Part 1: The Importance of Teaching Character to Your Children

Praising Character

Why is it we so often forget to praise our children?  As parents we are responsible to steer them in the right direction and because of that we tend to focus on the negative. Sometimes our kids get the impression that we are not easy to please. Praise is a huge motivator and we need to remember to be lavish with our praise for our children.

Why is it when we do think to praise our children we tend to praise them for the wrong things? Think about it- we tend to praise others for achievement, accomplishments, knowledge, position, physical strength or physical looks. When we do that it tends to create in our kids- pride, vanity, jealousy and contention and strife.

Instead, we should praise our children for their character. When we praise them for their diligence for instance, it inspires them to be more diligent. When we praise them for their initiative, they begin looking for more ways to meet the needs of others without even being asked. When we praise them for their responsibility, they step up and feel the inner satisfaction in working hard to fulfill their given chores. In order for our children to work on implementing character in their lives, they need to understand what character is.

In essence, the study of character is the study of our God. Character qualities are just the character reflected to us in the life of our Savior. When we teach character to our kids we are helping them to be more like Jesus which is the very reason we were created.

Phillipians 3:10 says “That I may know Him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death.” We learn character that we may better know our God.

Remember as you prepare for the upcoming school year to plan and prepare to teach character to your children. It’s the most important subject you will ever teach. In the next couple of weeks, I am going to share with you several reasons I have made it my priority in the home education of my children.

~Marilyn

Keep it Simple

Stop Making a School of Yourself.

The biggest problem most home school moms have is the one in their own heads:  schoolishness.  It’s not surprising.  After all, we all grew up in the factory schools where one size misfits all and you’re taught the same things in the same way with the same materials at the same age.  As if people had no individual personalities at all.
So we approach teaching our children with a head full of presuppositions from having seen things done a certain way all our growing-up years.  And we find ourselves doing things that don’t make sense and which make life harder, not easier for us and our kids.  We make Johnny finish all the practice problems in the math book even though he has already demonstrated mastery and is bored to tears with the useless repetition.  Let him turn the page!  We interrupt Susy in the middle of writing an exciting story because the clock says it is “time for” her to memorize some list of facts.  We jump though all the hoops prescribed by the teacher’s guide just because it says to—even if it burns up time that would be better used for a library trip or an experiment with some yucky thing a little boy found growing in the woods.  
We worry about “gaps” in our program.  As if anyone could really write a complete life curriculum.  If you take that idea to its logical conclusion, there is a gap in your own education for every question you ever answered incorrectly on a test.  

Mom, lighten up.  Trust yourself.  God did—that’s why He placed those children in your care.  You’re living life as a dedicated Christian adult.  You already know what it takes to walk the walk.  Trust the fact that God entrusted little lives to you.  He knows you can lead them through these years in a way that will prepare them for the years to come.  Teach them the things you’re glad you learned as a kid and the things you wish you had.  Introduce them to important books and interesting people.  Take them places that will make them think and ask questions... And do it as a family, not as part of a support group mob.  

Get them involved in service projects, teaching them by experience that the world doesn’t revolve around them. Find opportunities for them to trade real work for real money, even in little bits.  They need the experience of seeing the value of time by trading it for something of measurable worth.

Want to make home schooling simpler?  Trust yourself to make decisions and God to guide you.  Worship Him instead of a curriculum publisher.  Design an individual life curriculum for each child as you go.  Use published materials where they seem to work well, but realize that learning is all around you all the time.  Cultivate in yourself a curiosity about the world around you, and your children will learn to learn by watching you getting an education.  Take advantage of the incidental opportunities for learning that come along.  Encourage the kids’ individual interests—even if they’re not interesting to you—knowing that one interest leads to another and the learning goes on and on.
In other words, cultivate a lifestyle of learning and serving, then lead your children through it.  That will prepare them for whatever later life may bring.
It’s really not that complicated unless you make it that way.  Keep it simple.

~Rick Boyer
For More on this Subject See: Home Educating with Confidence and Homeschooling: Keeping it Simple

Part 2: Advice to Fathers

A Father's Role in Home Education

by Rick Boyer Published in The Teaching Home magazine, Jan/Feb 1997

My only claim to fame is that I have 13 children and don’t color my hair. I don’t claim to be an expert on fatherhood. I don’t know a man who does. If there is such a man, my guess is that his children are still quite young. So it is not with an attitude of authority that I write, but in a spirit of sympathy.

We fathers are at a disadvantage from the start. It begins with childbirth, when the mother has the option of receiving or declining anesthesia. I’ve been through 13 births, and I’ve never even been offered the choice! Then once the baby is born, it becomes evident that women are endowed with a parenting instinct that their husbands cannot hope to match.

I discovered this when our first child was born. Every time Rickey cried, Marilyn seemed to know instinctively what his need was. She could have fed, changed, and quieted while I was still trying to find the OFF button.

Unless my on-the-job training experience is very unusual, there is much fatherly bumbling done despite the best intentions. Somehow, most fathers survive the first few years of fatherhood only to find themselves faced with new challenges when the issue of schooling arises.

For the man who chooses home education for his family, there is often an identity crisis. Most of us were educated in the public schools and our concept of education is colored accordingly. One thing we did not learn from our schooling is the role of a father in educating his children.

Since the modern home-education movement is still largely a first-generation phenomenon, we fathers have had to improvise our own job description. We already had a pretty clear concept of Mom’s role. She had to be the teacher. Dad’s work schedule usually doesn’t allow the flexibility for him to fill those shoes. So we debated; just what is a father to do?

The schoolish model we had in our minds seemed to cast Dad in a minor role. Some people thought of him as a substitute teacher, who really wasn’t of much use except to stand in for Mom where his expertise made him better suited to teach a certain subject.

Dad was also viewed as a school janitor. The best use for him was to shoulder some of the housework to free up more of Mom’s time to teach.

The first of those two roles seemed a bit narrow to me, and the second just didn’t appeal to me at all. So I did as I always do when I need a basic understanding of an important subject. I went to the Scriptures looking for principles to give me guidance.

The Bible has a lot to say about fatherhood, sometimes through references to human fathers and sometimes in describing our heavenly Father. The job description includes at least seven distinct functions, the first of which we will discuss here.

If we will apply those functions to the home-education setting, we can learn to be the most effective fathers possible. We can also leave helping with the cleaning and laundry mostly to the children. After all, it’s an important part of their education.

Function #1: The Provider

“But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel” (I Timothy 5:8).

The first and obvious role of a father is to provide for his family.

Finances. The husband of a woman who teaches their children at home has a bargain to start with. In our part of the country at least, a couple can home educate their children for a year at approximately the cost of sending them to one of the local private schools for a month. With that in mind, Dad would be well advised to allow his wife some freedom in the use of the checkbook to supply her classroom.

My wife has earned my trust in handling money by making better use of it over the years than I could. Because she has the freedom to bargain hunt, Marilyn regularly comes home with some notable results. She buys in bulk when prices are low and watches for sales.

We don’t have space to list Marilyn’s greatest triumphs. Once she found a store that had made an ordering mistake and was severely overstocked on boys’ jeans. She came home with 50 pairs at a dollar each. Suffice it to say that she takes care of a family of 15 quite adequately on a modest single income.

Besides giving Mom the freedom to shop when it’s most advantageous (it’s really dumb to wait until you need the item and have to pay full price), being a provider means doing things for her that she can’t readily do for herself.

Work space. One good example is that of providing a suitable facility for her working and teaching. Jesus said He was going “to prepare a place” for His bride, and we have that responsibility as well.

My sons and I have had to be creative because of the normal size of our house and the abnormal size of our family.

We built a shoe shelf (it looks like a big bookcase with dividers) in the basement entryway, floored the attic for storage, installed a pull-down attic stairway, hung ceiling fans to augment the air conditioning, built extra shelves in the closets, enclosed the carport, and performed a number of other fun activities.

Providing a place for your wife means making your home as suitable as possible for her work. If you have worked in unsuitable surroundings or with inferior equipment, you should be able to sympathize.

Career preparation. A sometimes neglected aspect of providing for one’s family is preparation for the children’s future careers. By that I don’t necessarily mean college, although that may be a part of the plan. I’m more concerned with teaching our children a useful way to make a living.

One of my own sons, the three who are old enough to do so have all been apprenticed in our family construction business and were capable workmen by age 16 or 17. In addition, they work with Marilyn and me in producing and distributing our books. When we do a seminar or convention, we are assisted by one or more of the boys or sister Katie.

In addition to apprenticeship in the parent’s work, a father can provide opportunities for his children to pursue their own interests and develop talents in areas unrelated to what the rest of the family is doing.

Our eldest son Rick, at 22, was an avid political activist. At age 19 he was elected county chairman of our party, making him the youngest county chairman in the state.

Number two son Tim is a mechanical type who works part-time for me and then puts in another several hours a day as maintenance man for our church. I couldn’t have taught either politics or fix-it work, but I’ve encouraged the boys to follow their natural bents, and it is paying off.

Being involved in the business of the family and the community also has the benefit of teaching children the skills of business and human relationships, other important opportunities for a father to provide for his children.

Next week: Function #2 The Disciplinarian

Part 4 Successful, Enjoyable, DOABLE Homeschooling

Adjusting to a New School Year....be Flexible!

We started school today. We always wait until our yearly beach trip is over. Yesterday I just showed all the kids their books for the year, even letting some of the kids choose between a couple different books in a couple of cases. I never expect much of the first day of school. Occasionally you have a new "student", a preschooler, or one who can't wait to do school, but the others, it's a bit of a transition to go from summer to school days again. I also found that a book I thought I would use for Kasey was just not going to be what she needed which led me write this short blog posting to hopefully encourage you if you find yourself a bit frustrated.

If you find you've chosen a book that just doesn't work, chuck it, sell it or give it to someone else, or even save it as it may be just what your next child will need! Every child is different. Expect that. Some things the oldest child learns right away, others may struggle with. You're not a failure. That is normal. Each child is uniquely made by God and will learn some things easily and others only with a struggle. I've found that a book that worked well for 11 of my children just didn't work for my 12th at ALL!!

Also, don't stress over grade levels. I let each child progress at THEIR own rate in EVERY subject. Don't worry about them getting behind. Don't tell them they're behind. If you work diligently, then they are just where God wants them to be. I've found, for instance, if they didn't get a handle on multiplication facts last year, don't proceed to division this year. Maybe another math text for 4th grade would say it in a different way so they will get it this year if you repeat the grade. Consider using book covers if you want to "repeat" a grade so the child doesn't know what grade it's supposed to be. It's better to see a child gain confidence than pressing them beyond measure and see them frustrated and feeling inadequate or stupid. This year, with one of my children, I am doing that very thing in math- repeating the second half of last year with another text and they are starting the year out feeling like ,"I can do this" instead of feeling totally discouraged, overwhelmed and "behind."

On the other hand, you may find a child is way beyond "where they are supposed to be". If that is the case, throw out concerns about grade levels, put them a grade or two beyond their age and encourage them to go for it. Don't worry that they are getting ahead of themselves. Children also go through learning stages. A subject that may have gone far ahead in, you may find them slowing down in later. That's okay. The general rule is to provide them with a challenge, but not to overwhelm them.

Remember too, that almost every curriculum provides way too many problems. Plan to cut back amounts without compromising any content. You will find that your child is encouraged to finish up when they can see an end to it instead of dragging their feet because they feel they'll never finish up. Eliminate busywork. As the year goes on, you will see more clearly what is just busy work and what is really profitable for each child.

Hope that helps you to get off to a better start. Have a great year!

~Marilyn

Part 2 Successful, Enjoyable, DOABLE Homeschooling: Part 1

4 Motivational Types of Learners

Have you ever been frustrated with trying to teach one of your kids? That's normal. Every child is different and yet in the teaching of my 14, there are some things I noticed that might help you in your experience. I found apart from learning styles, such as visual, auditory, etc, there are also distinct motivational differences in kids. I boiled it down to basically four different motivational categories my kids seemed to fall into, although each brought their own distinctive traits into play as well.

# 1 The Self-Directed Learner

This child likes to set his own goals and thinks in terms of challenging himself. He loves to pick a target and shoot at it (often a first born). He is bored with too much guidance and needs to work at this own pace. He is not easily discouraged by setbacks, he seems to do his best when allowed as much freedom as possible to design his own plan, set his own pace, and set his own objectives on his way to his ultimate goal. Be careful not to discourage him by making him stick to the plan in the book. He may have thought of a better way to do it!

# 2 The Sensitive Learner

This child has a tender heart that won't take a lot of adversity before growing melancholy and discouraged. You need to stay close to him, supplying him with achievable goals and lots of verbal praise and encouragement to keep him from bogging down in the tough spots. Again, don't make him stick to the book's plan if it overwhelms him. The sensitive student usually does a good job in the end because he tends to think in terms of perfection, but it can also discourage him as he sometimes feels he just doesn't measure up to his own expectations. It also can cause him to work slowly and painstakingly. He should not be rushed unnecessarily, as he may tend to feel that he has been pushed into finisihing the work to meet a deadline at the expense of satisfying his heart that it was done right. Frequent hugs are good medicine.

# 3 The Slothful Learner

This student is easily distracted from a mundane task because because he's not overly excited about sustained effort to begin with. He doesn't like to push himself but can stand some pushing from without to go beyond doing the minimum required. He needs plenty of attention and some accountability (I don't test all my kids, but this type of learner I do) as he is more likely to skim through an assignment just to be able to report it done than to stop and think what the reason for the assignment might be. He needs to be shown the rewards of persistent effort because his automatic tendency is to reason that it is unwise to put off anything until tomorrow that can be put off until next year. Sticks and carrots are most useful with this child, but don't forget to love him even though he tweaks your patience at times.

#4 The Steady Learner

The steady learner is a consistent fellow who generally learns fairly easily in most subjects, although like anyone else, he finds some subjects more interesting than others. He tends to move through material steadily, without spurts or splutters of motivation. He tends to get a lot done because he is not easily distracted, discouraged, or defeated. He's an overall good student, and little trouble to teach.

You may find some of your kids are combinations of these, but hopefully that will give you some guidelines to help deal with your school day. Remember God has specially designed your child and made you to be exactly the right parent to deal with each of your unique kids. What is really fun is when they grow older and you begin to see, OH- that's why God him that way!"

~Marilyn

Successful, Enjoyable, DOABLE Homeschooling: Part 1

Our Typical School Day

People have often asked me just what "school" looks like in our house. Homeschooling is all about your relationship with your kids. Think about it as you prepare for next school year. Plan to be with your kids as they learn. I never tell my kids to go do their school. I try to get a load of laundry in while they are getting their chores done and then we do schoolwork together; BE IN THE CLASSROOM. One day I went into the living room because I was tired and one-by-one all the kids drifted in to join me—they are so much more motivated if mom is involved.

I assign their work every day and each child moves at his own pace in every subject. When people ask my kids what grade they’re in they will usually answer according to their age, but they’re really in different grades in different subjects. If they’re good in history and love it they might do two or three years’ worth of history in one year. If math is a struggle they might be a grade ”behind where they should be”, but it’s more important to give them confidence. Keep them at a level where they are challenged but not discouraged. When they learn a skill, move on. If they are a great speller there’s no need to give them a list of spelling words to work on all week-If they take the pretest on Monday and get all the words right they don’t need to work on those words all week long. Gear your children’s work to their own needs.

Keep in mind that you don’t need to know everything to teach your kids. It’s good for your kids to watch you learn and struggle, and see how you work it out. When I’m explaining a new concept in, say, math, I will work a problem first while they watch me. Then I’ll watch them do a problem, then send them off to do one by themselves. When they come back to show me the one problem I can see if they got it right. Think how you would feel if you went off and did 15 math problems and made the same mistake in every one—that would be quite discouraging. Most math curricula I’ve seen have far too many problems for a child to do in one day. The reason they do that is to provide busy work for teachers who have different levels of ability in one classroom. When I assign my children’s work I give them 10 or 15 problems a day, and if they get those right and understand them, great—we’ll move and do more the next day. Sometimes we do unit studies, sometimes we don’t. We have read science books on each child’s level on a topic like weather, and at the end of the time they’re studying about that we’ll go to the weather station at the airport. Sometimes it doesn’t work out to go somewhere and I just let them work at their own levels in their science books.

Make school a fun time for your younger children, too. One thing I’ve done that really works is to reserve special materials and projects just for them to do while the older kids do their schoolwork. Now, in the summer, while all the paper, crayons, markers, glue sticks, etc are on sale is the time to stock up. Watch for Staples/Walmart ads to catch the weekly specials from here till early September and stock up on special supplies to profitably occupy your preschooler. We put them away in a special place in the closet so they don’t get bored; they can’t just pull them out and do them all day long. Things like flannel graphs and puzzles, playdough, sorting pre-cut shapes, outlining, lace-and-trace activities—things that are teaching them something.(Here is our list of some suggested activities)

In our house, Dad doesn’t do any of the academic teaching; some dads might, but he just doesn’t have time. What he does do sometimes is to correct the schoolwork for the little ones and encourage them with his attention and a sticker on their papers. During the day they’ll say they want to do a paper just for dad!

I would first of all spend 10 minutes with the little ones while the bigger kids were picking up clutter/doing simple chores. Then, halfway through our morning, while the older kids were snacking, I would again spend approx. 10 minutes with the toddlers/preschoolers. When "school" was over, about noon, I would again spend time reading Bible stories/teaching Scripture verses/character to the little ones while the older ones made sandwiches for lunch. If they KNOW and can depend on time alone with Mom at those specific times, they usually won't be begging for attention all morning long.

People have asked if the Boyers have a quiet classroom. No! I try to squelch distracting talk, but because of the number of children we use three rooms. The kids who are reading will be on the couch in the living room unless it’s something they really need to concentrate on and then they can go to their room. The little kids are in the kitchen doing puzzles and learning activities. The kids who are writing are in the dining room with their workbooks and math, and I rotate from room to room. I find that it requires less time to teach the older kids than the younger ones.Preschoolers and the ones you’re teaching to read are the ones who need the majority of your time and attention. When the older kids get into high school they should be able to be self-motivated. You should be able to show them what you want to accomplish during the year and let them pace themselves, bearing more of the responsibility. The big kids get used to a certain amount of noise from the little ones, and the little ones have to learn to hold it down.

Remember to plan for some fun things- special trips to the orchard, museums, recipes to make fun seasonal foods, craft projects, etc. Kids have to learn to do some things they don't like to do, but remember a little fun makes everything more palatable and memorable.

~Marilyn

Preschoolers: Shaping Little Hearts- Part 1

I have eight boys and six girls, and we’ve been homeschooling for over 30 years now. I figured out that when I’m finished homeschooling my six-year-old we’ll have been doing this for thirty-six years…maybe by then we’ll know what we’re doing!

When I started homeschooling, my oldest was in kindergarten, I had two preschool children, an infant, and I was pregnant with number five. (Incidentally, I figured out that I’ve been pregnant for eleven years!) I’ve always had one or two toddlers and a baby until now—now my “baby” is six! It’s definitely a challenge; I know what you guys are going through. And some children are more of a challenge than others. My twenty-year-old, Laura, was a very hyperactive child. I have a picture of her sitting at the kitchen table during school time with markers she was supposed to be coloring with; she was tearing the lids off and throwing the markers all over the kitchen! Yes, some are more challenging than others. And yet you’ll see that those challenging kids will be the ones with people skills when they’re older, so God is working it all together into great and mighty things.

I’ve found out that the way I handle my toddlers and babies determines the degree of success I will achieve in homeschooling. They definitely require a major time involvement. If you have taught your kids to be self-directed learners, once they get to high school it will really be a piece of cake. For my older kids I feel like I’m their coach: I assign the schoolwork, they do it, and come to me with problems. This is why the colleges are working to attract home-educated kids—because they know how to work alone, and they are self-directed learners. But tt’s the tough part you’re in right now. I tell people it was hardest for me when I had three or four little guys, because I had to do all the housecleaning, cooking, laundry, and the teaching—everything—you’re doing everything. And you think you’re going to be there forever. It’s hard to see beyond where you are now and see how much it will change a few years from now. Let me tell you from experience that time goes by so fast, and it really helps when your kids get a little bit of age on them. Right now I hardly ever handle cooking—one daughter does supper, one does lunch, and we always have plenty of kids who want to bake and make sweets!

Each day of the week my kids have a different chore assigned to them. I don’t do very many of the house chores anymore either! I do teach them how to do a particular job, make sure they do it, and stay while they’re learning. So things will change—hang in there! You’re at the toughest part now. I’m going to share some of the things I’ve learned over the years.

Build a Heart for the Things of the Lord

I emphasize this because you’re probably thinking about academics: what math program should I use? What do I need to teach my kids? What do they need to know? But the very most important thing you can do with your kids is point them to Jesus. It has been said that a child’s first five years go a long way in determining their direction in life. Even in Scripture, Moses was taught by his own mother until weaning age, which, back then, was between ages four and five; and yet he had a sense of destiny—he knew he needed to lead his people. When I started out, I had the wrong focus. I was going to build a superkid. At the time we lived in a trailer, and Ricky was about eighteen months old. I had ABC’s plastered all over the walls, and so he learned his ABC’s at a really young age. But about that time I attended a Sunday school class that changed the focus for my whole life, and my family’s life. The teacher talked about internalizing Scripture—taking the truths in Scripture and using them to change our lives so that we become more like Jesus. And that totally changed my focus. I wanted to teach my little boy how to internalize Scripture and make it a practical part of his everyday life. We’ve found that if you will do that in the early years—if you will focus on Scripture and teach your children God’s word—when you get to academics later it comes so much more easily, because Scripture is a purifier. With Scripture internalized, teaching them their ABC’s and their numbers will come much more easily. With this goal in mind we saturated our home with Scripture.

One of the things we created was a Jesus plaque. It shows a photo of one of my children with Jesus’ hands around them. Each of my children has made one of these, and we hang it by their bed. The last thing they see before going to sleep at night is a visual picture that Jesus loves them and cares about them. I have a dear friend, who is now in heaven, who wrote this song to the tune of Jesus Loves Me. My children sang that every night, looking at their Jesus plaque. The words go like this:

I am special, this I know, for the Bible tells me so.

God knew me before my birth and planned each day of my life on earth.

I am wonderfully made; I am fashioned by God’s hand unto good works throughout the land.

For in Him I’ll learn to be always prepared, especially for me

Even though I make mistakes, God forgives for His name’s sake.

He helps me to be kind and good and do the things I know I should.

I am precious in God’s sight, and in Him my soul delights.

He loves me and died for me that I might live eternally.

When Carrie and Christa were little, we sang this song and inserted their names: “Even though Carrie makes mistakes.” When Carrie got to that part she would say, “Even though Sissy makes mistakes”—she didn’t want to put her own name there!

Build A Proper Fear of the Lord

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. We teach our kids the verse, “Thou God seest me.” We ask them, “if you were in a dark, dark closet, and you couldn’t see anyone, and no one could see you, is there someone who would know what you’re doing? We tell them, “God sees all that you do, and He knows what you’re thinking, and greater is He that is in you than He that is in the world.” We teach our kids that God will give them the power to do right. His power is available for their asking. Even if Mom and Dad aren’t right with them, God is there, and He will help them to do what’s right.

Teach your little ones the Ten Commandments early. Our Ten Commandments are under attack in our country. We have them posted in our house, and we teach them to our children. There’s a very neat tape put out by Thy Word Productions with a song of the Ten Commandments and a coloring book the kids can personalize. Your little ones, two and three years old, can walk around the house singing the Ten Commandments. Don’t underestimate what little guys can learn!

We created something called a head-to-foot Bible verse. In Romans 12:1-2 it says that we are to give our bodies as a spiritual sacrifice unto God. I looked up verses in Scripture about how to use your body, from head to foot, for Jesus. We enlarged a picture of each child to life-size, put it on a board, and put these verses around it. We used that every day to teach our two-, three-, four-, five- or six-year-old Scriptures. We would say, “What verse would you like to do today?” And they would choose their ears, or their eyes for the verse they wanted to learn. Most of our Scriptures are in the King James Version, but we found this wonderful verse in another translation that says, “Defer to one another and wear the overalls of humility.” So we always took their picture for this project in overalls! (this project can be found in Hands-On Character Building)

~more to come next week

this is excerpted from Home Educating with Babies and Toddlers and Loving it

Homeschooling: End of the Year Document Memorization

It’s nearing the end of the school year. In the Boyer household, it's time for document memorization. Normally, Scripture is what we work on for memorization, but each year before the kids are considered "done" for the summer, I require them to memorize parts of our founding documents. We start with young children with the American's Creed.

The American's Creed

by William Tyler Page

I believe in the United States of America as a government of the people, by the people, for the people; whose just powers are derived from the consent of the governed, a democracy in a republic, a sovereign Nation of many sovereign States; a perfect union, one and inseparable; established upon those principles of freedom, equality, justice, and humanity for which American patriots sacrificed their lives and fortunes.

I therefore believe it is my duty to my country to love it, to support its Constitution, to obey its laws, to respect its flag, and to defend it against all enemies.

–Written 1917, accepted by the United States House of Representatives on April 3, 1918.

Tuck learned it when he was about 7 years old and we review it every year.

Another document is the Preamble to the Constitution. In our day, when the Constitution is under attack, we must familiarize our children with it.

This I have my children learn at about age 9 or 10 and review it every year.

Another one they learn and then review every year is the First Amendment to the Constitution:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

This year, Tuck, age 16 added to his collection the Second Amendment:

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the

people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be

infringed.

Also, they learn and review the states and capitals. We use a floor puzzle to help the younger kids learn these

Then, of course we review the Presidents of the United States. We use a floor puzzle and also, Fandex presidents to learn these

Another GREAT resource for even your preschoolers is Take Your Hat Off When the Flag Goes By! It teaches children through song about our constitutional form of government. I had two year olds walking around singing about check and balances and George Washington and King George!

Don't miss the opportunity we have as homeschoolers to teach the founding documents to them. We must know and understand them if we wish to retain our freedoms in this land!!

It used to be required in our public schools every year that students had to read George Washington's Farewell Address. Read it and you'll find out why the public schools no longer teach it-because of it's reference to and reliance on our Creator. I have started having my kids read it every year. William Henry Harrisons's inaugural address is excellent too. I just discovered that one myself from a DVD on America's Christian history. Enjoy learning together the truly great heritage we have in this country!!

Why History Matters....by Rick Boyer

A young man who worked for me once asked, "Why should I care about things that happened before I was born?"

I was so stunned by the silliness of the question that I was momentarily at a loss for an answer. But later I explained to him that the universe did not revolve around his short life span and that the reason earlier things mattered was that things that happened long ago have a huge impact on what's happening today. In fact, I told him, if certain things hadn't happened before he was born, he never would have been born.

His question has been asked before. Unfortunately, young people in recent decades have displayed not only a disturbing lack of interest in history, but an outright contempt for it. That is a good indication of their ignorance of history's importance.

If you don't know enough about Thomas Jefferson, you might believe the liberal drivel about the First Amendment protecting government from religion. If you understand Jefferson, you know that he and the other Founders meant it to protect religion from government. Jefferson, as president, signed legislation making treaties with three different Indian tribes, including funding to send Christian missionaries to the tribes. He also, while president of the Washington, DC school board, decreed that the two main reading texts for the schools should be the Bible and the doctrine-rich Watts Hymnal.

People who don't know their American history will believe their leaders when they say that the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms applies only to the militia and that the militia is now the National Guard. Those who are better informed know that Section 10 of the US code defines the militia as "every able-bodied male between the ages of seventeen and forty-five." The will also know that the Founders unequivocally believed that every man has a right to arm himself to protect his home and family.

I once sat in a college classroom and heard the professor ask the class how many of us knew who Nathan Hale was. Since I grew up in a time when we still learned about "heroes" instead of "role models," I was surprised to see that only about half the class raised their hands. That was thirty years ago and I'm sure that very few hands indeed would go up were that question asked in college now.

The teaching of history is being systematically eased out of public schooling in America. That's because education is in the control of people whose political opinions are radically different from those of the men who made this country. Of course they don't want us to know that America was viewed by her national patriarchs as having been raised up specially by God to be a city on a hill to the whole world. If we did, we might hold our leaders accountable to the same Biblical values in government that our Founders held.

As home schoolers, we have the ability to design a curriculum that honors true American history. We should fill our homes with the great old books that tell the truth, the ones that were written before Political Correctness robbed us of our godly national heritage. We at The Learning Parent are working on a number of new projects to bring the old books back to American homes. We're gearing up to do our part. I hope we can help you do yours. The children are counting on us.

~Rick Boyer

WISE USE OF CURRICULUM

Streamline your child’s curriculum, learning to master the books—not letting them master you. This may be news to you, but just because something is in the textbook does not mean your child has to do it—you should evaluate what is best for each of your children’s needs. I try not to require too much from my younger children, letting them answer a lot of questions orally. I do have them do a little bit of neat handwriting every day, but too much writing leads to sloppiness because they just want to get it over with, instead of striving for accuracy. Feel the freedom to pick and choose which things in the curriculum you are using are beneficial to your child and which are not. We generally spend about 2 1/2 to 3 hr. per day on academics.

Learn to develop the practice of enjoying learning. Begin to enrich your home with fun, captivating learning materials. A lot of learning just happens as a byproduct of life. One of the neatest things to me is to see an interest pop up in one of my kids and go to the library or gather materials to help them pursue that interest. The other kids in the family learn from that child’s interest—so much learning just happens if you build a home full of learning tools and books. For instance, Matt was really interested in geography as a young child. We got him a big floor puzzle of the United States, and he knew his states and capitals when he was about eight years old just from putting that puzzle together. He would have me time him, trying to do it faster each time. We also found bedsheets for him with all the continents on them which he then used to teach his sisters the countries! Before we went to bed at night he’d say, “Mom, quiz me!” So I would ask him to find countries on the map before I would tuck him in. He has retained much of his geography knowledge to this day! There are so many resources available—anatomy puzzles, maps, clocks, learning games—fill your home with them! That’s the fun stuff kids remember and creates good memories for you and your children and your adventure of home schooling.

Marilyn

Include Your Toddler in School Time

Usually toddlers want to do school like the older kids are doing, so start young, when they have that desire! It’s such a temptation to send the little ones away so you can concentrate on the other kids you’re teaching math to, but as much as possible, let them be present. You will be so surprised by what they will learn simply by being there while you teach the older ones. I remember three-year-old Matt joining us while I was teaching his brothers and sisters anatomy. I got him an anatomy coloring book, and while I was working with them he was coloring in his “uh-atomy book!” And he just thought he was a big guy! He would even color the pictures to try to gross out his sister at lunchtime!

Another time I was teaching math facts. “Nine times four is thirty-six,” and I did it in a sing-songy way. While Josh tried to remember what it was, Carrie, the three-year-old, popped up and said, “Thirty-six!” as if she was finishing the song. They will pick up so much just from being present. We do train them to have school-time voices. Otherwise, what happens is pure chaos! (Though if you came to our house you would see that it’s never truly quiet.) The older kids have to learn to put up with a little bit of distraction from the younger kids, and the younger kids have to learn to use their school-time voices, for which we reward them. In our home it takes us about two and a half hours to do school—this last year that meant seven children. I spend special time with my preschoolers about halfway through while the older kids have snack—my little guys look forward to that time with mom in between. I also spend time with them as soon as I finish with the older kids.

Another thing we’ve done is to allow the older children to teach the younger children as a reward for finishing their schoolwork in a timely way. For instance, Laura loves doing art projects with the little ones. So she will do her math diligently (she does not like math), then be rewarded by doing art projects with the little guys, which is really good for both of them.

You can also include the little ones in things like nature walks, science experiments, anything you’re teaching the older ones that is hands-on. Let your little ones listen to you as you read history stories or biographies to the older kids. Our two- and three-year-olds love to listen to history books, biographies, and nature stories. I’ve found that it’s my little ones who require most of my time—my preschoolers, toddlers, and the ones who are learning to read. The other kids pretty much just need help when they get stuck on something.

What has really been a lifesaver for me was getting a big box and putting in that box, things that I save just for school time for the preschoolers like lace-and-trace shapes, learning puzzles that are appropriate for their age (Matt, now 21, still loves puzzles. He learned his states and capitals at a very early age just by putting our puzzles together); flannel graphs with Bible figures or counting objects, playdough, rolling pins, plastic knives, molds (worth the mess for the time it keeps them occupied!); block sets, shape sorters, dry erase boards, special markers and paper, magnetic letters, chalkboards, special Bible tapes such as Your Story Hour or Uncle Rick CD's and, very occasionally, a short educational video (be careful of using videos as a babysitter; it is not a profitable use of their time), popsicle sticks, geoboard, tangrams, button sorting, paper-punch pictures, inkpad pictures, wet chalk drawing, fruit and vegetable prints, sewing cards, paper dolls (One year my second son, who lives life with his hands, made a paper doll family for his sister. He took pictures of our family, cut ovals out of wood, and glued the faces to the dolls! My girls still use these family dolls, passed down to all the kids through the years. They play-out situations in our family, which is not always good! It really shows us what they’re picking up!). The possibilities are endless, and they’re learning without even knowing it! The trick is to not let them do these things any time they want—save it all for school time. Of course attention spans vary. Some children will do things like this for a long time, and others need more activities changed frequently. Keep changing the activity before they get tired of it so they look forward to it the next time you bring it out.

...from the booklet, Home Educating with Babies and Toddlers and Loving it. by Marilyn Boyer