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Month: April 2008

HOWTA Book Study: Ch. 2

Chapter 2

God Called you to be a part of His Plan.

Here we are in chapter two of the Heart of Wisdom Approach. In this chapter, Robin is going to address the common feeling of fear and calling. She has taken the basic foundation of living as a believer and related that to home schooling!

Fear is an obstacle that can hinder us in our spiritual and home school journey. Sometimes those fears arise from life circumstances and other times, they are more home school related. Robin tells us that it was during the writing of the HOWTA that she received some tragic news that she had to shoulder alone. Yet, within moments of taking the burden to the Father she felt unburdened and she knew that God was in control.

It was once Robin let go of her fear, her burden, that she was able to function fully, with joy and purpose. The object of her joy was God, but not because she was resigned to accept the situation, rather because she knew that God was in control.

Robin goes on to say that as Christians we have a viewpoint (perspective) that is different to a non believer. As believers, we can have trust in God (trust that produces peace) amidst hard times whereas non-believers tend to experience anxiety and worry due to fear.

With regard to home schooling, fear comes from many sources: what method to use? What curriculum? What subjects? How many hours to school? Learning styles? Socialisation? High School? Family/friends thoughts? Housework? Aackk, where does the list end?

Robin encourages us to remember that we need not worry about curriculum or home schooling issues! Philippians 4: 6-7 tells us that: “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; 7 and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

Robin also reminds us that God wants to develop patience and endurance in our lives: And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us. ~ Romans 5:3-4

But how do we acquire this faith?

So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. (Romans 10:17)

Robins points out something very interesting ;

  • We have fear or concerns about home schooling. We need faith.
  • Faith comes from spending time in God’s word.
  • Home schooling gives us opportunity to spend this time.
  • When we home school by following God’s plan, our faith grows’our worry diminishes AND we teach our children!!!!

The book then talks to us of Moses and the leading of the Israelites out of Egypt. God told Moses all that He would do and Moses was still anxious! He tried to give God reasons why he couldn’t do the task. Hey, how many of can relate to those objections? Lack of eloquence, (lack of academic knowledge, etc) and fear that the Israelites wouldn’t listen (How many times have you heard or said, “Oh, my children don’t listen to me like they do their teacher”?.

Is our task as hard as Moses call? God called Moses and he enabled Moses. He’ll do the same for you! Trust in Him, that He will provide all your needs, even in the home schooling aspect.

Robin goes on to encourage us to have faith in God. Rather than declare that we can’t or that we aren’t smart enough, patient enough, time enough or anything else, we can declare that you will walk by faith, not by sight.

We need to seek God to learn how He thinks.

“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts. “For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, And do not return there, But water the earth, And make it bring forth and bud, That it may give seed to the sower And bread to the eater, So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it. ~ Isaiah 55: 8-11

Robin tells us that “The root of our weakness will always lie in not trusting God, step-by-step, moment-by-moment. We can only be as strong in faith as we are in direct communication with God, it is then that He will work in us the fullness of Christ.” (page 36-37)

Take heart! Those whom He calls, He equips. He knows what your children will face in the future, and He will give you what you need to educate them in the way they need to be educated. Just trust in Him for what you need.


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Points to consider privately

  • Do you have any fear that you are making the wrong choice in home schooling your child/children?
  • Do you know that you are able to give your children a good education?
  • Do you know that you will be able to accomplish this task of home schooling.
  • Why are you home-schooling?
  • Are you home schooling with a purpose?

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Some articles for further reading

Your Turn! Were you homeschooled?

I managed to keep up with blogging while moving interstate and living in apartments but since moving into our home I haven’t kept up with anything online. So Your Turn! is a little late but here is another one…

Your Turn! Were you homeschooled?

If so, please share of your homeschooled experience. If not, you can share your schooling experience anyway.

As usual, either post a comment here or post a link to your own blog where you might have posted on this issue previously.

HOWTA Book Study: Ch. 1

HOWTA

Chapter One
Homeschool Journey- Escape from Public School

 

 

 

 

In this chapter, Robin tells of their journey from public school to bringing the children home and the path they trod since. She likens their journey to the Exodus- the escape from Egypt. For those who are not familiar with this story, it might pay if we all refresh our memories. Start in your chronological bibles and read from Exodus 1 onwards. Briefly, the story tells about the Hebrews being set free, their walk in the wilderness, God providing, their looking back and of their entering the Promised Land- a land flowing with milk and honey.

 

Just as God set the Hebrews free, Robin tells of their story- their being liberated – being grateful for being home.albeit in a typical school-at-home setting. Then, Robin tells how she started to feel doubts, panic, unbelief just as the Israelites started grumbling after a few weeks of being led around the wilderness. Robin tells that she started to look back to Egypt, the ways of the school system. But it was about this time that she knew she needed to find a better way.

God provided nourishment each day! The Israelites didn’t need to hoard as God gave them fresh manna each day. During this parallel time, Robin started devouring information on learning styles, methods, and approaches. Soon the Israelites began to doubt and fear that they would ever reach the Promised Land and Robin seems to convey that she felt similar- that she was still ‘looking back to Egypt’. She felt that this was a fear based work and it wasn’t trusting in God as Jehovah Jireh-the Lord provides.

After time, Moses died and God speaks some VERY significant words to Joshua.
“Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night.” This was the time where Robin and her family started feasting on God’s Word day and night!

All throughout the story of the Exodus we can see God’s mercy, His grace and His justice. We can see how God used an ordinary man to achieve an extraordinary task. Robin encourages us to leave Egypt but then to go the distance into the Promised Land. Robin tells us that the moment academics begin to direct us, or slow our pursuit of God, it (academics) goes from being a helpful tool to the ‘cares of this life’.

Robin goes on to tell us that simply changing resources and/or utilising different methods were only surface changes- that deeper work was necessary and that came from being in God’s word and coming to an understanding of the knowledge of God.

Articles to read for further study and reflection:
One Needful Thing
Academic Requirements

LINKS
Heart of Wisdom
Purchase the HOWTA book: buy the book and view many sample pages
HOW Teaching Approach: for articles and further reading.

Helpful tools.
Science ~ All about God’s Creation
Math ~ About God’s order
History ~ About His-Story, His plan for the world and the redemption of His people
Government ~ How God has established human government for specific purposes
Language Arts ~ How to tell others about God’s truth (both writing and speaking)
Literature ~ To read of how He has affected other lives
Economics ~ To understand stewardship, God’s rules about money
Arts ~ To appreciate God’s gifts of music, drama, dance, and art, as forms of worship to Him
Health ~ To learn of God’s plan for nutrition and health

Discussion starters: (or points to consider privately)

  • Where are you? Are you in Egypt? Greece? Wilderness or The Promised Land?
  • Are you hoarding or storing up nourishment instead of receiving it from God on a daily basis?
  • Do you look back to ‘Egypt’ (school system or other system)?
  • Share your journey of homeschooling.
  • On page 27, Robin talks about academics being important tools. What are ‘academics’ to you? Are they a goal…a destination? Why do we study English.or Maths?
  • Share anything that touched you or ministered to you from Chapter one.
  • Have you had, or are you experiencing, a paradigm shift or a renewing of the mind? Care to share? By what process is your mind being renewed? If you aren’t undergoing a renewing of the mind, are you ready to seek God…to leave Egypt and gain a ‘heart of wisdom‘?

HOWTA Book Study: Preface

HOWTATwo years ago, I had the opportunity to lead an email discussion group while studying the Heart of Wisdom Teaching Approach (herein referred to as HOWTA) by Robin Sampson. I’d like to share the chapter summaries and things I’ve pondered here.

Heart of Wisdom Teaching Approach Book Study

PREFACE
The first sentence sums it all up! The HOW TA begins with the Bible as the centre of education, with all subordinate studies taught through the light of God’s Word.. This tells us what we can expect from the book. Robin Sampson then goes on reminding us (or in some cases it might be informing one for the first time) that we need to make the very most of whatever time we have left.

Robin then shares what the Hebrews thought of ‘the heart’ in contrast to what or how the Greeks believed to be important. She tells us that the Hebrews believed;

  • The Heart is the centre of our Intellect.
  • The Heart is the centre of emotions.
  • And the Heart is the centre of our wills.

Robin then shows us the two trains of thought regarding wisdom.

1) Wisdom from God, as sought after by the Hebrews and

2) Wisdom of the world, as sought after by the Greeks.

Learning the differences between the two trains of thought have helped me in many ways. It has enabled me to see the worldview behind many things. It has been really important for me to see these differences, especially in the area of ‘education’ as I can see how far I had strayed from God’s Word in the training and teaching of my children.


Lord, help us to make the most of our time and resources. I don’t want to be idle, to waste my time on empty pursuits yet I find that I do these very things. Lord, bring me back to you more and more. Father, give me wisdom…that this wisdom may be seen as a witness by my husband, children and others that I come in contact with each day. Lord, renew my mind.

LINKS
Heart of Wisdom
Purchase the HOWTA book: buy the book and view many sample pages
HOW Teaching Approach: for articles and further reading.

Points for further reflection and study:

  • Have you ever been ‘awakened’ by a tragedy? Would you like to share?
  • What would you change if you realised you only had a short time left here on earth?
  • Have you learnt of the differences between Greek and Hebrew thought? Would you like to share?
  • Please check back next week (subscribe to the RSS feeds) as I share some more from this wonderful, insightful book.

HOWTA Book Study: Introduction

HOWTAIt’s HOWTA Book Study time.

Introduction

Who likes to cook? Prepare yummy nutritious meals for their family? Do you have a favourite cookbook? Are you the type who follows the recipe to the letter or do you like to add variation by supplementing or complementing the dish? Do you overly stress about meal planning? Do you even meal plan? How far in advance do you plan?

See, I reckon that we’d have many different responses here, based upon our different personalities and backgrounds. The HOW TA is similar in approach. Robin has recognised that we need to eat nutritiously! That we need to use some key ingredients, but that they may vary from time to time…but every recipe has a key ingredient that simply cannot be left out- the dish will not be right otherwise!

So we set about baking a cake. We assemble the flour, eggs, sugar, butter and choc chips. 😛 Then, we cream the butter and the sugar, add in the other ingredients and bake it in the oven. Next, we ice our cake with some fudge frosting cake, decorated with a few sliced strawberries on top, with a dollop of whipped cream. We try to exercise control as we have one moderate piece with a nice hot cup of tea. 😉

Here we have a basic recipe with ingredients, a method of preparation and an outcome.

Robin likens our endeavours of home education to this; we have the:

  • Ingredients ( Bible, books, video’s etc) and we have:
  • Certain methods ( 4 step method, copywork, narration, scrapbooking, literature based, etc) and we have:
  • A desired outcome (presentation and consumption of good ideas)

The HOWTA contains two main recipes. One is a recipe that we should consume on a daily basis and that is God’s Word. The second is a recipe for a unit study. Robin tells us that we are free to adapt this recipe to suit our family’s needs. Let’s dig in and have a closer overview of the Main Course eh?

The Main Course – the main dish/ingredient in our main course is the Bible.
Well, how many times have we said, “Well duh, of course!” and then continued on our merry way? Or am I the only one who has done that? 😳

HOW provides a Bible approach in the way of chronological readings along with various nutritious seasonings like Bible study tools. You need to work out the exact measurements for your own family though. That’s the beautiful thing about it! It isn’t purely a One Size Fits All meal. Have you ever eaten a pre-packed TV dinner? They’re okay when you’re in a pinch (they might serve a purpose) but ya can’t live off them regularly and expect to be healthy!

Okay, do we have any side dishes and side dish recipes? Of course- every good meal does! Ours include the study of history, science and life skills. Also included are living books, video’s, and the Internet. What about a sprinkling of geography, composition, religion, government, economics, and more? Sure thing! Robin tells us that all we need to complete our meal is a dish of maths, phonics, a foreign language and other electives.

Now, let’s move on to planning the meal! We have the recipes, we have the side dishes. We have the method of how to prepare it. Robin encourages us to NOT leave out the Essential Ingredient – the Bible. But this meal planning business? Well, the HOWTA even helps us with that. Four years worth of meal plans! Okay, a schedule or plan to cover 4 years worth of study. Then repeat that three times and you have 12 years worth of meal plans!

Robin tells us that if we use the HOW teaching approach we can use the recipes provided (the HOW unit studies available) or we can devise our own recipes by modifying the recipes. I’ve found it helpful to also use the method in other lessons.whether or not I’m using a HOW unit study or not.

The HOW Teaching Approach book is compiled into five sections.

1) Lessons from Exodus
2) Rethinking Education
3) HOW Methods
4) HOW Instructions
5) Resources

LINKS
Heart of Wisdom
Purchase the HOWTA book: buy the book and view many sample pages
HOW Teaching Approach: for articles and further reading.

Any comments or questions so far?

Familiarity with Bible Terminology

Biblical terminology, vocabulary or jargon: do your children know it? Do you consider it important for them to know? Why? Why not?

The Bible can be hard to understand. It can seem like a foreign language. In a sense, it is. If you were going to go and live in another country where English isn’t spoken would you try to learn the native language in an effort to understand the people, the culture? Well, the Bible can be likened to that too! Learning the language, the terminology, the use of literary style…It’s hard work. It takes study. It takes time, effort, patience and diligence. It won’t happen in 10 min a day, especially if that 10 minutes a day is spent reading someone else’s thoughts on that country or language. Naturally, you’d be much better off to spend time directly learning that language eh. So I’ve been thinking that I’d like my children to have a better grasp on the Bible and God’s plan and purpose than I did…so how am I going about that? (you can see our approach to Bible study here)

What methods are you using to teach your child to study the Bible?

I’m not talking about curriculum or a book but what methods are you teaching your children to use so that they can continue with a lifelong love and habit of studying God’s word? I’d love to hear from you.

Academic Growth Spurts

Have you ever noticed a pattern to growth spurts? For a few months, during a growth spurt, my child might look like they’ve put on a little weight- they’ll look a little rounder. A few months later though, and their trousers become ankle freezers and their jumpers are too short. During this part of the growth spurt, they look as though they’ve dropped a couple of kg’s. They haven’t at all – they’ve simply shot up in height. I’ve noticed that sometimes my children grow horizontally and then awhile later, they’ll have a vertical growth spurt. It’s an amazing process to watch. 😀 Out then up, fill out then up. It’s also a process where one needs to have long arms as they will tend to eat us out of house and home. I can usually tell when my children are heading for a growth spurt (and by watching them I can also tell when I’ll need to buy them new clothes) as they start to eat more. Yeah, they become bottomless pits!

The academic mind is much similar to our physical bodies. There are times when a growth spurt is very obvious and I’ll observe that their thinking skills or knowledge base has been stretched in a horizontal way – they’re building on top of the knowledge they already have…they’re making connections of their own and figuring how information goes together. Then, there’s the academic-vertical growth spurt where they learn new information and it appears like there is great growth. During all this time, they need to be fed nutritious, healthy, rich mind food and a diet full of rich ideas written in an engaging style generous in literary quality and great truths in order for the whole person to be nourished.

Ever noticed that during times of growth spurt that the child can become a little clumsy or awkward? Sometimes they will seem like their coordination is slightly off or they’ll always be bumping into things or having little accidents. I wonder if this is because the body has changed and so the habitual habits (fine and gross motor skills) must also adapt. So it is with the mental growth spurts of children. The connections they make may not be entirely correct, they may use terminology that isn’t quite right, they may struggle with appropriate talk at a given time…much of this is part of the mental growth spurt stage. Just like a physical growth spurt, this stage needs good nutrition, exercise, stimulation, patience and time. There are some things that just can’t be rushed.

There are times when one of my children have had a voracious appetite for good books. I may not have seen much ‘output‘ from them during this stage. In fact, it seemed like they were a bottomless pit- devouring good books yet not putting on any weight. But then, a short time later, the growth spurt would come and I would have opportunity to witness the effects of their partaking in a rich diet- a growth spurt. Just as the height of an adolescent may not change yet the body is undergoing huge changes. The bones are developing, reaching maturity yet we don’t necessarily see these changes.

What I had to learn throughout all this was that all the stages are important and that I shouldn’t esteem one stage as more important that the other. I wanted to see the vertical growth spurt all the time. But I didn’t. I had to learn that it isn’t right, necessary or desirable to see vertical growth all the time… that all the stages of the growth spurt are important and necessary for a full, well rounded person. I am learning to observe my children more. Then I can decide what their needs are and set about meeting those needs. Everyday brings something new, something rich, something different, something exciting…take time to stop and look for the little things and then consider how to best meet the needs of your children.

Have you ever felt that your child was devouring information yet not doing much with it (output)? Have you ever noticed the different aspects within the growth spurt period? Does thinking this way change the way you view anything in your child or your homeschool?