After I had made my weekly goal list (see below post) yesterday, we had our family reading time.  During this time, my throat became hoarse, and a cough that I thought had gone away, came back.  I went to bed hacking, unable to lay still.  I took Nyquil, which usually helps, and still, I coughed and coughed.  My husband, who did not sleep last night either, said that he listened to me coughing to around 3:00 a.m. and after that, I seemed to get better and I was sleeping soundly.

When he got up for work this morning, the only thing I wanted to do was to stay in bed.  Lack of sleep, feeling under the weather (the coughing), and the Nyquil morning effect, was all playing on me to stay in bed.  Yet, I found myself thinking about “the list.” How will I reach my goal if I stay in bed?  There’s a lot on that list to accomplish.  I’ve got to get up, miserable and tired, or not.

I stumbled out of bed, down the stairs, and into the bathroom.  When my husband asked me a question, I could hardly answer him, and mumbled some vaguely audible sounds, as in, “Need coffee.”

I got dressed, had a bowl of cereal, gathered all my school books, and then sat down with my cup of coffee.  I called all the kids, and we got started.  It turned out to be a wonderful school day – I love Monday’s because this is the day that I spend the most time teaching the various subjects, with no hurries.  I know I’ve said it a hundred times – I apologize before I say it again – but on this day, my only appointment is in my home with my children.

There is something about having unhurried time, whether it is when one spends time in prayer, reading the Bible, or teaching your children.  It’s so much more enjoyable knowing that you have what seems like endless time.

In Bible class, were reading the prophesies of Micah. I explained to the children how some of these prophesies he spoke were very near future tense for the Israelites (they were to be taken into captivity); other verses proceeded right into when there would be a remnant of them left that would come back to their land (probably about 70 years later) and then the next verses slid right into prophesying about the birth of the Messiah.  And then those verses went  right into the future kingdom, when Jesus would reign and all this world will be His kingdom. 

We talked about this.  I explained that this is why some have a hard time reading the Bible and understanding it.  First, it takes the enlightment of the Holy Spirit to understand much of it (a lot is written in parables and in word pictures).  Then I explained to them about  the timelessness of God – He had no beginning, He has no end.  This is so hard for us humans to comprehend.  We have a beginning and an end with everything. But when God created this world, He is the “I AM,”   - He was there in Creation at the same time He was there at the time of Jesus death, and He is there in the future (to us) when Jesus comes back again.  There is no time with God.  This is such a deep thought, so hard for us to even comprehend. 

We are reading a book on prayer by Evangelist John Rice.  Today we learned that were to pray for Jesus to come back again, soon.  This is what Jesus prayed in the Lord’s Prayer.  Hallowed be thy name, the Kingdom come, thy will be done.  “Did you know that you’re supposed to pray for the second coming of Jesus, that He has commanded us to pray for this?”  They didn’t know this, and neither did I until just a few years ago (through the teaching of Watchman Nee.)   This is something I just don’t hear in sermons very often.   I love to teach my children the things of God. To read the Bible to them, to explain things about God, to teach them about prayer; this is my purpose in life.

We are reading a terrific book about the history of Rome.  I have learned so many things that I never knew before about Rome; King Herod – his acquaintance with Mark Antony; about the history of our Christmas (Dec. 25^th was originally a day that the Romans celebrated the Sun God – with a tree, gifts, wreaths, etc… just like we do today.  The Christians adopted this holiday to celebrate the birth of Christ, although Jesus was most likely not born on this particular day.)  We’ve learned about how our days of the week came from the Romans that named the days after the gods they worshipped.  And today, we learned some history about the original Magi (the wise men).  This has been one interesting study!!!

Were reading a series of books by Institute of Basic Principles.  Obedience; Diligence; Gratefulness; Attentiveness; Orderliness; Truthfulness.

I recommend these to every mom on the planet. I thought it was interesting when I was reading the book about the Dugger Family, that they too, used these books in their homeschool.  I only take about a page or two a day.  I like to just take enough information to digest and process for the day, not hurry through the small booklets.  These books have been as good for mom (me) as they have been for the kids.  They point things out to me that I need to be making sure I’m doing – like today's teaching of Orderliness.   (Cute: I came into the kitchen today and Jacob was re-organizing one of my cabinets.  He said, "Look, mom!  Orderliness!!")

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We continued working on our memorization of Proverb's Chapter Three.  I wrote out the verses on we have learned so far on a white board and identified parts of speech.

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Were studying government from a Bob Jones highschool text book.  We have actually finished the reading portion of it, and even have answered all the questions at the back of all the chapters.  But, now it is review time.  I don’t teach a course, any course, to just say that we did it, or to just give a highschool credit.  I don’t teach it so my kids can claim it on a highschool transcript.  No, I teach it with the aim that they have really learned the material (as opposed to cramming for a test on Friday and forgetting in on Saturday.)  And I teach it from a God-view point, choosing all my books and materials very selectively.  Right now, we are going through the book for the second time – I ask the questions at the end of the chapter, and if the kids don’t know the answer, we review this part.  It’s a form of layered learning.  We learned it once, now we review everything.  It gets in deeper this way.

I did get my exercising done – and I did start right at 3:00 p.m. prompt!!!! That set time was on my goal list and I was determined to meet at least that part about the list.  I also served the salmon for supper that was on the list.  What didn’t get done:  The organizing; the back closet; my bedroom (although I did get the sheets washed and my laundry.)  This morning, when I was reviewing all that I had written on my goal list, I realized I’d over planned.  Something would have to give.  The school time?   No!   The exercise?  Well, there have been days that I traded exercise time for organizing time.  But not today, for reasons that would make its own post, I was determined that exercise will have to take the priority.

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I was thinking as this day was coming to an end, about how much I got done because of this list.  I have read in the past that if one has a goal, reaches for it, and comes short of it, how much more did you accomplish then had you not the goal?  I may have fallen short of all that was on the list, but had I not made the list, I might still be in bed.....

(At our Home Church, we often dress in beautiful clothes such as these.  With our church family that makes yearly trips to India, we have been  generously endowed.)

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Last week, I had hit Monday with a to-do list that I got almost everything done.  Not just on Monday, but throughout the entire week.  But this Monday, well, I had a general list that I made, but I didn’t feel all that ambitious.

For our breakfast, we snacked on crackers and nuts.  Several of us had some cereal.  While we ate breakfast, Rachel sat at the table with us looking through a cook book and trying to read through the instructions on how to make a blintz.  She’s become such an ambitious little cook.    When she got done, she moved to the kitchen to make deviled eggs, and then made us all crackers with cheese and turkey meat, with a Dijon mustard sauce.

While Rachel was busy cooking in the kitchen, Joshua had started a nice warm fire for us.  Ruthie snuggled beside it and worked on spelling words.  After a while, I called everyone to congregate, and we began our class time.  This is my favorite part of Monday.  We read our Bible passages (reading through the Narrated Bible); worked on memorizing our Bible verses (the book of Proverbs, Chapter three); we read from two different books on Roman History (and right now we are learning about King Herod – way more than I ever knew about this king in the Christmas story); were learning about the Periodical Table and the beginning history of Chemistry; and were reading a short book about Diligence. 

We worked on Pasture Management today – got outside in the freezing cold weather and did some scooping.  It wasn’t the best day to choose to do this, but it had bothered me all weekend that we have gotten behind in this.  I will have to wait for the weather to warm up just a tad, I guess, to really accomplish something.  None the less, I’m proud of my kids that can get outside and handle a job as unpleasant as this one. There was no complaining, no bad attitudes.  Just a diligent effort to accomplish this in the freezing weather.

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When we came inside, I snuggled next to Ruthie and I read to her from our Little House on the Prairie book.  Were really enjoying that together.  I love to read to my children a good book, and especially one on one, something that two of us can enjoy together.  I feel this gives me some quality time with them, as we go on an adventure together through the reading of a good book.    When I finished with Ruthie, I read a book with Joshua that we take turns together reading out loud.  Just as we were about to start the very last chapter in the book, Dad came home.

He had brought the hugest platter of homemade Christmas cookies, delivered to him from someone at the office.  Mom and children promptly sat down and tried each one.  Rachel commented that they were too pretty to eat, and looked like they were way to much work to really eat, too.  But that didn’t stop us from devouring them.  There were so many, that even after we had all feasted to our heart’s content, the platter still looked full.

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Later in the evening, we sat in the family room, in front of the crackling fireplace, and had our family reading time.  We are reading the book, The Young Carthaginian, by G.A. Henty.  We read two (long) chapters.  We do a lot of reading around here!   And now, while I write to you, I can hear the sounds of the children in the other room playing sweetly together a game.   

Tomorrow is going to be a busy day - school, errands, and a party in the evening with family friends.  Time to get to bed so I can feel energetic in the morning! 

As my husband was leaving for work at 7:00 a.m., he got the sleepy ones out of bed.  They seemed a little bit extra tired, so I decided that the best way for them to wake up would be to get outside ASAP and work together feeding the chickens, collecting eggs, and giving them their water.  When they were done, all together they went to the horse pasture to take care of the horses.  By 9:00 a.m. we had finished our chores and breakfast. 

II Peter 1:5, “…Giving all diligence, add to your faith…”

We started with our Bible memorization verse from last week.  Matt. 6:33 – “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and all these things shall be added unto you.”  We talked about this verse – how do we seek God first?  With our time, it may mean that we read our Bible and pray before starting our day’s activities.  With our money, we can show God that we put him first by tithing before we spend it on stuff.  In school, we show Him that we are seeking Him first by having Bible reading and memorization before any other class.

We read in the book of Ecclesiastes.  There was an interesting verse (10:19) that said, “A feast is made for laughter, and wine maketh merry, but money answereth all things.”

 Huh?

We talked about that when we find a verse in the Bible that we don’t understand, or that it doesn’t seem to fit with the rest of the Message of His Word, there are ways to seek out the answer.  What is the context of this verse?  The verse that preceded it says, “By much slothfulness the building decayeth; and through idleness of the hands the house droppeth through.”    This is talking about laziness.  We diverted here a bit and talked about money.  If we are lazy, we won’t work, and therefore we won’t have money. Money is a necessity in this life – to eat, to be clothed, and to have shelter.  We talked about the wrong use of money, about worshipping money, or making it an idol.  But money in itself is not evil, it is a necessity.  

After taking a small break, when we came back to the table, I showed them a way we can study deeper the meaning of a particular verse.  We opened The Complete Word Study of the Old Testament.  This is a useful reference material.  It has the entire O.T., verse by verse.  The word, “answer”, from Ecclesiastes 10:19 has the number, 3605, above it.

We took The Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon (that is coded with Strong’s Concordance numbers) and looked up the number 3605. We found the original word (before being translated into English) in the Ancient Hebrew text.  Its meaning in the original Hebrew is “answer, or respond.” 

This made more sense.  Money is not the answer to all the problems in this world, as we already knew it did not.  It’s just that this verse seemed to be worded in this way.  To think of it as in the text, “money responds or money answers”, helped us to understand perhaps better what Solomon was trying to say here.  Money affects our daily life.  If we have rafters sagging in our home and leaks in our roof (as the NIV translations says), then money, or in this case, the lack of it, will respond to what we do with the sagging rafters and leak (nothing, because we can’t afford to fix it.)   Money, or the lack of it, will respond or answer to situations in our daily life.

I can’t say that I discovered the exact interpretation of this verse, but I can say that I am glad that I had the opportunity to show the children:

• 1.     All verses in the Bible must be supported by other verses to understand the meaning,
• 2.     Look at the context of the verse to understand its meaning
• 3.    The beginning of learning how to use reference tools.  This is one of my goals this year in our school.  Strong’s Concordance,  Matthew Henry’s Commentary, and the Hebrew –English Lexicon are just some of the reference materials I hope to show the children how to use this year.   

II Peter 1:5, “…Giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue;”

For our virtue and character teaching time, we started a new book called, “Rescue At the Eleventh Hour,” by W.H.G. Kingston, a book about martyrs in the Great Reformation.   We read two chapters.

II Peter 1:5, “…Giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge;”

History:  We read two chapters out loud from the book, Beric the Briton, A Story of the Roman Invasion, by G.A. Henty.  

Science:  Today we started studying the Periodical Table. I introduced the Periodical Table by showing them a placemat I had purchased, a deck of P.T. cards, a magnetic P.T. for the refrigerator, and three books about it.  We read the first chapter of the book, The Mystery of the Periodic Table, by Benjamin D. Wiker. So far, I love this book.  We played the Periodic Table card game, and studied one element, Hydrogen, from the book, The Periodic Table, Elements With Style.

II Peter 1:5, “…Giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge temperance (self control); and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.”

The rest of these; self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness, and love, are taught all day long in situations that arise seemingly constantly.  Self control in not striking back at someone, or eating too much.  Perseverance at finishing a job. Godliness in how we react, or repond to situations and the Biblical principles applied to our life.  Kindness in our responses to one another.  And love being the ultimate litmus test of all our actions.  These – self-control, perseverance, godliness, kindness, and love are taught all throughout the day.  Being a mom (or dad) is a 24/7 teaching post.

Deut. 6:7

“And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shall talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.”

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It is Friday morning and I have just about concluded our first week of the new school year. I wish I could write to you and tell you that everything went just as planned, and that I finished this week with such satisfaction of the coming school year. 

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I have been so extra tired this week.  Perhaps my summer was just a little bit too good.  For the past three months, I have kept my house in good condition, and organized.  I had imagined this coming first week of school to be one of utter perfection, including the house. 

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I have been reminded of why  homeschool is so difficult.  It is not easy to juggle all the balls - planning meals; grocery shopping; cooking; clean up; orthodontist,dentist, and music appointments; quality time for dad and for the children; keeping the house organized and clean; and then add into all of this, teaching the children. 

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 "There is now therefore no condemnation in Christ Jesus, for those that walk not after the flesh."

I heard these words all week long, reminding myself when I felt down and overwhelmed, that there is no condemnation in Christ Jesus. If I am feeling guilt or unworthiness of my lack of abilities to be all things to all people, this is not guilt sent from Him, but rather, our adversary.  There is no condemnation in Christ Jesus.

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I rose early this morning, with a great desire to sit and dwell in His presence. I made my coffee, and in the darkness, sat down to pray.  It felt so good that it was so early, knowing that I could lay all my burdens at His feet, with no concern for time.  I asked for His strength, His help, and His guidance for this coming school year.  "Help me dear Jesus, to have wisdom in how to spend my time; help me to plan my days wisely.  Help me to train my children in the way they should go, and to have a good and excellent school year."   

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I remember when I first began to home school – I desired so strongly to know how other families did this. Sixteen years ago, there wasn’t the plethora of information that there is now, neither were there blog communities such as this one.  I think we are all kind of interested, at least from one time to another, of how others school.

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Today was our first day back from summer break (however, if you’ve read my previous posts, some of the children have had an all summer school routine with Grandma). In mind that I had written a post most recently of how our school days go, I thought that I should share a “real” day, not a hypothetical one that I imagine/write about.

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There were two things that made today somewhat unique to other school days –

 1. It was my first full day of school after a wonderful summer break.  I tend to make the first week a little less structured, kind of loose, an ease into our full school routine.

 2.  It’s a Monday – I always do things a little bit different on Monday, a little bit more relaxed.

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The kids got up at 7:00 a.m.  They did their chores, got their own breakfast.  We sat down together around 9:00 a.m.   We started with our Bible reading – we read about the end of Solomon’s life and how his kingdom was torn away from him.    We then began the introduction (from the Narrated Bible) about the book of Ecclesiastes.

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Then, we opened up our new historical novel,  Beric the Briton, A Story of the Roman Invasion, by G.A. Henty.   We read the first entire chapter – it was long, there were huge words, and the setting, at times was somewhat complicated.  I stopped often to explain different words; or to explain just what was happening in fear that the little ones weren’t following what was going on.  This made a long chapter even longer.  I asked Rachel later what she thought of our new book.  “It’s terrific!” she answered with enthusiasm.

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Now, it was about noon.  We did some cleaning of jobs that got didn’t get done last Friday.  We worked for about an hour, and then had lunch together, which Rachel had prepared for us.

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After lunch, we watched a DVD by Chris Tomlin, live on tour.  There was a speaker that explained how great God is, and had pictures of the planets and stars in the background.  It was an astronomy lesson reflecting God’s Wonder; His creation; and His awesome power.

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At 3:00 we did some more cleaning.  And at 3:30, the kids headed out the door for equestrian class.  The horses were saddled, brought to the round pen, and Rachel gave each a lesson in balance, English style.

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Meanwhile, I have checked my blog, balanced my check account, and made a few phone calls.  It’s 4:30 now, and it’s time to put supper together and while that’s cooking, exercise.

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It was a great first day of school!

Throughout the last 16 years of homeschooling, I have tried several different curriculums and  had a variety of teaching styles.  I will share with you what we have been doing for the past few years. I have a great blessing in the fact that my mom home schools along with me.  Here is our plan:

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During the months between September through May, the kids get up around 7:00 a.m.  There are times in the winter months that I slack on this time because I think they could use extra sleep (sickness going around, etc…)     but for the most part, this is the kids waking time.  I usually get up much earlier in order to have time in prayer and Bible reading.

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After the kids have eaten breakfast, there are always chores before school time.  During this time, I have often begun making dinner. This totally helps my after school time to be a What Ever Mom Wants To Do time.    Then we begin school, which is around 9:00 to 9:30a.m.  This is not written in stone, and there have been times we started school much later, but then it means our school time gets pushed later into the day.  So, maybe I should say, “ideally”, we start at this time. 

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We start school all together.  I read from the Narrated Bible, which is in chronological order.  I started using this Bible for this time in our day when we began Robin Samson's Heart of Wisdom program.  I love it because it takes the events as they happened, in order, and because it narrates before what it going on and gives important information that helps us understand better.  This is especially helpful in the O.T. with the prophets and the Law. 

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During the Bible reading time, I often stop to talk about things that come to my mind and elaborate on the verses.  I want the Scripture to be related to their every day life, and to share with them how it relates to mine.  This is the most important part of our school day.  I don't hurry through it. 

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After Bible reading, we have Bible memorization.  I pick a different verse, or passage, each week, unless it’s a long passage and then we take as long as it takes for us to memorize it.  We say it out loud together.  Then each one takes a turn trying to say it out loud from memory.    Every Monday, we not only do the current verses for the week, but we review all of the past memorization work.  This does make Bible class time get longer every Monday as the year progresses.  But it’s worth it.

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I do not use a pre-packaged curriculum because in the past, when I did this, I found it to be my task-master.  I had to complete it, and therefore, I would feel that Bible time was getting in the way of reaching my goal.  I knew this was wrong to feel this way, but yet, I was driven by the curriculum we were using,and it is my nature to want to finish.  We would always have Bible time, it's just that, I didn't have the freedom to do what I do now.  As long as it takes, it takes.  The Bible is the priority in our school.  Everything else is a tag on.  ("Seek Ye First the Kingdom of God, and All These Things Shall Be Added Unto You," is my internal guiding verse in my school.)

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After Bible class, I teach history to the kids.  I do this through reading a historical novel.  For the past few years, I have followed Robin Samson’s, Heart of Wisdom, approach, following Ancient History from Creation (using ALL of her resources);  to Abraham/Mesopotamia; to Ancient Egypt.  We had finished with Ancient Israel and before going on to Ancient Greece and Rome; we were diverted by my husband’s request that we study American History in preparation of a family vacation to Washington D.C.  (Which was at the end of  last school year.)  

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(At the beginning of each school year, during the autumn, we take our

 reading classes outside (weather permitting).  We enjoy nature and the

 crisp, beautifulweather, and at the same time, provide a different

 atmosphere. We might go to the old cobblestone barn and sit on the hay,

 or take a blanket and spread out by the lake, or just sit on our porch.)

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This fall, I am going to continue to teach U.S. History through reading to the children.  I am short on time, but on another post I will share what these books are.  I’d like to cover all the main events in U.S. history, and at the same time return to teaching Ancient History with the Heart of Wisdom.   

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I do a lot of reading to the kids and they enjoy this time.  I try to read a story from the Lamplighter series, at least one each week (these books always teach a character trait or a moral virtue).    I teach science during this time, too, with the same approach of using books that make it interesting. 

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I am thinking that this might be what is called, “Charlotte Mason,” style, but I’m not really sure if it is or not because I don’t know much about C.M.

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Rachel tells me that this is her favorite part of the day.  She usually begs me to keep reading. The rest of the kids seem to enjoy it, too.  We sometimes read around the fireplace on cold, snowy days; many times we just do it around the dining room table. For a treat we all pour ourselves some tea (I have a collection of flavors for them to pick from) and have a variety of colored - (blue, purple, pink, orange – even I enjoy these!) - rock sugar sticks as a sweetener and stirrer.

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When group class is over, we have individual time.  My mom, “Grandma,” teaches phonics to the three younger ones with Explode the Code. 

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(While Grandma works with the smaller ones, I give individual time to the two

older ones, Joshua (math and reading) and Rachel (highschool).

For spelling, we give individual words from Explode the Code, but the greater part comes from dictation.  A passage in the Bible is chosen, it is dictated to the child, and the student is to write it out.  From this dictation, our children learn #1) spelling    #2) Punctuation/Capitalization    #3)  we teach grammar through this, too (verbs, nouns, subjects, adjectives, etc…)  Dictation is a highly suggested form of teaching by Ruth Beechik, a favorite author and educator of mine.    I like to use Easy Grammar Plus, too, for the older ones that teaches grammar through learning all the prepositions, first. 

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We have lunch time somewhere around this point.  Rachel likes/enjoys making lunch, and she is really good at it.  She prepares it and puts it all on the table for us. This a wonderful blessing.  Often, we read another book or two during/after this time.

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I use Calvert Math for the younger ones. At one time, I used Calvert for Pre-K through the third grade.  When I quit using Calvert, I stuck with the math program for the younger ones (through third grade) and then switch them to Saxon Math from the 4^th grade on.   

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In the afternoons, we try to fit in gym class several days a week (Rachel (16) takes charge in this area; there have been times we lap booked (Heart of Wisdom – with the Ancient History studies- the kids love this!); did an art course (I still want to continue in that).  Grandma gives piano lessons to two of the children; Rachel takes guitar lessons.  Oh and there is always riding lessons going on. Rachel takes professional lessons year round (off and on).  For the younger ones, periodically we hire an instructor to come to the ranch and teach them (and me), but more often, Rachel passes on what she has learned.  She spends a lot of time training her horses.

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That is the skeleton of our day. It's not written in stone - I have often written that our days are like snowflakes - each one is different.  This is the hard part for many about homeschool - flexibility is a greatly needed virtue!  A phone call from our family company at the office has often totally changed my day.  But, with Grandma helping me like she does, the basic's (Reading, writing, and arithmitic) carries on.   

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 We try to be done by 3:00 p.m., but if our morning gets going to slow, our day could be pushed back as far as 4 or 5:00 p.m.

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I exercise between 3:00 and 4:00 p.m.  This is extremely important to me as it refreshes me and restores my energy for the coming evening when my husband comes home.  I have a basic routine in which I have written about often.  My favorite thing after school, though, is to go riding! This totally renews me and gives me an extra spark for not only the evening, but lasts into the next day. 

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I choose one day a week to run errands and have appointments.  Guitar lessons, orthodontist, grocery shopping, and anything else that needs to be done, I try to lump all on one day.  This greatly helps me to be able to stay at home for a significant part of the week.  This helps school flow better, and the house stays neater if I’m not always on the run.  There are times I have too many appointments in a given week to just keep it to a one day minimum, but this is the goal.

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We clean our home every Friday – we either have half a day, or at times, take the full day to get this done.  Although this may seem that it has nothing to do with school, it really does have everything to do with it.  By cleaning regularly and maintaining this schedule, the school/home stays neat, organized, and clean.  I believe this is important in establishing good habits, but also, for a certain serenity that serves as a backdrop to where all the learning is going on.  Also, by having this completed by Friday night -(our Sabbath) - we have lots of Daddy Time on Saturday.

Become A Homeschooled Mom

(Prepare Your Mind for a Lifestyle of Learning)

By Marilyn Howshall

Every summer, I like to read books on homeschooling, and I often only need to pull some good ones from my own library shelf.  This book is one of those.  I’m not sure if this is my 2^nd or 3^rd reading of it, but it is full of valuable insights, It has caused me to stop and think many times.  It’s the kind of book you can read over and over.

A comment made by Marilyn has really captured my thought processes this weekend.  She says that the mind is the gate keeper to the heart.  She encourages us to become as a homeschooled mom, one that is always learning, so that we have a lot to impart to our children.

She suggests not using a packaged curriculum.  It’s not that she says never to use one, or that the using of one is wrong.  It can be used as a starting point, but there are much more effective and long lasting ways for one to teach our children.

She advocates teaching our children principles in which they can live by.  This gave me some food for thought of things to ponder and mull on. 

Since the mind is the gateway to the heart, she challenged me to be more qualifying in the books I read, and what I let into my heart through them. 

We can only make judgments on what is good for our children based on our own experiences and what our mind has been exposed to.  That is why she urges us to become homeschooled ourselves, and chiefly through the study, not just the reading, of God’s Word.

As much as I have been attempting to paraphrase what she has said, I like the way she puts it much better.

 “We are governed and ruled by the heart.  The heart acts upon what the mind feeds it.  The mind is the door to the heart through which knowledge and ideas enter.  As our minds accumulate impressions over the years they settle deep within us and actually govern all that we do.  The decisions we make and the way we respond to life’s situations right down to the most insignificant happenings are based on what our minds have been fed.  Every decision we make, however minor, stems from what we have been taught.”  (pg. 14)

 When we start homeschooling, we love all the freedom and the choices that we have.

We are walking counter-culture-traditionally.  But because our minds our limited to our own experience of school, we really don’t know what freedom and choices we really do have.  I know that this is a struggle I’ve always had, and continue to search to expand my understanding of better ways to impart knowledge and learning.  I like Marilyn’s thoughts because they help me to go in the direction that I already feel an instinctive need to do so.

To see lots of cool Show and Tell's, go see Mary, at Canada Girl.  

It's show and tell night, and way past my bedtime.  We played a family game tonight of dominoes,

and when we were all done, I wanted to go to bed.  BUT.....my daughter,  Rachel,  had prepared her

first show and tell today and told me that if I didn't post a s&t, then she wasn't going to post

hers.  There's a word for something like that....blackmail....

.

So here I sat, an early to bed kinda gal, wondering what should I post.  I never run out of ideas, but when I'm tired, well, I'm not so creative.  I finally decided to print a recipe for you.  

I wrote this recipe in a letter to my oldest daughter, Becky,  who was away at college (Pensacola Christian College in Florida)   a few years ago, trying to describe to her the  very bad day of homeschool I had just had.

.

A Recipe

by Antoinette

 (For a Sane Woman To Lose Her Sanity)

Step #1 -   Set at Table:

*10 year old trying to do a science project (loud cutting sound - trying to cut a box down to prescribed size.)

* 7 year old doing his math, but is bothered by the loud cutting sound.

* 3 year old having first day of school learning to color, cut, and glue, protesting for help.

 .

.

Step #2 -  Add to This:

* 1 year old baby that is tired, sitting in highchair, crying.

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Step #3 -

Try to give instructions to each one at different intervals.

.

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Step #4 -

Monitor all their work at the same time.

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Step #5 -

Bake for several hours doing all of the above, and.....

You'll get a half baked mother with her mind fryed!

.

(Yep, that was me, a whole lot of times in my homeschooling journey...)

To see what's new on our ranch (and perhaps a way better s&t), stroll down for just an extra minute to the next post.....

After being awake most of the night, in the early morning I fell back asleep.  When I awoke, I could see out my window that we’d had a heavy snow.  After having spent the day before outside in the rain, cold, and sleet, I anticipated a wonderful day snuggled inside.  It was a comfort to know that I had nowhere to go on this particular day.

What I couldn’t have predicted, though, was that I was coming down with something, and very rapidly.  Within the hour, I felt miserable.  The entire day turned out to be one that I was incapacitated to hardly walk.   On this same day, an infection that my husband has been fighting over the past few weeks, kept my husband home from work, too.  So on this snowy, cold day, we were both home.

My children have many times jokingly complained that they don’t get snow or sick days from school.  This is true.  All the schools in the area had been closed on this day due to the heavy snow, and although the teacher (me) in this particular school was sick, we still had “school.”   The same is true for my husband – having his own company he rarely takes a day off of work for sickness.   If he is sick, he just works from home, as he did on this day. 

It was an interesting day.  My husband set up shop on the dining room table.  His phone, papers, and files were spread all over it.  Our oldest son, Matt, came to the house to carry on business as usual, and the two of them sat there all day working on budgets, schedules, and spreadsheets.    For myself, I could hardly walk, but I could sit on a couch.  I made this an entire full day of class time.  We read from the Narrated Bible on the temple that Solomon built,  using reference books to look at with this – The Kregel Pictorial Guide to The Temple by Robert Backhouse.  We worked on our memory work, The Ten Commandments.   We read a story about Andrew Carnegie from the book, Boys of Grit Who Became Men of Honour.  We started the book, DNA Is Here to Stay – by Dr. Fran Balkwill.   We watched an hour long video on astronomy, called Journeys to the Edge of Creation, The Milky Way & Beyond.  It was a wonderful video displaying the work of His hands, and brought glory to God’s creation. 

And we read one more book, If You Lived When There Was Slavery in America,  by Anne Kamma.  

It was a very full school day, and Rachel, my oldest, mentioned that she really enjoyed having a school day like this one.  There was no independent work, just class time.  Because I had felt so miserable, I had no other thoughts but to teach and read to my children.  I didn’t worry about the dishes, the laundry, the house cleaning or even pick-up.  I didn’t even have a notion to try to delegate these jobs.  I didn’t try to exercise, write, or even look at my pc.  When I wasn’t teaching, I was just listening.  All of the children had thoughts to contribute to the video and the books we had just read.  I enjoyed hearing their thoughts.  And since I had no other agenda, not the house, the dishes, or even exercise, I had all the time in the world to listen.

 I find it interesting that the day before, the one I had felt had been so crashed by the outside activities, had been the platform to enable me to enjoy and appreciate this day.  One of the Bible verses that has been significantly meaningful to me, is the verse that says, "A good man's steps are ordered by the Lord."   Sometimes what I interpet as an interuption, is really God's appointment.  I have to trust Him daily that each day is His planned day for me, even if it goes contrary to anything I could have imagined for the day.   

I love to teach, I love to read to my children, I love to spend time with them.  So although it was a physically miserable day, it was a wonderful day for the spirit and soul.   

Ever since I brought my children  home to school (sixteen years ago) I have always enjoyed different ways to teach and enjoy my children at the same time.  One of these things is changing the classroom from time to time.   When my two older children were schooling, we would pack a lunch, gather our school books, and head outside to a nearby lake in the sub-division we lived in at the time.  We'd spread out our blanket, eat our lunch, and then I'd read a historical novel to them. Then they'd work on some individual school work they'd brought along.

 Other times, we'd drive to a near-by county park that had an old water mill.  We'd sit on the bank of the river as I read to them.

 *****

With my next set of four pupils (there is an eight year gap between my first two and my next four) we had moved from the subdivision to this farm. We would sit by the lake under the trees as we read from the Bible and  then had  history class.  And at the beginning of every school year,  we have many classes in our barn.  We resume again in the spring when the weather gets nice.

I love teaching just anywhere,  and in the winter, my favorite spot is on the couch in front of the fireplace while it is crackling.  And lately, I have really been enjoying the big table in our new dining room, especially since it's one of the warmest rooms in the house. 

 But I have often  thought it would be really neat if we had a room designated just for school stuff.  To have walls that would hang the Periodical Table and to have big world maps, would be so ideal.  I don't have that, but since we  finished the remodeling in our home, I did find a way to have a room designated as our Geophraphy Classroom.

                                                            *****

I like the fact that school happens at any time around here.  We do not just have an 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. school.  Teaching happens at the most surprising of times.  Just this last Sunday night, we decided to watch a movie called, "The Alamo."   My husband loves history so he gave us a narration of the story before the movie began.  And during the movie, he'd often stop it and re-cap to us what had happened.  When it was over, he reviewed it with us to summarize it.  I learned along with the kids a whole lot of things I never knew before. Like:

• Houston, Texas was named after a general in the army in the mid-1800's.  His name was Sam Houston and he led the famous battle called, The Alamo.
• During this time period, Mexico was run by a dictator, General Antonio López de Santa Anna.
• Before this, the French had owned Mexico.  Although now independent, Mexico had French advisors.  Their formations, uniforms, and tactics were European. Santa Anna considered himself an American Napolean.
• The people of Texas wanted independence from Mexico. The battle at the Alamo in San Antonio was a part of this attempt to win independence. The Alamo was a church/mission and the Texans fighting were holding out there.  They sent for help, but Sam Houston would not send more men until there were enough to win the battle. There were less than 200 fighting men against an army of 8,000 (- +).     
• Davy Crockett was a congressman from Tennessee (I never knew that!)  and he was also at the Alamo (and died along with everyone else).
• When enough help did come, Sam Houston led the charge against the Mexican army.  Fortunately, Santa Anna made a terrible mistake by dividing his army into three divisions, each going a different way.  The Mexican army was wiped out and instead of killing Santa Anna, they had him sign a piece of paper to declare the independence of Texas.
• Texas was then its own country for nine years, and Sam Houston was the President of it.  I never knew that, either!
• After nine years it became part of the United States.

We then all gathered into our new geography classroom to look at Texas. 

.

 (smile)

We all crammed into the classroom ((smile)) and we showed the little ones just where Texas was located. Then my husband explained to all the pupils present that at the time in history that Mexico owned Texas it also owned Arizona,  New Mexico. and the southern half of California.

This is so much better than a little globe that is often  hard to read the words.  And there is so much time for concentrating and studying, too. 

 If you would like your own Geography Classroom, go to Target.   Did you know that there is an island called Christmas?  I learned that from this map!

****

Don't forget to go over to Mary's at CanadaGirl for more Show and Tells.  You will have a lot of fun and also most likely learn something new!

 A One Room School House Barn.....

 Every autumn, at the beginning of every schoolyear, we have our Bible class here in the loft of our cobblestone barn.

 Before having class, we had "school pictures"....

 We are reading together through the book of Psalms.

 Our view from the loft...

We had the horses all saddled and ready for our horse trainer to arrive at 9:00 a.m.  When she was late just by a little bit, I decided I'd better call and make sure she was coming. I should have checked my messages first, as she had already called and left a message that she wouldn't be able to work with us this week.  So, since the horses were already to go, Rachel and I, took the horses for a trail ride.

I pruned my roses and raspberry plants, and by the time all this outside activity was done, it was time for lunch. We ate a little meal and then I began to "do school" with Joshua (12).  We sat down together to work on math.  He's got 10 more chapters to complete before finishing his Saxon math book.  His reading comprehension of the word problems is not at the point that he can do every one on his own.  I generally  alternate days - one day he does all the math problems without words (he always does excellent on these) and all the word problems he can read and understand what to do.  The next day, we sit down together to do all the problems he needs help with.  First, I have him read the problem to me, outloud.  Then, I ask him, "What do you think this problem is asking you to do?" I try to engage his mind so he's not just letting me work out the problem for him.  I give him time to think about it and come up with an answer, if he can. Then, if he doesn't "get it", I show him and talk to him about what this problem is asking of him, and then let him work out the problem.   Although he seems to have a natural capacity for math, because of the word problems, it has taken us an exceptional amount of time to get through this one Saxon math book. But, to me, this is the beauty of homeschool. We take the time it takes to master it, to understand it, and not to hurry through it to just get it done.

He read his Genesis Chapter One, and then he said this passage to me.  Last year, we worked on this same passage and he didn't complete it.  Then, this past fall of 2006, after the summer, we started all over again, as a lot of it was rusty now.  I looked at this as the repitition of this chapter would be a good thing.  I consider Genesis Chapter One the foundation of the entire Scripture.  If your belief in God creating the world can be challenged through the higher universities, then you have undermined everything that you have tried to achieve through these formative years.  So we have worked through this passage through out the time element of two consecutive school years (Sept through May).   Memorization of any facts is not Joshua's specialty, as memorization can come easy to some children (as my first born, Becky).  So he is really doing good and I'm very proud of him in this.

We did a short list of spelling words that he has been struggling with.    I then had him read two stories in the McGuffy reader. These are two stories that he has read to me before, one of them quite a bit.  I'm working on "fluency" with Joshua as this is an area he needs to progress in.

We read one chapter in Psalms as a group. Through this chapter I taught a little bit of English, teaching them what a Metaphor is.  "Judah is a sceptor".   What does this mean, I asked them. No one knew.  What is a sceptor?  Rachel knew this and answered that it is what a king would hold and point to the person that had come to see him.  If he did not hold the scepter out in this way towards the approaching guest, that person would be taken away by the soldiers and killed.  I reminded the kids that this is why Queen Esther was so afraid when she was asked to intercede for the lives of her fellow Jews. If she went to see the king, but he did not hold out the scepter to her, although she was the queen, she would be taken away and killed.

So who was Judah, I asked the kids. No one seemed to remember.  He was one of the leaders of the twelve tribes of Israel.  What was his importance in the clan, I asked.  Again, no one knew (although I have taught this, no one remembered).  He was in the line of Jesus, and as Rachel then remembered, added, King David was in the line of Judah.  So the sentence, "Judah is a scepter" now made more sense.  Judah's line was of kings. 

But then there were methaphors we weren't sure what they meant.  "Ephraim is my helmet" and "Moab is my washbasin".  I told the kids it's o.k. not to know what something means, and it's good to look at it and to question, "What does this mean?"  Ask the Lord to reveal it to us, find a resource to explain it to us.  The kids found humor in the sentence, "Upon Edom I toss my sandal".  I told the kids that this saying must have had meaning back in the Hebrew times of the O.T. times and perhaps we will discover the meaning to this by looking in resources.

We ended Bible class with telling the kids that one of my favorite verses is in this chapter (Ps 108)

"For the help of man is worthless,

With God we will gain the victory."

We read more in the book, "Masada".

Ruthie only did a page in math today.  I worked a while with Jacob (6) as I'm teaching him sounds. He did excellent.

BLT's for supper.

On Tuesday, (today), we got up bright and early and got to business right away. Rachel (15) made our breakfast, French Toast. We had a nice meal together. After breakfast, I had asked Rachel to clean out the refrigerator because it hadn't been done in a while. She did a great job, as usual.

I then began to work with Joshua (12). I spend the most time with him in school.  I alternated between doing school with Joshua, Ruthie, Jacob, and Rachel.  Joshua, we did reading and spelling, then, I'd give him a short break and call Ruthie and do reading and math with her.  If Jacob walked by, I'd nab him just for a few minutes and work on the sounds of his alphabet.  Rachel had a writing project and I worked with her when she was ready for me.   It was a busy school day, alternating children and their school work hour after hour, not taking even a lunch break, or stopping even for a phone call (I generally let the recording intercede all my phone calls unless its someone in the immediate family).

Have you ever had a premonition?  I'm not so sure if  I even spelled that correctly. But you know, intuition, something that you thought of and then it happens?  It was in the afternoon, I'd been busy with the kids all day, and as I walked into our 'kitchenette',  my sister-in-law from California dropped into my thoughts. I knew she was in the state this week, but she was staying at my in-laws in Illinois, 45 minutes away. But she came into my mind, as in, she could drop by, and the house sure could use a pick-me-up. But at course, I ignored my 'premonition' and just went back to doing school.

Knock-knock, just a few minutes later, it was my sister-in-law from California. Hmmmm.....I panic just a minute. Oh no, my house is not company-ready. As I was busy teaching, alternating kids, the ones that weren't doing school, were playing, and that translates to "making messes".  If I had listened to my intuition, stopped, and threw in approximately 15 minutes, I could have had the house looking swell. Yet, I didn't do that. My normal custom is, get the school work done, then when it's all done, school's over, pick up the place before Dad comes home.

I walk to the door realizing it's too late. It is what it is.  I greet my s-i-l with a great big smile and hug. I truly am glad to see her. But I'm nervous too, inside, thinking the house is not so great, but maybe if I smile really, really big , my congeniality will make the messy house seem either invisible or just un-important.

So, here's the after-thoughts. And I 'd love to hear your thoughts on this, too. Here's my  s-i-l, all the way from California.  She's a preacher's wife, at a very small church, and a relatively new one at that. Given our conversation that followed, I know she needed Christian as well as sisterly fellowship. And here I am, worrying about my house.

Now, why do I worry about my house? I just cleaned it yesterday. There was no cobwebs, no piles of dirt on the floors. The bathrooms were clean, no piles of dishes in the sink. Yet, it wasn't perfect. An empty  laundry basket in the family room, a few laundered items that didn't get put away by my 8 year old that had the job of folding clothes. A strip of toilet paper a child had used as their kleenex was sitting on the end-table. A towel (presumably clean from the laundry that also didn't get put away) lay in the middle of the floor.     The living room that we sat in and talked, the window well has become a rather "neat" place I pile school books and some misc stuff.  A few school books and papers, colored pencils and manipulative blocks lay on the floor and on the couch where I had been sitting working with the kids.

She didn't go back to the kitchenette, but my niece did (21). There was a pizza box on the floor, I guess when the refrig got cleaned out it got set there to be thrown out. A bucket in the middle of the floor with dirty water in it, where I had mopped but didn't throw out the water thinking I might need it again to touch-up (saving on Pine-Sol). Oh, and a pile of laundry in the corner because that is our laundry room, too.

See, it wasn't perfect. I had cleaned the day before, and  it would have taken a whole 15 minutes maybe to get it all together and look company-ready. But I didn't, and the aggregated things out-of-place were just plain embarrasing. I had to logically think about this. My s-i-l doesn't have little kids anymore. She only had two to begin with. She never homeschooled. And I have never been that familiar with her that I have been to her house but a few times in my entire life, to even know what her standard of house-keeping is.

But what does it matter?   Really?  I DO homeschool, I DO have little children still, and I DO have 4 of them at that (still at home). This is my routine. I clean in the morning, I teach, then we pick up in the afternoon, after school.  The real issue, here, well, it must be pride. See, I'm not perfect. In fact, I'm very flawed, and that's something I'd just as well stay very secret. 

"You want your kids to follow in God's ways but you also need to teach them academics and I cannot figure out how they just learn with discipleship and not the textbooks for certain skills. I know I am not thinking very well today but just needed some clarity as I know the Clarksons are known to be good homeschool parents. Thanks for your patience with me, this is very interesting stuff you are posting."    "How do you educate without textbooks to give them grammar, math information so they can write and get into college. How do you teach the kids using this line of thinking?"

When I first started homeschooling in the year, 1992, I used an elective choice of books.  Saxon math, Winston Grammer, Italic handwriting, and ABeka reading.   I didn't have to actually teach reading as my first two spent their first years in a private Christian school (my oldest started hs as she entered the sixth grade, my second child, as he was entering into third grade).  It was exciting to read of all the the choices available (via Mary Pride's book on Homeschooling). It was liberating to be able to decide my children's priorities instead of a third party. 

When they got into Jr.High and Highschool, I used a curriculum called Education Plus. I loved it because it centered the education around the book of Genesis. I loved the reference materials that used a lot of the Creation Institute material. Dr. Morris book, The Genesis Record, was one of my favorites.

 We enjoyed an assortment of books and  videos by Ken Ham, Dr. Morris, and others.   I had my son read the passages of Proverbs every school day of his entire highschool education.  This is something I've never regretted, as I've seen him make so many wise choices as he entered the work force after highschool.  He followed our values and we never did experience any rebellion. He lived at home and saved money for his home that he now lives in with his wife, contiguous to the property of where we live.

 I had my oldest daughter read many varieties of books of people that lived a life sacrificed for Christ, books on courting, and other books that I felt would make a profound difference in her life.  I have never regretted this, either.  She married the boy she was courted by, and now has established such a sweet Christian family. They have two sons, Seth, age 2, and Abraham, age 8 months, and they have a desire to have a full quiver. Her huband and her read the BIble together and  also books by Martin Luther, Jonathon Edwards, and many others, including biographies of missionaries. They have a home without television, so their evenings are filled with reading these books together.

When my oldest two were graduated, I was busy again with my next four children.  My mom helped with my oldest of this four using School of Tomorrow paces.  I chose Calvert curriculum for the others, because I had always been intrigued by the reviews that Mary Pride had written in her book, The BIg Book of Homeschooling, way back in 1992.  It had always kept my interest even though I had never used it.  At this time, I finally decided I would give it a try. 

What I liked about Calvert is that it comes with a 'Teacher's Manual'  that tells you EVERYTHING you have to say, step by step, word by word, LITERALLY.  I was going through a burn out at the time and I needed this no-thought process.  For the time, it served a purpose. It did have way too many books and things they proposed that the student do, and I found myself omitting a lot of it because it was virtually impossible to do it all.  It didn't help that I had a very slow reader so everything took twice, if not ten times, longer than what it should have.   They did have a good reading program with a lot of fun and interesting stories, and lots of good colorful pictures. I liked their math workbooks, too.

Calvert, I think it was in the third grade, began to have a lot of tales on Mythology.  It started annoying me to great degrees, and it was my son that said the obvious. "Mom, this is really stupid. These aren't true and were wasting time reading this stuff . Why don't we read the Bible instead?"  Absolutely brilliant idea, I thought. So, from there, we closed the books of Calvert and began to do a lot of reading, writing, and memorzing the Bible.  We still do that to this day. 

It was in the fall of 2005 that we started the curriculum that we presently use now.  It's called Heart of Wisdom, and I positively love it.  It teaches Ancient History from a God-world-view.  We started with Genesis using books such as Adam and His Kin, The Lost History of Their Lives and Times  and the book, Genesis   Finding Our Roots.   Both books were written by the author, Ruth Beechik.

In the winter of 2006, we studied Ancient Mesopotamia. It was facinating to discover what the world was like after the flood and at the time of Abraham. From there, we studied Ancient Egypt.  Heart of Wisdom (HOW) encourages (strongly) the use of scrapbooks for the children to build their own portofolios of the material studied. My kids really enjoyed this part of it.   We have been studying Ancient Israel since the beginning of this past fall, 2006, and there is so much material, I don't see us getting done with it anytime soon. 

Blessed with all of these reference books from Heart of Wisdom,  and  Robin Sampson's Ebooks   (these are out-of-this-world-FABULOUS), it is making  the BIble come alive to the children and myself.    I can guarantee you right now, I will never look back and regret this choice, this time in my children's life.  Each day, I look forward to this time in the day that we sit down together and read from one of the many books that we have purchased from HOW.  Every day we learn something new together, and I feel incredibly blessed with coming upon this curriculum.

Check it out:    www.heartofwisdom.com

 Does any week go as planned?  For me, it rarely does.  It is for this reason that homeschool has always been a struggle for me. It is only through the past few years that I fell on my humbled knees, searching for a better way. 

When I read blogs of newly starting homeschooling families, I am reminded of my own enthusiasm when I first started.  All of the choices, the freedom, it's so liberating to throw away the yoke of the system.  I consider these first years the honeymoon stage, where everything is new and your traveling a new path in life, one that you never dreamed you'd ever take.

I'm not really sure when the honeymoon is over.  When I was first married, I would cringe at all those critics that I would meet of people that had been married for quite some time.  They would see me waiting for my dh in eager expectation while waiting for him to come pick me up for lunch (I worked at the county courthouse), and throw out these derogitive little barbs.  "Just wait until you've been married for a while, it'll change". I really can't tell you how many times I heard that the first few years I was married.  It would always amaze me that people felt compelled to throw cold water on someone that was newly married.  What was the purpose, I would wonder.  I would look at them and just have to wonder.  Perhaps they really had good intentions, trying to brace me for the jolt of life when reality struck.  Perhaps it had nothing to do with me, only an inward need to verbalize their own disappointment.

When I read of new homeschooler blogs, I remind myself of those skeptics I so much destested my first years of marriage.  As I read their blog, I am reminded of my own enthusiasm of all the choices available to me, all the freedom this afforded me without the System bogging me down.

The problem is, although we take our kids home where choices and freedom really do exist, we also carry within us this mind-set of school that we can not shake. School/The System has been wired into us almost invisibly.  Although we are now home, we have unwittingly brought school and it's bondage home with us into our dwelling.  Although we leave physically, we haven't really left . And this is where home school, at some point, becomes disallusioning to us, the honeymoon begins to fade, and it becomes more work, more worry, more fear, more disallusionment, then we could have ever imagined.

I won't write my own personal biography here of  homeschooling six kids with two graduates, but I will tell you that approximately two years ago, a Bible verse came to my mind while praying about my struggle with hs.  The verse was this: My Burden is Light, and My Yoke is Easy.  At those Words, I heard a very soft voice within me, saying, "If you are carrying a heavy burden, then do know that I did not place it there, you did."   With that one conversation with Him, it has changed my perspective of homeschooling forever and a day. 

The end of the story has not come. I did not walk away from that quiet time with Him and immediately see a whole different way of life. No, that was but a seed for me. A beginning of a quest, to find a better way.  A book called, I Saw The Angel In the Marble, by Chris and Ellen Davis, published by the Eliah Company,  was an instrument in the hands of God to water the seed that had been planted by Him.  Some sunshine on this growing seed was the book, Things We Wish We'd Known, a book written of short biographies of over 50 veteran homeschooling families, telling of their path.  A plentiful rainfall on this growing plant, was the booklets written by Marilyn Howshall, Wisdom's Way of Learning (www.homeschooloasis.com).

I don't know that the flower has fully bloomed yet, as I still find  myself struggling to throw off the old paridigm of thinking.  I enjoy reading books by unschoolers, because I admire a certain sense of freedom they obviously enjoy. They don't worry about what other people will think. They don't seem to harbor all those inward fears about the academic success or failure of their children.  These unschoolers are a different breed of people to me. I've never personally met one, just read of them vicariously through books.  They do possess a courage I admire, to forge their own path with  the  philosophy they  believe in.

It's been planted in my mind that I need to look at this home schooling adventure as a destination. Where am I headed? What is it that I want my end product  (my children) to look like?  Think about it, meditate on it. For me, I do not possess any secret ambitions of Harvard graduates, or lifetime occupations of a doctor, lawyer, or engineer.  No, for me, what I desire most, is that my children love God, fear Him, and seek to obey Him in all that they do.  I believe that it is then, and only then, that they will have the peace of God that passeth all understanding, that they will truly then, and only then, be successfull, in all that they do.

If that is my destination, then how will I get there?  The "System" that has been wired inside of me will have to be undone, because surely the "System" is not going to the destination I have just described.  What will my own blueprint look like?  I need to be the architect of this plan, and not follow what others have laid out for me.  Only my husband and I can decide this because it is our children. No one will ever love these children more than we do, no one could desire the best for them more than we. 

For me, this plan is looking like none other I personally have ever seen.  I am surrounded in 'real life', outside of the books that I have read, of the masses following the System.  Although I have purposely sought to isolate ourselves on a farmstead, we mingle with those that walk a different path. In our church, in our community, in our work, and even in our social life.  The path I walk is unique to me.  This walk is a daily, hourly, and minute by minute, looking upward, to Him, to ask for Wisdom, to ask for the guidance of His Will in our lives. 

When things don't go as planned, I have to look to Him, and realize that this day was ordained by Him. This day, as it was, was on His schedule, even if it wasn't on mine.  And at course, our adversary, will come to us and throw those daggers of doubt aimed at our heart. And often, I have found, our adversary, the devil, uses a personal tool, often, another human being that is unwittingly being used.

 I have to remember that it is only my husband and I that will stand before Him, accountable for these children. Not the village, not the grandparents, not the church, and at course, not the System. It is the parents of these children that He has placed into our hands, with all of our weaknesses and failures, He has entrusted us.  

I recently responded to a blogger friend that sent me a letter. I replied, but I thought I'd post my letter/reply for others that are beginning to homeschool to read also.

"I have gradutated two, starting them in gradeschool. I have 4 more to go.  It's quite an adventure...with some valleys as well as the good times. I guess I just want to be used by Him, if He sees fit, to help others avoid some of the pitfalls I fell into, because they are quite avoidable. It's all in how we think, why we think we are homeschooling, what were trying to really accomplish with it, and what's really important. 

Here is what I'd really love to convey to you:
Your children are only small once.  They grow up so fast. I'm sure EVERYONE always tells you that, but it's just so true. When their all grown, your really not going to care so much about those academics because at any point they really really want to, if there is something you missed in teaching them (an educational gap) or something they just weren't motivated to learn although you did try to teach it to them, at the point they really want to learn it, no matter what it is, they can learn it on their own. 

On the other hand, there are somethings, when they are grown, you really will regret if it doesn't get taught/caught.  Loving God, being dedicated to serve Him; being His disciple. 

On our side, as the mom's, you will miss those moments you had them all the time in your home (at least I did). I know I wish I'd not sweat the small stuff (losing a workbook, not doing enough academics, not scoring high on a test measuring academic achievement, or being too day-dreamy).  And I wish I'd read a whole lot more to them, as in cuddling up on the couch in front of the fireplace, reading an intriguing story together.

God has helped me through burn-out (big time) and led me through that. That's why I encourage you to look up the website, www.homeschooloasis.com.
I really recommend, before you start ordering a lot of stuff, to read through their material, and I highly recommend, Barb Shelton's book: The Homeschool Guide-a-log, and Marilyn Howshall's Wisdom Way of Learning (a small inexpensive booklet).  If you would get their message, it would help you enjoy the homeschool adventure  and your children being at home with you a whole lot more, you would feel a whole lot less of stress and feeling overwhelmed."

Look up this website if you need encouragement, experiencing frustration, or burning out with homeschool.

http://www.homeschooloasis.com/help_article_1st_page.htm

I read ALL of the booklet by the author of the above website over the summer. She has a lot of wisdom. Look her up and find out what I mean. 

I have always had a struggle with not enough time to do everything, ever  since I began to homeschool in 1992.   Not enough time to do all the school work for all the children; not enough time to keep my house clean; not enough time to do things that I personally would enjoy and bring refreshment. Although I enjoyed, immensely so, being with my children, homeschool itself  was like this heavy yoke bearing down on me. 

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God has been teaching me, through the burned-out effect of trying to do it all, step by step, that if I am wearing a yoke that is too heavy for me to carry, then He did not place it there, because His yoke is light. He has helped me to re-evaluate everything I do within His light. Not the worlds, grandparents, or even my own natural and habitual way of thinking. He has been teaching me to trust Him, to listen to Him, and to follow Him. 

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To go opposite of the way of the world, for me,  was just the very basic of the decision to homeschool way back in 1991 when it was not a popular option and I knew very few people that did this.  Now, it's not that I  homeschool, it's HOW I do it.   To follow Him as He leads you, takes faith because you have to trust Him.  I have been so entrenched within my own mind that there is only one way for school, and this one way is a ditto mimic of how I myself have been schooled.

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God is teaching me a few things through this faith walk journey regarding school.   First of all, to walk by the guidance of the Holy Spirit, to trust Him thoroughly, translates to me that if the day gets a monkey wrench thrown in it, do I trust Him that, "All things work together for good for those that love God and obey Him?" 

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Do I trust Him and believe that a "Good man's steps are ordered by the Lord?"

Do I trust Him that this day, monkey wrench and all, is in His perfect will?

Do I really believe that prayer is the answer to all things? This including my children learning to read, write, and do arithmetic?

Do I really believe that if I put Him first, "All these things will be added unto you?"  Including my desire for my children to be well educated?

Do I really believe that, "He will give me the desires of my heart if I abide in Him and He in me," although my life may be busy with seemingly a thousand interruptions? 

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He is leading me to trust Him with my daily schedule, to re-evaluate what are the most important things.  What really needs to be taught today?  He is teaching me that there are some things outside of the text books, that really are as, or sometimes even more, important to the well-being and the future of my children.  That  things like developing good habits are essential to the foundation of a good education.  This means to me, keeping their rooms clean, and helping with chores, even if some days it takes more time than usual.  This means reading the Bible no matter what, even if nothing else gets taught that day - time in His Word is time well spent, no, rather may I rephrase that, excellently spent.

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This leads to other things He's teaching me. That this walk, this following of Him, is sometimes (or rather, often) a lonely walk.  It's feels often as if it's a solo walk. There is not going to be people standing around on the sidelines applauding my walk with Him or my obedience to what He is teaching me, even other Christians, or even Christian grandparents!  But rather, their often going to look rather skeptically as if your being irresponsible.

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I can't look to others for an applaud, a word of, "Job well done,"  or even  a remotely encouraging nod of the head, as if to say, "Your doing great."  I can't look to the left or to the right, to see what others think, approve of or not, I have to keep my eyes straight ahead and above, on to what He has called me to do.

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I pray for thicker skin when I feel criticised, by word or attitude of others.  I pray for tunnel vision to keep my eyes on Him.

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I have this analogy in my mind of what it's like to be led by Him and to hear His voice.  Often, I hear Him, but it's this soft voice and everything around me drowns this voice out.  Later, I'll recall, I'll see how He was talking to me but in a whisper, but I wasn't listening real well, I was tuned in too much to everything around me.  It's like a radio station that's not coming in real well because of the static.  I pray daily  that God will help me to get on the right frequency to hear His voice clearly in my day to day, hour by hour, minute to minute, decisions with my homeschool, our priorities, and my schedule. 

I found this super cute poem on another blog site: Colloquium (blog name) http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Colloquium/89847/#c396740 I have days like this, that's why I found it so humorous!

If You Give a Mom a Muffin 2:49 PM, Feb. 24, 2006 .. 3 comments .. Link I am not sure who wrote this, but I LOVED it and had to share! If You Give a Mom a Muffin If you give a mom a muffin, She'll want a cup of coffee to go with it. She'll pour herself some. Her three-year-old will spill the coffee. She'll wipe it up. Wiping the floor, she'll find dirty socks. She'll remember she has to do the laundry. When she puts the laundry in the washer, She'll trip over boots and bump into the freezer. Bumping into the freezer will remind her she has to plan for supper. She will get out a pound of hamburger. She'll look for her cookbook ("101 Things to do with a Pound of Hamburger"). The cookbook is setting under a pile of mail. She will see the phone bill, which is due tomorrow. She will look for her checkbook. The checkbook is in her purse that is being dumped out by her two-year-old. She'll smell something funny. She'll change the two-year-old's diaper. While she is changing the diaper, the phone will ring. Her five-year-old will answer and hang up. She'll remember she wants to phone a friend for coffee. Thinking of coffee will remind her that she was going to have a cup. And chances are...If she has a cup of coffee, Her kids will have eaten the muffin that went with it.

A Good Letter To HomeSchoolers Written by Sonlight Curriculum

I got this letter today from the Sonlight Curriculum.  I thought it was good and it was worth sharing with others. Here is the major part of the letter.

Overcoming the Second-or-Third-Week-of-Homeschooling Blues

I have been thinking: this is a time of year when many of our customers--especially brand-new homeschoolers--find themselves struggling with depression, a feeling of hopelessness and doom.

It's not just that the weather is shifting.

No. What depresses and enervates homeschooling parents at this time of year, especially if they are first-time homeschoolers, is the fact that they launched into the homeschool adventure with bright hopes. But now their hopes are being dashed on the shoals of cranky children . . . laundry and housework not done when it "should" be . . . non-teaching spouse far less supportive of the homeschool enterprise than the teacher had originally anticipated. A sense of panic wells up as certain subjects seem completely beyond one's ability to teach. (After all, Johnny keeps making the same mistakes over and over!)

To borrow an image from Scripture: Inexorably, it seems, one feels the spikes of impending failure being driven deeper and deeper into one's outstretched hands. How much easier it would be simply to give up and send the kids back to school! (Right?)

Not really. Especially not if you intend to fulfill the purposes for which you decided to homeschool them in the first place.

Remember Why You Decided to Homeschool Your Children in the First Place

At times homeschooling is a challenge. So you need to remind yourself why you chose to homeschool: to influence your children’s lives; to instill your values; to get to know your children and share meaningful experiences with them; to see the “lights come on” when your they learn new things; to keep your children safe. . . .

I’m sure you have other reasons. Keep them in mind to help you get over the tough times. If need be, write them down so you can refer to them when your mind simply doesn't want to "go there." And next time you're discouraged, meditate on them. Pray over them. Ask God to help you achieve them.

With your goals clearly in mind, providing the motivation you need to pay the price to keep moving ahead, I'd like to offer some additional, practical strategies to help relieve some of the pain you may be feeling right now.

Realize you're not alone

You're not alone. Many--possibly most--of your homeschooling peers feel the way you do at one time or another. And this is a time of year when a larrge number of them get feeling as if they are being crucified. And the rest of them, just as you, are sorely tempted to get down from that cross! . . .

John and I have seen the problem and we want to offer you real help. Because there is help. And it doesn't necessarily mean giving up on homeschooling. I can't absolutely guarantee it, but in the vast majority of cases--yes, even in cases like yours--things do get better. Way better.

Find fellowship

That's what I wrote to you a couple of days ago when I encouraged you to check out the Sonlighters Club Forums.

Really. As I discussed in that letter, you are not alone if you feel alone because you homeschool. Lots and lots of other homeschool moms find themselves in the exact same position: "No one I know homeschools. Or, at least, no one in my closest circle of acquaintances homeschools. They all send their kids to the public school. And then when I'm around them, they act as if I'm strange. . . ." --This is a common experience.

And sometimes it's nice just to be able to talk about that experience, to have someone else say, "I understand" . . . and know they really do and they really mean what they say.

You need your own support group. And the Sonlighters Club Forums can provide you that support in spades. Not just in terms of people who understand what you're going through while you teach your children--and who can give very helpful advice about all the kinds of issues you see addressed in every issue of A Beam of Sonlighht. But they can provide the kind of "adult conversation" you crave about virtually anything you want to talk about--from a good book to read, to a theological question that has been bothering you, to the latest issues on CNN, to . . . you name it.

What a wonderful respite for a weary traveler on the homeschool path!

Since I wrote that letter, however, I have been thinking of another angle I need to address.

Give yourself grace

We've been talking with our Curriculum Consultants to see what they have to say on the subject. It seems we all agree. If you are at the beginning of your school year . . . and especially if you are a first-time homeschooler . . . you need to give yourself grace.

What does that look like?

Here's what Jill, the moderator of our New Instructors Forums, says:

Have you ever started a new job and looked around you and thought, "There is so much to learn!" And it seems way harder than the way everyone else seems to make it look. The other people are so much more competent! And you wonder if you will ever get the hang of it.

 

There is a list somewhere of the highest stress factors on a person, and starting a new job is right up there in (I believe) the top three. Very stressful and frustrating.

Now imagine, if you will, that you start a new job, and on that very same day, everyone in your family starts a new job, too. Imagine!!! What a mess. What stress. How would everyone cope? But that is pretty much what happens when you start to homeschool. Everyone in your house is starting a new job at the same time: you, your child(ren), your spouse, everyone. The status quo has changed. Everyone has a new role. Everyone has a new job.

All this to say: Keep your expectations realistic. Give yourself and your family time to adjust. You can't expect to start a new job and be as skilled in it as someone who has been doing it for a long time.

If you start slow, you will be surprised how quickly you get a routine going and how you will get better and better at [your new job].

Jennifer, another Sonlight Curriculum Advisor, had some advice, she said, is

good for new and seasoned homeschoolers alike: Start the year off gradually. Don't try to cover all subject areas the first few weeks. You will almost certainly be overwhelmed.

 

Even after ten years of back-to-homeschool starts after summer breaks, I still begin with just a few subjects and add more as the weeks progress. I've found it easiest to begin with Bible, Core, Language Arts and Science since they follow a more regular schedule. I then add in Math, Music, Art, Foreign Language, Current Events, Physical Education, etc. gradually over the next several weeks. That usually works very well. It seems to give us all (kids and mom/teacher) a chance to settle back into a school routine.

I would want to add that Jennifer is speaking as a 10-year homeschool veteran. Maybe for her "Bible, Core, Language Arts and Science" is easy. And maybe for a bunch of people all of those subjects won't be too hard. But if you want to cut back to, say, "just" Bible and Core, or Bible, Core and Language Arts: that's okay. You're still getting your feet wet.

Several of our advisors had a discussion. We all agreed that we had heard advice something along the lines of, "If you're brand-new to homeschooling, give yourself a week (or a month) per year that your children were in classroom school" to ease yourself into the homeschooling routine.

The problem was, we couldn't agree on which number we had heard: Should it be one week per year of classroom schooling? Or one month per year?

"I've heard both a week and a month," said Rhonda. "But honestly, if you were to say a month, it would be discouraging to anyone who has had a child in a classroom for any length of time."

I would like to encourage you. It's okay if it takes a month per year of past classroom experience. If your son or daughter has been so beaten down by his or her experiences in the classroom; if it takes you a month per year in order to figure out your son's or daughter's unique learning style and the kinds of teaching approaches that work--and those that don't; if it takes a month per year in order for you to (re)gain your feet when it comes to figuring out how to teach as well as take care of the house, make meals, and so forth: who has any right to tell you you are taking too long?

You know: there are, literally, millions of adults in the world today who lost far more than a few months of (hopefully) academic activity due to deaths in their families, divorces, abuse, terrible teachers, and more . . . and they are highly successful people today.

Your child(ren) can join them . . . even if it takes you a month per year . . . or more.

It's not too long.

Take the time you and your child(ren) require. You and they are worth it.

Of course I'm not talking about doing nothing. I'm not advocating that you let your child(ren) sit around and watch TV or play video games all day. But so what if your son or daughter "needs" to rebalance his or her sense of joy in discovery by reading historical novels and discussing literature all day for a few weeks . . . and doesn't do any math or science for the month? How bad can it be?

Give yourself time. Give homeschooling time.

And if you need some "testimonials" from other moms or dads who have been through this experience themselves; if you want to know how they have handled the stress of starting out: as I said above, and as Sarita and I have been attempting to communicate for some days, now: please visit the Sonlighters Club Forums and ask.

Thanks.

Sincerely,

Sarita Holzmann, President

Sonlight Curriculum, Ltd.

 When I walked on the dock this day  to see the new boat that we had just  bought, I was greeted by two ladies.    I was with my son, Joshua.  

Sue, blonde hair, lots of jewelry, began to talk and ask questions.  I felt a little bit uncomfortable, uneasy inside as I was answering her questions, but I wanted to be friendly so I answered her seeminly inconspicuous questions.  Is this your first boat?  Are you new to boating?  You have a cabin on the lake you've rented, too? How long have you rented the cabin for?  As I answered these questions, (I felt nervous inside, just meeting these two ladies for the first time, I would have preferred to not have had any conversation at all), I started realizing that most of these questions these ladies already knew the answer too. My husband is the friendly and outgoing type and he'd been on this dock talking to various people at times I hadn't been with him. Their questions were just  a confirmation of what they'd already heard through the grapevine.

After Sue's questions to me, she turned to my son, 11 years old.
Hand's held out wide, she asks with enthusiasm, "And Joshua! Why are you here today?" 

1) One homeschooling book you have enjoyed
I Saw the Angel in The Marble, by Chris and Ellyn Davis

Using the model tabernacle and the flanelgraph, I like to stop at each item mentioned and look at it's representation - the lampstand in the model, or the ephod/sash, tassels, on the flanelgraph picture.   I like to ask questions - I don't have all the answers yet - but I point out to the kids that everything has a purpose - a symbolism - just like the lampstand.   Why did God have Moses sprinkle blood on everything?  Think about it - if we get blood on something around the house, were busy cleaning it up, even getting the spray Clorox bottle out.  Yet here, the blood, the Bible tells us, was purifying the altar, the garments.  The day of the ordination, everything is brand spankling clean - the priests garments, the items of the tabernacle.  Then God tells Moses to stick his fingers in the slaughtered ram, and sprinkle the blood on the priests brand new garments - in order to purify them! In our minds, were we to get blood on our new outfit, it would be getting it grotesquely dirty, but here, God says this is purifying their garments, their altar.  Here, I play this out, briefly. I move my hands and body as if to slaughter an animal; it's now laying there wide open with its blood spilling out.  I motion as if to stick my fingers in it . I then sprinkle blood on my kids new clothes that their wearing, flicking my fingers at them, as if, I'm actually doing this - and at the same time, I tell them, "I'm purifying you."  What did God mean by this? I ask them.  I'm leading them to visualizing this, meditating on this act, instead of just reading and moving on.   I love it when I have the kids rapt attention, their eyes are focused on me, and I can tell I have brought them into this thought process.  My eleven year old son, Joshua, said, "Wow! When I get to heaven I'm going to have so many questions to ask Him!"

We have been working through the Narrated Bible this year and while reading the portions of Israel and tabernacle, I have used a flanelgraph and a plastic model of the tabernacle. I feel that if we had just read those portions of the Bible without these teaching aids, it might have appeared a lifeless study to the kids. As I read, I point to the mentioned things (the ephod, the lampstand, etc..) of something tangible and visual, the model we put together of the tabernacle and the beautiful flanelgraphs.

I point out that all of these things in the tabernacle had a purpose, a symbolism, a special significance in the sight of God. It is our job to unearth, dig for, as for hidden treasure, gold and silver, just what this symbolism is, what is the significance behind of all of these things mentioned in His Word.

I started with the lampstand.  I had bought a book just on that subject - God's Lamp: Man's Light (Mysteries of the Menorah) by John D. Garr.  Wow! Talk about relevant - if I had just read to them the verse about the making of the lampstand and moved on - I'm sure we would have missed the boat.

The lampstand - each extention had it's own vessel.  We learned that the oil in the individual vessels was filled with oil. This oil represents the Word of God.   The fire that lit the floating wick within the oil/vessel was representative of God, the Holy Spirit.

I didn't read this, ( I have yet to finish this study, reading this book) but I assumed then (?) that the floating wick within the vessel was the individual Christian (symbolic of), but maybe now I'm wondering if the more accurate representation is that we are the vessel itself?  That makes more sense, I think.

I told the kids that we must immerse ourselves in the Word of God - read, memorize, meditate, fill our vessel with the Word of God and then, and only then, can the Holy Spirit come and "light" our wick.  He promises the Holy Spirit if we ask for Him.  Then, we are a light unto the world - this is what God designed us to be - but we can not be this light without God's Word steeped within us.

I showed them, by picking up a plastic menorah from the model tabernacle, I put my fingers over all the lampstand except one.  I showed them that this one light will bring light to a dark room - that's our own light.  But how much more light is there if 2 people are immersed in His Word and have their light lit? Collectively then, as a family, if we are all reading His Word and meditating on it, and the Holy Spirit lights our "wick", we will be the lempstand He has called us to be, bringing light into a darkened world.

It's early in the morning, sitting in a room of the Marriot, while my husband is at a meeting.  Time this morning to pray (not so peaceful - noice from without the room, maids cleaning, vacuuming, etc...) and time to read His Word.  Then, a few minutes perhaps to write about what God has been doing in my life, teaching me, prayer requests, and desires.

Summer begins next month.  I played with the idea of doing school all summer - yet- there are so many things I want to do personally.  I want, I crave - for quiet time to read, think, meditate, write, communicate - massive amounts of time for this is what I desire - not just a slot in the day.

For the summer, I have come to one conclusion regarding "school" - to keep going with our daily Bible readings from the Narrated Bible on Ancient Israel.  First of all, if I don't, what message is that sending?  Bible is for school time - in the summer, we take a break, a vacation, from the Bible.  No - wrong message. 

Secondly, I want to use the summer to continue this study for myself, in order to be able to teach it to the kids, all the symbolism behind the tabernacle and it's items. My list of books I plan on reading this summer are listed on the entry "Ancient Israel Reading List".