25 Random Things About Homeschooling

[Bakershalfdozen]

I received a magazine from my state's homeschooling association yesterday and in it was listed 25 things about homeschooling.

One of the statements puzzled me - Homeschooling is a Kingdom building effort. :puzzled: What does that mean exactly? That in the course of homeschooling children will be witnessed to and some will be saved? Or, that homeschooling brings in the Kingdom? I'm not sure what they mean because children are witnessed to in many scenarios, (not just homeschooling) and are saved.

So that is my question. Below is the list of 25 things and my thoughts on them - an attempt at humor, folks.


Homeschooling...

1. Will make you feel frightened, threatened, thrilled, overwhelmed and confused, all at the same time.
Ya think?


2. Is family togetherness. :saywhat The kids do their work in different rooms.


3. Is hard work. :TGIF:


4. Could increase your family size to ten children! :haha


5. Is a Kingdom building effort. :puzzled:


6. Is Deuteronomy 6 lived out. True but so are other things... :saint


7. Might give you a strange attraction to denim jumpers. :faint: :reality:


8. Is flexible. True dat :cool


9. Is individual. :thumb

10. Is a great educational alternative.


11. Will try your patience. Yup.


12. Is a complete lifestyle change. Yup, yup.


13. Is a daily discipline. Yup, yup, yup.


14. Is an everyday adventure and a lifelong joy.
Yeah, I feel that way...in June, July and August.


15. Will teach you to bake your own bread.
:saywhat I knew how to bake my own bread before I began homeschooling...


16. Is an investment with grand dividends.


17. Is the best thing you can do for your family.
The best thing? One of many good, perhaps but who puts it at #1?


18. Will turn your hair gray, at least what you haven't already pulled out! :nocomment:


19. Actually, will make you pine for an easier hair style - maybe long and in a bun? Again, :reality:



20. Is a calling. Can be; depends on the family.


21. Can be a three-ring circus at times. :tease:



22. Is a triumph.
In what way? I'm proud of my kids when they do their best whether at schoolwork or another area of life.


23. Will make you long for adult company. :pplease:


24. Is an experience that may take our children a generation to appreciate. :pray


25. Last, but not least - is worth it.

[Guest Guest]

All sooo true! We homeschooled thru High School...never give up! It is worth every minute! :thumb :2cents

[Annie]

Bakers, is the magazine from a Presbyterian source, or is the author coming from that background? If I'm not mistaken, those who are covenant/amillennial tend to focus a lot on "building/bringing in the earthly kingdom of Christ," while those of us who are dispensational/premil focus on the "heavenly kingdom." It probably just depends on who wrote that article. Either way, I think the author meant that homeschooling, since it entails direct parent/child evangelism and discipleship, helps to build Christ's (earthly or heavenly) kingdom.

Your comments are great, Bakers. You mean you don't wear a denim jumper and long hair in a bun???? How can you claim you're a true homeschooler?

[Annie]

Jess, you have my curiosity up...You said that your children do their work in different rooms. How do you manage that? Do y'all do DVDs, or do you go from room to room to instruct each child? What rooms do you use?

I think it is so interesting to find out how different people manage homeschooling. I'm sure it has a lot to do with personality, homeschooling method (DVDs, live or online instruction, etc.), and how the house is set up. We are blessed to have a large, open, finished basement that works perfectly for us. I combine the kids for certain subjects, and they work separately on others. The older ones are right there to help the younger ones with their work when needed, which saves me a lot of time.

[Bakershalfdozen]

Hi Annie,

The magazine is from the NCHE. This is the first time I've received a magazine from them. It is the "200 Conference Issue" - all about the upcoming conference. I've never been to one; have you?



Yes, I do DVDs via HomeSat from BJU. This method works for me for several reasons:

1. I am not a teacher. It makes my skin itch. :frog I think in important areas of life it behooves us to know our strengths and weaknesses and all of us would be extremely frustrated all the time if I had to do all the teaching for every grade. While I realize that all of us are teachers in one way or another, I am not gifted for academic instruction. Let me put it another way...if I were involved in a Christian school team effort, I would happily be the one who performed all the secretarial duties and let someone else do the teaching. Sooooooooo, I oversee, administrate and organize their classes, seat work, grades and activities/crafts.

2. I like the curriculum. I know that some people pull what they consider to be the best curricula from various sources but since I will only use a teacher-led curriculum that leaves me with two options: Abeka and BJU. They both have DVD school and are both going to online streaming in August, 2009. This will replace BJU's HomeSat option. BJU also has the hard drive option. I'm sure both have their strengths and weaknesses but I appreciate BJU's "personal" (as much as possible) approach. It is as if the teachers are talking directly to the child. The classes are produced in a studio with various backdrops and characters. The classes are interesting, challenging and require physical interaction from the child. I actually like Abeka's language curriculum a little more but really don't care for the perspective of their DVD school. All they did was record a classroom setting and it is as if the child is sitting at the back of the classroom just looking on.

3. This method works for my children. My 1st grade daughter loves to learn and her reading ability has soared under the teaching of Mrs. Walker. She is an excellent teacher, IMO...one of the very best BJU HomeSat has. All of the teachers are good though and all of my children enjoy "going to school".



Our house is small, so yes, they are in different rooms. I would love to have a large school room that is decorated! One child does his work in one of the bedrooms which I don't like but don't have much choice right now. Another one works in the room we use for an office and the other two are in the living room.

[bzmomo7]

My DVD kids do their school in separate spaces from the rest of us doing school the traditional method, too. I agree homeschooling is a lot of work, but very worth it!

4. Could increase your family size to ten children!

BTW, I detest denim jumpers, and if I had to wear my hair up--I would much prefer a pony-tail to a bun, any day! :thumb

[Bakershalfdozen]

Yeah, my response to that one vacillated between :uuhm: :faint: :freak: and the "you've got to be kidding me" laugh :haha with

[Annie]

Hi Annie,

The magazine is from the NCHE. This is the first time I've received a magazine from them. It is the "200 Conference Issue" - all about the upcoming conference. I've never been to one; have you?

Yes! Well, I should say that I didn't actually attend any of the sessions or workshops, but I did go to the book fair/expo with a couple of friends and found some great deals on curriculum. I'm not sure whether or not I'll go again this year; are you planning to? (We could see who all on OB will be going, and meet up for lunch or something--fun!) BJ and A Beka both had HUGE booths set up; we went by there b/c both of my friends use BJ HomeSat. I'll have to start thinking about going...

Thanks for sharing about how homeschooling works at your house! There are so many different methods and techniques floating around, and part of what makes homeschooling great is that we can pick the ones that work for our own situations. There are lots of ways to skin a cat!

[Bakershalfdozen]

Oh, I would LOVE that! I'm not interested in the sessions but the book fair would be great.

I thought about going last year but didn't have anyone to go with. Generally, I like to buy most of my books from Gullions because I can get used ones for 50% off (or more!) the retail price. Their Statesville and King stores have huge homeschooling sections with all kinds of curricula. That won't keep me from enjoying the book fair though and likely I can get stuff there that Gullions doesn't have.

[Annie]

Oh, I would LOVE that! I'm not interested in the sessions but the book fair would be great.

Yeah. Maybe we can work something out! Is anyone else on here going? I'll have to talk to my friend to see if she wants to go again...and check my calendar...and talk to my husband...and see how much it costs to get in...etc. Winston Salem is a few hours away from where I live, but carpooling would be fun. We'll see.

http://nche.com/conference/index.php

This link will take you to the conference site information page. The admission fee for the book fair only is $5 for NCHE members and $20 for non-members if you sign up online. (If you want to become a member, you can do that for $25 online.) If you don't sign up online (you wait to pay until you get to the fair), the price is quite a bit more: $25 for members and $40 for non-members.

[brosmith]

Yeah, my response to that one vacillated between :uuhm: :faint: :freak: and the "you've got to be kidding me" laugh :haha with

Our family size is 10 children. Our oldest is 24 and our youngest is 3. We still have 7 children living at home.

[Annie]

Yeah. Maybe we can work something out! Is anyone else on here going? I'll have to talk to my friend to see if she wants to go again...and check my calendar...and talk to my husband...and see how much it costs to get in...etc. Winston Salem is a few hours away from where I live, but carpooling would be fun. We'll see.

http://nche.com/conference/index.php

This link will take you to the conference site information page. The admission fee for the book fair only is $5 for NCHE members and $20 for non-members if you sign up online. (If you want to become a member, you can do that for $25 online.) If you don't sign up online (you wait to pay until you get to the fair), the price is quite a bit more: $25 for members and $40 for non-members.

Does this sound like fun for anyone? I'm still not 100% sure I'm going, but it looks like I will, if I can fit it in my schedule. April 19 is the deadline for preregistering online. I know that if I do go, it will have to be on Thursday or Friday, since I have other plans for Saturday.

[Bakershalfdozen]

Since I'm not a member, I'm not too interested in spending that kind of money just to get in the door...

[Annie]

Since I'm not a member' date=' I'm not too interested in spending that kind of money just to get in the door...[/quote']Yeah, I know what you mean. Last year I purchased a membership, so I've been a member now for a while. But I think I'll have to pay to renew the membership before the book fair...