way back when....

I am working hard on getting us ready to start school again this next week.

Last minute things to add to what we already have.

Yesterday little G had an appointment with the audiologist so I stopped by the school supplies store to pick up a few things on my mental list.(I will share details about the appointment tomorrow!) I left with less than what I had expected. Some of the things were so overpriced.(Ive seen them on the internet) I have gotten used to living on a shoe string budget with only one income. I ended up purchasing two packages of "sight word" flashcards(half off so we can play matching games) and a big triangle shaped pencil.

I will head over to Tar*et

to get some of the other things I think we need

but in smaller quantities......

finger paint,

paper,

big markers.





Planning to do pre school kindergarten with little G has me remembering years gone by. Those were sweet times. Oldest is 23 years old now so twenty years ago home schooling was quite a bit different than it is now. We were the odd people that made our own granola. (a joke in our home! One day at moms day out a lady was shocked that we home schooled because she thought home school families were the kind of people that "You know, make their own granola" I didnt tell her that I could share our granola recipe if she wanted a copy!!!! Just smiled and nodded my head)



Fast forward a few years and I had a middle son that was struggling with self esteem and had struggled with academics. (it was an undetected vision problem!) He was caught up in a mode of thinking that we needed to nip in the bud. We made a compliment jar





I made strips of paper and had a pretty bowl that the compliments went into.(it stayed at the center of the dining room table with paper and pencil) It was great handwriting practice too! If I am remembering correctly each child needed to write 5 compliments/ encouraging words for each family member..

Fold it up and write the persons name on it, to drop in the bowl. In the evenings we didnt watch TV and would have story time and prayers, they would get the ones with their names on them. It was good for ALL of us to focus on the positive. Instead of focusing on the one huge tantrum or argument..... we could end the day focusing on all the many great things each child did. I was thinking about this..... its the start of school, I know you can purchase inexpensive blank spiral notebooks and journals,

put each child's name on the cover in sharpie and let them decorate it with stickers etc. Leave them in a prominent place where positive words of encouragement can be written each day. (instead of loose strips of paper to keep track of)Even if each person only thinks of one thing to write in each family members journal that might be more positive words of encouragement they would have given each other if not prompted.



Maybe you could use this as a springboard...

maybe add to it?

maybe prayer requests,

a list of Gifts from God.....



I will close by telling you that we didnt do this for very long.

It got us through a rough season tho.

If youve been following my blog for awhile you might remember that we packed son in November to move into his own apartment. I found some of those little strips of paper in a treasure box all these years later.

It really was a good thing.



And its so similar to the book I read,

The study I will be facilitating this Fall

About keeping track of Gods hand in our lives,

keeping track of the Gifts.....

Choosing to be thankful

it is all grace you know







Under His wings,

Anna