{"id":523,"date":"2009-03-14T07:55:33","date_gmt":"2009-03-14T13:55:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/frommeandmyhouse.com\/blog-led\/?p=523"},"modified":"2013-03-27T18:24:14","modified_gmt":"2013-03-28T00:24:14","slug":"convention-shopping-tips-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/frommeandmyhouse.com\/blog-led\/convention-shopping-tips-4\/","title":{"rendered":"Convention Shopping Tips 4"},"content":{"rendered":"

Avoiding Mistakes<\/strong><\/p>\n

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.
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

Renewing our Mind to God\u2019s purposes and plans for our family\u2019s 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<\/strong>, we can easily get distracted and buy things that don\u2019t \u201cfit\u201d our family.<\/p>\n

We try to follow each of these resource qualifications for every learning resource purchase, although #3 and #4 don\u2019t 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 \u201chow to\u201d (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.<\/p>\n

Other things – such as an occasional \u201cfluff\u201d or extra resource\/book \u201cjust for fun\u201d must come out of extra money (a rare thing) or from the library. I really don\u2019t like spending money on something that isn\u2019t worth keeping in our own family library. They aren\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the qualifications I think through when deciding what resources to buy. They are a part (the 5th principle) of the \u201c8 Principles of L.E.D.<\/strong>\u201d (which you can order on audio <\/a>from us). They should be applicable for anyone following a Lifestyle Education through Discipleship<\/a>\u2122.
\n5 Qualifications for L.E.D. Resources<\/strong>:<\/p>\n

1. <\/strong>Relational & Relative – (individualized vs. canned) It must be something that speaks into our<\/strong> lives, not just the \u201clatest, greatest everyone is raving about it\u201d resource. Does it further the goals God has given us for our<\/strong> family\u2019s 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<\/strong> 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<\/strong>?<\/p>\n

2.<\/strong> Multi-level – Is it something that can be used by many different ages? (or is it \u201cgrade leveled\u201d?) Most Living Books fit into this. A timeless, living book can be enjoyed by everyone<\/strong> in the family, but even Skills Resources should cover all aspects of the topic, not just 1st grade, 2nd grade. We don\u2019t use grade levels in our family\u2019s education and don\u2019t care for resources that are written as such. Some resources may contain only \u201cIntroductory\u201d level information, etc. but this isn\u2019t the same as \u201cgrade level\u201d resources.<\/p>\n

3. <\/strong>Multi-disciplinary – Is it something that crosses the \u201csubject\u201d lines? (or does it only cover one \u201csubject\u201d?) Many Real Resources are topical<\/strong>, they only cover one topic, but that doesn\u2019t mean they only cover one \u201cschool subject<\/strong>\u201d. Obviously all \u201cLiving Books\u201d fit into this category. Even resources like dictionaries and such will be used in all of learning. Most non-textbook resources don\u2019t have to be pegged into a \u201csubject\u201d hole. But, just as obvious, things like a Math book will only cover Math.<\/p>\n

4.<\/strong> Multi-sensory – Does it teach through more than one sense? If it\u2019s 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?<\/p>\n

5.<\/strong> 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\u2019s an audio – in these modern times) at least 3 times before we really \u201cget\u201d it. I really believe it. I don\u2019t think a resource is a good one, if it\u2019s something I\u2019m going to turn around and get rid of as soon as we\u2019ve \u201cgone
\nthrough it\u201d. It should be worth saving for future reading and reference.<\/p>\n

Tomorrow we will finish up this series by discussing Homeschool Stewardship and Ethics in Curriculum Shopping.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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\u2019s purposes and plans for our family\u2019s education is the primary factor \u2026 Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-523","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-misc-education"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/frommeandmyhouse.com\/blog-led\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/523","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/frommeandmyhouse.com\/blog-led\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/frommeandmyhouse.com\/blog-led\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/frommeandmyhouse.com\/blog-led\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/frommeandmyhouse.com\/blog-led\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=523"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/frommeandmyhouse.com\/blog-led\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/523\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1729,"href":"https:\/\/frommeandmyhouse.com\/blog-led\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/523\/revisions\/1729"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/frommeandmyhouse.com\/blog-led\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=523"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/frommeandmyhouse.com\/blog-led\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=523"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/frommeandmyhouse.com\/blog-led\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=523"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}