Be Bold in 2010

I have never been one to make New Year's Resolutions.  I've always felt that if you need to improve something or change something about yourself, you should start working on it right away, rather than waiting for Monday, or New Years, or some certain day or date.  And as a wife and mom, I am usually way too busy around the Christmas season for self reflection.

This year has been different, however, and lately I have been reflecting on various ways I would like to change the way I live this life I have been given.  This is post is the first in what I plan will be a short series in the changes I will be making in 2010.

 According to the eternal purpose which He purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord: In whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of Him. Ephesians 3:11-12.

Are you bold?  Sometimes I am loud or demanding or bossy.  But I don't think I would consider myself bold.  I am challenging myself to Be Bold in 2010.  That's a rather easy thing to say, but how am I going to translate that into my everyday life?

I am going to be a better witness for my faith. I will talk about it more, blog about it more, and LIVE it more.  I will be lean on God for the courage to make unpopular choices when I am in a group and I will be bold in sharing the Gospel with those I know who need it.

I am going to be bold in my prayer life. I will pray with the confidence about which John wrote saying that if we ask anything according to God's will, He will hear us (1 John 5:14). 

What about you?  Are you ready to do something Bold in the new year?  Now, I am not suggesting you do anything illegal or immoral.  That's not what I mean by being Bold.  Maybe you have always wanted to worship the Lord in song, but you were too afraid that your voice wasn't "good enough".  Maybe you have neighbors or co-workers who need to hear the Gospel.  Maybe there are tough choices that you need to make to get (or keep) your family walking in God's will.  Will you join me as I work to Be Bold in 2010?

Closing Out 2009

Wow.  New Years Eve.  The end of 2009.  The end of the first decade of the 2000s.  So many changes this past year. 

My husband lost one job, left another (after 7 years), and stopped coaching basketball and baseball at our Christian school.  He picked up 2 new jobs, one of which is referee for high school volleyball, basketball, baseball, and softball.  Not only has it filled the void left by no longer coaching high school sports, but it has proven to be something that he really enjoys.

We decided to home school the children this year.  As we sat around the table talking on Christmas Eve, everyone agreed that this was the right decision.  Well, almost everyone.  Our 4 year old still isn't sold on the idea, but she is usually the contrary one! 

We became a one car family.  Who would have thought that going from two cars to one would cause more disruptions than the decision to home school our children.  However, after a few confusing weeks I am happy to say that we really don't even miss that other vehicle.  And the savings in gas and insurance are a wonderful thing!

Of course, this year also had its share of the usual changes.  With our friends and families we shared engagements and weddings, celebrated the birth of babies and mourned the loss of loved ones.  There were tears and laughter and laughter through tears.  We all got a little older and hopefully a little wiser over the last 12 months.

This was a very exciting year for our family and I can't wait to see what 2010 brings for us.  I pray that it brings happiness and safety for all our friends and family!

It's Camp Scholarship Time Again

Every year, our church has a program for juniors and teens that allows them to earn more than 75% of their registrations fees for Christian summer camp.  While the campers (and their parents) are encouraged to use the money during the week our kids go to camp as a group, exceptions have been made in the past for Christian sports camps and Christian music camps.

With a teen and a junior camper in our family it should go without saying that this program has been a blessing for us.  Last year, our daughter earned $165 toward her fees for the Wilds (in NC) and our son earned $155 toward his fees for CoBeAc (in MI).  What a blessing.

Let me tell you a little about how our program works.  Each year around this time, every junior or teen who is interested in camp gets a Camp Scholarship Book.  The book includes various activities that the camper can do to earn points.  For every 1000 points, the camper earns $1 toward camp.  The activities include church attendance, bible verse memorization, writing activities, bible reading, list memorization, and service activities.

Each year when my kids get their books, I sit down and look over the contents.  Then, I let each child know what the minimum expectation is for each category.  While the expectation is a little less for my son, who is three years younger, both kids are encouraged to complete enough to earn the maximum award.  Here is a sample of what my kids will be doing to earn (most of) their way to camp this year:

Church Attendance:  We start out the year with the expectation that our children will have perfect attendance for Sunday school, Sunday morning worship, Sunday evening worship, and Wednesday night activities.  As a family we are faithful in this regard, however, the times that our children have not had perfect attendance have been outside their control - illness, family obligation out of town, etc.

Bible Reading:  Each of our children will read the complete King James bible between now and June 6.  We sat down this weekend and made a reading schedule (with plenty of make-up days) to make this happen.  Because our children are homeschooled, we can incorporate this into their bible coursework for the second semester.

Memory work:  Each of our children will say the 28 preselected bible memory verses.  Our goal is always for the kids to say 2 a week, which is they always turn into a competition.  They will also recite a number of lists from the bible.

Writing Projects:  Each of our children will write 14 Life Applications, which are 1 to 2 paragraph papers which allow them to tell how to apply a different bible verse to their lives.  They will each write a number of chapter reports summarizing preselected chapters of from books of the Bible.  They will also each write a number of book reports from the approved book list.  As with Bible reading, we can incorporate these writing projects into our daily school work.

Service Projects:  I love, love, love this aspect of the camp scholarship program.  Each of our children will earn money for camp serving our family and others.  Activities include shoveling snow, doing laundry, planning a family devotional night, planning a family game night, cleaning projects, baking (for us and for others), enjoying a hobby and/or a game with a senior citizen, and so many more activities.  Also, my daughter will earn points for singing in the choir, serving regularly in another church ministry (most likely the nursery), cleaning around church, and preparing a package and correspondance for some of our missionaries.

Obviously, the financial aspect of the Camp Scholarship program is fantastic.  But more than that, I love that it rewards our children for developing habits that should last throughout their lives.  Even when it is not Camp Scholarship time, our children are growing in service, Bible reading, and personal devotionals.  I love watching them as they develop in their spiritual maturity!  Maybe I will even keep track of how they are progressing through their scholarship work right here on my blog!

Decisions, Decisions

Once we decided to home school our children, I (naively) thought we were done with the hard choices.  HA!  It turns out that how to educate our children may just have been the easiest decision of them all.  As I began to read books and websites about home schooling I learned that there was a lot I had to learn.  And since we finalized our decision to home school in July and wanted to start the school year right after Labor Day (when our children would have started a public or private school year) I had a very short time to get myself educated.

Our first decision was the format of our home school.  As I poured through advice from friends and advisors, it appeared to me that there were three main formats to chose from - with an infinite number of variations in between.  Our format choices, as it appeared to us, were Unschooling, Unit Study, and School at Home.  Based on our personalities and the personalities of our children, we decided that School at Home was definitely the format that would work best for our home school.  Unschooling was just too far outside our comfort zone and I am way too flighty to think that I could continue to keep my children reigned in doing unt studies.

Once that decision was made, an even tougher one loomed.  Which curriculum, if any, would we use.  When our children were in public school, they used a number of secular texts.  In Christian school, they used Abeka.  In both of those settings, we were removed from the decision.  Our children used the curriculum that was chosed by the school.  Period.  Now, however, we were in control.  Would we develop our own curriculum, pulling from various texts and sources?  Would we use a prepared curriculum especially for homeschoolers?  We opted for a curriculum that was already prepared.  In part, this was the best decision for us because of the time factor.  However, I believe we would have gone this route regardless because it just made the most sense for us.

Of course, every decision lead to more choices.  While prepared curriculum would we choose?  We knew that we wanted to go with a Christian-based curriculum, however there are several good ones from which to choose.  We looked through Abeka, Bob Jones, and Alpha Omega.  Each curriculum had its strong and weak points.  In the end, we decided to go with Alpha Omega.  We use a combination of the Life Pak and Switched On School House courses. 

So there you have it, a glimpse into the format and curriculum used in our family home school.  Of course, so much more went into the planning - from daily schedules to lesson planning - but I think those are topics best left for another post!

What, me homeschool?

I have officially been a home schooling mom for a mere 5 months now. However, home schooling has been on my radar screen since before I was even a parent.

Before we had kids, I can remember my husband insisting that we were going to home school our children. Neither my husband nor I was home schooled - we are both the products of the public education system. However, we both agreed that the public schools were lacking where we were living at the time and that our future children would not receive the type of education we desired for them in that setting. Private school was out of the question at that time - both logistically and financially. And yet, I still viewed home schooling as more of a curiosity than as something that was in my future.

Fast forward a few years, my husband and I have moved to a new location with an academically fantastic public school system. We have two children in that public school system and an infant at home. Long gone are the days when my husband insists that his children will be home schooled. We have several friends who home school their children, and others who have children in private, Christian schools. While we are more than satisfied with the academics our children are receiving in public school, there are problems. So many things are taught or pushed in this school that don't conform with our Christian world view. We need another solution.

For two years our older children are educated in a Christian school. Not only are we happy with the educational aspect of this arrangement, but with the spiritual side as well. Of course, an excellent Christian education (or even a sub-par one) does not come without a price. That tuition check each month, while a fixed amount, seems larger and larger. Our income, like so many other families we know, seems to be getting smaller and smaller.

In July 2009 we came full circle. After prayer, number crunching, belt tightening, discussion, prayer, seeking wise counsel, prayer, more discussion, and even more prayer we made the decision to home school our children.

Was I scared? Sure. What would we tell our parents and what would they think? While my husband and I have 4 college degrees between the two of us, would we be able to adequately educate our children? Would we be disciplined enough to run an orderly home school?

I was also excited. We now had the opportunity to expand the education of our children as we wanted. They would no longer be restricted to working at the pace of their classmates. We could add more foreign language and more critical thinking exercises.

I'm happy to be on this journey with my children and I am looking forward to sharing the wonderful highs and the (hopefully few) lows right here.