The layout of the E-zine is as follows:

• Greetings from Marianne
• News
• Busyness: How busy will you be in 2010?
• Busyness: The Thief of Family Memories
• Organizational Tips
• Coming soon

Greetings from Marianne

Well, we have entered the new year 2010!

Happy new year to you all and I hope and pray that this year you will enjoy both the joys and challenges which you will face as a homeschooling family. May God use them to help us all grow closer together and closer to Him.

If you are a new homeschooling family - Welcome and enjoy the journey!

If you've been around for a while - Continue enjoying the homeschooling journey and encourage others on the same path. Perhaps you can add a comment to a question someone asks or write a curriculum review to be enjoyed by others.

News - Monthly Giveaway! Two $50.00 Prizes - Two Competitions!

The new Monthly Giveaway!! - Two giveaways this time!! $50.00US Gift Certificates from either Christianbook.com or The Book Depository. - your choice.

1. ADD CURRICULUM REVIEW! (judged on quality and quantity of the reviews)

When you begin homeschooling, it is difficult to wade through all the catalogues and decide what might work for your family.

It really is so overwhelming!!

As you would know from many of my pages, you don't necessarily need a fully packaged curriculum - but you still would like to know what programs work and what doesn't work for other homeschooling families.

Therefore, homeschool curriculum reviews are an important way of finding out what you might like to use.

Now, if you've been there, used a resource and would like to help others make choices - please add your curriculum review.

What does a CURRICULUM REVIEW look like?

A review should include the Title, when you used it, which age group used the material, the advantages and the disadvantages of the curriculum; Anything that may help another homeschooling family make a curriculum decision.

I've added numerous curriculum descriptions for you to review. You can find them on the homeschool curriculum reviews page. Just click on any live link and go to the review box and add your review directly into the form.

2. ADD A CURRICULUM DESCRIPTION

Of course, I have heard of a lot of curriculum, but not used everything myself!! (I have used a lot :) .... but not all!)

If you would like to add a curriculum description of a product which I haven't written on yet, please go for it! Either choose a product which is not an active link yet on my homeschool curriculum reviews page or add a product which I haven't even listed.

Where do you add your product description? Go to the Homeschool Giveaways Page and add it into that form.

What does a CURRICULUM DESCRIPTION look like?

A curriculum description gives product details.

You would describe the intended use of the product, the age it was written for, whether it is consumable or not, what comes with the package (text/student editions?, CDs, DVDs ), the scope of the material (what subject areas does it cover), if it is a part of a series and anything else that may benefit a reader knowing about a product.

Competition Details:

Add as many curriculum reviews and descriptions as you like. Ask others to comment on your reviews.

The reviews and the descriptions will mainly be judged on their usefulness and quality (from the perspecitve of a new homeschooler). The more reviews and descriptions you add, the more chance of winning the competition.

There are two prizes: 1. Top Curriculum Review - $50 voucher from your choice - Christianbook.com or The Book Depository; 2. Top Curriculum Description - $50 voucher from your choice - Christianbook.com or The Book Depository;

So, get writing!!! Add as much as you like.

The competition will end on the 22nd of February, 2010. That's 4 weeks to enter into the competition!

Look for the details on the Homeschool Monthly Giveaway page.

Busyness: How busy will you be in 2010?

It's hard to work out priorities in our lives and working out what should get most of our attention - how we divide our time?

I don't have all the answers, but I enjoyed reading this article by Alan Melton recently and it certainly gave me food for thought.

We may not be able to move to the country and change our lifestyles completely, but God does call us to take family priorities seriously. Perhaps re-thinking what we do for leisure time with our family, making the most of holidays, making memories... good things to think about.

What will you be involved in this year? Do the activities you do divide you as a family or bind you together?

I hope you enjoy and are challenged by the article too.

Busyness: The Thief of Family Memories

“Seventeen summers” said the busy father, wistfully describing the memory of his oldest child growing up.  He continued, “We get seventeen summer vacations, and then our children are gone.”  His statement stung me as I thought about my own family experience.  Is that all there is with parenting; seventeen family vacations?  If scripture teaches that children are a blessing, why am I not enjoying that blessing?

I thought about my own busy schedule; go to work Monday through Friday with some evening work, then Monday night – Deacon’s meeting/basketball practice, Tuesday night – church visitation, Wednesday night – prayer meeting & youth Choir, Friday night – youth group meeting, Saturday – basketball game, yard work and church social, Sunday – teach Sunday School, attend worship, and back to church by 5:00pm for discipleship classes and evening worship. Most days we ate fast food or restaurant food while running to activities. My schedule allowed me exactly one night per week to spend with my family, and guess how we spent it? We went out to dinner, then watched television, a movie or I was on the internet!  At one point my wife worked outside of the home, which would have made things even worse.  Now she was busy providing taxi service to and from school, to basketball, to dance.  Add to that television, video games, neighborhood friends and all kinds of other activities that I couldn’t oversee.

I realized that virtually every activity we were involved in divided our family!  The “treadmill” that we were on was a thief of one of the greatest blessings of God; time with our children.  In every arena of our life our relationships with others were superficial, and our busyness was contributing to superficial relationships with our children!

You have probably heard the statement that nobody gets to the end of their life and says, “I sure wish I had spent more time at work” or “I should have spent more time watching television” or “I wish I had made more money.”  What do people say?  They say, “I wish I had spent more time with my loved ones.” Even the respected evangelist Billy Graham said that if he could do it over again, he would spend more time with his family. But this problem is not unique to busy people like Dr. Graham.  Most Americans can identify with this problem; it is a sign of the times.  The problem is we can’t see it.

Doug Phillips, president of Vision Forum asks this question, “Does a fish know that it is wet?”  We answer, “Of course not.  The fish has always lived in water.  It is all the fish has ever known.” This is a very good analogy of our condition; we don’t realize that we are soaking wet with busyness, with keeping up with the Jones, with being consumed by things that have little long term value, and our relationships with others suffer.

For the parent, what has the greatest value, and what will bring us the best memories?  Training up our children has great value; showing them how to live can change the world.  Deuteronomy 6:7 tells this to fathers, “You shall teach them (God’s words) diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up.” I realized that in all my busyness, and in all our activities, I could not obey this command.

Our best example of parenting is shown in the New Testament, with Jesus.  Jesus had a Father and a stepfather.  Jesus said this about His Father in John 5:20, “For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He himself does; and He will show Him greater works than these, that you may marvel.” God personally trained and modeled to His Son what He expected. Joseph personally taught Jesus the trade of carpentry.  Although Jesus may have learned a few things from Jewish scholars (and vice-versa), the primary responsibility was assumed by His Father and stepfather.

Today our family lives in the quiet, rural community of Landrum, South Carolina.  I work out of my home; my children help me with tasks I need to get done. I teach them things I’ve learned.  Now that we home school, our children’s SAT scores have improved, and my wife is enjoys “relearning” as she teaches most of the academics. We stay together during the activities at our small church. We have ministry projects we do as a family; our purpose is to be salt and light to our community. Each evening we sing hymns, read and talk about the Bible, and pray together. I tell my children stories of how God has worked in my life. We play ping pong and outdoor games. We read stories, play board games and do puzzles together.  We get together with other families for fellowship.  Now most evenings are spent together as a family.  As I write this article I am drawn to the wonderful, familiar aroma of a home cooked meal, and the delightful sound of laughter.

Was this an easy change? No way! We have been far outside of our comfort zone.  Our family income is much lower. I have been challenged to find a job that I can do from our home. We live in a less expensive home. Our drive time to the grocery store is now 25 minutes, instead of 10. Our children protested our move, and our oldest child resented our decision for a while. The children were bored at first as we slowed down, unplugged, and made other changes. We miss our friends. I gave up golf. Living together has required many adjustments from each family member. Our new lifestyle is in stark contrast with the status quo of the American culture; in some ways it is a throwback to earlier times.

However, we are beginning to see what a blessing our children are. We are making new friends. We already have some new memories together; busyness could never buy this! My wife loves her role as a Proverbs 31 woman. Our children are growing academically and spiritually; they are involved in ministry, rather than programs. Proverbs 13:20 says this, “Those who walk with the wise will become wise, but the companion of fools will be destroyed.” Since our children now spend more time with their parents than with other children (the biblical characterization of all children is fools), we have more influence in their lives. Now that I know my children better I can see their individual strengths and weaknesses. I believe that I will be much better prepared to advise them about their future calling and vocation. Our time together is starting to yield some sweet fruit! Who knows what the future holds, but I don’t think we will regret this decision.

Postlog: I wrote this article in 2005.  Now, three years later we have seen the Lord work in our lives in more ways than I can adequately explain.  I will never regret the extra time that I have spent with my family.  Our children are truly blessings, and it has been a privilege to get to know them better, and to guide them as they pursue the Lord’s will in their lives individually. I love and appreciate my wife more than ever.  We have sacrificed much, but the benefits outweigh the costs by an eternal margin.

Alan Melton is the founder of Disciple Like Jesus ministry.  This ministry encourages parents to make disciples of their children in the same manner that Jesus made disciples.  For more information, visit his website at DiscipleLikeJesus.com.

Source: http://www.homeschool-articles.com/busyness-the-thief-of-family-memories/

Organizational Tips

Getting organized and making it all work

I have spent the last few weeks organizing our home (and brain!) before I left on a 2 weeks camping holiday. (I'm sure those who are in the northern hemisphere experiencing a very cold winter cannot possible imagine camping in the hot sun!! - but yes, that's what I'll be doing in the last 2 weeks of January)

We've had fun making a chore chart and making little people to go with it. I have added a photo of it for you and I'll explain it on my site at a later date.

How are you organizing your school year? Please let us know your organizational tips here.

Coming soon...

I'm looking forward to hearing what works in your home - how you have used a curriculum - what you like and what you don't. Please share your experiences - it will be of great value to other homeschooling families who are making curriculum decisions. The competition ends in 4 weeks!

Until next time, ... Keep-On-Track.....

I pray that you have been encouraged through this ezine as you consider 2010 - how busy you will be and what you may be able to change.

Next Ezine - the joys and challenges of the veteran homeschooling family!