What IEW requires from me

It is taking a little more time on my part, especially with my younger two since it’s our first year. I put my younger two (5th and 6th grades) in Structure and Style 1A, and my 10th grader in Structure and Style 1C. Erica over at Confessions of a Homeschooler recommended watching the video each week along with your kids. I did not go through the actual teacher training, but Erica said that it worked fine to just watch the kids video along with them. I have found this to be accurate. The student videos also give enough direction for me to be able to guide my older one without having to actually watch his video as well.

I haven’t decided yet if I’m going to go with the next levels in Structure and Style next year or jump over to the themed studies they offer. The themed studies look interesting, but they do not include a video. My kids actually enjoy the videos because Andrew Pudewa is engaging and interesting to listen to. They like seeing the other kids in the class as well. I will probably wait until close to the end of the school year to determine which direction I want to go for next year, but I’m leaning toward sticking with the videos and Structure and Style to make sure my kids have a good solid foundation with the writing process.

Hopefully, this is a help to you as you are deciding about what curriculum choices you want to make. If you have any questions, feel free to leave them in the comments. I will try to answer as many as I can. Hope your day is sweeter than honey!

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This verse popped up in my You Version Bible app today, and it’s such a great reminder for us all—especially us Mommas as we deal with our children each day. We all need to strive to use pleasant words! Since it’s also the theme of my blog, I couldn’t help but share it with you. Hope it’s a blessing to you today!

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I’m also cooking corned beef for the first time. It’s in the crockpot, and seems pretty simple to make, so we’ll see! I don’t plan to add the cabbage because I’m quite sure that won’t go over very well with my family, but I’ll probably add some potatoes. I’ll roast some asparagus to add something green and maybe add some green grapes for more green! I also printed off a cute little shamrock craft to make. (Here’s a bunch more craft ideas.) My teen son probably won’t get too much of a kick out of it, but I might be able to convince him to join us… we’ll see! During lunch, we’re going to watch the Torchlighter’s movie about St. Patrick to learn a bit more about him.

Hope you have a fun St. Patrick’s Day with your family!

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Those who sow in tears shall reap with joyful shouting.

We sow seeds with our eyes on the harvest. The sowing is hard work, but we do it because we have the hope of the reaping. The sowing seasons of life can sometimes get long, and we can lose sight of the harvest time. Raising children is hard. Homeschooling is hard. But we don’t give up if we keep our eyes on the One who brings us the harvest. I don’t know what you’re facing today, mama, but don’t give up. There is always hope in Christ, and the harvest will come. Until then, keep on keeping on!

Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith…

Hebrews 12:2a

P.S. If you’re looking for a great language arts option, check out my post about IEW.

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Before Joseph’s Birth

Genesis 29:21-30 takes us back before Joseph’s birth to the marriage of his parents.  Jacob worked for 7 years to be able to marry Rachel, but then her father sneaked her sister Leah into the wedding instead.  Can you imagine being in Leah’s shoes?!  She knows this man loves her sister, but her dad is making her marry him for the sake of tradition.  And then poor Rachel?  She does love him, but her dad gives her sister to him instead and makes her wait a week to then marry him, too.  And he now has to serve her father another 7 years besides.  This is a bit of a rough start to married life!

But we see in verse 31 that God had mercy on Leah and allowed her to bear 4 sons, but He closed Rachel’s womb.  At this time, bearing children was very important to a woman.  Leah hoped that bearing these sons would cause Jacob to love her, but to no avail.  In chapter 30, the story goes on to tell us that Rachel becomes jealous of Leah and is obviously emotional because she can’t bear children.  I just can’t imagine being in a home with two wives, can you?  Talk about asking for trouble!  However,  having many sons to carry on the family name was important, so marrying more than one wife was a common practice at this time.  So Rachel takes matters into her own hands and gives her maid, Bilhah, to Jacob to try to bear children through her.  So now, there’s three wives.  (This is getting better all the time!)  But it did make Rachel feel vindicated (verse 6), because Bilhah bore him 2 sons.  But Leah is not to be outdone, so in verse 9 it says that Leah goes ahead and gives her maid, Zilpah, to Jacob as well. So now there’s four wives!

I don’t know if these men just left home all day long or what, but I don’t know how they put up with all these women! But Zilpah did bear Jacob 2 more sons.  Then, Leah’s son Reuben finds some mandrakes and brings them home to her.  Rachel asks for some, but Leah says no way. So Rachel bargains with her and says she can have Jacob for the night if she’ll give her the mandrakes.  So Jacob goes to Leah, and she gets pregnant again and has another son. She also has another son later on, but yet Rachel still hasn’t had any children of her own.  Finally, in verse 22 it says God remembered Rachel and opened her womb.  She becomes pregnant and has Joseph.

God’s Faithfulness to Abraham

One thing the study points out is how God made a covenant with Abraham to multiply his descendants and make a great nation of his seed.  Abraham is Joseph’s great-grandpa.  (So God is definitely multiplying Abraham’s seed through Joseph’s father, Jacob!)  As you probably know, Joseph and his brothers become the fathers of the 12 tribes of the nation of Israel.  So even though this family is rather dysfunctional, God still used them to fulfill His promise to Abraham.  My study book highlighted the fact that God’s faithfulness to His promises is not dependent on people’s faithfulness to Him.  In the same vein, His faithfulness to you and me is not dependent on our being perfectly right in all that we do.  What a great, comforting truth!  God is perfectly faithful in spite of us!

Joseph’s Childhood

Growing up in this home would even have been hard for the children—four mothers, at least two of whom are at odds with each other most of the time, 11 half-brothers and at least one half-sister.  As Joseph’s story goes on, we see that his father, Jacob, shows favoritism to Joseph and gives him a special coat.  This definitely couldn’t have helped things in the home at all.  We later learn that his brother’s hated him because of it, and Joseph has some dreams that don’t help his situation either.  It’s not clear why he shared the dreams with his brothers, but he did, which again didn’t endear him to his brothers.  So they eventually devise a plan to sell him to merchants headed to Egypt and made up a story for their father that Joseph had been killed.  Joseph is then sold to Potiphar as a servant.

I know this is may be a familiar story to some, but I hope that you can try to imagine being in Joseph’s shoes.  How would you feel or react to all of this?  I’m not so sure I would have held up quite as well as Joseph did.  But in Genesis 39, verse 2 it says that “The Lord was with Joseph.”  This is the key.  We really can’t do life unless God is with us in our day to day.  We need Him, and that’s ok.  That’s how He made us!  Remember this:

“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”

Philippians 4:13 (NKJV)

God is with Joseph in Egypt

Joseph is promoted well in Potiphar’s house until Potiphar’s wife tries to tempt Joseph, who flees, so she lies about him, and he’s then thrown in prison.  I wonder what Joseph is thinking about now.  “God, did you forget about me?  I’m just trying to make the best of my situation here, but now I’m thrown in prison for something I didn’t even do.”  But we see in verse 22 that God was still with Joseph, and gave him favor in the eyes of the chief jailer who sets him up as an overseer of the prisoners.   So God helps Joseph again to rise above the challenge and be a man of integrity. Joseph is eventually taken out of the prison to interpret Pharaoh’s dream and then made ruler of Egypt, second only to Pharaoh himself.  He marries, has two sons, and eventually saves His brothers and father from starvation in a severe famine.  (There’s a lesson here on forgiveness, too, but that’s for another day.)  Today, I want to just focus on how God remained perfectly faithful through all of these challenges and mess-ups to accomplish His plan.  He blessed Joseph for staying true to Him even in a foreign land.  So take this with you today:

• 1. God’s faithfulness is not dependent on us getting everything right. Praise the Lord!
• 2. God can work good even through our messes.  We don’t have to feel hopeless.  God is still God at all times and in every thing.  Things may seem bleak sometimes, but we can always trust in His faithfulness.  God is perfectly faithful!

In case you want to check it out, here’s the link to the study I’m doing: Finding God Faithful. I am not using the video sessions, and I’m still able to do the study without any issues. I just skip the session notes pages. Also, check out this link for more about God’s faithful love.

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“The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring for ever: the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.” 

God and His Word are where true sweetness is found – even sweeter than honey!  I hope to use this blog to be a blessing to you by helping you see God’s beauty in our every day lives. I will definitely share things God has taught me in His Word, but I may also share different things that have been a blessing to me in my homeschooling, health, homemaking, church, or even music journeys.  Proverbs 16:24 says,

“Pleasant words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones.”

I want to bring these pleasant words to your days! I hope you will strive to do the same with your children, family, and others you have opportunity to encourage. These blessings bring sweetness to life, and I hope to add a little sweetness to your life through my blog, hence the name “Honeycomb Blessings.”  Have a sweet day, my friend, and enjoy a little honey in your tea or coffee today!

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God’s love is patient.

The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. 2 Peter 3:9

~He’s patient with our shortcomings and spiritual journey, but this verse speaks of His patience in regard to His return.  For us, this world seems to be getting pretty rough in many ways, but God desires that all who will be saved will have the opportunity to do so.  I know I’m anxious for His return, but His timing is best and we can trust that and be thankful for His patience with lost souls…and be challenged to be busy telling others about Him.

God’s love is unchanging.

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. James 1:17

~This is such a comforting truth in a world that is constantly changing.  God’s love for me and you will never change, regardless of anything that goes on around us or even anything that we do.  We can always count on His love and know that He is there, even when it may not seem like it.  God never changes, and His Word never changes.  

God’s love is faithful.

Know therefore that the LORD thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations; Deuteronomy 7:9

~God is faithful to us even when we’re unfaithful to Him.  I’ve had times in my own life where I have questioned His faithfulness because my circumstances were so bleak that things just didn’t make sense, and I didn’t know where He was.  This is where our faithfulness and trust in Him and His Word is tested.  It’s not easy.  Life can be just plain hard and painful sometimes.  But if we don’t have God, we have nothing.  My dad quoted someone else once who said “If you’re at the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on!”  Sometimes life feels like that…like we’re hanging on for dear life.  But God is still faithful, whether we feel like it or not.  The “knot” we have to hang on to is His Word and the promises and truths we find in it.  I’m sure Joseph in the Bible felt pretty abandoned being sold into slavery and sitting in that prison for such a long time.  He didn’t know how the story would end like we do.  But he remained faithful, and God did bring about a pretty amazing ending to his story.  God is always faithful to His Word, and we can trust in that.

God’s love is everlasting.

The LORD hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee. Jeremiah 31:3

~I have this verse on my wall in my bedroom, and I love having it there.  I’ve looked at it often and it’s been such an encouragement at different times.  God’s love will last forever.  All of these aspects of His love we’ve looked at will always be true, both now and for eternity.

God’s love is inseparable.

Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:39

~Nothing will separate us from God’s love.  Did you notice what it said there?  “Nor things present, nor things to come”. This helps us face the future because we know that no matter what comes, nothing separates us from God’s love.  Whatever happens now and whatever happens in the future, God will still be there with us, loving us and giving us the strength to face it.  When we worry about future things, we’re trying to imagine handling them without God’s grace.  But God isn’t giving me grace for that thing right now because I’m not facing it right now.  If whatever it is does actually come, God’s grace will be there for us in that moment, guiding us and leading us and loving us.  Nothing can ever separate us from His love.  This is truth we can rest in today and every day.

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