This week, Randy, my hubby launched a blog of his own. You can visit his blog by going to HeyBish.com.
Randy is a pastor and didn’t want to be call such so somebody gave him the nickname Bish. It’s not uncommon to hear people saying, “Hey! Bish”. Of course, sometime people who have never heard it before will say, what did they just call him? lol!
A good cup of English Tea anyone? Maybe a cup of Starbucks or Millhouse’s Foglifter? Perhaps a cup of hot Apple cider.
I can have any of these within a matter of seconds with our new Keurig Coffee Brewer. I love this appliance, just fill the water tank, insert the K-Cup (the cup containing the specialty coffee), close the lid and press brew. Almost immediately you have the perfect cup of coffee, within the comfort of your own home. Choose, Brew and Enjoy!
I love my Keurig so much that we even put together a website in partnership with Amazon called iLoveMyKeurig.com. A website devoted to selling Keurig Brewers and K-Cups.
Be sure to visit and brew yourself a great cup of coffee!
Once I have a tentative list of curriculum to teach the courses needed for each child, I like to take a look at the overall picture for each child and the entire school year. Am I being realistic in what I think we can accomplish? Are there some weak areas that we need to strengthen? Am I happy with the amount of work each child will have each day? Am I spreading myself too thin? Is there a good Biblical foundation being established? These are just a few of the questions I keep in mind as I flip through the lists for each child. I can then make my final decisions. Once all of the adjustments have been made, I begin the shopping process. I like to have all of the materials in my hand by the end of June. I then have the summer to put together my lesson plans, buy supplies, make adjustments, and pick up anything I may have missed. www.ChristianBook.com has some of the best prices.
Next, I will be reviewing some of our family’s favorite homeschool materials. Since I am eclectic, I should have a nice variety of reviews. Stay tuned!
Maybe you are the type that loves a full-on unit study approach. Perhaps the thought of unit studies makes you have nightmares but you get excited about the thought spending a good portion of the day reading good books aloud with your children. Some families find a traditional classroom setting is the best fit for them while others prefer their children to work on their own as much as possible. There is no one right way to homeschool, as some would suggest. Each family is unique, designed by God with specific needs and characteristics. Spend some time evaluating your own style and that of your children. You will find there are a lot of approaches and materials you can cross off your list of options.
Once you know what you do not want, you can begin the process of deciding what you do want. It can still seem like the list of possibilities is long, but at least it isn’t endless. I like to make a list for each child that includes all of the subjects I want them to learn for the year. I must admit that my state laws dictate that list. I start the process with my youngest child and work my way up. I focus my search on Christian materials first. If I cannot find something that fills the need that has a Biblical foundation, then I will cautiously move on to secular materials. It is helpful to attend a homeschool convention and/or visit www.christianbook.com for online samples. I also like to visit publisher websites for more information. I ask local homeschool families if they happen to use the materials I’m interested in. They are usually quite happy to show me their books and let me know what they like and don’t like about the curriculum. The goal at this point is to develop a list of needed subjects with a list of possibilities. It is not about making final decisions.
More to come soon on this important topic!
Blessings,
Kristen
Selecting materials to use in our homeschool can be daunting. Visit any homeschool convention and you will understand exactly what I mean. There are so many choices, methods, materials. Each homeschool family, company, publisher, and author is certain they have the perfect (and only!) way to homeschool. The convention workshop for method A has you completely convinced that is the only way to go, at least until you go to the workshop detailing method B. Then there are the catalogs to be gone through and the websites to visit. Sometimes my head feels like it is spinning! We all need some practical ways to deal with the overwhelming number of choices we are blessed with as homeschoolers. Begin this important task bathed in prayer. I also encourage you to keep you spouse involved in the process.
The first step in figuring out what to use is to weed through all the stuff we know we do not want. I like to start with weeding out the choices that do not match up to my Biblical values. A good comparison of the various approaches is a good thing to study at this point. For instance, while I like many of the principles of the Classical Approach, I’m not real fond of the focus put on the false gods. Many of those materials I can cross off the list for consideration. Some materials are so denominational in their approach that it is too narrow for my consideration. We are strong believers in a literal, 6 day interpretation of Creation and expect our curriculum to support that view. Once I have determined which materials do not measure up to my Biblical worldview, I can take a closer look at my over all style and what works for my family.
I hope this will help get you started on your way to selecting great materials for your homeschool. More to come soon on this topic!
Blessings,
Kristen
A year ago the Lord opened our eyes to an array of homeschool curriculum that bore the “Christian” label yet strayed considerably from providing a Biblical education. Some of it, we are told, started off solid but has somehow strayed from the mark. Others slipped in through marrying Christian thought to humanistic ideas. Some of the problems are glaring while others are subtle. The enemy has been busy making his way into the arena in order to destroy the work the Lord is doing in the hearts and minds of our children. We must be vigilant.
Our goal was to spend the next year and beyond sounding the alarm to Christian families to use discernment when selecting curriculum for their children. In an unexpected turn of events, the Lord led us to sell our business to ChristianBook.com and devote ourselves to full time ministry in our local church. We have started to make that transition and the Lord is doing wonderful things in our church. We are very content in our new assignment, however; we are troubled by the passion we continue to have in the area of discernment among Christian homeschool families. We continue to feel called in the area of encouraging homeschool families to be diligent, wise, and discerning when selecting curriculum and books for their children. We feel it is the most important message we can give to Christian homeschool families at this present point in time.
We were surprised to learn about the controversy taking place with Ken Ham and the Great Homeschool Conventions coordinator, Brennan Dean. While I will not go into the details (they can be found all over the internet), I will say that one thing we are pleased to be coming out of the controversy is discussion about discernment. Our prayer is the Lord will use what appears to be a very negative event to awaken His people to know and understand what exactly their homeschool materials are teaching their children. We cannot use any particular curriculum, book, or plan just because another good Christian friend recommends it or because there was a good lecture about it. We cannot avoid doing our own diligent research before providing it to our children.
In my next post I will discuss practical ways to evaluate materials before buying them. Until then, I encourage you to take a fresh look at the materials you are handing to your children. Do the materials you are using stand under Scriptural scrutiny? I know I am going to be taking a more sober look at the materials in our home.
Blessings,
Kristen
After 8 blessed years of serving the homeschool community through our business, Pennywise Learning.com, we are privileged to announce the sale of our business to Christian Book Distributors (CBD) to pursue full time ministry in our local church. We believe we have some of the greatest customers out there. With that in mind, we are especially grateful to be able to turn our business over to such a wonderful, Christian company like CBD. We encourage our friends and customers to go to www.ChristianBook.com for all of your homeschool, Christian book and Bible needs. It is where our family will be going to purchase our materials in the coming years. While CBD has always been our worthy competition, we have shared a common goal; to provide the best in Christian materials to homeschool families at the best price possible. We are confident CBD will serve your needs and exceed your expectations.
I hope to continue to be a voice among homeschoolers, encouraging families to be vigilant in selecting quality Christian materials for their family. I have been alarmed at the humanism that has been sneaking into the Christian market, some being passed off as Christian. Hopefully this change of lifestyle will allow me to spend more time writing and reviewing materials on my blog.
Please keep our family in your prayers as we start this new and exciting chapter of lives.
God bless you and your family.
Merry Christmas!
Kristen
We love getting feedback and personal stories from our customers. This photo was sent to us of a young man (the youngest of 10) who received a Melissa and Doug Easel for his 7th birthday. He told his parents it was his best present ever! Thank you to his family for sharing this with us.
The homeschool community has gone through phases over the years. One of the best phases has been the move back to the authority of Scripture in regard to Creation. Answers in Genesis, Master Books, and other organizations have done a wonderful service to the homeschooling community in bringing awareness and providing materials to us. Families have abandoned science books laden with evolutionary thought in exchange for God honoring titles. Our kids are being taught that the Bible is reliable and can be used to understand our world. What a legacy for us to give to our children. It is a legacy that will affect not only our own children but our grandchildren and generations of our family. God is good!
There is another area that needs our attention, another area where we need to establish and safe-guard Biblical authority. That area is History and Geography. We are amazed at the amount of material out there, even some published and/or sold by Christians, that is completely secular. Some of it is given a Christian label because it has a little bit of Christian language sprinkled here and there but relies on mostly secular materials. What a loss of opportunity to convey the handiwork of God throughout all history and even geography. What is history if it is separated from the plans and works of God? It is relegated to a meaningless look at accounts of the accomplishments and failures of man, in other words it becomes humanism at the core. God needs to be the center of our history and geography lessons. Creation is the beginning of our history. We need to extend what we have established with Creation in our homeschools to our history and geography materials as well.
We have pledged to begin the process of finding the best God centered history materials out there. Some of it will be offered on our Pennywise Learning website and even more on our Book Peddler website. We are in the process of reviewing and putting together some exciting materials to give families the tools to put/keep God at the center of history and geography. We also plan to keep this discussion going, gathering your input along the way. Let’s all pledge to rid our materials of humanism and give our children a lasting legacy by using materials that shine a light on the mighty works of God throughout ALL history and even geography. (Wondering about how geography fits in? You will be hearing from my husband, Randy, on that topic!)
God bless you and your homeschool!
Alright, so I have some improvement to look forward to. Thanks to my oldest son, Nathan who did the recording and editing. The product we are reviewing is Charlie and Trike in the Grand Canyon Adventure by Answers In Genesis and Ken Ham.
