Homeschooling for His Glory

As I mentioned in my planning post last year , I am not a planning person. However, every year that I homeschool I come to value the benefits of planning more and more. Some of these are: You know where you are going You know what needs to be accomplished You stay on track You can look back and see what you have done It prevents you from being frantic all week or on a daily basis, i.e, minimizes chaos It helps you keep the kids focussed So how do I go about my planning? Every year looks a bit different, because I am on  a learning curve and because my curriculum are always changing year by year. On top of that is the added fact that the kids grow in their abilities, that is in the amount of work they can handle and how much independent work they can do. That said, most of the basics stay the same. I work on: A yearly calendar A weekly schedule A tentative daily schedule or routine What changes really is how these are set up each year. When you think about it, the f

In the past couple of weeks I have come across a few encouraging, challenging and interesting reads. Here is my selection for you this week: 6 Homeschooling Misconception Erased: " The next morning every reason I had to avoid homeschooling stared me in the face. So did my kids. They were eager to learn on their own terms." What Makes a Gifted Child : " Being gifted means a student has     that enable them to think on their own without help. Many people have good memory, the ability to interpret ideas and data, are creative, are practical, and interested in many things, but this does not make them gifted alone." Saying No to Social Media For Our kids : "Our children need our protection, wisdom and discipline.   I think a lot of parents cave into social media for their kids because "everyone else is doing it". And let's face it - it keeps the big kids quiet and occupied if they can stare at their phones and be connected 24/7." Pa

In the past month we have enjoyed reviewing a exciting, interesting, and different product than your usual Math or Language curriculum namely  KidCoder . KidCoder Web Series is a beginning web design programming curriculum for kids. It is put out by Homeschool Programming who specializes in creating web design curricula. Their line up of products includes: KidCoder Visual Basic serie s: Windows Programming (semester 1) and Game Programming (semester 2) KidCoder Web series: Beginning Web Design (semester 1) and Advanced Web Design (semester 2) TeenCoder C# series Teen Coder Java Series These programs targets kids grade 4 and up for the KidCoder and 9th grade and up for the TeenCoder. From the Website: " HTML is the foundation of the World Wide Web. It's important for students interested in web design to begin with a solid grounding in good HTML techniques. Each chapter explains concepts step-by-step with sample code displayed throughout. Students will cre

Jesus Son of God Chris Tomlin from (Burning Light) You came down, from heaven's throne This earth You formed, was not Your home A love like this, the world had never known A crown of thorns, to mock your name Forgiveness fell upon Your face A love like this, the world had never known [Chorus:] On the altar of our praise Let there be no higher name Jesus Son of God You laid down Your perfect life You are the sacrifice Jesus Son of God You are Jesus Son of God You took our sin You bore our shame You rose to life You defeated the grave A love like this, the world has never known [Bridge:] Be lifted higher Than all You've overcome Your name be louder Than any other song There is no power That can come against Your love The cross was enough The cross was enough The cross was enough The cross was enough

We recently got to review an unfamiliar and quite different product than what we are used to: a computer game. Dig-it Games!  is a company that specializes in educational computer games for kids. The founder, an archeologist and former school teacher, wishes to " promote creative thinking, independent learning and cultural understanding ."   " Dig-It Games is dedicated to encouraging kids to explore the world around them through historically accurate content that conforms to curriculum standards and seamlessly blends entertainment and learning." They seek to match together adventure, fun and history learning in one product. Dig-It Games currently have 2 products available: Roman Town and Mayan Mysteries . We were blessed to be able to try out Mayan Mysteries. Mayan Mysteries is a puzzle-based game whereby you help a professor and his niece and nephew solve the mystery of finding a mythical city and figuring out who is behin

Here are my shares for this week. Happy reading! Real Life Homeschooling .  And while you are there check out the whole series. Organizing Your Homeschool Books Heart of Wisdom is offering Hundreds of Free Lapbooks and Unit Studies. 10 Tips to Balance Homeschool, Work, and Life But You Went to Public School and You Turned out Fine Meaningful Scripture Memorization Check out some Homeschool Curriculum Choices for 2013-2014   over at Teach Them Diligently. If the Words of my Mouth Hung on the Walls of my House  and from the same blog:  Shedding some Light on a Convenience Culture And for my quote of the week:  On christian liberal arts, taken from Liberal Arts for the Christian Life  edited by Jeffry C. Davis and Philip G. Ryken:     " The word Christian , as a noun, refers to someone who takes seriously the teachings of Jesus Christ and follows them, as found in the Gospels; and as an adjective, it means an approach that demonstrates consistency wi

It is that time of year, time to lay down the choices and decisions made about what to use for school in the coming year. So, here are my plans for my 2 boys, Zach in Grade 5 and Joho in grade 3: Math: We will continue to use Math on the Level as our main Math curriculum, and keep adding whatever I find on the web or get to review as supplements. Language Arts: Zach:   Daily Grammar . Joho:  This year I am trying something new with him: Simply Grammar . This is a Charlotte Mason grammar curriculum, which gentle approach yet rigourous, I am hoping will work for him. Both:  We will also continue spelling with  The Logic of English , which we enjoyed this year,  while  adding Spelling Wisdom to the mix. Handwriting: Handwriting Without Tears : the new recently released grade 2 for Johann which includes some cursive, and Grade 5 for Zach. I love their approach to handwriting and I can testify of how it really helped improve Zach's handwriting. History and Geogra