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Only homeschoolers can take having surgery as an opportunity to learn. I received a frightening call from our doctor Tuesday afternoon, telling me to rush my son to the hospital's emergency room, the surgeon would meet us there. It so happens that Cam's appendix was close to rupturing. I was very upset, but tried to be "brave and strong" for Cameron as my oldest son instructed me to. Cam, however, was about to learn so many new things. He learned about IV's and potassium chloride and how anestesia works. He asked so many questions-the doctors knew he was homeschooled. In fact we got to discuss homeschooling with our anesthesiologist, who plans to homeschool his 2 year olds. It was an exciting experience for him. Now, don't get the impression, it was all fun and games, for it was not. However, all the hospital staff was so impressed at how all three of my children behaved (especially after being in hospital and doctor offices waiting rooms all day) This is another benefit of homeschooling-I've actually been with my kids to give them the training they need and it shows up when you need it to. Another benefit of homeschooling is the relationship that the children have with each other. My children's ages are 13, 10, and 6. It's the 10 year old that had the surgery, but the other two were so concerned about him. My 13 year old wanted to stay all night at the hospital-he did not want to leave his brother out of concern for his well-being. When my son arrived home, he was greeted by a home-made "Welcome Home" sign. I was touched. At the end of each school year, I begin to doubt myself. Are my children really learning? Are they where they "need" to be? (That's the old public school teacher in me!) After our recent experience at the hospital I realized they are exactly right where they need to be: AT HOME! |
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Good Day! It's been a while since I've been here. Believe it or not, we have another broken arm in our family! This time it is the little one. I am seeking direction for next school year. I have decided that we like unit studies but I like studying history in a chronological order. Therefore, I am thinking of Tapestry of Grace. In fact, I've thought about TOG for several years, but I've never really wanted to take the funds to purchase it. At this point, though, perhaps I should consider parting with the funds. It's so hard to know what to do. I am seeking direction from Him! My favorite scripture is "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not to your own understanding/In all your ways acknoledge Him and He will direct your paths!"Proverbs 3:4-5 I am certainly trying the do the "If" part of that promise and I know God will lead me! Have a blessed day!
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Well, it's that time again...the time to make resolutions. Number 1 in my list is always to lose weight and I do hope that this is the year that I succeed. I want to shed about 50 pounds total, but I would be happy with just 20! But with the new year, I began looking for a motto and what better place to find one than in God's word. My motto is going to be Psalm 108! "O God, my heart is fixed (steadfast); I will sing and give praise, even with my glory (I will make music and sing unto the Lord and give praise to God even with my glory-my hair-that's another Bible study!) For Your mercy is great above the clouds and your truth reacheth abouve the clouds. (KJV) The NIV says that "Your faithfulness reaches through the skies. Can you even phathom that? When I have flown I have always been amazed at how beautiful the skies are below and above the plane, but how do you go completely through the skies? Where is the end? Where is the end to God's faithfulness? That excites and comforts me and for that-His mercy, His faithfulness, and His truth-will I sing praise in 2008! May this be a blessed year in all of our homes and in our homeschooling!
The Penton Kids! |
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Did any of you catch the AP article on Tim Tebow, the newest Heisman winner? Apart from being the first sophmore to ever win this award, he is a homeschool graduate. He is the son of missionaries; his parents own and operate an orphanage in the Philippines where Tim has "worked and preached since he was 15". I don't know a thing about this young man, but the AP article was definetly complimentary. This is awesome in that this is one of the first complimentary articles to ever be written about homeschoolers. It shows what we have known all along; homeschoolers are as diverse as can be, but we share a few things in common: a love for God, a love for our children, a sense of responsibility, and the skills to acheive whereever God has given us strengths.
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I just came across an interesting quote from the Marmee Dear and Co. (Visit that website!) "Striving to be an old woman with no regrets" Now, that's a mouthful. Have a wonderful day! |
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To all those "Career Women" in the world-the ones who somehow feel superior to us homeschooling moms-for the record... Yes, I am highly intelligent. My degrees probably surpass yours. Yes, I am qualified to teach my own. In fact, I'm "highly qualified" in two states. But, even if I didn't have that meaningless piece of paper showing my credentials, my 3 highly motivated, very intelligent eager learners are credentials enough. Please...don't "pity" me. I love my children. I enjoy spending time with them-not "quality" time but quantity-lots of it. It thrills me to see my children catch on to a new idea. Do you ever get to witness that? No? I'm sorry for you. I really wish you could experience the joy of a 12 year old making a 100 on his algebra test or a 10 year old finally understanding his Latin conjugations, or a six year old standing in awe watching a bird dig for worms. And another thing, everytime you say the word "socialization", it is really hard for any homeschool mom not to roll her eyes. It just shows your ignorance on the subject. Honestly, is the world really divided into neat little controlled environments? Do you work with people your own age and socio-economic status? My world is not like that. My children have friends of all races and creeds and all age groups. They can hold intelligent and meaningful conversations with adults, have a wonderful time with kids their own ages, and play with toddlers if the situation necessitates that. Being able to function in the real world is really what socialization is all about, right? Does a public school classroom really represent the real world? No, I am not wasting my best career years. In a few years, my children will be out of my house. I will be off doing the things I want to do. I may go back into teaching in the public sector full-time. I may write a book or two. I will probably write a curriculum. I will still have plenty of years to make money and buy lots of things for myself and my kids. And, I don't think I'll have any regrets for this path that I have chosen. I hope that you can say the same.
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We are studying Old Testament History this school term using the Greenleaf guide and I am learning so much. One thing I have never been interested in is the geneology, but just recently something just really stuck out to me. Everyone knows the story of Enoch and everyone knows Methuselah and everyone knows Noah. Fewer people would easily recognize the name of Lamech, though. If you study the geneology of Noah, you'll find that it follows this way: Enoch (we know he "walked with God and God took him) and Methuselah (we know that he lived longer than any other man on earth before or after him) Lamech (we don't know much about him except that he was the grandson of Enoch, son of Methselah, and father of Noah) and of course, we know Noah. This is what really struck me. When Noah was born, Lamech "called his name Noah, saying This same shall comfort us concerning our work and toil of our hands, because of the ground which the Lord hath cursed." This made me start thinking. Did Lamech receive a promise from God that God was going to use his son in a mighty way? We know that Noah was greatly used of God. We know that eventually a "son" of Lamech's lineage did (and still does) comfort us-that's Jesus Christ! What a great treasure passed from generation to generation! I hope that in years to come, if my family is remembered at all, it will be so because of our relationship and dedication to Jesus Christ. Have an awesome day! |
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This morning my son and I went walking. My ds(12) has started joining me on my morning walks and I feel so blessed to have a walking/talking relationship with my son. Of course, he has taken it as his personal mission to motivate me to walk each morning-I am not a morning person. This morning in North Alabama is absolutely beautiful. It's about 52 degress. The air is crisp. What a wonderful day to be alive. I guess the whole point of ths, I suppose, is to say...I am blessed. Everyday that I live I am blessed. When I wake up in the morning until I lay my head to rest...I am blessed, I am blessed! Oh,...and dd6 has slept 2 whole nights by herself. Now that, my friends, is something worth celebrating!
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As I am comtemplating my day, I came across some notes I had jotted down a year or so ago about homeschooling. Too many times my focus on our homeschool has been curriculum, text, publishers, methods, textbooks, and co-ops when we have been admonished by God's word to "Train up a child". As former youth pastors, my husband and I have been amazed at how little many teenagers know about the Word of God and how often we lose young people to the world. I do not fault Sunday School teachers, youth pastors, or other various ministries in the church for we have more "ministries" in our local churches that ever before. The ultimate responsibility, though, still remains in the home. as a mother of three, I realize that the training of my children begins at home. Ok, great, we all agree on that but what are some practical, applicable suggestions? Here are a few: 1. Family Devotion Time-This can be really hard when most Americans don't even eat dinner together and I have found that homeschoolers are no exception. Soccer practice, karate, Girl Scouts, etc. tend to eat up our evenings and after a full day of teaching and then playing taxi, this mom is usually exhausted by the end of the day! We try to schedule or devotion right before bedtime, whatever that time might be. Sometimes we do prayer requests; sometimes we read and discuss a passage; we've even done "Exploring God's Word" as a family and boy, was that a blessing! 2. Add memorization to your family. I must admit that my children we not as receptive to this when we first started so I resorted to bribery. The first one to memorize a certain passage received a reward. We have incorporated this into our school day. Here are some passages with which to start. Proverbs 23:23 Acts 2:38 Acts 2:1-4 Psalm 24, 23, 150,117,100 Deuteronomy 6:4-5 John 1:1-5 Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 Proverbs 3 The more of the word we have in us, the greater defense we have. If we have ever needed a greater defense-that time is now. Training our children is the most important job we, as parents, have and instilling God's Word is vital to that mission!
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We recently spent 7 days in the "Magic Kingdom". Actually, we toured all 4 parks at WDW with great leisure. We had an awesome time. Some of my homeschooling friends just rolled their eyes in amazement that we would spend so much time at a theme park, but for those of you who have been to WDW, you know that place is more than a Mickey Mouse organization. The China exhibit in Epcot, for example, was fabulous. Last year, we studied all about the "temple guards" (those guards that protected the dead emperors) and lo, there they were...tons of them that had been escavated from China. Also, we totally enjoyed the Norway exhibit since my children know tons about Erik the Red and Leif the Lucky. But alas, we did totally veg out and it was worth every bit of time and money we spent. My only regret is that it took my husband and myself about 2 days to unwind. We're back home now, refreshed, and ready for school. Now, about that "pirates" unit study...
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Years ago, a wise elderly lady told my husband and me to "remove the confusion from our minds". God is not the author of confusion. A year or so ago, I got back involved into the PS setting by teaching "homebound" students. Of couse, almost immediately, I started this whole re-evaluation process on my own children. I started researching, pushing, driving, and basicly, making life miseaable for everyone. We struggled more last year in our homeschool than any other year. At the end of the year, my husband, thinking I was under too much stress, suggested that perhaps we put the children back into PS. I was mortified and somewhat offended. Was he suggesting that I was not doing a good job with our children's education? After all, I am "Highly Qualified" to teach in two states-surely I can teach my own. No, he was merely suggesting that I was over-teaching, too driven. The joy of learning was starting to seep from the eyes of my little ones (who aren't quite so little). I was, as the Bible puts it, smote in my heart. I spent much time over the summer reading and finally, just praying and asking for direction and wisdom. What I got instead, was Peace. I started to look at my children as they really are...bright, fun, spontaneous. Academicly, they are far superior than most of their PS friends, and socially, well, they have an unfair advantage there. How's that for the socialization question? As we begin this new school year, I encourage all homeschool moms to continue to seek for wisdom and guidance for your homeschool and most of all, peace. As for us, we're delaying our school year start this year...in just 13 days we're off to Disney World. We can do that...We're Homeschoolers! |
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 Cameron is 10 and is a big OU fan! He is an Okie, through and through and living in the South has had little affect on all matters concerning Cam. He is a great son who thrives on all things "computer".
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It's getting that time again...the ps kids are buying school supplies like crazy and I'm pouring over the Rainbow Resource catalog (My husband calls it the Homeschooling Hymnal, but really it's probably more like the Homeschooling Bible! LOL) This year, however, I am fighting that "beginnning of school" frenzy. I hope to really focus on keeping the atmosphere of my home what I've always wanted it to be... a relaxed learning envioronment. I've been reading my Charlotte Mason Companion book AGAIN and a recent post from SimplyCharlotteMason.com and I am reassured that this is what I really need to focus on. Too many times we get so caught up in trying to cover everything, that we forget the main goal of homeschooling...to create lifelong learners. So if I seem unreasonably relaxed this school year, don't worry; my children are getting a fine, classical, Charlotte Mason education, but Mom is relaxing and letting my kids lead the way. (I think that is the Delight Learning method from Heart of Wisdom! I totally recommend that book if you want a Bible-based, Charlotte Mason type-spell it out for me- education for your children!) For me, I think I'll just keep pulling from here and there and customizing my children's learning atmosphere!
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Well, we are surviving our "sick days", but we've been confined to the house for a week now and I am definetly getting cabin fever. I've had time to organize and clean and basicly make a huge mess! haha Hopefully in a week or two dd will be over her surgery and we can get back to some resemblance of normalcy, but of course, being homeschoolers, most people think we aren't normal anyway! DD has thoroughly enjoyed all the attention and all the gifts she's received from friends. Thanks all! Perhaps when this passes, I can get serious about this blogging thing. By the way, I am looking for anyone who currently uses Biblioplan or Tapestry of Grace. I am interested in both of those, but I'd rather chat with someone who has or is currently using the curriculum. Have a good hot cup of coffee and relax... |
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Welcome to my blog. This is my first attempt. I, like many others, are gearing up for a new school year. We'll actually start in a few weeks. This summer has been so busy and will only get busier. My dd5 is having surgery tomorrow and my ds (10 and 12) are at my parent's. It will take me two weeks to get them back into shape. lol This summer I have really been focusing on my relationship with God and with my family. I think this school year I am going to focus on teaching my children to "pray the word"; in other words, we will do focus praying and use the promises in the God's word in our prayers. So, come along. Sit down, enjoy tea or coffee (I like both!), and relax. In His Service, cmp
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