Quote from Forum Archives on June 8, 2004, 4:29 pm

Posted by: homenews <homenews@...>

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THE HOPE CHEST

with Virginia Knowles

Tidbit #7-10 on June 8, 2004

“What We’re Doing for Summer Vacation”

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The Hope Chest is a free email newsletter with encouragement and practical teaching tips. The writer is Virginia Knowles, wife of Thad, mother of nine children, and author of Common Sense Excellence: Faith-Filled Home Education for Preschool to 5th Grade, and The Real Life Home School Mom.

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Dear Hope Chest friends,

OK, so the title of this issue sounds like a public school essay, but it IS that time of year, and I often get asked what we‘re doing over the summer. Here goes:

Thad and I sat down with our calendar and notebooks recently and wrote out a list of goals and events for the summer.  Categories included Events in chronological order, Homemaking & Repair, Personal & Ministry, Child Development, School Planning, Fellowship, and Miscellaneous.  We've already revised it several times on the computer, but it keeps us on "the same page" about what we expect.

As a family we have been trying to expand our living space one way or another. (With 11 people home most of the time, we’re in a big crunch!) We had planned to convert our garage to an extra bedroom, but we hit some roadblocks, which we think might be better termed as “providential hindrances.” Now we are in the midst of negotiations to buy a larger house next door to some good friends from church. Please pray that God will grant us wisdom for this decision, and that if we do move, we‘ll get the timing right -- hopefully before the start of our school year in early August.

One of my goals, as always, is to improve family dynamics. I bought a great book, Making Brothers and Sisters Best Friends, at the Florida home school convention. It is written by three home schooled siblings, Sarah (then 22), Stephen (then 16) and Grace (then 12) Mally. It is full of great wisdom and humor, and is suitable for reading aloud to the whole family. You can find more information at http://www.brothersandsisters.net Check this out, because I give it TWO THUMBS UP!

I personally need to do a lot of lesson planning over the summer. Three of my daughters will be in academic co-op classes this next school year, and I’m the first mom scheduled to teach the history & literature portion at both the middle and high school levels. My topic is one of my absolute favorites -- the Reformation and Renaissance era! I’d love to hear your tips on this! I’ll also be preparing to teach Creation Science (weather, botany, zoology, anatomy, etc.) and Old Testament history to my own younger children this year.

Mary, who turns 17 this month, continues to intern two days a week at a law office and will also volunteer at Man in the Mirror Ministries. In the first two weeks of August, she plans to attend the World Journalism Institute, put on by World Magazine at Covenant College in Lookout Mountain, Georgia. She is also starting a local journalism club for home schooled teenagers, and has set up her own blog page for her essays. You’ve just got to see this site: http://www.capite1.blogspot.com/ I especially like her articles on the overload of opinions in the idea marketplace, Bill Clintion's memoirs (her article is titled "Judging a Book by Its Author"), and the debate about the inclusion of religion in the upcoming European Union constitution. Despite all of this brainy stuff, perhaps her favorite goal is getting her driver’s license this month!

Julia (15) has surprised me recently with an interest in politics and social issues. She’s looking forward to getting her learner’s permit soon. She and Mary will go to our church’s Xtreme youth conference in July. http://www.xtreme-online.org/index.html

Rachel (13) has decided to continue math and science over the summer. I’ll let you read her riotous essay at the end of this issue.

Joanna (11) plans to take the Safe Sitter babysitting course (http://www.safesitter.org).  We are planning on doing some of the great Mom & Daughter dates listed in the Secret Keeper Girl kit (http://www.purefreedom.org/books.htm) which I will review soon.

Lydia (9) is begging for something interesting to do. We’re still working on ideas, but I foresee some field trips along the way -- perhaps to the Orlando Science Center to see an IMAX big screen film?  Meanwhile, she cooks up crazy creative activities for the younger kids to do.

Andrew (7), Micah (almost 5) and Naomi (3) started swimming lessons yesterday at the home of a lady from church. Micah fell into a pool a couple of years ago and was terrified of the water. He kept screaming and screaming, which rubbed off on Andrew and Naomi. None of them wanted to go back for a lesson today, and Micah continued to cling and scream at the beginning of the lesson. Their teacher, Mrs. Hufford, took the time to pray with them and remind them that God was with them. Sure enough, within 15 minutes, the boys were having a blast, and Naomi only whimpered a little. I give thanks to God for his mercy here, because I was predicting a long hard battle!

Andrew is visiting a speech therapist weekly over the summer, as well as keeping his math and handwriting skills fresh. Micah enjoys learning to read, too! Mary was helping him with a workbook recently, and Micah saw a picture of a bike without pedals. He asked, “Where are the feet seats?” You know this is one reason why I home school! I just love to hear the cute stuff their creative minds think up! 

Ben (16 months) is just toddling around, getting into whatever mischief he can and still managing to look cute and innocent.  He loves to giggle and guffaw over the slightest amusement and even laughs when he bumps his head.  As I write, Julia is inflicting "Chinese water torture" on him by dribbling water into his mouth, and you'd think he was at the circus!  (Why is she sitting here next to me?  She's waiting to use the computer!  OK, so my part of this newsletter is over!)

And now, here’s Rachel!

They Call Me Crazy

By Rachel Knowles

When you first read the third line of the next paragraph, I won’t be surprised to see a reaction of confusion, and maybe even a drop of the mouth. And I won’t be surprised if you mutter, “Where did they get that girl?“ I won’t even be surprised if you crumple it up, throw it at my head, and claim I’m a lunatic. But for Heaven’s sake, you can’t judge a book by its cover; read the reasoning!

You have no idea how many people have asked me what I’m doing over the summer. What do I have to say? Well, for starters, I plan to continue Saxon Algebra ½ throughout the summer. “What on earth would you want to do that for?” you might ask. “Can’t you do something non-school related for once?! The summer is a break from school! Freedom!” Heck, you might even go as far as to state it this way; “ ‘Give me liberty or give me death!‘ “ Why “waste” that liberty on math when I could participate in much more interesting things? What kind of geek am I? A big one, and proud of it. Here I propose my theory.

I observed that if I do not continue to exercise math skills throughout the summer, I would have quite an arduous time executing the problems the following school year. An illustration may make this easier to understand.

Suppose you just finished a season of choir and you told your choir buds that you cannot wait for the next season. But, alas, you did nothing to exercise your voice until the starting of the season came a-knockin’ at your door. Your choir director gave you an evaluation on your voice, and she informed you that she can’t accept you into the choir again that season because you cannot do what you used to. Hey, you can’t blame her you didn’t work on the voice exercises that you had learned in choir. You can’t blame her that your chance to become the next American Idol just got ruined. You can’t blame her that your voice sounds like a mix of a hyena and a warthog. And to think it’s because - for just a short time - you didn’t take the initiative to work on your voice to improve it.

What is the difference, then, between this illustration and the point I am trying to make? Nothing. These concepts propose the same thing. You cannot expect, then, at the end of an insignificant summer in which you did no math, to be Alberta Einstein at the starting of the school year. In the same way, if you do not exercise your voice in between choir seasons, you cannot expect to be Francine Sinatra.

My point may vary from person to person. As for me, I cannot, and will not, have an easy time at the starting of a school year if I do not continuously stretch those Algebra ½ brain muscles.

So even if you didn’t get my point, at least you didn’t throw this at my forehead.

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So that’s it. I’m sure things will change over the next couple of months, but that’s the plan, anyway.

I’d love to hear from all of you! What are YOU doing this summer?

In His Sovereign Grace,

Virginia Knowles

www.thehopechest.net

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