15 hours ago
(2016: Please note that this is a series I wrote several years ago as a general overview of my experience as a homeschool student. If you have any questions about homeschooling and my homeschool experience, please comment below, and I would love to address them in future posts. Thanks for reading!)
That first day of homeschooling I remember being excited that I didn’t have to go to school! But I quickly started feeling overwhelmed as I sat downstairs with my fourth-grade English book. My mom really did her research and got us some great homeschool curriculum, but as I sat down to the first lesson, I didn’t know what half the terms in the chapter meant.
I wasn’t a poor student in public school. I was one of the top students in my class. I was very good at reading; in the second grade I was reading at the eighth grade level, and my third grade teacher wanted me to consider competing to enter the National Spelling Bee. But this English book had me stumped.
Looking back at it now, I wonder if I would have had as much trouble if I had been using that same homeschool curriculum for the first three grades. It’s hard to say, but if that was fourth-grade level English, the public school system had not prepared me to even know what I was looking at; and like I said, I was a good student.
I came upstairs not even knowing where to start ( I believe there was some crying involved), and my mom sat the three of us down and went through our lessons with us. It made sense then, and I remember our lessons going more smoothly after that.
I was a very self-motivated student, and over the years I developed my method for studying, which mainly involved me sitting down with my school books and learning the material myself. I learn best from reading and studying by myself, so it was very easy for me to thrive educationally at home.
My brother and sister have a different learning-style than mine, and often my mom would sit down and go through their lessons with them, but they also learned how to study by themselves and they did well.
Everyone always wonders about test-taking when homeschooling, but honestly it was just like taking a test in public school. We’d study, then sit down somewhere and take the test then my mom would grade our work. People always suggest that parents would go too easy on grading tests or papers, but if you were homeschooling your kids, would you go easy on them? Most homeschool parents are very concerned with making sure their children get a proper education, and they aren't going to let them skate through without actually learning something. There is something to be said for a teacher (parent) being in charge of a child's education from start to finish. The kids won't be passed on to a new teacher the next year, so it forces parents to make sure their students really know the material. My mom didn’t go easy on us – if I deserved a B or C, that’s what I got, and we knew where we needed to work harder. I mostly got A’s (except in Algebra – oh, Algebra).
My mom took us on field trips, and if we had to run errands we would just take our work with us. If we knew we had something going on one day during the week, we would just “double up” on our schoolwork so we could take a day off. One advantage to homeschooling is that it is very flexible. We learned at our own paces, and it worked beautifully.
A couple years after we started my mom had us tested with a standardized test (I can’t for the life of me remember which one it was), and all three of us were either right on track or ahead in every subject. We were learning everything we needed to know and doing very well educationally at home.
Sidenote: My mom eventually took over an umbrella school and became certified to give that standardized test to other homeschool families. More on the umbrella school in the next post.
By the time I reached high school it became apparent that I was good at the sciences, and biology was my favorite subject. My mom had me teach my younger brother and sister their science lesson a few times, and it gave me an opportunity to use what I learned.
High school is where many homeschool families get intimidated and start sending their kids to public school, but in our house it was a natural transition, no different than any other grade. The material got harder, but if my mom didn’t know something she just learned with us. There are also many homeschooling co-ops out there where the moms will “trade-off” in certain subjects and give everyone a lesson in the subjects that they are comfortable with. We never participated in a co-op, but it’s an option.
When I turned sixteen I took the entrance exam at our local community college (I did well on it) and started taking classes. I got dual-credit for those classes, credit that counted for high school and college (a lot of homeschoolers take this route). This also allowed me to get ahead on my pre-requisites for the dental hygiene program I wanted to attend. When I was seventeen I took microbiology (which I loved), and my last semester was my “fun” semester, since I had all my requirements at that point. That semester I worked as a teaching assistant for micro at the college, a job that involved culturing bacteria, helping students with the lab projects, and pre-grading the student’s lab reports. I also took a theatre class.
I had all the requirements I needed to graduate from high school early, but I took classes at the college and had my official graduation on time. When I graduated high school I was just a couple classes shy of also having my Associate’s degree, and the only reason I didn’t just get my Associate’s degree right then was because I already had all my pre-requisites for hygiene college completed and was planning to start with that in the fall. I graduated, applied for hygiene school, and spent my last summer before college as a counselor at a local Christian camp.
I cover socialization and spiritual growth in the next posts in this series! You can read the rest of my homeschooling story here:
I think most of you know that Derek and I had troubles getting pregnant with Wyatt. It took 11 months before we were finally able to conceive.
Technically that leaves me one month shy of being officially considered “infertile”, but I would qualify myself as sub-fertile, and those 11 months were just as painful for me as they would have been if we’d had to wait one more month. It was hard. It hurt. I cried more times than I would care to admit.
I’ve written about our struggles, and some of the lessons I learned while we were waiting. It’s easy to see the purpose of it looking back. I learned to trust God when things don’t go my way. I learned to be content and rest in the knowledge that God knows what He’s doing. I learned that His plans are best. I learned to look for the purpose in trials, and I now have the gift of knowing a little bit about what other girls are going through who are struggling with infertility (which you can’t really appreciate until you’ve gone through it yourself).
In all my previous posts I’ve put a pretty brave face on it. And I know that all of the things I stated in those posts are true.
But when I think about the possibility of us having trouble conceiving our second baby? It still hurts. And it scares me. Because even though I have my first sweet baby and he will make the process so much easier to take the second time around? I still don’t want to go through that again.
I was talking with my mom about this subject the other day, and the words “Why me?” slipped out of my mouth. Why do I have to have fertility problems when so many people get pregnant so easily? Clearly I was having a dramatic moment.
Then my mom said something to me that I don’t think I’ll be forgetting. She gently asked me “Callie, why not you?”
She explained to me what she meant, and I had a miniature epiphany. Because she was right.
Why not me? I have a supportive husband, supportive family, sweet friends to talk with. I have resources. I have the finances to seek treatment if necessary. I have my relationship with the Lord. And I’m not one to let these trials go to waste – I’d rather use what the Lord has brought me through to encourage others.
If someone in the world had to have fertility problems, I’d say I’m an ideal candidate.
God doesn’t give us more than we can handle, and sometimes He lets us go through hard times because ultimately it will bring Him glory. With His help I can handle this again, if that’s what He gives me, and He will see me through.
Even if it’s just as hard as last time. Even if it takes longer or more to make it happen. Even if it never happens again at all.
He’s got this, and I’ve got this, and why not me?
Because come what may, He will be walking with us and I’ll be fine.
(2016: Please note that this is a series I wrote several years ago as a general overview of my experience as a homeschool student. If you have any questions about homeschooling and my homeschool experience, please comment below, and I would love to address them in future posts. Thanks for reading!)
I’ve been wanting to start this series on homeschooling, and honestly it’s leaving me overwhelmed. There is so much to say on the subject. I have a million posts written out in my head, and it’s intimidating me to just sit down and type them out. But if I don’t start it’s never going to get written, so please forgive me if this first post is less than stellar. I’m going to start out simply by writing about my own homeschooling experience.
I wasn’t always homeschooled. I went to public school first through third grade. My mom was actually considering homeschooling me in kindergarten, but she got intimidated and decided to send my siblings and me to public school.
Most of my public school memories revolve around me trying to do everything “right” in the classroom, and trying to not to be embarrassed either in front of or by the other kids. But kids are mean, and embarrassing things did happen at times. Those were low points in my educational existence, and I did what I could to be “cool” and not let it happen again.
My mom wanted to be involved in our education, even if she wasn’t teaching us, and she volunteered to help out at the school, so sometimes she would get to see us during the school day. I was never embarrassed by my mom being there. Everyone loved my mom, and I did too.
Being at the school allowed my mom to know more about what was going on with our education, and little things started to bother her.
For example, we had storytime in the school library, and she didn’t agree with some of the things in these seemingly harmless children’s books (it amazing how agendas are sneaked into books for kids).
Apparently I was also a little over-obsessed with the “rules”. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but my mom started noticing that during the school year I would get very serious and concerned with doing everything “right”. There were times when she stopped by my classroom, and I would barely glance at her, maybe give her a quick smile, but then I wouldn’t look at her again for fear of getting in trouble. During the summer I would usually get back to my happy, care-free self, but over the couple years I was in school she noticed that it took me longer and longer to get back to normal.
This is a good example of why it’s important to consider the individual child’s needs when looking at education choices – not every kid has this “personality change” problem because they go to public school, but I did.
Mostly her concerns were just a bunch of little things, but in combination with the fact that homeschooling was at the back of her mind anyway – well, it started to all add up.
From what I remember, the final straw was when she was looking over the agenda for the rest of the school year and noticed that they were planning on taking my class on a field trip to a Buddhist temple (which I still find incredible – you know they would never consider taking kids on a field trip to a church, but it’s okay to go to a Buddhist temple?).
As a Christian this was disturbing to her (it would be to me too!), and she and my dad decided she could teach us herself. Being at the school with us for those years gave her confidence that she could teach us what we needed to know, and my dad was totally on board.
So the year I started fourth grade, I woke up, got dressed, pretended to take the “bus” upstairs, and started my first day of school at home.
To read the rest of my homeschool story, check out these posts:
Disclaimer: I feel the need to include this, because I know many of you are teachers. I am not a fan of the public school system, and I plan to homeschool my own kids - which is part of the reason I have written out my story, to remind myself of where I came. However, I do think the majority of teachers in the public school system do the best they can, and I’m sure each of you reading who might teach in public school are amazing at your jobs! So please keep that in mind as you read.
I tossed around several ideas for Wyatt’s first birthday party theme, but the second that the thought of a cowboy theme came up, I knew that was what I wanted to do. Here are some pictures of the invitations, decorations, and food for Wyatt’s First Birthday Round-Up!
Invitations: I made them myself with a blank card set and my scrapbooking software.
1. I ordered a reprint of a 1950’s children’s book to use as a guestbook – guests wrote Wyatt a birthday message on the inside.
2. I made “Cowboy” Coffee Cupcakes and Root Beer Float Cupcakes, and I baked them in mason jars – I made the tags and tied them to the jars with raffia.
3. I made the “Happy Birthday” banner with burlap and cowboy fabric, then stenciled the letters onto it.
5. Ordered the birthday cake from King Soopers.
6. Root Beer Float station.
7. Monthly picture banner – I used string and mini clothespins to hang up Wyatt’s monthly pictures. It was a great way for everyone to see how much he’s grown during his first year.
8. We served coffee, and I made the sign that says “Coffee – strong enough to float a horseshoe.” Derek had all my signs and tags laminated for me.
9. Wyatt’s highchair, with a sign that says “This seat is reserved for the Birthday Cowboy, Wyatt!”
10. Guest book station, and I also put out a stuffed bear that Derek bought for me while I was in labor. I had a picture of Wyatt as a newborn with the bear that I displayed for comparison. He was barely bigger than that teddy bear!
11. Chili and cornbread for dinner.
12. Birthday Boy shirt from Target (on clearance last summer).
13. Tied the balloons up with thread – so much better than trying to use tape!
The links are either to recipes, or to some of the ideas that we modified or used for our party.
Overall, I’m really happy with the way everything turned out – I gathered everything gradually over the last six months, so it didn’t hurt my wallet much; I had a lot of fun making the banners and signs and putting everything together; the mason jars, rafia, and twine I’ll use for other projects in the future, so the extra won’t go to waste; and the decorations aren’t specific to a first birthday, so I can keep all the decorations and do another cowboy-themed party a few years down the road!
Blog posts are actually what got me started on thinking about cloth diapering. Honestly, I had never even considered it before, but shortly after I had Wyatt it seemed like I was hearing about cloth diapers somewhere every week! There were a lot of posts from fellow bloggers that I found helpful, and I starred them at the time thinking I might use cloth on our next child.
Then I had a little panic attack about how much money we were wasting on disposables, and I decided to give it a go. I was glad I had all those posts starred, because they were great to refer back to.
So this is a list of the posts that I read way back then and some that I’ve found since that I have found helpful. There are probably more that I’m forgetting, but these were the ones that I starred.
Ashley wrote a great series on cloth diapers:
- How And Why We Chose Cloth
- Brands And Styles
- Accessories And Wipes
- Caring For Our Diapers
- Out And About
Leanna wrote a post on cloth diapering which is what got me to thinking about it in the first place.
Jenene wrote a two-part series, and I bought some of our diapers based on recommendations from her.
Bridget wrote a very informative post, and her post made the washing process sound really simple.
Rachel wrote a post on the products and routine she uses as well.
Chloe wrote a post on cloth diapering, and she uses some diapers that I haven’t heard of before. I might give them a try after reading her post.
Lauren wrote a post that included a lot of great resources (if you’re interested in further reading) and she wrote a post with her thoughts on how cloth diapering has worked for her family.
And finally, Brittany wrote a post recently that I thought was helpful as well.
And that’s it, so if you are considering cloth diapering, definitely check these posts out!
I recently read "The Christmas Singing" by Cindy Woodsmall. The book is an Amish romance novel about Mattie, a cake-maker who had her heart broken by Gideon three years earlier. She had built a new life in Ohio when her cake shop burned down and she returns home - but that puts her back in contact with Gideon, and she realizes that the reason she always thought he broke up with her may not be the truth.
I really liked this book. It was just a light, fun book, and the length was perfect for a quick read. Nothing too horrible happened, and it was a sweet story. The characters were likable. This book didn't go as much into Amish customs as many Amish books I've read, and the story could have been written about non-Amish people too, but I thought the Amish setting added alot of charm, as it always seems to. I would recommend this book to anyone looking for something light and happy, and I enjoyed it very much.
Note: I was given access to this book by Waterbrook Multnomah publishing group in exchange for this review. This is my honest opinion.
Speaking of Christmas-type books, what are some of your favorites? I'd love to hear!
I really liked this book. It was just a light, fun book, and the length was perfect for a quick read. Nothing too horrible happened, and it was a sweet story. The characters were likable. This book didn't go as much into Amish customs as many Amish books I've read, and the story could have been written about non-Amish people too, but I thought the Amish setting added alot of charm, as it always seems to. I would recommend this book to anyone looking for something light and happy, and I enjoyed it very much.
Note: I was given access to this book by Waterbrook Multnomah publishing group in exchange for this review. This is my honest opinion.
Speaking of Christmas-type books, what are some of your favorites? I'd love to hear!
I’ve got more cloth diapering tips from fellow bloggers this week, and they have some really helpful advice if you are thinking about cloth diapering! Read on.
“I used Josiah's Nest blog to help me get started. Moriah was so helpful in giving me pointers and answering all my questions. And I just kept asking others who were doing cloth what they thought. I believe all of us ended up using a different brand *lol* Like I said, it's like disposable. Some styles work and some don't =)
As for supplies and such, you want at least 12-15 diapers to start with. The baby will go through about 8 a day depending on amount of poops, etc so you want to have enough for an entire day plus a good start the next so you have time to wash and let them air dry.
As for washing: I use charlie's soap and do a hot wash with a cold rinse with an extra rinse. Then I do 2 extra rinses with warm/cold water. My washer is HE so I can set it up so it doesn't seem so bad - haha. Takes about an hour and 30 minutes with our washer. I then let them hang dry. You CANNOT use regular soap or detergent, diaper rash cream, etc with these diapers. I also hang them outside when it's warm to let the sun bleach them if there are any stains. Charlie's soap does great with getting them super clean =)
Good luck and feel free to contact me with any questions =)
Or if you want to buy the fitted size small Fuzzibunz off me to try. Its a good way to get them used initially so you aren't paying full price to see what brands you end up liking!”
“So far we've only used one brand of cloth diapers, BumGenius Organic Elemental All-in-On One-Size. I don't have many complaints about them but I would say if you have the opportunity to try a few different kinds, go for it and don't jump in with 2 feet and commit to one brand right away. I wish I'd gone the way of sample packs to start with (just so I had something to compare to)! To get started I would suggest a 6-10 diapers that way you get a feel for them before you have to go wash again. Add in a wet bag and some detergent and you're all set! We use the BumGenius detergent since we could buy it in bulk. We
I wrote 2 posts about cloth diapers.
The before: http://meetthechapmans.blogspot.com/2011/05/diaper-debate.html
The after (part 1-before solids): http://meetthechapmans.blogspot.com/2011/11/cloth-diaper-update-part-1-before.html”
“First of all, I've only been cloth diapering two kids for about 3 years, so I'm far from an expert. However, I have been able to try many different cloth diapering systems and have finally decided what works well for us. Which brings me to the first point of cloth diapering; different things work for different families. Keep this in mind when you're purchasing cloth diapers. It's far better to buy one or two of a style, see if it works for your baby, and then later decide if you want to purchase more. The wonderful thing about cloth diapering is that if you purchase a diaper, use it a few times and find that it's not quite working for your baby, you can easily resell it on Ebay, or Craigslist. I purchased a lot of our cloth diapers through the popular Mom and baby deal-a-day sites (such as Baby Steals, Hippo Baby Bargains, Baby Half Off, etc) and in that case, it was very helpful for me to visit diaperpin.com and read their product review pages. On their website, Mom's have given unbiased reviews on nearly every cloth diaper out there. So helpful, considering many of them go into detail about the build and weights of their babies.
Our favorite cloth diapers have been GroVia, Thirsties, and BumGenius (in that order). After a few years of cloth diapering, I now prefer 100% cotton against babies bum. The sun bleaches cotton so much nicer and they do not hold odor like the synthetics do. We do a combination of all in ones, pocket diapers, and fitted diapers with covers. I really don't have a preference over one or the other, after a while it's all easy. Even my husband doesn't complain, he just grabs the nearest diaper and puts in on the nearest kid. :)
If you're finding yourself intimidated by cloth diapering, you're not alone. At first it is overwhelming. So many choices, and you want to make the right ones the first time. But, you have to remember this is not the biggest parenting choice you'll make. Try it, if it works great, if not you can sell your "stash" and no harm is done. But, I will say that if you are wanting to try it at all, go for it! Some people insist that it will take time away from their family to cloth diaper their child(ren), but it absolutely does not. It's just as quick to change a cloth diaper as it is a disposable, and when it comes to the laundry - it's really nothing. 
It's absolutely impossible for me to write about cloth diapering in short form, but I'll pass on a few links that I've found helpful through this cloth diapering adventure. Much is by trial and error, but I can assure you that when you find the right cloth diapers, you will enjoy the ease and huge, huge money savings.
http://ameliathompson.blogspot.com/search/label/Cloth%20Diapers (My friend Amelia has an excellent 5 part series on cloth diapering, including how to sew your own!)
http://thoughtsnwhatnots.blogspot.com/2011/04/cloth-diapering-101.html (A blog post I wrote back in April, with a little more detail about what works for our family.)”
-Leanna at Thoughts And Whatnots
“If you are thinking of giving cloth diapering a go, just do it! It is not as complicated as some might think. In fact, for me, it is truly easier than dealing with disposables. Perhaps it's just because that's what I'm used to now. You can find many gently 
-Natalie at Extraordinary Love
Thank you ladies for all your fabulous advice!
I'm going to take a break on the cloth diapering posts until after the New Year, but when January comes keep an eye out for a cloth diapering resource post, and my story/final thoughts on cloth diapering!
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