Looking for Freedom & Simplicity™ Home Ed?

If you are new to our blog and Lifestyle Education through Discipleship, this post is for you!

As a Christian homeschooling mom of a large family, I want a method of education that meets several criteria. Perhaps you’re looking for some of the same things.

1. It has to be simple enough in structure and application that it works in a busy mommy of many schedule.
2. It has to be flexible and work with the lessons and flow of real life.
3. It has to use natural learning methods that are easily incorporated into all learning, not artificial constructs.
4. It has to teach my children to be Biblical thinkers, not just “get-it-done” but really learn and most of all learn how to learn and think.
5. It has to present a comprehensive integrated view of life, not fragmented unrelated pieces.
6. It has to be family friendly – which is really mom friendly – not taking my children (and therefore my mind) all different directions, but helping us to learn together as a family.
7. Most of all, it has to glorify God and present all learning as from Him and for His purposes.

Impossible?
NO!

Lifestyle Education through Discipleship™ provides just what I need – and perhaps what you are looking for too. How do I know? Because I designed it to be that. I’ve spent the 23 years I’ve been home educating, developing and designing a philosophy and methodology to meet these needs, for my own children, and to help others and their children.

Lifestyle Education through Discipleship™ is Freedom & Simplicity™ in Home Education LED by the Spirit and grounded in the Word. It is Real Books and Family-friendly Natural methods  + Biblical Foundations and Reasoning for Excellence. We incorporate the best of the same methods that Charlotte Mason and the Principle Approach utilize, but more importantly it is a Biblical philosophy and methodology.

Sound like something you’d like for your home education?

Browse our website to learn about about Lifestyle Education through Disicpleship™, through our articles and blog there.


Join our email list to get a FREE introduction workshop audio – in sidebar.

Then get started with your Freedom & Simplicity™ home education with our Freedom & Simplicity™ of Lifestyle Education through Discipleship™ Seminar audios and handouts,

and Freedom & Simplicity™ Learning Guide ebooks.

We have a Winner!

Thanks everyone for helping us get 100 Fans on our NEW Lifestyle Education through Discipleship Facebook Page!

Random.org has picked a Winner for our drawing for a FREE ticket to the Ultimate Home School Expo. It is Michele H. Contact me by email and we will get your FREE Ticket to you. If you aren’t Michele H., you can still get a ticket for the Expo at a great price! Or get an even more super deal by Ordering with a Friend!

I will be posting a FREE Lifestyle Education through Discipleship™ Exclusive Resource by Me & My House for ALL our L.E.D. Facebook Fans tomorrow. (Lord willing.)

Now, to get that newsletter finished.

New L.E.D. FB Page

Are you on Facebook? It’s a great place for home educators to connect, and I’ve just created a new FB Page for Lifestyle Education through Discipleship™. Now you can keep up-to-date with L.E.D. in a one-stop place that you’re browsing anyhow, and you can join the discussion on L.E.D.

Click on over and Join us today! And hey, don’t forget to invite your Christian homeschooling friends! If we can achieve our first goal today, I will add a Free Gift for all Fans!

See you on Facebook!

Join Us Live Today – on Prayer

“Teach Us to Pray” ~ Becoming a Family of Prayer

Becoming a Family of Prayer is the topic I’ll be speaking on for the Ultimate Home School Expo, a completely ONLINE, HUGE homeschool conference. More on the Expo below.

If you’d like to join us live as we record my session, “Teach Us to Pray” ~ Becoming a Family of Prayer, you can do so this afternoon at 1:00 CT, for FREE! The details are below. Even if you aren’t able to make it, please pray that all will go smooth with the presentation and recording, and that God will be glorified in it.

In this session, I’ll be speaking on prayer in general, and also sharing prayer projects our family does, and how to become a family of prayer.

“Teach Us to Pray” ~ Becoming a Family of Prayer

Monday, April 19, 2010, 1PM CT

http://talk-a-latte.com/chat/
(The room is closed until the chat-the room will be open about 15 minutes before we go live)

OR here are the call-in details:
Phone Number: (724) 444-7444
Call ID: 38181#
PIN: 1# (Or your Talkshoe PIN)

Now, more about the Expo. This conference is complete with a wide range of speakers, vendors booths – many with special prices for “attenders”, and a multitude of grab bag Free resources for all. The 2010 Expo will be held the week of May 3rd, but it never ends. You can go back and download sessions and free gifts, and browse around over and over. You can get your ticket for the Ultimate Home School Expo here!

Spring Time – Conference Time

Spring is in the air and it’s home education conference time! I’m excited to be heading to the NCHEA Conference this weekend, where dd#5 will be recognized with the other graduates this year, and also plan to attend the CHEC Conference in Denver in June.

Home ed conferences are our “teacher training” and encouragement to keep on keeping on. I believe we all need this kind of boost each year. There are two types of home ed conferences. The first type is a general conference, such as the state conferences are. They cover many types of home education and reach out to all. The second type is a specialized conference geared toward a particular approach to home education. They are generally more helpful in the practical application of home educating in the style you choose. Both are important, as each provides for different needs.

Although I highly recommend “getting out” to a conference where you can see and handle the resources and visit face to face with the vendors and workshop presenters and meet other home educating parents face to face, I know that isn’t always possible for everyone every year.  If this is a year you “can’t go”, there are still options for you. In my next couple of post, we’ll explore a couple of those options, both a general and a specialized conference. Stay tuned.

For today, Are you planning on attending a Home Education Conference this year? Which one/where? What do you like best about home ed conferences? Post your replies in the comments.

Productivity through Mind Mapping

How much would it be worth to you to save
a day of your time every week?

Mind Mapping is a super tool for increasing productivity. Plan, teach, brainstorm, solve problems, make decisions. Mind Mapping will help. NovaMind is one of the computer based Mind Mapping tools we recommend. Read below for a Special Offer for our readers from NovaMind.

Get NovaMind Platinum today and increase your productivity…and as a special offer, receive a free eBook valued at US$39.95 – either the “Business Guide to Mind Mapping” or “Teacher’s Guide to Mind Mapping”.

Isn’t it so frustrating that despite our best intentions we so often fail to meet the levels of success we desire? You probably started this year thinking about how you were going to do much better this year, but like most people, you probably suffered from:

  • Feeling overwhelmed by everything you need to do
  • Getting stuck, and procrastinating on important tasks
  • Having a lack of direction and finding it hard to make decisions and prioritize tasks
  • Missing tasks out when planning projects

But it doesn’t have to be like that.

Click here for a free video based course that will teach you how you can benefit from using Mind Mapping for:

  • Note taking
  • Problem solving
  • Decision making
  • To-do lists
  • Presentation preparation
  • Presentation delivery
  • Project planning
  • Knowledge management
  • Strategic planning
  • Business planning
  • Brainstorming
  • Writing articles, technical documents and books using Mind Maps
  • Life planning

Get the free video based training to ensure your success now.

Why let another year go by with sub-par results? You can fix this right now very easily – all you need is a few easy to use tools and easy to learn techniques. Research has proved that most people increase their efficiency by at least 20% just by using these Mind Mapping tools. That gives you back at least an extra day a week.

NovaMind is Mind Mapping software which helps you understand, remember, and communicate complex information and solve problems. NovaMind Platinum supports brainstorming, boosts Business Planning and Project Management. NovaMind is quick to learn and easy to use, and is a proven solution for enhancing productivity and effectiveness. NovaMind Pro is available for Windows and Mac.

Alex O’Neal of Mascot Pictures in United Kingdom says:

This is by far the most brilliant, liberating and creatively valuable program on my computer.

A long time NovaMind user said:

I have owned NovaMind for a while and have seen it improve greatly over the years. I now use it for brainstorming, putting together my weekly to-do list, project planning, website design, speech development… you name it.

We have a very exciting offer for you: Buy NovaMind Platinum Today and get either “Business Guide to Mind Mapping” or “Teacher’s Guide to Mind Mapping” thrown in.

All you have to do is:

  1. Click this link to download and try out NovaMind Platinum:
  2. Choose whether you want to receive the “Business Guide to Mind Mapping” or “Teacher’s Guide to Mind Mapping” when you make your purchase. Click the relevant button below:

Stop Press: Free upgrade thrown in! When you purchase now, you will receive a license key that will work for both the current NovaMind 4, and the upcoming NovaMind 5!

Joshua Kuhl of Bridgewater, United States says:

What great software! Every once in a while you find something that is truly worth the price paid – and this is certainly it!

For many years I have been looking for some way of getting the ideas that flow through my brain onto some kind of paper to be used later. The traditional methods of outlines just don’t work for me. NovaMind does!

It’s fast, it’s easy and it works!

Many thanks! I look forward to being more productive using NovaMind!

100% Money Back Guarantee – for a whole year

NovaMind software are so sure of the value you will receive from NovaMind that you get a one year money back guarantee. If you are not satisfied with the software, your money will quickly be refunded in full.

… Get your free upgrade to NovaMind 5 thrown in!

NovaMind 5 is the next big thing in productivity software. The leading industry experts agree:

Bruce Eisner of Mindware says:

I believe that NovaMind in its new Version 5 is will now be ranked in the top tier of software programs in the mind mapping genre … and it may be heading for the Number 1 position.

Chuck Frey of Innovation Tools says:

In the 3+ years I have been reporting on the world of mind mapping tools and software, NovaMind have consistently been the innovators – the ones to watch who tend to come up with the cool yet practical capabilities that no one has thought of yet. NovaMind 5 promises to deliver yet another leap in what’s possible.

NovaMind 4 is a great Mind Mapping program, but NovaMind have not sat still. Far from it. They have gone right back to the drawing board and developed a completely new program from the ground up, taking all the ideas and feedback from 7 years of NovaMind, and building the next great thing in Mind Mapping. NovaMind 5 will be rolled out this year.

Great Offer:

NovaMind 4: value US$249.00
+ NovaMind 5 Upgrade: value US$65.00
+ eBook: value US$39.95
Total Value US$353.95

Now only US$249.00

All you have to do is:

  1. Click this link to download and try out NovaMind Platinum:
  2. Choose whether you want to receive the “Business Guide to Mind Mapping” or “Teacher’s Guide to Mind Mapping” when you make your purchase. Click the relevant button below:

Get your copy of NovaMind now and increase your productivity, success and happiness.

Offer expires March 31st, 2010. Your license key will work for both NovaMind 4 Platinum and NovaMind 5 Platinum. License keys work for both the Mac and Windows versions of NovaMind, and you can use a single license key for both your work and home computers, so long as there is only one user using it concurrently. Multiple user licenses are available at the online store – volume discounts are applied automatically.

Please take MSNBC Poll on Christian Homeschool Textbooks

Currently there is a poll on MSNBC regarding homeschool science textbooks. I encourage you to read the AP article and discuss it with your children!Then read the question carefully and vote for freedom.

BACKGROUND ARTICLE by Associated Press.

QUESTION: Is it OK for home-school textbooks to dismiss the theory of evolution? VOTE HERE.

Because homeschoolers are a grassroots-type people, we can help this poll turn around. I encourage you to vote and leave a comment in truth and love.

When I voted Sunday morning, the results were 36.6 YES (3115 votes) 62.5 NO (5316 votes) .8 NOT SURE (72 votes) Monday morning the YES vote is down to 34.8%.

Be sure to see Rob Shearer’s thoughts about the article and the poll.

Please vote and share this information with others! Let’s turn this poll around!
(from Tina Farewell)

Handbook of Nature Study

Do you have this great resource? The Handbook of Nature Study is a large, comprehensive, helpful guide to nature by Anna Botsford Comstock, written in 1911. This book has been reprinted and is used by many home educators, especially those incorporating Charlotte Mason methods, which includes nature study as a major component of the home “curriculum.”

If you don’t have this book yet, and don’t want to buy one (yet,) you can download a free ebook version from Homeschool Freebie of the Day (today’s the last day,) or if you miss that, download for free from from archive.org.

Having second thoughts? Don’t want to read on screen or print out that big book? Order here:

93846: Handbook of Nature Study Handbook of Nature StudyBy Anna Botsford Comstock / Cornell University Press

Witness the wonders of God’s creation with naturalist Comstock as your guide! From dandelions, toads, and fireflies, to robins, rocks, and weather, she takes you on a lively trek through the natural world, vividly describing the habits, habitats, and physical structures of common living and nonliving things. Includes study questions and black-and-white photographs. 887 pages, softcover from Cornell University.

If you’d like some help in application, check out The Outdoor Hour Challenge, a blog of one ” family’s online nature journal using Anna Comstock’s book Handbook of Nature Study as our textbook and the great outdoors as our classroom.”

ThanksGiving

It’s not too late to order

A Freedom & Simplicity!™ ThanksGiving Study

and choose a few simple activities to add to your Celebration!

This ebook will come TODAY!
You will receive links to download your book to your computer, by email.

Many of the activities suggested are free and easy!
Many of the resources not included in the book are available free online!
Order now to get your FREE BONUS ~ ThanksGiving Journaling Pages
to print out and journal your study.