How Is Your School Year Going?

This year we got a jump on our school year by being in early August.  People were surprised and when they asked 'why' I told them that I like to give myself flexibility during the year.

This is how our year has gone so far....

August 1st - we had our first day. Most weeks after this we did 5 day weeks, but a few we only did 4.  

In early September we did a field trip to Hawk Mountain with some friends from church. Near the end of September the kids were able to be a part of making a commercial for Cherry Crest Adventure Farm.  Several of our kids participated in the Western equine events at the Lampeter Fair.  The next week we went on a fall foliage trip to New England and ended up with so many educational opportunities...we studied the seashore during low tide along the Maine coast, toured a Maple syrup museum, traveled from Vermont to New York on a ferry, hiked in the Adirondacks and experienced Whiteface Mountain and ended the day at sunset on Lake Ontario.  At the end of October we went to Florida for my Mother in Law's 90th birthday! We surprised her with us, a family dinner and a party with many, many old friends!  


We also managed an evening with Grandpa and his telescope and spent the evening looking at Jupiter and the four Galilean Moons.

Believe it or not we have 71 days of school under our belts, and with the schedule I have planned for the rest of the year, we will hit day 100 of school on December 30th.  

This has encouraged me to continue allowing for flexibility in our school year.  Frankly we have needed it.


This is the blessing of home education.  We can work hard and diligently and yet take advantage of opportunities to serve, travel, work, etc...this is like real life.


So how is your year going?  What things have you struggled with?  Any tips you'd like to share?

An Excellent Devotional For Today

This is from a Daily Devotional from Alpha Omega - Thanks to my friend Tamara for forwarding it to me!

The Lone Tree
Tuesday / April 27, 2010


"And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper" (Psalm 1:3).

Attempting to find a few moments with the Lord before the beginning of our homeschooling day, I hiked the ragged bluffs in the pasture near our ranch. As I walked through the dry stubble, sage brush, and yucca plants, I came across a small cottonwood tree. With no other trees of any kind close by for miles, it looked completely out of place. The rocky ground in which it grew offered little nourishment, and I knew months had passed since any rain had fallen. "How does this little tree stay alive out here all by itself?" I asked myself.

Are you interested in a printed version of this devotional? Then check out the new Daily Focus devotional book, perfect for your own Bible study or as a gift. Order your copy today!

Reflecting on the tree's life, I began to see it as a symbol of my own. For the past ten years, I had been homeschooling our children and had felt like a loner. Not only was homeschooling going against the flow, but it was also completely out of the main stream. I found no encouraging nourishment from family or church friends and wondered, like I did about this little tree, how much longer I could survive. But then the Holy Spirit spoke to my heart and showed me something amazing. I noticed a difference in the soil's color near the tree's base. As I looked closer, it became evident that this tree's roots went down many feet below the surface. I remembered then what my son and I had learned when studying the topography of the area. Deep below the surface, there was an aquifer, an underground river bringing life-giving water to this little tree. I smiled and said, "Thank You, Lord," as I learned God's lesson for the morning.

For the next several years, I remembered the lesson of the lone tree whenever I felt lonely or homeschooling became difficult. Each time I felt used up and dry, I stretched my roots of faith a little deeper and found the nourishment and life-giving water of God's love. Even though I couldn't see Him, the Holy Spirit's peace was always present. Best of all, this isn't just my story. If you are a homeschooler finding yourself alone in the middle of a dry day, the same life-giving water is waiting to bless you, too. "But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life" (John 4:14).

Lord, thank You for refreshing me when I am empty. Teach me to reach for You whenever homeschooling leaves me feeling afraid or lonely and fill me with Your strength and love. In the wonderful name of Jesus, Amen.

Encouragement For Mothers

Sally Clarkson is an author, speaker and owner of WholeHeart Ministries with her husband Clay, and home educating mother of four.

I have read her several of her books, including "Educating the WholeHearted Child," "Seasons of a Mother's Heart." I have always been encouraged to continue on this path of educating my children the way God called my husband and I to.

She blogs at 'I Take Joy'.

Her post from today was one of seeing the 'fruit' of her years of home educating now that her children are all adults, or nearly adults. It is an encouragement to keep our vision and keep doing the invaluable work of mothering and educating.

Here is a bit...

"Often, I find that in the absence of a clear enough vision for their children and homes, mothers replace conviction and vision with lots of activities and distractions for their children. This hyper-activity and rushing around to an endless list of expensive lessons and experiences and toys, and the buying of the newest expensive curriculum and technological options make moms feel like they are accomplishing something.

However, when the home-life of children is rich with excellent, classic literature and great stories, passionate Biblical devotions, rousing dinner-table discussions around sumptuous, tasty meals, lots of love and affection given and household chores attended to— a child will become committed to all that is good and excellent and develop a moral and compassionate soul for all the divinely important values."

Go here to read the rest of today's post.

Blessings,

Deanna

Great Article

Success!!!!

I have a friend who has a daughter with some math challenges. She knows that this is one of the biggest areas that Jonathan struggles with, so she came to me to see how we deal with it.

I encouraged her to focus more on her daughter's attitude than the quantity of the work completed.

This is why I say that.

When a child struggles with a subject it can be that either they have no desire to learn so are not putting forth an effort or they really do not get it.

I have seen both at work here. Jonathan really tries and cannot easily get concepts whereas Mikey gets most everything and is therefore bored and thinks that he hates school...sigh. I am working both ends of the spectrum here.

If I continue daily to expect Jonathan to move on through and past information that he did not grasp just to keep up a schedule
I am not helping him.
It serves to make him angry with himself for poor performance and then self-fulfills his prophecy that he can't "get" math!

If I can break that same schedule up into bite sized pieces that he can handle and he sees himself with some level of success each day it enables him to build the confidence that he can do it...sometimes this is possible for him...sometimes not.
As I said in a previous post we have made compensations for his inability to memorize the multiplication tables in the interest of his being able to move forward in higher math processes.
That has been a very good thing.

Having success nearly every day has enabled Jonathan to proceed much farther this year than I would have predicted possible. I am excited for him and look forward to seeing how far he gets.

Having my friend ask these questions was good...but to get an e-mail four days later with much excitement that her daughter had gotten a concept that she had been struggling with was even better!!!

Sometimes we, as the mom/teacher, need to relax a bit so our children can succeed.

Do you know what I am saying?

Have you ever been in a pressurized situation where someone is just really on your case to do something and the harder they push the more you focus on the fact that they are pushing and less on the task that they wish for you to complete?

I think of myself at a grocery store counting out change. If the cashier is all anxious and huffy I can be distracted by her attitude and lose count making it take all the longer. This just makes the situation worse. I believe that many times this is what we do to our children by expressing, verbally or not, our own frustration at their seeming inability to learn.
They focus on the "Can'ts" instead of the "Can's".
They worry about our level of frustration to the point of distracting themselves.

When we relax and watch for an attitude that is trying...and then work along side the struggling child...in an encouraging way...we get much better results than we would have by just trying to be work processors with these challenged children.

So, that was my point about the attitude. If your child is demonstrating that they are trying but just are not getting it...make a compensation...cut the lesson size down...let them do it in three days instead of one...whatever it takes for them to see success. Sometimes I have just skipped a chapter if need be and come back to it later.

Be flexible. Relax. Your child will get what he or she is capable of and that is what God designed them to achieve.

I would be amazed if God has a career in math planned for Jonathan.

However, I can easily see Jonathan in ministry, counseling, writing, art or many other areas where he is extremely gifted.

Let us try not to major in our children's minors...but keep keeping on...getting to the next level...at their pace.
Always encouraging and lifting these children up!

Your friend,

Becky K.

A Week Already?

Yikes! It has been a week since our last post here at Homeschooling at Hospitality Lane. During this week my husband has left on a business trip, the kids and I have been very busy with our school work, a painting project in the bathroom and playing with friends. O.k. that is the simple way to explain this past week. It has actually been crazy.

Poor Mrs. Rabe and family have been battling a nasty "bug" that had better get out of their home soon. Poor dears! Feel strong soon, my dear friends.

Today's music class at co-op will be a continuation of the silliness that was begun last Thursday. I ran into one of the students this week and he was quick to bring me his paper from class and tell me about it...as if I didn't already know! Ha! Made my day, that little Caleb!

For today's class I have written a madlib. These are such a blast and I love to write them myself to go along with the theme of the class. The only trouble is that they will ask for more....

How is your school year progressing? Any fun ideas to share? Feel free to email me at beckypfa@yahoo.com and let me know. You never know, you may end up as a guest contributor! We are looking for fun and creative ideas to share.

Blessings!
Becky K.