You may remember homeschooling mom Karri Fieglein from her 26 Tips for Overcoming Homeschool Burnout guest post. When Karri shares her insights I’m always amazed at what I learn. Today, Karri has agreed to allow me to share with you her latest encouragement and insight. Enjoy! …Shannon P.S. (Thanks Karri!)
We’re Not Alone
By Karri Fieglein
We are more like doctors as home school parents than most would usually think. Each day we are called to diagnose the problems and figure out a solution and then offer preventative care as well so we do not have to deal with the situation/ behavior/ heart issue again. We often have to do this many times a day and with each child plus the variables are constantly changing.
Parenting in itself is so hard but then add all the home school work and being with them so much and it makes it even more difficult. I doubt anyone has ever looked at any of us and said “Wow, you have life so easy with this added task that you have decided to take.”
The beauty in that is that nothing worth having ever comes easy. Twenty years from now when we are further down the road we’ll all look back with wonder and how we pulled through it all and made it. We’ll see how great our kids are doing and be happy we made the choice to take the hard less traveled road.
But ya, the here and now aren’t always so easy and sometimes I think all of us feel like we are ready for a break or to even throw in the towel completely. Hopefully just being reminded that we aren’t alone in our pursuits helps.
As homeschool parents, we have to diagnose problems that can constantly change even with the same patient, including:
1. Bad attitude
2. Tired
3. Lazy
4. Lack of drive and desire
5. Comprehension problem
6. Content of the work is too difficult
7. Work too easy
8. Trying to get attention
9. Feeling sad or upset by a situation
10. Feeling mad at the parent for some reason
11. Lack of positive role model
12. Have been exposed to bad role model
13. Want to play games and goof off
14. No incentives
15. Think it’s not fair
16. Feel over burdened
17. Feel bored
18. Frustration with the same day to day schedule and routine
19. Too busy arguing with siblings
20. Not enough time with the Lord
And the list goes on
Often too we have the many of the same issues and often we have some of the following in addition to that:
1. We compare with others
2. We sign up for too many things
3. We set ourselves up for failure as we try to do too much
4. We don’t say no
5. We don’t set up enough limitations for the family
6. We don’t cut ourselves or our kids enough slack (lack of grace)
7. We don’t say we love them enough
8. We feel like failures if we think our kid should be somewhere in their education that they aren’t
9. We rush around trying to be everything to everyone and forget ourselves and become burned out
10. We don’t have enough fun
11. We forget to enjoy the journey
12. We forget that homeschooling is a marathon, not a quick little sprint
13. Lack of patience
14. Unrealistic expectations
And the list goes on.
There is hope though.
All of these can be taken care of easily if we just get out of the way and let God do his work and trust him to not only meet our kids needs but ours too. If we will ask him where we need help and what we should do each and every day, he’ll show us.
Oh I need to read this as much as I write it. But I know it’s true. God has shown me over and over that if we take all the little things to him he will be faithful to help us. Nothing is too big or small to seek him on.
A couple weeks ago I felt like I wanted more help from the hubby, accountability for the kids, the schedule needed to be tweaked, and it all felt a bit over whelming with #6’s new arrival. God gave me inspiration, great book recommendations from friends, support and encouragement and some neat ideas to help with things. All I did was ask and he provided abundantly.
Now don’t get me wrong we have new problems this morning and we’ll have new ones tomorrow too I’m sure. But I know that the reason for all of this is so that I can lean and depend on God and so that he can have a very real and true relationship with me and mine.
I think that sometimes we get over whelmed by the kid or the situation or whatever and we forget in the moment just how big of a God we serve and how much he loves our kids even more than we do.
If we trust him completely with them then that means we have to let go and hold an open hand. We used to attend Second Baptist and Dr. Young always said that unless you open your tight fist and grip on things you can’t receive the blessing either.
Today, as I write this, I am reminding myself what a great and awesome God we serve and how I need to loosen my grip on his children and my control over my life, because really it shouldn’t be my will but it should be his will; it shouldn’t be my plans but it should be his plans; it shouldn’t be my day, but it should be his day.
Today is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it.
Blessing to you my friends
Much Love
-Karri
Karri Fieglein is a homeschooling mom of six and the Foundations Director of Katy, TX for Classical Conversations, a Classical Christian Community. For more information on Classical Conversations, visit www.ClassicalConversations.com
During October, I added what I had hoped would be a fun bit of schoolwork to my 10 and 12 yos schedule – the Halloween Creative Writing Elective from Connect the Thoughts (CTT). Billed as a history/creative writing elective, I had hoped that the kid would learn more about the true roots of Halloween, and exercise their writing skills in a fun way.
The Halloween elective is marketed for those 9 years old and up. And really in our experience, it is best of those who are comfortable writing paragraphs. The elective was a stretch for my 10 yo, who ended up dictating much of his work for this elective, but it was wonderful for my 12 yo daughter.
There are sixteen lessons, the first lesson and the last lesson are the history peices, while the other fourteen lessons are centered around how to write a scary story. Connect the Thoughts has one of the few writing curricula that I like, and this elective does not disappoint from a creative writing perspective.
The history lessons cover the roots of Halloween, primary its Celtic history, and modern traditions like UNICEF, trick or treating, and Fall Festivals or Halloween Parties. As is standard in all CTT history lessons, the two history lessons include a geography component and vocabulary.
There is a list of suggested literature at the beginning of the elective, with suggestions for both younger students (9-10 yos) and for older, high school level students. But there isn’t any requirement in the curriculum itself to read anything.
Like all Connect the Thoughts courses, CTT Halloween is written for the student to use independently. All the lessons talk directly to the student. Materials wise, the only things the students need are a computer to type their stories on and to follow a few history links (celtic music and language examples), a world map (or one on a computer), and a globe. Everything else is right there in the instructions.
Primarily this is a creative writing lesson. During the course, students write two scary stories – Learning how to develop primary and secondary characters, plotting, and the structure of a scary story.
My 10 yo son chose to write a story about two boys trapped in a world of all girls; while my 12 yo daughter, developed a more traditional scary story. Since her story is a little long to publish here, I thought I’d share just the beginning (unedited) as a sample of what the creative writing portion inspired:
Nightmare on Halloween by K.E.S.
Drake woke up on the floor. He groaned, his neck hurt from sleeping in the wrong position. He could hear his attic bedroom groaning in the autumn wind. he looked out the window someone was standing in the backyard staring up at the window, it was a man he was as pale as the moon, he wore a pitch black business suit his thick hair was the same color, but his eyes were nothing like Drake had ever seen they were red and they didn’t have any pupils or whites of the eye. Drake shivered the Man smiled to this, reviling fangs. Drake shut the drapes and ran to his bed tripping over Barren his Dalmatian puppy he had gotten for his 8Th birthday two months ago. Barren sat up sniffed the air and growled, he went over to the window still growling. Drake ran to him picked him up and took a peek out the window; there was no man in the yard. Drake sighed in relief and carried Barren to his bed and lay down and was about to go back to sleep when his alarm went off.
When Drake was done getting dressed for the day, he went down stairs where his mom was making breakfast and his little 5 year old sister Nadine or as everyone called her Natty. Natty in her blue long sleeved shirt with pink butterflies and long thick jeans was trying to put a pink bow in her long red curls. Drake looked nothing like his little sister he looked like his dad with dark brown hair and a wiry figure.
As Drake starting eating his breakfast he saw the same man staring at him through the kitchen window he was licking his lips with a forked tongue, Drake suddenly went very pale, he felt sick to his stomach.
”Mom Drake looks like he’s about to throw up!” screeched Natty, moving away from him as she did so.
”Are you okay?” asked his Mom.
”Yeah Fine” Mumbled Drake still staring at the Man outside the window.
Drake’s mother looked at the window and the man vanished instantly.
On the way to school he kept seeing man in between buildings as he and Natty walked through the suburbs houses. Drake thought he was going insane so one time he stopped and pointed the man across the street out to Natty. When Natty looked at the spot where Drake was pointing it took only a moment for Natty’s pale skin to turn to white as paper, she opened her mouth to scream when the man smiled, but no sound came out when put a finger to his lips.
”Who is he?” Squeaked Natty
”I saw him this morning when looked out my window.” Drake squeaked back.
They were frozen as he came towards them; he was licking his lips and reaching out a hand with nails that looked like claws. They tried to run but it was like they were covered in hard cement. Suddenly a man on a bike was racing towards them and went strait through the man who was coming towards them, as the biker went through him all his body part deteriorated until there was nothing left but a skeleton. The skeleton collapsed along with the bike onto the street, the man smiled as if he had just eaten a chocolate cake.
Overall, the kids had fun with this. Again it was a stretch for my 10 yo to do this much writing, but my 12 yo was able to handle it with no problems. And even though it was a stretch for my 10 yo, this was the first time he’s been willing to write (or dictate) this long of a story (his was nearly 1000 words). Personally, I had hoped for more history. But as a creative writing elective, I am happy with the choice.
Note: I did cross out a few items in the last lesson that pertained to planning a Halloween party and/or celebrating Halloween in traditional American ways, as that’s not something we do as a family. But that was the only thing I needed to change.
CTT Halloweenis regularly $25, available only as a downloadable ebook. The curriculum has great sales and I was able to pick up this elective for less than $10. I can’t guarantee that you’ll find the same deal, but, if you are interested in a fun way for your kids to learn to write a scary story, I recommend picking up CTT Halloweeen while it’s on sale.
The last week of October has been a sewing week for my oldest daughter and I, for the last few years. As I mentioned earlier, when my daughter was little she’d make her own Halloween costumes from her dress-up clothes. But as she grew older that didn’t quite work anymore.
Homemade Halloween Costume - A Flower Fairy
So, the year when she was nine, she came up with the idea of making a flower fairy costume.
She had been digging around in a box of fabric we had gotten from Freecycle, and found a red flower patterned fabric and decided that it would make a good costume material.
Because she had been learning to sew, I agreed that we could use Halloween as an excuse to make something, and since we were using a real dress pattern, the effort would be worth it, because she could wear it again.
Wearing the dress to a Dad and Daughter Christmas Event
Somehow, Halloween has become a yearly sewing event – a lesson in creativity, making due with with what we have, and learning new skills.
Last year, my daughter (then 11) sewed a long white dress and a hooded cape to be a snow elf. The cape is being re-purposed this year for a new costume she’s designed.
This week, the sewing she and I are doing is a little different. Instead of making her costume, we’re sewing a Cinderella costume for my 5 yo using a pattern and fabric my oldest daughter picked out when she was 5 (and I never got around to sewing). And, we’re sewing a hooded cape for my 10 yo son, who finally decided on dressing up as a Jedi Knight for Halloween, after all his other ideas got nixed for being too dark.
Now I’m not a “natural” or accomplished sewer; in fact those patterns marked “easy to sew” stretch my abilities. But it’s a skill that my parents required me to learn, and has proven very useful for when money is tight and I need something or need to make Christmas Gifts. But I am appreciative that I have the skills, and that my daughter has learned that she can make what she needs by being creative with some fabric and thread.
Halloween has given her an outlet for her creativity and a fun way to practice her skills. And it makes a fun week of school, covering art, home ec, and financial life skills.
If you are still looking for a Halloween costume for your children, I recommend making your own costumes. Not sure what to make? Then I recommend taking a look at The Hillbilly Housewife’s Homemade Halloween Costumes Made Simple ebook. It has the materials and instructions for making 90 costumes, including quick last minute costume ideas. At $7, it’s a fraction of the cost of a store-bought costume.
Lately, I’ve been contemplating having my kids participate in our local homeschool science fair. While we do a lot of science at our house and science is one of our favorite things to do together, we’ve never done a science fair project before.
So, I asked my friend Kayla Fay for some advice. Kayla has done over 25 science fair projects over the years with her four boys, and has graciously agreed to share her insight with us.
If a science fair or outside class science project is on your schedule this year, I hope her advice helps you as it is helping me. …Shannon
7 Steps to Successful Science Projects for the Science Fair
Science projects – like homeschooling – are supposed to be a joyous time of a family learning, discovering, and working together toward the common goal of knowledge. You know – mom and dad gather the family around the kitchen table, and watch Wally and Beaver’s faces light up as they learn something new.
Unfortunately, science projects don’t always turn out that way. In fact, in our family, our first twenty or so projects were horrible experiences that left me exasperated, the kids frustrated, our kitchen in shambles and our budget depleted.
We have four sons, and when the first one was in 5th grade, I gave our principal a protest project entitled, Do Science Projects Cause Maternal Insanity?
Kayla's son shows off the blue ribbon he won for his science fair project
Our problem was that while we had great instructions on how to do a project, we didn’t have any guidance on how or where to find the type of project that would meet the requirements of our science fair, would interest our kids, that we could afford, and that would work. It took a long time, but we finally got the hang of it.
To our delight, we discovered that science projects really could be fun – and educational. In fact, we learned some really cool stuff that made our kids’ faces light up – and only once was it because of an explosion.
So – how can your family avoid our torturous route to finding out just how much fun a science project can be?
Here are seven steps to science fair success!
1. Know your science fair requirements. Is your science fair for
experiments only, or do they allow the other types of projects -
demonstrations, collections, models, or reports? Find out the details of
everything that is required.
2. Know your budget for time and for money. Add some padding for late orders and failed experiments.
3. Know your kids’ interests and choose your project. Notice that this is #3. If your child’s interest is in a project that won’t satisfy steps one
and two – pick another project. Search on the internet or in the library, or
come up with your own idea.
NOW you are ready for the next steps.
4. Gather your materials. Read all the way through the instructions to
see if you need anything that isn’t listed. You may also want to think ahead
and get the supplies for your project display.
5. Perform the project itself. Make sure that as you work, you keep any
required logs, record, or photographs. If your first attempt doesn’t work,
try again.
6. Prepare for your presentation. For this, most science fairs require
a science board, logs, and a physical representation of the project. Come up
with a catchy title for the project. Be creative. Be neat.
7. Submit your entry. And remember, if Wally and Beaver learned
anything, you don’t need a blue ribbon, because you already have a winning
science project!
Click on the image to get your free copy
Download your FREE copy of The Non-Scientific Parent’s Guide to a Science Project to learn how to choose the perfect science project, wade through the odd vocabulary, deal with the scientific method, and design an award winning science board.
You’ll also find out that a science project really can be done by your child, with you as a teacher and a guide.
A: Most of our science project ideas come from the kids. They want to try something, or they are showing an interest in something.
For example, two years ago, my oldest son (then 8yo) was asking a lot of questions about electricity, and really wanted to play with the electrity experiment kit I picked up at a used curriculum sale a few years back, that became his science project.
Last Spring when a colony of bees moved into the eaves of our house, my 5 year old came running in asking if she could study bees for science. So we learned about bees.
But sometimes I do make suggestions, particularly if I’m trying to fill a gap in their education.
During our Summer of Science two years ago, my oldest daughter checked out every science project book she could from the library and sent through it with her brother, marking all the experiments that they wanted to try.
There was no way we could do them all, but it was an exercise in them figuring out what looked interesting (and they learned something in the process) and expanded their idea of what a science project could look like.
If you are trying to fill a gap, or meet the requirements for a science project needed for a science fair or outside class project, here’s my advice:
5 yo showing off that habitat she built for her latest insect study
Ask your child what they are interested in, or listen and watch what they are talking about and exploring.
Then do a search online for “science project” and the area of study – or go to the library and look up that area of study plus “science experiment” “science project”, or “science fair”.
At the library, the idea books are stored in the dewey decimal system by the area of study, i.e., chemistry, botony, geology, etc. And there are some great resources available – both online and at the library.
So for example, if your child keeps bringing you rocks and talking to you about rocks, then look up “geology science experiments” and “geology science project” at the library or in Google.
If your child is interested in mixing things and seeing what will happen (aka chemistry), look up “chemistry science experiments” and “chemistry science projects.”
If they are into bugs and insects, well… you get the idea.
AND, because I’m prefer to have kids interested in what they are doing, I would let your kids choose from an selection of experiments. Let them make the final choice, based on the criteria you are trying to meet.
One last thing, I do try to make sure that my kids have plenty of materials around. When I see a deal on a kit or tools and I have some money to spend, then I’ll buy it. That way, when the need arises we have things available to do. Basically, I like to strew things in their path, and if they are curious, let them explore it further.
Click on the picture to download your FREE Guide to Science Projects
If you are in a crunch and are looking for a science project for a science fair, expand out your google search for “science fair ideas”.
Either way, just enjoy the exploration. Science is a lot of fun and the key thing to remember is that science isn’t just about learning facts and information, but also exploration, and testing out thoughts and ideas and seeing if they prove to be true or not. Have fun with it!
…Shannon
P.S. Q&A posts are inspired by questions by moms just like you, if you have advice to add, please leave a comment below. I’d love to read your insights. Have a question you’d like answered? Just send me an email.
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