Most Important Word: Words Matter Week Blog Challenge-Day 1
Posted on March 1, 2010
Filed Under Blog challenge | 2 Comments
The Monday question for the Words Matter Week blog challenge is:
What is the most important word or words in your life? Why?
When I create writing assignments for students, I try to craft questions that narrow the topic to something manageable. Perhaps I can narrow the Words Matter Week blog challenge question in a similar way, so I can avoid the hard task of choosing just one word!
Variant #1: What is the most important proper noun in your life? Why?
God. That’s an easy pick, because faith is central to my life, and without God, nothing else would matter. Of course, there are other very important proper nouns: Donald, Craig, Taylor and Anya, Bryan, and Trevor. They are important because they are my sweet family, and I love them.
Variant #2: What is the most important verb in your life? Why?
Love. Without love, it would be impossible to experience deep relationships with those proper nouns (and remember, God is love- I John 4:7-8). Without love, there would be no true grace, mercy, peace, joy, kindness, patience or goodness.
Variant #3: What is the most important adjective/adverb in your life? Why?
I can’t pick just one: kindly and creatively are my two choices. I want to live my life kindly and creatively, for the sake of joy and love.
See? It’s much easier to answer a question if it’s narrowed to a manageable size. It’s also easier to write about something if you define terms before you begin. There’s more than one way to skin a rat!
Words Matter Week is sponsored by the National Association of Independent Writers and Editors. It’s a wonderful opportunity to think about the importance of words. I hope you’ll visit the website and join the blog challenge– if you blog on all five days, you’ll be entered for a random drawing for a $20 Amazon gift certificate. If you love words, I’m sure you can use that!
Are You Helpful or Nitpicking?
Posted on February 23, 2010
Filed Under Homeschool, Teaching Writing | 3 Comments
Balance. When evaluating a student’s schoolwork, it can be a challenge to find the right balance between being helpful and nitpicking. Here are a few things to consider:
Relationship
Does your evaluation style seem to build or tear down the trust relationship between you and your child?
- A negative, impatient, or critical tone can make even the most minor critique seem overwhelming to a sensitive child.
- Be sensitive to each student’s abilities and don’t overwhelm a struggling student with too much negative feedback at once. Focus on the most important thing for the moment. There will be other days to fix other things.
- If you and your student have difficulty communicating on a subject, it may be a good idea to enlist someone else to help the student in that subject. Preserving the relationship is more important than doing everything yourself.
- Any criticism should always be focused on the work, not on the student. Children never forget being treated as though they are stupid or stubborn, when they are simply struggling. Criticism should never begin with “you.” Instead, practice saying things such as “I’m not sure I understand what you mean by…” (for an essay or report), or “It looks as though we need a little more practice on…” (whatever the area of difficulty).
- The sweetness of lips of lips increases learning. Proverbs 16:21
Do you always play fair by making sure that the student knows the exact expectations for the assignment? Read more
How I Chose Great Books for Excellence in Literature
Posted on February 9, 2010
Filed Under Reading, Teaching Literature | 1 Comment
I often get questions on how I chose the books that are included in the Excellence in 
Literature curriculum, so I thought I’d address it today. It may help you decide whether or not this is the right curriculum for your family.
There were many factors that went into my choice of books, but I considered the following questions to be most important as I selected what to include.
- Is this work foundational to an understanding of western civilization and culture?
- Is it a classic work that is regularly alluded to in current conversation (including newspaper, radio, books, movies, etc.)?
- Does it tell the truth about life and consequences?
- Is there something compelling about this particular work that makes it, more than another, deserve a place in the curriculum? Read more
Telephone Rules for Homeschools
Posted on January 27, 2010
Filed Under Homeschool, Learning Lifestyle | 4 CommentsWhat’s worse than a day when no one feels like doing school, but you have to do it anyway? I always felt it was much worse to be in the middle of a great school school day, with everyone engaged in lessons, then having the whole thing interrupted by a phone call that pulls you away and creates distraction for your children. When that happens, it’s likely that you never get back into the flow for that day. This doesn’t have to happen, though.
One of the best things I ever did for our homeschool and learning lifestyle was to create a telephone policy. By setting a few simple boundaries, I eliminated an enormous source of potential distraction and frustration, and noticeably increased our number of great school days. Now that the boys are grown, I still follow these guidelines during my writing and business time. Read more
Learning: Mind-Numbing or Mind-Nourishing?
Posted on January 12, 2010
Filed Under Homeschool, Inspiration, Learning Lifestyle | 1 Comment
Robinson Crusoe reading
We’ve been finished with our homeschool journey for some time now, but learning is still happening for all of us, and that makes me happy. I’ve been thinking about learning and what makes it stick, what brings it to life, and why some students enjoy it more than others. Here are a few thoughts…
Can you remember the last time you or your student was excited about learning? One of the things I enjoy most about having grown sons is the fact that they are continuing to learn through reading and listening, and are excited about it. One of them will often track me down to tell me all about the book he’s reading or listening to, and we often have conversations that range across the spectrum of knowledge.
Within the last couple of weeks, I’ve enjoyed a discussion of C.S. Lewis’s Mere Christianity with one of the boys, and had several interesting conversations about a lengthy series of essays by Ayn Rand with another son. They begin the discussions, and I’m usually delighted–though I don’t necessarily agree with everything– at the interesting ideas they bring to the table. I’ve decided that it really does pay to raise your own conversational companions;-)! Read more
World Literature is Here!
Posted on December 31, 2009
Filed Under Homeschool, Teaching Literature | Leave a Comment
World Literature (English 5)
It took longer than I thought, but World Literature– the English 5 level of the Excellence in Literature: Reading and Writing Through the Classics curriculum is finally here!
You can see it, read all about it, and order it on the World Literature page.
- Unit 1: The Odyssey by Homer
- Unit 2: Antigone by Sophocles
- Unit 3: The Aeneid by Virgil
- Unit 4: Inferno by Dante Alighieri
- Unit 5: Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes
- Unit 6: Les Miserables by Victor Hugo 67
- Unit 7: 19th-Century Russian Reader: Selections by Pushkin, Dostoyevsky, et al.
- Unit 8: Faust by Johann Wolfgang Goethe
- Unit 9: Out of Africa by Isak Dinesen
$29
Literature and Composition, the English 2 level of Excellence in Literature is next. I hope to have it ready for you in just a couple of weeks if all goes well. The end is in sight!
Thankful Thoughts on Freedom, England, Homeschool, and Writing
Posted on December 8, 2009
Filed Under Homeschool, Observations, Teaching Writing | 6 CommentsDear Readers,
I sometimes come upon a thought so well expressed that I just have to share it! Today’s guest post is the editor’s letter from the Writing-World.com newsletter, and it’s reprinted here with the kind permission of the author, Moira Allen.
This Thanksgiving, my husband and I were deeply aware of the many things we have to be thankful for — chief among them being the fact that we are once again living in the United States. As most of you know, we spent 15 months in England, pursuing (but not precisely living) a lifelong dream. Those 15 months made us appreciate so many things that, as Americans, we take for granted.Freedom, for example. One thing I’ve always taken for granted is
that if a civil authority (e.g., the police) wishes to enter my
home, a warrant is required to do so, issued by a judge and only on
presentation of “just cause.” Not so in England! Any number of
“civil authorities,” including social workers, council
representatives, “wheelie bin police,” and quite possibly the
vegetable seller down the street can legally enter one’s home for
any number of reasons (including things like whether you’re
importing an illegal variety of potato — which admittedly wasn’t
something we worried about overmuch). Read moreHouseplants and Homeschools and Normal Homeschool Moms
Posted on December 2, 2009
Filed Under Inspiration, Learning Lifestyle | 3 Comments
It’s only December and the geraniums are pouting, the mandevillas are climbing everything they can reach, and the hibiscus persists in drooping. If I hadn’t left the begonia on the front porch too long, it would be shedding leaves and blossoms everywhere. How does this happen to me every year?As I made my rounds with the watering can, I realized that my lament sounded an awful lot like some of what I used to think about homeschooling. Right about the time the weather turned cold, the new had worn off the lesson plans, all the interesting books had been read, and all that was left was squirming and math, not necessarily in that order.
How long does it take to reach that “whose bright idea was this anyway” point in your homeschool year? If you’re a first-year homeschooler, you may feel a bit alarmed when it happens. You may even feel like a “bad” homeschooler. I know I did, but that was only until I realized it was happening every year, and every other homeschooler I met seemed to be having similar thoughts.
For what it’s worth, it’s normal to have these moments. It’s normal to feel overwhelmed on some days, and it’s normal to wish for peace and quiet. Here are a few things you can do to make “normal” bearable: Read more
Wishing You A Joyous Thanksgiving- Here’s a Recipe and a Sale!
Posted on November 25, 2009
Filed Under Home & Garden, News | Leave a Comment
We wish you and your family a joyous and blessed Thanksgiving. Click on the postcard to visit the big Thanksgiving Sale!
I sent out the relish recipe in the newsletter and thought I’d post it here as well. One of our readers in Malaysia reminded me that they have no cranberries there. I sometimes forget that even small things such as cranberries can be a cause for giving thanks! There are doubtless some lovely tropical fruits in Malaysia with which to create a lovely salad or dessert. I hope to visit and find out some day! Read more
Veteran’s Day 2009- Thoughts on Liberty
Posted on November 11, 2009
Filed Under Inspiration | 1 CommentOn this Veteran’s Day, I’m thankful for those who have borne the burden of preserving the freedoms we enjoy. We have an amazing heritage! Here are a few of my favorite quotes on the subject.Benjamin Franklin
“They that can give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.”
Abraham Lincoln
“America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter, and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.” Read more
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About
Hi, I'm Janice Campbell, and I'm glad you're here! I invite you to join me in focusing on things that matter- family, literacy, creativity, growth, and service. It's so easy to be entangled by the mundane, but it doesn't have to happen.
Among other things, I'll write about home-schooling through high school, and some of the opportunities you can explore with your teens- entrepreneurship, travel, early college, college alternatives, and more. I'll also share favorite poems, classic literature, announcements of special events and reviews of good resources, as well as a dollop of opinion on mostly education-related topics. I welcome your comments!
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