Homeschooling for His Glory

For a little while we have been trying to have our boys help at home and be more involved in the household tasks (more commonly called chores). I have tried using charts and the likes but for some reason these never worked. So, on my mission to working on dilligence with our boys, we have instilled a few tasks that they have to do. They are: putting away their toys and setting up the table. They usually put away the toys together, and they set the table (one in the morning and the other one for dinner) on alternating weeks. More recently, due to an interest in washing dishes (probably caused by a love of water), I have given them the task of clearing the table and washing the dishes. I purchased some plastic plates and bowls and now they wash and put awayin the dishwasher (we have a countertop one), alternating morning and evening. It's been working so far. I do not use charts anymore, since it does not seem to motivate them. What i do instead is do a lot of talking about being dil

A week ago, Zach had his group violin recital. In the Suziki school, they encourage the children to be part of a group along with their private lesson, so as to encourage playing within a group and, also, to be encouraged while seeing others learning the instrument. I have thoroughly enjoyed the group classes. At the end of the year they have a recital for all the levels. Here are pics of Zach's class. One with his teacher And the brother who fell asleep toward the end of the one hour recital. Have a great day, Joelle

We had a great time on our visit to some friends of ours in Kalamazoo MI. Our 7 hours drive went well, with some sparse "Are we there yet?" and "This is taking a long time". But we made it there and back. Here are some pics. Have a great day, Joelle

We are on a road trip so I won't be posting for a few days. Till next time. Have a great day, Joelle

My boys and I have been enjoying reading these classics as read-aloud or even independent reading. They are great funny and interesting short stories. By Arnold Lobel: Mouse Soup Mouse Tales Owl at Home (my personal favorite) Frog and Toad are Friends Frog and Toad Together Frog and Toad all Year Caps for Sale by Esphyr Slobodkima George and Martha by James Marshall and Jillian Jiggs by Phoebe Jillman are also good favorites. My boys old time favorites are still Curious Georges stories by Margaret and H.A. Rey for Joho, and Thomas The Tank Engines Stories (Classic) by  Rev. W. Awdry for Zach. Have a great day, Joelle

I have been in the organizing and scheduling mode this week, and I am really trying to take advantage of that. I am working on scheduling our homeschool for the coming school year, as well as working on my household binder, which I had started working on a few months ago. I thought I would share what I have accomplished so far and update as I go. First, our curriculum for Zach's Grade 1  school year: Bible: We will be continuing our breakfast time Bible reading from the One Year Bible for Children, as well as our devotion time before bed from T he Big Book of Questions and Answers . I also want to implement more Bible memory but I have not decided on how yet. Math: We are switching to Singapore Math Primary Mathematics workbook and textbook. I have been doing a lot of research on teaching math, since Zach is not into math at all. The results of my research has led me to understand that he is a visual leaner with no perceivable dominance between his right and left brain. (I am w

Zach's been enjoying this newly discovered video tape series  My First . They a set of tapes with colorful easy to follow guide for fun activities using stuff you have at home. They are great to introducing and exposing young ones to topics and  concepts. He started with the My First Activities Video ones and, as always, had been doing crafts projects. These days he has been enjoying the My First Science Video. Here are the pics of what we did. The set up: 3 kinds of liquids, oil, syrup, and colored water one, and yesterday we did one of the experiments. He had lots of fun, and wanted to keep doing experiments. We are supposed to do another one today. Observation What's happening? The syrup stays at the bottom; the water sits in between the oil and the syrup. Let's drop some stuff in and see what happens. And here is what we learned (in my son's words): Some liquids are heavier than others. The thick and heavy sinks to the bottom. Water is not as heavy as syrup but

As a new homeschooler I am always searching for new information and new tools for our homeschooling. Here are a few sites that I recently found: For the homeschool: Dianne Craft  has helpful articles and lesson plans for the struggling learner. A site with Bible Lesson Plans for children. A site full of helpful free printables that can be used for teaching. This site is a collection of links to free printables for the homeschool. Patty, over at Shiver Academy has great downloads for the home and the homeschool. A great notebooking site with lots of resources for notebooking. Make sure to check the free resources page I just discovered Valerie's, whom I know from Lapbook Lessons , new site The Crafty Classrom  which contains lots of crafts ideas and other resources for homeschooling. Do not forget to check her other sites: Christian Preschool Printables , File Folder Fun , Preschool Post, For homemaking: Christianhomekeeper.org   is full of articles for the homemaking mom. Graha

I am having a real hard time starting this post, but I am just going to plunge in and say that I have made some important decisions. I have been guilty of not spending enough time in the Word, and the main reason why being that I start my day too late. It is way too difficult to find a minute in the day for a quiet time with the Lord with two noisy boys in the house who are still rather clingy, even if they do play well together. Last night at church, I was reminded, once again, from a study of the book of Hosea, of the ugliness and awfulness of the sin of spiritual adultery. Praise God that His love is never ending and faithful, that He is always calling us back to Him. I was reminded of how God requires of us an intimate, personal and exclusive relationship with Him. Our relationship with God is pictured as the relationship between a wife and her husband and an important aspect of this relationship is that absolute and undivided devotion and loyalty is expected and required of us. Wh

A Few days ago I wrote a post on a webminar (seminar through internet) that Lampstand Post is hosting, all for free. Well, I wanted to post again about it because I would love to encourage everyone who can to attend. I was able to listen in the workshop on Teaching with Tapestry of Grace , and it was great. While listening, I was so impressed with the new technology of being able to be at a conference right from the comfort of my computer chair. It was really nice. You are able to watch the slides while Marcia Somerville is speaking, and, you can even ask questions if you want to. The workshop was vey enlighting and, as one who was already leaning toward TOG, I am definitely sold now. It is not too late to join. The workshops are repeated throughout the month of June. For a full schedule click here (click in the tabs). Today is a workshop on Teaching Devotional Techniques to our Kids: A Toolbook Approach . Other subjects are: Writting, Intro to The Digital Version of TOG, The Nearness

Yesterday, we went on a field trip to our very own (Toronto) nature center: the Humber Arboretum. I actually organized it for our co-op. We had a great time studying trees and animal tracks and signs. We did a lot of walking through the woods and meadow but it was great. Have a great day, Joelle

Why is parenting so difficult? This is the question that often looms over my head. Yet, I know exactly why. Parenting is difficult because we are trying to reach the heart of our children. How many of us resisted the call of God  before God broke through, and changed our heart from a heart of stone to a heart of flesh, opening our eyes to the truth of His Word? Well, our children's hearts are hearts of stone, and our task as parents is to lead them to Christ, and pray that God will change them, just as He did with us. So, do we sit and wait for God to do His miraculous work in our children? Of course not. We are told " Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it ." We are to train our children in God's ways . We are to impress His Word upon them. We are to teach, correct, convict, discipline, and train so that they know right from wrong, so that their conscience may be attuned to what is right. God uses His Word to bri

My 3.5 is potty trained! A few months ago he did not want to hear anything about it and here we are. I am so pleased and happy. It took him 2 days.To reward him for his efforts and success, we promised him a lego. He chose a fire truck. Here we are enjoying the new toy. Mom having just as much fun: And for the finish product Have a great day, Joelle

Last Saturday I took the kids to a fun fair event that was taking place a few blocks down from our apartement. Surprisingly enough, they were not interested in the different acivities going on. All they wanted was to play at the playground that was there. So that's what we did. I did not mind, it saved me a few dollars.     We got to see some police horses up close and personnal. That was cool:   Have a great day, Joelle

I had not posted this before, but this is a very interesting and affordable seminar: It's free. Lampstand Press is holding a virtual conference. This includes free workshops, samples and special discounts. The workshops will cover Writing instruction: Today and on the 15th Introduction to Tapestry of Grace : Tomorrow the 12th Teaching with TOG: Thursday the 11th Devotional life with our kids: Saturday the 13th and the 20th Encouragements for homeschool moms: Wednesday the 3rd Check it all out here and sign up.  It started today but you can still join. This promises to be great and best of all it is free of charge. Have a great day, Joelle

In a previous post I have mentioned the importance of surrounding our kids with prints and books in an effort to early on stirring up readers. Well here is what I am talking about. In the living room: In the living room   The kids' bedroom In the master bedroom: I have been in the habit of putting lots of stuff on the walls of our apartment as well. Have a great day, Joelle

Isn't this a lovely sight? My kids do not like to sleep so they are allowed to read books before going to sleep (that's after being read 2-4 books and devotion). Have a great day, Joelle

Isn't that a happy house or what?? I have read somewhere that  noisy children and a mess to clean up are signs of happy children. Here it is! And the lastest project: A miniature house Have a great day, Joelle

My boys are visual learners and independent learners as well. They both can read quiet well, so I am always looking for ways for them to learn on their own. Here are some series that I have found very helpful: Videos and DVD: Works: They have titles like;: Looking Good, On the move, Fabulous Food and show you how things work or are made. Amazing Heroes   All about community workers, firefighters, policemen, rescue workers etc... Totally Truck   All about trucks and their work. Tittle includes Fire Monsters, Garbage Monsters, Recycle Monsters. Mighty Machine   Another one all about trucks. Magic School Bus Zimmo on boats, planes and trains My First Video : Science, Nature, Cooking and Activities (crafts) Books Let's Explore Science Let's Read and Find out Science Know it All Reader Explore and Learn ( Set of 6 books)  Titles are Atlas of the World, Me and my Body, People in Place and Time, The Nature World, Science and Technology, Earth and Space Ruth Heller's Books Magic S

Who ever said that TV was not educational? Here is a conversation that took place 2 days ago at the dinning table. "Mom, what does amphibious mean?" I could not quite understand what word he was asking me about. So Zach and Joho continued and said: "It  means it goes on land and water. So then my husband goes, "Amphibious!". "Yeah!" go the kids. Then we go on and explain what it meant. So then I asked :"where did you hear that word?" "Bob the builder," they answered. I have mentioned before that they have been into Bob the Builder and construction. My living room is actually a construction site (fortunately made up of blocks and not real dirt and all). I am rather glad that their vocabulary is being expanded in the process (this is not the first word that they have asked about). Have a great day, Joelle

Recently I came across 2 new sites for curriculum reviews. As a beginning homeschooler I am always looking for reviews on curricula, especially done by seasoned homeschoolers.  I have found these two blogs to be helpful. The curriculum Choice is a site made up by a group of homeschool moms who are sharing about homeschool philosophies, curriculum and lots of helpful articles on homeschooling. Definitely worth checking out. Another one is The Homeschool Classroom. This is also a blog put together by a team of homeschool moms sharing tips, curricula reviews and lots more for the homeschool journey.   I should also add this lovely online community Our Llifestyle of Learning , where you can ask questions about curriculums and lots of other subjects. I really love stopping  there. Have a great day, Joelle