"Preparing Heart 'n' Soul 'n' Guts NOW

to Homeschool to the END!!!"

(1 hour)

(Previously called:

"Deleting the Fears from the High School Years"

and

"The High School Years:

Preparing Heart 'n' Soul 'n' Guts"

and

"Out of Fear & Burnout - Part II)

(The Heart of True Education" (formerly "Out of Fear & Burnout ~ Part I) is the foundation to this workshop!  It does "stand alone," but the complete picture is presented in both together.) 

Does the thought of homeschooling through high school give you the shivers every time you think of it? Whether high school is still several years away or you're already DOing it, you don't have to continue to be plagued by fear any longer! Deal with the myths, intimidations and misperceptions head-on, and once and for all! It takes some time to go through this process, so do yourself a favor and get thinking about it EARLY ON.  The focus for this workshop is high school concerns ~ which are best to get OUT of the way as early on as possible ~ we will NOT be focusing on "high school how-to's."  It is the fears at this level that are delved into, like the diploma issue, can I do this, will my child be missing out. With these fears dealt with (a clean swift "death blow") you will be free to approach high school with vision and confidence!

"High School Organizing,

Record-Keeping & Frameworks"

(1 hour)

Here's HELP for ORGANIZING your high school experience, customizing it to fit YOUR teen(s)!  You will find out how to determine what kind of a framework to choose for high school that fits your and your student's needs, priorities, and styles!  Plus how to organize and document ALL your student's learning experiences, including traditional, natural, non-traditional, real-life learning!

"Creating High School Classes"

(1 hour)

How to pull together all your student's learning experiences, from traditional to natural to lessons (like music) to sports to life experience ~ and certainly any combination thereof ~ and turn them into wonderful classes. Many ideas for what to do for many learning experiences too.

"Hearing God 101"

~and~

"A Season of Re-education"

(or "Homeschooling YourSELF First ~

or at Least at the Same Time")

(1 hour)

Before attempting to educate our children, we the parents must find out what true education is ourselves. This is not something we can discover in one short workshop session, but that takes a focused "season," as the Lord leads, for the whole picture to unfold. The culture we live in has strayed far from God's idea of how to approach education. It lays a burden on us that is heavy, a yoke that is anything but easy. So we need to "de-brief" from the world's idea ~ which requires some "doing" ~ in the form of a "season of re-education." At the heart of this season is learning how to hear God, one of our most basic yet most unaccessed privileges of being a Christian! You will thus (and ONLY thus) save yourself much heartache, stress, and conflict with your children. You may *think* you don't have time for such a season; I suggest you don't have time to *not* put yourself through such a season! ("The What's and Why's and How's of True Education" is foundational to this workshop.)

"Flexible Organizing & Record-Keeping

for Teensies through 'Tweens"

(For parents of children ages 4ish thru 12ish)

(1 hour)

How to set up a flexible lesson plan based on a healthy weaving of your child's real life experiences with their academic needs, and then how to "dish it out."  Ten different reasons to keep records and how to determine which ones YOU do and don't need! Plus lots more practical helps and forms to get and keep your home and homeschool in order, your day running smoothly, your stuff (including kids' jobs) organized. (For parents with children from "tiny tots" up through middle school age; not high school.)

"Purity & Integrity in Romance & Relationships"

(For parents of ALL children, and their teens)

(1 hour)

In this workshop, Barb shares the "heart 'n' soul" of this message; not a format or formula, but the *heart* issues involved. We do not promote or unpromote "courtship," "betrothal" or any approach; we simply want to get kids and parents to see the need for getting God's heart on this matter and attain to simple purity and integrity ~ and wisdom ~ in how they approach relationships with the opposite s_x*.

"God vs. Caesar:

Obeying the Governing Authorities"

(1 hour)

(If time allows, 1-1/2 hours is nice ~ to accommodate the

inevitable questions that will arise.)

(For parents with children of all ages)

For the most part, the church today has a superficial and often incorrect perspective on "obeying the governing authorities."  With our culture moving in the direction it is ~ away from God ~ it is vital that we gain a correct view of it as anything but God's perspective will ultimately lead us away from peace and walking in His perfect will for us.  Many of our freedoms are being eroded away, people right in our own "land of the free" have been put in jail for homeschooling.  But the "bottom line" is not freedom or jail, but what would God have us do?  We must act out of "conviction", not merely "preference."  This workshop will help you get to that place by revealing the underlying issues and what God's Word has to say about them.  

"Our Story"

(Available only occasionally ~ as we

feel the Lord is leading us to share it.)

(1 hour)

(1-1/4 to 1-1/2 hours is actually better,

but 1 hour works.)

In this one-hour session Dave and I share "our story."  It is not so much a "workshop" as it is a testimony of God's amazing power to work, even when He has only extremely imperfect clay to work with, and even when the clay does NOT want to be worked with!  We have now been married for 26 years (as of fall 2001), but ours is NOT a "they married and then lived happily ever after" story.  Of course, very few seem to have stories of that nature.  Several years ago we came very close to divorce, even being separated for six months.  Our story is not simple, not easy to hear, nor will what happened with us be true for ~ or work with ~ other couples in similar (sinking) boats.  But we KNOW that nothing is impossible with God!!!!!!!!  And we love to tell what He did to save our marriage from the brink of hell, and redeem it to the point of not being able to recognize it from our earlier years.  Some will come away with renewed hope for their own situations, others will have further insight for how to keep their marriages from drifting into the "danger zone," and others will come away simply saying "Wow!!!  GOD IS AMAZING!!!"  And, of course, you will know "us" a little (lot) better in the process. (The picture is of Dave and me at my 50th Birthday Party in 2002.)

Here's what Amy Beckel, friend and co-minister with Barb, had to say about it:

"Barb and Dave's Story" (which I've been blessed to hear parts of) is VERY powerful and I can easily understand how it ministers to MANY!!  It's obvious to see that it is "God's Story" in their lives.  Thank you for sharing, Barb, and for making yourself so vulnerable (that can be scary!) for God's sake and for the hearts of your listeners.  You've encouraged me in so many ways. Definitely have Kleenex available if you listen to this tape."

And here is a precious email from a mom who, for obvious reasons, prefers to remain anonymous:

  
NOTE:  We are not always open to doing this workshop,

(at every conference), but it IS on tape now, if you'd like to hear it.

Click here to go to the catalog write-up on Our Story.

* I have deleted the "e" from the word "s_x" because certain servers, in an attempt to keep web surfing safe and pure for their customers, block any web pages ~ even entire sites ~ from being accessed if they contain "that word."  My web site is hardly one for Christian families wanting to deepen their walks with God or help their children purify their relationships to be banned from!