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        The sun is shining and Britt and I are bustling about, Britt feeding the kids while I feed the animals. The kids are excited and on their best behavior because of the looming prospect of earning a prize while on our day trip to Lincoln. Today is a homeschool swap meet day; these days hold special meaning to many homeschool parents. Parenting by itself can be a struggle and when you opt to homeschool your own kids then you’re choosing to face that struggle head on!

 

“Inspire, Restock and Replenish!”

      It’s a humbling and beautiful thing to be a homeschool parent but it can become isolating and overwhelming. That’s why its important to network with other homeschool parents. Regardless of the curriculum they use or where their at in their own wild faith journey, these other homeschool parents have an intimate understanding of our same struggles. They also appreciate and understand why it’s worth it! A home school swap meet is the perfect place to give and receive inspiration, to restock and to replenish. Before going back to the most important job any of us could do, “raising them up in the way they should go”.

 

         A “Home School Swap Meet” is when a group of homeschool parents bring their un-used, or gently used homeschool supplies to a single location to be sold, or in some instances traded for other homeschool goods.

 

        With the current state of the world, social interactions have been frequently suspended. When Britt had learned that there was a homeschool mom’s swap meet still scheduled, we jumped at the chance to be in community with our kind of people, homeschoolers! The swap meet was hosted at the Johnston family homestead, in Lincoln Ca. The group post advertised cute goats to pet and plenty of space to play for any children. There were also mini horseback rides offered for anyone who wanted to pay five bucks. These types of events are “old hat” to my wife, who knows that the best stuff typically gets bought up by the first arrivals. She was determined to be there before it opened. To our delight, we were the first arrival!

 

 

        We had driven an hour and as we winded our way through the beautiful Sierra foot-hills, the Johnston Family home came into view. A beautiful white house on a hill, surrounded by green grass and lush pastures. Two cute goat kids were bivouacked in the front yard and a friendly smoldering smile welcomed us as we entered the driveway. The older man, wearing a cowboy hat and holding the lead rope of a cute little white mare made us immediately feel welcomed. I later learned that he was the Johnston's neighbor and the owner of Serendipity Ranch. He had volunteered his time and his little mare because he wanted to be a friendly neighbor. What an awesome thing to do!

 

        A women directed our parking; it was Brenda Johnston, the host. She welcomed us to her home and said that we could let our kids go free to play, the kids immediately ran off to play. Britt and I walked towards the tables in the front of the house which were stacked full of all sorts of wonderful home school supplies. It was the culmination of items that a group of seven mom’s had brought to sell.

 

        A homeschool swap meet can yield some pretty quality products, from books to games and teachers guides to office supplies. Homeschool styles and methods can vary tremendously. That’s the beauty of home schooling when it’s done right. Each child’s education can be supplemented and designed specifically around the child’s individual learning style, interests and personality.  Many home school families even have different curriculum for each of their children because of learning style differences. This specialized way of teaching pays off in great dividends! According to the National Home Education Research Institute “-showed higher than average academic achievement test scores for the home educated.”

“Always Be Needed!”

      We have tried numerous curriculums with our own kids throughout the years, before finally finding the best one for our family which was “Gather ‘Round”! It took trial and error to find the right combination and it resulted with us collecting curriculum and resources that we didn’t need. This led us to discovering the benefits of homeschool swap meets. It’s a place to trade or sell your quality and often expensive resources, it’s also a place to pickup new options to try out! Homeschool parents will always be constantly testing new curriculum or ideas to make sure that they provide the best for their children. This means that homeschool swap meets will always be needed!

 

     As we perused the tables I happened upon a really cool resource! “Learning Unbound” sensory boxes! The boxes are curated by a group of three Homeschool moms. They provide a monthly subscription service and are designed to be used as either a supplemental educational tool, or for young children (ages 4-9) they meet the educational standards as a curriculum. As a disclaimer these boxes are not advertised as being faith based and so the usual considerations may need to be made as far as previewing some of their content. However, it’s worth it in my opinion because these kits provide an excellent resource for sensory learning! The mommas that created this service, embody the spirit and tenacity that Wild Faith Journey LLC is all about! They saw a need and took it upon themselves to produce it. If you want to check out their products just click here!

 

     My family and I had a blast at this homeschool swap meet! Thank you, Tim and Brenda for hosting it at your beautiful home!

     I was left feeling inspired and grateful, homeschool swap meets will always be a special thing to my family! I encourage you all to get out and find home school swap meets.  If there isn’t one available nearby? You can set up your own, there is always fellow homeschoolers nearby. Community together will always be one of our greatest resources!

 

1 Thessalonians 5:11 ESV

 Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.

 

As a disclaimer this is an independent review and was not solicited by any person or business mentioned in the review. All opinions expressed in this review, represents the opinions of Jacob Heldman on behalf of Wild Faith Journey LLC and this article does contain affiliate sponsored ad links.

 

 

Sources:

https://www.nheri.org/academic-achievement-homeschool-students/

https://www.learningunbound.net/why-learning-unbound/

 https://reformedwiki.com/verses/fellowship