Dec. 2, 2009 - Homeschooling Through High School ~ The Teaching Behind Holiday Planning To Our Students!
One of the greatest things about homeschooling is the way we can emphasize life skills and worldview in addition to academics. We are not raising our children for the glory of the University...we are raising them for the glory of God, and to be ambassadors for Jesus Christ, the soon-coming King, before whom every knee will bow, and every tongue will confess His Lordship!
As we enter the season of Advent and then Christmas, I desire to be mindful of the worldview I espouse, and the messages I send via my actions, my traditions, and my decisions. All of life is a classroom for our young adults, and they are learning from everything we do, even when we don't think we're teaching.
I do not wish to lay a "guilt trip" on anyone regarding holiday traditions, or the cleanliness/guest-readiness of their home, the "beauty" of their home decor. Quite the opposite! Many homeschooling families, as a matter of fact, are choosing not to celebrate Christmas because of the overwhelming commercialism the holiday has come to represent to the world, among other things. A dear friend of mine has come to this conclusion, and her family simply doesn't "do" Christmas. Although I won't personally be following that practice, I do understand the reasoning behind their decision. And, as a result, I have thought long and hard about the Christmas "practices" in my own home. The following is a brief glimpse into what I've been contemplating, and you are invited...if you'd like...to join me in answering these questions:
1. What am I teaching my children as I go about my holiday planning? There should be an intentionality about my work, about our traditions, which is not focused on the world but rather on Christ's incarnation and the reason for His coming to Earth. If I am putting decorations up inside and outside of my home, why am I doing it? Sometimes traditions are just that--they're traditions, handed down through generations. My sons know that I do the things I do, decorate the tree the way I do (actually, they do it now!), bake the cookies that I bake, because it is how my parents did, decorated, and baked.
My personal thoughts: Traditions aren't bad. Christmas trees aren't bad. Cookies aren't bad...in moderation! But do they show or reflect the miracle of God Incarnate? Can they? So where should my priorities be, given a choice of decorating and baking vs. spending time on a missions or outreach activity?
2. What is the overall "focus" of Christmas in our home? When my sons speak to their children someday (Lord willing) about what Christmas was like when they were growing up, what will they say? What will stand out in their minds? Going to Wisconsin to cut down a tree (we live in Illinois), a 7 t 8 hour event, big yellow dog included, will be a highlight! But will they remember the outreach activities? Hospitality? Missions? Hymns? Or will they talk about presents, food, vacation from schoolwork?
My thoughts: I didn't grow up in a Christian home. We were faithful church-goers, but the church of my younger years was a spiritually-dead church. So Christmas was focused on Santa, the cookies, the tree, the presents. There was church, there were Christmas carols and candlelight, and I loved all of it, but I didn't comprehend the intensity of what God was doing when He came to us as a babe in that manger. All I knew was that "Jesus was born on Christmas," according to the Christmas carols. I praise God that He found me, and that He drew me to Himself, and that I have been able to share so much more with my sons about that babe in the manger! But again, where has the main focus appeared to be? I know my heart is thinking about Christ, but what are my actions showing my sons? More is "caught" than taught.
Within the practice of holiday decorating, a key for our family is to get that decorating done in one fell swoop, even though it's a three-day-long-fell-swoop! Our tree was cut and brought home from Wisconsin on Saturday. It was decorated on Sunday after church, and today (Monday as I write this) I will pull out and put up the last of the special things we use only once a year in December. From tomorrow on, then, our focus can truly be on remembering and reflecting upon Christ, and His first-coming...with our eyes and and our hearts FIRMLY fixed on His second-coming. Our "holiday busyness" can be because of missions and outreach activities, not "decorating." We can be praying, worshipping, and fellowshipping with the saints, rather than racing around at WalMart. We can enjoy relaxed fellowship with one another, as a family, in the baking of traditional German cookies to share with loved ones, rather than in haste and impatience. Should the latter become the atmosphere of our home at Christmas, then the activity should cease.
I pray that some of these thoughts might be a blessing to you as you go about your holiday activities with your high school-age children! May we all seek to honor Christ Jesus throughout this Advent Season! And may God bless you and your homeschool this week!Lori
PS: Since last thursday was Thanksgiving, you may have missed my message about a brand new meme over at Plans4You...join me on Thursdays for
Lori Havens has been married to Kevin for 24 years. They live in Illinois with their two sons, Bryan (17) and Nathan (16), and dog Sunny (9). Lori enjoys writing, gardening, reading, and the outdoors. She hosts the "Thursday Talkin' About Teenagers" meme at her HSB blog, "Plans4You," and is the author of "Should I Be A Nurse? A Journey of Self-Exploration for Those Considering a Career in Nursing" and "7 Essential Questions Every Future Nurse Must Ask." You can find her blogging at both Homeschool Blogger and Homestead Blogger .
Dec. 2, 2009 - Home Where They Belong ~ A, B, C, D, & F Too Hard for Parents?
Apparently the Spokane School system thinks letter grades are the cause of ongoing problems with communicating how a child is doing in their subjects. Numbers on the other hand make everything clear. Read the article to find out how.
I have nothing against numbers, and I have nothing in favor of letters--as grades, but the problem the Spokane schools are hoping to solve won't be cured because of their preference for numbers over letters. They could do the exact same report card using the letter system. Nor will telling parents how their children are doing after the term help. Parents need to know how their children are doing during the term. Unfortunately many teachers never communicate that at all and leave it to the report card to do their "dirty" work for them.
Just a few weeks ago I spoke with a mom whose son had been placed in a new school. She thought her son was doing well. She had signed up to be a substitute teacher's aide and one day she was called in to help in the remedial math class. She was shocked to find her son in it. At first she thought he'd lost his way or something, but he soon let her know that this was his math class. It was a rough day for her as she waited for the day to end to find out the answers as to why her son was in this special class and why hadn't she or her husband ever been told?
While the parent should always be the one to keep tabs on their children and not leave it up to the teachers to relay how a student is doing, parents have been conditioned to believe that they have put their children in safe hands and that until they are notified, by report card, everything is fine and dandy.
Communication among parents and teachers is bound to get worse, not better, no matter what grading system is used as long as parents continue to blindly follow the blind.
Tia Linschied
Senior Editor of HSB
- Home Where They Belong
Wednesday, December 2, 2009 - Keeping Christ in Christmas Copybook-Week 1
I thought I’d veer away from the Proverbs passages for the Words of Wisdom Copywork for a few more weeks. I have put together in a special collection of verses to help us all in Keeping Christ in Christmas. I plan to make 4 separate books to use over the next few weeks filled with the promises and the story of the birth of our Savior. The first book contains 7 passages from the Old Testament, one for each day of the first week of December. Each book will have all font versions: manuscript, transitional manuscript, and cursive. Next week all the passages will be from Isaiah. I will be posting that December 7th or 8th so you will have them for the week. The third week will have passages from Luke 1 and 2 regarding the birth of Christ. Week 4 will have various New Testament passages. I hope that these little books will help bring the wonder and splendor of the true reason we celebrate Christmas to your homeschool.
You can download this week’s Keeping Christ in Christmas Copybook-Week 1 here.
I’d love to hear the ways you are Keeping Christ in Christmas in your home.
(If you want e-mail alerts when the new book is posted, please subscribe using the Feedburner subscriber box on the sidebar under the menu. )
Dec. 2, 2009 - It's SNOWING!!!
In TEXAS!! I am amazed!! I don't know when the last time it has snowed this early in December in North Texas (Dallas) before. It's coming down in big flakes and lots of them. Too bad the ground is wet and it's not quite cold enough to stick. The kids would have had so much fun playing in it.
Dec. 2, 2009 - Free Christmas Music from Amazon!!
You can get a free MP3 download each day from Amazon. It's called "25 Days of Free." Just click here. Dec. 1st was Casting Crown's "Joy to the World". Dec. 2nd is "Snow Angel" from Tori Amos. Thanks, Amazon, and thanks to Molly Green for telling me about this!!
Tuesday, December 1, 2009 - Christmas Decorating and Book Sale
The first day of December is already here. The year has simply flown by. While my children spent some time over the past few days decorating the yard with lights and our manger scene, I added some festive touches to my blog. At the top you will see a music player with some of our favorite Christmas tunes. If you look over on my sidebar you’ll see a few scroll boxes I made a couple of years ago when I was teaching myself some HTML. Each day the boxes contain new content. There is a box with a different Scripture passage daily that we have used to make a countdown paper chain. We wrote the passages on strips of red and green construction paper and as we counted down the days until Christmas we tore one chain off and read the passage out loud.
Then I have a Christmas story box with 25 different short stories about the symbols of Christmas. Under that I have 2 more scroll boxes that have new links to Christmas Crafting sites. There is one for moms and dads and another with links to kid crafting sites.
I know my blogging habits have been sporadic at best, but if you are looking for new ideas over the next month I encourage you to stop by if only to check out the Christmas boxes for the new content.
And on another note, if you have been enjoying my copywork pages that I have been posting, at the Schoolhouse Store they are having a BOGO sale that Proverbs 22:6 Academy is participating in. If you purchase one of my copybooks, you will get A Copybook of 1 Corinthians 13:1-13 FREE. It is a $5.99 value. (You don't need to add it to your cart, it is already in the BOGO items) You can see samples of all the books in the item descriptions. While I have put love and care in all my copybooks I have to say that my absolute favorite is the State Study Motto Copybook and Notebook Pages. My daughter is just about finished going through the entire book and she absolutely loved doing it. It is way more than just a copybook. I wrote a bit about it HERE and there are sample pages there too for the US and South Carolina for you to check out.
Dec. 1, 2009 - Treasured & "God Gave Us" Blog Tour Reviews
Treasured is a book that pulls you in and holds your interest all the way through. After reading this book, I feel I could sit down and have a normal conversation with the author, Leigh McLeroy. She is a normal person with wants and needs, who wants to help you draw closer to God and show you that you are His treasure.
The book begins by describing the cigar box that her grandfather had special mementoes in. From there, we learn that just as those items were treasured by her grandfather, we are treasured by our Heavenly Father. God's Word is filled with verses showing how very much He loves us. From making skins for Adam & Eve's coverings to providing a kinsman-redeemer for Ruth, to giving His life for us, He has shown His love. What special mementoes would He hold of us if He had a box to put them in? What do we have in our box to remind us of special moments with God? The end of the book asks, "What's in Your Box?" a personal reflection and group discussion guide. Excellent. I highly recommend you read this book.
God Gave Us Christmas by Lisa Tawn Bergren is a children's book featuring a Mama Bear and her "Little Cub". Little Cub wants to know who invented Christmas. Was it Santa? Mama Bear explains that God made Christmas and they set out on an adventure to go find God and see how He gave us Christmas, because "God is everywhere". The illustrations were nicely done. I think some of the wording can be misleading because it seems to imply that God is a chunk of ice although it does clarify that "...he can command the water to freeze and the glacier to melt" - referring to the chunk of ice that fell into the sea.
God Gave Us Love by Lisa Tawn Bergren is a story between Grampa Bear and Little Cub. Little Cub wants to know how she can know that God loves them even when they can't see, touch or feel Him. Grampa explains many ways in which God shows us His love. This is a cute story about loving others even though we don't always feel like loving them.
*I received Treasured by Leigh McLeroy, God Gave Us Christmas and God Gave Us Love by Lisa Tawn Bergren from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for free in exchange for my honest review.
Tuesday, December 1, 2009 - Please stand by....
We have been experiencing technical difficulties!!
Hopefully (keep your fingers crossed) the problem should be fixed this weekend!
Dec. 1, 2009 - Lisa
My friend Lisa has gone to be with the Lord. Thank you for your prayers. Please remember her family in your prayers.
Thank you.
Annie Kate
Dec. 1, 2009 - A, B, C, D, & F Too Hard for Parents?
Apparently the Spokane School system thinks letter grades are the cause of ongoing problems with communicating how a child is doing in their subjects. Numbers on the other hand make everything clear. Read the article to find out how.
I have nothing against numbers, and I have nothing in favor of letters--as grades, but the problem the Spokane schools are hoping to solve won't be cured because of their preference for numbers over letters. They could do the exact same report card using the letter system. Nor will telling parents how their children are doing after the term help. Parents need to know how their children are doing during the term. Unfortunately many teachers never communicate that at all and leave it to the report card to do their "dirty" work for them.
Just a few weeks ago I spoke with a mom whose son had been placed in a new school. She thought her son was doing well. She had signed up to be a substitute teacher's aide and one day she was called in to help in the remedial math class. She was shocked to find her son in it. At first she thought he'd lost his way or something, but he soon let her know that this was his math class. It was a rough day for her as she waited for the day to end to find out the answers as to why her son was in this special class and why hadn't she or her husband ever been told?
While the parent should always be the one to keep tabs on their children and not leave it up to the teachers to relay how a student is doing, parents have been conditioned to believe that they have put their children in safe hands and that until they are notified, by report card, everything is fine and dandy.
Communication among parents and teachers is bound to get worse, not better, no matter what grading system is used as long as parents continue to blindly follow the blind.
Tia Linschied
Senior Editor of HSB
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