Can I really homeschool?

This is a question that I get asked pretty regularly these days as many families are considering venturing into the homeschooling lifestyle. I get emails and messages from new mom's wondering if they really has what it takes to homeschool. I always say "YES! YOU CAN HOMESCHOOL! I believe anyone and everyone can homeschool and no two homeschooling families look alike. 

So, short answer...anyone can homeschool. In fact not only can anyone homeschool, but everyone is already homeschooling! Whether you've thought about it or not, you are already homeschooling your child(ren) in one way or another. Think about all the milestones you have helped your child with such as learning to eat, talk, walk, go potty...they are all done through "homeschooling."

Every day you educate your child teaching them your values, manners, skills you have or want them to use, and so much more. These are all examples of you homeschooling. So relax in knowing that you already have some great experience as a home educator.

But here’s what you’re really questioning: Am I qualified to teach my child math, grammar, history, and all the other things they need to know in order to be successful in life? Our society actively trains parents to believe that they are the least qualified to teach their own children. But there probably has never been another time in history in which such an abundance of resources has been made available to help parents who want to home educate and many of those resources are free or cost very little to acquire! In fact I am in the process of writing a book - The Complete Guide to Homeschooling (not totally set on the title yet) which is due to come out mid-August and will be chock full of helpful information all about homeschooling including curriculum and how to's on homeschooling. It will be for teachers helping support homeschooling parents and also for parents (both new and veteran) to learn tips and tricks and ways to develop and grow in their homeschool lifestyle. 

On top of the wealth of information available, other homeschool families are a wellspring of information when it comes to the day-to-day of home education. Facebook groups like Heart of Homeschooling, blogs (like this one and others), podcasts (watch for HOH podcast coming soon!), and personal networking will open doors of opportunity when it comes to subject matter that might prove difficult for you at first. The Heart of Homeschooling Courses are just perfect for this if you want to learn at your own pace using an online course! And...we just majorly reduced our prices because so many need them now due to COVID-19. Courses are now our non-accredited courses are priced a very affordable $9 and up. Plus we still offer the FREE course to get you started. 

Homeschooling allows you to develop a special bond with your children as well as the opportunity to dig deeply into and invest the time toward your child’s own special learning style so they have the best possible chance of success. In the Heart of Homeschooling I and II I teach you all about finding your child's learning style and a curriculum to match. Your child doesn’t fall through the cracks in the classroom because, in your homeschool, your child is the class.

Don’t be afraid. Anyone with enough passion about, and dedication to, their child’s education to choose the homeschooling journey already has what it takes. YOU CAN HOMESCHOOL! 

Love Always, 

Shannon 

PS Email me anytime if you have questions about homeschooling at shannon@heartofhomeschooling.org 

Happy 2nd Birthday Eliana! We love you! 

Above Rubies Retreat 2011

I was so blessed to be able to attend the Above Rubies Retreat a week ago in Zephyr Cove, Lake Tahoe! My wonderful hubby more than encouraged me to go and I also was doubly blessed to go with my new very dear friend, Laura! Laura is from Santa Cruz originally and we never met when we were both living there. However, we both have 7 children and embrace the Lord's blessings with open arms. We have all the same friends from Santa Cruz, but never crossed paths in the 10+ years we lived their at the same time! Anyway, we had such a great time together listening to Nancy's message on motherhood and our roles as godly wives.


Nancy spoke about "The Overflowing Land" - in other words our homes are to be overflowing. 


First, God made our homes to be "A Good Land" (Numbers 14:7) that is to be overflowing with hospitality to others and healthy foods and meals. 


Second, our homes are to be "A Delightful Land" (Psalm 106:24-25) that brings God glory. Nancy says "Motherhood is the glory of the nation!" But, many mothers do not have that revelation of motherhood being glorious. Instead they despise their land only wanting their children to grow up quick or even to go to work to escape "their land" instead of delighting in it each new day. They are like the Israelites, despising their land that God brought them in to. 


Third, our homes are "A large Land" (Exodus 3:8). Do you realize that when couples say no to just one child because they feel they are too tired, it would be inconvenient, too expensive, or whatever other excuse they have that is self driven, they are actually effecting thousands, even millions of people for God? One child can be a future dynasty for God! I couldn't imagine if we had said no after having just three children, we wouldn't have Jonathan, Sophie, Joshua, or Eliana! 


Satan wants to minimize Israel and in the same way he wants to minimize godly families that can be Nation Changers - World Changers! He wants to minimize our land and when godly Christians use excuses to stop God's blessings upon their lives they are giving in to Satan and selfishness. There are so many verses in the Bible about children being a blessing and a gift from God. God commanded Adam and Eve to "be fruitful and multiply" and that command hasn't gone away. God's desire is to have more children in Heaven with Him! How can that be if Christians continue to say no to God's blessings for children? How can anyone refuse God and especially take part in "birth control" contraceptives when they are so clearly not from Him? Many contraceptives are actually abortificants and many babies have died through naive use of the Pill and other types of contraceptives and even Christians that are pro-Life have no idea that this happens! It breaks my heart! Read about it here.


Fourth, our land is to be "A Flowing Land." Twenty times in the Bible it talks about the land being flowing with milk and honey. Are you "flowing" in your land or are you doing your motherhood or fatherhood role "out of duty?" Are you being creative and joyful with your children each day? Are you abounding in the work of the Lord? Are you reaching out to the needy, loving your children, and loving your husband or wife? We have to constantly remind ourselves to ABOUND in order to have our land be flowing with God's love and fruitfulness! 


We must strive to have a land flowing with milk. What does it mean to flow with milk? Milk in the Bible represents nourishing and nurturing. Are you nourishing and nurturing your children? Do you plan and prepare nourishing meals for your family? Do you take the time to think about what God would want you to feed your family? Or do you just quickly grab a meal full of preservatives and junk for their bodies because you are too busy running around from here to there and not being purposeful in your day? 


I have to admit, I am guilty of this. I need to spend more time planning and preparing nourishing meals and am making a commitment to ask God to help me with this. It takes self-discipline to plan and also say "no" to things that have become a habit in your diet and that are unhealthy. God will bless your efforts! 


God wants us to nourish and nurture our families. Are you nurturing your family? Are you comforting your children and taking the time to just be quiet and let them talk? Or are you running around commanding them and telling them what to do and what not to do all day because of your business? Stop and smell the roses with them or watch a sunset. Take time to just sit and be still and enjoy them. Read to them, play games with them, or relax with them. There is always time to do one more thing or go one more place, but we must stop and just "be" with our family to bond and make memories. Along this same subject of nurturing is lovingly managing our homes. There is something within us that wants to manage our homes each day. Do you manage well or in a "crazy state?" Are you calm? Do you bring peace and harmony to your daily activities? Or do you cause chaos with your words and attitude? The mother creates the atmosphere in her home. Do you use "sweet words" in your home management? We must manage the home with both gentleness and efficiency and seek the Lord to find out what that looks like for our family. 


Fifth, our land is a "Dependent Land." Deuteronomy 11 talks about how Israel had to completely depend on God for water and God supplied it for them. In the same way, we need to completely depend on God in our homes. We need to go to God for wisdom, help, and understanding and completely depend on him for taking care of our children, home, and husband EVERY day. When we choose not to pray for God's help and wisdom, it is only showing that we think we can accomplish what WE want by ourself and that we don't need God. We need to have a continual conversation going on with God throughout each day asking for help and wisdom in every decision. 


Sixth, our land is a "Fruitful Land." When the Israelites were captive in Babylon God told them what to do...we can follow that same commands today. This is what God said: 
1. Build houses and dwell in them.
2. Plant gardens and eat.
3. Take wives and have children. 
4. Have grandchildren.
5. Increase (do not be diminished)
6. Seek peace, pray for the city 
7. Don't be deceived! 


Isn't it so simple? God's ways are so simple and yet we still choose not to follow them. We cannot pick and choose what verses or commands from the Bible we want to choose and not follow all of them based on what we think or want. For example, we cannot say well, I will follow #1 because I do want a house and #2 because I agree it's good to have a garden and eat organic. And, #3, yes I'll get married, but I'm not ready to have children yet, so I'll wait on that. #4, grandchildren, sure that will come later. But, #5, no I don't want to increase yet, that must not apply to my situation today since God wanted the Israelites to increase back then, but surely that doesn't apply today...and so on. It is a sin to pick and choose only part of what God wants. We are not being humble if we decide what God wants by only following some of his Word an not all! We need to follow the Word 100% even if it is scary. But, it is only scary if we aren't truly putting our complete faith in Him. He IS in control! 


Finally, our land is a "Life Giving Land." God is a God of LIFE. We have to be pro-life in everything we do. We must strive to eat life-giving foods, not dead junky foods, and feed ourselves and our families well. We must strive to have life-giving attitudes towards our children and family and speak life giving words into them by blessing them and telling them what a blessing they are to our family and to the world! We must strive to think life-giving thoughts, not destructive thoughts that will only break and tear down ourselves and our families, taking every thought captive. And, finally we should be open to Life from God. He is the life giver and He has the power to open and close the woman's womb. He is in control of that and we should never pretend that we should be in control of life! 

Here's Nancy, Eliana, and I on our last day at the retreat! 

God is so good!

We were so blessed to be able to attend the Above Rubies Family Camp in San Diego for the second time this year! We weren't sure if we were going to be able to go because of last minute details, but the Lord came through and worked out all of the necessary arrangements financially and with Wes needing the time off and we found out we could go 12 hours before we needed to leave! But, again the Lord was so great even in areas that could have been stressful! We were able to pack quickly, get a good night's sleep, and get on the road in time to get to the camp for dinner! It took us about 9 1/2 hours to get there and the children did amazingly well in the car!

What a blessed time we had! Nancy and Colin were on fire for God! Nancy spoke to us ladies about the tactics Satan uses to distract us in our roles as wives and mothers. Colin spoke to the men about having a vision for their families and not letting the world distract you! What amazing wisdom and insight the Campbells have! We were so encouraged and challenged. If you want to find out more about the Above Rubies Ministry go here: aboverubies.org

Our Above Rubies Testimony:
Wes and I went to our first Family Camp in 2002 and the Lord changed our hearts through the message Colin and Nancy presented to us and the revelation of scripture. We had three beautiful little girls at that point and were contemplating what to do next and how many kids "we should have." Well, the Lord showed us that it is in His control to create children and it is NOT our job to take control of how many children to have. He also showed us that He opens and closes the womb. God can decide if your womb will be opened to children or closed (for a season or indefinitely). It is up to Him, not us! He has the plan for our lives and if we truly believe God is in control, we should believe this as well.

Genesis 20:18
For the LORD had closed up every womb in Abimelech's household because of Abraham's wife Sarah.


Genesis 29:31
When the LORD saw that Leah was not loved, he opened her womb, but Rachel was barren.


Genesis 30:22
Then God remembered Rachel; he listened to her and opened her womb.


1 Samuel 1:5
But to Hannah he gave a double portion because he loved her, and the LORD had closed her womb.


There are many more verses describing God opening and closing the womb, you can do a search on Bible Gateway

The Lord also showed us that children are a BLESSING! He gives us children as a way to bless us. We started to ask ourselves why would we refuse a gift or a blessing from God? Only a crazy person would refuse a blessing from the Lord Almighty! If we truly wanted to trust God and believe that God is in control of all things how could we try to take control of the number of children God gave us? We realized that it is only man and the world that convinces us to use birth control because of worldly and selfish reasons such as not having enough money, not having a large enough house, not having enough free time, and more. We began to realize that if we finally trusted God with every area of our lives that He would provide for everything for those blessings He gave us. We also realized God wants our all and for us to learn to serve like Jesus and how better can we learn to serve than by having children for God? We also realized God wants us to be fruitful and multiply so that we can futher His Kingdom! We needed to step away from the world's view of children and be transformed by God's view of children as blessings to us and to further His Kingdom!

Romans 12:2
Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.


What an amazing journey it has been. It's not always easy, but what peace we have because we are following God's perfect will. I would never trade that peace for anything such as more free time or more money! My time is precious and my little ones are even more precious to me! God has given me the desire of my heart! 


Psalm 37:4
Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart.


It was not always my desire to have more children and less time for myself (ha!), but as I sought after His will for my life and not my own will, He placed that desire in my heart. I am so grateful for His plan for our lives and that we have been blessed with seven wonderful children so far! I pray the Lord will bless us with more! I also pray that we can be the parents he wants us to be in order to train them in His ways. 


I can't say thank you enough to the Above Rubies Ministry for their diligence in preaching the truth of God's desire for families! Thank you so much Colin and Nancy! 

Managing our Homes God's Way

I love the straight-forwardness of the book of James and my Yearly Bible Plan has me reading through James this week.

I have been struggling with a lack of self control lately in some areas that God wants me to change in regards to how I run our home. Change is always hard and I find it's even harder when dealing with old habits that are hard to break. I realized after reading the following verses that my lack of self control was actually disguising itself as "temptation" since it was causing me to follow my own desires and be dragged away from God's desire for me. My lack of obedience to making the changes was actually sin.

Temptation comes from our own desires, which entice us and drag us away. These desires give birth to sinful actions. And when sin is allowed to grow, it gives birth to death. James 1:14-15


Isn't it amazing how many ways we can be tempted to do something we know we shouldn't and how that temptation can drag us away from what God wants us to be doing and then grow into actual sinful actions? As a Mommy my #1 priority is to be the Manager of my Home by supporting my husband in every way possible, caring for my children, and running my home efficiently. But, oftentimes, I am tempted to do other things that are more inviting and easier like being on the computer, sleeping in, and eating unhealthy foods (to name a few), that "drag" me away from my God-given duties as a Mommy. 

Some things that God has placed on my heart lately to change in relation to managing our family are: having family devotions morning and evening, having a weekly Shabbat meal, eating healthier as a family, and being more accountable with how we spend our time each day. But, alas, each of these three areas require self control in order to accomplish the new habit of devotions, Shabbat meal, better eating, and time management. I love what Peter says in I Peter 1:13-14

So think clearly and exercise self-control. Look forward to the gracious salvation that will come to you when Jesus Christ is revealed to the world. So you must live as God’s obedient children. Don’t slip back into your old ways of living to satisfy your own desires. You didn’t know any better then.

Isn't it true that when we don't exercise self control to do what God wants (or attempting to live a Holy life) we are simply satisfying our own desires? God makes it so simple! In everything we do we have to make a choice: 1. Do what God wants or 2. Satisfy our own selfish desires.

As Mom's we need God's help to manage our homes. If He is calling you to a higher standard or to a different way of doing things like starting to have devotions twice a day or eating healthier foods, then you need to go to Him to seek how He wants you to do it. That may mean it looks different from your friend's way of doing things because God has a plan for your family. God promises to give us wisdom if we ask:

If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking. James 1:5


So, we need to pray for wisdom on how to manage OUR homes and we need to obey when He shows us how. Let's start obeying today and managing our homes God's way! 

Laundry Update

Well, I am so happy to report that the Lord answered my prayers on how to do laundry in our house more efficiently! We have been doing our new method for about a month and a half now and it is working out wonderfullly! Here's what we used to do:

Three laundry bags labeled "Darks and Brights," "Lights and Whites," and "Miscellaneous Specials" were in our Laundry Room. Everyone was responsible for getting their own dirty laundry to the Laundry Room and sorting it in the right bin. I then was responsible for washing, drying, sorting, and folding. We had 8 shelves on top of the dryer for each person and they put away their laundry unless they were under 6 years old. My oldest does her own laundry (14). The problems I encountered were children would put clean laundry in the bins instead of hanging up clean clothes and I wouldn't know it until it was under the dirty ones and too late. Also, children wouldn't sort correctly and I would end up having to re-sort. We often have lost socks and mismatched clothes because they were tossed in the different bins (white shirt that goes with dark blue shorts, etc.). Not to mention I was working too hard!

New Way:
I turned those three bags around and they now read "Room 1," "Room 2," and "Room 3" to represent the three children's rooms. I have one more bag for mine and my hubby's room. Now the children put their laundry in one bag with their room label on it. As the bag fills I put all the laundry in the wash on cold (I wash the undies and socks separate - usually). I am now responsible for washing and drying and that's it! No more sorting, no more folding. Once dry it goes in one of the brand new laundry baskets (from Target) that I bought for each room and then it heads to their rooms. The children have to sort their clothes out and put it away. There are only two children in each room so only two children's clothes are in each bag or basket. Very easy. No more lost socks either! Plus! All of my children from the 6 year old on up wants to do their laundry now and they can since it's all washed on cold and they are doing their own laundry with their room mates. I haven't had the bags overflowing one time since I started this - it's working like a charm. Mon-Wed. we wash clothes. Thurs I was sheets and towels and Friday is clothes again.

I also make our own Homemade Laundry Soap.
We have been doing this (inspired from the Duggar's) for about a year and it is so easy. I encourage everyone to try it out. My 12 year old Sarah usually makes it for us too.

I'm hoping to make some more progress in the other areas. Hopefully I'll get some pics up to show before and after.

Decluttering/Remodeling a smallish house for our large family

Well, I'm trying really hard to declutter our house. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. We moved into our home over 8 years ago and we had just three little girls 6 and under. They all shared one bedroom and we had two other bedrooms to spare. That gave us one kids room, one office, one guest room, and a master - sweet! Our house is just under 2000 sq. ft. which was perfect for our 5 person family.

Fast forward 8 years and 4 children later...Now we have three kids' rooms with two children in each room, our master is the same except baby Eliana will sleep in there until she is two-ish. Eliana will eventually have to join one of the girls' rooms and so we will have three in one of the children's rooms.

For the past two years (since I was pregnant with Joshua, #6) we have put any changes or adjustments to our house on hold because we were considering moving to a larger home in Sacramento area since the real estate market has gone down so much there. We had green lights to move in every area including my hubby's work, etc., but with the news of my ear surgery and other things, for now we have decided to stay in Santa Cruz. So, we are now trying to make some long overdue changes to our house so it will work more efficiently for a large family.

Kids Room #1: Our oldest two girls have the most stuff and also have the hardest time getting rid of stuff. Their room is very cluttered and packed. We don't have anymore attic space or other storage space so we need to make do. So, my husband is working on building a "platform" about 18 inches high and that covers half of their room. They are going to store their treasures under the platform and put a small couch and table and chairs on the platform. We are working on buying them a bunkbed as well. I am hoping this will solve a lot of their space problems.

Kids Room #2: The second set of girls do a pretty good job of keeping their room organized, but there is 5 years between them so their biggest problem is the age span. Hannah needs a place for her stuff that Sophie won't get into to. Also they need bunks too to maximize the space and we will get a trundle for storage. I think I will look into a locking trunk for Hannah, the 9 year old, for her treasures. Any other ideas?

Kids Room #3: Finally the boys - 2 year old Joshua and 6 year old Jonathan are doing great. They have the same problem as Hannah and Sophie because of the age span so I will have to look into a locking trunk or something else for Jonathan. I also need to get a trundle for their existing bunk. But, boys just don't need as much space and also don't have as many emotional attachments to stuff.

Other problem areas upstairs:
Laundry Room: I need help with this one...any suggestions? It's upstairs and I'm so thankful for this since it's centrally located next to all the kids rooms. But, it's about 5 ft. X 5 ft and I never have enough space to do laundry..wash, dry, fold. There is no sink either. I would love a bigger area to store the folded laundry while it's waiting to be picked up by the kids to put away. I have to do at least 3-4 loads each day to keep up.

Linen Closet: We don't have one. I heard a suggestion to store the extra set of sheets for beds between the matresses. I thought this was one I would try since presently I store them in the kids closets and they really could use that extra space. I keep blankets on the top shelf in our walk-in closet, but they take up so much space I could use for something else. Any other suggestions?

Photo Albums: Where is the best place to put these when we have no shelf space? The kids love to look at them when they are out.

Bathrooms. We have two for all of us and they are both upstairs - none downstairs. The girls basically rule the spare one with the amount of Bath and Body Works lotions and spays that are in there. How can I make our "kids bathroom" more usable for all seven children? I've thought about everyone having a bathroom case with all their necessary items in it like toothbrush, paste, brush, etc., but am not sure. Any suggestions from other larger families? We are planning to put in two sinks and a door between the sink area and the tub/toilet area in order to maximize usage too.

Well that covers upstairs. I'll post again with what we are going to do downstairs later. I'd love to hear what works for other families with some of the same issues.

The Happiest Place On Earth

I’m sorry I haven’t written in a while…The reason is that we spent last week at “The Happiest Place on Earth.” We had a wonderful time making lots of memories that we will remember for a long time. We were even blessed to have my parents join us for half of the trip and we also celebrated my second daughter Sarah’s 12^th birthday. What a special way to celebrate! We enjoyed great weather and no ride lines longer than 5 minutes on most of the days. Late winter is a great time to go. Our little ones were the most fun to watch as their eyes lit up when Mickey appeared or Cinderella took Sophie’s little four-year-old hand to dance like a princess. There is nothing like going to Disneyland with a two and four year old, it truly brings you back to the younger years of life.

I am thankful we live so close to Disneyland that we have made it a family tradition to take our vacations there quite often and we even have annual passes thanks to grandma’s and grandpa’s Christmas gifts. The memories we’ve made will last a lifetime. However, after spending a week in such a magical place I can’t help but ask myself “is my home the happiest place on earth?”

I know it may sound silly because obviously you can’t live a fantasy life like you do while you are at Disneyland, but it really is my hearts desire to make memories of a lifetime with my children while they are in my home. I love my family so much and know so well how short our lives are and I want to make every moment matter (ha!). Yet, I find this so hard to do in the daily grind. Do you struggle with this too? I struggle with the Martha verses Mary lifestyle choices each day. I find as a mom it’s so important to try to balance that diligent, hard-working Proverbs 31 woman with the live in the moment, obedient, Holy Spirit led personality we see displayed through Mary. I know you know what I mean.

I find two things essential to making it work for our home:

1. Spending time with the Lord on a daily basis

2. Having a plan for the day, but being open to God changing your plan.

Without these two essential steps, my days go by the wayside and I live my life being reactive instead of proactive. I want to be more proactive so that I can be prepared for each moment and for the Lord’s direction. It’s easier said than done. But that is my goal and what I purpose to do. I have failed many times (including today!), but the Lord is gracious and I can start each new day fresh.

Thank you Lord for each new morning. I give each and every new day to you. Lead us in our actions and thoughts with one another and direct our paths. Help us to plan our days, but be open to your Holy Spirit’s leading at same time. Give us your wisdom to be diligent with the precious time you have given us on this earth and help us to further your kingdom.

In your Son’s name, Amen.