Katy, TX – MKT Railroad Park Caboose and Depot, 2017
Katy, TX – Heritage Park, 2020
Hi, I’m Penney Douglas. I have been married to my precious husband for 36 years. We have been exceedingly and abundantly blessed with 10 children. They all belong to me and my husband. And to think that I was afraid I would never get married! I got a late start (married at 25 and first child at 27), but I guess late bloomers can blossom profusely once they get started.
I blog for several reasons. I like to keep a record of what we’re doing in our homeschooling and share ideas for other homeschoolers or moms who like to work and play with their kids. I try to encourage families to keep Christ first in their homes so they can be all that they were made to be. I want to help others to draw closer to God. I hope to glorify God and give Him praise for all that He does for us.
I am constantly learning, changing and growing. Sometimes I feel like a beginner even though I’ve been a Christian since I was 4 years old and I’ve been homeschooling for about 27 years. And I’ve been living for __ years (long enough!).
But the Lord has been faithful to keep me and my family on an upward climb drawing nearer to Him in spite of our weaknesses and mistakes.
He has led us on a crooked path across the United States and back and then some. (From Ohio to Kansas City to Arizona to Colorado, back to Kansas City to Illinois to Pennsylvania and now to Texas!) We are still looking for that place to call home. We hope to find it before the oldest chicks are ready to fly from the nest! But our desire is that they land somewhere near us even when that time comes.
We are believing God for miracles of provision. We have already seen many. We suffered the loss of our home 19 years ago. Now we live in a different state, and my husband is making more money than ever before. But the money is beside the point. What God did in each of our hearts, convincing us of His reality and His love for us, is worth more than all of the houses or money in the world. But now He has enabled us to help others in need, and we are grateful for the opportunity to bless others.
Our children are truly gifts from God. They learn from us and teach us so much. I would never have known even a fraction of how much God loves me if I had never had the opportunity to be a mother to my precious children. They are teaching me even more as they grow in wisdom and understanding and we share together what the Lord is teaching us.
Family was God’s idea.Marriage was His idea. God has good ideas. His ideas work.
He wants our families to be training grounds for children (and adults) to learn His ways and right ways of relating to God and to people. We learn how to die to ourselves when others are dependent on us, and when we have to learn to get along with the people around us in order to experience peace and harmony. The rough edges are rubbed off as we care enough to be honest with each other and humble ourselves to receive correction even from those younger than ourselves.
God created us because He wanted a family. That’s more than a trite saying. He created us in His image so that He could have sons and daughters that would look like Him, act like Him and love Him. He wanted to be a father.
He created you so He could love you. Receive His love for you. Let Him be your Daddy.
😊 I’ve been thinking about you and how much faith it takes for you to homeschool. I wrote a blog post here that will encourage you in your decision to homeschool and edify you in the faith and courage it takes for you to daily set up an atmosphere of learning and trust the learning process to produce the results you want in your children – that they will acquire the knowledge and skills they need to succeed.
Mom, you deserve a medal🥇, a trophy🏆, a big salary💰!
But we know what the true rewards are. All moms are blessed to feel the love we have for our children that is like no other. It is an honor and a privilege to raise children, and when we homeschool we get to spend more time with them and watch them learn and grow. We get to help them become all that they were meant to be.
But some of us are trying so hard to do everything right that we miss out on the light-hearted fun times that come with kids and imagination. Please make sure that you are not so concerned about grades and test scores, finishing workbooks, and keeping your house tidy that you don’t notice the funny, witty, brilliant things that your children do every day.
Take advantage of the teachable moments. Enjoy the zany moments. 🤪 Catch your kids being creative and praise them for it. 🎨🖼️🖊️
Sometimes we have to stop taking everything so seriously. Give yourself some grace. Be realistic about what you can do in a day, and make sure the most important things get done. If you find yourself getting impatient (Heaven forbid!😂), take a break.
👩👦 My daughter has only been a mom for a little over a year, but she has already figured this out. (She learned it a lot sooner than I did. I was a Mommy Martyr.) She knows that she is a better mommy when she takes a day each week to go to the gym. She has her sister babysit, so Alessio gets time with his Aunt Kelsey, and Anna gets time to exercise and relax (if that’s possible) without the constant concern and work of making sure Alessio is taken care of during that brief time. She is so excited and anxious to see Alessio when she gets back home, and the drudgery that comes with too much of the same thing is wiped away.
She talked about it here:
I’ve started writing on Substack, so if you’re on Substack, I’d love it if you’d follow me there. I’m sharing homeschool stories and wisdom I’ve picked up along the way as I raised 10 kids and homeschooled them through many crises and cross-country moves and confusing life situations. Homeschooling has kept us together and made it possible for us to survive as a family. I encourage homeschool families to do whatever it takes to make it work, because homeschooling is a blessing to the children and to the family.
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I just found out about something that can clean your blood! Life is in the blood. And when our blood is clean, our bodies can regenerate and reverse the effects of aging. The testimonies of people who are using it are amazing. They say you can Live Younger Now. Check out iHeRQles here. I just got mine yesterday, so I’ll let you know the results I see.
Last month, I shared our journey of loss and faith when we lost our home and had to stay with my parents. After a month, we obeyed God’s call and left Ohio for Arizona. Though uncertain, we trusted Him and packed up our van—eight children, ten duffle bags, eight pillows, and a big bag of books.
I rode in the back to protect our slightly rambunctious 4-year-old, who might have been pummeled by his siblings otherwise. The duffle bags blocked the windows, leaving me unable to see outside. I traveled across the entire country, from Ohio to Arizona, without seeing a thing!
That journey, though challenging, was one of faith and obedience. Each mile brought us closer to God’s plan, even when we couldn’t see where we were going—literally and spiritually.
Homeschooling requires the same faith. It’s about stepping out, trusting that God will provide, even when the path is unclear. Let me help you develop the confidence to homeschool fearlessly, knowing He will equip you every step of the way.
I want to invite you to walk with me and my son, Shawn, through your homeschool journey. We put together a course, and I would love to go through the course with you.
I will teach you about readiness, learning styles, stages of development, and other factors that make it easier for children to learn.
We want to make learning easier for children, not harder. With this understanding, you will feel more confident about your ability to evaluate your child’s needs and the best way to meet them.
My son, a homeschool graduate, shares his knowledge and ideas about homeschooling and learning in the videos in this course. He has studied these concepts, because he cares about how children are taught as he endeavors to reach out to the younger generations with advice and encouragement, so they can live their best life.
Through this coaching program, you will have weekly access to me, and I will answer questions and follow up on the teaching from the modules. If you have personal questions, we can schedule a private call. You will see a more peaceful, content attitude in your child when you start practicing the methods I teach in this course. I will help you feel confident and know that you are doing a good job of homeschooling your child.
I want to be your homeschool life coach.
Join me here! You can also watch this video of my husband interviewing me about the course.
✏️In next month’s newsletter, I’ll share a powerful experience that showed me learning is always at work. Even when we’re not actively teaching a skill like reading, our kids’ brains are constantly processing, connecting, and building on prior knowledge. Learning doesn’t pause—it unfolds in the background, shaping understanding and mastery in ways we might not even notice.
Thanks for reading! 📜
As always, if you have any prayer requests 🙏, please hit reply and let me know. I’ve had a few reach out to me with requests, and it has been my absolute honor to pray for them every day. I write them in my book every day and pray for them.
Coaching Course I created – Also called The Basics of Learning and Homeschooling – I take you through the course and do a coaching call with you each month
Changed By Love – My original Blog about Homeschooling, Family, Faith, and Alternative News
My YouTube Channel – Safe Haven Homeschooling Channel – Homeschool Encouragement for Newbies and Burnt-out veterans, Family projects, Relationship Building, and Interviews with Homeschool Experts
I hope this newsletter finds you well, unlike my family this week. We seem to be having a repeat of whatever terrible plague struck us in November. Lots of coughing and congestion, headache, sore throat, and fatigue. But we will get through this, too. Please pray for us!
The Lord has been answering some of my prayers lately in very specific ways, and I’m so thankful. I can’t share any details because they are prayers I’ve prayed for dear friends. Not my story to tell. But seeing God answer these prayers in miraculous ways has boosted my faith immensely. It feels like everything is about to get better for all of us. God is on the move, and there is a fresh wave of the Spirit. Be on the lookout for answers to prayers that you have been praying for a long time!
Please reply to this email and share answers you are seeing to your prayers. I would love to hear your testimonies.
And share with me any prayer requests so I can help you pray them in.
As we move into February, the season of love❤️, let’s focus on loving each other and receiving the love of God for each one of us personally. Let’s determine to plumb the depths of God’s love for us. “To grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ”. Eph. 3:18
This video helps us to draw closer to God through meditation and visualizing His many characteristics and ways that He loves us. I edited it for Carrie Rebecca Jones who led the meditation. You can find more videos like this at Organic Life by Divine Design on YouTube.
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Have you ever thought about this?
It takes great faith to homeschool.
What do I mean by that? Well, let me share a story about how our faith was refined by fire, and how that has bolstered my faith that I can homeschool through any adverse circumstances and that God will provide everything I need for homeschooling. These are His kids, and God provides for them all that they need when we pray and believe that He will do it.
Here’s what happened:
~ We had lost everything. Homeless and defeated, we found ourselves at my parents’ house. My father reluctantly let us stay, his disappointment palpable. When I say us, I mean my husband, me, and our eight children, including 1-year-old twins. The judgment from others was unbearable.
We turned to God, pleading for direction, but heaven seemed silent. One night, sitting in my childhood bedroom, I felt hopeless. Then came an unexpected call. A man we barely knew invited my husband, Gary, to lunch and delivered a startling message: we were supposed to leave Ohio. I was skeptical. “How?” I asked. The man’s advice was bold: announce our departure and trust God to provide.
Desperation drove us to act. We told everyone we were leaving, set a date, and prayed. Then, the miraculous happened. Money came from unlikely sources, even from those who had judged us. We left Ohio and headed for Arizona, not knowing what the future held.
That step of faith changed everything. Each subsequent challenge strengthened our trust in God.
Homeschooling requires the same kind of faith—believing that you can provide both education and spiritual grounding for your children. And that God will help you with this impossible mission – to provide a better education than any school could give your children. Let me help you develop the faith to homeschool fearlessly, trusting His guidance every step of the way. ~
To read more of our story, get my book Refined By Fire on Amazon.
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Infusing Hope, Inspiring Action Gratitude Journal by Janita Pavelka is a very helpful tool for journaling and daily prayer. The entries are short, but they provide all of the benefits of journaling, such as being more relaxed and optimistic, more productive, and more likely to attain your goals of reading God’s Word first thing in the morning and last thing before you go to bed.
If you would like to have the spiral bound version instead of the version on Amazon, get in touch with Janita personally. I prefer that one because it’s easier to write in.
Just reply to this email with “I want Janita’s journal!” and I’ll send you her contact information.
She is also the one who teaches Praise Moves, a biblical alternative to traditional yoga. You can find the website here: www.praisemoves.com.
I would be happy to put you in touch with Janita if any of these things interest you.
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One way to enrich your homeschool is to sign up your kids for online classes on Outschool.com.
You can find my book clubs on Outschool here. And be sure to check out all of the classes on Outschool.com. There are hundreds of them to choose from about any topic you could imagine!
There are lots of Freebie printables for Valentine’s Day available on the internet.
Valentine’s Worksheets – and don’t forget to scroll down to check out the multitude of links to other Valentines worksheets and activities from 123Homeschool4me.com.
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I have exciting news for those who like to find teacher-created curriculum at Teachers Pay Teachers.
TPT will be having a sitewide sale Feb 4 and 5. The stores that participate will have everything 20% off. This includes my Safe Haven Homeschooling Store. Everything will be 20% off those two days.
A homeschool mom that I have been mentoring for several years is now mentoring others. You can find her at Your Homeschool Companion. Elisabeth has a heart for homeschoolers who are struggling with homeschooling because they’re trying to do it the school way. She gives lots of tips and ideas for ways to make learning fun and active and as un-school-like as possible. She calls it de-schooling. She has a great Winter Bucket List you can find HERE.
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Thank you for being a part of our Safe Haven Family. I pray that you are encouraged and inspired by the things I share here. I’m here to serve, so if there’s anything you would like to see more of, please let me know. I want to be a beacon to light the way for you to homeschool successfully all the way through high school.
Coaching Course I created – Also called The Basics of Learning and Homeschooling – I take you through the course and do a coaching call with you each month
Changed By Love – My original Blog about Homeschooling, Family, Faith, and Alternative News
My YouTube Channel – Safe Haven Homeschooling Channel – Homeschool Encouragement for Newbies and Burnt-out veterans, Family projects, Relationship Building, and Interviews with Homeschool Experts
In today’s email, I’m sharing some great resources for your homeschool for January and the New Year. I’ll also share some coaching opportunities that will help you to actually keep your New Year’s resolutions. If you have some homeschool or health goals, I’ve got you covered! It’s so much easier to stay focused and consistent when you have some accountability.
For your Homeschool:
❄️Meet my friend, Dachelle, at a live virtual poetry teatime. She is so much fun! Your kids will love her. If you love all things Winnie the Pooh, this is the poetry teatime for you! You will be meeting online on Jan. 14 at 10 AM Central.
❄️Her website Literary Adventures for Kids has MANY online Book Clubs that will add sparkle and enchantment to your Language Arts program. She says they add some fairy dust to lessons and go down rabbit trails to make Language Arts much more interesting and exciting!
❄️Get this FREE Winter Bucket List from Your Homeschool Companion. It has lots of great free or cheap ideas for activities you can do at home to ring in the New Year.
❄️If you’re not sure how to teach writing to your kids, this is a great resource that will help. In this bundle you get: “How to Write a Sentence”, “How to Write a Paragraph”, and “How to Write Poetry”. This is from Crafty Classroom which has excellent products that are always colorful and engaging.
I have a question for you…
❄️Is your homeschooling going as well as you would like?
If not, you may want to get a homeschool life coach. That’s me!
I can help you clarify what’s working and what’s not and how you can make some small changes that will transform frustration to success. Small tweaks lead to giant peaks!
You don’t need to do this all alone!
I can help you:
Create no-cry, no-meltdown homeschool days!
Yell less, smile more, in your homeschool.
Transform your homeschool mindset.
📚Is your curriculum not working for you? I can help with curriculum choices.
🫂Are you having relationship issues? I can give you some helpful tips about that.
📔I can also help you develop a plan that is realistic for your family.
Just sign up for Coachinghere on Teachable and we can get started. I’ll take you through “The Basics of Learning and Homeschooling” course (you can check that out here), and we will have 30 minute one-on-one calls up to twice a month. The course is set up for 10 months. The one-on-one calls will be personalized according to whatever questions or issues you are dealing with.
Learn to discipline so you can accomplish more in your homeschool.
I will help you choose curriculum so you can know that you’re matching your curriculum with the needs of your children and family.
Learn to control anger and manage expectations so you can be “Gentle Mommy”. Sometimes we care too much or we need to deal with pride.
I will help you to set priorities in your schedule so you can make sure you cover the most important things.
You will also get discounts on the books that I’ve written about homeschooling.
I have been trying to get healthier. I’m doing several different things to work on my physical fitness and my mental, spiritual, and emotional well-being. These are things that I’ve been able to stick with because of great coaches!
For the physical fitness, I’m doing Praise Moves with Janita Walker. It’s like Yoga, but it’s not. The moves we make are based on Hebrew letters, and we recite Scripture the whole time we’re doing the moves. We usually work our way through a passage of Scripture during our sessions. It is an intense workout. I do a lot of sweating each time! But it’s not aerobics or anything high-impact. It’s just stretching in ways that you may not have ever stretched before. That’s how it was for me. I feel a lot stronger since I’ve been doing it for about a year. I have better balance, too. If you want to join us, reply to this email, and I’ll send you her contact information.
I have a coach for my mental, emotional, and spiritual growth. Her name is Carrie Rebecca Jones. She has training in IBRT (Integrated Bioenergetic Restoration Therapy), and she studies many techniques to help people get free of past traumas and trapped emotions.
She describes what she does here:
“I am a trauma informed transformational coach.
Quantum Bioenergetic release of trapped emotions,
restructuring of emotional energy with core truths,
creating new structures of belief with higher vibrational emotions
enabling your entire being to resonate as a life you love, and loving the life you live, and living the life you love while experiencing joy, peace, love, abundance, and health.
I incorporate other tools such as heart brain coherence, Sozo, Courts of Heaven, Magnetic Mind Superconscious Healing and Transformation, EFT (Emotional freedom technique – tapping to move emotional energy), and Emotion Codes.”
Here is her website. Check it out and book a session with her to help you get beyond fear and trauma from the past and experience God’s love for you in a way that you never have before. Carrie’s heart and demeanor is so loving and gentle that you feel the Father’s love through her.
Have you tried deep breathing and meditation? This is not a Yoga or New Age thing. This is a practice that has lots of scientific evidence that shows that it has amazing health benefits.
Here are some YouTube videos by Carrie Rebecca that you can use to help you meditate and do some deep breathing to get more oxygen to your brain and help to calm and center yourself. This is all Christ-centered and based on Scripture. Her YouTube channel is called Organic Life by Divine Design.
Here’s a free tip: For a detox bath for parasites, Carrie recommends using Hydrogen Peroxide, Borax, Baking Soda, Epsom Salt, and Vinegar. If you want to know the amounts, let me know, and I’ll find out from her and send it to you.
Here’s to making changes that will bring transformationto every part of our lives – starting now!
Coaching Course I created – Also called The Basics of Learning and Homeschooling – I take you through the course and do a coaching call with you each month
🎄Here’s a great idea! Buy books for the days leading up to Christmas and wrap them in Christmas wrapping paper. Let a child open a new book each day and then read it to them.
Coaching Course I created – Also called The Basics of Learning and Homeschooling – I take you through the course and do a coaching call with you each month
🎄Here’s a great idea! Buy books for the days leading up to Christmas and wrap them in Christmas wrapping paper. Let a child open a new book each day and then read it to them.
Coaching Course I created – Also called The Basics of Learning and Homeschooling – I take you through the course and do a coaching call with you each month
Follow me on Instagram at www.instagram.com/penneymaried
Mother and Child
"Oh that God would give every mother a vision of the glory and splendor of the work that is given to her when a babe is placed in her bosom to be nursed and trained! Could she have but one glimpse in to the future of that life as it reaches on into eternity; could she look into its soul to see its possibilities; could she be made to understand her own personal responsibility for the training of this child, for the development of its life, and for its destiny,--she would see that in all God's world there is no other work so noble and so worthy of her best powers, and she would commit to no other's hands the sacred and holy trust given to her." -JR Miller
![DSC01581[1]](https://www.penneydouglas.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/DSC015811.jpg)
"Oh that God would give every mother a vision of the glory and splendor of the work that is given to her when a babe is placed in her bosom to be nursed and trained! Could she have but one glimpse in to the future of that life as it reaches on into eternity; could she look into its soul to see its possibilities; could she be made to understand her own personal responsibility for the training of this child, for the development of its life, and for its destiny,--she would see that in all God's world there is no other work so noble and so worthy of her best powers, and she would commit to no other's hands the sacred and holy trust given to her." -JR Miller
