We just finished Dave Ramsey’s Personal Finance Foundations for Middle Schoolers today.

I was not blessed to learn how to manage money before I got married.  Of course, I took Home Ec in high school but I just remembered how to write checks.  Which I don’t do much of now that I pay bills online.  I also remember the first time I had a debit card in college and didn’t know that if you used another bank’s ATM, it incurred a fee so I bounced several purchases!  Gah!  Not something I am proud of!

Thankfully God gave me a husband who is much more financially savvy than I.  We (I mean he!) invested all our wedding money when I wanted to buy new furniture.  I could brag on his money smarts but really want to get down to the review……

The other personal tidbit I’ll share is that we never had money problems (i.e. lack of it until we started living on the farm and have 100’s more mouths to feed.)  SO now I need to go back to the basics and teach my children too!

We did Financial Peace University about 10 years ago and loved it.  Dave Ramsey is humorous, down to earth, and explains things in a way non-fiscally smart people can understand.  I started using his EveryDollar app last fall and I can’t say I enjoy it as I hate seeing the money fly out BUT it is very helpful and easy for me to understand.

Our daughter is in high school and took U.S. Government this past fall and what traditionally follows next??? Economics.  I had her do an online Economics course but that doesn’t teach PERSONAL finance.

So I decided that this semester, we would do Dave Ramsey’s Foundations in Personal Finance for Middle School Edition.  I chose the Middle School Edition because I have an elementary student, middle school student AND a high schooler.  I wanted to do the course together as a family and not have it geared just to the high schooler.

We did 2-3 lessons a week and each lesson lasted around 20 minutes.  It was the homeschooling mom’s dream!  I flipped to the lesson in my parent guide (which I printed from the included pdf file), set up the DVD to the proper lesson and had the kids open to the correct page in their guide.  After the video, we had family discussion and then answered the questions in the student guide.

It is led by Dave Ramsey, his daughter Rachel Cruze, and two of Dave’s other staff members – Anthony O Neal and Ken Coleman.  It is engaging/relevant to the students, makes them stop and think, and gives them real life questions.  If you are concerned about following state and national standards, they are also included.

There are six chapters in the series with several lessons in each chapter.  The main themes were credit/debt, savings/budgeting, education/careers, investing/insurance, global economics, and marketing/consumerism.

We absolutely loved it and recommend it to any family.

Quotes from my high schooler – “This was a good intro for me but I want to continue and complete the High School Version. ”

Quotes from my Middle Schooler – “I learned the difference between credit and debit, about types of insurance and why they are useful, and you spend more when you use a credit card than you would by using a debit card.”  His short term saving goal is for a gaming console and his long term goal is to help pay for his college.

Quotes from my Elementary student – “Debt is very, very bad.  Sales are not always as good as they seem.  I learned the difference between short term saving (I want to buy my own computer for school) and long term savings (something that is 10 years or more away and I am only 10 so I can’t imagine that far).”

One thing that I, as the educator, learned is that I love the type of classes that are led on a DVD.  It is well organized, I get to take part just by leading the discussion questions that the program provides and we all enjoy learning together.  I will continue splurge on one or two classes a year with this type learning.

As my oldest has asked, we WILL do the high school version but not before this school year ends!  Thankfully we have a couple of more years of high school.

Yesterday, I received an email describing their new program called Foundations in Entrepreneurship and we might also use that another year since the kids all help out with our farming business and need to learn basics of that too.

Now it is time to put our learning into practice!

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I don’t know if you know it, but I always feel like the Pinterest Fail mom.  You know the one I am talking about??  You plan for it to look like X and it looks like Y?

My husband and I have always watched as much of the Olympics as we can.  Now that we homeschool, I like to include it as part of our schooling.  I feel America’s worldview is lacking.  One of the greatest gifts I received by being a military brat is learning about other cultures.  And that’s a gift I want to pass on to my children.

In the past, we have had Olympic themed parties but this year’s school schedule has wiped me out.  I wanted something simple.

Food!  I can do that! I usually plan out 2 weeks worth of meals so I can limit my time (and money) to only shopping two times a month.  So this time, I planned out ethnic (and a lot of new to my family) meals for the 2 weeks during the Olympics!  I asked my online friends for recipe ideas and came up with a good sampling of foods from around the world.

Here is the list that I complied:

French Baguette Dinner – this meal was everything I could pick up the day of my grocery shopping.  We had fancy cheese, french baguette bread, deli meats, grapes, and oranges.

Hungarian Goulash –  I chose a crock pot version of this.  My family didn’t care for it as they aren’t fans of stew meat but they ate anyways!

Germany – Pork Schnitzel and egg noodles – I had my in-laws over for this.  They are both from German families and have never had it.  We loved this and I can see me making it about once a year.  Not too often since I don’t like to fry things.

China – Beef and Broccoli  This recipe was already on our family favorites list.

Middle Eastern – Chicken Schwarma

 

America – Clam Chowder (Ivar’s Chowder from Costco)

Great Britain – Bangers and Mash (Sausages and already made mashed potatoes from Costco)

Mexico – Tamales (I made a big batch at Christmas to save for TBA)

Thai Sweet Pork (this is an Instant Pot recipe that I created from a library book Bodie found.)

Mediterranean Chicken  – a copycat of Olive Garden’s recipe.  My oldest ate at Olive Garden in February and wanted me to try it.  I’ll have to make it again to see how I made it but it too has become a family favorite.

Italy – Calzones

Egypt – Grilled Meat, couscous, grilled vegetables

Thailand – Pad Thai

Ireland – Shepard’s Pie

Argentinian Empanada’s

Middle Eastern – Gyros

I follow a low carb/gluten free/sugar free meal lifestyle and this was super simple for me to adapt the recipes.

My kids LOVED this!  It was so easy.  Something we thought was amazing was the night I served the Hungarian Goulash, Hungary won it’s first Gold medal in Men’s Relay Speed Skating.

Can’t wait to learn more new recipes in 2 years at the Tokyo Summer Olympics!

Does your family do anything to celebrate the Olympics?

 

 

Purpose, Joy, Abundance

These are my words to remember in 2018.

The year 2017 was covered by a black cloud of depression and anxiety.  I have struggled with it since becoming parent to my special needs son and have had it under control for the last 10 years.  But in 2017, the words to describe my year were – worry, shortcomings, fear, not measuring up.  Thankfully, I was able to make several changes and ended the year in a good place.

Since Christmas, I’ve been doing a lot of reflection – examining the lessons I’ve learned since even bad things give us lessons!  I’m taking time to THINK and not just DO.

Along with this, I started a new Bible study – the title spoke to me so I bought it – “Proven – Where Christ’s Abundance meets our Greatest Need.”  I have always felt that I’ve had to prove myself.  In all areas of my life – wife, mom, homeschool teacher, friend, daughter in law, good citizen – the list goes on.  My WORK measures who I am.

The study open with the “Fullfilled.”  Hard word.  Am I???  Do I believe that God wants me to be fulfilled and happy here on earth?  And to have an abundant life?  What do those words mean?  Do I feel it??  Has my life become a DUTY?

Jennie Allen goes on to talk about how Jesus had purpose and joy and this affected everything he did!  Those words hit me hard.  Purpose AND joy.  Here on earth.

Later on she shares John 10 “9 I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.

11 “I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.

Jesus gives us life ABUNDANTLY.  We HAVE it if we take it.

The thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy – my life, my joy, my purpose, my abundance.

My job is to trust and rest.  He has me.  I need to breathe in trust, rest, and peace.  And breathe out fear, striving and worry.  As I do this regularly throughout my day, He will refill me with his Joy.

BUT this is not saying that I should just sit and breathe.  I have a PURPOSE.  What is it?

Each one of us has a different purpose in this world.  We all may be wives and mothers which is FULL of purpose.  But we all have an individualized purpose too.  And each of us have the freedom for those purposes to be different.

As I’ve been journaling and reading and listening to podcasts, I’m finding and redefining my purpose.  I know I am at the right place because so many things are shouting at me. The same things.

Several things are helping me DO my purpose.  The 12 Week Year which is training me to guide the goals of my purpose and my planner.

 

 

These words of the Lord motivate me.  From Deuteronomy 31:6 “The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you or forsake you.  Do not be afraid, do not be discouraged.”

And found in 2 Corinthians 4:7 “We have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and is not from us.”

We live in a rural area but I know the importance of daily Bible studying.  You may not believe it but I have to limit my trips to town because I do live at home – not in the car running errands.  So I get Bible studies that have daily work and then online video sessions.  The video sessions make it feel like I’m doing it with my best friend.  Even though these ladies don’t even know me!!

I start my day with the devotional called “Jesus Calling” and have used it every morning for maybe 8 years??  And it still speaks to me almost every day!  I have tried to start new books but my heart goes back to this.

2017 wasn’t the best year for me completing Bible studies!  Ugh.  I started and finished only one.  ONE.  Thankful I had the bible verses from Jesus Calling to get me through.

But the one I completed is a GOOD one.  Obviously it was the one that God wanted me to do.

 

It is called “A 

Woman who doesn’t Quit.  Five Habits from the Book of Ruth” by Nicki Koziarz.  Fitting title, don’t you think??  It only took me 6 months to do a 6 week study.

It is a powerful study.  Talks about hard situations and how to press through them.

 

Watching the video lessons made me feel that Nicki and I were chatting over coffee.  Which is exactly what I needed.  She shared her struggles and I could share mine too.

I won’t be giving anything away by sharing the 5 habits because the daily study is the powerful part.  That’s where the Lord worked in my heart.

I’m going to share them so I can review the habits myself:

1. She accepts the assignment of refinement.
2. She follows through despite how she feels.
3. She stays open to the movement of God.
4. She gives others what she needs.
5. She moves forward in faith.

I love the story of Ruth.  I’d love to study even deeper but this is what I needed at just this time.  I hope you will consider adding this to your bible study wish list.

 

Welcome to the New Year!  2018!!  Say what??

As I was listening to KLove today, I hear January described as the most depressing month of the year.  I am not feeling that this year.

Last year (2017) was a rough year for me.  I felt like I had a mental breakdown and that affected every aspect of my life.  I was deep in a depressive pit.  My anxiety wasn’t allowing me sleep.  I was a wreck.  But I tried many things to help and by September/October, I finally made enough changes that I could see a positive change in my health.

I tried to take back charge of our finances and what happened!?!?!  Everything broke!  Cars, appliances, legal bills, so much that my Dave Ramsey emergency fund just laughed.

I started Bible studies and then dropped out of them.

We had lots of farming disasters.

Riley started our local community college classes and it was so hard to manage three different grade levels.  My mental capacity was gone.

BUT…..

That year is over.  I ended up seeing that God brought me to my knees to realize I am not enou

gh.  But He is.  He is with me through all of this.  And all this is part of his creative story for my life.  I say creative because everything He does, does not fit into man’s idea of how it should be done but so much more!

 

As I reflected on the season of Christmas, the Son of God did not come to earth in a glorious , kingly way.  He came down in the most humblest of ways.  Born to a single teenager in a stinky smelly stable.  If God can save the world in the most creative way, I am going to let him work his ways in my life too.  It will be in a way I don’t imagine but I am going to trust his ways.

I ended up finishing the Bible study I dropped out of 6 months before.  And do you know the title?  It was called “The Woman who wouldn’t Quit.”  How ironic.  And I learned so much through it.  I want to do it again!

Finances still are not good but it has encouraged me to teach biblical personal finances to the kids this year.  I wish I had something like that when I was growing up.

Riley finished her two college classes and finished strong.  We learned so much about areas I haven’t been a good teacher and learned that she works harder for teachers other than her mother!  So we’ll keep her in a couple of those classes each semester.

Disasters are part of farming and I’ve researched some possible solutions.

I took a few days off between the holidays to reflect on our year and things we learned and now I know what to focus on for the next year.

I am truly excited for on the New Year!!!

After examining our spending for a moth, I saw a huge area where we were not in control.  Spending on food.  This covers groceries AND eating out.  I always thought we didn’t eat out much but the numbers don’t lie!!  Granted, Daryl took a trip with the kids and they had to eat out the entire time but still, our spending was crazy!  And then because I hadn’t planned well for lunches, we’d have to grab something while running errands.  Lack of planning is my downfall!

So after setting our food budget this month, I sat and stared in our pantry.  It’s fairly well stocked with basics.  What things can I make meals from in here?  Then I went and stared in our freezers.  We raise our own meats (beef, pork, chicken) so we have more than the average person in our freezers.  I then started a list of all the meals we can make from these ingredients.

Another pitfall I discovered about lack of planning is there is nothing leftover to eat for the next lunch.  My kids do not like sandwiches and my lunch choices have not been very healthy or budget conscious.

I have been following a blog mom lifeasmom.com for many years. She is the queen of meal

planning, shopping with a budget, being organized and freezer cooking. I have one of her cookbooks called Not Your Mother’s Freezer Cookbook which we love.  I love her recipes because they are real food ingredients.  And I can easily adapt to gluten free for me.

 

So I looked through her cookbook and immediately saw 10 recipes that would be kid approved and easy for me to fill my freezer with for lunches.

I don’t meal plan like some who say “Monday is this,  Tuesday is this…”  I just write down the meals we have all the ingredients for.  Then the morning of, I examine my day and usually ask the kids what they prefer off the list.  Unless it’s a crazy day and know I need a crockpot type  meal and start that preparation the night before.

So I wrote down all the dinner and lunch plans, made a list of where I get them, and then shopped.  I didn’t add up how much I was spending as it was the beginning of the month and these were all staples.

This past Saturday, I got to work on filling freezer with lunch meals and canning.  The meals were mostly for my kids.  I took some of the main ingredients (like the chicken from the chicken bacon ranch sandwiches) and added spaghetti squash for them for my lunches.  Then I wrapped them up, labeled them and put them in the freezer.  They can be thawed and heated the morning of eating.

The effort makes me so happy!  Freezer filled with yummy foods!  And making sure I stay on spending plan.

I am so thankful to be married to the man I am.  When we got married, he wisely said that all the wedding money we received was to be put into our retirement account.  WHAT????  We can’t spend it to buy furniture for our new life?  Can’t use it to buy something nice to start our house?  We’re saving for 50 years down the road?  I thought he was crazy but moved on.

Him being an officer in the Navy was great!  Yes, we had to endure deployments and high plane ticket prices and HUGE phone bills since this was the dawn of emails and cell phones.  Before Facebook and texting.  But the pay was good.  Because Daryl traveled so much, I was put in charge of the finances.  We established some basic financial rules.  Started saving for retirement, paying into IRA’s, kids’ college accounts, saving for cars and didn’t have credit card debt.  We always had enough money at the end of the month.  All was good financially… or so I thought.

We did Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace course in about 2010.  This course over-inflated my ego on our financial health.  Since we were not in any debt, I was able to put a large amount of money into

savings for when D retired from the Navy and we bought our “forever home.”

Daryl retired from the Navy at the end of 2013.  At the same time, we moved onto our “patch of heaven” on his family’s farm.   With the savings I started, we were able to put a large down payment on the building of our custom home.  We were able to pay cash for a new ATV.  I could spend, spend, spend all this money that I had saved.

 

We have raised our animals for all our meat the last 3 years.  We buy as much as we can locally and organically.  And because we are worth it, I just spend.  I am not saying this isn’t important.  I just haven’t done it wisely.  If we don’t eat it, I can just give it to the pigs and chickens.  That’s just one way I’m not being wise.

I always thought I was frugal.  We don’t wear name brand clothes, we don’t have car payments, we don’t eat out as much as the “Jones,” we don’t waste a lot by going to the movies, having expensive toys, etc.  We are better than most with money.  Or so I thought.

Ha!  I received quite the awakening.  And it wasn’t just one.  So now we sit here with the mess of my making.  2 credit cards almost maxed out and a large home loan.  I sometimes have trouble making it to the end of the month so I put more on the cards.

My oldest is starting her sophomore year of high school.  She wants to be a vet.  When Daryl and I discussed having children, he said it’s our responsibility to prepare them for the world by paying for their college.  It’s coming soon.  Thankfully we started the savings when she was born but there is still a lot to go.

I also have wanted travel trailer so that we could road trip/camp.  She has 3 years left with us and I haven’t purchased it and were’s the money going to come from???

SO, it’s time to pull up my big girl panties and get us out of debt.

Here is my first step.

In July, I purchased the Dave Ramsey app called Every Dollar.  The reason I bought the app instead of using the free version is that I wanted to link my bank accounts into the app.  I do most of my purchases with a debit card since I knew I was bad with cash.  This program lists every purchase I make and I am able to put it under the correct categories.  It shows me how much I have left to spend or how much I overspent in each category.  After watching what we spent for the month, this month, I’ll have a better idea of how to budget for things or even cut our spending in that area.

I did Dave Ramsey before but I never accounted for each of my dollars.  I went by how much was left in the bank account.  Pure foolishness.

We have had Quicken before.  I did not like it at all.  As a homeschooling mother, I know that different brains react to different styles.  Quicken is not my style.

What I love about Every Dollar is that it is like a game.  I set my goals and can I beat it?  I entered in where every dollar should go and then I see how much “free” money is unaccounted for.  For the next few months, every “free” dollar is going to pay off debt.

August already has some challenges.  My oldest starts at the community college and tuition is due.  We had a huge unexpected legal fee last month (all part of farming and owning land AND I didn’t have much of an emergency fund).  Our son got braces and starts monthly payments.  And our county fair is this month which adds up to huge spending when kids are in it and we have to be there almost every day for 10 days.

But with Every Dollar, I am able to budget for that and it just means I am not able to put as large amount towards our debt.

What I like about Dave Ramsey is “baby steps.”  I am taking small steps in the right direction.  And I will celebrate the small steps I do make, instead of feeling defeated by the mess we made.

We just finished out 6th year homeschooling!  I can’t believe it.  Other than being a wife and mom, I don’t think I’ve done anything that long!!  And guess what?  I still love it!  Each year is new and exciting to me.  I might enjoy it more than my kiddos!

Please know, that in NO way am I bashing public schooling.  I know many amazing teachers (and even family members who teach) and they bless so many children and families.  They ARE changing the world.  And we need them.  It’s just not what God has asked us to do.  Just like He’s asked us to live on a farm.  That’s why living in America is great!  We have choices.

In 2010, God was working on my heart in so many ways.  First, to bring my family to eating healthier. Second, to be open to living on a farm.  And third, to start homeschooling.  All of this was completely foreign to me!!!  I started researching through other blogs, books, and talking to other moms.

My college degree was Food Science and Human Nutrition.  I was trained that science is the best.  God was challenging me that what HE created was best.  Not labs and factories but what is found in nature.  Which led to living on a farm……. AND why not grow it yourself???  I feel I have no marketable skills but I felt I could grow a garden and take care of some animals.  Already, God was preparing my heart to accept our move to Idaho in 2013.  Because before that, absolutely NO WAY!  So now, along with Google, blogs and YouTube, that’s what I do!!  Never say never to God!!

So back to homeschooling, God was showing me that we were so busy that I didn’t have time to teach the kids what I was called to do.  I had been extremely active in Riley’s public school.  I was room mom and even president of the school parent teacher organization.  I saw all the time spent on things that were not so important.   And the way I was to find the time was by homeschooling.  SCARY!!!!

Cue thanks for the invention of Facebook and the pioneers of homeschooling that I knew that had high school graduates and even college graduates who were homeschooled!!!  I asked everyone I knew who homeschooled for theiradvice.

Once the decision had been made to homeschool, the next big decision to make was CURRICULUM!  A wise friend of mine suggested that Sonlight would be a good fit for us since it is full of living books.  Premier educator, Charlotte Mason describes living books as “usually written by one person who has a passion for the subject and writes in conversational or narrative style. The books pull you into the subject and involve your emotions, so it’s easy to remember the events and facts. Living books make the subject “come alive.” They can be contrasted to dry writing, like what is found in most encyclopedias or textbooks, which basically lists informational facts in summary form.”

After looking at their curriculum, I decided to use Sonlight for our first year.  It was a little spendier but I loved how I could incorporate all three children together AND they have amazing teacher guides, which I needed.

After our first year, I thought that I could create our own curriculum.  We tried several things but ended up back with Sonlight.  They just make it too easy.  You have everything when you receive the supplies.  No running to the library or Wal-Mart which is very important for us since we live on a farm!

What I appreciate about homeschooling

• Mom learns just as much as kids, if not more
• Mom has to trust God as God is molding me as much as our kids
• Freedom in our scheduling.  This year we skied in Utah for a long weekend then headed to Texas for 2 weeks during the school year.  We take off when grandparents visit from Texas.
• Siblings HAVE to work it out.
• Schooling can happen anywhere and they love learning.  Granted this is after 6 years of homeschooling.
• We do tons of life skill training.  My 11 and 15 years olds can make at least one complete meal unassisted. And it’s not heating frozen pizza!

I am so thankful we have the freedom for this adventure!