Special Needs Education
http://www.dougflutiejrfoundation.org/index.php ~ Doug Flutie Jr Foundation for Autism
http://www.bazzo.net/ ~ Jacobsen Syndrome/11Q Terminal Deletion Disorder
http://www.bartonreading.com/ ~ Help for your child with Dyslexia
http://www.interdys.org/ ~ International Dyslexia Association
http://www.therapeutichomeschooling.org/ ~ Help for homeschooling your child with Bipolar Disorder

Sallie

You may remember from my Living Your Strengths post that one of my strengths is Context. It is actually my greatest strength with Input and Intellection being my next highest strengths. I love facts and history. I collect information. All things factual and historical are of great interest and importance to me naturally!!

I read an article about the Crown of Aleppo recently and of course it sparked my interest.

The Crown, known in English as the Aleppo Codex, may not be as famous as the Dead Sea Scrolls. But to many scholars it is even more important, because it is considered the definitive edition of the Bible for Jewry worldwide.

The key to finding the pages is thought to lie with the insular diaspora of Jews originating in Aleppo, Syria, where the manuscript resided in a synagogue's iron chest for centuries.

Read the rest of the story here.

I believe God's perfect timing is the ONLY factor in regards to Biblical artifacts of great historical significance being found. Have there been any great artifacts found that were of interest to you personally? Why?

Sallie