Encouraging Moms Who Homeschool

Did anyone enjoy watching the Olympic coverage last night? We sure did! Almost everyone I know likes to watch the figure skaters every 4 years - and our family is no exception. But there's something so amazing about watching what they are doing and understanding it because my kids do the same stuff (on a much smaller level, of course). We like all the events - snow boarding, skiing, the luge (heartbreaking as it is this Olympics). But we don't really understand those sports inside and out like we do figure skating. For example, figure skating used to be a lot more fun to watch (and to perform!) before the "rules" had to be changed thanks to conspirator's cheating on the Olympic level (2002 Olympics). Now the "rules" limit the artistic creativity that goes into the short and long programs. Elements are the rule of the day, with the express purpose of ensuring no one else can have their Olympic gold stolen from them by conspiring judges (Russia & Franc

I love going out with my husband. It's just the best time ever! We sit and talk, enjoy a nice dinner, check out a bookstore or maybe run some errands, maybe rent a video (we love Jay and Jordan at the rental store - 2 great guys!). It is something we were not able to do early on in our marriage and we do not take one single date night for granted now that we have children old enough to "watch over" the younger ones and the house while we are out. I remember those long days with babies and toddlers - making it through dinner and bath time was a big deal! I think I was too exhausted to even last through a date night back then. Homeschooling was a juggling act in between diaper changes, naps and feedings - and the toddler years are a constant tornado of activity! Those were wonderful years, and I told myself to enjoy them because they would soon be gone (which turned out to be true). I would not trade those days for anything and I loved being a mom of 5 young children. But d

Here I am, hoping to come up with something amazinlgy insightful in this post...or perhaps I'm sitting here with the laptop because I am avoiding the dreaded pile of work to be graded?! Uh, yes, I'm hiding from "The Grade Pile". It seems as if it used to be much easier to grade my children's daily homeschool assignments. What on earth could possibly have happened? Was it ever really "easier" or is this simply a "grandma's cookies" kind of memory lapse on my part? Am I just being a whiner about doing what I ought to do - and if so, does that make me a terrible hypocrite in that I don't want my own offspring to whine about taking care of their responsibilites? Why does this one little (or not so little) thing make such an impact on my days? Would it really be so tough to just grade for one hour in the late afternoon and get it over with?! What about grading as we go through the day, leaving only the "harder" subjects for later,

Well, it's been a whole week and I've received some really great ideas for my next big read. Ashley(& spouse) gave me 2 great options - thanks guys:) Rebecca (& spouse) gave me 7 great options - thanks to you guys, too:) And Janette is the big winner with 12 great options. So I have a special surprise chosen just for her - and since this is all about books, her prize is, of course, a book. It was pretty hard to find one she hasn't already read! Thanks so much for all your help - reading has always been my favorite pasttime, and it's never a good thing to run out of books! Happy reading! Jan www.homeschoolingmothersbiblestudy.com

Well, it's February. A notoriously L-O-N-G month for homeschool families. It's also the month we celebrate Valentine's Day. So why not blog about curriculum our family loves during the month when homeschoolers typically need some new ideas and encouragement? This year one of my girls has been using the book "Christian Kids Explore Earth & Space" for science. (The rest of the girls are using different levels of Apologia - another fantastic science program; and my son is working primarily on college coursework via dual enrollment - no science for him this semester). This book is published by Bright Idea Press, the company that publishes The Mistory of History and All-American History. A link to their online catalog is www.brightideaspress.com/catalog.htm. BTW, the Christian perspective toward science in these books is the real deal - no watered down stuff here! I really, really LOVE that!! I love the simplicity of this science program. None of the experiments is