Posted in Homeschooling
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I wanted to update on our goals from my school planning post regarding what I’ve done for our family scripture verses. The kids and I sat down and talked about “things” we struggle with. For the younger kids, I asked them if there’s a time they get upset, or mad. From there we chose our scriptures. We are going to write (or type) them on templates and post them around the house and on front of school binders. For me as the teacher, I wanted us all to have a reason for what we do and why we do it, so our family/school verse for this year is 1 Peter 3:15. But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect. One of the kids mentioned having trouble with doing what needs to be done. I think everyone in our house (me, too!) struggles with this. Call it laziness, complaining, or not thinking of others first, I think the following verse has it covered – plus, it mentions serving! Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving. Colossians 3:23-24 As mentioned in my original planning post, I specifically felt dd4 needed to work on not complaining. She can be a fabulous helper if Dad or Mom is with her, but she has begun to complain when doing a task with a sibling or by herself. So she gets Philippians 2:14-15; she says she wants to shine like a star ;-) Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of god without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like starts in the universe… And finally, one of the other kids mentioned 1 Corinthians 13, so we’re “doing” verse 5 and 7 from there, in the Amplified version. Love is not conceited (arrogant and inflated with pride); It is not rude (unmannerly) and does not act unbecomingly. Love (God’s love in us) does not insist on its own rights or its own way, or it is not self-seeking; It is not touchy or fretful or resentful; it takes no account of the evil done to it [it pays no attention to a suffered wrong]. Love bears up under anything and everything that comes, is ever ready to believe the best of every person, its hopes are fadeless under all circumstances, and it endures everything [without weakening].
I feel a great sense of accomplishment at working on my goals. And especially encouraged after going over these scriptures and how I can apply them to me! Be blessed! |
Posted in Homeschooling
 I finally got around to joining The Homeschool Lounge! They are having a Homeschool Open House, which motivated me to blog about our plan for the new school year: This year we'll have a busy time as we teach, learn with and encourage our children who are 11, 9, 7, 4 and 18 months. We have an 18-year-old, too, but there isn't any planning in this post for him ;-) Planning: I love to plan. I love to scour websites and booklists. Then I realize I can’t buy it all or do it all this year, so I narrow it down to a realistic size and use planning forms from Cindy Rushton. I have a household/kitchen plan in a binder and forms for our school plan in my school binder. Goals: Thanks to Cindy Rushton, I’ve learned I need to “write it down!” So, I write out personal, spiritual and educational goals for the kids and myself. This year we’ll have a scripture for each child, such as "Do everything without complaining so that you may shine like stars in the universe” for a certain 4-year-old ;-) I have an UPDATE with more specifics of what we've done! Reaching those goals!
Curriculum: I must confess that I am a curriculum junkie. It was such a blessing to be a part of TOS Crew last year, but it only spurred me on to new (more) curriculum. Devotions & Character training: We’ve begun reading and focusing our devotions around Hinds’ Feet on High Places; then we’ll advance to a Pilgrims’ Progress reader, then listen to the audio CD from Answers in Genesis while the older children read along. Hopefully, we can end with the newer movie version! We will be creating a few lapbooks on Character Qualities, beginning with an Honesty lapbook from Hands of a Child (HOAC). Math: I have three different math curriculum in our home! We previously did Miquon, then reviewed three levels of Math Mammoth last year, and have now purchased 3 used, older levels of Math-U-See. I guess we’ll see where each child is at and go from there. The older versions of MUS cover more than one year of math. Several local friends can’t say enough about MUS – highly recommended! History: I use history as our springboard for our unit studies, so this covers our Language Arts. I have fallen in love with history since my oldest son (now 18) and I began using Diana Waring and historical fiction for our history studies. This year we are using TruthQuest History and HS in the Woods & Amy Pak, and supplementing with Diana Waring. I have some Tapestry of Grace, but needed help narrowing down to study just US History and covering my age range of kids, with the 7-year-old not reading yet. Art history is included here. And handwriting: we’re using A Reason for Handwriting, Draw Write Now and a freebie from Homeschool Freebie of the Day (Check them out!)
Science: Nature study and Apologia Flying Creatures and the lapbook from Knowledge Box Central. Fun stuff: I’ve purchased a lapbook for DD11 for Susan K. Marlow’s book Andrea Carter and the Family Secret from A Journey through Lapbooking. For DS9 a unit study from Amanda Bennett on racing. And DD7 is an amazing artist, so she’ll be happy with a great supply of paper and markers, crayons, and colored pencils.
Did I mention enough Homeschooling companies?! There are so many great people who are available to help us out. They share freebies and give seminars, so make sure you support those companies who’ve helped you out with information and freebies in the past! And tell your friends! I think that about covers it! If not, let me know ;-) Be blessed, Danielle
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Posted in Homeschooling
 From my friend, Jacque: I received an email from Mr. Israel Wayne through the Gleaning the Harvest emails offering me the opportunity to raise some advertising money for an ad for Gleaning the Harvest in the home schooling magazine, Home School Digest. The awesome thing is that that is not all it is. It is a FREE Sample Issue for all of my friends too. I ordered my FREE sample issue today, and I wanted to let you know you could too. The emphasis of Home School Digest is on Family Discipleship, Character Building and Developing A Biblical Worldview. HSD is also the nation’s longest-running Christian homeschooling magazine.The link to order your FREE sample offer is:
http://www.HomeSchoolDigest.com/hsdsample.htm and the Promo Code is: GLEAN   By using this link and Promo code, you will receive a free sample issue of the magazine, and Gleaning the Harvest will receive $1 in magazine advertising credit. You are welcome to spread the word about this also via your blogs and websites, in email, on Yahoo groups, in church bulletins and other support groups and meetings. Thanks for stopping by! Get your free sample issue and thanks for supporting GTH! Danielle |
Posted in Homeschooling
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We live in a fairly conservative part of the country, but our neighboring city that puts out the "big" Sunday paper doesn't seem to understand that. We tolerated their biased coverage of the election, but last Sunday they printed two long articles from the LA Times. These were very sad, rather disgusting (bottom-line: ungodly) articles. So, goodbye Sunday paper: no sports page, no coupons, no more liberal media in our home. The subscription we will continue to receive is to the Christian news magazine WORLD. We had incorporated WORLD magazine into our homeschool with our highschooler. It helps us to better understand and explain current events from a Biblical worldview, which doesn't leave room for wishy-washy opinions! There were a few times we had our son compare articles, one from WORLD and one from the newspaper, so he could see the bias for himself. There are political cartoons to analyze and many discussions sparked. I've updated this post, as it was previously a giveaway. I thought I would leave the above information, since we really do enjoy WORLD magazine. Blessings, Danielle |
Posted in Homeschooling
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I've actually been finding the time to read. Of course, if something is important to us, we will "find" or "make" the time!
I knew I needed to start reading some of the historical fiction for next year to stay ahead of Seth (15), so I read Uncle Tom's Cabin for the first time in my life. Wow! I'm not sure how to put it into words, but I'll try, as I encourage you to read it if you never have. I say "wow" from the standpoint of how this book affected me spiritually. I don't know how an unsaved person can read this book and not be affected; unless they just feel sorry for the people suffering and their belief in God. Uncle Tom is the epitome of a missionary and servant, wanting all to know Jesus and his promises, putting his wants and needs aside. There are other characters you can relate to, love or dislike; Ms. Stowe even speaks to mothers a few times, just to tug at our heartstrings!
Please read this book if you haven't; if you read it years ago, and it didn't have an affect on your life, read it again! It is a worthwhile endeavor. |
Posted in Homeschooling
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Wow! My just-turned-8 daughter is reading very well; my older son learned to read at "school" so this is my first child that I taught! We tried reading when she was 6, and she was not understanding that each letter made a sound. She loved writing, so I would write family names, "happy birthday" and "I love you" for her to copy, and she was happy with that; so we waited until last Fall for reading, and she understood the sounds! I ended up using "Teach Your Child to Read in 100 easy lessons" but we're still in the 70's, and she's reading very well. I think she's even surprised that she can pick up any book and read. When she would ask me to read a book to her, and I responded that she could read it, she wasn't too sure. So, we often start a book with her reading the first paragraph or so, then I take over, if she wants. I don't know if it was "100 easy lessons" or my daugher, but her intonation is great, also! And her younger siblings will sit and listen to her! I had been waiting for this day, and I'm so excited that it has finally come! |
Posted in Homeschooling
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It's that time of year again, when I start planning school for next year. The "boring" textbooks are quite expensive for our 15 year old: We've been doing Saxon Math but will be studying Geometry using Teaching Textbooks for next year. We're going to buy the computer program, too, so it's a good chunk of our school budget. We're using Apologia science (Biology) and Diana Waring History. We'll need to add some U.S. History in there.
I had never enjoyed history until teaching Seth using Waring's Unit Study books. It's too bad that the teachers I had never got their love of history across to me! I think we'll be using History and Geography as our base for other subjects, especially English. I had plenty of English myself, so feel I can "wing it" using a lot of historical fiction and booklists from Educating the Whole Hearted Child, Honey for a Child's Heart and Books Children Love.
We're trying to buy a few special books for each child every year, hard back, of course. Seth enjoys reading LOTR, Ted Dekker and Frank Peretti. We've gotten Anne of Green Gables and The Little Princess for Sierra.
Time to make dinner & head off to a b-day party! Thanks for checking in, Danielle |