If you follow both of my websites, you know that I did a top ten list for Gettingmyacttogether.com last week. I would never just shun my original website by not giving it a “Top 10 Most Popular” post too.

Over the past couple of years, I have tried to take storiesofourboys.com into a more focused direction.

Y’all know I started out blogging about parenting four boys, and my oldest son was absolutely not having it. He was right. You can only put so much on the internet about your real life. I tend to be an open book, so I had to be reminded of this.

Since then I have moved on to other topics.

Believe it or not, my Bible archaeology articles bring the lion’s share of people to my blog. That helped me decide to dedicate more of this website to articles relating to faith, Bible Archaeology, and travel. I cannot ignore my parenting/home school roots here though. The home school articles still do well.

The funny thing is we are not currently a home-schooling family. However, we have gone in and out of that lifestyle repeatedly, thanks to all the moves and COVID. Therefore, the home schooling niche still has a place on this website too.

The only way I know to categorize all those things in one place is to call this a faith-based website.

I write about all things related to Christian parenting and Christian beliefs.

The travel ties in because Christian families should go on vacation too. ha!! I don’t know. I just love travel, so it stays. To be fair. some of my travel does involve areas related to our faith, like Israel and Rome.

However, I always feel like I need a disclaimer. When you see me sitting on my rear end, eating Nacho Cheese Doritos, drinking Coca-Cola, and watching Designing Women in the middle of the day, you may feel disillusioned. The fact is that’s sometimes exactly where you find me. I am no picture of Baptist mom perfection, so please don’t expect that here.

I’m just another sinner saved by grace. I just happened to enjoy reading up on Bible archaeology discoveries and sharing neat Christian parenting resources that I may come across.

So without further ado, here are the Top 10 Most Popular Posts of 2023 on Stories of Our Boys.

By the way, the articles on this website still get far more page views than the ones on my new website, Getting My Act Together. This website doesn’t have any viral breakaway articles like my other blog does. However, its articles consistently do well and keep their traffic over time.

That’s why some of these articles make the top ten list here every year. Thankfully, I do have a couple of new ones on the list for 2024!

#1. 14 Tips for Your First Year of Classical Conversations

I wrote it in 2015, when our family was actively involved in a Classical Conversations community. While the curriculum has seen many changes since that time, the tips in this article are still extremely relevant.

If you are thinking about trying Classical Conversations, definitely give it a read. I know you will find it helpful.

#2. How the Sumerian King List Relates the Bible

See, there are plenty more archaeology nerds out there, besides just me, who want to know about ancient history and how it relates to the Bible! I love this stuff.

The Sumerian King List is from ancient Mesopotamia, The fascinating thing about it is that it references their kings as the ones before the “Great Flood” and after it. Oh, and by the way, just as in the Bible, the kings from before the flood lived insanely long lives. Intrigued? Check out the article.

#3. What it was Like to Wear a Linq Heart Monitor for 3 Years

As you can see, we cover many different topics on this blog! I have a rare heart arrhythmia called ventricular tachycardia. That is how I ended up wearing a Linq monitor inside my chest for three years. Thankfully, I am okay. My v-tach episodes are short and infrequent, and that is the key to my still being alive, without needing a zapper or a pacemaker.

#4. 20 Boy Mom Quotes that Will Make You Smile

I am excited to see this one do well. For one thing, I enjoyed writing it and creating all those Canvas. Secondly, it was actually written in 2023 and is one of my two articles from this year that made this list.

Plus, I wrote this article using my new “keyword research method” I learned from the blogging classes I took. That feels wonderful to see the classes I paid money for actually paying off for me.

I used to always write about whatever random ideas were in my head. Now I am using keyword research to become a better blogger and answer questions people are actually asking Google.

And yeah, boy mom quotes is a fun topic that is right up my alley.

#5. 10 Exciting Archaeology Finds that Support the Bible

Like I said, Bible Archaeology posts have turned out to be my specialty. In this one you will learn about Hezekiah’s Tunnel, the Tel Dan Inscription, ancient New Testament manuscripts, Peter’s house, and so much more.

It is so fun to dig in to all of these discoveries and see the Bible coming more to life.

This is the other post on the list that I wrote in 2023. I discovered this topic using my new blogging skill of keyword research too. This article marks so much progress for me as I try to turn this from a hobby to a job. It’s a big deal!

#6. 10 Facts You Never Knew About the Early Church

This post was inspired by the book, Tried by Fire by William J. Bennett., where I learned so much mind-blowing reality about the early days of the church that I just had to share! I think the time after Jesus, but before Catholicism was truly established as a powerful world influence is fascinating.

The way the church grew is incredible. Check out this post to learn little known facts about early followers of Jesus.

#7. Ow! What Just Stung us in the Gulf of Mexico?

I wrote this one around 2018, after our kids were stung, yet again, in the Gulf of Mexico. You know, most people have never been stung by a jellyfish. I have only been stung hard once, and that was when I was around fourteen.

But we have had numerous encounters with getting stung at the beach. Rarely do we lay eyes on what actually stung us, so I did some reading around on the internet to learn more.

#8. What the Nuzi Tablets from 1450-1350 BC Tell Us About the Bible

When I hear about an artifact from ancient times, I like to do a deep dive to see how they might tie in to the Bible. This is one of my hobbies. I have several excellent archaeology books I keep on hand for my ancient times rabbit holes that I get into. So you can rest assured when you read articles like this one on my website, they are well researched and do not come from Wikipedia.

I break this stuff down into only the most interesting tidbits. You might find it surprisingly educational and yet easy to read!

#9. Jerusalem in Pictures: Golgotha & the Church of the Holy Sepulchre

My Israel posts are my personal favorite of anything that I have ever written. To me, it was the absolute most exciting place I have ever travelled to. I still cannot believe I even got to go!

This post has tons of full color photos of the very place where Jesus was crucified and buried. The location of Golgotha is not a random guess either. This is backed up by the Bible and archaeological evidence as well as local history. I feel like most people would love to see it and will never get to, so I tried to share everything about it that I could in this series.

Then I took all of my posts on Israel and weaved them together in an e-book. You can find the book on Amazon.

#10. Which is Better: Home School, Public, or Private School?

I began writing this list of pros and cons in 2014. This particular list was revised and re-written in 2021. As a military family, we move every few years. That has created the abrupt decision process of choosing our kids’ schools over and over again.

At this point, I have the unique perspective of having sent four boys to all three of these options: home school, private, and public schools. My honest favorite is private school. The problem is that is not always affordable.

There is a balance to life, and we each have different circumstances, as do our kids. That’s why we all have to choose what is best for ourselves. In this list, I provide the pros and cons that we encountered that affected us the most.

2023 was a fun year for me to bring Storiesofourboys.com back to life.

I largely hung up my hat on this website from 2018-2022. Now I am excited and happy to call myself a blogger again and pursue it in earnest. This year I took this website from costing me $500/year to actually making about $500. Plus, I made additional income on my new blog, Getting My Act Together.

Looking to the Future

In 2023, I also became a contributing writer to Newsbreak.com and several publications on Medium.com. For 2024, I plan to continue to contribute to all four websites (my two blogs, plus Medium and Newsbreak).

Do I want to go get a “real job”? Heck no! I want to continue to work for myself. I am putting in the hard work now, making almost no money, with the hopes of making more as I grow. So far I consistently grow each month, and that is the whole goal.

In 2024, on storiesofourboys.com, I will be bringing you articles on sending kids to college, more Bible archaeology finds, and keeping the faith through all that life throws at us. I also still have one last Italy post to share, on that eight hour train ride we took from Naples to Sicily!

Can anyone go to Sicily without constantly quoting the Golden Girls? I sure couldn’t it.

Thanks so much for all your support!

You will see a lot more articles here this year, so I hope to see you more often! Your support, just by reading my stuff, means the world to me.

Happy New Year, y’all! I hope your year is off to a happy start!

The post Stories of Our Boys Top 10 Most Popular Posts of 2023 appeared first on Stories of Our Boys.

When this whole crisis home school fiasco started, John David, our resident first grader, sat down beside me and laid out exactly how his school day usually goes. He fully expected our distance learning day to mirror the way things run at regular school. Oh, boy, was he set up for disappointment or what? However, this did give me good ideas. This year John David has a teacher who makes school very fun, so she is someone I should be copying.

J.D. explained that every single day they start school with a fun game and going around and sharing about their lives in general. This teacher created such a friendly environment. No wonder he loved school so much. We all live together, so the sharing thing did not work out as well. They get all silly and giggly and really manage to say nothing at all, but the game thing has stuck– like glue. You won’t catch our younger two boys picking up a pencil until they have had their mandatory morning game session.

Game time in the morning is a great idea, and this is why:

1. It promotes a fun, happy atmosphere right off the bat.
2. Kids are actively learning when they play games. They learn skills as well as sportsmanship.
3. What else do they have to look forward to with everything closed? This gives them something.
4. Love grows when you are having fun together.

The boys have several official rules about game time too that I, sometimes begrudgingly, have to stick to:

1. No board games
2. No video games
3. No Go Noodle– That’s supposed to be popular with kids, but my boys hate it.
4. Absolutely NO educational games. No adding sight words, study questions, or math problems to the game. (You know I’ve had to be reminded of that one several times.)

So without further ado, here are a few games we have enjoyed. These are good for all ages, I think, but the ages at play in this house usually range from first through sixth grade.

#1. The floor is lava!

I set up old papers and chairs across the floor. Each player rolls the dice to see how far they get to advance forward to get from start to finish. This was such a big hit that we played about five rounds.

#2. Human board game

We have a ceramic tile kitchen, so we use the tiles as you would the tiles on a traditional game board, like Sorry or Candy Land, only we are the game pieces. I cut out squares of paper and wrote game play instructions on each one like, “Move forward 2, Move backward 2, Move forward 5, Switch places with another player,” etc. Then I shuffled the cards, and on each turn the boys would take the top card and follow the directions. I shuffled the deck each time we finished all 10 so each person didn’t always end up with the same cards.

#3. Hangman

This is one we do most often because it is easy to do. I think of a name of a book, character, or movie, and just play the regular old version of Hangman with a wipe-off board.

#4. Hide and go Seek

….when my feet aren’t hurting too badly

#5. Making Cards

They don’t love it, but sometimes we make birthday/graduation/thank you cards instead of a game. I haven’t paid money for a card in ages. I feel like this should be a natural benefit of having young children.

#6. Hot/Cold

They love this one, and I do not because, well I don’t know why because, but it isn’t my fave. We hide an item. Then they have to come in and find it, using our hot/cold instructions. They will play it over and over again, and I have no idea why they like it so much.

#7. Mad Libs

I love mad libs, but only one of my boys loves them. We’ve only done this one once.

#8. Charades

Well, you all know how charades works. The boys like this one, but I have to be careful to come up with very easy ones for our six-year-old, or he gets upset and gives up. This one can be super fun if you include people that everyone in the game knows and you have to try to act like them. Hilarious!

#9. Pictionary

I haven’t actually done this one yet, but we are planning to try it.

#10. Simon Says — or “Mom says”

Everyone knows how to play this one.

#11. Bingo

We only do this every once in a while because they have this firm belief that the winner should get a prize, and I find that annoying, but I do enjoy Bingo. Maybe just say up front that the prize is a bag of cereal. Haaa!

Free Printable Bingo Cards Here

#12. Twenty Objects

The boys like this much more than I thought they would, probably because it was new and challenging. You put twenty random items on a tray or large plate. Cover it with a dish towel. Start a timer for one minute, and take off the towel. Tell everyone to memorize what is on the tray. When the timer goes off, put the towel back over the tray, and put the tray away. They have to list as quickly as they can everything they can remember that was on the tray. It’s surprisingly challenging!

#13. Four Corners

Another popular one. They love this. One person, “it”, closes their eyes and counts to 10 while everyone scrambles for a corner of the room. Then “it” calls out a corner number. Whoever is in that corner becomes “it.”

This is an easy game to turn into an educational game because whoever is in the corner you call out can answer a question, but in the mornings I am forbidden to do this…

#14. Balloon toss

This is literally just bouncing a balloon around the room.

#15. Monkey in the Middle

You play catch with a third person in the middle who tries to snatch the ball as you toss it. This can get messy in our house, so we really need to do it outside.

or Bonus #16…Trampoline WITH Mom.

If I jump on the trampoline with them, they will count that as a game, but of course, not everyone has the benefit of a trampoline in their backyard, so I didn’t include this one in the fifteen list.

I hope at least one of these ideas will help you bring more joy to your children and your day as a whole. We all need all the joy we can get, right? I am always on the hunt for new game ideas, so please share your own favorites in the comment section below!

The post 15 Fun and Simple Games to Start Your School Day appeared first on Stories of Our Boys.

I am taking a break upstairs, listening to Alan’s surprised voice downstairs saying, “Y’all already ate that sherbet!!??” It truly is eat or be eaten around here. Food has a short shelf life.

School is going better though! Therefore, my stress level has decreased. Monday all the boys’ work was due to be turned in by 12pm, and we had most of it turned in on Friday afternoon. New assignments were not released until today, some of them not even until 12pm today, so it was two light days in a row. We do most of our work in the late morning anyway, so what isn’t done by two o’clock is not getting done until the next day.

A nice relaxing activity that we are doing to close out our school day is gathering in the living room to read together.

Now that the teachers have the academic stuff covered, we are back to reading through the Little House on the Prairie series. We are on the fifth book, By the Shores of Silver Lake. Today we read through the chapters where Jack the bulldog dies and Ma and the four girls ride the train to their new town in the Dakotas, and it had me in tears.

Then I spent the afternoon editing thirty-six minutes of video footage created by our nine-year-old. The video was hilarious, though not always on purpose. There was a great deal of film dedicated to the floor and ceiling of our house.

Ah, the quarantine life.

Friday, May 1 (Week 7) The Anxiety Week

We are all alive. No one here is sick, but we are not always okay.

I am far too stress ball for this. You know how I felt about home school if you have followed me long. “Never again,” I vowed, “Never again.”

And yet, here we are. The whole world is home schooling our kids. They say it is not really like regular home-schooling. Instead, they say this is actually crisis schooling. Oh boy, they are right. (“They” would be the writers on the internet with far more readers than yours truly.) This is definitely a crisis, and you know who is not the cool, calm person you want by your side in a crisis? Me.

It’s true. I am a panicker.

Google says that panicker isn’t even a word, but it should be. I can assure you being a panicker is a very real thing. Perhaps, the grammar experts would rather I say that I am a worrier, or something, but those are not accurate statements. I lose zero sleep worrying, but I flip out easily in the privacy of my own home. Over reactor is probably the best word for me.

Ever heard of Generalized Anxiety Disorder? It runs rampantly through my veins, but not in the way you might think. I am not a fearful person or a germaphobe, and I don’t think up strange new things to worry about either. But I do flip out when I feel like I’m failing. I go into full panic attack, and truly I spin completely out of control.

“You can’t find your writing notebook? Why? Is it not in your box? No?”

I’m already feeling edgy from a morning of managing the kids and their schooling. My child doesn’t care that this essential school supply is missing, and yet I go into whining mode. Feeling highly irritated because I would rather be doing so many other things, but I am so uptight that I am determined to find the missing notebook. I search each room we use for school. There is no sign of the notebook. Ugh.

Meanwhile, another boy doesn’t understand the directions on his assignment and needs me to explain.

Simultaneously, my sixth grade boy is finished with all of his work and wants to know if he can go play Minecraft.

Oh, but don’t forget the third boy. He is patiently waiting for me to come back because I promised I would help him with his social studies chart.

And there goes my brain, all overwhelmed and panicking, exploding all over the place.

I scold myself, “Why? Why can’t I be a cooler person?? This is all freaking me out way more that it should. How do other people juggle multiple problems at once? I’ve had children for fourteen years now. Shouldn’t I be a better parent by now?”

The boys end up being the ones comforting me. “It’s okay, Mom.” They sweetly pat me on the back.

I finally give up on finding the notebook, as all the frustrated energy is drained from me. I dig a different notebook out for J.D. to use. Some of the boys will just have to wait. Dan and I work our way through the social studies chart. I send Caleb downstairs to watch t.v. until I am ready to handle questions.

And when the day’s school work is done, I don’t feel accomplished that we finished all our week’s work a day ahead of schedule. Instead, I feel guilty and disappointed in myself for basically crying over spilled milk and not setting a better example of how to handle problems.

Did I pray and meditate on God’s word this morning, to set the tone for a good day?

Yes, yes I did, most faithfully, but sometimes that isn’t enough. In the heat of moments when you feel like chucking a computer through a window, having prayed and read God’s word three hours ago does not save you from feeling out of control. At that moment, I’m not walking in the spirit. I’m letting new problems and anxiety get the best of me, but don’t worry. I didn’t actually throw the computer out the window. I do show some restraint.

It was exactly like this four years ago when we tried home-schooling last time. Back then I had to learn to stop in my tracks when I would begin to feel frantic or angry . Sometimes, I would even have to physically remove myself from the situation, drop everything, and beg God for help at that very moment. I have to walk away, maybe even step outside and breathe some fresh air, and regain my senses before I can return to handle the chaotic situations where it feels like everything is going wrong with a restored heart and mind.

Getting enough sleep is important too in times like these. Your ability to cope is slashed in half when you are tired. Taking time to sit on my porch is strangely beneficial to me. I love watching the birds or drawing on the sidewalk. Normally, I love taking walks, but while my feet are injured I have to settle for front porch sittin’, which is surprisingly restorative.

I often wonder if any other moms have as hard a time with computer school as I do. We are all different. I’m sure there are some moms who love doing school this way, but it’s hard for me. It’s not the kids’ fault either. They have been very sweet and cooperative, but managing people is still like wearing a porcupine bra to me. It is definitely not my talent.

But it’s not good to dwell on one’s shortcomings for long.

Dwelling on the negative is a detrimental thing to do. So I’ll get back up, dust myself off, drink a little coffee, finish my blog, and finish up my dinner preparations. We are having BBQ chicken and mashed potatoes tonight. That’s a meal most everyone will eat. Life goes on, and with God’s help, we will do better tomorrow. Alan is in the kitchen now, teaching Joshua how to make instant mashed potatoes. See, it can be a good day after all.

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

Matthew 11: 28-30

The post Weeks 6 and 7: Sometimes I am not okay. appeared first on Stories of Our Boys.

Is anyone else feeling nervous about their kids beginning virtual school? I feel like this is an issue that parents across the entire world are dealing with.

We have been out of school for the sheltering-in-place or quarantine or social distancing, whatever you want to call it, for a month now. Seriously. An entire month has passed.

During that month, we here in Maryland were given home-school packets of suggested work. Thankfully, they gave us all the benefit of the doubt and gave the children all 100s on daily grades for the work done on the packets. So far it has all had a very laid back feel. Yes, we are home schooling, but the oldest boys don’t even really have math. The younger boys haven’t had much science.

We recently added in BrainPOP.com videos when I found out that their service is currently free. Plus, we read and write and do a few other things. School at our house has been fun, really. I mean, it has been fun for the kids and sometimes even for me, but all of the monkeys have been on my back. It has definitely been a lot of work. We have four kids, and they all have different assignments. I spend each day doing school with them, feeding them, and then planning out what we will do the next day.

I have had less time to do house work and writing. That’s for sure, but it has been doable.

Next week everything changes.

Wednesday we will start virtual school. The kids will watch videos of their teachers teaching them on our computers, and they will have to actually complete the assignments the teachers give them.

Everything reminds me of a song. Sometimes my kids take it as a challenge and try to throw out random phrases to see if I can find a song that relates, and I assure you, I always can.

Today I am Elsa, of Frozen II, and we are all on a collision course straight “Into the Unknown.”

Virtual school is the unknown, and we are headed there fast, and I don’t know whether to be terrified or happy! Up to this point, if I thought the packet-suggested science questions were ridiculous, I just tossed them out and used a different science lesson that I chose for them myself.

I won’t get to do that anymore. Yet, it won’t be like sending them to school all day long either. I may not choose the activities, but I WILL be the one who has to make sure they do said activity, and if they cannot figure out how to do it, their project becomes my project in many ways. You know?

And then there’s the computer sharing in this house…

When this all started, we had a family of six, with three iPhones and two computers to use. Once the home-schooling began, I ordered a new Kindle Fire tablet to replace our old one, and that has been a life-saver. When they announced that school was about to go to virtual classes, we decided to go ahead and order a new computer. So now we have a 3:5 computer ratio, which is a huge improvement, but I’m still nervous about everyone trying to share them.

“The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the LoRD forever. “

Psalm 23

So many unknowns

Our county school system has not given us any information about what to expect next week. Thankfully, ONE teacher did send us what he plans to do. That’s for 8th grade math, so he is planning to do live classes for his students, there days per week. He’s already given times and instructions.

We love this teacher. I am thankful he is doing these live classes, and my oldest son will actually have math again. It was easy to dig up math for my elementary boys. I didn’t even bother to try with the 8th grader. Inventing functions and such is not really in my wheelhouse anymore. I will happily wash my hands of it.

But what if they all need the computer at the same time?

And exactly how many videos will each boy have to watch each day? The first grader, I’m hoping, will only have 2 videos each day. Our third grader has three different teachers for his subjects, not including music and such. Both middle school boys have seven classes each. That could mean making time for as many as 20 or more video classes per day! And then there are assignments!

See, I think about this stuff, and my heart beats faster, and my hair gets grayer, and my jaws clench. My teeth grind. It’s all a messy stress and worry reaction.

Then I remind myself.

It is going to be okay. They, as a public school, must know that these students are all sharing electronic devices with siblings. Surely, they will continue to be more laid back than usual.

My sixth grader’s French teacher who let them take a test over the phone to final out their grades, and before he gave the test, he went over it all first. He basically told him all the answers before he asked the questions, and I was SO grateful.

What we are facing is not unique to our family. It’s the whole world going through this together.

Sure, each area handles it a little differently, but it’s all similar. What about the families who only have ONE computer and several children? Or the families who cannot afford to buy a new device to get through this? How about all the people who have lost their jobs and aren’t even sure how they will pay for next week’s food or electric bill?

Those are bigger problems than I am dealing with. We are very fortunate that Alan has been able to work at home, and I always am at home.

When I face uncertainty, which is a constant in my life, I always go back to faith in God.

As a military wife, we’ve been waiting for the Army, going where they send us, never knowing where we’ll be next year, for the past 18 years. Uncertainty is what we do.

I trust in the Lord. He knows. I am just a pawn, along for the ride. That’s how I often see my life. The roller coaster is taking off again, but I have my seatbelt on. I trust the one who is in charge. God is still in heaven, and he will always take care of those who call in his name. Getting upset or griping about it is not going to make coronavirus go away or your neighbor’s response any different.

“The LORD is a stronghold for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble. And those who know your name put their trust in you, for you, O LORD, have not forsaken those who seek you.”

Psalm 9:9-10

I will not spend too much time worrying about this because focusing in on a problem only seems to make the problem grow. Once we have all the information, we will build a schedule then. Until then, we will enjoy the weekend. Maryland’s “spring break” is Friday through Tuesday. Isn’t that odd? This state does not get a week-long spring break.

We are going to take that time off from school. The boys will spend way too much time on video games. I will work on writing my next book, and I’m sure we will play some Ticket to Ride and do a good deal of baking and eating.

The Lord will take care of us. He will take care of you too, if you trust in him. In the meantime, we should all enjoy the spring as much as we can.

********************

Funny Quarantine Quotes from the Week:

“Ohhh, you say it like bunt pan?? All this time I thought you were saying butt pan!” (John David)

“Do y’all know the story of Rapunzel at all?”

“Ohhh yeah, was she the girl who couldn’t eat her soup??” (Daniel)

The post Into the Unknown: Virtual School Nerves and Anxiety appeared first on Stories of Our Boys.

We live in Maryland. Our teachers were given less than 24 hours of notice before schools shut down. Therefore, they cannot guarantee that all children have internet access at home or parent involvement. That limits how much the schools can assign. In some ways, I am thankful for that. One of my friends has children in a local private school that handed out more work than they can actually get done.

All of a sudden, I have four children, of all different ages, to keep busy all day long. This is the perfect time to panic, right? I mean just a little…

Those years (2014-2016) that we home schooled the boys have helped me a ton. I have some materials left over to use for the younger boys. Plus, I remember how stressed I got last time, putting way too much pressure on myself. This time, I am trying to take a far more laid back approach to it all. Each day I have a very reasonable list of no more than 6 things I expect us to get done each day.

Thankfully, you can find a ton of stuff online these days to help.

Here are a few websites I have found immensely helpful for daily school work.

#1. 15 Fun Indoor Recess Games and Activities

The very first day that my youngest child was hot on my case to “start home school now now now”, I sat down and asked him what they do first everyday. He is a first grader. His teacher makes school so much fun that he adores her and looks forward to going everyday. She is a quiet, introverted teacher, so I knew she must be running things well to make him love school so much.

He explained that they start each morning with “morning work,” and then they have their morning meeting. At the meeting, they greet each other, they share about their day or weekend, and then they play a game.

That was easy enough to incorporate into our home school. Sure. We can play an indoor game each day to get everyone in a good mood, having fun together. So far we have played Simon Says (only we called it Mom says), balloon tossing, charades, hot/cold, hide-and-go-seek, and four corners. I got almost all of these ideas from this website.

#2. Brain Pop

I have written about Brain Pop previously, here and here. I was already a fan. But now I’m an even firmer advocate for this website because they are providing their top rate services for FREE during the COVID-19 quarantine.

This site offers fun, engaging animated lessons on every subject, from science to art to math. Not only that, but it has games and quizzes to support those lessons. My son’s middle school uses these lessons regularly. They are solid and easy to pay attention to. This one is a big personal favorite at our house.

Go here to sign up for your free account.

#3. Brain Pop Junior

Everything I said for Brain Pop applies here, only this is the one geared towards kindergarten-third grades. I cannot recommend this program highly enough, and no, they are not paying me to say that. I am not on their payroll. We just like it that much.

Go here to sign up for your free account during the quarantine. Once schools are back in session, this website will go back to being a paid service.

#4. National Geographic

Nationalgeographic.com is one of the websites listed on our school’s recommended websites list. My middle schoolers are supposed to read or watch science or social studies articles or videos on there and then summarize them.

#5. Duolingo.com

This is a foreign language program and app. I downloaded the app version of it to my phone. It teaches about any common language you can think of. My sixth-grade son is using it for French. He says it’s fun, and he enjoys it ever so much more than he ever enjoyed going to his French class at school. This is another must-have, and I downloaded the free app version. However, it will only let you play a limited amount with a free account. There are days that we run out of tokens and could use the paid version.

#6. Typing Club

When we moved to Maryland, I was dismayed to discover that all the middle schoolers here have been typing for years. That left my kids in the dust. In fact, my 3rd grader has already begun typing lessons at his school. Apparently, it’s never too early to begin learning typing in our ever-increasingly electronic age.

Typing club is a very clear typing program. It teaches typing the same way we learned it. Only this generation never has to worry about a typewriter or correction ribbon. Aren’t they lucky?

We did pay for this service. My 8th grader is using it everyday while my three younger boys are using it sporadically. Go here to try it out.

#7. Starfall for grades PreK-3rd

This one was also on our public school’s list. The games on it are super cute. My first grader thoroughly enjoys the learning games on starfall.com. They have a variety of subjects too.

#8. Reading Eggs/ Reading Eggspress

This reading skills website is for kids ages pre-k through first grade. Actually, if you go with the reading express version, it serves more of a reading comprehension purpose and is good for all elementary school grades past reading eggs.

You can try it out now free for the first 30 days. They are running this deal to support all the kids currently out of school.

Our family has a long history of using reading eggs. It is a fun and effective program. My first grader LOVES it.

#9. Math Seeds

Math Seeds is the math portion of the reading eggs website. It is also really cute and fun. I highly recommend these. Math Seeds is also doing a free trial.

#10. Stack the States

I could not find this one in Apple’s app store, but it is available for $2.99 in Google’s. I downloaded this app for my elementary sons on our Kindle fire tablet. We also used this app back when we home-schooled before. It is really fun. This one is worth the $2.99.

#11. Library

We have not gotten around to using this one yet because I am such a book hoarder we haven’t needed to. However, I have several friends who are using the library’s ebooks every single day. I need to dig out my library card and try this one out.

I will say silent reading time is my FAVORITE subject of the day. I set my oven timer for 30 minutes, and that is the quietest half hour we have all day. I use it to start cooking dinner.

#12. Prodigy Math

My nine-year-old loves prodigy math. He logs on there and plays math games and battles dragons and wizards and other kids. They battle by solving math problems. It’s a hit.

#13. Helpful YouTube Videos

Here a few YouTube videos we have enjoyed:

Social Studies:

CC Timeline Song in its entirety

Tour the States music video

Tour the World music video

Math:

Geometry Song (area, measurements, etc.)

Counting by 3s

Multiplying by 7s

There are countless fun multiplications songs and such on YouTube.

Science:

Science Songs (atomic number, periodic elements, creation & evolution, etc.)

Cell Songs (parts of the cell)

There’s a whole National Geographic channel. The Weird but True ones are our favorite.

#14. Lunch Doodles with Mo Willems

If your kids like the Pigeon books or the Elephant and Piggy stories, they will love these art lessons with Mo. He started this series specifically for all the kids at home due to coronavirus.

My first grader is a big fan.

#15. NASA Kids’ Club

This is one that I just discovered, but if your kids like to learn about space, this looks like an obvious win.

If you click on “Fun activities to do at Home” it takes you to crafty science projects. There are also puzzles you can print out.

There are videos and photos to look at. This website is more of a resource than a game place, though it does also have a few games.

We are all in this together! Add any of your family’s favorite school websites or apps in the comments below.

Okay, I am off to decompress. I feel like I have earned some Tri-Peaks Solitaire time, or maybe I will just take a nap…

The post 15 Helpful Websites and Apps for Your Quarantine Home School appeared first on Stories of Our Boys.

There are many pros and cons of home schooling, just as there are pros and cons to public and private schools. If you find yourself weighing the differences of which method of school you should do for your children, this list will help.

I have revised my pros and cons lists to reflect my views now that I have 2 years of home-school under my belt as well, and our children have also attended 2 years at a private Christian school and many years of public school. The reason for so many changes in schooling is actually that we are a military family.

Only YOU can decide which is best for your kids.

What I am going to provide you with is a pros and cons list of home schooling versus private or public schools.

***Disclaimer: When you purchase through links on this website, I do collect advertising fees. Clicking does not obligate you to buy. All opinions are my own.***

First, we did try public school.

We were fortunate to belong to an amazing community with a high performing school.  Our neighborhood elementary school in Northern Virginia tested well above the national averages.  While that was great, and my boys were pretty happy at school, no school is perfect.

See, my boys had trouble paying attention to things that they are not interested in, especially in large group settings. I don’t mean they day dreamed a little.  They day dreamed so much that their teachers tried to interject my boys’ names into every few sentences to encourage them to listen.

Now that they are older I think this has actually improved, but back then I was all throwing my hands up and feeling discouraged.

That’s my biggest hang-up with public schools and my boys: Large groups.  

Joshua’s second grade classroom had 28 students and 1 teacher.  The 1st grade class had 26 students and 1 teacher.  Has anyone stopped to realize what we’re asking our teachers to do here???

I attempted teaching public school 1 year, 10 years ago, in a low income area of Texas. That was a class of 19 students, in a combined 3rd/4th grade classroom, and it was a HUGE job.  I was fresh out of college and had little experience with children, so it was too much for me.

Think about it.  26 1st graders–in 1 room–with 1 teacher.  Do you really think that teacher has any time whatsoever to give any individualized instruction?  I doubt it.

So I confess, I thought I could do better myself. The boys and I took on home-schooling for  two years.

First, here’s a disclaimer: I was trying to teach 4 boys on 4 different levels all at one time. The youngest was in diapers, the second-youngest was 3, one was struggling with reading, and the oldest was a behavior issue for me, even though he was very well behaved in public school. There are ways to make your experience easier than all of those 4 rings of circus I was trying to manage at once.

It was painful for me. I was mostly stressed and miserable. The boys grew to like it because 1.) no home work 2.) shorter school days and 3.) so many pajama days.

But for me home schooling four boys was more stress than I could handle.

I was not one of those ‘fun’ teacher types, doing cool experiments and building forts and playing games. I was more like, “Hey, look, I don’t care if you think it’s hard. The book says we have to do it, so please just do it now so we can be done with this already.”

Yeah…..teaching was so not my thing. Good things did come out of it, mostly personal growth for myself: I learned that it’s important to accept help from others. I prayed more.

Also, good things came out of it for my boys. They grew even closer together. My oldest was in need of an attitude adjustment before we started home schooling, but over the past two years he matured in character in manifold more ways than I expected, and I am incredibly proud of him.

But I said that I will never home school again. The stress and unhappiness made me physically ill. Literally, I am now on heart medication.

But some people love it, so don’t take that to mean I’m anti-home schooling. You may be an AMAZING teacher-mom. But if you do go for it, I hope you find some things to delegate. You aren’t supposed to have to be everyone and everything to your family. People need other people.

Also, I think it’s important to mention that some of us are a better fit for public schools, private schools, or home schooling than others. One kid may thrive in one environment, while another thrives in the opposite. We all have to choose what works best for our particular situation.

We all did that whole virtual school thing during covid. Home schooling is a little different because you do get to be in charge, and you will not have teachers emailing you to tell you that your kid did not turn in their video of themselves throwing a ball in the backyard. For us, virtual school was the absolute worst.

So let’s get on with the list!

Public School Pros Vs. Cons

Pros:

1. It frees up time for you to spend with your pre-schoolers during the day.
2. It gives you breathing room and less stress in some ways.
3. The kids get to make friends at school.
4. They must learn how to function in a highly ordered environment.
5. Children must learn responsibility of turning in assignments on someone else’s timeline.
6. The kids learn skills of dealing with people of diverse backgrounds.
7. They learn to eat new foods in the lunch room, and you don’t have to even get involved. (And that’s coming from a mom of a severe nut-allergy kid. I make them all buy a lunch.)
8. The burden of your children’s education does not lie squarely on your shoulders alone.

Cons:

1.  having to trust whatever random teacher your kids are placed with
2. not knowing what they are doing all day and whether they are paying attention at all
3. having to re-teach many things they learned at school when they get home…..because they weren’t listening
4. dealing with them occasionally not bringing home their homework assignment or not turning it in
5. your kids being taught things at school that you don’t actually agree with
6. your kids not learning what success feels like because their attention problems are getting in the way
7. no one-on-one instruction
8. They dislike school.
9. summer not beginning until practically July
10. Sometimes I feel like I don’t see them at all between school, homework, and extracurricular activities.
11. lots of negative outside influences on their attitudes
12. learning lots of trash talk from friends  (Think back.  You remember this from your school days, right???)

PRIVATE SCHOOL (Christian school) Pros and Cons:

Pros:

Same as above, but also:

1. They learn Christian principles and morals that I actually DO agree with. (Be sure to thoroughly vet what your school of choice teaches. Know what denomination it is and what that means.)
2. Their environment is like-minded.
3. They learn Bible verses that will help them for the rest of their life.
4. So important: Smaller class sizes!!

Cons:

Same as for public school, but also:

1. It costs a lot of money.
2. They would have to be “car riders.”
3. If it is a prestigious school, there may be homework and stress overload. Be sure to check on that. Thankfully, the one I’m choosing assigns very little homework, or so they tell me. Here’s hoping!
4. Did I mention it’s expensive?

first week of kindergarten at the Christian private school

When we could afford it, I loved the private school option.

The boys were being well educated, I was sane, and they had an amazingly positive atmosphere to learn in. I loved that! The smaller class sizes meant the world to my boys with attention problems. Daniel used to say his favorite subject was “learning about God,” which you just can’t do in a public school.

Budget constraints are a true issue. Here’s an article on money-saving ideas we used to help pay for private school, to include moving to a smaller house.

HOME SCHOOL Pros and Cons:

Pros:

1. Life would run more on your own time table.
2. You can choose a curriculum that fits the needs of each child.
3. 1:4 teacher/student ration allows for more individualized instruction
4. better for their attention problems
5. more time with your children
6. less outside influence on their attitudes and language (if only I can also control MY mouth)
7. You might enjoy planning their lessons.
8. Fun field trips.  Home school day at the aquarium!
9. Home school co-ops often offer 1 or 2 day/ week of all the arts or P.E.
10. Your kids will probably enjoy it.
    

    Cons:

1. You have to learn to be more structured.
2. They may not learn the same coping skills they’d learn at school for dealing with difficult people and focusing in large groups.
3. a LOT of work for Mom
4. no freedom for Mom whatsoever–ever
5. Will you be able to have patience with them?
6. Wearing so many hats is stressful.
7. You may feel isolated from being home teaching everyday. (I felt extremely isolated.)
8. You will either like it, love it, or hate it. If it makes you want to poke out your own eyeballs, just stop.

OK.  Your turn to chime in!  What have you chosen for your children?  What do you love about it?

“The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, But a wise man is he who listens to counsel.”     Proverbs 12:15

Of course, in the end, we will choose what we think is best for our particular children, based on lots of research, thoughtful consideration, and prayer, and of course, our budget at the time.

I just started a Facebook page for the blog. Please follow me on Facebook to read more articles like this one.

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The post Which is Better: Home School, Public, or Private Schools appeared first on Stories of Our Boys.

Look closely. You can see the giant burn hole in the leaf.

Last weekend we were enjoying a leisurely weekend of letting the kids play in the backyard while we visited with family. Caleb, who loves all things science-related, asked Alan if he could show him how to use the sun’s light and a magnifying glass to make fire.

Deep down, I guess we are all like cave-men because every one of us was full of joy to watch this happen.

I had never actually seen this done before. The sun was shining, so conditions were perfect. Alan hunted down a magnifying glass and grabbed a dry leaf from the yard.

Now this is where it gets complicated:

Oh wait,no, it doesn’t. Literally, all we did was let the sun shine through the magnifying glass onto the leaf, and smoke appeared rather quickly.

In this photo, the one side of the leaf is mostly burned away, and they’d started on the second half.

Ta-daaaaa

Everyone had to take a turn burning the leaf.

Well, folks, that’s all there is to it. This may be my shortest blog post of all time, eh?

You don’t have to be a home school family to do fun science projects at home. These are the kinds of activities your kids won’t soon forget.

Want to know the science behind all this? I googled it for ya. I must confess that I did not find the science behind it interesting at all, but this site did the best job of holding my attention: thenakedscientist.com. Just click on that link there.

Okay, I guess I should go back to being an involved parent or tidying up or something. Hope you are all having a great week!

The post How to Make Fire with a Magnifying Glass appeared first on Stories of Our Boys.