Bless My Socks!

As some of you know, Rob and I spend a lot of time writing history curriculum (http://www.biblioplan.net/).  We have been doing this for several years. It is hard work and so far we have not yet reaped what we have sown.  It isn't just a history curriculum but integrates literature, art, Bible, geography and writing into the program.  It is designed for Homeschooling families, Christian Co-ops and Christian Schools.  It is a four year program and seriously - we have put our heart and soul into writing it and making it the best curriculum out there.  We of course want it to do well.  First because it represents hundreds of hours of labor.  Second because we both love history and writing.  Third because it represents our relationship.  We work well as a team.  I usually do the initial research, setting up lessons and deciding what goes into each week of study.  I spend at least 30-40 hours on one lesson.  Rob is the editor.  He checks my facts and then takes my chicken scratch and spins it into a masterpiece.  Though I can usually write a decent paragraph, he is a wizard at correcting my horrid use of the dash - my utter lack of commas and my total disregard for keeping things in the proper tense!  He also adds his own flavor and research to the writing which is always a pleasant surprise when I go back and re-edit behind him.  He often spends as much time editing as I do writing. 

Writing history curriculum is rather a thankless job.  Seriously.  It is also tremendously time-consuming.  I teach both History and Creative Writing at our Homeschooling Co-op and I can say honestly that the writing classes are much easier (though neither are easy).  I can knock out a complete writing lesson in one afternoon and yet will labor for a week on the history because of the amount of research involved.   Adding in the Bible and church history adds to the workload but we consider that element the most pleasurable part of what we are doing.  We are currently in the process of redesigning our website, revising the material to make it easier and cheaper to print, editing the fourth year as it needed additional material added, creating new material for high school and the youngest children in the family and finishing up the Medieval year.  Most days I feel drop-dead exhausted.

I say all of that to say that we recently had another Reece's Rainbow family write on their blog about our curriculum and honestly - it just blessed our socks right off.  It meant so much to read their blog and discover how much they appreciate our work.  They bought Year 1 (Ancients) a few months ago and their boys actually LOVE history now.  I know this sounds like I'm trying to advertise our curriculum but that is not honestly my intent.  Sometimes we wonder if we labor in vain.  We wonder if our work matters to anyone.  We try to write with utmost integrity and are so very careful with our words and message.  It just made our day to read what another family wrote.   It makes all the hundreds of hours we are currently spending right now worthwhile to know that families really are being blessed by our labor.  It means much to us because we desire with all of our hearts for our work to be God-honoring.  It is nice to know that for at least one family out there - it is.

     

BIBLIOPLAN FOR FAMILIES - A COOL CLASSICAL HISTORY AND LITERATURE CURRICULUM