Welcome to the first Journal Writing Wednesday of the school year! The purpose of Journal Writing Wednesday is to provide journal writing ideas for grades 2 and 3 students. Starting in the beginning of March, journal writing ideas will be provided for Grade 1 students as well.

Each Wednesday a journal writing prompt will be posted. For the months of October and November the journal writing prompts will be strictly copy work. The benefit of copy work is that your child gets to practice writing quality language using correct spelling, grammar and punctuation!

For the month of October, the copy work will focus on the theme of "Thankfulness". For the first journal writing assignment have your child copy the following scripture into his/her journal:

Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. ~ 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

Although I will be providing journal writing prompts throughout the year, you are welcome to direct your child's journal writing however you see fit. Following are a couple of ideas that parents have been/are using with their children in grades 1-3.



This is an example of a grade 1 student at the end of grade one. This journal entry was started by a parent and then completed by the student. The added drawing enhances the written text and allows the student to represent thoughts and ideas in a different way.



This is an example from a grade 3 student. Again, the parent started the journal entry and the student completed it.

Recently I received the following email from a mom describing how her grade 2 daughter is focusing on journal writing:

"[S]he is doing quite a bit of writing and has decided to use your journal as a Dear God Diary/ Prayer to start her day off everyday. We read the devotional that came with the Agenda and then she writes her Dear God…. Then we dedicate our home school day to Him. It's been quite an encouraging start to the year."

I hope that you too will be able to incorporate journal writing into your home schooling routine. Not only will it encourage your child to practice good writing skills, but it may end up being a treasured keepsake in the years to come.

Blessings!

Some Quotations to Think On . . .

We're not trying to do School at Home. We're trying to do home school. These are two entirely different propositions. We're not trying to replicate the time, style or content of the classroom. Rather we're trying to cultivate a lifestyle of learning in which learning takes place from morning until bedtime 7 days each week. The formal portion of each teaching day is just the tip of the ice burg. ~ Steve and Jane Lambert

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We prefer that they [the children] should never say they have learned botany or conchology, geology or astronomy. The question is not, - how much does the youth know when he has finished his education - but how much does he care and about how many orders of things does he care? ~ Charlotte Mason
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I believe it would be much better for everyone if children were given their start in education at home. No one understands a child as well as his mother, and children are so different that they need individual training and study. A teacher with a room full of pupils cannot do this. At home, too, they are in their mother’s care. She can keep them from learning immoral things from other children. ~Laura Ingalls
Wilder
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Educating a child is a natural process. Home schooling is nothing more than an extension of parenting. ~ Sue Maakestad
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Home is the focus of the work of home schooling parents. Perhaps like no other challenge in life, homeschooling forces us to consider our identity and our roles as mothers and fathers, and it allows us to shape every aspect of our home — its tone, the way it’s decorated, the media we allow to enter it, what we eat and how we eat, how we celebrate, how we laugh, how we rest, and how we prepare for the unexpected. ~Renee Ellison

Let's Pray Together

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. ~ Philippians 4:6,7

This post will be updated regularly as prayer requests are made known to me throughout the school year. If you have a prayer request that you would like added, please let me know through email or by phone. You can access this post when desired by clicking on "Let's Pray Together" at the top of the right hand column. (I will not use actual names in the prayer requests for privacy reasons).

Please pray for:

~ Family who has recently lost a daughter and a sister. Pray for comfort and wisdom as custody matters are being taken care of.

~ Relationships between children and parents. Pray for a cooperative spirit within the children and for wisdom for the parents.

~ Patience for parents as they work with their children.

Homeschooling Convictions

Here is a post from my personal home schooling blog about the reasons why I have chosen to home school my daughter this year. I encourage you to take time to write out your own personal home schooling convictions and place them somewhere where you will see them often.

As a homeschooling mom it is essential that I know why I have chosen to home school. It is not a good enough reason to say "because it is the more 'noble' way". I know that in the days ahead there will be moments when the public school down the street looks very inviting and the whole idea of homeschooling will seem utterly ridiculous. It is on days like these when I will need to go back to that little piece of paper stuck on the inside of my cupboard door and read it aloud. I will need to remind myself about my original convictions of why homeschooling is the best choice for our family at this time. I will need to read something more realistic than "because I want to be a good mom".

So here I sit on the brink of officially homeschooling my oldest daughter. Conviction writing time is here. My convictions are several, with some being stronger than others, but nevertheless each one is important and will be essential in the days ahead. So here they go . . .

Conviction #1 - Living Without Regrets. I have the opportunity to home school and a large support group is already in place. I don't want to look back on this time and wish that I had, when I hadn't.

Conviction #2 - Age 5 is Toooooo Young. Someone, somewhere decided that age 5 was the appropriate age for a child to leave the influence of his home and start being influenced by 20 other 5 year olds and an adult stranger. I personally feel that 5 is too young to leave home. Just my own personal conviction.

Conviction #3 - Faith and Character. No matter what I do, my kids are going to learn their ABC's and how to count simply by being alive. But will they learn how to love God with all their heart, soul and strength? Will they grasp an understanding of God's love, faithfulness and forgiveness? Will they learn that God cares about the big things but also the teensy, tiny things? As for character, we are presently talking a lot about the Fruit of the Spirit and trust me, we have a looooong way to go!

So there you have it. I may come back and revamp occassionally, but for now these are the convictions that stand. Now I just need to tape them to the inside of my cupboard door.