Does every friendship have an expiration date?

Friendships.

God tells us to have fellowship, as in Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 "Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work:  If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up!"
Life is honestly better and easier with other people around us, says Galatians 6:2 : "Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ."

There is a season for everything, right? The Bible says so in Ecclesiastes 3:1. But is it true for every relationship we will have in our lifetimes? Just a season?

Does every friendship have an expiration date?

I have had many friendships myself, but most of those relationships only lasted for a season. In some instances, I was happy about that, in others rather not. Mutual agreement of ending a relationship can certainly be like 'lifting a burden' and we will likely just walk away and never look back. However, when special people depart from our lives, they leave a much bigger impact and it is a lot harder to forget about them. And in a few rare cases, we might wish that we had never met a person in the first place.

Nonetheless, I kind of see a frightening pattern in our world today. Every relationship seems to end sooner or later. Who has a best friend that they had since childhood, or at least a few decades long? Why are relationships not lasting anymore?

I believe only a few of us can say that they have a long-lasting friend in their lives. I have had good friends and external circumstances separated us. I have had a best friend but it did not last for reasons I don't want to discuss here. Also I have long distance friends that I have had for a long time and we have seen each other grow. But something was always missing.
Consequently, I have come to the realization that my best friend really is my husband. We talk about anything and everything. We comfort each other in good times as well as through trials. We know we can count on each other. And it is beautifully freeing.

Though I am still looking for that cup-of-coffee-friend that shares life with me, during any and every season of our lives, I  am not that desperate anymore. It would be nice to  have that friend that I can call in the middle of the day to discuss my recent failure in parenting, or my success in sewing a pillow, or just talk about books we just read or movies we've seen. Simple stuff, but stuff that makes life better and more meaningful.

And it's not that I don't have that - many of these things I do, but with different people. Now I would like  that person to be the SAME person each and every time. I don't want to be replaced by the next new friend found in a new playgroup, or at the dance class. I don't want to be replaced due to an argument we've had over which noodles taste better. I don't want to be replaced by someone else because they have a nicer house. I want consistency. I want to be valued as a person that brings meaningfulness to someone else's life. I want to be irreplaceable.

What I have seen and the excuses I have heard personally, people replace people more and more frequently, due to silly things as 'lack of time' or 'inability to cope with recent events'. I have heard it all. And it is stupid! Just say that you don't want to hang out anymore, or you make time, or you get over that inability. "As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another." (Proverbs 27:17) We are on this earth to grow TOGETHER as 1 Thessalonians 5:11 says so well: "Therefore encourage one another and build each other up."

People, where is your perseverance? Isn't a "friend to love at all times, because a brother is born for adversity”? (Proverbs 17:7) Where is your love? Your iron-sharpening rebuke? Your counsel? Your encouragement? We are FAILing each other for the sake of SELF-indulgence! This society has become 'all about me'! We don't care about others anymore. 

Yet, if we want to become more Christ-like, than we ought to "do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than us. Don't let each of you look only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others." (Philippians 2:3-4 ESV) Yes, we need to trust, compromise, communicate, and be honest. There will be conflict and trials. But if we go through them together, than we will GROW together. The result is a respectful, but also safe relationship. Wouldn't we all want that? Trust can only be earned. And it will take a price, the price of being vulnerable. We will have to start admitting that we do need help and that we do need each other. I just want to scream: it is so worth it.


I am calling Christians and others alike to make a point in being more Christ-like. Do good, with actions. Don't hurt others with words or absence. Embrace the chance to change a life from worthless to enjoyable. Take time. Make an effort. Step out of your comfort zone. Sacrifice. It is our earthly duty to LOVE one another unconditionally.

This year's curriculum for Coqui

I kind of forgot to post about our curriculum. As the summer proceeds, so do our studies and it slipped my mind. We finally have all our stuff together and I am here to share.

Coqui is kind of between Third Grade and Fourth Grade - we stopped thinking too much about it. So here is his list:

* History: we are still working on volume One of the Story of the World

* English: we really liked BJU, so we are doing Bob Jones English Grade Four

* Spelling: I did say in my previous post that we were a bit tired of list spelling, but I bought the Bob Jones Spelling book for Fourth Grade anyways. It was more than half price and I couldn't resist.

* Math: we did not like Math 3 from Abeka but we stuck with it for last year. When I decided to switch, I wanted to make sure we covered everything, so I order two Math books, both from BJU, Bob Jones University.
The first one is a review book for third grade, the second is the regular fourth grade math book. But we are using the second edition because I found it somewhere for real cheap.

* Science: we liked the Apologia book last year, we just got stuck somewhere and never finished the book. So I ordered a new book to start fresh this year. It's the creation of the fifth day, so all flying creatures, Zoology 1.

* Cursive Writing: we loved the Abeka writing book, just that it was a bit much. But I got the chance to look inside the grade 3 book at a conference and loved the concept of it: Cursive Writing Skillbook.

* Latin: we are still working on English From The Roots Up volume one, and like it enough to learn a new Latin or Greek work each week.

* German: I finally decided to teach the kids some German, but I don't want it to feel like I force them, so this book: German in 10 Minutes a Day sounded like a good start, especially for Coqui.

* Art: we still love Mike's Inspiration Station and will do those lessons over and over.

* Music: I bought these Maestro CDs to listen to and maybe I can build my own curriculum around them.

The Joy of Choosing

It is that time of year again, when, as a homeschooling family, we need to evaluate the past school year and prepare for the new one. That also means, looking at what worked and what did not.

All year long, I was reading this wonderful blog called The Curriculum Choice. They are  (taken from their webpage:)  "a veteran group of home educators from around the blogosphere joined together ... to spread the word about ... favorite curricula in order to help YOU make informed decisions for your homeschool." What a mission statement. I love it.

I love reading what others do in their home school. It is interesting to hear about all the different curricula that exist, that work for others or those that didn't. It broadens my own horizon and makes it easy to sift through the jungle of curricula.

So why are we using so many different ones?

There are  many reasons for it. First, when we started our journey, we used no curriculum at all. I made my own pulling from workbooks and the internet with its many free resources. After two years, I felt we needed a more structured curriculum, so we went with an all-in-one curriculum. A Beka worked great for us, me as the teacher and my son. But after that first year, I had a better idea of what I liked and what suited my son's learning style. So we chose stuff from all over - you can read about it here. It took me a long time to get to this list.

After almost a full year with this curriculum, once again, we have to evaluate what worked and what did not. One of the beauties of homeschooling is that we can choose what works for the entire family, with our family's believes, and with each individual's learning style. Thankfully, we don't have a system dictating us what to do - we can and want to do what is best for all of us.

Also, we grow constantly, together as a family and each single person. So using the same curriculum over and over for the sake of comfort, doesn't seem right to us. I am constantly learning how to teach better, how to plan out our weeks and months, and how to adjust to our circumstances. We are going through different phases, and as a homeschooling family, we can easily adjust to our needs, like travel, sickness, babies,...etc. 

I also like to bring variety into our school, I want to expose my children to as many different things as possible. The more they know, the better equipped they are for decision making later in life. Changing curriculum from one year to the next helps broaden their horizon.

For example, Coqui is a great speller. We have done 'list learning' for two years now, and we have reached a point where it is simply boring to him, and to me. We need a fresh look at things. One way we do this already is by learning Latin and Greek root words ("English from the Roots Up", as seen in my curriculum list from last year). Now, I think I have found what I was looking for by talking to a friend. She lend us her curriculum and I am just done reading through those instructions. I am very excited.

Additionally, I have two children with complete  different learning styles so far. Coqui learns more like me which made things easy for both of us. He is visual, logical, solitary, and physical. Peanut, on the other hand, leans more towards artistic learning, like aural, verbal, and physical. She makes up her own songs to pretty much everything - I wish I could teach her that way - and she makes up her own dances.

Look at the worksheet below. She had to simply match the letters with the picture's beginning sound. I don't get it, but this is the result of fifteen minutes of doodling around.

So with that, I feel like I need to adjust how I teach her the same stuff that Coqui had to learn. What inspired him will not necessarily interest her. Workbooks still work great for him - he prefers having a list and works through it until he is done. My little girl rather cuts and glues all day while singing. Workbooks are a pain for her and she gets 'tired' very quickly. She will need alot more hands-on stuff....

After much consideration, we have our list done, so stay tuned - I have bought some already, some stuff is on its way, and I have to put in one more order. Then, I will share. 

Drawing with a Master

One of our favorite subjects is Art. Years ago, I bought this DVD series called Mike's Inspiration Station from Hearts at Home Curriculum. They had a deal, and it looks like they still do, and I needed a DVD-based curriculum rather than books. It is meant to encourage the children to copy what they see on the screen. An added bonus is that there is always a Scripture with the lesson, so it is a bit Christian influenced.

Since we put the DVDs on for the first time, we were hooked. It is totally low key, calm and slow enough for the kids to draw or paint along with 'Mike'. When they need time to catch up, I simply stop the DVD for a few minutes. It's actually pretty easy for the kids to follow along and the end result looks pretty good for their ages.

Here is a bird that they did :

I think they both did a good job.

Mine, Yours, Ours

When I grew up, things were always organized into 'my things' and 'my brother's things'. Still today, I can refer to things as mine (or other's). One day, the Hubby pointed that out and I felt convicted!

That little remark changed my entire thinking of ownership!

I needed the rethink what I was teaching the kids and how I wanted my marriage to work. After all, when two people come together to be one, that also means to share everything that was brought into the marriage and obviously, all the things that have been added since. It's ours!

So I had to teach myself to think as 'WE' - and then I had to reteach our kids, that we are one family and that all things belong to the family. To think again, we are just using it as a family, because all things come from God and so belong to God - really, we are just borrowing it from Him.

To take it a step farther, all the possessions of this earth are on temporary loan anyways. The bible teaches in Matthew 6:19-21 to "not store up for yourselves treasures on earth... But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven... For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." So when we are 'renting' all those possessions from God, we need to share them with the people around us (Hebrews 13: 16), because "those sacrifices are pleasing to God".

Today, we are a sharing family.

I am so glad for that little comment and that I took the challenge to change.
The kids don't fight that much anymore. And I don't have to be a constant referee! They enjoy playing with each other, with their toys, and sharing with friends. And when they do start fighting, I just have to remind them that all things belong to God, hence we need to share them.

As a teaching tool, I used the story of Job. The story is about suffering but what I wanted my kids to hear was the verse where it says that God gives and that He takes away (Job 1:21) - we are blessed no matter what. We need to praise Him under any circumstance.
 The other point that I want them to understand is that God doesn't like fighting. We are to share His love with one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins (1 Peter 4:8). When we share love, we practice the fruits of the spirit, too. Love is not just a word, it's an action. Fighting and arguing is the opposite of love, so I want to teach them how to resolve arguments in a loving way that pleases God (yes, and us as parents!).