By Crystal Hubbell
I get more emails pertaining to the how-tos of home education than
any other topic. Someone will email me and say they “are taking
their student out of public school this week and don’t know
where to begin. Please send information.” Wow, that is a loaded
question. It’s almost as complicated as coming up with a solution
for world peace or definition of love and doing it in one easy to
read email.
I have pondered this complex question; I usually think something
like; Congratulations on your choice of home schooling, good luck
and hey, pray a lot! That is my first thought, and then I think
along this line: “Congratulations on your choice of home schooling,
just visit our store and that pretty much will get you through.”
Well, that can’t be a right answer either. My point is, it
is very difficult to put into words how you home school. It is different
with every family. It is hard to just say one pat answer.
However, after answering this questions many, many times, I have
come up with what I feel is the best overall advice for “how
to home school” for the newbie, or the public school retiree.
Hope this helps you when you get asked this question.
First thing I suggest is “Prayer”. Only God the Father
knows your family, your hearts and what is best for you. Let Him
lead your family’s home school adventure. You will be surprised
at what he will show you.
2nd thing I say is “Read with your children”. This
sounds so elementary, but it is so important. My children learned
many of the things they know from being read to. We read all kinds
of things to them. This is also a great way to “de-school”
a child who has previously been in school. Spend a few weeks just
reading to them. Listening to them and their thoughts, trying to
get to know their learning personality.”
3rd thing is “Join a local community home school group as
well as HSLDA” Most areas now have home education support
groups. We have a lovely CHEC (Christian Home Educators of Cincinnati)
group that organizes co-op groups, field trips, and provides information,
support, and encouragement. HSLDA membership is your insurance should
you run into difficulty exercising you right to home school; they
can help you get most legal problems straightened out.
4th thing. “Don’t sweat the small stuff.” What
is the small stuff? Curriculum choices, how much time we spend a
day, finishing every subject in the allotted time, particular methods,
etc. These things are all just means to an end. This may sound bizarre,
but I am learning that it isn’t so much what we study and
how long, as it is how I am raising and training my children. I
notice that as I take more time with them as a person, they blossom
and perform better. When I am stingy with time, or adamant about
certain subjects being completed to the fullest, I get more rebellion
and poor results.. Nurturing a love of God and a love of learning
are more important in the long run than mastery of any subject.
I am learning that what is most important in my home school journey,
is not what they want to be when they grow up, but what God wants
to grow up in them!
5th thing. “You don’t have to spend a lot of money
to home school successfully.” It’s easy to spend too
much on curriculum. Never, never, never, never go to a home school
convention with lots of money!!!!! I mean that! Spontaneous purchases
will kill your budget. Even though it looks soooooo good. I cannot
stress this enough. Come with a budget in mind and stick to it.
I almost never buy my curriculum at a fair. I make a list of what
I think I want, price it everywhere (including service times and
shipping times) and then I shop. I also ask lots of questions to
those who used the curriculum. I may decide not to use it after
finding out some of this information.
In conclusion I’d like to stress that “home schooling”
should really be thought of as home education. Modern schools are
such a poor model that we need to force ourselves to start from
scratch. Here are some links to help you start or refine your home
education adventure:
Classical Education: http://www.triviumpursuit.com/
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Hopefully many of you have already begun signing up in our new
store. Please continue to do so, as in a few months we will no longer
send our newsletter from this same format. I will only send to those
who have signed up in the new store. Please see below for changes
and updates.
We have decided to make a few changes that may affect our customers,
but hopefully in a positive way that will save you money that make
things easier to order. First, we will be lowering the regular prices
on our full line of Apologia titles.
Next, the minimum order that will receive free shipping is being
raised from $25 to $50 This move will hopefully help us recoup the
processing costs of small orders without affecting most of our customers
(all Apologia sets and DIVE CDs will still be shipped for free).
So don’t worry, if something rings out at $49.95, you won’t
be charged shipping, even though it says it does, we won’t
charge your card for that.
Finally, we upgraded our WEB Store. The “look” is similar,
but the action is much different. It is BETTER! We are so excited
to go live with this. There are a couple of things to look for in
the new store. In order to check out of the new store, you will
need to register. This registration is just the same questions that
are asked when you currently buy from us in our store. Name, phone,
address and CC or paypal options. When you register, it will remember
you when you visit next time. (Kind of like Amazon’s store).
Once you register, you can sign up for this newsletter. Even if
you are already signed up, you will need to re-sign up, because
it is a different system than the one we are currently using. When
I see that most of you have signed up again, the newsletter format
will also change and I will no longer send from the old database
any more. So please sign up when you visit the new store.
The web store will also have a place to give feedback on store
items and will have a history available to you to see what you last
purchased. You will really like the feel and look of it. We feel
it will make your shopping experience much more pleasing. Also this
will eliminate the current kinks that we now occasionally have with
the cart dumping items on certain IP’s.
We thank you for being our customers! We look forward to serving
you even better in the future.
God Bless
The Hubbells
View our current in-store special here!
Mystery of History is on sale this month!! Check
it out!! Only $39.95
Christian Kids Explore Biology on sale for $24.95
 Introducing
Elementary Science from Apologia! We have ordered and when they
are finished being printed should arrive in late June for Astronomy
and August for the Botany.
Exploring Creation With Botany
Exploring Creation With Astronomy
 Dr
Wyle says: “Well, it has finally happened! After years of
searching for an elementary science curriculum that is truly God
honoring, user friendly, and scientifically sound, we were introduced
to two books by Jeannie Fulbright. It’s no wonder that we
want to publish her books. As one of the parents who has already
used Mrs. Fulbright’s astronomy book says, "It reminds
me of Dr. Jay Wile's Apologia Science, only yours is on an elementary
level while his is written for high school age." We couldn’t
have said it better ourselves.
Mrs. Fulbright has written two books, one on astronomy and one
on Botany. She plans to develop more books, so we hope to be able
to publish even more work from this talented author.
Exploring Series by Master Books
 Exploring
Planet Earth
The first in a series of 4 books on science, geared toward the
home-school market, but broadly appealing for any elementary age
child. Tiner has written a textbook for 5th grade to junior high
level, similar in style to public school texts, but with a creationism
perspective of history. With definitions of terms and identification
of famous explorers, scientists, etc., this book gives students
an excellent initial knowledge of people and places, encouraging
them to continue their studies in depth. Supplemented with illustrations
and photographs.
By bringing to life the explorations of people like Marco Polo
and Christopher Columbus, the author gives students the opportunity
to read history that hasn’t been altered or erased altogether.
Exploring The History of Medicine
The highly-anticipated follow-up book to Exploring Planet Earth,
this Christian and homeschool hit takes a look at medical practices
from the ancient past to the present, including biographical sketches
of famous persons of medicine. Featuring study questions at the
end of each chapter, coupled with dozens of illustrations, this
book gives middle-school through junior-high students a strong introduction
into the study of medicine. Exploring the History of Medicine is
suitable for family study and discussion.
Exploring The History of Chemistry
The third in this popular series, with the same format (including
questions that teachers can use for checking comprehension) that
has driven the success of Exploring Planet Earth and Exploring the
History of Medicine. Home and Christian school teachers are clamoring
for these more specialized books and here Tiner delivers in a big
way.
With a flair for telling biographical sketches of famous scientists,
Tiner also provides students with a solid foundation for understanding
the crucial purposes of chemistry.
Each chapter ends with study questions and the answers, in the
back of the book, can easily be removed by teacher or parent.
Exploring the World Around You
- Another ground breaking book from a Christian Scientist; this
time, on the environment
- Loaded with good information and illustrations
- The author ’s love for God ’s creation informs the
book
- Reminds Christians to be stewards of the earth
Come explore the world. From the mountain heights where the air
is thin and breathing is difficult to the heated deserts where temperatures
can soar to well over 120 degrees, come explore the world. From
the sultry, wet rain forests where sunlight never brightens the
underneath to the dry, arctic tundra with its fragile ecosystem,
come explore the world. From the variable deciduous forests rich
with wildlife to the arid grasslands where animals roam in herds,
come explore the world.
Are you tired of not knowing what to say to the
Jehovah Witness or Mormon that shows up at your door? Are you interested
in knowing how to counter the lies and distortions in annoying anti-Christian
best sellers like The DaVinci Code? Well, have we got a website
for you! Tektonics Apologetics Ministry”: http://www.tektonics.org
In their own words: “Tekton Apologetics Ministries is committed
to providing scholarly answers to serious questions which are often
posed on major and minor elements of the Christian faith. We believe
in the importance of sound Christian doctrine that is based on a
careful exegetical analysis of scriptures from the Holy Bible. We
also believe that it is important to incorporate the findings of
various theological and scientific disciplines in order to properly
assess the veracity of scriptural evidences, and to carefully evaluate
issues which are relevant to the Church as a whole.”
If you are looking for good answers to the tough questions about
your faith, you will love this site!
ENJOY!
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We can easily loose sight of what God wants for
us. A few minutes of the evening news or reading the daily paper
and we can quickly become afraid. The World is always offering us
something to be afraid of (instead of God.) In my lifetime the “big
dangers’ have included: Global Communism, Over-Population,
Pollution, Inflation, Nuclear War, AIDS, Y2K, SARS and now terrorists.
Most of these things are actually quite “reasonable”
fears. I’m probably not the only one that has wasted time
fretting over these things. However, fear of anyone or anything
besides God will quickly lead us down the wrong path.
A quick look at scripture will soon show that God tells his people
to “fear not” over and over. The first of many I found
is in Genesis 15, “After these things the word of the LORD
came unto Abram in a vision, saying, "Fear not, Abram. I am
thy shield and thy exceeding great reward." Only by overcoming
fear can we be in God’s will.
Be suspicious of anyone who tries to make you afraid. They are
usually trying to manipulate you. While this is often true of salesmen,
it is doubly true of any governmental authority. The gradual (and
recently not so gradual) erosion of our basic Constitutional rights
has come as we have allowed the government to “protect”
us from more and more of our fears. As we permit our leaders to
usurp the role of Protector and Provider, our once benign government
is becoming increasingly tyrannical. (It would be great if we could
all sent a message to our government by voting the Constitution
Party http://www.constitution-party.net/
this November. But, no matter who wins in November, God is still
in control; fear not.
Jesus said it best at the beginning of John 14, "Let not your
heart be troubled. Ye believe in God; believe also in Me.”
Lets take Jesus’ advice and trust and fear God alone.
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Starlight and Time by D Russell Humphreys, Ph.D. Master Books (just
added to our store)
One of the biggest problems with Scientific Creationism is this:
the Bible (which in my experience has been right about everything
else) seems to indicate that the Earth and Universe are young, less
than 10,000 years old. In contrast, Modern Science seems to have
lots of evidence that the Earth and the Universe are much, much
older. To make matters worse, the sequence of creation in Genesis
would be wrong if we started with a “Big Bang”. So,
which is right, Science or the Bible?
Before Dr. Humphreys’ work, Christians who are scientifically
minded had few options to resolve this contradiction. First, they
could say that when God said “six days”, He really meant
12,000,000,000 years. Or second, God created the Universe in six
days, but he made it look 12 Billion years old for reasons of His
own. Because most Christians and God-fearing people cannot imagine
God being deceptive, many have stuck with the first option; namely,
the Earth is billions of years old. But, is this “Old Earth”
view a good answer? Not at all! An “Old Earth” cosmology
is full of problems for the Bible-believer. Please see
here for more on the scientific and theological problems with
an old Earth.
As Dr. Humphreys’ work shows yet again, when the “facts”
seem to contradict the Word of God, its time to check your facts…or
your assumptions. Starting with well-accepted theories and equations,
Dr. Humphreys, a highly qualified theoretical physicist, shows that
there is an alternative to the popular “Big Bang” theory.
Dr. Humphrey’s work shows that the Big Bang Theory is based
on shaky assumptions and leads to scientifically awkward conclusions.
In fact, most people who believe in the Big Bang Theory don’t
really understand what the Big Bang Theory says.
Dr. Humphreys’ book Starlight and Time shows there is perfect
agreement between the Biblical account and what we know about the
cosmos! I heartily recommend this work to those of you who are looking
for reasons to believe and those who want to be able to better defend
your beliefs. For more on this remarkable theory please see
here.
We are adding several new apologetic and Creation titles from Master
Books including Starlight and Time to our store. Just email or call
if you would like a copy. (We will have them on our website soon).
~Saving Time and Money~
Please keep sending your great Frugal
Apple Tips and recipes. I would love to post them.
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