Captain John Smith looked dashing in a white shirt, maroon tunic, and purple cape. Pocahontas was lovely herself in a deer skin dress. Okay, it wasn't real deer skin. It was American History Homeschool Co-op day. We had finished reviewing the Renaissance and Reformation. We had finished learning about the Native Americans and the Spanish explorers. Now, it is was time to learn about Jamestown. We decided to add some drama to the day by acting out the story of Princess Pocahontas saving Captain John Smith's life. The week before, we had made Native American vests and headdresses. The children put them on to become members of Powhatan's tribe. The director, homeschool Mom Molly, read up on the story an reminded the children of the story before they started planning the drama.
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As a young homeschool mom back in the early 1990s, I read a book on how to create your own unit studies by Valerie Bendt. I was so excited, but I was too nervous to use unit studies for the whole year. Light-bulb moment! What about starting with Christmas unit studies? I liked that idea and for several years we did "normal school" all year except December. What fun we had in December. We celebrated Christmas in Colonial America one year reading lovely stories, making berry ink, writing with feather pens, trying out recipes from Mount Vernon, George Washington's home, playing "Made for Trade," and writing little stories set in the American colonies. Since hospitality was important in Colonials Days, we studied hospitality for our devotions. We also learned to decorate and set the table Colonial style: symmetrical with pewter, silver, pineapples, greenery, and formality. We ended our studies with a colonial tea where the girls had all their colonial crafts on display. Their friends loved the tussie-musssie, wooden fans, and dolls. Of course, we had to dress up. We gave little booklets to family members for Christmas that year with their stories, poems, and colonial drawings. That year led to more years. One year was cookies with picture books about cookies and Christmas. Of course, we made several kinds of cookies to freeze and later give away. We also made cookie mixes in jars to give as gifts. We had so much fun baking together and our studies included making gift tags, wrapping up plates of cookies festively, and delivering gifts to family and friends. More Christmas Unit StudiesMy favorite curriculum: living books and classic literature. I love books! Our homeschooling is centered on timeless novels and works. We love to snuggle up and read a good book like Swiss Family Robinson or A Christmas Carol aloud. Everyone in our family is always in the middle of a good book. It might be an inspirational classic like Hinds Feet on High Places. Or a Golden Age cozy mystery by Agatha Christie or G.K. Chesterton. It might be a well-worn book that's been read over and over again like Ben Hur or Little Women. We love books! However, we had wasted time reading some poorly written novels or books with unwholesome content. Over the years, I have weeded out the bad, discovered hidden gems in used book stores, and put together my own reading lists for my children to read whatever they want to read. I have lined my bookshelves with these living books and novels. And I am always updating and adding to these lists. Where to Find These Lists"I'm interested in homeschooling my own children after talking to your son," a young man said to my friend Laura. This son was a distractable student and Laura was excited to hear what he had to say to others about about homeschooling. She was excited to know that he was very grateful for the time Laura had invested in his education. What about other grads? Were they thankful, too? Most of the homeschooler grads I know want to homeschool their own kids one day. Or they do already. I asked a few homeschoolers and homeschool grads to share why they are thankful that they are being homeschooled or were homeschooled in the past. I told them to be brief. Let there answers reassure you that it is worth the sacrifice to educate our children at home. One thing I really appreciated about homeschooling was the flexibility in the school-day schedule. I wasn't forced to work exactly one hour on math, one hour on science, one hour on writing, etc. It freed me to finish quickly if I could or take more time to understand a difficult subject. The only thing my mom made us time was reading. She required us to read a book at least an hour a day. Homeschooling also allowed me to get a little more sleep than most public schoolers probably would and it allowed me to have a relaxing morning routine. (After all, I didn't have to wait for a bus to drive me to classes!) In high school, I was able to wake up at 6, have my quiet time, go for a run, and shower before starting my first subject. That helped me cultivate the habit of spending time with Jesus to start my day. In those precious times of intimate quiet with the Lord, I fell in love with Him. If you're homeschooled, don't waste this opportunity to make Jesus the center of your schedule. You won't regret it. I love homeschooling. It's real life. It's a lifestyle of learning. It's families growing closer. It children growing up to be world changers. It's the opportunity to explore so many possibilities. It's a blast! My husband and I are firmly committed to our local church. We have lived this way since we both gave our hearts to Christ as teenagers. We love ministry! As our children grow up, they join us in ministry. They help in the nursery, teach Sunday school, mix sound, play on the worship team, sing on the worship team, mentor other believers, lead Bible studies, and serve in practical ways all before they turn 18. Shouldn't they get some high school credit for that? I believe that they should! Teens lean so much with hands-on ministry. Our teens have learned about sound technology, singing, music, child development, counseling, mentoring, web design, making flyers, creating brochures, leading meetings, building, decorating, hosting conferences, speaking at conferences, and more! Ministry has not just been an opportunity to serve others and the Lord, it has been an open door to knowledge and wisdom they will reap the benefits of for years to come. So how do you turn ministry into high school credit? It's a brand-new school year. You want everything to go perfectly. Oh, and did I mention you have a brand-new baby. A precious bundle of joy that lights up your life. And keeps you awake all night. You are sore and your body is still recovering. Is that you? This school year can still be the best ever! For the beginning of the school year, I recommend delaying the start or modifying it. School can start a month late and go a month longer, or you can skip most breaks and still have it end on time. If you have high school and middle school children, have them do the work they can do independently. Have them check in with you two or three times a day and just give you a quick summary of what they've completed. For younger children, if you must school, focus only on reading and math. Have them read aloud to you and read on their own. If they can do math independently, let them do math and have an older sibling check it. Or dad can check it each night when he gets home. Then, it's time for movies. So many educational movies and documentaries out there that would be fun to cuddle up and watch. We love the Drive Thru History videos, as well as Dave Barton's government sets. There are so many educational cartoons like Liberty Kids or Peanuts This is America. You can watch a few sessions each day for the first month. My memories of teaching children to read always include me nursing a baby as I went over letter sounds or blending with them. I worried that I was somehow robbing my children. Here's what the Lord showed me. "Cancel the lunches? No way!" My son was indignant. "That's the best part of history co-op!" "We won't cancel. It's just that some of the Moms are complaining," I replied. The next morning at 20th Century History Co-op, I asked the children and teens if they enjoyed the lunches. They raved and raved about them, proving to be as emotionally enthusiastic about them as my son. You see we were studying world history of the 20th century with HIS Story of the 20th Century and we were making food each week that corresponded to that place and time period. We were gathering recipes and trying out new dishes. It all started when my friend Laura and I were studying geography and wanted to get the dads more interested in what the kids were learning. "They love food," we decided and started making meals from other countries as we studied those countries. The dads loved it! The next year was American History and the kids still wanted to cook and eat recipes. Now, we would have to gather up American History recipes. So we did. And we ate! Of course, we had to find the recipes and in the research we were learning, but don't tell anyone that. We loved cooking and baking up recipes, often modernizing them to use blenders, mixers, and already-butchered meat. Why Food Makes History Fun!What is great way to eat popcorn, curl up with a pillow, and do school at the same time? Right! Watch a movie. Movies can enrich our homeschooling experience! Movies are fun! Our first experience with using movies for school was Gidget Goes Hawaiian when we did a unit study on Hawaii. Since then, we have expanded to including monthly movies for history and geography. Different scenes come to my mind from movies I've seen over the years. My idea of the Sahara desert comes from watching movies where the hero is trekking across the Sahara. The image I have of a Middle Eastern Bazaar comes from watching Indiana Jones. So many movies I've seen are set in New York City that I feel like I know that city though I've only been there three times in my life. Likewise, the Anne movies make me feel that Prince Edward Island is my second home. Movies draw you in and if they do a good job of making ancient, or more modern times, come alive, they will benefit your children. In our house, we often start our study of a time period by working on a timeline while we watch a movie. When we studied the 20th Century decade by decade, we would work on a timeline and watch a movie. As we pasted photos of President Wilson, Russia's Stalin, and Germany's Kaiser Wilhelm, we watched the exciting story of Sergeant York, a godly hero of World War I. Our next step was to learn about the Balkans, the step-by-step unfolding of World War I, the War to End All Wars, heroes like Nurse Cavell, and dog fighting. For us, it's been a fun way to introduce a new season of study. Other times, we have used movies as a treat when we finish a unit study. Whether we watch movies in the beginning, middle, or end of a history study, movies are a hit in our house! Here are some of our favorites. It started when my oldest son was in fourth grade. He needed to study geography, but I had never studied geography before. He was only in fourth grade, so I wasn’t too afraid. I found a LIFEPAC® set by Alpha Omega Publications® which cover the geography of the world at a fourth-grade level. We read all the lessons and studied the globe together. But what do we do when they are in High School? What do we do when the classes we teach them can affect the rest of their lives? The short answer is that we do the same thing that I did when Zack was in fourth grade. We learn. No matter what grade you are teaching, it is always best for you to understand what you are teaching before you begin. Sometimes that is easy. Most adults already know how to read, write basic sentences, add, subtract, multiply, and divide. Sometimes it is not as easy. You might not have done well in math, so you struggle with algebra. Many schools make students pick between history and geography at some point, so you might have holes in your learning of one or the other. Your student may be very interested in forensic science, which you never studied. As with all decisions about our families and our homeschooling, we need to begin by seeking the Lord. You want to teach from God’s plan, not just make your plan and ask God to bless it. Pray about what classes your student should take. Pray for wisdom in selecting material to teach these subjects. Spend some time listening for the Lord to speak about these classes. Don’t forget to pray that the Lord would bless your time preparing and your learning as well as your student’s. In Geography Co-op this year, I wanted the children to make beautiful maps of each continent so that they would look nice enough to hang on the wall. "Well, I better die to that dream," I told myself. I delegated the mapping portion of geography co-op to my friend Pattie. Pattie took my instructions to heart and in order to make the beautiful maps happen, she started a contest, paying the winner in each age group a dollar. Hey, a little free-market competition couldn't hurt. The maps these children produced were gorgeous. Now, I don't know if they still would have been without the competition, but I was blown away! Why does mapping matter anyway? Benefits of MappingWe love history in our house. We to love to read historical fiction, dress up, cook up old recipes, and sing historical songs. We also like to study art as we move through time in our history studies. One year we got a collection American Art posters from the National Gallery of Art to review. This was a wonderful combination of artists. And not just paintings. There was a poster of Native American baskets and another of architecture. My favorite painting was of Paul Revere with his silver creations. I love that painting! We passed out silver pieces that I had inherited from my grandmother and talked about Paul Revere as an artist. As time went on, we wanted to dig a little deeper into certain artists. We decided to choose a few like Gilbert Stuart, John James Audubon, and Norman Rockwell. Elements of Art & Principles of DesignWe kicked off our Homeschool Geography Co-op with a Plane Ride because our goal is to Travel Around The World through reading, crafts, mapping, and hands-on learning fun this year. Did I mention food and feasting? This month, we were studying Europe, so we had another Geography Feast using Travel God's World Cookbook. Each family made a dish from a country in Europe. I made EZ Paella from Spain. Pattie made Swedish Cabbage Pudding (it also has ground beef and potatoes, too), Molly made Bratwurst and Sauerkraut from Germany, and Leanne made Fruit Crumble from England. What delightful years I experienced in the first years of motherhood as God blessed me with baby girls first. As we walked to the playground, we would pass the big yellow school bus. My heart would freeze. I would miss my children so much when they started school. Just thinking about it made me so sad. Why should someone else get to spend all day with them? They were my babies! At the same time, I was passing the yellow school bus several days a week, I was meeting homeschool families at church who impressed me with their poise, confidence, good manners, and love for Jesus. I had to check out homeschooling. As I prayed about the possibility of homeschooling with my husband Mike, we felt God stirring our hearts. We sensed He was calling us to ministry! The ministry of educating our children. Wow! What a high calling and privilege! Excitement stirred in our hearts back in 1990 and the following year, we took the plunge. Since then, we have never looked back. Why do we homeschool? Because God called us to homeschool! We have been blessed to see so many blessings and benefits to homeschooling. When we get together with other homeschool parents, we talk about all kinds of things related to homeschooling: Why we homeschool. Our philosophy of homeschooling. What curriculum we are using. Our homeschool co-ops and field trips. How are children are growing in godly character. All of that is wonderful! I love talking about all those things! However. Sometimes we need to remind ourselves that love is the heart of homeschooling, it's what motivates us, it's why we sacrifice. We homeschooling because we love our children. We homeschool to express love to our children. We homeschool because we love God and want to teach our children to love Him, too. Just as the heart pumps life to the whole body, love brings life to our home and our home school. I’ve dabbled in art since I was a child. There always seemed to be other interests and priorities which prevented me from pursuing what talent I may possess. One of those other interests was homeschooling my children. As we worked through the years I met a few promising artists who were just not sure where to get training. Art school, after all, is very expensive, right? This year I was blessed with the opportunity to take an acrylic painting class with the students in our homeschool co-op. I started learning so much after just one class. However, what do you do if you don’t have access to a professional painter who will teach you or your children? You go online! One of our homework assignments was to paint a cherry using the Beginners Acrylic Still Life Course at the Will Kemp Art School. You can read about the project and watch this series of YouTube videos by going to his website: http://willkempartschool.com/beginners-acrylic-still-life-course-part-1/. This page includes a list of supplies needed, some pictures of the project in process and loads of links and helpful suggestions. I didn’t have access to exactly all the same products and he used but my local Michael’s had acceptable alternatives.
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