Hi! Welcome to my blog! My name is Jane (PlainJane) and I am the blessed and happy wife to Jeff and doubly blessed mama of two perfectly wonderful daughters. Please join me as I share our Lifestyle of Learning through Christian homeschooling and homesteading on our little hobby farm with our prairie girls.
Amber (Bookworm) is our dd15/10th grader.
Our perfectionist and over-achiever. She loves reading, playing violin, all things vintage, riding her Paint horse, and being a farm girl.
Anna (Ladybug)
is our dd12/7th grader.
Our "girls just want to have fun" girl. She loves to play and has a great sense of humor, but also enjoys cooking, music, and riding her QH pony.
Sep. 8, 2008~ Blogger Friend School #100 - Oh What A Feeling! ~
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Assignment: Take time this week to write about YOU and your feelings of trials and triumphs with homeschooling. Touch on when you first heard about the concept of home schooling and whether you tip-toed into the idea or just jumped in and never looked back. Share your schooling as a child and how you compare it to what your goals are for your children
(Due to my own falt, I managed to lose the entire body of this post, but have re-entered it in a paraphrased version).
I LOVE HOMESCHOOLING!!!
Well, that pretty much sums it up for me, but I suppose you would like to hear more...
I believe God was preparing me for home educating our daughters at the ripe ole' age of 7 when I would spend hours teaching my stuffed animals from math papers I brought home from first grade. But I really disliked government school. I was often sick or absent from school - largely because my perfectionist mindset caused me to be nervous and afraid about EVERYTHING - afraid about not doing well in school, afraid of my teachers, and afraid of not fitting in with my peers. I think God was already using this to make me more sensitive to children, especially my own, someday. Thankfully I later entered a Christian high school where I could speed along at my own pace and did much better.
Fast forward...Jeff and I married in 1993 and I became pregnant soon afterwards. We didn't think too much of our child(ren)'s schooling at first, but God quickly began to speak to us about homeschooling through Focus on the Family broadcasts where Dr. Raymond Moore was Dr. Dobson's guest and through frinding "The Teaching Home" magazine. The cover of the Aug/Sept. issue featuring the brightly scrubbed faces of a family of 7 boys and 6 girls, all in matching outfits, hooked me. I inhaled the magazine and a conviction to homeschool burned within me. I believe God called us to homeschool before our first child was even born because He knew it would take me that long just to figure out how to begin. To make a long story short(er), I finally found a couple of homeschoolers that helped us in our search for information.
Our lifestyle of learning has never waivered. We feel as stongly about it today as we did over 14 years ago -- before our first child was born. My favorite verse at the top of this blog, ...."Take to heart all the words I have solemnly declared to you this day, so that you may command your children to obey carefully all the words of this law. They are not just idle words for you -- THEY ARE YOUR LIFE. By them you will live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to possess." Deut. 32:46-47. This is my life and I LOVE it!
Today, Sept., 8th is our first day of school this year. Here are a couple of photos of our classroom all ready and waiting to go.
I am a bit slow at entering my Blogger Friend School assignment since we were out of town, but it is never too late to join. BFS assignments are posted every Tuesday. If you would like more information or would like to join, please go HERE. You will also find the Mr. Linky to other BFS students that would love a visit from you.
Inspiring! If I did not already know this to be true, I'd pull my kids out of school and teach them myself. But hey, I already do that! :-)
Have a great first week of school. I am going to be working hard at home and spending less time in computer land this week.
Jenn
What a great post! You sound a lot like me! I didn't mention it in my post, but I too always "taught" my dolls & stuffed animals everything from music to math. I was pretty much an only child which left me to my own imagination, but I am right where I always wanted to be. Since I could talk I wanted to be a stay-at-home mommy and here I am! Praise the Lord!
And I would love to know what you know now! But, sadly enough, I probably have to learn it the hard way right? lol
You're right, it's never too late to post a BFS assignment. I'm loving rekindling all these blogging relationships that I missed over the summer.. glad to be here on your blog again..
I love this post. It puts things in perspective again. You're right. If the girls will just grow up to love God and serve him in truth, I will die happy. Who cares about acids and bases? lol
Hi Jane,
Welcome back home! It's so inspiring and encouraging to read your post! Your homeschool room is beautiful and brings about the teeniest bit of envy although, I do enjoy our reading all snuggled together on the couch. I can't wait until winter to light a fire and listen to the wood crackling and cuddle under a blanket....too HOT here for that now.
Training Hearts 
