The soothing tongue is a tree of life, but a perverse tongue crushes the spirit. - Proverbs 15:4
I was just posting to another of my blogs (Under The Shadow Of His Wing) and this verse really struck me. I can't tell you how many time I've barked at our son, wanting nothing more that immediate obedience. I don't do it too much any more as I've learned that this is completely unfruitful and counterproductive. I had to wade through mountains of "expert" child rearing data and advice including that from "expert" Christian sources. One of those sources even went so far as to say that parents need to break their children's spirits, punish them by spanking with wooden spoons, and citing Scriptural references to back up his point. (First of all, I am not citing who this was as I don't want to start a kerfuffel. Second, any verse of Scripture can be pulled out of context to support any point of view which can be very dangerous.)
Over the years I have come to a place that is challenging at best. It is a place where a parent is a hands-on, interactive parent who treats their child as a person, not a subordinate. While a child does need to learn to be obedient and respectful to their parents, I don't believe that beating them into submission is the way to go. Is is better for a child to obey out of fear or out of love and respect? This place where I've come to has lots of long talks, with the parent listening and the child sharing his hopes, dreams, concerns, and fears. It is a place where the parent sets aside him- or herself in order to nurture and encourage their child. It's a lot of work and can be quite tiring at times, but it's well worth it.
Going back to Scripture for a moment, the image of a shepherd is used quite often. The shepherd has a rod and staff. The majority of Christians now-a-days take the rod and staff Scriptures as a license and mandate to use corporal punishment in their homes. But a shepherd doesn't beat his sheep. He guides and protects them, showing them where to go and making sure their needs are met. He does use these instruments to protect his sheep from wild animals and will beat those animals, but he never beats his sheep. Then if we look at the Messiah, our Shepherd, and His treatment of the disciples we have another beautiful picture of how we should treat our children. He never beat or abused His disciples. He lovingly and patiently taught and corrected them. Yes, sometimes He got frustrated, but he never became abusive. What better example could we have?
Yes, some days I still get snippy, but when I keep in mind that I'd rather be soothing and bring life to my child rather than crush his spirit it helps me get back on track. I take a deep breath and keep on going. Remember, homeschooling goes far beyond schooling. We are nurturing and shaping our children and the way we speak has a big impact on them. Let's be trees of life!
Monday, September 19, 2011
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Helpful Resources
Last time I mentioned that several months ago I had to tailor our son's curriculum to accommodate his sensitivities. Until fairly recently the thought of "flying by the seat of my pants" scared me no end. But after I took a couple of days to collect my thoughts and settle it within myself that this would indeed be the very best for our son it didn't seem quite so daunting. No, I didn't just pull an outline for his studies in science or history out of thin air. I had some help!
"Home Learning Year by Year - How to Design a Homeschool Curriculum from Preschool Through High School" by Rebecca Rupp is an excellent resource, even if you aren't designing your own curriculum. Ms. Rupp has broken down each school year by subject. Within those subjects she has listed what is normally required at that level along with resources for those topics.
"The Educated Child" by William J. Bennett is another nice resource, although it's geared more towards families whose children attend public or private school and what the families should expect their child to be learning.
So, in plotting out our son's education I started with these two books. I checked each year from first grade through seventh, making sure that we had covered what was suggested. If there was something that we didn't cover or that I wanted to review with our son I placed a sticky flag in the book and kept on going. Once all the flags were placed I grabbed a pencil and paper and started making a list for each subject. Then I consolidated like topics within the subjects. It really wasn't too bad at all
For history I took a little different approach. Over the years we have studied American History and some world history, but it always felt disjointed to me. How did it all fit together? What cultures were living at the same time? I wanted there to be a continuity to our son's study of history, so I decided we'd start at the beginning and work our way forward! With the help of a fairly detailed civilization timeline put together from a Biblical perspective I was able to put together our son's history curriculum for the next few years, taking our time to really explore the cultures along the way.
Our local library plays a major role in our schooling as well. I order books from them a few weeks in advance of when we'll need them. In this way we have access to just about any topic we need without breaking the bank. And our library has a wonderful inter-library loan system so if there is something that we need that they don't have, chances are one of the other libraries in the system will have it. We are using a bought pre-algebra curriculum and for grammar we're using Daily Grams/Easy Grammar.
Because we don't have text or workbooks to record our son's learning, we make lapbooks document his progress. Lapbooks are a wonderful tool and lots of fun to put together. I'll talk about those next time!
"Home Learning Year by Year - How to Design a Homeschool Curriculum from Preschool Through High School" by Rebecca Rupp is an excellent resource, even if you aren't designing your own curriculum. Ms. Rupp has broken down each school year by subject. Within those subjects she has listed what is normally required at that level along with resources for those topics.
"The Educated Child" by William J. Bennett is another nice resource, although it's geared more towards families whose children attend public or private school and what the families should expect their child to be learning.
So, in plotting out our son's education I started with these two books. I checked each year from first grade through seventh, making sure that we had covered what was suggested. If there was something that we didn't cover or that I wanted to review with our son I placed a sticky flag in the book and kept on going. Once all the flags were placed I grabbed a pencil and paper and started making a list for each subject. Then I consolidated like topics within the subjects. It really wasn't too bad at all
For history I took a little different approach. Over the years we have studied American History and some world history, but it always felt disjointed to me. How did it all fit together? What cultures were living at the same time? I wanted there to be a continuity to our son's study of history, so I decided we'd start at the beginning and work our way forward! With the help of a fairly detailed civilization timeline put together from a Biblical perspective I was able to put together our son's history curriculum for the next few years, taking our time to really explore the cultures along the way.
Our local library plays a major role in our schooling as well. I order books from them a few weeks in advance of when we'll need them. In this way we have access to just about any topic we need without breaking the bank. And our library has a wonderful inter-library loan system so if there is something that we need that they don't have, chances are one of the other libraries in the system will have it. We are using a bought pre-algebra curriculum and for grammar we're using Daily Grams/Easy Grammar.
Because we don't have text or workbooks to record our son's learning, we make lapbooks document his progress. Lapbooks are a wonderful tool and lots of fun to put together. I'll talk about those next time!
Saturday, September 3, 2011
Where Does the Time Go?
Here we are starting another new school year. Where has the time gone? We began our homeschooling journey ten years ago. Really? Ten years?
When our son was two years old I realized that he had somehow taught himself to read. While playing with toys was definately a fun way to pass the day, I also knew that our son needed to be challenged in order to be happy. Enter homeschooling! From our first day of homeschool until today it has truly been a learning experience, not only for our son but for me as well.
It can be tricky to stay one step ahead of a ravenous learner, especially when a "canned" curricula just won't cut it. I've tried a wide variety and while some do hold his interest for a time, none of them have worked from beginning to end. And to be fair sometimes it isn't that the curriculum has a deficiency, but that we have, well, quirks. Take biology for example.
Last term things were moving along swimmingly until that fateful day when the next chapter in the science text began a study of biology. Anatomy to be more specific. You know, things like the circulatory and nervous system. Things came to a screeching halt. Unfortunately one of the things our son inherited from me was my squeemishness. I was never cut out to be a doctor or nurse. So rather than force our son to continue down a lesson path that would cause he and I way too much stress for no good reason I simply steered our homeschool down a different path. A lovely study of birds followed and everyone was happy.
Let me just say that our son is very familiar with the inner workings of the human body. He just doesn't like thinking about it too much. If he didn't know anything about it then we'd have to take a different approach to learning the information - one that would not be offensive to his sensibilities and low tolerance for blood and guts. This is the beauty of homeschooling - being able to tailor material to the child and his way of learning. It's also wonderful to be able to explore areas that the child is interested in and letting him build his love for learning.
This school year we are using a set curriculum for Pre-Algebra, but that's about it. Everything else has been tailored by me to fit the needs and interests of our son. Is it more labor intensive and time consuming for me? It sure is! But when I see our son enjoying learning (even math!) it's all worth it.
Homeschooling can be a challenge, but our kids are worth it. Each day is a gift, a treasure to be enjoyed - challenges and all. If we put in a little effort we can shape our children into the people they were meant to be, not simply fill them full of facts. Homeschooling is so much more than book-learning. I hope you are enjoying your journey!
When our son was two years old I realized that he had somehow taught himself to read. While playing with toys was definately a fun way to pass the day, I also knew that our son needed to be challenged in order to be happy. Enter homeschooling! From our first day of homeschool until today it has truly been a learning experience, not only for our son but for me as well.
It can be tricky to stay one step ahead of a ravenous learner, especially when a "canned" curricula just won't cut it. I've tried a wide variety and while some do hold his interest for a time, none of them have worked from beginning to end. And to be fair sometimes it isn't that the curriculum has a deficiency, but that we have, well, quirks. Take biology for example.
Last term things were moving along swimmingly until that fateful day when the next chapter in the science text began a study of biology. Anatomy to be more specific. You know, things like the circulatory and nervous system. Things came to a screeching halt. Unfortunately one of the things our son inherited from me was my squeemishness. I was never cut out to be a doctor or nurse. So rather than force our son to continue down a lesson path that would cause he and I way too much stress for no good reason I simply steered our homeschool down a different path. A lovely study of birds followed and everyone was happy.
Let me just say that our son is very familiar with the inner workings of the human body. He just doesn't like thinking about it too much. If he didn't know anything about it then we'd have to take a different approach to learning the information - one that would not be offensive to his sensibilities and low tolerance for blood and guts. This is the beauty of homeschooling - being able to tailor material to the child and his way of learning. It's also wonderful to be able to explore areas that the child is interested in and letting him build his love for learning.
This school year we are using a set curriculum for Pre-Algebra, but that's about it. Everything else has been tailored by me to fit the needs and interests of our son. Is it more labor intensive and time consuming for me? It sure is! But when I see our son enjoying learning (even math!) it's all worth it.
Homeschooling can be a challenge, but our kids are worth it. Each day is a gift, a treasure to be enjoyed - challenges and all. If we put in a little effort we can shape our children into the people they were meant to be, not simply fill them full of facts. Homeschooling is so much more than book-learning. I hope you are enjoying your journey!
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Year In Review
I can hardly believe that the school year is almost over - four more days to go! This year we've seen some firsts with our homeschooling. It actually started at the end of last year's schooling. I told our son that he was getting to a point in his education where we really needed to choose a curriculum that we could stick with through high school so that we wouldn't miss anything important. I think he very much appreciated being included in that decision. We chose AOP's LifePacs for Language Arts, History & Geography, and Science, Horizons Math, Horizons Health, and Ariel Ministries' Come & See for Bible (I'll be sharing more about this at a later date).
With that decision I knew that I was going to have to keep better records. So another first was that this past school year I used forms to keep track of everything. The reason that this was my first year of using forms even though we've been homeschooling for eight years now is because our state doesn't require any sort of record keeping, although they do suggest it. Each year we do have to send in a form stating our intent to homeschool for the year, but that's it.
I wanted to be able to have everything planned out, see our schedule, and be able to show our son his grades. I'm very glad that I decided to do this! It really helped both of us stay motivated and not feel overwhelmed by things.
The forms that I use can be found at DonnaYoung.org. This is a fabulous site with free forms for homeschooling and just about anything else you can think of. If you're thinking about using forms for your schooling, if you need to use forms but don't relish the idea of making your own, or if you just like looking at free stuff, this site is for you! In addition to the forms she also has instructions and suggestions for using them.
Another first for us was that we made it through our math curriculum this year without any, what's the word I'm looking for? Let's use fussing! Four or five years ago we had a very bad experience with a math curriculum and it's taken our son this long to get over it. I can actually say with confidence that our son isn't math-phobic anymore!
This year was also the first time that we took a regular school year to go through the curriculum. Previously our son would speed through things as fast as he could because he just loves learning. Two years ago I calculated how long it would have taken him to get through twelfth grade at the rate he was going and he would have been done at thirteen. My husband and I didn't feel that that was either healthy or necessary so we helped him slow things down a bit and really begin to enjoy the journey.
While we're both looking forward to having lots of fun this summer, we're both looking forward to next school year, too. It's a real blessing to know that our decision to homeschool was really the right thing to do!
Visit Living Waters Homeschool
Visit UnderTheShadowOfHisWing
Visit LAKrueger's Books
With that decision I knew that I was going to have to keep better records. So another first was that this past school year I used forms to keep track of everything. The reason that this was my first year of using forms even though we've been homeschooling for eight years now is because our state doesn't require any sort of record keeping, although they do suggest it. Each year we do have to send in a form stating our intent to homeschool for the year, but that's it.
I wanted to be able to have everything planned out, see our schedule, and be able to show our son his grades. I'm very glad that I decided to do this! It really helped both of us stay motivated and not feel overwhelmed by things.
The forms that I use can be found at DonnaYoung.org. This is a fabulous site with free forms for homeschooling and just about anything else you can think of. If you're thinking about using forms for your schooling, if you need to use forms but don't relish the idea of making your own, or if you just like looking at free stuff, this site is for you! In addition to the forms she also has instructions and suggestions for using them.
Another first for us was that we made it through our math curriculum this year without any, what's the word I'm looking for? Let's use fussing! Four or five years ago we had a very bad experience with a math curriculum and it's taken our son this long to get over it. I can actually say with confidence that our son isn't math-phobic anymore!
This year was also the first time that we took a regular school year to go through the curriculum. Previously our son would speed through things as fast as he could because he just loves learning. Two years ago I calculated how long it would have taken him to get through twelfth grade at the rate he was going and he would have been done at thirteen. My husband and I didn't feel that that was either healthy or necessary so we helped him slow things down a bit and really begin to enjoy the journey.
While we're both looking forward to having lots of fun this summer, we're both looking forward to next school year, too. It's a real blessing to know that our decision to homeschool was really the right thing to do!
Visit Living Waters Homeschool
Visit UnderTheShadowOfHisWing
Visit LAKrueger's Books
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Importance Of Routine
One thing that I've learned over our years of homeschooling is the importance of routine. Routine is good for anybody, but it is especially important for gifted kids (and adults). Every year at this time, when we're about done with our regular school year and looking at our precious weeks of summer, I start thinking about our routine.
During the school year we have two learning sessions per day - one in the morning and one in the afternoon. One summer we just threw caution to the wind and played and lazed all day. After a couple of weeks I knew I was in trouble, so I tried implementing some sort of schedule for our days. It was so-so. Then when school started again that fall it took a good month to get back into the swing of things. This year I have a plan.
For our summer program we are going to maintain our two learning sessions, but instead of our regular school stuff, we'll be having fun, fun, fun! That's the plan anyway. I even have it charted out for the whole summer! There's art, bubblology (the science of bubbles), learning about pendulums, making a worm farm, even tie-dye. I'm hoping that by keeping to our regularly scheduled times when September rolls around again we can ease on in to school without too much fuss. Hey, I can dream, can't I?
While in my dreams summer is a peaceful, relaxing time, in reality it is the time for me to get all my ducks in a row for next schoolyear. Fortunately I have some of them lined up already, but there are still a few that need to be taken care of. I'm hoping that between all the fun and relaxing I'll be able to get those things done so that I won't have to worry about them in September. Here's hoping!
Visit Living Waters Homeschool
Visit UnderTheShadowOfHisWing
Visit LAKrueger's Books
During the school year we have two learning sessions per day - one in the morning and one in the afternoon. One summer we just threw caution to the wind and played and lazed all day. After a couple of weeks I knew I was in trouble, so I tried implementing some sort of schedule for our days. It was so-so. Then when school started again that fall it took a good month to get back into the swing of things. This year I have a plan.
For our summer program we are going to maintain our two learning sessions, but instead of our regular school stuff, we'll be having fun, fun, fun! That's the plan anyway. I even have it charted out for the whole summer! There's art, bubblology (the science of bubbles), learning about pendulums, making a worm farm, even tie-dye. I'm hoping that by keeping to our regularly scheduled times when September rolls around again we can ease on in to school without too much fuss. Hey, I can dream, can't I?
While in my dreams summer is a peaceful, relaxing time, in reality it is the time for me to get all my ducks in a row for next schoolyear. Fortunately I have some of them lined up already, but there are still a few that need to be taken care of. I'm hoping that between all the fun and relaxing I'll be able to get those things done so that I won't have to worry about them in September. Here's hoping!
Visit Living Waters Homeschool
Visit UnderTheShadowOfHisWing
Visit LAKrueger's Books
Friday, March 21, 2008
Craziness in California
So what else is new, right? Speaking as someone who was born and raised in southern California I would like to say that I am very glad we now live elsewhere. The recent court decision involving a parent's right to homeschool their children is just amazing to me - amazingly stupid.
This morning I saw a report about it on Fox News. I had heard about it before this morning, but one of the comments made by a woman with an organization to help protect children really shocked me. She said (I'm paraphrasing here) that judges need to have the ability to demand that children are put in either public or private schools if the children are in danger. She also mentioned that there are 500,000 children who have been identified as being "in danger" in homeschool situations. Who these children are, she didn't say. But after the report I realized that what she seemed to be saying inbetween the lines is that children who attend public or private schools are not in danger. I never realized that this was the case, but am so very happy to hear that children who attend public and private schools, and their families, apparently live in Shangrila!
Are there problems in some homeschool families? Yes. Are there problems in some public/private school families? Yes. Should these children be helped? Of course! But I have yet to hear anyone say that all children in public or private schools should be homeschooled when something terrible happens to a child - or because of a child - who is in public or private school. Remember Columbine? And if you really want to be realistic, there does seem to be more problems with children in public schools than with those who are homeschooled.
If you follow the logic that is apparently being used in California you might come to some interesting conclusions. Alcohol would be outlawed because of those who abuse it and subsequently injure others. Tobacco would be outlawed because of the harm done to the smoker and to those around them. In fact, we wouldn't really have to think at all as the government would think for us, telling us what we should and shouldn't do because we really can't figure that out for ourselves. Wait a minute! Maybe that's why they want all the children in public schools - so that they can be conditioned to have the government think for them. Hmmmm.... I just wonder.
Back to Living Waters Homeschool
This morning I saw a report about it on Fox News. I had heard about it before this morning, but one of the comments made by a woman with an organization to help protect children really shocked me. She said (I'm paraphrasing here) that judges need to have the ability to demand that children are put in either public or private schools if the children are in danger. She also mentioned that there are 500,000 children who have been identified as being "in danger" in homeschool situations. Who these children are, she didn't say. But after the report I realized that what she seemed to be saying inbetween the lines is that children who attend public or private schools are not in danger. I never realized that this was the case, but am so very happy to hear that children who attend public and private schools, and their families, apparently live in Shangrila!
Are there problems in some homeschool families? Yes. Are there problems in some public/private school families? Yes. Should these children be helped? Of course! But I have yet to hear anyone say that all children in public or private schools should be homeschooled when something terrible happens to a child - or because of a child - who is in public or private school. Remember Columbine? And if you really want to be realistic, there does seem to be more problems with children in public schools than with those who are homeschooled.
If you follow the logic that is apparently being used in California you might come to some interesting conclusions. Alcohol would be outlawed because of those who abuse it and subsequently injure others. Tobacco would be outlawed because of the harm done to the smoker and to those around them. In fact, we wouldn't really have to think at all as the government would think for us, telling us what we should and shouldn't do because we really can't figure that out for ourselves. Wait a minute! Maybe that's why they want all the children in public schools - so that they can be conditioned to have the government think for them. Hmmmm.... I just wonder.
Back to Living Waters Homeschool
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Learning to be Messy
It's funny. Sometimes I don't know who learns more in the course of a day - me or our son. Take this morning for instance. It was time for art and a review of the primary and secondary colors. I know that he knows those like the back of his hand, but I wanted him to get painting. You see, our son is one of those kids who never liked getting dirty.
I remember his first birthday. We gave him a cupcake, took off his shirt, and let him go for it. But he didn't. He poked at it, but never really got messy with it. He really has gotten better with getting messy. Now I'm the one who has to loosen up a bit.
I guess I was spoiled by his innate neatness. But now I know that it's really good for him to get messy so I have to let him. It's not like there's anything that can't be cleaned up - our son included. It's amazing what the Lord will use to teach us more about ourselves and to help us over our little hurdles so that we can be free - and be messy!
Back to Living Waters Homeschool
I remember his first birthday. We gave him a cupcake, took off his shirt, and let him go for it. But he didn't. He poked at it, but never really got messy with it. He really has gotten better with getting messy. Now I'm the one who has to loosen up a bit.
I guess I was spoiled by his innate neatness. But now I know that it's really good for him to get messy so I have to let him. It's not like there's anything that can't be cleaned up - our son included. It's amazing what the Lord will use to teach us more about ourselves and to help us over our little hurdles so that we can be free - and be messy!
Back to Living Waters Homeschool
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