A Word of Encouragement to New Homeschooling Parents...

Don't despair and don't second-guess yourself.  Sounds so simple, huh?  Yet, doubts about what you are doing plague you.  People, especially family members, question your motives.  Some folks will even "quizz" your children about what they know in order to "prove" whether or not homeschooling really works or not.  You have days when there are so many interruptions that basically nothing in the way of academics was accomplished.   Serious illness or some other calamity has befallen your family, hindering your entire school year.  You just know your child's education has suffered for it - he'll be behind his public school peers.  You just know you've failed in giving your child a proper education, and he'll not be ready for college upon high school (homeschool) graduation.  Right? 

Wrong!  How do I know?  I've been there - experienced all that - and still managed to educate all three of my children better than any public school could have done.   Of course, I give the good Lord above all the credit for my success in homeschooling.  Without His blessing and grace, I could not have done it. 

With my oldest child, when she began studying high school level courses, I found myself having to study and learn alongside her.  There was so much that I had forgotten from my own high school days, and much that I hadn't even learned at all!  You can read more about those early days of homeschooling with her, and our reasons for homeschooling her in the first place, by reading an earlier post from last summer.  (Click on the link below this post called "Success" to have quick access to it.)   Like I said before in that earlier post, we took her out of public school when she was in 7th grade.  I gave her a diagnostic test which proved she was actually on a 5th grade level in Math and English (Language Arts).  After finishing 10th grade at home, she took a Math & English Placement Test at our local college.  I was told afterwards that my daughter "scored better than most high school graduates" on those tests!  (At that very moment,  it felt like a weight had slipped from my shoulders.   I finally realized, without a doubt, that my efforts to educate my children were not in vain.  I WAS accomplishing something of value.  Homeschooling WAS working, and it was working WELL!) At age 16, my daughter was ready for college level English and Algebra 2.  She had only completed Algebra 1 and Geometry at home, so I was glad to hear that she was, indeed, ready to move on to Algebra 2.   Yay!  (Since I had never taken Algebra 2 in high school, my daughter and I both signed up for the class at the college.)   She graduated from high school at home the following year - one year ahead of her public school peers.  She waited until she was 18 to attend college, and did not have to take any remedial courses. 

By the time my third child finished 10th grade at home, I felt like an "old pro".  My first two children had graduated and entered the work force without any problems.  (My second child chose not to attend college.  He preferred working full-time.)  Then, I began having health issues.  After suffering with a problem for a good while, I ended up having major surgery around the time of my youngest child's junior year of school.  This took alot of my attention away from his schooling.   Then, in the fall of my son's senior year, I experienced horrendous back problems which affected my hip and leg, and was in excruciating (literal "screaming fits") pain for about 2 and a half months, and lingering (moaning and groaning) pain and disability for over a year.  Needless to say, any education my son received during most of his last two years of high school, he acquired on his own.  His last year was mostly spent in taking care of me.  (My husband was a long-haul trucker, and was gone from home for 5 or 6 days at a time, and home for 1 or 2 days.  My daughter was married and living away from home and working.  My older son was also working and gone all day.)  That left my younger son to wait on me, help me up and down, take me to the doctor, do my shopping, do my house cleaning, listen to me cry, etc.  He did all that and never complained.   He did not have much time left to spend on his lessons.  I was in so much pain that I could not sufficiently guide him or even really supervise what he was supposed to do.

When my son's senior year was over, and it was time for him to take the Math & English Placement Tests at the college, I was probably more concerned about how he would do than he was.  I felt like I had been such a failure to him for his last two years of high school.  I was afraid he'd be behind academically.  As it turned out, I'd worried for nothing!  My son tested very well on both of those placement tests and was ready for all college level subjects.   God had come through for us, despite our hardships of the previous couple of  years. 

I guess the lesson I have learned in my own homeschooling journey with my kids is that all God requires of us, as parents, is to plant the seed.  HE will give the increase.  It's like that old gospel (Pentecostal Holiness) song says, "If you'll take one step - He'll take two!  Ain't no limit what God can do.  He said, 'If ya go, don't worry about yourself.  All ya gotta do is take a step!' "

Amen to that!  If we do our best (even when our best doesn't seem like enough), God will do the rest!

A Kindergartener's Idea of Heaven...

My nephew, homeschool - grade K, has a unique idea of what heaven is like.  He said heaven has streets and gates of gold and beautiful streams of water. (Okay, no surprise there.) He also said heaven will have "trees of ice cream", "bushes of cotton candy", and "cows with spots of milk chocolate that you can pick off and eat"!  Mmmmmmmm!  Sounds like heaven to me! 

Presidents' Day / Finger Puppet Craft Ideas

http://crafts.kaboose.com/presidents-day.html

Note:  choking hazard - use caution if using with kids under age 5 years.

It would be safer to use photocopies of the coins, rather than the actual coins.

Presidents' Day / Abraham Lincoln / Top Hat Craft Project...

http://crafts.kaboose.com/paper-plate-abe-lincoln-hat.html

Our version:



 

Presidents' Day / George Washington / Powdered Wig Craft Idea...

http://crafts.kaboose.com/powdered-wig.html

Our version:

 

Hey, guys, aren't you glad that you don't live in the 18th century?  lol!

 

We have now decorated for Presidents' Day...

Traditionally, Presidents' Day has been set aside to honor George Washington (our 1st President) and Abraham Lincoln (our 16th President) who were both born in February.  To keep with tradition, we will be learning a little about these two former Presidents of the U.S.A.  and do a few related craft projects.  We may also learn some facts about a couple of others as we look at photos of Mount Rushmore in South Dakota.  I am planning for my grandson to do a special page for his year book entitled "U.S.A.  Presidents During My Lifetime" in which  George W. Bush  and  Barak H. Obama will be featured. 

Turn your blog into a book!

You can turn your blog into a book!  I think I'll try it at the end of this school year, and who knows?  Maybe do it every year! 

http://blogspot.sharedbook.com/blog2print/googleblogger/index.html

Great website for simple craft ideas & other activities for kids...

http://www.kaboose.com/

"If the children are untaught..."

"If the children are untaught, their ignorance and vices will in future life cost us much dearer in their consequences than it would have done in their correction by a good education."  - Thomas Jefferson,
one of the Founding Fathers of our nation.

During the 18th century, our Founding Fathers equated a "good" education with a Godly and moral one. 

More from Child Psychologist, John Rosemond...

This post by John Rosemond deals with the perils of having an elevated self-esteem which leads to bullying and a sense of entitlement:

http://www.rosemond.com/january-columns/

"Tyrants are not born, they're made." - John Rosemond, Child Psychologist

I don't put much stock into the words of most psychologists, but I do have great respect for John Rosemond.  He has a more "old-fashioned" view of child-rearing, such as was common in the southern part of the U.S.A  during my own growing up years (the 1960s & 1970s) and the generations preceding mine. 

A post worth reading can be found here:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/795482/posts

Listen to Grandmothers: Their advice comes from many years of hands-on experience!

My 39 months old  grandson is a very active and stubborn (strong-willed) little boy.  He is also very out-going and can carry on a conversation with any adult he meets.  As the old saying goes - he never meets a stranger.  As an infant, he didn't nurse well and didn't sleep well.  When he began walking, he was literally into everything and easily excitable.   He began talking early, and now at age 3, he talks constantly.  Between the ages of 2 and 3, he did not focus on any task for more than 2 seconds, it seemed.  He did not eat well.  He practically bounced off the walls.  It seemed that he never listened to admonishment or  to instruction, yet he still gained knowledge quickly and would later mention something he had learned despite the fact that we all thought he had not been listening to us. 

My daughter constantly worried that her son was ADD/ADHD.  I tried to assure her that he was just being a typical boy.  Sure, were her son to attend a public school or a public day care facility, someone would probably soon become exhausted in taking care of him and would want to have him labeled as ADHD and drugged.  That, alone, was reason enough to keep him from such places.  For a more thorough explanation of my thoughts on ADHD, click on the labels entitled "ADHD" and "Dyslexia" and read the posts listed under each label. 

I reminded my daughter that I'd had much experience with dozens of young children over the past 31 years.  I was trained and certified in Occupational Child Care & Development. I worked in child day care centers as pre-school teacher, as well as run my own child day care out of my home for many years.  I've taught Sunday School and Vacation Bible School to young children for almost as many years.  I've raised and educated 3 children to adulthood, and now I am helping raise and educate my grandchildren.  In all of that time, I've only come across 2 or 3 children that would even remotely come close to being called ADHD ( if  there is such a thing!) and I, personally, do not think they needed medication to control them,  nor do I think my grandson needs meds to control him! 

I told my daughter that stubborness / strong-will can be a good thing if it is directed towards what is morally right and good.  I told her that her son has the makings of being a strong leader - not a follower.  I told her that God had made him like this for a reason.  It was up to us to guide him into becoming all that God intended him to be. 

Despite my reassurances to my daughter that her son was normal and that his personality was a positive thing, she would still fret that he was somehow not "normal".  She worried over her son almost obsessively until he underwent a recent medical/nutritional evaluation.  The medical practioner was very impressed with her son's knowledge and vocabulary, as well as with his out-going and active personality.  This medical practioner told my daughter that her son "was going to grow up to be a leader - not a follower"!!!     (Which was EXACTLY what I had told her months earlier!)

My daughter came home grinning from ear to ear, with a look of complete peace and relief.  Her fears about her son had finally been put to rest.    If only she'd listened to me in the first place!  She would have saved herself  from alot of grief and worry.