Tips are based upon my study, Say What You Mean: Defending the Faith. Check it out here.
Can't make it live? We hope to be able to keep uploading our audios after the show, so come live if you can!
This morning I received an e-newsletter from CollegePlus!, in which an article by Lauren Bleser titled, "A Teacher Learns the Truth About Education," was shared. Ms. Bleser's opening paragraph reads,
In 2002, I graduated with my Master’s degree as a reading specialist after having finished a teaching degree from the State University of New York at Oneonta. I was fast on my way to a full and busy career in the public school system when I was caught off guard by a homeschooling parent who asked if I could explain God’s mind on education. I had never really considered that before, always taking it for granted that we simply go through the system, memorize the information required, and graduate. This challenging question led me on a quest that changed the course of my life.
Bless that homeschooling parent, whomever he or she was...what a question! It is one that every homeschooling parent should ponder. Can you explain God's mind on education? God's mind can be an intimidating thing to probe. And yet, He desires us to do just that...by diving into the Scriptures.
My feeling is that by the time we are homeschooling high school, we have probably begun to study Bible in school! So I'll not be offering advice on Bible curricula. What the Lord has laid upon my heart to share, rather, is the "mindset" of studying Bible in our homeschool high school.We are preparing our young adults, at this point in their lives, for independence. In case you haven't taken a good, long, focused look at the world out there lately, you really ought to. I'll warn you...it isn't pretty. I know--I spend one hour a day, 4 days a week sitting in my local community college cafe or study lounge while waiting for my 16 year old son's German class to finish. I do not have the "gift" of being able to simply "tune out" people's conversations. I'm verbal. I listen, whether I want to or not. Words do not escape me. The standard fare of conversation around me is typically what I would call "disgusting." Often times the spiritual darkness that lives and thrives in this place feels stifling, oppressive, suffocating. This time of week, I push myself to write this blog in the midst of the chatter. Other days, I sit in front of my computer, or walk the halls, simply praying. But I digress...
The point of that paragraph was just to say that our young men and women, our high school students, need to have the FULL ARMOR OF GOD (Eph. 6:10-18) to protect them out there. To bring us back to today's blog topic, I'll ask you a few questions, and you can decide whether or not you'd like to ponder them with me! Here you go:-
Is your study of "Bible" in your homeschool viewed or treated by your student as a subject he must study and check off the "to do" list, just as history and math are?
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Are you studying the Bible with a curriculum workbook that has them reading articles which explain the Bible to them, or tell them what the passages mean? Are questions given in such a way that much of the answer is already given, with just a few "fill-in-the-blanks" required?
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Is the time your student spends studying "Bible" going hand-in-hand with their history course?
None of these things are bad in and of themselves...it is vitally important that our students understand the Bible's role as a source of true history. BUT...do they develop a hunger for and love of God's Word in our young people? Do they bring about the things that our young adults are going to need in order to survive their first steps into independence--spiritual maturity, wisdom, and a consistent and close walk in obedience to Jesus Christ?
So, what is God's mind regarding education? Here are a few passages to consider:"The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding." (Proverbs 9:10)
"And unto man he said, Behold, the fear of the LORD, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding." (Job 28:28)
"The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: a good understanding have all they that do his commandments: his praise endureth for ever." (Psalm 111:10)"The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; Fools despise wisdom and instruction." (Proverbs 1:7)
"Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man." (Ecclesiastes 12:13)We'll end here for today, and continue next week. May God bless you and your homeschool this week!
Lori
Lori Havens has been married to Kevin for 24 years. They live in Illinois with their two sons, Bryan (17) and Nathan (16), and dog Sunny (9). Lori enjoys writing, gardening, reading, and the outdoors. She hosts the "Thursday Talkin' About Teenagers" meme at her HSB blog, "Plans4You," and is the author of "Should I Be A Nurse? A Journey of Self-Exploration for Those Considering a Career in Nursing" and "7 Essential Questions Every Future Nurse Must Ask." You can find her blogging at both Homeschool Blogger and Homestead Blogger .
With our hearts centered and focused above, we can better make order out of the chaos around us.
Domestic Chaos Tamer and Homeschool Mom of Five, Dell writes about home, heart and hearth.
I found a very interesting website when researching this week's topic:
When you go to a recipe at this site, such as Elizabeth's Carob Cake, you will find the recipe, a photo, and also tabs that will take you to a Bible Reference page and the History page for that particular food.
The site also has a meals section with links to recipes for each dish.
I plan to spend more time at this site in the coming days, and perhaps take a look at the cookbook if I can find it at a local library.
Another book that I find helpful in planning Biblical celebrations is Celebrating Biblical Feasts In Your Home or Church by Martha Zimmerman.
I hope these sources help you to add some tasty foods in with your Biblical studies.
Blessings,
Catherine
Catherine Love lives in the heart of Texas with her husband Carl, and their 3 daughters, Sarah, Hannah, and Cana. They enjoy cooking, gardening, and learning new things as they seek to live a lifestyle of learning together as a family. You can read Catherine's Kitchen Adventures and more on her blog- Seeds of Love.
I have been in need of that anchor in the last few months as I have been dealing with health issues. These issues and the ensuing effects have caused me to doubt myself and my ability to educate my children. I have even gotten so far as to seriously consider putting them in school after the Christmas break. I feel like I have let my children down. Not only am I not giving them a Classical Education but it might also be debated whether I am giving them any kind of education at all.
Those are the words that I mutter to myself when I sink into that bad place. That dark, suffocating place that does not abide in hope. I don't like that place so I combat it by turning to God's Word. I read His Word and commit it to my spirit, so that when the darkness starts to enfold me, I can hold it off by the light of His Word.
When I am at this place, there are quite a few scriptures that wards off the darkness. Here are a few that I have relied on in the last few months.
For thou art my rock and my fortress; therefore for thy name's sake lead me, and guide me. Pull me out of the net that they have laid privily for me: for thou art my strength. Into thine hand I commit my spirit: thou hast redeemed me, O LORD God of truth. (Ps. 31:3-5)
Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the Lord. (Ps. 31:24)
Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness . (Isaiah 41:10)
My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O LORD; in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up. (Ps. 5:3)
I am so thankful for God's Word that I can cling to as my anchor through this rough time. In clinging to His Word, I am assured that He will lead me to higher and drier ground in time.
Julia lives on the Canadian Prairies with her husband, homeschooling their 3 children (10,8,6) and is attempting to give them a Classical Education. You can read more at her blog.
- Quilted Bible Cover ~ Although the Lord doesn't care whether our Bibles have a nifty cover, it's still a fun thing to make and use! Not to mention it can be very handy for holding paper and pen for sermon notes.
- Stenciled Bible Verses ~ I saw this done at a church once, and the result was pretty and charming. Get some lettering stencils, choose an appropriate verse, color, and wall, and get painting! You could also stencil your verse on other things.
- Another way to burn verses into your memory, almost literally, is to burn them onto a piece of wood using a woodburning tool. This technique is also called pyrography. It produces a simple, yet lovely, effect if you merely write out your verse in plain letters with your woodburning iron, and then decorate it with pressed flowers.
- Still another way to display your favorite verses would be to print or write them out on a piece of paper, decorate it, frame it, and then hang it on your wall. You could also choose to use counted cross-stitch to embroider your verse.
It's time to get back to Featured Blogger again! It's been a nice break and it was nice to have Amanda Bennett on the HSB home page for two whole weeks, but there are so many other bloggers to meet!
This week I want to introduce you to the PearceFamily of Planted Oaks and Little Acorns. This fun family takes time to enjoy life and homeschooling.
We've been talking about preparing for Christmas here on the Porch but how about preparing for a baby? Lori is one blessed mama! Her oldest daughter gives her a pedicure before the new bundle of joy arrives. What a special treat!
Have you joined the workbox craze? Then meet another mom who has fallen in love with this way of doing homeschooling! She has a whole category dedicated to workboxes.
Now here's a fun idea for blessing other families this Christmas! Give them 12 days of gifts that fit with the 12 Days of Christmas song. Lori blogged about it in 2 separate posts, days 1-4, and days 5-12.
Go wish the PearceFamily a Merry Christmas!
Tia Linschied
Senior Editor of HSB
- Turning Points in Homeschooling offers ample support and incredible insight that will help answer many of the troublesome questions you may have.
- Fiesta of Freebies 2nd Edition offers incredible organization of the many Freebies that were offered throughout 2008 in the Freebie Friday E-Newsletter and The Homeschool Minute.
Comfort and Joy
for Christmas
Just in time for Christmas!
A link to the free E-Books will be available upon checkout.
Are you worried about gift-giving? Get excited about giving to others! Make some spectacular gifts yourself quickly and easily. Enjoy phenomenal tips to keep the holiday season stress-free right into January as you put Molly's ideas to good use!
Tucked neatly within the pages of Molly's Digest, you'll find:
- Ideas for teaching your children gratitude and generosity.
- A beautiful, decorative use for last year's calendar as the year comes to a close.
- Great suggestions for family gifts, generic gifts, and even food gifts.
Would you like to be more "PC"? You can be practical and cost-conscious this Christmas season when you use Molly's ideas! Be "pleasantly confident" this year when using these inspirational gifts. Discover . . .
- When socks are a great Christmas gift.
- How to use popcorn as a gift to strengthen families.
- Practical gift options you can give to everyone by simply making small variations.
- Begin the countdown to Christmas with Eat a Red Apple Day.
- Include discussing tree decorations with Mitten Tree Day.
- Make your card deadline day December 9.
- Study worldwide celebrations on International Children's Day.
"In this edition, you will also find recipes as well as ideas for special days during the month of December. For example, I had no clue that December 8 was a National Brownie Day. Mmmm! Sounds delicious and good to me . . . My favorite article was definitively the "Eight Frugal Family Crafts." It gave me special ideas not only for extended family members but for my own family as well. I really love the Movie Night and the Super Sundaes ideas. Very creative and fun to put together . . . For me, I would love a Book Lovers' Basket or a Scrapbook Box of Surprises--anything to brighten my holidays. Once again, I think that Molly's Money-Saving Digest for the month of December 2009 is wonderful. Thanks Molly for this full year of your wonderful ideas!"
Monthly Feature--"Comfort and Joy for Christmas" will be exactly what your family feels when you simplify and minimize. Be courageous this Christmas and eliminate obligation and guilt, consider family gift-giving, agreeing to end gift exchanges or to make homemade gifts--Molly tells you how!
- Eight Frugal Family Gifts will ignite creativity in your entire family as you gather to design gift baskets for a Movie Night, Snacks and Desserts, and gaming fun for other families this Christmas.
- Twelve Generic but Sensible Gift Ideas could bring everything from safety to convenience into the life of the recipient and are incredibly fun to choose and personalize!
- Ten Fabulous and Frugal Foodie Gifts provide the thoughtfulness of both time and taste to friends and family with ideas to dress up cheesecake, present incredible bread as a present, and give the gift of baking fresh cookies in a two-part gift experience!
- Let's Get Together! Foodie gifts create incredible opportunity for a get together and can make hosting a holiday brunch much simpler than you ever imagined!
- All the Trimmings includes tips for decorating, wrapping, and all the holiday trimmings with a thrifty perspective. A quickie list will help keep your holiday sanity as you get it all done.
- Great Expectations for Kids helps you develop a lifelong attitude of gratitude in your children with five guidelines you can easily implement.
Do you love details? Check out each and every part of the December Molly's Money-Saving Digest right here:
- Molly's Minute--Year-end blessings from Molly remind you to focus on family, friends, and faith this Christmas season--regardless of how you choose to celebrate. The first full year of Molly's Money-Saving Digest is complete with this December issue, and more great things are coming in 2010!
- Begin With the Basics--"Candy Making 101" will warm your heart and pleasantly fill the tummies of friends and loved ones. As a frugal art, candy making gets off to a great start, and this article brings recipes, tips, and wrapping ideas. Even some historical reading is thrown in for good measure! You'll love making homemade toffee and mints, and you'll learn what important piece of equipment will help most in your candy making.
- On Sale This Month--With all the Christmas shopping going on, you won't want to miss the list of sale items this month. The list goes far beyond Christmas gifts to items you'll be thankful you found on sale now--you'll use them all year long.
- Keeping it all Together--"Staying Sane During the Holiday Season" isn't just a great title for this article--it is possible for you! This section offers perfect direction for staying on track this season and will prevent you from doing too much. Links galore will also save you time and money!
- Feather Your Nest Frugally--What 6-foot-by-2-foot decorative item could you be working on that will be enjoyed all year long? It isn't your Christmas tree. This great idea will call for you to "pull the tubs from under your bed, dance through the garage, and send your husband up to the attic." Aubrey Lively shares this project she and her mother haven't even officially named because it is too fantastic and beyond words! Pictures and instructions will motivate you to completion as Aubrey walks Molly readers through the entire process with a specially made item just for the Digest.
- Pull Up a Chair--Another great gift idea awaits, along with the usual week's worth of weeknight menus. From tasty Mandarin Almond Salad and old-faithful meat loaf that makes a house a home, to elegant but frugal meals the children will love, Molly's meals have you covered. The Turkey Noodle Leftover Casserole will make the whole house sing--perfect for caroling preparation! Recipes include an ingredient list, easy-to-follow instructions, and even a few more great gift ideas will be found sprinkled within this week of menus.
- Parenting That Pays--Dividends are great when you invest in your children; find wonderful ideas for serving others while instilling consideration and generosity in your children. Get motivated as Jennifer Sikora shares ways her family chooses to serve others, and she encourages your family to do the same.
- Something Old, Something New--"Old Calendars to New Art" will close the 2009 year in style as you learn about a great recycling idea for calendars. Get long-term use from the pictures you loved in your calendar far longer than one year!
- Goal-Getter Spotlight--"Today a Laptop, Tomorrow a Castle" takes you into the life of Aubrey Lively as you hear from an all-around goal-getter. She shares her heart for writing and her story of a small-step process to reaching big success!
- Readers Write In--Molly opens this section this month to fellow readers sharing family traditions. Exactly what did happen to Paula's disappearing gingerbread man's arms and legs? Enjoy her story with a recipe for cinnamon ornaments. Delight in Lisa's very creative final hidden gift that will help your family when it comes time to tear down the Christmas tree. Perfect personalized gifts, tips for gift-giving, even tips for opening gifts can all be found in wonderful advice from fellow Molly's Digest readers.
- Molly's Question of the Month--Are you signed up for Molly's free, weekly E-Newsletter? If not, you are missing out on tips and creative ideas to stay frugal throughout your household. You don't want to miss it!
- Words Worth Saving--Perfect for a monthly memorization activity, Scripture is found throughout Molly's Money-Saving Digest. Enjoy God's Word as you celebrate this Christmas season and all of December.
- Directory of Links--Count on this directory of the links found in the Digest, enabling you to instantly reach websites while viewing your Digest online. Or print the list for a great resource of money-saving sites to refer to again and again.
New Molly readers, veteran Molly readers, homemakers, homeschoolers, and moms very much like you have previewed the December Molly--what did they say?
"As always, there are money-saving tips and recipes in the pages of the latest Digest. An entire week's worth of menu-planning meals for suppertime are shared, including a terrific recipe for frozen meat loaf. There are a few recipes for making your own candy, along with links for others and how to turn the goodies into great gifts. In addition, there is fantastic idea after idea for low-cost gift-giving--much appreciated in my household this year! . . . And there are ideas for decorating too, such as yummy-smelling cinnamon ornaments, as well as some non-Christmas decorating ideas for your home. I'm going to be referring to this copy of the Digest often as the Christmas season approaches!"
"Knowing that this issue was December and would be directly linked to the holiday season, I was so pleased to read that the writing for the Digest would be directed towards Christians with diversity in convictions and beliefs and traditions in mind. With that said I was able to grab the Digest and sit to glean cheerfully from its contents without worrying about whether or not to avoid or pass through any of the writings . . . I got my cooking thinking cap back on in the recipe section and am making my lists for cooking up those extra meals for the freezer. Once I'm in the habit of doing it, boy, does it make life easier in the kitchen on co-op and errand days for us. On a personal note, it always makes me wonder why people only decide to help out others during the holiday season. Is Christ not in our lives EVERY DAY of the year, EVERY month as well? Setting our children up for service projects and helping the homeless and families in need should be a part of our everyday living, not just the last month of the year. I enjoyed reading all the gift ideas, and I think I might even do those year 'round, especially to families with multiple siblings--giving is so much fun! I love the idea of giving for the body, soul, and spirit; wow, what a great concept to teach with as well! All in all, another wonderful Digest full of ideas and encouragement for the homeschooling Christian family."
"December's Molly's Money-Saving Digest is perfect for this year. I had already been stressing over how to still celebrate a meaningful Christmas with less money and less time. Molly's Digest has so many great ideas to de-stress my Christmas time. I had to grab pen and paper to write down recipes and ideas. The candy-making section inspired me to try something new. The family gift ideas are a great way to make someone know they are special without having to spend too much. I also thoroughly enjoyed the ideas from readers on new Christmas traditions--at least new to me. Now I can hardly wait for the holidays to begin."
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This is not say that I get uptight and overwrought for the holidays. I have done that before and as much as I would like to say it's not going to happen again... I just don't know. I have found a calm that helps me deal with the season.
Part of the calm comes from an acceptance of what can and cannot be. My husband and I have collected small Hallmark ornaments for years. The past 5+ years they cannot come out. We tried they were broken. So now we stow them away knowing that a time will come later in our life when we can put them out. I read an article in a country decor magazine that sung to me. The lady being interviewed had two children on the spectrum. She had made all her ornaments out of rolled stripes of cloth, very country looking, and nice when one of her sons flung one across the room!
Another one that hurts but is necessary, is that we cannot schedule everything and meals with everyone. In the holiday season it seems that there is a place to be every weekend and many week days. We could get a babysitter but is that truly what the season is about? For us no. We choose what we can do reasonably and then in the end if we have to we are ready to cancel. I don't like be so soft about meal commitments and events. It can be hard for others to understand but I know that my responsibility as a parent to a wonderfully special child comes before my social calendar.
As for diet restrictions I make a meal for us ahead of time. We bring a portion of the meal. We quietly load up the kids plates with the good stuff. I also go understanding that we will most likely have some contamination of glutens or caseins. It happens. I am not happy and I do not take that as a reason to break our diet in a big way. We get right back to work doing the best you can and eating the best you can.
All of this happens the easiest if I have a grand plan for the month. I mark out on a calendar, we hang on the wall, the whole month. The kids and I go over it repeatedly. As my son says,"If you don't tell me. I don't know and I get icky feeling inside when you jump up and say it's time to go." That was such a perfect insight into how he sees a change in schedule. It isn't an inconvience for him, it is a physically unpleasant response. Be clear about your plans!
Your holiday season can be wonderful! Carefully and thoughtfully think about your expectations. Plan the season accordingly. Get the whole family involved in keeping a calendar for events. In the end talk about and live out what is the most important part of the season. I believe if you do that you will feel fufilled and at peace! May the Lord bless your holiday season!
Heather lives in West Virginia. She and her husband have been homeschooling their 5 children for 8 years. Due to a genetic disorder their children have multiple special needs. Heather is also dealing with personal health difficulties. Living life to the fullest for the glory of God is their goal! Visit Heather's page at www.homeschoolblogger.com/gfcfmomofmany/ or at Special Needs Homeschooling.