Category: Encouragement

In Search of the Perfect Curriculum

By Diana Waring Premise: If the right curriculum can be found, it will perform the magic – the abra-cadabra – to transform a student from ignorant to educated all by itself. As an experienced homeschool mom, speaker and curriculum writer, I’ve noticed that many believe this and seek earnestly for the genie, or the wand, or the catalog. And, lest you think I’m loftily looking down my nose, let me add that I was one of them. In the early days of homeschooling, I was convinced that there truly existed a perfect curriculum, and spent years on a quest,...

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Meet Patrice

  You know, I’ve been blogging for a while now and I have gotten to know some of you pretty well. So I think it is time you got to meet some of the people in my head. Meet Patrice. Patrice looks perfect. She is usually dressed in a twinset, complete with pearls. She has horn rimmed glasses that have certainly NEVER been knocked from her face in ANY context – let alone by an over tired, tantruming, child. Her hair is always perfectly coiffed in a french twist and her nails impeccably polished and manicured. Her face is usually set in a demure, unassuming smile with her ruby red lips taking a slightly – predatory look – if she is perturbed. Her speech flows in dulcet tones, becoming slightly clipped if she is strenuously making a point, but never loosing their honeyed sheen. She some how gives the impression of being quite tall although I am sure she is not a bit over three inches tall. She can’t be, she lives in my head after all. Her purpose, so she tells me, is to bring reason and practicality to my choices. I have my doubts, but that is what she tells me. She appeared yesterday. The house was quiet, I was playing with the babies and drinking in every bit of them in a way I seldom can...

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Boys and Manners

Douglas Wilson Boys have a need to be respected, but sometimes this need can be communicated in some strange ways. And because boys can gravitate toward such strange forms of communicating their boyhood, they may come to think that manners are for sissies. A very easy mistake for boys to make is that of thinking that masculinity consists of being rudely tough, or gross, or both. A ten-year-old boy can readily think that masculinity is displayed whenever he can make all the girls in his class go eewwwww. This is of course not the case, but we still have to qualify what we are saying.   There is a fine line here because there is a type of boy who is effeminate, and displays that effeminacy through being a “well-mannered” and mousy little boy. This arouses the disgust of the surrounding boys who, in a frenzy of metaphor-mixing, proceed to throw out the well-mannered baby with the mousy bathwater.   In addition, those adults who care the most about “manners” often do not understand masculinity either, and so they cannot help boys to make the distinction which they themselves blur. This means that a boy will view all attempts to “teach him manners” as simply an effort by the adult world to make him craven, which he does not want to do. He knows intuitively that a well-mannered boy...

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Hard Work

by Douglas Wilson Boys, taking one thing with another, tend to be lazy. This means that one of the central duties parents have with regard to their boys is the duty of teaching and instilling what used to be called a work ethic. “He that gathereth in summer is a wise son: but he that sleepeth in harvest is a son that causeth shame” (Prov. 10:5). The son who causes shame is one who causes shame to his parents. The shame is theirs because the responsibility to teach the lessons of work was theirs. Work is not a result of the fall of Adam, but work goes the difficult way it does because of the fall. Prior to the advent of sin in the world, Adam was given the task of tending the garden, and naming the animals. We were created for work. But when sin entered, God in His wisdom saw that thorns and thistles were now needed (Gen. 3:17-19). In His grace, God cursed the ground. Just as the law is a schoolmaster to bring us to Christ, so is the sweat of the brow. Sinners don’t do well living on the Big Rock Candy Mountain.   And so this is why boys need to be taught and disciplined in physical labor. Of course it is not an end in itself-the point should always be grace-but in...

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Future Men by Douglas Wilson

Volume 12, Issue 1: Childer Douglas Wilson As much as it may distress us, our boys are future men. I was once leading a seminar for teachers at our Christian school and, in the course of discussion, I mentioned that many of the girls in the school would, within a few short years, be adult women and would take their place in our midst. The teachers heard all this with aplomb, but when I went on to say that within a few short years the boys they were instructing would be lawyers, airline pilots, pastors, etc. the looks on the faces of the assembled teachers ranged from concern to mild panic. Boys take a lot of faith. This is good because the presence or absence of faith reveals whether or not we have a biblical doctrine of our future. Unbelief is always anchored to the present, while faith looks at that which is unseen. But even here we only get half the picture. Too often we think that faith only looks at unseen heavenly things, but this truncated approach is really the result of an incipient gnosticism. In the Bible, faith includes the ability to see that which is unseen because it is still future. According to the text, Abraham rejoiced to see the day of Christ, not the day when he, Abraham, would go to heaven. Faith conquers...

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Using Songs to Reinforce Learning

Every Week(tune: Are you Sleeping) Every week has 7 days,See how many you can say.Sunday, Monday, Tuesday,Wednesday, Thursday, Friday,Saturday. What’s today? Days of the Week(to the tune of Frere Jacques!) These are all theda-ays of the we-ek,Sing with me,Sing with me. Sunday, Monday, TuesdayWednesday, Thursday, FridaySaturdayA day to play.     Dates(To the tune of “Frere Jacques) Today is Monday(Today is Monday)April 12th(April 12th)1998(1998)That’s the date(That’s the date). Days of the Week (to the tune of Frere Jacques) Tuesday, Tuesday,Tuesday, Tuesday,All day long, all day long,Yesterday was Monday, tomorrow will be Wednesday,Oh, what fun! Oh, what fun! Sunday, Monday , Tuesday, Wednesday,Thursday, Friday, Saturday Today is Song(To the tune of “Frere Jacques”) Today is _______.Today is _______.All day long, all day long.Yesterday was ______.Tomorrow will be _______.Oh what fun!Oh what fun! The Months of the Year(To the Tune of “Three Blind Mice”) January, February, March,April, May, June.July, August, September,October, November, December.These are the twelve months of the year.Now sing them together so we can all hear.How many months are there in a year?Twelve months in a year. Months of the Year (to the tune of “Ten Little Indians”) January, February, March, and April,May, June, July, August, and September,October, November, and December,These are the months of the year. Good Handwriting If you are wiseYou will organizeYou handwriting alwaysTo be the right size.The shape is importantRound and neatUsing your handsNot your...

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On being Emotionally Absent

      Light’s are on but nobody’s home. As a homeschool mum I had given up any notion of a career outside the home. I did this joyously and because I wanted to. I didn’t want to miss the everyday happenings of my children…I didn’t want to be absent…but would you believe that a Christian homeschooling mum who dearly loves her children struggled with this very issue? It all started about five years after we started homeschooling. I had tried a school-at-home approach, tried unit studies and was burning myself out by trying to rigidly conform our home and family to fall in line with Charlotte Mason’s methods. Previous to this my dear mother had *graduated* to be with the Lord and we started homeschooling within a few weeks. I also had a 6 month old baby at the time. My husband was away frequently and I found it hard. Then we completely uprooted from everything and everyone familiar to go to a new job in a new town, in a new state! My health was slowly going downhill. I think I’ve mentioned before that it can be draining and tiring to go our and make new friends and start all over again, so I didn’t. I was at a place where I was content…or so I thought. The Internet is such an easy place to get lost...

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Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother’s Day to some of the best Moms on the planet. Who says Mother’s Day should only last one day? How does 7 days and 28 FREE homeschool resources sound to you? Visit CurrClick.com TODAY (Wednesday, May 6th) and then again on the 7th, 8th, 11th, 12th, 13th and 14th for 4 freebies each day! (No freebies on the...

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Socialization and Homeschooling

by Bonnie and Lawrence Williams  Many Oak Meadow families ask for our opinion about socialization. There is a myth that persists about this subject, so we want to look at it more closely.  This “lack of socialization” myth arises from false concepts about the nature of socialization itself and the realities of the homeschooling environment. As John Holt, one of the early advocates of home schooling, once remarked, “If I could give just one reason why children should NOT go to public schools, it would be the socialization they receive there. In general, the kind of behavior one finds most often in schools is petty, cruel, and mean-spirited.” Those who feel that homeschooled children are missing a valuable experience by not participating in the socialization that occurs in a public school environment have to consider Holt’s words and ask, “Is this really what we want for our children?” Many school officials and child psychologists have the impression that homeschooled children are home alone all day without any interaction. On the contrary, homeschooled children have ample opportunities for meaningful socialization with their peers through local clubs and classes, community activities, church involvement and personal relationships with friends. Many cities and towns also have homeschooling support groups that meet regularly to provide additional opportunities.  Also, research indicates that homeschooled children are not being deprived socially. In a nationwide study, Dr. Wesley...

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Homeschool? What about Socialization?!

Written by Robin Sampson and used with permission I read a blog post ranting about homeschool socialization. The post received many interesting comments. I had this cartoon made a few years ago that illustrates my feelings. Yes, homeschool children should have friends. But not just random friends. Homeschoolers have the opportunity for selective socialization. Parents can guide their children to other Christian families with like-minded morals and values. Most homeschool families I know are are very active with other families. There are weekly field trips with support groups, twice-a-week church functions, scouts, choir, weekly skating parties, etc, etc. But don’t take my word for it. Let us look at the homeschool statistics.     Studies Prove Homeschoolers Do Better Socially Information gathered by the National Home Education Research Institute prove homeschool students have significantly higher self concepts than those in public schools. Dr. Johnson (1991) concluded that home educators carefully address the socialization needs of their children in every area studied (i.e., personal identity, personal destiny, values and moral development, autonomy, relationships, sexuality, and social skills). Studying actual observed behavior, Dr. Shyers (1992) found the home educated had significantly lower problem behavior scores than do their conventional school age mates. And the home educated have positive self-concepts. Dr. Taylor (1986) found that the home educated have significantly higher self concepts than those in public schools. The home schooled are...

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The Educational Value of Chores: How to Make Chores an Integral Part of Your Children's Naturally Le

Someone once said to me, “ Work is not “work.” It’s the main part of living.” I liked to look at work another way: we play at working and we work at playing. As my children grew I encouraged them to consider work not as a chore, but as something that helps build meaning into their lives. The word chore is laden with emotion for most of us, but there’s no way we can hide from the daily work that is aptly described as ‘chores’. A homeschooling parent will quickly burn out if he or she doesn’t learn to delegate work throughout the day. We consider that all the participants in our home life are responsible for the chores: this helps to spread the load. Although we take the lion’s share the children have always been involved, and this has resulted in a more equal sharing as they have grown into adolescence without a lot of the pain experienced by many other families. When asking the children to help I am careful to work with them, modelling the behaviour, attitudes and actions I want them to adopt. Years of experience has taught me to start off small, with short tasks when the children were little, and to be there, supervising, even when they became older, rather than letting them just get on with it themselves. A tip to remember...

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Don’t lose the “HOME” in Homeschooling

The story below is an allegory of a homeschool journey. The names and personalities of the people I knew have been altered to protect privacy. No one person described below is real, though the stereotypes are common enough. If you think you see yourself here,  it is merely an accident.  The Setting Sometime in 1996 I got “wired”, on-line, with my homeschool. My oldest was  in first grade and my other three were a newborn, a toddler, and a preschooler. These were the days before the Well-Trained Mind, when we were relying on Dorothy Sayers’  on-line article, The Lost Tools of Learning and Doug Wilson’s book,  Recovering the Lost Tools for most of our classical information. We were lost, like the tools, but happily plugging along by trial and error, as indeed, we still are.  Through a couple of novice classical email loops I met various ladies and forged friendships which have lasted to this day. We all came from different  states, different church backgrounds, and had different levels of education. What we shared in common was a love for classical education, which later blossomed into many different endeavors and interpretations of how that classical education was to be realized.  The Group This was back in the days when  you were fortunate to find ONE Yahoo group (though back then it was not Yahoo) dedicated to homeschoolers pursuing a...

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