I am so very excited to be teaming up with Lauren from Mama’s Learning Corner today to bring you a FREE Fruit of the Spirit devotional and printables for your little ones!

Little children love memorizing Scripture and the Fruit of the Spirit is a great place to start!

Lauren has created some wonderful printables to go along with each lesson as well as a Fruit Chart where you can track each time your child displays a Fruit of the Spirit!

I also recommend you purchase this CD as a supplement to the devotional:

I have owned this CD for many years and we love it!  The songs are beautiful, simple and catchy without adding to or taking away from Scripture.  A perfect fit with this devotional!  {Click here for more information on the CD.}

I hope you enjoy teaching your children the Fruit of the Spirit!

Click here to download your devotional!

Click here to download your printables!

Feel free to share this post with others!  We’d love to share this with as many families as we can!

Click here for the FEBRUARY SUBSCRIBER SPECIAL ~ Homemaking from the Heart Bundle!

Just as I have only one “middle“, I also have only one “big.”  He’s 13 and a wonderful young man.

Here’s a rundown of his studies for the year:

Bible Study: A House for My Name: A Survey of the Old Testament

Since we are working our way from Creation to the Romans for our history for this year, this correlates nicely.  After he finishes this book, he will move to Thinking Like a Christian and Bible Doctrine for Older Children.

Math: Teaching Textbooks: Algebra 1

My brain does not think in numbers, therefore discovering Teaching Textbooks last year was a tremendous blessing!  Each lesson has both a video lesson and a textbook lesson.  My son typically only reads the textbook portion unless he’s really struggling with a concept.  Any problems that he misses can be looked up on the CD and worked through step by step.  Totally self-taught and self-corrected!

Science: Apologia General Science

The Christian worldview and academic standard of these textbooks is unsurpassed by any other science curriculum!

Foreign Language:  Latin for Children

Go here to read how my son ended up learning Latin and why we chose this curriculum.

Writing:  As I mentioned in my middles curriculum post, grammar has been one of those homeschool subjects that has caused me much angst.  This year we are doing Institute for Excellence in Writing’s program Teaching Writing:  Structure & Style and Student Writing Intensive Level B.  So far, I am quite impressed.  I’ll be reviewing this more in-depth after we’ve had more time with the program.

Spelling:  A few years ago we realized Blake was not a strong speller, so I went on a quest to find the best spelling program out there.  Phonetic Zoo from Institute for Excellence in Writing is that program.  You can read my post where I rave about this product too!

Blake’s extracurricular activities include piano, Boy Scouts, and a million other pursuits, including his new blog: The Camping Guy (this kid knows his stuff, so I’m excited to see where he goes with this!)

Well, that’s our homeschool year in a nutshell! I’ll put links to all of these curriculum posts on my Homeschooling Mother page, so they are readily available.

Here’s to a wonderful school year!

Click here for the FEBRUARY SUBSCRIBER SPECIAL ~ Homemaking from the Heart Bundle!

While I have lots of “littles,” I only have one middle.  She’s 10 and in some circles she would be called a “tween.”  However, being a person who really doesn’t like overused labels that tend to take on negative connotations, I will stick to the “middle” tag and leave it a that.

Here’s a list of what my rather unique “middler” will be doing this coming year:

Bible Study: After Breakfast & Bible time, my two older children split off for their own study time.  Megan is currently working through Victor Journey Through the Bible.

This is a fabulous book that really opens up the Scripture to the time and the place each book and chapter were written in.  Powerful learning and understanding!

After she finishes Victor, she will move to Rick Boyer’s Proverbs People

Math: She is her mother’s child and math is an absolute conundrum to her.  So, rather than move her to Saxon, as we did with her older brother at a certain point, she is sticking with Horizons where the pictures are colorful and she has room to doodle (yes, I do let her doodle in her book.)

Science: This was a no brainer…Apologia all the way!  She loves these books.  {click here to read more about how we homeschool science.}

Foreign Language: You might remember how Megan just decided to teach herself Spanish one day.  Well, we decided to go ahead and give her a formal curriculum and yes, Rosetta Stone is THE premier foreign language program and yes, Megan is doing fabulously with it.

History: We are currently working our way through my homemade Creation – Flood Unit {you know, the one I keep promising all my subscribers will get for free…not too much longer!}  So far, her favorite book has been A Child’s Geography: Explore the Holy Land.

Writing: This is something new this year.  We ditched a formal grammar program in favor of a more natural approach.  I’ve had a love/hate relationship with grammar for years (I have a degree in English, you would think I would LOVE grammar, but instead I find most grammar books to be tedious and overdone.)  So, this year we decided to go with Institute for Excellence in Writing.  I hope to have a more formal review for you as we continue to use the program, but so far, I am impressed with how engaging and practical it is without being monotonous and obnoxious.  We are using the Teaching Writing:  Structure & Style and Student Writing Intensive Level B.  {I am using this for both my 10 year old and my 13 year old}

Extras: Megan continues to be very interested in photography and has started a blog: The Godly Photographer, to hone both her writing and her photography skills.   She takes horseback riding lessons through our local parks and recreation department and piano from a homeschool graduate in a neighboring town.

That rounds out the middle homeschooling years here at…

Click here for the FEBRUARY SUBSCRIBER SPECIAL ~ Homemaking from the Heart Bundle!

I am going to do something Voddie Baucham says NOT to do…

I am going to divulge what our homeschool curriculum choices are for the upcoming year.

I understand his reasoning (we might use a particular curriculum in a different way and for a different purpose and thus receive much different results than if you were to use the same thing), but I also see merit in offering ideas so that others can see what is working and what is not working for you in order to aid in their curriculum decisions.

That is one reason I linked up my Homeschooling Mother page to my friend Stef’s Show Off Your Curriculum Link Up. (you’re welcome to join in!)

So I don’t overwhelm you with everything at one time, I’m going to give you a list of just what I will be doing with my littles.

These are the littles:

ages 6, 5, 2, & 9 months

{my 5 year old has yet to learn what a “normal” camera smile looks like!}

I do not school my 9 month old nor my 2 year old.  The 9 month old is usually napping during school hours and the 2 year old plays with his Toddler Box until his older brother is done with school and can go play cowboys or soldiers with him.

While I could have put my 5 and 6 year olds in the same school books at the same time, I chose not to.  One reason is my 5 year old has speech delays and I wanted his speech to be a little better before I added him to the school day.  For that reason, he spent last year working his way through The Rod & Staff ABC Series.

These are the books we ALWAYS start with.  Wonderful resource and great start to school for little ones!

After that, we move to Horizons from Alpha Omega for math

and Phonics Museum from Veritas Press for phonics/reading/handwriting.

This is a bit different from what I did back in 2009 when I wrote my post on homeschooling preschoolers and toddlers, but I still cover the same basic areas and it takes us about the same amount of time.

This is all done in the morning after Family Bible Time (fondly known as Bible & Breakfast) and the littles Bible Study time with me.
{Our current Bible & Breakfast selections are Mighty Acts of God and Truth and Grace Bible Memory Books and the littles’ Bible Study is from A is for Adam.}

In the afternoon, our family meets back up corporately to dig into History/Geography/Literature.  This is something new this year (yes, our school year has already begun…or rather, it never stopped because we homeschool year round).

Remember, I said I was writing my own History curriculum?  Well, this is what we are doing during the afternoon hours and we are LOVING IT!

EXCITING NEWS!

I will be making each unit available FREE of CHARGE to Raising Arrows subscribers!  These will become available as we tweak and complete each unit in a very simplified format via a link in my posts that come to your inbox or your feed reader {I anticipate the first unit being available sometime in the next couple of months}.  Sign up today!

I’ve always done History during the afternoon hours, but I’ve rarely included the littles.  The reasons for not including them has been everything from not enough age-appropriate material, to not enough time.  The way I have solved this issue is to make up two lesson plans {one for bigs & one for littles} that coincide at different points.  If the littles have done all the things listed on their lesson plan and it is not yet time for their lessons to coincide with their older siblings’, they simply don’t have History that day.

You also might notice we don’t do formal Science lessons with our littles.  At this age, I prefer my children to be naturalists and observers.  There is time enough to cram oodles of information into their brains.

So, there you have it…the Littles Version of the 2011-2012 school year here at Heritage Arrows Homeschool!

Click here for the FEBRUARY SUBSCRIBER SPECIAL ~ Homemaking from the Heart Bundle!

It has been brought to my attention that this post could be misconstrued as me suggesting astrology is a good thing, which it is not.  I’ve reworded a couple of things in the hopes that that is quite clear.

The pulling together of our own curriculum has been such a blessing.  We have only been at it 2 weeks and already I see fruit!  Dig deep into God’s Word, my friends, and let that be your main focus during the school day!  You cannot go wrong.

While studying up for our Creation through the Flood unit, I was introduced to a concept that surprised me and challenged me.  I’m still waiting to see how it will turn out.

That idea is that God owns the stars that make up the constellations that tell a story and man has perverted it.  It’s been a hot topic for discussion here as we search the Word for answers and understanding.

Then God said, “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years;
~Genesis 1:14

The heavens declare the glory of God;
And the firmament shows His handiwork.
Day unto day utters speech,
And night unto night reveals knowledge.
There is no speech nor language
Where their voice is not heard.
~Psalm 19

This concept was originally introduced to me from Christine Miller’s All Through The Ages.

We are reading another book entitled God’s Voice in the Stars and looking at the Scripture that points to stars providing knowledge and information…not the kind of information that man creates on his own, but the kind that speaks of God’s love for a lost world–a Gospel message in the heavens.  {My friend Dee sent me this article as a rebuttal to this concept: http://watch.pair.com/zodiac/ }

Is it possible that the stars that twinkle so beautifully above us as we gaze up at that endless expanse of night sky might be more than just a smattering of light?  Do they really “utter speech” and “reveal knowledge?”  And not random knowledge, but a real Gospel in the stars.

Is this truth?  Or another perversion?  Is this by God’s design or is this man trying to make God’s Word fit their corrupt ideals?

I will never, ever be able to wrap my finite little brain around the glory of God…but I will certainly keep seeking to know Him more.

Every day.

Every night.

Weekends in the Word is a ministry of Raising Arrows meant to offer a time of worship and encouragement specifically for those mommies who find themselves, due to circumstances beyond their control, unable to attend worship services with other believers. However, all are welcome here each weekend to feast on His Word.

Click here for the FEBRUARY SUBSCRIBER SPECIAL ~ Homemaking from the Heart Bundle!

This year, Bible resources topped our list of homeschool convention buys.

Ty and I feel the main focus of our children’s schooling needs to be God’s Word.  The resources we purchased this year are ones we hope will facilitate in-depth study of the Bible by every member of our family.

(Some of the following links are affiliate links.  Also be aware that I have not actually used any of these new purchases, so I am not able to fully endorse them as yet.  I only list the links to them so that you can search them out for yourself.)

Bible Memory

This is an area we haven’t done very well in.  I’ve struggled to know how to teach my children to memorize Scripture and then stay consistent with that teaching.  So, I purchased this little book:

Purchase from Amazon HERE or from Grace & Truth Books HERE.

Bible Study

My 10 year old will be reading through Victor Journey Through the Bible, but I needed something for her to work on after that.  While I don’t want to make the Bible some sort of To-Do List, I do want her to learn more of the wisdom and truth that lies within its pages.  What better place to start than with Proverbs! (Not to mention her daddy’s favorite verses are from that book!)  So, we went with this little nugget:

Purchase from Amazon HERE or from The Learning Parent HERE.

For my 13 year old, I wanted something deeper.  I ran into Betty from Peace Creek on the Prairie with a copy of this in her hand (she had the younger children’s version):

Purchase from Amazon HERE or from Grace & Truth Books HERE.

I already own the Bible Study resources I’ll be using with my youngest children, so I did not buy anything more for them.

Worldview

I’ve had my eye on this book for a long time:

I happened to find it hiding in a shelf at a booth that sells nearly new homeschool curriculum at great prices.  The price I found at Amazon was just a little over what I paid.  This will be what I use for Worldview for my 13 year old.

At the same booth, I found this book:

A couple of years ago this book was recommended to me, and since I really like Starr Meade’s Mighty Acts of God, I thought this might be a good book to move on to after we finish that.

Purchase from Amazon HERE or from Grace & Truth Books HERE.

Resources for Mom & Dad

I have wanted this book for a long time, but it took having the author himself there to sign the book for us to finally purchase it!

Purchase from Amazon HERE or from Voddie Baucham Ministries HERE.

We also purchased this book from Voddie:

My husband and my oldest son attended Voddie’s session on Biblical Manhood in the Home.  This book is one you want your sons to read as something they can aspire to.  I saw my friend Michelle purchasing copies for each of her sons.  She told me she had read it aloud to them already, but wanted them to have their own copies.  A great idea!  {Purchase from Amazon HERE or from Voddie Baucham Ministries HERE.}

Lastly, I purchased a book from a favorite author of mine:

Years ago, I lead a study of Tedd Tripp’s Shepherding a Child’s Heart.  It was wonderful, so I am really looking forward to reading through this book!  {Purchase from Amazon HERE.}

I didn’t actually set out to purchase so many Bible resources, but this year’s homeschool conference really cemented the things the Lord was already bringing to my attention.  It just made sense.

We are discipling our children.  They are part of the Great Commission within our very home.  It’s imperative that we don’t just SAY the Bible is the most important aspect of our homeschooling, but that we actually MAKE it the most important thing in our home.

What resources are you using to further the Kingdom in YOUR home?

Click here for the FEBRUARY SUBSCRIBER SPECIAL ~ Homemaking from the Heart Bundle!

Latin may be a dead language, but it is an incredibly useful dead language…even in today’s modern society.  Many of our English words come from Latin roots and many other languages find their beginnings in Latin as well.

But Latin can be hard on the homeschool mom. I don’t have the time to teach a living language, let alone a dead one!  This is one of those subjects I have to outsource.

While Visual Latin is not the Latin program I use, it is very similar.  That is why I feel confidant offering this giveaway to you.  I think you will find this program is just what you need to teach Latin because you don’t teach it at all!

That’s right!  Someone else teaches it!  And that someone is Dwane Thomas.  {Watch a lesson here.}  Dwane mixes wit and wisdom and teaches your child Latin in short downloadable videos and worksheets. {Get free samples here.}

So, if you want to teach Latin in your homeschool, but haven’t a clue how, this product is for you!  It’s outsourcing at the click of a mouse in the comfort of your own home!

Want to win a FULL YEAR of Latin 1 from Visual Latin!?

How to enter to win:
(leave a comment for every one you do!)

1. Leave a comment telling me if you have ever taught Latin and if Latin scares you as much as it scares me!

2. Subscribe to Raising Arrows (If you subscribe to Raising Arrows, you will receive a 25% Off Coupon Code good on any Visual Latin product!  Just look for the code at the bottom of my post in your feed reader or email!)

3. Like the Visual Latin facebook page.

4. Facebook this giveaway.

5. Tweet this giveaway.

Winner will be announced on Thursday!

Click here for the FEBRUARY SUBSCRIBER SPECIAL ~ Homemaking from the Heart Bundle!

I remember the first time I turned on the Moody Science videos I had purchased from Vision Forum. For a moment I caught my breath.

They were old.

I was scared.

Scared my kids would hate them because they weren’t flashy. Scared they wouldn’t be able to handle real people doing real things.  Scared my investment of the ENTIRE collection of Moody Science videos was going down the drain in a single cartoon-induced-brain-turned-to-mush moment.

Thirty minutes later, my fears were relieved.

They loved them!

They STILL love them!

It was then I realized something.  I had trained their minds away from twaddle. My fear of having cartoon-crazed kiddos who couldn’t watch movies with real people in them was totally unfounded.

Not that all cartoons are bad,mind you, but I know a lot of kids who won’t watch anything that isn’t cartoons because the action is too slow.  Their minds have been trained to only accept the bite-sized, fast-paced frames of action cartoons so readily give.

When my oldest was a little boy, his favorite book was a thick history text I had picked up at a library book sale.  It was deep.  It used big words.  But his little mind had been trained to think big thoughts and enjoy the texture of big words, rather than the mush of watered-down one syllable grunts.

But, the key word here is TRAINED.

He didn’t just “happen” to like history tomes that read like college textbooks.  My children didn’t just “happen” to enjoy the Moody Science videos in all their 1960′s splendor.  Their brains had feasted on words and the real world long enough to know when they were being fed good stuff!

As I write up our curriculum for next year, I keep noticing there are books and topics I am putting into my soon-to-be 8th grade son’s assignment sheets that didn’t make it to my world until college or later.  Even though I was a child who devoured books, my teachers never trained my mind away from the twaddle by offering me a steady diet of the good stuff.  My parent’s evening and weekend attempts were not enough to fully counteract my one-size-fits-all education.

Perhaps you are wondering how one goes about training their little ones to feast on the good stuff?  Here are some ideas to turn your child’s diet into one of vibrant, high-definition, vocabulary-rich goodness!

*Lead by example – My mom listened to classical music.  All.  The.  Time.  And then there were the operas on PBS.  Yes, I watched opera.  In fact, I didn’t just watch opera…I SANG opera!  I would shut myself in my bedroom and howl away.

My mom was also a book-fanatic.  I can still remember the oh-so-wonderful musty book smell of our local library.  I loved it!  My children have also grown up in the library.  Just the other day we were checking out books when the librarian remarked about how nice it was to see children checking out BOOKS, rather than videos!  I was astounded!  But, our children see us read.  All.  The.  Time.  Why wouldn’t they think reading is a worthwhile pursuit?

But, I will tell you, my children are not allowed in the “Homework Section” of our local library and they are not allowed to get just any old book.  The Homework Section is nothing but a teen magazine, comic book, witchcraft-filled, waste of time.  And I want my children to always be stretching their minds so I try to make sure the books they choose fit the bill.  No, my Kindergartner isn’t reading War and Peace, but I do try to follow the guidelines I’ve gleaned from books like Honey for A Child’s Heart.

*Read aloud – Reading to your child from good books teaches them to appreciate the sound of large, meaningful words.  Again, use the suggestions from books like Honey for a Child’s Heart.

*Watch “REAL” movies – Wholesome television does not have to come in the form of animated characters.  It can, but it doesn’t HAVE TO.  Teach your children to appreciate old movies by watching old movies.  (However, just because a movie is OLD, does not mean it will be appropriate–watch the movies together!) Many great movies and television programs from days gone by are collecting dust because our 25 Frames-Per-Second brains get bored easily.  Videos like Moody Science don’t deserve to be cast aside simply because the special effects aren’t special enough.

*Avoid Internet-ease – I about fell over the other day when a woman I was sitting near told a story and then said, “But that’s probably TMI.”  It is one thing to converse this way on the internet and via text messages, but when you train your brain to SPEAK this way IN REAL LIFE, you have just entered the TWADDLE ZONE.  Don’t go there.  Don’t let your children go there.  If they are really steeped in that culture, they might roll their eyes at you when you ask them to speak in complete sentences, but hold fast!  It will be worth it when they land a job that expects them to speak with real words.

*Never allow the words, “I’m Bored” – These 2 words are a sign that brains are turning to mush.  When a child cannot find enjoyment from their everyday environment and start that incessant whine with these 2 words attached, you can be assured they have had too much “fast-food”entertainment.  A twaddle-filled menu will quickly leave a child empty and wanting more.  When they say, “I’m bored,” and then follow it up with a request for a certain thing to make them “un-bored,” you can be fairly certain that thing they want is the Twaddle Culprit.  Wean them off of it and open up their world to the wonder-filled place it is!

Now, head to your local library, bookstore, online shoppe and fill your world with the Good Stuff!

Click here for the FEBRUARY SUBSCRIBER SPECIAL ~ Homemaking from the Heart Bundle!

I promised I would talk about what we would be doing next year instead of Sonlight.  The truth of the matter is, I am creating my own curriculum.

Did I scare you?  I scare myself.

I have done this in the past, but it was an utter failure.  The main reason I failed at my own curriculum was because I didn’t stick with it.  It wasn’t very well thought out or planned out, so I was always trying to blindly figure out what to do next on the fly.  I finally caved that year and went back to a curriculum I had used in the past to “get us by.”

This time I am taking the curriculum to the next level.  I am giving substance to the ENTIRE YEAR, not in a rigid day by day schedule, but in a progression that says do this, then this, then this. I must admit, despite the long hours of planning, it has been immensely rewarding and even fun!

I started with this book: All Through the Ages by Christine Miller (Nothing New Press).

I found this book years ago at a homeschool convention.  I wasn’t looking for it, but a woman standing next to me told me to buy it. {yeah, I listen to total strangers at homeschool conventions }

This book is a GEM! It is separated out chronologically and by age, so if you want to study Ancient Greece, you need only to turn to that page, find your child’s age group, and choose books from that list.  In addition to this, there are fabulous little history overviews scattered throughout the book.  I learned a lot just by reading those!  Miller has also made notations of any problems you might find in the books, so you are aware.

Next, I took All Through The Ages and sat down with a piece of paper and pen and made note of all the books listed in the appropriate time frame from the appropriate age groups that I thought would be good reads. {I also used Veritas Press’ catalog.  Most of their books are excellent, but you do have to be aware of the aspects I mentioned in my post on the other side of Classical curriculum.}

Many of these books I already owned, but there were several I did not.  The first thing I did was to cull from my bookshelves all the books I already owned that were either on the list or went along with that time period. I put them in a box and set them aside.

Next, I went to my computer and opened three windows:
One for my local library
One for PaperBackSwap.com
One for Amazon.com

For every book I did not own, I searched my local library first.

If it wasn’t there, I searched PaperBackSwap next.

For those of you unfamiliar with Paperback Swap, it is a place where you can get rid of books you no longer want (paperback or not) and request books from other members.  You post your books and when another member requests a book from you, you package it up (at your expense) and send it off to them.  You get a book credit in return.  Every book credit allows for you to request a book from another member (free of charge to you).  You keep a running list of books you would like and when those books come available from another member, PBS alerts you, asks if you want the book, and then handles the transaction of credits.

However, you do not have to post your own books to participate!  You can purchase book credits for $3.45 a piece.  But, if you are like me, you likely have a few books lying around you would like to get rid of.  For the record, I ALWAYS check PBS first, even if I don’t have any credits because you will be hard-pressed to find many books that are cheaper and include shipping elsewhere!

If the book is not in my personal library or available on PaperBackSwap, I add the book to my Wish List on PBS and head to Amazon.com.  You can keep a running Wish List on Amazon as well that can be made available to relatives looking for gifts to bless your family with, so keep that in mind as you are searching.

I search out the “missing” books from my list on Amazon and check prices.  If it is a book I know I really, really want and it is not yet on PaperBackSwap and I think there’s a good chance it won’t show up there anytime soon, I go ahead and purchase from Amazon.  Otherwise, I just wait it out. {That’s the good thing about starting early on a project of this magnitude.}

After I had listed on paper where each book I wanted could be found, I started my Progression List using what I had in my box as well as the books I hoped to own or find at the library.  I separated things out by time periods so there were natural breaks in the curriculum.

I also added in suggestions from Vision Forum’s Building a Winning Curriculum.  This book has most of Vision Forum’s educational products divided into chronological and thematic categories.  I made notations of those I owned and those I want to own so when a sale comes up, I can take advantage of that sale.

If you are wondering why I am choosing to do a Progression List rather than a full-blown Lesson Plan with daily assignments, here’s my reasoning…

1. School doesn’t always happen 5 days a week, Monday through Friday around here.

2. If I get off track, I don’t feel guilty because I don’t have a lesson plan sheet telling me I should have done such and such on Monday, but here it is Thursday and I am just now getting around to it.

3. I set the pace.  I make it manageable.  And I know precisely where I left off because everything is done in progression!

Please understand, this is a test…this is only a test…in the event I use this homeschool curriculum and it creates an emergency, an alarm will sound followed by another post telling you I am changing course…again.  Thank you.

Click here for the FEBRUARY SUBSCRIBER SPECIAL ~ Homemaking from the Heart Bundle!

Once Ty and I definitely decided to change course with our homeschooling curriculum, I felt the burden of the decision lift from my shoulders, only to have another burden fall into its place.  The burden of deciding where to go next.  I spent many late nights scouring catalogs, websites, and my own bookshelves searching for the key that would unlock next year’s homeschool.

In my search, I became intrigued by a classical curriculum that did a wonderful job of framing discussions from a Biblical point of view; however it had cons…why are there always cons…

Classical homeschooling has always appealed to me.  The chronological order, the reading of living books, the intellectually meaty discussions…all so beautiful.  But, this curriculum had another side.  A side our family has chosen to avoid.  The side that allows for nudity in the form of art and fantasy in the form of witchcraft.

Now, I know I kind of threw that incredibly hot topic out there in the middle of everything and proper etiquette would require that I now expound on it, but I’m not going to.  This post isn’t about the specifics, it’s about the big picture.

Late one night, after hours of pouring over sample pages and catalogs, weighing the pros and cons of everything I was reading, I decided to rest my weary brain from it all.  As I slipped into the bitterly cold sheets of my side of the bed, next to a husband who had been there for hours, I begged God to make it crystal clear what we should do.  Could the pros of the classical curriculum outweigh the cons?  Could I find a way to avoid those topics which oppose our family’s worldview?  What was the answer?

I asked.

The next morning, it was given.

Blake and I were sitting in the living room the next morning discussing homeschooling for next year as I was anxious to introduce him to some of the things I had been mulling over.  In our usual conversational tone, I told him of the things I saw potential in as well as the things I was concerned about, when suddenly, he stopped me and said,

Mom, I don’t think those things are good.

And my heart and mind became quiet.

I looked him straight in the eye and asked him to tell me more.

I listened as he told me about a book he had seen in the library.  He said he saw one page of inappropriate things, but figured it was just one page and he would avoid it.  So, he brought it home.  However, once home, he found there were more pages he had not seen in that one glance at the library.  The book had to be taken back.  But the damage was done.

My answer came from the profound and discerning thoughts of a 13 year old boy.

Ask.

It shall be given.

And so we move on.

{I wanted to publicly thank all of you who have been so understanding as well as those of you who are offering suggestions.  Even if it is not something I go with, I know other readers are interested in what you have to say!  Thank you!}

Click here for the FEBRUARY SUBSCRIBER SPECIAL ~ Homemaking from the Heart Bundle!