Gather - My thoughts at BSF Sharing Day, 5/11/23

This year I attended Bible Study Fellowship and studied 15 books of the Old Testament. It was fascinating. The study was called "People of the Promise: Kingdom Divided," and it followed the people of Israel and Judah starting after the reign of King Solomon.

Each week we read Bible passages on our own and answered lesson questions, then we met together for a large-group lecture and small-group discussion of the same the material .  This method of Bible study is totally free, has an amazing children's program, and is available all over the world.  If you're curious about God at all - you should check out a local class! (https://www.bsfinternational.org/ They also have online options.)

At the end of every year, the participants are invited to share something they've learned through the study.  It's slightly intimidating because it includes speaking into a microphone to a couple hundred people, but this year I did it.  And this is what I said...

One thing I’ve learned about Bible study is to look for the repeated words.  Repeated words are never an accident.  This year, one word particularly emerged to me - GATHER.  This word was repeated as we studied the books of Hosea, Isaiah, Micah, and Jeremiah.  

In each of these verses - God is the one speaking to his people through his prophets.

And the children of Judah and the children of Israel shall be gathered together, 

and they shall appoint for themselves one head. Hosea 1:11 

Fear not, for I am with you;

    I will bring your offspring from the east,

    and from the west I will gather you. Isaiah 43:5

For a brief moment I deserted you,

 but with great compassion I will gather you. Isaiah 54:7

I will surely assemble all of you, O Jacob;

    I will gather the remnant of Israel;

I will set them together

    like sheep in a fold,

like a flock in its pasture,

    a noisy multitude of men. Micah 2:12

I will be found by you, declares the Lord, 

and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile. Jeremiah 29:14

AND one of our lesson questions brought us to the New Testament where Jesus himself talks about gathering. Matthew 23:37-39

“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! 

How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! 

These verses were clear to me.  Even though this year we studied a Kingdom DIVIDED, and we came to a deeper understanding of God’s wrath as his people went into exile…  God’s heart is to GATHER -  his kingdom, and us.  

To me, this means my heart should grow to reflect God’s.  I am challenged to ask the Holy Spirit to show me how to reflect his heart to GATHER in a world divided by sin and self-focus. The work of gathering is not always easy, but if God’s word says it’s good - then it is worth it.  Praise the Lord - he is a God who gathered us!  And one day, he will ultimately gather us to himself!

Homeschool Reflections, After Year 1

 As a mom who never wanted to homeschool, I am thrilled to say we survived our first year, and plan to do it again next year!  Hooray!

Our daily homeschool set up included:

• a math session with Dad (Singapore curriculum) usually in the morning before his work meetings, and then math homework to be completed independently  

• a ‘morning meeting’ including a Bible verse, hymn, and poem, which actually happened about 50% of our ‘school days.’  Seeing the kids’ excitement at picking out a poem and then taking turns reading it out loud was an unexpected highlight

• a review of memory work from our Classical Conversations curriculum, sometimes just me reviewing material, sometimes watching a youtube review guy, sometimes googling random stuff from the timeline song… you never know.

• a time of reading and writing and grammar concepts - which looked different for each kid because of grade levels.  For Simon: we were focusing on handwriting goals and chapter books.  For Gwen: she was learning to write paragraphs and essays and diagramming sentences. Both kids had weekly spelling lists and quizzes.

Every Wednesday we gathered, 9am-3pm, with our Bloomington homeschool community, called Classical Conversations, where the kids each attended class taught by a parent tutor and 6-7 classmates.  I attended their classes too, switching back and forth, helping with art projects, science projects and (Lord help me) tin whistle practicing.  We all looked forward to “Community Day” each week to see our friends (Mom friends too!), get out of the house, and remember how thankful we were that we didn’t have to do this everyday like our before-lives at a private school!  The memory work for the week was introduced by the tutors, so we always had new things to learn about Math, Latin, English, History, Timeline, Science, Art and Geography.  The BEST thing was the curriculum is already set and given to me - so I don’t have to figure out what to teach during the week for all these subjects!  The other BEST thing is that our curriculum only lasted 24 weeks and finished on April 19! So with standardized testing and tying up loose ends, our summer break started the first week of MAY!  Yay!

Classical Conversations and Singapore Math were great curricula, but it didn’t take all day every day. Each week we had extra time - lots of it.  What did we do with it, you ask?  Here are some of the highlights:

• Discovering our world and history through arm-fulls from the library- especially nonfiction picture books. We had lots of good times reading books on the couch together.

• Sewing, baking and building 

• Laundry skills

• Cleaning and household help

• Museums and plays and the MN zoo!

• Sports with dad, soccer and baseball

• Music with mom- basic ukulele, singing harmony, rhythm, lots of listening

• Church - Wednesday night programming and Christmas Play for Gwen

• Travel (California, Florida, and lots of Kettle River)

• Kettle work and play - chopping wood and starting fires and building forts

• Book club (Gwen hosted her own) and bike rides (Simon takes about 3 a day in nice weather)

• Cross country skiing at Wood Lake and 4 downhill ski days at Hyland

• Volunteering at CAPI food shelf and FMSC

• Piano lessons for Simon and a serious puzzle habit for Gwen

The hardest part of homeschooling is being all the things all the time: parent, teacher, decider of the plans, referee of the fights, accountability holder, coach, and nurse.  Decision fatigue and planning fatigue and being an INTROVERT were regular struggles for me.  Shout out to my incredible husband who LIKES to cook dinner, reinforces respect for my role, and doesn’t get mad when he finds me exhausted and emergency-napping.  My weekly Bible study group and fitness classes at Lifetime were also game-changers for me. They gave me a place to go and be myself apart from my kids.  I am happy to report that my kids and I have both grown in maintaining peaceful household routines and relationships.  

The second hardest part about homeschooling was the kids being at different grade levels.  Enough said.

I can say with confidence that the pros outweigh the cons, and that homeschooling is our healthiest school option in this season.  Praise be to God for this gift!  We fall short, but we are loved, and his grace is sufficient!

I did a Reading Challenge in 2017

Last year my favorite reading resource, Modern Mrs Darcy, came out with two excellent reading challenge options.  I did both and it was super fun.  I would not recommend each and every book to all people - so stars are next to my favorites.

Reading for FUN
from Modern Mrs Darcy 2017 Reading Challenge

a book you chose for the cover:
A Study in Charlotte by Brittany Cavallero*

a book with a reputation for being unputdownable:
Ready Player One* and The Night Circus

a book set somewhere you'be never been but would like to visit:
Death at La Fenice, by Donna Leon (Set in Venice)

a book you've already read:
Peace Like a River by Leif Enger***

a juicy memoir:
An American Childhood, by Annie Dillard

a book about books or reading:
The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry, by Gabrielle Zevin*

a book in a genre that you usually avoid:
The Boys in the Boat ** (SPORTS!) and That Hideous Strength* (sci fi!)

a book you don't want to admit you're dying to read:
Cress, by Marissa Meyer*

a book in the backlist of a new favorite author:
Because of Winn-Dixie, by Kate DiCamillo*

a book recommended by someone with great taste:
The High Divide, by Lin Enger (recommended by Jill!)**

a book you were excited to buy or borrow but haven't read yet:
Crossing to Safety, by Wallace Stegner**

a book about a topic or subject you already love:
The Little Book of Hygge, by Meik Wiking




Reading for GROWTH

from Modern Mrs Darcy 2017 Reading Challenge 

A Newbery Award winner or Honor book (there are so many fun options and they are so short and easy!):

The Family Under the Bridge
The Tale of Despereaux*
When you Reach Me*
The Light at Tern Rock
Ella Enchanted
Mr. Popper's Penguins*
Because of Winn-Dixie*
Thimble Summer*

A book in translation:
The Shadow of the Wind*

a book that's more than 600 pages:
Bonhoeffer, by Eric Metaxes (which is actually only 542!)*

a book of poetry, a play or an essay collection:
A Good Man is Hard to Find & Other Short Stories by Flannery O'Connor*

a book of any genre that addresses current events:
Being Mortal, by Atul Gawande

an immigrant story:
Through My Eyes, by Tammy Wilson

a book published before you were born:
Emily of New Moon, L.M. Montgomery

three books by the same author:
LOUISE PENNY! A Trick of the Light*; A Beautiful Mystery*; How the Light Gets In*
Marissa Meyer- Scarlet; Cress; Winter

a book by an #ownvoices or #diversebooks author (first I had to look up what this stuff means):
When Dimple Met Rishi, by Sandhya Menon

a book with an unreliable narrator or ambiguous ending:
The Likeness, by Tana French

a book nominated for an award in 2017:
Lab Girl, by Hope Jahren*

a Pulitzer prize or National Book Award winner:
Breathing Lessons, by Anne Tyler*

For 2018 I hope to try the new reading challenge by MMD.  You can find it here.

Big Book List 2017

Here are the books I read in 2017...

FICTION:

A Good Man is Hard to Find and Other Stories	O'Connor, Flannery
A Man Called Ove	Backman, Fredrik
Breathing Lessons	Tyler, Anne
Crossing to Safety	Stegner, Wallace
Peace Like a River	Enger, Leif
The High Divide	Enger, Lin
The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry	Zevin, Gabrielle *
The Shadow of the Wind(The Cemetery of Forgotten Books, #1)	Zafón, Carlos Ruiz

SCIENCE FICTION:

Ready Player One	Cline, Ernest
That Hideous Strength(Space Trilogy, #3)	Lewis, C.S.
The Invisible Man	Wells, H.G.

MYSTERY:

A Share in Death (Duncan Kincaid & Gemma James, #1)	Crombie, Deborah *
A Study in Charlotte (Charlotte Holmes, #1)	Cavallaro, Brittany *
A Trick of the Light (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #7)	Penny, Louise
Death at La Fenice (Commissario Brunetti, #1)	Leon, Donna
How the Light Gets In (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #9)	Penny, Louise
The Beautiful Mystery (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #8)	Penny, Louise
The Likeness (Dublin Murder Squad, #2)	French, Tana*

NONFICTION/COOKBOOK/MEMOIR:

Happily Homemade: Cooking with Love

Schultz, Rachel

An American Childhood	Dillard, Annie
Lab Girl	Jahren, Hope*

Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End	Gawande, Atul
Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy	Metaxas, Eric*
Redondo Beach	Beach, The Historical Commissio
The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics	Brown, Daniel James*
The Essential Enneagram	Daniels, David N.
The Little Book of Hygge: The Danish Way to Live Well	Wiking, Meik

SPIRITUAL GROWTH:

Calm My Anxious Heart	Dillow, Linda*
Praise Her in the Gates	Wilson, Nancy
Prayer: Experiencing Awe and Intimacy with God	Keller, Timothy J.
The Hidden Life of Prayer: The Lifeblood of the Christian	McIntyre, David M.
The Prodigal God: Recovering the Heart of the Christian Faith	Keller, Timothy J.
The Scars That Have Shaped Me: How God Meets Us in Suffering	Risner, Vaneetha Rendall
UnsuperMommy: Release Expectations, Embrace Imperfection, and Connect to God's Superpower	Combs, Maggie *

CHILDREN'S FICTION:

Farmer Boy (Little House, #3)	Wilder, Laura Ingalls
Gulliver's Travels	Vogel, Malvina G.
Homer Price	McCloskey, Robert
Little House in the Big Woods (Little House, #1)	Wilder, Laura Ingalls
Mr. Popper's Penguins	Atwater, Richard and Florence
The Children of Noisy Village	Lindgren, Astrid
The Family Under the Bridge	Carlson, Natalie Savage
The Tale of Despereaux	DiCamillo, Kate
Thimble Summer	Enright, Elizabeth

MIDDLE GRADE (Ages 8-12):

Because of Winn-Dixie	DiCamillo, Kate *
Brian's Winter (Brian's Saga, #3)	Paulsen, Gary
Ella Enchanted	Levine, Gail Carson *
Emily of New Moon(Emily, #1)	Montgomery, L.M.
Over Sea, Under Stone (The Dark Is Rising, #1)	Cooper, Susan *
The Light at Tern Rock	Sauer, Julia L.
The Quiet Little Woman: Tilly's Christmas, Rosa's Tale: Three Enchanting Christmas Stories	Alcott, Louisa May
The Secret of Red Gate Farm (Nancy Drew, #6)	Keene, Carolyn
The Song of Glory and Ghost (Outlaws of Time #2)	Wilson, N.D.*
Through My Eyes	Wilson, Tammy *
When You Reach Me	Stead, Rebecca
Wonder	Palacio, R.J.

YOUNG ADULT:

Cress (The Lunar Chronicles, #3)	Meyer, Marissa *
Ghost Hawk	Cooper, Susan *
Scarlet (The Lunar Chronicles, #2)	Meyer, Marissa *
The Geography of You and Me	Smith, Jennifer E. *
The Last of August (Charlotte Holmes #2)	Cavallaro, Brittany *
The Night Circus	Morgenstern, Erin
What I Saw and How I Lied	Blundell, Judy
When Dimple Met Rishi	Menon, Sandhya *
Winter (The Lunar Chronicles #4)	Meyer, Marissa *

I would not wholeheartedly recommend each and every book listed.  If you are wondering about one, please ask!  It takes too long to differentiate each one in this format.  Happy Reading, Book Friends!