Wednesday, December 21, 2011

World's Greatest Stories - a Review

The kids have always loved audio books. Since Paul was little he has listened to all kinds of books on tape and CD. We listen in the car, before bed, at rest time, or anytime of day the kiddos need a little relaxation, or just want to listen to a story and I don't have a minute to read to them.


So, what could be better for someone who loves audio stories then the actual words of the Bible on CD--The World's Greatest Stories. This is not just anyone reading the Bible though. It's George Sarris who is an amazing storyteller. He uses different voices and adds in a few sound effects to make the story come to life. My children were amazed that it was only ONE person telling the story. The story comes directly from the Bible--you can choose either KJV or NIV. There are no words added or taken away, it is Bible, word for word! Mr. Sarris does give a short intro to each story telling about what happened just before the story he is about to tell.

You can here a short clip of the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abendego here. I am sure you will be amazed at what a wonderful job George Sarris does.

These stories aren't just for kids to listen to either. Steve and I both enjoyed listening to the stories. It made the Bible become more real then it has ever been for me and the kids. They were begging for more. Even Molly, at 4 years old, has enjoyed these CD's and learned from them. They have spawned great discussions between Paul and I and have inspired him to learn more. So, after reviewing the 1st CD, The Prophets, I purchased all of the CD's produced. We now have the following:

The Prophets
The Life of Christ
The Beginnings
Joshua and Esther
Joseph and His Brothers
Defeating Giants


And we can't wait to see if more are produced because we will be ordering them as soon as they are released.

Each CD is about an hour in length. Making them perfect for car rides.

You can see a complete list of the stories on each CD as well as order them for only $7.95 each here. Currently, if you purchase 6 CD's, shipping is free.


Disclosure: We were given a copy of "The Prophets" CD in exchange for an honest review. All opinions given here are my own and there was no other compensation give for this review.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Friday, December 9, 2011

Pitsco - a Review

Hands on is always good when you have an active ten year old and it's dark at 5 in the afternoon. I always try to find some fun hands-on activities for the kids to do this time of year, so they don't just continuously ask to watch tv or play the Wii. When we were given the opportunity to review Pitsco's "Medieval Machines Pack" I knew it was perfect for some hands-on activities for Paul as well as some time with Daddy!


The "Medieval Machines Pack" comes with a catapult and trebuchet to build as well as a "Siege Machines" book to help with some activities to add in science, math, and history in to the building and "playing" with these machines.

Steve set aside some time to build the catapult with Paul first. Even Pappy came over from next door to watch the building. It was great for the three of them to work together on a project. Paul loved the time with his two favorite men. I tried to stay out of their way but of course I had to sneak in and get a picture.





From Steve: "It was a great experience building the catapult with Paul. I enjoyed the time spent with him and it presented a good opportunity to teach him about early siege machines. However, it was more me building and explaining and him following along. He could not have built this himself."

They waited and built the trebuchet a few nights later (it actually took two evenings to build) Pappy was not available these two nights (He claims he is retired now so he has more time, but he seems to be busier since he has retired than he has ever been :-)





From Steve: "The trebuchet was a little tougher to build, the nylon thread and the paper-clip shaping that it required added another level of complexity that Paul could not have accomplished on his own. It did offer more great opportunity for discussing siege machines"

The "Medieval Machines Pack" is geared for 5th grade and up, and with Paul being a young 5th grader it required a little more patience than he had. The gluing and waiting was just too much for him, so Dad and Pappy were there to talk to while they waited. I think he would need to be a couple years older, maybe 12 or 13, before this is something he could do independently. But, it is definitely something a 5th grader can do with a parent and it made a wonderful learning experience as well as a way to spend quality time together.

All three kids had a blast "using" the machines, and it was really a fun and educational experience for the entire family. They catapult and trebuchet actually worked quite well. We compared the two and found the catapult can go further. We learned that the trebuchet was for going high and up over castle walls while the catapult is more for battering the walls. Paul and Zach thought this was great knowledge to have and have "battered" a few walls in our home with the clay balls (the clay was included in the kit!) we made for the machines. The machines are amazingly sturdy too. Anything that can stand up to Zach playing with it is pretty amazing!

The book on siege machines was a great way to further the study. I must admit that we have yet to do many of the activities in the book. The kids have had so much fun playing with the machines I have left it at that. We did a couple of the lessons on torsion and tension as well as averages. They were very well written and easy to follow. There are more lessons in their on metric conversion, force and motion, and more! We are going to add these in to our science and Math after the holidays.


Pitsco offers many wonderful products for combining history, science, math and technology. This kit is priced at only $21.95 and would make a great Christmas gift for a medieval enthusiast or an avid builder. You can also take a look around their website for lots of other hands-on projects that are fun and educational.

Be sure and go check out what other TOS Crew Members have to say about Pitsco here.

Disclosure: I recieved the above products for free in exchange for an honest review. All opinions above are my own honest opinion. There was no other compensation given for this review.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Artistic Pursuits - a review

My kiddos, like most kids, love anything art related. They love drawing, coloring, crafts, and especially painting. I have always encouraged their exploration in this area. We have an art area set up in one portion of our "library" and all their supplies are there to use as they would like. Zach and Molly will spend an hour or two at a time drawing, coloring, cutting and pasting. Zach is my most creative one. He will often come downstairs and show me some cut-and-paste creation of his that is amazing. Molly is 4 so her creations are often quite abstract. Paul, well, he's your typical first-born perfectionist, so he either stays away from the art table or works on something for hours. He is quite good and has his own art supplies the little ones aren't allowed to touch but he takes forever and he is never satisfied! So, they were very excited to review Artistic Pursuits.



Artistic Pursuits has several books available from preschool through high school. And there are several different books available at each level. We chose the K-3 level and we started with Book 1. This level worked great, even with Paul who is in 5th grade. Paul would have enjoyed the older book as well, but it worked great for me to combine them for this one. You can see more about this particular book "An Introduction to the Visual Arts"here The book has 32 lessons and is divided into three sections:

What Artists Do
What Artists See
Exploring Ancient Art


The supplies needed for the book are all given in a list at the beginning of the book. You can purchase supply packs on their website here. We chose to purchase supplies for a few lessons at a time at our local craft store. It would be great to order the complete supply pack but it just wasn't feasible, cost wise, for us.



Each lesson gives a short bit of information for the parent/teacher to read to the child as well as a famous work of art to "study". The lessons are short but very well written. My kids enjoy them and they are learning a little about how an artist works. As we move in to the "Exploring Ancient Art" section of the book we will also learn about history through art, I am very excited about that section. Later books get more in to specific artists, which will be very fun to explore after we complete this book. After the written lesson the student is given an assignment of something to "create" using a specific medium. I love the idea of combining art history, art appreciation, and art instruction all into one curriculum. Artistic Pursuits does a wonderful job of combining these three aspects.

The kids all really enjoyed it. They love the special ebony pencils that we only get out for art class. The water color crayons were also a big hit. I love the fact that they are being introduced to different mediums at a young age. We have used soft pastels, oil pastels, water color crayons, and more.

Paul adores the structure of the curriculum. He likes being given specific instructions such as "draw something you can see right now using your ebony pencil".  This is the view he chose: my kitchen sink with the window and the ceramic pig that is beside my sink.



Zach, being my creative child, is the one most in love with the idea of having an actual art curriculum. However, because he is creative he doesn't necessarily like to go with the exact lesson. To keep him from having a complete meltdown I let him choose what he wants to draw as long as he uses the medium choice for the day.


Molly is happy just doing any kind of art, and she especially loves the idea of new paints and crayons and special paper that is only for art time with Mommy.




When I have looked at various art curriculums I just never found anything that really caught my eye. Adding another subject to research and decide what was best was just not something I wanted to do. So, I am incredibly thankful and feel abundantly blessed that I was able to review Artistic Pursuits. I didn't have to do any research to find the best program, it was handed to me! Artistic Pursuits is definitely phenomenal and so easy to use. There is very little preparation needed from me, except making sure there are the correct supplies on hand. From now on we will be purchasing these books and working through them each year. They are very reasonably priced at $42.95. And since they are non-consumable I can use them again and again. You can purchase them here.

Disclosure: I was given this product for free in exchange for an honest review. There was no other compensation given for this review. All opinions stated above are my own, honest opinions.


Sunday, December 4, 2011

Great Commission Language: The Easy Spanish review

In today's world I think it is becoming even more important to teach our children foreign language--several if at all possible. The problem, for our family, as always been when do we fit a foreign language in to our already busy schedule. Paul took a class through our homeschool group a couple of years ago, and we really enjoyed that. But, the teacher decided to quit teaching and stay home with her new baby--and I am not complaining about that choice! We have also used various Spanish programs to learn things like colors and numbers, but we needed something that was easy to implement and would work with all three kiddos.



Great Commission Language offers both Spanish and French and has 2 different levels of each. Since we have had some experience in Spanish and Steve and I both took Spanish in high school and remember a little, we chose Spanish. I chose the Junior Level for K-3rd since Zach and Molly have really had no experience in Spanish and it's been a while for Paul. I was hoping to start easy and encourage a love of learning a foreign language. The Junior Level focuses on the vocabulary and leaves the grammar aspects for when they are older.


The program is very easy to follow and has short lessons. The short lessons are great for us because not only do they easily fit in to our day but it keeps my two little ones attention. The lessons consist of a short story on audio CD mainly between Chichi the dog and Belicia, a little girl. Belicia speaks English while Chichi mainly speaks Spanish. I have been amazed that my kids have been able to follow the story line quite well. The book also gives you a vocabulary list to go with each lesson. We use this to introduce new words before the day's story so the kids are prepared for the story.


The 2 CD's also offer many activities and coloring pages to enhance the child's understanding and help them to enjoy it. There are coloring pages to go with each lesson for my little ones to enjoy and then more involved activities that work well for Paul. When homeschooling a wide age range finding something that works for everyone is difficult. The only other subject we have been able to combine for all three kiddos has been Science, so a combined approach for an "elective" is wonderful!

We have really enjoyed the curriculum so far. It has been great to hear all three kids telling Daddy what new Spanish words they learned that day. AND, it's not just the colors and numbers it's real conversational Spanish. The "Easy Spanish" is geared toward K-3, but really it has worked well for Paul as well, and he is in 5th grade. I would not use it with him without his younger siblings though. He could definitely benefit from the next level of Spanish that Great Commission Language offers, but for now it's working great to keep them altogether! The entire program, which includes the Curriculum Guide (with all stories, vocabulary, and activity ideas) and the 2 enhanced CD's (which includes all the audio stories, coloring pages and many printable activities) is priced at $69.95 and can be purchased here.

If you would like to see what other TOS Crew Members had to say about this program as well as the other Great Commission Language programs you can take a look at the Crew Blog

Disclosure: I received this product for free in exchange for my honest review of the product. All of the opinions stated here are my honest opinions. There was no other compensation given for this review.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Monday, November 28, 2011

A Thankful Heart

Thanksgiving is over, and the preparations for Christmas are in full swing. Each day in November I had the kids tell me one thing each that they were thankful for and we wrote it on a paper leaf and placed it with the others on our refrigerator (which has also become a bulletin board/learning board around here).

Their thoughts varied from child to child and from day to day. We got the usual: Mom and Dad, Grandma and Pappy, and then the more spiritual: our church, Jesus dying on the cross, and Jesus raising from the dead. And there was also the typical 4, 6, and 10 year old responses of my baseball bat, my new monkey, my Rudolph puppet, and my favorite from Zach "gluten-free everything", and yes, I agree with him, I am so thankful for "Gluten Free 'Everything'"--it certainly makes feeding him gluten-free much more manageable when I can purchase GF Wafffles, GF Pizza Dough and even GF Doughnuts. But, I am off the subject, so back to being thankful.



Each time we talked about being thankful I tried to emphasize to the kids that we should not just be thankful during the month of November, but we should have thankful hearts all year through. I need to remember this thought myself! The Bible teaches us to be thankful in everything. We have I Thessalonians 5:16-18 posted in a couple of places around our house. The verse says
Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you

I want this to be how my family lives their life. I want this to be how I live my life. It is so easy to forget that God gave us everything. I was born in America, the best country in the world. I was born to parents who loved me, and sacrificed to give me a better life then they had. I was in church and saved at a young age. I met a Godly young man, the man of my dreams at only 17 years old, and married Him 3 years later. I have three amazing and healthy children that God gave us in miraculous ways. All three of them have unique personalities and unique characteristics that I love more than anything. God gave me a sister and a brother that are healthy. He gave me a wonderful church that I can raise my children in. He gave me a wonderful set of in-laws, He gave me a husband that supports me in all aspects and leads our family spiritually! He gave me great friends all along the way. God gave me more than I ever deserve. Most importantly God gave me my salvation; He gave me eternal life! I want to always remember these things that God gave me. These things and so many more that I can't even list them all.



Not only do I want to remember these things, I want my children to see how thankful I am to Him for all these blessings. I want them to be thankful and have thankful hearts. I want them to "Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In everything give thanks..."


So, tonight, with a thankful heart, I write this simply to say how thankful I am for all the many blessings in my life. We are blessed beyond belief. I did nothing to deserve it and I know it could all be taken away. But, I am truly thankful for everything in my life.

-Michelle

Sunday, November 27, 2011

The Reading Game - a review

As I have mentioned before I believe phonics is the absolute best way to teach children to read. Molly is working through a phonics curriculum, and that is working well for her. However, I do agree that there is a place for some sight reading and that if a child can learn a few words quickly they can start reading quickly and build confidence. And confidence, I have learned through teaching all three kids to read, is truly the key to reading fluently and enjoying reading. So, I was excited to try "The Reading Game" with Molly to see if some simple sight reading would increase her confidence and give her the skills to start reading the simple books that come with the game.



The Reading Game is a simple matching game that starts with just 5 words: cat, can, not, me, and is. Since Molly has had some instruction in phonics I introduced the words and we sounded them out together before playing the matching game. The goal is for the child to be able to know these 5 words instantly without having to sound them out. Molly learned these 5 words VERY quickly. We played the game three or four times the first day it arrived and by the end of those 3-4 times she knew the words. The following day I made sure she remembered the words and we then moved on to game 2: sad, she, stay, this, with. These words, as you can see, are a little tougher and not as easily sounded out phonetically. So, it took her a little longer to learn these words. After we had played the game she was so excited to point out the words to me when we came across them in other reading. One Sunday she kept pointing out the words "is" and "me" in the hymnal, she was so excited that she could read real words in a real book!



After 2 sets of cards there are sample sentences you can have your child read to make sure they can read the words without hesitation. After 6 sets of cards (or games) the child should be able to read the corresponding book. For example, the skunk cards were the first set of cards, and after the 6 sets of 10 cards each Molly was ready to read the "Skunk" book. She loved the fact that she was reading a book, with a real story, not just a couple of words on a page. The words learned in the skunk story are all able to be sounded out phonetically so it is easy to incorporate phonics in with the game, which is exactly what we did.

The game, which retails on the website for $24.95 contains six different sets of cards and the six corresponding books: "Skunk", "Snake", "Bear", "Penguins", "Unicorn", and "Zebra". By the end of the six books the student will have a 180 word reading vocabulary. I am hopeful that we will be able to get through these books this school year and really increase Molly's enjoyment of reading--not that it is a problem right now, she LOVES reading, but increasing that enjoyment is even better.


Molly loves this game and asks to play it regularly. She loves any memory-matching game, or any game that Mommy plays with her, so this is a natural way for her to add to her reading vocabulary. Also, though Zach is reading well above the level of the game he enjoyed it, and the played it together a few times.

The books themselves are great. Molly and Zach, as well as myself, like them because they are stories, not just words on a page, or separate sentences on each page that don't tell a story. The only problem I had with the book is that there is no capitalization or punctuation. I have always introduced capital letters and periods at the very beginning of reading instruction, and that has worked well for Paul and Zach. So, no punctuation is just a little strange to me.

The Reading Game can be incorporated in to any reading curriculum in private school, public school, or homeschool.

Please be sure and see what other TOS Crew Members thought of the game here.

Disclosure: We received this game for free in exchange for my honest opinion. All opinions stated here are my honest opinion. There was no other compensation given for this review.




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

More Pinterest Inspiration!

Have I mentioned that I am addicted to Pinterest! I had the kids make these easy and super cute Pilgrim hats today






Its just fudge stripe cookies with chocolate covered marshmallows on top and then a little yellow icing to make he buckle. They had a blast dipping the marshmallows in chocolate and placing them on the cookies.


There is now chocolate all over my kitchen counter, but that's ok, it will all clean up. It's like the sign I saw on Pinterest that I have to make it says:
Pardon the mess, children are busy making memories!




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Pinterest Addictiom

I am officially addicted to Pinterest! There, I said it. It's full of wonderful inspiration, plus it keeps anything I find while surfing the web nice and organized!

So, along with my addiction to Pinterest I am now addicted to crafts of all kinds. I already had a small addiction here but just didn't always feel inspired. Pinterest has taken care of that.

We are taking Thanksgiving week off from traditional school and enjoying some relaxation as well as crafts around here

The kids have been busy painting











And cooking...



And working on special projects with Daddy...


And, well I have been working on Homemade Christmas gifts (which will have to wait until after Christmas to be posted) as well as a few Hairbows and dresses for Molly















All of these bows were inspired by this blog that I found on Pinterest. She has great tutorials on how to make these and many more-- I am sure I will try these tomorrow (or maybe later this evening). And the best thing is these are all made from FELT, which is so incredibly inexpensive and easy to work with!

I also tackled making a dress for Molly

I took a shirt she already had...


Picked out some coordinating material


And made a dress...



I am NOT a seamstress and this project was SO easy. It honestly took me about 40 minutes! The picture really doesn't do it justice, it's really cute.

If you have a minute you should definitely check put Pinterest--it's wonderful!

Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Thursday, November 17, 2011

Math Mammoth - TOS Review

Anyone with kids can tell you that all children are different. And anyone that teaches children can tell you that all children learn differently. This is one of the reasons we homeschool--to give each of our children a custom-tailored education!

The different ways children learn seems, to me, to be the most noticeable in the area of Math. We tried 4 different Math programs with Paul before we found the right "fit". With Zach we were on our second curriculum, and it wasn't working. Math is his strongest subject and in Kindergarten we didn't like the curriculum so I just did Math with him in everyday activities and added a few worksheets along the way. He enjoyed Math. This year, in 1st grade, we started a new curriculum and he began to dislike Math, so I knew we needed to change before this dislike became stronger. We were looking at various curriculum and were given the opportunity to review Math Mammoth.


Math Mammoth has several different options:

The Blue Series--WorkTexts by topic (grades 1-6)
The Light Blue Series--Full Curriculum (grades 1-6)
The Golden Series--Worksheets by Grade (grades 3-8)
The Green Series--Worksheets by Topic (grades 3-7)


Between all of the series Math Mammoth offers options for grades 1st-8th. We were given the chance to choose which series we wanted to review. Since we were looking at new curriculums I chose to go ahead and try the Light Blue Series Grade 1 and I am very glad that I did. Zach, once again, looks forward to his Math lessons. The lessons are focused and fairly short. There is a good bit of mental Math, which is great for Zach because that is definitely a strength for him, and something I want to build on.

The previous program we used was very visually appealing. It was brightly colored and there were pictures on the page. For many this is not a problem. For Zach, it was distracting. He struggles with focus anyway, so he doesn't need anything to draw his attention away from the task at hand. Math Mammoth is very simple and has very few colors on the page. His attention is directed to the actual learning of Math.

The book strives to teach the concepts and patterns in mathematics, not just rote memorization (though that is important too when it comes to math facts). The concepts are introduced in ways that are easily understood by the student without a lot of extra "fluff". For example, a simple number-line is shown to demonstrate addition. There are no bunnies or frogs to jump across the number-line, just a simple number-line. Though many first grade teachers I know would be appalled to think that a 6 year old learns about number lines without some type of animal hopping across it, for Zach, the animal becomes something to distract him. I can see a story about the animal brewing in his head. Now, with a simple number-line, I can see math concepts brewing in his head!


Math Mammoth offers their books in both a downloadable format as well as a printed book. The full first grade curriculum is only $34.00 for download. You can also purchase If you would like to see samples and learn more about what each grade level teaches take a look here. If you aren't looking for a complete curriculum but perhaps just some help on particular topics don't forget to look at their other series.

To see what other TOS Crew Members thought go here.

Disclosure: We received a downloadable copy of this product in exchange for an honest review. There was no other compensation given for this review. All opinions expressed here are my own honest opinion.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Bower Books - The Person I Marry - a review

I pray daily that there are 3 sets of parents out there raising 2 Godly girls and 1 Godly Man that my 2 boys and baby girl will one day fall in love with and marry. I pray for specific character traits for each of my children and their respective future spouses. I pray that my children will look to Him when they are choosing their spouse. The person you marry sets the tone for your entire life. Who you marry means a life full of love and happiness or a life full of despair. It is the most important decision, besides salvation, that my children will make. In today's world so many people take marriage too lightly. They don't discuss it with their children. They don't pray about it. They marry for so many wrong reasons. The book "The Person I Marry " takes all the aspects one should look for in a spouse and writes them a beautiful, heart-warming children's book.


The book is published through Bower Books It is written and illustrated by the husband and wife team, Gary and Jan Bower. The pictures in the book are done in a Norman Rockwell style of oil paintings and are absolutely beautiful. Jan Bower used their own 12 children as inspiration for the paintings. The book is hardcover and 32 beautifully illustrated pages. The words are written in a rhyme that really invites the reader to keep reading. The reader (or listener) is reminded of all the qualities that are truly important for a spouse to have. It looks past all of the things today's world looks at. It looks past all of the outside beauty and gently reminds us of what my Mom always says "beauty is only skin deep". It also gives the reminder to "look before you leap".

"The Person I Marry" is available from Bower Books for 11.99. It would really make a great gift for any child, at any age. Or, even for that special teenager or early twenties "child" who is seriously starting to look for that perfect mate. We received the e-book for review but I will be ordering the hardcover book so we can read many more times.

Molly, being 4, dreams about her wedding. She was in her cousins wedding this summer and we attended 4 others of close friends and family. She talks about the colors as well as her dress and she wants to look like a princess. I try to emphasize the marriage, instead of the wedding, but, since she is 4, the wedding is all she really thinks about--which is absolutely fine. With her thoughts on weddings she really enjoyed this book. She currently wants to marry Daddy or one of her brothers so this book will grow with her and remind her of all the character traits she sees in Daddy that she will want in her husband one day. The boys are not as enthralled with the book but the lessons are definitely for them too. Even if they won't curl up beside me and listen they are typically within earshot and will hear the valuable truths of the book. You can see a short clip of this beautiful book through Vimeo

The Person I Marry from Bower Books on Vimeo.



Don't forget to go check out what other Crew members have to say here

Disclosure: I received and e-book version of this book for free for purposes of this review. All opinions expressed here are my own, honest opinion. No other compensation was given for this review.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Can YOU Homeschool???

YES, you most definitely can! If I can, then anyone can!

Most people say, "it makes sense for you to homeschool, your degree is in education". When we first started this adventure I just agreed with them, now the reply depends on who it is. But, inside I am saying to myself "my degree in education did nothing to prepare me for homeschooling!". For that matter, my degree in education did very little to prepare me for the years I actually taught school...but that's a different story.

Ultimately the reason we homeschool is because God convicted my heart as well as Steve's and we are in total agreement that this is God's will for our lives and the lives of our children.

I have been wanting to do a post on all the reasons we homeschool but it just never got written. Then, I ran across this post on "50 Reasons Why I could NEVER homeschool" and it pretty well sums it all up. So, this is for anyone out there that is even considering homeschooling!

My thoughts on a few of my favorites...

1. …I’m too disorganized. I am EXTREMELY disorganized--just ask my husband--but we have found a system that works for US.


5. …My husband/family won’t let me. I never had this concern with Steve. Thankfully, he has always been a HUGE supporter and encourager. But, I definitely understand this concern. All, I can say is talk about it--openly and honestly, you might be surprised. I truly would have never dreamed that Steve would be so "pro-homeschooling"

7. …I don’t want my child to end up like that weird homeschooled kid I know. Personally, I am ok with my kids being a little different, weird--nope I don't think they are weird, although I do know some weird homeschoolers. Your kids are most likely going to be like you--so if you're weird they will be too. But, if you're a well-adjusted normal person, they will be too!


12. …All my children’s friends go to public/Christian school. Most of our kids friends go to our church's Christian school. It does take a little effort to have "play-dates" with them. But, on the other hand, I know who my kids are spending time with, and I can even choose (to some degree) who their friends are by picking who comes over.

22. …I have a life and social commitments, and I’m not giving those up. Remember, you are the parent of a precious child, it really should be about what's best for them. Plus, you really don't have to give up anything, just rearrange.



23. …I don’t want to wear a denim jumper, put my hair in a bun, kill my own chickens, or have 18 children. This one cracks me up! I do know a couple families very close to this stereotype, but homeschooling does not mean you have to be any different then you are right now.


33. …My baby/toddler takes up too much of my time. The first few years with toddlers around we're REALLY tough but it can be done, and the relationship that my kids have with each other is amazing, and so worth the extra work of having them all home all the time.


37. …I’m not creative. I have a little bit of creativity, but mostly I get ideas from the Internet. And now, with Pinterest, who needs creativity!

40. …Homeschooling takes too much time, and it takes more time each year as the kids get older. It does take alot of time! But, it actually takes less time as the kids get older and can work more independently. And what a better way to spend your time then teaching your kids!


.43. …I can’t teach art. Dump all of your crafty supplies on the floor and Art just happens. Library books can guide you into specific artistic techniques, but creativity is built in to all children.

45. …My child is too active to keep up with. The boys have practiced spelling and handwriting with sticks in the dirt and called out Math facts while jumping on the trampoline! I can't imagine sticking them in a classroom all day. Zach would come home in tears everyday I am sure.


48. …I don’t have an extra room in my house for a classroom. You don’t need one. We were blessed to have the extra space for a "classroom" but then I figured out that I didn't want to emulate school, I wanted our lives to be the classroom. So, now all "seat work" is done at the kitchen table. Everything else just happens all over the house.

49. ...I don’t want to homeschool. If this is the case then just pray about it and see where He leads you. Remember, it's not all about you, but it's about what is best for your kids.



We LOVE homeschooling and can't imagine it any other way! I am not saying I don't get worn out and totally frustrated some days. But the good outweighs the bad and we are thankful for the blessings that God has given us in our three children and the blessing He has given us through homeschooling them. We are doing our very best to raise them for His Glory.


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