Encouragement

Charlotte Mason

“Every craftsman is a valuable acquaintance to a child.” Charlotte Mason, Home Education This quote came to mind as I watched our little one marvel at the workmen laying the bricks. He was even more delighted as they used the compacter to make the land level before laying the bricks.

When our oldest daughter showed an interest in breeding Budgies, we employed a carpenter to build an aviary for them. Our oldest son spent most of his days working alongside Casper. He learnt some valuable measuring skills as well as perseverance and problem solving.

If I think back to those days, I remember being very tempted to call him away from this work to do more formal and “acceptable” work to me. Yet today he still enjoys his woodwork and has a sense of achievement in knowing that he had a hand in the building of the aviary.

Family and Sibling Play

We are in our winter season here in Cape Town. This means cold days and lots and lots of rain. As I write the rain is hitting our windows with such force that it sounds like hail. Tonight our children are asking for family movie night which means we will light a fire after supper and baths and snuggle up on the couch together and watch a favorite movie.

We have enjoyed watching Apollo 13, The Right Stuff, October Sky and Race the Sun. Most of these movies are based on fact, but still need some censoring with a parental “bleep” for some words and scenes.

Organizational Tips

I recently linked my site to another work at home mom's . Tracy has a great site to help moms get a bit more organized. She covers areas of money, estate planning, communication, entertaining, cooking and so much more. Take a look at Tips to Organize Your Life .

Romantic Ideas

This month I added a page to my website for married couples and woman who are wanting to regain or improve their marriage in different ways. The page is password protected as there are two websites that I link to which I feel need to be made open to woman only. The one website which I think is most helpful is “The Generous Wife”. Lori sends out a daily Generous Wife Tip which is helpful and certainly gives more ideas to keep the romance alive in your marriage.

Quote

“…we are to groom our children according to their natural bents. This means coming alongside them with a plan to help leverage their natural and unique gifts and skills into highly developed assets that they can lean on in the future.” Tim Kimmel, Grace Based Parenting

Living books

Our theme with Sonlight Curriculum this term is the Medieval period. As I am stretching our 11 year in this same year as her younger siblings, I am on constant look out for books that will go along with our themes. One such Living Book I found at our library is Michael Morpurgo’s, Joan of Arc . It is written from the perspective of a young girl, Eloise, who is saddened and isolated by a move from one town to another. Michael Morporgo is a delightful story teller and his portrayal of Joan of Arc definitely falls into the Living Book category. I would recommend it for reading alone from 12 onwards, or reading together with younger children.

Other updates to Homeschool Curriculum for Life

I have been very busy growing my website to further serve the homeschooling community and in particular the moms who have subscribed to this E-zine. It is a labour of love as I add each page. I pray for all of you who have subscribed so that God would strengthen you in your role as wife and mother.

The latest additions to the site are the beginnings of my homeschooling boys pages . I know that homeschooling boys calls for a whole lot of humor as we allow them to become the warriors they need to be while at the same time grooming them to be gentlemen. I have also added some books for you to read about raising sons.

I have set up an encouragement page where you will find some articles to encourage articles to encourage you as you go about your days. The one that is most relevant to American subscribers is Mom’s ABC’s for the New School Year.

On my Titus 2 Mandate page I have an opt in form for you to sign up for a week of Prayer Promises . These emails will arrive for 7 days and are just a little reminder how God holds you and your families in His hand.

‘Til next time,
God’s richest blessings to you as you homeschool,
Wendy