Homeschooling for His Glory

So, January is over. How did our first month of the year go? Here is a run-down of the top ranom 5 of the month: 1. The boys' had a long overdue haircut.. 2. Happy to have a portable e-reader now. Hopefully I will finally get through all these books in my kindle account. 3. We had a good first month of school. Our school subjects are going along just fine. Highlights: We started a new writing curriculum and are loving it: Writing & Rhetoric from Classical Academic Press.  For our read-aloud we finished Around the World in 80 Days and are now reading Pilgrim's Progress .  We've been enjoing our study of WWII. 4. Another session of volleyball started yesterday for the boys, and everyone is happy that they are getting some exercice. 5. We went to the Science Center yesterday as a last trip as we have decided to not renew the membership and may be try to go for the Royal Ontario Museum membership instead.

For this last day of the 5 days of  Homeschooling Essentials,  I want to look at these aspects that you may be able to function without, but really makes homeschooling harder when they are not present.. Sometimes circumstances prevent you from possessing these things but I still consider them essentials. Dad's involvement: If you are married and homeschooling I surely hope that your spouse is on board, because if he is not, this journey just became harder (If it has not already been). If he is on board, making sure he is involved in the homeschooling process is also a great help. Make sure you share the joys and difficulties, the challenges, the successes. If at all possible, have him be involved in some part of it. For us it means read-alouds and family Bible reading times, and in the summer, sports. Extra supplies: Mobile devices such as e-reader or able to have apps Staplers Loyalty cards to supply and bookstores for savings. Velcro and magnet stuff Timer Perm...

Day 4 of the Homeschooling Essentials is here and today we will be looking at the heart attitudes that are necessary for homeschooling to run reasonably well, and for the mama to stay sane. We need to: Exercise faith: This is obvious. If we believe that God has called us to this task we must trust in His grace to carry us through. The christian life is a life of faith and this applies to every aspects, school life included. I can tell you on those days when I want to give up, besides reminding myself of the conviction the Lord gave me, I turn to God in Faith to his promises of being with us through every steps of our life, and this includes this season of schooling the boys. Be Patient, or  know that you will be learning patience : Homeschooling is tiring. Kids try your patience in ways you could not imagine. You have to keep repeating yourself over and over. That is where patience comes in. You can't afford to lose patience with your kids because they are kids, and in...

Today is day 3 of the "Homeschooling Essentials" blog hop. It is time to look at a very important topic: the Curriculum. I know for a fact that the topic of curricula will come up in many of the different bloggers' post on the hop this week. If you are going to talk about the essentials of homeschooling you cannot avoid the topic of curriculum since you kind of need to have something to teach to your kid.  Homeschooling, after all, is home education . Now the question is how to approach this particular topic. The way I see it, the topic of curriculum can be dealt with in several ways. But for me I will focus on what I believe are the things that need to be considered when thinking about curricula. 1) Your goal As I mentionned on Monda,y Homeschooling is a long-term project. You are forming, educating and preparing your children for their lives as adults. So, some of  the questions to have in mind are: What do I want my children to know? What do I want my c...

Now that we know and are convinced that this homeschooling thing is the route for our family, we turn towards the second set of basics: The supplies: Books  - no need to say more here - this is the homeschooler's best friend. You cannot called yourself a homeschooler if you are not a lover and hoarder of books (did I just say that?). Printer/copier - My number two friend Computer - for typing, research, Cds, DVDS etc... Internet: The internet is your friends for finding lots of resources free and for a fee. It can be an enemy too if we suffer with self-control issues. 3-hole puncher  ,  Tape,  Pens, pencils, crayons, markers. These are like obvious but you do need them. Trust me sometimes I find myself scrambling to find them in the house. Boards - dry erase, or any kind that suits you. Paint, brushes and any artsy things Games Blocks of some kinds Binders and files (for all these printed papers) Bookshelves , unless you want ...

We are at week 3 of the Virtual Curriculum fair hosted @ Homeschooling Heart and Minds . This week we are tackling Social Studies. I am still using Tapestry of Grace as our main Social Studies curriculum. Have I mentioned before how I love Tapestry? I think I have. So I am not going to repeat myself yet again, but instead refer you to my different posts describing and telling you why I love it. So here we go: Virtual Curriculum 2013: Learning About our World Virtual Curriculum 2012: Social Studies and Science - What Do We Do ? 5 Days of Curriculum Evaluation: Tapestry of Grace Top Ten Reasons Why We Love Tapestry Now, my oldest loves History so he has no problem (and actually loves) following along our path on Tapestry. My youngest, on the other hand, is not a history fan, so he does not follow along as well. So, with that in mind, I do not make him do all of the assignments TOG requires. I only give him some of the  history readings as I see fit. I also give him ...

This week 89 bloggers from the Schoolhouse Review Crew are sharing about what they consider to be "Homeschooling Essentials". As I was thinking on the theme, I realize that I cannot but start at the beginning. What is essential when one starts to homeschool or even considers homeschooling? I came up with one word: Conviction. The basic essential of homeschooling is a strong conviction that this is what God calls you to do. Trust me the road is going to be tough. Discouragement, frustrations, feeling of inadequacy, all of it will flood your mind at some point on the journey. Homeschooling demands perseverance, and perseverance is fueled by commitment and faith that the One who called you to the task will give you grace to achieve it and complete it. Before getting to that conviction though, one needs to have a good understanding of what homescholing is and what it entails. Homeschooling is not for everyone. Homeschooling is not the only way of educating our kids. Th...

My new edition of web finds: What to teach Before You Begin Teaching How Kinesthetic Learners learn Their Bible Time Discovering Pattern: How to Teach Math, Logic and Science Logic: Original Thinking Skill I Signed up for this  A few great free sites I found this week: Math Charts Duolingo :  For French study. XtraMath Ology: Science videos Have Fun with History: History Videos Have a good week-end!

On week 2 of the Virtual Curriculum Fair hosted by Susan @ Homeschooling Heart & Minds , we are looking at the World of Patterns and Logic. What do I include in this category? Math (anything that has to do with numbers), Critical Thinking, and Science. When it comes to logic, as a classical homechooler, this is a very important aspect of our homeschooling and education. We desire for our kids to be thinker, and good, agile, sound, biblical critical thinkers. In light of that, here is what we are doing: This year I actually have the boys work through  logic workbooks. Joho loves the Perplexors series .  He has completed levels A, B and C.  He is also working through   Critical and Creative Thinking Activities.   Zach is working his way through Orbiting With Logic .   We spend a lot of time playing strategy and thinking games such as Risk, Settlers of Catan, Chess and the like. There are also a lot of other games that r...

This is the second Friday of the year and the first of our 2014 school term. It went well. Here are my 5 random facts for the week: 1. We started school back and most of the subjects got done: Handwriting, Spelling, Math, Science, History, Geography, Reading, poetry, Bible, Logic, Kid Coder, Latin and French. 2. We had dinner at the Cheesecake Factory in honor of my coming birthday on Monday, which my hubby won't be here to celebrate with me. We also stopped to watch the frozen Niagara Falls on both the American and Canadian side. 3.The boys have been on a technology fast this week: 20 min/day ( TV, tablet games, wii etc...). They chose to play Wii for those 20 min. Joho is calling it a drought. I got yo admit they are doing quite well without it. 4. I ordered a new writing curriculum which I am looking forward to getting in a couple of week and starting with Zach: Writing & Rhetoric. I found a good review of it @ The Planted Trees. 5. My latest cooking creatio...

January has rolled in and it is time for the annual Virtual Curriculum Fair hosted by Susan over @ Homeschooling Heart and Mind . As usual our first stop is the World of Words. What are we doing this year in the area of spelling, writing, handwriting, reading, grammar and literature? On the Grammar fron,t in the past couple of year,s I have used Michael Clay Thompson Material s, and have loved it. However, for this year, I decided that I did no want to spend the money on it and wait for next year, when I am looking forward to start my then 6th grader, with Analytical Grammar . I can't say much about it since I have not used it, but have been very much convinced that this is what I want to use moving forward with him. So, for this year, we are not doing much Grammar. I was blessed last year to receive a yearly membership of IXL through the TOS Crew and I have been using the Grammar portion with both boys. It covers a wide range of grammar - part of speech, part of sentenc...

Sovereign  (by Christ Tomlin) Sovereign in the mountain air Sovereign on the ocean floor With me in the calm With me in the storm Sovereign in my greatest joy Sovereign in my deepest cry With me in the dark With me at the dawn Chorus: In your everlasting arms All the pieces of my life From beginning to the end I can trust you In your never failing love You work everything for good God whatever comes my way I will trust you Bridge: All my hopes All I need Held in your hands All my life All of me Held in your hands All my fears All my dreams Held in your hands

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL So the new year has started. 2014 is here and life goes on. What do I wish for this year? Of course better things. What kind of better things? One thing I have come to realize is what a dear friend once told me: "The biggest room in the whole world is called Improvement." Indeed we always have so much to learn. I know I have failed in the past and I want to do better in all areas of life this year. The starting point though for everything is our dedication to love, know and serve our God. So for this year, yet again I need to start at the start. The issue though is how do I keep on doing what I need to be doing? I think the issue lie in a matter of values . What we value guide our action. No matter what we say, if we act a certain way it is because that is what is important to us and it shows and reveal what our values our. So, what should my values be?: My growth in love and knowledge of the Lord The nurture of my relationship with my husba...