God Sees

   

  When I was about 7 years old, I got a beautiful pair of white boots. I really liked those boots. I wore them everywhere. One day I even wore them outside to play. I liked to ride my bike. I would ride my bike all over the yard. This day was no different. 

    My mom had been inside doing housework all morning. I had been outside playing all morning. She had gotten to a stopping point and came outside. She had not gotten far from the front porch when she froze. She saw there on the ground a rattle snake. It was about 10 inches long. It was laying in the well-worn path that I had make with my bike. She also saw my boot print on its head. 

    My mom called me over and asked me about the snake. I asked, "What snake?" She then showed me the snake with my boot print on it. It is amazing that I had apparently killed the snake before the snake had a chance to strike without me ever seeing the snake. 

Thankfully God is always watching. He looks after his children even when we are unaware. I was too busy having fun to notice the danger, but God is faithfully watching at all times. 

God Will Provide

 

When I was growing up, we never had much money. My parent’s divorce was finalized on my 4^th birthday in September. Then in Oct of the same year, my dad was involved in an 18-wheeler accident. A car had drove under the flatbed trailer. His neck was broken. He was out of work with no where to go. My mom let him come back and sleep on the couch. In December, my mom fell and broke her back. She was in the hospital through April of the next year. Now neither had a job.

The house note was only $200 a month, but it might as well have been a million. Neither one of my parents could work. My dad tried to work hauling pup wood, but with having to take care of me with no help, it was hard. We didn’t have any family to come help. We could not afford childcare.

Somehow even during this time, we paid the house note, had lights, and ate.

At the end of April, my mom was able to come home from the hospital. However, they had waited too long to do the surgery. Her sciatic nerve in her left leg was dead. The doctors said that she would never walk again, but she was determined to prove them wrong. An older gentleman in our town was kind enough to give her two walking sticks that he had made from wood. She practiced everyday dragging her leg. Over the years she did improve.

Because my dad was now well and my mom was out of the hospital, my dad went back to work as a long-haul truck driver. He now paid child support of $175.

So, we had a $175 and a few food stamps coming in every month. Unfortunately, the house note was still $200. My mom was not able to work. So, she prayed. It took another year the approval for her disability SSI to come. During this year, we paid the house note, had food, paid the light bill, and even had a phone.

My mom would pray. After she prayed, money would appear near the car that was in the driveway. We lived out in the country on seven acres of land. We do not know how the money got there, but it was always enough.

I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread. Psalm 37:25

Angels Drive Log Trucks (sometimes)

Don’t ever drive faster than you angel can fly or drive.

It was around September of 2008. My dad was in the hospital with heart problems. He was needing a stint put it. Many years earlier, my parents had divorced. My dad had horses at his place that had not been feed. As I was getting ready to leave, my dad mentions the horses to me. I agree to see about them. Since it was closer to go the back roads, I start off through the back roads. I am driving a little bit too fast when something tells me I need to slow down. I slow a little bit but not enough.

Soon after, I hit a pothole and flip the car. As the car is flipping, I cry out, “Please, God, let the car land upright.” The car flips, according to the marks on the ground, about three times. Thankfully, it landed right-side up. However, it did take out a large portion of a cast iron fence.

I am scared to say the least about the most. I know that very few cars come this way. I cannot find my purse or my phone. I look up and see a wonderful sight. I see a log truck coming to a stop. A Black man gets out of the rig. He comes to me. I am so relieved. He tells me to sit still, and everything will be all right. He explains that help is on the way. He gets the car door open and finds my purse and phone. He then tells me that a man is coming down the hill. Next, he goes back to the log truck and drives away.

A few minutes later, the owner of the land arrives. He asks me if I am all right. He tells me that he saw the whole wreck and that he has already called for an ambulance. I tell him about the log truck driver who opened the car door for me. He then explained that there was no one was there. There was not log truck or man according to this man, but I saw him clearly. No one knows how my car door got opened. It had to be wired shut for hauling.

Thankfully, I only had a fractured collar bone because of the seat belt.

Homeschooling record keeping

  

We are all busy. Homeschooling parents are not exception to this rule. I have created a way to keep up with lesson plans, grades, and attendance on in one. All you have to do is download this free doc. Save 4 copies for each subject. I for each of the four 9 weeks. Then type your lesson plan into the place under the heading assignment. As your child completes each assignment put the date. That is your attendance. If the assignment is for a grade put the grade. At the end of the 9 weeks average the grades. 

So here is the link to the free Homeschool Lesson plan and record keeping.

While you are there feel free to check out some of my other resources. 

Homeschooling Resources

  Homeschooling Resources

1. Easy Peasy All-in-one Homeschool: Easy Peasy All-in-One Homeschool – A complete, free online Christian homeschool curriculum for your family and mine (allinonehomeschool.com)

This is a great place for beginner homeschoolers. It has everything that you need to begin with. I still use this site, and I have been homeschooling for about 12 years now. I like that you don't have to buy anything- just paper and ink. If you live near a library, you sometimes can print there for free. 

2. Free Homeschool Curriculum - Freedom Homeschooling

Links to all sorts of homeschooling resources. 

3. Library

Don't forget to check-out your local library. They have tons of books. Check there before you buy any book.  Also, many libraries have great resources on the websites. 

4. Free eBooks | Project Gutenberg

If the book is a bit old, check here. It is free to use. and you don't have to create yet another account. 

5. Under the Home Online Homeschool Curriculum - Home

Great for K-5th. Has a wonderful poetry section and it has great ideas on hands-on teaching of Shakespear. 

6. Thift stores

You can find lots of books and sometimes unused homeschool curriculum at discount prices. 

A Life Saved by Prayer

   

  Many years ago, my dad was coming down the side of a mountain in an 18-wheeler. He as a long-haul truck driver. It was late at night. He often drove at night to avoid getting stuck in traffic. You did not get paid for sitting still in traffic. 

    My mom was at home with me. We were both sleeping. She was awakened from her sleep. She felt that something was terribly wrong, but she could not have imagined what was wrong.  So, she started fervently praying for my dad. 

    My dad knew exactly what was wrong. The load had shifted and the straps securing the load had broken. The trailer was in danger of pulling the truck off the side of the mountain. 

    From the moment that my mom started praying, an angel appeared that looked similar to me with long blond hair. My dad said that he could see her in the side mirrors. When the trailer tilted one way, she would hold it up. When it started to tilt the other way, she went to the other side and held that side up. All the way down the mountain she flew from one side to the other keeping the trailer up. 

    When my dad reached a place to get off of the road, he stopped and called home. His 1st two questions were, "Were you praying and where is Janie" My mom answered, "Yes! I was praying" and "Janie is asleep in bed." The replied, "Thank you" and then explained what had happened. 

    Prayer works. Prayer at the right time can save lives. If you ever feel a strong urge to pray for someone, please pray. You may just save that person's life. 

Remember what James 5:16 says. Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.

Helping your child Learn

 

We all want our children to be the best that they can be. We want them to learn and grow. However, sometimes things don't go quite as planned. Today I want to talk about two things that could be the problem. These two things go hand in hand. It is eye hand coordination and small muscle strength in the hands. Both the eye and the hands have muscles. As we all know muscle need to be exercised to be strong and healthy. However, most people forget about the eyes and the hands. 

Even if your child is not having problems, it would be a good idea to check for problems and even do some of the activities to help prevent problems. Symptoms of these problems include but are not limited to: 

• poor reading skills
• poor writing skills
• avoidance of schoolwork
• not being about to catch a ball
• not being about to kick a ball
• not being about to hit a ball with a bat
• running into things
• not putting things completely on a surface (such as a cup half on and half off of a table)
• frequently knocking over things
• rapid eye blinking when trying to focus on any reading material 

I good test to see if your child could develop these issues or if these issues could be from eye hand coordination problems is to simply try to get your child to follow a point without moving his or her head.  Please don't assume that your child's eye is good because they can pass and eye exam. My son has 20/20 vision, and he still had poor eye hand coordination. Most eye doctors are not trained to catch or correct this type of vision issue. 

1. Get something like a cute pencil eraser and have your child look at it. Hold it Infront of your child's face. Can your child focus on it with his or her eyes for 5 to 10 seconds without losing focus? If your child's eyes wonder around, there is a change of an issue. 
2. Now slowly move the object up, down, left and right. Did your child's eyes follow? If not, there is a chance of an issue. 

Another common problem is poor hand strength. This will cause your child to not be able to write. Now this problem can be with or without eye problems. Symptoms can include but or not limited to the following:

• poor writing skills
• poor pencil grip
• refusal to play with play dough or Legos for any length of time
• dislike of coloring 
• dislike of drawing
• dislike of most activities that involve sitting still (think about those activities involve the hands)

These issues can be helped and even fixed with time, patience, and hard work. Here are some activities for these issues. 

• Play with play dough 
• Picking up small things with tweezers
• Coloring
• Drawing
• painting
• Buttoning and unbuttoning 
• String or thread anything onto a shoestring
• Lacing cards
• Building with Legos
• Putting puzzles together
• Practice letter writing
• Mazes (make sure your child staying in the middle of the maze lines)
• Tracing (draw straight and zigzag lines for your child to trace)
• Cutting (draw lines straight and zigzag onto a piece of paper then have the child cut on the line)
• play catch with different size balls

Make these activities as fun as possible. Congratulate verbally on even small improvements to help with their motivation. Remember that when you start using a muscle that is weak, it normally hurts a little. Children as well as adults have a tendency to avoid things that cause pain. With that being said, don't push your child so hard that he or she over does it. You want this to be fun, not a punishment.

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