Now, don’t worry! I’m not going to turn www.kimberlyehlers.com into a homeschooling site. I know that many of you do not homeschool, but I also know that many of you do. Homeschooling has been a huge part of my family’s life, so it is a part of my heart. Some of you may know that I have spoken at on-line homeschool expos and written articles for other sites on that topic. I have wrestled with the idea of starting a site just for parents homeschooling children with serious or chronic health issues because I believe it is an area that needs to be addressed. There are lots of sites about homeschooling children with special needs, but these are often for education kids with mental disabilities. They are wonderful and certainly needed, but do not necessarily meet the needs of parents whose child has “normal” or above intelligence and whose health interferes with school on a regular basis. (I say “normal” like that because I really dislike that word, especially to describe children. All children are gifts from God and have their own unique strengthens and weaknesses.)
What I’ve decided to do is make a page here on my site for homeschooling information. It will be a place I can share the things and people who have blessed our homeschool. That also means that every once in awhile I will write an article about homeschooling. Why do it this way? I don’t really have enough to share right now that needs its own site. As I asked myself what I would write about, one thing and one person kept coming up as the answer – my beloved friend and mentor, Cindy Rushton. Cindy opened up the world of notebooking to me years ago. It (along with our wonderful homeschool group) has been the thing I thank God for over and over again. Notebooking allowed us the flexibility we needed while, I believe, not just giving Seth a good education, but an excellent one. It’s an incredible way to allow a child to take ownership of their learning, explore subjects deeply, and fuel a love of learning all at once. All those things reduced my stress greatly. Seth loving to learn, having topics to pursue and being able to work independently meant a lot less planning on my part – it was so much easier that what we had been doing. While he happily worked, I could get the dishes done or sweep the floors. Ahhh, I could relax knowing he was getting a great education, and I could get other things done! Most importantly, notebooking made it so easy to miss days when we needed to because of his health or doctor’s appointments and get right back on track where he had left off. Because I knew he was learning so much, it was less stressful to me when we did miss school days. Notebooking fit so well into our lives.
I’d like to share an example of how we’ve used notebooking. A couple of years ago (maybe even 3 now!), we were studying China. Seth had a huge interest in China, but I was following our curriculum, reading what they said to read, and I could see the interest drain out of him more and more every day. I stopped and asked him what he would like to learn about China. Boy, did he shock me! He had 3 very specific, excellent topics he wanted to know more about. He wanted to know each of the Dynasties and when they were, who all of the Emperors were, and what the writing of each dynasty was like. We had to lay out a plan of how we would research these topics and how he wanted to record them. He ended up with an incredible notebook (actually a binder).
Seth has made many of these books and the truth is they are on-going projects. He is always adding something new that he’s learned to them. His books cover ever subject imaginable. The best part is that he loves them. They are books he rereads over and over again, relearning all this interesting information, and impressing himself with what a great book he created.
Right now, Seth has started a Spanish notebook completely on his own. As he was working through Rosetta Stone, he decided to keep track of words and sentences he was unsure of so he could later Google their meaning. A notebook is the perfect place to do that.
BUT, when I first started notebooking, the whole idea overwhelmed me! I had no idea where to start, if it would really work, how to even do it, or how to truly make it effective. I was making a big scary switch from being dependent on curriculum to a more student lead way of learning. I grabbed an audio from Cindy Rushton and was hooked. Her gentle, wise, and encouraging way convinced and empowered me that, yes, I really could do this! Then I grabbed more audios on notebooking specific subjects – one at a time. It took me a long time to learn everything I needed to know doing it this way!
One of the reasons, I wanted to write to you about this is to let you know that Cindy has an INCREDIBLE set you will love if you are even thinking about notebooking, normally $100, but on sale for only $37 – and only for the next 72 hours.
It is jammed packed and will help you to both be successful and enjoy this wonderful way of educating your child. You will also be blown away from the extra bonuses she’s added to this already huge set. You won’t need to go back and purchase other audios, like I had to do! Yes, I’m proud to say that I have become an affiliate of Cindy’s because I know how much she has blessed me – from teaching me to notebook to guiding me to start this site. I’ve known her for many years, and she is one of the most generous people I know. I’m anxious to introduce you to her so that she can bless you too.
One last thing, if you use my link to purchase Cindy’s “Everything You Need to Begin Notebooking Super Set”, please e-mail me and I will give you a copy of my e-book, “The Faith Challenge” absolutely free. (Your freebies alone are worthy WAY more than the cost of this set.) Why would I do that? I really want to help you reduce the stress in your life. If you’re a homeschooling mom, I can’t think of a better way to do that than to see you purchase Cindy’s wonderful set and deepen your faith to face your child’s illness at the same time. “The Faith Challenge” will draw you closer to God than ever before. Doesn’t less stress in your homeschool and heart sound good? It’s easy too!
Here’s That Link for Cindy’s Incredible Set on Sale
In His love,
Kimberly
