Weekend Links

by on April 10, 2011
in links · 2 Comments

“They say that we are better educated than our parents’ generation. What they mean is that we go to school longer. It is not the same thing.” ~ Richard Yates

Homeschooling and Moving

by on April 8, 2011
in family time · 21 Comments

Written by contributor Renee Tougas of FIMBY.

Spring is a time for many things. A time for yard sales, planting the garden, and riding bikes.

It’s also the time of year many families are preparing to move. ‘Round the corner, across country, or out of the country. I know our family is not alone as we pack boxes, attend to paperwork, and say goodbye to friends.

Moving happens. And for us homeschoolers, all the packing and preparation happens with children around the majority of the time.

Our family is moving back to Canada next month. And I sometimes fantasize about how much I could accomplish in a day if only my children were at the local school instead of making mess learning at home.

Not every day is easy but we’ve chosen homeschooling for the long haul and so we’re figuring out how to make the best of it while we move.

Here are a few things I’m learning along the way.

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Lessons from a Life Skills Day

by on April 6, 2011
in home maintenance & management · 30 Comments

Written by contributor Kris of Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers

Housework and homeschooling.  Those two words don’t always go well together.  While my family does employ a chore chart that has served us for many years, there are also weeks when we’re so busy all we have time to do is “dump and run.”

Afterward, my house can look like it’s been hit by a tornado, stressing my clutter-free-loving soul.

It’s at those times that I may institute a life skills day.

This means my kids are going to get an up-close-and-personal lesson in vacuuming, dusting, laundry, and general housework.

It may sound like a homeschooling cop-out, to some folks, but I’ve found that some pretty valuable lessons can be learned during a life skills day.
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Give Me a Break!

by on April 4, 2011
in a mom's education · 27 Comments

Written by Jamie Martin, editor of Simple Homeschool and founder of Steady Mom

The homeschooling lifestyle isn’t sustainable when you’re doing it on your own. Yet many of us attempt to do so.

That concerned me when I began considering this path years ago. I already had two sons only seven months apart in age, and a daughter with special needs would join our family soon via another adoption.

Traditional school seemed like the natural, “normal” thing to do–and it seemed possible, compared to being with the kids 24/7. I always try to think positively, but I just wasn’t sure if I could do it. It didn’t seem like a long-term solution.

Yet in my heart I knew homeschooling was for us. So I began to read and study the opinions of other home educating authors. Many of them, women I deeply respect, expressed that homeschooling is a chance to die to ourselves as mothers. A chance to choose a lifestyle of service over comfort. As a Christian, I could appreciate their point.

At the same time, on weary days, it didn’t appear like I was of use to anyone. A mom with burnout is never a pleasant or joyful mom, no matter what facade she presents. Most of us vacillate between the mountaintops and valleys, visiting seasons of both in our attempt to cultivate an intentional life.

Then last year I happened across A Mother’s Rule of Life by Holly Pierlot. I found my guilt lifting as I read her words:
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Weekend Links

by on April 3, 2011
in links · 2 Comments

“Much education today is monumentally ineffective. All too often we are giving young people cut flowers when we should be teaching them to grow their own plants.” ~ John W. Gardner

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