Hope Chest #51 part 1: Life Skills (Home School Newsletter)
Posted by: homenews <homenews@...>
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THE HOPE CHEST:
Ideas and Inspiration for Home Education
Issue #51 part 1
September 2002
Life Skills!
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WELCOME TO THE HOPE CHEST!
The Hope Chest Home School News is a free bi-monthly e-mail newsletter with encouragement and practical teaching tips. The editor is Virginia Knowles, wife of Thad, and mother of eight, ages toddler to teen. Virginia is also the author and publisher of Common Sense Excellence: Faith-Filled Home Education for Preschool to 5th Grade, The Real Life Home School Mom, and The Learner's Journal lesson planner and record keeping log. (Ordering information is at the end of the newsletter for these resources and several others.)
HOPE CHEST CONTACT INFORMATION
Web site: http://www.hopechest.homestead.com/welcome.html
Resource descriptions: http://www.hopechest.homestead.com/resourceorders.html
Personal e-mail: [email protected]
Subscription address: [email protected]
Unsubscription address: [email protected]
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Part 1: Encouragement from Virginia
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From My Heart to Yours: Proverbs 31 Life Skills by Virginia Knowles
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Excellent Work! (excerpt from The Real Life Home School Mom)
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Household Tools (excerpt from Common Sense Excellence)
Part 2: Practical Tips and Resources You Can Use
Part 3: The Final Stuff
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Wide Feet Woes by Mary Knowles
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What's New at the Knowles House? by Virginia Knowles
- Resource Ordering Information
- Reprint Permission
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FROM MY HEART TO YOURS:
Proverbs 31 Life Skills
by Virginia Knowles
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I'm not exactly what you would call a Home Economics expert. Perhaps I find a little too much humor in Phyllis Diller's quip: "Cleaning your house while your kids are still growing is like shoveling the walk before it stops snowing."
Between overseeing the education and care of my children, cooking, playing chauffeur, and going to medical appointments, I'm pretty busy already. Still, I do try to do my share in making our home a nice place to live. I guess I got inspired within the last few weeks by rereading Proverbs 31. At any rate, I decided to do some real housecleaning -- beyond the routine maintenance that my older girls always do every day. The dirty carpets are off-limits for me (my husband has always done them because I have a bad back), but I figured I could at least tackle some of the smaller stuff. One day I cleaned the refrigerator, scrubbed out the sink, and even degrimed the stove filters. A few days after that, I declared war on the assorted marks on our walls. Surely my husband and children would "rise up and call me blessed" for THAT feat! Alas, after I finished with this arduous task, Lydia asked me to check on a sore on her back. (That morning she had sat forcefully onto a pencil that was inadvertently wedged between the couch cushions. This is an occupational hazard of home schooling.) She and I were in my bedroom with the first aid kit for about 10 minutes, and when we emerged, what should we see but (1) Micah and Naomi covered in peanut butter, sitting at the dining room table, which was also covered in peanut butter, AND (2) my husband walking through the door, home early from work. Aagh!!!! What timing! Believe me, after Thad and I got the little ones degreased, I led him on a tour of what I had cleaned up, just so he would see it before the Peanut Butter Pair messed it up again. Sigh...
Well, Naomi must have been feeling repentant, because a few days later she decided to "shampoo the carpets" for me. Of course, at 19 months old, she gives new meaning to the phrase. Her version is to take a bottle of Alberto V05 Sun Kissed Raspberry shampoo and squeeze it into Mommy's bedroom carpet! In desperation, I called Thad and begged him to bring home a Rug Doctor carpet machine. So I guess I did get some clean carpets this week after all! He even taught Julia and Rachel to use the machine, so they learned a valuable life skill. And lest you think that Naomi is nothing but a whirlwind, she has learned to help clean up toys and books. Julia is teaching her sign language so she can ask for milk, and say "please" and "thank you." She gives the sweetest little hugs! We're also using a little mischief prevention. I made a makeshift shoelace / elastic hair band latch for the cereal cupboard, which has definitely cut down on the daily floor mess.
Well, I may not yet be the Proverbs 31 woman, but I'm trying. It's true that times have changed. Most of us haven't ever grasped a spindle in our virtuous hands, and few of us have planted any vineyards. Still, if you do a careful study of the chapter, you can find the keys to this noble woman's character that enables her to be so productive in her life. She is prudent, enthusiastic, resourceful, diligent, industrious, servant-hearted, hospitable, generous, entrepreneurial, thrifty, prepared, confident, optimistic, dignified, faithful, watchful and reverent. These are certainly not abstract concepts to her -- she puts them into daily practice for the benefit of her family and community! Reading through the various areas of life in which she excels is definitely a challenge to me. I see so much room for improvement in my own life -- everything from keeping my children properly clothed to teaching with a cheerful attitude.
I know lots of moms are discouraged with the thought of attaining to Proverbs 31 "model of perfection" but as the Apostle Paul says, "Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus." Philippians 3:12-14.
Moms, as we think about teaching life skills to our children, let's be the example of pressing on with the responsibilities God has entrusted to us in and around our homes!
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Excellent Work!
Excerpt from The Real Life Home School Mom
by Virginia Knowles
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The following is an excerpt from my first book, The Real Life Home School Mom. The chapter Excellent Work describes eight essentials for excellence in education and housework.
EXCELLENT WORK!
Being a parent is the most challenging job there is, yet it also has the most potential for shaping the world to come. Few of us would bother with home schooling if it didn't somehow hold out the hope of more responsible children and excellent results, but it sometimes still seems like an marathon.
One thing I have always heard in the home school movement is that it is more important for a child to develop strong Christian character than to fill up the brain with skills. This is true! The qualities of faith, honesty, courtesy, generosity, diligence, and others are totally indispensable for pleasing God. Compared to them, even the 3Rs are mere electives! Janet, a veteran home school mom of seven, has sage words: "A lot of us have pressure and conflict because our society overvalues academic skills instead of spiritual development and we want our kids to be able to compete in the market place with public-schooled ones. This is particularly acute at the high school level, when you must complete specific amounts of hours, tests, and paper trails in order to get a diploma. I believe that if they have the character and not all the skills, they will be able to excel beyond people who have skills and not the character." Amen! Of course, the ideal is to teach our children to be strong in both character and practical skills. It's not an either/or situation. In fact, character training moves beyond the theoretical as children learn how to work. They must become productive and diligent with their current jobs so they can also effectively serve God and others. Our former pastor, Dr. Joel Hunter, says, "Learning is good, loving is better, and using learning to enhance loving is best."
What happens when parents fail to train children in everyday responsibility? Picture Tommy Tornado. He dawdles through his school work finding every excuse for distraction. He still hasn't finished his math page by the afternoon, and since it's so B-O-R-I-N-G, he shoves the book aside and retrieves his model airplane kit from the closet. He has the glue, newspaper, and plastic parts all spread out on the kitchen table when his friend Joe rings the doorbell wanting to play. Mom asks from the next room if he has done his math yet. Tommy calls back, "Yeah...", justifying to himself that he has done some of it. He runs outside and is soon happily rollerblading down the street. An hour later, he stumbles back inside, totally exhausted, and plops down in front of the TV with a snack. Mom nags Tommy to clean up his airplane mess and take out the trash, but he is now comatose on the couch in front of the TV, amid potato chip crumbs and apple cores. She ends up doing it all herself, still resentful about the jumble of Legos and crayons from this morning. When Dad gets home, already tired from a long day at work, he nearly runs into the roller blades left in the driveway. He is now in no mood for mercy when he steps inside the house to greet his tired wife. It's going to be a long evening! Multiply this by a houseful of children, and you have trouble with a capital T. And as Tommy slides through the teenage years into adulthood, he will face major obstacles in higher education, career, and family life.
One basic difference between adults and children is that adults tend to think of "duty" things (productivity, safety, health, hygiene, tidiness, thrift, etc.) while children naturally gravitate to "pleasure" pursuits (play, food, friends, relaxation, affection, crafts, etc.) Sure, adults like these things too, but often have a hard time "cutting loose" when there is so much work to be done. They run themselves ragged, skimp on meals, get overwhelmed, and start grumbling. Meanwhile, the children play until they drop (all the while making excess work for Mom and Dad), and then they don't even think about helping out.
What is the solution to overworked parents and lazy offspring? Train the children to work! At first, this will just mean cleaning up their own messes and taking care of personal hygiene. Later, they must learn to pitch in on family responsibilities and household chores. As the children come up to speed and carry their own weight, then the adults are more free to relax and enjoy life with their children. Everyone wins! The children become more mature and actually get to spend friendly time with Mom and Dad. The adults, on the other hand, can cultivate a childlike appreciation of simple pleasures like naps, hugs, games and evening strolls. True balance comes when all family members learn to intermingle duty and pleasure by adding adventure to their tasks, alternating periods of work and rest, and laboring together in a spirit of comradeship. Rather than being pitted against each other, the parents and children are blended into a team! For more information on involving children in housework, the best resource I have seen is 401 Ways to Get Your Kids to Work At Home by Bonnie McCullough and Susan Monson.
How can we train children to be faithful in their work? Perhaps a task-oriented, character building training program would be helpful. Here is my personal list of eight essential elements for excellence for developing responsibility through school and housework.
1. Determine the Style and Capabilities of Each Child
2. Write Goals, Set up Routines, and Assign the Work
3. Provide Appropriate Tools
4. Clearly Demonstrate How to Do Each Task
5. Add a Little Adventure
6. Develop a Sense of Teamwork
7. Evaluate Success
8. Encourage an Attitude of Excellence
(The 17 pages in this chapter expand on these eight elements for both academics and homemaking.)
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HOUSEHOLD TOOLS:
Excerpt from
COMMON SENSE EXCELLENCE:
Faith-Filled Education for Preschool to 5th Grade
by Virginia Knowles
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This article is a short section from the Life Skills chapter in Common Sense Excellence, which also covers the areas of:
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Decision Making
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Courtesy
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Hospitality
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Household Chores
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Home Organization and Decoration
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Clothing Care
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Meal Times
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Money Management
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Office Skills
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Household Tools
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Gardening and Yard Care
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Travel and Transportation
HOUSEHOLD TOOLS
"If a man is lazy, the rafters sag; if his hands are idle, the house leaks." Ecclesiastes 10:18
"The wise woman builds her house, but with her own hands the foolish one tears hers down." Proverbs 14:1
"I will make justice the measuring line and righteousness the plumb line..." Isaiah 28:17
Becoming proficient in the use of household tools is a hands-on practical pursuit that will serve your child well for a whole lifetime.
Take a tour of the toolbox. Learn the name of each tool, and what it is used for. Match the tools with their associated supplies (ex. hammer and nails). If your child is too young to use actual tools, provide safe plastic toy versions.
Demonstrate tool safety. A young child should always be supervised with anything sharp! Please emphasize that he or she should never touch tools without permission! We have a few safer screwdrivers in our kitchen to use for basic household jobs; everything else is off limits.
Measure and mark with a yard stick or tape measure. Do it again to make sure before you do anything else! ("Measure twice, cut once!" says the old adage.)
Use a level to see if a picture frame or other horizontal surface is parallel to the floor. Show how the level works. By the same principle, a plumb line measures whether a vertical line, such as a door frame, is straight up and down. If you don't have either one, you can use a carpenter's square to see if corners are perpendicular (at right angles).
Practice using screwdrivers and screws -- both Phillips and flat head. (Say: "Righty tighty, lefty loosey!") What makes a screw work? How can it go into a solid material, and why doesn't it fall back out again? (Physical science here!) Bolts are similar to screws using the spiral principle. Practice threading a nut onto a bolt.
Hammer nails into scrap wood. Work on getting them in straight without banging the fingers. Using the claw end of the hammer, pull out any that get bent in the process.
Help hang a picture on the wall. If it is heavy, find a stud behind on the wall because this will be more secure than plaster wallboard with air behind it. Does your child know that there is space between the walls for electrical lines, phone lines, and plumbing? If you bang your hand along the wall from left to right, it sounds more solid at the stud because the wall vibrates less. Now use a nail that is long enough to go through the wallboard and into the stud. Use two nails for more stability. You can also use a special picture frame nail which has a little brace and hook. Why does this make it more sturdy? Again, you are learning physical science in a practical way!
Assemble a simple project using a variety of methods. (Examples: birdhouse, toolbox, bookshelf, toy boat or car, etc.) You might want to buy a kit, which will make your project much easier! In our area, the Home Depot stores offer free Saturday workshops for parent and child to build a birdhouse or other project together. Cut wood with a hand saw, drill a hole using a hand drill. Sand a piece of wood smooth. Paint it using spray paint or brush, and then clean the brushes.
Put all the tools away in their proper places. If they were disorganized at the start, take the time to sort them into logical spots, such as screws in one container and nails in another.
"And now I began to apply myself to such necessary things as I found I most wanted, particularly a chair and a table, for without these I was not able to enjoy the few comforts I had in the world. I could not write or eat, or do several things, with much pleasure without a table. So I went to work, and here I must needs observe that, as reason is the substance and original of the mathematics, so by stating and squaring everything by reason, and by making the most rational judgment of things, every man may be in time master of every mechanical art. I had never handled a tool in my life, and yet in time by labor, application and contrivance, I found at last that I wanted nothing that I could not have made, if I had had the right tools."
Quote from the classic shipwreck novel Robinson Crusoe, by Daniel Defoe (1719)
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This is the end of part 1 of 3!