Learning New Things

I can hardly believe that we have been homeschooling for 8 weeks as of tomorrow.  We are just completing our study of North America and are heading to South America on Monday.  We have studied an overview of the world and learned about the colonization of the United States, Mexico, and Canada.  The kids have learned to locate all of the countries in North America on a map by playing geography games.  We have studied the Aztecs, the Mayas, the Inuits, and our founding fathers.  We have learned about biomes, ecosystems, food chains, food webs, deserts, and forests.  And so much more,  that's just all I can remember right now.

We have learned about all the different major world religions and how they differ from Christianity.  They have also learned about and prayed for different people groups and missionaries from all over North America.  We have read stories about George Muller, Cameron Townsend, William and Catherine Booth, Harriet Tubman, and Dwight L Moody.  They have learned about character traits that these people had such as creativity, boldness, discipline, repentance, boldness, compassion, joy, and perseverance.  It has been such a joy to spend every morning in the Word with my children.

And on top of that, Aria is reading!   This is so crazy to me because I was so stressed about being able to teach her to read that I considered sending her back to school through the first grade because I really didn't think I could do it.  She is also doing simple math, and can locate Greenland, Canada, the United States, and Mexico on a map.

Micah's spelling has improved a ton and he is reading a lot more.  We have discovered his love for comic books so we are at the library every 3-5 days getting new books for him to read.  He is also doing multiplication and loving it.  He is still struggling to focus but because I can put him in a quiet room when he is working he can focus so much better.  He is learning that some people can do their work in a noisier environment and some people can't.  He is someone who can't and the fact that he is learning that now is wonderful.  It is a study skill he will take throughout his life (hopefully).

Bella is doing fantastic.  She has been moved up to the 6th grade level in all of her subjects.  She wasn't being challenged enough so we bumped everything up.  And while it has brought about a few more tears because she is now being challenged more she is loving every minute of it.  She is my high achiever so this makes perfect sense.

The most amazing thing about it all is that they are learning all of this with me as the teacher.  Most days I feel completely inept to teach them.  You see, I did horrible in school, at least until college.  I barely graduated from high school and still to this day do not have a college education.  My children have taught me to love to learn.  Every night before I go to bed, I study and prepare for what we will do the next day, and then the children and I learn all kinds of new things together the next day.

All of this is by the grace of God.  I have never relied on God so much in all of my walk with Him.  I get frustrated with the children and myself, I have pity-parties every now and then, and some days I even feel like quiting.  But, then God reminds me of why we are here, how well the children are doing, how much I enjoy being with them, and that just like them, I am learning.  I am learning how to be a teacher.  I am not expected to just "know" how to do this.  I am not expected to be perfect.  I need to extend grace to the children and to myself while we all learn new things.

Homeschooling and Time4Learning.com

Two days from now our family will embark on a fabulous and terrifying journey into a whole new world.  The world is called "Homeschooling".  For all of reasons for homeschooling you can refer to my earlier post, that was the WHY?, this is the HOW?  I have read up on many, actually too many, curriculums for homeschooling.  There are WAY too many options out there, like deodorants and scrapbooking materials, the options are endless and daunting.  After years of research I finally settled on a curriculum, My Father's World.  I bought the curriculum and then something happened.  I began to think that maybe we needed to take a hiatus from "traditional" learning and try something a little more laid back and child directed.  A fellow homeschooling friend who has three boys turned me onto www.time4learning.com.  It is a computer based curriculum that is based on grade and/or level.  The children log into their own personal account and then follow the path through different topics.  After all the assignments on a particular lesson are completed, they are then tested on everything they have learned.  The website keeps track of all their assignments and grades which I can print out at report card time and turn into my cover school.  It will be used mainly for math assignments and also used as a supplement for Language Arts, History, and Science.  I haven't changed my mind about My Father's World, I plan to begin that in the fall when the new school year begins.  But, for now, I think this will be the easiest for all of us.  The transition from public school to homeschooling is a BIG one for everyone, so if we can do things that are fun and uncomplicated that will be best for all of us.  Also, another plus to using computer based learning is that it is VERY portable.  If we decide to go out of town, we just take the computer and some library books rather than a whole suitcase full of curriculum.  And they can move as fast or slow as they want/need to.  We are very excited about this and look forward to letting you know how the next 6 months go.

New Directions

It is amazing to me how true the Scripture is "The heart of man plans his ways, but the Lord directs his steps".  I have made so many plans for my life that much to my delight did not turn out as I had planned.  I planned to marry my college sweetheart, God directed me to Michael instead.  I planned to be married by the time I was 25, God didn't bring Michael into my life until I was 28.  I planned to be done having babies at two children, God surprised us with two more.  I planned to NEVER come back to Birmingham, God changed my heart and brought me "home".  I planned to live the American Dream, God is showing me His dream.  I planned to homeschool my kids from Kindergarten on, God didn't call me to homeschool until now.  This is just a small list that proves Proverbs 16:9.  I would love to say that I am done with planning my life and my kids lives, but it is in me, in us, to "plan" for the future.  The world tells us that it is smart to do just that.  Plan for children, plan for buying a house, plan for retirement, plan for a career...plan, plan, plan.  But, I am beginning to get it.  I need to stop planning.  The fact of the matter is if I had married my college sweetheart, I probably would be divorced by now.  If I had had children as young as I wanted to I would not have been a very good mom.  If I had stopped at two children I would have missed so much joy that my 3rd and 4th children have brought into my life.  If I were living the American Dream, I would be a slave to my things rather than free to serve.  And if I had begun to homeschool my children 5 years ago, well, who knows.  I am not really sure why God waited so long to give me a peace about homeschooling but He did and I am trusting that He has a very good reason.

I must say that I am SO excited and SO scared about homeschooling all of my children.  I want so much for all of us to just love everyday of it, but I know that is an unrealistic expectation.  I know that there will be days when we don't enjoy it at all.  But, I have had confirmation after confirmation that this is the new direction that God is taking our family.  I have no idea how long it will last, but we are taking it one year at a time.  My plan is to begin blogging more about this journey, and other journeys that God has us on.  Not really so much so that other people can read our story, but more so that I can have a record of the journey.  And if it winds up helping someone, then that is an unplanned blessing.