A Dream Come True

*Sorry for the cell phone pics.  Love the Droid X but the pictures are just lacking!*

Soccer practice was canceled this evening but it was just too nice to stay in.  Rebecca wanted to ride her bike, Emily wanted to play, and the dog wanted to get out and run.  After getting bored in the cul-de-sac, I packed them all up and let them play/ride at the closest elementary school.

 It's always been a fascination of the girls to see inside a public school.  They have been inside a church/school but not a public school.  They usually play there throughout the summer months when the building is closed and rooms are packed away.  It's not uncommon to find them looking in the windows of all the schools we play at.

 Notice the jump rope around Emily's waist?  :o)

I told them secretively to try the door handles.  One was open.  After we saw a lady and her daughter go in, we put the dog in the car and went in.  Now, you just can't realize the importance of this to Emily.  Prior to putting the dog away, Emily went in, ran around the little area by the front door, thinking it was all very exciting to be inside a real school.  It was funny watching them be sneaky and waiting for me to pull her out of there.  So, we went inside and toured the cafeteria, looked in the media room, and some classrooms including the room that I volunteered in while a senior in high school.  Rebecca didn't like being in there and wanted to leave quickly.  She felt like she was intruding without permission.  Well, yep, we were but if anything, they would just ask us to leave.  Emily could have stayed in there for hours!

 Em absolutely LOVED looking at all the bulletin boards in the hallway.  She read everyone that we saw.  It's amazing that almost every room had a poster of No Bullying outside of the door.  Sad that that is such an issue.

 An empty bulletin that appears just to be made for her.

 In the fifth grade hallway, the talent in the artwork is pretty amazing.  Above, Emily is reading another No Bullying poster.

Emily is standing in the doorway of a 5th grade room.  I wouldn't let them enter the room, that just seemed wrong.  Rebecca was feeling guilty about being in there without permission that she refused to let me take her picture and wanted to get out as soon as possible.It didn't help matters that there was a custodian a few rooms down, keeping an eye on us.

Emily's smile really does tell all.  It has been a dream of hers to just see what the inside of a school is like.  I have asked around and found that the schools will give us a tour after school hours.  Well, that doesn't give them the full experience of chaos of a school. 

*Just to inform you- the girls have no desire to attend school.  They are just curious of the unknown.  I was glad that after all this time, I was able to fulfill a dream for Emily, even if it was spontaneous.

Happy Tuesday

 Here's a not-so-great pic of my oh-so-great sixth grader.  (I love my phone but the pics aren't so lovable)
We started doing school together at the kitchen table a couple of months ago and so much more gets accomplished in a day.  We can all spread out and I can keep them under my thumb.  I love that she is all smiles even though she is working on grammar, not a well-liked subject.

I may be a textbook teacher but I can incorporate Charlotte Mason in here and there.  Here, Emily is looking at the different types of leaves and drawing them.  She was supposed to do leaf rubbings but with the leaves just beginning to sprout, I didn't want her to pluck them off the trees yet.

Why We Homeschool

Why do we homeschool?  Now, that's a loaded question.

This is my blog and I don't have to have the short version on here so get ready for an earful. Let's go back to the beginning. So, way back when...haha...

I have a degree in early education and preschoolers have always been my passion.  When Rebecca was young, it came naturally to teach her at home.  With her birthday after the school cutoff, she would have started school a year late.  Where she would go was always a question.  Public school was never an option and the Christian schools around here are not what I would want for my child.  Plus, money was an obsticle, or lack of money I should say.  The thought of going back to work to send Rebecca to school was daunting.  Then having to find child care for Emily while I was working was a factor, as well.  What if I had to work after school hours? Anyway, I had all these scenarios and unanswered questions, and I was pestering Jay about it.  He had an easy solution- just homeschool Rebecca and stop talking about it.  The thought terrified and excited me at the same time.  The decision made by the head of the household may have put an end to some questions, but started another round of needing answers to a  different set of questions. 
So, discussion over, I was to homeschool Rebecca in k5.  I was left in complete control of any other decisions that needed to be made.  I chose A Beka because it is basic, familiar, an all inclusive curriculum, and if I failed, she could easily fall back into a Christian school who uses the same program. 
I was also babysitting at the time, and had told the parents that I will hs until Emily, who was 3 at the time, was old enough for school.  Then I would send them to a school that is very conservative and up to my standards.
So, that was my plans.  HAHA  That was God laughing at my attempt to make plans.  Ok, that is my testimony on how we started to homeschool.  Now here's why...  It is also a process that has changed slightly over the years.
The reasons for homeschooling have always been because we feel that it is our God-given duty as parents to be the ones to teach and train our children in the ways of our Lord.  There are many scriptures throughout the Bible that refer to the instruction of our children, the application of knowledge, and the path to wisdom.

Deuteronomy 4:10
"Gather me the people together, and I will make them hear my words, that they may learn to fear me all the days that they shall live upon the earth, and that they may teach their children."

Deuteronomy 6:5-8
"And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up."

Deuteronomy 11:18-20
"Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes. And ye shall teach them your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. And thou shall write them upon the door posts of thine house, and upon thy gates."

Joshua 24:15
"Choose you this day whom ye will serve...but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord."

Psalm 1:1-2
"Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in His law doth he meditate day and night."

Psalm 25:4-5
"Show me thy ways, O Lord; teach my thy paths. Lead me in thy truth, and teach me."

Proverbs 1:2-8
"To know wisdom and instruction; to perceive the words of understanding; to receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, and judgment, and equity; to give subtilty to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion. A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels: to understand a proverb, and the interpretation; the words of the wise, and their dark sayings. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction. My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother."

Proverbs 3:5-6
"Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths."

Proverbs 4:1
"Hear, ye children, the instruction of a father, and attend to know understanding."

Proverbs 6:20-23
"My son, keep thy father’s commandment, and forsake not the law of thy mother: bind them continually upon thine heart, and tie them about thy neck. When thou goest, it shall lead thee; when thou sleepest, it shall keep thee; and when thou awakest, it shall talk with thee. For the commandment is a lamp; and the law is light; and reproofs of instruction are the way of life."

Proverbs 8:10-11
"Receive my instruction, and not silver; and knowledge rather than choice gold. For wisdom is better than rubies; and all the things that may be desired are not to be compared to it."

Proverbs 9:10
"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom."

Proverbs 13:1
"A wise son heareth his father’s instruction."

Proverbs 16:16
"How much better is it to get wisdom than gold! And to get understanding rather to be chosen than silver!"

Proverbs 22:6
"Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it."

Proverbs 23:12
"Apply thine heart unto instruction, and thine ears to the words of knowledge."

Proverbs 24:3-4
"Through wisdom is an house builded; and by understanding it is established: and by knowledge…filled with all precious and pleasant riches."

Proverbs 29:15
"The rod and reproof give wisdom: but a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame."

Isaiah 54:13
"And all thy children shall be taught of the Lord; and great shall be the peace of thy children."

Ephesians 6:1-4
"Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right. Honour thy father and mother; (which is the first commandment with promise); that it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth. And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord."

Colossians 2:8
"Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ."

I Timothy 6:20-21
"[Avoid] profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called: which some professing have erred concerning the faith."

II Timothy 2:15
"Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth."

II Timothy 3:14-15
"But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them; and that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus."

II Timothy 3:16-17
"All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works."

James 1:5
"If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God…and it shall be given him."

Needless to say, we chose religious exemption based on our states statute, "A school board shall excuse from attendance at school: any pupil who, together with his parents, by reason of bona fide religious training or belief is conscientiously opposed to attendance at school."

Notice, it states that we are opposed to attendance at school.  Once I starting really thinking about it, yes, I am opposed to sending our children to school!  Jay is in complete agreement with me, but remember that once he made the decision to homeschool, all other decisions after that are left up to me.  I fell in love with homeschooling and unless God changes our course, we will homeschool all the way through.

We met plenty of opposition from friends, family, and even strangers.  I heard it at church, visits with family, and in public places such as the grocery store. 

I recall Jay on the phone with his sister one time telling her facts and statistics of homeschooling.  I was quite proud he had looked it up and done his homework, so to speak.  Yeah, it was all a bunch of made up figures to get her off his back.  Ha!  Ok, maybe that wasn't the best story to tell but I love it.  And I love him!

Now that Rebecca is in the sixth grade and Emily is in the third, my resolve is even stronger than before.  At first, it felt as if it was a last resort, then a wise decision, now a lifestyle.  My children know nothing other than doing school in our home in our jammies!  I would not have it any other way!

There are several different styles and methods of homeschooling.  I am not a classical educator, an unschooler, I am not even eclectic in choosing the materials we use.  I do not believe in umbrella schools, or distance education.  It is NOT for us to learn by DVD as a form of distance learning.  We do not use online courses and for the most part, I do not see us using that form of education anytime in the near future.

I think co-ops are a great way of learning and using the gifts that others are blessed with. 

So what am I?  I am a textbook teacher.  I homeschool our children.  A person on a DVD or online program does not.  I love to teach.  It is my calling and I use it to glorify our Lord.  I feel that those who sit their children in front of tv or computer all day is horrible.  I think curricula that are student taught such as A.C.E. are for the faint of heart or those who are too lazy to invest their time in their children.  Please keep in mind that these are my personal opinions (I also only have 2 children) and with this being my blog, I am free to express them regardless of whom they offend.  I know that my way is NOT the best way for everyone but it is for our family.  I homeschool to TEACH my children, not to have others do it for me.  Granted, we will get to a point where I will not be qualified to teach some subjects and will pay someone to do it for me.  We are blessed with a great co-op just down the road and look at it every year, but cannot justify spending that kind of moola when I can teach sixth and third grade!

I think I got a little off subject there in that last paragraph but, hey, this is my blog, and I can do that! 

So...All of that to say that we homeschool for not for religious reasons but because we feel that it is our God given position to ensure that our children get the best education possible, and are trained in the ways of our Lord to go out and spread the gospel with the lost.  That is the most important lesson that we, as children of our living God, can possess.

Welcome to P.J. Christian Academy in Midlo

After all this time, I have decided to take my home school blog public.  I love to journal about out journey through homeschooling.  I have another blog that I started several years ago solely for the purpose of homeschooling however, I put things on there that would be embarrassing to my children.  Out of respect to them, I will continue to keep that one private and start a new one.

I shall introduce myself and our school.  In our school, we have one superintendent, Jay.  His role is disciplinarian, audience to speeches and presentations, and takes the school on an annual trip to the Caribbean and Walt Disney World.

The teacher, myself, teaches several subjects a day, grades papers, takes field trips, acts as disciplinarian in the absence of the superintendent, housekeeper, nurse, prepares daily meals, gymnastics coordinator, and the list goes on.  I love my job!  Currently, I teach two grades simultaneously- sixth and third.

The students... there are only two students, but that is enough.  Sometimes the responsibility of these two feels like a classroom full of children.  They are smart, pretty, fun, easygoing, helpful, easily distracted, sometimes grouchy, and always desiring what the Lord would have them to do.  They have an arrange of emotions that are expressed in a simgle day from delirious laughter to angry words. 

The school is adequately named P.J. Christian Academy in Midlo.  The P.J. comes from the fact that we homeschool in our pj's.  We do not get dressed until it is time to go to one of our many activities.  Heaven help the person who stops by unannounced. :o) 
We are first and formost a christian family.  Each and everything we do is centered around Christ.  From our schooling to our activities to our attitudes, we strive to like a Christ-like life and let His light shine through us in all that we do.
The Academy and Midlo are pretty self-explanitory.  Academy is a place of study and we do some of that here.  And obviously, Midlo is an abbreviation of our city.

Thanks for taking the time to check out our blog on the many adventures in our homeschooling life.  And thank you for your patience as I set this up.  Please feel free to leave a comment!