Jonathan loves to cook!

In our home, school never ends because we not only home school our children, we believe that Natural Learning is the best kind!

My son, Jonathan, who is eleven years old still loves to help his Momma - especially in the kitchen! Thank you Lord!! It's been a long time since I made my Chicken & Dumplings I just had to have some!

Jonathan did a great job in the kitchen today! And, he learned something. Now, that's what I call accomplishment! He's going to make some woman very happy one day! ;)




 Here's my recipe, in case you want to try it! It's super easy and a lot of fun with the kids!

Chicken & Dumplings Ingredients:
1 whole chicken, boiled and deboned
Broth from cooking chicken plus 1 carton of chicken broth
1 can of cream of chicken soup
2 cups of flour, self rising works best

Boil whole chicken in large pot until done. Remove from broth and pull apart, breaking into bite size pieces. Set aside.
Strain broth and put back into your pot.
Add about a cup to a cup and a half of broth to flour; mix well. If it's still "sticky" add more flour.
Roll out on floured board about 1/4 inch thin. Cut dough into squares of about an inch. Return broth to a rolling boil and drop dumplings into the broth one at a time. Stir the dumplings occasionally to keep them from sticking together and to the bottom of the pot.
Add can of cream of chicken soup and stir. Then, add the chicken and boil or simmer, stirring frequently until dumplings are to your liking. I like to cook them for about 30 minutes.

See how easy this recipe is? And, I have to say it is so good! Let me know if you try it out and how you like it!! HAPPY COOKING!

Fridays are FREE Days!

Yesterday we continued our study in Genesis.  We read the rest of Chapter 1 and the beginning of Chapter 2, through day 7.  My kids really opened up about things that they thought.  We talked about how God created the animals and made their food to be all vegetation, not meat.  We also talked about why God separated the "livestock" from the other living creatures.  Just our own speculations, of course! ;)

I think this study is going to be really good for our family!  We are able to sit at the supper table each day and tell Daddy everything we learned and talked about so he can share in this journey with us too!  It has also made us all more aware of putting God first in our lives on a moment-by-moment basis!  Thank you, Lord, for showing this to us!

Fridays are FREE days in our house, so we will resume our Bible Textbook lessons on Monday!

Have a wonderful weekend!!

~God Bless, Melanie

Our First Day of Bible Textbook

Today was our first official day of using the Bible as our only textbook!  I have to say that it went very well.  The kids had a lot of great input and it went very smoothly!  They actually seemed a lot more excited to be doing this than I thought they would.  I should know by now that God's ways are always better than mine!  I thank God for confirmation, as I still doubt myself on a daily basis.

Today we started from THE BEGINNING!  We read Genesis 1:1-5, the first day!


1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.
3 And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light.
4 God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness.
5 God called the light "day," and the darkness he called "night." And there was evening, and there was morning - the first day.

We talked about many different things like how God must have created Heaven just for us!  There are so many things to glean from this small passage.  Thank you, Lord, for allowing us to study your Word together and learn to be more like you each and every day...Amen.

~God Bless, Melanie

Where to begin?

The decision has been made!  We will put away the traditional textbooks and lesson plans in an exciting effort to make sure that God is number one in our home school as well as our hearts.  For a few months we will use the Holy Bible as our only textbook.

So, where to begin?!?  I have been really stressing out over this part.  I want to be sure to capture (and keep) the attention of my children while making sure to "get" all that we can out of our studies. Then it hit me!  START FROM THE BEGINNING!

Tomorrow we will begin our studies in the book of Genesis, chapter 1.  I will let you know how it goes and what all we were able to glean from it.  Stay tuned!

~God Bless, Melanie

Choosing to Let God Lead Our Home School

The decision to educate our children at home was easy and completely led by God.  There were no doubts or concerns at the time.  Then, reality hits!  You've pulled all of your children out of school, purchased all of the "required" curriculum, have all of your lesson plans sorted out and you're going along great, when BAM! Someone shows disapproval or questions your ability to teach your children.  How dare they?  Well, believe me, it happens more often than not.  Unless you are fortunate enough to be a "state certified teacher" then people will always make you feel less than adequate to educate your own children.

The fact is, you began educating your children on the day they were born. God, the Creator of the Universe, entrusted you and your spouse with educating your children, so why do you feel inadequate?  You shouldn't! Do not believe that lie from the devil.  The only thing you need to do is to purpose yourself to put God first! It's easy to allow all of the things of this world to distract you from that. But, the truth is, that it is not anyone else's business how or when you choose to educate your children.

I am guilty of not putting God first in our home school. This is why I am currently getting rid of the textbooks for a little while and purposing to put Him first by using the Holy Bible as our source of learning.  Soon we will add more structured curriculum but there is so much Science, History, Geography, Language(s), and even Math to be learned straight from the Good Book itself.  This blog is meant to share our journey with you from the beginning.

Even though I haven't always felt like I was educating my children in the best ways I possibly could (not because it was truth, but because I believed lies from the enemy!) I think they have all turned out very well.

Shane is 26 years old and is currently in the U.S. Navy pursuing a career as an Aviation Technician.

Alex is 22 years old and a graduate of Birmingham Metro Master's Commission and works with a travel agency in Information Technology.

Kayleigh Grace is 17 and in the 11th grade.  Her heart's desire is to be a professional photographer and own her own business, so that is our main focus within her studies.

Jonathan is 11 and in the 6th grade.  His desire is to be a major league baseball player and make lots of money!  He also desires to become a farmer with a degree from Auburn University's College of Agriculture.


So, if you find yourself feeling down.. look up!  God will educate your children through you.

~God Bless, Melanie