Giveaway

I'm giving this away at my myspace blog.

-Michelle
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Not a Failure in His Sight

I struggle with failure in my home school.
I'm not sure what triggers it, besides satan's attacks, but it's not fun. I had a bout of it this week. I just began to look around at my house, our home school area, the boys papers and tests and I thought it again.
"I've failed my children"
"By home schooling them, I've failed them."
Who am I to be their only influence? Who am I to teach them what I had learned in a classroom? I don't have a math genius or a spelling champ. Half my school like to read the other half- hates it. HATES IT. We're not the best spellers and math terms have been known to make us cry. We lose our reading books and spill dinner on our science book.
And,
we don't do school every day.

Again this week as I was on my clear my head drive, the Lord just spoke to me.
Here's what He said:
These are My children who I have entrusted with you Michelle. With you. Not anyone else, they were chosen for your home, your home school because only you could offer them what they need. I knew that. Trust Me on this.
Math, spelling, science. All good things but none with eternal significance. They read. They spell. They do math. They also love. They give. They pray. They love Me.

So it's His truths I need to focus on, have faith.
Oh me of little faith.
If God called me to home school, and I believe He did, then where's my faith? Is it merging with my reality? If so then these thoughts of failure are nothing, they need to be treated as the lies that they are.

James 1:3
because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.


-Michelle
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A Fresh Sheet of Paper

I once heard or read Beth Moore talk about one of her daughters liking new notebooks for her classes throughout the year because it was a fresh start.

So this week in our home school we had a do over, a new begining, a fresh sheet of paper.

We layed back on school, still did it, just more review and reading.

It feels good to step back, clean out, organize (afterall we've moved our school stations and also moved dad' desk area back into the house)

So, as we begin fresh on Monday I thought I'd share with you what Treehouse Schoolhouse has evolved into, and it's always an evolving school to fit our current lifestyle.

This is Justin and mom's headquarters. It sits on a wall in our dinning room. The inning table is where J does his school. The crate on the bottom is where all of Justin's work goes. We're working on teaching him organizing skills so this all in one system works well.

Above it are his Language Arts and Science books that he's not working on. He does well with a mixture of curriculum. His math is taught by dad using Saxon 7/6, Grammar by mom using Winston Grammar and Greek and Latin roots by mom using English from the Roots up. Root words are great vocab builders.
Next, I have a shelf with Justin's reading books for the year as well as trays for me with folders for completed portfolio work and other supplemental materials.

On top are pens, pencils and ruler, root word cards, stuff we use on a daily basis. I also have this to remind us we are a school


Vaughan's area is at the end of the family computer station located in our breakfast "nook". I use quotation marks because the nook is kind of a pass through area. Anyway here's what it looks like.

At the closest end I have an old mailbox drawer (recycling old products) holding pens, calculator, sun block- Melaleuca go green!, next are Steve's books, laptop, printer and then V's school area and family computer station.

This is a close up.


The boys headphones sit in a basket under the monitor, as well as DIVE CD's for Saxon math and a magazine for V's article review. V moves the keyboard on the windowsill when he needs table space. I use a Martha Stewart hand towel to cover the computer screen.

The window that sits above the family desk has no curtain and it is a south facing window... so that means with winter coming and the sun getting lower in the southern sky, I need to make curtains for this window! Another project for another night!

Well I'm signing off for the weekend. Places to go and well, places to go.
Happy Weekend!
Good night all!


-Michelle
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Why We Said No to Separate Bedrooms

We recently had the conversation with our boys on the having separate bedrooms.
Our third bedroom had always been an office/home school room. In early October we rented it out for the month to a friend of the family who was fresh out of rehab and needing a cheap place to stay that wasn't with his old drug-abusing friends.
When he moved in, we did what we'd been talking about doing for years, and that was to bring the office out into our breakfast "nook". Since our home school has always been done in the dinning room and at the bar in the kitchen, the move was easy.
So what to do with the new room?
The boys asked if they could have their own. Justin would move out and leave V with the ability to keep a clean room with messy brother gone.
We said no. I admit part of me wanted to say yes- after all it would be easier to have them in two separate spaces for quiet time, for cleaning purposes and for when friends come over.
But, we said no.
Here's why.
They're brothers, they're best friends.
At night after we've tucked them in sometimes I go back to ease drop. I can't think of a time that brings me more internal smiles than when I listen in on my boys laughing and giggling as they lay in bed, in the dark.
They share their ups and downs, they talk about their dreams, their friends. They laugh. Did I mention that? I love to hear my boys laugh. The giggle. Not too often do 11 and 13 year old boys giggle, but they do - together.
When we told them no on the separate bedrooms they didn't bat an eye, they didn't complain or argue; this could be because they've asked before and we explained before the brotherhood that they share.
This is your only brother here on earth. Your friends may come and go but in the end you're brothers for life. You may not always like one another but there is nothing you can do, God chose you two to be earthly brothers and that's that.
Enjoy it.
Enjoy the late nights in your room.
The laughs
The scheming and planning.
After all their best layed birthday surprises and homemade cards have come out of late night conversations and "crafting" times.
Often when I'm at my whits ends with school and housework, I'll wake up to 2 sleepy boys who stayed up late to clean their room or do school work ahead of time, or make mom a card; and all because they share a bedroom.
So that's why we have said not o separate bedrooms and yes to the comradely of brotherhood.
-Michelle
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