When we first start home-educating, we may spend many hours considering which curriculum to use in our home-school, but on excitedly presenting it to our children we may find that they are not keen and eager to start work. This leaves many parents confused: should they change the curriculum? Is it the wrong one? In this post I will explore push-back from children when they are asked to do school work and we will look at practical things that you can do to remedy the situation. Most will find that once these things are considered and put in place, push back diminishes and the curriculum is no longer a problem. Why do children push back?Fred Lybrand says that push back is most likely to occur because the children think that they can win. I.e. that you will back down if they push back hard enough and let them off work. The remedy, he says, is the home-school schedule/routine. Read that again: children push back as they think they can win. Most parents these days do not know how to respond when their children whine and complain when they are asked to do something they find unpleasant. As a result, the children find it easy to manipulate their parents. The remedy is the home-school routine. Many parents think that the only solution is to pander/bribe the children and make school work fun. But Fred Lybrand - who has home-educated a large family of children - says that your home-school routine is the key. In other words, our home-school routine is very often the thing that is encouraging pushback. As, he says, it is not that we do not have a routine; it is an excellent one that encourages pushback. Therefore we need to tweak our routine so that it produces different results - the ones we desire; in this case, children who settle down to study and make good academic progress. This is encouraging: it means that we can control pushback by changing our routine. So now let us turn our focus onto the home-school routine and how it can remedy pushback in our children. The home-school routineFor changes in your family routine to be successful, parents must fully understand and believe in what they are doing and that it is important. Without this determination, the routine will quickly be abandoned and you will be back to square one. So do not rush. Think it through carefully with your spouse and then communicate the new routine to your children. First, understand the seriousness of educationSometimes I hear home-educating mothers say, 'Home-educated children do not need to do as much work as school children'. In and of itself, yes, this is true. They do not need to sit for 6 hours, doing busy work and can most often complete their school work in less time. However, when I hear parents say this, I usually find that the parent has taken it to mean that they can fill their children's day with outings and social events. These may be educational outings and home-school group events, which can seem good. However, this gives the children the, probably hidden, message: 'School work is not important.' Understand how children learn: It is though daily repetition. It is one tiny new skill, practiced until it is mastered. This can be tedious. It takes time and effort on both the pupil's and the teacher's part. It needs the child's full concentration. Let us be clear; we should not home-educate so that our children do not need to do so much work. We home-educate as Christians because we want better for our children; better than what they would receive in school. That means more quality work, and less timewasting so that more (not less) can be accomplished in less time. But none-the less the children need daily, quality time to study. How do we set up our routine to provide daily, quality time study? Set a time for schooling to startStart, as far as is possible, at the same time each day. Children need routine and predictability - it helps them to feel safe, and they must feel safe in order to be able to concentrate on their studies. Mornings are when our brains are, for the main part, at their most alert before the distractions of the day come upon us. By all means have chores for your children to do before school starts. Decide for how long each child should studyYounger children will not need to study for as long as older children. When you begin your new routine, you may need to find out how long a child reasonably needs to say, do a math lesson. Then give a set time. Once that time is up, the child moves on to the next subject. Any work not completed is then done out of hours, while others are doing other things. This gives an incentive to complete work on time and ensures that each subject has its allotted time. An open ended arrangement encourages the child to think that s/he can take all day. Aim for a quiet working atmosphere in the homeduring school time. If you have more than one child, then think through how you will cope if one child finishes before another. My advice is to set mornings aside for working. You will want all children, including toddlers, to know that it is a time for being quiet. It is not a time for playing. I never used to allow play before school in fact, as it acted as a distraction. Our family got up, dressed, had breakfast, did chores and then school started. Decide what will work in your situation. Younger children can always quietly do craft, or other educational activities once their core work is done for the morning. Never let young children go off and play noisily while others are trying to study. Keep any music practice until the afternoon and again to regular times. All children have a right to a quiet study environment to help them to do their best. Free the home from distractionsPermitted distractions give the message that school work is not important and encourage pushback. Yes - I wrote that correctly. Distractions come in many guises. Learn to recognise them, as they are pernicious and can quickly spoil your home-school routine. They give the children an excuse not to study. Children can be easily distracted as work demands effort and they quickly seek relief. The morning work time needs to be guarded carefully. This is time set aside for the children to learn. If these years are wasted, they will never be retrieved. Children need all the help we can give them to fully focus on their studies. Here are some common distractions:
Solution: Let your friends and family know that the answer phone will be on during school time. You may have to be politely firm with people who insist on ringing. The phone ringing and your answering will momentarily (and sometimes totally, if it ends up being a long/interesting call) break the thread of concentration and cause unnecessary errors, lack of thought and care and waste precious time. Turn off your own devices during school time so that the children know that they have your 100 percent attention. If you are distracted, by calls or social media, they will use the opportunity to push back.
In addition, if a child needs more time to complete studies in the afternoon, and we take him/her out, then that opportunity to teach teach a child to work in a set period is lost. Even more distracting are outings planned for the morning, which break up the working rhythm of the week - making it hard to get them back on track the next day, giving opportunity for more pushback. Too many engagements in the calendar can also overstimulate children and the home. They need all their mental capacity to study well - a quiet home environment with a regular routine. It is good for children to be taught to be home-lovers. We go out of the home to minster and to worship the Lord, but we are homebased. We want to raise men who lead their families, rather than chasing their entertaining pursuits away from the home, and we want ladies who are home-makers, not spending many hours out of the home, either physically of virtually. We often forget that we are in the process of training our children's appetites for adulthood. Solution: Select a few, well chosen social activities and consider very carefully when they take place. Aim to keep the home life calm. Avoid lots of out-of-home activities. Avoid mornings as far as is possible. Obviously there will be the odd all-day educational outing during term-time, but these do not need to happen every week. Once a term is good yard-stick.
Although some adults work better with some noise, few children can, in my experience. Solution: I suggest that the home is kept quiet during the morning study period and that children work in as near to silence as can be achieved.
Although many argue that the use of technology for entertainment can help to stimulate children's brains, I find that actually it stops them from learning and creates a barrier that has to be overcome. Computers make learning seem easy with fast paced pictures and a click of a button. They lie, as learning is far from easy and requires a lot of effort and concentration. Dr. Robinson of the Robinson Curriculum suggests that parents keep their children away from technological devices until they have completed their studies. That seems far fetched in our modern society - but it is not impossible and the benefits far outweigh any negatives. Consider:
Solution: Severely limit the time children spend using technological devices. Better still do not let your children have access to them until they are nearly adults. Teach them to love reading, studying and using their minds creatively in a God-honouring way. Teach them to spend their time wisely.
Lax bedtime routines can create tired children who are then irritable and short of temper and ability to concentrate on work. These children will push back hard. A late hour of retiring for parents leaves them tired and vulnerable the next day and easily battled down by irritable children. Solution: Have set bedtimes for all and stick to them. Get up at the same time each day. Set your alarm. Get the children out of bed, unless they are sick. This teaches good habits of self discipline and accountability for the way time is spent. Do not encourage laziness. Keep entertainment - computers/TV out for the bedroom as they are, apart from anything else, destructive to good sleep patterns. Make sure all lights are off at the set time. In conclusionIts a hard fact of life, that many of the things we complain about are actually products of our own behaviour. May we all examine our hearts before God and seek to live orderly, God-honouring, unworldly lives before him and endeavour to train our children to do the same. May the Lord bless your endeavours for him.
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Dyspraxia has not been long recognised by medics or eduacationalists. Dyspraxia, like dyslexia is a neurological condition. That means that it is concerned with the brain's ability to process information. In the case of a dyspraxic child/adult, it influences the ability to co-ordinate and plan movements, but more than that it affects any activity that requires planning, including socialising and time management It can manifest itself with slightly differing symptoms depending on the age of the child and on the child, as again it is on a spectrum (its own) ranging from mild to severe. 0 to 5 years You cannot know that a baby is dyspraxic just by looking at it! However it will become more obvious as the child develops and is late walking and possibly talking. However little things may be obvious beforehand that concerns the parents: the baby may not be able to hold its own bottle when others of the same age are; the baby may not be interested in crawling, but bottom shuffles instead. These are indicators of low muscle tone which often goes with dyspraxia. They may also have trouble feeding as it is hard for them to co-ordinate the muscles of the mouth and tongue and throat. This may affect speech and they may need the help of a speech therapist. They will find using cutlery difficult too and possibly dribble when they drink from a cup. As the child does start to become mobile, he/she may be more clumsy than others, as he/she finds it harder to judge distances/heights etc... and/or they might be very cautious. This could be caused by hypermobility of the joints (like being double-jointed) which again often accompanies dyspraxia. You may find that these youngsters lack the resilience of other children. They will sit examining their leg to see if there is much damage after falling over, when others would bounce up and be off again. This is because they are much more aware of the feelings in their muscles and lack of certainty in them. While other children will start climbing and swinging and balancing, the dyspraxic child will stand and watch fearful to try, or if they do, quickly give up the minute anything wobbles. Balancing is especially difficult. However, dyspraxic children need to learn to do these things, so even if you don't know why your child is not joining in, encourage them to, give them even more opportunities to do so as they will need extra reassurance, extra help and lots and lots of practice! Ball catching will be hard, as will hitting balls with bats. Dyspraxic chilren will find it harder to learn to ride bikes and learn to swim - but again, most will, given time and practice and encouragement. With some children, their muscle weakness is so severe that they need help from a physiotherapist and occupational therapist. Something else that may be noticeable at this age is that the child may not like changes to routine, and this may lead to tantrums and upsets when routines have to be changed. This is something that dyspraxics share with autistic people. Therefore, as with all young children, having a daily routine will help. It is common for dyspraxic children to be later at joining in imaginative play. They may avoid playing with bricks and toys involving spatial awareness. It is also likely that you will think they have learnt to do something, like for example walking up stairs, only to find that when they go to some one elses's house, they go back to going up one step at a time. This is because they are not good at transferring knowledge to a new setting. They may not like social settings like playgroups. They may seem to have trouble understanding what is said to them. They may show undue sensitivity to loud noises, textures (including different textures of food in the mouth and different materials in clothing), touch and light. 6 to 10 In addition to the previous section, as academic work starts in earnest, the dyspraxic child will not necessarily have trouble with reading and spelling (unless they have other difficulties as well, like dyslexia, whcih is not uncommon) but they may be terrible day dreamers and very slow to do anything. You may give them instructions to do something only to find that it hasn't been done! This can be very frustrating for the parent/teacher. The child may have difficulty holding a pencil - again due to low muscle tone. Holders to help correct pencil grip may help, but they may still have an awkward grip. They may not be able to press hard snough with a pencil to begin with and later may then press too hard. The dyspraxic child is very likely to struggle with letter formation and size and keeping them uniform, as well as spacing them. They wiill move their hand from the shoulder joint, as they have difficulty with coordinating movement in the small joints of the hand. This will lead to a less natural way of angling the paper in relation to the writing tool. See here for help with this: www.skillsforaction.com/handwriting/overview-difficulties-joint-hypermobility-DCD-dyspraxia Some have trouble with shape and space maths problems too. Dyspraxic children will most probably need help structuring their days and remembering all the things that need doing. You will spend a lot of time trying to work out if they have avoided chores, are being lazy (as special needs children are just as prone to laziness as all children can be) or have genuinely forgotten! In fact, you will probably spend much time trying to establish whether they are not working because they are lazy, or whether the work is too hard and finding the right balance. You will chide them, probably often incorrectly! But this will be the biggest problem; we know they must fit into a world that will not excuse them because of a label. So we will want to try and help them to manage their problems so that work is done, chores are carried out etc.... We cannot let them say 'I'm dyspraxic, therefore I can't........!". Mistakes are better than inaction! Your child will not be harmed from the occasional misjudgement, they will be more harmed from being overprotected from the real world. Children at this stage may not like playing group games, as often they can't follow the rules. If they do, they may just completely get the wrong end of the stick! If they do play with others, they might insist on strict adherence to rules and get upset if other children do not keep to them. They may be quite possesive of their own toys, as interference from others who are unpredictable makes it harder for them to keep control. Dyspraxic children tend to prefer playing in isolation or with well trusted children. They can easily get frustrated/angry/upset if things go wrong and you will find yourself chiding them for being selfish, not sharing and wondering why this child finds it so difficult! Basically, because the child has such difficulty planning, they like to be in control. They cannot just adjust and be as flexible in their thinking as other children. Therefore they can come accross as immature, however in other situations they may seem more mature, especially as they may prefer adult company. You may also notice a lack of natural eye-contact too. 10 plus As dyspraxic children mature, they will overcome some of their physical movement problems and even learn to manage social difficulties, however the time-keeping problems seem to hang on. Work maybe completed late, or not at all! This can make exams difficult, in addition to the practical problem of not being able to write quickly, some dyspraxics still have comprehension problems and also may find it hard to transfer knowledge from a known setting to an unknown. They may find it hard having to sit the exam in an unknown setting, with possible unexpected things happening as they are easily distracted. So you can see that this is not just a movement problem, or a case of children 'being clumsy' as is often cited. We also see that some syptoms do overlap with autism, however there is a difference as dyspraxia is diagnosed by the underlying movement difficuties and the social ones are secondary, but with autism the social problems are the main emphasis, with movement being secondary, if it is present. So what can be done? Well, most dyspraxic children will make progress in all areas, but they will need more help, more explanation and more time and encouragement. They will need skills broken down into smaller steps and will not just pick things up through trial and error as others may do. They may have other issues besides dyspraxia, like autism, or dyslexia. If you are at all unsure about your child's development, speak to your health visitor or doctor. Further information can be found here: www.dyspraxiauk.com/ dyspraxiafoundation.org.uk/dyspraxia-children/symptoms/ Here are some thoughts on the role of educating children from 'The teacher and the child'*. I thought that they gave food for thought and hopefully will give confidence to any doubting their ability to teach their child at home. I think these points made me aware of the great responsibility of teaching children and the quailites needed in a teacher - none of which I can assure you, are beyond a parent! May we not say that teaching is essentially the response of the adult to the moral and intellectual need and readiness of the child? Who knows their child best to respond in such a way? The whole subject of teaching and training is one which cannot be looked upon as a thing by itself apart. Teaching and training are amongst the fundamental, if not absolutely and fundemental processes of world-building. And all that the world is by the inheritances and traditions of the past reacts upon those who are labouring to make it what they think it ought to be. Teaching is not simply imparting knowledge - it is one character mingling with another. Part of the teacher's world-view will rub off on the pupil. Be sure that the teacher that you choose for your child has the same biblical world-view as your family. Similarly: The longer one teaches and observes the teaching of others the more does one become persuaded that there are spiritual forces in education which cannot be tabulated in a text-book. Subtle forces of personality, the direct influence of mind on mind and of character on character are ever at play. Choose carefully to whom you give this great responsibility. The formalities of method are no substitute for a living touch with the truth we teach on the one hand and with the child to whom we teach it on the other. Your choice of curriculum and textbooks, though important are not as important as the 'living touch' - that relationship between teacher and child. The more we know of the nature and the growth of the mind and heart and conscience in the child, the better are we qualified to be his educators. If this is so, how can a non-Christian begin to teach, knowing nothing of the link between head, hand and heart, only concentrating on the head and hand? They may provide some useful resources, but be careful of their limitations. Children are not empty minds into which we pour 'education'. Neither are they only dependent on that which we pour in. Children are always learning - though what they learn may not always be helpful to them. By the use of its natural powers of attention and retention the mind grows, even independently of the teachers efforts. At whatever stage the teacher's work commences there is a considerable amount of already developed mind to be reckoned with. To be a good teacher:
The broader and richer the conscious the larger the mind. The fear of God should be the noblest exercise of the human mind, because the consciousness of God is our highest consciuousness, being that in which all truth, all law, and all beauty center and form a harmony. T Children desire praise: when it is deserved, give it to them; it will go further than sweets, or treats. May we have confidence in our role and ability as home-educators. Study the Bible, know God, understand your task and study your pupil. See also: Providing a good education in lockdown: heads, hearts and minds. *All quotations from: The Teacher and the Child by H. Thiselton Mark: T. Fisher Unwin, London, 1902. It is my prayer that we may all be able to reflect on the education that we are providing for our children at this time, be it our usual pratice to home-educate or whether it is something that is temporary. I think that it is fair to say, that for many people, the word education makes them think of school book work and particularly of 'school' and a curriculum - unless you were home-educated yourself! Maybe you have never stopped to think much about your child's education and what you would like it to achieve. Maybe you have doubted your ability to provide a good education for your child at home. Maybe you think that school can impart knowledge that you do not have, or that your child will have better opportunities to develop social skills, or maybe even it will afford them opportunities that you cannot provide at home. Maybe you have already been home-educating your children but wonder if it is enough. Those of you who are new to home-educating can sympathise, no doubt, with this thought - 'Can I really provide a good education for my child at home? Is it enough?' This is a good question to think about. I want us to consider another question though. Are we too ready to undervalue, or maybe not even recognise, the important education that only we as parents can provide - in the home? Maybe even as home-educators we think only of the 'curriculum' and do not consider what is called the 'hidden curriculum' - those things that are learnt from the home/school environment itself which can heavily influence how a child receives the seen 'curriculum'. To help us to think about these things , we will first look a little more closely at what 'education' involves and then the education provided by the home. What is education?Education is more than knowledge. The 3 R's rightly concentrate on knowledge and there is a real place for that, however education must be more than simply accruing knowledge, it must lead on to using that knowledge. The ability to use knowledge wisely demands a vast subset of skills that cannot be learnt from a book. Heads, hands and heartsMan is not just 'mind', he is body and soul as well. Therefore, a child needs not just the training in knowledge (the head) but also the training of the hand (or the body) and the training of the heart (or the soul). Education is more than books and head knowledge, very worthy though this is. It needs to be balanced by the training of the hand and the heart if it is to be of use to the future man or woman. How do we train a child?Education is not just telling. It is not even a teaching process. It is training. What do we mean by 'training' ? Here is a helpful little rhyme! Telling is helping to know. Education and training cannot be split up with the home teaching the heart, the school the mind and the playground the body (the hand). Rather, it must be seen as a whole. The home provides the ideal setting for all of these aspects to be combined. So how does our home-education train - even if we normally send our children to school? A man may aquire information, and even memorize it, but he is not educated until this knowledge becomes a part of his life and is used to serve him. (Clarence Benson*) The education of the homeHome is the hothouse in which the tender plant is to be shielded and shaped during its most susceptible years. (C. Benson*) The home is indeed the most influencing factor on a child's future success or failure, for it is in the home that habits of life and attitudes of mind need to be fixed before there can be understanding. If you are home-educating due to the current lockdown, let me give you hope and inspiration: your child does not need to be stuck pouring over a book for good education - real education, to be taking place. Further still, your child is in the best place for being educated. A period at home could be amongst the richest months for your child's education. This is due to the fact that the home is the bedrock of all education and it cannot delegate its task to the school. The school can never replicate home, however much it tries. Parents should never expect the school to make up for its deficiencies. The home, says Clarence Benson* is 'in itself strictly an educational institution'. It's just that very often we think that we send our children to school to be educated and we just take care of them in between times - not realising that the school cannot make up for our lack of education at home. And education will be provided at home, even without conscious effort on behalf of the parents - either for good or for bad. However I'm sure, that you, like me want the best for our children. In other words - if we have children, then we are 'home-educators' whether we send our children to school or not - it comes with the responsibility of being parents. So let us look in more detail as to how we can provide a good home-education for our children during lock-down. It is the inalienable right of the child to be loved, to be understood and to be educated. The home should be the guarantee that these child rights will be recognised and realized. (C. Benson*) Training the headChildren are born with a capacity for knowledge. From the earliest days they start to make sense of all that is heard, seen, felt and tasted. It is the parents function to give the young child every opportunity and give him every assistance in his quest for knowledge. Parents will teach their child to speak, sleep, eat, walk, count maybe, learn colours even, and more, and then are often willing to hand the child to a teacher feeling that they are not skilled enough to take the child further. Do you know - the best teachers are learners with their pupils? You do not need to know everything to be a teacher - only to have enough love for your child to want to encourage him/her to learn. Many parents testify to having learnt far more from educating their children than they themselves learnt at school. The key qualification is not a degree, but love for your child. As the parent, you are perfectly qualified for the role of teacher - actually better qualified in some respects than the teachers! Education is more than mere imparting information, it is stimulating a desire to learn for oneself. Note however that not all learning needs to be 'fun'. In fact - most learning is not 'fun' - at least to begin with. Learning any new skill is hard work and involves lot of drudgery. Many hours of practice must be spent learning to read, before a child can enjoy reading books for him/herself. Similarly, think of all the practice needed to learn to play an instrument. This is a fact of life that children learn from their education. A home education is no different. Most of home-living is drudgery : clearing away dishes, loading washing machine, hoovering etc.. children need to learn to accept the drudgery if they are to be of use in the adult world and sadly, unless trained early in life, will not find the transition easy later on. Sadly, shielding our children from drudgery makes their lives harder. An important part of imparting knowledge is that a child is taught to know God. A correct knowledge of God is the only way to ensure a correct understanding of whatever else is taught in our school. This is an important part of education that is often overlooked. We shall find out more about this shortly. Questions to think about:
Training the handA study of children will soon tell you that children learn through the use of their muscles - they must move and this movement is vital for establishing unison between thought and will. We usually just say children are 'playing' as if this is somehow less important than 'studying'. However the hand needs training for productive use, partly for its own sake and partly for the addition to enjoyment and to the power of self-help which comes from an educated hand, says H. Thiselton Mark*. But even beyond this, the training of the hand has to do with the training of the temper, mind and character, which it also helps to develop. Think of the problem solving, the patience needed to see a project through to completion, the cooperation needed with others etc... So training the hand has the important job of developing supple fingers, and graceful movements, training the eye to work in coordination with the hand and the larger muscles of the arm under the guidance of a thought, but also a higher worth, that of the developing of a practical attitude which silently stregthens us for the future working-days of life, giving a sense of mastery and readiness to cope with practical issues. The home is well suited to providing such a training, as can a period of lockdown. Whether it be the garden, the kitchen, paper, glue, scissors, junk, pictures of nature, the wonders of the changing seasons, music, art, wholesome generous play - these are all instruments that can train the hand. Making mud pies, building dens and fortresses, make-believe are all valuable, unstructured educational opportunities. See their potential and give your child space and time to do such activities! Encourage such 'play': support, with help to make ideas turn into actualities and be your child's biggest fan club! With space and time the hands will flourish and not only the hands, but the mind too - as remember - they cannot be separated! Questions to think about:
Training the heartIf there is one area I feel that we ignore in our modern education, it is the training of the heart, or better called, the soul. We ignore the soul to our detriment as man is soul as much as he is body and mind - even if we say we are not religious. Think of a three-legged stool: head, heart and hand. It is solid and strong. Now take away a leg. The other two legs are suddenly of no use by themselves. Similarly, we can have children whose heads are full of knowledge, and whose bodies are strong and can do many things practically, but without the addressing of the soul, the other two will be rather limited. The soul cannot be dismissed and forgotten in the hope that it will not matter. The soul is always being trained - either consciously, or unconsciously. The challenge is - who is training our child's soul? Is it purposefully trained, or accidentally trained? Your child's future will depend on the answer. The soul has to do with worship. We all worship something, even if we say we are not religious. Does it matter what is worshipped? Yes, because the thing that is worshipped will shape the mind and the character for good or evil. The Bible tells us to worship God as our creator. God is good, pure and holy, there is no evil in him. Mankind is better for following the rules our creator has set down for our good. Therefore, alongside teaching our children truths from the Bible, we must ensure that the tools we use to educate encourage the child to lift his heart towards those things that are right, true, pure, noble and beautiful. This is not ideally a job for the school, although teachers can play a part if they support the home, for the task is the responsibility of the home. It is at home that the moral tone will be set. It is in emulating their mothers and fathers that children will form their code of conduct. If parents abdicate this responsibility, then children will soon look to their friends and as they get older, possibly to gangs to provide this great hunger of the soul to be satisfied. Ideally, the home, school and community should all breathe the same breath as it were so that the child is surrounded by good things and encouraged in them, by all. Sadly that is far from the case both in our schools and in society in this present day and age. Most importantly, the other two areas cannot function correctly without a correct knowledge of God being in place, for it is impossible to understand the world God has created, if we deny the existence of God himself. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding. Proverbs 9:10 How do we train the heart?First of all you need to decide what kind of character you would like your child to have. Here are some ideas to help you get thinking: Patient/impatient Kind/unkind Angry/even tempered Honest/dishonest Fair/unfair Hard working/lazy Polite/rude Self-centred/other centred And so on…. We must recognise that man was created by God in his image. Man has a soul that has been created to worship God. If man does not worship God, he will worship something else, which will be but a poor replacement. Secondly, in all our endeavours, we must seek to put before our children beautiful things: beautiful art that inspires praise to God, beautiful music with the best harmony - matching the harmony that God has written into creation as an example to us, books full of stories of heroic men who have done great, noble deeds, awakening impulses of kindness and a generous human faith, beautiful words, beautiful standards of conduct set for behaviour, beautiful thoughts expressed and encouraged through beautiful speech. Beautiful things inspire us to worship: who can look at a beautiful flower and not wonder and praise its creator? Who can study the vast heavens and not be amazed at God's greatness? Compare these with our current liking for slang, crude langauge; our back beats and harsh, clashing sounds of pop-music, with words of deeds that are far from pure, our stories of witches and evil doings, our art that cannot be interpreted, and our enjoyment of the trivial. These things are training our children's souls away from the beautiful things of God, and away from an understanding of God that in days gone by has made our nation great and so different from those around us. Questions to think about?
Fathers share equal responsibility for the environment of the home. The father expresses the masculine stanpoint. He can often provide a social interpretion of life, whereas the mother can explain personal relationships. The father acts as court of appeal when a family is properly ordered. The mother should ascribe to her husband a certain 'heroic quailty' in the eyes of her children. The mother's influence will be strongest in infancy and the father's in adolescence. Children need fathers. 'Any father who has a correct parental conception of the family function, and an adequate parental appreciation of the possibilities bound up in his (children), will put the home in the centre of his programme, and have all other interest subordinate.' 'The home is the worlds greatest university and the father and the mother the world's greatest teachers.' (C. Benson*) We all have room for improvement. Let us use this time in lockdown to truly evaluate our child's curriculum - the head, the hands and the heart. Let ask the Lord to show us those areas in our lives that are not yet bringing glory to Him. For Bible-based lessons that your family can do together please see our FREE home-schooling lessons: www.christianhomeeducation.weebly.com References: An Introduction to Child Study, Clarence H. Benson, C.S.S.M, London, 1927 The Teacher and the Child, H. Thiselton Mark, London, 1902 Christina Eastwood's new book, Wulfgar the Saxon: Wulfgar and the Vikings has now been published. It is the first in a trilogy, the others yet to be published. Christina has also written 'The History of God's Dealings with our Nation' books 1 and 2, as well as making the Mothers' Companion curriculum available. We thought that we would ask Christina about herself and her books. Why did you decide to home educate?I have to say honestly that one reason is that I love playing with children! I could not bear the thought of handing mine over to someone else all day while I missed out on the fun. Certainly they have grown up quickly and I am very glad I didn't miss all those happy times. On a more serious note we both had concerns about what they would be taught in school – and this was in the 1990s! I think at first we just considered individual topics – creation, morals and so on. Later it began to dawn on us that it is not just that a materialist education (that's what state school provides) is wrong in some areas – it is foundationally flawed. It was only when we were actually in the throes of teaching that we realised the force of Colossians 2:3 “...in whom [Christ] are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge...” and that the Bible tells us three times that “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom/knowledge” for a good reason! Psalm 111:10, Proverbs 1:7 and 9:10. This sounds fanatical, perhaps. I do not mean that we sat the children down with no other text book than the Bible. I do not even mean that we used only textbooks by Christians produced deliberately with a Christian world-view. Unbelievers are often correct in what they teach and can sometimes make profound observations. However, when they do so it is because, unwittingly they are borrowing from a Christian world-view. A truly materialist world-view will never give you a consistent picture of reality and indeed lacks a reason or basis for the existence of logic and reason itself. Did you make any key discoveries along the way?Yes – and they were radical! If you have to teach your child biology you have to research and understand the Creation/Evolution debate – that is obvious. But this is not the only subject that has to be completely re-thought from the bottom up. History, for instance, constantly raises questions once one is evaluating the actions of rulers or nations against the standard of God's Word and we also found we were constantly sifting through what we read to find the Church. “Where were the Christians?” we kept asking. What were they doing? These are the things that interest us. History is the story of God's providence and of his church! How did the events of the day work out to the spiritual good of God's people? What were the ideas that drove people to act in the way they did and how did those ideas either depart from or draw on God's Word? Then there is geography. Wrong geological assumptions underlie the teaching of physical geography in ordinary textbooks and in learning more generally about other parts of the world we often needed to research what is going on in the way of missionary activity to gain a true picture of what a country is like. We found we had to constantly bear in mind that this is God's World not Our World. When approaching the topic of learning to read, Christians are inspired by the knowledge that God's word is a written word. Writing (and indeed language itself) is not something humans have just invented for their own convenience. To know for himself what God says in His Word a child must learn to read. This means that reading is of the utmost vital importance. All over the world, literacy comes in the wake of Christianity because it is the God-given vehicle for apprehending the very revelation of God Himself. As parents, we quickly came to the conclusion that everything we taught had a different perspective, a different emphasis. Even Maths – yes Maths! – looks different when you realise that maths itself is a fundamental evidence for the existence of a consistent Creator. All this made us consider things that previously had not entered our heads. If your child is in school you can ignore these issues. Your child is taught everything as though God does not exist – as though his immutable nature is not the very reason why one plus one always makes two. Personally, I found it deeply inspiring and mind expanding as well as humbling to realise that before I began home educating I had been just ambling along with a set of anti-Christian principles governing how I perceived some of the most basic aspects of life. I think my own education really began when I started teaching my own children. What books did you use?When we used “ordinary” textbooks we used them in a different way and with certain modifications right from the beginning. As a rough and ready rule the older the book the easier it is to make it conform to a Christian world-view. This is because older writers were unconsciously influenced by that world-view and modern writers often consciously ignore or fight against it. In older books the underlying Christian assumptions are often there – you just have to spell them out. We had the privilege, due to the era in which we were doing our home education, of being able to collect very cheaply from second hand bookshops and charity shops a large number of older educational books which were much closer to a Christian world-view in outlook than those of the present day. We imported American Christian text books too but found that generally older British books met our needs better – as well as more cheaply! Why did you decide to write your own children's history book?I didn't decide to write a history book, it happened accidentally! History teaching was a real problem. I was keen to do it properly as I had a gut feeling history was vitally important. There were good Christian books on historical topics for adults. There were old fashioned children's history books. There were Christian American children's history books. None of these could be used just as they were for history lessons with young children. I found myself constantly preparing my own notes based on these sources to produce history lessons for children grounded in a Christian world-view and suitable for British children in scope and emphasis. These notes were devoured enthusiastically by other Christian home educators and eventually were published in two volumes as The Story of God's Dealings with Our Nation by Ichthus Resources. What made you compile The Mothers' Companion flashdrive and how did you do it?The Mothers' Companion flashdrive of resources (available from https://motherscompanion.weebly.com) grew out of my keen enjoyment of many of the books we used that were not well known to others. Never one to waste things, I wanted to pass on what I'd discovered to other families so that they would not have to spend time trying to find them for themselves. Several times when I showed people what I'd been using, they suggested republishing the old books in some way. I thought it would be too hard. Publishers would not be interested and the market would be far too small. What about electronic formats? I thought copyright problems would be insurmountable. However, when I approached those publishers and authors who could be found, I was amazed at the combination of enthusiasm and apathy I encountered. Some authors were delighted that their work was still of use and happily gave permission. Other publishers could not be bothered to trawl through files etc. and simply said that they had no idea what agreements they had had with authors (if indeed they knew who the authors were) but I could use their materials so long as I was prepared to withdraw them should anyone object. I began to acquire a thick file of permission letters. Almost nothing I had used could not be reproduced except the Ladybird Key Words Reading Scheme, of course! I bought a digital scanner... Looking back on it, I cannot imagine how I ever did it. There were thousands of pages of text recognition all needing patient checking. Many of the best books were so old they did not scan well and the resulting “raw” scans were almost unintelligible. I ploughed on evening by evening, after the children had gone to bed, scanning the books they had used the previous year. Volunteer checkers were a great help. One dear lady from Northern Ireland was an insomniac who checked vast amounts of print in the wee small hours while the rest of us were sleeping! The results were initially published on CDs, but now the whole thing comes on an easy to use flashdrive, providing a complete curriculum up to age 12 which can be printed out as needed by the user. Some people use it just to dip into. Others have found it a great help when getting started in home education. Some use the “diaries” section for each year as a framework for their own activities and some plough through everything lock stock and barrel! Nowadays I also have a website https://latinigcse.weebly.com which uses Mothers' Companion materials to provide a complete free course in Latin for IGCSE within a Christian world-view. What prompted you to start writing books of your own?As a child I had always written stories. Being dyslexic, (I know this now – there was no such thing as dyslexia when I was a child and I was just treated as appallingly dense) these were very difficult for anyone else to read but that did not stop me. My young cousin received an adventure tale about a farm kitten every week, which her poor older brother had to struggle to read to her! Once I had children of my own I told them stories all the time and so did my husband. He had a cast of hilarious characters: Mr Rabbit, Bill Twister, Mr Bimpkins who rode bicycles, piloted canal boats and recklessly drove traction engines at high speed while getting involved in The Great Toothpaste Scandal and The Exploding Baked Bean Mystery! What with the Mothers' Companion and The Story of God's Dealings with Our Nation, and involvement with the Christian Education for Deeside Exam Centre (that's a whole story in itself) not to mention the actual education of our children, I had no time to write down fiction of my own anymore. I was always conscious of the gap there was in British junior fiction for really good quality novels with a Christian perspective and often had ideas of what I would write if I could. I was also aware that there was a certain type of home educated child, “the totally voracious reader” who needed a vast quantity of through-put and that good quality material was quite scarce. When I began to approach “retirement” (my youngest son is now just 20) it was like a dam bursting and all the ideas and plots I had mulled over were scrambling to get themselves down on paper. What do you like to write – and what do you aim to achieve through your books?I always loved adventure stories as a child, especially those with strong, appealing characters. I disliked intensely the kind of books I was sometimes given as a prize at Sunday School, where the “Christian” element seemed tacked onto a plot which would have worked quite well without it. I think fiction is a tremendous aid to historical understanding if it is well researched. The facts of history which can seem dull or irrelevant, come to life once an appealing character is walking through them. The lives of Christians in the past should be an inspiration to us, but I suspect that Christian biography often fails to inspire anything but terror in the young or inexperienced Christian reader. This is because God gave a supernatural courage to the historical saint or martyr when it was needed. In my personal childhood experience, I read what they went through and, on examining myself, I found such courage totally lacking. I had no idea that there was a good reason for this and it led to feelings of guilt and lack of assurance. In a work of fiction all sorts of historical situations can be presented without this difficulty, as the author has a free hand in how the situations and characters are developed and can tailor the plot to present the Christian message within the historical context. As a writer, I would love to be able to present characters in such a way as to gain the reader's confidence, as it were, so that they feel the power of the gospel message and long for that powerful forgiveness themselves. I'm still learning... What books have you written so far?Apart from the Story of God's Dealings with Our Nation, which is mentioned above, I self-published a full length historical novel for young adults, Trasna na Dtonnta, or A Tale of Three Cities, in 2017. This is a fictionalised biography of William Bedell (1571-1642) the man who was responsible for the first translation of the whole Bible into Irish. Since then, John Ritchie has published my Not Without Tears (2018), a biography of the Christian educational pioneer and protector of orphans, Favell Lee Mortimer. I wanted to write a fictional book based on Mrs Mortimer's life, but when I had finished it I was not satisfied with it. One of the problems was that Mrs Mortimer's life was too exciting and interesting as it was, without any fictional elements! I abandoned the novel and wrote a biography instead. Last year Ritchie's published the first short historical novel in my Wulfgar the Saxon series, Wulfgar and the Vikings. This is the most exciting of my literary endeavours to date, because for the first time I have had a fiction book accepted by a conventional Christian publisher. There are two more Wulfgar books in the pipe-line, subject to satisfactory sales of the first book – so please all rush out and buy it! Your local Christian bookshop can order it for you, if they do not stock it already, or you can get it direct from Ritchie's. The price is not excessive and the book is designed to be a quick read or read-aloud for the 8 to 13 age bracket. Christina's latest book, the next in the series, is now available: https://www.ritchiechristianmedia.co.uk/product/eastwood-wulfgar-saxon-wulfgar-and-vikings Do you have any advice to young writers?Read as much as you possibly can. The more good books you read, the more your style will improve. Get anyone and everyone you possibly can to read what you write. Beg them to criticise ruthlessly and listen to what they say without feeling hurt. “Faithful are the wounds of a friend...” Proverbs 27:6. You are writing to get a message across and if people do not enjoy what you write they will not get the message. Listening to criticism is an excellent way to find out what people do and don't enjoy. Submitting manuscripts to publisher after publisher without getting a response can be disheartening, but it does not necessarily mean you are not a good writer. You may have to do this for a very long time before you have any success. Independent publishing (so-called indie publishing or self publishing) can be a way forward, but demands a huge amount of work and can be expensive. In my experience you are better off spending your time writing and submitting to conventional publishers rather than trying to promote and sell your own work. Trawl the internet for small publishers. You may even find one who specialises in the kind of thing you write. Study the submission procedures outlined on publishers' websites and follow them carefully. Above all, don't give up.
If there is one subject sure to vex young parents it is how to train their child to do that which is right. To add to the problem there are so many diverging theories about how to discipline children - whether to do it at all, whether it damages a child, the difference between discipline and child abuse and these alone are enough subjects to make even the stoutest heart begin to fear ever being up to the task. As with any question in life, we must go to the Bible alone, for it is here that we will find the wisdom we need and then we must carefully seek, with much prayer, the way to direct our children's hearts towards God and his ways. For in the matter of training (or discipling - for that is what discipline is), the heart is the subject of the matter. In disciplining a child, we a seeking to bring the child's heart towards God and his best standards for living. God draws us in love, but he is not ignorant of our rebellion. He graciously and loving disciples us and sometimes it is hard. But it is through these hard times that we learn. We will surely damage our children if we try to avoid the harsh realities of the natural laws of cause and consequence. And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. Matthew 10:28 Much confusion is brought about when we listen to the world's voices. What we have to remember is that most of our modern methods of raising children are based on the theories of men who rejected the Bible. These men, of the late 1800's - around the time when evolution was becoming more and more popular - did not believe that children are born in sin. They believed instead that they are born neutral and that life's experiences turned a child towards that which is 'right' and that which is 'wrong'. So the idea goes, give a child a good environment to grow up in, with nothing but kinds words and gentle leading and the child will turn out well. But, correct a child, and you will do much damage to its self-esteem. Nothing has caused more confusion - because as any parent soon finds out - however good the home environment, original sin soon rears its ugly head. Parents are generally ill-equipped to know how to handle the child's first wilful 'No!'. Of course - God-honouring parents will strive with God's help to provide the best home-environment that they possibly can, it does play its part, but it is not fool proof, not guaranteed to work because the heart is full of sin. To threaten parents into being fearful of correcting their child, in case of damaging their child's self esteem is not biblical and therefore Christians need not feel guilty however much pressure is applied by the world to feel so - when they discipline their children. Learning to prayerfully disciple our children is never easy: you will get it wrong sometimes! Confess your sin to God and to your child if s/he is old enough to feel wronged and ask the Lord for daily grace to continue. Parents are learners, for the rest of their lives! This month, to start the new year, I have some more gleanings from my latest book-find: Ears for Little Gleaners by Herbert Dawson published in 1922 by C .J. Farncombe and sons Ltd. London. Last time we looked at some poems for character training. This time we have some tips for child training in general. I still have not managed to track down whether or not this old book is out of copyright, but I am sure that the author would be only too glad for his work to be given a further lease of life in this day and age that has so forgotten how to practically apply God's Word. However, if anyone claims the copyright, please contact me and I will remove the post. Friendly words to Fathers and MothersOh, what a solemn responsibility rests upon the father and mother to 'Train up a child in the way that he should go." (Proverbs 22:6) The little folk who sit around our tables and play about the house cause many anxious thoughts when we think of the dangers of the path of life which they must tread, if they live. And then we think of the tremendous fact, that our children are hastening to an eternal goal - heaven or hell - O what searchings of the heart a godly parent feels and how such exercises lead to the Psalmist's prayer: "Let Thy work appear unto Thy servants and Thy glory unto their children" (Psalm 90:16) I feel it needs special grace and wisdom to "Train up a child in the way he should go." I have been much impressed by the injunctions in the Word of God concerning the obligations which fall upon fathers and mothers. The children of Israel were enjoined: "When thou buildest a new house, then thou shalt make a battlement for thy roof." An Eastern housetop was flat, and served as a garden, a resting place, a playground for the children, and many other useful purposes. A surrounding wall - a battlement - was necessary to prevent people falling from the roof. May not these "battlements" set forth the rules, principles and teaching which a faithful parent will build around a house-hold to prevent his children falling into many dangerous snares? The precept enjoins, "Bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord." And this will be a great concern of heart to a godly parent. As the husband-man ties the plant to the stake, training it upward, even so the children should be trained in a right way, and fastened to the stakes of morality and uprightness by loving ties of parental affection. This was enjoined upon the father and mothers in Israel: "And thou shalt teach them (statutes) diligently unto thy children" (Deut: 6:7) The marginal rendering of the word "teach" is "whet", or "sharpen," and conveys the suggestion of a "whetting" or "sharpening" a scythe - a significant reminder to parents to continually sharpen the minds of the children in the knowledge of what is right and wrong. The most important method of teaching is by EXAMPLE. It is vain for parents to enforce precepts and principles which they do not keep themselves and live in daily life. If the command, " Train up a child in the way he should go," is to be carried out, the parent must be in the way, and lead therein by a daily example of right principles in the path of life. Three things to watchA parent should watch three important things: the tongue, the hands and the feet. 1. The tongue Idle words, exaggerated statements, frivolity, falsehood and wrong speeches should be checked and corrected. It is a sad sight to see boys and girls who are beyond parental discipline, and who 'answer back', and disobey, and do "as they like". A solemn harvest will be reaped by such parents, and too late, the folly of not keeping children under right government will be proved. 2. The hands It should be a "law of the house which altereth not" to allow no novels, poisonous books, card-packs, and harmful things into the hands of children. (Note: we may think these things hard, but novels belong to the realm of entertainment and immorality, which leads astray - children should grow out of innocent story books as they age; card-packs to the house of gambling and poisonous books these days will include the many promoting witchcraft through magic (Harry Potter etc..) and alternative lifestyles. To these I would now add computer games and mobile phones, with their addictive nature, at the least.) The hand which takes the forbidden lump of sugar (or biscuit!) must be checked. A little thief may imbibe habits of dishonesty, and bring sad havoc to a parent's home and heart. And the hand which strikes the angry blow must be checked also. 3. The feet We live in days when children are allowed great latitude as to what they can do and where they can go, but the Word of God is the same. Can a godly parent allow his child to go to the sporting field, and places where bad company abounds? An honest conscience will answer "No!" The children of modern days will call such a method of "training" strait-laced and narrow-minded, but let every father and mother stick to the Word of God: "Train up a child in the way he should go." The Word of God is old -fashioned, and woe to the parent who departs from its laws. If home life was what it should be, how many youths and maidens would be preserved from going out into the worldly society to obtain so-called pleasures. (Note: Sadly, this must now include many non-serious church youth groups, with their occasions for socialising, over which parents have no control, or introduce youngsters to pastimes which they would be better off without (going to the cinema, snooker/ pool etc..). Christians in times gone by avoided such meetings, as they knew the dangers of putting young people together for times of 'pleasure'. Meetings at chapel should be for the serious study of God's Word with the exhortment to live a godly life and shun the world.) Lawful pleasures should be provided by all fathers and mothers who value the happiness of family life. What are lawful pleasures? Good books for the children to read, music and singing in the home, edifying and instructive conversation; country rambles; many helpful studies in the world in which we live; profitable hobbies and occupations; and a thousand things leading to the fulfilment of the precept, "Train up a child in the way he should go." (Note: These days we are tempted to fill our lives with much that is unprofitable. Beware of how technology is used in your home. It can be used to good profit, but avoid its use, both by yourselves as parents and by children, for mere passing the time and entertainment. As such, it provides an enormous snare for wasting many precious hours.) It should be a special anxiety of mind to a godly parent to lay before the dear young people the solemn realities of eternity, death, and "judgement to come." What a proper sight to see little ones in the house of prayer, and godly parents should make attendance at chapel and school a "law of the house." It is recorded of Abraham, "He will command his children, and his household after him." Constant graceI feel a father and a mother needs constant grace in exercise to be firm to enforce attendance to what is right. Severity and firmness are two distinct words. A command may be enforced with a firm contention for its fulfilment without severity and harsh methods. What is firmness? "Let your yea be yea, and your nay be nay, lest ye fall into condemnation." Such training of youth will lead a parent into the pleasant promise, "Her children rise up and call blessed." I have dropped these "ears" of friendly counsel for parents who profess to know the truth and feel the burden of parental responsibility. Some parents may say "Alas, I wish I could train my children in the right way; I would seek their best welfare, but I feel to come so far short of what a parent should be." The Word of God only shows one way to be sure to "train up a child in the way he should go," -"Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of Grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in the time of need. The secret lies in the word GRACE. "The Lord will give grace" to the needy; grace to be a daily example to those who live around us; grace to be living sermons to the young. And so, godly, anxious-hearted fathers and mothers, "Grace be with you all." This blog post is especially for those just starting to home-school. I have written this post mainly for those with a rising 5 year old, but some of the information will be of use to those just beginning to home-school older children. You have made the brave decision to home-school. Now what? How do you practically go about educating your young child? In this post I will round up various articles/sources of information to give you a head-start. On a general note, these two organisations both offer support and advice about home-educating in the UK. |
I will paraphrase the text, with actual quotations in italics. I pray that it may be a blessing to all young men who read it.
He becometh poor that dealeth with a slack hand: but the hand of the diligent maketh rich.
Proverbs 10:4
In the day of prosperity be joyful, but in the day of adversity consider
Eccliesiastes 7:14
Imagine two young men setting out in life with equal advantages, money, connections and prospects. They have studied and trained and are about to start work. One of them succeeds, a propitious gale seems to fill his sails and a favourable tide to flow in, to help him onward in his course from the very time of sailing. He makes a prosperous voyage and enters safely into harbour with a rich cargo. He does well, enjoys promotion and is paid well. He has good standing in society.
But there is a reverse side to this - early failure.
In this case, the vessel has no sooner left port than it encounters unfavourable winds, is tossed upon the billows by tempests and dashed upon the rock, or stranded upon the shore, becomes a wreck. The young man started out with big ambitions, but they terminate in disappointment and he is soon left without an income. This is a very common situation in the UK.
May it young men never be yours.
We must ask what made the difference between success and failure. At this point we must quite squarely put aside chance or luck as some may call it. For the Christian, there is no such thing as luck. God is over all and rules all in and through his Providence. Providence no doubt gives advantages to some which it does not bestow upon others. Scripture is full of instances of this kind: how conspicuous was Providence in the history of Joseph. How manifest in the life of Moses and so on.
Let us then examine the causes of the two different results of success and failure.
1) The possession or want of ability, cleverness, good judgement and tact in business will often account for success or failure.
Success in any department of life, without a competent knowledge of the means of obtaining it, cannot be expected, and ordinarily is not obtained. Some do seemingly 'land on their feet', but they are the exception to the rule and the hoping to follow suit is not a method to be relied upon. A man must at all times, especially in this age of competition, (1800's and no less true today, if not more so!) know how to buy and sell. He must be a judge of articles and prices, thoroughly know not only his own trade but the principles of trade in general. Business is an art and a science too, and he must be acquainted with both. He must know the markets and the times. How do you learn these things: You must be thoughtful, observant, diligent, both in training and once trained. You must be neither lovers of pleasure, nor companions of those who are such. Next to being right with God, it should be your aim to gain a complete mastery of your trade.
Who are the men who succeed? Not the dolts, the ill-informed or the half-informed, but the well informed. Who are the men who fail? Usually you will find them not the well informed, but the half informed, or the ill-informed.
Your faith in God cannot, however eminent, cannot supply the want of the knowledge and the habits of a good workman. Godliness it is true, is profitable for all things, having the promise of the life that is now and of that which is to come. But then it is not godliness without other things but with them.
A good and holy young man is not to expect to succeed by the favour of God, without either hard work or ability. We must not expect God's blessing as a substitute for these things. God does not bless pious dolts who are ignorant due to their own neglect. God will not set aside the general laws by which he governs the social world in favour of religion, any more than he will those of the natural world.
Beware of over-stocking and trading beyond your capital; a very frequent source of ruin to young tradesman is allowing commercial travellers to force upon them too large purchases.
A good point to remember - don't spend what you haven't got or get in stock too much of what you may not sell. Make it a rule never to buy using credit that you can't pay off immediately the bill arrives..
Lesson: Learn your business well - study hard at school, and later in your job. True learning begins once school work is left behind. Read, read, and read.
2) Success or failure depends a great deal upon a good start.
Bad beginnings can be repaired, but they are not usually. A first wrong step is often, if not always, the beginning of a series of steps all wrong. Great care, caution, circumspection, and forethought therefore are necessary. Many begin too soon: they are impatient to be masters before they are prepared for it. They are unwilling to bide their time, and often mis-calculate their ability.
The most successful business men have been both careful as well as able. Creep before you try to walk. Walk before you run and run before you flee!
Let there then be much reflection, counsel, much prayer in such an important step as setting out in working life. As this, like marriage is a step for life, let it be taken with care, and think no time lost, or too long, which is necessary, to enable you to tread firmly and steadily at the outset. For every person that has repented of starting too late, ten have repented of starting too early! Next to seeking counsel from God, by earnest and believing prayer, seek the advice of disinterested wise and experienced people. Do not be like some who have made up their mind as to the outcome, then seek advice, and when it is contrary to that which they wish to hear, reject the advice given and follow their first proposed course of action. This is the sure way to ruin.
Lesson: Count the cost: don't rush in to things. Pray.
3) Success of failure are dependent upon diligence on the one hand, or neglect or indolence on the other.
We read in Proverbs: The blessing of the Lord maketh rich. And then: The hand of the diligent maketh rich.
Both are true and they stand related to each other. Our hard work cannot be fruitful without God's blessing and God's blessing is not bestowed without man's industry. The Lord's providential visits are never granted to loiterers. Moses, David, and the shepherds at Bethlehem, were all keeping their flocks, and Gideon was at his threshing floor, when God's revelations were made to them. How laziness is exposed, condemned, branded, in God's book! Let a man have ever so good a knowledge of his business; let him begin with all the advantages of capital, connections and situation; yet if he be of an indolent and self-indulgent habit, a late-riser, a lover of pleasure; a gossiping neighbour, he will soon furnish another evidence of the truth of Solomon's words, "He becometh poor that dealeth with a slack hand."
Be diligent! Be like Henry Martyn the affirmed and holy missionary of whom it was said, “That he was known as the man who never lost an hour."
Lesson: count every minute as precious. Think how many we waste on idle pleasures. Be careful who you spend time with as your companions can influence you more than you can imagine. If you profess to be a Christian, then flee from the world and everything that belongs to it - love of self (selfies included), ungodly entertainment, be it worldly music (including addictive 'Christian rock' which is no better for its Christian words), films/theatre. Give every minute to serving the Lord.
4) Method and system have much to do with failure or success.
In this I include promptness as opposed to procrastination. No habit can be more fatal to success then the wretched disposition of postponing until another time that which ought to be done, and can be done, at once. Procrastination has ruined millions for both this world and the next. There is a class of adverbs which some young men seem not to have studied, but which are of immense importance in all the affairs both of time and eternity. I mean the words, “instantly," immediately," "at once," "now," for which they unhappily substitute "presently," "by and by," "tomorrow," "at some future time,". Young men, catch the inspiration of that weighty monosyllable "now". Yield to the potency of that word "instantly" and to use a still more business like term, acquire a habit of "dispatch". To do this, do not only do the thing that should be done, but the thing that ought to be done next!
Be punctual. Punctuality is of immense consequence. It has been humorously said, "Some people seem to have been born half an hour after their time, and they never fetch it up all their lives!"
Lateness is not only a vice on the one being late, but also on those waiting for him. "You have caused us to lose an hour," said a gentleman to another, for whose appearance twelve men had been waiting.
"Oh, that is impossible," replied the guilty man, "for it is only five minutes after the time."
"Very true," was the rejoinder, "but there are twelve of us, each of whom has lost five minutes."
Lesson to learn: Do not keep anyone waiting - be it for an appointment or for payment if you wish to prosper. Do not put off those things that need doing now. This needs practice and it will sometimes be hard to fight against natural inclinations towards ease, especially in a day and age that so promotes care of 'self'.
The Scriptures exhort us to "redeem the time." Order is no less essential to system and success than promptness and punctuality. A disorderly man wastes not only his own time, but that of others who are dependent upon, and waiting for him; nor does the waste stop here, for what a useless expenditure of energy and a painful sacrifice of comfort are ever going on with him!
Lesson: Look at the different areas of your life. Which are disorderly? Start working now to address these areas and bring about changes which will stand you in good stead in years to come. Others call disorder a peace stealer - as we cannot enjoy peace if we are forever in a tiz over what we have lost, or for being late.
5. Economy has a most powerful influence in determining the failure or success of a young business man.
This applies equally to personal, domestic and business trade and the man who would succeed in life must reduce them all to the lowest prudent level. In order to keep down the expenses of the trade, he must do with as little purchased help as he can; and to accomplish this, he must be hard working and ready to learn. As to personal expenses, let him avoid all unnecessary consumption of money in dress and ornaments. Let it be no part of your ambition young men, to be noticed and admired for that with which the clothing retailer, and the jeweller may bedizen (to dress or adorn in a showy, gaudy, or tasteless manner) the veriest fool in existence. How mean and petty is foppery (affected and excessive concern with one's clothes and appearance), compared with an enlightened mind, a dignified character, and the beauties of holiness! I am not an advocate for either meanness or slovenliness. Cleanliness and neatness border upon virtue, as excessive foppery and expensiveness do upon vice. It is unworthy of a female to be inordinately fond of dress: but for a man to love finery is despicable indeed.
Avoid also the love of pleasure. The man who is bent upon enjoying himself who will have his amusements and companions and frequent sessions of recreation; who is fond of parties and entertainments, the gaming table, the dance hall, the concert and the theatre is on the high road to poverty in this world and to hell in the next. Let the lover of pleasure read of Samson in the Old Testament and of the Prodigal in the New. If you would have economical habits as a master, cultivate them as a servant. Begin then now and persevere.
You must carry out the principle of economy in your home also. Frugality in the home is a virtue and extravagance a vice. If you wish to have comfort at the end of life, be content with necessities at the start. Let your furniture, your style of living, your whole domestic establishment, be all arranged upon the principle of a rigid, though not mean, economy. The basis of living in credit is to live simply, not in substantial splendour; just as the foundation of a house consists of unadorned bricks and uncultured stone, and not of carved and gilded wood. It is the diligent and frugal man who is considered the trustworthy one. (And this is still true today. Diligence and frugality are rare traits these days. We are all encouraged to expect everything we want to make life pleasurable. Rare is the man who works hard with his eye on a better goal - His Masters' approval.)
However, while I recommend economy I equally condemn meanness. There have been men of high standing and otherwise excellent character who have well-nigh ruined themselves by a spirit of meanness. It is the meanest of all vices, the most despicable of all passions and it stems from the most insatiable (not able to satisfy) of appetites, an excessive love of money. It is very striking to observe how seemingly opposite dispositions are balanced in the Word of God. Industry is commended and slothfulness condemned; and yet in the same book it says "Labour not to be rich;" "Labour not for the bread that perisheth;" "Lay not up for yourselves treasures on earth;" "They that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts which drown men in destruction; for the love of money is the root of all evil, which while some have coveted after, that have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows." This might look like contradiction, but it is not so in reality. These passages teach us that we are neither to despise money, not to be fond of it. I know it is difficult to draw a line between idolatry and contempt of wealth; and to state that exact regard to money which industry requires to stimulate and rewards its energies, and which both reason and revelation justify. When however wealth is considered the chief end of life, and is sought exclusively to the entire neglect of religion; when it is pursued at the expense of principle and honour; when it is the first thing coveted, and the last thing relinquished; when it is loved for its own sake of mere accumulation, instead of being diffused for God’s glory and man’s benefit; when it is regarded as the standard of individual importance both for ourselves and others; it has become the tyrant of the soul, which it has enslaved, may be with fetters of silver and gold - good things - but such being no less a miserable master because of their splendour.
Lesson:
- Do not be a lover of clothes and fashion - It will drain your purse. Seek to develop rather a godly character - honest, upright, diligent, trustworthy etc...
- Avoid the love of pleasure - do not be found gaming, watching films or engaging in other profitless forms of entertainment, Seek instead to study to inform your mind. Study first and foremost God's Word the Bible.
- Do not seek to have every luxury in your home. Choose those things that are essential and learn contentment. Live simply.
6) Perseverance is also necessary to success.
Without this nothing good or great can be achieved in our world.
Success is not something achieved quickly, but rather as a gradual formation, a slow deposit. In business it usually proceeds on the principles of arithmetic progression. The ascent in life is usually the opposite of a mountain. In the latter case the steepest part is near the summit; in life, it is at the start. Both however require perseverance.
The one who would be successful must not expect to reach his goal by a light, easy and elastic bound, but rather by many successive and weary steps, and occasionally perhaps, by a backward step. Such a one must go on sometimes amidst discouragement, and always with labour.
There are some however who cannot succeed because they will not wait to do so. If success does not come at first, they will not follow after it. They are as impatient as the foolish child that sowed his seed in the morning, and went to bed hopeless and crying because he did not see it springing up before sunset.
Lesson: be ever hopeful, prayerful and persevering.
This does not mean that all religious people will be prosperous and all irreligious ones will fail. It means that piety contains most of those qualities which tend towards success, while sin, where it leads on (as it frequently does) tends to ruin. God does not promise wealth and honour to His people on earth, but much more, glory everlasting. But, godliness as I have said, has the promise of the life that now is and that which is to come. Wisdom as we read in Proverbs has riches and honour in her right hand for many who submit to her ways. It is quite certain that those who have come to poverty have been dragged down by iniquity and that those who have succeeded owe their success to piety. Scripture is full of examples: Joseph in the house of Potiphar, David, Daniel, and Nehemiah to name but a few.
Although we should not be pious just for the gain it can bring us, godliness is the parent of virtue, the protector of health, the nurse of economy, the patron of industry, the guardian of integrity, the prompter of knowledge and the helper of prosperity.
Lesson: 'Choose you this day whom ye will serve' (Joshua 24:15)
I do not put these matters before you to excite you to fear, but rather to encourage you to take stock of your life. Prevention is better than cure. It is easier to avert ruin by industry and economy than to bring back prosperity when it has once departed. Make this easier task your first care and endeavour. You are young and your life is before you. Ruin may seem only something in your imagination. Though it is not good to fill your mind with dark thoughts, lest such thoughts lead to reality, yet it is well to take a long enough glance to be sure that you never want to be in that state. This will have the effect of bringing your mind to this determination:
Dr. Martyn Lloyd Jones as preached in 1956, (Taken from: Saved by Grace Alone, The Banner of Truth Trust, 2018, p.156)
Should we be concerned - or is this people just being people and never being satisfied?
I would suggest to you that a brief look back at past O level papers and even the education of youngsters back in history will show that our expectations of young people are very low. One hears of young children in days gone by, being fluent in several languages at an early age. Children were taught and expected to learn. Of course, this is a very general summary and you will always find exceptions, but I think it is fair to say that we have lost the rigours of teaching and learning that marked former years. The GCSE English Language exam syllabi are written expecting our young people to have done little other than watch TV, visit the theatre/theme parks, game, go to pop concerts and read low-level trivial books. The exam boards are proud of their courses that prepare youths for the modern world. Need I say any more?
Dr. Robinson
Why do we have low educational standards?
Not least, they have encouraged us to please ourselves. This is endemic throughout all society as we bear the fruit of several decades of such teaching that life centres around 'me'! Sadly the fact that it doesn't and that we all have responsibilities towards God and others has been left unsaid. However, it has left a spiritual vacuum, a devastating trail of low educational standards, low levels of attainment along with low morals. Even more sadly, most parents and teachers these days are products themselves of a humanistic education and do not recognize it in themselves. They seem content with the low standards (which they consider to be high), and may even think that because of society's seeming 'intelligence', with information available so easily on tap through the internet, that there is no problem.
We live in an entertainment driven society
When it comes to education, children's educational materials these days (we are told) must be:
- fun
- not too demanding
- centred around the child's interests
- good-feeling orientated
Correction is seen as damaging
Bad behavior does not need discipline we are told, but rather encouraging and guiding.
Yes there is room for both of these sometimes, but the biblical pattern is that children do need disciplining:
Entertainment style education does not encourage children to think - to grapple with a subject
The trouble is - if we know nothing, how will we know if what we are being told is true or not? This is not the route for the God-fearing to take. The Christian must know what God's Word says. He must study it diligently. This requires time, commitment and self-denial. Are we training our children towards these things by allowing them to have easy access to computers, mobiles and games?
I strongly advise against the use of television/computers/apps/games, even for educational purposes for as along as you can hold off of them. It needs to be the parents decision as to when they are allowed, if ever, in the home or used by children. Let children see you using technology profitably and not for entertainment, for example for accounts, writing, research, business.
Are our children less intelligent now?
We think it's cute and our children 'bright' when they can do remarkable things on our mobiles at a young age. However, we do not generally expect much of them when it comes to academic ability.
Young children are capable of amazing things. The Robinson Curriculum expects them to learn all of their number bonds, for all four operations to 12x12 by the age of seven - as normal This is more than possible - I proved it - even with a child with a severe language delay. It wasn't easy - it required daily practice and yes, sometimes it was boring. But we seem these days to buy into the thought that all education needs to be entertaining. This is of course - the natural fruit of a child-centred philosophy - which sadly, many Christian parents do not recognise. We are apt to blindly follow the world as long as they don't try and teach our children evolution.
Dr. Martyn Lloyd Jones as preached in 1956, (Taken from: Saved by Grace Alone, The Banner of Truth Trust, 2018, p.155)
Should I make my child do something boring?
Obviously our teaching must be sensitive to the pupil, that is, appropriate to his/her stage of development. The good teacher will try and make the subject come alive, but this is not always possible: routine drill for reading/spelling/handwriting and maths is hard work, and often boring. Later it's revision for exams. We need to instill good habits from day one.
We must be aware of our child's moods and temperament and seek to train them to do work first time of asking and willingly. It is as much 'education' to address these issues as it is to address academic learning.
Proverbs 1:7
How do we raise educational standards?
Four markers
- A good environment free from distractions and with good role-models.
- The instilling of good habits
- A good course of study
- High quality books
- pleasure
- least effort
- no correction
1. Parents set the home-school 'tone'
How do we spend our time?
The desire for activity is echoed in our home life with constant social engagements and cries of 'I'm too busy', because actually - it makes us feel important to be busy. How the devil deceives! Even as home-educators we can convince ourselves that we need to be taking our children to social engagements frequently, giving them plenty of 'fun'. Or maybe we are tempted to give our children's computer games, thinking they will encourage them to think. Be not deceived - computer games are a snare to the mind and soul and are best avoided by all. They are addictive time and brain wasting activities.
As Christian mothers, we are to be home based. We will want to encourage our daughters to be home-based too - not flitting here, there and everywhere seeking entertainment - or 'out of the home' on social media or anything else. We will want our young men to be responsible men - ready to take on the leadership of a family and to be home to support his wife and take an interest in his children whenever he can. And then to be leadership material for church responsibilities.
2. Character traits to instill if we want high standards
- obedience to parents - first time of asking and cheerfully with no back chat - the pre-cursor to obedience to God and authority in general. Parents we cannot fall short on this one!
- the desire/willingness to grapple with something - even when it's hard going - until you reach the conclusion. This will include both perseverance and diligence.
- a sense of 'seriousness': a sense that learning is serious, leading to a sense of responsibility.
This doesn't mean no fun. It means that hard work is expected, even when it isn't fun. We should not encourage our children to give up when the 'fun' of starting something turns into the inevitable 'hard-work' stage. However 'fun' you dress up learning, it can't go on long before the child ceases to find it fun and wants to give up. This is true of activities such as learning to play an instrument, or any other aspect of life. All too often parents let the child give up. Think hard before you let your child start something, and make it hard for him/her to give up: you decide, not him/her. Obviously there are always going to be times when we make mistakes - we realise our child really does hate piano lessons (and has low talent) and we make them continue a while until we choose for them to stop - not let him/her stop the minute s/he complains. It means having confidence in a maths curriculum and making it work for your child, rather than buying a new one the minute the child says that it is 'boring'.
3. A good course of study
See this post for how to choose a home-school curiculum and this one to see the choice of best curriculums available.
It is best if we use a curriculum that is God-centred. I do not recommend using books written for the National Curriculum as they are based on humanistic ideas - even the methodology of teaching Maths and English.
4 High quality books
Parents - let us not take these things lightly
Let us pray for each other and for Christian families that they may be built up in the faith.
collossians 2:7
In this post we will explore the main change that took place in education in the early 1900's and that is still rampant in schools today. I briefly made mention of this in this post, but will look in further detail here. It has far reaching consequences.
Changing educational aims and objectives
Traditional teaching v. progressive
Progressivism has invaded all government departments and authorities. They give lip-service to ‘traditionalist methods’ to appease public opinion, but however much things seem to be swinging towards a more traditional approach (as they keep saying is so in the UK at present), the truth is the opposite. At its core, education (and society) is still very much progressive.
What is 'traditional' education?
What is 'progressive' education?
Progressive education is based around the perceived needs of the child and individual learning styles. It was brought in gradually as a result of findings by psychologists. For example, Friederich Froebel (1782–1852) believed that the teacher's role was not to indoctrinate but to encourage self-expression through play. It was not so much what a child 'ought' to know, but what would a child like to know. Instruction was seen as interfering with a child's development.
It brought about a new way of teaching. Instead of traditional forms of education which involved a teacher teaching, it introduced (among others) the use of techniques such as problem solving and experiental learning.
Making the world a better place
Educational reformers claimed that a natural educational methodology could free humanity by creating a better world. It was seen as a means by which humans, using reason and science, could shape their environment (Gerald Gutek, A History of the Western Educational Experience, p. 486)
According to John Dewey (1859 -1952) education is the "participation of the individual in the social consciousness of the race" (Dewey, 1897, para. 1). He saw education as being concerned with the psychological and social aspects of a child, with psychology at the base. For him, education was better if it focused on the child's powers and natural interests.
And so we see that the aim of those who shaped progressive education, was the reconstruction of society.
Other names of those who form part of the history of this movement include: Rudolf Steiner and even Baden Powell and Charlotte Mason and Maria Montessori. Maria Montessori is a little of an exception, as although classed by many as being progressive, she was rejected by the progressives who did not agree with some of her more formal methods of teaching.
As far as I can see it is fair to say that progressive educators see the child as innately perfect and see outside influences as damaging. When progressivism took off, of course, Darwin's evolutionary theories were just beginning to gain ground and were having a huge impact on how people thought and acted.
An on going battle
An example - Reading:
For example, the government has introduced phonics as the main means by which reading must be taught in schools. Now phonics is a traditional method; the progressive teachers favour ‘Look and say’ and ‘Whole Word methods’ or better still ‘Natural language’ methods which is a nice way to put the previous two! Phonics works with the brain – we build up skills gradually from the bottom, letters to words to sentences, whereas progressive methods work backwards against the brain. Imagine being given a book and being asked to read it when you couldn’t read a single word: what would do? You would start to look at the pictures for clues. This is what ‘real books’ are like. Children are expected to learnt to read by acting as a reader, using context to guess words and picture cues and these are all labelled legitimate ‘reading strategies’.
Facts v. feelings
The process matters more that the product, assessment replaces testing and group work replaces competition. Entitlement replaces choice.
Teachers or social workers?
Many 'social work' activities in school are justified as being in the children's best interests; to help them cope in the present age. It has always been the way - break it, and then suggest measures to help cope with the damage, but with no intention to 'fix-it'!
Cognitive v. Affective
Psychological techniques and peer pressure
Make parents feel inferior
No absolute values
The value of circle time in modern education
So where does circle time fits into all this? Well, you may have seen for yourself by now! It is merely one of the many techniques used by progressives to imbibe their values in children. It is usually directed at children in preschool and 5 to 11. The teacher should be in the circle too, and in theory, no-one's beliefs or values should be more important than anyone else’s. It sounds nice, doesn’t it? Cosy even – all sitting in a circle. It sounds appealing: to be accepting of all, everyone matters, everyone’s views count. Mrs Mosely (a leading proponent of circle time) admits that it is a form of therapy intended to promote change and make children ‘powerful’. It is often promoted as a way of dealing with deviant behaviour. Circles are powerful! Teachers very often do not know why they do it. It is sold to them as the way to teach and manage children's behaviour. This is not however the same as getting children into a circle to teach them – as a way to make sure each child can see the teacher and has a good space to sit in. Circle Time sessions are planned sessions – the teacher has a focus for the session - so that circle time is not ‘valueless’ despite the claims to be neutral. Nothing is neutral – ever. God did not make our world that way.
The fruit of progressive methods
- They bring about low academic standards.
- There is no rigour, or competition to improve oneself.
- All are brought to the same level. All must have prizes.
- Sadly, despite the appearance of being tolerant, progressives are anything but – they will be very ruthless to any who oppose them. Tolerance is fine until you suggest something they don't agree with. Then they reserve the right to be intolerant. You however have no right to intolerance - only to do as you are told. Rememeber - children are being brought up as progressive - and have been for many years and these methods now permeate our society.
- Despite aiming to improve society, by removing the imparting of knowledge, mankind has been left to work it out for himself, with tragic consequences to our nation. The mess we are currently in stems from the disregard for God's truths. True knowledge imparted from above has gradually been replaced over the years with man's wisdom.
Where does the Christian stand?
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding. Proverbs 9:10
As followers of Christ, we will want our children to learn facts - first of all facts about God, from His word, then fact about the world He has made - His Word helps us to interpret the world around us, not our ideas shaping the world. Absolute truths that are not dependent upon man's feelings. Things that need learing whether we feel like it or not. Lessons that do not pander to the sinful nature. We know that our children need teaching, and that truth is not in them just needing to be encouraged out. We know that without teaching they will not discover God's ways for themselves. Similarly, left to themselves, they will not learn the essential things that are needed for life.
You musn't say people are sinful
A new gospel
The fruit of God's wisdom
Jeremiah 6:16
In conclusion - do we need to abandon all modern methods?
I think that we need to evaluate the materials and methods that we use to educate our children and make sure that we agree with the philosophy behind them/it - including IGCSE/A level courses. We can no longer say 'This is Christian, it must be OK.' Much of what goes for Christian these days, has been influenced by a progressive mindset. Having said that - most standard Christian homeschool curriculums appear to be based on a traditional style of education -though that per-se does not make them 'good'. They still need evaluating carefully against your family's aims for your child.
IGCSE/GCSE curriculums are the end goal of a mainly progressive education. We may need to use them - but use them with your eyes open wide so that you can make sure that your children learn the truth and much more than is contained in these very narrow curriculums.
Individual Learning styles
I would be wary of overly worrying about my child's learning style - these are linked to a progressive outlook. It is true that how learning is presented to a child can make a great difference to whether the child learns or not, but that is not the same as needing to overly concern ourselves with how the child learns best. What more is needed is intuitive parents, who watch the child's response to each lesson carefully and ask 'How can I help this child learn this?' What is needed will vary from day to day according to what is needed to be learned.
Values Education: a brief guide for Parents, Teachers and Policy Makers, Nick Seaton, 2001
On this page I list the main curriculums used by Christian home-educating families in the UK, however they do not all have a Christian ethos (warning given). The totally Christian curriculums all come under the heading of 'Traditional'. You need to make sure that you understand these different types and be happy with the philosophy behind each before buying a curriculum - or the end product may not be what you expected! Please do your home-work and make sure you are happy before you purchase.
In my opinion it is best to base your childrens' education around books rather than digital books/use of computer materials if you want the best education for your child, however I recognise that for some parents that may be the best/only way to go.
There are several curriculums available and there is no 'one-size-fits-all'. Do your home-work, check them all out: check your budget - how many children to home-school? Do your maths as you don't want to start a curriculum and then find you can't afford it.
One of the cheapest is the Robinson Curriculum (see below). We also consider it one of the best; it suited out family perfectly, but you need to find one to suit your family. Another extremely good value, effective, time-tested curriculum for ages 0 to 12 is The Mother's companion (see below). It's best if you can stick with one, as no two ever perfectly fit together, but some people change at age 11/12. Try to avoid the temptation to chop and change as it can prove expensive and more importantly, children thrive best with continuity and consistency.
So choose carefully!
Of course, you do not need to buy a set curriculum covering all subjects - you could just buy books as and when you need them, from differing sources. We will cover some of these in a later post.
See also my our post on educating in the the early years - as you do not need to spend lots of money on a young child, teaching every subject through desk work.
Traditional style home-education curriculums
ROBINSON CURRICULUM - 5 to 18
http://www.robinsoncurriculum.com/
An Excellent K-12 Home School Curriculum
Developed by a scientist and his six children
You pay for a box of discs which contain books, which are formatted ready to print, as well as a lot of helpful advice and supporting materials. You basically do Reading, Writing and Maths every day and that's it. The reading is directed by the parent for an age appropriate amount of time.
A good high yield b/w printer will give years of service. You will need to purchase a maths scheme - preferably one that your child can use to self-teach. The recommended scheme is Saxon (starting with book 54), but that is harder to get now in the UK. You may need to supplement with a good writing programme - initially to help with reading and spelling and then with essay writing.
Pros:
- It is rigorous, aiming at an excellent education and it works!!
- It is cheap to buy and can be used for multiple children.
- It fits well with a Classical approach.
- The main beauty of it is that mum/dad does not have hours of preparing school work for each child each night, particularly good for large families, but suitable for all.
- It frees the child to have more time to take an interest in the world around him/her.
- School becomes less of a chore and in later years, the parent can work alongside the child - even in self-employment.
- The discs contain books for all ages from early readers to 18+ formatted to be printed out easily.
- Children do copywork until age 10 - so writing is easy and it's great for those with special needs as the pressure to compose before this age is taken away.
Cons:
- Bear in mind the books on the discs are American mainly so you may want to supplement with British books of similar quality - see our reading list.
- After the age of 10 there is not much support for the 'essay writing' so depending on your expertise in this area, you may need to add in a writing programme.
It is not essential to buy the curriculum/follow it precisely to achieve good results (though they cannot be guaranteed unless you follow it properly), but the principles must be understood; read the information on the site to understand what it is all about. Keep it simple (preferably just Reading, Writing and Arithmetic each day); the best literature (ideally pre-1960's); no TV (Keep entertainment of any sort limited); No sugar (hard, so many don't achieve this, but worth reducing as much as you can). Stand back and watch what happens!
From our own experience, it achieves amazing results. We liked the philosophy, and the idea of just focusing our 'school' time on reading, writing and maths. Read our story here.
ACE CURRICULUM
https://www.aceministries.com/curriculum/
On the surface, most schools look alike—buildings, personnel, curriculum, and budgets. The A.C.E. program is different. For over 40 years, it has been the trendsetter in Biblical educational reform. Its philosophy is built on basic principles of the Word of God. Students are taught to see life from God’s point of view, to take responsibility for their own learning, and to walk in Godly wisdom and character. Accelerated Christian Education® is not just a publisher but a comprehensive Bible-based program that serves both the campus-based school and the homeschool..
This curriculum is expensive and many families save money by only purchasing it for the secondary school years as it leads to accreditation.
Not all universities may accept the accreditation, so it is wise to think about where your child is heading before purchasing.
Children complete PACES daily for the given subjects for their stage of learning. Some children love them, others find them very tedious and boring. There are families on both side of the fence - those who love it and those who hated it - the choice is yours!!!
Teach
www.teach-at-home.org
We seek to provide a wide range of resources which will help parents to raise their children in accordance with God's Word.
We can provide a full curriculum (excluding music and Modern Foreign Languages) for children from Preschool (KS0) to KS2.
Maths and Science are covered for KS3, KS4 and to iGCSE standard.
All this is underpinned and driven by a sound Christian ethos.
We also have high quality, educational products available to purchase and can offer Maths coaching for all ages using the latest web technologies.
Whether you are simply looking for more resources to supplement and complement your child in school, or you are lready home educating or considering it, VCSO can help
https://www.classicalconversations.co.uk/challenge/
A classical education recognizes that we learn anything by going through three distinct phases: learning the words and basic facts associated with the subject, sorting, understanding, and practicing using those words and facts, and finally, using the information by teaching the subject to someone else, writing original essays on the subject or solving problems with the information.
These three phases are called, respectively, grammar, dialectic, and rhetoric.
MOTHERS' COMPANION - For children 0 to 12
www.motherscompanion.weebly.com
To order email: [email protected]
For more information and to view sample pages visit https://motherscompanion.weebly.com
For a quick overview of the contents see here.
Note, the flashdrive contains both volumes of the Story of God's dealings with our Nation by C. Eastwood amongst much, much, more.
REVIEWS:
- "Thank you very much... I have been very excited by the things I have looked at already and just know we are going to have fun doing new things together." (Z.H)
- "Most helpful... wonderful! It is so helpful to know that we are on the right track, and the ideas and resources are excellent." (R.R.)
It is not just a list of resources but a vast collection of material in PDF format for you to print yourself and use as you need it.
There are hundreds and hundreds of pages of traditional English, maths, history, geography, art, music, Latin, speech, handwriting, Bible lessons, projects and much more with audio files to support music and language learning.
The contents are sorted into volumes of approximately a year's work so you can quickly find your child's level in any subject. The Diary sections show you exactly how you can use the materials with your child by means of examples. There are enough textbooks and worksheets to keep you going day after day at your own child's pace. This is a traditional classical Christian curriculum
using tried and tested materials from the past. Some of the materials are also specially designed for children of different ages to work together – a boon for your growing family.
Children differ so much in what they need. Having all the resources on a flashdrive means that you can print only what you need when you need it and at your own child’s pace.
CHRISTIAN LIBERTY PRESS
http://www.shopchristianliberty.com/
Personal note: a good supplier of Godly reading material. Some of their books are stocked by Conquest Books.
Curriculum materials that are rooted in the Word of God and express a biblical worldview.
A simple plan.
The tools you need.
Time well spent
Charlotte Mason
https://www.amblesideonline.org/
Old fashioned, Bible based and many good instructions on the life and needs of the child.
Do bear in mind that Miss Mason was living in a time when the current prevailing educational scene saw 50 upwards small children cram -packed into a small classroom, unable to move around much all day. Miss Mason's ideas were revolutionary against this back-drop, however, she was also a follower of the teachings of Rousseau and Plato whose beliefs that a child was only made evil by external influences was becoming more widely accepted, as evolutionary thinking took root.
Be careful to grasp a true interpretation of her teaching on the subject of child discipline as since we live in a day when evolutionary beliefs about sin underpin all aspects of society, it would be easy to conclude from her writings that all that is needed is to change what we do as parents in order to solve all of a child's problems. Although due consideration of this is essential, it would not necessarily solve all problems.
In addition, obviously, this would not be biblical thinking.
Aids to learning
DREAMING SPIRES HOME LEARNING 12+
This option is like having subject experts come to your own home and teach your children as one of their own, "beaming" to you from the internet into your own lounge. Dr Kat Patrick created the venture for her own children when they were ready for higher and deeper levels of enquiry once they hit secondary school, and she has been growing the subjects on offer year-on-year. The tutorial team members are hand-picked home-educating parents whose expertise and experience motivate and inspire students for any future exams by teaching above and beyond a narrow syllabus (my emphasis). Current options include English, Ancient History, Biology, and Spanish. At their foundation is the Charlotte Mason method and its focus on living books, and using the tools of narration, copywork, and discussion - plus a truly global clientele - Dreaming Spires' courses will open up a whole new world for your secondary student.
You can find more information about the courses as well as their helpful home-educating high school blog at: www.dreamingspireshomelearning.co.uk
-- on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dreamingspireshomelearning/
-- on Instagram: dreaming_spires_home_learning
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Elementary education is a race between the biological development of a child’s mind and the learning of skills and information required for the optimum use of that mind. Facts and information are important, but even more important are skills that must be developed early in life for optimum mental development. Some such skills, such as mathematics and writing, are also an integral part of the factual information. Other skills are a part of the organization of the school itself and consist of a collection of mental habits and attitudes.
In designing homeschool curricula for our children, we should, therefore, ask ourselves several important questions:Ultimately, no authority can answer these questions. Parents know their child best, and it is their responsibility to answer these questions for their family. Parents should realize, however, the importance of these questions.
- Are the facts we teach fundamental information of primary importance to productive thought?
- Are the study habits and attitudes we teach suitable for the adult that our child will become?
- Are these things acquired in such a way and with sufficient mastery that the child will develop self-confidence in his independent individual abilities?
Dr Robinson
Your choice of curriculum will depend largely on the age of your child/ren. Secondly, it will depend on your educational philosophy. Now, you may not have thought much about a 'philosophy' but I can assure you that you have one even if you don't think you have. It may be based on your own education, or you may know already that you want your children to have a better education than you had yourself. If you have taken them out of mainstream school then there will be a reason why you have done so - you want to do better for your child yourself.
An educational philosphy
Have you ever thought about what you are aiming for in your children when they finish their 'education'. Who should educate - what does the Bible say? What is education concerned with? How is education best achieved? These are all necessary questions that need to be thought about before you embark on what will probably be your most important career - educating your children.
Here is not the place to do an in-depth Bible study of what God has to say about the education of our children, but suffice to say, we should not be unequally yoked with the world when it comes to intimate things - and after marriage, our children are our next major concern and their souls should be of great intimate concern to us.
To help you, I think it would be good to understand the modern educational scene. What determines how and what is taught in schools today and what goes into the text books of non-Christian school books, and sadly into the I/GCSE/A level curriculums as well. Then you will be in a better position to evaluate what you use in your home-school and to work out a course of study for your child/ren.
The History Behind Modern Education
The type of education that you and I received at school is very different to that of 100 or even 150 years earlier. Education today is vastly different to the one we received even. Changes happen all the time, and not all change is bad. Pictures of many tiny children crammed into Victorian classrooms, taught by officious looking teachers, make us thankful for our bright, modern classrooms and freer methods, brought to us as a result of the research into how children learn in previous eras. However, underlying any form of education is a belief as to what and how you would like pupil/s to learn. So here I attempt to very briefly explain the underlying beliefs of the modern education system.
The subjects may all seem the same throughout the ages: Maths, English, History and Geography and languages and so on, but the educational pedagogy has rapidly changed, especially since the first half of the 20th Century. What has changed? It is particularly the idea of child-centered learning introduced by the likes of Sigmund Freud (1856-1923), Jean Jacques Rousseau (1712 -1778) and John Dewey (1859 - 1952). Freud's theories about the unconscious shattered parental confidence. Parents were led to believe that the way they handled their children could cripple their personalities for life. John Dewey laid the foundations for the 'child-centered-learning' theories that have been responsible for destroying both American and UK education. He based a lot of his thinking on the work of Jacques Rousseau, who believed that children are innately good and had to be protected from adult influence which could only corrupt them. Dewey carried this thought on and building on Freud's work pushed forward the shift of power from adults to children. Teachers became more and more 'facilitators' rather than teachers - the idea being that children simply needed guiding to learn rather than teaching. 'Keep the child happy' became the mantra, never minding if what the child wanted was good for him/her or not.
This guiding rather than teaching can sound good, and there are times when it can be helpful, but used as it has been, it has led to the shift from parents and teachers handing down values and instruction, to concentrating more on their mental health. Hence schools nowadays are not so much educational establishments, but social ones. Subjects are no longer academic subjects imparting knowledge and truth, but rather centered around the personal lives of the students. This paved the way for new subjects such as Personal and social Health Education (PSHE), sex education and Citizenship education, but it has also impacted how all subjects are taught and what is taught.
It changed subjects like history and geography from being factual subjects to 'social' subjects: opinions rather than facts are now taught in history - in fact, facts are no longer 'facts', but opinions, and truth went out of the window with the facts. Students are now asked for their opinions on history and how they think people in those days 'felt'. Geography became more interested in tracking social issues - birth control and the effects of flooding, and imparting political values and social skills rather than studying the earth. * Of course, the advent of Charles Darwin's (1809-1882) evolutionary theories added fuel to this raging fire as well, changing the sciences and religious instruction completely.
Art has become a vehicle for expressing oneself - rather than a medium for portraying the beauty of God's world - anything now goes and is called 'art'. Music has also been affected: the skill of composers in days gone by to compose music that is in harmony with creation (yes, creation has harmony!) has been replaced by back-beats and dissonance, with its culture of promiscuity, drugs and rebellion. Do what you please, as you please, is the message of modern music - including soft rock. And sadly this is no longer something the 'world' does, as soft rock and rock are in our churches too. Many Christians are ignorant of 'why' and the message rock music carries. The message of bad music will always override the message of the words, however good.
Of course, this is a simplified overview of education over the last 100+ years, but if you have followed me so far, you will hopefully begin to see the general thrust of modern education. Different Governments come and go and each tweaks the curriculum (again and again), but we still have a foundational mindset that children must lead the way - unhampered by adult 'interference'. Self is at the core. Imparting information from teacher to child has gone, which means that truth has gone. The child has become the centre of his/her own learning - as if a young child has sufficient maturity and knowledge to decide what is good for him/her to know. Much modern learning is based around 'problem-solving' and 'investigation', which, although having their place should never form the back-bone of a curriculum as they do. Academic rigour has been sacrificed for rights without responsibilities and the imparting of a politically correct agenda.
What is very sad, is that most of us under the age of 70 are so used to these ideas - after all - it is how we have been taught - that we don't see anything wrong with them.
We are also suffering the end result of this idea now with maths currciulums that frown on rote learning of facts, rather wasting the child's time by expecting young children to 're-invent the wheel' as it were by spending hours finding different methods to compute. It's a bit like expecting children to bake a cake without giving them a recipe. 'Here's the equipment - now bake a cake'. It sounds stupid, but this is what is underpinning methods of teaching in maths currently taught in schools. This is why so many parents can't understand the way their children are being taught maths. Basically - they are not being taught!! There is a place for experimentation and problem-solving, but children should first be taught a method that works, so that they are equipped with an efficient method of calculating/spelling/reading. More able ones will be able to think of alternative methods, but all will be able then to access the basic curriculum.
Things are beginning to look a little better as society is beginning to realise that damage has been caused, but despite the reforms in the GCSE curriculum, I have to say that they are at surface level only at the moment. Child-centred learning is still deeply entrenched in the hearts of teachers and training institutions.
Implications for a Christian home-school
By now, I hope that alarm bells are ringing in your head! Children leading themselves? No facts? No truth? Teachers not able to instruct children to what is right/good? What is the outcome?
- Well - one outcome I would suggest is entertainment style learning - the easiest route (rote is particularly boring after all!). Books that are easy to read, that don't require any thought so that the child can be indoctrinated with all sorts of wrong ideas - look in your local library! A few facts are peppered here and there, but if you could see educational material for ages 5-7 in 1929, and earlier, you would be amazed at what they were teaching young children - beautiful books with beautiful pictures teaching FACTS and things that I don't know NOW! Of course, we also have computers with their fast moving pictures that make learning look like a game: don't be fooled, they can only produce a generation of children who do not know how to learn. Learning takes time, patience, endurance and concentration - and none of these are/can be taught through addictive computer games, however educational they promise to be.
- Another outcome I would suggest is emotional bondage - an education focused around the self makes one very inward looking and this can lead to all manner of mental and emotional problems - as we are seeing today. In addition it leaves you at the mercy of any who may like to take advantage of you. Knowledge (and especially TRUE knowldge from God's Word), is liberating. It helps you to be a thinker and evaluater. In days of old, education was seen as a good thing to lift people out of their current low position in life.
- Another outcome is ill-discipline. If teachers cannot dicipline children for fear of ruining the child's self-image then children are left to themselves, which as scripture tells us, leads to nothing good.
"but a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame.” Proverbs 29:15
- The worst outcome of all is that standards reach rock bottom. When teachers are not able to inspire children towards better things, then they sink to the lowest common denominator.
We must ask what we desire for our own children - mediocrity or something better than the general offering called 'education' that pervades our generation? How does the Lord require us to teach our children?
The Chrisitan Home-school Curriculum
Where does that leave Christian parents wanting a home-school curriculum?
Can we just run with the same text books and take out evolution and other bits we dont like and add in a bit of Bible study? I would suggest from the above that the answer has to be a total rethinking of how and what we teach our children. As we are starting from a different basis, that children are not born innately perfect, then what we build should be completely different and God-honouring.
So we start with a correct foundation: Romans 3 verse 23 says:
'For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God'
We also know that children need instruction and that it is a parent's job to instruct their child:
'Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.' Proverbs 22:6
We know that the best way for children to learn is that parents impart knowledge (truth) to their children. Obviously the primary way we will do this is by teaching our children what God's Word says. We will want to have family Bible times where we study God's Word together and pray and sing. We will also endeavour to teach our children to read as soon as we can, so that they can start the habit of reading God's Word daily for themselves. This will help them (and us) understand who God is and how He wants us to live. It will help us all as a family to avoid making a God in our own image - an easy thing to do if we do not know what the Bible actually says.
Then we will want the books we use to teach our children to be based on truth and facts.
We will want:
- a good phonic reading, spelling programme alongside teaching our children to form letters correctly and devlop a fluid style of handwriting, that teaches the child efficiently and as quickly as possible so that further learning in all subjects is facilitated - rather than leaving our child to try and discover how our language works for him/herself so wasting years of valuable time.
- a rigorous maths curriculum that teaches number facts and gives old-fashioned (for reasons given above) drill in basic computations so that our child can quickly progress onto more advanced maths skills to use in every day life.
- to give our children the best quality books to read - you will probably find the best books printed before the child-centred/politically correct ethos really took hold - pre-1950/60.
- to teach our children to love knowledge - Firstly the knowledge of God and secondly of His world; to love to revel in finding out about it - to enjoy using their brains for God's glory.
- to remove anything in our homes that might contradict our ethos: T.V with the 'world's' unhelpful view of life portrayd every time we switch it on. How can the child of any age be expected to discern what is truth by watching the 'world'? Computer games that sap the brain's energy and which feed addictions. These are just a couple of suggestions - each family must think these things through for themselves.
- I would go further and want my child to be able to teach him/her self - not to make it up and choose whether to study or not, oh no - the opposite: we the parents decide what the child must learn, but present it in such a way the child can study it for him/herself so that s/he can learn to grapple with subjects, to think things through for themselves, to learn logic. This teaches children to be accountable, life-long learners, rather than thinking that learning stops when you leave 'school'- or that it is just to pass an exam. They become active rather than passive learners, learning early in life how to engage with their learning.
- to most importantly, teach our children to evaluate everything in life against God's Word.
I would suggest that we need to be especially careful when we start to consider exams for our children. The current exam curriculum is based on the above outlined philosophy and is very narrow and anti-God/truth. I know some parents are lost as to how to educate their teens and are glad to have the direction of an I/GCSE curriculum. However there is plenty of help available. Our next blog post will look at the best curriculums available in the UK - and many of them teach into the teen years to a far higher and better standard than the i/gcse curriculum currently does. See also our post on alternative options to I/GCSE. Why should we have taught our children to a higher standard all these years, for them to just sit the same poor exams at the end - or for that to be the sum total of their education?
Christian parents, we need to wake up: we need to be alert to what is happening. We must seek a different path - a radically different path - not just the same as the world's with the word 'Christian' added on!
I pray that this post will be helpful in enabling you to choose a curriculum that will bring honour and glory to our dear Saviour as we seek to bring up our children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. (Ephesians 6:4)
Can it be done successfully? The answer is yes and we show you how! We start by showing you how to help your child to make his/her own nature diary and then how to use it.
Although it is easy to buy such things, the making of his/her own nature diary by a child is a worthwhile exercise in diligence and the finished article will be so much more cherished because the child made it him or her self.
It is simple to do and does not need to be long: for young children it is best if each book lasts no longer than a month as younger children like change.
You will need a piece of A4 card for the cover and then 8 pages of good quality cartridge paper of about 170 gsm for the pages. See resources.
Fold each piece in half, including the card. Lay the pages in a pile with the card at the bottom, ensuring that all edges are flush and the folds are together.
Using a sharp needle make three holes evenly spaced down the centre fold, passing through all sheets.
Keeping the pages together, thread the needle with some strong thread and starting with the middle hole (and leaving long end), go down, back to the middle, up, back to the middle, three of four times. On the last time, cut the thread with plenty to spare as you approach the middle for the last time. Tie the two ends together securely. If you have a guillotine you may like to trim the edges of the book to make the pages flush.
Decorate the front covers beautifully - this could be an art lesson in and of itself.
Encourage the child to take great delight in his/her nature diary.
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Keeping the Nature Diary
Keeping a nature diary requires patience and persistency. These are good traits to be developed in young children, however the parent will need to encourage and supply with fresh ideas to be recorded. There is a need here for variety, to keep interest alive.
Each entry should of course record the date.
Sometimes observations will centre around the weather, or clouds, or wind. At other times on plants and others on birds, insects or animals. On other occasions there may be opportunity to study footprints in mud or snow. As each book is completed, it will form a diary of the child’s experiences and adventures in nature.
However, although it is good to make such a diary, and should be encouraged, and most children will happily take up the suggestion, especially when they see the enthusiasm of others, there may be some who do not. Be careful of causing a distaste for the subject by compelling those with no real desire to record in this way to do so.
These diaries will be individual. Even children within the same family may not all record the same aspect of say a nature ramble. One may have been looking up at the sky, while another studied the ground. Allow for individuality.
Entries will not necessarily be works of art at this stage - that is not important. Each entry should have the date, and a simple sentence to say what was found/observed. If desired, a simple sketch/illustration can be added. Obviously the older the child the more they may wish to record. Obviously best work should be encouraged.
Our downloadable - print it yourself 'Nature Diary' notebook for young children (aged 4 to 8) available from TES.
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Nature Explorers
the Christian monthly nature magazine for children aged 4 to 8, all based on a 6 day Creation.
Priced at:
£8 for a PDF version delivered by e-mail
£32 for a high quality print edition delivered to your door.
Please see
www.natureobservations.weebly.com
for further information.
Phillipians 4:8
In an evolutionary age BEAUTY is sadly lacking. Evolutionists cannot explain beauty and therefore they place low emphasis on it and even try and remove it.
We were created beautiful, for a beautiful world, and beauty is what we all long for and yet we no longer know what it looks like. We think beauty is coloured hair and clothes so skimpy they are hardly called clothes. We pride ourselves these days on being free and easy - casual dress, casual language, casual relationships, fast food with no nutritional content, constant music with a beat to try and liven ourselves up out of our dull stupor and dragging ourselves further into the mire the longer we listen to it. We like cartoons to make us laugh and 'easy-reads' which require no thought and a constant barage of noise from the TV/radio to numb our minds. We speak using the barest minimum of words with slang interjected with every other word. Children are fed stories aimed at entertaining rather than aspiring them to greater things. The illustrations in the books we give them are less than beautiful, demeaning the human image. Art itself has become a vehicle of self-expression rather than an appreciation of beauty. We see knowledge as something you acquire in order to pass an exam and no further. We don't expect anything to last, so we rarely value anything - including life which is seen as something that can be easily disposed of if it proves inconvenient to us. We don't stop and think about it anymore, and sadly our churches are joining in in greater numbers: pop music in church, casual dress, lack of reverence, cartoon pictures in children's books and youth work materials. Our children know nothing better than this world stripped of beauty. Such has been the impact of evolutionary thinking on our lives.
Does it matter? I believe it does. I believe that when the Scriptures exhort us to think on 'Whatsoever things are lovely' etc.. it does so for a reason. Our Creator God knows us better than we know ourselves. He knows that it is for our greater good to fill our minds with beautiful things. The beauty of the world around us brings honour and glory to Him. Our faith in Him should make us more and more beautiful. Let us flee the things of this world and teach our children to do the same, if they will listen.
This website exists to try and help parents to re-navigate education - to find beautiful resources with which to teach their children and to encourage our children to create beautiful things themselves. To recognise the need for beautiful books, language, art, music; and to aspire them to greater knowledge, not merely to jump a hoop and pass an examination. To aspire them to reach for better than they see around them - not for self-gratification, but to bring honour and glory to God - the creator of all things good.
There are 'beautiful' resources available to us: the Authorised Version being an example of excellent language - simple, with a rhythm that makes it esily memorised and written by scholars who paid great attention to detail, resulting in it becoming the most accurate translation available to us in English; books with God-honouring illustrations by artists who seek to do justice to the beauty of the world around them; music that is written carefully according to the rules of good harmony, without a back beat distorting the tune with its message of rebellion; people taking care with their dress and spoken language; relationships that are not treated lightly - but rather seen as something beautiful; beautiful behaviour which is taught and encouraged; food, lovingly created with lovely ingredients, rather than foods which are no more than a bunch of chemicals mixed together and packaged 'attractively'; good quality, beautifully hand-crafted products that will last for a long time; the acquisition of real knowledge; the sanctity of life.
I aim to help you seek out these better things for your children. To that end, many of the resources will appear 'old-fashioned' as there are few being produced these days. Please do not despise them for this. To find beautiful resources we will need to be discerning and to know what we are looking for. We need to reawaken our sense of beauty, teach it to our children and step forwards together armed with beautiful tools to live and work with.
Ecclesiastes 3:11
Mathew Henry commenting on Ecclesiastes 3:11
Other posts you may like:
However, do not despair. It is not hard to educate a young child aged 4 to 8 at home and it does not need to cost lots of money or even time.
At this age the only real 'school' work that needs to be done is the 3 R's: reading, 'riting and 'rithmatic. Yes, school children must be in school from 9 until 3, but they will not be sitting at a desk for all those hours. In the early years, much of their time will be spent engaging in play. I hasten to add, that much of their time will also be wasted. Early Years settings seek to replicate the home-life - baking/shopping/travelling etc..! This seems bizarre when their main aim is to get the children away from home. Think of the old fashioned 'home-corner', or playing shop, dressing up - all valuable parts of childhood, but which are no less educational for being done at home as part of a child's normal life.
So English and Maths are essential. Other subjects are not essential at this age, as little children learn holistically. That is, all subjects merge into just one - life. They learn best through exploration, reading and playing (inside and out) and plenty of time in a child’s day needs to be given to these latter three.
Although as home-educators we do not need to follow a timetable as such, it is equally true that young children thrive best when there is a consistent routine. If the children know that they will be sitting down to do school work in the the morning, then you can cut the battles in half at least! Try and make sure that some maths and Language work is done every day and that most days it is quality work. Of course there are always going to be those times when unexpected things happen that throw the routine out - but get back to it as soon as possible. Children are usually more alert and receptive in the morning. It is good to do the work, and then have free time. Work then play.
My suggested plan of a day:
9 - 10am English work: reading, writing, spelling
For young children these three will best be taught through a good synthetic, systematic phonic programme. Aim for your child to be the best reader s/he can be as this will form the basis for all future learning.
The main aim of these lessons will be to give your child the tools s/he will need in order to become a good reader and writer. Reading is best taught alongside spelling. Writing is best learnt by separating the skills of handwriting and composition. At this age, composition is best done verbally. Copy work (copying from suitable books/poems etc...) should play a large part.
10 -10.30 a break - play in the garden in summer, a walk round the block in winter - or play indoors if mum is tired or the weather is bad. Some days I used to put some classical music on and let them run and jump to let off some energy. Endeavour to factor in some exercise each day, even in winter as you will all feel better for it and hopefully be healthier. It doesn't have to be at this time, but a regular time helps everybody to know what to expect. Young children thrive on routine.
10.30 - 11.30 Maths work
When the children are very young (4-5) the maths and English may not take so long.
Do be prepared before each days lessons: have the work ready, know what equipment will be needed. Have the children set up the school room if need be after breakfast. Train them to know that after breakfast, they should be ready to come to the table when called to work. There should be no arguments about this. Good training spares a lot of frayed tempers!
For those with a mix of ages: train older children to work as independently as possible. Obviously you will need to listen to them reading and check work, but they should be moving towards being able to get on with an exercise by themselves for a few minutes while you work with a younger child. Train babies from the start to play quietly in the school room - provide quiet toys, such as bricks, puzzles etc...Have them ready so that as one activity flags, you can provide another. Do factor in time to spend with baby - maybe doing a shape sorter or a puzzle together. Move from child to child as needed making sure that all have done what is necessary each day. Again, a routine helps to give structure and order to your 'school' and helps young children feel confident and secure.
11.30 -12.30 On some days art work or project activities, though on some days it may be appropriate to do this in the afternoon. I always planned on one art activity a week at least and I set a regular day for it to ensure that it happened. This should not be seen by the children as 'school' work - this should be general homelife - all of you learning together. All chidlren (except tiny bables) can join in the art work, doing so at his/her own level).
12.30: Lunch
Afternoons Free
Now is the time for free exploration/play, outings or for doing activities together.
Many families like to have a time of family rest at some point when younger ones sleep and older ones read/colour/play quietly. It is good if at the start of the week you can make a plan of what you intend to do when. This means that activities are more likely to happen. Do not feel that you have to wear yourself out taking the children out every day to socialise. I used to try and plan for one major 'out of home' activity a week, then other afternoons being quieter at home. Do not feel guilty if some days the afternoons are free play. The children do not need structure all day and actually it is better for them if they don’t have it as it makes them find their own ‘fun’ and develop self-motivation. Later this may lead to hobbies and interests.
If you have the energy and children are flagging in ideas, sometimes you could play together - set up a shop, or imagine a cardboard box is a boat. Usually that would be enough to set them going for a while.
If a bit of peace and quiet is needed as the children are getting fractious, then a cuddle with mum with a good story often resettles everybody.
Bed Time
A good bed-time routine is esential for an orderly home, which a home-school home needs to be. Aim to have tea at about the same time each day, followed by family prayers and bath, then a bedtime story and individual prayer time before lights out. A regular routine each night helps to settle children to rest, ready for learning the next day. Four year olds need 11.5 hours sleep, five year olds need 11 hours and 6 to 8 year olds need approx. 10-11 hours (source NHS). To find bedtime work backwards from the time you need the child to get up.
Tired children are more likely to be awkward, fretful and make life generally more difficult for everyone in the home.
Other considerations:
Technology is not essential in the early years. Young children do not need access to a computer for learning or for pleasure. They do not need entertaining with a screen - it doesn't engage the brain in the same way that learning from books does, due to its fast moving images. A few carefully chosen DVD's are a resources to be used wisely on occasion, not something that should be a matter of course everyday. Try not to use the TV as a baby sitter regularly, tempting though it is!
You would do well if you can do without a TV in the home. Children will soon find sources of amusement that are better for them. Instead, provide good quality toys: toys that meet the need for construction and role -play (bricks, dolls, garages, trains, Play-Mobil etc..). Avoid violent toys and toys linked with children's TV programmes.
Spend time with your children. Don't let them see project/art work as 'school'. Plan family outings to stimulate discussion, widen horizons and hopefully pave the way for future interests. Excursions are a great opportunity for family bonding and having time to relate with our chidlren away from school time.
Listen to good music - classical music, folk music, hymns. Avoid pop music as it is rebellious by nature - rebellious ultimately agaisnt God, being symoblic of promisuity, drugs and rebellion.
- Keep school simple
- Be organised
- Have good discipline - have rules for the family - keep them simple
- Have a regular routine which includes plenty of fresh air and exercise
- Ensure the whole family has the required amount of sleep (including 8 hours for adults)
- Either don't have a TV, or keep it off for the most part of each day.
- Observe the Sabbath day - it brings blessing and rest!
To help keep the cost down for you, I provide FREE and low priced resources for KS1 on this website (see side-bar for examples) and on my main website, Lilibette's Resources. My project packs are being added to all the time and provide plenty of 'dip - in' activities to help give your explorations a focus. If you have any questions, please ask!
You may also like to look at the Mothers Companion Curriculum - low priced and all conveniently on a USB stick. All of these are compatible with a classical style curriculum.
First considerations
Before you begin it does us all well to ask ourselves - 'What kind of books do I envisage my child ultimately reading as an adult?' as you will be paving the way for this whether you have though about it before hand or not. Reading for entertainment? Well - yes - it has its place, however fiction for the Christian can be a real snare (immorality) - so for us this wasn't top of the agenda: 'whatsoever things are pure' (Phil. 4:8) was our motto. We also have to be aware of the illustrations that are in the books we give our children. Are they caricatures of God's perfect creation - degrading humanity and animals? If so we steered away from them- our family motto was always 'whatsoever things are lovely' (Phil. 4:8).
Yes, our lads read plenty of fiction as young children but as they have got older we have steered them towards more serious works, for example:
Reading their Bibles
Biographies (which they do for relaxation)
Reading for study
Reading professional books appertaining to the subjects they enjoy
I don't believe that this has happened by accident but rather because we were led to consider physical books better than 'electronic books' - the highest quality books we could find, and because we followed the Robinson Curriculum, they were required to read for 10 minutes times their school year every day Monday to Friday. This instilled in them a love of reading and a thirst for knowledge.
- teach him/her to read with a good phonic programme,
- then give him/her the best books that you have access to and build up your own library - and expect him/her to read for an alotted time each day - no option!
- Keep screen time to the minium - preferably don't have a TV
- Let your child see you reading - your Bible first and foremost
The need for Phonics
Choosing a Good Phonic Programme
- Systmatic- i.e. it follows a clear progression - not expecting children to read words that they haven't yet learnt the sounds for
- Simple to actually teach - or it will become a core to you and your child will sense that and it will become a core to him/her too!
- Effective - you want to see results - soon - and your child needs to feel that s/he is progressing as this gives the onward motivation
- Be based on actual, physcial books rather than a computer screen. so that the child gets used to associating in depth reading with having a book in his/her hand, rather than entertainment based reading on a screen, with its transient nature
- Affordable
- Minimum preparation needed
Before you start teaching it, you should get an overview of how the programme works and how best to support your child as s/he learns. This is very important - in fact - it is the KEY to helping your child learn to read. Tou must study yourself to understand what is necessary, so that you can tweak the process to help each child succeed. Two children can use the same programme, but the way each learns to read will be unique to him/her. always aim to make the programme fit the child, not the child fit the porgramme.
Also bear in mind that what is suitable for one family/child may not be the best for you and your child - or even for subsequent children. Children all need phonics - but phonics can be presented in a myriad of different ways.
There are many phonic programmes, of all complexities and prices. As my aim in life is to make things as simple as they can be, and as cheaply as possible, I reccomend the follwing two FREE programmes. Both work well.
Phonics Programmes I recommend - cheap, but they work effectively
It is designed to be a no fuss programme - straightforward and no frills, designed to get your child reading and spelling well in the shortest amount of time with the least amount of effort/money/resources.
Free and truly simple, but very effective. Includes free extras like games, supporting worksheets/activities and phonic reading books.
Phonics 4 Free
Programmes I do not recommend
Reading Eggs: this is a programme delivered online. If you want your child to read books (which hold far better/more trust worthy information than is available on line), then teach them via actual books. In addition it uses cartoon illustrations. Be careful of hooking your child onto a diet of entertainment. Use a programme that uses well drawn illustrations, so setting a high standard for your child to emulate.
Rocket Phonics: this programme teaches the phonic code through another code - too unecesarily confusing and protracted. This method ( called Initial Teaching Alphabet) used to be used in schools until it soon became obvious that it was not proving successful.
Teach your child to read in 100 easy lessons:
This programme is unnecessarily complicated and labour intensive for the parent, with long complicated instructions. Either of the two above would be far simpler, more effective, much cheaper and help your child to reach higher reading standards.
Finally
Look for progress - however small and encourage it - and don't be a slave to any programme - you must make it fit your child - not make your child fit the programme. Remember these things and soon you will have a reader on your hands! If you need help or advice at any time, please contact me via Lilibette's Resources.
...Yes, there were “ordinary” children's history books and yes, there
were books that told history from a Christian perspective – for adults or for
Americans!
(Mothers' Companion)
History is learning how God has dealt with nations and our nation in particular. History is very important and cannot be left to chance.
...our history is not only part of our culture, it is the road map to our identity. More, it tells us who we are. Ignorance of our national history – national amnesia – exposes us to those who wish to change this country forever. Furthermore, ignorance of the past means we are condemned to repeat it. Nick Seaton July 2004
It would be worth reading the rest of the article quoted above here, as history is a contentious subject. It has been subject to much change in fairly recent years and as this change is subtle in nature, many parents may be ignorant of it. Recent changes in the National curriculum and exams may have gone some way to address the content of the history curriculum, but it still doesn't address the spiritual aspect.
How do we give our children a truly Christian education in history?
I would suggest that it doesn't lie in the giving of numerous worksheets, museum visits and historic craft activites, and least of all in the sitting of a GCSE History exam (though that may have its place in due time). Although these may have their place there needs to be more. Mainly, the answer, I believe, lies in the reading material we give our children. It also lies in the many discussions that are held in Bible time, or around the dinner table as the children mature. We need to be thinking parents, aware of these things for ourselves, and ever seeking to learn. This will give our children a role model. Of course there is always the place for, "Well, I don't know! Let's go look for an answer."
To be honest, I am disappointed with many of the museums we have visited, especially ones that I remembered from my own childhood which I expected to be the same as I remembered them. Most had succumbed to entertainment style teaching, with little real information. Museums used to be places for serious study. It seems that few are interested in serious study these days. Perhaps if you know of a good museum that does have serious material on display you could let me know and I can start a list for the benefit of us all.
So what books should we use?
Aim that your children should see the Bible as their main history textbook. Aim for them to know their Bible history very well. How you do this is up to you, but one thing we learnt early on is that if you want to know what the Bible says, you should read it, using the most reliable version available to you! In the UK this is the KJV, considered by many to be archaic. However its language is actually very simple and clear as well as beautiful and easily memorised. To this end, once our children could read the KJV, we bought them one for their birthday (one started age 4) and from about the age of 8 they were expected to read one chapter every day, 352 days of the year, as part of their school work. If you would like to know why we consider the KJV the best version of the Bible to use, read this article here. This is in addition to family Bible time. As a result they have read their Bibles through several times and have a very good grasp of its history. Do not underestimate young childrens' ability to do this. A young child properly taught to read can read the KJV. It has been proved many times. No, reading the Bible will not save them, but God's Word is imprinted in their minds. Try not to use entertainment to teach children what it says in God's Word, or they will 'grow out of it'. Try to avoid Sunday Schools and youth groups. These may be fine for the children of the unconverted, but are not suited to the children of Christians. Help your children to see the study of God's Word as serious, urgent and relevant. The best way to do this is to have this attitude yourself. Let them see you reading your Bible. Let them hear you talking about it together. Yes, the day to day application of Scripture is vital too, but they also need to know how all the books of the Bible fit together, Genesis to Revelation and all the bits in between. They need to see the relevance of it to TODAY. Let your family become its own little 'Bible School'.
Apart from reading the Bible, we started with Little Arthur's History of England which is suitable for very young children (KS1). Once they were ten, we moved onto Christina Eastwood's The Story of God's Dealings with Our Nation, sold by Icthus Resources (Both of these books are included in the Mothers' Companion curriculum, along with a treasure trove of other delights, for just £20 on a flashdrive - ready to print out). As our children got older and had also read things like Our Island Story, they learnt most of their history by reading as accurate as possible historical fiction titles, such as GA Henty, or Ballantyne as well as through conversation (as above). Rather than giving them lots of dates to learn they absorbed the details while enjoying a story. It's amazing how good their history is as a result - far better than mine! They have taken ownership of their learning and the knowledge has stuck, rather than having it imposed upon them.
A time line
A time line on the wall (or make your own!) has been a useful resource as has been good an atlas, as of course history does not exist in isolation - it is very much linked to geography. By teaching in this way we do not compartmentalise subjects, but they are rather seen as they relate to the whole.
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See our History Resources page for a list of helpful resources, compiled by a number of Christian, home-educating families.
The problem
We live in a world that seeks 24 hours a day, 7 days a week entertainment and it is so easy to get sucked in. When I was a child (we didn't have a T.V. even back then) entertainment was limited to what was on the screen at that time. No pre-recording, or satellite repeats etc... We are all aware of the enormous escalation of the use of technology in all aspects of our lives while we have grown up and now our children are surrounded by it constantly: you can't even buy a pair of children's shoes without the child being presented with a screen with dumbed down pictures on it - so much is thought of children's intelligence! The newspapers (when I read one) seem always to have an article bemoaning the amount of time our children spend glued to screens when there is so much more to learn. Headteachers are sounding warning bells, warning of epidemic mental problems in the young if something is not done about it. In fact, mental problems are already very prevalent so much so that in fact that the mental health service cannot cope, neither can charities such as Childline. Stories are heard of children sitting up into the small hours addicted to social media and how others perceive them, itching for another 'like' and some popularity, along with the scathing comments they have to bear from those who don't like them, in language that you or I would find horrifying. Bottom line: social media is addictive. This fact alone must sound warning bells in our ears. You can find many articles sounding the negatives of the over-use of technology on young people's studies and relationships.
What has gone wrong? The big question facing parents today is can we limit it? Is it fair to maybe put our children at a disadvantage if they do not have access to these things? Won't our children rebel if we deny them the such like?
'Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.' 1 John 2:15-17
The answer
As Christians the Bible tells us that slavery to anything that detracts us from Christ is to be avoided at all costs.
'Ye are bought with a price; be not ye the servants of men.'
1 corinthians 7:23
“Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?”
Romans 6:16
So how do we avoid these traps? We examine our usage of technology in the home, the models we are presenting to our children and we do so in the knowledge that bad habits formed are not easily broken. If we want to children to read good books, then we must keep them away from relying on the screen where fast paced action can be enjoyed with no effort. It is generally thought in education now, that as technology makes information so easily acceesible, that we don't need to teach knoweldge, only how to access information. This is erroneous as learning knowledge opens the mind: grappling with maths teaches logic; learning to write teaches us to think about what we want to say and how best to express it. In other words, by grappling with knowledge, we learn to think. By purely learning how to pump a question into a computer, we are not thinking. More dangerous is that we do not learn to think about the answer we get. Is it logical? Is it true? So if we encourage our children to think that technology has all the answers, they will be at the mercy of the world and all it's deceipt.
We need to seriously consider which items of technology we really need and and which are superflous.
There are always going to be some children who rebel - whatever you do and however many good reasons you give for what you do. Let us not use this as an excuse to succumb to the snares of technology. Our children will be more harmed by a needless slavery to it, than they will if we limit its use, with good biblical explanations: and then model that to our children. We can survive without spending hours on social media/constantly surfing the web/ needing 24 hours a day enterntainment. Steer towards putting technology to good use.
How does this work in practice?
Each family will need to prayerfully consider this for themselves. In our home, the main computer is essential whereas i-pads/tablets/ and the like are not necessary. We do not have game-boys, X-boxes or even a television. Our children do not have mobiles that access the internet (and they are late teens who have only recently been allowed to use a standard mobile phone when away from home!) We do not use social media. We have explained why to our children and they understand and accept. They understand that when they are 18, they will be able to choose for themselves. We discuss these things and endeavour to help them to think them through for themselves. We have to share the main computer which limits the time we spend on it. We keep it in the living room, in full view of everyone, which keeps us accountable. We occasionally watch DVD's on the computer. These are a planned events and we all sit together to watch and discuss either during or afterwards. We do not use technology in the bedroom - my husband and I turned our mobiles off and leave them downstairs at night time. These are choices that we have deliberately made and can explain the reasons why to our children. It's not because we are 'old-fashioned' or 'out-of-touch' but rather because we care for our own souls and those of our family members. The rest of the time our children have played (with well chosen toys not linked to films), read, played instruments, dug, planted, built, played sports in the garden/park, entertained friends who visit/or we visit friends together and much more. In a nut shell, they develop skills for life. They THINK and RELATE!
A proper use of technology
In our family, the computer is not for playing on. Instead we foster a work ethos through the constructive use of technology. My husband and I work on the computer, be it family/church/other. Even this needs monitoring in case it takes us over. We have only really let our boys use the computer as their reading and writing skills have allowed. We do little school work on the computer, only research for essays, for which we really prefer books. We discourage the use of Wikipedia for serious study due to it's short-comings, i.e. anyone can change it and so the material on it may not be reliable, although it can be helpful while brainstorming a topic. Once they have written an essay, they are allowed to use the computer to present it well, only after they have edited it and hand-written it well.
Now they are older they keep accounts on spreadsheets, use a publishing programme, write using Word, etc..
Nature Observations and Main Line are the fruits of our boy's 'play-time'. As you can see, magazine writing is far from play! Although not part of their school work, the educational benefits are never ending. From writing, to publishing, to reading and editing, expressing themselves through language, the use of technology, learning accounting, working with others, organising, meeting deadlines - all flowing out of their love and passion for their interests, which after school they have plenty of time to indulge in. We put our humble attempts here to inspire others to greater things! If you are interested in receieving either of these magazines then please enquire.
Just a word:
There is another aspect to technology that is becoming a worrying trend even amongst Christians. It's as if technology waves aside all social conventions. It's seems now to be ok to be rude on social media, or to ignore an e-mail for example, if we don't fancy replying. It's so easy to press a button and talk (or not talk as the case may be) remotely to someone that we forget politeness.
This is not for the Christian. Let us be careful that we do not emulate the world.
And mums - a word just to you (and to myself)...please, don't live with a phone in your pocket - turn the sound off so that you are not tempted to keep looking at it. Children get sooo fed up with mums' whose minds are more on their mobiles than they are on them. Check them once a day (or twice if you have to) and the give your children the concentration they deserve. They are only little once! Social media/mobiles are a time stealer. Once again, let's not be like the world.
'Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.'
1 John 2 15-17
For further reading...
History:
If you are aged 50 and below (most of us!) and attended a state primary school, it is possible that your own reading and writing skills are not brilliant - like mine. You would have been taught mainly by a 'look and say' method if you are aged 30 -50. This method helps readers to make a great start, but they 'top out' at a certain level and then think that if they can't read something, it's because they are just not good at reading, rather than blaming the method they were taught by. Below 30, you are lucky if you were taught to read at school at all, as a popular method at that time was called the 'emergent' method, which basically meant to read books to the child and wait for the reading to 'emerge'. Sadly for many children it didn't and many (often middle class) parents started worrying that their child was dyslexic and rushed them to be assessed, only to find there was no problem - the child just hadn't been taught. Some of this generation just think that maybe they weren't clever enough to read. How sad! Most of us don't remember how we were taught that long ago, we are just painfully aware that our own literacy skills are lacking and may just think 'I'm not good at it!'.
The end result, is that often (and I speak from my own experience here - there are exceptions I know), as adults we shy away from more demanding books. I will sometimes pick up a classic puritan book only to be put off by the language. It demands too much concentration to understand it. I bemoan this! I wish it wasn't true. The language in older books is far advanced than the language in a modern book, and somehow that language adds to the depth of meaning. Modern books tend to be by default rather shallow (especially Christian ones), and sadly we can get used to a diet of shallow reading, as can our children. Our Bible reading can become shallow too, if due to our poor reading skills, we go for an easier translation without 'thee's and 'thou's. The Authorised Version is the most accurate Greek to English translation availlable in the English language. In many cases, the newer translations actually give a completely different message to the original Greek in their attempts to make it simpler to understand - they pervert God's Word. This includes the NIV. And yet we think our modern books supercede those of the past! My advice is, only use a modern translation if you know enough Hebrew and Greek to be able to look up the original text and so check the versions accuracy. So much is at stake here: the future of Christianity in this country, the integrity of God's Word and not least our own understanding of God's Word which in turn will impact how we apply it to our lives, which will impact our spiritual health. Added to which, if we cannot correctly interpret God's Word, how can we use to it to evaluate and learn about other subjects, let alone teach our children to do the same?
What can be done?
You have a wonderful opportunity to make sure your child reads to the best of his/her ability.
- Teach your child to read using a synthetic, systmatic phonic programme. This is very important, to get the foundation right. Method matters.
- Supply your child with the best quality literature (both fiction and non-fiction) appropriate to your child's age/reading ability. As a general rule avoid books written after 1950 - they are too dumbed down and politically correct. They do not teach children to think and do not encourage them to rise above a very low level.
- Read to them from such books well into their teens. Delight in these texts together.
- Avoid entertainment both inside and outisde of the home. Fast moving pictures flickering accross screens makes learning seem effortless: it isnt, it's hard work. Teach your child to be able to concentrate by presenting them with books. There is place for a little light relief with audio books (especially on long journeys) though the best audio book is you reading it to them! Films of books often spoil them as they present you with a ready made picture which is always far removed from the one you had in your mind and often more violent/sinister (especially more modern versions), whereas when you read you can imagine your own scenes.
- Avoid gimmicky toys - toys linked to films/series especially violent ones (watch out for boy's toys especially)
- Avoid the use of the computer. Once the children were older and wanted to write up pieces of writing, we taught them to use the word processor and since then other 'work' related programmes, like spreadsheets and publishing programmes. We rarely used the computer for school work, especially not research as internet information is very often unreliable - you need to be an expert in a subject to know if it is reliable or not.
- Let your children have access to their own plentiful supply of books - have a family library - invest in good shelves, you will need them! Be a book reading family, rather than a telly watching/screen watching family.
- Once children are teens, pure fiction should be gradually replaced by Christian biographies or historical fiction as many adult fiction titles encourage lust and other unhelpful attitudes. They can become addictive: in adition, many (like Jane Austen) give a biased picture of the era in which they were written, often portraying Christians in an unhelpful light.
I have sought the views of several Christian home-educating families and combine them in this post. I hope you find it helpful.
It's a question we would have been well to have considered before setting out on the road of bravely educating our children ourselves (or even having children), but usually such questions get lost amongst the other things that occupy our thoughts at that time... curriculums, explaining to others what we are doing and trying to justify our actions along with just coping with having young children around. That was certainly our case!
Many parents will be happy if their offspring produce them a nice set of good exam results and may-be that could be used to measure the success of a child's education. There are obvious flaws in this of course. Not all will produce good results. Does that mean the child is a failure? Many will try and tell us of course 'No it doesn't,' and they are right, but for the child whose education has been heading up to these exams all along, reality may be otherwise and I think the number of calls to 'Childline' and the like, when results come out gives testimony to this.
There is another question which is 'Do these results actually reflect a 'good' education'? The answer to this will depend upon your confidence in the body that set the knowledge to be learnt to pass the exam. Few consider this question, but Christian parents would do well to think about it.
However I presume that as home-educators and Christian ones at that, we have not just thought of education in mere academic terms. I think to be fair most of us do want our children to succeed as best they can, but we realise that education is more than just pure academic success. There is the mind, the body and the soul to be considered. And yet, when many around us are telling of their child's academic success it is sometimes extremely difficult to persuade ourselves that it is not the only thing that matters, especially when our child may not have gained high grades, or we may even have chosen not to major on exams at all, for whatever reason.
So what should be our end goal?
Obviously, as Christians we desire for our children to learn God's will for their lives and to live in obedience to Him. God's Word will be central to all that we teach and all t hings will be evaluated against god's Word. As parents we need to be 'people of the Book'.
After that, I have no definitive answer, just a few thoughts to help you consider this question for yourself, whatever the age of your children.
I'd like to start by asking you to imagine what sort of a person you would like your son/daughter to be when they become and adult.
I came up with this list - you may think of other things:
Godly men and women. Hard workers. Truthful employees. Loyal to company and friends. Upright in all their dealings. Faithful to their spouses. Men equipped to be Heads of their families and Ladies to be 'helpmeets'. Committed people: committed to their families, to their churches (where applicable) and to their place of employment. Caring, compassionate people. Serving people. Useful members of their communities. Men and Women who can think for themselves and can evaluate all through the lens of God's word. And so on.
So how do we achieve our end goal?
First off, we need to work from the bottom up. We need to make Scripture our bottom line for understanding anything. Scripture needs to underpin the reasons why we do/say anything in our homes - as after all, our school is 24 hours a day, seven days a week and even if you send your children to school, your home sets the tone. I think sometimes we are prone to forget this and think that it is only in our family Bible-times, or school time that we must consider our reasons for doing things, but it applies to the whole way we live life before our children, from the things we enjoy, to our attiutudes and everything in between. Of course this does apply very much to our curriculum too as we must learn, ourselves first in many cases, how every subject must be built upon God's Word. The Bible will lay the foundation for our understanding of everything we teach and want our pupil's to learn. Even maths calls for a clear understanding that 2 + 2 only equals 4 ALWAYS because of the unchanging nature of the God who set out the laws by which the universe is governed. Academic work is not a separate compartment where we can tack Christianity on to a “secular” model – there is no such thing as “secular” in a way the whole of the universe belongs to God and is under his sovereign control. This is not possible for us fallen creatures to do perfectly, of course, we are constantly trying to work from own fallen presuppositions and to tack on the “Christian perspective” – if necessary by adapting it (although we don't notice we are doing this!) to what we think ought to be right. We can still keep checking ourselves though and prayerfully ask to be directed back to seeing the whole world through the lens of Scripture.
Obviously, ultimately we pray that our children will accept the offer of salvation and come to know the Lord Jesus Christ personally. This is not something we can make happen, however we can bring them up in the 'nurture and admonition of the Lord' (Ephesians 6:4) and that must certainly be our main objective.
Along with this will be instruction in righteousness. We can't make our children righteous but we can train them in Christian virtues such as honesty, truthfulness, modesty, humility, perseverance, gentleness, respect for those in authority over them, pure, moral etc.. These are considered old fashioned nowadays but are so desperately lacking in our society. Obviously our children will follow our example and we must be careful to live godly lives before them as well as teach them these truths. These are lifelong things to learn which can't be learnt in a few hours cramming for an exam! All children learn something of them, and their opposites, whether it is directly taught or otherwise, but Christian parents will look to deliberately train their children in these things and look for evidence of them in their children's lives.
We can train our children to work hard and enjoy learning. This is in stark contrast to the education of most, which trains them to a life of entertainment and ease. Unfortunately this has overspilled into our churches where few are now prepared to take on any responsibility, wanting instead plentiful children's entertaining activities and worship that makes them 'feel good'. We will want to potray learning as a life-long adventure, rather than a childish thing that our children will leave behind when they leave school.
We can raise them to be happy in themselves and confident. In contrast to many youngsters these days who judge their value by how many 'likes' they have on social media, our children will judge their worth by healthier standards - preferably God's standards. We do this by grounding them in good biblical teaching so that they understand the way the world works, and how they fit into it, and then by taking a vested interest in them, not just during school time but out of it as well, right into adulthood. See my post on socialising children. Contentment is also a good thing - though this is something we need lots of practice to acquire! Let us seek to model it to our children.
They will understand that rights come with responsibilities. Again this is in contrast to the world where many youngsters think they have rights with no responsibilties. Let us seek to train our children to embrace responsibilites as opportunites to serve, within the family to begin with.
They will have learnt that all behaviour has consequences. How our flesh recoils from having to live with the consequences of our wrong behaviour, and yet how many these days (including sadly ourselves) will try and justify their actions and claim their right to behave in such a way. Let us not be parents who protect our children while young from the due reward of their wrong behaviour and thereby do great damage to the health of their souls.
We will seek to educate our children in running a household, organising, supervising, working with others (teamwork), leading (where applicable), manage a budget, and so on. We will teach daughters to be submissive wives and our lads to be godly husbands - through imitation and teaching.
We will want to guard against anything that might take our children away from the Lord. Sunday sports activities comes to mind, but this could include things like the entertainment provided in the home (including the type of toys)/social media/out-of-home activites etc... Any activity that consumes large amounts of our/our children's time and consumes our passions can easily take the place of God in our lives. We need to watch and be vigilant and be ready to re-address the balance when needed as be sure, these things will come - often! Watch out too, for activities that take your child out of the house, away from your instruction. We will want to be parents who evaluate all things as to their spiritual worth to us as individuals and also to our family, measured by God's Word - not just do them because 'that's what everyone else is doing'. Not even if that's what everyone else in your church is doing!
What will our children not necessarily be?
They may not necessarily be rich or clever. Be careful, as many secretly if not overtly these days want their children to be 'top'. The world's pressure is for our children to 'succeed' and it is so easy to succumb, though it often doesn't really know what it is looking for or why. We need to be different. I was challenged recently by reading the questions: 'Would you be upset if your child became a minister (or minsiter's wife), on a low income? Or even if s/he gave up all to become a missionary?' Good questions to ask as they reveal our heart motives for our children.
Can we do this?
Ok, I have painted a perfect picture! It will not be this easy and the end result will not be perfect. This too, we must grasp, as it is easy to fall prey to thinking that 'our-way' (whether home-educating or sending to school) will produce the perfect result. It won't. There is no such thing and this knowledge will help keep us from judging Christians who do differently to us (which is easy to do in self-defence when we feel pressurised). However, let us get it into our heads and hearts that as Christians we have a different end goal to the world. Let us not be ashamed of our endeavours. We may not be 'successful' whatever that means, however the Lord sees our hearts and knows our intentions. Let them be to do all for His glory.
How do we begin?
Obviously, we start with obedience to God's Word. Then alongside our OBEDIENCE in bringing up our children we need TRUST. We must be careful not to take on ourselves more than the Lord has required.
We must remember that ultimately it is God's work in our children. We do not have responsibility for producing the end product, however we are called to be faithful to our Lord and bring our children up in the 'nurture and admonition of the Lord' (Ephesians 6:4). The end product could be good character or poor. As we look to the Lord in ALL things and faithfully bring up our children according to HIS word then we can have peace even in difficult times - not just when we see these goals becoming a reality, either educational or spiritual. We must aim for obedience, which will of course be imperfect, and learn to trust. Whatever the outcome, or the opinion of others (and they will have one!) we can be joyful in seeing the Lord's plan unfold for our family. Of course, we must always mourn over sin and were a child to rebel we would be pleading the Lord to turn his/her heart to Him in salvation.
When we have prayerfully done our best we must leave it with our gracious heavenly Father. If we have trusted Him, then The Lord will overrule our mistakes and use even them to His praise and glory.
It's a tall order - let us not grow faint-hearted! May we ever encourage each other!
May I reccomend a book to you?
'Not Without Tears' is a biography of Mrs Favell Lee Mortimer, who was home-educated, and later in life became a pioneer of Bible teaching for the very young with publications such as 'Peep of Day' and 'Line Upon Line' which you can find still in print today.
This is an amazing story of her life, sharing how an ordinary mother, possibly with an unconverted husband, sought to home-educate her children. The book highlights the mother's frailties, her (well intentioned) 'mistakes', children who want the pleasures of the world and find life at home restricting, lack of good teaching at church, and through all these things, shows how the Lord so graciously worked in Favell, from a young age, long before she sought the Lord for herself, and prepared her to do a great work for Him.
It gave me great hope and encouragement.
The book has been written by Chris Eastwood, who has home-educated her three grown children and who will be familiar to many as the author of 'God's dealing with our Nation' volumes 1 and 2 and the supplier of the Mothers Companion.
Click on the picture to view.
Curriculums
One area in which many families struggle is in being tempted to keep changing curriculums. You know how it goes: you buy a curriculum that looks great and to start with all goes well. But a few months down the road, your child starts to complain that they are bored, or they start to struggle and doubts about the curriculum suiting your child come into your mind. This is followed by Googling more curriculums and possibly being tempted to ditch the one you are using for a new one (at great expense) only for the cycle to possibly start all over again a few months later! Okay, maybe not this drastic always, but you know the feeling I am sure; we wouldn't be human if we didn't!
So how do we overcome this problem?
Presuming you have already bought a curriculum...
Number one is not to look to your child and their fickle up and down feelings. Children often 'play the game' and if they can get you to interrupt schooling by doubting the curriculum, rather than them, they will! Most reputable currciulums will work: however the art of home-schooling is to make them work in your family. There is no one-size-fits-all. This does take trial and errror. You have to first sit down and try and work out what the problem is. Here are some possible things to consider:
Too much book work at too young an age, overwhelming the child? Solution, cut down to the basics, reading, writing and arithmetic and do the other subjects in unit blocks only as you have time.
Maths going too fast for your child so they keep getting errors and are getting despondent? Slow down the pace. Go back and re-cover the areas they are struggling with. Don't let a curriculum enforce a time frame as your child is unique and will learn at their own pace.
Always make the curriculum fit the child and not the other way round!
If you have not yet bought a curriculum, then be sure to do yourhomework thoroughly. You are looking for one that will provide an excellent, godly education, within a price bracket you can consistently afford. Aim to choose one to take all your children to at least the end of KS2, if not to 18. It is not good to keep chopping and changing and few can afford to but a lot of books that turn out to be unnecessary. If money is tight, look for one that does not use write-in workbooks as you will have to buy new ones for each child. The Robinson Curriculum truly is brilliant in both academic ways and money wise, and if you can't afford that, read about the principle as it really works and is so freeing of not just money, but time and energy on behalf of the parents too.
Books
Do not feel that you have to buy all your books brand new. Charity shops are fantastic if you have any near you - the secret is to go regularly. Some days you see nothing and others you find treasures. Look through 'for sale' lists on for example the Deut6v7 e-mail list. Many sell unwanted curriculums through these lists too. Do utilise your local library. The books on the shelf may not attract you (especially fiction), but they may be able to get other titles ordered in for you and its free for children.
Paper
Paper is expensive and the home-school will need a plentiful supply. Utilise cheap stationary outlets like 'The Works' and Aldi and Lidl when they are offering such things. Never buy paper from a supermarket as you will pay more for the convenience of buying it alongside your shopping.
Help yourself by saving enevlopes to reuse that come through the door - amazon book envelopes can be reused, as can white envelopes - just stick a label over the printed address. If not, keep them as paper for shopping lists, jottings, drawings etc... The same goes for white paper that comes through only printed on one side. Keep it in a pile for easy access. If you do printer work that goes wrong, keep the 'wrong' ones as you can use the back of the sheet. Keep card from inside shirt packets. Large cereal boxes can be cut up - the large panels of cards are great for models. I'm sure you do many of these things already.
Clothing
Most of our children have far too many clothes. Have you noticed, they have 'favourites' and tend to only wear the same few over and over again? Work out how many they actaully need, and then only replace as they grow out of them and/or the season changes. Once again, charity shops are brilliant, if you keep your eye on them regularly. I am surprised at how often I get brand new items from them, many good quality at a fraction of the price of buying new - even teens trousers. Buy carefully though and don't be afraid to return items if they don't fit. Do the same for yourself and you might find you free up a lot of space in your wardrobe as well as a few pennies!
Extra curricula lessons/activities
These are great, if you can afford them. But your child will not be damaged if you can't! There are many free physical activities to engage in, like cycling, scooting, walking and swimming in the sea. It is cheaper to teach your child to swim yourself than send them to lessons. Besides if you actually watch them in lessons, a lot of time is spent standing on the side awaiting their turn. What is better is to do things together as a family as much as possible, bonding that all too important parent-child relationship, which beleive it or not, even in home-scholing families with mum around all day, can suffer from lack of input. It is too easy to assign 'school' time to the children, and then take our minds off them while we deal with other household matters and be 'too busy' to listen, do things together and build bonds.
Home-educating on a budget is not a separate compartment from how we use money in our families generally. Our spending philosophy underpins every part of our lives. What do I mean?
I meet some families who consider themselves hard up. But when I get to spend time with them, I see practices that could be changed which would free up more money. Often money is almost literally being thrown away through unnecessary purchases. Ok, granted, some of these families are not Christian, but it makes me re-examine my lifestyle, to see that I am not unwittingly doing the same. I find there is always room for improvement.
At the root chore are our characters. Some find it easier to be frugal, others harder. If you don't know which one you are, spend time thinking about it, as it matters. The frugal ones are very careful about everything they spend. Could they get the same quality elsewhere but cheaper? They do price comparisons to get the best deal. They consider carefully whether an item is really needed, or if it is a whim buy, to satisfy a feeling, rather than a real need. They have an ethos of make and do, and recycle, rather than having to have everything brand new and up to date with the latest fashion, be it in furniture or clothing. They do not feel that their children will be deprived if they do not receive expensive presents etc...
As Christians we are not called to be mean with money, but rather to be good stewards of it remembering that it is not ours just to spend as we please. How are we doing? I would suggest we all need to think this through periodically.
So just for this week, have a really hard look at your spending habits. Maybe even write down everything you buy and how much it cost in the week. Then check that everything on the list was really necessary. Then have a little think. How many clothes have you bought (even if from a charity shop) that have hardly ever been worn? How much money do you spend on take-aways, or convenience food, like little boxes of raisins or water? How much electricity is wasted with lights left on all over the house, or chargers not turned off? The list could go on!
Some set a budget for groceries. We don't but I tend to find that my shopping bill tends to be roughly the same each week, with exceptions for when people come to stay, or birthdays etc... We hardly ever eat out. Others on a smaller income may find it necessary to have such a budget restriction. However there is often room for improvement.
Of course, good accounting is essential. You don't need an accounting qualification, but a basic means of checking what is coming in, against what is going out and making sure the books balance. It is so easy to live on credit, but I believe it is not for the Christian to do so. Never spend what you haven't got is a good principal. Live within your means is another. I have heard others say that relying upon hand-outs from the government is not a good idea either, we should strive to be financially self-sufficient.
So, before I look at any other things you can do practically, think over these big things: your character, your lifestyle, your view of money and your general spending tendencies as they currently stand.
Next time we will look at some simple thrifty measures you can take right now in your home to help you spend less on home-education.
Well let's look deeper into the subject. Let's look at two words: socialisation and socialising? Let's start by defining what we mean.
Dictionary.com defines socialisation as 'a continuing process whereby an individual acquires a personal identity and learns the norms, values, behavior, and social skills appropriate to his or her social position.'
Socialising is the action of behaving in a friendly or sociable manner. (Collinsdictionary.com)
So we see that both have to do with being 'sociable', that is, knowing how to behave in the company of others. To do this the child needs to learn the accepted codes of behaviour for the place in which they live. Such codes differ between countries and races. However, the process of 'socialisation' goes a step further and includes the acquiring of a personal identity. According to Wikipeadia, "socialization is the process of internalizing the norms and ideologies of society. Socialization encompasses both learning and teaching and is thus "the means by which social and cultural continuity are attained"
How do we socialise our children? Well, learning to be sociable and socialise certainly does not need lots of children the same age as our own, or we would have put them in school. Learning the norms, values, behaviour and social skills should be learnt first and foremost in the home and with contact with close family. When we meet with other people, our children will put into practice what they have learnt at home. Therefore, although it is not good for us or our children to be isolated we don't necessarily needs lots of other youngsters to help our children socialise. They simply need to be meeting other people, of whatever age. Yes, I agree, it is wonderful if they can have a close friend, but this is not always supplied. When the children are young and time goes more slowly, then look around and see who you can invite to your home. We had several elderly ladies in our chapel at that time and they loved to come round and spend time with the young children. The children benefitted as it was someone else to practice hospitality on, with the added bonus of a listening ear, someone to show their latest achievement to, or their latest creation, someone to spoil with fresh baked cakes. It did us all good.
These were excellent opportunites for us, the parents, to see how the children coped with visitors. We would rehearse before they came how they could behave, things they could say. After the visit we 'debriefed': what could we have done better? How could we have dealt with that awkward situation better? Sometimes we would note that one child needed more work in a particular area, so we would work on it before the next visitor came.
So we would to aim towards our children having many 'social skills' sorted by the time they are early teens, although they will probably still need a little encouragment sometimes! Children/teens do not need a bunch of other youngsters to teach them these things. If anything they are likely to learn unsociable ways if we are not very careful who they spend time with. Youngsters left alone, with no sense of purpose are easy prey to temptations to do wrong. Dare I say that I consider even church youth groups to be a danger.
What do we want for our children? Yes, we would like them to have friends, but they don't need to be constantly socialising and teenagers don't need any more than they did when they were young, and sometimes friends are still not provided. However what is more important is that they do need socialisation. This of course is the big area, where we differ greatly from the world. It is of course one of the main reasons we have not sent them to school. We want to be in control of our children's socialisation. We want to instill in them our values and Christian ways of behaving, but I feel that we are in danger of giving all we have gained so far in our children away, if in the teen years we put emphasis on socialising over and above being socialised.
All children need a sense of identity. They will get it at any cost. Too often we see children abandoning the values they have been taught at home once they get into the wider world, as they seek an identity in it. Somehow I would like to suggest, we need to help them get an identity before they leave us, while we still have the priviledge of guiding them. One word of warning as we start to explore this more: watch out for quiet children who may seem compliant and mature. Very often they get the idea they are not worth anything because they don't have lots of friends. Don't presume they are ok. Children without a sense of identity, who are not comfortable with themselves, who do not have a sense of purpose, often go astray. Some take on/have undesirable habits, others may become very withdrawn, even depressed and anxious - just look around and the number of young folk with mental illness. I believe that many undesirable outcomes come from a lack of identity. Broken homes with no-one to really take an interest in the youngster and guide them - no role models, or parents too busy with their own occupations to notice their teens. And you know, sadly, it can happen in the home-school too. We can let go of the reigns too early, or not understand what we are aiming for and miss the mark. It's never easy rasing children, none of us do it perfectly, but we must continue to study - study what we are doing and study our children to see how well we are doing.
So, a sense of identity is the one thing all children and especially teens do need. This becomes more important at this stage of development. These days, teens are left in education for many years (at least now until 18) creating a sense of protracted childhood, at the time in their lives when they are seeking a greater sense of identity which comes with a sense of purpose. This is very frustrating to the teen and too often, these teens turn to entertainment and aimless socialising to help them through what can become boring, unproductive years - with nothing to do other than study for exams. Teens have great potential! They are entering their most creative years. They feel the urge to be a man/woman, to have a purpose in life. They need something to aspire to. Left to their own devices, teens will find their sense of identity, usually imitating those they spend time with. It is easy for us to think that the thought of going to college or university is enough, as after all, isn't that the way it was for us? However many of us bear the scars of a lack of identity when we were young. So what can we do?
The dangers of socialising
The Maxwell's advice was to make your home the most fun and stimulating place to be. Spend time with your children - right up into adulthood. Make it clear to them that you think that their interests/thoughts etc... are important.
So how can we help our children/young people develop a sense of identity and hence a sense of purpose? Here are some things to consider:
How does your teen spend their free time?
My husband and I were greatly helped by another book by the Maxwells about Preparing Sons to Provide for a Single Income Family. It encouraged us to seek purposeful activities for our sons particularly (but it could easily apply to daughters too if you have them) from an early age. Over and above the normal chores, things like, teaching them to change light bulbs, mending things alongside you as they go wrong (looking it up in a book or on You Tube together if you are not very practical like us!). They encouraged us to think about what our sons could do at each stage, to include them in our tasks, not just leave them to their own entertainment. Of course there was time for that too, but this 'drawing them in' helps them to feel as if they are doing more responsible tasks and 'growing up', as well as preparing them for future life and being able to save money if they can do things themselves rather than pay for help.
Consider your children's interests.
This will take time and effort on your part. It may be a whole lot easier to leave them in their room with a screen, but souls are precious and easily lost. Take care to make the effort to take an interest in your child/young person and what better way then to encourage their interests and feed their passions. Do things with them and if you can't then take as active an interest as you can. I am talking here about serious interests, not just football. There is a place for watching sport together, but your child needs a healthy, educational interest in something. For us it's birds and trains, for others woodwork, art, farming, photography, animals, making things, sewing, musical instruments ... the list goes on. Our teen's magazines have come out of their interests. They started with a simple website each, and it and their ideas grew! They have become mini experts in their subjects. I hear of others converting garages into wood workshops and selling at craft fairs, others writing books and getting them published. With a little bit of help, encouragement and steering it's amazing what they can do. Think big!
As your young person grows and matures, hopefully your years of good training will be bearing fruit and you will be able to train them to take increasing amounts of responsibility. This sense of resposibility gives them a sense of purpose. It is indeed good to see them maturing and thinking issues through for themselves, especially when they take heed of God's Word.
Above all, seek to model a godly life to your children. They will learn much from it. Check your own social habits! Pray about your teens future with them, expecting God to lead and open doors. We have been amazed how many times this has happened, from friendships to opportunities for learning. All have been provided AT THE RIGHT TIME, which no amount of worrying before hand could have influenced!
Our boys both currently volunteer, one for the RSPB and the other for a Heritage Railway. They have a great sense of achievement at doing these 'adult' activities. Some of their new friends are three times their age, but they are happy - they have a sense of importance and identity and they have like-minded folk to chat to about their favourite subjects. Friends don't have to be the same age.
So to close: steer your chidlren away from entertainment and be careful how sh/he spends their free time and who with. Nurture his/her interests, guide them encourage them and above all, guard their hearts and KEEP them, as they are still very impressionable. Make your home as warm, inviting and as stimulating as you can.
In this way, even families with limited possibilities for 'socialising' need not fear failure, and those with only one child or introverted teens (by this I mean those who draw energy from being more alone, as opposed to extroverts who are energised by being with others) can 'socialise' them... i.e. help to give them an identitiy and a sense of purpose.
I hope these thoughts are an encouragement to some.
Find out more about socialisation with
Mended Teacups. |
Blog About Britain Geography in bitesize chunks
by Sandra of Icthus Resources
My name is Sandra. Christian, wife, mother, ex-home-educator and passionate geographer.
Many times I have been asked to write a geography book for home educators. Well a book feels like too big a project, but I wanted to do something and the result is Blog About Britain. http://blogaboutbritain.co.uk/
The British Isles contains a wide variety of landscapes and environments. You can study lots of different geography without needing to leave home territory. So Blog About Britain is visiting lots of locations and looking at many different topics. I’m hoping I’ll inspire you to get out and about and see new things in familiar areas, as well as discovering new places.
Posts are short, usually less than 300 words and there is something there each day, Monday to Friday. There are three new geography posts each week, Monday, Wednesday and Friday, with each day being a separate series which continues week by week. Follow them all, just pick one or two or check out the archived categories for particular locations or topics and dive in wherever you like. On Thursday I re-run a previous series, which leaves Tuesday for something a bit different: “Tales on Tuesday” - the retelling of legends, linking them to their locations.
If you want to entrust me with your email address then you can sign up for my newsletter, which gives a weekly summary of posts with all the links. You can also opt to receive worksheets and ideas for further study. I send out something most weeks – maps, teaching notes…that kind of thing.
So do check out Blog About Britain. I hope you find something useful. I’m certainly enjoying researching, writing and publishing and eventually I might even have enough for a book. http://blogaboutbritain.co.uk/
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Have you seen our home-ed Geography resources page here?
Welcome!
After studying for an Early Years Specialism degree (B.Ed. Hons), and teaching in mainstream education, I home-educated my own children, after my husband and I were persuaded of the need to take responsibility for bringing up our children 'in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.' (Ephesians 6:4)
Our children are now grown and I help home-educating parents teach reading and writing, especially to those with special needs. Please contact me if you think I might be able to help you.
In addition I help my son to write the Nature Observations magazines and helping Chris Eastwood with her FREE Christian Home Education daily lessons.
This costs the purchaser nothing extra.
In this way I can continue to provide free resources.
Thank you for your support.
Here's one I heartlily reccomend for ages 10 +.
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