Hey, not trying to offend anyone here! Trying to stick up for the hardworking education committees who are TRYING to do their best in an apathetic culture. They do this because they care about the children, not because they are trying to make your lives harder. It may not be perfect, in fact it never will be. It is impossible to please everyone. And I think a fault in Christian education for children today is catering to the lowest common denominator, like public schools often do, and as many churches are doing in Sunday School. But what do you do? It is not as easy to be in charge of Chrisitan Ed as it looks. So let's give them a bit of grace. And each other too. Hopefully you as parents are getting spiritually fed in service. That should be spiritual meat, not milk. I would love to have more adult Ed in our church, and it something we are working on, but the service is the most important part of Sunday. If you had to chose between worship and an hour of adult Ed, which would it be? Hopefully you don't have to chose, but if you did? If Sunday School does not work for you, just focus on teaching at home, as you already are. But please don't see the people in charge as enemies. They are in a very difficult position!

Thanks! DD6 won't be 7 until the end of October, but we are doing " first grade" work this year, so I am reporting her this year although I wouldn't legally have to until next year. I don't want to make the school district nervous...it is a small town and school and they are not well versed in homeschool law. So technically I wouldn't have to test until next year...so maybe I will just say it isn't applicable until next year and leave it at that. If they follow up with me I can get into the details with them. It is frustrating when people ask what grade the kids are in....well...they aren't! I appreciate your help👧ðŸ»

Found a $3 Columbia coat for DD6 when she was 3 years old at a second hand store. Zipper broke that winter. Sent it in, they could not repair it, but did send a brand new winter coat in the next size up for free. The new coat was worth at least $75. Love Columbia and The North Face for that kind of stuff!

If non-Christian parents want to drop off their children, if their children are interested, that is great! Do not get me wrong. I would love to see the un-churched children want to come to Sunday School. I pray for this! But when parents who profess to be members of the body of believers and want all the "benefits" of belonging to a church without thinking about how they can serve the Lord just want an hour of free child care? (In most churches the majority of drive-by-Sunday-Schoolings are just that, not the un-churched bringing their children) It is wonderful the kids are there, but if you want to be considered a member of a church and a Christian? Unless you work and cannot get off, you should bring your children to church and attend service. Otherwise, what kind of message is being sent to your children? "Yes kids, it is important to go to Sunday School, but it is not important to live out your faith as an adult. No, Sunday worship is not as important as going boating on the river." The commitment level among millennials and younger is very very low. Not just in the church but across the board. Ask the veterans in the Americal Legion. Ask the Lions Club. Ask summer camps who their biggest supporters are. The sense of duty is fading, and behind is being left the cafeteria-style Christians who take what they feel like but do not get dug in. Most churches are being held together by an aging, loyal, hardworking core who love the Lord and care about spreading the Gospel of Jesus. These workers are getting tired and there is no one to step up and take over. And it is no wonder, if those who profess to know Christ do not raise their children to sacrificialy give, not only their tithes, but their time and talents as well (including giving up a nice quiet Sunday morning for the chaoticness of going to church with your children). I mean, seriously. I have three young children, the youngest of which is very much a challenge to handle in church. Would I rather sleep in or take the kids to the park instead of wrestling my DD1.5 for an hour, getting sweaty and covered in fruit snacks and Cheerios? OF COURSE! Would I rather sit down with the adults after church and talk than make sure the Sunday School teachers have all they need and that the kids are making their way from music to their classrooms? Would I rather not have to collect their offerings and deal with the troublesome children? OF COURSE! But God called me to serve that year and I wanted to make sure those kids would be getting a good education, since that one hour was all that 95% of those kids got in Christian education all week. Christ didn't say, "hey, that is cool if you don't like what I am saying. Just take what you want from it, find your own truth. No, you don't need to give up everything to follow me, do what feels right to you for your own faith journey." Christ said to deny ourselves and follow Him. If Christian parents want to raise kids who truly know Christ, they can't just drop off their kid for education and go home. They need to be there actively participating with their children. That is one of the biggest frustration of Sunday School superintendents and teachers....most "Christian" parents just don't care. That was the situation I was deploring.

So much to read and consider! Things have been going better, though we will see. I have started over with just the phonograms, adding new ones every few days, and she is doing well with that. She has also started, with spelling and EC to say the names of the letters (yay) instead of just the sounds they make. Oddly enough, it seems DD does better with reading real sentences in books than she does with just the single words in EC and the like. I wonder if, even though she was struggling, doing that kind of reading was just boring for her and her mind drifted, losing focus on what words she was supposed to be reading? Her mind does drift fairly easily. She is not ADD or ADHD at all, she is just a bit.....flighty and could end up being a bit of a ditz (like my dear MIL) if not helped to focus. Any fans of Bertie and Wooster on here? Remember Madeline Bassett? Yeah, that could totally be DD6! That was part of our frustration with 100 Easy Lessons, we both got bored. Something slow but where she would actually be reading might work best to keep her attention. We have an eye appointment in a week or so, so we will see how that goes. I don't think there is anything seriously wrong; DD can do very detailed drawing and coloring, and does embroidery with absolutely no problem. But we will talk to the eye doctor about things. Thank you for all your support and advice!

Elinore/Eleanor Margaret Marie Louise Carol Vivian Jane

I would not hesitate, however, to wear a Firefly hoodie just found on this site...hmmm. I wonder if I could "need" a new one now that winter is coming.

My 66 yr old MIL wears, much to our (especially dh's) chagrin, what we have dubbed "sparkly-butt jeans." DH asked, "what is the point of sparkly-butt jeans, is it so people will look at your butt? Why does my mom want people to look at her butt? She is 66...do people want to look at her butt?" So though they are not my shirt of choice, I'd much rather see her in a tasteful graphic t-shirt than sparkly-butt jeans!

So glad to read all these! Feels like I now have "permission" to not hold parties, just special family times. IF the kids get invited to a party, I will let them go depending on who it is, but we will NOT do sleepovers unless it is the cousins or some very very close friends. Maybe I am too protective, but I remember all the stuff I learned at sleepovers as a kid that I don't want my child learning! And movies watched....

I am correct in thinking that in Minnesota we do not have to do end of the year testing until 2nd grade, am I not? What tests do you use, and how do you set that up with the school district?

Never even considered Saxon Math because the size of the teacher's guide killed my soul. Though I sure could have used it as a weapon, if need be....

I do feel for you. I would not want to miss the adult ed hour, and would feel it was redundant to go there with my kid since we are doing it at home. I do hope you don't really feel this as punishment, as they are really just trying to do their best for the kids. And if you DO go, you never know what you could do for another kid, or parent for that matter. You never know how you can bless people Again I encourage you to have a discussion with whoever is in charge about it. Every Sunday, all those parents in the room is excessive. A church nearby is combining all ages whether they are grandparents, parents, children, alone or in a family for education hour. It might not be as deep as if it were just for adults, but I guess the people like it. Totally would do this. As long as kids aren't a nuisance they can't stop you! I hate to say nuisance as I love having kids in church, but when they do get to be too lively for others to hear (as my own dear son did this past week trying to sing the hymns when his daddy was preaching) I do think they should be....redirected!

Haha! GRRR! This congregation is waaaay to Scandinavian for that direct approach! I can say that, I am Scandinavian. Not sure which would be worse, direct or passive aggressive!

Oh she loves being read to, and we have been reading to her at the very least 30 minutes a day since she was born. More often at least an hour. And she loves to look at books on her own...she does sometimes point out words that she knows, but my DD4 is much more aware, I would say, and pretends to read books where DD6 has never pretended she could read. I usually don't ask either to read words when I read to them. Thank you thank you thank you! And for the previously mentioned advice. I have ordered a copy of Let's Read from the library to check it out. I also had her take the Barton screening and oh my did she fail! I might try again simply because it was the end of the school day and she *really* was itching to get out and jump in a jumpy house my parents had brought over. She will probably still fail, but maybe not as fantastically! And thank you for the support! It is hard to be in this role, and I often feel alone in this place. It helps to know there are other pastor's wives out there who aren't afraid to admit they struggle! Hugs to you too! Thank you! Haha, it sounds funny, but I did and she *said* they wiggled around. She does have glasses, as her eyes focus at different distances. We are due for an appointment. It is a correctable problem, so maybe they are correcting...hopefully. And they do check eye movement. Sigh, I know. The 100 Easy lessons was what I started with. That one was really a battle. I think I could keep on with Phonics Pathways, that is what we have been doing this last year and this year. I think I will go back and restart with the phonograms, sounds and two letter blends. Just practice practice practice. And thank you to everyone else! You (and a glass of wine and some chocolate) have given me strength to face tomorrow!

I am a pastor's wife and former Sunday School Superintendent in a large mainline denomination, though we will probably be making a move to a different denomination after this call ends. Coming from that background, I would like to humbly say, try to humbly put yourself in the shoes of whoever is in charge of Sunday School and to understand where they are coming from. A few statistics and examples: The largest growing religious group in America are the "nones," meaning, when they are asked their religion on documents they check the 'none' box. Today you are considered a 'regular' church attender if you go once a month. And the number of drive-by Sunday Schoolings, as I like to call them (people who simply drop off their kids at the door, leave, and pick them up when it is done without ever setting foot in the church) is, frankly, ridiculous and frightening. My husband had a funeral for a young man this past week and he over heard this conversation: young adult 1, "what is heaven?" Young adult 2, " I don't know." Kids in his confirmation class only knew who Adam and Eve were because of the Simpsons. This is the religious atmosphere most children are growing up in. I took the job as Sunday School Superintendent because no one else wanted to do it and I thought, "well, if the parents aren't going to care for their children's immortal souls, someone needs to!" And that is basically what is driving the somewhat desperate-feeling Sunday School changes sweeping through churches. I stepped down for political and sanity reasons (our family's life is already the church, we needed space; and to spare the church falling apart when we leave because he and I were doing everything). Most, sounds like not all of you who have responded, parents do not give their children any Biblical teaching at home. They do not know how, among other reasons. This movement of cross-generational Christian education, which I think good to an extent but in which I do see flaws, is an attempt to help equip parents to be able to teach their kids at home and to try to make them a part of what they learn in SundaynSchool. There is no way one hour at most a week will ground these children in their faith and teach them to live for Jesus. Parents need to take action. Period. That being said, most homeschoolers, yourselves included as it sounds, do take their faith seriously and do have some sort of Biblical curriculum at home. Thank you! But you are not the norm. Please tell your husband that the people in charge of Sunday School do not aim to offend or make Sundays busier. It is unfortunate it is scheduled during adult education time. When to hold Sunday School is a whole other topic fraught with anxiety and frustration! If it is impossible for you to attend with your children, please do kindly tell someone in charge. Maybe suggest it happens once a month, that is what we are trying, I guess, if they have Sunday School here this year! But know they are trying desperately to fight against the secular culture and do what they can for these kids. And if all else fails and you don't like what they are doing, go ahead and volunteer to do it next year! 😉 One more thing, if you are interested there is a book called "Killing Sunday School" you might find interesting. I *think* they have it on CBD.

DD6, dear DD6. Who appears to have a math brain and whose handwriting often puts mine to shame. Will you ever learn to read? I know you are only almost 7, but I admit I might be beginning to despair. We go to the eye doctor and you say the sounds the letters make instead of their names, which is fine, but you should know the letter names by now! You can read some little phonics readers, but when reading down a list of CVC words you read the '-at' words fine, then when it comes to the word 'big' you read 'pat.' How can I help focus your brain? What will help you? We have started over again and again, tried Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons, Alpha Phonics, and Phonics Pathways. We cruise along well for a bit, then all of the sudden the lessons end in tears and frustration. We try to soldier on for a bit longer, but I think more harm than good is being done at that point. We are in the middle of Explode the Code 1 1/2, not having tested out of that book yet, while DD4 tested ready for Ex the Code 1. What can I do to help you? How do we carry on now? What do you need??? Please help!!! I just feel like there is no way I can teach DD6 to read. Math? No problem, even though I hated math. Science? It'll be a blast. History? Fine. But reading? I feel like I am failing epically. Anyone out there sympathize? Any help or ideas? This is probably the most important aspect to me, and I am completely floundering.

Are there any yarn shops near by? Where we used to live, a town of 700, there was a yarn shop and once a week they had "Sit and Knit." It was just a group of ladies, mostly retired, who got together to knit and chat. I didn't know much, but they were really nice and willing to teach. You could check that out...

Ditto to both. Definitely like Drawing Textbook. Even my DD4's drawings,which normally look like squashed human zucchini look good when we do a lesson. Also, just coloring more intricate coloring pages than the typical child's coloring book. Dover ones are great, even the adult coloring books. I really think honing those fine motor skills in intricate coloring helped DD6 a lot. She also has amazing handwriting for a 6 yr old, largely due to the coloring.

Bible, Narnia, old real fairy tales (not the ones altered to be happy), anything considered a Classic, really. The best readers and writers are those who read good literature. These are the books you loved as a child, a young adult, now a parent, and will still love when we are old fogies in a nursing home.

My DH's day off is Monday, so this year we are going to try to not do school on that day. We have a group day every Thursday, which depending on how the year goes we may have to give up, so we will do normal school Tuesday and Wednesday, group day Thursday, then school on Friday and Saturday with library time worked in. We will see how it goes....

Oh my! She probably just really wants to make sure you have a good time, and wants to have a good relationship with you. It is hard when they don't realize that what they are doing makes it harder! Can you make things into, I don't know, crazy word problems for your kids or something? Like, "If I play the violin for 37 minutes and then eat 10 m&m's, how many catalogues can we look at before bedtime?" I bet there is some laughter to be had!

I agree! When I am that old I hope I can be allowed to be a bit grumpy. One of the perks of getting old, you can be grumpy just because you are old and when you were young you had to walk to your homeschool uphill both ways! I also agree on trying to give her something to do, her own tasks in the house. I know when my MIL comes to visit she (and everyone else) is always happier when she feels like she is contributing. It took me awhile to get to the point of letting her be able to help and not freak out because she was not doing things the way I do them. That being said, I understand how it is hard for you. If, when the time comes, my MIL moves in with us, I know I will struggle. It is natural to go through a period of hardship. It is a wonderful, albeit difficult, thing you are doing for your mother. (And what a wonderful thing for your boys to experience...hopefully one day they will do the same for you!) There will be blessings as well as difficulties, if you let yourself see them. May you be strengthened and be at peace!

Does it say on the invitation what the attire is supposed to be? My parents are going to a wedding in Maine where the attire is supposed to be "festive-casual." Figure that one out! Having spent a little time in the south I would say that the suit might be a bit much (I may be wrong as I was not in Kentucky). But if the invitation doesn't specifically say what the attire is, a man in a suit with a bow tie (silly auto-correct won't let me make that one word!) is always classy! There is always the option to lose the tie and just wear the suit...less formal but still formal enough...

This sounds great! "But," my DH would protest, "where do they park their cars?" Do you have a big enough garage to have that room as extra, or do you park outside? Was your garage insulated to begin with, or was that part of the process of making it into a school room? If not taking up the whole garage, how large is the room? My family of five lives in a two bedroom, one-story house built by a retired couple who had no kids, and I have no room for anything in basically any room. Can't move due to employment circumstances...dh's job and house go together. Looking for any way to improve!