First Two Days of High School

I can't really believe that my youngest is now in high school. We started our school year yesterday and so far things have gone well. Things are completely different this year than in previous years so it's taking some getting used to. For one, we're using a different curriculum for the majority of our studies. I'm also taking a greater role in her schoolwork and actually sitting down with her and doing most things side-by-side. It's definitely nice to discuss things as they come up and this gives me greater flexibility to determine what needs to be written out compared to answered orally.

Yesterday we started at 10:30am to take advantage of the cooler morning for yard work, but were done by 2:30pm. Today we got started around 8am because it was raining, but were done by 12pm. That included a break to take the horses out since the rain abated for a bit. I know it's too early to tell for certain, but I think this year is going to be nice.

I'm now making bread for hubby's lunch and will make Sweet Zucchini Biscuits as a thank-you to the neighbor for taking care of the horses Saturday so we could go out as a family.

Upcoming School Year

I decided to make a few changes for this school year. We've used Tapestry of Grace for the past six years and have loved it. I think it was more me, but I've been amazed at the nuggets of history that Samantha has remembered. Since we just bought a farm and will be learning how to garden, preserve our harvest, keep chickens, own horses and possibly keep a cow, I decided to do something different and hopefully more in line with our new lifestyle. The most important focus for next year, however, is character training and everything else will take a backseat as necessary.

I searched around and found a unit study on Anne of Green Gables called Where the Brook and River Meet. The same publisher, Cadron Creek, puts out an elementary unit study on Little House on the Prairie and a middle school one on the Narnia series. The curriculum covers history (from a Canadian perspective), Bible, literature, writing, fine arts, occupational education, physical education, health and economics. I'm supplementing with several books throughout the year for history, literature and Bible and we'll use the methods presented in Teaching the Classics to discuss them.

I also bit the bullet and purchased Teaching Writing: Structure and Style and Student Writing Intensive Level C from IEW. I've been looking at IEW for several years, but have been very intimidated by it. I haven't been able to find another writing curriculum that I actually liked, so I figured I'd go for it. It seems easy enough once I actually got it and looked through it. Samantha didn't do too well with algebra last year so we're starting over with Video Text. We'll use Apologia Biology for science and Analytical Grammar for grammar.


I'm trying to get a service-oriented group for middle and high school students started through one of the local Christian homeschooling groups. We'll partially model it after the concepts in Do Hard Things by Alex and Brett Harris. I'm hoping we'll get enough interest and can really make an impact not only in the community, but in the lives of our teenagers.


And to round out our year, Samantha will be joining the IEA team this fall for competitive horse riding. This is a group in which the kids are ranked by levels and then are given a horse at random on competition day. They're given a certain amount of time to work with the horse, but must then ride to the best of their ability. This helps separate the truly good riders from the riders who just have rich parents and fancy horses.

Discipling Our Children

I'm rereading a book by Paul David Tripp called Age of Opportunity: A Biblical Guide to Parenting Teens. I read it several years ago after I purchased it from a homeschool conference, but think it should be reread periodically as a refresher. I'm learning new things this time through because I'm in a different place spiritually, and my daughter is older and hopefully more spiritually and emotionally mature. The last time I read it was with my son in mind, as my daughter was not yet a teenager.

Something struck me today and I'd like to share it. Chapter 3 has a section that discusses interpretation. Paul says,

"...all children think, and the thoughts of their hearts shape the way they live their lives...Parents who understand that their children are interpreters do everything they can to get them to think out loud and instill in them a distinctively biblical view of life. They will realize that this is usually not done in formal times of instruction like family worship, but spontaneously as issues come up in the course of family life...It is vital that as we live in the mundane moments of life with our children, we teach them to see life from God's perspective. Parents who understand that their children are not simply reacting to the facts, but are interpreting the facts in a way that gives them a particular shape and meaning, will ask good questions and be good listeners."

 I don't think I've ever really stopped to think about this, but it's true. I find myself wondering why in the world my daughter gets so upset about certain things, and I now understand it's because she's interpreting them in a different light from what I am. These are good teaching moments, once we get past the anger.

Paul goes on to talk about "fixing" a fruit tree that won't produce good, juicy fruit by stapling good, juicy fruit to the branches. He didn't solve the problem of the tree not producing good fruit, but only made an outward change that won't last. The new fruit doesn't have any support and will eventually rot.

"I'm convinced that much of what we have called Christian parenting is nothing more or less than 'fruit stapling'...This 'sin is bad, don't do it' brand of parenting forgets that sin is not only a matter of behavior, but a matter of the thoughts and motives of the heart as well. It fails to recognize that if the heart does not change, any behavioral changes that take place will be temporary and cosmetic, because they will not be attached to roots in the heart."

I've fallen into the trap of trying to change my children's behavior by "stapling" instead of getting to the root of the problem. It only creates more work for all of us, however, because the original problem never gets solved and typically only grows bigger.

Our biggest problem right now is that our daughter doesn't take discipline well at all. She immediately gets  an attitude and doesn't listen to what we say, instead arguing or negating everything. It's quite frustrating to try to have a simple conversation with her or give her a simple instruction, only to have it turn into an argument.

Verse for 2012

So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.