Month: August 2015

Trust

esther7dancingLeave a comment

As a homeschooler I can sometimes be worried about if I am teaching the right things or fearing that I am not getting enough done in a day.  In our family life, we have gone through different storms that have caused me to worry or fear.  God has been walking with me on a journey of having peace in the midst of a storm and trust in Him.

During our “Bible” time yesterday with the kids I was reading Hebrews chapter 4 and 5.  It talked about trusting God even when things seem like they are not going well.  I am sure you have those times when you are teaching your kids and God uses that opportunity to speak to your heart.  I was sharing with the kids that when we worry or fear in our lives, we are not trusting God.  God desires to have us never worry or fear and to live in peace no matter what is happening around us.  I heard a speaker once give a great picture of what having peace in the storm might look like.  He was describing how there is a place in the Spirit where you can make the enemy grow tired because he can’t seem to move you from your place of peace.  We do not fight against flesh and blood but our true battle for peace is with Satan.  I want to make the enemy grow weary from trying to take my peace.

I remember a couple of years ago with my daughter in Children’s Hospital and having to trust God for a miracle.  I remember having this peace that I couldn’t explain.  People asked me how I was able to not go crazy with worry or how I made it through that time.  I couldn’t explain why, but I had an amazing peace that God was going to take care of everything.  He did take care of everything and my daughter is a walking miracle.  I am still on a journey of having peace.  I want to trust God at all times no matter the results or no matter what I am walking through in life.  It is a process but I am learning to enjoy the adventure of it.

You are an amazing educator for your children.  No one can teach or educate them the way you do.  You know your child best.  God desires for you to live without worry or fear.  I love that we can give those things to Him and do not have to take them back.

God’s World News

esther7dancingLeave a comment

I want my kids to be aware of current events.  I think its important for them to be able to discuss what is happening in our world and how to see it through a biblical perspective.  God’s World News is an excellent resource for current events.  Its a magazine that is geared towards your child’s age that gets sent to you through the mail every couple of months.  The magazine’s that are available range from preschool age to post high school.  What I like about GWN magazines is how they are written from a biblical perspective.  The kids look forward to getting them in the mail and want to read them right away.

For my older children, I need more current events than what GWN’s magazine can provide.  I still use GWN  but I add on other sources for current events.  Another source that I found was dogonews.com.  This is a website that has set up current events for kids in various categories.  Dogonews.com does not represent a biblical perspective with its news articles but because it is geared towards kids, I have not found objectionable content.  This is another great resource for my older kids to do more current event reports during the week.

Cocoa Fridays

esther7dancingLeave a comment

Developing a relationship with Jesus Christ is the most important gift that I want my children to learn and receive from their experience of being homeschooled.  The different important subjects like Math, Reading, Writing and other various subjects are tools that they will need to fulfill the adventure that they will be walking out with God but the key to enjoying and experiencing the ultimate adventure is to have them develop a relationship with Jesus Christ.

I, of course, cannot make this happen in their lives.  Each of my children has their own journey to God that they get to walk out. But I do believe as parents we are called to disciple our children and encourage them in the things of God.  You are the ultimate teacher, mentor and prayer warrior for your child.  No one knows or loves your child like you do.  I believe God desires to give us creative ideas on different ways to disciple our children.

We try to have Bible time daily.  If I don’t get anything else done in homeschooling but Bible time, I have viewed my day as a success.  I used to have the kids sit and listen quietly while we read the Bible and different various character training books.  This worked but the attention span of my kids were lost quite quickly.  Out of my 5 children, I only have one kid who is an auditory learner.  He was getting the most out of our time because it was geared toward his learning style.  I needed creative ideas to reach all the kids during our Bible time.  I wanted it to be an enjoyable time for everybody and an opportunity to facilitate discussions.

I ended up making some simple changes that have helped our Bible time be more effective.  One of the fun things that my kids look forward to is “Cocoa Fridays”.  This was a really simple change but it was something the kids still enjoy today.  On Fridays, we serve hot cocoa during our Bible time.  On Friday, they will pester me, asking me if its “Cocoa Friday” time yet.  Another small change that made even a bigger impact on our Bible time was allowing the kids that wanted to, to draw or paint or color during out Bible time.  As long as they were able to still focus on the lesson, they could be creative in whatever they felt like doing.  This helped a couple of my kids actually be more focused and retain much more than they used to.  I am the type of learner that I have to listen and not do anything else during a lesson or I won’t get what the teacher is trying to teach.  I am realizing as I work with all my children, how creative God is in making all kinds of different learners and the opportunity I have as a homeschooler to teach in many different ways.  God is brilliant and He can give us all the creative ideas we will ever need to teach and encourage our children.

Fine Arts Credit Anyone?

esther7dancingLeave a comment

In Washington State there is a resource that is a great way for kids to get their Fine Arts credits.  We are the type of family, so far, that will have an abundance of Fine Art credits because our 3 older kids love music, drama and other various art classes.  Our younger 2 kids are too young to know what direction they will go.  I know there are parents that have kids, like mine, who will have no problem fulfilling their Fine Arts credit in homeschooling high school.  I know there are other homeschool parents out there that cringe at the thought of how to fulfill that same Fine Arts credit.  This resource is an easy way to start contributing hours to that credit.

Its called Teentix.org.  This is a website that offers $5 dollar tickets to teens for most of the theatre, symphony and other performing arts productions in Washington.  The way it works is that any teenager ages 13-19 gets a Teentix pass.  You can get this on their website.  This pass allows your teenager to purchase same day tickets for $5.  The tickets are not purchased online but at the box office or some performances will let you pay over the phone.  No credit or debit can be used for purchase, you must use cash.  Also, some performances are sold out so there are not any Teentix tickets available.  To make sure that there are tickets available, you can call the Box Office number on the Teentix website. You must have your Teentix pass with you and a student ID or Driver’s License to purchase your ticket. They also have specials on certain performances that allow your teen to purchase a 2nd ticket for $10 for a friend of any age to go with them. Even if your student has an abundance of Fine Art credits, this resource is still an awesome way for your teen to enjoy the Arts.