September in Our Home

September was a great month in our home.  There was a few days in there that were rough but we leaned on the Lord and made it through.

My sweet Hannah officially started her home schooling this month and she is loving it.  We spend an average of thirty to forty-five minutes each day on her work.  I've broken her schedule up into one lesson a day - math on Monday's, science on Tuesday's, etc.  We basically read books or complete worksheets.  I didn't buy a curriculum for her this year so I'm just using the kindergarten requirements to work out a "lesson plan" each week. 

Hannah was already working on learning to read before we started and we're still continuing with that.  She's doing really good and has completed all of the vowel phonic books and has moved on to the numbers and colors book.  Hannah used to love working on reading, now she is more interested in math.  She sped through recognizing her numbers and has advanced to basic addition because she likes math so much.  She's so much like her Daddy!

Just a side note:  the Dollar Tree has a lot of great workbooks for preschoolers and kindergartners.  They include letter recognition, spelling, math and more.  They include a variety of characters as well that makes the work fun (Spider Man, Winnie the Pooh, Disney Princesses, etc).  They also sell a variety of flash cards and teaching supplies.

I also like to use the following websites for worksheets and ideas:  1+1+1+1 and education.com.  

We were blessed with the opportunity to visit with many of our out of town friends this month as well.  The Job's (Beresford, Belinda, and Bethany) are a wonderful family and were visiting from England.  They visit and travel all over the U.S. twice a year for Beresford's house church ministry.  Sadly, we didn't see them in the spring so we made sure to meet up with them for their fall visit.  One Monday afternoon we drove to Helen, GA where they were staying for a few days to rest and relax.  We spent the evening with them at a little Mexican restaurant, just chatting and catching up.  I love to hear all about their travels and the interesting people they meet along the way.  I could have spent all night talking to them.  We were all sad to part but at least we will be seeing them again in the spring. 

We were also excited to that our sweet friends, Sam & Christine, have moved back to our area after living in New York for three years.  We only visited with them once in the three years they were gone so we are thrilled that they're back!  Plus, they have the cutest eight month old son name Joshua.  While they were gone they stored some of their things in our little storage cabin.  We spent the last two Sunday's of the month with them while they were retrieving their belongings.  It's been so exciting see all of these sweet and amazing people!!

I didn't read a lot of books this month but I did start I Love Being a Woman by Patsy Clairmont.  In her book, Clairmont addresses the wide range of emotions that women experience on a daily basis.  All of these emotions are a gift from God that we can either use to minister to people or drive them crazy!  She takes you through several different women in the Bible (Abigail, Ruth, the Proverbs 31 woman, etc) and shows how they controlled their emotions and were able to be a blessing to the people they came in contact with.  I haven't finished this book yet but so far it has really encouraged me and challenged me to consider how my emotional reactions can hurt or bless someone. 

I want to take a moment to point out the new links on my sidebar.  I have become an affiliate for the Bulk Herb Store and Graham Family Ministries.  The Bulk Herb Store is a wonderful online shop that provides a large variety of organic herbs, teas, seeds, books, videos and accessories.  Graham Family Ministries provides homemaking and homeschooling ebooks as well as some planners.  If you have extra time make sure to stop by these two stores and check them out!  ------->

October is going to be a busy month for our family.  Some of Mr. Clark's family will be visiting with us for a few days.  Then we'll part ways as Mr. Clark returns to Florida for a scuba trip and the kids & I return to North Carolina to visit our twin nieces (cousins!).  Throw in Oktoberfest and a day trip with my parents and we're going to be pretty busy.  Oh, and I almost forgot that I'll be working a day or two a week at Tots & Teens Consignment Store (and the best part is the kids can come with me!)  I'm excited!!

My first post of October will be my menu/meal plan (per Amanda's request).  Then I'll take you through our herbal medicine chest so you can get an idea of what we use and what you might like to have on hand for the winter months ahead. 

Attitude of Gratitude:

#127 - cool fall weather moving in and being able to open the windows

#128 -  seeing Sam & Christine and their sweet baby, Joshua

#129 - holding baby Joshua until he fell asleep

#130 - encouragement through a good book

#132 - enjoying the company of close friends over sushi

#133 - celebrating Becky's 30th birthday

#136 - playing with sweet baby puppies at a neighbor's house

#139 - buying Hannah the cutest winter coat for only $3 at the Consignment Sale

#140 - my sister thoughtfully buying Sammy new sheets and clothes for winter (what a sweet surprise and blessing!!)

#142 - seeing Sammy's excitement over his new Darth Vader costume

#143 - Hannah's sweet attitude and excitement over all of Sam's new things (sheets, clothes, costume) and never whining that she didn't get anything