Please give me strength to face each day.
May I reflect Your grace along the way.

Help me keep Christ-like character in view
When my children challenge me about what they must do.

When I am weary and the days seem long,
May I lean on You to give me a song.

It’s been said “The days are long, but the years are short.”
Help me treasure these days whatever their sort.

Thank you for all my precious ones,
May they bring You praise when the school year’s done.

Amen.

~Amber Lundquist

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As you are starting your year, here are few resources I love using in our homeschool:

The online planner called Homeschool Planet is super helpful, especially for the high school years and preparing transcripts.

I have really liked the Bible Studies and Homeschool Curriculum I’ve used from Not Consumed. We’ve done many of the Bible Studies, and so far, I’ve used her Thrive PE Curriculum and the Consumer Math. Both are great! She also has some new things out this year that I’d like to try out next year with my daughter.

And finally, I really appreciate the strong Biblical and Creationist worldview weaved all throughout the curriculum from Master Books. I have used quite a bit of their curriculum over the years. This year I am using Comparative Religions, Language Lessons for A Living Education, American History, Chemistry, and Survey of Science History and Concepts, as well as several of their reading books.

Hope you have a beautiful year this year!

The post A Back-to-School Prayer for Homeschool Moms appeared first on Honeycomb Blessings.

Last week I was feeling very overwhelmed with all. the. things. I was behind on some things, and homeschooling is starting up soon. We have company coming for several days, and on and on it goes. My head was spinning a bit. My husband saw the overwhelm and offered to take the kids elsewhere for a day so I could get some focused time to catch up on some things. It only ended up being for the afternoon instead of the whole day, but it was super helpful!

A few ideas to reduce overwhelm

If you’re feeling a bit “under it all,” perhaps a friend or family member could take your kids for a morning or afternoon to allow you to get some things done uninterrupted. If not, I know that doing a brain dump can be super helpful…just write everything down that’s swirling around in your head. Getting it on paper or in a to-do app where you can try to make some sense of it can be a great stress reliever. (I recently started using an app called Planmore, and I’m really liking it!) When you’re feeling overwhelmed, remember you only have to face today, or even the next few minutes. God’s grace is there for today, and it will be there again for tomorrow. The following verses remind us where to keep our focus as we go through each day. Pray a lot, meditate on the following verses, and have a sweet day!

But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

Matthew 6:33-34, NKJV

The post Just Enough Grace for Today appeared first on Honeycomb Blessings.

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!

The post My Take on IEW appeared first on Honeycomb Blessings.

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!

The post St. Patrick’s Day Fun appeared first on Honeycomb Blessings.

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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