Encouragement - Lessons beyond the books, faith connections

[Cyndi (AZ)]

I'm a little bit crazy when it comes to saving my dd's school work. We have an only child even though I always wanted a big family, so I think that's part of it. Today, after a rough week with more than one "accident," I told my dd that I'd be back to do school as soon as I put my coffee in a covered mug. It has seriously been that kind of week. Then, guess what?! Covered mugs aren't exactly spill proof. I managed to knock mine over and spill coffee all over the table. Thank God for page protectors!!! All of my dd's Bible verses and written pages from PLL are in page protectors in a binder - and they all now have a thin brown line across the top! *tears* (My tears, not dd's.) But I'm so thankful the protectors preserved the majority of the pages. I'll take brown lines over soaked pages.

That's my small plug for page protectors. (And for ditzy mommies to not drink coffee during school.) At the end of the year, the geography notebook (which was spared) and the "extra" notebook will go in and get spiral-bound for keepsakes. One of them will just have brown lines across the top. *sigh*

Ugh, Cyndi, I understand. I can't stand messy pages either. DD is also our only, although I had other plans, so I cherish all her work and art as well.

That felt like a nice big hug this morning! Thank you! I needed that.

[asheslawson]

I think I'd just leave them the way they are. My mother-in-law always tells the story of when my DH and his cousin were young and got handprints on her door frames and how she still cherishes them. Must not have been washable stuff back then...

Smudged pages & tiny fingers,
Memories of homeschool lingers.
Every time I look back on a few -
pages where eraser rubbed through,
or hung the paint without time to dry,
a little tear wells in my eye.
See all those coffee spots and each little stain
Bring those sweet thoughts back - so don't refrain.
Somehow when things are going okay
Time just passes and gone is the day.
But when something really goes awry
I remember so well & don't even try!
But those are the things we laugh about most
When our family gathers and memories boast!
But late in the evening I turn those pages alone,
A smile and a teardrop on my heart is sewn.
My children are grown but these little spots know
Every little memory and make my heart glow.

Just a thought - when I read your article. I have a 17 year old now - who challenges as they sometimes do - but these little papers of his really mean so much to me. And it is funny how all of the little blunders - really are more precious now than all those perfect days I barely remember now. BTW...I love page protecters too! Keep cherishing all those papers - they are sweet memories in the making, ash

[Cyndi (AZ)]

Oh, Ash -- I'm bawling now, but that's a keeper! Thank you!

I wasn't going to come back and gush about this - but now I will. Would you believe the afternoon after I spilled the coffee my dd set up a pretend tea party for me with about a dozen stuffed animals. She made a card with a big heart and wrote a little note from each of the toys, like "You moove and groove, from Madison the cow," and "I love you more than honey, Pooh Bear," etc., and wrote me a little poem from herself. That is what I'm going to have to remember about the day I spilled coffee on her handwriting pages. I think I'll keep it in a page protector and include it in her notebook!!!

[asheslawson]

Cyndi - that is so sweet! Sometimes I neatly write a 'journal' entry of a very special memory that is connected with a story they wrote or a picture they drew & I cut it out & affix it to the back of the artwork. Now - when I leaf through that special artwork - that little preserved story I saved means SO much to me. Just a thought - but that's how I preserve a few of the sweetest stories right with their special artwork. No detail is too small either - sometimes a little silly comment about their paper really means something down the road. (Don't forget a date - I love to date their work in a corner somewhere so I know exactly when it happened.) It makes me think a few tea & soup parties my daughter has thrown for me. Nothing like drink water, with too much lemon juice squeezed in it, from a tiny plastic teacup & eating cold carrots in a bowl of cold water from a tiny plastic bowl! Precious moments - so fleeting! Thanks for sharing your cherished moment!

[lea_lpz]

Responding to a post about what I felt was important regarding why I chose to homeschool, what my vision for homeschooling is, and how I felt God had blessed our family through homeschooling made me pause to reflect on this past year. As we are wrapping up k in the next 6 weeks and preparing for 1st, I've decided to re-read For the Sake of the Children and thoroughly go through the material. It got me to thinking about how much of what I would consider my top blessings from homeschooling are really not academic. I thought I would share and invite you to do the same.

They are not necessarily ranked in order but:
1) More unstructured play- my kids are spending about an hour a day playing creatively with their toys and two hours outside with each other and neighborhood kids, something I don't see happening if they were older and had a full school day, homework and extra curriculars
2) Stronger sibling bonds- my kids are each others companions. Do they fight? Yes, but they are friends a d are fighting less over all since beginning this homeschool journey
3) Time to contribute to the household- when my daughter went to preschool, we didn't have time in the mornings for her to do her chores because she would be late for school, and I could foresee this getting more challenging as my kids progressed through school, but this is now a real part of her every day learning and such an important, often neglected skill. So many adults I know with college degrees can't do simple home tasks, such as cut a whole chicken, or do simple repair and maintenance.
4) Not tied to the school calendar- my husband gets week days off and doesn't usually get home until 7:30, sometimes as late as 9 pm. If I had to have them at school by 8 am, and they were at school all day, they'd hardly see him if they spent 8-3 at school and got the recommended 12 hours of sleep. But for us, going to bed 10, waking up at 8 and doing a 2 hour nap from 1-3 is totally fine . We can also treat Monday and Thursday like a weekend and school on the weekend if we feel like it.
5) Extra curricular activities don't derail our evenings or put is in for a loop. We do AHG every other Tuesday from 4-6. When we get home, I can focus on making dinner, not trying to get homework done with the kids and getting take out or nuking frozen food. Having AWANA's on Thursdays and getting home at 9 is fine, too, because they don't have to be up by 6:30 or 7 am like most kids who attend brick and mortar schools. By the way, this is the number one reason I hear families stop doing AWANA's.
6) Better behaved kids-homeschooling isn't a magic pill. My kids are not perfect, but neither am I or anyone else. It strikes me as funny though that a common comment I get when I met other moms and they ask the inevitable where do your kids go to school and I tell the woman I homeschool is, "I could never get my child to listen to me enough to tach them. They behave so much better with the teacher." Now I don't really care if the person I met homeschools. I am not out trying to convert anyone and really don't get why me stating a fact, ie, my children are homeschooled, makes wen feel they should justify why they don't, but this statement really makes me chuckle to myself because I find homeschooling allows me to be able to consistently train and gently correct as well as enforce a logical consequence to bad behavior in a way I never could if I was in too much of a rush to stop and do this or too burned out to make the effort. If I my child was being rushed or burned out it wouldn't really be effective either.
7) This should be at the top of my list, but it was such a given, I almost didn't think to list it: my children's love of God, the Bible, God's character, the world he created, and Christian character is profound, and something they'd never achieve in Sunday school alone. My daughter might not excel academically, but if she's got this down, the rest will follow.

[secondchance]

Hello there!
I love this post. Thanks for turning the thoughts towards blessings. Sometimes it is too easy to think of what went wrong, or what we want to change, or what curriculum to choose.

I would say "ditto" to all of your points. My kids are still really working on getting along with each other. One of our children has some serious behavioral issues that are very difficult to deal with and be consistent with, which btw almost made me throw in the towel more than once this year. (I wanted to put him back in school about once a week!) But I keep telling myself how much better off he is being home with a mother who loves him and not a teacher who doesn't have the time to deal with his issues, or being in with 25 other classmates/peers who pick on him and reject him.

I am so thankful for the spiritual growth that has manifested this year not only in the kids, but in myself. It has been awesome to read through the book of Matthew with the kids each day and memorize scripture together. Also to read Window on the World and to pray for various people groups around the globe. My children have really had their spiritual eyes opened because of doing ECC.

I think that in many respects, I feel much more relaxed than when I had my kids in school. Our schedule is our own, and we are loving life so much more than before. Being able to take walks together, enjoy nature together, play together, and learn together. Wow, what a blessing!

It is good to think of these things, and good to reflect. We only have 2 more weeks with ECC and we are done. Woo hoo!
Praise be to His name!
Sincerely and humbly,
Debbie
hs'ing ds(11), ds(9), & dd(5)

[Julie in MN]

What lovely posts to read, thank you both!

My youngest is in 11th grade this year, so I don't spend as much time with him anymore as I once enjoyed, but I can think of some things I'm blessed with this year:

- My son having the foundation of having read the entire Bible, line by line, often as a family, over the last 2 years (something I never got to do with my oldest ds, and something that took 4+ years with my middle dd).
- The Worldview study in US1 that comes after the Bible foundation, and includes really good "lesson plans" for me to teach my son, with activities and discussion about worldviews once a week.
- The chance to pour over original documents of our country this year in US1 American Literature, appreciating the Founders and realizing the importance of an educated citizen, pulling my very boyish son into that appreciation, slowly but it's starting.
- The structure of MFW to start with, and flex as needed, rather than a blank planner staring at me and eating up my family time (and wearing out my student), as happened when I was teaching high school on my own.
- The room to continue my priorities at home while beginning my son in dual enrollment this year.
- The relief that my son is really doing it, succeeding in dual enrollment. Confirmation that the venture to bring my youngest home in 3rd grade and teach him in the way I could only dream of using MFW over the years has not meant he was unprepared.
- My son having that Biblical foundation before he lost his dad last summer, and my son's past 9 years of schooling at home so he could know his dad as much as possible before dad was gone. Plus MFW's lesson plans that helped my son get an education his dad could approve of in a concise way, allowing free afternoons in elementary school and often homework-free evenings in upper years, so he could do "shop class" and other things with dad.

Sorry if that's too sentimental
Julie

[TriciaMR]

Blessings:

1) Able to take time off school when my mom passed away last November. The freedom to spend time to plan and go to the memorial service and not "missing" school to do that. Also, able to take time to grieve, too.

2) Spiritual growth in my oldest. It's not everyday, but I see her looking beyond herself, asking, "What can I do to help, Mom?" Or being patient with her brothers. Or confessing when she's lost her temper...

3) Academic growth. My oldests writing is improving. We're not as far along in Saxon 8/7 as we should be, but glad that we can just keep plugging through the summer, and start Saxon 1/2 whenever we finish 8/7. My dyslexic son is progressing as well. He is starting to read books on his own motivation, and he's stopped crying over doing spelling every day.

4) Watching my kids (even though there is a 4 year difference between oldest and younger two), play together, do projects together, and cheer each other on.

I'm sure there is more, but I've gotta run

[♥nbamaboyz]

Postby ♥nbamaboyz » Tue Apr 30, 2013 11:26 am
What a wonderful post! I agree with you Julie, the family time...there are no words for that!
Thanks for sharing ladies :O)

All the together~ness, no better place to be than with my boys everyday!
Listening as my oldest leads prayer, to hear his heart for the lost, those in need & for God to remove the distractions of this world from us!
The boys putting on a puppet show of "Three Brave Men" from the 1st gr Bible reader as a surprise for us to watch.
Catching my ADV'er reading his 1st gr Bible reader to my K'er before they go to bed.
Finding a journal entry from ds thats says he loves me & thanks me for all I do.....Precious!
Mom telling me she is so glad we homeschool. :O)
Listening to David's cd's!
& SO much more

[asheslawson]

I thought I would post about the ups and downs of home schooling. I have had my seasons of doubt before - but this last time was awful. I was so in the dumps that I started to even doubt it was possible to teach my children and question whether I was doing the right thing. I wanted to get online & read posts from others who may have been through this - but this time I felt a 'why bother' type of feeling. I've read so many things that I felt like I knew what they would all say - and of course - I kept telling myself that it would pass. I know God is good and I have faith that he will bring me out of these seasons when we are in the valley. I also know that when in those seasons it is not the time to jump ship on anything - but rather to "be still and wait". So I did - it was awful - I felt like crying often, I felt like a mis-fit at co-op, I was more frustrated with my kids. Truly this was such a valley. So I prayed and studied scripture and I waited on God. I even pared back to just core subjects last week as a last ditch effort to reclaim my joy. I needed the extra time. As a result - we still have 5 weeks left to finish after this week - but we are still on target to finish by end of May.

During the extra time - I studied scripture diligently. I also re-read the front of my teacher's manual from RTR. I had just not really looked at those areas since the year began and I had let some things slip into bad habits. I intently focused on areas that are each of my dc toughest subjects. We did some review work. I even realized some deficiencies I was allowing to occur in our math - particularly for my ds who struggles more - because of the way I was presenting the lessons. I was ready to toss Singapore - which was becoming too difficult mostly because of the way I was presenting the lessons.

At the end of it all - God showed me the things He needed to teach me. One of them is that my focus should be on HIM more than other stuff - because I had really started to let my priorities get wrapped up in busy-ness. I also really focused on the Proverbs 31 passage and realized that she is organized and in control of her schedule. This is weak area for me - when I let my schedule get out of sync - everything just falls apart for me. I am just NOT one of those who can just change my schedule without a second thought or make it up as I go. I NEED a routine. Recent transitions in my home daycare had caused me to shift my schedule just enough that I was on a downhill slide. Anyways - I am being very long-winded - but knowing that someone else may go where I was - and knowing they may not read this while they are on that low (or maybe they will) - I just thought I'd share. Home schooling is not for the faint of heart. Parenting isn't either, of course! But God is so good and I am so grateful that He continually walks with me through those terrible times.

[Poohbee]

Thank you so much for sharing this! It is often so hard to share our "down" times with others, but I think we all have such times...we just don't always want to admit it. I sometimes feel like I should have it all togther, and I feel like a failure if I don't. You were so wise to cut back your school to just the basics, delve into God's Word, and just seek Him. When we feel like we're getting off track, that is the best thing to do. It's a good thing, too, to return to Marie's guidance in her TMs. There is much tried-and-true wisdom there. Thank you, again, for sharing! You greatly encouraged me today! May you be encouraged and blessed, as well! Hang in there! When you go through a valley, this too shall pass, and God will not give you more than you can handle. Summer is on the way! (At least I hope so! We still have quite a bit of snow on the ground in ND, and we finally reached 40 deg. today...we've been in the 30's for weeks)!

[4monkeyz]

Yeah. I call it "January Blues." Except this year it slid into Feb. I always felt so awful feeling so...depressed...but then a homeschool magazine arrived via email & several of the articles talked about the winter blues...the importance of being in God's Word, meditating and slowing it down. So I submerged myself in Scripture, surrounded myself with beauty and hugged my kids more. God is so awesome! He meets us where we are at and holds us through. This year, I was down about feeling so alone...MFW has been so wonderful for us, yet bcs. I am no longer spending so much time trying to figure it all out, I have more time. And yet all my mama friends are still so super busy. I saw two gals at a get together a few months ago, but that was the first time in a long time. I haven't seen some of these ladies in a year! Our church is small, everyone is busy. Then my youngest got diagnosed with childhood apraxia, right about the end of January. That hit hard. I couldn't believe that I hadn't seen how much she was struggling!! Therapy has been wonderful, and we are blessed that she doesn't have a severe case. Sigh. It has been hard. But I know that this is where God wants me and I am working on cultivating a stronger relationship with my dh and kids, and I am working on contentment. Ouch. That sounds yucky.

((((hugs))) Thanks for sharing. It makes me feel more....well, more normal.

And I wanted to share a few verses that have given me comfort. I have them written on index cards and stuck around my house.

Psalm 18:28, "For You will light my lamp; the LORD my God will enlighten my darkness..."
Psalm 119:114, "You are my hiding place and my shield; I hope in Your word..."
Psalm 46:10, "Be still, and know that I am God..." (my favorite.)

[MuzzaBunny]

Yours is such an honest, transparent post. Thank you for sharing from your heart to help all of us who are in the trenches alongside you. You were so wise to re-focus and let God speak. I think all moms go through the rough patches, but Christians often feel the need to pretend to have it all under control even if we're drowning inside.
I'll be praying for you that Satan will flee and you will be filled with strength, encouragement and peace for all the days to come.

[Poohbee]

Let’s share with each other something about our month related to homeschool. You might:

• post pictures of fun MFW projects or a student sheet your child worked really hard on.

• tell about a Book Basket book you loved or a Netflix movie you discovered

• share about things God is teaching you through your homeschool – How did He help you through a hard time, or give you new insights about your family?

It doesn’t need to be long or fancy, just something from your heart.

Let’s encourage each other and have some fun!

Marie

We are in week 17 of 1850MOD. One of the highly recommended resources in the TM for week 17 is the musical The King and I. Well, I had never seen that musical before. Today, my girls and I watched it, and it was delightful! That is one thing (of many) that I really appreciate about MFW is the wonderful resource list in the back of each TM. I can trust that the resources listed will be good ones for my family to read and to view. There are so many wonderful ideas in the resource list that I probably would never have even thought to use, such as The King and I. My girls aren't big fans of musicals, so they haven't seen many, but I look forward to introducing them to The Sound of Music when we study WWII later in the year, as well.

Tonight (we do our Bible time together as a family at night) we started reading the book Tales from Persia. I am excited to learn more about the author, who was a missionary to Muslims in Iran for 42 years. I think it will be a wonderful book!

For us, 2015 started off with a mom with a bum ankle; a husband who is tired because of all that he carries, yet he perseveres (our kindergarten lesson this week...I don't quit, I persevere) ; and kids who have really learned what it is to serve. I look forward to the many things God will show us and do in our lives in the coming year!

[kw4blessings]

I tend to be a box checker and I'm finally learning to enjoy my children more as we informally learn by living. We've spent more time playing board games (The Scrambled States of America is so great!).

I tried to attach a pic of my 1st grader's Bible notebook page of "A Sad Day", the first sin, but couldn't figure out how to get the image small enough, wouldn't upload. I'm not too techy! Anyway, he insisted Adam and Eve needed to be behind a bush, since they were naked at this point. He drew four stick legs sticking out of the bottom of the bush and after drawing happy faces, decided to change them to frowns to represent the mood of the day.

Loving 1st again!

[Lisa B]

I am in Week 21 of Adventures in U.S. History with my 7 year old boy and 5 year old girl. This has been such a fun and interesting year of learning! We have recently learned about the Louisiana Purchase, the War of 1812, and Robert Fulton's invention of the steamboat and how it impacted further settlement of the west. The notebook pages (with drawings to color and a few lines to write on) have been a great way to encourage my little ones to think about and put in writing what they have learned. Afternoon read-aloud time is a treasured time. They love the Story of the U.S., American Pioneers and Patriots, and the "Little House" series. We recently finished "Farmer Boy" and are into "On the Banks of Plum Creek". They're learning good listening skills.

But most precious is the time we have spent learning important truths from the Bible. Daniel loves to look up and read aloud passages from his reader Bible. We have been learning about the names of Jesus and have our "Names of Jesus" poster prominently displayed on a wall. We also supplement with "A Catechism for Boys and Girls" questions and readings from "Devotions for the Children's Hour" by Kenneth Taylor. It's amazing how interested my children are in spiritual things, and it reminds me that I, too, must be like a little child and receive and appreciate these great truths from God. Even though Daniel and Caroline are young, I feel like I'm planting little seeds of faith and truth that will hopefully stay with them and grow. Often, older children who are in the room doing their own school assignments are listening in with interest!

I'm so glad for the opportunity to be with my children and teach them at home. I'm thankful for the structure that MFW Adventures (and other units that I've used) has given me to carry out good, solid, and fun lessons through the days and weeks.

With gratitude,
Lisa

[Missy OH]

Well, we finally made it to our Roman Feast. I kept putting it off because I didn't want to do the work of organizing it. So I gave it to my girls to organize and they did a way better job than I would have. One of things they did was to write a play about Cleopatra and Antony and their tragic ending in a comical way. They made costumes and theatrical masks from poster board and construction paper. It was a really fun evening. They did an amazing job and really blessed our family.

[Yodergoat]

I had a hard time getting back into the groove after Christmas break, but there is something about the unit study style of ECC that helped to draw me back into schooling... there were new countries to study! New books to read! New meals to plan! We came back into it strong and have really enjoyed our most recent "travels."

For Germany, we enjoyed the book Mercedes and the Chocolate Pilot. It actually made me cry! I had never learned about the Berlin Airlift before, so the whole story was new to me.

We loved the George Muller biography during Germany and read it in just a few days. My husband enjoys listening to these as well, and has told me that I'm free to order other books in this series that might enhance our study, even beyond those that are scheduled. We're thankful that MFW introduced us to this series!

I've included a couple of photos from January.

We enjoyed our German meal, although we found the potato dumplings we made to be quite bland. We also made rouladen (thin beef smeared with mustard and rolled around pickle and onion, wrapped in bacon and cooked in gravy). Those were good!

Making Bavarian potato dumplings for our German meal.

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When we recently "traveled" to Africa, I secretly borrowed a djembe drum from a church friend and dressed with a head wrap and colorful cloth drape, and was playing the drum when Gail came into the room with her passport to be stamped. She was surprised! I wrapped her hair up and she took a turn at the drum.

Playing the djembe drum

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I did ask her if she thought I was just being silly or if it was just memorable.... the response was that I make things "memorable in a silly way, but fun."

We've been watching any movies we already own that have to do with Africa... the old true story movies about lions Born Free and Living Free and also Disney Nature's African Cats and Chimpanzee.

We haven't played the Africa board of the Geography Game yet, but I tested my knowledge of the countries at this online game site (http://online.seterra.net/en) and my results were pretty dismal... I only knew 30% of the countries. But I'm sure I will learn them pretty quickly by playing the Geography Game!

I know we're going to enjoy learning more about Africa and about how to pray for the people there!

[Joyhomeschool]

Let’s share with each other something about our month related to homeschool. You might share about things God is teaching you through your homeschool – How did He help you through a hard time, or give you new insights about your family? It doesn’t need to be long or fancy, just something from your heart.

Let’s encourage each other and have some fun!
Marie

A big moment for me was reading a Casper Ten Boom quote as he was being hauled away to prison. He told his family, "Never forget what a privileged family we are". That really spoke to me! Because often times I will forget how privileged I am to serve the Lord, as a homeschooler, pastors wife and just a evangelical believer! Every "persecution" or "sacrifice" I make (if you can call them that, because truly they are nothing in comparison to others) is worth the price for the privilege of serving my Lord.

Another great moment was during our Bible time we were talking about the chapter in Young Persons Guide to knowing the Bible about the boy who didnt want to walk in the light with his father because he had stolen some oranges and he didnt want to get caught. And the kids all chimed in because "Jesus is the Light of the World". They all had remembered from Kindergarten!! We talked about hiding from God, "I cant hide anything from God" and on and on. It was a sweet moment of conversation with the kids.Even the 1st grader was involved in the conversation because she remembered studying all those sayings last year.

I love how MFW brings all subjects back to Christ and brings out those important conversations that sometimes get lost in all the Math and Chores and business of life!

P.S. One more thing that influenced my March was the Vision Weekend! What a huge milepost moment for our family! I highly recommend it!

[MelissaB]

Hi, Marie. Thank you for this post. It was wonderful to read Vicki's comments on how her children are retaining the important lessons. We, too, have just finished the end of WWII and the Holocaust.

This month, the Lord taught me, in a big way, to accept my children where they are. Stop worrying if they don't meet a mark. Stop worrying about the test. Start Loving them. I need to smile at them more. I need to have fun with them more.

Would someone please remind me of this if my posts seem too task-focused?

Thanks, again, Marie. Our family is so thankful for the MFW curriculum. And, as a homeschooling mom, i am so very thankful for this board! You Moms are such a great help!

God bless you ~

[RachelT]

Hello! It's hard to believe that we are beginning our 11th year of our home education journey! We were blessed with five fantastic years with MFW before joining a local classical homeschooling community. Now, we are coming back to MFW! My son is going to do WHL for 10th grade and our daughter will do ECC for a second time in 8th grade. They are excited about this change and I'm happy that we can do some things a little differently.

Two bits of advice from me:
*Trust in the teaching of the Bible and other well chosen books from MFW. I feel that the early years of reading wonderful books and studying the Bible through MFW helped our children to form great character. They are not perfect, but they have good, honest hearts and are wonderful teens. We have our own struggles from time to time, but we are truly bonded as a family and they are happy to be home schooled. I treasure the memories of many hours of read alouds on the couch with the kids!

*It is a great reminder from other posts above to not compare ourselves or our families to other people around us, but it's a natural tendency for us moms. As we each seek the path that God has chosen for our own family, He does lead the way. Many of my struggles have been when I want to lead the way and plan it all out, but there are blessings when I follow Him. He always knows what is best for us! God will show you through His Word and other people or circumstances what He wants you to do next. Sometimes I just have to be still and really listen to how He is speaking to me.

Home educating our children has been a huge blessing to me and I am grateful that we have had this opportunity to spend so much time with our kids! I am thankful for the materials that MFW provides to help us to continue homeschooling independently for the high school years and look forward to what God has in store for us!