“For you that are parents, or to whom the education of children is comitted, I beseech you mind the duty which lies on you. … For to what purpose do we desire them before we have them, rejoice in them when we have them, value them so highly, sympathize with them so tenderly, grieve for their death so excessively, if in the meantime no care be taken what shall become of them to eternity? … If you neglect to instruct them in the way of holiness, will the devil neglect to instruct them in the way of wickedness? No, no, if you will not teach them to pray, he will teach them to curse, swear and lie. If ground be uncultivated, weeds will spring up.”

~ John Flavel

About a year or so ago a dear friend shared a CD with me.  She said that a friend of hers put these CDs together and thought that we would enjoy them.  The children LOVED it so we decided to purchase the rest of the catechism cds and have been enjoying them ever since.

The other day a very well known blogger posted about these very cds.  Challies posted about Songs for Saplings along with other music for children.  Challies wrote:

Songs for Saplings is James and Dana Dirksen from Porland, Oregon. They have recorded four albums, one of which follows an A,B,C format while the other three are questions and answers, much like a catechism. I suppose these albums will largely appeal to younger children. They are quiet and acoustic.

He is correct in his assessment of the cds. They are geared toward younger children. But they are beneficial for the entire family.  The catechism cds do appeal to older children more and more in the second and third cds.  There is a great variety in the style of music on each cd. You can even listen to excerpts on their website.

What I love about them is that the children (and us parents) learn the great truths presented in the Westminster Catechism which is derived directly from scripture. Each question and answer also contains the scripture that teaches the truth. This way your children are not only learning the doctrinal truth but the scriptures that proclaim that truth.

Songs for Saplings is a ministry of the Dirksen family and this is what they state on their website.

We create lively, fun songs that attempt to deliver the deepest of Biblical truth in a format that your children will love to listen to. We want them to understand who God is and what He has done, as well as what He wants your children to do and to be. We hope that you will benefit from these CDs and use them to help teach your children about our God and his great love for us.

With Christmas time approaching, what better gift could you give than the gift of music which teaches and proclaims the greatness of our Lord Jesus Christ?!

I am pleased to announce that I can offer you a 20% discount off of your order when you buy CDs from their website. This includes the “12-pack bulk pack” which a lot of people order for gift-giving. This does however exclude the 24 and 48 CD bulk packs, which are already heavily discounted.

All you need to do is enter the following code as you go through the checkout: mamaarcher
It’s really simple.

Hopefully you will find this really helpful as you order CDs this Christmas!

As you seek to grow your little saplings……

into strong oaks of righteousness…

Songs for Saplings can be a musical and fun tool for you and your family to use and enjoy!

that they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he may be glorified.
(Isaiah 61:3b)

Visit SONGS FOR SAPLINGS and order your CDs today! Order some for your friends and family too! Don’t forget to enter the discount code for your 20% off!

Please leave a comment and let me know if you plan on making a purchase and what you think of their music and ministry!

Regardless of whether you order, please tweet, email, and share on Facebook so that others can take advantage of the discount offer!

Here is an old post republished for this weekend.

Today I thought I would share some links to help you and your family celebrate Reformation Day. You can introduce your children to medieval games and skits. Study on a reformer. Watch movies of reformers such as Luther. There are many things you can do to make this a holiday that has purpose and is glorifying to the Lord rather than halloween which glorifies the prince of darkness. Here are some links to check out.

A Night of Reformation from Doorposts

Celebrating Reformation Day

How You Can Celebrate Reformation Day With Family & Friends

Heroes of the Reformation

Questions & Answers About Reformation Day

Reformation Day Word Search

Great Reformation Day Faire Activities

Luther’s 95 Thesis

For more Weblinks visit my friend Valerie.

Homeschooling can be a challenge and a lot of work but it is filled with rewards for the children, the parents, and society.  It becomes even more challenging when learning disabilities are thrown into the mix.  I have two children (so far) who have been diagnosed with learning disabilities.  We are dealing with a whole array of learning disabilities.  A few of them have a lot of support and suggestions on how to deal with them.  Some do not.

It seems there is always trial and error involved in trying to find out what works best to help these children with extra challenges.  There are also differing schools of thought on how to approach things.  What one school of thought says works another will say is worthless.  The real test, however, is really what works, what brings results.  I am one who believes that the Orton-Gillingham approach seems to have the best results.  S.P.I.R.E. is based on that approach.

One thing that one must take into consideration when dealing with learning disabilities is that there will be what seem like set backs.  One day your child will seem to finally get it and then another day seem as if they haven’t picked up a thing.  Perseverance is the key.  Keep plugging away and do not let yourself grow weary.

Whenever I begin to find myself getting frustrated with my children I put myself in their place and realize how much they are struggling.  Being aware of how difficult the task is for them helps me to keep my frustration in check.

I have recently found a curriculum that seems to be helping my daughter.  It is rather pricey.  But I think it is well worth the price.  It does tend to get on my nerves a little bit only because of the amount of time and repetition involved but that is exactly what my daughter needs.  It takes more time than I would like but then again my daughter takes more time to “get it” than I would like.  It does take about 45 to an hour per lesson.  The lessons may seem redundant but again the repetition is what she needs.  It isn’t simply repetition though.  The program tackles reading from several different angles.  This helps to attack all different areas of possible mis-connects and cement the concepts for the child. Even though there is more involved with the program it is amazingly easy to implement. The teachers guides are very easy to understand and give step by step instruction which is easy to follow.

What program am I referring to?  It is called S.P.I.R.E. and can be purchased from EPS.  S.P.I.R.E. takes a ten step approach to teaching.  Each lesson contains ten steps.

S.P.I.R.E. is a comprehensive and multisensory reading intervention program. It is designed to prevent reading failure and to build reading success through an intensive, structured, and spiraling curriculum. It integrates phonological awareness, phonics, handwriting, fluency, vocabulary, spelling, and comprehension in a 10-Step lesson plan that is specifically designed for the way struggling readers learn. via website

S.P.I.R.E. has eight levels and each level follows the ten step lesson plan. With each concept taught there is an introductory lesson with one or more reinforcement lesson. With my daughter I have found that she needs each and every reinforcement lesson but that may not be so for your child. The ten step lesson plan is as follows. I share this to give you an idea of how they attack each new concept from several angles.

1. Phonograms Cards
2. Phonological Awareness
3. Word Building
4. Decoding & Sentence Reading
5. Prereading
6. Reading
7. Sound Dictation
8. Prespelling (orally)
9. Spelling
10. Sentence Dictation

There is also independent work and additional readers to reinforce what has been taught.  For more on the ten step program, GO HERE.

If you have a struggling reader I would highly recommend the S.P.I.R.E. program.  It is a bit time consuming (about an hour a day) and it is a bit pricey. I think I spent about $2200 for all eight levels and the preschool program for one child.  If you purchase it one level at a time though it isn’t so hard on the budget.

The thing that I love the most is the fact that it tackles the same concepts from all different angles and helps you see where your child is struggling the most enabling the parent to better address the issue.

You can learn more on their website.  They even have a sample video lesson demonstrating the ten step program.  You can also look at the scope and sequence for each level.

Do you have children who struggle with learning disabilities?  Have you found something that seems to work?  Have you ever tried or even heard of S.P.I.R.E.?  After looking it over, is this a program that you think you might try? Please leave me a comment and share your thoughts with me.

Quite a while back I wrote for an online homeschooling magazine called Heart of the Matter. I thought that I would share this article I wrote for them. It is several years old and a little outdated but still very timely for anyone looking to manage their home and their homeschool. I hope you enjoy.
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For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven. Ecclesiastes 3:1

Time management is one area that greatly effects my ability to teach my children at home. I wrote in an earlier post about prioritizing. Once you have prioritized and weeded out activities having a plan of action to carry things out is of great importance. One of the best ways to manage your time is in my opinion with a working schedule. I will readily admit that this is an area that needs continual work in my household.

Schedules must be revamped often. As the scripture above says, for everything there is a season. There are different things that happen in our lives that will interrupt your plans and schedules and these call for adjustments. In our home we are going through a few of those “seasons”. We have the season of an upcoming move and the season of morning sickness. Once your schedule is in place, try not to be so rigid that you cannot adjust for a change in season or a surprise storm or two.

A schedule is simply a written plan for ordering those things you deem as priorities into your day. You designate blocks of your time for specific activities. It helps you to find the time to accomplish the tasks you have before you. It can also relieve some of the stress of life because you have a plan. It is a way to direct your children to the next activity for the day without constantly being interrupted with questions about what to do next.

Everyone has a different comfort level when it comes to how much structure to put into their day. I find that with the larger my family becomes the more structure the better. There is simply more to get accomplished than before and I need to have a plan of attack.

I came across a great book that has been a tremendous help. What first caught my eye was the fact that the author was also a homeschooling mother of eight. She is someone who can relate to the sheer volume of things that pertain to a large family. I thought that if this worked for her large family then I could implement some of her ideas and have them work for me too! Her book would even be helpful for smaller families.

I ran into a friend who also used this book to organize her household. She is the mother of seven. She uses this plan and it is what enables her to manage her time wisely. When I received my book, I read if cover to cover in the first day. I was so excited! I pulled out the toolkit that comes with it and began to put our schedule together. After three days of trying to make this schedule work, I called my friend crying. I simply could not fit everything into our day. Her words of advice were to remind me that I could do all that the Lord desired me to do but that I could not necessarily do everything that I desired to do! I needed to prioritize and cut out some things. I simply cannot do everything that a mother of two has time to accomplish. I have more children with many more levels of educational needs. After prayer and discussion with my husband, I cut and cut some more. At last I had a working schedule.

It takes time and effort to implement a schedule and to get the family started. Once you have committed to it and worked at it for a while you will begin to fall naturally into a routine. You learn what takes longer and what is done more quickly. You simply adjust your schedule to fit your family. I found that I needed several schedules, almost one for everyday. Some days we had piano and other days we had to finish early for AWANA.

I do not currently have a written schedule. We have not used one this past year and I feel as if we have not accomplished nearly as much as we should have accomplished. After we are settled into our new home, a new schedule will appear and be implemented. My life is simply easier when we have one.

I suggest sticking as closely to your schedule as possible when you first start. This will help you to develop the habit of “running a tight ship.” Once you have that, make more adjustments. You can determine then how strictly to follow your schedule. It will differ for all of us. My friend I mentioned above followed hers to the “T.” Her life was extremely structured and her family thrived under that structure! I am a bit more relaxed. As an example, I do not schedule my nursing babies and needed some flexibility. The main idea here is to have a plan, a written plan. Not just to have a written plan but one that is actually workable!

Take some time and schedule your priorities and see how much more you will accomplish. Do you currently have a working schedule? Have you ever used this book? What have you found are the benefits of scheduling? Leave me a comment and let’s have a discussion about it to encourage each other in our efforts!

Here is that wonderful book I mentioned.

This book is written by Steve and Terri Maxwell.

I highly recommend this book for those looking to manage their home in a more effective way. There is such great information and the toolkit is included. If you look on their website you will find testimonials, information on what else is included, and schedules from other moms.

MANAGERS OF THEIR HOMES

School is going well so far. We are finishing in a timely fashion. Some things are taking a little longer than anticipated but I think that is due to the fact that we are using a few new curriculum items and are still trying to “figure it out.”

We are still on our summer schedule for extra activities and that will soon mix with the school schedule. It seems everything switches from summer mode to school mode at different times which really makes the scheduling interesting.

We have had two field trips in this first week of school and completed four days worth of lessons (more in some subjects).  We took a trip to the Anchorage Museum which also houses the Imaginarium.  The Imaginarium is a hands on museum for children.  Lots of fun learning without realizing that you are learning!  We also went on a berry picking expedition.  You can read a little about that trip on my Soaked in Adventure post.

I think that the first month or so of homeschooling is always such an encouragement.  Most of the beginning of a new year is review.  I know many homeschool parents who tend to skip a lot of stuff located in the front of their books because their children know the material and they want to move forward rather than just having busy work.  I understand that.  I, however, have decided not to do that.  I think the review is good for the children and it encourages them when they can sit down and say “This is easy Mom!!!”

We are able to move through school lessons quickly and the children like that.  It just seems to get our year off to a good start.  We often do more than just a day’s worth of lessons and the children are motivated to do more because it isn’t such a challenge.  It begins to develop a good work attitude before things become more difficult.

Our school year has started out well!  I hope this is a good indication for the rest of the school year!

How is your new school year going?  Even if you haven’t started yet, what is your usual plan for the beginning of the year?  Do you do a lot of review?  What field trips do you have planned?  Share with me!

Whose bright idea was it to start our new school year today??? Just wait until I get my hands on them! I am EXHAUSTED this morning! I am not used to getting up this early! I could have easily slept for another three hours! I am really NOT ready for this! So tell me!! Whose idea was it?!?!?!

Oh wait, that would be me! Never mind. Off to shower and get ready for this grand adventure of another school year!

This school year we are trying something new.  I saw this at the curriculum fair this year and I just couldn’t resist.  For my younger children we will be using this three days a week.  It is a basic handwriting (manuscript) program combined with a drawing (art) program.  It is colorful and fun.  There are also book lists and thematic study suggestions if you want to expand you study.

I bought the entire boxed set but you can purchase each book individually.  I also purchased the workbooks to go along with it.  It is just easier for me to keep everything organized that way.

We have not begun yet but I have all three of my little girls asking when, when, when we can start on it.  I think it may be a highlight this year!

If you are interested take a moment to visit their website, HERE.  They also have sample lessons so you have a first hand look at the curriculum.  You could even try it out with your children before purchasing.

Have any of you used this curriculum before?  If so, what do you think?  Did your children enjoy it?  Did it improve their drawing skills?  I would love your input!

Image via Wikipedia

Lessons plans for the entire year will be finished and printed today.  School supplies are purchased.  The children’s school buckets are cleaned out and organized.  Morning wake up times move earlier this week in preparation.  School begins next Monday and the school bell will be ringing early.!  (Can’t you just hear the squeals of joy?)

We are almost there.  Everything is pretty much ready except for the students.  We are easing in to it a bit though.  There will be several breaks in August due to camp, visitors, and jelly making.  AND if Mr. sunshine ever decides to show his face in Alaska then we will run out to meet him.  The days we do have lessons though will be full!!

Anyone else starting this early??