#8-9: Jeannie Fulbright, Author of Apologia's Elementary Science Curriculum

#1 · May 24, 2005, 11:26 am

Quote from Forum Archives on May 24, 2005, 11:26 am
Posted by: homenews <homenews@...>
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

THE HOPE CHEST HOME SCHOOL NEWS

with Virginia Knowles

#8-9 on May 24, 2005

Jeannie Fulbright: Author of Apologia's Elementary Science Curriculum

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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

Contact information:

Web site: http://www.thehopechest.net
Resource orders: http://www.thehopechest.net/ResourceOrders.html
Personal Email: [email protected]
Subscription: [email protected]
Unsubscription: [email protected]

Dear Hope Chest friends,

As promised, Jeannie Fulbright has written something especially for us! This is such a privilege! Jeannie wrote to me a few weeks ago asking me to stop by her FPEA convention booth this weekend. Unfortunately, due to my limited mobility this late in pregnancy, so I will NOT be attending! (Boo hoo!) However, I did poke around her marvelous web site (www.jeanniefulbright.com), and was SO impressed by the variety of thoughtful and educational stuff there, that I asked her to write something for the Hope Chest. Her assignment was to tell about her science curriculum and then share whatever was on her heart for her fellow home school moms.

I'm looking forward to using Jeannie's Apologia elementary botany curriculum with my 10 year old daughter, Lydia, this coming school year. Three of my daughters are curriculum junkies -- they love to carefully study the catalogs, make detailed lists of what looks interesting, and agonize over what they want to use. If possible, they also like to see it up close and personal. Lydia examined the botany text at Faithful Bookshop, and, with my hearty permission, that's what she chose for next year! Right now, she is outside transplanting the white begonia plant that Mary gave me for Mother's Day.

I also want to let you know how blessed I have been by Jeannie's own home school e-newsletter, Jeannie's Journal. Her last issue was a real encouragement to me, not only in home schooling, but also in my spiritual life. After Sunny Lerch sent the link for the Global Day of Prayer a few weeks back, I had started a prayer journal, and one of Jeannie's articles, "How to Have a Quiet Time", exhorted me to continue when I was tempted to slack off. Writing my prayers out has been such a benefit. I also enjoyed her article on the difference between macroevolution and microevolution. If you would like to subscribe to Jeannie's Journal and read the current issue, click here: http://www.jeanniefulbright.com/News_1.html

If you are going to FPEA, be sure to stop by Jeannie's booth and tell her I sent you!

Blessings,

Virginia Knowles

www.TheHopeChest.net

P.S. I am not using much HTML code (such as bold, centering, italics, etc.) in this issue, because a few readers mentioned that the increased file size chokes up their computers. Let me know what you think.

Here's Jeannie!

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

I'm so excited to be included in this issue of Virginia's newsletter. We met at last year's Orlando convention, and I have enjoyed hearing her updates and news ever since then. As the author of Apologia's new elementary science curriculum, she asked me to tell a bit about my books and the approach to science I take with them. In a nutshell, I wrote the science curriculum I was looking for, but couldn't find.

I was a science major at the University of Texas, and wanted to convey to my children my same passion for science. But everything I tried was either too dry with overly technical language, too full of evolution, too elementary, covered too many topics in too short of a time period, required too many extra books or too much teacher prep work. And frankly no matter how much you love science, after a full day of getting the basics completed, if you have to read a teacher's manual or prepare a lot before you can do a science lesson, forget it. I needed something easy to do, with only one book from which I could read aloud, but didn't teach evolution - and better yet, explained creation concepts in easy to understand language. I wanted science to flow in our home like a good book. I also desired something that would effectively, systematically teach my children in a way that kept their interest, fed their hunger for real knowledge, and taught them truth, not conjecture. I especially didn't like the way that most texts skipped around from topic to topic every few weeks. There was so much more to learn in one field, and my children love really getting to know a subject. I soon learned that this was an effective and important way to teach children, called the Immersion Approach. A child using the Immersion Approach will learn and retain a great deal more than a child who never delves deep enough into a subject to fully understand it (one of the reasons American school children are less than 50% proficient in science according to the NCES). I knew it was time to break with a crippled tradition, and dive in deep - even with youngsters! I wanted my children to be able to intelligently and confidently discuss botany, ornithology, entomology or astronomy with an expert in the field. I needed something that I could do with all my children, something scientific enough for my oldest student, but written in words my kindergartner could understand. I knew I was being high maintenance. But that is the science curriculum I wanted, the science curriculum I needed!

After searching far and wide, I felt a stirring in my heart to write the very book I wanted; a twaddle-free, living science book! And since I was writing it, I decided to add a few more perks to make my life easier. The first being that I wanted something built right into the text that reminded me to have my children narrate, or tell back what they learned. I knew this activity goes a long way in reinforcing their learning and teaching them to logically order information and effectively orate for future speaking aptitude. So, I wrote in narration prompts every few paragraphs. I also wanted experiments that tied into the reading, but weren't required for my children to "get" the material. Relevant, but optional experiments! I also wanted the assignments after each lesson to reflect the tried and true Charlotte Mason philosophy of "creativity with a purpose", otherwise known as notebooking. I found by trial and error that my children remembered far more of the material when they wrote down or dictated what they learned, and then created a drawing to go with it. When they did worksheets with fill-in-the-blank, matching exercises or wordsearches, they didn't remember a thing a year later. So I put notebooking exercises after every lesson that would require the child to express in their own words and creativity all that they remembered from the lesson.

To make a long story short, the approach this series takes to science is a God-glorifying, creation confirming, in-depth, engaging, easy-to-do, effective, read aloud for the whole family.

Being the author of these science books has given me the privilege of chatting with homeschoolers around the country. However, every place I go, I sense fear and tremendous worry in so many homeschoolers, and I have such a burden to lighten their load. It is as if someone has tied up heavy bundles and placed them on their backs. Yet, I am well acquainted with their feelings, because I, too, have shared them. I know what it is to tremble in fear, wondering, "Have we done enough school? Have I taught them enough? Am I doing a good job? Should I do more? Could someone else do a better job?" Fear of failing our beloved children can choke the life out of us, resulting in a lack of joy and warmth in our home as we heap loads of condemnation and guilt upon ourselves, which seeps into our relationships with our children. It's hard to crawl out from under that heavy pile, but I have come to realize that it's not the voice of the Lord, but rather the accuser who wants us to feel so inadequate and full of despair and discouragement. My hope is to encourage these moms that they are doing enough, even if they don't finish every subject every day. They are doing enough, even if they don't get to history or science as often as they would like. They are doing enough, even though they are certain their child should know more. Homeschooling works. Homeschooling works because our children are not being bombarded with cultural messages and the pressure to conform that causes traditionally schooled students to focus, not on learning, but on fitting in to the crowd in second grade. Homeschooling works because when we do teach them something, we don't move on until they know it and understand it, and we talk about it for longer than 15 minutes in class. Homeschooling works because our children are not burnt out on school by sixth grade due to the enormous workload put on them, with hours and hours of monotonous worksheets to be completed every afternoon when they are too exhausted to retain anything. Homeschooling works because our children learn to enjoy having knowledge, and begin to pursue it for themselves at a time when traditionally-schooled kids are zoning out on school and honing in on boyfriends and girlfriends. Homeschooling works, even if you aren't as motivated as you were in September, even if you aren't checking every assignment, even if you aren't doing all you could be doing, in the best mood every day or making every moment a teachable moment. Alas, it is so much easier to be a joy-filled homeschool mommy, that loves homeschooling and has confidence in their call, when we say no to the voice of fear, condemnation and guilt and relax...because homeschooling works!

I hope I will get to meet some of you at the Orlando convention this year. I will be at the Apologia booth. Come by and say hello!

Jeannie

www.JeannieFulbright.com
  --  To subscribe, send ANY message to: [email protected]  To unsubscribe, send ANY message to: [email protected]  Visit my web site at www://thehopechest.net  

Posted by: homenews <homenews@...>

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

THE HOPE CHEST HOME SCHOOL NEWS

with Virginia Knowles

#8-9 on May 24, 2005

Jeannie Fulbright: Author of Apologia's Elementary Science Curriculum

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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

Contact information:

Web site: http://www.thehopechest.net
Resource orders: http://www.thehopechest.net/ResourceOrders.html
Personal Email: [email protected]
Subscription: [email protected]
Unsubscription: [email protected]

Dear Hope Chest friends,

As promised, Jeannie Fulbright has written something especially for us! This is such a privilege! Jeannie wrote to me a few weeks ago asking me to stop by her FPEA convention booth this weekend. Unfortunately, due to my limited mobility this late in pregnancy, so I will NOT be attending! (Boo hoo!) However, I did poke around her marvelous web site (http://www.jeanniefulbright.com), and was SO impressed by the variety of thoughtful and educational stuff there, that I asked her to write something for the Hope Chest. Her assignment was to tell about her science curriculum and then share whatever was on her heart for her fellow home school moms.

I'm looking forward to using Jeannie's Apologia elementary botany curriculum with my 10 year old daughter, Lydia, this coming school year. Three of my daughters are curriculum junkies -- they love to carefully study the catalogs, make detailed lists of what looks interesting, and agonize over what they want to use. If possible, they also like to see it up close and personal. Lydia examined the botany text at Faithful Bookshop, and, with my hearty permission, that's what she chose for next year! Right now, she is outside transplanting the white begonia plant that Mary gave me for Mother's Day.

I also want to let you know how blessed I have been by Jeannie's own home school e-newsletter, Jeannie's Journal. Her last issue was a real encouragement to me, not only in home schooling, but also in my spiritual life. After Sunny Lerch sent the link for the Global Day of Prayer a few weeks back, I had started a prayer journal, and one of Jeannie's articles, "How to Have a Quiet Time", exhorted me to continue when I was tempted to slack off. Writing my prayers out has been such a benefit. I also enjoyed her article on the difference between macroevolution and microevolution. If you would like to subscribe to Jeannie's Journal and read the current issue, click here: http://www.jeanniefulbright.com/News_1.html

If you are going to FPEA, be sure to stop by Jeannie's booth and tell her I sent you!

Blessings,

Virginia Knowles

http://www.TheHopeChest.net

P.S. I am not using much HTML code (such as bold, centering, italics, etc.) in this issue, because a few readers mentioned that the increased file size chokes up their computers. Let me know what you think.

Here's Jeannie!

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

I'm so excited to be included in this issue of Virginia's newsletter. We met at last year's Orlando convention, and I have enjoyed hearing her updates and news ever since then. As the author of Apologia's new elementary science curriculum, she asked me to tell a bit about my books and the approach to science I take with them. In a nutshell, I wrote the science curriculum I was looking for, but couldn't find.

I was a science major at the University of Texas, and wanted to convey to my children my same passion for science. But everything I tried was either too dry with overly technical language, too full of evolution, too elementary, covered too many topics in too short of a time period, required too many extra books or too much teacher prep work. And frankly no matter how much you love science, after a full day of getting the basics completed, if you have to read a teacher's manual or prepare a lot before you can do a science lesson, forget it. I needed something easy to do, with only one book from which I could read aloud, but didn't teach evolution - and better yet, explained creation concepts in easy to understand language. I wanted science to flow in our home like a good book. I also desired something that would effectively, systematically teach my children in a way that kept their interest, fed their hunger for real knowledge, and taught them truth, not conjecture. I especially didn't like the way that most texts skipped around from topic to topic every few weeks. There was so much more to learn in one field, and my children love really getting to know a subject. I soon learned that this was an effective and important way to teach children, called the Immersion Approach. A child using the Immersion Approach will learn and retain a great deal more than a child who never delves deep enough into a subject to fully understand it (one of the reasons American school children are less than 50% proficient in science according to the NCES). I knew it was time to break with a crippled tradition, and dive in deep - even with youngsters! I wanted my children to be able to intelligently and confidently discuss botany, ornithology, entomology or astronomy with an expert in the field. I needed something that I could do with all my children, something scientific enough for my oldest student, but written in words my kindergartner could understand. I knew I was being high maintenance. But that is the science curriculum I wanted, the science curriculum I needed!

After searching far and wide, I felt a stirring in my heart to write the very book I wanted; a twaddle-free, living science book! And since I was writing it, I decided to add a few more perks to make my life easier. The first being that I wanted something built right into the text that reminded me to have my children narrate, or tell back what they learned. I knew this activity goes a long way in reinforcing their learning and teaching them to logically order information and effectively orate for future speaking aptitude. So, I wrote in narration prompts every few paragraphs. I also wanted experiments that tied into the reading, but weren't required for my children to "get" the material. Relevant, but optional experiments! I also wanted the assignments after each lesson to reflect the tried and true Charlotte Mason philosophy of "creativity with a purpose", otherwise known as notebooking. I found by trial and error that my children remembered far more of the material when they wrote down or dictated what they learned, and then created a drawing to go with it. When they did worksheets with fill-in-the-blank, matching exercises or wordsearches, they didn't remember a thing a year later. So I put notebooking exercises after every lesson that would require the child to express in their own words and creativity all that they remembered from the lesson.

To make a long story short, the approach this series takes to science is a God-glorifying, creation confirming, in-depth, engaging, easy-to-do, effective, read aloud for the whole family.

Being the author of these science books has given me the privilege of chatting with homeschoolers around the country. However, every place I go, I sense fear and tremendous worry in so many homeschoolers, and I have such a burden to lighten their load. It is as if someone has tied up heavy bundles and placed them on their backs. Yet, I am well acquainted with their feelings, because I, too, have shared them. I know what it is to tremble in fear, wondering, "Have we done enough school? Have I taught them enough? Am I doing a good job? Should I do more? Could someone else do a better job?" Fear of failing our beloved children can choke the life out of us, resulting in a lack of joy and warmth in our home as we heap loads of condemnation and guilt upon ourselves, which seeps into our relationships with our children. It's hard to crawl out from under that heavy pile, but I have come to realize that it's not the voice of the Lord, but rather the accuser who wants us to feel so inadequate and full of despair and discouragement. My hope is to encourage these moms that they are doing enough, even if they don't finish every subject every day. They are doing enough, even if they don't get to history or science as often as they would like. They are doing enough, even though they are certain their child should know more. Homeschooling works. Homeschooling works because our children are not being bombarded with cultural messages and the pressure to conform that causes traditionally schooled students to focus, not on learning, but on fitting in to the crowd in second grade. Homeschooling works because when we do teach them something, we don't move on until they know it and understand it, and we talk about it for longer than 15 minutes in class. Homeschooling works because our children are not burnt out on school by sixth grade due to the enormous workload put on them, with hours and hours of monotonous worksheets to be completed every afternoon when they are too exhausted to retain anything. Homeschooling works because our children learn to enjoy having knowledge, and begin to pursue it for themselves at a time when traditionally-schooled kids are zoning out on school and honing in on boyfriends and girlfriends. Homeschooling works, even if you aren't as motivated as you were in September, even if you aren't checking every assignment, even if you aren't doing all you could be doing, in the best mood every day or making every moment a teachable moment. Alas, it is so much easier to be a joy-filled homeschool mommy, that loves homeschooling and has confidence in their call, when we say no to the voice of fear, condemnation and guilt and relax...because homeschooling works!

I hope I will get to meet some of you at the Orlando convention this year. I will be at the Apologia booth. Come by and say hello!

Jeannie

http://www.JeannieFulbright.com

  --  To subscribe, send ANY message to: [email protected]  To unsubscribe, send ANY message to: [email protected]  Visit my web site at www://thehopechest.net