I'm an Unschooling mom in Las Vegas, NV. I have all boys! A 14 yr old, a 6 yr old, a 1 yr old and 2 teenage stepsons.
4 of the 5 have some special need or another, and the 5th would be termed "gifted" if he was in school. They all have their own interests and abilities.
Join me as I blog about our Christ-led learning approach..things that work, things that don't, and the antics of family life!
Nurturing our children in the freedom of Christ
# 7, May 1, 2000
Sr. Editor & Publisher: Elissa Wahl
Assistant Editor: Teri Brown
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IN THIS ISSUE
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1. Welcome from the Editor
2. Creativity Unlimited by: Trudy den Hoed
3. Unschooling and Gardens by: Jeanne Musfeldt
4. Unschooling With A Newborn by: Alice Steen
5. Contest: Send us your $ saving tips!
6. Gardening Links
7. Curriculum Scholarships for Widows
8. New Unschool groups
9. Closing letter from the editor
10. Subscription Information
11. Reprint Information
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1. Welcome from the editor
Hi all, hope this newsletter is received in the manner it was
sent..in love and through God!!
Well, we have lost our dear contributing editor, Patricia Moon. Her
career has taken off and she is at a loss for time. We wish her the
best of luck, but she will be missed!!
Don't you LOVE this time of year?? (Minus the allergies of course!)
It's not too hot, not too cold, beautiful flowers blooming, leaves
budding, it's the PERFECT time to work on a garden!! Just as a baby
is a wondrous miracle, so are the sprouts of a new growth. Think of
all the things a flower or vegetable needs to grow....it needs the
seed, good soil, sunlight, water..these are all variables, BUT we can
plant the seeds in good soil, in the sun and water them. We can
nourish them with the things they need, just as God nourishes us with
what we need. Plus, the benefits of gardening for homeschoolers, is
great! Talk about life science!! Learn about composting,
photosynthesis, worms, pH, irrigation, and so much more! See below
for some great gardening links!
Every child is born with gifts of imagination. As parents and
educators, we can either stifle this precious gift or we can provide
an atmosphere or environment in which creative juices may freely
flow.
Creativity can be cultivated and watered by providing our children a
creative playground in which they can gradually discover and grow.
The example of a butterfly crawling out of its cocoon aptly
demonstrates this. If we see the butterfly struggling to get out, we
may feel tempted to speed up the process and peel away the cocoon.
Instead of helping the butterfly, we will damage its beautiful wings
and the butterfly will probably die. Sometimes if we constantly force
a child to learn something and the child has no interest whatsoever
to learn it, the child may decide learning is no fun. In this way,
his or her creativity may become stilted. School becomes a drag and a
grown-ups necessity.
Writing is a wonderful outlet for creativity, but we need to be
careful not to force it too much. Early in life a child can learn to
hate writing if he is constantly forced to do it out of necessity or
as another assignment rather than as a welcome activity in which he
can freely express himself. We need to be careful not to get carried
away with correct spelling or perfect grammar. Although a child needs
to be taught this, too many corrections all at once can be
discouraging. A tender little heart can easily be turned away from
writing if he sees so many "red" marks on his writing.
It is my aim to foster children's creative abilities by publishing a
children's literary magazine in which I give young, creative minds an
opportunity to get published. My purpose is to encourage young people
to use the creative gifts God has given them, to exercise and develop
writing skills, to explore the wonderful world of language, and to
read wholesome literature. My desire is to give children a voice by
which they may feel their opinions and their ideas count. The joy of
seeing ones writing in print builds self-esteem which our children
need in a time when dangers lurk everywhere.
Starting out with a specific theme for each issue soon changed to an
open theme. This provides less restriction for growing authors. A
writer writes best what he feels a passion for. Now, although I do
still try to include seasonal articles, stories, or poems at specific
times of the year and I give out suggestions or ideas, I leave the
topic open.
While I encourage young authors to choose their own topics, they
still need to learn to follow guidelines. I try to give budding young
authors a taste of the writing world. Through submitting their
writings and participating in writing contests, children can gain
some valuable practice in following guidelines, etc. If writings have
minor mistakes, I edit them. If there are too many mistakes, I return
it to the author for revision with an encouraging note. In the adult
writing world, it isn't easy to get published. The writers who make
it are the ones who never give up!
I just know there are some children out there who may someday become
adult writers who make a real difference in this world. Some of them
already do write to make a difference. Many writings in NIFTY NIBBLES
have encouraged or enlightened readers, including myself. Some
devotional stories or poems are very comforting. Other writings
inspire readers to remember our responsibilities, such as the article
by a second-grader from Florida in my March/April issue, "The Quest
to Make It Better." This author has played an active role in fighting
pollution in Lake Apopka. Christopher challenges, "Take power, kids,
and take action-."
I have heard from some people: Those young people nowadays have no
respect… I firmly believe there are many young people who really
care, who make responsible choices, and who want to make a
difference. I am proud that I can be a part of bringing the writings
of caring young authors to the attention of our readers.
Working with these young authors is a satisfying work. I love to
encourage children to use their God-given gifts. Even if I can't
accept a submission, I still send the author a personal note to
explain why I can't accept his writing and to encourage him to keep
trying.
True… there can be days of discouragement when I wonder if I
should even continue this magazine, but then the Lord pulls me out of my
slump again. I am reminded of my purpose – to encourage young
authors to use their God-given talents and to provide an atmosphere by which
those creative juices may flow freely.
NIFTY NIBBLES: Children's Literary
Magazine
1525-2nd
St.
Hull, IA 51239-7351
Website: http://www.angelfire.com/ia/niftynibbles
Email: ldenhoed@rconnect.com
Submissions may either be emailed or be sent through regular mail.
Subscriptions are $16/year (6 issues) for US residents. Single issues
may be purchased at $3.
All this talk of spring and gardening! Isn't it grand? I love
spring, just seeing everything fresh and new once again. I know a
lot of homeschoolers that garden. There is so much to be learned
from it!
My dad, better known as Grandpa, comes to our acreage each spring to
help us garden. It is one of his passions. Before he comes down,
the children talk about what they want to plant, and where. Remember
that you have to rotate your 'crops' each year, to avoid losing all
the nutrients in the soil. Different plants use up different
nutrients in the ground.
When Grandpa finally does come down (have to wait for that ground to
get rain and dry up some), the fun really begins! First he gets out
the tractor, and the children take turns 'driving' it with him. They
turn the ground, and till it with the tractor. Then Grandpa gets out
the hand tiller, and works the soil some more. The whole time, he
tells the children about how he used to do this for his mom's garden
when he was a kid. But it was much larger because his mom depended
on it to feed the whole family, 7 children and parents. This was in
depression times. Grandpa tells the children about the mules that
he used to work the garden soil for his mom.
Now that the turning and tilling is done, it is time for lunch!
After the children make lunch for Grandpa and I, we will start with
the actual planting. I know a lot of families that plant far more
than we do, but I am not a real garden kind of gal. Most of this is
left up to Grandpa and the children. This year, they planted
tomatoes, potatoes, watermelon, corn, and green beans. There is a
little space left, for me to choose something special to put in
there. I am thinking flowers, even though my dad considers that a
waste of space.
Grandpa and the kids have a great time at the garden, and I am happy
to do some canning with the produce. But that is another story, and
doesn't come until August or September. That has lessons all its
own.
For now, let see what the children have learned. There is math in
there, from the planning of what to plant and where. Critical
thinking skills were used when deciding where to plant things.
Remember that we can't plant the same crop in the same place 2 years
in a row, because of the nutrients in the soil. That is science,
too! History was learned with the stories that Grandpa told of his
childhood. When the children came in to make everyone's lunch, that
is a life skill. Life skill, in my opinion, is something that the
children are learning that they are going to need as they go through
their life. They did all that planting and will do weeding. That is
science and math (counting the rows) and of course, physical
education.
There is a lot to learn in gardening. Don't forget to thank God each
time you sit down to that table of fresh garden produce. After all,
He is the creator of all. Be blessed in this fresh new season of
our lives.
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4.Unschooling With A Newborn
Alice Steen
I'm Alice and I live in Columbus, GA. I have 4 sons..13, 9, 6 and
almost 5 months old (wow.. is he that old already??)
We've been homeschooling off and on for 5+years. We did the Public
School Hokey Pokey ( put them in a year and took them out for two..
then in a year and now out FOR GOOD!!)
I "homeschooled" for the first four years and that went alright. The
boys were learning what was expected of them but it was like it was
stifling their creativity.
This last year I began a more relaxed form of educating
them... "Unschooling." This is where you let your child do the
leading as to their interests and you have the opportunity to expand
on that! This year has been a blast!! The boys began seeing life as
the classroom and asking all sorts of questions..many that I had no
answer for.. so we would dig around and ask until we got the answers
we needed! :0) Its been great seeing the spark in their eyes again!
I must admit..that like most children..they have their days when
they'd prefer to play Nintendo and watch karate movies all day. I
have on occasion given them a "PUSH" to explore their world instead
of veggin out on the no brainer things!
Since having our newest member to the family things have been a
bit ...ohhhh.. shall we say.. chaotic???? It seems as though all we
ever have on our mind is BABY and baby's schedule. So we just began
using Caper (that's his name) as our study project! Now my sons are
officially baby experts! They know many of the stages he will be
going through, they've learned basic baby care, patience, problem
solving skills and most of all.. how to help make our family work
better as a unit. With this many in my troop.. I'm open to
suggestions!!! So who better to ask than the troops themselves??
I expect next year to be as rewarding as this year...I'm sure there
will be bumps down the road but I have no doubt we will be able to
ride over them!
Unschooling is a way of life that allows your children be all they
can be.. afterall..the question most young children are asked is ..
what do you want to be when you grow up? Unschooling allows them to
explore all avenues that may interest them without the hindrance
of "age appropriate" material.
This months contest can reward all of us with money saving ideas and
the lucky winner will be sent a copy of "Homeschooling on a
Shoestring!". Just send us your best money saving tip by June 1st.
The winner and several of the tips will be included in the June issue
of Seedling. Happy Saving:)
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7. Curriculum Scholarship Fund for Widows
Established at Home School Legal Defense Foundation. A curriculum
scholarship fund for widows who are homeschooling their children has
been established by a generous gift from a homeschooling father. The
new scholarship will allow widows to receive $200 for each child, up
to $600 per family, for purchasing textbooks and workbooks.
The fund will be administered by the Home School Legal Defense
Foundation, which will provide all administrative functions at no
cost to the curriculum scholarship fund. One hundred percent of all
fund donations will be used for scholarships. The foundation is
associated with the Home School Legal Defense Association, but is a
separate legal entity.
For more information, to apply for a scholarship, or to contribute to
the fund, please telephone HSLDA at (540) 338-5600, or write to the
Curriculum Scholarship Fund, HSLDA, P.O. Box 3000, Purcellville, VA,
20134.
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8. New Unschool Groups
I Would LOVE if everyone could submit any new unschool or unschool
friendly groups they know of that are forming. I think this is a very
useful and important topic to bring out!!
Here are 2 I know of:
IOWA: Relaxed Iowan Christian Homeschoolers...for meeting info. email
Jeanne Musfeldt at Musfe5@aol.com .
NJ: Homespun, to meet every 2nd Thursday of the month in Flemington
(Hunterdon County). Group based on attachment parenting, natural
living and unschooling. Contact Sue at (908) 996-9947 or iliebross@pol.net .
Due to the lack of article submissions, I am thinking about taking
Seedling down to every other month. The idea alone hurts me, as this
is such a labor of love for me, but the end of each month finds me
begging people for articles. Please, please send in submissions!!
Write on anything, from a great day you had and would like to share,
to a Christian parenting standpoint that you would like to raise.
Your thoughts, your days are of interest to others, and they will
help us all remain confident in our choices!
Individual authors herein retain their own copyrights. You may
freely copy this entire newsletter or material from this newsletter
in other nonprofit publications (unless otherwise marked in the
article), but you MUST include the author's name and this entire
notice:
