QuiverX Newsletter - Keep on Growing

Parenting

As I was looking back at the last few newsletters, it occurred to me that you might be getting the idea that having a large family is always chaos and stress. It's not, though every family goes through those seasons. The good news is that God has a purpose in letting families and people go through seasons like that.

I read a book a few years ago called Increasing Your Personal Capacity, by Eddie Windsor. It talks about how each of us has a capacity in our life, like a cup. Life happens, and that is like water in your cup. When life gets crazy and you are being stretched, your cup isn't big enough to hold all the water and you are overwhelmed. Once again, the good news is that God wants to grow you, so your cup grows and you have a greater capacity than before.

I find that my capacity is stretched after each new baby is born. Another time my capacity grows is when a child reaches a new stage of development, like with my toddler getting old enough to be more inquisitive about the world. I have to let the Lord stretch my cup so I can hold all the water He's pouring into my life. It's not easy, but it is good!

So if you are feeling overwhelmed with life right now, spend some extra time seeking the Lord. He wants to stretch you and increase your capacity. When you work with Him, the process goes much better and before you know it, you'll feel like things are clicking back into place again.


Homeschooling

It's summer time again, and those of you who are homeschooling are probably wrapping up for the year. We are almost done - we have most subjects done for the year and are just trying to finish up a few more by the end of the month.

My subject today is about planning for next year. Regardless of how you feel about how this year went, we need to look back and see what we need to do differently next year. If last year was terrible for some reason, don't be too frustrated. Take the summer off to relax and recuperate, then get back to school this fall with a new plan. If last year was wonderful, look back and see what you were doing right and think about how you can keep it up next year.

I've done most of my planning for next year already, but if you haven't, you still have plenty of time. Set aside some time for reflection. Remind yourself what your goals were for your children's schooling. Evaluate how you are doing on meeting those goals. Pray for wisdom and get God's guidance in how to proceed. Then make your plan.

One thing that I'm planning to do next year is give my older students more autonomy. I realized that I've been doing too much of the planning - of our schedule especially. That means that I am the one who feels the need to get things done, and not my children. If you remember my first article on child rearing, you'll see that this violates one of those principles. My children don't feel the urgency to finish their school when I'm the one who sets the schedule. So this year my older students will be more responsible for setting their schedule (on a daily basis and on a weekly basis). This will help them learn to budget their time, and help them take some ownership in their schoolwork, especially the schedule. By the way, these students are in 4th and 5th grades.

I'll keep you posted on how well it works.


Quick Tip

KISS - Keep It Super Simple

Another area where I keep things simple is in our meals. I keep breakfast and lunch really simple, so I don't have to take a lot of time or thought. Some families like a schedule, where they have certain things on certain days. My family likes the same thing every day, so that makes it easy!

For dinner, I make a calendar and plan out the week. I also make a note about all events and appointments on that calendar. That helps me plan. For instance, if I'm going to be gone most of the day, I know I need to plan a fast meal to make when I get home, or something to put in the crockpot that morning before I leave. Also, having a meal calendar helps me make a shopping list and (hopefully) keeps me from forgetting to buy something I need.

I also keep a list of dinners that my family likes. That way, when I'm making my calendar and I can't decide what to make, I can look over the list. And when the store has chicken on sale, I can look over the list and see what chicken recipes my family likes and pick one. I do try new recipes as I find them, but I try not to do more than 1 new recipe every couple of weeks.

One more thing I do is estimate the total cost for making each meal. That helps me keep on budget. When my food budget is stretched, I can look over my meal list and choose dinners that cost less. When my budget is on track, I try to keep a mix of nicer meals, which are usually our favorites, and the less expensive ones.


Phil 1:6 (NKJV)

"...[B]eing confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ;"