Tracking Sheets

Greetings from Me and My House,

In the Home Ec post I mentioned a Tracking Sheet I use. It is nothing fancy, nothing spectacular, but it is a way for your older children to track what they are actually doing. It is a simplified form of our Daily Log (which is more of a Journal, than a "form" - my *PREFERRED* method for their day to day tracking).

For us daily *assignment* sheets have not worked well. They require a whole lot of work and planning on my part, and become frustrating and obsolete when we get off-track or "behind". It works much better to know where we're headed and how we plan to get there and then just start. I do have "finish date" goals - that are sometimes met, sometimes not, so we just continue until we're done, or if it's not something progressive and interest is waning, we lay it aside until another Season (or maybe never) and go on to something else.

The youth fill out a Tracking Sheet for each course area, each week - such as: Bible, Math, Family Living/ Home Ed, Topical Study (Unit), (and any others they are working on). They list the course/ topic, the beginning date (and ending date, when they get there). This and their name are in a header at the top of the page. Then weekly they list what they accomplished - reading (what they *read*, or other resources), project (what they *did* with it), report (brief summary of what they *learned*). This is strictly a *list* - not their full documentation (Topical Journal) - for me to see what progress they are making. This is divided into 6 "weeks" on our chart, listing "week of", Reading, Project, Report for each of the 6 sections.

Tracking Sheets can be a simple way to see at a glance what your older, more independent studiers are doing.

At Jesus' feet,
Lisa

Part 2 - Times of Refreshing

Greetings from Me and My House,

This post will continue to address some of the questions one of our List
Moms asked.
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Times of Refreshing - Part 2

In Part 1 of this article I gave some ideas for coming to a place of Peace
and Rest in God's presence before attempting to do anything else. One of
LM's main questions was what to do with her children all day as she is going
through this Season of Renewing and finding God's direction that leads to
lasting peace and implementation.

Lord of the Sabbath - Redeemer
I'm a great believer in the Sabbath. Not the Pharisaical legalism of what
can and can't be done on the Seventh day, but rather the Spirit behind the
Law; the benefit and redemption that comes from spending time resting in the Lord; how we accomplish more in 6 days, than working all 7, by spending the 7th in His Rest; how we accomplish more in 24 hours by giving the first hour or two to seeking Him. He is truly our Redeemer, not only of our souls, but also of our time.

How does this apply to what to do with our children all day? Basically
because I believe God redeems that time that we spend resting in and seeking Him. What are your children doing all day *now,* while you're "spinning your wheels"? Are you spending all your time working with them but accomplishing nothing? Are they sitting in front of the TV or playing
computer games? Or, more than likely, somewhere inbetween?

I doubt that while you spend time seeking God for His Peace and direction
for them, they will do any *worse* than they're doing now. AND your time
will not be wasted. Although, you may have been wasting your time while
they were doing these things before, you aren't anymore. Your time is in
the Redeemer's hands. And He will now make up lost time for you after you
find His true direction.

It's like when you don't have time to stop and ask directions. You spend a
lot of time driving up and down streets that get you nowhere, and probably
end up arriving late. But when you stop and take time to ask directions and
carefully listen, for however long it takes, rather than dashing out
half-way through, although it leaves you less time to get where you're
going, you don't need as much time, because you know how to get there - and you may even get there ahead of schedule.

So, you could just let your children keep doing what they're doing. But
let's see if we can come up with some creative ways of helping them be more
productive, especially if they've been destroying your house, fighting with
their siblings, or vegging out on electronics all day.

1) If you have children age 3 and under, they probably can't do any *better*
without some help with them.

2) Ages (aprox.) 4-7 or 8 should be able to spend their time
constructively - OK, at least not DE-structively. I don't *expect* *ANY*
academic work from this age group, so the key is just finding them anything
non-destructive to do - until you can train them to be constructive.

I think household chores are ideal for this age group, that has so much
energy. They are usually eager to help do "big people" work. This is not
the time (during your Season of Renewal) to teach them heavy-duty cleaning, nor to expect perfection out of them. And, yes they will need direction from someone for each task. You can't just give them a list and say, "Do this today." But, you or someone else can say, "Empty the trash cans in
each room into the big one in the kitchen, then report back to me when
you're done," then give them another task.

This age group can, unsupervised, do things like: put away their own things,
pick up their room, sort clean laundry by who it belongs to, fold towels,
socks, underwear, and probably their own clothes, (but not MINE :- ), put
clothes from the washer into the dryer and start it, (toward the older end
of this) start clothes in the washer that are already sorted. They can set
and clear dishes from the table, collect "stray" dishes from around the
house, and perhaps put away clean dishes. They can sweep or wipe up small areas/ messes. They can feed and water pets. They can dust furniture, if you don't have a lot of breakables. And there are so many more as they get
to the older end, and if you've already been training them.

They can also listen to a Bible story on tape and pray for their own Quiet
Time/ Devotions. They can draw and color pictures, and put together
puzzles. They can play quietly in a designated place - like your playroom,
or backyard, if it's safe. And, if they are used to electronics time, you
can "reward" them for doing the above, with a *short* amount of time for an
educational but fun computer game, or Christian video.

3) Ages 8-12 or 13 can do all of the above plus much harder chores. If they
are reading on their own, most are at some point in this age range, they
should be reading the Word and praying in their private time with God. I
still don't pursue *formal* academics with this age. But some quiet "Table
Time" projects they can work on by themselves are: Copywork - from the Bible and/or good literature; Reading - series like Trailblazers or Christian
Heros Then and Now, or The Light and the Glory and Sea to Shining Sea for
children, or classic children's literature - Charlotte's Web, Little House
on the Prairie series, etc. Further Math, Spelling, and Grammar skills
will have to wait until you can spend more concentrated teaching time, and
perhaps have further direction on how to best teach these. But these are
skills that can be learned in a fairly short time when the student is ready
and mom is at peace.

What about children that are more activity-oriented than bookworms, whose
quiet reading and copywork time has quickly reached its limit? And, even
the bookworm needs some activity. Shooting hoops, roller blading, and bike
riding are all activities this age group can do on their own, if you live in
a safe place. In addition, your children can work on creative projects of
interest to themselves. What are they interested in doing creatively - as
producers, not consumers? Take them to the library. Buy them a few
supplies. And let them go at it, on their own (which means the project
cannot be dangerous, or require further skill training first). Do they like
to build or make things? Cook or sew? Write? Scrapbook? Garden? Play an
instrument? Do they love the computer? Let them design and produce
something, not just play. This is their chance to do something they're
interested in, not just what you direct them to do - although obviously,
their choices must be within boundaries you set.

4) Ages 13 or so and on up, can continue all the things listed for ages
8 -12 on a higher level. They should be able to research and self-learn new
skills, as well as supervise and direct younger siblings. They can oversee
basic household needs, fix meals, do all daily household chores. They can
(learn how to) seek and find God, and enter His presence in their Devotional
time. They can do Copywork, Writing, Reading, Documenting/ Notebooking,
Science experiments, and perhaps learn further math skills on their own.

What about you?
In this Season of seeking God for direction and gaining peace, you may spend a day or two completely locked away by yourself, but realistically, on most of your days, and probably not even *every*day, this time will only be an hour or two. The rest of your day will be devoted to caring for your
children and going about your daily duties, walking in the Peace you've
found in Him. Don't step out of His presence and out of His Peace when you
step out of your quiet, private place. Stay in His Peace and the atmosphere
will begin to rub off on your children.

Set no expectations for "school" at this time, other than them spending time
on the above mentioned ideas - whichever of them will work without stress in your family. Spend time just enjoying being with your children, accomplishing whatever you do and no more. Not working on anything that stresses either of you, just enjoying each other, perhaps not accomplishing anything more than minimum maintenance on the housework.

Sound too idealistic? Perhaps it is, but this is the atmosphere and goal
you are looking for. Do some things together that will promote Relationship
and Peace, perhaps some outings, perhaps some projects at home, perhaps
reading to them. Try to work in some individual time for each child.

Begin the day with your children, after you've had your private time with
the Lord, with Family Worship. This doesn't have to be a highly structured
or long time. It is a time where your children are learning that worshiping
and seeking God are top priority for your family, not just individually but
also as a family, not just on Sunday but everyday. This time can be as
simple as putting a Praise and Worship CD on as breakfast is being fixed and everyone's gathering together and while you're eating. Just filling the
atmosphere with Praise to God really helps set the tone of the home.
Consider leaving it going softly all day. Perhaps you want to all stand and
sing together after you finish eating. We've done this as training for
church worship service, when our children were younger. Then read the Word and Pray together.

Then spend some time with your children, as mentioned above, and do what's required in your home. Then perhaps you can get them all involved in their quiet, private projects and you can steal away to spend more time with the Lord, in prayer or the Word, or even seeking Him through other resources.

If you have not read much on home education philosophy and you need this
info, I can recommend several resources compatible with L.E.D.'s philosophy, as well as our own materials. If you're already "hearing too many voices" - you've read so much, you're confused - it's probably best that you just sit at Jesus' feet, perhaps reading books about drawing nearer to Him (which is *THE* place to start even you if need to read the home ed philosophy and principles books too.) I firmly believe that the Holy Spirit is our teacher, and we are to, as individual families, follow Him in His direction
for *our family*. But I also believe that others have blazed the way after
Him that can be Mentors for us - as Paul said, "you follow me as I follow
Christ." We can learn much from Godly pioneers, although we still have to
go back and seek the Lord for *exactly* how he wants us to implement
specific principles into our family.

Don't look at your children's needs during this time as "interruptions", but
as opportunities to build relationship with them. They still need you, and
you are still responsible for them, even as you seek the Lord. He made you
a mother, and He has given you the grace necessary for a mother. He
understands your needs, and your children's and will see you both through.
Just DON'T LOSE HIS PEACE in the midst of everyday life. You've heard it
from me before and will continue to hear it, RELATIONSHIP IS EVERYTHING!!!!

As your day winds down, spend some time putting projects away, putting the
house in order, and preparing to serve your husband. Homeschool isn't
everything, RELATIONSHIP IS!!!

In the future, I will present more on Routine - ordering your day, after your Season of Renewal. You may be able to add more things than what I've presented here and still keep things running peaceful and smoothly, but this is a good place to start.

At Jesus' feet,
Lisa

Part 1 - In a Panic! Where do I Start?

Greetings from Me and My House,

Yesterday I received a letter from one of our list members, which I think many of us can relate to in many areas. Her questions were not simple ones with short pat answers, but deep questions of Life and a heart's cry for some Practical Application answers.

I will excerpt part of her letter here, then begin my answers, which will be a *series* of articles posted here. This is long, but I think you will all be able to glean much from it. Please print it out and digest it. It is the heart of L.E.D. She asked if I had any suggestions. I always have suggestions :- ) I just continually pray that the ones I give are directed by God to meet the needs of those asking. Although our list mom (LM) is asking for some practical, physical applications, none of the "things" I could (and will) tell her to do/try will help at all until she has been able to find a place of peace and rest in God. It is where we must all begin, or everything we do will be in the flesh and will not accomplish anything of worth.

See LM's excerpts below, and my beginnings of suggestions for her and any of you.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

LM'S EXCERPTS:
I'm on your L.E.D. email loop, and have gleaned much over the year......

I've spent much of the past two or three years (maybe more) trying to
learn & glean from too many voices (in retrospect....) I'm still floundering!.....

when I panic,and realize that time is passing so quickly, I push "school"... and Bible gets left out......I KNOW this is not God's way, but, continue to flounder......With our oldest at home being 13 1/2 I'm beginning to panic! I just have so little time left with her, and I want her (& each of them) to have a BURNING LOVE for the LORD, and to WANT to do His will for each of them. OTOH, I don't want her to be ignorant in respect of math, history, science, etc.

Where (or what) do I start? What do I concentrate on? I've recently
reread Wisdom's Way of Learning, and just yesterday, I reread (for the third time) your books, too. I understand that I must seek God's Wisdom FIRST & Foremost, but, what do I do with the children in the meantime? .... I *know* all the "right" things, but, I'm having a really hard time implementing them practically.....

you said that the children must *know* God and His character (I'm not sure I even know Him as I should!) How can I teach them this, when I'm just learning? Do you use the Bible for this, or have you another resource so that I (& the children) can learn this (God's character) together?.....

days are passing by because I have too many voices (so to speak) telling me "this is the way, walk in it"......I've ordered SO much curriculum in the past two years it's scary! ....and NONE of it gets implemented!).....

Your 7 Disciplines are wonderful....but, how do I implement them? One at a time....just work on Connecting with God (for myself more, and for each of my children), and THEN implement the rest?.....

I need some practical help on what to do with the four children here at home yet......

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Times of Refreshing - or - RPJ NHG

When we reach this point - and all of us do at some time or another, we need to do what is the hardest, most unnatural thing. We need to pull back and enter into His rest. As LM mentioned, even though she's "pushing school" and panicking over academics, all she's really doing is "spinning her wheels," going from one thing to another, without implementing any of it successfully.

Jesus' offer is still our only hope when we are burdened or weary - or confused out of our mind - we need to Come to Him and He will give us rest. Resting in that peace that passes all understanding is such an awesome place to be, a place that I suspect none of us stays in as much as we should. But when chaos reigns all around us, not just in this world, but also in our homes and our relationships, the only place we can go, to make it all better, is into His arms to rest. We should all know by now that we can't make it better in our own strength, and that God's voice isn't the one that yells the loudest in the midst of all the voices telling us what to do. His is the voice we hear when we "be still" and enter that quiet place, and turn off all that noise in our heads and listen for Him in our cleansed and open heart.

If I could impart into all of you just one thing through L.E.D., this would be it. For, if you'd learn and consistently practice this and pass it on to your children, all would be well. It is so much more valuable than teaching you how to write a curriculum, or to teach a child to read, or to plan a high school course of study and write a transcript. It is the foundation for all of Life. But as LM said, we need some practical training in even this. We need ideas and examples to get us started.

When nothing's working we need to go back to our stable foundation, to what we know is secure and won't fail us. In L.E.D. that foundation is the 7 Disciplines of L.E.D., beginning with "Connecting with God." I'd like to share some ideas from my workshop, "Times of Refreshing", and add some further insight and Practical Application specific to the situations LM is facing.

Many home-school moms are described in Luke 10:41, "you care and are troubled about many things." The stressed out, burnt out, overwhelmed, home-school supermom is "encumbered" just as Martha was. And like Martha they're saying, "If everyone doesn't get to work here, NOW, things that are needed won't get done!" Yet, in all her working and striving (in the flesh,) she was not commended by the Lord. The sister that wasn't pressured into a panic by the upcoming deadline of "dinnertime", the time when all must be ready and completed, was the one our Lord said, "chose the better part."

There are some physical helps for reducing home-school stress. Ephesians 5:16 commands us to "redeem the time," and we are also told that we are to discipline ourselves. But first and foremost we must come to a place of rest. We must deal with our troubled soul, by laying it at the Cross of Jesus and allowing Him to take our yoke of burden.

"Times of refreshing come from the presence of the Lord," Acts 3:19. As the bumper sticker says, "No Jesus, No Peace. Know Jesus, Know Peace!" Now, since we know Jesus, we have a saving relationship with Him, why aren't we walking in Peace? Could it be that the only way this saying "works" in real life is to apply the Hebrew meaning of "know"? To "know," in Hebrew, isn't a mental knowing, but a relationship knowledge, to be intimately in close relationship with, as a husband and wife experience true intimacy and closeness. It refers to the ultimate closeness of love where the 2, husband and wife, are entwined and "in" each other, and totally consumed in all of their being with each other. It doesn't refer to just "the act". Marital intimacy is to be a representation of the intimacy God wants us to experience with Him, the Joy, the Fulfillment, the Oneness. He wants us to abide in Him. He wants us to be in Him, and Him in us. He wants us to have time and passion for Him, like married lovers are to have for each other.

I know, that sadly, some of you women have never experienced this deep intimacy with your husband or God. You know God on the same surface level as you do your husband. You come together in the act, but you yearn in your heart for something more, for deeper closeness, for an abandonment of body, soul, and spirit to come together totally as one. Your spirit desires Oneness with your Lord and with your husband. Relationship is never a formula or a legalistic act, but a complete, vulnerable, opening up and giving of the heart and soul, holding nothing back. We can even enjoy the "act", but that doesn't mean we have a truly deep intimate relationship. We can enjoy a time of worship to the Lord in church, but that doesn't necessarily mean that just because we enjoyed it, we met with Him intimately.

I have so much more to say on this, but will leave you with a couple of thoughts, ideas, and scriptures to meditate on. Faith is our foundation for Life, and "faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word." We must always, first, renew our minds to His Word.

OK, Practical Application time.

Love is *Relationship*, not Law.

(There is no formula for loving my Lord, my husband, or our children. But there are some principles for successful relationships that we can follow.)

*Life* is Relationship.

(Everything else will pass away and be forgotten. Only relationships are eternal.)

For relationship with God that brings us Renewal, Rest, and Refreshing, we must come to Him on His terms, through His Son Jesus the Messiah, John 14:6. And, we must worship Him in Spirit and Truth, John 4:24.

Where to begin? To come into His presence we "enter His courts with Praise".

1) Pray - you can follow our model of P.R.A.Y. if you'd like.

P. - Praise and thanksgiving - always begin with Him, not yourself; praising Him for Who He is and thanking Him for what He's done.

R. - Repent - Confess and ask forgiveness and cleansing.

A. - Ask - for your needs - the need for peace, direction, etc.

Y. - Yield - Give Him control over all of you, your Life and your very being.

2) Word - Renew your mind. Here's some scriptures on this subject for you to meditate on.

Acts 3:19, Isaiah 40:31, Luke 10:39 (-41), John 15:5, Phil. 3:3, Phil. 3:13-14 [originally mis-typed,but 4:13 fits too), Gal 5:22-23, Eph. 5:16, Rom. 14:17, Ps. 16:11, Ex. 20:8-11, Ps. 1:2, Ex. 33:14, Mt. 11:28, Ps. 46:10, Mt. 6:33, Deut. 6:5, Mk. 12:30, John 14:6, John 4:24.

3) Worship - Put on an intimate, peaceful worship CD and sing along, or sing a cappella either worship songs you know or make up your own. Stay in this place until you are lost in Him and have peace. Don't come out until you have release. In fact, if you start to drift out, press in instead and He will take you even deeper.

What do you do with your kids? AND, TURN OFF THE PHONE!!!!

1) Get them out of the house with an older sibling, other relative, or friend.

Pro - you won't be interrupted.

Con - they won't learn by seeing your example.

But it might be good for your 1st time or few to be assured of no distractions or interruptions. (Of course, this is all cancelled if you have a nursing baby, in which case, you trust God's grace to cover you and try to pick a time when baby will sleep a while.

2) Get yourself out of the house - leaving your kids with a sibling, etc. The key to this is finding a place where you won't be inhibited in raising your voice in prayer and worship.

Pro - you know you won't get phone calls or unexpected visitors.

Con - not many people have a truly private place where they aren't inhibited.

Some ideas: Does your church have a room you can use, (when nothing else is going on), where you won't have to "keep it down"?

Do you own a camper you could go out to and park somewhere?

Do you live on a farm or in a rural area where you can find a field, woods, or a barn (weather permitting)?

OR even is there a place you can just go park your car and sit and pray and sing to your heart's delight? Cemeteries can be private places.

3) Have your intimate time with the Lord when your children are sleeping.

Pro - no babysitters, no one has to leave.

Con - they may wake up and distract you. *You* have to get up extra early (a virtue, so I'm told :- )

This isn't a problem, IF your children can be told that when they wake up you want them to stay in their beds (rooms?) and read to themselves/ do their own devotions until you come get them.

4) Do it during the day when they are there.

Pro - they will see you placing priority on entering a private place with the Lord, and hear (through your closed door) you praying and worshipping.

Con - if your children are very young or not well trained, chaos may reign and you may be distracted and interrupted.

Ideally, your children will spend at least some of this time connecting with God for themselves. If they are older (or you have older ones that can help the younger) they can go on to other quiet productive projects until you come out. If all else fails, let them watch a Veggie Tale video or 2 (or 3 :- ) quietly in another part of the house, where it won't distract you.

5) My idea of ideal? Take a couple of days (at least once a year) - ideally with your husband, not alone (but if your husband and you aren't there yet, don't beat yourself up over it - just do it alone) - to get away and seek God - for your relationship with Him, both individually and as a couple, for your marriage, and for your family (including home ed direction).

Although we miss our children greatly when we aren't with them, and nursing babes always go along with us, over the years we have found these times to be greatly refreshing for us, and we grow closer when we through them. These times, whether alone or with your husband, will benefit your children by refreshing you and enabling you to be a better parent/ home-school mom.

A couple of resources?
There are many "intimacy with God" books I like, but the one I'll mention today is "Experiencing the Depths of Jesus Christ" by Madam Jeanne Guyon (written in the late 17th century). (I'll mention other resources in later articles.)

If you'd like a book for you and your husband, one of the best we've found on developing spiritual intimacy with your spouse is "A Marriage after God's Own Heart" by David Clarke.

If you don't have our tape "8 Principles of Lifestyle Education", it covers the core principles of L.E.D. and gives some Practical pointers for getting started.

At Jesus' feet,
Lisa

Editted.

Marriage Preparation

Greetings from Me and My House,

I'm going to intersperse the series of articles with a few shorter posts addressing some recent questions/ comments to the list. This one deals with preparing our children for Christian Marriage.

We give plenty of teaching/ training on courtship, marriage, men's/ women's biblical roles, etc. throughout our children's education; but when they are actually at the point of leaving (our home) and cleaving (to their spouse-to-be) we believe 2 steps of specific, in-depth preparation are paramount. They are Freedom from the past and specific now-that-you're-engaged marriage councel. I will recommend 1 resource for each, although I know there are many good ones out there. These are 2 of the best we've found that are very thorough within themselves. We wished we'd been saved and known about them *BEFORE* WE got married.

Yes, even "good Christian homeschool" kids pick up wounds and offenses that they need freed from, before entwining their life with another. "Restoring the Foundations" is a "healing/ freedom" ministry (I hesitate to say "deliverance" ministry because of the conotation. This is NOT typical "deliverance" ministry, but it does bring freedom through prayer.) This ministry focuses on 4 ministry areas through prophetic (listening) prayer councel. They are Sins of the Fathers/ Generational Curses, Soul/ Spirit Hurts, Ungodly Beliefs, and Demonic Oppresion. The counceling begins with freeing yourself to receive ministry through releasing forgiveness and proceeds to deal with each of the areas, and how they've affected your life, through prayer - family sins that may be underlying in their life, soul/ spirit hurts (from wounds and offenses), ungodly beliefs (even kids with good Christian foundations can pick up negative/ worldly beliefs especially about themselves, or relationships, etc), and demonic oppression (areas where - usually, from carrying one of the above, satan/ his demons have gained a stronghold). There is an opening questionaire/ interview to give an idea of what areas need addressed. This is not a high-strung, in your face type thing. It's very low key, yet mightily powerful - simply listening prayer, and Holy Spirit freeing. There are trained "Restoring the Foundations" councelors around the country, as well as a "Healing House" you can go to for a week, but you can also just order the manual and work through it yourself or (preferably) with another person. I think ideally, parents would become trained (by going through the ministry themselves), then lead their young adult children through it. In some intances, a young person may not feel they can go through this with their parents, and may need to go to other RTF ministers. The manual (aprox. $40), and more info on finding a RTF minister (people within local churches), are available through Proclaiming His Word ministry, http://phw.org

The other area we see a great lack of training in is actual what-to-expect-when-you're-married-and-how-to-handle it type counceling. Sorry, pastors, but most of what we've seen as pre-marital pastoral counceling is really lame. Young Christian couples are not being given the foundation they need to go the distance in facing a world (and the Enemy) hostile to their Christian marriage. We highly recommend Family Life Marriage Conference. They include a special track for engaged couples. Obviously, we haven't been through *that* track, but the rest of the conference is GREAT. It teaches how to build Oneness in marriage, what obsticles you'll face, and how to get around them. Conferences are held around the nation. A friend's daughter and fiancee went to one of these before they were married. The result was she and her siblings sent their parents, their parents came home and started the Family Life "Home Builders" bible studies in our church, resulting in US going to the conference. It is powerful life changing stuff. Early registration $85.00 per *person*. Go to http://familylife.com

At Jesus' feet,
Lisa

P.S. Since this was originally posted, Ashli and her husband have gone through the pre-married track before they were married. It was great preparation (only a couple minor points we disagree with).

Homeschool Home Ec

Greetings from Me and My House,

Homemaking seems to be a subject that is either forgotten as valid credits, or "school-ized" into a boring "subject, by many home educators. We need to learn how to avoid both extremes. I think the key is in 2 simple sheets of documentation. Mom producing a Learning Map/Course of Study (list of objectives with check off boxes) for the student, and Youth producing a Tracking Sheet (of completed tasks/projects). As a teaching Mom, I have a set of objectives that my husband and I want our children to learn. We don't believe in a child-centered learning that ONLY follows their own self-induced interests. There are many interesting and valuable things for them to learn, that they may not know about yet, nor realize that they'd enjoy or need.

I also find that my Youth really like to know what is expected of them and what it takes to complete something. They don't like just being told to "work on what you want/ or the subject I give you and report back what you learn/ or chart the hours it took you." They like to know that "these are the necessary components of this topic, here are some resources that I've found valuable in learning about this topic, now take them, add what you find, figure out how to best apply it in your life, and then let me know what you discover, AND I'll be right here to give any assistance you need." Some topics have a lot more "necessary components" than others, some are more "free".

In Homemaking there are many components that I feel are necessary for our children to learn. Our girls will one day be keepers of their own homes. It is necessary before they marry that they know how to properly manage all the aspects of the home. These aren't the things that are learned in a semester of "book learning". These are skills that are acquired, through training and practice throughout their Youth years.

The areas that we have divided Homemaking into are: Food Preparation, Shopping, and Storage; Sewing, Wardrobe, and Clothing Care; Home Management - Organizing and Cleaning; Repair and Maintenance; Decorating, Refurbishing, and Remodeling; and Hospitality and Ministry. In addition, some of our "Health" topics dovetail with our Homemaking topics and are really a part of proper homemaking; Nutrition and Exercise, Health and Dis-ease Care, Safety and First Aid, Human Development, and Personal Appearance Care. Other Practical Arts/ Life Skills (that count as "credits" elsewhere, are also a part of Homemaking, such as Home Finances. For each of these topics I have a Course of Study (list of objectives) designed as a Learning Map for my children to follow as they walk through their formal study, Youth years. Most of the time we don't set aside a specific season for each topic. We just allow Life to direct. Although, at those times that Life dictates, I do set aside specific times for training specific skills.

Each week our Youth are asked to complete a Tracking Sheet for Family Living/Homemaking (in addition to other Tracking Sheets) that lists the week's dates, any reading or other resources/training they used, what projects they worked on, and a summary of what they did/learned. They have Tracking Sheets for every area of Learning, and are to list ANY and ALL activities, reading, or other tasks they have done on the appropriate Tracking Sheet. (In addition to the Tracking Sheets, Topical Journals (Notebooks) are kept of those Topics that require further documentation.) These Tracking Sheets can then be cross-referenced to their Learning Maps for each topic to check off any objectives completed. As Learning Maps are completely "checked off", they become records of Credits Earned, without specifically setting aside a Season for each Topic.

Some practical examples. We began this year with me needing a season of sewing. I took the opportunity, that Life directed, to teach some specific skills to my daughters, and they each completed a couple of projects. They now have the skills needed to go on with further objectives without much more specific training. From there we turned to many household projects that needed done. Our 16 year old, Ashli, helped her dad install a dishwasher (including plumbing and wiring). (He'd just had shoulder surgery, so she did most of it, at his direction.) Not a specific objective that I had listed, but definite Repair and Maintenance skills. She then helped me prime and paint a room, (I'm 6 1/2 months pregnant, so again, she did most of it, with training from me and my husband,) put up a wallpaper border, and hung pictures and decorations; Decorating/ Refurbishing skills. She has also, in the last 6 weeks, learned further Clothing Care skills, and Food Preparation skills (although these Topics are basically considered "complete" by now). All without taking a "course" in any of the above.

Although we believe that some Topics are best studied in a Season of concentration of them, Homemaking is not usually one of those areas. What I believed would be a longer Season of sewing, with many projects done and skills learned, turned into short training sessions (for the girls) and a couple of needed items completed. I really wanted to get more done, not for Ashli's "credits" but for our real Life needs. But it turned out that other Life projects took precedence once we completed the necessities in the sewing area. BTW, I learned MUCH during that time through very concentrated learning. I've been wanting to learn to design patterns from scratch for some years, and worked on that, to design the things I needed, for the time that the girls worked on their projects.

I don't know where we will go next in the area of Homemaking. We have so many projects since we are remodeling our home. Perhaps more in that area, or perhaps another Life directed area. You never know when a need for further Hospitality training will rise. As Ashli nears the end of her formal mom-directed training stage of her life, we will make a point to see that all remaining areas of objectives are covered. Sometimes that takes mom and dad re-evaluating whether the still uncompleted areas are really necessary or not. If they are, it may require a specific Season set aside for training in them. It's all a part of giving our children a Living, rather than static, education.

At Jesus' feet,
Lisa