Home-Edukatin'

I just don't know how to do it all , Lord.

Home-schooling gets set to the side when life gets in the way.

We did meals on wheels on Monday and then paper-route.

We did babysitting for a womens group on Tuesday; piano lessons and then a band boosters fundraiser.

Now today is here and I have to work. I just don't know how to keep up right now.

One lesson has been done this week--nothing else--but my kids learned how to smile and talk to the elderly, earn money, work hard, take care of small children, play an instrument, and help serve food to others, do laundry, wash dishes, and draw self-portraits...all in two days.

So, what looks like an incredible education to me, might look like no education to anyone else.

Sometimes, this is just how our life is--it's educational--but not educational.

Help me figure this all out, Lord. I don't know how to balance it all.

Once in a while we just have one of those weeks.....

~B

I home-educate my children.
I appreciate this article and what it has to say.
Please read. :)
~B

I got this article from Spunkyhomeschool.

What is a teacher?

Thursday, October 30, 2008

Obama said,

"the single most important factor in determining a child's achievement is not the color of their skin or where they come from; it's not who their parents are or how much money they have. It's who their teacher is."

Since definitions matter, I thought I'd repost my definition of a teacher.

A teacher is somone who can...

--Give a hug without getting arrested.
--Bandage a knee without calling the school nurse.
--Change a lightbulb without calling the custodian.
--Make the children wash the bathrooms.
--Have a relationship with the principal without getting fired.
--Teach a child's mind while capturing their heart.
--Teach what they believe in and believe in what they teach.
--Meet the child's need and not worry about meeting the state guidelines.
--Commit to a lifetime of work without pay.
--Pray! in class, out loud, with the children and the ACLU can't say a word.

There is is only one that can fill that job description

A teacher is a mom.

"Hear, my son, your father's instruction, and do not forsake your mother's teaching." Proverbs 1:8

Freedoms

Today, as I woke up and got ready for my morning, I reflected briefly on my own freedoms.

• I take a bath in hot water while I am reading scripture=Freedom.

• My kids sleep in because it's daylight savings and I don't have to wake them up until I decide to=Freedom.

• My son practices,"When the Saints Go Marching In" on the piano at ten in the morning=Freedom.

• I sit by my computer and blog about my freedoms=Freedom.

• My husband is at work earning money for this little family=Freedom.

• We home-educate our children because we want to=Freedom.

Please don't resort to taking it away.

The War will be on.

~B

Homeschooling Deemed Illegal in California

Click here to find out how and why California appelate court deemed Home-education illegal.

It's easy for me to take these American freedoms for granted.

~B

I home-educate my kids. At times it's frustrating with being an "at-home" educator because of "regular" life things. The past few weeks have been a good example of how easy it is for this specific HS family to get de-railed.

In a public school setting, the kids would be taken to school in the morning and they wouldn't get home until the middle of the afternoon. The mother then would either have the option of staying at home and keeping busy there or going to work outside the home.

Staying at home during this time, while the kids were at school, would more than likely afford the luxuries of getting all the housework done (or most of it?), getting to things that she is behind on and also having the opportunities to do "extra" things, like getting together for coffee occassionally with others. I'm not saying that this is the case for all "s-a-h-Moms", but I am guessing that a lot of them, take these opportunities at times in their lives.

A Home-educating mom is different. She sets her priorities in front of herself, and she decides what needs to be done for the kids' education and then she balances it out with life. Being HOME is an education in itself for the children, teaching them to deal with the "intteruptions" of life is an important thing so that it doesn't hit them in the face when they are out of the nest. But when the intteruptions become an everyday thing, then it is time for the mother of the pack to set down some very clear boundaries for herself and the children.

Life has been full of ups and downs lately in my extended family. I have been helping one of them and I have been more than happy to be of help. No problems there. The problems are serious enough that I need to take time away from the everyday schedule of HS, and I have been good with it. But now I need to start re-prioritizing.

Since I am a HS, SAHM (you follow?) I am a rare breed and I am almost always home. This means that people know that I am home and that since I am home, well then they feel comfortable letting me take care of their children. No problem. But in the past, it has become a problem and I have started in the past year to start saying no to the people that asked quite often, especially during the school day.

Now, I am not trying to give the impression of complaint right now, that is not at all my point. It's just that I have learned AGAIN about myself that I need to RE-set my boundaries, which are so easy for me to be lax about. I want to make people happy...... By not helping them....... I won't be making them happy, right?

So, this past Monday and Tuesday, school was all set to go, and then life got in the way. Serious family things were needing serious attention. And then a valuable friend needed help with us watching her child because the childcare provider's relative died, no problem whatsoever! I was and am happy that we were able to help care for that child. Then, during yesterday someone else called and asked me to watch their child, sort of in an assuming way, and I just had to stand back and say, "This is fine, I love these people, I need to help." And with all of my heart I am fine with it that another school day was eaten away.

Mind you, my children helped immensley with these other children. And children are blessings and so by us having those children here, we were incredibly blessed! It was an education in itself, but it still wasn't their subjects......

So today, someone stopped by and asked if I was going to someone's house tomorrow for dessert (I had received an invitation). I told her, "No, I wasn't able to teach the children on Monday or Tuesday, I really have to prioritize their schooling over this." The person looked at me and snottily said, "Oh! Wow."

I have to come to accept this. I cannot change my boundaries all the time for everyone else. I just can't. But why is this "Oh! Wow" moment so hard for me to accept. Why do I even have to explain myself?? I do not have to explain my boundaries! I need to realize this........

Just. Needed. To. Vent.

~B

I'm Back

We've been back from vacation now a few weeks, but I just haven't been able to make myself sit down and take the time to blog.

I"m getting a picture CD made so that I can post a few pictures of our awesome vacation here. But until then, it's just me and these black letters that I continually type!

Summer is more than half way over here, soon school will start (public school anyway) and I"ll have to start shifting my focus onto home-educating my children.

I'm so profoundly thankful that I home-educate my children. Though often, I wish I were more organized with it all so that they could benefit more from it.

This time of year it is always the process of deciding what curriculum to use with the kids. This will be my 4th year of home-educating and every year, I hit this fork in the road: "What should I do differently this year? What curriculum should I use?"

I so want to give my children the best education that I can give them, yet I am so inadequate in some areas, in fact, I have, as of lately, been feeling inadequate in everything I do. I suppose it's just a normal case of "human-ness".

I have though of doing "Rod and Staff" with the kids, and now I am into another catalog called, "Veritas Press", it sounds so perfect, but the price is attrocious for this family.

My heart is willing but my body is weak.

I suppose you could come from the angle that if I wanted my kids to have a good education, to just send them to public school. While we do have a good public school here in town, it cannot match what family living provides for the experience of life. It absolutely cannot.

The things that the kids and I deal with and share with one-another everyday, are so priceless. Though, we have our ups and downs, it's all real and we try to learn how to work with one another.

The Lord put this group of people together for a reason and so we need to learn from each other as we move along life's highway.

I can look at my neighbors and see that they both work and they both have marvelous items to show off, but do they know their children? I can say that I positively do.

They know me, I know them. It's a beautiful thing.

I'm babbling.

~B