We made it!!!

Well she graduated from homeschool and is off to college this fall...I can't believe it!!! Where has the time gone!?! Enjoy the journey momma's... As hard as it may seem in the moment... It goes so much quicker than one would expect!

Modified 8th Grade

I can hardly believe it that my baby girl is heading into 8th grade...wow - where is the time going!?! We are continuing with Notgrass' America the Beautiful - finishing out the 2nd book from the 2 book series. We'll be doing the Life of Fred pre-algebra and pre-biology. Her test scores still show that she could skip a grade and we've offered to let her work 8th grade over the summer and move to 9th in the fall but she doesn't seem motivated to do it...we will see. My beautiful girl is growing up so fast!!!

PS. Someone asked about the pro's and con's of Notgrass' America the Beautiful - we are really liking it...it is a great layout of information and pictures during whatever time frame is being studied. We are continuing with it for now.

Notgrass America the Beautiful

Well we've left Heart of Dakota...I felt like there was just TOO much book work and the days were REALLY long. I'm not trying to raise a rocket scientist...I want school to be fun. We've switched to Notgrass' America the Beautiful. Image taken from the Notgrass website. Their history curriculum is a geared towards 7th & 8th graders and the price can't be beat. http://www.notgrass.com/notgrass/America-the-Beautiful-Resources/ We're continuing with Teaching Textbooks for Math. For Science we're using Apologia's General Science and Language Arts is a mixture of several things. Our Beautiful One loves to read and she's currently reading Melody Carlson's Diary of a Teenage Girl series.

A Giveaway

If you haven't entered the giveaway DON'T MISS OUT! We have 3 awesome prizes - Notgrass' Uncle Sam and You Curriculum for middle school Government, Knowledge Box Central Election Package valued over $120, and a gift certificate for Hearts at Home Discount Curriculum good towards Bluestocking Press products! 3 Winners! http://homeschoolgiveaways.com/2012/10/giveaway-3-election-government-themed-prizes/

Seven Lies about Homeschoolers

Thought this was TOO funny not to share!!!

When Your Church Doesn't Support Homeschooling

I am reposting this article that I received recently. While my church is "semi" supportive...I think this article has some excellent information. “What do you do if your church does not support homeschooling? We go to a church that we otherwise love. We continuously feel that on the subject of education they are not homeschool friendly. In fact it seems they encourage other options over it. It hurts our hearts. Any tips, wisdom, or experiences?” We were very blessed to be in a church for quite some time that heavily supported home education. The pastor’s eyes were opened while watching their grandchildren battle out spirit-quenching experiences in public school. Their son and daughter-in-law made huge life changes and sacrifices in order to homeschool. It didn’t take long for these pastors to see tremendous changes in the countenance of their grandchildren. They experienced the immense gift that homeschooling is for a family. Although these pastors were always clear to support their Christian public school teacher members, they also encouraged all parents to pray on home educating their children. As a new homeschooling family, with our only child at the time being two, this was exactly the support we needed. Real people, with real struggles, holding onto Jesus and moving forward in faith. We are forever grateful for the church family support that we received in those early years. My husband and I have been in other churches over the last 10 years as well. We’ve experienced churches with 50/50 members ( 1/2 homeschooled, 1/2 public or private school.) We’ve been to churches that have their own private school – so you know which method of education was encouraged there. And we’ve been to churches that say homeschooling is a wonderful choice, yet often preach public school is a Christian child’s ministry . During our time in churches that did not support homeschooling I’ve learned a few things: Trust my husband’s leading. I had plenty of times when I wanted to run from that church because it was hard. But as long as my husband wanted us there I trusted him. He is the spiritual head of our home. There is a blessing if I submit to him and wait on God’s perfect timing. Trust the Lord and shine those lights! Ah, that. The Lord is faithful to bring forth fruit. We were able to answer families questions about homeschooling and fellowship with families who are feeling the desire to homeschool and needed encouragement. Pray. Pray for the Lord to give you the grace to be there, endure any misunderstanding or lack of support, and pray for the leaders. You could always buy those pastors a copy of the Indoctrination Movie if they’re interested in way many Christian families choose to homeschool. My friend Sara from Side-tracked Sara has this answer to the question, “Pray that the Lord would open their hearts! We had a church who outwardly supported homeschooling (to our face), but behind our backs many were questioning us and talking badly about the homeschoolers. We prayed for things to change and tried to make sure none of us did anything that would cause them to question us. Next thing you know, they hired a new Children’s Minister who was a homeschooler. After that, when it was time to hire a new youth pastor, he was a homeschool dad as well. All of a sudden, they were VERY homeschool friendly. It was so neat to watch God at work, sending the right people at the right time.” I posted this question on the Holy Spirit-led Homeschooling facebook wall last weekend. Here are a few of the wonderful readers responses. These are smart people. “No one else in my church homeschools. The negative message doesn’t come from the pulpit, but I have had other mothers in the church say comments to me that hurt. One mother suggested I homeschool because I want my daughter in a Christian bubble and that I should have her in public school because it’s a mission field. This is what I go back to: God told me to homeschool her. I have to remember that when I come up against people who don’t understand or agree. Not only did He tell us to homeschool, He has allowed us to see over and over how good it has been for our family and our daughter (academically, behaviorally, spiritually). We will stand before God one day, accountable for ourselves. No one else will be standing with us. I can’t say to Him, “Well, You told me to do this, but that woman made me feel pressured to do something else, so….” I say be sure of what you believe and what God has asked you to do. Ask Him to confirm that for you and assure you of His unfailing love and APPROVAL of you!“ “Sometimes the best way to educate is to SHOW them. It may take some time, but people will start seeing a much brighter side to homeschooling than what they have heard or think. Answer their questions about isolation with what your child is involved in. When they say things about a “Christian” bubble shortly & kindly explain what God laid on your family’s heart to do. We are blessed to have a pastor whom he & his wife homeschooled 5 boys in a time when it was much less accepted or heard of. They bravely & with great Christian love paved the way. There are those who are still outspokenly against it at our church, but I have found that if I don’t push the issue let them ask me the questions they start to understand. I hope this helps & if you are not involved w/ a homeschool support group or co-op I urge you to. They are a great source of help & comfort. God Bless!” “My husband is a Pastor, and I would not necessarily encourage you to leave the church. If you cannot align with the Pastor, or you really feel you cannot worship there, then leaving may be best. But, if some other families not agreeing with you homeschooling is the only issue, then I would encourage you to stick it out, be open and honest about how you feel and be an example of positive homeschooling. So many people do not really know much about it, or believe the worldly stereotypes attached to it. Most importantly, pray about whether this is the church God wants you to be a part of. If God has placed homeschooling on your heart, and has also placed you in that church then He may be planning to use you to influence those other families!” Now it’s your turn. What is your advice for when your church does not support homeschooling? Reposted from Holy Spirit-led Homeschooling.

The Duggars

We met the Duggars... This past weekend we went to an out of town event and there was a boy there wearing a cowboy hat. My daughter kept saying, look at that boy, I think he's a Duggar and I think they are here.

I thought for a while that it might be the Duggars too but then when I saw the boy in the face, I said there's NO way that's a Duggar, he looks nothing like a Duggar...LOL.

On Saturday we went for ice-cream and my daughter said, mom, there's that boy. He was getting out of a big van with lots of other people. I said, I'm going to go find out if that's the Duggars.

I walked up to the ones still getting out of the van and started saying, We've just GOT to ask, my daughter thinks you guys are the...low and behold right then the mom turned around and it was...the Duggars. I probably freaked her out but grabbed Michelle Duggar and gave her a great big hug and let her know how much we love watching their show and how much of an inspiration they are.

This picture is from Saturday night when we ran into them again.