Isaiah 54:13 too - Homeschool Blogger

Update

Sat, 19 Jan 2008 10:05:00 -0600

I just have too many blogs to keep track of. I do like to keep this HSB one though, because I have lots of friends who blog here.

The last time I blogged here, I was having a rough day. I truly was ready to quit homeschooling. I wanted peace, quiet and clean. Dh called me that afternoon to see how my day was going. I started crying and told him I wanted to send the boys to school. After 30 seconds of silence, he said, "I support homeschooling, I could not support a decision to send them to school." So, I cried more.

The next day, I packed up my Bible, notebook, lake chair and boys and went down the road to the lake (living here is awesome sometimes.) I can hear clearly when I'm sitting there in the breeze and sunshine. Even before I opened my notebook to begin journaling, I could hear God reminding me why He started this journey to begin with.

So, in case you're wondering, I'm still home with the boys. And I am renewed and ready to allow God to finish the process He started.

If you're interested in reading my thoughts more regularly, here's the blog I update more often than every three months.

Homeschool, Worldview, The Kingdom

Tue, 16 Oct 2007 14:45:00 -0500

I have been doing a lot of thinking lately. About worldviews and the Kingdom of God.

One of the reasons we homeschool is because we want to be the primary source of influence on our children's hearts and minds regarding how they view the world.

The Bible. We believe it is the Word of God. That it reveals His plan for mankind.
Jesus. Not a way, THE WAY.
Creation by YHWH. Fact, not fiction.
Truth is true, no matter what you believe.
Evolution, a theory, according to the scientific method, created by fallible men.
Tolerance is not anything goes. It is the capacity of enduring.
Jesus, others, yourself is the order of important relationships.

It is my solid belief that only through homeschooling can I impress these things on my children's minds. I believe that like the parable of the mustard seed, each of these tiny truths grows into huge trees, thus establishing Kingdom rule in them.

Math reveals the order of God.
Science reveals the creation of God.
History reveals Gods interaction with man.
Language Arts develop the ability to communicate the Gospel of the Kingdom.

Right?

OK, all cards on the table. Today has been one of those days. I've been doing this for 8 years. I'm tired. I'm tired of bad attitudes. I'm tired of laziness. I'm tired of nagging, cajoling, crying and fit throwing. Today, I want more than anything to get rest. To send them off to be someone else's responsibility. I want peace and quiet. I want clean. I don't feel like I can take a break. I feel like we are so far behind, we'll never catch up. According to whose standards? I don't know. I'm really tired of this battle going on in my head.

School Name Change

Tue, 16 Oct 2007 14:37:00 -0500

I have had our "school name" Shalom School chosen for a while. The boys don't like it, so it needs to be changed. Of course their suggestions are things like Paintball Academy and The Zoo. I would like something a little more serious than that.

One of the reasons I chose Shalom School was because my verse for homeschooling is Isaiah 54:13. And all your children will be taught of the Lord and great shall be the peace of your children. It is my goal to teach them of the Lord, first and foremost. Peace with and through the Lord is the most important thing in life.

The point is that I'm changing the name of this blog for a little while, until the Lord reveals the name of our school to us.

Three Months! How Shameful!

Tue, 16 Oct 2007 14:25:00 -0500

I cannot believe it has been over three months since I posted on this blog! I visit HSB pretty regulaly. I feel like I should contribute something.

I have been creating some planner pages. They can be downloaded from 4shared.com.
Dialectic Weekly Planner page
TOG Weekly Planner page one
TOG planner page two
planner page
Year goals
Quarter grades

I recommend printing out enough planner pages for a year, a goals page for each child and quarter grades (if you keep them.) Take them to your local office store, ask for spiral binding and a sturdy vinyl and cardboard cover. No more ripped out, lost planner pages.

Each one of my children has his own planner. And I have a TOG planner to gather things together. The idea is to sit down with each of them before the school week begins and go over what needs to be accomplished that week.

I find our school runs much more smoothly when I have a plan.

Weekly Planning for Tapestry of Grace

Tue, 10 Jul 2007 15:13:00 -0500

Now that I have MY planner I feel like I have TOG a little more under control. Here's a step-by-step of what I did this week. It may require tweaking over the next few weeks. So stay tuned...

Friday Morning:

1. Go online and reserve books for two weeks ahead (15 mins.)
Put next week's pages in 1" binder.
Look at craft or office supplies that may be needed.

Friday Afternoon:

Go to library(ies) to pick up reserved books
Buy any supplies (craft, office, etc.) for next week.

Friday Evening:

Put last week's pages back in Unit binder.
Begin reading Teacher's notes, jot down notes in planner (30 mins.)

Sunday Afternoon:
Finish reading Teacher's notes, look over all other pages. (45 mins.)

Sunday Evening:

Copy, or print maps, SAPs, quizzes, timeline figures, notebooking/lapbook components. (20 mins.)
Locate websites. (20 mins.)
Gather craft supplies.(10 mins.)
Sit down with each child and fill out their planner for next week. (15-30 mins. each)

Total amount of time= 2 hours, 20 minutes, over 2 days. That is conservative. It took me a little more time locating the yahoo group that I remembered seeing notebooking pages and quizzes that I wanted.

As for other subjects. I already have how many pages of math, science, Greek, etc. that I want done a day planned out. So by the time we sit down with their planners. I just say, "This week you need to do lesson such and such on Monday, and such and such on Tuesday...etc."

Teaching Writing, part 3

Tue, 10 Jul 2007 15:12:00 -0500

Proofreading

Let me say that I don't proofread the paper, I have the writer proofread his own paper. NumberOne (12) can get through this without much trouble.

#2 (9) gets frustrated. I think it's probably a learning stage thing. He's also a perfectionist, so he gets upset when he finds mistakes. You know what? This is just character training presenting itself. Keep at it, slowly, and next year may be different;)

An idea is that students could proofread each other's writing. We are not at that stage, but by next year, maybe #'s 2 & 3 could proof read each other's? (Just thinking out loud.)

First I have them proof for capitalization, spelling and punctuation.

After those corrections, I have them read it out loud. If it doesn't "sound right, " then change it by adding transition word and/or rearranging sentences.

Now comes the second draft. This is where you may lose them...they don't generally "want" to pick the pencil up again and write it AGAIN.
I'm being honest, here.

Teaching Writing, part 2

Tue, 10 Jul 2007 15:11:00 -0500

I have my boys take the notes from their graphic organizers and transfer them to an outline. It really helps to put all the bits of information in a usable order.

Step two of the writing process is the rough draft.
I have NumberOne take each point on his outline and write a sentence.

I think we make the process a bit more complicated and step-y than normal, but with my boys it helps. It's like when I have a short list of things I want them to do. "Carry your socks and shoes to your room, bring back the trash from the bathroom and unload the dishwasher." If I give them the list all at once, here's what usually happens. They carry one sock and shoe into the bathroom and put the trash can in the middle of the kitchen, then forget the dishes altogether. So I have to tell them one thing at a time. "Take your shoes and socks to your room. "Once they are down the hall, "Bring the bathroom trash to the kitchen and dump it." Once in the kitchen, "While you're in there unload the dishwasher for me."

The point is that the sentences at this point may not appear to "go together." That's OK. The next step is proofreading for capitalization, spelling and punctuation.

Teaching Writing, part 1

Tue, 10 Jul 2007 15:10:00 -0500

#1 Teach that writing is a process.
First there is pre-writing. "Yes, boys, pre-writing does involve using a pencil."

Pre-writing is note-taking, using graphic organizers and outlining.
I wish I'd known about graphic organizers when NumberOne started writing. Praise the Lord for TOG. They have you teach about them.
Here are a few examples of how we've used them, so far:

We used the senses chart when he imagined he was Lewis or Clark and discovered a prairie dog.
The Venn diagram to compare and contrast animals.
For Fulton's steamboat we used the describing wheel.
The cluster chart/web we used for a Thomas Jefferson biography.

(note: they did not write a paragraph or anything larger for most of these, they were just pre-writing exercises.)

Yesterday we learned about formal outlining and I had NumberOne write ONE paragraph using notes from the sensing chart to write a journal entry as Lewis or Clark. It helped SOOOOO much. To the point that he said, "(and this is NO exaggeration) This is fun, can we write like this all the time?" I tell you, I almost cried.

The way I explained outlining was by example on our white board. I walked him through each Roman Numeral, Capital letter, numeral and lower case letter. If you are weak in this area, here are some sites that can help.
Educator's desk reference.
The Learning Center Exchange

Every homeschooler that I know in real life has problems with their sons and writing. It's frustrating. It's the thing that can send everyone into tears and make you question if you should really be doing this.

Here's hope! Teach the process one - step - at - a - time. Take a week to teach a step. Start with pre-writing. Let them choose the topic. Most of NumberOne's writing assignments are dictated by TOG, but he loves history, so it's no big deal. But you can have your sons (or daughters) write about video games, airplanes, trains, whatever they are passionate about.

Part two will be about the rough, or first draft.

Verses for Home Education - Proverbs 3:6

Tue, 10 Jul 2007 15:08:00 -0500

Everyone is probably familiar with the King James version of this verse;

In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths.

You may know that I prefer the New American Standard Bible, it is a word for word translation. It reads like this;

In all your ways acknowledge Him, and he will make your paths straight.

As I have been making the planners, this verse has been repeated over and over in my mind. We can make plans for our homeschools all day long, but unless we acknowledge the Lord, they are in vain (another verse-Psalm 127:1). This verse promises that when you acknowledge Him in all things, he makes the way straight. That's good news we all can use. This homeschool thing is a journey. There are choices at every turn. Acknowledge him and you'll be set on the correct path for your family.

Spiritual Gifting and Education

Tue, 10 Jul 2007 15:01:00 -0500

Proverbs 22:6 "Train up your child in the way he should go and when he is old, he will not depart from it."

This word, way, in the original Hebrew is "derech." Literally it means the "trodden road" and used figuratively is the "course of life."

So, when I read this verse, I am not thinking the traditional (and misleading) teaching, that it refers to salvation. It could refer to living a Christian life. But I believe it is talking about more than that.

The Kingdom of God requires us to view all of life as sanctified. That is, set apart for the Lord's service. Does that mean that all must be in "professional" ministry? NO! It means that whatever you do, do it to the glory of God (1 Cor. 10:31).

Have you ever taken one of those spiritual gifting tests? I have, several. I always score very high under teacher, followed by "perceiving". Does God mean for us to use these spiritual gifts only at church? Are they things that are deposited only after we are filled with the Holy Spirit? Or does God know everyone from the moment of conception. Did He create the inward parts from the very beginning? How many non-Christians do you know about whom you say to your self, "If only they were a Christian, what good they could do for the Kingdom with that drive, that passion, etc."?

I believe that God has gifted every single person in the world. And that once filled with His Spirit, those giftings become supernaturally charged to do great things. That is the Greek (NT) definition of grace (empowered), by the way.

Finding out your own giftings is fun, helpful even. But if you are a parent, it is your duty to find out the giftings of your children. Only then, can you truly carry out the proverb to "train up your child."