Homeschooling for His Glory

The letter for the week is H and I have picked the word HEART. I chose this word because I believe that our main task as mothers and especially homeschoolers is to teach our kid's heart. Of course we want to give our children  a good education (I almost picked that one for last week's letter G), but that is not the ultimate goal of the education I want to give our kids. One of the blessings of having our kids at Home (another H word) with us is that amazing opportunity to minister to their hearts, all day long. If they were in school the primary influence on their hearts would be school,peers, teachers etc.., and that  because these would be where they would be most of the day. When they are here with me I can take every opportunity that arises to point them to Christ and minister to their heart, to their need of a saviour and to a higher goal and Hope (another H word). I want my boys to have a great education but not at the cost of losing what is most important: living for Ch...

The Wonderful Cross When I survey the wondrous cross On which the Prince of Glory died My richest gain I count but loss And pour contempt on all my pride See from his head, his hands, his feet Sorrow and love flow mingled down Did ever such love and sorrow meet Or thorns compose so rich a crown O the wonderful cross, O the wonderful cross Bids me come and die and find that I may truly live O the wonderful cross, O the wonderful cross All who gather here by grace draw near and bless Your name Were the whole realm of nature mine That were an offering far too small Love so amazing, so divine Demands my soul, my life, my all [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_sKcw9_PQYA[/youtube]

In my life this week… I missed last week entry so this is going to be a 2-weeks review. I have been listening to audios from The Ultimate Schoolhouse Expo and they have been a tremendous blessing and source of encouragement. I can't tell you enough about the selection of speakers and the words of wisdom that are flowing from their lips. I have been challenged to trust more in God, to have a vision, to trust in God's providence and sovereignty in the lives of my children and to think of homeschooling as more that the books and the now. In our homeschool this week… In the past two weeks we have been busy keeping up with our History studies as we will only be finishing unit 3 of TOG next week. We have been studying classical Greece, which the boys are really enjoying. They have been having fun acting out the Persian wars as well as the Peloponnasian Wars, Drama, Ancient Greek style, and of course the regular archeological trips to the different historical places all within our ...

I do not know about most of you but every so often I hear my boys say : "I do not know what to do?" or "I'm bored". In the past I have seen the idea of putting up a list of things the kids can go to when these times arise. I finally came around to draw up one that does not involve tv shows or computer: Read books Listen to an audiobook Play with lego Play with blocks Play with construction toys play card games Play board games Play Battleship Play Chess Bake with mommy Act out a story Play soldiers Play Bears Alive (that's a show they created with their stuff animals) Play bowling Play fort Play pirates Play with their train set Draw something Do a craft Make up a story and videotape yourself Practice your violin Listen to some French Watch an educational video Do a puzzle Make up a game Do a science experiment Read your bible Play with action figures Play Wii Play catch with your brother Paint ...

I love homeschooling, I really do. I love that I can teach each of my boys according to their levels of maturity, their learning style and that i can be with them all day long and answer all these  questions  and challenges they face day after day. I love that I can point them to Christ at every opportunities that arises. Yes there is a however coming . . . However, all of this is really hard, well worth work, but hard work nonetheless. How am I to accomplish all of this faithfully? I previously use the word disciple as a word for the letter D. How am I going to be a good influencing example to my boys, when I myself need so much improvement? That is where the word for this week comes in:  I need GRACE and God promised to give us GRACE for every moments of every day. I need grace to trust God to help me with every challenges that arise. I need grace to keep a meek and gentle spirit when they disobey, or misbehave, or spill something, or do not get a concept that I thought was mastered...

My word this week is Faithful or Faithfulness. I chose faithfulness because, I think that parenting and homeschooling are no easy tasks, but we have to keep at it. We have to remain faithful to our calling as mothers. We may fail at time and not do everything we wish or aspire to do, but even though God demands our all and and demands for us to do all things well, God requires mostly of us is faithfulness. We were entrusted our children to take care of, to bring up and to train in righteousness, we must remain faithful to the task. No matter our difficult it is sometimes, no matter how discouraged we get sometimes, no matter the circumstances, this is our job and this is our joy. The Lord is pleased when we persevere and do our best faithfully day after day. I know the Lord wants me to home educate the boys and I have to stay faithful. Homeschooling is certainly a calling, not just a personal choice or preference., and because of that we can't just give up. We need to keep the bi...

In my life this week… This week I have been enjoying listening to the audios from T he Ultimate Homeschool Expo and being refreshed and encouraged by the great topics being presented. I have also been enjoying Sarah Mae's  Book 31 Days to Clean . I have been behind on the challenges but I am still doing them at my own pace. In our homeschool this week… For the past 2 weeks school has been going well. We are moving along in our TOG studies, and excited to get back to Greece next week. We enjoyed a game from STW on Mesopotamia (found in the activity book), which served as a nice review of the history of ancient Mesopotamia. The boys rejoicing over conquering Mesopotamia In math I have started implemented the new Math On the Level Curriculum and I am liking it so far. I am able to teach both boys at the same time and focus on topics better. This week we covered fractions and the boys enjoyed it. In Science the boys have been enjoying watching some videos on Physics and doing lots of ...

My word this week is Energy . Why? Because I have boys and they've got plenty of it. Any mom that has boys, will tell you that having boys is like having a ball of energy on your hands. I have been told times and times again that, when homeschooling boys, one needs to find ways of burning their energy or it will be very difficult to get things accomplished. Unfortunately, I do not always follow that advice and I find myself saying all day long "calm down", "stop jumping", "stop climbing over that", Can you please sit" and the likes. As spring is going along, and the sun becomes more of a constant around here, I have started taking the boys out, and it has shown itself  to be a beneficial enterprise. Everyone is happier. Friends have told me, when doing school subjects, like Math for example, to have the boys recite their tables doing jumping jacks or to have them act out history events. The idea is to find ways to channel the energy by studying th...

At The Cross By Hillsong Oh Lord You've searched me You know my way Even when I fail You I know You love me Your holy presence Surrounding me In every season I know You love me I know You love me At the cross I bow my knee Where Your blood was she'd for me There's no greater love than this You have overcome the grave Your glory fills the highest place What can separate me now You go before me You shield my way Your hand upholds me I know You love me You tore the veil You made a way When You said that it is done And when the earth fades Falls from my eyes And You stand before me I know You love me I know You love me [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=994VRkTu4cc&feature=related[/youtube]

Usually on Tuesday morning I often am not sure what letter I am going to pick for the homeschooling letter of that week.  This week is different. A few words have popped up in my mind since last week. The main ones are Discipline, Diligence and Disciple, none of which I really wanted to write about because these are things that I struggle with and have been working on ( I suppose that's why they are so strongly on my mind). I believe each one of these words are crucial for an effective, especially christian, homeschool experience, but boy, I find these words so hard  words to practice. I am so convinced that our kids learn from us and the  most powerful tool a parent, and especially a homeschooling parent has, is his own example - thus Discipleling . We have to exemplify what we teach. The old adage says: "Actions speaks louder than words ," and that says it all. I am also convinced that in life one must learn to be disciplined, that is behave in a certain way that obeys ...