First Post in a LONGGG Time!

Wow!  I can’t believe it has been this long since I sat down to share what has been going on around here.

First, it is officially summer here!  Today, is the last day of school!!!   We made it through our first year of going to school.  The kids loved it.  There were many challenges along the way, but we faced them together and have grown in ways we needed as a family.

There were times I wanted to bring them all home.  But those moments didn’t last long enough for me to follow through with the thoughts.  I’m glad I pushed through with the kids to stay in school.  It was good for all of us.

Going to school definitely had many pros for the kids (they were in a small private Christian school) and yet it had its fair share of cons.  

The hardest part for me was having the kids in separate schools and all the time I spent in the car driving to and from school.  I can definitely say I’m looking forward to NOT rushing out the door next week. 

We will be keeping the kids in a small private Christian school at least until 7th grade.  Then the plan is to bring them home one by one as they enter 7th grade to homeschool them with my husband leading the way.   He will be finished the course work for his PhD in two years and can begin with our daughter who is now entering 5th grade 2012-2013. 

Homeschooling definitely set our children apart in school, from how they behaved, to how hard they worked, to how they treated the other children, and how they handled learning to deal with so many children in a class versus the one on one attention they were used to at home.  

We dealt with our fair share of disciplinary issues this year as well.   Which didn’t surprise us.  Yet, how they were handled at school disappointed us.  Which was just another reminder no one will ever love your child the way you do or help them grow from their bad choices like we will. 

All in all, I’m thankful we are continuing with the children in school for the next few years and I look forward to watching God bless our family through those we meet along the way!

Wishing you all a beautiful and blessed summer!  

Why Homeschooling Matters

I know I have been absent on here and I apologize.  I really don’t have time to keep up on this blog regularly.  We are moving right along.  Lilly just finished 5th grade TT and is excited to be doing 6th grade math {she will be home one year from Ethiopia next Sunday and was unable to really speak much English at all – we are very proud of her!}.   Jordan just finished 4th grade TT and is equally thrilled to be doing 5th grade math now. 

We are more than half way through our school year and once this snow melts – we will begin to take some field trips.   We are still praying on what our homeschooling will look like next year and once I know I promise to share our decision.

I am reminded almost daily why the decision to homeschool has been one of the best we made as a family.  It is not because I get to teach them how to read, write and add.  It is because all day long I get to train them on how to develop and strengthen their godly characters.  Every day something comes up where I need to rely on God to help me show them what their choice to sin is doing in their lives and to our family.  Every day I get to learn from how the littlest sin can grow into a mountain in our lives if not dealt with quickly.  Some times this is way harder than it sounds.  Because it means not only am I dealing with their sins but mine as well.   I am constantly reminded more is caught than taught.   I must walk ever so closely to God for them to see Him in me and through me.   Without His grace doing this 24/7 would be impossible and if I am honest totally not desirable.  But because I fall down on my knees humbly more and more each day knowing I have nothing to give them and He has already supplied everything I need – I can face each day with hope and joy! 

HE IS FAITHFUL AND GOOD ALL OF THE TIME!  AMEN!

A friend shared this video and all I could say at the end was AMEN!!!

Many of you have asked me questions about homeschooling your high school students.  Today I found the following videos.

Go here first and you can learn more from her at www.ppea-homeschool.com.  When you watch Linda’s video on youtube* you will see many others she has posted there – all are very informative and helpful!

Then on *youtube look up homescholar she is a wealth of information!

I hope you are all doing well and finding the joy in the journey to train up your children to be the salt and light of this world!

Let me know if you would like me to keep sharing the devotionals I receive just for homeschooling families. 

Teaching our children to work…

The following was sent to me by our local homeschool group and sadly what this article shared isn’t very hard to see all around us.  

If you could name the most important thing you could do for your teenagechildren to give them a leg up and an edge in this world, what would it be?

Ensure them a college education? Enroll them in team sports? Make them take
music lessons?

Would it surprise you to know that the most important thing that you can dofor your teenager is to teach them to work?

We are raising a generation of children to remain... children. According to a leading magazine, 70% of men are not mentally mature even when reaching their 30s. A hundred years ago this wasn't the case. What happened to ourmen?

FDR and the New Deal happened to them. In his attempts to stop the flow of people into the workforce, Roosevelt extended school age attendance to 18.  Instead of young men becoming men, and girls growing into mature women with life skills, they sit in a school house until they are 18 years old, mentally and emotionally stagnating.

We as parents have added to this stagnation by:

• Indulging our children with endless gratification instead of instilling within them a sense of industry, thrift and work.
• We have decimated the family unit and can no longer find the time to sit at
  the same supper table with our children to eat.
• We have enslaved ourselves to debt and no longer have the means to pass on a long-term vision or goal that our children can get behind.

Join Bill Heid and Brian Brawdy as they interview the third of seven homeschooled children, Lance Seppi. Lance is an inspiration and a beacon pointing to the character that can be instilled within our children when we expect them to be more than they ever dreamed possible through hard work, initiative, and capitalizing on hidden talent.
http://www.offthegridnews.com/2011/01/07/the-ways-we-have-ruined-our-children/

I pray you are well – our homeschool year continues to move along – we have officially completed 95 days.  I’m glad we will finish in early May this year.  The snow in our area has been beautiful…you can see the fun we had together as a family here. 

NOTE:  If you are interested in photography or have a child/teen who is hoping to learn more about taking better photographs or learn how to use editing programs – share my photography blog with them.  Every week I am hosting tutorials and giving an assignment to follow along with.  You don’t have to blog to join.