Progress = Change

That little graphic was created quite a few years ago.  It was an idea about what we envisioned for our home school journey with our kids.  A solid bridge into their future.

I can identify my best moment of our home school journey...

teaching my kids to read.

They love to read and are rarely without a book or two (or more!) in progress.  It used to make my mother upset that we allowed our children to read at the dinner table.  I loved it then and still do - yes even as young adults they read at the table during dinner fairly often.

Now we've come to the end of our (at home) home education journey.  It has absolutely been a success for our family!

Jess has graduated high school and is a full-fledged undergraduate student at Franklin Pierce University with a dual major, in the honors program and officially advanced class standing due to all the college work she completed during high school
.
In September, Ben will begin his advanced college work at Nashua Community College for the remainder of his high school years.  Most likely he'll be finishing or fairly close to finishing an associates degree by the time he graduates high school.

Also new this summer is Ben going away to work at Camp Spofford for the next couple of months. My mama-heart is trying to sort out the varying emotions around this adventure but mostly I'm thankful that God has given him this opportunity and excited to see how he will grow this summer. We all prayed desperately for this door to open for him and several men in our church stepped up to offer recommendations and encouragement along the way.   He will come home just before his college classes begin - literally - as in two days before they start!

Other relationships in our lives are also changing.  Unexplained distance and estrangement has grown in formerly close relationships.  Physical distance is about to become a reality with some of our closest friends as they are embarking on a life-changing move to a different part of the country.
However God has brought a wealth of new relationships and opportunities for new friendships within our church family and we are tremendously thankful for the gift.  Monadnock Congregational Church is a wonderful place and I'm so grateful we challenged our presuppositions about the name on the sign.  It is now very clear that a name/label attached to something doesn't always mean what we think it does.  This church is sound in belief, has a Pastor who is bold in proclaiming the truth of the Jesus Christ, and has a congregation made up of genuine people who are trying to live honest, Christ-like lives by God's grace in a broken world.  We are all sinners, we fail, we stumble, we blow it big time even.  But there is Jesus and therefore there is grace and forgiveness... restoration and on-going sanctification.

As for me... I'm praying about what God is going to have me do next.
I don't think I'm having a mid-life crisis or anything... there is no desire for a sports car or crazy adventure.  More a quiet waiting to see what's next in the journey.  I've been dabbling in some new sewing ventures and finding things I love and things I don't.  Made a little bit of money for some things, helped some people with a few different things and continue to learn new skills and techniques.  I'm also considering the possibility (though a remote one) of a job outside home someplace.  If God opens a certain type of door, I will walk through thankfully.  If not, I shall continue along doing what He puts before me as opportunities.

Blessings on the journey~

Stalled

I'm finding myself stalled at the moment.  Life is moving along of course... the kids are busy with many things, I'm reading some, cooking some, puttering around and sewing a bit.  But there is this feeling of hanging in limbo and a vague sense of frustration and weariness that is lingering emotionally/spiritually.
 
In less than a week my youngest child will be 15 years old, and the following week we will begin our new school year. I believe it is our 12th year of schooling, officially senior year for my beautiful daughter.  How is all this even possible?  There is no panic though. My software is ready for the new year, just about all the books have been purchased and are ready.  Lesson plans are mostly put in place.

Steve is on vacation next week and we hope to have some fun as a family with day trips, etc.  We are discussing college ideas, gap year ideas and some possible travel plans.  We are on the brink of so much once again and yet I don't feel stressed or overwhelmed with any of it - which is its own sort of strange.  

Perhaps stalled is a good place sometimes.

Blessings on the journey~

Pondering a Remark

Photo by Steve - because fall is my favorite

The photo has nothing to do with my post - I just love it.  Steve took it last week near our home.  He's amazing like that.

Anyway - I'm pondering a remark that someone made to me during a conversation this past weekend.  In one sense I find it amusing and in another, slightly terrifying.
The remark happened when I mentioned one of my favorite topics - home schooling.  For those of you who aren't aware, we home educate our children and are now in our 12th year of schooling at home,
I believe my children are bright and funny, well-read, articulate (usually) and thoughtful, caring, kind, generally responsible, etc, etc, etc.  Basically pretty great young adults that are seeking to follow Christ.  At this point I'm pretty close to feeling like - Lord willing and by God's amazing grace - they are going to be successful adults in whatever plans God has for their lives.

So - back to the conversation.  I was talking with someone who teaches public school for a living. 
I mentioned that we home school and nodded toward my daughter who is almost 16 now and a junior in high school. 
The other person looked at J and looked back at me and said "I don't think I could ever do that. I think I would put too much pressure on myself."
I replied that there are lots of resources for the academics, but our goal is to raise young adults in Christ for God's glory and it isn't really about the numbers at all.  I said that our primary academic goal is mastery/excellence and having them know how to learn and do things - not just perform on tests. Then I added my standard line - as a parent you teach your children a ton before they are 5 years old anyway (walking, talking, using the potty, eating with a fork, saying please/thank you and to not hit/bite their friends), the academics just build from there.  The other person just sort of looked at me stunned and shook their head.

I was amused because this person teaches other people's children for money.  It is their job. Yet they feel there would be too much pressure to teach their own child(ren)?  That seems funny to me.  Wouldn't you think the pressure would come from the fact that you take money from someone to do something well? 

The terrifying part is that this person teaches other people's children for money.  It is their job.  Yet they don't feel the same pressure for something that they do for a paycheck that they imagine would be there for their own child(ren)? 

Standard disclaimer - Given the nature of the topic - I always add this part:  I fully realize that not everyone feels called by God to home educate their children.  I also realize that there are good and bad home school parents and public school teachers alike.  I am NOT making a judgement of people who make a different choice from our family - only stating that this choice makes sense for our family and our situation and according to what we know God wants from us as parents and as a family.

Once a month blogging?

Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long. ~Psalm 25:5

Are you supposed to have guilt when you don't do something that you normally do just for yourself?
Nah!


I blog for me... mostly.... so I refuse to feel guilty that I haven't had much to say in the last few weeks.  Actually, I've had lots to say... I just haven't had much to type or maybe it is more true to say I'm not sure what I want to type.  Putting your life in words on a screen is sometimes a tremendous challenge.

We've been busy. Life is happening at regular intervals and we are praying desperately that the glimpse of spring we saw yesterday will return for several days in a row to convince us that God really does intend to send Spring to New Hampshire this year.  The jury is still out on that one.

But we are moving forward as God provides each new day and the grace to walk through it.  We are close to 140 line items on our grateful/thankful/joy list.  We are all not as good about jotting things down as we would like to be.  I don't think that means we are not thankful for the gifts God provides (large & small), I just think that we are not yet in the habit of actually putting them on paper and sometimes it is hard to express things in just a line or two on a page. I'm anticipating the day I can write about my lilacs in the yard... I love my lilacs!  That photo at the top is a tease... Steve took that one in another...warmer... time.

We are close to wrapping up our school year.  A dear friend, who does our annual evaluations, will be here this afternoon to sift through the notebooks & binders to determine if we pass muster. I am sure we will, God is good and the kids have worked hard and learned a lot this year.  Much growth; physical, emotional, and (prayerfully) spiritual has occurred this year.  Challenges have been presented, some have been overcome and some still in progress. God has poured out grace and as we seek Him, he will continue to do so.  He has promised it and for this... I am thankful. 

Blessings on the journey~

Choices

Choices... many.... many....many choices.
Every year at this time we begin the hunt for materials for our next school year.
Do you KNOW how many different ways there are to learn things?  Do you KNOW how many books are out there?

This is one of the (many) times to evaluate what we've liked and enjoyed during this current school year and to consider the things we'd rather not do again if we can avoid it.



I love the freedom we enjoy to pick & choose.  To match learning styles and materials.  To pursue special interests and discover new passions.  I love home schooling!

There are also choices in many other areas that seem to manifest at this time of year.  Clearing off bookshelves is a beginning.  It seems to lead to clearing out excess clothes, other clutter and general miscellaneous stuff that seems to accumulate throughout the winter.  What stays, what goes?  Do we just toss it or donate it to charity or hang on to it for the church yard sale in a few months? 
For some reason this is the time of year that I also begin to mull the thought of moving.
Now, we've lived in our home for 15 years and have redone just about every room from top to bottom (though our bedroom floor and baseboard molding aren't finished yet!).  I love my home!
We've had one serious stint of 'let's move' that happened about 4 or 5 years ago and at that point we had looked at a lot of houses/areas within commutable distance and finally decided this was home and we were staying put unless God made it REALLY clear that we were going someplace.
Yet with the changes in the economy and all, the thought has again surfaced repeatedly this year.  I doubt anything will come of it unless God puts up a lot of really clear signs for us - we're slow like that but God knows that about us. :-)
I love the fact that we have so much freedom and flexibility in Christ.  Following Him is - for some people a very narrow road - and it is in a lot of ways - but there is SO much freedom in that path!  God doesn't take away our ability to choose when we turn our lives over to Him - he offers all the very BEST choices!
Homeschooling is one of my favorite examples of this fact.  We have the options to choose how they learn, what they learn, when they learn and most importantly ... they get to do it with the people who care most about them on this earth and who have the most vested interest in making sure they do it well.  That my friends is freedom...and love.
That is exactly how it is in Christ.  He cares most about us and guides us to the very BEST there is so we can do this life well.  Pretty clear indication to me that I am loved and free. :-)



Photo credit WikiCommons.org

Come along side

Today I had the opportunity to live something that I've read about on other blogs relating to teens & almost teens.
J spent this morning with a wonderful lady from our church, working as a mother's helper.  She's done this several times over the summer, but today she also had a full schedule of school work to accomplish.  She worked all morning, came home, had lunch and finally got to start on her schoolwork at about 1pm.
She and B worked on their Latin review - there is a major test on Friday.  She worked on a History lesson, also knowing there is a quiz on Friday this week.  Then there was some science reading and answering some questions before working on an experiment and writing up a lab report.  Then pulling out her schedule and taking some other books off the shelf she became over-whelmed and started to cry.
I hugged her as she sobbed on my shoulder,
"There is too much work!  I can't do it!"  She sniffed, as her tears soaked my shoulder.
I took a deep breath and hugged her again.
Gently I said, "You can.  I know you can.  Wash your face and bring your book out with me to the swing."

So she washed up, took the math book & her notebook and we went out to the deck and sat on the swing.
We sat together, she worked problems and we talked.  She did the entire section - all correctly - as we sat together.  Then she worked on her literature assignment, reading me passages and talking with me about the humor of G.K. Chesterton.
Then... she was done - all assignments finished.  No more tears.
We did it together,her working along, talking, sharing some laughs... that is one of the beautiful things we enjoy being here together for school. 
I am so thankful that God has called us to this journey of home schooling.  The blessings can't be measured on a test (though they test well and get good grades).  The relationship.  The learning that hard things can be accomplished.  That it is a lot of work, but they CAN.  It's amazing to watch them as they grow and learn.
I am so very blessed.  Our life isn't perfect, not every day is stellar, some can even be pretty dreadful at times...but in the end.... it's all good.  We are building LIFE and focusing on the things that last for eternity.  Loving each other.  Learning together.  Living these golden moments that God has gifted to us.
Blessings on the journey~

A very good start

We have finished our first full week of school here and it was a very good beginning.  Both J & B have worked very diligently and accomplished everything I had planned for them - all with good attitudes and without working till late in the day. 
J actually told me on Thursday that she loves all her curriculum this year and thanked me for choosing so well for her.  Now I know those feelings may change as the year progresses - but for now... I'll take it ... with much thanks to God for His mercies and blessings.
I've even managed to get in some sewing this week (3 pairs of pjs and a small flannel baby quilt) and kept up with laundry, most of the housework, baked some bread and mostly followed my meal plans.  All in all it was a wonderful week. 
Steve surprised me and took the day off today. He came to J's last horse riding lesson of the summer and got to see some of what she's learned this year.  We topped it off by an afternoon outing to our favorite ice cream spot in town - all 5 of us!
Now I have 2 loaves of bread rising on the stove and will start on some home-made pizza dough in a bit for dinner.  This weekend has nothing planned but being home together.  I love my life. :-)
Blessings on the journey ~

Gearing up and slowing down

Now isn't that just a clever post title? I love when people have clever titles that make me want to read what they've written, so I thought I'd attempt a turn of phrase.
Anyway... the reason for the title is that is pretty much exactly where I am right now.  After talking with Steve, I decided that we won't begin schooling again until the 23rd.  It's been on again, off again with some schooling this summer - which in itself is different for us.  The weather has been incredibly warm and humid this summer and it seems that we've been hiding from the weather a lot this year.  Last summer we were staying out of the rain most of the summer.  I suppose that just goes to prove that God likes to mix it up.
I'm going to spend the next few weeks trying to get my house in order - quite literally - and spending time just being 'still'.  (Psalm 46:10)   I've felt for quite a while that God is trying to to tell me or show me something important for the 'next thing' here.  I haven't the faintest idea what it may be, but I also have felt lately that there is just too much NOISE in my life for me to be able to hear Him effectively.  I know He is a patient God, He knows I really DO want to hear and listen and be obedient.  So I'm going to try to be intentional in my listening.  Focus on my immediate priorities of family, home, school prep.... and listening.
Now before anyone thinks that I'm a nutcase and hear voices in my head that are going to tell me something crazy.... don't worry!  That is NOT what I mean when I say that I'm waiting to hear from God.  While I know that there are people who claim to hear an audible voice from heaven - I am not in that camp.  I think ... and God knows me best... He would know that I'd be doubtful of audible voices.  I can be a skeptic of many things.  I think it is pretty amazing how God knows exactly how to communicate with each of us in a way we can hear if we are paying attention.
For me, generally, God speaks to me through repetition.  Maybe I'm slow to catch on and He knows I need to see/hear things a few times (or a LOT of times) over to really get it.   I have been doing more reading this summer and have finished one Bible study and am part way through another.  Have had the opportunity to talk with more people than normal for me - and Steve is very patient as I mull/process things out loud to him and elicit his input and opinions.  God will bring up a theme, a phrase, even specific verses...over and over and over again, in many different places and through people too.  It's pretty amazing when the light-bulb finally comes on for me to see what He is putting before me.  I don't always understand where it is going, but I can really feel in my heart that there is something that I'm supposed to pay attention to or focus on or just be ready for the next thing now that I've gotten the first part. 
So... that is the slowing down part that really needs to happen. I desperately don't want to miss whatever the next thing is and I'm convinced that my own 'busy-ness' can be a hindrance to hearing God in my life. 
And the gearing up?  Well, that relates to my home and the kids and school prep.  We are still working toward the simplifying and being to busy is not conducive to that.  Like Steve says - stuff has to LEAVE the house to make it less cluttered. So that is a goal.  And the kids need some close time - not hovering/smothering... just time to 'be' and enjoy and learn together.  We need to work together on some individual goals for each of them for the coming year.  I need to get a bit more planning set up for the beginning of the fall, hunting down books, etc.  It's all good. 
It seems funny that in this culture of more/hurry/rush, I find the most joy in the stop/stay/less of my life.  God loves me.  Steve loves me.  My kids love me.  I really have all I need and more.  I am so very blessed and need to be mindful of it all.
Blessings on the journey~

Just Wednesday Rambling

Today is Wednesday.
Do you ever feel like Wednesday is this sort of no-man's land?  Stuck in the middle of the week, not usually a terribly exciting day, still feels like miles to go before the weekend and anything 'fun'.
I like Wednesday.  It feels like I'm making progress through the week to finally be half-done and hopefully things on the 'to do' list are being checked off.  Not always, but most weeks.
Today is a 'home day' for us.  The only outing may be a bike-ride to the library later.  Tonight is Steve's track work out and I have quilt group (if I'm feeling better), and that means a fairly easy supper of breakfast food - the kids favorite dinner usually.
I spent some time this morning thinking about Steve's birthday, which is tomorrow.  I am continually amazed by my husband.  He is so wonderful in my eyes and I never feel like I am quite conveying to him how important he is to me and our family.  It's tough to tell a modest man how marvelous he is.  He just doesn't seem to believe me.  It can be really frustrating at times... I want to really show him how much I love him, how much I appreciate him, how proud he makes me to be his wife.... and have no idea how to do so.   Maybe someday I'll have a brilliant stroke of inspiration.
The kids have begun some minor summer-schooling work.  J is taking an on-line writing course and so far it seems to be going well.  I am getting closer to having our next school year plan mapped out.  Only about a half-dozen more lesson plans to do.  Science is split this year so that means 2 plans for one subject (J & B).  Actually this year they have much more split subjects than ever before.  Having them grow is wonderful, but the planning is more involved.  I'm looking forward to a wonderful year for them both.  It seems like such an accomplishment to have them both in Middle School grades this year!  We have reached a milestone!  B is 6th grade now and J is 8th.  We'll see how excited I am about it when I'm mired in pre-algebra & astronomy lessons later in the year.
Off to continue my Wednesday by hanging some laundry on the line.  I love my life.

Gearing up to slow down

As April draws to a close, we are gearing up to slow down a bit.  I suppose that sounds odd, but that is the way it feels, even if it isn't completely accurate in activity.
We are winding down our school year.  It has been a very successful one and I am pleased at how much they have accomplished and learned this year.  It seems so odd to be planning for next year already - but I am beginning that process as well and love seeing how they are growing into new independence and learning so many new things all the time.  I love having them home to learn and grow.  There are days it seems that time and the world is rushing so fast... that I really relish the days we have to hang around in our pjs and read and talk together.
Last week J & B had their last piano lessons for the year.  It was bittersweet as they are looking forward to a break, but will miss their weekly lessons with Mrs. Brewer.  She is a wonderful, godly woman who has brought much more than music into their lives.
This week they are scheduled to finish the last of their history curriculum, science book, and math.  English has been done for a while now.  We started the Latin mid-way through the year, so that isn't done and Jess has one last section of her literature to finish up.  But for all intents and purposes we will be on break for a bit after this week.  I have the results of their standardized tests and for the first time have decided to submit those to the town as proof of "adequate progress" for the year.  Prayerfully, it won't open any boxes that I'd rather not have opened.  We have a new assistant superintendent here in town and I am not sure how he views homeschooling.  The woman we've dealt with all these years was very good to work with and we never had any conflicts with her, I'm hoping her replacement will carry on the same.
May begins on Saturday and I am looking forward to it.  We have so much to do this week that after Saturday it feels like we'll be able to rest a bit.  In addition to finishing up the schoolwork this week we have several other things on the calendar.  Our church yard sale is this Friday/Saturday and the kids and I will be helping with that several times during the week and weekend.  I am using this as a big push to de-clutter and purge in our house - it benefits the ladies ministry for church and helps us simplify our lives!  Win-win!
I have quilt group on Wednesday and we have several quilts to get finished in the coming months as there are many new babies arriving in our church family.

This is the most recent quilt we finished 2 weeks ago, it is for our Pastor's soon-to-be-born new grandson.

Next week we begin 'summer activities' here.  Spring soccer starts for both kids, and J will begin her natural horsemanship lessons again for the summer.  The garden will get planted and we will begin our new season!

Home

Home.  Isn't that a marvelous word?  I love my home, I love being home!  Home is where the people I love best are most of the time.  Though this is, I know, my temporary home - for now - until I am with Jesus in my REAL home. But for now... it is the best place I know.
Last Wednesday (April 7th), Jessica and I left our home to drive to MA to pick up my Mom and then the three of us set off on an adventure.  A grand adventure!
We dove out to Ohio to attend the MidWest Home School Convention.  Yes, we DROVE well over 800 miles one way to attend a convention for home schoolers.  It was HUGE!  It was AWESOME!  We all had a simply marvelous time and God really blessed.
We arrived back at home last night about 9pm and just collapsed into bed exhausted.  I will post more about the whole experience when I am done decompressing, catching up on the laundry, refilling the fridge for my loving family (who survived very well without wife/mother for 5 days), sorting mail - both real and electronic, and fulfilling the needs of some furry animals who seem to have greatly missed their mama as well.

Testing Week

It has arrived... our week of standardized testing for both the kids.  I know there are many arguments around the benefits of standardized testing for children.  I am not generally a big fan of standardized testing as a method of determining progress or proof of learning for a student.  Our state does not require testing for students who are home schooled unless the parent chooses that method for assessment purposes.
Our family does standardized testing every-other-year for both of the kids.  It is for informational and experiential purposes only.  I do not submit the scores to anyone for proof of their accomplishments as home-schoolers.  We do a portfolio review each year with a state certified (and designated Highly Qualified) teacher that is then submitted to our district as proof of their progress for the year.
I first chose to do a standardized test in a fit of insecurity.  As home schoolers - heck, as women/mothers - we are all known to have those moments where we doubt ourselves and our choices.  I really KNEW the kids were learning a lot, but still had that nagging...'how do they compare' thing in the back of my head.  So I did some research and after finding a place where I could secure testing materials for the kids - we did the testing - got back great scores and moved on. Nothing earth shattering, they didn't have any test anxiety or anything.  Just another unique experience.
2 years ago we had the opportunity with our standardized testing cycle to be part of a national study commissioned by HSLDA to look at the scores of home schooled students and see how we (as a group) stack up.  We chose to participate and the kids did excellent that year (mommy brag - they were 97th and 99th percentile overall).
This year we scheduled our testing for the last week of March as J and I will be traveling to Ohio for a big home school convention at the beginning of April and it made sense to test and then have a fun trip as break time.
I think it is good for them both to have the experience of standardized testing. They will most likely have to take the SAT and ACT for college and this is prep for those higher stakes tests in a small way.  They also enjoy the opportunity to do something different and get a kick out of seeing their numbers when the results come back.  And it is always a plus to have something concrete in hand if the need should ever arise to justify ourselves to the establishment or just for the grandparents to have for bragging purposes. :-)

Spring Planning

It is now March, which means it should be Spring.  At least that makes sense in my head.  In reality, we live in NH which means we can have snow until May if the Lord so chooses.  Actually... if the Lord chooses - we could have snow in August, but that is another matter altogether. :-)
Anyway, back to Spring.
For me, part of my Spring planning that happens in March is thinking about our next school year.  This is the time of year when many - not all, but lots - start to get itchy about what didn't work this year, what we want to do differently/better/again or NEVER AGAIN!  We re-evaluate our kids strengths/weaknesses (though this is often an ongoing process and not a formal list sort of thing), and start to think about what our needs/wants are for our school materials for next year.
Spring is a great time to clean out the bookshelves and start posting things for sale on the various websites that allow such things for home schoolers.  Used curriculum is such a blessing!  Since so many of us are living on one income, being good stewards of what the Lord provides is absolutely imperative.  Being that we live so close to the distribution warehouse for Christian Book Distributors means another blessing for us - the CBD Warehouse Sale!  This is a really fun road trip that I take with a few of my friends at least twice a year.  They have an amazing mark-down sale with things that are bumped, dented or returned and you can find some amazing bargains on some otherwise very expensive curriculum.  It also allows us to actually put our hands on some things that we might be considering using, but want to flip through the book to be sure before we part with any of our husband's hard-earned money.
The next sale is on March 20th, so I am starting the process of figuring out what we need for next year.  I am blessed in that over the years I've managed to collect a lot of curriculum... some people would say that I have a "problem" when it comes to buying books.  I am of the firm mind set that there is no such thing as too many books - only that there are too few bookshelves.
There will not need to be too many big purchases for next year - at least I think that at this point, I never know what I may find on the tables at CBD.  ;-)
A few years ago I started using Rod & Staff for English for the kids - which we all love.  The big plus here is that they are hard-cover text books and re-usable for other children.  So I already have our English for next year on the shelf.  All I will need to get are the workbooks/test books and those are very affordable.
We will continue with our current history curriculum and use the third volume of Mystery of History.  That one I do need to buy as I don't own it yet.  I am praying that God allows it to be found on the bargain tables as it is a fairly pricey set.
Math is all set, both kids will use materials from Bob Jones University Press for next year.  B will use 6th grade (that we will buy or borrow from a friend) and J will be doing Pre-Algebra that I already found on the tables last year at CBD.
We will not be quite finished with our Latin curriculum from this year by the end of our official school year, so we may continue through the summer or we may just leave off and start again in the fall.  I will start looking for year 2 of the same program Latina Christiana on the 'For Sale' boards.  I want the DVDs again and those are expensive, but well worth the money.
Science is also all set from prior purchases, both kids will use materials from Apologia.  B will do a year of elementary Astronomy and J will be tackling their General Science course.
The miscellaneous pieces still need to be filled in for them both.  Spelling, Vocabulary, Logic (though I may start the formal Logic curriculum that I already bought on clearance earlier this year), and probably some sort of formal Literature programs.
This year J used Lightning Literature from Hewitt and has enjoyed it, so I may hunt down their 8th grade program for her.  B has used the 5th grade Pathway Reader with the workbook this year and liked that as well, so that might be an easy choice for him again.  They both read voraciously, so that is not really a huge concern for me.  Keeping them in good quality books is a challenge, but thankfully the Lord provides and Steve doesn't ever complain about my spending money on books for the kids.
One new addition for next year, that will be an expense but worth it I hope, is that I'm going to utilize an on-line writing tutor for both of the kids.  I love to write, but teaching it consistently is a huge weakness for me.  I found this program that looks like it will suit our needs from Write Guide.  They will allow the kids to share a tutor each week, that will be a big savings on the total cost.
So... I am making progress in my planning.  I am praying that God puts in front of me what I need or really, what He wants me to find.  I know His plans are better than mine and I'm open to any changes He reveals to me.  This whole journey isn't about me anyway and having that knowledge going forward makes the changes less traumatic. I am praying for wisdom and guidance for me and for the kids - my goal is to make sure they are equipped (as best I can) for whatever the Lord has planned for them in the future.

School topic?

Any guesses as to what we are studying in History?

B is absolutely LOVING this section... but you can't tell that from all his handiwork can you? :-)  Btw - his serious face is on purpose... he is trying to look intimidating to the enemy.

Homeschool Heresies

I found this "Homeschooling Heresies" post shared in a homeschool newsletter I receive via email and decided I had to check out this woman's blog.  She is very interesting! *S*

Answered Prayer

God answered the prayers of hundreds of home schoolers across NH yesterday when the attempt to change our current law was resoundingly defeated in Concord.
The sponsor of all this upset was announced to speak - to open debate on HER bill - and she REFUSED to speak!  She chickened out!  I believe the final vote was 325-34 to kill it.
God is protective of his people and I am a very thankful person this morning.

TGIF

Like anyone else, there are some weeks when I am really glad it is finally Friday.
This week has not been especially hectic or overly taxing in any specific way, it just seems to have been a really LONG week.
We have gotten all of our scheduled work done for the week and even finished our first real art project from our new curriculum "Exploring Art Media".

These are our 'color combination samplers' The point of this project was to learn all the vocabulary of color combinations in art production from "monochromatic", "analogous' & "complimentary" to the more basic "Cool" & "Warm". We had to start with just a pencil outline that we created of anything we wanted to doodle and fill the entire page with shapes to be colored. Then we had to divide the paper into 7 sections and fill them in accordingly for each of the color combinations. It took us DAYS to finish it all, but we were all pretty impressed with the final results. Mostly we used the Prismacolor Scholar level colored pencils which were definitely worth spending the extra money for last year! They are just gorgeous colors and go down so nicely on the heavy drawing paper.

Today we also had the nice surprise of a shipment arriving by mail. It was the package containing our Latina Christiana Level 1 curriculum. Yes, we are going to make the plunge and begin to study Latin. Jess and I are really looking forward to it and Ben is slowly warming to the idea.
I have been mulling the idea of Latin for a while now. I've read a bit off and on about the educational theory of "Classical Education" and while it's a bit late to jump completely on that band wagon, there are parts of it that I'd really like to incorporate with the kids. Most recently I've been seeing/hearing/reading more about how the study of Latin impacts children as they learn other languages and the benefits of it as related to standardized testing (such as the SAT and ACT). After praying about it for a while, I stumbled across a woman selling EXACTLY what I wanted (including the 2nd student book I'd need) for an amazing price. I emailed her and poof! We are looking at starting Latin! Woohoo! I had originally planned to wait until January, but we'll see if we can actually wait that long. Next week finishes our first quarter, so starting after that is not out of the question.
For right now, I have a bit more grading to finish up (we had lots of quizzes this week) and then I need to give one of the dogs a bath and think about starting dinner as well. We should be all home for dinner tonight - I love that part of our family life.

Explaining Granite Bridge

We have been formally home educating our children for a long while. We had dabbled with it when Alec was in the 2nd grade (keep in mind he is now in his first year of college!). But jumped in with both feet when Jess was ready to start formal schooling - (read when the town said she was ready for first grade at age 5 because we were dumb enough to ask them to test her)!
Anyway - this school year is our EIGHTH year of home schooling! Wow time flies!

Granite Bridge Academy is born:
Back quite a few years ago, I had the brilliant idea of officially naming our home school. I wanted to have a name to put on report cards, high school transcripts and diplomas when the time came. I also had seen it a few places on the web where people had smart or interesting names for their home schools to answer critics about whether home education could possibly be 'real' school. Now to be honest, a name doesn't mean much in the scope of anything. But I liked the idea nonetheless.

So I set about coming up with something clever, or so I thought. Lots of families just use their last name but that didn't curl my toes. There were several out there with a faith based theme, which I really liked, since we do this because we truly believe God wants us to do this. However I didn't have any inspiration around that type of name either. One day I was driving along and saw a sign someplace and it hit me! Not the sign, but a name. We live in NH, which is the "Granite State" and how do we get to the future except by traveling a path and often over a bridge when adversity (or a river) gets in our way. So thus... Granite Bridge Academy was born.
I felt so pleased with myself and my husband very lovingly gave me his standard "yes dear, whatever you like dear" when I shared my excitement about our school name. He even let me order an embosser with our new name on it. When it arrived I promptly and proudly embossed all the covers of every workbook the kids had for the year!
It hasn't really changed anything, but I like our school name. It feels right for our family. We are truly striving to give our children a rock solid foundation through their faith in Christ and our educational efforts with them.


When Alec applied to college, I liked having a school name at the top of his transcript. And when we gave him his diploma - it looked pretty snazzy there too.

Monday, Monday

The day started slowly here. Both of the kids slept in and our school day didn't really get rolling until about 9. One of the perks of being home schoolers. :-)
Once everyone had breakfast and brushed teeth, we settled into our spots in the living room to do our morning Bible time. This is new for us this year and we are all really enjoying our morning ritual. The kids do their individual devotions/quiet time in their bedrooms before breakfast most days, and then we have our time together.
I had purchased a beautiful set of books last year called Balancing the Sword and we're working our way through the New Testament this year with volume 1. The books are a massive series of questions based on scripture. We read a chapter aloud (as of this morning we were up to Luke 5) and then there are 4-7 questions, (mostly fill-in the blank type), that the kids answer. The theory here is that you can't really understand what the Bible means until you know what the Bible says. So we read, sharing our study notes from our Bibles as appropriate, talk about the passages, etc. and answer our questions. Then we move to our other new study book for this year Training Hearts, Teaching Minds which is a devotion type book based on the Westminster Shorter Catechism.
The kids both have memory work as part of another book series we are using from Keepers of the Faith, and so far this year have memorized all 66 books of the Bible in order (both Old & New Testaments) and are just about done with memorizing the original 10 Commandments passage from Deuteronomy. We work on these things before and after our reading time. I have been very pleased to see how seriously they are taking their study and seem to be enjoying it. We often get the chance to talk about the lessons from their individual devotion books as well.
Monday is our piano lesson day - both kids have been taking lessons for a few years now - so we were busy getting things done before it was time to head off to lessons. During their lesson hour, we finished up the English grammar lessons and I got to do my walking time (40 minutes today!).
After we got home, we finished up with reading our history lesson on the Maya, tomorrow we will do the activity to go along with the lesson.

We are using Mystery of History Vol. 2 this year and really are learning a TON already. It covers the time period from the Early Church (Acts 2) up through the Middle Ages.
Last year we'd done MOH 1 which covered Creation to the Resurrection.
I really love this history curriculum as it shows all of world history at the same time as important Christian specific history (Bible events & the early church). We do a lot of reading, historical fiction of the same time periods as well as extra resource reading.

I like to say that by the time I get these 2 graduated, I will have the education I should have had the first time through! I really love home schooling! :-)

October Beginnings

Well, here it is October 1st.
I find it truly amazing how time seems to accelerate as my children grow older. Though I suppose that means I am growing older as well, I don't really always FEEL that change in myself. It's easy to spot in my kids as they reach new milestones, learn new skills, get closer to being eye level with me and become more interesting people.
We are well into our 8th year of homeschooling now and I think this will be a good year. I have just 2 at home to school now, ages 10 and almost 12, we are working on 5th grade and 7th. The oldest has moved on to college - Wow... that makes me sound old!
Our methods have changed and grown over the years - we've come a long way since Kindergarten!We are not easy to pigeon-hole, I suppose most homeschoolers are not. Generally we find what works best for each child, is interesting, covers what we need/want for the year and dive into the learning. Sometimes we find after a while that we need to make adjustments - such as last year when we changed our English curriculum in January. It was a good change, we managed to complete the books in July and started fresh with the next ones this year.
Children grow quickly and their skill sets change. Their learning styles develop over time and sometimes what worked great with one child will flop for the next. Flexibility is important. Trusting yourself to know when to make a change - with God's guidance - is vital.
I consider myself one of the leading experts on my own children and believe that regardless of what small mistakes I make along the journey - God will use me to prepare these young people for the purposes He has for their lives. It is a high calling, an awesome responsibility. There are days when it terrifies me - I don't want to screw this up! But I have confidence that God is faithful and will provide exactly what we need to follow the path (or bridge) He has marked for us to travel.
I am thankful that I am not the one who is really in charge!