Mom’s Musings

This has been an extra busy week in my real world, AND I have been trying to do the responsible thing and get more sleep. These are my excuses for posting a bit less than usual. If you are interested in my unsubstantiated opinions, I forthwith present you with this week’s THURSDAY THIRTEEN,

Thirteen ways to foster creativity in your children:

• First of all, make sure that your children’s basic needs for body and soul are consistently well-met. This lays a foundation of security and health. This will require a lot of love, self-discipline and self-sacrifice on your part.
  
• Expose your children to real life people, places and things. Go to the park, to the zoo, to the concerts, to church, to stores, to the library, and to as many other places as you can think of. Prepare your children ahead of time for what they will see and what behavior will be expected of them.
  
• Involve your children in the real work of the home, so that they may learn real skills and discover what valuable, competent people they are. Children (at an appropriate age, with instruction) can do animal chores, bake bread, clean bathrooms, mow lawns, wash vehicles, paint rooms, organize seasonal clothing, etc. DON’T DO FOR YOUR CHILDREN WHAT THEY CAN DO FOR THEMSELVES! Do you want them to learn that they are helpless and needy, or that they are strong and competent?
  
• READ, READ, READ to your children! And, let them see you enjoying reading, too. Read a variety of literary genres to them, and non-fiction, too. Other times and places will come alive to them. Wise and good men and women from ages past (and the present) can become your children’s friends through good books.
  
• Pay attention to your children, and particularly try to notice their aptitudes, talents and special interests. Nurture these talents, with appropriate lessons, supplies, field trips, mentors, etc. In schooling language, this is called Interest Based Education. This is the type of homeschooling that I tried to do. What’s good for one child’s development may not be the right fit for another child, as you most likely realize.
  
• Provide a rich learning environment in your home. This would include: books, art supplies, Legos or similar 3-D building toys, clothing for dress-up, a safe outdoor play area with sand box, a dirt heap, trees to climb, places to bike and skate, room to run and dance.
  
• Make sure your children have unstructured time every day to play and dream. How can they be creative if you are deciding what they will do every minute of every day?
  
• Provide opportunities for your children to interact lovingly with people of as many ages and ethnicities as possible. Emphasize the duty we have to love and serve others. Let them know that they are no better and no worse than anyone else because of being black, white, brown, or any other shade or nationality. Let them think of ways to love and serve.
  
• Limit TV viewing time. I would like to say, do without TV altogether, but there are valuable programs you can enjoy together, I know. I have read that the type of stimulation provided by TV does not foster neurological development in young children, nor does it develop their creativity. You can research this yourself, if you so desire. Jane M. Healy, Ph.D. has quite a bit to say on this subject in her book Your Child’s Growing Mind. This would include computer time as well.
  
• Just because you are a busy momma, don’t stop altogether doing the creative things for which you have a passion. Please, continue dancing, playing musical instruments, writing, and painting, or working to further a cause for which you are passionate.
  
• Make sure your children have strong basic skills in reading and math. Can a child be creative with math when he doesn’t know the language or rules of mathematics? Can a child appreciate the worlds hidden within books when he cannot read with ease?
  
• Converse with your children about everyday events, newspaper articles, and books you are reading, and truly try to listen to them when they converse with you.
  
• Play games with your children. Following the rules, planning one’s strategy, interacting with one another during the game, and keeping score foster emotional and mental growth and creativity.
  

There you have my list, compiled by an opinionated momma who homeschooled for many years. I am very pleased with my kind, creative, competent children. I didn’t say PERFECT, mind you. But, I enjoyed all the time spent with my children. Those were some of the best years of my life, and I am passionate about helping children to develop their particular talents.

Thirteen Things I loved about Home schooling

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!
View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

Back when we were beginning our family, about 25 years ago, home schooling was not the popular, cool thing to do that it is today. We became friends with some pioneering families who were really dedicated to the concept, however, and became convinced that home schooling was the only option for us.

As things have worked out, our oldest child was the only one who was exclusively home schooled (until he went to college). The next four children were home schooled plus Christian schooled. Now, the youngest four children have been home schooled, Christian schooled, and are currently public schooled. There are many reasons for this change from exclusive home schooling. One of the main reasons, I guess, is that we view home schooling as a TOOL, not as an end in itself. When the home schooling “tool” worked to the best advantage of our family and our children, we employed it.

For this Thursday Thirteen, I would like to tell you 13 things that I LOVED about homeschooling, not home schooling in general, but OUR home schooling (There are lots of different versions out there, ya know.).

• We were able to provide a warm, nurturing environment for our young children.
  

• We were able to be the main influence on our children’s developing characters when they were very young.
  
• The children were not rushed into academics too soon, but had lots of opportunities to play and explore, and to learn to help with the work of the home. You have probably guessed that I agree with Raymond and Dorothy Moore’s approach to homeschooling, explained in their books such as School Can Wait and Home Grown Kids.
  

• The children learned how to handle themselves confidently in varied settings because they went everywhere that we did, and were prepared beforehand on what to expect at the library, the store, the church, etc.
  
• We were on the lookout for the children’s special talents and interests and were able to facilitate their development. An interest in art, for example, led to us hiring an artist one summer to teach the youngsters watercolor techniques. We made sure to have plenty of art supplies on hand as well.
  

• I love interest-based education, something which is ideally suited to the home school. For example, when our first child became interested in WWII, American Indian chiefs, or astronomy, he had the opportunity to explore those subjects in depth, WHEN he was interested in them. When one of the girls became interested in breeding gerbils to obtain as many coat colors as possible, she did that.
  
• We went to the library A LOT. They have a limit of 100 books maximum which may be checked out at once, and we sometimes reached that maximum. Our rule with the children was, “You have to check out as much non-fiction as fiction.” All of our children continue to love books.
  

• I loved reading aloud to the children. If the children were interested, I would sometimes end up reading to them up to three hours a day.
  
• The children had time and energy for music lessons and practicing their instruments (3 violins, 1 viola, 1 cello). They still play occasionally, but I miss the “all-the-time” music.
  

• The children learned to take a lot of responsibility for their own learning, helping to research and select the curriculum, and helping to decide the time-table of completing their work.
  
• Life was more relaxed. The children got enough sleep. I got enough sleep.
  
• We could pretty much go where we wanted, when we wanted, without worrying about missing school.
  
• I enjoy my children. I love being with them. They have learned to be thoughtful and pleasant people. We had (and continue to have) such a good time together throughout those home school years.
  

As some of you know, I work part-time as a math paraeducator (a.k.a. “teacher’s helper”). In 6th grade, we have been studying multiplication of fractions. If your schooling was like mine, you probably were told, “This is how you multiply fractions,” then you were given a bunch of problems to do to get you used to the formula, and you never really UNDERSTOOD what multiplying a fraction times a fraction means, or why you end up with a smaller number as the answer.

I also know that some of you are home educators, so perhaps the following drawings will be useful to you in explaining this concept to your pupils.

This method, called the “brownie pan” method, uses visual aids, or manipulatives, drawn by the students. Here is how the student could illustrate the fraction 3/4:

Here is how the student could illustrate the fraction 2/3:

And, finally, this is how the student could illustrate the multiplication problem 2/3 of 3/4 OR 3/4 of 2/3 (Remember that the word “of” indicates the mathematical operation of multiplication.):

The sections of the brownie pan that are double-shaded show the numerator of the fraction product (How many pieces of the whole are we talking about?) and the total number of sections in the “brownie pan” shows the denominator of the fraction product (How many pieces total is the whole divided into?).

This is cool, is it not?

Do you have any questions, students?

(If anyone knows who does this lovely clipart, please let me know so I can tell him or her how much I enjoy this art.)

I’ve mentioned previously how much I enjoy the writing of Richard Phillips. He often contributes to blog posts on a site called Reformation 21. Today I read one of his posts on family worship. Here is a short quote from that post:

What is family worship? Family worship is the gathering of the father, mother, and children to worship God in the home. It involves two essential elements: the reading and teaching of God’s Word and prayer. It is also good for the family to sing together. Our family begins with a short prayer, after which we sing a psalm together (we use the Trinity Psalter). Next is a time of family Bible study in which I teach, allowing questions and discussion (presently, we are working through Acts). I have often been thrilled by the insightful questions asked by my children, which shows they really think about biblical things (and really are learning in Cat Kids and Sunday School!). After the Bible lesson, we pray together, with every member of the family participating. At the very end, we stand together, hold hands, and sing with the Doxology.

As a family, we have consistently engaged in family worship throughout our life together as a family. Like the Phillips family, we find this is a perfect time to discuss life issues in light of what God teaches us in His word. This is the time when we memorize the faithful catechisms of the Christian faith. This is the time when we answer doubts and questions of family members.

Here it is, late, time for bed, but I’m just now squeaking out a blog post. This has been a busy day (as I’m sure yours has also been). I could have posted after dinner, but I just had to go to the high school girls’ basketball game this evening. Our girls really excel at teamwork. It’s a joy to behold how well they work together. The game was hard-fought by talented gals on both sides, but, sadly, our team lost by 2 points in overtime. I believe the final score was 72 to 74.

I won’t list for you the other things that made this day so busy. Suffice it to say that a lot of necessary errands were run, children were taxied, and dinner was both prepared and eaten.

What I would like to do is tell you about a card game that one of the math teachers with whom I worked recommended to me. Two of the children and I “test drove” the game this past weekend and decided it’s one of the best. The game is called SET, “The Family Game of Visual Perception.” Twelve cards are placed face up on the table. There are three different shapes, three different colors, three possible shadings, and three possible numbers of shapes on a card. To form a set you look for things that are all ALIKE, or, things that are all DIFFERENT. The first person to spy a set, says, “Set!” and may take the set if he is able to satisfactorily explain to the other players why it IS a set.

There is a great website explaining more about this game, and other brain-challenging games as well. Did you know that SET affects your brain in some interesting ways?

At the earliest opportunity, I would like to get this game for our family, plus a closely related but more challenging game called Triology.

Have any of you played Set or Triology? If so, does your family enjoy the games?

One of my favorite home school bloggers has done a “show and tell” of a Thanksgiving lap book that she and her young daughter created together. The result was a beautiful keepsake. Additionally, each time the child looks through the book, learning is reinforced. Wow!

Whether or not you home school your children, you will want to make some of these books!

Today I was reading about an upcoming event in Bellingham, WA that really struck a chord with me. Educator and author Chris Mercogliano will be talking about his book, In Defense of Childhood: Protecting Kids’ Inner Wildness, at Village Books at 4pm this Saturday.

According to Kie Relyea, who wrote the Herald article, Mr. Mercogliano is concerned that children’s lives are being over structured, with too much homework and constant before and after school organized activities. He proposes that parents seek to nurture their children without over-scheduling them. He says,

“I really wanted to get across the message that the most important thing for parents to do is not to do. It’s important to let your kids have their own time and space. Don’t structure their day. Don’t structure their play.”

He also emphasizes reading to children, and getting them outdoors to investigate, play and explore.

I think I’ll try to make time to read this book. I wonder if Mr. Mercogliano actually does have the same philosophy of child-nurturing that I do. When the children were little, we did have order to our day. But once chores were done and meals were eaten, there was plenty of time left for the children to explore the forest behind the house, build forts in the bushes, put on plays in the living room and create works of art. When the children were indoors, I would sometimes spend hours a day reading to them, the length of time depending on how interested they were in the current book and whether it was a cozy, book-reading sort of day or not.

When the children were older, we homeschooled, in a laid-back sort of way. I taught the children to read and taught them the fundamentals of math. We did use some text books. But, mainly, we relied on the library and the rule, “You need to read as thick a stack of non-fiction as fiction books!” If there was a certain subject to which I wished to introduce a child, I would check out some books on the subject and leave them lying around. They were usually read, and soon thereafter the excited child would tell me all about the new interest.

Our homeschooling also involved taking the children everywhere with us, preparing them beforehand with what to expect, and what behavior would be expected of them. I let them know that if they weren’t able to behave, we would have to return home, but this rarely happened. Going out was a treat, and they wanted it!

At one point, three of the children told me they were interested in learning to play violin, so violins were purchased and private lessons ensued, with melodious consequences. For art, we kept the home well-supplied with all things artsy and craftsy. The children used their imaginations, and then decided to view all the art videos available at the Bellingham Library to learn such things as colored pencil techniques, and how to paint with oils, acrylics and watercolors.

I treasured those days of the children having time and opportunity to pursue interests and develop talents in a relaxed setting. There was plenty of time, too, to contribute to the work of the home, read books, go on hikes, and get enough rest!

I think that all of these things were beneficial to the children, and helped them to become the independent thinking, curious, and creative people that they are. There is so much more to be said, especially since some of the grown children think a more “normal” life would have been better. But this is a topic for another day, since I’m so tired!