And I Wouldn't Have it Any Other Way

Today is my 40-somethingth birthday.  Here's how I've spent it:

A little of this:

Celebrating with cupcakes and science safety goggles:

Then I did a little LOT of this:

(I don't look that glamorous at ALL.  But I did spend about an hour+ in the van, going to and from ballet!)

And we'll wrap up with dinner and a lot LITTLE of this:

It's not a quiet retreat in the mountains.  It's not a day at the spa.  It's not lunch with girlfriends, or a getaway with my hubby.

It's life.  Lived in all its messy, busy, crazy, glory.

And this week, after all the lessons the Lord has impressed upon my heart?

I wouldn't have it any other way.

Dear Will, Gracy, and Caroline. . . . .

Dear Will, Gracy, and Caroline (and Bill, too. . . . )

When I learned that your mom was perfectly healed last Saturday night, I couldn't sleep.  My tears of grief and joy mingled together, flowing down on my cheeks, and I needed some time to just sit and process.

I went to your mom's CaringBridge page and started reading.  Not her journal entries, but the "Guestbook" comments, and do you know what I found?

"You don't know me, Laura . . . . .but I'm inspired by your story."
"You don't know me, Laura. . . . . but I'm praying for you."
"You don't know me, Laura. . . . .but thank you for pointing me to Jesus."

Over. and over. and over. and over.  The same story.  People who didn't know your Mom personally, had never even met her, but who were changed by her life.

I read somewhere that your mom had over 500,000 visitors to her CaringBridge site.  Her facebook page (now that you're reading this, does Facebook even exist?!) shows over 1700 friends.  That's over half a million people. . . half a MILLION! . . . .that know her story.  That were changed by her story.

I was changed, too.

See, the week that your mom found out that she had cancer, our own family got some incredibly difficult news.  Not like yours, but news that rocked our world and shook my faith in God to its core.  Since then, I've followed your mom's story pretty closely, and known her in a "Let's-have-a-conversation-in-the-hallway-while-we're-waiting-for-ballet-to-be-over" way.  She was one of my 'friends' on facebook, and she and I often traded crazy jokes back and forth.

So I watched. And read. And listened. And learned.

Your mom got one "No" after another from God.  So did we.  And for a while, we put our lives on hold, afraid to venture out, takes risks, take chances. 

Not your mom!  She lived. . .she really, really lived!

Last February, we were visiting in the hallway together.  And there she was, in her gorgeous head scarf (she could really rock a head scarf!), asking me about possibly teaching Civics in a homeschool co-op in the fall.  "Caroline will be starting Kindergarten," she said, "and I'm thinking that would be something I'd love, that would work with my treatment schedule and her school schedule."

{side note:  Will, do you remember that day?  We talked about building a dehydrator, and science stuff, and all sorts of other fun things.  Your mom just loved it that you were always so interested in things like that. . . her face lit up as she watched us talk!}

I walked away that day, and I was never the same again.

Your mom taught me how to live.

Your mom helped me to see that Jesus was enough.  He really, really was for her. . . . . and it is my prayer, through all the heartache and anger and grief and doubt and confusion that I know you will experience as you face the coming years. . . . .  . that He will be enough for you.

With love and prayers,
Heather Henriques

This blog post is written as part of Laura's request, that we continue her legacy of letters to her children 

on how her ministry has impacted our life.

If you have been impacted by Laura's story, and would like to write a letter, you may send it to:

DearWillGracyCaroline@gmail.com

or

P.O. Box 660982

Birmingham, AL 35266

Sunday Sentiments: This Momentary Affliction

  I started this post earlier today, intending to finish it tomorrow.  The Lord had other plans for me - and other plans for Laura, too.

Laura Black is the wife and mother in the photo above.  5 years ago, when expecting her third child, the doctors found cancer.  Breast cancer.  Treatment, chemo, experimental trials, radiation, more chemo - and 5 years later, the day after she entered hospice care, the cancer won out. 

Or did it?   

You see, Laura Black was far more than a cancer patient.  She was a child of God.  Not only that, but a beloved child of God, who was chosen to walk a road that none of us - not ONE of us - would willingly walk.  But walk the cancer road she did - beautifully, courageously, honestly, and with far more grace than I believe I could.

In the words of John Piper, Laura did not waste her cancer.  In the words of the Apostle Paul in his letter to the Corinthians: "So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison,  as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal."

Laura used her "light and momentary affliction" to point hundreds - no, more likely thousands - to Jesus.  Go and read her Caring Bridge page - have a box (or two) of tissues handy.  Her writing is beautiful, and will take your breath away.  She writes honestly of her struggles, but she writes beautifully of her Savior.

Laura's affliction - to her now - seems light and momentary.  She is fully healed, and rejoicing in the arms of Jesus. 

Well done, good and faithful servant.  She has indeed entered into her rest.

I leave you with the poem, penned by Laura in 2009.

Find me on my face, Lord
When all the world is right
In the quiet still of life
Have me clinging at Your side

Find me on my face, Lord
When sorrows enter near
Casting out all doubt
The Foe brings in with fear

Find me on my face, Lord
Crying for the souls
Of those who walk in darkness
Beneath dark shadows fold

Find me on my face, Lord
When death cries out my name
Not with bitter pangs of angst
But with joyful songs of praise

Find me on my face, Lord
When I cannot understand
Remind me of Your goodness
And the greatness of Your plan

Find me on my face, Lord
Humbly seeking only this:
“Conform my will to Thine”
Not “Please fill my requests.”

Find me on my face, Lord
Whatever life may bring
Rejoicing in the privilege
To bow before the King.

Tapestry of Grace Part Six: Organizing Tapestry and Notebooks

Hi, my name is Heather, and I'm a compulsive organizer.

"Hi, Heather. . . . "

Not really.  I do have a thing about checking off boxes, though.  But I digress.

Finally back on track, and wanting to finish my Tapestry series that I started . . . . um. . . . a long time ago. . . . . . . I thought I'd tackle the organization topic.  Because, you know, I'm so organized that I have tons of free time to blog and stuff.  Heh.  Anywho.

First, and MOST IMPORTANTLY!!!!!  If you somehow you get the idea that my life is wonderful, beautiful, perfect and organized . . . .  I have some pictures of my bathroom floors I can post for you.  SO there.  (Go back and read this post if you need a refresher course on the dangers of comparison.)

Now that's out of the way.  Where was I?

Here is one approach - my approach - to organizing my Tapestry year.  (Remember, I am a DE TOG user, so that impacts how I organize to some extent.)  I confess, I enjoy purchasing the SAP packs from Lampstand Press - these are the Student Activity sheets already printed for me, so I only have to print reading lists and overview pages.  Beautiful!  I haven't splurged on color yet, but would love to if the old budget allows.  Once I have my SAP packs in hand, I file Units 2-4, by week, in a large file box:

At this point, I don't separate them out by student yet.  That comes when they go into this file drawer:

To start the school year, I put the first unit into my file drawer in the school room.  Each of my kids has a color, and I put their pages in their own folder for the week-plan.  If I'm a good Mommy, I sit down and get all the reading assignments and overview pages printed for the unit - these are not included in the SAP  packs.  (Usually, however, I'm not so on top of it by the 2nd or 3rd Unit - and I'm printing away the night before or - gasp! - the day of our set-up meeting!)

You might notice in the file I also have a file for Evaluations - these are the quizzes and unit exams for my Dialectic and Rhetoric students.  

When it's time for our set-up meeting, I bring our handy-dandy colored folders to the table and - ta dah! - the pages are where they are supposed to be.

Now, a quick word about notebooks:

Some of you have noticed that I don't use 3-ring binders.  Instead I use a system that I originally purchased from Levenger - the Circa notebook system.  Happily, this year I noticed our local Staples carrying a similar system - oh, the joys!!

I love these notebooks because the bindings lay flat, I can rearrange pages at will, and my kids can even punch random notecards, drawings, etc and put them in with their regular size papers.  Here's an up close look at one:

My daughter's Upper Grammar notebook

Opened to show the General Information page.  Note the advanced academic note-taking at the bottom. :p

A map page.  This year, though, the kids made a section in the book just for maps.

Example of an Upper Grammar Literature response page.

And this year I apparently got my act together with vocabulary.  Yay, me!

So there you have it!  A look at our notebook system.

As always, feel free to send me questions or your own ideas through the comment section.  I'd love to help!  Next up:  Writing Aids!

Wordless Wednesday: Reasons for the Quiet Blog

Tapestry of Grace, Part Five: Your Questions Answered!

By popular demand. . . . . . or not-so-popular demand, but a few people asked, and we're going on the "contact your congressman theory".  You know, the one that says, "If x number of people bother to contact you about an issue, then 75x people actually feel the same way about that issue."

It's a word problem.   And what do homeschoolers do with word problems?

We make our children solve them.  We're sneaky that way.

Anywho.

This post was about TOG, not math.

Because I'm pulling my hair out about my choice of math for next year, so I'm not going to blog about it.  I have that whole "Perfect Homeschooler" image to keep up, after all.

Alrighty then.  Here are a few questions I've gathered this week, with my answers.

 Do you buy books or use the library?
This reminds me of a gag my husband likes to pull on kids, "Do you walk to school or take your lunch?"  The answer?  Both.  Here's my philosophy:

Since I have a "large" family, I buy almost all of the Rhetoric books, usually from Bookshelf Central.  I figure it's a good investment; they will be used by 3 other children, Lord willing.  After that, I buy all of the Dialectic literature books, and any Dialectic history book that's used for 3 weeks or more.  For the Grammar books, and a large bunch of Dialectic books as well, I use our library - we are blessed with a great library that has a county-wide system of lending.

I have a decent library to begin with, being a former Sonlight user and all, and try to pull in those books as much as possible.  I'm not very good at it, though.  *sheepish grin*

Are you a paper or DE user?
DE now.  Started with paper.  I didn't think I'd like it - but - I LOVE IT!!!  Especially now that I'm - ahem - advanced in my age.  I love being able to magnify my teacher's notes during discussions!

I don't actually print up much, and I thought I would.  But keep in mind, I'm not a big highlighter, so you might want to print up the notes and mark 'em up for discussion. Other than that, DE rocks!

When do your kids start Dialectic level work?
Usually after reminders, prodding, poking, and hot cocoa. . . . .

Oh, wait, wrong answer.

It depends on the kid.  For some, 5th, for others, 6th.  This year I put my 5th grader on D level  - and it was probably too early.  But honestly, I didn't feel like she was being challenged enough on the UG level, and it was easier for me to put her with her older sister and have a little modeling of higher-level work.  It's been kinda painful, but I think overall good.  A good rule of thumb is once they approach puberty, and start the very fun stage of arguing, debating, and asking why to everything - they're ready for dialectic work.

How do you determine which level your children should be on each year?
Ah, this goes along with the previous question.  Actually, I let age/grade be my guide.  My kids are academically either on par or above grade level (and I'm not bragging - or I hope I'm not! - it's just what the Lord has given to us).  So I use this as my guide:  K-2 Lower Grammar, 3-5 Upper Grammar, 6-8 Dialectic, 9-12 Rhetoric.  Except this year I didn't.  Hm.  Maybe explains why I've been so frustrated with one of the Dialectic Duo.  I should probably start reading my own blog posts.


What do you use for writing?
Yes, I am a rare bird that uses Writing Aids.  I'll be blogging about that soon, I hope.  I have this strange, negative reaction to a lot of writing programs - kind of like nails on a chalkboard.  Writing Aids doesn't make me want to pull my hair out or cringe over formulaic instruction.  It's not for everyone, though - not by a long shot.  More details to come!

What's your favorite lapbook source?
I love the kits from Lampstand Press!  They are sanity savers, especially the ones that are already printed and in a kit for you!

How do you handle weeks when other children get behind due to other commitments?
Awesome question!!!  We actually had that happen last year - my son went on a major Boy Scout trip right in the middle of the spring semester.  The nerve!  I just arranged for him to double up and catch up on his own schedule, so for a few weeks we were NOT all on the same topic.  Oh, well.  We survived. 

Sometimes at the end of the semester, I'm caught with too many week-plans and not enough time to finish.  I have been known to double up in May, and just breeze through the end of the material.  For most levels, the last week of the Year Plan is a little lighter, so it's not too hard to do.

Why is discussion so important?  Can't they just write the answers to the questions?

Ok, well, they can.  But.  Why are you homeschooling your kids?  It's not just to pull a Rumplestiltskin on them - you know, "Go take these books into your room and spin them into an education!"

The heart of homeschooling is the heart of your kid.  TOG gives you the opportunity to hear their heart, and to pour into their lives.  By discussing, you can communicate your excitement about the topic, lead them to conclusions, help them synthesize information, and wrestle with important ideas together.

Still not sure you can handle it?  Lampstand Press sells an amazing DVD called "Leading Socratic Discussions" that not only explains the process, but shows you moms having discussions with their students - both one-on-one and in a group.  (And as a side bonus, it has some great applications to parenting, not just your school work!)

*********
Hope that helps!  Truthfully, I'm getting a cold, and my brain's a little fuzzy :)  I'm happy to answer more questions or clarify - just pop a note in the comment box!  Or if you have a better answer than mine (which you probably do!) put that in the comments as well.  I might even ask you to be a guest blogger if my cold gets worse. . . . .

Next up - probably after Easter - how I organize Tapestry.

Wordless Wednesday: Signs of Spring Edition