Science by Caden

The following post is 100% Caden's post... 

his words, his typing, his spelling etc etc.

This is all ubout Cato my swet potato.


I put water in a bowl it splashid in like a wave .  Next I stabd the swet potato whivth cubabs stiks and I poped the swet potato in the bowl of water.  I coolld my potato Cato .
I put Cato in Charlie's wordroeb so the roots can grow .  


Aftar 14 days it lookt like this.

duz this look cool?

This is the first leef grawing 

Arfter unuthur 6 days it lookt like this.

Arfter unuthur 13 days it lookt like this.

I think this looks fantastik

Arfter unuthur 8 days it lookt like this.

I think cato looks fantastik.  fantastik is cool!

Fresh Eyes and a Lifted Spirit

I wrote last week and opened my heart to the struggles I have in trying achieving everything at the moment.  I just wanted to write and say thank you for all the beautiful and kind messages I was sent one way or another.  My heart was deeply touched and very encouraged.  Some of you shared your own struggles with me and I have been very blessed by that - thank you!  Through the process of sharing with you, I found that a heavy burden was lifted.  A burden I didn't even know I was carrying.  It turned out that the goals I was setting myself, my expectations for myself and the reputation I was trying to build for myself was quite a heavy weight to carry and in the end I buckled under it's weight. A weight I was never designed to carry.


This past week God has been doing so much in my heart. He showed me that my feelings of being overwhelmed and my feelings of failure were rooted in where I was trying to draw my satisfaction from. I came to realize that I was trying to draw my satisfaction from my earthly accomplisments, in this case, my to do list.  It all became so overwhelming because I wasn't able to meet my expectations.. finish my goals.. get through that to do list etc etc.  I wasn't achieving that satisfaction at the end of the day.  I was setting myself up for despair!  My satisfactions need to be founded in God, He who is the same yesterday, today and forever... they need to be founded in my faith.  

A few days ago I read this by Anthony Wade:
"Faith is the glue that holds our satisfaction together. Praise is important to enjoy God’s presence, and prayer is important to develop the relationship with God that He wants with us, but without faith, neither will provide satisfaction. Faith is what removes the doubt that our flesh has.
The New Testament tells us:

Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. - Hebrews 11:1

I had it in my head that it was a bad thing for me to be struggling and that that made me a failure.  I had it in my head that others could do better than me at the job I am attempting to do.  I was thinking about women who seem to cope with so much more than what is on my plate - nothing like healthy dose of unhealthy comparisons! :S  Thing is.. all these thoughts and questions are the wrong thoughts and questions and are only damaging.  I put so much pressure on myself to excel in everything I do and make myself feel that I should be able to accomplish it with ease.  Where on earth did I get that idea from?  Where in the Bible does it say that the duties of life will come with ease if you are a Godly woman?  I'm sitting here shaking my head at myself as I write out in words what I was thinking in my head!  Madness!  God has been teaching me it's OK to struggle.. it's not wrong and it doesn't make me a failure!  When we're struggling we lean on the Lord all the more because we have to and therefore, we learn more about Him and experience a growth in our personal walk with Him.  


  Last week was the eruption of feelings that had been brewing for a month or 2. I wasn't dealing with the feelings of failure, I wasn't taking them to the Lord.  I was carrying the load alone and I am way to weak to be able to do that. If you'd asked me, "where should your draw your satisfaction from?"  I would have, without hesitation, said "the Lord". But that knowledge was not acting out in my daily life.  I get frustrated that I need to be reminded of things I already know, but I guess that just makes me human and my closest friends will tell you that my memory isn't exactly the best!  :S

Thank you all again for being there for me!

Behind closed doors

This will not be an easy post for me, but I feel a nagging in my heart that I should share the following.   

Lately life has been a real struggle for me - that is so not easy to admit.  

I like to pretend that I've got everything sorted and that I'm managing life with ease.  I like to pretend that I'm super mum with perfect hair and make up (haha who am I kidding), a perfect house and that I'm on top of all the washing, cleaning, cooking, teaching, tiding, ironing, gardening, organizing, researching, planning etc, etc.  In reality, most days.. I'm struggling to keep up with all of the above.  The reality is I'm lucky to have a shower in the morning let alone do my hair and make up.  The reality is that there doesn't seem to be enough hours in the day or enough energy in my body to do my to do list. The reality is I get up in the morning ready to fight the day and 2 hours later I'm already loosing the battle. 

Overwhelmed says it all.  Every day feels like a failure.. every day another failed attempt.  I hate failing and I hate not meeting my expectations for myself.  I hate letting my kiddies down (even if they don't know it) or letting my hubby down.  Schooling the 3 boys (2 of which can't read yet) all on different grades, 1 yr apart, while looking after a crawling, into everything baby is far from the easiest task I've taken on.  There are days where my patience and energy are pushed beyond what I have.  

Days where I feel like I'm gasping for air.

The reason I have written this down, isn't because I wanted to whine about it or because I'm crying out for help, but because when I started this blog I wrote about walking together through the good and the bad.  The good or fun stuff is so easy to write about, but the hard things are really tough to share.  They're hard because they mean admitting that I'm struggling.. that my heart isn't in the right place, or my perspective is wrong.  It means admitting that I fail and sometimes miserably.  This post is about me admitting that I'm in a hard place right now... I don't feel it should be, but it is.  It's about trying to be okay with other people knowing more of the real me.. struggles and all.  It's about growing my character because at the end of the day that's what matters.  I heard it once said that your character is what you are behind closed doors and that your reputation is what you are out in the open.  I've mentioned before how I care far too much about what other people think and that is why this post is difficult for me, but I'm really trying to overcome this fear of man and so I guess this post is partly about that too.

I know that this time in my life is all part and parcel of God growing my character and my understanding of Him.  It's all part and parcel of that journey that He has so carefully mapped out for me to walk to equip me for the future.  He is moulding me as a potter moulds his clay or as a fire refines gold. 

At times like these I like to think about Paul's words of encouragement in Philippians 1v6: 

And I am sure that God, who began the good work within you, will continue His work until it is finally finished on that day when Christ Jesus comes back again.

This verse reminds me how faithful and gracious He is.

My heart is His and I know this time is for my good.  Knowing this doesn't make achieving my daily goals/tasks any easier, it doesn't necessarily mean I'll shed less tears, but it does give it all purpose and I know, as the author of Ecclesiastes writes - there is a season for all things... a time to cry and a time to laugh, a time to grieve and a time to dance...

I will fall to my knees and pray to the Father, the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth.  I will pray that from His glorious, unlimited resources He will give me a mighty inner strength through His Holy Spirit.  I will face tomorrow ready to fight, ready to grow and trusting in Him to get me through.

Having said all the above I will just add one more thing and that is that I LOVE my job as mummy.  I feel so very blessed with the family I have.  I also love teaching my kiddies at home.. it's not easy right now, but I still love it.. I love watching them grow and develop and I wouldn't change that for anything.  I'm so, so thankful that I live in a country where I can freely choose to educate my children at home.

Real Heros (aka Firefighters)

We 'home edders' like to bunk off book work every now and then and take a trip out & about.

This past week we joined the Portsmouth home ed group and visited the local Fire Station.

We had lots of fun!

Here is our guide fireman showing us how a fire hydrant works:

Everyone trying to listen carefully as the fireman taught us 

all a bit about the fire engine. 

 One of the girls was asked to dress up

in the fireman's heavy suit and boots!  lol

Then we got to see the massive ladder go up to full height - 100ft

I asked the boys if they fancied climbing to the top..

needless to say they were rather terrified at the thought!

Such brave men and women our firefighters!

 And then the lucky kiddies got to have a ride in the

ladder 'box'!  (only a few feet up from the ground I might add!!)

 Say cheese!

 Next we went inside the station and learnt about

how they receive their information on what the fire

is and where.  We even got to hear the alarm go off.  :O)

The sleeping quarters... aka (by the boys) the smelly room!  lol

(I have to kinda agree!)

 And then.. the best bit of all

The children got to have a go with the hose!!  

WOOHOO!

 Fireman pole demonstration

 Weeeeee

Nice fireman posed for the shot so we wouldn't have
blurry shots!   haha

Lastly the children were shown the cutting equipment.

The fireman rather enjoyed telling the children

that this piece of machinery was for picking bogies!  :S

Charming!  (Caden thought it was hilarious! sigh.. boys!)

 O and not forgetting the goodies at the end.  :O)

And there we have it!!  A school trip enjoyed by all.. well except for when the lovely fireman decided

to scare my 2 youngest out of their skins by honking the very loud engine horn!

Red, Blue & Green

Well we have been busy here at the Short household with some science this week and we've tried our hand at turning celery red & blue, amongst other things, but more on the other experiments and projects on a future blog post as those experiments/projects are not finished yet.  

Discovery

Caden went first with his celery stick and red food colouring.  We started off in a large glass pretty much filled with water, but we later decided that a small glass only partially filled was probably better.

Charlie went next, here he is prepping his water.  Quinn was our stirrer and carefully mixed the colouring into the water.

Excited to see what was going to happen..

And here - the finished experiment: 

24 hours later

How cool is this!  :O)

It was amazing watching the leaves slowly turn red!

Who would have thought this was a celery leaf! ?

Our God.. is an awesome God He reins.. in heaven and earth la la... la la la la lala la la la la la la!  

adding 1 more to the mix

Yikes...  Quinn has started school!  

How time flies!  I can't quite believe that the time has come for 3 little pupils in 

my classroom!

My life is one big balancing act between the responsibilities of being a wife, mother, teacher & friend.  I feel like I've joined the circus, but I'm still in training because I keep failing to keep everything in the air.. something inevitably gets dropped. (one just hopes it's not the baby) 

This is definitely an adjustment for us.

How cute is he!

So little Quinny started his first day of school on the 18th of April.  Bless him he was so excited about it!  I was/am excited too, but trying to fit everything in has been less exciting.  I'd like to say I'm getting there, but honestly I'm really quite struggling at the moment.  Home educating has never felt so much of a sacrifice as now.  Don't get me wrong, I'm not questioning our decision to home educate.. not at all.  I'm as committed to it as ever.. just that I'm feeling the sacrifice it is for me more than ever.  I hope and pray that over the next few weeks I'll get into a good routine with it, one that works well for everyone.  I don't want to just get the job done though, I want to do it well, I want my children to love school, I don't want it to be just an education.. I want it to be enriching their lives.  With a bit of determination, a lot of help from upstairs, and perhaps a bit more sleep (hah who am I kidding!) I hope I manage to achieve this goal.


Life brings many challenges and I guess we just need to embrace them and let them change us for the better.. let them grow our characters and not let them swallow us.  Lord knows I feel swallowed many days...  so I'm working on that!  :O)  Troubles is.. character growth is usually painful.. and slow!  

“‘Do not fear, for I am with you; Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, Surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.’” Isaiah 41:10

A Family Heirloom

Making memories that will last is important to me.  Kiddies grow up so fast and I constantly feel a great desire to capture as much as I can in something that will last.  Photos and video clips are the obvious choice along with perhaps writing a diary of events.

 I came across an interesting idea the other day for a family heirloom...  a family recipe book.  We all have recipes that we love and I suspect most families (and certainly we do) adapt some recipes to meet the family's preferences.  I already had a lot of our 'family invented' and 'family adapted' recipes typed up, so this project was fun and simple.  

All we needed to buy was a brand new A4 folder.  

Here's what we got up to:

Drawing out some designs

Cutting out and colouring in

Quinn coloured in the word 'our' 

and was rather proud of it!  :O)

 Deciding the layout

(they all wrote their own names)

 Putting in some printed off recipes

 Adding the plastic covering to 

keep it all safe & clean

 Our finished project and family heirloom.

(Please note that the most important recipe is on the first page! (play dough))

I wanted the boys to design and create as much of this project as possible and I am really pleased with what we ended up with.