Homeschool Agenda

I am actually covering the last 2 assignments in one post. I didn't get to it last week.
This will be our second week of starting our homeschooling for the year. This is our 8th year. We have 3 children. 2 daughters in 8th and 4th grade and a son in preschool.

When we started home educating, I used Abeka. We used this for the first 2 years. I liked Abeka but I was wanting to have a little more fun. I am a hands on person and I had only one child that was homeschooling so I thought I could find something that was more my style. This led me to Five in a Row. I used Saxon for Math and Rod and Staff for Grammar. I loved the Five in a Row. It was a literature based curriculum with fun things to do daily. All subjects were based on the book that you read for the week. My daughter was exposed to great books.

The year that she was going into 3rd grade, I was introduced to the meaning of a classical education. This was what I was looking for! We have educated classically since that time. This is now our 6th year. I also have a twist of Charlotte Mason tied in but there are many similarites between the two. My second born has needed a more relaxed approach and this is what has caused me to twist in the Charlotte Mason.

Classical education focuses heavily on History, Rhetoric, Latin and Logic from a Biblical worldview. History is studied chronologically and most of your other subjects tie into the time period you are studying. For instance, if you are studying Ancients then you might be studying Earth Science, reading books for Literature that are from that time period and writing papers on research from your studies of the Ancients. A whole school year is spent on one time period. It would start with Ancients in (1st grade), Rome in (2nd grade) , Renaissance (3rd grade), Reformation and Modern times (4th grade), in which you would tie in U.S. History. In Science you would study one science a year also. This cycle repeats itself over and over. After a child has completed a classical education, they will have had each time period and each science a total of 3x's between 1st-12 grade. We have really enjoyed this style of education. If it is of interest to you, there is a book called, The Well Trained Mind, by Jessie Wise Bauer. It is a wonderful and thought provoking book. This book helps you to see in each subject area, the best books to choose to educate for that particular subject.
Our schedule for the school year goes something like this:
6:00 am- read Bible, pray
6:30- exercise, shower
7:00- spend time doing school with preschooler
7:30-9:30 I work on all subjects with my 4th grader. She has a better attention span and can concentrate better in the morning.
9:30- Work with my 8th grader on her Bible, Literature, History
11:00- laundry, light housework, kids help with morning chores
11:30- look over math and grammar and any other assignments for 8th grader.
12:00- lunch
12:30-1:00- go for a walk or be outside with everyone
1:00- read to preschooler
1:30 - start preparing dinner, pick up around house, make phone calls, I try to schedule in one or two major cleaning tasks during this time. Ex: mop kitchen floors or clean toilets, and mirrors.
2:00- rest for an hour
3:00- help by oldest with any last minute things on school work
3:30- kids and I complete afternoon chores

I can't tell you that it always goes exactly as planned but this is pretty much what we accomplish in the day. Each day presents challenges in one way or another so I have the attitude that a schedule is nice but if it causes me stress because we can't stick to it one day than I let it go out the window until we can pick it up again. A schedule is there to guide me along not take over my life and become my new stress. I also realize that discipline and character issues are very important and need to be dealt with so if it means that we can't start math at 9:00 than math will wait until the situation has been dealt with. I think school is very important but character will take a child much further in whatever the child does in this life.

Not by Our Works

Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law ; for by the works of the the law no flesh shall be justified. (Gal.2:16)

Not of works, lest anyone should boast. (Eph. 2:9)

The Lord has declared this repeatedly in his word. The world's preaching is, "Do as well as you can, live a moral life, and God will save you." The gospel's preaching is this: "You are a lost sinner and deserve nothing of God but His displeasure; if you are to be saved, it must be by an act of sovereign grace. God must freely extend the silver scepter of His love to you, for you are a guilty wretch who deserves to be sent to the lowest hell. Your best works are so full of sin that they can in no way save you. To the free mercy of God, you owe all.
Someone says, "Are good works of no use?" God's works are of use when a man is saved. They are evidences of his being saved, but good works do not save a man. Good works do not influence the mind of God to save a man. If it were so, salvation would be a matter of debt and not of grace.
And if by grace, then it is no longer of works; otherwise grace is no longer grace. But if it is of works, it is no longer grace; otherwise work is no longer work. (Rom. 11:6)
Jesus saves, but he does all the work or none. HE is the Author and Finisher, and works must not rob Him of His due. We must either receive salvation freely from the hand of Divine Bounty, or else you must earn it by your own unassisted merits, the latter being utterly impossible for any human being. May we yield to the first.
May we always remember these foundational truths as we go about our day. As we listen to our husbands, children, friends. We are nothing, God is everything. Everyone we come into contact with is either saved or lost. As a believer, being reminded of where our salvation came from, that it is not of ourselves, remembering who we are in Christ is essential to our interactions with others and how we view life daily. Keeping our eyes on our maker and saviour is the only way to get through our days.

A little about me

I have joined a blog group called Homeschool Memoirs and I am supposed to tell a little about me in hopes that other homeschooling bloggers will visit my Faith, Family, Friends blog and I in turn will be encouraged by theirs. So, here is a little about me, my family and our homeschooling journey.
I have 3 children. One in 8th grade, 4th grade and a preschooler. We live in the country, surrounded by farm fields and I love country living. I like to can, freeze, bake, cook. I am my husband's biggest fan in the kitchen department. I'd love to learn to sew but I have tried it and have come to the conclusion that garage sales are the way to go for me. My brain does not work well with patterns and garage sales are cheaper.
We have homeschooled from the beginning and we use the classical style. I love having my kids at home with me. Most days are busy with schooling and housekeeping and chauffering. I started with another friend a classical coop 6 years ago. Since the year we started, we have had an average of 20 families participate ranging from 80-100 people who were involved. It has been a great blessing in my life and my children's life. However, this year, we have decided to take a year off and just enjoy being a family with not quite so many commitments. I am looking forward to this.
I hope you will get to know me a little better. My blog is mostly entry's about how the Lord is working in my life. You hear from me on the good days and the not so good days. I find blogging to be therapeutic and I ask the Lord to make my entry's a blessing to others who read them. I am as real as you can get. I don't like fake or pretend. I don't try to act like my family is perfect. I realize I am a sinner saved by grace and that I am very inadequate but God uses willing vessels. I hope you will visit and that my thoughts will be a blessing to you.

Dependance

At church this morning I was reminded of some very important things that I often need to be reminded of on a regular basis. The topic was dependance. Who do we depend on? Do we try to do everything in our own strength depending on self or do we depend on God and draw strength from him? When I am doing things in my own strength, I am destined to fail. I get frustrated, angry, impatient and my sinful side is very apparent to all around me. I often fail to remember that God's grace is adequate for what comes to me everyday. There is no day, no circumstance, no happening that God did not allow to be a part of my day. When I start getting a "poor me" attitude or a "why me" attitude, it's my strength I am working in and my own selfishness. I was reminded that when we are not in ideal circumstances that the circumstances are not what need to change, it's who we are depending on. As christians, we can have peace and joy despite of our situations. God never promised that the christian walk would be easy. As a matter of fact, usually the christian life is very difficult. We can expect trial, tribulations and just plain difficult days. These are the very things that God uses to prune us. To grow us and to sanctify us.
Many christians today think that when you are a christian, you are supposed to be happy. Days are supposed to be fairy tale like. This is the farthest thing from the truth. There is no where in scripture that indicates such a thing. There is an internal peace and joy but it's not a fairy tale life.
One other thing that stuck with me today is our Sunday school teacher expressed his concern over why so many youth are being raised in the church, memorizing scripture, being taught in the ways of the Lord and then abandoning all of it, never to come back? Kids see hypocrites in a hurry. A parent needs to demonstrate their enjoyment of God in their life to their children. The children need to see their parents in the word, intercessory prayer on behalf of them and others. They need to see that God is not dry and dull but very active and alive! The Holy Spirit lives within us and he CHANGES LIVES! This is something to get excited about! There is no one who will have a greater impact on children than the child's parent. Church is wonderful but even if you have the most ideal church in the whole world, it will impact your children but not like the parents that they live with 24 hours a day 7 days a week. Parents have the strongest influence and leave the biggest impressions on their kids.
So, if your reading this, put on the whole armor of God. Read your Bible, pray for your kids and rely on God's strength to get you through even the toughest of situations. He promises that his grace is sufficient for us in all circumstances.

Getting Excited!

One of the items on my list of things that I'd like to do with my kids this year has been to have a Bible study/ fellowship time for Autumn and some other girls. I have wanted to do this for awhile but because of other commitments, it just has not been possible. But now that I am embarking on a new adventure this year..........my schedule is not so full and these are the types of things I consider enhancing our family life. I intend to use Elizabeth George's book, A Young Women After God's Own Heart. I am very excited about this and Autumn is thrilled that we are actually going to pursue this. I am thrilled as her mom that she is yearning for Godly friendships, knowing the Lord more personally and wanting to fellowship with other teen girls who know the Lord. The most exciting thing for me is that she is thrilled her mom is teaching the study. That is the most rewarding thing for me. My almost 13 year old daughter loves her mom and wants to learn God's word with her mom. I couldn't be more pleased to have her have this attitude and I am so excited to embark upon and be a part of this new adventure with her and her friends.

Family time

We are coming to an end of the summer for our family. Damon goes back to school this next week. I am sad that the 2 months we look so forward to are coming to an end. I am also happy that my family will be back on a schedule again that is much more predictable. We need the predictabitily as much as we need the break.
This year, we are trying new things. We will not be cooping this year. This is bittersweet for us. We have many friends who are near and dear to us at our homeschool coop. We do not know what it is like to school without a coop. We have been involved with one since Autumn was in 2nd grade. That was 7 years ago. Sometimes Autumn and I start to wallow in the sadness of taking a break but I quickly remind her and myself that we can see this an as adventure for our family. A year to try things that we have not had the chance to try before because of time. This is a year to be a family that dosen't have LOTS of extra commitments. I really don't know what this is like. By personality, I am always doing something. Commitment and busy are my two middle names. But this year, I want my middle name to be FUN and LOVING. I want to take the time to ENJOY my family. I want to notice the little things that I so often miss. I want to watch my 3 year old learn his alphabet, read books to him, play hide and go seek, go for walks. I want to listen with a full ear to my teenage daughter. All of her thoughts, feelings and observations about life. I want to take the time to understand my 9 year old. She is my tough nut to crack. I want to take her on the dates that she always asks if she can go on with me. Just little dates like to the Hallmark store to look at Webkinz or for a Frosty at Wendy's.
I have done these things with my children but sometimes it is more out of feeling like I should instead of enjoying every minute that the Lord has given me with each of my children. There is a power in motherhood. It is the power we have to mold hearts and minds for the Lord. To talk about the importance of family and instill our values. I believe the small things or the times that don't seem like a big deal are the times when we can make the most memorable and the largest impact on our kids lives.
This year is my year for focusing on FAMILY TIME.

Pictures from our trip to Albany