What I Wish Someone Had Told Me. . .

. . . about Homeschooling. 

One of my favorite bloggers wrote today about 10 things she wished someone had told her about homeschooling. These are the ones I could relate to the most:

1. You will never stop analyzing.

Every subject you teach, every method you use, every word you speak will race through your brain day and night. No matter how many homeschool conference speakers drill into your head that you truly are your child’s best teacher, you will still question yourself and worry about everything from teaching your 6 year old to read to making sure your high schooler is complying with state standards. You will pray and research and pray some more, tirelessly looking for the best in everything you do. And this will never cease, even after your last child is long graduated from your homeschool. However, all this analyzing will make you a better mother because it will teach you to capitalize on your strengths and rely on God to fill in your weaknesses.

2. You will learn much more than you will ever be able to teach.

You will learn to love history because you homeschool. You will appreciate the world around you more because you homeschool. You will become a lifelong learner because you homeschool. And you will never, ever be able to impart to your children all the things you want to teach them. You will own piles and piles of books in which lie pages and pages of projects and information you want to teach someday…a day that will never come. And hopefully, you will learn to let go of your need to be everything to your children, finally understanding you cannot possibly hold yourself responsible for teaching them everything they need to know. Besides, one day they might homeschool and learn everything you couldn’t manage to teach.

6.  You will feel inadequate…often.

There is an entire world out there telling you you aren’t qualified for this job.  Let’s get one thing straight before I say any more…that world lies.  And the very fact that you question yourself, leads straight back to #1.  Because you analyze and stress about your child’s education, you are the PERFECT person to teach them!  You actually CARE!

10. You will cry…a lot.

Homeschooling is a huge gut-wrenching responsibility. It is also a tremendous blessing that will leave you speechless. The first words your child reads will be because of you.
The outbursts of frustration that come from a difficult math problem will be spewed on you. The daily ups and downs of life as a homeschooling family will primarily belong to you. You will cry tears of joy, tears of anger and tears of exhaustion. God will bottle those tears and bless you for your faithfulness and you will cry at the beauty of it all.

Even though homeschooling brings anxiety and angst and tears aplenty, you will never regret being humbled and awestruck daily by the precious little children sitting round your dining room table (or all over the house, in my case). And someday when you wish someone had told you what homeschooling was really about, you will realize it doesn’t matter. You are changed forever. For the better.

I'm curious: What do you wish someone had told you about homeschooling? 

Free Math Curriculum

The Ray's Arithmetic series begins at a preliterate level with counting; then takes the child through addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and so upward until calculus, teaching concepts with thorough explanations followed by ample problem sets. The Ray's series provides a very full-bodied course of mathematics.

I love Ray's Arithmetic because it focuses on mental math and uses an abundance of word problems, teaching children the practical use of math.

You can get it here for free.

Free Geography Curriculum

Home Geography for Primary Grades walks you through basic geography in a Charlotte Mason style (gentle learning through short lessons) and is applicable to everywhere in the world.

You can get it here for free.

Homeschool Help Needed

If your kids have great handwriting, I need to know what curriculum you use.

If you're like me and haven't seen much improvement in your kids' handwriting, then come back here later for answers.

Thanks in advance, faithful readers,

Free Drawing Curriculum

DrawSpace.com is a wonderful online resource for art and drawing lessons. You can view, download, and print any of the drawing lessons for free!

DrawSpace has tons of art lessons covering everything from texture, shading, cartooning, hatching, perspective, and more.

Check it out! I think you'll be impressed.

Free Math Curriculum

Here's another great math curriculum: MEP (Mathematics Enhancement Program) You can download the practice books, lesson plans, and answer keys (for upper years) through the University website. if you have questions about how to use the site, there's an email support group. Password required to use the site, but homeschoolers in the US have had no problem obtaining one when they ask.

WWJD re: Homeschooling? Part 3

The false and dangerous notion that a public school education is actually "neutral" ought to be silenced by the plentiful research showing that government schools are in inculcating about 9 out of 10 children to think like Marxist-socialists. Dr. R.C. Sproul reminds us, "There is no such thing as a neutral education. Every education curriculum has a controlling worldview behind it and through it." The curriculum in our public schools is far from being neutral.

Parents, may we learn from the Teacher and obediently embrace His model and method for training the disciples God has placed under our roofs. When Jesus taught His closest disciples, they often sat at His feet (Luke 10:39). When it comes to parenting, the most effective and positive life-changing teaching happens at our own feet. By sending them away for 180 days a year, someone else takes over the privilege of teaching, modeling and investing about 1,100 hours per year into your children's lives.

Jesus knew that the best way to train His "children" to become what He wanted them to be was to live with them, love them, sacrifice for them, model the godly life and invest His life into theirs. This all happens within the context of the family. Dr. Voddie Baucham's words are a good reminder to us all of this fact: "God has designed your family – not the youth group, not the children's ministry, not the Christian school, but your family – as the principle discipling agent in your children's lives. "

The question is not What Would Jesus Do with His "children"? But what did Jesus do with His "children." He homeschooled them.

See full article here.

WWJD re: Homeschooling? Part 2

Jesus, the master Teacher, certainly taught His disciples formally, but they also shared life experiences, traveling and breaking bread for a number of years together. He mentored them, modeled how to truly walk with God and ultimately trained them to be launched into the world for His glory. He encouraged them, He disciplined them, He rebuked them, and He loved them. Jesus invested His life into theirs and certainly did not send His "children" away to others for their education but "kept them" and "guarded them" (John 17:12) until it was time to send them into the world.

In a very real sense, Jesus homeschooled His apostles. Christian homeschooling looks a lot like how Jesus trained His own, and His "children" eventually went on to "turn the world upside down" (Acts 17:6)!

Today many Christian parents are waking up to the fact that no one can do a better job in training and discipling their children than they can. Just like Jesus, most Christian homeschooling parents are teaching their own, mentoring their own, spending quality time with their own, literally pouring their lives into their kids, instead of subcontracting virtual strangers to teach their precious children.

Jesus teaches us that truly effective discipling and training is done one-on-one, and it takes time and much sacrifice. Recent studies prove that Jesus' style of teaching is by far the most effective of any method, and the positive results are the proof. Dr. Brian Ray's research with thousands who were home-educated and now adults shows that less than 4 percent of homeschooled youth disown their faith by the time they reach their first year of college. This is literally the exact opposite of all the sobering research showing an approximate 90 percent rate of children from Christian families leaving the church by age 18. What a difference godly discipling makes!

This puts to rest the salt-and-light argument that many uninformed Christian parents use as an excuse to keep their kids in public schools. The overwhelming majority of children from Christian homes are being converted to an unbiblical worldview in the public school arena.

WWJD re: Homeschooling? Part 1

The Bible teaches us,

"Whoever says he abides in him [Jesus] ought to walk in the same way in which He walked" (1 John 2:6)

and

"Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ" (1 Corinthians 11:1)

Sixteenth-century pastor John Calvin referred to Jesus as the "Grand Model" for all Christians to follow and learn from. Jesus modeled so much for us during his earthly ministry. For example, He modeled how to pray, how to handle temptation, how to speak the truth in love, how to stand against evil, and how to really train and disciple others.

Christian parents should look at Jesus' life as the perfect example of how parents should train, teach and love their own little disciples – their children. It is interesting to note that Jesus, on occasion, publicly called His disciples "children" (Mark 10:24). Eighteenth-century Bible commentator John Gill noted "it was common with the Jews to call [their] disciples … 'children.'" When reading the gospels we get an intimate view of how Jesus discipled and loved His own "children."

Teaching – Jesus is the supreme "good Teacher" (Luke 18:18).

• He taught His disciples daily (Luke 19:47);
• He traveled all over the region with His disciples as they watched Him teach others (Luke 23:5);
• other religious leaders recognized that Jesus was a teacher sent by God (John 3:2);
• Jesus' apostles acknowledged that His teachings were the words of eternal life (John 6:68);
• Jesus acknowledged He was their Lord and Teacher (John 13:14);
• and even immediately after Jesus' physical resurrection, some of His followers continued to call him Teacher (John 20:16).

We see in Jesus' method of discipling three primary things: teaching, mentoring, and investment of time.

Mentoring – Jesus' teaching style was far more than just talk and passing on "head knowledge"; He lived the life for them to see and follow. His disciples saw Jesus often go away to pray on His own, which prompted them to ask how they, too, should pray (Luke 11:1). His apostles saw Jesus heal the sick, cast out demons, raise the dead and preach the gospel. Later, after years of pouring His life into them, Jesus then confidently sent them on the "Great Commission" (Matthew 28:16-20).

Time Investment – The disciples did not take a class with Jesus, nor did they spend a mere semester under Jesus' training; rather, they spent about three and a half years with Jesus, with no spring or summer breaks, no Christmas vacations. This was a 24-hour/365-day-a-year "course" taught by the greatest Teacher this world has ever known. Jesus knew that you had to devote quality time with people to really make a powerful impact on their lives. Dr. John MacArthur points out in his book "Twelve Ordinary Men," "[The disciples] could listen to His [Jesus'] teaching, ask Him questions, watch how He dealt with people, and enjoy intimate fellowship with Him in every kind of setting. … He graciously encouraged them, lovingly corrected them, and patiently instructed them. That is how the best learning always occurs. It isn't just information passed on; it's one life invested in another."

Click n Read

A couple months ago, we signed up for Click n Read to help cement phonics rules for Isaac. Since he already knows how to read, I started him in the middle and he's done great! And it's really helping him. Yay! Recently I also began Daniel and Lydia on Click n Read as a fun start to reading. They just love it! Don't tell them they're learning, they just think they're playing a computer game. I am so impressed with this program. FINALLY learning to read isn't boring and tedious! And for the most part, they do it totally on their own, freeing me up to focus on another child's long division. Oh joy!

And Click n Read has given me the ability to offer Clark Chatter readers a special offer:

If you go to Click n Kids (they have a phonics & a spelling program) and are interested in either, you can get 20% off the low price of home programs when you use this promotional code:

the9clarks@yahoo.com

School for Free

I am a tightwad. It's true. No denying it. And homeschool is no exception. I don't buy what I can get for free, whether it's from the library or online. Here are my favorite places to get free audio schooling:

ESV Audio Bible - totally free. We use this to help us memorize scripture. (scroll to bottom of page)

Librivox.org and Books Should Be Free.com - Gobs of free books from the public domain. Think: classic literature.

Blue Behemoth - trustworthy, downloadable audio and video content for the Christian family. One or two free downloads daily.

Christian Audio - a new free book download offered every month.

My Audio School - classic books, old-time radio theater, historical radio, and television broadcasts; all organized by time period.

Judgement

I got an anonymous comment recently on my Everything On My Mind post. Someone really didn't like that it made me sad when institutionalized children are put into government schools all day every day. She thought I was being judgmental.

I would like to clarify that to judge someone is to make an assumption about the motives behind what they do. To judge does not mean to look down upon.

Neither of these is how I feel about parents whose children are in public schools. I do not make any negative assumptions about why they public school, nor do I look down on them.

I feel very sad for children who are brought up in orphanages and then their adoptive families feel the need to place them in public schools for 8 hours Monday through Friday. I am sad for those children. That is not the same thing as saying I think ill of the parents. I do not.

I tend to think that most parents who choose government education do so because it's what they know.

The commenter who did not want to be known stated that all parents do what they think is best for their children. I think that is a really big assumption to make. In my experience, many parents don't think about educational options or what they think is the very best for their child. They just do what they know.

And I do not look down on them for that.

For my first three children, I never considered any other option other than disposable diapers. Cloth diapers never even occurred to me. I didn't know why parents would choose that and it didn't sound at all desirable. When I was pregnant with Lydia, I started looking into options. I really started researching it. Suddenly, I didn't just do what I knew. In the end, I chose cloth diapering for the financial savings.

With Julia and with this baby, I know all the options and I have chosen disposables again. lol Do you look down on me for my choice? Are you making assumptions about why I chose disposables instead of cloth? Yea, I doubt it.

Not A Model to Emulate

Michelle Obama said:

“I want people to know when they look at me, to be clear, that they see what an investment in public education can look like.”

I pray that all those who have put their trust in the government would pay attention to Mrs. Obama’s warning. If you want your child to emulate her by putting their faith in the government to supply their needs, rejecting God’s law, helping to destroy the meaning of marriage, defending the right to murder children, and embracing socialist values, do what she says and invest in public education!

-taken directly from this fantastic article by author Stacy McDonald

Reason #239 to Homeschool

When first grader, Lamya Cammon, didn’t stop twirling a braid in her fingers, her teacher called her to the front of the class and cut that braid right off her head. The teacher was fined $175 for ‘disorderly conduct’ and apologized to the girl’s mother. According to the article, the mother got the apology, and an excuse:

“But I was frustrated”, the teacher said.

The frustrated teacher who publicly humiliated the little girl, making her cry in front of her whole class, is still working in the school.

Article here.

I've Discovered. . .

• Waiting until you're almost out of diapers and then ordering overnight delivery is a risk
• Changing dirty pull-ups is not easy (should've ordered those diapers a wee bit earlier)
• Having a list of projects to do while pregnant makes me very happy
• Waiting patiently for hubby to finish one project so "we" can work on another is not my strength
• I should never attempt to teach math while hungry
• I should never attempt to do anything while hungry (other than fix something to eat)
• Plantains should be black and ugly before frying them
• Fried plantains make me very happy
• School days are so much easier for me than breaks. I need structure.
• This and this make teaching multiplication & division so much easier. Love it!

Encouraging Moms Who Don't Enjoy Their Kids

A good friend emailed this question to me recently and I thought it was a great question, so wanted to share it with you all.

How do you respond when people say things to you about not wanting to spend time with their kids? It seems so often when people I meet find out I homeschool my daughter, they start telling me about how they “could never spend all day” with their kids. I can handle the “I don’t have patience” or so many other comments, but I just don’t know the words to say back to this one.

I wanted to say “I’m so sorry! Maybe if you trained your kids, you’d enjoy being around them more.” – but that’s tacky J

You're right, that would be really tacky. LOL! But what you want to say is so key. They don't train their kids, because frankly they don't have time, and therefore they don't enjoy their children.

Imagine for a minute if your daughter were in public school all day, picking up bad attitudes and disrespect for the other kids, while not being disciplined biblically (if at all) by her teachers when she sports these nasty attitudes. Then in the few hours you have with her at night, you're making dinner and preparing for the next day while she does her homework, rushing to give her a bath before bedtime. (This is assuming she's not in any extra-curriculars, in which case you'd have even less time with her.) When could you disciple her? I mean, really. When would there be time? You might be able to faithfully fit in family worship time, but that wouldn't be enough to undo all she learned at school all day.

The reason you enjoy being with your daughter all day is because you've spent so much time with her that you know and understand her very well. When she throws a fit, you know why. You are sympathetic towards her and that draws her heart to yours. And you are training her biblically, which produces an enjoyable child. I haven't always been a full time mom, so I know very well how you really don't enjoy them near as much when you're not with them very much. The longer I've been at home full-time, the more I enjoy my children.

That's what I would say. "It seems backwards, but the truth is: The more time I spend with my daughter, the more I enjoy her." Any more than that, and you'd offend them.

Really, all you can do is be gracious and be a good example of a joyful mother of children. They may begin to ask you questions, in my experience. Then you can encourage them with the truth of God's Word.

Just be compassionate. It's sad that they don't enjoy their children and they really have no idea why you do. And that's sad too. They don't get it.

Our Homeschool Day in Pictures

Our homeschool day starts with breakfast. I wake up (around 7:30) and eat breakfast before the kids wake up, so I can make this time productive. I wake up any sleepy heads at 8am. That's when our day begins. While they're eating their oatmeal (or whatever Kyle made for us), I read our Bible study. I read a Psalm, a Proverb, and whatever verse Pastor Jesse preached on the last Sunday. By this time, everyone's finishing up eating. Then we go over our memory verse a few times. Finally, we practice whatever poem we're working on.

After breakfast, I plop down in a kitchen chair to supervise table chores. I just sit there, but I am accomplishing much. The children stay on task when I'm present.

Maya and Isaac don't get easily distracted, but everyone else does. ;)

Maya will one day be sorry she didn't take the sponge rollers out of her hair when I asked her to. I tried to warn her. {giggle}

Daniel and Lydia are still responsible for the dishwasher, but now they are responsible for the silverware too. (I always make them wash their hands first. ;) )

Ok, now back to school. A lot of this happens simultaneously, so pay attention:

Round one:

Isaac has the least amount to do on this day, so he helps Daniel and Lydia with their 2 pages of phonics worksheets. (Get Ready for the Code.) Julia-the-Funky-Headed supervises, but doesn't help at all. She never helps anyone come to think of it.

While Daniel and Lydia are doing their phonics, I'm supervising Elena and Chloe's Latin lesson. (Maya and Isaac used to do this, but they kept mispronouncing the words, so I decided to have them wait. Reading and writing first, right?)

While Elena and Chloe are doing Latin, Maya is upstairs reading along to Robinson Crusoe while the audiobook plays. Her comprehension is very good, but her phonics is coming along very slowly. I decided not to hold her back from good literature.

Round two:

Maya is still listening to her audiobook; Elena and Chloe have finished Latin. Elena is now in my room doing long division. She cannot handle any distractions at all during math, but I figured out she also gets lonely being banished to my room, so I work out a time when I can sit with her.

While I'm supervising Elena's math, Lydia and Daniel start on their chores.

While Lydia and Daniel are doing their chores and then getting dressed for the day, Isaac is doing copywork. He is a perfectionist, but as a boy, he hates handwriting, so this takes him awhile.

While Isaac is doing his copywork at the table, Chloe's doing her math drill. She's currently taking a break from multiplication until she gets all her facts down.

Round three:

Elena has finished her math quickly, since I'm there and she's not distracted. So now, she reads Mother Goose to Daniel and Lydia. Each of the big kids get a day to read to the littles. We're taking our time working through Ambleside Year 0.

While Elena's reading to the littles, Chloe is doing her reading. She loves biographies, so I picked up a bunch of Christian Heroes for Young Readers. She loves these.

Elena has chosen Elsie Dinsmore, and Isaac has chosen The Frog and Toad Treasury. (But they're not reading right now.)

Isaac and Maya are taking turns doing math drills and getting dressed for the day.

Lydia and Daniel are now done with their school for the day. They're now upstairs playing while Elena does her copywork.

Ok, now the rotations part of our school day is over.

Daniel and Lydia are playing upstairs or outside, and I've just put Julia down for her nap. It's now about 11am. I gather the four big kids and we do our history and/or science readings. (Maya was taking the picture.)

We're wrapping up medieval history, and I'm reading The Whipping Boy. The kids are loving this book! After reading this for about 20 minutes, I'll switch to a picture book (currently Peter the Great) or nature study (currently Christian Liberty Nature Reader book 4).

They narrate back to me what they remember of the story after I read and we'll stop after each place I read about and I'll have them point it out on the map, i.e. "Peter the Great visited Venice. . . (Do ya'll remember where Venice is? Right, Italy. Isaac, show us where Italy is.)"

If you have a big map handy, it literally takes seconds to teach geography.

Later that night, around the dinner table, I'll ask: Who can tell Daddy what happened to Prince Horace and the Whipping Boy today?

Because they're creating a relationship with the book, they'll be able to tell you about Prince Horace a year from now. They haven't just memorized the dates and names in medieval history, they've actually learned it.

After reading time, we take a break and all have a snack.

Now it's about 11:45. I help Isaac with his phonics lesson (he does a lesson out of ". . .100 Easy Lessons", then he reads a chapter out of a Phonics Pathway reader.)

While he's reading to me, Maya is starting to prepare lunch and Elena is doing her reading upstairs. Chloe is getting dressed for the day.

When I'm ready to help Maya with her phonics lesson (She does the same thing he does), Isaac goes to get everyone else, so they can begin setting the table for lunch.

Lunch happens when all the school is done. Usually by 12:30.

Teaching Children to Love Reading - School Age

When children get to school age, there's a temptation to ask them lots of questions about the book they're reading. DON'T DO IT! School teachers ask kids: Who's the main character? What was the setting? etc ad nauseum because they have no idea if little Miranda actually read the book or not. They have to ask these questions to make sure the child is actually reading the book assigned. That said, it does kill the love of reading.

You are home with your child, watching them walk up the stairs reading the book, watching them bury their nose in the book while they eat their snack, etc. You know they are reading it. Don't kill their love of reading by making them analyze the book. Let them develop a relationship with the book. This is how you teach your child to love reading.