Homeschool Books

When I posted a quote from a Homeschooling Book recently I had a lot of requests for books on Homeschooling that I have read. I am clearly no expert in the area of homeschooling and I am sure there are others who could give better recommendations but since several of you asked here they are:



General Homeschooling Books:

The Well Trained Mind by Susan Wise Bauer and Jesse Wise

For the Children's Sake by Susan Schaeffer Macaulay

Educating the Whole Hearted Child by Clay and Sally Clarkson

The Spiritual Power of a Mother by Michael Farris

The Ultimate Guide to Homeschooling by Debra Bell

The Charlotte Mason Companion by Karen Andreola (just got- haven't yet read)

For the Family's Sake by Susan Schaeffer Macaulay (just got- haven't yet read)



Homeschooling Websites:

Trivium Pursuit-scroll down and you can download several audio messages:

The Seven Undeniable Truths of Homeschooling

A Less Hurried Approach to Homeschooling

Ambleside Online- a Charlotte Mason Website has some good articles



Specific on Reading (not just homeschooling)

The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading by Jesse Wise

Phonics that Work by Janiel Wagstaff



Parenting Books (there are links to all of these on my sidebar):

Shepherding a Child's Heart

Don't Make Me Count to Three

Hints on Child Training

Everyday Talk

There are lots others but these are the 4 I tend to go back to over and over.

Jimmy Cone

It is always a sure sign that Spring has arrived when our local ice cream shop opens for the season. They don't have a huge selection but it sure is cheap and the kids love it.

Jotham needs to make sure he gets it ALL in.

A Huge Thanks

This is a special thank you to all of our dear friends who helped me last week with surprising Erik. If you know Erik you know he LOVES surprises and he is extremely hard to surprise because he is always guessing exactly what has been planned. So last week he was away all week at the Together for the Gospel Conference. We have been wanting to paint our office since we moved in but have not had the time. So while he was away I recruited some excellent help from our dear friends to paint it. Orginally I contacted one of them, Denny, and asked him if he could help me paint. I don't what I was thinking. There is NO way that Denny and I could have done it on our own. Denny, being the smart man that he is recruited lots of other friends and I got a few others (care group leaders) to help prep and paint the whole office. Needless to say, Erik was VERY suprised and EXTREMELY blessed. Unfortunately I didn't take a picture before we started so I only have one from before we moved in. You can see the beige paint everywhere and the wallpaper. The office is now yellow, gray and white (thank you Denny for picking the colors). It looks fantastic! A special thanks to both Denny (who helped me plan everything and organized the work) and John (who can back on Wednesday by himself while I was a cg ladies meeting and but second and third coats on the white and yellow- making the room look MUCH better). I never could have accomplished this without these dear friends and their wives who released them to come help.

A New Favorite Spot

A few weeks ago I was going to take the kids down to DC for the Kite Festival during the Cherry Blossom Festival. After seeking some counsel and just evaluating the situation I realized it would just not be a good idea for me to do something like this without Erik. I figured I would either lose on of the kids or I might be tempted to leave one of them behind (just kidding), I did realize that 3 kids, 1 Mama, a cold day, the metro, in a busy city is probably not the best combination for me. Anyway, I had told Karis that we were going to do something special that day so I felt like I needed to come up with something. That something has now become one of our favorite spots to visit.

Black Hills is a local regional park that has a "lake" and trails and also a really nice playground. The kids LOVED gathering rocks and throwing them in the water. In fact Jotham loved it so much that when I went to the playground the other day and not the water he was crying.

I didn't take any pictures the day I went alone with the kids but Erik and I brought them back a few days later and I snapped that day. It was really warm and Karis couldn't resist putting her feet in.

This is the "baby" pinecone that Jotham found and was quite attached to. He was so sweet with it. He gave it some of his orange juice to drink and took care of it - till he smashed with his love.

On another note, little Cia has finally made the transition to being a walker. It is so cute to watch- one of my favorite early childhood developments.

Quote

Since we someday plan on homeschooling our children I have been asking Home school Moms that I know what "general" home school books they have found helpful. A friend recently gave me The Spiritual Power of a Mother by Michael P. Farris. There was lots of good stuff in this little book, chapter 9 was particularly good. Anyway, a few quotes I liked.

"Your children need a sane mother far more than they need a support group."

I thought I could change this to many different things:
Your children need a sane mother far more than they need to go to story time at the library.
Your children need a sane mother far more than they need a clean bathroom.
Your children need a sane mother far more than they need to eat homemade bread.
The list could go on but I think it is helpful for gaining perspective.

Just a paragraph later he writes:

"Academic success goes hand in hand with the personal sanity of the teaching parent. Successful moms are happy moms who have established real priorities for themselves and their children."

Later in the book he talks about complaining. Since I am such a complainer at heart (and my kids have inherited my sin) I liked this one:

"A complainer is attempting to take control of the situation. A complainer is demanding a solution...becoming a complainer drags you away from the key to your joy- that is, contentment."

Our Little Prairie Girl

Karis loves Little House. This past summer my Mom bought her this hat in Williamsburg and she quickly started calling it her night cap. Tonight when I went in to "peak" at her I thought she looked so cute I had to snap a picture.

Spring

Yesterday started off pretty yucky here but by the afternoon the warm sun was shining and it was a beautiful Spring Day. The kids had a great time playing outside for a long time. At one point, I just took a deep breath, is it me or is it just nicer to breath in the Spring.

On an update note: Mercia had her 15th month appointment last week. She "looks good." She weighs 21 1/2 lbs, which puts her in the 25-50% range. She is 31 inches tall, 50-75% range. She still has a small head 45 1/2 cm, 25%, but a friend recently told me that people with smaller brains are smarter. I thought that was good to know, since she isn't walking yet, I don't think her athletics are going to get her into college.