Thankful Thursday

Since the beginning of our homeschooling journey, I have been thankful for the opportunity. This year I am especially grateful given that is our last to homeschool. Today's post is a post in pictures of just a few of the experiences and opportunities our kids have had and we have enjoyed as a family over the last few years. Many of the opportunities that have presented themselves have not necessarily been because we were homeschooling. However, many of the activities were ones that we participated in because we could create a schedule to fit our priorities. Time together has always been high on the list. We joined in activities that would have taken away too much family time had we not been homeschooling. Family time and individual pursuits have been given a chance over the years. Below are just some of my photographs of how we have spent time enjoying days together.

More Thankful Thursday posts of gratitude can be found at the Back to School Blog Hop hosted by Homeschool Review Crew. Have a look and be inspired!

Read more from thankful homeschool bloggers.

Working In Work - for Working It In Wednesday

Two parent families, living on one income, are not the norm in our local community. A family of five, like ours, living on one income in the Chicago-land area can severely limit a family's financial resources. My husband and I made the choice for me to be an at home mom long before we even considered homeschooling. Once we headed down that road, a second parent income became less likely. I have heard comments from other moms about what a luxury it is to be with one's children on a daily basis. Others say they couldn't do it. Sometimes, I reply that it is a sacrifice we have made more that a luxury.

As parents, I think we all have the inclination to provide as much as possible for our children, both the needs and the wants. The clothes, toys or technology they want, the very best education and opportunities are a constant consideration and temptation. Our own desires, plus the pressure of seeing what is available to others can be a serious distraction from our own determined goals and priorities. The choice to live on only my husband's income has limited our our ability to give into every request. I have come to view that limitation as a blessing. By the fact of our financial limitations, we have had to teach our children more about setting goals, the value of resources, work and earning some of their own money.

Being home schooled has provided my children with the opportunity to do their academic subjects, pursue extra curriculum interests plus take on small jobs in our community to earn their own money. Being available during daytime hours has made small local jobs more accessible and doable. For example, a small weekly newspaper is provided free to residents. At one time it was delivered door to door by local teens. That newspaper delivery job was our oldest son's first job. It was the vehicle that taught him how a job well done can lead to more lucrative opportunities. He was asked by his newspaper costumers to do small jobs of yard work, snow shoveling and dog walking in the neighborhood.

Unfortunately, the delivery service was ended by the newspaper just about the time our oldest son was ready to hand the job down, to his younger brother. Fortunately, that was after our younger son had at least been able to assist with that weekly endeavor. The small jobs of babysitting, dog walking, pet care and yard work that came from connections made in the neighborhood, while delivering newspapers, were still options for each of them to do.

The skills they have acquired pursuing extracurricular activities have also provided them with opportunities to work. Our second son assists with training and coaching of younger baseball players on a travel team. Our daughter coaches at a gym teaching basic gymnastic skills to little ones.

If we had been a two income family, it may have been easier to simply hand our children the extras they wanted, but they have learned so much because we weren't able to or didn't. That wonderful new baseball bat, pair of shoes or outfit isn't nearly as desirable if it has to be purchased with one's own hard earned money. The ability to work in opportunities for actual paid work, for each of our home schooled children has been one of the benefits of choosing a one income, homeschooling family lifestyle. My Work It In Wednesday Homeschool Encouragement is the recognition that more opportunities for our young people to contribute increases their financial resources and their understanding of work.

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Motivation Monday

Today the local schools are beginning classes. As a home school mom, I have always enjoyed this time of year. Other homeschooling moms know what I mean; everyone else heads inside to the classroom, the parks are vacated, a visit to the zoo doesn't require navigating through crowds or standing in long lines, having a annual membership to a zoo, museum or arboretum finally feels like an exceptional value in the fall. The world seems a bit quieter, it's easier for us to focus on our own goals. For us, especially when our children were young, fall has meant less structured activity outside of our family.

My motivation on Mondays has consistently been to re-focus on my time with my children. Autumn Mondays have offered me an evident occasion of gratitude for the opportunity to do that.

It has been homeschooling that has shown me that, it is o.k. to start the week slowly, to enjoy waking up, have breakfast together, maybe to start with a story, review a plan or just begin to make one. Being together is enough motivation for my Monday, however ambitious or no so ambitious, my plan is. Having my favorite people near by, while doing the ordinary tasks and routines has been my delight and my motivation. It is taking the little steps day in and day out that leads to something bigger being accomplished. It is spending that time together that develops trust and strong bonds.

"Sometimes the most ordinary things can be extraordinary  simply by doing them with the right people." - Elizabeth Greene

When my children were young we rarely hit the ground running on Monday mornings. The chance to take it slow on Mondays changes over the years, as children become young adults, begin college or a follow a higher level of training in a chosen pursuit.

This school year begins the last of our not-back-to school years. That is a huge mile stone for us. A change that brings mixed feelings for me. The days of taking it slowly on Mondays are gone for now. My three children are all pursuing goals that require work, study or training on Mondays, every Monday. Those slow relaxed days didn't stop them from becoming disciplined people. It did give them a foundation of love, connection and support to launch into the pursuit of  their dreams. With one son off this very Monday morning to take an important professional exam, the next off to begin another year of college classes, life is different now.

It has been on Monday mornings that I have been most able to appreciate the opportunity that we have had to home school. Despite the difference in routine from those elementary years, I intend to keep Mondays filled with motivation to connect with those I love, to show them how much they are valued and to be thankful for the opportunities we have had together and for the blessings to come.

I hope your Monday is wonderful, as well!

For more motivation on your Monday, see more posts from the Review Crew links below:

A Book Review of a New Title by Julie Polanco, God Schooling: How God Intended Children to Learn

For Homeschool Review Crew, I received and was delighted to read a copy of the book God Schooling How God Intended Children to Learn by Julie Polanco. While reading the first pages and through every chapter, I have been creating a gift list of those I'd like to share this title with.

First, a bit of an upfront disclosure.. As a home school mom in Chicago-land, Julie and I have crossed paths on occasion over the years. We met early on in our parenting journeys at a friend's house for a play date with our little ones, later at a home school mom's book group that met at Julie's home and once again at a Special Olympics gymnastics meet. It has now been several years since and though over those years we didn't spend enough time in each other's company to develop a closer friendship, we did both develop a similar homeschooling approach. Our children's interests have led us down different paths, with fewer opportunities to meet, but with a shared understanding of learning.

It has also been a while since I've read a book from cover to cover about education and learning generally, or even homeschooling specifically. In the early days of our family's homeschooling journey, I devoured books about homeschooling from cover to cover late into many nights. John Holt, John Taylor Gatto and David and Micki Colfax, were a few of those who truly spoke to me and reassured me about my own observations and our approach to guiding learning in our home, with our children.

Julie's book falls in line with these authors, who's observations resonated with me then and still today. This is the homeschooling genre that I have read and collected from early on, these are the writings and the views that sustained me, they will always remain in my collection. I think Julie will be pleased to read that her book will join those authors on my shelf.

Learning all the time, natural learning, free range learning, child led, are all descriptive phrases that have been used in an attempt to explain an approach that takes the child into full consideration as their adult teachers and mentors guide them through a topic of interest. It is from a child's own innate curiosity that leads a child into a greater understanding and to continue through the study of any subject matter.

Julie takes a reader through her understanding of this approach, how she has developed a deeper appreciation of a plan bigger than her own for her children. In her well organized writing she reveals her Christian faith as the basis for her approach to homeschooling.

http://www.juliepolancobooks.com/

Julie discusses topics that I have often considered while on this journey, not just of homeschooling but of parenting. My desire to increase the chances of my children maintaining their love of learning and internal drive to continue to acquire new skills and learn throughout life led me to books like Punished by Rewards by Alfie Kohn. Julie references Kohn's book as well. She sums it up with this statement "The extent to which the environment is controlling through rewards/punishment, threats, survveillance, evaluation, deadlines, being ordered around or by competition is the extent to which a person will lose their intrinsic motivation." Julie Polanco
I think she would appreciate the story of my oldest learning to ride a bike with onlooking neighbors. To their dismay, I did not cheer in excited positive exclamations as my first born rode a bike down our suburban sidewalk for the first time. Without fanfare, I was pleased, I did smile and he did continue to ride a two wheeler!

Julie gives similar examples from her own family. She describes the evolution of her own journey and provides us with a clear and deep understanding of learning and the benefits of following God's lead, as seen in the blossoming of those in our care. This book is a welcome bridge between the many homeschooling communities that I have been aware of in Chicago-land, from the undisciplined unschoolers to the strictly book work, no nonsense scholars, Julie's book could help us see our similarities, in our hopes and in God's plan for our children. Easy to access and easy to share, I am glad Julie followed the calling to put it all into a published book. I will be sharing this title with the gift list I began while reading the very first chapter. I hope you will, too. It is also available in e-book format for half price through August 22nd.

God Schooling How God Intended Children to Learn by Julie Polanco

To read more reviews of Julie's book, click the banner below.

A Review of Home School in the Woods - Resources for History Study

Home School in the Woods is an educational publishing company that creates visual materials for the hands-on learning of history. They provide many products created with a unit study approach in mind. The products are excellent supplemental materials to add to any history curriculum. Their hands-on products are especially useful and adaptable when considering a range of learning styles. Adaptable to multiple ages, Home School in the Woods, has hands-on resources for both American and World History. They have multiple product lines that include; Hands-on History Lap Paks, Project Passport World History Studies, Time Travelers American History, Hand -on History Activity-Paks, Hands-on Activity Studies and the A La Carte Timelines.

This summer, we were given the opportunity to use and review the A La Carte, Science, Invention, and Mathematicians Timeline,  this is single product that includes illustrations of important events, inventors and scientists for use in a timeline creation of important scientific discoveries and innovations from the 2nd millennium B.C. through 2015.

 Science, Invention, and Mathematics is a collection of well done illustrations that focus on scientific events and personalities in history from the Through the Ages Timeline materials created by Home School in the Woods. 

We have incorporated Home School in the Woods Ala Carte projects into our homeschooling activities in the past. I have found that using a timeline can give us all an overview of events in history that puts our place in time into perspective. We included the Science, Invention, and Mathematicians Timeline that was provided for us to review into a brief history review for my daughter. Currently, in a light academic summer mode, we scanned, viewed and discussed the illustrations and began placing them in a timeline.

We used illustrations of events and inventors that we have previously studied, been made aware of or have some other understanding or even a simple connection to, for example; having previously read Listening to Crickets, a biography of Rachel Carson, my daughter knew about the work of Rachel Carson and was eager to place the related image into the time line, as a result, she has a better understanding of Rachel Carson's contributions to science based on when they happened. The image of Ada Lovelace was of interest because her name is in common (almost) with my teen daughter, Adah. It was through the timeline illustrations that we first became aware of Ada Lovelace. She is an interesting historical example of developing God given talents despite the cultural expectations surrounding an individual during the times in which they lived.



Using the multidisciplinary approach of unit studies, Time Travelers: New World Explorers and Project Passport World History Studies are series' of unit study resources. These sets are a way to dig deeper into history without having to track down as many reference materials yourself. The Project Passport set has the recently added pack of Ancient Rome and makes the ancient history series more complete. It is also now included in a bundle of this series.


I always appreciate resources that accompany curriculum materials that are directed at the parent/home educator. Articles with background references, tips for making the best use of a product and any words of encouragement are valuable to me as a homeschooling parent. The additional articles for parents are written from the perspective of an experienced homeschool parent and are both practical and encouraging. Suggestions for incorporating games and skill development, like penmanship, while using the timeline materials, are good reminders that as homeschooling families, we are constantly covering more learning than we are sometimes even aware that we are or can cover with a simple change of activity or viewpoint.

It is clear that Amy Pak, president, creator and illustrator for Home School in the Woods and the writer of parent help articles, has been there as a home educator of her children. Her guide "Teaching With Timelines" is helpful and informative for using Home School in the Wood's products. It is available on the Resources,etc page of Home School in the Woods website.

Spend some time exploring the resources available from Home School in the Woods, you will find some valuable components to add to your children's study of history. If you'd like to read other reviews of their products click the image below.