“Doing School” Isn’t All Bad

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It occurs to me that by explaining how I learned to let my kids pursue learning, I might be making it seem like my kids’ homeschooling years were spent in free exploration. But that’s not what happened.

For many years I “did school” with my kids on a regular schedule using formal curriculum. I did it that way because it was the only way I knew how to do school: the way I’d been taught. Of course I didn’t like the way I was taught (as a child, I deeply resented the daily boredom of school), but I tried to make it more fun for my kids than it had been for me. Also, until they reached their teen years, I tried to finish up before lunch so they could have their afternoons free to do what interested them. So I do think they had a better educational experience than I did.

One of the reasons I “did school” for so long was that my husband wanted to make sure the kids were at grade level. Not long after we began homeschooling, a homeschooling friend of ours passed away, suddenly and unexpectedly, and her husband had to put their kids in school. Since their mother had made sure they could do schoolwork at the appropriate grade level, they were able to assimilate academically at the school run by our church. Knowing this, my husband wanted to make sure our kids would be at grade level if anything happened to me. I agreed and made sure their studies were at grade level.

Of course what we soon discovered, after having our kids take achievement tests, was that they were usually a couple of grade levels (and in some areas, several grade levels) ahead of their age mates. So over time, I was able to relax when it came to requiring them to study certain subjects every day.

That said, I don’t think it’s a bad idea to include some basics in each homeschooling day. It’s kind of like eating vegetables; they’re good for you, so eating some every day is a wise move. Besides, you don’t have to spend hours on math or spelling; a little every day goes a long way.

Nervous About Another Year of Homeschooling?

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In a few months I’m going to meet my first grandchild, a little boy. (I can hardly wait!) I enjoyed my children’s baby years so much, and friends tell me being a grandma is even more fun. How can that be possible? I’ll find out soon.

One of the things I enjoyed most about my babies was their bright little minds. Almost from the time they were born, it seemed, they were scoping out their world, eyes wide and curious. As they grew, I was amazed at how ready they were to explore with their eyes, their hands, their mouths, and before long, by crawling and walking. I didn’t have to coax them to do this; I just had to make their world safe for exploration.

Take my eldest son, for instance, the father of my upcoming grandchild. When he was a baby, he was easy to care for, a mellow guy (as long as his tummy was full and his diaper was dry). Before I started making supper each night, I’d put him in his baby seat on the kitchen counter and hang a little squeaky stuffed bluebird right in front of him. At first he’d just stare at it. Before long he was cooing at it. And then one night he took a swat at it! This became a fun game for him. For weeks I cooked supper to the sounds of him cooing and the bluebird squeaking as he whacked it and chortled.

I’m sure this activity was good for his eye-hand coordination (and may even have led to his love of baseball!) But it was also a good lesson for me: he learned to do this without my coaxing, prodding, or insistence. I gave him a learning environment, and his God-given intelligence took care of the rest.

Of course I’d forgotten times like this when I first started homeschooling my kids. I often parked them in front of textbooks and “taught” them and expected them to learn. And they did, but before long it became a chore. There was no intense interest, no chortling.

Over time I discovered that true learning requires the interest and desire of the student. I had read this in books by John Holt, but what really cemented it was seeing my children pursue their interests and excel in them. By the time they were teens, my participation primarily involved driving them to a limited number of activities of their choice and paying for the books and/or supplies needed in their pursuits. The rest was up to them, and that God-given intelligence I first saw when they were tiny.

So if you’re a bit nervous about whether you’re buying the right curriculum this year, or whether you’re going to be up for another year of homeschooling, consider that much of the task of educating your children is up to them; if you create a vibrant learning environment, answer their questions and facilitate learning by obtaining what they need, you can count on them to do the rest.

As for me, my kids are grown and I’m not homeschooling anymore, which leaves me a lot more time to make things for the baby  🙂

 

Great Deal on Christian Science Curriculum

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Just got an email from my son, who works for Concordia Publishing House, which is affiliated with our church body, the Lutheran Church -Missouri Synod. He wanted to let me know about a great deal they’re offering right now on their science curriculum, Science Discovery Works:

  • Student editions for grades 1-6 (reg. $37-62) now just $15 each.
  • Teacher’s Guides for each grade (reg. $146.22) now $40!
  • Additional student resources are only $4-5. (reg. $6-13)

This is a limited time offer. See the product line here. Learn more about the series here. And email me if you’d like an order form with the sale prices all spelled out; you’ll find my email address on the “About Me” page of this site.

 

 

Are You Up for This Challenge?

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I prefer to buy products that are made in the USA, but it’s not always easy. I also prefer not to buy products made in China, and that’s not easy either. Now I’ve been challenged (by an email forward, of all things), to see if I can walk the walk, for the entire month of August.

I’m game; how about you?

AUGUST 1st to SEPT. 1st
Well over 50 years ago, I knew a lady who would not buy Christmas gifts if they were made in China. Her daughter will recognize her in the following.

Did y’all see Diane Sawyer’s special report? They removed ALL items from a typical, middle class family’s home that were not made in the USA.

There was hardly anything left besides the kitchen sink. Literally. During the special they showed truckloads of items – USA made – being brought in to replace everything and talked about how to find these items and the difference in price, etc.

It was interesting that Diane said if every American spent just $64 more than normal on USA made items this year, it would create something like
200,000 new jobs!

I WAS BUYING FOOD THE OTHER DAY AT WALMART and ON THE LABEL OF SOME PRODUCTS IT SAID ‘FROM CHINA’

FOR EXAMPLE THE “OUR FAMILY” BRAND OF THE MANDARIN ORANGES SAYS RIGHT ON THE CAN ‘FROM CHINA’

I WAS SHOCKED SO FOR A FEW MORE CENTS I BOUGHT THE LIBERTY GOLD BRAND OR DOLE SINCE IT’S FROM CALIF

Are we Americans as dumb as we appear — or — is it that we just do not think? The Chinese, knowingly and intentionally, export inferior and even toxic products and dangerous toys and goods to be sold in American markets.

70% of Americans.. believe that the trading privileges afforded to the Chinese should be suspended.

Why do you need the government to suspend trading privileges? You Can DO IT YOURSELF, AMERICA !!

Simply look on the bottom of every product you buy, and if it says ‘Made in China’ or ‘PRC'(and that now includes Hong Kong), simply choose another product, or none at all. You will be amazed at how dependent you are on Chinese products, and you will be equally amazed at what you can do without.

Who needs plastic eggs to celebrate Easter? If you must have eggs, use real ones and benefit some American farmer. Easter is just an example. The point is do not wait for the government to act. Just go ahead and assume control on your own.

THINK ABOUT THIS: If 200 million Americans each refuse to buy just $20 of Chinese goods, that’s a billion dollar trade imbalance resolved in our favor…fast!!

Most of the people who have been reading about this matter are planning on implementing this on Aug. 1st and continue it until Sept. 1st. That is only one month of trading losses, but it will hit the Chinese for 1/12th of the total, or 8%, of their American exports. Then they might have to ask themselves if the benefits of their arrogance and lawlessness were worth it.

Remember, August 1st to Sept. 1st! START NOW.

Send this to everybody you know. Let’s show them that we are Americans and NOBODY can take us for granted.

If we can’t live without cheap Chinese goods for one month out of our lives, WE DESERVE WHAT WE GET!

Pass it on, America …
Well, come to think of it, instead of doing it for just 1 month why not try to do it all the time?

Eek! Kids are Getting Fat and Dumb!

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We must take away summer vacation because it’s making kids stupid and obese!

That’s the battle cry from Peter Orszag, who decrees in this article that:

Kids lose some of what they learned during the school year over the summer.

Kids get bigger over the summer.

Therefore, summer vacation is bad.

His recommendations?

Make the school year longer (a euphemism for getting rid of summer vacation).

Put low-income kids into six-week long summer school sessions.

Put low-income kids into summer reading programs.

At the end of the article, he suggests that one or more of his solutions be implemented via an act of Congress. Sigh.

This is so silly. America’s public schools are graduating increasing numbers of kids who can’t read or do math; when something isn’t working, why on earth would we want MORE of it?

As for kids getting bigger, it’s true that some parents let their kids sit inside and watch movies, play videogames and text their friends instead of sending them out to play for fresh air and exercise. A bad idea, for sure, but it’s not up to the government to take over those kids’ lives. Besides, there’s another reason some kids get larger over the summer. Remember when you were a kid starting back to school after summer vacation and you noticed that some of your classmates had grown noticeably bigger and taller? They’d had a growth spurt. That’s what kids do (unless they’re sickly); they grow. One has to wonder, do these do-gooders like Orszag even have kids?

Remarks coming from Orszag and his ilk these days aren’t really about kids’ well-being anyways; it’s about control, government control of our children. We need to shoot down their arguments, including their assumption that kids learn more during the school year and lose at least a third of what they learned over the summer.

Kids don’t lose what they’ve learned unless it was something they were forced to learn that they merely memorized and forgot once it was no longer needed (i.e. school). Here’s how we know this:

How many kids forget how to ride a bike?

How many kids forget the lyrics to their favorite songs?

How many kids forget how to play their favorite video games?

We learn what we’re interested in, what’s useful to us and what we find irresistible. Public education rarely offers such things to kids, Increasingly, today’s kids are faced with more indoctrination than instruction; the instruction they do get is apparently not working for a lot of kids. Masking these issues by blaming summer vacation is a cop-out

If the do-gooders really wanted to know what works for kids, they’d study homeschoolers. The success of homeschooling is well-documented. Homeschooling parents will tell them that their kids are learning all the time, even during summer vacation. And when homeschooled kids do forget something they learned (usually something their parents expected them to study, as opposed to something they wanted to learn), they pick it up again pretty quickly when they go back to their studies. But as long as they’re getting plenty of time and opportunity to learn at their own pace and to pursue their own interests in addition to the studies their parents require of them, they don’t lose much of what they’ve learned. (I know this from observing my own homeschooled four.)

But the do-gooders will never study homeschooling. Why? Because most homeschooling parents’ goals for their children are about learning, not control. And these days, sadly, our government seems primarily bent on control.