Our family of eleven now lives in a little village on a hill in Northern Italy. It's a beautiful and harmonious life, and there is never an average day. On most days my 12 year old daughter, Estera, wakes up first, she’s “the early bird”. She loves to cook so she always prepares breakfast and brings me a cup of tea to start the day. She likes to do her online schoolwork before the other kids wake up. At 8:20am she lets everyone know that breakfast will be served in ten minutes.
After we all have breakfast together we gather in the living room. My husband brings his guitar and Bible. We sing some songs and then we read the Bible together. The four oldest children each read a few verses. Next we all talk about our favorite parts of the Bible story and we pray asking God to bless our day and our loved ones. If it isn’t raining my husband takes the little children to the park, on Tuesdays and Thursdays we often go to music lessons and the public library. Sometimes we clean the house and then we take a train to the mountains or a historic town. Yet on most days we just...
After we all have breakfast together we gather in the living room. My husband brings his guitar and Bible. We sing some songs and then we read the Bible together. The four oldest children each read a few verses. Next we all talk about our favorite parts of the Bible story and we pray asking God to bless our day and our loved ones. If it isn’t raining my husband takes the little children to the park, on Tuesdays and Thursdays we often go to music lessons and the public library. Sometimes we clean the house and then we take a train to the mountains or a historic town. Yet on most days we just...
...stay home. The children who are 8 years old and older spend time studying before lunch. If my husband or I need to work during the day the other parent will care for the children.
We often ask the children what they want to study. They have many different learning tools to choose from. We believe that children who love learning, have good work ethics and know how to do their own research will grow up to be very resourceful and productive adults. Our goal is to instill within each child a love for learning, homeschooling makes this good very easy to attain.
Children are natural born learners with endless curiosity. They often spend the entire day doing research, projects, reading, drawing, and asking questions. My husband and I do our best to answer all the questions our children ask, we don’t always have the answers so we often learn new things together.
My children love to learn, they love to cook, they love to travel, they love science, research, books and history. They love earning and managing their own money, they love to shop.
My children love art, they love reading, they love architecture, nature, animals, and sand. They bake cakes, they write poems, paint murals, and film their own movies. They are always busy, building forts, planting gardens, inventing new games, designing websites, trying new hair styles, and experimenting with new facial recipes. They travel the world, climb mountains, kayak among the islands, climb trees, and are never afraid to try a new food. They have been with me when a new sister or brother was born.
They have experience with farming and have raised goats, ducks, sheep, chickens, puppies and kittens. They have started businesses selling handmade jewelry and handmade wooden toys. My children love music, they are learning to play guitar, cello, drums, piano, and violin. They also know what it means to love and be loved. They are all different, and we celebrate their uniqueness and talents. They know how to share, give, forgive, and help others. They know how to clean the kitchen, make dinner and do laundry.
My children know that the world is a big place with many cultures, traditions, religions, political systems and races. As they grow they learn about the dark realities of poverty, war, cancer, slavery, bullies, crime, divorce, orphans, pollution, abortion, taxes and terrorism. The learn that our home is a peaceful place. As parents we show them that they can make a positive difference in the world to bring joy, help, hope, and healing. Together we have helped orphans in Liberia and Jamaica, and I tell them stories of the mission work I did before they were born- helping orphans and street children in Mexico, Russia and Romania.
They understand compassion, honesty, faith, and the value of kindness. They live in the real world, they wear watches, they dream big dreams, they have many teachers. Their classroom is the whole earth, the sky, the stars, the thunderstorms and the love of a family. They live a life where education has no walls and no boring textbooks. My children do not have to sit still and be quit, they are expected to explore and ask questions, like all children should. In our family the most important teacher is the child, and the most important book is the Bible, and the most important place is the home.
As you can see everyday is full, everyday is different and everyday is an adventure. But at the end of the day we gather for dinner, (a dinner prepared by one of the children) and then my husband tucks in the little children. He tells them stories and sings songs to them. While Josh tucks in the little ones my older girls help clean the house and then we make tea and sit in the livingroom in our pajamas. Isaac, our oldest son, likes to study in the evenings on the computer. I read aloud from a novel for about an hour, sometimes I have trouble putting the book down and saying goodnight. We love reading together at night. After the kids go to bed my husband and I enjoy the quiet of the evening knowing that we have lived life to the fullest and survived another amazing day as the parents of nine children.
We often ask the children what they want to study. They have many different learning tools to choose from. We believe that children who love learning, have good work ethics and know how to do their own research will grow up to be very resourceful and productive adults. Our goal is to instill within each child a love for learning, homeschooling makes this good very easy to attain.
Children are natural born learners with endless curiosity. They often spend the entire day doing research, projects, reading, drawing, and asking questions. My husband and I do our best to answer all the questions our children ask, we don’t always have the answers so we often learn new things together.
My children love to learn, they love to cook, they love to travel, they love science, research, books and history. They love earning and managing their own money, they love to shop.
My children love art, they love reading, they love architecture, nature, animals, and sand. They bake cakes, they write poems, paint murals, and film their own movies. They are always busy, building forts, planting gardens, inventing new games, designing websites, trying new hair styles, and experimenting with new facial recipes. They travel the world, climb mountains, kayak among the islands, climb trees, and are never afraid to try a new food. They have been with me when a new sister or brother was born.
They have experience with farming and have raised goats, ducks, sheep, chickens, puppies and kittens. They have started businesses selling handmade jewelry and handmade wooden toys. My children love music, they are learning to play guitar, cello, drums, piano, and violin. They also know what it means to love and be loved. They are all different, and we celebrate their uniqueness and talents. They know how to share, give, forgive, and help others. They know how to clean the kitchen, make dinner and do laundry.
My children know that the world is a big place with many cultures, traditions, religions, political systems and races. As they grow they learn about the dark realities of poverty, war, cancer, slavery, bullies, crime, divorce, orphans, pollution, abortion, taxes and terrorism. The learn that our home is a peaceful place. As parents we show them that they can make a positive difference in the world to bring joy, help, hope, and healing. Together we have helped orphans in Liberia and Jamaica, and I tell them stories of the mission work I did before they were born- helping orphans and street children in Mexico, Russia and Romania.
They understand compassion, honesty, faith, and the value of kindness. They live in the real world, they wear watches, they dream big dreams, they have many teachers. Their classroom is the whole earth, the sky, the stars, the thunderstorms and the love of a family. They live a life where education has no walls and no boring textbooks. My children do not have to sit still and be quit, they are expected to explore and ask questions, like all children should. In our family the most important teacher is the child, and the most important book is the Bible, and the most important place is the home.
As you can see everyday is full, everyday is different and everyday is an adventure. But at the end of the day we gather for dinner, (a dinner prepared by one of the children) and then my husband tucks in the little children. He tells them stories and sings songs to them. While Josh tucks in the little ones my older girls help clean the house and then we make tea and sit in the livingroom in our pajamas. Isaac, our oldest son, likes to study in the evenings on the computer. I read aloud from a novel for about an hour, sometimes I have trouble putting the book down and saying goodnight. We love reading together at night. After the kids go to bed my husband and I enjoy the quiet of the evening knowing that we have lived life to the fullest and survived another amazing day as the parents of nine children.
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