Prayer Box Sunday

Well - I feel a little like Mary Tyler Moore......you remember she used to have these parties and they ended up being duds? My great anticipation for a wonderful outpouring of Prayer Box participants was....well, let's just say ended quite sadly. Alas, I will not be discouraged, this is not about how many people connect to the post or even how many choose to participate, rather sharing what God is doing in this time together each Sunday in the hopes of being a blessing and encouragement to just one. SO in the spirit of sharing and encouraging I will press on.....I will continue to post the Mr. Linky each week just in case someone does want to share their post and also because I spent the money to make it available so why wouldn't I do that right? For those of you who are not yet familiar with what Prayer Box Sunday is you can get the details here. Get your Prayer Box ready and join us!!

Today we had a wonderful devotional time as we dug into a new resource that we hope to use a few days a week and will include in our Prayer Box Sunday time as well. If you are looking for a good straight forward tool for Character Training may I suggest Character Building for Families. A dear friend in Maine sent me her copy of Volume 2, a ' pay it forward' act of kindness with the intention of blessing our family the way it had been a tool of blessing to hers. I ordered Volume 1 which is reasonably priced and it came very quickly! This is a great resource which can be used any way you want to use it. It is ideal for families of any size and can be used as a daily homeschool curriculum or as a devotional tool, which is how we plan to use it -as many or as few days per week as you chose to use it. I would love to hear your thoughts or experiences with it if you are familiar with it!

SO......on to what the Prayer Box held for our family this week. We have some great prayers this week and I am really looking forward to what God does with them!! Our family prayer focus this week is directed at me.....we will all be praying for my character (feel free to join us - I welcome these prayers as God helps to mold me into who He has called me to be!!), The Principal is praying for me too as his prayer is to pray for my writing - a deep rooted and long dreamed of desire which coincidentally I just this past week committed to on a level that I have not done in many many years. Are you seeing the pattern here? My character, my writing, all on the Sunday of the week that I made a commitment to myself and my writing. I used to believe in coincidences - I no longer do - God is the Master Weaver, He knows every thread He weaves, He knows where it will go and what it will look like when all the threads are woven together! This will be a tapestry I will look forward to seeing the results of ;-) WonderBoy has a pretty awesome prayer focus for this week and it will hopefully get him thinking outside the 'traditional' prayer request mind set just a little. He is praying for Generational Curses this week. We spent a little bit of time talking about what that meant and how it can manifest in families and individuals. My prayer for the week really blesses my heart, I am praying for our Family Time ;-) I love to have my family together sharing an activity, game or project so this is something that I will roll up my sleeves and jump into gladly!

Please feel free to share what was in your boxes, bags, old lunch boxes or any other prayer holders you may have used. Mr. Linky is here and I would be tickled if you used him!!

Learning as I go,

Leisha

School Starts Monday - 4th Grade Line Up

Yes, we are starting early this year. We did this in 2nd grade and it worked out great. I am always interested to see what other families are using, what they like and what works for them, so in that spirit I wanted to share our 4th grade plans.....

Language Arts

We will use Language Arts Through Literature for the first time. This is a complete program with reading, grammar, writing etc. but I do plan to supplement with Spelling Power, which will only take an additional 15 minutes per day and will be so worth it if I turn Wonder Boy into an ace speller!!

Math

Singapore Math 4A & 4B will be out math curriculum this year. We used Singapore for 2nd grade and Wonder Boy and I both loved it. We took an SOS detour for 3rd grade and are going back to what suits us better for 4th grade.

Bible

We will continue on with Bible Study Guide for All Ages. This is a great flexible program that you can work at your own pace and go as deep as you desire. They sell activity books that correspond with the lessons in various levels to make the program work for various ages at the same time. We use this in a modified approach and make it work for us. We will also be doing Charlotte Mason's Scripture Memory System - this is a whole family not just school element.

Character Training

From a Mom perspective I am very much looking forward to the learning and growth of character that will take place as we begin our journey through The Book of Virtues by William Bennett. Netflix offers the video adventures which we will use and I found a great resource for f-r-e-e (f-r-e-e- that spells free - sing along won't you) - a complete unit study with lesson planning done for you.

History

Wonder Boy and I are both pretty pumped about our new history curriculum - The Story of the World, Volume 1 Ancient Times. I wish we had started with this as it looks fantastic and seems to be a great fit for us.....I will report back later ;-)

Geography

This year we will focus a little more specifically on geography as a separate subject than we have in the past where it has been typically tied in with history. Our 2 areas of focus will be individual state studies which we will do by working our way through each state in order of statehood, and then individual countries of interest. This will be a relaxed approach that will be 'delight driven' and will continue throughout our homeschooling journey.

Science

This is probably the one thing we are most excited about this year.....we will be doing Apologia Science for the first time Exploring Creation Zoology 1 Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day. Wonder Boy loves science and this particular curriculum has a companion notebooking activity book - big fun!!

Music

Wonder Boy is continuing piano lessons with Miss Jenny. We loved the Folk and Hymn Studies that we did with Ambleside Online and are looking forward to getting that groove going again. We also use a modified version of the Composer Study.

Art

Life is art - or at least it should be and we continually get caught up in the urge to create. We do not have one set resource for Art. We will pull from life and work on various handicrafts and hobbies. We will paint, draw, build, do papercrafts with our Cricut and be inspired where inspiration finds us!!

Nature Study

Our love of nature will continue this year with a subscription to Nature Friend Magazine. The monthly publication comes with a study guide feature that we have opted to try - looks like another fun resource!!

American Sign Language

Wonder Boy has taken an interest in learning to communicate through sign language so while this will not be a structured daily study it is our intention to have a working skill in this area by the end of 4th grade!!

OK - that about wraps it up - I don't expect that we will be bored often and hope that I have put together enough variety and hands on fun to keep Wonder Boy interested, learning and growing into the amazing young man God has called him to be!!

I would love any thoughts or input you may have ;-)

Learning as I go,

Leisha