New Homeschooling Zine

April 7, 2009 – 9:28 pm

I just discovered a new Zine that may appeal to other interest-led home schoolers–it certainly appeals to me–I mean who could pass up their tag line:

“There are many practical and scholarly homeschooling resources…

Around Zine is not one of them.”

I haven’t managed to get a hold of a copy yet but will as soon as possible (and will give a review when I do).  In the meantime you can check it out here and order a copy here.

Former teacher turned Christian unschooling mom, artist, geek wife of a work -at-home geek with 3 geeklings. Our lives are full of gaming, reading, writing, baking, and making lots of messes. I blog about our daily life at An Untraditional Home and share my creative endeavors at Elasah.com.
By Heather | Posted in Books, Favorite Resources, Websites | Tagged , , , | Comments (0)

Getting to Know MandyMom

April 1, 2009 – 12:08 am

Mandy is a homeschooling mom in Texas. Her profile reads, “I’m a Texan gal with just the right mix of country and city. God has truly blessed me more than I ever thought possible.” We thought it would be fun to get to know more about her.

Tell us about your kids. How old are they and how long have you been homeschooling?
God has blessed us with three children so far.  Merikalyn will be six in May, Nolyn is four, and Keagan is about nineteen months old.  Before I even married, I knew I wanted to homeschool my children.  I was homeschooled my last year of highschool, and was able to graduate a year early.  My mom always wanted to homeschool us, but she left the choice up to us.  My brother and I thought homeschooling would be too restrictive.  We didn’t really understand what homeschooling was, and what we envisioned was being cooped up in the house all day and being deprived of our friends. When I made the switch, I was amazed by how awesome it was.  I wish I would have agreed to it sooner.

My husband and I decided we would homeschool our children from the start.  We believe that home education starts from birth, so I guess you could say we’ve been doing it for six years!

Why did you decide to homeschool?
There are many reasons why I decided to homeschool.  My own public school experienced are closely tied in to these reasons.  When I think about sending my children off to school, I think about losing my children. In a time when they should be bonding with their families, they will, instead, be bonding with teachers and peers.  Institutional schools are dealing with so many issues that I don’t want my little ones exposed to.  My parents had no idea of the issues and struggles I dealt with in school because I didn’t know how to talk to them about it.  Sexual harassment and assault, bullying, and drugs are issues that I want to shelter my children from.  One day, they may have to deal with it, but certainly not while they are young and unprepared.

Most of all, we believe in discipling our children, training them up in the way of the LORD, as the bible directs. God has given us, as parents, a command to raise them up, to teach them diligently, and to help them apply the Word of God to their lives.  I just don’t see how that is possible if we don’t spend much time with them.

School aged children are sponges.  They are easily influenced and soak up so much.  Some people act like sheltering and protecting children is wrong, but I feel it’s the best thing we can do for them.  You wouldn’t send a soldier out into war without preparing him for the battle.  Likewise, I’m not going to send my children out into the world without discipling them and arming them with the God’s Word.

Describe a typical day at your house.
We’re pretty easy going.  We usually get the day rolling at about nine in the morning.  We don’t have a strict schedule or routine, but the days usually take a similar shape, although rarely in the same order.

We talk about Scripture throughout the day.  We want our children to understand that the Bible can be applied to every day life and every day situations.  We usually discuss a bible story, followed by a relating project (maybe trying to build an “ark” out of popcicle sticks or creating a rainbow).

The kids love to help around the house, especially in the kitchen. I try to get them involved, especially on the “special” activities that come once a week, like making bread, cookies, or other yummies.  It’s a great time to show them how subjects like math, science, and reading fit into everyday tasks.  Plus, it provides moments of great conversation while we’re taste testing!

We usually read a book or two (or three), and then the kids draw a scene from the book.  This is a really neat thing to do when we read books without pictures, because I get to see what they imagine in those noggins!

My children love playing with our math manipulatives, and enjoy flipping through their workbooks, and you’ll probably find these things littering the floor at some point in the day.  Watch where you step!

Of course, they love to play pretend, and so do I, so sometimes we do projects, read books, or take naps in little hideouts made of blankets and chairs.  When the weather is nice, we get outdoors to do fun activities or just run off some of that energy.

We wind down while playing with puzzles or watching shows like Word World or movies.  (The kids really liked The Bee Movie, and it was a great lead in that the amazing life of a bee, and how important they are!)

Like I said, we’re not very structured; we just play it by ear.  Some days are lazy, some days are full of exhausting activities!

If you could boil your homeschool philosophy down to a couple of points, what would they be?
My main goal in homeschooling is to glorify God and prepare my children to be useful in His Kingdom. Home education is more than math and reading, it’s about discipleship, preparing hearts, and pointing children to God.

Have you ever had to defend your homeschooling style? What did you say?
Unschooling is widely misunderstood, so there are people who seem to attack the approach. There are some pretty opinionated radical unschoolers out there who make it sound like it’s all about letting children do what they want, whenever they want, but that’s not the case.  I’m not against structure.  I think it’s important to have biblical structure and authority in the home, but I don’t feel we should imitate institutional schools in our style.

What’s the most challenging part of homeschooling?
Hmm, that’s a toughy. I think it can be a struggle to keep the right focus.  Sometimes I start comparing my children to other children, and I have to align my focus again.

What do you like most about homeschooling?
In the process of teaching my children, I’ve learned so much as well, and not just in the “book-smarts” arena.  God has used my children to teach me many lessons.  Isn’t it interesting that, when teaching our children, we often find we are teaching ourselves?

Do you have a favorite verse or passage of the Bible that guides your homeschool?
The sixth chapter Deuteronomy is my “go to” chapter for focusing our homeschool, but more specifically the following verses:
4Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:

5And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.

6And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart:

7And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.

8And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes.

9And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates.

It’s a reminder that our family’s goal, and how it can take in all of our senses and every area of our lives.

Is there anything else you’d like to say?
While homeschooling our children is a very serious and important task, there’s still room for fun and goofiness!

Thanks, Mandy! And be sure to visit her at her blog, MandyMom.

Jena is a homeschooling mom of three teenagers (one off to college and one checking out public school this year). She has been relaxed/unschooling for most of her home school career. She writes at www.yarnsoftheheart.com, runs http://www.dailylearners.com, and writes at http://lifewithoutschool.typepad.com/.
By Jena | Posted in Uncategorized | Comments (0)

On Raising Kids

March 21, 2009 – 3:07 am

I wanted to pop in and share a great article I ran into today on raising kids to really be successful and not just follow others: Raising Kids with a Wild Streak.

Definitely a great read.

Former teacher turned Christian unschooling mom, artist, geek wife of a work -at-home geek with 3 geeklings. Our lives are full of gaming, reading, writing, baking, and making lots of messes. I blog about our daily life at An Untraditional Home and share my creative endeavors at Elasah.com.
By Heather | Posted in Application, Encouragement, How They Learn | Comments (1)

An Interview with A Homegrown Life

March 17, 2009 – 10:05 pm

I’d like you to meet the mom at A Homegrown Life. She’s an unschooler with three boys. I love her blog name: Crunchy Christian Mom.

Tell us the ages of your kids and how long you’ve been homeschooling.

My boys are 2.5, 6.5 and almost 8 — which is killing me. I can’t believe my firstborn is almost 8 years old!! This means I’ve been a mom twice as long as I was a paid professional. Kinda crazy.  And we’ve been unschooling from the beginning. We started reading John Holt after hearing about unschooling when our oldest was a toddler, and it just made sense.

Describe your homeschool.

For us, homeschooling is just our life. Our routine changes with the seasons and with our interests. We’re a very social family, so we have a lot of homeschooling friends we do things with — field trips, parties, themed co-ops.  Whatever sounds fun. My oldest is a blue belt in kung fu and practices two days per week. He and my second son take swim lessons right now, and when that’s finished they’ll take rockclimbing. They are very active boys!  We can get pretty busy, so I’m constantly trying to find a balance between outside activities and time to just be at home.  We have a garden we’re trying to expand this year, and the boys are starting to read, so I want to make sure we have time for those things right now. And time to clean the bathroom!

Tell us why you homeschool this way (philosophy stuff).

Well, my husband is a teacher, so he sees firsthand the limitations of coerced “learning.” So many of the kids he works with don’t know how to think and don’t value learning for its own sake. We were both early readers, and did fine in school, but felt like a lot of our childhood was wasted sitting in a classroom. Unschooling makes sense to us because it values the child’s own ability to think and learn, and gives them the time and freedom to do it at their own pace, and in their own way. It’s been a learning process for us, certainly, and there’s been some doubt along the way, but ultimately we trust that God has led us to teach our children through example, relationship, and real life. And it seems to be working!

Have you ever had to defend your homeschooling style? What did you say?

I think I was more defensive of our parenting style at the beginning than anything else. We’re very close to my parents, and getting through the toddler years without punishment was a stretch for them. But we did get through it, and they see the positive results now. We have AWESOME kids.  :)   Fortunately, my family has always been supportive of our homeschooling, even if they’ve had questions along the way.  As far as anyone else goes, I only explain as much as I think they’re really interested in understanding.  I don’t feel like I owe anyone an explanation of why we do what we do.  But I do enjoy evangelizing to parents of pre-schoolers!  LOL.

What’s the most challenging part of homeschooling?

The hardest part for me is just keeping my priorities straight.  This lifestyle allows so much freedom that it’s easy to get pulled in a million different directions — or even just a couple big distracting ones. And then I realize we’re getting sick because we haven’t had enough downtime. You know, time to get the housework done and then crash on the couch with a good book. I have to make sure I’m really listening to God about what’s important, focusing on what my kids need most from me, and letting the other stuff wait its turn.

What’s the most fun about homeschooling?

What isn’t fun about homeschooling?!  Seriously, I can’t think of anything. (Except maybe cleaning glitter out of the grooves in my dining table. But even that was a reminder of the fun we’d had.) Definitely all the opportunities we have to hang out together, doing cool stuff with our friends and exploring the world together.  It just doesn’t get better than that. Well, it could if my hubby didn’t have to go to school. We wish he could be with us all day, too. Thankfully, he gets lots of time off in the summer!

Do you have a favorite/guiding verse or passage of the Bible that keeps you going?


God’s always leading me to new ones just when I need them! But this one sticks with me and brings me back to Him when I start to wander: “The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.” Deut. 31:8

Thanks for answering all these questions. I feel like I know you a whole lot better now. Is there anything else you’d like to say?

It’s really such a blessing to be able to connect with other homeschooling moms online. I love seeing what everyone else is doing — not just to get ideas, but to know that our lives are so full of similar experiences and abundant possibilities!

Jena is a homeschooling mom of three teenagers (one off to college and one checking out public school this year). She has been relaxed/unschooling for most of her home school career. She writes at www.yarnsoftheheart.com, runs http://www.dailylearners.com, and writes at http://lifewithoutschool.typepad.com/.
By Jena | Posted in Uncategorized | Comments (2)

Help Your Child Develop a Heart for the World

March 13, 2009 – 9:42 pm

As unschoolers, we like to let our kids follow their interests and develop their giftedness. We let them explore and discover, and we offer suggestions and guidance. And once in awhile I feel like it’s time to have some concentrated, directed, purposeful education going on. That’s what this post is all about.

This is a one-week unit on missions, done in unschooling style. It’s pretty laid back and flexible, but covers a lot of territory.

Day 1 Collection and Reading: Choose a country, go to the library and check out several books about the country and its people. Children’s books are best, but also look for large “coffee table” books in the adult section. Check out or borrow a missionary biography or missions/related fiction that takes place in your country of choice. Don’t forget to look for ethnic music and nonfiction videos. When you get home, enjoy looking through all the books and begin reading the biography to your children (this will probably take longer than a week).

Day 2 Geography Day: Find your country on a map or globe. Talk about bordering countries, climate, natural features (rivers, lakes, mountains, deserts). Ideas: work a puzzle that includes your country, create or find a coloring page that is an outline of your country, make a relief map out of clay. Talk about how long it would take to get to your country. What time is it there? How do time zones work? What kinds of animals and plants would you find there? Older children could have a list of questions to research from the books you got yesterday at the library, then give a little oral report.

Day 3 Cultural Distinctives: Find information about your country’s native clothing, food, language, writing, homes, games, sports, government, celebrations, festivals, religion. All this will probably be in your library books. Ideas: look for a native game to play, try to recreate their clothing, find recipes you’d like to try on Day 5, make a model of a typical home, learn a word or two in their language (Voice of the Martyrs activity books are great for these).

Day 4 The Church: How many Christians live in your country? What is the major religion(s)? When did missionaries first come to this country? What Christian organizations would you find there? What are the greatest needs? Look at the book Operation World or go to their website for easy access to this information. Make prayer cards for the people of your country. Cut out pictures from missions magazines or print them off the Internet. Glue the picture on a 3×5 card and write a prayer request and fact on the back. If you make several, punch a hole in one corner and attach them all with a key chain ring. Use these cards to remind you what to pray. Make a plan to come up with some extra money to send a missions organization that works in your country.

Day 5 Celebration Day: Plan a special meal to show off what you’ve learned. Find recipes to represent your country, dress like them, play ethnic music in the background, make name cards with a fact and prayer request on each one. Display any coloring, drawings, posters, crafts or reports you did this week. Take the library books with the best pictures on the fronts and stand them up around the room and/or on the table. Use mealtime to talk about the most surprising, funny, interesting thing you each learned, and talk about the physical and spiritual needs of the people you studied. And of course, pray for them.

Everyday: In your personal prayer time, ask God to give your child a love for the people they are studying.

This is just the beginning. Who knows what this experience might lead to!

Jena is a homeschooling mom of three teenagers (one off to college and one checking out public school this year). She has been relaxed/unschooling for most of her home school career. She writes at www.yarnsoftheheart.com, runs http://www.dailylearners.com, and writes at http://lifewithoutschool.typepad.com/.
By Jena | Posted in Character development | Tagged | Comments (1)

You’re Invited to a Virtual Field Trip

February 27, 2009 – 11:55 pm

I don’t know about you, but I love seeing pictures and reading about the adventures homeschoolers have. We’re a pretty creative bunch. Just today I read about Stone Age Techie taking her boys to visit Walden Pond. So I’ve decided to host a big Virtual Field trip where all of us can send in our favorite posts about an outing we’ve taken this school year, complete with pictures and video (maybe!). If you have a field trip you’d like to share, send your link to me at yarnsoftheheart@gmail.com by Friday March 6. I’ll have the field trip post with all the links ready to go on March 9. And please spread the word. The more locations the merrier!

If you want to invite your friends to the field trip, I have a school bus graphic you can pick up on my blog.

Hope to see you there!

Jena is a homeschooling mom of three teenagers (one off to college and one checking out public school this year). She has been relaxed/unschooling for most of her home school career. She writes at www.yarnsoftheheart.com, runs http://www.dailylearners.com, and writes at http://lifewithoutschool.typepad.com/.
By Jena | Posted in Uncategorized | Comments (1)

At the Grocery Store

February 14, 2009 – 6:16 pm

Yesterday the boys and I did our weekly grocery shopping together. They usually go with me and we talk about the choices I make. This week was different because I had them make all the choices themselves, consulting with me as needed. I documented the whole trip on the digital camera and thought I’d share some of the photos here.

We love broccoli!

W chose nuts for a snack instead of the usual crackers. I thought that was a great idea.

J really wanted some kiwi, another family favorite.

And in these two photos J shows us the difference between a bad apple and a good one!

We really had a lot of fun doing the grocery shopping this way and will probably share a lot more in the responsibility of shopping from now on. They learned a lot about price comparison and things like that and I learned that they actually enjoy the shopping trip if they are involved in more than just following me around!

Penny is the homeschooling mother of two wonderful boys (ages 8 and 6). She is passionate about living in the freedom and joy found in Christ. She loves her husband and children, homeschooling, reading, learning, and teaching kids about missions. You can read more of her ramblings at seedsanddreams.blogspot.com
By Penny | Posted in Uncategorized | Comments (3)

Facing Resistance from Your Kids

January 26, 2009 – 4:43 pm

A few people have asked me about dealing with resistance from kids. We all face it, and it’s not fun. Dealing with a bad attitude or a straight out “NO!” is really a relationship issue. What do you expect from your kids and how much do you respect their opinions? How much do they respect your guidance? What are your non-negotiables and are they necessary, reasonable, and understood? I wrote a post called “Setting Boundaries for Kids” that talks more about this.

Being a child’s parent AND teacher puts a lot of pressure on us. We panic when we think our kids have to be doing as much as those kids in traditional schools, so we start to get demanding and that relationship thing falls apart, and for what? Here’s one of my favorite quotes from Albert Einstein:

It is, in fact, nothing short of a miracle that the modern methods of instruction have not yet entirely strangled the holy curiosity of inquiry; for this delicate little plant, aside from stimulation, stands mainly in need of freedom, without this it goes to wreck and ruin without fail. It is a very grave mistake to think that the enjoyment of seeing and searching can be promoted by means of coercion and a sense of duty. To the contrary, I believe that it would be possible to rob even a healthy beast of prey of its voraciousness if it were possible with the aid of a whip, to force the beast to devour continuously even when not hungry, especially if the food, handed out under such coercion, were to be selected accordingly.

But that doesn’t mean we parents just let our kids go and do whatever. In the quote above, Einstein admits that curiosity needs “stimulation,” and he lists “seeing and searching” as a description of learning. Give your kids lots of opportunity and time to do just that. Keep the goal in mind and guide without them even realizing it.

If you value the model Jesus gives in the New Testament, it’s interesting to note that he was always down on the Pharisees–leaders who continually laid heavy burdens on the people. After all, there are only ten commandments, and even God is not coercive. We may suffer the consequences of poor choices, but he never forces us to obey. One of my favorite verses is “All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and obstinate people,” (Romans 10:21). As we disobey, God is continually holding out his arms to us like the father of the Prodigal Son. One of my guiding principles has been to parent my children like God parents me.

But some of the most popular parenting advisers (especially in the Evangelical Christian world) tell us to insure immediate and cheerful obedience all the time or we are shirking our responsibility as parents. Now that’s a heavy burden. I say choose your few rules and make sure they are really necessary (see “Setting Boundaries for Kids“).

But what about school things like reading, writing and math? A lot of us fear that if we don’t force our kids to do school work, they’ll never make it in life. Here’s my advice: Between the ages of zero and twelve, teach your child to read when he is ready and wants to do it, then do “school” stuff when he shows interest. That gives you a lot of time to relax and watch your child. What is he interested in? What is his learning style? What motivates him? What de-motivates him?

Sure, you can dangle the carrot, like make brownies and talk about fractions as you cut him a piece. Or you can choose games that naturally introduce math because you have to keep score and count money. Or you can check out colorful and interesting books from the library. You can even start a contest with other home schoolers to see how many books each child can read in a month (we did Pizza Hut’s Book It). As far as writing goes, you can make greeting cards as a craft project together, or you can buy her a beautiful journal and matching pen. The computer is great for encouraging writing–open a MySpace, create a blog, or simply leave comments on blogs. I have more about these practical things in the post “My Education Philosophy.”

My point is, notice your child’s interests and build on those. Practically everything in life requires reading, writing, and math, so you just have to encourage those activities in the context of her interests. When you face resistance to “school” things, back off. Ask yourself why she doesn’t like to do that and you might learn a lot about how she learns and what motivates her.

Then, when your child hits 12 or so, take stock of his skills and abilities as they relate to the future. If public or private high school is the plan, what do those schools require? But in the meantime, you and your child can relax and together experience the joy of childhood and the joy of learning.

Jena is a homeschooling mom of three teenagers (one off to college and one checking out public school this year). She has been relaxed/unschooling for most of her home school career. She writes at www.yarnsoftheheart.com, runs http://www.dailylearners.com, and writes at http://lifewithoutschool.typepad.com/.
By Jena | Posted in Character development, How They Learn, Learning Styles, Personality, Struggles, Unschooled Kids | Comments (4)

Our Latest Obsession

January 12, 2009 – 7:32 pm

Last winter my kids listened to The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe on Focus on the Family’s Radio Theater. This year, they are listening to Prince Caspian. After they’re finished listening, we’ll rent the recent movie theater version and pop some corn!

I bought the 18 CD Narnia series for a mere $14.99 at Library and Educational Services. It comes in a beautifully illustrated large album-cover-type case, which is just magic for my kids. (Don’t you remember the Alvin and the Chipmunks Christmas album cover that “moved” when you shook it?!)

We live and we learn all at the same time, all the time—as we walk along the path of life. Deb As We Walk
By aswewalk | Posted in Favorite Resources | Comments (3)

What is most important to your child’s future?

December 19, 2008 – 11:38 pm

First, for those who don’t know the above is an xkcd comic.  Perl is a programming language with many uses. The comic reminded me of my husband and got me thinking about the really important things and the things that are not so important.

As most of you know my husband is a self taught programmer who learned everything he knows about programming from his time spent working on his own projects at home NOT what they taught him at school.  School, in fact, proved useless for the most part since he didn’t learn to spell until he started using a computer and spell checker, nor did he learn higher level math until he needed it for a programming project (taught himself trigonometry when he was 22), reading you could arguably say he learned from school but only just since most of his actual reading and writing was done outside of school since he never did any homework or paid attention in class, just took the tests.  On the other hand, he has, in the course of his 37 years, taught himself to play the piano (and write music), taught himself to program in C, html, php, C++, Visual basic, and some other languages I have forgotten, written a full length novel–for fun,  written a gaming engine–for fun and to see if he could do it, designed multiple levels for other people’s games, taught himself how to do photography and then edit those photos, read multiple history, political, and religious books (the big heavy ones, not sweet little ones like Max Lucado) so he could better understand what he was reading about elsewhere and form his own opinions on the subjects instead of taking other people’s word for it, and a whole slew of other things I can’t think of right now.  I am not bragging on him I am just making a point (or reminding those who needed reminded or just possibly preaching to the choir.)

My point is that this man went to public school.  He was the kid who was always in trouble for not paying attention and not knowing what was going on around him.  He never did homework, never paid attention in class.  He was the kid who ALWAYS lost recess or computer or whatever the teacher thought might motivate him to do what the teacher wanted.  He was awkward, he was even in special ed because they didn’t know what to do about him.  He didn’t go on to college (well he tried, twice, but got so frustrated the first time that he wasn’t learning anything he wanted to learn that he dropped out after one semester, and then the second time he signed up to take one class, paid for the class, got the book, went a few times then someone stole his car and burned it, including the book and he never went back. )  He may not be successful as others consider it (he doesn’t make a ton but we get by) but he has worked as a programmer for over 14 years, writes a successful blog and web comic, and best of all he gets to do what he loves. None of this is because of his schooling, if anything he spent years afraid of trying because of his education and failing over and over.  All of it is because he knows what he loves and what he enjoys doing and does things with all his heart.

And who knows what experience in your (and my) children’s lives will most influence their future.  For my husband it was programming his best friend’s computer then saving up for his own.  In fact, for a lot of other programmers it was the same way. (The link is to my husband’s blog, read through some of the comments on this article to see what I mean.)

Only God knows what experiences may be most important.  For myself it was drawing lesson in Girl Scouts when I was 10–I found out I could draw–I hadn’t realized before that.  For my mom it was baby sitting as a teen, for my dad it was working with his excavator/workaholic dad as an 8 year old.  What experience most shaped YOUR life as a kid?

Former teacher turned Christian unschooling mom, artist, geek wife of a work -at-home geek with 3 geeklings. Our lives are full of gaming, reading, writing, baking, and making lots of messes. I blog about our daily life at An Untraditional Home and share my creative endeavors at Elasah.com.
By Heather | Posted in Application, Character development, Encouragement, How They Learn, Personality, Special Needs, Testimonies | Tagged , , , | Comments (17)