20 Great Reasons to Homeschool

This may be a little small to read so if you actually cannot read it go to this link, scroll down to the color version and it will be large enough to read. (for some reason I could not get the image larger)  In fact, once you are at the source, go ahead and  pass the image on in your blog or emails. You will be participating in something called "viral advertising!" 

Go for it Jim! 

Enjoy!

PS Notice I changed the title to- 20 Great Reasons TO Homeschool. For those of us who already do educate at home these are familiar reasons. For those that do not (yet) these are just extra tidbit reasons in addition to the real intent of home discipleship because we all know none of us started homeschooling so our kids so they could wear their pajamas to school or so they could sleep in on rainy days! Some days are hard but I would NEVER have it any other way!

Living a lifestyle of learning daily!

Wacky Wednesday-Real Life Science

One dark and rainy day in May, my youngest son Graydon and I were at a garden center and happened to see a small food service type of container at the cash register. "Mantis pod" it read. Would that be Praying Mantis? I was intrigued. What a great real life science project. I often regretted my boys not being able to see a real praying mantis in our hot and humid home when we lived in Ontario. (They were not born yet)

Praying mantis's are the most intriguing little insects. They will actually turn their heads to look at your face. It's kinda shocking the first time you see his head follow yours as you twirl him around on your hand. ....Back to the story... of course, we bought the container and followed the instructions to keep it in the fridge until the weather got warm and then hang it on a tree. Out came our field guides and we researched all about praying mantis (Life applicable learning- the most stickable learning there is. In 2 - 6 weeks out of the pod were to emerge hundreds of baby praying mantis. We hung one on either side of the garden and watched carefully. We were warned to not miss the hatching because once the babies come out of their paper wasp like birthing pod there is not much evidence that the pod is empty and the babies will all scatter and you could miss it. Well, one we missed but the other I providentially caught just a the right time. Here is a great shot of the pod dripping with babies. They quickly jumped down and were off. Within 30 min we could hardly find one. They were so cute!

Surprisingly, Graydon found one of the long lost mantis babies now grown to over an inch in only 3 weeks later. It is surprising because they are completely camouflaged with their surroundings. They look like a small twig or other thread like natural debris. He was obviously doing very well.

Living a Lifestyle of Learning daily

Raw Passion to Learn

The passion to learn- It is born in each one of us and yet for some reason it seems to mysteriously disappear somewhere around the teenage years or before. Well, isn't that just to be expected? After all he/she is a teenager now and it's expected to go through a hard time, even rebellion because ...well, they are teenagers now.

I challenge you to think again.

Perhaps the expected passages of time may just be a predictable reaction to the injustices and dysfunction of our culture. Parenting is not what it used to be and certainly schooling is not either by any stretch of the imagination. In years gone by parents expected to teach and train their own children, in discipline and morals and even in 2+ 2 =4. But today, we have all learned or been taught to let experts do it for us, so it can be done right! They have been to school (dead giveaway) for many years to learn how to teach and so therefore since we as parents have not, (probably) we simply cannot know how to teach or, better put, get out of the way and let our children learn.
We are all born with that innate desire to learn. Just look at a baby. Have you ever seen a teenager just starting to learn to walk because he just didn't have the desire to learn or that no one taught him in the art of walking properly? How ridiculous a thought? Parents, you are the best, God ordained, teachers and trainers of your children. Once understood and fully grasped, this concept can revolutionize your perspective.

My daughter has a unique blog about her love of learning in the area of art,
I create because I must and a recent post about her baby's raw passion which I thought was insightful. You gotta read it.

Between each line is a mother's pride and a grandma's joy in a really cute and bright baby!

Remember ladies, you are not only raising your children, you are also raising your grandchildren. Your grown children will parent in your grace and style - if it is honorable - and someone else's if it was not. Either way, your influence can be enormous.... for generations to come.

PS My daugher sketched the picture in this post. Pretty good, eh? (The Canadian in me comes through everyone once in a while!)

Rainy days on Monday's always get me down.

Do anyone of you ever have those rainy day Monday blues? A day of uninspired apathy? After having a great week last week and really making some headway on routines, then enjoying a busy weekend and all seemed to come unglued today. Everything seemed to crash. Nobody wants to do anything except curl up and watch TV all day (not that we ever do that)

I have noticed this phenomenon occur time and again at our house and I have come to "not expect much on Monday." It kind of bothers me accepting this lackadaisical attitude and quite honestly I have fought it with a vengeance in the past only to make matters worse in the end. But lets face it, Mondays are back to routine, and for most of us that means work, an uphill climb in discipline and after having a lot of fun enjoying sweet fellowship on Sunday, Mondays just seem to be a let down. So why fight it?

Today, we got up a little late due to the time change in the clocks and after quiet time and then morning devotions we read three chapters of, Whatever Happened to Justice from Bluestocking Press, and then curled up and watched a movie/documentary called Darwin's' Deadly Legacy. Afterward I started sewing a period costume for Jonathan and he in turn read aloud to me, "Are you Liberal, Conservative or Confused." Graydon worked on his blog and in the evening the boys worked on their Mission Impossible movie that they are producing. That is not entirely a write off day and we should not feel like a day has been wasted. Rainy days on Mondays can allow for a day off and productive free time can still produce much learning. A true free lifestyle of learning can embrace the occasional rainy day Monday as long as it doesn't get you down. Tomorrow we'll be better equipped to get back to the routine. Have a great day on Terrific Tuesday.

Notebooking is for Mom, too!

I am still wrapping up a few leftover projects that I had planned for January and I have just finished another one. Yeah. It feels so good to get on top of one more task. One of the annoyances that I've had over the last few years is that my binder of favorite recipes was over stuffed and very inefficient. I could not find certain recipes when I needed them and it was embarrasing when a family member wanted a copy of a family favorite. I knew I had to separate the book into several books and categories and this is how I did it.
I have on hand several extra thick clearview binders-small size. I also have on hand a collection of funny or sweet pictures from magazines and keep them in a file for notebooking or for journals. My collection served the purpose well as I could find relevant pictures for each catagory that I needed. Then I "scrapbooked" the inserts for the covers and spines.
This binder is obviously Main Dishes with tabs marked: red meat, meatless, soups and stews,
poultry, eggs, fish, barbeque and gravy and sauces.

Bread, Muffins, Cakes and Desserts.

Inside tabs include:

cookies and squares

muffins, cakes and quick breads

bread, sweet rolls, pizza dough

pie crusts

desserts and toppings

jams and spreads

granola, pancakes, waffles, breakfasts foods






Salad, Veggies, Dressings and Spice Mixes
Tabs include,
salads

vegetable dishes

dressings, sauces and dips,

spice mixes,

pickles and preserves












This is my Household Management binder which contains Cleaning plans, schedules and requirements, family budget, menu planning, future major purchase list, laundry and cleaning tips, recipes for bug repellant, bone china price lists, food suppliers, furnace filter size and type (this is important when you move often enough to forget what size you need without pulling the filter out each time) etc, everything that is household related.














I haven't officially named this book yet but temporarily it contains all raw food recipes. I may keep this a separate book permanently just so I can find all raw ideas and recipes quick and easily (rather than including each food type in it's own binder.

















Seasonal and Special Occasion is a regular size binder (Not small like the other ones shown) that I keep all sorts of seasonal craft ideas, articles, poems and decorating ideas. It is the larger size because I include many magazine articles, etc, usually too big for the 9X9 size)Tabs include

New Years/Winter.
February/Valentines
March, St Pat's/
Easter
Mother's Day
Father's Day
July Aug/Vacation ideas
Sept/school
Shower/birthday ideas







This is the other half of the above Seasonal and Special Occasions binder containing all the favorite recipes for each special seasons in the year. I include all of the above tabs and include-birthday (cakes, present ideas, and party foods in general)



















And here is the spine shot of them all lined up ready to go in the cupboard. Easy to use, easy to find and easy to add to - The epitomy of notebooking. And we thought that notebooking was only for school subjects!


Tomorrow I'll be posting on the most important weight loss, weight managment tool a health minded person has. And it is free! (no monetary cost)
Any guesses?

Real Life Learning-I wouldn't have it any other way!

One of the many benefits of having your children at home with you every day, is that they get to experience with you the daily events that make life real. If they were in a classroom all day their experiences would be contrived and scheduled and then graded. Many come out of 12 years of this assembly line eduction with just that, prestamped sameness, cookie cutter predictability and standardized test results.

Real life happens at our house. Sometimes it is the anticipation and preparation of the arrival of a special grandparent. Sometimes it is pulling over to the side of the road to fix a flat tire or handle another car problem. And sometimes our busy days stop completely in order to deal with a very painful event.

We buried our sweet little dog in the back yard yesterday. She had many problems and she was getting old. At 15 she had daily "accidents" and her little heart was so weak the blood was not getting to her lungs so she coughed a lot, gasping for breath. She had several tumors and sometimes bled from the rear area. The decision had to be made but it was just so hard to make it.

Yesterday had to be the day and I announced it to my teenage boys, "Go dig a hole." They knew what I meant. The tears flowed (mostly me) and I couldn't stop for a couple of hours. It was a painful day, getting those few preparations done. We ran a few errands on the way hoping to suspend the decision, I think. Last on the list was the Vet's office. We pulled in. I gathered myself together and approached the desk.

"Can I help you?"
"Yes," I squeaked. "We are here to have our dog euthanized."

What a cold word.

I did not make it past much more than that, searching the form I was to fill out through the tears pouring on the paper and smudging the ink. My boys were beside me with their arms around my shoulder, comforting ME! We must have been a sight! The lady in the back finally came to gently take her away and we said our brief goodbye's. They were kind and compassionate and I appreciated that. We were instructed to wait around the side door and we stood in the cold in muted silence fighting tears and wondering when it would be over. They finally came out with a box and her favorite down blanket covering her. She always liked to be covered up. The tears flowed again and we drove home and buried her beside the shed.

We were together the whole day through the pain, tears and the sadness and I would not have had it any other way. My two son's gentleness and tenderness was not only a support for me but they handled their grief in a manly dignified manner, important for them as well. It had to be done; they knew that, and we went through it together. We will have a few days of quiet I know, because grief must have it's time.

All of these real life events make up who our children are and will be in their future. Let's not ever separate our children from real life, in whatever form it may take-for the benefit of all of us.

Beanie, (Beanie Baby) January 26th, 1994 - January 8th, 2008
We miss you, Beanie