Hi!
Homeschooling is such a blessing, don’t you think? Yesterday, my family went on a field trip to the Frontier Culture Museum in Staunton, VA. There was lots to learn there, and I didn’t consider it a lost school day—though we do have a bit of reading to catch up on today! :)
We drove to Staunton the week before to see The Importance of Being Earnest at the American Shakespeare Theater, as well. We’ve been reading the play aloud in our Form 4 & 5 class at STAR. It has been fun to hear the class full of girls giggle as one read a proposal to another. Hearing them laugh at the performance was a joy! Through homeschooling, I get to be with my kids, all day, and we get to experience the same literature, the same cultural experiences, and we get to know the same people. It provides content for our conversation at the dinner table and in the car.
I remember being a public school teen, and being asked how my day went, and saying “it was fine,” like so many other teens before and after me. Parents struggle to connect with their kids, and their kids just don’t have the energy to talk about it. See, when there’s no common experience for several hours each day, every little bit has to be explained. Who were the people? Where did it happen? What was the context of the situation? Only the most social teens will have that kind of energy. Many others will just give up and say “it was fine.”
Our girls are seventeen and fourteen, and I consider it such a treasure that I can spend days with them. Our sons are grown young men, and we still reap the benefits of the time I spent with them, and the books we read together. These memories fill our conversations. I personally feel like homeschooling has created a stronger family bond for us, and I wouldn’t want it any other way. Do you have this same kind of experience? Comment and tell me about it!
Well, I started this post/email to let you know what I’ve posted on the site. I guess I just explained to you one of the reasons I am such an advocate of homeschooling, though. This is my why—I want you all having a bonded family with shared experiences. I’ll keep plugging away at this site, week after week, to provide lots of homeschool resources and reading schedules for you—so that your family might be blessed by homeschooling, too.
With that in mind, if you’ve wanted access to the reading plans but haven’t signed up yet, my birthday deal is still going on through September 14. Go here: https://gentlelearningco.substack.com/birthdaydeal to get 47% off.
Now I’ll tell you what I have added to the site this week!
Hymn Pages
I’ve been creating hymn pages (with videos, information, and book pages for learning more) this week, for the following hymns:
These pages are free for everyone.
History Books By Subject
I’m working on lots of pages of history books by subject. These are new pages, so they don’t contain a lot—yet. In fact, some of the pages only include a subject list at this time. Stick around to see these filled in! Here are the pages:
And, the Cycle 4 History Books by Subject page had already been created. These pages are for paid subscribers.
New: Religions Page
This Religions page will have a lot more added to it in the future! Note: I am an evangelical Christian and my family attends a Baptist church. That’s my worldview. I think it’s important for children to learn some basics about different religions, and so I will add some resources to these pages in the future. I have only added one book, about Passover, so far. These pages are for paid subscribers.
Note about why I create the pages I create and how I go about it…
We live in a home that was built in 1965. The front door is in the middle, with a staircase dividing the house, leading straight up from the entry way. On the right of the front door, our home once had a small dining room, with a built in china hutch. By small, I mean, with a table and chairs, it might comfortably seat six to eight people. Since we have a family of seven and we host guests in our home regularly, we needed a bigger dining room. To the left of the front door, there is another room that was once labeled “Living Room,” and it spans the whole depth of the house and has windows looking out the front and the back. The kitchen is behind the stairs and small dining room and next to that long “Living Room,” and then, through the kitchen, there is another “Family Room.”
We made the long “Living Room” a dining room, and my husband added a hanging light fixture to the ceiling, and we placed three long buffet cabinets along the wall. Since then, we have hosted lots of friends and family members for meals at our table and we’ve served countless dishes of food at our “buffet line.”
We also removed the old, dingy chandelier from the “Dining Room” and added wall-to-wall bookshelves and a hide-a-bed couch. Now, it’s a library and a guest room. The Library is the space where I create pages for this site.
My books are in color order, and also in order of which books have been added to the site & which books I need to add. Almost every week, I pick up a stack of books in the library, and then I make decisions about the cycle, the subject, the form, etc. This week, I picked up a stack of Cycle 1 books and began to add them. That’s why I created the History Books by Subject pages. It gave me a place to put the books. I’ll keep adding to these pages!
Sometimes, I go to our church’s library or to the local public library, and I sit there for hours and add books. I do this because I can’t afford to buy all of the books I want. If anyone ever wants to send me books to add to the reading plans, I’m up for that!
Anyone interested in two Wild + Free Tickets for Franklin, TN, Sept 20-21?
The conference is coming up, and the drive to Franklin is going to be a bit of a burden on our family right now, in light of another ministry God has called us to participate in. I love this conference and have learned a lot at it in the past! I have two tickets that I will sell and transfer to you if you’re interested. Email me and let me know if you want to go.
That’s all for now!
I hope your week is wonderful! Please let me know if you have any questions.
In Christ,
Brenda Scott