Teen Guide to Homemaking

A number of years ago I picked up a stack of books at a thrift store for about $.25 a piece. Among them, and much to my amazement, was a textbook which was entitled, Teen Guide to Homemaking, a book originally published in 1961 (more than 52 years ago) and written for home economics classes in schools. Without giving it any further thought, I placed it on the bookshelf along with numerous other titles.

Before long, it began popping up all over the house; I found it under beds, on the coffee table, under the pillows on the couch. Even today, this is one of the most popular books in our home library.

The titles of the chapters and the information covered are simply fascinating to my children; making friends, choosing clothing and hair styles, personal grooming and general health (such as bathing and nutrition), cooking, decorating, sewing, entertaining and family relationships. Basically, it is about growing up, and, just like most children who are not being brain-washed into thinking that life exists in a cubicle, they are engrossed with the subject!

Of course, this book was not written from a Christian perspective, and I am now very conscious of the "social engineering" that was going on between the lines. Still, there was enough Christian influence still in existence so that there was even a photo included of a young lady holding a Bible.

As a homeschooling mother, I have so often felt apologetic about taking as much time to teach our children about practical living as we do about the essential school subjects. Transcripts don't have slots to record all of the best learning that really goes on in a young person's life.

But there is so much more required of us than just gaining a degree or forming a career path. The total of our lives is much richer than what we do; it is who we are and what we offer to others that counts the most. 

Homemaking is the best place to put all that we learn into beneficial practice. By thinking of our homes as a microcosm or miniature community in the scheme of a much larger design, we can use every discipline to create a wholesome atmosphere in which human beings can thrive, and, more importantly, where seeds can be planted and nurtured until there is fruit for God's Kingdom and glory!

That wonderful little book gave me quite a lot to think about indeed.
 

Older Children and Home Learning

Sometimes I think we get it too much of a hurry for our kids to grow up. We prod and push them to smile, to crawl, to walk, to ride a bike.

But some children just will not cooperate with our schedules. Children who grew up to be radio broadcasters or famous speakers sometimes did not speak until they were toddlers. I once had an athletic friend who did not walk until she was three-years-old.

There are some thoughtful leaders, the types that have made famous speeches and been vastly influential for good, who have never enjoyed talking, at least not shallow chit-chatting.

There was a time when being thoughtful and quiet was an appreciated character trait. Young people were encouraged to take time to think before speaking, not to jump into a conversation too quickly, not to be flighty or too social.

I used to fret about how I needed to drum up "opportunities" for my youngsters to have "social experiences," partly believing the lie that home-schooled children aren't outgoing enough, but I have since repented.

I have learned to relax and trust; trust that God knows His times, trust that my children are maturing at their own rate. 

Without the outside pressure to perform in public, they have learned to listen to God, and have learned to tune in to find out who they are.


One child spent hours upon hours studying the history of "costume" and how to make patterns from scratch and sew beautiful clothing. She grabbed Harvey's and Pinneo's grammars and plunged herself deeply into language arts, writing page after page of poetry. She went on long walks to the library and bought classics to read such as Cervante's Don Quixote. She played with her younger siblings and created all sorts of pastry treats in the kitchen. She studied chemistry and anatomy so that she could learn everything available to aid her in her artistic pursuits. And she drew and drew, fantastic scenes and lovely ladies.

Another child has spent time building up his body; he regularly does calisthenics, goes on long morning runs, and works in the yard without being told. The rest of his time he spends reading theology books and thinking deep thoughts about God. He will spend hours on his face praying, and then, when the time is right, he will share his love of the Master in his booming voice with the enthusiasm of an 18th century evangelist. Funny, but we never assigned any of these books to him, and we never required him to do exercises or run, he just decided that these activities would be worthy of his time.


According to Dr. Raymond Moore, the Smithsonian Institute studied the common life influencing factors of twenty world-class geniuses and found them to be:

1) Warm, loving educationally responsive parents and other adults.
2) Scant association outside the family.
3) A great deal of creative freedom under parental guidance to explore their ideas, drilling as necessary.

Instead of being concerned for my children and their social life, I am relieved, thankful, hopeful, overjoyed!

When our oldest daughter at home did eventually take some college courses, she was a little bit intimidated at first, but it did not take very long until she realized just how blessed she was to have had all of that time to explore on her own. There are some things that she is learning that have helped her, but she is advanced in most of her classes, because she took advantage of her time and didn't just explore, but honed her skills until they were finely tuned. 

Besides, she really has no trouble being friendly, but in a very grounded, self-assured way. Unlike most young people, she knows who she is, she has a close walk with God, and this has stabilized her. Certainly, she is still discovering new things about herself in her relation to life, but not with the uncertainty of most people her age.

She has learned the lessons of being by herself and enjoying it, something that many adults have never had the time to do. 

Homeschooling When Sickness Strikes

A tiny girl's interpretation

There are times when everyone is so ill that all you can do is batten down the hatches and ride out the storm, and I have written of such an event on my other blog, Large Family Mothering, in case you are interested.

But there is something about having daily learning times that can make everyone feel better. For one thing, learning something new and interesting can keep everyone's minds off of their discomfort.

This is why we have decided to turn these "unavoidable delays" into times of "relative" enjoyment.

I have found that it's great to gather in one room together under some cozy blankets and read a book aloud; something that will keep all of the children's attention and still give us reasons to have some lively discussions.

This last bout of illness caused us to read part-way through Jean Fritz' book, Bully For You, Teddy Roosevelt. This man was larger-than-life, and gave us much to think about. I had also reserved and picked up numerous other biographical books On Theodore Roosevelt from the library, so I had each of the children sketch from the books as I read (one of the defining characteristics of our family is that almost everyone loves to draw).

Pretty good for 9-years-old!

After we tired of reading about this wild president, I cracked open Ray's Intellectual Arithmetic and everyone took turns figuring some problems. I jumped around in the book to accommodate all of the different levels of math we have going on. Using this book is like playing mental games with the children, and there is usually a lot of fun and laughter!

Then we finalized our morning with the reading of a few chapters from King Alfred's English, by Laurie J. White, and this time I had them practice taking notes. Then I gave them some time to write a brief narration of what we had covered, while I whipped up a stomach-friendly luncheon of soup and tea. Over lunch we had time for everyone to do a short presentation, which wrapped up the morning quite nicely and gave us all another opportunity for discussion.

Teddy as a Rough Rider

Our regularly scheduled plans for McGuffey's, Ray's and note-booking were not at all missed, and the children's education did not suffer, it was blessed in a greater way!

"Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good."

The atmosphere of learning

There has been a lively discussion going on at Generation Cedar all about getting away from boxed-in thinking when it comes to education.

This was a novel idea to me, about 24 years ago. Today, it is second-nature. Our family has been so far removed from "schoolism" that it seems foreign to us.

For one thing, we don't grade any work. There is only one standard for anything that we do--it's either our best, or it is unacceptable. This is not the same as perfectionism. Some of endeavors are not perfect, but they are still our best effort, and so that makes them "A+" work. Actually, we simply consider that "anything that is worth doing is worth doing right."

High school around here looks very different from the normal course followed in schools. My children are learning most things at a college level, not because I have decided that I want them to be over-achievers or gain a place at Harvard, but because they have been given a chance to specialize in their areas of gifts and interests.

This day was an example.

After our time of Bible study, lively discussion, and singing with Daddy, we all emerged from our large master bedroom into a workshop of ideas. While we were serving and eating our meal, 10-year-old Olivia and I discussed the book, The World in Your Lunchbox which I had checked out for her from the library. Before I had finished eating, Ryan was showing me photos of Art Nouveau glass work, comparing Tiffany (American) with  Galle (European), and telling me about how Tiffany has changed over the years.

Meanwhile Ellie was waiting to discuss with me the differences between Mucha and Klimt, two other artists from the Art Nouveau era. Then Ryan, Sarah, Ellie and I all had a round-table about how this same era included the Arts and Crafts Movement, and how they were intertwined. Along the way we discussed the hypocrisy of how "distortion" is called art, while realism is called "illustration," which was snobbery against realists such as N. C. Wyeth, whom my children adore.

Mucha

Klimt

N. C. Wyeth

Immediately afterwards, Sarah came rushing excitedly from the loft office where Joshua had been researching Indian wars in America, and specifically in Colorado. We all rushed to the computer where we studied a map of all of the Indian wars in North America, and tallied them by state. It was interesting to note that California only had one, Texas not much more, but Arizona had the most!

My older children are used to learning things on their own, because we have all enjoyed learning for its own sake for many, many years. Reading, writing and arithmetic are often addressed separately, but only in small doses. The rest of our time we deeply imbibe the sweet waters of exploration and discovery.

I've graduated enough children to know that this method is the best. The fear is that they will not be prepared for "real jobs", but just the opposite has been true. Not only have they been capable of holding down regular jobs, but our emphasis on chores and other duties around the house has helped them to become the most faithful and best employees everywhere they have worked. They have also gone on to land jobs for which their years of specialization at home have made them more qualified than those who had PhD's in their areas of expertise.

Most folks may start out with this philosophy, but then have their children "buckle down" and study the regular high school choices in the end, mostly because we are intimidated by what is "expected". I just don't have the heart to shut down the real, enthusiastic learning that goes on here everyday.

This blog, which I understand is written by an ivy-league college professor, gives further insight into such matters (not necessarily written from a Christian standpoint).

The Courage of Sarah Noble{photo}

My tiny daughters and I have been reading through the book, "The Courage of Sarah Noble". 

I have read it before to the older children, but I just had to share it with the little ones coming up. Faith is 8 years old now, just like Sarah in the story, so she really identified with the main character. 

This book is not just for small people, but for us adults as well. Sarah says to herself over and over, "Keep up your courage, Sarah Noble." This is a good reminder for all of us, especially as we go through challenging times. 

This is a very Christian book, as the main character is left by herself with nothing to do, so she reads her Bible, but can't quite decide which is her favorite story! When Indians show up, she wishes that God would talk to her like He did to Samuel, when suddenly she knows what to do; she reads the Bible aloud to them! 

The book was so impacting that I knew I had to find a way to extend it, so we took an old apple box, some paper, markers, and a stapler, and created a diarama. Then  the  little girls took turns explaining the book and their artistic creation to the whole family. 

Here is the completed diarama--put together in about 20 min.!

This book is terrific for those who are just stepping into reading, since it is so simply written, yet still very engaging. I highly recommend it!

Art study and timelines

A reader asked me some good questions, and I thought my answers would benefit others.

Q. I've been reading lots of your stuff and really enjoying it! What book do you recommend for using for showing classic works of art? I'd love to have a big one that I can rotate through that shows various artists, genres, etc.

Also, any recommendations for a timeline? As we read various books either written in other time periods or about other time periods, I'd love to be able to place that on a timeline for my kids. Google overwhelmed me.....

A. Because we are a very artistic family, we have numerous books filled with classic art all over our home--all collected at various discount bookstores, garage sales, thrift stores and the like. I am not sure I could recommend one specific book--I even did a little research in this line and did not come up with one single volume that would cover just about everything! Amazon has a number of books by Usborne that reportedly contain vivid reproductions of famous artists. Here is a Squidoo page that contains numerous references.

Harmony Art Mom has a number of resources available, many for free.

As for the timeline...it just depends on you and your situation. I have seen them done all sorts of ways. I've begun many, never completed them, though. Some families swear by them and it is an integral part of what they do daily, which sounds like fun. My kids have an uncanny way of keeping everything straight in their own minds--they seem to hang things on special events in history that they find significant, and then reference everything around them--I often find them thinking out loud and putting things in place, "So that was after the Revolutionary War, but before the War of 1812," which is what most of us do, I believe. I tried feeling guilty that I did not keep up with a timeline, but then I realized that I was always the one doing the work, and the children have to think more when they don't have a timeline on the wall, so I have decided to just relax!

Having said all this, Homeschool Bits offers a number of timeline resources that are either free, or nearly free, on Currclick that might keep a mother from searching all over for images, etc.