I am not a computer expert that understands all the in’s and out’s of internet accountability, controls and resources! I am a mom who knows that I need to protect my family from the evil that is so easily available on the internet. I didn’t want the blessing of homeschooling to turn into a curse of misuse of the internet, or a pornography addiction and its evil influences.
Below are some internet accountability resources to help all of us protect our families.
Internet Accountability: Stop Accidental Exposure!
Did you know that according to the Kaiser Family Foundation, roughly 70% of children are exposed accidentally to pornography each year?
Homeschool grading should not take all evening. Don’t spend too much time grading your kids papers!
Honestly, I can hardly believe I’m writing this but it is true. If you are trying to get your 6th grader to write a perfect essay and so you correct every.single.thing. that you can find, re-write all the sentences, and re-arrange the content YOU ARE DOING TOO MUCH.
The curriculum we use (BJU Press Homeschool) comes with rubriks* to help us grade each writing assignment. There are points for content (Did the students get the point across in the essay? Did the ideas have logical progression?) and points for technical skills (Capitalization and punctuation, etc.) Those 2 scores are combined and a grade is assigned. This way both the student and the teacher know what is expected!
How to teach sharing: These tips are sure to help you!
In one of the zoo Duplo kits that my children received as a family gift one Christmas, there was only one monkey. Now when you have 4 children, that is a BIG problem. There were some very important sharing skills that needed to be taught. Fortunately, this Monkey helped me teach sharing. Continue reading “How to Teach Sharing: Everyone Wants the Monkey”
Do you have a strong-willed child? The kind that you saw screaming and throwing tantrums at the grocery store? Or in Sunday school? Yep, I had one of those.
Here’s our story. Please SHARE if you think it will help encourage someone. And JOIN me on Homeschool Christian Mom FB group for more of our story.
When you have a child like this, it is easy to feel like a failure as a parent. This kind of kid tests all of your reserve strength.
Our first child was extremely strong willed and the rest were just normal strong-willed, which means very strong-willed.
I also talked to our Christian doctor about my daughter. I was ready to put her on medication to help me keep my own sanity. He said to deal with it firmly and consistently and with salvation, you will see a change. My daughter did not get saved until she was 7 (which is a lot of years to deal with!). God is amazing! Keep praying for your child’s heart and your patience. It is worth it!
I am so thankful for God’s work on her heart and on my patience!
Do you need help parenting your strong willed child?
I was a strong willed child. My mom reminds me of this sometimes! That is good because if I hadn’t been stubborn or persistent or tenacious or whatever you want to call it, my own daughter would have run over me again and again.
Or perhaps I would have let my daughter get away with bad behavior if I had not been so determined. My daughter needed to learn some lessons: to obey, to persist, to follow through. Importantly, teaching obedience now provided safety and set an important foundation for future self-control.
What is a reverse mortgage? It is a financial product that allows you to tap the equity from your home. Millionacres says, You can qualify for a reverse mortgage as long as you’re at least 62, use the home in question as your primary residence, and are able and willing to keep up with your homeownership costs — meaning, continue paying your property taxes, retain homeowners insurance, and maintain your property.
As the articles below show, there are a lot of reasons NOT to get a reverse mortgage.
Since I live in New York, property taxes are a big concern. If you don’t pay your property taxes, your reverse mortgage becomes immediately due. Since there is not legislation protecting the homeowners, a town can reassess property values and your taxes can go up by 50% or more suddenly. Yes, they can. If you don’t pay your property taxes, your reverse mortgage becomes immediately due. If you can’t keep up with taxes, insurance, or maintenance, you are looking at foreclosure.
As the articles below show, there are a lot of reasons NOT to get a reverse mortgage.
But a reverse mortgage comes with several downsides, such as upfront and ongoing costs, a variable interest rate, an ever-rising loan balance and a reduction in home equity. In light of those drawbacks, homeowners considering a reverse mortgage should weigh the alternatives, such as refinancing an existing mortgage or taking out a home equity loan.
Explore All Your Options
On its surface, a reverse mortgage might sound like an ideal way to use your home for income. However, both upfront and ongoing costs accompany a reverse mortgage, along with a variable interest rate. Another pitfall: Because interest and fees are tacked on to the loan balance each month, the balance increases—and as the balance goes up, your home equity goes down.
Because of the numerous downsides to reverse mortgages, be sure to explore all of your borrowing alternatives to ensure your finances don’t end up going in reverse.
Everything Finance One of the ways lenders try to entice you into a reverse mortgage is by putting the idea in your head that you’ll never lose your home and ultimately live there forever. However, depending on your retirement income, even with the money from your reverse mortgage, the home insurance, repairs, and property taxes could become too much for you to handle.
Should you fail to be able to pay for any of those expenses, you’ll be in severe risk of losing your home. Moreover, there’s no telling how much repairs will (sic) ultimately equal.
If you’re contemplating moving for health concerns or other reasons, a reverse mortgage is probably unwise because in the short-run, steep up-front costs make such loans economically impractical. These costs include lender fees, initial mortgage insurance costs, ongoing mortgage insurance premiums, and closing (a.k.a. settlement) costs, such as property title insurance, home appraisal fees, and inspection fees.
Homeowners who suddenly vacate or sell the property have just six months to repay the loan. And while borrowers may pocket any sales proceeds above the balance owed on the loan, thousands of dollars in reverse mortgage costs will have already been paid out.
2017: 90,000 mortgages held by seniors are facing involuntary termination of their mortgages, i.e. foreclosure! At that time, 14%- 18% of the loans ended in foreclosure- a really, really, really high foreclosure rate.
Once in 30 Years From Elizabeth
“Jane” wanted to get a reverse mortgage. Her house was paid for. She wanted to remain in her house for the remainder of her life and have money to pay for her care, and she had no heirs. Also, she had recently been given less than a year to live. At that point, I could not talk “Jane” out of a reverse mortgage. There are other options, but she wanted what she wanted.
However, my advice for you: Run away from a reverse mortgage! Elizabeth Estelle
Homeschool Christian Mom Elizabeth Estelle is ready to help you!
Do you need some extra homeschooling help? Use this link to get on my calendar and let’s chat! Move from being a hesitant homeschool mom to a happy homeschool family.
