Easy Peasy All-in-One High School

This post is for the Christians.

I wrote a post on this topic a little over three and a half years ago, but it’s been on my mind again. This is NOT a repost. I’m writing it fresh from my heart to yours.

I have a prayer binder that’s over two inches thick. I think it weighs almost four pounds. I pray for you, your children, your families. One of the things I pray against is this homeschooling lifestyle becoming an idol. I don’t want you pursuing an ideal of what a homeschool family should look like. I want you pursuing Jesus and loving Him with your all. Homeschooling is not the goal, just something the Lord might use to help you along to the goal.

If you are imitating other families in how they school, dress, have family devotions, order their day, spend their free time, etc., then you are headed the wrong way. I highly recommend burning, shredding, destroying in any manner you can, all Christian books that instruct in how to do something. A Christian book should only point you to the Bible to seek from God what He wants from you. He is creative and can lead each family uniquely.

It doesn’t matter if the person you are learning from is successful and blessed in what they are doing. They may very well be following the Lord’s leading in what they are doing, but if you start following them, you are going after the wrong thing. We are disciples of Christ, no one else. And I say this as someone who teaches and disciples people. While I try to share the stories of God working in my life to give an example of how God can work in your life, I hope I always point everyone to Christ to seek after their own relationship and never encourage anyone to just copy me.

Think about what your heart is set on. It needs to be set on God alone. You goal is knowing and loving and serving Him alone. Has any other desire crept in? Has any other goal been directing your decisions?

If you find something other than the Holy Spirit and God’s word directing your steps, confess. Ask for help refocusing. We have a beautiful promise from God. Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness and all these things will be added to you.

“All these things” are everything the Lord knows we need. He can take care of them for us. What does it mean to seek His kingdom? In August I will be releasing the September Study for the year. It’s called The Kingdom. I am also planning on releasing Disciples of Christ, an EP course to disciple you through teachings on the foundations of faith, who God is, and who we are in Christ. As with all my stuff, I usually recommend ages 11 through adult and that if you want to use it with younger kids, do it together.

But in the meantime, seeking God’s kingdom and His righteousness is seeking to know and obey God. I have tons of teaching on the site to help you along with reading through the Bible. Read His word. Talk to Him. He’s a good Father, able and ready to help.

Our 2023 complete overhaul of geometry is now on the site. You can start using it immediately. There is an offline version as well if you would like to use books.

See the Course (book link on the course page)

The course is now moved away from CK-12. We use many of our own worksheets in the course. That enables us to edit them as well as keeps us from losing the resource.

The old geometry course will remain on the settings page on My EP through June. After that it will be available only through the Extras page. That means you can still use it on My EP, even when the other “Old” courses are removed in July. It will eventually disappear, but not for another year to make sure anyone in the middle of the course can finish it.

We have a new high school math course. This is a half-credit course. The focus is consumer math, but also covers many practical, real-world math applications. You can find it at the end of the course list in the Math block on My EP.

Although the course is mainly based on online textbooks, there are some fun extras mixed in. They will spend one lesson playing a game as an Uber driver, trying to actually get the bills paid. In another lesson they will run a magic show and try to make a profit as they work to make it to Vegas. There are some mini-units on cryptocurrency, economics, philanthropy and more.

This is intended for high school. The daily lessons are expected to take 40 minutes on average. There is a note a couple of weeks into the course about how to adapt lessons if they are taking longer than an hour. This is a new course, so we’d be happy for feedback on the experience.

Check out the course. There is no offline version of the course at this time.

In other news, as of yesterday I have three adult children! He was born on Mother’s Day 18 years ago. I still have three being homeschooled, ages 10 – 15.

One definition of revival is that of being in a state where nothing matters but Jesus. One way to think about living in a revived state is “All Jesus All the Time.” He’s your all and everything. That’s how you can live now and always. You don’t have to wait for something to happen. You can give your life to Jesus today and let go of everything that is keeping you from living in His constant loving, full-of-joy presence.

The world today talks about living in the present. That’s not the key. It’s living in His Presence. That’s the goal, living in consistent fellowship with God. That looks like knowing Jesus is with you always. It’s keeping your eyes on Jesus. It’s setting Him always before you. It’s acknowledging Him in all your ways. It’s abiding in His love.

How can you do that? You can let go of every other love. He needs to be your one and only. The greatest commandments are to love God and love others. All of God’s laws are summed up in those commands to love. We are able to be forgiven because of Jesus’ love sacrifice to take the punishment for our sins. We continue in that blameless state before Him because we receive the love of God poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit and let Christ live that love out through us.

We need to obey that greatest commandment and love God with all our heart, all our soul, all our mind, and all our strength. You can be revived by giving up all other loves so that your life is consumed with the only love that matters. Yes, there will still be work to do, but you do it with Jesus right there with you. You can fellowship with Jesus when you wash the dishes, turning it into a sweet time instead of a chore. 🙂

Ask the Lord to shine His light on your life and reveal where you’ve given yourself to other loves. Give them up. If you feel like you can’t or don’t want to, then ask God for help. Ask Him to change your heart so that you love Him alone. Walk in His light, as 1 John 1:7 says, and you will have love for others and He will be working to remove all that’s not from Him. It’s a continual state, not of perfection, but of blamelessness because you are ever giving yourself over to His purifying process, walking in the light of His love.

Therefore He says: “Awake, you who sleep, Arise from the dead, And Christ will give you light.” (Eph. 5:14 NKJV)

I’ve opened the new September Study, The Suffering Servant. This is a thirty-day study going through the topic of suffering. Let’s trust God is in control and working out good.

What is Jesus Month?

For a few years now, I’ve encouraged our users to take the month of September to spend extra time focused on the Lord. We should always be doing what we should be doing 🙂  but I hope this gives you a little encouragement towards maybe giving some things up for a time and replacing them with extra time in the Bible and prayer. In the past, our family has done a Christian-only TV policy for the month and added this extra study and a time of prayer together beyond our typical family Bible time.

Why September?

Jesus fulfilled the Spring feasts when he died on Passover, rose on First Fruits, and sent the Holy Spirit on the Feast of Weeks. We are waiting for Christ’s return and reign when He will fulfill the fall feasts: the Feast of Trumpets, Yom Kippur, and the Feast of Booths. These don’t follow our calendar, but happen around September.

Jesus Month for Kids

I reached out to Mr. Phil (aka Bob the Tomato) and asked about a free month’s access to his Mr. Phil TV streaming channel for our younger kids, from older preschool up through elementary age since my study is for older kids. He has two BIBLE-CENTERED shows.

They’ve generously offered us six-week free access to Mr. Phil TV. Your coupon code is ALLINONE and is good through the month of September. There are two series on there to choose from – What’s In The Bible? and The Mr. Phil Show.

What’s in the Bible? is 26 half-hour shows telling the stories of the Bible and connecting the overarching story. This is great for people new to the Bible, and for everyone else as well for learning about the Bible. My family owns this series on DVD and we all enjoy it, though it’s aimed at elementary age kids.

The Mr. Phil Show is 20 (currently) twenty-minute episodes. The shows are repetitive in the beginning. In the second half is a lesson from a historical character about things like what to do about a bully, how to know what God wants you to do, or how to pray when you are distracted. I tear up at every one. That’s followed by a Bible lesson, reading right from the Bible. (A little note: I flipped out at the second episode and turned it off because the question was if the Bible were true or a fairy tale, and the answer was both. I went back to check it out, and it was fine. It says the Bible is true, but that it’s like a fairy tale because it describes a world where there is more than meets the eye, wonder and miracles. I have seen almost all of them to check them out.)

There are 40 additional 9-minute Bible studies available like the ones found at the end of each episode. You can also search things like faith or sanctification and it will bring up videos that define it and talk about it.

Homeschooling is not the answer. Now, to be clear, school is definitely not the answer! Easy Peasy’s curriculum is not the answer. Neither is any other. This book, that method, this resource, that game, this strategy, that set-up. None of it is the answer to whatever the situations are that your family is facing.

We all love an easy-to-implement program. Can we all say Easy Peasy? We don’t know how to fix our problems, so we rely on people who seem to have fixed theirs. The bad news is that no other person can figure it out for you and solve your problems. The great news is there is Someone who has all the answers.

Jesus is the answer. He’s the answer to everything. Yes, everything! Why do we turn to blogs and friends and online searches and try this and that and the other for our dilemma of the hour when we have the perfect source for all wisdom and knowledge? It must mean we either don’t have a relationship with Him or we don’t know Him well enough to believe He will hear and answer our prayers.

How can you get a relationship with the source of all wisdom and knowledge?

God is the perfect everything. That’s man’s problem. We got ourselves separated from this perfect source by our sin, our selfishness, this dumb idea humans have that we know what’s best for ourselves and that we should do as we please. It leads to every mess of a situation life brings to us.

To come to God, we have to humble ourselves and admit that we aren’t God. Understatement of the century! We confess that we no longer want to try and control our lives, and we give our lives over to Him. We ask Him to forgive us for all our sin, all those things we do that hurt ourselves and others, and ask Him to come into our lives to be our Father, to teach us, take care of us, and show us the way to live.

He can forgive us because Jesus took the punishment for sin, which is death. Jesus, as God come down to us in the flesh, was the only sinless, perfect person ever; He was the only one who didn’t have to die for His sin in order for justice to be done. That made Him able to take our death sentence for us, since He didn’t need to die Himself. He sacrificed Himself for us. When we are forgiven, we can receive His life in us. He comes to us by the Holy Spirit. The Spirit makes His home in us, and we let Him live His life through us.

With His ever-presence, we have the source of not just wisdom and knowledge, but the source of all true love, joy, peace, faithfulness, and so much more goodness than you can imagine.

If you have made this step or find yourself in the other category of just not knowing God well enough to trust Him to be your help in everything, consider reaching out. I have tons of Bible teaching on the site. The study called This Is Eternal Life might be a good place for you to start.

This year’s September Study will be released at the end of August. It’s called The Suffering Servant. Find purpose and joy in the trials and tribulations! For September, we’re all getting a free month of Mr. Phil TV, from Phil Vischer, creator of Veggie Tales. More on that when I release the September Study.

Good Morning, Lord! These are 2-minute teachings going straight through the Bible that you can read or listen to. There are more than 400 so far. You can find this on My EP. I was adding them to a playlist on Youtube, but I am thinking of not continuing that. If you really like having them as a playlist, you can ask me to keep adding them there.

Reminders from God’s Word – These are video teachings from various Scriptures. Lots on freedom from sin and God’s working salvation in our lives. This is a new page and I’m just adding as I have a new lesson I want to share. At the moment, I’ve been doing about four each week. There are just a couple dozen videos so far. This is NOT on My EP.

Miracle Stories – Be encouraged to trust God to provide and protect and be your Good Father! I will at some point add more stories. There are new ways God is teaching us to trust Him to take care of us. He’s a good father!

I was thinking how no one was going to notice all the little things I did to get ready for Christmas morning. No one is going to recognize my thoughtfulness in wrapping the silly little things in their stockings so they have things to unwrap while they wait for grandparents to arrive and settle in on Christmas morning. They won’t appreciate the organization and lists to make sure everyone has the same number of gifts so no one feels left out as we go round and open the gifts on Christmas morning. No one is going to say thanks for making sure Christmas Eve dinner is all planned so we can get to the Christmas Eve service. No one is going to stop and realize that everyone got their own favorite treats in their stocking, just that they are happy to get what was in their own. I doubt anyone will thank me for organizing the gifts so everyone can find theirs or that I planned the order of gifts for optimal happiness. 😊 They will just be happy. And that was the point, to make them happy, not to get the thank you.

I may not be wiping down the counters or the mirrors for the millionth time for their happiness, but just because it needs to be done, and I can do it. It makes me happy to keep the home in order and moving along, even if no one notices the multitude of little things that us moms (and dads) constantly do to keep life happy for our families. No one says thank you when groceries need to be put away. No one says thanks for getting the bills paid. Our kids live in a bit of ignorance when it comes to the many blessings they receive from having you as their mother or father or grandparent to take care of them.

I know it’s easy to sigh and wonder why they can’t keep their fingers off the mirrors, but it’s also a joy to do it with a heart of gratitude. There’s a verse in Proverbs that goes something like this: The stable is clean where there are no oxen. I’m thankful my home is full, even if that means there is always something to be wiped from the counters.

And it’s a glimpse at the Father’s heart. He sends the rain on the righteous and the unrighteous, meeting their basic needs. The sun rises to give us all light and heat each day. It sets to give us rest. Jesus healed even the ungrateful ones. It pleases the Father to care for His children. It pleases the Father to care for His creation, even when they don’t recognize it. And it makes me wonder how many little things He does for me that I never even notice.

You know how good it feels when someone does notice and stops to say thanks. We should give that gift to our good Father. And when the bad stuff happens, when the problems pile up, instead of complaining as if God is laying down on the job, it should remind us of all the things we’ve neglected being thankful for, and we should rejoice. It should wake us up to thanksgiving and praise. Problems are temporary, but the love of our Father is for all eternity.

Thank you to everyone who has given donations to my family. I realized that I hadn’t been sending thank you notes. I always write a thank you note to anyone who donates to the site, but because the donations to my family were mixed up with the registrations to My EP, those didn’t get notes. I’ve gotten the system straightened out so that everyone gets a thank you note now. So, sorry if you weren’t personally thanked, but we do receive all your gifts and we are grateful for your love and support. We don’t have any paid work. Your donations are what the Lord is using to provide for our family.

I also wanted to say that there are three new books coming soon. I will hopefully have the links up by next week.

1. I have the next Good Morning, Lord! book ready. It’s the lessons from the book of Exodus. Genesis is already available.
2. I wrote a very short choose-your-own adventure type book. Let’s say it’s for around ages 8 – 11. You are on a mission trip to build a greenhouse in a Roma community in the Republic of North Macedonia. My husband and I were church planters there years back. In the book are some of our color photos from our time there. It’s called “Acknowledge Him in All Your Ways.” You’ll find the right path if you chose to trust God is in control and use His Word to guide you. 🙂
3. The big news is that I have a new novel ready. I wrote in back in January of 2021 and have been working on editing it, on and off all year. It’s called The Trumpet and the Swan. I will tell you more about it at the release, but I will say that it is another end times story, but this one is set in modern day. It’s not trying to predict anything because that would defeat the purpose. The point of the book is that you don’t need to know everything, you just need to know Jesus. It’s teaching having a relationship with Jesus, walking with Him. Hopefully it’s just as engaging as The King Will Make a Way.

Once I get all the work done to get these published, I will work on getting them on the site somewhere as well. The Good Morning lessons can be found here. The Trumpet and the Swan will be available in hardcover. The King Will Make a Way is available in hardcover now!

We hold three competitions throughout the year: science, history, writing. Homeschool students age 8 – 17 can participate alone or in groups. Winners get a certificate in the mail and an award check!

In the fall, we run the science fair (running now through November 15th). Students conduct experiments and produce a slide presentation showing their procedure, data, and conclusions.

EP Science Fair

In the winter, we run a history video competition. Students choose a topic, maybe a person or event, and teach others about what they learned through their research by making a video of them acting the part or by developing a documentary-style video. We’ve even had some Lego animated videos.

EP History Alive!

In the spring, we run our short story contest, the most popular.

EP Short Story Contest

Toad Hunting

Lilies on the Mississippi

Be Ye Separate

P.S. If this post looks all squishy and weird to you, you aren’t alone. I can’t seem to do anything about it. It’s not how I wrote it. It’s not how it looks on the editing page. I guess maybe something to be expected encouraging Jesus Month…Be praying for me and EP!