Mother4Jesus

 Hello Friends!! I know it’s been a long time since i’ve posted.  I moved over to another platform and it was a LOT of work and money!  I love to blog and share my thoughts but it was costing me more money to up keep that blog than it was worth.  I’m revamping this blog. I will be l posting direct links to planners, stickers, printables, etc.  I don’t care about a mailing list. I don’t care if people follow me. I’m doing this for fun!! ***Update on Life*** We’re still homeschooling. I have a 9th grader and a 6th grader.  For those who don’t remember, I also have two adult children that I also taught at home. They’re both out on their own, college, children etc.  We made it through Covid!!  Between kidney stones, Covid and Carpal tunnel surgery Praise the Lord! I’m still here.  We are currently using paper planners, but I still LOVE making monthly digital planners. My hope it to continue to make them to the glory of God!!  May everyone ha...

I wasn’t going to post these until later in the year, But with the large amounts of parents now thrust into the world of homeschooling, I decided to post it now.  First... Welcome to home teaching. We all start teaching our children from the moment their born. We teach them how to eat, how to communicate, how to walk. It simply doesn’t stop once they enter the school system.  Having to teach them math, reading, history... seems to scare all of us.  Here Is a secret to teaching... Curriculum. We all use a curriculum... to some extent. Teachers use curriculums. Now, the curriculums shouldn’t trap you....thats the difference between homeschooling and conventional schooling. The teachers have to adhere to standards and topics. At home, if we’re learning about something and my child is interested in one aspect of it, we can pause and dig deeper. For example, my daughter loves science and loved learning about elements. So we paused, memorized all the eleme...

We are back into the swing of homeschooling. The new year came and we are studying our multiplication facts.  We have been homeschooling for over 20 years. My younger two did a Classical curriculum from the start. We have used Classical Conversations and Claritas Press Academy.  With Classical conversations, we started out with them. We did their skip counting and had it all memorized from kindergarten. CC then changed from going to 12, to going all the way to the 15’s!  We ended up going back to Claritas BUT , stayed with CC’s skip counting because they had been so ingrained in us.  CC has the students memorize all the skip counting and then when they go into Essentials, they memorize them as full equations, 4x1=4, etc.  I love that. I purchased the songs from KingThings , another CC Family. I love the songs and soon realized that my younger child, was learning them. I wanted a visual to go along with the song.  I am no long...

I have tipped my toes into the world of digital planning. Ok, so maybe I did MORE than just my toes.  Ok, Ok, I dove in head first!!  Why Digital planning??  *It’s fun *It’s Portable *It’s colorful *It saves on Printer Ink *It’s a creative outlet *My children LOVE all the cute stickers The list goes on.... I had started with Artful Agenda, which is a digital planning App. It syncs up with all your devices. It’s a great option, especially for those who really don’t want to or have the time to set up a digital PDF Planner. Click on the Link for my Review of The Artful Agenda App.  While the app is great and amazing, I couldn’t really use or decorate the planner the way I wanted to.  after much research, trial and error, I have found a combination that works for me. Actually, I’ve found MANY combinations that work for me. 🤷‍♀️😜 First you need to decide what you’re looking for.  I wanted a cute weekly planner that I ...

How can we make cursive fun? This is a tough question.  I don't usually worry about making everything fun. I know that is what most people focus on, but to be honest, I don't. There are many things in life that are simply, NOT fun. No matter how hard you try. I find that attitude plays a bigger role. If we complain about doing something, then it will be hard, boring, annoying....fill in the adverb.  I usually don't allow complaining, and we constantly go over scripture about not complaining.  "For out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. The good person out of his good treasure brings forth good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure brings forth evil"  Matthew 12:34-35 " Do all things without grumbling or disputing, that you may be blameless in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world."  Philippians 2:14-15 There are so many great scriptures about having the ...

Happy Thanksgiving!!  Thanksgiving marks the start of the Christmas season for us!  We had an amazing Thanksgiving. My son, his wife, and Henry, her service dog were here.  We had a great time!  I made these covers and dividers for January. The covers can be edited if you know how to add in text. For those of you using a MAC, you can add in the text using Preview. For those using Word, you add the files like an image and then add a text box.   I made these as 8.5 x 11. I have uploaded them as PNG files. You can adjust the size of these, keeping the aspect ratio.  These were made using graphics from Chantahlia Designs .  I do not charge for them. I do NOT require that you follow me to download them.  If you'd like to be notified of my posts, then subscribe to my blog.  You can also follow me on Instagram, and Pinterest. Mother4Jesus Click Here to download Look for Next weeks Blog for...

I think my title is a bit dramatic, but that's how I feel.  For years, Nay...Decades, I've used paper planners. I couldn't find the perfect planner, so I started to create my own planner pages. Times change and my children's needs change, thus changing my own needs. My needs for the type of planner changed. They continue to change, sometimes from day-to-day.  I didn't want lists all over the house, or apps all over my Ipad. I decided to try digital planning. I have Onenote and thought it would be a good idea. The only problem is setting up a planner, one that I liked, was worse than organizing underwear!! It took too much time and with children and all I had to  do, it wasn't something that I could stay focused on. I do have trouble focusing on things to begin with.  Simplicity is one thing that helps my ADD. If it's simple, I can continue to follow through. This includes how I decorate and organize my home and also my planner.  When y...

Expectations.  What do you think when you hear that word?  Dictionary.com   has a few different meanings for that word.  The underlying meaning is, "To expect something.".  This one word has been the killer of many relationships. Uncommunicated expectations are the silent killer of friendships, relationships, marriages, work environments, and many more. Too many to list. I'm sure many of you could add to that list.  Some expectations are reasonable and cause growth. Proper expectations help us to grow, and our children to mature. Even our relationship with the Lord has expectations. Some expectations are also needed for our education, to work, and marriage.  What makes for healthy expectations??  That is the million-dollar question.  For me, expressing, explaining, and thoroughly laying out one's expectations is essential.  I'm not always good at this, and it's something that I continue to work on.  ...

I had to threaten David with losing video games to get this photo. #TruthBomb See this picture above? I love this photo. This photo can give you the illusion that my children are well behaved and love each other..... ALL THE TIME.  Nope. Not even close. David loves to ruin my photos. Right before I took this photo I said to him, "If you ruin this picture with your jokes, you will lose all video games for a week!!"  I didn't say it as nicely as typing it out makes me look. Just being honest. We've all been there?? right?? or is it just me? It's just me. My kids are the worst!  ********************************************************* There is nothing worse than looking at your child's behavior and thinking, "My child is the worst one here."  The fact is, we've all thought that at times. As an older mom, I've been through it. I have two adult children and also two younger children.  What wisdom has that gained me??  N...

Happy Memorial Day! For some,  this day is a sad one. They're missing loved ones who gave up their lives for our freedom. Thank you to those who have sacrificed everything!! Thank you to the spouses who are at home, keeping the home front going!!  In celebration of this weekend, I was hoping to get this done earlier in the week and that wasn't happening.  I created a youtube Video/Vlog to show you how I use these. How I made them reusable and how I clean them off again and again. **Youtube Video** Please excuse the messy hair... the messy kitchen...and not-so-great video... life happens and I did this quickly. This is one of the largest free downloads I've ever done. I'm very excited. I love this beautiful print from Chantahlia Designs !! (If you click on her website name, it'll take you right to her site.)  If you're looking to create your own calendars, visit her website. Everything is FREE!! FREE!! Thank you Janelle!!!  I created this ...

With Summer quickly approaching, many of us are looking forward to the break from the school year.  We are year-round homeschoolers, which means that we only take off the month of July.  This year, because of Sarah's gym schedule, we may be changing that.  Looks like she'll be going from 9am - 12 am 4 days a week. So getting school work done in the morning may be a bit harder.  I love the freedom of homeschooling and add to that year-round homeschooling and we've got PLENTY of extra time to play with. This shouldn't be too big an issue because Sarah is great at managing her time. That's one thing that homeschooling is great for teaching, *Time Management*.  One of the biggest issues we've had is keeping track of everyone's schedules. I know that many keep their appointments on their phones. Some keep a planner, etc.  I keep all my appointments on my phone, which is great. The problem is that my husband doesn't. My children don...

I couldn't help but sing that title. 😊 This is a video that I made. It goes over what ACE is,  (In the simplest form), How we use it, and how we use it with our Classical curriculum.  Ace can be used with any Other curriculum.  You can use all or part of it. It's a great core curriculum.  Here you have some ideas on how to add to it.  All About ACE **Quick Note** I use reusable goal cards. I laminate them and write on them with Sharpie, then wipe off with alcohol. Many can be found here on my blog  or onthe Facebook Group page for free in the files section,  ACE Homeschool Moms Lounge.  I'll be making more goal cards in different themes in the future. I'll post them here on my blog. Please click the link and subscribe to my blog. My documents are always free and I don't require that you subscribe but it makes it easier for you to get a notification for each new blog post. 

I can't believe it's March!!! The time goes quickly!  In Feb. I posted a blog with March's Calendar .  Now I've got April's Calendar and Weekly Calendar!! I don't date them so that you can use them year after year!  We're heading down to SC... Myrtle Beach!! Sarah is very excited. We're traveling with our friends, the Spencers! There are a few times in life where God brings people to you and they quickly become family!! This is them!! I love creating fun, colorful printables, and these cute photos. These girls have worked hard!! Sarah's competing USAG Silver and Khloe is competing USAG Gold!! Gold is a tough level. The competition is fierce and the judges are much tougher on the gymnasts. Khloe worked hard and I'm sure she'll do great! These two really do enjoy each other. What I love is when I hear them encouraging each other, or confessing when they're struggling with something. They push one another to be better, not just in...

What a great and busy weekend we had!! I can't believe that my 4th child, my baby, my gentle giant turned 8 years old!! It seems like just yesterday I held him in my arms trying to decide a name for him. It took my husband and me a few hours to name him.  We had purchased tickets to see the Kratt brothers months back. We knew Sarah had a gymnastics meet that weekend but never thought it would be on the same day as the tickets!! Turns out it was!! She had her meet, the Brittany Coppedge Invitational in Raleigh at 1pm. The show started at 4:30.  We made it!! David had no idea that we had gotten him tickets. We had also gotten him a new video game for his Ninetendo Switch!! He found out at the meet about seeing the Kratt Brothers.  He is such a sweet young man. I was so happy to surprise him with this.  Sarah had a great time with her event. She didn't do as well on the floor as she had in the past. I saw her face when her team mate KILLED it o...