LOVING Our New Creative Writing Program!

Jacob is not really taking a writing course yet, but he didn't want to be left out!

I have a love/hate relationship with creative writing. Personally, it was my very favorite subject when I was in school. I still remember my 6th grade teacher reading us a story and then cutting it off and letting us write the ending. I would gladly spend hours working out details, perfecting my characters, looking up new words. I resented having to stop that paper so I could work on math. So I figured that it would be my favorite subject to teach, right?  

WRONG!

I have found creative writing to be the most difficult of all subjects for me to teach. The reason is that it’s subjective. I found that I was always thinking my children could do better, add more detail, work harder on their plots. Poor kids, I didn’t know what was right for their age and maturity level and so I think my expectations were always too high.
 
Over the years we’ve tried many different programs and some have been better than others. My absolute favorite is Story Starters by Karen Andreola. She writes a story and cuts it off and they finish it. I teach this at co-op and have my kids participate with others their own age. They LOVE it! 

But when it comes to the mechanics I have no love fest going on. That is why I ADORE time4writing. Just so you know it does not benefit me in anyway if you join or don’t join. I just cannot recommend it enough.

For just $12 dollars a week I have a certified teacher who teaches, grades, suggests and works with my child one on one to learn and master concepts. If I hired a private tutor it would be a lot more than that. I love that they can login, do their assignment, check their folder and receive the feedback.

 Colton is doing "Middle School Mechanics"!  

This eight-week course is the first of two courses focusing on “boosting the basics” at the middle school level.  Basic Writing Mechanics A allows students to strengthen their foundation writing skills. The course teaches the fundamentals of writing such as: sentences vs. fragments, subjects and predicates, subject-verb agreement, and capitalization.

Sethy is taking the "Elementary School Grammar Rocks" 8-week course!

This course has been created for the youngest eager writers, starting at 2nd grade. During the eight week pre-sentence course, students will be introduced to parts of speech and how to recognize and use them in a sentence. Students will understand how to recognize and form a complete sentence with a subject and predicate. Students will also learn to recognize basic capitalization rules and proofreading strategies.

If you need to add creative writing this program I cannot recommend Time4Writing highly enough!

Overcoming My Flesh!

"I keep asking God, the glorious Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, to give you spiritual wisdom and insight so that you might grow in your knowledge of God.  I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can understand the confident hope he has given to those he called—his holy people who are his rich and glorious inheritance. I also pray that you will understand the incredible greatness of God’s power for us who believe him."-- Ephesians 1:17-19

Lord Jesus, I ask that you would flood my heart today with:

• Spiritual Wisdom
• Knowledge of You
• Confident Hope
• Understanding

Nature Study In The City!

We are so very blessed to have a great nature park minutes from our house. Now, if you don't live in St.Petersburg you might not understand what a treasure this place is. We live in the middle of a very metropolitan city. So, between all the red lights, horns, city lights, and busy streets there is this little slice of paradise.

Local Made To Crave Girls!

Meet our "Made To Crave" local girls! 

Strong Women Surrendered Hearts has two different programs going:

Local girls 

 Our local group meets to watch the DVD

Online book club

Our online group meets over on our private SWSH Forums and shares how the Lord spoke to them as they are reading the book. It's great for our busy or out of town gals.

Getting Excited About Our New LIFE Adventure!

Seems like yesterday

Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you.  For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world. -- 1 John 2:15-16

Are there area’s in your life that are important to you but you just don’t have time to work on them because of your busy schedule? (I know that has been true of me this past year)  What I am learning is that saying "no" to something outside my home allows me to say "yes" to something even better!

I thought I would share where I've been stumbling around and how faithful God is to pick me up, dust me off and put me back on the path of righteousness.

Homeschool - Our homeschool has met all the legal requirements, but it has not met my personal goals. I homeschool because I want to spend time with my children. I want to talk about the world around them and how it lines up with God’s word. I want to be there to marvel in their “aha” moments. In the midst of busyness, I have found myself pushing them to work independently. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE our paces and online learning but found it should be a tool and not the main meal.

Marriage- Though my husband loves me and cheers me on, I’ve been dropping my end of the deal. What used to be an occasional take-over-for-mom night, has turned into a consistent theme. When he is home rather than snuggling I have found myself working on articles, checking facebook, reading my SWSH forums. (guilty smile) I want to romance him with yummy dinners, clean counters, my full attention and I cannot do that when I am busy about my agenda.

Health- The truth is I am having health issues. I am currently in the process of receiving my official diagnosis for fibromyalgia. I am not fearful or scared, as I know the ONE who holds my future in HIS hands, but I am convicted. I’ve been too busy to focus on this theme of health even though I felt the Lord calling me to do it. I would justify my lack of self control and healthy habits by focusing on taking care of those around me. Though that sounds selfless it is actually selfish. It’s easier to serve (control) others than to take care of myself. (Work on my own behaviors)

So what does this mean?

I am walking in the power of NO! It’s hard because it is self satisfying to help others. I had my first big test just last Saturday when I was asked to do something new at our church. Saying no was hard but once I did, it felt GOOD!

I have turned in my notice as the chairwoman for our homeschool support group. (read yesterday's post)  It has been such a pleasure to serve in this area for the past five years but the time has come for me to focus on my own homeschool, parenting and marriage. I am thankful for my board of directors who have cheered me on to walk Holy.

I am re-igniting my personal blogging.  It' been fun getting to write for other venue's but I now need to spend time focusing on Jesus IN me and not ME in the world.

I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.

Re-Evaluating What's Most Important!

Mary, Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you.For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world. And this world is fading away, along with everything that people crave. But anyone who does what pleases God will live forever." 1 John 2:15-17

For the past five years it has been my absolute JOY to work with the Pinellas Parent Educators Association.    I simply adore this organization and am forever grateful for the opportunity to serve on HIS board of directors. I wouldn't trade my time for anything in the whole world.  I have humbly grown through my experiences and learned so much along the way.  I will forever treasure this past season.

However, the time has come for me to pull in and fill up on the Lord. I am thrilled to clear my plate to make more room to sit quietly before the throne so I can stay strongly connected to the one who knows me best and loves me MOST!

I am very much looking forward to the new season set before me.  It is filled with romancing my husband, raising my boys, tutoring at Classical Conversations and walking with God's girls in SWSH!

I only get one shot at this life and I want to make it count for HIS GLORY! 

“Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be." Matthew 6:19-21

Weekly Weigh In!

Drum Roll Please...... 3 pounds this week! Eight pounds TOTAL! Thank you, Lord Jesus. Your strength is made perfect in my weakness. You are glorified in this area.