Wednesday, July 29, 2015

Where has time gone?

Hannah turned 11 months July 24th. Wow! I can't believe I'm planning her birthday party. So I don't know how much she weighs or how tall she is. I think that's a good thing because the only way I would know is if I had to take her to the doctor for sickness.
No checkup at 11 months. We will definitely know those statistics at 1 year for sure. 

Hannah loves to play peekaboo, patacake, and she also likes for us to blow raspberries on her feet. She puts them back up in our faces to do it again. She is also taking steps but she isn't quite walking yet. As her mommy, I have to say I am okay with that. She loves fruit puffs, grapes, apples, and pretty much any food I put in front of her.

Here is an 11 month picture.


I will be back next month to share her exciting first birthday with you all. 

In the meantime, live, laugh, and love. We are not promised tomorrow so let the ones you care about know you love them. Life is precious!

Monday, April 6, 2015

Hannah is 7 months old

Hannah is 7 months old now!  Sarah and I had a sweet picture session with her yesterday.  She is now saying mama, dada, and bubba.  It may not be that she realizes what she is saying for all of them but she is definitley making the sounds and we have been saying these words to her since very early on.  She is sitting up well and crawling.  Crawling is something she isn't very interested in but she will crawl a small distance to retrieve a toy.  She is still the happiest baby ever.  Even when she is hungry or needs a diaper changed she is still happy.

Here are a few sweet pictures.




New Season

With spring comes a new curriculum for our family.  I posted about it back a few weeks ago.  Today was our first day.  We read about different countries and how Jesus has been shared with these people by missionaries and how prayer has been a huge part of these countries being reached. Our memory verse is John 3:16 and all three of my kids know this verse by heart.  Caleb who is currently in 1st grade is learning to print it.  Noah and Sarah is practicing it in cursive.

We read about the history of maps.  We found out that maps date back to early times and some of the first maps were drawn in the sand, made on clay tablets, and on silk.  The earlier maps were also very inaccurate.  The kids also found out that we will be "traveling" to a lot of countries throughout our Exploring Countries and Cultures.  They applied for a passport in which they will need in order to cross the border into foreign countries.  They filled out the application, wrote a check for $80 to me, put the application and check into an envelope and addressed it to me.  They will receive their passports in a few weeks as we advance through the material.  The first countries are USA and Canada.  For Caleb he learned how to write his address and how to address an envelope.  He's been told how to do this however, he hasn't actually done this before. Here are some pictures of the kids filling out the application for their passports.





We learned in Science what an ecosystem is as well as biome and the origin of this word as well as ecology.  I'm learning new things.  I love science so this is my favorite part of our day.  We are actually doing Apologia Science as well but haven't started that yet.  I didn't have time last week to prepare for the lessons this week.

For music we listened to a song that said Hello in several different languages.  The kids really enjoyed this and we listened to it 5 times so they now know how to say Hello in several different languages.

It's been a good day here at Gooden Homeschool.  I'm really looking forward to the year to come.

Wednesday, March 25, 2015

And so it begins....



The  homeschool burnout began mid February.  Even though we pretty much had December off, it began.  I got tired of having to do 3 separate times of school with the kids. I felt like I was just doing it because I had to.  I wasn't enjoying it anymore.  I wanted to spend time with all my children every day.  I started praying and seeking God about what curriculum we would use next year.  I asked my friend about a particular one she uses.  I did some research on math curriculums.  We did some changeups.  I still need to do some research on Language Arts curriculum for my 6th and 4th grader but I have that under control and I'm actively searching.  The Lord started working in my heart about the company that I went with for Sarah's Kindergarten and Noah's second grade year.  I really enjoyed the material and the kids did as well.  My friend whom I was asking questions really was very helpful.  I joined the Facebook group of the curriculum I was looking into.  I also joined a group that allows listing used My Father's World material.  I found a set listed for a good price so I went ahead and bought that.  I had perfect peace about it at that point.  We will be doing My Father's World Exploring Countries and Cultures starting April 6th.  We will combine History/Geograpy, Science, and Bible with all three kids.  We will continue with the Language Arts and Math curriculum for the current grade level of the kids.

Today we received a few odds and ends in the mail.  Here are the kids learning a bit of cartography today.  They were really excited to get a globe and world map in the mail today.  They also got glue, modeling clay, colored pencils, and a few other things that are for the ECC curriculum.  

We can't wait to start!!  We are all excited!


Monday, March 16, 2015

Hannah is 6 months old!

Wow!  I cannot believe that my baby is 6 months old!  She turned 6 months on February 24 so I am a little late in posting this.  We've been busy around here.  She is a sweetheart.  Last week she said "mama" for the first time.  So proud of that girl!  She loves her daddy though and I'm just waiting for the "dada".  At 6 months she was 15lbs 8oz and 27 inches long.  She was exclusively breastfed up until then.  We have tried a few solids and she loved them to begin with.  Now she just gags or spits them back at me so we've put them on the back burner for now.  She was sitting up right around the 6 month mark but now she has definitely mastered sitting up and gets on her hands and knees and lunges to get things that she wants on the floor.  She gets around really good.  Ok that's just a little update on her.  She is crying so here's a picture of her.  Enjoy!


Focus word update: LOVE

I'm still learning to love like Jesus.  I still remember that focus word I started out with at the beginning of this year. I started out the year not really loving like Jesus.  I loved but I loved with condition.  Quite honestly I still love with condition at some points in my life and in some situations.  However, I am moving forward with it.  I am asking God daily to help me.  I am learning how much God loves me and learning to reflect His love and share it with others when I can.  I think my children and my husband have seen the most change as I am more focused on them and making memories with them.  In the past, I have really focused on a rigid schedule.  God has convicted me.  I was a Martha and need to be a Mary.  I'm still learning and I hope that eventually everyone that comes in contact with me will know without a doubt that I love Jesus and I love them with no conditions.  It's very important for my family to know this and then everyone else.  I love how it feels to know Jesus loves me unconditionally and I want my children to feel that from me as well. I know I can't love my children as much as God loves them but I sure can try to beat the mark.  That's my goal this year.  

I think that truly loving someone unconditionally is accepting them for who they are.  We appreciate the good points and accept the weak points.  We encourage away the weak points in a loving way.  It never turns out well to be harsh or to dislike someone because they aren't the same as us.  I have a bad habit of seeing the differences in someone from me and instead of appreciating those differences I label them with those differences.  That's wrong.....so wrong and I am a work in progress.

Praying that by 2016, I can truly love like Jesus.

Thursday, January 1, 2015

Happy 2015!!

I have been led to have a focus word this year. I can see how far I have been. Looking back just a few years ago I was a different person. I was still a wife and mother and a good one but today I am so much better. For the last few years I have found an online community of women who have been studying the Word and I've been accountable to several different groups. This has helped me to grow so much as a person, as a wife, and as a mother. I'm so thankful for Jesus and his grace, mercy, peace, and forgiveness. I think though, that I am most thankful for his LOVE. If not for love I don't think there would be mercy, peace, or forgiveness for without the cross there would be no mercy, peace, or forgiveness. Without love there would be no cross.

So my focus word for 2015 is LOVE because Love never fails. There are different kinds of love and I want to learn about all the types of love there is. I want to also be able to love like Jesus. Love doesn't keep record of wrong. Love should be unconditional for this is what we need. This unconditional love....Jesus love. True sacrifice. For us to love we must first receive love from the One who is king of giving love. We must recive love from the One who invented love, sacrificed everything, and came to earth as a helpless baby in the most lowly of situations. Love never fails. True love is truly a miracle. God is love

I'm so excited to Love more in 2015.