Happy July! I hope you had an enjoyable Independence Day. Ours was quiet. David is in the midst of two large projects so he is working long hours, six days a week. We’re thankful for God’s provision.

Last week someone contacted me about working on a long-term project together. It was a brilliant idea that brings together my skills and this person’s knowledge and skills. So last week we started working on it. Hopefully I can share the details next week.

Our Summer Homeschooling

Caroline and I are doing some homeschooling each day since we homeschool year round. Not a lot, but enough to keep us moving forward in various ways. We’re currently reading Revelation aloud in our Bible time. I knew she would find the imagery intriguing. My goal is to read aloud through as much of the Bible with her as possible before she graduates. (Hopefully all of it, but some books might be a bit of a challenge.) We’ve read Proverbs, Esther, and Ruth so far. I don’t have a specific plan in terms of order. I’m selecting whichever book seems appropriate at the time. We’ve had some great conversations while reading these books of the Bible.

I know I’ve already mentioned it, but we have thoroughly enjoyed Compass Classroom’s Word Up. I highly recommend it. If you have a child who learns best with video, visuals, and humor then this is the thing for your vocabulary. We’re just about done with the first one and will go directly into the second. I am thankful I found Compass Classroom because I think they will be a good fit for some high school classes. I’m looking into other companies as well, but so far we’ve enjoyed what they have to offer. Compass Classroom also has an excellent blog full of interesting ideas.

I’ve been working on homeschool planning for the fall. I’m on the slow train that makes frequent scenic stops. LOL! I’m not interested in rushing and pushing myself to get this done. We’re not going to use any live online classes so we aren’t competing with others to claim a spot. It will all come together in its own time.

Homeschooling and Education Trends

Speaking of homeschooling, I’ve been hearing interesting bits about homeschool enrollment here and there. David was told there were 5,000 attendees at the recent homeschool convention in Denver. An astounding 42% of them were brand new homeschoolers for the fall. That’s amazing. A friend told me one of the very good school districts near her ($$$$$) lost 1,000 students last year and are laying off teachers. A thousand students. That is a LOT of money. That doesn’t include the ones they will lose for this fall. The Christian school they are a part of already has four grades that are full for the fall. This has never happened in the 15+ years they have been a part of this school.

If you’ve been following the forum I have about Anti-Racism and CRT in Education, you already know why this is happening. Many parents were unhappy with the masks and grew increasingly angry about them. The parents were unhappy with the distance learning and then they were really angry when they discovered what the teachers were “teaching” behind their backs.

But the teaching of Critical Race Theory is going to be the proverbial last straw for every family that can make another choice. Now that the NEA has voted for masks and jabs for kids as well as demanding the teaching of CRT moving forward in the fall? I told David I would not be surprised to see homeschooling hit 20% in this country. It was already up to 11.4% of children last year and how many of those families will honestly want to go back?

Pandemic pods will continue to increase in numbers except they won’t call them pandemic pods. They will be called cottage schools and such. That movement was already growing before 2020 in the gifted/2e circles, in classical education circles, etc. I would guess it is accelerating now. (If you don’t know what pandemic pods are, I linked to a few articles last year about them.) Now that parents can pool their money and hire a teacher they trust to create their own little school, why would they send their children back to school to be taught to hate themselves?

Guess what? They won’t.

Add in increasing numbers of students rejecting college straight out of high school. David interacts with a number of high school students on a regular basis. Over the past several years we’ve seen the shift from them heading to a four year university to instead starting at community college with the plan of transferring to a four year college to now going to trade school or working for a year or two to decide what to do.

This rise of homeschooling (and private schools) due to these events is going to reshape America in the coming years in ways we don’t fully understand yet.

New and Updated Posts

Last week I spent time updating a lot of post. A few were posts that I had archived and brought back out. I actually have quite a few to republish that are still in process. The ones I’ve republished include:

• Frugal Choices and Inspiration (originally from October 2005!)
• 5 Simple Steps To Replace Holiday Stress With Joy
• Matching Colors Preschool Activity Using Paint Sample Cards & Clothespins

These are posts I updated and expanded:

• Should I Send My Child To Preschool?
• Simple Thanksgiving Traditions for Families
• Simple Thanksgiving Learning Projects
• Simple Thanksgiving Meal Planning
• Simple Thanksgiving Activities for Children
• Cozy Slippers For Women

My Week Ahead

My week will include:

• homeschooling
• writing new posts
• updating posts
• republishing posts
• working on my new project

On the homemaking front, I want to do something with my hands. Maybe a little cross stitch project? I simply feel this need to make something physical. I also need to order firewood and make an appointment with the allergist (for me).

I’d like an outing to Barnes and Noble and Hobby Lobby, but the weather is so hot and humid I don’t even want to leave the house. David is so busy with work that he really doesn’t have time to do such things right now so those may have to wait. We’ll see what the week brings.

What’s up in your home? I hope you’ll leave a comment and share!

Artwork: “Not Too Much To Carry” by William-Adolphe Bouguereau

Happy first Tuesday of Summer! It’s almost fall-like here right now, especially compared to the very hot late spring we’ve already had. I’m thankful for the cooler weather although I can hardly believe we are down to the last week of June!

Over the weekend we did some much needed work in the basement. Caroline has her art area down there and she felt things were a bit crowded the way we had configured them which made her less likely to use the space. So we made a few adjustments and it is much better. We also purchased inexpensive lined, room-darkening curtains. We found some at Meijer in a pretty navy blue for all the windows. Prior to that we had only used blankets over the mini-blinds to keep out the cold and heat. It definitely looks better with curtains although they aren’t at all what I would have chosen if I had been able to really shop around and make a decision. However, it’s an unfinished basement so that’s that. Overall it’s better so hopefully it will be used more again.

We’ve been having some good conversations in our home about spiritual things and planning for the future. Although I dearly love little children, I have thoroughly enjoyed having a tween and now a teenager. It makes sense since I am a thinking and conversing type person that I would enjoy the age when my child is able to have real conversations with me. All of these conversations have helped me as I work on our homeschool planning this summer. That’s been kind of a slow-go around other things, but that’s fine. There is no rush or pressure for us.

Speaking of homeschooling, I’ve been going through all of my posts under Relaxed Homeschooling to organize them and tidy them up. I’m not done, but I’m making progress. Now that I have many years of homeschooling under my belt, I want to make sure the posts are truly helpful for those who read them. So that’s an on-going project. Once that topic is done, I’m going to move on to another. I’d like my website to be a helpful library of information so this is one way I’m working on it.

If you are thinking of homeschooling or would like some fresh ideas, I encourage you to check out Schoolhouse Teachers from The Old Schoolhouse. With the code BUMBLEBEE, you can get three months for $30. That is an amazing deal for everything you get. Seriously. Everything PK-12, all subjects, for your entire family. Even if you simply pick up an elective or one class for each of your children, that’s a great deal. Check it out for the summer and see how it works for you!

If you missed it, I added a follow-up post to my Cozy Blogs I’m Reading post from three years ago. That one is still quite popular. In the new one, More Cozy Blogs I’m Reading, I introduced several more blogs you might want to check out.

I wanted to share that since I made the decision to close my Teachers Pay Teachers store (out of principle due to the changes they were making), God has been very kind to more than make up for the loss of that income. Granted this is the slower time of year for sales, but He has provided in other ways so I trust He will also provide for the much bigger months we will not have in the fall and winter. If you think of us, please pray that God continues to provide David with the work he needs. He landed a steady project that will last for a few weeks and is waiting to hear on a very large project that would go on for several weeks or a few months. Please pray that God will provide not only for us but for many Christians who are faced with the prospect of losing their jobs and income due to changes in our culture. I’ve heard multiple stories from wives whose husbands are in increasingly toxic workplaces. Please pray that God will provide another way for them.

What is going on in your home? I hope you’ll leave a comment. I’m finally starting to get caught up on responding to everyone who is kind enough to do so.

Artwork: Maternal Admiration by William-Adolphe Bouguereau