10 Recommended Resources for Parents

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10 Recommended Resources for Parents

Parents have the best, the hardest, and the most important jobs in the entire world: raising our children. Parents need a community to come alongside of them and encourage them. This may be friends, neighbors,  church,  family, or even reading materials such as magazines, blogs or other resources. No matter where you are getting your support from we all need it. We at WinterPromise wanted to compile some resources that we think will encourage you as parents and as couples during your journey. Here are 10 resources we recommend for you to be checking into and looking for.

Online Resources

1. Hip Homeschool Mom’s – Website & Facebook Page

This is a network of Mom’s that share experiences, recipes, links, encouragement and life together as. On their Facebook page you can find a community of people ready to share with and encourage you. You will also find some great recipes and homeschool helps!

2. Fierce Marriage – Website

This website is done by a Christian couple with great advice, encouragement, and even material to challenge you to grow! They have great resources and articles that will really give you and your spouse great conversations to have together. Marriage is the foundation for a successful and thriving family (you can read more about that here!) and we want to encourage you to cultivate an amazing marriage! You can follow them on all Social Media Channels including a great Instagram!

3. The Homeschool Mom – Website

Similar to the Hip Homeschool Mom’s network, this website has TONS of recourses, reviews and much more. They are very organized and you can find a lot of great information for new Mom’s and new homeschool families.

4. Cathy Duffy’s Reviews – Website

This website by Cathy is a GREAT resource! If you want detailed and thorough reviews to help you make decisions about different curriculum options, this is the website for you!

Books, Magazines & Other More Specific Resources

6. Cathy Duffy’s “102 Top Picks for Homeschool Curriculum.”

Cathy Duffy puts out a book of her 102 top picks. This is the best of the best in Homeschool curriculum. Each pick has a great review done by Cathy! This is updated yearly. Note: We are now included by her as a Top 102 pick! 🙂

7. The Charlotte Mason Companion

This book is specifically recommended by Author & Founder of WinterPromise Kaeryn Brooks. This book gives parents a vision and specific goals for your child as you parent. This book is based on Charlotte Mason her ideals which are central to what WinterPromise does! The book focuses on character development, good habits, joy, the role of discover in learning and a variety of other topics! This is more than just homeschooling, this book gives you great life advice. A must-have for all parents!

8. Redbook Magazine

This magazine is a popular magazine. And it is not a perfect magazine. But this magazine gives great advice for real life women. There is fashion advice, but it is realistic and is fiscally responsible advice. There are great exercise and workout advice for women with a busy, real life. You will also find budgeting and financial advice and other practical advice. And the covers are usually wholesome and wouldn’t need to avoid the family living room coffee table unlike some magazines today. This is a great women’s magazine!

9. The Art of Manliness

We don’t want to forget our men. Fathers play a huge role in homeschooling and in the life and health of the family. This website gives wide ranging articles on advice for men, how to be a real man, the lost art of being a gentlemen, how to dress well, outdoorsman skills (great for Father & Son time!), workout routines, manly skills and a lot more. This website would be great for a Father to get ideas on how to communicate to his son about things men should be doing and practical skills to acquire. The Art of Manliness website is a great resource for men to enjoy while also learning and reading about projects, workouts, survival skills and more to pass onto their sons. This would be a great way to create Father & Son time! #weneedmoreofthat

10. Your Church or Close Group of Friends.

There is nothing more important than having a close group of friends that can support you, care about you, encourage you, and give you great advice. Some people find this in Church’s while others who aren’t involved in Church find it in a close group of friends. We advocate Church, but the bottom line is that we need each other. We need friends, neighbors and family to help us on our journey. Find a good group of people that challenge you, encourage you, give you a different perspective, and love you. That is so valuable! Double dates are a great way to build a friendship that would really encourage you and your spouse in your journey through life.

 

We hope this has been a help! We at WinterPromise care about our families and we want to see our families thrive and that is why we compiled this list. If you have any other resources you would like to share, go to our Facebook page and post them so that our community can be encouraged by you!

 

 

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3 Reasons To Homeschool

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Homeschooling offers a lot of joys and advantages in the education of your children. There are also a lot of challenges and hard days when it comes to the education of your children. To encourage you through the hard days here is a list of 3 reasons you should continue to homeschool your children.

1. Parents Can Be Mentors To Their Children.

Mentorship is coming alongside of someone to help the see their weaknesses and strengths, and how they should grow to become people of character and integrity. Parents should be striving to be the best mentors to their children when it comes to the individual development and care that each child needs. Education is a central aspect to a child’s development and real life success. Parents are in a unique position to know how to teach their kids in a way that will help the be the most successful person they can be. Homeschooling provides the unique opportunity to be mentoring your child through the educational process.

 

2. You Know Your Child’s Learning Style and How to Best Teach Them.

There are a variety of learning styles that we as people learn through. Each child is unique in how they best take in information. Some learn best by hearing, some by seeing, some by handling and touching, others by reading and often your child learns through a combination of these. Some are more logical and thrive with hard facts while others learn well when communicated with in a creative way. There are so many unique aspects of our children and the way they learn is no different. Homeschooling provides the unique opportunity to teach and educate in a way that best suits their learning avenue.

 

3. Flexibility To Focus On Areas Of Interest And Excellence. 

Our Children all learn differently as discussed above but they also tend to have many different areas of interest and excellence. Some students may be very interested in building things while others pursue creative pursuits like art and music. One student may love reading about science while another loves reading and acting in plays. One child may be gifted in chess and math while another is a strong leader and excellent socially. All these different areas of interest and excellence should be cultivated. Not every child should be pursuing the same thing. In Homschooling you can design your school day with these differences in mind. With the extra time and flexibility you can pursue subjects and opportunities that other traditionally schooled students wouldn’t have the opportunity to do. Homeschool provides the unique platform of flexibility that allows you to encourage your child’s unique and distinct strengths and interests.

 

There are so many more reasons to Homeschool and so many more to talk about. What other reasons are there to Homeschool?

 

 

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The Joy of Charlotte Mason Homeschool

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In this post you will here from our friend Cassandra with The Unplugged Family talk about the joys of Homeschooling with Charlotte Mason principles and ideals. These principles underline everything we do here at WinterPromise! So sit down with a cup of coffee and enjoy! 🙂

We’re walking through the woods on a damp Spring day.  The Robins are back, singing us an April song of return.  The vernal pool by the edge of the familiar path is back again and our children race to greet the swampy waters with a warm welcome.

“They’ll be toads soon, Mama,” my eight-year-old daughter informs me.  She’s beaming.

And she knows this as fact because we’ve studied and enjoyed the tiny toads here for as long as she can remember.

Our youngest son is sloshing through streams and puddles, curious of every new and living thing.  Our eldest is gazing up at the birds overhead, commenting on the roar of the fast flowing river that was frozen solid a few weeks ago. This is an afternoon of study in our family.  And it is the glory and enjoyment of this kind of learning that drew me quickly and easily to Charlotte Mason’s philosophies.

I remember the first time I heard about Charlotte Mason.  It was at a local Charlotte Mason homeschool meeting.  I attended very reluctantly, nearly overcome with nervousness.  These mothers all seemed so intelligent, so purposeful, so full of experience and wisdom.

I poured myself a Herbal Tea and sank down into a couch, hoping no one would force me to speak.  I didn’t even know who (or what!) Charlotte Mason was.  But I had been invited by a trusted friend and I felt driven to go.  Boy, am I glad I did. That first meeting proved to be a defining moment in not only my homeschooling journey, but my life.

I was completely enthralled by the philosophies and methods of this new found friend, Charlotte Mason.  I plunged into reading books, blogs, articles, everything I could get my hands on to understand who Ms. Mason was and why her educational ideals were so revered.

As a new homeschooler (this was five years ago now), I was surprised to learn so many of the things we were already doing in our home actually followed many of Charlotte Mason’s mehods!  We were already reading countless high-quality living books, and we were already enjoying daily walks in nature with a focus on finding beauty in God’s creation. We already did narration naturally and I loved spending time in God’s word and singing and playing with our children.

To be honest, I always felt guilty about spending so many hours ‘simply reading’ and playing out of doors with the children!  I thought there should be more focused ‘learning’ time.  As a new homeschooler and a young Mom, I didn’t see the truth – that reading and spending time in nature with my young children was the perfect way for them to learn and grow!  When I learned of Charlotte Mason’s philosophies towards living books and nature study, I could have jumped for joy! What a wonderful feeling to be validated in what I knew my heart was telling me about what children need!

Although all of Mason’s ideals have made their way into the various nooks and crannies of our homeschool, it is this idea of Nature Study  that has maybe had one of the most profound impacts.  Nurturing a love of nature has made our home life so rich, so beautiful, so joyous.  Our children not only have a deep understanding of a wide variety of topics related to God’s natural world, they have a passion for nature.  They find joy in the simple things and notice details and the beauty of creation.

From eagerly and attentively watching and identifying birds at our backyard feeders, to stopping to notice newly blooming flowers and trees – they eagerly and independantly embrace Nature Study all the time!  I never dreamed I was fostering this love when we were tromping through streams five years ago, but I can see now the result of so many hours spent outside.  And I don’t regret a moment of it.

I love how genuinely interesting, awe-inspiring, and soul-nurturing so many of Charlotte Mason’s methods are.  I love her encouragement of many hours out of doors for children and Moms alike.  I can see the wisdom in her advice and I am living proof that Nature Study brings life to the home and stirs our souls to live with gratitude, reveling in the beauty of God’s beautiful world.

This Spring we are eagerly anticipating plunging in, getting dirty and enlightened through our study of swamp habitats with Swamp Creatures from Spirited Autumn Hope.

If you want to see what a full year of nature and animal study would look like for your family Click Here! WinterPromise can offer you a wonderful program to enjoy with K-4th Grade students!

We want to send out a big thank you to Cassandra for writing this article! 🙂 Remember to check out her blog called The Unplugged Family for more great articles!

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