I’ve had some requests for teaching ideas for the Winter Olympics. I wrote down a lot of the resources we’re using in my family and also some of the things we’re doing as part of our studies over the next two weeks. (For those of you who have asked about where to watch online, where to read history of the games or events, etc., all this is included in the information I’ve listed!)

There are SOOO many fun things you can do when you integrate “real life” with homeschooling. Take the opportunity to STUDY what’s going on around you - or in the world. For example, if the Olympics are happening, then study the Olympics. If it’s a heavy hurricane season, investigate hurricanes, chart their courses, and learn about weather patterns… Anyway, hopefully the links and suggestions in this article will give you some ideas - at least for having fun with your children during the Olympics!

(I won’t post this particular article here because it’s too long. You can find the ideas at my website here.)

In His Service,
Sonya Haskins, author of Homeschooling for the Rest of Us (available through your local Christian retailer!)

We LOVE books and we’re very particular about what our children read. One thing I haven’t shared quite as much is the fact that when we read a book, we don’t only read the BOOK, but we encourage the children to read the “about the author,” “acknowledgements,” etc. It’s just a form of respect for the person who gave us the book. Oftentimes, we’ll find out many interesting facts about the authors. Many times we’ll even learn that they’re believers.

Before we hand books over to the children, though, I research about the authors myself. When I’m sure that the author would have appropriate material, then I share the information with Chris (who reads aloud to them) and the children. (Or, if it’s something they’re going to read by themselves, I usually have Sarah read the books first. She’s a great filter because she has very strict standards about the material in the books she reads.) Anyway, researching the author is a great way to learn the CONTEXT of what you’re reading. When you know a little bit about the author and the time period the book was written, it truly helps you understand the book better. The other advantage to this is that if the author seems not appropriate, I’ll tell Chris not to read the book out loud or, obviously, not pass it along to the children to read themselves.

I know homeschool parents who read every single book before their children are allowed to read the books. I think this is a fabulous and honorable idea, but I just do not have time to do this. My children read about four hours per day and there is no way I could keep up with their voracious reading habits. This is the compromise we’ve come up with. I don’t need to read every single piece of material if I know about the authors they are reading. It works for us and thus far we’ve had very few bad books filter through. If they do, then Sarah catches them or Chris will catch it as he reads aloud and we get rid of the book.

If any of you are interested in monitoring the books through the authors, I recommend that you read the “about the author” on the book (which can tell you a LOT), the acknowledgements (do they mention God, a publishing goddess, girlfriend/boyfriend, spouse, children etc.??), look up an obituary on the Internet (gives you lots of good information about when they lived, what else they did in their life, etc.), read a review of that particular book online, find a biography about the author (I do this a lot and I can tell you it’s a lot faster than reading all their books), Google the author’s name, etc. There are many ways you can find information about the authors of the books your children read. I just think it’s important that parents take this step. We learned long ago that people’s recommendations aren’t always appropriate for us. (This is why, when I recommend books, I always try to mention things that I even think parents might find objectionable, such as a bad word here and there or the mention of magic.)

I hope some of you who don’t do it already will take the time to do this. Not only is it a wonderful habit to filter out much of the bad material, but it’s a great way to learn about the authors you read and help your child discover how much more enjoyable a book is when you understand the context in which the book was written and also more about the person behind the words.

Enjoy your reading!
Sonya Haskins

author of Homeschooling for the Rest of Us (Bethany House, 2010), available through your local Christian bookstore

As I talk with homeschoolers, there is this overwhelming feeling from parents (moms AND dads) that the homeschooled child just isn’t learning enough. Now if the child truly has deficits, of course we should work to repair those. If the child is slow in particular areas, it is wise to make attempts to pull the child up to the level where he or she should be. However, I just want to encourage all of you that God has HIS OWN PLAN for your child. HIS plan may lead your child to a future in the military or on the missions field. HIS plan might be a career for your child. HIS plan may be for your daughter to become a stay-at-home mom one day. HIS plan may be something not quite so grand as any of these things. I certainly do not know what God’s plan is for your child, but I can assure you of one thing. God’s plan IS that your child draw closer to HIM and, in general, this is something that is best accomplished through the homeschool setting.

As you go about your day… As you LIVE life… As you train your child… In other words, as you HOMESCHOOL.. . I encourage you to remember that we are not told to make all the decisions for our children. We are not told to shield them from pain, disappointment or accountability. We’re not told to pick a career for him or her. We’re not EVEN told to make sure they can multiply, divide, understand Shakespeare, or find Asia on a map! We are told to TRAIN OUR CHILDREN IN THE WAY THEY SHOULD GO. Intelligence is not wisdom. Education can be a lot of things, but today most people have been taught to understand education as the ability to answer true / false, multiple choice, or matching questions in a workbook or on a test. This may show that the student has mastered test-taking skills (reasonable deduction to find the answer), but TRUE knowledge of something means that someone UNDERSTANDS it to the point that they have the ability to discuss it, describe it, or otherwise share the information with someone else as if they themselves had been transformed into the “teacher.”

I know that many of you sometimes believe that you’re doing a poor job, but the fact is that you are providing your children with the best education possible, even if it doesn’t always seem so.

Sonya Haskins : )