News Story Works Like a Mirror
by Sandy Hancock
June 3, 2013
I saw a news story today about a valedictorian of a high school who had an unusual mother. In order for the boy to be in the high school’s International Baccalaureate program, he had to be at school early and also late. This meant he couldn’t use the school bus transportation in order to arrive at school. His mother didn’t have the money to pay for gas for both a trip to school to deliver him and home and then again in the evening for the return trip, so she stayed in the parking lot in the heat/cold all day so that she only had to make one trip. The mother sacrificed her time and her day in order to support his dream. She worked on what she could in the car, read, etc.
Why did this seem odd to me? When our family began homeschooling as a one car family, we often had to make this kind of deal work for us. We often arrived at places 2-3 hours before the event or left 2-3 hours after the event, because “you move when the chariot comes.” It became an interesting motto for ourselves as well as for other families. I’d bring schoolwork, snacks, papers to grade, my zip pouch of colored pens for grading, teacher manuals, a book one of the kids needed to read that I needed to read first, etc., and we’d just “do school” wherever and whenever the opportunity arose. Computers weren’t used; laptops didn’t exist then, so you couldn’t take a computer with you. That meant I had to choose curricula that was non-computer based as well as portable (not too heavy; not too many parts). The kids couldn’t complain. They didn’t know any other way. I knew how to bring tuna in a pop-top can, crackers, or such, and we’d have tuna crackers and drink water or ice tea. When they became older, I could send them to the nearest 7-11 type store for lunch time drinks and ice.
Non-padded floors upon which to sit? No problem. Uncomfortable chairs? Lie on that non-padded floor and pretend you are in a concentration camp somewhere. Or put several of those chairs together and create your own bed or couch. Comfortable? Probably not. Neither were my grandparents when they worked in fields so their kids could go to school or my own father when he worked 4-5 jobs at a time (day job, evening job, night job, Saturday job, and odd jobs) Blazing sun pouring down upon you while you sat on a bench not in the shade? No problem: Use the bags and boxes brought to contain all the activity, lunch, and school stuff and stack them, find 2 long sticks {the hardest part of this venture in Florida} and create shade by hanging a cloth or shirt between the sticks as they stuck out from the bag-tower we’d created. No sticks today? That’s alright! We’ll each take turns being the shadow for 5 minutes and then get to enjoy 15 minutes of the other shadows. I’d say, “See kids! I’m preparing you in case you are ever shipwrecked on a deserted island.” Invention became an expected way of doing things.
In order to afford things on the beginning salary available to the husband, we’d sacrifice adult things such as a second car, extended cable, newest TV, newest computer, new clothes, new furniture, newest anything. Even now we have an old-fashioned TV with the hunchback {I call it Quasimodo.} because, while not new, it is still workable. Why buy a new one just because it is available and flat? Clean your glasses and the definition WILL be high.
In fact, having only one car was one of the best decisions we ever made. We didn’t have to pay for the monthly payments, extra insurance, gas, tires, maintenance, wear, etc. on that second car. It requires coordination and planning, but it also meant both parents being involved in what was happening as switch offs occurred: How’s your day?/What are you all up to? It meant telling a real estate agent, “Here’s where M works. Here’s where our church is, and here’s where Sandy ministers. Find us a house no more than 5 minutes from all of that.” She found us one. Not only has this saved us a ton on gasoline, but it also saved us the most precious of resources, time. He could leave on a lunch hour and pick us up and I could take him back to work, all in no more than 10-12 minutes. Or he’d pick us up, but have to drop us at the venue then in order to use the car for his appointment elsewhere. WE DIDN’T even have CELL PHONES, much less smart ones with which to keep in touch or on which to play. I’d go to the kids’ class at New Covenant, shop, and be back at his work usually about 30 minutes before he was ready. Once it was an hour. What happened? I rolled the windows down, put the ever present umbrella up so that the child on the west side had shade, and we’d get busy with school.
Sometimes, the church secretary would say, “Why are you here at 9? Doesn’t your meeting start at 11?” I’d answer, “Chariot moved.” She’d nod.
My husband also worked as many as four jobs at a time as well. His sacrifice made so much possible for so many families. For example, 100% of the school’s rent has been paid by him, until recently, when the school was able to take over 10% of it as we began weaning the school.
It alarms me when I hear a father say, “Well, I haven’t gotten a second job because I want to spend more time with my family” but then I notice he isn’t spending that time with his family….he’s on the computer or video gaming or into sports or whatever or they are just buying bigger phones & tv’s, better cameras, vacations or trips, or more newer stuff to fill the house, including cool floors, new couch, new appliances, etc., but not paying what is needed for a better education. Someone else should pay their way.
By the way, a second job doesn’t have to mean you DON’T spend time with your kids. It means you give up all your own time, and you have no life except work, your wife, and your kids for the duration of your kids’ minority years until they reach the age of majority or finish college, whichever happens as needed. It’s called sacrifice. It’s called putting others (your children) ahead of yourself. I don’t believe I can find a place in Jesus’ life or other lives in Scripture or in the lives of the saints where they had their personal days or had hobbies. Those come AFTER the kids leave home, if they came at all.
My mother babysat kids to pay for music lessons for me. She ironed clothes, hot and steamy work at best. My parents did what needed to be done so that I could have the educational experiences I needed to have to become the person I was supposed to be.
A teenager should be able to mow a few lawns or weed gardens or wash windows in order to earn money, not for a new electronic device, but to take part in a class or an educational activity. That sweat and tears will make the class more meaningful.
For three years, I attended a prestigious college by using a scholarship I had earned from hard academic work. It was a good experience, but I was also one of those who celebrated when a prof didn’t get to class before ten minutes late, so that we could all leave early. Then things changed. I married and lost the state-bound scholarships. I once worked for nine months in a terrible warehouse clerk job with a boss who was not totally honest but was pretty lecherous, never spending a dime of my pay check for eight of those months, taking three buses to work every day and three more home in order to save enough money to pay for one more semester of college. That was often in bone-numbing cold or excessive heat, after leaving home as the sun was rising, 2.5 hours before the job started in order to make all three buses and get to work barely on time. The home trip was the same, but darkening all the way. I NEVER missed a class when I paid for that semester, and I always had the homework done early and well. I read every article assigned and every article to which the professor alluded in his or her lectures. I RESENTED professors who were late or didn’t show up, feeling they owed me $X, equal to what that class hour had cost me in work at the warehouse.
My husband once spent an entire summer (the one before we were married) mowing industrial-size factory lawns when the heat was blazing and he was allergic to the grass. Long sleeved shirts and a scarf over his face and a hat on his head did not keep him from daily wheezing. Then he’d go to another job and clean toilets for 4-6 hours, all to save enough money to pay for the trip for both of us (right after the wedding ceremony) to the college where he would earn his Master’s degree and, a year later than normal, I’d finish that BA degree.
Don’t let stuff stand in your way! Don’t let circumstances defeat you.
Give all of yourself to accomplish what needs to be done. I’m not writing this to make myself look good or look like some martyr. I rarely felt that way, and, when I did, I had friends – real friends – who would get me back on track and say, “Walk your path, Sandy. You’ll make it. It’ll be glorious at the end.”
I’m writing this to tell you to become what Jesus expected of each of us, someone who is a living sacrifice to obtain the hope that was set before us. A living sacrifice means you feel all the pain and all the emotions any human has when setting aside your own life in order to walk the pathway Jesus puts before you. It means working when you are bone-tired. (If you don’t know what that means, you haven’t worked that hard yet. Work harder, at least until you DO know.) It means spreading one scrawny chicken between six hungry mouths, giving the lion’s share to the manual labor man, and dividing the remainder between the kiddoes and saying, as my mother did, “I like the chicken back. It’s my favorite part to eat.” Once, when she burned the toast for me and my sister, she said, “I like my toast dark brown like this. I’ll make you two a different batch because I know you like that limp, light brown toast.” And I watched her eat that not-dark-brown-but-black toast with her share of the day’s butter, and she smiled. And she’d wrap the other share (two slices) of that burnt toast in a napkin and put it in the breadbox to eat tomorrow for breakfast. You see, every slice of bread in that bread-bag had already been designated for something for someone, so there was none to throw away. Her sacrifices meant that all four of her children became successful people, in a variety of fields. When I hear some reporter say, “What are mothers like?” in their annual Mother’s Day reverence, I think automatically, “Mothers like burnt toast and chicken backs. And they make you believe it!”
So why did it seem odd to hear that news story about the woman who sat in her car all day so her son could attend special classes he could have done without? At the beginning of this homeschooling journey, that would have seemed normal to me from my own life as well as watching other moms. Now, I watch way too many families these days who are focused on the parents’ activities and needs and then can’t supply for the children. I watch way too many parents’ not giving their time to help create activities or, at least, to attend activities for their children. Unless there is something to enjoy for themselves, they don’t want to do it.
Happy faces! Happy faces, whether you enjoy it or not, is required as a parent attending activities. The kids won’t enjoy it if they believe YOU don’t. I’ve had kids lately who have said, “My mom doesn’t want me to be here. I know because she was angry about having to come.” You may be surprised to find joy comes when you see joy on THEIR faces. See life through THEIR eyes. Have W-O-N-D-E-R returned to your jaded hearts by wondering over a pretty weed-flower with the child.
Almost every parent I know became a parent because they wanted to be a parent. Accidents are actually rare. Grab that parental commitment by the horns and work it! In a 1968 episode of the original Star Trek called “Is There In Truth No Beauty?", Dr. Miranda Jones can only save Spock’s life by being willing to give her own. She has tried half-heartedly by focusing selfishly on her own needs to succeed and be accepted. When Kirk confronts the ugliness she is showing, she sets aside her own desire in order to help. She says, “Now, Spock. It's to the death, or to life for both of us.” I said that statement many times in my mind when facing situations as a parent and not wanting to face them as a parent. I wanted my own way. God would blip the picture in my mind of what I SHOULD do, and I’d say, only sometimes aloud, “Now, Child, it’s to the death or to life for both of us.”
Was it worth it? Every drop of sweat, every tear, every headache, every heartache, every material thing not gotten, every hard time, every moment of sadness or worry….totally worth it when I arrived at the other side and watched the new adult emerge and set off on that individual’s own independent life. You spent your life trying to help them become the kind of people you would enjoy having as friends because you couldn’t think of a better standard, and then they leave to start the cycle again somewhere else.
Being a momma never ends. Daily sacrifice for that small person does. But, oh, the bouquet of joy and delight that springs up at that point. And Jesus, well, He’ll fill in the gaps with new things to learn and do and which will call for more living sacrifice to be made, because that IS the life here on earth for which He created each of us so that we will have something far, far better in its time. I see what He did in 7 days. What did He do over millennia creating that new home for each of us? The best is yet to be. Now…. get back to work!
Saturday, June 8, 2013
Sunday, October 28, 2012
Milemarkers
by Sandy Hancock
I am surprised by time. This is on both the short term and long term aspects. I have a terrible sense of time. Sometimes, I think time is not so linear for me. I'll get focused on something and realize that hours have passed instead of minutes. It goes the other way as well.
As parents, we have only a very limited amount of time with our children. Sometimes, I think, how did my 27 years as a homeschooling mom go by so fast? While I was in that time, it often felt like time was dragging its feet, and that the distance between Tuesday and Friday was forever. Now, I look back and am amazed how little time it was.
One thing I will never forget: my push for excellence in my students' work was a very good thing. While pursuing excellence was worth doing, it was also very hard to do. Yet, as we know, hard is good, so very hard is very good.
I started with an advantage. I was educated in the educational trends of my time, which all happened to be good. They disappeared because a difficulty in each one made each of them unpopular. As I worked to make education my career, I realized that each of those difficulties were not educational philosophy difficulties, but system difficulties. In other words, the ideas were correct, but the inertia and lethargy of the public educational system could not accommodate that change. However, I COULD use them in my own children's education because MY system had no inertia.
I knew that a great traditional broad education was what I wanted. I wanted to leave as many doors of choice open for each of my students so that they, as they discovered themselves, could walk through any door they wished in order to pursue their futures.
This approach meant that I would need to do many things. We studied the arts, music,and literature as means of expression of one's emotions and creativity. We studied math, science, and logic as ways to train the mind to sharpness. We studied reading as a means to acquire whatever knowledge one would eventually need. We studied grammar and composition, rhetoric and speech as ways to inform others of what we knew. We studied relationships and psychology and the Bible in order to live together with other people. We visited many places, both local and national. We even took two of the three kids abroad to different parts of Asia to use geography to show them how far God would take them if they were willing to try things outside their comfort zones.
We did rote learning. We did discovery learning. We did hands-on learning. We did concept learning. We pushed hard. We made memory work a normal part of education. We memorized Bible verses and passages, math facts, geography facts, timelines, history facts, game and sport rules, poetry, musical pieces, paintings and sculpture, etc. Recently, a young person asked me why bother memorizing when one could use even a phone to find facts when one needed them. I had two responses. The first was batteries. Enough said. The second was that one could only be as creative as the pile of facts in one's head. Scenario: Painter needs red paint to paint a cardinal. Fact: red. Fact: paint. Fact: brush or implement. Fact: cardinal. Fact: paper is better than mom's carpet. You see, even such a simple act needs a lot of facts.
Teaching memory work need not be odious. Select what you want them to memorize this week and divide it into 4-5 items. Print it out on a list. Post the list somewhere they will have to sit for a time: back of the driver's seat, bathroom, placemat, bottom of the bunk bed over them, etc. Have them read the list outloud once in the morning, once in the afternoon, once in the evening. They have to see it, hear it, and speak it. In no time, they will have the list memorized. It is not so hard for children to memorize as it is for adults. Their brains' file cabinets are not as full as yours, so things tumble in pretty fast.
As an educator, you do not have to choose between rote learning of facts, hands-on learning, discovery learning, or learning of concepts. DO ALL!!!
If you don't have a list of memory things with which to start, try New Covenant's list at http://newcovenantschool.com/page.aspx?id=693945
You can do it! Memory work will not only make your kids victors in Trivial Pursuit and such games, but it will also give them much material for later synthesis of new inventions, works of arts, and family loveliness. Need help? Just give us a call. 321-724-9603
by Sandy Hancock
I am surprised by time. This is on both the short term and long term aspects. I have a terrible sense of time. Sometimes, I think time is not so linear for me. I'll get focused on something and realize that hours have passed instead of minutes. It goes the other way as well.
As parents, we have only a very limited amount of time with our children. Sometimes, I think, how did my 27 years as a homeschooling mom go by so fast? While I was in that time, it often felt like time was dragging its feet, and that the distance between Tuesday and Friday was forever. Now, I look back and am amazed how little time it was.
One thing I will never forget: my push for excellence in my students' work was a very good thing. While pursuing excellence was worth doing, it was also very hard to do. Yet, as we know, hard is good, so very hard is very good.
I started with an advantage. I was educated in the educational trends of my time, which all happened to be good. They disappeared because a difficulty in each one made each of them unpopular. As I worked to make education my career, I realized that each of those difficulties were not educational philosophy difficulties, but system difficulties. In other words, the ideas were correct, but the inertia and lethargy of the public educational system could not accommodate that change. However, I COULD use them in my own children's education because MY system had no inertia.
I knew that a great traditional broad education was what I wanted. I wanted to leave as many doors of choice open for each of my students so that they, as they discovered themselves, could walk through any door they wished in order to pursue their futures.
This approach meant that I would need to do many things. We studied the arts, music,and literature as means of expression of one's emotions and creativity. We studied math, science, and logic as ways to train the mind to sharpness. We studied reading as a means to acquire whatever knowledge one would eventually need. We studied grammar and composition, rhetoric and speech as ways to inform others of what we knew. We studied relationships and psychology and the Bible in order to live together with other people. We visited many places, both local and national. We even took two of the three kids abroad to different parts of Asia to use geography to show them how far God would take them if they were willing to try things outside their comfort zones.
We did rote learning. We did discovery learning. We did hands-on learning. We did concept learning. We pushed hard. We made memory work a normal part of education. We memorized Bible verses and passages, math facts, geography facts, timelines, history facts, game and sport rules, poetry, musical pieces, paintings and sculpture, etc. Recently, a young person asked me why bother memorizing when one could use even a phone to find facts when one needed them. I had two responses. The first was batteries. Enough said. The second was that one could only be as creative as the pile of facts in one's head. Scenario: Painter needs red paint to paint a cardinal. Fact: red. Fact: paint. Fact: brush or implement. Fact: cardinal. Fact: paper is better than mom's carpet. You see, even such a simple act needs a lot of facts.
Teaching memory work need not be odious. Select what you want them to memorize this week and divide it into 4-5 items. Print it out on a list. Post the list somewhere they will have to sit for a time: back of the driver's seat, bathroom, placemat, bottom of the bunk bed over them, etc. Have them read the list outloud once in the morning, once in the afternoon, once in the evening. They have to see it, hear it, and speak it. In no time, they will have the list memorized. It is not so hard for children to memorize as it is for adults. Their brains' file cabinets are not as full as yours, so things tumble in pretty fast.
As an educator, you do not have to choose between rote learning of facts, hands-on learning, discovery learning, or learning of concepts. DO ALL!!!
If you don't have a list of memory things with which to start, try New Covenant's list at http://newcovenantschool.com/page.aspx?id=693945
You can do it! Memory work will not only make your kids victors in Trivial Pursuit and such games, but it will also give them much material for later synthesis of new inventions, works of arts, and family loveliness. Need help? Just give us a call. 321-724-9603
Tuesday, May 1, 2012
Pressure Cooking Taking Place
by Sandy Hancock
`
Remember that, if you comment on this blog during the month it is published, you will have your name put in a drawing to win an Amazon gift card worth $25. You don't have to be a member of New Covenant to win; you don't have to be an adult to win. You just have to comment.
I know what quality homeschooling does for students. There's plenty of evidence of what it does. Research shows quality homeschooling produces superior students in all venues. Quality homeschooling produces superior citizens. I mean superior here not in the sense of being arrogant towards those who cannot. I mean superior in the sense of Daniel in the Bible, who showed a king what following God's will does for your ability. I mean superior in the sense of the man without stain or blemish who came to us and then washed our feet and then our sin-stained lives. I mean superior in the sense of being fully developed to serve God and mankind. In other words, I mean living your God-given destiny.
What you rarely hear about is what quality homeschooling does for the parent. THAT's a rare treasure. Quality homeschooling is a pressure cooker with you, the parent, inside the cooker. Hundreds of articles will tell you that you are doing it wrong if you feel the pressure. There will be 10 steps to doing it better or 7 ways to stop the stress or 9 things to change to make it super simple so that you and your whole family can dress alike and eat bread made from wheat you planted, harvested, and ground this morning. Don't believe it. There's only one thing to do: realize you are in God's pressure cooker for His reasons for His timing.
Steadily the pressure increases so that we each begin to see our weaknesses, and then we have the time to ask God how to fix them as well as the time for us to work with Him on that. It is just as if one has discovered a small leak in the roof after a light shower. Fix it now, before the hurricane comes and the constant pressure of the pounding rain widens the hole and the whole house becomes lost to the storm.
When the gunk of your life arises to your mind, don't stuff it down! Don't say, "I can't be like that.....mustn't do X, or Y, or Z. I'll push it down, down, down."Instead, pray, "God, I AM like this. Sin DOES exist in my life. Cream that gunk from my heart and set me free from it."
The Apostle Paul (I think we call him that because we like people to have two names) referred to this. He said, the older he gets, the more sin he realizes he had.
Don't fear the gunk arising. It's a good thing for gunk to do if....you ask God to cream it off your soul. It will come in dribs and drabs; you'll think, "I thought all that was dealt with, but here it is again."You see, we don't realize how deeply sin affects our lives, how much toll it takes on us. In fact, we can't bear to see it all at once. That's what would happen if we faced a holy God without being cleansed by the blood of Jesus....we'd die eternally.
The gunk is in your heart from years of walking your own way. Remember that in God's ways, even doing good that He didn't set for you to do is sinful. The righteousness (what we think is good to do) of man is as filthy rags before Him.
Don't fear the gunk arising. Ask God to cream it off the top. It will come in dribs and drabs (sometimes it has to be said twice). Instead of fearing the gunk, think, "Here's another little fleck of that gunk of ____ that I used to paint a room of my heart. Cream it off, God, that the room can be more Yours."He knows how much scouring of the old paint you can take at one time, how much you can stand being removed at one time.
Over the last more than 25 years, I have watched the homeschooling moms come in all bright and eager, jump into the pressure cooker, and come out all tender and sweet and ready to serve. It's a good thing, God's pressure cooker is. Sometimes He opens it a bit, tosses in some more ingredients that you wouldn't have been able to bear earlier. Sometimes, when He opens it a bit, He removes the bay leaf or some other little thing that had a big effect. He can use other pressure cookers, but the homeschooling one is a steady, long service one that produces superior quality moms and dads and guardians, too. We love working with you during this process, and we know this: It is good to live in His timing and not flee His pressure cooker if you want to come out just as He planned, a well done, good and faithful servant of the Lord Most High.
by Sandy Hancock
`
Remember that, if you comment on this blog during the month it is published, you will have your name put in a drawing to win an Amazon gift card worth $25. You don't have to be a member of New Covenant to win; you don't have to be an adult to win. You just have to comment.
I know what quality homeschooling does for students. There's plenty of evidence of what it does. Research shows quality homeschooling produces superior students in all venues. Quality homeschooling produces superior citizens. I mean superior here not in the sense of being arrogant towards those who cannot. I mean superior in the sense of Daniel in the Bible, who showed a king what following God's will does for your ability. I mean superior in the sense of the man without stain or blemish who came to us and then washed our feet and then our sin-stained lives. I mean superior in the sense of being fully developed to serve God and mankind. In other words, I mean living your God-given destiny.
What you rarely hear about is what quality homeschooling does for the parent. THAT's a rare treasure. Quality homeschooling is a pressure cooker with you, the parent, inside the cooker. Hundreds of articles will tell you that you are doing it wrong if you feel the pressure. There will be 10 steps to doing it better or 7 ways to stop the stress or 9 things to change to make it super simple so that you and your whole family can dress alike and eat bread made from wheat you planted, harvested, and ground this morning. Don't believe it. There's only one thing to do: realize you are in God's pressure cooker for His reasons for His timing.
Steadily the pressure increases so that we each begin to see our weaknesses, and then we have the time to ask God how to fix them as well as the time for us to work with Him on that. It is just as if one has discovered a small leak in the roof after a light shower. Fix it now, before the hurricane comes and the constant pressure of the pounding rain widens the hole and the whole house becomes lost to the storm.
When the gunk of your life arises to your mind, don't stuff it down! Don't say, "I can't be like that.....mustn't do X, or Y, or Z. I'll push it down, down, down."Instead, pray, "God, I AM like this. Sin DOES exist in my life. Cream that gunk from my heart and set me free from it."
The Apostle Paul (I think we call him that because we like people to have two names) referred to this. He said, the older he gets, the more sin he realizes he had.
Don't fear the gunk arising. It's a good thing for gunk to do if....you ask God to cream it off your soul. It will come in dribs and drabs; you'll think, "I thought all that was dealt with, but here it is again."You see, we don't realize how deeply sin affects our lives, how much toll it takes on us. In fact, we can't bear to see it all at once. That's what would happen if we faced a holy God without being cleansed by the blood of Jesus....we'd die eternally.
The gunk is in your heart from years of walking your own way. Remember that in God's ways, even doing good that He didn't set for you to do is sinful. The righteousness (what we think is good to do) of man is as filthy rags before Him.
Don't fear the gunk arising. Ask God to cream it off the top. It will come in dribs and drabs (sometimes it has to be said twice). Instead of fearing the gunk, think, "Here's another little fleck of that gunk of ____ that I used to paint a room of my heart. Cream it off, God, that the room can be more Yours."He knows how much scouring of the old paint you can take at one time, how much you can stand being removed at one time.
Over the last more than 25 years, I have watched the homeschooling moms come in all bright and eager, jump into the pressure cooker, and come out all tender and sweet and ready to serve. It's a good thing, God's pressure cooker is. Sometimes He opens it a bit, tosses in some more ingredients that you wouldn't have been able to bear earlier. Sometimes, when He opens it a bit, He removes the bay leaf or some other little thing that had a big effect. He can use other pressure cookers, but the homeschooling one is a steady, long service one that produces superior quality moms and dads and guardians, too. We love working with you during this process, and we know this: It is good to live in His timing and not flee His pressure cooker if you want to come out just as He planned, a well done, good and faithful servant of the Lord Most High.
Thursday, April 5, 2012
What I Heard Was Different
by Sandy Hancock
April 5, 2012
`
Reminder that there is a monthly drawing for a $25 gift card. All you have to do to get your name in the drawing is post a response to any April blog by May 1st,making sure to leave your name or email address so we can contact you if you win. You don't have to be a member of NCCS to respond. The gift card will be from Amazon.com.
`
This is almost the end of my first year of not homeschooling after 26 years of doing so. I wondered all along how I'd feel at this point. Now I know.
`
I worried that I'd realize I did not need to homeschool and that I had somehow denied myself an easier path. No on the first one; yes on the second one. Yet, I know now that I would not have changed that pathway for the easier one.
`
I am happy to see that my youngest is flying on her own just as her two older siblings did. She is making friends, learning good stuff, and prospering in the university setting. Yes, I am as proud of her as I am of her brother and sister. Different pathways were followed by each child, but the results are very, very good.
`
I had the pleasure of working with my youngest this spring as a coworker, who actually now knew more than I did in certain areas in which we worked. She grew up in my drama world, but now knows more about some areas than I do. It is good. Even better, it was fun to have such a companion.
`
I am not writing this to brag; I am writing this to encourage parents. Many voices may harp on you that what you are doing is unnecessary, that you are wasting your time, and that life could be easier. Don't believe it. You will not regret homeschooling when you actually get to see and enjoy the fruit.
`
I do realize how very important it is to have several voices in your life about your homeschooling. It helps to be provoked to thinking about the choices in lifestyle, curricula, discipline, spiritual things and all that you are making. It is good to say, sometimes, why this and not that. That's part of the value of being a member of a homeschool school. In small groups of social life, you will find that one voice dominates and tends to make the others feel they need to do it the Dominating One's way. My experience is that those small groups tend to be composed of folks who become so like-minded that they cannot see errors that erupt and grow. The neutral outside voice helps.
`
`
Another advantage of being in a homeschool school is that, as your kids get older, the advice you need to seek is there, well-seasoned from many experiences with many people over the years. Stability helps in making important decisions.
`
I have heard it said that "the advice the office gives differs depending upon who you ask and when." Guess what? It's true. This happens because of two very important reasons.
`
First, the educational world is evolving rapidly. The legislature can't seem to avoid tinkering with things that have broad consequences they have not foreseen. Sometimes, a year later, they play "take back" because their plan didn't work. The result is that, yes, the rules change, sometimes a lot. Also, the development of more and more computerized curricula and other methods changes things.
`
Secondly, we tailor our advice to the family and student as we know them. Family A may have a mathematically gifted student who can handle a high level of mathematics and mathematically-based subjects. We tell them about those things. Then Family B, best friends of Family A, comes in and their student is not so good in math, and, in fact, he/she hates math. Mom and Dad have also admitted that math is impossible for them as well. For that student, it would be pointless to say, "Technically, B could take the math track that includes Calculus just like A is doing, but ha, ha, ha, B doesn't have the ability, so feel bad." What point is there in discussing curricula that doesn't work with a student's abilities and learning styles and direction? It would be senselessly cruel or just boring for them.
`
Privacy laws forbid us to tell you that student A is better/worse than your student so they need different advice or vice-versa. We can't acknowledge the possibility of that difference, and we may sometimes appear to stumble when, in reality, we are trying to say something without betraying the confidences of the other family.
`
Even within the same family, student #1 has different abilities and interests than student #2. We take those things into account when we decide what advice to give on courses to take and curricula to use.
`
From the outside, if you are looking for a one-way-for-everyone approach, it may look like there is no uniformity in office advice. Guess what? It isn't uniform. It is tailored. That is why so very many of us became homeschoolers, isn't it? To be able to select the individual work that was needed for a particular student to reach his or her own destiny is the essence of home educating.
`
One must also realize that there are 4 broad categories of destiny for all students. Some will go into the military. Some will be ready for a 4-year college experience. Some will need the extra academic support provided by the community college experience. Some need to graduate and go as directly as possible into their chosen vocation. No way is better than another for everyone.
`
Within those 4 broad areas, there are tons of variations. Even the Majors Brochures we publish say "example of ….year" because there are quite a few ways of setting up each year, depending upon the family's situation (financial, logistical, social, spiritual) at that point in their history, their student's situation and needs, resources available {like site classes} and the abilities of everyone involved. Even knowing which church you attend can change our advice, because some curricula may not fit well with the beliefs of some denominations. Our advice is better to the degree in which you feel comfortable to be open about your situation.
`
That is why it is difficult, and indeed to some degree can be wrong, to compare your students with each other and especially with those of other families. That is why it is important to get advice from people who have known you for as long as possible so that they know the whole story as much as possible.
`
The staff of New Covenant is here to serve you individually. You should feel free to ask questions of why this and not that, but also realize there may be privacy issues that keep us from discussing other families'/students' plans. Indeed, these are some of the good things you pay to receive.
`
Give us a call. We'd love to help you. Email or call or come by: whichever is better for you works for us.
April 5, 2012
`
Reminder that there is a monthly drawing for a $25 gift card. All you have to do to get your name in the drawing is post a response to any April blog by May 1st,making sure to leave your name or email address so we can contact you if you win. You don't have to be a member of NCCS to respond. The gift card will be from Amazon.com.
`
This is almost the end of my first year of not homeschooling after 26 years of doing so. I wondered all along how I'd feel at this point. Now I know.
`
I worried that I'd realize I did not need to homeschool and that I had somehow denied myself an easier path. No on the first one; yes on the second one. Yet, I know now that I would not have changed that pathway for the easier one.
`
I am happy to see that my youngest is flying on her own just as her two older siblings did. She is making friends, learning good stuff, and prospering in the university setting. Yes, I am as proud of her as I am of her brother and sister. Different pathways were followed by each child, but the results are very, very good.
`
I had the pleasure of working with my youngest this spring as a coworker, who actually now knew more than I did in certain areas in which we worked. She grew up in my drama world, but now knows more about some areas than I do. It is good. Even better, it was fun to have such a companion.
`
I am not writing this to brag; I am writing this to encourage parents. Many voices may harp on you that what you are doing is unnecessary, that you are wasting your time, and that life could be easier. Don't believe it. You will not regret homeschooling when you actually get to see and enjoy the fruit.
`
I do realize how very important it is to have several voices in your life about your homeschooling. It helps to be provoked to thinking about the choices in lifestyle, curricula, discipline, spiritual things and all that you are making. It is good to say, sometimes, why this and not that. That's part of the value of being a member of a homeschool school. In small groups of social life, you will find that one voice dominates and tends to make the others feel they need to do it the Dominating One's way. My experience is that those small groups tend to be composed of folks who become so like-minded that they cannot see errors that erupt and grow. The neutral outside voice helps.
`
`
Another advantage of being in a homeschool school is that, as your kids get older, the advice you need to seek is there, well-seasoned from many experiences with many people over the years. Stability helps in making important decisions.
`
I have heard it said that "the advice the office gives differs depending upon who you ask and when." Guess what? It's true. This happens because of two very important reasons.
`
First, the educational world is evolving rapidly. The legislature can't seem to avoid tinkering with things that have broad consequences they have not foreseen. Sometimes, a year later, they play "take back" because their plan didn't work. The result is that, yes, the rules change, sometimes a lot. Also, the development of more and more computerized curricula and other methods changes things.
`
Secondly, we tailor our advice to the family and student as we know them. Family A may have a mathematically gifted student who can handle a high level of mathematics and mathematically-based subjects. We tell them about those things. Then Family B, best friends of Family A, comes in and their student is not so good in math, and, in fact, he/she hates math. Mom and Dad have also admitted that math is impossible for them as well. For that student, it would be pointless to say, "Technically, B could take the math track that includes Calculus just like A is doing, but ha, ha, ha, B doesn't have the ability, so feel bad." What point is there in discussing curricula that doesn't work with a student's abilities and learning styles and direction? It would be senselessly cruel or just boring for them.
`
Privacy laws forbid us to tell you that student A is better/worse than your student so they need different advice or vice-versa. We can't acknowledge the possibility of that difference, and we may sometimes appear to stumble when, in reality, we are trying to say something without betraying the confidences of the other family.
`
Even within the same family, student #1 has different abilities and interests than student #2. We take those things into account when we decide what advice to give on courses to take and curricula to use.
`
From the outside, if you are looking for a one-way-for-everyone approach, it may look like there is no uniformity in office advice. Guess what? It isn't uniform. It is tailored. That is why so very many of us became homeschoolers, isn't it? To be able to select the individual work that was needed for a particular student to reach his or her own destiny is the essence of home educating.
`
One must also realize that there are 4 broad categories of destiny for all students. Some will go into the military. Some will be ready for a 4-year college experience. Some will need the extra academic support provided by the community college experience. Some need to graduate and go as directly as possible into their chosen vocation. No way is better than another for everyone.
`
Within those 4 broad areas, there are tons of variations. Even the Majors Brochures we publish say "example of ….year" because there are quite a few ways of setting up each year, depending upon the family's situation (financial, logistical, social, spiritual) at that point in their history, their student's situation and needs, resources available {like site classes} and the abilities of everyone involved. Even knowing which church you attend can change our advice, because some curricula may not fit well with the beliefs of some denominations. Our advice is better to the degree in which you feel comfortable to be open about your situation.
`
That is why it is difficult, and indeed to some degree can be wrong, to compare your students with each other and especially with those of other families. That is why it is important to get advice from people who have known you for as long as possible so that they know the whole story as much as possible.
`
The staff of New Covenant is here to serve you individually. You should feel free to ask questions of why this and not that, but also realize there may be privacy issues that keep us from discussing other families'/students' plans. Indeed, these are some of the good things you pay to receive.
`
Give us a call. We'd love to help you. Email or call or come by: whichever is better for you works for us.
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Getting Them to College: Establishing a College-Bound Mindset
by Sandy Hancock
Reminder that there is a monthly drawing for a $25 gift card. All you have to do to get your name in the drawing is post a response to any March blog by April 1st,making sure to leave your name or email address so we can contact you if you win. You don't have to be a member of NCCS to respond. Gift cards are from your choice of: Publix, WalMart, Olive Garden-Red Lobster, Barnes and Noble, or Amazon.
College looms large in our view these days. Having just walked through the process for the 4th time - once for myself and 3 times for my kids - the end of the road is clearly in sight, and I can look back on the process yet once again to see what I have learned about life and, in this case, about how to educate a child to be ready for college.
Before we begin, however, I must warn you. If you are one who believes that a child is supposed to make his or her own decisions about life, you will not be happy with what follows.
I believe that a child is a child, born from Father Adam with a fallen, sinful nature. Even after accepting Christ, Paul in the book of Romans, makes it clear that - while we have received the elements of a new nature, our life will be a lifelong series of choices between the sin nature and the Christ-nature. He says that the good he wishes to do, he does not do, & the bad he doesn't want to do, he does. It's a battle in our lives, and we have to choose between the two sides daily, usually hourly. To expect a child to be otherwise is to demean the child by holding him or her to unrealistic standards. That means that children (and adults) will seek the easy, quick, me-first-oriented pathway until, having observed their parents and their parents' associates and the work of Holy Spirit in their own lives, they become an adult {our society says at age 18} and make the decision to either abandon that pattern - whichever one they have seen - or pursue it big time.
I expect children to make wrong decisions frequently. I have had people come to me and say, "How can you work with so-and-so's kid? He's so awful and does bad things!" While I require them to obey my rules, I expect all kids to do some bad things until someone witnesses to them a better way. Some kids see that witness at home in their parents. Some kids will see it from another person or persons God places in their lives. God loves them individually, and He does provide someone to fill that job. Whether that person is flesh and blood or Holy Spirit or the people of the Bible, God will provide someone.
So, in what follows, you will see that I have found that wisdom comes from experience. Children haven't had enough time to have experience, so they must get it from their parents or from that someone God placed in their lives. That's you and me, folks. If you teach your children to value wisdom, they will also learn to respect those who possess wisdom. Proverbs 4:7 says, "Wisdom is the principle thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all your getting get understanding."
This means you release your children into independent decision-making as they display wisdom, not knowledge. I can know all the rules of the road and how to drive a car - all of which are forms of knowledge - but if I display by my life that I disrespect authority that I can physically see, such as parents, teachers, pastors, and adults in general, then only a fool would hand me the keys of a car and tell me to go drive somewhere. If children cannot obey and respect the visible people placed in their lives as authorities, why would they ever obey the invisible authorities of The Law and …..God Himself? Do you only drive the speed limit when a police car is in view? Do you use your turn signals as required? They - children around you - are watching how you respect invisible authority.
As they show wisdom and one of its first products - respect, children can be gradually released into making their own decisions. Until that time, it's you - like it or not. Don't be a friend to your child while they are a child. Children change friends as they find new interests, especially when they become adults. Do you want them to leave you behind? Instead, be their parent. You can hold that title forever. Then, when they become adults, you can establish friendship easily, as you would with any other adult you met with whom you want to be a friend.
So, the decision that they will go to college begins with you. You establish the environment and culture that makes that possible. Environment is the rules and expectations you lay down as normal for your home. Culture is more than most people think. Culture is not just opera, art museums, and tea parties. Culture is that part of life that appreciates beauty in all - ALL - its forms. From mathematics to sports, poetry to fishing, literature to cooking, carpentry to the Bible, art & music to auto mechanics, and ALL the other areas of knowledge, one can see beauty and appreciate it, even if one does not particularly enjoy that certain form of knowledge. As an extreme, I can see and appreciate an enemy's strengths without agreeing with his actions or beliefs. Indeed, if I am to defeat that enemy, I must appreciate those qualities.
What are some ways to establish an environment and culture in your home that college is the expected pathway for a child's life? Before we go there, I will answer another question: does this mean that every child should go to college? No, it doesn't. However, I fail to see why someone who has decided to go into a trade or certificate program for a career or to become a full-time mother at home should be uneducated in some areas. Does wanting to be an auto mechanic mean you should be ignorant of math or art? No, it doesn't. Have you ever met anyone who wishes they had fewer math skills? Everyone I know wishes they had more. Have you ever met anyone who says, "Boy, I wish I'd never learned to read" or "I hate being a good writer?" I think not. So, preparing an average child to be educated well for college entry will not harm them in any way. It should make life easier if they choose a vocational pathway. So, returning to the question, how do we establish an environment and culture that says, "You will go to college."? (sic)
First of all, one must begin the process way younger than many think. The pathway to college begins no later than third grade. Once a child can read independently, it is time to begin seeding the idea of college into the child. When a parent begins this early, there is a great deal less rush at the end of the process. If you don't start till later, you CAN catch up, but it will take all the effort that would have been in the earlier years poured into a shorter, or even much shorter, amount of time.
One begins the process by the way a parent talks and by the things that he/she does. For example, one must be careful what is said before the child. It must no longer be "You must learn this thing in case you want to go to college." When the thing that must be learned is unpleasant, the child hears this: "You can avoid the unpleasant thing by deciding not to go to college." Remember that sinful nature thing? Which way will Child choose?
Instead, one must rephrase things in this manner: "WHEN you go to college, you will need this thing so learn it." "When you go" establishes that the direction has been decided. Instead of avoiding an unpleasant thing, one is filling the tool belt or tool box with things that WILL be needed. It also establishes an expectation of higher education, an inner confidence that your parents think you CAN make it, and a clear goal. Hard things should be learned because, "When you go to college, I want you to have an easier time there because you have learned THIS thing." "Wow! Mom's trying to make my life easier! I can go with that!"
This month, I'll give you one more element to add to your life. The others will be given at an upcoming webinar you can attend, and - should you decide to do so - when you join our new college mindset program that will begin this summer. The second element of the environment, after watching your language, is to make sure there are plenty of opportunities for your child to read good books. Whether you own the books or have them on loan from the library, books should be easily seen in your home and easily used. Don't bring in lots of currently popular books. The language of recently written books is guaranteed to be dumbed down, and it won't stretch them upwards to college-level reading. Think of those popular books as chocolate, something to be had in small amounts. For language development the easy way, have books written before 1900. Avoid some of Mr. Twain's novels (Tom Sawyer, Huck Finn) for a while. They are written in a common man dialect, which you do not want your student to pick up casually. The internet will do THAT to them, without the need for Mr. Twain's help.
At first, your student will whine that the books are too hard, boring, impossible to read, uninteresting, I-don't-like-it, etc. {Walking a mile is hard too unless you do it every day!} However, if you have the child read this genre daily - yes, every day, which means 7 days a week - for at least an hour in elementary school and two hours in high school, the language will open up to them after about 3 weeks. It will become easier because their brains developed! Reading the written word causes connections to be made in your brain that cannot be made by viewing videos. Is viewing videos bad? No. However, it cannot be substituted for reading; it is, instead, a supplement to reading.
These connections will make information more accessible from all parts of the brain. The math side will begin to speak to the poetry side which begins to speak to the mechanical side, etc. The brain's development in this way cannot be acquired by any other method. {And, by the way, you can start this for yourself as well and see major results.} You might even notice that the student's speech and writing improve as well. The vast amount of research on speech and writing says that your speech and writing mirror what you are reading. No reading? Lower brain activity. Lower brain activity? Who wants to brag about that? Plus, lower brain activity is connected with the beginning of Alzheimer's. Use it or lose it DOES apply to the brain.
So, if you want your student to go to college and finish, you need to start adding these first elements to your environment and to begin gently to add culture - the appreciation of beauty in every subject - to your home. Want more info? Join the webinar in April. (Info will be posted later this week.)
You CAN do this. It is not too hard. Come with me. I'll help you.
Reminder that there is a monthly drawing for a $25 gift card. All you have to do to get your name in the drawing is post a response to any March blog by April 1st,making sure to leave your name or email address so we can contact you if you win. You don't have to be a member of NCCS to respond. Gift cards are from your choice of: Publix, WalMart, Olive Garden-Red Lobster, Barnes and Noble, or Amazon.
College looms large in our view these days. Having just walked through the process for the 4th time - once for myself and 3 times for my kids - the end of the road is clearly in sight, and I can look back on the process yet once again to see what I have learned about life and, in this case, about how to educate a child to be ready for college.
Before we begin, however, I must warn you. If you are one who believes that a child is supposed to make his or her own decisions about life, you will not be happy with what follows.
I believe that a child is a child, born from Father Adam with a fallen, sinful nature. Even after accepting Christ, Paul in the book of Romans, makes it clear that - while we have received the elements of a new nature, our life will be a lifelong series of choices between the sin nature and the Christ-nature. He says that the good he wishes to do, he does not do, & the bad he doesn't want to do, he does. It's a battle in our lives, and we have to choose between the two sides daily, usually hourly. To expect a child to be otherwise is to demean the child by holding him or her to unrealistic standards. That means that children (and adults) will seek the easy, quick, me-first-oriented pathway until, having observed their parents and their parents' associates and the work of Holy Spirit in their own lives, they become an adult {our society says at age 18} and make the decision to either abandon that pattern - whichever one they have seen - or pursue it big time.
I expect children to make wrong decisions frequently. I have had people come to me and say, "How can you work with so-and-so's kid? He's so awful and does bad things!" While I require them to obey my rules, I expect all kids to do some bad things until someone witnesses to them a better way. Some kids see that witness at home in their parents. Some kids will see it from another person or persons God places in their lives. God loves them individually, and He does provide someone to fill that job. Whether that person is flesh and blood or Holy Spirit or the people of the Bible, God will provide someone.
So, in what follows, you will see that I have found that wisdom comes from experience. Children haven't had enough time to have experience, so they must get it from their parents or from that someone God placed in their lives. That's you and me, folks. If you teach your children to value wisdom, they will also learn to respect those who possess wisdom. Proverbs 4:7 says, "Wisdom is the principle thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all your getting get understanding."
This means you release your children into independent decision-making as they display wisdom, not knowledge. I can know all the rules of the road and how to drive a car - all of which are forms of knowledge - but if I display by my life that I disrespect authority that I can physically see, such as parents, teachers, pastors, and adults in general, then only a fool would hand me the keys of a car and tell me to go drive somewhere. If children cannot obey and respect the visible people placed in their lives as authorities, why would they ever obey the invisible authorities of The Law and …..God Himself? Do you only drive the speed limit when a police car is in view? Do you use your turn signals as required? They - children around you - are watching how you respect invisible authority.
As they show wisdom and one of its first products - respect, children can be gradually released into making their own decisions. Until that time, it's you - like it or not. Don't be a friend to your child while they are a child. Children change friends as they find new interests, especially when they become adults. Do you want them to leave you behind? Instead, be their parent. You can hold that title forever. Then, when they become adults, you can establish friendship easily, as you would with any other adult you met with whom you want to be a friend.
So, the decision that they will go to college begins with you. You establish the environment and culture that makes that possible. Environment is the rules and expectations you lay down as normal for your home. Culture is more than most people think. Culture is not just opera, art museums, and tea parties. Culture is that part of life that appreciates beauty in all - ALL - its forms. From mathematics to sports, poetry to fishing, literature to cooking, carpentry to the Bible, art & music to auto mechanics, and ALL the other areas of knowledge, one can see beauty and appreciate it, even if one does not particularly enjoy that certain form of knowledge. As an extreme, I can see and appreciate an enemy's strengths without agreeing with his actions or beliefs. Indeed, if I am to defeat that enemy, I must appreciate those qualities.
What are some ways to establish an environment and culture in your home that college is the expected pathway for a child's life? Before we go there, I will answer another question: does this mean that every child should go to college? No, it doesn't. However, I fail to see why someone who has decided to go into a trade or certificate program for a career or to become a full-time mother at home should be uneducated in some areas. Does wanting to be an auto mechanic mean you should be ignorant of math or art? No, it doesn't. Have you ever met anyone who wishes they had fewer math skills? Everyone I know wishes they had more. Have you ever met anyone who says, "Boy, I wish I'd never learned to read" or "I hate being a good writer?" I think not. So, preparing an average child to be educated well for college entry will not harm them in any way. It should make life easier if they choose a vocational pathway. So, returning to the question, how do we establish an environment and culture that says, "You will go to college."? (sic)
First of all, one must begin the process way younger than many think. The pathway to college begins no later than third grade. Once a child can read independently, it is time to begin seeding the idea of college into the child. When a parent begins this early, there is a great deal less rush at the end of the process. If you don't start till later, you CAN catch up, but it will take all the effort that would have been in the earlier years poured into a shorter, or even much shorter, amount of time.
One begins the process by the way a parent talks and by the things that he/she does. For example, one must be careful what is said before the child. It must no longer be "You must learn this thing in case you want to go to college." When the thing that must be learned is unpleasant, the child hears this: "You can avoid the unpleasant thing by deciding not to go to college." Remember that sinful nature thing? Which way will Child choose?
Instead, one must rephrase things in this manner: "WHEN you go to college, you will need this thing so learn it." "When you go" establishes that the direction has been decided. Instead of avoiding an unpleasant thing, one is filling the tool belt or tool box with things that WILL be needed. It also establishes an expectation of higher education, an inner confidence that your parents think you CAN make it, and a clear goal. Hard things should be learned because, "When you go to college, I want you to have an easier time there because you have learned THIS thing." "Wow! Mom's trying to make my life easier! I can go with that!"
This month, I'll give you one more element to add to your life. The others will be given at an upcoming webinar you can attend, and - should you decide to do so - when you join our new college mindset program that will begin this summer. The second element of the environment, after watching your language, is to make sure there are plenty of opportunities for your child to read good books. Whether you own the books or have them on loan from the library, books should be easily seen in your home and easily used. Don't bring in lots of currently popular books. The language of recently written books is guaranteed to be dumbed down, and it won't stretch them upwards to college-level reading. Think of those popular books as chocolate, something to be had in small amounts. For language development the easy way, have books written before 1900. Avoid some of Mr. Twain's novels (Tom Sawyer, Huck Finn) for a while. They are written in a common man dialect, which you do not want your student to pick up casually. The internet will do THAT to them, without the need for Mr. Twain's help.
At first, your student will whine that the books are too hard, boring, impossible to read, uninteresting, I-don't-like-it, etc. {Walking a mile is hard too unless you do it every day!} However, if you have the child read this genre daily - yes, every day, which means 7 days a week - for at least an hour in elementary school and two hours in high school, the language will open up to them after about 3 weeks. It will become easier because their brains developed! Reading the written word causes connections to be made in your brain that cannot be made by viewing videos. Is viewing videos bad? No. However, it cannot be substituted for reading; it is, instead, a supplement to reading.
These connections will make information more accessible from all parts of the brain. The math side will begin to speak to the poetry side which begins to speak to the mechanical side, etc. The brain's development in this way cannot be acquired by any other method. {And, by the way, you can start this for yourself as well and see major results.} You might even notice that the student's speech and writing improve as well. The vast amount of research on speech and writing says that your speech and writing mirror what you are reading. No reading? Lower brain activity. Lower brain activity? Who wants to brag about that? Plus, lower brain activity is connected with the beginning of Alzheimer's. Use it or lose it DOES apply to the brain.
So, if you want your student to go to college and finish, you need to start adding these first elements to your environment and to begin gently to add culture - the appreciation of beauty in every subject - to your home. Want more info? Join the webinar in April. (Info will be posted later this week.)
You CAN do this. It is not too hard. Come with me. I'll help you.
Monday, December 20, 2010
November Winner!
Congratulations to Christine Phillips for her name being drawn as the winner of the November blog response. Christine has a choice of a $25 gift card from one of the following places: Publix, Walmart, Olive Garden/Red Lobster, Barnes & Noble, or Amazon. Thanks,everyone. Your comments are valuable to me.
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Why I Like Drama
by Sandy Hancock
Reminder that there is a monthly drawing for a $25 gift card. All you have to do to get your name in the drawing is post a response to any September blog by October 1st,making sure to leave your name or email address so we can contact you if you win. You don't have to be a member of NCCS to respond. Gift cards are from your choice of: Publix, WalMart, Olive Garden-Red Lobster, Barnes and Noble, or Amazon.
Having just finished the fall drama Lifeboat, though goodness knows, much of it is STILL in my living room, I have to say I really, really do love drama. Three days before performance, I hate it, but, afterwards, I love it again.
I have no background in drama in high school or college. I saw my first professionally done play in Houston when I was in 11th grade. It was Fiddler on the Roof, with the original cast. I was enthralled. A short time later, I saw The Importance of Being Earnest, and loved it as well. However, I knew I could never do that kind of thing.
Later, at what was then New Covenant Fellowship, I saw my first non-professional play, an Easter play I'd grow to love called Road to Calvary. It was done outdoors, complete with small horse for Jesus to ride. One of the actors had died about 4 days before the performance, and they handled the loss well, leaving an empty chair where he would have sat and moments of silence where he would have spoken. I was enraptured with the whole thing.
Shortly afterwards, I went to the director, Becky Williams, and said, "I have never done anything with drama, but I feel God pulling me into this. I'll do whatever you want me to do if you'll allow me to be involved, actor or backstage, whatever." She said that what she really needed was someone who would run errands and help keep order backstage. I said I'd do it. Over the next few years, Becky moved me from position to position, sound, lights, costumes, makeup, props, writing, stagehand, curtain puller, whatever she needed that year. Then one year, she said, "You know, I was thinking about how to use you this year, and it occurred to me that you have now done every backstage position at least once, and you've been faithful and didn't gripe, and you even encouraged me. How would you like to be assistant director?" And so that was my job, my love, for years. When Becky became fatally ill with cancer, she gave me the director's position. I will always be thankful for the mentorship she provided along with her friendship.
So, what is it that is so interesting about drama? First, drama allows you to be someone else for a short time. You get to see life from a different perspective. You can improve your craft every time by trying something new, even if it is a simple hand movement gesture or an accent. Drama encourages you to watch people so you can use things you observe in future performances. You can also observe nature and places as well, so that creating sets and props can be done with excellence.
Being a director has positives as well. You get to encourage other people to take steps beyond where they have been, to move beyond their comfort zones and thereby increase their confidence in all sorts of life situations. They might even like a role so well, that they incorporate some portion of it into their own lives. You get to solve a great puzzle by figuring out how to do things like make a boat in an ocean in the middle of a stage, and have people believe it is so. You get to solve the puzzle of getting numerous people to work together on stage and off stage who may not otherwise have ever met each other. You learn how to decide what's really important and where to spend the money versus where to spend the elbow grease. You have to figure out how to motivate an actor to develop the role on a pace so that they don't get to the perfect level before the performance, lest they peak early and then get bored with it, let their minds wander, and lose the performance. You have to figure out what makes dawn look different from dusk, so you can explain it to the lighting guy (the gaffer). Or how does rain sound on water when it's gentle or what does an earthquake sound like, so you and the soundman can work it out.
Shakespeare said something like, All the world's a stage, and we are just the actors and players upon it. In many ways, he was correct. What I've learned in theater has helped me immensely in my Christian walk. I've learned that the best way to get to know each other is in hard work. Hard work sands off the veneer of politeness, and you'll see the person who is really there. I've learned that every one of us is walking a difficult life, perfectly designed by God to get each one of us ready for the heavenly performance. God doesn't let it happen all at once, or we'd get bored and wander off. You learn that we all need encouragement, even when we're acting a part and smiling through the real hurt. You learn how to work with the fellow believers of your own church, whom you probably wouldn't have met or associated with if the church wasn't there. We hurt inside, but show the world a different face; actors know that, and begin to see past it. Or some days, we're so joyful that, even when we have to act somber, we can't help but put a little bounce in the step.
Unlike sports - from which research is now showing that the participants of soccer, football, basketball, and baseball - end up with brain injuries that affect their concentration and short term memories, theater increases your memory capacity and your concentration ability. Little physical injury results from drama (although I have fallen from the stage more than 10 times). Therefore, theater is a better activity than sports for teamwork, personal confidence, memory, concentration, and the ability to develop one's character. That's my stance, and I'm sticking with it! What do you think?
Oh, and it's not too late to sign up for the Spring Drama, either front or back stage work, and we need adults as well as students. A willing heart is what we need; we can train you for the part. I know. It happened to me.
Happy Thanksgiving, Everyone! Make gratitude your attitude.
by Sandy Hancock
Reminder that there is a monthly drawing for a $25 gift card. All you have to do to get your name in the drawing is post a response to any September blog by October 1st,making sure to leave your name or email address so we can contact you if you win. You don't have to be a member of NCCS to respond. Gift cards are from your choice of: Publix, WalMart, Olive Garden-Red Lobster, Barnes and Noble, or Amazon.
Having just finished the fall drama Lifeboat, though goodness knows, much of it is STILL in my living room, I have to say I really, really do love drama. Three days before performance, I hate it, but, afterwards, I love it again.
I have no background in drama in high school or college. I saw my first professionally done play in Houston when I was in 11th grade. It was Fiddler on the Roof, with the original cast. I was enthralled. A short time later, I saw The Importance of Being Earnest, and loved it as well. However, I knew I could never do that kind of thing.
Later, at what was then New Covenant Fellowship, I saw my first non-professional play, an Easter play I'd grow to love called Road to Calvary. It was done outdoors, complete with small horse for Jesus to ride. One of the actors had died about 4 days before the performance, and they handled the loss well, leaving an empty chair where he would have sat and moments of silence where he would have spoken. I was enraptured with the whole thing.
Shortly afterwards, I went to the director, Becky Williams, and said, "I have never done anything with drama, but I feel God pulling me into this. I'll do whatever you want me to do if you'll allow me to be involved, actor or backstage, whatever." She said that what she really needed was someone who would run errands and help keep order backstage. I said I'd do it. Over the next few years, Becky moved me from position to position, sound, lights, costumes, makeup, props, writing, stagehand, curtain puller, whatever she needed that year. Then one year, she said, "You know, I was thinking about how to use you this year, and it occurred to me that you have now done every backstage position at least once, and you've been faithful and didn't gripe, and you even encouraged me. How would you like to be assistant director?" And so that was my job, my love, for years. When Becky became fatally ill with cancer, she gave me the director's position. I will always be thankful for the mentorship she provided along with her friendship.
So, what is it that is so interesting about drama? First, drama allows you to be someone else for a short time. You get to see life from a different perspective. You can improve your craft every time by trying something new, even if it is a simple hand movement gesture or an accent. Drama encourages you to watch people so you can use things you observe in future performances. You can also observe nature and places as well, so that creating sets and props can be done with excellence.
Being a director has positives as well. You get to encourage other people to take steps beyond where they have been, to move beyond their comfort zones and thereby increase their confidence in all sorts of life situations. They might even like a role so well, that they incorporate some portion of it into their own lives. You get to solve a great puzzle by figuring out how to do things like make a boat in an ocean in the middle of a stage, and have people believe it is so. You get to solve the puzzle of getting numerous people to work together on stage and off stage who may not otherwise have ever met each other. You learn how to decide what's really important and where to spend the money versus where to spend the elbow grease. You have to figure out how to motivate an actor to develop the role on a pace so that they don't get to the perfect level before the performance, lest they peak early and then get bored with it, let their minds wander, and lose the performance. You have to figure out what makes dawn look different from dusk, so you can explain it to the lighting guy (the gaffer). Or how does rain sound on water when it's gentle or what does an earthquake sound like, so you and the soundman can work it out.
Shakespeare said something like, All the world's a stage, and we are just the actors and players upon it. In many ways, he was correct. What I've learned in theater has helped me immensely in my Christian walk. I've learned that the best way to get to know each other is in hard work. Hard work sands off the veneer of politeness, and you'll see the person who is really there. I've learned that every one of us is walking a difficult life, perfectly designed by God to get each one of us ready for the heavenly performance. God doesn't let it happen all at once, or we'd get bored and wander off. You learn that we all need encouragement, even when we're acting a part and smiling through the real hurt. You learn how to work with the fellow believers of your own church, whom you probably wouldn't have met or associated with if the church wasn't there. We hurt inside, but show the world a different face; actors know that, and begin to see past it. Or some days, we're so joyful that, even when we have to act somber, we can't help but put a little bounce in the step.
Unlike sports - from which research is now showing that the participants of soccer, football, basketball, and baseball - end up with brain injuries that affect their concentration and short term memories, theater increases your memory capacity and your concentration ability. Little physical injury results from drama (although I have fallen from the stage more than 10 times). Therefore, theater is a better activity than sports for teamwork, personal confidence, memory, concentration, and the ability to develop one's character. That's my stance, and I'm sticking with it! What do you think?
Oh, and it's not too late to sign up for the Spring Drama, either front or back stage work, and we need adults as well as students. A willing heart is what we need; we can train you for the part. I know. It happened to me.
Happy Thanksgiving, Everyone! Make gratitude your attitude.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)