Special Connection Homeschool

I got this in my email from Baptist Global Response and I couldn't help myself. I had to share it with you. BGR is a great ministry that truly meets the needs of those they help, both physically and spiritually. It's the place we give to the most, outside of our local church mission offerings. When I got this in email I immediately shared it on Facebook and as my husband has started the habit, we never share anything about giving without actually giving ourselves. So, I purchased: A Safe Place for Young Girls $5 $5.00 $5.00 10 Fish: $3 $3.00 $3.00 Feed a Hungry Child for a day $.50 ...

  I am the ladies mission director at our local church and one thing I really try to do is get everyone excited about missions, and that includes the children.  I am always taking opportunities to share mission stories and opportunities for service with the kids we work with at church.  You never know how many of them may be our next generation of missionaries and giving them an opportunity to feel that call early in their life can be important.  So, when I saw that I had the opportunity to review The Brinkman Adventures Season 2: Episodes 13-24 ,  I was eager to do it. The Brinkman Adventures  is an audio drama series where you learn about real life missionaries through the adventures of a large and somewhat fictional family.  Each episode is based upon real life events and missionaries.  The names of some of the people and places have been changed, while other times they use the real name.  There are even times when the actual miss...

We have been studying money so to put it into practice I decided it was time to see how much money Gess has saved up in her missions jar.  Gess made her jar a few years ago and started saving up money to buy a goat for people who were hungry.  We started with buying a goat because it did more than feed a family for one meal.  It gave them milk for many meals among other means of sustaining them.  We then purchased some ducks and water filters as other ways to help the needy.  Each time she saves up money in her jar she chooses where she wants it to go.  This time after we counted the money in her jar I asked her what mission she wanted to support. She enthusiastically said "the Sudan!"  I am not sure exactly what she knows about that region since we haven't studied it recently but it doesn't really matter.  If that is where her heart was, that is where we gave.  Well, sort of.  As a Baptist who is familiar with how their charities work...

Gary A. Haugen the President and CEO of the International Justice Mission will soon be releasing a new book, The Locust Effect: Why the End of Poverty Requires the End of Violence .  As you know I am very mission minded and have been an advocate of IJM since I discovered them a few years back.  The work they do to help save people from the bonds of slavery is nothing short of amazing.  As we know there are no victims more vulnerable to the threat of trafficking than those who live in poverty.  They are the ones with out the resources and power to speak out against the oppression that faces them on a daily basis.  Their desperation will make them trust those who actually seek to bring them harm or simply give up all hope.  However, poverty alone is apparently not the only problem.  To address poverty we need to end the senseless violence that surrounds it.  The Locust Effect: Why the End of Poverty Requires the End of Violence will address thi...

Sometimes being on the Schoolhouse Review Crew affords me to the opportunity to review something that benefits me as well as Gess.  As the women's missionary leader in my church I find stories about the adventures missionaries endure truly inspirational.  The book Seed Sowers - Gospel-Planting Adventures by Gwen Toliver arrived at such a perfect time in my life that it became an encouragement and motivation that helped get me through some trials of my own. My mom was recently hospitalized with heart failure and I had this book I needed to read and review.  My intent was to do it more of a read along with Gess and use it some in our studies.  We have managed to do that with one story so far, but due to the family crisis that is about all we have done together.  I, however, have read the book myself while mom was in the hospital and it was absolutely a God send!  Reading about the trials and tribulations these people faced and the miraculous means in...

The  Voice of the Martyrs Kids of Courage website offers 31 Bold Believer Activity Books that cover different countries and topics.  You will find cultural information, activities, games, recipes, stories and more.  Visit their website to view a free sample and download your FREE Bold Believer Activity Books .

Yesterday was Black Friday and Gess noticed that "name" for the first time, so we had our first lesson in what that day is all about: finding a good sale for Christmas presents.  While finding a good bargain is not a bad thing, I also reminded Gess that around the holidays we need to remember to stay focused on the spirit of the holiday.  If we want to show real "thanks" the day after Thanksgiving, we should give of our surplus to those in need instead of trying to get more "stuff" for ourselves.  Of course I didn't stop her from buying a game she wanted that was on sale, and I picked up a small item or two myself, but we did so with a thankful heart while avoiding the frenzy of the crowds. Our favorite Christmas project is Operation Christmas Child where you pack a shoe box full of gifts and send it to needy kids around the globe.  They even have a method where you can pay online and find out where your box lands.  The last 2 years ours ended up in...

One thing you might not know about me is that I am the missions director for our ladies group at my church.  While I have never been on a mission trip, I am passionate about spreading the gospel and I work really hard to support missionaries and organizations that reach the lost around the globe.  As a mom I try to share that passion with my children.  I don't think there is anything more fun or satisfying then engaging in missions as a family.  While explaining what missionaries do is great, seeing what they do is a lot more fun, especially when it's from the perspective of a child.   Growing Up Wild is a DVD series (my latest Schoolhouse Review Crew product) that does just that. In  Growing Up Wild  you follow the every day life of the Wild family children who live in Papau Indonesia with their parents who are missionaries there.  I reviewed Volume 1 and Volume 4.  Each video has 3 episodes that are about 15 minutes long th...

Excuse me for a moment while I leave the realm of homeschooling to share with you a real passion on my heart.  It is something that needs to be shared with everyone, everywhere and so I am sharing it with you.  I am also going to end by giving you a tool to help you engage in the battle that God is calling us to and one lucky reader will get that tool absolutely free! The plight of human trafficking and injustice around the world is finally getting a fair amount of attention and press, but until recently the church has not been that involved in the issue.  The International Justice Mission (IJM) however is a Christian organization that has been a leading advocate for justice and are actively engaged in the battle.  Today Jim Martin, the Vice President of IJM's church mobilization unit launches his new book The Just Church which is an instruction manual for churches to help them explore the why's and how's of implementing a justice ministry. The Just Church i...