hiswayhomemaking.com

Too Good Not to Share!

American Vision is having a 50%-90% off sale on a bunch of books, two of which we have used and really recommend:

Looking for a good book on the American War Between the States?  We were, too, until we found this book:

It’s 50% off!

For our Civics course, we use God and Governmentby Gary DeMar.  Very thorough teaching on what the Bible teaches about government and on our government.  Interested in your children having a biblical worldview?  Get these books! 

75% off!

To see all the items on sale, go toamericanvision.com

Happy Savings!

Marcie

Light of Faith Resources

  10th anniversary sale!

up to 70% off selected resources.

http://www.lightoffaith.com/xcart/home.php

Happy saving!

Marcie

     Claudia!

Thank you all for visiting my website/blog and participating in the drawing and for your sweet comments about Katie’s interview. 

The above book can be found  although it is out of print.  There is also an Album of Horses book.  It does seem like dogs lead to horses.

         
                                                  Blessings,

Book Giveaway Drawing!

To celebrate Katie’s Interview  about her Kennel at www.teachinggoodthings.com/blog/blog, we are having a drawing for this wonderful out of print book!  Filled with beautiful artwork, and great stories about dogs, it will become a family favorite. 

     To enter the drawing, please leave a comment in the comment box below.  Drawing will be “drawn out of a hat”.  Deadline is Wednesday, Aug. 5, and drawing will be Thursday, Aug. 6th.  Feel free to share this with friends and family!

                                         Good Luck!
Marcie, Blessed mom of Katie

“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom,  And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.”

Proverbs 9:10

 “Listen to the word of the Lord, O sons of Israel, For the Lord has a case against the inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth, or loyalty or knowledge of God in the land…

“My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.  Because you have rejected knowledge, (of God) I also will reject you from being my priest.  Since you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will foret your children.”

Hosea 4: 1,6

“What benefit will it be to you
if you gain the whole world
but lose your own soul?”
(Mark 8:36) 

   Charles Haddon Spurgeon once said, ”The scripture is our inexhaustible textbook, the Lord Jesus our boundless subject and the Holy Spirit our divine infinite helper“.  

     Without prayer and the help of the Lord, I don’t believe I would have lasted as a home educating mom.  One of the main reasons God led me to homeschool was a desire to have my children taught Godly character.  For those of you who may be beginning to homeschool or struggling with homeschool, may I encourage you that God has a bigger plan for your children, for your family than just learning facts or escaping a bad school?  He has a bigger plan for you!

     His desire is the same desire He has for married couples:  to raise a holy generation!  What an awesome responsibility!  Home Education IS part of that process.

    To that end,  I would like to share with you some of my favorite and most meaningful homeschool resources:

    1.  PRAYER – Don’t proceed without it! God knows your child and knows the plans He has for your child.  Seek Him for the curriculum that will best suit your child’s learning style.  Seek Him for the plans He has for your child and follow.  When someone asks me about curriculum, I always send them to the Lord.  I have seen the Lord work through a curriculum that He led me to. 

2.    Wisdom’s Way of Learning by Marilyn Howshall – Marilyn shares her homeschooling journey and what the Lord thought her through it.  The Lord used these books to lead me into ENJOYING homeschooling and really learning to follow Him.  Especially meaningful to me were As God Parents You, Parent Your Children and  Secrets of Solitude. The message of her books WILL change your life, your relationship with your children and your relationship with the Lord. 

 3.  Beyond Survival by Diana Waring – This book       helped me to understand more about the different learning styles and how they complement     each other. 

  4. A Record of Lifestyle Learning  by the Notgrass Family – This is a record book for recording learning and activities.  I totally love this record book because worship, chores, and service are recorded as well.  Student or parent recorded, it will give a beautiful tapestry of learning

 May I encourage you to relax, be taught of the Lord and then teach it to your children.  The Lord will supply the rest.  The world’s knowledge will be burned up in the end. 

The Thinker

     As a homeschooling mom, getting ready for a new school year looks different than what I thought it would when I began this journey 15 years ago.  For the next few days, I’ll post about some things I have found helpful to surviving  homeschooling.  Thursday, July 30th,I’ll be posting about my daughter’s journey in delight directed learning and link to an interview she did.  I think you will enjoy it!

     One of the first things we do in beginning a new school year is to get into the habit of a schedule.  It usually looks different from year to year,  even from season to season depending on subjects taught and outside activities.  Teaching children to manage their own time and responsibilites is as important as anything they can learn from a book, maybe more.

     An organized home does help organize the mind.  To this end, if things begin to get too disorganized,  a course in organization 101 is taken up.  No matter how organized things start out, we always end up after a few weeks needing that course!  

     One of the ways we organize is to have set chores for each day of the week.  This helps with two things:  it breaks down the housework into managable amounts on busy school days, and it eliminates having to ask over and over for that days chores to be done.  This cuts down on that unpleasant nag factor.

This is what our weekly chore schedule looks like:

Monday:      Clean the family room downstairs and bathroom, sweeping,   mopping and dusting.

Tuesday:     Clean your own bedroom,

Wednesday:   Wash sheets, clean kennel, yard chores

Thursday:   Clean upstairs bathrooms and kitchen, sweeping and mopping.

Friday:   Clean living room and sun room.  Prepare for Shabbat.

Saturday:   Work on unfinished chores, yard/gardening

   Laundry and ironing are done as needed, hanging most clothes on the line.  Each person usually straightens their room first thing each morning.  Cooking and cleaning the kitchen are shared chores.  Homeschooling can be overwhelming, but keeping things in order and a good outing every so often, can really make a big difference!

    Here are a few organization ideas:

1.  When folding sheet sets, place the sheets and pillowcase inside one pillowcase.  This will keep them together in your closet and save time searching for sets.

2.  Use square or rectangular storage containers in the refrigerator for leftovers.  These save space in the cabinet when not in use and in the refigerator. 

3.  Once a year, go through your attic/storage space and eliminate things you no longer need.  More things require more care.  Simplify, simplify, simplify (and survive!)

I hope you have a blessed new school year.  May the Lord grow us and our children into His likenss.  Isn’t that what it is all about?  And take courage, for  it is not all up to us …

“all thy children shall be taught of the LORD; and great shall be the peace of thy children.” Isaiah 54:13

Marcie

My friend, Kathy, over at Teachinggoodthings.com, had a great link to a Quiz on the Constitution, so google on over to

TEST YOUR CONSTITUTION IQ

and have a little fun.  This site has lots of information. 

     Last week, my family watched a seminar from Ken Hamm of Answers in Genesis about the State of the Nation.   My daughter and I heard Ken Hamm speak at a Homeschool Convention in Mississippi a few years ago.  He is a very funny man!  We laughed so hard we hurt! Well, this seminar was not funny, but it is full of truth.  It is kind of lenghty, so set aside some time, gather your family around, watch and be reminded of our foundations.  

 http://www.answersingenesis.org/media/video/ondemand/state-of-the-nation/state-of-the-nation

As a famous lady said to me, ( a re-enactress of Stonewall Jackson’s wife) “Never give quarter to the enemy”. 

Lord, may we be found faithful.

Marcie

 Posts from Constitutions of original 13 colonies, completed:

Georgia Constitution of 1777:                  

states “Every officer of the state shall be liable to be called to account by the House of Assemble,” and that every member of that House “shall be of the Protestant religion.”

South Carolina Constitution of 1778:      

Directed its Legislature to “choose by ballot from among themselves, or from among the people at large, a governor and commander-in-chief, a lieutenant-governor, and privy council, all of the Protestant religion.”  Also that no man was eligible to a seat in the Legislature “unless he be of the Protestant religion”.

Massachusetts Contitution of 1780:          

“That the happiness of a people, and the good order and preservation of civil government, essentially depend upon piety, religion, and morality; and as these can not be generally diffused through a community but by the institution of the public worship of God and of public instruction in religion, and morality:  therfore, to promote their happiness, and to secure the good order and preservation of their government, the people of this commonwealth have a right to invest their Legislature with power to authorize and require, and the Legislature shall from time to time authorize and require the several towns, parishes, precincts, and other bodies politic, or religious societies, to make suitable provision, at their own expense, for the institution of the public worship of God, and for the support and maintenance of public Protestant teachers of piety, religion, and morality, in all cases where such provision shall not be made voluntarily: and the people of this commonwealth have also a right to, and do, invest their Legislature with authority to enjoin upon all the subjects an attentance upon the instructions of the public teachers aforesaid, at stated times and seasons, if there be any one whose instructions they can conscientiously attend;” and goes on to add that every person “chosen governor, lieutenant-governor, senator, or representative, and accepting the trust’” shall solemnly affirm that he “believes the Christian religion, and has a firm persuasion of its truth.”

                                     These were our Founding Fathers. 

Tomorrow, I’ll post a fun link to a constitutional quiz and more thoughts about our country.

Marcie           

Many of these constitutions speak of the Protestant religions.  These documents are not intended today to be anti-Catholic.   Just to put this into historical perspective, Protestants had been  under terrible persecution for centuries.    That is why the Puritans and Pilgrims came here.  Our Founding Fathers knew this and knew they were not just signing a document saying they wanted to govern themselves.  They were signing a document that amounted to their own death warrant.  Please read A Tale of Two Cities and Foxes Book of Martyrs for a real look at the kinds of torture commonly used during this time period.

A little personal note:  In my mother’s family history, one of our forefather’s in Ga. was going to arrest someone for practicing the baptist religion.  ( This was when Georgia was still under the King).  The arrest never happened, but the adoption of my forefather by the King of Kings did!

To continue the Constitutions:

Delaware:           

Required all persons elected or appointed to the Legislature to make this declaration: “I do profess faith in God the Father, and in Jesus Christ his Son, and the Holy Ghost , one God, blessed forevermore; and I do acknowledge the Holy Scriputres of the Old and New Testaments to be given by divine inspiration.”

North Carolina:            

Provision declared “No person who should deny the being of God, or the truth of the Protestant religion, or the divine authority of either the Old or New Testament, or who should hold religious principles incompatible with the freedom and safety of the state, should be capable of holding any office or place of trust in the civil government of the state.”

Tomorrow, I’ll  post parts from the  final contitutions of the original 13 colonies.

       Today we celebrate the anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, but what exactly were our forefathers making a declaration against and what were the making a declaration in support of?  Was it merely about taxation as our government books teach?

     As a homeschooling mom, I have had the great privilege of teaching from my choice of books, many being biographical.  Frankly, I was left feeling cheated, and deceived by my government history texts.  Ours is a rich history.  When the Puritans and Pilgrims came here to establish “A city on a hill”, it was for the Lord.  When our Founding Fathers signed the Declaration of Independence,  they understood that the form of government they were establishing could ONLY be preserved by a people whose God is the Lord, thus the Committee on Intercolonial Correspondence stated “No king but King Jesus”.

     These are our foundations.  For decades, schools have been teaching that one form of government is not necessarily any better than another; it is just an alternative.  In the days of King Josiah, the laws of Israel were found.  The people did not even know they were missing.   Today, our constitutions have been lost, and our people do not know it.  We must rediscover our foundations.  We were a set apart nation.  That is why we were blessed by God, the God of the Bible. 

     Over the next few days I will be posting excerpts from the Constitutions of the original 13 colonies.  These were taken from a book entitled Christianity and the American Commonwealth by Charles B. Galloway.  This material was originally delivered in Chaple at Emory College, March 1898.

New Jersey Consitution of 1776:       

” All persons professing a belief in the faith of any Protestant sect, and who shall demean themselves peaceably under the government, should be capable of being members of either branch of the Legislature, and should fully and freely enjoy every privilege and immunity enjoyed by other, their fellow citizens”  Also guaranteed to citizens the “inestimable privilege of worshiping Almighty God in a manner agreeable to the dictates of his conscience”.  (It was understood who Almighty God was).

New Hamphire Constitution:    

Affirmed “that morality and piety, rightly grounded on the evangelical principles, would give the best and greatest security to government,” and “that the knowledge of these was most likely to be propagated by the institution of the public worship of the Deity, and the public instruction in morality and religion.  The towns were authorized to make provision for the maintenance of “public Protestant teaches of piety, religion, and morality.”