The man behind the curtain of "Growing up Unvaccinated"

I've seen several of my friends post the elusive "crunchy mother didn't vaccinate me-growing up unvaccinated" article put out by Voices for Vaccines. I've read it, and then read it again. There are so many huge question marks I have for this woman it's not even funny. But for the sake of making this post shorter, I just want to help clear the air about something I find most important about the whole thing. I started doing a little research on the "non-profit" "parent-led" organization, and I think it's important for all of you to know that by it's own admission, the organization is run by and relies on a team of 4 doctors, labeled "Scientific Advisory Board"- (the link is at the bottom, feel free to read this yourself) - doctors like Hinman (who runs the Task Force for Global health - a faction of CDC), Paul Offit (if you don't know this piece of work, you should... He is the Chief of the Division of Disease Control -aka CDC and currently sits in a 1.5 million dollar seat funded by pharmaceutical companies- stating ridiculous claims like "an infant could receive 10,000 vaccines in one day and be fine" while having his hand all in vaccine manufacturers pockets) & two other paid-for-by-pharmaceutical-manufacturers-doctors. The website Voices for Vaccines, being run by pharmaceutical ties, is anything BUT non-biased. Every single one of those doctors have everything to lose by saying anything damning against vaccines, and everything to gain by having a parent-led front to rally for their profited interests. Not a single one of them would ever admit any wrong doing or dangers of vaccines, nor would they allow that as the Advisory Board to be posted on that website. 

I for one would have red flags up on this one friends. You can expect that as a "salesman" they will say and do whatever they had to, to get those profits going in the other direction (since they all get paid for it) now that parents around the world are finally listening and doing research and choosing to not buy their products any longer! They are going to come out swinging, these reps who want their money, so be prepared for that and question everything. 

Just doing my civic duty. Research everything. And if it has direct ties to vaccines or those that mandate vaccines, I would be cautious about believing any of it. And think about this: in a world encapsulated in social media, what better way to elicit a response from questioning parents, or parents who have had no clue there was anything to research, than by hitting social media with the front of a parent led organization touting off the benefits of vaccinating? And what would these big league top notch scientists and doctors have to gain by being the advisory board to your everyday run of the mill mom blog? That just doesn't happen. Ever.

http://www.voicesforvaccines.org/about/

Until next time,

Schedule Books, Schedule Sheets, & Planners! Oh My!

     Hey all,

       So I have been asked the proverbial question time and time again by homeschooling moms and non-homeschooling moms alike: "How do you do it?"
    
      While I agree, homeschooling 3 children is no cake-walk and not for the weak, it has it's advantages and benefits. But that is another blog post.

       This particular blog is primarily for other homeschooling moms who are with GCA (or K12) and looking to lower the chaos that surely comes from having multiple children to teach. It is also for those non-homeschooling moms who are just curious how it can be done without losing your mind or patience (not to say that there are never days where you surely feel this way). Also keep in mind, that this is just what works for us right now. It is an ever evolving technique, changing as the needs of our homeschooling experience changes, tweaking as I find errors in the system or that it's just not flowing the way it should. You can take it or leave it, change it or replicate it, it's all in what suits your family and what doesn't.

       If you haven't read the blog where I took you through a walk in our schoolroom, I'd recommend you reading through that so you can get the full idea of what our room looks like and how it functions. Special note: One thing has changed. My husband built me a computer desk for my girls to use during lessons that require a computer. It is not pictured in that particular blog post. One day I aspire for each child to have their own computers at their desks. :)

       Lets begin, shall we?

      First thing's first. I printed & laminated  free tags I found here and here. Cut them and attached Velcro to the backs of each tag. I also created a grid (4x2 block grid sheets) to attach these tags to, attaching these grids to the front of their "Schedule Books". After assembling all materials. it's time to make our system.

      I'm not going to go through all the ins and outs of how K12 works, but for those that aren't homeschooling I will try and be as clear as I can without making this post longer than it already will be.

      Every weekend, I take an hour or two to pull all of my kiddo's materials for the WEEK. Yes, every worksheet, every printable, every extra sheet of paper they may need for testing, I pull it. We do block scheduling here, so a quick run through of our week is:

• Monday - ELA day (all weeks required Vocab, GUM, Composition, Writing Skills) + 1 Math lesson + 1 Spelling & Handwriting lesson (for the younger kids) + 1 Study Island
• Tuesday - Literature day (all weeks required lessons) + 1 Math + 1 Spelling & Handwriting (for the younger kids) + 1 Study Island
• Wednesday - "Free" day 1 Math + 1 Spelling & Handwriting (for the younger kids) and any extras teacher's require (testing, essays, projects, etc) + 1 Study Island
• Thursday - Social Studies/History day (all weeks required lessons) + 1 Math lesson + 1 Spelling & Handwriting lesson (for the younger kids) + 1 Study Island
• Friday - Science day (all weeks required lessons) + 1 Math lesson + 1 Spelling & Handwriting lesson (for the younger kids) + 1 Study Island

       After pulling all materials for each child for the week, I print off the "weekly plan" for each child located in the OLS, adding it to my planner (which I use to keep track of appointments, field trips, conferences with their teachers, days off, and project/portfolio due dates).

         Having this is imperative to keeping track when doing block scheduling and very helpful when schooling more than one child through K12. Note, I do not change the schedule set up to reflect block scheduling simply because on some days the list is 2 pages or more long, and by keeping the regular schedule, it's only one page to print per child, so I just deal with the lessons not reflecting on the right days, working across the schedule rather than vertically. Save some trees. ;)

        I put all the weeks materials in their own 3 ring binder, separated by tab folders, categorizing days of the week. (So, 5 tab folders, one for "daily work", and the other four for Mon, Tue, Thur, & Fri block work).

 
       These are kept with their books and my teacher books and serve a dual purpose in "labeling" whose shelf is whose. I will pull from these binders each day to restock their "Schedule Books".

         Now for their daily work, I have created "templates" for each child on Word, that I change each weekend to reflect the next weeks lessons. It is divided by day, and color coded. The "key" is written on the whiteboard so they are never confused as to what each color means.

• Red- means "Computer work independently"
• Blue- means "Bookwork/Notebook/Worksheets independently"
• Green- means "Mom's help or direction" (if "Computer" is coded in green, its computer work with me.)

        This helps them to know on their "Schedule Sheets" what all they need to do for the day at a glance, and what lessons require, whether it be computer work, book work, or worksheets, and whether it needs to be done independently or with mom. This also helps to teach them to be responsible for their own schooling, gives them a sense of empowerment as they see the items are completed, etc.

         I create "Schedule Sheets" for the entire week, staple them together and they use this packet all week. It stays in their "Schedule Books". They check off each item as they complete it and when it is fully checked, their day is done. This gives them detailed instructions they do not get otherwise, like page numbers for book work, which book they are reading this week, whether to begin a lesson on the computer or if the computer is even required. This affords them the ability to know what they are expecting. No guess work, no chaotic "...but I don't know what to do!!!!!" and no bugging me for direction while I am working with another child. It also helps to maximize organization with computer sharing. If one person is using the computer and the computers are not free, the child can move on to a lesson that doesn't require a computer, returning to it when the computer is free to use. Likewise, "mommy help". If I am currently working with a sibling, the child can move on to another lesson that they can work independently on.

       This also allows my kiddos to work ahead if time permits. If they want to of course. ;)

       Also important to note, I number each lesson required for the day. Because we block schedule, I pull all materials for the day's "blocked subject" for the week and staple them together as one solid packet to work through. I detail line by line, task by task, what to do with it on the "Schedule Sheet", but it is all under ONE number. (It only requires ONE folder, we'll get to that in a sec.).

       Remember those tags I spoke of earlier? Some are numbers, some are subjects. The numbers on the "Schedule Sheet" I typed up correspond to the numbers that will be used on these "Schedule Books". The subject tags are used for lessons that have no materials (thus eliminating the need for the folder) and replace the "number" tag.

      So, let's have a look at the "Schedule Book".

 

Here's the outside of the "Schedule Book". It's a simple plastic banded folder of folders, if you will. As you can see, the grid sheets on the front are attached with Velcro dots for the attaching of tags. And the numbers are in order.

 

 

     Here's the inside of the "Schedule Book". Each flip of a page reveals two pocket folders with small pockets on the front of each folder for small items like fake money or index cards. Each folder will bear the tag that corresponds to the "Schedule Sheet" and will hold the materials for that subject and number.

     So what my child would do is go over her "Schedule Sheet" (which I spend about 5 minutes reading aloud to each child with them in the morning) and find out what lesson she is going to do first. She will then detach the tag in question (that corresponds to the number on the "Schedule Sheet"), like this:

       And then she will take that tag and open the "Schedule Book", and find the folder that has the matching number:

 ...attaching it to the Velcro dot to the left of it.  They will then pull out the materials of that folder, and using their "Schedule Sheet" for direction, will complete their lesson.  :)

      As I said, sometimes a lesson does not have materials, so I will attach the "subject" tag in place of the number, so they know there is no folder with materials to go to, but it is in the order in which it states on their "Schedule Sheet". It might look something like this:

       I intentionally left out the "2" since on their schedule sheet "Math" is labeled number "2", and this particular lesson has no materials with it. They will refer to their "Schedule Sheet" for direction on what to do with that subject. My children take the "subject" tags and place them in the bottom grid on the outside of the book when they are finished with the lesson. (The goal is to clear all the numbers from the top grid, and check mark all the assignments on their "Schedule Sheet").

    For further reinforcement of what lessons require my help, I have "Mom's Help" tags that attach to the right Velcro dot on each numbered subject folder that requires my help, like this:

   For my fellow GCA moms (K12 moms), what you are looking at here is literally the weeks worth of literature. 5 lessons. She will read poems and short stories from this book (as well as her Classics book, which is in her desk shelf) and those worksheets (3 total here) are the entire weeks worth of lessons. She can complete this in an hour, maybe one and a half at the most. See? Block scheduling is awesome!

        For my 7th grade son however most if not all of his work is independent so he doesn't have mommy tags. What I use with him are the "Help buttons", like this:

      With him, he has 6 help buttons per day. It teaches him to use them wisely, to weigh the decision on whether he really needs my help or if he could try on his own, saving his help buttons for harder subjects. He rarely has to use them, at most maybe 2-3 a day. He will take off a help button and approach my desk and "turn it in". I put it aside (to reattach later after the school day is over) and I help him with whatever question he has.

    You will find that you have a lot of tags to keep up with. I have researched far and wide on how best to store them, and for me to eliminate the headache, I just utilize an empty back folder small pocket in each "Schedule Book" (as they never have had to use all 8 folders). So for each child, they have their own set of tags tailored to them, numbers and subjects. The tags that aren't being used go right in the back pocket of it and they are ready and waiting to be used when I go to restock.

 

Easy Peasy.

 

     At the end of the school day (which is sometimes around 11-12 on our short days, as late as 3-4 on our really long days), my "classroom helper" collects all "Schedule Books" (that now contain COMPLETED work in each folder) and brings them to my desk. (My Classroom helper also erases the whiteboard, erases the Wipe-Clean Math Facts Warm-up books, among other morning responsibilities). I will then collect all the finished work and grade any tests that need grading, entering in results online, adding attendance, and making sure all lessons are marked complete. As I do this, I use my "weekly plan" for each child that I printed during the weekend, and checkmark the lessons as they complete them each day. This ensures that by Friday, your child really DID do all the lessons for the week even though with short days it just doesn't feel like you're doing enough. :)

 

  



Then I put their completed papers in their own shelf slot behind me (the top 3 shelves pictured below). I like to keep their work per quarter, at the end of the quarter I go through and keep valuable worksheets that can be used as a study guide to Semester Exams, and chunk the rest.

   And to finish off my school day, I restock their "Schedule Books" using the 3-ring binders that contain their materials, rearrange the tags and call it a day! I typically have their "Schedule Books" on their desks ready for school. This usually takes me maybe 30 minutes, if that. The more you do it and get into a flow of things the less time it takes and the less brain power is spent trying to figure it all out.

If you are anything like I was when I first began GCA (k12) with multiple children, it can be chaotic and hair pulling and tears... and that's just from mommy. ;) But going in with a system in place, spending just two hours of your weekend prepping the weeks work, and spending an extra 30 minutes each day restocking schedule books leads to stressless days and no confusion, no unexpected meltdowns (from you), and order amidst the world that is Virtual Public Schooling. It brings about shorter work days and goals for your children to work towards as well as cultivating that very real need for them to be as independent as possible. We are growing people here. And they should be allowed to ENJOY schooling at home with you. The more organized you can be the less chaotic your experience will be.

     I hope this helps you out and starts getting your mind going on how to better organize your child's schooling experience. Feel free to use any of these ideas if you want.

   To end this post , I'd like to add a new thing we started this year! Helpers! Last year we had a classroom helper, but this year we have added more so that every kiddo can start pulling their weight around here. ;)

In addition to the classroom helper (who is responsible for changing the date, the weather, and the "Days Left" counter in the mornings, as well as passing out dry erase markers, collecting them after warmup, and general teacher needs), we have a lunch helper, who is in charge of choosing, assisting, and/or even solely making lunch on their own! A Living Room helper, who is in charge of making the living room look "divine", and a Dogs helper, who takes the dogs out to potty several times during the day, feeds, and waters them. Yippie for finally getting them to work!!

Anyway, leave me your feedback! Anything you would change or tweak?


Until Next Time,

This is Our Life

Hey All,

I know it has been another long while since my last post and I have once again dropped the ball on my blogging, but oh well. It is what it is when you're busy with life.

So we are about 1/2 a semester into school this year. Justin in 6th grade, Asilyn in 2nd, and Kailyn in 1st. Its been an adjustment to say the least. I knew early on last year that I felt led and had an intense desire to homeschool not only my special needs son, but also my two younger daughters. I am happy to say I stuck to that and we are in the throes of embracing homeschool life.

The first month or two was a huge adjustment. Learning how to manipulate each child's schedule to lend quality one on one time to teach those poignant areas that they couldn't otherwise learn on their own, while at the same time allotting the right amount of time on the computer so as to not disrupt another child's schedule but allows for enough time for him/her to complete her own online lesson. Creating an environment that feels like school, so that they will take their lessons and responsibilities seriously, while at the same time maintaining that nice flexibility that homeschooling lends. And of course battling the "I just want to be lazy because I'm at home" blues that we all seem to get at some point or another during that first couple months.

But we made it past those stressful months and we are still trekking through school. I admit to some concern as far as Justin as he is still on par with his classmates, curriculum-wise, which means he, as a special needs child, is doing a nuero-typical child's 6th grade work. Great! I'm sure you are thinking. Not so great. Justin's comprehension issues (auditory processing and reading comprehension) put him very low for his age, said to be at a 1% on the percentile range... it is truly amazing that he has made it this far. And with that type of disability, it makes it hard to read 60 page stories and write a 6 paragraph essay comparing and contrasting the main character's moral of the story to the moral of an 85 page story he read 2 weeks ago. Already confused? Imagine trying to decipher that with a mental comprehension disability. Needless to say, this means late nights with my man so he can get that much needed one on one that he has been used to in previous years and I can help explain things on his own mental level. And let me tell you, 6th grade isn't what it used to be folks. I find myself having to brush off the mental dust, google a few things, do a few practice problems before even thinking about trying to teach him. :)  **As a side note to this, we just received his scores for his midterm scantrons that assess where he is in comparison to the beginning of the year, including previous years scores as a graph to see how far he has come or where he needs more help. He has simply blown me and his online teacher away. Typically in the subject of reading he scores in the "At Risk" range, or lower. This time he scored less than 100 points away from being in the "Above Average-Advanced" range. Whoa. Maybe a good day? Fluke? Maybe he is actually getting it? Whatever it is, it brought tears to my eyes and I can only hope and pray that it's not a fluke and he is actually retaining some of the things he is reading now. That would be amazing and nothing short of some much needed answers to some heartfelt prayers.

My girls are learning so much, from Egyptians to Romans, to myths and emperors in the Ancient Era. Even French! Ju nu sais pas much but I'm working on it. :) They are really enjoying homeschool, and I have to say, though I had much trepidation in the beginning, I am too! I absolutely LOVE having my babies home with me everyday. I love seeing their brilliant minds expand and grasp new ideas. I love hearing them recall the things they are learning weeks later from learning it. I love seeing them grow and never missing a moment! It is simply amazing to me and I know that if we keep this up, I'm going to have some seriously intelligent children on my hands. And I'm not just saying that because they are mine... oh no, I'm learning so much and it's almost pathetic that I'm learning things from a 1st and 2nd grade curriculum. Ha! But to hear my little babies (and getting-big babies) using large words correctly instead of the typical small-word vocabulary is music to my ears! It makes me feel accomplished, more than any other feeling I have ever had!! I can't explain it, just knowing that I am responsible for the education they receive... and see it to fruition... its unreal.

Life on the home front can be somewhat monotonous, but definitely not as boring as it used to be. Having three very different, very boisterous children can ensure anything BUT boredom. I have yet to master a clean house with this job. Or have all the laundry done at any given time. I haven't found the perfect system to making this house run efficiently and effectively... yet. I'm trying. Every other month I come up with a new system or make changes to the old one to try and make it work so that I am not a haggard young mom who has to wait 4 days and until midnight to take the time to shower and shave. Having a system, keeping a system is the key to my mental sanity (and my husband's- who has done his fair share of walking into the house from work and rolling up his sleeves, and going elbow deep in a sink full of dishes- God Bless Him). But we are continuously trying.

This month's system consists of rules we all sat down and made together as a family. I figured if the kids could help us to come up with the rules, maybe they'd be less apt to disobey them? So far so good but we are only a few days outside of the official rule making so not a very good and accurate representation of how well this system will work with us. Some of our "new rules" are:

1.) Shower time every other day (unless its a particularly "dirty" day-lets face it, when you homeschool, there's not much germy madness the kiddos are immersed in, and the chances of a hot, sweaty day depends on weather really- so for now, every other day...)

2.)Thursday is our personal hygiene day (Shower always even if it's a "skip day" with a little help from mom to ensure deep down scrubbing, finger and toenails trimmed and cleaned, ears cleaned, a good teeth brushing and flossing from mom to ensure every inch is cleaned, etc)

3)No matter what time, before you lay your head down to rest, your bedroom MUST be clean. No exceptions. We even stuck to it on New Year's when we got home around 1 a.m. 

4)Make your bed every morning when you leave it. (We haven't officially started this one yet, but now that school has begun after winter break, it will begin soon!)

5) No matter whose bedroom it is, or how messy it gets, if you were playing in there at any point during the day, you WILL help clean it at Bedtime Cleanup. Showing respect for one another and their belongings and areas is a BIGGIE in this home.

6) Remember if you clean up what you mess up when you're done, it'll be less mess up to clean up after the setting of the sun! :)

Of course the hubby and I are to abide by these rules as well. Hey, I'm not too proud to admit that sometimes I need my kiddos reminding me of the "family rules" to keep my room in order. It can get pretty bad in there. Our room is just like anything else in my life... my kiddos come first and my needs come later (if at all)... it's just the way of things around here so sometimes we need a little self discipline to really get our butts into gear to help keep the system going if it's going to work at all. And by lending the kiddos some responsibility in keeping mom and dad in check about the rules, they seem to be more willing to make sure they follow them too. At the very least we can use it as a tool to train our children on not pointing out the flaws of others when you're "house is just as messy". ;)

Anyway, here's to a great 2013!!! Happy New Year everyone and I hope this year boasts as many smiles and laughter as I can possibly stand!!

Until Next Time,   

Trust? Faith? Should there be a line drawn?

It's a simple question really. Should there be a line drawn with how much or how far we go in our trust and faith in God? I'm going to let that question marinate in your mind while I move on. I'll come back to that one later.

There are only a few things in this world I have a passion for. My husband. I love that man with all that I am worldly capable of. There is not a day that goes by without me thanking God for bringing him into my life at the young age of 15. My children. I have advocated, taught, loved, and provided for them with a fervent passion only a parent can understand. Not a day goes without thanking the Almighty for entrusting to me the responsibility of their care. And beyond that, I am passionate about God, curious to know His thoughts on subjects that often come up in this world, determined to seek His Will with controversial topics.

Which brings me to the moment I woke up this morning. Groggy, unfocused, stretching it out. It was as if God were waking me up because in that moment the idea formed so crystal clear in my mind, only God... I'm definitely not the morning thinker. :) Yet clear as day I had a yearning to jump into the Bible and find out what God desires, what He requires of us, specifically regarding a topic that is highly controversial among the most adamant, and very close to my heart as it primarily affects my children.

I'm almost hesitant to say the word, for I don't want readers who are strikingly for this topic to either quit reading or to jump on the defensive. Yet I felt a really strong pull to write this. To research it. To discover what God may have to say. I don't think He woke me this morning without purpose or cause.
And honestly, if Christian women can write their blogs on the potential ill-effects of watching Magic Mike, then I, as a Christian woman can, with confidence in my God, write what I feel He is laying on my heart this morning.

Many of you know, I am strongly against vaccinating our children. The decision didn't come lightly nor without resistance from those closest to me. Nor without judgement from those who feel I am needlessly putting my children in harm's way. Nor without critics who believe differently from the way I do.

I have put in thousands of hours of research on the topic of vaccinating. I have read research, data, and medical journals, delved deeper into the meanings of things I didn't understand to gain a clearer picture of what I was reading. I have gone above and beyond researching a topic to make the logical decision I have come to today.

Not once did I go to the Bible for this decision. Not once did I seek God's will in our lives. I just knew I felt deeply convicted to not vaccinate our family.

You see, my son was injured by a vaccine. He was injured to the point that he cannot be repaired. There is no regrowing the brain nerves that were destroyed, there is no detoxing the damage. And what gets me the most, the vaccine that caused this irreversible damage, the MMR, is used to "prevent" diseases that have not caused irreversible harm in decades. The "benefit" did not outweigh the risk.

So after years of research, years of deep and sometimes argumentative conversation with my husband, we finally came to the decision to not vaccinate any of our children further. Before finally agreeing to this, I found myself praying deeply as they were giving my youngest daughter her shot (yes, shot as in singular, because if my husband insisted on vaccinating, the least I could do was spread them out), to "please, Lord, don't let this harm her. Don't let this one be the ONE that kills her. Don't let this one be the ONE that damages her brain. Please, Lord. Protect my baby" I knew things had to change. What an oxymoron. I'm praying that God would protect my baby from something I was allowing them to do to her? A friend of mine put it best... "It'd be just as ridiculous as holding your child underwater and praying that she hold her breath for the 30 seconds you hold her down, praying that she doesn't breathe, praying that she doesn't die... when the simple solution is to not hold her underwater in the first place!"

I had a friend of mine who is decidedly pro-vaccination say to me once in a heated discussion about vaccines, "Do you not trust God that He will take care of your child, protect your child from the bad stuff in the vaccine?" I had to sit back and mull over that one for a bit. Evaluate and reevaluate my own faith and trust in my Lord. Am I not trusting God? Am I not putting my faith in Him?

I've concluded that I am probably more trusting of God than I am of man, as I'm not putting my faith in man-made vaccines to "save" my child, I'm putting my faith in God, that He created our bodies to fight disease and that He will be our ultimate healer and protector.

When the very first "vaccine" was created (which consisted of cutting a pox pustule in an infected person, cutting a small slice in a healthy person's arm, and rubbing the two together), I truly believe that people were just trying to find a way to stop the "madness". Smallpox was being spread like wildfire. Adults and children alike. One would also do well to keep in mind that this was a day in age when people didn't know how things spread, or how to prevent spreading it. (Washing hands, covering your mouth, isolation, etc).

And maybe the idea of "vaccinating" was God-given. Maybe not. I don't know much about the guy who thought that intentionally giving a tiny bit of the infection directly into the bloodstream may help in preventing the illness. However, like everything else in this world, in a depraved society, people pervert it. Sex, for instance was created by God to be enjoyed within the confines of a marriage between a husband and his wife. This world has perverted sex, in the forms of exploitation, pornography, rape, incest, sodomy, etc. So lets say for the sake of argument, this guy who created the original "vaccine" received the idea from God. It was done with good intention. It was created for good. But just as with anything in this world, it has become perverted. It has become a means of billions of dollars a year to line the pockets of those that make them. They have put known deadly toxins in them simply because they are an excellent preservative and will allow for more vaccines to be made and to sit on the shelves at doctor's offices abroad for use. They have been "fined" for misconduct, for tax evasion, Medicare fraud, consent decrees, HPV contamination as well as falsifying data to reflect safety and efficacy for the vaccines that are mandatory for school attendance. That is just from our government and FDA. We, the people, are not personally allowed to sue them. They have immunity from us.

And nearly every year, another shot, another booster is added onto the roster. For instance, in 1980, about the time I was born, we got 3 vaccinations, 8 shots total (for the boosters) before the age of 2. That's it. And never more than 2 shots per visit. 30 years later, we have 49 doses or more. They've gone up like the rate of Autism.

Anyway, I digress. The point I'm trying to make is there is a fine line between "trusting God" and "trusting man & then trusting God". We are a depraved nation.

Lets look at what "faith" is. Christian Faith is defined as having a constant outlook of trust towards God, whereby human beings abandon all reliance on their own efforts and put their full confidence in him, his word and his promises. That speaks a lot. "Abandon all reliance on their own efforts". Say, reliance in things created by man to keep our children "safe", as if man could do it better than God could?

Lets look at what "trust" is. Trust is defined as reliance on and confidence in a person. Scripture affirms the total trustworthiness of God, especially in relation to his promises to his people. Christian faith is, essentially, trust in the person and character of God. While Scripture insists that believers should be able to trust one another, it also provides examples of false or misplaced trust.

In Jeremiah 2:13 (ESV) it says "for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water." Forsaken in this passage can mean "failed" or "neglected"... hewed (because if you're like me, I didn't know what hewed meant) in Hebrew can mean "engraved, hewn together", in other words to put pieces together to make their own cistern (which in this passage means "well"). So lets put this verse in perspective. God is saying here that his people (us, Christians) have failed or neglected him, as He is the TRUE living waters, He is our sustenance, He is our life source. And that instead of coming to him for "safety & efficacy" in our lives and the lives of our children, we go to our man made wells, put together with only a fragment of knowledge in how the body, this world, this universe works, that can hold NO water compared to that of our Living Water, who created the body, the world, the universe. I believe it grieves our Father when we look to broken and depraved people for protection when He is there, in all His absolute authority, longing for His children to come to Him for ALL.

In Isaiah 31:1 (ESV) it says, "Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help and rely on horses, who trust in chariots because they are many and in horsemen because they are very strong, but do not look to the Holy One of Israel or consult the Lord!" Ouch. There's nothing to reword here. It goes on to say in verse 3 that the Egyptians are man and not God, the horses are flesh and not spirit. Woe to those who go to "man" for help and rely on "their flesh... their creations" but never look to the Holy One or consult with Him (in this passage "consult" can mean inquire or seek, of Him).

In Jeremiah 17:5 (ESV) it says, "Thus says the Lord: “Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart turns away from the Lord." In this passage "trust" can mean to rely on or to be careless in. Both of these speak to me. When my son was due for his shots, it never once occurred to me that I should be looking into the side effects and dangers of the vaccine. As a young mom, what the doctor said, went. I was careless in man. I put not only my faith and trust in them, but I didn't even second guess it. Not for a second. And then I think about the mom's who DO know the side effects, dangers, and risks of vaccinating, but choose to do so anyway, because they rely on man, they rely on those shots to protect their child. "Heart" in this passage can mean "conscience" and I thought that to be interesting. Our conscience is what convicts us, as Christians, God's spirit sent into us to guide us by the gentle pricking of our hearts, to not only help steer clear from temptations, but to condemn us of wrongdoing so that we can realize this and ask for forgiveness. For our conscience to "turn away from the Lord" could only mean that we ignored, silenced, distanced ourselves, or avoided it. Interestingly enough, the Hebrew word for "turns away" means just that. In perspective, we are avoiding the conscience of our Hearts, that is God, rather putting more trust in man and the creations of his flesh.

And lastly, in Jeremiah 9:4 (ESV) "Let everyone beware of his neighbor, and put no trust in any brother, for every brother is a deceiver, and every neighbor goes about as a slanderer." Clearly to put our trust in man, we set ourselves up for certain disappointment. And likewise, to put our trust in the things man makes, we can expect the same outcome.

As reports from around the world are surfacing, related deaths from vaccines in our children, irreversible and debilitating damage in our future generations... more and more of you are now faced with the ultimate question, "to vaccinate or not to vaccinate". Some of you are scared to make either decision. Remember fear is not of our Lord. Place your trust and faith in Him, and Him alone.

Back to the original question of this blog post.... Should there be a line drawn with how much or how far we go in our trust and faith in God? Should we tell our Father, "I trust you, Lord, however, I'm going to vaccinate because although I KNOW you can do all things, I don't really trust that can do ALL things."? Was that too harsh? I learned from my pastor. ;)

So, God has shown me, that though I did not initially seek His will out in making this decision, nor searched the Bible for tidbits of wisdom going forward, regardless, by putting ALL of my faith and trust in God, and yes, even (*gasp*) when it comes to the health of my children, that He has guided me in the correct way and for that, I am so grateful. I had a ton of conviction to make this decision, and now I know that I have my Father backing me.

I could go on in a million different rabbit trails with this subject, about the uncleanliness of ingredients (human aborted fetal tissues, monkey and pig DNA, formaldehyde, aluminum, mercury, etc, etc, etc) and pumping those chemicals and toxins into the temple of God, our bodies, and such. Or I could go on about the ruthless makers of vaccines and link up some statements made by their own people proving that they KNOW what these vaccines do to children, some who express remorse of "not being able to look mothers in the eye" and some who don't care as it's all about that "bottom dollar". (If you want the link, message me... it's not only eye opening but disgusting). But I will save that for the one who wants to know.

Overall, I encourage you Christian parents, seek God's Will, evaluate who and what you are putting your trust and faith in. There isn't a lukewarm answer here. It's either all in, or not at all. Just like you can't just follow the parts of the Bible you like the best, and you can't be a Christian only on the days when you're not hanging out with your friends, you can't put only some of your trust in God. You either trust Him, or you don't. Pray about it. Just as I made the mistake of not seeking God's Will about not vaccinating, have you sought God's Will on deciding TO vaccinate? Or did you do it because you were "careless in man" and they said so? It's time to evaluate, friends.

Until Next Time,
**Writers Note (upon feedback)** I have had the opportunity to hear some of my readers out after they have read this particular post, and as an afterthought, I would like to clarify some things... This has been my conviction. This is what God, I felt, woke me up to this particular morning. To get in the Word, to see what God wanted me to see about a highly controversial topic that I'm passionate about it. After hearing some trusted friends opinions, hearing how they have read this & what they took from it, I feel the need to get back in here & do some clarifying. Particularly in the area that seems most commonly received from the tone of my note above. I am not saying, in any way, shape, or form that if you DO vaccinate your children, then therefore, you must not trust God. I repeat, I want no one to walk away from this post defensive or confused, angry or offended, in any way. I am NOT suggesting that your faith in God, your trust in God is lacking if you have chosen vaccination in your family. I don't want to cause division among Christians, nor finger pointing. That was never my intentions, nor ever was my "way" of handling these topics. To clarify my intentions of writing this post: It was a personal & very deliberate, well researched decision for our family to not vaccinate. I never thought to myself as a Christian woman, "I should go to God and ask His Will on this subject". In making the decision to not vaccinate, I DID NOT TRUST GOD, nor put my faith in Him... I chose to put my faith & trust in the research I had done myself. I trusted my own decisions. I trusted myself, long before I even thought to ask God. Because He showed me the error of my own ways (good ol' conviction), I spent nearly a full day completely immersed in the Bible, studying God's perspective that I felt he was showing to me. If I could've done so, I would've written every scripture I happened across that affirmed my beliefs in not vaccinating our children... It was an entire pages worth of scripture. It was THAT thought provoking & consuming for me. In the same sense, my only intentions in writing this blog were to a.) Show others what I had learned, as far as what God showed ME for my family... (If it spoke to you on a personal level, I encourage you to follow those convictions, immerse yourself in God's Word & let Him show you on an individual level what to do, where to go from here, etc.) And b.) To create a thought-provoking question... "In the same manner that I was mistaken in not seeking God's will in our lives, not trusting Him in the decision to NOT vaccinate, have you sought God's will in the decision TO vaccinate, or were you 'like myself' careless in man, trusting blindly the decisions doctors & others had made for you, just because they said so?" I wrote this with a personal conviction, which applies to myself & our family... Again, if it struck a chord with you, pray, seek, devour God's Word searching for His answers in your own life. If you've read this & felt offended that I was insinuating that you didn't trust God if you vaccinate, please understand that those were feelings I did not intend to manufacture within you. I encourage you all to seek God's will, & upon doing so, deeply immersed in the Word, if you feel God is pulling you toward vaccination, then who am I to question that? I stand by my closing statement, to encourage you to seek God's will, evaluate who & what you are putting your trust & faith in... It's either all or nothing. No matter the conviction God puts in your heart. :) Have a great day!

Our Homeschool Room!!

Hi again,

Is it just me or is this year just flying right on by? I can't believe we are over halfway through the year, school will be starting in a month, and before I know it, all my babies will be turning another year older! Kailyn will be 6 in a month, Asilyn will be 8 in four months, and Justin will be 12 in 4 months! I feel like my life is a blur!

Speaking of school... this will be the first year I home school all three of the kiddos. I've had a year under my belt with homeschooling my son, that way he is accustomed to it as well as myself and I'm super excited to bring my girls home. I've had a mixture of emotions, mostly excitement and "nesting", but then there are days of doubt and uncertainty (of the unknown)... I'm sure once we get into a smooth routine, those fears will be forgotten. One day in my future I'll come back and read this blog and laugh at myself for my over analyzing. But at the moment... I'm doing all I can to prepare. The more I prepare the more confident I feel.

So, how does one prepare for something that one only has a vague knowledge of? Well, reading other homeschooling mom's blogs helps for sure. Getting ideas and kind of meshing those ideas to fit to our individual needs goes a long way as well. I won't fully know how these systems will work until we actually delve in, so anything I post doesn't come so much as a recommendation, more out of "hey, this is what we're trying... I'll let ya know how it goes".

My first and foremost priority was to get our schoolroom prepared to adding 2 more. So we went out and got identical desks to that of my son's (I've got to be matchy-matchy that way), putting them together as well as the chairs (I purchased the standard desk chairs that swivel... after having a few summer school lessons, I totally am starting to rethink that idea... oh, the rotating and rotating and rotating!)

My daughters' desk arrangements vary slightly from my son's, as he will be entering middle school (6th) this year and his lessons will require a different setup. On my girls desks, I have 2 filers that they will put each lesson's work in as they go. At the end of the school day, I can collect these papers, grade if needed and insert grades and school hours online. Best to focus on them during the day and all the admin work after. These particular desks have a shelving unit on the side, where the girls math cubes and helps are on the first shelf, and a fabric bin holding all of their literature needed throughout the school year (random books sent to us by their online school that aren't used on a daily basis- each girl has at least 20 aside from their regular lesson materials). This was a great way for me to not only separate each child's individual reading books, but to also keep them from getting mixed up with my own library of books (these will have to be returned at the end of the school year).

Take a look at Asilyn's desk...

...as you can see, she has her full name right in front of her, although she knows how to spell her name, she has misspelled her middle name a time or two, and this also marks this space as her own. It's also laminated, so it won't be easily ripped. Her 2 filers (which is holding her "summer journal" at the moment) which, as I said above, will hold her completed papers as she finishes each lesson. The 2 shelves on the right house the math cubes and helps and you can see the bottom fabric bin that is holding all of her "small" books she'll need throughout the school year. She also has her own trashcan. In all of the drawers, they each have a few sharpened pencils, an electric pencil sharpener, and an extra eraser. Pencils breaking or not being able to erase is probably their number ONE reason to get out of their seats multiple times an hour. This eliminates that excuse. :)

Here's Kailyn's desk:

Nearly identical. I have put the girls on opposing walls, so that their backs will be to one another during lessons. They are each other's own distraction. Her setup is the same including her own trash can. (On the very right is my teacher desk setup... it's currently a mess with papers that I have been going through and sorting that the girls brought home on their last day of public school... sigh... needless to say, my desk will be a post for another day.) I should also mention that beneath each desk, I have chair mats for their rolling chairs. They were a steal at my local bulk club!

And last but not least, Justin's desk:

His desk is slightly different. No filers for him, as the majority of his work will be done online, although he will have some book work, however he will have notebooks for each subject. He has a laptop to do his work on, uninterrupted by the girls when they have to do their online lessons (on my computer sitting at my desk). Again, his own trashcan as well. I haven't gotten his books yet so that's why his desk looks so lonely and empty inside. :) Not for long! For Justin, I obviously have not put a name tag above his desk... he's going in 6th... I'd be worried if he didn't know at least that... but we are utilizing the wall in front of him for helps. He still has last years items, however I don't think I will take them down just yet until I see his math load this year. He has a multiplication chart, a "Types of Graphs & Charts" chart, a Prime & Composite Numbers and their Factors chart he had done in 5th grade, Formulas/Definitions of Range, Mean, Median, & Mode, and finally, Formulas used to find Perimeter, Area, and Volume for several shapes and figures. Good helps to keep in front of him. He's got a photographic memory, and seeing & using these day in and day out will forever inbed in his memory (I hope).

Next we worked on the "library". I have been collecting children's to pre-teen's books now for 12 years. I've given about 500 of the younger aged books (as my daughter's grew) to our local nursery school... which helped in being able to house the rest of the books... But we are still pushing the limits on space. My "library" consists of a simple 5 shelf standing bookcase (that I have had for 15 years... and counting), and I have categorized the books as best as I can with so many. Here's a look:

The top shelf has Arts & Crafts books and materials, as well as small dictionaries & thesauruses ranging from kid's age to a pocket Webster. The second shelf is arranged with reading books, mostly in order by age/level range. The third shelf is comprised of a good bit of books that children would normally find and check out of their school library, again ranging in age/level. The fourth shelf houses interactive books, coloring books, educational workbooks, books of questions and answers as well as a large WildLife Fact-File (good for reports on specific animals or just to read about them). And the last shelf has a lot of their Bible materials, valuable Children's Books, as well as an eclectic mix of some very old original classics. Put a label above, and wa-laa, my library!

Next was creating a materials center. With homeschooling comes materials. Scissors, glue, crayons, markers, colored pencils, pencils, erasers, headphones, paper clips, tape, pens, paper (writing, notebook, loose leaf, construction, printer), staples & staplers... I mean if you just think about all the things that come with the responsibility of homeschooling... it can be overwhelming. So I needed to create a space, specifically for the kids, that they could have access to at any given time to get materials, especially without bothering a sibling who may be deep in concentration.

Here's what I came up with:

This is a simple, inexpensive shoe organizer. I had originally bought this to create a workbox system for my son last year and by the middle of the year, we had stopped using it. So I recycled. :) I had also bought some fabric bins that fit the shelves. I created tags with pictures of different materials, printed, laminated, and cut them. Then using sticky-back Velcro dots, I attached each tag to the box in which these materials would be.

For example,

The tags show a box of crayons and markers splayed out into a circle. Inside they will find.... markers and crayons. Can't get any simpler than that.

Another example,

Paper... my tag actually looks like a miniature piece of paper. I thought about using words... but since my children range in age (from one just learning how to read to one who has been reading since he was 3), I figured it would be best to begin with pictures.

And now, we move to the last part of my schoolroom that I'm going to show in this particular post. Our "morning board". I have seen some amazing morning boards on blogs from other homeschooling mom's! And while I think to myself (that would be awesome!) I have to keep in mind that I have varying degrees of ages and while making the date out of coins, or adding the numbers together may be fun to my youngest two, I could potentially be wasting valuable time with my middle schooler. Our morning routine (aside from the morning chores of making their beds and personal hygiene) will consist of choosing the helper for the day (who will pass out any papers, help with cooking lunch, help mom), changing the date, checking the weather, having a Bible lesson, memorizing a Bible verse together (one a week), saying our prayers (including praying for our sponsored child, Wilmita, in Haiti~whose picture is up on our board for us to remember), going over our address & phone number, as well as 911, and then saying the pledge of allegiance. That should be enough time used to put us into school mode... as well as giving God our first 10% of our day. :)

So here's my morning board, so far. It will probably look different by the time school actually starts, but this is it for now.

You can see Wimita at the top corner on the right, as well as our personal information (which I covered for the sake of our privacy on this post), and an actual calendar to help us see in advance events that may be coming up. At the bottom corner of the board is our weather tracking and below the entire board is our date, which I got the idea from another website.

A closer look:

As you can see, the first set of cards has my daughter's name (I can flip through the names each day to change the helper of the day). This will help everyone to remember who the helper of the day is. No arguments. Of course, we have the day of the week, the month, the date and the year. The helper will be in charge of making the changes to the morning board. You can see a closer look at the weather. Justin and I used this last year and he really seemed to enjoy taking note of the weather each morning on the way to take the girls to school so that he could make the necessary changes when we got home. So I think I will keep that up since I am positive my daughters will enjoy it as well. The helper will also be in charge of saying our morning prayer, as well as leading us in the pledge of allegiance.

So that's my schoolroom. A closer look at it anyway. Maybe tomorrow or sometime later this week or next, I can go over the system I am using to keep the kids on track and independently work on their lessons!

Overall, I am excited despite the few nervous jitters I get. I hope it all goes as smoothly as I want it to and I will definitely be keeping up with it. :) I will get the links from where I got the weather printouts and the date printouts when I get a chance and add it to this post. In the meantime, happy Wednesday everyone!

Until Next Time,

Organizing Chaos...?

Hello all,

As you may or may not know, having a family of 5 not only makes for a full house filled with laughter, tears, and the occasional scream-fest (mainly the little ones, although sometimes I feel compelled to join them), but it can also contribute to a full workload on any given day. Seriously, I could clothe several homeless families with the amount of laundry I do in a week. It is my normal though, and I honestly can't remember (but can dream of) a time less... busy.

With that said, I have found that the more organized we are, the better this house flows. Anything from shoe organization to organizing the bejeezus out of some closets. I admit to my own scream-fests when creating a system for something didn't manifest this brilliant eye-opening revelation to the world of organization (and keeping it organized) to the rest of my family. But alas, I try, try again until it either works (FINALLY!) or a better system took it's place.

Since it's been awhile since my last post, I thought I would use this little blogger site to not only release some of my creative juices, but to inspire myself to keep up with the job at hand (again... organizing) and possibly to inspire others who happen upon this blog (amongst the millions, right?) So, here goes nuthin'!

This post I'm going to dedicate to my daughters' room. They both share a room, the original master bedroom of our house (when we built it, we changed the plans to include negating a garage for a 400 sq ft room... and later installed a closet and bathroom in it to accommodate a 2nd master... hmm, maybe a post on that later?). So they have lots of space. Plenty of area to organize and make it their own while at the same time giving them a system that helps them not only keep their rooms clean, but also teach Independence in putting their clothing away and keeping their stuff intact. Let me preface that the object is not to create a system and poof! magically the room stays clean and all is well with the world. It does take consistency and persistence, patiently training them in how the system will work. It could take a week, it could take months! The key is consistency!

The first thing we did was eliminate the human nature of "if you can't see it, it must be clean" that all children and even some adults have. Had to tackle that "under the bed" syndrome. There was nothing more annoying than seeing a room "clean" and then go and take a look under that bedskirt (or bed) and see that you were deceived! So I asked my husband to build me something that would make under-bed-stuffing impossible, thereby eliminating any possible chance of a quick sweep under the bed & wa-laa clean, mommy! And, ever my faithful man, he created the perfect bed block. :)

A simple process, really. Since both of their beds have one side pushed against a wall, my husband created an L-shaped contraption and simply slid it underneath, using 1x6's (since their beds were 6 1/2" from the floor to the railing). No toys will be getting under those beds! (For my son's queen bed that is open on both sides, he created a boxed U-shape.) Throw on a bed skirt of your desired color choice...



...and no one is the wiser, except you, who will now never have to get on hands & knees to look under a bed again!

So, now, with that dilemma out of the way, we move on to the next hurdle... clothing, drawers, baskets... I, personally have the most horrible time at getting them to keep a drawer free from wadded up clothing and bits and pieces sticking out in all directions effectively preventing the actual closing of a drawer. A chest of drawers can really get under my skin, especially when I had to reorganize and refold everything, every time I went to put laundry away! In my daughters' room, they have 2 drawers. Period. Two drawers that I don't care about, because they hold pajamas. If they get unfolded, wadded up, or rolled... it's not gonna bother this mom right here, as long as those drawers shut. My son has a set of drawers that house play shirts, undies, socks & his pjs. Again, things that won't bother me if they come out a wrinkled mess. In a house full of chaos, I have to pick and choose my battles... drawers will not be one of them. ;)

Back to the girls' room. Like I said, they have a good bit of space, so I have utilized some shelving I got from an old friend that someone had built for her. They can't be that hard or expensive to make, or if money is of no concern, you could hop on over to your local IKEA and grab a set or two of these types of shelves. I also used a mix-match of baskets. I have found that baskets have helped in them organizing their clothes better, while at the same time minimizing the items that are folded. They have a nice sized closet, so most everything is hung. The less items they have access to, the better (as they have been known to change clothes 5 times a day or more for the sheer thrill of making their mommy crazy, I think). By the way (rabbit trail), we have a key-locked entry to the closet. Only myself or my husband has access to these keys which goes a LONG way in preventing the hair-pulling situations as described above. Back to the baskets, in the beginning, when they were just baskets, they would get just as cluttered as a drawer, simply because socks would be put in with the shorts basket, or undies would be mixed in 2 or 3 different baskets... it was a huge mess. No one ever knew what clothes went where, including my husband and myself after a time.

To eliminate this issue, I created, printed, laminated, punched holes in, and attached (using random ribbon I had on hand) these labels to each basket. Of course, as I have said in the preface, I had to go over each basket with the girls, walk them through the putting away of their clothes a time or two and reminding my youngest (who is just starting to master sounding out words) what they say. Consistency and persistence! And now we have an (more times than not) uncluttered system for their socks, undies, play shirts, shorts, and skirts.

Ah, a mom can breathe again. :)

Here's a pic of their pajama drawers, but before I link that up, this is an armoire that went with their beds, and inside houses their DVD and VHS players as well as a few of their coloring & reading books (I know it looks like more than a few, but when compared to about a thousand books that are in my homeschool room, it looks like a few to me) and a plastic bin labeled "Creative Arts" that holds random crayons, colored pencils, washable markers, a glue stick or two and kid-safe scissors (now that they are out of the "cutting their hair" stage).

As you can see, I even labeled the drawers. "Pajamas", no mistaking what belongs in there.

And now we move on to the last big hurdle. Yep, you guessed it. Toys. After cleaning and cleaning and cleaning... I would ask my daughters why they would empty out an entire bin of toys. Almost always their answer was that they were trying to get to small toys that had fallen to the bottom. It was just easier to flip the tub over than to meticulously pick through larger toys to get there. So this inspired me. I needed to make this easier on them to get to the toys they desire to play with at the moment but to also create a system that will help them organize their own collections, at the same time preventing this huge toy tornado on their floor! So I found some cheap plastic lidded-bins at Lowes and utilized the other part of the shelving unit I got from that old friend I had mentioned earlier. A bit of labeling and some clear packing tape....

...and now they have their own system for their toys. There is a general rule that I'm pretty strict about and it is that they only pull out one bin at a time, as they are now all categorized and shouldn't have need for more than one at a time. Of course, I make concessions for when we have company over, as I know how impossible it is to expect children from different families to abide by these rules, and also if there is something that they just "have to have" from another bin, then they can of course get the items they need. Simple rule, one bin at a time... if it's not put back up, the bin and everything that belongs in it is taken away for a time (I deem appropriate).

So that's about it... this is what works for us! Keeps me sane and in the game. Next post I'm sure will be about another room. Feel free to comment and tell me your ideas!

Until next time,