Heart of the Matter

Debra Bell is a former public school teacher who homeschooled her children from Kindergarten through high school. Her book, The Ultimate Guide to Homeschooling (Apologia Press;2009) contains 506 pages of resources and tips she has learned over the years.

Section topics include:

• Is homeschooling right for you?
• Choosing a curriculum
• Organization and planning
• Preventing burnout
• What to teach-when and how
• Homeschooling teens
• Computers in the homeschool
• Creative solutions for toddlers and other blessed challenges
• Measuring your success

Also included is a resource guide with homeschooling organizations and publications, recommended suppliers and products, and Academic/Athletic contests and competitions.

My only criticism would be chapter 21, Subject by Subject Guidelines, which is a very generalized chapter (understandably, since it could actually be the subject of an entire book). Be prepared to do more research on your own after reading this chapter, although Debra does point you in a few directions.

I read this book with a highlighter and appreciated Debra’s clean writing style, large font and well organized content. Its not often that you run across a book that is useful to homeschoolers of varied levels of experience, however I think this book has more than a few useful nuggets for everyone.

Karin Katherine is a proud stay-at-home mother of four who feels blessed to be the mother of 5 year old fraternal twin boys and two daughters, ages three and 10 months. You are invited to follow her homeschooling adventures at www.PassportAcademy.com and her adventures as a mother, wife, homemaker, decorator and organizer at www.MommyMattersBlog.com

Sonya Haskins, author of The Homeschoolers book of lists, has written a new book that will show you how your one-of-a-kind family can make homeschooling and real life work.
Homeschooling for the rest of us (Bethany House, 2010) is an easy and informative read for new homeschoolers. Exactly the type of book anyone seriously considering homeschooling for the first time should read. Offering no “right” or “wrong” way, Sonya takes the reader on a contemplative journey through the major facets and concerns with homeschooling. Sonya shatters the cultural myths surrounding homeschooling, sharing practical wisdom and insight on homeschooling and parenting along the way without offering a one-size-fits-all solution.

The flexible strategies for dealing with common homeschooling concerns or problems are both useful and refreshing. This is a great book for anyone dipping a toe into the homeschooling pond cautiously.

Karin Katherine is a proud stay-at-home mother of four who feels blessed to be the mother of 5 year old fraternal twin boys and two daughters, ages three and 10 months. You are invited to follow her homeschooling adventures at www.PassportAcademy.com and her adventures as a mother, wife, homemaker, decorator and organizer at www.MommyMattersBlog.com

Do you have an animal lover (or two or three) in your midst? Why not use your child’s love of animals to teach them to love and understand the Lord more deeply? The Big Book of Animal Devotions has 250 daily readings about God’s amazing creation developed right from God’s own imagination. No mattter where, when or how, animals can be great teachers on everything from caring for ourselves and our families, to surviving even the worst conditions.

When Jesus Christ taught, He used fish, lilies, sparrows, and foxes to help us remember. When Paul wrote about anger he reminded us of the sun. Ezekiel called the Pharaoh a bubbling crocodile. In this book we use the Bible and nature to teach about God, ourselves, our feelings, and our friends.
William L. Coleman
The Big Book of Animals Devotions

This gentle devotional combines biblical truth and scripture with fun, factual and fascinating facts about God’s awesome creation. If you or your children are ready for fresh new devotional for children that doesn’t water down the lesson or influence of God, this should be your next purchase.

Karin Katherine is a proud stay-at-home mother of four who feels blessed to be the mother of 5 year old fraternal twin boys and two daughters, ages three and 10 months. You are invited to follow her homeschooling adventures at www.PassportAcademy.com and her adventures as a mother, wife, homemaker, decorator and organizer at www.MommyMattersBlog.com

Did you know Joseph Mohr wrote Silent Night, Holy Night to be sung by only a choir and a guitar because the church organ was broken? And, Charles Wesley, who wrote Hark the Herald Angels Sing, had 18 brothers and sisters? These are a few examples of what we learned about the writers of some famous Christmas carols that we sing at Christmastime.

Learning Christmas carols and the true stories of the songwriters that wrote them has never been more fun! Christmas Carols for a Kid’s Heart will teach you twelve classic carols. There is piano and guitar music accompanying the words for the inclined musicians of the family. Also included is a CD of the carols, sung by children, to listen to or sing along with. My younger children listen to this CD as background music, but my older children prefer that we sing without the CD.

Christmas Carols for a Kid’s Heart is the 3rd volume of Hymns for a Kid’s Heart. We use the other volumes for hymn study, focusing on one hymn a week. Christmas is a time for making memories. During December, I pick 4 Christmas carols to focus on using this book as a devotional and song book. It also provides inspiration for discussions based on the stories that are written about the hymn writers. There is also a short verse to memorize and a prayer to meditate on.

If you are looking for a way to incorporate hymn study in your homeschool, you may want to start by learning about Christmas carols during December. It’s an easy introduction and is enjoyable by the whole family.

Brenda is a homeschooling mother of 5, who has a wonderful husband encouraging her to be the best woman that God has created her to be. Together they are very intentional about spending time together as a family. She considers her daily life with her children as her ministry and has found many avenues to encourage others to live a lifestyle of learning. She is the founder of an online homeschool community, Our Lifestyle of Learning and a curriculum review site authored by a group of well-known homeschool bloggers, Curriculum Choice. She blogs about their homeschool journey and family traditions at Tie That Binds Us.

I finished reading the amazing true story of a modern-day slave, an international art dealer, and the unlikely woman who bound them together.

Same Kind of Different as Me is a heartwarming tale of two men, one rich and another poor, and how their lives intertwine because of a woman called by God to serve in a homeless mission. The story is well-written, humorous, touching, and inspiring. The two men alternate telling their tales, a chapter or two at a time.

We meet a dirt-poor sharecropper named Denver who worked the land by picking cotton for ‘the Man’ but earned no money. In his 20s, Denver hopped a train which led him to Fort Worth, Texas, where he lived on the streets, a step up from where he began.

We also meet Ron, an international art dealer with humble beginnings, married to Deborah, a woman who would lead him to a homeless shelter and encourage him to befriend a homeless man she saw in her dream.

Through its language and imagery, Same Kind of Different as Me has the flavor of To Kill a Mockingbird. This book explores the themes of true friendship, being different, suffering, and homelessness. In fishing terms, some people practice “catch and release.” This term can be applied to friendship as well. While some friendships are “catch and release,” others are forever. This book is a story of faith, courage, fear, and forgiveness.

Deborah was an incredible woman of faith, from the way she handled her husband’s infidelity to her treatment of the homeless. What was Deborah afraid of? Not the homeless, but that she’d miss her calling in life. Are you afraid of missing your calling, of wasting your life? How can we combat this fear, which can keep us from fulfilling our purpose in life? Are we willing to take that risk to reach out to others, to make a difference in their lives, to show them the way of eternal life?

This book had me in tears, as the two men finally meet and as Deborah faced the biggest challenge of her life—cancer. The cancer was not only a physical battle, but a spiritual journey for Deborah and those who prayed for her day and night.

Deborah’s legacy lives on in the lives of those she touched—her family, friends, and the homeless she befriended and served so faithfully. Can we care about people the way Deborah did?

I read more of Ron and Denver’s story in their follow-up book, What Difference Do It Make? The sequel expands on Ron’s relationship with his father, Denver’s time in prison, and the impact that Deborah’s story has made on ordinary people to make an extraordinary difference in our world today. Let’s join them in making that difference.

Lisa (aka Morning Rose) has been teaching her two elementary-aged sons for four years and incorporating study, work, service, and play into their homeschooling days. She enjoys reading, writing, and photography and blogs publicly at Pockets of Time and privately at Scooter and B.