WOW!!!  I just received my copy of the Winter 2007 issue of TOS and all I can say is WOW!!!!  I'm always flooded with this giddy feeling when TOS arrives in my mailbox.  I'm like a child on Christmas morning with so many gifts to open they don't know where to start.  There are so many awesomely wonderful articles in this magazine it was hard to choose which one to read first.  I love reading the letters from other readers.  It makes me feel more connected to them even though I don't know them.  It's like getting a letter in the mail from someone that you haven't seen in a long time.  I must admit though I'm like a 3 year old with a box full of toys.  I'm so eager to try each article out that I don't often finish reading the readers letters until I've exhausted all other areas of interest.

I really liked the article about Charmaine Wistad of Victory Coaching.  I would have never thought of having a "coach" to help me along the way to keep my goals in sight, and my life on track.  I think that would be awesome to have someone to whom you could be accountable, and have that person be someone who could give you guidance, encouragement, and suggestions as you walk along your journey.  Sometimes it takes someone from the outside looking in to point out some things that we may not see.  I do have a little of that with some fellow homeschooling friends, but so often we don't feel as if we want to burden them with our needs, hopes, dreams, etc.  I can see where a coach would really motivate one to live a full life with no regrets.  I feel sometimes that I am doing that, then at others I feel as though I'm not doing enough.  Anyone else feeling that, or is it just me?

Now the article "What About Public Schools" was one that I could not put down!  I saw so much truth in that article.  It makes me sad for those kids who don't have the opportunity to be at home with their families.  I see and hear about so much going on with children who are in public school, even with children from Christian families.  It is sad to say, but some private schools are not much better.  I suppose this article really hit home with me because during my growing up years I went to a city school, a county school, and two different private schools that were operated by different Christian denominations.  I saw a wide variety of what the "school" system had to offer, and to be honest, I didn't like it at all.  It makes me so very thankful to be able to be home with my children and to educate them.  I'm also thankful that I have slowly realized that school doesn't have to look like a classroom for my children to get a good education.  I don't know why I spent all of those years modeling our homeschool after the school system that I felt was failing our children.  It took a while, but I think I'm on the right road now to finding an approach to their education that works better for them and for me. 

This article also made me want to stand on the roof top with a microphone and beg parents to pull their children out of public schools.  I'm still amazed how some Christian famlies can stop homeschooling because they think their kids need to go to school, or how some won't homeschool at all even when their children beg to be homeschooled.  I know that every family has to make their own decisions about their children's education.  I don't want to judge what others are doing.  I don't answer for them, only for me.  It just seems to be so clear to me how children thrive in a family environment.  I just wish that everyone could see that, and be willing to make the changes and sacrifices that are sometimes necessary to homeschool.

I also found Terri Johnson's "Spotlight on New Zealand" very interesting.  Her little side bar of Kiwi slang should help me better understand the ladies from New Zealand that are on some message board I frequent.  I think there was enough information in the article alone for a small study on New Zealand, but throw in the additional info on the web-site and you've got a sure thing.  Thanks Terri!

I've already dug into some of the articles on Classical Education, and loved them.  Who knew, after all this time, I would find that there was a lot of Classical Education in me?  It seems I've been incorporating a lot of aspects of a Classical Education into our homeschool this year.  I'm not one to really pay a lot of attention to all of the labels out there for how we teach our children.  If I find something that seems to have merit I try it.  If it works we keep it, but if not it goes in file 13.  If someone had asked me at the beginning of this school year to define Classical Education I would have honestly needed to look it up on the internet.  Now with this magazine full of wonderful articles I can read and learn!  I'm so glad we don't stop learning when we graduate from school, aren't you?

Well, I've rambled enough for one night.  It's 11:30, and I think I should finish up here and head off to bed.  Morning comes too soon when I stay up half the night on the computer.  Besides, if I can keep my eyes open I think I can squeeze in one more TOS article before I go to bed !

Blessings to you and yours!

P.S.  Enjoy your new TOS magazine! 

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