Learning: Mind-Numbing or Mind-Nourishing?

Robinson Crusoe reading

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;-)!

As I think back to my own school days, I remember both mind-numbing tedium and mind-nourishing reading. I believe I learned more from the reading I did (mostly in books of my own choosing), than from many of the stale, dry lessons I was expected to memorize and regurgitate. When my boys recall our homeschooling days, they talk about things we read or made, or places we went, and they understand that those were learning experiences, even when they were the most fun thing we’d done all week.

The Gift of Time

As homeschoolers, we were fairly relaxed. We did a lot of reading, less writing than we should have, listened to audio resources, traveled when possible, played games, and had interesting conversations. Most of all, I gave them the gift of time. Time to find out what was interesting to them. Time to learn skills that weren’t on any “state requirements” list. Time to be boys in the woods with sticks and forts.

The boys each went into college wondering how they would measure up against students from traditional school systems. It didn’t take them long to find out that they measured up. They discovered that they knew how to learn and how to be good students. Most of all, they hadn’t lost their taste for learning and growth. To be sure, there were subjects that were none too interesting and professors who droned, but overall, their minds hadn’t been numbed by an unending stream of busywork, and they were able to approach learning with the expectation of mental nourishment and life enrichment. I’m glad we homeschooled, and I’d do it over again. How about you?

Houseplants and Homeschools and Normal Homeschool Moms

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:

Establish daily quiet time for everyone in the family. Give each person a different room or special spot, and let them do any activity that is noiseless, such as reading, building with blocks or other construction toys, writing, drawing, listening to a story with headphone. The rule is that they must have gathered any necessary objects before QT, and they must not leave their spot once QT begins.

Try a different school schedule than usual. I have a few alternatives listed in this post.

Teach a creative handcraft such as crochet, knitting, drawing, carving, calligraphy, or anything else that’s quiet and creative. If you don’t know any, find someone or a video to teach you, and learn along with your children. Creativity helps brains develop and helps to relieve stress.

Try to do writing assignments using content from other subjects. For example, rather than assigning a paper to practice the essay format and also assigning a history report, assign an essay on an appropriate history topic. This is usually much more valuable to the child, and it condenses the learning day to a more manageable length. (Charlotte Mason advocated SHORT lessons, and she was right.)

If you’re planning for the holidays, start incorporating bits of the planning into the school day. Let the children help with baking and gift wrapping or whatever other duties arise in connection with the celebration. They learn from all of it, and you can make good memories in the process.

Take a complete break between semesters. If everyone is weary of school before the break, it doesn’t make sense to drag it into the time that is supposed to refresh their minds. You need a break as well.

Remind yourself why you’re homeschooling. Read a few good books on the subject, and learn how others have done it, and refresh yourself with new ideas.

Finally, remember that “the sweetness of lips increases learning” (Proverbs 16:21). Learn to work with your own body’s cycles of energy, and get as much rest and good nutrition as possible so that you can be sweet with your children. What you do every day doesn’t matter nearly as much as how you make them feel. I wanted my children to know, feel, and believe that I loved them unconditionally, because I believe it helps them understand how the Lord can love them, even when they aren’t perfect.

I get tired of taking care of houseplants during the winter, but I enjoy the blossoms and the green leaves when it’s grey and dreary outside. That’s the reason I find myself, watering can in hand, almost every winter, wondering why I do this. The answer has always been, “Because it’s worth it in the long run.” And that’s the same answer I’d give about homeschooling. I’m very, very thankful we were able to complete the journey, and I hope you’ll be able to complete it as well.

Veteran’s Day 2009- Thoughts on Liberty

united-states-flagOn 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

Carnival of Homeschooling- The NaNoWriMo Edition

Preface

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Welcome to this hundred-and-umpteenth Carnival of Homeschooling! Because November is National Novel Writing Month (also known as NaNoWriMo or nano), and I’m over 10,000 words into the writing process (and can’t think of anything but writing, writing, and more writing), I thought it would be appropriate to format this Carnival as sections of a book. I even consulted the Chicago Manual of Style for an authoritative list of book parts!

Introduction

For me, homeschooling is first and foremost a heart matter. In Mangled Schedules and Grateful Hearts, an article I wrote for Home School Enrichment magazine, you can read how a father’s presence and influence can shape a family school. Enjoy! Read more

Celebrate National Punctuation Day!

Okay, students, put on your party hats! It’s time to celebrate the not-so-lowly punctuation mark. We’re a little late to join the baking contest planned as part of the celebration, but there nothing stopping us from using commas, periods, apostrophes, and semi-colons to our hearts content. Choose your favorite punctuation mark and make merry!

Imagine a worldundefinedwithout punctuation a world in which wed have to guess at meanings and try to read smoothly without the aid of those handy little signals imagine how silly wed sound stumbling through Dickens or trying to skim through Hamlets soliloquy to be or not to be that is the question whether tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune or to take arms against a sea of troubles and by opposing end them to die to sleep no more and by a sleep to say we end the heartache and the thousand natural shocks that flesh is heir to making sense of that without punctuation could be quite a nightmare especially for 10th graders if they are allowed to read Shakespeare anymore

Jeff Rubin, the founder of National Punctuation Day offers tongue-in-cheek suggestions for how to celebrate the holiday, including:

Rubin has graciously provided a page of horrifyingly funny pictures of errors spotted in public places (and instructions for how you can submit your own photos) . TIP: If you don’t find all the photos on this page hilarious, find a grammatically-correct friend to explain the joke. They’re too funny to miss!

P.S. The fact that I find these common errors funny doesn’t mean that I don’t occasionally overlook things in my own writing. It also doesn’t mean that I check incoming e-mails for typos. I’m not perfect, and I don’t expect you to be. I’m always writing under deadline, and I expect that you are too, so don’t worry about having your comments or e-mails perfectly proofread. I don’t have the time or inclination. I just like to hear from you–with or without typos!

Create A Place of Quietness in your Day

Do you ever feel overwhelmed when there is noise and hubbub all day long? It can be hard to avoid when you have children home all the time. One of the things I did with my boys was to create quiet spaces in our day. I always tried to begin the day before anyone else got up. I’d take time over coffee and breakfast to read a chapter or two of the Bible, then look at my list of priorities for the day.

After the boys got up and we did school, we’d have an afternoon Quiet Time. It lasted for various amounts of time, depending upon their ages, but the important thing was that each person had a separate place to be, and there was nothing noisy happening in the house. Not even good noise like music! Each boy could read, write, color, nap, even play Legos or Knex, as long as he was silent. During that hour or whatever time we spent, our spirits were refreshed, and we grew ready to cope with the rest of the day.

After the boys went to bed, there was a final quiet time in which Donald and I would sit in the sunroom and read the newspaper or a book, I’d make my list for the next day, and we would sometimes visit quietly. It was a delightful way to wrap up our long day!

I hope that you have quiet spaces planned into your life for the next school year. It’s amazing what can happen in quiet moments! I’ve attached a handout from a recent conference where I spoke on “Making Time for Things That Matter.” It has a number of good quotes on quietness, as well as a few other helpful things. I hope you enjoy it!

making-time-handoutindd2

“Now I begin to feel that all that is important comes in quietness and waiting; and that activity should be only the working out, the digesting and putting forth of what one learned, so that one may become empty again to receive more.” Rodney Collin

“…in quietness and confidence shall be your strength.” Isaiah 30:15

Note: I have been trying to find out the artist and the name of the painting above. I initially thought it must be a Vermeer, or possibly a Rembrandt, but haven’t been able to find it in any of the sources I have. If you know, please leave a comment and let me know so that I can properly attribute it. Thank you!

“The Schoolboy”- A Summer Poem by William Blake

It’s been awhile since I posted a poem, but when I heard someone talking about doing school through summer, I just had to post this one! Enjoy!

The proper joys of summer.

The proper joys of summer.

I love to rise in a summer morn,
When the birds sing on every tree;
The distant huntsman winds his horn,
And the skylark sings with me:
O what sweet company!

But to go to school in a summer morn, —
O it drives all joy away!
Under a cruel eye outworn,
The little ones spend the day
In sighing and dismay.

Ah then at times I drooping sit,
And spend many an anxious hour;
Nor in my book can I take delight,
Nor sit in learning’s bower,
Worn through with the dreary shower.

How can the bird that is born for joy
Sit in a cage and sing?
How can a child, when fears annoy,
But droop his tender wing,
And forget his youthful spring!

O father and mother if buds are nipped,
And blossoms blown away;
And if the tender plants are stripped
Of their joy in the springing day,
By sorrow and care’s dismay, —

How shall the summer arise in joy,
Or the summer fruits appear?
Or how shall we gather what griefs destroy,
Or bless the mellowing year,
When the blasts of winter appear?

From Songs of Experience, 1794

The Perfect Cure for Summer Boredom

Don’t forget to use the Convention Season Specials by July 12!

It’s summertime, and a few days after you put away the schoolbooks, you may hear the dreaded complaint, “I’m bored.” It’s a complaint I always welcomed, because I had found the perfect answer. However, let’s look first at the history of boredom.

Next time one of your children complains about being bored, or you wonder why you have to do the same task over and over again, consider this: You may be bored, but did you know that the very word itself wasn’t even invented until after 1750? Now that’s an interesting fact to keep your boredom at bay!

Think about it: If people were bored back in the 1700s, they had no clue. They might have felt it, but they hadn’t come up with the word to describe it yet, according to Patricia M. Spacks, the author of Boredom: The Literary History of a State of Mind. But once the concept had a name, it became universal. Children soon pointed it out. Researchers blame it for a number of society’s ills, including drug addiction. Even entertainment is seen as boring, because there’s so much of it to go around. The bottom line, according to Spacks, is that there’s no cure for boredom. You just have to accept it, and know there will be a change for the better soon enough.

The late poet Joseph Brodksy had this depressing thought to offer in a 1989 college commencement: “When hit by boredom, let yourself be crushed by it; submerge, hit bottom,” he said. “The sooner you hit bottom, the faster you surface.” According to some experts, the real trick is to simply get used to monotony. It’s a part of life, even among exciting people. They suggest that you try to experience things in new ways, and not mistakenly assume that only new things are interesting.

That’s all very well, but my perfect cure for the complaint of boredom was to cheerfully say, “Oh, I’m so sorry to hear that! Here’s a little project you can do” while handing them the tools for accomplishing a chore from the day’s to-do list. My boys learned very early that it was much more fun to choose an activity from the Summer Fun List (a list of good books to read, art projects to try, things to build, games to play, etc.). The key was that once the word “bored” was uttered, there was no taking it back, and the suggested chore had to be completed. Trust me, this works like a charm!

If you feel a little guilty for requiring your children to entertain themselves, or worse, you suffer a bit from the inability to keep yourself happily occupied, I assure you that banishing boredom is a noble goal. Consider these quotes:

“Many hours of solitary occupation and enjoyment, will lead to the development of the highest intellectual and moral traits of character; in fact, his mental resources may be considered entirely unknown and unexplored, who cannot spend his best and happiest hours alone.” (Jacob Abbott, c. 1850)

“Shakespeare, Leonardo da Vinci, Benjamin Franklin, and Abraham Lincoln never saw a movie, heard a radio, or looked at television. They had loneliness and knew what to do with it. They were not afraid of being lonely because they knew that was when the creative mood in them would work.” (Carl Sandburg)

All creative people know that there’s really no such thing as boredom– it’s just a feeling of dissatisfaction that, if properly channeled, can lead to great work. Don’t be tempted to respond to complaints of boredom by rushing about, providing distractions. Let your children learn how to constructively use time, and they’ll never have to be bored again.

Charlotte Mason on Teaching With Literature

In the chapter, “Liberal Education in Secondary Schools” in A Philosophy of Education, Charlotte Mason suggests that “the mind refuses to know anything except what reaches it in more or less literary form.” From my observation and experience, this is largely true. Truths and principles conveyed through stories, especially in the context of a learning lifestyle, stay in the mind as useful and usable ideas that can be incorporated in a student’s writing, conversation, and life.

In support of this idea, Miss Mason discusses how vaguely we remember the daily newspaper we read or how little children remember of worksheets and exercises. “The mind appears to have an outer court into which matter can be taken and again expelled without ever having entered the inner place where personality dwells. Here we have the secret of learning by rote, a purely mechanical exercise of which no satisfactory account has been given, but which leaves the patient, or pupil, unaffected… Now there is a natural provision against this mere skimming of the ground by the educational plough. Give the sort of knowledge that they are fitten to assimilate, served in a literary medium, and they will pay great attention.”

Miss Mason observed that most people remember ideas that reach them in the form of story, and they are able to apply and use these ideas in other areas of study, as well as in their writing. The only way to easily achieve the retention of knowledge is through “a great deal of consecutive reading from various books, all of some literary value; …one reading is sufficient; nor should there be any revision for the distant examination.”

As an example of the cultural literacy that comes through exposure to literature, she provides an impressive “list of 200 names, used with ease and fitness in an examination on one term’s work by a child of eleven in Form II.”

Abinadab, Athenian, Anne Boleyn, Act of Uniformity, Act of Supremacy, America, Austria, Alcibiades, Athens, Auckland, Australia, Alexandria, Alhambra.

Bible, Bishop of Rochester, Baron, Bean-shoots, Bluff, Bowen Falls, Bishoprics, Blind Bay, Burano.

Currants, Cupid, Catholic, Court of High Commission, Cranmer, Charles V, Colonies, Convent, Claude, Calais, Cook Strait, Canterbury Plain, Christchurch, Cathedral, Canals, Caliph of Egypt, Court of the Myrtles, Columbus, Cordova.

David, Defender of the Faith, Duke of Guise, Dunedin, Doge’s Palace.

England, Emperor, Empire, Egmont (Count), English Settlement

Flour, Fruits, French, Francis I, Francis of Guise, Ferdinand, Foveau Strait, Fuchsias, Fiords, Ferns.

Greek, Germany, Gondolas, “Gates of the Damsels,” Gondoliers, Granada, Gate of Justice, Gypsies.

Henry VIII, History, Hooper, Henry II, Hungary, Haeckel.

Israel, Italian (language), Italy, Infusoria.

Jesse, Jonathan, Joseph, John, Jerusalem, James, Jane Seymour.

King of Denmark, King of Scotland, Kiwi.

“Love-in-Idleness,” Lord Chancellor, Lord Burleigh, Lord Robert Dudley, Lime, Lyttleton, N.Z., Lake Tango.

Mary (The Virgin), More (Sir Thomas), Music, Martyr’s Memorial, Milan, Metz, Monastery, Mary, Queen of Scots, Mediterranean, Microscope, Messina, Middle Island, Mount Egmont, Mount Cook, Milford Sound, Museum, Moa, Maoris, Mussulman, Moorish King.

Naomi, Netherlands, Nice, New Zealand, North Island, Napier, Nelson.

Oberon, Oxford, Orion.

Pharisees, Plants, Parliament, Puck, Pope, Protestant, Poetry,

Philosophy, “Paix des Dames ,” Philip II, Paris, Planets, “Pink Terraces,” Piazetta, Philip of Burgundy.

Queen Catherine, Queen Elizabeth, Queen Mary, Queen Isabella, Queen Juana.

Ruth, Robin Goodfellow, Ridley, Reformation, Radiolaria, Rotomaliana (Lake), Rea.

Saul, Samuel, Simeon, Simon Peter, Sunshine, Sugar-cane, Spices, Sultan, Spain, St. Quentin, Socrates, Stars, Sycamore, Seed-ball, Stewart Island, Seaports, Southern Alps, Scotch Settlement, St. Mark, St. Theodore, St. Maria Formosa (Church), Sierra Navada.

Temple, Titania, Testament, Treaty, Turks, Toul, Thread Slime, Tree Ferns, Timber Trees, Trieste, Toledo.

Verdure, Venus (Planet), Volcano, Volcanic Action, Venice.

Whieat, Wiltshire, William Cecil, Walsingham, Winged Seed, Wellington, Waikato.

Zaccharias, Zebedee.”

I won’t suggest that an American student in the twenty-first century should have the same list, but they should have a similar wealth of knowledge ready to use “with ease and fitness.” There is a story at the bottom of every subject, and when it is told (once, as she states, is usually sufficient), it can help children understand and remember the essence of an idea.

Application

To apply this concept to your daily teaching, I suggest copious amounts of reading (or listening, in the case of auditory learners). In addition to literary fiction, bring in biographies of artists, explorers, architects, writers, scientists, musicians, and mathematicians; stories of expeditions, inventions, discoveries, compositions; travelogues; magazines such as National Geographic or Smithsonian; and whatever fits your family’s interests.

You’ll find that your students will deeply understand the concept of justice after suffering with Jean Valjean in Les Miserables, and they’ll remember the bitter cold and peril of the Arctic circle, as they try to survive with Admiral Richard Evelyn Byrd’s expedition. Contrast this with what they would understand or remember after filling out a worksheet with the definitions of justice, love, and faith, or a scientific report on the weather in the Arctic or Antarctic.

Stories bring knowledge alive and engage emotional memory in a way that makes abstract principles and arcane facts easy to understand and remember. When learning can be joyous and simple, why make it boring and difficult (and pointless because they are unlikely to remember anything) by using tedious worksheets and canned curriculum? It’s never too late to start teaching well. Resolve now to make literature and stories a major part of your educational adventure!

*****Don’t forget the Convention Season SALE!

Also, I’ll be speaking at Cindy Rushton’s Ultimate Homeschool Expo 2009. This online homeschool convention includes:

I think you’ll enjoy this, especially if you can’t make it to a live conference this year.

Carnival of Homeschooling- The Spring Fever Edition

tulips

tulips

Is anyone else ready for spring? The daffodils are up, forsythia is glowing at the edges of the woods, and from my cozy spot by the woodstove, the bright sunlight offers the illusion of warmth. It’s quickly dispelled by the damp chill when I open the windows, but the boisterous bird song renews faith that spring is on its way.With spring almost here, I thought we all might enjoy a lovely floral journey for the March 31, 2009 edition of the Carnival of Homeschooling. Our writers have submitted some excellent posts, so gather ’round and enjoy the Carnival!

We’ll begin with a bit of late breaking news: Better parenting leads to more competent children hosted at “Why Homeschool” Henry Cate reports that studies confirm that loving and firm parents have more competent children. Really? Read more

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