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This weeks newsletter about being more relaxed was
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mode". It drives me CRAZY! Thank you for giving me
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morning, We did "do school", but we all had fun and did it
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next step. I can't wait!
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the next e-mail and magazine."
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The Old Schoolhouse
Magazine
Home Where They
Belong
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October 31, 2007
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 It seems like more and more homeschooling moms are
taking on part-time jobs these days. Maybe it's because there
are more opportunities to work from home. Maybe it's because
more people are homeschooling, even if they are still going to
need an additional part-time income to make ends meet. Maybe
it's because their family is working together to build a
home-based business. Or maybe it's simply because they didn't
want to totally give up their job when they decided to stay at
home with their children.
Whatever the reason, any mom
who takes on a job in addition to homeschooling her children,
is sure to hear, "I don't know how you do it all."
The
truth is that none of us can do it all. We need God's help to
get us through each and every step. His grace is sufficient
for all of us, no matter what all we have on our plate. His
power is made perfect in our weakness. If you've taken on
another responsibility in addition to homeschooling, just lean
on God all the more. He's the one who can do it
all!
But He said to
me, "My grace is sufficient for you,
for my power is made perfect in weakness."
2 Cor.
12:9
THM Editor
PS - Think you'd like to
find a way that you could work from home? You won't want to
miss "The Pitfalls and
Possibilites of Being a Work at Home Mom" in our
upcoming Winter issue. If you subscribe now, you can start your one-year subscription to TOS with
the Winter issue and receive our 25 free gifts! Consider it a business investment. :O)
PSS -
Keep an eye on your inbox later today for an email from us
about making memories with your kids during the holidays. I'll
give you a hint. It will make them lots of fun and count as
school too!
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 Mercy Every Minute
Deborah Wuehler, TOS Senior Editor
I work part time. I
homeschool full time. I pray for wisdom all the time.
There are two things
that are important to me in working while homeschooling. They
are: maintaining proper priorities, and scheduling work around
school. Both are important. But my family must always come
first. I must set aside the urgent business to deal with the
important relationships; work comes second on the priority
list.
No matter how urgent
the work, I choose to turn and give my full attention to a
child who comes to me. It is a daily, hourly balance of
priorities.
Scheduling also helps
keep balance. Most work is done while the kids are doing
schoolwork; that way we are all together. I have educational
movies and preschool activities for the little ones to
do.
Typical days have us
working until lunch time. Then we do chores and I work with
the non-readers, take kids to activities, or they pursue their
interests, while I make the home stuff happen. After the
youngest are in bed at night, I am able to work a few more
hours, if needed.
All of this is bathed
in prayer, as it takes more concentrated effort to make work
and school happen at the same time, but it can be done, and
done well with the right priorities and scheduling.
"Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands,
as it is fit in the Lord. Servants, obey
in all things your masters according to the flesh; not with
eyeservice, as men pleasers; but in singleness of heart,
fearing God: And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the
Lord, and not unto men; Knowing that of the Lord ye shall
receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord
Christ." Colossians 3:18,
22-24
~ Deborah
New Contest for the month of
November!
Kimberly Garcia's classical
copybooks are designed to provide writing practice for
students based on the method of copying classical material.
She has generously gifted us with two copies of her Classical Reading and Writing
Copybook: Covering Early Modern History 1600 - 1850.
One is manuscript and the other is cursive. These are HUGE -
396 pages, 8.5" x 11" binding and excellent resources for copy
work. Read our TOS review HERE and visit www.ClassicalReadingandWriting.com to
see their other products.
TO ENTER:
Email SeniorEditor@TheHomeschoolMagazine.com
with your name and mailing address and the subject, "Copybook"
for a chance to win.
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Schoolhouse Spotlight
Dena Wood, Schoolhouse Store Manager
If you get this newsletter there
is a good chance you homeschool! You may or may not have a job
outside homeschooling. Whether you are currently working or
thinking of working we have some great resources at The Old
Schoolhouse Store for you!
The 2008 Yearbook for the
HomeKeeper is a great tool for organizing & making
life easier in general. This beautiful and practical spiral
bound 8x11 book will become a keepsake memory of your year.
Over 200+ pages contain charming vignettes on creamy soft
papers with an antique frosted glass colored cover. Plastic
covers keep your cover nice looking all year long! Includes
plenty of room for jotting and journaling on each day of the
year, grocery lists, to do lists, errands and appointments,
Bible reading schedules,family health records, yearly
homeschool planner, monthly menu planners, master grocery
shopping lists and much more!
The E-Book:Homegrown
Business will tell you how you can manage homeschooling
and a home business without losing your sanity! Twenty-nine
families share their real-life experiences! A wealth of
practical advice is woven into these inspirational stories
covering such topics as: how to balance homeschooling and home
business, how to involve your children in your home business,
how to integrate your home business into your children's
education, and much more! Over 80 pages.
Don't let the
title fool you...E-Book: SchoolMedic's Field
Guide to Elem. Classroom Management is helpful in learning
to manage an elementary classroom, a Sunday school class,
summer camp, youth group, or even a home-school family. The
strategies presented are inspiring and will give those finding
themselves in leadership roles valuable insights on how to
manage people. If you are homeschooling and working this book
will offer great tips in how to manage it all! By
adopting these basic principles of success you will learn what
it takes to run an effective, efficient, highly productive
classroom/youth-group/household where learning
blossoms.
While you are at the Store make sure to pick
up a copy of the Summer 2005 back issue
of The Old Schoolhouse Magazine for an inspiring article on
Homeschooling Entrepreneurs.
~
Dena
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 It's Just Common Sense
Ruth Beechick, Curriculum
Specialist
I think
I can help with reducing the stress of the teaching part of
this overload of teaching and work. First, quit trying to
imitate what you think good schooling is--with fulltime
teacher work and with too many separate subjects and too much
testing and grading. You probably have read one of those
researches about how much one-on-one time each classroom
student gets with his teacher, maybe ten minutes or so. Don't
feel guilty if you can't fulfill unrealistic ideas about what
you should do as teacher.
To start simplifying,
drop reading textbooks once children read a little, and don't
even start grammar textbooks until children write rather well
in the teen years. These moves actually strengthen and improve
the education. I explain the hows and whys in two books where
I can use more words than here:You Can Teach Your Child
Successfully
and A Biblical Home
Education. These books will simplify your homeschooling.
Both are available at Amazon and elsewhere.
When I say "grammar"
here, I refer to the study of parts of speech and parts of
sentences. Young children do need the mechanics of writing as
they learn to write. These mechanics are such things as
punctuation and spelling that they need only for writing and
not for speaking. Many books mix those together with grammar,
so you get the grammar when you don't need
it.
I have a word about
your job too, at least about its money, which I hope you are
making. Could you try to spend some of it on help with
cleaning? Maybe hire a homeschool family with older children
to come in now and then and do floors, oven, windows, ironing,
or whatever you need. If two or three people come and race
through the work for one hour, that is less disruptive for you
than if one person comes in and works for three
hours.
~Ruth
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The Familyman
Todd Wilson, Familyman Ministries
You cannot do it all.
YOU cannot do it ALL. YOU CANNOT DO IT
ALL!!!!!!
This topic of working
at home (or working out of the home) and homeschooling may not
apply to everyone, but the principle applies to EVERYONE. Let
me state it again. YOU CANNOT DO IT ALL!
No one can. It's
unrealistic and even detrimental to think and act as though
you can, but sadly, that's what most homeschool moms,
especially work-at-home, homeschooling moms,
do.
They add a typical
homeschooling routine to an already demanding schedule of
working out of the home. The only problem with that is that it
doesn't work. There is no way humanly possible to run a
business and 'do' school like someone who doesn't run a
business out of her home. So don't try.
You can't do it
all.
So you need to return
to the truth that homeschooling is best done as it relates to
life. That doesn't mean you just do your business and ignore
training your children. It means that the best way to train
and educate your children is by including them in your
business or work. But to do this, you may have to set aside
some of the 'normal' homeschool formalities, which is okay
because the beauty of homeschooling is that there is no
"normal."
I believe that one of
the real dangers of home business and home education is that
you'll forget what's most important. It's easy to get so
caught up in the "business" that you neglect the relationship
with your children.
But take heart, even
those who don't run a business on top of homeschooling often
do the very same thing.
So, we're in this
thing together - struggling our way through with our eye on
the goal and reminding each other, "You cannot do it
all!"
Be
real,
Todd
|
 Homeschool Freebies
Jamin!, Freebie
Finder
"When God made
time...
He made enough."
Sometimes it doesn't seem to me
that there are enough hours in the day to do all we need to do
with homeschooling. Add in work and life can easily get
overwhelming! The quote above really helps me keep things in
perspective. I am not in this alone. God made enough time, I
just need to use that time wisely. Boy, is it a
challenge!
One thing that makes my life MUCH more
bearable is my Crockpot! Monday through Thursday I have dinner
in the Crockpot by 10:00 a.m. Then I can focus on school! Once
dinner is over I turn my focus to work.
EasyCrockpotRecipes.net is a great place to
get all the Crockpot recipes you could ever need! From
meat dishes, appetizers, soups and desserts. This site has it
all!
Organization is key in both
homeschooling and work. I know that being organized is an
important part of keeping my sanity! Neat & Simple
Living is a
great website with tips on organizing not only your space
but your thoughts and goals too. Sign up for their FREE Neat
and Simple Living Newsletter and get their Organizing Your
Office E-Book Free!
I doubt that keeping all these
balls in the air will ever be easy. But I constantly remind
myself that being able to be home with my kids is worth all
the effort.
"Come to Me all who
are weary and heavy-laden,
and I will give you
rest."
Matthew
11:28 ~Jamin
|
Essay Contest Winner
Announced
The Trinity Foundation
is pleased to announce the winners of the 2007 Christian
Worldview Essay Contest.
The First Prize and
$3,000 go to Alex Woehr of Greenville, South Carolina, for his
essay "How Christian Theism Relates to Education." Alex
attends the Bob Jones University; he is 20 years old.
The Second Prize and $2,000 go to Jimmy Li of
Los Angeles for his essay "Clark's Christian Philosophy of
Education for Today." Jimmy is a Marine veteran of the
Iraq war, now studying political science at UCLA. He is 24
years old.
The Third Prize and $1,000 go to
Jeremy Larson of Charleston, South Carolina, for his essay
"Gordon Clark's Successful Essay on Education." Jeremy
teaches high school English at a Christian school in
Charleston. He is also 24 years old.
The Christian Worldview Essay Contest is an annual
contest operated by The Trinity Foundation. The topic book of
the 2007 Essay Contest was Dr. Gordon Clark's A Christian
Philosophy of Education. The topic book for the 2008 Essay
Contest is Freedom and Capitalism:
Essays on Christian Politics and Economics by Dr. John W.
Robbins. The complete rules for the Contest are available at
the Foundation website (www.trinityfoundation.org).
The
Trinity Foundation is a charitable Christian organization
dedicated to research and the publication of books, essays,
and lectures setting forth the comprehensive and consistent
Biblical philosophy of
Scripturalism. |
Meet Some of Our Friends
Imagine the ultimate "Field
Trip". You're teaching your children about the French
Revolutionary War. Then, that summer your family of 6 flies to
France, spends three weeks and visit the sites learned about
that past year. Total Cost, (Air,hotel,food,etc) less than
$400/person. We did it! Find out how visit www.havekids-willtravel.com.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Looking for a new learning
opportunity or a fresh way to teach an old subject? A
Christian homeschool mom (and blogger) has put
together a collection of links to free online resources for
you at HWTK.net. Also check
out her list of homeschool vendors and free book resources at
Books.HWTK.net.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Are you looking
for a place to be refreshed and motivated for the tasks of
Homemaking and Home Educating? www.homemaking911.com
has inspiring articles, fresh ideas, free downloads, and many
tools to help increase your efficiency and motivate you.
Ask for a free audio mp3 of one of Malia's popular
talks.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Join
the EDVENTURE PROJECT! Download cross curricular, multi-level
unit studies. Follow the adventures of home schoolers
bicycling Europe, W. Asia and N. Africa. Roll history,
geography, literature, art, and culture studies into one with
our family friendly Virtual Field Trip. Listen to
podcasts! Contact the travelers! Take part in the
adventure! www.edventureproject.com
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