Happy 240th birthday, America! Most everyone has plans for July 4th in this country. The date usually reminds us that summer is in full swing and is filled with fun, food, fellowship, and fireworks! We are blessed as Americans, and celebrating our country’s birth and God’s sovereignty over our nation is very important. We are reminded about our heritage and our future daily. Our national news, local news, social media keep these ideas present in our prayers, the way we vote, and the way we educate our children.

(In the style of "The Screwtape Letters")
Although we realize it is not always possible, the best way to build a reluctant reader is to avoid reading to your child. Not only should you avoid funny and meaningful chapter books read aloud to your whole family, but you should also avoid reading little things you may not even connect to literacy. For instance, don’t read his birthday card from Grandma or the highway signs as you are traveling.

Many families are wrapping up their academic lessons for this school year and are looking ahead to the next. In addition to homeschooling this time of year, our consultants are supporting and encouraging homeschooling families. One of the greatest benefits families receive from ordering BJU Press materials from a HomeWorks Consultant is year-round support. Our consultants also plan activities and events to help families find the best fit for their children’s needs using BJU Press materials.

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.