family writing methods

May 10, 2009

For many years I have had A Biblical Home Education by Ruth Beechick on my bookshelf. It has a few dog-eared pages and many highlighted paragraphs. Occasionally, I will pick it up again, as I have tonight, and read something that I can apply to fill a little hole, or a gap in our program that develops as the children grow and mature. The things that I love about Dr.Beechick is that she always makes plain sense. Her approach is gentle and uncomplicated, and always puts me at ease as to the simplicity of teaching our children the skills that they need.

Here is a great idea for developing writing skills. From pages 138-139….

An easy procedure is to have everybody sit down and write for a specified
time. You or an older child could take dictation from a young child who does not
write yet. Children can copy something or write a letter or work on a history
assignment. You could work on writing up a mail order. So all ages can write at
the same time. Each child decides on his own what to write during writing time.
Try this even with a single child.
This astonishingly simple system really works. At first some children
may not come up with writing ideas. If one complains “what will I write?” you
can answer, “Well, write the number words starting with one and see how
far you can get.” This is not an assignment so much as it is saying, “C’mon, get
going with something.” If the child actually does write the numbers, he is
likely to think of something more interesting for the next day. Older children
may work on one project for several days.
Be regular with the writing schedule and it will only take a few days
to get it working. Elementary children quickly learn to latch on to an event or
dream or pet or almost anything that entered their heads the night before and
decide that’s what they will write about the next day.

I’m going to give this a go this week and see what happens

Categories: homeschooling.

advice for new homeschoolers

April 28, 2009

Aussie homeschooler blog is asking today;

What is your favourite piece of advice for a new homeschooler?

It should be noted that we are only into our 3rd year of homeschooling, so by many I would still be considered a new one! However, my advice is summed up in the following post that I wrote last year called the things that really matter….

Christian homeschoolers are rightly concerned with Bible curriculums and Godly character building, and the right types of music and art and history etc.etc. Homeschooling our children is a huge venture. There is an entire industry operating to ‘help’ us parents provide the best possible curriculums and materials to give our children the best possible opportunities that homeschooling has to offer. I know that there are so many areas in education that we can expose our children to, so many things that they can learn about, so much knowledge to be gained….but tonight I am acutely aware of what it is that really matters.

I place little confidence in myself as a homeschooling parent. In fact, I place little confidence in myself as a parent full stop. I know, that if I were left to myself, my children would be running wild. Left to myself, I would not be homeschooling. Given my past and where I have come from, left to myself, I actually hate to think where I might be now.

But you see, I’m not left to myself. For reasons that I don’t fully understand, the Creator of the Universe (aka the God of the Bible) called me out of where I was and claimed me as His own. He saved me from the judgement that was coming to me (and the whole world) because I was a law breaker. He didn’t change His law so that I could go free, He paid the penalty due (death) on my behalf so that the law could be satisfied and I could live. Now I owe Him my life. I have a new life because of Him. I would do anything for Him, and my one aim is to please Him and to bring him joy.

Amazingly, I have found that I can’t do it. I want to please Him in my heart, but I see myself disobeying Him and His Word day by day. It is His spirit that lives in me that enables me to do anything that is right in His eyes. I am totally and completely dependent on Him and I have found complete comfort and security in that dependence. I am clinging to Him with all my might because I know who I am and what I was before.

So with homeschooling, these are the things that I believe really matter. That my children are saved. Not that I tell them that they are, but that they truely are. That they know and understand the glorious Gospel of Grace. That everything that happens in their lives prepares them to give up themselves and live for Yahweh alone. That I am not a hypocrite who turns them away and inoculates them from the good news of salvation because my actions don’t match my words. That I don’t pretend to understand things that I don’t, but that we find out together. That they learn to love the Word of God deeply like their parents have. I trust the Lord to provide what we as a family need in terms of education to equip us to serve him effectively. My hope is that this blog will show anyone who reads it how He does that, and how He gets glory for Himself through us.

Categories: biblical truth, homeschooling.

teach your child to read in 100 easy lessons

April 14, 2009

Let me just say, you really can teach your child to read in 100 easy lessons. My goodness, it is so good for William, he can’t wait for his lesson and runs to the table when it’s time. What a joy What a blessing to have a program fit a child so well. I’m not sure if my other two would have been as responsive as William, but by the Grace of God, the timing and the curriculum match perfectly. He writes the sounds that he learns on the white board, points them out spontaneously in street signs and shop windows, and tonight I found him putting together his words with the alphabet letters on the fridge. It’s so natural, there is no pushing him to do it, and he loves to learn. Praise Yahweh!