Plans, Glorious Plans!

If you're anything like me, when you decided you were going to be a homeschooling momma you had great ambitions of planning amazing lessons, crafts, and fun projects... only to see your plans crumble into a pile of unfulfilled ideas! You bought a wonderful little lesson planner and you filled it with all your grand plans because you just knew that you could stay on top of everything and that your sweet, little angel would be able to complete all the tasks you were going to assign because... well... she's a genius! And nothing could possibly come up that would interrupt your plans, right!? Or maybe that's just me. Maybe I'm the only mom who had all these plans, glorious plans, only to fail at implementing them! But I think, or at least I hope, I am not alone in this and that you may be in need of some encouragement. If so, this blog is for you :)

 

There's a verse in Scripture that I find very interesting. Proverbs 19:21 says, "Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand." If I could rewrite this verse, it'd say Many are the lesson plans in the mind of a homeschooling momma, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand. It's not just BIG plans that fall to the wayside, but little plans too. Even lesson plans. But do not be dismayed. There is hope.

 

I believe God gave me a little epiphany about all my failed attempts to keep up with my lesson plans. STOP WRITING THEM. OK, say what now? That's right. Stop writing all those expectations only to see them scratched out or incomplete. There's something a little more practical that we can do. I'm not saying don't ever plan. That would be total chaos. But I am saying that this hyper-planning, guilt-driven, failing way of homeschooling just doesn't work for me and all it does is frustrate me. So here's the compromise the Lord showed me...

 

I took a large poster board and split it into a 6-square grid. On one square I wrote "Daily" and on the other 5 squares I wrote Monday through Friday. On the "Daily" square I wrote the things that I want to do with my children everyday, without fail; those things include prayer, Bible study, exercise or physical activity, and reading. Notice I did not write anything about math, English, science, or history :) In the remaining five squares I wrote nothing. They are blank. Here's where the compromise comes in. On Saturdays I am going to sit down and write out assignments or points of study on sticky notes that I hope to do with the children, and place them on my chart. For example, I may write, "Savanna: write a letter to pen pal..." and place it on Monday's square. And "Samuel: practice ABC's using flashcards..." and place it on Thursday's square. The nice thing about writing it on a sticky note is that I can move it to another square if a certain assignment takes longer than planned or if something unexpected comes up. I can also add sticky notes at the end of the day for anything that we may have done that was not listed on the board, ie. a spontaneous game of "Speed Letters" at the dinner table. At the end of the week, I print out my Blank Lesson Plan Sheets for each child and fill in what's written on my sticky notes. This way each week I have an accurate portrayal of what we did that I can keep in each child's portfolio along with any completed work! It also really boosts your confidence if you see a lesson plan that was actually fulfilled :)

 

At the end of the day, I may not complete all my glorious plans, but I can rest assured knowing that the Lord's purposes will stand. The Lord has purposed in our hearts to homeschool our children and that will stand. So I'm trying out a new style of homeschooling; one that I should've been doing all along... rely more on the Lord's purposes and less on my own plans! This might actually work.

 

Bye for now,

Kristina

Growing in Faith & Love

What kid doesn't love to be measured? They ask you to measure them today, even if you measured them yesterday. It's so sweet to hear my children's desire to grow big and tall and strong, "just like Daddy!"

Since my oldest, Savanna, was big enough to stand on her own, we've measured her little frame with pencil against a finger-smudged walls. When we moved to our current house, my husband and I talked about how we want to stay here for a long time. We've moved around so much and we'd love to see the kids grow up here and graduate. So we had no qualms about starting a new growth chart on a similar finger-smudged wall. We happen to have a small wall in the kitchen that wasn't being used for anything and so that's where we started. We've been putting pencil marks on the wall since we moved in May and I just felt like I wanted to do something more permanent. Something nicer that would be a sweet memory of the kids stretching their necks and standing on tippy-toes to try to gain an extra inch.

But I wanted it to be more than that. Sure it's important to help them grow in stature, having healthy bones and a sound mind. We feed them veggies and proteins (or at least attempt to) and we make sure they get plenty of physical activity. But we should also want to feed their soul and help them grow in faith and love as well. And then I found this verse:

"We ought always to give thanks to God for you... your faith is growing abundantly, and the love of each of you is increasing." 2 Thessalonians 1:3

God isn't concerned as much about our physical growth as He is about our spiritual growth. After all, if they grow as tall as David Robinson and have not love, they have nothing (for those of you who miss that reference, he is a former basketball player for the San Antonio Spurs and is a solid Christian). So we made our new growth chart (more like a mural) and as we worked on it together, I talked to the kids about how God wants our faith and love to grow. I showed them how tall Daddy and I are on the wall and explained to them that we are not going to grow any taller but we can keep growing in our faith and love forever and ever. They thought that was pretty cool. 

So if you're looking for a simple project to both spruce up your classroom area and offer you a teaching opportunity EVERY time you measure your child, here's what we did :)

I measured the wall and put a dot for each inch from 24" to 72" (2ft to 6ft). Then I wrote the inches at each foot marker. We already had some pencil markings that I traced over with colorful sharpies. We made an accent for each foot marker as well and then wrote our Scripture verse (2 Thess 1:3) on the wall. You can do whatever design you like. This was a simple design we could all do and it only took about 30 minutes. So be creative and have fun!


I am excited to see how much my children will grow over the years. Will they hit 6ft? I don't know. But I'm even more excited to see them grow in faith and love.

Bye for now,
Kristina

Homeschooling: The Early Years (2-5yrs)



There are many reasons you may choose to homeschool your children:

• A desire to take responsibility for your child's education
• A desire to provide a more well-rounded and Christ-centered education
• Dissatisfaction with the public school system and teacher/pupil ratio
• Adverse peer pressures and unsafe school environments
• A desire to give your child opportunity for individual instruction
• Medical/health concerns of your child
• High cost of private tuition
• Religious reasons- public education conflicting with Biblical values, ie. evolution, abortion, homosexuality, premarital sex, etc.

Whatever your reason for choosing to homeschool, it's a HUGE decision and it will not be easy! And if you're anything like me, you were probably overwhelmed by the whole concept thinking, "Where do I start!?!"

I started teaching both my oldest children at the age of two and I was completely confident in their education until my daughter reached Kindergarten; suddenly I was filled with the fear that I have no idea what I'm doing! What if I haven't taught her enough? What if she doesn't know what other Kindergartners know? How do they keep track of her grades and how does she pass on to 1st grade? What curriculum should I use? There are so many questions and it's a little daunting. But a sweet friend of mine who has been homeschooling for a long time gave me some great advice that I'm going to share with you...

LET THEM PLAY!

That's right folks. Play. Kids in the early years, ages 2yrs - 5yrs are very special. They're like little sponges and they can absorb so much information. They learn so quickly and they learn hands-on. They are curious about everything and the best way for them to learn is through everyday life. It's unnatural for a child at this age to sit at a desk and do bookwork for long periods of time. Their little brains aren't made that way. They want adventure, they want messes, they want to ask questions, they want to see how things work. Kids in the early years benefit greatly from learning through life experiences. So stop freaking out and take a deep breath. Your child is learning all the time and the fact that you want to homeschool shows that you are already invested in their education. You have been teaching your child since day one and he is most likely well above the curve already!

Go out in the yard and talk about how plants grow, different types of weather, season changes, how caterpillars change into butterflies, collect and compare flowers, leaves, rocks, and nuts... there are so many wonderful things to learn in nature. Have your child help you bake cookies or cook a meal and talk about following instructions carefully, using proper measurements, how different ingredients combine to make something new... and enjoy spending that special time together. Create things with play dough, put puzzles together, play hopscotch, go on scavenger hunts, draw pictures, read books as often as you can, paint, sing, dance... PLAY!

Aside from that, there's a couple staple resources that I think you should have for teaching kids in the early years. I would recommend the following:

1) A Good set of flashcards for the alphabet, colors, numbers 1-20, and shapes. You can buy them premade or you can make them yourself. I have a small laminating machine and I make my own so I can personalize them for my children. For example, my son loves Marvel superheroes so I made shapes with his favorite characters. Great motivator to learn the shape (s! Use the flashcards to play games like memory, go-fish, matching, etc.

2) Writing tablets to practice handwriting. You can buy a tablet from the Dollar Tree for $1 or you can print them off Starfall's teacher's lounge for free (other than ink and paper). A fun way to practice handwriting is to have your child get a pen-pal. Savanna has four actually and she LOVES writing them letters and receiving responses!

3) Phonics worksheets and books (for 5yr olds) to begin learning the basics of reading. You can download many of my phonics worksheets and projects here: Fun with Phonics, Short Vowels, Blends, Short & Long Vowels and other things, OO Vowel Diagraph, Phonics Booklets and Another Booklet. You can also purchase pre-reader and level 1 "I Can Read" books to read with your child. Also, Lantern Fish is an excellent resource for reading and phonics activities.

4) Computer games are a great learning resource for young children! I highly recommend Starfall for only $35/year. Your child has access to some really great games that teach letters and letter sounds, phonics, numbers, addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, fraction, problem solving, and more. It's a wonderful website that is EASY for kids to navigate; even the most novice student will enjoy this website. My kids have been using this site since they were 2yrs old and they love it. It also has a "Teacher's Lounge" where you can create printable worksheets for your child. They are pre-made and customizable to suit your child's needs. Very good resource!

5) Math, spelling, and phonics workbooks from the Dollar Tree or Target dollar bin are really great resources for Kindergartners and some preschoolers (when attempting to teach them to sit quietly at a table!).

So in the end, just remember that GOD has begun a good work in you as a parent. You are taking on a huge responsibility to educate your child and God will be faithful to complete that good work through you. Don't let fear and anxiety overwhelm you or distract you from your calling. We all do it, and we all need encouragement to remember that this is an amazing privilege. YES it's the hardest thing I've ever done. It takes every second of every day to be a stay-at-home-homeschooling mommy. There are no breaks and there is no pay. But it's also the most blessed experience of my life and I wouldn't trade it for the world.

So enjoy your kiddos and relax.

Bye for now,
Kristina