Some of you may be home schooling because your child has a specific learning problem. If that problem is learning math facts, you’re not alone. Our second son has been having this problem. For over a year we have tried to get him to memorize his addition and subtraction facts. Three months ago, he had not memorized even 1 fact. Today, he is finally starting to remember them. We hope he will soon know them all.To be honest, we’re not really sure why he has started to remember them.But here is what did we have been doing differently.

Here we are again at the beginning of another school year. OK, so we’re actually already in the thick of it here in the Northern hemisphere. To say we’ve had a busy summer would be a gross understatement. Where’d it go? Whew!

Hopefully, you’ve long since jumped into teaching/learning mode, and have settled into your home schooling routine without too many problems. Of course, the nice thing about homeschooling is there IS no set routine–you can make mid-voyage adjustments as needed and keep the HMS Homeschool ship on course.

We’d like to share with you some links we think you’ll find helpful as you guide your children. Here goes nuttin’:

http://www.tslbooks/. (Worksheets)

http://www.math-drills.com/  (Worksheets)

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/print/us.html  (Data on USA)

http://www.historyplace.com/unitedstates/revolution/ (American Revolution)

http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/today/today.html  (Today in history)

http://www.101science.com/HomeSchooling.htm (Homeschool/Science)

http://www.101science.com/ (Science)

 http://www.waterfordpress.com/entergame.html (Games/Activities)

http://www.superkids.com (Educational software/tools)

http://www.science-teachers.com/ (Science worksheets/lesson plan)

http://www.homeschoolhelperonline.com/worksheets.htm (Homeschool worksheets)

Leave your comments and let us know your favorites! We’re sure there are a ton more.

Here it is almost election time again in the U.S., and we’re fed up. Democrats are too liberal, and Republicans aren’t conservative enough. And homeschooling? Other than McCain mumbling something or other about vouchers, we haven’t heard either Presidential candidate say they’ll be showering us homeschoolers with stacks of greenbacks anytime soon.

So we decided to do something about it. We’ve started our own political party, the Homeschool Republicrats, and Brian has quietly (until now) been campaigning for Prez along with Lisa.

Yep, that’s right. Now you’ll have the chance to vote for a REAL pro-homeschool candidate. Next stop: The White House.

Just check out this latest news video  from iNews 3 now:

(hee, hee, hee!)

One of our newsletter readers recently unsubscribed and left the following comments regarding our last post: ” I am interested in home schooling and happen to be a liberal.  I found your comments today offensive.  I don’t think that home schooling should be political or CHRISTIAN.  I am neither a Christian nor a conservative.  You get more allies when you stop alienating and start opening to all people regardless of their religion or political views”.

She was apparently referring to our comment we made that the liberal social indoctrination of the public schools was a detrimental waste of time, and that the Biblical worldview had been replaced by the Humanist worldview. She didn’t specify exactly what it was that offended her, other than the fact that we hold opposing viewpoints.

Our response: We don’t write with the intent to offend, but since we are both unabashedly Christian and conservative, we will neither hide nor deny our Christian conservative viewpoint. However, we’re puzzled as to why this individual was offended, as we’re not offended by those who hold a liberal viewpoint, even though we strongly disagree with them.

We don’t feel the need to apologize for our views, nor do we feel that it’s necessary to ‘warn’ our readers that we are conservative Christians. This would imply that the ‘default’ position is liberal and secular, which we don’t believe is correct. 

Homeschooling is what YOU make it. If you’re a liberal and you firmly believe that’s the correct viewpoint, then your home school program will likely reflect that, and vice versa for conservatives or Christians or whoever.

This former subscriber apparently is either home schooling already or considering it, and we’re sure there are many reasons why someone would choose to homeschool rather than send their children to public schools. But for us, one of the main reasons for our decision to homeschool was for the above-mentioned liberal, anti-Christian indoctrination that is occurring in the public schools.

It becomes more shocking by the day, as grade-school children are taught the ‘virtues’ of the homosexual lifestyle as early as kindergarten, and evolution is presented as ’settled science’ even thought this is far from the truth.

We doubt that even liberals would deny that this is indeed occurring. So we have a question for anyone of the liberal persuasion: Do you believe these changes have IMPROVED public schools? If so, could you please provide some proof?

Actually, we see just the opposite from our perspective. Test scores have fallen precipitiously over the years since these changes started, and morality among public school-educated children has taken a serious dive as well.

So if this person is offended because she thinks that the introduction of these liberal ideas was a POSITIVE move for the public schools, she has a long, uphill battle to convince us that it’s so.

This also brings up another interesting question: Is there such thing as a ‘neutral’ position that public schools, or homeschoolers, or anyone for that matter, should follow?

Think about this before you answer. Every person has a ‘worldview’ whether they realize it or not. If you believe that God created the universe and everything in it, then your perspective and mindset will be much different than someone who believes that everything in the universe is the result of a ‘big bang’ and that there is no God and no purpose to life.

Since the public schools have discarded the idea that God is the supreme being in control of the universe, they have (perhaps) unwittingly adopted the tenents of Humanism. Humanism rejects anything supernatural and places man in the position of  determining what is right or wrong by his own volition.

But wait. Isn’t Humanism religiously neutral? No, Humanism functions as a religion. “As Humanism encompasses intellectual currents running through a wide variety of philosophical and religious thought, several strains of Humanism allow it to fulfill, supplement or supplant the role of religions, and in particular, to be embraced as a complete life stance”. (Wikipedia).

Evolutionists, for example, believe that you cannot understand biology unless you embrace the evolutionary doctrines, and this has been firmly engrained into the public school curriculum.

So there is no such thing as a ‘neutral’ position, contrary to what some may want us to believe. Your own worldview has a Christian, Buddhist, Muslim, Atheist, Humanist, Evolutionist, etc. foundation and ultimately affects how you interpret information and the decisions you make.  EVERYONE, regardless of how unbiased they may see themselves, has a set of beliefs that determines how they interact with the world around them.

We don’t expect all homeschoolers to totally agree with our worldview, and we’re not offended if they happen to hold a slightly, or vastly, different view. However, as conservative Christians, we firmly believe that the Bible is the infallible Word of God and that the ideas of men that run counter to the Bible are bankrupt. 

Our goal isn’t to “alienate” other home schoolers, and we’re sorry that someone would feel alienated simply because of opposing viewpoints. But we will continue to proclaim what we believe to be true regardless of whether anyone feels ‘offended’ or not.

“Woe unto you, when all men shall speak well of you!” (Luke 6:26).

Just wanted to share a gem with you that we found in our local newspaper, of all places (a typical liberal-leaning rag, but give them credit for occasionally presenting the other side.)

This was an opinion piece by well-known columnist Thomas Sowell, one of our favorite conservative authors, called “Amateurs Outdoing Professionals“. Here’s the excerpt. It might not seem relevant at first, but follow it through:

“When amateurs outperform professionals, there is something wrong with that profession”.

“If ordinary people, with no medical training, could perform surgery in their kitchens with steak knives, and get results that were better than those of surgeons in hospital operating rooms, the whole medical profession would be discredited”.

“Yet it is common for ordinary parents, with no training in education, to homeschool their children and consistently produce better academic results than those of children educated by teachers with master’s degrees and in schools spending upwards of $10,000 a year per student”.

“Nevertheless, we continue to take seriously the pretensions of educators who fail to educate, but who put on airs of having “professional” expertise beyond the understanding of mere parents”.

(End of excerpt)

Hmmm, could it be all the time wasted in the public schools on liberal social indoctrination, plus their zeal in getting rid of the Bible and replacing it with the tenets of humanism? Nahhh!

Sorry for the looooong gap between posts, but we’ve had a lot of things going on in our lives. Hope that doesn’t sound like a lame excuse, but it’s eerily true. We won’t bore you with all the details, but we’ve had all the outdoor garden and yard work we can handle on our two acres, plus an ongoing remodeling project at Brian’s Dad’s house, homeschooling (of course), a major drought,  and the list goes on.

Plus Brian is trying to learn all he can about investing, as our investments we had trusted to a mutual fund advisor have taken a sizeable hit what with the wacky market conditions. It’s a steep learning curve, and we’re now making some moves ourselves that are starting to pay off after getting off to a shaky start.

Brian can tell you first-hand that it’s a brave new world out there in the financial markets… Not like the past few years where you could just about invest in any stock or fund imaginable and the darn thing would go up–not now. Takes a ton of research these days, and constant vigilance.

We managed to squeeze in a trip to Lisa’s parents home (about 200 miles away), and since we’ve finally joined the modern age and are now using a digital camera, thought we’d share a few pics with you for now until we can think of something intelligent to write about, LOL.

The highlight of our trip was a housewarming for a family friend, which included our boy’s first wiener roast. May not sound very exciting to you, but hey, when you’re a kid, it doesn’t take much. Believe it or not, there was an educational aspect to the weenie roast as the housewarming festivities were very close to a cattle feeding operation (as you’ll see in the pics). As you can imagine, when the wind blows the right (wrong?) way, there’s a certain, ah, fragrance, if you know what we mean. But we digress… So here’s the pics (mouse over for caption):

It’s that time of year again. Sure, it’s summer here in the northern hemisphere, and you and your kids should have been enjoying the season for some time already. But it’s about time to start thinking about the next school ‘year’, at least if you’re following the traditional school year schedule.

Think we’re kidding? Well, the retailers don’t, because many stores are already gearing up for the back-to-school crowd. The July 4 through Labor Day period is actually the  second-biggest selling period after Christmas, we were surprised to learn. The competition is expected to be fierce this year.

So this is kind of a transitional period for many of us homeschoolers. You may still be homeschooling at a slower summer mode (or maybe not). For our part, we’re trying to squeeze as much fun into the schedule as we can, because we know full well that the warm weather will be gone before we know it, at least here in northern Ohio.

But this is also a good time to consider the benefits and goals of home schooling if you’re not already home schooling, or reviewing the same benefits and goals if you are. We were going to write a post on this topic, but our friends at The Teaching Home, Cindy Short and Sue Welch, beat us to the punch. So here’s their excellent article. Wish we could have said it this well:

Consider the Benefits and Goals of Home Schooling

The Benefits

     Whether you are reaffirming or reevaluating your decision to educate your children at home or are considering this option for the first time, reviewing the unique benefits of home education will provide the conviction, confidence, and commitment that you will need in order to persevere.

     For a Christian, the decision to home school should be based on a determination that this is how you can best fulfill God’s mandate to teach and train your children.

     Teaching and training your children at home can provide the optimum environment for your children’s spiritual training and character development as well as their social and academic welfare.  (Read more specifics of the benefits of home schooling in Newsletter #122.)

Your Goals

     It is easy to get caught up in the nitty-gritty of homeschooling and lose sight of what is most important.

     One way to focus on your family’s goals is to consider the question:  When our children leave our home to begin their own families:

 •   What kind of people do we want them to be?
 •   What values do we want them to embrace?
 •   What knowledge and skills do we want them to possess?
 •   How do we want them to behave?

     As you prayerfully consider all aspects of your children’s teaching and training, write out a family mission statement and long-range goals for your children.  This will give purpose, direction, and balance to your efforts.  (For more information on writing your family mission statement and goals, see Newsletters #80 and #81.)

     Your goals may include the following:

 •   Spiritual:  Know God’s Word, come to salvation, grow spiritually in faith and obedience to God’s Word, minister to others, and spread the Gospel.

 •   Character:  Development of characteristics of love, integrity, responsibility, and joy; manners; and discipline.  (See more information on character development in Newsletters #87 and #88.)

 •   Social:  Family unity and social skills.

 •   Academic:  A Christian worldview in all areas, a solid foundation in basic skills (reading, writing, math), an excellent, well-rounded education, and the ability to find information and keep learning throughout life.

 •   Life Skills:  Practical preparation for adult life.

     As you plan for the next school year, you can use these life goals to schedule specific goals and objectives for each of your children.

By Cindy Short and Sue Welch
Copyright 2007 by www.TeachingHome.com. Reprinted by permission.