Every homeschooling family is different! We hope that these peeks into the daily lives of some of our CHEBWA homeschool families will both encourage and inspire you on your own journey! Written by Lori Butterfield. Something you should know about homeschoolers: we tend to be an independent, do-things-our-own-way sort of people. Naturally, this also applies to how we school our children. So when I was asked to type up “A Day in the Life...” on THURSDAY, well, we had a problem. I host a book club that day. We needed to do a grocery pick-up, clean up the house, prepare and bake the food, and get everyone ready for visitors. School would *not* be happening – at least not in the traditional sense. So, I decided to record our FRIDAY instead. Except....we normally have our small group co-op that day, but we are currently on a break. Therefore, our Friday schedule is pretty darn light. So... This story is about Friday – not Thursday – but with Wednesday’s school schedule. See? Do things our own way, buck the system kind of people. Darn homeschoolers. Anyway, let’s get on with the story. Friday. 8:30am (ish) – I wake up to my husband typing at the computer in our bedroom. He’s been working from home for months due to Covid restrictions. He is now my alarm clock, as he types away or has a morning meeting. I get dressed in some comfy clothes and head into the kitchen to make a pot of coffee. I am greeted by my three youngest boys. Gideon (8) helps me make coffee by discussing how to multiply 2Tbl per cup to figure out how much coffee grounds we need. I am NOT awake enough for this yet, but he’s excited to be learning multiplication. You go, little man! Micah (11) is busy making a fire in our woodstove, while Elijah (13) is grabbing some breakfast. Their oldest brother, Isaac (19), is upstairs getting ready to start his online college classes. My two girls, Talitha (15) and Selah (17), are dog-sitting with a friend, so they will not be here for most of the day. This means it's basically just me and my three youngest boys today! 10:30am - Now that we are now appropriately caffeinated, we get out our Morning Time materials. While I usually come up with our own books & songs, today we are using a free resource I discovered called “Advent Morning Time Plans”. We start with a prayer, a bible memory verse, and some poetry. Then we listen to part of Handel’s Messiah, discussing when he lived and the life of a composer in the early 1700’s. We also do a quick picture study of The Visit of the Angel to Zechariah, which leads to a quick review of the story of Zechariah in the Bible. All in all, we spend about an hour on our Morning Time subjects. I could spend all day on these types of subjects, but we really *should* move on... 12:00pm - After a quick break, the boys make their own lunch, while I do some reading aloud. We are slowly working our way through Streams to the River, River to the Sea by Scott O’Dell. We also just started a new book, Treasures of the Snow by Patricia St. John. I then run through a few questions from our catechism booklet with my youngest two boys, while Elijah completes his own Bible journal entry for the day. Isaac also makes a quick appearance in the kitchen during his lunch break, so we get to hear about something called a “flex box”, from the software engineering world. 12:45pm - After lunch, we begin our “Independent Learning” time. The boys can work through their independent subjects at their own pace, asking me questions as needed. These subjects may include: handwriting/cursive, copywork, math, Xtra math practice, typing, and read aloud books with mom. I am able to work with each child as they have questions or need me to check their work. I work with Gideon first, using the Life of Fred curriculum we borrow from the library. At one point, there’s some arguing about who is next in line to talk to Mom, so we take a quick break and I test my skills on our typing program. I am currently at 46wpm. Not bad! Behavior crisis averted, and the boys continue their independent work without me having to lose my mind. Excellent! 3:15pm - Most of our official schooling is done at this point. If the girls were home, we would still need to watch our history DVD lecture or read through our government textbook. I would check their answers in chemistry or geography, depending on the day. High school work just takes a bit more time. Instead, the boys pick up their school stuff and quickly straighten up the house. They will need to do some personal reading later in the evening, but for now it’s time to head outside while we still have some daylight. We tried to find anything “green” for our nature journals, as we walked our property. Once Isaac is done with his classes for the day, he joins the boys outside so they can finish stacking the split wood onto our wood pile. Ahhhh....I enjoy the last of my coffee while watching the boys work together to get the job done. 5:00pm As the younger boys finish up, I drive into town to run some errands, dropping Isaac off at the library for his janitor job. Once my husband is done with his job for the day, he picks up our girls and grabs some pizza for dinner. Fridays are usually our Pizza & Movie nights – a nice reward for everyone, after a long week of schooling and working! While we did get most of our planned schoolwork done for today, there are plenty of days when we just get a couple subjects done – and then learning takes place in other ways. The kids might take a book to read while running errands with me, or we will head to a park to get some much-needed fresh air. We might have a field trip planned, or decide to go somewhere totally spur of the moment! We can take time for baking, cleaning, private lessons, a special YouTube video release about the Space Force, or a million other things that make up our days. This is NOT wasted time. Kids are learning all day long, in a million different ways. We have a basic outline for how our week will run, but many days God has plans for us that have nothing to do with that outline. It is truly an incredible journey! Originally published on December 7, 2020 in our online community.
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12/4/2017 1 Comment Parents' Night OutOn December 2nd, CHEBWA hosted our annual December Parents’ Night Out event. This year, we were honored to have guest speaker Israel Wayne, who is a homeschool graduate and parent, author and much sought-after conference speaker. The evening began with Mr. Wayne taking us on a whirlwind tour through history to examine the birth of government education and how it morphed into what it is today. Throughout his engaging presentation, Mr. Wayne encouraged our group to thoughtfully consider the foundations of modern education and then ask ourselves to examine if what God says about education fits in with those ideas. He gave us much to think about and left us wanting to learn more! After the first segment, we had the opportunity to enjoy some delectable refreshments and fellowship, as well as to browse the table of books and other resources brought by Mr. Wayne and his team. On returning from the break, Israel held an open Q & A segment in which audience members were encouraged to ask any homeschool-related questions. The evening flew by and an enjoyable time was had by all. If you weren’t able to attend this Parents’ Night Out, we missed you! Please plan to join us next time! If you’d like to find out more about Israel’s books and other online writing, you can find the links to all of those here: https://www.familyrenewal.org/israel-wayne-2/ 7/23/2017 0 Comments Part of the CHEBWA FamilyWritten by Anna Shafer Over the past 20 years, CHEBWA has been a place where many new friendships have begun, both among children and moms. Month by month and year by year, as we share with one another at our group meetings, hang out at our Mom's Night Out events, and bring our children together for fun and educational activities, we start to feel like a family. Do you have a community of homeschoolers that you're plugged into? If you've been homeschooling for a while, you may feel as though it's not really all that necessary for you to have a community of support - after all, you pretty much know what you're doing, and your schedule is just so busy these days! If you're new to the area, it may be intimidating to think about walking into a room full of strangers. You don't know what group dynamics are - if this is really the place for you. If you're new to homeschooling, perhaps you feel like your family circumstances don't fit the "typical homeschool family" mold and you wonder if you'll fit in. Or you may feel like you don't know enough about homeschooling to be able to hold your own with all of the pros. Here at CHEBWA, we believe that we have something special to offer homeschoolers in the Port Huron area... We offer our hand in friendship...to YOU! When you attend one of our support group meetings or local events, you will find a warm, welcoming atmosphere and new friends who are ready to help you find the answers to your questions about homeschooling, to pray with you about a struggle that you're having in your home school, or to encourage you to keep on! This past year, CHEBWA was largely made up of families with children in the elementary and middle school grades, although we did have some families with high schoolers, too. We try to offer activities, events and field trips that are interesting for whole families to attend. We also sponsor low-stress opportunities for your children to share with others what they learn during the school year. Our Mom's Night Out events give you the opportunity to have a little fun while getting to know other {imperfect} homeschool moms just like you! CHEBWA is first and foremost about fostering strong relationships within our community. Coming up, on August 4th, we are hosting a Homeschool Community Meet-n-Greet Picnic that is open to any and all homeschoolers in the area. We would love to have you and your family join us for an afternoon of fun! (Our special guests will be the Kimball Twp. Fire Department, so be prepared to get cooled off!) If you'd like more information about the picnic, please email us at: [email protected]
We look forward to meeting you soon and welcoming you into the CHEBWA family! Written by Jessie Wiegand "We'll be doing school all summer!" This seems to be a common lament around this time of year as the hope of spring rises within us. We are relieved that the long winter seems like its finally coming to an end, but then we realize that we haven't reached the page or chapter in our curriculum that we thought we'd have completed by now. Adding up the remaining chapters next to a calendar that only has 12 weeks in it until June starts with uneasiness and ends with panic: Well, we don't really need a spring break. . . I suppose it's not necessary to take off Memorial Day. . . Maybe we could keep doing school for the whole month of June. . . We could vacation next year. . . We could just work in the morning and have fun in the afternoon. . I guess a full day wouldn't be so horrible; we'd still have our evenings free... That last statement is where we notice that we are breathing shallowly and our whole body is tense. In the last 15 years of my homeschooling experience, I will honestly tell you that I have probably only had 1 or 2 years where we have come comfortably and serenely to the end of our school year at the end of May. The other 12-13 years, I struggled with feelings of failure, discouragement, and a sometimes crushing pressure that I had not fulfilled what I had set out to accomplish with my kids academically. There were times that I handled that well, and times that I handled it not so well. I'll start with the not so well.
I have a habit of setting pretty high expectations for myself and for my children, so, unfortunately, the standard I set is rather hard to achieve. Because of my faith in Jesus, there is a major competing force inside of me between my natural desire to be focused on myself and rely on my own abilities to reach the goals I set for myself, and the Holy Spirit's desire to focus on the will of the Father and His guidance and strength to reach His desired ends. When I become aware that I have fallen into the pattern of my flesh that results in self-degradation, self-idolizing, and negative absolutes, I have been astonished at the way that God deals with my failure, and have been so relieved by His grace in my life. He chooses whether through the insight of a member of the family of believers, or through His own wise and quiet voice within me, to give the gift of these alternative ways to handle my failure:
I didn't plan on writing you all a book here, but I needed to write these things to hear them again myself. Every year of homeschooling produces something different in me; it is truly the tool of so much sanctification in my life. I have succeeded and failed yet again this year, but God is making me and my children better people because of it. I pray that I will continue to be honest about my failures and successes, wholeheartedly repent for my sin, accept the loving forgiveness of the Father, and grow my faith through the hope that He provides. And I especially entrust that He will do the same for all of you. 9/18/2015 1 Comment A Fresh StartWritten by Anna Shafer We've just kicked off the new school year with our first CHEBWA support group meeting of the year! After a time of prayer, announcements about upcoming events for homeschoolers and a devotional on the topic of encouraging and building one another up, we dove into our topic of the "whys" and "hows" of setting goals for your home school. At the conclusion of our main speaker's presentation, we enjoyed a time of discussion in which we gained different perspectives on goal-setting from experienced homeschoolers. After the meeting officially closed, the fellowship continued over light refreshments. It was wonderful to meet together with so many homeschool parents - both veterans and those just heading out on their home education journey! We were so excited to see all the new faces and look forward to building many new friendships as the year progresses. This year's new meeting time (7:00-9:30PM) will enable us to spend even more time visiting with and learning from one another. Please remember that all of our meetings are open to the public, so come and check us out! We would love to meet you! ************ Our next meeting will be held on Tuesday, October 20th and will be a roundtable discussion on the topic of "Balancing Life". "How do you keep all of the balls in the air? How do you decide what goes on the schedule? With so much to do, it's a balancing act to discern how much activity is right for our families. Come and discuss this topic with the group." We hope to see you soon! Psst! It's not too late to become a member of CHEBWA for 2015-2016! Click HERE to read more about membership benefits and how to join. 4/9/2015 1 Comment A Day in the Life: DianaWritten by CHEBWA member Diana W. Every homeschooling family is different! We hope that these peeks into the daily lives of some of our CHEBWA homeschool families will both encourage and inspire you on your own journey! When asked to write about my day, I always seem to spend too much time thinking about what to write. It would seem a pretty easy task - log the events of the day. Where my concerns stem from is the idea that my life will be misinterpreted. If I seem to highlight the hectic moments, then homeschooling children may be too hard for the mom considering this as an option. If I seem to highlight the moments of ease, then I must have it all together. Neither are true assessments of my life. What I can confidently write is this: "I can do all this through him who gives me strength." (Philippians 4:13 NIV) His strength is faithful and merciful even on the days I fail miserably. I don't have a set hour by hour schedule. My children are small and I love that they wake up when their bodies are rested. We relax and wake up in the morning. I hope to wake a couple hours before they do, but I do not use an alarm clock. I enjoy having a morning cup of coffee while reading. No, I don't always do a morning devotion, actually, I never do a devotion. I like to just read scripture. I also take this time to answer emails, texts, read my own lessons; for my class, research, and gather my lists of tasks that I 'hope' to accomplish today. I always try to have school started by 10:00. I am only teaching one child at this time and most days this works well for us. Depending on the day like Mondays for example we start earlier due to the tasks that will need to be accomplished that day. My two year old spends way more time in front of the television than I ever imagined he would. This is where I feel flexibility comes into play. When there is no one to play with him, which I think is a natural desire of any two year old and one I don't wish to stifle and no one is available, the TV works very nicely. When my oldest was two, he had most of my attention and when he would play independently, I was able to get plenty of my chores accomplished. Five and half years later, there are several more and different chores that I must accomplish. I cannot expect my two year old to keep himself occupied independently that many hours. I have our school day organized in a way that Roman who is 8, can work independently half of the time. This gives me opportunity to work on my list throughout the school day. While he is reading for example, I can be working on writing "A Day in the Life" or making myself available to a friend. When I think of how my life has changed over the last 8 years, I could easily become overwhelmed, but I don't. I went from a work at home wife, to a mother, a hobby farmer, homeschool teacher, CHEBWA co-leader, secretary of our local little league, now a mother of two with a new puppy! God is good! There are only 24 hours in each and every one of our days. God asks us to serve each other. I first serve my family than the many friends and extended family members I have been blessed with. School work is important to us, but it is not the end all be all. We find time for lessons all day long, many of which are taught just by living life together.
3/10/2015 1 Comment Curriculum Share and Sale!Mark your calendars! March 17th is our next support group meeting and the topic is our ever-popular "Curriculum Share". Plan to join us for a fun evening of show-and-tell where everyone is invited to bring a favorite curriculum or homeschooling book and tell us why they love it! This year, we are adding a curriculum sale to the meeting. Come early and check out the great deals that our members are offering on their used curriculum! {Please note that this is a cash-only sale.} Sale: 6:00-6:30PM Meeting: 6:30-8:30PM Questions? Contact Anna Shafer To learn more about our meetings and location, please check out our Monthly Meetings page under the "CHEBWA" tab.
3/5/2015 0 Comments A Day in the Life: AshleyWritten by CHEBWA member Ashley Pease Every homeschooling family is different! We hope that these peeks into the daily lives of some of our CHEBWA homeschool families will both encourage and inspire you on your own journey! As I sit down to “teach my children up” I am daily reminded that I am by word and action showing my children how to live in more than just a community of people. Our journey of learning and of growth consists of not just our home but in addition our church, our neighborhood and our physical community that requires us to keep God’s standards of living while having to be in the world but not of it. Christ reminds me that above academics, his glory must be taught and character installed into the hearts of my children so that He is visible when we leave the home and so that my family can stand firm in truth. I can’t do this by focusing alone on an academic day. For many of us there is a great desire to teach our children “to be the best that they can be”. There is nothing wrong with that however what my Bible tells me is that I am to help them also recognize that even though I want them to have their own personality, God wants them to develop their personalities while to recognize also that He gave them that specific personality. He wants them to understand that which he created them to be. To know that they were made for a time such as this. Though academics are important in our home, it is far more important that my children understand that we are a part of God’s ever growing kingdom and should rather or more so desire that than what is academically acceptable or expected by our social surrounding and academic neighbors. Do I encourage my children to do their best? Yes. Do allow them to slack? No, not usually. We often say in our home, “It’s okay to not know, it’s not okay to not try”. But the cold hard truth is, we do fail. We cry. We’ve even been caught in that place of yelling. When in a box all day long, we can certainly be in each other’s space. Our days consistently lean on learning how to speak to each other in love and somehow get all the work that is in front of us finished. In home-schooling families I have learned that there is not one home that is exactly alike. Though we all have common areas we also have individual needs and commitments that vary from black to white. In coming to this understanding and concluding I can’t be “Mrs. White” or “Mrs. Black”, I am indeed “Mrs. Pease” ( and that is whom God created me to be!). My home is different from yours in many ways but joyfully with encouragement from many of you and my Heavenly father, our home knows laughter, tears of joy and now triumph. Hallelujah. Ephesians 6:2-4 “Honor your Father and Mother which is the first commandment- with a promise so that it may go well with you and so that you may enjoy long life on earth. Fathers, do not exasperate your children, instead, bring them up in training and instruction of the Lord.” Triston is currently in 3rd grade and Wyatt is my very rambunctious Kindergartner! Mondays are our “Run and Get Er Done” day. We usually sleep in a little, if you call 7 sleeping in. I am not a morning person. Have you ever seen that cup on Pinterest that layers out the acceptance of one speaking to you whilst holding the cup of coffee? It’s pretty much a danger zone until you get to the last drop. I m not going to lie. That most certainly covers the bear in me in the mornings. I do not wake up with a gleeful hop in my step. I leach to the kitchen and get my bowl of oatmeal and cup of coffee, grunt “good morning” to my boys and flop into my big, coral couch that swallows me in comfort. It’s a good place to be in the morning. After routine of coffee (for me), breakfast, hygiene and morning chores we are usually beginning Bible class by 8:30am. Since Triston is almost nine, he is required to read alone and answer some questions quietly from our Alpha & Omega series pacs while I am helping Wyatt (5) with his. My husband does not like to miss out on this portion of reading for the day so when he tucks the boys in at night, he is generally ready to read from a very awesome series of children’s bible comics that are quite accurate called Manga Melech. Triston enjoys them so much that he will routinely go back and read them again. That’s a SCORE in my book! Mondays are busy but pretty relaxed, if that makes sense. After we have finished with Bible the boys are required to work on spelling, writing and math. We don’t make them do any other subjects on Mondays. Currently we use Aplha and Omega for all of those subjects and add in Sequential Spelling on DVD for Triston. Soon after, we are on our way to open gym for all home school friends at the FLAMES gym on Lapeer. If you do not take your children to this, may I suggest that having time to get their wiggles out is a delight for them and the parent. Coach Joe is creative and keeps a structured classroom. We also have jumped aboard the music train and both children have piano every Monday afternoon which fortunately for me, my mom gives. It also allows me time to work with each of my children privately on any area of academics or attitude that need to be addressed. We usually play a board game while learning for this hour. I try to make it as appealing as possible since we’re getting to the end of our longest day of “Run and Get Er Done”. Every other Monday evening we have been so blessed to host a boys only club (both home schooled and not) rightfully called “Contenders of the Faith.” Boys growing and learning together in character for God’s kingdom. That’s a big cup of awesomeness in my book. We are finished with school by 4 on Mondays and by 2 most other days. Here is a picture of Daniel is teaching the boys to read a compass properly. (Dads are encouraged to participate in ALL the fun at our Contenders meetings.) Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday are pretty similar to each other. Our morning wake up routine then we dive into Math, Language, Geography, and science. Science is a huge undertaking in my home but it is worth it. Trstion adores anything science related and loves to find the difference between what man says and God says. I encourage this because some day he’ll have to stand on is own two feet, as we all do. He and Wyatt are currently learning life cycles of plants and animals while Triston continues his love of Astronomy from Apologia and his every day pac from Alpha and Omega. We reach out to Pinterest on many of these studies since there are so many free resources out there. Both of my boys thoroughly enjoy lap books and I enjoy going back through them to see what they’ve come up with. Thursdays we attend Excel at Griswold with so many other wonderful families that are just as unique as my family but pull together to teach our children in a structured classroom setting . We still start our days the same however I only ask my children to accomplish Bible before we leave the house on Thursdays. I use Thursday mornings to run my errands and get groceries. I am a fan of routine but value flexibility. Let’s face it, kids mean that routines get broken as does life in general. Some weeks we accomplish NOTHING before we go out the door to Excel. Those days are hard but they can be used for some needed character building lessons both for mom and boys. As uniquely as God created each of us to be, our routines and children are just the same. Remembering not to compare households but to value friendship, encouragement and lessons learned from one home to another isn’t always the easiest path but it is a path that I would hope we all strive for. I am one lucky girl. God has placed me in a community of fellow believers that cheer on my children, that teach my children, love them and encourage me when I feel like a failure. I hope that I can be that woman of God to you and yours.
Oh, while it’s on my mind….it’s “free time” in our home right now. Don’t forget to give yourself a slice of quiet with the Lord and doing something to keep your wits while letting the kids, well, be kids! Have fun! 2/5/2015 5 Comments A Day in the Life: DinaWritten by CHEBWA member Dina L. Welcome to our new blog series entitled "A Day in the Life of a Homeschooling Family". Every homeschooling family is different! We hope that these peeks into the daily lives of some of our CHEBWA homeschool families will both encourage and inspire you on your own journey. Like a lot of homeschool families, our days are varied and eclectic. We do and use what seems to work for us at the time, knowing full well that it will change. I will do my best to give you a peek into what constitutes a "typical" day in our household. We currently homeschool four kids ages 15, 13 year old twins, and an 11 year old. Our day starts with breakfast between 9-9:30. It is serve-yourself style most of the time unless mom makes waffles or oatmeal. The other day a few kids made themselves egg rolls for breakfast, so anything goes! At 10:00 we start with Bible study and prayer. I like to start the day focused on what is truly important, our relationship with God. At 10:30 I read aloud from our current book which might be a biography of a missionary, a fiction book that goes along with what we are studying in history, or something I think the kids would enjoy listening to. Between 11:00 and 11:30 the kids start their math lessons. It just depends on how long we spent reading together. Each person has their own math book and level they are working on independently. A video instructor does this with me helping where needed. Now it is noon and mom reminds everyone that their lunch needs to be ready to eat by 1:00 pm. Some, including mom, choose to start cooking now. Others choose to wait and eat something that cooks up quick or requires no cooking. Those not cooking are working on independent projects or practicing their instruments, or still working on their math. After lunch and chores we get back to schoolwork. Each week they have a topic they are researching and learning about. They pick a way that they want to share what they have learned and present it each Friday. We have had 3D models, reports, diagrams, copy work, and even a game created called "Escape the Cell". You never know what they will think of! At 4:30 the kids finish any schoolwork they need to, or work on various projects they have going, or complete any homework they have from the homeschool co-op that we attend. At 5:00 we consider the school day done! Here are some books we are reading for school: At 3:00 we do writing and spelling. Writing may be doing grammar exercises, dictation, journal writing, or playing a board game to enhance our writing, spelling, or vocabulary skills. Some favorites are Blurt, Scrabble, and Balderdash. For spelling we do spelling tests each day from the Spelling Power curriculum, which has served us since I started it with my oldest who is now 21! At 4:00 we work on geography. For this we might do map work or play games that teach geography. We have been working on United States geography for awhile now, we have a large map on the wall of our dining room and a Michigan road map on the side of our fridge. Notice the Kindle? Two kids enjoy using it to check out e-books from the library too. Here are some pictures of kids working on various projects. Thanks for visiting today!
2/2/2015 4 Comments The Glory of God in WinterWritten by CHEBWA member Anna S. Wow! What a winter wonderland it is out there today! All the snow is inspiring me to get back into winter nature study with my children. Would you like some new ideas for things to study when it's freezing cold outside? Read on! I love to think of nature as an unlimited broadcasting station, through which God speaks to us every hour, if we will only tune in. – George Washington Carver Are you the type of person who just wants to snuggle down indoors during the freezing cold winter days? Would you be content to simply sit and read by the fireplace until March or April? Yeah, me too. :) However, those of us with children have the amazing privilege to teach our children about God’s majesty, power, creative ability, splendor and attention to detail every single day when we point them toward His creation. It seems that it would be such a shame to “take a break” from this teaching during the cold winter months, when there are so many opportunities to witness these attributes of God! Even when we feel like just staying put, God is still revealing Himself to us through His creation: From the chamber of the south comes the whirlwind, And cold from the scattering winds of the north. By the breath of God ice is given, And the broad waters are frozen. Job 37:9-10 Here are some ideas of things to keep your eye out for as you praise His name during the winter! Sunrises – During the other seasons, many of us rise too late to see the sun rising. At this time of the year, you can plan to be up and ready to watch each one! Watching the sun rise at different times during the year helps children understand how the seasons work as we move closer to and farther away from the sun. Things to do: Watch the sunrise, sketch or paint it, photograph it, note the location it rises on your property, enjoy it! Snow – I know that it can be easy to grumble about having to shovel it or having to mop it up off the mudroom floor. But since we're stuck with it, we might as well make the most of it! Understanding what snow is, how it is formed, where it comes from and what it looks like up close can be an awesome exploration into God’s creative genius. Things to do: Catch snowflakes on black construction paper, look at snowflakes under a microscope (if you don’t own one, check out these photographs online!), do a Bible search on the word “snow”, watch this Creation science video on the uniqueness of snow crystals, learn more about snowflakes from these books (click on them to learn more): Trees – How can you study TREES in the winter? Did you know that you can identify your trees by the buds and bark alone? Try to identify what trees live on your property and then see if you’re right once they bloom and leaf out. It is fascinating to learn how trees overwinter and prepare for the spring! Things to do: Check out this awesome website of large-size photographs to help you identify trees in the winter by their buds and bark: Winter Trees Species List Astronomy – Winter is a great time to study the heavens because it actually gets dark enough before the children go to bed and often the sky is clear because it’s so cold. Things to do: Look up scriptures that mention astronomy, make some hot chocolate or warm milk, grab a lawn chair and head outside to gaze at the stars (even for a few minutes), note where the constellations are at this time of the year and compare your notes in the spring and summer, read this great book about the constellations for children: Animal tracks – Identifying the tracks that are right on your own property can be great fun! You can tell a great deal about the habits and types of food an animal eats by following its tracks across your yard. You can discuss how God has made provisions for the animals during the winter – Where do they go? Where do they live? How do they survive? Things to do: Find tracks, photograph them, sketch them, and then check out these 2 great books to help you identify them: Birds – Even though you don’t hear them, many birds stick around during the winter. Do you know where they are? At bird feeders, of course! :) Winter is a great time to feed the birds, because they aren’t busy building nests and raising their young. It’s also a good time to learn to identify their calls because there is less noise out there to compete with them. Get your hands on a good field guide and marvel at these amazing creations! You can read more about how our family studies birds HERE. Things to do: Set up a bird feeder by a good viewing window, watch the birds’ behavior, sketch them, take videos of them, make bird feeders out of pine cones, peanut butter and seeds, learn more about a bird’s design with this video, check out this AMAZING resource of almost 150,000 bird call recordings to help you identify them, use this book to watch your birds: Observation window – Choose a large window in your home that has a nice view of trees or other things in nature. Put a sketch book near it and encourage family members to date the page and sketch what they see or take notes about the following things – leaves, plants, the sky, animals, birds, etc. (Or take photographs!) Notice how the same view changes with each season and see how many things are different! “Your goal in nature study is more than just to inform your children about the details of creation.
Your greater task is to form in them eyes that can see the Creator in his creation, an abiding sense of wonder and appreciation of what God has made…” - Clay Clarkson, Educating the WholeHearted Child This post originally appeared on Anna's personal blog, Where My Treasure Is |
Welcome to our blog!Here you will find updates on CHEBWA events and activities.
You will also find articles written by various CHEBWA members to inspire and encourage you on your homeschooling journey! CategoriesAll CHEBWA Happenings Education Inspiration Encouragement For Moms Ideas And Tips Monthly Meetings School Planning {Please note that articles written by individual members are just a sampling of the many views expressed within the diverse homeschool community and do not necessarily represent the views of CHEBWA.}
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