Robinson Curriculum

I have posted before about how we use the Robinson Curriculum as the base for our home education. Here is the link to the first part of a series about the Robinson Curriculum. If you are looking for a curriculum to use or maybe you think it might be time for a change, check it out!

Introduction to Robinson Curriculum

I talk about our use of the Robinson Curriculum here:

Self-Taught Education

Rush Revere Giveaway!

School Planning

School Planning

As I have mentioned before, I am pretty much set with our schooling for this year. We plan on starting September 17th. One of the things I had been putting off was creating our schedule for the day. It is usually one of the most stressful things to try to figure out who will practice piano when, the individual lessons for the younger children, who will cook meals on what nights, etc. so I just kept procrastinating. Well, I knew with us starting in two weeks and the baby possibly deciding to arrive before then that I shouldn't put it off any longer.

So, earlier this week I poured myself a glass of Plexus Slim and sat at my computer and got to work. I am surprised at how quickly I was able to work out all the details. What normally takes me an hour to start with and then a week of revamping, I had done in about an hour. I did have two of my older girls look over it to see if I had missed something or made any mistakes, and I had made a few small mistakes, but those took less than 15 minutes to figure out and fix.

The interesting thing is that I did this in the afternoon. For as long as I can remember (for at least the past 20 years), afternoons have always been the hardest for me to accomplish anything. I usually hit the wall around 2:30 in the afternoon and need to take a nap (and by nap, I mean at least an hour nap). I used to figure if I don't get it done before lunch, it wouldn't get done because after lunch I just slow down. I didn't sit down (which means I had been busy until then) until about 3:00 in the afternoon to start working on the schedule and I was alert and could think clearly. Even after finishing the schedule, I worked on some laundry, picked up around the house, and helped get dinner ready.

I attribute this change to my body healing and to the natural energy that comes from the natural ingredients. I never had the sustained energy I now experience from drinking a cup (or two) of coffee! I'm sure my family appreciates how much more I am able to accomplish in a day. One would think that a mother of soon to be 13 would be experiencing more and more tiredness, not more and more energy. I am so thankful God led me to Plexus to help me with the ministry of motherhood to which He has called me.

For those who are interested in what we do for schooling, here is a brief explanation. We use the Robinson Curriculum as the base for our education. I have taken the Robinson book list and adapted it for our needs. Some of the books I replaced with books on the same topic that we already owned. I also added some books that I feel are important for my children to read. We also do not follow Saxon math all the way through as so far my girls aren't planning on college, but rather would like to own their own businesses or hope their future husbands own their own businesses. Instead of the higher level Saxon math, we have them do a year of personal finance (using Dave Ramsey's Financial Foundations) and then a year of business math (Rod & Staff's Recordkeeping). We also always do a separate Bible class, but we have not decided for sure what we are doing for this year. I am waiting for my husband to make the final call on a particular study. If he hasn't decided by the time we start school, I have a few options of short studies we can do until he decides.

I kept my oldest (who graduated this past summer) on the schedule for this year as she will be helping around the house and possibly with some of the schooling when she isn't working outside the home. I decided not to add the baby on the schedule because the baby will just be eating and sleeping most of the day and we'll just work that in our schedules (that and I'm running out of space if I want to keep it all on one page!).

If you have any questions about Plexus or our schooling, please feel free to ask!

Wisdom

What is the purpose of education?

I am pretty much ready for us to start our school year, but I still have to decide on a Bible curriculum and finalize details on a few other things. We plan on starting mid-September (unless the baby decides to make it's entrance then) so I have a few more weeks yet. The beauty of homeschooling is the flexibility to adjust our schedule and since the older girls are still working and we are busy with canning, freezing, etc., we decided to give ourselves some time before delving into formal schoolwork (because learning to preserve food and run a home is learning!). As I have been working on the new school year, I have been pondering a few things.

"For wisdom is better than rubies; and all the things that may be desired are not to be compared to it." ~ Proverbs 8:11 

"The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding." ~ Proverbs 9:10

"For the LORD giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding." ~Proverbs 2:6

"For whoso findeth me [wisdom] findeth life, and shall obtain favor of the LORD." ~Proverbs 8:35

I need to keep these verses in mind as I finish planning the school year.

A relationship with Christ is much more important than high grades. I ned to focus on discipleship more than academics. This was made even more apparent to me as we graduated our oldest this past summer. I am so proud of her growth in Christ much more than her academic growth. She is much more ready for the real world due to her relationship with Christ than she would have been with more worldly knowledge and no relationship.

Why I've Been Scarce

As you have noticed, I haven't posted much in the past two weeks and there is a good reason for that!

Of course, we celebrated Independence Day on July 4th. Our family attended the local parade and then just enjoyed family time together for the remainder of the day. Some of our girls had to work the next day (as well as my husband) so we decided to forgo the fireworks that night.

Our oldest graduated from our home school last weekend so we spent the week preparing things around the house, setting up shade tents, making food, etc. for her graduation and open house.

The very next day was our annual Carmichael family reunion so we then had to clean up from the open house and prepare for the reunion. After the reunion, it has become a tradition to go to my sister-in-law's house on the river for some fun in the sun.

The day after the reunion was the start of our three day Bible Bee camp. Our local Bible Bee gets together every summer for three days to have fun, work on learning verses, understanding the scripture passages, etc. While it is very fun, it is also very tiring (especially for this pregnant mama in this heat!). The younger children and I came home every night to do evening chores and then morning chores before heading back to camp. It was pretty rough on the youngest children as well since they either missed naps or had shorter naps than normal as well as getting to bed late every night. It took (is taking) a few days to get back to a normal routine.

Once we returned home from camp, not only did the older girls return to their jobs, but we had to start preparing for our son's 5th birthday! His birthday is today and we will be celebrating with family today and then he will have some friends over tomorrow to have some fun with a Thomas the Train celebration.We also have another graduation open house to attend after our son's party.

After that, we have a "normal" busy week filled with shuttling girls to jobs, tending the garden, midwife appointments, continuing in our Bible Bee studies, etc. before I will be taking my oldest on a girls' getaway for a few days. I have also recently agreed to be a mentor mom for our local MOPS group and the leadership is having a planning weekend that I will try to attend at least for a little while.

Through all this busyness, I have realized how beneficial Plexus has been to my life. You see, I actually ran out of my Plexus Slim last month and due to financial strain, couldn't order more. I went back to needing naps, getting charlie horses in the middle of the night, not sleeping well, not having regular bowel movements, etc. I also noticed that it had been keeping the negative side effects of our neighbors spraying chemicals on their trees at bay. In less than a week of being off Plexus Slim (and the neighbors spraying again), I started having an allergic reaction where my entire body itched as well as the normal sinus drainage that happens every year when they spray (which I hadn't actually experienced this year yet). Those effects made it even harder to sleep and pretty much made life miserable for a while. I did start on some herbal supplements to help combat those effects and started seeing improvements in just a few days. Through all this, I now know how much Plexus had changed my life and I know my gut needs much more healing for me to continue to see improvements.

I truly believe that Plexus can help so many people with their health issues. I have heard story after story of how Plexus has changed the lives of friends and others that I have never met and it is interesting to see how it seems to help everyone a little bit differently. It has also been amazing as I have been learning more and more about gut health, how many different health problems actually stem from poor gut health. 

I would love to discuss Plexus with anyone who has questions. Please just contact me through the form on the right side of the blog!

Here are a few pictures from the past two weeks so you can see what we've been up to!

Can you see what it says?!

 

Conditions for Learning

Self-Taught Education

About five years ago, I was introduced to the Robinson Curriculum. While I don't follow the curriculum exactly as it is intended, I love using it as my base.

The Robinson Curriculum was born out of a need because the wife of a college professor died while they still had young children in the home. The books provided in the curriculum were because they were quality books already in their personal library. For that reason, I "replaced" some of the books with books that we already owned on the same topics. Also, having an English major and being a former public school English teacher, there were some books that I desired my children to read that weren't on the list and of course, I needed to add books for our state history and constitution.

Also, because our children are not desiring to go to college (at least at this point), I have altered the math curriculum a little bit by not going as high in the Saxon math and incorporating some personal finance and business math (because they do plan on having home-based businesses).

Another difference, is that with the younger children, I tend to lean toward a Charlotte Mason/Notebooking approach with them.

With the curriculum, they are to write every day. I then check them for grammar, dictation, etc. They can choose to write on anything they desire (except I require them to write on whatever they are reading for school on Fridays). Sometimes they choose to write stories, sometimes they ask if they can copywork out of the Bible, sometimes they will do extra research and write on a topic of their choice.

I have loved how they choose what they "study" and will go much further than I expect them to go. I am also surprised at what interests them. They may be introduced to something in their reading and then choose to study more (like Cora studied spiders!).

Another surprising side-effect is that they will continue to explore topics outside of school as well. Sabra has been reading about David Farrogut in Fifty Famous Stories (which is included in the Robinson Curriculum) and she is enjoying learning about him. Every day she was coming to me telling me something that she found fascinating. Yesterday, she took it upon herself to start writing her thoughts about him. She wrote 5 pages and this is in addition to her normal, daily writing!

David Farrogut is someone who I don't think she would have encountered in other curriculums, but I'm glad that she is reading about him because it is sparking a love of learning.

Do you homeschool? What do you like about homeschooling? What do you love about the curriculum you use?

Success in Education

Sending Our Children to Caesar

They're Your Kids

I have a friend who I admire mention a book that she really liked-They're Your Kids by Sam Sorbo. Since she has been homeschooling longer than I have, I thought I would check it out. She was kind enough to share her copy with me.

I also really liked this book. It's subtitle is, An Inspirational Journey from Self-Doubter to Home School Advocate. I am not a self-doubter when it comes to a home school standpoint, but I am an Home School Advocate.

Much of the information in the beginning of the book I already new, but it did educate me on some points that I didn't know. It showed me that even before I had become a public school teacher, things were starting to go downhill. Of course, I didn't see what was happening as bad at the time, looking back, you can see it was the beginning of what I see as a major problem in public education.

I love that she doesn't just spout off her ideas, but uses references to documented facts, quotations from other people, and information from recognized studies.

One of the major "complaints" I hear about home education is that parents do not think they are capable of doing it. While she combats the most common complaints with common sense, I love what she says towards the end of the book.

Raising children is difficult. Many of us find ourselves overwhelmed by all the challenges children can pose. But doing the hard thing is often the only responsible way forward. I've tried to show that as hard as it is, it's still not as hard as sending your kids away from you to the state institution to be educated.

I highly recommend picking up a copy of this book and reading it. It is good for those who already home educate as well as those who are thinking about it or even thought about it for only a second. In fact, I think it would be beneficial for even the staunch public school advocates to read as it brings to light some issues that many people are blind to seeing.

I'm sure you can find this book at your local library. It is also available as an Amazon Kindle download if you prefer to use your e-reader.

Worth More

Perpetuating the Republic

Be Not Like Children

Ephesians 4:14 KJV 

That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;

When we come to Christ, we are considered babes. We know little of what true discipleship is. As believers, we are called to grow in Christ. We can not stay as babes only trying to survive on milk. We must desire to dig deeper and feast on the meat of scripture.

Let's look at another aspect of children. Children are easily persuaded. They are very trusting and think that those in authority know all things. They are easily swayed by what they are told and usually lack the intelligence to perceive deception. In fact, many adults are often deceived so how can we expect more from our children?

It is in light of this scripture that my mind turned to education. Most Christians who send their children to public schools say that their children are lights to others and that their children will not be swayed by the humanistic thinking and teaching.Their children will be different. Unfortunately, I just don't see that happening (except in a very few cases.)

If we, as adults, are not successful in being lights to those we work with or with our neighbors, how can we expect our children to be different?

Yes, our child may come home and say that their friend prayed the prayer with them, but how do we know the sincerity of that prayer? Was that child just being swayed by another doctrine? I can't even count the number of people I know personally who as children said the prayer but then turned and never returned to the right path.

We need to realize that those who are against Christ are cunning and crafty and lying in wait to deceive. In fact, as the days go by, there is less cunningness and more and more blatant opposition to Christ.

We are called to not be like a child. We need to open our eyes to the deceptions of the evil one and protect our own children until they are no longer children.

Rush Revere Giveaway!

As some of you know, I am a former public school English teacher and now an home school mom. Both of those aspects of my life add to my love for books--good books!

We use Robinson Curriculum as our base for our school, but with being a book lover, I, of course, have my favorites that I have added to our required reading list (and I'll probably continue to add books as I find new favorites!). I have also taken books that we already own and "replaced" books from the Robinson list on the same subjects to keep me from having to either print the books, find them in thrift stores, or download on the kindle.

Here is what our reading list currently looks like:

To see the entire file, go here.

If you would like to see all the grades an the books listed, click on the link in the caption of the photo above. The first column says whether the book is original to the Robinson book list or what I've added. The second column is the grade level (although I may be changing the grade level of a few books--I'm still contemplating). The next column is the book title and the next the author. The fifthe column is what "subject" I have placed the book although some of the books can fit into more than one subject. The sixth column just lets my children know where to look for the book in our personal library (my two oldest have their own kindles, we have one family kindle, and I also have a kindle reader on my iPad). The last two columns is for my children to fill out when they start and end a book.

I have shared this information on part of our school (our mathematics program isn't here), as an introduction to a giveaway!

If you click and open the entire file, you will see that in 9th grade, I have my children read Rush Revere and the Brave Pilgrims by Rush Limbaugh. It is an entertaining book on the subject of colonial times. My oldest is the only one who has read it so far and she wrote a brief review of the book.

Rush Revere and the Brave Pilgrims is a good book. It makes you look at what the pilgrims did and felt instead of what happened to them. It also teaches not to look at the outward appearance--look on the inside. 

The only thing I dislike about this book is the magic. Other than that, it is a great history book. ~ Dara, age 14

Rush Limbaugh has other Rush Revere books already in print and I will most likely find them at some point and if they are as good as this first book, add them to our reading list as well.

I have a copy of Rush Revere and the Brave Pilgrims to giveaway!

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14 Things I’ve Learned During 14 Years of Marriage

In no particular order!

 

1. It is better to submit than to push my own way.
2. It’s better to stay up late to spend time with my husband and then just take a short nap during the day.
3. Some men just won’t learn how to cook.
4. I enjoy my husband doing the “man’s work” and me doing the “women’s work”.
5. We can accomplish so much more when we work together.
6. Sex gets better the longer you’ve been married.
7. Becoming parents made us less selfish which improved our marriage.
8. Enduring difficult times together made our marriage stronger.
9. Forgiveness is key!
10. Men need respect more than sex.
11. Watching my husband being a great father is sexy.
12. God’s plans are so much better than anything we could have imagined.
13. Becoming a keeper of the home improved our marriage 100%.
14. Waiting for God to change my husband works so much better than me trying to change him (or waiting for God to change me because my husband doesn’t need to change)!

Happy Anniversary, Chad! 

I pray God bless us with 50 more wonderful years!