Monthly Archives: March 2004

the Principal Thing

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2004

Thursday, March 18

 

In the midst of the series I’m doing on the 7 Pillars of Wisdom, today I’m interjecting this post on the principal purpose of Lifestyle Education through

Discipleship.

The guiding principal behind L.E.D. is not just to have a relaxed,

natural-methods, lifestyle-based home education. It is not even just

to have family-centered education. It’s not even just to raise kids

who “love Jesus” and to shelter them from “the world”. These are all

good parts of L.E.D., but none of them is the “principal thing;”

although knowing, loving, and serving the Jesus of the Bible is

definitely the reason for our educational goal.

Proverbs 4:7 tells us “Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get

wisdom. And in all your getting, get understanding.” (See also verses

4-9.) L.E.D. has one main underlying goal, that is for our children to

“get wisdom”. We’ve talked before about how the “Fear of the Lord is

the beginning of Wisdom.” Therefore, any instruction your child

receives that is not based on the Fear of the Lord, is not wisdom;

which throws out the entire government/public school system. No matter

how many Christian teachers and coaches are there trying to bring a

little light into a very dark place for the lost and dying that are

there, government education is designed with a main underlying goal

also, to indoctrinate children into their way of thinking and beliefs

about life. These ways are blatantly at odds with the ways of the

Bible, making this no place for a Christian child to receive his

instruction; his view of life and way of thinking. But expounding on

this issue isn’t the purpose of this article. The purpose of ALL

education is to impart a way of thinking and view of life. By defining

OUR goal, hopefully you will see how the goals of these 2 systems –

government/public ed and L.E.D. – are worlds apart.

Let’s begin with a working definition of Wisdom. Wisdom is seeing life

as God sees it; viewing the world, all of life, through the lens of

God’s Word. That is called having a Biblical Worldview. You can see

why this begins with the “fear of the Lord”. The beginning of Wisdom

is knowing who God really is, (which instills an honor and reverence of

Him,) and believing the Bible is His Word, and having a desire to

follow His ways. The Bible, God, through His Word, speaks to all areas

of our lives; and wisdom for living all of life is based on renewing

our minds to His Word, developing a Biblical Worldview. In fact Joshua

1:8 puts it, that by having His Word always in our mouths, and

meditating on it day and night, to do all that is in it, is the way to

prosperity and good success.

We, as Christians, are in the world (we live on this earth, amongst

those that are of “this world” only), yet we are not to be “of the

world”. We are set apart to live differently than those of this world;

to live a lifestyle rooted in the way of God’s Word, not following the

ungodly lifestyle, ways & beliefs of this world. Romans 12:1 tells us

that we are not to be conformed to the world, but to be transformed by

the renewing of the mind. That is, God’s Word changing not only WHAT

we think, but also HOW we think – transforming our minds, totally

changing them from the way the world thinks. Having a Biblical

Worldview doesn’t just mean we don’t smoke, don’t drink, don’t cuss,

don’t sleep around, and we do go to church on Sunday instead of

sleeping in, and if we’re really on the ball, we say a prayer and read

a verse every day. It means our way of thinking and viewing all of

life is governed by God’s Word, rather than by the world around us.

The title of Israel Wayne’s book, Homeschooling from a Biblical

Worldview, really sums up our goal. Just by BEING Christians, you

will not impart a Biblical Worldview to your children. Perhaps your

own mind is not renewed, and you don’t even have much of a Biblical

Worldview yourself, to impart to them. Everything that is around us in

“the world” counters a Biblical Worldview. That is why we must

purposely “not be conformed” to it, why we must purposely renew our

minds by the Word of God. If your own mind has not been transformed,

from the non-Christian education you received and just from living “in

the world”, this goal of “Homeschooling from a Biblical Worldview” may

seem impossible to you. But what God has called you to do, He will

equip you do to. You may have to learn right alongside your children,

leading them, being only one step ahead.

Having your children be at home with you, rather than “out in the

world”, will not give them a Biblical Worldview. It will not give them

the foundation they need to stand strong in their Christianity in an

ever-growing anti-Christian society. (I hope this strong Christianity,

this Wisdom, is what you want for your children.) Resorting to

educating with whatever free or cheap resources you can find that cover

the topic, using a hodge-podge of resources with no thought to the

worldview they’re written from, will only give your child an

inconsistent Worldview; a shaky, unstable foundation at best (no

foundation, or a faulty non-Christian one at worst); especially if you

don’t have a solid Biblical Worldview yourself to recognize and counter

those views presented in those resources.

Purposely educating your children from a Biblical Worldview will give

them the foundation, to not only stand as Christians, but to make

inroads in changing this world; to affect the lives of those around

them – however large or small God makes that scope – for the Kingdom of

God. This is why L.E.D. exists for YOU, and not just as a philosophy

for educating our own family. Our desire, through L.E.D. (and all of

Me and My House ministries), is to help disciple you to lead (disciple)

your family into a Biblical Worldview, through home educating by

Lifestyle methods; even as we ourselves are growing in grace and the

knowledge of our Lord and Savior and His Word.

 

Wisdom’s 7 Pillars – Math

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This post continues with our Wisdom’s 7 Pillars resource recommendations, today on the topic of L.E.D. Math.
UPDATE at the end.

LED MATH

Of all the things we teach our children, math is probably the hardest

for parents to implement in a “lifestyle” way, especially beyond the

very young childhood years. In keeping with LED principles, we desire

to keep math instruction as informal as possible for those early years,

and not resort to formal “school book” type programs until the formal

education years (the youth/teen years). We have implemented several

things that have worked well for us. We are working at getting those

things into a “presentable” format for others/you to use. We have also

found & recommend several resources that help us stay true to L.E.D.,

while providing instructional guidance.

INFORMAL

As a part of Lifestyle Education through Discipleship principles, we

believe most academic instruction, including math, should be fairly

informal, up to about the age of 12 or 13. The math concepts can

mostly be taught orally and informally through household objects and

dialog, with a little paperwork instruction included as needed. Our

children’s absolute favorite, and highly effective, math instruction

for the early years, we called “Money Math”. Very simply teaching them

to add and subtract through the use of money. They were “paid” for

doing things, and they “paid” for receiving things; beginning with

pennies, and progressing through nickels, dimes, quarters, half

dollars, and bills. They had to keep a running total, adding what they

were to receive, and subtracting what they were to pay. Money is

definitely the easiest and most logical way to teach our base ten

system, decimal placement, and negative numbers. We offer a booklet

called Freedom & Simplicity in Math (for the Childhood years), that

includes our “Money Math” ideas, as well as some charts and tools for

those early years. Calendars, clocks, and measuring devices round out

the *needs* of the early years.

We also love to incorporate Cusineaire rods (and counting bears) in our

hands-on, build it, see it math instruction. Yes, you can do the same

thing with popsicle sticks and dried beans, but the rods (and bears)

are so colorful, sturdy, uniform and fun. They aren’t just a “school”

tool; they are a fun “toy”, for building houses, complete with a family

to live in them. Our toddlers love the Jumbo rods and bears, too.

Our favorite resource by others, for these early years, which covers

all the topics typically taught in K through third grades, is “An Easy

Start in Arithmetic”, part of the 3 R’s series by Ruth Beechick. (We

recommend the whole series.) Mrs. Beechick includes ideas for teaching

each topic informally as you go through your day in managing your

household with your child alongside. Some written work is also

incorporated, as you design it (very simple, no daily worksheets to

write or such). A few simple chart ideas are also included. To

continue on with these ideas and foundation, Mrs. Beechick has also

written “How to Teach Your Child Successfully”. In it she gives ideas

& guidelines for older children (4-8 grade), in all foundational

subjects. We believe that “An Easy Start in Arithmetic” is all you

would *need* to teach your child math in those early years. Add on the

“Freedom & Simplicity Math”, Cuisenaire rods, and counting bears for

some practical, hands-on application ideas. “How to Teach …” will

guide you through the concepts needed to continue the rest of the later

childhood years, but many will probably want to add a little more from

other resources at this stage.

CONCEPTUAL

For those that desire to add a little more to the subject including

more written “paperwork”, we still recommend keeping the instruction

conceptual, concrete and informal, enjoyable, and “un-school bookish”

as possible. (We don’t feel these resources are necessary, but some of you may.)

The “Miquon” math series of “workbooks” utilizing Cuisenaire rods, by

Key Curriculum Press, provides this type of resource. It translates “real life” math,

that we’ve been doing concretely (with real objects through “An Easy

Start ,”) to paper. If you choose to utilize the “Miquon” books, we

still recommend using “An Easy Start in Arithmetic” as your foundation,

and adding the “paperwork” as an occasional exercise, as enjoyed by the

child, not an “everyday have-to”. There is no reason to begin this

“paperwork” at the same time you start your informal instruction with

“An Easy Start”. It can be begun even a few years later.

DRILL

Along the way, as your child learns the “math facts”, for

addition/subtraction, and in later years for multiplication/division,

you may want to work on these facts becoming “automatic” for him to

remember. This can be done by several methods. The most notorious is

by plain old fashioned flashcards, but many other ways are much more

fun and just as effect, if not more so for various types of learners.

“Math-It” turns the drill into a game, for both sets of facts using

“Add It” and “Timz It”. (Also available are “Pre Math-It”, covering

learning the addition facts through dominos, and “Advanced Math-It”,

covering percents/ decimals/ fractions.) We have devised our own type

of drill similar to “Math-It”, included in our “Freedom & Simplicity

Math”. Our children also all enjoyed learning sing-song jingles of the

facts from audio tapes, such as “Skip Counting”. The hands-on drill

tools called “Wrap-ups” are great for your kinesthetic kids, but we

found that some kids memorized where the string went more than the

actual facts. An alternative to the “Math-It” games, (I mention

because they are extremely popular with home ed parents) are the

“Calculadders” drill sheets. These are timed worksheets, and by far

the least fun and “informal” of the resources mentioned here.

Occasionally these can be used with older children for brush up, but we

don’t use them with our younger “informal stage” children. Freedom &

Simplicity Math (or “Math-It/Advanced Math-It”) and the “Skip Counting”

tapes are our recommendations.

TOPICAL

Shortly before your child advances to formal math instruction you will

want to make sure they have not only the basic facts “drilled”, but

also all their basic arithmetic down pat. This “transitional” stage is

usually between the ages of 10 and 12. During this time they will

begin doing regular “workpage” “math problems”, covering all concepts

of addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, fractions, decimals

(money), and percents, as well as measurements, time, place value,

negative numbers, and Roman Numerals concepts. Much of this will be

review, but also solidifying and pulling it all together. The “Key to

” series by Key Curriculum Press has booklets covering Fractions,

Decimals, Percents, and Measurements. Also, you could begin utilizing

the program recommended below, by covering each concept (not workpage)

in the beginning levels and using some of the word problems and/or

tests from the “extra practice” booklets/pages as indicators that the

child has good comprehension.

INCREMENTAL

Formal instruction, including formal math instruction, begins for our

children around 12 or 13 years of age. We believe the best math

program, that includes all elementary and high school math concepts,

taught in a line upon line, incremental, conceptual (understanding of

the principles, not just rote memorization) and concrete way (with

manipulatives) is “Math U See”, by Steve Demme. So, if this program is

complete, conceptual, and concrete why do we bother recommending the

other resources and not just start with “Math U See” and use it all the

way through? We feel “Math U See” is an excellent program, & love the

way it integrates conceptual teaching & concrete manipulatives for

applying math to “real life”. However, and for us and Lifestyle

Education this is a big however, we do not feel such a formal

structured program should be implemented for young children. We do

feel it is the best program for our older students, in those formal

instruction years.

All the resources recommended here have their own strengths for their

own stages of learning. We have picked the best in each category (as

we see it, from the wide variety we have used and thoroughly reviewed,)

for working within the principles of Lifestyle Education through

Discipleship. In review, those are: “Freedom & Simplicity in Math” and

“An Easy Start in Arithmetic” for early Childhood stage (and

optionally, “Miquon” math w/ Cuisenaire rods); for the later Chilhood

stage, “You Can Teach Your Child Successfully”, “Freedom & Simplicity

Math” (or”Math-It”), “Skip Count” tapes, “Key to …” series, (and

optionally, “Wrap-ups”); and for the Youth/teen stage, the

complete series of “Math U See” (which goes up through Trigonometry, if

you so desire).

One key component of Lifestyle Education is through “Notebooking”. Our

“Freedom & Simplicity in Math” includes guidelines for Notebooking

Math. As with all the other topics/subjects we Notebook, the goal is

to produce the child’s own Book of what they’ve learned and now know,

their own “teaching” guideline, – their own “text”, if you must. This

provides the “written work” the child does and provides him his own

personal reference book for looking up concepts and procedures for

figuring out problems. As far as we know this is the only resource of

this kind. It will, Lord willing, be available for purchase later this

Spring. Please pray for its timely completion as we put the finishing

touches on this “published version” of our L.E.D. Math methods for

Freedom & Simplicity™ in YOUR homeschool.

UPDATE: We have not changed our opinions on the above mentioned resources. We still like them and all the “pros” of them still stand. However, there is one more addition to our list, and also another preferred resource.

I would add Making Math Meaningful by David Quine of Cornerstone Curriculum, as another option alongside of Math U See. It too teaches math in a real life setting, using manipulatives, and teaches reasoning. There are some lesson “perspectives” I prefer in it, but some presentations, (like Steve’s video examples, and the uniformity of manipulatives) that I like better in MUS.

My preferred resource now though is Ray’s Arithmetic. It is a completely non-consumable program (a big plus for big families), and teaches completely through the principles of math, real life application, and reasoning skills. It is a series from the 1800’s, and therefore a bit more advanced than today’s teaching, but the books are not “grade-leveled” so that doesn’t really matter. It does not come with manipulatives, but it is expected that you will use real objects to present the lessons. It explains how you reason through to the solution of the problems. It also expects early lessons to be done orally and mentally with manipulatives, not paper and pencil, so it can be used with our informal early teaching.