The Book in the Trash Can

Several books we received with our Sonlight Core B this year have prompted more indecision than anything else as education and secular worldviews collide with Christianity. While I believe homeschool children do need to know about other religions (including famous false gods) and various theories like evolution that contradict the Bible so they may speak up for truth intelligently, I believe there is a time and a place for these discussions. 

All year long, I've felt this battle between teaching what is presented in our books versus sharing God's truth and imparting a Biblical worldview to my child.  Christians will argue all day long that our children need to know other religions, but do four, five, and six year olds need to know about other religions when they are still learning about their own God and learning the basics of John 3:16?  Do you teach your young child about statues, idols and mosques when they are still trying to figure out who God is and what church is all about?  Do you teach your young child about the Big Bang when that child is still learning that God created the world with order and the basics surrounding the Days of Creation?  Or, do you teach your young child what is true first so that they always have a foundation and point of reference (the Bible) that they can fall back on whenever theories and religions contradict what they know is true about God? 

It's fascinating to see the many answers and debates to these questions in Christian circles.  However, it seems like many people fail to take age into consideration. 

I wouldn't have thought twice about any of this and the effect of exposing children to other viewpoints at a young age until this winter when I heard my child role playing with his Lego minifigures.  His minifigures were "talking" about reincarnation and nirvana.  WHAT?!?!  No, no, NO!!!!  What happened to role playing about David and Goliath, Noah, the parables, and heaven and everlasting life?

While I thought covering world religions as presented in age-appropriate history books was "education" and what he's "supposed" to be learning (compared to public school counterparts), my child was picking up waaaay more than I thought he would.  That role playing incident opened my eyes to the fact that, as homeschoolers, we have complete say as to what our children learn and WHEN it is appropriate for them to learn it.  It made me go back to the reasons why we decided to homeschool and what we hoped to accomplish with homeschooling--knowing about world religions isn't on our list, but cultivating a relationship with Christ is.  So, if what we're allowing in our homeschool doesn't push us toward our goals, then why are we wasting time with it?  When I ran everything through that lens, it meant omitting pages in books or skipping several books altogether that contradicted what we believed.  Sometimes, it meant comparing a secular book with the Bible side-by-side in order to make sure my child can "see" and begin to understand why certain things are important.  As I reflect back on our school year, I spent more time correcting wrong ideas presented in our books than I did teaching the Truth outright (outside of Bible class and family devotions).  And while I have beat myself up for this many times this year, a situation happened today that reminded me that truth always wins and that God redeems our mistakes! 

Today, I was preparing Sonlight Core B books to sell when my child started flipping out over the Usborne "Greek Myths" book on top of the pile because we haven't read it yet.  I explained to him that it's a book full of stories about mythical gods and their adventures.  We have been exposed to plenty of religious ideas and all types of gods through our Ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome studies this year and it was time to fill our minds with things about the one true God instead.  Well, my child freaks out and respectfully but urgently asks, "Mom, why would you sell [this book] to another kid?  So he can learn about other gods?  Do you want to teach him about the other gods or the one true God?"

I admit that I thought my child was being a bit dramatic and I rationalized it away by silently thinking that it's just a book, it's untouched and I could get full price for it!  But as I continued on with preparing the books for sale, I could see my son's silent questioning glances and the wheels spinning in his head.  This is one time that I didn't pray for God to help me make the most of this teachable moment because I knew this meant laying down even more for Him.  God has been asking so much of us lately as we seek to align our lives closer to Him.  With each thing He convicts of us of and that we see that sends a mixed message about Him to our child and to others, it's like we become that much more "weirder" in the world's eyes (even in many Christians' eyes and even in our own eyes sometimes), so I was determined to hang on to that book this time!  Well, a few minutes go by and then my child speaks up with curiosity, not condemnation, in his voice, "Mom?  How important is telling others about the one true God to you?"   

All I could do in that moment was grab my child, hug him tightly, thank him for respectfully speaking the truth and then cry and pray at the same time.  When we were done praying, I asked him what he thought we should do with the book and he suggested we throw it away.  To his surprise, I handed him the book and it is now laying in the bottom of our trash can.  I quickly threw trash over it so not to be tempted to pull it out later.  As I thought about that book in the trash can, Proverbs 14:1 kept running through my mind: 

"The wise woman builds her house, but the foolish pulls it down with her hands." 

Also, Phillipians 4:8-9 came to mind: 

"Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things. The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you."

Those two verses provide courage to go against the grain, even the Christian grain, and to make sure only Truth is taught in our school first.  When that truth has been established in our child's heart, then it will be time to go more in depth with evolution, world religions and other controversial topics.  This doesn't mean we get rid of every secular book in our house, but rather it means we become more discerning and intentional in what we use as our main textbooks in educating our child. 

Homeschooling.  No one tells you how much it will change YOU, not just your children.  No one tells you how much your words will come back to you through your child's own mouth as they watch to see if your words and actions make sense and question when they don't.  And no one tells you that before you can "train up a child in the way that he shall go", God will have to train you first and His training can sometimes be the most painful, heart wrenching, on-the-job training that shakes up your current way of living and pushes you into a deeper place of relationship and conviction with God and with your family! 

Homemade With Love = Most Practical Cookbook I Now Own!

Homemade with Love: Treasured Family Recipes by Marilyn Boyer is like sitting down and thumbing through Mrs. Boyer’s personal recipe box (especially when she shares a memory with a recipe)…and you know those types of boxes are filled with tried-and-true family favorites!  I was amazed at how many recipes were quick, easy and kid-friendly.  Most of the recipes called for items that we usually have on hand making this cookbook extra practical.  The pictures included with some of the recipes were helpful and showed me that my food doesn’t have to look like a fancy Food Network dish in order for it to be a big hit with my family.  And, after making homemade crescent rolls for the first time following Mrs. Boyer’s easy recipe, I doubt we will ever buy crescent rolls from a blue can again! 

Since we are family of three (compared to feeding the Boyer’s 14 children) plus deal with severe nut allergies in our home, I wasn’t sure how well this cookbook would fit our lifestyle.  But I was pleasantly surprised and excited to find that the majority of the recipes did not make super-large quantities nor included a lot of nuts.  The recipes that include nuts are ones that we can substitute and still have a great dish.  It was an extra bonus to find a cookbook that gave us a lot of new recipes that we could use as written.  Homemade with Love has quickly become my favorite “go-to” for fast, delicious recipes that I know my family will like!

For more info on the cookbook, visit Homemade with Love: Treasured Family Recipes.

Of course, in order to honestly review this book, we wanted to try out a few recipes and turned it into a life skills class!  My child had a blast learning how to follow directions, read fractions and other cooking basics!  If a 6 year old can make crescent rolls, then anyone can!  :)  Here are a few pictures from our cooking session!  Enjoy! 

Learning how to make triangles

Sampling at every stage

Painting on the butter for the One-Hour Yeast Rolls

Our first attempt at making crescent rolls (One-Hour Yeast Rolls recipe)

Little Cheddar Meat Loaves cooking in the oven ... YUM!

Days Like Today...

Some days, I seriously question why in the world we are homeschooling!  Mainly these questions pop up after an exhausting battle-of-the-wills type of day where even Lisa Welchel would be stumped to come up with a "Creative Correction" for my creative child! 

But, these questions faded off into the distance as some major prayer, perspective, alone time (well, it was in the form of a solo trip to Walmart, but I'm not ashamed to claim it), and a mom-only splurge at Dairy Queen refreshed this worn-out mama! 

Of all of the clever (but defiant or attitude-filled) things that my child said today, three moments really stand out! 

1.  My 6 year old was at the window longing to be outside riding his bike with the neighborhood kids.  But, since it was a struggle all day for NoNut to pay attention or to even have motivation to do his work, our school day was done in chunks.  By 4:30 p.m., we weren't even halfway through our day because character training, discipline, nap time and time outs took precedence over education.

I told NoNut that he could not play outside until all of his school work was completed.  He moped over to the kitchen table and sat down roughly with his copywork.  Then, he said matter-of-factly, "I'm going to shortcut the system!" (Huh???  From a 6 yr old???!!!)  And my child proceeded to "shortcut" his handwriting assignment in hopes of riding bikes.  After what we had gone through today, NoNut did not disappoint (he is a cross between my husband and I after all)! 

NoNut's idea of "shortcutting the system" was to write the first and last letter of each word of his copywork and hope I didn't notice that the rest of the letters were missing.  He proudly turned in his work with no reservations and was even appalled that I made him redo it correctly! 

2.  Earlier this afternoon, NoNut was whining over math.  (Did I mention that everything was a struggle today?)  He made a comment about needing to get on his superpowers.  And that is when I had had enough of all the make-believe play and talk.  I informed my child that he is not Michelangelo, Donatello, Raphael, or any other Ninja Turtle!  And his look was one of pure shock, horror and disbelief that I would tell him that he was not a Ninja Turtle.  That was one of those mom-phrases that I never dreamed I'd be uttering in my lifetime, but the look on his face was priceless!  

3.  We ended our long, drawn-out school day by closing out our zoology unit.  We were discussing ocean life and why fish travel in schools.  I asked NoNut to pretend that he was a fish all by himself in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.  Of course, we had the map and globe and he had to point out exactly where he was swimming (which at that point, my patience was shot).  I then went on to tell NoNut that a shark was coming up on him.  What would he do?  Where would he hide?  What happens next?  I was writing down notes from today and was waiting for NoNut to tell me his answers.  But, all I heard was silence.  Oh, I felt the emotions rising and I was done...no more!  However, out of the corner of my eye, I see this little smirk and noticed NoNut's eyes were looking at his finger which was pointed upward toward heaven.  All of a sudden, I realized that NoNut was answering my question after all!  And, he was right!!  Laughter bubbled out of me as I realized that we had quite a day and that we will have really off days (thankfully, it doesn't happen quite often over here), but it truly is okay!  At the end of the day, this is my child, not my student!

NoNut has a unique, creative, humor-filled brain that is so opposite from my serious, task-oriented brain and it's such a joy to see how his brain works.  These are moments with him that I'll never get back and moments to be cherished rather than wished away out of frustration.  And while some moments bring out the worst in us, other moments bring out the best in us!  All of these moments become reminders that I'm every bit of a work in progress as my child is.  Heidi St. John, author and homeschool mentor, summed it up perfectly in her blog today: 

"I should know…I have been there. I’m the mom who watches the school buses drive away and wonder what those other moms do all day. My husband has watched me have total meltdowns, and he has helped remind myself that this homeschool journey that I am on is as much about me as it is about our children.

I want you to know that homeschooling IS hard, marriage is hard, parenting is hard."

(You can read more at Heidi's blog:  http://heidistjohn.com/tbmb/hope-floats/.)

Hard it is...especially on days like today!  Yet in it all, God was there.  He took every question I had this afternoon and replaced it with love, forgiveness, reassurance, peace and laughter!  And He refreshed me to the point where I can say with anticipation, "Bring on tomorrow!"  It can only get better from here!  :)

Some Things Never Change in Children's Church

Today was NoNut's first Sunday in his first grade Sunday School class and first Sunday in 1st-5th grade children's church!  It was a day of excitement and a day of apprehension as we prayed that everyone would take good care of our son and know what to do in case of an emergency (anaphylactic nut allergies).  And, God heard our prayers!   

However, I was purely overwhelmed by the end of church today and it wasn't even about the nut situation.  And if I felt that overwhelmed, I have to wonder how families new to our faith must feel!  Between seeing the verses in Sunday school, getting a paper with several Bible verses that the kids are to memorize for children's church and then learning about the Bible memory for RA's (Wed. night boys program), I was on memory verse overload!  This is to add on top of the Bible memory work that we are enjoying as a family and for our homeschool! 

As I was sitting in my son's children's church, I felt like I was escorted back to my children's church days over 20 years ago as points were awarded to the children for bringing their Bibles, singing the loudest, answering questions, etc.  It was interesting seeing the whole points concept on the adult side of the coin!  But, oh my child is too much like me!  He was confused by the points and didn't understand why he needed to earn points in church (how do you explain that concept to a 6 yr old?!). 

As I reflected on our conversation and looked at the memory verse paper sitting next to me in the car, I couldn't help but remember all the times as a child that we "crammed" the afternoon before AWANA, Sunday mornings before Sunday School and Friday mornings before Bible tests so we could say our verses and get points and/or prizes (or a good grade) for each verse that we "memorized".  Oh, did we ever learn hundreds of verses through the solid Bible programs!

Yet as I sat in Bible doctrines at BJU trying to recall all of the verses I "learned" as a child, I couldn't help but notice how many verses that I didn't remember from my childhood (was counting on those to give me an easy A--yeah right...some of you remember all of those Bible Doctrines verse cards).  I remembered the gist of a lot of verses and sometimes the book where it was found.  I remember reflecting on these very issues as I saw that my childhood was spent learning verses for the sake of learning verses while never really internalizing what I was memorizing.  The personal application of these verses got lost in the program, the points and the prizes.

Through my son's conversation about earning points at church and thinking about all the Bible memory that will be coming up for him at church, God began to whisper, "Take a step back and see what I am already doing in your family's life!"

God began to remind me of the sweet moments over His Word throughout our parenting and homeschooling journeys.  Part of hearing the Word, reading the Word and memorizing the Word is taking the time to understand the Word.  It means deciphering what God is saying, what He means and how it applies to our lives.  We need time to let His Word sit and soak and develop meaning to it.  The meaning that God gives as we feast on His Words, especially as we see His Word in action in our lives, brings the verses to life and etches them even deeper into our memory!  To me, that is far richer than memorizing verses for points and prizes.  The prize is in having God's Word firmly planted into our minds and hearts! 

As I began to pray about everything and how to incorporate even more Bible memory into what we are already doing, God was saying His familiar, "Let go!"  Let go of traditions, of the way it's "supposed" to be, of the fear of man's opinions if we don't do the selected memory work or the fear of my child being the oddball.  God wants me to let go so we can keep experiencing the ways that His Word is changing our family and bringing our hearts closer to Him.  He wants us to be open to memorizing His Word because we want to know Him and what He has to say.  Memorizing His Word shouldn't be "something else we have to do" or something that feels burdensome.  It's a delight and an honor...one that changes our lives as we internalize it! 

So for now, the stress of Bible memory is gone as I see that God has already been leading us down a path of Bible memory that is working for our family.  There isn't a right or wrong way or right or wrong place to do Bible memory.  My prayer is that my child will desire God's Words more than fine gold (or in the short term, more than earning points and prizes)!

The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple.

The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes.

The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring for ever: the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.

More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.

Psalm 19:7-10

(This, incidentally, is a portion of scripture that we learned in Sunday School as one of the men brought in his guitar and taught us this passage through song!  Little did he know that this song/passage would be passed on down to the next generation through the same song!  Now this was a verse that was internalized for the long haul!)

The Missing Ingredient

We have struggled the past 5 1/2 weeks of homeschooling to have a "normal" day.  The transition from kindergarten to first grade has been bumpy as our typical 45 minute to 1-1/2 hour school day jumped to three, four, sometimes five hours a day!  It blew my mind how much time we were taking for school when we only added in reading and spelling to our Bible, history, language arts, math and science.

After Week 4, I sat down to compare last year to this year in order to figure out what was drastically different and why things weren't "clicking" as much for us. One thing really stood out. We were doing Bible last instead of first!  My child was so eager about starting off with handwriting first (getting the worst over first) that I didn't want to lose his eagerness by taking time to do Bible and pray first.  And in turn, I lost sight of our homeschooling priorities. 

As I reflected on this year, I saw how much we rushed through or even skipped our Bible lessons because we were tired by the fourth hour of school.  My son was no longer alert and essentially shut down.  I would then get frustrated with him because he wouldn't pay attention.  And of course, I instantly felt guilty for getting upset with him as the Bible lay open on my lap.  ...You know the cycle!

Last week and this week, we purposefully moved Bible back to the beginning of our school day.  The first day we did that, I was reminded of the sweetness of sharing the Word together and the priceless, unrushed moments of hearing what was on my son's heart as we shared prayer requests and prayed together over them.  That sweetness was rarely there in the hurry and tiredness.  After Bible, our day went without a hitch and we were done with school in two hours!

I was a bit skeptical that one day of "doing school right" (with Bible first) really could make that much of a difference.  But, the trend continued the rest of the week and into this week, until today.  Today we couldn't get our act together and everything took much longer than usual which made our school day five hours long (with breaks).  The difference:  we rushed through Bible and forgot to pray because we took a rabbit trail that tied into science.  

After today, I know that our homeschool needs God first before any other subject is discussed.  It's non-negotiable!  We need God's Word to instruct us.  We need His insight to teach us how to love one another. And, we need that quiet time before Him to invite Him into our day and into our school.  It requires intentionality.  It requires trusting that God will help my child do those harder subjects later.  And it requires knowing what is most important for a godly education; otherwise, my child would just be getting an education and God has called us to more than that!  

Unpredictability & Callings

It seems like with every day of homeschooling, we are slipping farther and farther away from my picture of what homeschooling should look like.  I'm also coming to the conclusion that every year is different from the previous year which leaves room for major unpredictability!

I feel like I'm tweaking so much with Sonlight Core B and Sonlight's Language Arts 1 as we naturally speed up in some areas and slow down in others.  The neat, orderly Instructor's Guide that I lived by last year has already become a jumbled mess this year as the days, weeks and pages no longer coordinate with each other as we jump around (yes, I'm Type A to the core).  And then, I hear this tiny voice in the background saying, "Welcome to homeschooling!"  Everything I read about in blogs last year, I was like, "Oh, I'm glad that's not us!" or "They must not be doing something right if they are having those problems."  Oh man, little did I know that would soon be me and now I'm feverishly running back to those blogs searching for answers! ;) 

Last year, our homeschool worked like clockwork. For the most part, my child was very compliant and excited about school.  Yet this year, a month into our school year, and we've yet to have a "normal" school week, much less school day.  My child is compliant when he wants to be, but it's not been without a power struggle despite our classroom rules and consequences.

Today was the never-ending school day as we just couldn't get our act together.  I'm feeling the pressure of deadlines and other things outside of our school life as I try to pick some ministry-related things back up.  The juggling act is starting up once again as I'm feeling the pull between home and ministry.  I want to be focused on homeschooling yet my mind is in a constant whirl with thinking, planning, writing and prepping for some ministry events ahead. 

Each day that I say "yes" to something outside of our homeschool realm, the more I feel the pull and struggle to stay focused here at home. That translates into a rushed school day where we get school done to get it done rather than slow down and enjoy the learning process.  Needless to say, that easily fuels power struggles and impatience.  ...Not a place I want to go back to! 

Yet at the same time, I keep asking "What about the call to lay ministry and local missions that God put on my heart all of these years?"  What do I do when I see that God wants me here at home to disciple and educate my child more than He wants me serving the local church?  I've tried hard to mix the two but both are full-time callings and I'm only one person with limitations.  Yet every day as my strength and health improve, I try to pick back up the old things only to realize all over again that that season has passed.  It's bittersweet.  Some days, that fact brings tears as I feel a grieving period for what once was.  And other days, it brings much joy because I'm finally beginning to accept that God wants me at home for a season.  I keep wrestling over the big question of "Who am I after I lay down that call to ministry for a season?"   

Despite the fact that I really don't know the answer to that, God keeps using the unpredictability of this school year to show me that there is more to His calling than the church.  I've been living life in one way through one channel for so long that I've never considered any other possibilities.  What if being wife and mom is the highest calling of them all?  What if it requires more to disciple my child than it does to disciple others?  What if it means altering everything including my educational ideals for my child in order to focus on the things that really matter long after the textbooks have come and gone? 

So far this year, the days that we have enjoyed the most were the days when our curriculum challenged our thinking and prompted conversations with my first grader that went way beyond education.  There have been days when I couldn't push reading and math anymore because there were basic character issues and heart issues that needed to be addressed.  Sometimes, these character and heart issues are more of a hindrance to learning than anything else.  I refuse to keep putting on temporary band-aids in order to check off a box in our Instructor's Guide because the boxes will always be there to check off, but this teachable, pliable moment with my child might not be. 

As I wish God would make it ever-so-clear to me what my calling is, I'm seeing that He has already made it clear and is continuing to make it clear in spite of my questions and hesitations.  As scary as unpredictability is, it is where I see the beauty and blessings of life the most.  It's where God is working.  And, it feels like home to me...literally and figuratively.

Lessons From the Bookshelf

We just finished building a new bookshelf for our living room.  We've outgrown our Kindergarten bookshelf.  And, we've pretty much outgrown our first grade bookshelf, but it'll have to do.  ...You know how it is!  We just love books, learning games, math manipulatives and videos.  And, I like the fact that NoNut can easily access these things and play with them now rather than have them hidden in bins and forgotten about until next summer! 

As I put NoNut to bed and listened to his bedtime prayers, I heard him say, "Thank you, God, for such a fun time with mommy tonight!  We had fun building my school shelf!"  He was my little helper and was so excited to build the new bookshelf. 

However, it wasn't all a picture of roses.  And the fact that he had such a great time and thanked God for it after my desire for perfection and impatience won out is such a sad testament to what his life is like, and he doesn't even know any different.  About five minutes into building the shelves, my desire to control the situation and get it right the first time without messing up the shelves took over.  Sure, NoNut helped some, but every time he asked if he could do something and took awhile doing it, I would come up with excuses as to why he needed to stop and I needed to take over.  NoNut finally went off to play with Legos, leaving the building and arranging to me. 

Sadly, this par for the course.  How many times has NoNut wanted to help with something and I took over for him because he wasn't doing it quick enough or my way?  How many times does he get so excited over something only for me to crush his spirit with constant instruction and critique as to make sure something gets done right?  How many times does he want a simple "yes" but instead he gets a "no" followed by long explanations as to why not and it usually boils down to inconvenience? 

To hear NoNut's prayer tonight was a stab at my heart.  Such innocence and desire for fun!  He has this uncanny ability to find fun in everything even in the midst of continual nagging and correcting over trivial things.

This week has been really eye opening for me as I see how many times I speak for my child, prod him to be perfect and use perfect manners, do for my child because it's quicker to do it for him and then rob him of trying things because I'm too pressed for perfection or time.

Ephesians 6:4 keeps coming to mind this week as God is seriously pruning away at my life.  It's painful as no stone is being left unturned.  How much I need God to infiltrate my heart and my parenting before my child turns a deaf ear! 

"Fathers, don’t exasperate your children by coming down hard on them. Take them by the hand and lead them in the way of the Master."  (MSG)

"And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord."  (NKJV)

The Matthew Henry commentary says the following (emphasis mine):

 "Though God has given you power, you must not abuse that power, remembering that your children are, in a particular manner, pieces of yourselves, and therefore ought to be governed with great tenderness and love. Be not impatient with them, use no unreasonable severities and lay no rigid injunctions upon them. When you caution them, when you counsel them, when you reprove them, do it in such a manner as not to provoke them to wrath. In all such cases deal prudently and wisely with them, endeavouring to convince their judgments and to work upon their reason.”

“Bring them up well, in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, in the discipline of proper and of compassionate correction, and in the knowledge of that duty which God requires of them and by which they may become better acquainted with him. Give them a good education.” It is the great duty of parents to be careful in the education of their children: “Not only bring them up, as the brutes do, taking care to provide for them; but bring them up in nurture and admonition, in such a manner as is suitable to their reasonable natures. Nay, not only bring them up as men, in nurture and admonition, but as Christians, in the admonition of the Lord. Let them have a religious education. Instruct them to fear sinning; and inform them of, and excite them to, the whole of their duty towards God.”

As I read that, I have to stop and wonder what education I am giving my child through high expectations and the implied messages that comes from taking over for him because he's not doing something "right".  What alternative messages would be sent if I took the time to slow down and let him explore and slowly guide him through projects or experiences...walk next to him instead of five steps ahead of him urging him to "hurry up"?  How do my current actions and responses excite him toward God?  And if children are "in a particular manner, pieces of yourselves", what does it reveal about me and my heart when I treat my child in impatient, nagging ways?  The answer to that gives a more accurate picture of myself than I care to see...ouch!! 

As hard as it is at times, I'm thankful for the correction and instruction in God's Word.  What makes it even more powerful is to consider just how many times God has "[taken me] by the hand and [led me] in the way of the Master."  What would my son's life be like if I were to truly learn from tonight and live out Ephesians 6:4 and "Take [him] by the hand and lead [him] in the way of the Master?"

Let the Wiggles Out

After a stretch of handwriting, NoNut will ask if he can get up and do some jumping jacks.  I was floored the first time he asked me if he could exercise in between school subjects.  Seriously, a child asking to exercise?!?!  So, NoNut will do ten jumping jacks.  When I see how much fun he's having, I usually add to it and make game out of it.  He will twirl a few times and then end with somersaults across the living room back to his desk.  NoNut will then sit down without any complaining and finish his handwriting or move on to math, another "desk subject".

There is just something about that those brief minutes of physical activity that help get the wiggles out and activate the brain for more learning.  Moments like that remind me of the benefits of homeschooling and letting your child be a child--wiggles and all. 

Last year, I saw the Thumball at a local school supply store but couldn't justify the price.  However, this weekend, it was on sale big time and we purchased the "Move Your Body" Thumball to incorporate into our Language Arts and Math. I couldn't wait to surprise NoNut with it today! 

He was soooo excited when I explained the Thumball and let him play with it.  Thumball was perfect for those much-needed energy breaks between Explode the Code, Handwriting Without Tears and his copywork (it's a lot of writing for one sitting and we're still playing around to find our groove).  And, I even had fun joining in with NoNut because he wasn't sure how to act out some of the exercises.  It didn't take long for him to catch on and come up with his own ideas. 

While the Thumball is great, you can make something similar with balls you have around your house.  Use a Sharpie and write out little exercises for your child to do.  Tie it in with math and write addition or subtraction problems for your child to solve.  Make an A, B, C ball and have your child tell you the letter that his thumb landed on.  You can even do the same thing by writing exercises on slips of paper and having your child pull several of them out of a jar or envelope. 

However, there is just something special about a boy and a ball!  Make it a Thumball and laughter and creativity are sure to abound!

(You can find Thumball at teacher supply stores, Amazon or at http://thumball.com/)

Our First Day of First Grade

First grade!!  Can't believe it!  I've had a touch of nostalgia lately as I think about how quickly my baby is growing up!  It is such a blessing and joy to be able to homeschool him again this year! 

We postponed our first day of school last week because of sickness and prayed that we could start this week.  Though I'm still not up to par, I've been ready for our first day and thought we'd give it a try by relying on God's strength!  I wasn't sure what to expect because NoNut was NOT looking forward to school and wanted to keep having summer break.  He loved homeschooling last year so I wasn't sure why the big change of attitude.  However, it didn't take long before he was full of smiles and saying, "Wow!  This is fun!  This is like last year!"

Our first day was three hours long...much longer than our typical 45-60 minute school day.  But we also added in a couple extra things and adopted a much slower pace.  The other difference is that I wanted to let go and be flexible enough to go at his pace rather than rush through our agenda to get everything done and move on with our day.  I also wanted to work on saying "yes" more than "no" and not being so "serious" about everything all the time.  It was a definite change of pace, but a very special and rewarding day for both of us!

We started the day with "first day pictures" and then moved on to handwriting.  Last year, I didn't realize that handwriting was a process and in my impatience, lost it with my son those first weeks more often than not because he just wasn't getting it.  We ended up in tears several times--him because he couldn't get it and me because I didn't like my attitude and the words that came from my mouth.  It didn't take long before copywork equaled frustration in his mind and he gave up before he even got started.  His defeated spirit revealed a lot about my spirit and changes were made both in my attitude and expectations.  However, this year was a totally different story!  I removed my hands from it and gave NoNut his book and ownership of his book.  He was soooo excited when he opened his book and realized that he already knew how to write the letters!  It was such a boost to his confidence!  We did the first couple pages in Handwriting Without Tears, the "at" pages in Explode the Code Book 1 and followed it up with Sonlight Language Arts 1 Copywork.  It was a lot of writing for him, so I may alternate HWT and ETC. 

We then moved into reading where NoNut surprised himself with each word he read! He enjoyed Lesson 1 of Sonlight's I Can Read reader and even laughed pretty hard at what he was reading (second picture).

After reading, we did Lesson 1 of Horizon Math where he was greeted with a dot-to-dot!  The dot-to-dot was a picture of a boy going to school, but NoNut wouldn't hear of it!  He colored the boy's books blue like his Bible story book from last year and colored the school the same color as our church since "the boy was going to church, not school"!  I got to thinking about how NoNut has no concept of what it's like to walk into a school building every morning (not a bad thing) and why he thought it was crazy someone would walk to school instead of church.

We then ventured into history (Sonlight Core B) where we had a special time talking about the 10/40 Window and THUMB.  We discussed the tribals and how they are animists and that prompted an insightful discussion.  It always amazes me how perceptive NoNut can be, even at age 6!  In the picture below, he's showing off the cross he made a month ago--he wanted to hold it when he prayed for the tribals. After THUMB, we dove into Usborne's Peoples of the World and talked about the differing characteristics of countries and began our own "country collection."

NoNut was all excited about science and doing science experiments.  It became evident that this day wasn't going to pass without a science experiment (we reserve one day a week just for experiments).  So after we began our study in zoology, we went to the kitchen to do some pop bottle science experiments.  My parents had dropped off a pop bottle science kit with tons of experiments to do last week...it was such a God-send on those sick days!  There was a lot of excited laughter and shrieking as the experiments proved to be successful! I love how the second picture captures a little bit of that science excitement!

We then did Bible.  Last year, we started off with Bible and I intended to do the same, but since NoNut wanted to do handwriting and reading first, I took advantage of it.  This year's Bible is different.  We are supplementing Sonlight's Bible with Positive Action.

Though Positive Action has a detailed teacher's guide that's more geared toward a classroom setting, I wasn't really sure how it would translate into our home setting.  It's not divided up by day but rather by week.  I penciled in each day but with the natural conversations we were having as we worked through Genesis 1:1-5, we ended up covering half the week and doing a couple extra activities.  Last year, we didn't do a lot of crafts or drawing, etc. so it was a novel concept to NoNut when I told him we were going to make a creation poster.  The whole idea of making a poster was lost on him so we are starting from scratch (lol, it's a learning experience)!

 

We were using Sonlight's Bible plan for family devos but NoNut loves Leading Little Ones to God so much that we might forgo the Instructor's Guide (which only does two lessons from Leading each week) and just do our own thing.  I really like Leading Little Ones to God because it's basic theology.  It also introduces a hymn with each lesson.  It's well-rounded, deep for a child's devotional, and asks follow up questions to gauge your child's understanding.  I had no clue how many of these questions my son was wondering about God until we read the first few chapters of Leading last week.

We did decide to keep Sonlight's Bible memory program (over Positive Action's) because we love the "Sing the Word" CD.  We try to make scripture memory lively to make Bible memory fun!  I still remember hand motions, tiny songs and voice inflections that my own mother did with me when I was a child...so it works (no matter how corny the hand motions or moves may be)! 

Then, we concluded our day with art.  We are rotating between a scissors skills book I picked up at a local bookstore and Barry Stebbing's I Can Do All Things (How Great Thou Art) program.  I broke down and bought the corresponding DVD to teach us how to do art and it took a load off my shoulders!

It was a great day filled with learning and fun...a great start to our new school year!  

So much for our first day plans...

We were starting our first week of school tomorrow at 9:15 a.m.  However, these colds we developed last week have turned into something more.  Mine went from strep to something else and morphed into bronchitis leaving me winded and drained.  Thankfully, my son's virus has not developed into pneumonia nor did his asthma flare up, but we had another rough night (the 7th in a row) and decided to turn our sickness into fun.  We pulled out the futon in the living room and had a "sickies only" camp out where my sleeping child tried pulling me under his head.  When he finally woke up, he looked at me surprised and confused saying, "Whoa! I thought you were a giant pillow pet!"  I can only imagine what fun he was having in his dreams to discover such a large pillow pet and the crushing disappointment to realize it was only a dream. 

Anyway, while it would be nice to start school tomorrow, I have such peace about letting our plans go!  Never dreamed I'd ever get to a point in my Type A, planner-doer life where I could let something as big as the first day of school go!  But seriously, there is no point to pushing our first day when neither of us feel like getting out of our pj's to smile for our annual first day photo or to make a special breakfast that no one is going to eat!  The thought of trying to jump into spelling words and making my child read (not his favorite) while I barely have the energy to watch a full TV show makes my head hurt.  And I must admit that the extra time to rest sounds like such a luxury! 

Sonlight Core B, Week 1

So, while I've got our dry-erase calendar all filled in with our first week's assignments, our "cheat sheets" laminated (number line, alphabet, graph paper, etc.), the brand-new folders labeled for each subject and freshly sharpened pencils ready to go for the morning, I'm thankful for the common sense, peace and flexibility to let it go another week (or even mid-week...we'll see how we're feeling)! 

Ahhhhh...the beauty of homeschooling! 

First Grade Jitters

We begin our journey into first grade on Monday!  My thoughts are a jumble as I look at our calendar and our curriculum and try to juggle the two.

As I stress over coordinating everything and leaving room for the unknown activities and last minute trips, I am reminded to take a breath--this is homeschooling!!  We don't have a set calendar nor way of doing things.  We can come and go without the confines of a school calendar.  And this year will look even more different than last year.  We've done this before and we can do it again!  We now have two years of homeschooling under our belts--one year of failure (preschool) that we really learned from and one year of success (kindergarten) that showed us that we really can do what God wants us to do so I need to leave it in His hands, not mine!  

I finally have the time (aka last-minute motivation) to sit down with my massively huge Instructor's Guide (have you ever seen a Sonlight Instructor's Guide??) and I'm overwhelmed and wondering how in the world we are going to fit everything in this year.  Then, what about adding in our art and physical education and swapping out Bible curriculum?  And how am I going to get my child to do all of this copywork and language arts when he hates to write?  How is my child going to learn these reading rules when it's like pulling teeth to get him to read (but he loves it when someone reads for him)? 

And then I begin to read the Instructor's Guide for our first History lesson and my worries fade away as God blesses me once again with answering those secret heart desires (Psalm 37:4-5) for cultivating a missional heart within my child.  "...Pray with your children for various peoples around the world.  Most weeks, we read about a specific people group, and several weeks we give an idea to stimulate your prayer times."  The Guide further goes into what missiologists do and the "THUMB" principle to help us remember the top five unreached people groups (Tribals, Hindus, Unreached/unchurched Chinese, Muslim, Buddhists).  The Usborne Peoples of the World book that had me riled up because they depicted life of other cultures in its accurate form (though viewed as complete nudity in my culture and the unclothed instantly became clothed thanks to my black sharpie) becomes a prayer guide as we explore other cultures and use it as a springboard to discover how God's Word is (or isn't) getting there, where His servants are and what we can do to reach everyone for Christ.  Missionary Stories with the Millers by M. A. Martin revisits some of the great missionaries we were introduced to last year in I Heard the Good News Today by C. Lehn.  And George Muller by J. Benge takes us to England where his prayers and faith translated into caring for orphans. 

This is the heartbeat of our family's homeschool as we lay aside some of the traditional textbooks and ways of doing school so we can learn from real men and women throughout history doing whatever God called them to do wherever He placed them.  Our history is rich with big and small people and moments that changed our world, our history and our future (take today, Independence Day, for example).  I want our family to be known as a family that serves God wherever He puts us.  I want my son to grow up as I did with the firm belief in Psalm 32:8, and that God can lead us down some pretty unbelievable paths to reach people we never even knew existed for His glory.  That is something you can't find in the traditional classroom and it leads me back to why we have chosen to homeschool.

So, while I still feel a bit overwhelmed with the technical stuff (reading, writing and arithmetic) and figuring out the best way to tackle it with my child, I find myself purely excited for the first time this summer to start first grade on Monday!

I'm thankful that God keeps bringing me back to the "why" behind homeschool.  Our motivations, reasons and convictions for choosing to homeschool refresh me and keep me committed to the task that God has placed before our family for this upcoming school year!