My Final Word about ... (not really my Final Word!)

I said good-bye to what had been my life for the last 25 years, and before I left I wrote this encouragement to the moms still in our homeschool group. I don't think this will be my final word on this blog or this subject because now I'll have lots of time to write! But now, I'll try to figure out which subjects I'll want to write about for your entertainment.

If you have the opportunity, look this up on YouTube, and listen to it as you read the words:

Find Us Faithful

by Steve Green

We're pilgrims on the journey
Of the narrow road
And those who've gone before us line the way
Cheering on the faithful, encouraging the weary
Their lives a stirring testament to God's sustaining grace

Surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses
Let us run the race not only for the prize
But as those who've gone before us
Let us leave to those behind us
The heritage of faithfulness passed on through godly lives

Oh may all who come behind us find us faithful
May the fire of our devotion light their way
May the footprints that we leave
Lead them to believe
And the lives we live inspire them to obey

Oh may all who come behind us find us faithful

After all our hopes and dreams have come and gone
And our children sift through all we've left behind
May the clues that they discover and the memories they uncover
Become the light that leads them to the road we each must find

How can we be found faithful? 

1.       Do what is good! Micah 6:8 He has told you, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?

2.       Be Just! Proverbs 21:15  

3.       Be Kind! Proverbs 3:3  

4.       Walk humbly with God. James 4:10 Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you.

If we do these things for others, how much more should we do these for our children? I want to impress on you as I go, that academic excellence is NOTHING without godly character.  Make sure godly character is the priority in your home. Do whatever it takes to ensure that your children are seeing godly character modeled in your home, all day, every day. And that is my final word.

What I Wish I Knew in 1991

In September of 1991, my Kindergartner and I watched through the front window as the school bus pulled up in front of our house to pick up the neighborhood kids.  In the crowd were two of his buddies that he had spent long summer days with, playing in the sand and riding bikes along the sidewalk in between our houses.  Both of those little guys were in tears as they kissed their moms and bravely got on the bus.  My David looked at me wide eyed and asked, “Where are they going?” I answered, “They’re going to school.”  “What do they do in school?” David asked.  “They learn to read and do math. Do you want to learn to read and do math? I want to teach you to read and do math here at home.  Are  you ready for that?” “Yes, mommy, I want to learn to read and do math and not get on that school bus,” David stated.  I got on the phone (this is before the World Wide Web) and ordered the Kindergarten curriculum from the post card I picked up at one of the first CHEA conventions.  I only had 3 options, and this was the one Don thought I should use. And through the years, we learned a lot more than just reading and math.

In 1991 I wish I knew that responsibility needs to be taught, not just talked about. I remember sitting in my kitchen, with my little lefty asking me, “How do I tie my shoes?” It was one of those major moments where I realized that since I wasn’t going to send him to school, I was going to have to teach him EVERYTHING! And it wasn’t limited to tying shoes.  I had to teach him how to tell time!  Is that in the curriculum? What about sorting laundry? Is there a curriculum for that?

In 1991 I wish I knew that comparing ourselves to others was a fruitless endeavor. David was a kinesthetic learner who needed to rub his antlers against my chairs in order to learn the “e” sound in “elk”, whereas the little girl in his Sunday School class could easily learn the phonics sounds by reading them.

In 1991 I wish I knew right away what it meant to be “set apart”. We were homeschooling.  We were set apart alright.  Set apart from the neighbors, set apart from the people at church, set apart from our family. I wish I had had a more gracious answer as to why we were homeschooling  in those days.

In 1991 I wish I had known that God was going to give me 4 of 5 Science minded students – no, wait! Scratch that!  I’m glad I didn’t know! I might not have persevered.

In 1991 I wish I had known to relish the journey and that it would be a lot of fun. Some days the laundry was piled high, the dishes were still out from the night before and there were toys all over the place.  But, there were little ones who wanted stories and songs and projects and hugs and kisses.  You know what?  The laundry is still piled high, and the dishes are still out from the night before, but there are no little children to distract us from the mundane duties.  Nope, instead of reading bedtime stories, we do the dishes.

In 1991 I wish I had known that we were establishing lifetime patterns in our children.  We learned that discipleship is forever, and I can only hope and pray that those lifetime patterns we established in our children will be furthering the kingdom of God and that even our grandchildren will be beneficiaries.

My View of January

Ecclesiastes 1: 1- 12 

The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem.  “Vanity of vanities,” says the Preacher, “Vanity of vanities! All is vanity.” What advantage does man have in all his work which he does under the sun? A generation goes and a generation comes, but the earth remains forever. Also, the sun rises and the sun sets; And hastening to its place it rises there again. Blowing toward the south, then turning toward the north, the wind continues swirling along; And on its circular courses the wind returns.  All the rivers flow into the sea, yet the sea is not full. To the place where the rivers flow, there they flow again.  All things are wearisome; Man is not able to tell it. The eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor is the ear filled with hearing. That which has been is that which will be, and that which has been done is that which will be done. So there is nothing new under the sun.  Is there anything of which one might say, “See this, it is new”? Already it has existed for ages which were before us.  There is no remembrance of earlier things; And also of the later things which will occur, there will be for them no remembrance among those who will come later still.

As I read this, I didn’t know whether to feel discouraged or to feel like my life is normal. I always find that January is the toughest month for our homeschool.  I feel like everything is futile! Yes, the “sun rises and the sun sets” and I’m still behind!  “All rivers flow into the sea, yet the sea is not full.” Isn’t that a picture of not making progress in our curriculum? “All things are wearisome” is exactly how I’m feeling about now!

We've just finished the holidays.  The adrenaline rush is over.  Maybe the decorations are put away.  Or maybe not.  But January 4th is coming and I need to get back to schooling and my home is still looking like "old" festive. Some days, when it isn’t all put away, and I can see the cob webs creeping into the corners of the garland and my home reminds me of The Haunted Mansion decorated for Christmas. 

Another reason for feeling discouraged is that my student isn’t as far along in his curriculum as I had planned out last August, and semester reports are coming up.  And we definitely develop bad habits over Christmas break!  There is just something about having siblings home and having them START a movie at 10:30 PM! 

I turn further in Ecclesiastes, for my encouragement: 

Ecclesiastes 3: 1 - 8 There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven—  A time to give birth and a time to die; A time to plant and a time to uproot what is planted.  A time to kill and a time to heal; A time to tear down and a time to build up. A time to weep and a time to laugh; A time to mourn and a time to dance. A time to throw stones and a time to gather stones; A time to embrace and a time to shun embracing. A time to search and a time to give up as lost; A time to keep and a time to throw away. A time to tear apart and a time to sew together; A time to be silent and a time to speak. A time to love and a time to hate; A time for war and a time for peace.

Ah, there is a time for everything! A time to bond with family. A time to get extra PE credits playing golf with the brothers. A time to do Bible study in front of the fireplace, in our pajamas, with hot chocolate and left over whipped cream and sprinkles. A time to see the latest Hobbit movie.

In 30 years, I’d rather have my son remember the time he spent making memories with his brothers, rather than me being uptight about the school schedule! The month of January is just kind of that way. And sometimes, January is the time to teach our children to be grateful that there is a time for everything.  And we can be grateful God gave us seasons to celebrate what we can do differently to bring peace to our home.

Start teaching them a Foreign Language by teaching them SONGS!

Start with songs!  Not only does this help you with vocabulary, it also helps you with pronunciation!  I always wondered how those foreign singers could sing English songs even though they couldn’t speak English!  Now I know!  Just pick up a CD with Christian children’s songs, and start playing it!  I put the emphasis on “children’s” songs, because there are adult worship songs, too!

While we were in Mexico, during those formative high school years, I learned a lot of little kid songs in Spanish.  Most of you learned, “I’m in the Lord’s Army” in English. But because I didn’t go to Sunday School as a little girl, I learned those songs in Mexicali in Spanish first. 

I started when my babies were babies.  Since I didn’t know all of those Christian children’s songs in English, I sang them in Spanish.  As my children grew to be toddlers and I got a cassette tape of children’s worship songs, I finally learned the words in English.  And boy, was I surprised at what they did to the songs to make them rhyme!

When my children were in elementary school, because elementary school went so much faster than I had ever anticipated, I did one lesson of Spanish every other day.  It took maybe about 20 minutes.  But I made sure it was fun and I didn’t pour too much into them at one time.

This is how I kind of structured that time:

Songs

Phrases:  (Hello, goodbye, my name is, and if you’re ever in a church while on a service project in Mexico, you will hear “Dios le bendiga” - God bless you.)

Vocabulary

Bible Verses

But this post will be about songs.  I'll explain the other ideas in later posts.

Purchase CDS with children's songs in the language you want to teach. I purchased Bible songs and other popular children's songs.  If you have the same songs in English, they can definitely hear the correlation in the tune, and it will help them learn the vocabulary even more quickly!

Along with the Bible songs and the nursery rhyme songs, I actually received the WOW top 40 in Spanish.  My high schooler can currently sing many of those songs word for word in Spanish.  

In the "if I had to do it again" category, I would have purchased a CD with Mexican Folk Songs. This is like teaching them"Old MacDonald", but the songs that they sing in Mexico.

Some songs I just translated.  For instance, when I was teaching body parts in Spanish, I sang "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes", but I easily translated it into Spanish because there are no other words, just body parts - Cabeza, Hombros, Rodillas, Dedos. And the better they got at it, the faster they would sing it!  

And did I mention that when they get older they can help lead worship time in an elderly home, in a children's VBS time, and in a church worship service?

Outreach by Teaching a Foreign Language

Why take a foreign language? Can't we survive in the modern world by only knowing English?  The older I've become, the clearer it is to me WHY a foreign language is so useful and why it is important to teach whatever you know to your student.  Let's start with  fulfilling the great commission as demonstrated in Matthew 28:19-20  “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always even to the end of the age.”

Start them young and hopefully I can record some of the practical ideas I have used as they have grown older. Or things you can use to help foreign language tutors that might be willing to help teach your students.  The suggestions I make, can be done in ANY language.  I’m just going to bring up Spanish, because that is the language I chose to teach my children, living in Southern California and 2 hours from the Mexican border and meaningful mission trips.

I have not only wanted to give my kids a heart for their neighbors, but to give them a heart for other people groups.  If that was the goal, then I needed to equip them to reach other people groups.

I actually became a Christian one October when I was 15 years old.  That Christmas, my church announced that they were going down to Mexicali during Spring break with Azusa Pacific University high school program and I decided to go.  Little did I know that that ONE week would change my life forever.  Not only for reaching people for Christ, but in how I dedicated myself to studying Spanish with a purpose in high school.  The frustrating part was that in high school they were teaching me vocabulary to go to Mexico on vacation, including concerts, where I needed to memorize a list of instruments.  Hello?  This wasn’t the Mexico I went to!  I needed to learn the vocabulary for “sin” and “pastor”, “king”, and “giant”.  

Yes, that is me in the middle of the group!  And yes, our sign says “El Bano or Burst”!  Here is a picture of our youth group in Mexico in 1978.  And another one my senior year in high school.

The hardest part about learning a foreign language isn’t the grammar or vocabulary.  The hardest part is getting over your own self-consciousness and being able to speak it!  After I had children, my goal became getting my children to speak and jump that hurdle of self-consciousness.

Let me emphasize a little bit more about how important that hurdle of self-consciousness is.  I received an email from one of my Spanish students, who went down to Mexico with her youth group over Easter break last Spring.  Emily, a sweet, redheaded 3rd year Spanish student went down on a build project. 

They built quite the house.  Her first couple of years in Spanish class she was a timid student, and then all of a sudden something clicked.  I think it was the fact that she knew she might be that much more useful if she was going down to Mexico!  This was in the email I received, “I really saw what a tool learning Spanish (and practicing!) was! And I'm not "just saying" that because you are my Spanish teacher ;-) I really saw how useful learning the language was, and how fun it was to reach out to people with it.  I don't think I told you this, but I was able to speak to a young man from the church there. Even though it was difficult trying to get Spanish to come out of my mouth, it was great to hear him speak about his family and what his life was like, and in turn tell him (in very broken Spanish haha) about my family and a bit of my testimony. What a blessing!

 To be honest, this past trip was wonderful academically because I saw my strengths and weaknesses in my Spanish. I could understand nearly everything that was said in Spanish, whether it was a local talking or one of my friends translating, but I had trouble getting it out. Plus, my vocab is super strong, I knew the word for "Shepherd" when no one else did (yay for being taught from a Christian curriculum!). I felt pretty smart lol. On the flipside, I really need to practice my verb conjugation!”

Over my next few blog posts, I'll talk about different things that we have done to get them over the hump of self-consciousness.  But not today. I've got to prepare for Spanish class tomorrow!

You, too, Can Teach High School Science!

Many parents are afraid to teach high school Science.  I understand that feeling.  I actually felt that way with Junior High Science!  However, since I had worked with my children so thoroughly in elementary, it just became continued learning!  Wait! Let me step back and tell you that when I taught First Grade Science, I learned a TON!  I finally figured out why tomatoes are classified as a fruit, when we learned to classify edible plants!  Second, Third, and Fourth grade were no different!  The only difference was that I had an adult view on the subject and it all made sense!  And since I was so excited to be learning all of these things, I passed that excitement on to my kids and they became excited.  (Plus, we were doing “camp”, so of course it was fun and exciting!) But, yes, high school was intimidating, especially since I had only had two Science classes in high school, and here I had students that I KNEW were going to want Chemistry and Physics!  

The first thing you need to do to prepare for High School Science is to build up your supply cabinet.  I ordered the glass beakers in elementary.  I ordered glass thermometers.  I order the microscope in 4th grade, and I ordered a NICE microscope that is actually still working.  I have taken it to be recalibrated once, but it was totally worth the $250 I spent on it in 1995.  But typically, each elementary year I would spend between $50 and $100 a year to get what I would need.  My big years were the years I purchased the microscope and then the year I purchased a balance.  By the time we got to high school, it wasn’t any different.  I’d pick up the few things we needed and there we were doing Physical Science.  But now I was integrating my Algebra into the Physical Science.  Wow!  Was this liberal arts mom really doing that?  On a side note, Biology has a lot of “consumables” that makes Biology about $250, and Chemistry has a lot of “hazardous shipping” costs that makes Chemistry about $300.  I remember purchasing $75 worth of chemicals and paying $200 to have it shipped!

I totally felt inadequate when I got to Chemistry.  I had managed to go to school for 17 years and never had to learn about the periodic table, let alone chemical bonding and reactions.  And here I was with my Science minded guy.  I tackled it the way I did everything else.  I figured I could learn it.  Sometimes labs felt miserable.  We would try it.  We would fail.  We would look it up on Youtube.  We would fail.  We would tweak things.  We would fail.  Sometimes our labs lasted 2 to 3 hours trying to get one experiment to work right.  I felt like a failure.  All along, my Science son is critically thinking, learning how to tweak formulas and equipment, with a huge sense of accomplishment when the experiment did finally work!  We got through Chemistry.  I felt like we limped through Chemistry, but we finished it with a full understanding, and that includes me!  Physics went a lot easier.  We’d be reading the book and I’d say, “Oh, that’s how my toaster works!  Oh, that’s how my blow dryer works!”  And each time he’d roll his eyes and laugh, “Mom’s learning stuff from our books again!”

Do Science Fair Projects

Science Fair Projects  - I started doing Science Fair projects with my children as soon as I could.  Fortunately we had an outlet, our school group sponsored a Science Fair, and a deadline, always a good thing, so we got them done!  We always started simple!  For my Kindergartner, I always started with their taste buds.  We’d study the tongue, we’d take a picture of their tongue, and then we’d map it.  Where are all of the taste buds?  Then we got to making cookies.  We’d make salt cookies, sour cookies, made with lots of lemon juice, bitter cookies, made with dry mustard, and finally sugar cookies.  I’d have them guess where they would taste it on their tongues.  They would rub the salty cookie all over the sweet, bitter and sour tastebuds and they couldn’t taste it.  But when they got to the salty areas, they could taste it.  What a GREAT way to figure out how our body was designed, even as a tongue!  Of course, we’d finish with the sugar cookies and everyone was happy!  Then I’d have them make their chart of their discoveries and wah-lah, you have a Science Fair project!  I’ve always tried to take things that they are interested in.  They don’t have to be original or super deep.  There is value to figuring out how their Thomas the Tank engine will pull their train car one way and repel it the other way!  And for them to learn the terminology:  hypothesis, method, data, just puts them ahead in the learning curve.

One year, I had my Senior, who was studying Physics, do a Science Fair project with his 1st grade

brother who was learning about gravity.  Together, they built a crude ramp, and used Matchbox cars and books.  They’d pile the books higher under one end of the ramp, the little guy would let the Matchbox car go and the big guy would do the measurement on the stack of books, time the speed per second of the little car, as if he were designing a mountain road.  Of course, they both had tons of fun working together, and my older son got a ton of praise from all sorts of people that he was willing to work with his little brother.

As an encouragement, I let them do whatever they wanted. Much of the time they just wanted to build something fun, and I would let them, but they had to work within the Scientific Method framework.  For instance, one year, my 7th grader and his buddy, Garrison, come to me and say, “We want to build a wind tunnel for the Science Fair.”  I turn to Garrison’s mom, and she said, “Well, I told them ‘no’, but if it was okay with you, it is okay with me.”  I ask them, “What question are you asking?  And ‘Can we build a wind tunnel?’ doesn’t count. It needs to have a question, a hypothesis, something that you can repeatedly test and then find the results.”  I’m thinking “limited resources, limited size, and how?”, but I didn’t say “no”. A week goes by, and we meet for Life Science lab.  They say, “We came up with our question.  We want to know which paper airplane design flies the best.”  And, that becomes the wind tunnel Science Fair Experiment.  Not only did they learn a LOT about drag, design, pitch and yaw, but they learned much more about regulating air flow.  

Where are they now?  Garrison is working on his PhD at Notre Dame in Chemical Engineering, after receiving his Chemical Engineering degree from USC; and Stephen, after receiving his Electrical and Computer Engineering degree from Norwich University, a Senior Military college, is serving in the Army, hoping to be placed in the Signal Corp next February.

What else have we done?  We’ve figured out how glowsticks work and what causes the different colors.  We’ve asked the question about the best way to freeze ice cream.  

And found out that liquid nitrogen is the quickest.  We’ve asked about the best recipe for slime.

What recipe makes the best bubbles?  What is the best way to clean our hands?

What parts of our garbage do worms like the best?  

When my eldest got to college, he mentioned to me that many of the students in his Science classes didn’t know the Scientific Method.  He said after 13 years, he knew it inside and out, and it gave him a huge advantage while taking his Science classes.

So, maybe you didn’t get to start in the elementary years!  It is not too late!  Start participating in 
Science Fairs!  Start getting involved in high school Science!