An Encouraging Post, As We End Our School Year

I'm sorry that I've disappeared! I caught quite a cold.

As we end our school year I want to encourage you to see just how much your children have learned, the progress they've made as individual people.

Its easy to compare our homeschools with our friends homeschools. Its easy to see so many outside activities that one family does, and compare with the few that you do.

Can I encourage you to look to the Lord for His direction for your family? He knows just what each child needs. Maybe one year it is a co-op, but another year it is time to be home together, and let them play a team sport. Don't get caught in the trap that each child has to do every activity or sport or lesson that they want!

This is especially difficult when you have many small children. We allowed our kids to do one thing. They tried team sports and didn't really enjoy them. A few did riding lessons for a few years. Most have taken music lessons for several years. We've tried to be sensitive to what each child's interests were and to see how those could be accommodated.

Pray for wisdom, God will answer you.

My friend Karen Andreola has a wonderful blog post, on this very idea, called Finding Your Feet.

Be encouraged and enjoy your summer!

Comments

Passing On A Love Of Books And Reading

One of our goals as parents was to help our children to become good readers. We had several main reasons which are: 1. We are big readers and know the pleasure of well written books. 2. It is my belief, that if you can read well, you can teach yourself anything. This desire to pass along a love of reading is extended to my grandchildren. We encourage a love of reading/books by reading to them, and b uying them their own books. I have books here at the Cottage, that are just for them, even the toddlers. Klaire loves to get these books out everytime she's here. She also gets into my books, but it is a training process - "Not those books, these are YOUR books!" I got a few cute photos of her yesterday. Have you seen these Baby Lit books? ...

Here Is What We Are Doing For School This Year

We've been on summer break since May 11th. Monday we will start a new year of learning. Kyle will be in 7th, Sarah in 10th, and Kamryn, my granddaughter will do some days with us and some days at her home. She is in 1st grade. We've had a good summer, did some swimming, the kids played Ultimate every Wednesday, and some of us took a trip to California for a family wedding. Summer flew by, didn't it? We've continued to learn this summer, mostly reading, with a bit of math. We are ready to get back to a schedule. I always look forward to a new year. This year we are doing American History. We use a lot of historical fiction, biographies, extra books like 'A is for Abigail,' by Lynn Cheney. I have a big gap in ages with having my granddaughter doing history with us, so those books suited to her age will be read with just her, but otherwise we will be altogether for history. I like to do a bit of 'morning time.' ...

Some More Thoughts On Child Training

I had some conversation with my niece yesterday regarding child training, and I want to encourage you with a few thoughts. First off, God is not surprised when our children sin, but we often are! I remember so clearly how at times, I did be like "I can't believe that you did this!", to one of my kids. In the middle of an issue like this one day, God spoke to me by a thought coming into my head and said, "Really? They are sinners, just like you. Why are you surprised?" I have to tell you that moment changed the way I viewed my children. They were predisposed to sin, because of Adam and Eve, and that we were in the training phase of their lives. They could learn to obey, make good choices and all the rest, but it wasn't necessarily going to be their first inclination. Now, some kids are easier than others. Some are more compliant based on their personalities. This does not mean that they don't have an inner dialogue going on about w...

Deanna Rabe

Search This Blog