Learning as we go!

So, we're only in second grade (with our oldest) and I've had a learning experience with homeschool groups.  I had not intended on having this experience, but am thankful of it.  I am not going to say that my conclusions will be for everyone, but hope you will consider the points that were brought to my attention.

I've belonged to a local homeschool group for the past 2.5 years in our small town.  There were about 8-10 families with 30-40 kids total.  Not everyone came all the time, but 25 kids on a regular basis.  The purpose of this group was to encourage each other, "socialize" our kids, and teach our kids meaningful skills.  We met twice each month.  With my smaller kids it was hard to always get there, so I more tagged along the fringes, coming and helping when I could.

Last summer I was visiting with a young lady (not a part of this group or any group) who had been homeschooled herself.  We began to talk about our experiences and I then asked her what hers were.  "Did your family belong to a homeschool group?" "No"  "Why not?" Her answer summed up my suspicions in a more concise answer than I could have ever come up with.  She said that often in groups such as those (and can happen with any group of non-like-minded people) is that doctrine becomes a problem.  She said that her parents felt that one of three things would happen.

1) You ignore doctrine and pretend it's the same (which does nothing for unity or oneness in Christ)

2) You agree to disagree on doctrine

3) You disagree and can't find common ground

Doctrine is the most important foundation of Christianity (or any belief for that matter) and if you are not in unity, then what is it worth?  How do you teach your kids to discern true from false doctrine if you are exposing them to all sorts of different beliefs (before their own foundation is grounded)?

Because of this, I pondered doctrine some more.  In a book study that I am doing with these same ladies, the topic of doctrine came up (the importance of it in a Christian homeschool).  I asked these ladies how they thought homeschool groups fit into that statement.  None of them had an answer.  One lady finally said that her own family was studying their own doctrines and had sent out surveys to other families they knew to compare.  None of the other families had replied.  She took that as (a) the families didn't even know what their doctrines are or (b) they just don't care what they are or (c) or they just hadn't got around to responding yet. 

Just around this time, a friend posted a video on Facebook on the importance of remaining true to your church's doctrine and not mixing it up with other ones which makes everyone's weaker.  A weak doctrine/belief system/worldview makes for a weak Christian which is an easy target for the devil.

Also at this same time, some ladies that I know suggested starting our own homeschool group.  There are 5 of us whose children, goals, lifestyle are all headed in pretty much the same direction, so we decided to start our own little group.  It was a perfect answer to prayer.  It solved the dilemma.  We are now the Lutheran Ladies Secret Homeschool Society! (sounds fancy, but is more relaxed than ever!)  Our children are more the same ages as the others in this group, and we're all devoted to Lutheran doctrine and beliefs.  Hopefully it'll be a blessing to all involved.

This young lady also said that your children will befriend (and often marry) the people that they know, so who do you want them to marry?  Someone with the same beliefs or someone who they'll be in conflict with (or wishy washy and compromising major beliefs)?

So, there's what I learned!

School update

School work on an ordinary day, Isaac supervising!

Here's another very late homeschool update.  We've been doing well, plugging away each day.  Well, in the perfect world it would be every day!  We usually do 4 days each week, as the 5th usually ends up a town day or an appointment day or a play day or a tired day.  And that's okay!

Luke is in 2nd grade (grade 2 for you Canadians!).  His day looks something like this:

-Math 15 min

-Phonics 10 min

-Journal 10 min (spelling, grammar, sentence structure are included here, Charlotte Mason style)

-Reading/English comprehension 20 min

(total 55 min work, with 5 min breaks jumping on the rebounder in between)

During quiet time in the afternoon he reads science, history and other learning books.

James is in kindergarten.  He does work 2-3 days per week, and his lessons are:

-Math (orally only) 10 min

-Penmanship (writing out his memory verse from Sunday School) 10 min

-Play working in random "learning" coloring books (math, shapes, time telling, etc) from the Dollar Tree

-Learning to read -10 min

We have been reading aloud every evening to the kids.  Since Christmas we've read Charlotte's Web, Stuart Little, The Trumpet of the Swan and now we're working on Farmer Boy (second time through for the family, as James can't remember reading it)

James and Elise help me with morning chores and take turns keeping an eye on Isaac running rampant throughout the house.  We then go for a walk after lunch, then quiet time and then Luke is supposed to practice a piano lesson although he rarely remembers!

I should note that we have stopped going to our old homeschool group and have begun a new one.  I'll write about that in a separate post, as it is a rather lengthy story.

What curriculum do we use?  We went to the homeschool conference and looked a bunch of them over.  The criteria I was looking for was: affordable, very little teacher prep and not too many consumables.  Many of them looked good, but didn't meet all of those criteria.  We ended up using Rod & Staff  since I had found a bunch of teacher's manuals at the Goodwill and so we already had them.  They are a Mennonite/Amish based curriculum so we don't use anything with doctrine in it.  Just their math and reading/phonics.  For science I love Apologia, since it's Charlotte Mason style and is Bible based.  We're planning to go through one book each year and then repeat for the little kids.  The neat thing about them is that you can do everyone's science at once instead of separating the kids out for it.  It can be a family thing even.  We have spent less than $100 for all our needs this school year (to give an idea how affordable it can be).  We use Eclectic Readers for learning to read.  And Ray's Arithmetic for oral math (which both boys do).  I bought as many books used as I could (half.com usually).  I try to buy books that can be used for all the kids so there will be less cost overall.  Math and phonics have consumable workbooks, but the rest are all real books.