Our Focus in this e-zine is: Perseverance

Each Keep on Track Issue endeavours to provide the reader with practical advice and food for thought.

The layout of the E-zine is as follows:

• Greetings from Marianne
• News
• Considering our Goals
• Curriculum Application
• Organizational Tips
• Coming soon

Greetings from Marianne

Many of you are on this path because you have been convicted that Christian home education is God's will for your family. If you have that conviction, then you know that God will equip you for the task, however daunting it feels at times. You know that you can ask God for wisdom as it says in James 1:5-6, "If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of sea, blown and tossed by the wind." You also know that as a Christian you need to "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight." Proverbs 3:5-6.

If you are lacking the conviction, then seek God and discern His will for your life and your family. Study God's Word for guidance, pray, seek the counsel of others, obey the direct commands of scripture and follow the call of God in your life. Children are a heritage and a blessing from the Lord and we need to consciously and thoughtfully consider how we are to lead and educate the children He has entrusted to our care.

News

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Considering the Goal of Perseverance

I chose perseverance not only as a goal that I can see I need to work at in my life, but one which is so extremely important for us to pass on to our children. If I have difficulty in persevering when I'm feeling a bit down, overwhelmed, or tired and give in so easily, and I'm an adult, this is obviously a life-long trait which needs to be built into our character from an early age. Our culture doesn't encourage perseverance. As long as you are enjoying what you are doing, you are encouraged to keep going, but if you don't like the boss you can toss in the job, drop out of a course, and avoid the difficulties you might be facing.

Even in homeschooling, it is easy to give in to our children's whines.
"I don't want to play soccer anymore - it's too cold!"
"I hate music practice! I don't want to learn the piano anymore."
"Why do I have to learn spelling? It's so boring!"
And then as parents, we become confused. We hear a persuasive voice telling us to back out of our children's lives and let them decide where they are headed. Let them pursue their interests (as long or as short that may be), follow their hearts, develop the skills that they deem necessary to walk in their own way. The philosophy of Rosseaux is in our culture telling us that our children would be far better off, if we just left them alone.

So, how do we face this all? Do we strap them to their seats in front of endless books and meaningless worksheets, hoping to develop diligence? Of course not! At times, it is a difficult line to work out. Yes, I want to develop perseverance in my child. No! I don't want them to sit purposelessly behind a desk hoping that they will learn staying power.

So, how? Firstly, I need to recognize that not all their education will be "fun." I'm not about to apologize for that! Struggling through a maths problem, and conquering it, can give any child an enormous sense of satisfaction. If our children never struggle, they will miss out on the unique sense of achievement and accomplishment which follows a difficulty. Have you ever felt the satisfaction of a "good days work" after hard, physical labour? Well, our children should have opportunities to experience this as well - not only physical labour (which is also crucial), but mental labour as well.

Secondly, I need to take care that the work they do has purpose. Nobody likes slaving away at a meaningless task. Give your children real things to do - writing letters or lists; making a family newspaper; writing a website or webpage; playing an instrument with other members in the family, in a band, in church or busking; maintaining a vegetable patch; finding out the best supermarket specials; playing a game until the end, even if they are losing; or even, being in charge of pairing socks in the household. I'm not a fan of workbooks simply because I don't want to waste their time - as though we need to fill up their day!

Thirdly, I need to insist that they complete what they start. If they have signed up for a season with a soccer club, they need to show commitment and a team spirit, even if they are cold, tired or sick of losing. It takes perseverance for the parents too - we brought five children to soccer every Saturday this year. If they begin a vegie patch, they need to water and weed it through the season. Of course, there are some things that are passing phases and it doesn't matter if they tinker for a while with one idea and leave it for another. But, if responsibility comes with certain hobbies, it is important that our child learns to commit through the good and the bad times. Don't you love that colloquiallism: "stick-to-it-iveness."

Fourthly, I need to stand by them, being their coach and cheerleader. I need to urge them to face the difficulty and to encourage and reward them with praise for their efforts. We don't want to set an impossible goal for them to reach, but we do want them to rise to challenges which are set before them. This will develop strong qualities in them.

Fifthly, I need to be an example to my children. I need to show that the battle to give in, is just as real in my life. Children love to hear stories from our own experience, so we should share difficulties we have faced and how by God's grace, He has helped us, guided us and walked with us. We also need to show stick-to-it-iveness in our lives.

The danger of allowing our children to make all their choices, based on their whims at all times, is the same danger that you and I face. I wouldn't mind going out for coffee with friends when life is messy and the house is in chaos; I may even think of sending them to school at times and enjoying six or more hours of quiet and peace; I would hide away in my study and write a website about homeschooling without doing "it"; I'd have more take-away meals and moan about not having the money to employ someone to iron my clothes; I wouldn't be quick to make a meal for a friend or provide hospitality for the new visitors at church. Yes, if I could make all my own choices depending on how my day is, I would be indulging my selfish tendencies and living life exactly on my own terms, avoiding all hardships. It may sound tempting - but it's not real and it isn't the way God wants us to live. He calls us to persevere.

Read for yourself the words from Hebrew 10:32-39.

Perseverance helps us to improve ourselves and bring benefit to others.

Curriculum Application

Science
Feats of pereverance - bridges, tunnels, pyramids, dams,
Build a structure with popsticks;
Design and create a balancing mobile
Olympic training
Make your own mini olympics
Handicapped people - how they overcome their handicap

Literature
The Little Engine that Could
The Incredible Journey
Greater Than Gold - Eric Liddell
Heroes of the Faith Books

Writing

The Hare and the Tortoise - Aesop's Fables
- Outline the fable; Make your own fable of perseverance by changing the characters
-Copy a paragraph from the fable. Reduce the fable to a key word outline; Now, re-write the paragraph and dress it up with adjectives, adverbs, prepositional phrases and so on.
-Make a drawing of the fable - draw a map of the race;
-Make a medal for the Tortoise
-Make an advertisement using the fable

Copybook -
Copy this poem:
The fisher who draws in his net too soon, Won't have any fish to sell;
The child who shuts up his book too soon,
Won't learn any lessons well.

If you would have your learning stay,
Be patient- don't learn too fast;
The man who travels a mile each day,
May get round the world at last.

From McGuffey's Reader.

Another wonderful poem to listen to, read aloud and memorize is "Carry On!" by Robert Service

It’s easy to fight when everything’s right,
And you’re mad with thrill and the glory;
It’s easy to cheer when victory’s near,
And wallow in fields that are gory.
It’s a different song when everything’s wrong,
When you’re feeling infernally mortal;
When it’s ten against one, and hope there is none,
Buck up, little soldier, and chortle:

And so in the strife of the battle of life
It’s easy to fight when you’re winning;
It’s easy to slave, and starve and be brave,
When the dawn of success is beginning.
But the man who can meet despair and defeat
With a cheer, there’s the man of God’s choosing;
The man who can fight to Heaven’s own height
Is the man who can fight when he’s losing.

There are some who drift out in the desert of doubt
And some who in brutishness wallow;
There are others, I know, who in piety go
Because of a Heaven to follow.
But to labor with zest, and to give of your best,
For the sweetness and joy of the giving;
To help folks along with a hand and a song;
Why, there’s the real sunshine of living.

Famous Speeches to read and memorize:
The Gettysburg Address by Abraham Lincoln;
"We shall Fight in the Fields and in the Streets" by Winston Churchill;
"I have a dream" by Martin Luther King Jr.
"I decline to accept the end of man." by William Faulkner

Maths
Work through a difficult problem without complaining; Then do another one, even harder
Cook some biscuits or a cake - but increase the recipe. Double the recipe for younger children; Give a harder challenge to older children - increase it by 75%, 33%..
Build tangrams for eachother to make;

Arts and Crafts
Do some Origami Art - increase difficulty
Make an enlargement of a picture by overlaying it with a grid and copying it on to a larger sheet of paper; Design and sew an outfit; Hand sewing; Learn a new craft; Knit a scarf;

Music
Learn the recorder
Play a duet on the recorder with a friend/sibling/parent
Practice your instrument every day for a month - Keep a record of your perseverance
Make a tape of your improvements over this time

Excursions

Visit some sites which display engineering feats in your area;
Visit a building site
Visit a natural history museum which shows the perseverance of animal and plant classification

Practical Living

Make and maintain a vegetable patch
Give sole responsibility to your child in certain chores -
pairing socks for the whole family; baking the biscuits; cleaning toilets; sweeping the patio; setting the table; bringing the washing to the laundry; send out cards for birthdays
Write a monthly family newsletter and mail it to grandparents; Write the weekly shopping lists
Mow the lawn;
Bike repair;

Organizational Tips

This is an important tool I used when creating my Homeschool Planner. Perhaps in consultation with you, we can make Your Homeschool Planner to suit your family, your children and your homeschool requirements. Check it out. Building a year Homeschool Planner will save you heaps of time. Rather than spending time each week thinking of new menus, making a grocery list, creating schedules, adding in subject areas, and printing out a plan, you, with Your Homeschool Planner, can open up to the relevant week, check out the appropriate pages already made for you and then fill in certain details. Each week time will be saved!

Coming soon...

I will be adding more to Your Homeschool Gallery
Soon you will be able to write and read Curriculum Reviews, the biggest benefit of homeschooling for your family, and add your children's masterpieces to the Gallery!! Won't they love to see their project, their photo, their writing on their own web page!