Learning how to create “how to” videos for home school parents is high on my to-do list for 2008. Here’s my first attempt at creating an entertaining video. This one is a compilation of photos from the kids speech and debate conferences and tournaments, but I’m going to record some teaching on video next time. Would you enjoy video instruction?

Here’s a really cute homeschool video with a reference to classical education. 

A home schooling mom’s perspective on the brevity of childhood

Imagine for a minute that you have traveled several years into the future. You are surprised to find yourself older (and perhaps grayer) with wrinkles that weren’t there yesterday when you bathed. How odd! But even odder is the shocking realization that your little babies have grown up and become adults! Just yesterday the kids were scrambling under your feet, preventing you from getting your work done, and giggling loudly over the silliest things. Today, they are gone. College, marriage, or employment have whisked them away before you knew that time was up. No more dirty fingerprints on the refrigerator. No more laughter ringing through the house. No more maddening interruptions when you’re trying to think. Where did the years go?

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This morning when I was changing clothes in the locker room of the fitness center, I overheard a conversation between an older woman and her younger friend. Christmas is quickly approaching, and the friend was asking whether the older woman’s son was coming home for the holiday. The older woman explained that he was so absorbed in his work and his fiancee that she didn’t expect to see much of him over the holiday. As she said goodbye to her younger friend, she shared a final word of advice: “Enjoy your children while they are at home. Once they grow up, it all changes.”

A familiar chord pierced my heart. Seventeen years ago, my husband and I lost our first son to a fatal genetic disease called Trisomy 13. During that period of intense joy and immense grief, I came to realize how very precious life was. In my own self-centered worldview, no child was supposed to die before the parents! It was unthinkable, and I didn’t fully comprehend the meaning of his life and death until many years later. Although I see more clearly now, there are still gaps in my understanding.

One lesson that I did embrace immediately was the absolute precious value of each day. Somehow over the last 12 years of my life, I had grown complacent and had taken those people whom I loved for granted. In the hushed months of my sorrow, I began to remember innumerable times that I had carelessly brushed aside the people I loved for less important tasks. I assumed that their needs could wait because we had tomorrow. How wrong I had been! I vowed after losing my son to embrace every day as if it was my last day with my husband, my family, my friends, and my coworkers. This enormity of this thought compelled my husband and I to make the decision that should the Lord give me healthy children in the future, I would stay home with them regardless of the cost in terms of my career or finances.

As the years pass and pain fades from memory, lessons learned in the midst of a crisis often fade as well. I’m now the contented mother of two healthy, rambuntious teenagers, and my life is brimming with energy and responsibilities as I exercise the privilege of home schooling them. My plate is full (some might call it overflowing) with organizing, supervising, and directing their academic and social calendars. Additionally, I feel compelled to write regular posts for my website to encourage other Christian moms in their home schooling journey. Lately, a little nagging thought has been creeping into my consciousness as I juggle the myriad demands of my days: have you forgotten the lesson? Have you put your work before your family? Have you spoken to them today, listened to them today, hugged them today, and told them that you loved them today as if it was your last day?

Because this little whisper has called me to task recently, I wasn’t surprised this morning when I overheard the conversaton between the older mom and the younger mom: “Enjoy your sons while they are at home. Once they grow up, it all changes.” Sometimes the Lord gently whispers to me, and I knew that He had arranged the conversation for my benefit. I began to weep silently as my mind raced forward into the future when my babies were adults and gone. No more dirty fingerprints. No more laughter. No more interruptions. Why did I foolishly find myself distracted by unimportant things?

But then as if I needed another reminder of how precious and brief this season of my life is, I overheard a second conversation between two young women. One was a personal trainer at the gym, and she was lamenting the fact that her daughter was very ill, and her mother-in-law had taken her to the pediatrician yesterday since she couldn’t get off work. I could hear the anguish in her voice as she told her friend “it killed me to get the phone call from my mother-in-law reporting the doctor’s findings when I wanted to be there myself.” Oh, no, I thought, her mother’s heart longs to be with her baby. What is she waiting for? Who knows her reasons? I hope she makes the most of each day and hugs that baby girl and tells her over and over that she loves her. I hope she pulls her up into her lap and reads to her as they snuggle at night. I hope she decides to sacrifice her job for her daughter because the work will always be there when her daughter is not. I hope she pays attention to what is really important in life. I hope she doesn’t wait too late.

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Please share your own thoughts in the comments section below.

This article is scheduled for publication in FaithLifts, a group blog at 5minutesformom.com.

How many times have you, as a home school mom, heard these plaintive words when you have given your child a writing or speech assignment?

“But, Mom, I don’t know what to write!”

Consider adding topical, thematic, and quote prompts to your home school writing toolbox to spark creative ideas and increase the frequency of writing and public speaking. Prompts are also beneficial in helping your homeschooler narrow the focus of the topic and organize thoughts before wasting time in undirected meandering. Don’t encourage writing or speaking just for the sake of checking off a “to-do” on your long list of objectives for the kids. You want to raise effective communicators, and prompts can give you control over the process.

Prompts restrict the focus of the broad topic

Even an excellent author needs to restrict the focus of the topic before beginning the writing process. G. A. Henty is a popular author among home schooling young men and is known especially for his historical fiction. Henty likes to write about major events in world history, but he purposefully narrows the focus of the event to a few significant events. For example in one our family favorites, The Young Carthaginian, Henty tackles the monumental military feat of General Hannibal when he led the troops of ancient Carthage across the Alps to engage the Romans. Extensive coverage of a 15 year military campaign would be impossible in a book of a few hundred pages, so Henty restricts the broad topic of Hannibal’s campaign to the first 3 battles of the Second Punic War: Trebia, Trasimene, and Cannae. In restricting his topic to these 3 victories he eliminated other topical possibilities. He could have focused on 3 major people of the engagement: Consul Gaius Flaminius Nepo, Dictator Quintus Fabius Maximus, and General Scipio Africanus. Or he could have restricted the topic to any number of other interesting facts: weapons, animals, and weather.

So, too, topical prompts help your child narrow the focus of the written or speaking assignment. Select a topic from the subjects currently being studied. As in the case of Henty, have your child select a broad topic from the history reading then brainstorm possible subtopics. Here’s an example: Connor is currently reading about the American Civil War. Unlike Hannibal’s war, this war only lasted 4 years; however, there is still a vast wealth of subtopics for consideration. Here are a few ideas for restriction of the topic:

• Battles: Bull Run, Shiloh, and Gettysburg
• Confederate Generals: Lee, Jackson, and Stuart
• Politicians: Polk, Lincoln, and Davis
• Political parties: Whigs, Republicans, and Democrats

He could restrict the writing to the economic conditions before, during, and after the war. He could narrow the focus to any number of subtopics on the Civil War!

Not only do topical prompts restrict the focus for history writing and speaking, but the broad topic can also be restricted for science and geography reading. If your child is studying the animal kingdom (broad topic), let them restrict the focus to mammals, insects, or microscopic life. Once the subtopic of mammals is chosen, the child can then further restrict to cats: tigers, lions, and pumas.

Restriction of topic in writing about their geography studies is equally helpful. Is your child currently mapping the Middle East? Restrict the broad topic to Jordan, Syria, and Israel. Further restrict to politics, topography, or culture. The possibilities are endless.

If you don’t want use a topical prompt from the assigned reading, choose a random prompt from BrainyQuote or Phillips’ Book of Great Thoughts & Funny Sayings.

Thematic prompts and quote prompts are just like topical prompts in that you start with a broad topic then restrict. Thematic prompts usually come from literature or history. Are you listening to the audio version of Treasure Island with your children? Assign the theme, “going on a quest,” and let the kids narrow the topic from there. They could discuss Jim Hawkins adventures in terms of the journey, the dangers, and the valuable treasure. Quote prompts are really just topics or themes rolled into a complete statement. Can you find a broad topic or theme in the following quote prompt?

“But friendship is precious, not only in the shade, but in the sunshine of life, and thanks to a benevolent arrangement the greater part of life is sunshine.” - Thomas Jefferson

When using a quote prompt, look for the nouns to determine broad topics or themes then restrict. In this example, the homeschooler could examine the broad topic of friendship and write about 3 friends in real life, literature, or history. Or an older teen might want to speak about theme of old age (the shade of life) and youth (the sunshine of life) with restrictions from his own personal observations, Scripture, or culture.

Prompts of all kinds, whether taken from assigned studies or randomly chosen, can spark ideas, increase the frequency of writing, and narrow the focus of the broad topic.

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Give them prompts and restrict the writing time. Topical, thematic, and quote prompts can spark ideas for writing essays and speeches in your home school. In addition to getting those creative juices flowing, timed prompts can increase the frequency of writing and public speaking. The more practice your homeschooling kids gather in writing and speaking…the more effective they will be at communicating.

Prompts Encourage More Frequent Writing and Speaking

If you like an efficient home schooling schedule, prompts will allow your kids to squeeze the most out of their writing time. When given the topic of the essay or speech, time is maximized. Valuable brainstorming time is spent examining one topic instead of sifting through multiple topic possibilities.

In our home school, we have also limited the amount of time spent developing the essay or speech. For instance, I find that the kids really enjoy using prompts because I set a time limit. They like racing against the clock, and they also like knowing that when the timer buzzer goes off, writing or speech is done for the day. Consider that first piece of writing a “draft” then have them edit and print the final copy the following day.

How much time to allocate to writing an essay or speech from a prompt really depends on the ages and abilities of your kids. My kids are both teens, and they will eventually be taking the SAT which has a 25 minute essay, so that is our time limit for a written essay. Here is how I do it:

1. Select a unique topical, thematic, or quote prompt for each child (or give them 3 to choose from)
2. Get the timer ready (I use a swimmers or runners stopwatch, but you could use a kitchen timer or the microwave timer)
3. Tell the kids to pull out some clean paper
4. Give them the prompt or let them choose their favorite of 3
5. Say “ready, set, go!”
6. When the buzzer goes off after 25 minutes, I say “time.”

Since they are preparing for the real SAT exam, they follow the same restrictions which include outlining the essay during the 25 minute time limit, but if your kids are younger, you could help them brainstorm and create a key word outline before you start the timer. You don’t want to create frustration because they don’t have enough time to write, so use your judgment for what is best for your family.

I follow the same format for impromptu speeches except the time limit is different. Meredith and Connor both compete in National Christian Forensics Communication Association (NCFCA) Speech and Debate Tournaments, so we follow the NCFCA rules which state that a student has 2 minutes of prep time once they get the topic to give a 5 minute impromptu speech. Expository speeches cannot be longer than 10 minutes, so I give them 4 minutes to get ready.

The great thing about selecting the topic (through prompts) and restricting the time on writing the essay and giving the speech is that you can do more of them! When you only have to commit less than 30 minutes a day, you can give them a prompt more than once a week. Frequent writing and public speaking improve technical skills as well as reduce anxiety and fear.

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In my next post, I’ll examine how topical, thematic, and quote prompts can narrow the focus when your home school children write a paper or give a speech. Do you need a resource for topical, thematic, and famous quote prompts? Easily locate quotes for free Scripture or BrainyQuote or purchase an inexpensive resource for homeschool prompts at Amazon.

Have you ever given your child a prompt for (1) writing an essay or (2) giving an impromptu or expository speech in your homeschool? In this first post of a four part series on effective oral and written communication, I’ll explain why writing prompts can be very useful because they:

• spark ideas
• encourage more frequent writing and speaking
• narrow the focus

Just like the name implies, prompts assist or inspire. We’ve been using writing prompts effectively in our home school for several years. Whether you have elementary age kids or teenagers, prompts can be tailored to the skill level of the child. For instance, the same prompt could be used for siblings…let’s say you have a 9 year old who is just learning how to write a good paragraph and a 15 year old who is writing five paragraph essays. Give them the same prompt, but adjust the required length appropriately.

Prompts Spark Ideas

It is much easier to write a paragraph or give a speech if you have a fresh idea to start with! Think of prompts in terms of eating: when you go to a buffet-style restaurant, the culinary choices are virtually unlimited. Just like the diner can select a prepared entree instead of cooking from scratch, so too, the budding writer or speaker gets a head start on the “meal.” The child doesn’t have to wrack his brain trying to come up with a subject; rather, the prompt tells him what to write about. This also helps eliminate the occasional whine that homeschool moms hear occasionally: “But I don’t know what to write about!”

You can select from several types of writing prompts for your home school writing assignments. In our home, we primarily use topical, thematic, and famous quote prompts. Topical prompts can be spontaneous (”what you had for breakfast” or “what you dreamed about last night”) or planned in advance like the topic that is intentionally related to the subjects currently being studied. For instance, If your child is reading about the planets in science, pick a topic from her reading like planetary temperatures or planetary rotation as a prompt.

Thematic prompts are triggered by an abstract theme like liberty, happiness, or responsibility. Pick a theme from the book he is currently reading like “growing up” in Peter Pan. It might also benefit your child to select a thematic prompt related to a character trait that you want to instill in him like courage or faithfulness.

Quote prompts are basically the same as topical or thematic prompts because most famous quotes can be reduced to at least one idea. For example, the actor Paul Newman once said, “If you don’t have enemies, you don’t have character” which can be simplified to 3 possible ideas: enemies, character, or Paul Newman! Scripture is full of potential quote prompts like “Those who trust in their riches will wither, but the righteous will flourish like green leaves.” (Proverbs 11:28) Wealth, trust, and righteousness are all themes that could be explored from this quote prompt.

For a host of free prompts, consult BrainyQuote, or if you would like to have your own copy of a handy paperback around, consider the handy Reader’s Digest book, Quotable Quotes.

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In my next post, I’ll examine how topical, thematic, and quote prompts can encourage more frequent writing and speaking. Narrowing the focus and improving organization skills are the subjects of posts three and four. Please feel free to share any helpful tips that you have discovered in the comments section below.

Dear Classical Scholar,
What is a Christian home education?                  -Just Wondering

Dear ‘Just Wondering‘,

In contemporary Western culture, education is defined as the objective transfer of knowledge from an expert to a novice. Using various tools, techniques, and skills, the trained classroom teacher delivers “neutral” content, and the student is expected to master these facts. Public schools, private Christian schools, and even some Sunday Schools typically follow this educational paradigm which assumes that knowledge is simply a vast ocean of objective data which needs to be acquired by the student like the commercial fisherman catches a net full of fish. Consider three commonly accepted “neutral” fact families:

• multiplication tables
• punctuation rules
• chemical elements

Students are taught unrelated facts by cool, clinical technicians as if they had no interrelated deeper meaning or greater purpose than to be regurgitated on a test at the end of the semester. However, Christians know that knowledge is not neutral, and all data can be interpreted in light of God’s nature. Suddenly, multiplication tables have profound meaning as the careful observer sees the concept at work in the multiplication of plant and animal cells. Punctuation rules become significant for clear and effective communication and exposition of truth. The Periodic Table takes on new meaning as the student discovers the differing atomic weights and chemical properties of the elements. In short, observations about our world become opportunities to express decidedly passionate responses as we stand in awe of the greatness and infinite goodness of the Living God!

So what is a Christian home education? If you break down the term to its simplest interpretation, Christian home education would be “learning about Christ at home.” In fact, Proverbs 1:7 says that:

“the fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.”

According to this verse, we cannot even begin to acquire knowledge without first fearing , or respecting, the LORD from whom all truth originates. Instruction in truth comes from a relationship with the LORD.

Jesus didn’t send his disciples off to a trained technician who would teach them unrelated data from textbooks in a classroom with their peers. His educational system was rooted in a lifestyle of 24/7 community. He lived with his students. Where ever they were together was home. He taught and they imitated. Learning was not just about repetition of unrelated facts but about behavior and action. He didn’t artificially separate knowledge into categories or stand-alone subjects. Torah was His primary text. Loving God and loving neighbor was something they did…not just something they thought or read about. Interestingly, knowledge as Jesus gave it was certainly not objective - He was not in the least interested in transferring neutral data about life. His teaching was profoundly subjective, life-changing knowledge that created outrageous loyalty and love for God and men.

So what’s the first thing YOU need to do in order to give your kids a Christian education? You need to get to know Jesus personally. Spend time with Him, and let Him instruct you in His character, His passions, and His purposes. The better you know Him…the better disciple you will be; your relationship and knowledge of Him will directly impact the education of your children. You want to raise little image-bearers who reflect His glory everywhere they go and through everything they do. At the end of the home schooling journey, the Lord will not judge you on how much book knowledge you were able to impart to the kids. He’s concerned about how much your kids learned about Him through the home education they received.

Make time in your day to spend quiet time being discipled by your Lord; your own personal “Christian education” is crucial to the successful home education of your children. Don’t be a fool and despise His instruction. He wants to spend time with you today!

Just give me Jesus,

Diane

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If these posts are valuable to you, tell a friend about this blog. We all need encouragement in this home schooling endeavor, and you can actively show your love by sending the link to this post about Christian education.

When I pulled the kids out of public school in order to teach them at home, I decided (with David’s blessing) to postpone the traditional grade accumulation process until they began to tackle high school content. The primary purpose of report cards is to notify the absent parent of the student’s progress, and I was no longer detached from their education; so, I decided to avoid the extra work until it was absolutely necessary. I was fully in tune with their progress in every area of learning, so there was no need for busy work. Every homeschooling mom will agree with me that we have plenty of work to keep us busy day and night!

Fortunately, my state department of education does not require grade reporting; however, if your state requires report cards, you’ll have to comply. Check with the HSLDA or click on the map to discover the legal reporting requirements for your state.

Most employers, colleges, and universities require an official transcript outlining the high school curriculum and grades, so I began to keep track of grades once each child began high school courses. I recommend starting some high school level work during the 7th or 8th year of homeschooling if you think your teen is ready. For instance, in our home, the kids started high school Debate and Latin before the 9th year, so I started accumulating official grades during the middle school years. In the example below, you’ll notice that there is no grade for Algebra 1 because Connor hasn’t started this yet.

How you decide to gather grade info is really your personal choice. You can pay for software like Edu-Track, or you can shares forms with other parents on email loops like the Yahoo Group, Homeschool Form Share. My personal favorite tool for accumulating grades is a Microsoft Excel form called Grade Tracker that you can download for free. Here’s a screenshot of my customized summary for Connor:

There are two great reasons to use Grade Tracker: it’s free, and the excel spreadsheet automatically calculates the cumulative GPA! If you’d like to go behind the scenes, I’ve prepared a quick video tutorial to explain how I use Grade Tracker.

Our philosophy of learning has always been “master the material, or do it again” which means that we strive for excellence. Sometimes rework cannot be avoided, and sometimes we just don’t “get it,” but generally, we don’t move on to new material until we have mastered the old material. Fortunately we have the luxury as homeschoolers to set our own pace, and we can stop and work on a particular weak area of knowledge until we master it. We’ve had to do this several times with math which is a good reason to start the kids early on high school level work if you can.

Some courses like Literature or Art History are fairly subjective in nature; David and I generally grade these courses through Socratic Dialogue, narration, or written essays. Objective courses like Latin 1, Laboratory Biology, and Introductory Logic include written examinations which can be graded more precisely.

I try to keep up with the grind of recording high school grades on a weekly basis although I have to admit this task is one of my least favorite chores of homeschooling! Usually by Friday afternoon, I am ready to start entering information about the course content and the related grade into the spreadsheet. Over the years, I have kept all of the kids’ work; at the end of the year, I pull out all the best examples and create a portfolio (really more like a scrapbook) and put the rest in a labeled box which I store in the attic. In some respect the annual portfolio serves as proof of each child’s homeschooling “grade” or progress that year until they get to high school when I then begin to keep official grades.

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Are you keeping grades yet? Please take a minute to share your methods in the comments section below.