New Curriculum
01 Jan 2012 1 Comment
in Adventures at Home, Teach Them Diligently
I am writing my own curriculum for school this year. It is going to be based on the 10 commandments as well as our personal goals for what we want our children to learn – mostly having to do with character and life skills. We will also include math. Each month we will study a different commandment and incorporate all of our other schooling using a unit study type method. Since there are 10 commandments and 12 months, we will take an entire month to study the spring Feasts and then again in the autumn a month to study the fall Feasts.
Our approach to education is very non-traditional. Our ultimate goal is to have children with a Hebrew or Biblical worldview, who will grow up to know YHVH, desire to please Him in every area of their lives, have the ability to effectively communicate about Him to others and have the skills to provide for their families. Our goal is NOT college. See our post about college. The only exception at this point is if one of our sons has a desire to be a lawyer or a chiropractor, but we do not see much purpose for it otherwise at this point. Revised: no exceptions. For our daughters, we believe the highest calling is to be a mother and until then, our desire is for them to minister in our home under their father’s protection.
Here is a glimpse of what we will be covering:
- We will begin this week with the 1st Commandment.
- In the next month: The 2nd Commandment
- The month after that: The 3rd Commandment, Purim (Adar 14)
- In the first month according to YHVH, study the spring feasts, (begin night before Nisan 14)
- The second month: The 4th Commandment
- The third month: The 5th Commandment
- The fourth month: The 6th Commandment
- The fifth month: The 7th Commandment
- The sixth month: The 8th Commandment, prepare in our hearts for the Autumn Feasts
- The seventh month: The Autumn Feasts beginning on the evening before Tishri 10
- The eighth month: The 9th Commandment
- The ninth month: The 10th Commandment, Hanukkah (Kislev 25)
Here are a few more of things we will teach alongside the commandments:
Years 9, 10 & 11 (For our 10 year old daughter)
FOUNDATIONS:
Continue reading through Scripture, add Proverbs
CHARACTER:
- Character Clues game
- Assisting elderly without looking superior
- Punctual, dependable, initiative
SOCIAL STUDIES:
- Draw maps, give directions, get around town, avoid bad neighborhood
- Study Home State
- Visit State Capital
- You Can Change the World
- God’s Awesome Acts curriculum
CREATION:
- Nature Notebook begins – hikes, sketching, rubbing, photography
- Science Videos
- Considering God’s Creation curriculum
- Major study in Astronomy
- Go to a museum – planetarium
READING:
- Write letters and emails, then roots, poetry
- Parts of sentence, punctuation, capitalization
- Begin book list
- Learning Language for Elementary 1 & 2, Wordsmith Apprentice, Word Roots Workbook, Editor in Chief Beginning, 1 & 2
- Sequential Spelling 3
ARITHMETIC:
- Memorize tables then averages, charts, graphs, fractions, area, squared, round off
- Teaching Textbooks 5
ARTS:
- Drawing lessons
- Keep listening to composers
PHYSICAL:
- Tread water 30 min, float for an hour
- Visit fire station, police station and hospital
MEMORY:
- Tell a joke or story properly
LIFE SKILLS:
- Volunteering (soup kitchen, nursing home, shoveling for neighbors, etc)
- Speak in front of small group √
- Breakfast, dishes
- Basic typing
- Basic shop, basic home-ec
- Budgeting
- Gardening, basic animal husbandry
Years 12 – 14 (for our 13 year old daughter)
FOUNDATIONS:
- Continue as above, add psalms
CHARACTER:
- Plants Grown Up/Polished Cornerstones
- learn to have a 15 minute conversation without mentioning self
- develop a 3 hour attention span
- Concentrate in loud environment
SOCIAL STUDIES:
- Read map
- World history (kings, chronicles, etc)
- Draw detailed maps
- Operation World/Window to the World
CREATION:
- Science Reports and Nature Notebooks – theories, experiments, etc
- Anatomy
READING:
- Story writing
- Main idea
- Wordsmith Craftsman, Learning English From the Roots Up, Editor in Chief 3 & 4
ARITHMETIC:
- Pre-Algebra Teaching Textbooks
ARTS:
- Music theory and lessons
- First intense language course
PHYSICAL:
- Survival skills – water, edible food, hike all day. Stay warm and dry
- Hunting, trapping, tanning?
- Babysitting
- What to do if you are sick
- Proficient typing
Year 15 (for our 15 year old son)
FOUNDATIONS:
- Continue as above, add Ruth, Esther, etc
CHARACTER:
- Integrity, Proverbs study
SOCIAL STUDIES:
- US History timeline, family roots
- Missionary biographies
CREATION:
- Biology √
READING:
- Literature and reports
- 1 or 2 mini research papers
ARITHMETIC:
- Teaching Textbooks Algebra
ARTS:
- Proficiency in Music
- Go to the Messiah and one drama
- Course 2 in language
- Illustrating
LIFE SKILLS:
- Basic first aid
- Planning for home economics
- Advanced shop, gardening and animal husbandry
- Web site creation
- Banking
- Intensive animal husbandry
PHYSICAL:
- Plan a camping trip
MEMORY:
- If by Rudyard Kipling
Year 16 (for our 16 year old son)
FOUNDATIONS:
- Continue as above, add epistles
SOCIAL STUDIES:
- Biblical government
- Plan a trip
- More biographies
CREATION:
- Choose science specialty (for this son, engineering and mechanics)
- 4 mini Research papers
ARITHMETIC:
- Teaching Textbooks Geometry
ARTS:
- Conversational language
- Teach music to other family members
LIFE SKILLS:
- Self defense
- Driving, basic auto care
- Start a business
The Greatest Commandment
07 Aug 2011 Leave a Comment
in Teach Them Diligently, The Living Word Tags: ffoz, first fruits of zion, the greatest commandment, torah portion
Thought from FFOZ (First Fruits of Zion). I especially enjoyed this Torah Portion!
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My Job Chart
14 Feb 2011 2 Comments
in Adventures at Home, Keeper at Home, Teach Them Diligently Tags: chore charts, chores, my job chart, online job chart
My mom sent me a link to this FREE online application today called “My Job Chart” and I checked it out – it’s great! It was very easy to set up and my children each looked at it and it’s easy for them to understand too!
I can list all of our daily, weekly, monthly and extra jobs, according to each person, and as they check them off they earn points. I then determine what they can use their points for:
- ice cream treat
- a day to sleep in
- someone doing their job
- computer time
- a book from Amazon
- etc
I can also determine how many points they need for each reward.
There is a charity option, so what I did with that, is made it mandatory. Every time they pout, argue or whine, they have to give 25 points to the Poor. When they don’t get along with each other, they have to give to the Poor. Every time they say they are “starving” they have to give to the soup kitchen charity. However, they can also voluntarily give to the Soup Kitchen. =)
I added lots of extra jobs like having a cheerful attitude all day, finishing their jobs without being reminded, doing someone else’s job for them (they both get points) or learn a hard song on their instrument, or memorize all of the times tables (for the younger ones).
I also added some great rewards they can earn, such as 2 hours of reading or 30 minutes of email. There is an option for time with dad and mom, but I think I want that to be something they don’t have to earn.
This is so much fun! I’m looking forward to seeing sparkly clean bedrooms and cheerful children!
Check it out! My Job Chart
Family Driven Faith
11 Dec 2010 2 Comments
in Consider This, Mission of Motherhood, Teach Them Diligently Tags: christian parenting, family driven faith, godly parenting, parenting, raising godly children, Voddie T. Baucham Jr
The title of this post is also the title of a book I am presently reading. The author Voddie T Baucham Jr. is very easy to follow and the book is excellent! It was recommended to me by a good friend who is also a reader of this blog. (Thank you, Mark)
I have had this book on my “to read” list, along with dozens of other books and this week I decided I am going to just read it. Wow! Right away in the first chapter Mr. Baucham gets down to business, talking about the very, very disturbingly high percentage of our young people who leave home and shortly afterward, they leave Christianity. The remaining pages of the chapter describe the reasons this takes place and he presents a very compelling case. Friends, the failure rate for modern american christianity is from 70-88%. This is disgraceful! It is NOT a normal accepted teenage behavior for our children to go through rebellion and we should not expect it or accept it. Would we accept it if our youth had an 80% failure rate in any area of their education? sports? music? Why have we come to even expect it in this most important area of our lives???
Voddie challenges us as parents, with a special emphasis on fathers, to take a serious look at our own lives and priorities to both correct and prevent this same thing from happening in each of our homes. This is a very sobering and desperately needed book.
If you are seeking to raise children who desire above all else to follow the Supreme God, Creator of the Universe and walk in His ways…
If you are willing to be challenged to the core and hear some hard things…
If you are open to making lasting changes in the way you parent, the way you think and even in the way you live…
I highly recommend this book!
You can find it on Amazon at the following link for only $13.59:
Family Driven Faith: Doing What It Takes to Raise Sons and Daughters Who Walk with God
2010 Curriculum
01 Sep 2010 Leave a Comment
in Teach Them Diligently Tags: curriculum, home education, home study, homeschool, teaching
We learned a lot of things over the past few months, and now it’s time to switch from summer school back to our routine school schedule.
Here is what we did over the summer:
Gardening, Swimming, Basic Horse Care, Airplane motors and assembly, Music Composition, Culture of Music, Filming, Music, Psalm 119, Study of Hawks, Childcare, Some math, Composting, Bread-baking, and much more!
For the 2010/11 school year:
School this year will include unit study, math, science and a variety of additional things.
Here is the general order of the day. (the plan is to gradually get back on the schedule and officially begin on Tuesday, September 7th)
1. We will be beginning the day with personal Scripture Study and prayer time. I have suggested readings and they will use prayer notebooks to write requests, answers, and keep a prayer journal.
2. Breakfast. We will read a chapter of Proverbs at Breakfast each day
3. Morning chores – clean room, personal grooming, clean kitchen, animal chores
4. Math. The two girls will be using Teaching Textbooks. The boys will probably use a FREE online Math that I just discovered at Khan Academy. This math uses video to explain how math is done, which is very similar to Teaching Textbooks, but $150 less per person since there is no workbook or CDs! =)
5. Unit Study: Our unit study will be a continuation of last year. We will be using a combination of the HOW method and Torah Club, emphasizing the Holy Days as they come along. We will also incorporate some American History as those holidays arrive: Thanksgiving, Presidents Day, Election Day, etc.
For those of you who didn’t read my post on homeschooling last winter, here is a breakdown of the Unit Study
- a. Read the selected passage from Scripture
- b. Add to our timeline
- c. Draw maps relating to the reading
- d. Write down words that are unfamiliar, spelling them properly. We use at least 3 different Scripture versions so the words are always different.
- e. Study relative subjects, such as a structure, animal, plant, food or culture that corresponds to the reading
- f. Look up the spelling words from D (above) in the dictionary and write down the definitions
- g. Hebrew Study
6. Lunch: Green smoothies, yogurt and homemade bread
Afternoon:
7. Science and History Research Papers, Reading Autobiographies, Typing, Blogging, Life Skills (Cleaning, Organizing, Computer Skills, cooking, bread-baking, etc), Language – (Spanish, Sign Language, Hebrew), Music – (practice violin, guitar, harmonica or piano), nature walks and sketching, letter writing
In addition to the above, we will also be doing animal husbandry, sewing, crochet, cross-stitch, weekly family music jam, cultural dancing, science videos, making ice cream, horticulture, and candle-making over the course of the year
On Friday mornings beginning in October, we will participate in some or all of the following with a small local group of families with children: art study, drawing, creative writing, spelling bees, geography bees, swimming, hiking, field trips, educational games, puzzles, nutrition, crafts canning, auto mechanics, shop and weight training
Teaching Tuesday – The Passion of the Christ
06 Apr 2010 1 Comment
in Teach Them Diligently Tags: mel gibson, never be the same again, the crucifixion, the passion of the christ, Yeshua in the Passover
Today was our first day back to school after a week off in honor of our Savior and His Passover Feast.
We read out of the Complete Jewish Bible from Genesis 45 regarding the reuniting of Joseph and his father, then proceeded to our vocabulary words from the reading, wrote GOSHEN on our map (where Joseph’s family moved to in Egypt), and added some more events to the time lines. Then I laid several books out on the table regarding creation versus evolution, astronomy, volcanoes, the earth’s crust and Egypt. I told them to each pick one or two of the books and read about that for today. As they were reading, I was in the kitchen and they would shout out what they were learning. Ah, that is so fulfilling. I did not ask them to do that, but they were so excited about what they were learning that they wanted to tell me about it. =) Following this they did math and spelling.
We ended today by watching the Passion movie. I am so humbled and amazed at Yeshua’s love for me. That the mighty Elohim would endure the many stripes, go to the cross and most of all that He would take my sin upon Himself, is incomprehensible. Mel Gibson did an amazing job of showing just how much Yeshua went through for us. Scripture says he was beaten so badly that he was not recognizable as a man.
Each time I watch this movie (which is only once a year around this time) I walk away from it feeling all wrung out. I am first moved to tears as I watch my beloved Adonai at the scourging and in such pain. If you have seen the movie, you know that from that time on, the torment, the torture and the mocking never ceases until He breathes His dying breath.
My favorite part of the movie is bittersweet. It is when He falls down on the Via Dolorosa and Mary runs to Him. I feel her mother’s heart as she reaches out to Him and then He looks at her with such love and compassion and says “I make all things new” Such love. The reason for His suffering: to make all things new. Hallelu YAH ~ what a Savior!
Mel expounds on so many lives that are touched in these last few hours of Yeshua’s life, but especially three. First of all, Malchus, an officer of the high priest, whose ear is cut off by Peter’s sword. When Jesus heals him, you can see that he will never be the same again. Simon of Cyrene, who at first is a curious bystander, then is solicited to help Him carry His cross and by the end it is obvious that he also will never be the same again. Finally, when the sword is thrust in our Savior’s side and blood mixed with water sprays out ~ the centurion falls to his knees, realizing this was indeed the Son of Elohim. All three of these men had probably never met our Messiah during the time of His ministry on earth, but in those moments when they connected with Him, they were deeply impacted and probably forever changed. We don’t know if this is truly how it happened, but it certainly seems plausible enough based on those we know were touched throughout the previous three years of Yeshua’s life.
I’ve Just Seen Jesus
We knew He was dead
It is finished, He said
We had watched as His life ebbed away
Then we all stood around
Till the guards took Him down
Joseph begged for His body that dayIt was late afternoon
When we got to the tomb
Wrapped His body and sealed up the grave
So I know how you feel
His death was so real
But please listen and hear what I sayI’ve just seen Jesus
I tell you He’s alive
I’ve just seen Jesus
Our precious Lord alive
And I knew, He really saw me too
As if till now, I’ve never lived
All that I’ve done before
Won’t matter anymore
I’ve just seen Jesus
And I’ll never be the same againIt was His voice she first heard
Those kind gentle words
Asking what was her reason for tears
And I sobbed in despair “My Lord is not there”
He said, “Child! it is I, I am He!”
I’ve just seen Jesus
I tell you He’s alive
I’ve just seen Jesus
Our precious Lord alive
And I knew, He really saw me too
As if till now, I’ve never lived
All that I’ve done before
Won’t matter anymore
I’ve just seen Jesus
And I’ll never be the same again
And then there are the lives of those who knew and loved Him. Mary Magdalene, of whom much was forgiven. Peter, who looks in the piercing eyes of the One He has just denied three times. Mary, blessed among women, who must watch her perfect Son become a sacrifice for sin. John, the disciple whom Yeshua loved, faithfully staying to the end. And even Judas, who betrayed His Rabbi with a kiss for 30 pieces of silver and then too late realized what he had done.
What a privilege it is to serve a Savior who loves us so much. To remember Him in the Passover, as He commanded. To know that He now LIVES and serves as our High Priest. Thank you, Adonai!
Teaching Tuesday – Teaching Younger Children
23 Mar 2010 1 Comment
in Teach Them Diligently Tags: homeschool, homeschooling ideas, homeschooling younger children, how to homeschool
Since I have had a specific request for ideas on homeschooling younger children, I will make that my focus for today.
Our state is a wonderful one to live in as far as schooling requirements go, and we did not have to register the children until they were 7, so I chose not to. Before that age I did work with them on learning to read. I used the book “Alphaphonics” for all 5 of the children and was very pleased with the way each concept is built on the previous one. That book appears to be out of print, but you can probably find it used somewhere. If not, I have heard that “Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons” is a good book as well, but I have never tried it.
When we began more formal schooling, here are some of the things I did:
MATH:
Miquon Math with manipulatives is great for teaching the concept of numbers. The Miquon books with manipulatives and the math we use now (Teaching Textbooks) I purchased at Timberdoodle, which is one of my very, very favorite homeschool sources ~ I have probably bought more from them than any other place! They have wonderful hands on learning supplies. MathUSee does the same thing with math, except it uses videos to teach the children. I used both of these at different times.
The Robinson Curriculum suggests that young children should concentrate mainly on using flashcards and timed drills (I used Calculadder, which you can make copies of over and over within your own home) to learn their basic math facts until they are mastered backwards and forward (about one year) , inside and out and then begin with fourth grade math. They suggest Saxon Math at that point, and we did use Saxon for several years, but I found that I like the Teaching Textbooks even better!
History and Science (below) from Eagles Wings
God’s Awesome Acts for history, geography and social studies. Very well done, with an emphasis on Biblical history. The students learn about ancient cultures, how to draw and more. It is a unit study and create-a-notebook type curriculum,and is very well laid out for the teacher.
Along with this we used Considering God’s Creation, which is science with a creation approach. This is the Create-a-Notebook approach.
For reading, I bought simple books that were written about people, nature, or history from a Biblical worldview. My favorites are the “Jewel” books by Rod and Staff. These can be purchased for a great discount at the Milestone Ministries website.
For handwriting we use Italic Handwriting, which IMHO has an easier transition from manuscript to cursive than the traditional writing method and it’s very attractive.
For grammar in the early days, the children wrote a page in their journal one day a week, were scribes one day a week (copy scripture into a notebook, following capitalization, and punctuations exactly), wrote a one page essay one day a week, and wrote a letter or thank you note to someone one day a week. Some of these ideas came from the Robinson Curriculum, and some were also from the books listed below.
My early philosophies in homeschooling were very similar to my present philosophies. The books that influenced me most at that time were Educating the Wholehearted Child by Clay and Sally Clarkson, For the Children’s Sake by Susan Scheafer-McCaully, Home Grown Kids by Raymond and Dorothy Moore, and Ignite the Fire, by Teri Camp. These are very similar to the two books I bought this year by Robin Sampson, except that Robin goes back to our earliest Biblical Roots, which is what drew me to her books. The two homeschooling books I bought by Robin this year are: What Your Child Needs to Know When, and Heart of Wisdom
If anyone would like MORE details or you have questions, please feel free to ask. I would be happy to explain further! Overall, I think that the Heart of Wisdom approach encompasses nearly everything I did with the exception of my Handwriting and Math choices, but they (Heart of Wisdom) add a Biblical Roots dimension that I haven’t seen anywhere else.
Heart of Wisdom
19 Mar 2010 Leave a Comment
in Teach Them Diligently Tags: heart of wisdom, homeschooling, messianic, sabbath
It’s been a busy week. On Monday at 10:30 pm my parents returned from visiting my brother for 4 months in Africa. We spent the next day with them and also spent time with some of our dear friends. Then on Wednesday we visited with another dear friend and her family. Thursday was our first day completely at home, and that brings us to today.
Needless to say, I have not had a lot of time to post on the blog, but in-between times, I have been immersing myself in Scripture and teachings from books and websites… and seeking the Truth.
My son, Carpenter, and I were having a discussion about this today. I told him that we need to be like the Bereans in Acts 17. After they heard Paul’s teaching, they went home and searched the Scriptures to see if these things were so. They were comparing Paul’s teachings to the Tanuch, or the Old Testament to see if they agreed with each other. These would have been the only Scriptures they had during that time. The Bereans are commended highly for this. Shouldn’t we also read the New Testament in light of the Old? They must not contradict each other. I also told my son that I do not want him to listen to “me” but to search, for himself, and ask God to reveal Truth to him, otherwise it is not “his”. I reminded him that when he leaves our home he will not have me to lean on and he must begin now and base his beliefs on Scripture, not my words or any mans words
On a different note, I have been thoroughly enjoying our morning times with the new homeschool method using “Heart of Wisdom”. We started at the very beginning (a very good place to start =>), in Genesis and have been following the suggested readings from The Narrated Bible. We read each time from 3 different versions and take turns being the reader. This method of teaching is based on the way the Hebrews taught their children. Here are the subjects that we cover during this daily scripture reading time:
1. Reading
2. History – we are making a timeline from the stories and they also have activity sheets and sometimes coloring for those who choose to
3. Vocabulary and Spelling (I have them write down the words they don’t know from the day’s reading and then look them up afterward and write the definitions in a notebook – dictionary skills used as well)
4. Geography (we made a map of the area and each day after the reading we look up the places that are mentioned on the map)
In addition to these things, they work on math, they do copywork and then for science they choose from any of the following:
- sketching from nature
- researching their subject online and writing a page or giving an oral report
- researching using the books and encyclopedias we have and writing a page or giving an oral report
- drawing an illustration and labeling it
- watching a video about their subject
So, everything is intertwined and they are learning so much from Scripture. One of our Sabbath activities is to watch a movie related to what we are studying in Genesis for that week. Tomorrow it will be “Jacob”. I don’t know who is enjoying it more… the children, or me. It is so much fun to watch the movie and remember what we read about it, to see the Scripture come to life in front of our eyes.
I am greatly anticipating the days, months and years ahead as our knowledge of Scripture becomes even more a part of us and we grow to know Elohim more and more.
Where I Have Been
28 Feb 2010 Leave a Comment
in Consider This, Teach Them Diligently Tags: a familys guide to the biblical holidays, an internet-linked unti study, biblical education, for the childrens sake, greece, greek philosophies, heart of wisdom, hebrew education, homeschooling, ignite the fire, olympics, robin sampson, what your child needs to know when, wholehearted child, wisdom
It’s been a few days since I posted, so I wanted to let you all know why. I have been immersing myself in my home, reading a book about homeschooling and managing the home. I won’t go into all the details here of our lives, but I do want to share some excerpts from this book…. several books, in fact, but mainly one because they are having such an impact on me.
The main book is titled The Heart of Wisdom by Robin Sampson. I am also reading What Your Child Needs to Know When , A Family’s Guide to the Biblical Holidays, and Wisdom, An Internet-Linked Unit Study, also by Robin.
The book I am devouring first is the Heart of Wisdom book, which is my favorite type of book. It is extremely thought-provoking. Years ago I read Wholehearted Child, Ignite the Fire and For the Children’s Sake, all of which have excellent homeschooling philosophies and I have kept them for reference. I have implemented many of these things over the years of seeking to instill a love for learning in my children, but unfortunately set them aside more recently to pursue a more “traditional” approach, using workbooks… This was due mostly to fear on my part, and probably some guilt too… neither one which should be a motive.
So, on to the Heart of Wisdom. As always, Yeshua knew just what I needed at this time in my heart when He guided me to this book. The book has two messages. First, to show the flaws in the present education system, both in the public schools and in the home-school movement. And secondly, to show the biblical way of education.
In summary, the present education system is mostly based on Greek philosophy. Now that I have been reading this book, I see how that philosophy has permeated not only our schools, but also our society and has completely destroyed it. Our high emphasis on sports, entertainment, the worship of the body, the Olympics, all of this was brought to us from Greece thousands of years ago. Here I will take a brief detour on the history of the Olympics:
As I type this, it is the final night of the Olympics, which I have seen glimpses of over the past several weeks and I definitely see the glorification of the human body and it’s accomplishments. Here is some information I found on the internet in just a few minutes… I’m sure you could easily find a lot more.
The ancient Olympic Games, part of a major religious festival honoring Zeus, the chief Greek god, were the biggest event in their world. They were the scene of political rivalries between people from different parts of the Greek world, and the site of controversies, boasts, public announcements and humiliations. In this section you can explore the context of the Olympics and read stories about the participants and spectators who came to Olympia from all over the Greek world. Read more about this pagan event here.
Did you know the Olympics were performed with no clothing even into the 1900s? Here is a link and a book review. Warning, these are explicit, so exercise caution when visiting these links.
Estimates on the date of the first recorded Olympic Games in ancient Greece vary around the early 800′s BC, with indications of regular games held far earlier. The first events were foot races. Soon wrestling and the pentathlon (five events by one athlete) were added. More events followed.
The games and ceremonies emphasized reverence to heaven, ability of body and mind, plus nakedness and deliberate gore for the ratings (popularity). Olympics continued in Greece every four years for about a thousand years. After the Romans gained power in Greece, Emperor Theodosius I outlawed the Olympics in the year 393 AD because they (the Games) weren’t Christian.
Fifteen hundred years passed. In 1894 the International Olympic Committee (IOC) was founded to rekindle the Olympic games. In 1896, the first modern Summer Olympics was held in Athens Greece. Fourteen nations participated track and field, fencing, weightlifting, rifle and pistol shooting, tennis, cycling, swimming, gymnastics, and wrestling. No women were allowed to compete. The IOC director stated that including women would be, “impractical, uninteresting, unaesthetic, and incorrect.”
This is the history of Olympics. After seeing what the women were wearing (or not wearing, rather) this year for the skating, maybe we have not really changed that much.
Back to the book. The Heart of Wisdom takes several chapters to review the history of education, beginning with the Bible times all the way to the present. It is fascinating and shows clearly why and how it led to the demise of the family and now to the moral collapse of our society.
So isn’t the home-school movement a move in the right direction? It certainly can be, but not necessarily. The reason is because often the homeschooling environment brings with it the same pagan Greek philosophies that are in the public school systems.
This is why we are losing our home-schooled youth to the world, even though they are often academically and socially superior. We have lost our vision for what Scripture teaches about education. The pursuit of knowledge has been placed on a pedestal right next to the pursuit of wealth and the worship of the body, when instead our emphasis should be teaching our children about Scripture (YHWH’s word) and Creation/HIStory (YHWH’s world) These things are all encompassing when done properly. The key is doing them properly, which brings us to the second purpose of the book…HOW to use the Heart of Wisdom approach.
I have only had the books for a few days, so haven’t finished highlighting and reading… but we did a half day on Friday using some of the ideas and I told my children I am so excited about implementing more of these ideas tomorrow that I have butterflies in my stomach. As I learn, I will share with all of you.
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