Yep, this is pretty much the extent of our vocabulary curriculum. Actually, I would consider this “extra”. Good conversation is all that’s really necessary for a substantial vocabulary. As someone mentioned in the last comment thread, if parents simply speak deliberately–enunciating clearly and being liberal with the words they use, even with the youngest children, there’s no need, as far as I can see, for a formal vocabulary curriculum.
Remember, your children began learning an entire language at birth, and you were their primary teacher. Their vocabulary continues to grow and I submit it can continue to be taught in the same way you’ve been teaching it since birth. (If your vocabulary is limited, you can learn alongside them with this small idea.)
Words used throughout the normal flow of the day are much more likely to “stick” than 15 random words on a sheet of paper that the student is supposed to memorize. It goes the same with any piece of information: experience creates context in which information is best retained.
So back to our board: this contains our WOD (word of the day). Sometimes I leave it for a couple of days. The challenge is to use the word as often as possible in the correct way. Sometimes we have a contest to see who can find the most uses for it.
Fun, simple, quick.
A good place from which to glean WODs is your read-alouds as you come across words that may not be understood. Context is best.
Relaxed homeschooling, for us, doesn’t mean we don’t sit down and do “school work”. It just means that we also “think outside the classroom” and text books and worksheets are tools, while our education extends far beyond them.
A lifestyle of learning seems to me not only more natural and comprehensive, but easier to implement as a busy mom.
Mary Hood said: “God didn’t create classrooms, He created families.”
The sensibility in that statement meets me as a mom. Mothers are often overwhelmed by the task of homeschooling because they are trying to run both a family and a school.
What if much of the education of children just happened naturally inside family life?
Especially for little ones, there are many things that can be taught in casual conversation, multi-tasking during a chore, etc.
A few random things we do:
Sing learning songs together during chores or play time. We’ve been singing the “Months of the Year Song”. We also enjoy singing Scripture this way as well.
LISTEN. God bestowed the wonderful gift of curiosity into children which, if we are available and ready, can be an important key to knowledge. Hear their questions and be ready to help them find answers, even if you plant seeds by giving them an overview of what you know. I said the word “electricity” yesterday, and my 4-year-old asked, “Who’s ‘Tricity’ “? She wasn’t really interested in electricity, but she listened intently as I explained how it was responsible for turning on things.
Ask questions. Whatever is in front of us, I try to get into the habit of asking, “Do you know why ……?”
Do math. Math is everywhere and it makes better sense when it is taught in the context of real life. Even the rote stuff–multiplication tables, for example, can be practiced while we fold laundry or do dishes together. It just takes remembering to “redeem the time”.
Make good use of writing opportunities. A card or thank-you note makes a great use of time and energy and can double as language, writing and grammar. It makes better sense to have a reason for writing when possible. After all, the only reason grammar, spelling and language matter is so we can communicate our thoughts to others.
Sometimes I just need to revisit the reasons we educate in the first place. Learning can take many forms. Don’t be afraid to tailor it to your season of life, not only giving yourself a break if you can’t duplicate a classroom, but possibly even finding that it’s better that way.
What are some of your “real-life” learning strategies?
“If you read history you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were precisely those who thought most of the next. It is since Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world that they have become so ineffective in this.” C. S. Lewis
Geoff Botkin writes on the societal implications of 50 years on birth control…buckle up.
“Fifty-nine modern nations are plagued by the high-tech benefits of birth-control pills. Each of them have waged a cultural war against babies. Each of them suffer below-replacement birthrates. Each of them face potential extinction. But concerns such as national suffering, dangerous international geopolitics and the disappearance of entire nations are matters that would require mature thinking – something that was successfully bred-out of the American people when they accepted the pill as, in the words of Hugh Hefner, the greatest invention of the 20th century.”
If you don’t like sappy tributes and videos, you may want to move on to another post but I wanted to share a blessing in my life and “immortalize” the tribute in a blog post.
Bria is 16 today.
I loved her from the womb, despite the shame and fear I felt as a single mother. I remember driving everywhere without my seat belt because depression had numbed my desire to live.
But I loved her still, feeling hopeless that God would ever be able to “fix” this mess into which I was ushering her.
I named her “Bria” because it means “strong” and I felt certain strength would be a necessary part of her character. She grew into her name very well.
The tiniest remnants of childhood are giving way to a woman…a remarkable woman.
I never imagined that she would be one of my greatest influences. My own daughter, still very much learning and growing, nevertheless makes me want to be a better woman, a woman more fully devoted to pursing Christ, a woman striving to serve harder and love deeper.
She is more capable than I am, and yet more feminine. It’s a blessed combination of personality–hardy and delicate, always at the appropriate times.
She dons her work boots, her jeans and scarf, and out she goes with a bucket. She man-handles the cow, comes back with the goodness of warm, raw milk, and disappears, returning with her flowing skirt and hair tied up, ready to help where it is needed. I would find out later that she had to repair the fence too.
She believes that life is not worth living without a hearty day’s work and some days she works circles around me.
“I think the downstairs living room needs painted.” One fleeting thought and she’s off to paint it–tape it, move the furniture, climb the ladder to trim, and back down again. Her Daddy said she couldn’t do it in one night, but she did.
If the horses are out while Dad is away, she puts them up. “Let me try, Bria”, I say, not sure how I’m going to fulfill the offer. Her look says it all. It’s not demeaning, but just a protective kind of “I’ve got it, Mom”, glance, full-well knowing she is better than me at that sort of thing.
(She knew from a very young age that her mother was broken. She felt an innate need to protect me then. And though my Father has done tremendous healing, she still tries.)
She gets things done. In an amazing kind of way–one of the many things I love about her. It’s just part of who she is. I call her the “Tasmanian House Cleaner”.
Don’t pity her; she hates that.
She wants to be her siblings’ best friend, though we struggle just like any family who lives inside flesh-covered houses. She takes them for walks,tries to interest them in the Greek period she’s studying, and usually resists tattling.
“Whose plates do I need to get?” I ask after church. “Yours. I’ve already got the kids’.”
She washes all our clothes.
She is still catching up to her womanhood, but she’s not far behind.
She loves walking in the woods, reading, nestled between hay, taking pictures, researching interesting subjects, playing music, watching movies, making things beautiful, planting vegetables, blogging, sewing.
She handles a gun with the same precision as her knitting needles.
There’s a beautiful dress hanging on the form in her room that she sewed. I break out in hives if I have to sew anything beyond a hem.
When she was younger, she got upset because a boy flipped her pony tail; she thought her purity may have been compromised
She prays for a husband that loves to work. She prays for a husband that loves the Lord. And contrary to critics’ assumptions, she prays for a husband that loves children–house fulls.
She cries. She gets frustrated. She wrestles with wrong attitudes.
(She just walked up modeling her new “invention”…a split skirt especially tailored for horse-back riding. It’s actually really cool!)
She’s of the romantic variety…flowing things are her thing.
She is a sinner saved by grace, with the same struggles as anyone. And at the same time, the Lord has seen fit to make her a vessel of grace poured out on my life and I am daily humbled by this gift.
Gary Thomas’ article “Anyway Love” tells of a woman whose husband had continually disappointed her with his insensitivity. Even after she gave him books about “how to love your wife” he didn’t change.
Gary recounts what she said:
“I’ve realized this is never going to change,” she confessed. “But I love him anyway.”
Then Gary’s response:
“That last statement of Meg’s, “but I love him anyway,” is one of the most profound theological statements on marriage I’ve ever heard. Most of us base love on because, not on anyway. I love you because you’re good to me. I love you because you’re kind, because you’re considerate, because you keep the romance alive.”
He pointed to Jesus’ words about what makes a child of God different from one who is not. How piercing this thought was to me! I have read this verse numerous times, and I’ve never really thought about it in the context of marriage. There is no “credit” for loving a spouse because they love us. We only get credit when we “love anyway” a spouse who doesn’t deserve it! Yes, unfortunately, there are times when a spouse becomes an “enemy”. And even then, we are instructed how to live:
“If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even ’sinners’ love those who love them. And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even ’sinners’ do that….But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked.” Luke 6:32-36
I thought of the marriage of my friend, each blaming the other for failed hopes and unfulfilled responsibilities. “I can’t love him because he doesn’t _____.” And so they’re walking away, unwilling to “love anyway”.
Christians have been called to many hard things through history. Perhaps even harder than a “one-time choice of martyrdom” is the choice to do hard things day in and day out.
And yet, what difference it would make in our marriages…what difference it would make as a living picture of Christ’s love for us. And if we should even suffer? Can we believe that it’s worthy of rejoicing if we suffer for doing what is right?
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homeschooling | Word Warrior | 
March 9, 2010 11:59 pm | 
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