Homeschool convention!

I just spent an amazing weekend at the homeschool convention in downtown Phoenix. I always walk away from convention feeling so encouraged and so excited for the upcoming school year. There is something so sweet about being right where God wants you to be, and year after year I feel God confirming our decision to homeschool our children. What I love about homeschooling is every year looks a little different for our family. The first year was pretty regimented and ran much like what you would see in a typical classroom. The second year was that pull between breaking away from the formal classroom and finding freedom throughout our school day to do things our way and discover how the kids learn best. Last year was probably our best year yet and that's because I let the Lord direct our days and stayed open to what He wanted each day to look like, I learned to be flexible and found so much freedom in that. And this year, I'm just super excited to see how God leads as we explore new curriculum and ways of doing things. Here are a few things I took away from this years convention:

1. Character comes before curriculum. There will always be math lessons and spelling tests but there are times when these go on the back burner when dealing with a character issue.

2. Marriage comes before mothering. (always a great reminder)

3. Homeschooling is discipleship and discipleship is our goal for homeschooling, raising Godly kids is the ultimate goal.

4. God's mercies are new every morning, thank goodness! (what a great reminder for all of us.)

5. God wants to carry my homeschool burdens (Matthew 11:28-30) "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke us easy and my burden is light."

6. Philippians 1:6 is our theme verse for homeschooling. "Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in  you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." Can I get an Amen to that! I remind myself of this in regards to Camden as he struggles with dyslexia. I know Camdens hard work will pay off and this verse just gives me so much hope.

7. Don't be a dream killer, but instead fan the dreams of my husband and my kids keeping in mind that God is big enough to take care of the dumb ones. :)

8. We are going to explore a new way of learning, it's called notebooking and I'm super excited to share about that in another post after our school year is underway.

9. Science is probably my favorite subject to teach in homeschool. I love looking at Science curriculum. This year Camden and Anna will study about Zoology and Jadon will be doing Physical Science.

10. I love my sisterhood of homeschooling moms! They are awesome and without them, I probably wouldn't be homeschooling or would have quit a long time ago. Thank goodness for amazing friends! And I have a super awesome husband who likes to attend the convention with me and fully supports my efforts to educate our children.

Here's to another great year of Homeschooling! I'm super excited. :)