It has been a really strange year so far, hasn't it? I'm not sure if this is a relief, or if we are just gearing up for 2020 part two, but we are finally officially halfway through this year! YAY! It's July, it's summertime, and normally that would mean VBS and summer camps and baseball. This year, it mean gardening, time at home, and staying out of the South Carolina heat (okay, that part is the same). It also means that we have started on our new school year. Yes, while parents around the country are anxiously awaiting news of if, when, and how schools will be opening up in the fall, we are already a good bit into our 2020-2021 academic year, and I'm so excited to share with you where we have landed!

I shared last year about the classical curriculum we put together for grades 2 and 6 after making the decision to walk away from the Classical Conversations program that we had adhered to for our first six years of homeschooling. Some of that worked great, some needed tweaking, and some we traded out completely. The biggest change for us this year is that we are adopting a good bit of the Memoria Press curriculum for grades 3 and 7. Let me give you a quick overview of what we are doing. In the weeks to come, I will dive a bit deeper to share more fully how this is all going to be fleshed out this year.

Our hope for our children is that they will know the Bible thoroughly and intimately. We want them to know the stories and the truths contained therein, but also to turn to it regularly, to study it on their own, and to hide it in their hearts. For this, we are using a lot of familiar materials and some new ones.

For both of my children, we use the New City Catechism to introduce foundational truths of our faith. We are also using the Awana program (whether or not we can do it in a church setting this year) for memory work, including the Trek middle school program for my daughter. She will also continue to choose Bible studies from the Discover 4 Yourself series by Kay Arthur to hone her inductive Bible study skills. In addition to these things, we will be adding the Memoria Press Christian Studies program (level 1 for my son and level 4 for my daughter) to round out their Bible learning.

We are sticking with Saxon. It is thorough and works for us. My son will be using Saxon 5/4 and my daughter will be stepping into Algebra 1.

We will be doing two things with science. Each of my children will use their grade level material from Memoria Press. My son (grade 3) will spend the year learning about mammals. My daughter will focus on trees for the first part of the year as an introduction to botany and biology. At the same time, I will be using Christian Kids Explore Chemistry with them as well, to introduce those concepts to them. None of these are a daily program, so it is quite manageable!

For grade three this year, my son will focus on US Geography (using Memoria Press' States and Capitals set) and we will also read a number of biographies from American history. My daughter will also focus on American history using The Story of the Thirteen Colonies and the Great Republic, along with Story of the World Volume 4, and 200 Questions about American History. At the same time, they are both going to be introduced to classical studies. My son will begin learning about Greek Mythology and my daughter will be digging into Greek history with Famous Men of Greece.

Language is multi-faceted! For grammar, we are using Memoria Press' English Grammar Recitation series, book 1 and book 4. For Writing, my son will be continuing with Writing With Ease book 2 and 3 (we are doing every other chapter to catch him up). He is also using the Memoria Press New American Cursive program. My daughter is beginning the Classical Composition program from MP. We are starting her in Level 2, Narrative, and may continue with Level 3, Chreia & Maxim mid-year, depending on how quickly she grasps it.

Along with English language arts, both will be learning Latin. My daughter is finishing First Form Latin, and will begin Second Form sometime in the winter. My son is beginning Latina Christiana. And I am learning right along with them! My daughter is also dipping her toe into Greek with a weekly lesson from the Greek Alphabet.

I am very excited about using MP's literature program with my kids this year. There are four books in the third grade literature studies and in the seventh grade. They will also each be learning poetry from Poetry for the Grammar Stage. To fast start her understanding of poetry, since we haven't really studied it yet, my daughter will also be using Young Scholar's Guide to Poetry.

This part is still a little in flux. I am using Young Scholar's Guide to Composers with both of them. I am thinking about also using Creating Art (MP) as well as several topics from the Ambleside Online scope and sequence.

And that is it, plus our extracurricular activities if those actually happen in the fall. I will give a more in-depth look at each of these areas, as well as how we are structuring our days, in the coming weeks. If you homeschool, what curriculum choices are you making this year? Share in the comments!

Dear friends,

It’s been over a month since I last posted, when I shared my poem “How the Virus Stole Easter.” I’ve hesitated to write anything since then, in part because I felt that something sacred was happening, and I didn’t want to mess it up!

It’s that sacred something that I want to share with you now. I’m sharing it not to exalt myself as a writer, but to let you get the glimpse that God has allowed me to have this past month of what He is doing across the world.

When I wrote "How the Virus Stole Easter", it was a response to something I had seen on social media the day before Palm Sunday. Someone had heard a reporter say that for the first time, Easter wouldn’t be celebrated this year, and that person had written an excellent rebuttal of that idea, sharing how Easter will absolutely be celebrated by those who know and follow Jesus. The whole thing reminded me of the Grinch's failed attempt to steal Christmas, and I jotted down a few lines. The next morning, in our online Sunday School class, our teacher shared what a friend of his had said about how the churches may be empty, but Jesus' tomb was empty, too. That phrase resonated and I jotted that down, as well.

The rest of the morning, the poem flowed. I had begun with just the part about "maybe Easter, perhaps, doesn't come from a store," and then realized that I needed to tell the whole story of the virus, beginning "late in nineteen". I also realized that unlike the Grinch, who was both the villain and the one who changed to see the value of Christmas, I needed two characters in this poem - the virus and the world. The world - meaning those who don't know Christ or even those who oppose Him - is not our enemy. Rather, the world is our audience, watching our response to hardship, to see if the God we profess in the good times is indeed worthy of worship.

By lunchtime, the poem was complete, and I shared it with my family - with tears. I felt it was from my heart, and hopefully from the Lord, in a unique way, but I had no idea what a response I would get when I hit "publish" on my blog and then shared it on my "This Side of Heaven" Facebook page.

The first batch of comments and emails came the morning after Palm Sunday. As the week progressed, they began coming in like a flood, and the views and comments on Facebook were mounting as well. I found that others had copied and pasted the poem in their own Facebook timelines, and that some of those had been shared thousands of times. I got hundreds of requests via email, Facebook, and my blog asking for permission to use the poem in Easter services, on YouTube, and in many other ways. The impossibility of responding to those in a timely manner and the awareness that God was doing something amazing led me to give a blanket permission to any church or ministry wanting to use it, with only a request that they include the original URL and let me know how and where. (Bbut if you used and shared it and didn't do that, please don't worry about it! This is so clearly God's work!)

Only within the last two weeks has life slowed down enough for me to start responding to all of those messages, and to take note of what God has been doing. I share all of this with you not to praise myself (Proverbs 27:2) but to let you see, as I have, how God is moving among His people in this amazing time in human history. Here are some of the highlights.

• Currently, my original Facebook post stands at a reach of over 1 million and over 14,000 shares.
• Although most people who contacted me did not include their location, and there may be many churches who shared it without letting me know, I know of the poem being shared in at least 27 states and 14 countries outside the the US, among them Canada, Australia, England, Barbados, Singapore, New Zealand, Ireland, Switzerland, North Congo, Philippines, South Africa, Hong Kong, Malaysia, and Sweden.
• It's been shared by at least 17 denominations (including Baptist, Presbyterian, Anglican, Methodist, Catholic, and many others), dozens of ministries, and by a daily "clean humor" email list.
• I was interviewed for the Together podcast, and also for an article on the Church Leaders website.
• It's been translated into Spanish and Swedish.
• One children's ministry leader at a Catholic church in the Southwest is planning to use it as a theme in their Vacation Bible School this summer to help the children in their community process their personal experience with the virus.
• Awakening America Alliance made it into a free downloadable video for pastors to use as they wish.

Beyond that, however, I've been most touched by the abundance of YouTube and Facebook videos that people have made of the poem, each giving their unique touch to it, and by the comments people have made on my blog and in personal messages. Many people have written that the poem spoke hope to them and brought them to tears, as this time has been so discouraging for so many. People have written that they wanted to share it with their children, their grandchildren, their retirement home, their school, and more. Pastors have shared that God had also impressed on them how the truth of Easter prevails, even if we can't worship corporately in person. Video renditions have ranged from cute to poignant, and those performing it from children to senior citizens, in accents from all over the world - all of them expressing a heartfelt desire that 2020 would, indeed, be a year not only of survival, but of revival.

It is this diversity in people and responses that has particularly captured my attention. God and His Word are unchanging, as is the offer of eternal life through faith in Jesus and His death and resurrection. However, God is not limited to one nation, or one language, or one denomination. Hearing from and seeing brothers and sisters in the Lord praising Him in so many diverse ways, longing to bring glory to His name in the midst of a truly unprecedented time in human history, brings me to my knees.

This is what I want you to see. As shocking as 2020 has been to the human race, nothing about it has surprised God. Never before has one event touched almost the entire world in the same way at the same time. Never before have so many residents of planet Earth shared such a common experience. And never before has technology allowed us to talk about it so easily and quickly, even while isolating ourselves from the virus and from each other.

The pastor of the church I attended as a child used to say, "God never wastes a hurt." I believe that fervently, and I experienced it personally as we lost baby after baby, beginning with our daughter Naomi, and saw God use that deep hurt to birth our Naomi's Circle pregnancy loss ministry.

With all this “never before”, don’t you think God is going to do something amazing in and through his church? I find myself being of two minds about the events in the daily headlines - on the one hand I am eager for the physical and economic suffering to end. On the other hand, I am eagerly watching and waiting to see what God is doing and and will do with this global moment, and praying for opportunities to join in His work.

Will you also pray? Will you ask God to show you how he can use you in your circle of influence in the days to come? Even in the midst of your personal suffering, whether from the virus itself, or the side effects of isolation or economic hardship, will you ask God to use you to bring glory to Him?

As the world begins to reopen, let’s not let the allure of the things we could not do for so long overshadow the lessons learned in lockdown or the incredible privilege of walking by faith and not by sight. Let’s look for ways to serve others, and to be the church on mission. Let’s watch for natural openings for spiritual conversations with neighbors. Let’s pray for revival to begin in our own homes and families, right now. Don’t be afraid you are not mature enough or good enough for God to use you! In Ephesians 1:6, Paul tells us that God uses us to display the glory of His grace to the world, and often His grace is best displayed in our weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9). I know that is usually the case in my own life.

I look forward to sharing more in these pages about what God is teaching me in the days to come (if you are not a regular subscriber, you can sign up here). I would love to hear from you about the same! 

May the world see hope when it looks at God’s people.
May the world see the Church is not a building or steeple.
May the world find Faith in Jesus’ death and resurrection,
May the world find Joy in a time of dejection.
May 2020 be known as the year of survival,
But not only that -
Let it start a revival.

With all my heart,

Kristi

'Twas late in ‘19 when the virus began,
Bringing chaos and fear to all people, each land.

People were sick, hospitals full,
Doctors overwhelmed, no one in school.

As winter gave way to the promise of spring,
The virus raged on, touching peasant and king.

People hid in their homes from the enemy unseen.
They YouTubed and Zoomed, social-distanced, and cleaned.

April approached and churches were closed.
“There won’t be an Easter,” the world supposed.

“There won’t be church services, and egg hunts are out.
No reason for new dresses when we can’t go about.”

Holy Week started, as bleak as the rest.
The world was focused on masks and on tests.

“Easter can’t happen this year,” they proclaimed.
“Online and at home, it just won’t be the same.”

Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, the days came and went.
The virus pressed on; it just would not relent.

The world woke Sunday and nothing had changed.
The virus still menaced, the people, estranged.

“Pooh pooh to the saints,” the world was grumbling.
“They’re finding out now that no Easter is coming.

“They’re just waking up! I know just what they’ll do!
Their mouths will hang open a minute or two,
And then all the saints will all cry boo-hoo.

“That noise,” said the world, “would be something to hear.”
So it paused and the world put a hand to its ear.

And it did hear a sound coming through all the skies.
It started down low, then it started to rise.

But the sound wasn’t depressed.
Why, this sound was triumphant!
It couldn’t be so!
But it grew with abundance!

The world stared around, popping its eyes.
​Then it shook! What it saw was a shocking surprise!

Each saint in each nation, the tall and the small,
Was celebrating Jesus in spite of it all!

It hadn’t stopped Easter from coming! It came!
Somehow or other, it came just the same!

And the world with its life quite stuck in quarantine
Stood puzzling and puzzling.
“Just how can it be?”

“It came without bonnets, it came without bunnies,
It came without egg hunts, cantatas, or money.”

Then the world thought of something it hadn’t before.
“Maybe Easter,” it thought, “doesn’t come from a store.
Maybe Easter, perhaps, means a little bit more.”

And what happened then?
Well....the story’s not done.
What will YOU do?
Will you share with that one
Or two or more people needing hope in this night?
Will you share of the Source of your life in this fight?

The churches are empty - but so is the tomb,
And Jesus is Victor over death, doom, and gloom.

So this year at Easter, let this be our prayer,
As the virus still rages all around, everywhere.

May the world see hope when it looks at God’s people.
May the world see the Church is not a building or steeple.
May the world find Faith in Jesus’ death and resurrection,
May the world find Joy in a time of dejection.
May 2020 be known as the year of survival,
But not only that -
Let it start a revival.