Author Archives: Lisa @ Me & My House

A Fishing Lesson

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Lifestyle Education through Discipleship is a family discipleship process from and for a Biblical view of God and His world. All learning is for the purpose of knowing God and making Him known through Wisdom. Which is learning from His Word what His perspective is on everything in life, and then walking out our lives in it. For He has given us all things that pertain to life and godliness.

Since everything we teach is from a Christian worldview, we must first have our own minds renewed to that from the worldly and selfish ways of thinking that we have learned and that come naturally. We cannot teach from a Biblical worldview if we don’t have one. As I’ve stated before, this isn’t just what we think, but how we think. It’s the thought processes that affect everything we do and how we do it. This is a paradigm shift. As Romans 12:2 says, a transformation. God’s ways aren’t our ways, and if we don’t see things from His perspective we will not have proper understanding. We will see the same “facts” but interpret them differently. That’s why Wisdom is the principle thing. And we must first get it, before we can operate in it, and help others find it.

We begin by “planting the seeds” of a Biblical worldview in our children – through discipleship. You follow me, as I follow Christ. However we don’t stop there. Teaching from a Biblical worldview is important. We need to teach them what the Scripture says but if we only give them the what, it will be nothing but “head knowledge” of the Word. It is only “the law” and has no essence of life. But the law is the tutor that brings us to Christ, so we must start there. Then we must also educate our children for a Biblical worldview, using that “law” to lead them to “life”.

What’s the difference? I’d liken it to giving them a fish vs. teaching them to fish. They will first “see us fishing” and enjoy the fruits therof. But we are not going to “feed” them forever. That will only make them fat, lazy ingrates. They must learn to feed themselves. They must follow Christ for themselves. We must lead them from what to think to how to think. We teach them how to seek for and dig out Wisdom for themselves. I like what Paul Jehle has to say, that it is not the accumulation of knowledge we seek. That will only make us fat. True growth is the replacement of the old with the new. That is what brings change in our lives that affects everything we do. (paraphrased)

This is transformation. This is when the Spirit brings life and freedom. It is from the Spirit that we follow not the letter of the law, but we gain understanding of the law and its application. It becomes written on our heart, and we are able to put it to work in our lives in a variety of new and different situtations. It is when the Gospel is applied to my life that I am transformed. So too, it is when I seek and find wisdom for myself, that I have internalized it, it becomes mine and I am able to walk in it in freedom.

It is when we have taken our children from “from to for” that they “own” their education and are transformed. Learning becomes life to them. Wisdom, understanding, and knowledge bring freedom. It is then that the seeds we planted have grown to fruitfulness and they are able to reproduce. And that is what discipleship is all about.

 

Mechanics of Biblical Principles Teaching

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Here is a very sketchy outline for learning to teach everything through a Biblical view. I’m not including much how to do each of these things. I’ve written other articles on such – or will. 🙂 This is just to give a very simpliefied “form”.
1. Develop a Biblical view of education – renew your mind.
This is the key. You must start here. It is the foundation for all you do. You must change not only what you think, but how you think. This is a process and will take time, but that is no reason not to start, nor to give up when it doesn’t come as quickly as you’d like. I’ve written plenty elsewhere on this.

2. Wisdom is the principle thing.
To plan and teach your studies, start here. Find the Biblical foundation for all your studies. Utilize vocab of subject through Webster’s 1828 dictionary if needed in addition to your concordance and Bible.
From this Biblical research, gain understanding – determine the underlying principles that form the core of the study. These are the seeds you will plant at every age and stage, from which all knowledge will spring forth. The seed contains the whole – just as wisdom is not just an aspect of learning, but contains the whole. This “whole” is the “big picture”, God’s perspective on the topic. This is the foundation on which all their learning will rest. It must be solid on the Rock.

3. From the Biblical roots trace the history of your topic of study.
Every created thing has a history. and a purpose. How did God use this to advance the Gospel and liberty, or how did the advancement of the Gospel and liberty advance this thing. What individuals did God use? How did He prepare them? and so on.

4. Teach the truths, details, facts in relation to the principles.
Our “seeds” are sprouting and taking root. As they grow, knowledge (these “facts”) are the leaves on the tree. This aspect is usually the beginning and the end for most other types of education. Though it is not unimportant, it is not the principal (most important) thing. Most important is giving them the seed that contains the whole.

5. Utilize the Mashal to teach.
In teaching principles -> knowledge, teach through the mashal – the story, analogies. This is real life education with meaning that touches the heart, not just the mind.

6. Utilize other natural methods for study.
This is as opposed to un-natural methods such as true-false, multiple choice, fill in the blank type workbooks. Basically, our natural methods are discussion for reasoning and Notebooking. Some of the primary means we use in Notebooking are: Copywork, narrations, key sheets, essays. There are many more, but the key is for the students to reason Biblically for themselves. To internalize and “own” their study so they are capable of teaching it to another.

Well, how’s that for a simplified, in a nutshell, “how do you do this?” intro?

An L.E.D. Day with Me and My House

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I don’t often get writing done on specifics about our personal studies. But thought I’d give you a look into our home today. Here’s what a day of learning looked like in our home after we returned from a vacation break. I’ll spare you all the details of the unproductive times, interruptions, general messing around. 🙂

We begin our day with Family Altar, that is Bible, Prayer and Praise. I had planned to go back to the Proverbs this week. We read the Proverb of the day, then each child chooses (or is given) a Scripture and reasons from it. But we aren’t finished with Acts yet, so we read a chapter there. Since today is Monday, our prayer focus is for missionaries and minstries we know, in addition to our immediately family and specific prayer needs. We also “put our armor on”. The current hymn we are working on is “How Firm a Foundation”. Sometimes we sing with a CD other times I play on piano.

After a short break to clear and clean up breakfast, we began our Bible Study. Today was on Exo. 1:8 and Egyptian government. Our studies took a bit of a twist as we were talking about the Israelites being enslaved and what that meant. Complete external control, to have no liberty, or personal rights, don’t own anything, even you yourself are owned by another, make no decisions about what you do, but do only as you’re told. You have nothing but what is given to you, and even then it isn’t “yours”. You are completely controlled by another in what you do, and dependent upon them for everything you receive. I then took them to Romans 1:1a, “Paul, a bond-slave of Christ”. Not only Paul, but us! What great Bible reasoning came from this lesson. AND as an added bonus, in our Adult Bible Study tonight, that we lead, we are studying Romans chapter 1. I have much to share and challenge with. They finished up this lesson by copying Psalm 23, and beginning to memorize (or refreshing memory of) it. We may be bondslaves of Christ, yet we do not serve a tyrannical dictator, but a benevolent King. Obviously, this was a Governments and Stewardship study as well. Normally our teen-aged daughter would have added assignments from our Bible Study, but I didnt’ give her any today.

In Communications we are laying our Biblical Foundation. Today we reviewed what Communication is, and its usage to Bless or Curse. We talked about the power of words. Their creative and destructive power (God’s words created everything, His word is living and powerful and surgically divides (so to speak.) That even our words have the power of life and death. We copied Pro. 18:21. Our older daughter will reason from this verse, and write an essay. Other Communications applications were scattered in, as noted below.

In HisStory and Creation we are just beginning a study of Astronomy. Our purpose for studying Creation (what is called the “sciences”) is to know God and make Him known. We looked at God’s purpose and the “big picture” of astronomy today. We reviewed our key scripture for Creation, Rom. 1:20, tying in Ps. 97:6. We read Ps. 19:1-6, which will be our memory verse. (We’ll copy it tomorrow, when we don’t have so much other copywork.) These lay a good foundation on how the heavens “tell” of God. We read an introductory child’s book called, “God Made Outer Space”, which gives a good simple overview. Normally I would take the time to narrate as we were reading through. Today there were too many interruptions. Hopefully, they will be able to narrate as a review tomorrow. We wrote down vocabulary words (there were about a dozen) from that book and discussed what each means. Our older daughter will formally define these. I also assigned her the first chapter of James Nickel’s astronomy book, Lift Up Your Eyes on High, a great study of the whole of star study (not just the “facts”, “but also of the amazing message the stars declare”). Tomorrow we will get into Gen. 1:14-19 and the beginning of the HisStory of the heavenly bodies.

Throughout these times we have had numerous phone calls and knocks at the door, giving plenty of time of chores, practicing piano, etc. We’ve also had several mini phonics lessons through the reading we’ve done (much of it the children read aloud). Some handwriting and grammar lessons mixed into the copywork and writing. The only specific “math” lesson we got to today was as our daughter was making soup she needed to figure out how much water was 3/4 gallon. Obviously, numbers and quantities were worked with in other ways, but not specifically as “lessons”.

We finally got to lunch, which will make a short time between lunch and supper, since it must be early tonight because of Bible Study. So our studies are probably finished until tomorrow, while we finish chores, play outside, practice music, and host our guests.

 

Copywork & Story Paper

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Strange name for a post, but this is just an FYI.

Do any of you use the very wide ruled paper with the dashed mid-line for your beginning writers?

For very beginners, just needing lots of practice, the newsprint tablets you can buy cheaply work fine. However, when our kids begin doing copywork for their notebooks, I like a nicer (regular white, or even pretty colored) paper of the proper size. I have a font program (that is awsome, check it out) that has the “ruled lines” that I usually use to print out. But my program is down (and besides it only works on my PC not my Mac) [Update: it now works for Mac too!], so I looked online. I figured you all may not have a program like that, so here’s what I found.

At this site you can get pdf files of ruled paper with the dashed mid-line. You can set your own width, line weight, paper size, and line color.

This site only has .75 size ruled lines on standard 8.5 x 11 paper size. But they do have it set up in different ways (all pdf files also): vertical and horizontal both full page and with half page blank for drawing.

These meet our needs perfectly. Hope they’re helpful to you too.

 

A High School Curriculum

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Instead of “10 Things to do with Your Child Before Age 10“, (from my friends the Bluedorns) –

Here’s my 5 things to do with a teen-aged youth:

1) If your child doesn’t yet have a deep love of God and His Word, and self-government (discipline, self-control) born out of a desire to please Him, do whatever it takes to birth and nourish that in him; and to develop the ability to hear and follow His voice. (Including LOTS of prayer.)

2) Teach your child to “think Biblically”, that is, to correctly reason from God’s Word in all areas of Life – Creation Science is a well-known biggie in this area, but so also should he be able in Providential History & Geography, Internal Government, Servant Leadership, Productive Stewardship, Beautifying Dominion, and Grace & Truth Communication.

3) Teach him how to develop and maintain strong relationships. To show the love of God, to communicate the gospel. To “have communion with few, be intimate with one, deal justly with all, speak evil of none.”

4) Develop a love for true beauty. Help him to see that what is “good” isn’t just in the eye of the beholder. “I like it” doesn’t make it good. Judge all things by Phil. 4:8-9. Learn to appreciate the beauty of good music, good art, nature, the true beauty of others, good communication, and the beauty of simplicity.

5) Guide him in developing his gifts and calling. To hear God’s voice for His plan and purpose for his life. Help him prepare for that calling. Some are general for all, also the callings as a male or female – begin there. Then branch into his own special calling. Realize the way God works is not always the way we THINK it is going to turn out, so be sure to have the “general callings” things down solid, so that he is “thoroughly equipped for every good work.”

 

Introducing … P.A. ~ and Why?

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Lifestyle Education through Discipleship™ is a Biblical worldview approach to home education through discipleship, with a goal of teaching our children “right reasoning” or how to think Biblically. One of the major philosophies “out there” that we glean from is the Principle Approach, a philosophy with that same goal. Philosophy-wise we probably line up closer with PA than other major philosophies. But when it comes to application, we look very different than many think of PA.

I know many of you are are looking at L.E.D. through your interest in PA. Many others of you have come to L.E.D. through much more “relaxed” approaches. What we all have in common is we want to be led by God to home educate for His glory, with that goal of our children thinking and living “Biblically”. I believe that even those not interested in “doing PA” can glean some great things from it. Below is a very simplified introduction to the Principle Approach, and some suggestions for those interested in learning more about implementing aspects of it in a “family-friendly”, more informal way.

Verna Hall began researching the foundations of America’s Christian History in the 1930’s. Her research led her to compile a book called the Christian History of the Constitution, CHOC, of original “primary sources” of our Providential history.

In the ’60’s Rosalie Slater joined her, and wrote a book called Teaching and Learning America’s Christian History,T&L, as a study guide to CHOC – containing 3 different ways CHOC could be studied (one of them for teaching children through the educational levels). She developed “7 Principles of our Christian History and Government” and the teaching method called the Principle Approach (PA), which is a philosophy and methodology of education based on Biblical reasoning. Students (of any age) learn to “4-R” (research, reason, relate, and record) and “Notebook” (keep orderly records of their studies) to develop a Biblical worldview of all of life/ through all subjects. Together Hall & Slater formed the Foundation for American Christian Education, FACE.

These 2 books, CHOC and T&L, called the “Red Books”, are large, “red” books and, along with Webster’s 1828 Dictionary, are considered the “foundational” books for PA study. There is also a Vol. 2 of CHOC, and The Christian History of the American Revolution: Consider & Ponder (C&P) (a BLUE book). There are also other volumes. But these are the main big resource books.

Many students have studied the works of, and been taught by, Hall and Slater. Many of them have written their own books on the Principle Approach, or based on the Principle Approach. One of the most popular being James Roses’ Guide to American Christian Education for Home and School (GACE). It is also a big red book, but not put out by FACE. Many find it to be one of the most helpful books for making PA more understandable and putting it into application.

20-some years ago, FACE started a demonstration school called Stonebridge with teachers trained in PA. Over the years these teachers have written, and FACE published, Curriculum Guides (subject based, with outlines for all grades) and Lesson Plans (grade leveled) that are called the Noah Plan. (There are also 2 large notebooks called the Noah Plan. One for elementary and 1 for high school. They contain the SDS and grade level guidelines.) The Self-Directed Seminar (SDS) is an introduction to PA, teaching you the philosophy and methodology in a “hands on” way. It utilizes the foundational books, and walks you through a PA study as you learn what it is, and develop a solid Biblical view of education. Rudiments of America’s Christian History and Government, from FACE, is another PA book I want to mention. It is a foundational study for high school, and a great study for parents new to PA also. It also uses the foundational books.

Generally, PA has been considered a “study it out and teach it yourself” approach – i.e. a philosophy and methodology, NOT a curriculum. However, now there is the Noah Plan (NP) that IS a curriculum based on PA. It was written in a school setting, and therefore must be adapted for home educational use.

OK, now you know what PA and it’s main resources are, how can they be of benefit to you if you aren’t specifically teaching PA? First I’ll tell you why I think these books can be beneficial to you, even if you aren’t “doing the Principle Approach”. The Principle Approach is the most solid and complete Biblical Worldview/ reasoning educational approach I’ve seen. The PA resources can save you much time in studying and planning your studies.

Now a little more explanation on the usage of PA resources, for beginners. The main books for beginning to “do PA” are:
The foundational books: CHOC, T&L, 1828 (1828 CAN be accessed online for free, but you will use it all the time, so will probably want a “hard copy”.) (others as you need them)
SDS, perhaps optional but highly recommended
GACE, perhaps you could get by without SDS if you did a thorough study Parts 1, 2, and 3 in this.

What I recommend is, if SDS isn’t coming together for you, (remember it is going to require some thinking and reasoning and studying you may not have done in a long time, or perhaps EVER. This isn’t the way we were taught!) read the section in GACE covering the same topic before answering the SDS questions. Also, if you don’t get it with the first reading, read it again, – and again, if you need to. As you exercise your mind this way, it will begin to make sense.
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All of these, except the SDS, can be obtained through interlibrary loan to really see what they are, and to begin studying PA. In addition, many times used copies can be found to save you money. For someone new to PA, and not sure if they want to implement much of this type of study, so not wanting to invest yet, I would recommend getting ACE through interlibrary and thoroughly studying those first 3 Parts. Then when you know this is what you want, make the above purchases.

The SDS will renew your mind, and begin to get you thinking Biblically, and reasoning. You will 4R the topic of education. After this you could do one of the studies of CHOC through T&L, but I really recommend Rudiments for all parents and high school students. It is a great foundational study, even if you aren’t really doing anything else PA style.

If you really like the methodology of PA, and would like to incorporate it completely, you may want to utilize the NP materials to help you get started with your childrens’ studies while you are still learning. However remember, they were written for classrooms; ADAPT however you need for your usage at home. Even without following PA curriculum or in a way that looks anything like a PA school, I find the Curriculum Guides very helpful to me in planning the foundational content of our studies. However I don’t use their scope and sequence, nor the Lesson Plans.

Perhaps you are one who doesn’t want to go “that deep” into PA. You’re thinking of perhaps a bit lighter reading to “get your feet wet”. Some helpful resources for that are books written, based on PA. Stephen McDowell and Mark Beliles’ America’s Providential History, Marshall Foster’s The American Covenant, K. Alan Snyder’s If the Foundations are Destroyed, are 3 of my favorites.

I will close with this thought. Remember, there is a difference between teaching your children a Biblical Worldview, and teaching your children how to reason Biblically for a Biblical Worldview of their own. There are many “worldview resosurces” available. YEA! This wasn’t true when we began. But PA is the most developed approach for teaching your children how to study and reason for themselves to determine that view, not just be fed it from other sources. It worth your time to check it out and integrate at least some of its aspects into your home education, especially for your teen-aged children, although it is certainly benefical for your younger ones too. We just implement what we do from it very more informally up to the teen years.

To learn more about FACE, check their website.

 

Sound Phonics

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As with most philosophies, the teaching of reading is no different, there are arguments over what is the best way. I’m amazed that there are still those that teach “sight” reading or “whole word” methods, after its utter failure, documented in so many ways and sources. But there are other arguments that live on in the phonics camps themselves.

The arguments here tend to be over teaching letter names or sounds first, and whether to teach all the sounds of a letter at the same time, or only the most used sound at first. Having researched all this for about 15 years, and taught phonics for a few more than that, I’ve read and taught much of what is out there.

Some say the letter names should be taught first. Every child knows the “ABC” song, and you can’t keep them from learning it. No argument here, (as to the song will be picked up somewhere, whether you teach it or not,) but that has nothing to do with knowing what the letters look like or how to read. It’s just a catchy tune, easily memorized.

Some have said that it is insulting to assume the child is so stupid that they can’t make the connection, when after we teach them letter names, to tell them that isn’t the sound they make when we read. Perhaps I have dumber children than others, but I am not speaking from theory and “expert’s research” only here, rather from experience. I have 10 children, most of whom I have taught, or am in the process of teaching, or will teach to read. (The 2 youngest aren’t old enough, the 2 oldest I wasn’t their only teacher. The oldest picked it up naturally at home before going to school, then had school teaching, and reclarifying at home. The 2nd didn’t catch on at school, and was retaught when we brought them home.) So I have nowhere near the number of students taught as a classroom teacher, or linguistic expert, but I’ve taught I very wide spectrum of different types of learners.

My dd (that is now 20, #4) did have a big problem learning to read, from knowing the letter names first. (And I don’t consider her “dumb”.) She could not make that changeover from name to sound by age 6.5. She could not get it that f, l, m, x, s, etc. didn’t have the same sound /e/ (short e). I personally knew several other children (most from ps) that had similar problems when it came to blending letters into words, trying to use their names not sounds. So yes, my daughter, and others, are “too dumb to grasp that a letter has a name … and a different sound,” without anyone “insulting” or “assuming stupidity” on their part. Evidently this is no small problem with just a very few children (although they probably are the minority), because those that work with the many “unable to learn to read” children have come up with ways to help them over this, — and to avoid it in the first place. It was in talking to one of these “experts” (20+ yr. K and remedial reading teacher with a MA in learning disabilities) that I learned how to overcome this. The way to avoid it is teaching sound first. (Of course, I knew nothing of this before this experience.)

Neither they nor I are promoting never teaching letter names, just that the letter names are not necessary to learn to read, and can cause hinderances, in at least some children. The names have nothing to do with reading, only the sounds. The child already knows the sounds naturally. That is what he uses to speak. He learns the symbol for the sound to learn to read, not the name of a letter. This is what even Charlotte Mason (though she was not even a propenent of phonics) was saying when she talked about a child picking the sounds up naturally. That he would have his little letter blocks with a picture on them, and would see a book and a ‘b’ and would associate seeing the ‘b’ with the sound /b/ as the beginning sound of book. (Not ‘beee’, the letter name. He would only know that if someone TOLD him this, irrelevent at this point, information, apart from his natural learning of knowing what the spoken word “book” means, and relating it to seeing a picture of a book and seeing the symbol ‘b’.) Again, this is not hiding the names of the letters from the child. It is about teaching him the written symbols for the sounds he knows, so he will be able to read.

Although our language isn’t a perfect phonetic one (one letter per sound), in many ways due to the integration of other languages to make up ours, knowing a few other combination letter sounds and rules makes it fairly easy to “break the code” (which all written language is). Teaching sound (firm, strong, not shaky or defective) phonics, teaching the various sounds that the symbols respresent (i.e. the different spellings for the sounds), along with a few rules that tell you when to use each spelling, your child will learn to read – and spell pretty well, too.

Although it is said that our English language is highly irregular, when reading and spelling is taught this way 97-98% of it “follows the code”. When teaching letter names, and then a few inital sounds, then “whole word” reading – well, maybe they’ll catch on, maybe not. The odds are against them – even greater so for spelling correctly. Teach sound phonics, by teaching sounds!

P.S. As for the letter names, as we teach the 2nd sound for the vowels we tell them that even though the symbol represents a sound, it also has a name. None of the consonants’ names are the same as their sounds, but the vowels’ 2nd sounds are also their names. Once they already have (at least the primary) sounds down of each letter this is not nearly so confusing for these “dumb” kids. Teach them what’s important first, the incidentals later.

 

Real Life Learning – Family-style

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This article is from August 2002, but I don’t see where I posted it when the blog moved here, so here it is…(again?)…

Sometimes you may be tempted to think that homeschool and family life just don’t mix, especially if you have several little ones in your home. Let me encourage you, God knew all about your little ones and their needs before He even called you to educate your older ones at home. He wanted you to learn that home education is a Lifestyle for all of you, newborns to adults. And for you to all learn together.

Real Life Education – family-style – doesn’t happen in a pristine, secluded environment. Nursing newborns, 2 year old tornadoes, and inquisitive 4’s and 5’s are all a part of Real Life Home Education. The last thing we want to do in a godly home is give any of our kids – the older OR younger – the idea that children are an inconvenient pain and a hindrance to accomplishing anything worthwhile in life. We must convey to all of our children that children are a Blessing from the Lord and they should be received as such. This isn’t always easy when they are ACTING like an inconvenient interruption to what we are trying to do. But whether we’re working on educational activities or other projects of life, our children will be there needing loving attention, AND acting like the foolish children they are, until we train them otherwise and let them know what is expected of them. Giving them boundaries that they are capable of keeping within, while also giving them of ourselves.

There are many ideas for you to explore, to see which works best in your home. My guess is that you will use all of them at various times. But all should be in keeping Real Life Living the focus, not education as an isolated fragment of life. In other words, it is unrealistic to expect to set up 45-60 minute class periods at several individual levels, and teach each of these subjects everyday to every child. You will burn-out VERY quickly, especially when you have other little ones that just don’t – SHOULDN’T – fit into a classroom model. Although we want our children to grow into being independent learners, there is something far more valuable for them to learn, and that is Relationship, the interdependence of Real Life. Education happens through the Real Life interdependence of Relationships, not independent isolationism.

We believe education IS a Life. It is growing through exercising all areas of our Life. We exercise our bodies to grow in strength and capabilities. We exercise our minds to grow in intellectual capabilities. We exercise our spirits to grow spiritually. This is not something that can be put into a box of certain hours, or certain rooms or environments, but is something that is of Life, all the time, everywhere, and amongst those we live with. This means we are all learning all the time and together, not just the 6-18 year olds, from 8:30 – 3:30, Monday through Friday.

This will translate into: “short lessons“, as Charlotte Mason proposed; working together, each contributing and learning at their own capabilities; and allowing for flexibility of Real Life. Charlotte Mason utilized short lessons of 10-15 minutes to both hold and pique children’s interest. In the Real Life home this adds the benefit of Mom not being tied up to one thing for long periods of time. When children need individual instruction, she breaks the teaching down into short understandable sections. As we all study the “things of Life” together, we will each learn at the level we are capable of as well as contribute according to our capabilities. We will not all learn the same details and to the same level of understanding, but we – including grown-ups, as well as toddlers, and all those in-between – will learn SOMETHING of the topic as well as learning of Relationships. All will also learn “on their own”, the younger through their work and play, the older through their work and study (as well as play). The older youth need to have independent study time when they can study for longer periods of time while mom cares for the needs of the little ones and the household.

Come Along Side of Us – This is the method we use most, and the most conducive to true “family-style” education as a Lifestyle. When we write, our little ones have paper and pencil and “write” along with us. When we work, they “work” along side of us. When we do hands-on projects or explore nature, they are by our sides. When we read, they sit and listen (or at least keep quiet).

Are there interruptions? Yes. We use these as opportunities to train them. Does it try our patience? Sometimes, but we can’t allow our underdeveloped patience to interfere with these opportunities to train them in attentiveness and obedience (as well as cause us to grow in patience). Can our older ones actually LEARN anything when their lessons are interrupted? Certainly!!, most importantly they should learn that children are valued, need love and training, and that Relationships matter more than anything else. I truly believe that God will honor our keeping first things first and cause all other things to be added to us. In other words, when we keep relationships first yet not neglect the “studies”, He will cause our studies to be fruitful.

Sometimes we just plain aren’t able to read aloud as long as we’d like, due to the little ones needs. Other times we utilize naptime (or for us, before they get up in the morning) to have a longer time period for read-alouds. But we don’t leave the little ones completely out of it, otherwise how will they ever learn to sit quietly and enjoy these times with us?

The Education Toy (TOOL) Box – Many families utilize the “education toy box”, special toys ONLY brought out during “school time”. The problem with this theory in general is that there is a supposed time for “school”, a TIME for education, and other times that are NOT for education. Now, in practical application this CAN work as a part of “Come Along Side of Us”, by giving the little ones their OWN tools of learning. Long before “homeschool” days my mother gave me and my siblings, then later I gave my own little ones, their own measuring cups, bowls, and spoons to play with while she/ I cooked. We had brooms, spray bottles and rags for cleaning alongside. And of course, there was always the ever-present paper and writing utensils of all sorts, coloring books and colors, and puzzles for quiet times. As we brought ALL of education home we added rubber crepe alphabet-letters, “counting” bears and rods, as well as play money and tangrams and attribute shapes. The little ones can “learn independently” and we teach the older “lessons”. they can do this quietly in the same room with you, or in a near by room for a little more quiet.

The Sibling Mentor – Undeniably, there are times when we need to spend concentrated, uninterrupted time with one or several children, and this isn’t always for “school” things. During these times it is helpful to have one of the older children play with the younger ones. How this works out is different for every family, for every family has a different age mix. For those of you with many little ones and no very big ones yet, I remind you that your older doesn’t need much individual “teaching time” yet. He doesn’t need formal academics, and his lessons in Life should be kept short. You may need to utilize naptime. But, even a 4 year old can play with a 2 year old while your newborn is napping or nursing and you are instructing your 8 year old. Your older children don’t just need to WATCH the little ones. They can play with and even TEACH them. This is one of the most overlooked helpful methods for moms of many, multiplying your teaching efforts by utilizing your older ones to help teach the younger. The lesson can be anything from your 5 year old teaching your 2 year old colors and shapes, to your teen teaching his younger siblings to read or math facts. This is of great benefit not only to you and the younger child, but also, very much so, to your older child. He who can teach a thing, knows it well. This method may be needed while you’re teaching a math lesson, – or a disciplinary lesson, or you may utilize it even when you don’t NEED your older one to do it, just plain for his benefit. If you have several older children that need some individual instruction at various levels in math or other skills areas, they can take turns mentoring and playing with the younger ones while you teach the other older ones.

The Electronic Babysitter – This is the least favorable, yet by many, most utilized method. I highly caution you against using it at all! Your little ones will realize that if Mom keeps busy enough, they can watch more TV/videos or play more electronic/ computer games. You will be dulling their minds and training them in habits of “vegetating”. Later, when you want them to focus on learning, you will regret having trained them in unproductive laziness. Your older children will also resent it. “How come they get to watch TV all the time?” And they will wish they could watch TV instead of working at learning. Better to train your little ones to play constructively and quietly, or utilize their nap times, than to foster an addiction to electronic media.

Utilizing primarily Come Along Side of Us, along with The Education Tool Box, and The Sibling Mentor will yield benefits to your family’s education at home. It will foster unity in the family and a great start in learning for your little ones. They will catch on to so much of what you are doing. They will also grow-up knowing that learning is for all and something that all ages do together. The older will learn responsibility for the younger and the younger respect for the older. You all will learn that education is Real Life for all.

Foundational Studies Progress

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It has been my goal to get our Foundational Studies written up in book form this summer. Some of these have been in just my loose teaching notes format. Some of these needed majorly revamped and updated, and others had never been really solidified.

Although I’ve not done much else project-wise this summer, it’s been slow going. A VERY active and curious one-year old and 5 other children have kept me jumping up more than sitting to write. And sometimes the brain just can’t focus when it only gets 2-minute snippets at a time.

But I am so excited to announce that the Communication Foundations is put together! I’m sure I could add to it, and continue to revise until Eternity, but I will instead just made necessary editorial changes, as I believe it meets my goals. The rest of the Pillars are in various stages. I don’t work on one thing at a time. Bible is also complete but in need of final organization.

It was my original intent to publish a Freedom & Simplicity guide for each Pillar, and still is, but I believe I will put all the Foundations Studies in one book for now, to help you see the big picture of each Pillar, until the other work is completed.

 

Freedom & Simplicity™ vs. Complicated Confusion

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As I sat down to work on our plans for our next learning term, the Holy Spirit nudged and said, “It’s time to put all the planning guides away.” Although I love reading and learning more about the ways we’ve chosen to incorporate in teaching our children, it was time to stop relying on the plans of men, and to trust God to lead me in HIS plan for our children.

It was not by coincidence that a friend and I visited back and forth throughout the day about some questions she had that were causing frustration from a lack of understanding complex methodologies. It was further confirmation that I would only bring myself under bondage to try to continue to push further in this direction at this time. I didn’t need more “ideas” and a purer, “higher” path. I needed to continue to walk in the Freedom & Simplicity™ He has time and again shown me, and I try to convey to others.
Read the end for the third confirmation….

Are you feeling burdened in planning your studies? Do you feel inadequate? Is it just not coming together? You can’t understand it? Here’s what I wrote my friend:
I don’t think God’s way should be hard, nor impossible to understand. He tells us to come to Him when we are heavy laden; and to take His yoke, for it is easy and His burden is light. I do believe teaching our children requires work and sacrifice, but it should not produce confusion and a lack of understanding. Our generation has to pay a higher price since we are laying the foundation. This sacrifice is primarily Rom. 12:1-2, that of renewing OUR minds to a Biblical Worldview, that requires more study from us. Hopefully this will be MUCH easier for our kids – growing up with a Biblical worldview to pass on to theirs. I believe we need to build great libraries of learning for our families/communities once again. But let’s get on to LEARNING, not just ALWAYS learning ABOUT learning!

It IS a renewing the mind thing. But does God really want us to work and strive and stress for YEARS trying to figure it out BEFORE we can help our children, I think not. He wants us to impart ourselves and His Word into them. AND to grow year by year as we do it, but not to be UNABLE to do it at all for YEARS. Not all moms have been given great academic capabilities. Would they EVER catch on to how this should ll fit together? Does that mean God doesn’t want those moms to teach by Biblical principles? That he wants them to send their kids to institutional schools? I think not. That is setting up the same mindset as government schools, that only the “experts” are qualified to teach.

Does God want us to only teach History or Literature or whatever one “subject” by His principles, until we can get the hang of moving ALL of them over to His way – maybe when they’re in high school we’ll be ready to add Math or whatever? I think not. As I’ve said, I will never be a Master Teacher in every subject. I am a MOM with a LOT of other responsibilities too, but that does not negate that I am the BEST, God-appointed teacher for my children.

It is not His will for you to be under such burden over this. God does not say that whom He equips He calls, but rather, whom He calls He equips. The things He has planted in me, that I have internalized , that I need to do this year, will be brought to remembrance by Holy Spirit. Anything not – I don’t need, not for now anyhow. He who called me has prepared me. I have not been negligent in listening to Him, nor in studying. Anything I can read or learn now WITH UNDERSTANDING (and throughout this and every year), will be applied as God directs (His way is not burdensome!)

What makes sense and fits, I will incorporate. If not I won’t. I just add things as I see helpful. Otherwise I continue on the path God has set me on. I can’t teach what I don’t know/understand. I grow each year, but it is in what God is doing in me – not in a complex, hard to understand program. I think there are many valuable things to be gleaned from Biblical based programs. But I think the complicatedness and confusion is not from God.

I am not saying to throw out what you have learned from others. I’m saying what doesn’t make sense and fit together, don’t worry about now. Perhaps someday it will. But if it doesn’t now, without burden, then it isn’t for now.

And now for my third confirmation, that this is a timely message some of you need to hear now. The new Homeschooling Today magazine just came. Jennie Chancey had an article, From the Pen of an “Unqualified” Parent, that was very relative to this topic. She talked about some, even within Christian Education, who deem parents unqualified to train their own children if they haven’t had the proper rigorous training in “their” method.

She said, “Where is the scriptural exegesis to demonstrate that parents are unqualified if they do not measure up to a human educational standard? … Lest anyone misunderstand me, I am not advocating ignorance or a deliberate dumbing down of educational goals. … but goals [of high objectives] must be subordinate to God’s revealed will in the Scriptures. ….God’s Word can “thoroughly equip” each of us for “every good work” (which would include the training of our children). …. Surely it is a better goal for the church to equip all of the saints (no matter what their educational attainments) to train their own children biblically and with humility.”

There, it is said, what we are dealing with is nothing but educational pride, religious eduational pride – high and lofty, “I’m qualified and if you don’t understand you aren’t.” You thought perhaps Paul wasn’t God-inspired to write, “Knowledge puffs up”? As we continue to learn, it is a danger we must all watch out for. “God does not share His glory with men, no matter how sound they belive their instructive methods may be.”

I’ll close with one more quote from that article: “But let us not promote human standards and methodologies and declare all who cannot reach them “disqualified”. Dear parent, take heart. It is God who qualifies you to teach your children, not the understanding of some method – good as that method may be.

And thanks L. for our great dialog on keeping Freedom & Simplicity™ from turning into bondage through complicated confusion.