Homeschooling for His Glory

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 ...

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...