5 Reasons Your Child Stops Being Curious After Starting School

Have you ever taken the time to actually sit down and watch a toddler? They’re fascinating little people. They have this extraordinary gift of being able to find something to do with any object they come across. Granted, they’re not always things we want them to do, but their plans are usually ingenious just the same.

Ask any parent of a preschooler about their little one and they’re bound to tell you multiple stories of how their precious children manage to get into everything. Besides that, there are the constant questions: Why is the bee on that flower? Why is that flower pink? What do worms eat? Are worms bugs? 

5 No-Nonsense Organization Tips for a No-Nonsense Homeschool

I’m going to be honest with you right from the get go…I almost didn’t write this post.

The thought of writing about how we organize our homeschool was almost laughable to me because it is so no-frills and just plain ordinary that I thought, Who would ever be interested in our utterly no-nonsense organization plan? But then I realized that I surely can’t be the only homeschool parent who truly needs something that is easy, affordable, and not time-consuming. 

Free Thanksgiving Unit Study

(Click here for a downloadable PDF of this unit study and others.)

I can’t believe that summer is already almost over! Sniff. Every year it seems like it takes forever to get here and then it passes by in what seems like a heartbeat. So sad.

As much as I love this season, though, and really do not like the colder weather, seeing the autumn decorations that are already all over the stores has made me nostalgic for pumpkin bread, hot chocolate, and apple cinnamon muffins.

And since I happen to be one of those people who likes to plan ahead (which is an understatement…I have three years worth of unit study activities written down in my planner…), I thought that now might be a nice time to share another unit study I’ve written with you. 

Why We Chose the Weirdness of Homeschool — Deuteronomy 6:6-7

I came across this post after writing about why we don’t send our kids to school to be salt and light. This post is a perfect complement to that, and it’s so well-written. Read on and see for yourself!

Pastor Unlikely

I used to think that people who homeschooled their kids were crazy.  Just flat-out denim wearing, extended van driving loons who wanted to doom their children to a life of …well, I never actually thought that far, but I was sure that there was something seriously wrong with homeschool. So when my wife and I started to have kids we had no plans to even consider anything other than the public school or catholic school educations that we were tortured in growing up.  Sure, it was miserable and scarred us for life, but it was just what you do if you don’t want to be weird.  Suck it up kids!

Even after we came to Jesus and began being exposed to actual homeschool families and found them to be mainly weird in good ways (Honey, it was so weird they looked me in the eye when talking to me and…

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Outlaw Christian by Jacqueline A. Bussie

Have you ever wondered if there was a different way to live out your faith? Do you feel surrounded by legalism and unwritten rules about what religion is supposed to look like? Are there certain “faith-laws” that you’re afraid to break?

Author Jacqueline A. Bussie attempts to answers those questions in her book, Outlaw Christian. Bussie is a professor of religion at Concordia College who has her own ideas about what Christianity should look like. She considers herself to be an outlaw Christian, and addresses what she titles “faith-laws” such as:

• Don’t doubt.
• Don’t be angry
• Never ask questions.
• Grieve in secret.

Who Actually Has Time to Homeschool for 6 Hrs/Day?

Most adults today have grown up with the public education model as their foundation of what schooling is supposed to look like. So it shouldn’t come as a shock to anyone when people scoff at the idea of homeschooling with the reasoning that they would never  have time to homeschool for 6-7 hrs/day.

Well, guess what? Neither do I.

In fact, most homeschooling parents are far too busy with life than to spend that large chunk of time teaching their kids everyday.

So how much time does homeschooling take? 

Looking for Advice on How to Organize Your Homeschool?

I just wanted to give everybody a heads-up on two events you just might be interested in. 

Do you struggle with keeping your homeschool organized? Do you have papers strewn everywhere, dozens of missing pencils, and a table that you can no longer see the top of? I’m going to admit that those things happen to me quite a bit. Thankfully, I’ve come up with a simple way of keeping our homeschool situated and presentable. 

3 Reasons I Don’t Send My Kids to School to Be Salt and Light

As a Christian homeschooling mom, one query I often get is why I do not allow my children to go to school as their mission field. Their reasoning is typically that the children in public schools may never have been introduced to the love of Christ, and my children just might be the ones to do that.

I’ll admit that this certainly seems like a pretty sound reason to consider sending my kids to school, and there are many who do so, but these three reasons have kept me convinced that keeping them home is the best thing for our family. 

Growing Up Around the World: Homeschooling 10 in Eastern Pennsylvania

I am so excited today to be a part of Simple Homeschool‘s worldwide homeschooling linkup, Growing Up Around the World. If you’re not familiar with this blog, Jamie Martin and fellow blogger Sarah Mackenzie have been hosting a summer book club encouraging parents to read books with their children that take place all over the globe. Each Friday, Jamie has been posting interviews with homeschooling families from all over the world, and now it’s our turn! 

Taste and See- 125 Daily Meditations, by John Piper

Sometimes the hustle and bustle of this world can get the best of us and cause us to start losing focus.  Quite honestly, it happens to me all the time. I’m telling you, it is hard to carve out some quiet, uninterrupted time with God when you’ve got countless little ones underfoot who don’t understand the importance of giving Mom some alone time. What starts out as days can quickly turn into weeks, and then even months. And before you know it you realize that your faith journey has reached a plateau because you’ve unintentionally neglected your relationship with the Creator of the universe.