Homeschooling for His Glory

I did not have a post today, but the bloggers participating in this blog hops have wonderful topics covered so make sure to hop on over and visit their blogs over the week-end. Grab your coffee and happy reading. Here are a few to get you started: Jeniffer @ Thou Shall Not Whine Jennifer @ A Peace of Mind Jennifer @ Faithful Homestead Joesette @ Learning Curve Kari @ Random Acts of Boyhood Katie @ Katie's Daily Life Kemi @ Homemaking Organized Kim @ Homestead Acres Kylie @ Our Worldwide Classroom In this series on the blog: Homeschooling Tips Housekeeping Tips Budget Tips Family Fun Tips

With the prevalence of technology in our everyday lives, it is really hard to keep technology out of school. Why would we anyway? Technology offers us so many more options to help teach our kids. So, today I am joining the crew blog in sharing with you the top 6 apps my boys love to use, and they do almost on a daily basis. Reading with Overdrive : we live on a one income budget and we can't buy all the books we would want to have around the house. I am so thankful for the library system. One way we make use of it is by using their overdrive app where you can borrow books and audiobooks online, and enjoy them for 3 weeks. The boys listen to an audiobook on overdrive every single night. French with Duolingo : my boys need to learn French and it has been a struggle to find something that they enjoy. Here comes Duolingo, both the boys use this app daily for their French. Social Studies with Brain Pop : this app gives you access to the free video that the wonderful ...

It is 2016 and a new year has started. A year of new beginnings and new resolutions. Among these new resolutions is reading more books. So for this second post of the year I will share with you my list of must read for this year. I will aim at 2 books/month. Homeschooling and housewife related: January : Love the Journey (finish) - Marcia Sommerville February:  Age of Opportunity (finish) - Paul Tripp March:  Simply Homeschool  - Karen Debeus April: When a Woman Inspires her Husband -  Cindi McMenamin May: Marriage Matters - Winston Smith June:  Homeschooling at the speed of Life  July-August: How to Homeschool 9th and 10th - Lee Binz September: Choosing Gratitude - Nancy Leigh DeMoss Christian living and theology related: January - February: Awe - Paul Tripp March - April : Ordinary - Michael Horton May - June: Fool's Talk - Os Guiness July-August: Counter Culture - David Platt Sept...

I am back on day five of the Back to Homeschool Blog Hop. Today I will take a look at planning your daily routine. So once you have a general idea of what your year will look like (in broad strokes) from our post on Wednesday about Planning Your Homeschool Year , you can then turn to planning a daily routine to get through your weekly workload. First step is to figure out how many times a week you will do every subjects you have planned. For example this what our week looks like when it comes to the distribution of subjects throughout the week: One we get that figured out, we distribute the work load for each subject throughout the week. Using a form like this one comes in very handy for that work. Next, we come to our daily routine. I am not a early riser, so school does not start early here. The earliest would be 10:00am. My kids are quite independent now though, and often start their easy subjects without me. For my oldest (11 1/2) that would be one or more of...

Welcome to day three of the Back to Homeschool Blog Hop. Today we are looking at planning the school year. If you have followed my blog for any period of time, you would have known that I am not a big planner. But over the years, I have grown to love planning and see the benefits of it. So how do I go about it? I gather my planning sheets. I am a planner hoarder. You should see my homeschool file on my computer, I have dozens of printable planners. The funny thing is that I always end up making up my own. I prefer planners that allow me to plan all my subjects weekly. This year I created one that I really like. All of the other ones I like usually did not allow for me to see all of the subjects at once. With this form I have all my subjects all at once for any given weeks. Unfortunately I had to use two sheets. I would prefer to have them one next to each other but decided to work with it and put them one under each other. Under each week I mark the week number and...

It is Back to homeschool time in a lot of homeschooling families' home, and ours is no different. So, I am joining the Schoolhouse Review Crew and the Homeschool Blogging Connection in a week long blog hop on the topic of back to homeschool. Today I would like to talk about setting goals for the school year. Why setting up goals? They help you keep on track, and they help you measure your progress as the year advances. We are entering our 9th year of homeschooling and I can tell you it does not get easier. With each year comes its own challenges. That is why having clear goals become more and more important. In the younger years, you know you have many years ahead of you to get to where you wish to get. As the years move on that window shrinks, and focus becomes of major importance. My boys are entering 5th and 7th grade respectively, and I am starting to narrow down their strengths and weaknesses, and their academic future paths. Whereas in the younger years, the focu...

With the Back to School season upon us, it is time to give thought  and share what our school year will look like and/or how we prepare for a new school year. Mark your calendars - August 10 to 14  - it's time for this year's Back to Homeschool Blog Hop . The Schoolhouse Review Crew will be joining forces with Homeschool Connections to bring you a week full of back to school encouragement. Here at Homeschooling for His Glory, I will be sharing about: Setting Goals for the Homeschool Year Beginning of School Year Traditions Planning your School Year Planning Your Daily Routine So come back on Monday and do not miss a post!    We will have 56 homeschool Moms sharing their combined wisdom and insights covering everything Homeschool related. That's 280 posts of encouragement and information just for you! Meet Your Back to Homeschool Blog Hop Hosts Marcy @ Ben and Me Debra @ Footprints in the Butter Chareen @ Every Bed of Roses Amy @ Home...

It is Thrusday and time for the Hearts for Home Blog Hop. Come join us ! <div align="center"><a href="http://www.marriagemotherhoodandmissions.com/hearts-for-home-blog-hop-hosts/" title="Hearts for Home Blog Hop" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.marriagemotherhoodandmissions.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/CoHostH4HButton300x300.jpg" alt="Hearts for Home Blog Hop" style="border:none;" /></a></div>   The Hearts for Home Blog Hop features encouraging and inspiring posts on home, marriage, parenting, tips and tricks for homeschooling, cooking, crafts, DIY projects, and anything home related. This is your one stop for sharing your family friendly posts and for finding these resourceful blog posts you are looking for. This week's most clicked through post is from Embracing Destiny: The Ultimate Guide for Free lapbooks for Every Subjects . My personal favorites from las...

This is it, the last day of the Real Life Homeschool blog hop week. I hope you have had a chance to read the different blogs posts on the topic, and gleaned some insights into some real life homeschools. Today let me tell you about how real life homeschooling works out for us when it comes to keeping the house clean and in order. I just have 4 words: It does not always. We live in an apartment and space is limited. School is done on the floor, on the sofa, on the bed, at the dinning table, and at the computer desk. What this does is that there is school work all over the house. At the end of the day I try to have both boys pick up everything and put it where it belongs, but it does not always happen. On a typical day, if you pop in my house in the middle of the day, the dinner table is a mess, the living room is a mess and the bedrooms are always a mess. I have a few mottos I try to apply to help me keep the house in some decent order and cleanliness: Motto #1:  "ever...

As part of the real life homeschool blog hop, I would like to share with you our schedule and how it gets, or does not always get followed.  Monday : Online Math, Life of Fred, Grammar, Writing, Copywork, Science, History, Spelling, French, Bible, Reading and read aloud Tuesday: Same as Monday except for spelling and read aloud. The science is lighter. In the afternoon Johann has piano lessons. Wednesday: Same as Tuesday. In the afternoon Zach has violin lessons. Thursday: we do not school on Thursdays because it is dad's day off ( he is a pastor). Coincidentally it is our co-op day which happens 7 weeks straight in the winter and in the spring. It goes from 12:30 to 3:30 and we do have to drive a good 30 minutes without traffic to get there, to over 1 hour in traffic time. In the winter we also have 7 weeks of volleyball on that day. Friday: Online Math, Life of Fred, Copywork, science, History, Spelling, French, Bible, Art/Poetry, Reading and re...

Yesterday, as part of this week long blog hop on Real Life Homeschool,  I shared about my 4th grader school day. Today we will look at my 6th grader school day. My oldest son is a typical first born, very autodidact, dreamer, lazy tendencies, and very laid back. I find it harder to homechool him, but over the 8 years we have been at it, there has been progress, though there is still a long road ahead. The difficulty arises in that he tends to get very distracted and needs to be held accountable. When he wakes up in the morning, he likes to do his own thing, which consists of whatever is on his mind at the moment, writing a book, creating some Lego game or board games, playing imaginary battles, you name it. After breakfast, as of recently he has taken to spending a good time in the shower. Then he tries to start his school. Most days he gets about 2-3 subjects done, then gets distracted again in doing something else, like playing with his swords, or writing or building...

Many always wonder what it is like to homeschool and what a typical day is like for a homeschooler. Well this week I am joining over 50 other bloggers to share with you what our days really look like. I have 2 boys, grade 4 and grade 6. Today I will share a day with my 4th grade,r and tomorrow a day with my 6th grader. Let me preambule this with a few things to know about my 4th grader: He is very routine oriented He is by the book He is driven He likes to achieve and be done He likes to have time to do what he wants to do and therefore tends to plan out his day. He loves to eat He moves a lot I am not a morning person so my kids are usually up before me. Don't throw the tomatoes at me!! Sometimes, my 4th grader will get started wit his school before breakfast, depending on his mood and how much work he has to do. After breakfast, which is usually anytime between 8:30-9:30 am, he gets groomed and gets to work. Most days though he stays in his pajamas - he loves...

On our last post in this series, it is now time to put things together. How can I talk about a relaxed classical homeschooling style? The way I see it, classical and relaxed can work quite well together. Classical homeschooling focusses on what needs to be achieved and sought for. It is about goals, that of teaching my kids truths, values, beauty, goodness. Relaxed homeschooling addresses the way or atmosphere in which education is pursued and done. As much as I hold to a classical philosophy of education, I do not think that it has to necessarily be done in a very rigid way. The way I make sure that my kids are classically homeschooled is in the kind of material or curriculum we use. I am very eclectic in our curriculum choices, but I usually tend to choose material that emphasizes the areas I mentioned on day 3 of this series. Materials that focus on: Language Arts skills Critical thinking and logic Good books of literature History and humanities Even as I make sur...

Now that we have explored Classical Education, it is time to turn to the notion of relaxed  homeschooling. What is relaxed homeschooling and what do I understand by it? Relaxed homescholing can be understood as a way of life and a mindset toward education which really is what homeschooling is all about. In practice a relaxed homeschooling focuses on an atmosphere of learning. Education and learning does not have to be fun but it does have to take place in the context of everyday living. That is one of the reason why we homeschool. The intention is not so much to do "school at home", as much as to "home educate". There is a difference. The difference lies in the structure and form of doing school. Relaxed homeschooling is not equivalent to unschooling. In relaxed homeschooling there is structure, goals and plans. The way this is followed through is where things get different and creative. In a relaxed setting, more than the goals, philosophy, methodolog...

" Christian education has become something of a lost science. Not only have Christians done very little to prepare their children to become godly intellects, but intellectual incompetence has been seen as the true helpmate of vital spirituality. A soft mind has been seen as a vital tool in the pursuit of a soft heart. In our day, mental rigor and a vigorous intellectual pursuit have became equated with doctrinal rigidity and cold spirituality . " (Fritz Hinrichs) This quote is reflective of the reason why we have opted for a classical education in our homeschool. We do not desire, nor aspire to raise kids who do not have a mental rigor and are intellectually incompetent. We have lost our way through the ages as to what we as christian should be doing. We have turned our christianity into a set of rules, into moralism, instead of the proclamation of the kingdom of God, and of a reigning king that rules and owns all things. " Until a hundred years ago, Christians...

So what is Classical Education? This question can be a challenge to answer. Classical education can be understood as a method, a school of thought or as a philosophy. Really it is all of the above.Classical education has a history, into which I will not enter in here, but at its essence classical education is a philosophy or a model of education as I mentioned in my post yesterday. Classical education gets its roots from a medieval model of education. It centers around a goal, and a pedagogy to accomplish and attain that goal. This goal can be defined in two ways: to teach children how to think and learn for themselves by giving them the tools of learning and foundations for interpretations. In this light Christian classical education wants to " produce students who have a solid intellectual understanding of the Truth, have passionate hearts to the Truth and have the ability to express this understanding and love to a needy world ." (Biola University Article)....