Dear Curriculum,
I’m not going to beat around the bush; this is exactly what it looks like, a dear John letter….
We had a good run. You looked so great with your glossy pages and beautiful pictures, but you just aren’t right for me. I always thought you were amazing. You have a solid Christian base, and you’re everything I always thought I wanted… however, it’s just not working.
It’s not you… it me. Or maybe it is you… Read More
I will always remember the day. I was in fourth grade (one of the two years I wasn’t homeschooled and went to a private Christian school). It was Friday afternoon, and I sat back in my desk only half listening to the teacher. After all, it was the time every week when she passed out spelling tests. She always announced the grades of those who got a 100 or higher (bonus word were extra points), and then those kids would go up and get a piece of candy from the jar. Now, my name NEVER got called. I was lucky I wasn’t failing spelling. Seriously, I couldn’t spell to save my life. But that day… I had to do a double take 
when she called my name off. A 103%??? How is that even possible!?! I jumped out my seat and bounded to the front of the classroom to get my test and a piece of candy. I got a piece of candy! I carefully selected a piece of gum (you know, those hard ones that come in the cheap bags of candy?). Well, I chewed that thing until my jaw hurt and then kept chewing. Even set it on the side of my plate during dinner and popped it back in. Didn’t throw it out until bed time. That piece of gum was precious to me. All because it proved I wasn’t a complete failure.
But I still hated spelling. I hated studying for a test. I hated trying to memorize a stupid list of words that I knew I was just going to forget anyway. Of course my only hope was to memorize them, because that was at least one thing that came more easily to me. Read More
When we actually started homeschooling…
I say ‘actually’ because I tried formally homeschooling preschool with my oldest – I was just so excited, so I bought a beautiful boxed curriculum… but we fell flat on our faces. My preschool philosophy has morphed over the years too, but this post is not so specific. I’ll tell you another day about my preschool philosophy.
But I digress…
When we started, I would have balked at the idea of classical education. I was set in my ways of “traditional” schooling, as I called it. What I meant was that the paradigm I aligned with was a “school at home” model. For Pete’s sake, I’m a trained educator; it just made sense. Read More
Every day we make decisions for our homeschool. Some of these decisions are little and only for the here and now. Some are huge and eternity hangs on them. And there are a whole lot in between. Easily the best decision I have ever made for our homeschool, one that has brought peace and margin, was deciding to do what I like to call Sabbath schooling.
I had heard of the concept years ago, during my time as a homeschool student. The idea is that you have school for six weeks and then you take a week off. It is one way that homeschoolers choose to school year-round. However, I hadn’t considered it for our school. Read More
Picture this with me for a moment:
It’s January (or February), and you’re sitting in your school space with your adorable little devils angels. It’s cold outside; everyone is tired of being cooped up, even those of you, like me, that detest having to leave the house, you at least like having the option 
of going to play outside occasionally. Everyone (and I mean everyone) is crying about something. The second grader is crying because she hates phonics (who knew it would be so hard to copy five words out of a wordbank…). The kindergartner is crying because she forgot fifteen… again, while trying to count to 20. The two year old is crying because the kindergartner (who was supposed to be counting) took the horse that she was playing with two days ago. I You are just at the point of “if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em”!
Sound familiar? (Please tell me it’s not just me!)
So what do you do?
“I wish I just had a few more hours in my day!”
Ever say that? Bet you have. I’m not sure I’ve ever met someone who said they had enough time in their day. I know I say this on a regular basis. There are so many things vying for my time. I want to write. I have to homeschool. I need to clean (oh my goodness, do I need to clean… and purge). But I can’t seem to get it all done. Never. If I’m excelling in one area, you can bet that the rest of the areas are suffering.
But I know God has called me to specific things. In addition to being a wife and mother, I am a writer and homeschooler. So God, if you want me to do these things you are going to have to work a miracle!
And He says, if you want a miracle, you have to put a little effort forward.
Ouch.
We went on our first field trip with our co-op last week! We went to a farm and pumpkin patch. It was so much fun, and the girls had a blast!
I had a good time too. Didn’t get as many opportunities to talk to anyone as I would have liked. I needed to be constantly aware of what my little ones wanted to do and be available to follow their every whim as they played in the amusement area.
They were all over riding the carousel, then the little Ferris wheel. Next they were off to the little go-cart/roller-coaster thing (I have no idea what to call it!). Then the petting zoo. K and E could have stayed there all day. So much fun! Read More
A dear friend of mine called today to pick my brain about homeschooling. I couldn’t call her back fast enough. I LOVE talking about homeschooling. For me starting to homeschool was second nature. Being a second generation homeschooler, plus a former teacher, gave me a huge jump start into the homeschool world. But what do you do when you’ve started thinking about the idea of homeschooling, but don’t have the background I do.
Well, the first place to start is the same for every other important decision that make. Prayer. But I’m sure you already knew that. Seek God for His guidance as you traverse this journey.
But once you’ve prayed where do you start looking? What do you need to know?
Here are a few things to start with: Read More