Send That Child to School!

I have been homeschooling my children for 16 years. In that 16 years, we have certainly had some troubles here and there. We've had some years that went really well, we kept up with our school work fairly easily, the curriculum worked great, and we just felt like we were having a successful year. We've also had some years in which we didn't feel so successful and things didn't go so well. 

One thing I try to remember, whether our school year is going well or not so well, is that my kids are right where they belong. They are still benefiting from being home with each other and with a mom who teaches them because she loves them. They are still learning more than they would if they were going to public (or even private) school. They are still avoiding many of the negatives that come along with going to school outside of the home. They are still maturing and learning to stand up for their beliefs and values so that, when they graduate and go to college or enter the working world, they will be able to stand up for themselves and defend their faith instead of allowing "the world" to lead them astray. 

So I have to wonder why it is that, many times when homeschooled students have behavior or learning issues, the first bit of advice most people give us (homeschooling parents) is to send the child(ren) to school outside of the home! I know the folks giving the advice mean well, but I just don't "get it"! I simply cannot understand how a child who is already having behavior problems or difficulty learning will benefit from leaving the security of his/her own home, being put into an "artificial" learning situation, sharing a teacher with 20 or more other students, and dealing with peer pressure and the need to be cool and to try to fit in with the other students.

One of my children has recently had some behavior problems. Yes, these problems have been difficult to deal with. No, it hasn't been any fun dealing with them. Yes, I admit that it would be much easier for me to send the child to school somewhere instead of dealing with the problems myself. The problem, though, is that I know in my heart it's not the right thing to do--at least for my family. I know that this child, if put into a public or private school situation, would gravitate toward other children with similar behavior issues. I know that this child would learn to confide in other kids of the same age and to value their advice and opinions instead of continuing to see my husband and me as the authorities in our house and therefore the people he should look to for advice and information. I know that this child would seek out other children to provide validation and sympathy. I know that this child would (most likely) develop even more of an idea that we, the parents, are unreasonable and too hard to please because of peers who readily agree with his/her statements to that effect.

It seems to me that there's very little possibility that sending the child to school would do anything other than give me a break for a school year and give my child even more attitude and behavior problems to deal with. I just can't see how that could be the best thing for my child even though, at least temporarily, it would be easier for me. 

I'm not saying that all students who go to school suffer because of it. Many children do very well in public or private school settings. I do honestly believe, though, that there are some children who simply aren't mature enough to deal with the pressures and choices and temptations that he or she will face in school outside of the home. Yes, of course these students will one day have to face these very real pressures and temptations, but that's all the more reason why we should keep them at home as children and teens in order to teach them and give them time to mature! Once they have matured enough to deal well with those issues, then would be the time to allow them to face the world. 

I hope and pray that those of you homeschooling moms and dads who feel called by God to homeschool and who know in your heart that your children are where they need to be never have to face being encouraged by friends and relatives to send your children to school somewhere else. Instead, it is my sincere hope that, if you find yourself and your student(s) in a difficult situation, the people around you will encourage you and pray for you. I hope they will give you a sympathetic ear and a hug. I hope they will respect your decision to homeschool and know that sending your children to school is simply not going to help the situation and could possibly make it worse. At a time when you need love and support, I hope they will give those things to you. 

Have you ever been encouraged to send your child(ren) to school outside of the home because of a behavior problem, learning difficulty, or something else? How did you react? Did it cause you to second-guess your decision to homeschool? I know this can be a difficult topic to address, but I would love to hear from you! Your story might just be enough to encourage another homeschooling family that's going through a difficult time!

Summer Reading for Teenage Boys

My son loves to read, but it can be hard to find books that he particularly wants to read. He loves action and adventure, mysteries, and fantasy (as in knights and dragons and that kind of thing) books. I've found several book series that he has really enjoyed, and I'd like to share them with those of you who have teenage boys. Maybe they will enjoy reading them over the summer as much as my son did.

One series that he really loved was the Alex Rider series. You can take a look at the entire book series here on Amazon. The books are about a 14-year-old boy named Alex Rider. His uncle was a spy. Upon his uncle's death, Alex takes his place as a spy. The books tell about Alex's discovery that his uncle was a spy and how Alex takes his place. They then tell about Alex's many adventures. If your child reads these books, you might want to scan for curse words here and there. Other than that, I think they are great adventure books!

Another set of books that he enjoyed a lot was the Inheritance Series by Christopher Paolini. This series is recommended for ages 12 and up. It's about a young boy, Eragon, who finds a blue stone which turns out to be a dragon egg. The boy and his dragon have lots of adventures and face many dangers together. I read the first 2 books in the series and don't remember anything objectionable. I haven't yet read the final 2 books, but I plan to. Again, though, you might want to scan for curse words just in case.

A third series of books that he read recently was the Wormling series by Jerry B. Jenkins and Chris Fabry. These books are recommended for ages 10-14, but I read them and loved them, and my son was a teen when he read them, so they are definitely appropriate for teens. Another plus is that these books were written by Christian authors, so you don't have to worry about curse words or inappropriate content. The books are about a young boy who finds out one day that he has special gifts and is needed to fight a battle that will affect both his own world and a world that he didn't even know existed, called the Lowlands. I loved this series! 

If you want to look for more Christian-based books for all ages, Focus on the Family published a summer reading list. In glancing over the list, it looks like most of them for older kids and teens are more "teaching" than just-for-fun books. I think it might be a good idea to have your teen read a book or two from their suggestion list in between some "fun" books.  Your son might not want to sit and read a whole list of these books, but he probably would enjoy (and benefit from) reading them here and there. 

Happy summer reading!

Motherboard Books: A Review

My kids love to do just about anything on the computer! And the truth is that I don't mind them spending a certain amount of time using the computer--as long as I feel like it's constructive time and not just time wasted. My younger daughter and I recently had the chance to review a product from Motherboard Books called Let's Make a Web Page. I thought it was something she would enjoy doing, so I agreed to try it out with her. She really enjoyed the project!

The program is targeted at students from ages 8 to 12. I was a little worried that it would be too hard for Mary Grace. Well, ok, I'll admit it. I was afraid it would be too hard for me! I figured, though, that if it got too difficult for us, we could always ask my 16-year-old son for his help. :) I was so happy to find out that the curriculum wasn't too hard for us! There were a few lessons in which we had to read over the instructions a time or two to be sure we had it right (I'm pretty bad about skimming over instructions instead of really paying attention.), but once we really took a close look, we were always able to figure it out pretty easily.

There are 10 lessons, and each lesson was pretty quickly done. A few times, we did more than one lesson because my daughter wanted to keep going. Other times, especially on lessons that took a little longer, we only did one. I didn't keep track of the time it took us to complete each lesson, but I doubt that any lesson took more than 20 or 30 minutes to complete, and some of them took far less time than that. It did help that I have a little bit of computer knowledge (but not a lot) when it was time to add graphics and pictures. I really think we could have figured it out, though, even if I hadn't had experience with those things before.

As far as students being able to do these lessons independently, I think children in the older range (11 or 12) could probably do them independently if they read the instructions carefully. Younger children probably would at least need to have an adult nearby to answer a few questions or help clarify what to do.

Mary Grace and I really did enjoy doing this project together. It was fun for her to learn how to make a web page, and I enjoyed working with her. She had to interview someone to feature on the web page, so she interviewed me! She had fun doing that, and I enjoyed it too. :) She got to add my picture to her page, pick a few graphics to go with it, and of course include the interview information.

For $19. 95, I think this is definitely worth it! The best thing (to me) is that, now that she has worked through the lessons once, she can go back and make another web page on her own if she wants to. And the timing is really good for us too.  Since it's summer, most of our homeschooling is done for the year, and she can work on another web page (or two!) as something constructive to do with her extra time.

If you'd like to see reviews from others who reviewed Let's Make a Web Page, just click on the button below. You can also read reviews of Logo Adventures, which is a much more comprehensive program that you might be interested in. Have fun!

The Homeschool Mother's Journal June 3, 2013

A photo to share...
My hubby and I recently got to see the Grand Canyon, Hoover Dam, and Las Vegas! He had a business meeting in Las Vegas, so he took me with him. We saw the Grand Canyon and Hoover Dam first, and then we went to Las Vegas for his meeting. We absolutely loved the Grand Canyon. The Hoover Dam was amazing. And Las Vegas was absolutely overwhelming and...well...let's just say I'm glad the kids weren't with us. It's not someplace I'd want to go on vacation, but I was glad to get to go there and see it. We also were able to attend a show called La Reve: The Dream, and it was wonderful! Here are a few pictures from our trip.

In our homeschool this week...
This week we wrapped up our school year! There are some things we're going to work on over the summer, but we finished the subjects we've been working on and will take a more relaxed approach over the summer. My kids need to work on handwriting. I may also do Mississippi history with them. I'm going to work on teaching my 16-year-old to take notes from lectures and from books. (He does an ok job of taking notes, but I figure it's a good time to work on this over the summer when he's not pressured to do it for his online history/literature/Bible class.) I also want to spend some time teaching the kiddos how to read/study their Bibles. We do Bible reading together, but I want them to start doing their own individual Bible reading and study too.

Helpful homeschooling tips or advice to share...
Don't be afraid to try new things! I've known for years that my kids and I weren't really thrilled with unit studies. My kids only wanted to do the arts & crafts activities and the other "fun stuff" in the unit study, but they never wanted to do the more difficult things like writing assignments, answering/discussing questions about the lessons the book had to offer, and doing the parts of the unit study that incorporated English grammar, math, science, etc. For that reason, I've pretty much stayed away from unit studies.

A couple of weeks ago, I was given the chance to use and review a unit study from Moving Beyond the Page, and I almost turned it down because I didn't think it would work well for us. I decided to give it a try, though, because it looked so interesting, and my daughter and I have been loving it! We're actually working on 2 different studies--both from Moving Beyond the Page. One of them is social studies/history related, and the other is literature based. My review will be due to post in about 3 weeks. I hope you'll come back and read it! You might decide you'd like to try one of the out.

Places we're going and people we're seeing...
Actually, we are making an effort not to go places over the summer! During the school year, we normally have piano lessons, ballet classes, tennis lessons, play days with my sister and her kids once a week, and occasional field trips or other activities. During the summer, we try our best to stay home as much as possible and just enjoy a slower pace. We will go to the library now and then, and we'll still have get-togethers with my sister and her kids. Most days, though, we plan tfro stay home and just enjoy some down time.

Things I'm working on...
I'm trying to go ahead and plan our next school year. I like to get the next school year planned over the summer so that I have everything ready when it's time to get back to school. I love gett. ing and looking through all of our books and materials! I love thinking about the next year and making out our plans.(Not all homeschooling moms make lesson plans, but I do. I've found that I personally do much better when I have a concrete plan. That's just my personal preference.)

I'm also working on a homeschool-related ebook! I've never written an ebook before, so I'm excited about this one. I have helped write an ebook before (I wrote a chapter of a book about homeschooling), but I've never written one on my own. I'm hoping to have it finished by the end of June or some time in July. I'll let you know!

I'm grateful for...
I've been thinking lately how very grateful I am for my friends! Not only do I have some wonderful friends who live close by, but I also have the very best friends I could ever ask for on my Hip Homeschool Moms team! (A friend and I are co-owners of the Hip Homeschool Moms site.) I have learned so much over the past 18 months since we took over the site, and I've become close friends with some really great ladies on the team. I thank God for giving us the opportunity to lead this team as we (all of us on the team) try to support and encourage homeschooling moms all over the country and the world. It has been such a huge blessing this past year and a half, and I'm looking forward to many more years!

I rewarded my kids this week by...
Making homemade ice cream! We decided to celebrate the end of the school year by giving ourselves an ice cream party! We like to make regular vanilla ice cream and then add either crushed Oreos or chocolate syrup or whatever else we want. Homemade vanilla ice cream is super yummy, and it's definitely one of my favorite summer time treats!

I'm looking forward to...
I'm very much looking forward to going to the Savvy Blogging Summit in a few weeks! I have a friend who has gone to it before, and she said it's definitely a great one to go to. I'm hoping to learn a lot! It's only about 3 weeks until it's here! I will be driving to the conference with a friend from the Hip Homeschool Moms team, so even the travel part will be fun! :)

What are your plans for the summer? What are you looking forward to? I'd love to hear from you!

Read more: http://www.soyoucallyourselfahomeschooler.com/homeschool-mothers-journal/#ixzz2V08ZjJIQ