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Reaching Higher Homeschool Ezine, Issue #002 -- A plan for your homeschool year
January 30, 2007
Reaching Higher is a free, monthly homeschool ezine to encourage and equip homeschoolers, bringing you the best advice, articles, websites and encouragement we can to help you as you raise your young ones and build your family legacy!

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Issue #002 - January 2007

The Year Ahead

At the beginning of a new school year a good quote to remember is this:

“If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.”

Whether you are like Wendy and like to have detailed written plans and schedules, or whether you are like Shirley and keep your plan mostly in mental format, it is good to know where you are headed for the course of this year.

This is also a good time to ask the Lord to give you a vision or a goal for the year. In our time of seeking God’s will for the coming year, we each found a scripture in Proverbs that seemed to ‘speak’ to us, respectively.

For Wendy it was chapter 3 of Proverbs, but particularly verse 5-6:

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding,
In all your ways acknowledge Him
and He shall direct your paths.”

For Shirley it was Proverbs 4:7-9:

“Wisdom is the principal thing:
Therefore get wisdom.
And in all your getting, get understanding.
Exalt her and she will promote you;
She will bring you honour,
When you embrace her.
She will place on your head and ornament of grace;
A crown of glory, she will deliver to you.”



Choosing Extra Murals

1 Thessalonians 4:11 encourages you to “Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life…”

Many a homeschooling mom and her family has been robbed of a quiet and peaceful lifestyle because the children took on too many extra-mural activities.

However, there is no denying that sports, dancing, crafts and other such things can enrich our children’s education and develop their God-given talents.

Here are some quick tips for making sure that extra murals stay in check:

  • Make sure they fit your child’s interests or talents and you are not just doing the activity because everyone else is.

  • Say no to activities that do not suit your whole family’s extra mural plan.

  • Limit your children to a maximum of two activities per week. Considering that most homeschoolers have larger families such as ours this can still keep you pretty busy!

  • Don’t start too young – preschoolers are usually quite happy without extra-mural activities, so wait until they are older if you want a quiet life.




    • Record Keeping – Free Printables

    Last month we referred to you to a notebooking pages website.

    We have decided that notebooking and narration combined is a fun and effective way for our children to keep a record of their studies this year and we thought you might like to do it too!

    Recently South Africans (and others in the southern hemisphere) were treated to a display in the heavens as Comet McNaught appeared in our evening skies.

    Homeschooling eloops were buzzing with anecdotes of sightings and the real life learning that occurred in children because of this astronomical event. We found that our children wanted answers to their many questions and wanted to record this real life learning experience. Thus we created notebook pages for them for this purpose.

    You can download the free comet notebooking pages from our Free Printables page on our Footprints website.

    STOP PRESS! - We hope to bring you free printable notebooking pages in every issue of this ezine, from now on!




    Tips for Bad Attitudes

    Most South African homeschooling families began school again sometime during the past two weeks. Many parents have mentioned that they have had to spend a lot of time dealing with bad attitudes in their children. Some quick tips:

  • Check your own behavior – our children are great mirrors of ourselves.

  • Ensure that you are consistently training your children in good habits like attentiveness, obedience, gentleness, perfect execution…and remember, you can only teach what you have mastered.

  • Make sure you are not expecting more of your children than what is appropriate for their age and ability

  • Ensure that you are giving your children good food, exercise and lots of free time to enjoy imaginary games or other self directed interests.
  • Nip bad attitudes in the bud so that they don’t become bad habits.
  • Remember always to give praise and encouragement when it is due.




    • Websites

    Planning a visit to Cape Town?

    You would be wise if you spend some time looking at a fellow homeschooling mom’s website – Cape Town Family Holiday Magic.

    Ali and her team of intrepid explorers have scoured the peninsula looking for the best places for families to visit in Cape Town.

    Ali is another stay-at-home-mom, who like us, has taken the plunge and started an online business in the form of an info website.

    Take this Quick Tour to find out how you can create a website that earns you an income every month – no products required!





    Till next month, we wish you every blessing

    Wendy and Shirley

    www.south-african-homeschool-curriculum.com

    Footprints On Our Land - South African Homeschool Curriculum





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