Encouragement

 

We are very Blessed here in the Hunter Valley, NSW to have an evening set aside, once a month, when us Mums get together and encourage each other in the calling of homeschooling.


We gather in a home central to most of us. We share a welcoming drink and yummy food and we chatter. Getting to know each other better.


We make our way to the loungeroom and we settle. We ask God to be with us, thanking him for his greatness and providence and we begin our evening session.


We share our ups and our downs.


We laugh and we remember and we listen lovingly to each other, as we share our stories. All our stories are so different. Why we began homeschooling, where we are now in our journey, where to from here and the list went on.


We were asked to think how God talks to us in our journey. How much do we listen to his guidance and do we trust in his journey for us.


This lead to lots of great discussion.


At the same time our teen girls are being guided in a little share group of their own. All 8 sit at the dining room table and one of the older girls was asked to take a leadership role in their group. I am so proud of these girls; they are taking the steps in sharing and listening to each other, with love and respect. Brid is enjoying having this special contact with her friends and is relishing in all the sharing.


Brid took along her All things Girls books- essentially Catholic, but there is a lot of good solid wholesomeness to share and talk about. It certainly could be a spring board for them.


The night ends too quickly, and we find ourselves in the car driving away with our spirits lifted. We have wonderful talks on the way home. Lots of deep sharing from the heart. Brid just chatters away. At one point she said, if I was at school, I don’t think I would be having this conversation with you Mum. Very true I would think.


This leads me to tonight’s discussions. We love our girlie nights, and we take the opportunity to light a candle, pray, and read a mum daughter book. We are cherishing our Beautiful Girlhood nights and they themselves generate lively discussions. Tonight we chatted about sincerity and ideals. It was a beautiful way to share some time together.


.

A Cross to bear

I was going over old posts reminiscing, when I came across this one. It certainly still touches my heart. I really have to believe God send us 2 heavy crosses.
We constantly lean on him to get us through the bad days and thank him for our family & friends  on the good and bad days.

"If you pray and pray and your Cross is still there that Cross is what God sends you to help get you to heaven. "



It definitely was not what I was expecting to here from a play, but it was exactly what I needed to hear right at that moment.


So Thank you Lord for sending me those words

... funny thing happened .........

Well today was the day set down for my Board of Studies interview. I had been preparing and making sure everything was in order. I was quietly confident.
I had a friend, a couple of months ago, help me rename the study areas into BOS language- ie LOTE- foreign language, PHDPE- areas of personal health and physical exercise. That certainly helped me feel better about interview.
So the day came.
I had all our resources we were studying or going to study on the kitchen bench. Its a long bench- plenty of space to display.
I had printed off this years plan and next years as well.
All our library and living books were displayed for easy perusal.
Dermot went to work very early, so he would be at home for the scheduled meeting time.
We prayed today for the meeting to go smoothly and left it in Gods hands.
So Dermot arrived home with 20 minutes to spare. "thank you Lord".
our "appointed person" was on time and Dermot answered the door, followed hot in his heals by Brid and myself.
We welcomed her into our home and into our school area. Brid was asked were she does most of her schooling, and then over to the resources.
Brid quickly took over the interview and thoroughly enjoyed showing our appointed Person all her work, and how we would be doing our work this year. She explained Saxon Maths, She showed her examples of IEW and her magazines she worked on last year.
Every question directed to me Brid answered. I just stood back and watched her do her thing in the end. 

The appointed person(AP), enjoyed interacting with Brid and told her, that she was a confident young lady, at which Brid quietly thanked her. 

Brid was so enthusiastic and was so willing to participate in this interview, it was amazing to observe. 

So my dear Brid took over the interview and it was the funniest thing to have happen. I suppose, it was inevitable that this may occur. She is certainly a happy little homeschooler. 

St Patricks Day 2011 Flashmob. Central Station, Sydney, Australia.

Our Lenten Journey

We are one week into our Lenten Journey and apart from using symbols and words like REPENT, SACRIFICE, LENT in strategic areas of the house, and on our Family Alter, we have made a salt dough crown of thorns and a Jesus Tree and Brid has added to her Stations Of the Cross. I must post some photos.
These help us on our journey, and surprisingly enough talking points to visitors in our home.
My Dad loves to see what is new in our liturgical year, he is always asking questions.

Dermot & I are as usual running a Lenten group.

We wanted to do something as a family, so I kept my eye out. We chose these to books. Amon's Adventure is really easy read, but thought provoking.

A family journey with Jesus Through Lent is a really nice daily read and as it doesn't strictly follow the Lenten readings, it can be used year after year for this reason.

So now we have our Lenten readers and all our reminders, we can journey with Jesus

Our passport to history

We have travelled through time over the years concentrating on the Ancients and using several formats to achieve this.
We have taken a fairly relaxed approach this year.
Mater amabilis started our Journey with both Egpyt and Greece.
Scroll down to find resources to History.
History Links was our choice for Rome as well as Famous men of Rome.
So we used a little of everything as well.
We have always incorporated Living books and picture books and craft activities into the equation as well.
This year we began Medieval History. I have researched various websites and books and I decided on a variety again.
So this time we will use Seton Our Catholic Legacy and Famous men of the middle ages together. bouncing of each other. Several living books here and here.
We are Blessed to know several families who have lent us resources.
We have raided the library, and we have begun our new journey into the Middle Ages.

We are looking at Art Music, food, Culture, Housing, People, and of course the Saints. 

We like to do a lot of our reading on the lounge with the maps and google earth close by, so we can zoom in on areas we are studying. We tend to walk along the streets and take in scenery,  if our passport, google maps, allows us to.  


Its beginning to unfold quite nicely.

WE stopped off our journey. late last year  for a while to visit Early American Indians as above shows.

Being Thankful

I was in the middle of writing a blog post when I stumbled across a post by a fellow blogger about a similar topic. The otherside of the world and we think of the same post idea. Godincident, I call it.
We have been talking a lot about thanks. Being thankful for all things given to us.
So each day I ask, what are you thankful for today.
Its an easy conversation to have. We have learnt to be thankful in the midst of family turmoil. We have learnt to Trust him in everything.

So what am I thankful for today.     
I am thankful for the

....the rain that fell and watered my yard today
....for his provision with our home business
....For improper fraction / for 'invert and multiply' and the smile on Brid's face as she explains it to Daddy
...for colouring and  creating our JESUS tree.
....for fun creating our Lenten symbols and projects.
and my family..my husband...our children and the stretching of some wings...even if it not how we want it....

But mostly this week I am thankful for the new sense of contentment God has taught me. 

Friends

I have a dear friend who has been a wonderful Blessing in my life.
Dermot & I read a daily devotional together, and this passage from Sirach reminded me of my dear friend.

Faithful friends are a sturdy shelter:                                         
whoever finds one has found a treasure.
Faithful friends are beyond price;
no amount can balance their worth.
Faithful friends are life-saving medicine;
and those who fear the Lord will find them.
Sirach 6: 14-16.

She has been a treasure, and I knew I just needed to sent this to her. She was touched by the words, as I was.
She felt compelled to share it at a small gathering of women. They were in turn touched by these words. I am so pleased I shared these words with her, right there and then.

God Blesses me every day. I need to see his treasures and recognise the flowers and the birds.