The Teaching Home E-Mail Newsletter #81
Information, Inspiration, and Encouragement

June 17, 2004  /  Cindy Short and Sue Welch, editors
You are welcome to forward this newsletter in its entirety.

TABLE  OF  CONTENTS
3-Part Series:  Choosing Curriculum
Part 2:  Setting Goals
     How To Set Useful Goals
          How To Use Your Mission Statement and Goals
          The Importance of Small Goals
     Your Decision To Home School
     Setting Goals and Objectives for Your Home School
          Spiritual Goals
          Academic Goals
          Social Goals
          Life Skills Goals
Recommended Resources
     I Want To Be a Work-at-Home Mom
     College at Home Handbook
     Power-Glide Flash Cards
     Structured Writing Company
     Christ-Centered Curriculum for Early Childhood
     Beyond Phonics Spelling
Sunnyside Up: Humorous Anecdote

Greetings!

     In this newsletter we continue our 3-part series on choosing
curriculum so that you will have time to consider and obtain it
and have it on hand when you start your school in September.
     Writing your family mission statement was the first step (see
http://www.teachinghome.com/newsletters/vol_2-no_80.cfm).
     Now use your mission statement to set goals (described in
this issue) and you will be ready to consider and choose
curriculum (outlined in our next issue).

     May the Lord richly bless you and your family this summer.

Cordially,
Pat, Sue, Heather, Holly, and Brian Welch
The Teaching Home is a 23-year-old, home-school family business.

Editor's Note:  Do you love scrapbooking?  Earn extra income
and save on your own supplies at the same time!  Your teenager
can help you with this work-at-home job.

Do you want to be
a work at home mom?
You can start a home based
business today -- selling
exclusive, top quality scrapbooking
products and teaching classes.
* Start up only $25.  * Low sales quotas.
* Free training and support.  * Not a pyramid scheme.
http://www.i-want-to-be-a-work-at-home-mom.com/Thlp

Home-School Conventions
     Unique benefits await you at your local, regional, or state
home-school convention, conference, or book fair.  We urge
you to attend!
     For information about your state convention, go to The Teaching
Home's website (link below) and link directly to the state organization's
website.  http://www.teachinghome.com/states/index.cfm.  Upcoming
state conventions:
June:  CA, CO, MT, NJ, OH, OK
July:  AL, AZ, CA, KY, SD / August:  NV, OR, TX
September: England / Various Dates: TN, TX, NZ

Never Out of Date:
Teaching Home Magazine Back Issues
     Many home schoolers have found information, inspiration,
and support from the writers who have contributed to The
Teaching Home magazine over the last 23 years.  Fifty-one
back issues are offered for sale online.
     These back issues never go out of date.  They are relevant
and applicable to your needs today.
http://theteachinghomen.goemerchant7.com/

See Special Offer of Free Magazine Holders in accompanying e-mail.

College at Home Handbook
A step-by-step explanation
of how to complete college at home!
     We go beyond telling you that you can
earn your degree at home; we tell you how!
Step-by-step, we explain how we did it.
It took 21 months and $3,100 for our oldest child to earn his
Bachelor of Arts degree; completing degree requirements
and being accepted into law school at 17.  This handbook
is designed to fully equip you to begin and complete the
degree process on your own.  http://www.collegeathome.org

Setting Goals
     In our last newsletter, we discussed the value of writing
a family mission statement outlining your values, vision, and
purpose, and described a procedure for including your whole
family in this process (see
http://www.teachinghome.com/newsletters/vol_2-no_80.cfm).
     With your mission statement in hand, you now need to set
goals.  These goals form the detailed plan that will enable you
to fulfill your mission statement.

How To Set Useful Goals
     For goals to be practical, they need to be:

1.  Specific and Measurable
 *  Describe in detail exactly what you want to accomplish.
 *  Use terms that can be clearly evaluated.
 *  Break down large goals into separate objectives.
 *  Set target dates for reaching each goal and objective.

2.  Obtainable
 *  Set goals that are realistic, yet challenging.
 *  Adopting goals that God has already set for us in His Word
will ensure that His strength and wisdom are available to us as
we strive to meet those goals.
     "If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives
to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to
him." (James 1:5)
     "My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made
perfect in weakness." (II Corinthians 12:9)

3.  Reviewed and Revised
     Although your mission statement will always retain your
basic values, vision, and purpose, you might want to fine tune it
from time to time.
 *  At least once a year, evaluate your goals and your progress
     in reaching them.
 *  You can revise your goals if necessary.

How To Use Your Mission Statement and Goals
     Your goals are the daily applications of your mission
statement; you can make these valuable tools work for you in
various ways:

1.  To Remind You of Your Goals
     Write out your mission statement and goals and post them
where your family can be reminded of them daily.
     You might want to have more than one copy printed or done in
calligraphy and framed to show the importance they have in your
family's life.

2.  To Help You Decide What To Do
     When decisions or disagreements arise concerning proposed
actions or the use of family resources, refer to to your mission
statement and goals.  This keeps your family focused on what is
really important, rather than letting the immediate or otherwise
good opportunities crowd out the best.
     Of course, for a Christian family these should be in keeping
with God's Word, which is the final authority for our faith and
practice.

3.  To Help You Decide What To Do First
     Prioritize your goals in importance and chronological order
to help you make decisions.

4.  To Govern the Use of Your Time
     Yearly, monthly, and weekly goals need to be translated into
the activities on your daily schedule. We cannot reach our goals
if we do not set aside adequate time in which to work toward
them.

The Importance of Small Goals
     Small, daily goals can be reached by established routines,
chores, and habits.  Their importance is crucial for two reasons.
     First, these small steps are the only way to reach your
long-term goals and fulfill your family mission statement.  You
cannot climb a mountain without taking that first step, and then
the next, and the next.  Likewise, your family's mission
statement cannot be realized without translating it into:
     * Specific goals
     * Plans for reaching the goals
     * Action
     Second, seeing these practical, incremental steps as part of
fulfilling your mission gives meaning to what might otherwise be
considered the mundane or unimportant details of daily life.

Venture to foreign lands
with powerful, picturesque
Power-Glide Flash Cards.
     Populated with more than 200
nouns, this effective vocabulary
resource visits 22 different categories
in six different languages and includes
two audio CDs to simplify learning!  You can use the flash cards
just as they are or play games with others learning the same
language or different languages.  Travel abroad with Power-Glide --
your ticket to foreign language fluency!  http://www.aop.com.

Your Decision To Home School
     Remembering why you are teaching your children at home will
provide the conviction, confidence, and commitment that you will
need in order to persevere.
     Many home-school families have found it beneficial to write
out their decision to home school (this could be in your mission
statement) along with a list or summary of the reasons why they
have made that decision.

1.  God's Will
    For a Christian, your decision to home school should be based
on a determination that this is what God wants your family to do.
     Seek the Lord through His Word and pray for His promised
guidance, then agree as husband and wife on this important
decision.

2.  The Home-School Advantages
     Teaching and training your children at home can provide the
optimum opportunity for your children's spiritual training and
character development as well as their social and academic
welfare.
     As you look at your mission statement and goals, you will
see the many ways that home schooling is a good, if not the best,
way to achieve them (see list below).
 

Setting Goals and Objectives for Your Home School

     When your children leave your home to begin their own
families:
 *  What kind of people do you want them to be?
 *  What values do you want them to embrace?
 *  What knowledge do you want them to possess?
 *  How do you want them to behave?

     Take time to think and pray about all aspects of your
children's teaching and training and write out goals for each
area.  This will give purpose and direction to your efforts and
help ensure that your children will achieve excellence.
 *  Break these general goals down into objectives for each child
     to reach each year.
 *  Plan detailed objectives for each month or week close to the
     time for implementation.
 *  Discuss these objectives with each child, and explain how
     they fit into the big picture of his future.
 *  Revise goals and make them more specific as individual
     strengths or callings appear.
 *  Set an example by working toward your own personal goals
     and welcoming evaluation.
 

Spiritual Goals

GOAL:  Teach God's Word
     Consider your responsibility for your children before
God; He commands you as parents to teach your children
His Word, the most important thing they will ever learn.

     You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart
          and with all your soul and with all your might.
     These words, which I am commanding you today,
          shall be on your heart.
     You shall teach them diligently to your sons
          and shall talk of them when you sit in your house
          and when you walk by the way
          and when you lie down
          and when you rise up.  -- Deuteronomy 6:4-7

The Home-School Advantage
 *  You can read, teach, and discuss God's Word in many
     situations when you are together throughout the day.
 *  You have more time available to systematically study God's
     Word together (perhaps in a formal Bible study curriculum) and
     to help your children memorize and meditate on God's Word.

GOAL:  Your Child's Salvation and Spiritual Growth
     Your children's salvation is your first priority.  Then
follows spiritual growth through loving dedication and obedience
to God, knowing and speaking to God in prayer, Christian
fellowship, and ministry to others.

The Home-School Advantage
 *  You can make personal application of Scripture and guide your
     children's behavior through example, teaching, discipline, and
     training throughout each day.
 *  You can teach your children that God's Word is the final
     authority for our faith and practice and teach them how to
     look up what God says about any given thing using Bible
     study tools such as a concordance.

Resource
     The Jan./Feb. '98 Teaching Home back issue, has a 12-page
section on all aspects of spiritual training.
http://theteachinghomeBible.notlong.com

GOAL:  Character Development
     Ranking higher than academic training in importance to
Christian families are character qualities, good manners, and
discipline.

The Home-School Advantage
 *  Home schooling makes quality time available to train your
     children in these areas and minimizes the harmful influences
     from outside your home.
 *  You can better model your own dedication to God, good
     character traits, disciplined habits, and enthusiasm for
     learning.
     Look for more information on character qualities, good
manners, and discipline in one of our upcoming newsletters.

Structured Writing Company
     Has academic writing got you down?  Are you looking
for a solution?  The color-coded, step-by-step writing formulas
of Structured Writing may be your answer.  Check us out at
http://www.StructuredWriting.com.

Academic Goals
     Research shows that home-school students’ academic
achievement, on average, is 15 to 30 percentile points above the
national average in reading, language, and math; for learning-
disabled students, there are higher rates of academic-engaged
time in the home as well as greater academic gains.  Some of the
home-school advantages listed below will show you why this is
possible.

GOAL:  A Christian World View
     We want our children to view all they are learning, as well
as all of life, in the light of Bible truth.  The facts, truths,
and principles revealed in God's Word should form the basis for
each course of study and the standard for evaluating its content.
     The practical uses and applications of acquired knowledge
are also unique for Christians.
     Read more about teaching each subject from a Christian
worldview at
http://www.teachinghome.com/started/basics/evaluate.cfm

The Home-School Advantage
 *  You can use Christian curriculum with a built-in Christian
     worldview in all subjects and/or interpret all educational
     materials in the light of God's Word.

GOAL:  A Solid Foundation in the Basics
     Basic skills (reading, writing, math) must be thoroughly
mastered and then retained through review so children can
acquire, use, and communicate knowledge in other subjects.

The Home-School Advantage
 *  Educationally, the one-on-one tutorial method has always been
     a superior teaching method and has many advantages over a
     classroom setting where many children at different learning
     levels are taught at once.
 *  You can emphasize basic skills that are often neglected today.
 *  You can slow the pace or add more practice if necessary for
     a child to master a skill, rather than trying to build on a shaky
     foundation.
 *  You can use excellent, time-tested methods (such as phonics
     to teach reading), as well as unique materials written especially
     for use in home schooling.

GOAL:  An Excellent, Well-Rounded Education
     The reason Christians want their children to be well
educated is so that they have the skills and knowledge to better
serve God and others, as well as to appreciate and enjoy God and
His creation.

The Home-School Advantage
 *  You can provide your children with a variety of real life
     experiences that build the background knowledge for academic
     learning as your children accompany you throughout the day
     in many situations in real life.
 *  Because you know your children better than anyone else
     and have the deepest love and concern for them, each of
     your children can receive individual attention and have his
     unique needs met.
 *  You can recognize and accommodate your child's readiness
     to learn new concepts, his abilities or difficulties in various
     areas, his personal interests, and his tendencies to learn
     best by either sight, sound, touch, or movement.
 *  You can show relationships or connections between facts in
     the same or different subject areas and in previously acquired
     knowledge to help your children understand and remember what
     they are taught.
 *  You can make available educational resources, reference
     materials, and supervised Internet searches.
 *  You can use your child's curiosity, needs, and interests to
     motivate learning, and you can stimulate new interests through
     reading, conversation, questions, and family activities.

GOAL:  Confidence and Independent Thinking
     We want our children to have the courage, good sense, and
strength of character to think and make decisions for themselves
based on Scripture, truth, and logic, rather than follow the
crowd and the latest trends.

The Home-School Advantage
 *  Children can develop confidence and independent thinking
     away from the peer pressure to conform and in the security
     of their own home.
 *  Children have more time to explore new interests and to think.

Christ-Centered Curriculum for Early Childhood---and Beyond
Educate your children in God's truths as they develop basic academic skills!
http://www.ChristCenteredCurriculum.com    1-800-778-4318

Master spelling quickly this summer with word family stories.
Examples: "God's design is a sign of His love"; "Take money for the
monkey"; "Leonard's leopard is in jeopardy!" http://BeyondPhonics.com

Social Goals

GOAL:  Family Unity
     God's goal for us is to have a home filled with love, joy,
and peace where each member of the family relates to others as
He intends.

The Home-School Advantage
 *  Your family can experience unity, closeness, and mutual
     enjoyment of one another as you spend time together working,
     studying, and playing.
 *  Flexible scheduling can accommodate parents' work and
     vacation times and allow time for more family activities.
 *  Your family can learn teamwork as each member of the family
     makes a contribution to the success of your home school.

Goal:  Social Skills
     Social skills will enable your children to show love to and
serve others.  These skills include understanding others,
communication, cooperation, managing conflict, leadership, and
lovingly meeting the needs of others.

The Home-School Advantage
 *  There are many opportunities to practice social skills in
     the context of normal family life and under your guidance in
     groups of friends, families, and your local church.
 *  Negative socialization by peer pressure is avoided, allowing
     your child to develop confidence in interacting with people
     of all ages and stations.  "Do not be misled: Bad company
     corrupts good character." (I Corinthians 15:33)

Summer & Socialization
    Will this summer's "socialization" reinforce or undo last
year's character training?  Here is one family's solution.
      "I don't want any harm to come to our children, nor do I
wish to watch negative social pressures at work in our yard!
     "Our solution has been to limit our children's exposure to
other children and to closely supervise their playtime. In this
way, I can guide the play, correct attitudes as they arise, and
maintain the standards of our family while being a testimony in
our neighborhood."  -- Melody G., Texas
 

Goals for Life Skills

GOAL:  Practical Preparation for Adult Life
     The skills needed to prepare your children for the practical
responsibilities of everyday life include such things as
financial skills, running a home, cooking, shopping, driving,
repairs and maintenance, voting, researching information, and
keeping one's body fit and healthy.

The Home-School Advantage
 *  Your children can receive training and practice in these
     skills as they work with you throughout the day.
 *  When able, your children can take responsibility for entire
     areas, thus rehearsing for adult life.
     Look for more information on these topics in one of our
upcoming newsletters.

     Please Thank and Support Our Sponsoring Advertisers!
          These free newsletters are made possible financially by
     the fine suppliers who advertise in them and the accompanying
     e-mail.  Please consider those that advertised in our last issue
     (below) as well as the ones in this issue.

     Alpha Omega Publications: Power-Glide
          http://www.aop.com
     Computer Science Pure and Simple
          http://www.MotherboardBooks.com
     I Want To Be a Work-at-Home Mom
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     PianoTeacher.tv
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     Forget-Me-Not Gift Baskets
          http://www.forget-me-notgiftbaskets.com
     Homeschool Cookbook
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Sunnyside Up:  The Science of Ancient Warfare
     Adam, 5, and Cara, 4, were playing with blocks when I
overheard this conversation:
     "Look! I made a tatapult!"
     "No, Cara. A tatapult is a baby frog. The thing that shoots
blocks is a catapole!"
     Submitted by Tess Q., Washington

God Loves You.
     Because we were separated from God by sin, Jesus Christ
died in our place, then rose to life again.  If we trust Jesus Christ
as our Savior and Lord, He will give us eternal life.
     "For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that
not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of
works, that no one should boast" (Ephesians 2:8, 9).
     http://www.TeachingHome.com/about/salvation.cfm

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