Think About it Thursday: Who is the Authority of Your Homeschool!

So it's that time of year when I start to see and hear more and more post about homeschool parents feeling like they are "Falling Behind", "Missing Something", "Failing there Children", and so on and so forth. It seems like right as the year comes to a close  is when the demon of Self Doubt rears his ugly head and even some of us seasoned homeschoolers can't manage to escape his possession. You would think a group of parents who stepped out on faith and took the plunge into the pool of home education have to be some of the most confident parents on the face of the earth. Well that is just not true. We are all human and we are all subject to insecurities. Especially in a culture that is against the family its hard to be Set Apart at times. But this is why I pose the question today to my fellow homeschoolers "Who is the Authority of Your Homeschool?".

 Based off what your answer is should reveal exactly where these emotions of self doubt come from especially if you are unsure of the answer. If you don't rightly know that is okay its never to late to have a Vision/ Mission for your homeschool but I do think that it is imperative that every family have a goal in mind and stay true to that vision throughout there home education journey.Everyone is measuring themselves up to some standards. The question here is "Who's standards are you measuring your family against?".

I am going to give some examples of where I have found most homeschoolers to fit into when it comes to there measurement standards.

1. Public School Standards- For some families they homeschool only to have there children at home and so there educational standard is measured by what the local Public School is doing cause they are still the authority of education in there home even though the schooling takes place in the home. In this scenario the parents have not fully taken advantage of the freedom of homeschooling to create there own goals and vision. This could be for many reasons from thinking they are not an expert in education so they couldn't possibly make the standards or it could be that its just not of any importance to them they just want to be at home and not have to focus on anything else. The problem with this method that parents run into is that if the "Homeschool" based curriculum they selected for the year is somehow not adding up or covering everything on that local Public Schools scope and sequence than there begins the panic and race to catch up or fill in the gaps to measure up to that Public School Authority. Well I have lots of friends who have taught as PS teachers are still are PS teachers and they always make sure to tell folks that they never finished a textbook or curriculum by the end of the year. That is whey most Public School Text repeat the same info from the year before for the first 3 months of the new school year. Its basically a review of the year before. Think about all the snow days, teacher institute days, holiday breaks, spring breaks and so on that they take during the year yet us homeschoolers feel guilty for taking a day or two off for a personal day or what ever. We just need to put things in perspective.

2. Academic Standards-  For some of us homeschoolers we are totally engulfed with a educational philosophy or method rather that be Classical, Charlotte Mason, Montessori, Unit Study, Unschooling, etc... I  started out homeschooling with a strictly academic vision in mind that eventually evolved into something much more in the end but I think its typical for some parents to start out with purely an academic goal in mind. Having a educational philosophy or method of homeschooling is a positive thing it gives some basic curriculum guidelines to follow usually even a year by year break down. That is great. Usually the problem comes in when you stop looking at the philosophy as just a set of guidelines and start placing it on  a pedestal of must do must follow rigid rules. I think for some parents this starts when we fall victim to "Comparing our Children to Others". You might read an article in a homeschooling magazine or have a friend in a COOP who uses the same homeschool method as you yet you look at there child(who might not even be the same age as your child) and you see how they are covering all these subjects, playing the violin and piano, volunteering at the food pantry, acing the SAT's and can write a college level thesis and you start to go into heart palpitations.Then starts the we need to do Latin, French, play the french horn, do nature study everyday, homeschool 6hrs a day and go do all these other things so we can be just like so and so or else we are not doing it right. You look over at your kids who are playing around with Lego's and army men while you are trying to read aloud your history lesson, he only did a half a math worksheet and you wonder how will I ever get him into college. This is when you start to feel like a failure. It is my hope by illustrating these scenarios you will begin to see how silly we look sometimes. I have to laugh at this cause I have been there.

3. Mom and Dad's Standards- Now I do admit I love when I see parents who have set down together and come up with a list of reasons and goals as to why they are homeschooling there children. I find this to be the clearest way to understand and define your homeschool goals when you sit down as a couple an establish your homeschool Vision/ Mission. But even with starting out with something this strong I have still seen parents feel like they are not making the mark even when they set the mark. This could stem from setting the mark too high or not realizing that since you are in charge of the standards you can reform and make changes to that vision at anytime. What if you started out with goals when your children were little and as time went on you realized that you had a "Special Learner" who required special attention in academic areas or even social areas. This could change that vision. You may need to adjust that vision to fit the changes of your family. Or sometimes I find that parents who set goals together might begin to feel imaginary pressure  or real pressure from there spouse to measure up to the vision. Like for instance a wife might feel like every time she is not meeting the goals on the list perfectly she is somehow failing her husband and kids. Don't be so hard on yourself. These goals are just an idea of where you want to go not necessarily where you are at. Its just a maker to help lead and guide you not to make you feel inadequate in anyway. And realize when you have aimed too high and feel pressured and sit down again as a couple and make adjustments where they are needed.

4. God's Standards- The Homeschool Movement in this Country as we know was Pioneered by those looking to raise there children with a God centered education. And the majority of homeschoolers even till this day home educate for this very reason to have God be central in there child's education. I find that when convicted to homeschool for a higher calling its less likely that on a year to year basis that folks go back and forth with the same self doubt trials. But even with God at the centered and scripture leading the way I have seen parents feel the woes of what am I not doing enough of. Once again I think this could be stemming from Comparing oneself to others. Maybe your family has a heart to be mission minded and travel the world spending the Gospel but you haven't quite made it there cause you have a new baby every year and your husband can't find work to save enough for the trip. Well maybe your mission field is your local community or maybe even your own family. Maybe raising Godly children who love the lord and can read his word is enough. Sometimes I think we don't understand when the holy spirit takes over and directs to where we need to be when we need to be. Also since the movement has become so diverse and folks are homeschooling for more than just Spiritual reasons even the most God driven family can get caught up in measuring themselves against the standards I have listed at the top. You might find yourself now questioning whether or not your children know enough of other things outside of biblical training. But maybe we need to learn how to put things in perspective. We need to see that Scripture memorization is :Language Arts, Reading the King James Bible is studying Literature and History, we need to see that observing God's creation in nature is the root of Science, and so on and so forth. Having a child who is strong in faith and can go to God in and his word in time of need goes a much longer way than a child who can recite the capitol cities of Europe. Not saying that these things aren't important but don't worry if these things didn't fall into your agenda. Your child has tools in his tool belt to help fix anything he hasn't been formally trained to do.

Think About it Thursday: Screen Free Week!

So this week we have been participating in screen week with our local homeschool support group. It basically having your children not watch TV for a week. Now we didn't watch much TV anyway but its been a good experience so far turning off the tube.

During an average week my children would get an hour of TV during the weekdays and on the weekend they could get up to 2hrs on Saturday and Sunday. So compared to our nations average of children watching 4+ hours a day I say we were doing pretty darn good. But you know just 4 days into our screen free week I can see we could have been doing better. In that hour I was letting my children have it was usually while I was trying to fix dinner. So now instead this week the children and I have been more creative with that time. I have invited my kids into the kitchen more and they have come up with some things to do themselves.

If you decided to go Screen Free for a week here is a list of ideas to keep your family entertained:

1. Go for afternoon walk around the neighborhood or local park
2. Start and garden
3. Listen to Audio books of the Classics
4. Do an arts and craft project
5. Start silent reading hour
6. Create a production of your children's favorite story
7. Draw while listening to Classical music
8. Play in the yard
9. Pull out the board games
10. Train children in doing a new chore

Here are some pics I took of this weeks Screen Free Week.

Starting Seeds

Reading in front of turned off TV!

Think About it Thursday:Summer Service Projects For Kids!

With so much that has occurred in our World this year in the realm of disaster from the Earthquakes in Haiti to the Tsunami and Earthquakes of Japan I have seriously been considering having my children get actively involved. Both tragedies effect family and friends we know. At first I was not sure how to get such young children involved in service but I then I just had to think about what they can do instead of what they can't do. I feel like we should rotate a new project every two weeks to give them a broad prospective on service so maybe when they get a little older they can choose one summer service project for themselves.

So here are some of the things we were going to try and work on this Summer:

Volunteer at a Church Food Pantry

Volunteer at Soup Kitchen(maybe just my oldest cause my other two wont be able to work with the food)

Make Hygiene Kits for Homeless and Disaster Victims using coupons(been watching that Extreme Couponing show in TLC. Its got me a little excited. LOL!)

Join a Community Garden or CSA that helps turn empty lots into something beautiful

Book Drive for Children's Home


Have any of you guys done service projects with your children. I would love to hear what kind of things you guys have done. Please comment!

Think About it Thursday: Home Libraries!

With the technological explosion that just recently hit the publishing industry with Kindles and IPads us bookworms need to start considering building our own home libraries. I think as a society we can sometimes take for granted Public Library. We assume it will always be there. And we also take for granted that the Great Books will always be on the shelves as well. If you go into some branches of my local library system you will find that close to 30- 40% of the Children's section are media items. And lets not get on the new invasion of Cartoon- like series that are taking over the chapter book section with all the poor grammar and lacking vocabulary. I believe Charlotte Mason called these sorts of books "Twaddle". Just think back to when you were a child and think about the books that stuck out to you even to this day. They were usually the great well written stories like The Lion, the Witch, and Wardrobe, The People Who Could Fly, and The Velveteen Rabbit.

Last month I read an article online  that was about the top 11 things our children won't know about. Well along with the VCR and wired telephones the most frightening thing on the list was " Printed Books". I was like What! Yes, Books! This author was convinced that with technology changing the way we view literature in the future their will be no need for printed materials. Now I know what you are thinking. This sounds a little to extreme but you know maybe not. But this is why I think we should as homeschoolers especially begin to build up our own home libraries.

It doesn't have to be a costly endeavor. You can gather little bits at a time. I have found great luck with finding titles at thrift stores, yard sales, library sales, etc... I love the Dover Thrift Edition cause you can get a lot of the Classic books for less than $3.00 most of the time.
Maybe you are not a bookworm type person and have know idea what is considered Great works of literature to invest in. Well I have made a list that I compiled over the years from many annotative book list. I have even borrowed some titles from literature based curricula like Sonlight, Veritas Press, and My Father's World. I am sort of a catalog junkie.
So below I have my List of Great Books for Children and if you go to my resource section I also have a List of Great African- American Children's Books. But I have included those titles in the list below as well. I just know how hard it is to find list of Good books about or for African- American children so I separated it out for people looking for just that.

List of Great Books for Children




Also there are some great resources for homeschoolers on starting and organizing your home libraries.

Books Bloom

Christian Children Book Reviews
Lifetime Books and Gifts
As well there was a great video I recently watched on homeschool home libraries. Take a look.

Think About It Thursday: Wondermill Grain Mill!!!

I am so excited to announce that our family has began to mill our own wheat and grains to make all of our own breads. This journey towards wanting to mill my own wheat started about 2 years ago at my local state homeschool conference when I came across a woman's booth who had some nice smelling back goods set out. At the time I didn't think much of what she was selling you know just famished and digging into the free samples while I continued to shop the exhibit hall. lol! But this woman had given me a free audio CD called " Do not Eat the Bread of Idleness" I popped it in while in the car one day and I have to tell you it changed my life. She went into the whole history of white flour and why so many health problems are related to this so called bread most of us are consuming. I was all hyped up and set to by a bread mill and a bread maker and all the other gadgets. But of course my husband pulled me back in off the edge. He had a habit of telling me when he thought I was being fanatical. So I backed down and forgot about it. It wasn't until this pollen season that just started that the idea of milling our own wheat came back up.

Since the first inspiration 2 years ago my husband did let me get a bread maker and he has made our pizza and biscuit dough. So some things did change. Just not fully the way I wanted to. But you know God works in his own time. We were still using store bought flour and although it said whole wheat I now know that to not be true. But this allergy season really got me back to thinking that we need to make that change cause for the first time in my life I felt like I had pollen allergies. And my little one(2yr old) nose just wouldn't stop running. I mean over all we have pretty good nutrition so the only thing I could point out as the culprit was all that store bought bread sitting on the counter top and in  the freezer. So I went and looked up the company from the homeschool conference from 2 years prior. By the way they are The Bread Beckers down here in Woodstock, GA. Low and behold they had some free live stream videos of some of the nutrition classes that they teach over at there store and my husband and I spent two days watching these pretty lengthy videos till he became convicted as well. So we planned for Monday(this Monday) to take the hour drive out to Woodstock and purchase our grain mill and 2 7gallon buckets of Hard Red Wheat(breads) and Soft White Wheat(pastry). I highly recommend you get the free audio CD from The Bread Beckers and to watch or read as much of the information as possible about milling your own wheat at home. This is something that I feel not only is a blessing to our health as a family but it is also an economic blessing and it adds to our self sufficiency and Preparedness Storage.

So something I think we should consider on this Thursday is rather or not we should be Milling our own Grains and Making our Own Breads.

Here are some pictures of what we have made so far.

Spelt Banana Nut Muffins

 Hard Red Wheat Buns or Rolls

Zucchini Bread

Think About It Thursday: Homeschool Gardening

One benfit we have as homeschool families is that we get the opportunity to influence our children just from the shear amount of time we get to spend with our children. Well most homeschoolers take the opportunity to train there children spiritually, some take it as an opprtunity to work on character and other social related issues. Homeschooling also presents an opportunity to help our children develop a healthy lifestyle. You have the chance to take field trips to local gardens, farms, factories, etc.. And show your children where there food comes from. Why not take it a step further and take the opportunity to grow some of your own food. We already know as parents that kids love to get down in the dirt so this can be a good way to show them how to be constructive with an activity they already love.

This endevore does not have to be overwhelming. Trust me I was totally overwhelmed at the thought of growing a garden. I mean  I am from that new generation that doesn't have a green thumb between us. My grandmother keep a garden but that was the extent of my experience with food growing was watching her in the yard as a small child. My mother(love her very much) was a buy from the store don't show me where it comes from type of gal. So I really didn't begin to gain my food knowledge till I was an adult. I want my children to grow up with this lost knowledge of our not so distant past. So we are going to grow a small gardern.

Now a word on space before we get started. We live in a townhouse and have a shared backyard with our neighbors so we can't grow anything in the ground but you know we have a deck and can put a couple containers out there. And like I said before I am coming from zero experience so this is going to be an adventure for the whole family. I these easy pop up containers at Sam's Club for under $40 that I am going to get and we will go from there. Its a little more online cause they include the shipping but they have them in stores. I also found this cool little video on youtube that shows you have to sprout your seeds in toliet paper rolls. Take a look:

So consider growing a garden for the Spring/Summer. Its a great homeschool project the whole family can enjoy. I will defintely post pics and updates as we get started on the project this coming week.

Think About It Thursday: Zero Waste!

So I was on one of my homeschooling social networks and came across this video and blog.

Zero Waste Video

Zero Waste Blog

Zero Waste Website

Here are my thoughts after watching it. Tell me what you think.

I am not trying to be to synincal but these folks arent doing anything that my grandparents haven't already done when I was coming up. I grew up not throwing things away, buying in bulk, having a backyard garden, shopping the local meat market instead of major chain, passing down clothes and shopping thrift. It wasn't called Green or Zero Waste back then it was called Survival in a large middle/ low income family. lol!



Don't get me wrong I am glad more folks are returning to this lifestyle of our not so distance past. It really is the the 30- 40 something generation of today that got far removed from this way of living. We are usually the first generations of our family to have huge square foot homes before we even have children. We were the first of our families to live off prepackaged convience foods and eating out more than on a special occiasion. I am not saying having nice things is wrong but what this generation lost touch with is Restraint. You notice the family on the video didn't even realize that they room in there life to save more money just by wasting less. So many folks got caught off gaurd with the Economic Crisis and didnt have savings to back up on because they lived in the now instead of planning for tommorow like our parents and grandparents.



We need to get back to a more generational family living situation as well that way we would be in a position to learn from our elders. I think as an added benefit of homeschooling we have an opportunity to reconnect those family bonds where our children will turn to us for guidance and advice about life. So if we have a healthy mindset ourselves and teach good principals we have now changed the lives of not only our children but our grandchildren as well.



I will get off my soapbox now. lol!