Joy Story: Homeschooling changes lives forever!

Thank you all for your patience and prayers as we went through the process of dual enrollment in our local community college.

I’m thrilled to report that my daughter, Katya, was accepted into the program. After a long four hour testing period, she exhibited mastery of all subjects. It means big changes in our homeschooling routine for next year and I feel the pressure lifted from my shoulders.

And by that I mean literal pressure – and pinching. I hold all my stress in my shoulders and suffer from pinched nerves that prevent me from turning my head sometimes.

Homeschooling teenagers is not all fun and games. Surprised? They can be as stubborn and set in their ways as adults – training for old age I guess. Anyway, I went for a celebratory massage the next day!

At the same time, I regret to say that my nephew, Justin, wasn’t accepted into the program. This is difficult for all of us, but he exhibited courage and grace well beyond his seventeen years. Now, he and his mom are trying to determine the right path for him to follow for next year.

Despite this setback, I also got some good news today after his mom called the college’s program director. He told her Justin was only four points away from mastering the English requirement. Four points! We could hardly believe it because all his life Justin was labeled learning disabled in reading skills.

In fact, when he came to me from public school a year and a half ago in 9th grade, he only read at the 5th grade level. This last national testing revealed that he was up to a 10th grade level. The Accuplacer test shows that he has the potential to work at the college level.

This is not to toot my own horn, but goes to show what daily one-on-one help and encouragement can do for a kid beaten down by a system that wrote him off as “unable.”

It’s great that Katya got in, but for me and even bigger payoff is knowing Justin’s life is changed forever. He’s not the speechless, broken kid he once was, but has a new confidence for the road ahead.

All glory goes to God for that. Can I get an Amen?

Now you: What’s been your biggest homeschooling joy story this year?

Our Valentine Tradition

When I was a teenager – probably around fifteen years old – my dad surprised me one Valentine’s Day with a box of chocolates.

I will never forget it. He shyly handed me a heart shaped box covered with yellow ribbons and roses. It was one of the most beautiful things I’d ever seen. A variety of small chocolates filled the inside. At the time, they seemed exotic; I’d never received a gift like this before.

Photo courtesy: Hans Lindqvist, http://bit.ly/17hA1fR

Most importantly, it was from my dad. Even though I thanked him profusely, I never could express how much it meant to me.

I took my time eating the chocolates, only allowing myself one a day until they were gone. But I kept the box well into my twenties. Dad died when I was twenty-one and though I reluctantly let go of the faded box years later, the sentiment stayed with me.

It still does and I carried on the tradition of the heart shaped box with my own children.

Last year I shopped a little late and the only boxes left had nasty chocolates inside. I whined to my husband about it and he said, “Don’t worry, they don’t care about that stuff anyway (ouch!). We’ll just give them a card with twenty bucks and call it a day.”

So we did and I was feeling okay about it until my daughter said, “Hey! Where’s my heart?” I threw my husband under the bus. “Daddy said you were too old for that.”

They were disappointed but my heart was filled with joy.

As soon as I saw the hearts on the shelves this year, I snatched some up and stuck them in the trunk of my car. My kids are reminding me daily not to forget again, and they won’t have to worry. I’ll be giving them chocolate hearts even when they’re married with families of their own.

Your turn: Do you celebrate this holiday? In what way do you make it special in your home?

And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous – to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. Luke 1:17

Life Skills: Helping your kids learn responsibility

This post is inspired by a blog post I read on A Homeschool Mom. She wrote about raising motivated learners and suggests that when we allow children to participate in the chores and duties of our home, we’re teaching them important life skills.

I wholeheartedly agree!

She then asked readers to comment about tasks we’d turned over to our children and that got me thinking . . .

One year when my eldest daughter, Dania, turned ten, I decided one of the gifts I wanted to give her was responsibility. I wrapped “the gift” in an actual box – the words “Congratulations on turning ten! Now you get to take on the responsibility of doing the dishes.”

                    She thought I was joking.

Mind you, I didn’t just hand the task over to her to do as she pleased. I spent time training her on how to properly load and unload the dishwasher. I made it easier by making sure she could sort silverware into multi-compartment storage trays.

 

Then I taught her where to put all the dishes and pots and pans. And when she got it wrong or chose to be sloppy or lazy, I trudged to wherever she was and made her redo it. Eventually she understood that if she didn’t do it right the first time, she’d just have to do it again.

I’m not going to lie, it’s a painful process at first. I can unload the dishwasher in less than three minutes (I know because I try to race myself). But having to train other people can take five times as long (at least). I found that the hardest part for me is being patient while my child is learning a new task.

The funniest thing is that when I gave Dania this gift, her younger sister, Katya, got jealous and decided that she too would have the same responsibility. To that I said, “The more the merrier!”

Here’s a tip: Give your child the job you hate doing the most – it motivates you to hand off jobs every year!

My girls are now 17 and 18-years-old. Dania started working in a restaurant a couple of years ago and outshone the other kitchen workers. In fact, since she’s been there, the sanitation score has gone up and she’s been promoted – twice. I take satisfaction knowing that her early training helped her get and keep a job when others were laid off for the winter.

Your turn to share: What’s your least favorite household chore?