Category Archives: Our Homeschool

Dino Debate

If you are part of social media or a news follower you have no doubt seen this already. This science quiz from a student at a private Christian school went viral not long ago and has sparked a rather ugly debate.

This is the curriculum that the test was over that has triggered such harsh comments from the atheist communities.

You can click here to link to the article from the Huffington to get a glimpse of what the evolutionist opinions have been http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/26/4th-grade-science-test-creationism-questions-dinosaurs_n_3163922.html

I love the response from Ken Ham and Answers in Genesis. They are inviting everyone to view their video, download a booklet, and take the quiz themselves, all at no charge. This offer is only good for a limited time. You can link to their site and free downloads here http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/2013/05/23/families-use-atheist-attack-teach-kids-truth.

Being a lawyers kid, I love debate. And as a Christian I love the Word of God. As wonderful as it is to have faith and belief that the Biblical account of creation is true, quoting the Scriptures from Genesis chapter 1 won’t get us anything but ridicule from non believers when it comes to the Creation vs Evolution debate.

^“24And God said, “Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: the livestock, the creatures that move along the ground, and the wild animals, each according to its kind.” And it was so. ²⁵God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.

²⁶Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals,^[a] and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”

²⁷So God created mankind in his own image,
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.

²⁸God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”

²⁹Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. ³⁰And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was so.

³¹God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.”

Proper science examines all evidence claimed and critically researches different theories before reaching conclusions. This is how we “do” science in our homeschool. I feel this is how all science should be studied, whether in homeschools, private schools, or public schools.

As Christians, I feel we need to arm ourselves and our children with scientific evidence. We need to understand the correct scientific lingo and vocabulary and use it accordingly. It’s time to take a stand and join in the debate.

Sadly, young earth creation evidence is not mainstream although there is much available. Below are my other favorite sources for exploring creation evidence:

http://creation.com/

http://www.icr.org/article/science-resources-for-homeschool/

http://thatsafacttv.com/

If you enjoy a good fiction read, you should take a look at The Fossil Hunter by John B. Olsen, This book is loaded with the scientific community opinions and is available in libraries or can be purchased from most book retailers.

I encourage you, no matter which side of the creation/evolution debate you are on, that you will debate with respect and factual evidence.

betty jo

Our Homeschooling Week May 20-24

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I do not think I have ever looked forward to a Monday like I did this week. Our weekend was too full of activity and by Monday morning I was thankful for the fun times but more thankful to just be staying home for the next few days.

Friday night was our homeschooling support groups Prom Alternative. Group photos, dinner out, then a private party with dancing, Wii games, costume trunk photo booth, and ice cream bar.

Saturday afternoon was the first public performance for Silver Lining, our homeschool color guard team.

Sunday night was another homeschool group activity. SALT – Saved, Anointed, Loved, Transformed, (creative ministries troop), performed at a local church who was hosting a meal and service for a homeless shelter.

Much of my family’s time has been spent praying for Ian. He is a boy from our neighborhood who was violently attacked at a public school playground that is just a block away from our house. He had some brain hemorrhaging and swelling issues as a result of the beating and had to be air lifted to Vanderbilt Hospital. Miraculously, he is on the road to a complete recovery.

We attended a prayer meeting at the school playground at 4:00 Thursday. It was so good to gather with our neighbors for a time of prayer for our community, public schools, Ian, and the boys who attacked him. Thanks to social media, we were able to reach brothers and sisters in Christ with our prayer requests and many agreed to stop what they were doing at 4:00 and join with us in prayer.

We had lovely weather for being out in the yard this week. We have enjoyed watching our homeschool garden project grow.

Both the tomato and pepper plants have bloomed.

Our homeschool summer schooling focused on reading through a huge stack of library books as the start of it’s summer reading challenge. We also did a mini unit study of turtles in tribute to World Turtle Day (May 23).

Here are the links to this week’s blog posts:

Our homeschool prom: Night of the Living Teens https://stilllearningsomethingnew.com/2013/05/19/night-of-the-living-teens/

Homeschool Creative Ministries: SALT https://stilllearningsomethingnew.com/2013/05/20/salt/

About our neighbor’s boy: Ian https://stilllearningsomethingnew.com/2013/05/22/ian/

Homeschool garden science project: Watching Our Garden Grow https://stilllearningsomethingnew.com/2013/05/23/watching-our-garden-grow/

Turtle mini unit study: World Turtle Day https://stilllearningsomethingnew.com/2013/05/23/world-turtle-day/

As of now I don’t have much on the planner for the upcoming week except for another library trip, Church history notebooking, and the biggest homeschooling support group’s party of the year, Graduation and Achievement Night.

I hope you had a good week, and that this next week is even better.

betty jo

World Turtle Day

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According to my special days calendar, May 23 is World Turtle Day! I have found some great free resource links to follow as we learn about turtles in our homeschool!

Lapbook from here http://www.homeschoolshare.com/turtles.php

Much about turtles, conservation, rescue, and more here http://www.seaturtleinc.org/

More cool turtle stuff here http://www.conserveturtles.org/turtletides.php

Look inside a turtle’s shell! http://boredomtherapy.com/inside-tortoise-shell/

List with photos of different types of turtles with quick facts https://animalsake.com/different-types-of-turtles

Turtle myths and legends http://www.ancientpages.com/2015/08/29/myths-legends-reveal-ancient-turtle-worship-linked-creation-world/

Children’s Bible Ministry lesson with a turtle theme http://www.bibleline.org/turtles.html

Something challenging for an art project. Origami instructions https://www.freekidscrafts.com/origami-turtle/

Learn to draw 4 different turtles https://www.wikihow.com/Draw-a-Turtle

Rock painting tutorial https://garden.org/thread/view/3659/Turtle-Rock-Paint-Project-Tutorial/

Turtle jokes https://www.jokesbykids.com/turtle/

“What kind of jokes do turtles tell? SHELL-arious ones!”

And finally notebooking pages with ocean animals including turtles from here https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Ocean-Animal-Themed-Writing-Paper-FREEBIE-1213370

It looks like we’ve got science, language arts, computer lab, art, and fun covered for our homeschool summer school today (actually a few days worth of resources)!

betty jo

Watching Our Garden Grow

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After last years failed attempts at growing anything in our yard, we are surprised that our new garden is doing so well. In fact, we were expecting our homeschool Key Hole Garden science project to not do so well.

Both the pepper and tomato plants are blooming.

Worms, used coffee grounds, rotting vegetables and fruits, and flies. Such a wonderful example of how God uses the yucky stuff to create something useful and beautiful!

Romans 8:28^“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who^[a] have been called according to his purpose.”

For more about our homeschool gardening project , click here https://stilllearningsomethingnew.com/2013/04/14/homeschool-gardening/

And here https://stilllearningsomethingnew.com/2013/05/03/yuck-worms/

betty jo

Night of the Living Teens

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E-17 wants to call it “Prom”. So we call it “Prom”. Some of the other parents in our homeschooling support group do not like all of the negatives associated with the word “Prom” and prefer to call it “Teen Night”. So we call it “Teen Night”. Some prefer to call it “Prom Alternative”. So we call it “Prom Alternative”, too. I’m thinking “Night of the Living Teens” works for me. We are just blessed to have such a special night that the title of it doesn’t really matter.

We started the evening early at one of our local parks for photos.

Then dinner out and after that to He Brews coffee shop for costume trunk, ice cream, Wii, and dancing.

E17 and Batman. The Cupid Shuffle!
(That’s me in the yellow.)

Some worn out girls at midnight!

This momma is worn out too but happy!

For another post about our special night click here https://stilllearningsomethingnew.com/2013/05/17/girls-and-flowers/

betty jo

Girls and Flowers

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E17 had a few of her friends over to our house last night. What fun!

Tonight is our homeschooling support group’s prom (alternative) and the girls NEED corsages. A variety of fresh flowers, greenery, wire, tape, sequins, rhinestones, glitter, feathers, ribbon, and hot glue mixed with some craftiness and laughter, and presto – beautiful corsages for their big night!

This is E’s corsage.

Of course they didn’t forget about the guys. The girls made boutonnieres for them out of the leftovers.

Here’s another post about our homeschool support group’s special night for the teens https://stilllearningsomethingnew.com/2013/04/05/spring-formal/

betty jo

Almost Finished

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According to the Kentucky statutes governing homeschooling, we are finished with what is required of us!

“Required Days of Instruction:

185 days, which must include the equivalent of 175 six (6) hour instructional days and 10 non-instructional (teacher) days. Ky. Rev. Stat. Ann. §§ 158.070 and 158.080.

Required Subjects: Include reading, writing, spelling, grammar, history, mathematics, and civics. Ky. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 158.080.”

However, we have not finished with our Middle Ages/ Renaissance unit studies, nor have we reached a stopping place with our math and spelling courses. So our current homeschooling will be continuing for a few more weeks, but without any pressure or stress. We are transitioning to the “AT LEAST ONE THING” schedule.

For now and throughout the summer I will only require my kids to do only one educational lesson a day. They may choose math, spelling/grammar, unit study, or an arts related project to work on Monday through Thursday. The rest of their day can be spent reading, watching movies, playing outside, and a little bit of video gaming. In the next few weeks we will be including youth camp, two Vacation Bible Schools, our library’s summer program, and community service projects with their daily learning choices. When we are done with our Middle Ages/Renaissance unit study, we will start working on a new one, Music.

Last year, we were able to add twelve complete school days to our records by sticking with our “AT LEAST ONE THING” a day schedule. I hope we can do that again this summer. It was wonderful having twelve days recorded at the start of our school year. It was also nice to be able to take a few extra days off during the school year without feeling that we would be falling behind schedule.

This freed up schedule is even better for me than it is my kids. I need some extra time to complete our homeschool records and scholarship reports. I also have not completely organized our summer school music unit study, not to mention the American History unit studies for the 2013-2014 school year. And, I would love to just sit back and read a book or two.

Since Monday was our first day of being finished with our regular homeschooling schedule, I thought we should do something special to celebrate. I asked the kids what they wanted to do. They wanted to go to the library. (I’m thinking my kids might be nerds.) They also asked for pizza. So pizza at the library’s garden it was.

(My two teenagers were there, too, they just did not want to be photographed this time.)

Click here to link to view homeschooling laws for any US state http://www.hslda.org/laws/default.asp

I had the opportunity for a free download last year for homeschool records, planners, and report forms. This offer is no longer available but a few free sample pages are available here http://momstoolbelt.com/homeschool-planner-student-assignment-book-pages

For more about our summer school Music unit study click here https://stilllearningsomethingnew.com/2013/05/06/homeschool-of-rock/

betty jo

But, He Has A Good Heart

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“No, he’s not a Christian, but he’s got a good heart.”

“NO, he’s unemployed! He lives in his van down by the river. He smokes weed for dinner…”

“But, he’s got a good heart!”

The van in the photo does not have anything to do with our family, it just happened to be parked at the neighbor’s across the street from our house. And that conversation, thank GOD, was not between my E17 and me, or about one of my boys. It was from last Sunday’s sermon. My church is just one of many Life Church TV locations. That means when we meet, we watch a sermon on a video feed along with people all over the world. This past Sunday Pastor Craig tackled the message of purity in the second part of the sermon series, Bless This Home.

Matthew 5:8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.”

Usually I do not think much about my long-term goals as a homeschooling mom because I’m so busy just trying to meet our immediate daily goals. But I do have some long term goals. One is to help my children learn to “see God”.

According to Matthew 5:8, this means that I must teach them the importance of purity. I have found that trying to teach my kids purity is most difficult as so much of the world seems so very determined to teach them impurity.

Sunday’s message has me asking myself these questions, and realizing that I currently have much that can be improved on about the attitude of purity in both my personal life and teaching about this Godly attribute to my kids.

1) How would you describe the current condition of your heart? 2) What impurities have you allowed into your family? What can you do to remove them? 3) What steps do you need to take to create a permanent culture of purity in your family?

As my kids and I seek answers to those questions we’ll be meditating on these Scriptures from my sermon notes.

Jeremiah 17:9-10 “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? “I the lord search the heart and examine the mind, to reward each person according to their conduct, according to what their deeds deserve.”

Ephesians 4:18-19 NIV “They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, and they are full of greed”.

Psalm 119:9-10 NIV “How can a young person stay on the path of purity? By living according to your word. I seek you with all my heart; do not let me stray from your commands.”

Proverbs 4:23 NIV “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.”

1 Samuel 16:7 NIV “But the lord said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the lord looks at the heart.”

Ephesians 5:3 NIV “But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people”

.Ezekiel 36:26 NIV “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.”

To view other teaching purity related posts click here https://stilllearningsomethingnew.com/2013/03/08/keeping-the-code/ and here https://stilllearningsomethingnew.com/2013/03/10/calling-for-reinforcements/

You can view Bless This Home 2 here http://www.lifechurch.tv/watch

betty jo

Happy 10th!

Why And How

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When others learn that we do not buy curriculum, but that I design ours myself, they often stare at me as if I’ve grown a third eye, and ask me, “Why?” or “How?”. My answer to both questions is, “By the grace of GOD”. However, upon request, I can explain a bit more.

We pulled our oldest out of public school kindergarten 16 years ago. At that time we just used some cheap workbooks for language arts and math along with plenty of books to read to finish up that school year.

Over the following summer, I poured over curriculum catalogs taking in all the information I could. I could not decide on anything and truthfully, we couldn’t afford anything either. As August approached we still did not have curriculum.

That same summer our son went to Space Adventures Vacation Bible School. His head stayed in outer space even when the week long program was over. Outer space was his favorite topic of conversation and play.

We went to a used curriculum sale and I was talking to some experienced homeschool moms about our lack of school books when one of them asked my son, “What do you like to study?” Of course he replied, “Outer space!” He then shocked me with, “I’m going to start a space club!” She then told him that astronomy was one of her favorite unit studies and a space club sounded like a marvelous idea.

I had to have these moms explain what a unit study was. I had not seen anything like that in my catalogs. She invited us to her house so she could show me how they did school.

Her coffee table was covered with library books and notebooks. Apparently, her kids picked a subject they were interested in, and checked out everything the library had on it. Then they read, bookmarked pages, and took notes. They made trivia games and art projects that related to their topic. Their spelling and vocabulary came from those library books too. When they got tired of one study, they picked another. They were only spending money for paper and art supplies. Those kids were smart. Everyone seemed happy with their homeschooling. She even had a son who had graduated and was attending college. Smart and happy and going to college is what I wanted for us, too.

These moms assured me that since I had at least graduated from high school, I was capable to teach my children what they needed to learn. And that I could do it without spending hundreds of dollars. They told me I would want a large map, dictionary, thesaurus, grammar guide, good pencil sharpener, Bible and Bible dictionary. I mentioned that I did not have a Bible dictionary and could they recommend one. One of these sweet moms went out to her car and got hers. She gave it to me , not let me borrow but gave it as a gift! She showed me how to use it for a space study. “Look up a word such as “stars”, then look up the Scriptures for copy and memory work.”

That August we founded the Space Adventure Club. I even found a math workbook that had a rocket on the cover and cute space pictures on the worksheets. We borrowed library books about the solar system and space travel. We made a telescope, a solar system model and a mini planetarium. We wrote and memorized Scriptures about stars. We learned of ancient ideas about the heavens. We watched space themed movies. We researched space careers. We sang space themed songs. This unit study idea was working well.

The next ~~study~~ club was Nature Scouts, followed by a series of different clubs. This is how we schooled for the first couple of years. I had to add spelling as a separate class because my son was able to spell difficult words but was having trouble with the more common ones. We picked up a used grades 3-12 spelling course and have stuck with that same one for all the years since. We have also been given or bought some phonics readers as the other kids have started their road to reading. We have added current events to our non-unit study list of classes.

There was one year when I made the mistake of comparing my homeschool to others. I thought what they were using would be best for us too. That year we spent over $700 for three children to learn with a “regular” curriculum. We hated it! The following year, we ditched the idea of regular curriculum and went back to our unit study approach.

It’s been years since we’ve called our unit studies clubs, but our studies are still made like those were. For the past six years I have designed our unit studies based on historical period timelines. We have also added technology, free web resources, to how we homeschool.

So now you have my answers to “why” and “how” we homeschool like we do.

betty jo

http://www.faithfulmomof9.com/