When we first began exploring the world of homeschooling I was completely overwhelmed. I’ve heard the same thing countless times from parents considering it for their family.

Where do one turn for easy to find information?

Still Deciding Phase:

• Perspectives on Your Child’s Education: Four Views: Presents each person’s positive views of their education choice without blatant attack on the other choices. At the end of each essay is a back and forth (the other authors give their objections while the author of that essay addresses their views) banter allowing you to get a clear picture of the pros and cons to each choice.  In the end, the choice of homeschooling is the obvious winner but then maybe I’m a little biased. The best thing about this book is it makes the reader consider all the options not just “go-with-what-you’ve-always-known”.

• The Ultimate Guide to Homeschooling: Haven’t read it but the title is just like my cloth diaper book so it has to be good, right?

Decided, now what? Phase:

• Teaching the Trivium: This book was the most instrumental in forging the path we are on today. Prior to reading Teaching the Trivium we were firm in our decision to homeschool however, we completely lacked clear direction.

The most important nugget we gleaned from this book was to not model your homeschool around what the public schools were teaching but to write down what it is you want your children to know when they graduate and work backwards from that.  Before, I was trying to figure out how in the world I was going to teach my children Physics (which I hated), Calculus, English IV AP…you get my point…plus teach them to read, write and do basic math.

After we made a list of what was most important to us a huge weight was lifted.  Not because we realized we didn’t have to teach those subjects but because we realized what was most important: a strong Biblical worldview, a voracious love for reading, mastery of logic, systematic theology, Greek and Latin, homemaking, how to make a living from home… Homeschooling then became a true joy, not simply a chore.

• A Biblical Home Education: Building Your Homeschool on the Foundation of God’s Word: I haven’t read this one, or any by Beechick for that matter, however she is hailed as a homeschool leader so I assume she has something to offer.
• The Well-Planned Day: Planners are a dime a dozen and no planner works for everyone.  I enjoyed the weekly catechism, read-through-the-Bible-in-a-year plan, tear-out grocery lists, essays and of course the calendar part.

When the going gets tough Phase:

• One Hundred and One Devotions for Homeschool Moms: For me devotionals are great for the bathroom Did I just say that? Eek. What I mean is when I’m having a bad morning, afternoon or night I tend to run to my bathroom and sit on my closed toilet. Having a devotional nearby always renews me.

• To ward off those really bad days (which will happen anyways) I highly recommend For the Love of God: A Daily Companion for Discovering the Riches of God’s Word, Volume 1. My husband and I will be finishing Volume 1 soon and will move on to Volume 2. I have been blessed beyond any stretch of my imagination by consistently reading the Bible every day this year!

Wow. It’s been an adventure. I’m stronger, smarter and more secure in my faith than I’ve ever been. There have been days where I’d miss and have to make up the next day and always I could feel something missing because of that. God is way too gracious to me for sure.

There are dozens more books out there on the how-tos and what-nots of homeschooling. You may prefer a completely different type of book for your homeschool journey.

Above them all, however, the Bible is the book you must have to successfully homeschool your children as a Christian.  The Bible gives direction, correction and instruction on every problem I’ve encountered.  How blessed I am to have the ultimate guide to living.

This post is part of the Hip Homeschool Hop. For other great resources check out some of the other participants blogs.

***Update: I’m going to leave this post for all to see but after reading it hours later I realize just how pathetic I sound. Forgive me for exposing this side of me.***
I know, I make it look easy.

But, really it’s not.

At this point you should heed the warning sign below. All other talk that will spew from my mouth could very well destroy the smile that that cute kitty above provided you. Take it or leave it. That’s my warning. I’m pretty sure I have no grounds for excuse in this self-pity party.

Now that you’ve been warned…

I’m tired. It’s not like I don’t get a nap everyday, but I’m still tired. Tired of the same thing over and over. I know routine is good for kids and that is what training is all about- repetition and consistency. But, it’s killing me!

How many times do I have to say “Don’t get on my ball” or “go brush your teeth” ?

Worse than all that is the extreme patience a homeschooling mom must have. I’m not talking the kind of patience it takes to stand in a Walmart return line. No. That’s cake. In the Walmart return line you can be entertained by the strange characters or whip out your phone and text a friend.

Homeschooling is much harder. Sitting in a chair repeating over and over for 30 minutes, “what sound does ‘i’ make?” will draw even the most sane people to the edge of insanity.

Don’t stop though, lest that child think he wins. No, not this stubborn mama (see my stubbornness can be a positive).

By golly, he will say those 3 sounds. And he did, but I now have 335 new gray hairs.

When I’m having one of these kinds of days is when everything tumbles. I pick up a bag of chocolate chips and they all fall out a slit down the side. I cut up apples and drop some on the floor. My assistance is needed in 4 (so far today) bathroom visits or diapers. I need to go grocery shopping.

What would make everything better? Hmm. How can I say this in the most gentle, respectful way?..

I’d be filled with joy if Michael could play the role of a girlfriend and hug me and comfort me and tell me it will be okay. I know that’s hard for men, they’re fixers. The “fix” just happens to be a hug and reassuring words and that’s not always what a husband thinks.

Again, I really mean all that with great respect for my husband. No husband bashing from me…after all he does read this blog!

So, where does a homeschooling mom turn when she’s on the verge of losing it? Well, I like to run to the garage or bathroom for a quick cry. It goes without saying that I am in constant prayer the whole time I am going through these trials.

I’ve never liked it when people say, “well, I asked for patience and God gave me a chance to learn it.” Whether I ask for patience or not there are plenty of opportunities to learn it.  When I ask God daily for patience He abundantly provides.  It’s on those days that I don’t lose it during the times when I need to be a rock (like when I will not relent to my son’s refusal to answer questions).

Had I not asked for patience this situation would have still presented itself and I would have probably yelled. Not good.

Homeschooling isn’t easy. Homeschooling is best, though. No doubt. I’ll take the hard road any day when it means more time with my children and honoring God by “training my children in the way they should go so that when they are old they will not depart from it”. Prov. 22:6

]]> http://kerrvillehomeschoolers.com/homeschooling-isnt-always-easy/feed 2 http://kerrvillehomeschoolers.com/haley-summarizes-mountain-born http://kerrvillehomeschoolers.com/haley-summarizes-mountain-born#comments Sat, 22 May 2010 19:28:57 +0000 autumn http://kerrvillehomeschoolers.com/?p=358

As part of Haley’s daily homeschool schedule she reads out loud to me for 20 minutes.  We’ve been going through Mountain Born by Elizabeth Yates for a while now and finally finished it the other day.

I set Haley up in front of the webcam and had her summarize the book.  Seriously, the kids is adorable!! I love the face she makes at about 1:06. I could smooch her all day.

She left out the whole middle of the story but you get the gist

Kind of a no-brainer to me but it wasn’t always that way.  Why teach Theology? After all isn’t that just for the seminary students? NO!

Let’s look at it from the alternative: not teaching Theology. Where does that leave your children? Stumbling, bumbling, blabbering that’s where! I can freely talk this way because I was a stumbling, bumbling, blabbering embryo for the first 9 years (that would be the last 9 years) of being a Christian.

It wasn’t until July 2009, that Theology became a spoken word in our house. Salvation? Sure I knew what that meant and yet I HAD NO CLUE! God is so much deeper than– say a prayer, dunk and go on with life.

I am so very, very passionate about teaching our children Theology…GOOD Theology.  Recently, two books came to live on our cozy bookshelves.  Who Is God? (and can I really know him?) and Dug Down Deep: Unearthing What I Believe and Why It Matters.

****UPDATE: Dug Down Deep will now go live on the shelves of Hastings. Great book until page 185. I do not believe that people today have the spiritual gift of speaking in tongues.  Add to it that Joshua Harris claims he often “forgets to use it.” ****

“Who Is God?” is a systematic theology for kids.  Looooooove it! I even wrote a review for it on christianbook.com and I never do that.  Our oldest is 7 going on 24 so I thought for sure it would be too simplistic.  But when you add in a 5yo and 3yo it becomes the perfect Theology class for kids.

Even if I was going through it with just Haley (7yo) it would be on par.  The units are varied and creative and logical.  Trust me, if I’m not bored you won’t be. If you are looking for a resource to help you teach biblical worldview this book will help you do that.

Then, there is Dug Down Deep.  Have you ever had a person come on your radar and stay there? I first discovered Joshua Harris from the Generation Cedar blog.  Kelly posted a video about a sermon called Sin and the Bean Bag.  It was great.  Turns out God had introduced Michael to Joshua in a totally different way.

Then comes Dug Down Deep.  Michael can NOT recommend this one enough! He’s read about every other page to me out loud because it’s that good!

Too many Christians have brushed off Theology in a day where we need true Theology more than ever.  How are we going to prepare our children for the attacks of the world if they don’t even know the true doctrines of our faith?

The video explains it all!

DugDownDeep_Carnahan.mov from Covenant Life Church on Vimeo.

I do believe that everyone should know what they believe! Educate yourself and your children…or someone else will.

Which is what I scream in my head when my daughter tells me she hates to write.  What??!!  Perhaps my love for penmanship is a tad obsessive.  Whatever.

But come on, hate?  That is a strong word afterall.

Where do I go from here? I don’t want her to be forever scarred when it comes to handwriting.

I know, today is the “electronic age” and who writes letters anyways?  I think about it but never do. That’s beside the point.  I do, however, write plenty of to-do lists, grocery lists, quick notes to husband, take notes during family worship and Bible study. So see handwriting is still a big part of our lives.

This is what I have noticed.  I like to give Haley a handwriting assignment so I can go do something that “needs” to be done.  When I do this her performance is always sub-par.  The beginning of a sentence is never capitalized, words she knows how to spell are misspelled, spacing is way off and letter height is varied.

On the other hand, if I stop being such a multi-tasker selfish teacher/mommy and sit with her, the mistakes are drastically less.  Hmmmm… looks like the solution is quite obvious.  But, I do feel that children should learn self-discipline.  Afterall, we as adults don’t have someone constantly looking over our shoulder.

And I also want to encourage the awareness of the ever-present Father.  He is always watching and we are to perform to the highest standards even when “no one” is watching.

Boy, was that hard to cough out.  I really should swallow my own clever blog advice.

There have been tears (and as you probably know with a 7 year old girl that means BIG tears) when I explain to her that she needs to redo something.  It breaks my heart. Thankfully, my husband works from home so he is there to support my decisions and Haley listens very well to daddy. 

After the onslaught of tears this is what we did to help Haley. I got myself a piece of primer handwriting paper and wrote the letters WITH her. Every letter. We started back at square one.  And you know what? She loved it!

Then we transitioned into writing summary statements (I stopped writing at the letters and just encouraged). Her spacing was just what I wanted as was the letter heights.  And she spelled correctly. I then gave her a sentence to copy and went to do something that “needed” to be done.  Although not as well done as it had been when I was there, it was still improved.

The hardest thing for me is remembering that she is only 7.  That’s hard to do when she can explain election, sovereignty and providence to you quite easily

As a parent you pray that your children will always feel comfortable asking you questions.  Many parents feel this means they have to be their kids’ best friend.  This couldn’t be farther from the truth.

The way to ensure your children ask you questions of any nature is to “fertilize” their minds with the nutrients needed to cultivate deep thought.  Create a soil that encourages growth.  Where else does a seed grow but up into the rich soil around it.

The family unit should be the most nutrient dense soil available to your children.  But how does a parent tend to the soil? What are the nutrients necessary for growing prize winning crops?

First and foremost, the Bible must be a part of your daily life.  The simplest way to achieve this is by having Dad (or oldest boy..or mom) read Proverbs every day after breakfast.  In our family, Dad eats the fastest and he’s reading the Proverb that corresponds to the date while we are still eating.

Another way, albeit more time consuming, is with nightly family worship.  Choose a book of the Bible as a family to work through over the next several weeks.  Dad (or Mom..) should set aside 30m-1hr a day to prepare for the evening’s lesson.  There are many resources one can use to clarify and expound on Bible passages.  Our favorites include: Calvin’s Commentaries, MacArthur’s Commentaries, Matthew Henry’s Commentaries, ESV study bible..just to name a few.

Once you’ve laid the good soil down, you can add the vital minerals.  These are added in various doses depending on weather, pressure and invading parasites.

Here are a few essential minerals:

Meals eaten as a family regularly.

Attending church consistently.

An order of authority within the family with an example of submission evident to children.

Play time. Not just the children but parents with the children.  I’ll be the first to admit that this isn’t an easy task for me.

Read. Read. Read. and read some more

Writing of goals.

Discussing topics crucial to your family’s lifestyle. Examples in our family would be: chiropractic, natural health, homebirth, breastfeeding, avoiding chemicals (toys, foods..), theology, working from home, modesty…

Discipline and structure. 2 things I lack but thank God daily that my husband possesses.

Nutrition. Cut out the MSG, trans fats and sugar. It ain’t (such an appropriate word) hard so don’t complain. 

Make books available in mass quanities.  At the very least visit a library often.

Eliminate or reduce medications and chemical exposure.  There are a multitude of studies showing the negative effects of medications and chemicals on the brain and how they are a detriment to learning and intelligence.

Nix the TV. Limit computer time (we nixed that too).  And by golly don’t get your 8..or 12..or well I’ll stop there…a cell phone! There are plenty of studies that show just how inattentive TV, computer time and the cell phone can make your child.  Isn’t there enough potential for that already in us naturally?!

And last but far from least is to talk to your children. Talk to them about pretend things. Talk about deep things that will leave them confused…they’ll eventually get it.  Talk to them about God!!

If you’re reading this you’ve most likely got children. If that’s so then you know how fast they grow up.  So when I say we only have 18 years (or so) you know just how short a time this is.  Don’t allow even the smallest things to slip by because I promise you the world will be right there to fill in where you left off.

When many or all of these things are done it won’t take long for you to see your seeds start to sprout.  We have been blessed to see green shoots in our fertile soil.

I would love to share with you a recent blessing..

On Monday, Haley went into Michael’s office and said, “Dad, I wanted to ask you some theological questions that I’ve been waiting a long time to ask.” “How far up is God, like past the moon?, What are angels? and Do they know as much as God?”

Wow. Just wow! When Michael told me this I wanted to cry.  This is exactly what I want our children to do!! I don’t want any question to be “dumb” or “silly”.  Every curious thought deserves attention.

Here’s to a green thumb!

I have found that, in the homeschool setting, memorization is the most effective tool I have for teaching my children discipline.  Memorization is never effortless.  Even for someone who is highly gifted in that skill.

I am good at memorizing but I have to put in work before I am able to recite it.  Now to recall it days later requires even more work.

Laurie and Harvey Bluedorn said this about memorization and recalling it in the future:

First, the practice of memorization is a mental discipline which strengthens the mind and carries its own reward.

Second, without some regular review, the memory often fades.

Third, I believe the Holy Spirit can bring things forward in our minds, but they have to be in our minds before He can bring them forward.

Fourth, it isn’t memorizing if it’s not word for word. We may begin to lose confidence that we have the right idea from Scripture if we cannot rely upon our memories. Often enough I have thought some idea was in Scripture, but when I went to look for it, I found my understanding to be quite inaccurate.

Psalm 119:11 Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.

Psalm 37:31 The law of his God is in his heart; none of his steps shall slide.

Psalm 119:97 O how love I thy law! It is my meditation all the day.

Colossians 3:16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.

Every day I have Haley memorize something.  But some days I struggle to find something new and fresh for her to memorize.  Obviously, Bible verses/chapters are top on the list, but some days we choose something else.

Some days we go to the catechism (Catechize and Memorize) other days learn poetry and most fun is when I hear Haley recite a Bible verse in Greek!

Next time you are searching for something to have your children memorize use one of these ideas:

Psalm 100

Psalm 103 (We love this book Bless the Lord: The 103rd Psalm)

John 1: 1-4

Little Lamb, Who Made Thee by William Blake

Psalm 123

The Lord’s Prayer

Apostle’s Creed

Hymns: Amazing Grace, Be Thou My Vision, I Surrender All, I’ll Fly Away, Wherever He Leads, I’ll Go

Psalm 127 (another beautiful book we love The Lord Builds the House: The 127th Psalm)

That should get you through a month or so
Memorization is a great confidence booster for you and your children.  I memorize right along with Haley.  The things I ask Haven to memorize are significantly shorter. Like 7 or 8 word answers!  At this point we are simply teaching Haven the art of focusing on something and being able to repeat it.

We asked him the catechism “What is the chief end of man?” repeatedly over weeks before he could finally answer, “To glorify God and enjoy Him forever.”  Same thing with the question, “Who makes up the Trinity?” Now if we ask, “Who is the Father, Son and Holy Spirit?” that complete stumps him. Patience. That’s what I’m learning.

It seems that everyone will agree with you that reading to your children is important.  But how many are actually incorporating it into their homeschool schedule?

For me, reading to Haley when she was an infant was easy.  She was the first baby and I had all the time in the world to devote to developing her young mind.  When Haven was born I struggled with juggling a newborn and a toddler and making time for the things that were most important.  I read less to Haven and subsequently less to Haley.

When Paisley arrived I had “mastered” having multiple children and managed to squeeze in a reading time most days.  This most likely resulted less because of my prioritizing and more because Haley was ready to start reading.  Her desire for me to constantly read overpowered my drive to clean and/or sleep whenever I could.

Up until this summer, however, all reading times were spontaneous, unpredictable and were the first thing to go if there was something else to do.  In June, we reorganized our schedule to include 2- 45 minute blocks of reading by me and one 45 minute block for Michael.

For those of you saying, “my children would never sit still for 45 minutes of reading!”, I said this too   At first they wouldn’t (Haven and Paisley) but now they know the routine and for the most part “listen”.  Haley eagerly takes in every word and keeps me on track because I often get busy and skip the reading time.

Narration is a huge skill that a child should begin to master at an early age.  Haven is 5 and can sometimes narrate the story, Proverb, or poem I just read but mostly his attention is not there.  Paisley is 2 and does pretty much whatever Haven does…and her answer to every question is either “God” or “Jesus”…. yes, Paisley, they are the answer lol.

There have been numerous studies done on the correlation between reading to your children and the various characteristics that lend themselves to success in life.  Reading is one of the top 5 gifts you have the opportunity to share with your children.  Many moms will implore you to start early to plant the seed of love of reading in your children.  It is much harder to get a 12 year old to read if they’ve never seen you read or known that reading was important.

By reading to them early and often you cultivate that love and the normalcy of it.  Although Haven cannot read words we often go in search of him only to find him lying in a corner “reading” a book.  We have to force Haley to go to bed at night or else she’d read until she couldn’t hold her eyes open.  Paisley enjoys a good story as well.

Although any reading is good, you can always strive to read the best.

Classics like Treasure Island, The Hobbit, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, The Secret Garden… are all excellent choices for ALL ages.  Our children sat captivated during each one and eagerly anticipated how Bilbo would triumph over Smaug.  One thing we don’t do is choose books with tons of colorful pictures or adaptations.  We want the children to love words.  The occasional picture should be simply a bonus.

If you’d like some guidance on which books are highly recommend I suggest Hand That Rocks the Cradle: 400 Classic Books for Children.  When we first received this book we went through it book by book.  Michael and I were quite disappointed that out of 400 classic books we had read less than 5.  Pathetic.

The good news is once you get started it doesn’t take long to start checking off books.  I can’t wait to look back in 15 years and see how many we’ve read and re-read.  But, reading classics is nothing compared to the enormous value of reading the Bible to your children.

I have been blessed beyond any expectations through our nightly family worship.  Not only have I learned more in 3 months than I learned in 9 years of being a Christian, but the kids have blown me away with their understanding and retention of Scripture.

I encourage you to begin reading today.  Don’t wait until you think your kids are ready (they won’t be) or until you have all the housework done (it never will be).  Like every good thing it will stink in the beginning and be riddled with trials but in the end it will be beautiful.

Teaching Greek as part of our homeschool schedule has been such a blessing to our family.  Before we began, we first had to choose which curricula was going to best fit our goals.

Most Greek curricula will work for your family if you have a desire to travel to Greece and be able to converse with the locals.  But, if your desire is to read the New Testament in its original language, your choices are drastically limited.

Our family is using products created by Harvey Bluedorn and family (Teaching the Trivium).  We began the journeywith the simple Little Bitty Baby Learns Greek

With this board book you would give a baby, our family learned the Greek alphabet and how to pronounce it correctly!

Once we had mastered the recognition and pronunciation of the alphabet we moved on to A Greek Hupogrammon: A Beginner’s Copybook for the Greek Alphabet with Pronunciations and A Greek Alphabetarion: A Primer for Teaching How to Read, Write & Pronounce Ancient & Biblical Greek

This program is extremely simple to follow and learn. Each morning Michael copies the pages for the day and we work at the table together.

We are now at the stage where we write out Bible verses in Greek and practice memorizing them. Haley had a chance to share John 14:6 with a friend the other night!

I recorded Haley reciting the Greek alphabet for you. She did not do it perfect as there is no “a” sound like in “cat”. The alpha is pronounced “awlpha” or like the “o” in “cot”. So Kappa is “kawpa”, Lambda is “Lawmbda”.

If you have any questions about adding Greek to your homeschool schedule feel free to ask!

Click the arrow to hear our 7yo, Haley.

Oh, and what is Koine??

Koi·ne (koi-n, koin)n.

Two months ago I thought that Catechism was something that just Roman Catholics did.  How saddening to think I would have gone my whole life believing this and missing out on a blessing.

cat·e·chism (kt-kzm)n.

Late Greek katkhismos

Haley is very gifted in memorization,  Haven not-so-much.  You’ll quickly know how much your child can handle. 


The first 2 questions in the catechism are short and simple.  After that they get longer and with much more difficult words.

Question 2: What is the chief end of man?

Answer: Man’s chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever.

Question 5: How do we know that the Bible is the Word of God?

Answer: The Bible evidences itself to be God’s Word by the heavenliness of its doctrine, the unity of its parts, and its power to convert sinners and to edify saints. But only the Spirit of God can make us willing to agree and submit to the Bible as the Word of God.

When I read the questions and verses to Haley each morning I sit back in amazement at the arsenal she will own when she leaves our home.  To have been taught these truths at an early age is priceless.  I think back to all the times I was overwhelmed and I kick myself for not knowing Psalm 61 or Psalm 23.  But, I’m learning them now!

Learning the catechism is a journey for sure.  It isn’t something we will have memorized within the next few years but something we will work on throughout all our children’s years of schooling.