Sabbath

"Sabbath" is something God was really pressing in my life all last year. With the business of our culture, life season of "mother of 3 school age children" and pace of city living everything around me is pushing me to go at the speed of 100 mph. How does one find the audacity to try to walk at a slower pace when they are in the middle of a river with a current of rushing waters? How does one silence the noise of 1,000 random voices in order to hear the 1 quiet voice that matters?

Reading the Old Testament with Elly and Lucy during school has been an amazing experience. To journey through the stories and principles with young minds has brought such a fresh perspective. To look at the book of Numbers and think, "There is no way this is going to be interesting for them or keep their attention", only to experience the exact opposite as they realize the wisdom of God in contrast to the finite minds and disorder of natural man.

As we read through the Laws God gave to Moses for the Nation of Israel in Leviticus I saw the continual importance of Sabbath in EVERYTHING. Sabbath is a time for rest, a time of restoration, enjoyment, thankfulness and a time for man to slow down enough to realize and embrace our dependance, need and reverence of God. God never calls us to things He does not embody or embrace. God takes time to Sabbath, God makes the law of the LAND needing a Sabbath and He teaches man's need for Sabbath.

I could explain how we have personally put Sabbath into our lives, but I don't want to make it into a "to do list" or 1-2-3 step. Sabbath is not just the physical schedule. It is about our heart and mind. It is about looking at our life, thinking about what we are seeking to accomplish with our long list and hold it up to the teachings of Jesus and what He said is LIFE abundant.

Last week I made the difficult choice to get up at the horrific time of 5:30am every morning for 4 days to pray, read scripture and LISTEN. Only to learn what it means to Abide in Him (John15). No agenda, no asking God to fix things I think He needs to fix or ramble about what I think is important. Just make space to sit before God, be still and know he is God. I don't have this all figured out, but the fruit of pressing into, praying about and taking steps to experience these things has only caused me to want more of it. I just want to encourage you to make space when there seems to be no space. Find quiet when you think you won't be able to find it. And use that space and quiet time to talk to and listen to God and hear what He has to say.

TAYLOR TRIBE HOMESCHOOL

I have had multiple people ask me about my homeschooling method. I have wanted to share this on the blog for a while, but have not had the time to do it. I also wanted to give some time to homeschooling Atticus before I shared on the Kindergarten aspect of homeschooling.

This is our 2nd year homeschooling. Last year was devoted to transitioning myself, Elly and Lucy from public school to homeschool. Both girls attended public school for the first few years of schooling. Lucy attended public school from K-2nd grade and Elly K-4th grade. Then due to their school declining in ability to challenge them, their increasing dance schedule and our family schedule it seemed all sides were pushing us to pursue Homeschool in order for their studies to thrive.

Homeschooling was never a road I thought I would take. I had it as a back-up plan knowing that my husband and I are raising our children in a city with an unstable public school system and their education is very important to us, but we don't have the financial freedom to pick where we want them schooled. After many discussions as a family we all decided to try homeschooling and it has been a challenging, exciting, difficult and rewarding journey.

This year we added Atticus who is 5 years old. He started Kindergarten, so this brought a new dimension and plate to juggle. On account of this I have had to figure out how to school 3 different grades, personalities on top of having a child who has never experienced a classroom setting aside from Sunday school. It has been one of the most ambitious, difficult and REWARDING experiences of my life.

Last year, I went with Veritas Press for everything because they provide a schedule for each day through the entire year and are classical education. We just replaced the Latin with French. That way I knew the girls would be getting everything they needed and I would get a structure to learn from. We have made some changes this year, but I still ordered the schedule from Veritas for the kids to give me a general guide for the year.

Here is my current schedule and resources for our family's homeschool.

Elly and Lucy (4th and 6th grade)

5 hours per day M-Th and 2 hours on Sunday

MONDAY-THURSDAY
Bible
We start the day reading raw scripture and journal. Last year we started in Genesis and we are in Numbers currently.

Grammar
Shurley English

Math
Saxon
KHAN academy

History
Veritas Press Curriculum on history
Reinforced by online websites and videos
~KHAN academy
~Crash Course on YouTube


Literature
I use a few sources for Grade appropriate reads. The girls are always reading a book. One or 2 chapters a day depending on length of chapters.
~Veritas Press Literature List (they also provide great Comprehension guides)
~I also love Barnes and Nobles Searches for Children's Classic and age appropriate books. Barnes and Noble also has a great rewards program for anyone as well as teachers.


3x's A WEEK
Science
Exploring Creation with Astronomy (we do this all together 3 times a week, Atticus included)
Reinforced with the Wonders of the Universe app on the iPad
KHAN academy

Geography
Power Basic World Geography


French
Rosetta Stone


2x's A WEEK
Art
We invite in friends that specialize in different mediums as well as finding projects and ideas on Pinterest. There are some great resources there.

Homemade
We try to make a meal together once a week. From breakfast scones to Spaghetti and meat sauce. Something simple that they can help with. Aiming for them to have a few recipes under their belt and understanding of foods and experience in the kitchen when they leave the home. Even Atticus at the age of 5 loves to help out making the meal.


Typing
Typing Web is a GREAT source to learn to type

ALSO:

Music
Lucy practices piano 4-5x'a a week and has a piano lessons once a week
Elly practices guitar 3-4's a week and has guitar lessons twice a month

Glogster for book reports, research projects and papers. We also do classic papers and boards. I like to have the kids write with paper and pencil, type papers on the computer and learn the "blog/website" concepts on Glogster.

We also invite friends over that specialize in different fields and interests. It has been really great to have people who are passionate about different subjects some and give "real life" experience and know-how to the kids. (And I have fun learning all of this too!)

Atticus (Kindergarten)

1 1/2-2 hours per day, 4 or 5 days a week

EVERYDAY
Alphabet/Phonics
Alphabet flash cards
Leap Frog Phonics Zoo Video
Pocket Phonics app for iPad
Hands on projects to learn letters and sounds
My Alphabet Book

Math
Handwriting
Letters and Numbers for Me
My Printing Book

TWO or THREE TIMES A WEEK

Reading
BOB books


French
Hop, Skip, and sing French for kids
Bonjour les Amis


Science
Exploring Creation with Astronomy (we do this all together 3 times a week, Atticus included)
Reinforced with the Wonders of the Universe app on the iPad
KHAN academy


ONCE A WEEK
History
Child's History of the World (read one chapter out loud)


If you have any additional questions feel free to ask me!

Katie and Andrew

I am still pretty green when it comes to photography so when Katie asked me to come shoot her wedding I felt inadequate to capture such a once-in-a-lifetime moment. She reassured me her sister would be there shooting as well and it was a low pressure environment. Her belief in my photography and desire to have me come meant very much to me.

Here are a few of my favorite photos from that day.  Katie was absolutely STUNNING and I felt very privileged to be there to capture this special day for her and her new husband Andrew.