#14-6: Back to School Encouragement
Posted by: virginiaknowles <virginiaknowles@...>
"How about a refreshing writing experience to start the new school year? Here are three courses especially designed for home schools by a home school mom. Gwen Simmons has combined 12 years of experience home schooling her own children with many years of freelance writing and writing instruction to create the following courses:
1. WRITE ON! This is an e-mail correspondence creative writing course which covers a variety of writing skills while using a proven, relaxed approach. Each lesson is critiqued by Gwen. This course is a fresh challenge for happy writers and a welcome approach for reluctant writers. Grades 3-12.
2. EXCELLENT ESSAYS! This is an e-mail correspondence course for grades 7-12 that focuses on writing the basic four paragraph essay. This has proven to be a great preparation for the ACT and SAT writing sections as well as preparing students for basic essay writing in all subjects. Each essay is critiqued by Gwen.
3. JUST WRITE! DVD. This is an instructional DVD that Gwen created, which includes various writing "adventures." The students are taken via DVD adventures to settings where they will be prompted to write, using whichever writing skill has been presented for that adventure. This DVD has been praised by parents of gifted writers, reluctant writers, and writers with learning challenges such as ADD. This DVD features Gwen as the instructor, but does NOT include correspondence. All ages.
For details and special Back to School offers, please contact Gwen at: simmonsmg@wildblue.net
- Every Body Matters: Strengthening Your Body to Strengthen Your Soul by Gary Thomas (The advance reader copy arrived yesterday. I was thrilled to find my own name on the acknowledgments page at end since I had the privilege of critiquing the early drafts last year. I sent many suggestions, but I think my biggest contribution was reminding him to include more stories in it, which he did! During my quick skim through it last night, I had to smile that one of those stories was about Dr. Scott Van Lue's Christ-centered approach to wellness. I well remember walking into Dr. Van Lue's office seven years ago and being filled with gratitude at God's presence there, everything from the thoughtful quotes on the wall, to the magazines, to Scott and his nurse praying for me. It's cool for me to read a book with such personal connections, but I know you will be blessed by it, too. Gary, best-selling author of Sacred Marriage and many other books, is now writer in residence at the huge multi-campus Second Baptist Church in Houston. There are some links to my previous reviews and his web site at the end of my article, On Walking by Grace Instead of a Focus on Mortifying Indwelling Sin. This new book will be officially released by Zondervan this fall, and I'll write a full review before then.
- Breath for the Bones - Art, Imagination and Spirit: A Reflection of Creativity and Faith by Luci Shaw, which I saw recommended on Ann Kroeker's blog and bought for the poet in me. I reading Colossians 4 on Sunday on the way to church in preparation for the sermon, and was intrigued by the phrase "a door for the word" in verse 3. I suspect that will be the genesis of a new poem. So when I opened up the book this morning (just got it yesterday!) I laughed with the serendipity of finding that Luci Shaw had used a door in her analogy of a cosmic household filled with faith and art. And I remember telling a dear friend years ago that I think creativity - namely the visual arts, music, literature, poetry, and drama - is a powerful open door for the message of Jesus in this culture, a door for the word. As I tell my English students, "I want to teach so that you can more effectively communicate with the world what is in your heart." Beyond the basic skills, that teaching includes constant encouragement to observe the world around them, to think deeply, to know God's word from the heart. As Luci Shaw writes in another part of her book,"I have found that as I allow the created universe and the ingrained Scripture to illuminate me, what I deeply believe pushes up through the fabric of words, often in the most surprising and unplanned way. Usually my compulsion to write comes simply from my astonishment at a striking image." An image like a door for the word, in my case. If you would like to read some of my poetry, you can click here: Poems. A thought for all of us who are home schooling: are we just laying out the dry facts, or are we infusing our teaching with imagination, creativity, reflection, and the fullness of the very life of Christ within us?
Friday Favorites #12: Back to School -- Overwhelmed?
Posted on http://www.ComeWearyMoms.blogspot.com Friday, August 19
Dear friends,
This has been our first
week of the school year, since the home school co-op that we rejoined (after a
year of being "just home") started classes on Monday with plenty of
academic assignments doled out for the rest of the week. To be honest, I
am sometimes very overwhelmed. That's an understatement. Whether it
is:
- lost school books (note
plural, and one is still missing!) and one that I even forgot to order in the
first place - a fussy, mischievous
first grader and an angry older sister who was trying to do homework in the
midst of the interruptions - computer parts spread all
over the carpet during a very educational dissection of a defunct machine - a broken washing machine
when my son was trying to wash his shirt to wear to co-op -- that morning! - a child who is shocked by
the number of math problems assigned - loud (nay, very loud!)
kids having frequent fits of the hyper sillies - people who try to talk to
me with toothpaste in their mouths (pet peeve!) - arguments over who gets
to use my laptop (after which I changed the password to the kids' account on it
-- so there!) - the Internet going off
when I was in the middle of something (loose cord!) - a headache from staying
up too late trying to plan out how in the world I can get my kids to be more
consistent with chores and cleaning up after themselves...
Oh yes, the mama has been
a bit spazzy the past several days! But there have been lots of bright
spots, too, like:
- getting back in to the classroom at co-op (my happy spot!) and
chatting with the other moms in the teacher's lounge - an afternoon of caring for my one year old grandson Jacob on
Wednesday - a birthday dinner for my husband last night with all 10 kids
home (very rare!) -- that's him with Jacob - a quick date to Starbucks with him earlier that day to share a
vente hot chocolate and a cranberry scone (thanks to a gift card from his
sister) - a really good long back rub from my husband when I had a bad
kink in my shoulder - helping my second daughter pick out a pretty font for her
wedding invitations (less than two months to the big day!) - reading about missionary Mary Slessor with my 10 year old daughter,
who wants to be a missionary when she grows up - sharing Philippians and Aesop's Fables with my five younger kids
at the start of school each day (it may not be assigned but the Scriptures and
good literature are vital!) - encouraging notes from family and friends
- a teenage son who offered to bring me some ice water
- an elderly neighbor who brought us most of a chocolate cake
(since she baked one and couldn't eat it all by herself, and wanted to thank us
for inviting her to church last week, which she loved, loved, loved).
Guess I'd better count my
blessings and put a smile back on my face, huh? And I'm going to start
taking my nutritional supplements again, like my thyroid booster, some St.
John's Wort (kids asked if this is because I have warts -- then cheered when I
told them it was to help me be not so grumpy), evening primrose oil for those
female hormones, and some Juice Plus. I just divvied out daily doses into
little snack size zip lock bags. Now I need to remember to take them.
Oh yeah.
Well, maybe you can
relate. Fortunately for all of us, there is plenty of encouragement for
those tough days that is only a mouse click away. This is some of what
has kept me going this past month since I last compiled a Friday Favorites post.
The Sweet Life of a
Homeschooling Mom Comes through the Law of Kindness by
Karen Campell at http://www.thatmom.com “As I read these words, I realize how often I have
been loath to extend grace to my children and have allowed my own tastes and
opinions to be presented to them as a holy standard, when the truth is that
God’s Word is the standard we ought to be pointing toward. How often I have
even been tempted to put my own spin on Scripture in order to “prove” that my
preference is the “right” one. And I have remembered the times when my first
thought was “what would other people think about me, especially as a homeschooling
mom, if my kid does x, y, or z.” Also by Karen: The Sweet Life of
the Home Schooling Mom is Based on Godly Wisdom
Ten More Ways to
Keep Your Days Delightful, Part 1 by Teri (as guest
posted on Jonesy’s blog Jonesville,
Population 6) “As I schedule the busywork, I also make
plans for the beauty I hope to find, or create, in our home-school. Some days
ahead will be hard, very hard. And I know it! It’s easier to keep perspective
if we bring out the joy, the delight, where we can – a kind of preventive
measure against February’s angst. Here are ten tips on my mind for this August
bloom.” Also by Teri: Ten More Ways to
Keep Your Days Delightful, Part 1, and her original article
from last year Ten Ways to Keep
Your Days Delightful on her own blog,http://www.teritin.blogspot.com/
Home School Blog
Conference Guest Post by Debbie Pittman (as guest posted on
Jonesy’s blog Jonesville,
Population 6) “I’m definitely more tired – I prefer
to think of it as mellowing – but the biggest difference is that I no longer
feel like I’m out to prove something. These days my motive for homeschooling is
not based on a fear of anything, nor am I delusional enough to believe I am the
only one who can teach my children what they need to know. I home educate
for more pragmatic reasons.” You can follow Debbie, a 25 year
veteran of home schooling 11 kids (some adopted) at her own blog, Cheaper by the Baker’s Dozen.
Your Failures Do Not
Define You by Sally Clarkson at http://www.itakejoy.com “It is an illusion
that anyone you know is perfect or can live by their works. No one can. All we
like sheep have gone astray. We simply cannot hold to our ideals by effort, we
are in total need of His mercy and grace, every day, all the time.” Also
by Sally: Holiness is Not
Law-Keeping by Love-Keeping and The Mystery of Child
Training: Where to begin?
Westminster Dare by Sarah Clarkson at http://www.thoroughlyalive.com “In each
of these stories or studies, I have found the simple fact that when a person
comes to God, however flawed or frail they may be, and asks to be used to build
his kingdom, to know, as those Westminster saints did, what is really true
about the world, God responds. When people strip themselves of sin and
illusion, when they step away from the frenzy of their culture and enter the
quiet, waiting space of prayer, God speaks in ways they could not expect. When
anyone pursues the truth about the nature of the world, or chases after real
justice, or begs to glimpse and live real love, God answers and acts and
invades their lives in a way I find shocking. The crux of it though is choice.
Simple, but strenuous, a daily choosing to be vigilant in thought, disciplined
in habits of body and mind, determined in prayer and in that seeking after the
kingdom of God.”
Organizing Head
& Heart to Home School by Ann Voskamp at http://www.aholyexperience.com
“Education is the atmosphere we breathe, the envelope of wonder that surrounds
us, held by the gravity of our daily habits.” Aso by Ann: Live the Seven Rungs
of Holistic Homeschooling
I also wanted to let you know that I have created a new blog,http://www.WatchTheShepherd.blogspot.com with a tagline of "Looking
to the Good Shepherd Jesus for the example of how to care for others... Keeping
a discerning eye on those who claim to be shepherds of God's people... Learning
to recognize, heal from, and speak out against abuse -- spiritual, emotional,
verbal, and physical -- in churches, organizations, and families." Most of the initial posts came from this blog (http://www.comewearymoms.blogspot.com)
and from my main blog (http://www.virginiaknowles.blogspot.com)
but I have added other articles, a substantial links page, Scriptures, and a Quotes to Ponder page and even a Playlist of songs chosen to bring spiritual healing. One of my newest article there is: On Walking by Grace
Instead of a Focus on Mortifying Indwelling Sin. Two analogies from that
article:
1) If I only put the effort into correcting the errors in my kids'
schoolwork, then that is all I will get to do. That is because
if I don't spend the time to teach them well in the first place, I will by
necessity have to spend all of my time pointing out where they messed up.
It would be better to be proactive and teach it right from the start than
have to go and react to the mistakes. I need to enthusiastically
equip and nurture them for success, not set them up for the
disabling, de-motivating discouragement of always being told how
wrong they are.
2) A gardener has to spend time weeding a plot of
ground, but the point is so that she can plant a lovely and fruitful garden, not so that she can have
barren land. (See Mother's Seeds.) Yes,
we have to correct one another at times, but if we aren't doing something
beautiful, too, it's just plain empty.
Two quotes from my Quotes to Ponder page:
"But we'll be careful to be peacemakers and not
peacekeepers.
Peacekeepers are likely to overlook the causes of pain
and suffering,
to avoid dealing with it in order to maintain some
kind of equilibrium
regardless of what it may be based on.
Peacekeepers prefer the status quo
and are apt to tell the hungry to
quiet down
lest they disturb the sleep of
the overfed."
Bishop William Frey
in The Dance of Hope
“To be Queen Elizabeth within a definite area, deciding sales,
banquets, labours and holidays; to be Whiteley within a certain area, providing
toys, boots, sheets, cakes and books; to be Aristotle within a certain area,
teaching morals, manners, theology, and hygiene; I can understand how this
might exhaust the mind, but I cannot imagine how it could narrow it. How can it
be a large career to tell other people’s children about the Rule of Three, and
a small career to tell one’s own children about the universe? How can it be
broad to be the same thing to everyone, and narrow to be everything to someone?
No; a woman’s function is laborious, but because it is gigantic, not because it
is minute. I will pity Mrs. Jones for the hugeness of her task; I will never
pity her for its smallness.”
On my other blogs:
- Continue Well in Your Home School - God's Grace in the Midst of Middle
School Misery (a story I shared with my English students) - Start Well In Your Home School - Let Our Ordered Lives Confess the
Beauty of Thy Peace...?
Other blogs:
- Created to Be His by Becky -- I don’t know her, but she seems to be quite the kindred spirit to me in
her concerns about grace and legalism
- Recovering Grace – a blog by men
and women who grew up in the IBLP/ATI movements founded by Bill Gothard – and
wish to bring grace and healing to those who have been negatively affected by
it
- Rethinking Vision Forum “Examining the Fallacies of Vision Forum's "Godly"
Family Living” Please note that the contributors to this site are diverse
in their views, so read with discretion. From their “Who We Are” page:
"Most of us have had personal experience with Vision Forum. Others
of us have simply become alarmed by the the heresies Vision Forum promotes and
the harm we have seen its teachings do to those around us. We live in different
states across the country and hold no one set of beliefs, but we are united in
our desire to reveal the problems with Vision Forum and its teachings. Because
we come from a variety of different walks of life and a variety of different
beliefs, we do not have any one doctrinal creed. Most of us are Christian but
some have left religion entirely. Similarly, we take no one position on proper
gender roles. Some of us are egalitarians and others are complementarians. The
goal of this website is not to endorse a specific set of beliefs but rather
simply to disclose the myriad of problems we have found with Vision
Forum and its teachings. We think that the diversity of our experiences
and perspectives is a strength rather than a weakness."
Accept, admire, affirm, and appreciate your family.
Boldly believe our big God for beautiful, bountiful blessings.
Calm courtesy communicates care and combats chaos.
Diligence and delegation dutifully do daily deeds.
Encourage by enthusiastic example.
Face, fix, forgive, and forget foolish faults.
Grace is given where grace is needed. Glory to God!
Have a happy, humorous, harmonious, hope-filled home.
Include imagination, inspiration, and interesting information.
Juggle your jobs judiciously and joyfully.
Kiss your kids!
Listen, then lovingly lead.
Meet many marvelous mothers.
Notice new needs.
Overcome obnoxious offenses with optimism.
Pray, prioritize, plan, and prepare for productivity and problem prevention.
Quick and quiet, not dawdling or riot.
Rules without relationships reap rebellion.
Serve sacrificially.
Take time to teach and train truthfulness and thankfulness.
Understand until united.
Virtuosity is victorious.
Wise words will win.
Xpect excellence.
Yackety yack, no talking back.
Zippety doo-dah, zippety ay, my oh my what a wonderful day!
A few final thoughts to close this issue...
I got new glasses a couple of weeks ago. I had been cobbling along with assorted non-prescription reading glasses for years, but it’s been really frustrating having to swap out glasses every time I change activities or never having the right pair handy when I needed them. Not to mention that dollar store glasses aren’t exactly kind to the eyes. Who knows if my vision got worse using them? I finally bit the bullet, went for an eye exam, and got progressive lenses with three strengths. I paid extra to get high quality ones with more lens features. I only have one pair of eyes to last me a lifetime, so it was worth it!
I'm thinking of a spiritual parallel about progressive lenses: needing the right kind of vision for each situation (close up in our private lives, mid-range with our family and friends, long range with the broader world and culture), preserving what vision we have, and longing for the day in Heaven when we will see (and understand) life without any impairment at all. I know spiritual insight has been a challenge to me in the past few years, sorting through all kinds of issues in my own life and asking God to show me, guide me, and help me. Many of my thoughts have centered around church, the home schooling movement, and family dynamics. I’ve had a lot of things I wanted to communicate, but needed to know the right way and the right time to do that. He has been faithful to show me, and I hope I have reflected his heart well in what I have written here.
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Visit my web site at http://www.VirginiaKnowles.com