What we've been doing ~ March - April 2017

Wow, what a couple of full months we have been living! Remember when Christ said that we may have life, and have it to the full? (John 10:10)  Was this what He was talking about? There have been so many blessings, and a couple of challenges along the way that I just wanted to sit for a minute and share what's on my heart.

Mama, God has this thing called life all figured out! Stop stressing out if you don't understand how it is all supposed to work because He has a plan for you to follow. Just ask Him what it is! Could I have imagined all the things that have happened therapist few weeks? Maybe, but probably not. I think He lets us set a few plans just so He can blow us out of the water by how He fulfills them!

March started off with Arlene attending the annual meeting go the local fiber arts group, SWIFT. They are the lovely ladies who have encouraged her on her way to better spinning and weaving. Her fiber arts mentor Sue is a big part of the group and has invited Arlene along the past few years. They are all looking forward to the Midwest Weavers Conference in June.

The next week we had a 4-H meeting, lunch with dear friends, and went on a tour of a maple syrup farm. They had the same issue we did, that Spring came so early that the maple tapping season was shorter this year. Still, we learned a lot more than were previously knew about how commercial operations work, and we found a lovely, not too far away location to purchase additional syrup from.

The third week of March I'm still wondering how Arlene got any of her coursework done as it seems we were always on the go. A legislative meeting, an awards party at Conner Prairie, 4-H Ag Days, and a trip to her friend Susan's fiber shop. Life seems to be like that these days, every other week goes from slightly busy to a whirlwind! Good thing Arlene is good at making dinner so I don't always have to be home from work in time to make it.

Later in March Arlene spent a day at the Indiana Association of Home Educators' convention helping Susan Marlow with her Circle C Ranch booth. Mrs. Marlow os one of those gems that I am glad has come into Arlene's life for the good influences, and the fun! Training for the opening of the outdoor season at Conner Prairie finished off Arlene's month and I think somewhere in there I even slept-LOL!

April seems to be shaping up as just as much of an adventure as last month was. Kurt and I had a volunteer training at Conner Prairie while Arlene worked out on the grounds. The next week Arlene spent a day as a page for our State Representative at the Statehouse on Indianapolis. That was followed by a 4-H meeting and a family trip to Eagle Creek park for birdwatching. This was also the week that Spring arrived in full force.

Later in April we attended another Legislative meeting, had friends over to visit, attended a Strawberry Social and went to Fiber Fest in Greencastle. A whole day of wool, yarn, and fun! Another fun blessing for April? I got an email from Panera that I had been selected to receive a free bagel every day this month. Um- yes! So we've been planning out routes to events around a stop at nearby Panera stores.

Easter arrived, and I was so thankful that we had been watching the Drive Thru History® - 'The Gospels" series as I felt like even through the midst of our full life that my heart was prepared to celebrate Christ's redemptive work on the cross.

Since then? Arlene went to the dentist, Emily registered for her college classes for fall, and we had our bathroom redone. Whew!

Whenever someone says "it must be nice to stay home and homeschool" I just smile and nod. Yes, it is nice, but it is not what you think. :)

Schoolwork wise? Lots of it! Arlene is doing a variety of project through Art Achieve, we've been reading quite a few books, including the newest release form Lamplighter, and she is working away in her math and biology. Sometimes Spring can be challenging when the warm weather calls us outside, so we try to focus on getting the basics done early and enjoying the afternoons in the fresh air as often as possible.

Work? Yup, I'm still there three days most weeks. It's not a bore, but rather a chance to share the love Christ with those around me. It gives me a lot of time to pray for my family and friends, and frankly, it keeps me in shape. God is using it for His glory, and for my good as He conforms me to the image of Christ. (Romans 8:28-30)

Besides all of this? I'm trying to learn to touch-type. It is a skill I've known I need for a while, but have finally set aside some time to work on learning. I'm finding it difficult, partially because I'm older and memorization take longer, and partially because I have such long fingers. If you're ever seen my fingers, you'll know what I'm talking about. It is difficult to hold them curved at the correct angle so that I can reach all the keys at the same time. But I plan to persevere! I guess I'm a glutton for difficulty because I've just started reviewing First Form Latin form Memoria Press. I tried to learn some basic Latin a few years ago when the girls were in a Classical Conversations class, but it started too fast and too in-dpeth for me to retain it. I want to learn some Latin to help my brain pick out derivatives, and to challenge myself to form some new mental pathways. I may never get far, but I am going to work at it.

What have I learned form all of this? God is bigger than any struggles we may face. He uses those trials to prove to us how true the faith He has given us is. He proves Himself faithful. And He proves that He loves us by all the wonderful opportunities He gives us for joy and fellowship! If we are lacking in joy, it is because we are not taking the joy He offers and making it our own. If we are lacking in fellowship it is because we are not willing to set aside our selfish desires to see what He has planned for the Body of Christ. I would much rather live a joyful, God-Centered life than a sorrowful world-centered one!

Take time today to recognize the blessings God has bestowed upon you this past month. Ask Him for direction for your future, and hang on for the wild adventure!


Linking up with Homeschool Highlights and The Homeschool Post's Weekly Blog and Tell

Curriculum Choices and Planning for High School

Do you still cringe at the thought of making a plan for high school coursework and a schedule for your student? You might want to start with reviewing some of our past posts... especially the one from this Monday about record keeping. I'll add in some other links to past posts about planning and unusual coursework as we go along today.

One thing I really want to encourage you with is that your homeschool does NOT need to look like anyone else's homeschool! I have a lot of home educating friends, and I'm pretty sure that NONE of them educate like we do. No one minds though, because we are all choosing the methods and curriculum that work best for OUR children. Just because you're doing something differently does not mean it is wrong!

For my friend who are very bookish (think Abeka or BJU Press) they might think we unschool... but we don't. For those who love Unit Studies, they might think we don't do enough hands-on projects. We do a lot of hands-on, but neither of our girls was a fan of Unit Studies - thus our experiential style of learning developed. So if you are stressing out about what others are thinking - stop, just STOP! They don't think about your teaching nearly as much as you think about what they think-LOL!

Planning for high school requires knowing your State's requirements, having some sort of an idea of what your child might want to do after high school, and knowing how hectic the rest of your life is for scheduling. I heartily encourage you to give them a college-prep variety of courses. If they want to attend college after graduation - they'll be ready, and if they don't - it won't hurt them any!

On Wednesday of this week Emily and I went to our local community college so she could register for her classes for Fall. She graduated in December and has been working this semester to save for a car to get back and forth to her upcoming classes. The staff was so gracious and kind to her. They answered all of her questions, and all of mine! She feels well prepared, and I feel as though we allowed her the opportunity to receive a quality High School education. I learned that one thing was missing from her transcript - the words Core 40, which is Indiana's basic Diploma/ Graduation description. Now I can adjust that on her transcript, and I'll know better when I'm working on Arlene's transcript next year. Emily quipped "Mom, you'll have to blog about that." The counselor said "Oh yes, please do! We would love to get the word out to the homeschooling community to make their transition to college even easier and I work with a lot of homeschoolers during admissions." I'll write more about that soon. :)

I would like to encourage you to check out some of our previous posts for more help on planning for High School. I also want to encourage you to read my guest posts on the Homeschool Review Crew's blog about Experience Based Learning and a quick bit of encouragement Homeschooling All the Way Through From here on our blog: Homeschooling When Life Happens, and How Will I Teach High School? Then there's this one about Language Arts and History. 

We love studying history! Arlene was just reading a YWAM book about Abraham Lincoln earlier this week and we're watching Drive Thru History ® - "The Gospels" which is all about history, Jesus's life, and the area around Israel. Both of those will have reviews coming up soon so stay tuned!

High school can be so much fun! Put your worries to rest, and ask God for the direction that your children should take on this journey. Then enjoy the ride!


Click on the pictures below to see what everyone else is sharing about homeschooling today!


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Why you need forgiveness to make High School work

Can I just start today off by saying how glad I am for forgiveness? So many time I have failed to do what I knew I should have done, and so many other times I didn't realize that what I was doing wasn't the best option for myself or my family. Yet, there was forgiveness offered, and accepted. 

Now take that feeling of freedom you feel after being forgiven and apply it to your high schoolers. They need forgiveness too! Just as I've made some less than stellar choices over the years, our girls have had their own struggles. When I realized that my high school aged children need forgiveness as much as they did when they were tiny, things started looking up.

Education is a journey, not an event. To understand the difference, here is an example from life: a wedding is an event, a marriage is a journey. Our wedding lasted less than an hour, Kurt and I have been married almost 23 years. We have learned over the years how to offer forgiveness, and how to accept it from others. We did not learn all those lessons during the one hour ceremony, we learned them over many years of ups and downs. Your children are like that, they will learn over the years, and they'll need your help!

High school can come with a lot of expectations. If our students fail to meet all of our expectations we need to evaluate why, and offer forgiveness when necessary. Did they fail because they were being lazy or disrespectful? Then you probably need some discipline to be applied and another round of the same lessons they were supposed to be doing. But, if they failed to meet your expectations because you chose a curriculum that conflicts with their learning style, and you were not around to help them through the tough spots... then you might need to ask their forgiveness.  Did they fail because they didn't understand your directions or have good time management skills? Did they fail to meet your expectations because you never told them what you expected them to accomplish? Or maybe they failed because they have an underlying learning challenge that you didn't realize they struggled with? There are so many reasons why we, or our children, might need forgiveness that you need to be quick to offer it to them, and quick to accept it from them.

No one lives a perfect life. No homeschool is perfect. 

We try our best, ask God for help, and adjust when needed. Sometimes that adjustment comes in the middle of the week when you realize you scheduled too many activities outside of the house and they won't ever be home to watch that science video. Sometimes we don't realize until they are nearing the end of a semester that they are not really  understanding their math assignments. Choose to offer forgiveness when needed, and choose to work with your High Schoolers instead of against them! Most of the time they're not purposely trying to frustrate you, they just don't always see the world like you do, and they may interpret your vague answers differently than you thought you presented them. Try again - both of you!

Forgiveness equals offering grace, unmerited favor. You know about grace right? It is that thing Jesus Christ offers us to save us from ourselves and our sin?! That grace can be applied to your homeschool. It especially needs to be applied to the high school years!

Every once in a while we get it right. 

Then those teenagers stop you to tell you that they respect your hard work, they thank you for giving them this opportunity to be educated at home, they might even tell you how happy they are that you're their parents! That makes it all worth it!


Stop back by tomorrow for one last day in our 5 Day Blog Hop! Don't worry, there will be more posts about Homeschooling High School after this week is over. In fact, I have a lot of cool things to share with you over the next few weeks, most of which are great for High School. In the meantime, check out today's other posts about homeschooling by clicking the links below!





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High School Field Trips

Are any of you old enough to remember the commercials "What would you do for a Klondike Bar?" I sometimes feel like that when it comes to field trips. What would I do for a field trip? An awful lot!

Before we even began formally educating our oldest, we went on field trips with our friends who homeschooled. They were so much fun! Who doesn't love taking their children to the apple orchard? All the way through this journey we have focused on hands-on learning. Books can be great resources, but as Kurt frequently quotes when another book arrives on our doorstep "To the making of many books there is no end, and much study wearies the body." (Ecclesiastes 12:12) The next verse tells us "Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the duty of all mankind." Sometimes I wish it said: go on more field trips. LOL!

I have come to call this style of learning we follow Eclectic Experiential Education. When our girls have been involved in hands-on learning, it changes things from being a story, to being their story. I wrote about this earlier this year in our Blogging Through the Alphabet post :E3.

Did you enjoy going on field trips as a child? Me too! They were the highlight of the year! As a home educating family, we have put as many field trips and hands-on learning days in as we could fit. Often I have given the girls a day off in the middle of the week because I knew we were going someplace special on Saturday with Daddy.


Too often parents think that high schoolers should just buckle down to the books and stop taking field trips. Perhaps it should be the opposite! A local retired public school teacher recently pulled me aside and said "Carol, I love to see how you've taught your girls, all of the hands-on is so good for them!" High schoolers especially need the opportunities to be out in their community, to see how the real world operates, and to watch our local governments in action.

Life is a field trip! It is going places, doing things, and interacting with others! Please don't think I have an easy life with all the free time I could want and that's why we go on field trips - far from it! On the contrary, my schedule is full: three or four days or nights a week of merchandising work at a local grocery store, being a 4-H Leader, and of course, Wife and Mom. I have made time for field trips because they are important! The experiential learning sticks.

Here is a short sampling of field trips or other experiential learning we have participated in the past 5 years or so during high school :

Indianapolis Zoo
Cincinnati Zoo
Pittsburgh Zoo
National Aviary
State Parks
Homeschool Day at our State Capitol
Page for a day at the Capitol
Third House Legislative meetings at our local library
Fiber Festival
Missisinewa 1812 historic reenactment
Homeschool Conventions
4-H Ag Days
Youth Preservation Summit Weekend
City Council Meetings
County Council Meeting
Ballet Performances
Art Museum
Planetarium
4-H Shooting Sports 
Running lights for a puppet performance
4-H Fashion Revue
State Fair (both visiting and working)
Symphony Performances
Canal Boat Trip
Native Plant Conferences
Violin Concerts
Qualifications Day at the Indianapolis 500
Creation Museum
Delaware Nation PowWow
World's Largest Wind Chime
Hiking
Biking
Marionette Performances
Bald eagle watch
BrickWorld Expo
Historical Society Museum
Indiana War Memorial
Clearwater Marine Aquarium
Dolphin Watching/ Aquatic Research
Manatee watching
T.C. Steele State Historic Site
Limberlost Swamp
Chateau LaRoche Castle
Fossil Park


There are so many more... including that the girls each volunteer at a living history museum more than 120 hours each calendar year. In case you've been wondering, the picture we're using this week for An Honest Look at High School is one I took of Arlene last December when we were visiting our State Capitol building. We started out just looking at the architecture, and ended up talking about the State budget. Sometimes you're surprised by what they ask!

High School = Field Trips!

Read, watch, learn, even research... and then go do!

Life is Field Trip, make sure your high schoolers enjoy it!



Click on the links below to see what others are sharing about homeschooling today!


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Why You Need a Solid Homeschool Community

After yesterday's post about keeping records, I thought you could maybe use a little more encouragement about day to day life while homeschooling high school. So today, I'll be sharing about having a homeschool community and fellowship.

Don't try to do this alone.  Do not try to live your life, raise children, or home educate alone. We were designed to be in communities. God created us with a need for fellowship - with Him, and with others. Whether your community is just a handful of friends, or as vast as the Atlantic Ocean, you really do need to have others to lean on for support while homeschooling.

Let's start at the beginning shall we? Emily was 4 years old, Arlene was 2, and we were thinking about what we might do once Emily got old enough for Kindergarten. While we know we wanted to homeschool her, both Kurt and I had attended public school, we were big on zeal, and short on ideas! I went to another mom from our church, and asked her if I could come over sometime and she could share a little about what she did for homeschooling with her girls. Of course Ginger was happy to have us over, and as her girls were playing with our girls, she shared about what methods and materials she used with their daughters. The most valuable advice she gave me was: start small, and don't buy everything you see at the homeschool convention. She recommended I look at a book, which has since become my all time favorite home education resource: A Charlotte Mason Companion by Karen Andreola. 

Fast forward a dozen years or so...I still repeat those wise words that Ginger shared with me whenever God prompts me to share with a younger mom, or when they ask for advice. Start small. If we want to stay focused upon our children, and not let the tasks of choosing and balancing curriculum overwhelm us, we need to start small. 

Now in high school, we still think small. I do not want our girls to have to miss out on some wonderful learning opportunity... like a field trip to the observatory or the Indianapolis Museum of Art because I chose a curriculum that was too time consuming, where requirements overwhelm relationships. As Emily neared graduation, I went through piece by piece and looked to see if there were gaps that were necessary to fill, or if they could be learned later. Talking with other moms in our local homeschool community has given me such great insight into what really needs covered in high school, and what can be skipped. It also gave me help in planning her transcript!

One thing that cannot be skipped during the high school years is fellowship, for our teens or ourselves! It has worked well for our girls to have friends from three distinctly different areas: friends from church, whether they homeschool or not, friends outside of our local church who also homeschool, and friends outside of the homeschool community. This ebb and flow of friends gives them a lot of opportunities for fellowship and fun. Of course, as parents, we hope their closest friends will come from those who share our faith in Jesus Christ, but we know it is important to have a variety of casual friends whom they can interact and talk with. Make it a point to have your home be one of the safe places for your High Schoolers to hang out with their friends! Have a game night or a bonfire, or just gather up a car's worth of teenagers and take them to the park.

Along the way, parents will also find they need fellowship. As a homeschooling mama, I have found my closest friends are other homeschooling moms because we can more easily share our struggles and joys. But more importantly, I need my closest friends to share my faith in Christ. That is the sweetest fellowship. When you know that your friends are praying for you during the week, those struggles with a defiant teen or even a stopped up drain don't seem so bad.

If you are struggling to find a homeschool community, may I offer some advice: be gracious! There is a place for your family out there, but you may need to tread lightly through the options until you find it. The group closest to home  might not share your values, or it might meet every week on your husband's day off, making it a poor choice overall. The homeschooling group in the next town over might only offer field trips, while you are looking for a co-op. But if that farther away group is where your children find friends, make the effort to attend those field trips, and change your personal outlook about joining a co-op this year. 

There are plethora of online homeschool communities to join, and while they can be a lifeline, I want to encourage you to also find local people who homeschool to encourage you! Locals can let you look through their old curriculum and give you honest answers about what worked and what was a struggle. Local friends bring you over a meal when your husband breaks his leg, or you've been sick. A local homeschool community stays abreast of the laws and requirements for your state, as well as giving children many opportunities you might struggle to provide on your own. 

If you're a working and homeschooling mama like me, you might even be blessed by a local friend who wants to teach a class to high schoolers that would free you up for more time at home with whatever your child needs help with this year. 

It can be hard to find a community of other home educating families, and harder still to make choices with our time to get together. Yet, as I look back, we all have so many fond memories of doing things, going places, and being a part of our local homeschool community. I am so glad we made the effort to be a part of our local home education community!

Stop back by tomorrow for some more of our series An Honest Look at High School. Until then, click on the links below and see what everyone else is sharing today!

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Now Is The Time ~ High School Record Keeping

Today I'm combining our Blogging Through the Alphabet weekly post with our 5 Days of Homeschooling Blog Hop. The letter is: N. My topic for all five days is: An Honest Look at High School.

NOW is the time for you to keep records! Whether you've been an organized, planned to the last detail homeschooling Mama, or a fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants type of Mama, high school requires you to be a good record keeper. You see, there is this thing looming on the horizon ~ it is called a transcript. For some that thought strikes fear in their hearts and they give up and send their children to public or private school for high school. For others, the thought of preparing a transcript is just another set of boxes to check and they're up to the task. Wherever you fall on that spectrum... let's just get to the record keeping shall we?

I'm going to start right off and say that I did NOT plan out Emily's high school courses before she began 9th grade. I probably should have, but I didn't. What I did do correctly was keeping track of what she accomplished that year. Then in the Spring of that year I matched up what she had done with the courses our state requires for graduation and looked at what she had left to cover. We were a part of a Classical Conversations group her Freshman year, so she had plenty of meat in her coursework.

Things I did right that year? I looked at our State's requirements and kept attendance records. I kept her CC group's outline so I could always go back and see what she had covered. I printed the course descriptions PDF from our state's Department of Education so I could see what to call each course on her transcript. Oh, and I loved her a lot, even when she struggled.

If you're needing some help with getting organized to keep good records, here is step one: get a three ring binder and devote it to high school. Looking back through that binder today, I have at least six hand-written pages of notes for Emily, and one typed one (besides the transcript!) Those notes helped Emily & I see what she had accomplished, what she still needed to accomplish, and helped tremendously the year that Kurt got really sick and school got put on hold for a month. In the midst of the chaos of everyday life, those notes reminded me to "do the next thing." They were a place where Emily could see that she still needed to finish a report for her Music Appreciation course, or find the login information for her Homeschool Piano lessons.

So what did I learn? That planning ahead is not such a bad thing, that keeping all my records in one easily-found binder is golden, and that Arlene was going to be doing some things differently when her high school years came around!

Now is when you need to decide what to do about record keeping. I know a lot of Moms like online sites. I used the Applecore record keeping system from our SchoolhouseTeachers.com account to create Emily's actual transcript. While these computer-based or online programs can be great, and a solid way to create the actual transcript, having a paper system as well gives you room to plan and dream. If your student needs a fourth year of science, why not specialize it for them. What do they really like? Botany, Anatomy, Astronomy? That three ring binder gives you one place to store all those notes and curriculum wish lists!

Grades, yes that's another place you need to keep records. I was not a grade-giver until high school. Other than math or spelling, the girls never got grades before then. But now? Now they need grades for their classes so I can figure their GPA. Hmm...wondering about that one too? Decide at the beginning of each year what you want them to accomplish from their coursework, they spell it out plainly to them. If they exceed your expectations they can earn an A. If they only meet them, a B. If they're struggling, even after you give them extra time and help, then a C is the best they're going to get. Most high school curricula written for homeschoolers comes with some sort of a grading guide in the Teacher's manual. Use it!!! Adapt it if necessary. But please, please, put something in your records for the grade each semester!

I think that's enough to start your brain rolling. Here are links to some other posts I've written about planning, a planner, another planner, yet another planner, and transcripts.

Come back tomorrow and get another honest look at high school. It can be such a great joyful time, but also a challenge. Learn all you can before your children get there, and you'll be better able to adapt their education to meet their unique needs!

If you're wondering what happens after Graduation...go read my post: After The Diploma on the Homeschool Review Crew Blog from last Friday!

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An Honest Look at High School... and a Blog Hop!

So many people have asked me recently, HOW do you homeschool High School?

One day at a time. 

With a lot of grace.

With a lot of prayer.

With my strength coming directly from God.

Because I've been asked so many times, I chose to focus on High School for next week's Homeschool Review Crew Blog Hop. There are over 30 of us that will be sharing, each on a different topic of home education. Each of the participants will have at least 3, but more likely 4 or 5 days where they share on their topic, and I'll be sure to include the links at the bottom of my posts so you can click over and read any of them that intrigue you! I've seen the list, and there is quite a variety of homeschooling topics.

Next week, from Monday through Friday, you can stop back by here and read another installment of An Honest Look at High School. Besides the usual questions of scheduling, curriculum, and field trips, I'll try to share some each day about at least one of our core themes for this year: forgiveness, fellowship, honesty, and community. There will still be a Scripture Writing post on Wednesday, but I will not be posting any reviews next week, instead keeping the focus of the week on the High School theme.

I hope to encourage you, challenge you, and spur you on to better thinking about how God works in our families. Too often as Moms (and Dads) of High Schoolers we think "I can't, they can't, or it will not fit in our budget." I'll be here to remind you that God can, He enables them to do amazingly wonderful things, and His blessings can be beyond our wildest dreams for our children. Just as Jesus reminded His disciples that getting into Heaven is impossible on our own, so is a quality High School education. Thankfully: Jesus looked at them and said, "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26


Praying that you have a blessed Easter weekend, celebrating the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ with your family and friends.

See you Monday morning!