Knowing When to Make A Change

This year with my two youngest children we are doing year three of Catholic Schoolhouse which covers the Renaissance time period through modern history.  We are doing it all at home without belonging to a co-op; mainly because there isn't a co-op around to belong to.

CSH breaks all of the information up into 24 weeks - four periods of six weeks each.  In my original planning I broke it down into four periods with seven weeks each, allowing for that extra week to catch up each quarter.

Well, we're in our third week now and I already know that this schedule is just not going to work.  Instead of just plowing ahead and forcing the issue, which is something that is my first inclination, I've decided to make a change.  This is a hard thing for me to do, but I realize, finally...after 18 years...that it just doesn't make sense to force something that isn't working.  Trust me, I know what I am talking about.  No one comes out ahead by this method.

You see, our life is such that we really need to be done with school, or at least the parts that heavily involve me, by lunchtime.  There is just too much that goes on around here in the afternoon for me to be still working with people.  That's not to say that the kids aren't doing things on their own, mind you.

What happened in the first two weeks was that I felt like we were just cramming way too much into our time slots and just flying through it so that we could be done on time.  This.is.very.stressful.

After two weeks, I was dreading school.  I was hating the pace and hating the fact that our focus was more on the checking off than it was on delving into one of my favorite time periods.  We're studying St. Ignatius, for gosh sakes, and I felt like we weren't even doing him justice.

So over the weekend I decided to take each week of CSH and make it into two.  My kids, of course, were wondering what happened to their schedule, and believe it or not there was some questioning and huffing and puffing, but I explained that I just wanted us not to be rushed and that maybe we would actually retain something if we slowed down.

This is revolutionary for me, and I'm sure I'm not alone here.  I've always wanted to do this, but just never have.  I'm such a list-checking person that slowing it down and spending more time on something just doesn't come easy to me.  

This week is our first week at the slower pace and I already like it more.  We did an art project today (another thing I'm not good at!) and it was nice and relaxed because we had the time to do it.  We went to the library yesterday to look for books on the Renaissance and I wasn't trying to rush them out the door.

Sometimes you just have to look at yourself and what you've set up and ask yourself if it is really working for everyone and then if it isn't, here's the important part, MAKE A CHANGE so that it does work. That is the beauty of homeschooling.  Just because the curriculum is laid out one way, if it doesn't work for you, change it so it does.  

At this new pace, we just might not make it up to modern times and finish the curriculum, but I'm okay with that now.  Here's to slowing it down and having fun learning what needs to be learned!

God Bless!

Our Friends Were on TV!

While we have not formally resumed schooling yet (still in the 12 Days of Christmas.  Sounds reasonable, right?), we did take some time today to watch an educational program on EWTN.  Well, we also had another incentive to watch it because our good friends, Laura and Mary, were live on the "At Home with Jim and Joy" show talking about the unit study they wrote for the American Life League.  

You might remember that I reviewed and gave away some free copies of this unit study and, since we know them personally, it was so fun to watch them talk about how important it is to cultivate the pro-life mentatlity, especially in our young children.

Another exciting project they just released is a unit study for high schoolers on Euthanasia.  I'm so glad that this has come out and I definitely think it is something we'll have to look into.  Coincidentally, I just finished reading the book "Me Before You", which is about a quadriplegic who wants to die on his own terms.  It was a great book, but if you are not catechized as to why this is wrong, you will definitely be swayed by the emotional aspect of this topic.  This is why it is so important for us to arm our youth with the facts and reasons why the Church teaches as it does, so that they are not swayed by emotions.

To learn more about these important programs that our friends are producing through the American Life League, you can either go to their website, catch the  replay of the show on January 9th at 10:30 am or watch it on EWTN's youtube channel.   

Spread the word about these great unit studies and pray that we can all become ambassadors for life!

God Bless!

Our 30 Day Move

It has now been over two months since I've been here to my good ole blog.  It has been a crazy time of moving our family of nine from our rental house on five acres to our own home in a neighborhood.  In what became a rather fast-paced event, we began looking for a home, found one and then moved 30 days later.  Since I really can't do-it-all, some - no A LOT - of things had to go and anything social media like was at the top of the list.

We're moved now and all settled in so I'm back to share again.  I mean really, I had just decided that turning 50 warranted more blogging and look what happens?  Sheesh.  I'm still 50, though, so I guess it is better late than never.

There's so much to talk about that's happened over the past two months, if I can just remember it all!  Like I said, we were down to a bare bones lifestyle for awhile so I thought I'd share how we handled the whole "move your family in 30 days" thing.  And just to be clear, when our offer got accepted, we had not packed ONE box.  Not even one!  Also, we did all the packing and moving ourselves.  Here's how it went down.

1.  I knew that we needed to keep schooling as long as possible.  With two high-schoolers and two grade-schoolers, I did not want to take off too much time.  The high-schoolers kept to their schedule pretty well, it was the two younger ones that needed a revamp since much of what they did required me.  Right off the bat we put our non-essential subjects on hold until the second semester.  That included geography (which was taking up a lot of time), map skills and Latin.  That right there made a huge difference.

2.  My three college aged girls all have classes and jobs, so I knew they wouldn't be much help.  When they were home and free (about 20 minutes over 30 days :), they were required to help out as much as possible, which they did.

3.  My other four kids were an immense help, especially the two in high school!  We got into a great rhythm of doing our school work in the morning and then packing and moving things in the afternoon.  Because of their hard work, we only ended up taking two weeks off of school!

4.  I made a firm decision to add nothing new to our schedule.  We kept up with what we were already involved in but we rarely did any other activities or events beyond that.  Saying NO was not fun, but crucial.

5.  Once we got in the new house I spent the first week working like a mad woman to get it into a state of readiness.  I knew that that was all the time I had, so we worked morning till night that first week so that everything was put away and in order.  I knew that I wouldn't be able to function for very long with everyone wondering where things were.

So that is how we survived our 30 day moving adventure.  Being organized was crucial.  Also, the fact that I have decluttered on an ongoing basis made things  a lot easier.  That's not to say that we still didn't get rid of a lot of stuff!  There were MANY bags of garbage as well as multiple trips to the local Goodwill.  Hopefully everything that made the cut into the new house is stuff that we need and use and not much that is superfluous! 

It's good to be back here and, God willing, I hope to continue on a much more regular basis.  I say that, but we'll see what The Plan really is :)

God Bless!

And the Winners are:

Congratulations to:  

Lori W, Stephanie S. and Chantal C.

You've been notified by email, so look for that email and send me your address so that I can get your unit study out to you before Respect Life month begins.

Thanks to all who participated!

God Bless!

It's Pro-Life Giveaway Time!!

October is Respect Life month and I've got just the thing for you to make it memorable!  I've had the pleasure of previewing the "Life is Precious" unit study from the American Life League, and it is a great resource that you can add to your own homeschool for the month, use it with a co-op or a religious ed class you're teaching.  

The cool thing about this unit study?  I know both of the authors AND the illustrator.  I've watched all three girls grow up and become talented, wonderful, Catholic young ladies.  They've put their heart into this study and I'm happy to share it with you.

We took it for a test run a couple of months back and, even though it is geared for grades K - 3, I used it with my 4th and 6th graders and they enjoyed it.  The unit study is based around four picture books and has easy to do activities and discussion questions to help emphasize the life message in the story.  

 

I have three copies of this great unit study to give away.  Follow the Rafflecopter instructions below to win.  The giveaway begins at midnight tonight and ends on Sunday evening, so hurry and enter as many times as you can.  I'll have it shipped to you before October starts!  Good luck!

  a Rafflecopter giveaway

A Birthday and A Give Away!

It is now officially a new decade around here.  In other words, I officially turned 50 last week.  I don't feel much different, and I certainly didn't feel old until I saw "50" printed on a birthday card.  Looking at it in print, for some reason, made it seem old.  Well, we'll just put those cards away now, won't we?

We did some good celebrating.  Life's been a whirlwind, what with starting school and celebrating big life events, not to mention all of the usual stuff that goes on.  We managed to sneak in some fun and A LOT of good food.  Not only did I get a year older, I got five pounds heavier.  Back to the old grindstone to work that back off.

So I needed to come back here to let you all know that coming soon I will be having a give away.  Now, in the past those haven't worked that well for me as something always seems to get messed up.  However, I am willing to try again and will be announcing the giveaway soon!

What's the prize, you ask?  Well, I just happen to have three copies of the "Life is Precious" unit study from American Life League.  We were privileged to get a copy of it to try out and some other copies to give away.  I love unit studies, especially if you're schooling a handful of kids.  This one is great and is very easy to do, so check back in and get ready to win.

This unit study will be perfect to add to your schooling for the month of October, which is Respect Life month.  

See ya' soon!

God Bless!

Welcome 2015-16 School Year! Yay! Yippee!

So did you read the title of this post with sarcasm or with enthusiasm? Chances are, if you've been at this for a long time, there probably was a hint of sarcasm in your mind.  If this is your first year, or one of your first, then you are probably full of enthusiasm!  Good for you!!  

I spent all of Saturday, from morning till night, getting everyone organized with their books, laying out what needs to be done when and by whom, and making up all of my nice little Excel spread sheets for the various classes.  Excel is my best friend when it comes to homeschooling. I urge all homeschooling mothers to learn how to use it.

Anyhow, I thought I'd lay out what our year will look like since I know it helps me to see what other people are doing.  You can find out more detail about a lot of these books on my website.

Junior:
Math is not her strong suit so we will be spending this year going over things she has already learned to make them more cemented.
Religion - Didache "Understanding Scripture"
English - American Literature using MODG syllabus
History - "Christ and the Americas" book and workbook
Science - Apologia Biology with lab
Spanish - Duolingo

Sophmore:
Math - Algebra II using Teaching Textbooks
Religion - Apologetics using various books
Grammar and Vocabulary - one semester of each
Spanish - Duolingo
Science - Apologia Biology with lab
World Geography 

7th Grader:
Math - LOF Fractions and Decimals and Percents
Map skills
Language of God from CHC
Apologia Animals of the Ocean
Geography unit study
Faith and Freedom Readers
All About Spelling

5th Grader:
Math - LOF Fractions and Decimals and Percents
Map Skills
Language of God from CHC
Geography unit study
Faith and Freedom Readers
All About Spelling

While my 5th and 7th graders are doing many of the same subjects, some of them will be together and some will not.  I'm basing my unit study on the book "Trail Guide to World Geography" and adding in some of my own ideas.  If it turns out good, I'll put it out here to share with you.

Overall, I think it all looks doable.  I don't know that any of us is ready for summer to be over, but like I keep telling the kids, the sooner we get started, the more likely we'll be done sometime in May.   

I pray that your school year is a good one and that you can accomplish all that you want to.

God Bless!

Homeschooling Moms Helping Homeschooling Moms!

I've been away for too long!  A lot to catch up on, but I'm short on time today so I just want to leave you with this:

I was privileged to do an interview with Kerry Olvera from Catholic Homeschool Moms.  She's interviewing homeschooling moms from a variety of homeschooling backgrounds to help other homeschooling moms out, or just give them a boost if they need it.  It was so much fun and I'm very honored to have participated.  

You can find my interview here.

More will be coming, too, so check back at her home page often.  

Oh, and pass this around.  I think it has the potential to help a lot of people.

Thanks, Kerry, for the opportunity.

Be back later to update you all on more exciting things!

God Bless!

Catholic Words Memory Match

I've had the pleasure recently of meeting (via the internet) Dan Gonzalez who has a great set of cards and an app for apple and android devices that deal with Catholicism.  He's a new advertiser on my website and he also asked if I'd be willing to review his Catholic Words Memory Match card game.  He graciously sent me both volumes of his game and I can say that I am impressed with the quality of them.  

 Each deck has 26 pairs of cards with Catholic words on them.  There is also a .pdf available that has the definitions of the words so that you (if need be) and your kids can learn the proper definitions.  

The cards are designed to be used in a matching game by 1 to 5 people. 

We opted for the "1" route.  My youngest has played this and enjoyed it.  The cards are very sturdy and colorful.  They will definitely catch the attention of your children!

Even though Mr 10 yo knew the words, he still enjoyed playing the game.  I think this would be a great way to teach your budding Catholic students all of the important words of the faith.

For those of you who are into electronic ways of teaching, Dan also has a  Catholic word app that looks very cool.  I haven't tried it, but I think the Catholic Spell It looks like it might be particularly useful.

So while you're planning for summer activities, or for next school year, you might want to consider getting yourself either the card game or the app, or maybe even both.  While Dan sent these to me to review, it doesn't mean I had to like them, so when I give my endorsement to something, you can be assured that I really did enjoy it.  I hope you'll consider supporting Dan in his endeavor to bring the Catholic faith to families in new and fun ways.

God Bless!

Photographing Joy

Last weekend was our homeschool group's annual Father Daughter Ball.  I have been doing the photography for this event for at least the past five years.
 

Having just gone through all of the almost 800 pictures I took, I was reflecting on why I enjoy photographing this event so much:  JOY.  
 

These girls and their dads reflect so much joy during this evening.  Sure they're having fun with their girlfriends, but you can also tell that they just love being there with their fathers.

Every year I think that these girls have to be some of the most beautiful girls around, but it isn't just the finery in which they are dressed, or their hair or makeup, it is the joy that radiates from within each of them:  from youngest to oldest.

We all know crabby, unhappy people.  You can see the tension on their faces.  Their smiles are strained, their laughter not genuine.  What a blessing it is to be surrounded, not by that kind of attitude, but by the smiles and sunshine that are present every year at this event.

I know most of these families and so I can say that even throughout the rest of the year they're pretty happy kids.  This has to come from being part of a happy family, with happy parents.  Now, don't get me wrong, I know nothing is perfect and we're all not whistling Dixie every day, but there has to be an underlying joy in the part of the parents and family that allows the joy to shine forth so much on special events such as this.
 

It really is inspiring to be around, and to photograph.  It really reminds me how important it is to have that underlying joy in my life.  If I can't be joyful then how can I pass that on to my children.  I have known some crabby parents who manage to have joyful kids, but I think it would be much harder for those kids to overcome.

Again, joy doesn't mean that we're smiling through every bad thing that happens.  It means that even in spite of all the bad, we know there is good in the world and that God is good and that He loves us, no matter what.  That is joy and that is what I want to radiate and what I want my family to radiate.  It is also what I love most about being a photographer:  capturing that joy forever.

God Bless!

Advent = Scrooge

Advent for us can be summed up in one word:  Scrooge.

We are in the throes of performances and it is consuming our days and nights.  

Evangelizing through the arts at this time of year:  difficult, frustrating, disorganized, sleep-deprived, beautiful, rewarding, uplifting.  It runs the gamut of emotions.

Spending a lot of time with a group of 60+ adults and children at this time of year:  sickness.  Respiratory viruses, coughing, fevers, stomach flu.  One poor girl ran to the bathroom right after her last scene and threw up - the flu had hit her.  By the time another family got home, two of their littles were throwing up also, and they have a family of 12 so you know what they'll be doing this week.

Not to mention keeping up with all of the other things that make life go on.  You know:  food, clean clothing, school work, phone calls, emails, errands, running for more vitamin C and D!

Every year I say I'm not going to do this again.  Every year I do it anyhow.  Why?  Because in the end, when all is said and done and I see the fruits of what everyone has worked so hard for, I give thanks to God that we've had this small chance to bring Him glory and do His work.  One more weekend to go; two performances left.  Right now I just have one sick little girl, so hopefully by the weekend we will all be healthy and ready to go.

And then, when it is all over with, there will still be 10 days in which to physically and mentally prepare for Christmas!

God Bless!

The First Day of School

Well, today was it...the first day of school for everyone; well, almost everyone.  Ms 22 yo started her "Sophomore/Senior year plus one term".  Not quite sure how she came up with that, but I'm excited for her.  She'll be taking four classes and working part time at two jobs.

Ms 20 yo started her second semester with three classes at the local junior college.  She nannies so she's the only one who has the ability to do homework at work.

Ms 18 yo is starting at a different junior college on Tuesday because she will be starting sign language and our JC doesn't have those classes.  She has to drive farther and into a semi-questionable part of town, but it's only 2 days per week and it's all during the day.  Making sub sandwiches is what she does when she isn't at school.

Then we have Ms 15 yo who started 10th grade and Mr 14 yo who started 9th grade today.  They are excited, because as high schoolers they are banished to their rooms to work in peace and quiet.  They are not excited, however, because they are both doing Teaching Textbooks Algebra I and have to share the computer.  We'll see how long it is before fighting ensues.

That leaves me with Ms 11 yo in 6th grade and Mr 9 yo in 4th.  We're going to be doing more work together this year since there is only two of them.  For the first day I planned a lot of reading out loud stuff and then, yesterday, promptly came down with a whopper of a head cold.  Everyone seemed to enjoy it despite my nasal voice and sneezing fits. 

Not much has changed in the school room except for this wonderful addition:

We school in the "dining room" and it has only one window that opens and shuts properly and very little air flow from the rest of the house, so this fan is a welcome addition to our new year.
 
So there you have it.  We're off on another adventure.  Sitting there today it didn't even seem like we had a summer break.  Is that a good thing or a bad thing?  I'm chalking it up to me not feeling good.  Hope your school year is off to a good start!

God Bless!

We're About to Embark Upon a Few New Things

Tomorrow is the first day of school for everyone around here:  elementary, high school and college kids alike.  I can say that I'm not ready for summer to be over but I guess it had to end sometime.  My first thought was to not start the same week the college girls started just so I wasn't distracted with any of their issues like time, food and cars.  Alas, I am foregoing that and jumping in with both feet.  Hopefully their stuff will go off without a hitch.

Also, what better time to start a whole new way of eating than at the same time you're all trying to start school and get used to a new schedule?  I mean, why not?  Why not overhaul your meal plan and learn new snacks and try to figure out a new system right now?  After a lot of prayer and a lot of issues (we have a lot of females around here, remember), I have been delving into learning about Trim Healthy Mama and how we can incorporate it into our lives.  However, I don't usually do anything half-way, so again I'm jumping in with both feet and trying to change everything at once...at the same time we're starting a new school year and getting used to a new schedule.  Yeah.  Call me crazy.

This week, too, I decided it would be a great time to host a discussion panel at my house one night.  We have 6 moms who have gradated kids from their homeschool high school and sent them off in various directions, coming together to present how they did it (in 15 min or less) to about 20 moms and dads.  In my living room.  Which means it has to be clean and set up for about 26 people to sit comfortably.  Yeah.  Call me even crazier.

And, if I have time in the next few days, I'd like to figure out how to record it and turn it into a podcast.  Right.  Anyone know anything about this?  Maybe it's easy, I don't know, I haven't started researching it yet.  Any help would be greatly appreciated.

So that's where I've been these past two weeks; trying to finish up my summer, plan for the fall and totally change my food stock.  For those of you starting school next week, too, many blessings to you.

God Bless!

Since Last Time...

What a crazy busy week this has been!  Last weekend was the Quinceanera and boy was that a blast.  Lots of good food, good music and hours of dancing.  Let's just say that Sunday wasn't terribly productive - we were just resting in the Lord; kind of like we're supposed to, I guess :)  Oh, and we had a wake to go to.  And we had another wake to go to on Monday evening.  Who else is like me and waiting for that third one to pop up soon??? 

Tuesday evening was our annual home school group graduation.  Mr 13 yo graduated from 8th grade. Quite the character, he is.

He's our first boy graduate and, let me tell you, a lot easier to get ready!  No hair, no makeup, no nails needing to be painted.  He's too young to shave, so just put on some clean clothes, grab the graduation garb and run out the door.  

We had a nice Mass and a reception afterwards with lots of good food and desserts. 

We're like every other family in that we argue and don't always get along, but most of the time my kids like each other and know how to have fun together and that puts a smile on this mama's face.

The rest of this week is devoted to getting ready for his party this weekend and also another 50th anniversary celebration.  

I sure hope summer doesn't go by as fast as this week has!

 God Bless!

Learning With Star Wars

 

Mr 9 yo has always struggled with reading.  I have to say, though, that we've seen some great improvements this year and we're discovering more ways to help him get up to speed.  To that end, Ms 22 yo bought him some of these Star War Phonics books for Christmas and we've been reading through them over the past few weeks.

Mr 9 yo loves Star Wars, and like most boys his age, he has memorized every aspect of all of the movies.  Because of this, he has been very motivated to read these little books and has done a great job.

However, in addition to being a budding reader, he is also an extreme critic of the compilers of these books.  Every time we sit down to read them, I get one or more of the following:

1.  A dissertation on why the picture on any given page was the wrong one to use.

2.  A dissertation on how the pictures are not in the correct order, and/or disbelief that they could dare use pictures from different movies in the same book.

3.  Disgust at the fact that they have not represented someone or something in the correct way.

It amazes me that this kid can remember exactly what part of which movie a screen shot of Luke's face comes from, but he consistently mixes up his vowels.  Oh the complexity of the human mind!  It has been a fun exercise for both of us, but I think I learned more about Star Wars than he did about reading.  Well, at least now I know what direction to go in in order to motivate him to try!

God Bless!

 affiliate links included 

Our Annual Father Daughter Ball

About a week and a half ago we had our 13th Annual Father Daughter Ball.  Typically we have a Snow Ball in January, but this year, due to Lent starting later than normal, we had a Sweetheart Ball in February...and almost had to cancel it due to snow.  Oh well, we ended up going for it and the weather wasn't as bad as they had predicted.  Given that it was the dads that were doing the driving, they didn't let a little snow stand in the way of a great evening with their daughter(s).

We had about 150 people at this year's event.  Looks like we might have to find a bigger venue!  There were appetizers and "mixed" drinks (a variety of sodas and fruit juices), introductions of all of the families, a buffet dinner, a plethora of desserts, pictures and dancing.  All-in-all it was a great evening.

This year I decided to spice things up in the photo area and brought in some props to use.  It was a lot of fun for the girls and the dads!  I'll be quiet now and let the photos speak for themselves!

My family

Some fun with props

Dinner!

The Patroness of our homeschool group

Dessert!

Dancing

My dh and Ms 15 yo

Our annual broom dance

Ms 21 yo, Ms 18 yo and a friend :)

Some of our fun-loving dads

God Bless!

CCM and Our Curriculum

This year I really wanted to focus on writing for three of my four students so I am finally going to implement the IEW Student Writing Intensive B series for them.  Well, I say that I am going to do it, but truth is I'm getting a lot of help in the form of two young ladies who have English degrees who went through the program and are holding a class at my house once a week for a handful of kids.  Yeah, makes a big difference!  

Anyhow, I really want to make sure we all have the time we need to focus on writing, so I decided to get the Classically Catholic Memory - Gamma Year program and use it to cover the rest of the subjects.  Here is how I am laying that out:

- I'm taking two weeks for each week of the program (something they recommend doing), so I'll have Week A and Week B.

Week A will go as follows:

Monday - introduce all of the material, practice it, listen to the CD provided and have them start to memorize it.

Tuesday - Review all of the material for the week and focus on Religion and Latin.  This means I'll read the question and surrounding information from the Baltimore Catechism and supplement with additional information on the subject so that the kids get the context of the statement to be learned.  For Latin, the first hymn we're learning is the Salve Regina.  We're all familiar with it, so I'm using the verses to be learned for handwriting practice as well as learning the basic tune on the piano.

Wednesday - Review all of the material and focus on History.  The book gives some good background information on the topics to be learned for the week.  This year focuses on the 1500s thru the 1800s and American history specifically.  I've got some other history books, so we'll supplement our information with those books.

Thursday - Review all of the material and focus on Science.  The Gamma year covers chemistry and physics and the book gives a lot of great experiments to do to make understanding and learning the material easier to do.  On this day, I'm just following the book.

Friday is always catch up day.

Week B
Monday - Review all of the material and focus on Geography.  We'll be learning about the Americas this year and they have some pretty cool maps to work with so we'll be doing those activities and supplementing with various books on the current topic.

Tuesday - Review all of the material and focus on Poetry.  The CCM curriculum includes two poems, an easier one and a more difficult one.  I have kids for both so we will be going over both poems.  I plan on learning more about the poets and poetry in general during this time.

Wednesday - Review all of the material and focus on Timeline.  Each week the kids have to memorize around 8 major events from creation to John Paul II.  There is a lot of information contained on the cards provided so we'll be going through that and then supplementing with other books when necessary.  I'm looking forward to focusing on pairing up secular and religious history.  Sometimes I think about one or the other but rarely put them in context with each other.  When that happens, it is really cool :)

Thursday - This will be recitation day.  Each child will have a chance to show what he has memorized throughout the past two weeks.

So there you have it, a basic outline of our curriculum.  Of course we will be doing Life of Fred math at the various levels and adding in our music, PE and fine arts classes through our various other activities.  I think this will give us good coverage of all areas. I'm not sure how I'll keep updating this yet as I have a few ideas, so stay tuned to find out how this all goes.

We start on the 26th so may God bless all of us as we begin another year of educating our children for eternity :)


God Bless!

A Good Homeschool Group is Helpful

We had the annual planning meeting for our homeschool group last night.  This group has been in existence for 20+ years and is still going, despite the usual turnover in members.  Most of the original families have "graduated" but new families come along every year to fill in the gaps and add in their own experience and talents.

Last night we had a nice mix of us "veterans" as well as new families with young children.  Oh how it was such a short time ago that it was me who was asking all those questions instead of answering them!!

One of the keys to a long standing homeschool group is new families who join and start doing things, taking the proverbial reigns as it were, whether or not us veteran families join in.   We went through a period where the new moms would get frustrated when they would plan an activity and no older families would be able to make it.  Yes it is frustrating, but unfortunately that is the way it is when your kids get older.  We still try to participate in as much as we can, but it is often hard to make it to everything.  A successful group will have new families who keep building on the foundations that have already been laid.

Our homeschool group, while not perfect, has been an indispensable part of our homeschooling journey.  I think not having any kind of support group would make the job that much more stressful.  If you are looking for a homeschool group in your area try asking around at your parish for other homeschoolers.  You can search for groups on the internet; most will have some kind of web presence and contact information.  Here is one example of a great place to start.  If you just cannot find any kind of group, consider finding a few other families and starting your own!

No matter what, a good support system really makes homeschooling so much easier.  If you already belong to a good group, Praise the Lord.  If you don't, I pray that you are able to find the camaraderie and help that comes with a good, Catholic support group.

God Bless!