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Homeschool Kindergarten - A Blast from the Past!

The "clean sweep" has finally made it to our files!  It has been a long time coming, and we finally pulled out and dug through all the old files full of papers collected over the past couple of decades of marriage!!  Hooray!

I found this old letter--originally written on May 20, 1999, when my three oldest children were 5, 3, and 15 months respectively.  Talk about a blast from the past!  They are now almost 17, 15, 13, and there's an additional 10-year old sister in the mix!

The original letter was in response to a friend's query about how we were handling homeschool kindergarten without pre-fab curriculum.

What is chronicled here is so very different from how we ended up having to handle it the fourth time around! (EL had three older siblings who were in middle and high school as she came along--and we had begun serious lessons and co-op participation and the like--so her homeschool kindergarten was decidedly different from this!)

So, here it is, in my own words, so very many years and so very many seasons ago.  For whatever it is worth...

Dear Heather,

Please forgive the incongruity of this letter... these thoughts are only moderately organized in my mind, so they may come out disjointed and/or confusing.  Sorry!  Also, what I'm doing this year, curriculum-wise, is so bound up in what I've already done, that I feel like I'll just have to share that, and get to the actual materials at the end.  Take or leave whatever, whatever it's worth...

(Inserted thought, at the end of it all: I read over this note, once I finished it, to see if it made sense, and it all sounds remarkable and wonderful and organized.  I feel inadequate and intimidated next to my own description of myself!  So, know that these things don't always happen as smoothly and consistently as this straight description makes it seem!)

Thoughts about homeschooling, and feeling overwhelmed: Every day I wonder if I can do this thing, and if I'll mess up my kids, and if they'll learn what they need to, etc...  I have a teaching degree and I fear these things a ton, so know that those feelings are part of it, no matter how "qualified" or "unqualified" you may be in the world's eyes...

Thoughts about how I began "schooling" for little ones (and how it wasn't really "schooling" at first, at all): My goal, before I ever began any academic training, was to be relatively certain that the important character-training issues were well underway in my home.  Thus, our first years have focused on things like:

*Discipline (obedience, contradicting/backtalk, arguing, throwing fits, etc.): You need to be reasonably sure you can expect your child to respond to you in obedience IN LIFE before you expect him to respond obediently in a teaching setting.

* Bible training (stories, memory verses, crafts, application, etc.): My kids began memorizing "ABC verses" from the time they were two.  I have sort of fallen into the realization that, in addition to filling their minds with God's truth in His Word, this has led to many other wonderful "by-products."  It was great training in self-discipline--memorizing and practicing and retaining something requires great diligence and self-control.  Also, letter and phonics recognition that just sort of happened along the way... for example, as they memorized the verse that began with "A," I showed them a big and little A and taught them that "A says a" (as in the short vowel sound in cat)... same with all the letters.  By the end of the memory program, they recognized most all the letters and beginning phonics sounds (short vowels and hard consonants) and I hadn't had to sit down and teach them, per se.

* Sitting still and quiet in certain settings: I've also sort of "stumbled" into realizing the huge by-product blessing it has been to train them to be quiet and still when they need to be.  They remain with us in church and meetings, they can go to the ballet and the symphony and any place like that when someone wants to take them, and they are primed for sitting still and quiet for learning/schooling scenarios later.

* Praying together: We pray about anything, but I make a point to pray with them at times other than just meal time.  Also, we have a "quiet time" together in the mornings, where we read and discuss a short passage of Scripture together--currently, a part of a Psalm each day.  This will eventually turn into their own personal devotion time; I just want to train them early to work this into their days, so that they won't have as much struggle with it later as I do!  This time is separate from "Bible time," which is a fun family devotion time Daddy does in the evening, which involves a story and discussion and some singing.  It is also separate from "Bible cards," which is a time I go through some A Beka Bible Flash Cards with them each day.  I've borrowed these from a friend who owns all the sets, and they are wonderful.  We are working on slowly obtaining some of our own, as gift money and stuff comes in for the kids.  This is what we do in the afternoon just before "quiet play time" (for EV-5) and "rest time" (for PT-3), which may or may not include a nap.  They love these Bible cards.

* Household skills (chores, cooking, gardening, organizing, etc.);  This is just worked into our life routine, but it also seems to teach much self-discipline... EV(5) and PT(3) make their beds, dress themselves, help fold laundry and put it away, set the table, load and empty the dishwasher, help me make food and bake bread, etc.  We have taught (by example and by what we demand of them) that "everything has its place," and that you must put it back there when you're finished with it.  We've only allowed play with one thing at a time, after which you put that away before you get out another thing, etc.  There are a lot of baskets and boxes and such in our home, such that "all the Legos go here," and "all the sewing cards go here," etc.

* Safety skills (memorized name/address/phone, fire & water skills, go meet a fireman and policeman, etc.)

* Motor skills--large and small: This is accomplished for us by (LMS) playing outside, walks and/or bike rides, hopping, skipping, climbing, trampoline jumping, etc. (SMS) sewing cards, Barbie and paper dolls, Playmobil guys, colorforms, PlayDoh, holding a pencil properly when drawing, coloring in the lines, using scissors to cut on lines or around pictures, etc.

*Educational-minded games: Early on, this is things like colors, body parts, animals, shapes, etc.  Later it is things like puzzles, KingSize Uno, rock/paper/scissors, tic-tac-toe, letter bingo, "memory" games, CandyLand, magnets, etc.

* Reading aloud: This is huge, I think, as far as teaching a love of literature, exposure to English cadence and language rhythm, vocabulary expansion, etc.  We read "non-picture books" from very early on: daily, a page or two, of books like Beatrix Potter tales (Peter Rabbit, etc.), Pooh tales (the original ones), classic fairy tales, etc. Also, Richard Scarry-type books for vocabulary expansion and exposure to things I can't actually take them to see...

* Going places ("field trips"): kids' museum, zoo, beach, park, etc.

* Ministry and service: We try to keep our eyes and ears open to needs within the Body and meet them when we can.  I try to really involve the kids when this happens (making & taking a meal to someone, watching someone's children for them, cleaning someone's house for them, etc.)--especially is if disrupts our usual "school routine"--and explain as we go how we're serving the Lord and His church by doing this certain thing.

SO, all of that is what goes in to stuff before I ever begin teaching anything "academic," per se.  With EV(5), and now PT(3), what I've begun with, after all this is at least moderately established, is "reading instruction."  I feel pretty vulnerable and silly sharing this, because it is so casual and "unofficial" (in the curriculum sense), and it is stuff I've just created myself.  (This is nice because it is then FREE!)  I made flash cards first of all with all the capital and small letters and numerals 1-10.  (I'm sure to include a goofy-looking small A like is in most printed material, and I make the 4 look both ways they'll potentially see it, etc.)  We go through those daily (for however long their relative attention spans will handle, and building to more daily as they get more used to doing it) until I'm relatively sure they know the letters and basic phonetic sounds as described above.  This is a relatively short phase for me because of the Bible memory lessons they already had, but I'd stay at this stage as long as necessary until I was sure they had it.  If it was taking a long time and being really boring, I'd read a ton of ABC books together, too, to speed it along.  Put letter magnets on the fridge.  Play letter match puzzle games.  Anything to reinforce the letters (and, for me, the simple sound that goes with it).

Next I went to making flashcards with two-letter words that follow "pure simple phonics" rules (short vowel/hard consonant). [A says a, T says g, a-t, at] etc...

After that I went to three-letter words of the same phonetic make-up.  This step was a little slower with EV than with PT.  She spent a while saying, for example, "B-at" (a two-syllable thing involving a "B" sound followed by the word "at" but not getting how to blend it all together) or "B-ox" and the like.  Spending some time with opening blends will help if this is the case (ba-, be-, bi-, bo-, bu-, bl-, br-, etc.)  After they've mastered the three-letter words (with or without opening blends practice), I move onto four-letter pure phonics words and a few "sight words" (the, because, is, was, etc.).  Don't introduce too many sight words at once or they'll get confused.  Just one at a time until they have it.

After they've gotten the concept of all that, and can read all those flash cards fluently and quickly, they are more than ready to move on to "real books," and I've borrowed from a friend just the readers to the "Sing, Spell, Read, and Write" program.  This is a great phonics/reading program with a lot of "bells and whistles" (music, singing, rhymes, etc.) that costs a couple hundred bucks.  My friend bought just the readers for $18.  (And I borrow them, so far, which costs nothing, though I've been on the lookout for my own set!)  The readers progressively take you through each phonetic rule they should learn, so we just work through them from book one (which is all short A vowel words put into stories).  We also occasionally check out the "Bob" books from the library just because they're fun and something different for her to read.  At this point PT(3) is reading the flash cards (and asking to move on to the books!) and EV(5) is in book 9 of the readers.

I let them go through those "preschool skills" book you pick up at dollar stores and stuff, a lot.  They do things like mazes and dot-to-dots and tracing on the lines and that sort of thing.  Iivo's mother gives them lots of these, too, so we've utilized the fact that they are here, for "free," so to speak.

During this time, as far as "arithmetic" went, we did numeral recognition and quantity concepts with a number puzzle we have that pairs up 1-24 numbers with pieces that have that number of things pictured on them.  We also spent time counting and manipulating poker chips in "math-y" ways.  Nothing official, again...

I hung up a manuscript ABC border in my kids' bedrooms, and in the dining room (our "school room") and they've both just learned to make the letters by looking up and copying them.  I taught them first to write their names (that's all PT(3) can do, and a couple of other letters) and then EV(5) would just seems to practice writing letters as she drew and colored and played in that way.  I bought one of those rubber pencil-grip things that makes them hold their hand properly, from the teachers' store, and I make them use that when they draw.  I let them learn to make their letters on unlined paper, and this year EV and I will work for the first time on official "penmanship."  I bought an A Beka book called Writing with Phonics K4 for this purpose.  It reinforces the phonics instruction while teaching them proper spacing and alignment for writing letters on lined paper.  (You have to order the manuscript edition special, if you want them to learn to print, as A Beka is big on teaching cursive early and they have cursive editions as the standard.)  I also bought Writing with Phonics K5, which I will move on to whenever we finish the K4 book.  The only other official "curriculum-type thing" I bought for this coming year for EV were the A Beka books called Letters and Sounds K and Number Skills K Arithmetic.  I didn't (and wouldn't) buy any of the teacher's manuals unless you are just a big teacher's-manual-type person.  The books themselves are rather self-explanatory at this stage, and the money will be better spent later, on other curricula, in my opinion.  I plan to cover these "disposables" workbooks with contact paper to keep them looking fresh and new, as I think that keeps the kids careful and tidy with their books.  Of course, they write directly in the workbooks, and I think I'll save them as part of a "record" filed away for later.  I also save the best of their drawings and crafty things they create and put them in a file, "for posterity," and to document things should anyone ever want to see it.

As far as "science" and "social studies" go this year, I have a vague sense that I will try to incorporate these things in casual, fun, free ways.  I have a hands-on preschool science experiment book that we may plan to do one or two days a week.  I also have hung a map, and I think I'll read stories to the kids from various locations around the world, and then mark those locations on the map with a little circle representing the story somehow.  I plan to use the story as a springboard for studying the other culture somehow.  (For instance, the Madeleine books to study about France, the Peng books to study about China, etc.)

I myself have never attended a curriculum fair, nor do I plan to attend one this year.  (I did go to just the A Beka demonstration this year because I wanted to see the books hands-on and find out just what level I though EV was ready for--and you get free shipping if you order them there!  I thought I could handle one guy, in one room, full of only one curriculum! ;)  I find myself too overwhelmed in life by the whole homeschool concept, and I refuse to allow myself to freak out and get too stressed out over kindergarten!  From what I understand, curriculum fairs can be desperately overwhelming!  

We're just slowly plugging along with whatever we can do for pretty much close-to-free, and I'm not sweating how it "officially" lines up with someone's idea of kindergarten.  I have requested a copy of the SOLs ("Standards of Learning") from the local school board, just so I'll know what they think a kid should be learning at this stage, but I don't feel too hyper about trying to teach right to that.  As far as opinions I have about various curricula: these I've obtained by just "picking the brains" of several homeschool moms that I admire and respect.  I figure it is worth finding out, from a variety of people, what has worked and what hasn't, in their experience.  THAT is more valuable to me than trying to swim through 10,000 books at a huge fair where everyone is trying to convince me that their stuff is exactly what I need.  My personality can be overwhelmed by that, and I know that I could become "convinced" that I "needed" far more stuff than I actually do, or can afford--especially for kindergarten!!

There is a homeschool co-op at our church that I have found invaluable as far as providing several things I can't provide by myself at home: "official" accountability with other homeschool moms, structured social interactions for my kids with other kids, opportunities for a "literary magazine" of sorts and for "oral presentations," a chance to learn and say the pledge of allegiance, exposure for my kids to other teachers and teaching styles, and all those sorts of things that can't happen so well with only one or two kids at home (organized PE games, drama and acting stuff, etc.)  I'd recommend finding some such group in your area, if there is one...

So, there it is, the Laurie hodge podge of what I've done and hope to do with my little preschoolers by way of "schooling" them.  As, as you can tell, all of it is quite casual and unstructured.  (Our reading instruction, for example, often happens with all of us piled into our queen-sized bed!)  Each of these things doesn't happen each day, by any means, but at least one of these things happens each day.

I don't know if I've helped you at all, or it I've just confused you and made everything worse.  Whichever is the case, feel free to write at any time with any questions or comments, or to share any of your own experiences and suggestions.  My "schooling" is ever-evolving and ever-incorporating as I share with other moms.  In fact, for most of the ideas expressed here, I need to give credit to the many mothers I've "stolen" ideas from.  (Thanks to Karen McD., Elizabeth T., Kathy T., Cheri D.!)

Partners in this crazy adventure of motherhood and education,

Laurie

Spring is coming!!

This is the sight that greeted me on the front walkway this morning on the way home from church!  The sunshine and surprisingly mild temperatures--together with the bright smile of this blossom--conspire to give me hope that spring is, in fact, just around the corner!

An Evening of Song

Our family was blessed to attend the Virginia Opera performance of The Valkyrie on Saturday night, because two of my children were performing with their handbell choir before the show and during intermission.  Memorizing artists and pieces for "music appreciation" takes on a whole new meaning when you've seen the show from which the piece came!  (Hence, "Flight of the Valkyries" by Wagner will now forever live in the memory in a different way.)

Here is a little sampling of the delightful handbell music--captured poorly on my phone, but captured nonetheless.  My youngest EL is the feisty little one on the left end; my son PT is the very tall one on the far right of the screen in the second video.

The Heart of Love

I found this sitting on a chair in the study this morning.  Turns out it isn't for me.  Well, at least not officially.  The ten-year old has made it for her grandmother--originally for Valentine's Day--but "(she) doesn't want to fold it," so it is being saved as a gift for the next face-to-face visit.

But whether I was intended to be the original recipient or not, the Lord used it to bless me this morning.

"Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age," Matt. 28:20, KJV.

Snow Day!

I know I am truly an adult because snow days usually now bum me out. Yes, I remember the quiet hoping (before) and the elated joy (after) the announcement from the "powers that be" that school had officially been canceled. But when I have planned a day's activities for my students at the homeschool enrichment group, I am almost always disappointed not to meet and carry them out as scheduled.

Today, however, I confess that I was not bummed. This morning I was not the disappointed teacher cursing the white stuff under her breath. I was the recovering flu patient who was as thrilled as any student not to have to report to studies today. Another day of rest! An extra few days to play catch up!

Oh, thank you, ultimate Power of "powers that be," for this beautiful reminder of Your mercy. Your creativity. And Your amazing, amazing grace.

"Wash me, and I will be whiter than snow" (Psalm 51:7).

 

 A few of my favorite spots, patiently awaiting spring...

 

Dads Understand

This was my daughter OG's favorite Superbowl commercial.  I love it, too!

So, I guess here's a little more free advertising for VW...

Tackling the Flu Naturally

I have not been sick in about five years.

Exactly to what I owe this blessing, I'm not sure, but I've enjoyed my long string of wellness very much!

For the past couple of days, however, I have been flat on my back in bed with a serious case of what I presume is the flu, which has been plaguing our community for the past month or so and which many of my friends, colleagues, and students have had.

I am so much better today that I feel compelled to share here what we did--there are three of us sick in our household right now--that has caused such a serious turn-around for us.

First, the progression of my sickness (if you're interested in knowing what it might look like early on so you don't miss it, like I did):

Two weekends ago I went to a movie night for our ASL club at a home with cats.  I am allergic to cats, but sometimes I can handle it, so we took separate cars and I decided to give it a go.  I stayed the entire time and paid the price for it for several days following with an irritated respiratory tract and difficult breathing.  However, it got better without my becoming terribly sick.  I assume that was simply the cat-ness.

This past weekend (Friday and Saturday), I again had difficulty breathing and a sore chest.  I assumed this was the result of some residual irritation of my respiratory tract from the cat-ness, made worse by some sanding I had been doing in the bathroom we're re-doing.  Looking back now, I assume that this was actually the start of this sickness.  Since I didn't recognize it as such, I did not do any of the usual "immune boosting" things we do when we feel like an illness might be coming on.

Sunday, I started with some other mild symptoms: fever of 100 or so, slight headache, coughing, irritated airway.  I did take it easy all day and took one dose of "immune stuff" (see below), but since I didn't feel all that bad and had few symptoms other than fever to indicate that I might be getting really sick, I failed miserably with the rules regarding staving off an illness naturally.  I stayed up late and watched the Superbowl.  I ate all the junky food we had planned to serve at the gathering we had canceled (chicken wings, Mexican dip, chips, soda).  I felt pretty bad by bedtime, so I took some Nyquil before bed and figured I'd "sleep it off."

Sunday night things took a serious turn for the worse.  I awoke with 102 degree fever; a deep, painful cough; a severe headache; aching in every joint and muscle in my body; a sore throat; a stuffy nose; dizziness; and eyes that hurt if I rubbed them.  I have not been so miserably sick in many, many years.  (I remember a stomach virus one particular Christmas during which I lay on the bathroom floor, unable to move, convinced I was going to die.  But not since then have I been that sick.)  It was a long, miserable day yesterday, and I felt absolutely awful.

I am rather shocked (and pleased) that today the fever is broken and I feel much, much better.  Since the friends who responded on Facebook told me to expect five days at least, and that I needed Tamiflu to get through it, I figured I'd share all the "wacky" natural things we did to knock this thing out fast.  Since I don't know which things helped and which didn't, and since I pulled out my entire knowledge of every natural remedy I'd ever heard of, I share here a pretty long list of "kooky" natural remedies.  Something worked!

Here's what we who were actually sick did: (For preventive measures, see below.)

* prayed  for healing
* stayed in bed all day resting/sleeping

* took "immune stuff" every hour or two all day (never on a totally empty stomach!):
- 1,000 mg vitamin C (I took 2,000 since I had a fever, and I never got diarrhea, the sign of too much)
- echinacea/goldenseal combination tablets
- garlic tablets
- acidophilus tablets
- zinc lozenges

* drank Vitamix shakes made with whatever whole fruits and vegetables we had:
- carrots & mixed greens
- strawberries, kiwis, pears, apples, cranberries, black currants
- homemade yogurt
- kombucha tea

* drank kefir and kefir d'uva
* drank hot tea (for me it was vanilla Sleepytime)

* ate chicken soup made with homemade chicken stock
* ate nothing else (especially no junk or sugar!)

* took a hot bath with Epsom salts and breathed deeply of the steam
* used the Neti pot
* covered our chests with Vicks Vapo-Rub

* gargled with Listerine mixture (half water, half blue Listerine)
* soaked inside of our ears with hydrogen peroxide

* took no drugs to lower the fever, since fever helps the immune system function better

I'm quite sure that many of you are totally wigged out by this list.  But I felt so absolutely terrible yesterday, and feel so much better today, that I felt compelled to share.  My friends who are trying Tamiflu and are still suffering after five days might just be miserable enough to try it!  I hope none of the rest of you need it, but I would highly recommend it if you find yourself coming down with it!

As for prevention, I'll let you know how it worked ultimately, but here's what the not-sick-yet members of our family are doing to try to stave it off:

* pray (for health, for wellness, for a strong immune system, for mercy)

* take "immune stuff" several times a day (never on an empty stomach!)
- 1,000 mg vitamin C
- garlic tablets
- acidophilus tablets
- zinc lozenges
- NOT echinachea/goldenseal, which your body develops a resistance to if taken too long

* eat only healthy food
* eat NO SUGAR, which suppresses the immune system significantly for several hours after consumption

* get plenty of sleep

I don't know if they'll successfully keep from getting it, but they are ahead of the game from me, who totally missed the symptoms when they were coming on.  I'll let you know!

A Sting in My Nose

This is a very tender, pensive time for me in regards to a lost friendship in my life.  I haven't chosen to blog about it because I never really know who is reading what is written here, and I don't want to make any "relational waves."  I'm aware that many people I know, were they to read any of the many confused, convoluted thoughts and feelings I've had over the past several years, might figure out who and what I'm referencing--and I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings or make anyone upset.

Today, however, I read some words on my friend Rachel's blog that have really stirred a reaction in me.  The Lord is using my reaction to her words to reveal to me just how much I have not been able to move on in healing after this particular relational break.

Just what did my friend's blog say?  Taken out of context (she was referencing her emotionally-difficult-but-very-rewarding new job as an oncology nurse, which often makes her cry), her words were as follows:

"There is something redemptive and beautiful about the process of vulnerability, fear, compassion, love, and tears."

The reaction I had?  It is a familiar one... one I've repeated countless times over the years since the rejection of my other friend.  It is complicated, and it goes something like this: I read those words, and a spark of recognition fills my heart with agreement and joy, but it is immediately eclipsed by a wave of extreme hurt that pricks my throat and my gut, causing tears to spring to my eyes and a little pain to rise in the side of my nose.  This reaction--which always catches me off guard and which is extremely unwelcome, given my complete inability to do anything about the unresolved relational break--is almost immediately swallowed away into cynicism.  My dear friend self-protection, who has come to be my constant companion these last five years, swoops in to save me from the pain of that brokenness.

The only problem?  It doesn't work.  And so at that point I choose to loop back around to the initial fleeting feeling of agreement and joy.  I camp there, preaching the gospel to myself and reminding myself what I know to be true of grace... of God's amazing, immeasurable grace... of the grace of this One who will never leave me or forsake me, even when others do.  I also choose, by sheer force of my will and surrender to the truth,  against my feelings, to believe that grace is also possible in human beings; that my husband, and my children, and the other people in my life with whom I've chosen vulnerability and realness, really can and do accept me and love me, in spite of all my many flaws and the myriad of ways that I may (read: will) hurt and disappoint them.

I spend my days walking with God... trying to stay tender and soft and supple in my heart... striving to stay open and real and vulnerable in my other relationships, despite the fear of rejection that always threatens to show its ugly face and rob me of the joy of grace-filled relationship... despite how the cynicism has subtly and irrevocably infected my feelings about the church we both once attended, rendering me unable to sit there and listen to messages about practicing humility, modeling authenticity, demonstrating love...

In short, I know that this unexpected, unwelcome response to certain things (a friend's words in a blog post, a song on the radio, a message in a sermon) belies the healing that I assumed had taken place.  Yes, the frequency of this surprise response has gone down as time has passed.  Yes, the time spent in the different stages of the loop has shortened.  I have mistakenly assumed that this means healing has taken place.

But the truth of the matter is that healing has not taken place.  Restoration has not happened.  And so, sitting a pew or two apart, pretending this horrible relational abandonment and rejection never happened, listening to messages about grace and "real relationship"... well, the words ring hollow at best.

Just this past week it was my youngest daughter's Language Arts lesson which arose to surprise me with this little loop.  It was nearly three years ago that this very same lesson surprised me over this very same issue and prompted me to blog about it:

"It's very simple," Herkimer told her. "To turn an enemy into a friend, all you have to do is love him."

"Love him? Are you sure? That doesn't sound easy at all. That sounds terribly difficult to me," Annabelle said.

"Oh, it is difficult, " Herkimer agreed. "Probably one of the most difficult things in the world. But I said it was simple, not easy."

From The Tale of Annabelle Hedgehog. Published by Lion Publishing, Batavia, Illinois. Copyright 1990 by Stephen Lawhead.

Still trying to figure it out, these many years later... this very simple, not-at-all-easy thing we're called to do.  And whenever the surprise cycle comes, I fall to my knees in my heart, silently thanking the Lord for His matchless, limitless grace, and "weep to the praise of the mercy I've found."  May I be continually transformed by His merciful Spirit to learn to love like He does, in spite of the reality of past hurts that leave a prick in my throat and a sting in my nose.

Lenore Doll

This is a toy my daughter saw on display today.  

On the box were the words,
"Lenore Doll: Adventures of a Cute Little Dead Girl."  

What in the world?!!

"A Run in the Park"

So, as long as we're working on posting the "extraordinary-to-be-found-in-the-ordinary" sorts of things as they come along, I will share a delightful little email my daughter EL received from her 70-something grandfather. He had apparently been using his WiiFit.

Dear EL,

Some happy thoughts fluttered through my mind when I took "a run in the park" and you were my guide. That was yesterday. Today, a grey cat guided me.  Love, Opa

Finding Gumption

It has been two months since I last wrote here.  That is unbelievable to me; but, then again, not really.

I wrote something a couple of weeks before Thanksgiving and here it is a month after Christmas.  I sort of just skipped two months!  Well, of blogging, yes.  Of life, not a chance!

I absolutely love the whole "holiday season."  I love Advent and all the Christmas traditions our family has come to love and enjoy.  The links are to posts from last year, where I wrote about those things.  It felt silly to write about them again this year.  And yet, in that beautiful, cyclical, ordinary way that life has of just marching on, it came around again.  We pulled out the Advent Banner again.  The kids shopped for each other again.  We once again made deliberate strides to skip the whole materialistic, "obligatory gift" overspend and to buy one large family gift of something we need but can't really afford if we blow hundreds of dollars on possibly-wanted-but-of-dubious-value stuff.  (This year: electronic collars for the dogs.  When you've tragically lost a beloved pet to the highway that borders your side yard, you get a little paranoid when your dogs are running around the backyard park not on a leash.  But when you have an English white lab, you absolutely must make allowances for running around the yard without a leash!  Hence, this year's family gift.  Those buggers are expensive!!)

At any rate, I've noticed that--as with all things--anything that is habitual and good, but that you get away from for a while, will be hard to get going again.  Consider flossing.  Working out.  That morning prayer time with your spouse.  Those evening gatherings with your kids.  All of these kinds of things take conviction... and commitment... and gumption to get back to them when life--or the Enemy of Your Soul, who hates all habitual, good things that you deliberately put in place in your life--finds you having abandoned them.  Blogging is one such sort of thing for me right now.  As each new un-blogged day passes, I find myself less likely to open the browser and go for it.  Too much else to do.  Too much I'm thinking about.  Not enough time to write.

What will I say?  What will possibly seem important enough to have been "worth the wait"?  Whatever I post after two months will likely seem inane and silly.  Why do I do this thing anyway?

I "do this thing anyway" because it is an exercise in capturing life... some big, important things I'm deeply pondering.  Some little, ordinary things that I want to remember.  You know... scrapbooking, for the rest of us.

I think of so many things I should have posted but didn't.  Cousins came to visit from Atlanta, and we all played in thirteen inches of snow!  (This never happens where I live!)  New calves were born at the farm where we get our milk.  My eldest daughter got her driver's license.  Big life events that I didn't capture here, but could have.

There were also countless little things... little things that caught my attention or warmed my heart.  Many of these were likely forgotten, because I didn't grab the moment and immortalize it through words.  So, here's just one, remembered because it was only yesterday.  Yesterday I walked into my bathroom, mid-morning, to find my youngest daughter in my bathtub... reading her history book!  She was surrounded by flickering candles, immersed in warm water.  Nate Saint, of whom she's reading right now, was coming alive in her mind... and she was enjoying the warmth of a mid-morning bath.  (This is one of the lesser known lovely perks of homeschooling: the mid-morning bath, complete with history book.)

If I could have gotten away with a photo to capture the memory in my mind, I would have.  For obvious reasons, however, I did not do so, and so it must live on here in words.  And thus I am reminded of the value of the silly little blog post, important to possibly no one but me.

Creation Calls

How Does A Homeschooler Change A Lightbulb?

This appeared in the HEAV Homeschool Update email that arrived today.  It made me smile.  I have often been guilty as charged... enough so that my daughter EV asked, laughing, "Did you write that?"

How Does a Homeschooler Change a Light Bulb?
First, mom checks three books on electricity out of the library; then the kids make models of light bulbs, read a biography of Thomas Edison, and do a skit based on his life. Next, everyone studies the history of lighting methods, wrapping up with dipping their own candles. Then, everyone takes a trip to the store where they compare types of light bulbs as well as prices and figure out how much change they'll get if they buy two bulbs for $1.99 and pay with a five-dollar bill.

On the way home, a discussion develops over the history of money and also Abraham Lincoln, as his picture is on the five-dollar bill. Finally, after building a homemade ladder out of branches dragged from the woods, the light bulb is installed. And there is light.
- Author Unknown

Imagine

Recently I received an email from a friend which contained a video attachment of a recording of John Lennon's "Imagine" featuring Deaf and hearing students signing and singing together.  (I'm assuming that it must be from the television show "Glee," which I've never seen.) I think she sent it to me because she knows that my daughters and I are all learning ASL (American Sign Language), and she (rightly) assumed that we would enjoy seeing the interpretation and song-signing of the Deaf students in that group.  It is a moving and enjoyable video.

That, I would venture to say, is part of the problem.  It is moving.  It is inspiring.  Seeing all the kids joining together to sign the song was a beautiful reflection of the message of unity and brotherhood attempted in that song.  However, we can't ignore the fact that the ultimate "peace" that is sought in the song "Imagine" is at the expense of Truth and reality. 

True peace (with God and with our fellow man) does not come when we abandon the realities of heaven and hell and just "live for today."  And while it is true that the "religion" of man, if void of relationship with the living God, is fruitless, it is not true that the idea of abandoning the Truth of our religion, Christianity, leads to a better way of life.  It leads to a less full life here, and to a life of eternal damnation after death. 

"I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and no one comes to the Father but by Me," Jesus said.  Seemingly "exclusive"?  Yes.  Incredibly divisive?  YES!  But that is the Truth upon which we stand.  And every day hundreds of believers around the world are murdered or tortured for their faith in God through Jesus. 

So, while one day there will be "no countries" (once Jesus has returned to take His children home to heaven), the reality we live in now is that there are many things "to kill or die for," because of the injustices foisted on our fellow human beings--particularly believers--by the unjust governments of those countries.  Many of our brave men and women in the armed forces, and those living on the mission field, are willingly facing this injustice in order to bring the Truth of the Gospel--or at least the beautiful freedom that makes the sharing of the message of the Gospel possible--to those lands where it is currently forbidden.

And so to "join them (those who dream of his 'better' life)"--as John Lennon indicates he hopes people will--would lead ultimately to a life here on Earth without relationship to God, which results in an eternal separation from Him in the life to come.   "Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels," Jesus said.

So, while it may have been a "great video," unfortunately, it is not a great song.  And things like this, when they move us--and it is a moving video--make a great impression on us.  I do long for the day when there will be true peace--and we will truly live as one in heaven--but in the meantime I also hope to be faithful to debunk these false messages about false hope in "the brotherhood of man" at the expense of belief in the ONLY true Way to get there, Jesus.

May I always share these truths with love, gentleness, and grace as well as boldness!

On a lighter note, here is a humorous rendition of this song, Tim Hawkins style.

An Allegory

Apparently my 9-year-old daughter knows me better than I realized.  The following paragraphs, which she wrote for a school assignment, "remind (her) of (me)," she said.  She is so dear... and life is so precious... and the moments are so fleeting!  I'm reminded again to savor every moment...

The dog ambled through the almost endless field; she lifted her head into the dimly lit sky and took in the sweet aroma of the spring air.  She imagined her small puppies leaping through this field, playing together by the tall trees.

The field's deep grass was damp from the storm the night before; it swayed and sang a song with the wind.  The dog imagined her small puppies growing and growing until they were gone and imagining their own puppies just like she was.  A tear came to her eye.  She knew she couldn't stop this from happening, and she realized how much she was going to miss them when this did happen...

She loved her puppies and this field, and that was all that mattered right now.

"How to Raise Boys Who Read"

This morning, I finally got around to reading an Op-Ed article from the Wall Street Journal entitled "How to Raise Boys Who Read," (subtitled "Hint: Not with gross-out books and video game bribes").  It mentions the popular but failing philosophy in many homes and schools today--just get them reading something, even if it is silly, gross, absurd, and banal--because  their tastes will eventually mature.  Ridiculous.  No young (or older) boy (or girl, for that matter) develops the attention, focus, persistence, and hard work necessary to read something other than mindless drivel--full of short, choppy sentences and crass humor--if he has not been fed a steady diet of challenging, high-quality children's literature.  And no book like that can compete with video games.  TV.  The Internet.

As the famous saying goes, "The secret is, that there is no damn secret."

It is a fantastic, thought-provoking article.  I would highly recommend that you read it in its entirety.  And it occurs to me that articles posted online are often

removed, leaving the article unavailable for reading later on.  So, actually, here it is:

Published in the Wall-Street Journal Opinion Journal
September 24, 2010

How to Raise Boys Who Read

Hint: Not with gross-out books and video-game bribes.

By Thomas Spence

When I was a young boy, America's elite schools and universities were almost entirely reserved for males. That seems incredible now, in an era when headlines suggest that boys are largely unfit for the classroom. In particular, they can't read.

According to a recent report from the Center on Education Policy, for example, substantially more boys than girls score below the proficiency level on the annual National Assessment of Educational Progress reading test. This disparity goes back to 1992, and in some states the percentage of boys proficient in reading is now more than ten points below that of girls. The male-female reading gap is found in every socio-economic and ethnic category, including the children of white, college-educated parents.

The good news is that influential people have noticed this problem. The bad news is that many of them have perfectly awful ideas for solving it.

Everyone agrees that if boys don't read well, it's because they don't read enough. But why don't they read? A considerable number of teachers and librarians believe that boys are simply bored by the "stuffy" literature they encounter in school. According to a revealing Associated Press story in July these experts insist that we must "meet them where they are"—that is, pander to boys' untutored tastes.

For elementary- and middle-school boys, that means "books that exploit [their] love of bodily functions and gross-out humor." AP reported that one school librarian treats her pupils to "grossology" parties. "Just get 'em reading," she counsels cheerily. "Worry about what they're reading later."

Not with 'gross-out' books and video-game bribes.

There certainly is no shortage of publishers ready to meet boys where they are. Scholastic has profitably catered to the gross-out market for years with its "Goosebumps" and "Captain Underpants" series. Its latest bestsellers are the "Butt Books," a series that began with "The Day My Butt Went Psycho."

The more venerable houses are just as willing to aim low. Penguin, which once used the slogan, "the library of every educated person," has its own "Gross Out" line for boys, including such new classics as "Sir Fartsalot Hunts the Booger."

Workman Publishing made its name telling women "What to Expect When You're Expecting." How many of them expected they'd be buying "Oh, Yuck! The Encyclopedia of Everything Nasty" a few years later from the same publisher? Even a self-published author like Raymond Bean—nom de plume of the fourth-grade teacher who wrote "SweetFarts"—can make it big in this genre. His flatulence-themed opus hit no. 3 in children's humor on Amazon. The sequel debuts this fall.

Education was once understood as training for freedom. Not merely the transmission of information, education entailed the formation of manners and taste. Aristotle thought we should be raised "so as both to delight in and to be pained by the things that we ought; this is the right education."

"Plato before him," writes C. S. Lewis, "had said the same. The little human animal will not at first have the right responses. It must be trained to feel pleasure, liking, disgust, and hatred at those things which really are pleasant, likeable, disgusting, and hateful."

This kind of training goes against the grain, and who has time for that? How much easier to meet children where they are.

One obvious problem with the SweetFarts philosophy of education is that it is more suited to producing a generation of barbarians and morons than to raising the sort of men who make good husbands, fathers and professionals. If you keep meeting a boy where he is, he doesn't go very far.

The other problem is that pandering doesn't address the real reason boys won't read. My own experience with six sons is that even the squirmiest boy does not require lurid or vulgar material to sustain his interest in a book.

So why won't boys read? The AP story drops a clue when it describes the efforts of one frustrated couple with their 13-year-old unlettered son: "They've tried bribing him with new video games." Good grief.

The appearance of the boy-girl literacy gap happens to coincide with the proliferation of video games and other electronic forms of entertainment over the last decade or two. Boys spend far more time "plugged in" than girls do. Could the reading gap have more to do with competition for boys' attention than with their supposed inability to focus on anything other than outhouse humor?

Dr. Robert Weis, a psychology professor at Denison University, confirmed this suspicion in a randomized controlled trial of the effect of video games on academic ability. Boys with video games at home, he found, spend more time playing them than reading, and their academic performance suffers substantially. Hard to believe, isn't it, but Science has spoken.

The secret to raising boys who read, I submit, is pretty simple—keep electronic media, especially video games and recreational Internet, under control (that is to say, almost completely absent). Then fill your shelves with good books.

People who think that a book—even R.L. Stine's grossest masterpiece—can compete with the powerful stimulation of an electronic screen are kidding themselves. But on the level playing field of a quiet den or bedroom, a good book like "Treasure Island" will hold a boy's attention quite as well as "Zombie Butts from Uranus." Who knows—a boy deprived of electronic stimulation might even become desperate enough to read Jane Austen.

Most importantly, a boy raised on great literature is more likely to grow up to think, to speak, and to write like a civilized man. Whom would you prefer to have shaped the boyhood imagination of your daughter's husband—Raymond Bean or Robert Louis Stevenson?

I offer a final piece of evidence that is perhaps unanswerable: There is no literacy gap between home-schooled boys and girls. How many of these families, do you suppose, have thrown grossology parties?

Print Friendly

Have you ever been irritated with having to print all the extraneous junk that comes up on web page articles when they don't have a "print friendly" version?  Now you can create your own, with Print Friendly!

"...parents are possessed of no constitutional right..."

Are you aware that in 2005, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals found in Fields v. Palmdale School District “that the Meyer-Pierce right [of parents to direct the upbringing of their children] does not exist beyond the threshold of the school door.”  

Further, they declared that, "Parents...have no constitutional right...to prevent a public school from providing its students with whatever information it wishes to provide, sexual or otherwise, when and as the school determines that it is appropriate to do so."

“We conclude that the parents are possessed of no constitutional right to prevent the public schools from providing information on that subject [sexuality] to their students in any forum or manner they select” (emphasis added).

Hmmm...

If this doesn't frighten you and cause you concern, I would like to direct you to a book I recently read called You're Teaching My Child What? A Physician Exposes the Lies of Sex Education and How They Harm Your Child by Miriam Grossman, M.D.  If you are a parent, you cannot afford not to read this book.  Be prepared to be shocked and appalled.

Perhaps it is time for a Parental Rights Amendment.

Super-Easy Canned Tomatoes

Canning things the old-fashioned way is time-consuming and complicated, at least to someone inexperienced like me.  However, my friend Evonne has a super-easy method for canning tomatoes that works perfectly!

So, here's a healthier alternative to tomatoes packed in aluminum cans, and you can extend the healthy goodness of those oh-so-much-yummier homegrown tomatoes into the winter months.  Enjoy!