Monthly Archives: March 2009

This post concludes our 7 part series on “Homeschool Conventions.” Go to the first post here.

Many home educator’s have one thing in mind when they begin looking for resources – cheap! Most even have a good excuse for doing so. Many homeschoolers have a limited single income, and a larger than average family, and they have learned that those funds have to really stretch. But I want to challenge your thinking – as God has not called us to be cheap, but to be good stewards; and they are not one and the same thing. He also has given us a higher calling, to integrity.

Stewardship is glorifying God with our money and possessions. It is being wise in our purchases. It is not just getting the “cheapest price” (or selling at the highest dollar we can get) while allowing our integrity to wane.

Over the years I’ve seen and heard lack of Christian ethics when it comes to purchasing home ed resources – sadly, many more times than it should be for “Christians.” It might be as a seller, in “masking” the poor quality/condition or important information, such as version, of a resource, they are trying to sell used. Or it might be as a buyer, in not giving the “workman” his “due wages”. Here are a couple tips to help you maintain your integrity in buying and selling home ed resources.

1. As a seller of your used materials, fairly represent and fairly price your items. This doesn’t mean you have to give them away or under-price them. Just be fair. Too many times I hear from people who were “ripped off” by “Christian” sellers. The bottom line is always to bless. As a seller bless others as you have been blessed – and if you have made a mistake or were ripped off yourself, humbly accept the lesson learned, and still bless.
2. As a buyer, purchase from those who have invested their time and money in you, especially in giving you personal information. The web has provided a way of finding out a lot about home ed resources without taking someone’s time. You can browse and read what many have to say about a resource. You can browse a curriculum hall that way too. If you need no more information, purchase where you can get the best price.

But when your decision requires a “bit more info”, take into consideration who has given you “free” information and their time to help you decide what to purchase. Did you spend time at a convention booth or workshop asking questions,  or email them questions which they answered? If so, that vendor is the one that has earned your sale, even if they don’t have the cheapest price. They have invested in you, now you should invest in them. It isn’t “good stewardship” to get info from one company then buy from a cheaper company. It is robbing the seller of the wages they have earned, and acting without integrity. Again, as a buyer, bless those who bless you. Purchase from those who provide you with the info you need to make your decision, especially personal info.
Whether you’re buying or selling, make integrity more than the monetary bottom line your primary factor.

Now, go browse those internet sites – including ours! Find the resources you’re interested in. Then, at convention or through email, ask the seller that you will buy from any further questions you have. Then spend those hard earned, sometimes hard to take from other budget needs, dollars in a wise way, by being both fair and a good steward.

Have a great time at convention – and get some great resources! And I hope you’ve found the information here worthy, and will consider purchasing through us.

Avoiding Mistakes

As I said yesterday, expect to make shopping mistakes. They are pretty much inevitable. But today I want to give you some tips to help reduce those mistakes as much as possible.

Renewing our Mind to God’s purposes and plans for our family’s education is the primary factor in determining what resources will work for us. Having a well developed personal Philosophy of Education – which is just another way of saying, knowing how God wants you to teach your children – will keep you from making mistakes more than anything else. We have developed a set of guidelines that help us stay within our philosophy. There are so many tempting things out there that sound soooo good, we can easily get distracted and buy things that don’t “fit” our family.

We try to follow each of these resource qualifications for every learning resource purchase, although #3 and #4 don’t always apply, #1, 2, and 5 are musts! We use almost all Real Resources – Living Books (great literature) as well as Skills Resources for teaching “how to” (whether that be math, sewing, phonics, cooking, writing, car repair, etc.) Only resources that fit these guidelines are worth spending our hard earned, many times hard-to-come-by, dollars on.

Other things – such as an occasional “fluff” or extra resource/book “just for fun” must come out of extra money (a rare thing) or from the library. I really don’t like spending money on something that isn’t worth keeping in our own family library. They aren’t worth the money or space they take up, let alone the time wasted on them. We do all really need to be watchful that we Redeem that Time that the Lord has given us, and not waste it on vanity.

Here’s the qualifications I think through when deciding what resources to buy. They are a part (the 5th principle) of the “8 Principles of L.E.D.” (which you can order on audio from us). They should be applicable for anyone following a Lifestyle Education through Discipleship™.
5 Qualifications for L.E.D. Resources:

1. Relational & Relative – (individualized vs. canned) It must be something that speaks into our lives, not just the “latest, greatest everyone is raving about it” resource. Does it further the goals God has given us for our family’s education? (not just what someone else says we should be learning.) Is it based on premises we believe in? (Biblical worldview.) Does it follow the way we believe teaching and learning are best accomplished? (not textbooks/ workbooks.) Does it promote adaptation to individual circumstances? (or is it written to be used in a lock-step way – daily, scripted lessons, etc.?) Does it fit our lifestyle?

2. Multi-level – Is it something that can be used by many different ages? (or is it “grade leveled”?) Most Living Books fit into this. A timeless, living book can be enjoyed by everyone in the family, but even Skills Resources should cover all aspects of the topic, not just 1st grade, 2nd grade. We don’t use grade levels in our family’s education and don’t care for resources that are written as such. Some resources may contain only “Introductory” level information, etc. but this isn’t the same as “grade level” resources.

3. Multi-disciplinary – Is it something that crosses the “subject” lines? (or does it only cover one “subject”?) Many Real Resources are topical, they only cover one topic, but that doesn’t mean they only cover one “school subject”. Obviously all “Living Books” fit into this category. Even resources like dictionaries and such will be used in all of learning. Most non-textbook resources don’t have to be pegged into a “subject” hole. But, just as obvious, things like a Math book will only cover Math.

4. Multi-sensory – Does it teach through more than one sense? If it’s a Skill-learning Resource or teaching guide, does it give ideas for presenting material in more than one way, to reach learners of various types?

5. Re-usable – Will it be able to be re-used by others, as well as the original student? (or will it be consumed and thrown away when done with?) Real resources are ones that will be used over and over and are worth saving and using again. Even better yet, they will promote the student producing something worth saving. I once heard a quote, from ages gone by, that any book worth reading once is worth reading 3 times. And, that we need to read them (or listen, if it’s an audio – in these modern times) at least 3 times before we really “get” it. I really believe it. I don’t think a resource is a good one, if it’s something I’m going to turn around and get rid of as soon as we’ve “gone
through it”. It should be worth saving for future reading and reference.

Tomorrow we will finish up this series by discussing Homeschool Stewardship and Ethics in Curriculum Shopping.

Continued from the past two days, when we talked about Before and At the Convention Shopping Tips.

Today we’ll look at After the Convention.

AFTER the CONVENTION:
1. If you’ve held off your purchases and not bought at the convention, pray (and research more if needed) until you feel sure, then order. If you were unable to see something at the convention, but you still feel it may be best, order it. Don’t choose what you feel is going to be second best just because you haven’t seen what you really wanted to try. Most companies have return policies, on curriculum type things anyhow, and it is better to look and pay a return fee if it isn’t going to work, than to keep trying other things, and always wondering if this other would have been better.

One great advantage we have now over when these posts were originally written 7 years ago, is online discussion groups have really grown in the area of home education. You can talk to a lot of different users and get their opinions and reviews of products. If you belong to groups that have the same philosophy of (beliefs about) education as you do, they can be a great source of product reviews that may work for your family.

2. Realize that mistakes will be made! It is part of learning and growing – and learning and growing involve costs. Don’t throw out an apparent mistake at the first sign of difficulty. Pray about how (if) it can be adapted to fit your goals/methods, or if it is indeed what God wants but is going to require you to stretch and grow. Give it some time, and really try to utilize it, especially if it fits into your “guidelines”.

3. If you truly make a mistake, repent, spend more time – prayer and research – finding the replacement. Don’t beat yourself up. Go back to #2 – Realize that mistakes will be made! Sell the old one on a curriculum swap e-list or local used book fair. Chalk it up to experience. But be careful not to get in the rut of always jumping from one thing to another, and never truly implementing anything, always jumping to the newer, better resource, in looking for the answer. If this is happening, go back to the beginning and spend more time Renewing Your Mind and getting God’s direction.

4. Also realize that as you grow, the “Perfect Resource” that is perfect this year, may not be “perfect” next year or 5 years from now. You will be growing and continually renewing and adapting. Start where you’re at and grow from there. Sell, give or throw away, whatever no longer fits into your philosophy and goals and move on. But try to purchase things you won’t “outgrow”, like the Real Resources/ Living Books things the guidelines in tomorrow’s post suggest.

Check back tomorrow for tips in avoiding curriculum shopping mistakes.

A couple more points – Continued from yesterday’s post. Today pertaining to the seasoned homeschool shopper.

6. This is personal opinion – as in what I do, and therefore carries emotional sentiment and may not fit as “good advise” for everybody.  :- ) If you have been hs-ing a while and you know the direction you’re going, and you already have all your basic resources, buy what you find that will fill-in for the future, even if you may not use it this year. I really don’t need anything for “this year” as often anymore, but I do know what I plan for the future and I enjoy filling in and buying when I find a resource that is just right for what I know is upcoming, when it is something I really feel God’s Peace about – especially if it’s at a great price!

There have been years that I haven’t been able to go to convention or order any resources and I have been grateful for God’s advance promptings that have led me to purchase ahead and provide for future (at the time, but now current) needs. It’s a good feeling when dh says, “Sorry I don’t see how we can squeeze anything out right now,” and I can reply, “We’re OK. We already have all we need for now.” This is especially true because we use “Real Resources” such as timeless Living Books.

We may not be studying Early America this year, but I know it’s coming up and I know we want to read Charles Coffin’s “Sweet Land of Liberty” and William Bradford’s “Plymouth Plantation” when we get there. I know they are living resources that won’t be “not applicable” or out of our philosophy when I get there. Or, perhaps we are collecting G.A. Henty books, or those character classics reprinted by “Lamplighter”, we have the ones we’re going to read this year, but I find others to add to our collection. These are timeless resources that I’d like to have, just to have in our library and read anytime!, not just the year we “study” their topic. If I find them at the convention, and I have the money to buy them, after getting anything I need for this year, I get them.

This could get me on a whole other rabbit trail of building a good and timeless library. I want to have books on our shelves that tempt our children to “read ahead”, meaning they see these books as being valuable to our family, and are intrigued to just pull them off and start reading at anytime, not just because they were “assigned”. That is part of creating a Love for Learning. And, I will save the rest of this rabbit trail for the Environment of Excellence article in our forthcoming “Lifestyle Curriculum” book.

7. Another good question to add for us book junkies that are deviating from “this year’s needs” list to help balance us – is: Do I already have something that teaches/covers this in a way that is do-able for us? Does this new resource do that much better of a job, and fit our qualifications that much better, that I am willing to replace the other one? It’s easy for me to duplicate things, because there’s more than one good thing out there. But since we already have a library of thousands of books, we don’t need to keep adding, just for the sake of adding. A verse that “speaks” to me is “Of the making of books, there is no end.” from Ecclesiastes. And I don’t need to own all of them!!!

Check back tomorrow for Part 3 – After the Convention Shopping.

Here are some of my money and frustration saving tips for buying resources at a Convention.

BEFORE the Convention:
1. If you’re new to home education, (or haven’t thought through your own beliefs about education,) spend some time renewing your mind in God’s Word and prayer, and reading books or talking with someone about home education, to get a better idea of the right approach for your family. This will help you more than about anything else.

2. Through prayer, make a list of the types of things you think you’ll need. Such as: History resources for 20th century. Hands-on way to teach math, covering all levels. Mom’s “how-to” guide for teaching in a relaxed way. A few interesting read-alouds for character building. A drawing program for Suzy. … This will help keep you from spending a lot of time (and money) looking at (and buying) things that you don’t need this year/ yet.

3. Visit as many websites as you can, so you will have an idea of what you particularly want to browse through at Convention. Make a list under those “types of things” needed, of possible resources to fulfill those needs. There will be plenty of other things at the convention that you haven’t heard of before to choose from, that you may also want to look at, but this pre-looking will at least narrow it down some. You will have, through the websites, eliminated many choices. You can walk right past those booths with no condemnation or questioning for ignoring them.

AT the convention:
1. Go to the booths that carry the resources on your list first. There will be other good things to check out, but going to those pre-determined booths first will help you do some more eliminating.

2. Don’t buy anything on your first round. Make it a “skimming” tour. Make note of any other resources (or booths) that fit into your “types of things needed” that you’d like to check out further.

4. Talk to the vendors about resources that look really interesting. Go to workshops that focus on that resource (if possible) or at least give you an idea of that vendor’s/ author’s view of education (as it determines the philosophy behind the books that vendor carries/ author writes). Small vendors and especially those that have authored the resources are usually the most helpful.

5. Buy only when you have God’s peace about a resource. If you still aren’t sure as the convention nears completion, don’t rush or be pressured into buying anything. It will well be worth any extra you have to pay in shipping to get the right thing. Spend the time you need praying about it and getting God’s direction and peace. Don’t let a vendor (or others there) talk you into something that doesn’t fit your “litmus test” unless you really sense God leading in that new direction. Perhaps it is Him giving clearer revelation, but perhaps it’s an expensive (in money and time) rabbit trail.

More Tips tomorrow, especially for the seasoned homeschool buyer.

If you already have an “educational philosophy”, you may lean more toward the specialized conferences (such as the Charlotte Mason conference in Omaha, or our Lifestyle Education through Discipleship™ ~ The Seminar) they encourage and assist you in your way. But general conventions, such as “State” conventions, (like the NCHEA Convention, in Lincoln), are good too, as they open the doors for greater thought, and different perspectives.

If you are new to looking at education through any perspective other than the world’s view that we grew up with, the State conventions just may be the right place for you to start, as they are more general. But do spend some time renewing your mind before going to a convention. The more we have developed our personal philosophy of education, (found God’s direction for our family’s education,) the easier it becomes to make those choices in a place where endless resources are calling “Buy Me!” When we sit at the Lord’s feet and get His direction for our family we will find that many things “out there” just don’t fit us. This makes them much easier to pass up when they (and all your friends) are calling “New! The best! Buy now! Just what you need!” It is so true that we should not buy until after we’ve gotten direction from the Lord.

Don’t feel you have to buy at the convention, especially if you haven’t had a chance to think it through. Just soak up information, that will help you make your decisions later. There are many conflicting voices out there calling for our attention. It is better to make a clear decision, even if it means missing out on the “no shipping” costs or “special deals” given at the convention. Even if you come home with “nothing” but ideas, convention will be worth it!

Tomorrow’s post will be on Tips for Shopping at Convention.

It kind of amazes me how quickly home educators can go from the winter mid-year blahs, to excitement in planning for next year. This is the time of year when Home Education Conventions, Conferences, Retreats, Seminars, Workshops and Curriculum Fairs begin. And we begin perusing catalogs and websites more – and making lists.

Making choices as to what resources to buy isn’t nearly as limited as it was when we began teaching our children at home 22 years ago. Back then we could practically count on one hand what was available to home educators. Now, no one could count the options available. As those choices expand yearly – daily! – we could easily fall into being tossed about by every wind of new and great thing out there that “everybody’s” using.

Even though these changes can make Home Education Conventions not only really tempting places, but also very overwhelming places, I don’t think that means we should stay away from them. They are where we can get some of the best information we need to make right resource choices, as well as the help to deepen our philosophy, and improve our methodology of education. In fact, I think every mom (and dad too, if possible) needs to go every year to some type of homeschool retreat, convention, etc. for their own renewal and refreshment. We all need encouragement and support. Sometimes it can seem we’re isolated in our own world of home educating. We need to get out and see the “big picture” for a better perspective. God has given us such great mentors to help us along, we need to utilize the resources He’s provided for us. No homeschool home is an island. Don’t try to make yours one.

…. Continued tomorrow. And the rest of the week we’ll be talking about buying home ed resources, Shopping at Convention.