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THE HOPE CHEST HOME SCHOOL NEWS

with Virginia Knowles

#8-8 part 2 on May 6, 2005

Merry Merry Mother’s Day!

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Part 2:

 

o       My Three Sons (And Their Books) by Virginia Knowles

o       “When Mother Reads Aloud” – a classic poem with learning activities and commentary

o       Review & Excerpt of Birthing God’s Mighty Warriors by Rachel Giove Scott

o       “God Says They’re Gifts” – a song by Val Halloran

 

 

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My Three Sons (And Their Books)

by Virginia Knowles

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I had originally planned on sharing an excerpt on “how to teach reading” from my book Common Sense Excellence: Faith-Filled Home Education for Preschool to 5^th Grade, but decided instead to tell you about what we’re doing now with my three young sons.

 

Benjamin is 2.  He is in the pre-reading stage.  He loves books – even though he still peels the plastic film off the covers of board books from the library!  (EEK!)  Really, though, he has such fun looking at the pictures, pointing to things that interest him, and telling me what he sees. This is called visual recognition. What a natural way to start reading and to feed his exploding vocabulary!  He also likes to sit with his brothers and his sister Naomi (4) as we read aloud together.

 

Micah is in kindergarten.  I felt sort of bad that I hadn’t done much this year to teach him how to read – other than reading aloud to him every day and piddling through “a little of this and a little of that.”  (I have always made phonics word cards for the kids to play games on the floor.  We had also used some of Dr. Maggie’s phonics readers.)   It’s just that three hurricanes, a house renovation and mommy’s pregnancy put a kink in our home school routine.  Not to worry, though.  What he really needed was that amount of time to be READY to read.  With the very basics of phonics under his belt already, he took off like a shot this spring with, of all things, The Ultimate Dick and Jane Storybook Collection which I bought at Sam’s Club.  OK, so it’s not strictly phonics, but he loves it, and he’s read over 250 pages already!  He has moved on to such classics as Mr. Brown Can Moo, Can You?   Micah loves to listen to me read aloud, sometimes while he sketches with his Magna-Doodle.  Yes, drawing is also a great aid to the reading process, as is music!  Both stretch the brain in sequencing and patterning.  Micah is learning to pick out simple songs on the piano, with the help from his older sister Rachel.

 

Andrew is in second grade.  He still prefers picture books (especially funny ones) but he is delving into chapter and non-fiction books, too.  At this more advanced “reading to learn” phase, I find it helpful to stay nearby so he can ask questions about what a word or concept means.  For example, he was reading a book about outer space recently and told me that “things weigh 50 pounds less on the moon than they do on earth.”  Huh?  What he had read was that if you weighed 60 pounds on earth, you would weigh 10 on the moon.  He had inferred that you just subtracted the weight, rather than dividing.  Actually, things on the moon weigh 1/6 what they do on earth, due to reduced gravity.  I highly recommend talking to your children about what they are reading in order to see what they understand.   Andrew often gives me lengthy oral narrations, which means that he recounts in his own words what he has been reading.  This is a good "Charlotte Mason style" language arts skill which helped prepare him for more original storytelling.   As a natural development from this increased independent reading and oral narration, he has recently become very enthusiastic about creative writing!  What really sparked his interest is seeing his sister Lydia (10) start to write adventure stories.  Now he has written several short but hilarious mystery stories of his own, such as "The Mystery of the Handprint on the Apple Tree"!  

 

Lately, I’ve been reading Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House in the Big Woods to Andrew, Micah and Naomi.  This started after they watched an episode of the Little House series on ABC recently.  I figured I would jump on the interest while it was fresh.  First I brought home some of the simplified Little House chapter books and even some of the Little House picture books from the library.  They liked these well enough, so I decided to be brave and pull the “real thing” off of our own shelves.  I can usually read two chapters at a sitting.   A few nights  ago, we got so close to the end of the book, but Micah was sleepy and didn’t want to listen any longer.  Andrew snatched the book and finished it himself, and then jumped right into Little House on the Prairie the next day.  I’m not complaining!

 

Another useful and entertaining resource that we tried out yesterday is the Leap Frog video called "Code Word Caper."  The one we got, which is the second in the series, teaches word building silent E, long vowel sounds, vowel blends, and the sh/ch/th blends.   The kids enjoyed it, and even Andrew said he learned something new.  We got our video at Wal-Mart, but you can visit www.leapfrog.com, or more specifically, http://www.leapfrog.com/do/findproduct?ageGroupKey=preschool&key=videolibrary

For great articles on teaching reading, click here:

http://www.leapfrog.com/do/finditem?ageGroupKey=preschool&type=Article&key=ar_gr_readresults

http://www.leapfrog.com/do/finditem?ageGroupKey=preschool&type=Article&key=ar_teachwell

 

If you want to learn more about teaching reading – all the way from oral skills and reading aloud to basic research skills – be sure to check out my book Common Sense Excellence, which is jam packed with practical tips!  A special feature is a description of the “tandem reading” process that we have successfully used with our oldest seven children.  (www.TheHopeChest.net/CSE.html)

 

 

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“When Mother Reads Aloud”

(Author Unknown)

Commentary by Virginia Knowles

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“When Mother Reads Aloud”

from the anthology Favorite Poems Old and New

compiled by Helen Ferris

 

When Mother reads aloud, the past

Seems real as every day;

I hear the tramp of armies vast,

I see the spears and lances cast,

I join the trilling fray;

Brave knights and ladies fair and proud

I meet when Mother reads aloud.

 

When Mother reads aloud, far lands

Seem very near and true;

I cross the desert’s gleaming sands,

Or hunt the jungle’s prowling bands,

Or sail the ocean blue.

Far heights, whose peaks the cold mists shroud,

I scale, when Mother reads aloud.

 

When Mother reads aloud, I long

For noble deeds to do --

To help the right, redress the wrong;

It seems so easy to be strong,

So simple to be true.

Oh, thick and fast the visions crowd

My eyes, when Mother reads aloud.

 

~~

 

       Favorite Poems Old and New is a thick anthology of poetry for children, published in 1957 by Helen Ferris.  I love the author’s introduction, entitled Poetry at our House, in which she describes how her own parents instilled a love of poetry in their two children.  Here is a tiny taste of it:

 

      One night Papa came in to hear Mama read:

          “Tom, Tom, the piper’s son, Stole a pig, and away he ran.”

      “My dear Min,” he protested.  Mama’s name was Minnie. “What are you doing?  the word is ‘run.’”

      “Mama’s hazel eyes flashed.  “Elmer Ferris,” she told him firmly, “if you think I am going to expose our children to bad grammar in this house, you are mistaken.”

      “Better that than expose them to bad rhyme,” declared Papa no less firmly.

      It was a difference of opinion that was never resolved.  But, as with many such at our house, it became a source of merriment.  Every now and then when supper was ready Mama would beckon to Fred and me, and the three of us would tiptoe to Papa’s study, where he sat reading the paper.  Soundlessly Mama’s lips would form the words, “Tom, Tom.”

     Then she would claim: “Tom, Tom, the piper’s son, stole a pig and away he---”

     “Ran, ran, ran, ran,”  Fred and I would shout, swarming over Papa to the definite detriment of the newspaper.  Papa would throw back his head and laugh and laugh.  And Fred and I were never to forget the importance of either good grammar or good rhyme.

     Memory of the poems that accompanied and followed Mother Goose in our bedtime hours is a tapestry, lovely but with no set design.  Later I was to learn that Mama had an articulate theory about reading poetry aloud to children, a theory not surprising for she was a pianist.  It did not matter, she was convinced, if we could not understand all the words.  We could enjoy the beautiful sound of them.  So it was that for Fred and me Mother Goose flowed easefully into Alfred Tennyson, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow into Shakespeare.

 

~~

 

Back in spring 2001, when I had my hands full with both this book and fussy baby Naomi,  I decided to read some poems to see if she would settle down to the “beautiful sound” (as Helen Ferris would say).  She did.  Then my toddler Micah, who didn’t talk much at all, ambled over and climbed up on my already squished lap to join us for rhyme time.  Later on, he actually brought me the book so I could read more to him.  Lydia, who was six and somewhat reluctantly learning to read, scoffed at the idea of listening to poetry, but soon she was edged up on the couch right next to me eagerly sounding out the words to “Feather or Fur” and “At the Garden Gate.”  Ah, the power of poetry!  [It’s 2005 now, and 10 year old Lydia has been tackling advanced unabridged historical classics.  She was one of my “late” readers, but I guess I shouldn’t have worried.  Don’t lose heart, ladies!]

 

Talk About It!

 

“When Mother Reads Aloud” is a poem that begs to be... READ ALOUD! 

 

• Read the poem aloud with expression and enthusiasm.
• Print out a copy for each child and have them mark the sets of lines which rhyme with each other in each verse.  (The first line rhymes with the third and fourth, the second line rhymes with the fifth, and the sixth rhymes with the seventh.  Thus it’s an ABAABCC pattern.) 
• Now, how about the rhythm pattern?  (It’s dee DUM, dee DUM ...)
• Are there any words unfamiliar to them, such as “trilling fray” or “redress”? 
• Next have them circle the people, and underline places, and put a squiqqle line under adjectives mentioned in the poem. 
• Do they understand that the author is talking figuratively, not literally, about meeting knights or going to the jungle? 
• Ask your children to recall the best book that you ever read to them.  What made it special?  Can they retell the plot and a few of their favorite details?

For more great ideas and inspiration with this poem, please visit these home schooling sites!

 

The Value of “Living Books” and Reading Aloud by Teri Ann Berg Olsen 

http://users.safeaccess.com/olsen/reading.html

(Be sure to poke around more at this Christian home schooling site -- it looks like a treasure trove!)

 

Tulip Girl's site -- has a lot about home schooling!

http://www.tulipgirl.com/mt/archives/000092.html

 

"Popcorn and Peanuts" site from the Hocraffer Family, with much about Charlotte Mason and poetry

http://homepage.bushnell.net/~peanuts/CME.htm

 

 

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Birthing God’s Mighty Warriors

Book by Rachel Giove Scott

Review by Virginia Knowles

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A few weeks ago, I received an e-mail from Rachel Scott, a new Hope Chest reader who lives in my area.   After hearing that we were expecting our 10^th baby, she mentioned that she had written a book, Birthing God’s Mighty Warriors,  encouraging Christian families to have as many children as God would send them.  I asked her for a review copy, fully expecting just a short comb-bound booklet.  I was surprised to see a 356 page professionally bound volume instead!  Having written a few books myself – and knowing what a laborious birthing process this is – I was instantly impressed.  This lady put some work into it! 

 

I’ve actually read several books on this topic, including The Way Home and All the Way Home by Mary Pride, Children: Blessing or Burden by Max Heine, Full Quiver by Rick and Jan Hess, The Power of Motherhood by Nancy Campbell and a few others – not to mention a bazillion magazine articles.  Above Rubies magazine routinely covers this topic.  In fact, the most recent issue of AR has an article by Rachel Scott about her book!

 

Rachel is the mother of 8 children, ranging in age from 22 years down to 7 months old.  She and her husband did not start out with a “full quiver” mentality – that  conviction came many years later!  Now they have what I would call a prophetic passion to awaken Christians to the blessings that God has in store for them through birthing children for His glory and purposes. 

 

This book is quite bold and direct.  Rachel doesn’t mince words.  I can say that I would not agree with her on some points – especially relating to free will vs. the Sovereignty of God, as well as some generalizations about motives and consequences.  But don’t let that discourage you -- there is plenty of great "food for thought" here! The interesting thing is that my husband Thad has picked up this book and has finished about half of it.  This is rare because he doesn’t have as much time to read, chooses his books sparingly, and hardly ever picks up a book by a lady author.  He has found the book to be quite encouraging, and we’ve had some interesting discussions.

 

Here is an excerpt from the chapter “Mary, Can I Borrow Your Womb?”

 

People want to believe that their time on earth has value.  Many people see motherhood as a small contribution because it appears to be something that any woman can do.  This attitude has contributed to the downfall of society.  We place little value upon families and the future, and we act like the role of mothering is so easy that any woman should be able to have a family and juggle a career as well.  This is why many women do not want to say that they are only mothers, yet this role is something that God views as precious and a wonderful way to contribute to His plan.  He is looking for Godly women who will be willing to lay down their lives for the sake of the call – women who will look past what they think their own personal plans and dreams should be and see that motherhood is their highest calling.  He is looking for those handmaidens who will say to Him, “Do unto me according to your word.  I am a willing servant” – women who will see their wombs as holy unto the Lord, who will lay their lives upon the altar just like Mary did, and who will say, “Lord, I lay my life down so that Your mighty warriors can come to earth.  I will allow You to keep my womb and my heart open so that Your plans will come forth on the earth.  Use ME, Lord!!”

 

You can e-mail Rachel at [email protected] for information on ordering the book, which costs $15.99 plus shipping and handling.  Her address is PO Box 1071, Windermere, Florida, 34786-1071.  Or you can order it from Xulon Press (www.xulonpress.com), Amazon (www.amazon.com), or Christian Book Distributors (www.christianbook.com).

 

If you are intrigued by the thoughts in this book review, I encourage you to look up the following Scriptures on what God thinks about having babies!

 

Children are a Blessing from the Lord

 

Genesis 1:27-28 and Genesis 9:7   -- “Be fruitful and multiply!” command

Genesis 12:2; 13:16; 15:5; 17:5,6  -- God’s promise to Abraham

Psalm 115:14,15 --  God brings the increase as a blessing

Psalm 128:3-4 --  The blessing of the “fruitful wife”

Psalm 127 --  Children are a reward, a heritage, a protection

Psalm 139:13-16  -- God’s awesome womb workshop

John 16:21 -- Pain and joy in childbirth

 

The Lord Opens and Closes the Womb

 

Eve -- Genesis 4:1                     

Sarah -- Genesis 17:15-22; 18:1-15; 21:1-7

Abimelech's household -- Genesis 20:17-18

Rebekah -- Genesis 25:21,22

Leah and Rachel -- Genesis 29:31-25; 30:1-24

Hannah -- 1 Samuel 1, 2

Ruth -- Ruth 4:13

Elizabeth -- Luke 1:5-25, 57-80

Mary -- Luke 1:26-56

 

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“God Says They’re Gifts”

A Song by Val Halloran

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GOD SAYS THEY’RE GIFTS

by Val Halloran

 

People look at my children and smile.

“Don’t you know where they come from?” they say.

I say, “Yes, they’re from heaven,

if there’s one or eleven,

I’ll receive them, ‘cause they’re heaven’s best.

And if God says they’re gifts, then I’m blessed.

 

Children are gifts from the Lord.

The fruit of the womb’s His reward.

Some say that they’re trouble,

then I’ve asked for double.

How could I refuse heaven’s best?

And if God says they’re gifts, then I’m blessed.

 

If God says He’ll meet all our needs,

Why is it so hard to believe?

If He sends more than two,

He’ll provide for them too,

Or else He’d not give them to me.

 

The world may not understand,

but I’d rather be part of God’s plan.

It may take lots of faith,

But He gives the grace,

As I place everything in His hands.

Though times may have changed,

His Word’s still the same

So in His wisdom and strength I will rest.

“Cause if God says they’re gifts, then I’m blessed.

Yes, if God says they’re gifts then I’m blessed.

 

Copyright 1999, Val Halloran

Used by Permission

 

Val wrote this sweet song for an Above Rubies retreat a while back, and ended up singing it for several encores.  She has graciously given me permission to reprint it for you all.  (It first appeared in the Hope Chest four or five years ago!)

 

People can download the song "God Says They're Gifts" at Val’s website (www.cmusicweb.com/halloran). The lyrics are also there under the 'discography' link.  Val’s CDs, which have a country flavor to them, can be ordered by contacting her at [email protected] or by the link to www.favestreet.com at her website.   She offers them on a donation basis, plus postage, if people contact her directly.  But if people prefer to order online, they can do it through the link at her website, or at www.worshipmusic.com.

 

I asked Val for an update on her family, since it’s been a few years!  Do any of you old-timers remember her son Sam’s frequent articles in the Hope Chest?  Well, now he is going to Bob Jones University, majoring in journalism!   Val’s oldest daughter, Ellie,

is expecting her 3rd blessing in July and lives in Florida.  Hannah, 21, got married in October to the son (and oldest of 10) of another Above Rubies mom.  Levi, 18, is graduating in May from 'The Academy of Arts', which is a Christian drama ministry/college, and Val continues to homeschool the rest of them in South Carolina. 

 

~*~*~

 

Thanks for reading this, ladies!   Please let me know what was most helpful to you in this issue at [email protected],

 

In His Sovereign Grace,

 

Virginia Knowles

www.TheHopeChest.net

 

 

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