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).
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
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
Declaration of Independence by John Trumbull: The cultural literacy of the founding fathers made this scene possible.
In the last post, we talked about knowing the very least you need to teach. The basics of cultural literacy hold the key to laying a solid foundation. If you have no idea what “cultural literacy” means, you’re not alone. You can find many definitions, but here’s one to start with: To be culturally literate is to understand the history and concepts that underlie a culture, and to be able to converse fluently in the allusions and informal content of that culture. For purposes of this post, the culture I’m writing about is Western civilization.*
Much has been written on cultural literacy, and many people have attempted to define what it includes. E.D. Hirsch’s best-selling Cultural Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know
The key concept that makes cultural literacy an attainable goal is “familiarity.” In order to be culturally literate, you need to be familiar with all manner of things, from Waterloo, Hamlet and “Call me Ishmael,” to the Wife of Bath, the Magna Carta, Tutankhamen, the Pythagorean Theorem and 1066. To be familiar with something is far different from being an expert in it, and it’s entirely manageable.
Read more
The Music Lesson by Johannes (Jan) Vermeer c. 1662-65
Do you ever feel a bit overwhelmed at the thought of teaching your student everything he or she needs to know for life? I know it happens, because I often talk with parents who are feeling a bit desperate because their child is either not “getting it” or not interested in school. The parent usually worries that little Fred will be locked into a “Would you like fries with that?” lifestyle, and it will be all their fault for not sending him to a nice traditional school where he would have been fascinated by everything the brilliant teachers shared. Or not.
A serious reality check will probably help you recall your own fascination with the academic side of school, and your diligence at pursuing all the extra bits of information that your teachers seemed to find so important. A further dose of reality will probably remind you that your learning didn’t stop when you received your high school diploma. You probably went on to learn work/career skills, parenting, French, computer skills, and all sorts of things you didn’t imagine you’d ever need while you were in school. Read more
I love the beginning of a new year. I like it so much that I’ve even designated a secondary “new year” in June so that I can begin afresh at least twice a year! Here’s how you can make your personal New Year a time of renewal and refreshment.
As you think through the following questions, you may want to journal your answers. If you’re a perfectionist, please don’t get stalled in finding the perfect journaling notebook and the right color pen before you can get started (and don’t ask how I know that this can be a hang-up!). You may even want to blog about some of the answers (if you do, please leave a comment and link in the comment section, so that other readers can find you). Don’t feel that you have to write a lot, but try to answer all the questions.
Warm and at peace...
As we approach the end of 2010, my thoughts turn toward the coming year. I like to spend some quiet time looking back at the year we’ve just lived– its joys and sorrows, its milestones and hurdles– and meditate on what I’ve learned, and where I need to go. As I think through these things, I begin planning for next year. Planning and setting goals helps me live life on purpose, making time for things that matter, rather than letting life just happen.
Wikipedia defines a goal as “a projected state of affairs that a person or a system plans or intends to achieve.” Goals are not a to-do list, but rather a snapshot of your vision for a desired outcome. Therefore, it’s important to have a very clear picture of what you want to achieve before you set any goals. For many years I have used mission statements to guide my yearly goal-setting, and those statements provide a vision of what I want individual goals to accomplish.
Mission statements can be long or short, but I’ve found that for most people a short, memorable mission statement works best. I prefer to have short, separate mission statements for each of my life roles– mother, wife, daughter, writer, teacher, friend. Here’s my “Mom Mission” statement: “I will create a loving, serene, creative environment that encourages personal and spiritual growth in a warm, nurturing family.” Notice that the mission addresses the “being” part of our family. Goals will address the “doing” end of things.
Once you have a mission statement that captures your vision for a particular area of life, outline up to three goals in that area. It’s important to create just a few realistic goals or you’ll feel overwhelmed and never get started. For instance, goals for my Mom Mission have varied over the years, but usually included daily quiet time, nurturing dinner table conversations, and a focus on home-centered activities. Goals are not tasks– those come next!
In order to meet goals, you’ll need to create a plan for making it happen. Ask yourself what needs to happen in order to meet your goals. Is there something you need to make, buy, move, repurpose, or change? Do you need to revise your daily schedule (or create one) in order to make time for something new? What do you need to communicate to your children, and how will you do so? List what you need to do in order to achieve the goal, and estimate how long it might take to accomplish it.
For example, if you want to begin having a daily quiet time for each person in the family, decide where each person’s quiet time spot will be (everyone needs to have a separate space, even if it’s just tucked behind a sofa or under the dining room table). Make a list of the kinds of activities that are permitted during quiet time– I always allowed naps, reading, writing, drawing, clay, or quiet building blocks, and share the list with everyone.
If you’ve never done quiet time with your family, briefly explain what you’re doing and why. Share the idea with joy and enthusiasm so they’ll understand that it’s something wonderful for everyone. If you meet with resistance, simply move forward, being pleasant but firm. Remember, you’re the mom!
Living life on purpose takes planning, but making time for things that matter means being flexible. Once you’ve established your vision and goals, remember that the long-term mission is more important than the stort-term task list. If you take your eyes off the goal of a loving, serene, creative environment, you might find yourself snapping at children who interrupt while you’re virtuously rearranging the house to accomodate quiet time. It’s often harder to live the fruit of the spirit than it is to complete a to-do list, but your mission statement can keep you focused.
I had the opportunity to speak on Making Time for Things that Matter at the Ultimate Homeschool Expo last week, and I’ve also been reading a book called Eternal Impact: Investing in the Lives of Others by Phil Downer. Although Eternal Impact isn’t focused on family relationships, one of the key ideas–significance–in it applies beautifully to the idea of making time for things that matter.
Because “school” is such a big part of homeschooling, it’s easy to get bogged down in details– what curriculum to use, how many math problems to do each day, how to motivate little Ebenezer to prefer phonics to Legos. The big picture, the key to lasting significance, sometimes slips into the background.
Phil Downer defines significance as “making a difference in the lives of people over time.” The biggest idea I try to convey when I talk to homeschooling moms is that children remember atmosphere more than activities. It’s more important to create a home in which there is love, respect, and a united purpose to build strong relationships, than it is to be super-busy, part of every co-op, sports, or ministry opportunity, or to keep house to Ritz-Carlton standards.
There are many good things you can do, but what are the best things? What will have a lasting impact on your family? In the definition of “significance,” note the phrase “over time.” As your family grows together, your home will take on its own individual atmosphere.
You’ll understand what I mean about atmosphere when you think back to your own childhood, and visiting your friends’ homes. When you walked in the door, what did you notice? Did the house seem welcoming and warm? Was your friend’s mom easy-going and kind, or did she bark at her children (and maybe even you)? Was the home extreme in some way– cold and sterile or packed to the ceiling with clutter? Which homes did you most enjoy visiting?
I believe that home atmosphere is one of the key ways that homeschooling moms can create significance in the lives of their children. The atmosphere I’m talking about isn’t related to the size or cost of your home, nor is it affected by the curriculum you choose, or the church you attend.
It’s an atmosphere that you purpose to create that allows your children to walk in the door and relax, knowing that they’re unconditionally loved and accepted, and they’re in a place where they can freely ask questions, share joys and griefs, and learn to be the individuals they were created to be. As Charlotte Mason said, “Education is an atmosphere, a discipline, a life.” Homeschool moms have a unique opportunity to impact their children’s lives for both time and eternity. With the big picture in mind, it becomes possible.
I’ll be sharing more on this idea soon.
“Your children may not remember what you do, but they’ll remember how you made them feel.”
Caregiving and homeschooling can work together.
Can learning can go on while you’re cargiving for someone who is elderly or disabled? I want to reassure you that it can, but it will be different from what you might expect. If you can align your expectations with reality, make adjustments that keep you sane, and focus on priorities and essentials, you’ll be able to homeschool while you’re a caregiver. You may not achieve the picture-perfect homeschool you envision, but your family will learn many valuable lessons, and can even thrive.
The first thing to do is to be realistic. You’ll need to balance the needs of your husband, your children, and yourself with the demands of caregiving. If you’re in a short-term caregiving situation, you can make big, temporary compromises in your focus and survive in the short term. If you’re in a long-term caregiving situation, you’ll need to focus on overall lifestyle changes and enlist help when you need it.
For example, in the last year of my grandfather’s life, we were dealing with his Alzheimer’s disease, my grandmother’s difficult adjustment to living in Virginia, plus four boys, ages 1, 3, 6, and 8. Between having to pack up the boys to go and hunt up “Gampy” when he wandered off (sometimes more than once a day), selling our house and building a new one where the grandparents could live with us, and coping with meals, laundry, and all the varying physical and emotional needs, it was a challenge to get more than the very basics of a math lesson and a bit of writing done. Some days we weren’t even able to do that much. [Read more...] 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.
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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Do What Matters, Make it Pay
