Jul. 17, 2006 - The most important thing...
As I watch the news of what is happening in the world today, especially in the Middle East with the war, I am reminded of the most important thing...Jesus.
The Lord has reminded me several times over the years...as I vear off course a little... that the most important thing is Him. We have to keep our focus on the One who holds the whole world in His hands.
This is especially true with our choice to educate our children at home. We have the freedom to teach our children what we want them to know. Most of us choose not to put our children "in school" because they don't teach from a Biblical point of view. They don't pray, they will not teach creation, etc. Let's remember these things as we plan for this year.
How many of us get caught up in which cirriculum to use, which method or style is most effective or which philosophy is the best. While math is important...it's not the MOST important thing. How to read and understand Shakespear is great...but it's not the MOST important thing. Gymnastics is a wonderful sport...but it's not the MOST important thing. The MOST important thing is God our Father.
God has reminded me tonight, that as I gear up to begin studies again this year with our precious blessings, we must start with the most important thing...Him and His Word. I encourage you as you complete your planning for this school year, begin with the One who was there in the beginning. Let's not get too stressed about how behind we think we are or our children not keeping the pace we think they should. Let's just begin each day with the Word of God and fill our hearts and homes with the rich wisdom of God. Read together, study it together, discuss the scriptures, write it out, etc. Even if that's all we get done in a day...it's the MOST important thing.
Peace and blessings,
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Jul. 10, 2006 - Casting our fleece before the Lord...
That is what we have done. We have prayed and prayed and looked and searched at options for Jackson's schooling and have come to the conclusion...we still don't know what to do....but God knows. We have found a couple of great options with private schools, but they are so expensive. My hubby finally said, if we sell our property in Florida (that has been on the market for a while) within the next couple of weeks, then we can do private school, if not...we homeschool. That is where we are.
Now a little background. When we brought Jackson home from Kenya last September, we had moved from Florida to Ft. Worth. I have always homeschooled my girls, so naturally I thought I would homeschool Jackson. While we were living in Kenya, I did homeschool him with the girls and found him to be on about a 5th grade level...he has had very little schooling in his life. He also was hit by a car when he was about 6 years old and left unconscience on the side of the road, that I am sure caused some brain damage.
When we returned to Texas, I continued to homeschool him. Life at that point was VERY stressful and hectic. We were moving into a new home, learning a new town, trying to find activities, homeschool groups, etc. There was just a lot of major life adjustments going on at that time. Needless to say, I just did not have the time at that point in life to give Jackson the full attention he needed. I could already tell that he had several special needs that needed to be looked into...that I knew nothing about. We began looking into resources that could assist us with schooling him and dealing with his special needs. It was at that point I found out our school district has a school for children coming from other countries. This school helps them adjust to the American school system before joining into mainstream school. They teach all subjects primarily through ESL (English as a Second Language). That sounded like just what we needed at the time to help Jackson. Plus the fact that he was in awe of American schools and was begging us to go. He still wants very much to go to public high school...but that is not an option. He is way too easily influenced. We saw this this past year and now have to spend some time re-influencing...if that's a word.
Just a couple of months ago, Jackson had an MRI that showed a lot of dead brain cells in the back of his brain on both sides. Also thinning of the layers on the top that connect both sides of the brain (corpus callosal). They diagnosed him with several learning/processing disorders and gave us a lot of resources. Most of this damage was due to poor/improper prenatal care and not having proper nutrition as a child.
I think he would benefit greatly from homeschooling, but I also think a small private school that deals specifically with these issues may be a better solution. We have found a great little school that would be perfect for him, we just don't have the money right now to send him there. ...thus casting our fleece before the Lord. Now we are waiting on answers from the only One who knows.
Please continue in prayer for us at this time...for schooling issues and for our property to sell. Even if we homeschool Jackson, we still need to sell our property.
I hope this helps clarify some questions as to why we do not currently homeschool Jackson. Blessings to all,
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Jul. 7, 2006 - Reminders of why we do this thing called homeschooling...
Recently on a yahoo group I belong to, the thread was the issue of family members that question our decision to homeschool. The mom was frustrated by someone who questioned her decision to homeschool her child through high school. I have to laugh because the points of why we should send our children to school just gain in stupidity as the years go by. It used to be "they need to be socialized more". Now the arguement is...get this..."they need to learn how to sit at a desk for a period of time" and "they need to learn how to wait in line".
Forgive me if I forgot to think of these things when I answered God's call to homeschool my children. I just can't believe the Lord would ask me to teach my children the Bible over learning to stand in line.
As we are planning for this upcoming school year, let's remind ourselves of why we excercise our right to educate our children at home. It might even be helpful to make this list and keep it in the front of our planners... or framed in the kitchen...LOL.
Our list might read something like this...
1. God called us to do this.
2. We must obey God's calling.
3. Deuteronomy 6:1-9
3. It is OUR choice as parents and not anyone else's.
4. We live in a state/country that gives us that right.
5. We choose to start our day with prayer, worship, and Bible study, instead of announcements and roll call.
6. We choose to study all of our subjects in relation to the Bible...which does not include evolution.
That's just a start...You get the idea. Blessings to you all as you start your new year of educating at home. Have fun and remember why we do this...now go stand in line at Wal-Mart so your children will not feel left out. LOL!!!
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Jul. 2, 2006 - The Fun House...
The Fun House... that was a comment recently made by my 12 yo daughter's friend. The way our children act and talk sometimes you would never know this is the case...mom, I'm bored...mom, why can't we be a normal family?...mom, we never do anything fun...
It dawned on me today as I was going about my Sunday routine that my children's friends are here at our house A LOT. One little girl has no siblings at home and her mother has a full time job and is in law school, so she is lonely and bored most of the time. Another girl has an older brother at home that pays no attention to his younger sister and the parents are often times busy and not available. These are good parents, just going through a busy season in their lives.
My husband asked the other day if these girls were moving in with us. And it seems that most everywhere we go we have an extra child or two. There are days that I think, 'why are these kids always here'. Then I realized...I would much rather my children be at our home with their friends, than be out who knows where...doing who knows what...with who knows who. I now realize I like the idea that my children and their friends enjoy being at our home, with our family. I am glad they think we are a fun family. Especially during the teen years, it's nice to know they want to be with us, doing things together...talking, eating, laughing, playing.
The next time your children's friends want to come to your house and spend the night...again... count your blessings that you know where your children are and know what they are doing. Think of it as an opportunity to bless them with love and attention. And be thankful you have "the fun house".
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Jul. 1, 2006 - Is it an addiction?
Is it possible to be addicted to Yahoo Groups? If so, how many groups do you need to be a member of to actually qualify you for addicted status? Is it 5? Or 14? Or 23? If it's 23...well I'm in trouble...that's how many I have joined. Not all at once, mind you, but over the course of the last year. I just can't help it...KWIM?
Here's how it goes...see if you can relate. You join a group. You get a ton of wonderful information...so you have to read every post or you may just miss the one thing that will make or break your children's education. You check out the links they recommend...even if you are not studying that topic right now. You save the link in your favorites...you never know when your children will suddenly spark an interest in the reproductive cycle of...ants. Of course, while you are looking at that link, you see some fabulous printables (and they are free) so you just have to print them. You then add the printed pages to the growing pile of other printed material sitting on top of the file cabinet waiting to be filed. Or should you need them, you know exactly where they are. Twenty minutes later...first email of the day down. On to the next one...only 287 more to go...and that's just what was sent over night.
Maybe it's an addiction...maybe just a wonderful community of women (and some men) who care about their children's education and stay up late at night (or get up at the wee hours of the morning) to find the best resources so their children's home education will thrive. Literally everyday there are more and more resources available to homeschoolers. We have been doing this for 7 years and even in that short amount of time, I have seen tremendous growth in this wonderful movement of educating our children at home.
As we head into our national holiday of celebrating freedom...I am celebrating the freedom we have to educate our children in the way the Lord leads and calls us to do. I am celebrating the online community of families that excercise their right to choose what is best for their families. And of course, I am celebrating the wealth of information shared in the yahoo groups, most of which are created by moms just like me...that may be an addiction...maybe not. You decide.
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Jun. 29, 2006 - Here I go...
OK, here I go...into the wonderful world of blogging. I guess this could be a continutation of my old blog at www.africa.godfocus.com. That one was really about our journey through adoption in Kenya. I haven't updated it in a while, so I thought I would just start a new one.
A quick summary of what is going on at the moment. I am in the midst of planning and gathering for the girls schooling next year. Patsy (mother-in-law) will be teaching American History to the girls and some of their cousins this year. I spent 3 hours last night compiling an outline/timeline and gathering books I already have. Now we will begin to write out the lesson plans. I am so excited, as I have never been a history fan. As always, the teacher, or one doing all the research and planning, usually learns more than the student. When you actually look at the timeline of history and other events that happened in the world at the same time, it's interesting to see what lead to certain events and what may have been a factor in why things happened the way they did. Anyway, I can't wait to learn all about this along side the children.
Jackson completed 8th grade this year at a public school in our district called the Newcomer Center. A school set up to teach ESL to children coming into the US from other countries. It was a great introduction to school the American way and now we are looking at other options for him. He also has completed summer school and is currently taking a course at UTA on English pronunciation. We know we do not want him in public school for high school, so we are looking at other options. We have found several really good schools that would be great for him...all private, Christian schools and all very expensive. Since we have so many options, it just becomes a matter of the Lord leading us to the perfect one...and we are trusting that He will do just that. After all, it's His plan for Jackson's life.
Please join us in praying for:
Jackson's schooling situation, as we need to make a decision fairly quickly.
Our property in Florida to sell soon so we can pay for all the children's activities next year and buy a house.
TTFN...
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