SACHS Blog Carnival #11 - Philosophies of Homeschooling

My homeschooling journey is currently at a very challenging place!  Four boys between the ages 2 and 6 years old - a challenge in itself; a child in primary school - who needs a lot of attention; two children in middle school - who hunger for knowledge; and a young man, who I desperately want to get through school, while he is exploring the world and experiencing the favour of the Lord on His life.

Many days, I have no idea what I’m supposed to do, but one thing I know, this is exactly what the Lord had instilled for the Lues family and I will never turn away from this road the Lord has placed me on.  

Our homeschool philosophy is very much based on personally taking responsibility to give each individual child life skill opportunities within a Bible believing environment while teaching them how to search for information in a culture saturated with information, but hungry for knowledge.  We believe God will make a way for their future, we only need to work passionately and diligently with them every day.

Over the past ten years I experienced and observed a few interesting things:

• Commitment 

The most important decision Christo and I made as parents, were to commit ourselves to our homeschooling journey and never looked back or looked for a way out when things got tough. I constantly remind myself where I’m coming from - When and How the Lord called me to homeschool the children He gave me.  

I’m homeschooling, because God appointed me to homeschool.  There is no two ways about it.  

These children are His children.  God only gave them to me for a short period of time, during which I should train them up in the way they should go.  Without commitment I would be like a wave on the see, unstable in all my doings.  In particular my homeschooling doings.  

In the beginning I constantly searched for new curriculums, until I realized I must get settled in my homeschooling approach. The Lord appointed specific curriculums with a purpose, with my children’s personalities and learning approaches in mind, I just have to put my mind on making them work for our situation.

Over the years when things got difficult, it never appealed to us to put our children back in school, or even get a tutor.  This was God’s calling on our, but more specific, my life. And I somehow knew that through the hardships, He would make a way.  As long as I stay committed and obedient, He would lead me in wisdom.

“Delight thyself also in the LORD: and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.

Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass.” Ps 37:4-5

• Unity between Christo and Me;

I cannot thank the Lord enough that Christo was the first one convinced to homeschool. There is no way I could have kept at it through the hardships and doubt in myself as homeschooling parent, if Christo was blowing in my neck all the time, checking on the children and even threatening to put them back in school if I (and they), didn’t perform to his expectations.   

  

Whenever I got discouraged, Christo would be there to uplift my spirit. He would remind me why we were homeschooling, and who my only Hope was and just put me to ease in the circumstances.  Unity between husband and wife is of the utmost importance.   Christo constantly reminds me, we only need to fulfill God’s expectation for our children, not our own, or the World’s expectations.

“Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour.

 For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falleth; for he hath not another to help him up.

 ... and a threefold cord is not quickly broken.” Ecclesiastes 4:9-12

• Never Compare My Family or Children with Others

When we started homeschooling years ago, we were in the “privileged” situation that we knew nobody who homeschooled.  We were just a family whom the Lord miraculously prompted to homeschool in a certain way and we had nobody to compare ourselves with. By the time I got to know more homeschooling families, I was secure in the way God intend us to homeschool.  Oh, I did listen to other homeschoolers every now and then when they talked about their amazing curriculums, and even tried out a few, with no success. My husband kept my feet on the ground, when it came to comparing my family and children, curriculums and extra murals with others. 

I’ve said it so many times, no two families are the same. Even two families who do the exact same curriculum, will have a different approach and different outcome.  There is nothing wrong with observing and learning from other families, but never get discontent because your family ‘doesn’t perform’ like another families.  Over the years I’ve tried to install certain habits in our family, which I observed as great habits in other families. Interesting, when my motivation was from the flesh and not from the Lord, it only drained my energy, put me and my family in bondage and we got stuck!

“...be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.” Hebrews 13:5

• Stayed out of the system, but now what?

Over the years I observed an interesting phenomenon in homeschooling families.  Families will start homeschooling, because they don’t want their children in the school system, for various reasons. For better education, or because they don’t want their children to be conformed to this world, or their child had special needs, etc.

For years they would then homeschool their children ‘out of the system’. They will teach their children to think out of the box, believing their children needed more than head knowledge to make a success out of life.  They needed life skills and real life situations.  They believe God has a purpose for their child’s life and through the homeschooling approach, real life experiences, personal involvement of parents and installing Godly character in their life, they would be more equipped for the calling on their lives. 

Then all of a sudden at the age of 13, parents would get anxious because their children isn’t in the school system! Deep inside they fall for the lie that their child will not be able to get a job or make a success of their lives, because they weren’t in the (real) school and wouldn’t have papers to proof it.  It appeared that all the reasons why they homeschooled their child for years, suddenly was no longer valid. They believe they need the approval of the exact same ‘system’ they rejected for years, to give their child a future.  

The anxiety, stress and turmoil caused by this is tremendous. Homeschooling needs to be a deep conviction or else you will hit a place where your morning and afternoon thoughts won’t match and again you will be like a wave on the sea.  (A double minded man…)

“But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind.” James 1:6

• Our Homeschool Philosophy: 

Commitment and a deep conviction, in the sweet harmony of marriage, to teach our children through real life experiences and then leave the rest to God, to make a way! He has a calling on each of my children’s lives, and though I don’t have the full picture right now, God knows the history of the future. Each of my children’s names are written in the palms of His hands and He will make them shine for His glory! 

• Other Homeschool Philosophies

But how do other Homeschooling families define, formulate and came to the conclusion of a homeschooling philosophy? 

What do they use for their specific needs? 

What do they look out for as distractions to their homeschooling philosophy? 

This week the South African Carnival of Homeschool Bloggers focuses on Philosophies of Homeschooling.   Click on any of the following links to inspire you, guide you in your Homeschooling philosophy.

• Karen from Karen's Clan share in her post Philosophy of Homeschooling, what they do on their journey and a little touch of insight as to why!
• Taryn from Hayes Family share in her post Our homeschooling journey  ...  the philosophical framework how organized, methodical people would gather lots of information, read through various philosophies of education and come to a conclusion.  She came to a conclusion and worked backwards. The conclusion for them? Literature-based education with a Christian worldview is the way to go." This post details how they came to their conclusion and how much they enjoy using the Sonlight curriculum for their Christian focused, literature-based education.
• Olivia from Easy Upstream share in her post Kids and Schooling Upstream a more general comment… making people aware of the fact that the choice to educate at home is, in fact, a philosophical one.
• Shirley at Under and English Sky wrote about the heart behind homeschooling, as God has convicted her, in A Vapour in the Wind, It's Simple... They Belong To Jesus... and Homeschooling for Homeschoolings sake? She have experienced the distraction of to many curriculum choices, too many tried and tested methods. Each one of them distracting her from the 'WHY' they home educate. She took a look into homeschooling that goes beyond method, curriculum or style, rather into their families heart, the true reason why they educate their children at home.
• Trys from Trixi's HomeEd Academy share in her posting Home Educating a Struggling Learner their experience, as well as the teaching methods they’ve used successfully, after removing their very active, yet highly intelligent 7-year old from private school in August 2010. Their son was struggling with reading & writing due to his gross & fine motor skills foundation not having been addressed properly at a Gr. R level, hence the learning problems. He is a Right Brain Kinesthetic as well as Visual Spatial learner & his learning styles are not catered for in most of our schools today. 
• Esther from A House-A Home and Learning got inspired by the theme of this blog carnival to formulate a homeschool philosophy for their family.  In her posting Formulating a Home Schooling Philosophy, Esther share what they have formulated so far and the website that guide her to do so.
• Lindy from Homeschooling in South Africa loves the Unit study approach to homeschooling  since live is so interrelated and that naturally subjects are not separated, except at schools. She also favour hands on curriculum, as children remember so much more of what they do. In her post A Bible Centered Unit Study, The Weaver Curriculum, Lindy shares their unit study approach with a difference - The Weaver Curriculum.

This is the 11th SACHS Blog carnival under the theme "Philosophies of Homeschooling" which is part of the South African Carnival of Homeschool Blogs. To join the carnival or visit past carnivals visit the SACHS Blogs page. We hope you enjoy browsing!

Much love

Linnie

“And do not be conformed to this world, 

but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, 

that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”

Rom 12:2

Roller Coasters, A Give-Away Winner & A Sweet Reward!

To my shame, I’m way overdue with this posting.  Please forgive me!!

October was a roller coaster month. 

That is apart from the fact that I was on a real roller coaster too! For the first time in my life I rode the Cobra, though it was the 3rd time I paid a visit to Ratanga Junction in Cape Town. Both the previous times, I was over 28 weeks pregnant!  Me, a Fun-Girl, enjoyed it tremendously!  But it was quite a challenge to juggle the children.

The older children wanted to have the most out of their rides; 

The little ones need to get their share of fun;

Then to figure out how Christo and I could have one or two rides together.  

The main ride was the Cobra.  Heidi-Mari and Josua could hardly contain their excitement. There was a queue of at least 20 minutes and CJ, Heidi-Mari and Josua also wanted to ride, but what about Danika, Andrew, David, Daniel and little Michael?  Leaving the little ones with the big ones, while Christo and I went for our ride and then keeping the little ones with us again, while the older ones fell in the queue for their ride, would take us at least an hour and it was already noon.  Besides, Heidi-Mari wanted to go for a second time, this time with me!  So we all fell in the queue, the little ones with Christo and me, yes, we did get a few strange looks, and the older ones about 5 minutes behind us.  As we were nearing the end of the line, I took the little ones to the older ones. They would keep them with them, while we went for our ride. When I got off the roller coaster I would ask the personnel if I could fetch my little ones from their older siblings.  

Everything went according to plan and as Christo and I were on the landing, waiting to get on the ride, I asked the one very friendly personnel if he would just keep an eye on my children, who have their young siblings with them, about two rides behind us. On hearing how many children I have (LOL), he was so accommodating and immediately called all our children out of the line, (causing quite a stir among the people) and let them stand on the landing, while promising me he would take care of them.  How cool is that!?  As Christo and I got off the Cobra, me with wobbling legs, he escorted me through the people and helped me gathering my little ones. Since CJ, Heidi-Mari and Josua were waiting with their siblings in front, Heidi-Mari and Josua got the bonus of getting the front row seats on the Cobra! 

Wow, did they enjoy that, although an extra dose of panic was added!

The first ride was quite a shock for my system, I thought it would never end!  But with the second ride I could actually open my eyes and enjoy the ride!!

But to come back to my overdue posting.  Here, I did a review on the Visionary Womanhood Gathering e-book, with a give away, kindly sponsored by Natalie Klejwa from Visionary Womanhood.  

I’m proud to announce Mignon as the winner. Congratulations! Mignon, I’ll send you an e-mail shortly, to give you instructions on how to claim your Visionary Womanhood Gathering e-book.  

In September two very special Christian Girls honored me with a sweet award, the Bloggers For Christ Award.
  

Dear Kelly-Anne from Beautiful Girlhood and my own Heidi-Mari from Heidi’s Crafts.  It just warms my heart when I look at these two beautiful girls, who put Christ first in their lives, bringing Him glory daily by creatively making use of their special talents, serving their Mothers and family with a joyful attitude and still make time to nurture their special friendship!  

Kelly-Anne and Heidi-Mari, I’m so proud to know you and love you lots and lots!!  I can’t wait to see what God has in stall for the two of you!

The object of this particular award is to award bloggers who believe in Jesus Christ and write freely about Him and His glory on their blogs and encourage others. The requirements for this award are to:

1: Explain three things that have encouraged you on your walk of faith, like a particular verse in the Bible or a prayer, book or someone who has really touched your life. It must be a certain moment, whether in church, a retreat, etc.

2: Pass this award onto three other Godly bloggers.

The verse / couple of verses, that encouraged me the most in my walk of faith is Psalm 37.  With the dawn of the 1st of January 1998 the Lord gave me Psalm 37 during a time of recommitting my life to God.  Little did I know that the following years would be challenging, evil would try to oppose us in our new walk with God and ungodly people, as well as fellow Christians would disappoint us in more than one way.  Through those years as well as today I hold on to Psalm 37 and the Lord at least once a month prompt me to re-read it and so encourage me to press on!

Two ministries changed my live for good: Walk Through the Bible with the teachings of Dr. Bruce Wilkinson;

Above Rubies and the teachings of Nancy Campbell. 

God used Walk Through the Bible during the period 1999 till 2003 and amazingly Above Rubies ministries entered my life in 2004.  The truths I’ve learned through the Walk Through the Bible courses (Biblical Portrait of a Marriage, The Three Chairs, The Foundations of Faith, The Testing of your Faith, The Prayer of Jabez, Secrets of the Vine, A Life God Rewards) laid a foundation in my spiritual life, that changed my walk with God forever, resulting in a journey of becoming a true Disciple of God.  Amazing, how the truths taught by Nancy Campbell from Above Rubies, built on the truths we’ve learned with Walk Through the Bible, in the following years.  Above Rubies, renewed my mind on Motherhood, in a way I could never have imagined.  Through Above Rubies I’ve came to know my value of being created in God’s image and given the freedom to serve the Lord right here in my home, with my talents, gifts and strengths, becoming everything God wants me to be.  

I never again felt the need to make excuses that I’m just a Mother, but knowing it is the Most Important Career in the Universe!

Except for the Bible, the book that touched my life the most and encouraged me in my walk as a woman is, Created to be His Helpmeet by Debi Pearl.  

I read this book for the first time in 2007.  At that stage I had six children, four of them between thirteen and four years old, a toddler who just turned two, a baby of 10 months old and my marriage took much strain. This book renewed my mind and changed my attitude towards my husband, forever. I still mess up big time in being the wife God created me to be for Christo, and God periodically reminds me through Created to be His Helpmeet that being a godly wife, following the instructions in His word, is His perfect will for my live, no matter what the World would want to make women to believe!

Pass on this Reward.

I’ve recently got introduced to some very inspiring ‘new’ (for me) blogs.  

Inspired to Action By Kat

Thanks to Kat’s Hello Mornings I’m experiencing a new level in my walk with God.

Do not Depart by Katie

I’m currently doing Katie’s Fruit of the Spirit course Abiding Fruit. You can still download it here.

Visionary Womanhood administrated by Natalie Klejwa

I hope you enjoyed this Roller Coaster Posting!

With much love

Linnie

The Decimal System

I absolutely loved my Maths Teacher from middle school years.  His whole person would light up when he worked, taught and talked about numbers, symbols and formulas.  One idea stands out like daylight when I think back to the days in his class room - the decimal system and place values. He believed it was of the utmost importance that a child understood the decimal system and he did everything in his power to make you understand it.

Today, being a homeschooling Mother, with one child busy with Algebra, three children on the go, a fifth on the brink to start and three more to come, I cannot agree more.  Maths is just so much easier and much more fun, when you understand the decimal system.   

Thankfully, the Lord sent Steve Demme from Maths-U-See over my homeschooling path. He reminds me in so many ways of my Middle School Maths Teacher - his countenance lights up when he starts teaching maths and his whole curriculum evolves around the decimal system and place values.  

Math-U-See is the best curriculum I could possibly have chosen for my visual learners. 

My little ones, absolutely love the story of “Decimal street” with houses for “ones”, ‘tenths’ and “hundreds”.  Only nine beds fit into each house.  Nine green (the colour of ones) beds in the “ones-house”, nine blue (the colour of tenths) in the “tenths-house” and nine red (the colour for hundreds) in the “hundreds-house”.  This immediately gives them the concept of a maximum of 9 units in a decimal place value. As soon as my little ones grabbed this concept they were able to write any number from one to hundreds.  They also understand what is in a number and not only recite numbers in a specific order when counting. With the manipulates, the abstract of maths constantly links back to the concrete.

Do you have experience of the confusion between writing twelve and twenty? 

My children all struggled at first writing twelve and twenty in numbers. 20 for twelve and vice versa. After playing with the manipulates for a period of time, they came to understand the concept of the decimal system, place values and the difference between 12 and 20.  

Another reason why I chose Math-U-See is because every single calculation from adding to algebra is possible with different kinds of manipulatives.

My children are all visual learners and these manipulatives, which encourage them to constantly build, say and write their math problems, as well as Steve Demme’s DVD explaining every single new concept, with fun connotations turned Maths into a positive experience. So much so, that not one of my children ever resisted maths over the past few years!  Even though they were challenged in more than one concept!

Something like teaching little ones reading a face clock is made simple and full of fun with the Maths-U-See manipulates. 

I was astonished by the way complicated multiplication calculations were made concrete with the manipulates. 

And fractions has nothing to feel anxious about.

The manipulates also make my children “see” patterns in maths, which make skip counting  and eventually multiplication much fun. 

I remember, as a nine/ten year old, hours of driving to and from school while my mother checked my multiplication tables. Oh, I hated every moment of it. Before we used Maths-U-See, I believed that it was a good idea to check CJ’s (then only eight or nine years old) skip counting and multiplication facts, to and from supermarkets. Unfortunately, he hated it too, and one day asked me if we can please use driving time to chat about nice things… I immediately stopped it. 

Can you see the pattern in skip counting in 9’s?
There is a pattern in the one place value, as well is in the tens place value!

Shortly there after, we started Maths-U-See. My children that followed, do skip counting only with the manipulates and in a much more relaxed, fun way.  This past week Josua even managed to identify a pattern in skip counting in 7’s, boosting his self confidence with Maths!

Math-U-See teach maths by mastering one concept before moving on to the next concept. Students will first learn the concept of counting and adding. All practices in the first book will evolve around counting and adding.  

Then subtracting will follow.  Next will be fast counting or multiplication, which start with skip counting as the basis for multiplication.  It will only be at the age of ten or more that the concept of dividing and factions will be introduced.  On completion of each level the child will know everything possible about adding, subtracting and multiplication.  

He will also be able to apply the different concepts in very simple pre-algebra problems, as well as use these concepts in any possible word problem. I remember from school years the fear involved for me with the mere mentioning of the word: “Word Problems”.  Word Problems is in my opinion the one and only way of implementing maths practically in life.  Math-U-See’s end goal is making children ‘see’ why they need maths by implementing it in every day life or Word Problems, as we know it.

Maths-U-See makes Maths fun and that is exactly what I want my children to have when playing with numbers, while learning a very important, but challenging life skill.

This post features on the South African Carnival of Homeschool Bloggers (SACH Bloggers) where South African home schoolers share experiences, ideas, philosophies and much more.  You can join the carnival too by heading to the South African Carnival of Homeschool Bloggers sign up page. We hope you enjoy the carnival as much as we have!

SA Home Schooling Blog Carnival #10

With love

Linnie