What a wonderful time we had with the ladies of Community Bible Church from High Point, North Carolina in their retreat location at beautiful Myrtle Beach SC February 6-7!
The Lord met with us in a mighty way ministering to many through His Word. Several home Zoorority Groups will be starting over the next weeks. Feel free to give the church a call if you would like to be a part of one.
 
Blogging with Julie - on Homeschooling
On Being Perfect
After a frustrating morning of homeschooling four young children, I had HAD it. Nothing had gone right. The last straw was my oldest refusing to understand a math problem. Without warning, I took the math book and slung it across the floor!!! There was silence, and four young innocent pairs of eyes staring in my direction. Instantly I felt horrible and dissolved into tears. Through my despair and tears I blubbered, “If only I could be perfect!” Then with the upmost love and affection my eight year old daughter said, “Mama, if you were perfect, you wouldn’t have to trust Jesus!” Wow. That said it all. I was trying to do it all in my own strength without relying in the Lord to do this awesome task of homeschooling my children. From that day on until the present I can still hear that sweet little voice reminding me that NOT being perfect is my REASON for trusting in the ONE who IS perfect and IS able to give me all I need to guide these precious children He has given me.
But What About Socialization?
This question is one that was asked a lot when homeschooling was becoming popular years ago. Today it is still brought up by those that don’t understand how a child could possibly be socialized without sitting in a classroom of their peers. Romans 12:2 reminds us to NOT be conformed to the world but to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. Sometimes there IS a better way to do things than the way everyone else does it!! Think about it…..God put within a family everything a child needs to grow strong physically, emotionally, spiritually, and SOCIALLY. He gave us a mother, father, siblings, grandparents and other extended family. Most importantly, during the formative years, the family SHOULD be the ones that mold and shape a young child. But then we get the question: what about the “real world”? Don’t homeshoolers have MORE of an opportunity to be in the “real world” than those who are at a desk all day? Take the children with you wherever you go and let them see and learn about the world. Take them to Costco and let them figure out how to save money by buying more. Take them to help an elderly person in need. Take them to a dairy farm and milk a cow! The possibilities are endless. Your homeschooled children will learn how to communicate with ALL ages—not with just children their own age. Don’t let other people discourage you. With time others will see that not only are your children “socialized” but they are thriving in the home environment. “The proof is in the pudding” as the saying goes!
Let them Play!
As homeschoolers it is so important to be sure we are teaching our children what they need to know for their age group. But one important aspect of their childhood that we need to be sure they are experiencing is LOTS of play time. Now when I say play, I don’t mean electronic games, I mean using their imagination and just PLAYING. They can dress up and have a tea party, they can play outside and build a fort!! But what can give them the ideas to play? READING to them is the answer! (I still need to get back to talking about reading!) Children get ideas from books and then go “play” it. Its amazing what they can come up with. After reading “Little House on the Prairie” my daughters built a covered wagon with a red wagon, hula hoops and a sheet! They NEED unstructured time– and what better way to have that than to get their school work done early and have most of the day to play. You can never give them their childhood again. Lets be sure they have TIME to play.
Write to me and let me know your thoughts…………..Until next time……….
Blessings,
Julie
Blogging with Julie - On Homeschooling
Scheduling is the Secret
Written by Julie Kornegay
Making out a daily school schedule for your children (and yourself!) is one secret to getting everything done. Always schedule Math first and teach your child to do everything he can by himself and skip the ones he has questions about. Have him do any work in other subjects that he can do on his own first. That gives you time to get ready for your day (get dressed, start the laundry, etc.) Then when you sit down you can correct problems he has done and explain the ones he had issues with. That way you are not wasting time. Having a daily calendar for your child gives him the sense of accomplishment, teaches him self motivation, and uses his and your time wisely. It takes some time, but eventually they learn that the quicker they finish their schedule for the morning, the quicker they can go play. We’ll talk about play later!!
Questions? Blog with Julie about your homeschooling questions and challenges.
Blogging With Julie - On Homeschooling
The Reason is TIME
When my oldest was nearing 5 years old I began to think about school. I started visiting the public and private schools and began learning about homeschooling a very new idea in 1986. My head told me that I should do what everyone else did–put my child in all day school. But my heart told me that she didn’t need to be away from home that long every day. I was scared to homeschool. How would the children do? Did I have what it took to teach them– academically, emotionally, and spiritually? What would people think? When I prayed all I heard was trust Me for today. Eventually my heart won out, and we officially began the adventure of homeschooling. One day we were on our front porch swing after a morning of school, lunch, and an afternoon nap, and the school bus went by. I thought about TIME—about how long the children in the bus had been away from home. I looked at my daughter, how rested and happy she was. And I was hooked. Twenty-three years and eight children later I am still hooked. And I am looking forward to sharing with you the things I’ve learned, my failures, and my triumphs on this awesome journey.
Our February Newsletter is linked below in .pdf format. Read all about what’s happening in the zoo!
february-newsletter2
TIDBITS FROM TAMI
Are you a doodler? I mean, did you ever do things like write your boyfriend’s name with a “Mrs.” before it while sitting in a boring high school English class? I did! Let me ask you another question . . . if you did doodle a dreamy “Mrs. Boyfriend O. Themonth,” has you life turned out like you imagined? If you’re like me, you can answer with a resounding “NO!” and I would definitely add a hearty, “And thank you LORD that it hasn’t!” We have such a limited perspective, don’t we? We are but dust, you know!
I would like to introduce myself as one whose life has definitely taken some shocking turns! I’m not who I thought I would be; I’m not doing what I thought I would be doing and I certainly didn’t expect that my children would make me a liar (My child will never do THAT . . . you fill in the blank!!) BUT as I look in the rear-view mirror, I am totally amazed at the intricate way God has connected the dots and has given me a life much more fulfilling that I could have imagined. No wonder Ephesians 3:20 is one of my favorite verses to pray and to say!
As I ponder the unexpected twists and turns in my life, I am so grateful that there’s enough life in the rear-view mirror to see how God has worked things together for my good, His glory and in the process He has caused me to be just a little more conformed to the likeness of His Son. That’s my heart’s desire. Christ-likeness. Is it yours?
So . . . what do you think, Zookeepers of the world . . . is your life where you thought it would be? If not, what is your response? Share with me and with others how you see God using the unexpected to make you look a little more like Jesus . . .
Until next time . . . doodle this: that I may know Him . . .
Well, somebody was praying - and I know it was you guys praying as well as us here. And the Lord heard us all!!
This is the most amazing thing. We think it was 13 people that accepted Christ tonight, but it was hard to get the count before they started moving away with the counselors. It was a short session at their home church. Most of them are regulars to this Monday night outreach group — a class for teaching crafts of all things! They were expecting about 100 to be there, but there weren’t that many. There were maybe 60-80 in total — not including workers.
The counselors received all the new converts’ information, and they have a team who will be following up on all of them. Their goal is to get them into Bible study groups. We thought only women were going to be there, but several men showed up and three of them plus a teenage boy accepted the Lord. The rest were women. Needless to say, I was blown away!
These people are so receptive. Robert and Pat say they are baptizing about 25 every month, and they felt certain these were genuine. The people in the neighborhoods around the church are mostly the ones who are coming to the craft classes. They have another one that meets on Wednesday night. The whole purpose of the classes is to reach the unchurched.
Our camera battery died today so we will have to wait and send pictures when we get back to Campinas on Saturday. There is a big event Saturday afternoon somewhere near here.
Keep praying friends! The Lord is hearing you!
Brenda Lancaster
Hello, precious ones!
A good friend of mine (and no doubt a friend to many of my readers) is Tami Carr. She and I talked about her trip to Brazil a couple of years ago. And let me say to Tami, I can certainly understand the ladies here asking you for advice. I know you were a blessing to them just as you are to us.
We went to church last night, and they have a large wonderful church. It is very much like our church in style of worship, but much more free in expression. They were so very friendly.
Today was a rest day. We are getting ready to leave to meet with a group (at the home church) with many unbelievers - a group of about 100. This will be a very short session, and hopefully , it will interest them enough to come to several functions that we have planned for next week.
We are leaving in the morning to go to the poorer community I told you guys about. We are “selling” the books there for $1, and then we will donate that total to the church. What a blessing! Please let all the other ladies know about this, and tell all of them how excited the women are to get the little notes that were inscribed in the covers!
The acceptance of the teaching has been great. Women here struggle with the same things we do. Go figure! God had all this planned from the beginning. Praise Him!
Must go now… Love you all!
Brenda Lancaster
