Day 4- Cleaning your home so you can stay focused

Hopefully you’ve been reading along all week and are ready for day 4 of the Back to Homeschool Blog Hop! Today I want to focus on something that distracts Moms - namely - a messy, dirty house.

Moms, It will not do you any good to plan out those lessons if all you can see on the first day your troops gather is a messy home. Take some time and clean your house! 

I know in our home the summer months can be so packed full of activities and going outside that the house suffers. Things get dropped just inside the door and they don’t get put away. NOW, before you start back to homeschooling, is the time to get everything put away.

Dearest Moms, you need to clean your home so YOU can stay focused this school year. Take a few hours or a few days, however much time you need, and get your home organized before you add in the demands of educating your children. Better yet, get the whole family involved. Assign each child an age-appropriate task, and get everyone working on getting your house clean!

Take time to deep clean your bathrooms and the kitchen, because we all know these are the areas that we as Moms notice the most when they’re dirty! Have your children pull everything out from under their beds and sort, purge, and sweep. Help them as much as they needs it. This is an exercise in preparing your home to be an inviting place ~ for you!

If you want some inspiration for cleaning, or tips on how to divide it up into manageable chunks, you can pop on over and read some of the posts on my dear friend Michele’s blog. Most of you will remember Michele’s quest to have us spend 34 weeks to clean and declutter our homes this year. We have accomplished almost all of the 34 tasks… even though I haven’t blogged about all of them! For the ones I have blogged about, I've labelled them "34 Weeks of cleaning w/friends."

Once your bathrooms and kitchen are under control, pick the one room where you and your children spend the most time during the school year and clean that room. I know you are going to be glad you did!

Tomorrow I’m going to talk about… something I want to do better at this school year. 

Not much of a spoiler - but I do hope you’ll be back tomorrow!

Marcy @ Ben and Me

Debra @ Footprints in the Butter

Chareen @ Every Bed of Roses

Amy @ Homeschool Encouragement

Missica @ The Open Window: An Autism Blog

Misty @ Year Round Homeschooling

Jennifer @ A Glimpse of Our Life

Heather @ Only Passionate Curiosity

Clarissa @ Counting Our Blessings

Christy @ Unexpected Homeschool

Monique @ Living Life and Learning

Rebecca @ Raventhreads

Karen @ Tots and Me...Growing Up Together

Rebekah @ There Will Be A $5 Charge For Whining

April @ ElCloud Homeschool

Brenda @ Counting Pinecones

Tara @ This Sweet Life

Tara @ Embark on the Journey

Jennifer @ Chestnut Grove Academy

Annette @ In All You Do

Lisa @ Farm Fresh Adventures

Tauna @ Proverbial Homemaker

Joanie @ Simple Living Mama

Aurie @ Our Good Life

Jennifer @ A Peace of Mind

Jenn @ Treasuring Life's Blessings

Kemi @ Homemaking Organized

Wendy @ Life at Rossmont

Katie @ DailyLife

Joelle @ Homeschooling for His Glory

Kim @ Homestead Acres

Melissa @ Mom's Plans

Annette @ A Net In Time

Cristi @ Through the Calm and Through the Storm

Meg @ Adventures with Jude

Dawn @ Double O Farms

DaLynn @ For the Display of His Splendor

Monique @ Mountain of Grace Homeschooling

Steph @ Indy Homeschool

Kym @ Homeschool Coffee Break

Tawnee @ Adventures in homeschooling

Lisa @ Tales of a Homeschool Family

Jennifer @ Organized Home Organized School

Callie @ Mama's Coffee Shop

Erin @ For Him and My Family

Lori @ At Home: where life happens

Margaret @ Creative Madness Mama

Nicole @ Some Call It Natural

Crystal @ Crystal Starr

Bonnie @ Write Bonnie Rose

Shawna @ Tenacity Divine

Carol @ Home Sweet Life

Kelli @ Adventure Homeschool 

Jacquelin @ A Stable Beginning 

Leah Courtney @ As We Walk Along the Road

Day 3 ~Back to Homeschool Blog Hop ~ Choosing Curriculum

Let me be quite frank with you here. For many, many, many years we did NOT use a curriculum for any subject other than math. So if you’re looking for curriculum advice from a curriculum junkie, you might want to click on one of the many links at the end of the post and see who else is talking about choosing curriculum.

Now, If you’re still here, please allow me to explain. When our girls were in the Elementary grades, we had neither the inclination nor the money to spend on a boxed curriculum, or even on pieces of curriculum. Instead, we went to the library … every single week! I looked thorough many of the books they had about language arts, but ended up just watching Grammar Rock with the girls instead. We are relaxed homeschoolers. We follow Charlotte Mason’s ideas about living books, narration, and short - yet focused - lessons. So much of what I desired to share with our girls was available at our local library for free. Why stress out about what you don’t have when you don't even need it?

As the girls got older (about 5th or 6th grade,) I went to a couple used books sales and purchased a few pieces of quality curriculum to use with the girls. How did I choose? I talked with friends and other homeschoolers, and I looked through Cathy Duffy’s 100 Top picks for Homeschool Curriculum … also borrowed from our library. :) I also looked online at book lists. A great site for book lists is www.amblesideonline.org. If you’re wanting to offer your children a Charlotte Mason style education, I recommend you read Karen Andreola’s A Charlotte Mason Companion.

Regardless of what kind of teaching style you plan to employ, it really helps you to choose appropriate curriculum or resources if you know how your children best learn. My best recommendation for learning about learning styles is my dear friend Diana Waring. You can learn so much from her talks, blog posts, and books. 

In the past we’ve used worksheets, workbooks, textbooks, living books, lap books, notebooking journals, games, and field guides. Because the possibilities are endless - let me  encourage you to start small. For the past few years we’ve been blessed to be a part of the Schoolhouse Review Crew and have had the opportunity to use so many more curriculum choices than we would have been able to afford on our own. These review opportunities give us the chance to tell you more about the curriculum than you would find on the vendor’s websites. If you’re wondering about a specific curriculum, click over to the Schoolhouse Review Crew’s webpage and see if it has been reviewed recently.

My overall guidance is this: don’t spend more money than you have, and don’t buy what you won’t need. Start small. If you have a subject that you personally find difficult to teach (say grammar,) then focus on getting a curriculum to help you with that. There are tons of websites with free worksheets for just about everything you could think of for elementary grades, and several that have worksheets for upper grades. 

Consider being out of the box. Find DVDs at your library, or documentaries on Netflix and watch your way through history or social studies. National Geographic has some fun ones, so does the History Channel. You can offer your home educated children so much more than the standard box of books found in a public school. 

I’ll list a few of our favorite curriculum companies/ resources below. Spend enough time to find something that works and is FUN for your children. One more thing - be willing to sell what doesn’t work well for your family and try again. Have fun exploring all the great options out there for curriculum!

History:

Diana Waring: Exploring History Through Music

Diana Waring: History Revealed

Heirloom Audio Productions

English (Grammar or Literature):

The Logic of English

Analytical Grammar

Sharon Watson

IEW’s  - Fix-It! Grammar

Science:

Answers in Genesis: God’s Design Series

Bridget Ardoin’s: Science for High School

Fascinating Education

Math:

Rod & Staff’s elementary math workbooks

Math-U-See

VideoText Interactive Algebra

Art:

ARTistic Pursuits

See the Light

Marcy @ Ben and Me

Debra @ Footprints in the Butter

Chareen @ Every Bed of Roses

Amy @ Homeschool Encouragement

Missica @ The Open Window: An Autism Blog

Misty @ Year Round Homeschooling

Jennifer @ A Glimpse of Our Life

Heather @ Only Passionate Curiosity

Clarissa @ Counting Our Blessings

Christy @ Unexpected Homeschool

Monique @ Living Life and Learning

Rebecca @ Raventhreads

Karen @ Tots and Me...Growing Up Together

Rebekah @ There Will Be A $5 Charge For Whining

April @ ElCloud Homeschool

Brenda @ Counting Pinecones

Tara @ This Sweet Life

Tara @ Embark on the Journey

Jennifer @ Chestnut Grove Academy

Annette @ In All You Do

Lisa @ Farm Fresh Adventures

Tauna @ Proverbial Homemaker

Joanie @ Simple Living Mama

Aurie @ Our Good Life

Jennifer @ A Peace of Mind

Jenn @ Treasuring Life's Blessings

Kemi @ Homemaking Organized

Wendy @ Life at Rossmont

Katie @ DailyLife

Joelle @ Homeschooling for His Glory

Kim @ Homestead Acres

Melissa @ Mom's Plans

Annette @ A Net In Time

Cristi @ Through the Calm and Through the Storm

Meg @ Adventures with Jude

Dawn @ Double O Farms

DaLynn @ For the Display of His Splendor

Monique @ Mountain of Grace Homeschooling

Steph @ Indy Homeschool

Kym @ Homeschool Coffee Break

Tawnee @ Adventures in homeschooling

Lisa @ Tales of a Homeschool Family

Jennifer @ Organized Home Organized School

Callie @ Mama's Coffee Shop

Erin @ For Him and My Family

Lori @ At Home: where life happens

Margaret @ Creative Madness Mama

Nicole @ Some Call It Natural

Crystal @ Crystal Starr

Bonnie @ Write Bonnie Rose

Shawna @ Tenacity Divine

Carol @ Home Sweet Life

Kelli @ Adventure Homeschool 

Jacquelin @ A Stable Beginning 

Leah Courtney @ As We Walk Along the Road

Day 2 ~ Facing the Fiery Furnace

Today in the Back to Homeschool Blog Hop we are going to Face the Fiery Furnace! This is also known as sorting through your supplies and resources!

Why the drama?

Because if you're like us, you've shoved it all in the cabinet and everyone knows to not open the door or it will explode all over the floor. Ok, so maybe its not that drastic this year, but I think we can all agree that we NEED to sort through what we have before we make plans to use it. We also need to know what we have available in order to know what we still want to find for the upcoming homeschool year.

First up? Have a good breakfast. It is much easier to be ruthless about cleaning, organizing, and purging what we no longer need if you've been well-fed first! 

Next? Decide which you will sort first: the supplies or the resources. Supplies are things like crayons, notebooks, and glue sticks. Resources are things like math blocks, textbooks, and workbooks, PLUS science resources like the microscope.

Lets start with the (usually) easier one: supplies. Somewhere in your house you probably have a shelf, a cabinet, or maybe even a whole bookcase devoted to keeping your supplies. Take it all out and throw away or recycle anything that isn't worth keeping. Those scraps of construction paper that aren't really big enough to make anything should get tossed into the recycle bin, the broken crayons should either hit the trash can or be bagged up for making muffin tin crayon discs. The pencils should all be put together. Same goes for the markers, paperclips, scissors, pens and notebooks. If a notebook has been half used, but no one wants what is in it, tear or cut out those pages and use what is left for scrap paper for math, or to make your shopping list. Any construction paper or filler paper that has started to yellow should be recycled or used as kindling for your bonfire. Paper that was not made using an acid-free processing will break down after a few years and could irritate little fingers.

Now that you can actually see everything (you're probably used the floor or the dining room table,) take stock of what you should buy now while the supplies are still on sale. Are you almost out of crayons? Has your last glue stick dried up? Make a note of it and make sure you purchase what you really need, not just whatever looks pretty and new at the store! If you're new to homeschooling, consider looking up (online) the list of supplies that your local school requires for your child's grade. The lists can be a solid starting point, however, your children probably won't need to bring their own bottle of Purell or box of Kleenex on the first morning of class -LOL!

Next it is time to organize your resources. This should include several things and may take you a few days. Feel free to divvy it up into reasonable chunks... perhaps one-hour a day. You'll want to organize your books (text books, living books, reference books, and workbooks all fit in here.) If you have a large age gap between children, consider moving some of the unused books to a tote in the attic or basement so its is easier to actually find what you need on the shelf. You will want to keep all of the things you expect you might use with your students this year in an easy to locate spot. Our girls each have a designated place on one bookshelf for their current school books and notebooks, and I have a bookshelf with all the shared books (Atlas, Presidential books, Field Guides,) plus my planning notebooks. We keep the currently unused curriculum on a different bookshelf in another room.

A word here about resources: remember to sort through your e-books, PDF guides and unit studies. It doesn't do you any good to have a unit study By Amanda Bennett or a lap book from A Journey Through Learning on your computer if you can't find it when you want to use it... or worse yet, you forget you have it and it never gets used!

When you get to the math manipulatives and science resources, find a designated spot for each thing and make sure it gets put away every time. It is hard to get started learning about meiosis and mitosis when you can't find the microscope slides!

By now I hope you've sorted through enough to see what and how much you really have. As home educators today we are so blessed with a huge variety of resources that we can easily be overwhelmed by choices. Taking the time to face your fiery furnace and sort through it all should bring you peace, and a greater understanding of how blessed we are! The only resource you really need is your Bible, although a Library card can come in handy!

Come back tomorrow for... NO SPOILERS!

See you then!

Ready to read some more great posts?

The Schoolhouse Review Crew  is joining forces with Homeschool Blogging Connection to bring you a week full of back to school encouragement.

We have 56 homeschool Mom's sharing their combined wisdom and insights covering everything Homeschool related. That's 280 posts of encouragement and information just for you!

Marcy @ Ben and Me

Debra @ Footprints in the Butter

Chareen @ Every Bed of Roses

Amy @ Homeschool Encouragement

Missica @ The Open Window: An Autism Blog

Misty @ Year Round Homeschooling

Jennifer @ A Glimpse of Our Life

Heather @ Only Passionate Curiosity

Clarissa @ Counting Our Blessings

Christy @ Unexpected Homeschool

Monique @ Living Life and Learning

Rebecca @ Raventhreads

Karen @ Tots and Me...Growing Up Together

Rebekah @ There Will Be A $5 Charge For Whining

April @ ElCloud Homeschool

Brenda @ Counting Pinecones

Tara @ This Sweet Life

Tara @ Embark on the Journey

Jennifer @ Chestnut Grove Academy

Annette @ In All You Do

Lisa @ Farm Fresh Adventures

Tauna @ Proverbial Homemaker

Joanie @ Simple Living Mama

Aurie @ Our Good Life

Jennifer @ A Peace of Mind

Jenn @ Treasuring Life's Blessings

Kemi @ Homemaking Organized

Wendy @ Life at Rossmont

Katie @ DailyLife

Joelle @ Homeschooling for His Glory

Kim @ Homestead Acres

Melissa @ Mom's Plans

Annette @ A Net In Time

Cristi @ Through the Calm and Through the Storm

Meg @ Adventures with Jude

Dawn @ Double O Farms

DaLynn @ For the Display of His Splendor

Monique @ Mountain of Grace Homeschooling

Steph @ Indy Homeschool

Kym @ Homeschool Coffee Break

Tawnee @ Adventures in homeschooling

Lisa @ Tales of a Homeschool Family

Jennifer @ Organized Home Organized School

Callie @ Mama's Coffee Shop

Erin @ For Him and My Family

Lori @ At Home: where life happens

Margaret @ Creative Madness Mama

Nicole @ Some Call It Natural

Crystal @ Crystal Starr

Bonnie @ Write Bonnie Rose

Shawna @ Tenacity Divine

Carol @ Home Sweet Life

Kelli @ Adventure Homeschool 

Jacquelin @ A Stable Beginning 

Leah Courtney @ As We Walk Along the Road

Back to Homeschooling? Not Just Yet...Enjoying Summer!

Is it time to start back to homeschooling your children? Many of you may respond with a resounding “YES!” I think I can understand some of your reasons why, we’ve seen the weather reports of 105 degrees daytime temperatures in the SW. I’ve even been the Mama with the children who desperately need some routine.

And yet…

What about Summer?

It really doesn’t matter when your “back to homeschool” date was or will be, you still need to take some time to enjoy Summer with your family! Most of my happy childhood memories are from the summers. I want to help our girls (now 15 and 17) store up even more happy memories of their childhoods. Summer is one of the best times to do that. Long days, warm weather, and no math book.

When your children grow up, other people may consider them fortunate to secure a job that offers them two or three weeks of vacation per year. As a student, they can have two or three MONTHS of vacation every summer! Don’t spoil it by pushing schoolwork too hard in August.

Many of our friends start their homeschooling back up in August. They focus on coursework in the mornings and leave the afternoons free for summer fun - swimming, biking, playing games with friends. A note to all of you Type-A Mamas out there: when you choose the home educating lifestyle, learning doesn’t stop just because you put the textbooks away!

In our state, each student from ages 7 to 17 is required to have 180 days of instruction and/or the opportunity to learn.The attendance calendar runs July 1-June 30th. It’s not that hard to amass 180 days of learning for students of any age. Even though we won’t focus on book learning until after Labor Day, both of our girls will have a few days already logged on those attendance charts by then. These less-formal days of learning include days of 4-H judging at our County and State Fairs, and days of volunteer work at a local living history museum.

Summer is supposed to be a time of rejuvenation for the teacher.

Do you feel refreshed yet?

If you can honestly say “yes,” feel free to jump right back into your homeschooling routine. If not… perhaps YOU need some summer fun! Go wading in the creek, sit by the river or on the beach, take a canoe trip, have a day trip to your local state park. Maybe you just want a good old-fashioned picnic. Why not have one in the garden of your local art museum or arboretum? The possibilities are endless!

Please don’t spend all the rest of your remaining Summer days cooped up inside with schoolbooks. Go outside and study the ants with your son, or draw pictures of the flowers in your yard with your daughter. Make memories that will last your family a lifetime.

One of my favorite late summer memory-making activities is watching the Perseid meteor shower. This year it should be visible from August 11th-14th. It is usually most active and easily seen from midnight to 2 a.m. Plan to take an afternoon nap so you can stay up late. Find a safe place far enough outside the city where you can look up and see black sky between the stars. Take a blanket or your camp chairs, some water and some snacks and settle in for a wonderful show!

Tomorrow we’ll be back talking about - WAIT! 

NO SPOILERS!

I’ll give you a hint: it will be about getting ready to start back to homeschooling. LOL!

For now - go make some Summer memories with your family!

Don't forget to hop on over and read the other posts!

Marcy @ Ben and Me

Debra @ Footprints in the Butter

Chareen @ Every Bed of Roses

Amy @ Homeschool Encouragement

Missica @ The Open Window: An Autism Blog

Misty @ Year Round Homeschooling

Jennifer @ A Glimpse of Our Life

Heather @ Only Passionate Curiosity

Clarissa @ Counting Our Blessings

Christy @ Unexpected Homeschool

Monique @ Living Life and Learning

Rebecca @ Raventhreads

Karen @ Tots and Me...Growing Up Together

Rebekah @ There Will Be A $5 Charge For Whining

April @ ElCloud Homeschool

Brenda @ Counting Pinecones

Tara @ This Sweet Life

Tara @ Embark on the Journey

Jennifer @ Chestnut Grove Academy

Annette @ In All You Do

Lisa @ Farm Fresh Adventures

Tauna @ Proverbial Homemaker

Joanie @ Simple Living Mama

Aurie @ Our Good Life

Jennifer @ A Peace of Mind

Jenn @ Treasuring Life's Blessings

Kemi @ Homemaking Organized

Wendy @ Life at Rossmont

Katie @ DailyLife

Joelle @ Homeschooling for His Glory

Kim @ Homestead Acres

Melissa @ Mom's Plans

Annette @ A Net In Time

Cristi @ Through the Calm and Through the Storm

Meg @ Adventures with Jude

Dawn @ Double O Farms

DaLynn @ For the Display of His Splendor

Monique @ Mountain of Grace Homeschooling

Steph @ Indy Homeschool

Kym @ Homeschool Coffee Break

Tawnee @ Adventures in homeschooling

Lisa @ Tales of a Homeschool Family

Jennifer @ Organized Home Organized School

Callie @ Mama's Coffee Shop

Erin @ For Him and My Family

Lori @ At Home: where life happens

Margaret @ Creative Madness Mama

Nicole @ Some Call It Natural

Crystal @ Crystal Starr

Bonnie @ Write Bonnie Rose

Shawna @ Tenacity Divine

Carol @ Home Sweet Life

Kelli @ Adventure Homeschool 

Jacquelin @ A Stable Beginning 

Leah Courtney @ As We Walk Along the Road

Back to Homeschool Blog Hop -Don't Miss It!

Can you believe it is AUGUST already? Whether you started school last week, or are waiting until September, you’ve probably had back to school thoughts running through your brain. 

Me too! 

I’m joining with several (ok, lots,) of my friends to bring you a special Back to Homeschool Blog Hop next week. There will be so many great posts about almost every back to homeschool topic you can think of. I’ve got my five topics picked out… but NO SPOILERS! You are just going to need to come back on Monday and find out what has been running through my brain.

Starting another year of educating your children at home can be fun, challenging, and overwhelming all in the same five minutes! I’ll admit right now that I don’t have all the answers to all of your questions, but I bet someone will cover those topics you most want to know about during the week! 

If you’re not already subscribed by email, or following along on Facebook, Google +, or Pinterest, go ahead over to the right sidebar and get that squared away right now so you won’t miss a thing next week!

Mark your calendars - 10 to 14 August - it's time for this years Homeschool Blog Hop.  The Schoolhouse Review Crew will be joining forces with Homeschool Blogging Connection to bring you a week full of back to school encouragement.

We have 56 homeschool Mom's sharing their combined wisdom and insights covering everything Homeschool related. That's 280 posts of encouragement and information just for you!

Meet Your Back to Homeschool Blog Hop Hosts

Marcy @ Ben and Me

Debra @ Footprints in the Butter

Chareen @ Every Bed of Roses

Amy @ Homeschool Encouragement

Missica @ The Open Window: An Autism Blog

Misty @ Year Round Homeschooling

Jennifer @ A Glimpse of Our Life

Heather @ Only Passionate Curiosity

Clarissa @ Counting Our Blessings

Christy @ Unexpected Homeschool

Monique @ Living Life and Learning

Rebecca @ Raventhreads

Karen @ Tots and Me...Growing Up Together

Rebekah @ There Will Be A $5 Charge For Whining

April @ ElCloud Homeschool

Brenda @ Counting Pinecones

Tara @ This Sweet Life

Tara @ Embark on the Journey

Jennifer @ Chestnut Grove Academy

Annette @ In All You Do

Lisa @ Farm Fresh Adventures

Tauna @ Proverbial Homemaker

Joanie @ Simple Living Mama

Aurie @ Our Good Life

Jennifer @ A Peace of Mind

Jenn @ Treasuring Life's Blessings

Kemi @ Homemaking Organized

Wendy @ Life at Rossmont

Katie @ DailyLife

Joelle @ Homeschooling for His Glory

Kim @ Homestead Acres

Melissa @ Mom's Plans

Annette @ A Net In Time

Cristi @ Through the Calm and Through the Storm

Meg @ Adventures with Jude

Dawn @ Double O Farms

DaLynn @ For the Display of His Splendor

Monique @ Mountain of Grace Homeschooling

Steph @ Indy Homeschool

Kym @ Homeschool Coffee Break

Tawnee @ Adventures in homeschooling

Lisa @ Tales of a Homeschool Family

Jennifer @ Organized Home Organized School

Callie @ Mama's Coffee Shop

Erin @ For Him and My Family

Lori @ At Home: where life happens

Margaret @ Creative Madness Mama

Nicole @ Some Call It Natural

Crystal @ Crystal Starr

Bonnie @ Write Bonnie Rose

Shawna @ Tenacity Divine

Carol @ Home Sweet Life

Kelli @ Adventure Homeschool 

Jacquelin @ A Stable Beginning 

Leah Courtney @ As We Walk Along the Road

The Conversation by Leigh A. Bortins ~ A Crew Review

Leigh A. Bortins, the founder of Classical Conversations has made it her mission to encourage other home educating parents and their students through a vast array of books, opportunities, and discussions. Recently I was given the privilege of reviewing Leigh’s newest book: The Conversation: Challenging Your Student with a Classical Education. Even though I would not consider myself a Classical Educator, I have gathered much knowledge, and a lot of encouragement, by reading from Leigh’s works and hearing her online conversations over the past few years. Regardless of whether or not you intend to Classically Educate your students, this latest book has a wealth of knowledge for those parents facing the High School years - it is definitely worth the read!

A few years ago I read one of Mrs. Bortin’s other books: The Core, and it helped share her heart for a Classical Christian Education. If you’re unsure if a Classical Education might be what you want your children to pursue, read it! The Core is a fabulous resource for any age. The Conversation, however, focuses on the joys and ever-widening experiences of educating your High School aged students. Having educated our girls at home (or on a field trip) from day one, I am always looking for encouragement to finish the journey well.

The Conversation varies from other books about Classical Education in two main ways. First, Leigh is careful to remind us that a Classical Education without Christ is in essence “gaining the whole world and losing our souls.” The second way that this book is unique is in how the topic of conversation, and what it can truly mean with High Schoolers, is covered. This 250+ page book is one part encouragement and looking at the broad picture of what High School can be like, two parts day to day instructions, and one part resources for High School and beyond.

In our home we do include elements of a Classical Education, and as you read this book you will want to include at least some of these elements in your home as well. Having High School aged students is a whole new world from having littles. It is even a far cry from having a junior higher. High School is a shift not only in age, but in maturity. These students are not just mentally capable of doing Algebra, they understand that each and every thing they study has some intrinsic value, even if they cannot yet specify that value today.

Leigh begins The Conversation with some cheerleading, and some basic definitions. She wants her readers to comprehend that the Rhetoric stage of learning “is all about conversations and expressing truth.” (pg 35)  She defines Rhetoric as “the use of knowledge and understanding to perceive wisdom, pursue virtue, and proclaim truth.” (pg 38)  I appreciated her words about the actual conversations that are now possible with your students. I find myself having deeper conversations with our girls (15 & 17) than ever before. While they are learning new things in some subjects, there are other subjects where they have a deeper understanding than ever before and wish to share it with others. This is how I truly know they have reached the rhetoric stage.

In the middle part of her book, Leigh shows us Aristotle’s five canons of rhetoric and how we can be helping our students to use those in each subject. This part is the longest, and meatiest, part of the book. I found myself underlining portions I wanted to be able to discuss with my friend who is a Classical Educator.

Lest you think you must be a genius to offer your children a Classical Education, I want to assure you that anyone can learn alongside their students. Leigh plainly states this in the section titled: Confident Parents. Part of this comes from not rushing through your child’s education. I have seen parents who want to “cover it all.” That is not realistic, and definitely not fun for your children. A child who loves learning grows up into a young adult who still loves to learn. As they marry and have their own families, the love of learning continues on. These two principles: having Christ, and loving to learn should be our goals for educating our children. Everything else should be secondary!

At the end of each chapter about the day to day teaching of the rhetoric stage - which is really just facilitating your student’s learning, not teaching them - Leigh includes a page with the specifics for the five canons of rhetoric for each stage. These charts can help you and your students no matter what teaching style you have chosen.

I have really enjoyed reading The Conversation. It is meaty reading, so plan for a section at at time, with some mulling over time in between. There are two statements Leigh makes that resonate with me. They are both in the section about math, although they could have been in any chapter and still have been as powerful. The second one is this: “The main thing I’ve noticed about all my friends who homeschool through adulthood is that they like talking with their children.” The first statement should resonate with all parents, whether they educate at home or not. She is talking about her students from her group, probably one of the Classical Conversations Challenge level groups, although it could be any children of any age. “They are made in the image of the living God, and nothing they do is common.” Did you catch that? Nothing a child does is common! These precious treasures that we are granted for a few years should always amaze us and make us think of our Heavenly Father. This reminds me of 3 John 1:4 I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth. (ESV)

I encourage you to read Leigh Bortin’s newest book, The Conversation for yourself. The standard price will be $16, but at the time of this review, it is on sale for $12. If your children are younger, or you’re new to the idea of a Classical Christian Education, you should also pick up Leigh’s other books: The Core, and The Question.

God is looking down on us as His creation, His children. I wonder if today when He thought about me He said “nothing she does is common.” What a comforting and encouraging thought!

The Gift of Friendship

In John 15:12-14 Jesus says: 12 “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command you. (ESV)

Are we laying down our lives for our friends? Are we doing what Christ commanded? Are we loving our friends as Christ loves us? These can be hard questions to answer. Perhaps we need to extend ourselves some grace for past failures, and commit again to following in Christ’s steps for today.

I have some AMAZING friends! They do the things Jesus said in this passage from the Gospel of John.  They love unashamedly, they give of their time, their resources, and their very lives, and with God’s help they follow His commandments. 

My friends are teaching me about what Christ meant when He said to lay down our lives. They show through their words and actions how great is the love the Father has lavished upon them. They want to share that love with others - even with me. After several years of having very few close friends, God has lavished me with friendship these past few years. These friends hold me up in prayer during tough times, and they rejoice with me when I rejoice. I want to be more like my friends, because they reflect Jesus. I want to be that same kind of friend in return. I know I often fail at this, yet they forgive me my faults, and we continue on as friends. As I told my daughters yesterday: Being true friends doesn't mean you won't disagree or have a fight, it means you'll forgive one another when that happens, and still be friends.

True friendship is such a great gift, take the time to tell your friends how much they mean to you, you will both be glad you did!