February 26, 2007 by KellyH.

We’ve gotten behind in our work… off-track… behind schedule… whatever you wish to call it. So, today we’re playing “catch-up” and it isn’t going well. I’m frustrated, wanting the children to hurry up and get done. They’re fidgetty because it’s Monday and they’re not quite into the swing of school (that comes tomorrow). My anger is building and I know that’s not right.

I need to sit down and do the one thing I haven’t done today. Whenever I miss this activity, the whole day gets off-kilter. You guessed it: I missed my quiet time with God!

It’s so simple, yet so very important. Time with my Lord and Savior quiets my spirit, and allows Him to work through me, to accomplish His goals. I know better… I’m always encouraging other moms–even challenging them–to make this a priority in their lives. I’m going to go do this right now, before anymore of the day slips by!

Have you had your time with God today? It doesn’t take a huge commitment. Just read a few passages and discuss them with God. Not sure what to read? What passages are you teaching during your Bible studies with Weaver? Keep Him involved in your day, and He’ll keep your day orderly. Never fails!

Posted in Bible, Miscellaneous | Print | 1 Comment »

February 22, 2007 by KellyH.

I’m curious to know how many Weaving families use a more non-traditional schedule for their school year. I know many families follow the September-to-May/June schedule, like the public schools, but how many go year-round? How do you set-up your time? Do you have a “3-week-on, 1-week-off” schedule? I think that would work well with Weaver, as many of the units are more than 10-days. (Hmmm… I’ll have to check my volumes to see what the average length is.)

As you share your time-schedule, let us know what your state requirements are, too (does your state require a certain number of days, or hours?). I’m sure we’ll be switching to all-year schooling, but I’m still trying to figure out exactly how we’ll do it!

Posted in Miscellaneous | Print | 2 Comments »

February 22, 2007 by KellyH.

In chapter 8 or Volume 5, we’re studying the concepts of stewardship. I’m having a hard time giving practical applications/examples for each of the concepts. I’m also struggling with defining some of them, as they seem to be the same concept. Take #3 and #12 for example.

#3) Knowledge of the Investment

#12) Knowledge of the Rules

I’m not sure I understand the “rules” to begin with, but it seems both of these come down to knowledge of what you’re getting yourself into when you become a steward.

And what about #5 (Willing to Take a Calculated Risk) and #13 (Preparation for the Unexpected). When we calculate our risks, we are preparing for the unexpected… at least, I am!

And #14 (Faithfulness in Continuane over Time) and #15 (Faithfulness to the Goal Given) seem pretty close as well.

It seems to me that this whole lesson could have been tightened-up a bit. I would have never thought to use some of those Bible verses as examples for stewardship myself. But, then again, I’m not quite as knowledgeable of the Bible as the author of Weaver.

I’d love to hear others’ thoughts on this chapter. How did you handle it? What teaching tips can you give me? Leave a comment and let us know!

Posted in Volume 5, Bible | Print | No Comments »

February 22, 2007 by KellyH.

A few years ago, I saw fabric that had a map of the USA imprinted on it. Each state lists the capital and has a picture of the state bird and state flower. There was a key/list off to the side of the map, listing the names of the birds and flowers.

I wasted no time in buying this map panel! I also bought some solid red fabric to back it, and created a small “quilt” simply by adding some batting between the fabrics and machine-sewing straight lines, horizontally and vertically, about an inch apart, with “invisible” thread. (I used red thread in the bobbin, though.)

About a year later, a panel with the map of the world came out, so I bought that, too, along with blue material for the backing. This map was trickier to machine-quilt as the lattitude and longitude lines were already printed on the map and they are not straight, which threw me off at times.

Both maps are cherished by my two youngest children. They’re going to come in handy in a few weeks when we cover map skills once again. I also have a game called State to State, which has magnetic pieces making up the USA. I’ll bring that out to help my third-grader memorize where the states go, and what their names are. Chances are, my first-grader will whiz through this and learn it right along with his sister!

One resource that I’ve had for a few years but haven’t used yet is the book States & Capitals, by Twin Sisters Productions. I’ll have to pull some of the games and activities out of that book. I’ll also have to see if I can find the music for Turkey in the Straw–that’s the tune they use for “singing” the states in Volume 5, chapter 9.

We’ve got two weeks left of our current chapter, but I’m already starting to plan for the next one–a 30-day chapter! Those long chapters seem to need the extra planning.

Posted in History/Geography, Volume 5 | Print | 1 Comment »

February 22, 2007 by KellyH.

We’re working our way through Chapter 8 of Volume 5. We’ve finished the main parables of Jesus and now we’re working on the stewardship section. There are 23 concepts about stewardship that are being taught over a 15-day period. Today we studied the third concept, Knowledge of the Investment. The Bible examples used by the author were the parable of the new patch on an old garment and the new wine in old wineskins.

To be honest, I’ve never thought of those parables as teaching about stewardship. To me they are teaching that we need to put away our old, earthly thoughts and focus on Christ now that we’re believers. I thought they were teaching us that we shouldn’t try to mix Christianity with Pagan rituals.

In trying to teach the lesson, I had to look at these parables with a fresh eye. I have not changed my mind about the point Jesus was trying to make, but I’ve gained a new appreciation for His choice of words. He chose activities that His audience could relate to–do I do that when trying to get my point across?

Because I’m teaching a wide range of ages (6-16) I often wonder if I’m losing the interest of some of my children while I try to explain something to others. It’s challenging, but I know I need to reach each of them where they’re at, and then challenge them in their thinking so they will grow to the next level of understanding.

It will be interesting to see how the rest of this unit works out, not only for my children, but for my own Bible understanding as well.

Posted in Volume 5, Bible | Print | No Comments »

February 22, 2007 by KellyH.

I remember making this one year. It really was peculiar! If I recall, it was similar to Silly Putty, but more fluid… I think… it’s been over 10 years since I made it. I don’t even remember where the recipe came from.

• 1 cup white school glue
• 3/4 cup water
• 1 tsp Borax
• 1/2 cup water

You will need two bowls.

1. Stir together, in one of the bowls, the white glue and about 3/4 cup of water.
2. In the second bowl, stir 1/2 cup water and Borax together.
3. Stir the Borax mixture into the glue mixture. Continue to stir until all the glue mixture is absorbed. This will take several minutes.
4. Allow the mixture to stand for an hour or so and it’s ready to play with. Pull on it, flatten it, roll it into a ball and bounce it!

Posted in Interlock, Science | Print | No Comments »

February 22, 2007 by KellyH.

Whenever someone writes into the Weaver List about how discouraged they are, my heart hurts for them. They usually talk of their struggles with one or more of their children, of how this is not what they expected of homeschooling, and about how they can’t fit everything into their day. The ladies on the list will encourage them to read Teaching Tips & Techniques, make things fun by adding games, and pray. All excellent advice, but sometimes there are deeper issues that need to be addressed.

• Why do I want to homeschool?
• Do my children obey and respect me?
• What am I trying to teach them–what’s most important?
• How much time do I have to teach them these things?

Why DO you want to homeschool? Do you feel this is God’s plan for your family? Homeschooling is an excellent way to educate our children, but not everyone is capable of doing it. Are you homeschooling because someone you know is doing it? Do you not like the public schools in your area? Please do not get defensive! If this question offends you, then you may not be homeschooilng for the right reasons. Perhaps God does want you to homeschool, but if your heart is not in tune with His desires, you will fail. I personally struggled with the answer to this question for 10 years. I feel I have finally lined up my heart with God’s and this year is going extremely well, considering all the distractions we’ve had. Don’t try to be like someone else. Don’t try to “look good” to someone else. Seek God’s Will, and you will find your answers.

Do your children obey you? Do they respect you? There is a difference! Do they treat their Sunday school teachers the way they treat you? Would they consider behaving the same way if their father were in the room with you? One of the first things you need to teach your children is obedience. Do they do what you say the first time, or wait until the third time? I tell my children, “Obedience is doing what I say, when I say it, with a happy heart.” Getting the first two right and the last wrong is not obedience. It’s all or nothing.

If a child is not obedient, you will have a hard time teaching them. Why? Because they will not feel they have any reason to do what you say. If they don’t listen when you askt hem to clean their rooms, why should they listen when you ask them to make a timeline? (If you have Teaching Tips & Techniques, read the section on Motivation.) If they don’t want to make a graph, and grumble their way through it, will the graph be their best work? Probably not. You must expect the best from you child or they will not give it. I’m not saying we should be unrealistic about what our children can do–do not push your child to do things above their ability or they will crash and burn trying to please you. But, you know your child–they can write in cursive if they try. It may take longer than writing in manuscript, but that doesn’t matter. They must be motivated to do their best work.

Do not allow disrespect of elders in your home! You are your child’s elder–they should respect and obey you. If they do not show respect for you, they will probably not show respect for their spouse or their boss. Sure, they show respect for their Sunday school teacher, but that is someone they see once a week. A boss they will see five days a week, and a spouse they will see daily–they will get comfortable with these people in their lives, just as they are comfortable with you. Comfortableness should not breed disrespect!

What are you trying to teach your children? What are the most important subjects, in order? For many families who choose Weaver, the most important subject is Bible. Sit down with a piece of paper and your husband and write out what you are trying to teach. This will be something to refer to over the course of your students’ studies up until they graduate from high school. You can be a bit general here: Bible = Diety, Jesus is the Christ, Gospel story, Creation, etc. (If you have a copy of Skills Evaluation , you may want to skim over that for ideas.)

If you feel Bible is the most important subject, keep it first. Our family feels math is the second most important, but I do not switch to math after Bible. I continue with our Weaver studies and do the history/geography and then the science, etc. Math is something they can do on their own, like when they are done with breakfast and we haven’t started school yet, or while they wait for me to help them with a writing assignment, or while I’m working with someone else on something. Besides math, they have reading assignments to do on their own.

How much time do you have to teach them these things? I’m not asking about time in a day, although that’s important, too. I’m asking about if you want to cover the whole Bible in one year, or if you want to cover the world in geography in one year. No? I don’t blame you! That’s a lot to teach! Depending on the ages of your children, you will have years to cover this stuff. And, with weaver, you will go over the information you are trying to teach them more than once.

Use Weaver as your guide. If you feel it is important to teach them about genealogy, because it was/is important to God, then you need to stress that to your children. If they roll their eyes, you can either bow to their wishes and skim through it to make their lives easier, or you can assign them some extra work for disrespecting you as the teacher and for disrespecting God. What kind of extra work? How about making the timeline in color? Or making an individual timeline for each child? Or perhaps they can orally interview their grandparents and type up the answers? Based on their age, you will have to adapt the work, of course.

Your children will need to learn things that they are not thrilled about learning. Does anyone really enjoy changing a dirty diaper, or scraping dried food off plates? No, but it needs to be done. How about cleaning toilets? Okay, we won’t go there. There will be times in your children’s lives when they will do things they don’t like–certain school subjects are perfect for training them to “suck it up” and “bear with it” when times are tough. Another reason to learn what they don’t want to learn: everything is intertwined and will help them to do what God wants them to do as they grow. My daughter wants to be an artist. I use history to point out how various artists were affected by what was happening during their lives. The scenes they painted, the clothing on the people, the facial expressions, etc, are all affected by an artist’s surroundings and their culture.

Take your struggles to God. He knows you and the struggles you face. He will guide you, and bless you, if you seek Him. God placed you in that family, as the mother, for a reason. Your children are given to you for a reason. You must do the job God has assigned to you, whatever the job. Live out your obedience to God. You’ll be setting a great example for your children!

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February 21, 2007 by KellyH.

Last night I purchased an awesome creative writing tool: The Learning Calendar. This morning I signed up for their free newsletter, The Learning Calendar Ideas. The newsletter provides additional activity ideas that correspond to the wall calendar.

The calendars themselves can be reused–although the days of the week won’t be right, the history for that day will never change–just like Weaver. The more calendars you buy, the cheaper they are, so grab some of your homeschooling friends and get a box to share! You can usually buy last year’s calendar at a great discount, too!

Posted in Wisdom Words | Print | No Comments »

February 21, 2007 by KellyH.

“When I give a writing assignment, my child says he doesn’t know what to write, and will just sit there.”

Does this sound like your house? Here are four ideas to help you get your students writing.

1) Try a sentence starter:

• “My mom likes…”
• “The dog is…”
• “Look! It’s a…”
• “On Tuesday we…”

I’m sure you can come up with more like this!

2) Invest in a creative writing book or calendar, or use an Internet site for ideas. I have a book called “Writing Down the Days: 365 Creative Journaling Ideas for Young People“ by Lorraine M. Dalhstrom. A good place to get ideas online is the History Channel. Click on This Day in History for a short article that will give you lots of ideas for writing!

3) Have your child write what he sees. One day I had my child close his eyes and I turned him in a circle a few times. Before he opened his eyes, I instructed him to hold out his arm and point with his finger–he chose how high or how low to point. When he opened his eyes, he was pointing at a gravy boat in the chiina cabinet. I told him he could write whatever he wanted about it: he could write a description of it, or tell how it was probably made, or he could use it in a short story… whatever, just as long as he wrote!

4) When all else fails… Have your child write, “I don’t know what to write” repeatedly on the paper for five minutes. This gets old really fast! My son had to do this three times before he finally started getting creative.

Be sure you are writing with your child. Set an example and your child will soon follow.

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February 21, 2007 by KellyH.

A long-time Weaving mom, Corina T., has come up with a special chart for Wisdom Words. This chart shows the topics that are covered in each grade, and when they will be repeated during the course of the program. The chart is a Word document and it’s located within the Files section at Yahoo. It can be found by clicking here. (You may be prompted to log-in, or join the group when you follow this link.) Click on the folder “Wisdom Words,” then right click on the file “WWTopics.doc” and choose to save the link or open it.
If you have a useful chart you’d like to share, let me know!

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