Son #2 Begins His Adult Life Out on His Own

Erik, our 21 year old, moved out today. He has grown up a lot over the past year. He has a good, full-time job. Now, he is starting his new venture of adulthood, taking care of himself and living with a roommate. We will miss him and his friends, but we know this will be a very rewarding step for him. (Besides, they have promised to come back and visit!)

Boxes are ready to go!

Still working on getting all the small parts packed.

Carrying it out to the truck. Shon Sturm is helping. Thanks Shon!

There's Dad!

All the helpers!  Isaac and Seth were helping too.

Mama and baby, err, I mean young man.

Pretty much only furniture now.

On our way to the new place.

New room in new place.

Garage.

Backyard.

Brothers are brothers for life!!!

Getting some lunch!

Erik's friend group came this afternoon and got all the furniture. Thank you all! (Isaac Humbard, Hannah Maus, Abby Normand, Noah Humbard, Shon Sturm)

Empty room.

Sigh! It echoes in here. Sniff, sniff!

We are so proud of him!

Good job, Erik!!!

Life Resumes with Plumbing Issues Repaired

You'll be happy to know the plumbing issues have been resolved! Praise the LORD!!! This episode was a commercial break brought to you from Lindsey Land and Wisdom Trackers Academy. Now back to regularly scheduled programming:

In addition to Trig with its 6 ratios and symmetry of parabolas and ellipses on x/y graphs, psych with its worldview questions, writing strategies and revisions, and the lesson planning and grading required in various subjects, we also must keep the house and our bodies running smoothly, not to mention serving at church. Some days I accomplish all those things; some days I don't.

I did take care of household business in addition to school business today. I started deep cleaning the oven yesterday in addition to dealing with the whole plumbing saga as it continued on. I got most of it clean then. After I was done for the day, I sprayed the oven for a third and final time and let it soak overnight. I finished it up this morning before breakfast.

I forgot to take 'before' pictures, but here is the fruit of my labor:

And, I'm pretty happy about it!!!

Today, I also did the laundry and made almond butter for Robert and I.

I LOVE that stuff on sliced apples!!!

The body business I accomplished today was going to the chiropractor. This is my fourth week in a row. I hadn't been since April before that. I knew I was having an issue with some of my ribs being out of place. Apparently, so was everything else. Today, it was A LOT better. I think, maybe, one more week after this and then I can cut down to every other week.  I have been trying to exercise and stretch more regularly and have been mostly successful until this week due to needing to stay in the house due to plumbers needs and some church activities. With greater consistency, I hope to be able to go to the chiropractor only once/month eventually. Maybe I'll be able to walk and do yoga after the boys and I go to take care of church business by helping to set-up the fellowship hall for an activity tomorrow night.

Seth had his second driving lesson this morning and is progressing quite nicely. 49 hours to go! Now that he has a driving permit, he can get his own bank account. We hope to accomplish that tomorrow.

And now, I need to go cook dinner. Sloppy Joes are on the menu.

Plumbing 8 - Lindseys 0

August is the month for plumbing problems this year. Due to leakages, Robert replaced the kitchen faucet and the boys' bathroom faucet. Then, yesterday, our shower handle broke off. (This is in addition to the boys' shower faucet handle that has been leaking profusely, and their tub hasn't been draining very well, in our opinion. Also, there was a minor drip under the kitchen sink and an outdoor faucet that is frozen shut.) When we went to shut off the water to the shower, we discovered that shower has no shut off valves! Arggghhhh! So, we shut the water off yesterday, except for the times when water was absolutely necessary.

My sweet husband has entered his busy season at work. Church has been busy lately. We've been doing other repairs around the house. He has a high endurance and has been very patient; but, when he found out about the shower yesterday, he finally said, "Let's call the plumber." So we did. AFTER we went to Home Depot yesterday afternoon to purchase what we thought we needed. So it still took up some of his time.

Today the plumber and his assistant came. They fixed the boys' shower and put shut off valves on the lines for our shower. In their opinions, the boys' tub drains fine, the kitchen sink simply needed the water line to be opened further than it was, and the outside faucet has been shut off by someone and been capped. (The last part is dead wrong. It is simply frozen and will not turn on.) They seemed to do a good job, from what I can tell, on the parts they actually fixed. They were unable to fix our shower due to the fact that we purchased the wrong type of product. Therefore, my husband is trying to decide whether or not to go ahead and squeeze fixing that part of the problem himself in 'all his spare time' or to call the plumber again.

Robert has saved us thousands of dollars over the years. He is so handy with fixing things. He HATES plumbing! But, even that, he tries his best to do. He is a servant-leader in our home. He is a treasure, and I appreciate him SO much! I try to assist him when I can, but I lack the skills to be truly helpful. I admire his keen mind and his skilled hands and his serving heart. What a guy!

The Importance of Constructing a Worldview Statement

In psychology this week, we are studying the importance of having a clear worldview through which we can filter the ideas presented to us.

A worldview is the construct of how you view life, your basic assumptions, your foundational beliefs, your conceptual framework for answering the big questions of life, the construct or framework of your faith. Everyone has one:  Christians, agnostics, Muslims, atheists, Buddhists, deists, psychologists, philosophers, politicians, etc.

People operate under the assumptions of their worldviews every day; however, many have not taken the time to think through this mindmap in concrete ways so that it can be a useful filter for them. They are prone to being deceived because they are not sure of their mind on various challenging topics. They cannot defend their beliefs.

A worldview is a system of CORE attitudes, beliefs, and values. If one develops a well-thought-through statement of belief, it will guide one through many miry mounds of knowledge, enabling the sorting and keeping and tossing of ideas.

Your worldview is active and changeable. It morphs as your mind changes with the influx of new information that you assimilate into your belief system.

A Christian worldview is supposed to be a biblically based worldview, wherein all fundamental assumptions are derived from the absolute Truth of the inspired Word of God. The Word of God reveals Truth to us. "Truth is not merely a person preference. It is objective and absolute and can be diligently searched out" (Tim Rice, Homeschool Psych, p. 11). Then, it is up to us to modify our worldview to match God's revealed Truth. It is when we do this that we stand on the firmest ground theologically, relationally with God, and mentally/emotionally/behaviorally.

There are 5 major questions wherein psychology and the Christian worldview definitely intersect:
*What do you believe about God?
*What is the nature of Mankind?
*How can we know things with certainty?
*Are there moral absolutes?
*What are the causes of and the cures for abnormal thoughts, feelings, and behaviors?

Our answers to these 5 crucial questions affect how we handle all the pitfalls of life.

So...they had better be good ones.

It reminds me of our pastor telling us that any set of religious ideas he is presented with had better provide him an answer for death because that one is coming for us all.  (I thought that was a very insightful view through which to funnel the stability of claims thrown out there for us to ponder.)

The author of our textbook, Tim Rice, D. Min., LPC, is so convinced of the value of intentionally formulating your worldview into a coherent explanation that he offers this caveat:

"Stop Reading. Do not keep reading until you are clear about your Christian worldview. Remember, the Christian worldview is Truth, but we can not prove it with science. It is important to remember that EVERYONE'S WORLDVIEW IS A MATTER OF FAITH and no one's worldview is ultimately a matter of science. The foundational beliefs of a Christian worldview, of an atheist's worldview, of a psychology professor's worldview are matters of faith and philosophy and not of data and science.  In the next chapter we will explore psychology's history by examining its philosophies and assumptions" (Tim Rice, Homeschool Psych, p. 12).

So...I guess I had better get to work!

Z

Good Quotes from Psychology by David G. Myers

"Books are the quietest and most constant of friends, and the most patient of teachers" (Charles Eliot, 1834-1926, educator).

 "Once expanded to the dimensions of a larger idea, [the mind] never returns to its original size" (Oliver Wendell Holmes, 1809-1894).

"Testing is a powerful means of improving learning, not just assessing it" (Henry Roediger & Jeffrey Karpicke, memory researchers, 2006).

"To master information information you must actively process it" (David G. Myers, Psychology, p.13, 2015).

"People learn and remember best when they put material in their own words, rehearse it, and then retrieve and review it again" (David G. Myers, Psychology, p. 13, 2015).

"I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me" (Job 42:3).

Driving Hours

In Kansas, new drivers have to have 50 hours of driving time, 10 of which are at night.

Isaac completed his driving hours finally (after over a year of effort to squeeze it in) the week before our school started, over a month after he turned 18. Now he has begun his Senior year and is still working toward the goal of driving. He now needs to go through the paces with his daddy to make sure he'll pass the driving portion of the test. He got a new Kansas Driving Handbook today to study for the written part. Then he will get his adult license and enter the adult world of car insurance payments.

Seth, at 16 years old, had his first driving lesson today. He did well. Only 49 1/2 hours left! When he completes his driving practice and tests, he'll be the youngest driver we've had out of all 4 boys. We're a little slow around here. Seriously though, they have to have a job to afford the insurance and just got one in May. So, they couldn't have afforded to drive before that anyway. I'm looking forward to passing this particular milestone. It is a lot of work for a mama.

Homeschooling at Lindsey Land is on its LAST year!

We began Monday, August 6th:

Here's our school lineup:

They are also taking Government and Economics & Business Computer Information Systems via Switched on Schoolhouse, as well as complete Easy Grammar, Grade 12 (10 min./day review).


Middle of the week (8/8) ~ relaxing at the end of a long day!

In addition to school, Isaac and Seth are working at the Mall Deli 10-15 hours/week. Isaac is a dishwasher/busboy. Seth is a cook. Seth is going to work on his Eagle Scout requirements and do his Eagle project this year.

A VERY FULL YEAR AHEAD OF US!!!