Category Archives: Homeschool Resources

LearningPalette.com (Crew Review)

Learning Wrap-Ups Review

We try to make everything a learning opportunity in our house, so I’m always keeping an eye out for educational games for my kids to play, both physically and on the computer.  Last fall a friend introduced us to the Learning Palette from Learning Wrap-Ups, and Ian was so fascinated with the game, I ended up getting one for our house.  The game consists of a base with colored disks and sets of cards that can be changed out to practice various math or reading skills.  The player uses the disks to mark the answers to 12 questions on each card.

Because each set of cards is purchased separately, we’ve only had a chance to use the ones for 1st grade math, but recently I was given a chance to review LearningPalette.com, which is basically a virtual version of the same game.  With the Full Online Family Subscription for all levels of Reading/Math Palettes instruction (up to 5 uses for a full year), we had a chance to see how much more there is to the Learning Palette.  The online version of the game allows one to access every math and reading card available, which provided an opportunity to not only explore some of the other cards available to use with the palette, but also to compare the online experience to playing with the physical game.

What’s Included

So much is included with the online program!  There is a section for math as well as one for reading, each broken down into levels to correlate with grades in school  (e.g. “Basic” is appropriate for Kindergarten, Level 1 with 1st grade, etc.).

 Math (Basic, Levels 1-5)

When the student first logs in, they select math or reading, followed by the appropriate level.  Then they’ll need to choose which category they’re going to work in.  For example, in Level 1 there are six categories (each with 12 cards):

  • Numeration Step 1 – Numbers 0-10 Intro to Addition and Subtraction
  • Numeration Step 2 – Numbers 0-100
  • Numeration Step 3 – Money and Simple Fractions
  • Algebra Concepts
  • Geometry and Measurement
  • Probability and Statistics

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The Basic level has 5 categories (60 cards), but each of the other levels has 6 categories (72 cards).  That’s a lot of math!

Reading (Basic, Levels 1-3)

There are a wide range of reading skills covered over the four levels.  “Basic” has foundational concepts like the alphabet, beginning consonants, and rhyming words.  Level 3 covers things like prefixes and suffixes, reading comprehension, and grammar.

Each of the levels has 5 categories.  We spent most of our time in Level 1, so here’s what we had to choose from:

  • Reading Comprehension
  • Nouns, Verbs, and Adjectives
  • Vocabulary
  • Phonics
  • Blends and Digraphs

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How We Used It

Since Ian (6) was already familiar with the physical Learning Palette, he made an easy transition to the online game.  When this review started, I was planning to use the website mainly with him as a supplement to our regular math program, but the novelty wore off after the first couple weeks, and I didn’t want to push him and have him end up not enjoying it at all.  If it were a choice between using LearningPalette.com and a traditional worksheet (which would probably test similar skills), he’d choose the former without hesitation.  Still, it was more of a lesson than some of the computer games he does, and therefore not necessarily something he’d choose if I gave him game time.  I’ll continue to use it with him sporadically through the summer as a fun math activity to keep things fresh in his mind once we finish up our regular math curriculum.

Elijah (4) was interested in what Ian was doing so I decided to let him play as well.  He hadn’t played the physical game before, so it took him a little longer to figure out how to play.  He started requesting it more frequently, however, so I ended up letting him be our main user.   He’s much more drawn to anything mathematical, and the whole system was interesting to him because it was so neat and orderly.  I really like having learning activities he can do on his own while I’m working with Ian, and this is perfect for that.  He enjoys it so much that when he’s used up all his computer time for the day he often asks if he can get out the physical Learning Palette.

Both boys spent a lot more time on math than reading, mostly because that’s usually where I directed them (though occasionally they chose a reading card on their own). They are both good readers and I prefer to just let them pick up on reading skills as they spend time with good books so we avoid worksheet-type activities unless there’s a specific concept I think they need to spend extra time practicing.

What We Liked

It was wonderful having access to every card available for the Learning Palette!  I also found it simpler for the children to use than the physical game.  When they get out our Learning Palette I have to watch them carefully to make sure the cards stay together in their sets and in the correct order.  The online game made it easy to find the card we were looking for and to click to the next one as soon as they completed it.

I liked the way the menu showed them what they had already completed and whether it was done correctly. The yellow circle shown below was one where Ian had mixed up two of the answers, and I appreciated that that he was still able to go on to the next card without having to redo it.  If it were something I felt he really didn’t know I would have had him do the card again, but in this case it would have been a waste of time so I was glad he could just move on.

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I also really liked how easy it was to view progress reports for each student.  The reports not only showed which cards had been completed and how many questions had been answered correctly, but also how long it took the student to complete each one and averages for both the scores and times.  For example here’s a report from a session where one of them had worked on several cards.

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What Could Have Been Better for Our Family

Although the session progress reports were helpful, the main report page didn’t make much sense to me.  On the session report above, for example, I can see the scores for the 6 cards he completed just on that one day.  Yet the main page only shows 5 cards completed total.  It wasn’t that big a deal to me, so I didn’t spend a lot of time trying to figure it out, but it is a bit confusing.

Our first time trying to log in it took a long time to load the card we’d selected.  After several tries without ever getting to see the card I told Ian to just choose another one, and when he did it loaded fine and he never looked back.

Another problem we encountered in the beginning was that at first glance there wasn’t an obvious way to get back to the menu to choose another card.  This is what the screen looked like:

LP2

It turned out I wasn’t seeing the entire screen, though there wasn’t a way to scroll down, so I didn’t realize that until Elijah accidentally adjusted the size of the picture. (Somehow he manages to do this frequently, which was very frustrating until I learned how to fix it with CTRL +!)  The size of the disks and the palette didn’t change, but if you notice on the right-hand side there is now a set of very helpful buttons!

LP3

Perhaps it wouldn’t be an issue if we had a larger monitor, but the kids do their work on various laptops, and it would have been nice to be able to see the whole screen, especially the “menu” and “next card” buttons without having adjust our settings.

Despite these minor issues, we have enjoyed using Learning Palette.com and will continue to use it as a supplement to our other math and reading work.

Just the Facts

LearningPalette.com is suitable for children working at a Kindergarten through 5th grade level for math, and a Kindergarten through 3rd grade level for reading.  It is available as a 1-year subscription.  The price varies according to how many users accounts you want to purchase ($25 for just one user, $60 for 2-5 users, and even deeper discounts for schools with more students to sign up.) They are also offering a special homeschooling family discount of 20%.  Just enter the coupon code “HOMESCHOOL” at checkout.  (This discount is also good on the main Learning Wrap-Ups site, so be sure to check out their online store!)

Connect With  Learning Wrap-Ups on Social Media:

  • Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LearningWrapUpsInc
  • Twitter: https://twitter.com/2010Facts

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More Stories with Peter Rabbit (Crew Review)

Kinder Cottage ReviewI think most of us are familiar with the classic story of Peter Rabbit and the mischief he got into when he disobeyed his mother and wandered into Mr. McGregor’s garden.  If you love children’s literature you’re probably aware that the British author of the story wrote a few other books that included this beloved character.  However, if you are like me, you may not know that the American publisher of the story, Henry Altemus, also published several sequels featuring Peter (written by Duff Graham), which are far less familiar.  Thanks to Kinder Cottage Publishing, these classic stories have been republished for a new generation to discover and enjoy.

Kinder Cottage ReviewThe entire series, including the original story, includes ten books ideal for children ages 3-9.  We were given copies of Peter Rabbit at the Farm and Peter Rabbit and the Little Boy to review, and if you and your children enjoy reading about Peter Rabbit, I would encourage you to check out these books (and the rest of the series) on the Kinder Cottage website.  Both books are rather small 64-page hardbacks (5×7 inches). I was a little surprised at how diminutive they were, but it didn’t detract from our enjoyment of the stories.  In fact, it made them easy for little hands to manage on their own.

I read the books to my 3 older children and then left them out on our coffee table to see how popular they were.  Over the next couple weeks Elijah (4) read one to Arianna once, but then he pretty much left them alone.  Arianna (2) brought one to me to read to her again and enjoyed flipping through them. I saw Ian (6) pick them up a few times to read on his own. I think enjoyed the stories the most, probably because he is the most familiar with Peter Rabbit.

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The Kinder Cottage website only provides samples from each book rather than summaries, which I would have found helpful, so here are my own brief summaries of the two books we reviewed.

Kinder Cottage ReviewPeter Rabbit at the Farm

In Peter Rabbit at the Farm, Peter is off looking for mischief and meets up with various animals around Mr. McGregor’s farm.  Sometimes Peter is helpful and wise; other times he’s just looking for fun.  The story doesn’t have any real conflict and is basically just a series of interactions between Peter and the animals around him.  At the end of the book, Old Mother Rabbit tries to extract a promise from him to be good and not run away again, but Peter has already fallen asleep, leaving the reader to assume there will be more adventures with the mischievous little rabbit.

Kinder Cottage ReviewPeter Rabbit and the Little Boy

In Peter Rabbit and the Little Boy, Peter once again disobeys his mother and heads off in search of adventure in forbidden territory.  Along with his cousin Jack-the-Jumper, he gets into various sorts of mischief, eventually meeting a little boy who plays with the two rabbits and offers them a ride home with his grandfather, who turns out to be Mr. McGregor.  The book is definitely a product of another era, with a character called the Scissors Man who asks the little rabbits if they’ve been obeying their mothers and then frightens them with the story of how he once cut off the thumb of a little boy who wouldn’t stop sucking it when his mother told him.  I was glad we didn’t have any thumb-suckers listening to the story, but my children didn’t even seem to notice, instead focusing (as I’m sure the author intended) on the message that children need to obey their mothers.

Kinder Cottage ReviewOther Crew Members have been reviewing the rest of the series, so if you and your children want to spend more time with Peter Rabbit be sure to visit the Schoolhouse Review Crew blog to find out more about the other titles.  Then visit kindercottage.com, where each book sells for just $4.00 (a great deal considering the $12.95 price listed on the back covers).  If you want the whole set, they sell all ten books for $30.  Plus Kinder Cottage is offering readers of The Old Schoolhouse Magazine and TOS Crew Reviews a chance to save even more.  Enter coupon code TOS to receive a 20% discount off the product price on their website.  After Ian saw the list of titles on the back he asked if we could get the rest of the series, and with that kind of a discount, I may end up getting the rest of the series to give him as a gift!

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Go and Make Disciples… Starting at Home

Educating the WholeHearted Child: Chapter 6 (part 2)

WholeHeartedIn the years before I got married I spent countless hours with other people’s children as both a classroom teacher and children’s ministry worker.  I felt driven by a passion to disciple the children God brought into my life, but there was always a certain amount of frustration for me.  No matter what I did during the hours I had with those precious souls, in the end I sent them home to those God had called to be the main “disciplers” in their life: their parents.  I longed for the day when I would have my own children to guide and influence.

Jesus didn’t have a casual relationship with his disciples where he met with them for an hour a week, or even an hour a day.  They spent pretty much every hour together.  Sometimes he verbally instructed them.  Sometimes he modeled the ministry of the kingdom of God.  But no matter what method he was employing, they were constantly learning and growing more like him.

When Jesus ascended to heaven, he left his disciples with instructions to follow his example, only now they were going to be the teachers.  “Go therefore and make disciples… teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:19-20).  That commission has been passed from generation to generation.  Our pastor often characterizes it as “disciples making disciples.”  As parents, the most obvious place to start fulfilling this commission is with our children, who spend almost every hour with us much like Jesus’ disciples did with him.

This is my passion.  It is what I longed for during those years in classrooms and children’s ministry.  Now that I have my own children, I want to use the hours, days, months, and years to disciple them as fully as I am able.

“It is natural and normal for children to look to you for their moral, social, spiritual, and intellectual direction and to want to stay with their parents until they are grown.  It is unnatural and abnormal to believe others should or must raise your children for you and to divide your child’s heart between home and family and other authorities” (page 111).

I’m always a bit taken aback when people express surprise and awe at my wanting to keep my children home with me rather than sending them off to school for someone else to take care of.  “I’d go crazy,” they say.  “You must be Supermom!”  The idea of children spending a large part of their day away from their parents in school has become so normal in our society that we might not even stop to question it.

However, think about how God created families.  Nowhere in Scripture is there a basis for educating children apart from home and family.  I’m not Supermom.  I’m just walking out motherhood the way it was originally designed, spending each day with my children, instructing them and training them in the things God has taught me.  I am so thankful for the ministry He has given me at home, discipling these four precious souls and teaching them how to follow Jesus.

Each Mentoring Monday I share my reflections on what I’ve been learning from my “paper mentors.”  I am currently joining in a book discussion of Educating the WholeHearted Child by Clay Clarkson (with Sally Clarkson), so my Monday posts are all being sparked by things I’m reading in this fabulous book!

Looking to the Bible with Frog and Toad (Crew Review)

Progeny Press Review

When I was offered the chance to review a literature guide from Progeny Press, I didn’t know much about the company.  The list of available titles included many of my favorite children’s books, Progeny Press Reviewhowever, so I figured they were a company with which I should get acquainted.  I decided that Ian would probably enjoy Frog and Toad Together by Arthur Lobel (a Newbery Honor book), so we printed out the downloadable e- guide and got started.  I wasn’t sure what to expect, but the experience ended up being an absolute delight.

Progeny Press puts out study guides to go along with children’s literature for students ranging from lower elementary though high school.  In addition to exposing children to wonderful books, what makes these studies particularly worthwhile is their uniquely Christian perspective.  I remember enjoying the Frog and Toad books as a child, so I looked forward to sharing them with Ian.  When we first read through some of the books in the series, it didn’t occur to me to go any deeper than the simple meaning of each story.  However, this study guide turned a classic children’s storybook into a chance for Ian and I to spend time digging in the Bible together for God’s eternal truths regarding things we face in everyday life.  As we read through the simple stories in Frog and Toad Together, we experienced them on a deeper level as we looked at what the Bible has to say about the theme of each story.

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What’s in the Study Guide

The first few pages of the guide include a note to the instructor about how to use it, followed by a brief synopsis and a page about the author.  Then the study begins with a section of “Before-you-read Activities,” which consists of a discussion about friendship and what the Bible says about it.  Then it goes through the book chapter by chapter.

We went through a story at a time, first reading the chapter and then spending a day or two going through the study guide for that story.

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I won’t go through the entire book, but each chapter had some valuable lessons.  I loved the way we were pointed back to the Bible with each one.  We spent time looking at Scriptures on things like letting God direct our steps, how He cares for us, how to handle temptation, trusting God when we are afraid, and considering others above ourselves.

In addition to Bible study and thought-provoking questions, there were also suggestions for fun projects like planting seeds, baking cookies, and singing songs to memorize related Bible verses.

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At the end of the study there were pages to extend the lessons more with extras like creating a Venn diagram comparing the characters Frog and Toad with real frogs and toads and a word search.  There were also suggestions of other books to read, either by the same author or about similar subjects.

The Frog and Toad Together Study Guide is intended for children in grades K-2 and is available as a printed workbook, or digitally as a download or on CD.  (All formats are sold for $11.99.)  Much of the guide consists of questions with space to write down the answers, but I didn’t want Ian to be limited by his fine motor skills, so I let him tell me his answers and then I would write them down.

Both Ian and I really enjoyed going through this study together. He liked it so much he kept telling me to get the study guide for some of his friends in our homeschool group so they could do it too.  I definitely plan to purchase more of the study guides to use with other books we will be reading in the future.

Check out Progeny Press on their website or social media pages:

Facebook –  https://www.facebook.com/progenypress
Twitter –  https://twitter.com/progenypress
Pinterest – http://www.pinterest.com/progenypress/
YouTube –  https://www.youtube.com/user/ProgenyPress

 

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Homeschooling a Child’s Heart, Mind, and Spirit

Educating the WholeHearted Child: Chapter 6

WholeHeartedIf you are at all confused by all the different ways of homeschooling that you read about, this chapter alone is probably worth the cost of the entire book.  The Clarksons do a wonderful job of explaining the differences between curriculum-centered, content-centered, child-centered, and home-centered approaches to homeschooling, even breaking down those four main categories into smaller divisions and giving examples of well-known books, curriculum, and authors that follow each method.

I’ve been reading about homeschooling since my oldest was a baby, and it’s taken that long to sort through all the information and advice that is out there to get to the point where I feel fairly settled as far as what methods I want to draw from and what I want our educational experience to look like.  This chapter really helped me organize all that information in away that made sense and helped me evaluate the choices I have made.

“Homeschooling is not only about one part of your child’s life, as though you can raise a mind; it is about their whole life—heart, mind, and spirit.  Whatever model you choose, make sure it enables you to raise a whole child” (page 96).

Part of why I wanted to homeschool was to help my children to experience God in every part of their life rather than mentally filing spiritual matters into a separate category from academic subjects, sports, music, and anything else that occupies their minds and hearts.  My own experiences growing up were always so divided.  I chose to follow Christ when I was 14, and I distinctly remember feeling so proud when I gave any thought to God on a day other than Sunday.  He wasn’t a part of our conversations at home, and I attended public school until I went to college, so it took a lot of intentionality on my part to bring Christ into every part of my life.

I love being able to point my children to God as we go through our days, whether reading classic literature, exploring the world around us, or interacting with kids in the neighborhood or at their gymnastics class.  I want to be focused on God not just at church, but in our home.  I want homeschooling to be a lifestyle, a mentality that guides us throughout our day, not just for a few hours each morning as we get through our schoolwork.  I want to raise my children to be Christ-centered learners whose quest for knowledge brings them closer to God because they see His hand in everything they do.

Each Mentoring Monday I share my reflections on what I’ve been learning from my “paper mentors.”  I am currently joining in a book discussion of Educating the WholeHearted Child by Clay Clarkson (with Sally Clarkson), so my Monday posts are all being sparked by things I’m reading in this fabulous book!

More Math With Cuisenaire Rods

When I was in 5th grade my mom transferred me to the school where she taught Kindergarten, so every afternoon I would spend at least an hour hanging out in her classroom waiting for her to finish prepping for the next day.  One of my favorite ways to pass the time was with a set of Cuisenaire rods.  I was fascinated by these colorful wooden rods and used them to create all sorts of designs and patterns.  I loved how they could visually represent addition, multiplication, fractions, and many other math concepts.  (Yes, I was that kind of kid.)

P1030139Years later, when I was going through my teacher credential program, my mom told me that her school was cleaning out an old supply closet and I should come by and see if there was anything I wanted to have for my own future classroom.  When I saw a set of Cuisenaire rods, I felt like I’d found buried treasure.  (They also make plastic rods, but I have found they don’t work as well in some situations because the edges are just slightly more rounded, so if you’re looking to buy you might want to consider spending a little more for wooden rods.)

In the years I spent teaching, I must admit those rods didn’t come out much since they weren’t part of the curriculum I was required to teach.  Homeschooling, however, has been a different story.  All of my children love them and use them in different ways.  (Well, Nicholas just teethes on them when he’s lucky enough to get his hands on one, but the other kids are a bit more creative.)  I shared some of the ways we’ve used them back when we first made Our Foray into Math, but since then I’ve come across a few other ways to incorporate Cuisenaire rods into our days.

Basic Math Facts

As we worked our way through Year 1 of the Mathematics Enhancement Programme (MEP), I found the rods to be an invaluable aid.  Math isn’t Ian’s strongest subject, and I love the way the rods ensure that he can really see what the numbers mean as we work through problems.  One of the struggles we’ve encountered this year is committing basic math facts to memory.  For a while we were using xtramath.org (basically online flashcard drills), but then Ian tired of that and it became a battle rather than a help.  When faced with a practice book page with a large number of problems, he’d get discouraged before he even started because it would take him so long to get through each one.  I didn’t want to just skip the problems because he does need the practice, but using counters, fingers, or a number line was taking a really long time.

Then I remembered the Cuisenaire rods and thought we’d give those a shot.  When faced with a problem like 8+5 = ?, rather than counting out all the Unifix cubes he would need (which was a great way to learn at first), it’s so quick to just grab the 8 rod and the 5 rod (easy for him because he’s used them enough to be familiar with the associated colors) and place them on our track:

P1030136It works well for subtraction too.  For example, if Ian sees 15-6=?, he takes the 6 rod, scoots it up to the 15, and then has his answer.

P1030137Being able to work through these problems quickly has totally changed his attitude, and I hope that in time the repetition will help him to memorize the facts so he won’t need to use the rods.

Education Unboxed

My latest favorite way to use the Cuisenaire rods is going through the videos at Education Unboxed.  This site has tons of homemade videos showing how one mom used the rods to teach her children, and she has shared them all for free.  I LOVE these!  I’ll get out our rods, put on a video, and then just let the kids go.  They’ll see what the girl on the screen is doing and see what the mom is explaining, and then copy or build off of that concept.

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It’s especially helpful when the daughter in the video doesn’t do what the mom wants right away and she has to really work through the thought process.  My boys have both learned a lot from these videos, and Arianna is soaking it all up as well, though right now she just enjoys playing with the blocks and sorting them or making designs.P1030118

One of the great things about going through these videos is I don’t have to tell my kids who the lesson is aimed at.  Sometimes I’ll put one on with Ian in mind, sometimes with Elijah.  Both of them love watching the little girl in the lower level videos (who is absolutely adorable) and end up working through the lesson, even if I’ve told them they can just play.  (We’ve only watched the easier videos so far, but I’m looking forward to working through all of them eventually!

Cuisenaire rods are still my number one favorite tool for teaching math, and we may just have to add another set now that we have more kids wanting to play with them!

 

Creating Self-Motivated Learners

Educating the WholeHearted Child: Chapter 5 (Part 2)

WholeHearted If someone asked me to point out the main differences between children educated at home and those in traditional schools, the notion of self-motivated learning would be high on my list.  As a product of public schooling myself, as well as a former teacher, I have seen all too often how schools seem to kill children’s natural curiosity rather than nurture it.  I’m not saying it happens to every child, and it certainly doesn’t happen immediately.  However, by the time children reach high school, their primary motivation throughout the school day is more likely to be achieving a certain grade or meeting a graduation requirement than actually learning.

I was one of the lucky exceptions.  While I certainly knew how to play the grade game and went through my school career (at least pre-college) with that sort of mindset, I was fortunate to maintain a love for learning.  I spent hours pursuing my own interests, eager to satiate my hunger for knowledge.  When I could combine school and learning, I did.  In my senior year of high school we were told to write a 12-page research paper on a topic of our choice.  My latest fascination was the canonization of the Bible, and I threw myself into the assignment with such gusto that the final product was a 16-page paper that earned me an A++ and a comment from my English teacher proclaiming it to be “a Master’s thesis!”

I remember being so thrilled that I could spend my time learning about something that interested me and having it count as schoolwork.  What a sad commentary on our school system!  I knew several families at my church who were part of the early Christian homeschool movement, so several kids in my youth group had grown up being homeschooled, and I was so envious that much of their education had looked like this.  I decided way back then that if at all possible, I was going to homeschool my own children.

“The ultimate purpose of true education is to create a strong foundation for a lifetime of learning… A child with a positive learning attitude will naturally be come a self-motivated learner and will more quickly become a self-educating student” (page 90).

I love watching my children take delight in learning.  When I see them scouring our overflowing bookshelves for a book about some particular subject they want to know more about, I cannot help but smile.  There are few things I enjoy more than seeing them come across something we’ve learned about as they go about their everyday lives and light up as they experience the satisfaction of feeling connected to the world around us.

The other day I wanted to find something to watch while I sat nursing the baby, so I put on the first episode of America: The Story of Us, and Ian ended up watching much of it with me.  It touched on several things we had talked about before, like the Pilgrims and the beginning of the Revolutionary War, and he was so fascinated we ended up watching it twice.  It stirred up a desire in him to revisit some of what we had done a few months ago, and today as he watched an episode of Liberty’s Kids, he called me over and rewound it so he could show me the engraving Paul Revere had done of the Boston Massacre, which had been mentioned in the documentary we had watched together.

I love that at 6 years old he is getting a thrill out of making connections between things he hears about history when he comes across them in various places!  I hope that as the years pass and his eyes are opened to more of the world around him that he will be just as excited about digging deeper and learning more about history, the Bible, science, famous people, literary treasures, and anything else that peaks his interest.  If he has that “positive learning attitude,” then no matter what gaps we may leave in his education over the next twelve years, he will be more than adequately equipped to set out on a lifetime of learning.

Each Mentoring Monday I share my reflections on what I’ve been learning from my “paper mentors.”  I am currently joining in a book discussion of Educating the WholeHearted Child by Clay Clarkson (with Sally Clarkson), so my Monday posts are all being sparked by things I’m reading in this fabulous book!

Building “Mental Muscles” for the Years Ahead

 Educating the WholeHearted Child: Chapter 5

WholeHeartedOh, I’m loving this chapter!  Up until now this book has been primarily challenging me and making me ever so aware of my weaknesses (not in a bad way, but it was making me tired just thinking about how far I am from being the mom I want to be).  Chapter 5, however, is right up my alley.  When the Clarksons first described their three “biblical priorities for a Christian home” back in Chapter 1 (home nurture, home discipleship, and home education), I knew right away that the third one is my strongest area at this point.  So I found this chapter encouraging, like having a minute to take a few deep breaths and enjoy a more level stretch after a tough climb uphill.

The idea of growing and exercising “mental muscles” in the areas of language, appetites, habits, curiosity, creativity, reason, and wisdom is one of the main things that is (or at least can be) different about home education in comparison with a traditional school setting.

“The true test of a child’s education is not what they know at any one time relative to what other children know (or don’t know).  It is whether or not the child is growing stronger in all of the most important learning skills–the skills that enable them to acquire knowledge, insight, and ability and to educate themselves independently” (page 75).

The school system has become so focused on testing what children have learned that it neglects to attend to the more important question of whether or not they know how to learn.  Rather than have my children be able to regurgitate a bunch of facts on a test, I want them to have a never-quite-satiated hunger for knowledge and to know how to feed that longing by seeking out the answers to the questions in their minds, whether those questions stem from circumstances in which they find themselves, things they stumble across in books, or simply from their own curiosity.

So we try to fill our children’s lives with rich experiences.  We surround them with quality books, music, and art.  We introduce them to the wonders of God’s world and the marvelous things that people are doing in it.  We try to teach them good mental habits so that they will be able to more fully experience and appreciate all these things.  We encourage curiosity and help them explore and build their knowledge about the things that interest them.

This is what we think education should look like.  I try to stay away from worksheets and busy work (unless it’s something my children are desiring at the moment).  I’d much rather read a good book to them and then talk about what we read.  I can always tell when we start to slip back into “school” mode, because it starts to feel like work.  When we are focused more on their hearts and those “mental muscles,” our school time is just a rich enjoyable learning experience together.

The most important part of all this, however, is not the pleasure we and our children get from learning now.  I try to keep the future in mind, remembering that I am preparing my children for a lifetime of learning.  I won’t always be by their sides to guide them, so I want to use these years to teach them how to teach themselves.

Each Mentoring Monday I share my reflections on what I’ve been learning from my “paper mentors.”  I am currently joining in a book discussion of Educating the WholeHearted Child by Clay Clarkson (with Sally Clarkson).

Parenting in the Power of the Holy Spirit

Educating the WholeHearted Child: Chapter 4 (part 2)

WholeHeartedThis chapter continued to convict my spirit and challenge me in my parenting, particularly the pages on discipline.  It is such a temptation to seek a formula for parenting that will ensure that the end result will be wise children who walk with the Lord.  Yet even with our oldest being only 6 years old, it is quite clear that formulas just don’t work when it comes to nurturing a little person uniquely created by God.  Why is it then, that when facing a parenting dilemma, my first thought is to run to a book?  (And not THE Book, either.)

“If my first impulse is to think about which proven method of discipline will achieve the results I want with my children, then I am probably not thinking about trusting God to change my children’s hearts… If I want my correction to impact my child’s heart, I must first, before anything else, ask God, the heavenly parent, to be involved in the process with me” (page 64).

I’m ashamed to admit it, but this thought never even occurred to me until I started reading Heartfelt Discipline, also by Clay Clarkson.  When I came across this idea, however, it really impacted me.  I’ve written before about my “word for 2014” being PRAY, and this is one of those areas of life where I want to be more consistent about coming before the Lord prior to making decisions or taking action.  I want my children to leave home remembering it as a place where they experienced the grace of God and the joy of obedience, not just a lot of rules and punishment for disobedience.  What better way to pass on grace to our children then to go first to the grace-Giver?  “Grace ensures that your correction begins with the ‘inner man’ of your child.  That is the real goal of spiritual discipline–to change your child’s heart so their behavior is changed from the inside out” (page 64).

That’s what I really want: changed hearts, not resentful obedience.  These words were on my heart today as I dealt with one of my children who has been particular stubborn and slow to obey lately.  Eric and I have been at a loss for how to parent him in a way that touches his heart and makes him want to obey.  So this morning as he stood there scowling at me, refusing to pick up even a single piece of laundry after I had asked him to sort a small basketful, I set aside my own frustration and the desire to just threaten punishment in order to get him to obey.  I let go of my own agenda and opened myself up to direction from the Lord.  What was going to reach this little one’s heart?  What was going to help him choose to do something he didn’t want to do?

I called him over to me, put my arm around him, and tried to get him to talk to me.  Why didn’t he want to help fold the laundry?  No answer.  So I decided to talk about the heart issue.  We’ve just started using We Choose Virtues so we’ve been talking about choices we can make and what it means to obey.  I reminded him of Proverbs 20:11, which says, “Even a child makes himself known by his acts, by whether his conduct is pure and upright.”

Then I asked him, “What do you want people to know about you?  Your ‘acts’ tell people about what kind of boy you are.  Do you want to be a boy people look at and say, ‘Wow, he’s really stubborn and doesn’t obey his mommy.  He just stands there scowling.’?”  He stared into my eyes.  “Or do you want them to say, “Look how obedient he is!  He’s so quick to do what his mommy asks!’?”  He nodded his head. (And inwardly I sighed in relief knowing at least he cared a little!)

I decided to try to make it a game.  I told him, “I’m going to count to 10, and I want you to see how many pieces of laundry you can get sorted before I’m finished, okay?”  He just stood there glaring at me with his infamous furrowed brow.

So I called him back over to me and basically repeated the same talk again before sending him back to the basket.  This time he managed to get 3 pieces of laundry sorted before I got to 10.  I chose to ignore the fact that he had done it slowly and still had that pout on his face.  Instead, I praised him for choosing to do it even when he didn’t want to and told him, “Let’s try it again.  I bet you can get even more this time!”  He got 8.

Now my other helper was itching to get in on the game so we let him take a turn.  It took two more rounds of counting to ten, but all the laundry got sorted and the bad attitude dissipated.  They both even managed to get their own laundry folded and put away without a single word of objection or nasty look.

Would it have been faster to just punish him?  Undoubtedly.  Yet I certainly wouldn’t have reached his heart that way.  This took a lot longer, but it left all of us feeling content.  My son felt the satisfaction of knowing he had chosen to obey and that I was proud of him for making that choice.  I felt relieved that I hadn’t responded emotionally but had let the Holy Spirit guide me.  I didn’t stop and pray (though next time I might try doing so out loud), but I did keep my own impulses in check so that I could walk in His power.  (And the laundry got sorted, which certainly makes me happy!)

I don’t always handle this kind of situation very well, but I would much rather be a spirit-led parent than a flesh-led parent.  The Clarksons’ words have been “ringing in my ears” since I read them last night: “When you confront and correct your children’s wrongdoing, think about how Jesus would speak to them.  He would be gentle, but authoritative; loving, but truthful; gracious, but firm” (page 65).  That’s what I long for.  That’s what I want my children to experience.  And so I will keep trying to turn to Him first, to trust in Him to help me learn to “parent in the power of the Holy Spirit” (page 64).

Each Mentoring Monday I share my reflections on what I’ve been learning from my “paper mentors.”  I am currently joining in a book discussion of Educating the WholeHearted Child by Clay Clarkson (with Sally Clarkson).  If you want to join in, visit our Facebook discussion group page.

ARTistic Pursuits (Crew Review)

Spelling You See Review
Art is one of those subjects I love in theory but have trouble being consistent with in practice.  As a child I always loved any kind of art instruction and time to create my own artwork, and Ian also seems very drawn to all mediums of art to which I’ve introduced him.  I was delighted to get a chance to review the Early Elementary K-3 Book Two: Stories of Artists and Their Art curriculum from ARTistic Pursuits, because then I knew we would be sure to devote some time to an art program, even if only for the time of our review.  We both enjoyed this time so much, however, that I really want to make sure to make art more of a priority as I plan our day.  We may not keep up the pace of 2-3 lessons a week that we did during this review, but I want to be sure we include it at least once a week.

ARTistic Pursuits offers a complete homeschool art program, teaching both art history and art techniques.  I was drawn to K-3 Book Two: Stories of Artists and Their Art because I was eager to introduce Ian to some of the world’s most famous artists (e.g. Da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Rembrandt) and I thought he would enjoy learning about them through stories.  (Although we have done some work out of previous books in this series, Book Two works well as a stand-alone curriculum, and it is not necessary to have completed Book One in order to use it.)  All the lesson plans are contained in one non-consumable comb-bound paperback book priced at $47.95.

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There 36 lessons, providing one lesson a week for an entire school year.  As you can see from the Table of Contents, two weeks are spent on each artist, with two parts to each lesson:

Week 1

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    “Castle”— watercolor and “gold-plating”

    Introduction to the artist through a fictionalized story, often about his childhood

  • A project related to the artist’s work.

Week 2

  • Study of a famous work by the artist, looking at specific details or techniques used in its creation. (Although the pictures studied are in the book, I chose to find them all online and show them on the TV hooked up to my laptop so we could all get a good look at the same time.)
  • Another project related to the artist’s work.

There are also four lessons about art techniques (color mixing, watercolor wash, oil pastel technique, and printmaking basics) with projects that are separate from the artist units.

In order to complete the lessons you will need to purchase art supplies separately.  ARTistic Pursuits makes it easy to find everything you need, even before you get the book and look over the materials list.  They sell packs with the necessary supplies for each of their books.  Another option can be found at the bottom of the “art supply packs” page, where they also have instructions on how to purchase quality discount supplies by looking up the supply lists for their individual books through Blick Art Materials.  (This is what I did.  All but two items for this book are on the list, and they can be found on Amazon or any hardware store.)

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Our Experience with ARTistic Pursuits

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“Shepherd”— scratch art in oil pastel

At first I did some of the projects alongside Ian, but that led to trouble because he would start to copy me and then get frustrated when his paintings didn’t look like mine.  I ended up just demonstrating the technique and then putting mine away to work on later if I wanted to finish it. Similarly, I had to keep the book away from him while he was working or he would just try to copy the sample projects pictured there.  I really wanted him to feel free to do his own art rather than trying to duplicate someone else’s.

I loved the chronological journey through art history, especially learning about early artists I’d never heard of, like Cimabue and Giotto.  Ian really liked the stories about the artists.  When he was showing his fresco to Daddy one evening, I mentioned that we’d been learning about an artist named Giotto.  I asked Ian if he remembered anything about Giotto, and he immediately began telling Eric the story about how he painted a fly that looked so real his master tried to brush it off the wall.  He also remembered that Giotto had scratched pictures on rocks out in the fields.  (Our project from the previous lesson had involved using a paper clip to etch a picture into a paper covered in black oil pastels.)

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“I spy a swimmer and pencils”— oil pastels

Having the projects that tied in with their work really helped impress upon Ian some of the things that made that artist’s work unique.  For example, The lesson on Van Eyck talked about how the artist liked to paint lots of details that viewers might not notice immediately but would only see if they really spent time looking at the picture.  Ian loved playing “I Spy” when we talked about Van Eyck and searching the selected painting for the different objects listed in the lesson plan.  Then of course he had a great time creating his own “I Spy” picture using oil pastels.

I also really appreciated these lessons studying the famous works of art.  Ian was so excited one night at bedtime when Daddy was reading him a book about knights that we’d picked up at the library that day and they came across a page with a picture of The Tres Riches Heures of Jean, Duke of Berry, the very same painting we had looked at in our lesson earlier that week.  I loved it when our schoolwork shows up in other parts of his life and he gets to feel like a part of the wider world.  He already recognized the Mona Lisa, but now he feels some ownership of it after spending a little time discussing the painting during our lesson on Leonardo Da Vinci.

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“Riding the Zip Line”—watercolor fresco

What better way to teach children about art history than to draw them in and have them create similar works?  I didn’t even what frescoes were until I was in my 20’s, and yet Ian got to make one at age 6.  This curriculum did a great job of exposing him to all sorts of different art.  Although we did use watercolor a lot, it certainly wasn’t the only medium used, as you can see from the pictures I’ve shared here.  All the projects really stirred up his creativity, and he ended up doing lots of art on his own outside of what we were working on during our art lessons.  We really enjoyed our time with ARTistic Pursuits, and I’m looking forward to finishing the curriculum and working on some of the projects still ahead of us.  If you’re interested in including art in your children’s home education, I would strongly encourage you to check out their website and website and Facebook page.

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“Six-legged Dragon Breathing Fire on Mounted Knight”—watercolor and oil pastel

ARTistic Pursuits has a full range of curriculum available for all ages, and other members of the Crew have reviewed many of them, so be sure to click on the Review Crew banner below to read more about the other books in the program.  Here’s a list of all the books from Preschool-High School:

Preschool (ages 3-5)

Early Elementary (Grades 1-3)

Elementary (Grades 4-5)

Middle School (Grades 6-8)

High School (Grades 9-12)

There are also two new sculpture books available (with a third expected to be released in 2016), appropriate for ages 11-18:

ARTistic Pursuits Review

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