Spring 2018

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SPRING 2018 HOMESCHOOL IOWA 11
items from the cart
and put them back
on the shelf.
Most homeschool-
ers are careful about
spending money, but
few are as careful
about spending time.
That’s where home-
schoolers tend to
cross the line into Too
Much: they spend al-
most all of their time,
rather than budgeting it and keeping some in reserve.
Reserve time, unscheduled time, is crucial. Your children—
and you—desperately need unhurried time in which to pro-
cess ideas, to explore interests, to create, to internalize, to
form relations, to know deeply.
Such a gift of time is sadly lacking in today’s world. In fact,
busyness is seen as a sign of worth; yet such a perception
couldn’t be further from the truth. Busyness is what can pre-
vent you from reaching your child’s heart. Busyness is what
can prevent your child from thinking deeply, forming just
opinions, growing in wisdom, and really knowing.
And isn’t that why you’re homeschooling in the first place:
to shape your child’s heart, character, and beliefs? To encour-
age him to think deeply and to know in his heart what is most
important? How sad if, under the heavy pile of Too Much, the
most precious resource slipped through the cracks—the re-
source of time to contemplate important things.
It’s easy to complain, If I just had more time, when the solu-
tion is, rather, strictly budgeting the time you spend on ac-
tivities and assignments and keeping the rest in reserve for
thinking, exploring, and processing.
So prayerfully set a time budget and guard it with zeal. If a
proposed activity or curriculum addition is going to put you
over your time budget, take that item out of your cart and
put it back on the shelf.
Have you crossed the line into Too Much with your sched-
ule or curriculum demands? It’s not too late to take a good
look at what is in your cart. In fact, you may want to pull
everything out and line it all up for review. Pray over what
you see; look for unnecessary duplicates; determine if each
item is the best fit to help you reach your goals in this season;
make sure you have a generous supply of unscheduled time.
Then when you’re ready, start to reload your cart. And as you
do, be sure to put in what is most important before you add
one more thing.
Sonya Shafer is a popular homeschool speaker and writer, specializing
in the Charlotte Mason Method. She has been on an adventure for more
than 20 years studying, researching, practicing, and teaching Charlotte’s
gentle and effective methods of education. Her passion for homeschool-
ing her own four daughters grew into helping others and then into Simply
Charlotte Mason, which publishes her many books and provides a place of
practical encouragement to homeschoolers at .
“Busyness is what can
prevent you from
reaching your child’s
heart. Busyness is what
can prevent your child
from thinking deeply,
forming just opinions,
growing in wisdom,
and really knowing.”
Join us at the 2018 Homeschool Iowa Conference
in Coralville! Fellowship with other families and
learn from inspiring speakers who will give you
practical ways to successfully homeschool!
TRANSFORMED
by the renewing of your mind
hi
The Mally Family
• Learning From Dad
• Making Brothers & Sisters
Best Friends
• Preparing Young Ladies for
their Teenage Years
• and MORE!
Scott Woodruf, HSLDA
• Homeschooling with
Confidence: Understand
Iowa’s Homeschool Law
• Keeping Your Family Safe
• and MORE!
Susan Lovig
• Can I Really Homeschool?
• Figuring Out Learning Styles
• Am I Going to Survive This
Strong-Willed Child?
Leah Nieman
• Guiding Our Kids Through
Social Media
• Taming the Techie Monster
Faith Berens
• Accommodations for
Students with Disabilities
• Dyslexia Demystified
Other Workshops
• Using Teachable Moments
to Guide Your Children
• Teaching the Little Ones in
Your Care
• Flourishing in Motherhood
•What to Know Before College
• Miracles in American History
• Brain Training
• Foreign Language: How to
Work It into Your Homeschool
• Supervising Teacher
Resources
• and So Much MORE!
Keynote Speakers:
REGISTER TODAY:
Workshop & Speaker Highlights:
Sonya Shafer
• Charlotte Mason &
Her Methods
• When Less Is More:
A Call to Simplicity
• Laying Down the Rails
• Keep It Simple
Heidi St. John
• Becoming MomStrong
• Fearless Mothering
•The Busy Homeschool
Mom’s Guide™ to Daylight
• Better for Best: Keeping
Christ as the Center of
Your Home
Eric Ludy
• RaisingWilliamWallace:
Parenting with an Epic
Outcome in Mind
• Made Excellent for Marriage
• Fortification
• Incorrigibly Cheerful
• Fearless