Homeschool Stuff

I said a while back that I would post soon about some things that have been made clearer lately concerning the raising of our kids. Remember my questioning whether homeshooling would be the best thing for our kids here in a culture/country we are trying to fit into...where homeschooling is basically nonexistent? Well, that same week a couple of my friends just happened to mention a lady in their blog...a lady that they really look up to and have actually gone to see speak. I googled her and was led to a blog that she has. It was so awesome reading her stuff. It just really reminded me of why I wanted to homeschool in the first place, what my whole philosophy on that really is.

A few years ago, before I was married, I felt sorry for little homeschooled children. :) Isn't that funny? But, at that point, the only homeschooled kids I knew had been a little socially inept, just a little odd, the kind of people that drop their jaws in utter shock at anything said that is the least bit unholy...you know them, I know you do. I didn't want my kids to be like that. Plus, I honestly loved my public school experience, esp. the social aspects of it...the clubs, the sports, coming in contact with all kinds of people (students and teachers)...it was great. I wanted my kids to have that much fun. That is the up side of sending your children to school vs. homeschooling (although they can still have experiences like that, just in a different way if homeschooled).

But, right before we started having kids of our own...well, God just changed my heart about all that. And, of course it helped that I met some really great homeschool kids, young and old, still being homeschooled and those who had already gone to college.

I have come into contact with many misconceptions about homeschooling though that are very interesting. Here are some:
1. people homeschool when they are dissatisfied with the schools in their area...although this is sometimes true, it is not always the motivation (mostly it is not)...definitely not in my case
2. people homeschool when they want to shelter their children from ungodly influences...although, again, sometimes true, not always the motivation...definitely not in mine (I seriously can't stand when someone drops their jaw in shock if someone cusses or someting...so silly to me)...I want my kids to be exposed to all kinds of influences and circumstances, but don't feel like I have to send them off to school for that...they can get those kinds of exposures everywhere they go; and, for heaven's sake...if we train them in the way they should go and entrust them to God, we don't have to "shelter" them (we are their covering and protection, but I think you know what I mean)
3. people definitely homeschool when they go to a foreign country...although popular among some missionaries, this is not always the case; I think I've mentioned how I would be much more likely to send them to school here than in the states...just because of the "we want to be Brazilian as much as we can" thing

Those are the main ones I can think of. But, none of those apply to me. So why do I feel God has really placed this in my heart? What is my motivation?

Basically, here's the motivation for me to homeschool...I want to be with my kids. :) I feel like I had them, I want to raise them too. I want all that emcompasses...teaching them, playing with them, mentoring them, modeling for them how to do chores and work, training them up to love God and live for Him with all their little hearts, watching them to see what their gifts and talents are and encouraging them in those/facilitating growth in those areas, etc. We want to be the major influences in their lives, the ones they spend the most time with, etc. You know us...we are very social people. It's not like our kids will not have other influences and people they spend time with. But, my heart is to really raise my own children...in every area.

Will we always homeschool? Not sure. At this point, that is what I want to do, what I feel God has called us to. But, we are always open to God leading us a different way. I mean, we're talking about 13-15 years for each child...that'll be a long time, right? Who knows what God might lead us to do in that amount of time.

Am I of the philosophy that everyone should homeschool? I'm not. It is a very personal decision that each one has to pray about and come to a conclusion about on their own. There are definite advantages to each kind of educations available...public, private, or home.

Grady has been begging to "do school" for weeks now. So funny. So, every afternoon when the girls take a nap, we "do school" now. We read books, do Memory games, color, draw, do online computer educational games, count, sing, play together...just whatever. It's really fun, but of course this won't last forever, esp. with the resources we have right now. We don't have that much stuff to work with here at the house...and there are no libraries here. So, we've decided to get a pre-k curriculum for the kids. I had always planned to wait until later rather than sooner to school our children...I was thinking of even waiting until Grady was 6 to start any kind of schooling. But, the curriculum we are getting is basically just a bunch of great books that I will read aloud to the kiddos. They LOVE to be read to, so it won't be like traditional "school"...busy work at a desk...important esp. now while they are so young.

The Brazilian school shedule goes from Feb. - Nov., with July, December, and January off. So, we will start the curriculum in Feb. Grady will be 4 and we will probably let Hadley follow along. She will only be 3, but like I said...the curriculum we are getting is mostly books...reading books aloud to them. There are 4 workbooks...Grady will probably be able to start the workbooks this year, but Hadley will probably have to do them all next year. We plan to spread this curriculum out over 2 years. Then when Grady is 6 and Hadley is 5 we will start the K curriculum. We will be able to do lots of things for them together, some not. I'm excited about what we are doing though...it will be so fun and I know they will love it. They love to be read to. This particular curriculum will be great too because it comes with so many great books. With no access to a library, this is a great way to build our own library that can be used by all of our kids. Woohoo!

We are using the Sonlight curriculum. From what I've seen over the years, I love it already. We will also be getting a few great things from Timberdoodle. They are a great resource for even if you aren't homeschooling...they've got great games and such that you can play with your kids.

Anyhoo, that is what is going on here as far as that goes. Just wanted to share my thoughts and heart behind what we will be doing. We're really excited.

Oh, and the blog I read was the blog of Sally Clarkson...she has a ministry called Whole Heart Ministries if you want to google her and read some of her stuff yourself.

And now it's high time for some pictures...

Asa's first watermelon...can you tell she loved it? That's right, just like a good little Saline offspring.














Daddy's naked little helpers.











Look at those ringlets.
















The kids each had one of Asa's hands and were walking with her. They were all just belly laughing so hard they could barely stand up...so, so cute. Notice the super clean car in the background.
Grady putting Hadley's shoes on so they could go to the playground.
The kids with their presents we brought them from our little "vacation" in Brasilia...the comb and shower cap from the hotel. :) They loved their gifts.







"Helping." Joel had just put her hair in little pigtail balls. Really cute.















Asa loving playing in Grady's bedding. She loves to hide and play peek-a-boo with us.









Grady's special hat. Yep, a pull-up.
















I had just braided Hadley's hair for the first time. She makes a cute little Pippy Longstocking.















She's got the nose-scrunch down. :)