TheCompanion · 4/5/2015  · of Christian Home Educators of Ohio, a nonprofit organization of families serving the needs of home educators in Ohio and neighboring states. All materials

Christian Home Educators of Ohio

CompanionThe

April Edition 2015 - Volume 28, No. 2

2 The Companion – April Edition 2015

BOARD OF DIRECTORSWayne & Becky Clark

John & Melanie Elsey

Mike & Dianna Seay

STAFFAnna & Rebekah Seay - Office Staff

[email protected]

Melanie Elsey - Legislative [email protected]

Dianna Seay - [email protected]

Erin Neese - Layout & [email protected]

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CONTACTCHEO 740-522-2460573 Hebron Road #301 [email protected], OH 43056-1444 www.cheohome.org

The Ohio Homeschool Companion is a publication of Christian Home Educators of Ohio, a nonprofit organization of families serving the needs of home educators in Ohio and neighboring states.

All materials contained herein are the property of CHEO unless noted and may not be reproduced unless accompanied by the following notice:

“Reprinted by permission of Christian Home Educators of Ohio.” Kindly send a copy of the publication.

“It is Christ…who also makes intercession for us….the Spirit…makes intercession for the saints…” Romans 8:34, 27

Do we need any more arguments than these to become intercessors– that Christ “always lives to make intercession” (Hebrews 7:25), and that the Holy Spirit “makes intercession for the saints”? Are we living in such a relationship with others that we do the work of intercession as a result of being the children of God who are taught by His Spirit? We should take a look at our current circumstances. Do crises which affect us or others in our home, business, country, or elsewhere, seem to be crushing in on us? Are we being pushed out of the presence of God and left

whom we have no interest, and unless we are worshiping God the natural tendency is to be heartless toward them. We give them a quick verse of Scripture, like jabbing them with a spear, or leave them with a hurried, uncaring word of counsel before we go. A heartless Christian must be a terrible grief to our Lord.

Are our lives in the proper place so that we may participate in the intercession of our Lord and the Holy Spirit? f

From… My Utmost for His Highest Daily Devotionals with Oswald Chambers - utmost.org/helpful-or-heartless-toward-others

with no time for worship? If so, we must put a stop to such distractions and get into such a living relationship with God that our relationship with others is maintained through the work of intercession, where God works His miracles.

Beware of getting ahead of God by your very desire to do His will. We run ahead of Him in a thousand and one activities, becoming so burdened with people and problems that we don’t worship God, and we fail to intercede. If a burden and its resulting pressure come upon us while we are not in an attitude of worship, it will only produce a hardness toward God and despair in our own souls. God continually introduces us to people in

A Devotional by Oswald Chambers Helpful or Heartless Toward Others?

3The Companion – April Edition 2015

InsideApril Edition 2015 - Volume 28, No. 2

Contents

Helpful or Heartless Toward Others?

Sabbath Rest

Let’s Go!

Five Ways...

Kid Friendly Recipe

HSLDA Minute - iGovern

Inside

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4

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5

6

9

10

A Devotional by Oswald Chambers

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Today, I’m talking about rest! I’ve come to the conclusion that not adequately resting is as much of a national epidemic as obesity. And when I say “rest,” I don’t mean physical rest but mental rest. I get up and work until it’s time to go to bed late at night, only stopping to veg on my phone or watch a youtube video (which is not actually resting, it’s escaping). The weekends are practically the same since I work from home. Can you relate?

One of my favorite bloggers, Jess Connolly, posted something about this on Instagram a while ago. She said that she caught herself wishing there was a day during the week when we could all just rest, then remembered that, THERE IS! She felt convicted

it probably won’t happen. Dare I say, we have to schedule it? God did.

For myself, making sure the morning is not hectic and stressful means getting in bed early on Saturday night so I feel rested the next day. It means preparing sufficiently so that minimal work is needed for clothing and meals on Sunday. It also means saying “no” to things I normally do on the weekdays. When I get home from service, my natural tendency is to check email and work on projects for my business. Sometimes I nap and watch movies with my family, but then I work some more.

I’m challenging myself to do the things on Sunday that I never get time to do during the week: take a nap, read fiction, write fiction, write handwritten letters, play games, call my grandmother, just be with my family and give myself permission to not think about any of the stuff on my plate. Maybe even (heaven forbid), turn off my phone. Basically, throw myself into the act of enjoying and being thankful for rest because it is His gift, because He has commanded it, and because I really need it.

What does your Sunday look like? Have you got this “guarding your rest” thing down?

and I feel convicted, of forgetting to use God’s perfect provision of Sunday. The Sabbath is not supposed to be just another hectic morning or a spare day to catch up on work before Monday. It’s our job to work hard during the week, then rest just as hard...

While Sabbath rest is important, I am not of the opinion that we shouldn’t attend church in order to preserve it. I believe that corporate worship with other Christians is a wonderful way to focus on where our rest comes from and is a reflection of our eternal rest. The fact that people have to do a little work to organize things is just the way it is. But, that doesn’t mean we can’t take measures to guard our rest. Unless we’re intentional,

Sabbath Restby Anna Seay

5The Companion – April Edition 2015

Let’s Go!

Buy 2 get 2 Free

During 2015, in honor of the upcoming Ark Encounter, we are pleased to announce the “2 buy 2” promotion. Groups that pur-chase two full-priced adult Creation Museum General Admission tickets will receive two free admission tickets of equal or lesser

value in 2015. Promotional discount will be applied to the least expensive tickets in the transaction. Following feedback from our 2014 Kids Free promotion, “2 buy 2” is designed to assist groups of all ages. All tickets re-ceived from this promotion must be used on the date of purchase, so bring friends to take full advantage of this offer! Rules and restrictions apply.

For more information click here.

2015 National Bible Bee

THE SHELBY KENNEDY FOUNDATION:

On May 31, 2005 at the age of 23, Shelby Kennedy went home to be with the Lord after an intense struggle with cancer. Shelby was described as a Christian who had an unusual spiritual gift of faith, a special person who radiated joy, life, and hope to everyone she met. Although Shelby had minimal energy and

needed to use a wheelchair most of the time she was awake, what energy she had was focused on proclaiming Jesus Christ. Her testimony of hope in the midst of a fiery trial sparked a spirit of revival in those around her. Much of what kept Shelby’s joy alive in her last days was time spent studying the Word of God. Shelby is the inspiration behind The Shelby Kennedy Foundation, a nonprofit ministry established in her name to encourage children and youth to grow in Christ through study of the Bible and Scripture memorization. Shelby’s testimony sparked an incredible vision to launch a world-class Bible Bee!

For more information click here.

6 The Companion – April Edition 2015

You know when you used to talk with your grandparents they would begin a story with, “Well, when I was your age…”?

Well, I am not a grandma (yet), and I am definitely not YOUR grandma, but I do feel grandparently or parently toward you as a homeschooler. [Yes, I know those two words are not words – don’t correct your older when she is talking.]

When I was your age, the

There was l i t t le curr icula available to homeschoolers, so I used the library as one of my major resources for our education. We were there at least twice a month, gathering a large basket of books. When we got home, the kids disappeared, taking an armful of books and poring over them under the dining room table or on the couch or on their beds. They would often cuddle together, the older one reading to the younger ones.

world of homeschooling was bright and new. It had recently become legal in all 50 states, thanks to so many courageous families that had gone before me. I had four little ones, six years apart, and just figuring out how to break out of the mold of making my homeschool look like the public school I knew while I was growing up. We had little desks, a long alphabet poster along the wall, and even a white board.

Five Ways...from

just-extraordinary.com

7The Companion – April Edition 2015

Sometimes the older ones liked to hear the younger ones “read” to them, making up words as they looked at the pictures. What creative minds they had! I enjoyed hearing the giggles.

Fast forward to present day. As I travel to homeschool conferences around the nation, I am finding moms who are totally stressed out, ready to throw in the towel because this deal is just overwhelming. So I ask them, “How old are your children?”

“Four and six.”

What? Why are you so stressed out? This is the time in their lives when learning is so much fun. They are full of wide-eyed exploration. Granted there needs to be some reading, writing and ‘rithmetic in the mix, but there is so much time to spend on fun stuff as you build those skills.

What happened? Why have we made homeschooling so hard?

Some of it is due to real concerns, such as preparing them to become good readers and giving them a good foundation in their math facts. But what about these?

1. History and Science Buffs

I know history and science are fun and fascinating (After all, I am a scientist. I love the stuff!) Who can resist learning about mummification or dressing up as medieval lords and ladies? Building toys, balloons, baking

teaching everything.

Plan well and stay focused. Don’t worry about what everyone else is doing.

2. Curriculum Overload

Well, they say the one who knows best about a problem area is the one who has that problem. I confess. I am a curriculum junkie. I LOVE looking at (and buying) new curriculum. There is just something fun about a new lesson plan, along with the promises that are made, telling me that my child will complete this program as a genius.

This is especially true when you have an area in which your child struggles. I can’t tell you how many times I strolled down the homeschool convention halls looking for the “fix-my-broken-speller-in-a-box” curriculum. I think we tr ied a different curriculum each year because we just weren’t seeing progress in this area.

Granted. That is one of the things I LOVE about homeschooling. If a curriculum doesn’t work for your child or your family, you have the blessing to make the executive decision to change it. And that’s great! But I was so easily drawn by the siren song of new curricula that, at least for some subjects, I felt like we were in a perpetual learning curve.

3. Testing

Yes, we need to test them. At least eventually. But do we have to do it after every lesson? It IS important for us to make sure they are understanding the

soda, and vinegar can easily fi l l the day with awesome science education. But why do we feel like we have to teach our children everything about everything before they reach the fifth grade? Are they REALLY ruined if they didn’t yet learn about the ancient aboriginal culture of the Maori or the particle/wave theory of light? We feel the pressure to cover all of our bases, so we are tempted to purchase hundreds of dollars of history curriculum with elaborate notebooks and writing journals. We switch science curriculum each year to find the perfect one that will make our littles into Einsteins.

I fell into the stress of this, too. Overhearing a family talking about how their children could recite portions of Beowolf in its original language caused me to make a beeline to my credit card so I could buy the curriculum they were using so my kids wouldn’t be missing out. That curriculum sat on my shelf for years before I finally cracked it open. It turns out we had covered most of what was in there by that time, and what we hadn’t, we would do in middle school. You see, the elementary years are for building foundational skills of the three R’s.

I’m not saying you shouldn’t teach them anything else…history and science ARE important…but we should look at them as ways to reinforce our children’s reading, writing, and logic skills. I’m just saying that we create for ourselves little worlds of stress and frustration when we feel the weight of

8 The Companion – April Edition 2015

material we are covering, but in the elementary years, they often remember that material better if they draw and color about it. If they make a diorama showing what was learned. If they present the information to your family, dressing for the occasion, preparing posters for showcasing, and practicing how they are going to present it.

When we build up everything they learn to the final climax of “Now let’s take a test to see what you remember,” then believe me, the excitement for learning tends to become yet another stress.

They may start to think, Let’s go slower through this so I learn less so I have to remember less.

Whoops. That’s not what we want, is it? Now, I’m not saying we should never give them tests to see progress. Testing is a common convention and thus a skill they need to learn. But we can definitely overdo it!

4. Sports

Do I have to elaborate on this one? I could go into the stress of performance because “Dad was so good at this when he was your age.” Or I could talk about how, between practices, games, and multiple kids going multiple places, sports can make families split themselves into whirling tornadoes. Add to that the pressure to focus on

grilled cheese sandwiches had an educational theme.

Pinterest also tells us that we can sew gorgeous clothes for our children out of shreds of newspaper and banana peels. We can make our own home decorations, too, so that when we document our lives in weekly planned photo shoots, our children will look amazing.

Now these are only a few of the things that I think make us stumble as we endeavor to educate our children. Can I just sum up by saying that we are looking for progress each YEAR, not day by day conquests. We’ll have lots of ups and downs through the year as we train and educate. We are looking to build up godly men and women who will go out one day and boldly serve the Lord in whatever He has called them to do.

And the road it takes to get them there is not peppered with rose petals (at least most days). Let’s give ourselves and each other a break and see things in the big picture.

Real ly. Some days I fe l t accomplished if my kids were fed and the house didn’t burn down. Well… at least if it did burn down, I could always call it my depiction of Sherman’s burning of the South again, right? f

a single sport and the “need” to start younger and younger, and we are getting kids with long-term sports-speci f ic injuries at much younger ages. I personally know several little ones who have already blown out pitching elbows or volleyball knees. And all for that beloved college scholarship?

Let me tell you. Having had a child in a club sport for a few years quickly showed us that we could take that money we were spending on the “privilege” of being in a club, coupled with travel and equipment (and injury) costs, and invest that money so that our child would have her college costs paid for!

5. Pinterest

Yes, I have a Pinterest account. I love Pinterest. But Pinterest can be a deceptor. It draws you in with its lovely images of monster truck birthday cakes and printing press how-tos. Then when you buy into its temptations, you either have a mess on your hands or you have invested a full week into making this stuff do what it’s supposed to.

In the Pinterest world, every meal is nutritious and elaborately (impossibly) decorated. The only one I think I got right was Sherman’s burning of the South. It was an accident, but hey, let’s at least pretend that my burnt

Five Ways... (continued)

9The Companion – April Edition 2015

Kid Friend ly Recipe

Ingredients

• 2-1/2 cups 2% milk

• 1 package (3.4 ounces) cook-and-serve chocolate pudding mix

• 1/2 cup chopped peanuts

• 1/2 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips

thickened, stirring every 2 minutes. Cool for 20 minutes, stirring several times.

2. Meanwhile, combine peanuts and chocolate chips; divide among plastic cups. Stir marshmallow creme into pudding; spoon into cups. Insert Popsicle sticks; freeze. f

___________________

Editor’s Note: This recipe was tested in a 1,100-watt microwave.

___________________

TOTAL TIME: Prep: 20 min. + freezing

YIELD: 12 servings

Nutritional Facts1 serving (1 each) equals 140 calories, 7 g fat (3 g saturated fat), 7 mg cholesterol, 64 mg sodium, 18 g carbohydrate, 1 g fiber, 4 g protein.

• 12 disposable plastic cups (3 ounces each)

• 1/2 cup marshmallow crème

• 12 Popsicle sticks

Directions1. In a large microwave-safe bowl, whisk milk and pudding mix. Microwave, uncovered, on high for 4-6 minutes or until bubbly and slightly

10 The Companion – April Edition 2015

iGovern Registration is here!

Generation Joshua is pleased to announce that registration for our iGovern Summer Camps is now open! We again have three great options this year!

iGovern East in Purcellville, VA will be June 28-July 4,

iGovern West is Colorado Springs, CO will be July 12-18

iGovern Pacific in Oahu, HI will be August 2-8!

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

For more information and to register:www.generationjoshua.org/dnn/Experience/iGoverntheChoice/tabid/554/Default.aspx

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Join the thousands of teens across the country who are making a difference.

Minute

11The Companion – April Edition 2015

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Christian Home Educators of Ohio 573 Hebron Road #301Heath, OH 43056

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