Disappointed and Excited With Starting Homeschool

I have to be honest and say that I am disappointed in our #ButterflyHomeschool blog on one hand, and totally excited about starting homeschool on the other. Read on to learn why, and to see a tip to help you help your children more.

So, we didn’t achieve our monthly goal of posting here on the Butterfly Homeschool blog in August. I admit that August was totally a blur. I barely remember last month from the first day until the last because it went by so very fast.

WHY EXCITED ABOUT STARTING HOMESCHOOL

Part of why August went so fast is because I was writing, for someone else’s blog (and for my book, but I digress). That is what I am totally excited about. I have been making a shift in how I do business, with more of a focus on providing trainings and on writing than ever before. I also have shifted how I flow business part-time while homeschooling more intensely during the Fall, Winter and Spring seasons.

So, starting homeschool by writing to help others has gotten me pretty excited. I also know that my writing and the other team member’s writing on the blog I contribute to will help you. This great blog will especially help you get excited if you are new to homeschooling, or have been struggling to get\ re-started this year.

HOW TO HELP YOUR CHILDREN MORE

I have been writing more than I’ve written all year long. And, yes, again, I am excited. My flood gates finally opened up more after choosing to open my heart more and let God work on me more.

Frequently and regularly, when you teach and write for other people’s benefit, you also need to take time out to refill your own tank. My prayer for you is that, as you start this Fall season of schooling, that you’ll do that for yourself. Your children will benefit so much more from you with your tank overflowing than from you just barely squeezing out drops for them.

QUESTION FOR YOU: How do you keep your tank full? When do you set aside time for your own learning and growth?

ABOUT BEING EXCITED AGAIN

So, the other blog that I am writing for is very encouraging for moms who school their children at home, no matter how you choose to do it. I posted a page here on this blog about it. You’ll see the page listed above in the menu bar.

The page is called “Encouragement“. Please have a look there to see a preview. My first article will post in mid-September. The topic for my first series of articles is one that is familiar to me. It may help you avoid an unhealthy big mistake that homeschool families sometimes make. It is a mistake we have made and started overcoming after we understood it better. I will share our lessons and our journey to help you avoid or correct it.

The blog that I am contributing to can be a great source to help you with keeping your tank full, too. I pray that you will check it out and be very blessed by it.

YOUR ANSWER?

So, if you are going to share your answer to my question about keeping your tank full, please use the comments area below to share. When you do, this helps others who are reading to join the discussion with us all in the future.

Thank you for reading. 🙂

~Donna Marie

P.S. If you find this helpful, please use the social sharing buttons and tools on this page to pass on the link to your friends and family.

[FAITH FRIDAY] Our Story of How We Know Everything Is Awesome

The #ButterflyHomeschool Family Shares Their Story About Learning and Life Challenges And What It Takes To To Succeed. We really believe that #EverythingISAwesome – read on to learn why we say that.

Charity and I, Mom Donna, had an interesting conversation this week. It went something like this (see image below):

If we are not yet connected on Facebook, click here or go to: Facebook.com/AuthorDonnaMJ

Now, honestly, that morning I was a little disappointed that she wasn’t as optimistic as I was. At that moment in time, I was super excited for the older kids, who had the blessed opportunity to go off on a new adventure to a business-work immersion event at the World Congress Center in Atlanta because of their membership in One Talent. (We shared about OT in a previous post. Click here to learn more about it.)

So, after reflecting on what she said to me that morning, I decided to ask her again later in the day after the big kids had returned. At first she said, no, but then I framed it in a different way and asked:

“Right now in this moment is everything awesome?”.

Then she said:

“Yes.”

And this mom was so happy that the Holy Spirit turned around the heart of my little optimist-in-training. Praise God!

In #ButterflyHomeschool, one of the main things we learn every day is that attitude impacts every part of our lives, even though it is intangible… and because it is intangible. Attitude is a spiritual force that is ‘tangible’ as long as you are breathing and have a soul. Attitude is most easily seen physically manifested in a person’s face and body posture, heard in their voice and manifested in their choices. We set the atmosphere of our day and of our entire life by how we choose to carry our attitudes.

USE YOUR WORDS TO CHANGE YOUR WORLD

So, will you say our confession with us, no matter how you are feeling right now, and see your life and world change?

FATHER GOD

IS OUR EVERYTHING:

WHENEVER & WHATEVER

WE NEED HIM TO BE

THEN HE IS THAT

SO WE DECLARE OUT LOUD THAT

RIGHT NOW IN THIS MOMENT:

EVERYTHING

IS #AWESOME

NO MATTER WHAT IS GOING ON

IN FRONT OF OUR EYES OR EARS.

More of Charity’s Story

If you know us or have been following our blog for any time, you may know Charity’s story, however, for those of you who don’t, we’ll share more below so that you can see why this story about attitude is so very important for her.

Charity began life as a 35.5 week preemie. Evenso, she has always been very healthy with few residual issues after she came home from the NICU. Currently, she is 8 and in 2nd grade, but she looks 10 or 11, and most people are shocked when they realize that she’s tall for her age.

Charity’s Challenging Learning Journey

Charity began kindergarten with a reading challenge that had us both in tears and very discouraged. To make it worse, the public charter virtual school teacher (who was a great teacher and as helpful as she could be) informed us that our state doesn’t test for reading challenges. So, because there is no testing, there is no support. The teacher helped me understand what was going on by providing me with resources and encouraging us. However, there wasn’t anything else she could do or that the system would do. So, we returned to traditional homeschooling, and by first grade, she was a fluent reader.

We shared about Charity’s reading journey in a previous article, too. When we shared, we talked about how her attitude was critical in her learning process (and so was mine). Well, as you can see from what I shared above, this is super duper duper important!

For a child that learns differently,

parents need to be even that more diligent about

managing attitudes and atmosphere surrounding learning,

at home or at school or wherever you choose to learn.

Now, Charity still has more work to do, and so do I, to ensure that she’s able to learn in ways that fit her learning style. Now our focus has shifted to writing. And I expect that, as we enter a new school season, setting our atmosphere now during this summer will be critical as we transition into the Fall learning season. And, everything is going to be #Awesome because Father God is Awesome, and He’s got this. He’s handling all of the details and helping us in our successful learning journey.

~Donna Marie 🙂

 P.S. PLEASE SUPPORT CHARITY’S FIRST TIME PERFORMING ON STAGE

This little cutie will be singing and dancing with all the kids of One Talent on July 26th. Please buy a ticket. And even if you are not in Atlanta, please buy #TheBelieveMovement t-shirts for your whole family.

Preview of #BelieveInYourself Step Dance practice

 

Going To South Africa With Kingdom Purpose

IMPORTANT UPDATE – We have not given up on our dream of volunteering at the Teboho Trust school for at risk youth in Soweto, South Africa, even though the KDE trip deposit deadline passed. We provided more details about what we plan to do now on our gofundme fundraiser page. Please click the image below or click here to learn more about our current goals.

South Africa Missions Trip #ButterflyHomeschool – TO GIVE NOW – CLICK IMAGE

Our family has had an ongoing love and passion for volunteering, especially when it has to do with things we are most interested in including: God, family, children and business. Because of this love, we have been volunteering with the Kingdom Driven Entrepreneur Community. We affectionately call it the KDE Movement. It covers all of those bases of helping expand the Kingdom of God by helping families, kids and businesses.

VOLUNTEERING FOR KINGDOM EXPANSION

Over the past year or so, the Mom, Donna Marie Johnson, and the kids have participated by:

• Interviewing KDE Founders Shae Bynes and Antonina Geer Before They Launched The Community in 2012
• Moderating Business Forum in the online KDE Community
• Leading as Certified Small Group Leader Locally for #AtlantaKDE
• Volunteered at the Atlanta Firestarter Tour
• [FUTURE] Volunteer at South African At-Risk Kids’ School: Teboho Trust

#ButterflyHomeschool Kids Volunteering at KDE Firestarter Atlanta Tour

In the near future, we will have another opportunity to serve, and this time internationally during the South African Retreat and Missions Trip to the Teboho Trust school which helps protect and educate at-risk kids to ensure they get a better start in life.

FOUR WAYS YOU CAN SUPPORT OUR MISSIONS TRIP

If you’d like to help us, please support us one or more of the following ways:

• 1. Pray For The Johnson Family Regularly

  • Henry, Donna, Justine, Samuel and Charity

• 2. Support Us Financially & Believe BIG With Us

  • Click Here To Go To Learn More About The Financials

• 3. Follow/Subscribe to Our Blog Updates

  • Keep Up With What We Are Doing (and keep praying for us, too)

• 4. Share Our Updates

  • Use sharing buttons and tools  to help spread the word

Thank you so much for reading, sharing and supporting us.

We love you!

Sincerely,

The Johnson Family – Henry, Donna, Justine, Samuel and Charity

P.S. In addition to asking for your donations, we will also be selling some items (t-shirts, recipes, artwork and more) to raise funds in the future. So, please click on the blog follow button so that you can receive our updates.