2009 December | Heart of the Matter

December 31, 2009 By Chris 2 Comments

Start 2010 with a new organizational habit

Are you ready to flip the calendar? Ready or not, 2010 is upon us. While I am not a proponent of ringing in the New Year with resolutions, I do suggest trying your hand at a new strategy for the coming months.

We are at the midpoint in our school year at my house. The weather is uninviting and it is far too easy for me to bury my head under the covers (at least mentally) until spring. I find that a little organization keeps the days and weeks from peeling away into moments I can’t recall.

For her best New Year’s tip, I called on Lil Nolan O’Keeffe, a certified professional organizer with ABC (Anything But Chaos) Professionals. Lil specializes in working with those who are chronically disorganized and those who have Attention Deficit Disorder. She organizes businesses and homes, including homeschooling families, and is also a mother of three.

For all families, Lil says a control center for activities is a basic starting point. She recommends buying a large desk calendar, available for $1 – $2.

“I cut off each page and put it on the refrigerator with magnets,” she says. “It really is good. Everything is done in pencil and everyone can see the calendar. I color-code with highlighters. At a glance, I see Friday has three blue stripes and I know we have three going to basketball.”

A different color could be used for sports, co-op, music lessons, church activities, etc.

It sounds daunting at first, but Lil’s system keeps everyone aware of activities outside the home and makes children responsible for their own schedules.

“They check the calendar every day,” she says. “If it’s on the calendar and they’ve missed it, that puts the responsibility on their plate. They know where to go to find that information. It’s a life lesson. I work with people that have never had that teaching from home and these people are lost.”

Also on her refrigerator/control center are Lil’s menu plan and shopping list for the week. She sets aside time a few days before the end of each month to organize the next month’s calendar. That time is an investment that results in less stress and a calmer environment at home.

“If you value your time and less stress in your life, put a bit of effort in it and you reap the rewards,” she says. “It’s a life change. A habit takes 21 days to form and 21 days to break. Getting organized doesn’t take a lot of money. It takes time to get it set up and then just maintenance. People think everything has to be perfect. That is a myth. Organization is functional.”

And that’s a New Year’s habit that can last for a lifetime.

January is “Go” month for the National Association of Professional Organizers. The organization will feature tips and information online at www.napo.net.

Chris Worthy is mom to Caroline (15) and Nolan (10) and will soon celebrate 20 years of marriage to her favorite person, John. Chris practiced law before becoming a writer and stay-at-home mother more than 10 years ago. She enjoys cooking, crafting, spoiling dogs, green living and rummaging though old books. Follow along at www.chrisworthy.com

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December 31, 2009 By Marsha 6 Comments

When I think of New Year’s Eve, I think back to my childhood where we’d have another family (or two) over and party at home. We’d ring in the new year with board games, laughter and LOTS of snacks.

Since Christmas required an abundance of cooking, I say we hit the easy button when it comes to New Year’s Eve snacks!

My family has always loved this quick recipe for Simple Turtles. We love it for its simplicity, few ingredients and kid-friendly steps.

INGREDIENTS:

tiny pretzel twists
Rolo candies, unwrapped
pecan halves

1 pretzel twist + 1 Rolo + 1 pecan half = 1 treat

1. Heat oven to 300 degrees.

2. Place pretzels on a cookie sheet. You may wish to line it with parchment paper or a light coating of cooking spray.

3. Place 1 Rolo atop each pretzel.

4. Put in 300 degree oven for 3-4 minutes, or until candy is soft (but still keeps its shape).

5. Remove from oven and immediately press pecan half on top of each candied twist. Make sure children are careful as the pan will still be hot!

(If you don’t care for pecan halves or would rather have a more colorful treat, you can smoosh it down with peanut M&Ms instead!)

6. Cool completely before removing from the pan. If you are compelled to not eat all of the turtles in one sitting, leftovers may be stored in an airtight container. I recommend layering with wax paper to keep them from sticking together.

HAPPY NEW YEAR, Y’ALL! May God bless you abundantly!

Marsha is proud to be the Mrs. to David for over 13 years. They have been homeschooling their rowdy boys in the Lone Star State for the past 6 years. When she’s feeling like a slacker, you can find her drinking coffee, reading a book and writing at her blog — and sometimes all at the same time! You can find Marsha at Other Such Happenings.

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December 30, 2009 By Cassie 1 Comment

Can you believe this is our last I Spy of 2009? This year has really flown by! It’s the time of year for reflection and thankfulness. And for many homeschooling families, a time of evaluation and tweaking. Many of us are gearing up for a few changes in our curriculum or the way we do school. If you are looking for some inspiration, you have come to the right place.

Check out Homeschooling When it Sucks for some encouragement and humor.

Thinking about using the Workbox System when you start back to school in the new year? Worried about space issues? Check out these Small Space Workboxes.

Here’s a great post for mothers homeschooling with energetic toddlers.Use a Rainy Day Jar!

For a great dose of encouragement, read about how one blogger traded it all for a Slow Life on Easy Street.

For even more inspiration, check out these two posts about keeping it all in perspective when you’re a homeschool mom:
1. Why Does Everyone Always Seem to Have it All Together?
2. Will All the Real Moms Please Stand Up?

I am praying that your New Year will be full of family, smiles, and laughs. I’ll see you in 2010!

Cassandra Simpson is a homeschooling wife and mother of four children, ages 1, 8, 9, and 12. She is starting her 6th year of home educating in Indiana and uses a “Classically Eclectic” teaching approach. Cassandra is the Assistant Lead Moderator for HOTM’s forum and loves talking homeschool with anyone who will listen! Her hobbies are reading, blogging, sewing, and cooking. You can check out her family’s blog at In His Image.

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December 30, 2009 By Hannah 3 Comments

I’m a list maker. And a list cross-off-er. Before the homeschool year began, I had our bookshelves organized, a daily planner set for each day of the year for each child, daily circle time planned, printables printed, charts laminated and plenty of room in our ”schedule” for pursuing rabbit trails and personal interests!

Yes! I was set! Ready to go!

Then God sent us a wonderful blessing in the form of a foster daughter and all my planning and anticipated quiet mornings at home nurturing my children’s interests shot like a cannon into Timbuktu.

I’ve slowly begun to realize that God wants my dependence solely on Him, not on scheduling and carefully laid plans.

Twice a week we drive fifty four miles to bring Natalie for her court ordered visitation. That gives us at least an hour in the van and can potentially suck the life out of three hours of our day.

Shortly before Natalie came to stay with us, I stood in our dining room and slowly washed down the chalkboard, praying about what scripture to write on it next. It is more a decorative chalkboard than schoolish and the verse God brought to my heart was II Corinthians 12:9. It says, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” I transcribed it out and two months later it is still there because I need the daily reminder. I daily feel weak and inadequate.

Our family has experienced a lot of changes in schedules, a lot of heartache and a lot of relying on God this fall.

On the practical side of things, we’ve found wonderful ways to make use of our missing three hours twice a week.

The relaxed homeschooler in me found brilliance in books on CD. We’ve listened to Wind in the Willows, Titanic, James Herriot, and many others. We’ve discussed topics ranging from race to moral character to biology that have been prompted by the different stories.

We’ve explored a new city, found that not all libraries lend children’s books for a month (ouch!), and walked trails at a state park discussing flora and fauna.

The biggest learning experience for my kids? Well, that would be a hearty dose of compassion for their foster sister, learning what sacrificing on the behalf of another is, and loving the unlovely. Those lessons, I hope my kids keep with them always. They outshine a missed worksheet or coloring page any day.

Hannah is a relaxed homeschooling mama of five. Her and her family are big on the outdoors, big on family days, and big on making memories in everyday small ways. She loves handcrafts, iced lattes, re-arranging furniture and counts falling into bed exhausted a sign of a really great day. She and her husband make a home in upstate New York with their energetic children and a menagerie of animals. Hannah blogs at Cultivating Home.

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$Does God Care About My Math Curriculum?$

December 29, 2009 By Elizabeth 7 Comments

I have never considered math to be my strong subject, even though I always got good grades in math in my school days. It just never came easy to me, and I certainly never enjoyed it!

So, when it came to teaching my children, I wanted to do more than just the textbook approach. I want them to have a good conceptual understanding of math, and I really want them to enjoy it! I even wanted to start enjoying it myself! After all, our attitudes rub off on our children more than we sometimes wish to believe – even when we are trying our best to fake it. Therefore, I have been on a continual quest to learn how to teach math effectively and make it enjoyable. I found out early on that it is not difficult to make math fun, epecially in the early years. There are so many things you can supplement your textbook with, or even just replace it altogether if you feel confident enough.

$chalkboard-math$

As for me, since I did not feel confident enough to ditch the textbook altogether, we used Singapore Primary Mathematics as our “spine” text, and supplemented with various and sundry other things – even to the point of skipping the text altogether many days. We really did like Singapore, I just did not want to fall into just doing the textbook and getting it done for the day! But having it around helped me feel like I was covering all the bases and not leaving any gaps.

One week a couple of years ago we did a little experiment: we didn’t do any “formal” math – no textbook, no worksheets, no flashcards. We just played games. Joshua’s favorite was “Addition War”. You know how to play war with a deck of cards, right? Well, in “addition war”, you lay down two cards instead of one, and add them together. The player with the higher sums wins the cards! (You take out face cards, unless you want to use them for higher numbers. For us, up to ten was plenty at the time.) What great addition practice, and so painless! After a week of this, we went through our flashcards again, and he beat his best time! After a week of not even using them! I was thrilled!

Well this past year at our state homeschool convention, I went with only one item on my shopping list that I had to get – our Singapore math textbook for this school year. The rest of the time I was just going to browse. So the first time I made it to the vendor hall, I began to look for a place to buy my Singapore math and get that out of the way right off the bat. As I was walking along, a sudden “thought” flashed through my mind – and startled me! It was this: “You don’t need to buy a Singapore math textbook”. WHAT?!? That was the one thing, the only thing, I was SURE about purchasing, with no doubts or qualms. Where did that thought come from? Well, it made me uneasy enough to hold off buying the textbook. I figured I could always buy it the following day.

That night in my hotel room, I prayed about it. “Is that really you, God?” As I prayed, many things began to “pop” into my thinking – things like all the math idea books and math manipulatives I have on my homeschool shelf, things like all the fun math games we have enjoyed over the past few years, things like how many free resources there are on the internet for supplementing a math program. The more I prayed that night and the next day, the more convinced I became that it was indeed the Lord that was speaking about my math curriculum! Does God really care enough about my math curriculum to speak to me about it? I was blown away by the intimacy of His care for us!

So I did not buy a textbook, and this school year we have been exclusively doing “things I come up with”. It is going amazingly well. Now, I am not suggesting that everyone in unison all toss their math textbooks out the window! Rather, I am suggesting two things:

Seek the Lord about even the most mundane aspects of your children’s education. He really does care and wants to guide us as we guide our children!
Whether or not you maintain your math textbook, I encourage you to seek ways to make math come alive to your children. Charlotte Mason liked to talk about “living math” that was actually applicable in real life, not just a matter of working out sums on paper.

Here are some ideas and resources I have found helpful:

Since every homeschool mother has worried at some point about leaving gaps in her child’s education, I like to refer to two main books to gain both guidance and assurance:

Ruth Beechick’s “The Three R’s” – for K-2, or “You Can Teach Your Child Successfully” for grades 3-8

Teaching Children, by …… – This is a K-8th grade scope and sequence guide for those using a Charlotte Mason approach

These books help me to have a game plan, like “by the end of this year, I want my child to be able to do addition and subtraction up to facts of 12, both understanding the concept and by rote memorization”, for example. Then, once I have a basic game plan, I have used these things to help us along our way:

Manipulatives, like Cuisenaire rods, Base 10 blocks, Math-U-See blocks, and Mathlinks blocks. Also immensely useful are things you probably have around your home already, like dice, Dominoes, coins, and counters like paperclips or straws. We use these a lot to help visualize things. I have picked up a couple of “teaching ideas” books for cuisenaire rods (used), that have helped a lot. The “Super Source” book has printables and games that we have both enjoyed, to use with the rods.

$Blocks-math$

Flashcards – do not underestimate the humble flashcard! I recommend the triangle ones for addition and subtraction so your child can see that one is the opposite of the other. We use flashcards most days. The best way I have found to do them is to set the timer for five minutes and see how many he can do in that amount of time, and I write down how many he was able to. That way it is not dragging on forever, especially if you have a slow poke like I do. The self-competition is good for motivation!

Math to music! This is especially useful if you have an auditory learner. I got a cd a couple of years ago from www.singnlearn.com – Classical Math to Classical Music. We listened to our cd almost daily, and even my then 3 year old began memorizing her math facts this way! We only have the addition one, but they are available for subtraction, division and multiplication as well.

Math Readers – I pick these up at my library on occasion for variety. They are a lot of fun and show how math can be used in real life. In the back, they have ideas on ways to use the book as well, for teaching purposes. For example, the one entitled Stay in Line talks of a dozen children going to the zoo, and shows all the different ways they were grouped. I had Joshua use a dozen counters to mimic the groups, and then we looked for things around the house that were in groups of a dozen: eggs, forks, chairs, etc.

Here are a few sample titles:
Stay in Line by Teddy Slater, Gioia Fiammenghi, and Marilyn Burns
Just Add Fun! by Joanne Rocklin and Martin Lemelman
Sunflowers Measure Up by Dianne Ochiltree

An article by Cathy Duffy that really encouraged me, called “First Grade Math without a Textbook“. It is very similar to the Charlotte Mason approach to “Living Math” and has some great ideas as well.

Coloring sheets for addition practice: You can easily make these with a simple coloring page. You simple make a color key, like 6=red, 8=blue, 10=green and so forth. But rather than writing the number in each area, you instead write a problem like 4+2, and since the sum is 6, that section would be red. This helps the child understand how many different ways we can arrive at the same sum as well. If you like, you can add subtraction problems as well!

Here are a few links to sites that have really helped me with ideas for teaching, for games, and some free printables too:

Living Math – way cool site by a homeschool mom: http://www.livingmath.net/Home/tabid/250/language/en-US/Default.aspx

Another site on Living Math: http://www.squidoo.com/earlymath

A great site for math activities and games: http://www.mathwire.com/index.html

And, lastly, a blog all about math, for K-12: http://letsplaymath.wordpress.com/

All of these sites contain tons more links, and great information.

I also have really enjoyed using a book called Games for Learning, by Peggy Kaye. She also has another book that is called Games for Math, which I don’t have. But Games for Learning does include math games, as well as reading games, games for logic, and more.

Be blessed as you seek the Lord’s will for your children’s education, and have fun with math!

Elizabeth Tsukayama is a homeschool graduate homeschooling the next generation! She and her husband, Fabio (yes, that is his real name!), have four beautiful children ages 7 down to 1. Elizabeth enjoys many hobbies, but her favorite one is teaching her children and learning with them, especially using hands-on projects, lapbooks, notebooking and nature exploration. The Tsukayama family is currently packing up to travel to Brazil for missions. Life never ceases to be an adventure! You can check out her site at: www.mamaknowsbest.net.

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December 28, 2009 By Marybeth 1 Comment

Welcome to Write At Home, a monthly feature here at HOTM. Marybeth Whalen will be introducing you to homeschool moms who write: curriculum authors, novelists, nonfiction writers, and popular bloggers and more. Many of us are deeply inspired by these moms who seem to “do it all.” This feature will provide you with a glimpse into their everyday lives.

Today we have Sheila Wray Gregoire joining us. Sheila is a syndicated parenting columnist and a popular speaker. The author of four books, including How Big Is Your Umbrella?, with more on the way, she loves encouraging women to forget about the dust bunnies under their beds and keep their focus on Jesus! She also has a passion for family, and together with her husband Keith speaks at Family Life marriage conferences. You can usually find her in Belleville, Ontario, where she homeschools her two daughters and knits. Preferably simultaneously.

Hi Sheila– we are so excited to hear from you today! We know you can teach us a lot about balancing not only writing and homeschooling but marriage too! Can you tell us about how your books can help us do that?

Sure! If you’re like me, you have lists going through your head all the time. I have laundry waiting to be folded. I need to do math. When did I vacuum last? And have I been even mildly affectionate to my husband lately? We live under a huge cloud of guilt and shoulds, especially homeschoolers, because so much rests on our shoulders.

What I try to do in my book To Love, Honor and Vacuum is give women a plan so that we can stop with all the guilt and just focus on what God’s priorities are. He cares about our kids’ hearts. He cares about our hearts. He cares about our marriages. And the rest may be important, but it’s further down the list. So in the book I help us organize and prioritize so we can get the important stuff right. After all, I find that homeschooling works better when kids respect you. When they are well disciplined, they listen. When they aren’t, they run all over the place. So even getting homeschooling done relies first and foremost on good parenting!

Of course, just because we prioritize relationships doesn’t mean that we don’t clean. No one wants to fear catching a communicable disease in one’s kitchen. But what the book does do is give us a new way of thinking about our homes so that we can get the cleaning done faster and focus on what’s really important!

Then, in Honey, I Don’t Have a Headache Tonight, I talk specifically to women who want to feel more in the mood. Is it even possible to turn up your libido? I wrote the book as a research project, and I like to say that my husband really enjoyed it!

How long have you been homeschooling? What led you to this lifestyle choice?

We’re in our ninth year of homeschooling now. My oldest daughter went to junior kindergarten and senior kindergarten, and then we pulled her out for grade one. She’s in high school now. For us it was a twofold decision: she was already reading in kindergarten, and we wanted her to be challenged academically, and we wanted some control over our family schedule. I just found that with piano and gymnastics and kids’ club night we were running around constantly. With homeschooling you can do a lot of those activities during the day, so you still have a family life at night!

Though our initial reasons were mostly academic, though, over the years we’ve realized how much of a spiritual impact it has had having our girls home. They both are really strong in their faith, and both chose to be baptized in 2008. They’re really bright, and have a heart for missions. They talk openly about their faith (far more so than I did at their age!). And they are sweet girls. I don’t think that would have happened had they been in school. So we couldn’t be happier.

Do you find that writing meshes seamlessly with homeschooling or… not?

Let’s get one thing straight. Writing doesn’t mesh seamlessly with ANYTHING! Writing is tough. You’re not always in the mood to write when you can grab those brief chunks of time, and it’s often hard slogging. If you want to write, you have to feel a call to it, and you have to pray for God’s insight into your schedule. It will never, ever be easy, and it won’t always be rewarding, either. But if God has given you that passion, He will give you the discipline and the time, too.

I have found over the years different challenges with finding time to write. When the kids were younger, I tended to write at nap time. And when they stopped napping, I could usually find some time in the afternoon, w hen they were done their schoolwork for the day and were playing.

As they’ve gotten older and work longer hours at school, I often find I write in the mornings, when they’ve been given their assignments. The afternoons we keep for going over their work and talking about social issues, current events, newspapers, etc.

What does a typical day look like for you and your children?

In the morning they do the basics—math, grammar, Latin, piano practice. They do that mostly without me now (they’re in grade 8 & 10). When they were younger I would assign two or three subjects at a time and go over the lesson for that day, and then they would go work for an hour before coming back. Now I find I can give them a whole morning to do. In the afternoon we have fun talking about controversial issues (I love politics), and sometimes joining our homeschooling coop for hockey, or debating, or some other courses. Around 4 we all tidy up the house. They do their chores and I start making dinner, which I find really relaxing. That’s often when I get my phone calls made for the day, too!

During the day our house often looks really chaotic, but by 6 we’re nice and settled. So if you’re going to drop by, pick the right time!

Do you find that homeschooling feeds into your writing, making it richer?

I can’t believe how much I know because of homeschooling! I have two Master’s Degrees, one in Sociology and one in Public Administration, and I can confidently say that my grade 10 daughter knows more about politics and history now than I did when I graduated. I can’t believe how much I was never taught. So I feel like I’m much better informed. And the homeschooling community is really a rich community from a philosophical sense, too. We think deeply about things. We think our heritage is important, and we learn about it. We’re not caught up in current fads. Those who are trained in a homeschooling approach, then, make better cultural analysts and better psychologists!

What are your best time management tips for busy moms?

Here are two. Number one: get your kids to do as much as is humanly possible. And more is probably humanly possible than you think. I remember reading Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little Town on the Prairie, and being amazed that Laura and Carrie looked after the house for a week on their own while Ma and Pa were taking Mary to blind school. They cleaned the whole house and polished everything, because they knew how to do it. Our kids need to know how to do it. We’re doing them a favour when we get them involved in chores. One of the things I talk about a lot in To Love, Honor and Vacuum is how to instigate a good system of chores for your kids that is easy to do, easy to stick to, and easy to appreciate! Instead of always doing it yourself because, after all, you can do it better, I explain why it’s important to train the kids. After all, the best gift you can give your future daughter-in-law is a son who cleans toilets! So assign chores so it’s not all on your shoulders.

Another life-saver for me is doing things in a particular order. Tuesday, for instance, is catching up on laundry, changing the sheets, and ironing. Wednesday is vacuuming and mopping. What that means is that on Monday I don’t have to feel guilty if the laundry is overflowing, because I know Tuesday is coming. Likewise, on Tuesday, after I’ve done the ironing, I don’t have to feel like I have to get out a mop, because Wednesday is coming. If everything has its day, then it puts a limit on what I have to do today. I don’t have to feel like I need to constantly be working, because I know everything will get done in its time.

Finally, one thing we’ve tried to do in homeschooling is stick all errands on one day. On Wednesday my kids have piano, so that’s when I do the banking, the grocery shopping, and my errands, because I’m out anyway. Instead of having to run out everyday, I try to do it all at once. That makes for a much less hectic schedule! I mention this, and a whole lot of other homeschooling tips, in the appendix of To Love, Honor and Vacuum, because I know how frantic many homeschooling moms often feel!

You offer resources for beginning writers and speakers. Tell us about those.

I’m so excited about this new endeavour! I have a dream of equipping other speakers to tell their stories in a way that really changes lives. I believe that God has given each of us a unique message, and some of us He has called specifically to speak and write. But that doesn’t mean that we automatically know how to do it well! Training conferences, however, can cost a lot of money! So I have a number of 90 minute teleseminars and courses you can take by email (I don’t mark them; it’s all for your benefit) that can launch your speaking ministry in the right direction! And I’m teaching writers how to create products they can sell on the internet, like homeschooling curriculum, e-books, and more, so that they can generate income from home!

You can find all those teleseminars and e-courses here: http://sheilawraygregoire.com/speakingwritingresourcess199.php. There’s something for everyone!

And I also host a BlogTalkRadio show every Tuesday at noon EST called “Use Your Words”, specifically for speakers and writers! If you can take a lunch break from homeschooling around that time and you want to join me, I have lots of tips then! And it’s free. http://www.blogtalkradio.com/cwa-radio

If you want to be notified when a new teleseminar or course is coming up, sign up here: http://sheilawraygregoire.com/speakinginterestc413.php. I’m hoping to host an online speakers’ conference soon, so that you can take training from home!

Thanks Sheila for sharing from your wisdom. We are so glad you took the time to encourage us!

Marybeth Whalen is homeschooling mom to six children ranging in age from teen to toddler, as well as a speaker for Proverbs 31 Ministries. In her writings, she addresses things like burnout, dealing with interruptions, and handling homeschooling from a very practical perspective. Be sure to visit her blog, Cheaper by the Half Dozen.

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December 28, 2009 By Renae 4 Comments

My daughter received a doll house for Christmas complete with family and furniture. I wish she received a time machine instead, so the hours this toy has scattered across the house could be retrieved. Grandpa hides in a vase. Grandma faints under the couch. Sister peeks from the bookshelf. Mommy and Daddy search for Baby in the laundry basket. And lamps roll around the bathroom.

I didn’t get into this pick-up game completely clueless. While inserting screws for hours, I glimpsed a hint of the minutes this house would consume. It was worth it though. The finished product was perfect, the highlight of all the toys.

Two months later, the abandoned house sits in a corner. The furniture constantly gathered to make “soup” or “presents.” Will this nemesis of housekeeping be missed? Can I sneak it out during the night?

Maybe it’s an issue of perspective. Webster’s 1828 Dictionary defines perspective as “a glass through which objects are viewed.” Sometimes, the glass needs a good cleaning.

Gazing through the mist of life, requires imagination and hope. I clearly see the tasks of the day, but there is an unseen picture, of utmost importance, easier to forget. Sally Clarkson, author of Educating the Wholehearted Child, encourages me to continue overcoming my myopia.

“Often, I find that in the absence of a clear enough vision for their children and homes, mothers replace conviction and vision with lots of activities and distractions for their children. This hyper-activity and rushing around to an endless list of expensive lessons and experiences and the buying of the newest expensive curriculum and technological options make moms feel like they are accomplishing something. However, when the home-life of children is rich with excellent, classic literature, passionate Biblical devotions, rousing dinner-table discussions around sumptuous, tasty meals, lots of love and affection given and household chores attended to—a child will become committed to all that is good and excellent and develop a moral and compassionate soul for all the divinely important values.”

Moving the classic toy on top of the dresser brings everything into focus. My girls are now eye-level with the miniature world. Complaints turn into delight as Polly Pocket visits Sister Laura. Grandmother uses the stove to cook soup, instead of the kitchen table and chairs being stirred in a pan. The family and furniture often stay home now. Peace to us all.

Renae teaches her eleven-year-old son and two little girls at home. She has prepared lesson plans, enjoyed children’s literature, and delighted in discovery with her children for five years. By studying Principle Approach philosophy, she realized what she always suspected: the Bible lies at the heart of all subjects. Find her reflections at Life Nurturing Education.

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December 25, 2009 By Tammy Leave a Comment

Over thirteen years ago, someone contacted my husband and I about helping with the Christmas Eve service at church. They wanted to set up a manger scene and were looking for a couple with a baby to walk to the manger in appropriate dress and portray Joseph and Mary while having their baby lie in the manger. Of course, being in a state of sleep deprivation with a new baby in our home while tending to her six siblings made it easy to say “yes”.

We were relieved to have a very easy going baby this time around who completely cooperated with the Christmas Eve service in a darkened church. Lying her in the manger was not a problem at all as she quietly gazed at the lights around her. As I simply pondered my sweet baby, I thought of Mary who had perhaps more intensely pondered her baby. A baby she had heard about when the angel Gabriel appeared to her before she had even married.

“Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name JESUS. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. And he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.” ~ Luke 1:30-33

Could Mary’s heart even grasp the impact her baby would have on the world? Could her human knowledge of kingly reign even come close to realizing that her baby would someday grow up to be known at the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords of the heavens and the earth?

Then consider when the shepherds came to see this baby after an angel had appeared to them in the fields being joined by a company of angels praising God and Mary’s response to their visit.

“So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.” ~ Luke 2:16-19

As Mary was treasuring the early moments of her newborn’s life, could she have even imagined that this baby named Jesus would grow up to be a man known as Lord and Savior as He displayed God’s unconditional love by His sacrificial death? A death followed by His glorious resurrection that would provide a way of salvation for those around the world whose greatest need in life was the forgiveness of sins for a repentant heart desiring to draw closer to their Heavenly Father?

If on this Christmas Day you are someone who has never met Jesus, may I encourage you to ponder the baby we remember during this season. You can read about His arrival in the first couple of chapters of the book of Luke in the Holy Bible. Then turn to the next book, John, and read about His life, death, and resurrection which continues to impact the world He created as He offers eternal life to everyone who believes and trusts in Him as their Lord and Savior.

If on this Christmas Day you are someone who is quite familiar with Jesus, may I encourage you to treasure the Son of God we remember during this season. Continue to immerse yourself in His Word stoking the fire of your belief which allows you to live obediently with the help of the Holy Spirit impacting the world around you as you follow Him.

For on this Christmas Day, knowing JESUS truly is the Heart of the Matter……

Married in 1980 and still living in the same house in a woodsy rural setting, Tammy’s homeschooling journey began in the fall of 1987 when her oldest turned six years old. As rather new believers professing Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, homeschooling was a way to live out the principles found in Deuteronomy 6:4-9. Through all the challenges of life Tammy has stayed the course growing to a family with nine children who presently range from preschool age to college graduates married with children. Her role has transitioned from learning everything she could about homeschooling to becoming an encourager to others coming along the way. Please visit Tammy at Garden Glimpses.

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December 24, 2009 By Tracy 4 Comments

Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanzaa? How does your family celebrate the Holidays? Do you teach your kiddos about the other holidays? Do you take December off from schooling?

We celebrate Christmas WAY different than anyone else on the planet! And yes, we have taught our children about all the other holidays. We take off a week or 2 sometimes, with this year taking just one week off.

As far as “decorating” goes, we do not have a traditional tree. Instead we have 3 Trees! Our three small Pencil trees with white lights represent the (folktale) The Tale of Three Trees. When people ask us {and they ALWAYS do} about the three trees, we get to share Christ with them!

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We also have snowmen that have been collected over the years that go on our mantle/or piano top for most of the winter season; while our Nativity stays out ALL YEAR LONG!

In our home and family, we celebrate the holidays a little different then most families when we do what we call the Three Gifts!

Jesus only received three gifts from all the Magi, so we feel it is only fair. All of the over-abundance these days just makes people (especially children) NOT appreciate what they get and have! So we choose three gifts for our children out of these three categories: Head, Hands and Heart.

Head: something that will challenge them, make them smarter and they have to use their brains to play with or use.

Hands: something they make, create or use with their hands.

Heart: something they LOVE or something we give to them because we LOVE them and wanted them to have it.

These gifts are most likely NEVER something they specifically ASKED for (the list type things go to Grandparents, Aunts & Uncles, etc.)

If you were to ask my children, they would say the best part is getting the three gifts and figuring out why they fit in the category.

We hope that our children will grow up and carry on these “traditions” that point directly to Christ with their families. This year our budget will be especially TIGHT so the three gifts may be even smaller than years past, but they will mean just as much!

You can read the the folk tale of the three trees here.

The book is beautiful and it has been made into a DVD for kids as well!

I hope no matter how you celebrate, that you celebrate with Life, Love and Family! Blessings.

Tracy is first and foremost a Christian, a military wife and mother. She grew up as a military brat all over the USA and is married to her Air Force, pastor husband of 15 years. They have 2 beautiful teenage children that they home school. She is photographer, and owns Shots From the Heart Photography and loves to do what she calls “Capturing the Fingerprints of God!” in her images. Tracy also created a workshop called Mommytography, where she teaches Mom’s how to take better pictures. You can visit her at her blog: Lighthouse Academy Home & School

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December 23, 2009 By Patty 4 Comments

Last month we took some time to learn how to piece together mini-books for Lapbooking. This month we will take a look at how to piece together Notebook pages. But first what is Notebooking??

Notebooking is another form of creative studying. It involves taking a sheet of paper and basically making a scrapbook out of what your child learns. This can be simple with a entries of journaling or it can be extravagant with embellishments, drawings, mini-books, and the list goes on. But for the most part, Notebooking usually falls somewhere in-between.

A simple way to begin is to just hand your child a blank piece of paper and some markers and/or colored pencils. Have them draw what they are learning and then explain what they drew. So if you were learning about the Aqueducts in Ancient Rome they would draw the aqueducts and then write about the reason for them and what they did. It could be an entire page for this one topic, or simply a section, leaving the rest of the page for the next topic.

“Hmm, but that seems to easy, there’s got to be more right?” Well yes and no! No, there doesn’t have to be more. Notebooking is a way to show that your child really does understand the concept. Simply by drawing the Aqueduct and explaining what they drew–you will KNOW that they fully comprehend the discussion and you can simply move on to the next topic. However, some like a bit more pizazz!

For those that want to go more in-depth and add a bit of extravaganza, you can get as creative as your brain will let you. For those of you who enjoy going all out I suggest doing a bit of research. My suggestion? Start on-line. This is a free and easy way to get suggestions for your pages. Simple google searches with the following phrases can save you countless hours.

Scrapbooking
Notebooking
History Notebooking
Math Notebooking
Science Notebooking
Reading Notebooking
Langauge Arts Notebooking
Notebooking Ideas

Notice that I started off with Scrapbooking? Scrapbooking is kind of where Notebooking started. Some ladies, who loved to scrapbook, decided to try to bring their passion into learning. It worked! Their children loved to use their knowledge and get creative with it. And the end results looked like a fabulous scrapbook that showcased not the children-but what they had learned. Really when you do things this way the sky is the limit. You can use all the embellishments that you would scrapbooking. Any layout that you come across for a scrapbook page CAN be used for Notebooking. Just exchange the photographs for graphics, personal drawings, or charts/graphs etc. Some other ideas can be found in scrapbooking magazines. I don’t suggest you go out and purchase these unless you already do this for scrapbooking, but you can find them at your local library more often than not. Keep in mind that scrapbooking is time consuming. So plan for this accordingly.

“Woooah! Wait, who said I had that kind of time or ambition?” Well ok, you may not want to get quite THAT ambitious. Unless it’s your passion and your children are inclined to join in with great enthusiasm you may want to downshift the whole project. And for that you have two options. The first is to purchase or search for free notebooking pages on-line. There are many free sites. Begin with a Google search for the following terms:

Free notebooking pages
Free notebooking templates
Free notebooking printables

You will be bombarded with a ton of hits. Don’t get overwhelmed!!!! You can always shorten the list by throwing in your specific topic, such as Free Aqueduct Notebooking pages. These pages will generally have a few graphics already included and lines for your child to journal on. Ahh simplicity at it’s finest! Sometimes there is nothing better than having it all done for you if you are creatively challenged!

BUT, what if you can’t find exactly what you want? Easy-let’s get creative. For this you will need your trusty old word processing program. I personally use either Microsoft office, or if I’m getting really creative I open up Microsoft Publisher.

Then you need to decide on a general layout. You can use one of their “flyer” options or even a newsletter template. OR you can just decide to create your own. After you have chosen your basic layout, You’ll need to find graphics. Now For the most part, I find that the office clip art really is a bit limited. I go searching online! I love GOOGLE, but I have come to find that for graphics and photos an “add-on’ for Firfox called CoolIris (this can be downloaded at “www.cooliris.com) really does speed up the search process.

Now remember the old saying that “less is more”? Well it really is. You don’t want to overwhelm the page with so many graphics that there won’t be any place to add in some writing. And a very important reminder: Right click on each graphic so that you can adjust the text wrapping. Changing that setting to “In front of text” will enable you to move the graphic and adjust the location of the text much easier than if it was “wrapped.”

For your basic layout, simply adding in lines for your child to write on will remind you to leave space. This is easiest added by using the underscore button “____.” These you can adjust Larger or smaller to fit your child’s writing ability. Below is a very simple design with enough lines that a Jr. High or High school student would work with. ( A younger student would have less lines and more space between each one.)

Now for those that want their children to have neat lines to write on and yet be able to draw there is a very simple fix. Instead of searching for the graphics–simply “insert” a shape into the same place you would add in the graphic. That way your child will know where to put the drawing and what size to make it.

Notebooking can be as simple or as involved as you want it. Really it all depends on how much commitment you want to make to it. For a beginner-start easy. Use free ones and create your own. For those that have already been at it for a while, perhaps branching out and delving deeper may be your next step adding embellishments to your finished project. Either way–Make it your way! There is no right or wrong way to Notebook!

Patty has been married to the love of her life for 14 years and has 4 kiddos she lovingly refers to as her monkeys. She is constantly threatening to run away to the Circus–unfortunately, she keeps being informed she’s already there! She loves throwing together this and that to create a unique learning experience that encourages a love of learning. Come feed their school mascot Shiver and check out her blog at Shiver Academy.

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