The best way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time.

Being able to set goals and achieve them is an extremely valuable skill to learn. Studies show that those who set goals achieve far more than those who don’t. One way to teach our children to be goal oriented it through the use of a simple goal sheet.

Pictured here, we are pleased to offer this printable goal sheet: goals_sheet_pdf.pdf

Instructions for Use:

1. Click on file, print sheet, and fold in half.  This should cover 2 weeks, front and back.

2. Across the top of the sheet, write the child’s name and the beginning (Monday’s) date.

3. Write the subject your child is currently working on in the light blue boxes, ie Math, Eng, Soc, Sci, etc.

4. For each day of the week, in the gray shaded area, under the corresponding day of the week, write the page numbers that need to be completed. For instance, on Monday put pages 1-3, on Tuesday put pages 4-6, on Wednesday put pages 7-9, etc.

5. At the start of each day, your student simple begins working on the goals for set for that day. Once a goal is completed your student simply puts a check in the box or crosses the goal off completely.

For PDF File: goals_sheet_pdf.pdf. 

Please feel free to post any questions or comments by clicking on the “comments” link below.

Prioritize Your Task List

One day, Ivy Lee a management consultant called on Charles M. Schwab of the Bethlehem Steel Company. In that meeting, Lee gave Schwab an idea to make his company more efficient and told him to try it for one month and when the month was over, Schwab was to send Lee a check for whatever he felt the idea was worth. Schwab had the know-how, he just needed more time in a day to get it all done.

At the end of the month, Ivy Lee received a check for $25,000, an enormous amount of money in the early 1900s. Charles Schwab said that it was the best idea he ever received. The idea:

1. Write down on a sheet of paper the six most important things you need to do tomorrow.

2. Prioritize the list and order them from most important to least important.

3. First thing tomorrow, look at the first item on the list and work on it until it is completed.

4. When the first item is finished, then move onto the second item and work on that item until it is completed, and so on.

5. At the end of the day, make another list for the next day, and do the same.

Don’t worry if you only finish two or three tasks in a day. You are finishing the most important tasks and not getting distracted by the insignificant ones. By doing this simple prioritization of your tasks, even if only mentally, you will be amazed at how much more you can get done.

Please feel free to post any questions or comments by clicking on the “comments” link below.

 E-Sword is a Free, easy-to-use, yet extremely powerful bible software. The free download includes the King James Version with Strong’s numbers and Strong’s dictionary. Additional Bible translations/versions are available.

This is an awesome free resource to help Christian Homeschoolers study the ultimate textbook.

Please feel free to post any questions or comments by clicking on the “comments” link below.

Influence That Lasts a Lifetime

My 20 year old daughter is a graduate student at a University that is 600 miles away from home. Someone who knows my family and realizes that she is a physically disabled young woman who was Homeschooled for her entire K – 12 grade experience, asked me how I handled her living so far away from home. I answered, “I raised her to be independent and it worked!” Who doesn’t love to see the fruit of their labor?

One of the many things that I loved about teaching Meaghan at home (pictured here at her college graduation) was the realization that we could limit the outside negative influences in her life. When society tried to label her as physically disabled, hearing impaired or a ‘less then perfect’ person, we were able to block those words and surround her with people that spoke excellence into her life.

She could never ride a bike, but she could ride a horse at the age of 2. By the age of 16, she was taking courses through a local Christian College. When she moved away for her undergraduate work, she said to me, “All of my life I knew that I was loved by everyone.” Now, as she pursues her graduate degree in psychology, she hopes to be the person to help people realize that they, too, are loved and have great worth.

When all is said and done, I feel the greatest advantage of Homeschooling is not the education (although that can be excellent), but the realization that God gave our children to US for a reason. What a great privilege to build their character and influence them in a way that will last a lifetime. - Dawn

Dawn, a Homeschooling veteran is a member of our Help Desk Team working to assist other families in achieving success in their Homeschooling endeavers. We are blessed as a company to have her experience and success to draw on and share with others.

Please feel free to post any questions or comments by clicking on the “comments” link below.

“If at first you DO succeed, try not to look too surprised.” - Anonymous

If your Homeschooled child has graduated and is thriving in the workplace or in school, we would love to hear from you. Your story and words of wisdom will help motivate and inspire other Homeschooling parents to “run the race with endurance that is set before them” (Heb 12) until they experience the sweetness of crossing the finish line victorious.

To tell us your success story, please click here

“They do not ‘witness’ as if they were merely spectators, looking down from heaven and watching believers’ lives; instead, they witness through the historical record of their faithfulness that constantly encourages those who follow them.We do not struggle alone, we are not the first to struggle with problems, persecution, discouragement, even failure. Others have ‘run the race’ and crossed the finish line, and their witness stirs us to run and win also.” The Life Application Bible Commentary: Hebrews (Wheaton, Ill.: Tyndale House Publishers, 1997), 204

Please feel free to post any questions or comments by clicking on the “comments” link below.

Education = Privilege

Our Homeschool group visited the Buffalo Naval Park this week. We toured three World War II vessels. The USS Little Rock (Cruiser - pictured), the USS The Sullivans (Destroyer), and the USS Croaker (submarine). It truly was a great field trip.

The most valuable thing I took away from the experience is just how much privilege and education go hand-in-hand. Touring these ships, I could only imagine what the enlisted men went through living and fighting on these ships. As we made our way to the top of the ship we could see the privileges the officers had over the enlisted men. The more rank and education, the better the accommodations and privileges.

As a life application, I don’t care if my children choose to be in the “engine room” powering the ship or in the “pilot house” commanding it, but I do want it to be their choice. They can choose to decline privilege if they like, but it is not going to be because I neglected to give them an education. It really helps affirm the importance of setting high moral, social, and academic standards for our Homeschools.

Homeschooling has changed a lot over the years. Today there are many excellent tools and resources available to help Homeschoolers succeed. If we can be of any assistance in your endeavor to provide an excellent Homeschool experience for your children, please do not hesitate to contact us. We are here to help.

Please feel free to post any questions or comments by clicking on the “comments” link below.

GIMP is an acronym for GNU Image Manipulation Program. It is a freely distributed program used to process digital graphics and photographs. Typical uses include creating graphics and logos, resizing and cropping photos, altering colors, combining multiple images, removing unwanted image features, and converting between different image formats. GIMP can also be used to create basic animated images in GIF format. It is often compared to Adobe Photoshop.

Click here to check out GIMP

Please feel free to post any questions or comments by clicking on the “comments” link below.

The success of this family depends on everyone doing their part.

A few years back our family took a Homeschool field trip to the Genesee Country Village, a living museum. The home that stood out most was this little pioneer homestead (pictured). To our amazement, there were 10 children raised in this little one room cabin.

The woman pretending to live in the house was telling us the history of the house and the family that lived there. The husband’s first wife died and the oldest daughter had to step in and become mom to her seven siblings. As we talked about the hardships they had to endure, she commented, “the success of this family, and ultimately their survival depended upon every member of the family working together and doing their share”.

That comment stuck and we immediately implemented it with our family. With eight children, Homeschooling, operating Pennywise Learning, and other outside responsibilities there is no way mom and dad can do it all. We need every member of our household working together to do their share. Our success and survival depends on it.

Besides cleaning up after themselves, everyone in our house has daily/weekly chores. All of our older children can cook meals, clean, do laundry, change diapers, etc, etc. No one person has to shoulder the load by themselves but everyone is expected to do their part.

Occasionally, we have to sit down as a family and remind everyone that we do actually intend to live by this philosophy and that they are expected to participate but for the most part it really does work well. I highly recommend implementing it in your home if you haven’t already.

Please feel free to post any questions or comments by clicking on the “comments” link below.

Special thanks to the folks at HomeschoolTracker.com for providing their HomeschoolTracker Basic Editions FREE-of-Charge to Homeschoolers.

This year our family moved to HomeschoolTracker, Plus Edition to manage our Homeschool activities. If you haven’t already, we highly recommend you check it out.

The FREE Basic Edition features include:

- Basic Edition Never Expires
- Easy Setup
- User Manual
- Track Attendance and Hours
- Manage, Copy and Reschedule Assignments
- Track Resources
- Generate Reports
- Upgrade to PLUS at any time

To check out HomeschoolTracker, click here!

Office Suite software can be very expensive, but we have come to depend on the functionality of programs like these. If you need a powerful Office Suite, be sure to check out OpenOffice.org. This powerful Office Suite is FREE! And it is compatible with other major office suites. When you download the Open Office Suite 2.0, you get the following programs.

Writer – a word processor you can use for anything from writing a quick letter to producing an entire book.
Calc – a powerful spreadsheet with all the tools you need to calculate, analyse, and present your data in numerical reports or sizzling graphics.
Impress – the fastest, most powerful way to create effective multimedia presentations.
Draw – lets you produce everything from simple diagrams to dynamic 3D illustrations.
Base – lets you manipulate databases seamlessly. Create and modify tables, forms, queries, and reports, all from within OpenOffice.org
Math – lets you create mathematical equations with a graphic user interface or by directly typing your formulas into the equation editor.

To check out Open Office, click here!