Bible Lessons from Beginnings

This week we are finishing our first term. In Bible that means we are finishing our studies in Beginnings. This year’s focus has been on the principle of God’s Design.

We have looked at God’s Transcendence, how He is different than anything else, His incommunicable attributes. All else is created by Him and apart from Him.

Then we looked at Man in the Image of God, how God has “communicated” (shared) some of His attributes to some degree with man, making him different than any other thing in Creation.

Next we looked at God’s Design in the Heavens and Earth – in Time, Space, and Matter, and in living things to reproduce “after their kind”, and the purpose for Creation.

The next week was one of the hardest for me to bring together. But we saw that there is even Design in temptation, satan’s perverted methods really don’t change much, nor does the result of sin.

Last week we looked at God’s Design in the life of Noah. I’ve already blogged about that, how amazing His Sovereignty is even in the “smallest” of details.

This week we are looking at the beginnings of nations, God’s Design in Noah’s sons. We’ve mapped where the various families settled and began building nations. We’ve looked at the prophesy given by Noah and saw God’s Design for fulfilling His dominion mandate through the lives of men. Once more we are amazed at what we can learn from the “jots and tittles” written thousands of years ago.

Though we are moving on after this week, we’ve by no means exhausted these areas. But they will be revisited from a different angle again, as we build our learning, here a little, there a little.

After 20-some years of serious Bible study, (after 20-some years of mostly Bible stories before that,) I still stand amazed at the freshness and depth of God’s Word, teaching us something new everytime we gaze into it.

 

Contemporary Music Artist of the Week

Well, contemporary to the time period we are studying – early 1800’s.

The last couple weeks or so we have been studying the War of 1812 – looking at God’s Providence, cause and effect, individuality, and such. We’ve met the men and lived through their battles. One of the things we’ve done is had the children each pick a battle and draw it and then narrate from their drawing what happened.

One of the key people we looked at was not a big General or fighting war hero. We didn’t look at him initially or even primarily for what he is most known for. We took a back door, and fell in love with him for a scripturally rich hymn he wrote. He wrote of his inexpressible praise for God, and for all He has done and does.

We saw in action a quote we memorized at the beginning of the year: “A good hymn is the best use to which poetry can be devoted.“, by another poet of renown, John Greenleaf Whittier.

Our poet is Francis Scott Key, if you haven’t guessed yet. Of course, once the children knew who it was, they knew what he is most famous for (our national anthem, the Star Spangled Banner,) and his and its connection to the War of 1812.

We learned the other verses of the Star Spangled Banner and saw the depth in them, and realized that like hymns, you really don’t know the author’s heart, intent and message if you don’t know all the verses. We lose much Biblical teaching by eliminating some of them.

The hymn we learned is Lord, with Glowing Heart I’d Praise Thee. Click here for the words. It’ll be worth it. 🙂

 

Study Time Management for Kids

It’s not too often that I post these kinds of things, but they can be basic helps. Here’s a few tips for time management for your children pertaining to their studies.

See my from me post today for a few tips on general household time management.

Keep things in their place and Think ahead. Plan what they need before beginning and gather all necessary tools. Saves much time if they know where they are. 🙂

Also arrange activities to provide variety and break things up – alternate quiet and active studies. Take breaks when needed, doing a different type of activity, so the time spent studying is productive.

More another time.

When You Lie Down & Rise Up

On our bibleprinciples elist I was asked for the nitty-gritty of our days. I’ve placed parts of that answer over here, to not make that post way too long, especially the details of our family worship times. As I noted in that post, every single thing isn’t done every single day, but this is our typical pattern, and what we work toward daily. Here’s how we teach when we lie down and rise up.

I like to begin our day the night before – remember God said it was “evening and morning the first day….”

Our evening family time consists of: Family discussion about the day and upcoming things, a chapter from a family read-aloud – “life changing literature”, a Psalm (or more than 1), and prayer together – including prayer that God will pull it all together! Usually each family member prays each night.

We are currently reading the Crown and Covenant series by Douglas Bond. It is historical fiction telling the stories of the Scottish Covenanters. We many times read “Rare Collectors” from Lamplighters. Last year’s highlight was the Kingdom series by Chuck Black.

We begin the morning with each person doing their own devotions – Bible reading and prayer. A Bible reading schedule that has us all reading the same chapters is awesome, but it doesn’t always work that way. Little ones can use a tape/CD or mom or older person can read to them. We encourage the children to journal their devotions. Little ones can draw. The older ones can follow the pattern set out in our Redeeming the Time forms – Read, Rewrite, Relate, Recite.

When we come together we have a Family Altar time: Opening with Prayer, Worship (singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs), Wisdom-Proverb of the Day, Scripture Recitation, Catechism study, Daily Prayer Focus – we pray for different areas each day, and each person writes a daily journal of what God is teaching them through Life and Learning studies. The little ones are required to be a part of all this, they can draw pictures of “what God is teaching them.”

Our older girls and I used to read 5 Psalms and the Proverb of the day each morning. We can’t get that much in anymore. So we do our Psalm at night, and many times only 1, but I figure we will still get through the book of Psalms at least once, maybe close to twice a year.

I will also say about this morning time, I believe music is very important for “physical” and spiritual reasons. Music (well at least certain forms) opens our hearts to God and also our minds to learning. Well balanced music helps our brains make connections between those creative and orderly parts of our brain and helps us remember. We begin with psalms and hymns to “enter His gates with praise” and play low level classical music through most of the day, at least as we get the day, and our brains, going. This is a good time to do music/ instrumental practice also – they usually snatch a few minutes each, in between their clean-up chores, and practice longer later.

 

 

Lesson Plans

Today is a weekday, so that must mean I am suppose to blog here. Yes, I know it’s nearly two weeks after I made this proclamation. I haven’t totally been “gone”, there are some pretty “general” posts over at my homeschoolblogger blog. See, I do post different things in the various places. One of the additions over there is a list of links. It’s generally general Christianity websites. I’ll work on some home ed ones for here – and get the others up at the Clear Vision blog [new Amazing Grace blog] too. Ok, enough formalities, what do I have to say today.

A man’s heart deviseth his way: but the LORD directeth his steps.” Proverbs 16:9 Let’s go back to a blog I was working on when life so rudely interrupted me. Recently I was called an unschooler, and also asked (by someone else, in a totally different context) how much, if any, lesson planning I do.

Though I’ve clearly stated it here before, just for the record, I’m not an unschooler. Lifestyle Education through Discipleship™ was based upon principles very far from it. But neither am I a lock-step “schooler”. I am a disciple-er. And, yes, I do tons of lesson planning.

But my lesson plans are held loosely. I may devise my ways, but the Lord directs my paths. I teach my children as we “sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.” But when I try to hold too tightly to what I have planned, and have so neatly scoped out, God always steps in to show me other priorities He has for the time.

I can lay out the perfect lessons for 6 weeks of instruction in Astronomy, before moving on to Medieval History, and say we will “finish” by such and such a date. But do I know all the lessons God will present, that will take precedence at times? The deep look he wants us to take into being doers, not only hearers, of the Word; the special extended times of worshipping Him; learning to delight in Him, not serve Him in drudgery; And the times of helping daddy hang drywall, and run to Menards. And yes, the times for special visits from the grandgirls, and our brand new grandson.

The “plans” will be completed, but perhaps not within my “planned” time frame. We just take things one step at a time. Sometimes we will follow closely to the way I thought it would look. Other times, even within the teaching of a specific lesson, God will take it a direction I hadn’t planned. And His way always turns out better than I had thought.

I love to plan and organize – though never seem to have enough time to do all I’d like – so I lay out a sequence, and general design, sometimes quite explicit, others quite loose. But as I allow the Lord to guide my planning, I try to always hold it loosely, knowing that it will be accomplished in His way, in His time.

 

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

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.

 

A High School Curriculum

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.”

 

Real Life Learning – Family-style

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.

Living Books for Little Ones

Just because you have young children (Toddlers and “Pre-schoolers”) doesn’t mean you need to succumb to reading ‘twaddle’** to them. Even young children benefit from Living Books, and there are great Living Books that are shorter and have less complex ‘storylines’ for your younger children.

What is a Living Book? A short, off the cuff (not ultimate) answer is: A book that has literary value (excellence) and engages the reader, regardless the age. For our Christian family, that literary value is not judged by just “well written” style and such, but also God-honoring content – as per Phil. 4:8, that doesn’t go against Biblical values.

Here’s a few (besides the Bible of course) that my little ones have greatly enjoyed – and have been read over and over and over.
1) Books by Margaret Wise Brown – Big Red Barn, Good Night Moon, Runaway Bunny, etc.
2) Mother Goose nursery rhymes (judge which ones) – I’m looking for a copy of the Annotated Mother Goose (oop) that tells the story behind each – most were not written as “cute” children’s stories, but rather political comments.
3) Hush Little Baby (we have a board book, “nature” version with great illustrations)
4) Tale of Three Trees – by Angela Hunt – we have the board book
5) SOME of the CLASSIC Golden Books – Over in the Meadow, The Color Kittens, etc.
6) Some of the classic folk-tales – Henny Penny, Little Red Hen, Chicken Little (are they all chicken stories?) (we don’t do the “magic” type stories)

Just a little more complex:
7) by Beatrix Potter – Tale of Peter Rabbit, The Flopsy Bunnies, etc. This series was my older boys’ absolute fave when they were younger. Now they like – Robin Hood, Ivanhoe, Robinson Crusoe, etc.
8) some Aesop’s Fables
9) by Else Minarik – the Little Bear stories
10) The Little Engine the Could – by Watty Piper
11) Corduroy
12) by Robert McCloskey – Blueberries for Sal, Make Way for Ducklings
13) by Ezra Jack Keats – The Snowy Day, Whistle for Willy
14) by Virginia Burton – Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel, the Little House,
15) by Russell Hoban – the Frances stories
16) by Arnold Lobel – the Frog and Toad stories
17) OxCart Man – by Donald Hall
18) Child’s Garden of Verses – by Robert Louis Stevensen
19) by AA Milne – the Winnie the Pooh stories
20) James Herriot’s Treasury for Children

I could go on and on, but here’s 20 of our favorite great books/series that will get you started reading Living Books to your Little Ones.

Let’s add another, just for fun. Not an old classic, but great for little ones: Sandra Boynton’s toddler’s books: Barnyard Dance, Moo Baa, LaLaLa, The Going to Bed Book, Blue Hat Green Hat, But Not the Hippopotamus, etc.

**twaddle = worthless, poorly written, dumbed-down, fluff