A Net in Time

Curriculum and book reviews, faith, homeschooling and more!

encouragement

When Mother’s Day Isn’t

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So what happens for Mother’s Day at your house?   Is it a day filled with everything about Mom?  Perhaps she gets a day off cooking?  Presents?  A chance to do her own thing without interruption? Isn’t it nice to have a day when you are recognized for all the unsung things that you do?   But what… what if Mother’s day isn’t like that for you, what if your house is anything like mine.   In my house, you’ll be lucky to get a “Happy Mother’s Day” greeting.  Today I want to encourage mothers on a day when Mother’s Day isn’t. 

When Mother's Day Isn't

The Hurt

Sometimes when the world is making a fuss, it’s easy to get hurt feelings if those around you don’t create a fuss too.  I get it!  Everyone else posts Happy Mother’s Day posts on Facebook, special mention is made at church, and inevitable questions of so how did your family surprise you for mother’s day?  Hurt feelings are so easy to come by. Guarding our hearts, as well as the hearts of our loved ones, is sometimes a challenge. 

How Do we Guard our Hearts?

Just how do we do that?  Guard our hearts? 

I’ve been listening to studies on Malachi lately, and one of things the prophet Malachi spoke against was how the Israelites had become lack lustre in their faith.  Purely the result of forgetting who God was.  They forgot to put God first in their lives, and so they were easily distracted from honouring him as they should. 

God made us mothers, whether by birth, adoption, or the kindness of our hearts. We need to remember that, honouring him and how he brought us to this position.

We are in that unique position of being able to train up children in the way they should go.  Proverbs 22:6 tells us that by doing so, as they mature they will not depart from it. 

Sometimes we need to change our perspective.  We need to take our eyes off the world and set them back on God. 

But Deut 4:9 warns us to take care, even if we feel safe we need to guard our hearts diligently.   Remember the Lord, remember all he has taught you, everything you have seen. And then teach them to your children.  Tell the stories of God’s goodness to your family. 

Be encouraged

Even if the world around you wants to exhalt Mother’s Day, even if your family doesn’t give much attention to the day, you are noticed and minded by the God who made you a momma.  

A momma who minds her household, who keeps her finger on the pulse of the people entrusted to her care.

“She opens her mouth with wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue. She looks well to the ways of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness.” Proverbs 31:26-27

A momma who shows Christ to those around her. 

Isaiah 66:13 As one whom his mother comforts,
    so I will comfort you;
    you shall be comforted in Jerusalem.

Be that momma, despite the externals.  Choose to rise above the lack of attention.

Choose to ignore a money-making day cause ultimately that is what Mother’s Day is, a day to sell cards, flowers and chocolate. A day co-opted by the card companies from what it was meant to be. A day simply to remember the importance of one’s mother. We learned this with an Amanda Bennett Mother’s Day unit Study 

Know that you are still cared for and paid attention to, even if the day just passes by in your household. 

Know that you matter to your family, and more importantly to God. 

May 2020

The Crew does a weekly challenge, which for this week is Mother’s Day. 

Join in on the Linky won’t you?

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

How to fit in Field Trips?

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One of the things I love to do is visit museums and places around my province (or anywhere actually).  🙂   If I’m out and about, I want to stop in and see what’s around me.  There is so much to see and do.  The question is though: How to fit in field trips when there is so much course work that needs to be done.  How do you justify the time away?  Do you need to look for a way to make it fit your curricula? Should you make your children do a photo journal, answer questions, or just let them explore? 

Let’s talk shall we?

How to fit in field trips

What are field trips?

Just what are field trips?   Can a trip to your local grocery store be a field trip?   For sure… as long as you aren’t going there just to buy groceries.   You could talk the store manager and see if he’d do a tour to explain why products are put out as they are, how do shelves get stocked, and how do you keep waste costs down?  Then your local grocery store becomes a field trip… and probably a really informative one at that.  

field trip - mushrooms
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Where can you go?

Any place you can think of can become a field trip if you take the time to turn it into a informational tour. I’ve been to a Toyota plant, home hardware packing facility, mushroom growers and Belgian Nursery.   Not places you might think of for a tour, but absolutely fascinating. 

We have toured tons of museums, both large and small, as a family, with friends, or with other homeschoolers.

The zoo, parks, aquariums and even the science center. Places of learning, with or without a tour guide. Hands on, experiential, and fun times to remember. Just make a plan and go.

butterfly conservancy
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But what about school?

The way I think of it is this.  School take field trips.  They just take a day and go out with their students.  Do they expect the kids to learn something?  Yup. Do they always?  Nope.   Same thing.  Go out, have fun, experience the world, ask questions, you never know what might inspire your children if you don’t give them the opportunity.  That’s what field trips are.  Opportunities to see something new or different or old… and it all helps our children see things differently.  It might inspire them to do art, make a career, decide on something they don’t want to do, and so forth.  

Take the time.  The school work will get completed.  But without the outside world being seen, and questioned, and looked at, what the point of it?

field trip : stones and bones
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How to Fit in Field trips

There are a number of different ways you can fit them.

You can ask your children what things they would like to see or learn about.  You could sit down with your hubby and say “what place are you interested in?”  Look around and see what might coincide with something you are learning about.  For instance if you have just learned about the war of 1812 take in a re-enactment.

Then

  • once a month have a field trip day
  • make a plan with your co-op group
  • have a week of field trips (maybe coincide when public school is out and maybe invite some non-homeschooling friends along).
  • plan a summer of stay-cations where you do field trips instead of your annual camping/hiking/vacationing away trip
  • take a weekend off and go away as a family to a further destination
  • Take an afternoon and stop in at the local museum

There’s all kinds of ways to make field trips work.  Don’t miss out on the benefits of field trips over school work. 

backus page House Museum
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Benefits of Field trips

Field trips are so beneficial.  I urge you to not miss out on them.

They

  • break up the school cycle.  
  • provide real world learning.  
  • provide access to areas you might not normally see.
  • help develop critical thinking skills.
  • have an academic impact not always readily measured.
  • can have an emotional impact.

How to fit in Field Trips?  You decide.  It’s your household. 🙂

blog hop

Hey!  Follow The crew through this Annual Not Going Back to School homeschool blog hop!  Links of participants below

CREW @ Homeschool Review Crew – 2019 Annual Not Back to School Homeschool Blog Hop  
Chareen @ Every Bed of Roses – ABC of Homeschooling
Dawn @ Schoolin’ Swag – Adding Fun to Your Homeschool Day
Erin @ For Him and My Family – Large Family Homeschooling 
Lori @ At Home Where Life Happens – Learning Life Skills
Monique @ Mountain of Grace Homeschooling – Homeschooling the High School Years
Monique D. @ Early Learning Mom – Homeschooling With Autism
Yvie @ Homeschool On the Range – 5 Days of Upper Grades Homeschooling
Abby @ Making Room 4 One More – Time Management for Homeschool Moms 
Amanda @ Hopkins Homeschool – 5 Days of Homeschool Questions
Amy @ the WRITE Balance – Year-Round Schooling 
Annette @ A Net in Time – Homeschooling. 
Betty @ Lets Get Real – Homeschooling High School 
Cassandra @ My Blessed Mess – Eclectic Homeschooling

Developing Independence

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The other day I was talking to a fellow homeschool mom who asked me “How did you get your son to work independently?”  It’s honestly a bit hard to answer that as it naturally happened.  Today I thought I’d think about that a bit more.  How did I go about developing independence in my son’s learning?

developing independence

The Early Years

When my son was little, we did everything together.  Walks, housecleaning, playing, and just living life.  We had so much fun together.  I wasn’t a helicopter parent, but it was just the two of us so doing things together made sense right?  This lasted until he was about 7.

Elementary Years

At 7 years old things started to change a bit, he was developing his own interests, learning to play on his own (mom wasn’t climbing our snow mountain), and discovering differences existed between us.  It was a surprise to him to learn that mom wasn’t crazy about insects though I’d happily teach about them.  Mom wasn’t a huge fan of spiders either much to my son’s horror .  “LAD! Get this spider before I stomp on him!” was a rather familiar call in this spider friendly home we live in.   

I love bunnies, guinea pigs, and dogs….  Give me something with fur to love and I am great.  Going to see my neigbours’ horses brought me pleasure. My son.. well.. he likes cats, birds and small creeping around the ground things.   Dogs, horses, cattle and what not are just not his thing.  How could mom be so different?

Building upon those differences we start exploring countries around the world.  This was a two-fold endeavor.. my striving to get my picky eater to be less picky, and to explore cultures and people not our own, showing differences in people that maybe he hadn’t considered.   We had a hoot learning.  He’d pick something he wanted to learn, I’d pick something.  They’d often diverge but together we explore. We touched on music.. and I discovered he loves classical music, and instrumental was his love.  He learned mom can’t help bopping to a rhythm though he can’t imagine why!

developing independence

Encyclopedias Rock!

We discovered the joy of reading encyclopedias.  Several history ones made up our bedtime reading.  Looking for a person’s perspective on history and seeing how it came out in the books we read. My son quickly showed his affinity for weaponry, pointing out how the world people lived in influenced weapon design.  My thoughts were on how art and language came to be, looking for the details in the workmanship.  We had great conversations about what surprised us and what we learned. I bought the lad a book on weapons which he devoured and still browses today. 

Math Happened

I need you to understand something.  In fact I LOVE math and am good at it. Had no problems teaching the lad the basics of what he needed to learn until we came to division.  There I learned an important thing.  The lad thinks about math completely differently than I do.  Forward progress ground to a halt.  We couldn’t do math together.  He was 10 and math killed it. Totally.   History, language, science, all good.  Math.. No.  The lad suddenly had to start learning math on his own.  With a program.  No mom helping because how we see math just causes head butting.  Pivotal moment.

Independence in math, led to independence in much more.

Math led to other decisions in Middle School

Seeing himself successfully find what worked and what didn’t in math led to other decisions. He’d do his math and then I’d learned that science, English and history were done as well. 

In Middle School he discovered a LOVE of writing papers (go figure!) and a penchant for expanding what he was learning about. 

“Research how dragonflies fly” this short research project lead to …. “MOM!  Did you know that dragonflies are the most successful hunters?  Mom!  Did you know… ” What was supposed to be a one day project became two weeks of utter fascination.  

He would often ask “mom, does it matter if I change the question?  Does it matter that I want to learn more?”   My stock answer is always “Are you learning?  If you are learning and getting your other work done, it’s all good”.  He’s learned to learn!  WOOHOO!!!!!   🙂

developing independence

Questions Changed

Questions in schooling changed.  They used to be “What do I do next? What are we learning about today?  Oh, can you help me make this?   Want to see what I built? and such like.   

Now I get asked questions like: How do I divide this up so I get finished on time?  What do I need to do first? Can you help me figure out what they are asking for?  The questions are different.  More sorting through, more planning, less hands on. 

I have needed to teach the lad skills I was taught.  He’s needed to learn to read questions carefully to make sure he’s doing what is needful. 

Looking forward to High School

This lad of mine faces grade nine this coming school year, so last year he made the choice to attend one class in grade 8.  We chose music since it was his first classroom learning experience and would be a no-brainer for him once he got into it.  No pressure, just learning how a teacher operates in a class environment.  He learned much and complained about time wasted. 

This coming year’s course materials required more collaboration.  I have these two English programs.. let’s sort out which is better.  Telling him “I thought you might like to read this WW2 books yourself, do you think we can read these over here together”?   I’ve needed to ask him what he wants to learn this year and how he wants to do it (term system or semester system). 

We learned from doing WW1 last year that he wants more structure to our learning so we’ve invested in some unit studies that he can work from.   He is becoming more able at learning what HE needs to learn best. Even if it’s not the same way mom learns.  This burgeoning independence and growth has fit him naturally. 

I hope that some of this helps you encourage independence in your children.  Developing Independence helps them discover talents, interests and abilities within enabling them to learn in a way that best suits. 

blog hop

Hey!  Follow The crew through this Annual Not Going Back to School homeschool blog hop!  Links of participants below

CREW @ Homeschool Review Crew – 2019 Annual Not Back to School Homeschool Blog Hop 
Chareen @ Every Bed of Roses – ABC of Homeschooling
Dawn @ Schoolin’ Swag – Adding Fun to Your Homeschool Day
Erin @ For Him and My Family – Large Family Homeschooling
Lori @ At Home Where Life Happens – Learning Life Skills
Monique @ Mountain of Grace Homeschooling – Homeschooling the High School Years
Monique D. @ Early Learning Mom – Homeschooling With Autism
Yvie @ Homeschool On the Range – 5 Days of Upper Grades Homeschooling
Abby @ Making Room 4 One More – Time Management for Homeschool Moms
Amanda @ Hopkins Homeschool – 5 Days of Homeschool Questions
Amy @ the WRITE Balance – Year-Round Schooling
Annette @ A Net in Time – Homeschooling.
Betty @ Lets Get Real – Homeschooling High School
Cassandra @ My Blessed Mess – Eclectic Homeschooling

Fitting in the Basics of Life in the Midst of Busyness

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T’is the time of field trips, year end celebrations, graduations, co-op times and more. In the middle of it all is karate, art classes, homeschooling, youth clubs, volunteer work and more.  Just how do you fit in the basics when your family is always busy doing stuff? Fitting in the Basics of Life in the Midst of Busyness is not always so easy. Today I will address a vital component to making it all work. 

Fitting in the Basics of Life in the Midst of Busyness

Learning Opportunities Abound

Everywhere we look there are things we can do to keep ourselves busy with… err… Learn From! There are so many opportunities to socialize, develop our faith, our emotions, our bodies.

I have two teenagers living with me right now. One has youth group, full days in high school, and friends he wants to spend time with. In the middle of it he wants to see Canada, study for an important test in Brazil, and do well in school here. The second has karate, army cadets, church cadets, music class, a paper route, animals to care for, friends to spend time with and homeschooling to do.

And me… besides the mirade of small jobs I have… I have a household to run and youth to stay involved with. How does one manage it all.

Communication

Honestly, that’s what it comes down to.

Hubby asks daily “so what are your plans for the day?” He’ll mention what he has to get done, and I’ll bring up my plans.

Boy one: “Do I have youth tonight?” “Can I go ________?” “I must study, I stay home today!” We text mostly, and attempt talking occasionally. He’s not too keen on learning English this one. But still, communication happens.

Boy Two: “Are we on week one or two?” “Can I do this?” “Today is really busy, can I choose not to do this?” “How can I fit in this? I really really want to do this, how?”

Mom: “What day works best for me to go to the library?” “Can you make supper?” “Did you pay this or do I need to?” “Who is sweeping the floor today?” “Do we need to make cat food yet?”

Adjusting to Make it fit

By talking and adjusting our lives we make it all fit. Sometimes we choose one activity over another. For instance this coming weekend the lad had opportunity to go two different places… which to choose! Then I wanted a day away with hubby, how do to that if lad chose option two? Discussion happened. No fretting needs to happen if all the details are known.

None of it would happen without communication. Communication lets me know that we need more bread, or we’re out of deli meat. Communication lets me know that bathrooms have been done. Through discussion we decide if some schoolwork can slide so a project can be more timely completed. Conversation helps us to proactively take charge of what we to so that all those little things still get done that help make our house a home.

Your turn now…. how do you make it work? When life gets crazy busy and it seems something is always on the go, how do you maintain your home in the midst of it all? What is your key to Fitting in the Basics of Life in the Midst of Busyness?

Spiritual Education In Homeschooling

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For families that are faith based homeschoolers a question that often arises is how does one fit in a spiritual component to their homeschooling.  The question arises What is Spiritual Education?  How does one approach it?

Is it part of the homeschool day, as in, is it subject that is completed once a day just like math, science, art etc.  OR is a more generic part of the day NOT considered a subject in the curriculum.   The question then begged is, how do you as the parent teacher help your children understand the difference?

Spiritual Education in Homeschooling, two main methods

I admittedly am not sure of the answer but want to take the time to explore it.  Personally I’ve done it both ways, where it’s one or the other.   Currently I’m doing a mix of both. 

Faith in every Subject

Spiritual education can be woven into every single subject that is taught.  That’s a given in a faith-based homeschool due to the fact that as believers we understand that God is in all and through all and manifests himself throughout the entirety of the world.   He does.   So when we teach art we understand that God is the first artist and shows himself through the things he has created.  The more we understand how God put things together, the more we understand how much he cares for this world. All the details he holds in place show us his omnipotence.   But does weaving faith facts into lessons teach our children how to have a daily devotional time?  Does it teach them facts about the bible which they should understand?

I don’t think so.  It does teach them the relevancy of God to every subject and area of life, but it doesn’t actually teach them to dive deep into God’s word and to think meditatively about spiritual things.

Meditative Study

The way to really understand a subject is to take the time to read and think about what you are learning.  So as you do math you learn that 1 + 1 = 2 and then can bear that out with practical application.  To understand Shakespeare you read his works, consider the time period that he lived in, figure out what the words he used actually mean, and therefore are able to understand his works. The same goes for understanding God.  You actually need to stop, read his word, consider the history and time period, consider what you already know about him, and really think about the verses that you are reading.  What do they tell you about God, what do they tell you about people (including yourself).  It’s important to learn these skills early so they translate into continuing these skills as adult. 

Curriculum or Outside of Curriculum

The challenge I find is this.  Having a devotional time as part of your homeschooling day, means it won’t be forgotten.  Do your math, your science, have your devotions, do your English.  It’s just part of your learning time.  You know it will get done. But here’s a risk involved: your children will see this only as a subject to be completed, not a life skill to develop.

BUT if you separate out your devotional time what do you do on those really busy days when it’s hard to fit everything in?  Then you risk your devotional time being forgotten, or laid aside, in the busyness of life.  The risk you run is teaching your children that sometimes all the running around we do is more important than learning more about God and his will for our lives.   How does one counter that?  

Combination?

This is why I see combining the two methods as win-win.   Your child (as a subject) learns the books of the bible, or learns memory verses, or works through a Sunday School lesson. A regular study time that teaches without necessarily the meditative aspect of a personal devotional time. 

And then at a separate time (like at a meal or first thing in the morning) you can have a family devotional time, or take 30 minutes after (or before) you start your homeschooling day to have a personal time of reading God’s word and talking about it.  To that end, in our day, we do a couple of things.  First as I go through the book of John I talk with my lad about what I’m learning and get his insights as well. I’ll read verses to him and say “Hey, this is what I’m thinking and learning.  What are your thoughts?”  

At supper (almost every night) we are working through the book Comforting Hearts, Teaching Minds.   We are doing this with our international student which gives us a lots of reasons to stop and just talk as we want him to understand what we are learning too.  We take turns reading scripture and then applying that to what we have learned.  Sometimes we are so amazed.

What Others Do:

I know from talking with other moms that they  have their own routine.  Perhaps they will start their day with 20 minutes of quiet bible reading, or a morning circle time, and as part of their bedtime routine. We each, through trial and error, find our own way.  It’s important to do so though.  God gives us life and care.  His son died for us.  It’s the very least we can do to take time to know him, our heavenly Father, just a wee bit more eh?  

Seven Reasons to Find a Writing Community

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You know how easy it is for writers to write on their own? To stick to themselves, writing and reading on their own?  Anguishing over plot lines, fumbling over character development, musing over poetry lines, and waiting for the next blot of inspiration to hit. Sometimes we forget a rather important aspect of writing… having a community we can talk in.  Real people in life that we can talk to, gain inspiration from, realize that we aren’t alone and more.

seven reasons to find a writing community

You know how C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien founded the Inklings?   Feeling alone with their ideas that were out of the mainstream until they found each other and over ale and stories discovered encouragement.  Other men joining in, until they had a group of writers spurring each other on and offering ideas and inspiration to each other.

We are no different you know?   We need each other.  Do you know the benefits of having a community?

Benefits of having a community

  1. Encouragement/Support/Fun/Friendship – all wrapped up in one bundle.  Where would we be without good friends who share a similar interest?   How can we write alone all the time?  Where can we find the inspiration to go on when we don’t have others who share our hobby or interest?   In person or on-line, it’s great to have people you can laugh with, cry with, and just be with.
  2. Critique – A writing community will also want to help you do better at what you want to be best at.  They’ll critique you work in a building up manner, wanting to help you be the best you can be.
  3. Ideas – stuck?  Not sure what to do next or what word would fit well with your thought?  Struggling to understand a character you haven’t quite filled out yet?  Having a group of like minded souls can inspire you as you bounce ideas off each other.
  4. Mentoring/Education – Trying to figure out the best way to do something?  Stuck on what on-line platform to use, or what it means to tighten up a line or a paragraph?  Needing an answer to question that maybe someone else has already figured out?  Being part of a group is a good way to get those questions answered.. whether by you or another member.
  5. Accountability – ..have a goal.. like with NaNoWriMo 50,000 words in a month? Imagine you are all doing this encouraging each other, pushing each other along.  Have a deadline to get a poem in?   Or you need to do that mock up for an editor?
  6. Motivation – Stalling happens. Wouldn’t it be great to have a person who has been there done that be there to give you a nudge?  Tonight I was watching a show with hubby where a gal had given up doing her art, and another artist brought out a canvas and said GO… do it now.  Pushing her to return to a hobby loved. Giving her to motivation to do it for herself.
  7. Promotion/Publication – sharing our work.. whether it’s just for ourselves or for a larger audience, a writing community can and will help you with this.  Even if you only share within your group..a community gives you the opportunity to give a clearer voice to the words you write.  They can also host speaking events, or publish an anthology of your group works.

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God-moments

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The title to this chapter in The Faith Shaped Life, is What Faith Sees.   As I read through this chapter on the providence of God I thought, you know what Mr. Hamilton is talking about?  God moments.   Those moments when we see God in action.

God moments

You see, God is ALWAYS in action, but sometimes, just sometimes we see it more clearly, and then when we pause to think about it, when we see those moments, we see ALL those moments that led up to it.

Take for instance Esther.. becoming queen in a land that was not her own.  And through her a whole people was saved.  A total God moment.  But do we pause to think about how God orchestrated her parents meeting, her officials being impressed by her beauty, how she knew who to listen to, how to take advice and follow protocols. God made her the person that she was for such a time as was needed.

Do we pause to think about how God orchestrated Esther's parents meeting, her officials being impressed by her beauty, how she knew how to take advice and follow protocols. God made her the person that she was for such a time as was… Click To Tweet

God-moments surround us.

I look at these past couple of weeks of selling the items in the church.  It’s been hard busy work but OH… the stories.

A church needing pews, another needing hymnbooks, two boys with a love for stories finding books to read, a missionary blessed with needed supplies, bibles filling church pews, a community kitchen with dishes to spare, a mom with a daughter needing a vacuum, and so many more stories.  God moments each and every one.

Sanctuary Pews

As irritating as people can be who want things for free, or who get angry when they don’t get what they want, the treasures of people you meet, people who fill you with hope… these people make it worth making an effort.  God at work, bringing people out of the woodwork that I never knew existed. There is difficulty in closing down a church and seeing it dismantled.  It’s a tough thing, but oh… after hearing stories… it’s a GOOD thing you know?   Seeing those connections of God-moments. WOW!  Churches grow, churches fail, Facebook is invented, buy and sell groups come to life, people connections happen with friends and relatives, laughter and tears, community kitchens serving the meals, seeing needs not always readily apparent.   Items coming ready just as they are needed.  Timing… it’s all in the Lord’s hands.  He’s orchestrated it all and has given us…..God moments.  

And so I am blessed.

The Lord reigns; let the peoples tremble!
He sits enthroned upon the cherubim; let the earth quake!  Ps 99:1