Last weekend I attended the MassHope Homeschool Convention and it was such a blessing to me. I thought it would be a good time of fellowship, homeschool shopping and opportunity to actually look at curriculum before purchasing, it was so much more than that. The opportunities to sit in on "sessions" and learn different teaching techniques was, for me, the biggest blessing. I thought the sessions would be encouraging in the sense of "Come on, you can do it, you can teach your children", and they were encouraging in that sense and more. All of the sessions I attended were centered around Christ and portraying Christ to my children.
I was particularly guided by the speaker Sonya Shafer. I attended each and everyone of her sessions and had opportunity to speak to her privately as well. God tells us to: "Train up your child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it"-Proverbs 22:6. How many times have we, as homeschooling parents, used this verse as part of our testimony to homeschooling? I know I have. Homeschooling goes beyond "reading, writing and arithmetic", its a way of life. Does our school day end once the books are closed? No, life's most important lessons are through experience. Every day the Lord is busy molding us and conforming us to His image. Isn't that what He wants us to do in our homeschooling? For me, the answer is most clearly YES! Homeschooling is a way of life, not just an alternative to schooling.
The Lord showed me so many different ways to "teach". One of my favorite sessions involved learning about living books and narration. A living book, one example is, obviously, the Bible. It is factual and teaches in a beautiful way. I learned the four characteristics of a living book, which are:
1. Living books make the subject come alive, you can see it your "minds eye"
2. Written by one author, who probably has a passion for the subject he/she is writing about
3. Contains ideas, not just facts. Makes the subject come alive, sparks your imagination
4. Well written, not twaddle (twaddle is talking down to a child, short choppy sentences)
As I said, I also learned about narration. Oh what a wonderful time I had learning about this and it is so easy to do with your children. Actually, we have been doing it daily in our schoolwork, but also in our evening devotions. Basically, you read out loud to your children/family. Not for too long, say 10 minutes or so. Pick a "living book", we are reading about Billy Sunday. Then you have them retell you what you read. If your doing this with more than one child, have the youngest go first. Make sure no one interrupts and also don't tell them what they did not remember. Just let them talk and you be the listener (or the rest of your family, depending on how many people you have at the time), and it is not only fun, but YOU are finding out what they actually heard and understood. This has been such a blessing during our schoolwork and our devotionals. It sounds so simple, and truly it is, but it is also very rewarding.
In addition to the sessions, there was shopping...and yes it was a lot of fun. We are definitly going to be using "My Father's World" curriculum for the upcoming year. I encourage you to look into it if you are looking for a Christ-centered curriculum. I will be ordering it soon from their website, it was cheaper to order on-line and not pay tax and their shipping is a flat rate of $8.95. I did make a few purchases while at the convention. I purchased Spelling Power, Singapore Math and Rosetta Stone Spanish level 1. We have implemented those this week and so far so good. I also purchased two bible studies. One is "Jesus Is Better" a study of Hebrews, it is a family devotional study and we love it! We have been using that every night along with Fruitful Families. Fruitful families has wonderful stories in it and we having been using "narration" nightly with those stories. We also purchased a larger Bible study, entitle The Picture Smart Bible. We had to order it, so I will tell you more when it gets here and when we get started! It will be a few weeks and will give us ample time to finish up our Hebrews study.
I believe the next person to update this blog, will be Tara. She will be sharing with you some of the things she has made for charity.
Blessings in Christ,
Terry
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