TFAHC, Day 4

I am a lesson planner. I love the blank lesson plan chart with all the little boxes just waiting to be filled in with ideas. I love the crinkle of them when they are all filled in with tiny pencil print. I love how it charts their abilities and tracks their progress. I love that I have an instant record of what they loved and what they didn't care so much for. And when we happen to have a day when car repairs need to happen, the baby won't nap, ministry needs to happen elsewhere and grandparents want to stop by I need to have some things in my back pocket so that we can still go about the process of learning but in a different way.

Here are some great ideas from Carol Barnier regarding what to do when the day of schooling just can't happen according to plan.

1. Have the kids make insect creations out of stuff you have at home (or take a field trip to SCRAP for some new goodies). Give them scientific speicifications for their insect and have them give an oral presentation about it when they are done.
2. Do a big art project that will take all day. You know, those art projects you keep putting off because they take too long? Do one of them.
3. Have a "Day of FIVE". I love this one for those days when they need to be self-directed. She suggested: read about 5 different animals and draw and label one, look at five things under the microscope and draw and label one, Find out five things about our state (I can see this as an ongoing lapbook project), Find five things out the window and draw and label one, Look up five kinds of clouds and draw and label one. I can even see this being a great road trip activity.
4. Play a board game, but instead of just rolling and moving have them answer a review question before they move.
5. Math Fun Day. Lots of great things you can do with this.
6. Have a historical movie watching and re-enacting day -- requires previewing the movie and prepping activities, but it's a good one to keep in your back pocket.
7. Nature Walk and Sketch Pad day
8. Celebrate an Author Day
9. Sewing Project Day
10. and my favorite -- Recreate a Reading Rainbow episode on your own topic. Lots of scripting and filming and even a field trip needs to be worked into this one. I can't wait to let my kids have their shot at this idea.

TFAHC, Day 3

The OCEANetwork Conference was only two days... but I have a few more days of thoughts to share.

Today's thought is simple because I couldn't connect with the overall perspective of this speaker, but he did say this upon trying to instill in us the desire to reach our children's hearts:

"When you have outstretched arms, you can't control anything." -- Mark Hamby

Fair enough.

TFAHC, Day 2

Books for Boys

If you have boys you may have found that they don't catch on to reading as early as your daughters might. I wouldn't know because I don't have any daughters. However, I do have one son that blasted off with reading when he was four and one son who is six and could really live without it.

Jan Bloom gave some good tips at her workshop for getting your reluctant boys to read. (I won't share all of them because she makes her living doing these workshops and selling books):

• Choose books that are full of information, action or excitement.
• Make books accessible and available. Give them their own bookshelf and put the books on it that you want them to look at.
• Write a story together with him. Let him dictate it to you while you write it down. When he sees his own words in print he can illustrate it and share his work with other people -- which is what reading and writing is all about.
• Let him choose predictable stories... these are the ones that drive you crazy... because predictability enchants children.
• Let him label his own books and feel the ownership.
• Create a family reading journal that you all fill out with the author, title, number of pages, and what you liked best about the books you all are reading. Boys need to see the whole family reading for enjoyment (particularly their dads).
  
• When you read aloud to him let him move around: build with Legos, mold with clay, color.... or throw darts like mine like to do.

I do many of these things already. The most important thing is to remember that it's completely normal for a boy to hold off on reading until he's 9, 10 or even 11. Once they get it, they'll catch up very quickly and read with passion. It's been proven over and over again. So, I'm not sweating it.

Thoughts from a Homeschool Conference, Day 1

“Jeremiah 29:11 is not a promise for you right here, right now.” Thank you for verbalizing this, Voddie Bauchum. Homeschoolers are NOTORIUS for taking scripture out of context and claiming promises that were never intended for them or for anyone from the 2^nd century on. (Case in point: Proverbs 22:6 -- Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it -- is not a promise. Although it is wisdom.)

Consider that scripture not only contains Jeremiah 29:11 --

For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

But it also contains Ecclesiastes 7:13-14 --

“Consider what God has done: Who can straighten what he has made crooked? When times are good, be happy; but when times are bad, consider: God has made the one as well as the other. Therefore, a man cannot discover anything about his future.”

Either it’s a contradiction or we’re reading something wrong.

So if Jeremiah 29:11 isn’t a promise for me right here right now, where does that leave me?

1. There’s something wrong with me.
   
2. There’s something wrong with God.
3. God forgot or was hindered.
   
4. The text doesn’t mean what we think.

The answer is D. I can’t tell you how many times over the last five years I have had to reconcile all of my former church “quip” teaching with what I have experienced firsthand in a life that gropes to experience and follow God.

1. “God is never late.” Huh?
2. “God will always give you his best.” Homelessness is his best?
3. “Everyday with Jesus is sweeter than the day before.” An irritating fantasy.

I’ve had hardship and struggle that I never imagined I would have -- and I'm not done yet. He allowed, and will continue to allow, all of it. And I have learned, much like the people Jeremiah was REALLY talking to, to embrace the struggle, put down roots and live in the midst of oppression, disappointment, fear and the complete silence of God.

So, today a room full of homeschool leaders had a lesson in hermeneutics. And I was glad to hear someone say outloud what I’ve been screaming on the inside.

Stop claiming other people’s promises and get on with seeking out the relationship that the Father wants to have with you. Your mileage may vary.