After years of homeschooling, I thought I had things all figured out. I had found a curriculum that seemed to work well, even though it was a tad pricey. I had dealt with my fair share of challenges, learning struggles, etc.
Everything changed a couple of years ago when a judge gave me permission to homeschool my step-daughter.
For the first year we used a traditional program. My ADD girl hated it, but she got through.
For this year I had purchased the program that my other two had done so well with. I had talked online to the curriculum writer, getting ideas.
I began this school year with high hopes, only to have them dashed a couple of months later. The program wasn't what she needed. She was avoiding work. She wasn't retaining the information in history. I noticed that she learned and remembered the subjects where she was active, not just reading and writing.
I almost gave up. I began praying. Was this simply a matter of poor habits? Had I failed? I cried out to the Lord.
"Lord, please help! Please guide me. I feel like I am failing. How do I teach this child? These children? What is Your will? Your priorities? My time is so short with my high school girl. She wasn't able to be homeschooled until after years of feeling like a failure in public school. How do I help her? What is best? How can I do my part to ensure that she grows up to be a strong Christian? How can I help prepare her for the rest of her life? Lord, I beg You, show me what to do."
My time is limited with my step-daughter. She has two years of school left after this year, but she'll graduate late. She was held back, requesting the first grade. She will be an adult long before she officially graduates. What if she just quits?
The doubts were haunting me.
In prayer, I felt the Lord impress upon me the importance of His Word being the foundation... the core. I felt deeply that if I put His Word first in our homeschool, the academics would be there.
So my journey began. God must be dealing with many in this area. There are several homeschooling moms out there that have written articles, blogs, and even books about making sure Christ is center in their homeschool. Many are even using the Bible as the main textbook, branching off other subjects from what they are studying in the Word.
My heart was captured by the idea. Could I do that in our school? How would it work? Would I do this with all of my students? What about all the different grades? How would this look for my step-daughter, a high school student earning credits toward graduation?
I read some of those articles and blogs. I bought one of the books.
I planned how to do the requirements my high school daughter will need while making God and His Word the center of our homeschool.
I studied my step-daughter. I saw what peeked her interest. I noticed how research came naturally to her when she was allowed to pick the topic of interest. I discovered how visually oriented she is, and how she just absorbs information when it is presented to her in certain ways.
Isn't this why I homeschool? To have Christ at the center? To be able to teach my children in ways that will engage them?
I've melded a couple different curriculum. One daughter is still using all but the history from her Heart of Dakota to finish out the year. My two oldest girls are melding together in a light, unit-study based U.S. History. My youngest and middle daughter are diving full-force into Weaver curriculum, with my oldest joining in for Bible, some history, and maybe a touch of science.
Our day begins with Bible time. All three girls are studying the same thing. We are just finishing up Joseph and getting ready to begin the Exodus. I am using many resources to teach this. We have a workbook program that delves into the culture and geography as well as the Bible. We have the Weaver curriculum to keep us on track, give us applications of what we are learning, and areas to branch off into other subjects. But I don't discount the impact of just reading to them. We discuss it all together. I'm watching my daughters come alive! We are all learning so much!
On Friday we watched the movie Joseph with Ben Kingsley. I rented it from Christian Cinema. It was an awesome movie, adding so many emotions and visual images to what we had learned.
I've also noticed that what we are studying has been intensely personal and helpful during some trials we are going through right now.
I wondered about how my youngest would do with these changes. I can always switch back to what we were using. It's a great, Godly program. What I have discovered is that she is absorbing it all so quickly! She loves it!
I also made a decision these last few weeks about my blog. I blog for me and for the Lord. While I pray I am helping others, I realize that I could blog for years and years and never have many followers. Oh well. If I blogged for followers than I wouldn't be free to blog about what the Lord lays on my heart. That's important to me.
I have used some amazing curricula over the years. I've hopped all over the place with different curriculum before slowly become a bit eclectic. I don't mind. After years of trying this method and that curriculum, meeting changing needs and differing learning styles, I've relaxed a bit. I've seen fruit from homeschooling in the lives of my children, both spiritually and academically. Slowly, over the years, homeschooling has become the adventure I had hoped, though more deeply satisfying and intensely difficult than I ever imagined.
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