RECENTLYI have a dear friend about ten years younger than I. She has five children ages 5-15 & she homeschools. They live in a big farm-style house on 100 acres. It warms my heart to picture her homeschooling her children. I think about how she bakes muffins, reads to her children, plays dress up, tends to all the "pets" they find on their land, memorizes Scripture and makes meals for her elderly neighbor. She doesn't necessarily do all those things everyday! Her children observe her serving others cheerfully and they, too, have become servants. Why do I write this? I write it because you are all doing that in one way or another. You are devoted to your families and to directing the education of your children. It warms my heart to read about all the wonderful things you are doing that are unique to your families.
Scripture commands us "to rejoice with those who rejoice and mourn with those who mourn." We needn't ever be jealous when one family has discovered an important new method of homeschooling & all their children seem to be doing well. We should rejoice with them! We don't have to pattern our homeschool after there's. God has a unique plan for us & entrusted us with our children.
I thought about what the "broader" picture of rejoicing with those who rejoice is. Children who are home with their parents and are being trained by their parents can certainly affect the world in which you & I live! Have you ever been in a store or business & a young person has waited on you cheerfully? They dealt with you honestly and went the extra mile in helping you? Where did they learn to do that. Hopefully, at home! When we rejoice with others, we are encouraging them to stay the course. Anyone out there ever need encouragement? Ummm....how about me!
It is so easy to lose our focus & get into the comparison trap. Most of the time, what someone else is doing, may not work for us for many reasons. We can still rejoice that it works for them! I also want to mention that there are wonderfully trained public-school children whose parents care so I don't want to insinuate that we've got the market cornered on that. I know some of those children. We can rejoice with them also.
Are you a rejoicer? Are you a mourner? Do you pray for other homeschooled families? I need to have an attitude of rejoicing with other homeschoolers. It may truly be an encouragement to them.
It is sometimes hard to believe, but one day, young mothers, you will have some time for other things. None of the "other things" is as important or precious at raising your family, but these times can still be very sweet!
I have taken an interest in growing herbs. I've dabbled in it before, but didn't have time to tend to my fledgling plants. Now, the time has come! I am slowly adding to my "gardening" by the pot on my enclosed porch. I love growing things! You can take the girl out of Iowa, but you can't take the Iowa out of the girl!
Years ago, my mom gave me several embroidery squares that she had carefully stitched. Each square contains a different American wildflower. I put them in a container & stowed them away in my closet & thought, "someday, I'll do something with those." I was reading my Martha Stewart magazine & there was an article on embroidery or "crewelwork." I'm afraid it has becoming a lost art, along with so many other wonderful skills. I remembered the squares my mom had made & took them out. What a treasure they are! My mom is 85 now & I told her that I am finally doing something with those squares. I purchased some frames & will frame a few. The others will become pillows. I wanted her to know I was doing something with them. I have several more & I plan to give them to my daughter & my two nieces. We are a family of boys, but the three girls in the family will cherish them, I'm sure.
I never would've imagined that with just one child left at home who is almost thirteen, that I would run out of time each day. I do! I love it. I'm busy with all those things that I stowed away in the closet of my mind. One activity that is giving me much pleasure these days is preparing for my first grandchild, a little boy, who is due to arrive in January. I love buying him things & boxing them up in care packages & mailing them. The man at the post office laughs because each package gets heavier. Last week's package weighed ELEVEN pounds!
My husband, son & I went to a university football game last night. I now love football. Thankfully, from my cheerleading days, I know at least something about football! On Tuesday, we're driving up to our older son's college. It is his 20th birthday. I'm just not ready to not see him on his birthday. I've gotten to be with him for 19 birthdays &I'm just not ready to give that up yet :) We're taking him to dinner & he is excited about that after many frozen pizzas in his apartment!
I am very glad that I still have one to homeschool. I still love it. I am also happy to be doing some other things. I feel younger now than I did ten years ago. I enjoy walks with my husband and leisurely meals. There's so much in life to enjoy! Savor the moments!
I've always believed that age is just a number. I know that certain ages are considered milestones in ones' life. Certainly that should be the case with this particular birthday. Fifty, that's right one-half a century! Why do I still feel like a little girl inside? Should fifty year olds do karaoke with their twelve year old sons? I say, "absolutely!" I actually have a few songs down pretty well so when my twenty year old son came home from college last weekend, he was my captive audience. He gave me a faint smile & some eye rolling of course, but I know he loves me & appreciates that I enjoy life.
Of course a fifty year old birthday would not be complete without a girls' lunch. A group of my best homeschool mom buddies gathered at a restaurant for laughter & silly cards. A few were alittle hilarious; others extolled all the wisdom I must surely possess at this grand old age, yeah right! One of the best parts was just looking around & seeing the faces of moms who've stood in the trenches with me for all these many years of homeschooling--through times when we thought we just wouldn't make it. We did. Through concepts we never thought our children would learn. They did. Through hoping & praying our precious ones would find a mate. They have. Through thoughts of wondering if we would ever have any time to ourselves again. We do.
Lunch was topped off by a huge chocolate peanut butter sundae with eight spoons. Almost everyone had a bite, except those who were trying to be good. It's alright to try to be good, but balance is important, too, and today I dug right into the chocolate. I walk alot so just a few trips around the block and I'll be good to go.
Sometimes moms will pass in and out of your lives. I believe those seasons are ordained by the Lord. He places people in our path for a reason & on occasion rearranges those associations. That needs to be okay with us. When we see those who've come & gone from our lives at a later day, the catching up is surely sweet. So as for advice from a fifty year old young lady: Let God ordain your connections. He know best even when we think we do!
A special thank you to Melissa, a fellow blogger, for convicting me to get back to my blog! Thank you, Melissa!
Tonight we pick up our daughter & her husband at the airport. They are flying in for the weekend. They are away at graduate school. Our son-in-law was asked to compose an orchestral piece to commemorate the centennial celebration of the university from which he graduated. It was certainly an honor. After many months, the overture was completed & now he & my daughter are returning for its debut performance by the symphony orchestra this weekend. Following the concert, a reception will be held in his honor. Can you tell how excited I am?
In addition, I will see my daughter for the first time in 7 weeks. During that time she has grown from 16 to 23 weeks pregnant. If my grandson will cooperate on cue, I hope to be able to feel him as he moves around. Apparently he moves all the time so my daughter may grow weary of me keeping my hand on her tummy :)
This precious couple was homeschooled, graduated from their homes & went on to graduate summa cum laude from college. Did we always do everything we needed to do in our homeschool? Dot every "i" and cross every "t?" Absolutely not!! Did we attempt to create a learning atmosphere & a love of learning in our homes? Absolutely!
I am a parent in three very distinct seasons of life at this time. The above is one season. Our oldest son is a sophomore at a university 2.5 hours away & is living on his own now. It has been a pleasure to see him mature, make responsible decisions & actually study for tests!!(Any moms of second-born sons, out there??) :) So in one breath I pray for my married daughter, her husband & our soon-to-be grandbaby & in another breath pray for my son in college & everything that goes along with that.
In my third season, I am a homeschool mom of a 7th grade son. I'm in the daily trenches just as you are. I do find it easier now, of course, to get things done as we have fewer interruptions since there is just one in our school now. In this season, there is more time for science experiments, reading, watching science or history on TV, etc...
I was thinking how each of my three children's homeschool experience was (and is) different & how that is okay. The Lord can guide me to make it what it needs to be for them in accordance with His plan for them. I needn't spend time lamenting that I did this with this child & not with another. It is what it is and it can be what it needs to be for that child. It is easier to say this since I have seen that it works. One bad homeschooling day, week, month or year does not need to define your homeschool experience, but rather will shape what you need to do next. Press on!
In an earlier post, I mentioned "smorgasboard days" of homeschooling. These are days in which you set aside textbooks and select random things to study. These are days when much real learning takes place! My oldest son used to refer to these days as "Milk and Honey" days. My youngest son calls them "Salt and Pepper" days. With much excitement, we set aside our textbooks today.
We began our day with Bible reading--a good way to start any day! As my son ate his breakfast, I read aloud from an excellent book by children's author Jean Fritz called, THE GREAT LITTLE MADISON. I highly recommend anything written by Jean Fritz whose genre is biographies and historical fiction. In particular, this book by Fritz has truly enlightened us as to the difficult beginnings of our country. We may be inclined to think that once the Revolutionary War was won, our Constitution was ratified and Washington became president, that it was smooth sailing from there on. Not true! There were attempts by various New England states to secede from our Union. Presidents Jefferson & Madison had to constantly to battle with Federalists who desired a government more in the style of Great Britain's. We had continuing problems with England and France at the same time eventually leading up to the War of 1812. God's hand was upon our country in holding it together through tenuous times. This wonderful book provides detailed information about the early days of our country.
Back to our smorgasboard day! My son & I walked around our house pointing to common & proper nouns which ended up in somewhat of a race. Next we moved onto an outline map of the world where he filled in the seven contintents and four oceans. We tossed a coin onto a large world map & wherever it landed that is the country we had to look up & discuss. Or coin fell upon Greenland, the largest island in the world. We'd known about Greenland's beginning during the time of Eric the Red, but we learned other interesting facts about this little-known country.
My son LOVES professional football & is in a fantasy football league with his dad & some other homeschooling fathers & sons. I clipped an article out of yesterday's paper about the Dallas Cowboys/New York Giant's game. I handed him a highlighter pen & asked him to highlight the most relevant facts in the article. Then I asked him to narrow it down to the five most important facts. Next he pointed out nouns and verbs in the article. This is great note-taking practice should he attend college. You have to be able to condense what an article or a teacher is stating. Finally, he had to figure pass completion percentages & percent of total yards in passing for each team. He loved this! And just think--it's actually MATH!
We also got out our Bibles & took turns calling out Scriptures & practiced quickly looking them up. Out of that activity, we were reminded of a beautiful verse in Zephaniah. How many of us would say to ourselves, "I think I'll read something in Zephaniah today?" I know I wouldn't be inclined to do that yet it yielded this gem of a verse: "The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing." v.17 How many of you have a need to be "quieted with His love?" I certainly do!
As we ate lunch, we watched a program on the Travel Channel called "Passport to Europe." I love watching this show. Today the host was touring the Tuscany region of Italy, mainly Florence. She toured the Duomo, the Ponte Vecchio(important place in Renaissance history), a museum housing Michelangelo's statue of David & gave information on the foods of the region. We put in our picture disk from my daughter & her husband's recent trip to Florence & found the very same locations shown in today's program. One exception: these pictures held the beautiful faces of my daughter & son-in-law.
Before we called it a day, we played a game of "Rummy Roots" which I'm sure most of you are familiar with. Knowing some basic Latin is a great thing! It is truly a vocabulary builder. My son won today!
Will we continue to do textbooks? Yes, we will. But we will regularly combine it with days such as today that provide us with the variety our spirits need & more readily make allowances for the Lord to lay things on my heart to do with my son that are educational, as well as fun.
In closing, some of you know I am going to be a grandma for the first time. This is more exciting than I could ever imagine. The ultrasound was last week & it is a BOY!!! This makes number 11 grandson/great grandson for my mom. My son-in-law is one of eight boys so this makes number 9 boy for their family. The only problem I have is that since I found out, I am finding it difficult not to shop. I found the most adorable outfit in Baby Gap, some blue jeans and a fleece at Old Navy and a few other things @ Target. I know, I know, they grow quickly, but I'm the grandma & I can't contain myself!
For those of you who may be studying place value, which is all of us at some point, here is a very simple idea that helps to cement the concept of place value for our students.
You simply take some poster board or cardstock paper & cut out some rectangles of whatever size you like. Write the numerals 0-9, one number on each rectangle or square. You will want to have several zeroes, several one's, two's, etc..... Oftentimes, children may have difficulty writing a number such as one hundred, twenty-three million, four thousand, six. The confusion can come when there is a zero in a particular place value. I dictate a number & my son must arrange the numbers correctly. It helps so much to have this visual aid. To add to the fun, we sit on the floor & do this & he sets his timer for 15 or 20 seconds & we try to beat the clock. It is also great for your memory--I need help here!!--as you have to remember the number. We have the squares scattered on the floor so you also have to hunt a bit for the correct number. In just three days of this "game," any confusion that existed is gone. Plus, it was fun & a nice break from the books. Guess you call that " L-E-A-R-N-I-N-G."
Imagine that you've homeschooled your children for 16 years and within a 24 hour period two of your three children have left home to follow the Lord's leading for their lives. It is certainly a very happy occasion on the one hand, but also an occasion that can leave parents a bit numb & "fragile."
We had a wonderful week with our whole family moving our daughter & her husband to their new apartment out of state. There were many highlights like watching my husand, son-in-law, son & a friend precariously coax an expensive piano up a very narrow stairway to their apartment in 100 degree weather. We ate alot of great food, took in a presidential museum, attended a professional baseball game & my own personal highlight was a day at the mall with my pregnant daughter shopping for maternity clothes. Of course I thought she looked adorable in everything so it was hard to draw the line & stop for the day!
We arrived home on Friday & our 19 year old son quickly did his laundry & then off to college he went. Before we left, I had set a wastebasket out in our laundry room. It had been our daughter's little teddy bear wastebasket when she was little. It was old & needed to be cleaned & put away. My husband walked into the family room carrying it & asked whose it was & what I was doing with it. That is when we both had an official meltdown. I could barely get the words out that it had been our daughter's. The tears came & they needed to come. I had been holding them in so as not to upset the happy week we'd all been having.
You think so many random thoughts: Will my children remember everything we've taught them? Maybe not, but they can still be alright. It's kind of funny because I actually thought of telling my daughter to be careful going down their apartment steps as though she were still three years old! Thankfully, I held that thought in, but I did pray asking the Lord to help her not to fall down the steps! Well.....once a mom always a mom, right?!?
I spent yesterday getting organized for our new school year. That is always fun. I love new schoolbooks. And yep, I open them up and smell them! In my next post, I'd like to share about a few things we plan to do this year. As you begin another year of homeschooling remember that His grace is sufficient for you because His power is made perfect in our weaknesses. We can ask Him for anything! Even, "Lord, will you help YOUR child to not get their b's and d's turned around or Lord will you please help YOUR child to not get so distracted?" I remember praying many time that He would just give me one little shred of encouragement regarding their progress & He was always faithful. God bless.
I love living in the South, but boy oh boy has it been HOT this week! It is too hot to be outdoors and our plants are wilting. Normally, it would be a great time to start back to school; however, we still have a trip to take. We're moving our son to an apartment for his second year of college & then we're moving our daughter, her husband & our grandbaby-to-be out-of-state for graduate school. Lots of hyphens in that last sentence! I look forward to seeing the city where they will be living & am excited that we will spend a week there seeing the sites. I'm beginning to feel my emotions rising to the surface at the thought of my older children leaving, but we are thrilled for them. So many things go through your head. Will they remember all the things we've taught them? Probably not everything, but that's okay because God can handle it. I have been praying that the Lord will heighten a Holy Spirit awareness in them with regard to placing checks in their spirits concerning the many new situations, new people, new activities that will be before them if it may not be something that He wants them to be a part of. It is so easy when you find yourself in a new place to become involved too quickly or perhaps in things that are not His best for you due to loneliness. God can use the lonely times for our good & teach us so much during those times. We are not to be fearful in new settings for He did not give us a spirit of fear. We must be willing to be sensitive if we do not have peace about something. It's coming back to me now! I do remember talking to my older two about having "checks in their spirits" on more than one occastion. Okay, I'm feeling better now!
My blog has a brand, new look thanks to a much younger friend and fellow Irishwoman who knows how to do these kinds of things. I come from an Irish background and wanted my blog to have a peaceful, Irish setting. Thank you also to one of my blogger friends for noticing because I wasn't aware that my friend had changed my blog yet. You see, we are very busy this week getting our 19 yr.old son ready to move to his very first apartment this Saturday. He is transferring to another college; thus the move. We will be moving him in this weekend; followed by moving our daughter, son-in-law and grandbaby-to-be out of state on Monday. We are trying to redeem every moment with them before they move. This past weekend was spent helping our daughter & husb box up things. It was probably one of the more livelier packing events since all the brothers, my husband & I and our son-in-law's parents were there also. Between our daughter & her husband, they have NINE brothers. Yep, a full house! What makes it so special is that we've all been friends for a very long time. The brothers, our daughter & her husband & their parents go back several years. Our kids have grown up in homeschooling & church together. As we all sat in church together this past Sunday, the youngest brother who is five, sat nestled between our daughter & husb somehow sensing that the time is short.......How do you prepare to let your children go? How do you move them away & then come home without them? I will let you know because I am not sure I have that figured out yet. You know how to pray....
Today I got a pretty big dose of "these times they are a-changin.' " I had lunch with three longtime homeschooling mom friends. We're all about the same age & all about in the same stage. One mom just became a grandma for the first time. Three of the four now have married children, with the fourth mom's daughter getting married this fall. We shared & laughed & laughed & shared. Times passes quickly with longtime friends.
After lunch, I called my married daughter who is expecting her first baby & asked her if I could bring her a fruit smoothie from the smoothie store. She was excited. Her husband walked in from playing golf with my son & he wanted one, too. I love doing little things for them. They gave me their fruits of choice for their smoothies & I delivered them. I came in & visited with my daughter as she prepared tiramasu for a special dinner they were attending. How fun it is to visit with your grown children! My 19 yr.old son & his girlfriend came over & we all sat around & enjoyed one another. We laughed hysterically as my son offered parenting advice to his sister. I, the only parent there, just listened as the four of them talked back & forth about parenting. A few times I almost said something, "nah, they'll understand what it's REALLY like soon enough, right?"
I have seen where many bloggers are beginning to get organized for a new homeschool year. As we plugged away at our schoolbooks each day, I remember thinking, "when can I teach them all the things that I want them to know that I think of throughout the week?" I solved that by making a random list of "Things I Want Them to Know Before They Leave Home." I took this list and usually about twice a month we had what I referred to as a "Smorgasboard Day." My now almost 20 year college sophomore son could never remember the word "smorgasboard" and he called them our "Milk and Honey Days." I have no idea where he came up with that name! Isn't it a precious name though?
So what did a "Milk and Honey Day" look like? Each child had a two pocket folder with materials for whatever we were studying that day. There may be a "Color the Classics" color page in there & I would read about a famous composer as they colored. I may have a newspaper clipping about a current event or political news. We may draw the root system of a plant & discuss plant & animal classification. We may have done a Backyard Scientist experiment or collected & pressed leaves. We may have smeared pinecones with peanut butter & birdseed for the birds or grouped Legos together & practiced counting by 2's, 5's or 10's. I may have had a department store sales flyer in their folder so we could discuss & figure discounts. We may have written a note of encouragement to a friend or drawn a map of our state with its rivers, land features and cities. As you can see, the activities were quite random, but the benefit was amazing! It did a world of good to set the textbooks aside for one day or perhaps just one morning & learn about the things the Lord laid on my heart to teach my children.
God has given your children to YOU. Let me encourage you to be willing to close the books every once in awhile. Learning continues. It actually thrives. My children still remember our "Milk and Honey Days." I have decided to re-implement this idea this year with our 7th grader. He wants to call them "Salt and Pepper Days." Enjoy your children!
Imagine standing in the kitchen with your husband of twenty-seven years. Your daughter, the little girl who sat in your kindergarten homeschool on the very first day of homeschool ever wearing a brightly-colored outfit & a big headband asking you, "do I look pretty mommy?" is now standing in the kitchen with her husband of nearly one year. Her face is still the same. Her eyes are still so blue. Her face is still so eager and innocent. Time seemed to standstill as she said in her sweet voice, "I'm going to have a baby!"
Just last week I surprised my husband by telling him that I thought our daughter was pregnant. I told him all the "clues" only a mom could string together. He thought I was imagining things. My instincts told me otherwise. I have actually suspected it for over a month. I had built it up in my mind so strongly that I would've been disappointed were it not true. She & her husband chose to wait until a point where they felt comfortable sharing the news. The ultrasound has been done. The tiny little heart is beating. I will never cease to see the creation of human life as anything but a miracle! Our daughter is in her 15th week!
Of course I could not fall asleep that night. Everyone time I dozed off, I would wake up thinking, "I'm going to be a grandma!" I still feel young inside so it is a wonderfully strange feeling.
I think our situation may have one very unique component. Our daughter only has brothers and her husband only has brothers. This baby has NINE uncles!! The youngest uncle is only five years old. To celebrate, her husband's mother & I took the uncles to lunch last Friday. This is the first grandchild in both of our families. I think there is potential for a children's book here. How about: The Nine Uncles or Adventures in Uncleland or perhaps Help, I Need an Aunt! Any suggestions?
My title says it all! When I was in the midst of raising & homeschooling three children & our days were long, I couldn't imagine at that time what it would be like to have adult children. I was living from school day to school day, laundry day to laundry day---which was everyday! All my little chickens were in the nest.
I hope it will encourage many of you to know that having adult children is wonderful! Our 21 yr old married daughter & I are going fabric shopping today. Her grandma is going to make pillows for their sofa & so I will pick her up at the university where she teaches violin & piano, take her to lunch & then we will look for fabric. Her husb is golfing with his father this afternoon so it's GIRL TIME!! She has to teach more lessons in the afternoon & then asked if she & her husband could come over to visit this evening. Are you kidding? I think I would cancel any appointment I might have to spend an evening with my grown kids!
On Saturday, they had a yard sale in preparation for their move to Texas.We hung out at the sale with them. I have been many, many places in my life, but at that moment, on that Saturday, there is nowhere else in the whole world that my husband & I would rather be than sitting in lawn chairs in their driveway with them as they greeted the bargain hunters. My husband picked up lunch for us & we just sat there eating & chatting. Life is good!
Our almost 20 yr old son & his sweet girlfriend---yes, moms, they do grow up to have girlfriends other than you, have been hovered over a table in our family room putting a 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle together. Our son loves John Wayne movies & being the sweet girlfriend she is, she has endured 4 nights of the Duke as they work their puzzle. It warms my heart. These are two college sophomores, very social, active and bright & they're nicely growing out of the teen years and enjoying more simple pleasures. Before last night's puzzle session, my husband, son, girlfriend & our younger son played nine holes of golf together.
These are fine times. Times when you can have adult conversation with your kids, remember their precious little kid faces & see those faces reflected in who they are now. No matter how old they get, I still hug the stuffing out of them!
Hang in there...It is the everydayness of life with your children that build wonderful adult relationships and the really good news is that you can make mistakes & God's grace is abundant; much bigger than any mistakes you may make! We do not have to be perfect parents to have loving adult children!
This may be an idea that others have already thought of, but I thought I would pass it along. A few years back in our homeschool I felt compelled to be certain that my children could recall many of our nation's & world's important documents so I bought some parchment-colored cardstock paper & had the children copy pertinent lines from these documents in their fanciest writing & decorate the edges of the documents for that time period. We did a document a day. Here are some of the documents we "made:"
Magna Charta, Mayflower Compact, Declaration of Independence, Federalist Papers, Articles of Confederation, Treaty(s) of Paris, Emmancipation Proclamation, Monroe Doctrine, Bill of Rights, Ten Commandments.
I saved the documents the children copied. We used these documents as a review from time to time. This became a springboard for other ideas such as playing "name that era" where we would select a time period like perhaps 1700-1750 & each one would have to name a person, event, invention or some relevant piece of information for that time period. It was fun & it helped to cement in our minds the correct placement of these persons and events. It seemed more like a game when we used a timer as we would try to "beat the clock." Have fun for the long-haul!
When all three of my children were young, I never thought the day would come when they would leave. I didn't look forward to it. My mom would remind me that when you're raising your children, those days are the best days of your life. That is a wonderful attitude & it certainly does ring true now that I am about to see my oldest two children & my son-in-law move away the same week. I would like to share something that maybe doesn't get talked about much. When the time comes for your children to follow the plan the Lord has for them, He is also sufficient to give you the grace for that time! What could be a feeling of hollowness, has been overshadowed by the excitement I feel for my children who are moving. Only God can do that! It is definately going to seem different for awhile, but these days can also be the best days of my life. I am in a time of transition that is for sure, but it can also be a wonderful time as I see my children be able to leave. We are looking forward to visiting them in their new lives & are grateful for the sweet relationship the Lord has given us with them. As I reflect, I am really glad that I continued to hug & kiss my older children even when they were "beyond that age." I am glad the Lord gave me the grace to love them even during times when they seemed unloveable. Our son is a handsome 6'3" young man, but he is never beyond my reach for hugging & he knows it! Embrace the season you are in & know that the Lord will give the grace right when it is needed. We can't imagine that at times, but that is because He may not give it early, but He will give it right on time. God bless!
It is always good for me to sort through old homeschool materials as I did recently. I showed our now married daughter some of the reports she had written & we agreed that for age 8 or 10 or 12, they were actually pretty good. I think she really enjoyed seeing them again! Many things I discovered sparked a particular memory & maybe a worthwhile tip or two to pass along.
I liked trying to think up things I could have the kids do that wouldn't seem like school to them. Isn't that sneaky? Once such project involved writing out sentences leaving space between each word in the sentence. I would then cut out each word in the sentence & stick them in a bag or envelope. My student then had to pick one word at a time out of the envelope like putting to gether a puzzle & arrange the words in the sentence in the proper order. Sometimes I would choose sentences from a history text or biography & sometimes it may be a Scripture verse. The result was effective. They would receive a benefit from learning some interesting new history information and of course, anytime Scirpture is implanted in their minds, the benefits are most valuable! There was also the grammatical benefit of learning proper word and or punctuation placement & it was also easy to clearly see where the adjectives or adverbs were. There were even times when they could rearrange the sentence & see how the meaning may change. All in all it was an enjoyable little project which actually resulted in some learning! God bless all of you moms and may He grant you strength for today!
I look forward to commenting on the sites of those who have responded to my post; however, at present our security system is blocking me from doing so. I hope to have this problem corrected soon. Until that time, I will respond on my site. Thank you to those who have welcomed me to the homeschool blogging world! I am humbled at the thought of actually having any wisdom to impart to other homeschoolers. I realize that my entire life is covered by the grace of God and it is because of Him that I have been able to do anything at all! I am happy to report that His grace is big enough to cover mistakes I have made in parenting, 27 years of marriage and 16 years of homeschooling. I would also like to emphasize that even though I have homeschooled a very long time, I am still learning! The Lord has given your children to you & He will direct your efforts to meet their educational and social needs. I often hear how "one-size fits all" doesn't work well in homeschooling. It doesn't work within one's own family either as each of our children is a unique creation in Christ. We should consider be willing to personalize our schooling to reflect EACH child's needs & interests when possible. I have used it all--textbooks, unit studies, Charlotte Mason, my own hodgepodge, video....... There were times when I combined coursework due to time limitations, but I usually tried to allow for individual learning styles and aptitude within those areas that I combined. Most importantly, I desired to create a love of learning within my children's hearts so they will desire to be life long learners.
What is one of the most important ingredients in your view to successful homeschooling? I would respond with "consistency." There are , of course, many others that come to my mind. What is your response? When mothers mention that they just cannot get their school work done, I ask them if they are staying home. Ouch! Although we didn't do everything right by any means, we have been consistent. We do school day in & day out. I feel this is important training in diligence for our children. There are times when we were ill or when we had a rare snowstorm--which always cancels school, by the way. I didn't want to be known by my children as the mom who didn't let them play in the snow! There are legitimate reasons for flexibility, but I think it is important to demonstrate consistency in homeschooling. What are your thoughts?
Hello fellow home educators! Although I have homeschooled for 16 years, this is my very first blog. The Lord has placed upon my heart a desire to offer encouragement to others in their homeschool journey. Our oldest child graduated from college with a Bachelor's degree in Music. She is a violinist and pianist and is currently employed as an instructor at the university where she graduated. She also got married recently to a wonderful young man who was also home schooled. Their love story is a precious one! They will soon be moving to where her husband will attend graduate school. Our second born is a sophomore at the University of Arkansas majoring in business. He is a jack-of-all trades, which includes playing violin, golfing, fishing, and activities that would take up the rest of my space. Our youngest is a content 12 year old boy who enjoys following many sports and participating in a fantasy football league with his dad and recently completing golf camp. My interest in blogging lies in the area of encouraging others for the long haul, preparing our children for college, marriage and/or a vocation or career and to let others know that home educators can succeed in college quite nicely and actually get a job!!