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You already know I finally enjoy homeschooling, and a large reason is that we’ve settled into our curriculum choices with confidence. I’m not even going to CHAP this year because I don’t want to be swayed by all the wonderful choices! It feels simply wonderful to keep moving forward without second guessing myself. If you’ve chosen your curriculum, fantastic! If you’re looking for some ideas for what to use with your babes, perhaps you’ll like some of what we’re using. Take a peek:

Spelling Workout

Easy, cheap, and effective. It’s $10 a book, two pages a day (no prep), and using it has massively improved my 7-Year old’s (who starts second-grade in the fall) reading and spelling. We’ve nearly completed two books and will continue on with the third this month (and continue through the summer). I will start Caed (my almost first-grader) on it after he completes 100 Easy Lessons (see below).

Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons

I have to admit, I did not like this reading program when I used it with Ella, and the feeling was mutual with her! We made it to lesson 84 and threw in the towel (it wasn’t sticking, and she was miserable). But Caed? He likes it, and sometimes he even does two lessons in a day. Go figure! Whatever works, right?

First Language Lessons, Level 1 and Level 2 

I like the simple lessons, the copywork, the narration, the poetry, and the ease in which the building blocks of grammar are taught. It works really well with Ella, who has a brilliant memory and enjoys memory work. I’m going to give it a go with Caed in the fall (when he’ll be in first-grade) and hopefully it will work for him as well (although I’ll go much slower with the memory work – too much of it frustrates him).

Writing with Ease Level 1 and Writing with Ease Level 2

This curriculum dovetails nicely with Language Lessons, and I just really like it. It uses classic children’s literature passages for the narration and copywork, and it’s a simple yet thorough program to follow. Again, Ella thrives with this type of work, but it will all be an experiment with Caed.

Math-U-See

I’ve used Math-U-See with Ella for two years now and will be continuing on with Beta in the fall. Caed is working through the Primer (he loves it) and will begin Alpha in the fall.

Story of the World, Volume 1: Ancient Times

My babes listen to this at night before bed, and on long car rides (I’m secretly tucking history into their brains). All three of them enjoy it, and how can you not with Jim Weiss as the narrator?!

Speaking of Jim Weiss, his Shakespeare for Children is superb!

Ambleside Online (Charlotte Mason inspired)

I love Ambleside Online and am so grateful for their articles, resources, and recommendations. We use their book lists and follow their weekly reading recommendations.

As for science, I recently decided to forgo an official curriculum and follow suit with what my friend Laura has to say about it.

For other subjects and interests, we use the library.

And last but not least, we love Lamplighter Theatre (Sir Malcolm and the Missing Prince is our favorite). Excellent, excellent, excellent character building stories!

Okay friends, your turn! What are some of your favorite resources for homeschooling?

Love, SM

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Today is a guest post from my friend, Christin. She is such a gift to me and I think you will really enjoy her words today. Also, make sure to check out her new, super encouraging and practical eBook, Blog at Home Mom – Balancing Blogging and Motherhood.

As a mother, motherhood can look pretty messy from my point of view. No matter how hard I try to organize my home, my schedule, or my life to make things as smooth as possible, it is never lived out the way I picture it.

But, something that I am slowly beginning to learn, is that motherhood is not meant to fit into the box of neat and tidy. It’s just not. And when we try to stuff it in there, and it doesn’t fit, we grow increasingly frustrated. We believe that there is either something wrong with us, or with our children, because we don’t fit the mold we’ve invented.

When I became a mother, I hung up the idea of writing. It was kind of a subconscience thing. I believed that once I became a mother, everything I did needed to be filtered through that identity, and if it didn’t line up with motherhood, it had to go.

We often believe that because our lives are filled with mothering duties, that our identity is found in only that place. That is simply not true. Our identity is made up of a thousand little pieces that mold us into the character of Christ. Motherhood isn’t the only piece. But it is a beautiful piece–many beautiful pieces.

There are other pieces, too, that make up the greater picture of a life lived for Christ. As mothers, we don’t want to exclude everything from our lives that don’t include our children. Once our children leave the nest, not only will our home be empty, but our hearts will feel empty as well. We won’t know what to do or who we are without our children.

Using the gifts God has given us throughout our years of mothering allow our children to see God’s glory in action through us in various ways.

Your identity is in Christ. His plan for your life is made up of a myriad of moments that make up the whole. When we have children, we bring them along on the journey Christ placed before us. It doesn’t change once we have children, we simply gain companions that we have the privilege of mentoring, leading, discipling, and loving. We then get to show them how to follow in the footsteps of Jesus by fulfilling His will for our lives.

Sure, there are seasons. There are seasons for more of one piece and less of another. The myth of the balancing act is that we believe everything needs to be given the same amount of time, and attention and that’s the mold that keeps leaving us feeling hopeless.

It’s more like a dance, and you follow the rhythms of the seasons of life. We cannot control life events or our children’s free will (i.e. tantrums or rebellion). But we can take what we’re given, and allow God to use it to make life beautiful.

As a writer who wanted to help women understand they could blog and mother, I wrote an eBook addressing the practicality of “balance” between the two. It’s called Blog at Home Mom, and you can check it out here. It’s not about the act of blogging (or writing), it’s about how God chooses to use it.

What gift has God given you that you think God may be nudging you to use?

…

Christin has a heart to encourage and equip women in aspects of discipleship, marriage, mothering, writing, blogging, and community. She sees the body of Christ as an important community of encouragement and discipleship and works to foster that around the web. Her biggest ministry is to her family and she knows how beautiful, hard, overwhelming, and exhausting mothering can be. Her passion is to encourage mothers who need a challenge or a lift (or both). She has been married 12 years and has 5 children ranging in age from 10 down to 2.

You can find her encouraging moms at her blog Joyful Mothering, helping women in blogging at ChristinSlade.com, managing the Allume blog, and chatting it up on Twitter as @ChristinWrites.

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Today is the last day of the book club here; Sally will write about the last chapter on itakejoy.com on Thursday.

There are two things I want to address from the chapter and from some of the reviews on Amazon. First, an excerpt from Chapter 14, Desperate…Not Defeated:

“If you go through this season of desperation alone and without help – though I pray that does not happen – then I want you to write down what you’re experiencing and how it affects you. Put in writing how you are going to be there for your children one day and the other young women God puts in your path and be the helper you never had. I want you to think of all the times you have said…

“I wish I just had someone to help me with _______.”

“Why don’t any of the older women ever volunteer in the nursery?”

“I’ve been praying for a mentor, but so far, no one has shown up.”

“It seems like the older women don’t want to invest in the younger women; where are they?”

“I have no money so I can’t go anywhere when I need to get away. I could really just use a night away alone.”

“I’m drowning in laundry! I wish I had some help!”

You have probably thought many of those things, and more. You recognize that you need help, you need time, and you need refreshment. I want you to commit right now that, Lord willing, you will be that person fo a few younger women one day.”

And there it is, the heart of Desperate – reaching out and helping/being friends with another woman so that we can persevere as mothers.

No one should have to do motherhood alone. Which brings me to a comment on a couple of the Amazon reviews:

“Most of their ways to “breathe” are only possible if you can afford to hire help.”

I cringed when I read that comment, for two reasons. One, that is not at all what Sally and I were communicating, and the fact that a couple people felt that was what we were saying, well, it’s painful, and sad and wow, do I need to communicate better?. The second thing is, it’s just not true. The whole of the book is to encourage mothers that they are not crazy for how they’re feeling, and that they are not alone in their thoughts and feelings of desperation, and that they shouldn’t have to do motherhood alone – not by way of “hiring help” but by way of friendship and mentors! We mention that if you can you could consider hiring some help around the house, that there is nothing wrong with that if you’re able, but it was just a suggestion. I understand that many women cannot afford any help, but I also know there is so much guilt around the idea that if you hire someone to help you clean here and there you are somehow a failure or less than. I say boo to that! Also, I know what it’s like to not have the money to have some help; heck, I remember not having enough money to buy groceries some weeks! So for those commenters to assume that out of our whole book we are saying the only way to breathe is to hire help, well, I’m just honestly at a loss, but even more so I want to say: I’m so sorry you felt that’s what we were saying. We do not believe that to breathe you need to hire help, we believe that you need help, and we hope you find it in friendship and mentors, and ultimately in the One who loves you and guides and is there for you in every desperate moment.

In fact, here’s a little resolution I wrote up to encourage you in overcoming the desperate feelings that motherhood can bring on, and none of them have to do with hiring help (these are the concepts in the book):

The No-More-Desperate-Moms Resolution

(Get a pretty PDF version of this resolution to print by clicking here)

If I am a mom of little ones…

I will choose to celebrate each day with my children as gifts from God.

I will remember that I am not alone in my feelings of inadequacy.

I will remember to accept my limitations with grace.

I will remember that one day, this season of little ones will be over.

I will commit to making my relationship with my spouse (if applicable) a priority, knowing we are partners in the raising of the eternal souls in our care.

I will pursue friendships with other moms.

I will not feel guilty for taking time for myself to refresh my soul.

I will fill myself with good things in order to keep growing as a person.

I will talk to my children about the importance of serving others.

I will not compare myself with other moms, but instead be the mom God made me to be.

I will remember the hard years of raising little ones so that one day I will help a mother of little ones. I will do for another mom what I wish someone would have done for me.

I will remember to look my babies in the eye, nibble their toes, nuzzle in their necks, dance with them, giggle with them, and remember in whose image they were created.

If I am past the little years and my children are grown…

I will commit to teaching a young mom how to walk with God and read His word every day.

I will “adopt” a young mom who doesn’t have a mom, and I will mentor her and love her.

I will commit to take a mom of little ones a meal from time to time.

I will commit to offer to watch a mom’s little ones once a month.

I will commit to doing an act of service for a mom with little ones once a month (laundry, dishes, general cleaning).

I will encourage my older daughters to serve young moms.

I will remember to tell women to accept their limitations with grace.

I will remember that I am raising generations by helping and loving moms so they can persevere in the noble call of motherhood.

I will do for a young mother what I wish someone would have done for me.

And there it is, the conclusion of the book club here at SarahMae.com. Please head over to itakejoy.com on Thursday to read the final book club post.

Thank you so much for sticking with this study, and I pray that you would find help and encouragement and resolve to overcome and be the mama I know you are. So much love to you.

SM

You can get your copy of Desperate at Amazon, B & N, CBD, or DaySpring.

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