So I am wondering out loud here. When I first even thought of homeschooling when Jackson was a baby, Mike and I didn’t want to do it alone. We had hoped in some small way, that we could do it together with other like minded families in the area. Maybe even families that would be a part of our faith community.

Now, in our particular church context our kids are the youngest right now and there are many homeschooling families in our church but they are all high schoolers. They all do tons of things together, but that isn’t something we can take part in. I have tried the local Christian home school group and it is very clicky to say the least. There is something at a local church, but you have to be in upper elementary to participate.

I was just saying to a friend, that next year I would love to have one or two days a week, where I invite some other families over to do some co-op stuff, just for our kids to be able to interact with others and learn something in a larger environment. Then my sis in law sent me this link and I sighed and wished that something like that was here.

One of the down falls of a home school environment, is that you are Mom/teacher/ and everything else. So you children react to you in a way that they probably wouldn’t in a traditional school environment. For instance, our daughter would excel and go way above and beyond if someone else was teaching her something, and when I do it, I get “Mom, do I have to?” Um, yes my dear, you do!

So I am a bit ticked, sitting here at 6am, frustrated that I didn’t run, wondering why I always end up having to start something? Seriously, can’t there just be something already established and going? Ugh - I am off to change my attitude and have a brilliant day!

Any like minded, homeschooling, kingdom minded, missional church living, families with young children are welcome to move here and join in the fun. Umm, it is warm here year round and we have the beach.

I have realized 2 things.

1. The summer allows tons of time for children to forget what they had down so naturally a few months earlier. I am hoping it will come back quickly. How do I negate this in future years? Is that even possible? I did a small amount of school this summer but obviously not enough.

2. It takes much longer to school all of them, then I originally thought. Hopefully, they will get into the flow of it and so will I. Hudson is my interrupter. I HAVE to work on that for sure.

On another note, I had the “littles” arrange some flowers for our school table. I got our new lens, which will take some time getting used to. More excuse to work away on it:-)

Peace to all those who are putting one foot in front of the other~

perfect penmanship (trust me for a boy this IS perfect)

and puddle play.

Ah yes, a perfectly splendid, orderly, efficient, yet gentle, done by noon, day of education. I was TERRIFIED that we wouldn’t fall back into the routine, because no matter how hard we tried this summer, things just kept getting postponed. Well, today, it was like riding a bike. All cylinders firing, and happy children. Oh Happy Days! Now, tired children will be going to bed early and we will hit it out of the park again tomorrow. I am doing a serious happy dance.

Peace to all Homeschoolers Today! It’s going to be another great year.

“I long to accomplish great and noble tasks, but it is my chief duty to accomplish humble tasks

as if they were great and noble. The world is moved along, not only by the mighty shoves of its heroes,

but also by the aggregate of the tiny shoves of each honest worker.”

~Hellen Keller

I am off to accomplish my humble task. Pray with me!

are on the way! I can’t wait. Here is our book list for year two.

I splurged and bought both the audio cd version and the written version of Pilgrims Progress.

This summer we did school a bit. Math, reading and a few family read out-louds. Heidi was a favorite. We got through half way reading out loud, and then found the audio version from the library and finished up listening to it.

Now, to assemble our handmade Book of Centuries and off we go again. I CAN’T WAIT TO GET STARTED! I feel like I need to lay my clothes out and get all my pencils in order.

Peace to all book lovers today!

(Sorry, this is a bit long and I don’t blame you if you skip it but it is my blog and my process so I write it my way. Live with it peeps!)

Little did I know that when I started this thread on Homeschool Scheduling, I would end up with a 5 part post on the topic. It has been very good for me to review all that God has done as I prepare to dive into our second year. There was no accidentally doing this, or just throwing things together. There has been an underlying process all along the way that has been shaping my thinking and my practice. So now you understand a bit more about our family and how we have come to this part in our journey and how I am able to do some of the things I am going to do this year.

Firstly, I have 3 children all roughly 18 months apart at 3 entirely different stages developmentally. They each need something different and because their abilities are so stretched out, one reading and writing, one staring to read and write, one just starting to hold a fat crayon, I realized a few weeks ago, that next year would need some sereious scheduling on my part in order to make sure that they all are getting what they need developmentally. I started to see, that I needed to be 3 places at once, and didn’t know how in the world to do it. I was falling asleep one night and had the thought, I wish I could hire someone a few hours a week to help me manage the three stages. So Mike and I had a talk about it and reviewed our budget and decided that that would be a perfect plan for this year.

I think as a child begins homeschooling, habit training is one of the most essential skills needed in order to move into successful life long learning. That takes time and focused attention, and to be honest, my youngest has not had enough of my undivided attention because our middle is starting to read, and write. Our oldest is reading and writing well, however, I am still doing most of his school reading because with AO you typically read several years above their skill level and don’t transition independent reading over to the student until about year 4. So I have 2 more years of having to meet three very different needs, and now because of the miracle of our budget, I am able to hire someone to come in a few hours a week, to implement very specific goals for my youngest, along side all the work that I am doing and overseeing with the others. We are also able to have our 2 oldest attend a PE program for homeschoolers in our area one day a week, while I have our youngest do a gymnastics class where he is working and interacting with his peers. So I will be running a 4 day week of schooling, with the 5th day being PE and doing art/music study and nature study in the afternoons after their quiet times.

Some of the practical things I will stick to, is morning schooling for our core work, done by lunch time leaving afternoons for “specials”. This ensures that we are all at our brightest and ready to move through our material. There are days we will have to do some things in the afternoon, as we did this year, but I am honest in saying it is not ideal for attitudes etc. so for our family, the morning is the best(getting copy work, math and reading out of the way first thing).

To make sure we all are having healthy boundaries (mommy included) as we all move along, we stick to a firm quiet time for all of us mid day. This allows us all to have some time to ourselves, to think and play without anyone else grabbing from us or directing us. We can sleep, or read, or pray and talk to God, or build or create, just as long as we are by ourselves for 1 hour each day. I am also making strong efforts to be up 1 hour before the kids so that I can exercise and be prepared for the day ahead. Getting each weeks materials ready before the week begins, so I don’t have to rely on the computer and the ringer turned off on the phone, helps us all stay on track. I am realistic that this is the ideal and that many days I will fall short of this, but I will just get back on my horse the following day, and get back at it again. There is no perfection in homeschooling, only trying to do better then the day before and you will stay the course.

We will start our school day at 8:30 with everyone doing a little poetry, memorization work and bible immersion (I hate the idea of bible stories. It seems so trite and contrived so instead we are immersing them in a thread of theological and biblical content. I’ll post on that later) . Before that, we will have breakfast, and do general chores before the day begins.

From there the older two will have a little copy work at the table. I am teaching them both cursive at once, and then back track and refine Chloe’s print skills the second half of the year. My youngest will do some patterning work/sandpaper letter or tracing work on the floor with our “helper” .

Jackson will “watch”/do his math lesson with “Mr. Steve” with Math U See (Golly I love this program - it takes all the stress out of it!) The littles will go to the kitchen and have a math lesson while preparing snack. Counting grapes, plates etc.

Jackson will do 20 minutes of out loud reading to our “helper” and I will do 20 minutes of reading with the littles using 5 in a row curriculum. Then a snack break and a quick bit of outside time. After that, I will move on to reading with Jackson some of his lessons that require narration and the Hudson will do some fine motor skill work with some of our Montessori materials and Chloe will watch her math lesson. I will then do a phonics rotation cycling them all through a 10-15 minute time of one on one time with me as the other two work on putting lunch together with our helper.

Before lunch we will all clean up our school work, say good bye to our helper and then have lunch and quiet time. In the afternoons I will teach them as follows: Monday piano lessons, Tuesday art study, Wednesday Nature Study Thursday Latin lessons and Friday library outing to get books for the next week.

There you have it. I’ve decided it is too blooming hot here in the summers, so we will probably do a yearly rotation of 3 months on one month off, because honestly, more then one month off gets boring for all of us. That way we have break months during the most beautiful weather all year. So, I will give this a good dry run starting in August and tweak and adjust as needed. I’ll keep all you good people posted!

(Hey don’t let any of this stress you out! If you are thinking of homeschooling or your kids are younger then mine relax. You grow into this for sure. Your first year is just trying things on and getting in to a good habit and routine. I always say, if you can read a recipe and bake a cake, you can homeschool. It just takes a little discipline and you grow right along with your kids. Deep breathes, excellent resources, patience with yourself and your kids and a strong support network will get you on the right track.)

Okay class, any questions? Anyone, anyone, Behuler?

(OK - who are we kidding here? I will get to the schedule when I get to it. If you haven’t yet, read the other 3.)

At the beginning of this year, we began preparing to go to Peru for 5 weeks. Through a combination of people giving spontaneously, and inventive money raising ideas(we rented our home out as a vacation rental for 5 weeks), me homeschooling and Mike telecommuting, we were able to go to South America for several weeks to be a part of a conference that friends of ours were preparing for national pastors there. We had no idea how this time would go. God sharpened our vision, renewed our hope in what He is doing here in South Florida, and spoke some new things.

Once home, we finally did our taxes dreading the outcome. We thought we were going to owe thousands of dollars and were not sure of how in the world this would all work out. I was actually dreading it. However, much to our shock and amazement, we received a refund that paid off almost all of the remaining debt we held. A few weeks ago, we were also contacted by a lawyer advising us of some mortgage relief that we are eligible for that we had no idea was possible. Our van is one payment away from being paid off, and it looks like by the end of the year, the last bit of the debt will be gone, our current home will no longer be upside down, and our family is right were we always wanted to be. Me at home, with a peaceful, non- stressed environment( well as non-stressed as 3 littles underfoot all day can be) and living well within our means, so that we can afford to be generous. It looks like it will take 2 full years of faithfully taking one little step in front of the other, following Jesus, to get us back to square one on paper but light years ahead in the kingdom. Really and truly being obedient one day at a time, leads you into greener pastures and beside still waters.

In all of this, God has been calling me to be even more available and present to the kids. Things like setting up boundaries and schedules that will protect our schooling time are a must for us. Little things like no computer and no phone calls during day time school hours are simple little tricks I throw into the mix. The reality is, if I am not able to be present here, listening to what God is saying each moment here in my little homeschool, I will not be able to minister anywhere else with any authenticity. The kids and myself for that matter, do really well with morning scheduled time, so if it works why mess with it? I am also learning, how to have guidelines, to help myself get alone time, insist on each of our children having their own alone time, and rediscovering what I was made to be, outside of kids and homeschool. I wont be a homeschooling mom of 3 littles 15 years from now, so I keep working on me outside of them. (Shocking I know but Moms must have something other than their kids and home to occupy their time.)

So, now you see why the schedule I will give you tomorrow has been a long while in coming. This schedule was bought with a very high price tag and it is very dear to me. As always a work in progress, changing and morphing to fit our needs. It is very specifically a tool to keep us moving forward, allowing me to observe our children and listen to the Father while staying connected and present the entire year as we move along in our sweet little God given homeschool.

My first year homeschooling was all about observing. Trying on a few things, seeing what fit and what didn’t. Watching the children interact, and learning what they need emotionally, spiritually, physically and cognitively. No one else will do that with as much love and passion as Mike and I will. Now, as we move into our second year I feel like I know right where I am going and how I am going to take us there. I have found some lovely resources that line up perfectly with our families overall schooling plan, and I can’t wait to see where we go over the next few years. Follow along~ it is going to be a wicked good ride!

Really cross my heart a schedule will be on tomorrows post:-)

Peace to all this day~

(Read the other two people!)

So, it was almost the minute we picked up the clue phone, said we missed it, asked for help, took responsibility for how we had gone wrong and were willing to make drastic changes in order to be obedient, the cloud began to lift. Mike and I could almost feel it. It was if we were back in the flow of God’s good graces, and the wreckage around us wasn’t a big deal. We knew, somehow God had good plans for us, and that doesn’t necessarily mean a positive checking account. Nothing changed with our finances. But we stopped trying to make it all work. We just said, this doesn’t work and what ever it takes Amber is staying home and pouring into our children. Heck - homeschooling wasn’t nearly as scary as possible bankruptcy. I called our Montessori school and said, we wont be back. They were gracious enough to work a payment plan out with us. This was in Feb. I had three months to start working out what the heck I was going to do with homeschool that was authentic to us and our story. (a VERY important part for any homeschooling family). We put the Mercedes up on a lease trader site and waited to see if anyone else would take it off or our hands.

I was praying one day and I just got this impression that within the week the Mercedes would be gone. I told Mike at lunch and he said, “You know it is funny, but I got the same thing today.” Later that day we got a call and within a week it was gone. I had to pay them 4k to take it off of our hands, but trust me I was happy to do it! Mike and I tease and call it blood money. The clouds were lifting and all I could think was “IT IS SO GOOD TO OBEY!” No matter what obey people it always ends up right.

Our other town home was still rented, and leaking, the kids were out of school so we now longer had that payment we did not have the Mercedes any longer. Our budget was starting to come into alignment but we were still leaking and upside down everywhere. But I started to school our kids in May. It was then that we met our Realtor who gave us the tough news about the reality of this market and what stood ahead of us. She was the one who taught us about short saleing, why we needed to think about it and why holding it as a rental was a bad idea. We drastically reduced the price and within a few weeks had an offer that the bank accepted and we were able to get rid of that part of our budget.

We still had the debt but at this point Mike got a raise and we were happy to only have the 36k in debt and nothing else. We were starting to be able to breath and for the first time in almost a year we were living within our budget and not leaking onto a credit card. In the midst of all of this, whenever I got stressed about where we were at, I would think, “This isn’t my job.God said he was rescuing me. He will do it.”

For the previous 18 months, I was rarely present with our children. And previous to that, I was too infant/pregnant tired to be available to anyone. I was always somewhere else, talking to someone else, doing something else other then being with them. I was there in body, but never in mind, or heart. I was ether striving or trying to escape. They felt it too. I was too stressed to enjoy them. No matter what, I was going to be with them and no where else. When Mike and I went into “ministry” we made a conscious decision to never put our kids on the alter of “ministry” and after this whole episode I was now convinced that I would never put them on the alter of building a business ether. They are our kids and our most precious resource and I wont hand them over to any else to shape or mold them and I wont do anything that doens’t allow me to be present enough to observe what they need. No matter what.

So it was then that we decided, in order to balance our debt load that we accumulated over the previous 18 months, we liquidated our kids college funds in order pay off half of the balance. It was one of the hardest and most freeing things we have ever done. We skrimped and saved pennies to put into those funds, and it was now, that we realized, God will cover them every day of their lives. They will be okay and when we need money for college it will be there. Right now, we needed to get rid of this debt so that we may pay it off in 5 years instead of 10. That brought our debt down drastically, our budget was solid and in the black and I was learning every month how to weed out bad parenting habits that crept in over our time in the barrel, and how to build a little home school that nurtured what God was doing in our family.

So at the beginning of this year we were down to 16k in debt, only a few months left of paying off our van and living within our budget for several months. A strong pattern of financial discipline was forming. One of the things that happens when you are that far gone in debt with no way out, you tend to not care at all. The thinking being oh well what is another 100 bucks on top of mount everest. Now, we were seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. We still live in a townhome that we bought at the hight and it has now dropped 150K from what we purchased it for, but we are a step closer to getting out of debt, and then God surprised us again.

Honestly, tomorrow I will put up a schedule. I am on a roll now!

(If you have not done so, please read my previous post. Or not, you can do what ever you want but this one will make a heck of a lot more sense if you do!)

So when I finally came to grips with the idea of homeschooling, I realized that I had been gently led to this point. I honestly don’t think I would of ever gone for it, if I hadn’t been forced to. You see, 2 of our 3 children went to a very prestigious Montessori school in the area, that I was able to work a “deal” on barter to get them in there. Basically, they owned me and I was their slave but that is another story, and I henceforth have determined to never enter into another situation like that again. I now know, I can give my children every bit as developed and appropriate education as any private or public school for that mater, but I could not see that then.

We live in a very affluent and expensive region in the country. Bottom line, we didn’t make enough to live on, since moving here 7 years ago. So I have always worked up until 18 months ago. There was no option, and some of that time, my business income was our only income, as ministry work in our field does not pay. So, I worked during all of our pregnancies, up until the day before delivery, had c-sections all three and went back to work 2 weeks later. Every time. When you own your own business, you don’t work and you don’t eat, so I just put on a happy face and was happy to have the work. At that time I taught music classes to moms and young children and had tons of families that I was servicing. Somehow along the way, I realized that everyone else’s children were getting the best of me, and our own dear children where getting the bottom of the barrel so to speak. So I was open to doing something else but what?

We also, were moving, and moving and moving. Playing the leap frog game, working our way towards moving our family into more than a 2 bedroom which doesn’t work well well with three kids and one that was hurricane safe. So in the past 7 years we have moved 5 times, heaven help us. We hope to be here for a good long time. The almost laughably ironic thing is, our children all still sleep in the same room because that is what they have done since birth. Even though we now have a 3 bedroom no one actually sleeps in it unless we have overnight guests.

In the midst of this, another business came along. Out of left field really, but after Mike and I prayed about it, we decided to give it a go. Now for all of you skeptics out there, we felt like God lead us into it. It was very important training in how the actual culture we live in here works. I have whole new perspective and compassion for the masses around here and a deeper way to pray but I am getting off topic again. Sorry. Anyway, It was actually a network marketing business with a company called Arbonne. As far as business goes, I am pretty good at building things. So, before I knew it, I had a huge business and made close to 50K a year and drove the company car which happened to be a white Mercedes. (OK - really I drove our mini-van and Mike drove the Mercedes) Honest to Pete people, I just looked around 12 months later after starting the business and said, “How the hell did I get here.” Yes is did say hell, actually I may of said something else but I digress! Just because you are good at leading and good a building doesn’t necessarily mean you should do something. We only wanted to make a few hundred a month with this thing, and then it was bringing in as much as my husband, and you know what - “IT OWNED MY LIFE”. My phone rang off the hook, the end of the month was a stressful day every month and I had the pressure to bring in X amount to meet all of our bills. I wanted to stop one business so my kids got my best, and now I was giving them even worse then before - not to mention I felt like a consumerists sell out and the high maintenance aspect of our lives made Mike and I SICK - SICK - SICK! You know what, I wouldn’t trade any of it. I learned so much about myself, about good business, about what I really want that I wouldn’t trade any of the past several years.

Remember I said 18 months ago I was in the midst of watching a business dying a miserable death. My entire Arbonne team were Christians. All of us almost simultaneously felt like God was calling us to lay down our Arbonne businesses. It was actually quit hysterical when we all started comparing notes. I am not sure many people knew how bad it really was. They saw we drove a white Mercedes, lived in a new town home, our kids went to private school and thought we had all the money in the world. 18 months ago was the peak. We hit the glorious wall so to speak and we were asking for forgiveness for being duped, and thankfulness that we unlike many others had Jesus to fall back on. So Where did we go from there?

I said “Wow -God we have made a real mess here. We moved before you said go on some things, and now we are stuck. I was trying to provide for us, instead of trusting that you ALWAYS give us exactly what we need.” From then on, I let go and said, “I will trust you.” I knew somehow that as Mike and I began to work through this horrifying mess, we would learn so much, and gain so much out of it. I knew we would be paying for our mistakes for many years to come, so we just prepared to take our medicine like good little children. I some how deeply knew that pain, although hard, isn’t bad. I knew this is also part of our training and formation into Christ likeness.

So just in case you are lost, 18 months ago, I was left with a business that instead of bringing in 4k a month was bringing in 10% of that, my children were in a high priced private school that was killing us with tuition, we had a townhouse that hadn’t sold and were floating 2 mortgages and, 36K in credit card debt and oh yeah, I was stuck with a Mercedes lease that I couldn’t get out of. Remember God said “He was rescuing me.”? He wasn’t kidding.

So, I know, I know, you are saying - enough already - when do we get to the blessed schedule already?

Tomorrow friends, tomorrow.

Wow I kind of feel like Mr Miyagi. Peace to all Daniel-son’s this day.

I have had a few requests recently on how my typical home school day goes. The first thing I would like to say is that, nothing is typical in homeschooling. That is what is so great about it and what makes it equally as hard. I thought I would spend some time writing a few posts on the very thing, so that I may more completely “own” the reasons why I feel we should do and not do the things we are doing in our sweet little homeschool here in sunny south Florida. If you have read my blog much at all you know that we use the Charlotte Mason method for homeschooling via Ambleside Online and I am heavily influenced by Maria Montessori. For those of you who know who those people are, you may understand me a bit better, and if you don’t know who those people are, no big deal. Google them and you can learn a bit but it isn’t important for this story necessarily. After having a full year under my belt, there are some things I have learned and many things I have unlearned. This little exercise will give you a bit of a glimpse of that from my view point.

As I began thinking about this, I was thinking about the road that brought me here and how it has shaped and continues to shape what we are doing as a family that schools non traditionally. The story starts many, many years ago, but I don’t need to start there for you all. I only mention that to say, there is always more to every story then these few inscribed lines. I distinctly remember 18 months ago, sitting here at this very computer, feeling the most depressed, stressed and overwhelmed I had ever felt. (I will tell you about that in a second.) I was crying out to God again for Him to lead me and guide me. I remember shifting slightly in my seat to grab something on the floor, and felt like God said, “I AM RESCUING YOU!”. It was not audible but it was as clear to me as my own breathing. Have you ever read the story of CS Lewis and how he came to faith in God through Jesus? He said he went out for a bike ride to the zoo. When he left his home, he did not even believe in Jesus Christ and when he got to the zoo He did. Just like that. I love how the Holy Spirit can give you almost instant understanding of something that up until the point of his supernatural working, it is fuzzy and unclear, and then in that moment it becomes as clear as crystal. In that moment, I realized some how I had gotten lost and off track. I was out in the thicket somewhere and the Good Shepherd was coming to find me. (Oh how I love the parable of the Good Shepherd. I am always that little lost sheep who is being found. Maybe you are too.)

So why was I overwhelmed you ask? Well to make a long story short, we were in a state of utter financial disaster. Firstly, the town home we are now in, we unfortunately bought at the highest point in the market, without having our other home sold. We took some time praying about it before we moved to this current home, and felt like God said to move, so we did, and then we continued to wait for him to deliver us. We continued to try to sell as the prices fell and fell and fell, and then finally, because we had no way of covering 2 mortgage payments any longer, we rented it out and hoped the market would somehow rise again. Well, we all know were the market is now. A few tenants later, and a marvelous real estate agent who really educated us about the market and were it was going, and how we may move forward in our current situation, we “short-saled” that home and were free from the financial burden of it. I know you are thinking, “What does this have to do with homeschool schedules?” You will see!

At the time of sitting at the computer we where unable to sell the now seemingly “cursed” previous home, and I was sitting with a business that was in the throws of dieing a miserable death. (Maybe I will tell you about that business some time, and how that story shapes what I am now doing, but not today dear friends. Read on!) We were in so deep, I saw no way out. We now had 36K in credit card bills (thanks to trying to hold the house) and I had a business that was no longer “viable” and our budget was all based on my income coming in. When I no longer had an income coming in, we found ourselves leaking 2k a month in our monthly budget. Now you know why we had the 36K in credit card bills. No we were not buying boats or Prada shoes or anything. It was in the midst of this reality, that I heard God say he was rescuing me and that I needed to just let go and stay home with the kids. I knew down deep that we all would be better for it and that the next season we were entering into was one of discipline.

Wow this is getting good. I love how God makes “beauty out of ashes”.

See you all tomorrow~

Well, We did get the garage cleaned out. Well, about 97%. The remaining 3% are the three boxes I need to sort through before I bring the stuff back in the house. They are sitting in the center of the garage so I can not park the car in the garage until I get it done. So maybe this week it will happen!

We did get our family pics rehung after Peru and added a few new ones. I found some frames for a great price at goodwill so I am adding all the fun family pics that you are supposed to have around the house. I also am painting out my re purposed recycled canvas frames.

For my birthday, my father in law painted me a Peru door picture that we have a photo of. I am happy to have a piece of his art in our home. This is it!

Today, we go for our home school evaluation. My portfolio is together and looking oh so organized. It actually looks like I know what I am doing. Pray for me.  I will keep you posted.

Peace to all today~

Do you teach print or cursive first? Internationally, typically cursive is taught first. Some progressive public schools in the states are teaching cursive right out of the gate in kindergarten. I’ve read different studies about it and didn’t really have a strong conviction about it, one way or the other, until this morning.

Jackson learned print in his Montessori preschool before he came home for home school. They actually preferred the idea of teaching cursive first, but went with print because so many kids left them and went to public school. They needed to make sure kids where doing what was normal here. They mentioned how it was easier for most children to learn cursive first. I never really thought of it, but think of it. All the starting and stopping. Picking up their pencil every stroke. Especially for a boy who doesn’t like to sit still in the first place. It must be very frustrating.

I must say, He has hated writing this whole time. His concentration and fine motor skills have really developed this year, and he was able to write “pretty” print writing but he was constantly frustrated, with b’s and d’s and reversing letters here and there. For about 6 months he has been asking to write cursive. I have held him off, because in my mind, I wanted him to have mastered printing before we tackled a new skill.

A few weeks ago, I lamented a sheet that had all of the letters on it both print and cursive. I would put it on the table as he was writing for him to reference hoping that it would help him with the letter reversal and alleviate some of his frustration. So the other day, I gave him his copy work and asked him to put his name and date at the top before he began like always. When I came back, he had done it in cursive, all by himself.

Today, I actually said “OK Bud, today you get to write in cursive.” He did all of his copy work (several lines) in cursive with very little help from me. When he was done he said, “Mom cursive is so much easier! I can do it faster and it looks better. They all have a little hook that tells me which way the letter is supposed to be facing so I don’t write any letters backwards.” Not to mention he felt like learning cursive was a signal that he was no longer doing “baby” work but beginning to do big kid work.

In hind site, I think I should of started him with cursive earlier. The reality is, he will be moving to typing in a few years, and do much of his writing work, via the keyboard. Is it that important to have gorgeous penmanship? I mean (no offensive honey) my husband’s handwriting is horrible and he is 35. Moving him to something that is less frustrating and gives him success and confidence, in my mind is MORE important than doing print work because that is what everyone else does.

What do you think. Should we start with cursive first?

Jackson~ 6.5 years old

“Mom, why do they have a k in front of knife? It doesn’t make any sense! It looks like it should say ka-niffy. I am just going to erase that k so it makes more sense.”

Me “Jackson we can’t erase the k. The word is knife and it is spelled with silent k in the front.”

Jackson “Why did they do that Mom?”

Me “That is a good question son. I really don’t know.”

Do any of you know? Is it a Latin root or something left over from old English? While I am waiting for your pithy responses I will go Google it and see if I can figure it out on my own.

Peace to all confused spellers today~

Today we read King Lear. You may be surprised to know that we LOVE Shakespeare.

However, we decided to do it at the beach!

We had to mix up all that tragedy with a little levity. I scheduled my homeschool evaluation with an old family friend who helped pioneer the homeschool movement here for the end of April. She was also our wedding coordinator, so I am excited to get her take on what we are doing. The fact that she loves Susan Schaeffer Macaulley is a huge relief to me.

On our way to the beach, we passed an officer who had pulled a young kid over on his bike. They boy was on his cell phone and the cops were obviously checking to see why he was out of school. I felt like rolling down the window and yelling, “I’d skip school too with a day like today.”, but I didn’t, I acted like a grown up. Shocking I know but there are days I rise to the occasion:-)

Peace to all~

Today I tried an experiment.

I spontaneously took the kids to an Art Gallery to see what piece of art they liked the most.

We all survived and so did the gallery.

I gave the children instructions on how to behave and that they should not run, or shout. The woman briefly scanned us as we entered.

Hudson liked a textured piece painted with a knife. He was desperate to touch this very expensive piece of art sitting right at his level. I practically had his hand in a vice grip to which he was non to pleased. Chloe liked the bright bold pieces, very modern, of flowers. Probably because it had hot pink and flowers in them. Honestly, it was my favorite piece too. And Jackson didn’t really have a favorite he liked them all, which to me, was code for, I am not very “in” to this Mom but I will humor you because I can see this is terribly important to you.

So, for the first time….we did OK. It was only about 8 minutes, but we did it and plan to do it again.

I know, I know I am behind the times with face book.  Hey it wouldn’t be the first time.  I know several homeschool high schoolers who read my blog and I thought of them when I found this on face book.

It cracked me up and thought they might find it funny too!

Here is how I  built a composter for less than half the price of those pricey mail order ones.

Step 1: Purchase a plant tray that will accept a  5 gallon bucket with room to spare.

Step 2: Drill several holes around the bottom of the 5 gallon bucket.

Step 3: Fill half way with some compost from your local garden center.

Step4: Add your red wigglers. They are the best worm for effective, speedy composting. 

I bought these online and they arrived in about 2 days. 1,000 should get you moving along nicely.

Step 4: Thoroughly wet your mixture and store in a cool place out of direct sun.  The sun will fry those little composting worms, so keep them wet and out of the sun. Begin adding your organic contents from your kitchen and within a few weeks you will have your own home grown “black gold”. I bought a lid for my bucket, so that “little” hands will stay clear of  it, and to make sure it  does not dry out.  There is no smell. This is a small mini version of what agricultural missionaries are doing around the world.  Helping move people towards sustainable living at the same time creating cleaner, healthier living conditions.

From time to time, water your compost and the “tea” that seeps through will drain into the surronding pan.  This is what you will use to fertilize your plants both inside and out.

We live in a small town house planned community and have no yard.  I plan to put the compost in my potted plants and a small window box garden.  Once my worms have multiplied, I will drop a few of them in and around the soil surrounding our town-home.  The boys, I am sure, will use a few for fishing, and of course, I can share the wealth with any of my local friends who want to start their own composters.

The kids are having fun with this one!  It is a great learning tool! So what are you waiting for people?Get Composting!

I am a little late to the game with this but am hopping on board in hopes to deepen our family nature study.  In yr1 I have really worked on habit training, basic skills and learning an overall family rhythm to homeschooling. So things like artist study, nature study, foreign language and music study have been a “catch as catch can” as my father in law would say. There but not scheduled, more just when we thought of it.

Now, I am planning for these things within our homeschooling week and am excited to have someone giving a little structure and many others participating so I can learn.  Let’s face it, when you home-school, Mama’s are usually learning new things right along with their kids.  Most of us didn’t get this type of education ether. I also plan to read  Pocket-full of Pinecones in conjunction with this to inspire me along.

Shh, Look who came to our feeder last night. 

Enjoy the beautiful day!

• 5 in a row and the books that go with it.
• Laminated World Map for the wall. 

 Well, I thought I would try this again.  My new friend has an abacus for me and is sending it my way:-)  Isn’t blogging/social networking fun!  I have made many new friends and relationships through this blog and it never ceases to amaze me how people find me, and how I find them. 

So - I have decided to use 5 in a row for my youngest 2 starting this summer.  Any Diva out there have it and the books that go with it they want to pass along?  Also a laminated wall map or know where I can get a non-laminated one for free?

 I will pay for shipping and swap you something as well. 

a table abacus and  a world globe they don’t need anymore.  I need them and thought I would throw it out there before I bought them new.  I’ll trade you something for them and pay for shipping.

Trying Craig’s List too.

 Be sure to check out the lunar eclipse tonight.  We gave the kids naps so I hope we get  to see some of it tonight!  They will probably fall asleep before most of it, but we are going to give it the old college try.

I finished up How to Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons.  After we finished that book, I discovered that we needed a much deeper phonics understanding, so we are using Phonics Pathways.  We have really enjoyed it, including Jackson.  It has helped me see that he is a very mathmatical thinker.  This book has helped him understand that reading is like math,  using sound and blend combinations.

I love how the book gently eases you into dictation and the game component is a fun element.  If you need a bit of help with phonics this book will help you get off on the right start.

I have the pleasure of serving the children this week with Jeff and Carol Morgan.  Let me just say that these jokers do not mess around.  You want to find out about how to create sustainable living for your own family, spend 1 hour with Jeff and Carol and you will be dreaming.  I have been wanting to have an in-home kitchen composter for years now.  I have done online research and havn’t really found what I thought would work for our family.

In about 5 minutes Jeff shared with me a cheap, simple and effective way of composting all kitchen waste.  I can’t wait to start when we get home.  I have been thinking through now for some time, how to begin developing sustainable living.  How does a typical suburban family pull this off, practically?  I don’t even own any land, except about 2 feet around 2 sides of our town home in a planned development.  Can I do this with no land?  Well, yes, and people all over the world with very little space are doing it and doing it well. 

As Christians, it is something that we need to seriously look at.  Recycling, using less consumable paper products like paper plates etc. are important issues that I don’t think most people think about.  I guess it depends on your theology and your exposure to the rest of the world. Are we not as Christians to be renewing this world, as we wait for The Father to bring about total renewal? I tell you what, no one in Peru uses paper plates or paper towels.  You even have to bring your own TP when you are out and about, and it isn’t necessarily a conservation thing it is a cost thing.

Anyway, my mind is churning with thoughts about this, but here is another helpful resource that may help you just start thinking. Jeff told me about ECHOa ministry in SW Florida that is fascinating.  I plan to take the kids over for a homeschool field trip.  I see earth boxes (homemade) or maybe square foot gardening in our homeschooling future.  I may not live on a farm, but darn it I am going to have  a garden. 

We decided to hire Lucy to give us language lessons while we are in Peru.  We thought it would be great to jump start our language study because I am weak with that at home with our little homeschool.  I figure if we get a good dose here, I may keep up with it at home.

So this is Lucy.  She will come to our house three times a week to teach us Spanish.  She was the first person the Styrons met here 4 years ago and lead her to the Lord.  She is a treasure.  She is now studying other languages and hopes to become a translator I think.

This is Chenoa.  She is one of those people who you meet and are instant friends with.  She was the person who gave me the courage and the encouragement to home-school. When Mike and I finally said ”yes” to homeschooling she was one of the first people I called. Her three kids are amazing and I love their family. (My kids love her kids too - in fact when we say “The Styrons” are coming over, the say yeah and name off their kids.)

I will be gathering other pictures during the conference of all of our friends so you can put a name and a face together.  More later!

I found this great site that gives you step by step instructions on how to make ice cream at home. It is also a great science lesson.

I intend to do this once we are home from Peru.

A Tesla Coil!

Jackson loves this science website.  I had no idea he was actually local to us.  We found the site at the beginning of our homeschool journey and he watches the experiment of the week all the time.  

 So it was great fun to go see Robert Krampf at our local FPL plant.  He had  a blast seeing him in person; plus we learned more about lightening and lightening rods.  It all tied in nicely to our studies of Benjamin Franklin.

I am embracing my time with our children.  It is a precious gift.  People ask, “How long will you do this?” and “Doesn’t this overwhelm you?”. When they were all 3 and under, I was loosing my mind.  People would ask if I was going to home school and I would almost go into hysterical laughter.  Then they grew a bit more independent and I came to realize I LOVE being with them and I just quit fighting God and asking every one I knew what they thought and just said “Yes, Lord!”  Those are 2 very important words for me. I think I will get them tattooed on my person somewhere!

Being present to them, with an overarching plan and vision for where we are going, is probably the most fun (yes hard but anything worth doing is hard) I have ever had.   So I leave you with some goodies from Ms. Mason.

“Now, that work which is of most importance to society is the bringing-up and instruction of the children - in the school, certainly, but far more in the home, because it is more than anything else the home influences brought to bear upon the child that determine the character and career of the future man or woman. It is a great thing to be a parent : there is no promotion, no dignity, to compare with it. The parents of but one child may be cherishing what shall prove a blessing to the world. But then, entrusted with such a charge, they are not free to say ‘I may do as I will with mine own.’ The children are, in truth, to be regarded less as personal property than as public trusts, put into the hands of parents that they may make the very most of them for the good of society. And, this responsibility is not equally divided between the parents : it is upon the mothers of the present that the future of the world depends, in even a greater degree than upon the fathers, because it is the mothers who have the sole direction of the child’s early, most impressionable years. This is why we hear so frequently of great men who had good mothers - that is, mothers who brought up their children themselves, and did not make over their gravest duty to indifferent persons.” Charlotte Mason, 1893, “Home Education”, pages 1 & 2.

We have been reading  Our Island Story  and Jackson loves it.  So far in year one of AO this and Trial and Triumph are his favorite books.  He runs to the couch when I say we are going to read some out of one of these two books.

Today King Arthur created the round table.  While reading the story the knights got into a huge fight at a great feast because they couldn’t decide who was to sit at the head of the table. ( The highest place of honor.)  While narrating Jackson said “The knights  had a  huge food fight because the couldn’t talk kindly to each other and figure it out.” He was kind of laughing as he said it, almost as if it seemed so absurd that grown men could fall to such silliness. 

I giggled to myself.  I am having a blast today with my kiddies. We are off to do some nature study!  Enjoy the great outdoors today!

Our family has done a really good job this year of not getting tripped up in all the Christmas madness.  We have intentionally not been busy.  We are still making time for friends and neighbors and we have been very modest in our spending for Christmas.  Because we rarely watch network television (our children watch none) we haven’t seen all the crazy Christmas ads and I am blissfully unaware at home during the day of outside happenings.

That coupled with my desire to help our children grab hold of the joy of giving I have been thinking through some things we can do together.   I am considering having us make some special pictures to deliver to a local assisted living facility with maybe carnations.  The children have so much fun delivering special treats to neighbors near by, I thought I would make it a big deal and prepare a whole day of giving for us.  I don’t want it to take a ton of money to pull off or be stressful in anyway to prepare.

Have any of you done something like this or have any ideas?

Today we just finished As You Like It by Shakespeare.  We both agreed that we enjoyed this play more than Midsummer Night’s Dream or The Tempest.

I feel like mid way through term 2 we have all settled into a consistent rhythm and Jackson is becoming very confident.  As a Mother, it is incredibly exciting to see your child gain a confidence in something.  Short, consistent, daily lessons have given way to a joy for learning that is amazing. 

He is reciting his narrations fluidly and accurately.  Just in this last few weeks, his writing and copy work have gone from a frustrated scrawl to a beautiful script.  I gasped today when I saw his work.  I asked him twice if he had really done it because I was so shocked.  He has obviously found joy in doing his best without me nagging.  It just came out of him.  It was so much fun to witness his accomplishment and the joy in his eyes when he made the choice to do it on his own.

Today, when he had finished his narration I complemented him on how well he had done.  He said “You are doing a good job too Mama at schooling.”  I asked him what he meant and he said “I mean you are doing a good job at training me.”    Now that has to melt a Mom’s heart.

I was happy to hear that he is enjoying this process.  The reality is, I am not doing anything earth shattering.  I just stick to the readings, ask for the narrations and give consistent, short, daily lessons. No more, no less.  He is building his own connections and the joy he is finding in doing it is priceless.

Check it out!

This morning we went to another children’s theatrical production.  This time we  enjoyed seeing the Velveteen Rabbit.  At the end of the show, the performer showed us all how she made her puppets and some little tricks she used.   She said she used cereal boxes to create shadow puppets.  That was all it took to inspire  the kids to make their own puppets and tell a story.  The ceral boxes are being cut as we speak.

I will keep you posted on their progress.  A good friend suggested starting with Aesop Fables, so we will get a few stories together to present to family at Christmas.  Oh - what fun!  I can’t wait:-)

Now I must go because my 6 year old is begging me continuously to read another chapter in The Indian in the Cupboard . This is a good one!:-)

Peace to all~

Today the kids and I will be digging and planting.  My grandparents live about 10 minutes west in a rural area on tons of land.  We are bringing out a few plants for the kids to plant with their PaPa (Great Grandfather).  Then we will record their progress in our journals regularly.

We get to  grow lots of things, plants, memories with Great Grandparents and deeper relationships with those who have walked many steps before us.  I will post some pics on our nature blog later today.

Enjoy your day~

Well, Friday was a tedious day with school and I figured it out right as we were finishing our last activity.  It was clean up day.  Finish up math, do a little phonics, finish copy work etc. etc.  Typically our day goes a bit like this.

Wake up and make our beds get our selves ready and head down stairs.  We eat a little breakfast and have our devotions as we eat.  We review our memory work, pray review our family rules when needed and sometimes do poetry all over breakfast.  (They eat slowly in the morning) Then we clean up and read our first selection, do copy-work, read some more, work on math, read some more do some phonics have a little snack, play outside, read some more on the bench out front, have our quiet time and then our lunch. 

Well, last Friday I had finished all of week #15’s reading and we had finished our extra reading and hadn’t made it to the library to get any more literature so we were stuck with finishing up the tedious stuff.  So, when this happens again, I will keep moving ahead into the next weeks selections to keep feeding little minds with wonderful information.

I got a little too systematic and we all missed out. 

Homeschooling that is!  Many kids that are part of our church family have just started their homeschooling journey.  So we had  a little “old skool” kickball in the green space near our home. Everyone can play from 3 - 33.  Yes dear friends…I played and had FUN!

Jackson is learning the fine art of tagging someone out.  The “littles” were missing this concept.

Mini-Divas play kick ball too!

Do I stay or do I go mom?

Kicking is fun but running is better. 

All his running benched this little guy.  Trust me folks that is hard to do. 

We finished the game with high-fives all around and headed for the pool.

A cool refreshing dip after a good game.  Yes I know it is almost December but it is still CRAZY hot here. All my little chickadees were sleeping soundly by 6:50.

I remember ages ago thinking how fun it would be to homeschool with friends.  Little did I know that between blogs and other online sources I would not be alone but many families homeschooling around the world would be encouraging me along the way, giving me tips, pointers, and encouragement.  Now I have a ton of local friends homeschooling too.  I feel like God has given me such a special gift.

Peace to all kick ball enthusiasts today!

Our dear missionary friends from Peru gave us a hand made creche last year.  We will be staying with them for the month of February as we teach, train and serve God’s people in Peru. Please pray for us.

They found it up high in the Andes by Lake Titicaca in a city called Puno.  Yesterday the children asked why “baby Jesus” was in a little canoe.  I got to tell them how the people who live there lash reeds together to create floating islands.  The weather is hard and cold and the altitude is very hard on their bodies.  Imagine living in a cold wet environment your whole life.  Be thankful for what you have today and where you live.  There are people all over the world who live a very hard life.

I have a 3 and a 4 year old rambling around throughout our schooling day.  I have found several activities to keep their busy hands…well busy if you know what I mean.

Our children love to be in the kitchen and our youngest is no exception.  A “cutting work” is always one of his favorite activities.  Bananas, cheese, watermelon and cucumbers  are all worthy candidates for beginning cutting activities.   For my older children I may try this though.

 Today, I let our three year old spread natural peanut butter on his banana slices.  Focus, control, attention to detail and fine motor skills all come into play.  Plus a bonus, he is getting his own snack.  He was very proud of himself accomplishing this skill…and I was very happy to have him busy.

Our children are all born about 18 months apart.  They have basically done everything together their whole lives including sleeping in the same room.  Big news around here….we have just made the switch.  Our daughter now has her own girly room and the boys have “the boys” room.

In my own quest for making quiet space for myself daily, I have been thinking through how they can get their own quiet space as well.  Everyday we all have a few moments to be by ourselves.  This has become especially important now that they are not napping anymore.  They can think about their day, ask God questions (especially ones that I don’t have the answers for) read, act out stories with figures quietly etc. etc.. Basically anything quietly (no noise) in a room, by themselves. 

This month I began in earnest giving them all 20 minutes a day.  We are now up to 40 minutes a day and are working towards the hour mark by the end of the year.  The boys still grumble a bit on the way up the stairs but Chloe almost runs for her alone time.   Jackson is fine once he gets going and Hudson still calls out every ten minutes or so…”Mom is the timer off yet?”

So we work our way along together, honoring our time we share together and valuing our quiet time alone.  Small simple habits add up to big changes over time.   Every month we weed one “not so helpful” habit out and add one “challenging but beneficial” habit in.  It takes, time, patience, and consistency. 

So I have done it!  I have stopped making excuses about the layout or setup of our home, or the age of our kids, or how close they are in age.  I just decided I am willing to do this hard work because in the end it is worth it.  We will all be better for it.

My 6 year old and I are just beginning to dip our big toes into dictation.  Dictation is a process whereby you write out a sentence for your child.  You give them a few minutes to review it for several days, possibly even a week.  Then you read the sentence back to them and ask them to write it out exactly the way they remember it without looking at the original text.

This accomplishes a few crucial things in one activity.  Spelling, grammar, attention to detail and focus all come into play.  I think the biggest thing I like about the process is the mind training that happens.  Your child has to train their mind to focus and think on something even if they don’t want to or like to.  That is a good life skill and discipleship skill to have.

Jackson and I have started on 3 and 4 word sentences.  He loves the game aspect of it.  As I find out what motivates him and how he enjoys learning, I get to play to that.  He loves to challenge himself with new things so this is fun for him.

 These are seriously good times people!  Can you tell I am enjoying every minute?

Last week we did our oral reviews on Monday and Tuesday and had an off week the rest of the week. Daddy was able to participate and see how much we are learning. It was fascinating and exciting  to see how much he is retaining. 

At the end I asked an additional question. “What is your favorite part of homeschooling?”  He said, reading, copy work and dictation.  I asked him why and he responded with, “I keep doing it a little bit everyday and now I am really good at it.”  Reading and writing were not some of his highlights as we began.  Now he has the confidence to go for it.  Yet another benefit of homeschoo