Why DO I homeschool??

Sometimes, when I'm tired of homeschooling, and I feel like I would love to quit and have the day to myself, it is good to be reminded of why I wanted to homeschool in the first place.

My oldest went to Kindergarten at a small Christian school, but only because his aunt was his teacher and the other two needed some Mommy time.

Now, I home educate because I want to be the largest influence on my children. I want to instil in them the belief that with God, they can do anything. If someone was going to influence my children from eight in the morning until three in the afternoon, I wanted to be sure that her convictions were mine. That her reason for spending the time with my child was not to pay for her child's education, not to earn a little extra money for herself, and certainly not to indoctrinate them with some liberal agenda. I want to have my children taught WHY we do the things we do. WHY we go to church. WHY we memorize Bible verses. WHY we believe in creation. WHY we love serving others. WHY we pitch in and help out with others. WHY our standards are as high as they are, even though others think they are weird.

 I want them to love learning. I remember distinctly the day when I no longer enjoyed going to school. The day when I was bored to hear about the same thing for the 50th time and I still had to sit and listen to a 45 minute lecture on the topic. I remember hating doing homework over a topic that I understood and was bored of. I remember not retaining things even though I had studied them because it was not a topic that held my interest. NOW, I do teach all the different ranges of topics to my boys, but at the same time I allow them to pursue those that interest them. When we go to the library, they are allowed to pick three books for that week on whatever topic seems interesting. So far they have studied dinosaurs, pirates, sharks, Christmas in foreign countries, and baby animals. I LOVE this!!! I love that they ENJOY learning.

 I want them to realize that they will never know everything, but they can know where to look. I love taking them to the library and introducing them to new topics. I want them to realize that books, and GOOGLE :) have all the answers to all the questions they need. I love memorizing verses on topics for an entire school year. Last year, we memorized verses on God's commands to children (ie. Be quiet, Be still...). This year, we are studying verses from Proverbs on the slothful and the diligent. I love sharing with them Bible verses that apply to simple things like schoolwork.

I want them to have an entrepreneur's heart that seeks out challenges rather than being afraid of failure. So many times, boys at school tease other boys who do not have their sports ability. Those kids that do not have the ability to learn well are teased for their bad grades. I'm not saying that grading is bad. We are graded daily in every area of our lives, and only in knowing we have failed can we choose to improve. It's just that with a dyslexic son that sits next to a brother that has been reading since he was two, he has enough trouble without also being added to the "remedial" reading group in school. It also takes much encouragement from us, and a curve in reading grades. But hey, in my humble opinion, since reading is not a grade in high school, then  it's not really important what their grade is now as long as they arrive in high school with a love of reading and absorbing knowledge. I can give my dyslexic reader a B for his high effort, even if it's not as good as my advanced reader would have done at that point in his life. If they learn from the examples in their own life that they can do anything if they keep trying, they will be willing to take charge of their own lives later down the road.

 I want my sons to get to be boys, instead of disciplined into being robots and sitting still all day. Don't mistake me. They WILL sit still when they are asked, but they will be given enough opportunities to run so that sitting is not so difficult. I love letting them run all day, only to coral them after dinner for two to three hours of schooling. They get done quickly that way and are able to enjoy the day. They have time to do their chores, time to help with the work around the outside of the house, contribute to being helpers in the house, and still get to spend roughly half of their time awake at play. I love that!!!

 I want my sons to have every opportunity to find out what they want to do with their LIFE rather than focusing on the subjects available at whatever college. If they hate this subject or that subject, they will be far less likely to head for the career of their dreams because they have so much prejudice against a certain class they may have to take. If, however, they are taught in a way they enjoy, on a timeline that fits them, they will learn useful information at a time that is best suited to their learning, not to a curriculum's calendar.

In short, I want to give my sons every opportunity to find what God wants and requires, and the strength of mind, body, and character to become that man. THAT is why I homeschool. THAT is why I love what I do.

Settled In

But God is faithful......

So, in the last few months, here is what has happened... God has blessed us

With a wonderful new home

With a HUGE fenced in backard

and a large back patio

a fireplace

and a washer for a Christmas present, and a dryer from a new Christian friend

and a great area for a garden with rich black dirt, lots of worms, slugs and snails

 and a new recliner God gave us for $15.

See, God is faithful. He has "turned for us our mourning into dancing." He has given "Beauty for ashes." I heard that explained recently. Just as you take the ashes from your fireplace and sprinkle it on your garden to bring new, better fruit; or larger, more beautiful flowers... so God takes the ashes from our past, the mistakes, the failures, the heartaches: and builds us a beautiful future that produces more fruit. We have watched God do great things for us. Through all my life, God's been good.

"But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold." Job 23:10.

"For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end." Jeremiah 29:11

From the Brand New Home....

So, here we are in a brand new city, with a brand new church, and brand new friends...

And you know? God is still faithful!!!  Doug looked for a church in the weeks before the boys and I arrived, but was unable to do much as the churches he called never got back to him. Because of being in the city with no form of transportation other than the public bus lines, he was dependent on the church to get back with him for a ride to church.  The only church that got back with him was Coastal Light, and it has been perfect in every way. What a wonderful church FAMILY the Lord has provided for us here. I could go on and on. We are taking our time to be sure about the church, but it feels like HOME already, and we're ready to get busy in it.

Doug's job is going well. We found out after he started that he had been picked out of 2,200 applicants for his job, and so far he is doing a great job. He took his first test today toward being fully independent in his work. He passed. With flying colors. I'm so proud of him!!!

The boys and I are starting school now that we are in place. We don't have everything we need yet, but we are starting with what we have, and we should have the rest next week or so. I am excited about training them to be Godly young men, one day at a time.

Which brings me to the last part. We were also blessed in that we are able to stay in the temporary housing for two months instead of only one. See, as a result of moving ourselves (with things stored in four separate loacations, I couldn't ask any moving company to do it for me) we had much more money left over from the monies they were willing to pay for our move. Because of that, we are able to stay in temorary housing for an extra month. WHAT A BLESSING!!!!!!! With Doug being out of work, then getting paid so little to work, we made it here by the skin of our teeth. Now, with two months in the temporary home, we have enough time to save up a good amount for the deposits we will need to pay.  GOD IS SO GOOD!!!!

My life verse is Jeremiah 29:11, "For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end." God has led this entire way, and I cannot doubt that he will continue to lead our family in the future. I love that there is "an expected end". That means, God has already been where I'm going, he knows "...the way that I take, [and] when I am tried, I shall come forth as gold."

Clark Family Update

So, I figure it's been a long while since I posted, and those who do read may wonder if I dropped off the map. Here's what's been happening.

I told you about the apartment, and the move, and Doug's new job. Let's see.  Right now I am staying with my parents, in the same room as three little boys, on a cot that in no way matches my Tempurpedic for comfort.... And I'm excited!!!!

You see, God took care of fitting in our inspection before the lights get turned off at our apartment, and he took care of lining up a carpet cleaner last minute after the one we had lined up had  his machine broken. A friend of mine helped me clean out the apartment for the inspection until three in the morning this morning. It is so weird to walk in to an empty apartment after having seen it full of furniture and boxes on Sunday morning. My friend gave me some advice which ultimately helped us pass the inspection too.

Let's see, also, the boys and I are doing every possible busywork thing to keep our minds occupied. Tomorrow I will have to do a little cleaning and packing of the things I brought to my parent's house, but other than that, I am pretty well set and ready to go in two weeks.

God has not failed us. We are experiencing things that are reprocussions of our past financial decisions, but God has helped through it all and is caring for us to the end.

The only way to look right now is up, and it's upward that we're headed. I can hardly wait to get to Charleston and see what God has for us next.

A friend of mine posted Ephesians 3:20 on Facebook today, and I can think of no more appropriate verse for this post. "Now unto him that is able to do EXCEEDING ABUNDANTLY ABOVE all that we ask or think..." I'm so glad He is the God of more than enough.

When God Answers Prayer

So, I've found out that when God answers prayer, he answers them BIG TIME!!!!!!!

Let's back up so I can fill you in on the last SIX MONTHS!!  I haven't posted much, other than to encourage myself, because we don't have internet where we are living and I have to be at my parents, his moms, or the library to use a computer that has internet.

We moved out of our other home because we were no longer able to afford payments, and when life seemed it's darkest, God provided a home for half as much money as the other was costing us.  It was worth it, the neighbors were all grownups, but that was okay because it meant our apartment was pretty calm.  Then, everyone cleared out and we got new neighbors.  Some with less than desirable habits, and some who had friends that did not value the property of others. But that's only happened in the last month, so, for the most part it has been wonderful.

God gave us some super understanding people to work with for rent, and that has been good since I am without my interpreting job right now.  Doug was working about 45 minutes away from home, and come to find out, only paying for gas with the money he made.  SO, he found a job in bike riding distance of our home, that pays $.50 more PER HOUR than the one he had to drive 45 minutes to do.  Then, he got a secondary night job.  Between the two of them, God has continued to meet our needs.  I've also been doing babysitting jobs so I can help earn a little more while staying with our sons.

SO, here we are now, five months in, and God has given Doug a new job.  He starts on the 12th of next month, which will be 6 months, minus a week, since our lives were turned upside down.  We are moving out of state, about 6 hours away from both of our families, but I will be totally at home with the boys.  No more interpreting. No more babysitting.  Just homeschooling.  It's going to be such a break for me!!!  We think we've found the place we are going to live, and I'm excited because it's seemed that we have a new church there as well.

God has been, is continuing to be, and will remain ever faithful!!  I'm actually excited about what he is going to do next.

When Cares are Pressing You Down a Bit

When things go wrong, as they sometimes will,
When the road you're trudging seems all uphill,
When the funds are low and the debts are high,
And you want to smile, but you have to sigh,
When care is pressing you down a bit
Rest if you must, but don't you quit.


Life is queer with its twists and its turns,
As everyone of us sometimes learns,
And many a failure turns about
When they might have won, had they stuck it out.
Don't give up though the pace seems slow,
You may succeed with another blow.

Often the goal is nearer than,
It seems to a faint and faltering man,
Often the struggler has given up
When he might have captured the victor's cup;
And he learned too late when the night came down,
How close he was to the golden crown.


Success is failure turned inside out
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt
And you never can tell how close you are,
It may be near when it seems so far;
So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit,
It's when things seem worst that you must not quit!

So, life has been kicking us around, and we've failed some, but God has been faithful. I refuse to give up or let myself go.
So far, Doug has been promised a permanent job that was taken back two days before he was to start. But God provided a job for him again. We've gotten a check at just the right time to pay for our rent. Now our tags have been taken back, but God has provided a car for the month anyway.  God has been faithful.
There's no way we're quitting on God, since he has yet to give up on us. It's just trusting in the storm. that's the part that's proving a little hard.

Can I Get an AMEN??

God is STILL, STILL faithful!!!

So, since I last posted, we had to be out of our home by March 18th.  Two weeks before, Plan A fell through.  Four DAYS before, Plan B fell through.  TWO DAYS before we had to be out, God provided a larger place than we had expected, for less than 1/3 of Plan A's cost (three times the size), and $25 less than Plan B (twice the size).
God has blessed us and blessed us again.  On top of that, now that Doug is cleared for work, he has a temporary job until the end of April, and my job ends at the beginning of May.  I have no earthly clue where God will put us after that.  My sister's lease is up in the beginning of May, so it is possible that she will be able to take over our lease if we need to move somewhere else for what God had for us.  However, God may have us here for the whole of the lease (Oh, which He gave us a 6 month lease with no extra penalties, in stead of a whole year's lease). There is someone who may be willing to take our muttly for us, since we've had her for 3 years and are not supposed to have her here at the new place.
So, now things are pretty well settled in, and to do "Exceeding abundantly above all that we could ask or think..." God put us near the park, and the library, and my parent's home.  I am able to walk there on the days I have no vehicle while Doug is at work. God has also provided a way every Monday and Wednesday so far for me to get to work while Doug is also on his way in the opposite direction!!!!  He is SO good to me!!!!!!
And when I think about the fact that he has taken care of so many things, What a FOOL I would be to complain about the little things that I could be prone to complain about.  God is SO GOOD to me!!!