Soap, Creativity and Reading...

I love making soap and for me it is like therapy. When the scary lye water/goat milk combines with fats and oils and all of a sudden the chemical change happens -it saponifies and becomes soap- it gives me a rush and satisfaction all at the same time.

I think it is the creativity of it that hooked me. Some hobbies get old because they fail to stimulate our minds or they become repetitive and boring. But, if you can find something that challenges the mind it is a different experience every time.

I think God created us to be creative. When I look at dogs and other animals it seems like they do the same thing every time, day after day--but we were created to be creative. This is why I think that children need a lot of variety to stimulate their minds to keep them being inquisitive, creative little people. The feed on ideas and I think the best way to spark that creativity is to read to them.

Get some books and read to your kids and let the creativity begin. Excite their imagination. Learn about being satisfied with what you are and what you have with the "Whingdingdilly," learn about sacrifice and honor with "The Great and Terrible Quest," learn about prejudice in "Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry," and for just good all around family reading you can't beat "Little Britches" by Ralph Moody [the whole series is wonderful[.

If you would like other suggestions, ask you librarian, ask me, ask me to send you a Sonlight Catalog, get suggestions from "Honey for a Child's Heart," or other good book with recommendations.

Enjoy you kids--they grow so fast and reading together is a great way to stimulate creativity and to pass on your core beliefs.

Take care,
Jill

Ahh, Summer...

No more teachers, no more books, no more teachers' dirty looks!

Can you remember that chat from elementary school? I do. Somehow the summer seemed so wonderful and stretched out before us like an endless road that kept going and going and going.

Ahh, Summer.

Many folks want year round schooling and I guess I can understand why. With so many working parents who have to pay child care in the summer, it makes sense to have school so the kids will be productive and not be left alone for many unattended for hours or will not have to be in long term day care situations. It is much easier for many parents to take a week here and there during a year-round school calendar to spend time with their children, than to take off an entire summer.

Also, studies [so they say] show that kids loose a lot of knowledge over the summer and shorter breaks are better to keep up skills.

I have to question this. If the kids really learned something, are they going to forget it all so quickly? I mean, if you take smaller breaks during the year [and more of them] won't they forget more?

I know with my kids a summer off seemed to bring about a maturity that always surprised me. Sure, they might forget some math process over the summer, but I could usually review it with them and they could "remember" it in about 5 minutes. But, there is something magical that happens to a student in the summer between grades that is hard to explain but I know many parents will testify that they have seen it too.

The kid grows up.

The little kindergarten student in June, becomes a more confident 1st grader in a matter of months. Children that have time to think and play and do chores and maybe get to go camping with the family mature at a greater rate than when they are going to school every day. I don't know why, but I think it is true.

Perhaps it is the lack of schedule that helps them learn to manage their time better. Perhaps it is because they spend more time with their parents and siblings. Perhaps it is because when the brain that has been working hard on academics is given more freedom, other parts of it that do not have to do with school-type thinking get a chance to develop.

I am not sure, but whatever it is, I am glad for it. I am glad that a lazy summer can be the means for a child to mature.

Along this line, I thought you might enjoy these thoughts as well:

• Fire Escape and Playing Poker -Why even the public school textbook writers think homeschooling is a good idea--even if they don't realize it!
• I'm Bored- Ideas for beating summer boredom
  

Take care,
Jill

[Photos of fun in the summer time]

INCH Workshops

If you attended my workshops at INCH this year, and even if you didn't, I thought I would put my posts that relate to the ideas presented in my workshops all in one place. This may help clarify or re-inforce what I talked about.

Mothering Matters

• Shepherding your Flock
• Something to Love
• Something Worthwhile to Think About
• Something Worthwhile to Do
• Books, Making a Common Family Culture
• What Must be Done Can be Done
• Renewable Entertainment
  

Home Organization

• Sailing by Ash Breeze
• Chores and Self Esteem
• Kids, Allowances and Money
• Chores-The Nitty Gritty
• It's All About Me [chores as a way to prevent narcissism]
• Mopping and Dusting
• Conquering Clutter [An overview of the 5-box method to reduce clutter-this is a PDF document]
  

Sonlight now has NO FEE Time Payments

I am pretty excited about Sonlight's latest payment option.
Fee-FREE time payments.

You can now purchase Sonlight Curriculum today and take 3 months to pay for it, with no interest or fees. And, coming soon, you will be able to take 6 months to pay.

• Your payment options include^*:
  • A 3-month plan with 25% down and 3 monthly payments. This option is available year-round.
  • Now available: A 6-month plan with 25% down and 3 payments every two months. This option will be available for orders placed in April, May and June. [We hope to make the 6-month plan available within a week or two. Check back here for updates.]

What a great option for those who want to get all the benefits of buying a full core Core Club Membership, but want to take their time paying for it.

Another great perk from a great company,

Jill

I'm a grandma...

I know you are probably shocked because I look so youthful, but yes, Friday April 16, 2010 will live in infamy as the day that I became married to a grandfather. How is it possible that two such young people--more in love today than when we were first married--are grandparents?

Well, it's true and Elinor Grace is probably the cutest baby ever. Bob and I are smitten with this newest Evely.

Friday started normally with Jen going to work while Cris was out of town on business. By mid-morning she realized she was in labor--5 weeks early.

A quick phone call and I was on my way. Before too long Cris arrived and by 6:00 that night Elinor was born. You can see how thrilled she was to see the outside world in the photo above. She cried like crazy, which of course is good for the lungs, so we were all smiles.

But, Elinor was, after all, 5 weeks early, so she needed some oxygen, and an IV and some enzymes to develop her lungs and a feeding tube. But, today, she doesn't need any of it and it looks like she will come home in a day or two. Jen is doing great, Cris is the proud papa and Bob and I are all smiles.

We can't wait for her to come home and to snuggle her in a non-institutional setting. I did get to hold her a bit yesterday and today. This picture isn't too great, but you get the idea. This is one sweet and adorable baby--and I am not prejudiced one bit--just ask Bob!

Take care,
Jill

A fantastic convention...

I just got back from the Midwest Convention in Cincinnati. I loved this event! The sponsors were organized and the guards, volunteers and even the crowd were the friendliest of any event we have ever attended.

Here is the booth from the front, with the big banner and Core 400 [Government and Civics with American Lit] and P4/5 [Preschool or Kindergarten for 4-5 year olds].

We had an awesome spot and were swamped the whole time. I didn't get a picture of my team or of how busy our booth was because I was too busy to take a picture. But we did talk to about 2000 people and if you were one of them, thanks for coming by.

I had a whole Newcomer 3--everything you need for one child about 8-11 years old for a whole year. I used to say, "Just add child and stir." Basically you need a child, pencil and paper and you are good to go.

This year I decided to make "sampler for every level" so that you can see samples of every Bible book, every history spine, samples of reading levels and science books. These samplers, along with all the Instructor's Guides really give a good feeling of what Sonlight is and how it works. You can see them lined up her by the "Why Sonlight" banner.

This past year I was privileged to be asked to create "hands-on" activities for P4/5. It was a challenge, but after consulting some early childhood educators, reading state standards and reading through many developmental activity books I was able to create some great activities that are not twaddle.

One friend asked what the definition of twaddle is an another quickly replied,

"Worthless, no purpose, busy work."

If you would like to see samples of the new P4/5 Instructors Guide, click here: and scroll down and click on "see samples." I think you will love it.

If you haven't been to a convention yet, I will be in Lansing in May and in Akron in June. I hope I will see some of you then.

Take care,
Jill

Blocks...

I wanted to say a quick word about blocks. I think blocks are one of the best--if not THE BEST--childhood tools available. And I have to say, that I think Dr. Drew's blocks are among the best.

You can see Scotty many years ago with one of his Dr. Drew block creations. He used to make structures like this all the time when he was little. You can see this one is a sky-scraper type with little men in each cubical and a farm fence around the base with various animals corralled.

This takes a lot of imagination, small motor coordination, planning and time! It develops so many parts of a child's growth and is really a pretty cheap tool.

Disclaimer-I am not affiliated with Dr. Drew in any way. Now, let's look at the actual cost of this phenomenal tool. 72 blocks in a nice cloth storage bag--and these are high quality, nicely finished beechwood [hardwood] for around $60. This is a nice starter set and that is what Scotty has in the picture. We ended up adding planks for around $30. So, for about $100 we had a set of tools that can be used for years and years, by many, many children spanning more than one generation.

When I bought them they were cheaper, but even at $100. Let's say you have 3 children. That is $33 each, and figure they will play with them [conservatively] for 3 years each, that is $11 per year. If they play with them one day out of three, that is about 3 cents per day. And after all that playing, they will be just as good for your grandchildren!

What? Grandchildren?

Our blocks have been played with my our children [turning into catapults and domino runs in later years], our nieces and nephews, little friends that visit and now [still good as new, even the drawstring bag is in good shape] we have two grandchildren expected this year. In a couple of years this second generation will get hours and hours of creative play time.

So, whether you choose Dr. Drew blocks, or Melissa and Doug, or some other type of wooden block, know that you are providing tools that will give you a high return for the $$. I think this is a childhood tool that is worth the investment.

Take care,
Jill

High School Help...

I had another high school question today, so I wanted to gather my high school posts in one location.

I will add to these as I have time.

• Transitioning to College from Literature Based Learning
• Using Dictation with High School Students
• High School Transcripts, Not as scary as you think...
• High School Credits for Sonlight Cores
• Grading High School Work-Contract for Grade
• Stretching a Core for longer than a year
  

2010 Sonlight Catalogs

Yesterday while I was busy making waffles for my 2 year old niece and 5 year old nephew Scrappy started barking her "There's-a-guy- in-a-uniform-and-big-truck" bark. When I looked out I saw a UPS guy looking like he was going to cry.

I yelled out, "Do you have boxes for me?"

"34." [This said in a defeated voice.]

He was looking up at our house and the many steps it would take to lug all those boxes up the steps to my porch. There are twelve steps up to my house, and 34 boxes at 29# each, meant he needed to tote nearly 1/2 ton of Sonlight up the steps.

Now you know why he wanted to cry!

I yelled down to the truck, "You can put them on your hand cart and wheel them up my neighbors driveway and into our side door. There is only one or two small steps that way and the cart can come right up them."

Ahh--I saw him smile. I locked Scrappy in my office, rescued the waffles out of the waffle baker, put some syrup on them and gave them to the kids. I said they could eat in their hands if they needed to since I couldn't help them cut them up. I propped the door, opened the gate, got Bob to give the UPS guy a hand...and in rolled the catalogs.
Once they were done, Isaac and I counted the boxes, estimated how many there were, 1700--oh I and I got a LARGE warm cloth and wiped maple syrup covered hands, faces and the table. [You can imagine!]

Isaac said, "It takes math to figure out how many catalogs, doesn't it Aunt Jill?" And ever the homeschooler we counted, talked weight, shapes, found my name on the back and I had Isaac read the cover and my contact information printed on the back.

Ahh, a good day. I love catalog day. I just need to wipe down the chairs--still a bit sticky.

Take care,
Jill

Transitioning to College...

Over on the Sonlighter Club Forums I see over and over again that folks want to be reassured that using a literature based curriculum will prepare their kids for college and for life.

It will.

Do you remember when you were pregnant or maybe when you first thought you might homeschool? I doubt that you checked out a text book about pregnancy or homeschooling and then answered the questions at the end of the chapter or took a final test. But, I am guessing, you learned? I am guessing, by reading real books and possibly discussing what you read and your thoughts about what you read with a friend or spouse, you learned, made decisions and had a fairly good idea of the thing you researched?

It is the same with our kids. When they use real books to learn and discuss what they have learned with you or write a response paper, they are learning--and what is more--they are learning to critically think about what they read. This is THE BEST way to learn, THE BEST way to assimilate information, THE BEST way to figure out where they stand and what they believe.

When Scotty first went to Eastern Kentucky University he was a bit hesitant. He had been homeschooled his whole life and had never taken a community college class or been in a co-op. He did have the opportunity to take a chemistry lab at our local Christian College with other high school homeschoolers, but that was the extent of his out-of-home education.

After a couple of weeks I asked him what he thought and how he was doing. He said, "Well, at first I just sat and didn't answer many questions. But, in my English class we were supposed to read some selections from Plato and discuss them the next day. When that day came, the teacher asked for us to tell what we thought and the significance of the writing. A few kids raised their hands and basically regurgitated something from the selection. But, the teacher said, 'No, what I want is what it means--what is the significance. What do you think about it?'

So, I raised my hand and told what I thought it meant, what the significance of it was."

"Kids looked at me with amazement and said, 'Did you study this last year?' and I had to answer no, that I had never seen it before. Then they said, 'How did you know that, then?' and I said, 'I just read it, thought about it and figured it out.' The teacher was pleased and I knew right then that college wasn't as scary as I thought it would be. The kids are just regular kids, the same kids who work at McDonalds. I don't know what I worried about."

And there you have it.

If you use literature to teach your children they well learn to think for themselves, learn to analyze what they read, be able to form opinions and then to communicate those opinions back orally or in writing. It will be second nature to them--they have been doing it for years. Reading textbooks and filling in blanks does not adequately prepare them for this higher level of thinking like literature based learning does.

It just doesn't.

[Note: I think textbooks can be used as a tool toward this end, if literature and discussion are used along with it. I don't think all textbooks are in and of themselves bad, but they need to be used as a tool, not to be memorized and accepted as fact.]

Take care,
Jill

[Photo: Scotty's graduation from our homeschool in 2007]