Making My School Unique: Blog Hop and Giveaway

Congratulations to the Caywoods!  They won a 1-year subscription to Home Educating Family magazine! Thanks for commenting and joining this month's Blog Hop. Remember, you can read all the ways the Home Educating Family bloggers make their school unique by visiting the blog hop here:

This week's topic: Making My School Unique. Which of course, because I am my father's daughter, leads me to this gem of a joke:

How do you catch a Unique Homeschooler?
You 'neak up on him!

(Cue laughter. From at least one of you.)

Enough comedy. Or enough semi-comedy. Or enough "trying-to-be-funny-but-not-really" comedy.

How do I make my homeschool unique? Easy. I look at these faces. . . . . . .

and remember wise words a friend told me when I first started homeschooling.

God has uniquely gifted me with these children, these specific children, with all their hopes and dreams and gifts and challenges. More than that, He has equipped me to be the best mother for them.  And when it comes to homeschooling? I'm the expert. This doesn't mean I teach them everything, nor does it mean I never ask for help when needed. But this does mean that no one, absolutely no one, knows my children better.

And even more importantly? I have access to a loving heavenly Father who can grant insight and wisdom into their lives, and enables me to pray specifically for them and for strategies to meet their unique needs.

Sounds great. But what does it look like in real life?

• When one of the crowd reads at 7 instead of 5, I don't compare them to the others. We work on rhyming, I read aloud to this one, and take the pressure off. One day, this child starts reading up a storm. And hasn't stopped since!

• When our son became involved and found his passion in Boy Scouts, not football (that's an Alabama reference for those of you who live where football is NOT an idol), we supported him and tweaked his high school plan to take advantage of those opportunities. P.E. credit for canoeing and backpacking? Works for him!

• When our eldest needed another year to be ready for college, we allowed her to intern in a children's ministry program at church. She gained valuable outside-the-home-experience, and the extra year for our late-birthday girl gave her the time she needed to have a successful college launch.

• One of ours loves to talk about math. So we talk! And talk and talk and talk - and she has terrific scores on her math work.

Get the picture? If I spent my days comparing my kids to other kids, or my family to other families, I'd be sunk. I've already written about the dangers of comparison, but one danger I didn't mention? Missing out on the unique qualities of your family.

Enjoy the unique way that God has created your family! Celebrate it and use it for His glory!

Ready for a giveaway? This week, the folks at Home Educating Family are providing a fabulous wall calendar for one reader of my blog! It's got huge writing space for a uniquely busy family - like mine!

Want one? Leave a comment, and you're automatically entered! Tell us how you make your school unique, tell us your favorite terrible joke, or just say, "I want that calendar!" I'll choose a winner next Thursday using random.org. (Note: make sure I have a way to reach you in your comment!)

I'm also supposed to say the following (read in monotone announcer's voice): Due to international sweepstakes laws, this giveaway is for US entrants only. This giveaway is not tied to any social media site. All prizes must be claimed within 8 weeks.

See you next week for "Outside the (Curriculum) Box!"

My Homeschool Story: Blog Hop and Giveaway!

This week, the First Homeschool Guinea Pig turns 20. And let me tell you. . . .  it's really throwing me for a loop.

Either that, or it's the drugs I'm on for my bronchitis.

Let's just stick with the first scenario, shall we?

I've spent some time this past week thinking about the past 20 years and all the changes we've been through.  And like I do every September, I've also started reflecting on not only my parenting journey, but our family's homeschooling journey and what got us started down this crazy road.  To that end, I'm joining a great team of writers from Home Educating Family and participating in my first ever "Blog Hop"!  So stay tuned, enjoy my story, and read on to the end to join the Blog Hop and enter to win a fantastic giveaway!

How did we get from this . . . .

to this????

I'm from a family of public school teachers, trained to be a teacher, and married a teacher.  When our oldest was was born, I was teaching music in an elementary school in Connecticut.  It never occurred to me that she wouldn't join the ranks of Kindergarteners some day.  But even as early as our first year of parenting, I can see the Lord's hand in preparing our hearts for our homeschool journey.

•  When Kathryn was a mere 7 weeks old, my husband and I began attending a Bible study at the home of a family who homeschooled their children, all teens.  Honestly, I didn't know what to make of these kids.  They were polite, interesting, spoke to us intelligently, and were a general pleasure to be around.  (At the time, I thought they were strange. Little did I know I'd be raising the same kind of teens in a very few years!)

•  As I taught school, I loved those little kindergarteners. They came in every year, bright-eyed and eager.  But as the year went on, I noticed a change. They got. . . . . hard. Jaded. I didn't like the changes I saw in those kids. And didn't want to see the same changes in my kids.

•  The most important factor, however, was that I recommitted myself to my faith, and my dear husband became a Christian. We desired more than anything else to teach our children the truths we held to be so important.

So when I first became a full-time stay-at-home mom, when Nathaniel was born (yes, the cute guy in the pictures above!), I prepared to send Kathryn to preschool. After all, she was 4, right? And she needed a break from me, right? With baby brother in tow, I dropped her off at the local Christian preschool 2 mornings a week.

Imagine my surprise when she came home, about 3 weeks later, saying, "Pow Pow! You're DEAD, Mommy!" and shooting me with her imaginary gun.  Um.  Really?

When I went in for her Parent Conference, the teacher explained that they had three goals.  First, to help the children recognize their letters.  Second, to help the children separate from their parents.  And third, to help the children follow directions from another adult.   

"OK," thinks a much younger version of myself, "She's already reading. She's fine with being away from me. And she follows directions.  What am I spending $90 a month on?"  With that, hubby and I decided to homeschool her.  JUST for preschool.  Then we'd see what happened. . . .

The rest, as they say, is history.

Somewhere in those early years, we found that homeschooling was a wonderful blessing to our family.  We loved learning together, being together for the "A-Ha!" moments, and getting to know each other.  We loved watching our kids develop close relationships with each other.  And we loved being able to spend intense time with them, mentoring them and teaching them about Jesus.

Our journey became about what we were heading TOWARD, not what we were running FROM.

Just had to add another picture of my kids.  Cuz they're awesome.  That's all.

So how about you?  What got YOU started on your homeschool journey?  Do tell! 

You've read through my ramblings. . .are you ready for a GIVEAWAY?  It's a good one, too!

Since we're celebrating "Not-Back-to-School", the good folks at Home Educating Family have provided a full year subscription to their terrific magazine!

All you have to do is leave a comment, and you're automatically entered!  (And trust me - it's KILLING me that I can't enter this one.  Boo.)  I'll choose a winner next Thursday using random.org.  And this spiffy magazine will be on its way to YOUR mailbox!  (Note:  make sure I have a way to reach you in your comment!)

I'm also supposed to say the following (read in monotone announcer's voice):
Due to international sweepstakes laws, this giveaway is for US entrants only. (Sorry to my Nigerian readers) This giveaway is not tied to any social media site.

And while you're at it, head on over to the Home Educating Blog Hop for more great posts on "My Homeschool Story".  See you next time, when I'll be blogging about "What Makes My Homeschool Unique"!