Homeschool - year 1

We have started our first year of homeschool and are enjoying it a lot.  Brady will be going to preschool this year so I think it will go more smoothly once we are doing school while he is at school.  We are using the Charlotte Mason philosophy.  Once I begin researching types of homeschooling her thoughts and ideas fit well with what I want for my boys.  So for any of you interested here is what we are doing this year:
Calendar - I have printed out a blank monthly calendar that is a 2 page spread.  Every day when we start school Jake fills in the date and we review Day, Month, Date and year.  Then he goes back to the previous day and colors a picture of something he did that day.  So it is kinda like a journal too.  He likes doing this and it will be fun for mama to have for years to come.
Math - math - u - see
Science - 106 Days of Creation
     - this is an overview of the creation story - which is an overview of the things science studies.  It is broken down by days and we are reading living books and doing experiments.  This might be Jake's favorite subject.
Nature Study  - the 106 days of creation has some nature studies with it and we are also working through nature studies from this blog using the Handbook of Nature Study.  This will carry us for years to come.
Literature - we are snuggling on the couch and reading through some classics.  This might be my favorite subject.  Right now we are reading Charlotte's web followed by Stuart Little, Trumpet of the Swan, Stories of the Pilgrims, Jotham's Journey, Mr. Popper's Penguins, Complete Tales of Winnie the pooh, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, and Peter Pan.  The Simply Charlotte Mason website I use as my primary resource has a GREAT book finder full of living books for every subject.
Personal Development - we are reading through A child's book of character building.
Beginning Reading - we are using the books from Pathway Readers.  I am also working through CM's methods of learning to read.
Handwriting -  we do copy work to practice handwriting.  this will also help with grammar in the years to come.  So he copies his memory verses, the definition of the character trait we are studying,  the catechisms he is learning, and soon he will begin writing letters back and forth to his grandmothers. 
History - Genesis through Deuteronomy and Ancient Egypt. 
    - we read through these books of the bible and supplement with living books.  For Geography we are studying Ancient Egypt and the continent of Africa. 
Memory Work - Jake is memorizing 2 verses a week, 2 catechisms a week, and the definition of the character trait we are working on and a verse that goes with it every 3 weeks.  I am using this method of scripture memory that is simple and very organized.
Life Skills/Manners/Safety - For this area I just want to be intentional about training my children in life skills.  Often we get busy and just don't think about doing this so I have incorporated this into school.  We talk about manners and safety on various days at lunch.  Life skills I pick one a week and we work on that one thing for the week whenever I am doing it - like emptying the dishwasher.  What Every Child Should know Along the Way is a great resource to help think through this.
Handiwork - Here are some of Charlotte's thoughts about handiwork.  Here is what we will be working on through the year:
- Drawing with Children - I am enjoying this book - so is Jake.  We are taking about 10 weeks to work through it.
- Baking - we will do this around Christmas to give as gifts
- Fingerprint art - Ed Emberely will help us with this
- Photography - here are some things I found for this: Online lessons, this challenge
Music Study, Artist Study, Hymn Study - these are also recommended and we will be adding these as we go this year if we get to it.  It may wait for next year.  I have a plan for it but I want to get the above things in routine first. 

So there is our year.  If you have any questions about this please ask.  We are really excited.

A Change of Plans

John has decided that we are putting Jake in public school kindergarten and Brady will go to a preschool program. We have had this discussion several times throughout this fall. As my husband and the leader of our family he has struggled with this decision - more than I knew. Up until this fall he has completely supported my decision to home school our children. And then the weight of 11 moves in 6 years fell in my lap with FULL force. I have not wanted to put the kids in school. I have very specific reasons why. And when he told me on Wednesday that he had prayerfully made his decision and it was not up for discussion the full weight of this fall fell on my lap. (Please don't be upset with John - this is the first time in 9 years of marriage that I have had to step out and trust my husband to lead our family when we weren't in agreeance. I firmly believe in submitting to my husband and trusting my God with the results)
I spent most of the day in wretched tears. I felt like a complete failure. That night as I began to settle down and process it was as if God flashed a timeline before my eyes of the last few years leading up to this point. And in that moment I knew this was the best decision. I am not saying I was excited or that I want this to be forever - but for now it is ok. Here is what I know:
1. I am broken right now. Really broken. All that I have known of myself has been brought into question as I lay before my Father. My strengths have become my weaknesses. I look at my life and I don't see much good in it right now. I don't feel like I have much at all to bring to the table. All that I use to trust in has slowly been stripped away from me this year. The walls have crumbled and left me in pieces. For a while during this process that was really scary. Some days it still can be. But now, most of the time it has brought the most freedom I have ever experienced. In this place of brokenness, I have never felt more loved and more unworthy of that love.
2. I haven't trusted God. I have not been a part of my children's journey to knowing God. I have bore complete responsibility for that journey. My intentions were good but still sinful. Somewhere along the way I forgot - or maybe I didn't really ever know - that God was way more committed to my kids than me. They belong to him - they were created to worship him and bring him glory and He will see that to fruition. When John told me this the other day he said "before God you are my first priority above our children and I trust God to care for our kids even in public school while you take time to heal and be restored" I realized that I didn't trust God for that. This will be a process for me.
3. My children need me to be their momma more than their teacher. Right now I have learned through this brokenness that I don't have much at all in me. In all reality, I can't do it right now. And my first priority to my kids is to be their mom. Right now, that is all I can work on and I am learning to trust God that this is enough.

There is lots more I want to say. I am still processing this with a very heavy heart. This has brought my struggles to an even greater degree of reality. I am convinced that God has brought me to this place. He is pruning away the dead limbs in my life so that I may grow and be healthy. Pruning hurts but it is necessary.
I must say that Laura Story's CD has ministered to my heart like nothing else during the last few months. As I sat down to write this I began listening to Bless the Lord. Here are the lyrics:

You give and take away for my good
For who am I to say what I need?
For You alone see the hidden parts of me
that need to be stripped away.

And as You begin to refine
I’m learning to let go and rely
on One who walks with me
As hard as it may be,
You’re teaching me all the while to say:

Bless the Lord, O my soul
All that’s in me bless Your name
Forget not Your power un- told
not Your glory or Your fame
For You came to heal the broken
to redeem and make me whole
Bless the Lord, O my soul.

Here are some ways you can pray for me right now:
1. Pray that my heart stays soft toward John - that I trust God and trust John's walk with God.
2. Pray for John - pray for peace and wisdom as he leads our family through this. We don't know yet for how long this will be.
3. Pray for Jake and Brady to adjust well.
4. Pray that God's overwhelming peace will fill my heart.
5. Pray that all that's in me will bless the Lord

Using Books to Build Character

I am doing research for school and ran across this article. She does a great job of explaining why it is necessary to expose our children to both good and bad characters in stories. I loved it and wanted to share it. It goes along with many of my reasons for homeschooling - training them to send them out.

Why I am Homeschooling

While living in Reform, I had several people question our decision to home school the boys. And I have had a couple friends ask me about our decision - why we are making this choice. John and I have some very specific reasons for why we are making this choice. I must admit this is not the path I EVER saw myself choosing. But once when we made the decision, it made perfect sense for our family. I think there are many reason why people choose to home school their children and most of those reasons are not our reasons. I don't want to spend this post defending our decisions or making those that don't make the same decisions as our family feel ok about their decisions. I think there are very few MAJOR things in God's word that as believers we need to agree on. How to educate our children is NOT one of those major things and I DO NOT think in any way that people who choose a different path or even the same path for different reasons is not glorifying God. So for this post I want to give you my reasons without feeling the need to give credit to the choice of others but do not hear me say this is what is best for your family. This post is a response to several people questions. That being said here are our main reasons:
1. To develop a Christian world view in our children. I want my children to know that all of life is about Jesus. I want them to see the world through that lens. I don't want Him to be something they do here and there but that all of who we are and what we do is for God's glory - even the simple things in life like playing. I want God's word to be their filter for EVERYTHING. This seems to require lots of in the moment training that keeping them at home affords us.
2. They are boys. From what I understand about boys - mine in particular - the public school system is not geared for educating young boys successfully. My boys learn best by doing and not hearing. Hands on learning - with lots of time for outside exploration which cultivates LOTS of learning opportunities. I want to create in them a love for learning so that they will become self learners. I want to help them - while they are young- to take personal initiative for learning so that for the rest of their life they know what and how to learn whatever it is they need to know. This is very specific for each child. Keeping them home allows me to cultivate this love for learning in each specific child - I don't have to fit them into the mold.
3. Social Skills - some of you may read that and laugh because one of the criticisms of homeschooling is that children don't get socialization when they stay at home. I disagree and most people with more than one child will also disagree. Being at home with your siblings is prime real estate for all things social - sharing, considering others above yourself, conflict resolution, true bonding/forging of friendships, dealing with people you don't like - who are different from you. We deal with all of these things on a DAILY basis. And the more children you have the greater this compounds. There are also plenty of outside activities available today to account for other socialization. All that said, I want my children to learn how to biblically relate to others. How God tells us to deal with conflict, to treat others - opposite sex, authority just to name a few. I don't want it to be just about surviving the day. I want to equip them to enter adulthood (really their teenage years) prepared to deal with other people. I also want them to have personal convictions and to know how to respond when those are challenged.
4. We want them to have a love for the lost. We want God to put in them a heart for His kingdom and a desire to labor for a lifetime. Only God can do this and keeping them at home won't make this happen. But what I do know is that children are loosing their innocence a lot earlier now than ever before. (I heard a 5 year old girl call a man sexy the other day) There is so much that I want them to learn and battling this culture and all that it exposes them to at such a young age just makes the process more complicated. One of our mentors told us once that we don't send men into battle until they are trained appropriately. This is also true for our children. That being said - John and I are not planning on keeping our children home all of their school years. I reserve the right to change my mind - and it will probably be on a per child basis. But for now my hearts desire is to spend the younger years preparing them for battle - to send them out to be a light in this world for God. I don't want to protect them from sinners - because we are all sinners. I don't want to keep them from the hurt and anguish of this world. What i do want to do is equip them to love people and to engage a culture that is lost and hurting. If God puts in my boys a new heart - one that desires the things that I pray they will desire - we want them to be equipped to engage people and to be emotionally ready to get messy with people for the sake of the gospel.
5. Each of my boys have very different strengths and abilities and weaknesses. I want to be able to develop these and to choose a path of education that best suits each of them. No one will be as committed to my children as i am - no one has time to develop them as individuals like I do.

So these are our top 5 reasons for keeping the boys at home for now. I am excited about this journey most days. To know that God has entrusted me to with 2 pieces of history in the making. That I have the privilege to entrust the things that God is teaching me in to 2 boys and pray that God will make them faithful men who will one day do the same for others. God can do all of these things in my boys life without me. He can do it even if I sent them to school for 8 hours a day. But I want to be a part of the process. I want to choose to embrace this ministry of motherhood to its fullest. I know that God has called me to this and though I am very excited about this journey I am not stupid. It is very hard and requires a lot. But God tells me in his word to not grow weary in doing good for in time we will reap a harvest. One day I might get to see that harvest in the lives of my children or I may not see it until I see Jesus. But non the less - I want to be a part of what God is doing in the lives of my children. So this is our choice.

A Book About My Summer

I decided yesterday that I am going to have Jake write and illustrate a book about his summer in the city. I am excited about this idea and wanted to share it with you. It could be fun for any kid to do and a great keepsake. Here are my thoughts:
-Each morning while I am getting ready for the day I am going to have him draw a picture of how he spent the day before. This cause him to stop and remember details of the day before. (Thinking skills)
-Then I will have him narrate to me about his day - helping him early on to learn to pay attention to specifics. (verbal skills) I will type/write this for him to see.
-Then he will copy the words in his own handwriting. copywork is a great way for kids to learn to write their letters in a not so boring way.
-At the end of the summer we will have his very own written record of the summer. He is so excited that he gets to write and illustrate his very own book.
-the writing out the narration so he can copy will probably be a bit tedious but it will make it more personal for him to be able to write it himself.
you can take this idea and run with it. You may just want to have the child draw the picture and narrate to you. You can type up what he said about the day and put it with the picture. It is still his/her words and picture.

Our School Year Schedule

After much consideration I have worked out our home school schedule for the next year. We did a little school here and there the last few months but I have decided that for the deep south spring time is better for a long school break than summer. At least while the boys are young. Some days during the last 6 weeks the boys would spend an entire day outside playing and exploring. Now that it is getting hot they are not enjoying it as much. We will still spend time outside but it will be in the mornings and evenings. I have also decided to do 6 weeks stints for the most part with a week break in between. The week off will give me time to do specific planning for next 6 weeks stint but it will give us time to plan outings and such. Remember we live in the sticks now so we can't just go spend a few hours at the zoo or mcwayne center.:) It also gives the boys a break in routine for some extra hard playing time which they really need at this age. I DO NOT want school to take away from freedom and exploration. I want their hearts to remain captivated by nature. So here is our schedule:
May 4-June 12 (1st 6 weeks)
June 15-19 - off (VBS at church)
June 22-July 31 (2nd 6 weeks)
Aug 3-7 off (annual beach trip for John's bday)
Aug 10-Sept 18 (3rd 6 weeks)
Sept 21-25 off (John and I are hoping to have an anniversary trip here if we have babysitters)
Sept 28-Nov 6 (4th 6 weeks)
Nov 9-20 (2 week fun unit on Thanksgiving)
Nov 23-Dec 4 off (thanksgiving and a week for xmas decorating and fun)
Dec 7-18 (2 week fun unit on Christmas)
Dec 21-Jan 8 off for Christmas
Jan 11-Feb 19 (5th 6 weeks)
Feb 22-26 off
March 1 - 12 (2 week fun Easter unit)
March 15- April 30 - Off for spring break!!!!

The breaks feel perfectly for our normal things in life. I love the freedom that homeschooling brings. Maybe this will inspire you to think outside the box :):)

Why Charlotte Mason

I had a few minutes today while everyone is napping and I found a post about why Charlotte Mason. This is the method I am starting with Jake this summer. Many have ask why this method and I have often said that I am still wrapping my head around it in order to explain my reasons. I think she did a great job explaining it - which means less work for me :):). If you are interested read here. Oh and for those interested the clan has arrived and things are great!!!

Let the Homeschooling Begin

We are starting our homeschooling adventure this week. We are really just spending the next few months laying some foundations with the boys. I have decided to use the Charlotte Mason approach to homeschooling. If you want to know more you can devour this site. For the early years (Up to age 6) the FOCUS is on 4 things - read alouds, habit training, outside play and Bible. She believes that these things lay the foundation for a love of learning. As the children are ready up to age 6 you add on teaching them to read, basic math and such. These are not to be forced on the child before the age of 6. The more I have read about her style of teaching the more I am convinced that it is the right one for us. My boys love being outdoors and they have so much energy that sitting still for long periods of time at this age just doesn't seem profitable for me or them. I have really struggled with worrying that they will be behind if I don't start now with all the academics. But over the last month, God has really given me a peace about this approach. I feel sure that Jake will be ready this summer or fall to start learning to read. One of the things that CM stresses are short lessons (15-20min) with young children. We are to train them to have FULL attentiveness in that amount of time rather than dwadling for 30 min or more per lesson. She also says to expose the children to a variety of things rather than the same thing every day (Like don't do math every day). So on our drive out to Denver I came up with a schedule and decided to spend the month thinking over it and deciding if it was what I wanted. I am glad to say that for the most part it stuck - with only a few tweeks this week. So for the month of Feb here's what we will be up to:
Daily - Catchism Questions, Read Aloud time at least 2x/day, we will be learning the calendar, Scripture Memory, and about 2.5 hours outside or free playing/day, and family devotions at night. oh and for the time being both boys are still napping.
Weekly:
-Messy Monday's - we are going to be doing lots of art. Focus on the process and not the product. I want to expose them to various types of creative outlets. This site is one of my favorite resources.
-Training Tuesdays - we will focus on various character training aspects. I am usuing Luke 2:52 as my guide - Jesus grew in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and men. I won't do all of these every month. This month we are revisiting First Time Obedience, Speech (poo-poo and such - when is it ok to use it), and Listening Skills. I will post more later about how I did these training days.
-Work Wednesday - This day I will focus on practical life skills that I want to teach the boys. This month Jake will be learning how to wash dishes, sort their laundry, pick up boys room and school room (we rearranged since Christmas stuff). Brady will be learning how to wipe down the kitchen table, countertops and stove, how to fold towels, and to pick up boys room and school room.
-Teaching Thursdays - This is the one day a week that we will sit and work on academics. We are reviewing Upper and lower case letters and sounds with Jake. He will also do copywork to practice writing his letters. Brady will be learning the letters.
-Fun Friday - This day will usually be an outing for us - the park or such. Or if the weather is nice we will go exploring in the woods behind our house. Just to get out and have fun with the kids.
I am excited to see how we all do with this schedule. We basically do the same thing every day except for 2 -35 min sessions (15 min with each child when seperate and time for transition) each day where I work in the things that differ above. I am committed to it for this month and if it doesn't work we will try again. For those of you that have read this far I assume you are interested so I will keep you posted.

A New Found Nugget

So since I will be homeschooling next year, I have been reading alot about Charlotte Mason's ideas about teaching children. Her concept is very interesting to me - especially having boys. So last night I was reading a forum and they were talking about two children's books teaching boys about chivalry. The books were The White Knight and Sir Knight of the Splendid Way both by W.E. Cule. So tonight I went searching for these books and came upon an amazing nugget!!! A website called Grace and Truth Books http://www.graceandtruthbooks.com/
As I looked through this site there are what appears to be some great character building books for kids. There is a series for children ages 4-8 that tell the stories of Corrie Ten Boon, Hudson Taylor, Amy Carmichael and George Muller. One of the things that is so appealing to me about Charlotte Masons ideas is that she says that we need to not present the world to our children in a series of facts but rather make it come alive to them through exploration. She talks about living books about real people and real things that they learn from and these mini biographies would be very visionary for my boys - any child homeschooled or not. There are books geared toward boys and girls. So I think we are going to start with this selection http://www.graceandtruthbooks.com/lamplighter/series11.asp for us to read together with the boys (maybe just Jake right now). I will share with you what I think about them. If any of you order books from here I would love to hear your thoughts on them. Many of these books are older writings so we shall see how they go with this generation. I expect them to not be very watered down but that is ok with me because I know that kids are way smarter, way earlier than we often give them credit for. Let me know what you think.