Never Grow Weary In Doing Good

On my return I found that it took longer than anticipated to get back into the swing of things. It was not jetlag, although I was tired. There was something else nagging at my heart. I realized that even though I had been on holiday, I had not rested and I had not gone through my normal holiday routine of catching up with things in the home and my business that fall by the wayside during schooling times.

If you are feeling weary, as I was, I encourage you to read a new article on my site entitled Growing Weary in Doing Good?

Charlotte Mason

Charlotte Mason had a remedy for moms who were frazzled, weary and overwrought. She advises that mom take a day off from the everyday grind and soak up some culture of her own. As I stood before Monet’s original Japanese Bridge in the National Art Museum in London, as I watched Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice, I was reminded how important it is to make sure we, as moms, feed our own minds. But I was also reminded that we need to feed our spirits and renew our minds by leaning on the Lord. A sure remedy for weariness of spirit is to turn to the Bible, to spend time in prayer and refreshing ourselves and hearing His voice.

Family and Sibling Relationships

One of the highlights of my London trip was lunch at Jamie Oliver’s Fifteen. One night while I was cooking with my elder son, he said: “Mom, one day you won’t have to travel all the way to London for a meal like that, because I will learn to cook much better. I even have a name for my restaurant “Mama’s Kitchen”.” This brought a tear to my eye and we had a cuddle.

On my website I often refer to cooking, meal planning and teaching children life skills in the kitchen. Yes, it does help that I enjoy cooking too, but this is not a prerequisite for helping children to learn to cook and teaching other homemaking skills. Spending time with our children, outside of academic work, is one of the reasons many parents choose a homeschool lifestyle. Spending time in the kitchen one-on-one and together with your children is a marvelous way to chat in non conflict times about heart issues and train them to cook at the same time.

What if you are not an enthusiastic cook but would like to spend time with your children teaching them the valuable life skill of cooking? Debbie Madson from www.kids-cooking-activities.com has created an eBook of kids cooking lessons for children from preschoolers to high school students. Be sure to check it out!

Organizational Tips

A precious homeschooling mom bemoaned the chore situation in her home a week or so ago. She was looking to change the status quo at home and to begin training her children’s hands and hearts. Praise God for willing hearts to spend time improving situations when they have gone wrong.

I realize that she is not the only one who has a “chore situation” in their homes and I know that it is not always possible to think clearly when we are frustrated with the way things are. Often we become sidetracked by bad attitudes and decide to leave things as they are instead of allowing God to lead us in the training of our children’s hearts and hands.

Using some of the chore information on my site and a new chore system I have created a low price eBook entitled Tips for Successful Kid’s Chores to help moms stay on track, focus on the bigger picture as well as implement a fun and easy to use Chore Pocket System with their children. Take a look, perhaps this 20 page eBook is the answer for you!

Your Marriage

When a woman is feeling down for any reason it makes it very hard to care for those around her. But does this give her an excuse to grumble, groan and not be loving helper to her husband? The tough answer: “No!” Caring when you don’t feel like it, doing the right thing even when everything inside you says you would rather be doing something else, is what develops character in us.

This past week my husband had a rather nasty tumble on his mountain bike which meant a visit to the ER for stitches. It also meant that many normal day to day things were impossible for him to do alone – he needed my help! I used to have a tough stomach for cuts and pain, but well, these days I am rather a wimp! Changing bandages daily, cleaning wounds…no, thank you – I could find a hundred better things to do with my time!

Yet the Lord impressed upon me (and gave me a stomach of steel) to show my husband love in this way, at this time. Now while others may not flinch at helping their husbands in times like these, perhaps there are other things that they need you to do and you do not feel like it.

Ask the Lord to help you do the right thing even when you don’t feel like it, and His blessing will come as you obey.

Quote

"If mothers could learn to do for themselves what they do for their children when these are overdone, we should have happier households. Let the mother go out to play! If she would have the courage to let everything go when life becomes too tense, and just take a day, or half a day, out in the fields, or with a favorite book, or in a picture gallery looking long and well at just two or three pictures, or in bed, without the children, life would go on far more happily for both children and parents.” Charlotte Mason

Living books

Recently 2 teams of 4 homeschooling students each took part in a world wide literature quiz. They were up against 12 other teams from local schools in the provincial heats. The categories of questions ranged from folk law to animals and clothing to horror books. The first team of homeschoolers came 4th.

The majority of these homeschooled children are using Sonlight Curriculum. While they did not do well on the ghosts and horror categories, they did extremely well in all the others. These children were not coached, nor did they have extensive lists of books to read in case they were asked a question from one of those books like the schooled children. The homeschoolers did well because they live in literature rich environments and they simply love to read.

Some of our favorite books are listed on my website but for those of you who are looking for more books for your children to read or for you to read to them, be sure to visit the 1000 good books list

Homeschool Curriculum For Life News!

Not much news this month but, South African homeschoolers, please remember to take a look at the Homeschool Events page for the upcoming homeschool curriculum expos in Natal, East London and Johannesburg. I will be in Johannesburg to display Sonlight Curriculum and my business partner, Shirley, will be there displaying Footprints On Our Land

If you are a little confused about all the different choice of curriculum, please be sure to read an article I wrote entitled choosing the right curriculum for your family. Other new articles written and outsourced by myself, for free right of use, can be found at www.EzineArticles.com

Take care until next time,
God’s richest blessings to you as you homeschool,
Wendy

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