3 hours ago
I recently agreed to review "Simple Secrets To A Happy Life" by Luci Swindoll, mostly because the title drew me in. Who doesn't want to have a happy life? And simple, practical tips are always my favorite.
I loved this book. It contains fifty chapters each on a different "simple secret", which include everything from thoughts on friendship, taking care of your health, and helping others to fun suggestions like setting up a home library or cooking a special meal just for yourself. The chapters are brief and read almost like blog posts, which is right up my ally. But even though each chapter isn't very long there is a ton of wisdom packed into each one, gleaned from Luci's 80 years of life experience.
I love Luci's writing style, and her personality shines through each chapter. In the process of reading this book I think I've also found another favorite author, and I'll be looking for other books by Luci Swindoll after reading this one.
I definitely would recommend this book for anyone and everyone. It was sometimes helpful, sometimes thought-provoking, and overall an encouraging and inspiring read!
Note: I received a copy this book from Book Sneeze, a review program run by Thomas Nelson publishing group, in exchange for this review - this is my honest opinion of the book.
After re-doing my blog design last week I got a lot of requests to do a post on how to design your own blog. So I decided to do a little mini-series on blog design! There is so much to say on the subject that if I said it all in one post it would be way too long. Who am I kidding, even with splitting the posts up they are still going to be way too long, but I know if you really want to know how I do my blog designs you’ll stick with me.
Create A Test Blog
Before I start getting into the nitty-gritty of Blog Designing 101, I want to say that I am a huge proponent of having a test blog. Back when I was still pretty new at doing my own blog designs I read “Blogging In Pink” by Michelle Mitchell (I recommend this book – very informative), and she suggested having a test blog when you mess with your template, because that way if you seriously mess something up it’s just on the test blog, not your real one.
This was more important back in the day (I feel old saying that) when to adjust colors and widths you had to go into the actual html code of your blog and adjust it there – because if you mess up the html code, it’s really hard to figure out where the error is, and you could just crash your whole blog. Thankfully Blogger came up with their “Template Designer”, so all of those adjustments can be made without going into the html code now. Thus making it a lot less scary and more accessible!
However, I still love having my test blog, because I can do all the final adjustments to details on there – that way my real blog isn’t in shambles for a day or two while I figure out exactly how I want it to look. So yes, create a test blog. My test blog is here, if you want to check it out. It looks pretty similar to my real blog, you’ll notice, because I do all my adjustments on that blog before they go on my real blog. Trust me, it’s handy.
On to what you really want to read about.
I’ve been doing my own blog designs for about three (?) years, and generally there are only three things you need to make your blog design – a layout you like, a background, and a header. You can also do other details like buttons. In this post I’m going to talk about templates/layouts and background images.
Choose A Layout
Before you even start thinking about colors and fonts and buttons, you have to decide generally how you want the layout of your blog to be. Do you want it wide or narrow? Do you want a three-column or two-column layout?
You can adjust all that in the Template Designer.
(Note: Click on any of the images in this post to make them bigger)
Choose a template first – I have mine set to Simple, because I think I have more room in that template to make it exactly what I want, and I like everything laying flat against the background of my blog – but you can also work with any of the other templates the same way.
Next, choose a layout (three-column, two-column, etc.)
Then you can adjust the widths of your different columns. You can see in the photo what the widths of my blog are.
Note: I have my blog set to be so wide because I don’t have a background with this design – if you want your background to show you’ll have to make your blog narrower than 1250 pixels.
Once you have that set how you want it you can start to work on the fun stuff!
Backgrounds
Like I said, for my current blog design I don’t have a background, but I have had backgrounds in most of my templates over the years. There are a few ways to obtain a background image for your blog – (1) use pre-set backgrounds from blog design websites (I used Cutest Blog On The Block and Smitten Blog Design backgrounds in the early years of this blog), (2) make a background image from an image you get somewhere on the web, or (3) make your own.
Like I said, I used to stick with pre-made backgrounds from blog designing websites (there are a lot of websites that have freebies like that), but I got tired after a while of being confined to specific backgrounds and having the little tags on my backgrounds saying where they were made – so I looked into making my own.
I started making my own backgrounds and headers for my blog using digital scrapbooking websites. But, as I learned after a while, when using other people’s graphics to design your blog you have to be aware of copyright laws. It struck me one day that I wasn’t quite sure if using backgrounds from scrapbooking websites violated the Terms of Use. I e-mailed the website I was using to try to find out, and they couldn’t really give me a straight answer, but this is what I gathered – if you purchase a digital scrapbooking kit, you most likely (they couldn’t tell me for sure) also purchased a license for private use that would allow you to use the graphics for your blog. So basically, if you want to be safe, only use graphics that you purchased to create blog designs – then you are most likely fine.
Since I didn’t purchase anything from that website, I decided to stop using those free sites to design my blog and just invest in a digital scrapbooking software in the future. Then I won a giveaway for My Memories scrapbooking software (it was very timely) and I started using that.
If you are going to use a digital scrapbooking software, I recommend using My Memories, because they straight-up say in their Terms of Use that it’s fine to use any digital scrapbooking kits for private blog designs as long as you give credit to the designer on your page – you can just add a text gadget on the footer of your blog to say what kit you used and who designed it, and you’re good to go. Check my sidebar for a $10 off coupon.
When you download the software I think they also give you a $10 coupon code to use toward scrapbooking kits, so you can buy one to use in designing your blog. They also have a bunch of freebies. Total, I think it comes out to about $30 for the software, including $10 worth of kits, which I think is worth it since it also gives you the freedom to change up your design in the future inexpensively. I tend to change my design a lot, so for someone like me it’s a good investment.
Anyway, with the Blogger Template Designer, all you need to do to add a background to your blog is to have a JPEG image that you would like to use.
If you are using a background from a scrapbooking software and kit, just add the background of your choice to a new page, then save it as a JPEG. In My Memories, this is what that looks like, and most scrapbooking programs should have a similar option:
Save the image to a JPEG. Then add it to your blog in the template designer:
You’ll have to compress your image so that it’s no bigger than 300 KB. I usually do this in Microsoft Picture Manager. Note: Make sure to compress, not re-size – if you re-size it so that it’s only 300 KB it’ll be way too small! You’ll also have to choose the option to tile your background image if it’s not the 1800 x 1600 pixels needed for a full background.
Making Your Own Background Image
You can also make your own background image for your blog, which I think is the most ideal option. For one thing It will be exclusively yours – no other blog on the web will have that same background. And when you make all your own graphics you don’t have to give credit to anyone else, which is always nice. Plus there is the pride of a job well done!
There are many ways to make your own background image, but I’ll tell you a couple of methods I’ve used thus far.
The first background image I made all by myself was by editing a photo of my own in Picnik (which is no longer available), but there are a lot of other photo-editing websites you can use, I’m sure.
Note: I’ve heard (from Tami) that PicMonkey is a good replacement for Picnik.
Here is an example of a way I edited my own photo for a background - I used the sketch filter on Picnik (along with a couple others I think) and adjusted the coloring to my liking. Just be creative, combine filters, and see what you can come up with!
I used that background in my blog design last fall.
You can also create a simple background in Photoshop Elements, which I’ve done as well. There are a lot of tutorials on how to do this, but I think the easiest way is to just create a blank file:
Fill in the blank file with the color of your choice using the paint can tool, then select the cookie cutter tool. Click on the little arrows and select “All Element Shapes”.
Choose a shape you like and click and drag to create the shape over your color file. Click on the checkmark if you like it.
Then select your shape layer, right click, and duplicate it (many, many times).
Click and drag the duplicated shapes until they create a pattern.
I’m not going to fill the whole page for this tutorial, but you’ll want to fill the whole page. Then save the file as a JPEG, and you have yourself a background image!
Okay, I think that’s about all I could possibly say about choosing a template and creating a background – if you have any questions about any of what I covered so far, send me an e-mail at throughcloudedglass@gmail.com or leave a comment.
In the next post I’m going to cover headers, social media buttons, and other details, so stay tuned!
When we started using cloth diapers several months ago, I knew I wanted to try several different brands. One of the main pieces of advice that I heard was not to put all my cloth diapering eggs in one basket, so I’ve tried several brands, and we’ve developed some favorites! This is a post on my opinion of the brands we’ve tried.
First, a few terms (note, this isn’t a comprehensive list, I’m just covering the terms that I use in this post):
Inserts - The absorbent part of a cloth diaper.
Pocket diaper – This type of diaper consists of a cover that has a “pocket” that you slide the inserts into. The insert itself doesn’t touch your baby, the inner lining of the cover is against your baby’s bum. You can use one or two inserts to adjust the absorbency.
Snap-in Inserts – This type of diaper has a cover and inserts that snap into the cover – so the inserts are right against your baby’s bottom. One plus to this type is that you don’t have to separate the inserts from the cover before you wash them like you do with pocket diapers.
One-size – Diapers with multiple rows of snaps so you can adjust the diaper to fit your baby as he/she grows.
Fitted diapers – Diapers that are made for a specific size, similar to the different sizes of disposables. You have to buy the next size up as your baby grows.
Bamboo and Microfiber – Different materials that inserts are made of.
Minky – Material sometimes used for cloth diaper covers, has a protective coating on the inside to make it waterproof.
PUL – Polyurethane Laminate – A waterproof material used to make cloth diaper covers.
Alright, on with the reviews, shall we?
gDiapers Fitted – $37-40 for a 2-pack on Amazon, not including inserts
Inserts with Plastic Liner and Cloth Cover (inserts not shown here)
I was not a fan. I tried these because we had a gift card we needed to use and the store sold gDiapers. These diapers are a little pricey since they don’t come with the inserts – you have to buy inserts separately to lay inside the plastic liner. When I did use them I got leaks because there is nothing to secure the inserts to the liners, so they just slide around. I like the fact that in theory you can use the cover and plastic liner over again if it’s just a wet diaper, but I didn’t get to try because of the leaks.
Maybe I’m using them wrong and need to give them another try? I don’t know. As of right now I’m not a fan.
Oh Katy One Size - $17.95 on Amazon
Pocket Diaper
I really, really liked this cloth diaper when we first got it. I liked the way it fit Wyatt, and I hardly ever got a leak with it. Wyatt grew quite a bit though after we got it, and I feel like we went through an awkward stage where it didn’t quite fit him right, and we got a few leaks. We’re over the hump again now, I think, because I haven’t had any problems the last few times I’ve used it. I think this diaper would especially be good for smaller babies – it’s pretty trim, and it buttons up pretty small. I’m thinking I’ll probably get a few more of these before our next baby, since I’ll probably start cloth diapering the next baby at a younger age (we started around 7-8 months with Wyatt).
I don’t have a good comparison picture since I only have one Oh Katy diaper right now, but this is the diaper snapped all the way down. It’s pretty small when you see it in person. I think it would fit a new baby just fine. I’ll let you know for sure when I have a new baby to try it out on.
Fuzzibunz One Size – $19.95 from Sweet Bottoms
Pocket Diaper
I heard so many good things about Fuzzibunz, but I feel like it didn’t really live up to my expectations. This is the diaper that we get the most leaks with, and I’m really not sure why. I think certain brands just fit the shape of certain babies better, and this one did not work for Wyatt. I’ll try it on the next kid, but I feel like my Fuzzibunz experience is a good example of why it’s a good idea to try a few different brands when you first start.
Kawaii One Size – $10.25-10.75 from Sweet Bottoms
Pocket Diaper
I love this diaper! We have had very few leaks with Kawaii diapers. They also make a heavy-duty nighttime diaper (the polka dot one in this picture), and with both inserts Wyatt has gone 12+ hours in that diaper without a leak at night. I’m planning on buying another of the nighttime diapers so we can use cloth more at night – right now we use mostly use disposables overnight. These diapers are also a much better price than the majority of the brands out there, and they work better than the other brands I’ve tried.
Kawaii One Size Minky/Bamboo - $12.95 from Sweet Bottoms
Pocket Diaper
I did buy the minky, bamboo-insert Kawaii diaper, and I didn’t like that diaper as much. Bamboo inserts are very soft, but the fabric is also not as firm as microfiber inserts, and when I used the bamboo inserts with the minky cover (which was also not as stiff as the PUL diapers), the insert tended to slide around inside the diaper, and when it wasn’t laying flat we had leaks.
I started using microfiber inserts with the minky cover, and the bamboo inserts in PUL covers, and we haven’t had any problems with it this way. I do like the bamboo inserts in theory – they are slimmer and just as absorbent as microfiber, plus they are supposed to have less of a tendency to develop odor, but I do not like the bamboo inserts with the minky cover.
Pocket Diaper
These are my favorite diapers. We use these most because I have more of them, and they leak less than the other brands I’ve tried (they are about the same as our Kawaii diapers as far as leaking goes). They fit Wyatt really well. I’m not sure how they would work on smaller babies (as in less than 6 months old), because they run a little bigger than the other brands I’ve tried, but I’ll be trying them on our next baby in the first six months so I’ll let you know. These diapers are still going to fit Wyatt for a while, and they work really well with his shape.
Plus they are really cute. They have a bunch of fun patterns and colors. A lot of brands charge more for patterned diapers, but Sunbaby had a lot of options and they were all the same price (Kawaii also has a lot of patterns for no more expense).
Plus they are cheap! They are made in China (I’m not sure what I think about that), but the company was started by a mom in China. They are half to a fifth of the price of other brands.
A few drawbacks are that (1) you have to order them directly from her, so they take a little while to get all the way from China to the US, (2) they are not sold in the US anywhere, so you can’t check them out before you buy, and (3) you have to buy twelve or twenty-four diapers at a time.
But at $5 a diaper, twelve of them only cost me $60 (and when I bought them shipping to the US was free). I’d only get 3-5 of any other diaper for that amount, and so I decided to give them a try. I’m glad I did, because they are my favorites. When we get pregnant with our next baby I’ll be ordering more of these.
Note: I did check out the website again and it looks like they are selling two sizes now – but they are still adjustable in size, they just have a slightly bigger and smaller option. The bigger size just looks a little longer. Technically they would still be “One Size” diapers since you can adjust them as your baby grows. It also looks like they have more buying options now – you can buy just six instead of twelve or twenty-four.
I could go on about Sunbaby diapers, but instead I’ll just say that if you have any more questions about that brand to send me an e-mail at throughcloudedglass@gmail.com.
Itti Bitti Tutto One Size - $24-27 on Amazon
Snap-in Inserts
I was really interested to try an Itti Bitti diaper because they have a reputation of being one of the slimmest diapers on the market. So when the opportunity presented itself to buy one used from a friend, I had to give it a try.
I was disappointed. They don’t seem any slimmer than any of my other diapers. I’m sure the fitted Itti Bitti’s are slimmer than the one-size diapers, but I’m not spending $20/diaper on fitteds when my baby will just outgrow them in a couple months and I’ll have to buy more (who has money to spend that much on a full stash of fitted Itti Bitti’s anyway?). I don’t think they are worth the money. Not even close. But I’m glad I bought one to try or I would have always wondered.
My favorite diapers are by far the Sunbaby and Kawaii diapers. I think Oh Katy diapers could be my favorite for younger babies, but I’ll have to wait and see. I really don’t even have to try any others besides those three brands at this point, unless it’s for fun.
The only other brand that I’m curious to try would be Rumparooz, because I like the idea of the double layer of elastic around the legs – I think it might be handy for the first few months before solids, if you know what I mean. But at $23-25 a diaper, I’ll have to think long and hard about it.
If you are thinking of trying cloth diapers, keep in mind that Sweet Bottoms Baby Boutique has free shipping within the US on any order. Also, I am an affiliate of Sweet Bottomes Baby Boutique, so if I linked to Sweet Bottoms in this post it was an affiliate link, and I do get store credit when someone buys something through the link. Just to be up-front about it. But I did order cloth diapers (and our diaper sprayer) from them before I ever became an affiliate. I mean, who doesn’t love free shipping? Anyway . . .
If anyone has any questions about any of the brands that I listed, let me know!
(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!)
One thing I left out in my recaps of my homeschooled life was the spiritual aspect of my homeschooling story. But that is one of the most important aspects, so I want to write about it here.
When I was in public school I remembering focusing a lot on what the other kids thought of me. It was mortifying if something embarrassing happened, or if someone made fun of me, and I conformed to keep myself from embarrassment (there is certainly conformity even in elementary school).
Once we started homeschooling that focus on what others thought was removed from me. I knew what my family thought of me – they loved me. I knew what my friends though of me – they liked me, and if there was someone who didn’t like me I didn’t have to be around them.
When I wasn’t focused so much on what others thought of me, it opened up time for me to be thinking about what God thought of me. I started wanting to please Him more, not out of a legalistic standard, but because I knew He loved me enough to die for me. I remember a lot more thoughts about spiritual things passing through my head after we started homeschooling. I’m sure part of the reason for this was because I was just getting older and naturally thinking about the things of God more, but that wasn’t all of it. I started doing my own devotions shortly after we left the public school system, the friends I was around were Christian friends, I was saturated with God’s word throughout the school day, andI believe this environment allowed me to grow spiritually.
I honestly don’t know how I would have turned out if I had continued in public school. I can only guess based on those three years of experience in public school, and during those three years I did what I had to do to “survive” the jungle of grade school. Would I have continued to adapt and “blend in” as I grew older? I don’t know.
I know I would have held to some standards, because even in elementary school I did that. I didn’t do what was wrong, I stood up to my friends when I felt they were leaving someone out, I asked my friends not to cuss around me. But I also remember not being very nice to other kids myself sometimes. I remember going along with what the other kids said at times, even if what they said was rude or wrong, just so I didn’t have to deal with confrontation. It’s hard for me to know which side of the spectrum would have won out as the years rolled on.
Some people argue that homeschoolers never have situations where they have to stand up for their faith, so when they are thrown into college or the “real” world they won’t have any practice and their faith will be shaken. That was not my experience. In my personal experience, and from what I observed of many of my friends whose parents were especially focused on training their children in the faith, those years of homeschooling provided a solid foundation for our faith, so that college could not shake it.
Those years of homeschooling gave me such a solid foundation in my faith because the gospel wasn’t just something I heard on Sundays or at night when I got home. When kids are in public school, they learn about the Lord on Sundays, and probably in the evenings and on the weekends from their parents. But the majority of the hours for the majority of the days of the week? The world gets those hours to pour whatever they want into them, and it’s frowned upon to talk about your faith or relate your faith to your education in a public school environment.
With homeschooling, it was okay to talk about my faith in the context of my education. My faith was reinforced to me daily through our devotions which my mom included in our curriculum. The curriculum itself was not against what I believed, and since we used Christian curriculum it often presented the evidence and perspectives that supported my faith; Christian kids don’t get the Christian perspective on subjects in public school. In fact, they often get the exact opposite perspective.
When I did go to college, and the professors started throwing their agendas at me, it didn’t phase me, because I had a solid foundation. It didn’t surprise me, because my parents and the curriculum we used had already discussed worldview other than my own. I knew why I believed what I did.
I will say this – I think my relationship with Jesus was much stronger through those years than it would have been had I gone to public school. I know myself. I know my weaknesses. I know that if I had been in public school, my faith would not have been the focus for me. It still would have been very important to me, I still would have believed in Jesus. But as far as really developing my relationship with the Lord, and making Him the most important thing in my life? I can’t honestly say whether that would have been the case.
Regardless, from a spiritual perspective I am so glad that my parents decided to homeschool me. It made me who I am today, it gave me the confidence to stand firm in what I believe, and it helped strengthen my faith enough to withstand everything that was thrown at me later without any wavering. For that I will always be grateful. And if I have a chance to give my kids that same advantage that I felt I received through homeschooling? You bet I’m going to take it.
Check out the rest of the posts in this series:
Note: Before I get comments I also wanted to clarify that I’m not saying kids in public school are going to have a weak relationship with the Lord, and homeschoolers will have a strong relationship with the Lord. I’m just stating my experience, I’m not making a general statement. Obviously, as always, every child is going to have a different reaction and is going to handle things differently. I’m just saying for me, with my personality at the time, it was a good thing for my spiritual life to be homeschooled. I also think that, for Christian families, homeschooling can’t do anything but help kids spiritually. It certainly isn’t going to harm the spiritual conviction of our kids – I’ve never seen that, and it always surprises me when people try to make that argument. That’s all.
(If it looks like I am pregnant in this photo - uh, it's because I am. The photos in these posts are not from my actual days as a student. I apologize for this inaccuracy...)
Note: Since I originally wrote this post, I read the book "The Well-Adjusted Child" by Rachel Gathercole. It is the most thorough work I have read addressing the socialization question that constantly follows discussions of homeschooling. I highly recommend it.
(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!)
(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!)
As far as academics go, it’s been well documented that homeschoolers do very well on standardized tests (more on that in future posts, but please see the resources at the end of this post for the stats), but when most people bring up concerns about homeschooling, it always revolves around the social aspect. This was an area that the Lord worked out for us in the beginning especially.
Shortly after we started homeschooling we started going to a new church. It was a small church, and there were other kids our age there. The kids were all homeschooled. From the beginning we had a good support group at that church, and I met some wonderful friends there, including my dear friend Hazel who I’ve mentioned before on this blog.
According to the law in our state, when you homeschool you still have to be enrolled with either the local public school or a private umbrella school for homeschoolers. Many families choose the umbrella school option because it’s specifically meant for homeschooled families, and you get a lot more support and access to homeschooling events and resources. My mom enrolled us in an umbrella school for homeschoolers as soon as we started. The umbrella school keeps track of records for homeschoolers and awards them a diploma once they’ve reached all the requirements to graduate, but all the work is still done at home. They also often put together field trips for homeschoolers, and we did many of these field trips growing up.
My mom would later take over that umbrella school, and she ran it successfully for many years; she ran it until we all graduated and she handed it off to someone else. I remember sometimes helping my mom address envelopes for newsletters for all the families who were a part of the school. I also met my dear friend, Erin, through the school when her mom called up my mom for some recommendations.
As far as socializing, we started to realize there were a lot more homeschoolers around than we thought. We started going to a Community Bible Study in our area, and this CBS was unique in that it had a program for all the homeschooled children of the women who attended. So while my mom went to her classes, we all went to ours and met more homeschooled friends. Within a couple years my mom started leading one of the classes, and we got to spend the whole morning there doing our schoolwork with some of the other kids whose moms were leaders. We continued at that Bible study for years, and I met my dear friend Ashley there.
(I realize that I just said “dear friend” three times there, but it’s because to this day I’m still friends with each of these girls and consider them some of my closest friends. They are very dear to me, all three!)
I haven’t really mentioned anything about sports because I was never interested in doing any sports. I’m not athletically gifted, or coordinated. I love that quote in The Princess Diaries where Mia says that she is more of a horse-back riding, rock-climbing girl, and that her "hand-eye coordination is zero". That would be me as well.
My brother, however, did want to play sports, and he was able to participate in all the sports that interested him. He played with Little League Baseball, and when he reached middle school he played with the basketball team at our local public school (you could sign up for sports or other extra-curricular activites at the public school without having to go to any classes there, at least in my state - there are even more options for part-time programs at public school today). He also started on the wrestling team with one of his public-school friends; he was very good at wrestling and continued through high school.
I will say that I went through a stage (*ahem*, puberty) where I sometimes wished I had more of an opportunity to meet boys (there weren’t many that I was interested in, or that were interested in me, at church or CBS). However, in early high school I started with a homeschool youth group that gave me more opportunity to meet people (ie. boys, because that seemed so important back then). I didn’t feel like I was missing out on friendships with boys for long.
I remember sometimes wondering what it would be like to get to see the person you liked every day at school, but you know what? Not seeing my crushes every day didn’t hurt me a bit. Honestly, there was probably ess “boyfriend material” available for me at public school than in the groups I was in as a homeschooler. I was a Christian and wasn’t willing to date anyone who wasn’t, but I am sure that standard would have been challenged in public school, which wouldn’t have been helpful. It probably actually would have been detrimental at that stage of my life.
I never felt deprived when it came to friends. I had my sister and brother who I saw every day, and we became close through the homeschooling years; we were each others’ best friends. I met other friends in many places, and I am still friends with many of my childhood friends today. I didn’t need school to develop friendships, because my mom made sure we had plenty of social opportunities. That’s the key to "socialization" in homeschooling, and I find most mothers are very attentive to providing these opportunities for their kids.
That last year one of the moms in our umbrella school talked with my mom about putting on a homeschool prom. Her daughter wanted to do some sort of dance before she graduated, and I am glad someone organized this because we were able to have a prom. We had a good turnout of homeschoolers from the umbrella school.
None of us really knew how to dance. (Actually, most public high schoolers probably don’t know how to really dance either. I’m joking. Kind of.) We hired a dance teacher and all of us showed up the day before the prom for dance lessons. We had so much fun.
We all came to prom dressed up – very few of us had dates, which actually made it more fun because everyone danced with everyone. No one was a wall-flower; everyone just wanted to have a good time, and we did. Looking back, if I had a choice, I would still choose not to have a date, because it took the pressure off and I got to dance with almost everyone – so there is no looking back on my prom with that guy who I never spoke to again. It is a purely good memory.
At my college graduation.
I didn’t have a graduation ceremony, but I didn’t really miss it, though there are homeschool groups that will do graduation ceremonies for homeschoolers. I walked in my ceremony once I graduated from college, and that was the important one to me.
Are you noticing a trend here? For anything you could possibly miss in public school there is a group somewhere that will provide that for homeschoolers. Except for partying. I don’t think there’s a group that runs that.
(That was a joke, guys, don’t send me e-mails.)
One more post and I’ll wrap this story up! You can read all the posts in this series here:
Resources:
1. The Washington Times, Homeschooling: Outstanding Results On National Tests, August 30, 2009, copyright 2012 Washington Times.
2. Dr. Brian Ray, Strengths of Their Own: Home Schoolers Across America, National Home Education Research Institute, Salem, OR, 1997.
3. For more information about the above study and other similar studies, read this article: Klicka, Christopher J., Academic Statistics On Homeschooling, October 22, 2004, copyright 2004 HSLDA.
4. Home Schoolers Score Significantly Above National Average, National Center for Home Education Press Release, December 7, 1994.
5. For more details on the above study read this article: Klicka, Christopher J., Homeschool Students Excel In College, September 20, 2006, copyright 2006 HSLDA.
I decided to review "Our Last Great Hope: Awakening The Great Commission" by Ronnie Floyd because the description reminded me of the book "Radical" by David Platt, which I found to be very thought-provoking and inspiring. "Our Last Great Hope" is about what we as churches and individuals can do to work toward spreading the gospel of Jesus to those who haven't heard it - "fulfilling the Great Commission". I was hoping to glean more motivation to do what I can to share the gospel from this book. It did not disappoint me.
You can tell from the outset that Floyd is very passionate about the Great Commission. The first few chapters seemed to be directed more at what churches can do to help further the gospel, and I was afraid I wasn't going to get much practical application for myself since I'm not a church leader. But about halfway through the book Floyd starts focusing more on changes that individuals can make to more effectively reach people for the Lord. I loved the section on evangelizing our children, and the chapters on "talking Jesus more" and reevaluating finances to do more for God's Kingdom were challenging and offered just what I was looking for when I picked up this book in the first place.
One thing that bothered me at the outset was that I felt Floyd was focusing so much on how we haven't "fulfilled the Great Commission" in the sense that there are still people who haven't heard about Jesus. It was almost as if he was discounting all the work and energy some of the great Christians in history have put forth to bring people to Christ and saying it wasn't good enough.
As I continues reading, however, I understood more of what he meant - he's viewing the Great Commission more as a measurable goal (ie. every person on earth hearing about Jesus), as opposed to an ongoing work, which is how I always viewed it before. He speaks throughout the book about missionaries in church history as examples to be followed, so it became apparent as I read more that he was not discounting their work as I thought in the beginning.
I found myself trying to think of ways to save money to offer more to mission work, ways that I can get involved in spreading the gospel, and I was motivated to pray more for missionaries and those who don't know Jesus. Any book that gets me thinking more along those lines is very worth reading. I'd recommend this book to any Christians who are looking for some inspiration to get more involved in obeying Jesus last command to us to "go make disciples of all nations . . .".
Note: I received this book from BookSneeze for free in exchange for this review. This is my honest opinion.
Read the official book description here.
You can tell from the outset that Floyd is very passionate about the Great Commission. The first few chapters seemed to be directed more at what churches can do to help further the gospel, and I was afraid I wasn't going to get much practical application for myself since I'm not a church leader. But about halfway through the book Floyd starts focusing more on changes that individuals can make to more effectively reach people for the Lord. I loved the section on evangelizing our children, and the chapters on "talking Jesus more" and reevaluating finances to do more for God's Kingdom were challenging and offered just what I was looking for when I picked up this book in the first place.
One thing that bothered me at the outset was that I felt Floyd was focusing so much on how we haven't "fulfilled the Great Commission" in the sense that there are still people who haven't heard about Jesus. It was almost as if he was discounting all the work and energy some of the great Christians in history have put forth to bring people to Christ and saying it wasn't good enough.
As I continues reading, however, I understood more of what he meant - he's viewing the Great Commission more as a measurable goal (ie. every person on earth hearing about Jesus), as opposed to an ongoing work, which is how I always viewed it before. He speaks throughout the book about missionaries in church history as examples to be followed, so it became apparent as I read more that he was not discounting their work as I thought in the beginning.
I found myself trying to think of ways to save money to offer more to mission work, ways that I can get involved in spreading the gospel, and I was motivated to pray more for missionaries and those who don't know Jesus. Any book that gets me thinking more along those lines is very worth reading. I'd recommend this book to any Christians who are looking for some inspiration to get more involved in obeying Jesus last command to us to "go make disciples of all nations . . .".
Note: I received this book from BookSneeze for free in exchange for this review. This is my honest opinion.
Read the official book description here.
(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:
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