Posted in Home Schooling

1. Pray ~   Trust in the LORD with all your heart,
                      And lean not on your own understanding; 
                      In all your ways acknowledge Him, 
                      And He shall direct your paths.
                             Proverbs 3:5-6                  

     First and foremost we must pray. Unless we put God first and seek his counsel, even the greatest plans or ideas will fail because they didn't come from Him.

2. Ponder ~ We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. 
                          If a man's gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his
                          faith. If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach;
                         if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the
                         needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership,
                         let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it
                         cheerfully
                                                 Romans  12:6-8  

     Consider the interests and special abilities that God has given to each one of your children and develop your curriulum around that. If they like what they are doing they are more apt to become independent learners and persue their interests during off school time as well.

3. Peruse ~ Look over the materials you already have and see if any of them fit the interests of your child. This will help you to avoid overbuying. Look through catalogs to find what might best meet the needs of your family and children. Don't forget to skim over those favorite books that help to motivate you and remind you why you homeschool in the first place. One of my favorites is "When you Rise Up" By R.C. Sproul Jr.

4. Prepare ~ You don't have to plan the whole year or even sememster at one time. You don't even have to have a definite plan for the first week. But you do need to have a few goals in place for each child and some idea of how you are going to meet those goals. Plan activities that fit with the goals you have. If your child needs to work on writing, have them start journaling, writing letters to grandparents, creating a family newsletter. If your child needs work in math, play store, count money, play games such as monopoly, cook and measure ingredients.

5. Purge ~ get rid of any and all outside activities that are not in keeping with your goals for your children and your family. Don't feel your child has to play a sport and take piano lessons just to get credit in physical education or fine arts. However, if your child is gifted or has special interest in an area, it may  be worth the sacrifice.

6. Play ~  Don't forget to schedule time to play together as a family. It could be an educational outing, or just a movie or game night.  No amount of education can make up for decline in family relationships. Make sure you are building strong family relationships, by spending fun time together. Take off your teacher hat and just be a mom sometimes.

7. Picture it ~ Believe that you will have a successful beginning to your year. If you believe in yourself and your children, they will know it and they will want to work harder. No one wants to fail at something. Usually failure comes from expectations that are too high, goals that are to lofty, or schedules that are to structured. Make sure you aren't expecting more of yourself or your children than any of you can live up to.

Posted in Homeschooling

     Okay, so my 10 year old son comes to me yesterday afternoon and says "Mom, for history this year I want to study the Roman Byzantine Empire."

     "Would you care to give me a time frame that we are looking at so that I can see if we have any materials?"  I asked.

     After all I did plan on studying U.S. history this year. That's a far cry from the Roman Byzantine Empire. I was hoping it would be covered in Mystery of History 1 which is one resource I still have. No Luck! We do have the Story of the World CD's for the Middle Ages, which seems to be the right time period, but will need something else. Anyone have any suggestions?

     My older sons plans have also been almost completely uprooted for the year. He's decided he's interested in cooking and wanted to find out if he could enroll in classes at a Vocational Technical school in the area. We had prayed about it earlier in the summer and I was sure my husband wouldn't go for the idea because of the amount gas it would take to drive him the 15 - 20 miles one way every day for classes. However, he surprised me and said it was okay to pursue. First call to the school proved unsuccessful. They give a certain number of spots to the local schools and our school district had already used up all of their spots. However, yesterday we found out that a school in another town hadn't used any spots and they were willing to give him one of those spots.

     So for the next two to three years, he will be enrolled in the hospitality program and is looking forward to it. It is a four credit per year program and runs for 2-1/2 hours each day. Therefore, all the wonderful curriculum and plans I had for him I also had to throw out the window.(not literally) Because of state requirements I will just be having him do an English/history class at home.

     As far as my daughter goes, I just got a free download from Homeschoolestore about horses. She absolutely loves horses, so I think we'll use this ebook as the basis for a unit study on horses to start the year off, and then fall into FIAR which is what I was planning on using to begin with.

     I just love the flexibility of homeschooling and being able to teach to the interests and abilities of my children instead of placing them in an environment where they have to do what everyone else is doing all of the time. No wonder kids today, cave to peer pressure so much.

     Blessing on your day.

Posted in Homeschooling