Sher Birmingham

My friends at Home School in the Woods   http://www.homeschoolinthewoods.com/  are offering in celebration of Jamestown 400 year anniversary a FREE Replica of Jamestown. We made ours this morning and had so much fun. Coloring, cutting and glue sticking the project together. It was so cool because this year we are studying from Columbus to Colonial USA to Revolutionary War to Pioneers. So tomorrow our study leads to Jamestown, and yesterday I received the email about Jamestown Replica. So the timing was GREAT.

While you are there please check out her free Civil War Unit Studies AND her wonderful Extives Link page!

I had already purchased my history for this year but I really like their Colonial Life

To order free books:…this is a worldly site so be careful.

1. Go to http://www.wowio.com
2. Add books to your shopping cart
3. Click order (this will require you to log on)
   You will receive an email when your order is ready
4. Download your free books

Get a FREE homeschooling ebooks every week http://www.HomeSchoolEStore.com/catalog/index.php?affiliate_id=2642

The Baldwin project has a huge list of free books…you have to sort through..click on books and you have a list you can buy read or print out for later…enjoy!   www.mainlesson.com 

And www.amblesideonline.com has schedules and free poetry and free curriculum options to the CM approach…have to sort through..trials and trumphs of church history seems to be good as well as a year worth of poetry and their free links.

If you give a Homeschooling Mom a cookie, she’ll want the recipe.

She will plan a complete unit study on the History of Cookies. 

The family will take field to a farm and see where we get eggs, milk and grain.

At home they will make butter out of milk.

The children will want to start grinding their own grain. 

Mom will purchase a Bosch Universal Kitchen System. 

She will remember she will need a new list of cookbooks, so she will order  “An Introduction To Whole Grain Baking w/ CD”, “Desserts”, “The Cooking With Children CD”, and “Lunches & Snacks Cookbook” by Sue Gregg,  also “Whole Foods for Kids to Cook”.

Mom orders a 100 lb bag of wheat berries.

Now she will grind her own wheat grain into flour.

The children remember the farm field trip and knowing they can’t possibly get a cow, so they beg for a few chickens.

So to a trip to the library to research how to build a chicken coop and to how to care for chickens.

On the way out the door Mom see the book, “Chicken Tractor” by Andy Lee & Pat Foreman.

They stop by the Feed and Seed to pick up materials and ask where to purchase the chicks.

There the clerk tells them about egg that can be incubated.

He sells them a book on hatching eggs, eggs, and incubator.

At home Mom and the younger children set up the incubator while Dad and the older children build the chicken tractor.

http://gladstone.uoregon.edu/~nfantasi/ChickenTractorproj.htm

http://home.centurytel.net/thecitychicken/tractors.html

Back to the library to pick up gardening books and more books on chickens.

The oldest daughter now starts a business grinding flour for the her friend’s families.

While her younger sisters are selling homemade cookies to their neighbors.

The boys have started building a new chicken tractor because they want more eggs for breakfast.

That cookie that started this all… the homeschooling mom’s three year old ate it.

by Sher Birmingham
based on “If you Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Numeroff 

Sher Birmingham, wife to Bill. We have 7 children (ages 29 to 6 years old) plus 3 grandchildren (ages 5 to 1 years old).  Encouraging moms that they can successfully run a business, school, and keep house at Home!  If you enjoyed this article, please join my e-group

I friend of mine wrote this.  It is a conversation of a homeschool mom with God.  As she stuggles with what she doesn’t get done.  I am not a Failure?

I hope you enjoy it.

Oh I love this new system I have found.  Now I just started today but pre-printed index cards for every room of the house.  Every job listed.  GREAT help in training your children to work.  And great help on those of us who need help getting back on track!

Molly’s Kid Chore Organizer  

I love it!  She also has for the homeschooler Assignment cards.  But you could even do it for home work for the children that attend school.  Molly even has Bible memory verse on index cards.

AND Homeschooling with index card guide.  It is cheep but if you want to pay a little more you can get the pre-printed index cards to go with the guide.  Oh so well worth the extra investment. What we are using this summer is on Molly’s freebies.   She has already on cards the Books of the Bible.  We are going to know not only the names but be able to put them in order!  These cards are going to help so much to do that.  AND they are FREE!  what more could you ask for? 

Please check out all of Homeschooling With Index Cards website.  It is so full of great ideas for the homeschooling Mom.

Sher Birmingham, wife to Bill. We have 7 children (ages 29 to 6 years old) plus 3 grandchildren (ages 5 to 1 years old).  Encouraging moms that they can successfully run a business, school, and keep house at Home!  If you enjoyed this article, please join my e-group http://groups.yahoo.com/group/fruitfully. 

Also check out  Cindy Rushton’s Ultimate Homeschool Expo 2007!  Great to go to a Homeschool Convention in your pj’s!  No babysitter, parking and hotel!

If you can ask a hundred women what they want in a man.  You will get a hundred different answers.  So what are they saying?  Do women know what they want?  How can men give it to them if they don’t know themselves what they want. 

Women want to be valued.  There are hundreds of ways to value a women…so that she knows it. 

• Talk to her
• Listento her
• Buy her things
• Hug her
• Wash the dishes
• Fix her car
• Make sure she has money
• Give her time to take a bath while you put the kids down to bed
• And the list goes on…. 

But she needs to know that she is valued by her husband above all else.  Does that mean he is only concerned with her.  NO!  But in a world the degrades women every day, she needs to know that one place she wont be degraded, one place she has worth, one place she matters is in the eyes and heart of her husband. 

Men if you want your wife to give you her blessing and be ready for you when you come back from fishing, hunting, playing ball, hanging out with them guys or whatever else you desire to do.  Value her…Make sure she knows beyond a shadow of a doubt that if she needs or wants you that you will cancel everything and be there for her.  Make sure she knows that there is nothing else you would rather be doing or anyplace you would rather be than with her.  Once she is secure in that knowledge she will give her blessing to you for all other activities you desire. 

Women want to know that they are of value to you.  If no one else in the world values her opinion, if no one else knows she is there, a woman wants to know that her husband loves her and values her.  Your wife wants to know that when she speaks you are listening…that you value her opinion and words.  Even if you choose not to heed them, let her know that you are listening.  Tell her you hear her.  Make a point to let her know you understand what she said.  If you don’t understand ask her.  You can even tell her why you are going a different way.  She may not be happy but she will respect you because she see that you valued her opinion. 

And yes women your husband needs, desire and must have that respect.  In a world that doesn’t respect men.  Every father on tv today is portrayed as a brainless looser.  Your husband needs your respect.  He will value you more when you show him your respect.  It is the opposite side of the same coin. 

Sher Birmingham, wife to Bill. We have 7 children (ages 29 to 6 years old) plus 3 grandchildren (ages 5 to 1 years old).  Encouraging moms that they can successfully run a business, school, and keep house at Home!  If you enjoyed this article, please join my e-group http://groups.yahoo.com/group/fruitfully. 

“Help! Can anyone recommend a good but inexpensive curriculum I can   work from?  I homeschool 4 children ages 6, 9, 11 & 13.  After talking   to some of my friends whose children go to school, I’m worried that I  may be missing some things they may need to know.  I worry that they may be falling behind.  It would even help if I just had guidelines to go by.  Currently I don’t use a curriculum.” — If I had one thing to say to a concerned homeschooling mom is “They will get it.”

They will learn to read, write and do math.  They will learn history…but honesty how much history do you remember from your schooling?

My focus and goals are.  My children relationship with God, me (and my husband), and each other.  The basic knowledge of the Bible.  Their character…now I don’t do character trainint mostly this comes from the first two goals.  And lastly I work on their basic skills…reading, writing and math.  Because you can’t know more about God and His word without being able to read…and write.  You need math to be able to live…earn a living, pay bills, pay tithes, ect…

Now do I not do science, history, phonics, ect… NO.  I do them.  But I try to remember my focus.  I do them to teach the focus.  To understand more about God’s design you learn science.  To understand God’s plan for your future, you learn history.  ect…

Your children will not remember every fact you teach them.  AND you can’t teach them every fact out there.  But with these focuses and goals you can teach them God and basic skills to learn.  They can learn everything they need to know and your children wont miss the important things.

Psalm 111:10 (NIV) “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow his precepts have good understanding.  To him belongs eternal praise.”

Now back to answer your question….for curriculum I use SOW - Student of the Word http://sowcurriculum.com/ .  And I use a lot of Cindy Rushton’s ideas in her “Homeschooling The Easy Way Manual” and I am on her many studies. http://www.cindyrushton.com/

She is have an Ultimate Homeschool Expo http://www.ultimatehomeschoolexpo.com/.  Let her know I sent you!

Sher Birmingham, wife to Bill. We have 7 children (ages 29 to 6 years old) plus 3 grandchildren (ages 5 to 1 years old). Encouraging moms that they can successfully run a business, school, and keep house at Home! If you enjoyed this article, please join my e-group http://groups.yahoo.com/group/fruitfully .

The legend of the donkey is that the lowly donkey carried Mary to Bethlehem when she was with child and fleeing Herod’s troops. The donkey was again present at Christ’s birth in that humble stable. Years later, he was chosen to carry Jesus into Jerusalem on that Palm Sunday. Alas, the little donkey was unable to assist his lord and master when it came time to carry the heavy cross. As the sad, little donkey took his last look at Jesus on Calvary, God smiled on him for his faithful service. As he slowly walked away, the shadow of the Cross fell across his back and shoulders and remains there to this day as a symbol of his love and humble devotion.

The truth is the Bible does not tell us how Joseph took Mary and Jesus to Egypt nor does it tell us what if any animals where in the Stable where Jesus was born. The Bible does tell us that Jesus rode a colt that had never been ridden when He entered Jerusalem on that Palm Sunday. So it couldn’t be the same donkey. The Bible doesn’t speak of any animals near Jesus as He made His way from Pilot’s decree to Calvary.

The Bible says in Job 12:7-11 “But ask the animals what they think—let them teach you; let the birds tell you what’s going on. Put your ear to the earth—learn the basics. Listen—the fish in the ocean will tell you their stories. Isn’t it clear that they all know and agree that God is sovereign, that He holds all things in His hand — Every living soul, yes, every breathing creature? Isn’t this all just common sense, as common as the sense of taste? Do you think the elderly have a corner on wisdom, that you have to grow old before you understand life?” (Message) Like in the legend of the dogwood tree the marking on our donkey should remind us of Jesus and the salvation story. Again Jesus wrote it in nature this time an animal, but as is written in Job all animals know He is God.

The Bible also says in Romans 1:19-20 “Since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—His eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.” (NIV) God makes it easy for us to see Jesus’ work on the cross, by declaring Himself in the plants, animals and all of nature. The truth of the donkey and the marking of the cross on his back is so that no person can deny that saw Jesus and His work of salvation because it is written on the back of the donkey.

Sher Birmingham, wife to Bill. We have 7 children (ages 29 to 6 years old) plus 3 grandchildren (ages 5 to 1 years old). Encouraging moms that they can successfully run a business, school, and keep house at Home! If you enjoyed this article, please join my e-group http://groups.yahoo.com/group/fruitfully. Or / and you may want to purchase my e-book “Passover & Jesus” (see the page entitled “Passover & Jesus Ebook”).

The legend of the dogwood tree is that when Jesus walked the earth the dogwood was a tall and proud tree. Its trunk was as large around as an oak tree and its wood was hard and strong. When Jesus was to be crucified, the Roman soldiers choose the dogwood tree to make crosses. They made a cross for Jesus. The dogwood tree was very sad and ashamed to be put to such a terrible use. Jesus knew the tree was very unhappy and he felt sorry for it. He promised the dogwood that it would never again grow large enough to be used as a cross. And then, to give the world a reminder of the tree’s history, Jesus gave it a very special blossom. This blossom would be a sign of Jesus’ death. That is why the dogwood’s four white petals form the shape of a cross. On the outer edge of each petal there is a dark red stain, as a reminder that Jesus was offered on the cross for forgiveness of sins. And in the center of each bloom is a tiny crown of thorns.

The truth is the Bible does not tell us what type of wood the cross was made of that Jesus was crucified on. Roman history does not go into specifics as to how the crosses were made or what type of wood they used. We cannot know for sure what type of tree was used to make the cross.

The Bible says in Psalms 96:1-2 & 12 “Sing to the LORD a new song; sing to the LORD, all the earth. Sing to the LORD, praise His name; proclaim His salvation day after day” …. “Let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them. Then all the trees of the forest will sing for joy;” (NIV) The trees sing for joy. I believe the dogwood tree reveals Jesus in the Spring with it flower petals in the shape of the cross. Each petal has a dark color and shape reminding us of the nails. The very center of the flower does look like a miniature crown of thorns. This very flower reminds us of Jesus’ work of salvation on the cross. Isn’t it lovely that God has designed it to be in bloom during the Easter Resurrection Sunday marking the resurrection of Christ after the Crucifixion.

In I Chronicles 16:28-36 it says, “Shout Bravo! to God, families of the peoples, in awe of the Glory, in awe of the Strength: Bravo! Shout Bravo! to His famous Name, lift high an offering and enter Jis presence! Stand resplendent in His robes of holiness! God is serious business, take Him seriously; He’s put the earth in place and it’s not moving. So let Heaven rejoice, let Earth be jubilant, and pass the word among the nations, “God reigns!” Let Ocean, all teeming with life, bellow, let Field and all its creatures shake the rafters; Then the trees in the forest will add their applause to all who are pleased and present before God He’s on his way to set things right! Give thanks to God—he is good and his love never quits. Say, “Save us, Savior God, round us up and get us out of these godless places, So we can give thanks to your holy Name, and bask in your life of praise.” Blessed be God, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting. Then everybody said, “Yes! Amen!” and “Praise God!” (Message) Again the trees are proclaiming God! And again we see how the dogwood tree is proclaiming Jesus works on the cross the salvation story for us to see.

And again the Bible says in Psalms 19:1-4a “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.” (NIV) This is where God makes sure that every part of His creation tell of Him. Day after day in every language and speech in such away that no one can deny they heard of Him and His wonders! Each fall the dogwood produces blood red berries reminding us day after day of our Savior and all that He did.

God declares Himself in nature. I believe this is the truth of the dogwood tree. God wrote in the tree the salvation story. Not necessarily because of the tree’s use but because of His desire to reveal Himself to us. So that no living person can deny Him and what Jesus did…it was written the dogwood.

Sher Birmingham, wife to Bill. We have 7 children (ages 29 to 6 years old) plus 3 grandchildren (ages 5 to 1 years old). Encouraging moms that they can successfully run a business, school, and keep house at Home! If you enjoyed this article, please join my e-group http://groups.yahoo.com/group/fruitfully. Or / and you may want to purchase my e-book “Passover & Jesus” (see the page entitled “Passover & Jesus Ebook”).

Hi, I am a Christian, homeschooling Mom.  I am married to my wonderful husband, Bill.  We have 7 children and 3 grandsons.  And I have just learned that a 4th grandbaby is on the way! (Sadly our dear daughter is having a miscarriage.)

Our oldest daughter is starting her oldest child in homeschooling next year.  You know the BIG Kindergarten.

I have written a few ebooks for homeschooling moms who want to do copywork or easy lessons but want things laid out for them a little.  I also try to find ebooks for the home business moms.   And all of us moms still need to cook and clean, so I bring tips or ebooks on those subjects too.

You may ask why so many subjects to cover in one website.  I ask you do you do all those things?  Or at least 2 of the 3?  So this site is just for you.  One place to find the subjects you need to or want to know about. 

Oh and all I write will have God and Jesus Christ all over it.  Now some of what others write that I tell you about may not be so.  I still try to find only what will be uplifting and useful.

Love you,

Sher