Planning with Purpose - {Printable}

Many are the plans in a person’s heart,

but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.  Proverbs 19:21

1.  Less is More Time ~ When planning your days, lean towards less activities rather than towards more.  Unplanned moments and expectations will inevitably invade your day.  Leaving a bit of breathing space for these moments allows the unplanned to become an invitation rather than an invasion.  

2.  In the Word Time ~ Be diligent in taking time to nourish your spirit with quiet moments with Him.  Fill up on soul food and feast on the Bread of Life.  Schedule this time into your day ~ before the babes awake, during breakfast, after lunch, while they play.  As the mom leading your children to Him, be certain to have something to give.  Don’t run on empty.

3.  Plan Order, Not Time ~ Seeking a peaceful rhythm throughout the day is a prominent goal in my home.  Everyday.  Organizing the order of activities for the day keeps the rhythm flowing naturally.  The children know what to expect and so do I. For me, the order of activities is important, not the actual time when they begin or end.  I’ve found that adding a time schedule to each activity in the day can easily add extra pressure unnecessarily.  

4.  Short Lesson Times  ~ Keeping lessons short and varied leads to a happier child resulting in a happier mom. {smile}  An interesting article written by Catherine Levison shares some insight on the importance of short and varied lessons.  Some words to ponder: The Benefits of Short Lessons in the Charlotte Mason Method

5. Outdoor Time ~  Even in the dead of winter, throw on the snowpants and wooly toques and join the children in the midst of the Creator’s wonderland.  Explore, discover, laugh, talk, and play – together.  Be creative and intentional with a nature study or simply get the heart beating fast and the lungs breathing deep.

6. Spare the Extras Time ~ Be protective of your time.  Time is a gift – every. single. moment.  So fill those moments well.  If extras are crowding your days, consider slowing down.  I have often heard seasoned homeschooling moms share that two extra activities per week is plenty for a child.  With multiple children, even two activities can quickly become  overwhelming.

7. Quiet Time ~ After lunch we all need a bit of quiet.  Teach your children how to do this by taking some quiet time too.  A perfect time to light a candle, play instrumental music, and think upon beautiful words. 

A printable to help plan a purposeful term beyond curriculum chapters and unit studies?  Yes, please! Planning with Purpose ~ A Term Plan


Related Links:

A Typical Homeschool Day?  ~ Robin @ Heart of Wisdom ~ A collection of homeschool day schedules provided by other homeschooling moms just like us!

Pace Scheduling Options and Optional Paces - This document outlines some options for scheduling your days using Accelerated Christian Education curriculum for grades 1-3.  As well, it highlights the Science and Social Studies paces that can be considered optional since they do not meet the learning outcomes prescribed by the BC Ministry of Education.

Lessons Learned When You are the Teacher

Some words penned a year ago, but seem to be fitting into my thoughts again ...

It’s been four summers since I first approached a learning year with much trembling. I remember feeling very much alone, uncertain of choosing a different way. Friends and dear family members nodded heads and smiled as I shared thoughts of keeping my oldest one at home, instead of placing her in the local kindergarten class.

Within my sweet circle of relationships, I was the single one, who rarely felt confident that the educational choice that I was making was the best choice, comparatively. I usually kept silent and rarely shared the celebrations of our learning successes.

As four summers have passed, my insecurities have faded along the way, and in their absence my confidence has grown. This growth is not due to my children’s talent, intelligence, or athletic ability. It is not credited to their excellent character or amazing obedience {we still have a long way to go}. And it is certainly not a result of me having figured it all out.

No, my confidence exists simply because Someone much greater than I has carried me and has instructed me through lessons and laundry.

He has taught me that my ways, and the ways of those around me, are not necessarily His ways.

He has shown me that all is like withering grass, but that which is built on His Word.

He has taught me that the heart of the child is entrusted to me to cherish and to train.

He has revealed to me that the grandest lessons are often learned through the deepest failures.

He is my strength ~ daily. And He is my joy song.

Sally Clarkson writes in her book Seasons of a Mother’s Heart, “God's will is not something hidden that needs to be found but, rather, something revealed that needs to be done."

And so again, I gather the children for one more year.

We’ll sit together and laugh together. We’ll share our frustrations and failures, and then we’ll encourage and pray each other through. We’ll learn more about Him and live more beside Him. We’ll make one more year of memories and learn to grow from each one of them. And above all, we’ll remember, with humble gratitude, that we are blessed.

When strong winds buffet a tree, it develops strong fiber and relies on its deep root system to withstand storms.  This is how we develop fortitude, persistence, and the strength of heart that enables us to meet adversity, pain, and persecution ... There is no greater challenge, no higher calling than to persist in the things of God. ~ William and Nancy Carmichael

A simple slideshow of beautiful learning taking place outside of the workbooks.

Have you celebrated your learning year in some way yet?  Blessings as you do ... 

Make a picture slideshow

Related Post: School Year Memories

So as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God.  May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, giving thank to the Father ~ Colossians 1: 10~12

A few word thoughts to encourage us as we go through these final weeks of this learning year together ...

How to End Your Homeschool Year ~ "So, how to end this homeschooling year? Ask questions that lead you to celebrate, and not just evaluate the year."


Beautiful Things ~ "But today, could I suggest another way of evaluation?  Instead of relying on externals of achievement test scores or the affirmation of family & friends ... Pause, and review how you did beautiful things this year."

Some word thoughts from Rachel Jankovic:

Mothering is a Calling {And Where Your Children Rank}

  A Sneak Peek:

Christian mothers carry their children in hostile territory. When you are in public with them, you are standing with, and defending, the objects of cultural dislike. You are publicly testifying that you value what God values, and that you refuse to value what the world values. You stand with the defenseless and in front of the needy. You represent everything that our culture hates, because you represent laying down your life for another—and laying down your life for another represents the gospel.

Motherhood as a Mission Field 

  A Sneak Peek:

At the very heart of the gospel is sacrifice, and there is perhaps no occupation in the world so intrinsically sacrificial as motherhood. Motherhood is a wonderful opportunity to live the gospel. Jim Elliot famously said, “He is no fool who gives up that which he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.” Motherhood provides you with an opportunity to lay down the things that you cannot keep on behalf of the people that you cannot lose. They are eternal souls, they are your children, they are your mission field.

Motherhood is Application 

  A Sneak Peek:

The good news is, you don’t need to have been through some elite mother’s training camp to apply the gospel in your life. You need to believe. Trust God, give thanks. Laugh. Believe — and that will feed your children.

Aaah sweet moms, it's that time of year again when thoughts of curriculum choices begin to flood our minds.  As homeschooling conventions approach, can I share some words with you, to help us to breathe deep, to remind us of the grander goal?  ~ Blessings.


Choosing a Homeschool Curriculum @ The Happy Housewife

Choosing Homeschool Curriculum @ The Homeschool Classroom

A free e-book with excellent insights into the goals of education:
Education is An Atmosphere, A Discipline, A Life @ Simply Charlotte Mason

An interesting website set up for families to figure out which curriculum may fit them best:
Design Your Homeschooling Approach to Suit Your Family @ Design Your Homeshool

Meeting With Him All Day Long

I rarely wake early to read His Word.  The babes wake up too early and I turn in too late for this to be a joyful routine.  I've tried laying scripture out before me at the breakfast table and sometimes it is devoured, but all too often it is interrupted and left unread.  I have found, through years of trying to figure it out, that once the day has rolled by, and the quiet of the evening arrives, this is the time for me to truly rest, one on One, with the Word, with a journal, in prayer.   But still there is a  fear of compartmentalizing God into a quiet time.  For if my only time communing with the Great I Am is after the babes are asleep, then their young hearts would never see their mama seeking Him in all their growing up years.  I want to meet with Him in all the moments of the day, not necessarily setting a specific time and place, but meeting with Him at any time and place.

You see, I am desperate to be filled up.   For how can I pour into the hearts of my children if I am running on empty? 

I have wondered how do this, this meeting with Him throughout the day, for this was not the pattern of my growing up home.  And so little by little, I have been learning ...

I started to post scripture on the walls and the fridge door where I'd see it and choose to read in the margin moments of the day.  I started speaking prayers in the shower and over steaming soup and at bedsides when saddened girls rest quiet. I started memorizing His Word during time at the kitchen sink, murmuring through rinsing water and bursting suds.  I started going back to my roots, to the hymns that speak gospel, and I play them loud  and sing them louder so that I don't forget where I came from or what has been accomplished for me.  I started to read snippets of inspired words from across the blogosphere that challenge and spur me on.  I started to listen to sermons, not just on Sundays, because they are only a click away all of the time...

What about you?  How does God infiltrate the moments of your day, so that your home and life is breathing His rhythm all day long?

Some Resources to Help Us Meet With Him Often in Little Ways:


Steph at Everyday Awe has designed some amazing printable resources to help us God-focus more easily.  


Good Morning Girls is an online accountability group and Bible Study that you can do with a group of your own old friends or with a group of some online new friends.  


Shawna Haak, a sweet friend and coworker, penned a beautiful post with a wonder of tips for filling yourself up with Him.

For now, a reason why the children and I continue to learn together at home ...
God's will is not something hidden that needs to be found but, rather, something revealed that needs to be done.
~ Sally Clarkson ~ Seasons of a Mother's Heart


And a reminder along the way ...
Women like to make sacrifices in one big piece, to give God something grand, but we can't. Our lives are a mosaic of little things, like putting a rose in a vase on the table.
~ Ingrid Trobisch ~  Heartstrings of Laughter and Love

The turn of the year always beckons me to reflect and reconsider how I have been doing this one life that I have been given. In the reflection there's a clarity that it is not about a single moment that has changed me, grown me over the past 365 days, but it is a thousand single moments that have shaped and framed me to be alive for today. A thousand conversations, a thousand words read, a thousands prayers whispered, a thousand hugs shared. When all the moments add up, I am changed.

Last fall, Sally Clarkson did a series on encouraging moms. She is all about being intentional with your family in the single moments. A thousand intentional moments speaking into the lives and hearts of our children, changes not only their lives, but ours as well. Below are several links to individual posts related to being intentional with our children. Blessings as you read.

Close Every Day With a Blessing

Be Sure to Remind Them

If You Really Love Your Children, Turn Off Your Computer, Cell Phone, and TV, and Read!

Beauty: The Bridge to Awaken Hidden Places of the Soul

A Heritage of Loving Words Aimed at the Heart

Creating Spaces of Personal Time, Focused on Hearing Hearts

Selfish, Self-Absorbed Children are Never Happy - Train it Out of Your Children!

Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom. ~ Psalm 90:12

You may have seen this article before - it's been linked around the Christian homeschooling blogosphere a fair bit recently. In case you haven't, it's worth the read.

It's long. You may need time to pause and ponder throughout.

Maybe early in the morning before little feet scamper, or later in the quiet of the evening after babes' eyelids rest, pour a cup of tea, invest a few moments, and glean some wisdom from someone who has gone before us.

Exposing Major Blind Spots of Homeschoolers by Reb Bradley

In the last couple of years, I have heard from multitudes of troubled homeschool parents around the country, a good many of whom were leaders. These parents have graduated their first batch of kids, only to discover that their children didn't turn out the way they thought they would. Many of these children were model homeschoolers while growing up, but sometime after their 18th birthday they began to reveal that they didn't hold to their parents' values. {Read more here: Homeschool Blindspots}

Bedtime Can Wait When Hearts are Changing

{A little sharing from my personal blog writings...}


She finds me at the top of the stairs, tidying up forgotten board books and stuffed puppies, hoping to draw this day to a close. She shows me the picture in the magazine. The one that daddy showed the night before when complaints about dinner arose. A classroom of school children sitting in desks with eyes forlorn and arms of skin and bones. She asks me to tell her about it again. I sit on the bottom step and she sits next to me, eager to hear about the starving souls and starving bodies in a far away place called North Korea. I ask her, "Can you imagine?", she shakes her head, "No". Sister comes and sits next to her to listen too.

My words sound inadequate to me as they stutter, sharing frightful realities to child ears. I ask them, "Why did God allow you to be born here in this country?" The younger answers, "Because He knew that you and daddy could handle it."  I smile and prod deeper, "Yes, but why were you not born to a mama and daddy who didn't have money to feed you, like so many other children are?" I can see their eyes fill with deep thinking.  They're beginning to see. They're catching a glimpse of the haves and the have nots, realizing that they are the privileged, not understanding the whys, but recognizing what is. 

I think about when we pray the words, "Thank you for this food", and say them with haphazard care, not thinking about gratefulness at all, but rather of almost anything else. Can we practice speaking "thank you" with desperate humility?

Thank. You. For. This. Food.

Thank. You. For. This. Food.

I prod further, rhetorically, not expecting a response, "Are you ever uncomfortable? Are you ever without?" They shake their heads, both knowing. "What is your responsibility?" 


"Mama's been thinking about this too ... What is our responsibility since we have so much and others have so little?... Just think about it ..."

Pajamas are slipped on and oldest slips downstairs. I know she has a mission. I finish the hair braids and teeth brushing, gifting the mission hearted one with time to act and do. With enough moments passed, I slowly round the bottom of the staircase and see the work done. A paper card with a paper pocket filled with coins and labelled "money". A rainbow bright on the facing side with a sunshine smiling down. She says it's for Uwizeymana, her Compassion sister friend in Rwanda. I nod with understanding. She's learning and figuring this out, and acting as her heart leads.

Can I learn from her? And act a little more, do a little more? Can I see my responsibility and act upon it too?

For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. ~ Ephesians 2:10

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Did you know that Anchor Academy works closely with Relief and Support Services Canada to minister and serve our neighbours in Kenya?  Did you know that they have a child sponsorship program that could begin a new friendship for your child and a needy one in Kenya?  For my children, having their own sponsor child, or sister-friend, has been a beautiful way for them to connect with the needs of dear children from other parts of the world.  Perhaps this would be a consideration for your family, as a way to give, during this upcoming season. 



Related post:
Making a World of Difference

Sometimes when surrounded by the walls of our homes, and up to our knees in laundry, with dishes from breakfast still sitting in the sink at noon, we can feel a bit overwhelmed - a little alone.  Thoughts of inadequacy and insecurity can invade our minds, convincing us that the homeschooling mom down the road has it all together, with children who are eager to learn and home routines that transpire like clock-work. 

It is on days like these when we need to allow ourselves to Stop.    Rest.     Reflect.

Sometimes a phone call to a fellow homeschooling mom, or an email to a godly mentor, can help put our anxieties into perspective.   Other times, an intentional appointment with Him over a cup of tea and His scripture can help to soothe the spirit.

I've found for myself, reading insights from veteran homeschooling moms has always been an encouragement.  

May I share a collection of insights with you here?:  Encouraging Articles by Jeannie Fulbright . 

A couple of personal favourite are:
How Long Should a Homeschool Day Be?
Quiet Time 101
Who's Character is Being Shaped Anyways?
Feeling Weak and Weary

May you be refreshed this week as you find rest in Him.

 He makes me to lie down in green pastures;
He leads me beside the still waters.
 He restores my soul;
He leads me in the paths of righteousness
For His name’s sake. 

Psalm 23: 2, 3  

We've had our moments, her and I. The oldest, who is the lover of life with a slight streak of naughtiness running through her veins. She knows how to stretch the limits, and she know where my red button is. It took me almost seven years to finally realize that my reactions to her actions were much more important than her actions themselves. His word had already told me that, but sometimes it's easier to read His words,than to put them into practical usage.



In the Summer 2011 edition of the The Old Schoolhouse magazine, Catherine Levison writes an article called, "How Do You Want to Be Remembered?". Part of her article shares this:

Thirty-one years ago, while holding my first baby in my arms, an older man said to me, "Do not scream and yell at your child." (Let me reassure you, I was not yelling nor in any way angry at my little newborn.) He went on to say, "She will only remember the strong emotions you displayed, not the reason you were yelling and raging." I appreciate being warned of the potential harm of angry screaming. I have never forgotten his words. ...

Charlotte Mason mentions gentleness in regard to parenting, and I believe in this wholeheartedly. She cites one of my favourite verses: "A servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all." (2 Timothy 2:24) I love that verse and I find it to be very practical. Do you apply that verse with your children? Charlotte Mason writes that this verse is not restricted to certain people but that it is the "secret to strength" for every parent who is guiding young ones in her home. Discipline can be firm and yet not frightening harsh.

As this new learning year begins, may we choose to speak life giving words to our children. May our tone of voice be sweet like honeycomb and may our homes be filled with voices of praise, encouragement and wise instruction. 



Related Links:

Speak Gently ~ Poem by David Bates

Gentle Jesus, Meek and Mild

Gentleness Journal Writing Ideas

A Book I'm Reading This Summer ...

In my wandering days when beginning to consider learning from home, I randomly selected books from the library and found the first edition of Educating a WholeHearted Child in my hands.

It was a gift.

How excited I was to see the third edition of this book of much homeschooling wisdom come out this summer.

Read some excerpts from Educating the WholeHearted Child along with some of Sally and Clay's thoughts at: I Take Joy

Books, Books Everywhere ~ The Foundation to Learning to Love to Learn

If You Give a Man a Fish, He'll Eat for a Day

Learning ~ Naturally

Here's the link at Amazon: Educating the WholeHearted Child -3rd Edition

Teaching Tip Tuesday ~ Learning Straight Through the Summer - Top 10 Things to Do

They sit there giggling as they share their summer aspirations. Thoughts of star gazing and mud squelching make smiles spread. And so the lists are made, numbered with ice cream expeditions, circuses and parades.

Mama makes one too:

1. Nourish the soul ~ begin memorizing Genesis chapter 1.

2. Nourish the mind ~ hide away the portable DVD player, keep the computer turned off, read about Laura and Almanzo on picnic blankets, and visit the library often.

3. Nourish the body ~ make a smoothie recipe book.

4. Nourish the heart ~ spend more time painting toe nails, and visiting farmers markets, and making sand castles, and swinging high.

5. Nourish the senses ~ write in our gratitude journals for rainbows seen, and campfires smelled, and homemade popsicles tasted, and sprinklers felt, and doorbells ringing with friends eager to play.

6. Nourish the passing moments ~ choose a gem out of the jar to focus our attentions on.

7. Nourish the neighbours ~ take raspberry muffins and notes to make their day.

8. Nourish our delight in creation ~ plan ahead to explore and discover more on our little nature outings.

9. Nourish our family ~ send card creations and fanciful letters to cousins and aunties and uncles and grandparents and sweet distant friends...

10. Nourish our joy ~ celebrate the first day of summer and the days when growing girls were born, and the fact that the sun is shining. Rejoice in the new day and in the breath that we have to celebrate.

Words penned by Debbie Strayer ~ The Homeschool Minute ~ May 25, 2011

Home education is the education that comes with being a part of your home. Some years are much more about life and its adjustments than about what comes from books. You may want to broaden your view when you think about how things have gone.

When you review your year, make sure you look for all the types of growth that have taken place, for both you and the children. Ask yourself these questions: What challenges did we face as a family this year? (Finances, family illness, new babies, toddlers or teens, moves, stresses, etc.) What adjustments have we made this year? (What did we do to continue in spite of our challenges?) What growth have I seen? (In attitudes, actions, service, etc.)

Once you have considered these questions, take these next steps:

~ Give your year to the Lord. Scripture is clear. God is near to those who come to Him humbly.

~ Get some rest. Take time to seek the Lord for the lessons of this year and His plan for the next. Give yourself and the children a break of whatever length you feel is best. It may be a day, a week, a month, or a summer. Pray and listen to the voice of the Lord, wise counselors, and your husband.

~ Look forward to His grace and direction for the future. He is faithful to provide for those He calls, and homeschooling is a calling (I Thessalonians 5:24.) It is on His shoulders, not yours, to get this done.

From many years in the classroom, I know there were children who were there in body while their hearts were elsewhere. I don't think those days of school amounted to much for them. From many years of homeschooling, I know that there were days when my children were there in their hearts while their minds may have been elsewhere. With my eyes fixed on Jesus and His plan, those days at home were never losses.

More encouraging words from both Debbie Strayer and Ruth Beechick can be found here: Articles to Inspire

A homeschooling mom of four encourages here with "Homeschooling with Purpose ~ A Purposeful Home" . An insightful reminder for those of us who struggle with balancing the cleanliness of our home with the reality of our family.

To watch and listen to in the quiet ...

So teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom. ~ Psalm 90:12

“For attractive lips, speak words of kindness.


For lovely eyes, seek out the good in people.


For a slim figure, share your food with the hungry.


For beautiful hair, let a child run their fingers through it once a day.


For poise, walk with the knowledge that you never walk alone.


People, more than things, have to be restored, renewed, revived, reclaimed, and redeemed.


Remember, if you ever need a helping hand, you will find one at the end of each of your arms.


As you grow older, you will discover that you have two hands, one for helping yourself and the other for helping others.”


~ Audrey Hepburn

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May I share a couple of sweet ministries of some young ones with you?  The hands and feet and mouths of these youth are doing until the least of these. 

Braided Tresses   ~ Twelve year old Sharaya, is raising money for an orphanage in China from where friends of hers are adopting a baby.  She is a blessing!

Shoes for Kids ~ After a trip to Kenya, eleven year old Isabel, decided to start collecting shoes for the barefooted children in Kenya.  She has an amazing heart!

Matthew 25:34~40

Is it True, Kind, Necessary?

~ An article by Erica Foss describing how the words we speak within our home can "contribute to the holiness and happiness" of our community.