Extras and Announcements -- May 15, 2005
Posted by: homenews <homenews@...>
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Hope Chest Home School News
Extras and Announcements
May 15, 2005
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Dear Hope Chest friends,
I have several "extras and announcements" to briefly share with you today. Please read through to the end for some inspiration during times when you might be overwhelmed.
- Coming Up in the Hope Chest
- ABC Discovery Phonics
- My Father's World Curriculum?
- "Surrender" Ladies' Retreat
- Summit Ministries World View Camps
- A Great Little Glucose Monitor
- Hope Chest Survey Results
- The Call to Consider in the Day of Adversity AND Glory in the House Again: Susannah Wesley by Curt Heffelfinger
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Coming Up in the Hope Chest
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I have asked Jeannie Fulbright, author of Apologia's elementary science textbooks, to share with us her approach to teaching science, as well as anything else on her heart for home school moms. I hope to send this bonus issue out less than two weeks from now. I want you to be able to read it before the Florida Parent-Educators Association convention, where she will be exhibiting. (The FPEA convention, one of the biggest in the country, is May 24-26. For more info: http://www.fpea.com/)
For the June issue, I would like YOU all to write about fun and educational things to do during the summer. This is YOUR issue! You can start sending in your stuff now!
In July, I am hoping that my oldest daughters, Mary and Julia, will write about their missions trip to Bolivia, and perhaps give us a mini unit study for you to use with your children. On a side note, they have just found out that their plane fares are going up. If anyone would like to contribute toward this increase or the immunization and supply costs, please let me know! They will be gone June 22-July 3.
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ABC Discovery Phonics
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This announcement is from my friend Phyllis Reinhart, a retired missionary who tutors children in reading. She has developed a wonderful phonics and speech therapy curriculum. It has been available for quite some time, but Phyllis now has a web site!
ATTENTION ALL PARENTS PLANNING TO HOME SCHOOL A KINDERGARTEN CHILD:
Please go to http://www.ABCDiscovery.com to see a kindergarten phonics/reading program recently made available via the internet.
ABC Discovery is fun and effective for all children and is especially useful for those with speech problems or attention deficit. (See reviews/comments)
Purchasers of the program may receive telephone support to help in correcting the students speech problems.
For more information, write: [email protected] or call (407) 767-0961.
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My Father's World Curriculum?
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While reading The Old Schoolhouse Magazine the other day, I noticed an article about the family who has developed the My Father's World curriculum. I am interested in the "Adventures in My Father's World" program, covering American history and geography and aimed for 2nd-3rd graders, with Andrew and Micah this next year. I think we're going to need a little extra structure provided by its daily lesson plans. It is based on the Bible and good literature, with a Charlotte Mason style -- which makes it very appealing. The Hazell family also uses much of the profits to fund Bible translation in the former Soviet Union, and incorporates a missions emphasis into the curriculum. If any of you have experience with this curriculum, can you please write and tell me what you think? If you haven't yet seen their web site, click here: http://www.mfwbooks.com/. The particular level we are looking at can be found here: http://www.mfwbooks.com/adventures_my_fathers_world.htm. My Father's World also has curriculum for Kindergarten, First Grade, and a five year multi-age chronological history cycle for 2nd-8th grade.
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"Surrender" Ladies' Retreat Near Orlando
June 3-4, 2005
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I mentioned this in the Mother's Day issue, but wanted to repeat it here for those who missed it.
Carolyn Mahaney and Carolyn McCulley, who are both noted authors, will be the speakers at a ladies retreat hosted by Metro Life Church in Casselberry, Florida from June 3-4. What a privilege! This event is open to any lady, age 14 and up, and well have women coming from all over Florida to join us! The theme is Surrender which will give us the opportunity to captivate a fresh heart for living our lives in obedience and worship to God. The cost is only $25 ($35 after May 23), and includes snacks on Friday night and lunch on Saturday. Find out more at http://www.MetroLife.org/Surrender Carolyn McCulley will also present a bonus session for single women on Saturday evening.
Metro Life puts on great conferences! My daughter Julia just went to the awesome three day Amplify worship conference, which drew attendees from all over the country and around the world. Noted song writer and worship leader Bob Kauflin led some of the sessions, and then stayed on to preach the Sunday sermon today on "What If I Don't Feel Like Worshipping?" I love the music that Sovereign Grace (previously known as PDI) produces. It is so saturated with sound doctrine and the Gospel message. (We even bought the Spanish worship CD, Sea La Gloria Solo a Ti, for Mary to use in her independent Spanish course this semester.) I commend this musical ministry to you, so click here for more information: http://www.sovereigngraceministries.org/music/
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Summit Ministries World View Camps
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From Pat Wesolowski:
I believe no child should leave home without attending at least one session of Summit. Below is a promo for this wonderful program. Please feel free to share this information with others. If you want to talk to me about this great experience, feel free to email me at [email protected]. Pat Wesolowski
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According to statistics, at least 50% of Christian students leave their faith in college, but what if we could prepare them?
Imagine a Summer Crash Course that Prepares Students to Face the Intellectual and Cultural Challenges to Their Faith. It's not enough to simply believe. You have to know why you believe what you believe. For over 40 years, Summit Ministries' two-week summer leadership conferences has trained high school and college students to understand and defend their Christian faith in a way that no other program in America does, and has earned the respect and praise of Christian leaders such as Dr. James
Dobson, Chuck Colson, Josh McDowell, and Dr. Norman Geisler.
In the real world, you'll meet plenty of people who share your views, but you'll also meet many who will question them. How do you deal with that? How do you make a difference? At the Summit, students will learn how to understand ideas and answer major challenges to Christianity, being taught by our nationally renowned faculty (including David Noebel, Jeff Myers, Frank Beckwith, Kurt Wise, and John Stonestreet) who will answer questions, help students develop a Biblical worldview and challenge them to become a leaders. Conferences run throughout the summer in Colorado, Ohio, and Tennessee. Visit http://www.summit.org for more information.
*** DON'T MISS DR. DAVID NOEBEL, FOUNDER OF SUMMIT MINISTRIES, ON DENNIS RAINEY'S "FAMILY LIFE TODAY" RADIO BROADCAST FROM 5/18-20.
(http://www.familylife.com) ***
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A Great Little Glucose Monitor
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I called my husband from my midwife's office on Friday and asked him if he wanted to hear the good news or the bad news first. Well, the good news was that I don't have to take a three hour glucose test. The bad news is that this is because I flunked the first one so badly that they told me it's already obvious I have gestational diabetes again. (I had it with Micah six years ago.) My old glucose monitor was really annoying, so I hit the web and looked for a place to buy a new one. I've seen so many commercials on TV lately for some of the pricier ones, but was able to find something just as good and much more economical. Walgreens and many other drug store chains sell the True Track system under their store brand names. It costs around $18 (compared to $50-150 for name brands) and best of all, the glucose test strips are only 50 cents a piece (as compared to 75 cents to over a dollar for ones that are used by other systems). I should note that Walgreens also sells a cheaper store brand monitor, but it requires the larger blood droplets, hence slightly more painful pricking. The True Track system uses a very small blood sample which means you only need the very thin lancet, which comes with it. It doesn't hurt much at all, which is good since I have to finger prick four times a day. This system is very easy to use -- just pop the strip into the monitor, prick your finger, apply the droplet to the test strip and wait 10 seconds. Fortunately, I've been able to keep my blood sugar levels in the safe range all this past weekend with some swift and drastic changes in diet. Please pray that these good glucose readings will continue so that I won't "risk out" of using a midwife at the birth. As usual, I will already be in the hospital with a planned induction, which at this point, will probably be two weeks before my due date.
I know that many of you will be diagnosed with gestational diabetes at some point, so I hope this information is useful. You don't have to spend more to get a good, convenient glucose monitor!
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Thanks to all who sent in their Hope Chest reader surveys. I appreciate your feedback. If you haven't already sent yours in, it's not too late!
As I predicted, your favorite article from the last issue depended on how old your children are! Those with younger children liked the article about my boys and their books, as well as the poem on reading aloud. Those with older children enjoyed the review of Carolyn Mahaney's book and the one about Mary and high school.
Many readers especially appreciated the "Oops! I Messed Up Again!" article because it let them know that they aren't the only ones to make mistakes -- and that there can be creative solutions when we hit bumps in the road. Related to this, readers also liked previous issues such as "A Day in My Kitchen" and other "true confessions" which present real life home schooling.
Speaking of real life home schooling, this has been a tough week for me. It's been full of ups and downs, made worse by the fact that I am extremely hormonal and sensitive in this stage of pregnancy. I don't have much energy at all for dealing with the stresses of life, which are many. I am thankful for my husband, Thad, who has been a rock when I've been a wreck, and for my daughters, who have taken over so much of the food preparation around here. I'm also thankful for the friends who have served us, like the Pyros family, who hosted my three noisiest children after church for the afternoon today so we could get some quiet rest.
One of the pieces of bad news we received this week is that my friend Julie Chubb, who moved to northern Alabama a while back, has been diagnosed with advanced pancreatic and bowel cancer, and is only expected to live a few more weeks. Please pray for Marco and Julie and their five home schooled children, for strength and comfort as they anticipate her homegoing to heaven. I write this through tears.
I would like to share with you what Curt Heffelfinger, pastor of Orlando Grace Church (where we knew the Chubbs) wrote about this in the OGC e-news this week. Please note that Curt just had surgery for tongue cancer, and is awaiting the "all clear" on whether it is all gone. I appreciate his notes on "The Call to Consider in the Day of Adversity" but even more, I appreciate Julies response to her illness.
Following these notes, I have included an excerpt from Curts Mothers Day sermon which is of special interest to often overwhelmed home school moms like me.
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The Call to Consider in the Day of Adversity
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Glory In The House Again: Susannah Wesley
By Pastor Curt Heffelfinger
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Dietrich Bonhoeffers days in prison for his opposition to Hitlers Third Reich wore on for months at a time. He exchanged ongoing correspondence with his dear friend Eberhard. In one of his letters he wrote, Im sure you will understand that considering things takes up a large part of my life here." (Letters and Papers from Prison, p. 234)
That is not hard to imagine. But it is also biblical. Listen to the wisdom of Solomon in Ecclesiastes 7:13-14:
Consider the work of God:
Who can make straight what he has made crooked?
In the day of prosperity by joyful, and in the day of adversity consider:
The writer lumps everything that happens under one overarching designation the work of God. That includes the apparently crooked things of life. The hard providences, as the Puritans used to say. When crooked things like cancer, deformity, pain, abandonment, abuse, and a myriad of other insanely crooked realities invade ones experience he asks, Who can make straight what God has made crooked? He has made one as well as the other.
Yes, indeed, God makes both the straight and crooked. He exercises sovereign control over all that transpires in our lives. "He dwells in the heavens and does whatever pleases Him (Psalm 115:3). If disaster comes to a city, has not the Lord done it (Amos 3:6)? Does He not form light, create darkness, make well-being, create calamity -- is He not the Lord, who does all these things? (Isaiah 45:7)
He is. And Solomon tells us in Ecclesiastes how to react to both extremes of Gods making. "In the day of prosperity be joyful." I can do that. When things go well, I know how to rejoice. I dont find it difficult to give thanks and celebrate. Thats the easy part. The next discipline takes a bit more resolve.
"In the day of adversity consider." Thats the second time in two verses the writer uses the same term. The Hebrew word means literally to see. It comes from a root which means a spectacle. When God says consider what He has made crooked He means for us to take a good hard look at it through the eyeglasses of spiritual understanding. We are to acknowledge that He Himself has made the day of adversity. We are to humble ourselves under His mighty hand (1 Peter 5:6). We are to take our cue from Job in the way we process the crooked. "Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil (the word can also be rendered disaster)" (Job 2:10)? To do otherwise is to risk joining Jobs wife in the ranks of the foolish. Wise are those who do not sin with their lips.
This week I spoke with Julie Chubb in Alabama following her abdominal surgery. Doctors found cancer in her pancreas and throughout her bowel. They gave her no hope for recovery. She has little more than weeks to live. Barring a miracle of healing from God, she will leave behind her husband and five children as she goes home to Jesus. The first words out of her mouth in our conversation as I expressed my consternation at the turn of events were, Oh, Curt, Gods ways are perfect. As she lies on her hospital bed, not likely to return to her earthly home but bound for her heavenly one, Julie gives herself to the discipline of consideration.
Our infinitely perfect, good and straight God does at times color with crooked lines. When He does we must focus the eyes of our understanding on the work of His hands. We must contemplate, as Solomon says, that man may not find out anything that will be after him, as a result of such crooked things. The turns of events in the days ahead are not for us to know. They belong to the secret counsels of the Most High who does all things to praise of His glory and the exaltation of His majesty.
When your life next takes a turn for the crooked, heed the call. Consider the work of God. Wonder at the mystery and perfections of His ways.
Rejoicing in prosperity and learning to consider in adversity,
Pastor Curt
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From Pastor Curt's Sermon on Mothers Day Sunday: Glory in the House Again, 1 Samuel 1:1-2:10
Susannah Wesley, called the mother of Methodism as she raised both John and Charles Wesley the founders of the movement, had 19 children. Ten died before they were two years old. One of her daughters was deformed. Yet she wrote in her diary that all her sufferings served to promote my spiritual and eternal good. Glory be to Thee, O Lord.
Susannah's husband tried to remain with the Church of England. For this, his barns were burned and his own disgruntled congregation had him arrested and thrown to prison. During this time Susannah endured terrible poverty. A thief slashed the udders of the family cow so she had to find milk for her family elsewhere. Susannah declared, "Religion is nothing else than doing the will of God and not our own." There is grace-laced perseverance.
She home-schooled her children six hours a day. She maintained a daily routine that the family adhered to unwaveringly. Every day at specified times, she would retreat beneath her large apron with her Bible in hand as she prayed.
This was her time alone with God. Her children knew not to approach her during these times. She practiced soul-stirred prayer. She made Jesus the sun of her solar system around which she revolved as a humble planet. Her Godward ways made her persevere through trial laced with grace. They prompted her to hover under her apron to pray through the Bible. Not even a huge family kept her from such devotion. And God gave the world John and Charles! Oh, Lord give us women like Susannah. Give us women like Hannah. Singing women. Godward women. Grace laced women. Soul stirred women. Amen.
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Amen, indeed! I hope you have been blessed by these "extras and announcements" today. Please let me know what has been helpful to you.
In His Sovereign Grace,
Virginia Knowles
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