This is part three of our blog series on a listing of our favorite products that HomeWorks finds to be helpful to homeschooling parents and are tried and tested in many of our own homes. You can find parts one and two by linking on to the highlighted words here or on our HomeWorks by Precept website. If you’d like to know more about great materials, please contact a HomeWorks Consultant who can tell you more about the products and inform you of special pricing and shipping!

In our last blog post, we began to list of our favorite products that HomeWorks finds to be helpful to homeschooling parents and are tried and tested in many of our own homes. We continue this second part of the three- part series with more of our favorites! If you’d like to know more about these, please contact a HomeWorks Consultant who can tell you more about the products and inform you of special pricing and shipping!

“Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens”—these are a few of Maria’s favorite things in The Sound of Music. Most of us tend to gravitate toward things we like best and that work for us, like a favorite recipe your whole family enjoys, a favorite pair of earrings your friends noticed and complimented, or an author that really speaks to your interests. Here at HomeWorks we have “favorite things” too. This is the first of a three-part series in which I share many of them with you! Some are items from BJU Press, and some are other items we carry because we find them to be helpful and many families have seen success using them. Contact a HomeWorks Consultant for more details.

Students put so much effort into their academic work; I never wanted them to see me throw it away. My method of keeping schoolwork is to toss it all in a box at the end of the year and put in the attic. This week I’ve brought down a couple of those out and have been throwing away a lot of unnecessary records. In the trash went a Handwriting 3 book my daughter completed three years ago.

We are celebrating Memorial Day this week, and in our last blog post, we discussed the origin of the holiday and value of remembering and honoring those who lost their lives in battle for our American freedoms. But memorializing doesn’t happen just once a year. Think about other holidays. We remember and honor God’s gift and Jesus’ sacrifice for mankind at Christmas and Easter. At Thanksgiving, we remember those who went before us to make this country great and God’s protection for them. We celebrate our veterans and our independence as national holidays. But more than that, we memorialize events in our day-to day lives as well.

It’s almost Memorial Day and many families take the day off to enjoy a picnic, a day on the lake, or just some family time together. When I was growing up in the Northeast, I knew school was almost finished for the year because Memorial Day was here. It was our first picnic of the season where we gathered with all of my uncles and their families at a local park. We enjoyed this activity on July 4th and Labor Day, which signaled the end of summer to us as well. Of course there were fireworks on the 4th, but all of the other holidays had grilled food, baseball, and watermelon. So what made Memorial Day special? I do faintly remember seeing flags and adults wearing poppies on their lapels, but to be honest, I don’t remember memorializing anything. As homeschooling parents this is a wonderful opportunity to not only enjoy a day together, but also to teach a life lesson.

Many different types of families attend homeschool conventions, from those with a very conservative background to those who are self-proclaimed secularists in their philosophy. There are very large families and those with only one or two children. There are families who foster or adopt, and those who do not. There are parents desperate to find an answer for their child’s special needs, and those who simply want to give their kids a full educational experience.

Homeschooling truly is one of God’s greatest blessings to families. In our country we have the right to choose the materials, resources, and methods we use to teach our children, not to mention where and when that takes place. HomeWorks firmly believes in the privilege of choice and therefore is dedicated to providing the flexibility required to meet your child’s needs. However, all choices of materials are not equal. Before you decide between BJU Press and another homeschooling material—or even a BJU Press workbook over a full grade kit—let’s look at some important considerations.

It’s a list of familiar lies. You’re a terrible mother. You’ve made too many mistakes. Your kids will never “rise up and call you blessed.” You must have missed something in your child rearing OR you might miss something in your child rearing. It’s your fault if your kids don’t turn out exactly as you hope they will for God’s glory. I have told myself these lies over the years, and even now as a mother of grown sons, yesterday I heard the whisper in my ears yet again.

When do you grade spelling on projects? This question comes up often at conventions and on Facebook. Spelling is certainly something we need to teach our children so that they will become good communicators; but must they spell everything correctly on every page? The answer is no. Especially at a young age, children are trying to determine letter-sound correlation and use critical thinking skills to spell things. As they progress, they are taught generalizations and rules to help them become better spellers.