Archives for March 2012
Action Alert {Crew Review}
Action Alert is a downloadable safety program protecting children from online dangers while using the computer. This program has been featured on NBC’s The Today Show and has won multiple awards for it’s easy to use, protective programming.
Action Alert has two versions available: a free download for immediate use and the Maximum Protection download for the ultimate online protection for your children. This program allows remote access, allowing you to monitor computer usage from your phone when you are away from home, as well as shutting down your computers system if inappropriate access is found. Activity alerts are also programmed to be sent to your phone or email as you see fit. Video recording is available with this program so that you can see who is using your computer and what is going on while you are away from home.
Site blocking, content filtering, keystroke logging, time allowance and email and chat logging are also provided with this program. These things combined allow parents to protect their children from the online dangers of today such as sexual predators, inappropriate behaviors and sexting, over sharing, gaming addictions and much more.
Action Alert can be purchased and downloaded from their website for FREE download or $29.99 for the Maximum Protection program. To read more reviews of Action Alert please visit the TOS Homeschool Review Crew Blog.
*Disclaimer: This product was provided to me free in exchange for my honest opinion shared in a blog post by Action and Alert and the TOS Homeschool Review Crew.
A Quick Look at Homeschooling {Homeschooling}
So I need to make a blog post but I’m sitting here distractedly watching my sweet almost 4 year old cut up pieces of morning art project on my brand new couch, gritting my teeth hoping she doesn’t miss and cut a hole in it! She took it upon herself to make a beautiful chalk drawing on a sheet of yellow construction paper. Her new obsession is cutting paper into tiny little squares.
She amazes me. She is smart as can be. She even amazed her therapists yesterday as she worked through her tasks with ease and brilliance of memory. *Yep she gets that from me!* LOL
She’s finally finished her artwork and now she is carefully carrying it and her tiny squares back over to our dining table where she was supposed to be working in the first place. Her chalk rolls across the table and she runs to the other side to retrieve it. “I got it Mommy,” she excitedly tells me.
This kind of stuff is exactly why I choose to homeschool. If my children attended public school, I would completely miss out on these precious moments and they would miss out on this time with me. Not to mention my little Laycie would miss out on her special creative moments like the ones she’s had this morning. And it’s the same for my other children. This is what homeschooling is all about.
I must say this is not the post I intended for this morning but I guess God had different ideas for me! I’m finding following his lead is much easier than I once thought and my life is much better for it. The joys of my days are found in the Love He has blessed me with.
What is joyful to you today??
March 26th – Epilepsy Awareness {Epilepsy Awareness}
It’s March and Epilepsy Awareness Day is quickly creeping up on me. It’s March 26th but for us Epilepsy Awareness is EVERY day. It’s a daily part of our life and something we never take for granted.
When you live with a seizure disorder you know a seizure can happen at any time of the day. I went shopping in Walmart one day when my sweet Mimi was a baby. Before I could even get started with my shopping she had a seizure in my arms. Needless to say we immediately went home.
My precious Laycie has fallen to the floor in the bathroom, bumping her head on our bathtub when she was just a baby learning to pull up with me nearby. It was unexpected and there was no warning her seizure was coming. I’m thankful every day that she is okay.
Needless to say my days are filled with overprotecting and over-watching my babies. I am not able to send my girls to visit at their friends homes without being nearby. I cannot allow them to play out of my sight for long. I have a constant vigil to ensure they are indeed okay and safe in everything they do.
This doesn’t mean I don’t allow them to be as normal as possible. Emma has been wanting to learn to ride horses since she was 3. We are currently looking for a stables that can accommodate her Epilepsy, as well as protective equipment to keep her safe, even though she hasn’t had a seizure since she was 4.
Laycie plays hard in all she does as she wishes to do. She goes boating with her Daddy. Her life is as normal as it can be without over-doing it.
But as they do things, their Epilepsy is never forgotten. It’s always present and we leave it to our Neuro and God to keep our girls healthy.
This March 26th isn’t the only day you should share Epilepsy Awareness. You can start today by sharing your story with others. You can share about seizures and what to do in an emergency; seizures can happen to anyone at anytime and any age. Learn, share and spread the word today!
Children are a Gift {Thoughts From Me}
Lately, I’ve had a lot of thoughts that I have wanted to turn into blog posts but by the time I get here, I forget what I have to say. I feel God speaking to me, asking me to speak out, yet I keep putting it off. Bear with me as I try to catch up with my emotions and brain.
All over the internet, I see Mother’s complain about being Mothers. I am also guilty of complaint. Many of today’s women don’t see the Glory they have in the job of raising God’s children. They see their wants and needs above that of their young.
I often see Mother’s who cling to the ideals of the life they are missing. I hear comments on how they need a break or to simply go out. Yes, a break is a nice thing to have. I completely agree but honestly, it’s time to bring the Glory of God back into your home by embracing and loving on the babies He has gifted you.
There comes a time in life when you must grow up and realize what you are missing out on by going out every Friday or Saturday night. Making excuses to do so is just that, an excuse to escape what you were meant to do. And why? Because you claim you are too stressed out to continue.
What if you changed that thought though? What if you began to see JOY in your life and in your children? I read online the other day a comment that said to place your hand over your heart and feel the beat, to feel your purpose and know you are alive for a reason. And you are.
Your purpose as a Mother is to RAISE your children, to provide them the teachings of the Lord (or of your beliefs if they differ from mine). Your purpose as a Mother is to educate your children in the right way and how to avoid the wrong ways. It is not to pass your children off to someone else so you can do as you please. Those days left when you chose to have a child, adopt a child, or even become a parent to a child that isn’t yours. Those days left when God chose you to do this important job for him.
This is a JOB, not a HOBBY. This is a REQUIREMENT, not an OPTION. You cannot just be a parent when you chose. Once you are a Mother you are a Mother forever. Your children should be what you HAPPILY choose to live for, not what you dread.
Children are God’s Light, shining every moment of the day. They are a joy to have around. You only have them a short time. Do you really want them to remember you as a parent who simply shoved them off? Or do you want them to have memories of a Mother who followed God’s orders and gave them the love and grace He himself gives each of us daily? I’m personally aiming for the later. What about you?
Homeschool is Not School at Home {Homeschooling}
I was on Facebook today, as I often am. It’s my outside link to the world! Anyways, an image was being shared about Homeschooling. It related that Homeschoolers are NOT trying to do school at home but are instead trying to do Homeschool. It completely reiterated my beliefs of education.
I believe education should be a natural process provided for children. It should not be a routine of learning things that are not of interest or that are not necessary. It should not be rote learning and memorization of facts. Those can be learned while doing interesting things very simply and easily.
When I first began homeschooling my son, he was just a little boy. At the time, I was convinced, mostly by others who were involved with Public schooling, that our school needed to be just like the public schools, in a classroom setting with specific curriculum. Boy was I ever WRONG.
As the years passed, I began to learn more and I began to understand the learning differences in my children, I came to realize that I didn’t want a public school education for my children. If I had, I would have sent them straight to that big yellow school bus that carried them to that brick building everyday. I didn’t choose that and that was not something I wanted for their education at all.
What I did want was for my children to learn naturally. I wanted to instill a natural curiosity about life and how and why things work as they do. I wanted them to feel a sense of accomplishment as they figured out and learned these things seemingly on their own.
I also didn’t want my children to feel pushed educationally. I don’t ever want them to feel like they are having to do work above their skill levels before they are ready. During this journey of homeschooling we have had many challenges but all along, I could hear God directing me to just keep trying and remain patient. I didn’t always listen. I often fell into the “he should be doing this by now” trap. “She is more than ready for this, why isn’t she doing it.” The reason is because God wasn’t ready for their minds to open to those things. He had other plans for them in life. He wanted them to remain children, just as I did.
As I began to follow the paths opened for us in learning and I began to learn more about these things I thought I should be pushing, my children began to learn. They began to show strengths that I thought they were missing, yet were learning all the time. They began to learn independently in things that interested them most. All I needed was to be patient and as always the Lord would provide. And he has!
It is a joy to see my children today. It is a blessing to see how much they have learned and how far each of them has come. They are each very different in their learning styles but they are each learning just fine.
School for us differs every month, as they need it to. One month we may watch tons of movies on subjects we are interested in or may need to learn about because it goes along with our learning process. The next month we may do tons of worksheets to learn. And the very next months may contain tons of books that we read together. How they learn the lesson is not the important part. Learning the lesson is what’s most important.
Right now I am once again re-arranging curriculum. This past month has been a video lesson month for us but now my children are requesting book work and worksheets to do. They are ready and need this. I’m fine with this because they are willing to do the things necessary to learn more. The video’s have peeked their interest in learning and they are ready to learn even more. For us, games work the same way. They enjoy learning through educational games on websites and DS games they have. All these things work together for us educationally providing Homeschool.
Education was not meant to be a routine schedule provided in an institution. Education is a process that is taught 24 hours a day, 7 days a week as learning comes up. It doesn’t stop when you walk out of a school building and it isn’t the responsibility of a teacher to provide to a child. It is a parent’s responsibility to ensure your child knows how to learn all day long, as learning never stops.
This is homeschooling for us here at Luv’N Lambert Life. What is homeschooling for you?