Milemarkers
by Sandy Hancock
I am surprised by time. This is on both the short term and long term aspects. I have a terrible sense of time. Sometimes, I think time is not so linear for me. I'll get focused on something and realize that hours have passed instead of minutes. It goes the other way as well.
As parents, we have only a very limited amount of time with our children. Sometimes, I think, how did my 27 years as a homeschooling mom go by so fast? While I was in that time, it often felt like time was dragging its feet, and that the distance between Tuesday and Friday was forever. Now, I look back and am amazed how little time it was.
One thing I will never forget: my push for excellence in my students' work was a very good thing. While pursuing excellence was worth doing, it was also very hard to do. Yet, as we know, hard is good, so very hard is very good.
I started with an advantage. I was educated in the educational trends of my time, which all happened to be good. They disappeared because a difficulty in each one made each of them unpopular. As I worked to make education my career, I realized that each of those difficulties were not educational philosophy difficulties, but system difficulties. In other words, the ideas were correct, but the inertia and lethargy of the public educational system could not accommodate that change. However, I COULD use them in my own children's education because MY system had no inertia.
I knew that a great traditional broad education was what I wanted. I wanted to leave as many doors of choice open for each of my students so that they, as they discovered themselves, could walk through any door they wished in order to pursue their futures.
This approach meant that I would need to do many things. We studied the arts, music,and literature as means of expression of one's emotions and creativity. We studied math, science, and logic as ways to train the mind to sharpness. We studied reading as a means to acquire whatever knowledge one would eventually need. We studied grammar and composition, rhetoric and speech as ways to inform others of what we knew. We studied relationships and psychology and the Bible in order to live together with other people. We visited many places, both local and national. We even took two of the three kids abroad to different parts of Asia to use geography to show them how far God would take them if they were willing to try things outside their comfort zones.
We did rote learning. We did discovery learning. We did hands-on learning. We did concept learning. We pushed hard. We made memory work a normal part of education. We memorized Bible verses and passages, math facts, geography facts, timelines, history facts, game and sport rules, poetry, musical pieces, paintings and sculpture, etc. Recently, a young person asked me why bother memorizing when one could use even a phone to find facts when one needed them. I had two responses. The first was batteries. Enough said. The second was that one could only be as creative as the pile of facts in one's head. Scenario: Painter needs red paint to paint a cardinal. Fact: red. Fact: paint. Fact: brush or implement. Fact: cardinal. Fact: paper is better than mom's carpet. You see, even such a simple act needs a lot of facts.
Teaching memory work need not be odious. Select what you want them to memorize this week and divide it into 4-5 items. Print it out on a list. Post the list somewhere they will have to sit for a time: back of the driver's seat, bathroom, placemat, bottom of the bunk bed over them, etc. Have them read the list outloud once in the morning, once in the afternoon, once in the evening. They have to see it, hear it, and speak it. In no time, they will have the list memorized. It is not so hard for children to memorize as it is for adults. Their brains' file cabinets are not as full as yours, so things tumble in pretty fast.
As an educator, you do not have to choose between rote learning of facts, hands-on learning, discovery learning, or learning of concepts. DO ALL!!!
If you don't have a list of memory things with which to start, try New Covenant's list at http://newcovenantschool.com/page.aspx?id=693945
You can do it! Memory work will not only make your kids victors in Trivial Pursuit and such games, but it will also give them much material for later synthesis of new inventions, works of arts, and family loveliness. Need help? Just give us a call. 321-724-9603
Sunday, October 28, 2012
Tuesday, May 1, 2012
Pressure Cooking Taking Place
by Sandy Hancock
`
Remember that, if you comment on this blog during the month it is published, you will have your name put in a drawing to win an Amazon gift card worth $25. You don't have to be a member of New Covenant to win; you don't have to be an adult to win. You just have to comment.
I know what quality homeschooling does for students. There's plenty of evidence of what it does. Research shows quality homeschooling produces superior students in all venues. Quality homeschooling produces superior citizens. I mean superior here not in the sense of being arrogant towards those who cannot. I mean superior in the sense of Daniel in the Bible, who showed a king what following God's will does for your ability. I mean superior in the sense of the man without stain or blemish who came to us and then washed our feet and then our sin-stained lives. I mean superior in the sense of being fully developed to serve God and mankind. In other words, I mean living your God-given destiny.
What you rarely hear about is what quality homeschooling does for the parent. THAT's a rare treasure. Quality homeschooling is a pressure cooker with you, the parent, inside the cooker. Hundreds of articles will tell you that you are doing it wrong if you feel the pressure. There will be 10 steps to doing it better or 7 ways to stop the stress or 9 things to change to make it super simple so that you and your whole family can dress alike and eat bread made from wheat you planted, harvested, and ground this morning. Don't believe it. There's only one thing to do: realize you are in God's pressure cooker for His reasons for His timing.
Steadily the pressure increases so that we each begin to see our weaknesses, and then we have the time to ask God how to fix them as well as the time for us to work with Him on that. It is just as if one has discovered a small leak in the roof after a light shower. Fix it now, before the hurricane comes and the constant pressure of the pounding rain widens the hole and the whole house becomes lost to the storm.
When the gunk of your life arises to your mind, don't stuff it down! Don't say, "I can't be like that.....mustn't do X, or Y, or Z. I'll push it down, down, down."Instead, pray, "God, I AM like this. Sin DOES exist in my life. Cream that gunk from my heart and set me free from it."
The Apostle Paul (I think we call him that because we like people to have two names) referred to this. He said, the older he gets, the more sin he realizes he had.
Don't fear the gunk arising. It's a good thing for gunk to do if....you ask God to cream it off your soul. It will come in dribs and drabs; you'll think, "I thought all that was dealt with, but here it is again."You see, we don't realize how deeply sin affects our lives, how much toll it takes on us. In fact, we can't bear to see it all at once. That's what would happen if we faced a holy God without being cleansed by the blood of Jesus....we'd die eternally.
The gunk is in your heart from years of walking your own way. Remember that in God's ways, even doing good that He didn't set for you to do is sinful. The righteousness (what we think is good to do) of man is as filthy rags before Him.
Don't fear the gunk arising. Ask God to cream it off the top. It will come in dribs and drabs (sometimes it has to be said twice). Instead of fearing the gunk, think, "Here's another little fleck of that gunk of ____ that I used to paint a room of my heart. Cream it off, God, that the room can be more Yours."He knows how much scouring of the old paint you can take at one time, how much you can stand being removed at one time.
Over the last more than 25 years, I have watched the homeschooling moms come in all bright and eager, jump into the pressure cooker, and come out all tender and sweet and ready to serve. It's a good thing, God's pressure cooker is. Sometimes He opens it a bit, tosses in some more ingredients that you wouldn't have been able to bear earlier. Sometimes, when He opens it a bit, He removes the bay leaf or some other little thing that had a big effect. He can use other pressure cookers, but the homeschooling one is a steady, long service one that produces superior quality moms and dads and guardians, too. We love working with you during this process, and we know this: It is good to live in His timing and not flee His pressure cooker if you want to come out just as He planned, a well done, good and faithful servant of the Lord Most High.
by Sandy Hancock
`
Remember that, if you comment on this blog during the month it is published, you will have your name put in a drawing to win an Amazon gift card worth $25. You don't have to be a member of New Covenant to win; you don't have to be an adult to win. You just have to comment.
I know what quality homeschooling does for students. There's plenty of evidence of what it does. Research shows quality homeschooling produces superior students in all venues. Quality homeschooling produces superior citizens. I mean superior here not in the sense of being arrogant towards those who cannot. I mean superior in the sense of Daniel in the Bible, who showed a king what following God's will does for your ability. I mean superior in the sense of the man without stain or blemish who came to us and then washed our feet and then our sin-stained lives. I mean superior in the sense of being fully developed to serve God and mankind. In other words, I mean living your God-given destiny.
What you rarely hear about is what quality homeschooling does for the parent. THAT's a rare treasure. Quality homeschooling is a pressure cooker with you, the parent, inside the cooker. Hundreds of articles will tell you that you are doing it wrong if you feel the pressure. There will be 10 steps to doing it better or 7 ways to stop the stress or 9 things to change to make it super simple so that you and your whole family can dress alike and eat bread made from wheat you planted, harvested, and ground this morning. Don't believe it. There's only one thing to do: realize you are in God's pressure cooker for His reasons for His timing.
Steadily the pressure increases so that we each begin to see our weaknesses, and then we have the time to ask God how to fix them as well as the time for us to work with Him on that. It is just as if one has discovered a small leak in the roof after a light shower. Fix it now, before the hurricane comes and the constant pressure of the pounding rain widens the hole and the whole house becomes lost to the storm.
When the gunk of your life arises to your mind, don't stuff it down! Don't say, "I can't be like that.....mustn't do X, or Y, or Z. I'll push it down, down, down."Instead, pray, "God, I AM like this. Sin DOES exist in my life. Cream that gunk from my heart and set me free from it."
The Apostle Paul (I think we call him that because we like people to have two names) referred to this. He said, the older he gets, the more sin he realizes he had.
Don't fear the gunk arising. It's a good thing for gunk to do if....you ask God to cream it off your soul. It will come in dribs and drabs; you'll think, "I thought all that was dealt with, but here it is again."You see, we don't realize how deeply sin affects our lives, how much toll it takes on us. In fact, we can't bear to see it all at once. That's what would happen if we faced a holy God without being cleansed by the blood of Jesus....we'd die eternally.
The gunk is in your heart from years of walking your own way. Remember that in God's ways, even doing good that He didn't set for you to do is sinful. The righteousness (what we think is good to do) of man is as filthy rags before Him.
Don't fear the gunk arising. Ask God to cream it off the top. It will come in dribs and drabs (sometimes it has to be said twice). Instead of fearing the gunk, think, "Here's another little fleck of that gunk of ____ that I used to paint a room of my heart. Cream it off, God, that the room can be more Yours."He knows how much scouring of the old paint you can take at one time, how much you can stand being removed at one time.
Over the last more than 25 years, I have watched the homeschooling moms come in all bright and eager, jump into the pressure cooker, and come out all tender and sweet and ready to serve. It's a good thing, God's pressure cooker is. Sometimes He opens it a bit, tosses in some more ingredients that you wouldn't have been able to bear earlier. Sometimes, when He opens it a bit, He removes the bay leaf or some other little thing that had a big effect. He can use other pressure cookers, but the homeschooling one is a steady, long service one that produces superior quality moms and dads and guardians, too. We love working with you during this process, and we know this: It is good to live in His timing and not flee His pressure cooker if you want to come out just as He planned, a well done, good and faithful servant of the Lord Most High.
Thursday, April 5, 2012
What I Heard Was Different
by Sandy Hancock
April 5, 2012
`
Reminder that there is a monthly drawing for a $25 gift card. All you have to do to get your name in the drawing is post a response to any April blog by May 1st,making sure to leave your name or email address so we can contact you if you win. You don't have to be a member of NCCS to respond. The gift card will be from Amazon.com.
`
This is almost the end of my first year of not homeschooling after 26 years of doing so. I wondered all along how I'd feel at this point. Now I know.
`
I worried that I'd realize I did not need to homeschool and that I had somehow denied myself an easier path. No on the first one; yes on the second one. Yet, I know now that I would not have changed that pathway for the easier one.
`
I am happy to see that my youngest is flying on her own just as her two older siblings did. She is making friends, learning good stuff, and prospering in the university setting. Yes, I am as proud of her as I am of her brother and sister. Different pathways were followed by each child, but the results are very, very good.
`
I had the pleasure of working with my youngest this spring as a coworker, who actually now knew more than I did in certain areas in which we worked. She grew up in my drama world, but now knows more about some areas than I do. It is good. Even better, it was fun to have such a companion.
`
I am not writing this to brag; I am writing this to encourage parents. Many voices may harp on you that what you are doing is unnecessary, that you are wasting your time, and that life could be easier. Don't believe it. You will not regret homeschooling when you actually get to see and enjoy the fruit.
`
I do realize how very important it is to have several voices in your life about your homeschooling. It helps to be provoked to thinking about the choices in lifestyle, curricula, discipline, spiritual things and all that you are making. It is good to say, sometimes, why this and not that. That's part of the value of being a member of a homeschool school. In small groups of social life, you will find that one voice dominates and tends to make the others feel they need to do it the Dominating One's way. My experience is that those small groups tend to be composed of folks who become so like-minded that they cannot see errors that erupt and grow. The neutral outside voice helps.
`
`
Another advantage of being in a homeschool school is that, as your kids get older, the advice you need to seek is there, well-seasoned from many experiences with many people over the years. Stability helps in making important decisions.
`
I have heard it said that "the advice the office gives differs depending upon who you ask and when." Guess what? It's true. This happens because of two very important reasons.
`
First, the educational world is evolving rapidly. The legislature can't seem to avoid tinkering with things that have broad consequences they have not foreseen. Sometimes, a year later, they play "take back" because their plan didn't work. The result is that, yes, the rules change, sometimes a lot. Also, the development of more and more computerized curricula and other methods changes things.
`
Secondly, we tailor our advice to the family and student as we know them. Family A may have a mathematically gifted student who can handle a high level of mathematics and mathematically-based subjects. We tell them about those things. Then Family B, best friends of Family A, comes in and their student is not so good in math, and, in fact, he/she hates math. Mom and Dad have also admitted that math is impossible for them as well. For that student, it would be pointless to say, "Technically, B could take the math track that includes Calculus just like A is doing, but ha, ha, ha, B doesn't have the ability, so feel bad." What point is there in discussing curricula that doesn't work with a student's abilities and learning styles and direction? It would be senselessly cruel or just boring for them.
`
Privacy laws forbid us to tell you that student A is better/worse than your student so they need different advice or vice-versa. We can't acknowledge the possibility of that difference, and we may sometimes appear to stumble when, in reality, we are trying to say something without betraying the confidences of the other family.
`
Even within the same family, student #1 has different abilities and interests than student #2. We take those things into account when we decide what advice to give on courses to take and curricula to use.
`
From the outside, if you are looking for a one-way-for-everyone approach, it may look like there is no uniformity in office advice. Guess what? It isn't uniform. It is tailored. That is why so very many of us became homeschoolers, isn't it? To be able to select the individual work that was needed for a particular student to reach his or her own destiny is the essence of home educating.
`
One must also realize that there are 4 broad categories of destiny for all students. Some will go into the military. Some will be ready for a 4-year college experience. Some will need the extra academic support provided by the community college experience. Some need to graduate and go as directly as possible into their chosen vocation. No way is better than another for everyone.
`
Within those 4 broad areas, there are tons of variations. Even the Majors Brochures we publish say "example of ….year" because there are quite a few ways of setting up each year, depending upon the family's situation (financial, logistical, social, spiritual) at that point in their history, their student's situation and needs, resources available {like site classes} and the abilities of everyone involved. Even knowing which church you attend can change our advice, because some curricula may not fit well with the beliefs of some denominations. Our advice is better to the degree in which you feel comfortable to be open about your situation.
`
That is why it is difficult, and indeed to some degree can be wrong, to compare your students with each other and especially with those of other families. That is why it is important to get advice from people who have known you for as long as possible so that they know the whole story as much as possible.
`
The staff of New Covenant is here to serve you individually. You should feel free to ask questions of why this and not that, but also realize there may be privacy issues that keep us from discussing other families'/students' plans. Indeed, these are some of the good things you pay to receive.
`
Give us a call. We'd love to help you. Email or call or come by: whichever is better for you works for us.
April 5, 2012
`
Reminder that there is a monthly drawing for a $25 gift card. All you have to do to get your name in the drawing is post a response to any April blog by May 1st,making sure to leave your name or email address so we can contact you if you win. You don't have to be a member of NCCS to respond. The gift card will be from Amazon.com.
`
This is almost the end of my first year of not homeschooling after 26 years of doing so. I wondered all along how I'd feel at this point. Now I know.
`
I worried that I'd realize I did not need to homeschool and that I had somehow denied myself an easier path. No on the first one; yes on the second one. Yet, I know now that I would not have changed that pathway for the easier one.
`
I am happy to see that my youngest is flying on her own just as her two older siblings did. She is making friends, learning good stuff, and prospering in the university setting. Yes, I am as proud of her as I am of her brother and sister. Different pathways were followed by each child, but the results are very, very good.
`
I had the pleasure of working with my youngest this spring as a coworker, who actually now knew more than I did in certain areas in which we worked. She grew up in my drama world, but now knows more about some areas than I do. It is good. Even better, it was fun to have such a companion.
`
I am not writing this to brag; I am writing this to encourage parents. Many voices may harp on you that what you are doing is unnecessary, that you are wasting your time, and that life could be easier. Don't believe it. You will not regret homeschooling when you actually get to see and enjoy the fruit.
`
I do realize how very important it is to have several voices in your life about your homeschooling. It helps to be provoked to thinking about the choices in lifestyle, curricula, discipline, spiritual things and all that you are making. It is good to say, sometimes, why this and not that. That's part of the value of being a member of a homeschool school. In small groups of social life, you will find that one voice dominates and tends to make the others feel they need to do it the Dominating One's way. My experience is that those small groups tend to be composed of folks who become so like-minded that they cannot see errors that erupt and grow. The neutral outside voice helps.
`
`
Another advantage of being in a homeschool school is that, as your kids get older, the advice you need to seek is there, well-seasoned from many experiences with many people over the years. Stability helps in making important decisions.
`
I have heard it said that "the advice the office gives differs depending upon who you ask and when." Guess what? It's true. This happens because of two very important reasons.
`
First, the educational world is evolving rapidly. The legislature can't seem to avoid tinkering with things that have broad consequences they have not foreseen. Sometimes, a year later, they play "take back" because their plan didn't work. The result is that, yes, the rules change, sometimes a lot. Also, the development of more and more computerized curricula and other methods changes things.
`
Secondly, we tailor our advice to the family and student as we know them. Family A may have a mathematically gifted student who can handle a high level of mathematics and mathematically-based subjects. We tell them about those things. Then Family B, best friends of Family A, comes in and their student is not so good in math, and, in fact, he/she hates math. Mom and Dad have also admitted that math is impossible for them as well. For that student, it would be pointless to say, "Technically, B could take the math track that includes Calculus just like A is doing, but ha, ha, ha, B doesn't have the ability, so feel bad." What point is there in discussing curricula that doesn't work with a student's abilities and learning styles and direction? It would be senselessly cruel or just boring for them.
`
Privacy laws forbid us to tell you that student A is better/worse than your student so they need different advice or vice-versa. We can't acknowledge the possibility of that difference, and we may sometimes appear to stumble when, in reality, we are trying to say something without betraying the confidences of the other family.
`
Even within the same family, student #1 has different abilities and interests than student #2. We take those things into account when we decide what advice to give on courses to take and curricula to use.
`
From the outside, if you are looking for a one-way-for-everyone approach, it may look like there is no uniformity in office advice. Guess what? It isn't uniform. It is tailored. That is why so very many of us became homeschoolers, isn't it? To be able to select the individual work that was needed for a particular student to reach his or her own destiny is the essence of home educating.
`
One must also realize that there are 4 broad categories of destiny for all students. Some will go into the military. Some will be ready for a 4-year college experience. Some will need the extra academic support provided by the community college experience. Some need to graduate and go as directly as possible into their chosen vocation. No way is better than another for everyone.
`
Within those 4 broad areas, there are tons of variations. Even the Majors Brochures we publish say "example of ….year" because there are quite a few ways of setting up each year, depending upon the family's situation (financial, logistical, social, spiritual) at that point in their history, their student's situation and needs, resources available {like site classes} and the abilities of everyone involved. Even knowing which church you attend can change our advice, because some curricula may not fit well with the beliefs of some denominations. Our advice is better to the degree in which you feel comfortable to be open about your situation.
`
That is why it is difficult, and indeed to some degree can be wrong, to compare your students with each other and especially with those of other families. That is why it is important to get advice from people who have known you for as long as possible so that they know the whole story as much as possible.
`
The staff of New Covenant is here to serve you individually. You should feel free to ask questions of why this and not that, but also realize there may be privacy issues that keep us from discussing other families'/students' plans. Indeed, these are some of the good things you pay to receive.
`
Give us a call. We'd love to help you. Email or call or come by: whichever is better for you works for us.
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