Tuesday, April 30, 2013

An Announcement to Make...

I have an exciting announcement!

God has been working behind the scenes, preparing me for a big adventure, opening doors for my writing, and I want to invite you along. As of May 1st, I'm the new content manager of Homeschool Toolbox. I'm so excited. I get to work with the writing team, find great homeschooling resources to give away, and write helpful product reviews. (And some other fun stuff along the way!).



Here's what that means for my blog. All of my mommy/wife/homemaker writing will stay right here. You'll find most of my homeschooling articles over on Homeschool Toolbox. Homeschool Toolbox is a great place to find out where to get the very best resources for homeschooling. We've also got some amazing writers sharing their wisdom and experience as they homeschool their children. Everything is written from a Christian perspective and with a positive, encouraging tone.

I'd love for you to come check it out, and be sure to sign up for the free e-book! If you love "looking over the shoulder" of others to see how they do things, this book is for you.

You can check out the site here
and be sure to like us on Facebook!

Pray for me as I begin this new venture, that I'll find joy in what I set my hands to and that this site will be a blessing to many.

I have also recently become a contributor for two other sites. You will find the “buttons” for those at the end of this post.



So You Call Yourself A Homeschooler?

Monday, April 15, 2013

An Introduction...for Meet & Greet Week

I have been blogging for a while...so, why an introduction now?
Raising Might Arrows is having a Bloggers Meet & Greet Week this week.  If you are a blogger, check out the link at the bottom of this post.  You can get in on the Meet & Greet Week as well!

My name is Hillary Gould.  I live in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina with my husband of (almost) 11 years and our three children. 

Our first two children are both boys, born 13 months and 13 days apart!

Our third child is a little girl who was born 20 months after our second boy. 

Because of the way their birthdates fall, for about four months out of the year, their ages are in consecutive order.  Like now, they are currently 9, 8, and 7.  When they tell others outside our family this, their eyes widen!  God chose to give them to us in a short period of time, and He knows best.  I am glad that they can grow up together and be friends. 
 
Why I blog:
In March 2012, my family took a trip from coast to coast!  We began on the East Coast, where we live, and traveled all the way to the West Coast! It was an amazing trip.  I never thought that I would be able to plan 14 days for a family of five traveling all the way across the country.  I spent a lot of time planning, and re-planning, and stressing; but when all was said and done, we had a wonderful trip.  So, I thought..."Maybe there are other families out there that would like to do something like this, and don't know where to start...like me...  I should blog about it...to help other people to have an easier time than I had."  That is where my blogging spark began.
 
I homeschool my three children.  I know that homeschooling is becoming more popular these days...but I also know that every family is different. I try each day to teach my children more about Jesus.  I want them to know about Him, love Him, and serve Him.  I want them to strive to be more like Him each day.  A verse that has given me comfort in those days when I wonder if anything is getting through...when I wonder if they understood a word that I just said...is Proverbs 22:6 "Train up a child in that he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it."  I take comfort in knowing that God says that I should do my best right now...train them up!  So much easier said than done, but I give it my best!  This is how I came up with the name for this blog...I would be blogging about our travel...so the word, "Destination" came to mind.  I figured that would work well with parenting, homeschooling, etc. as well...so, I thought "What is my destination as a mother?"  To train them!  Therefore, you have the name, "Destination:  Proverbs 22:6."   This being said, my posts are mostly related to Christian living, marriage, homeschooling, and being a mother. 
 
Links to some of my favorite posts:
 
 
 
 
 
Contact info:
 
 
 

Reasons to NOT homeschool...??

I have been thinking lately about all of the responses that I get from strangers who find out that we homeschool our children. Many times when other parents hear that we homeschool, they say to me, "Oh, I wish I could do that, but..." They then proceed with reasons that they would not or could not homeschool. I am going to share with you some of the reasons that I have been told as to why parents say that they cannot homeschool their children. I will then share my feelings on that response. There are such a variety of reasons that I have heard, that I decided to do a series on it instead of one very long posting.

(You can find Part One of this series, here.
 You can find Part Two of this series, here.
 You can find Part Three, here.
 Part Four, here.
 Part Five, here.
 And Part Six, here.) 


"My child NEEDS to be in public school.  He can be a witness to all of those children and teachers for Christ.  His ‘mission field’ can be his school.”   As a child, my parents did not take me to church.  I knew very little about Jesus, and even less about His life and what He did for me.  As a public school student, I had many friends who did attend church.  They would tell me about their church outings, their Sunday school classes, and all types of things involving their church.  They would usually ask me after they had told me these stories if I went to church anywhere.  I would tell them that I did not.  Not ONCE did one person invite me to go to church with them until I was in high school!  Not ONCE did any of them attempt to tell me more about Jesus or that He died to save me!  I was a sophomore in high school before a friend invited me to go to church.  (I had attended church before this time with neighbors and other family members, but did not go to church anywhere regularly.)  I went with this my friend in high school a couple of times, but since she did not attend regularly, neither did I, until we both stopped going altogether.  I did not attend church regularly until I was in college, due to another friend inviting me.  I do not think that those who did not invite me to their church after telling me their stories were "bad" or "un-Christian," I just think that they simply did not know WHAT to say.  Children are NOT trained at these young ages to be missionaries.  They will not be prepared to answer questions that most little children will have…maybe they have the same questions themselves and have never had them thoroughly answered.  For example, we had a little boy stop at our house one afternoon.  The children were outside playing, and he had just gotten home from school and was outside riding his bicycle.  He saw us and wanted to play with my children.  He came up to where they were, and my children started asking if he knew the story of “Jonah” and other stories from the Bible that are their favorites.  He said that he did not know about those stories.  My children proceeded to ask him where he went to church.  His answer shocked me…  He said, “Sometimes I go to church with my grandma, but I do not really like to go to church.  It is not fun!”  My children LOVE to go to church and will even cry if they do not get to go due to sickness or weather related issues.  So, they were confused by this boy saying that.  He continued, “My mom and dad said that you do not have to go to church to believe in God anyway, so there is no reason for us to go.”  My children turned to me and asked me if that were true…they had never been confronted with this question before, and did not know how to respond…even though they are in church as often as possible, and we study Bible every day in our homeschool…   So, I responded that the Bible does teach that we are to meet together with others who believe the same way we believe.  The boy said, “Well, I guess my parents don’t know about that part.”  He then started telling my children about Roman gods, which is contrary to what they had been taught.  At this point, my children let him know that they had never heard about the things that he was saying.  I told him some Bible verses that refuted what he was saying…  He left and never has returned.  This child was 9 years old.  My guess is that his grandmother was a regular church-attender, and that this discussion had happened before with his grandmother and his parents.  His answers to things came very easily, as if he had heard these things before.  If this child had been on the playground at school having this same discussion with my children, they would not have had any answers for him, and would have come away from the conversation confused.  This would not be due to the fact that they have not been taught...they have...but they don't have training to be missionaries at young ages.  Peer pressure is one of the biggest ways that "good" kids turn "bad."  It was better for my children to be there with me, seeing MY response to this child, and learning from that, than for me to throw them in with the wolves and hope they survive! 

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Linking up at:

The Homeschool Village


”Photobucket”


Friday, April 12, 2013

Reasons to NOT homeschool...?

I have been thinking lately about all of the responses that I get from strangers who find out that we homeschool our children. Many times when other parents hear that we homeschool, they say to me, "Oh, I wish I could do that, but..." They then proceed with reasons that they would not or could not homeschool. I am going to share with you some of the reasons that I have been told as to why parents say that they cannot homeschool their children. I will then share my feelings on that response. There are such a variety of reasons that I have heard, that I decided to do a series on it instead of one very long posting.

(You can find Part One of this series, here.
 You can find Part Two of this series, here.
 You can find Part Three, here.
 Part Four, here.
 And Part Five, here.




“I went to public school, and I turned out all right.”   Maybe this is true…  Maybe you did go to public school, and maybe you did turn out okay…  BUT how do you know how you might have turned out had you been homeschooled?  I know that I would not have known certain words at an early age.  I know that I would not have known things that I wish I did not know at an early age.  My children see or hear things in public that they have not seen or heard at home.  A lot of the things they hear or see are geared toward children their age, such as cartoons that they are not allowed to watch in my house.  There is a reason that they have not been exposed to those things.  Some people say…”Well, they will be exposed to it sooner or later.”  I would much rather it be later, thank you.  There are things that children should not know until a certain age of maturity.  Many things are socially acceptable, but not morally acceptable.  As I think back on
my life, all of the things that I knew that were unacceptable to my parents, unacceptable morally, and unacceptable in a life committed to the Lord, were things that I learned at my public school from peers and/or teachers.  I am not saying that children who go to public school are automatically doomed or that they are not committed to the Lord.  I am just saying that if you feel like because you "turned out all right," that your children will as well, then it simply isn't true.  After all, you graduated from school quite a few years ago...schools have changed a lot.  I can say that with 100% certainty because I was public schooled from kindergarten through graduation...and then taught in the public schools after graduating from college.  The difference that I saw in just those few years was more than enough to show me in which direction the public schools were heading.
 
 

Thursday, April 11, 2013

Reasons to NOT homeschool...?

I have been thinking lately about all of the responses that I get from strangers who find out that we homeschool our children. Many times when other parents hear that we homeschool, they say to me, "Oh, I wish I could do that, but..." They then proceed with reasons that they would not or could not homeschool. I am going to share with you some of the reasons that I have been told as to why parents say that they cannot homeschool their children. I will then share my feelings on that response. There are such a variety of reasons that I have heard, that I decided to do a series on it instead of one very long posting.

(You can find Part One of this series here.
 You can find Part Two of this series here.
 You can find Part Three of this series here.
 And you can find Part Four here.)

*  "I am NOT a teacher.  Teachers have special training.  I couldn't do what they do."  Who taught your child to walk?  Talk?  Feed himself/herself?  Who potty trained your child?  You have been teaching them already!  Teaching anything school subjects requires the same skills that you used to teach them all of those other things!  Repetition-"Say Ma Ma!  Da Da!"  You keep repeating it until they get it!  Phonics is taught the same way!  "Ooops, you fell down.  Let's try again."  Keep doing it until you get it right.  Math is taught the same way.  YOU know YOUR CHILD better than ANYONE!  Use it to your advantage and teach them in the way you know that they will learn.  I could talk for days on end about adding--using candy and coins and anything else I could get my hands on, and still my son might not get it.  But if I pick up his bag of play dinosaurs, he begins to perk up and listen.  Teachers in a public school setting simply cannot do this for all 20 children in the classroom.  That is why the skill level in any given grade is so varied...some "got it" and others did not...and the teachers simply did not have time to work with those who could not "get it," even if they tried. You know things about your child that the public school teacher will never know...and even if he/she does know it, she might not "get" it like a mother does.

*  Along those same lines, "My child has special needs.  The services offered by the school are best for him/her.  He/she needs those 'special teachers.'"  Again, you know your child better than anyone ever could.  There are a lot of good teachers.  A lot of good, "special needs" teachers that are gifted in their profession.  As gifted as they are, they still do not know your child like you know your child.  Your child will benefit more from being with you, and having your attention to his/her needs.

 

Saturday, April 6, 2013

Time4Learning Review

I was recently invited to try Time4Learning for one month in exchange for a candid review.  My month has just ended, and I am here to give you my thoughts and opinions.  In case you are not familiar with Time4Learning, you can find their website here.  Time4Learning can be used as a homeschool curriculum, afterschool enrichment, or for skill sharpening.

When our free month started, I explored the site a little and set up accounts for all of my children.  This is something that I really like about the site right off.  Each child has their own username (I just used my children’s first names) and a password (here again, I used something that they were very familiar with).  The children thought that it was great to type in their names and a password to access the site.  I let my 7 year old daughter try it first.  She LOVES school in general, but had never been much for “computer games,” so I wasn’t sure how she’d take to Time4Learning.  She bounced around from subject to subject at first, simply “checking everything out.”  Finally, she chose “Science,” something that she generally doesn’t like.  She liked it so much that she went to “Science” first the following day!  I was surprised!  She really liked the program, and would often ask during “after school hours” if she could do school on the computer.  It was a real hit with her!

Both of my boys enjoy playing games on the computer, so I wondered if the transition to “school” stuff on the computer would work with them.  I am now going to tell you my number ONE, favorite part of Time4Learning.  As soon as you log in, there is a little clock counting down at the top of the "page."  This is the time that you are to spend working on your “school” subjects.  After that, you are allowed to go into the “playground.”  The “playground” has games from many of the best known educational websites (such as PBSKids).  So, I told my boys that they had to do “this” amount, pointing out the clock, of “school” stuff, and after that, the playground would be “open.”  The timer also works during the “playground” time.  You are given a specific amount of “playtime,” and then the playground closes.  You can go back and do more “school work” to open the “playground” back up again.  This enticed my boys to try Time4Learning, and once they did, there was no stopping them!  My oldest son missed several opportunities to use the “playground” because the “school” was so interesting to him.  He laughed at the characters and really had a good time learning.

If I were to use Time4Learning again, I would probably move each of my children up a grade level from where they are now.  Some of the things that they were learning were things that we had already covered long ago.  I was glad to see that they remembered, though.  This is really my only “negative” about the whole experience.

I encourage you to look into this option for your children if you are looking for something along these lines.  There is a money-back guarantee after a two week period if you are not satisfied.  Even if you wouldn’t use this for your sole “homeschool curriculum,” it would be very valuable for supplementing! 

I must also tell you that my opinion here is entirely my own.  The content of this post was not written by Time4Learning, but, as stated earlier, I was compensated with a free month.