As your posts were coming in over the past weekend, the weather seemed busy trying to decide what it wanted to be when it grew up. Friday was clear and chilly, but I woke the next morning to the beep-beep of snowplows. From my 40th floor hotel room, I could see snow blowing sideways, nearly obscuring the bright screens wrapping Times Square just a few blocks south. By the time I boarded a train for home on Monday, we had seen sun, snow, rain, fog, and wind, and the trip home held more of the same.
Looking through your posts, I see a similar variety (though more pleasant, of course), so like the forecasters who opted to predict “wintery mix” instead of trying to be specific from hour to hour, I offer you the Wintery Mix Carnival of Homeschooling. I hope you’ll enjoy it! Thanks to all who contributed.
Pamela Jorrick shares the story of a well-traveled $50 birthday gift in Seeds of Sharing with Kiva posted at Blah, Blah, Blog. She also has the best bio blurb I’ve seen in years. Really, who wouldn’t want to read a blog by an “Artist, Writer, Funschooling Facilitator, Empowered Living Advocate, Wanna-be Organic Gardening Foodie, Travel Loving Life Explorer, Part Time Goat Herding Chicken Lady, Wife to One Handsome and Handy Fellow and Full Time Mamacita Extraordinaire to a Couple of Cage Free Kids”? (I’m a Kiva lender too– it’s a good program.)
Christine Guest shares a rueful account of a visit to the eye doctor with young kids in I’ve got to stop scheduling afternoon appointments posted at Our Curious Home. If you’re a homeschool mom, you’ve probably been there. It’s a pity that professionals for humans don’t make house calls like our vet does!
Mrs. White shares about creating “an atmosphere of happiness, and entertainment with our families” in Family Comfort in the Evening Hours posted at The Legacy of Home.
Nancy Kelly answers a question about teaching students how to focus with wise words from Charlotte Mason in Dear Stephanie - A Word About Attention posted at one of my favorite homeschool blogs, Sage Parnassus.
Henry Cate reflects on responsibility, freedom, and character in Aspects of a Homeschooling life at Why Homeschool.
Phyllis Sather offers some older mom wisdom in Are You Continually Searching For “Me Time? at Proclaiming God’s Faithfulness. She says, “No matter how often I read this article I’m still struck with how often the root cause of my unrest is the desire for ‘Me Time.’”
Read Aloud Dad shares how he learned that “reading aloud was not about reading aloud” and how you can get started in Read Aloud: Ignite Your Life posted at Read Aloud Dad.
Karyn Tripp offers creative ideas in a photo post on Sight Word & Spelling Fun at Teach Beside Me. I’m guessing there may be a kinesthetic learner (or teacher) in Karyn’s household!
Sara Dawkins presents 10 Books to Get Kids Reading Again posted at NannyPro.com, reminding parents that if “Kids are constantly bombarded with visual images from television, movies, video games and the internet. All this vivid imagery can make reading books seem dull and boring.”
From me: To offer you something in addition the Carnival today, I’ll share an older post, Reading for Fun is the Foundation of Literary Appreciation. So often, parents feel that their children should be reading only classics, but that’s not necessarily the case. It takes a lot of reading practice to build the skills needed to truly appreciate great literature, and light, fun reading helps build the desire to read. Twinkies for the brain aren’t all bad!
Cristina Payne shares thoughts on being the literal and figurative support person in The Top and Bottom posted at the ever-active Home Spun Juggling blog.
Misty requests suggestions from other homeschoolers to keep the kids active during the winter in What do you do with crazy energy during the winter? posted at Homeschool Bytes. Any ideas?
Annie Kate Aarnoutse shares delightful nature finds in Our Museum at Tea Time with Annie Kate. Where would you keep treasures like these?
Susan Kilbride shares a homeschool-mom created lesson, Free Atoms & Molecules Unit Study for Ages 8-13, from her book Science Unit Studies for Homeschoolers and Teachers at Funtastic Unit Studies!. You’ll find another free unit study about plants for ages 4-7 on her website, plus links to other freebies.
Jennifer Bardsley presents Math Without Worksheets at Teaching My Baby To Read,. She suggests “Looking for a free way to expand your child’s math skills? Every once in a while, try having your child write about their mathematical thinking. It’s harder than it looks.” I never thought I’d say this, but I found this math article fascinating, along with the linked discussion of how and why to teach math using the Constructivist method. It sounds logical and effective.
Chris Shaw offers a practical idea for Teaching Economics in the Home School at http://homeschoolvspublicschool.com. If you’re as old as I am, you may need your reading glasses for this one, but it’s definitely worth a look.
Kelly @ The Homeschool Co-op presents an interview with unschooler Lindsay Wilson on Featured Fridays- Preschool Unschooling With An Attached Mama posted at The Homeschool Co-op. Lindsay shares, among other things, her homeschool philosophy: “We believe that learning is always happening, even if we can’t always see it, and that learning happens best when the child is engaged and interested and can apply the learning to real life.”
Jamie Gaddy presents I’m not Scared… are YOU? posted at Homeschool Online, saying, “Homeschooling can be a bit scary to someone just beginning… but there’s so much out there to help!”
Kathi Weiss discusses how a pacifist can teach about war in Learning About War posted at Homeschool Online.
Kathleen shares “a brief and humorous (I think) look at the uniqueness of life as a home school family” in You Know You Are A Homeschooler When . . . at Art’s Chili Pepper. This post joins a long and respectable line of posts on this topic, most of which can be found by Google-searching “you know you’re a homeschooler when.”
Kathy Simmons presents 10 Reasons Why Kids Love to Play Candyland posted at Nanny Services, saying, “Candyland is probably the simplest board game that exists. It is made for very young children, and as long as it has been around, young children have been enjoying the fun it provides”
Dave Roller offers a “HSD HSBA Extravaganza” as he recaps the 2011 Home School Blog Awards by revealing each blog he voted for in each category and also highlighting the 20 winners along with sample posts in 2011 HSBA Awards at Home-School Dad.
Annette shares a learning day in her family homeschool in A slow day, yet study accomplished posted at A Net in Time, commenting that it was “a good day to homeschool after all.”
Karen Loethen takes a look back, reflecting on what she might have done differently and what she’s done right this year at In Retrospect posted on Homeschool Atheist Momma.
Tina Hollenbeck kept a detailed record of activities for a whole day in order to share what a “typical” day in her home might look like. You can read it at A Day in the Life… posted at Being Made New.
That’s all for this edition of the Carnival of Homeschooling. I hope you’ll enjoy each of the blogs and authors who presented, and leave comments and sign up for the RSS feeds or e-mail updates of your favorites. It’s always a delight to swap stories with others on the journey, so enjoy the encouragement.
*NOTE: For those near Virginia, I’ll be doing a Beat-the-Clock Essay Workshop at Classical Cottage School in Winchester on Saturday, January 28. You can find complete details at ClassicalCottageSchool.org/ (look at the PDF listed in the right column).
Life Summary
Write an interesting one-two-paragraph summary of the person’s life.
Key Players
Choose 3-4 key people involved in the person’s life and list 4-5 vividly descriptive words
for each person. Words may not be used to describe more than one person
Discussion Questions
Think carefully about the person and his or her life and write three analytical discussion questions that would help to reveal more about his or her character and achievements.
Significant Event or Achievement
Choose an event or achievement that seems to be the most significant point or climax in the
person’s life and write a one paragraph description.
Significant Point Explanation
Why do you believe this was a significant point in the person’s life? How is this person and his or her achievement remembered today?
Write a fully-developed paragraph in response to these two questions. Support your argument with quotes from the text or other sources, if appropriate.
One of the most influential books I’ve ever read is John Taylor Gatto’s Dumbing Us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling in which he describes the fundamental lessons he was required to teach during his 26 years as a schoolteacher. The book is adapted from a speech given at a ceremony in which Gatto was named the New York State Teacher of the Year for 1991.
Here are the seven horrifying lessons–see if you recognize any of them from your own school experiences.
The reason I share these seven lessons here is to remind each of us not to replicate these appalling lessons in our own homes. When I talked with college admissions counselors while I was writing Transcripts Made Easy, almost every one of them spoke positively of some major differences they’d seen in homeschoolers. These included a lack of peer dependence, the ability to self-motivate, perseverance, independent thought, and often, a lively interest in life and learning. Let’s keep it that way!
One of the best parts of speaking at many homeschool conferences across the country is getting acquainted with the issues that are top-of-the-mind for homeschoolers in different areas. This year, there seemed to be an interesting shift in focus. People were still stopping by to talk about Excellence in Literature, teaching writing, and creating transcripts, but there was also a new urgency of interest in things that could save or make money, such as getting a jump start on college or starting a microbusiness.
The past few years have been an economic challenge for most single-income families, but many have risen to the challenge and are doing constructive things to counteract decreased income. Over and over I heard inspiring stories of parents or teens who are moonlighting or running a microbusiness in their spare time. At the AFHE conference in Arizona, I enjoyed seeing an entire row of Young Entrepreneur exhibits, manned by remarkably professional-sounding young people who had not only learned how to create something useful, but also how to present themselves and market their product.
I believe that entrepreneurship should be part of every education. Creating a small business does more than just provide a bit of extra money– it provides learning opportunities that nothing else can. Here are five reasons it’s important to learn the kind of attitudes, skills, and habits that characterize successful entrepreneurs.
Mindset: Andrew Pudewa coined the term freedomship, and although it’s not found in any dictionary (yet), it encompasses some of the most compelling reasons for learning and teaching business skills. We live in a society that teaches passivity, rather than active exploration and initiative. Conformity, along with its Siamese twin mediocrity is one of the primary lessons taught by schools, government, the media, and the workplace.
For most people, it’s not easy to be different. Homeschoolers have an advantage, though, as we’ve already chosen an alternative approach to education and bypassed the all-too-human compulsion to be like everyone else. It’s already too late. Entrepreneurial training takes this a step farther by teaching students how to act with freedom, integrity, and purpose in their work life.
Flexibility and Preparedness: Our nation was built on a foundation of courage and independence, but modern influences continue to erode personal responsibility and initiative. Entrepreneurial education provides a way for anyone of any age or financial condition to be better prepared to independently generate personal income. Business transitions are a fact of life. Factories close or automate, corporations merge and shift focus. It’s critical to be prepared to observe trends and be ready and able to move into another field or to supplement income with a microbusiness.
Basic business training helps workers understand coming changes and take appropriate action. For example, if you work for an automobile or furniture assembly line and begin to hear rumors that the factory will soon close, that’s the time to start planning an exit. It’s not only stressful, but also financially suicidal to wait until the formal announcement is made and all your co-workers are also looking for options. If you understand how to start and run a microbusiness, you can quickly begin moonlighting in a venture of your own, and have a head start when the axe falls.
Learning: Creating a business of any kind, a full-scale brick-and-mortar business or a tiny internet-based microbusiness, provides a lot more front line learning than any theory-based business class. Teens who choose run a business rather than flip burgers for the summer learn not only the service or product they are selling, but they also learn about business structures, bookkeeping, customer service, marketing, creative problem solving, real-world communication, and much more. Real bookkeeping for a small business is a lot more memorable than exercises from a consumer math textbook. Best of all, the skills and knowledge gained can be applied to many other parts of life.
High-School Transcript: A small business is a great addition to a high-school transcript. Whether a teen is bound for college, trade school, the military, or is planning to build his or her business into a full-time career, entrepreneurship demonstrates initiative, hard work, creativity, perseverance, and other valuable skills and character traits. It’s likely that you’ll be able to grant credit for many of the business functions (bookkeeping, salesmanship, web design basics, etc.) your student learns as her or she builds a business.
Fun: Finally, entrepreneurship is just plain fun. It empowers individuals– moms, dads, teens, pre-teens– to create something of value and share it with others in a profitable way. A young person who starts a microbusiness gains a lot more than spending money. He or she gains confidence, valuable experience, and a host of new skills that can be used for life.
“The important thing is not being afraid to take a chance. Remember, the greatest failure is to not try. Once you find something you love to do, be the best at doing it.”
~Debbi Fields, founder of Mrs. Fields Cookies
Microbusiness for Teens: A Curriculum by Carol Topp, CPA
Welcome to the August 9, 2011 edition of Carnival of Homeschooling. Although a few of you are ready to
jump back into school or have already done so, others seem to be stretching those happy summer moments for as long as possible.
I suggest that you pour a frosty glass of lemonade, find a cool spot, and enjoy the delightful posts that have been submitted.
Not quite ready for “regular school?” Tiana Krenz shares a delightful idea in Plan a Vacation, Learn Geography (Awesome FREE project!) posted at God Made Home Grown - Tiana Krenz.
Nikki Olivier invites you to journey along on an interesting family outing in I can officially call them kids! posted at Our Journey in Him, commenting, “spending time together as a family out in nature….there’s so much to learn!”
AnnieKate shares beautiful photos along with many great reasons why a garden can be a wonderful addition to homeschooling at The Gardening Homeschooler posted at Tea Time with Annie Kate.
Can you tell the difference between a plant and a weed? How about in your children’s lives? Joan Girkins presents ~Thoughts from My Garden~ (Part 4) posted at I Love Truth!.
Is it learning or is it just plain fun? Lisa Nehring offers a bit of both Summer School Shop Class posted at Golden Grasses.
Tasty treats from the garden.
In her evocative post, “Degrees of Separation” or “Your Child’s Future Sanity” posted at Sage Parnassus, Nancy reminds us to make time to touch, taste, and smell the reality around us.
Robin Phillips offers nine creative ways to connect real experiences with real learning in How To Homeschool At the Zoo: A Mini Unit Study - Crack the Egg posted at Crack the Egg Blog.
Adam Faughn shared Homeschool week #3: Some of Our Preparation Steps posted at The Faughn Family of Four, saying, “We started our first week of home schooling this week, and this post shares some of the memorable steps we took to prepare for this change in our life.”
It’s awfully hard to homeschool in chaos, and it’s really not necessary when you have a built-in team of helpers. Carol J. Alexander talks about how to make it work in Getting Your Kids to Do Chores posted at Everything Home with Carol.
In This Year’s Homeschool Curriculum at her blog, MrsMamaHen.com, Conni Smith shared a rundown of the core subject curriculum her family will be using this year.
The longer you homeschool, the more likely it is that you’ll forget what you’ve taught to which child. If you do, it’s easily remedied. Elena LaVictoire presents helpful tips on Making sure they get it all covered academically and otherwise! posted at My Domestic Church.
Is it ever too early to start reading to your child? Read Aloud … Dad presents When To Start Reading Aloud To a Child? posted at Read Aloud Dad.
It's never too early to start reading to your child.
Denise shares a great visual tool in Do You Mix Up These Words? posted at Blogging 2 Learn.
Billy Hart presents Danbury Baptist Association to Thomas Jefferson, Separation of Church and State posted at HistoricWords | American History | Founding Fathers | Politics | Faith | Quotes, saying, “The Danbury Baptist Association wrote this letter to Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson‚Äôs reply is where the phrase Separation of Church and State comes from. The Danbury Baptist Association said, ‚ÄúThe legitimate power of civil government extends no further than to punish the man who works ill to his neighbor.‚Äù”
Denise presents The (Mathematical) Trouble with Pizza posted at Let’s Play Math!, saying, “My daughter thinks her way through a challenging middle-school math problem.”
Laura O muses about learning a foreign language as a high school homeschooler.Tackle a foreign language? Which one? posted at Day By Day in Our World.
What’s it like to be the graduate of a Charlotte Mason education? Kaley Struble shares what she’s learned in Starting in the Right Direction on the ChildLightUSA blog.
Kaye Swain shared Bible Memory Verses Fun-Teaching The Ten Commandments to Our Children & Grandchildren-1 | SandwichINK for the Sandwich Generation posted at SandwichINK.com, saying, “The 10 Commandment Bible memory verses for children and grand kids was a fun summer project for my grandkids and me, but it’s also great for a homeschooling project any time in the year.”
HomeGrownKids presents Through the Bible overview (Week 1-4) posted at Kerugma, saying, “Kerugma Family Bible reading guide for use with young children. This guide is a no-fuss, easy to implement, overview of the Bible for the whole family. Preschool to highschool, homeschool, family bible reading.”
Does technology have something valuable to contribute?
Merit K presents Back to School with Tech? posted at Mission Possible!, saying, “Modern technology has some drawbacks and dangers, but there are ways to make technology work for us as parents and educators too!”
Angela Gray presents On Digital Media in Education - Team Gray! posted at team Gray!, saying, “While public education has come to mean crowd control and classroom management, digital media could mark the return of true learning–if the teachers would just get out of the way.”
Henry shares some thoughts about the nature of education and the benefit of homeschooling in Can education be automated? Should it? on Why Homeschool.
Trisha Poff reminds us of the importance of taking the time to give good words to those we love in Letters Never Written posted at A Multitude of Mercies.
Remember to take time for things that matter . . .
Are you at a difficult place in life? Learn more about Homeschooling Through Sicknesses, Pregnancies and Other Distressing Times at Beyond The Silver and The Gold - A Filipino Family’s Homeschool Journey.
If you’re in the early years of homeschooling, and juggling many children of different ages, don’t worry–it won’t always be this hard. Nebby offers encouragement in Homeschooling: Some Parts Get Easier posted at Letters from Nebby.
My contribution for this carnival will be the Of Daffodils and Diesels Revisited post from the archive. It was hard to choose– there are articles on everything from literature to caregiving to learning styles to homeschooling boys– but Daffodils and Diesels is especially worth reading at the beginning of a school year. It’s important to teach the student we have, rather than teaching a particular curriculum. Enjoy!
That’s all for now. I hope you enjoyed the carnival!
Submit your blog article to the next edition of carnival of homeschooling using the official carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on the blog carnival index page.
Painting of Boy with Mother by Bernt Groenvold 1859-1923
What is copywork? It’s a simple way to begin teaching language arts to young children. Copywork provides practice in writing correctly formed letters, as well as experience in using correct spacing and punctuation. Now that penmanship is an issue on the SAT essay, copywork can be useful even for high school students.
19th-century British educator Charlotte Mason recommended copywork, which she called “transcription,” as an early step in teaching language arts. In Home Education, the first volume of her classic series on education, she wrote about the value of copywork, as well as what and how to copy. I have indented Mis Mason’s words, Americanized some of the spelling, bolded a few especially important points, and inserted a few notes.
Value of Transcription–The earliest practice in writing proper for children of seven or eight should be, not letter writing or dictation, but transcription, slow and beautiful work, for which the New Handwriting [a simple italic style] is to be preferred, though perhaps some of the more ornate characters may be omitted with advantage. [See a sample of this handwriting style at the end of this post.]
Transcription should be an introduction to spelling. Children should be encouraged to look at the word, see a picture of it with their eyes shut, and then write from memory.
Children should Transcribe favorite Passages.–A certain sense of possession and delight may be added to this exercise if children are allowed to choose for transcription their favorite verse in one poem and another. This is better than to write a favorite poem, an exercise which stales on the little people before it is finished. But a book of their own, made up of their own chosen verses, should give them pleasure. [As the child begins to master penmanship, you may want to provide a blank journal, like the commonplace books of years gone by, so that favorite verses and quotes can have a permanent home.]
JPC: Copying is one of the oldest of methods of teaching, not just writing, but also art, music, and many other occupations. There’s a reason art students spend time at museums, copying masterworks. Copying helps the student pay close attention, and this in turn allows them to absorb the details of how beautiful art or writing is created.
Small Text-Hand–Double-ruled Lines–Double ruled lines, small text-hand, should be used at first, as children are eager to write very minute ’small hand,’ and once they have fallen into this habit it is not easy to get good writing. A sense of beauty in their writing and in the lines they copy should carry them over this stage of their work with pleasure. Not more than ten minutes or a quarter of an hour should be given to the early writing-lessons. If they are longer the children get tired and slovenly.
JPC: When the boys were young, I made copy sheets for them in careful Italic penmanship. I wrote the chosen text on alternate lines, so that the child could copy directly beneath my writing. This helped them with accurate letterforms and spacing, and made it more likely that they’d put the punctuation where it belonged. Eventually, I discovered Barchowsky Fluent Handwriting, a time-saving program which allowed me to type in the text I wanted the boys to copy, and print it off the computer in a perfect italic font in exactly the size and line spacing that I wanted.
Position in Writing.–For the writing position children should sit so that light reaches them from the left, and desk or table should be at a comfortable height.
[How to Hold a Pen--] It would be a great gain if children were taught from the first to hold the pen between the first and second fingers, steadying it with the thumb. This position avoids the uncomfortable strain on the muscles produced by the usual way of holding a pen–a strain which causes writer’s cramp in later days when there is much writing to be done. The pen should be held in a comfortable position, rather near the point, fingers and thumb somewhat bent, and the hand resting on the paper.
JPC: I taught calligraphy to adult students for several years, and observed that incorrect pen hold was the single biggest obstacle to beautiful and legible writing. It is far easier to teach correct pen hold early than to correct poor habits in later life. Most of my calligraphy students were able to change to a correct pen hold, but it took a lot of practice.
The writer should also be allowed to support himself with the left hand on the paper, and should write in an easy position, with bent head but not with stooping figure. . . . In all writing lessons, free use should be made of the blackboard by both teacher and children by way of model and practice.
(From Home Education: Training and Educating Children Under Nine, by Charlotte Mason. Pages 238-239)
Here’s a post on Copywork for Teens, and a post on The Power of Copying a Text.
Here’s what a simple italic handwriting style, as well as a cursive italic) looks like (samples from Barchowsky Fluent Handwriting):
Mother's Lessons, Amalfi, by Robert Walter Weir
During our homeschooling years, one of my favorite parts of the year was early summer when we could take a break and I could plan curriculum for the next school year. I’d lovingly gather everything we needed for a fascinating year, then start trying to create a schedule in which we could use it all.
Math and language arts always made it to the schedule first, followed by history and science. This left foreign language, art, music, practical skills, and more. Plus life– something we would theoretically have time for each day. I’d pencil in each of the “secondary” subjects, but year after year my tidy little schedule would shift, and art and music would be the first thing to go when things got hectic.
I discovered something, though. Art and music don’t always have to be taught during school hours or even during the school year. They are both inherently appealing, and they fit easily into family life. You can teach the history, theory, and application of both art and music if you just make them part of your lifestyle of learning.
Here are some of the ways we studied art and music (and a variety of other subjects that gained interest when released from the confines of the classroom):
The Music Lesson by Johannes Vermeer
There were probably other things we did, and some of these we did better or more frequently than others, but I think you get the idea. Instead of despairing when you run out of classroom time for art and music, just have things available so that you can allow both subjects to flow into the leftover spaces in your day.
A few tips:
Join us at the HEAV conference this year. I really like the “You Can Do It!” theme, because it’s true. You can do it!
You can do it! Home Educators Association of Virginia Conference
Hannibal crossing the Alps with war elephants.
It’s been awhile since I posted the first two parts of this series, but the contrast between a true, living education and the stale, dead imitation that often replaces it continues to niggle at my thoughts. So here’s another brief scene that highlights the contrast.
Scene 1
The elephant turned his trunk toward the audience, and surprised them with a cold shower. The twins pressed closer to the edge of the enclosure, shaking water from their eyes. “Read us what it says, Momma,” they asked, looking at the sign on the rail.
“It’s an Asian elephant,” ventured one twin, pointing at the map.
“And it eats roots, grasses, fruit, and bark,” said the other, looking at the photos of the elephant in the wild.
The twins listened intently, eyes studying the elephant’s leathery hide, giant ears, and stringy tail, as their mother read the information. They had watched a National Geographic video earlier in the week, and had been talking about Hannibal crossing the Alps with elephants during the Second Punic War.
Scene 2
Later, another family stopped at the elephant pen. A toddler laughed and pointed, while a slightly older child tugged at her father’s arm. “Please, Daddy, can you read what it says?”
As her father began to read the information, the oldest child sighed in boredom and pulled out his iPod. He didn’t bother to look at the elephants– after all, he had learned all about them in first grade. The class had seen the giant leg bone of an elephant, felt a piece of dried elephant hide, and filled out a worksheet on the life cycle of the elephant. What more was there to know?
Inoculate: To treat with a portion (usually dead) of a virus or infective agent to prevent disease.
To think about: Why does institutional education so often inoculate students against further learning? (There’s a clue in the definition above.)
Previous posts on this topic:
Part I: What is a Chicken?
Part 2: What Does Education Look Like? A Look at Socialization
This classic essay by an unknown author has been around since I began homeschooling, and I often recommend it to parents of children who just don’t fit the college-bound mold. As it becomes more and more common to try to shove every student into a college, I thought it would be a good idea to revisit this essay and think about the consequences of expecting every young person to walk the same path.
As much as I value the beauty found in literature, art, and music and enjoy studying it, I realize that the world would be a wee bit lopsided if everyone were just like me. We need machinists and mechanics, soldiers and sailors, builders and bricklayers as much as we need authors, artists, and scholars. Each plays a much-needed role in society, and we do a disservice to young people when we imply that only one type of gift is valuable.
No matter what society tries to convey, a worker who diligently and ethically practices a trade can earn an excellent living, and if they have an entrepreneurial bent, can also provide an excellent living for many others. Despite the fact that the wages of many white-collar workers hover at a level similar to the trades, I know that many parents look at the wage-earning potential of blue-collar jobs (something you can research in the Occupational Outlook Handbook), and fear that their child will be unable to support a family, especially on a single income, but honestly– it happens all the time. Many homeschool families are even able to create multiple streams of income that help to supplement the primary wage.
Consider also that in times of disaster such as the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, the most immediate need is for people with practical skills– cleaning, digging, repairing, healing, building. The economists, philosophers, and academics will eventually be needed, but at first, it’s all about practical ministry. There is honor and value in work well done, whether it’s work done with mind, heart, or hands.
Finally, and very significantly, there is also joy and success when a student is allowed to work out his or her gifting. Just read the essay below, and absorb it. It’s a vivid picture of a competent young man with strong, mature role models who is deeply interested in relevant things. He has mastered many of the skills he will need to use his gifts, and he’s eager to learn more from people who share his interest and talent for practical knowledge. I think he’d join Winston Churchill in declaring, “I am always ready to learn although I do not always like being taught.”
I’m not very good in school. This is my second year in the seventh grade, and I’m bigger than most of the other kids. The kids like me all right, even though I don’t say much in class, and that sort of makes up for what goes on in school. I don’t know why the teachers don’t like me. They never have. It seems like they don’t think you know anything unless you can name the book it comes out of.
I read a lot at home—things like Popular Mechanics and Sports Illustrated and the Sears catalog—but I don’t just sit down and read them through like they make us do in school. I use them when I want to find something out, like a batting average or when Mom buys something secondhand and wants to know if she’s getting a good price.
In school, though, we’ve got to learn whatever is in the book and I just can’t memorize the stuff. Last year I stayed after school every night for two weeks trying to learn the names of the presidents. Some of them were easy, like Washington and Jefferson and Lincoln, but there must have been 30 altogether and I never did get them straight. I’m not too sorry, though, because the kids who learned the presidents had to turn right around and learn all the vice presidents. 
I am taking the seventh grade over, but our teacher this year isn’t interested in the names of the presidents. She has us trying to learn the names of all the great American inventors. I guess I just can’t remember the names in history. Anyway, I’ve been trying to learn about trucks because my uncle owns three and he says I can drive one when I’m 16. I know the horsepower and gear ratios of 26 American trucks and want to operate a diesel. Those diesels are really something.
“The only thing that interferes with my learning is my education.” Albert Einstein
I started to tell my teacher about them in science class last week when the pump we were using to make a vacuum in a bell jar got hot, but she said she didn’t see what a diesel engine has to do with our experiment on air pressure, so I just shut up. The kids seemed interested, though. I took four of them around to my uncle’s garage after school and we watched his mechanic tear down a big diesel engine. He really knew his stuff.
I’m not very good in geography, either. They call it economic geography this year. We’ve been studying the imports and exports of Turkey all week, but I couldn’t tell you what they are. Maybe the reason is that I missed school for a couple of days when my uncle took me downstate to pick up some livestock. He told me where we were headed and I had to figure out the best way to get there and back. He just drove and turned where I told him. It was over 500 miles round trip and I’m figuring now what his oil cost and the wear and tear on the truck—he calls it depreciation—so we’ll know how much we made. When we got back I wrote up all the bills and sent letters to the farmers about what their pigs and cattle brought at the stockyard. My aunt said I only made 3 mistakes in 17 letters, all commas. I wish I could write school themes that way. The last one I had to write was on “What a daffodil thinks of spring,” and I just couldn’t get going.
I don’t do very well in arithmetic, either. Seems I just can’t keep my mind on the problems. We had one the other day like this: If a 57 foot telephone pole falls across a highway so that 17 and 3/4 feet extend from one side and 14 and 16/17 feet extend from the other, how wide is the highway? That seemed to me like an awfully silly way to get the size of a highway. I didn’t even try to answer it because it didn’t say whether the pole had fallen straight across or not. [Logic]
Even in shop class I don’t get very good grades. All of us kids made a broom holder and a bookend this semester and mine were sloppy. I just couldn’t get interested. Mom doesn’t use a broom anymore withher new vacuum cleaner, and all of our books are in a bookcase with glass doors in the family room. Anyway, I wanted to make a tailgate for my uncle’s trailer, but the shop teacher said that meant using metal and wood both, and I’d have to learn how to work with wood first. I didn’t see why, but I kept quiet and made a tie tack even though my dad doesn’t wear ties. I made the tailgate after school in my uncle’s garage, and he said I saved him $20. [Relevance, meaningless rules]
Government class is hard for me, too. I’ve been staying after school trying to learn the Articles of Confederation for almost a week, because the teacher said we couldn’t be a good citizen unless we did. I really tried because I want to be a good citizen. I did hate to stay after school, though, because a bunch of us guys from Southend have been cleaning up the old lot across from Taylor’s Machine Shop to make a playground out of it for the little kids from the Methodist home. I made the jungle gym out of the old pipe, and the guys put me in charge of things. We raised enough money collecting scrap this month to build a wire fence clear around the lot.
Dad says I can quit school when I’m 16. I’m sort of anxious to because there are a lot of things I want to learn.
***
Remember, ” . . . the body is not made up of one part but of many . . .
If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be?
But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be.
If they were all one part, where would the body be?
As it is, there are many parts, but one body.” (From I Corinthians 12)
As discussed in the previous post, Learn to Write while Using Excellence in Literature (EIL), students are able to learn to write by using the classics and models/learning by doing approach of EIL. However, if you have a student who will be using EIL in the next few years, there are several writing programs you may want to explore. I’ve seen good results from students who have used each of these, and I suggest choosing one according your student’s learning style and the amount of time you have available. (These are programs I’m familiar with and have seen results from. Other programs may be equally effective.)
Read more
- Ten Ways to Destroy the Imagination of Your Child by Anthony Esolen
The Complete C.S. Lewis Signature Classics
- Epic: The Story God Is Telling by John Eldredge
- Waking the Dead: The Glory of a Heart Fully Alive by John Eldredge
- For the Children's Sake: Foundations of Education for Home and School by Susan Schaeffer Macaulay
The Crosswicks Journal Collection by Madeleine L'Engle; Four Book Set: A Circle of Quiet; The Summer of the Great Grandmother; The Irrationial Season; Two-Part Invention (Crosswicks Journal, 1, 2, 3, 4)
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.
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