If you missed Part 1 of this series you can find it here. 

Don’t know what workboxes are?  Check out this link.

In July I began my planning for the 2011-12 school year but before I started searching for curriculum I attempted an honest assessment of the previous year. What had worked and what hadn’t.  I applied the 80/20 rule to help me focus on what deserved our time and what was just fluff.

Resetting tags and schedule strips, creating and maintaining learning centers and waiting stations, as well as being a slave to the notion that all 12 boxes must be filled every day had consumed most of my time.   In addition to these I realized that my detail oriented personality had been a significant part of the planning time problem.

What?!?  I was part of the problem?  Surely not!

But it was true.  I had wanted every detail of every box planned out in advance for the entire week.  Then when interruptions happened ~ as they inevitably would ~ my whole plan had to be completely re-vamped before we could continue.  Translated that meant I spent a lot more time planning than doing.  I even spent some time preparing lessons that we never used ~ more time wasted.  And to top it all off, the combinations of lessons I planned were complicated.  (book 1 on Monday, book 2 on Tuesday, back to book 1on Wednesday, project on Thursday, back to book 2 on Friday)  This meant that most every box had to be refilled from scratch every day.

What I needed were books that planned themselves: base materials that would remain in the boxes for long periods of time.  That would eliminate all the switching and refilling.  But what about the fun?!  The same books day after day would get boring.

What I really needed were books that wouldn’t get boring because we’d only use them as written when I didn’t have a lot of time to prepare special projects but otherwise we would use them as jumping off points for further exploration.

Okay, so now I’d established that I needed non-boring curriculum that planned itself, which sounds like crazy talk but actually it was an epiphany.  A strange little stirring began in my soul and let me tell you that even though this post is supposed to be about workboxes it’s also about God and about the every day minutia of our lives that He uses to speak to us.  My workboxes were in trouble because I planned way too much.  I hadn’t yet discovered a way to be flexible and follow the flow of each day.  My life was in the exact same situation.

Scripture directs us to acknowledge God in “all our ways” and then it goes on to say that if we do that “He will direct our paths” but this whole problem I had of planning every detail, it totally cut God out of the picture.  It said, “Don’t worry, Lord.  I’ll cut this path myself.  Why don’t you go find someone who really needs your help?  I’m good here.”  But in reality, I wasn’t good ~ far from it.  Because while the paths we cut ourselves may seem okay, God’s paths are always better.

So when I had this epiphany about non-boring curriculum that planned itself for our workboxes I heard that still small voice say, “You need that for your life too.”  And I knew exactly what He meant.  The Bible would be my base but the part that would keep life interesting and make it fun was acknowledging God and being flexible enough to follow His voice.

Like all epiphanies the idea came before the practice and in regards to the whole “minimal planning” idea I needed a LOT of practice and it started with the workboxes.

to be continued ….

I made one of these a while back for Psalm 23 and it turned out so well I decided to make another.  This time the verse is quite a bit shorter but completely apropos.  Brother had a little freak-out session a couple of nights ago over a scary Scarry show he’d watched so I thought we’d better focus on some “no fear” verses.

*all images taken (or created) from MS Word clipart.

About 40 minutes away from us exists the most awesome little kid carnival park ever.  Rides range from a whopping 25 to 50 cents.  The place is clean and the people are friendly.  Tonight we went.  We’ve gone before when the Big Kids were Littles but this was Dora’s first time.  Earlier she’d awoken from her nap in a tenuous mood so I was unsure how the evening would play out but as Will reminded me later, “our steps are ordered of the Lord,” so I needn’t have worried.

The first ride was with Sis just to make sure this whole thing was going to fly.

It did.

After that she was good to go on her own.

Though she did allow herself to be accompanied a few more times.

Then another ride caught her eye.  “Swing!”

“Oh honey, that ride’s too big for you.”

“SWING!”  Totally, ignoring me she starts for the gate.  I take a quick assessment of my, “no.”    The ride is not really too big for her.  I mean the park will allow her to go on it.  Do I say no for her or for me?  Given the confidence standing before me the answer is easy.  It’s my fear that generated the “no” and what kind of parent would I be to push it onto her.

“Here’s your ticket, sweetie.”

“Ticket,” she repeats and toddles to the entrance.

“Uh, Mom?”  I hear behind me. Sister has come to defend the name of safety. “Those swings are way too big for her.”

I smile, “She’ll be fine.”  (I hope.)

Moments later, she is buckled and Will back from fetching water takes in the situation. He shakes his head emphatically.  “No way, She’s way too little for those.”

I laugh at him and his fear, hiding my own beneath the sound,  “Don’t worry.  She’ll do great!”

And you know what?  She did.

She smiled and laughed and giggled and shook herself back and forth in the seat and insisted on turning around to make eyes at the giggling boy behind her.

There is more but it is late and another adventure awaits tomorrow so goodnight, sleep well and when you awaken don’t be afraid to take a step of faith.  You never know the joy it might bring.

Back in my high school drama class, I remember being assigned a several page selection from Robert Fulgum’s “All I Really Needed to Know I Learned in Kindergarten”.  It was to be memorized and shared in front of the class and later would be used for speech competitions.  I was horrified and overwhelmed. No way could I memorize that many words.  I expressed as much to the teacher and she suggested that I shouldn’t worry about the memorization.  “When you practice just read it,” she said.  So I faithfully practiced reading it every day, a couple of times a day for about a month and somewhere in there I was surprised and delighted to realize that I knew it.  Word for word with no mistakes: I knew it.

The big kids are working on memorizing Psalm 23 right now and I could tell when I introduced the assignment that Sister was horrified and overwhelmed and my teacher’s advice came back to me.  “Don’t worry,” I told Sister.  “You don’t have to memorize it.  Just read it, out loud, once a day, everyday.  That will be good enough.”  She was visibly relieved that I changed the assignment.  I am glad to know that she will memorize it anyway but without the stress.

With Sister taken care of, I turned my attention to Brother.  How to you have an emerging reader work through such a long text, with such big words as “righteousness” and “shadow” everyday without frustrating him?  How do you make it manageable and fun?  What if you made a little book with illustrations to help remember the words.  What if instead you put the memory verses on a ring?   Then you’d have a MemoRing (I’m a sucker for puns.)  Here’s what it looks like.

(all images taken from MS Word clip art or public domain image searches)

Brother has no problem flipping through the pages and saying the whole chapter unassisted.  I will definitely be making more of these in the future.

A couple of weeks back we had some snow fall around here ~ 21” of snow to be specific. 

And even though, technically we could have gotten out and about if we really needed to; taking four children out in a car in near zero weather is not on my list of wise things to do.  So, when Sunday rolled around we stayed home (and the following Sunday too.)  And then because the cooped up children were going stir crazy we decided an activity was in order and because we didn’t want to feel like heathen we chose a Bible activity.  In particular a study of the the Armor of God and we had a blast with it.  The first Sunday, we made this little guy, did some coloring (this page for Sister and this one for Brother) had general discussion about Ephesians 6:10-20 and sang a song.  That was it.

The following week we reviewed the scripture using this outline, colored this guy and played an ultra cool game where we labeled armor items, hid them around the house and made up clues for the kids to follow.

Here were the clues (You know, in case you want to replicate this awesomeness in your own home bible study):

This item would protect your head in a shower.

This one isn’t for dinner but you might find it there.

Find this one on a shelf with other swords of the spirit.

Run downstairs to find these. You’d need them to go out.

This is true. One item is hidden under a bed.

If you “bee”lieve then you could shield yourself from “sticky” situations.

Once all the items were found the real fun began ….

I love teaching my kids and I love that the Bible doesn’t have to be stuffy.

Brother asked to pray the prayer at supper this evening.

“Dear Lord, thank you for this food.  Thank you that we had a good day at school today. Help us to be sharable people and to love You most of all.  Amen”

So sweet.  I laughed a little to myself at the “sharable people” part but as I reflected upon it more I realized how inspired his request was. Tonight is not the first time this week such an idea has knocked at my door. 

Our church is reading the book Primal together.  I’m not certain where everyone else is but I’ve finally made it past Chapter 3 where the author talks about money.  “Where your treasure is there your heart will be also” and all that.  I am convicted.  Will and I have always been givers.  Since our marriage began we have never not tithed and I truly believe that simple decision is directly responsible for the blessing we experience now.  But I am convicted nonetheless because several years ago we discussed reaching what Mark Batterson calls a “income ceiling”.  We concluded that if our income ever reached what seemed at the time an unattainably high number that would be all we’d need.  Everything beyond it we would probably just give to missions or something.  I am convicted because our income is now almost twice that number but we don’t give half of it to “missions or something” … not even close.  To be fair, our family has more than doubled since our original discussion so, of course, expenses have increased but the real question is not about the logistics of the matter.  The real question is about my heart. Is it a sharable one? Really?  Because if a sharable heart is one that is chasing after God and His desires then I don’t want to just share.  I want to share outrageously.  And I’m not … yet. 

But my prayer tonight is this: that God will not only show me ways to cut our expenses so that money can be redirected to Kingdom causes but also to help me re-align my priorities to match His desires instead of my own.

Dear Lord, help me to be a sharable person and to love You most of all.  Amen

All the things I have to do
Like Noah’s ark march two by two
A never ending laundry list
of tasks cry out not to be missed
Each one vies for my attention
Hopes at least for honorable mention
A daily contest: who will win
Dishes?
Dust? or
Three children?

In the midst of this commotion
Comes a balm, a magic potion
Seeping to my very core
Something that will peace restore
In chapter 3 of Lamentation
A promise that will end frustration
I have hope, I’m not consumed
The days loom large but I’m not doomed

With morning’s light hail mercies new
Compassions from my God debut
Faithful Father, One I need
Daily for Your help I plead
Please, this raging storm abate
Seeking you my soul doth wait.
Peace descends ~ still much to do
But now I know that I have You.

“This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope. It is of the LORD’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness. The LORD is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him. The LORD is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him.”

Lamentations 3:21-25 (KJV)

I know God cares about me.  I am blessed in so many undeserved ways I can’t even keep track but every once in a while God sends an extra little reminder.  A gift that only He could know I wanted and that only He could orchestrate so perfectly.

Last year on my birthday Will gave me a knife … a really nice (read: expensive) one.  For many wives that might rank right up there with vacuum but I was delighted because it was the first quality knife I’d ever owned and it made such a difference in my cooking experience.  After using it for about a week I knew I wanted the whole set.  Unfortunately the price tag meant it was either buy knives or pay the mortgage.  It was a tough call but “roof over our heads” won. 

Fast forward to yesterday evening, I’m chopping an onion with my still brilliantly sharp birthday present and think to myself, ” You know, self, you don’t really need the whole set.  All you really need is this one and a good Chef’s knife.  …. but even that isn’t in the budget right now … oh well, maybe next year.”

Forward again to tonight, Will watches the kids while I find myself wandering about TJ Maxx, a store I have never entered before.  I walked in on a whim and walked out with this:

Maybe you can’t tell because the picture quality is not that great BUT it’s a knife … a chef’s knife and more than that it is an exact match to the birthday present that I like so much.  Apparently, TJ Maxx is one of those closeout stores and apparently, they were closing out Calphalon Chef’s knives because this was the sticker on the box.

Isn’t God good?

**from November 11th

On Friday a piece of my tire started to come off on the highway.  It was a very small piece and besides a terrible clunking nothing disastrous came of it.  That is to say nothing happened on the highway.  Later at the tire shop, looking at the bill for four brand new tires — because of course they all had to be replaced — with a nauseous sort of sinking feeling that had nothing to do with pregnancy I knew that something disastrous had happened indeed.

The remaining day, I filled with sniffles and sobs and “every time we start to get ahead…”.  It was quite pathetic really.  Not until the next morning did the pitifulness start to wear off and it occurred to me that perhaps, just perhaps, it would be okay.  I am a child of the King after all and He’s always worked things out well in the past.  In fact, He’s never failed me in my whole life - though I can think of countless times I have failed Him.

So on Friday I spent $755 on tires and on Saturday afternoon not long after I finally decided to trust God the mailman arrived with a $700 check - the return on an investment made so long ago I had given up on its ever coming.

When will I learn that He knows my every need?  He knows and He plans for them far in advance.  He is never, ever surprised and He is always on time.

Really a person should ask for help every day because there is just no way of knowing what the day might throw at you.  Or in my case what might come flying off the back of some truck in the midst of five o’clock traffic, bounce directly in front of you, fly to the other lane, hit another car and bounce back to the exact middle of your lane leaving you no room avoid it and, clipping along at a good 60mph, no chance of stopping in time.  Did I mention there were 3 small children in the car with me?  And yet … and yet … help came. Despite the lack of room and the speed, somehow this thing only managed to hit my side view mirror and somehow the big steel pole that was part of the apparatus did not come through my windshield and somehow my car does not have a scratch on it.  Somehow.

¹⁴ The Lord says, “I will rescue those who love me.
      I will protect those who trust in my name.
¹⁵ When they call on me, I will answer …

Psalm 91:14-15 (New Living Translation)

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