Life is Hard

Okay, so since my last blog all those great accomplishments went tthhrruupp! Right down the drain. That week and the previous one were absolutely great! Then the week of snow, usually the snow is a great time to snuggle in and drink hot cocoa and read books and work puzzles. Well not that week, or the following. Augh! How dare that time of just enjoying the pretty snow out my window be turned into yelling, whining, the house being turned upside down, the chores being ignored. Sigh, I felt totally lied to, no one said it was going to be a peaceful week, I just assumed that the pretty white stuff was a gift from God, a reason to relax and enjoy the fruits of my labor. So grumpy I became and all the hard work went to the wayside. This week has been nothing but whines and why's and do I have to do this everyday??
Sooo, this week on Sunday I went to my Library by myself so I could spend some time on educational resource books. That is where I sometimes find my inspiration. I got my wind back and decided that this week was a new week and we were starting fresh! Snow or no snow, sunshine or no sunshine we were going to get our attitudes in check and our schedule back in place. It's been hard, we're almost there and my prayer is that this next week we will all be back where we need to be.
Today, as I was reading my devotional, the title was, "Beware of Heights!" it's written by Charles Swindoll. In it he mentions a book where halfway through there is a line that says: "A time to be careful is when one reaches his goals. ....It is then, with all his resources spent and his guard down, that an individual must watch out for dulled reactions and faulty judgment."
Aahh! how refreshing to know that our fall back wasn't just an act of laziness, but rather a result of not treading carefully once my (our) energy was drained, dreams realized, enthusiasm peaked and desire accomplished. I thought our labor was done, for awhile, and we could just sit back, bask and reflect in it. The truth is, in this journey of parenthood and homeschooling there is just mere moments that we can do just that, once we claim to be victorious we take the glory and forget it is our Father God who allowed the energy, the time and who is to be greatly praised.
"During the difficult years, the watchword is survival, and the battle cry is sacrifice. Hard times bind people together. Goals are set. Prayers are offered. Every week is a new adventure in faith. By and by, the pieces fall into place, and the goals are finally reached. It is there-on the perilous pinnacle of accomplishment-that the adversary lurks with his corrupting influence."
We can stop and enjoy "the fruits of our labor" we just need to be watchful where we are placing the glory for the job done. If I had reflected with praise maybe, we wouldn't have fallen back so hard. Resting on your laurels is a synonym for flirting with disaster.
"No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it." ~ 1 Corinthians 10:13
Whew! Thank the Lord that I'm saved by grace! Life is hard! We have to teach, love and sacrifice in a way where we are watching where our glory is being placed. But this is what it is all about, learning and re-learning, teaching and re-teaching, loving and forgiving. Thank you for letting me be honest with you all as Ken, the boys and I are walking in this journey of faith!

Our VICTORIES!!!

2011 has just begun and already we are seeing so many victories in the Leck household!! I'll start with my most favorite! Clayton is ready to be baptized!! On February 22 last year Clayton, who had been asking questions for sometime about what a Christian is, sat at the table asking about heaven and while I rambled on he prayed on his own to except the awesome gift of Christ living in his heart!!!! When I stopped talking I asked if he felt ready to ask the Lord to live in his heart and he said,"mom, I already did, just now!" That was a great day, he wasn't ready to be baptized at church yet so we have just waited and now he's ready!!! God is so good!! So the last Sunday of January he will be baptized by his daddy!!! Victory#1!!

Being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. ~Philippians 1:6

We give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you. ~Colossians 1:3

Victory #2

One of the greatest challenges for children is learning to read, especially for boys. Anyone can learn to read, the challenge is teaching it in a way that they learn to love and desire reading. I'm so thankful that on my quest, and while I was still deciding if homeschooling was right for our family, I found great seasoned homeschooling families. Somehow I got into contact with women who love to mentor families and moms in this area. Every single one who started homeschooling in the 80's when resources were limited say they wished they had known to wait to push reading especially with their boys. As they went along their journey of teaching their children they discovered that if they forced their child's brain to memorize words then sure they could read, but in order to not become board with the process and the task of reading, they needed more of life's experiences to actually draw a picture in their mind of what they were reading. They encouraged me to read, read, read out loud to them, to then talk about what we had just read and then review the next day to see how much they had absorbed. As Clayton and I went along one thing I did was to let him read out loud to me but once we hit a mind block and he and I both became frustrated, we stopped took a break from all of it and I just read aloud to him and then we reviewed what was read. Once I got back into reviewing the phonics sounds and rules he seemed to have grasped what we had done before and was ready to move back into it. We did this for at least a year. In the last weeks of December 2010 I decided that Clayton would start with the easy readers and read 1 book aloud to me a day, we moved up to the next level pretty quickly and now he is reading easy chapter books!!! The best part is that he LOVES to read!! He really likes to read in his bed, eventually I'll put a stop to this but right now I want him to savor this time, to grow his love for reading. One of the best books to help us accomplish this is a book titled, The Ordinary Parents Guide to Teaching Reading. I have been blessed and humbled during this process. I love that I can teach my children, and that they love to be taught by me!!! What a gift!!

Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that you labor is not in vain in the Lord. ~1 Corinthians 15:58

This is his current favorite read!!

Now on to our next great feat, CHORES!!! I implement chores as part of our homeschool simply because I'm preparing them for life in the adult world. Home Economics usually doesn't start until Middle school. Why wait so long? I believe if you start teaching life skills early then its ingrained in them. It becomes habit for them to get up, make their bed, get dressed, eat and clean up breakfast. If they are in the habit of doing these things from early childhood, then it won't be hard to do them later, their bodies just do it. Not only just those things but I teach them how to unload dishwashers, do laundry the right way, fold and put away. They are learning how to put things in the right places daily and to vacuum. This sounds like allot and you might be wondering how we find time in there for school subjects, but when we are all working together and we have set times for specific chores then it gets done in far more efficient time then if I'm doing it alone AND trying to teach them their appropriate subjects. Plus what favor am I doing them or myself if I waited until they were older to teach them these habits? Why wait and receive more protest? Children LOVE to help and imitate "big people" things. Sooo... here is our victory with chores ( well victory in progress)

Commit your works to the Lord, and your thoughts will be established. ~Proverbs 16:3

Clayton and Evan do a great job making their beds!

Evan LOVES to clean their bathroom

he takes this job VERY seriously

Denton even gets in the mix helping to sort the laundry

Here are some of the resources and curriculum we are currently using:

Now on to finish this spring and begin the process of preparaing for our next baby boy!! Thank you for sharing in the journey with me!!

A look back at 2010

Is it over already??? Man!! This year flew too quickly!! My baby has grown too fast, where did his sweet, precious first year go?
Looking back I am amazed at how much we've crammed into twelve months! I started this year with a new focus at teaching my children at home. I'm in awe of my Master's Hands in all that was accomplished within our lives, home and homeschooling. How wonderfully we have all grown this year, all thanks to our Heavenly Father's works in and through us, this most certainly could not be done without His grace, mercy and leading in our hearts.
I'm going to start with the new things we did this past year.
We planted a garden and got some good rewards!!

I love seeing their little hands harvesting the rewards of hard daily work!

Kenneth and I took our first vacation away from the kids. We went on a cruise to the Bahamas!!

We road on a glass-bottomed boat and saw fish on the reef.

We went para-sailing for the first time it was AMAZING!!

I can't wait to do that again!

In our home most everything is still the same. Kenneth is still in school and making A's, he's awesome what can I say? It's been very hard not having him here in the evenings. I've had to let things go when I didn't want to. I've learned lessons on grace and humility. Kenneth learned how to somehow stretch his days where somehow he gets time with the boys and me! I don't know how he does it. I'm not going to sugar coat anything, its hard. The days that Ken is in school make for very LONG days, I'm usually exhausted and all used up. My prayer for my boys is that if they marry while still in college, that they wait until they are finished before having children.

Now with what we are learning in our homeschool. I'll start with my baby.

Denton has gone from an infant to a very funny toddler. He runs to keep up with his brothers. He says so many words and is now repeating new words and animal sounds. He loves to wrestle his brothers, he loves to provoke them! He is our best little eater and is addicted to his bottle. This amazes us because none of the other boys ever took to the bottle. He loves to play in the bath and shower and if we're not careful even the toilet!!

Evan is learning to write his name, he can verbally spell it! He is our storyteller, he comes up with the most wacky stories!! He loves to play with play doe, practice cutting on the lines and tracing lines and letters. He has become very good at playing with legos and builds great cars and planes. Its amazing how much the little ones learn from the older ones.

Now to what Clayton has learned this fall, as I've already shared what he learned in the spring. He was getting bored with printing so now we are working on cursive!! He has such wonderful penmanship!! He is doing good in math and will be starting on a 3rd grade math book soon!!
He has memorized countless history, grammar and science facts. He is currently working on a new reading program, I have him read 1 easier book out loud to me (this is to help him build his reading skills such as pausing at the end of sentences, and fluency). In the evenings if time allows he reads from a chapter book that is more challenging. Once he reads 15 books we do a special date or movie night!! I'm so very proud of him!!

Thank you for letting me share this year with you. We are looking foreword to the coming year as we will be welcoming a new Leck in the summer!!

Denton's first year....

HAPPY FIRST BIRTHDAY BABY!!!

Your name means "happy home" and what sweet joy and happiness you have brought to all of us!



They say each year seems to go by quicker than the last. This first year of baby Denton's life has gone too quickly. We chose to have him at home with a midwife and that was an amazing experience. At 8lbs and 2oz. 21" long he was wonderfully made and already so sweet.

Your brothers were so excited to meet you and none of us knew what joy we had instore for the year to come!!

At one month old you gave me your best smile and I happened to catch it on camera!!

Your first Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Three and four months old

Five and six months old

Seven and eight months old

nine and ten months old

Eleven months.......

taking his first steps.

Now you are twelve months old, a whole year!! You babble and say some recognizable names. You love to be outside on the deck or in the swing. You are a very happy, sweet and smart boy.

I loved making your birthday cake, it is the same one I made for your brothers.

You loved eating your cake!

Baby Denton~

You are so wonderfully blessed to have two brothers that adore you. You are growing so fast!! I know that God has great plans for you! God has sent angels before you to keep and guard you on the way and to lead you to the destiny He has prepared for you. You are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which He prepared in advance for you to do.

"For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them." ~ Ephesians 2:10

I love you sweet baby and I 'm thankful everyday that I get to watch you grow.