Update on Life - Homeschooling, Disney, Katie and Everything in Between!

Oh my goodness!  I haven't posted in so long!  Since June, as a matter of fact and so much has happened in that time.  Molly and Ryan started homeschooling in July ( the 18th, I believe) and life has been crazy since then.  Well, life at The Appleby House is always crazy, but with the Frugal Family blog growing and doing the whole tv thing AND homeschooling, I am tired!  I must say however, that it has been enjoyable.

Just to bring you up to speed on our homeschool year, we started in July out of sheer boredom.  Molly and Ryan were fighting and you can only spend so many hours a day playing outside.  I mean, you'd think with all of that fresh air and at least 8 hours outdoors that they'd wear themselves down and enjoy their time indoors, but that didn't happen here.  I knew giving them a few hours a day of structured time would be best for them. 

I started Ryan  out doing some workbooks.  I realized quickly that I needed to slow down a bit with Ryan.  I was teaching him upper and lower case letters and trying to get him to write using lower case letters and I quickly realized that I should be very happy that he was writing his uppercase letters so well as a 4 year old.  It's funny the things you learn about yourself when you homeschool!  He knows all of the letters and all of the sounds they make, all of the shapes, colors, how to count, etc. that a 4 year old in preschool should know.  My goal with Ryan is to have him reading before Kindergarten, so we have some time.  I am also starting to focus more on unit studies with Ryan.  We just finished our Fall Leaves section and we're starting the Firefighter unit on Friday.  (Because we go to homeschool group on Thursdays).  Using unit studies provides him with a more focused learning experience and although he's learning about leaves, he also learns colors, counting, letters, etc. based on a leaf theme.   The same will happen with the Firefighter Unit.  When we started homeschooling, Ryan wanted to be in on all the action and after a few weeks learned that 3 hours of homeschool time was a little boring for him.  I bring him down now when Molly starts and we have a Bible lesson, work on Awana books and then start our math lesson.  Ryan counts things for me, we play matching games with numbers, etc.  Then we have Handwriting, which Ryan hated until I realized I was pushing him too hard (it's much more enjoyable now) and then we have Phonics time.  Then, Ryan is done.  He likes to play or do a puzzle.  Sometimes I let him watch a video.  I cannot expect him to sit in a chair at a table and move very little for three hours.  Of course, the kids play outside or in the funeral home for most of the afternoon so they get plenty of P.E. time!

Molly really enjoys school and is excelling!  Of course, that is Molly's personality.  She thinks she needs to be the best at everything and everything is a competition.  She is so proud of herself when she writes a letter better than Ryan does and I quickly explain to her that it is not a competition and that he's doing great!  I am working hard with Molly to teach her thoughtfulness and encouragement.  I was really proud of her for last week for cheering on Ryan as he wrote his numbers so well.  This was a big achievement for Molly to be happy for him because he did so well without having to be told that she, herself, had done a fantastic job!  AND, I am totally serious when I write that.  She gets her competitive side from me, I admit it.  So, at least I can understand where she's coming from and try to help her tame it a bit :)  Molly is telling time to the hour, counting coins, writing addition sentences, using a ruler and reading like crazy!  Today, in fact, she earned her first Book It (Pizza Hut) Certificate.  I had her read a certain number of books to me and when she filled up her list, she got the certificate for a FREE personal pan pizza at Pizza Hut.  She is very proud of her hard work.  Next week she'll start learning fractions.  When did Kindergartners start learning fractions???  But, it's in her book so I'm going to teach it to her!  Molly will be done with all of her Kindergarten work in December so I'm going to move her up to 1st Grade in January.  Do any of you have any advice on curriculum?  She's using Bob Jones right now, which is good, but I'm not sure that it's what's best for her. 

Katie of course is not homeschooling.  She's keeping us busy as she walks around the house like a tornado!  She's a wild woman!  She's into everything, knocking everything down and having a blast doing it.  She's starting to talk a little more... she would talk A LOT more if I just took her pacifier away from her but she goes and finds another one.  Katie is really into books right now.  She'll bring lots of books and plop in your lap and hit the book until you read.  And like all kids, she has her favorites like "Baby Bear, Baby Bear" that she wants read over and over.  She's rotten to the core and cute as a bug!  I am so glad we had a 3rd child!

Andy and I have been keeping busy with all kinds of things.  Andy has been busy with the funeral home and recently resigned his position on City Council.  He's trying to focus more on things he enjoys doing at church.

I have been keeping busy by blogging all the time, teaching classes and doing a weekly spot on WAND 17 in Decatur.  I am so happy that October 18 is my last class for this year.  I'm really tired and looking forward to relaxing and seeing my kids a little more. 

Oh, we went to Disney world a few weeks ago, I forgot about that!  HaHa!  That was VERY exciting.  The kids didn't know we were going.  We took Andy's mom with us and had so much fun!  It was nice having a 3rd set of hands, it made the adult/child ratio 3:3!  That was helpful!  The kids were very excited.  We went to every single park and we did it all!  It was so fun and we already can't wait to go back again! 

We're also on the last road to debt-freedom!  We are super, duper, super, duper excited about this!  Just a little more to go and we'll be there!  THIS is very exciting news! 

I  hope you're all doing well and I hope I can post again sooner than later in the future!

Miss America - Molly Ruth Appleby

Well, here she is, Miss America.  Oh wait, it's just Molly Appleby, Little Miss Newman.  She sure thinks she's Miss America.  Tonight she told Andy that she's Molly Appleby but he can just call her Little Miss Newman.  Doesn't that sound like something Molly would say???  I think we're in trouble!

Summer Time is HERE!

Well, it's finally hot and summer time is here!  The kids are enjoying every minute of being outside, playing in the pool and at the park and have started all the summer activities one family can handle!

This week started the library summer reading program.  Molly and Ry go on Thursday mornings to a class taught by Mrs. Mahee (McGee) and Molly was so excited that she had an actual unicorn watch and earrings!  Katie is going to the lapsit class taught by one of our favorite people, Ms. Lynn.  She gets to sit and hear stories and she colored her first picture last week.  It was a masterpiece and I'm sure she is very gifted (wink, wink). 

We're also in the midst of VBS this week!  Fun, Fun, Fun!  The kids have been singing some great songs all about loving God more!  I love hearing them sing and I love it when they tell me what they've learned.  I am so thankful for the teachers who take the time to teach my kids - and the other 20 preschool aged children in that room!  Yikes! 

Katie is learning to say more words and just had her first birthday last month!  She's got 8 teeth and goes a mile a minute. 

Ryan is just as much fun as ever.  He's reallllly into watching Scooby Doo and he and Molly love to pretend they're the "Gang" solving mysteries.

We're all getting excited about homeschooling too.  We've got our table, storage cabinet, curriculum, posters and just about everything we need for our classroom, with the exception of our computer which is next on our list.

We also bought a pool pass to the Oakland pool for the summer so we're hoping to go over and check it out a few times next week and hopefully the kids will learn to swim this summer.

We're planning a secret trip to Disney this fall.  We can hardly wait!!!  We're staying at Disney and bought the Disney dining plan.  Andy and I are so excited that we can't stand it.  We're keeping it a secret though for several reasons.  First, to surprise them and second, because we don't want to hear everyday from now until then "Are we going to Disney today?"

We are ever so blessed.  Go has been so good and so gracious to us.  We are so thankful for such a wonderful and loving church family.  Not much time goes by before I am again reminded of how great God is and how wonderful he was to make us a part of the First Baptist Church in Atwood.  "Truly blessed" would be an understatement.

I hope you're all having a fantastic summer!

Misty

A Letter from Pa and Ma Olsen (Andy and Misty) About Homeschooling.....

Some of you might have heard the rumor that we're going to home school... and the rumor is true.  So many people have a misconstrued idea of what homeschooling is and how it works.  Because I have a degree in Persuasive Speech Communication, I often feel the need to explain myself.  So here goes.

I first want to tell you that we're not homeschooling because of our school district or the teachers in our district.  Molly has an awesome teacher right now.  If you don't know, Molly is 5.  She will be in Kindergarten next year.  Mrs. Harbaugh is her teacher and she is awesome and has taught Molly so much.  The teacher's aide in Molly's classroom is a lady we loved long before school started.  The two Kindergarten teachers are also great teachers and I'm sure would do a wonderful job! 

We are not homeschooling to hide our kids from the world.  A lot of home schoolers don't want their children to see or hear anything.  We obviously do not want our children exposed to filth, but that's not why we're dong this.  I think it's ever so important to teach our children to be "in the world and not of it".  If you don't know what that means it simply that we want our children to be able to be a part of this world and function well in it, just not act like the rest of the world.  We hope they learn Biblical principles and take those principles out into the world and make a difference.  We are not, however, going to hide them in a bomb shelter in the basement with hopes that they never meet children from the outside world! 

I also want you to know that just in case you're confused, not all home school kids are social weirdos!  If that's what you think, you are confused.  We'll be taking our kids to the home school group that meets in Champaign every week.  There are over 200 families involved in this home school group... that's a lot of kids!  They'll also be taking music, swimming, dance and other classes!  We won't tuck them away in the house forever with the hopes of keeping them here with us until they're 30 and the girls' hair can grow all the way down to their ankles and then courting them off to the preacher boy or sweet little gal (in Ryan's case) from the next town.   We want our kids to be capable of social interaction and to be well rounded kids who grow up in a normal home and can function as well educated, socially active adults in our society who most importantly love God and follow His commands.

Another point I have to share is that Illinois home school laws are lax!  If you ever met someone who home schools and it seems like all they do is watch Sesame Street for a few hours a day, you might be right.  Illinois has very few laws regarding home schooling and you don't even have to test your children.  I hope if you're reading this you know this won't fly with me.  We have already purchased our curriculum from Bob Jones University Press, have our entire year planned out, including start and finish day (in May 2012), fall break and spring break, unit studies for every week, field trips and just about everything in between... all written nicely in my teacher's lesson planner.  I know, I'm a nerd!

Quite simply... we are doing this because we know this is what's best for our children.  We want them to have a great education, to be well rounded kids and to have fun!  We just think homeschooling is the best route for us.  I am not saying we'll do it forever, but for the time being, this is it. 

We are super excited so please pray for us as we start this adventure!  We think it's going to be great!  

Sincerely, 

Ma and Pa Olsen

Little House on the Prairie

Just kidding, just kidding... I just had to throw that in there!

Why Today Is One of the Best Days of My Life!

Today started as any ordinary day.  We got up, got Molly off to Pre-K, got Katie and Ryan ready and went to playgroup at the grade school.  After that, I got a headache and rested for a while.  I blogged and then we got Molly from school.  My headache got worse... boo!  Then it was time for Awanas to start!  The whole way there I had such a bad headache that I thought I was going to throw up in the van.  I prayed and asked God to help my head.  Being in a room with 80 other people can get very loud and isn't great for a headache.  By about 6:30 my head started feeling better.  I was sitting in the Awana office and I could hear the Cubbies lesson being taught, where my two oldest kids were.  As I listened to the lesson, I thought to myself, I bet one of those kids will accept Christ tonight as their Savior!  I could hear the lesson and I could hear their responses and they were "getting it". 

For the last year or so, Molly, my oldest daughter who is 5, has been asking me about Jesus, God, heaven, hell, the devil, lambs, The Lamb and even about atonement and why someone would have to die for our sins.  I know that's a lot for a kid her age, but this is the kid who could write her name when she was two and had 150 animals memorized when she was just over 18 months.  I have always been able to talk to her about everything.  When we have talked about Jesus and salvation in the past, she always tells me she understands it all but when she's 8 she's going to ask Jesus in her heart.  I always responded, "Whenever you want to, you can!"  and I would leave it at that.  It's not my job to "save" her or convince her of her need for salvation.  It's the Holy Spirit's job to make her realize she needs a Savior. 

So back to Awanas tonight... one of her teachers came and got me and told me that Molly listened to the lesson and before the lesson was over she was raising her hand and saying she needed to ask Jesus into her heart TONIGHT and she told her teacher at least 4 more times that as soon as she saw her Mom she was going to ask Jesus into her heart! 

Of course, I was thrilled.  I have had the opportunity to tell other people about Jesus many times and have had the privilege of leading many people in the sinner's prayer.  Let me just say, those times were awesome, but when it's your child, it's unlike anything else!  To know that my child understands that she's a sinner and that Jesus died on the cross to pay for her sins, is a beautiful thing.  I've been praying for her salvation and the salvation of my other children since before I had even conceived children!  I know what a difference it makes in life to have Christ and I want that for all 3 of my children!  It, of course, is their choice to follow Christ in life or not, but I pray today and everyday that they do!  It's a wonderful thing to be a Christian!  Molly left church tonight telling everyone that she was so excited!  She told them she asked Jesus into her heart and she was now a Christian!

You might have read all this and wondered, what does it take for a person to go to heaven?  Let me tell you that you don't have to know everything and you don't have to know every word of the Bible.  You don't have to be perfect.  You can be a nasty, filthy sinner.  We all are!  Any sin is awful in the eyes of God.  However, Jesus paid the price for that and made a way for you and me to be forgiven!  Please keep reading... all of you :)

The Bible says, "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23). That means you are a sinner and I am a sinner. ALL are sinners. First, we have to ADMIT we are sinners to God. Anything that we do in life that is against God's will is a sin.

The Bible says, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved" (Acts 16:31). You must BELIEVE that He is the Christ, the Son of the Living God. You must believe that He died on the cross for you to save you from your sins. Someone had to pay your debt. God is a HOLY and righteous God. He cannot have sin in His presence. In order for us to ever be with God, someone had to pay for our sins. Jesus did that for you and for me. He died on the cross, an innocent man and He was God, and He paid for our sins. He was buried and three days later rose again.

The Bible says, "If you CONFESS with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved" (Romans 10:9). That means that you have to confess it with your mouth. If you are saved, you will want to tell others what the Lord has done for you. That Jesus died on the cross to save you from your sins. You will want others to know because they too, like you and I, need to hear that there is Saving Grace in this world.

What the Bible does not say:
The Bible does not say that being a good person gets you into heaven. The Bible says "For by grace you are saved through faith; and not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast" (Ephesians 2:8-9). This means that our good works cannot get us into heaven. Only by grace are we saved and that is the grace of God.

The Bible does not say, if you go to church, you will go to heaven. If you go to the chicken house, you are not a chicken. If you go to McDonald's you are not a McFly Guy or Grimmace. If you go to church, that does not make you a Christian. You should go to church if you are a Christian. The Bible does say, "Do not forsake the assembling of yourselves" in Hebrews 10:25. However, if you attend church your entire life and never actually choose to follow Christ with your words, life, and actions, you are not saved.

The Bible does not say that knowing Scripture will get you into heaven. There are lots of verses to back this one up, but to put it plain and simple....The devil knows Scripture. The devil has lived in heaven before. The devil is a fallen angel. Just because you know Scripture and know about God and know what heaven is does not mean that you're going to heaven. I KNOW Satan will not be there!

The answer to the question is: You have to believe in the Lord, Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior. You have to ADMIT, BELIEVE and CONFESS.

I'm sure if you're reading this, you know us very well. We really do believe everything we've just written. We put this on our blog because if you're reading this, we're most certain that we love you and God has allowed you to be in our lives and us to be in your lives. We are telling you this because we don't want to go to heaven one day and not find you there. We don't want to have to stand in front of God on Judgement Day and explain why we didn't care enough to tell you about Him and what it truly takes to KNOW Him. If you don't know where you'll spend eternity, just ADMIT, BELIEVE and CONFESS. If you do that, please let us know so we can PRAY for you. It is not easy being a Christian. Sometimes people think you're crazy, people don't always understand why you do the things you do. But we do what we do because this is what the Bible says. And, if you do this too, not everyone will understand you either. Just tell us, so we can pray for you and encourage you! Trust us, there is no greater JOY in life than knowing that Jesus is your Lord and Savior and knowing that He is in control of your life.

Have You Ever Had One of THOSE Days?



This is Me!


Have you ever had one of those days where you got a water bill for $227 (yep, there's a problem) and a random check in the mail that you weren't expecting for $224?  Today was that day!  Yep, God is good... ALL the time!

^{Matthew 6:25} “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? ²⁶ Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? ²⁷ Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?"

I'm thankful for a God who knows when the storm's about to come and has the ability to calm it!  :)