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As the second term starts up again we, Shirley and Wendy, were considering the topic of support.

We often get emails via our website from parents who are taking their children out of schools or who are starting with their little ones on the homeschooling journey and they are wanting to make contact with a support group in their area.

We were also chatting about support because Shirley’s baby arrived a week into the school term. A precious little girl, named Samantha. Her support group and friends have brought meals to them for a week. Community is good for us, we were not created to live alone and isolated.

There are only a handful of parents who feel they can homeschool for the long haul without any help or support, for the rest of us, we enjoy spending time with other homeschooling families, sharing strengths and challenges.

We recently added a page to our website giving parents ways to start their own support groups. Support groups have many different uses and ways of being implemented. Be sure to see which format appeals to you the most.

Free Printables

Last month we put up some South African Animal, notebooking pages. This month we are excited to offer you a few more. They can be found at Free Printables page on our Footprints website.

STOP PRESS! - We will bring you free printable notebooking pages in every issue of this E-zine! These pages are specifically designed for families who use Footprints On Our Land programs but are available for use in all homes as your children delight in our land.

Websites

Adventures with Riley is a great website with some fun activities for your children. These include animal masks, printable 3-D paper animal models to make, word searches, mazes and other adventures. We have also recommended some of the Adventures with Riley books on our website. You can read our book reviews here.

There are more reviews of South African children's literature here too.

If you want to buy a few books, do so before 30 April and get them at sale prices of up to 30% off on Kalahari.net.

Footprints News

1. Footprints On Our Land – South Africa’s Heritage will soon have a full grammar program based on the ideas of both Ruth Beechick and Charlotte Mason’s natural language acquisition process.

There will be grammar worksheets to go along with each reader and read aloud in our program. The student will not only use an excerpt from each story for grammar, but for their dictation assignments and spelling words as well.

2. For new homeschoolers and for those looking into the logistics of homeschooling, please visit our Homeschooling FAQ’s or refer other interested parties to this page.

Advice

Home-School - A Family or a School?

It seems like we are stuck with the term, "home-school" and I will use it in my article just because we all know what we are talking about, but it really conveys the wrong idea. It makes us think that we are "doing school" at home. We are not.

All of life is education. Home-Education is a much more comprehensive term. We are instilling character, teaching worldview, developing life skills and growing in knowledge, enlightening the understanding and pursuing wisdom, and this is not happening between the set hours of 9.00am -3.00pm. It is all day and night, every day, through holidays, sickness, excursions...yes...through all of life!

How can we educate as a family without home-"schooling"?

• We need to live life as a family. Yes, it is important (I believe) to structure our days and lives, but real life mustn't be an interruption to our "schooling." We need to view the whole of our day as a teaching moment. It is not necessarily easy to
• view interruptions as a part of the plan, (I don’t find it easy), but the way in which we handle these times are just as important as teaching Maths. Having another baby in the home is not an interruption!

• As a family, we can break free from thinking in terms of school hours and school terms. As we home-school, we need to remember that we are primarily a family and we can arrange our days and holidays to suit our family needs. For many years now, I have worked for 5 weeks and then had a one week break. This enables me to focus on a block of time and plan out a course of work. Then, I can home-school solidly for the next five weeks. If my term was to go for ten weeks, I would find it really hard to keep up with those frustrating bits of housework that stare you in the face. I can keep going with my work for a solid five weeks, knowing that the overflowing cupboard will be dealt with in the next week.

• We also need to remember not to measure productivity by "book-work". Education is not confined to books! Sometimes we may feel disappointed when we do not have a lot to show for our children's efforts, but we must keep in mind that the nurturing and development of character will mostly come about through conversation and discussion and relationship building. The fruit of our efforts in educating our children should not be summed up in a score or a mark or a status or placement.

• We do not have to follow a school’s curriculum. We are a family. Through prayer, reading and research, we can set our own goals for our home-school and for our children's education. After all, the goals that one sets for their family determines what they will be studying. If music is a priority in your family, a goal you have set, then you will make time, find excellent teachers, and insure practice takes place – all because it is one of your goals. If you want your children to have a solid Christian worldview perspective, then you need to think carefully about what you teach, the materials you use and how the education you are giving displays the Lordship of Christ over all- and over all education. These decisions are for your family.

• As a family, we are teachers who care about our children's weaknesses and struggles. It sounds ridiculous, but at times, I have found myself marking work with the aim to find out what my children don’t know - and ready to point out their deficiencies without the encouragement and kindness that should accompany my marking pen. At times I thought it was cheating to give my children the tricks and tips to get the right answer. Now, I understand that that is why we are there - we are home-schooling them to be gentle with those who struggle and give them all the tools, tricks and tips to promote learning in their area of difficulty. It also means we are strict with those who are lazy and who do not give their best effort, and we need to look for ways to help the struggler and challenge and excite the child who never struggles. We do this because we care - about them and their character.

So, do we "home-school"?
Yes - we provide an education for our children.
No - we live life and teach through the moments of each day.

Written by Marianne V from http://www.design-your-homeschool.com/index.html

Are you looking for a Guide to help you uniquely design-your-own homeschool to suit your family’s goals, and develop your own individual approach that relects these goals and complements your lifestyle and needs.

Go to http://www.design-your-homeschool.com/Guide.html

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Marianne_Vanderkolk
http://EzineArticles.com/?Home-School---A-Family-or-a-School?&id=530360

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