Homeschool Sanity

Creating answer key booklets for the Ray's Arithmetic series

2012-03-06T07:59:00.001-08:00

I am very thankful for this "electronic age", which I believe God is using as a great blessing around the world. But I still tend to be very "analogue" in many ways!

It is still hard for me to do any serious reading and studying from a screen, so I prefer 3-D books that I can hold. This is why I spend the time to print out and bind books from the past.

As our children have been using the Ray's Arithmetic Series for their math, we have found it quite inconvenient to have the text printed, but the answers still in their digital form.

This is why I chose to print the answers out separately, create covers, and then staple them into booklets. The Dollar Homeschool discs have made this all so simple because the answers are separated into separate files (thank you, Aaron).

Here is how I create the covers for these booklets:

I first select the title page of the book and copy it. Then I paste it onto a Microsoft Publisher (there are similar programs that are open-source and therefore free, such as scribus) page, with a landscape orientation, making sure that the cover material will fit neatly on the right half of the page. I like to put a text box with the words "Key to" somewhere above the title page.

I also like to use a border from Clipart Etc. (you can find these under the "design" section). Here are some links to ones I have used:

Tree

Dog Sparrow

I arrange the two pages so that the title page fits neatly inside the border, then I print my composition out onto card stock.

I print the answers out two-pages-per-sheet, and two-sided, then I stack these pages on top of the cover I created and staple them all in the middle with my long-arm stapler (this tool was worth every penny I paid!).

I keep the booklets in my special "teacher's drawer" for easy access for both the children and myself.

Creating a course of study--"Art and Anatomy"

2012-02-26T19:52:00.009-08:00

Patience pondering

Folks are always asking me--"If I am only concentrating on the basics, then how will I ever cover all of the other subjects, such as history and science?"

There are a number of ways to cover such things, none of which need curriculum (especially in the younger years), or even a "scope and sequence", and most of which can be done by a child independently through the reading of good books.

Just think about any topic of study; while modern textbooks can give a person a good overview, they can also kill a person's natural inquisitiveness, since only the facts the writers and publishers deem necessary are published, and are presented in an often dry, matter-of-fact way that makes anything seem dull.

Learning with real books is a totally different approach. Charlotte Mason was very much in favor of such a method, and this is the most natural way to explore the universe of knowledge and understanding. Modern homeschoolers such as Dr. Robinson (of the Robinson Curriculum), and Marilyn Howshall are also in great favor of such an approach.

Just reading aloud a good book over lunchtime, such as a historical biography, or even a nature book such as The Handbook of Nature Study, and discussing it, with a dictionary and encyclopedia (or the Internet) at hand is one of the most natural ways of covering many of the things that will spark the interest and light the fires of a child's imagination.

While waiting for the repairman the other day, I made good use of the time and read to my tiny girls from The Story Book of Knowledge, to be found in the Dollar Homeschool discs. We were covering the grandfather's explanation about clouds and snow. In discussing what we had read, I went over the point about snow being a natural insulator against the cold, which caused us to think of Igloos. We immediately went over to the computer and looked for videos on Igloo building, and found quite a few. We were all fascinated by the traditional way these snow huts were created, and it was such a profitable time for us all!

My eldest daughter (at home) is naturally inclined to take a subject and study until she has almost exhausted it. She has a drawer in her room that is full of notebooks, sketchbooks, and other collections of her notes, outlines, drawings, etc. in her various areas of interest. It hasn't been necessary for me to assign or keep track of what she was learning, other than to look over her findings and listen to her when she described her discoveries. She has known intuitively how to gather the best books, and we all know where to look if one of our favorite tomes is missing!

But there are times and circumstances that create for us the need to have a plan in place. One such instance may be when one is under the oversight of government officials who require something written in the form of a "plan", or when we have a child that, despite all the best intentions, is just a little bit too addled and needs to learn to be more studious.

This is why I have developed the idea of creating a "course of study". It is akin to a unit study, but does not rely on extensive pre-work by the parent/teacher. It uses notebooking techniques, but is not dependent on loads of research from all sorts of sources that would be beyond most early readers. It uses real books, but gives just a bit more structure and delves a bit deeper into a subject.

A course of study is basically using the contents page of a real book on any worthy subject adding in other books related to the subject, and then assigning notebooking projects after intervals of reading. All of this is listed on a sheet, with space for assigned times for completion (we don't assign grades for completed work around here--if someone's work is sub-par, they do the whole thing over, besides, why would someone do something that was not their best, anyway--isn't learning have enough merit of its own without attaching any carrot on the end of the stick?).

It is very important to pick subjects that are interesting to each prospective child. I am not convinced that my artistically gifted son needs to do research on truck engines, nor do I believe my other history-buff son needs to study oil painting techniques. I am not going to try and cover every subject ever conceived during their time with me. Instead, I am going to train them in ways to study the subjects that will be of real worth to them throughout their lives, so that they will be able to teach themselves what they need to know as the need arises. We already spend a great amount of time touching on general and pertinent knowledge during our family discussions, which can last for hours at a time!

For an instance, my very gifted and talented son would do well to further study human anatomy for his artwork. I thought it would also be a good idea for him to have a greater understanding of how his body works, and how to better take care of himself.

I have chosen to use the book, Guide to Health from the Dollar Homeschool science collection for the main framework of his study. I am also including the book, Cyclopedia Anatomicae, which gives instruction in the art of sketching human and animal forms, and the Dorling Kindersley book, The Visual Dictionary of Human Anatomy (please note; I did not go out and purchase these books just for this study. We have owned most of these books for a long time--and bought them from various sources, including from thrift stores and garage sales. What we often term as "coffee table books" are wonderful resources for these types of studies).

For each chapter in the main book, I have made assignments; some in the form of keeping sketches, and also writing assignments and copy work. I have put my plan in a form that is color-coded, so that he knows what is expected with each chapter. Here is what it looks like:


This is only the first page, of course

I have left myself room to embellish the assignments, since I plan on using the writing assignments to teach things such as outlining, essay writing, etc. We are using notebooking pages in various forms as the need arises. Of course, if we find any other resources that are interesting to us, we also add those as we go along. He is keeping his finished work in a three-ring binder.

This system could also be implemented by filling in only the main chapter headings, and filling in the other reading/studying materials as the child progresses. This is great for keeping track of high school credits for a transcript, etc.

I have also created courses of study in other areas, with more well-defined notebooking pages for the younger ones, which I plan on sharing in the future, perhaps with a PDF download of our study based on the McGuffey book, "Familiar Animals".

Homeschool Sanity--Planner Spring Special!

2012-02-26T19:26:00.000-08:00

Receive the 127 page Homeschool Planner Free! 

Here is the offer so many of you have been waiting for--beginning February 26th, and continuing until April 30th, when you purchase my new book, Homeschool Sanity, you will also receive the updated 2012-2013 Large Family Mothering's Home-School Planner--Free!!! Yes, that's right. Beginning 2/26/2012 - 4/30/2012 when you purchase "Homeschool Sanity" for $11.50 we will follow up by sending you the homeschooling planner below--absolutely FREE!!! (A total savings of $7.50!)

It is already the end of February 2012, isn't it amazing how fast the days pass by! So why not begin your homeschooling year with a new Home-Schooling Planner?

Last year my old “brain” (the moniker I used when I was referring to my prized home-school journal) was looking quite tattered and shabby. There was no distinct correlation in the layout and design of its pages (it was a menagerie of forms I had found for free and subject matter I had created from scratch) so I asked the Lord for guidance and renewed inspiration to make my planner more practical and better organized.

Just updated for the New Year!
 
With this very idea in mind, I began to research the Internet in order to see just what was out there—and to look for a new layout. I thought to myself, "Surely I'm not the only home schooling mother of many who is in need of a well-designed planner."

After a few intense hours of researching, I came away disappointed. If one planner was practical, it was also plain. If another was beautiful, it was too expensive. One of the planners most advertised boasted of being useful “for up to four children” —which made it inadequate for home-schooling mothers of many, especially this one, who now has nine children at home (we have graduated six of our 15 children from our home-school as of the date of this publication).

What is more, none of the planners I found were appropriate for the way I think, the methods I like to use, or the manner in which my home actually operates.

What I required was something that had the following components and...

Diligent record-keeping
...it just had to be:

Inexpensive
Expandable for use with families of many children
Open-ended enough to use with a variety of applications
Beautiful—so as to appeal to feminine sensibilities—yet practical enough to encourage continued use

At the end of the day, I believed God wanted me to make my own, and, in so doing, make it available to others.

If you would like to view some sample pages of the new eBook (click right), Large Family Mothering Home-School Planner. This home-school planner has 127 pages that can be printed for both half-sheet or full sized pages with detailed instructions.

If you would like to purchase this new planner click on the "Buy Now" button under the title page on my blog side bar. We hope that this new resource is a blessing to you in your home-school experience. If you have any questions please let me know.

Blessings,

Sherry

PS- If you download the FREE Nitro PDF Reader you can actually type on the pages of your copy of the home-school planner before you print your copy at home.

"L.F.M. Planner"

Create a free slideshow with Picnik!

Pictures of new books, notebooking pages, and fun ABC craft {Brag Thursday}

2012-02-22T18:26:00.002-08:00

Here are some things I would like to brag about:

Here are some novels I printed and bound from the Internet. The first is from Google Books, the other two are from Gutenburg, after I reformatted them to fit better for space, etc. I tried a little different technique with the covers, printing them out on card stock, then using duct tape as a stabilizer after I used the hot glue gun on the spines to hold the groups of pages together--see my tutorial for more information.

Two McGuffey readers I printed and bound from the Dollar Homeschool reading collection--I am trying some colored file folders this time--so much fun to create these books that will last! I also cut the folders a little bit bigger so I could round the corners (I have a notebooking tool for this).

The other day Faith had the idea of cutting out all of the letters of the alphabet and placing them along the table--I was all for it! She got all the way to "w" before lunchtime!

This is Lorilee's work--she is a few years behind Faith, but just as eager--I loved watching her letters unfold.

Here is a notebooking page I assigned to my dear Olivia. She is doing a study on animals based on the McGuffey book, "Familiar Animals" found in the Dollar Homeschool McGuffey Readers collection. I am so impressed with her creativity and thoroughness (She has since filled in all of the captions below the pictures she drew).

Have anything you're proud of? Want to share something that will lend sanity to someone else? Put a link below:

Assignment sheet

2012-02-21T13:45:00.000-08:00

Ever want to know just what it would look like to put your own "plan" together? It can seem too daunting, to feel as thought things are just not "right" until you have some sort of idea of what you will be doing daily, etc. This is why we really love those boxes of pretty books we can order and pay through the nose for--at least we feel "legitimate"!

If your are having one of those times when you just don't feel it can be done, relax. Even if your life is so hectic, such as after the birth of a baby, that you barely have time to comb your hair in the morning, you can let things "happen"--read aloud a good book over lunch, discuss it, and assign a general notebooking assignment, or whatever works, and then record it after-the-fact. You can even plan ahead using a huge calendar hanging on the all of your kitchen--give God room to help you plan your life, and it will be more blessed than the most comprehensive scope-and-sequence ever devised! Just keep the basics in mind, then fill your home and your life with the best of learning (without fluff and nonsense) and have fun.

I had to turn a recently-created check-off sheet into a picture, so I thought I would share it with everyone.

Keep in mind, I have changed these things many times, mostly because I am very creative--:)--but also because, if there is anything we can count on, things are gonna' change! So don't go thinking that there is only one way to skin the homeschooling cat--there are as many ways as there are people!

Here is the picture:

Reading, writing, and discussion--the best tools for an education

2012-02-20T04:36:00.000-08:00

Consider this quote from John Taylor Gatto in his book, The Underground History of American Education:

Reading, and rigorous discussion of that reading in a way that obliges you to formulate a position and support it against objections, is an operational definition of education in its most fundamental civilized sense. No one can do this very well without learning ways of paying attention: from a knowledge of of diction and syntax, figures of speech, etymology, and so on, to a sharp ability to separate the primary from the subordinate, understand allusion, master a range of modes of presentation, test truth and penetrate beyond the obvious to the profound messages of text. Reading, analysis and discussion is the way we develop reliable judgment, the principal way we come to penetrate covert movements behind the facade of public appearances. Without the ability to read and argue we're just geese to be plucked.

This is a wonderful validation to what most homeschoolers do naturally, although sometimes they feel a little guilty for it, especially if they get behind on their work in "textbooks" because they have taken too long discussing ideas at the breakfast table!

But it is these table discussions that are the best parts of what we do daily. Allowing time for children to ask questions, or to explain what they have been reading about or thinking about is a way in which they process and make their learning more a part of their thinking.

When one of my dear daughters was called upon to write a paper in college, she would feel very lost and confused until she sat down and discussed her ideas with me, while I was silent and mostly nodded my head. Within a few minutes of "talking it all out", she was refreshed and ready to write!

Preparing our kids for what? {Brag Thursday}

2012-02-01T19:01:00.000-08:00

Here's a wonderful news flash:

Not everyone is meant to have a college degree.

There, I said it.

I know folks are supposed to think of college as the "end of all ends", but education used to be thought of as a "means" to an end.

If there is anything that strikes fear in the hearts of homeschooling parents, it is the pressure to get one's children ready for college.

But what if a young man is more interested in building things? What if he just can not help but want to tear down all the appliances and build them back again? What if higher math escapes him? Is there any hope?

Absolutely! Just think of all of the workers in this country--the ones who really make it run. These are the plumbers, the street workers, the appliance repairmen, the painters, even the garbage truck drivers. If you will read this post over at Smockity Frocks, and pay especial attention to the comment thread, you may be pleasantly surprised to find that there are many with sheepskins that would rather get their hands dirty!

Here is an essay that has been passed along among homeschoolers for quite a while:

Of Daffodils and Diesels

Author Unknown

I'm not very good in school. This is my second year in the seventh grade, and I'm bigger than most of the other kids. The kids like me all right, even though I don't say much in class, and that sort of makes up for what goes on in school. I don't know why the teachers don't like me. They never have. It seems like they don't think you know anything unless you can name the book it comes out of.

I read a lot at home-things like Popular Mechanics and Sports Illustrated and the Sears catalog-but I don't just sit down and read them through like they make us do in school. I use them when I want to find something out, like a batting average or when Mom buys something secondhand and wants to know if she's getting a good price.

In school, though, we've got to learn whatever is in the book and I just can't memorize the stuff. Last year I stayed after school every night for two weeks trying to learn the names of the presidents. Some of them were easy, like Washington and Jefferson and Lincoln, but there must have been 30 names altogether and I never did get them straight. I'm not too sorry, though, because the kids who learned the presidents had to turn right around and learn all the vice presidents.

I am taking the seventh grade over, but our teacher this year isn't interested in the names of the presidents. She has us trying to learn the names of all the great American inventors. I guess I just can't remember the names in history. Anyway, I've been trying to learn about trucks because my uncle owns three and he says I can drive one when I'm 16. I know the horsepower and gear ratios of 26 American trucks and want to operate a diesel. Those diesels are really something. I started to tell my teacher about them in science class last week when the pump we were using to make a vacuum in a bell jar got hot, but she said she didn't see what a diesel engine has to do with our experiment on air pressure, so I just shut up. The kids seemed interested, though. I took four of them around to my uncle's garage after school and we watched his mechanic tear down a big diesel engine. He really knew his stuff.

I'm not very good in geography, either. They call it economic geography this year. We've been studying the imports and exports of Turkey all week, but I couldn't tell you what they are. Maybe the reason is that I missed school for a couple of days when my uncle took me downstate to pick up some livestock. He told me where we were headed and I had to figure out the best way to get there and back. He just drove and turned where I told him. It was over 500 miles round trip and I'm figuring now what his oil cost and the wear and tear on the truck-he calls it depreciation-so we'll know how much we made. When we got back I wrote up all the bills and sent letters to the farmers about what their pigs and cattle brought at the stockyard. My aunt said I only made three mistakes in 17 letters, all commas. I wish I could write school themes that way. The last one I had to write was on "What a daffodil thinks of Spring," and I just couldn't get going.

I don't do very well in arithmetic, either. Seems I just can't keep my mind on the problems. We had one the other day like this: If a 57 foot telephone pole falls across a highway so that 17 and 3/4 feet extend from one side and 14 and 16/17 feet extend from the other, how wide is the highway? That seemed to me like an awfully silly way to get the size of a highway. I didn't even try to answer it because it didn't say whether the pole had fallen straight across or not.

Even in shop class I don't get very good grades. All of us kids made a broom holder and a bookend this semester and mine were sloppy. I just couldn't get interested. Mom doesn't use a broom anymore with her new vacuum cleaner, and all of our books are in a bookcase with glass doors in the family room. Anyway, I wanted to make a tailgate for my uncle's trailer, but the shop teacher said that meant using metal and wood both, and I'd have to learn how to work with wood first. I didn't see why, but I kept quiet and made a tie tack even though my dad doesn't wear ties. I made the tailgate after school in my uncle's garage, and he said I saved him $20. Government class is hard for me, too.

I've been staying after school trying to learn the Articles of Confederation for almost a week, because the teacher said we couldn't be a good citizen unless we did. I really tried because I want to be a good citizen. I did hate to stay after school, though, because a bunch of us guys from Southend have been cleaning up the old lot across from Taylor's Machine Shop to make a playground out of it for the little kids from the Methodist home. I made the jungle gym out of the old pipe, and the guys put me in charge of things. We raised enough money collecting scrap this month to build a wire fence clear around the lot.

Dad says I can quit school when I'm 16. I'm sort of anxious to because there are a lot of things I want to learn.

Do you have something wonderful you'd like to brag about? How about a machine your child has fixed, or even something wonderful that has been built around your house? Leave a link below and let us all enjoy!

Here is something we are all proud of--the time all of our kids got together and built a playset in our back yard:

Titanic notebooking pages--Homeschool Sanity Brag Thursday Link-Up

2012-01-25T22:02:00.000-08:00

Did you know that this year is the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic?

Did you also know there are much better movies about the sinking than the most modern one, which is flaky, to say the least! Our favorite is Titanic--which stars Clifton Webb, Barbara Stanwyck, and Robert Wagner. The end of the film is the best--with sacrificial love and the turning of all hearts to the Lord as the ship was sinking through the singing of hymns.

We found two really nifty books at the thrift store and gave them to the children for Christmas; Titanic: The Ship of Dreams, and The Titanic: The Extraordinary Story of the "Unsinkable" Ship. Sarah (13) was so interested that she decided that she and her sister, Olivia (10), should do a notebooking project on the subject. Here is the result:

Sarah cut each piece from regular construction paper, and then she and her brother, Ryan, embellished the pieces with acrylic paints.

One of Sarah's pages--the photo is of the captain of the ship.

One of Olivia's pages.

Have you been having a lot of fun with some good, old books, or have a notebooking page to share? Just fill out the form below and let us share in your joy!

*Please be kind and either link in the body of your post or place this blog button somewhere on the post:

Linky love

2012-01-25T17:58:00.000-08:00

Here are just a few links you might enjoy:

Thinking Like a Christian; What Does the Bible Say About Public School, pt. 1
Thinking Like a Christian; What Does the Bible Say About Public School, pt.2
Humanism: The Self-Destructing Religion Affecting Christians

Help!

2012-01-16T08:28:00.000-08:00

It's mid-winter where most of us live. The skies are bleak, the ground is frozen. Our thoughts can become as bare as the trees.

Then there are the children--the lovely, lively ones who delight us.

But we worry.

"Will I get all of this educating done? Are we doing enough? How can I keep this dirty house together without neglecting their education? How can I love on my babies without letting the older children suffer? Where can I find the strength to face all of this responsibility?"

Don't look around you, look up! He is a help in time of trouble--cry out to Him!

This will be your answer:

"I will help him, saith the Lord," (Isaiah 41:14)

"It is but a small thing for Me, thy God, to help thee. consider what I have done already. What! not help thee? Why, I bought thee with my blood. What! not help thee? I have died for thee; and if I have done the greater, will I not do the less? Help thee! It is the least thing I will ever do for thee; I have done more, and will do more. Before the world began I chose thee. I made a covenant for thee. I laid aside My glory and became a man for thee; I gave My life for thee; and if I did all this, I will surely help thee now. In helping thee, I am giving thee what I have bought for thee already. If thou hadst need of a thousand times as much help, I would give it thee; thou requirest little compared with what I am ready to give. 'Tis much for thee to need, but it is nothing for me to bestow. 'Help thee?' Fear not! If there were an ant at the door of thy granary asking for help, it would not ruin thee to give him a handful of thy wheat; and thou art nothing but a tiny insect at the door of My all-sufficiency. 'I will help thee.'" (Charles Spurgeon, Morning by Morning, January 16)

Not everything in our lives is meant to be "perfect", just made perfect by His will and intentions for us.

Yes, everyone has a challenging child, or a challenging day, or challenging circumstances. It is all about learning to rest and abide in Christ.

"Lo, I am with you always, even until the end of the age..."

Do you sleep?

2012-01-10T13:59:00.000-08:00

Does a mother need to be told she needs sleep?--sometimes we all do. Especially when we get a real case of "do-itis".

I found this wonderful sage advice while printing out the 4th reader of the Alternate McGuffey readers from Dollar Homeschool.

Lesson 43--Necessity of Sleep

If you are to work well, you must sleep well. If you are to keep your health, and strength, and youth--to carry your powers of work with you to the last--you must sedulously pay court to your pillow. It will commonly be found that the men who carry their years lightly are men who possess the faculty of sleeping at will.

If you have much work to do, you must not account time spent in sleep to be time lost. It is time gained. It is an essential part of the duty of the day. I had once and old servant who used to say, "Well, I have done my work--now I'll get my sleeping done." Sleeping was, in her philosophy, a thing to be done--not in a passive state, but as an active part of her duty.

And every workman should so consider it. Let him sleep in his bed, if he can, at proper hours of the night; if not, let him sleep at any odd time, when nature invites him to rest himself. If we do not play tricks with ourselves, if we work hard without overworking ourselves, sleep will rarely be coy to us; we can sleep in almost any place.

As a general rule, it may be said that busy men are better sleepers than idlers, and that mental labor contributes more to sound sleep than bodily fatigue. I believe that only mere novices in work are kept awake by the thought of it.

Experienced workmen acquire a habit of shaking off its thoughts when they will. If there is one thing in life for which I am profoundly thankful to the Giver of all good, it is for the gift of sleep.

I have found this advice to be so very true! I have developed a habit over the last 25 years of taking a rest in the afternoons. This is so very important when dealing with the sorts things I must in my home, raising my 15 children. I am to be on call at any moment throughout the day--whether from my dear husband or from an infant child. This means constant alertness and diligence. Rarely do I allow my guard to be down--even on weekends or during times of vacation.

My race is one more one of the marathon--I must space my energy out in order to last and finish. This is why a daily time is necessary where I can put it all out of my mind--just as the writer above suggests.

I wasn't able to block out all of the other thoughts when I first began, but I also incorporated a daily Bible reading just before I went to sleep, and this caused me to gaze upward and place my cares on God, so that my rest was peaceful and I fell asleep quickly afterwards.

I have found that even 30 minutes of this sort of sleep will cause me to be cheerful and life-giving to my family until I go to bed at night--and then, even though my sleep may be interrupted due to various needs on the part of my children, I am still able to feel rested and on top of things.

During those months just after bringing home a newborn infant, I have also learned to sleep pretty much anywhere, at any time, in any position. This ability has been such a great help to me. In those times, whenever the baby is nursing and contented at my breast, and the children are all safely engaged in front of me, I have often snatched a few winks--this was to keep my sanity.

Afraid to take an afternoon nap because of all that has to be done? Consider these words:

"Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain. It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows: for so he giveth his beloved sleep." (Psalm 127:1-2)

Taking back learning from ''education"

2012-01-01T14:26:00.000-08:00

Our compulsory school laws do not promise children will be "educated".

It doesn't matter how many tests are administered, there is just no way to measure how much a person is learning, or at least comprehending.

Compulsory laws can guarantee only one thing; that a child is tethered to a desk for so many hours a day, for so many days a year.

Attendance is not the same thing as learning. We take tests all of the time and then conveniently forget the content unless it is relevant or necessary for our lives.

And in this we have the advantage. We can throw out the "scope-and-sequence" and serve up whole meals of the soul-satisfying, delicious variety, instead of bland, dull institutional fare.

As this new year begins, let us forge ahead with confidence that we are not hampering or harming our children by keeping them home, but by our sacrifice and willingness to suffer loss and sanction, we are blessing them and allowing them the most extravagant and richest opportunities possible!

A homemade book for Christmas

2011-12-18T13:06:00.000-08:00

Homemade Christmas cookies!

What better gift is there than a good book?

Books stay with you. You live in them, and if they are especially helpful, life-giving ones, their words come back to you when you are in tight spots.

I have put a tutorial here about how to bind a good book. If I were to give one as a gift, I would fancy it up a bit; perhaps spring for a colored file folder, print out colored labels, add a ribbon for holding one's place, etc.

Printing one's own book and giving it away is wonderful because it can be unique--there are so many wonderful authors and titles that have lost favor in modern times, and yet are so rich!

Our children love to receive books--they know to expect them from me this time of year, and so they look forward to it. Besides making them, I gather them from all sources; thrift stores, online, etc.

Here are just a few ideas of those online that can be printed out and gifted:

...in words of one syllable These are the results of a search I did for books written "in words of one syllable" for early readers. Many titles to choose from here.

Snuggle up to a good book!

Charlotte Yonge Here are the results of a search for the authoress. She is considered a truly "Christian" author of the Victorian era--some criticized here for being "too" Christian.

Elizabeth Prentiss Another wonderful authoress--penned the well-known "Stepping Heavenward" which I discovered via Elizabeth Elliot.

G. A. Henty Every young man should read a few of these!

George MacDonald This author is a household favorite. C.S. Lewis enjoyed his writing immensely.

Rudyard Kipling Little children love his Just So Stories--our favorite is How the Elephant Got His Nose.

James Baldwin He had an engaging way of writing about history--fun stories to share aloud or alone.

Sunshine for Life's Pathway I recently discovered this one, and I found it very interesting. This one presents much food for thought and meditation on all sorts of Biblical subjects--even some humor. Consider this little ditty:

When Adam, waking, first his lids unfolds,

In Eden's groves, beside him he beholds,

Bone of his bone, flesh of his flesh, he knows,

His earliest sleep has proved his last repose.

(ht: Dewey's Treehouse)

I'm printing this one out as a "Merry Christmas to me" present, that is, after I get all of my other projects finished...we're hoping that you and your family have a Merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year!

Christmas Homeschool

2011-12-15T18:02:00.001-08:00

The three wise-men following the star of Christ!

Someday, I am going to begin planning in July for December...someday when all of my children are grown and there isn't anyone left to plan for!

Meanwhile, in the real world, I need to face the facts; there is no way for this mother to keep up the grind of formal homeschooling during the holiday season. Besides, if I did my children would rebel.

Instead, I try and do a stress-free "Christmas school". Every one of those nifty craft projects that were too messy or time-consuming to do at any other time, Bible study, poetry, Christmas stories, original compositions, are all very much a part of my December plan.

The children begin their salt dough creations!

For one thing, every one of my children knows that the holidays mean salt dough creations—the children love to work in this stuff almost daily. Good thing Sam's Club sells a mega box of salt for only 98 cents! We work, bake, and then paint and decorate them. Many of these turn out to be wonderfully sweet decorations that are saved as keepsakes and hung on the Christmas tree each year.

Next, we also love to create Christmas cards—of different varieties. These are great, sneaky ways to get the children to do some unofficial copy work while filling the insides with creative poetry—and because others may see these, the handwriting, spelling, and grammar receive closer attention!

God's Word is precious!

For Bible study, I am having the older children study the nativity accounts from the Gospels and then complete a comprehensive, written narration. I am also requiring them to memorize a Christmas carol from our hymnals and play at least the melody on an instrument of each person's choice (around here that means keyboard, guitar or recorder).

Creating a family newsletter is another great way to keep the kids writing. It is a cinch to fix up a first-rate booklet to send to family and friends via desktop publishing. I have used PrintMaster to create newsletters in the past. It is so enjoyable to include family photos, scans of original artwork, prose and poetry the children compose themselves. The funniest stories we ever included were the ones dictated to me by the tiniest children in the family—verbatim!

Besides these, there are so many great resources for coloring pages, mazes, crossword puzzles, cut-outs, etc. for free on the Internet. Here are a few of the sites I am using this year:

A time of thanksgiving...

Activity Village

Disney Family.com

I am using the Christmas decorating pages from Activity Village, both as activities for each of the children, and coloring in and laminating a set of each to use as a file-folder game. The snowman set from the Disney site is perfect for one of these folder games as well.

Activity village also offers a series of coloring pages covering the nativity with lines for narration or copy work! I have printed and copied some mazes and dot-to-dots for my tiny ones from here as well.

For Christmas math we just allow the kids to purchase gifts for each other—the practical application is worth 50 workbook pages!

...to reflect on all God's blessings!

Of course, there is also a lot of hand-crafts happening in all sorts of secret ways and places for Christmas gifts—I can't share all of that here for fear of giving away some surprises!

Additionally, one should never discount the baking of yummy cookies and other good things—we are cracking out the "What Einstein Told His Cook" book to delve into the "why's" and "how's" of sugar, etc. Science with a smile!

What are some of the ways you like to incorporate stress-free learning during the holidays?

Technology is not necessary for a good education

2011-12-05T09:37:00.000-08:00

Here is an interesting piece on just how wonderful it is for children to be able to live without the constant intrusion of electronic gadgets--besides the Waldorf method being so closely related to how we homeschool everyday!

The smartest, most creative and innovative people in our nation know that children need time to play and think before they get used to being limited to the spoon-feeding of media of all types.

Guess what's not on our Christmas list this year?--technology!

Announcing Homeschool Sanity—the book!

2011-11-27T06:55:00.000-08:00

Recapture the best of the past!

It's not easy being a homeschooling parent today. Educating one's children is a huge responsibility. There seem to be more "answers" than there are questions! Everyone has a textbook, or a method, or a philosophy. But how are we supposed to figure out just what path to take?

We want our children to have the very best and to grow up with the God of the Bible as their frame of reference; but the best way to accomplish this seems to be just out of our reach!

For more than 23 years I have been asking these same questions about education. During my own journey, I have read books and research by the most insightful and influential homeschooling leaders such as—Dr. Raymond and Dorothy Moore, Ruth Beechick, Charlotte Mason, John Taylor Gatto, and many more. They were true pioneers of the current homeschool movement and all were dedicated to the welfare of children and their families.

Although their messages were often diverse, I began to identify a common theme. In the last few years I have discovered the Eclectic Education Series, and all those threads began to reveal an incalculably rich tapestry of education resources, that for many were lost to the past.

My heart was burdened with the realization that there are many others just like me—that are seeking a way to simplify their homeschooling into a coherent system which makes room for a child's personality and gifts, but at the same time gives him structure as well as discipline.

I have come to realize that the modern educational systems and methods are strangely unique in our human history, and they have failed us abysmally. Never before have we had so much knowledge at our fingertips, and yet, the literacy rates of our nation's school systems are at an all-time low. Despite the fact that we live in the information age—the divorce, homicide and suicide rates are at all-time highs. Our children face greater challenges today than we would have ever dreamed, nevertheless, many don't have the tools to handle these new demands and pressures.

It is time we threw out the progressive educational philosophies and ideologies which have lead us here. We need to turn back the clock and promote the fear of God which is the beginning of wisdom. We must revive the unswerving Christian devotion that used to be lived out by our predecessors before the present narcissistic influence of humanism took over!

We can rediscover the tools of learning that helped our forefathers overcome the great obstacles of their time, that have only recently been replaced by "dumbed-down" work texts and worthless statistics which require no higher thinking on the part of young learners.

Homeschool Sanity: a Practical Guide to Redemptive Home Educating is my attempt to communicate a way back to common sense learning. It is a pathway back to the simplicity and joy of gaining the knowledge born out of the reverence for the God of the Bible. It is a journey filled with the grace and truth of Jesus Christ.

This book is easy to read. Even if one only has time for perusing, something useful and encouraging will be achieved (I have included a few pages in this article from my book for your consideration).

It is full of colorful and engaging graphics, helps, charts, templates and resources. Even the busiest mother will be able to breathe a sigh of relief as she reads just how easy it is to give her children an education that will be a blessing to them for the rest of their lives!

Here is a small portion of what I have included in Homeschool Sanity's 160 pages:

An overview of the different methodologies of homeschooling
A brief history of education in America
Preschool
Reading and literature
Grammar
Arithmetic
History
Science

No fancy psycho-anything here. I have rediscovered precisely why things used to work, and why they are so very broken today. I hope to lead the way into a fresh attempt to bring back the best of the past in order to prepare our children for the best future possible.

In essence, I have tried to make learning the "old" ways as convenient as possible for our modern lifestyles.

This is why you will find many nifty charts and templates ready for your use. You will discover a catalog of successful methodologies for your own re-education. If you are like me, you will not feel tired and anxious after you read my book; you will be refreshed and filled with real hope!

Many thanks to Dollar Homeschool for the wonderful resources offered in the form of the Eclectic Education Series. This book would not have been possible were it not for the opportunity I had to write the guides for each of the wonderful Eclectic collections.

Tutorial--Printing and Binding eBooks

2011-11-20T10:35:00.000-08:00

There are so many wonderful, old, and mostly free books online--one just can't help but download them and pour over them from one's hard drive. But reading these and sharing these, especially with children for their education, is another story.

I have decided I want to read these, not in their electronic form, but in as close to the look and feel of a "real book" as possible. I also want to make sure that if I go to all the trouble of printing and binding, these books will last as long as possible, so that as many of my children as possible can enjoy each one.

I have done general how-to's for printing and binding options before, but here is a step-by-step breakdown of how I print and bind mine.

To begin with, I have an auto-duplexing printer, meaning it automatically prints on both sides of the paper. This has been a blessing for me! I use the HP Office 8000 Pro. Besides its auto-duplexing feature, I chose this one because the cost of ink was so low--just over 1 cent per page! (the cartridges have a 2,200 page yield, and yet cost the same as cartridges for any other HP inkjet meant for personal use).

After bringing up whatever book I want to print, whether in pdf version or in Microsoft Office, I pull down the file menu and click on the print option.

Within the print window I click properties. In the next window I select "booklet printing". I then check the "OK" box. When the original print window returns to the front of the screen, I plug in the pages I want to be printed.

This is a very important step. Even if a book is 400 pages long, it is best not to print any more than 20, double-sided pages at a time.

Printing just that many pages allows for any errors, because when you print in booklet form the pages are numbered in a very specific way so that they will be in sequence when they are bound together. Also, printing just a few pages at a time allows you to bind them together so that they look and behave more like a book when you are finished.

I keep a tally sheet close to the computer and list each set of pages, such as:

1-20

21-40

41-60

61-80, etc.

I put a check on the left hand side of the number as I begin to print, and on the right side of each number as the printing has been completed. This simply tallying system has saved me so much grief as I am often interrupted while going through this process.

After I have printed all of the "booklets" and stacked them in a staggered way so they will not become confused, I begin the process of stapling each booklet in the middle. I try and stagger the staples, which helps the spine of the book to be more even when I finally glue all of the separate booklets together.

I then proceed to fold each carefully along the stapled middle. I use some sort of instrument (in this picture I am using the barrel of a marker) to make sure the fold is crisp and precise.

After folding I stack the separate booklets up in order. Then I use two rulers with some binding clips to hold the pages as I use a hot glue gun and a popsicle stick to glue the pages together. After the pages are glued, I measure the spine.

I then take a manilla folder, which has fold lines already in the middle, and measure just how many folds will be necessary for the spine of my book. In this instance, I find I will have to add another crease, so I use a ruler and the blade of an open pair of scissors to score the folder so that the crease is neat and crisp.

I use my paper cutter to cut the length of my book cover to just a smidgeon over 8.5". I then proceed to measure the sides of my book, making sure I allow for the spine, to a little over 5.5" each.

I then use my hot glue gun in the gutter of the manilla folder which I have just cut, and quickly apply the booklets I have previously glued together. I use my fingers to make sure the spine of the book is well-adhered to the folder.

For added security, I apply a bead of hot glue just inside the front and back covers, where the pages meet the spine.

I like to take some of the time between printings to design front and spine covers for the finished book. I use Microsoft Publisher to do this, but one could use PrintMaster, or even the open-source program GIMP.

I like to create a sort of "sticker" to put on the front of the book by using an interesting image from the pdf of the book itself. It is easy to clip one of these, copy it using either by pressing down the control key and the letter "c" at the same time, or right clicking the image and selecting "copy". I then open up the graphic design software and paste the picture (again, using the control key and the letter "v" at the same time, or by right-clicking and selecting "paste" in the drop-down menu).

I have been able to enhance my cover designs by taking advantage of the many black-and-white vintage images at Clip Art Etc. I have especially enjoyed their decorative letter section, which make my otherwise bland covers look a bit more "Victorian" and appropriate!

The spine cover is done by using one of the banner designs from Clip Art Etc. and filling it with the title of the book and the author or publisher, where appropriate.

Of course, it is important to estimate the size of each of these "stickers" before saving and printing them!

After I have printed and cut out my labels, I place them on the book where I would like to see them glued, then draw a light pencil line around them. I then put a light coat of Elmer's rubber cement on the front of the book and the back of the label. After both of these dry, I put the label on the book (this is an old graphic designer's trick--it is a much better method than simply applying and pasting a paper object).

My last task is to cover the whole book in clear plastic laminate; if I am going to this kind of trouble to print and bind a book, I am going to make sure it lasts through more than a couple of children!

Measuring the clear paper.

Cutting off the corners helps when wrapping the plastic around the cover.

Folding the plastic under.


Adding a bead of melted glue on the ends helps with security and longevity.

Opens and feels like a "real" paperback book.

Two finished products--printed from Living Books Curriculum

The church in your home, Spurgeon

2011-11-03T07:44:00.000-07:00

This quote is taken from Charles Spurgeon's devotional book "Morning by Morning", published in 1866:

If there be such a Church in our house [Philemon 2] let us order it well and let all act as in the sight of God Let us move in the common affairs of life with studied holiness diligence kindness and integrity More is expected of a Church than of an ordinary household family worship must in such a case be more devout and hearty internal love must be more warm and unbroken and external conduct must be more sanctified and Christ like We need not fear that the smallness of our number will put us out of the list of Churches for the Holy Spirit has here enrolled a family church in the inspired book of remembrance As a Church let us now draw nigh to the great Head of the one Church universal and let us beseech Him to give us grace to shine before men to the glory of His name.

An encouraging rhyme

2011-10-31T20:38:00.000-07:00

Judge not the Lord by feeble sense,
But trust Him for his grace;
Behind a frowning Providence,
He hides a smiling face.

This is a quote from Cowper, as published in the McGuffey's 5th reader.

Why use some old books?

2011-10-26T07:36:00.000-07:00

I received this recently via email:

I'm really thrilled with our eclectic approach this year. It's been a bit slow going but I'm muddling through lots of information. My children really do enjoy the McGuffey readers as there is no busy work. It's simple yet deeply thought provoking, and pure - whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely (Phil 4:8)....think on these things - that's been my homeschooling verse that the Lord keeps putting on my heart and no other curriculum or whole books have really fit until now. It almost seems too simple, yet I can see that my children are thinking, really thinking. It's refreshing!--sent by Patricia

Simple,

thought-provoking,

pure,

children that are really thinking,

refreshing;

these are the ways these books are herein described.

Whatever is based on God's Word is timeless.

Important video for Christian parents

2011-10-25T14:29:00.000-07:00

I just discovered this today--a wonderful video exposing the truth about American public education.

Facebook for Eclectic Education Series

2011-10-25T08:56:00.000-07:00

Aaron Jagt, the gentleman who produces the Eclectic Education Series on CD, has begun an new Facebook group--this should be a place where folks can have their questions answers concerning using the McGuffey Readers, Ray's Arithmetics, etc.

Here is the link:

Eclectic Education Series Official Group

One Room School

2011-10-24T05:17:00.000-07:00

We have a lot of trouble with the library--I have called checking out books my one acceptable "vice" for many years.

When the children were younger we would check out maybe 60 books at a shot, then something would happen and I would let those books be a few days overdue and...well you can imagine the fines!

One day my dear husband went to the library to check something out, only to be shocked that he owed $43 in fines--I'm not kidding! Of course, he didn't rack up those bucks, I did!

Now I am on a strict diet--no more of this biblio-gluttony. The last time we checked out 20 or so books, one went missing, for 3 weeks. It was finally discovered underneath the bathroom sink--not sure how to look at that one.

Since we did find the book, we went to the library once again, this time allowing ourselves only 1 book per person. This made us all very particular, and very careful as to our choices.

For my book, I chose One Room School, by Raymond Bial. I loved all of the photos in this one--especially the vintage ones of a class of students standing in front of the schoolhouse.

These children were often dressed in a rugged, pioneer way, holes in the knees of their britches, etc. Some were only sod houses, one was just a bunch of tree branches bunched together in the form of a makeshift canopy.

Children sat on puncheon benches where there was an abundance of wood, back when Professor McGuffey would have been formulating his readers.

We like to think that we are so advanced these days--but we have lost the will to persevere and overcome. Lincoln, the man who wrote one of the most famous speeches in our history on the back of an envelope, started in a log hut--and we haven't seen the likes of him in quite a while.

Consider this from McGuffey's Fourth Reader (original) with the notation Beecher:

We must educate! We must educate or we must perish by our own prosperity. If we do not, short will be our race from the cradle to the grave. If in our haste to be rich and mighty, we outrun our literary and religious institutions, they will never overtake us, or only come up after the battle of liberty is fought and lost, as spoil to grace the victory, and as resources of inexorable despotism for the perpetuity of our bondage.

But what will become of the West, if her prosperity rushes up to such a majesty of power, while those great institutions linger which are are necessary to form the mind, and the conscience, and the heart of that vast world? It must not be permitted.

Awfully prophetic, wasn't it?

Old-fashioned spelling

2011-10-20T14:12:00.000-07:00

I have read that other countries, whose languages are "phonemic" never need spelling lessons.

But good, old English is just too hard to nail down; there are almost as many exceptions as there are rules!

I have tried to teach my children to spell more ways than I can count. I have used a textbook, corrected the words in their own spelling (natural), used a group of words in a list which were related, etc.

I have also read about how Charlotte Mason taught children to spell (I believe she and Professor McGuffey would have gotten along--although his students were from a much different background than hers--doing lessons on the backs of shovels, etc., although she would have really appreciated that they all lived in the out of doors...but I digress) by having them look at a word, and then close their eyes and "visualize" it, then open their eyes and write it. In this way they are reinforcing their visual memory of each word.

Funny, but most of us do this very thing--we rely on how a word looks to us. This can become very difficult after correcting some of my children's writing--I get mixed up myself after seeing things spelled so very "interestingly" so often.

We sometimes play a little game with our McGuffey spellers--the ones I printed from Google books a while back and had spiral-bound. I hand out small slips of paper and split my children into two teams. Then I put the two teams on either side of my huge dining room table, each across from a child at his/her approximate spelling level. I then assign each group of two's an appropriate spelling list to draw from in the Speller, such as lesson 27 for one, 77 for another, and so on. Then one person selects 10 words from that list to proctor to the other person across the table, and so on down the line (we have enough readers for 3 on each side). At the end all of the lists are corrected and the team with the most correct wins!

This only takes a few minutes to do, and I don't have to be directly involved, yet it gives them all extra practice and a little fun besides.

I don't know if it actually has helped them spell any better, however! It just makes me feel better (I love these old books and relish any way I can use them).

Sweet quote for today

2011-10-11T18:06:00.000-07:00

I love the sweet little verses from the past that gave children helpful moral reminders. Here is one we read today in A Hive of Busy Bees, a little book that my children have always loved, published in 1931 and written with the same moral tone as the McGuffey readers:

Politeness is how we do and say
The kindest things
In the kindest way.

The book is in the public domain and can be read here.

The importance of homekeeping

2011-09-08T07:56:00.000-07:00

I was recently introduced to a gem of a little book, The Nest Among the Honeysuckles, as I was perusing through the findings of Happy Hearts Homeschooling.

This sweet book was published in 1855 by the American Sunday School Union and is full of stories for little children which illustrate Biblical living.

After printing and binding the book last night, I sat down to read a bit of it so as to be familiar with it when I begin to share it with my little children. I was so delighted and encouraged to find the following passage concerning the "stay-at-home-mom", that I just had to share!

Our robin has been a keeper-at-home ever since those four bluish-green eggs demanded her attention. She has occasionally left, for a few minutes at a time, to procure food and drink, or to take a little exercise; but she has never forgotten her quiet abode, and the duties which there require her almost constant presence. She loves the green fields, the leafy trees, and the clear blue sky, and delights to hop about with her mate over the fresh grass and the clean gravel-walks; but better than all she loves those pretty eggs, which lie so cozily in the bottom of her straw-built nest.

Before she commenced house-keeping, she was very fond of travelling, and many a mile has she wandered, over hill and valley, in company with her friends. She assisted at concerts, and was universally admired; but she had the good sense to give up these enjoyments without a murmur, when higher claims called for her undivided care. Whatever is worth doing at all is worth doing well; and the robin will doubtless be repaid for the unwearied patience with which she performs her unostentatious duties. Some people are inclined to think domestic labour dishonourable, and the cares of house-keeping a burden; but our feathered friend is wiser than they. She does with her might what she finds to do, and she does it heartily. Every act of duty, faithfully and cheerfully performed, is acceptable to God; and his children do his will when they endeavour to attend to their various occupations in such a way as he can approve. If all house-keepers felt that, in attending to the different departments of their work as they should be attended to, they were honouring Him who has made this care necessary for the comfort of families, it would be a blessing to themselves, and to who all who dwell under the same roof with them. We cannot consider any thing which we do to please our heavenly Father of small importance, and no favour can be degrading which he requires of us.

We may all learn a lesson from the robin who lives in the honeysuckles, and we shall see how she was rewarded for her devotion to the employment which Providence assigned her. The wisest of men, in describing the character of an excellent woman, says: "The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her." "She will do him good, and not evil, all the days of her life." Our feathered friend's husband is absent much of his time (as most gentlemen are obliged to be) from his well-ordered home; but he always thinks of it with pleasure, and hastens to it whenever he can find time to do so. Sometimes he only stops a moment, but it is a precious moment to them both, for their hearts and interests are one. They are cheered, in their separation, by the pleasant memories of these brief interviews, and by bright anticipations of future enjoyment.

I have observed, Mr. Robin thinks it of importance to look nice at home, as well as when he is abroad. I have seen him alight on the walnut-tree, and carefully arrange his toilet, before going into the presence of his wife. She must feel complimented by this delicate attention, indicating so high a regard for her, and such anxiety to preserve her esteem. I should not wonder if she was a little proud of her handsome husband. However this may be, I am sure it is her greatest happiness to deserve his respect and love, and honourably to perform all the duties which devolve upon her in her married life.

The blessing of Godly schoolwork

2011-07-21T06:47:00.000-07:00

My dear son Josh was giving me an oral narration of his McGuffey lesson the other day, and it was amazing to witness the joy on his face.

Josh is 17. He is of the age that demands authenticity; his need for idealism and genuineness is often foremost in his mind.

This is why he is filled with great satisfaction when he reads these old books.

His lesson was number 47 in the revised McGuffey's 4th reader, entitled, "The Creator".

Here is an excerpt:

But there is one fairer than the rose. He that made the rose is more beautiful than the rose. He is altogether lovely. He is the delight of every heart.

To think just how many children read these words in times past. To understand just how far we have fallen, and just why our culture is in the mess it is today.

To be so thankful my own children are blessed with these materials once again.

Home book-binding and Dollar Homeschool review

2011-06-07T11:44:00.000-07:00

A day at a frontier school.

I am always looking for better ways to help my readers discover the simple, wonderful world of 19^th century learning. I have recommended all sorts of resources, from the high-end, hard-bound sets of reprints in these blessed materials, to downloading free eBooks from Internet Archive and Google Books.

I love all types—I have three sets of hard-bound McGuffey's Readers, Harvey’s Grammars, Ray’s Arithmetics, etc., besides having downloaded, printed and comb-bound a number of these books and other resources which my children are using (Once I did 12 books at one time—my dining room looked like a publishing house!—HP loves me).

Recently I received a number of CD’s containing what was entitled "The Eclectic Learning Series" published from the 1830's to the early 20th century in the mail from Dollar Homeschool. I was curious as to how user-friendly and useful these collected works would be for myself and others, so Aaron Jagt sent me a copy of the set so that I could review them.

Aaron has done a great job of putting a pretty comprehensive compilation of these old tomes together. I was pleasantly surprised to find much more was included than is listed on his website. Each disk was like opening a present at Christmas!

For instance, I wasn’t expecting to find sound recordings of lectures on the godly nature of mathematics. I can imagine hours sitting and listening to these while the children are sketching or doodling on a hot summer’s afternoon.

Also included is a series of books which attempt to teach grammar and composition through literature, using both copy work and dictation. I had just been researching such an approach among the free books online, so it was such a relief to find that one had already been included!

There is enough material in the history section for copy work, narration, timelines, etc. to last many years—including poetry.

I have become an enthusiast of 19^th century learning materials because they were formulated and used during a time our society was greatly influenced by Biblical Christianity. Professor McGuffey himself was a Presbyterian minister. Also, to a great extent, these materials were created before many of the most radical “reforms” of Horace Mann and John Dewey were accepted "at-large" and implemented (although their eroding influence is evident even in the revised McGuffey readers of the 1880’s).

I get excited when we use these materials because of the clarity of thought, and the respect paid to the learner. No dumbed-down content here—economy was a necessity of the past, when paper and ink were precious, especially in the frontier schools. Each word, each number problem, was well-thought out and meaningful. The curricula of the age were free of “busy work”, making them just perfect for application in homeschools and tutoring programs where consistent, concentrated instruction is the preferred method.

I know many of these books are available for free online, but I also know the sites on which they are offered are not always reliable, and I have recently found it difficult to find many of the titles necessary for a well-rounded Eclectic Series education (discovering the entire set of revised McGuffey’s editions can be like chasing a snake through the grass). It can also be confusing with all of the different versions of each of the Ray’s Arithmetics, for instance. I could see spending a bit of money in order to own this compilation for the duration of my children’s homeschooling educational years.

I did some figuring to help show the actual costs of these materials. I found there were 109 books total included in this package (if I have not missed any). This does not include the audio CD. If the asking price is $160, this makes the books cost approximately $1.47 each!

Of course, these are “digital” books—not easy to take to one’s room and study, unless you happen to have a number of computers for each child or a few of those nifty “reader” devices or an iPad. These devices would make the use of these excellent "digital" books much more “portable”.

For myself, I prefer to have the “tangible” form of books. I like turning pages and making places for more books on my library shelves. This is why I am planning on printing and binding a number of these books.

I figure that, on my little ink-jet, I should get about (700-800) pages per cartridge, that is using the “economical, black-only” setting. If I select "two-to-a-page" printing, this means I should be able to print about 15, 90-page books or seven to eight, 150-page books per cartridge (at $26 per cartridge). This makes it approximately $1.73 - 3.46 per book (or twice that for a three-hundred page book).

The paper is not very expensive, since I purchase it in ten-ream boxes from either Sam’s Club (free shipping) or a local office supply store where it was on sale (I noticed a ten-ream box on sale at Office Depot for about $25). This keeps my paper for a 90-page book (with the “two-pages-to-a-sheet” mode selected) at about $0.27!

Dollar Homeschool’s agreement states a person can print up to four copies of each book for personal use, which is plenty.

So here’s the breakdown in current prices for binding a 150-page book, using the “economy” and “Two-pages-per-sheet” settings:

$1.47—average cost of digital book
$3.46—ink
$0.54—paper
$2.00—comb-binding
$0.50—miscellaneous expenses
$7.97 per book! (or $0.03 - 0.05 per page)

This is such a frugal way to go, even if one has to put in a little “sweat-equity” in binding the books, especially when compared to other curriculum options. Even finding these materials is challenging.

These books are non-consumable, so they can be passed down from child-to-child, making this a one-time purchase for many years’ worth of learning.

I went on line and compared the costs of a popular mathematics curriculum to what’s included here—an entire elementary course in mathematics would cost upwards of $600—and then there would be the expense of replenishing some of the consumable workbooks required for the course.

Printing the books included on the Ray’s Arithmetics Dollar Homeschool CD, that is all 39 of them, would equal about $348 (and you probably wouldn’t want nor need to print out all 39).

Printing and binding all of the basic McGuffey readers, at the $0.03 - 0.05 per page rate, would cost approximately $51.94 - $84.30.

For our little homeschool group, I am considering purchasing my own manual comb-binding apparatus. I am looking seriously at the Fellowes Star for about $55 on this site. It would make sense for us, since I love binding up books and booklets and should make it worth the initial investment in little or no time!

My oldest daughter is looking into the “click and print” option which is being offered by a number of printing houses. I will try and post her findings at a later date.

I am also considering printing up “booklets” of assigned material printed from the digitized books and catered to each child, which might include some note booking pages. In my thought processes are some extra practice booklets compiled from the White's and Dubb's math books. It would also be fun to create note booking pages for the Nature Study book.

It must be obvious that these materials would have to be supplemented with more up-to-date publications as well. A good set of encyclopedias and the Internet are a good start, and a library card would be a frugal way to round-out and complete a good education with these "digital" books as the foundation. Still, for the cost of just one year’s curriculum for one child, it is nice to own materials enough for many years (for example, Rod and Staff complete 1st grade, reading and math, costs $132)!

In case you feel as lost as I did when I began my homeschooling journey, Dollar Homeschool offers a Yahoo discussion forum with a number of archived discussions which helped me enormously when I began this review.

I do wish that the Manual of Methods was included on the McGuffey’s CD, as it really helps to clarify the use of these books in teaching reading—even takes one through the different methods in a more succinct way than I have ever read it expressed. I’m going to suggest this to Aaron Jagt so this may be changed in the near future.

If you are like me, prone to “creative meanderings”, then these materials are for you. Using these books allows me to enjoy my creative side, while giving me a basic structure that is sound and Biblically-based, free of a lot of the nonsense found in so many of the expensive alternatives of our present day.

My Ray's Arithmetics and McGuffey's Primer Helps go perfectly with this set for teaching basic math and beginning phonics and reading!

Finding McGuffey on Our Homeschool Journey—guest post

2011-06-01T07:51:00.000-07:00

Today's post is written by a guest and "McGuffey veteran":

In 2006 when my daughter Natalie was finishing up her Traditional Textbook kindergarten curriculum I began to look for other cheaper options for homeschooling. That year we combined a textbook phonics, language arts and math with the Five in a Row book I found second hand. I just LOVED the literary education Natalie was getting. We had a blast reading great books, looking places up on our map, and doing crafts things to go along with it. Basically that year we did the workbooks, memorized some scripture and read! I look back fondly on that school year. The following year I looked into other high end curricula that followed the same literary bent. Since I couldn't afford that curriculum I began researching cheaper options. That's when I came across McGuffey's while researching Charlotte Mason.

I loved the simple appeal of the books. Cute, moral stories with sweet pictures that weren't offensive to the intellect nor unappealing to the eye. That year we read them for fun! We ditched the textbook readers and just did McGuffey's with another workbook for phonics. I had discovered copy work by then so we alternated between a sentence or so of a McGuffey's lesson and the bible memory verses we were using. I did not know much about copy work at the time so I would pick a selection and write it out on paper making a space between lines for Natalie to copy underneath. I didn't pick out grammar or spelling nor did I do dictation. I just selected wonderful quotes, wrote them out and she copied.

A few years later when Natalie was in 2nd grade my son Logan began to use McGuffey much in the same way. We read them aloud, we read them silently, we read them for fun. We just enjoyed McGuffey! My son especially enjoyed the stories and often read them for fun.

This last school year a friend sent me a copy of Beechicks Parents Guide to the readers. I had read Beechick before and LOVED her ideas. Not being a teacher myself I had a hard time implementing them but for some reason this year it all clicked! So I began using McGuffey's again with my second son Benjamin. I'm still using other phonics and language arts programs at the moment but the more I get into McGuffey's with the help of Beechick, the more I understand how the Eclectic series really can replace your phonics, spelling, grammar and writing programs.

Usually what I do is sit down with my "student" and listen to them read or narrate what they have read. Natalie, age 9, would be narrating at this point from the second reader. Logan (8) and Benjamin (5 and an early reader) reading aloud from the first and primer readers. As I sit down and before they begin reading I quickly glance at my Parent guide and discuss anything she mentions or that I see needs mentioning. Things like phonics rules, vocabulary or new punctuation. I write those things on the white board and we make a word list (either for new phonics rules or for vocabulary) to write in our notebooks later. I listen to the lesson or narration and then we discuss the moral or idea in the lesson. Then I will assign the white board work to be copied in their notebooks and will assign another task to go deeper for them.

For example lesson XI in the first reader is about boys flying a kite. Beechick suggests the word "rude" for vocabulary. I might point out the word rude and write it on the white board as we are reading. The end of the lesson McGuffey's draws your attention to "bad words" and how God doesn't want us to use "bad words". Then I might talk a little bit about words that aren't acceptable to use and why (also a Beechick suggestion). Then I might find a scripture that goes nicely (Romans 5:8 or one about the tongue) and we might write that on the board for copying. The assignment for the day would be looking up the word "rude" in the dictionary and copying the definition, then copying the Bible verse we found. Sometimes I will have Logan narrate to me his lesson and I would write it down for him. Then tomorrow we might orally test the vocabulary word, dictate the memory verse and then have Logan copy his own narration in his notebook. And maybe on the third day we might correct the dictation and rewrite it if need be. This way we only do one or two lessons a week leaving more time for leisure reading for fun, except Ben who needs daily instruction in reading as he is just in the decoding stage. Natalie's instruction might include some more intense writing and revision. Ben's might just include phonics and some copy work. Occasionally Beechick suggests some further study in a topic and I will include by utilizing the Internet.

McGuffey's readers are such a great resource. I cant imagine why they took them out of the schools. Except maybe that they take a wee bit more time to use then say a ready to go workbook. We like them and find them a very useful and frugal addition to our school.

About the author:

Vicki is Mother of 6, Wifey to 1, Daughter of the King, keeper of the Home, and all around frugalista! (not in that order). You really should pop over to her blog,

Joy Homeliving, and read more!

McGuffey and the Christian age of America

2011-05-22T09:39:00.000-07:00

There are reasons that we find the McGuffey readers so refreshingly moral. They were written in an age of incredible spiritual awakening in America. Here is an excerpt from the site Religion and the Founding of the American Republic:

The religion of the new American republic was evangelicalism, which, between 1800 and the Civil War, was the "grand absorbing theme" of American religious life. During some years in the first half of the nineteenth century, revivals (through which evangelicalism found expression) occurred so often that religious publications that specialized in tracking them lost count. In 1827, for example, one journal exulted that "revivals, we rejoice to say, are becoming too numerous in our country to admit of being generally mentioned in our Record." During the years between the inaugurations of Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln, historians see "evangelicalism emerging as a kind of national church or national religion." The leaders and ordinary members of the "evangelical empire" of the nineteenth century were American patriots who subscribed to the views of the Founders that religion was a "necessary spring" for republican government; they believed, as a preacher in 1826 asserted, that there was "an association between Religion and Patriotism." Converting their fellow citizens to Christianity was, for them, an act that simultaneously saved souls and saved the republic. The American Home Missionary Society assured its supporters in 1826 that "we are doing the work of patriotism no less than Christianity." With the disappearance of efforts by government to create morality in the body politic (symbolized by the termination in 1833 of Massachusetts's tax support for churches) evangelical, benevolent societies assumed that role, bringing about what today might be called the privatization of the responsibility for forming a virtuous citizenry.

When researching the McGuffey's on line, I came across a lot of negative opinions, accusing them of being "bigoted" and misogynistic. Nothing could be farther from the truth. In fact, the morality of all of the different versions points towards kindness and fairness, without exception for gender, race, or creed. All of these virtues were being sought after in the climate of revivals during the 19th century. These books were not written to impress university elitists and educational demagogues; they were meant to appeal to pastors and parents who wanted to pass their faith on to the next generation. Unlike education today, curriculum decisions were left at the local, even the home, level. I wonder how curricula would be chosen today if the same were true!

How to use a McGuffey's, Part 1

2011-05-20T17:17:00.000-07:00

Illustration from 5th McGuffey's (revised)

Here is a question that I received recently from a reader regarding the use of McGuffey readers:

I wanted to know if you could give me some tips on how you use your McGuffey readers. I have a set of them but do not know how to use them with the kids. It seems like a silly question but I have read through them a bit and I am confused about what to do with them. I guess I need an instruction manual. I appreciate any help you can give. I hate to see them just sit on my shelf. I would like to use them with the kids this fall.

First, let me say that I totally understand how this reader feels. I can remember thinking these books were really nifty, but I had no idea as to how to use them. They were written in a time when the methods of learning were universal and understood. We have lost these principles as educational philosophies have changed over the years (and not for the better).

It is sort of like the 25-pound sack of flour sitting in my baking cupboard. It takes the application of a recipe and other ingredients to produce the desired outcome.

The ingredients required for a batch of first-rate language arts is as follows:

Reading with narration (primarily oral, then written)
Copy work
Dictation
Sentence creation
Recitation
Original composition

This is how I tackle each lesson:

1. I read it for myself. This is my favorite part. I love the lessons—I learn new things and become encouraged and blessed—I can't wait to share with my children! In this way I am familiar with the content of each lesson so that I can bring out the finer points that may be missed, etc., such as the moral of the story, or even some historical facts that may be needed to gain a better understanding of what is being read. It also helps me when I am either hearing or reading the narrations I require. If time is short, and the child is not competent enough to write out the narration, it can be "cartooned" by splitting a page in equal portions and have the child draw out the events in the lesson in sequence, to be labeled later.

2. I choose a section for copy work. For the younger set, it may only include the vocabulary words and a short section—perhaps a sentence to begin with, then a paragraph. I write these out as an example so that they have something to follow. Poems are copied in their entirety. Older children may be required to copy much more. This is the method used continually—the immersion and familiarity gained through this practice helps imprint language on the minds of children.

I also like to assign a portion of God's Word which applies to each lesson, lots of times scripture will come to my mind as I am reading, but I also use the concordance to look up appropriate passages.

3. I choose sections for dictation, sometimes from the speller. This is how proper spelling, punctuation and grammar are reinforced.

4. Often the poems or portions of the lesson are read aloud to all as a practice for public reading and speaking, and I am requiring that many parts, or all, of the poems be memorized.

5. I have the child either read and spell the vocabulary words (using Charlotte Mason's suggestion of "imprinting" the words in the child's mind), or assign them to be used in original sentences.

6. There are times when an original composition will be suggested by the lesson, especially in the more advanced readers (3rd and 4th in the original series—1849 Mott Media, 5th and 6th in the revised—1855 and above).

The Manual of Methods is the place to go to understand more closely some of the intent of the authors. Here is also a link to my other blog, McGuffey's World, which contains quotes from 19th century sources speaking as to the importance of copy work.

This is an amazingly simple way to teach language arts, and is also so inexpensive! All that is required is a few good copy books and pencils.

1836 copy book

Of course, you could create copy work pages by using a school font and a word processor, to encourage better handwriting.

Here is just a little example of what treasures there are to be found (from the revised, 1879, 2nd reader):

Beautiful faces are they that wear

The light of a pleasant spirit there;

Beautiful hands are they that do

Deeds that are noble good and true;

Beautiful feet are they that go

Swiftly to lighten another's woe.

Brushing up on basic grammar helps me—I keep a secretary's guide or two around the house as an aid when I am stumped. We also spent some time together this last year in the Harvey's Grammars, which helped everyone quite a lot.

It also helps to teach the children how to set up a page—noting the number of the lesson and the date across the top of the page, then skipping a line to begin the work. Also, to have rules about the writing assignments, such as to respect the margin lines, and to keep things neat—no stray marks or doodling, and complete erasure of all mistakes.

As a mother of many children, these books have helped me to simplify instruction without compromising on content.

Here is a link to the Manual of Methods, which helped explain a lot for me.

How to use a McGuffey's, Part 2

2011-05-15T17:18:00.000-07:00

McGuffey's Pictorial Eclectic Primer

Some interesting questions have recently come up.

First, I would like to explain the differences between the two sets of McGuffey's reprints that are now available.

The first is the "original" readers published by Mott Media. Can I say that I love these? They are printed with a sturdy binding, and the pages are thick for longevity and practical everyday use.

I believe it is their simplicity that make these books so endearing. The Primer begins with fairly crude pictures to accompany some basic words that are familiar to young readers. I was put off at first because things were not arranged according to phonics rules, but rather go from the simple to the complex. After using them for a while, I see the genius in McGuffey's thinking. My daughter absolutely loved the lessons, since they didn't seem "dumb" to her. We went very slowly, repeating each portion multiple times over several weeks. The results were quite remarkable—as I now have an encouraged, excited reader/writer on my hands!

The other books are amazing to read as well. My eldest daughter went from barely reading to fluency using the first reader. Subjects covered vary—but they are never trivial or boring. The Professor chose primarily to wisely deal with matters of the heart and morality—even including a story with an orphaned babe being taken in by an old gentleman bachelor! There are lessons with warnings dealing with laziness and the dangers of strong drink as well.

The vocabulary words presented in the first two readers are helpful. Again, there is no particular rhyme or reason to their inclusion, on the surface, but if they are used in oral reading and spelling, along with some basic copy work and dictation, their usefulness soon becomes apparent. It is almost magical to witness how these materials communicate with young fertile minds. I found that the hard work of learning was actually being accomplished by my children, and I only had to present the lessons and enjoy the process as I witnessed the wonderful transformations.

The advanced readers are very challenging reading. All of the readers are extremely Evangelical in nature; confession of sin, salvation through Jesus Christ, etc. are marvelously emphasized. This is continued in the 3rd and 4th books of the series, with apologetics for the Bible also included. My daughter is working diligently through these and finds them replete with nourishment for the mind and soul!

The guide written by Ruth Beechick was very helpful to me, although I found that I had to adjust many of her thoughts and ideas to fit my children and our particular educational circumstances. If I had followed her suggestions verbatim, I would have become quite frustrated.

The 1879 revised edition (above).

The originals are the only ones that can actually be attributed to McGuffey directly. The later versions, and there were many, were revised by different people, even his brother had a hand in some revisions.

Which brings us to the second set of McGuffey readers in publication today. These are commonly called the "revised" set, originally edited in 1879-1881 (there were revisions as late as the early 20th Century, which are hardly recognizable as McGuffey's, but these are not currently in print, that I am aware of). I own two sets of these; one antique (actually printed in 1920), the other a more recent, and less refined, facsimile which I purchased new.

My antique set is so beautiful—the leather bindings are deeply engraved and detailed; the colors of the covers are darker and brighter. The text is slightly raised and one can see the fine lines of the illustrations, as opposed to the muddied ones in the facsimile. Needless to say, the children do not have access to these at all, although I keep them in a slipcover on my desk and refer to them when writing up my lessons.

The 1879 revised edition that was recently printed is the set that my children use. I love these also. It is true that these are the least directly Evangelistic, but they still contain references to God and have many passages from the Bible. The lessons are moral and very engaging—a refreshing change from the meager offerings of these modern times.

The Primer not only uses simplicity, but also helps present the principles of phonics. For instance, the first lessons deal with short "a" words, the next lessons introduce short "o", and so on. This may be somewhat easier for the 21st Century mind to deal with.

The illustrations throughout are delightful. I enjoy viewing them myself—so I know that my children take pleasure in them.

There are not any modern guides to these available, and I personally felt quite lost until I discovered The Eclectic Manual of Methods—this book explains not only how the revised readers were meant to be used, but the arithmetics, grammars, etc. You can download this from the link above, and it can even be printed up and comb-bound. The Ray's and McGuffey's helps I sell on my blog contain a few suggestions that I fashioned after the ideas found in this manual.

Excerpt of a McGuffey Illustration.

Since I am working on the plans for my own young learners, I am currently compiling a general guide to using the McGuffey's series together in an eBook format. I have a few images and some helps in place—but I will include some scripture passage suggestions for the lessons—I hope you will pray for me so that I will be able to find the time to put these resources together for you all! I also have another blog that I am developing which I hope to gradually fill with anything and everything we find interesting that was published during or about the "McGuffey" era of our history, both, The Guide to McGuffey and the blog will be about education and life—McGuffey's World.

I am not sure which set of readers is the best—they both have their merits. I am glad I have both! As of this writing, one could secure the original set, with speller and the Beechick guide, for between $70 - $109 (per set), before taxes and shipping.

The 1879 revised set can be purchased for about $69.

Dollar Homeschool has done a great job compiling all of the McGuffey's Eclectic Series and putting them on CD. The cost, compared to purchasing the actual books, many of which can no longer be obtained or found, is economical (the readers, with speller and extra books, $39). But if one wants to print and bind their own books from the CD, the price becomes the same or much more.

I often find myself lost in these little books—I am so glad I get to do the lessons, too!

I would like to leave you with a quote spoken originally by Dr. David Swing of Chicago and published originally in the book, A History of the McGuffey Readers by Henry Hobart Vail.

Much as you may have studied the languages or the sciences, that which most affected you was the moral lessons in the series of McGuffey. And yet the reading class was filed out only once a day to read for a few moments, and then we were all sent to our seats to spend two hours in learning how to bound New Hampshire or Connecticut, or how long it would take a greyhound to overtake a fox or a hare if the spring of each was so and so, and the poor fugitive had such and such a start. That was perhaps well, but we have forgotten how to bound Connecticut, and how to solve the equation of the field and thicket; but up out of the far-off years come all the blessed lessons in virtue and righteousness which those reading books taught; and when we now remember, how even these moral memories have faded, I cannot but wish the teachers had made us bound the States less, and solve fewer puzzles in 'position' and the 'cube root' and made us commit to memory the whole series of the McGuffey Eclectic Readers. The memory that comes from these far-away pages is full of the best wisdom of time or the timeless land. In these books we were indeed led by a schoolmaster, from beautiful maxims for children up to the best thoughts of a long line of sages, and poets, and naturalists. There we all first learned the awful weakness of the duel that took away a Hamilton; there we saw the grandeur of the Blind Preacher of William Wirt; there we saw the emptiness of the ambition of Alexander, and there we heard even the infidel say, "Socrates died like a philosopher, but Jesus Christ like a God."

How to use a McGuffey's--Part 3

2011-05-14T15:45:00.000-07:00

(This is the 3rd installment in this series that is being published out of order due to the Blogger outage)

Here are some more specifics about using the McGuffeys.

First, let me say that there are as many ways to use the McGuffey readers as there are ways to use hamburger! We can take this versatile meat and make it into patties, or loaves or chop it up and add it to noodles or chips or even put it with gravy over potatoes!

Some folks use the McG's as a read-aloud for inculcating solid moral values, including poetry that reinforces Biblical living. A mother could simply read a lesson aloud and then ask questions of her children, or help them memorize the poetry which is meant to aid in living Biblical principles in everyday life.

Others use them as only a portion of a language arts program, assigning each child to read a lesson, then perhaps a quick oral narration to make sure the task has actually been carried out.

I have chosen to take full advantage of the readers. As I have read through the lessons, I have found them so rich that I didn't want to rush through them. There is so much to take advantage of in each--the vocabulary, spelling, grammar, besides the practical Biblical morality make them comprehensive for me.

These readers are not graded--that is, the number of the reader does not correspond to our current grade levels. This is one reason I so appreciate them. I can put my children wherever they need to be, at their different levels of competency. Each reader was meant to span more than one year, meaning that it is not strange that a child could begin in the middle of a book instead of at the beginning.

These materials were created for the one-room schoolhouse, for frontier and farming children who may not have entered into formal schooling until the ages of 12, or even 19 years of age! It is therefore very possible to use these for the "late bloomers" with great success.

I have assigned a different reader for each child (and made library-like book jackets for them from sheet protectors which I cut open and then folded and taped to fit). They keep these in their "learning satchels", which are actually bits and pieces of small luggage and huge purses that I have collected over the years, many with small pockets for stationery items, etc. With my number of children--7 currently in full learning mode, having two sets has been necessary. The readers are also sold separately, so duplicate copies could be obtained to use with children at the same level, or a single copy could be shared. my own children vary enough for me to be able to use just the two sets.

I take each reader and use the planner page I have created to write out the assignments for the specific lessons. I have created a menu of different options and ideas to choose from to simplify things, which you can find as a pdf and print out here.

As far as the Biblical connection goes, many times the verse will present itself to my mind, then I simply use my concordance and Bible cross-references to find it! But there are actually sites on the Net which locate verses on different topics, such as this topical Bible site.

There are times when a further connection will present itself, such as in the 2nd reader (original) which deals with lions. I felt it important to have my son, who is an artist and nature-lover, to draw a lion for me in his sketchbook. My oldest daughter (at home) is often presented with lessons which are not easily put into narration format, so I have been obliged to teach her a simple essay outline so that she can re-formulate the philosophical ideas presented as an original composition.

I have created a sample picture of what a "sticky note" assignment looks like. I have the children fasten these to their readers to use as a consumable check-list. Since I have a copy of the assignments in my home-school planner, none can claim they couldn't complete their assignments because their notes were lost--I can always write out new ones!

Of course, this method is only for those who are reading competently. The Primer and First Reader lessons are done differently. These require much more participation on my part. At the primer level, especially, a single lesson could take a few weeks, and of course there is little or no narration, and at first even the copy work is nill to none.

The blessing in all of this is that, except for a little bit of planning and follow-up (and the planning part gets easier as you get more used to it), the work is pretty much independent--making it easier for a mom of many to keep track of children that are on so many different levels. This keeps some challenged, others comfortable. My children really enjoy doing their lessons this way--they are independent and have a bit of freedom, but also have the accountability and direction they need.

How to use a McGuffey's, Part 4

2011-05-13T11:56:00.000-07:00

Illustration from the 5th revised reader

(Part 3 of this series has been swallowed by Blogger during the recent outage--I hope to have it recovered, and soon!)

The lessons in these readers are raw material—but not crude material such as concrete meant for sidewalks. The elements are comparable to finest gold, to be used in the formation of a precious life’s character! This is how I look at each portion—I try and use it up, not letting even a drop of it fall to the ground!

The suggestions I make here are only that; suggestions. Every child, every parent, every situation is different, and sometimes my ideas are not as creative as yours might be! Or perhaps you don’t have as much time to devote to the subject presented, or one or more may not even appeal to you, for various reasons. Any alterations you make are perfectly fine, encouraged, even.

I will try and explain how I come up with my ideas by using the first lesson of the third reader (revised).

Lesson I

First of all, it is important to read aloud the vocabulary words provided. “Imprinting” can be practiced here; having the child study the word, then close his eyes until he sees it, then write it from memory. Or, the words can be spelled out loud.

I see that this is a poem. Poetry, especially for those still unsure of themselves, can be difficult. I believe it is important to teach a child how to look at a poem, how it is arranged differently from prose and the different sorts of words that are used. After he/she attempts to read it aloud, I may read it aloud as well—attempting to better convey meaning through correct inflection, etc.

I hope that, with all this, the child will be better able to “retell” what the poem means, but sometimes there may still be some misunderstanding. I attempt to point them to different parts of the poem that will aid them in their understanding.

This particular poem is about a boy who is "pretending" while stuck inside on a rainy day. This may be hard for a young child to grasp at first, so it may take a little pointing out.

The Shepherd Boy

1. Little Roy led his sheep down to pasture,

And his cows, by the side of the brook;

But his cows never drank any water,

And his sheep never needed a crook.

2. For the pasture was gay as a garden,

And it glowed with a flowery red;

But the meadows had never a grass blade,

And the brooklet--it slept in its bed:

3. And it lay without sparkle or murmur,

Nor reflected the blue of the skies;

But the music was made by the shepherd,

And the sparkle was all in his eyes.

4. Oh, he sang like a bird in the summer!

And, if sometimes you fancied a bleat,

That, too, was the voice of the shepherd,

And not of the lambs at his feet.

5. And the glossy brown cows were so gentle

That they moved at the touch of his hand

O'er the wonderful, rosy-red meadow,

And they stood at the word of command.

6. So he led all his sheep to the pasture,

And his cows, by the side of the brook;

Though it rained, yet the rain never pattered

O'er the beautiful way that they took.

7. And it was n't in Fairyland either,

But a house in the midst of the town,

Where Roy, as he looked from the window,

Saw the silvery drops trickle down.

8. For his pasture was only a table,

With its cover so flowery fair,

And his brooklet was just a green ribbon,

That his sister had lost from her hair.

9. And his cows were but glossy horse-chestnuts,

That had grown on his grandfather's tree;

And his sheep only snowy-white pebbles,

He had brought from the shore of the sea.

10. And at length when the shepherd was weary,

And had taken his milk and his bread,

And his mother had kissed him and tucked him,

And had bid him "good night" in his bed;

11. Then there entered his big brother Walter,

While the shepherd was soundly asleep,

And he cut up the cows into baskets,

And to jackstones turned all of the sheep.

Emily S . Oakey.

The assignments from this lesson are meant take a number of days. First, the vocabulary words could be copied, then checked for neatness and accuracy. For some children, especially young boys, the correct penmanship may need to be modeled by the correct pre-writing of the words—or even using a school-type font (found for free all over the Internet) and printing them out with adequate lined spaces provided for the copying to be done.

Another exercise should be the copying of the poem itself. For some, a stanza or two is all that can be expected, if exactness is required (and it should be). For others, more stanzas, and even the whole poem, should be expected.

The memorization of this poem, for me, is not as important as many others in this book. I have not assigned this as memory work for this reason—leaving room in time and “mind space” for more significant works of poetry. However, it would be helpful, especially for the halting reader, to practice this out loud until fluency is reached and have the child read it aloud before his/her siblings and even his father. The sooner a child gets used to this sort of thing, in front of people who appreciate and love him (no critical remarks allowed—only encouragement), the sooner he will get over his fear of this sort of thing.

As for a Bible extension—this one seems hard at first. But Psalm 50:10 comes to mind:

“For every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills,”

A notebook page could be created, with a place for a drawing (my children love, love to draw!). I would make sure and explain why this verse is so significant (this is one of my husband’s favorites—God doesn’t need us to give Him things—He already owns it all!).

John 10:14 is another verse

Or even a common copybook could be used—a drawing could be created on a separate piece of paper, cut out, and then added with a bit of glue.

I suppose one could go even farther and have the child recreate the play described by the boy—but I do not find this necessary. Many times I find the children doing these things on their own!

Lesson II

As with the first lesson, the beginning words should be gone over, then they should be copied.

This one is written in prose and is about snow. There are many possible extensions for this lesson, if desired. The study of snowflakes is delightful, but it doesn’t necessarily need to be pursued, other than to mention a few facts you may have gathered along the way yourself.

I would assign paragraph no. 11 as copywork—noting the use of commas and quotation marks in written conversation.

Psalm 147:16 is a good verse for this lesson:

“He giveth snow like wool: he scattereth the hoarfrost like ashes.”

These assignments are listed in the planning section of my planner, then placed on a sticky-note to be placed on each child's consecutive book.

A veteran mom shares her 20-year experience with McGuffey's

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Tricia over at MommyX12 gives more insight into using the McGuffey readers--she's been using them for 20 years with her 12 children!

Appreciating and using the Original McGuffey Readers

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Primer By Gail Calmerton, William Henry Wheeler

Baby loves Mamma

Mamma loves Baby.

Baby loves Mamma.

I can see Baby. 

I can see Mamma. 

Can Baby see Mamma? 

Baby can see Mamma. 

Can Mamma see Baby? 

Mamma can see Baby. 

Mamma loves Baby. 

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Table of Content

Section 1

A few words on copywork

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From the Indiana School Journal: Volume 30, page 685, c. 1885

I. General Aim.—The aim or purpose of language work is, in general terms, to train the mind. Specifically it is to give the pupil the power of thinking clearly upon any subject, and of expressing his thoughts in good English as he thinks them. It is also the aim to gain the pnwer of interpreting the written page as easily as the spoken language is interpreted.

II. Work Of First Year.—The work of the first year is to be done incidentally in connection with every lesson given. In the first place all errors in oral language should be corrected at the instant they are made if the aim of language work is to be realized. The corrections should be made at first by the teacher; because the pupils at this stage have not sufficient knowledge of language to enable th;m to know what expressions are erroneous and what correct. But the teacher should, during this year, lead them to form the habit of criticising errors, and should require that all criticisms should be made by them to the extent that they are able, in accordance with the principles that the mind grows by self exercise. The regular and general lessons may be made an exercise-ground in language.

The pupil should be led to tell in good English what he knows about a subject, and then by judicious questioning be led to see more. The first aim in this kind of work, should be power to think and knowledge of the object; second, power in the use of language.

Constructive work in language should also be begun in the first year. It should, however, be very simple. The following is the order in which language studies come in the scale of difficulty: (considering language work as a whole, not merely the first year's work,) oral expression, copy-work, dictation, putting the thought of another in the pupil's own language, original composition.

It will be seen from the above that copy-work is the simplest form of written language work. This should be done in the first year, first from black board, because it is easier to take it from the board free from all distracting associations than from the book. The work should be increased in difficulty by taking it finally from the book.

In the entire work of the first year the teacher should be content with a single expression for a single idea or thought, e. g., "The earth is round like a ball," is sufficient, although they might be taught it is spherical, globular, or an oblate spheroid. This is in accordance with the thought that it is the nature of mind in acquiring knowledge (i) observe a particular, (2) many particulars, (3) compare, (4) generalize, (5) classify, (6) name and define.Student.

From The Theory of the School pp.280-281, Howard Sandison, 1886

In the light of these principles the stages in spelling are four.

1. Copy-work, the simplest form of spelling.

2. The reproduction, in dictation exercises, of words previously learned, a more difficult form of spelling.

3. The spelling of the necessary words when the thought is fixed upon the idea which is being expressed, a still more difficult work.

4. The analysis of difficult combinations with a statement of the reasons for their difficulty, a work the most complex of the four kinds.

A pupil should be required to copy accurately and readily before he is given the more difficult work of reproducing from memory. "That which we know thoroughly," was said by Jacotot, " contains the explanation of the unknown." "The end is in the beginning."

Success in teaching spelling depends upon thoroughness. It is not the amount but the manner of doing it. The vague forms are to be made perfectlydistinct forms to the eye by writing before passing to others.

To develop power to reproduce from memory: After a word has been copied from the board, erase it, and have it reproduced from memory. Do the same with two words, three, a short sentence, etc. Regulate the work by the pupil's power to do it accurately. Train him to do exactly what he is asked to do.

When he can copy and reproduce readily and accurately, he is prepared for the spelling of words that are used to express his original thought, i. e., the words used in composition.

During the time the pupil is acquiring facility in copying and reproducing, attention should be given to developing his powers of observation and description by lessons on color, form, animals, etc., and by inducing him to talk freely on all subjects that come within the range of his observation.

After a period of using words in the expression of original thought, the pupil is prepared for the fourth stage—the stage of difficult combinations.

The difficulty of English spelling arises from the variety of combinations employed to represent the elementary sounds. For example, the short sound of e may be represented in eleven different ways, as is shown by the words web, head, again, aesthetics, any, nonpareil, leopard, bury, friend, guess, says.

This difficulty is to be overcome by—

1. Concentrating the attention upon only such words as involve difficult combinations.

2. Mastering tables of equivalents for elementary sounds. For example—

The name sound of a is represented in twelve ways: In many words by a, as ale; by ai, as ail, and by ay, as bay. In a few words by ey, as they; ei. as veil; ea, as break; ua, as guage; ao, as gaol; aa, as Aaron; e and ee, as melee; aye, (meaning ever.)

3. Analysis with open book, in order that both the eye and the ear may be addressed. For example, the word police. The pupil pronounces and spells the word from the book, thus: "Po-lice, police; it is a difficult word because the name sound of e is represented by i, and not by one of the more frequent modes—e, ea, ee, ei, ie. There are twelve ways to represent this sound. The word is more difficult to spell, because the sound of s is represented by ce."

The first stage occupies the first year; the second, the second year; the third, from the beginning of the third year to the end of the seventh year; and the fourth, the eighth year.