There are so many educational resources available to homeschoolers, it is often hard to sift through them to find what fits your family.
AHE offers a FREE curriculum guide that can help. Click on the image to go directly to the curriculum guide download page.
Welcome to this week’s Show & Share. We look forward to enjoying what you have to share today. For Show & Share ideas and guidelines, read this post.
PLEASE NOTE: Show & Share is taking a break next week.
We’ll see you again in 2014!
Welcome to this week’s Show & Share! We look forward to enjoying what you have to share today. For Show & Share ideas and guidelines, read this post.
Here’s an interesting quick read about a homeschooled student making the transition from homeschooling to college.
Home-school students do well first time in college
Current research is supporting the claims that homeschoolers are not at a disadvantage when it comes to transitioning to college. Encouraging news for those of us who are homeschooling high school-aged students.
Welcome to Show & Share! We look forward to enjoying what you have to share today! For Show & Share ideas and guidelines, read this post.
Guest Post by Nikki who blogs @ Sew Running Around
First, we need to be living in the Water of Life, just like a hermit crab needs water to live. Are we “in Jesus”? Do we seek him every day in His Word, to be in us and with us? John 4:14 “But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.”
In order to grow, a hermit crab needs to find a larger shell and abandon its previous one. In order for us to grow, we must abandon our flesh (our too-small shell), and seek a house greater – Christ’s robe of righteousness. We cannot become too comfortable in our flesh, and in our own sins, for if we do-just as if a hermit crab were to- we cannot grow. Romans 6:6 “Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.” “And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.” Romans 8:10
When a hermit crab is in too small of a house, it is no longer perfectly protected. It is 
vulnerable to the enemy. If we live in our sinful flesh, we are vulnerable to the enemy too! Not only can’t we grow, but we will be eaten (hurt) by Satan. If a hermit crab continues seeking for larger shells to live-in, it can live to be 70 years old – and if we daily die to self, seek Jesus for His protection, we will live a long, happy, and prosperous life. 1 Peter 2:2 says “As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby“…“but bring them (thy children) up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord That it may be well with thee, and thou (they) mayest live long on the earth.” Ephesians 6:4,3
In general, and despite their name, hermit crabs are social animals that do best in groups; and best in groups where there are varying ages and sizes of other crabs. As Christians, we need to be near to one another, strengthening each other, helping each other. Acts 2:46 And not all the same! We need our young tender crabs, and our old crusty crabs too! If crabs are all the same age and size, they tend to fight ferociously with each other – and play king of the crab, to see who is better. That reminds me of us too. We need all ages, all sizes, all gifts – none the same! We are all in the perfect shell for ourselves – just the right size for the day, if we just look to Jesus. Romans 12: 4, 5, 6 “For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office: So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another. Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us” Psalm 133:1 “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!”
Lastly, hermit crabs live in varying depths of saltwater, from shallow reefs and shorelines to deep sea bottoms. As Christians living in the shell of Christ, we will be at different places too. Some of us will be just starting out, on the shoreline. Some of us are blooming in the beautiful reefs, and others of us are diving deep – but we are all living in The Water of Life! And each of the crabs are still hermit crabs, despite where they live. We are Christians, too, no matter where we are in our walk – as long as we continue to seek a greater house than our own by surrendering our flesh and seeking His righteousness daily. Romans 8:4 “That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”
Departing Words: 2 Peter 3:18 “But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.”
Ever read a blog post that you just want to share? Here’s one.
Many thanks go to Angela at Pearls of Price for sharing her blog post with AHE.
I heard a man speaking yesterday about how schools kill creativity. Everything about the typical school system undermines creativity rather than nurturing it. Everything is turned upside down in importance…. the arts and creativity is usually relegated to the bottom of the stack right after science, etc… What they are actually finding is that little kids all have the capacity to be divergent thinkers…. but in studies it shows that as the children get older (more educated) that capacity deteriorates… It shouldn’t be this way.
Okay, not a new concept to us old homeschoolers, probably. That’s part of why we homeschool /ed our children. However, I think the temptation to do “school at home” and follow the pattern we’ve known is pretty strong in a lot of cases. There’s a picture in our head of what “educating” our children is suppose to look like. . . and it looks a lot like a kid sitting at a little desk studiously looking at the open book and a pencil in their right hand. Doesn’t it?
And if you don’t follow the “norms” for good solid reason because you’ve really studied the book Education, or because the Moore Formula just totally makes sense to you, it doesn’t automatically exempt you from feeling like you just might mess up your kid. Insecurities abound. Especially when one of those kiddos of yours still isn’t reading at age 11 and the other one at 12… 4th grade math is a DISMAL failure -so bad you throw the books out in November and skip math altogether the rest of the year because it’s crazy making. And well, you remember when you were 13 and homeschooled and STILL trying to learn the times tables. The abstract concepts of grammar beyond nouns and verbs might as well be in Chinese. You send your little herd off to get started on their “school work” while you do the breakfast dishes and change the laundry, and get distracted by an email, (good thing they didn’t have facebook in my day) and you come back to reality two hours later and find out they have been drawing and painting and sorting seeds. One child is found planning next year’s flower garden and has smuggled the bunnies into the rec room, while another child is missing altogether. You know she probably has the camera and is taking 6 thousand more close-up photos of that blue English banty crowing his head off. There’s not a book in sight. And you think, “If people ONLY KNEW!”
I was NOT a model homeschooling mom by most standards. In my heart I believed I knew that I had the basic concepts of homeschooling right, but I was plagued with thoughts of needing to do better than I was. Sometimes I felt guilty. Sometimes I really worried… like the year I threw out Brianna’s 4th grade math. Unlike her sisters, she was a non-conformist in so many ways. She would study ONLY that which interested her – which was everything under the sun, except what is on the typical school menu. I would sometimes push her and I could sense I was crushing her spirit. I mean, there was a certain amount that was expected – like it or lump it, but for this child only the MINIMAL was ever accomplished. Since I did not use a canned curriculum or set program she got away with not doing very much seat work…. partly because she was too busy being creative, and because she knew I wouldn’t stop her if she were actually learning something even if it wasn’t on my agenda. She was forever painting, drawing, making, collecting. She horded things like feathers, seeds, and quail eggs. She played her violin, she had garden projects and half dozen varieties of game birds. She always had the camera with her…
Hind sight is awesome. 
It so makes me want to tell parents to chill out.
Makes me wonder now. IF I HAD MADE HER conform, if I had been one of those people who could always follow a schedule and lived by the clock, etc… WOULD Brianna be who she is now? Or would she have lost some of that free-spirited, artistic, creative flair that so characterizes her whole person?
As it turns out, somewhere in her teens math was suddenly intriguing. Vanessa ran into some math person at the college today and the guy was still talking of Brianna’s appreciation of calculus and trig. She learned to read at age 11 when we figured out she had a tracking issue and did something about it. She has recently discovered she loves writing a LOT. She writes all the time. She is a pretty unflappable public speaker. She could be an engineer, or a business woman, or a farmer ( or a mom someday)… She is still working on figuring out what she wants to do, but her journey is leading her towards writing, videography/photography, agriculture, and a hundred other interests and talents that are competing for her time.
Would I have done anything different in my homeschooling knowing what I know now?
The answer is a resounding Yes!
Yes! I WOULD have done something differently.
I would have quit worrying, stopped feeling guilty, and given up comparing myself with other homeschooling moms.
-You can find Angela at Pearls of Price
The Adventist Home Educator 