Tag Archives: Homeschooling

A New Week, A New Outlook….

Children, DIY Home Improvement, Getting Organized, Spiritual Fitness
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So I have to say, last week was one of the worst weeks I’ve had in quite awhile. Seriously, it just was one of those weeks that you wish had never happened. Now nothing “tragic” happened, and I know there are plenty of people who have had and are currently having a much worse time than I had, but for me, it was just no good. Part of the reason is that I was in a horrible mood all week which had a lot to do with a recurring headache that woke up with me every morning. Then it seemed like the boys were just constantly at each others throats more than usual, which very well could have actually been due to my own attitude affecting them.
Many times we don’t really stop to think about how we are affecting others. We might blame the kids for our bad mood, but maybe they are acting up more Because of our mood.
So I had some things to think about toward the end of last week. But on Friday, I finally remembered I still had some childrens Benadryl and I remembered the last time I had a headache that Ibuprofen couldn’t tame, I took Benadryl and the next day it was gone. So I took some Friday night, went to bed early in Cman’s bed while putting him to sleep. Sometimes that’s the only way I can go to sleep earlier since my hubby has been practicing songs late at night to get ready for doing shows for his new music album (which I haven’t put up on his website yet so you might want to go to his facebook page to hear some of his new songs).

Anyway, I woke up the next morning feeling so much better!

And we got a lot of stuff done on Saturday. We got a door put up between the kitchen and the back laundry room and I got a lot of cleaning done so that our home actually feels comfortable now. We also got a new toilet which was long over due since the old one had to be manually forced to stop running after flushing it. We were actually forced to get a new toilet because Cman decided when he was taking a bath on Friday that it would be fun to flush some matchbox cars down the toilet! I was able to fish one out, but the other one escaped my grasp. All seemed ok until later that day when the toilet started backing up and flushing really slowly and then I ended up having to clean up the floor not once, but twice!

That was on Friday when I was still in a horrid mood! So since the plunger wasn’t working and a snake didn’t work, the hubby was going to take the toilet off anyway to get the car out, so I said “why don’t you just go get a new toilet?” . We got a home project loan from Home Depot a month ago so we could add a wall for a new bedroom and do some other fixing up in our house to get it ready to sell while not having to pay any monthly payments or interest for 6 months, which is awesome! We got approved for much more than we expected too. So, hey, we need a new toilet anyway, so why not just go down and get one? lol

But it is soooo nice to have a new toilet. The water bill should be much nicer too since this toilet doesn’t have to fill up near as much and then the issue with the old one running too long if someone didn’t stop it. I can’t wait to see the bill!

So this week so far has been much better. I’ve been trying to focus more on letting God help me with things instead of drawing away from him when my temper flares (and trying to take care of it on my own). I’ve also had the boys on more of a schedule with schooling in the morning, lunch, then bible time, then exercise time and then game time on the xbox which is then work on the computer time for me :) Then after that is some more housework.

Anyway, it just really helps, for one, not to have a constant headache, and two(and most importantly), to focus more on the Lord and allow him to lead. I need to take my own advice much more often, but I’m working on it!

Advantage of Homeschooling

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Wow, there are so many advantages of homeschooling, where do I begin? First of all, your kids get to spend more time with you, in turn creating a stronger bond. Now, I know, some may be thinking”yeah and then they end up driving me nuts” LOL , but hey, just because you homeschool doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have a break every now and then! Every mom needs a break from the kids once in a while. But for kids to be at school 6 hours a day, 5 days a week, gives them more time with thier teachers and thier peers than it does with a parent during the day. Then when they get home, they have homework to do, maybe some sort of activity, dinner, and then bed. And as I read in another post about homeschooling, sometimes the kids start getting closed off from telling how thier day went , and maybe even keeping from you what they do with thier friends and who they hang out with. That was true for me when I was in school. That’s one thing I regret from my younger years, is that I wish I had been more open with my parents.

A huge advantage of homeschooling is the one on one learning. Public schools cannot effectively teach each child one on one because of the many students in each classroom. They also cannot teach to every childs level and style of learning which leaves some children falling further behind, while others are bored because they need more of a challenge. Teaching your own kids at home gives you the advantage of being able to see your childs needs and meet those needs in thier learning. Now if you choose to public school, this is where the parents really can step in and help thier kids succeed even in public schools. Parents just need to be more involved in helping with thier childs homework and making sure it gets done, or getting them the help they need to improve thier grades.

Another advantage of homeschooling is being able to go on field trips or vacations whenever you want. You’re not tied down to your childs school schedule and you can even do homeschooling on the road if you’re going on a long trip. Take a trip and visit historical monuments and you can have a fun history lesson.

Next is you have more say in who your kids hang out with. Some may think that we shouldn’t tell our kids who they can and can’t be around or that homeschoolers “shelter” thier kids too much and that they aren’t “socialized”. Now I do believe kids need to get out and play with other kids and make friends outside the home, but in public shools, usually they aren’t that well supervised out on the playground. When I was in grade school, as I’ve mentioned before in my homeschooling thoughts, I learned things and heard things that were perverted and that I should not have been exposed to at that age.
So with my kids, I am all for enrolling them in some extra curricular ativities, like sports, or art classes, but those things are much more easily monitored. I think that with homeschooling, they will gain a stronger foundation in the Lord(if we make sure to be diligent in teaching them and living the example) before they are fully thrown out into the world to make thier own decisions and hopefully then they will choose to let the Lord lead them. Gods Word says”Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it” Prov. 22:6 (KJV)

So one more advantage in homeschooling that I’ve learned from reading peoples testimonies, is that homeschooled kids tend not to give in to peer pressure as much when they get older. They are more independant thinkers and they tend to be more independant learners too. I think that is a great thing!

I think that about covers the advantages of homeschooling, but if you have more to add, or if you just want to share your thoughts, Please leave a comment! I’d love to hear from you!

Homeschooling Thoughts Continued….

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So I was thinking that my last post about this probably sounded a bit jumbled, but the thoughts were just running through my head as I was writing them down..

Well, I want to make it perfectly clear that I do not think that public schools are evil or anything. I do feel, however, that if you are able to homeschool your kids, then you should at least give it a try. You will not ruin them! There is so much information out there on the internet, at the library, that it really isn’t hard to learn what needs to be learned. I have learned so many more things since I graduated high school just from studying up on things over the internet.  Sure I could have paid to go to school to learn how to build a website and all that goes along with that, but you know what? I’ve done my own research and taken the time here and there to learn from all of the free information out there, that I now know how to build my own website and how to write in html, css, and I even know alot more about php than I used to.  It’s taken awhile, but that’s only because I’ve had kids along the way and I don’t spend every day working on that stuff.

I just really believe that a big issue with public schools is that there are too many kids per classroom. A teacher cannot possibly deal with every childs individual learning abilities and styles. They don’t get a whole lot of one on one time and many parents just send thier kids to school but don’t  do much to reinforce thier learning once school is out.  I also believe that teachers ought to get paid according to thier performance. I know when I was in school, I had certain teachers that I loved, and most other kids did too. I learned the most from those teachers and they were the ones that seemed to really enjoy teaching and really took an interest in thier students. 

Anyway, so now that we have all these resources at hand, I really think that many parents can get back to teaching thier own children from home if they so choose.  Back in the “old days” parents didn’t have all the things necessary to teach thier children apart from reading, writing and arithmatic. But when it came to history, science and advanced math, a school teacher really was necessary.

As far as how much the government is involved with homeschooling. I am one that believes there should be some way to monitor how homeschooled kids are doing. Otherwise you will get more people keeping thier kids out of school and then not teaching them anything and these poor kids will go out into the world not having much of an education to help them.  I don’t think there ought to be any rules on how or what should be taught, but I do think that testing every so often is not too much to ask.  Oregon, which is where we live, only requires that homeschooled kids be tested before grades 3, 5, 8, and 10. 

I do not think there should be any more restrictions than that. I am in favor of testing for a couple reasons. How else are you able to determine how a child is doing and where they are at? Also, some parents may not take thier childs education as seriously if there are no deadlines. Given the fact that in Oregon you don’t have to register as a homeschooler untill your child turns 7 on or before Sept. 1st, and then you can choose to start them either in 1st or second grade, I think that gives plenty of time to be ready for a test by 3rd grade, especially when children that are homeschooled tend to advance faster than in public school because of the one on one teaching.

I really don’t think one should be afraid of tests if they know they’ve been putting forth the effort to teach thier child what they should be learning.

Well, that’s my homeschooling soap box for now.

To be continued……

Homeschooling Thoughts

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So I’ve started, or rather I’ve really already been, homeschooling my oldest son who turned 6 in November. I’ve been doing a lot of research on homeschooling, how to home-school, home-school curriculum, etc…. for about a year or so now, but especially the last few months. 

Lately I’ve been reading about people who were homeschooled when they were kids and what their thoughts were about it. It really irritates me when someone who has a bad experience with something automatically blames homeschooling in general, and then they make it their mission in life to try to make homeschooling out to be evil!  I came across a website the other day that was just that! Oh of course they say that not all homeschoolers are bad, but from reading the things they wrote on thier website, it sure made it look as though homeschooling is an evil thing to do and that it isn’t at all good for children and they even refer to it as a “cult”.  Wow, what an accusation!  

So, I’d like to know, what happened before public schools were around?? People actually taught thier own kids. Mothers actually spent all day with thier children! Now I know that not all moms can do that today, not because they don’t want to spend so much time with thier kids but because they have to work to make a living,, but,, there are many women who can’t stand to be with thier children all day and they choose to work 8 hours a day 5 days a week or more because they don’t want to be home with their kids that much…. I think that is really, really sad.  I can understand having a part time job, but to have the opportunity to spend more time with your kids, teaching them and watching them grow, and not wanting to take that opportunity and to just let someone else raise your child for 8 hours a day,,, I just don’t understand it. I also realize that some may not feel adequate or comfortable homeschooling, and that’s fine, but it also takes alot of work to be involved with your children in public school, too.

It just amazes me how so many think that the government needs to teach our kids or they just won’t learn how  they should and they won’t be “socialized”.  Again, what happened for the thousands of years that there was no public schooling???  Seems that children overall were more mature and respectful 50 years ago and before that, than they are today.  It was only 1918 that all states had past the laws that all children must attend at least elementary school.. Let’s see, that was not even 100 years ago.  Now I believe that public schooling in the earlier days was very beneficial, but public schooling has evolved alot over the years and it is very, very different than what it used to be.

Now I’m not saying that sending your kids to public schools is completely bad,, I grew up in public school, except for 5-7th grade when I went to a private school.(which was very, very good for me) The thing is, though, that parents tend to send thier kids to school and expect the school to teach them everything and keep an eye on them, etc…  But, if you’re going to send your kids off to school, you’ve got to be extremely involved if you want your children to stay out of trouble and do well with thier grades.  Most parents are not that involved.  For me, even in grade school, I learned some things from my peers that I should not have known about at that age, and I didn’t even hang out with a bad crowd.  My husband will say the same thing. It’s amazing what some grade schoolers will talk about at that age.  That is one of the reasons for us wanting to home-school. 

Well, I’ve got to go for now, but this discussion will be continued………