A Homeschool Lifestyle

An Important Distinction about "Bribing" our Kids

2011-05-16T11:56:00.000-07:00

All of us have probably heard a mother telling how she gets her kids to do chores around the house, or to exert a special effort in some direction, and she tells us that she had to "bribe" her kids to do it. She gives a little chuckle, and a guilty-feeling shrug, and her kids probably feel that they've been manipulated...well, I remember thinking that it just seemed a little odd. It happened to me recently, too, that I was at a lunch with a bunch of moms from our church, and one started talking about having to bribe her kids to do things. But now I was armed, and I told them what I had discovered, and it was one of those moments of illumination for them...and the women who heard it both ended up smiling. One said, "I'm not bribing my kids any more!" One day a good while back, it had struck me that what these moms seemed to be talking about might not be a bribe. So I looked up "bribe" and "incentive" in the dictionary. I think you'd also find it helpful if you haven't ever discovered the distinction. You'll also understand the little guilty-seeming mannerisms that people give when they talk about a bribe, even though they aren't even sure why they don't feel right about it. In my Webster's New Riverside Dictionary, these are the definitions I found:

bribe n. Something, as money, offered or given to influence a person to act dishonestly. Syns: BOODLE, PAYOFF, PAYOLA --v. bribed, bribing. To corrupt or gain influence over by means of a bribe.

incentive n. Something inciting one to action or effort:stimulus.*

So give your children an incentive when you feel it's appropriate, and don't feel guilty doing so. But please, don't bribe them! (I didn't think you'd want to anyway.)
* Webster's New Riverside Dictionary, copyright 1984 by Houghton Mifflin Company, pp. 91, 353.

Sanity and The Accumulation of Stuff

2011-05-07T21:32:00.000-07:00

All through my homeschooling years until just recently, I have been acquisitive. Not a big spender; not generally buying at regular price, but at every opportunity I added books and resources to my library. Our house is now stuffed and overstuffed with homeschooling supplies; if we had lots of kids, it would be justifiable, or even if I still had one who was passionate about reading. We have two kids, though, and one is 23 and not only graduated homeschooling, she's graduated college, and I'm down to one. Our son is 13 and is really just not crazy about reading. All these books are at our fingertips, but instead of saving us trips to the library they create the work of reevaluating, sorting, cleaning. Because it has dawned on me that most of them are now either under my one pupil's learning level, and much of the rest of it is either oriented toward our daughter or has the ongoing drawback of being the written word, I have gone through them and have a nightmarish quantity to get rid of.
I know there are others who can use them; I bought educational and interesting materials, not fluff, not junk. I know I can get rid of them. No one ever told me just how much more difficult it is to drag things out of a house than to drag them in! A strange and overwhelming lethargy and confusion overwhelms me at the thought of it. I don't want to "dispose" of them so much as to make my money back out of them. It would be great if selling them provided funds to buy my son the French horn he wants to start playing next year.
So I've been exploring options. I asked friends if their homeschooling groups are having curriculum sales; none seemed to be planning any. It almost made me want to stomp; I never belonged to a group that didn't do that at the end of the year! Okay, so what next? I have to evaluate which will be best: Craig's List, Amazon.com, eBay, or a homeschooling garage sale. And then what to charge? I looked on Amazon at what each book would cost including shipping, and wondered if 75% of that would be a fair price in a garage sale. I'm still working on it (though I've refused to look at it for about a week); I'm still a bit overwhelmed.
If there was anything I've been learning from this, it's that I shouldn't have bought books I could get at the library. I should have carefully evaluated what we could use in a year and not bought "just in case," and just because it had merit. I wish someone had been warning me! I should have gotten rid of some of this stuff a few years back, a little each year along the way, and I wouldn't have such a big job now. So now I say to you who are just starting out and easily charmed by everything homeschool: Be careful what you drag home, and how long you keep it. Someday it's not going to look so charming and so useful, your 50th time of dusting it off.

A Couple of Book Review Blogs I Recommend

2008-07-12T18:40:00.001-07:00

Just briefly here, I want to recommend two other blogs that do a nice job of presenting their take on children's literature--I present them jealously, knowing that you will no doubt discover how far they outpace me in the beauty and discernment of their choices.
One I just discovered today is called The Children's Hour, by Ray Van Neste, a pastor and professor in Jackson, Tennessee. The other, though not entirely devoted to children's literature, is charming in its entirety anyway, and you won't mind poring through the rest to get to the book reviews: A Path Made Straight, by a woman named Elise, whose last name I don't know...but she writes very sweetly. I wish I had more time to read both of these blogs in great detail.
So there you are. A brief post, but potentially very profitable for you.

A Book I Recommend

2007-09-13T22:55:00.000-07:00

I recently expressed willingness to consider being a Sunday school teacher at the church we started attending recently...and at the teachers' meeting (which came within a couple of hours of said expression), I was lent a book I had never seen before. By the comments on it, I gather it's a classic: The Seven Laws of Teaching, by John Milton Gregory. It was first published in 1884, and though it is written in a fairly old-fashioned style, it is quite readable.
I have only read to partway through the 4th chapter, and though I haven't been hit by any amazing and earthshaking ideas, I do believe the book is solid and the thoughts expressed in it make sense--that's the reason there's nothing amazing and earthshaking. It's about as solid as going over the laws of chemistry to a chemist--a chemist would know that the laws exist--even if he for whatever reason doesn't know what they are by heart, he knows by experience that they're true and unshakeable. I think this is a book that every homeschooling mother and every classroom teacher ought to read, whether to affirm what she's already doing or to help her do it better.
On the back cover, the Christlife Magazine says, "For succinct, usable material on the art of teaching, this book in our judgment, cannot be surpassed." There are various other quotes in praise of it, too.
I could go on and describe the contents of the book but I think it ought just to be read. It wouldn't take long; I read the first few chapters in the segments I could find of an afternoon.

A Fairly Inexpensive Start to a New School Year

2007-09-02T20:49:00.001-07:00

I thought I'd need so little time for planning our homeschooling this year...and in a way, I do. But I thought having a head start would cause me to be done so much more quickly. I had a head start because I had way more material planned last year than we could have accomplished in three years. And I thought I didn't need to buy anything for this year, having been given much, having much leftover from Katie, and having bought a little workbook here and there when I'd seen them. In fact, I didn't really need to buy anything. So I didn't go to the homeschool curriculum fairs that happen every summer, and I thought I was safe. Then my friend Lanae wanted to go to the used curriculum store that's within a long day's outing from here. I have been there a few times, and she hadn't; it's her first year of homeschooling, so I was happy to take her there.
It went well. Her husband watched the boys, who were delighted to be together, and Lanae and I were free to peruse the way-overstuffed shelves at our leisure. I kind of like going to this place, if only because it makes our place look sparsely furnished in comparison. You almost have to tunnel through it to get to the stuff you want. They could triple the floor space and still have it plenty full. They always surprise me with the stuff aside from just books; there are video and audio tapes, computer games, maps, art supplies...you just have to see it to believe it. Going in that place was about as dangerous as a sewing store used to be for me back when I could imagine finishing a project I'd started. I still have too much fabric that I never started sewing!
There was one thing I was truly hoping to find, and I did; Plants Grown Up, which is a Scripture-based character-building book for boys. Tim won't likely be doing Awana this year, and this will be helpful in taking up the slack. I also found a small, simple publication that will make Washington State history much easier to cover. I found three historical music tapes that I'd always wanted when Katie was little and could never afford; they were cheap there. Tim loves these types of songs, so this will enrich the year's music appreciation and add some dimension to our history studies. There was also Geography Wizardry for Kids which is so full of wonderful social studies ideas. In addition, I bought about 8 missions biographies by publishers and authors I have come to appreciate, and a few study guides to go with some of them. All in all, it wasn't very expensive to buy all that I found, considering I will use most of it more than one year and it's most of what I bought for the year. I spent a little over $100 for all my stack of things. It will make this year that much more fun and interesting, and for this year's schooling costs, I know and appreciate that I'm getting off easy.
So I'm incorporating these things into this year's schedule, and while I love the fact that it makes the year that much more interesting for both of us, I'm not getting off as easy in my planning as I was hoping. But I am awaiting the start of the year with greater anticipation!

In Loco Parentis

2007-06-05T08:49:00.001-07:00

I have to get on my soapbox today on a topic I've been mulling over. Lately in our adult Sunday School class, one of our elders has been speaking on raising teens. He got into some trouble with the class one day when he started describing various ways to involve your teens with the elderly in the community, including taking them to visit retirement homes or having elderly friends over for dinner. Now I'm not criticizing the way he raises his family; he's a good and loving father and I expect most of our congregation would agree that his children are turning out well. The odd thing was, his family doesn't homeschool, and everyone in the church probably knows how busy his own kids are with school, sports, work, and social life, and the likelihood of seeing any of them visit a retirement home in their teen years or being home for a leisurely family dinner is rather small. In fact, the church runs an academy at which these kids attend, and the activities there and the social life among the students pretty much precludes significant time with parents. Immediately a lot of comments arose about how unworkable and unrealistic his advice was for most of the parents there, and he basically had to go on to the next subject.
I recently worked for a year in our youth ministry. At the beginning of that year, I had high hopes to see the spiritual effect of the ministry among the students who attended it. During the year, though, I saw various scenarios that underscored the lack of parental involvement in the students' lives, and also the resultant lack of accountability and teachability among the students. It was very depressing, but it taught me a lot about the vital role of parents and the questionable role of a youth ministry that is separate from parents.
There is a good reason why the clear biblical pattern is for parents to be primary as spiritual leaders in their children's lives. If the parents don't know what their children are being taught, the children don't feel the impetus to apply the teaching to themselves, and the parents don't even have a vague notion of what information to reinforce. I saw the youth pastor give a sermon on putting aside the noise such as music and other media from one's life, and meditating on God and praying and listening to His input...and then we broke away into small groups to discuss it. Out of the 12 girls in our group, 10 immediately gave their reasoning why the sermon didn't apply to them. "I can't go without music for two hours," one whined. The others chimed in similarly, not seeming to catch that it was a challenge that they ought to face rather than dismiss. Those who responded in a receptive vein seemed to have had more parental impact in their lives. Had the parents of all these students been listening to the sermon with them, I would hope that the results would have been different. It was an eye-opener for me regarding just how great the need is even among teens for strong parental impact in their spiritual upbringing. There is simply no substitute for parental involvement for most kids--I'd expect that the only exception is in a family where the parents are not Christians.
My daughter went through our church youth ministry and benefited from it--but we wouldn't consider it her primary spiritual training ground for that period of time. She has always been very communicative with us regarding what she experiences in our absence, and so the teachings came home with her to us. For that matter, the one year I was in it was her graduating year, so I knew that year what was being taught. Still, I don't think we'll have our son, who is currently 9 years old, go through any youth ministry without parental involvement. And if he did, I would be all the more on the alert with questions for him and for his youth leaders, not only to make sure that things are going right but so we can reinforce the teaching at home and keep him accountable for applying it. All in all, it was a good, vivid parenting lesson for me; I'm thankful for it, and I hope not to waste it.

Homeschooling is a Double Feature

2007-01-26T22:34:00.000-08:00

There are so many good things about homeschooling, the most obvious being the learning that can happen so efficiently (in about a third of the time of public school, at least in the early grades)...but the double feature of this is that I get to learn while providing learning materials to my kids--teaching them things, but mostly about the love of learning. How can I not pass along this love when it grows the more it happens! The more interesting the materials, the more we all benefit. I learned the first round with Katie, and I'm learning more again this time with Tim.
So often mothers worry that they're leaving "gaps" in their children's education by homeschooling, yet I'm finding that I get to fill gaps left in my own education this way. I don't remember learning much about Alexander the Great, or ancient Greece, or polar explorers, or so many things, in any of my twelve years of school, but I'm learning about them now. So I don't worry about what I won't accomplish; I just do as I believe God has led me, and all I care to do is continue by trusting in His leading.If I have gaps from my public school education, my children would have if they were there too--and if I leave gaps in their education, well, I'm not necessarily doing any worse than what they would get anywhere else.
Besides. Who doesn't have gaps in their knowledge? Even the most brilliant minds have areas where they don't excel. I notice on a game show, 1 vs. 100, often the 100 will be made up of various types of geniuses; yet in the matter of a few questions, many of them will be eliminated--maybe because they asked about the price of a basic postage stamp.
As a result of homeschooling I have determined that my favorite subject must be history. Such a rich subject, so many ways to learn it! It's all about the people who have filled this earth from the 6th day of God's Creation. We have discovered multitudes of wonderful biographies, and I would never put those aside for long, but lately we have discovered a newer set of books that Tim and I have been devouring together. This new series is wonderful for immersing the reader in the difficulties and details of various periods of history. The titles are humorous and the same vein runs throughout the books. "You Wouldn't Want to be an Arctic Explorer," "You Wouldn't Want to be a Soldier in Alexander the Great's Army," "You Wouldn't Want to be a Slave in Ancient Greece," and a number of others. They contain many ghastly but not objectionable facts--and to a boy, a fascinating way of presenting history! I have to say I love them too.

The Benefits of Homeschooling go far Beyond Academics

2006-11-17T16:29:00.000-08:00

Throughout the time that we homeschooled our daughter Katie all the way from first to twelfth grade, I was thankful for the privilege of homeschooling--giving thanks for that was a regular and conscious part of my prayers. Some of the time I was of the opinion that every Christian, given any opportunity to do so, should homeschool; some of the time I was just glad that my life circumstances allowed me to do so and I didn't care so much about where others stood on it. But until recently I have never been so absolutely certain that no matter whether I did a really great job or a quite mediocre job, it still was the best thing for Katie and perhaps for any child.
It wasn't the content of the academics that retrospectively became the most significant part of the advantage that homeschooling provided; it was the character, the values, the family strength, the communication, the intimate knowledge we have of one another that ended up being even more the reason I am so glad we kept her at home.
The schooling itself was not lacking, either. There were years and months and seasons and moments that wavered between being excellent and even dismal; some segments of time I really couldn't say that it would have stood up as a quality education. Still, I think that by the grace of God, and by the time advantages she had with homeschooling, she was able to absorb an incredible amount of learning over that time.
Katie preferred to do her homeschooling as slowly as possible over the day. Sometimes she was so still I wondered whether she was accomplishing anything. But she was reading for hours, writing, processing information, and the end result has been that she has a very thorough understanding of those things she studied. In her first term college classes she is having much success, and in Biology the other students are asking her for help and for answers because they realize she understands the material while many of them do not.
Another benefit has been the social aspect. I know that comment might give many readers pause. During her school years, she was not really a very social creature, in that she wasn't often getting together with friends or going for outings or to parties. Still, now that she is 19 and out of the high school ministry in our church, she's among the adult women in Bible study, choir and church and is connecting with them in a way she never was able with her peers. She relates to adults, and I think that is to her credit and in large part due to her homeschooling and the relative isolation she experienced. She was raised not to be a teen, not to think that the world revolved around her, but to be an adult woman, whose life revolves around Christ and reaches out to others.

My Son's Homeschooling Binder

2006-08-28T06:47:00.000-07:00

For the last number of years I have tried to arrange a year's worth of homeschooling in a binder for each of my two kids (now just my son, 8, is still homeschooling since my daughter graduated this year). I put in enough dividers for all of the weeks of the year--each with the number of that week on its tab; behind each divider I have a master sheet for that week. The sheet has the number of the week and all of the assignments, books to check out, and other resources that I intend to use for that week--actually, way more than enough this year for the week so I have more from which to choose. I put all the worksheets for that week in that section.
The assignments are sorted by subject, and each week has its unique set of different themes of study. So if I have worksheets about birds, and art assignments, and books about birds, they all will be listed and/or contained in that section. The library books listed have a noticeable mark by them so I can notice to reserve them in advance. The resources, such as certain anthologies, I have coded so I don't have to type each name out over and over again. I've made a list of the codes for the front of the binder in case I forget what one is.
Until this year, I've tried sorting all these assignments by day, but it got way too cumbersome. This year I left it at sorting by week, and I found it delightfully easier.
I am very thankful for the computer, since I have arranged and rearranged the assignments and the themes to my liking and would have gone mad having to re-write them over and over.
So that is how I prepare for a year of homeschooling. I am almost done, to some satisfaction. If what I've arranged so far is all I'll be able to do, I think we will have done enough; still an overabundance provides for varying circumstances, and for one thing working out better than another. We definitely have a lot of materials on hand and will use up workbooks left over from my daughter 10 years back; I didn't go to any homeschool curriculum fairs this year and it's a good thing. I hope you find my description of my binders helpful if you are homeschooling pretty well from scratch, as I do.

My Favorite Resources for Homeschooling Young Children

2006-06-25T19:32:00.000-07:00

We homeschooled Katie from grades 1-12 at very little cost, and with quite a few materials. Some stood out. You'll find that we didn't choose to use a one-brand approach, but gathered many things here and there. Now I get to go through them again with Tim. Here are those that stood out that I have discovered and remembered to the point that I could present them to you:

Bible Verse Memorization:
Wee Sing Bible Songs
Donut Man videos and tapes
Hide 'em in Your Heart tapes
Awana program (available through many churches)
Index cards with short Bible verses handwritten on them; used for writing assignments

Children's Bible Resources:
The Bible in Pictures for Little Eyes (older version)
Book of Bible Travels for Kids
Children's Atlas of the Bible
What About Heaven? by Bostrom/Kucharik
Children's Guide to the Bible
You Can Change the World
Who's Who in the Bible
What the Bible is all About for Young Explorers
Remembering God's Awesome Acts

Bible-related stories
(I don't generally like reading non-Scripture Bible stories that have been re-written, or showing Bible stories on video, since all Scripture is God-breathed, and writers' paraphrases seem to usually mess it up.)
Just the Way You Are, by Max Lucado
Mary, Did You Know? by Mark Lowry
You are Special, by Max Lucado
All You Ever Need, by Max Lucado

Bible Videos I found acceptable and worthwhile:
The Miracle Maker
The Jesus film for Children

Discipleship:
Doorposts books by Pam Forster;
especially Plants Grown Up (for boys)
and Polished Cornerstones (for girls)

Discipline:
For Instruction in Righteousness, a Doorposts book

Spelling:
Spelling Power
ACSI Spelling books
Scrabble, Boggle, Word Yahtzee

Reading (see list of "Authors Not to Miss" below):
Billy & Blaze books, by Anderson
Readers Digest Treasury for Young Readers (old)
Book of Virtues (adult version)--only certain stories and poems (some are too heavy for children)
Children's Book of Virtues
Henry Reed, Inc.
Morris & Boris books by Bernard Wiseman
James Herriott's Treasury for Children
Mr. Revere and I

Poetry
Poem Stew, by Wm. Cole

Authors not to miss (This is a list I put together a long time ago. Many names I recognize now, but some I do not. I know by and large it's a great list! And the books represented by these authors' names make for an incredibly longer list!) Take this list with you to the library when looking for children's books; then when they're sorted by author you just go through in alphabetical order and pick them out:
Bonny Becker
William Bennett
V. Gilbert Beers
Carol Ryrie Brink
Margaret Wise Brown
Clyde Robert Bulla
Frances Hodgeson Burnett
Virginia Lee Burton
Butterworth
Lynn Cheney
Beverly Cleary
Alice Dalgliesh
James Daugherty
Ingri and Edgar Parin D’Aulaire
Tomie dePaola
Daniel Defoe
Mary Mapes Dodge
Ed Emberley
Eleanor Estes
Marie Hall Ets
Rachel Field
Marjorie Flack
Esther Forbes
Don Freeman
Jean Fritz
Robert Frost
Kate Greenaway
Kenneth Grahame
Donald Hall
Paul and Danielle Harris
Joel Chandler Harris
Marguerite Henry
G.A. Henty
James Herriott
Holling C. Holling
Keats
Kellogg
Rudyard Kipling
Ruth Krauss
Dorothy P. Lathrop
Robert Lawson
Munroe Leaf
Edward Lear
Lois Lenski
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Max Lucado
Edward Marshall
Jean Marzollo
Robert McCloskey
Patricia McLachlan
Cornelia Meigs
A. A. Milne
Alfred Noyes
Francis Parkman
Emmy Payne
Beatrix Potter
Marjorie Priceman
Alice and Martin Provensen
Carol Purdy
Howard Pyle
Carl Sandburg
Sir Walter Scott
Anna Sewell
Esphyr Slobodkina
Donald J. Sobol
Spier
Johanna Spyri
Robert Louis Stevenson
Kenneth Taylor
Joan Gale Thomas
Walter Wick
Laura Ingalls Wilder
Johann Wyss
Ravi Zacharias

Books on Tape:
Treasure Island
Rascal
Misty of Chincoteague
Ben and Me
Cheaper by the Dozen (though there is a small amount of swearing)

Biographies: (I found that missions organizations had a selection of missions biographies that weren't readily available elsewhere. I know there are many more I could list here...their names just don't come to mind. Be careful though that the organization keeps a right view of theology; read their statement of faith. Unfortunately, many missions biographies go off the deep end theologically, and you need to be discerning.)
Granny Han's Breakfast, by Sheila Groves, from OMF
Ian and the Gigantic Leafy Obstacle, by Sheila Miller, from OMF
Any books by Janet & Geoff Benge (these are really five-star!)
Signature Books (old; secular but they include the families' faith)
The Bookshelf for Boys & Girls: 9: Great Events and Famous People (old; secular)
Chariots of Fire, video about Erik Liddell winning a gold medal even while honoring God about running on Sunday (he later became a missionary to China)
A Candle in the Dark, video about William Carey in India
Men of Science, Men of God

Social Studies:
Weekly papers from God's World Publications (like a Christian version of Weekly Reader)
You Can Change the World
Look and Learn, Childcraft #12

History:
The Librarian Who Measured the World (Eratosthenes)
The Light and the Glory for Children
From Sea to Shining Sea for Children
Girls: American Girl books (though women's lib is inconspicuously presented)
Girls: Little House books; Prairie Primer homeschool curriculum for use with them
Boys: Farmer Boy, from Little House books
Oregon Trail software program
Junior Classics Harvest of Holidays (old)
My Bookhouse Books (old)
Stories of the Pilgrims
Phoebe the Spy (aka Phoebe and the General) by Judith Griffin
Stories About America to Read Aloud (old)
You Wouldn't Want to be (an Arctic Explorer; in Alexander the Great's Army; an Egyptian Slave, etc.) (secular)

Geography:
Atlas, globe, large maps of the United States and the World
Missions biographies
National Geographic World Magazine (though secular)
Where in the World is Carmen SanDiego? computer game

Math:
Miquon Math workbooks (also need their Lab Sheet Annotations)
Mathmania Puzzle Books
Push button memorization tools for addition, subtraction, multiplication and division
Polyhedra Dice Games for Grades K-6
Principles from Patterns, by David Quine
From Here to There with Cuisenaire Rods: Area, Perimeter and Volume
Tangrams, Cuisenaire Rods, Pattern Blocks, Dominoes, Yahtzee
Mathemagic (Childcraft, #13)

Logic, Creative Thinking, Problem Solving:
Puzzlemania Books
Set, Monopoly, Clue, Scrabble, I Doubt It, Fish, Jenga, Mancala, Sorry, Stack Tack Toe; Cranium brand games (most of them)
Oregon Trail software
The Puzzle Book (Childcraft Annual)

Science
It Couldn't Just Happen (about evolution vs. creation)
My Father's World set of books by Joanne DeJonge
1st Aid/CPR class
Wildlife shows on TV
The Berenstain Bears' Science and Nature Super Treasury (secular)
Field Trip: Marine Science Afloat (in Puget Sound, off of Seattle waterfront; secular). Great!
Oregon Museum of Science and Industry
Pacific Science Center
Into the Forest Game (about the food chain)
Kids' Science Book (secular)
175 Science Experiments to Amuse and Amaze Your Friends (old, secular) by Walpole, published by Random House
Science Daybook, by Great Source Education Group, div. of Houghton Mifflin (secular)
Men of Science, Men of God (Christian)
Science and the Bible
How Things Work (Childcraft, #7)

P.E.
Swim lessons (one-on-one rather than class setting)
Awana Games
Walking at Centennial Trail and Everett Marina

Field Trips:
MissionsFest conferences, Vancouver BC
Library
Picnics
Retirement homes, to sing, to visit
Planetarium at OMSI or Pacific Science Center
National parks
Ice skating
Roller skating
Christmas train
Marine Science Afloat
Ferry rides
Snoqualmie Falls
Spokane
Tulip fields
Family Camp
Camping
Movies
Train trip
The Farm, pumpkin time
Ballard Locks

Coloring and Drawing
Dover coloring books--realistic and educational drawings
Draw Write Now (Never had these, but I've looked at them. My son, to my chagrin, doesn't want them. They look absolutely charming!)

Spanish
Jump-Start Spanish software
The Complete Book of Spanish, a secular book of worksheets, probably from Costco

Sign Language
Idiot's Guide to Learning Sign Language
Perigee Visual Dictionary of Signing

Some Publishers I Like:
Doorposts
ACSI (for spelling at least)
School Zone (secular)
Christian Liberty
Instructional Fair (secular but they have a Christian portion)
Step-Up Books (now they have a different name)
WallBuilder
Draw Write Now
Klutz Books, mostly just for fun
American Girl, mostly just for fun

Reading Content makes a Huge Difference!

2006-06-04T20:52:00.000-07:00

When we first started homeschooling Katie, I wasn't too particular about the books she read. She was a good reader, and that made homeschooling easy--a tremendous advantage. You could just set something in front of her, and she would do it.
As time went on with her, I realized the benefit of maximizing her reading time. I realized that her favorite books had an element of adventure in them. We started reading some biographies, and I soon realized how much more she was learning this way, how many subjects are covered to one extent or another through these books, and how adventurous and interesting their lives are--fact is stranger than fiction, and real characters are far deeper and more interesting than fake ones. I found that a missions biography covers faith, history, reading, and geography, and sometimes other subjects such as science. Not that you wouldn't have to cover these subjects in another format, but it's a great expansion on it. And perhaps using enough of them, you won't need to use so many of the textbooks that bored you so much during your school years. In addition, Christian biographies show the wondrous works of God; sometimes they show how His work through a believer affects the lives of a whole population.
This last year, since Tim in second grade needs maximum interest to keep him inclined to stay with a story to the end, I chose to cover first the scientific discoveries that determined that the earth was not at the center of the universe, and also how the earth was first measured. Then we read about explorers. I used short stories, mostly from old books, and they were fascinating for me as well as for him. He loved it! Many of the explorers were motivated in some way by faith. They sought to find a way around the world or through a continent, to conquer new lands for their country, and sometimes to spread the gospel in other areas of the world.
When Katie was in about 5th grade, she and I ran a missions reading program at our previous church to encourage others to read these same types of books. We found that there were many great biographies that were only available through missions organizations, so we ordered them and found that they were some of our favorite finds.
In the process, I created a couple of response forms that the participants had to complete after they read a book. The forms asked them some of the same questions they would have to answer in a book report. I asked the readers what they would like to imitate in the life of the subject of the book; also what they would not like to imitate; what they most admired...various questions that made clear whether they truly read the book. I think I only received one form that made me convinced that the girl had not in fact read the book.
One day it struck me that I could use these forms in homeschooling. I made many response forms for the various kinds of books that she'd encounter (along with various others for research projects of various kinds). The response forms were a good way of doing a quick book report or study without having to wrestle with all the report-writing that I remember taking so much time and energy in my school career...she could spend more time reading, researching, learning. She read biographies about great scientists, explorers, presidents, composers and inventors.
If I wanted her to read about a less-savory character in history, I gave her a shorter article rather than a whole book. That way she wouldn't delve into that character and wouldn't read the works of a writer that wrote it sympathizing with an ungodly point of view.
All throughout her twelve years, the most colorful and engaging portion of Katie's schooling had to do with learning about individuals throughout history. Now, I believe that overall, she has a far more comprehensive and vivid awareness of great movers in history than if we'd stuck to textbooks only. I intend to use this method again in teaching my son. The forms I made, however, are more useful for over fifth grade; still, until then, I still intend to teach him using lots and lots of biographies.
Take a look at your library's biographies for children, and then compare with similar-level fictional writings side by side. I think you'll see a huge difference and find the biographies far preferable.

Reasons we homeschooled; retrospective gladness

2006-06-01T23:47:00.000-07:00

This year we have a 12th grade daughter, Katie, graduating who has homeschooled ever since first grade. Before that she went to a Christian kindergarten, a Christian preschool, and before that a secular preschool. We also homeschool a 2nd grade son, Tim, who has never been in a preschool or kindergarten or school environment other than Sunday school and Awana. I thought I'd blog here the reasons that started us homeschooling, and some of the reasons I'm glad we did so.
We had Katie in Christian kindergarten, expecting to put her way all the way through Christian school if we could do so. I was mildly exploring the idea of homeschooling, but not very seriously at the beginning. We had a couple of family friends who were just starting to homeschool when Katie was approaching first grade.
Katie hadn't been especially happy in kindergarten, in a class of only ten children. Her teacher was sometimes temperamental, I noticed when I helped in her class. She would be readily irritated at certain students, and inconsistent in her discipline methods. She would give a child a mark for each perceived wrongdoing, and these marks would accumulate the whole year through. Whoever had the least marks at the end of the year got first choice of a set of creations the children had made together, and on down to the last choice going to the one who got the most marks. It seemed unforgiving, inappropriate, discouraging, and at least somewhat unfair.
In addition I found her teacher's choice of reading books to be somewhat poor. There were many books I remembered from childhood that I wanted to share with Katie, classic books that stood the test of time, with more realistic, less silly scenarios and a calmer, more earnest attitude than those the teacher read.
While Katie was in kindergarten, she was bored. She had been reading since she was three and the summer before kindergarten, she had earned the mayor's award for reading 100 books. Most of the other children in her class were still learning the alphabet at the start of the year and when I helped in the classroom at the end, I was surprised to find that they were still having trouble with it. The teacher actually asked her to read the story to the class sometimes when her own throat was sore. We didn't feel that Katie was learning much in the classroom environment, and that was another aspect through which we could accommodate her needs by homeschooling.
Katie found a half school day a long time to be away from home, and only dreaded the full days that she knew were to start in first grade. I loved the idea of having her home and spending more time with her. At the time, also, we had the opportunity to travel with my husband within the state for his work. This was an exciting concept to him. We definitely wanted to give her a Christian education, and homeschooling offered that possibility and the flexibility to choose the curriculum, the place, the time, and every aspect for optimum potential learning and family benefit.
Private education was also an expensive concept for us; we were barely making ends meet most of the time and it was improbable that we could keep her in a private school consistently, considering our financial condition. So that was another consideration in favor of homeschooling, which could be done well at a cost of only a few hundred dollars per year.
I have never been overly confident of my own capabilities, especially being a rather disorganized and random person, also with a tendency not to finish projects that I start. But in those days when I was starting homeschooling, my confidence was definitely not in myself but in the exciting confidence I was gaining in following God's lead. Katie and I had been in Bible Study Fellowship from the time I was a new Christian about 4 years previous to this time; through this and through life circumstances, I was learning a great many things about faith in God and actually seeing these concepts work out in my life. The changes were vast from the bewilderment I had before being a Christian. I never would have dared homeschool before that, and I'm pretty sure that it's a good thing.
I was amazed when I first attended a curriculum fair at the quality and variety of curriculum possibilities that were available. It was an absolute banquet of learning levels, learning styles, teaching methods, resources, advice...it was fantastic. It is a shame that these curriculum fairs aren't visited by those who never would choose to homeschool--there are so many educational and fun things that any child would love to try, and that any parent would love for a child to have but would probably never discover apart from these fairs.
The benefits to homeschooling are phenomenal. You can put God first throughout the day and show how all subjects point to His truth and His work in humanity. Family relationships are close and trust in one another is strengthened. You know almost everything that is being taught to your students. You know what discipline methods are being used. You know their weak points, what subjects and concepts they are grasping and which escape them. You can cater to their strengths and work on their weaknesses. You hopefully care about your students more than any unrelated teacher is ever likely to. You can tailor your students' curriculum to their learning style, level, taste, interests. You can conform to those aspects of classroom education that you like, and avoid those you don't--rising early or late, sitting at a table or desk or on a couch, using different days of the week as suit your family, traveling or having field trips according to your family's interests and opportunities, schooling according to the traditional school year or going through the year with various small breaks throughout.
It's amazing the timing that God gave to present our family with the possibility of homeschooling, and that in spite of the reasons for which we started, the reasons I've been glad we did are now much different. I was not concerned in those days about peer pressure and influence, but now it's easily the top reason I'm aware of in these days to be thankful we were directed toward homeschooling. The focus of Katie's life is spared from being tempted to appeal so much to fellow students' approval at the cost of following God's lead. She also gets most of her input for her life choices and attitudes from family and from faith rather than from peers who have little if any more wisdom than she has. These considerations make a more significant impact for the present than any difference in the quality of learning that she had from that of her peers. At twelfth grade, students are beginning to make decisions and forging habits that may affect them for life. Some of these decisions have to do with what to do after graduating, such as whether to attend college, what college to attend, what major to choose, how to pay for it, what job to seek, whether to attend church and where, and how much to follow the example and advice of their parents. Some decisions and habits they are establishing are lifestyle-oriented, such as developing a quiet time in the daily routine, whether to work on Sunday, whether to date, how focused they are on driving safety, whether to get a My Space blog, whether to see a certain quality of movie, what kind of music to choose, with what friends they spend time...these choices are innumerable and, to one extent or another, each may have great impact for the present and even in the distant future. Following peer influence in these items could turn out well, but it might just as well be unfortunate or disastrous. For just the matter of peer pressure versus the promotion of family relationships, if it were only that, I am extremely thankful for the privilege of homeschooling.