I’m not here today to talk everyone into homeschooling or to make you think that just because I homeschool, I think everyone should homeschool.  Just wanted to clear that up before we start. 

But for those of you who are considering homeschooling…

I wish I had a dime ( more would be fine too) for every time someone has said to me, “It’s so great that you have a teaching degree so that you can teach your kids.  I’m just not qualified to teach.  I’d never be able to do it.  I wouldn’t know how to teach them.  I know I’d miss tons of information and they’d never be ready for college.”

Here and now, I would like to debunk the myth that in order to home school your children, you must have a teaching degree or somehow “qualify”.

Here.  Use this check list:

1. Can you read?
2. Do you know your numbers?
3. Can you write?
4. Do you know where your pencils are?

If you answered “yes” to at least three out of four of the above questions…you’re in.  You’re good to go.  You’re totally qualified.  And if you actually know where your pencils are, you may be overqualified and put the rest of us homeschooling mothers to shame.  (To my credit, I do happen to know where some of my pencils are, but none of them…I repeat…none of them are sharpened.)

So, you may ask, what about all the things I don’t know?  How will I ever teach my kids history or science or math?  I don’t remember half of the stuff I was taught in school. 

What?  You think that since I have a teaching degree I actually know stuff?  Or that I magically remember everything I was taught?  

That’s what BOOKS are for. 

I don’t remember 7/8 of the information I was taught in school.  It doesn’t matter.

I have books.  Lots and lots of books.

And I have software.

And I have search engines.

And I have friends who know things.

And I have a husband who knows things.

And I have a library.

And sometimes, on a good day, I have a sharpened pencil.

I promise…promise you that if you have the desire to teach your kids at home, that is truly all you need.  The desire…and resources.  Resources are out there all over the place for you.

You don’t need a degree or 459,392 facts stored up in your head. 

If there’s something you don’t know…there is a book that will tell you or someone else you can ask. 

You don’t even have to try very hard to find these resources.  Home schooling materials of ALL kinds are available out there now.  For every type of child.  For every type of parent.  For every type of home.  For every type of learning style.  For every type of schedule.

You don’t have to reinvent the wheel.  You don’t have to think hard.  You don’t have to know much.

You want to know how I teach my kids?  We read together.  We look information up on the computer (cheering each time we get a Swagbuck!).  We talk to each other.  We look at what is going on around us.  We ask questions.

Never ever feel like you aren’t qualified to be your child’s teacher.  You are the person who loves them the most and knows them best of all.

Guess what?  You are already your child’s teacher.

And see?  You’re doing just fine.

More About Homeschooling

• Here is an entire category of posts I’ve written about homeschooling at our house.  Scroll down to the beginning if you would like.
• I talk about my favorite curriculum choices here.  Be sure to read the comments to read what others recommend!
• This post lists some great resources I highly use and love.

Moms (and dads)…please leave comments here letting us know your favorite homeschool resources, aids, curriculums, books…anything you’ve found helpful in your homeschool journey!
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This post is linked to Works for me Wednesday.

Here’s a questions I’ve been promising to answer on my blog for about a year and a half:

What do you recommend I do with my babies and toddlers while I’m trying to teach my bigger kids?

You mean besides strap them into their high chairs for three hours and hand them candy and cookies to keep them quiet?

Yeah, I don’t recommend that.

What’s funny about trying to answer this question is that even though I home schooled for several years with little bitty guys running (or crawling) around…I’ve had to rack my brain coming up with the answer to this question.

What DID I do with my babies and toddlers while I was schooling my bigger boys (who were at the time quite little themselves)?

There is no simple answer or formula.  I don’t have anything to just hand you.  I can’t just say, “Oh, my little guys did X, Y and Z while the bigger kids were schooling.”  We just sort of did it.  I’m pretty sure it looked a little chaotic half the time.  That’s just life with little ones.

I would read history or read aloud books while I was nursing a baby (sometimes the bigger boy would have to hold the book).  I would squeeze in school work during the little one’s morning nap. 

I would take all of us into a room with toys, close the door so that the little guys were contained and I would do school work with the big boys.  That way everyone was safe and happy and I knew exactly where everyone was at all times.

If we were using tiny objects like cuisenaire rods, the bigger kid took them to a table and I kept the littler ones away from the table, hollering my help from afar.

Once the babies were 2 or 3…I had several play options on our school room shelves.  These were some of our favorites:

Melissa and Dug Food Cutting Set

  Bead Buckets (I’d give my kids a big container of beads, some plates and a spoon.  They’d spoon out beads and separate the colors onto plates.  You could do this with beans or buttons too!) 

Lego Duplos

Wood Peg Puzzles 

Wooden Blocks

I called each of these options “Rug Work” and the kids got to pick one activity off the shelf, go to a rug, sit on it and play.  These options were ONLY allowed to be played with ON the rug and DURING school time.  When they were finished, they put the activity back on the shelf and got something else to play with.

I usually had a Veggie Tale or an educational video each day that I reserved for the time I needed to do more difficult schooling with my bigger boys.  That would ensure that I had 30 minutes of uninterrupted work time.

I certainly remember having moments of frustration…feeling like I was trying to read a book around a bunch of craziness…trying to keep my baby from eating books off the shelf and trying to keep the toddler from screaming when he didn’t get his way…all while trying to teach a 2nd grader what a fraction was.

Ultimately, everyone learned to be patient.  The big kids learned to be patient and wait until mommy could answer their questions.  The toddlers learned to be patient until mommy could get their favorite puzzle off the shelf.  The babies learned to be patient…yeah right.  The babies screamed until they were fed.  The mommy learned to be patient because school time is fun and loud and full of hubbub and hardly ever goes according to her perfect and ideal plan.

The beauty of it is that school time didn’t take hours and hours each day (still doesn’t even with bigger kids).  A couple solid hours of concentrated school time (with some diaper changing breaks here and there)…we got it done.

And somehow, we all survived to tell about it!

Hey everyone…share your fun ideas for keeping babies and todders happy and occupied during school time!
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This post is linked to Works for me Wednesday.

If you’re new to HeavenlyHomemakers and want to know more about our homeschooling…read about our curriculum choice here, the books we’ll be using this year here and our budget here.
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Here is our current schooling schedule, subject daily to being changed and rearranged and shifted and completely messed up:

1. Bible reading time during breakfast
2. M/W – United States Geography Portfolios; T/Th – Science Units (all together)
3. History (all together) (boys play with legos or something else similar while I read)
4. Asa – Math at computer; Justus and Elias – Handwriting, Spelling and Phonics
5. Ten minute break
6. Justus and Elias – Math; Asa – Spelling and Language Arts
7. Boys finish up work and take turns at computer using Typing Instructor program (I work on lunch)
8. Lunchtime – I read our latest “Read-Aloud” book while boys eat
9. M/W – Journal writing; T/Th – Proverbs study
10. Reading – boys cozy up on couches and read independently

Now the big question:  What does Malachi do during all of this?

Why, he sits quietly and colors pictures of course.

Yeah, right.  Rarely do any of my children ever sit quietly and color pictures. 

Malachi is four and a half and actually does a pretty good job now just playing quietly on his own while I’m reading to the boys during History and Science and Geography.  (He LOVES Legos.)  He often joins us for science if we’re doing something fun…or plays USA Bingo with us during Geography.  Otherwise, he just plays. 

As far as his own personal school work goes…maybe when I am completely finished with canning and preserving…and soccer season is over…I can get a little bit of Pre-K time in with him.  He’s obviously not suffering because of neglect.  He is amazing us with how he can spell words and write letters and even answer History questions! 

I know many of you want to know how I schooled the boys when they were all littler…and how I handled school when some of them were babies.   And, you want to know what I suggest you do with your little guys while you’re schooling your older ones.   SUCH good questions.  I’m thinking through those questions and will write a post soon to answer them. 

In the meantime…while writing THIS post…I was just feeling like it would be easier to explain how we homeschool and how our day goes if you could all just COME OVER and watch.   But since my living room just isn’t that big…and you know…some of you live across the ocean from me…I decided that someday next week I’ll take bunches of pictures throughout the day and do a “Day in the Life” post or something like that.

How does that sound?

At your request, here is an idea of some of the books we’re using this year for school:

Bible:  We’re starting off the year reading through the book of Luke together in the mornings during breakfast.  Matt does scripture memorization with us all during lunch and dinner (I can share more about this if you want).  Also, two days a week I’m using Proverbs for Parenting to teach the boys more about studying the Bible (and hopefully we’ll all gain a little more Godly wisdom while we’re at it). 

History:  We’re studying American History this year, reading most of these books from Sonlight plus this one and this one.

Geography:  Since we are learning American History this year, I felt it appropriate to do a unit on US Geography. I put together a portfolio packet of activities and lessons for the boys with things I found at the library.  They’ll also do special projects and maybe write a paper featuring a state of their choice.

Also, I was SO excited to find a States and Postal Abbreviations ebook from Joy at Five J’s which goes right along with what we’re studying this year.  It includes writing activities and flash cards so the boys can practice and learn easily.

Click here to view more details

Science:  We’re doing a unit on weather based on this book.  Then we’ll try to get through several of these books to learn about how things work.

Reading and Read Alouds:  We’re reading a TON of great books this year either individually, or out loud.  To list them all would take up a lot of space here, but I pieced together packs of books for each of the boys based on what I felt they were ready for.  Check out Sonlight’s book lists if you ever want anything awesome for your kids to read, or to read to your kids.  You can not go wrong with Sonlight book recommendations.

Spelling:  I’m using Spelling Power for Asa (age 12).  This year we’re starting something new for Justus and Elias (ages 9 and 7):  Sequential Spelling.  I think this program is just what they need at this point.  So far they are both doing well with it.

Two other things we do for spelling:  Matt has a really great bedtime tradition he started with the boys several years ago.  It’s a great spelling tool.  Also, I’ll be using SpellQuizzer for fun extra practice for the boys.

Math:  This year is a little different as we’re doing three different math programs for three different boys.   Asa is using Teaching Textbook Math 7.  Justus is using Saxon 54.  Elias is using Miquon.  We decided to use Teaching Textbooks for the older grades because it is so wonderful…but it’s also pricey (which is why we didn’t buy a program for both Asa and Justus this year).  Justus graduated out of Miquon last year so we’re borrowing Saxon for now until he can use the Teaching Textbooks Math 6 we previously bought for Asa.  Elias is in the Miquon blue book (and will hopefully get through the green book this year too).  Miquon teaches math in a different and “backward” way…but it’s worked well for our family and we really like it.

Handwriting:  Justus and Elias are using Italic Handwriting.  I like this method of writing because the cursive is so much like the printing…just hooked together.  Plus, it just looks so nice.  Asa doesn’t do handwriting practice from a book anymore.  He has nice handwriting and I just have him practice by writing letters to people or copying Bible verses.

Typing:  I bought this computer program this year to help teach the boys to type.  They each spend about 15 minutes, four days a week practicing with this software.

Pre K:  I’m using a few Rod and Staff books for Malachi this year.  Plus, I’m feverishly trying to finish a complete preschool curriculum which I will put into ebook form.  It’s not complete enough to offer for sale yet, but I’m using the concepts and ideas with Malachi this year.  Hopefully we can fine tune it while we use it before we put it into the shop!

What are some of your favorite books?

It may have been the best $2.95 I’ve ever spent.

While we were picking up school supplies last week, I grabbed this handy little kitchen timer.  I thought it might be something nice to try while I work to keep four boys on task and productive and happy during school time.

And so far…it’s working.  It’s WORKING!  I love it when things work!

When the boys need a break between phonics and math, I have them set the timer for ten minutes.  For ten blessed minutes, they go shoot things and defeat things and build things and knock them over and do all the things boys like to do when they have free time.  In the meantime, I wash a few dishes…look over papers…close my eyes…whatever I need to do with ten minutes of quiet.

When the timer goes off, they run back in and are ready to hit the math books.

We’ve also used the timer while the boys are reading books so that they don’t ask twenty times, “How much longer should I read?”  They just read until the timer goes off (and then they read some more if they want to).

In the evenings we’ve started a “Ten Minute Tidy” to see how many things they can pick up before the timer goes off.

I’m SO GLAD this little gadget is working.  But here’s what I’d like to know:

Why in the world do the boys respond so well to a little ticky thing that has a VERY annoying ~BZZZZZZZT~ to let them know that their time is up…when they could just come down the stairs when their mother’s sweet, loving voice calls them down to do math?

It’s another one of those great mysteries.
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This post is linked to Works for me Wednesday.

I’m a little bit hesitant to share about our homeschooling budget because…oh, I don’t know…I just am.  I want to discuss it…I just think it can be a bit of a touchy subject.  It’s a good thing all of you are so nice.

There are different ways of thinking about how much money families should spend on their homeschooling materials. 

Some people look at it like:  ”It’s my child’s education.  I’m not going to skimp one bit and I’ll spend as much as I can to make sure my child gets the best education possible.”

Then there’s the flip side:   “I can teach my child using everyday things around the house and a pencil and a notebook and the Bible.  That’s all I need.”

I agree with both ideas to a certain degree.  I think that it is very important to invest in the education of our children.  And I also think that our children can learn a great deal by just living and experiencing life with their families…without spending a dime.

I used to skimp more than I do now when Asa and Justus were in the earlier grades.  That worked fine because at that point it was really just about teaching them how to read and a few other basics.  I tried to just get as many of the Sonlight recommended books at the library as I could, while spending just a little bit on their math books and a few other things.

As my kids get older (and as I’m schooling more of them) I’ve found that it’s harder and harder to get to the library to get all the books they need to read so that we can cover everything I want to cover in the school year.  Having the books at our house on our shelves has been so helpful. 

So while I’ve struggled with the fact that I could save quite a bit of money by going to the library everytime one of the kids finished one of the books on their list…I’ve just been unable (or yes, possibly unwilling) to make it happen.  I LOVE having all the books we’ll need right on the shelf ready to grab at a moment’s notice.

And these books that Sonlight recommends?  They are worth paying money for.  They are worth reading over and over.  They are really great books.  (Sonlight is not paying me to brag on them, by the way.)

Having said all of that…I will tell you that our annual homeschool budget is $450.  Total.  For all the boys.  For the year.  That amount includes field trips and school supplies from Walmart.  Sometimes it doesn’t seem like it’s enough, but that’s all there is.  Some of you may see that number and be shocked that I spend that little.  Some of you may be shocked that I spend that much. 

I’m able to keep it at that number by doing several things.  First, I combine curriculums as I mentioned in this post.  I don’t buy a separate curriculum for each child. 

Second, I reuse many “consumable books”.  There are a few exceptions, but many of the History and Science books I ordered for Asa when he was younger, I am able to re-use with all of the boys now.  If there was question-and-answer stuff in those books, we did them orally.  (He got plenty of writing practice elsewhere.)

Third, once I buy a book for Asa, it is passed down and used for the other boys when they’re ready.  I don’t have to buy lots of books for each boy each year.

Fourth, I look for some things on ebay.  I got a pretty nice deal on ebay for a Teaching Textbook 7 for Asa this year. 

Also, this year I saved up all my Swagbucks…redeemed them for Amazon cards…and ordered a whole bunch of readers for the boys.  For free.  If you haven’t signed up to earn Swagbucks while you’re doing online searches…you should.  Their program helped us get many of the books we needed this year.  They were truly a blessing.  I can’t tell you how thankful I am for Swagbucks.

So there you have it.  If you homeschool and care to share a bit about how you budget for it, I’d love to hear!

I promised a long time ago to talk more about our homeschooling.  Since we’re coming up on a new school year I thought I’d better get my act in gear and answer more of your questions.  (We’re starting August 3.  Read this post  from last year to understand more about why I like to start so early!)  Here’s the question I’ll cover today:

How do you design your curriculum?  Do you do the pre-packaged stuff or customize your own?

I guess I do a little bit of both.  And I kind of go about it in a weird way…but it works for me and I love it.  It takes several hundred hours to figure out and put together…but I love that too because I love surrounding myself with our books for the year. 

Here’s how it works for us:

We’ve chosen to use Sonlight curriculum.  We completely, totally and absolutely love Sonlight.  It is literature based and teaches the kids about history and science and life and all of God’s people all over the world in such a fun and natural way.  Instead of textbooks…we read and learn from regular books.  Regular really, really good books.  I can’t believe how much I’ve learned from this curriculum (and the kids have learned an awful lot too!).

The reason I say that I sort of put my curriculum together myself is this:  I’ll have a 7th grader, a 4th grader, a 2nd grader and a four year old this year.  I love all of Sonlight’s recommended books, but I’m not able to teach four different grade levels to my four different boys (and still keep up with their laundry). 

I use Sonlight curriculum catalog as a guide…then I piece together what books and subjects we’ll cover for the year.  I do this for history, science, Bible and read-alouds.

This year, for instance, we’ll all be studying American History.  I will be using several of the books recommended for the 3rd and 4th grade level…and several from the 7th grade level and use them altogether for all the boys. 

So far this method works well for us (although this year or next year may be our last year for combining all the kids together since Asa’s working his way toward <cough> high school).

What I’ve found is that my littlest boys catch quite a bit of information…Justus catches more…and Asa learns even more than that.  It’s working great and I love that we’re all working on the same materials together.  It makes for some pretty cool discussions and some awesome times together plopped together in the living room on couches and pillows.

The beauty of homeschooling is that you can teach your family in whatever way works best to teach your family.  Almost all curriculums out there have a very easy and detailed teacher guide to make homeschooling possible and simple for every parent.  Sonlight rocks in that department with super detailed week-by-week teacher guides.  I just go about it in a different sort of way and create my own teacher guide/school outline because that’s what works best for my family at this point in our schooling. 

And…have I ever mentioned how much we LOVE homeschooling in our family?  Our books have started arriving and you would think it’s Christmas.  I love how excited the boys get! 

Coming up…I’ll share about our homeschool budget, what books we’ll be using this year…and I’ll answer more of the questions mentioned in this post.  I’ll also try to share more of the books and programs we like for math and phonics, etc.

Any of you other homeschoolers care to share what curriculum you like and how you go about planning your school year?
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This post is linked to Works for me Wednesday.

I recently heard from Karen, who asked some great questions that I haven’t addressed yet on my blog.

• Why did you choose to homeschool?
• What do you love about homeschooling…and what is really challenging?
• How do you budget for it?
• Do you worry about your kids being ready academically for high school/college?
• Do you participate in any social or sports groups that extend the opportunity for the boys to meet others?
• How do you design your curriculum?  Do you do the pre-packaged stuff or customize your own?

What a great list of questions…  Can’t believe I haven’t written about them yet. 

Today, I’ll answer the question of WHY we homeschool. 

Homeschooling was not something Matt and I gave much thought to when our first two boys were little.  Asa was four, Justus was one and a half and we had another baby on the way.  It seems our days were full of diapers and toys and tantrums and just making it until bedtime in one piece. 

At that time, we only had a few months before Asa was to start kindergarten.  People began asking us where he would go to school or if we were going to homeschool him.  Our answer was to shrug and simply say, “Hmm, we don’t know yet.”  We really did not have any strong convictions one way or the other.

Just before Elias was born, I began to read Creative Correction, by Lisa Whelchel.  Call me dense, but before reading that book I was just kind of floating along and trying to keep my kids clean and fed and happy and well behaved (and keep myself sane).  All good things.  I had just not given a lot of thought yet to their character training and the fact that raising children wasn’t just about taking them to church and working to teach them to be “good”.  Lisa’s book opened my eyes to the magnitude of the wonderful task Matt and I had before us.

God began to work on my heart to teach me what that might look like.

Right after Elias was born, I kept thinking over and over:  God gave us three boys.  Boys.  Three of them.  Why?  What was God’s plan?  (Of course I had no idea that there would be a fourth boy!)

I suddenly felt very strongly convicted (whacked over the head).  God gave us three boys so that we could raise three godly leaders for his church. 

And eighteen years didn’t quite seem like a long enough time to instill in them all the truths that we needed to instill in them.

We made the decision at that point to homeschool them.  The biggest reason?  Time.

Time to be together.  Time to train.  Time to learn.  Time to talk.  Time to listen.  Time to hold.  Time to work.  Time to just be.

Since making that decision, we have never one time questioned that we were doing the right thing for our family.  God has shown us in countless ways through the years that our choice to homeschool our kids was the right one. 

So, that’s our story. 

Let me say that again…that’s OUR story.  This is what God convicted US to do.  I never, ever want to sound like we think we’re better parents because we homeschool.   It’s what we’ve chosen because when God whacks you over the head, it’s always a good idea to listen.  And so we did.

The end. 

I’ll plan to answer more of the above questions during the next several weeks.  Feel free to write more of your questions in the comment section!

I’d love for you to share how God has convicted you in this area.  What has God led your family to do in regard to your children’s education?  If your kids aren’t school age yet, what are some of your thoughts for the future?  Please everyone, keep your comments kind and non-condemning, okee-dokee? 

DID YOU KNOW IT’S ALREADY THE END OF MARCH?

Yes, I suppose you knew that.

I knew it too, but it sorta just hit me a few days ago that after March comes April and then it will be May and well…I can’t believe another school year is coming to an end. 

If you remember, last summer I posted a list of the books we would be reading through for school this year.  Here’s how we’re doing by now:

History:  We’ve made our way through the first two Story of the World history books and we’re now reading about ships and how ships were made through history.  (Ah, you’ve gotta love reading about those naughty pirates.)  (Well, you don’t gotta love it…but my boys sure love it.)

Science:   We are taking some time to study evolution vs. creation using the books I mentioned in this post…plus some DVDs we borrowed from a friend called Incredible Creatures that Defy Evolution.  There are several books on the list we haven’t touched yet…partly because I took a detour to read these books and watch the DVDs about evolution.  If we don’t finish all of the books on the list, we’ll read them through the summer or during the next school year.

Math:  I told the boys last week that as soon as they finish their math books…they’ll be done with math for the year.  I do believe that was motivating, since Justus started doing five lessons a day…calculating that he could be done in two weeks if he did.  Go Justus!  Asa’s doing two lessons a day now on his, which is quite an accomplishment since his lessons take longer.  Who am I to argue with extra math lessons?  Why, with all that extra time on their hands, they’ll be able to fold more laundry.

Bible:  Since January, our Bible focus has been the book of John.  Asa and Justus are participating in an event called Leadership Training for Christ (LTC).  They’ve been working hard preparing writing projects, skits, puppet shows and sculptures.  Most importantly, they are learning the book of John inside and out as they prepare for the Bible Bowl.  We’ll head to Kansas City in April for the big gathering! 

Reading:  Elias completed his reading list a long time ago…leaving me forever hopping trying to give him books to read that are on his level.  Justus’ books are a little harder to get through, but he’s plugging away.  Reading is a little more challenging for him, but he works hard.  Asa has finished many of his books too…his just take longer!

Malachi:  Well…some days I do some activities with him…sometimes I don’t.  FUNNY how he’s learning anyway.  I love that.  I will tell you a little secret though:  I’ve been working for over a year on a curriculum for early learners called “Learn Your Letters…Learn to Serve”.  I’m trying so hard to finish it by summertime to make it available for YOU to use in the fall if you’d like…and I’d really like to use it with Malachi too.  I think I can…I think I can…
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So, how’s your school year going?  If you homeschool…what have you and your kids been up to?  If you don’t homeschool…what have your kids been doing in school?  I LOVE hearing about what everyone is learning and doing!!!