December 18, 2008
Realising goals and dreams
Home l Meal Planner l Homeschool Planner l Titus 2
Welcome to the December edition of A Living Education E-zine!
The last 3 weeks have seen me emptying out cupboards and getting rid of no longer used items on www.freecycle.org. We are currently on our year end break and have 7 delicious weeks to enjoy summer without the additional responsibility of school work.
Each year I make a running list of big things that I need to do but need the extra time of holidays to achieve them. This year end we cleared out a second area to plant more vegetables and we are overhauling our girl’s bedroom. This means lots of back breaking work especially when there are obstacles to deal with.
When we pulled up the carpet in the girl’s bedroom we found 3 floor boards that needed to be replaced. This was not taken into our planning and has created a set back. When we pulled up the shrubs in the garden, we found a tree root that had to be yanked out. Hard, hard work!
Seeing that the end of the year is when many of us take stock of what has happened throughout the year, I thought I would focus on realizing goals and dreams in this issue of A Living Education.
Setting goals a la Charlotte Mason
Very simply put – deal with one at a time. Just as she says “One Habit at a Time” so it is with goal setting. There are a few goals that a Christian homeschooling mom could have:
Spiritual Goals
Marriage Goals
Parenting Goals
Household Goals
Education Goals (personal and homeschooling)
Others
Under each of these sections she may have more specific ideas and aspirations that she would like to achieve over a period of time. For instance one example in each of those reflected in our home was:
Spiritual – walking in God’s unmerited favour (Grace)
Marriage – improving communication
Parenting – praise my children’s developing characters
Household – move to a more organic and sustainable lifestyle
Education – help the children develop their neatness; further my self study areas.
Others – save for travel in 2010
Each of these goals I wrote up at the beginning of the year, along with more specific areas in each relationship within our home. I pray them through and ask the Lord to direct me, help me tweak or readjust as we walk together.
Now that 12 months have passed I look back to see how God has worked in us, through me and ordered our circumstances to realise these goals.
Don’t forget that you can access some free printables on my site to help with planning and goal setting.
Family and Sibling Relationships
Relationships are hard work. They take lots of time, energy and patience to get to a place of mutual respect and understanding. In our homes where we are together 24/7 we have the wonderful opportunity of being sandpaper to one another. As siblings brush up against one another their hearts are exposed. It takes a wise patient mom to mentor her children through these situations.
I used to watch my children with despair when they had a tiff for the 3rd or 4th time in a day, but as I have grown in the Lord, I see them rather as a time to disciple one or more child.
Organizational Tips
One of my goals during the school holidays was to do a big declutter throughout my home and office. I have to admit to not following the Flylady’s daily tips for some time now. Her principles are very much ingrained in our housekeeping but this year there was not much time for a deep decluttering which is why we are spending a little time each day focusing on one area together.
As we move through the areas we have three containers – one contains things that can be thrown away, another for things to give away and others to return to the correct place.
This reduces the mountain of things as you go and helps with the final organization of the area. You can find a free printable Holiday to Do List half way down this page.
You can also see how we perform a three day blitz in our living areas here!
Your Marriage
A lot of what happens in our marriages cannot be planned or figured out ahead of time. As a young bride I could never have foreseen what marriage has held for us.
But there are some things that we can do to keep building intimacy and growth in our relationship with our husbands. The first is prayer. The second is time and the third is intimacy.
Time and intimacy are quite relative. But for us "time" was making sure that we choose to set aside time just for us. Sometimes it is a meal or a movie or like recently a night away while the children were looked after by grandparents.
Intimacy comes with trust. As we grow in a trust relationship (trusting one another to be wise stewards of one another hearts, thoughts and emotions) so the intimacy grows. Some romantic ideas to inspire you are here.
Quote
Psalm 37:4 - 5 “Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him and he will do this.”
Book reviews
This month you are going to be subjected to my bedside table reading...what you will find there are 3 books:
Slice of Organic Life
He Loves Me! Wayne Jacobsen. This book is available for free in e-book format or you can support his ministry and buy a paper copy For anyone who has performance issues or feels they need to do better to earn God’s love then this book is for you. The basis for the book is learning to “live loved” and to walk in the liberty of your relationship with the Lord Jesus.
CS Lewis - Screwtape Letters. I must admit to being in two minds about this book. I think either you are a Lewis fan, or you are not. While these "letters" are interesting, I do wonder if there is any value in reading a book like this over spending time rather pushing into the Bible...! Still undecided!
A gift for you
When I was in Grade 9 my parents took our family to the UK for 2 weeks. It was a wonderful time and gave me a glimpse at one rich culture that makes up our world. I was never able to travel again until Sept 2007 when my husband and I took a 7 day tip to London.
This year, even with the downward turn of global economy and living on one income as many homeschoolers do, we have been able to save towards a three week trip to Canada in 2010. We are taking our children to Whistler Mountain Biking Park amongst other places.
Perhaps your goal or dream is not to travel like mine is. Perhaps it’s to improve your living standards, buy a home or pay off a bond on your property. Perhaps you have to work outside your home part time so that you can still homeschool your children, or possibly you just don’t get by on one salary.
The reason we can achieve our 2010 dream is due to the earnings that my website generates. And while it generates an income, thousands of homeschooling moms are helped with my experience and articles.
I used a program called Site Build It to create this website (and my toddler one) and though I did this without any internet or technical capabilities my site now ranks in the top 1% of all websites!
SBI has a special on at the moment where you can buy-one-get-one-free until the 25th of December. What this means to you is that for $299 you get a chance to start 2 online businesses which will help you realize your financial goals.
You may say: “I don’t know what I would write about?” or “I have no product to sell!” Everybody knows something or is passionate about something...and this valuable knowledge you can be paid!
Perhaps you don’t want 2 sites...well then it gets even better!
You can:
Last year I started my toddler site on this same special and gave my daughter the free site. She has now started her website which will earn her a decent income by the end of 2009 which will go towards her dream of owning her own horse.
Please feel free to contact me if you would like to know more about how Sitesell can make a difference to your family’s income.
And finally, may I take this opportunity to wish all my readers blessings for their Christmas season, however you choose to spend it. May the love of God reach your hearts and draw you into relationship with Him.
Take care until next time,
God’s richest blessings to you as you homeschool,
Wendy
PS Please pay it forward by sending this E-zine on to other homeschooling moms who will benefit from my thoughts. If you received this from a friend, sign up here
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