2.“Heartfelt Discipline: The gentle art of training and guiding your child” By Clay Clarkson: This is awesome for gaining that parenting wisdom that we need in those sticky situations!

3.“Educating the Wholehearted Child: A Handbook for Christian Home Education” by Clay and Sally Clarkson: This is an all in one book for Home Education. It is one that I pick up every year to refresh myself.

4.“Homeschooling the Easy Way” By Cindy Rushton: This is also one of those books that you pick up again and again when you need to get back on track in your Home Education - very encouraging - we can do it!

5. “The Heart of Wisdom Teaching Approach Bible-Based Homeschooling” by Robin Sampson: This is in the same category as the last two above - It gives me a framework to how to teach my children and how to be Bible Based.

6. “The Power of Praying” By Stormie Omartian: This is actually three books in one volume. The Power of a Praying Wife; The Power of a Praying Parent; The Power of a Praying Woman. This book is always close by. It keeps me praying the scriptures over my life in whatever role that I am finding difficult at the time. It is the kind of book that grows with you - when you are a new wife to when your children are all growing up and you are now praying for your grandchildren. The prayers for your husband that are in the book are so powerful.

7. “E M Bounds on Prayer” by E M Bounds: This is a giant book and one that I pick up about 3 times a week and read a couple of chapters and then put down again. I am SLOWLY going through it. But it is so meaty that I need to have time to really process and meditate on the information. My hearts desire is to pray more and also more effectively. This book will transform your prayer life.

8. “The Transforming Power of Fasting and Prayer” By Bill Bright: I bought this from YWAM’s Doulos ship while it was in Auckland this year and it is so encouraging!. It has heaps of personal accounts of people being committed to praying and fasting for their churches and communities - it is a real inspiration to me. I am not there yet with the prayer and fasting - I have a long way to go!

9. “Encyclopaedia of Bible Truths” By Ruth C Haycock: This is actually 4 books that cover different teaching subjects, like maths, english, science, geography etc. Ruth Haycock has gone through the bible and pulled out scriptures that pertain to these subjects - God’s take on teaching this subjects. She shows us what the Biblical foundation is of each subject that we teach - it is really an invaluable set of books. I have only started using them in the last couple of months but I can see that they will be with me until I finish home educating.

10 “Freedom and Simplicity in HisStory” By Lisa Hodgen: This book has really put me on the right track for teaching History Biblically. It includes practical notebooking pages and timeline. It helps me to lay the right Godly foundation in teaching history. I have only just starting working with the information in the book but have already reread it at least 5 times!!!

Rachel Larkin

This is choc-filled with articles, quotes and thoughts - it is the biggest one yet!!

This issue’s theme is close to my heart lately - Praying for our Children and Grandchildren. Recently my sister and I took 20 or so ladies away to a retreat and we discovered that the most pressing issue on their hearts was for the salvation of their children and grandchildren. What better way to see this manifest than by prayer?

Issue11 Click Here

Enjoy!
Rachel Larkin

- still a BIG Bargain!!! Here is the link Click Here!

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What a deal!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
CLICK HERE! to find out more.

Rachel Larkin

Its all about balance though isn’t it? The Internet can enrich but it can very quickly frustrate and steal your time. I have to continually force myself to focus once I am sitting at the computer. What are my goals for this computer time? Do you catch yourself jumping on the computer quite often during the day, maybe with the excuse that you have to check the emails and then find yourself surfing for longer than you had anticpated? Hands up, that’s me!

How can we keep focused and still be able to use the internet to enrich our teaching? This is what I have had to do – keep a “Computer To Do List”. Whenever I think that I must check up about such and such, or I have to do that bank transfer, or I must write another blog entry, or I want to look up about our current topic etc - I write it down on my list. Then in the afternoon, after our table time and lunch are over, I am able to sit down and go through that list. Having a Computer To Do List keeps me focused. As soon as I start to wonder off onto something that is likely to just waste my time I pull back to ticking off my to-do’s on my list.

If I had to boil it down to ONE THING on the internet that has really impacted my home educating journey – it would have to be the ability to attend live online homeschool conferences. It is such an awesome opportunity to be able to listen to well known and respected homeschool veterans sharing live, from all over the world, what they have learnt while sitting in my own lounge room. Some of the conferences are free to listen in live. The only problem is that most of the sessions are in the middle of the night for us – but there is always the option to buy a ticket and you get access to a membership site where you can download the sessions’ audios and print out heaps of other stuff like articles and ebooks. Last term I was involved in speaking at the Ultimate Homeschool Expo (you can visit my website www.Rachel-Larkin.com to click on the link for more information) which was incredible! There were so many great home school mothers AND fathers who shared on all sorts of topics. The next homeschool online conference is happening in August – here is the link to find out more: http://cindyrushton.com/BackToSchoolBlast.html

The other main reason that I use the internet (ok I couldn’t leave it at ONE THING!) is to gather resources for our lapbooks or notebooks. Here are some great sites that I have personally used:
LAPBOOKING
What is lapbooking? Here is a site that has very helpful articles on lapbooking http://www.cindyrushton.com/Lapbooking.html

http://www.squidoo.com/lapbooking - More information on making lapbooks plus free templates

http://www.homeschoolshare.com This is an awesome site – I have only looked and used the free lapbooking resources. Check out the Olympic Lapbook – all for free!!!

http://www.currclick.com this is a great site – every month they have a free ebook to download, this month it is all about butterflies. Join their newsletter to get the heads up on any free or discounted ebooks.

http://www.handsofachild.com/shop/ full of really cool ebooks for different lapbooks. They also have a freebie; this quarter is all about Zebras.

NOTEBOOKING
What is notebooking? Check out a blog entry on my website – there is a FREE 30 page+ ebook from Cindy Rushton on notebooking - http://rachel-larkin.com/2008/04/17/reluctant-writer/

http://www.homeschoolshare.com/Notebook_Pages.php This is part of the same site that I listed in the lapbooking section above – heaps of FREE notebooking pages.

http://www.notebookingpages.com/ This is the best notebooking website ever – plus there are free resources available.

Enjoy!
Rachel Larkin

You don’t even have to leave your own home to join in!!! - I can even listen in from little New Zealand!!

Here are some of the topics -

Topics Include:

Help! I Have NO Idea WHERE to Begin!

Developing Your Philosophy of Education

Scheduling the Homeschool–10 Super Tips and Tricks to Make It All Happen

Easy Record-Keeping: Developing an Easy, Effective System that will Work for You and Your Family

Planning Fun and Easy Lessons

Easy Homemaking Ideas for the Busy Homeschool Mom

Busy NO MORE!

Make This Year Great: 10 Things to Remember for Making This Year the Best Ever!

Here is the link for more information on this wonderful seminar - Join Us for our Let’s Get Organized Seminar!

Rachel Larkin

P.S. you don’t just get to listen to a great speaker talk about organising but also, if you pay for the membership, you get to download some awesome goodies - articles , ebooks and more!!!!

P.P.S I will see you there!!!

homeschoolshare - summer olympics

I will keep you posted with other great resources. I am going to attempt to approach this unit study in a different way - through a principled approach.

Rachel

Daily Grammar It has daily lessons - really nice short lessons to teach the children grammar - great!

from me and my house This is my good friend Lisa Hodgen blog on Lifestyle Education Through Discipleship. It is full of useful information on how to teach our children - highly recommended!

Rachel

I haven’t blogged for quite a while - The Ultimate Homeschool Expo just about wiped me out! There was so much amazing information and freebies to go through not to mention all the audios.

I have latched myself onto Lisa from me and my house Lisa said some really great truths that I am spending time pondering. I highly recommend her seminars and HisStory ebook. It gives me a Christian framework to teach my boys a biblically worldview.

But whenever you come across something that is really lifechanging and full of wisdom - it takes a but of time to sort through what is the next step - right? The enemy wants us to get overwhelmed with new information or truth and will try his very best to make you feel like it is all too much. Well, here is a short article that describes that exact feeling and what you are to do about it.

just-take-a-step.pdf
Keep Moving Forward!
Rachel Larkin

Chocolat is an inspirational magazine that is free for you to download!!!!
Here is the link:

Issue10

This issue has a theme - Seeking God in Prayer! It is sure to bring you closer to God!

Rachel Larkin

Welcome to the Becoming Beautiful Ezine!

It is definitely autumn “down under” with leaves turning brown, red or orange. It is a difficult season for me – I LOVE walking through the fallen leaves and gazing on their beautiful colours. But I am also sad that winter is around the corner, blowing in fast!

This week God showed me another key to becoming beautiful! I am so amazed at how many times the Word of God talks about beauty. God is truly a God of beauty and desires us to live in a world of beauty.

Here is the key - from Proverbs 4 v 9 in the NASB says:”She will place on your head a garland of grace; she will present you with a crown of beauty.”

Solomon here is talking about Godly Wisdom. Godly Wisdom gives you a crown of beauty and grace. As women, we all want to be beautiful and graceful, don’t we? Well, this is a key!

The Wisdom that Solomon is talking about is described further in verse 11 – it is the “comprehensive insight into the ways and purposes of God” (AMP). Having insight into the ways and purposes of God will bring beauty into our lives. Our relationships will be beautiful, our speech would be graceful and our lives would be reflecting God’s glory.

God’s glory is captivating - we would become captivating.
God’s words are life changing – we would become life changers.
God’s spirit brings love, joy and peace – we would also bring love, joy and peace.

How do you gain this Godly Wisdom? How do you become captivating, a life changer and bring love, joy and peace into your world?

1. You must desire Godly Wisdom above all else.

Value and prize it with all your heart. This means that you seek God’s ways and thoughts on EVERYTHING that happens in your day. Seek Him out before you move a step forward. Seek it like silver, and search for it as hidden treasure” Proverbs 2:4.Consider God’s ways as valuable as having a billion dollars.

2. Study and meditate on the Word of God

God’s word is inspired by Him and gives you the “comprehensive insight into the ways and purposes of God”. It is Godly Wisdom. So we must desire it above all else. We must consider God’s Word as valuable as gold. Go on a treasure hunt everyday in the Word. When my heart is right with God and I come with my opened Bible in my hand expecting God to reveal His treasures – I ALWAYS receive Godly Wisdom, ALWAYS.

3. Pray for Wisdom

God tells us in James chapter 1 to pray for wisdom if we lack it. He wants to give it to us. He knows that we need it. At the top of our prayer list should be Godly Wisdom – to know God’s thoughts on our home school plans, to know God’s thoughts on our financial budget and our food shopping list. We need God’s wisdom to know what and how to speak to that difficult child or that withdrawn husband.

We need God’s wisdom to create and maintain beautiful relationships, homes and lives.
What are your desires today? Is it to know God’s thoughts on today’s to-do list? Did you check with Him first? Is your life more beautiful than it was yesterday? Why? Why not?

Keep moving forward in your journey to Becoming Beautiful in God!

Rachel Larkin