Tag Archives: homeschooling

But, He Has A Good Heart

“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!

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We are celebrating another birthday! This time the celebration is for our J. For a kid who has been asking about his next birthday for nearly a year, his expectations were plain and simple. He did not want a party. He did not want any visitors. Though we did finally get him to agree to some party supplies, balloons, and such. He did not want anyone to bake a cake. However, he asked for a box of chocolate snack cakes. He was excited that we took the day off of homeschooling. He also was thrilled to be the one to plan the dinner menu, fish sticks with mac and cheese and watermelon.

J asked for only one present, a video game, Ben 10 Alien Force, that we couldn’t find new, but thankfully we found a used one. We also got him a lot of surprises to unwrap. That was great for him, but I think it really was all about that game. He’s been wanting it for months since he found a walk through of it on YouTube.

While all this no partying has been going on, I’m remembering that night ten years ago, when he made his appearance into the world. He didn’t cry. Not At All. He talked in what sounded like a Pentecostal prayer language. It was a beautiful sound. He was special. Not in the sense that everyone is made special, but more like special as in different and amazing.

Now that ten years have passed and many things have changed about J, he still is the kind of special that is different and amazing. If you would like to read more about him, you can on another post, Autism, I’m Aware https://stilllearningsomethingnew.com/2013/04/02/autism-i-am-aware/

betty jo

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/

Homeschool of Rock

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Psalm 98:4^“Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth, burst into jubilant song with music;”

We are within days of having completed our state’s yearly required 185 days of education. However, this means very little, because we continue learning throughout the summer months just not all day long every day. We did not include instruments or composers during our middle ages unit studies because we had decided to learn more about music during our summer school session and they would fit in nicely there. But the kids and I were wanting our music studies to cover more than just the middle ages.

For the past few weeks I’ve been collecting “music” resources to use for summer school studies. We’ll be including composer biographies, theory, appreciation, instrument recognition, reading notes, and different styles of music in our lessons. It’s shaping up to be a good study, but I was thinking it needed a little something more. The kids thought Jack Black’s movie, School of Rock, would add some fun and I agreed. I love that movie.

Oh, but I was wanting even more. A friend of mine recently shared this link on Facebook. I was WOWED! This was exactly what our upcoming music studies need.

Watching this made me realize how we can easily incorporate culture, geography, and technology into our summer music studies.

I am anxious to watch this on a bigger screen and listen on better speakers than my laptop has. But, I’ll wait until our summer school begins and view them with my kids.

For the complete playlist of Playing For Change music videos

I’ll be blogging more about our music studies and sharing links as I get it somewhat organized.

betty jo

Z At Eight

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We are celebrating another birthday! Our baby, Z, is officially eight years old. Of course he has informed me that just because he is the youngest, that does not mean he’s the baby. He’s right. He hasn’t been a baby since he starting walking/running/climbing at not quite eleven months. I thought he might be a genius because he could outsmart all of the rest of us at least ten times daily by the time he turned two.

Z’s probably not a genius, but he is smart. That is in part because he has been involved with homeschooling since before he was born. He’s playful, friendly, funny, and caring. He tries to be helpful (sometimes). He has quite a bit of confidence in himself and is a little more independent and mature than his years would suggest.

On Z’s birthday I reflect back to his birth. Every little part of that day is etched on my heart. I want to spare my male readers the details, so will only share a little about it.

It was a gorgeous day. We had the windows open. Labor was fun. I was attended by my two best friends and my husband. My A, E, and B were outside playing throughout the morning and afternoon. They would come in occasionally to check on me then go out again. Everyone took turns taking care of almost two year old J. We made a birthday cake and put chicken on to cook for supper later. The day was filled with so much love, Scripture, music, wonderful conversation and prayer.

As labor started to get intense we sent the three boys to the neighbors house and the neighbor girls came over to hang out with E, right outside the open bedroom window. About an half an hour later we got to meet our Z and welcome him to the world.

Z was our third homebirth. I could not wish for any better memories. I believe this was a safe, blessed, and perfect way to bring him into the world. If I had it to do again, I wouldn’t change a single thing.

Baby Z was such a gift and a joy. And so he still is at eight!

betty jo

Yuck! Worms!

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“Mom, why do worms go to the sidewalk when it rains?” I answer that I don’t know, then tell him to pick them up and throw them in our garden. Of course that leads to his next question, “Why?” Before another worm question can be asked, the idea for a new mini unit study is already forming in my head. And since the weather forecast is calling for more showers, I am thinking now will be a good time to begin.

I found this at our library for the younger boys, but we will all read it because we all love picture books.

For the answers to the worm questions, we’ll take a look here http://www.biologyjunction.com/earthworm%20facts.htm#How%20long

Because very few science studies are complete without a lapbook project, we’ll download from here http://www.homeschoolshare.com/worms.php

Worm jokes for fun from a wonderful kids and garden site http://www.kidsgarden.northwestwigglers.com/worms-and-bugs/worm-jokes/

And for the grand finale, gummy worms and the movie, How To Eat Fried Worms.

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

In case you are wondering why the worm crossed the road, I know that answer. To get away from the chicken!

betty jo

National Day of Prayer

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We are leaving the Middle Ages and it’s plague victims, strange treatments, fleas, and rats for a day. Something much bigger than our unit study is occurring. Something Current Events, American History, and GOD is occurring. This important something is America’s National Day of Prayer.

2 Chronicles 7:14 “If My people, who are called by My Name, will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”

We believe that we are “MY people”. We consider ourselves to be GOD’s homeschool. . Our name implies it, The Hendrickson Covenant In-Home School. That “Covenant” part comes from our agreement with our Heavenly Father in the Name of Jesus Christ to home educate our children as long as The Holy Spirit guides us every step of the way, because I wouldn’t know how on my own.

Our language arts lessons will be writing prayers and Scripture journaling. We’ll be using free customized writing paper from http://www.dltk-kids.com/type/writing_paper.htm

Our social studies lessons will come from here http://www.wallbuilders.com/

We will let God take care of the science lessons as we observe Him healing our land.

Oh yeah, math lessons. We’ll just forget about them this one time. My kids can have the testimony that GOD does answer their prayers.

betty jo

Sweet Days of May

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I know that this close to the end of our homeschooling year and having a bit more to go to be finished, I won’t be adding any extra learning days to our calendar. However, I suppose I’m a creature of habit, for once again I’m searching the activity calendars. There are several famous people’s birthdays and major event anniversaries coming in May that won’t be studied in our homeschool, but I thought that there might be days that we can still recognize just for fun.

After reviewing these calendars I have learned that May 6 is “No Diet Day”, but maybe that should be the theme of the entire month. My pancreas is going into insulin producing overload just reading through some of May’s special days.

1 – Parfait Day

2 – Truffels Day

11 – Eat What You Want Day

12 – Nutty Fudge Day

15 – Chocolate Chip Day

19 – Devil’s Food Cake Day

20 – Strawberry Shortcake Day

31 – Macaroon Day

Here are my favorite calendars with educational links in case you have room on your planner to include some special learning days.

May Holiday and Event Calendar http://www.apples4theteacher.com/holidays/may-2013.html

Making the Days Count Calendar http://www.homeschoolshare.com/blog/2013/04/may2013-making-the-days-count-activity-calendar/

Famous People and Events Calendar http://www.se7en.org.za/se7ens-may

May’s Teachable Moments Calendar http://www.hsclassroom.net/free-math-resources-for-elementary-students/

Hoping you have a sweet May,

betty jo

Avoiding It Like The Plague

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I’ve been designing our homeschool’s curriculum for several years. I base our unit studies on a historical period timeline. One year we study everything “ancient”. The next year we move on to studying everthing “middle ages”. Then the following year our unit studies are based on “American history”. The fourth year we focus on “modern world history”. After these four years, we start over, but with more advanced assignments.

Every June I start planning the upcoming school year’s unit studies. And I start this process by making a list of everything found on on a timeline that could/should be included in our lessons for the year.

As this homeschooling year comes to a close, I am pleased that our Middle Ages/Renaissance unit studies have covered almost everything on my original list. We will be ending our regular studies with church reformers . Our summer school studies will include the great composers as we have elected music as one of our summer classes.

However, there is one topic on my list we haven’t studied yet. Truthfully, I have been avoiding this particular study like the plague! Actually, that is the study, the Bubonic Plague, Black Death. This was such a terrible time in history as nearly one third of the European population died from this epidemic. With less than three weeks left of our school year, and not wanting to end with this study, we will be covering the plague this week.

We will be reading about the Bubonic Plague from these library books.

Here’s the resource links we’ll be using

Teacher notes for the younger boys http://www.mrdowling.com/703-plague.html

Black Death lecture for the older kids http://www.historyguide.org/ancient/lecture29b.html#map

The younger boys will work together to make lapbooks from http://www.homeschoolshare.com/plague.php

I’m not surprised that I couldn’t find notebooking pages for this subject. I’ll be designing our own notebooking pages using that horrible art photo at the top of this post for my older kids.

Knowing that we are so close to finishing our homeschooling year will hopefully brighten our moods as we learn about Black Death.

betty jo

Stewardship Day

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The Dixon Springs Agriculture Center, in Southern Illinois’ Shawnee National Forest, teams up with with environmental and conservation experts every year for a week of educational programs for school children. They have been hosting this event for over twenty years, and I think our homeschooling support group has been attending for about that long, too.

We had an excellent turnout of both young children and teens for our day of Stewardship Week even though it was quite cool and cloudy.

Our first class of the day was The Three R’s (Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle).

Our second class was Wildlife Management. We learned about the area habitats and the animals who live there. Also, our teacher explained illegal poaching and trapping. He passed around the pelts of animals that he had found in traps.

Even though this was rather sad, it gave the kids a chance to touch, feel, and study several of the forest’s residents.

Our third class was Wetlands Birds and thankfully it was under a tent because it had started to rain.

Instead of having our picnic lunch outside, the rain continued so we ate in our cars. After lunch, the kids went to the Activity Center. Here they stocked up on coloring pages, stickers, and worksheets to do later. They also made necklaces.

The rain decided to stick around as did the cool temperatures, forcing cancellation of the rest of the Stewardship Day classes. We were disappointed, but also ready for some dry, warm clothes.