Homeschooling | Page 11 of 13

Hang a Bird Feeder

December 20th, 2020
Mollie T. Cox

My oldest son’s first clear word was dog. A family pet rushed into the living room where we were visiting Christmas Day. “Dog,” he blurted.

Bird followed. My toddler kept vigil over the birds eating the seed outside our kitchen window. “Bir” he said over and over. “Bird” corrected his visiting grandmother.

We moved, and moved, and moved again. Bird feeders were forgotten for twenty-two years.

Twelve inches of snow followed by nineteen inches of snow caused my husband and I to hang bird feeders on our deck. We watched cardinals, blue jays, doves, woodpeckers, chickadees and more. We photographed them. We researched them. As the snow lingered, and word spread, the quantity and varieties on our deck increased.

This red-bellied woodpecker visits frequently.

My joy was mixed with sadness. My sons were in college. They were missing adventures and learning experiences that could not be regained. If only I could go back twenty years and re-hang a winter bird feeder.

Does something need to be reinstated in your home?

Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds!
Luke 12:24 (ESV)

Christmas, Homeschooling

Christmas Break: Is Yours Long Enough?

November 22nd, 2020
Mollie T. Cox

Until high school requirements and online classes prevented a month of Christmas, we didn’t have formal learning from Thanksgiving to January 2^nd. However, our activities covered language arts, social studies, thinking skills, and art.

We made cookies. We watched and discussed movies. We made presents—decorated t-shirts and calendars and sun catchers and wooden baskets. We sang, sang, sang—Christmas carols from beautifully illustrated books. Our favorite for the early years was Tomie dePaola’s Book of Christmas Carols

We read, read, read. Holly, Reindeer, and Colored Lights: The Story of the Christmas Symbols by Edna Barth explained cultural customs. The Lion in the Box by Marguerite De Angeli taught city life in the early 1900s.

Between Thanksgiving and Advent, we read classics such as The Night before Christmas and Polar Express. We treated the stories like other fiction. After those few days, we focused on the true meaning of Christmas without leaving the boys culturally illiterate or deprived of fun stories.

A needed break.

How much break time do you need?

Homeschooling

Tell Wisely

October 18th, 2020
Mollie T. Cox

“I gave your lesson time to someone who needed it,” the boys’ music teacher told me. “You can come any time.”

“What?” I was shocked.

Homeschoolers like flexibility. I wish I had known that the more I told others we homeschooled, the more my flexibility was transferred from me to them.

Our original lessons were right after my sons’ afternoon phys ed class. Even better, the phys ed class was one third of the way to the music lessons. All went smoothly until the music teacher decided that because we were homeschoolers and therefore “flexible,” we would come Tuesday mornings when her other students were “in school.” This gave her flexibility.

We did our best to accommodate by listening to Spanish lessons or books on tape while I drove, but our school day was interrupted the remainder of the year. I could not reverse her decision, but I could be more savvy.

Not out of fear—but out of respect for my schedule—I became more circumspect about telling others we homeschooled. I wish I had known to do that sooner.

What are you reclaiming these days?

Homeschooling, Parenting

No one Is to Blame

October 11th, 2020
Mollie T. Cox

We are sinners and live in a fallen world. However, I found it easy to forget that and blame myself or my children or even my husband for learning problems or lack of progress in my children.

The children were lazy. I bought the wrong curriculum. The homeschooling co-op was not a good match. My husband wasn’t helping. We needed to spend more time and money.

However, the only sin was assigning blame. Some, if not many, parenting or homeschooling struggles are because of living in a broken world.

I once listened to a powerful sermon on John 9.

Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”
John 9:2 (ESV)

The premise of that culture was blindness was because of sin. We get what we deserve.

We parents also buy into that un-biblical notion. We may do our best and our children may do their best, and we don’t get the results that we think we deserve. Our abilities and theirs are limited.

“Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him.
John 9:3 (ESV)

What problems are you wrongly attributing?

Homeschooling

Mistakes Were My Tuition

September 20th, 2020
Mollie T. Cox

I carefully budgeted for my sons’ education: textbooks, supplies, online and local classes. I thought the cost of my teacher education was research—innumerable hours attending conferences, talking with veteran home-educators, collecting teaching resources, and reading books now considered homeschool classics.

Along the way, someone said, “Mistakes are the real tuition paid by a homeschool teacher.” (Sorry I don’t remember your name, Someone.) What a relief that observation was to me. Tuition doesn’t judge.

The bad news? Tuition is expensive. I made expensive mistakes. Tuition is not refunded if you keep the class. My homeschool mistakes were not erased. What did I do? Like any class, I accepted the bill.

The good news? Tuition didn’t reflect my intelligence or worth as a parent-teacher. I could reduce tuition. I sold expensive curriculum mistakes. As a bonus, guilt left with the item. Someone else’s curriculum mistakes met my needs. I reduced their tuition.

More importantly, I became vulnerable and shared my failures along with my successes. I asked my peers about their failures. Together, we reduced our future tuition.

What is your tuition for this season of life?