The Homeschool Group has now been meeting for together work time for two months.  We were able to start off the school year outside in the warm sunshine.  Since it has gotten cold (and snowed) we now have the ability to use the new combined Gathering Room to meet in.  This room provides us the space to properly social distance and be in the same room together.  Thank you to the Pastors and Nehemiah who worked hard at making this usable for us. 

Our Weekly Meeting

During our time together, the kids share things they are learning through projects and experiments they are doing.  Digestion, How Sound Travels, Places to Visit in New England and the Letter “R” are examples of things that have been shared.  This presenting helps the kids learn how to speak in front of an audience.  In addition, there is a short time of reading out loud together to help with reading and presenting skills.  The older ones read through a short play while the younger ones work on beginning reading skills.  During our worktime, the kids will give each other spelling tests and sometimes practice state capitals, but sometimes its nice just to be able to do schoolwork next to a friend! 

When work is done, we end by playing a sport or exercising together.  Throughout the fall, we learned about several organized sports, such as volleyball, football and basketball.  We may be able to squeeze in playing soccer if the weather cooperates.  A dance lesson is also in the works.  The kids are looking forward to outdoor time in the snow and on the ice when we are able.

Lending Library

We are excited to announce a new Homeschool Resources Lending Library to assist parents in teaching worldview, creation, Biblical sexuality, and various other topics to their children! 

The idea of this material is to be a supplement to the core subjects that the kids are studying.  As parents, there are topics that we should be covering that are not part of our regular curriculum. This library is meant to be a resource to help with some of those topics. These can generally be covered over a few weeks.  Winter months or spring or summer break may be a good time to cover some of these topics.

This is located in Gathering Room 1 for you to browse and checkout after church services on Wednesday evenings and Sunday afternoons, and during homeschool group time on Thursdays.

If anyone, parents or otherwise, run into any resources which you feel may be beneficial to this library please send them our way.   

Here are just some of the items available to you: 

• The Talk: Biblical Sexuality is a series of 3 books for different ages, starting at age 6 through teenagers. The author of this series also played a part in developing Covenant Eyes. The introduction to the first book lays out reasons why this topic should be covered by parents and done early.

• Worldviews: A Children’s Intro to Missions is a workbook the compares the five major worldviews to Christianity. It also introduces several cultures and countries where these beliefs are prevalent.  There are multiple activities, crafts and recipes as well as an introduction video for each worldview.  There are two different books, but both cover the same thing.  The Jr. Edition would be appropriate for upper elementary school, while middle schoolers would benefit from the other one.  There are scans of the activity pages, please ask for them!

• Lots of books and videos from Answers in Genesis including: One Blood for Kids: What the Bible Says About Race, Dragons, Awesome Science: Exploring The Grand Canyon, Yellowstone and Meteor Craters and Petrified Forests

• Drive Thru History Video Series, Incredible Creatures that Defy Evolution Video Series, Adventures in Odyssey DVDs, Torchlighter Animated Missionary DVDs , The Story of Jesus for Kids DVD, Case For Christ for Kids Books

Our homeschool group recently transitioned from our (SD) walks on the Red Cedar Trail over the summer to taking more educational focus for the upcoming school year. Over the past month, we have made some changes to what our group does on Thursday afternoons.  Traditionally, we have done what we called “recess” which was a time for the kids and parents to get together. This was especially beneficial for us as we were able to play and talk about how the week’s been going at local parks. This gave the kids a chance for exercise and socialization. It also provided a time for the parents to spend some quality time talking together while watching the kids.

Moving forward on Thursdays, our time will look more academic by having a few different things happen. We plan to have guest speakers come in to teach us a lesson or skill a couple times a month.  In addition to this, time will be provided for kids to come together to work on projects or complete science experiments together. They also will be able to study for upcoming tests and share the projects they have already done to practice public speaking skills.

Church Recommended Curriculum

Starting this year, the church is promoting Alpha Omega Publishing as our recommended curriculum provider.  Alpha Omega creates different versions of their curriculum.  Switched on Schoolhouse is the computer-based program that Shofar School previously used in the Philippines.  Lifepac is the same curriculum, only in workbook form.  Both Switched on Schoolhouse and Lifepac provide a great academic education, while providing a Biblical foundation.

Having a church recommended curriculum makes the transition easier for new families beginning homeschooling, since all families are now using the material. It also provides kids in the same grade the opportunity to work on the same lessons at the same time. We will use some of our work-together time on Thursdays to work on the regular curriculum.

Sports and Fitness

We will also spend some of the time on physical education by learning different sports together.  In the month of August, we learned all about baseball.  Although we weren’t able to play an actual game due to COVID restrictions, we still had a great time!  Parents and kids practiced throwing, catching and batting family-style, as well as learning the ins and outs of the game. In the up-coming fall months, we are looking forward to continuing with a variety of sports.  Several covenant members have volunteered to teach us about volleyball, football and basketball. 

With these changes we hope to provide a better learning and fitness opportunities for the kids and get more involvement from the church members who will occasionally join us. Thanks for all your support and prayers as we start a new school year, and especially for our new homeschooling families!

A Recent Field Trip to the Environmental Site

By Sara Huhmann

What does a successful day look like? If you are anything like me, I usually start the day out with a list of expectations that I plan to accomplish. During the school year, my list is usually made up of things like which subjects we are going to cover, how long I will spend with each child individually working on reading, what time I am going to get dinner started so it is ready on time, etc.

Some days we hit pretty close to “target” and I feel good about our accomplishments. Other days start off with an argument between siblings that derails my schedule. These are the days when I sometimes question our success because they aren’t as productive as I had envisioned. By now I should expect those interruptions. But time for talking through the heart issues behind a squabble and disciplining don’t usually make my “to do” lists.

The Disconnect

I think one of the big reasons for this inconsistency is that God has a completely different “to do” list for our days than I have. I tend to be focused on progress and tasks that can be measured physically. But the truth is, much of the progress God wants to make in our family is in changing our character.

With this being the first year that I have homeschooled 3 children, it has caused me to re-evaluate my definition of a successful day.  Do we have academic criteria that we need to meet? Sure. Are we diligent about using our time wisely? I try to be. But my eyes have been opened to the fact that there is so much more to be learned (both by my children and by me) than math facts and phonics sounds. Through the process of learning together at home, we are also learning a lot about our own sin tendencies and our character flaws that cause “rub” in our relationships. It is one of the great blessings and challenges of homeschooling!

A New Way of Thinking

When my kids fight over who gets to use the coveted blue gel pen for their drawing project first or when I have a bad attitude about our child’s lack of progress learning to read, I am learning to see those as just as important educational opportunities as the science and language arts lessons. Instead of viewing them as “time suckers,” I am even learning to be thankful for them! I am thankful because without those fights and bad attitudes, we would miss out on opportunities to be confronted with our own sin. Each time, it is God’s grace toward us reminding us of our need for Him. Each time it is an opportunity to ask each other for forgiveness and to ask God to help change us.

Did you have a successful day today? I’ll bet it was more successful than you realize.

It seems a little ironic that our blog post published a mere two months ago was all about community.  At that time, we were ramping up for spring by looking forward to playing in parks, as well as a few field trips.  When the restrictions went into place due to COVID-19, to be honest, our day-to-day home life has been unaffected. 

Math still had to be computed, grammar still had to be learned and science was still something to be experimented.  But at the end of the school day, we found ourselves at home, not in a park, not at the library, nor eating supper with our friends in The Blind Munchies Coffeehouse.  We found ourselves home, together just us as a family. 

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It was daunting when I realized that we, as parents, had 100% influence and authority over our children.  I mean, I know we have always held that authority to a certain degree. Never has there been a time when we control every single detail of our children’s lives.  Now, if my daughter talks to her friends, its because I put a computer in front of her and connected her virtually to them.  Any conversation she has with the outside world, it’s because we allow it.  That goes for anything she watches, anything she listens to, anything she plays with.   

To be honest, that realization made me a little uneasy because that means she is only watching us her parents.  We are her only influence in her life right now.  I know we have always been an influence on our daughter, and it has always been something that we need to be very serious about. But now, like many other things, it has become even more clear how much that is true.

It’s time to evaluate

During this time, it very important to be aware of what we are teaching our kids, and what they are seeing and learning from us each day. Now is also a great time to make use of resources available to improve your parenting.  Then, at some point, we will be back in community. We will need to remember that they are still watching. The changes you make now can have a lasting effect on all family members!

Here is an article from the Gospel Coalition that is related to this topic for further reading.

Please pray for all the families would use this time to evaluate their discipleship practices. Then we can make Holy Spirit led changes. 

Why We Need Community

Community is an important aspect of every Christians life. At our church we have many ways in which we are all affected by our church community. One of the blessings of being part of a community is the ways in which the church community is part of homeschooling our kids.

Kids need to be part of a community just like adults do. They need influencers in their lives to help them move towards Christ and not away from him. They need people to help them mature and learn how to make life decisions. The homeschool group at Believer’s Church is meant to be that influence in the lives of our kids, but it takes more then the group itself.

Our kids also need the influence of those other than their parents and peers. They need other adults, of all ages, who can also influence them towards the Kingdom of God. This happens through formal events we plan, but more often it happens through the day to day interactions you have with them. 

Community Lessons

For the more formal side of things, we have had various people from the church over the past years teach lessons for our homeschool group. Different educational and life topics have been taught to our group by members of our church community. This gives the kids the benefit of hearing from different people other than their parents.  There are many members who have skills, talents, and abilities that us as parents, just don’t have.  Their knowledge is shared and the kids come to realize that people at the their church can teach them some pretty interesting things.  Thank you to all of you who have come in over the past couple years to share and teach us!

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Community Interactions

On the more informal side, we belong to a community so all the members of our community can be a positive influence on our kids. Children follow other kids, but they also follow the adults in their lives. While parents have an enormous impact on the lives of their children, often kids will follow the examples of other adults that take the time to interact with them. The impact you may be having on our kids may not seem obvious now but it will be shown over time.

In the upcoming months, we have a STEM camp planned for the kids and will have a few more learning activities for the kids taught by members of the church community. If you, or someone you know, is interested in learning more about our homeschool group, please email homeschool@jfbelievers.com for more information.

Who doesn’t love field trips? Getting outside of the classroom (so in our case, the house!) to explore, learn, and grow through hands-on activities with friends is a highlight of school for us. But as a homeschooling mom who isn’t great at dreaming up, planning, and executing excursions on my own, I am especially thankful for our homeschool group.

We have packed in a lot of adventures already this fall. Sometimes we all pile into the church van which is always fun. The kids feel a bit like they are riding in a school bus, and it is somewhat akin to playing the game of sardines, especially when you consider there are typically 5 or more car seats involved! Here are a few highlights from the semester.

September

On a hot Tuesday in September, we caravanned over to Willow River State Park and Nature Center in Hudson. After hiking around a bit, we had a geocaching lesson with one of the park naturalists. She taught us how to use handheld GPS devices and led us on an excursion where the kids successfully found two caches! We enjoyed a picnic lunch together and then hiked to Willow Falls. The waterfall was beautiful and the mist refreshing on a hot day!

October

In October, we packed into the church van and drove south to Alma, WI to visit Castlerock Museum. What an impressive place! We saw arms and armor from as early as ancient Greece to the early modern period and even got to try on chain mail!

November

November brought us downtown for a tour of Westconsin Credit Union. It’s fun for our kids to see church friends in their work environment. Danielle H. and another employee led us on a tour through all the departments with scavenger hunts in hand. Some of our favorite parts were getting to operate the pneumatic tubes at the drive-up windows and playing coin bingo!

December

We gathered together in December for a woodworking lesson with Tavis, where each child built their own birdhouse – just in time to use as Christmas gifts! Skills like hammering, measuring, and tracing were learned by some and practiced by all.

Last but not least, we snuck in an extra December lesson on the human body while Matt was in town. He introduced us to Organella (ask one of the kids about her!) and taught us about what our organs do. We also got to make lungs using paper cut-outs, straws, and sandwich bags! Matt tied it all together by sharing 1 Corinthians 12:27. We are each part of the body of Christ and have an important role to play, just like each organ in our body has an important job to do!

On behalf of all the families who participate in the homeschool group, we are thankful for all of these learning opportunities and especially for all of you who helped to make them happen!