Educating Today

My husband and I went to our first home education conference in the early 1980s. The speaker said he believed that God uses homeschooling to “grow the parents up.” That thought has stuck with me through all these years.

Let’s see, what have I learned?

• I’m not the center of my universe even though I sometimes still act like I am.
• God will teach my children what they need to know, if I don’t get in His way.
• I “get to” teach my children, not “have to.” There’s a big difference.
• I am totally accepted and loved by the Creator of the universe AND so are my children.
• Grade levels are arbitrary. They should not rule your home school.

Be patient with yourself and your children, and let God grow you up.

One of the concerns people have about home education is, “How can you teach several different age levels at once?”

You don’t have to teach everything to everybody. Your job is to teach your children to “love to learn” and “how to study.” I think those two go hand in hand. If you love to learn and you know how to study, then you know HOW to find out what you don’t know.

Home school parents receive their continuing education by teaching mixed ages year by year as their families grow.

Older children learn to interact with younger ones. Younger children learn to hold conversations with adults.They learn to serve and love each other, and those around them.

Don’t isolate schooling or education from the rest of your family life. Incorporate learning into all aspects of your life. Be a life long learner and teach your children to enjoy learning.

Do as much as you can together-Bible, history, family read alouds. Reading, laughing, talking and learning together builds family bonds and unity.

Let your children get to know you. They need to know who you really are, what you believe in and why you believe it. What’s important to you and why.

You need to learn who your children really are–what’s important to them, what are their fears, what are their dreams.

All this can happen if you spend your time together talking and learning from each other.

Think about it. There’s a lot of learning that happens by your family just living together. Don’t try to imitate the artificial world of school age-segregation.

Society has been conditioned by the public school experience of different ages being segregated. Normal family life of living, working and learning together has been made to look like a huge task.

The age mix in your family is exactly right for your family. Older children learn to interact with the younger ones. Younger ones learn to hold conversations with adults.

If you have one child, he is much better off with parents, relatives and friends of your choosing instead of a herd of thirty age-mates at school. That’s an artificial environment.

Talk about teamwork–Your children will learn how to be on the same team working toward the same goals. Your family is your team.

Dr. Joe and Lynn Fote are personal friends of mine who are Life Coaches who really know their stuff. If you are an entrepreneur or a job seeker who wants/needs to find a new career, Dr. Joe and Lynn can help you discover your personal temperment traits so you can figure out what career you would love to have instead of just a job that you tolerate.

They also teach how you how to have a “top-notch” resume’  and how you can be in charge of your own job interviews. Great help–Good stuff!

Career Geyser: Secrets That Propel You to Success

Two of my most favorite people in the world are Dr. Joe and Lynn Fote. Joe and Lynn are Life Coaches who have written a wonderful e-book Career Geyser: Secrets That Propel You to Success. This book is for people who are wondering what direction they need to go with their career…

• People who have lost their jobs because of the economy/company downsizing
• People who want to change careers because they just aren’t happy working where they are
• College students who need direction or want to confirm that they are making the right choices
• High school students or their parents who want to know how to figure out which direction to go with their education/career decisions.
• People who want to know how to write a resume’ that gets noticed
• People who want to know how to conduct a business/job interview and be the one in charge during the interview

This book is chalked full of great information, and when you purchase the book, you can schedule a free 30 minute consultation with the authors about your career options.

Now you can’t beat that! Go here to find out about it.

This is HILARIOUS.

These lyrics will give you a good chuckle. After you read this, go to the You Tube link at the bottom of this post and you can hear this rendition performed.

And you know what–We will survive!!

I WILL SURVIVE (homeschool version)

Originally written and produced by Freddie Perren and Dino Fekaris
Originally performed by Gloria Gaynor
Mercilessly altered with apologies by Natalie Criss

First I was afraid
I was petrified.
Kept thinking I could never teach
‘Cause I’m not certified.
But we spent so many nights
Reteaching homework that was wrong.
I grew strong,
so now I teach my kids at home!

We study math
and outer space.
I just kept on despite the fear
with a big smile across my face.
I bought a set of Base Ten blocks.
I bought books with answer keys.
My parents think we’re nuts,
but they don’t even bother me

Come on, let’s go walk out the door.
We’re on the road now,
’cause we’re not home much anymore
My friends would laugh and say we’d be unsocialized.
I heard one mumble
that I’d give up by July.

Oh no, not I!
I will survive!
As long as I know how to read
I know we’ll be alright.
I’ve got all my life to learn.
I’ve got energy to burn.
and I’ll survive.
I will survive.

It took all the strength I had
not to fall apart.
Decided to attend
a play date at the local park,
and I met oh so many moms
who offered eagerly to help.
They used to cry.
Now they hold their heads up high,
and so do we!

My kids are cool!
They’re not those chained up little people
stuck inside at school.
So if you feel like dropping by
and just expect us to be free
you’d better call ahead first
’cause we’re probably busy!

Here’s the video…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIOogqa-5GA