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.
