A bit on homeschooling...

This is Taylor's homeschooling station. She loves outside and will play nicely in her teepee, with some toys, out on the deck while we are "doing" school.

Here are the kids "doing" school at the kitchen table (the deck is in the background). This accounts for a very small portion of our day and often isn't how we school at all.

Kim C., over at Life in a Shoe, posted yesterday (along with three other moms) about homeschooling. Hearing how others approach schooling is informative and in my case (hearing Kim and the others) a relief. You see my children do not spend copious amounts of time in front of workbooks and text books and we don't currently use any set curricullum. We, like the Coughlans, use a "real life" approach to schooling.

When we first started schooling, I used Alpha/Omega's Horizons. I used the Kindergarten for my first three children but not my fourth. I used the first and second grades for my first two daughters but not for my son. For my oldest's third grade we tried Alpha/Omega's Switched on School House computer schooling. I know this is what the Duggar family uses and it works well for them but it did not work well for us. Thus ended our "official" curricullum usage and we moved to picking and choosing pieces of what works best for us. We also have moved away from from a formal school format to "real life". School is 24/7 all year round. Just because we aren't in front of a text book or sitting around "doing" school doesn't mean my children aren't learning.

I suppose I should state our purpose and goals for homeschooling. We want children that are 100% sold out for God. Children that think totally different from the world. We want our children to seek the Kingdom first and foremost: To be Godly men and women. We are not raising children to be rocket scientists or to contribute to the country's GNP. Our children are not being trained to be cogs in world's wheels but to be instruments of God. We are training our children that a simple family life is a noble goal. I guess it comes down to training over schooling. We are home training.

We are not expecting or even wanting our children to go to college. Going to college is something the world tells us we must do. If the Lord leads any of our children in that direction then we will follow but at this time regular college is not a concern. I do expect our children will choose further training in areas that interest them: Trade schools, internships, online classes or further practical home study etc. Our current direction for our girls (open to change from the Lord) is that they will first and formost be keepers of the home, help meets to their husbands, and mother's of Godly children.. Secondly that they will have the skills of a Proverbs 31 woman with an entreprenuerial mind and strong work ethic.

For our son we want him to be able to support his future family but not be a slave to the work world or corporate environment. We want him to think like an entreprenuer. We desire him to lead his family in a Godly manner with a strong work ethic. Wow, there is so much more. It really is impossible to get it all down. I'm not sure I'm doing it justice.

Currently we use a comprehensive curricullum work book (by school specialty publishing group) or Scholastic's success with grades series for language arts and math. (We pick these up at Costco around August. They are inexpensive and give us a general overview of basic skills) These provide our children with the basic knowledge they need but doesn't bog them down with useless busywork. I also use the "what your grader needs to know" series of books to help guide me through history/geography and science. These are guides not text books. We do use t.v. as a schooling tool. Something like the "Little Chocolatiers" inspired my children to learn to make candy and contemplate running a candy biz. We studied health codes, biz plans, took field trips to see how local candy shops are operated and made a lot of candy using cooking, math and science skills. Mostly we are teaching our children life skills and training them in the skills needed for adulthood not just school knowledge. I'm going to stop here for this post and follow up tomorrow with our "schedule" so you can see how school is a lifestyle.

I had so many thoughts in my head as I wrote this that I don't even know if it makes sense to any of you. Please leave me a comment and let me know your thoughts or concerns. It may be that I didn't touch on something or wasn't clear enough etc. and do follow the links in this post. Others have written more clearly on this matter.

Resources For Homesteading and Country Life

We've made some programming changes with our cable subscription to save some $$. We have dropped the movie channels (Showtime, HBO etc.) because we just don't watch them all that much. Instead we added a different tier with the DIY network on it. Imagine my surprise to find out there is a cable channel for rural living- and we have it now! I love it. My favorite show thus far is Living The Country Life. If you go to the show's website you can subscribe to a free year of their magazine. Check it out at http://www.livingthecountrylife.com/ .

Another source in the past I have turned to and loved is Mother Earth News. I have ignored the title in favor of the good info the magazine provides. I have picked up issues here and there for the past few years and have never subcribed. Well, I won't be subscribing or picking up any more issues. In the News From Mother Column of the December '08/January '09 issue (Front of the magazine, Pg. 6) the article titled Three Mountains We Must Climb gave me a shock. They support population control and suggest that each adult only be allowed one child. (That would be two per couple- one for the man and one for the woman.) Oh, my goodness! Now if a couple chooses to have 0, 1 or 2 children that is their choice and that's fine as well as the choice to have more. But please don't tell me that the government needs to make that choice for me. I like the freedom the U.S. constitution gives me and I plan to fight tooth and nail to keep it. Mother needs to talk to the people of China- the people not the government- and find out how they like population control laws. I will not be a supporter of this publication until they change their stance on this issue.

Are we losing liberty?

"When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one People to dissove the politcal bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which compel them to the separation. "

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness- that to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, that when any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness."

I don't usually get too vocal about issues. I generally keep my life and blog pretty light and fluffy but this, folks, is the beginning of the Declaration of Independence. These are the ideas our great nation is founded on. It is these ideas that are currently being trampled. There are judges in California who have ruled that it is not legal to homeschool in that state because 99% of homeschooling families/teachers are not accredited to California standards. Its public school or become a criminal for most homeschool families. Imagine, "What is that guy/gal in for?" "Oh, you don't want to step in his/her path. He/she is a hardened homeschooler."

What starts in California seeps into the rest of the states. It sets precident. If California has its way, all children will be wards of the state school system. All children will be indoctinated into whatever thought system the state deems best and its not Godly values, folks. Its evolution, homosexuality, feminist and humanist thought.

President Clinton signed the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, which essentially gives the UN rights over our parental rights. (Congress has yet to approve this.) How long until we are no longer allowed to teach our children about God at all?

We are losing our liberties one little piece at a time! At what point do the remnant of God fearing people in the USA say enough! Is the time coming when we will need to cite the Declaration of Independence to our own country?

Think about it. Go to http://hslda.org/ to sign a petition about the Californian homeschool situation. From time to time the tree of liberty must be refreshed by the blood of patriots and tyrants. No... don't go killing anybody, just don't volunteer to lay down in your own grave. We must be prepared to stand firm on the statutes of God. A family should have a right to choose how their own child is educated and what they learn.

Stepping off soap box now (and hoping this post doesn't get me a file in the CIA or FBI).