Quote from Forum Archives on September 15, 2002, 10:57 pm

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THE HOPE CHEST:

Ideas and Inspiration for Home Education

Issue #51 part 3

September 2002

Life Skills

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This is part 3 of the Hope Chest Home School News, published by Virginia Knowles.

Web site: www.hopechest.homestead.com/welcome.html

E-mail: [email protected]

In this section, The Final Stuff, you will find:

• Wide Feet Woes by Mary Knowles
• What's New at the Knowles House? by Virginia Knowles

• Resource Ordering Information
• Reprint Permission

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WIDE FEET WOES
by Mary Knowles

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"What do you have for really, really wide feet?" my mom asked the salesperson hopefully. I, Exhibit A (for Abnormality), stood next to her and sighed a loud sigh. Shoe stores never had my size! The lady showed us her brands for wide feet, but then walked away and left another
salesperson to "help" us. He stood there dumbly as I tried on pair after pair of sneakers. Not one pair was wide enough. "Well, if you have wide feet, you have wide feet" he explained. Those were definitely sage words of wisdom, but what about the sneakers? My walking for the past two months had been in a pair of flip-flops with a ¼ inch sole. At least with those, my toes could spill out over the sides. But they weren't great for long hikes, as I had discovered after wearing them for a 5-hour mall trip a few weeks before. Not only that, but I'm doing P.E. as a half credit, and wrist flexes don't count.

But my story doesn't end sadly.  A few weeks ago, my dream of several months came true: I found a pair of sneakers that fit. We had to go to a New Balance outlet to get an extra wide size, and at an outrageous price! They're huge, all right. If I were six inches taller they might be more proportionate to my body. And they were navy blue (I wanted white, but on the bright side, dark colors make things look smaller!). They definitely aren't my dream shoes, but since I'm not into destroying my arches yet, I'll settle for them. My mom and I celebrated with ice cream cones, and in our grace we prayed that my feet wouldn't grow for a few more months.
 

(Virginia's note:  What is ironic is that Mary, who is 15, is very petite and wears a size 2 in women's clothing!   She wrote this story for The Smith Prep Sentinel, a newspaper she publishes for the other girls in her Monday classes.)

 

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WHAT'S NEW AT THE KNOWLES HOUSE?

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To put it mildly, life has been a whirlwind lately. It's so ironic that this issue is on Life Skills, because since I chose this topic a couple of months ago, it seems like this very thing is what I have been most challenged in. So much has been out of kilter lately -- partly because of circumstances beyond my control, and partly because of simple fatigue from pregnancy. We desperately need to regroup and get things back on track by reevaluating priorities, making new plans, finding new strategies and techniques, and more. I find that life is not at all static. What worked before will not work now. I have to be ready for change. Frankly, I haven't been responding that well to stress lately.

I bought a copy of Elizabeth George's newest book, Life Management for Busy Women, hoping it would help me out a little. I read a chunk of it this morning, and it IS good, but maybe not quite what I was looking for, especially since I had already read much of the same concepts in her other books and by other authors. (It's still a GREAT BOOK! Definitely buy it if you need a great introduction to putting your life in order. It covers managing your spiritual life, physical life, home life, financial life, social life, mental life and ministry life.) It has lots of solid inspiration, motivation and principles, but less nitty-gritty stuff. For that, perhaps her book Beautiful in God's Eyes: The Treasures of the Proverbs 31 Woman, was more helpful to me. You can check out her web site at www.elizabethgeorge.com for a 20% discount on the Life Management book, as well as articles and more. My all time favorite book that touches on homemaking is one of Emilie Barne's books, The Spirit of Loveliness. See www.emiliebarnes.com.

As I mentioned in a previous message, one recent transition for us is that five of our daughters are taking weekly classes outside of the home.  (Last year, Mary started at Smith Prep, a classical program for home schoolers,  so she was our guinea pig for educational outsourcing!) The three oldest have core academic classes (history, science and language arts), which definitely lifts the teaching and curriculum planning burden from me. For that I am thankful. I never thought I would be willing to relinquish that much control over my children's education, but I know in my heart that this is the time. I just can't do it all by myself anymore -- and I'm not  ashamed to say that. It has been quite a shift for one of my daughters, who was overwhelmed by the homework that was assigned the first week. She had to be assured that since she is one of the youngest students in a multi-grade class that she isn't expected to do everything at the same level as the others. She is not in public school, I am still the one who gives the final grade, and I want her to RELAX and ENJOY learning rather than stress out over getting everything perfect. Her teacher graciously reinforced this encouragement during class time at my request. Our younger girls are in a co-op class, and I've been delighted with how the different moms have put their creative energies to work to make this fun and educational for the children. I don't have the time and energy to concoct elaborate projects for my children every week, but this set-up makes it pretty efficient because the moms are all taking turns, and can get all the supplies for a class all at once. Thanks be to God!

In addition to the group academic classes, Julia and Rachel have joined the Northland Community Youth Choir.   This semester, they are singing classical, ethnic and Christmas music.  One neat thing about this choir is that they are getting serious vocal training, not just learning new songs.  Mary has been taking sewing classes at a local sewing studio, too.  Needless to say, we keep very busy each week.

In relation to the theme of life's transitions, I have to share a special blessing from God here. I had reviewed Mary Lou Graham's pregnancy devotion book, Expecting Joy, a few years back in the Hope Chest, but had been out of contact with her for quite awhile. Then a couple of months ago, I lent her book to a friend who was discouraged about being pregnant, and my friend told me how much it had helped her. I ran across Mary Lou's e-mail address on a local home school loop, and shared this praise with her, and she wrote back,  asking if she and her husband could get together with Thad and I. I replied that I would love to do that, but due to Thad's work schedule (lots of evenings and weekends), I didn't know when we could realistically fit that in.   God does have a sense of humor as he guides our steps.  What I didn't know is that Rich and Mary Lou are members of the church that we had been visiting for two weeks.  About ten days after this e-mail exchange, I was completely surprised when a mutual friend introduced our family to the Grahams at the Sunday service! Since one of our major transitions is that we are switching churches, this was a special touch of grace from the Lord to make things a bit easier on me. Rich and Mary Lou are home group leaders, and have come alongside us in prayer many times in the past weeks.  Mary Lou and I have much in common -- we are both Christian home schooling authors, both with large families, both pregnant. Also at Metro Life Church are Kim Sutter, who is the author of a unit study series (available from www.rocksolidinc.com), and Benny and Sheree Phillips, authors of Raising Kids Who Hunger for God and the Walking with the Wise: God's Plan for Parents and Teens Bible study guide, both of which I had read in the past few years. (You can get the first one from CBD at www.ChristianBooks.com  It has been recently republished by Baker / Revell.)  That is actually another surprise blessing from God, because way back in 1979-1980, I used to go hear Benny preach at the Saturday Night Alive service in Fairfax, Virginia. This made a big impact on how I, as a teenager, related to my parents. Benny, the home schooling father of seven, is now a pastor at Metro Life Church (www.metrolife.org), which  is part of the Sovereign Grace Ministry (www.sovgracemin.org) group of churches (formerly known as PDI).  When we visited the Graham's home group, two of Benny's teenagers, Jesse and Janelle, were there. I was so taken with their spiritual passion and maturity, as well as their obvious respect and affection for their parents, who weren't there that night. Even in the midst of life's changes, I am thankful that God has sent me a few extra signs of his providential care for me.

Ladies, I don't know where you are in life right now. I don't always even know where *I* am in many ways. All I know is that God is with me, and that as imperfect as I am, he loves me. It has been said that he takes us right where we are, but he doesn't leave us there. Transitions, though challenging, are one of his ways to move us on to where we need to be in life. Perhaps one of the most vital "life skills" of all is just to be able to trust him and follow.

Blessings,

Virginia Knowles

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RESOURCE ORDERING INFORMATION

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For more information on some of these resources, you can log onto the Resource page of my web site:

www.hopechest.homestead.com/resourceorders.html

 

RESOURCES BY VIRGINIA KNOWLES

Common Sense Excellence: Faith-Filled Home Education for Preschool to 5th Grade is a comprehensive subject-by-subject teaching guide with teaching methods, Scriptural inspiration, resource recommendations, scope and sequence, and much more. It has 231 jam packed pages.  The price is $20.   To see a sample or view the table of contents, visit the Common Sense Excellence web page at: www.hopechest.homestead.com/cse.html  

The Learner's Journal is an easy to use lesson planner and resource log containing enough pages for 50 weeks for one child. It has been used by over 100 children, with great results. There are annual pages in the front to record major resources, notable literature, field trips, special accomplishments and skills samples. Weekly page spreads feature 9 subject blocks (Character Training, Language Arts, Math, Science, Social Studies, Art and 3 unlabeled blocks), a small five day calendar (undated), a list to record resources used, and a note area. It comes in lunar blue, rocket red, solar yellow, terra green and pulsar pink. The simple, attractive cover is suitable for all ages.  The price is $10 per copy.   You can see sample pages at: http://www.hopechest.homestead.com/learnersjournal.html 

You can also read favorable reviews of Common Sense Excellence and The Learner's Journal at The Old Schoolhouse Magazine web site:

http://www.theoldhomeschoolhouse.com/home_study_helps_prod_rev.htm

The Real Life Home School Mom: A Book of Help and Hope ministers to a mother's heart with encouragement and practical tips. Chapters include Blessed and Stressed, In Search of Sanity, The Hallmarks of a Gentle Spirit, Abide in Christ, Theory and Practicality: How Does Education Really Work?, Your Support Network, Life Management 101, A Vision for the Future, Busy at Home, Excellent Work!, Building the Family Home, Cherishing Your Marriage, Little People, The Transitions of Life and The Home Schooled Mom. List price is $16. Discount price is $14.   Check out the Real Life Home School Mom web page at: http://www.hopechest.homestead.com/RealLife.html

Salt & Light: An Anthology of Poems in Honor of Martin and Gracia Burnham is filled with stirring lines from notable poets such as Edgar Guest, Longfellow, Whittier, Amy Carmichael. The poem "I Am An American" by Elias Lieberman brings me to tears! Proceeds will be donated to a New Tribes Mission fund in memory of Martin Burnham, who was killed on June 7 by the Abu Sayyaf in the Philippines after more than a year in jungle captivity. There are 40 poems in this 26 page book, and some of them are by me! My hope is to encourage hearts for missions, justice, and mercy. $6

Cassette tape containing two audio messages: Nurturing Naomi (How to Help Yourself or Someone Else Overcome Discouragement) AND Common Sense Excellence. 75 minutes total. $4 (no shipping charge if this is ordered by itself)

BOOKS ABOUT TEACHING CHILDREN

105 Questions Children Ask about Money Matters by various authors with a foreword by Larry Burkett presents Biblical answers in a child-friendly format. List price is $10.99. Discount price is $6.

How to Raise a Reader: You Can Help Your Child Read Well and Enjoy it More!, by Elaine K. McEwan, gives practical tips and recommended reading list for parents who want to see their children become strong readers. $6

Homeschooling... Digging Into ALL of the Options, by Cindy Rushton, takes a practical tour through the major teaching approaches. List price is $12. Discount price is $10.

GIFT BOOKS

In My Father's Vineyard by Wayne Jacobsen is a lush book, filled with lovely photographs and inspirational prose about the concepts of the vineyard as presented in the Bible. Grow into fruitfulness! List price is $14.99. Discount price is $7.

The Carpenter's Cloth: Christ's Journey to the Cross and Beyond by Sigmund Brouwer is told from the perspective of a master novelist. The book is laced with song lyrics by his wife, Cindy Morgan, and with art masterpieces by El Greco, Durer, Rubens, Millais and more notables. It's a beautiful gift book fit for any coffee table! List price is $12.99. Discount price is $7.

The Gentle Art of a Servant's Heart by Charles R. Swindoll is a gift book filled with fine art and inspiration on humility, compassion, gentleness, justice, mercy, purity, peacemaking and patience. List price is $9.99. Discount price is $5.

BOOKS BY NANCY CAMPBELL

The Family Meal Table and Hospitality by Nancy Campbell is a Biblical study manual on these vital topics. $18

ORDERING INFORMATION:

QUANTITY DISCOUNTS! If you order any three items or more that are over $10 each, take $1 off the price of each item.

SHIPPING: Shipping to USA addresses is $2.50 minimum and 10% after that. Florida residents pay 6% sales tax AFTER computing shipping. (Contact me for foreign shipping rates, rush shipping rates, or quantity pricing.)

TO ORDER ANY OF THE RESOURCES: Send me a list of which books you want and how many, and compute the subtotal. It is best to check with me by e-mail to make sure I have everything in stock. My own titles can be reprinted as necessary on fairly short notice, but the others may or may not be reordered. Mail your check, order and e-mail address to:

Virginia Knowles / 1925 Blossom Lane / Maitland, FL 32751

If you prefer to order with a credit or debit card on the web, go to the PayPal web site at www.paypal.com and send the payment to [email protected]. Be sure to get the e-mail address correct! Also be sure to include your name, address and other order information. This is the ONLY way I can accept credit/debit card payment.

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REPRINT PERMISSION

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You may freely copy material from this newsletter in other non-profit publications (unless otherwise marked in the article), but you MUST include the author's name (not necessarily mine) and this entire notice:

Reprinted with permission of Virginia Knowles from the Hope Chest Home School News. For a free subscription, send an e-mail message to [email protected] or visit www.hopechest.homestead.com/welcome.html

Please send me a copy of the publication which includes the material.

Virginia Knowles / 1925 Blossom Lane / Maitland, FL 32751

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