Seeking The Old Paths
July 20, 2007
A Proclamation Regarding School Supplies

Posted in Is This Really School

THE PARTIES

1. The Parties of the first part, Phil and Julie, are the happily married father and mother of seven homeschooled children whose principle roles include the training, nurturing, teaching, loving, instructing and managing the aforementioned children in and from the domicile shared by them, the children, four cats, two kittens, one guinea hen, Curious George and Grace the Doll.

2. Parties of the Second Part, Grandma and Meemaw, are the maternal units of Phil and Julie respectively.

BACKGROUND FACTS

3. Both Parties of The Second Part have a history of excess purchases of “Sale” items, and transfer of said purchases to the Parties of the First Part.

4. Such transfers of excess purchases have caused intense emotional distress to each of the Parties of the First Part due to the housing and upkeep of said items, including, but not limited to having to build an addition onto our domicile to house our food as all other available pantries were full of said excess purchase items.

CONCESSIONS

5. The Parties of the First Part concede that the Wal-mart sale flyer has been delivered to our domicile in a timely manner, and that it has been perused by each Party of the First Part.

6. The parties of the First Part concede that they have heretofore allowed the transfer of ownership of 47,000 single subject spiral-bound notebooks in assorted colors, and the accompanying 700 glue sticks per annum by the Parties of the Second Part.

7. The Parties of The First Part concede that single subject notebooks can be very handy around the house, and that ten cents each is an exceptional price.

8. The Parties of The First Part concede that said notebooks come in assorted colors, including green - the favorite color of The Dreamer, and others which are very cute.

9. The Parties of The First Part concede that it is an amusing recreation to buy new school supplies, and that blueberry scented erasers can be therapeutic in a first grade aromatherapy fashion.

10. The Parties of The First Part concede that with due consideration to the vast quantity of children in our family, our educational endeavors employ multitudinous quantities of school supplies.

PROCLAMATION

11. Let the record show that although it is Back-To-School time, the Parties of the First Part do hereby request that no ownership of school supplies be transferred to us by the Parties of the Second Part.

12. Whereas, even with seven children, it would take a month of Sundays, by which time Christ may have already returned, to use 47,000 single subject spiral bound notebooks and the accompanying 700 glue sticks, notwithstanding the 100 that are ingested by the sixth child of the Parties of the First Part, henceforth referred to as Doodle.

13. Whereas, this non-transfer request is to be broadened to include protractors, compasses, erasers (with the exception of blueberry scented), filler paper (standard or college ruled), loose-leaf binders, crayons, colored pencils, plastic pencil cases in assorted colors to match each child’s personality, backpacks, lunch boxes, stickers, markers, rulers, folders, colored paper, workbooks, flashcards, staplers, staple pullers, and various and sundry other staple-related paraphernalia, including but not limited to boxes of staple refills.

14. Whereas, should the Parties of the Second Part be unable to control their desire to purchase during this Back-to School season, the Parties of the First Part would be open to the transfer of ownership of a new school bus to the Parties of the First Part.

15. Whereas, the Parties of the First Part will not at this time be seeking compensatory damages for the psychiatric treatments, twelve step programs or chiropractic care necessitated by the aforementioned intense emotional distress of Article 4.

Signed, Sworn, Testified, Proclaimed and Affidavited Six Ways from Sunday,

Phil and Julie, the Parties of the First Part


 

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November 7, 2006
A Field Trip, An Election And A Tradition

Posted in Is This Really School

For which other activity would I be excited to drag seven small children out on a cold, rainy day? Election Day is one of my favorites of the year since moving to a smaller town, but I can assure you that my giddiness stems not from being thrilled about the candidates from which I have to choose nor a delight in politics in general.  

 

 I am thankful for my heritage as an American, and I want to set a good example for my children. I also believe it would be an affront to the men who died to give me the right to vote for me to neglect this act. These are reasons to vote that, for me, stem from duty. I vote because I should. (Coming in farther down the list is the rule at our house which says, ’If you don’t vote, you can’t complain’. My desire to complain is also a motivator.) 

 

But the reason I get excited about Election Day stems from family tradition. In the Mr. Visionary family, we have Brunswick Stew for dinner every Election Day. In our part of the South, every cold-weather event is celebrated by the making of this stew in 50-gallon cast iron pots stirred with long wooden paddles. Part of the mystique of this meal is it’s being stirred for 12 hours or so by women with names like Sissy, Nita, Becky-Sue and other hyphenated names, which just cannot be re-created at home. So, we happily buy it at the Fire House and have it for dinner (along with corn bread, of course) that very night as we listen for the election results on the radio. Let the record show that any tradition that involves not cooking is good…no matter how I feel about politics. 

 

And so, a few words from the Mr. Visionary Family Children:

 

'I loooove Brunswick Stew, and I love seeing all the neighbors! I'm glad we have a chance and the right to vote. (And it is fun to see inside the Fire Station.) I'm glad we have the right to vote bad people out and good people in. Thank God for our liberty.' ~Literary Lady

 

'When we walked in the Fire Station, Mom went up to a booth and pressed some buttons on the screen to vote for people. She asked a lady to take our picture so we could blog it. Then we went into another building and bought Brunswick stew and baked goods. I'm glad we can choose the people we want to vote for instead of someone else deciding for us. I am so excited when the person who we voted for wins. ' ~Flower Child

 

'I like being in this country because it is easy to vote. People in other countries have to wait in line five or six hours just to vote. In places like Iraq, people who come to power usually fight to come to power, and the people don't even get to vote about it. We are very blessed here because we can actually vote for the people who run our country. God has blessed America.' ~The Engineer

 

'I like being homeschooled so I can go on a field trip to vote with Mom. Even though we have to vote, God really decides who is going to win. I'll be glad when to election is over so our phone won't be ringing off the hook all day. When we got to the Fire Station, there wasn't much Brunswick Stew left in the pot. I love  Brunswick Stew!' ~The Dreamer

 

'I like the truffles that we got at the Fire Station. Mom started pressing different buttons, and every time she pressed a button it went to a different screen. I hope Mom voted for a good person. The lady who was helping Mom get the voting machine started was giving out stickers. And one more thing...I liked the cookies...and I like Brunswick Stew. God bless America.' ~Little Napoleon

 

'I saw Mrs. Clark. She gave me cookies and I looked in the big pot.' ~Doodle

 

'I had a nice nap.' ~Babydoll 

 

 

 

Election Day 2006

 Election Day Field Trip...it's good to be an American.

 

       Election Day 2006 Stirring StewElection Day 2006 Peeking At Stew

Stirring the stew...and Little Napoleon peeking at it cooking.


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July 14, 2006
I Think I'm On To Something (Part Three)

Posted in Is This Really School

 

In our family, especially for the younger children (or even the Mommy), a year is far too big an increment in which to have them operating with even a dim vision of the light at the end of the tunnel. For this reason, we start with the smallest of the biblical divisions of time, in setting goals for our family, the Day.  

Having a loose grasp on the idea of sin nature (and at times an all-too firm grasp on my own sin), I know that I cannot be faithful for longer than a day at a time. Outside of the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit, I cannot even do that much. I don't expect more from my children than I do from myself, so we focus on today 

We utilize (loosely-if we didn't use it loosely, it would make me hyperventilate) a MOTH schedule to organize our day. Built in to the schedule are incentives (and consequences) to be faithful in a timely manner to get our work done (whether that is school work or other work). At our house this is not bribery, nor is it punitive. It involves fun activities to look forward to, as well as the knowledge of what a drag it would be to miss them.  Without being child-centered, it allows the child to make their own choices. It always works that way with the Lord, anyway. Completely separate from any effect on salvation, He often said, do what is right and you will be blessed, go astray, and there will be curses. This goes for us, and the children.

 Our experience has been such that the most effective motivator in getting "school work" done here, is an attitude of being delight directed. In the old days, I thought delight directed was just a catchy phrase that really meant, "I am too much of a sissy to tell my children what they are going to learn". Now, however, I think I get it. Here is a great article  about delight directed learning. 

For us, delight directed learning is about cluing in to what the Holy Spirit is doing in our family at this moment (without losing sight of the long-term vision). It is about figuring out how the Lord has wired this particular child, and believing that it is integral to the Lord's plans for this child. It is focusing the learning around these things. When we do this, the children want to learn and "do school” and the teeth-pulling is non-existent.  

We (prayerfully) set small goals at a time, individualizing the goal for the child when practicable. Instead of, "When we finish this year's work, we will go back to Lancaster on vacation", we have, "When we finish today's work, we can go get in the pool", or "When we get to Chapter X, we'll build that such-and-such to show Dad what we learned".  Our goal is to help them learn to be faithful today. Add enough todays, and we are building habits of faithfulness. As much as possible, we try to plan ahead for time off. I know it is not always feasible, as things come up: sickness, whims, unexpected opportunities. But when we are able to plan ahead, we are more in a mode of "getting ahead so we can___", rather than feeling as if we need to catch up.  

Sounds great, but what does it look like walked-out on, say, an average Wednesday?  That too, is a topic for another post...

 


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July 13, 2006
I Think I'm On To Something (Part Two)

Posted in Is This Really School

Year 'round schooling, huh?

 

What that looks like at our  house had morphed over the years.

 

We are self-employed, and have recently decided to take a cut in income in order for Dad to be home with us more. Dad works away from home four days a week, and we do "school" four days a week. We started out taking off from school work on Fridays, since that was when Dad was home. It rather flopped, as we all ended up treating it like another bummy Saturday, and the house would always get trashed. Onto plan 'B'.

 

Now, on Mondays while Dad is away, we do no official school work, but work hard around the house cleaning up the yard, catching up on any housekeeping projects and laundry,  and making the house spotless (we need this after a full weekend).

 

Tuesday morning, we start school work in a spotless house! This allows us to have very few "chores" during the week, and frees up more time for school and school projects. I think this is my favorite part of this new plan, as a certain member of our family (namely the Mommy) is not able to function in chaos. By the time Friday comes, a built-in reward for getting all our work done, is that as soon as the week's school work and chores are done, the kids are free to go out to work with Dad.  This is a set-in-stone rule that, incidentally, eliminates our getting behind in our school work. Also, having Dad there to witness attitudes and work habits is highly motivating to the kids.  

 

Saturdays we work on the farm, or on the house. (We are trying to fix up our house to sell it.) We are prayerfully trying to find a way to make Sundays truly restful. The truth is, we all think they are a drag right now. With all the rushing around to get there, then sabotaging lunch and nap schedules, it turns out chaotic.  We have been starting a nice dinner on Saturday night to inaugurate the sabbath, which makes it peaceful going into Sunday, but Sunday is still a train wreck.

 

I feel no pressure with this schedule. This, I can do. I think that without the daily pressure of hurrying to get our chores done, and the accompanying training and discipline issues that come up trying to teach three young boys to be responsible makes school enjoyable for us. On school days, we get up actually excited  to get started with school. This is so different from when we would spend the whole morning cleaning, training, and disciplining, then finally start school in the afternoon.

 

This one small change has drastically changed our life. I used to so hate that "Monday morning feeling", that I would get a stomach ache on Sunday nights. Knowing that I had to wake up to a wrecked house, piles of laundry, and  start school again after three days off made me cringe. Now I can say that I love school!

 


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July 12, 2006
I Think I'm On To Something (Part One)

Posted in Is This Really School

If I really believe that home education is a lifestyle of learning, and fully embrace the Deuteronomy 6 lifestyle, this conviction should be reflected in every aspect of the process. Right? Every aspect of the process would include curriculum choices, methods, priorities, and the schedule we utilize.

 

Pondering this last point made us realize that the "taking the summer off" routine didn't really fit our convictions. It just seemed too arbitrary to not be actively focused on learning for ten weeks between June and August.  The increased intensity that would be forced on the rest of the year seemed a bit masochistic as well.

 

In our early days of homeschooling, I was blessed to be around many harried homeschool mothers who complained loudly and frequently about  their constant state of "being behind in schoolwork". Their laments about how they would "still be doing school" during the summer profoundly affected my thinking. My naivety was a genuine help to me as I couldn't help but wonder, why take off the summer if it makes you so stressed? 

 

Since I never could find the chapter and verse that referenced having to take the summer off, I felt the liberty to keep working all year. Our doing so has left me open to accusations of being a slave driver by folks who have no idea what "school" looks like at our house. It has been implied that my children are being mistreated by being denied their opportunity to the rite of passage of idle summer days. 

 

Since we were going to be working all year, I felt the liberty to make the pace more relaxed. Hmmm...What would this look like in our family, and what would be the effect? Only experience would tell, and the fruit would be more life-impacting than I would ever have envisioned...

 

But that is a story for another post.

 

 

 

 

 

 


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