The Opportunities and Blessings of Homeschooling

In the nine years that we've been homeschooling, we have found that homeschooling allows and offers so many opportunities and blessings.  As our children do not have to be glued to a desk or even to bookwork all day long, they have more time to explore other things.  We are normally finished with school by lunchtime and they have the rest of the day to go out and explore the back yard, shoot some basketball, kick the soccer ball, or any of many other activities.  They also have the opportunity to pursue their interests.  They play in organized sports with a homeschool group we are a part of, and I mean, they even play games against other homeschool group teams or Christian school teams.  They take music lessons:  our oldest takes piano lessons and he's taken a couple of years of mandolin lessons (most kids don't even know what a mandolin is).  Our middle son takes drum lessons and our youngest has just begun piano lessons.  We regularly attend church, and they are active in our church.  Our two oldest boys play their instruments for worship services and our oldest has taught a Sunday school lesson or two.  We've participated in serving our community through donating items or donating our time to help at a local center that packs health kits, school kits and some other things to send to needy people in other countries.  They've attended a couple of summer camps.
Our oldest just graduated high school this year, and he has had an amazing year.  Last summer he had the Lamplighter Guild, which you can find more about here.  He came back with a new focus, and he had grown spiritually.  He was so impressed and inspired by the Lamplighter Guild that he wanted to get more involved in Lamplighter, so he contacted Mr. Mark Hamby and became an intern/apprentice with Lamplighter Ministries.  After about four months, he had the opportunity to go to London, England with Lamplighter for the recording of one of their audio dramas.  It was on this trip that he also became an actual part-time employee of Lamplighter Ministries.  He's been reading excellent quality literature, studying his Bible, and he has helped Mr. Hamby with research for his dissertation, and he has done some writing and editing for Lamplighter Ministries.  He has made phone calls for Lamplighter Ministries, and last month, he went to Florida to help at the Lamplighter booth at a homeschool conference, as well as helping to hand out some items for Mr. Hamby's seminars.  Now he is preparing to go to this year's Lamplighter Guild, which takes place next month, and this year, he will not only go as a student but as an employee.
Our oldest son has also almost completed his sophomore of college already.  He is taking the College Plus program online, which is a money-saving way to receive a bachelor's degree in two years.  He is studying Humanities and will be taking online classes through Thomas Edison College.  He is on target to graduate college in October of 2013, and then he plans to work full-time for Lamplighter Ministries.  He hopes to have a long career with Lamplighter Ministries.
Our middle son is interested in architecture and building, so this past school year, he was able to take a class at our homeschool co-op that taught Home Repair and Maintenance.  He also has interest in maybe becoming a pastor, so this coming school year, I will help him with speech to work on his presentation skills.  We will also work on bettering his writing skills.
Our little guy simply loves all kinds of things at this point, so I simply plan to have fun with him this year reading great books, taking fun field trips and doing fun and some messy art projects.
We simply have the freedom and time to truly pursue their interests, which leads to valuable opportunities that allow them to grow healthy physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.  We are truly blessed through our choice to homeschool.

Reasons to Homeschool

For those of you who have been following and visiting this blog, I am sorry that I have neglected this blog for so long.  This past school year I was busier than the last few as I was working more diligently with our youngest son, and he has now completed first grade.  So, between homeschooling and tending to the housework and playing taxi for the boys to their music lessons and sports, I just didn't have the time to blog.  I also neglected my other blog, which I have now decided to end, in the hopes of simply keeping this blog, as I feel there is a need for this blog.  I hope this blog will be a place where beginning homeschoolers can come to learn and to see how much fun homeschooling can be, where people who don't homeschool but are curious about homeschooling can come to find out what it's all about, and where seasoned homeschoolers can come and find a different approach or a new activity or place to go for a field trip.
So, bear with me if you've been here with me from the beginning, as I might cover something now that I did before, but with different or new information, as I am not going to search my archives to see what I've done before now.  I am simply going to begin fresh and new now.
I want to begin with reasons to homeschool.  There are many reasons to homeschool.  When my husband and I began homeschooling, it was because our oldest son was bored in his Christian school classroom and his teachers constantly complained to me about his behaviors, but did nothing to try to keep him busy.  We had already decided that we didn't want our children to go to public school, so the only other option was to homeschool, so I contacted someone I knew that homeschooled, and she explained it to me, gave me lots of resources, let me borrow some books to read about it, and took me to my first homeschool convention.
We have now been homeschooling for nine years, and over those nine years, our commitment to homeschool has simply gotten stronger.  First of all, we now homeschool because we feel led by God to do so, and we believe that it was God's intent from the beginning and is Biblical.  One Bible verse that we feel speaks on the issue is the verse you will find at the top of my blog, directly under my blog title.  How can you possibly teach your children about God and his word when you lie down, get up or walk along the road, if they aren't with you?
We believe it is the parents' responsibility to teach their children.  We do not believe it is in our children's best interests to be taught by a stranger, and we do not believe it is best for children to be in an environment with only other children their own ages all day five days a week.  We see no benefit to that.
Another reason we homeschool is because we believe that the public schools do not have the proper environment that is conducive to learning for most children.  We also disagree with a lot of the things they teach in the public schools now and don't think they teach important things that should be taught.  We also do not believe it is right for them to delete things from their teaching of history as many public schools and public school curricula have done.
In our local area school districts, there have been issues of bullying, drugs, sexual promiscuity on school premises or on school buses, and we certainly don't want our children exposed to or involved in such activities.

For more information on the teaching and it's effects of the public school, I highly encourage you to watch the documentary DVD:  "IndoctriNation".

Both my husband and I grew up in the public school system, and we know many children who attend public schools, and when I saw this movie, I realized that some of what the movie points out was already happening when I was in school over nearly thirty years ago, and I am well aware of many of these things happening currently.    

I simply believe that we are teaching our children in the way that is best and most beneficial for them, and most importantly, we believe our homeschooling choice is pleasing to God.

Tomorrow's post will be about the flexibility, opportunities and blessings of homeschooling.                                               

Brain Gym

I just have to share about Brain Gym. I have never heard of it before, and now that I am participating in a class with my youngest son, I have to wonder why. I think EVERYONE should know about this! The top photo above is the book that simply explains how to do the exercises and is simple enough for children to understand. The bottom photo directly above this paragraph is the Teacher's Edition, which is the one our class teacher recommends because it not only shows and explains how to do the exercises, but it also gives some additional ways of doing the exercises to switch it up a bit, as well as giving information on what part of the brain the particular exercise stimulates and what it is useful for.

Let me explain a little more. Our co-op has offered this class this semester and I decided to enroll my youngest son, and the teacher stressed the importance of a parent participating in the class with the child because it's important that the parent knows about the exercises and what they are useful for, as well as to be able to help students who have a bit of difficulty with an exercise until their brain gets used to it. The lady teaching the class has been doing this for over 30 years and has seen it work in many ways for many people. She has actually been able to help a retarded child how to read and write simply by using Brain Gym.

Brain Gym is exercises that you do with your body, sometimes standing up, sometimes sitting down, and sometimes lying on the floor, as well as exercises with a dry erase crayon and a laminated manila folder with activities on it, and I don't know what we have yet to learn, but this stuff is amazing. It helps my little guy to listen better and to focus. (That's what it's done so far). However, as we continue to learn, the teacher assures us that it will help our child with math skills, spelling and writing skills, reading skills and more.

It does require a time commitment, and you need to make time to fit it into your day everyday in order to get the maximum benefit and success. Most of the exercises really don't take that long (10 - 15 minutes). However, the writing therapy exercises she taught us today will take quite a bit more time, but are very important for helping your child learn to read and write. Our co-op plans to keep this lady on board and have her continue teaching classes, so I highly recommend that anyone in my area that knows me contact me and get their child(ren) involved in one of these classes. Otherwise, I recommend that you purchase the book, study it and put it into practice with your child(ren).

Brain Gym can be used for any age, so even adults can use it, and they have found that it helps older folks in nursing homes who are having memory issues. A few years ago, my middle son needed vision therapy and it helped him tremendously. Brain Gym uses many of the vision therapy exercises and ideas, but goes a step further and can help a child to no longer need glasses, it can help with behaviors unless the behaviors stem from an attitude issue which is a heart and sin issue that simply needs to be dealt with. So I advise EVERYONE to check this out!

What About Graduation?

You may be thinking, like I do, that you don't want a graduation like the ones in the photos of my last post. After all, you're homeschooling because you don't want to be like the public school. And that's okay because there are options.

I used to think that was the only type of graduation available to homeschoolers, as that is the only one that I had ever heard about or attended. Until, about two years ago, friends from our church had a daughter who was graduating and didn't want to participate in that big to-do. So, they had a nice private graduation ceremony for her. They had it at our church on a Friday night and invited the church family, their family and a few friends. Her dad spoke and our pastor spoke. The girl gave a short speech and her siblings also participated, and her parents gave her a diploma. Afterward, there were snacks and English country dancing. It was a lot of fun. We really liked that idea and decided that was more along the lines of what we would like to do.

Then, this year, the Christian Homeschool Association of Pennsylvania (CHAP) held a graduation for anyone who wanted to participate on the Saturday evening of our local homeschool convention. They had sixteen young people participate and it was similar to the large one in the photos of my last post, except that there wasn't a lot of congregational singing. It was kept simple by playing graduation music as the graduates entered. Then one of the graduates spoke, followed by a slide show of the graduates (about three or four photos of each graduates at different stages in their lives), and that was followed by one of the CHAP leaders, Mr. Bruce Eagleson, who spoke. Then the parents presented their graduates with their diplomas, while a speaker gave a short bit of information on each graduate. In an hour, it was over.

And, finally, there are some people who simply do a private family celebration, some take a celebration trip, and some choose not to do anything at all. So, you have options, and you can be creative. Make your graduation personal and what you and your graduate want it to be.

A Homeschool Graduation

Here in our area of Pennsylvania, we have a large number of homeschoolers. We have many homeschool groups and co-ops available to us as well. We have a group of people who put together a homeschool magazine for us each and every month that brings us the latest information on all of the homeschool groups in our area, and they organize the yearly graduation.

This year there were 90 graduates and through our homeschool co-op and sports participation, as well as the people we know from church, we know 33 of these graduates.



Some of the graduates organize a praise and worship band, and they sing a song they have chosen for their graduating class and lead the audience in some congregational singing.

This couple started, what I believe is the largest homeschool group in our area, and this year they graduated their youngest child.

The keynote speaker was former Senator Sam Rohrer. He spoke about the attributes of God, and while he was speaking we heard a torrential downpour upon the roof and there was a bit of thunder as well, and Sam even found a way to put a little bit about the rain, thunder, and water right into his speech. He was very inspiring.

I was also very impressed with the speech given by one of the graduates. He spoke to the class about how important it is to stand firm for Christ and to continue to keep their eyes upon them in whatever path they choose to walk now that high school is finished. (I didn't not get a good photo of him.)


Then each graduate was announced by name, in alphabetical order, and they were met upon the stage by their parents. The graduates handed their moms a rose, and their parents handed them their diplomas.







Afterward, there was a reception in the fellowship hall where the graduates could be congratulated by friends and family.
Our dear friend, Emily, graduated. This is Emily and her older sister, Lindsay. They are part of our church family.

This young man has, (as my son would say), become a legend in one of the homeschool groups we were a part of for several years. He participated in the sports activities that my sons participate in, and he was always trying to encourage his teammates. He acted in all of the wonderful drama productions the homeschool group produced and was quite talented. He can act and sing very well. He was an inspiration, and we will truly miss having him at our sporting events.

This is our dear friend, Chelsea. She is leaving tomorrow for a missions trip to Jamaica. She is part of our church family.

This girl is so sweet. We have had the pleasure of getting to know her better this year as she was in Anthony's psychology class at co-op and I was the teacher's helper in the class. We will miss her and her sweet spirit.

We wish all of these graduates God's blessings in their future endeavors.

At Home Rap

I found this clever creation posted on my Facebook by another homeschooling mom who found it on Youtube. It's always fun to see the clever creativity achieved by homeschooled children.

The New School Year Begins

My boys do not enjoy taking the entire summer off. They get bored as most kids do. So, we do some school over the summer. As of yesterday, we had twenty-one days in for the new year. This is always nice because it gives us the freedom of flexibility and allows us to take extra time off at Christmas time or if something comes up and we need an extra day or so off throughout the rest of the year. It also enables us to end our school year early, which we like to do because we like to be finished by the time our annual homeschool convention is here.

We are off to a great start this year. We just finished reading Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson. We had so much fun. I love reading aloud to the boys even though they are in junior and senior high school level and they enjoy it too because I use different voices for different characters. I love to use accents as well. I had so much fun talking as the pirate, Long John Silver.

Anthony is taking some great classes at co-op this year as well. He's taking Psychology (from a Christian perspective), Chemistry, Photography and Speech and Debate. He's excited about all but the Chemistry class:)

I'm nervous about the Speech and Debate class as I have volunteered to teach it because I saw a need for it in our area, but I know very little about teaching such a class. The intent is to have a Speech and Debate club and have a group of committed teens and parents who really commit to giving 100% to the class and to participate in local competitions. It's a great skill for our young people to develop for any career they may be considering as communication is key in all aspects of life.

I am also teaching the photography class, but that will be a breeze. I have been taking pictures for almost as long as I can remember. If anyone remembers those really old cameras that had the roll films (not 35mm), that was the first camera I took pictures with. It belonged to my grandma and she used to get me to take pictures for her because she always cut people's heads off in the photos she took:) Then I got a 11o cartridge camera. I won a Kodak disc camera when they were all the rage. I saved and purchased my own Chinon SLR 35 mm camera in the late 1980's, and about two years ago I purchased my current camera, a Canon SLR Rebel digital camera 35mm camera. My old film Chinon 35mm camera was completely manual and I had to set everything myself. Well, this new digital camera has so many automatic and manual options that I still don't know how to operate everything. That's because I really don't have much time to really just play with it or to try to memorize the manual that came with it.

I have lots of photography experience. As I said I've been taking photos for a very long time, but I have also done photos for several weddings. I have taken photos, for friends, of their children. I take photos of my own children annually (you know, like school photos). I taught a photography class for another co-op we were a part of two years ago, before I got my digital 35mm camera.

Nicholas is taking a writing class called "Imagination Island". His teacher sent a packet of things home before the end of last year's co-op for him to complete over the summer before the class begins. It requires him to read The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien, so I have been reading that aloud to him. Wow, the chapters in that book are long! He and Anthony who often overhears my reading to Nicholas both get a kick out of my Gollum voice. They say I sound pretty close to the voice used by the Gollum character in the movies. I just love doing voices for characters as I read. It makes the stories more interesting in my opinion. I know it keeps the attention of my boys. He also has had things that he is to do to begin to create his own story, to get his imagination working. This will be a challenging class for him, but it will be good for him.

Nicholas is also going to be in the co-op choir and will also be taking World Geography and the volleyball class.

The little one will be taking a human body class, an art class, a music class and a gym class. He loves co-op! He also really likes the reading program that I got for him. It's called Rocket Phonics. It's a great program for active little boys. It includes hands-on activities. It includes games and scavenger hunts that enable them to move around a lot. It really is fun and he has already really started to pick up reading a lot of the words, and he has only done school for four days. If you want to know more about it, simply click on the highlighted words in this post or click on the link on my sidebar. I saw a presentation of it at our annual homeschool convention in May and was sold. I just knew my little guy would love it and I was right. I know we only had a week of school so far, but he looks forward to doing this curriculum every day! As a matter of fact, Thursday is my day to do grocery and run errands and because of that, I didn't have time to do school with him that day this week, and he was quite ornery that day, and I believe it was because he didn't get to do school because that was the only difference in his schedule that day.

I didn't have him start as early as the big boys. I didn't think he was ready. But, now that he has started, he really is enjoying it, even math, which was a point of contention last year. I decided to approach the whole math thing differently this year. I make him do math first to get the thing he likes least out of the way, and I do a variety of things to keep him interested. One day I use a set of math cards with colorful pictures on them to do math. The next day I use a musical math curriculum that I bought quite a while already and didn't really use with the other two boys. Then the next day I have him use food and plastic buttons to do math and if he cooperates, he can eat the food when we are done (things like m&m's or fruit loops cereal or sesame stix, just about any small finger food works). That's the rotation, and for the first week it has worked. Hopefully it will continue. We end with me reading him a book or two -- something for science or history, and I will occasionally throw in a good video for history or science. He will be six soon and this is his kindergarten year.

Last year I did preschool with him, and as he is still a foster child, we still have caseworkers involved (the only reason they allowed me to teach him last year was because he did not make the age cut-off for mandatory school attendance because of where his birthday falls), and the one caseworker who has been working one-on-one with him a lot recently has told me how impressed she is because some of the activities she did with him required writing and she thought she would have to do the writing for him, but she found that if she told him how to spell something, he could write it because he knows how to write all of his letters. She said he's already ahead of a lot of kindergarteners she has seen, and even some of the older children she has had to work with. However, bear in mind, that she works with foster children who have been neglected and that is the main reason most of them are not performing on their grade level.
Of course, we homeschoolers, don't worry much about our children performing at the same level as their peers because we just want our children to do the best that they can do at whatever level they can do it.

So, I suppose I will be reading the rest of the Lord of the Rings books by J.R.R. Tolkien this year with Nicholas. This was not in my plans, but since we are reading The Hobbit we may as well read the rest of the series. I'm sure Nicholas will enjoy it.

Anthony and I will be focusing on reading a lot of the classics.

I hope your homeschool year will be a good one as well.