Service & Support

We are all looking forward to a long December break as we complete our school year. We have not been away from home since last March and are excitedly anticipating a week’s break in the wonderful area of Sedgefield in the South African Garden Route.

I realize that the Bible talks about things in seasons and we have had a season of working hard and now it will be a season of rest. This time of rest is where we spend time “catching up” those household things that fall by the wayside during school term. This time also allows for our children’s minds to take a more passive approach to learning and allow the information to sink deep into their thinking.

Charlotte Mason

In Charlotte Mason’s “Parents and Children” she begins to define what a family is. Her main points are as follows:

1. The family is a commune – where all members enjoy its property and duties.
2. The family must be social – a family should not live in isolation.
3. The family must serve its neighbors – here she mentions that the family needs to reach out to those in need, the poor and the orphans.
4. The family must serve the nation – because when the family lives in isolation it “ceases to be part of a living whole, and becomes positively injurious, as decayed tissue in the animal organism”.

I have thought much on these words over the last few months. There are seasons where we need to pull away from society but we were not designed to live alone. We, as homeschooling moms, need the support of other families and they need us. We all have wonderful talents and gifts that God has placed in us, and we need to share them.

I realized how much we need each other today as I spent a second day with a friend who is a first time mom and is struggling to get her baby to nurse. Another dear friend and I spent sometime praying for her before I went and it was such a blessing to be able to help this mom and her precious newborn. Our children came along and were thrilled to be able to help by making lunch and watering the garden.

May I encourage you to look for ways to reach out with your family and support others around you? Let your children become actively involved in showing love and care to other people. This act of serving begins to plant seeds to grow our children into being magnanimous adults.

If you are the one needing support right now, then do not be afraid to ask for it from trusted friends and family.

Family and Sibling Play

About 4 months ago we bought a business parenting program called Ka-Ching . Ka-Ching has been designed to teach parents and children entrepreneurial skills from simple things like responsibility for chores and budgeting from pocket money. We have found that as our children move through the stages of this program (it is designed to work from ages 6 – 14) there have been some wonderful discussions about their futures.

I have always wanted to see my children work within their passion and interests and this is something that Ka-Ching stresses – the need for the child or teens heart to be engaged.

Another fun idea for building money skills is Homeschoolopoly. It is available from Sonlight curriculum on their Christmas Sale.

Organizational Tips

As it is nearing our school year I have begun to collate all our loose work into a portfolio. Some of the forms I use I have made available to my sites visitors - and you, my E-zine subscribers - on my free homeschool printables page. Even if you are in the beginnings of your school year, find a box where you can put all the loose items like drawings, certificates and handwriting sheets so that they are all in one place for the end of year portfolio.

Romantic Ideas

With the birth of my friend’s baby, my husband and I spent some time reminiscing about our children as babes. I love looking at photographs of when they were little. I get all mushy! Other photos I like to look though are those memories my husband and I made before we had children. Remembering that we were a family then, even though it was just the two of us, brings back some really sweet memories as well as some laughs. The photos also tell of times when things were hard as we settled into our respective new roles and I marvel at how God has grown us each in His will. Why not spend an evening cuddled up with a treat and look through some photo albums?

Quote

“The family is the unit of a nation.”
F D Maurice
Taken from Charlotte Mason’s Parent’s and Children.

Living books

Recently one of my children’s great heroes died in a freak diving accident – Steve Irwin alias - The Crocodile Hunter. A friend, knowing how much they loved him ( he even was added to their timeline books) bought us his biography to read. This book was written before he died. Living books need not only be found on dark and dusty shelves of second hand bookstores! This edition - The Crocodile Hunter: The Incredible Life and Adventures of Steve and Terri Irwin has got some of the most gorgeous full color photographs of his extraordinary adventures along with Terri, his wife.

Other updates to Homeschool Curriculum for Life

We have just finished studying the Renaissance with Sonlight Curriculum and found a wonderful resource at the Homeschool E-store - A Renaissance Lapbook. While I am not a lover of “busy stuff” my younger daughter loves arty things. So we have used and enjoyed this. I have added some other Renaissance hands on activities and notebook pages to my site.

I also realize that many homeschool families are on a tight budget and have put together a page of freebies where you can get supplementary curriculum items for no cost.

I continued to add to my room-by-room organization pages as well as adding the new cleaning and the homeschool mom page.

Please feel free to forward this E-zine to your friends or ask them to visit my sign up page.