Record Keeping the Essentials!!

Do you keep a grade book? Does your state require attendance sheets or a portfolio? What are some of the best methods of organization that you have found to keep up with all of the school records for the year? Are you an organizational expert or do you find it to be a hassle? What about online forms--can you recommend some good sites to others? Share with us your greatest successes and your greatest flops in this area!

Okay, so before I say anything on this subject I must point out that I am organizationally challenged... but am slowly getting better! I have been thinking about it lately and how I need to find something that works for me. In Texas we are a private school and not required to report anything to the state however I want the benifits from record keeping and in years to come I may need records from our first years of homeschooling considering we live by the command of God and go where He calls us, which could be anywhere :0).

I will be honest, record keeping and organization alone scare me and quickly overwhelm me. I was not taught how to be organized and so I struggle. So let me tell you what we do right now: when Superman finishes a project he hole punches it and puts it in his subject folder and any art of his he files in his own art folder. I keep my own little records on a little calendar where everything is written down as to what lesson we are to be on each week. Last year I made a Year at a Glance and will eventually get around to doing it again this year but we really just try to enjoy the whole process of living and learning and so not all of that can be "recorded". One way though that I am keeping records is to Weekly Reports which is working out great for me personally.

I am looking forward to reading Record Keeping the Essentials from other teachers!

Vist me at my Homeschool blog: Growing Minds of Wisdom

JOYfully in Him,

The Benifits of Excercises

Sometime soon, I encourage you to take some time to dissapear in some amazing thoughts by Ann Voskamp at Holy Experience, you will be drawn in closer in your personal walk with your holy Father as you experience the joy and love in just knowing Him through her words .

JOYfully in Him,

Welcome!!

Today... is the official first day of Autumn. I felt it's presence last week when we were blessed with cool breezes that past by each morning. We left the doors open and enjoyed each cool passerby. These last days have been warmer, a lingering Summer. Today I say... Fall... Leaves... Fall.

Falling Leaves

Fall, leaves, fall; die, flowers, away;

Lengthen night and shorten day;

Every leaf speaks bliss to me

Fluttering from the autumn tree.

I shall smile when wreaths of snow

Blossom where the rose should grow;

I shall sing when night's decay

Ushers in a drearier day.

Emily Bronte 1818-48

JOYfully in Him,

Our week in pictures

Last Friday we, as a family enjoyed a local highschool football game. The littles of course loved it. It had been 2 years since our last appearance as a family to a football game. I enjoyed the thrills of watching the game and my children.

Here is a little peek into our week along with some quotes that encourage and express the struggles of my heart right now:

Trust in yourself and you are doomed to disappointment;....but trust in GOD, and you are never to be confounded in time or eternity.

Dwight L. Moody

If I cannot hear "The sound of rain' long before the rain falls, and then go out to some hilltop of the Spirit, as near to my God as I can and have faith to wait there with my face between my knees, though six times or sixty times I am told "There is nothing', till at last there arises a little cloud out of the sea, then I know nothing of Calvary love. (Read 1 Kings 18:41-45)

Amy Carmichael

"Stand still" - keep the posture of an upright man, ready for action, expecting further orders, cheerfully and patiently awaiting the directing voice; and it will not be long ere God shall say to you, as distinctly as Moses said it to the people of Israel, "Go forward."

Charles Haddon Spurgeon





Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him, and he will act.
He will bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday.
Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him;

Psalm 37:5-7a

Contenment on Fire

"Wherever you are, be all there. Live to the hilt every situation you believe to be the will of God."

Jim Elliot

JOYfully in Him,

The Boy and His Ramp

Sometimes in life as a mother you encourage your children to seek victory over things, usually things that have some serious significance in their life and sometimes you just sit back and allow them to find it themselves. It is always an amazing blessing afterwards to experience their personal victories and to see their eyes lit with accomplishment.

Superman has always been a very determined young boy in the things that grab his interest, if he puts his mind and heart on something truly on something then it is certain that at some point he will have victory over it, on this day it was his ramp that he has had for almost a year. And right now he is busy at his desk conquering Classically Cursive, he has been there for over an hour and done over 20 pages! As his mother I didn't push the ramp and was pretty nervous as I watched him but I knew he was determined and ready or else he wouldn't have done it. He really amazes me... here is the video of his very first jump:

Ignore the loud overly excited momma behind the camera!

JOYfully in Him,

Back to School!

I am in the middle of my first cup of coffee anxiously awaiting our first day of school at Growing Minds of Wisdom. At the end of the day I will post a reflection of our day at GMW, so come by and see what we did and how we did on our new found daily adventure. :0)

JOYfully in Him,

Stay Awake

Therefore stay awake-for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or when the cock crows, or in the morning- lest he come suddenly and find you asleep. And what I say to you I say to all: Stay awake.

Mark 13:35-37

I read this last night while trying to stay awake. Oh God keep the words of Jesus at the front of my mind and steady in my heart today as I serve Him. That I might stand guard and awake awaiting His return. Father, keep my eyes open and help me: Stay awake.

JOYfully in Him,

A Perfect Duo

JOYfully in Him,