20 Best Tips

Your Kids are Normal {and Mine Are Too}

Just to keep it a little ‘light’ around here and so you all don’t think that our days all fly by in perfect order with all the correct answers and such, I grabbed a quick video clip of Kaleb in ‘whiney’ mode. The day before this he went flying through all of his workboxes and finished his work in 20 minutes.

This day…not so much.

Not because he couldn’t do it, but because he got in a funk. He saw a workbook on the shelf that he wanted to do, but one that generates MAJOR whining on his part, so it’s a ‘no go’ {says Mommy}. Sometimes I try to get him to move onto a different box or do something else {something FUN}, but he is a boy of ORDER and gets stuck, stuck, stuck.

Email subscribers click here to watch the video clip.

But, I post this to let you know that life isn’t all happiness and sunshine…we are actually rather normal. Sometimes over-achievers in the normal department {grins}. Do you hear another sibling even chiming in with the whining at the end?

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    Practicing Patience with Our Children…and Ourselves

    “Jesus had to be patient with fully grown but spiritually immature men who seemed slow to respond to his training, so we must practice patience with our children ~ and ourselves. The very nature of training is that it usually involves immature individuals, which means it takes a long time to accomplish its goals!”

    ~ Sally Clarkson, Ministry of Motherhood, p. 146

    Ahhh…I have to say that this was a rather ‘duh’ moment for me, but encouraging all at the same time. How many times in a day do I want to bang my head on the table and ask “SERIOUSLY??? Haven’t we been over this before?”  I’m willing to bet that phrase has dropped out of my mouth many, many times.

    Read more here….

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    A Quick Note About Curriculum

    I recently posted our curriculum choices for the upcoming school year and wanted to share a few additional thoughts…just in case.

    Over the past six years {yikes! has it been that long} we’ve tried, dabbled, used and looked at MANY different curriculum pieces. For our family it’s been a process of trying something, seeing if it fits in with our family’s needs, seeing if it fits in with my teaching style, our kid’s learning styles, etc…etc…etc…

    My main point is this ~ what works for one family might not be the best for YOUR family.

    And that’s OK!!!!

    If you’ve put together your curriculum for the upcoming year and see the list of another mom, do not scrap everything and think you are going about it all wrong. Ultimately it boils down to this ~ you know your children. You alone understand the needs of your family. No one else is in your shoes, so do not heap guilt on yourself for not doing things the way someone else is.

    Relax in the freedom that you have to make the choices that work for your family and have FUN learning together!

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    Staying Attached to the Vine

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    “My children must attach themselves to the Vine, not me … I can and must model for them what life as a ‘branch’ looks like and show them ways to stay ‘attached’ … but I cannot be their ‘vine’.”

    ~ Sally Clarkson, Ministry of Motherhood, p. 131-132

    I’ll be honest and say that during my reading this week I just sat thinking “I really wish that some of these thoughts would flow from my brain to my mouth for my children when we are in this situation.”  In reality, my mind goes blank, I often feel that I have nothing of value to share and I’m just grasping for a ‘reason’ when talking to our children about an important issue.

    It’s in these moments that I realize how much and how often I really need to depend on the Holy Spirit for guidance and be attached as a branch to the Vine, because that is where TRUE wisdom is found.

    read more here…

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    Marveling at God’s Wonders

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    “A child who does not have the opportunity to marvel at the bigness of God, the wonders of His creation, and the reality of His supernatural work will tend to measure the questions about ‘who God is’ according to his or her finite, limited perspective.”

    ~ Sally Clarkson, Ministry of Motherhood, p. 85

     

    I’ll be honest and tell you that I’m not the greatest in calling the kids over to say “Look!” and take the time to marvel at all that’s around us. The reality of it looks a little more like this…

    Read more here….

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    The Gift of Inspiration

    “Each of our children has been given a specific personality and a particular set of circumstances that will give shape to God’s purpose for his or her life.”

    ~ Sally Clarkson, Ministry of Motherhood, p. 66

    The problem for me frequently lies in the fact that I get so caught up in the little stuff, the day-to-day things of raising kids and running a household that I fail to see the ‘bigger purpose’ in my role as a mother. Yes, there are always going to be things that have to be done in our house and in educating our children, but it is so easy to get distracted!!

    Read more here….

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