So much of real life is happening that I don’t have time to post any inspiring or deep and meaningful posts. Instead, I’ll post some things I try to do each day. These are also things I encourage my children to do each day.
What about you? What are some important things that you do daily?
Smiles, hugs and positive, warm words.
Prayer.
Some Scripture reading.
Good books.
Some discussion
Some copy work.
Some ideas to ponder
Free time
Positive work
A work of servanthood
People WILL learn what they need to know, when they need to know it.
People will learn WHAT they need to know, when they need to know it.
People will learn what THEY NEED to know, when they need to know it.
People will learn what they need to know, WHEN they need to know it.
People WILL learn WHAT THEY NEED to know, WHEN they need to know it.
What an interesting statement. It’s one of those statements that can encapsulate an educational philosophy…not totally define it but summarise, supplement and complement one’s own philosophy of education.
Meal times can be a wonderful family event…but they can also be messy. (Surely I’m not the only one who has messy meal times?) Do you teach your children how to clean up after the family meal. I believe it is an important skill to learn. There is quite a bit involved from hygiene to sequencing and organisation skills. My eldest daughter is able to go into a full blown messy kitchen that has been used to prepare a four course meal for 10 in, and get in ship-shape in less than an hour. She has an organisational system that works for her! Yet, it isn’t the system that I taught her. She developed this system after learning how to do it my way, but after that I left her alone to tackle it for herself…she developed her own system from there. I’m not fussed! She can do the task cheerfully and quickly and thoroughly- I have no problem with that! 😀
We have a duty roster for meal time clean up. There is a pre-meal cleanup, a table and floor clean and a general post meal kitchen duty. One child is alloted a duty although it is now open to a little trading if someone isn’t well or has been at work all day.
I found it wasn’t enough just to show the children how a job is to be done. I had to show them while I explained it. Then I had them do it while I supervised and assisted them. Then, they still need supervision for a few times. Then, I trusted them and let them go with more freedom. However, this freedom only lasts while the child does the chores thoroughly and completely.
I found that having the chores clearly marked and within easy reach for the children to see was beneficial. I created a Duty Sheet that is on our fridge. The children know clearly what is expected of them for each duty. I’ve found that this is very important. You can have a look at it at this link. You may use it if you like although these things are quite individual to family needs so I suspect that you’d want to create your own. 🙂 Our roster system has developed over the years. Our children are now old enough to do all the tasks by themselves whereas they needed more supervision and help when they were younger.
I spent the first 18 years of my life in one town, one house. Very secure and stable. I married my dear husband and have moved around ever since!
In the last 6 years we have moved house 4 times…and we’re off again! Some might say that it doesn’t really count if you’re only moving 10 kms away but when you are a homeshcooling family (books and computers), it really does count!
All the moves are unsettling to the older children. There’s no easy way to say it. I’d like to not complain but it is hard on them. They want to put down some roots, which can be important in knowing one’s identity. Instead, they’ll have to change school (my 14yod attends school), make new friends yet again, find a new church and youth group, and get a new part time job. We’ve only been in this house for 12 months. My girls do a fantastic job of handling all this, each in their own way, but it would be nice to be in one place for a few years.
We have always tried to find positives in each move, even though at times this has been hard. Doing this though has been a great teacher- our children have learned to look for the positives in situations…even situations that are out of our control. We remind them that are having the opportunity to not only see parts of our beautiful country but to live in the state and city and truly experience it. This is far different to a quick holiday.
So over the next month or so, if I’m not around much it will be because I’m busy packing again.
Who likes those Mac/PC ads? Oh, when they air and we’re all watching tv the children and John all turn the volume up so we can have a giggle. um, er belly laugh. Even though we don’t own a Mac, the reason we don’t own a Mac is a financial one.
Anyway, GodTube.com has put together a series of parodies, based on these characters and they’re quite good. Oh some may find them offensive but those who are either ‘in the trenches’ or have worked in ministry, or those who have simply been a believer long enough to see the changing tides of the appearance of Christianity might see the irony in the subtle humour. These kind of things are meant to be exaggerated. There is more to being a Christian than looking like one. It is less about how we dress and how big our Christian library is and more about how we live…how we love and serve other’s who are not able to return that kindness or those who do not know His grace. Around our country we can see many people who identify themselves as ‘Christian’ yet they live to please themselves. Have you ever asked yourself what would you do if you were on the way to church and there was a car broken down on the side of the road? Would you stop and risk being late to church or not making it there at all? Or would you just pray for them asking that God would send someone along who could help them?
Jesus was not a Christian. He never asked anyone to become a Christian, never built a steepled building, never drew up a theological treatise, never took an offering, never wore religious garments, never incorporated for tax purposes. He simply called people to follow him.
Jesus with Dirty Feet
So, this begs the question, what is a Christian? Is it someone who goes to church? Puts a bumper sticker on their car? Decorates their home with pretty pictures with scriptures on it? Someone who dresses well for church and rarely misses a prayer meeting? Or is it someone who doesn’t swear, doesn’t smoke, doesn’t dress fashionably? So then, what does a Christian homeschooler look like? Do they wear brown dresses and braid their hair? Do they wear makeup? Do they bake their own bread? Do they use an approved Bible curriculum? I believe we all have our own ideas of what Christian should look like, or what is acceptable. We have put labels on Christianity! We have put Christianity into a box and labeled it. We love to have the Holy Spirit in our church meetings so we can feel His presence but do we allow the Holy Spirit to do His work in the lives of that young, unmarried mother who still runs outside after church to have a cigarette? There are so many ways in which we try to be the Holy Spirit in other’s lives. We need to stop! I need to stop! I need to rest in the fact that the Holy Spirit will do the work of convicting others…surely I have enough to tend to by acting justly, loving mercy, walking humbling with my God?
Am I a Christian or a follower of Christ? Do I preach Christianity or the good news of Jesus Christ: that He, being the Messiah, died, rose again to conquer death and that all we need do is to believe in Him, repent of our sin and receive forgiveness.
What is it about children that they always want the opposite? 😉
My girls always wanted to be independent in everything when they were young. Of course, as the 16yodd gets older, she is becoming more aware that independence comes with responsibility but that’s a growing process. Yet the boys aren’t in any hurry to be independent. I’m not overly fussed about this as they will have a lifetime of responsibility as they mature. However, it is my duty to train them toward maturity and responsibility and independence.
One of the ways I use to train is the area of academics or lessons. Maybe it is my method or maybe it is something else but having self directed learning boys has not been easy for me- they seem to struggle with it. We used to have learning journals, where they would record the things they had done each day, but these would only get filled in for a day or so before they’d lose interest or lose the journal! It ended up being my responsibility, which defeats the purpose of the exercise.
‘Miss A’ is very self directed and motivated with her softball and fitness. I offer little bits and pieces where I can. I suggested that she might like to use a more visual system for keeping track of what she has done throughout the week. She liked this idea and set about doing it. She got the coloured index cards, wrote on them and sticks them on the wall when she has completed her workout. She likes it! It gives immediate feedback.
So I thought that type of system might work for the boys with their lessons. Well, it’s only been one week but it is still assisting them to record their lessons.
I used blue and yellow index cards and wrote out a week’s worth of their lessons. There are:
Each day, as they have completed a lesson, they blu-tac the card to the wall. This provides immediate, visual feedback, which is a good motivator. They can also see how many lessons they have left to complete, which helped them to plan what they would do next. I taught the girls how to plan and record using notebooks or journals but the boys found this difficult. But this is something visual and hands-on! This seems to be working, at least for now. 🙂
Motivated by Jacqui’s post on ‘running a home‘, I will preface this post by saying that I am not a highly organised person. I like the cosy warmth of clutter. I love my ornaments and nick-knacks as they all have a story behind them…they have sentimental value. I can’t take them with me when I go to be with the Lord, and I can live without them, but they are like good friends- I like to have them around.
I used to love decorating and making my home a cosy place to retreat but it has become harder to do as we move around frequently. I also find that modern homes, while clean and lovely, don’t have the same warmth and character- they lack the homey ambiance of older homes. However, I didn’t set out to write about decorating or house style but organisation so I need to get back to the point!
So I’m not overly organised…my home gets messy but it’s always clean. I can look beyond clutter. Okay, I can even look beyond dust but I can’t look beyond dirt or filth. I loved homeschooling in our home! I could hang time lines on the wall…and draw the measuring chart on the architrave, and hang beautiful pictures on the wall. This is not practical in the homes we have been living in…especially as we’ve only been in them for approximately 12-18 months at a time.
My mother always told me that the most important things to get done in the morning are the beds to be made, dishes done and the bathroom needs a quick wipe over. I can get this done. This way, if I have friends or company drop in unexpectedly I don’t mind. Since we’ve been in the rental homes I struggle with just doing this before lessons. I often want the house to be spotless (or my version of immaculate) before I start our lessons but the problem with this is that by the time all the work is done, I’m tired and it’s time to start cooking tea! So, I know that doesn’t work. So, here’s a brief run down of my weekly routine.
I have days set aside where I aim to get certain things done. However, they may not always happen on those days- it depends on who is working on what days and who has to be where!
Each day, the boys unstack the dishwasher and drainer board. They also clean down the table and re-stack the dishwasher. I tried something new last week. John could either the whole kitchen (which is not easy after a cooked breakfast) or I’m happy to clean it but he must do copy work for the whole time it takes me to clean. This gives him a choice…and it helps me to get done quickly as I know he can’t write for an hour!
On Monday, I like to go right through the house and clean all the floors– vacuuming and mopping. This gives me a fresh start to the week. Clean floors and a clean kitchen. But Monday is also my laundry day. I get any linen done along with the dark clothes from the weekend. I aim to have them washed, dried and put away by 4pm. I have one more load to do but can’t do them until after tea, as it is ‘Miss A’ ‘s white shirt that needs soaking (it gets covered in coffee) and then washing.
I try to prepare a meal that I can divide into two meals as I will be out on Tuesday night so I like it to be prepared so it can be just reheated and eaten.
Tuesday is a day where we watch a movie, clean a particular troublesome area, spend more time on lessons – we just enjoy being together. We do try and have a quick Neat ‘n’ Tidy about 4pm, in time for Dad to come home to a fairly neat home. If I bake treats, then today will be the day.
Wednesday is another laundry day. I have soaked ‘Miss A’ ‘s whites the night before and they can be washed and hung out in the sun to dry and be sun bleached. Oh confession time. I don’t hang underwear (except white singlets), socks, handkerchiefs or other fiddly, small items on the line. I used to but not anymore, for two reasons. I love the feel of crisp, sun bleached clothes but we only have one of those clothes lines that folds up alongside the dark, sheltered side of the house. (Why they install them in the shade, I will never understand) I also have decided to maximise my time. Honestly, socks don’t last that long in my house anyway so there’s no need for me to try and preserve them as thoroughly as I might other items of clothing. So, I tumble dry them! So much easier and quicker. I think to myself, “What would I rather do? Cook a meal, iron a shirt, write a blog post, read a book or play a game with my children, speak on the phone with my dad or hang up socks ‘n’ jocks!!!!” I would rather do all those things rather than hang up socks.
Anyway, I aim to have the loads of laundry, washed, dried and put away by 4pm. Along with a meal on the table after ‘Miss A’ has cleaned the kitchen. She is home today so she does this job for me. John Jr. vacuums on Wednesday – the whole house. ‘Master C’ does excellent 15 minute tidies. He goes around and put all the stray things away where they belong- shoes in people’s rooms, blocks in drawers, books in booknook, pens, cups, papers, etc.
Thursday is the day where I sit and organise my finances and look through catalogues for specials in preparation for our Out and About Day on Friday. We do a quick Neat ‘n’ Tidy in preparation for John to come home. If I bake treats, then today will also be the day. I’ll also try to organise an easy meal that can be reheated as I am out at softball again tonight. It isn’t that I’m gone for a long time, rather that it is just at our usual meal time.
Friday is a big day for me. If it is not Out and About Day, we will clean the house, vacuum and do bathrooms, etc. It is also laundry day, in preparation for the weekend. If it is Out and About Day, I’ll only clean the fridge and kitchen so I have somewhere to put groceries once we’ve done the shopping.
Saturday– If it is Out and About week, then I won’t have cleaned the house so I try and organise everyone with jobs so we can tackle the usually mammoth task of cleaning the home in preparation for the weekend- I like to make myself available for John if he ever wants to do something. This is usually my Rest Day.
On Sunday I will usually put on one load of laundry and this will be John’s clothes from work. I’ll get them washed and ironed today. We may do a quick Neat ‘n’ Tidy in the afternoon, so that we get a swift start to Monday morning but this doesn’t always happen.
This is the routine that I have created while in this house, in this situation. However, the routine changes with each move…and as the children get older. With ‘Miss A’ working 2 full days per week now, my laundry routine has changed. John also doesn’t come home for lunch nowadays which seems to give me a few extra hours in my day. I loved it when he came home from work but it did eat into my day a lot and I found I was often behind in work.
After being in a new house for a few months, allowing the new routine to settle, I ask John in what ways I can serve him better or more effectively. He does not like to answer this as we live by grace in our home but he has learned that I need this in order to focus- it is really helpful for me. So now, I try to always have the clothes washed, dried and put away. Does it always happen? No way! But it is a focus point…without it, we’ll never have clean clothes that are easily accessible but I’ll get loads of lessons done or wonderfully lavish meals cooked.
In summary:
Focus Areas:
Monday: Floors | Laundry
Tuesday: Bake | Meal Prep | Odd jobs
Wednesday: Laundry
Thursday: Finances | Grocery List | Meal Prep | Bake
Friday: Floors | Laundry | Bathrooms |
Alternate Friday: Out and About Day | Clean fridge
Saturday: Quick Clean | Rest Day
Sunday: Neat ‘n’ Tidy | One load of laundry
Christian Biographies
A few years ago, I felt strongly impressed of God to read more biographies of believers to my children. We have read some of the book published by YWAM and the Trailblazer books by Dave and Neta Jackson
New Creation Teaching Ministries is an excellent teaching ministry that John sat under for years.
John Bunyan
http://www.newcreation.org.au/books/covers/297.html
George Muller
http://www.newcreation.org.au/books/covers/326.html
John Newton
http://www.newcreation.org.au/books/covers/285.html
Charles Spurgeon
http://www.newcreation.org.au/books/covers/278.html
George Whitefield
http://www.newcreation.org.au/books/covers/288.html
John Knox
http://www.newcreation.org.au/studies/pdf/johnknox.pdf
all by Rev. Dean Carter
Great for adults and high school aged students.
And some more links from my bookmarks:
Christian Heroes
http://www.christianheroes.com/
Christian Biography Resources
http://www.wholesomewords.org/biography/bio.html
List of carefully chosen biographies for purchase at Grace and Truth
http://www.graceandtruthbooks.com/biographies/default.asp
Biographies of Baptised Believers
http://www.21tnt.com/biographies.htm
Sword of the Lord Biographies
http://www.swordofthelord.com/biographies.htm
Fire and Ice: History & Biography
http://puritansermons.com/hist.htm
James Kiefer’s Christian Biographies
http://elvis.rowan.edu/~kilroy/JEK/home.html
Awake and Go! Biographies
http://www.watchword.org//index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3&Itemid=4
Biographical Sketches at DesiringGod
http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/Biographies/
Spiritual Journeys of Great Christians at In Touch Ministries
http://www.intouch.org/myintouch/mighty/portraits/index_77957.html
Christian Biographies, Biographical Sketches, Puritan Biographies
http://www.graceonlinelibrary.org/articles/default.asp?id=38
A few biographies at BibleBelievers
http://www.biblebelievers.com/biographies.html
Sir Wilferd Grenfell – To show the need to beware of FRAUD in “Christian” biographies
http://christianbeliefs.org/biographies/grenfell.html
Annie Johnson Flint
http://christianbeliefs.org/biographies/a-j-flint.html
These links are listed for your convenience and their inclusion does not necessarily signify that I agree with everything written on each site. The best policy is to “Examine everything carefully. Hold fast to that which is good. Abstain from every form of evil.”
1Th 5:21, 22,cf Acts17:11
Some of you may have seen the show on tv last night…or seen the book in the shops…or heard the latest rave…all about the new book called The Secret.
I haven’t read it, nor will I. (Mind you, I’m not one to shy away from reading a book just because it is controversial…but this book is catching so many Christians unawares.) I have a few online friends who have read it and wrote about it and as I’ve read their posts and spoken with them, I know that I will not read the book- I believe it is contrary to God’s word, even though it sounds all spiritual and is apparently being used in some churches.
I’d like to list a few links for those who are interested:
Baptist Press – First Person, The Secret by Don Whitney
World Net Daily – Oprah’s got a secret by Joseph Farah
Robin’s thoughts– from Heart of Wisdom and she also writes here on her new blog: Looking for the secret.
Bill Muehlenberg posts his thoughts here and here.
Don’t just read this information and keep it to yourself. As parent’s we need to understand WHAT we believe and WHY…so that we can teach our children the truth of God’s word. Share your learnings with your children- inoculate them against false teaching and error.
Yesterday we started our new read aloud! Book Two in the Kingdom series. I blogged about Book One (Kingdom’s Dawn) and we zipped through it in excitement so we could start Kingdom’s Hope.
This book spans the time from Moses to Malachi. It is has on the edge of our seat each day. I get goosebumps while reading it. If you haven’t checked this series out yet, please do! It will be well worth your effort to source them.
Visit the website to learn more!
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Justice
God, help my children to love justice as You do and to “act justly” in all they do.
For the LORD is righteous, he loves justice; upright men will see his face.
Psalm 11:7
He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.
Micah 6:8
In the last post, I wrote about using unit studies in the homeschool. In this post (part 2), I want to write in a more practical way and show exactly how a unit study can be accomplished.
How can I plan a unit of study?
Let’s consider a unit on ‘Ancient Eygpt“, a unit that we spent several months on and thoroughly enjoyed. The older child could read a biography or (fictional) diary and then orally narrate to the rest of the family. Or, she could try a written narration or prepare a factual report on a character or event. The younger child could dress up and role play or act out a scene from a book. The family could make recipes or crafts, draw and diagram maps, watch videos and visit museums together. You may like to look at the diet of the people and subsequent problems (deficiency’s, illness etc), to the terrain and climate of lands explored, other cultures that influenced or impacted Ancient Egypt (now, there’s a long rabbit trail) and so on.
Some people say that this is too hotch potch for them and they would like a more chronological or systematic approach. Easy! You can study history chronologically and integrate your other subjects around that. Some people prefer to only use units for the Social Studies and keep Math?s and English (Language Arts) separate. This is fine too. Whatever works for your family.
Here are the subjects that I try to include when thinking of relating topics:
Bible, Literature, History, Science, Language or Vocabulary, Independent Reading (Fiction and non-fiction, biographies, diaries), Composition or various forms of Narration, Poetry, Copywork, Applied Math, Foreign Language (if at all applicable), Art Appreciation, Music Appreciation, Geography, Current Events, and craft or hands-on activities.
Maybe an example will help you too see what it can look like.
Ancient Egypt
Bible (Joseph & Moses),
Literature (Golden Goblet, Mara, Daughter of the Nile)
Poetry – Ozymandias
History (culture and times of Ancient Egyptians)
Narration of reading and other learning
Applied math– structure of pyramids
Foreign Language– (hieroglyphics) No, I’m not kidding
Art- Ancient Egyptian artwork and architecture-reading about it and trying it yourself
Music – instruments and celebrations
Geography– ancient – modern -drawing/tracing maps including landforms and landmarks.
Craft– dressing up, making Egyptian style sandals, Nile River models, model pyramids.
Now, if all this seems too complicated, let me assure you that it isn’t. Your local library should have plenty of books on these topics. Just have them in the lounge room and let the children peruse them and be prepared to go with their excitement! One thing I find that kills this excitement is a feeling or sense of “Quickly, let’s hurry up and finish this topic so that we can move on“. That sentiment is really like a wet blanket.
If you?re a beginner at incorporating subjects you could just try to start with a few simple ones. Choose a family read aloud to go along with your history study and look at a good book that relates to the artwork or architecture of the period. That’s it to start with, but I can fairly confidently assure you that it won’t end there. History and geography go well together and from there you can start to add in art, music and literature.
I hope this encourages other homeschooling families, to live and learn together.
Go to Part One | Part Two
Susan 2002
Homeschooling Multiple Ages…
(first written in 2002)
Do you have each of your children doing separate studies? Do you long to have a more natural family oriented approach to your homeschooling journey? How do you homeschool with more than one child, and all at different ages?
Firstly, the most important point is to visit the Throne Room! It is good to be able to listen to others and be willing to adapt and change our own ways but what suits one family, may not suit another. It’s good to always consult the Lord God before running off with new ideas, no matter how good they may seem.
It’s good to always consult the Lord God before running off with new ideas, no matter how good they may seem.
As I said earlier, each family is different and each needs to seek the Lord for their direction. Some common threads that seem to work for most families are to have some sort of schedule. This might be to attend to ones own chores (bedroom, hygiene etc) and then make the house reasonable presentable. I don’t mean spick and span because we’d never get around to lessons, but we at least need fresh coffee cups!
Lessons often take around 2-4 hours, varying with the different developmental levels of the children. Afternoons are often taken up with music practice, library visits, grocery shopping, visitors, gardening, business needs, ministry, reading or community services just to name a few. Sometimes your high schooler may need to work in the afternoons to finish assignments or study. Other families with a baby find it easier to do some lessons with the children in the afternoon, when baby is napping.
Don’t forget to foster the attitude of servant helping in your older children by asking them to teach the younger children.
Don’t forget to foster the attitude of servant helping in your older children by asking them to teach the younger children. It can be very beneficial for the older child to have to explain a concept over and over in a variety of ways to a younger brother or sister. ‘Miss A’ , my 11yo helps John, her 7yo brother, with his Maths? and phonic instruction and sometimes he just doesn’t get it. She has to then think of other ways, which she may not have thought of before, to try to help him understand. This builds the families relationships as well as cementing in the older child many valuable lessons. Lessons such as, not everyone is the same, and we are all different as an example. As she must ponder the basics it is also being reinforced in her own mind, which we have found extremely helpful. Try it!
I must say from the onset that Miss Mason was not totally in favour of units or unit type of studies. However, Miss Mason was in charge and responsible for a school, not a family. God has placed me here, in this family to work to His Glory and that is what I am to seek.
I always keep that in the forefront of my mind. My situation is very different to that of Charlotte Mason?s. I am a wife, a mother of 4 blessings, a homekeeper, laundress and all those things that fall into the domestic realm. These things I do alone, with the help of my servants like the washing machine, dryer and microwave etc. However, I wear many hats and homeschool teacher is one of them.
So, considering this, I asked myself- is there any value or merit in units? Yes, I believe so! If we were to follow a boxed curriculum I doubt that any of my children would be studying the same thing at similar times. I think that for me, this would spell *burnout* with a capital B. I don’t believe that we need make a unit study out of everything. Sometimes that can lead to overload. However, if we were to use the eldest child as the (yardstick) then all of the children could end up having a liberal education but with the benefit of studying together. If the eldest child is studying ‘explorers’ in history study, why can’t the family all study explorers? Keep in mind that we will never teach our children all that they will know. Is that the goal though? Or is your goal one of instilling a love and desire of learning and equipping them with the skills to be able to research whatever they wish to?
Keep in mind that we will never teach our children all that they will know
A lot of boxed curricula appear to approach learning with a mentality of “just put in the facts over a 12 year period and then voila! Down the track, out comes a “well educated” individual. If only life were like that, it may work but I’m sure that we know differently. Textbooks aim to cover *everything*; all the vital and important facts that everyone ought to know. How many students know these all important facts at the end of Year 12 and continue to remember and use them in their later life?
I must admit the scope and sequences look very impressive and the Education departments may like them too. It can reassure us, as parents that our children must be learning a lot, learning what they should be at the right age. However, in the scope of an entire lifetime, what does it all really mean? Does this scope of study necessarily mean the child has a desire to know more or does it assist in creating a curiosity about things or does it simply help the student to pass the next exam?
I would encourage all new homeschool mums to take upon a theme and linger over it for a period of time. Your child and you will be learning much, much more than just one subject. You could use a scope and sequence chart to check off all the areas that you have studied but the ticks may not be nice and neat straight down the page. They will be all over the place, from Kindergarten to Yr 12. Have a really good look at a scope and sequence of a science or history program. How many times are the topics repeated? They are, supposedly, building concept upon concept but they are designed for a school system, not a homeschool system.
In all this, I’m not saying that you must ignore your state requirements or authorities. If, for example, your state requires that your student must study astronomy in grade 5, then go ahead, by all means and study astronomy along with the whole family! In a unit approach your families learning can become a way of life! It can assist in building curiosity and independent thinking in the children (and maybe even yourself). Learning can become more meaningful. No longer need the children cry “Oh, what does this have to do with me? Why do I need to learn this?” Most importantly, you can all learn together. Your child will learn more about true education by watching you, than sitting through a hundred dry texts.
In the next post, I will continue my thoughts and look at how we can practically go about using unit studies in the homeschool.
Part One | Go to Part Two
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What do those orange RSS or XML buttons that abound on sites mean?
They are the latest rage…but more than that they are incredibly handy and a great time saver- perfect for the busy homeschool mum! You can receive newsfeeds or feeds from many sites including news, movies, blogs and ecommerce stores and more! It’s also a great feature for those on dial-up connection as you don’t have to surf the Internet for updates…the information that you want, comes to you!
RSS” means “Really Simple Syndication.” What it means to you is that when you subscribe to a site that has an RSS feed, you can keep up-to-date without having to check the site every day or week.
Most people are interested in many web sites whose content changes on an unpredictable basis, like this site. Repeatedly checking each site to see if there’s any new content can be time consuming. RSS is a great way to be notified of new and changed information. Notifications of changes to multiple web sites are handled easily, and the results are presented to you in a well organised format. You may have seen the RSS icon on various web sites or blogs (this one included). This icon lets you know that there’s content to which you can subscribe and view using an RSS reader.
You might have seen some of the little icons on various sites…if so, you might also have been confused by them! I hope to simplify the mystery a little for you and enable you to get started with RSS feeds.
How do you get started? It’s fairly easy!
With an RSS reader you can subscribe to many feeds and read the new entries all in one place, without having to visit individual Web sites to find out what’s new.
There are several different kinds of RSS readers. Some are dedicated programs for viewing RSS feeds, but they cost money and most homeschool mums would rather spend their money on books, especially when there are some great free feed readers available.
You can also view RSS feeds through web sites such as My Yahoo!, or my personal favourite, Bloglines.
Many web browsers also have built-in RSS support – Firefox, by “Live Bookmarks”, Safari has a built in RSS reader and even IE 7 will (although beta) support RSS.Windows — RssReader and Google Reader are popular online feed readers available for download. Need more information? Here is a short video that explains the concept…
Below is a short, 3.5min video which explains it very well. If you are confused about using RSS feeds but want to know more, this video is for you. The short video will teach you why feeds are good and how to set one up. This video will teach you, the homeschool mum, how to make the most of your time. Let me know if you find this sort of information helpful.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0klgLsSxGsU
There! You should be set to receive the information that you want, while saving time to get on with the things that you want to do.
Why don’t you subscribe to my blog and receive post and comments via RSS?
Today is Labour Day! It is a public holiday in Queensland. Yahoo! But many people don’t know what significance this holiday has for them. Do you know? Do your children know?
Labour Day is a public holiday in recognition of when workers won the right to a reduced work day of 8 hours in the late 1850?s. Their struggle was founded under the philosophy that each day should consist of 8 hours for work, 8 hours for recreation and 8 hours for sleep. The Stonemason?s spearheaded this campaign and after a long battle, the unions eventually achieved their aim and they held parades to celebrate the victory. Before this time, workers were required to work 10 to 12 hour days, six days a week. (Whew!) The five-day 40-hour week was achieved almost a century later in 1948. The first parade was held in Melbourne on 21st April 1856. How does your town/city or state celebrate Labour Day? How did you spend your public holiday?
I have made a sheet that can be printed out and used as a prompt. You can download it here.
Let me know if you find it useful and if you’d like to see more sheets like this.
In His Grace,
Susan <><
I enjoy Belinda’s blog…don’t you? Why don’t you pop over and subscribe to her blog? Anyway, today she wrote a post on shopping and how it relates to home-schooling and this led me to thinking about some of the adventures we’ve had while shopping.
One night, John and I thought about getting take-away for tea. It was late, we were all tired…but we couldn’t make a unanimous decision on what to order. So instead of takeaway, John took us all to the local supermarket. He gave everyone $5 each and told them they had 10 minutes to choose their food and then we’d go home and eat it together!
Everyone had the opportunity to buy whatever they wanted. Firstly, I will say that the first time we ever did this took a little longer than 10 minutes. The children all ran around putting their favourite foods into their basket. But when we all got together again they saw things in other’s baskets that they desired and became confused. Some of the children grabbed delicious, yummy food but it wouldn’t have filled them up (one child chose a whole packet of TimTams but didn’t have much money left).
After some (make that LOTS of) discussion, they finally figured it out! They joined forces!
They formed into pairs and went about choosing their meal again! They worked together and looked at quality of foods and their own little budget. They also saw that they got to have a wider variety of foods this way. It was a fantastic exercise!
We arrived home and had a FEAST. We had heaps of fun that night. It has become a treat for us instead of getting takeaway. Not only is it cheaper (A venture to MacDonald’s can cost us well over $35 so we don’t do it often)…not only is it yummier…not only is it more fun…but it is very educational! Everyone is happy (and satiated).
Share some of your ideas for teaching budgeting and shopping skills. I’d love to hear from you!
In His Grace,
Susan <><
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Mother’s Day is just around the corner. What are you planning?
My mother isn’t on this earth anymore. She graduated and went to be with the Lord nearly 10 years ago. While she was here with us, my children had opportunity to see for themselves how I still honoured her as my mother. Now she isn’t here, I look for similar opportunities to teach my children how to serve and bless others.
Mother’s Day can be a day filled with self indulgent motives and consumerism which often teaches our children that money and gifts can buy happiness. I don’t want to impart this to my children. However, this day can also send other messages…ones which may not be entirely what we want our children to receive.
Some people have been surprised to learn that I encourage my children to bless me on Mother’s Day (and Dad on Father’s Day). While they are still young, I am teaching them HOW to bless others… impart to them a desire to serve. While I can live quite happily without being spoiled on Mother’s Day, it is for the children that I do this. That sounds rather pious, but it truly is my heart’s motive.
As a mother who chose to stay at home and teach her children, I am aware that this was my choice to live this lifestyle. I dearly want my children to have similar values. But if they see my life as not appealing…then how or why would I expect that they would desire it? If they see me moping around the house often, complaining and not living in joy, then why on earth would they choose a similar life? If all they see is mother being a martyr then they may ‘hear’ that the home-schooling lifestyle or even the lifestyle of motherhood is not one they want. Oi voi! I hope not!
We have such special opportunities to teach our children the value of family through our own life experience. The children don’t know me as ‘a child’. Naturally, they think that I’m an adult, all grown up. And I am. But I’m also a child and will be as long as my father is alive. But even more so, I will always be a child as my heavenly Father is eternal. We need to teach our children what it means to know God as father…and part of this means being a child, being parented by God.
My older girls have a heart to bless others and they bless me without any prompting. However, my boys are still a little younger (9 and 11yo) and they still need some guidance and prompting in this area. It is also good for them to learn these lessons as I believe it will help them to love and honour their own wives, when they have them. The day will come when I will no longer encourage or prompt them to think of me on Mother’s Day…it will be totally up to them. I hope I will handle that time with love and grace.
I encourage you to think about Mother’s Day. What messages do you send your child regarding motherhood? Think about what legacy you’d like to leave your children…what lessons can you teach through this day? Your children will not always be young, and the time for teaching these sorts of lessons will not always be so ripe. Make the most of it! Pray and discover how you can creatively impart life values to your child and teach them the important lessons in life. Drop me a line and let me know how you plan to spend Mother’s Day.
The new Carnival of Homeschooling is over at Dewey’s Treehouse! It is a truly inspirational carnival.
If you can’t remember when or where the next carnival is to be held, just come back to my blog, look down the left hand side of the page and you’ll see that information.
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Day 6
A love for God’s Word
May my children grow to find Your Word “more precious than gold, than much pure gold; [and] sweeter than honey, than honey from the comb.”
The fear of the LORD is pure, enduring forever. The ordinances of the LORD are sure and altogether righteous. They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold; they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the comb.
Psalm 19:9 & 10