One Day

Do you have a support team? I do. My husband is, of course, A-#1 support for me, but I also have several other friends and family who are a support system for me/us while we home school. A lot of those people don't live around us, however, there are 3 very special women and their families who live around us. We have 11 kids between our 4 families, and Ben is the only boy! The kids' ages range from Rebekah who is 2 and the oldest girl just turned 12! We have tons of fun together. We get together regularly to give our kids time to play, time to learn, and a time for us moms to support each other. We've been through a lot together in recent years. We've all been through some major downs and have held each other up through prayer, hugs, tears and open ears. I am so blessed to have these ladies in my life. They are so special, and I know God placed them in my life for so many reasons! Last week we all got together to celebrate one of our birthdays. It was fantastic to sim...

We started school last week! We started promptly at 8:15 on Monday morning and worked diligently for a few hours with a break at one point. Cora is doing a fantastic job! Every single day last week she said, "Mom? Is there anything else I can do? I want to do more school! Mom! Give me more school work to do! Can't I keep doing school?" Phew! She was wearing me out, however, I appreciate her love of learning. I know it won't always be this way, but I finally gave in, and we are a good week ahead in most of the subjects. Granted, math, for example, is all review so she's zipping right through that. I love this about homeschooling: you can go at your own pace. If your child is grasping something there's no need to spend days/weeks on it, you can simply move on! I love it. We don't have to wait for 28 other kids to get the concept. We can just move on . And, if there's something we want, or need, to spend extra time on, well, we can! Ben and Bekah are ...

I have droned on and on about our homeschooling experience this past school year so now it's time to put down on "paper" what we'll be doing next year! I'm really excited for next year. 1) I feel I have a much better idea as to what is/isn't working for our family and 2) I really enjoy teaching Cora! Also, Ben will begin preschool and be gone in the morning 3 days a week, and Rebekah will be older and hopefully more entertained with paper and crayons! We shall see...I'm sure I'll have more to say on that LATER! One thing I have learned is there is really no ONE curriculum that covers every single subject you need. There are a few that will provide every subject for you, but they tend to be quite pricy and they're just pulling from other resources anyway. It's taken time to look at and research what we wanted to use. If you're new at this I would suggest reading Cathy Duffy's description of the different approaches to homeschooling...

Last year a few of my friends, also homeschoolers, went to Cincinnati to a huge homeschool convention. I chose not to go because I was about to embark on our first year, and I had a feeling the convention would just make me feel even more overwhelmed and inadequate! However, when it came time this year I was all set and ready to go! A) It was a fun weekend away with friends and B) wow! I learned a lot!! My 3 good friends and I headed down to Cincinnati to be part of the Great Homeschool Conventions  that took place in April. Between us there are 11 kids, 10 of which are girls, Ben, our son, being the only boy! Ages range from almost 2 to almost 12! We stayed in a hotel a block or so from the convention building, had so much fun, and learned so very much. And, as a side note, I'm so glad I didn't go last year! Sessions started at 8:00 a.m. and there were a good 15 sessions held every hour. You could choose anything from parenting classes to curriculum guidance sessions. ...

So, after we made the decision to discontinue doing Classical Conversations as our homeschooling program I was a bit at a loss as to how to proceed. Thankfully, my mom is a teacher and especially loves kindergarten and 1st grade! After sharing my concerns with her she assured me that right now, in kindergarten, focusing on reading, writing and math were most important. And, so that's what we focused on, for the most part... We learned that Cora not only LOVES math, but is quite good at it! She whipped quickly through K math and is now almost done with 1st grade (we're currently using Singapore Math, though will be changing that in the fall--stay tuned for what we do next year...). Geesh! I HATED math as a child, by the way ...I have distinct memories of HATING math in 1st grade. Seriously. I mean, really, 1st grade math? However, she HATES handwriting...something I LOVED! As you can imagine this has been interesting. I've had to hold my temper (failing often. Just keepin...

We're going to officially wrap up our school year after Memorial Day. Cora has done fantastically this year, and I truly give all the glory to the Lord. I mean, we've had some rough days. It was way harder then I expected to try and teach simple addition and subtraction to my 5 year old while keeping the 1 year old from climbing on the table and the 3 year old entertained. But! We have made it through and I feel much better having the 1st year under our belts! We are not saying we will be homeschooling from now on. We are seriously taking it each year as it comes. We plan to homeschool for 1st grade at this point. But, before we move on to next school year I've been thinking a lot about everything we did this school year, the things I'm happy with, and the things I wish we'd done differently. I wanted to put it in a blog--not because I think what we did/didn't do was the best/worse, or it's what your family should do. I'm doing it mostly for my own men...

I mentioned earlier that we are homeschooling our oldest daughter, Cora. She's finishing up Kindergarten at the moment, and it's been a good year! We are doing reading, writing and math but we also wanted to do things to keep her involved with other kids her age. A good friend of mine had told me last year about this Bible study she and her daughters went to every week. I looked into it and knew the kids and I would need to be a part of it.  Starting in September, we joined a Community Bible Study  campus. We LOVED it!!!!! Let me tell you a bit about how it works. The kids are split up into age-appropriate classes and learn Bible stories, memorize Bible verses, have a time of singing, and are just loved on by their teachers. The women are split up into core groups (small groups) of 10-14 people and study from the same book. This year we studied the book of Romans. We would open each time corporately with singing, prayer and a short introduction. Then, we split into our gr...

Growing up as a missionary kid I have been in pretty much every kind of school there is. I went to a French, run-by-Belgians preschool until I was bullied so much by the kids my parents took me out; an American Embassy-run school for 1/2 of Kindergarten; homeschooled for the rest of K and 1st grade; a mission-run boarding school for 2nd; public school for 3rd (we were on furlough that year); back to boarding school for 4th and 5th. We then moved to the other side of the country we were living in at the time, and there was a mission-run school on the station we were living, so I went there for 6th and 7th. We then moved back to the USA for good, and I finished 8-12th grades in public school. I've been around the block a few times, know what's out there, and I believe can say I have a pretty good idea as to the different kinds of schools there are and pros/cons to them. My husband? He did public school all 13 yrs with the exception of K and 1st grade. Why do I say all of this? We...