Ahhh..... the cold wind of December. The tunes of Christmas dancing in my head. The joy of reflecting on the greatest gift ever given. And to top it off, a break from book work and schooling pressures. This month we are enjoying a more lighthearted approach to learning, which really means playing, creating, relaxing. Thanks to a great sale on a particular curriculum we use, we are awaiting the arrival on some new materials and will begin again in January. With a new plan. Hopefully a better plan. We haven't really remained as consistent with our schooling as I intended. But after reading "Are We Making Progress?" in The Homeschool Minute last week (a weekly e-newsletter from The Old Schoolhouse Magazine), I learned that it is normal to hit a slump about this time of year. Whew! What a relief to realize that it's not just us! So we are taking a break, and putting together a plan to start again in January.

Here's an interesting video link that landed in my inbox this morning:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRGZLSVph3A

Blessings of joy and hope to you!

God's Plan

In addition to feeling completely lost and defeated about homeschooling, I got sick this week. I just gave up on everything, wrapped myself in blankets, and got comfortable on the couch. After catching up on some rest, I pulled out a few copies of The Old Schoolhouse and started reviewing the articles. I was inspired (partially out of desperation) to give up struggling to appease the voices screaming inside my head. It is time to pray and actually trust my Lord, not just say I do. I read over and over that man put children in schools, but God put them in families. He will equip us to teach and guide our own children!

I am convinced that more committed prayer and Bible study will guide me on this journey. And one of the awesome resources that I was guided to tonight is a very simple guide for how to make your own lapbooks. Check it out:
http://www.squidoo.com/lapbook-planning

"I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you and watch over you." Psalm 32:8

"But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength. They will soar high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint." Isaiah 40:31

Where to go from here?

After getting off track with our schooling, it's been such a struggle to get back on track. I'm so tired every day. I don't know how to motivate my kids to dive into their schoolwork and finish it without having to threaten some type of punishment. And follow through with it. The threats are not working. They ARE learning. They just don't seem interested in following the pattern set forth in "the books". And I'm exhausted trying to figure it all out and put it into practice. I'm tempted to just let go and see what happens.
Here's an interesting blog about someone who did just that:
http://heartofthematteronline.com/2008/11/04/the-best-reading-curriculum-ever/#comment-19463

Thoughts on Halloween

It's the season of scariness once again. Yes, Halloween is almost here. I came across a very interesting article that expresses my view of it here: http://heartofthematteronline.com/2008/10/23/halloween-for-christians/#comment-19247

I wish more people would take a serious look into the experiences they choose to spend their life on. It's easy to follow the crowd, the accepted routine. But I prefer to know what I am choosing.

"Now fear the LORD and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your forefathers worshiped beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD." Joshua 24:14-15

Persistence

Excellent article about homeschooling and why some oppose it.
http://heartofthematteronline.com/2008/10/breaking-mirror.html

After 2 weeks of having each person in our house come down with some form of sickness, we are all healthy again. We've kept up with our school work, mostly. The part we are struggling with is getting the routine to be "routine" again. Here's what I've realized: rather than striving to get where we want to be, staying the course will get us there. Flexibility and persistence are key. So what it comes down to is this: DON'T GIVE UP!

Oh, and also, pray. But that's a given. :-)

A New School Year

I haven't been very faithful on this blog, but now that we've "officially" started our school I will try to update about once a week. We started school the day after Labor Day. I went by the way we did it when I was young, not starting mid-summer like public schools do now. Anyway...

I thought I had to have our schedule, our lesson plan, and everything else in place before we could start. What a lot of pressure! I asked several people to pray for us as we prepared to begin. And now that it is Friday of our first week (WOO HOO!) I see things a little bit differently. Yes, it helped to have the plans mapped out, it gave me a reference point. But as we were playing a math "game" that I made up on the spur of the moment to teach a concept my children were not grasping, I realized something. I don't want to be so focused on keeping to our preplanned lesson schedule that I forget to make sure they are actually LEARNING.

The whole reason I am homeschooling is so that my children learn and grow and become fulfilled adults who can be generous with their gifts. They are lovingly placed into my hands by God who created them to be individuals. To set up a year-long school plan without room for deviation is useless. Our school plan is our compass, not our ship.

I also see that I have truly been "schooling" them since the day they were born. I didn't have a lesson plan that told me what to do each day, they didn't take tests. They didn't progress from one milestone to the next because someone said, "this is required today."

I'm exhausted, and I love this, and I wouldn't want to be anywhere else.

Lessons of Life

We were in Arkansas over the weekend to visit family. While there we took a nice, long hike on a beautiful, tree covered mountain. As we started our hike I thought to myself, "We should have been studying plants, or Arkansas, or something that we could 'learn' about." (like the hike would be a waste if we weren't doing a focused study) But as we went along we found interesting plants and colors to enjoy, discuss, think about. We identified some plants, including poison ivy and poison oak, and made a game of searching for the "leaves of three, let it be" plants. We practiced respect for nature, helpfulness with each other, friendliness to other hikers. We looked in awe at God's creation. We reinforced conservation by not wasting water when we found a camp area and water fountain. We practiced "slow and steady wins the race" (from The Tortoise and The Hare) as we made our way back up the mountain.

We're still learning how to homeschool. Sometimes I feel like I'm not doing very well. But then God reminds me that we are exactly where we are supposed to be, and if we look to Him we'll find our way just fine. I love this adventure!

"I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you and watch over you." Psalm 32:8

Article: "Is Homeschooling for Everyone?"

I came across a wonderful article today, a real encouragement and reminder of why we homeschool. I hope you enjoy it!
"Is Homeschooling for Everyone?"
http://heartofthematteronline.com/2008/06/is-homeschooling-for-everyone.html

Homeschool Freebies!!!

I've been searching the internet the last few days to learn more about lapbooks and other unit studies, and have found some amazing sites! If you are looking for some free projects to download, try one of these sites. I'm so impressed with what I found on them both! Thank you to all of you experienced homeschoolers who share your wisdom and tools with beginners.

Freebie of the Day: http://homeschoolfreebie.wholesomechildhood.com/

Homeschool Share.com: http://www.homeschoolshare.com/

I'm trying to get it together so that we can focus more on learning this summer. It's been a slacker Spring. I've finally decided on some basic curriculum we'll use this year, and I'm so excited about that! I'm going to my first home school book fair later this week. Yippee! I've just recently discovered notebooking and lapbooking, and I'm feeling a lot more enthusiastic about our schooling. I think the kids will really enjoy it. I want to learn, too!

I'm visiting various home school groups in our area this month. I'm feeling ready for some comradeship with other like minded people/families. And I really want my research of the many methods and styles of schooling to expand beyond the internet.

My daughter will turn 5 this week; she's a big girl now. We are having her big Chuck E Cheese birthday party, instead of the usual party at home. 5 is a milestone birthday in our house. A new bike and a big birthday party.

We are enjoy the beautiful weather this month. I hope you are, too! Take care!

What am I doing?

I'm homeschooling my 4 and 6 year olds. Though I've been teaching them about life since they took their first breaths, I only began "formally" schooling them in mid 2007. It's like an uphill climb to get going. And once we get stopped by something (illness, holidays, etc...) it's like starting all over again. Every single time. So here I am again feeling that I don't have any idea what I'm doing.

I have never doubted that our family would homeschool. That was pretty much decided while my husband and I were dating. We've never questioned our preference since then. But that doesn't mean we are prepared or know what we're doing. Just that we are confident that we will do it. Are doing it.

I love having freedom and flexibility in our day, but I work better when there is structure. I can be very disciplined, until I decide I don't want to be. Is there any hope for me? When I get a sense of what we are doing, the kids respond pretty well. It feels like our whole world balances on my shoulders. I love that, and I hate it.

So to sum up, right now I just need to figure out what I'm doing again. Can anyone relate?