Holiness or Happiness?

As a young believer struggling with forming right thinking from 21 years of life apart from Christ, I had an encounter with my mentor at the time, where she said to me "God is more concerned with your holiness than your happiness.  If you are living a holy life, you will be happy." It was a shocking revelation to me, turning my thoughts and world upside-down.  I had been raised to believe that problems were things to quickly dispose of or run away from in order to get to that elusive goal of "happiness".  It never lasted long before the next problem came along and the cycle continued, until that day my mentor spoke those words of wisdom into my spirit.  It forever changed how I viewed problems in life; they were no longer things to run away from so I could reach some subjective idea of happiness.

Difficulties were now opportunities to confront my own heart and submit myself to God for examination, so I could grow more into the likeness of my Savior.

Schole' Moments - Curriculum Paradigm Shift

As homeschooling parents, we can get caught up in spending too much time going to homeschool conferences, doing online research reading reviews, or frequenting our local curriculum stores; trying to decide what curriculum our children need for the school year.  There are a lot of things out there vying for our attention and trying to convince us that we must do this or that in order for our student to "keep up" with other students or be a "STEM" student.  All that curriculum "sell" is just begging for us to feel discontent, like we're not doing enough, like we fall short, and like we have to add one more thing to our student's curriculum list for the next year so they won't be handicapped for life. It's just a great way to stress ourselves (and our students) out.

I have had a life changing shift in my paradigm related to curriculum that has set me free. Let me help you make a shift in your paradigm about curriculum too.  What if I told you that the curriculum itself doesn't truly matter, but more so what you do with the curriculum that does?  I know, I know, it seems like I just committed some homeschooling atrocity to say that curriculum doesn't really matter.  I imagine the homeschooling police are being notified right now, as to my heretical statement.   However, let me explain....

Science Activity - Picture of the Day

A science "picture of the day" is a terrific tool for helping students to begin to analyze information and think critically.  It is also another tool to begin to teach the scientific method skills of observation, hypotheses and drawing conclusions.  Beyond all that, it's just plain fun!  Here's how to make thinking fun...

Benefits of Reading Aloud - World Read Aloud Day

I couldn't resist a post on such an awesome day, World Read Aloud Day!  One of my favorite things to do with my daughter is read aloud together, often with a chai tea latte in hand, homemade in the kitchen, right before sitting down to a great book together!  Even my special needs son loves to have books read aloud to him every day.  There is much to be gained from reading aloud to your children, and some especially beneficial ways to do it, so let me share with you a few of them...

Gear Up for Year 1

Are you looking for ideas for tutoring or building out the memory work for Cycle1?  Wondering how to approach Essentials this year, or prepare you student ahead of time?  Then here are some of my best posts for you to gear up for Cycle 1...

Summer Tea & Books!

Summer is a fantastic time to read wonderful books together with your kids.  I look forward to these days all year, when there is nothing pressing to do but grab a cup of tea, a great book and read together!  I've listed some of our favorite summertime reading books below.  There are classics you will be familiar with like The Wind in the Willows, some great Christian fiction like the Max & Liz book series, some super silly fun books we have laughed reading like the Bill Myer's My Life As series, some beautiful moral building books like Aesop's Fables, some books to help our kids dream big like the Christian Hero's series and then some books to get you in the mood to delve into the Ancients with CC this fall!  I think there is something for everyone and we enjoyed putting the list together of some of our favorites for you!  

Three Keys to Tutoring Success

I know many Tutors are in the midst of Practicum's and planning for their coming year, so I thought I would share some things that have really made my planning and tutoring simple and joyful.  I am driven to do things the most efficient way.  I don't like to spend time I don't have or need to, on things that aren't necessary.  I like to major in the majors.  Call it a gift or a curse, it really depends.  When I'm tutoring, it's a gift.  So over the years, I have found a way to be an efficient tutor.  I consistently covered all my material - including weekly review, engaging all my students, and keeping my parents involved.  I can sum up for you what a tutor needs to do to be successful, maintain your focus where it needs to be, which is home (not C3 or Pinterest or scouring the Forum for hours each week).  There are three simple keys I've discovered that will help you to be a successful tutor.  Let me share them with you...

Tea for Tuesday

I have been weeding out my life and creating more time, to just have time.  Time for great books, and conversation and creating some rhythms in our day.  We like alliteration at our house.  This past year we would frequent a local cafe' for what we called Fresca Friday's - it was a motivator for my daughter to work hard during the week so she could go to Fresca Friday and do school work together over a chai tea latte (Mom's favorite) and an italian ice (her favorite).  Then I discovered a great little tool for creating my own chai tea latte's at home using this little inexpensive Ikea Milk Frother and we've moved it to Tea on Tuesdays to read together and talk, making our own latte's together!  It's lots of fun as I steep the tea and she gets to froth the milk.  We still go to Fresca on some Fridays, but now we can snuggle up on the screen porch on a pretty day or the couch, and read together over a cup of tea!

A Fork In The Road - A New Adventure

Believe it or not, I am not a risk taker.  My husband is the one willing to take risks.  I'm usually the one doing the risk calculations and voting NO to everything.  God is so gracious and knows that about me.  So when He needs me to do something, He usually has to put people pushing me from behind, encouraging me to step out into His calling and all but put neon signs up along the way, to make it clear enough.  That's exactly what He has done with starting a Schole' group this coming fall.  

E-Book - Making Memory Work Memorable!

I have been asked a lot of questions over the years about how to make memory work meaningful, what my favorite ways are for reviewing the memory work at home, how I build out the memory work to make a Wonderful Wednesday, as well as lots of questions about tips for tutoring based on my five years of experience tutoring.  So, I decided to create a resource that addresses all those various questions!  This $1.00 e-Book download is geared towards Parents who are in the grammar stage of a classical education.  

Here is what's inside:

What is a Local History Club?

One of the things we did this year that we really enjoyed was to join a local history club.  I owe a special thank you to a local Mom who was motivated and initiated this among our group of friends.  Living in the South and studying a lot of civil war history for this year's CC curriculum, it was a perfect fit.  We had many field trip opportunities that blended both our local North Carolina history with our CC studies of the Civil War period.  I was very thankful that we did it and it gave us an additional chance to see friends and share in another educational experience together each month.

Teaching Probabilities

So teaching probabilities is "probably" one of the least comfortable subjects to teach, next to the tin whistle.  You "probably" aren't even sure why it's thrown in here during cycle 3's final six week segment of science.  After all, isn't this math and what in the world does it have to do with science anyway?  It's taken me this second time through the cycle to see the big picture of why this segment is in there, and then how to simplify this for the kids and myself!  I wish I had found a simplified explanation of how to teach this to kids (and the why) - from a non-math persons' perspective, when we went through cycle 3 the first time.  Well, here is an explanation for all those out there like me, that want a simplified non-math persons' perspective on teaching probabilities for cycle 3...

Assessing Our Path- Gearing Up for the Next 12 Weeks!

It's almost time to start back in our Community and begin hitting the school routine in full swing again.  So for me, that means it's time to assess things.  Am I still on the path or did I end up taking a left turn somewhere?  These are the things I think about over my break.  It's part of my gearing up for the next twelve weeks, so I can hit the ground running that first full week of January.  Here are some of the things I do to help me assess:

Mastering Your Multiplication Tables

My daughter and I have been working together during our break, to try and master her times tables for Memory Master this spring (Memory Master is part of Classical Conversations®).   This will be her first year requiring her to do the times tables for Memory Master, instead of just skip counting.

Tackling the Tin Whistle!

No subject can strike fear into the hearts of Tutors and Moms around the country, like teaching the tin whistle!  =)  Truth be told, it definitely has not been my favorite subject to teach.  It's not that I don't like music - I do!  It's more because I considered music to be something I was not necessarily good at.  I never had formal instruction playing an instrument and I never learned to read sheet music - so obviously, I was never taught any music theory before CC either.  However, it has definitely gotten easier as the years have ticked by and I have learned to find great value in music theory and even in teaching the tin whistle.  Here are a few things that I hope will encourage you and be of help, as you tackle the tin whistle this year.

Fun Ways to Jump Start for Essentials of English Grammar!

I have gotten questions from parents wondering how they can prepare their younger kids for the Essentials of English Grammar®.  If you are using the Classical Conversations® Foundations curriculum, then there is nothing formal that needs to be done, beyond memorizing the English Grammar memory work for each "cycle" (and definitely don't discount that one - it will go a LONG way towards making Essentials easier)!  (Essentials is Classical Conversation's class they offer children in 3rd Grade and up, focusing on English Grammar - you can go to their webpage for more information about their programs), there are few things that I think are fun that would definitely provide exposure to concepts, that they will be learning when they get there.  If you are not in Classical Conversations®, then these are just great ways to make English Grammar fun for anyone getting their kids ready for a formal Grammar program!

Thoughts on Essentials/IEW From a First Year Mom!

So we have made it through the first four weeks of Essentials/IEW®.  Prior to fearfully entering the classroom, I had heard horror stories from first year shell shocked Moms, regarding how overwhelming this class was.  Phrases like "drinking from a firehose" and "intense" were often sprinkled somewhere in the conversation.  I was fully prepared that this was going to be an arduous year of grinding out papers and grammar all day long - just to keep up.  Well, let me share some good news for those who have yet to darken the doors of this class - It's NOT BAD!  At least none of those thoughts have come to my mind so far this year, though I can see how it might if I wasn't better prepared.  While I can see where it does certainly build upon one week after another, with increasing demands for paper writing and grammar charts, it's all very doable -but it does depend on a few things.  Here are the reasons why I think it's actually been great so far:

BIRTHDAY BUNDLE DISCOUNT - ONE WEEK ONLY!

My favorite little guy, is no longer very little!  My Mason, is turning 15 on Monday the 15th and I am discounting my Teaching Plan Bundle $15 in honor of him, to celebrate!!!   This is a GREAT deal to celebrate his big day!  You get the Teaching Plan, Wonderful Wednesdays Plan and the Pin Maps document for an incredible $14.95 after the $15 discount is applied (use the code: MASON at checkout)!  Hurry though - this discount only lasts until Sunday, September 21st!

If you have been following me for a while, then you are aware that I have a special needs son.  You can read about him on a variety of posts by clicking here.

In honor of him turning 15, here are 15 things I LOVE about my special needs son:

Making Mops Into Stick Horses

I haven't posted for a week because we have been on break from school and I have been busy planning my daughter's 10th birthday party.  She asked me to give her a cowgirl hoedown themed party.  She is creative and had visions of what this party would entail and the first thing in her vision was a stick horse for each guest!  Speaking of horses....whoa horsey!!!!......make 9 stick horses or worse yet, spend the money to buy 9 stick horses?  I don't think so!  So....I had to get creative to make it fit within the budget, fulfill this kiddo's birthday vision and pull it together within a matter of a few weeks.  What I ended up doing took about 20 minutes per horse to make and cost me less than $4.50 a horse - total!   Here's what I did...

How To Pull Together History Dress Ups

Dressing up is a super duper fun part of our Wonderful Wednesdays' each week during the school year!  Kids love to dress up and become something other than they are.  It stimulates the mind in a way that not many other things can.  The process of pulling together costumes from a variety of places and utilizing a variety of items in new and possibly unique ways -is a very creative process for both the kids and parents.  When the day comes to actually pull off the dress up, I find that I end up having just as much fun as my child.  It feels like I'm creating individual pieces of recycled art, as I pull together the various elements to see them go from my minds' eye to real life.  Sometimes, they come out way better than I thought and other times, I have to change out an element or even start over because it doesn't go as well as I had hoped!  I thought I would share with you how I use the Wonderful Wednesday Plan to develop out my ideas for costumes and where I find my treasures!