4 hours ago
I don't know who needs to hear this, but August is still summer.
Bunches of people online and in my real life have already started the school year, and I'm over here drinking my lemonade in the sunshine and trying not to think about school at all yet. June, July, and August are the months with the warmest weather around here, and it occurred to me the other day that it would be perfectly fine to delay the start of the school year and just finish a little later next May - since May often still brings snowstorms to the mountains anyway. So I'm in no rush to call the summer done yet. I'm not so sure about the kids - if anything is going to push me to bump up our homeschool start date, it's the kids getting bored.
July was actually quite rainy, but as I write this, the plan for this weekend is to attempt porch camping with the kids, a yearly tradition for us. However, when I checked the weather, Sunday night it is supposed to get down to 33 degrees Fahrenheit, which is almost freezing! Not acceptable. We may have to delay the camping plan - another reason I am not anxious to end the summer. We haven't been able to do everything yet! (Update: Since I first typed this up, we did actually porch-camp, and it was actually the hottest week of the summer, definitely not near freezing! Weather forecast reliability never changes.)
We have done alot of the typical summer things over the past month - swimming, park days, the zoo, hiking. Lots of time with friends, including a lovely week with our Kentucky friends when they were in town. My parents celebrated their 40th anniversary, and took us all to Great Wolf Lodge. We may never have ended up going there on our own (it's not cheap, and cheap is the name of the game right now), but it was such a special treat, and I'm glad we could have memories there with extended family!
We also had a lovely 4th of July, and you have to permit me to share a few photos. We spent the day hanging around the house, making the stereotypical flag cake and watching the Sandlot, and then having dinner at my parents' and watching fireworks.
Aside from that, our big outing for July was a trip to a little mountain town that is particularly known for its wildflowers - and it did not disappoint. We had no real plan except for one hiking trail that we wanted to check out. After wandering around the town a little bit and eating our packed lunch, we took to the trail, and I have never seen so many wildflowers in one place in my life. The reputation is well earned! I couldn't stop taking pictures and exclaiming about how beautiful everything was. We counted 21 different varieties of wildflowers! I wish I could show you every picture of my cute kids, and every view, but here are just a few.
I had intended to spend this summer trying out new pie recipes, but instead my domestic pursuits were diverted a bit when a friend from church offered to teach me how to can preserves. So for the last couple weeks I have been researching recipes and food safety rules, obtaining cans and produce, and trying my hand at it. I've made blueberry lime jam, and apple-pie-in-a-jar jam, and mango raspberry jam. It appears that all my cans have sealed just fine, so I guess I did it right! Am I still going to test out the jam before my family and wait 12-36 hours to see if I develop botulism symptoms before they eat it? Probably, but that's just because I have major germaphobe tendencies. I followed all the rules, fruit jam is acidic and botulism doesn't grow in acidic foods, so I actually feel very confident in my jam and accomplished. But you know, just in case.
It doesn't help much that I have been binge-reading Richard Preston's books about the history of the ebola virus. Remember about ten years back when we had a few cases in the United States? I remember being slightly anxious about it since I was still working as a dental hygienist (ie. dealing with alot of bloody gums), and I was pregnant at the time too. Well, let me just say, if I had known more details about the ebola virus, I would have been even more freaked out. I really don't know if there is another virus that is so brutal and gory. My goodness. I'm never visiting the rainforest, and keep monkeys or bats or any tropical creatures far away from me, that's all I'm saying.
My big kids participated in 4H this year, and did woodworking, sewing, and leather working projects. A few of their projects got accepted to be displayed at our state fair, so now we are trying to figure out if we can make the trip in the fall to check it out. I am so proud of them for all their hard work, and thankful for an even more hardworking husband, the unsung hero of our 4H experiences.
Even though I am determined not to cut the summer short, I do also have to start planning the school year soon, so in the next week or two I'm going to sit down and get the year mapped out. Everyone has a different school planning system, but over the last couple years I've developed a bit of a system. It gives me enough structure to keep us on track, but enough flexibility that I don't feel too much pressure. I may work on a post about it soon.
The other big project on which I'd love to make some progress is sorting through pictures and getting them printed and into some albums. This is a never-ending project for me, to be honest. I've printed off little bunches of photos here and there, but I want to do the complete family photo albums from each year, and it's expensive and time-consuming. I'm printing out photos as my budget permits, and 2014 photos just arrived in the mail last week. In the meantime, I am just about to get started on organizing and choosing favorites from the year 2016.
In some ways it is really fun to look through pictures of my kids from all those years ago - my goodness, they were cute. They still are! But seeing their little faces every day is also hard on my heart. Time has gone so fast. It kills me whenever I stop for a moment and reflect that I'll be the parent of a legal adult in less than five years (let that soak in).
I look at the pictures and even though I remember the hard parts of those little years, I also realize that I did soak them up and treasure those times. Sometimes I beat myself up for not treasuring them enough, but I did actually. The way I took so much care to capture all their little features and quirks proves it to me. Still, when it's gone you always wish you held on to the moments just a little bit more. It's never enough - never enough time, never enough time with my precious babies who aren't babies anymore.
I may have had a higher than average number of crying sessions since starting this project. But it's reminding me to soak up this moment we're in right now too. In ten years I'll look back at pictures again, and I'll see how little they were, and I'll remember. Remember how much I loved it all. I can be filled up to the brim with the joy of right now with them. That's all we can ever do, and it doesn't seem like enough, but it also is.
Motherhood is beauty and sadness, joy and pain, love and frustrations and laughing and happiness mixed up with tears. The best thing I'll ever do. And you can't go back, but through every stage until the Lord takes me home I'll have this joy of being their mom, and that will never cease to be a gift.
Okay, now that I've got that sentimentality out of my system, I'll wish you all a happy Monday, and promise to try to be a better blogger now that summer busyness is settling down. But just know that if I'm not here, if I go a couple weeks between blog posts, or if my social media gets stale, I'm not quitting the blog or anything - I'm just not letting them grow up without paying attention.
Somewhere along the path of my journey as a homeschool mom, I realized that my knowledge of church history was seriously lacking. I knew alot of the “big names” of church history, but there were many more I was not familiar with at all. When it comes to understanding the flow of Christianity through history after Jesus’s ascension, I had certain events or time periods as pegs to hang my hat on - the early church period, the Reformation, the Puritans, etc. - but the events, people, and thought in between were a blur.
I’ve been on a personal quest to remedy my spotty knowledge for the last several years, not only for myself, but in order to give my kids a more complete knowledge of the history of the church. I saw Michael Reeves’s book, Theologians You Should Know, on a curriculum list recently, and I decided to request it for review from Crossway.
This book is the history of Christian thought that I didn’t know I needed. Reeves has collected a series of “introductions” to influential theologians through history, “from the Apostolic Fathers to the 21st century”, as the subtitle states.
The theologians covered in this book are as follows:
-The Apostolic Fathers
-Justin Martyr
-Irenaues
-Athanasius
-Augustine
-Anselm
-Thomas Aquinas
-Martin Luther
-John Calvin
-John Owen
-Jonathan Edwards
-Friedrich Scheiermacher
-Karl Barth
-J. I. Packer
I’m familiar with a handful of these theologians, but many of them were only a name to me before reading this book, and there are a couple I hadn’t even heard of at all. All of them greatly contributed to the development of Christian thought - many in good ways, and some not. Reeves divides each chapter into a brief biographical sketch, and then a summary of the theologians thought as expressed in a selection of their works. Though I’m using words like “sketch” and “summary”, don’t let that fool you - this book is very meaty. The concepts explored require deep thinking - as Reeves says:
“Reading the greats should breed modesty, and he who spends time with these giants should recognize what a clod he is.”
That is indeed how I felt, even just after these brief introductions! I am thankful for Reeves’s explanations - they made some of the weightier subjects more approachable. He ends each chapter with suggestions on how to read more about and by each theologian, and I very much appreciated that guidance.
My favorite part of this book was getting a big-picture look at the development of theology over the centuries. It has helped me understand the theological context for different periods of church history in ways I never had before, and different historical events make more sense in light of the theological momentum of the time. There were a few chapters that also made me understand the current theological atmosphere better - one of the names I had never even heard of actually produced ideas that drive alot of our current church culture in America! Having that information helps me better understand where we are now in history.
This is a book I think I would like my kids to read at some point** in our homeschool as well - it fills in alot of historical gaps that I didn’t even realize were there. Reeves said it well:
“In fact, is that not what roots are for? The healthiest trees in a forest are those with the most extensive roots, for it is by using their roots that trees thrive and blossom. If a tree is to grow great, it’s roots must go deep. It is when those roots are cut that they die.”
I want my kids to have deep roots, not only in Christian history, but in Christian theology and doctrine as well. Theologians You Should Know is a great resource for starting to grow those roots, and I find myself encouraged to dig deeper into reading some of these theologians directly.
“Great theologians are usually infinitely more interesting than the things said about them.”
And indeed, that is Reeves’s purpose for this book - he doesn’t want us to be satisfied reading about theologians, but to be emboldened to read the theologians themselves. Armed with the bird’s eye view that this book provides, I plan on doing just that!
Note: I received a copy of this book for free from the publisher in exchange for a review. This is my honest opinion.
**There are some content notes that I bookmarked for whenever my kids do read this book, just sections I would probably have them skip over or would want to discuss with them - if you would like those notes for a Christian parent, send me a message or email and I’ll send them over!
I am attempting to share mini-reviews quarterly this year, so I give you the second installment of 2024. The following bunch of books are mostly my springtime reads, since June was so crazy that we barely had time to breathe around here. There are a few fiction books scattered throughout, but my springtime reading mostly seems to consist of read-alouds with my kids or Christian non-fiction books. I have dipped a little into summer-style reads in this roundup, but just a little!
The Neighbor’s Secret by L. Alison Heller
This book was one of those suburban mom suspense novels, where a group of mom friends are hiding secrets from each other - I really like this genre for some reason. This one was a bit twisted in the end - one of the character's choices led to the villain's death, but she never faces consequences for it, and secrets from one character's life reveal similar choices that are never brought to justice. I don't like morally ambiguous endings, but overall this book was an interesting listen while I cleaned the house and folded laundry. I'd probably give it 3 stars, and I'm a little stingy with stars anyway. Content Notess: A minor in the story gets drunk; infidelity, etc., is part of the plot; various curse words scattered throughout (not too heavily) including the f-word.
Sound Worship: A Guide To Making Musical Choices In A Noisy World by Scott Aniol
This book was the most thorough and biblical book I've ever read at musical choices and how to honor God through our music. I especially loved the discussion about the definition and purpose of beauty. Highly recommend this short but profound read!
Bad Therapy by Abigail Shirer
I listened to this book on audio, and thought it was so insightful. Shirer talks about the iatrogenic effects of giving "preventative therapy" to people - specifically kids - who don't need it. Treating the well as if they are sick can often cause harm, and that's true of therapy as well. In addition to sharing so much research, Shirer shares common sense observations of how many young people today are being handicapped by unnecessary therapeutic approaches to parenting and other common, average problems. This book gave me a boost of confidence in how I am already parenting my kids - highly recommended for any parent to read. You will either be bolstered in your parenting confidence, or challenged (in a good way).
Mary Jones And Her Bible by Mary Ropes
I read this book to my kids, and I believe it is based on a true story of a girl in Switzerland who so loved God's word that she sacrificed much to obtain her own copy of the Bible. Her love for Scripture inspired the founding of a Bible society that brought God's word to even more people. Though sometimes the main character was presented as a little too perfect, my kids really liked her anyway, and I think this was a lovely book exhibiting a godly attitude toward God's word that resonated with my children.
The Great Alaskan Dinosaur Adventure by Buddy Davis
This book documents an adventure to Alaska to search for dinosaur fossils. It reads like a travel journal, but has alot of interesting information from a biblical worldview about Alaskan terrain, dinosaurs, and Noah's flood. I recommend it for a fun science read-aloud for homeschool!
Till We Have Faces by C. S. Lewis
This is Lewis's retelling of the myth of Psyche, which I highly recommend looking up before starting this book. His twist on it was really interesting because instead of both sisters hating Psyche, one of them, Orual, loves her - but she still guides Psyche into ruin, and in the end realizes her love for Psyche is a twisted thing. The interesting part of this book is how Orual's self-righteousness in bringing an accusation against the "gods" is slowly dismantled. It reminded me of how in order to be saved, we must all realize how our "righteousness" is really just filthy rags to God. In the end, Orual actually brings her accusations to the "gods" but they answer and humble her without saying a word. Really interesting book, and gave me a lot to think about - I feel like I don't fully understand Lewis's point, so I'll be doing a little more research on this story. I find I often have to read books or articles ABOUT Lewis's books to fully understand them.
Kill The Dragon, Get The Girl by Cheston Hervey
This book was recommended by Kirk Cameron as a family read aloud, and I thought we'd give it a try. We listened to the audio, and my kids really ended up enjoying it. However, I wish I had previewed it first since some of the scenes were unnecessarily scary and gory. My kids weren't negatively impacted that I can tell, but I probably wouldn't have let at least my younger kids listen to it if I had previewed it. I'm thinking particularly of a scene underground where monsters materialize out of ash floating in the air, and another scene where a trailer interior is covered with blood and dead bones - creepy. I found the story a bit confusing as some of it seemed to start allegorically (the "dragon" representing Satan), but then the kids actually end up interacting with the dragon and the dragon says things that indicate it IS supposed to be Satan in reality - but then the kids end up killing it, and that doesn't quite make biblical sense. I also didn't like how the kids just run off underground with a pretty weird stranger to kill a dragon - not really a wise choice in the real world. So it was a fun adventure story, but as an adult I thought the plot details ended up muddy, biblically-speaking, and the point of the book was unclear and confusing. My kids found it exciting and wanted to finish the story, so I'll give it 3 stars, but I wouldn't recommend it from an adult perspective.
These Silent Woods by Kimi Cunningham Grant
Cooper is living in the woods with his 8 year old daughter Finch. We don't know what brought them to this hidden way of living, but as the book progresses, their way of life is threatened and we learn more about Cooper's past. Finally, a crises emerges, and Cooper must decide between doing the right thing and keeping this life that he has built for himself and his daughter. A surprisingly sweet book that explores self-sacrifice in a really unexpected ending. I highly recommend it! Content Note: Some bad language here and there.
Becoming A Titus 2 Woman by Martha Peace
This book is an encouragement for Christian women to follow the mandate in Titus 2 for the older women to teach the younger women to love their husbands and children, be discreet, chaste, homemakers, and submissive to their own husbands. Alot of those topics are not easy to address with modern women, but Peace gives sound biblical advice in this book. I especially loved her encouragement, if you are a younger woman, to start preparing yourself now to take on the role of an older woman someday. I already wrote down so many of the verses she shared in order to work on memorizing them, and I will be reading this book again!
Let The Little Children Come by Scott Aniol
This is a book I've been working on for a while, and after setting it aside for several months, I finally picked it up again in April. Aniol makes an argument for keeping children in the church service with their parents, and viewing children as an important part of the church body. I appreciated reading this argument from a credobaptist, since I think alot of the people who advocate keeping children with their parents for the service are often pedobaptists (which I'm not). Aniol gives biblical encouragement and practical advice, as well as a wealth of resources for establishing family worship during the week. I found it highly encouraging as someone who already keeps my children in the church service and tries (along with my husband) to make sure we do "Bible time" during the week. If you have ever felt weird about the "children's church" model that is so common in churches these days, I highly recommend this book for a paradigm shift!
Strange Lyre: The Pentecostalization Of Evangelical Worship by David de Bruyn
The author gives the historical context for our modern style of "worship" in church - which for many people, just means the emotional high produced by the music. This book presents the case that our modern style of worship services does not follow historical or biblical precedent, but was radically altered after the Pentecostal movement in the early 1900s. Many more traditional churches have adopted Pentecostal worship practices even while claiming to reject Pentecostal theology. Unfortunately, content often follows form, and many churches are led into weakened doctrine because they first compromised on music. If you've ever thought that the "worship wars" don't matter, this book will probably cure you of that. Very well done, a short read that packs a punch, and I'd recommend it.
Evangellyfish by Douglas Wilson
This was a satirical novel, critiquing problems within the modern church. I found it entertaining, and also a little painful to read. I guarantee you've met some of the characters in this book in your local church. Even though the ending was realistic in a not-very-encouraging way, Wilson still includes notes of hope in the end. I'd recommend it as thought-provoking, well done Christian satire! Content Note: The entire plot revolves around a megachurch pastor’s infidelity, and other character’s moral failings in this area are discussed as well, so keep that in mind.
The Only Survivors by Megan Miranda
I generally like Megan Miranda's suspense novels - there is a decent amount of cursing, but other than that they are enjoyable page-turners. In this one, a group of teenagers survive a horrific crash on a class trip, and vow to meet every year at a North Carolina beach house on the anniversary - even though most of them would rather not. Secrets start to come to light, and one of their number starts to figure out what truly happened that night so long ago - it's not all as it seemed. This one was an especially engrossing book for me and kept me guessing until the very end! Content Notes:Some fornication and drug use is referred to, moderate amount of cursing.
The Last To Vanish by Megan Miranda
Abigail works at an inn near the Appalachian trail - which is also one of the last locations where several missing hikers have been seen over the years. The entire town has gained infamy from the disappearances, and the locals may know more than they let on - including Abigail. This was a really interesting read, and the ending once again surprised me. Miranda's novels often have a morally ambiguous ending, which I don't appreciate. The ending of this one was less twisted than some of her novels, and I enjoyed it overall! Content Notes: Some fornication is referred to, some cursing.
Jane Of Lantern Hill by L. M. Montgomery
I've enjoyed working through some of Montgomery's lesser-known works through the years. This one was a slower read, but the ending was lovely, and I quite enjoyed it. Jane starts out as an odd, closed-off girl, living with her mother under the thumb of her bitter grandmother. That is, until one day a letter from her long-lost father shows up, insisting that Jane spend the summer with him on Prince Edward Island. They purchase a home on Lantern Hill, and Jane flourishes as she takes on the role of homemaker for their little cottage. This is a very homey book, and will probably make you want to bake some pies. I'd recommend it. Content Notes: I've noticed as I've read more of Montgomery's books that she'll make casual references to witchcraft, usually in context of teasing or in a descriptive phrase from some eccentric character - witchcraft is never in the story, but I think it's something for Christian parents to be aware of.
A Year Down Yonder by Richard Peck
I decided to try to read some Newberry Winners this summer, and this was the winner from the year 2000. This book is set during the Great Depression - Mary Alice (16 years old) is sent to live with her grandmother in Illinois while her parents find a better living situation. Her grandmother is an eccentric, somewhat terrifying woman to Mary Alice, but over the course of the year she comes to see what a big heart her grandmother has. I quite enjoyed the character development in this book, and the ending was very heartwarming. Grandma isn't always honest, but her intentions are good. Content Notes: There is some dishonesty and stealing in different parts of the book - Grandma's morals aren't to be copied, but her concern for others is a better attribute you could point kids to. There is one chapter where an artist convinces one of the local women to pose nude for him in Grandma's attic, unbeknownst to her, and the woman is caught and ends up streaking back to her house - I guess it's a funny scene, but may not be a mental picture you want your kids to have.
Theologians You Should Know by Michael Reeves
I received this book as part of Crossway’s blogger program, and it was excellent! Extended review is coming soon!
I tend to enjoy reading suspense in the summer, so I’m sure my next bunch of books will be full of suspense recommendations!
What genre do you enjoy reading most in the summer?
(This is not a photo from the homeschool conference - just two of my kids on a recent hike.)
Last week my family and I attended our state homeschool conference. Every year I learn something new, find great curriculum deals, discover curriculum that is new to me, and leave encouraged.
I’ve written before about why you should attend a homeschool conference if you get a chance. I think I may do another version of that article someday about why you should attend a Christian homeschool conference, even if you don’thomeschool. If a homeschool conference is a good one, at least half of the sessions would be uplifting to any Christian family, and I love that about our local conference. The focus is on raising our children and discipling them, and then also practical/academic tips - but the meat of it is a biblical philosophy on child-rearing that would benefit any Christian parent.
I received a conference-recap email from one of the many homeschool blogs I follow, and I really enjoyed it and was inspired to share a few takeaways from the conference we attended (including some interesting curriculum finds).
My Main Takeaway
A big theme of our conference this year was passing on the faith to our children. If you are not aware, the statistics on youth leaving the church in Protestant denominations in the United States are very grim. A full 70% of Christian youth leave the church, and these statistics haven’t improved in years - if anything, the situation has worsened. There were a couple different lectures about this topic (from Israel Wayne and George Barna), and though I only attended Wayne’s talk, from what I can tell the bottom line was the same - taking your children to church every week isn’t enough. Sending them to a Christian private school isn’t enough. Even homeschooling isn’t enough!
Kids need to have a good relationship with their parents, and they need to be trained by their parents. No one has as big of an impact on the faith of children as their parents do. Children need to know the tenants of their faith, see it being put into practice by their parents, and receive focused teaching about biblical doctrines (the truths of the faith) and a biblical worldview (how those truths should affect the way they see they world and the way they live).
You obviously can’t pass on that kind of knowledge and faith if you don’t have it yourself! Alot of Christians think we have a biblical worldview, and we don't realize that in many cases, we actually don’t. Wayne shared the PEERS test, which is a biblical worldview test - he said that though he quibbled with the phrasing of a few of the questions, it’s not a difficult test. The statistics among different groups of students who have taken this test are very interesting (and scary, honestly).
(This is a graph from the Nehemiah Institute website, the organization that produced the PEERS test. That blue line represents a TINY number of Christian private schools that have a high focus on biblical worldview training, as opposed to those that focus on academics - only about 2% of Christian kids are in those types of schools. The green line represents homeschoolers, who only started being included later. Honestly, I think we homeschoolers could do better. The traditional Christian private schools and public school lines should be sobering. Keep in mind that all of these lines represent ONLY youth from Christian households.)
The benefit of homeschooling as it relates to all this can be summed up in one word - time. Parents have the biggest influence on their kids, but that influence can be diluted by a lack of time spent with our kids. Homeschool parents have an advantage because we are not lacking for time - we are with our children nearly all day, every day!
Homeschool children (should) have an up-close look at what a Christian life should look like, because they see it playing out in every situation we encounter daily. Scripture tells us that “everyone who is fully trained will be like his teacher” (Luke 6:40). That’s a little sobering, isn’t it? It means as homeschool parents we need to be careful that we ourselves are living out a truly biblical worldview. Our strengths in this area will likely be passed on to our kids, but also our weaknesses.
Time is also a crucial ingredient for building any strong relationship, including with our children, and having strong relationships with both parents provides a distinct statistical advantage in passing on the faith to our children.
(This chart is from the Gen2 survey, which is a general survey of churched Millennials and the impact of their upbringing on their practicing of the Christian faith as an adult. You can look at all the findings from that survey here. They are up-front about the fact that more people who were previously homeschooled took the survey than those schooled in other ways, despite trying to specifically advertise to those who went to public or private school. Despite the sample being a little uneven, it’s still pretty interesting.)
Homeschoolers, we have alot of things working for us! The trick is not to squander all these advantages, which can certainly happen. This whole discussion was simultaneously heartening and challenging to me.
For Further Reading
Though the website is a little old-school, I recommend exploring the Nehemiah Institute - they are the organization that produced the PEERS worldview test, and they have alot of interesting documents and resources.
For more information specifically on the exit of youth from the church and what we might do about it, I highly recommend the books Already Compromised and Already Gone by Ken Ham.
Israel Wayne has a couple helpful books about parenting and education that I’d recommend: Raising Them Up and Education: Does God Have An Opinions? (don’t be put off by the title, it’s a great book - I even had my oldest read the chapter on math, and it greatly improved his attitude!). He also has a systematic theology and biblical worldview curriculum for middle and high school that we picked up for our 8th grader this year.
George Barna also has a new book related to this topic, and I haven’t read it yet, but I might pick it up: Raising Spiritual Champions.
Other Interesting Sessions
“Why Americans Can’t Read” - Alex Newman - It’s shocking how illiterate we have become in America - half of American adults are functionally illiterate, and those statistics are coming from the Department of Education itself. I couldn’t find an article from Newman related to this topic that wasn’t behind a paywall, but the answer to this problem comes down to one thing - we need to ditch the “whole word” method and go back to actually teaching phonics.
“The Problem With School Choice” - Alex Newman - There are alot of unintended consequences with allowing the government to fund ALL school choices via vouchers and other forms of funding, which is a big push in many states right now. You can read this document if you are interested, which includes alot of the information Newman shared in this talk.
“Help! The Highschool Years Are Coming!” - Jan and Roger Smith - This session included so much encouragement for the high school years! I couldn’t find any articles about this specific topic online, but you can hear from the speakers on Zan Tyler’s podcast.
“Is Homeschooling Just For Women? - Israel Wayne - My husband went to this session and came back inspired and challenged in his role as a Christian (and homeschool) dad! I’d personally recommend anything by Israel Wayne, I’ve been encouraged by his resources many times. You can check out his ministry here.
Interesting Curriculum
Homeschool In A Box - I didn’t get to explore this booth much, but this company is on my list to research - their booth had a bunch of themed, hands-on learning boxes that I think my kids would find so fun!
Homestead Science - This is a family-run homeschool company from Idaho, and I am particularly interested in their survival study, which seems right up our alley.
Math Without Borders - We spent a good amount of time talking with the man who owns this company about this high school math option - it’s on my list to research for next year! But I wanted to point out “The Grandpa Project” on his website, which includes a bunch of videos he put together for his elementary and middle-school grandchildren to learn more about math - and this page in particular is the best math facts flashcard system I’ve ever seen online. All this is free on the website, and we’ll definitely be using it this summer! He also has a “bonus topics” page with a bunch of fun math videos that we’re going to explore.
New Generations Resources - Generations is a curriculum company we’ve been exploring for history mainly, but my little girls have also been enjoying their science books - they have this new science curriculum coming out for 3rd grade about the human body that I’m considering getting! They also released this adorable catechism book for the littlest learners - I really love that all the answers to these catechism questions are an actual Bible verse.
There are so many other interesting tidbits I could share, but I’ll leave it there! I would love to hear if you’re ever been to a homeschool conference, how it was helpful for you, or your thoughts about any of the topics or resources I shared here! Comment below, or hit reply if you are receiving this in your inbox.
Our homeschool year ended so differently than it began, it's a little difficult to begin this post.
Last fall, I knew this would be one of our hardest homeschool years yet, and so I went into it in tackle mode. We struggled, we cried, we ended each day exhausted, but by the end of the first semester, we were enough ahead that we were able to take it easier in the spring. Because of that, I feel pretty optimistic as we closed the books in May, and it's hard to remember back to where we started. But taking some time to reflect and learn from our successes and failures is a good thing, so I'm looking through my old papers as I think the year through.
I already shared things that ended up working well for us this past year, and so this post will be focused more on lessons learned, and things that didn't end up working for us.
First off, to get you into my frame of mind last fall, I spent the entire summer last year worrying about some areas of weakness in our homeschool. There were several skills I wanted to be stronger, several additional subjects I wanted to cram into our school year, not to mention the fact that my oldest was solidly in Junior High, and I wanted to start helping him develop specific study skills. Oh yes, and my youngest would be starting kindergarten.
It was alot to tackle all at once, and I approached the coming school year with a sense of dread, if I'm going to be honest. But I "tightened my belt", as Bilbo Baggins would do, and jumped into the school year with fervor.
Lesson #1 - It is (mostly) a mistake to overload the curriculum.
In my planning frenzy last year, I decided we would try to make it through five (five!) history curriculum books for my older kids, each of which were each meant to last an entire year. I justified this because a couple of the books were a little lower-level, and I figured we would just read through them on the side instead of doing the assignments. I'm still not sure why I decided to do this - remember, I was extremely anxious last summer, and not quite in my right mind.
What ended up actually happening is that we got through three of the planned-for books, which in retrospect feels like quite an accomplishment, even though we fell short of the five (five!) I had planned. What we did get through was actually quite lovely, and my oldest has surprised me by quoting something from our Greek and Roman studies (example:"'Tis the crumpled rose leaf!"). So I say it is only mostly a mistake to overload the curriculum, because if I hadn't overloaded, we certainly wouldn't have learned so much this year. But it is a mistake in that it can make everyone's lives a little miserable if you tip over into "too much". More may be doable than you might think, but certainly not five different history curricula (five!).
History Curricula We Accomplished:
- America's Story 1 - 2nd, 4th
- America's Story 3 - 5th
- World's Story 1 - 7th
- The Story Of The Romans by Miller
- The Story Of The Greeks by Miller
Lesson #2 - Know how much each child can handle.
When I was doing my homeschool planning last summer, it struck me that my oldest would be in junior high, and that I wanted him to develop some of his own school planning skills over the course of the school year. So I typed up an actual school syllabus for him with some planning guidance, and I bought my 7th grader an academic planner so he could plan out how he wanted to accomplish his school work.
I don't think this was a bad plan in theory, and he did end up using that planner. However, because of the aforementioned overloading, his work load got a little messy, and I eventually went back to typing up checklists for him each week. The checklists ended up being the basis for his planning rather than the academic planner, but I was still happy to see him developing initiative and taking charge of his schedule by moving things around when it worked better for him.
However, as I moved back to my checklist system, I started to see just how much I was asking each child to do each day. Some of my children were not daunted at all and shot through a 9-10 item daily checklist. But for some of my kids, when they had a long checklist handed to them each morning, would freeze up and feel like they could never get through it...so why even try?
As I noticed our multiple history books and up to four different language arts tasks, I realized I needed to organize differently to keep our days more doable for my easily-overwhelmed kids. I ended up alternating some language arts subjects, rotated history books, and dropped some not-as-important things all together.
The sweet spot seemed to be about 5-6 school subjects per day, and once I made the checklists look more easy to accomplish, our school days ran much more smoothly with less complaints. This also built their confidence - once they started feeling like they could accomplish their checklists in a reasonable amount of time, I could add in another study here or there.
Realizing my kids' mental stress tolerance when confronted with a checklist helped me make adjustments so they could be successful. We still accomplished quite alot, but recognizing their limits made a big difference in everyone's attitude.
Lesson #3 - Sometimes the answer is to do more.
A big message to homeschool moms when encountering an area of struggle is that homeschooling is so great because you can give your child individualized attention, you can make adjustments for them so they can still be learning while developing skills, etc. "Don't worry, it will come!" they say.
Pretty sure that I've said that before, and it's been true! But another thing that is not as often mentioned, but that I've also found to be true, is that if your child is really struggling in an area, sometimes you might just have to buckle down and do more of that thing than you ever thought you could handle, especially when it comes to skill-based subjects.
This may seem to contradict what I said in my last point, but it's all a balance, isn't it? If I have a kid struggling with handwriting, I can take oral narrations so as not to make them hate learning history because of the writing required...but also, we probably need to increase the time spent on copywork. Struggling reader? I will read books to them that are above their reading level, but I should also require them to read more books at their reading level out loud. Spelling terrible, slow at solving math problems? Rote memorization of spelling lists and multiplication tables it is.
Learning isn't always gentle and natural, and it doesn't always feel beautiful. Sometimes it's just plain hard. But isn't it a gift for our children to learn that they can approach something that feels impossible, and through gritted teeth they can overcome it? That it can even, someday, become something that is easy for them? That kind of lesson may require forcing a child to do a school task they don't want to do, and tears and attitudes may be involved, and sometimes you can make adjustments - but all that doesn't necessarily mean we should ease up on the actual task at all. Sometimes a break is helpful, sometimes leaning into the struggle even more is what’s needed. It takes a lot of wisdom to know which way to go.
Lesson #4 - Homeschools must be bathed in prayer.
I realized anew this year that homeschooling five kids is actually really hard work, and it's going to be really hard work for a long time. I'm basically working full-time job hours, or more, and I'm going to go to bed exhausted many nights, and I might cry sometimes, and that's all pretty much normal.
In addition, no matter how well I plan, or how great my curriculum choices, or how many methods I try, my children are going to have areas of struggle and weaknesses that the curriculum may or may not cover. It's my job to help them through it, even when I have no idea how.
And after struggling to my wit's end, then I'll remember the folly of my whole approach. Because of course, I remember, I can't do this without leaning on the Lord.
I don't have enough wisdom, or stamina, or kindness and gentleness and patience, to homeschool well on my own. I need to constantly set my mind on God's Word, pray for His guidance and help, and pray for His wisdom as I make homeschool decisions for my kids.
Everyone says this sort of thing so much that it starts to feel trite, but it shouldn't. I want my children to learn who Jesus is, learn to love Him, more than I want them to learn to be proficient at math (though I want that too). If the Lord doesn't build the house, the laborers work in vain. If the Lord doesn't illuminate the heart of a child, the homeschool mom teaches in vain.
Leaning on the Lord in prayer as I educate my children must be the central thing, the first-thing to be done, and I've seen the necessity of this as we wrap up a very difficult year in a better place than I anticipated. This attitude of reliance on Him is something I want to cultivate more in myself as a homeschool mom in the years to come.
Until the first week of May we were unsure whether or where we would be going on vacation, but at the last possible minute we made a decision. So amid the whirlwind of finishing our school year and planning a homeschool graduation ceremony for our church's homeschool group, we somehow managed to plan, clean the house, shop, and pack up for vacation.
We decided to go to Arizona this year - it's been 7 or 8 years since we visited, and the kids don't even remember going to the Grand Canyon. I'm just going to do a fly-over view of the highlights of our trip!
The Grand Canyon
We made a "quick stop" at the Grand Canyon before making it to our actual destination of Phoenix. It was really neat for the kids to see the canyon when they will actually remember it at these ages! On the way we listened to a few talks from Answers In Genesis about some of the current creationist research and theories surrounding the Grand Canyon, and it made this visit even more interesting for us.
Confession: I always feel a little underwhelmed looking down at the Grand Canyon, at first. But I think it’s only because it is just impossible to understand the scale of it. We did spot a helicopter in the canyon this time, and it looked smaller than a gnat. It’s just hard to understand how deep it really is. I’d love to go to the bottom someday. Looking up from the bottom might help my brain understand better.
We were also a little amazed to see lots of people leaving the trails and walking on rock outcrops, with a drop of hundreds of feet right behind them, as they stood on a mere four square feet of flat ground! And it was windy. I couldn’t point it out to them without being rude, but people die at the Grand Canyon every year by falling in. If you visit, just…don’t be stupid. There are lots of perfectly safe places to get good pictures at the top, climbing around on slippery rocks is really not necessary.
Saguaro National Park
We decided our main destination would be Phoenix because it's relatively close to Saguaro National Park. We basically planned this whole trip around going to Saguaro, and it was such a pretty place!
Saguaro National Park was really beautiful, the classic desert landscape. The desert can feel so dry and empty, but Saguaro is full of interesting plant life (and I'm sure animal life too). We got there early in the morning, when we could hear birds chirping among the cacti, it was so quiet. I wish I could explain to you the scent of desert air in May, it’s like no other scent I know, floral and woody and dry.
I took so many pictures, but I felt like I couldn’t capture the sheer amount of saguaros in this one little section of the park! They were everywhere, and some were so tall. Saguaros grow about an inch every year - they don’t even start to grow arms until they are 50-80 years old. The tall saguaro I’m standing beside in the photo below is probably around 150 years old.
One thing we didn’t know before we went - there are actually two separate sites for this park that aren’t connected. We were very confused when our map apps were leading us two different places, until we figured it out. The west site has three times more saguaros than the east site, but some on the eastern site grow fatter!
Joshua Tree
We decided to take a one-day trip to California to see Joshua Tree while we were so far south, since it's only about 3 1/2 hours from Phoenix. This was my first time ever visiting California! The gas was expensive, and it was hot in the desert, and there were wind and solar farms all over the place, but other than that it didn't feel as foreign as I expected (what can I say, California has a reputation).
Joshua Tree National Park was a very unique place to visit! Joshua Trees are actually not a tree at all, they are a yucca-type plant. They grow very slowly, similar to the saguaro cactus, and we even saw a few of them still flowering. We entered the park from the east and drove through to the west entrance, and I quite liked going in that order…we went from the Colorado desert to the Mojave desert, and from mostly cacti (including a “teddy bear cactus”) to Joshua trees everywhere! Some of them were so tall, and some areas so thick, that they looked like pine trees from a distance. It felt a little bit like a Dr. Seuss landscape.
One thing we wondered about as we saw a few dead “trees” was what the inside of the trunks looked like…the ranger at the west entrance answered that question. Apparently the trunks are good for almost nothing - the insides are spongey, and when they are dried out they’re still very fibrous, and they can’t be burned. Just interesting to look at, I guess!
Palm Springs
On the way back from Joshua Tree we looped around and visited Palm Springs - I am so glad we drove through there, because it was a very interesting town. As you drive, the surrounding desert is so dry, and the air so dusty - but suddenly you see snow-capped mountains in the distance, and before you know it you are tucked away next the the hills, driving through palm-tree lined streets. I don't think I've ever seen surroundings change from desert, to mountainous, to almost tropical so fast!
Palm Springs is a natural desert oasis, and it's surrounded by parts of the Aqua Caliente reservation - we decided to take a little hike into Andreas Canyon, which is on the reservation.
I am not exaggerating when I say that Andreas Canyon was probably one of the coolest places I've ever been. This is a natural fan-palm oasis, and feels more like you're in Hawaii than in the middle of the Mojave desert. The palms are so tall, it's surrounded by tall rock walls, the water is bubbling and crystal-clear, and the air is sweet-smelling and refreshing. It was just gorgeous! We hiked on the trail, took a bunch of pictures, waded in the water, and enjoyed the unique atmosphere of this place!
Apparently there can be rattlesnakes near the oasis, but we didn't see any - October to May is supposed to be the best time to go to avoid snakes. We stayed about an hour, but I could have spent much longer there. If we are ever in the area again, I would definitely go back - it's worth the entrance fee (about $60 for our family of 7), even for an hour.
Phoenix
We spent some time just relaxing on this trip as well, which was much needed. We spent an entire day at our hotel's water park, we went on an evening desert walk, and walked to a European pastry place for breakfast. Having a little down-time between visiting national parks on this trip was so nice.
Petrified Forest National Park
On the way out of Arizona we detoured to check out Petrified Forest National Park. This park used to be a national monument, and got upgraded to a park in 1962. It's a very overlooked park, but I'm glad we stopped there - it was so interesting! There wasn't any single big sight to see, but as you drove through the park there was petrified wood just everywhere. We have some petrified wood areas in my state, but the sheer amount of petrified wood here was pretty amazing. I probably wouldn't go out of my way to go there again, but it's worth a stop if you are driving through, and it's one more National Park that we can cross off our list!
I've been to Arizona four times in my life, and I think this was my favorite trip there. We were able to see so much, we went in May when it wasn't ridiculously hot yet, and we worked in some relaxation days, which is the key to a good trip in my book. It was a much-needed and inexpensive vacation for our family this year, and proof that you don't have to spend alot of money or go too far to have a worthwhile vacation - there are so many interesting places in the U. S. that are worth seeing!
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