Author: HomeGrownKids

How To Make the Most of a Book Fair

Book Fairs? Curriculum Displays… Oooh, just the thought all giddy with excitement. Devising a strategy so that you get maximum benefit from a books fair is It’s important to have a plan, to devise a strategy so that you don’t wander around aimlessly, plucking every good book from the table. After attending many books fairs and curriculum displays, I devised my survival plan. Continue reading

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Friday Freebie: Win a Copy of A Parent to Parent Chat on ADHD

Leave a comment to win a copy of the ebook, A Parent to Parent Chat on ADHD by Theresa Lode. Whether you suspect you have a child with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, ADHD, or you have an official diagnosis it goes without saying that you’re exhausted. True, parenting in and of itself is hard work. Throw in a kid with ADHD or some similar issues and a parent can explore new realms of exhaustion not understood by other parents. Continue reading

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The Parable of the Animal School

An old story tells of the creation of a school for the animals. In this school, everybody took the same four courses: flying, swimming, climbing, and running. Among the students were a duck, a flying squirrel, a fox, and an elephant. These four were highly motivated, and wanted to get good grades, so they all tried very hard. Continue reading

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Homeschool Bartering

Maybe you can’t teach music but you love to teach a subject that a nearby friend does not. Maybe you could swap! If you like Nature Study and your friend isn’t the most motivated person for Nature Study yet she loves Art, Cooking, Sewing or History maybe you could do a Lesson Swap! The benefits of Lesson Swapping are numerous. You don’t have to each everything – especially the subject you’re either not interested in or know nothing about. Continue reading

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Crunch Time by Michelle Bridges

Regular readers will know that I like the Body for Life program by Bill Phillips, as well as Burn the Fat by Tom Venuto. I think they’re great ways for homeschool mums to get fit, healthy and strong…in a minimum of time. As busy homeschool mums and wives, how can we afford countless hours at the gym each week? I also love to read inspiration books and magazines of those who do live a healthy and fit lifestyle. So, as soon as I saw Crunch Time by Personal Trainer, Michelle Bridges, on the store shelf I grabbed it! Softcover, 204 pages and it is divided into 4 sections. Part One is titled Get Real! It’s all about why we do what we do…looking at the excuses we make, the habits we have allowed to form and how we change those beliefs and attitudes by developing a plan. Michelle wants us to know that we can in fact lose weight fast and keep it off. She says, “show me someone who has put the weight back on because they lost it too quickly and I’ll show you five people who put the weight back on because they lost it too slowly!” p3 Section Two, titled Get Moving! is where Michelle is photographed doing all the weight loss exercises. Yet for some reason, seeing this thin, well toned woman exercising doesn’t...

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The Recipe for Success

Aha! I bet that subject line roped you in, eh? We all want to achieve success – successful , godly children eh?   I’m learning that my initial thoughts and ideas on things are not always what is deeply in my heart. Over the years, I have been asking God to cleanse me, to reveal my heart that I may surrender it to Him. He has been showing me the darkness of my heart. This is scary on the one hand yet good on another because I know that it is because He loves me that He is doing this work.   We all know that there is no formula for guaranteed success with our children, right? Well, I believe that many of us deeply believe that there is a formula: 1 child +homeschool = Success I also believe that many of us believe there is a recipe for failure, and it looks like this: 1 child + school = Failure. Oh, I know that when we see it written so boldly like that we don’t agree that we think that way but…when it gets down to the heart of the matter… In my opinion, this is way to simple and basic and it is missing some key ingredients of which the main one is Relationships. I have met and had the pleasure of knowing a few Christian young...

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What is 'Copywork'?

  Copywork is a cornerstone of our English program in our home-based-learning. Many things have come and gone over the years but copywork is a tried and true, effective tool for us. Copywork is not a Charlotte Mason invention. Nor was it invented by Ruth Beechick. It is as old as old.  However, CM elucidated upon the idea, incorporated it into her method, which dovetailed with her philosophy of education and it is now very popular. Ruth Beechick uses the idea of copywork/copywriting/transcription or whatever else you'd like to name it. 'Learning Language Arts through Literature', in which Ruth Beechick helped to form, uses copywork and dictation as a cornerstone of their program. You might find it helpful to know what both Charlotte Mason and Ruth Beechick have to say on the why and wherefore's of copywork. Knowing that, you will be able to *pick the meat and toss the bones*…taking what you need for your child.   Charlotte Mason style Bear in mind that CM developed a philosophy of education and the methods she combined were supposed to be used in conjunction with that philosophy. I'll explain what I mean eh? Miss Mason liked the idea of short lessons. This served the purpose of securing the child's attention totally, but for short periods. This enabled a child to tend to all of his studies without boredom. Similarly, Miss...

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Discipleship in our Home

Why did you start homeschooling?  For us, it was a desire to be the main influence in our children’s lives.  We reasoned that if we were to influence them we needed to spend time with them, in fact we needed to spend more time than anyone else.  We believe strongly that the people you hang around with will affect your life.   During the ten years since we began homeschooling we have learnt a lot about what it means to have our children home.  We have tried doing school in the traditional sense and I found the biggest problem with that was that I became task orientated – I needed to teach this lesson, and read this book, and do this activity.   Though you may achieve a lot when you are task orientated at what cost?  The cost for us was relationship.  When I become relationship focused I create the atmosphere and give myself the time necessary to reach my children’s hearts – to influence them.   The model of learning that is based on relationships is called discipleship.  Discipleship is where the teacher models their life, their beliefs, habits and skills to their disciples.  In the family this is when the parents model these things to their children.  To disciple our children means to invite them into your life, to let them participate in your life and for...

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