Reminder that the monthly drawing for a $25 gift card is still going on for December. See December's first blog for details.
I'd like to begin a series of blogs on the why's and how's of curricula subjects. As we are at or nearing the half way point in most people's school years, we sometimes become bogged down in the day to day. It is like trying to drive from a small, short car. You can do it, but, when you drive from a tall car perspective, you can see where the road leads and where the dangers and exits are, bringing some peace to you as you drive. So this blog will be about the why's and how's of literature as a subject. Let's start in Part One with the why's, and, in Part Two, we will deal with the how's.
When your student asks, "Why do we have to read this stuff?", it would be good to have more of an answer than "because we have credit checks to do, and I want you to graduate." So, why DO we read this stuff called literature?
To begin, literature is different from books. Thousands of books are published every year, yet few will ever be deemed literature. Cookbooks, encyclopedia, stat books, textbooks, etc., are not considered literature, though they MAY be fine books. Many fiction books and other non-fiction would not be considered literature, either now or in the future.
To be considered literature, the book or piece has to have survived some element of time. How long depends upon the genre. An analogy might help here. In baseball, there is a Baseball Hall of Fame. Not every player gets to be in the Hall of Fame. Some get in, and we amateurs don't always understand why. Some are left out, and we amateurs don't always understand why. "They" decide. Who are they? Those who have chosen to make baseball in some form a career. Now, baseball as an organized sport has been around pretty much around a hundred years. So, there are quite a few players out there who could qualify for the Hall of Fame, and, indeed, the list gets longer every year, both of who is eligible to qualify and who actually makes it into the HoF. Some sports have been around less time. NASCAR has been around 50 or so years, and have fewer players than baseball. Therefore, they have fewer members in their hall of fame. Sometimes an impatient hall of fame will lower the qualifications for members in order to have a hall of fame worth visiting. Those who have been fans of a sport for a long time will usually find it easier to appreciate why some people make the hall of fame while others don't. Those new to the sport or having never seen it will struggle more with the choices, and will have to rely more on the choosers.
Literature is the same way as a sports hall of fame. Think of literature as a writing hall of fame. You would expect to see not only those who were good at writing, but also those who made distinct contributions to the world of writing. For example, we might expect to see the first mystery story, the first biography, the first piece ever written about honesty. We might also expect to see the best poet, the best biographer, etc. We would also want to see the bests and firsts for different time periods (especially when rules changed) and the bests and firsts from other countries or areas. This is indeed what one sees in a literature book. It is not meant to be the only collection of literature, but the editors of that book have tried to create a hall of fame for a particular segment of literature, whether for a person's reading ability, a country's writers, a particular time period, or a specific genre.
Who is (are) the editor(s)? That's a very good question, and one for which the teacher of that subject should have an answer. That answer will usually determine whether the teacher thinks the book is a good selection of pieces or whether it is not. If the editor shares the teacher's viewpoint on life and religion, the teacher is more likely to agree with the selections. If the editor does not, the teacher MAY not find the pieces particularly enjoyable. I say MAY as some teachers enjoy the mental fencing with the editor's choices. Some do not.
A good study of literature will include examples of all the finest players in the sport of literature, as well as those who contributed in an important manner, much as film halls of fame usually include the camera people, the sound people, etc.
So, now that we know why something might be considered literature, we can ask why we all must study literature in school. I mean, we do not all study the sports halls of fame in school, do we? There are several reasons we study literature.
First of all, literature is one way of our avoiding personal pain. In general, mankind as a creature, is one of the few who learns well from other creatures' experiences. (I did not say a particular person learns well this way.) So, we can read about someone so obsessed with a particular thing that they were willing to risk their life and the lives of many others to pursue their obsession, such as we see in Moby Dick. We can then ask ourselves questions such as, "Is it probably going to end well if I choose to pursue item X (a person, a fancy car, a hobby, etc.) regardless of the cost to my family or my marriage. We can read Little Men, and learn about the pain the author went through trying to make little boys behave like little girls and how she finally resolved that issue. Knowing that information may save us some of the pain of similar experiences or cause us to feel not quite so alone when we experience similar events. When an author describes his feeling of aloneness as like being in a dark cave or a dark Antarctic night, we can then know when we experience loneliness that someone else also knows what we feel. This learning from others' experiences is one reason we study literature.
Another reason we study literature is as a way to improve our own communications skills. We do not live in a vaccum. We live with other people. Seeing how someone saw things only from his or her own perspective and what trouble that causes can encourage us to try to see things from different perspectives, as Dickens teaches us through Little Dorrit, a book written twice - once from one character's view and then again from a different character's view. It has the same events, mostly, but seen through different eyes, and we see how easily it is to misunderstand a person. It teaches us kindness and wisdom.
Another communication skill received is that of improving our own writing. In Europe, students learned to paint well by going to the museum and copying the paintings of famous painters. I think this is an example of learning better through osmosis. The same technique works in writing. If you want your child's writing to improve, you must improve the quality of books he or she is reading. I didn't say length of books or quantity of books; I said quality of books. The 600 page Harry Potter books are written at a 4th grade level, and aside from difficult names, requires little thought to comprehend. The long Tom Clancy books are written at a 5th-6th grade level. Long doesn't necessarily equal quality. Some students will do better with short stories or selections from longer books (hence, textbooks). I promise you that, if you have your child reading pieces written in the late 1800's, you will notice a dramatic change in their writing ability, their speaking ability, as well as their vocabulary. Reading poetry teaches us to think concisely and precisely, often about emotional issues, which otherwise would take many pages to explore.
So, the why of literature is that we learn to experience life, we learn to understand other people, we learn to understand ourselves, and we learn to communicate verbally, both in spoken and in written forms.
Part 2: how to adapt a literature course to meet the needs and tastes of your own student without losing the quality of the program.
Monday, December 14, 2009
Sunday, December 6, 2009
Gender Language Issues or Do You Speak Kindergarten?
My husband has to remind me when we do projects together to speak in non-female language. He is convinced, having worked with a lot of ladies over the years, that most females speak without using specific nouns. This is especially true when giving directions, which is where he and I most often encounter this language problem.
For example, I'll say, "Put that over there." Now, since he is rarely looking just at me, and can't look at me at the same time he is looking at the objects, he is never sure what object I'm trying to get him to move. "That what?" he says. "That one there!" I say pointing. I mean, in my mind, it is obvious which one I mean, and when I work with other women, this whole problem never appears. Finally, I try to give more info, "the yellow one. No, not that yellow one! The thing! The yellow thing! Yes, THAT one. Now move it over there, no over there! Up higher. More to the left. Next to that one!" Sigh.
It doesn't help that most men speak in colors with only those colors present in an eight count box of crayons. An object can only be black, brown, red, yellow, orange, blue, green, or purple. Sometimes, they will allow you to use the words light or dark before the color name. Very early in our marriage, I gave in on the issue of brown; he saw light brown, brown, and dark brown. Tan, beige, creme, sand, taupe, sienna, golden brown, beach, and other shades didn't exist. After a while, I wasn't sure they did, either. I read an article once by the Crayola people describing this very issue.
Then he taught me to speak in what I later dubbed Kindergarten. Now I know, when we do projects to speak like this: "You see the small yellow cube that is next to the large triangular red vase? Please pick that yellow cube up and move it to the 2ND wooden bookshelf from the left, and 3rd shelf from the top. Put it on the right side, between the green cube and the blue book." I have to tell you, after all that, I'm exhausted! It would have been quicker to do it myself!
There seems to be an intuitive language that women speak, that men do not easily learn. HE claims that, when my friends and I speak, we don't always finish sentences, or even worse, one friend will be able to finish the other friend's sentence.
For these reasons, he hates to play the game Taboo in teams of women vs men. He says the men will lose every time. He believes there is some sort of psychic connection between the women, that allows them to say something like "Olive Garden" and the other women say "bread sticks." He claims women play Taboo by describing experiences, whereas men will try to give the hidden word an exact meaning, like "6 inches long, made of wheat, has garlic, served hot," by which time, the buzzer has buzzed. Women's clue "tired, cold, feeling blue, cup" and men's "made from a plant from the Orient, small leaves dried and then served by boiling water and pouring it over the leaves and then straining the leaves out" both of which clue sets get you to tea.
So, having experienced this numerous times and observing it happen many times in public and at parties and in meetings, I have found it helpful to recount this to parents of Kindergartners. Why?
Teaching kindergarten at home is largely a matter of having the mother change the way she talks. Colors, sizes, directions, and order are great parts of kindergarten curricula. Instead of "Use that one for that part.", we should say, "Use your yellow crayon, which is on your right, and color the left clown's hat yellow."
Many other aspects of Kindergarten involve teaching the child both to observe and work specifically. That is, we increase their skills and vocabulary for specific objects and habits.
Did you know that left and right are not innate concepts? Some cultures DO write from right to left, instead of left to right. Has anyone done research on whether dyslexia is prevalent in other cultures? I mean, while reading left to right is correct in America, that child who wants to read from right to left would be quite at home in say, Israel or Japan. In those countries, he does not have a brain problem or learning disability. The same is true for top to bottom. We in America read from top to bottom. Some cultures read from bottom to top. Then there are those that read from bottom to top and from right to left. So obviously, the order pattern of reading is not built into the mind, since it varies by culture. I have yet to see any research on reading that acknowledges this simple idea. Let me know if you have seen any, and where it is. That could mean we're trying to fix a problem by tackling the brain, that may not be the kind of brain problem we think it is. Maybe it really is a teaching problem, something all parents, regardless of where their child is educated, must pursue.
One of my own children had issues in this area. I had to put an index card above what he read, because his eyes tended to drift upwards when he read. (Weak eye muscles can also be part of this issue.) I also drew a tiny car on the left bottom edge - the one that would be next to the words beneath it - so he'd know from which side to start each time. I didn't give him any pressure, except for me holding that card in position and acting like what he was experiencing was normal. We spent a lot of time working on left and right as well as left to right, and I mean weeks of time where I made sure left and right were mentioned every 10 or 15 minutes, but not saying he had to learn it. Eventually, he did, and after that, he had no trouble with reading order. Later, he taught karate classes and said that right/left order was such a frequent problem that he had begun to assume it would be a problem for kids until he worked with them. Apparently, the same issues arose with men in his Army boot camp life, but he knew how to deal with it to help them.
My ideal kindergarten curricula would include lots of hands on time using play dough, crayons, and art materials. It would include learning the letters and numbers, learning community helpers and holidays, learning how to observe in nature and then describe what one does observe. It would include learning how to behave in a mannerly and respectful way to all peoples, not just by looking at lists of rules, but by interacting with people and seeing the parents properly interacting with other people. Time would also be spent talking about and experiencing other cultures, often through food and costumes, sometimes by attending fairs, or visiting people of different cultures, or finding recipes on the Internet or watching cultures on the Internet. Penmanship would come via a tablet and samples of Dr. Seuss sayings from Fox in Sox or from Oh Say Can You Say or other tongue twisters. Few materials would have to be bought. Most of all, mom (and dad) would need to remember to talk specifically.
First grade is time enough for the next step upwards. These are my thoughts, remembering how I brought my own three kids and helped many others get their kids through kindergarten. Maybe these ideas will help you. You can do it. We'll help you, but you'll be surprised how good it is. What do you think?
For example, I'll say, "Put that over there." Now, since he is rarely looking just at me, and can't look at me at the same time he is looking at the objects, he is never sure what object I'm trying to get him to move. "That what?" he says. "That one there!" I say pointing. I mean, in my mind, it is obvious which one I mean, and when I work with other women, this whole problem never appears. Finally, I try to give more info, "the yellow one. No, not that yellow one! The thing! The yellow thing! Yes, THAT one. Now move it over there, no over there! Up higher. More to the left. Next to that one!" Sigh.
It doesn't help that most men speak in colors with only those colors present in an eight count box of crayons. An object can only be black, brown, red, yellow, orange, blue, green, or purple. Sometimes, they will allow you to use the words light or dark before the color name. Very early in our marriage, I gave in on the issue of brown; he saw light brown, brown, and dark brown. Tan, beige, creme, sand, taupe, sienna, golden brown, beach, and other shades didn't exist. After a while, I wasn't sure they did, either. I read an article once by the Crayola people describing this very issue.
Then he taught me to speak in what I later dubbed Kindergarten. Now I know, when we do projects to speak like this: "You see the small yellow cube that is next to the large triangular red vase? Please pick that yellow cube up and move it to the 2ND wooden bookshelf from the left, and 3rd shelf from the top. Put it on the right side, between the green cube and the blue book." I have to tell you, after all that, I'm exhausted! It would have been quicker to do it myself!
There seems to be an intuitive language that women speak, that men do not easily learn. HE claims that, when my friends and I speak, we don't always finish sentences, or even worse, one friend will be able to finish the other friend's sentence.
For these reasons, he hates to play the game Taboo in teams of women vs men. He says the men will lose every time. He believes there is some sort of psychic connection between the women, that allows them to say something like "Olive Garden" and the other women say "bread sticks." He claims women play Taboo by describing experiences, whereas men will try to give the hidden word an exact meaning, like "6 inches long, made of wheat, has garlic, served hot," by which time, the buzzer has buzzed. Women's clue "tired, cold, feeling blue, cup" and men's "made from a plant from the Orient, small leaves dried and then served by boiling water and pouring it over the leaves and then straining the leaves out" both of which clue sets get you to tea.
So, having experienced this numerous times and observing it happen many times in public and at parties and in meetings, I have found it helpful to recount this to parents of Kindergartners. Why?
Teaching kindergarten at home is largely a matter of having the mother change the way she talks. Colors, sizes, directions, and order are great parts of kindergarten curricula. Instead of "Use that one for that part.", we should say, "Use your yellow crayon, which is on your right, and color the left clown's hat yellow."
Many other aspects of Kindergarten involve teaching the child both to observe and work specifically. That is, we increase their skills and vocabulary for specific objects and habits.
Did you know that left and right are not innate concepts? Some cultures DO write from right to left, instead of left to right. Has anyone done research on whether dyslexia is prevalent in other cultures? I mean, while reading left to right is correct in America, that child who wants to read from right to left would be quite at home in say, Israel or Japan. In those countries, he does not have a brain problem or learning disability. The same is true for top to bottom. We in America read from top to bottom. Some cultures read from bottom to top. Then there are those that read from bottom to top and from right to left. So obviously, the order pattern of reading is not built into the mind, since it varies by culture. I have yet to see any research on reading that acknowledges this simple idea. Let me know if you have seen any, and where it is. That could mean we're trying to fix a problem by tackling the brain, that may not be the kind of brain problem we think it is. Maybe it really is a teaching problem, something all parents, regardless of where their child is educated, must pursue.
One of my own children had issues in this area. I had to put an index card above what he read, because his eyes tended to drift upwards when he read. (Weak eye muscles can also be part of this issue.) I also drew a tiny car on the left bottom edge - the one that would be next to the words beneath it - so he'd know from which side to start each time. I didn't give him any pressure, except for me holding that card in position and acting like what he was experiencing was normal. We spent a lot of time working on left and right as well as left to right, and I mean weeks of time where I made sure left and right were mentioned every 10 or 15 minutes, but not saying he had to learn it. Eventually, he did, and after that, he had no trouble with reading order. Later, he taught karate classes and said that right/left order was such a frequent problem that he had begun to assume it would be a problem for kids until he worked with them. Apparently, the same issues arose with men in his Army boot camp life, but he knew how to deal with it to help them.
My ideal kindergarten curricula would include lots of hands on time using play dough, crayons, and art materials. It would include learning the letters and numbers, learning community helpers and holidays, learning how to observe in nature and then describe what one does observe. It would include learning how to behave in a mannerly and respectful way to all peoples, not just by looking at lists of rules, but by interacting with people and seeing the parents properly interacting with other people. Time would also be spent talking about and experiencing other cultures, often through food and costumes, sometimes by attending fairs, or visiting people of different cultures, or finding recipes on the Internet or watching cultures on the Internet. Penmanship would come via a tablet and samples of Dr. Seuss sayings from Fox in Sox or from Oh Say Can You Say or other tongue twisters. Few materials would have to be bought. Most of all, mom (and dad) would need to remember to talk specifically.
First grade is time enough for the next step upwards. These are my thoughts, remembering how I brought my own three kids and helped many others get their kids through kindergarten. Maybe these ideas will help you. You can do it. We'll help you, but you'll be surprised how good it is. What do you think?
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Classical Value
All those who read and post a reply to the Principally Sandy blog entries for December will have their email name entered into a monthly contest for a free item, usually a gift card to a national establishment, such as Starbucks, McDonald's, Barnes & Nobles, Amazon, etc. You get one entry per blog that I write that month. If your name is drawn by one of my compadres in the office, we will email you to find out how to send you the card. One post per person per month per blog entry written by me. If you have questions, email me at SANDYHOME@aol.com, subject line "blog question." Emails do not count as blog entry replies. Let the December contest begin! If you want to know when a new entry has been posted, become a follower. {see directions in the right hand column.} Responses without names will not be entered in the contest, though they will be published.
If it's been a while since you've read early American literature, and you suddenly pick up a Hawthorne short story or a JF Cooper chapter, you might be surprised how difficult the language seems. Therefore, one should avoid trying to do so, right?
If that is correct, then let's just move the idea down just a bit. Perhaps it's not early American literature, but you're now in middle school, and you've gotten a bit of high school literature in your hands to read. It's difficult. So let's avoid it.
If that seems okay, let's move it down a ways further. You're a Kindergartner, and the reading in your reader is difficult. So the best thing to do is avoid it, correct? Give it up!
Well, now, Sandy, you're being unreasonable. Every child must learn to read! You can't avoid the early reading, now can you?
In essence, this is all the same scenario. When the Kindergartner finds it difficult, you encourage them. You even read aloud to them to bring excitement to the text. You may even use different voices for different roles. You ask questions as you read to make sure Little One is actually paying attention. You have him or her read a few lines or words, and the success makes him or her want to read even more. Eventually, he takes the book from your hands, and he accomplishes his first read of what he considered impossible material just a few weeks ago.
The same thing can be done with the classics. There is so much of value in reading the classics. The vocabulary is rich. The characters have depth. The story line may move slow, but that allows your mind to put all the thoughts in order, indeed for your own mind to begin to anticipate (think forward) where the author is beginning to take you or even for your mind to develop its own original thoughts. You may even find yourself in a time period of which you are unacquainted, and you are provoked to grab an encyclopedia and read about that age. You are required to trace multiple ideas through the story.
And your mind grows. You learn, unintentionally perhaps on your own part - yet intentionally on your teacher's part, to sift and cull information on the events, to think forward and anticipate consequences, to evaluate the moral reasoning of the characters and the author, to research needed information rather than waiting for it to be spoon-fed into a numb mind. You learn to wait, wait, wait, yes, there it is: the resolution for which you had patiently hoped over the 300 pages, rather than simply grabbing the quick ending of 100 pages.
Was it hard? Maybe the first 2-3 books were. Maybe mom or dad had to read it as well to encourage the student. Maybe conversation had to be forced to cover the points. Yet, by book 4 or 5, student is more comfortable and is even bringing up points and ideas distilled from the longer, deeper, more thoughtful experience of reading a classic book, whether a novel, a biography, or non-fiction work.
Referring to muscles, the first few times you use a set, it is hard and hurts. Yet, daily practice (called exercises) in doing so brings facility with those muscles. It is no different with classic book. Reading things that are difficult SHOULD be done daily. If everything your child reads is easy for him or her to read, they are reading the wrong books. It should be difficult and require time to reach that level of reading we call proficiency, which doesn't mean just getting the words but also getting the thoughts.
However, as a wise woman once revealed to me, reading should be like a meal: short, sweet appetizer pieces, veggies that are good for you, tougher to chew meats, and sweetly anticipated desserts. There are also the popcorn books you read just for fun, but you cannot make them your only source of nutrition.
One thing many homeschoolers do is read books to their children. However, if they have multiple children, they will often read books at a level that the youngest can handle, meaning it is less than want the oldest can handle. This holds back the oldest child, getting that one accustomed to doing less to be part of the crowd. Not a good lesson. Group reading should be done, but it should be aimed at the oldest child, allowing the oldest children to explain it to the younger ones as needed. That way, everyone's need is met.
This Christmas, I challenge every family of New Covenant School to buy a classic book for the family or, if possible, for each child. Buy the best binding you can afford so that, some day, your child's grandchildren can read from granddad's childhood copy of the classics. Then read those books as individuals or as families, comparing ideas with one who read it in the past, whether mom or dad or a sibling.
If you do not require your children to read the classics, you will be locking a door to the extensive collection of literature of hundreds of fine authors, many of whom were deep Christians with fine thoughts of God. You will be separating them from the collected wisdom of many quality writers. You will keep them from our foundation of learning, and telling them, in essence, that they are limited in their abilities to press forward. You would be reducing them to the pablum and drivvle promoted by our get-it-quick culture. Sure, eventually, on their own they might, when they are 35 decide to go back and redo this aspect of their education, when they have a full time family, full time career, and church life, leaving oh, so much energy to do hard things.
Read hard books this year. No one ever says, "I wish I had done less reading or less math when I was young." Accept the challenge. Excelsior!
If it's been a while since you've read early American literature, and you suddenly pick up a Hawthorne short story or a JF Cooper chapter, you might be surprised how difficult the language seems. Therefore, one should avoid trying to do so, right?
If that is correct, then let's just move the idea down just a bit. Perhaps it's not early American literature, but you're now in middle school, and you've gotten a bit of high school literature in your hands to read. It's difficult. So let's avoid it.
If that seems okay, let's move it down a ways further. You're a Kindergartner, and the reading in your reader is difficult. So the best thing to do is avoid it, correct? Give it up!
Well, now, Sandy, you're being unreasonable. Every child must learn to read! You can't avoid the early reading, now can you?
In essence, this is all the same scenario. When the Kindergartner finds it difficult, you encourage them. You even read aloud to them to bring excitement to the text. You may even use different voices for different roles. You ask questions as you read to make sure Little One is actually paying attention. You have him or her read a few lines or words, and the success makes him or her want to read even more. Eventually, he takes the book from your hands, and he accomplishes his first read of what he considered impossible material just a few weeks ago.
The same thing can be done with the classics. There is so much of value in reading the classics. The vocabulary is rich. The characters have depth. The story line may move slow, but that allows your mind to put all the thoughts in order, indeed for your own mind to begin to anticipate (think forward) where the author is beginning to take you or even for your mind to develop its own original thoughts. You may even find yourself in a time period of which you are unacquainted, and you are provoked to grab an encyclopedia and read about that age. You are required to trace multiple ideas through the story.
And your mind grows. You learn, unintentionally perhaps on your own part - yet intentionally on your teacher's part, to sift and cull information on the events, to think forward and anticipate consequences, to evaluate the moral reasoning of the characters and the author, to research needed information rather than waiting for it to be spoon-fed into a numb mind. You learn to wait, wait, wait, yes, there it is: the resolution for which you had patiently hoped over the 300 pages, rather than simply grabbing the quick ending of 100 pages.
Was it hard? Maybe the first 2-3 books were. Maybe mom or dad had to read it as well to encourage the student. Maybe conversation had to be forced to cover the points. Yet, by book 4 or 5, student is more comfortable and is even bringing up points and ideas distilled from the longer, deeper, more thoughtful experience of reading a classic book, whether a novel, a biography, or non-fiction work.
Referring to muscles, the first few times you use a set, it is hard and hurts. Yet, daily practice (called exercises) in doing so brings facility with those muscles. It is no different with classic book. Reading things that are difficult SHOULD be done daily. If everything your child reads is easy for him or her to read, they are reading the wrong books. It should be difficult and require time to reach that level of reading we call proficiency, which doesn't mean just getting the words but also getting the thoughts.
However, as a wise woman once revealed to me, reading should be like a meal: short, sweet appetizer pieces, veggies that are good for you, tougher to chew meats, and sweetly anticipated desserts. There are also the popcorn books you read just for fun, but you cannot make them your only source of nutrition.
One thing many homeschoolers do is read books to their children. However, if they have multiple children, they will often read books at a level that the youngest can handle, meaning it is less than want the oldest can handle. This holds back the oldest child, getting that one accustomed to doing less to be part of the crowd. Not a good lesson. Group reading should be done, but it should be aimed at the oldest child, allowing the oldest children to explain it to the younger ones as needed. That way, everyone's need is met.
This Christmas, I challenge every family of New Covenant School to buy a classic book for the family or, if possible, for each child. Buy the best binding you can afford so that, some day, your child's grandchildren can read from granddad's childhood copy of the classics. Then read those books as individuals or as families, comparing ideas with one who read it in the past, whether mom or dad or a sibling.
If you do not require your children to read the classics, you will be locking a door to the extensive collection of literature of hundreds of fine authors, many of whom were deep Christians with fine thoughts of God. You will be separating them from the collected wisdom of many quality writers. You will keep them from our foundation of learning, and telling them, in essence, that they are limited in their abilities to press forward. You would be reducing them to the pablum and drivvle promoted by our get-it-quick culture. Sure, eventually, on their own they might, when they are 35 decide to go back and redo this aspect of their education, when they have a full time family, full time career, and church life, leaving oh, so much energy to do hard things.
Read hard books this year. No one ever says, "I wish I had done less reading or less math when I was young." Accept the challenge. Excelsior!
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
November Blog winner
Congratulations to our November blog response winner. The name drawn by the staff was Joann Parker, and we will contact you regarding getting your prize!
Time for the December contest to begin. Expect a new blog post by the end of the week. Or sign up as a follower, and you'll get an email notice when it is posted.
Time for the December contest to begin. Expect a new blog post by the end of the week. Or sign up as a follower, and you'll get an email notice when it is posted.
Friday, November 20, 2009
Giving Them Much
Announcing: All those who read and post a reply to the Principally Sandy blog entries for November will have their email name entered into a monthly contest for a free item, usually a gift card to a national establishment, such as Starbucks, McDonald's, Barnes & Nobles, Amazon, etc. You get one entry per blog that I write that month. If your name is drawn by one of my compadres in the office, we will email you to find out how to send you the card. One post per person per month per blog entry written by me. If you have questions, email me at SANDYHOME@aol.com, subject line "blog question." Emails do not count as blog entry replies. Let the November contest begin! If you want to know when a new entry has been posted, become a follower. {see directions in the right hand column.} Responses without names will not be entered in the contest, though they will be published.
Congratulations to our October Winner - Erin Nugent
Sometimes the toughest lessons to teach our children are those we are just now learning ourselves. I was reminded of this today. Someone donated a book to the school, and it happened to be one of my favorites. It was Eugene H. Peterson, who has written many of my favorite books, and it was called A Long Obedience in the Same Direction. As Bonnie picked it up from the box and showed it to me, I said profoundly, "Ummmmmm." (hear a slight crescendo in that)
In my head, I heard myself saying, "Oh, yeah, that's what's going on!" You see it is a very hard lesson to learn, being obedient for a long time in a direction specified by whomever you are following. In American culture, it is becoming, in fact, virtually impossible. Our attention span is decreasing yearly, I would bet. I know mine is. I find myself getting truly upset when a download takes what seems like a long time, then I count silently and realize it probably took only 25 seconds. Not nearly a long time.
So a long obedience can mean obeying for months or even years. Paul became a Christian, and then it was 10 years of studying and working in the desert villages before God brought him out to shine before the world. I can't imagine doing something for ten years, and it surprises me to realize that I've been doing this school principal thing (and homeschooling my own kids) for 25 years now. Wow! When May of 2011 comes, I'll be able to say at graduation of #3 that I completed one long obedience in the same direction.
In the same direction means not getting distracted (okay, maybe overly distracted) from the task at hand. It is really hard these days. Seeing the goal so close makes you want to think about the next stage. That distracts you from where you are, and then you are likely to get onto a rabbit trail going off to the side or even giving up the race because someone offers us an ice cream cone (more pleasurable thing). We must guard against it. Finish well!
So how do we teach our children this important task, how to keep a long obedience in the same direction? I think we have to break this down into several tasks.
First, the obedience part. This starts young, and, if you have missed doing that, start where you are. It will be harder, but it can still be done. Remember that God gave your children parents because He wants to teach them to obey by giving them someone they can see and touch and hear to obey so that some day, they will make the transition to seeing and touching and hearing to obey their heavenly Father. Scripture says, If you can't obey the one you see, how will you ever be able to obey the One you can't see? So teach them to obey.
That includes obeying when they don't understand why they have to do the thing. After all, they are sure they know better. I have found it helpful to remind them, "I said obey and do this thing. I didn't say obey and do this thing if you think it is a good idea."
And that brings us to another of the tasks. We must teach them to follow. You really can't know if you are a good follower until the person you are following wants to go in a different direction than you do. Until he goes to the right when you think it would be better to go straight, you don't really know if you are a follower or just accompanying them for a while. God has given you to your children for them to learn to follow you. That's direction. Sometimes, yes, they have to do it the way you said, even though they may see what they believe --- rightly or wrongly --- is a better way. I want the math done this way. I want the spelling done first, because I know the plumber is coming later and I won't be able to assist with spelling later. And guess what? I am under no obligation to tell them why. In fact, if I want them to know how to react to God who rarely ever says why before His people obey, then I better make sure there are times when the answer is "That's what I said to do." Sometimes I don't even have to give them an answer at all. How many Bible characters got an answer every day? As far as we know, many received one instruction that was supposed to last a life time.
Then there is the "long" part. That means teaching them patience. It sometimes means planning long activities for them to complete. It means staying with a task until it is truly done, even if you are tired or hungry or hot or cold. It means finding peace in the midst of doing something beyond the point that it is enjoyable. It means learning to finish a task before getting to play. It means being unpopular with your children many times. That's why Scripture says the kids will rise up to call you blessed. They can't rise up, unless they have been sitting down in protest. It's like me teaching my new puppy to come on the leash. When he doesn't want to come, he balks, he protests, and he finally flops down and tries to ignore me. I, on the other hand, keep walking, and he better rise up and follow. Then he'll get to the good thing that I can see farther ahead, because --- like an adult --- I look further ahead to see what's in the distance. That's wisdom. You can't get wisdom from being smart or fast or strong or young. You get wisdom from living life for a long or longer time. That's why Scripture says the glory of youth is their strength. Not their wisdom. Wisdom is you.
The final task is to put all these elements together. The student must patiently obey the one he/she can see, even when they see no point in doing it the way the leader wants them to do so, and continue the project for a long time.
Even as I write this down, I begin to further understand that ahh-ha moment I had when Bonnie showed me that book this morning. I see what's been happening in my life, in America's life, in the church's life from that higher perspective. If I can help my children learn this lesson, through the sometimes long days of homeschooling, I will have given them much. Uhhh-huh! That'll do!
**{Note: I am not talking about oppressive, heavy-handed discipline. I'm talking about a thoughtful, wise inner strength.}
Congratulations to our October Winner - Erin Nugent
Sometimes the toughest lessons to teach our children are those we are just now learning ourselves. I was reminded of this today. Someone donated a book to the school, and it happened to be one of my favorites. It was Eugene H. Peterson, who has written many of my favorite books, and it was called A Long Obedience in the Same Direction. As Bonnie picked it up from the box and showed it to me, I said profoundly, "Ummmmmm." (hear a slight crescendo in that)
In my head, I heard myself saying, "Oh, yeah, that's what's going on!" You see it is a very hard lesson to learn, being obedient for a long time in a direction specified by whomever you are following. In American culture, it is becoming, in fact, virtually impossible. Our attention span is decreasing yearly, I would bet. I know mine is. I find myself getting truly upset when a download takes what seems like a long time, then I count silently and realize it probably took only 25 seconds. Not nearly a long time.
So a long obedience can mean obeying for months or even years. Paul became a Christian, and then it was 10 years of studying and working in the desert villages before God brought him out to shine before the world. I can't imagine doing something for ten years, and it surprises me to realize that I've been doing this school principal thing (and homeschooling my own kids) for 25 years now. Wow! When May of 2011 comes, I'll be able to say at graduation of #3 that I completed one long obedience in the same direction.
In the same direction means not getting distracted (okay, maybe overly distracted) from the task at hand. It is really hard these days. Seeing the goal so close makes you want to think about the next stage. That distracts you from where you are, and then you are likely to get onto a rabbit trail going off to the side or even giving up the race because someone offers us an ice cream cone (more pleasurable thing). We must guard against it. Finish well!
So how do we teach our children this important task, how to keep a long obedience in the same direction? I think we have to break this down into several tasks.
First, the obedience part. This starts young, and, if you have missed doing that, start where you are. It will be harder, but it can still be done. Remember that God gave your children parents because He wants to teach them to obey by giving them someone they can see and touch and hear to obey so that some day, they will make the transition to seeing and touching and hearing to obey their heavenly Father. Scripture says, If you can't obey the one you see, how will you ever be able to obey the One you can't see? So teach them to obey.
That includes obeying when they don't understand why they have to do the thing. After all, they are sure they know better. I have found it helpful to remind them, "I said obey and do this thing. I didn't say obey and do this thing if you think it is a good idea."
And that brings us to another of the tasks. We must teach them to follow. You really can't know if you are a good follower until the person you are following wants to go in a different direction than you do. Until he goes to the right when you think it would be better to go straight, you don't really know if you are a follower or just accompanying them for a while. God has given you to your children for them to learn to follow you. That's direction. Sometimes, yes, they have to do it the way you said, even though they may see what they believe --- rightly or wrongly --- is a better way. I want the math done this way. I want the spelling done first, because I know the plumber is coming later and I won't be able to assist with spelling later. And guess what? I am under no obligation to tell them why. In fact, if I want them to know how to react to God who rarely ever says why before His people obey, then I better make sure there are times when the answer is "That's what I said to do." Sometimes I don't even have to give them an answer at all. How many Bible characters got an answer every day? As far as we know, many received one instruction that was supposed to last a life time.
Then there is the "long" part. That means teaching them patience. It sometimes means planning long activities for them to complete. It means staying with a task until it is truly done, even if you are tired or hungry or hot or cold. It means finding peace in the midst of doing something beyond the point that it is enjoyable. It means learning to finish a task before getting to play. It means being unpopular with your children many times. That's why Scripture says the kids will rise up to call you blessed. They can't rise up, unless they have been sitting down in protest. It's like me teaching my new puppy to come on the leash. When he doesn't want to come, he balks, he protests, and he finally flops down and tries to ignore me. I, on the other hand, keep walking, and he better rise up and follow. Then he'll get to the good thing that I can see farther ahead, because --- like an adult --- I look further ahead to see what's in the distance. That's wisdom. You can't get wisdom from being smart or fast or strong or young. You get wisdom from living life for a long or longer time. That's why Scripture says the glory of youth is their strength. Not their wisdom. Wisdom is you.
The final task is to put all these elements together. The student must patiently obey the one he/she can see, even when they see no point in doing it the way the leader wants them to do so, and continue the project for a long time.
Even as I write this down, I begin to further understand that ahh-ha moment I had when Bonnie showed me that book this morning. I see what's been happening in my life, in America's life, in the church's life from that higher perspective. If I can help my children learn this lesson, through the sometimes long days of homeschooling, I will have given them much. Uhhh-huh! That'll do!
**{Note: I am not talking about oppressive, heavy-handed discipline. I'm talking about a thoughtful, wise inner strength.}
Thursday, November 5, 2009
October Blog Response Winner
We had our drawing for the $15 gift card for those who posted a response to this blog, Principally Sandy.
Each response got one entry. The lucky winner turned out to be Anonymous who posted the following entry on October 25, 2009. If it was you, please email us at SANDYHOME@aol.com no later than Saturday, November 7, noon. If we don't hear from you by then, we'll go to the number 2 drawn name.
Each response got one entry. The lucky winner turned out to be Anonymous who posted the following entry on October 25, 2009. If it was you, please email us at SANDYHOME@aol.com no later than Saturday, November 7, noon. If we don't hear from you by then, we'll go to the number 2 drawn name.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
A Matter of Protocol
An issue has been on my mind lately. It caused me to read 2 books. The first was
Protocol Matters by Sandra Boswell. The second was Positively Outrageous Service by Scott Gross. Both books should be read by homeschooling parents, students, and others as well.
Boswell's book discusses the effect that lack of manners (etiquette, protocol) has on a person, a family, and a society. She points out that protocol (how to act in every situation) is basically knowing how to show respect to others, both individually and corporately, in a way that is appreciated.
Gross' book discusses how customer service, or the lack of it, seriously effects businesses. He points out that, prior to 1965, his book couldn't even have been written as the vast majority of businesses practiced what he's preaching anyway. Those that didn't, didn't stay in business. Now, we have a whole generation or more who have never truly seen amazing customer service.
The connection between the two books is that both have to do with respect for others. Boswell's book tells us to respect each person and each group, and then she shows us how to do so. Gross' book essentially says businesses should respect their customers a great deal, and then he shows us how to do so.
Numerous times in the last month, I have been in businesses where the individual was treated as an interruption to the workers' day. The workers had forgotten that the business existed for the customers. Without customers, they did not have a job.
As a part of this educational experience I oversee, I have noted of late that many of our students do not practice proper protocol. Believing in its importance, I scheduled a guest expert, Mrs. Joan Exley, to teach a class on this topic. She gave me the following quote: "Just a dozen selfless players, who keep quiet when they score, give credit to others when they pitch a shut-out, or pass rather than shoot could help things. I don’t mind the constant therapy of the coverage— the personal interest story of the athlete who lost his mother during training, who conquered polio as a child, or who saved a little boy from a surging stream—but it does not make up for the absence of manners and sportsmanship." Victor David Hanson
In the current situation our society is enduring which is so much worse than a difficult sports game, I believe that practicing good manners may well be one of the primary ways we survive the traumas of our society's predicaments. Nothing can replace knowing how to show respect to those around us. The dictionary defines respect as showing the value of an individual.
When I was growing up, I was taught that respect was what acted as the lubrication to keep friction of relationships and hard life from rubbing each other raw. When life gets tough, the burdens we bear can weigh heavy. If those around us treat us with respect, that is, they treat us in a way that shows our value, then whatever is happening seems just a shade easier to bear.
So, what is the value of an individual? The value of something is that which others are willing to pay for it. For example, the value of a book might be $20 because, at $20, most people will buy it. If you raised the price to $25, and now no one will buy it, the book's value is less than $25. Again, so what is the value of an individual person?
Well, we look at the price someone is willing to pay for that person. God was willing to pay infinity for each individual person. Jesus was the currency used. Jesus, as God, is worth an infinite amount. By paying $Jesus for a person, the Father said that person was of infinite worth to Him.
So how do you treat someone whom God has decided is of infinite worth? I take an incident from today. I was watching a show on TV when a canary yellow Lamborghini appeared, my dream car. Caught off guard, my heart jumped a beat. Oh, I sighed. Nobody in the scene even leaned on that car. And they only touched its door handles. They even stood a little taller near it. They knew its worth, around $200,000. {I told my daughter that it would cost me more.... I'd need to hire a person to stow me into the car and get me out after I was at my destination. Then there would be the cost of his/her used car that followed me around so he/she would be there when I arrived. I digress.} The point is that even the people in the program showed respect for that car, and it was only worth $200,000.
A person is worth an infinite amount of money. $Jesus, so to speak. How do I treat that person with respect? How do I show them that I understand that I know that they were worth Jesus' life? One good way is to use societal customs that show I value their time, their health, and their spirit. These customs, collected together, are the etiquette or protocol of our society. It is vitally important to learn that etiquette so that we might all survive what is ahead.
When encountering others, I cannot make comments that show them less respect than I would show Jesus. I cannot dress or act in ways that mean they don't count. I should talk in a way that shows I respect their values and their interests, even when I disagree with them.
As a customer, that means I should endeavor to meet them on time and in a manner that says they are my focus and that I am there to make their life better, which is my function after all. Yet, I know I've failed in these areas over the last few years especially. Distractions and decisions were like grease on my glasses, keeping me from treating each person involved in our school with the full respect due them as individuals of infinite worth. For that, I am sorry and I apologize to anyone who may have felt like they were interrupting me from more important business. You are my important business. I hope you will forgive me.
My husband has an interesting habit. As a church elder, he is often called upon to go up front and pray for individuals. What he does ahead of time is that he goes and washes his hands. He told me it serves as a reminder to him that, when he touches any part of the Bride of Christ, he better do so with clean hands and a clean heart because she is of infinite worth to God.
May we all learn to esteem and show respect for that which God has chosen to value, all the members of His bride. And, since we do not yet know who all the members may be, that means treating every person with due respect by using proper manners and etiquette.
May your week be unexpectedly delightful as you feel His love all around you.
Protocol Matters by Sandra Boswell. The second was Positively Outrageous Service by Scott Gross. Both books should be read by homeschooling parents, students, and others as well.
Boswell's book discusses the effect that lack of manners (etiquette, protocol) has on a person, a family, and a society. She points out that protocol (how to act in every situation) is basically knowing how to show respect to others, both individually and corporately, in a way that is appreciated.
Gross' book discusses how customer service, or the lack of it, seriously effects businesses. He points out that, prior to 1965, his book couldn't even have been written as the vast majority of businesses practiced what he's preaching anyway. Those that didn't, didn't stay in business. Now, we have a whole generation or more who have never truly seen amazing customer service.
The connection between the two books is that both have to do with respect for others. Boswell's book tells us to respect each person and each group, and then she shows us how to do so. Gross' book essentially says businesses should respect their customers a great deal, and then he shows us how to do so.
Numerous times in the last month, I have been in businesses where the individual was treated as an interruption to the workers' day. The workers had forgotten that the business existed for the customers. Without customers, they did not have a job.
As a part of this educational experience I oversee, I have noted of late that many of our students do not practice proper protocol. Believing in its importance, I scheduled a guest expert, Mrs. Joan Exley, to teach a class on this topic. She gave me the following quote: "Just a dozen selfless players, who keep quiet when they score, give credit to others when they pitch a shut-out, or pass rather than shoot could help things. I don’t mind the constant therapy of the coverage— the personal interest story of the athlete who lost his mother during training, who conquered polio as a child, or who saved a little boy from a surging stream—but it does not make up for the absence of manners and sportsmanship." Victor David Hanson
In the current situation our society is enduring which is so much worse than a difficult sports game, I believe that practicing good manners may well be one of the primary ways we survive the traumas of our society's predicaments. Nothing can replace knowing how to show respect to those around us. The dictionary defines respect as showing the value of an individual.
When I was growing up, I was taught that respect was what acted as the lubrication to keep friction of relationships and hard life from rubbing each other raw. When life gets tough, the burdens we bear can weigh heavy. If those around us treat us with respect, that is, they treat us in a way that shows our value, then whatever is happening seems just a shade easier to bear.
So, what is the value of an individual? The value of something is that which others are willing to pay for it. For example, the value of a book might be $20 because, at $20, most people will buy it. If you raised the price to $25, and now no one will buy it, the book's value is less than $25. Again, so what is the value of an individual person?
Well, we look at the price someone is willing to pay for that person. God was willing to pay infinity for each individual person. Jesus was the currency used. Jesus, as God, is worth an infinite amount. By paying $Jesus for a person, the Father said that person was of infinite worth to Him.
So how do you treat someone whom God has decided is of infinite worth? I take an incident from today. I was watching a show on TV when a canary yellow Lamborghini appeared, my dream car. Caught off guard, my heart jumped a beat. Oh, I sighed. Nobody in the scene even leaned on that car. And they only touched its door handles. They even stood a little taller near it. They knew its worth, around $200,000. {I told my daughter that it would cost me more.... I'd need to hire a person to stow me into the car and get me out after I was at my destination. Then there would be the cost of his/her used car that followed me around so he/she would be there when I arrived. I digress.} The point is that even the people in the program showed respect for that car, and it was only worth $200,000.
A person is worth an infinite amount of money. $Jesus, so to speak. How do I treat that person with respect? How do I show them that I understand that I know that they were worth Jesus' life? One good way is to use societal customs that show I value their time, their health, and their spirit. These customs, collected together, are the etiquette or protocol of our society. It is vitally important to learn that etiquette so that we might all survive what is ahead.
When encountering others, I cannot make comments that show them less respect than I would show Jesus. I cannot dress or act in ways that mean they don't count. I should talk in a way that shows I respect their values and their interests, even when I disagree with them.
As a customer, that means I should endeavor to meet them on time and in a manner that says they are my focus and that I am there to make their life better, which is my function after all. Yet, I know I've failed in these areas over the last few years especially. Distractions and decisions were like grease on my glasses, keeping me from treating each person involved in our school with the full respect due them as individuals of infinite worth. For that, I am sorry and I apologize to anyone who may have felt like they were interrupting me from more important business. You are my important business. I hope you will forgive me.
My husband has an interesting habit. As a church elder, he is often called upon to go up front and pray for individuals. What he does ahead of time is that he goes and washes his hands. He told me it serves as a reminder to him that, when he touches any part of the Bride of Christ, he better do so with clean hands and a clean heart because she is of infinite worth to God.
May we all learn to esteem and show respect for that which God has chosen to value, all the members of His bride. And, since we do not yet know who all the members may be, that means treating every person with due respect by using proper manners and etiquette.
May your week be unexpectedly delightful as you feel His love all around you.
Friday, October 9, 2009
You Asked for It
Announcing: All those who read and post a reply to the Principally Sandy blog will have their email name entered into a monthly contest for a free item, usually a gift card to a national establishment, such as Starbucks, McDonald's, Barnes & Nobles, Amazon, etc. You get one entry per blog that I write that month. If your name is drawn by one of my compadres in the office, we will email you to find out how to send you the card. One post per person per month per blog entry written by me. If you have questions, email me at SANDYHOME@aol.com, subject line "blog question." Emails do not count as blog entry replies. Let the October contest begin!
*********************
You Asked For It
Sometimes, I find myself in circumstances I can't figure out for a while. Very often, I realize I asked for these things to come about. I've prayed for certain things to change in me. I pray to be more this, to be more that.... those were MY prayers. Little did I realize that I was praying for a result that required a certain road to be walked. Usually, I didn't just pray for it once, but over and over again, confirming my request so to speak.
Then, I find myself in a situation. Usually, just about the time I'm coming to the end of that road, I begin to understand how I got there. I haven't yet figured out if the road is ending because I began to understand, or if my understanding brought me to the end of that road. I ponder that.
I've always been convinced of the wonderfulness of heaven. A part of me feels like I'm sort of living there already, staying here because I have work left to do. In fact, I've joked with friends that I'm not afraid of dying; I'm just afraid of maiming. That is, dying has an obvious upside, but living in pain long term is something I couldn't imagine being able to do.
So for several years, I have had a lot of pain with which to deal. My knees are bad, both genetically apparently as well as just too much bad usage. In fact, I've had two arthroscopic surgeries on them and would have replacement surgery, but "they" say I'm too young, and I say I haven't got enough time to put in my outlook calendar for that. And did you know, you get shorter with each knee replacement? That's where the too young part comes in, because fake knees only last maybe ten years, and then you do it again. So each time, you get a smidge shorter.
I also have a bad wrist and another that is also weak. This also makes carrying things difficult. I have some ankle issues, and some other varying problems. Some days are really good, and some are really bad, and most days are somewhere in the middle, usually leaning towards one end.
Over the course of these experiences, my attitudes toward pain and healing have gone through a lot. I've believed and repented and prayed and read books and gone to conferences and gone to things where people healed, etc. And I'm here today. So I've come to some limited peace with my current theological position on this. My attitude towards a lot of people has changed, and not just towards those who have outward, visible handicaps. I'm a lot nicer, a lot more empathetic. I have a lot more faith when I pray for others' healings as well, and I don't blame them when it doesn't seem to have happened. And more and more often, God does reach out and heal people when I pray with them, not because of who I am, but because I'm more likely to get out of His way so He can work. By delaying my healings, He has made me more desirous of seeing them healed so that they don't have to go through pain - whatever the type - any more.
And I've seen Him do marvelous things despite my pains as well. I've been able to trek in mountains, visit other countries, go places & do things no one expected this little Texas country girl to go or do. Yea God! He supplies me with the strength and peace I need to follow Him. I mean, it doesn't say, "Go and tell all the nations when your knees feel better. Teach when your wrist doesn't hurt." It DOES say "...and I will be with you." And He has been. And He always paves the way, often so well that I feel like God's girlfriend. Yea God!
So, I had one of those moments like in the TV commercial for V-8 yesterday. I almost hit myself in the head saying, "Duh! I prayed that God would show me that I could live whatever came." I am, in my own little way, living life a bit maimed. Sure, I'm not maimed as much as some, but my life has enough pain for me to say, yes, I AM a bit maimed. Life IS a Via Dolorosa. I understand a tiny bit better the road He walked through life. And, because He is who He says He is, I can live with maiming. I know it now. I mean, I really know it now.
I've also realized that He experienced pain for a lot longer than that one day dragging a cross through Jerusalem. From the moment He was born (maybe in utero), He experienced the pain of being out of the Father's presence. Some people even believe that is part of the definition of hell.... eternally living totally outside God's presence. Yet Jesus lived that way from day one of His human life for, some say, 33 years. He was separated physically from living totally in the Father's presence. He set aside glory and heaven and eternity to be confined in a human body and to trust that the Father and Holy Spirit would bring it all to pass as it should and bring Him back into heaven. He put His trust in the Father to make His life perfect. He gave up the amazingness of heaven and the sounds and colors of glory and the allness of God's perfection to come here. That's suffering. I mean, we talk about the suffering missionaries in 3rd world countries, and then accept blame for living in America where God put us. Yet the worst 3rd world country's lifestyle difference compared to the best 1st world country {oh, and you're not allowed to call them 1st world because it would sound either proud or make the 2nd and 3rds feel bad - an economic professor told a class of us that fact}, the worst 3rd world country compared to the best 1st world country is a tiny difference compared to what Jesus gave up to come here and live by our standards. He was suffering daily for over 30 years! The best day here is infinitely bad compared to the worst day in heaven. ** So He suffered daily, and I prayed to live like Jesus lived. Lots of times. And then some more times.
So, whatever pain you live with - emotional, physical, spiritual - let me encourage you as much as I can. God will walk with you through this experience. Mostly, you won't understand it for awhile. And some people will give you one of those "be warmed and be filled" prayers the Bible warns against either by saying you must lack faith or by saying something else that seems, in the end, to blame you so they don't feel bad. Some days, just focusing on Him is about all you can do. And yet, it may be sweeter. It is for me. Mostly I see it now. Mostly. And He heals. I don't understand the timing of that. Mostly I see it, though, eventually. Mostly.
We had to take Blood-Borne Pathogens training. In that, you are told to assume everyone has a blood-borne disease. Treat their injuries as if they do, and you will be safe. So, from that and from daily pain, I've learned this important lesson. Be nice to others. Really nice. You don't know what they are experiencing and only sometimes will we know why while we are here. Assume they are in pain. Love them and be nice. It works. Mostly.
Expect good things today!
Sandy
** And days in heaven are not the same forever. Ask me about that some time.
*********************
You Asked For It
Sometimes, I find myself in circumstances I can't figure out for a while. Very often, I realize I asked for these things to come about. I've prayed for certain things to change in me. I pray to be more this, to be more that.... those were MY prayers. Little did I realize that I was praying for a result that required a certain road to be walked. Usually, I didn't just pray for it once, but over and over again, confirming my request so to speak.
Then, I find myself in a situation. Usually, just about the time I'm coming to the end of that road, I begin to understand how I got there. I haven't yet figured out if the road is ending because I began to understand, or if my understanding brought me to the end of that road. I ponder that.
I've always been convinced of the wonderfulness of heaven. A part of me feels like I'm sort of living there already, staying here because I have work left to do. In fact, I've joked with friends that I'm not afraid of dying; I'm just afraid of maiming. That is, dying has an obvious upside, but living in pain long term is something I couldn't imagine being able to do.
So for several years, I have had a lot of pain with which to deal. My knees are bad, both genetically apparently as well as just too much bad usage. In fact, I've had two arthroscopic surgeries on them and would have replacement surgery, but "they" say I'm too young, and I say I haven't got enough time to put in my outlook calendar for that. And did you know, you get shorter with each knee replacement? That's where the too young part comes in, because fake knees only last maybe ten years, and then you do it again. So each time, you get a smidge shorter.
I also have a bad wrist and another that is also weak. This also makes carrying things difficult. I have some ankle issues, and some other varying problems. Some days are really good, and some are really bad, and most days are somewhere in the middle, usually leaning towards one end.
Over the course of these experiences, my attitudes toward pain and healing have gone through a lot. I've believed and repented and prayed and read books and gone to conferences and gone to things where people healed, etc. And I'm here today. So I've come to some limited peace with my current theological position on this. My attitude towards a lot of people has changed, and not just towards those who have outward, visible handicaps. I'm a lot nicer, a lot more empathetic. I have a lot more faith when I pray for others' healings as well, and I don't blame them when it doesn't seem to have happened. And more and more often, God does reach out and heal people when I pray with them, not because of who I am, but because I'm more likely to get out of His way so He can work. By delaying my healings, He has made me more desirous of seeing them healed so that they don't have to go through pain - whatever the type - any more.
And I've seen Him do marvelous things despite my pains as well. I've been able to trek in mountains, visit other countries, go places & do things no one expected this little Texas country girl to go or do. Yea God! He supplies me with the strength and peace I need to follow Him. I mean, it doesn't say, "Go and tell all the nations when your knees feel better. Teach when your wrist doesn't hurt." It DOES say "...and I will be with you." And He has been. And He always paves the way, often so well that I feel like God's girlfriend. Yea God!
So, I had one of those moments like in the TV commercial for V-8 yesterday. I almost hit myself in the head saying, "Duh! I prayed that God would show me that I could live whatever came." I am, in my own little way, living life a bit maimed. Sure, I'm not maimed as much as some, but my life has enough pain for me to say, yes, I AM a bit maimed. Life IS a Via Dolorosa. I understand a tiny bit better the road He walked through life. And, because He is who He says He is, I can live with maiming. I know it now. I mean, I really know it now.
I've also realized that He experienced pain for a lot longer than that one day dragging a cross through Jerusalem. From the moment He was born (maybe in utero), He experienced the pain of being out of the Father's presence. Some people even believe that is part of the definition of hell.... eternally living totally outside God's presence. Yet Jesus lived that way from day one of His human life for, some say, 33 years. He was separated physically from living totally in the Father's presence. He set aside glory and heaven and eternity to be confined in a human body and to trust that the Father and Holy Spirit would bring it all to pass as it should and bring Him back into heaven. He put His trust in the Father to make His life perfect. He gave up the amazingness of heaven and the sounds and colors of glory and the allness of God's perfection to come here. That's suffering. I mean, we talk about the suffering missionaries in 3rd world countries, and then accept blame for living in America where God put us. Yet the worst 3rd world country's lifestyle difference compared to the best 1st world country {oh, and you're not allowed to call them 1st world because it would sound either proud or make the 2nd and 3rds feel bad - an economic professor told a class of us that fact}, the worst 3rd world country compared to the best 1st world country is a tiny difference compared to what Jesus gave up to come here and live by our standards. He was suffering daily for over 30 years! The best day here is infinitely bad compared to the worst day in heaven. ** So He suffered daily, and I prayed to live like Jesus lived. Lots of times. And then some more times.
So, whatever pain you live with - emotional, physical, spiritual - let me encourage you as much as I can. God will walk with you through this experience. Mostly, you won't understand it for awhile. And some people will give you one of those "be warmed and be filled" prayers the Bible warns against either by saying you must lack faith or by saying something else that seems, in the end, to blame you so they don't feel bad. Some days, just focusing on Him is about all you can do. And yet, it may be sweeter. It is for me. Mostly I see it now. Mostly. And He heals. I don't understand the timing of that. Mostly I see it, though, eventually. Mostly.
We had to take Blood-Borne Pathogens training. In that, you are told to assume everyone has a blood-borne disease. Treat their injuries as if they do, and you will be safe. So, from that and from daily pain, I've learned this important lesson. Be nice to others. Really nice. You don't know what they are experiencing and only sometimes will we know why while we are here. Assume they are in pain. Love them and be nice. It works. Mostly.
Expect good things today!
Sandy
** And days in heaven are not the same forever. Ask me about that some time.
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Poem 083009
Rapturously Heaven makes His way in His role
Spiralling, turning, delving deep within my soul.
He finds delight in the clean & perfect spaces,
And shutters not at the dark & dirty places.
He calls to me; permission He seeks
To wash & clean each cardioid room for weeks
Upon weeks. Seeking from me leave to bring the pain
That comes as He removes darkness that has always lain.
Even one speck makes a room darkened.
Even one speck made me miss when He hearkened.
From eternity past His task list He has planned
To bring me clearly to the Door else I'd been banned.
Gently as is possible, He wipes out the stain
That has covered each spot where sin has lain.
From Father Adam's own influences
To more modern confluences:
All that darkens is removed
By scarlet fluid that is approved
By flowing from hands willingly given
To soldiers' nail to be driven
Through perfect flesh n'ver stained by sin
So that all that is within
This so monstrous sinner
Can be made newborn, returned to beginner.
For without this bath so crimson, so clean
These eyes will n'ver look on heaven's bright scene
And see the One who gave up all for me
To bring me close having set me free.
Oh, my Lord, my God, my King,
My Hope, my Joy, tis under Jesus' wing.
Spiralling, turning, delving deep within my soul.
He finds delight in the clean & perfect spaces,
And shutters not at the dark & dirty places.
He calls to me; permission He seeks
To wash & clean each cardioid room for weeks
Upon weeks. Seeking from me leave to bring the pain
That comes as He removes darkness that has always lain.
Even one speck makes a room darkened.
Even one speck made me miss when He hearkened.
From eternity past His task list He has planned
To bring me clearly to the Door else I'd been banned.
Gently as is possible, He wipes out the stain
That has covered each spot where sin has lain.
From Father Adam's own influences
To more modern confluences:
All that darkens is removed
By scarlet fluid that is approved
By flowing from hands willingly given
To soldiers' nail to be driven
Through perfect flesh n'ver stained by sin
So that all that is within
This so monstrous sinner
Can be made newborn, returned to beginner.
For without this bath so crimson, so clean
These eyes will n'ver look on heaven's bright scene
And see the One who gave up all for me
To bring me close having set me free.
Oh, my Lord, my God, my King,
My Hope, my Joy, tis under Jesus' wing.
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Opportunities in Change
We're hearing it everywhere. Change. I'm going through change. You're going through change. Let me share how things have changed in the last 13 months or so at our house. My son graduated college and moved to Wichita. My older daughter entered grad school, but still lives upstairs. However, that room has become like a new US territory. I know this because one must approach her door with the ambassador's touch, knock in a certain manner, and then request permission to enter, even if it is just with the voice. My younger daughter turned 15. It is one of the most traumatic times in my kids' lives.... Year 15 - The Roller Coaster Not Mentioned in Guide Books Anywhere! I've acquired a new puppy, when I'd thought potty training was a thing of the past. She also has a bit of magpie in her, collecting stray objects from tables, purses, on the floor... and then strewing them about the backyard like a farmer sowing a field. My husband quit his job, accepted one where he can telecommute, so we're rearranging the house for his new home office. The country voted in a president with extreme views in the opposite direction from mine. My school has to find a new building because the state is taking our parking lot. My church is undergoing change. My office computer system of 11 computers has to be converted to a new system. My home computer died and needed replacing with a computer carrying alien software from the planet VISTA and Office 2007 (instead of oh, so familiar 2003). My mother-in-law died, and her estate has to be settled. Forget TV where the lawyer shows up a week after death and gives you the final check or verdict. No, it's more than a year of legal and practical hassles. 5 major friends have moved away. That's FIVE! Plus their families. Two key employees moved away, so the office is in flux. Omigosh, as the teens say, the list goes on and on. Now, according to the online websites, even one of these events in a year is considered traumatic and worthy of pampering time.
And most of my friends, colleagues, and associates are experiencing similar events. How can it be?
So, when a person who is in leadership goes through something, it has been my experience that often times the people they are leading then go through the same things. Leaders learn so that followers can benefit.
My experiences have taught me a few things. First, anger arises. We want to believe that the circumstances cause the anger, but the truth of the matter is that circumstances are merely the vent of the volcano, while the anger is the magma that has been there all along. Anger at God for being in control and not allowing me to dictate my life terms is seething a way in many of us. It is Adamic in proportion, man's basic argument with God made manifest in my life. We tell our children after an angry outburst that the events and pressure caused us to dump on them. The reality is that it was there already, and they looked weak enough to take the hit of our sin. So, I'm learning to follow God. By the way, the way you learn whether you are a follower of God or merely an acquaintance for the moment is when He leads you somewhere you don't want to go. If you go, you are following. However, often we follow unwillingly and unsubmitted. This is like going dead weight, like my dog does when he doesn't want to move. Passive resistance that causes the anger magma to rise just a bit. We must learn to deal with the change of direction His way.... in willing submission, which is the path of peace with Him and thereby with all mankind, including our family.
Second, change offers many opportunities for offense. Me to be offended with you and you to be offended by me. It seems, at this point, that the offense is generated at points where either you are changing and I'm not willing to change (maybe just yet, maybe not at all) or when I am changing and you won't change as well or as fast as I desire. Be on the alert for this. End it as quickly as possible. Remember, Scripture says that you can't even take communion when offense is present, whether it is your offending someone else or them offending you. And that lack of being able to take communion is just a symbolic representation of the real problem, lack of being able to have communion with God during that time. Now THAT is starvation.
We have a tendency to want to make others change. We can't. Only God can change a heart. We can learn to live our lives in such a way that they see Him in us and then want to have those qualities. They then seek them from Him, and, in His presence, He changes them. On His own timetable, not mine. Whether I think they are changing too fast or too slow, it doesn't matter. It is His timetable that counts. And He is fully capable of changing them. I need to focus on spending time with Him in such a way that He can change me and allow me to show those changes to others.
Third, change will continue and get worse. That's the spiral of our time. If you need X number of changes in your life to get you to become who you should be, and time is shortening, the X number of changes have to occur closer together. How fast you willingly move with the changes will determine how close the events are. In my case, I think there were changes I kept resisting, so they kept piling up ahead of me. It's like glacial moraine. Those bits of rock and boulder that a glacier piles up in front of it as it scrapes the land. The pile gets higher and higher the longer you refuse to deal with it.
Many say we live in the last days. Some say ten years, some say fifty, some say 100. Well, while I believe it's last days, I also believe that it's a case of last days either corporately or personally. That is, either corporately or individually, Jesus is coming for me within 100 years or even within 50 or even in a shorter span of time. So, I can either take the changes as He delivers them, or I can let them pile up so the changes become harder. He gives me my choice on that. It's called free will. My prayer is that my free will morfs into His perfect will.
And most of my friends, colleagues, and associates are experiencing similar events. How can it be?
So, when a person who is in leadership goes through something, it has been my experience that often times the people they are leading then go through the same things. Leaders learn so that followers can benefit.
My experiences have taught me a few things. First, anger arises. We want to believe that the circumstances cause the anger, but the truth of the matter is that circumstances are merely the vent of the volcano, while the anger is the magma that has been there all along. Anger at God for being in control and not allowing me to dictate my life terms is seething a way in many of us. It is Adamic in proportion, man's basic argument with God made manifest in my life. We tell our children after an angry outburst that the events and pressure caused us to dump on them. The reality is that it was there already, and they looked weak enough to take the hit of our sin. So, I'm learning to follow God. By the way, the way you learn whether you are a follower of God or merely an acquaintance for the moment is when He leads you somewhere you don't want to go. If you go, you are following. However, often we follow unwillingly and unsubmitted. This is like going dead weight, like my dog does when he doesn't want to move. Passive resistance that causes the anger magma to rise just a bit. We must learn to deal with the change of direction His way.... in willing submission, which is the path of peace with Him and thereby with all mankind, including our family.
Second, change offers many opportunities for offense. Me to be offended with you and you to be offended by me. It seems, at this point, that the offense is generated at points where either you are changing and I'm not willing to change (maybe just yet, maybe not at all) or when I am changing and you won't change as well or as fast as I desire. Be on the alert for this. End it as quickly as possible. Remember, Scripture says that you can't even take communion when offense is present, whether it is your offending someone else or them offending you. And that lack of being able to take communion is just a symbolic representation of the real problem, lack of being able to have communion with God during that time. Now THAT is starvation.
We have a tendency to want to make others change. We can't. Only God can change a heart. We can learn to live our lives in such a way that they see Him in us and then want to have those qualities. They then seek them from Him, and, in His presence, He changes them. On His own timetable, not mine. Whether I think they are changing too fast or too slow, it doesn't matter. It is His timetable that counts. And He is fully capable of changing them. I need to focus on spending time with Him in such a way that He can change me and allow me to show those changes to others.
Third, change will continue and get worse. That's the spiral of our time. If you need X number of changes in your life to get you to become who you should be, and time is shortening, the X number of changes have to occur closer together. How fast you willingly move with the changes will determine how close the events are. In my case, I think there were changes I kept resisting, so they kept piling up ahead of me. It's like glacial moraine. Those bits of rock and boulder that a glacier piles up in front of it as it scrapes the land. The pile gets higher and higher the longer you refuse to deal with it.
Many say we live in the last days. Some say ten years, some say fifty, some say 100. Well, while I believe it's last days, I also believe that it's a case of last days either corporately or personally. That is, either corporately or individually, Jesus is coming for me within 100 years or even within 50 or even in a shorter span of time. So, I can either take the changes as He delivers them, or I can let them pile up so the changes become harder. He gives me my choice on that. It's called free will. My prayer is that my free will morfs into His perfect will.
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
We have a puppy in the house now. (Another due soon!) Puppies are a reminder that change is good.
Dealing with a puppy is interesting. She plays with a toy only as long as something else doesn't show up that is different. She craves change. New, new, new. The bone that was good two minutes ago is not adequate now. There must be a new one, preferably the one upon which the older dog has settled his energies. She is indignant when he won't give her his. She insists, even risking that smile with the extra teeth he's showing. She howls with ingratitude, ignoring the bone two feet from her.
Now, many of us do this same routine with God. We find a new thing. It is good for a moment. Someone else has something flashier or even, just different. We have to have it. Our old one is still there. But the NEW one! Aye, there's the rub! Gotta have it. And He's unfair because He won't give it to me. Now I have to be bitter and whiny towards God because He didn't ......
Ever seen a child in a grocery cart grabbing things off the shelf? Same principle. That child has no need for a new pot scrubber or seven boxes of brownies. But that child grabs at it because it is different.....new.
So, question for thought: What is the difference between a new thing, a different thing, and a change of things? Let me know what you think.
Dealing with a puppy is interesting. She plays with a toy only as long as something else doesn't show up that is different. She craves change. New, new, new. The bone that was good two minutes ago is not adequate now. There must be a new one, preferably the one upon which the older dog has settled his energies. She is indignant when he won't give her his. She insists, even risking that smile with the extra teeth he's showing. She howls with ingratitude, ignoring the bone two feet from her.
Now, many of us do this same routine with God. We find a new thing. It is good for a moment. Someone else has something flashier or even, just different. We have to have it. Our old one is still there. But the NEW one! Aye, there's the rub! Gotta have it. And He's unfair because He won't give it to me. Now I have to be bitter and whiny towards God because He didn't ......
Ever seen a child in a grocery cart grabbing things off the shelf? Same principle. That child has no need for a new pot scrubber or seven boxes of brownies. But that child grabs at it because it is different.....new.
So, question for thought: What is the difference between a new thing, a different thing, and a change of things? Let me know what you think.
Thursday, July 30, 2009
5 Questions To Move You Forward
Okay. I was reading a John Paul Jackson's Partners Letter from July 2009. He was using info from Pal Sloane's The Five Reasons Why You Are Not Fulfilling Your Potential ( www.lifehack.org ). { their material is in Arial blue. all plagiarism issues now dealt with!) It was like getting my head back on straight. So here are the 5 questions:
1) Are you too comfortable and in a rut? Ruts are easy roads with downward slope. Are you afraid to get out of the comfort zone and stretch and grow? What have you done that was risky lately? After all, faith is spelled r-i-s-k. (My version: Is life too familiar?)
2) Do you think God made a mistake when He created you? Successful people believe they are here for a purpose. If you're fulfilling someone else's vision for you, who will fulfill God's vision for you? Push, don't settle.
3) Have you forgotten your life goals? Have you written them down so you know what they are, and do you see them regularly? Type them up and put them in Outlook or on your desk.
4) Are you lazy, spending too much time on what is easy for the moment or what is fun? Fun isn't wrong, but it doesn't satisfy in the long term. It leaves you hungry. So, subquestions are: how passionate am I about my vision for my life, and do I have a good work ethic?
5) Are you avoiding high achievers? That means natural as well as spiritual. Loved ones may not encourage us to move forward and try harder; they may just want to get along and not have arguments with us. High achievers will often have a God-given insight into your destiny. They see your blindspots and weaknesses and can help you overcome those. Alert: You may not want to hear what they say when they say it, but if you act on it, you will love them in the long run. If you are not thinking actively, you will sink to the level of the lowest achieving person with whom you associate. They will suck away your energy. One bad apple WILL spoil the whole barrel.
Survival in this difficult world will require you to think and act differently. Then you can change others and the church and the world. The safe road is no longer safe. Think of God as your off-road vehicle, and go where He can go, which is ... everywhere He wants to go. The wide easy path that leads to destruction is so much easier for me to see now than when I was young. It's not just the bad stuff (drugs, sex, badness in general). It is also the every day good-but-not-right things. It is like the Interstate --- comfortable, or at least more comfortable, but where it takes you is quite limited and the ride is never as interesting. Instead, take God's off-road vehicle ride after you answer those 5 questions.
Thanks JPJ and Paul Sloane. This blogging is mostly you.
1) Are you too comfortable and in a rut? Ruts are easy roads with downward slope. Are you afraid to get out of the comfort zone and stretch and grow? What have you done that was risky lately? After all, faith is spelled r-i-s-k. (My version: Is life too familiar?)
2) Do you think God made a mistake when He created you? Successful people believe they are here for a purpose. If you're fulfilling someone else's vision for you, who will fulfill God's vision for you? Push, don't settle.
3) Have you forgotten your life goals? Have you written them down so you know what they are, and do you see them regularly? Type them up and put them in Outlook or on your desk.
4) Are you lazy, spending too much time on what is easy for the moment or what is fun? Fun isn't wrong, but it doesn't satisfy in the long term. It leaves you hungry. So, subquestions are: how passionate am I about my vision for my life, and do I have a good work ethic?
5) Are you avoiding high achievers? That means natural as well as spiritual. Loved ones may not encourage us to move forward and try harder; they may just want to get along and not have arguments with us. High achievers will often have a God-given insight into your destiny. They see your blindspots and weaknesses and can help you overcome those. Alert: You may not want to hear what they say when they say it, but if you act on it, you will love them in the long run. If you are not thinking actively, you will sink to the level of the lowest achieving person with whom you associate. They will suck away your energy. One bad apple WILL spoil the whole barrel.
Survival in this difficult world will require you to think and act differently. Then you can change others and the church and the world. The safe road is no longer safe. Think of God as your off-road vehicle, and go where He can go, which is ... everywhere He wants to go. The wide easy path that leads to destruction is so much easier for me to see now than when I was young. It's not just the bad stuff (drugs, sex, badness in general). It is also the every day good-but-not-right things. It is like the Interstate --- comfortable, or at least more comfortable, but where it takes you is quite limited and the ride is never as interesting. Instead, take God's off-road vehicle ride after you answer those 5 questions.
Thanks JPJ and Paul Sloane. This blogging is mostly you.
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Why I Homeschool
It is always good to take time to remember why we do something that we've been doing a long time. I am beginning my 25th year of homeschooling. My first homeschooled child is now 29 years old and has a family of his own. I hope they will choose homeschooling for my lovely granddaughter. My youngest is entering her 11th grade year. It all started in the summer of 1985. That's 24 years ago! So why have I devoted almost a quarter of a century to doing this thing?
First, I believe God called me to do this. That's enough of an explanation right there. I also believe that God is calling all His people to remove their children from the public school system. It is not a compatible location for the upbringing of children who are His people. They are not mature enough to be salt and light to a hive of non-Christians. Instead, you find the rotten apples corrupting the good apples. Are there Christian teachers in public school? YES! And they should be there, plowing a hard field and trying to make headway. They are adults and can do this for a while. I bless them, and I pray for them.
Secondly, I believe that my children cannot receive a conservative education and mindset from public schooling or even from a traditional private school. No matter what I would say or do in the few hours after school, the hours and hours of inculcation into a liberal agenda would not be washed away. I had the opportunity this year to use a current edition of a text used in our public schools. It was so full of liberal nonsense and such. I thought it seemed obvious. However, to a child who has been told to learn what is in this textbook, the text was an hour a day of why wealth was bad, why white people are mean, global warming, and why only the liberal agenda can fix America. I felt like almost every statement had to be puncuated with a "yes, but...". Does the mindset of a textbook matter? Yes, unless you have the time and the energy to sift the entire thing daily and explain to your student why "yes, we can trust this part is true, but we can't trust that part." It's a very mixed message. So, I'll make better choices for my child, making sure the viewpoint is clearly conservative.
Yet, why not trust traditional private schools? Aren't they conservative? Again, we find a mixed bag. While some of the textbooks (and increasingly I've seen Christian schools select non-Christian texts based upon cost factors) may be Christian or conservative in viewpoint, many of the teachers are not educated as conservatives. They do not seem to know the dangers of a progressive party agenda, global warming, and such. They were educated in liberal colleges and soaked it all in and may not have found their way back.
Even now, upon occasion, I find myself having troubles accepting what I believe should be God's way but remembering that voice of my very liberal high school history teacher explaining the evils of conservatives. Decades later, he still causes me to doubt what I should know to be true.
Thirdly, I homeschool because I do not believe any available school provides the kind of education I want for my children. I have a solid classical education myself, and I don't know of any local schools who would require such a rigorous program.
Another reason I homeschool is because I believe I can design a program that meets each child's individual needs. I can strengthen their strengths and show them how to get past their weaknesses.
One final reason: schedule. By educating my child myself, I can have better control over my schedule. I know what the teacher assigned, when it was assigned, and how it has to be done. If we want to take a trip or participate in an activity, we can take a trip when it is convenient for us.
No other method of education has the strength and flexibility of home schooling done well. After 24 years and advising hundreds of parents & students, I can tell you my stance on home education is stronger than ever. And THAT's why I'm still at it.
First, I believe God called me to do this. That's enough of an explanation right there. I also believe that God is calling all His people to remove their children from the public school system. It is not a compatible location for the upbringing of children who are His people. They are not mature enough to be salt and light to a hive of non-Christians. Instead, you find the rotten apples corrupting the good apples. Are there Christian teachers in public school? YES! And they should be there, plowing a hard field and trying to make headway. They are adults and can do this for a while. I bless them, and I pray for them.
Secondly, I believe that my children cannot receive a conservative education and mindset from public schooling or even from a traditional private school. No matter what I would say or do in the few hours after school, the hours and hours of inculcation into a liberal agenda would not be washed away. I had the opportunity this year to use a current edition of a text used in our public schools. It was so full of liberal nonsense and such. I thought it seemed obvious. However, to a child who has been told to learn what is in this textbook, the text was an hour a day of why wealth was bad, why white people are mean, global warming, and why only the liberal agenda can fix America. I felt like almost every statement had to be puncuated with a "yes, but...". Does the mindset of a textbook matter? Yes, unless you have the time and the energy to sift the entire thing daily and explain to your student why "yes, we can trust this part is true, but we can't trust that part." It's a very mixed message. So, I'll make better choices for my child, making sure the viewpoint is clearly conservative.
Yet, why not trust traditional private schools? Aren't they conservative? Again, we find a mixed bag. While some of the textbooks (and increasingly I've seen Christian schools select non-Christian texts based upon cost factors) may be Christian or conservative in viewpoint, many of the teachers are not educated as conservatives. They do not seem to know the dangers of a progressive party agenda, global warming, and such. They were educated in liberal colleges and soaked it all in and may not have found their way back.
Even now, upon occasion, I find myself having troubles accepting what I believe should be God's way but remembering that voice of my very liberal high school history teacher explaining the evils of conservatives. Decades later, he still causes me to doubt what I should know to be true.
Thirdly, I homeschool because I do not believe any available school provides the kind of education I want for my children. I have a solid classical education myself, and I don't know of any local schools who would require such a rigorous program.
Another reason I homeschool is because I believe I can design a program that meets each child's individual needs. I can strengthen their strengths and show them how to get past their weaknesses.
One final reason: schedule. By educating my child myself, I can have better control over my schedule. I know what the teacher assigned, when it was assigned, and how it has to be done. If we want to take a trip or participate in an activity, we can take a trip when it is convenient for us.
No other method of education has the strength and flexibility of home schooling done well. After 24 years and advising hundreds of parents & students, I can tell you my stance on home education is stronger than ever. And THAT's why I'm still at it.
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Multitasking Brains Going Where?
Continuing on the thought line of the multitasking electronically oriented students we now have: One thing I HAVE noticed is that most of these students do very well coming up with factoid information. They see it and know it very rapidly.... when they are interested. Yet, therein lies a problem. It is an overcomable problem, but one which rarely IS overcome.
We'll use a closet as an analogy. It is as if they have a closet full of clothes, and they have put them on hangers, but the hangers/clothes are laying on the floor of the closet. It takes a long time to find what you need because everything has touched almost everything else. Using the facts well requires a skill which they are greatly missing. They have no rods.
The large accumulation of facts, represented by the clothes, each has only one "tag" associated firmly with it, represented by a hanger. For example, John may know that the capital of Australia is Canberra, but he hasn't a clue where Australia is in relationship to the United States or even if Australia belongs to the United States, so why care about that relationship.
What is missing is any sort of linear association, represented by the rod. The hangers need to be put on the rod. John cannot figure out how one fact relates to other facts. In truth, he usually doesn't even realize that he needs to relate them. He can tell you about the slaves in the Civil War, but cannot tell you what was happening in other countries in regards to slavery (how England managed a non-violent transition away from slavery, for example). John is not even sure when the Civil War occurred. In fact, his education on slavery ended up with the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960's, and thinks, "Weren't the slaves in the '60's?" He actually believes it is the same '60's, not realizing that the Civil War was 1860's, while the visible Civil Rights Movement was a hundred years later. {I've actually heard this multiple times from students from all venues of education.} Thinking he has it all down, John doesn't even question the lack of cohesion in those factoids.
Some of this comes from the current design in textbooks and children's books in general. Some comes from the electronics and especially the Internet. Current textbooks, in order to grab student's attention, have all sorts of facet boxes, and incongruous graphics inserted in illogical places. The graphic of Superhero Sally flinging stars down the page dominates an article on adjectives in writing. There is a vague connection, I suppose, in giving the students something about which a truckload of adjectives can be produced, but what the student remembers from the page is the tight suit and sparkle-star in Sally's eye, not the material on correctly using adjectives in writing. The assumption in the facet boxes is that John has stopped reading the grammar material and must be grabbed back. The problem is that, at the end of the blue box, he has to figure out where the next layer of text is, and, if the blue box came in the middle of a sentence, which it usually does for some reason, he probably comes back into the back half of sentence whose beginning he no longer remembers, and so the train of thought is derailed.
The internet is ripe with this type of activity. How many times have I gotten on-line to do something and been diverted by an interesting headline or odd picture? Sometimes, this continues for 30 minutes, and I sign off just to remember what it was I wanted to do. Then I have to sign on and risk being diverted yet again. Sometimes, however, it will be an hour after I've signed off before I realize I never did get the info I had gotten on-line to get.
What's missing is the step by step process. Do A, then B, then C. Now you have it all. Wisdom created a sequence that led the learner to an end, Aristotle style. But now he's a dwg, so we don't care how he did it. He couldn't possibly be right.
The consequence of learning to think without the rod is that you can only think shallowly. After learning 300 non-related factoids, you see no relationship to the past, so why care about it? You see no relationship to the future, so consequences don't make sense. In fact, there are now no consequences for any thought, idea, or action. You know things, but can't explain what you know to someone else. You can DO that thing with your phone, but can't show mom how to do it, because that requires wisdom, not knowledge, so you do it for her. You live in a 5-6 year box of what is important as determined by how it makes you feel. You CAN do it today, because tomorrow doesn't exist. And so we end up back with hedonism, another dwg idea.
So what now? Not being one who can ignore consequences, I have to ask that. We have to realize the value of the new electronic thinking as well as its limitations. We have to show these students how to overcome those limitations. I know your car will only go 240 miles without gas, but I am going to arm you with the wisdom to plan for that event. I will give you the benefit of my wisdom and my way of thinking to show you how to look for a gas station, when to look, how to be prepared to pay for it, what to do if you forget to refuel on time, and other things about which one needs to "think ahead." I can tell you who to trust (factoid) or I can use wisdom to show you how to know whom to trust and how far to trust them as well, so that --- as your circle of acquaintances changes --- you can make good decisions for yourself in regards to relationships.
I'll try to find ways to let you learn things your way, and then I will help you understand how to put all the facts together to form a unified whole, which is a deep well upon which one can draw for the unexpected events and changes that will certainly occur in the future. You learn for the moment; I give you the past and the future to go with it. Scriptures are full of sayings like, "Get knowledge but with her, get wisdom." and "Wisdom is the key." You help me learn to think and do faster, and I will help you learn to think deeper. Working together, respecting each other's strengths, and partnering to lessen the impact of each of our weaknesses, we'll make it and enjoy the journey all the while.
We'll use a closet as an analogy. It is as if they have a closet full of clothes, and they have put them on hangers, but the hangers/clothes are laying on the floor of the closet. It takes a long time to find what you need because everything has touched almost everything else. Using the facts well requires a skill which they are greatly missing. They have no rods.
The large accumulation of facts, represented by the clothes, each has only one "tag" associated firmly with it, represented by a hanger. For example, John may know that the capital of Australia is Canberra, but he hasn't a clue where Australia is in relationship to the United States or even if Australia belongs to the United States, so why care about that relationship.
What is missing is any sort of linear association, represented by the rod. The hangers need to be put on the rod. John cannot figure out how one fact relates to other facts. In truth, he usually doesn't even realize that he needs to relate them. He can tell you about the slaves in the Civil War, but cannot tell you what was happening in other countries in regards to slavery (how England managed a non-violent transition away from slavery, for example). John is not even sure when the Civil War occurred. In fact, his education on slavery ended up with the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960's, and thinks, "Weren't the slaves in the '60's?" He actually believes it is the same '60's, not realizing that the Civil War was 1860's, while the visible Civil Rights Movement was a hundred years later. {I've actually heard this multiple times from students from all venues of education.} Thinking he has it all down, John doesn't even question the lack of cohesion in those factoids.
Some of this comes from the current design in textbooks and children's books in general. Some comes from the electronics and especially the Internet. Current textbooks, in order to grab student's attention, have all sorts of facet boxes, and incongruous graphics inserted in illogical places. The graphic of Superhero Sally flinging stars down the page dominates an article on adjectives in writing. There is a vague connection, I suppose, in giving the students something about which a truckload of adjectives can be produced, but what the student remembers from the page is the tight suit and sparkle-star in Sally's eye, not the material on correctly using adjectives in writing. The assumption in the facet boxes is that John has stopped reading the grammar material and must be grabbed back. The problem is that, at the end of the blue box, he has to figure out where the next layer of text is, and, if the blue box came in the middle of a sentence, which it usually does for some reason, he probably comes back into the back half of sentence whose beginning he no longer remembers, and so the train of thought is derailed.
The internet is ripe with this type of activity. How many times have I gotten on-line to do something and been diverted by an interesting headline or odd picture? Sometimes, this continues for 30 minutes, and I sign off just to remember what it was I wanted to do. Then I have to sign on and risk being diverted yet again. Sometimes, however, it will be an hour after I've signed off before I realize I never did get the info I had gotten on-line to get.
What's missing is the step by step process. Do A, then B, then C. Now you have it all. Wisdom created a sequence that led the learner to an end, Aristotle style. But now he's a dwg, so we don't care how he did it. He couldn't possibly be right.
The consequence of learning to think without the rod is that you can only think shallowly. After learning 300 non-related factoids, you see no relationship to the past, so why care about it? You see no relationship to the future, so consequences don't make sense. In fact, there are now no consequences for any thought, idea, or action. You know things, but can't explain what you know to someone else. You can DO that thing with your phone, but can't show mom how to do it, because that requires wisdom, not knowledge, so you do it for her. You live in a 5-6 year box of what is important as determined by how it makes you feel. You CAN do it today, because tomorrow doesn't exist. And so we end up back with hedonism, another dwg idea.
So what now? Not being one who can ignore consequences, I have to ask that. We have to realize the value of the new electronic thinking as well as its limitations. We have to show these students how to overcome those limitations. I know your car will only go 240 miles without gas, but I am going to arm you with the wisdom to plan for that event. I will give you the benefit of my wisdom and my way of thinking to show you how to look for a gas station, when to look, how to be prepared to pay for it, what to do if you forget to refuel on time, and other things about which one needs to "think ahead." I can tell you who to trust (factoid) or I can use wisdom to show you how to know whom to trust and how far to trust them as well, so that --- as your circle of acquaintances changes --- you can make good decisions for yourself in regards to relationships.
I'll try to find ways to let you learn things your way, and then I will help you understand how to put all the facts together to form a unified whole, which is a deep well upon which one can draw for the unexpected events and changes that will certainly occur in the future. You learn for the moment; I give you the past and the future to go with it. Scriptures are full of sayings like, "Get knowledge but with her, get wisdom." and "Wisdom is the key." You help me learn to think and do faster, and I will help you learn to think deeper. Working together, respecting each other's strengths, and partnering to lessen the impact of each of our weaknesses, we'll make it and enjoy the journey all the while.
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Lunging Through Life
This past year has been one of the hardest years of our homeschooling experience. Nothing seemed to go completely right, or even somewhat right. Everything was a struggle.
I asked my daughter the other day, why don't we just decide to work as hard the first six weeks as we have to do the last six weeks of school, then do it one more time, and we can then have 10 months off. She's actually considering it.
Passionate people sometimes have trouble doing things step by step. We do things lunge by lunge instead. I don't know that it is bad; maybe it is just a different way. There must be some advantages to doing things in this way, or some careers where this is a great thing.
I try to remind parents with whom I talk that the annoying things their kids do are probably a misdirected gift. For example, a stubborn child is just determined in the wrong direction. The child needs redirected, not crushed. When that child grows up and finds his or her cause, they will not be able to be deterred. And that IS good.
So, now I have to figure out what the advantage to doing things lunge by lunge is. Then I can justify it, right?
Onwards & upwards!
I asked my daughter the other day, why don't we just decide to work as hard the first six weeks as we have to do the last six weeks of school, then do it one more time, and we can then have 10 months off. She's actually considering it.
Passionate people sometimes have trouble doing things step by step. We do things lunge by lunge instead. I don't know that it is bad; maybe it is just a different way. There must be some advantages to doing things in this way, or some careers where this is a great thing.
I try to remind parents with whom I talk that the annoying things their kids do are probably a misdirected gift. For example, a stubborn child is just determined in the wrong direction. The child needs redirected, not crushed. When that child grows up and finds his or her cause, they will not be able to be deterred. And that IS good.
So, now I have to figure out what the advantage to doing things lunge by lunge is. Then I can justify it, right?
Onwards & upwards!
Monday, June 22, 2009
Changing Brains
I've had the pleasure of homeschooling 3 kids all the way up to college. The first 2 were relatively close in time, while the 3rd was ten years after the 2nd. As an educator, it has been a fascinating experience. The newest generation, you see, is so very different from the other two. While part of it is personality, some of it is her generation's time. Tech savvy beyond belief to me. Multitasking. Doesn't learn like I did or like the others did. Not worse. Not better. Just different.
This means I'm having to learn a whole new way. What I've done in the past often doesn't quite work the same way. I'm having to rewrite curricula and lesson plans. And all this means I'm also growing. I'm hoping this is God's way of allowing me to know how to help this 2nd generation of homeschooled children and their parents.
Now, I've done some checking. I've talked with an expert, and this brain change has been noted in all sorts of research. It means we have to find a different way to educate the kids. What we used in public schools didn't work with the first generation of homeschoolers, and what we did with the first generation of homeschoolers probably isn't going to work with the 2nd generation. Are they better than us? No, just different. We need them, and they need us. I used to say, "Live and learn." I think now I'll say, "Learn and live." There IS a difference.
This means I'm having to learn a whole new way. What I've done in the past often doesn't quite work the same way. I'm having to rewrite curricula and lesson plans. And all this means I'm also growing. I'm hoping this is God's way of allowing me to know how to help this 2nd generation of homeschooled children and their parents.
Now, I've done some checking. I've talked with an expert, and this brain change has been noted in all sorts of research. It means we have to find a different way to educate the kids. What we used in public schools didn't work with the first generation of homeschoolers, and what we did with the first generation of homeschoolers probably isn't going to work with the 2nd generation. Are they better than us? No, just different. We need them, and they need us. I used to say, "Live and learn." I think now I'll say, "Learn and live." There IS a difference.
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