Landon Ace Jackson Turns Seven!

I want to wish my youngest son a very happy 7th birthday!

His only wish... a tweet from Josh Freeman, QB of the Tampa Bay Bucs.

(He got his wish, yall.  Huge mommy moment for me!)

And somewhere in the middle of Mr. Landon Ace Jackson turning the big 7, he began to look

a lot more like his mama.  I kinda like finally having a kid that looks like me. :) 

Baby boy, I cannot begin to tell you how much joy you have brought into my life.  I couldn't even put the words onto the blog.  I will always love you, protect you, and care for you.  You will always be my baby boy, my youngest son, one of the three loves of my life.  I hope your birthday was the best one ever!  Now, stop growing please.  Love, mommy 

"May" We Have Joy In Our Hearts!

For May, we really wanted to focus on God's love and how it applies to everyday life.

Children have a hard time applying life principles just by hearing them over and over..

or sitting in a classroom and being "taught" about them. 

I decided it was time to teach my children that not all children have a loving home, a faith based church, love and support from family and friends.  Not all children have a home, have a roof over their heads, or have a car to get to and from the store or where they need to go.  We learned about kids all over the world whose only wish is to go to school. 

My kids were floored.

The thought that there were children in the world who wanted to go to school is something my kids just didn't want to believe.  But, we got on the Internet, started exploring, and my kids learned fast I wasn't just trying to get them to enjoy school more - they saw they were blessed.

Sure, it didn't stick and ten minutes later they were whining that homeschool was running over time and that their brains were freezing up from all the things of the day, but the lesson was learned and I know that it stuck with them so that is the best I can ask for. 

One thing that we learned about that most public school kids probably didn't was - the NFL draft.  My friends thought I was crazy that I would use this as a teaching tool, but we actually found it very beneficial.  The kids watched as adults cried over finally seeing their dreams come a reality.  They quickly said "I can't wait to be up there" and that was the start of our discussion.

You can't get anywhere in life without working hard.  And sometimes you will fail.

After all, did you know that Micheal Jordan couldn't even make the varsity basketball team at his high school? (You're welcome for that bit of info!)

I think instilling in the kids that they have to work for everything and chances are not going to just fall into their lap is just as important, if not more so, than doing all of our school work.  Sure, we need to know Math, but what will Math help if you do not even know how to act in society? Especially in today's world.  And that leads me to my next topic...

How have you tackled the manners situation? Although my children have been taught from birth to say please, thank you, maam, and sir, my kids are around children all the time whose parents do not have the same standards for their own children.  It has made playdates awkward and babysitting a real challenge, not to mention it gives me less and less hope for this generation.  I am not sure why people don't feel the need to teach their children to use kind words.  Why is that such old fashioned values? I couldn't tell you how many times this month alone I have been stopped by older people telling me that my child held the door for them, said a kind word, or did something nice without being asked.  They seem so surprised that a kid in today's world would even act like that - and that really hurts my heart.  To think that my children are growing up in such a cruel world with low standards and getting worse by the day makes it hard for moms and dads really trying to live by the standards of the bible and our moral beliefs as a family.  I will tackle this situation again heavily in a future post. 

As we are now halfway into May, we have been working on Money.  Of course, the boys love to wear their money PJ's so we wore them while learning how to count money and give the right amount of money back for change.  We plan to have a yard sale this summer where the kids will do all of the work and have to count their money and give back their own change.  I hope this further teaches them what we have spent about seven days learning this month.  Blaze has excelled and is counting money much faster than a third grade level and Ace is right on his level as far as the public school standards are concerned - not that we follow those anyway :) 

And, sometimes, you've just gotta pull out some board games and bribe your children to be good for the week to get what you need done.  A housewife's work is never done, then throw in stay at home mom and she has two full time jobs, but then as you finally throw in that final job of 100% homeschool teacher, and somedays we are just overworked and underpaid.  I just keep saying "I Am Blessed, I Am Blessed, I Am Blessed" 

And, because of the hard times my family seems to be going through right now, I leave this post with my favorite verse.  God has made a promise to his people so if you are one of his children then hold tight to that promise and if you are not, please know that the best thing that could ever happen to your life is Jesus and accepting him is so simple yet life changing.  He wants to carry your burdens, he wants to take away your pain, He will listen even when nobody else cares.  Nobody else in your life is going to that for nothing, but he will.  All he asks is that you give him your heart and that you live the right life.  So, do it now :)

Jeremiah 29:11 - For I know the plans I have for you, Says the Lord, plans to prosper you and not harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.  

April and May Homeschooling Adventures

The boys asked me to blog about their amazing grades the last two semesters! They are so proud to now both be honor roll students! What a difference homeschool makes for our family!!

Blaze - A in Math, A in Reading, A in Bible, A in English, B in Social Studies, A in Science (Spring 2013) and in Winter 2013 Blaze made Straight A's!! Way to go buddy!!

Ace - B in Math, B in reading, A in English, A in Social Studies, A in Science (Winter 2013) and in Spring 2013, Ace made all A's except for a B in Math!

We are now starting our Summer semester which will end on August 16th.  If the boys continue to do this well for the rest of the year, they will both advance to the next grade.  We will continue with my own home made curriculum as that is what seems to work the best for our family.  If you are here reading and have questions, comments, or concerns about the grading process, I am here to chat.  I want to help others that are attempting homeschool and need help!  You can also e-mail me at ashleywilsonjackson@gmail.com for help! God Bless!!

A Special School Day At The Park!

Nice weather means park time! Who says school has to be inside??

As schoolwork becomes the everyday norm for us and we are quite a ways into our homeschool experience, we have decided that once a week, weather permitting, we will do school work at a local park.  The fresh air seems to do them good - and they made wonderful grades on what they did outside! 

When we take our school work outside, we normally just do our review workbooks instead of worksheets, lapbooks, or curriculum.  I have been working on an outside bag that is packed and ready to go with both things to do that are educational and the necessities we need such as bug spray and sunscreen so that we can just get up and go.  I am learning that the more organized you are, the better.  

A little tip from one homeschooler to another: Just because it is called homeschool doesn't mean it always have to be done in the house.  By picking different scenery and things outdoors, it takes away from the repetition of everyday school work.  As the boys seem to struggle or stress on certain days, I try to find other ways to make it unique, challenging, and fun.  My little classroom moves from place to place and we never do the same thing twice.  I have decided not to follow as strict of a schedule as I had once planned so hopefully that will also allow the boys to explore the world and learn from other things than just books.  

Our Umbrella School Choice and Why!

I have had so many people ask me a million and one questions about homeschooling that I thought it was important to give direct details and information that pertains to the way we choose to educate our children.  We have had some legal issues (post to come) but overall this has been a wonderful experience all the way around.  I stand firm on my decision to homeschool and my decision to use the umbrella school, Daniel One Academy, of Cookeville, Tennessee.

The website to the school directly is www.d1academy.org .  Here is a little info about the school provided by the website -

Daniel 1 Academy is a church-related school committed to enabling parents to educate their own children. Parents can register their children with D1A to satisfy Tennessee’s legal requirements for homeschooling. Daniel 1 offers its parents opportunities to help themselves and their children make the most of their home education experience.

Daniel 1 Academy is a member of the Association of Christian Schools International, ACSI, and is a Category IV (private) school. The founders and administrators are Jack and Cindy Holman. The Holmans have 2 grown children that they homeschooled K-12 grades. Together they have been helping other families homeschool since 1992.

I know firsthand just how wonderful that Jack and Cindy are.  We had some issues with paperwork due to a move, a death in the family, and some communication issues.  There was some missing information that was very valuable and the school could have easily either turned us away or just given up.  My grandmother passed away on March 30, 2012 as most of you know and she had me put all of my family's most important paperwork including birth certificates, social security cards, health insurance forms, life insurance forms, etc, into her safe.  After her death, I had completely forgotten about the items.  When I removed the children from their former school, I was under the assumption that their former school would help get the necessary paperwork to their new homeschool, but I was unfortunately very wrong.  They had me do a Withdrawal check list including paying lunch fees, returning books, talking to teachers, and picking up all of their purchased items.  I signed them out and completed the list assuming that they would help me help my children get the very best education possible.  I never expected them to be so difficult with anything and everything pertaining to children.  When a school boasts that they want to help the children, doesn't that include the process to help the children exceed even if they are no longer at that school? It floored me as I was told it was my responsibility and not the former schools.  They had access to this paperwork, yet instead chose to withhold it thereby delaying my children being legally enrolled in this school program... but as always, D1 stepped in, stayed calm, listened to my concerns, and helped me with anything and everything I could have asked for.  Cindy was especially helpful while listening to my concerns and guiding me in the right direction.  I cannot thank them enough for their positive attitude and willingness to help us get the most of our homeschool experience.

If you are considering enrolling your child for the 2013-2014 school year, their enrollment will be opening on June 1st.  They give discounts to those who enroll early so if you are able, go ahead and do it now!

The thing that I found the most wonderful about this school is their basis for starting the program.  It's all about JESUS!  Everyone who works for or is on the board is a Christian and professes their beliefs.  This was something very important to me as I want my children being raised on the morals and beliefs I stand and build my family upon.  On the school website they discuss their beliefs by saying:

D1A is a Christian organization meaning it was started by a group of Christians, the board members are Christians as well as the staff. It is run on Christian principles and uses and promotes Christian homeschool materials. We do not allow things in the newsletter, on the website or taught in workshops that would contradict Christian values.

If you are wanting to homeschool but possibly not interested in the Christian faith or not a believer, D1 will not turn you away on that alone.  Even on their site, they say this in regards to those who believe in homeschooling but may not share the same faith values:

However, we believe all children are given to their parents by God and therefore, all parents, regardless of religious beliefs have the God-given responsibility to educate their own children. We do not require parents to sign a statement of faith in order to homeschool under D1A. We do ask that all parents respect the Christian foundation of Daniel 1 with appropriate behavior at all school events.

If only all people of this world could profess that same statement and love one another without judgement! What a wonderful place this world would be!!

So, for those of you who were asking me to blog about our homeschool choice, I hope that this post will help you find the school that we have chosen.  For those of you who do not feel D1 is a good fit, I will try to find more school resources and post them at a later time! For now, I must go because we are studying the sun and it is about to set for the evening!