Now is the time to start thinking about special classes, co-op activities, etc for the next academic year. Some of our teachers are available to travel up to two hours to teach classes. Joshua has developed a dynamic fourteen week (three to four hour weekly session) course on American History, Government, and Economics (his area of interest and degree area). He has dozens of pages of handouts and thousands of power point slides that are wowing his students every week—and letting them leave class with an understanding of supply and demand, the Great Awakening, the Constitution, and more. This would make an ideal co-op class for seventh through twelfth graders.

Additionally, we have CQLA classes, as well as composition-only classes using any of our ten new Meaningful Composition books that will be available for the fall semester. Of course, we are still teaching speech and debate or elementary/middle school speech a couple of locations each semester. Call Ray to find out what we might be able to offer in your area! (You can reach him at home at 260-597-7415 in the evenings.)

TFT Writing Correspondence Classes

Starting Fall '09

We officially have enough finished MC books to begin our correspondence writing program. This fall your student may “take” MC classes from TFT via distance learning. Check out our flier at the website—or call for more information: (260) 597-7415.

Need a Speaker?

Reishes' Speaking and Teaching Availability

We have four speakers available now—on over fifty topics. Ray and Donna LOVE to speak about heart training and our new book, The Well-Trained Heart, as well as many other topics (academic and non-academic topics). See our website for a complete list of topics and contact Ray to set up a TFT speaker for your event. We are especially looking for fall/winter support groups to speak to—within a couple of hours of us. And, don’t forget about our weekend workshops—The Well-Trained Heart and/or The Almost 3 R’s. We love to help homeschoolers!

Section II: Heart Training Focus-- Time

Quality or Quantity

I have heard the quantity of time vs quality of time argument ever since our first born was a baby. And it is just plain stupid. (I know, stupid is not a nice word.) However, that is the only way to describe it. Simply put, it takes a large quantity of time in order to have quality of time. You see, in order for the time we spend with our child to be of high quality, we must have a close relationship with that son or daughter. In order to have a close relationship, we must have a lot of time in which to develop it. The old vicious cycle, huh?

I was just at my doctor’s office yesterday, and we began talking about raising children. He commented that he just doesn’t feel like he has the time with the younger two that he had with his older one. I asked him what he thought was taking up more of his time now. Of course, he, like nearly every other dad in the world, said it was work. I encouraged him to take the time, that our children grow up so quickly, etc. etc. And he reiterated that he is concerned about not taking the time that he should be—and the effect of his busyness on his younger kids, once again. I do not know whether this man is a Christian, or even attends church; however, he knew, like all of us do deep within, that it takes a certain quantity of time to raise a child well.

More Time Needed Than Ever for Heart Training

An email recently came through in which the recipient was to answer three questions and send the list back through the group. The first question’s answer came without hesitation: What have you learned from this year of homeschooling? I immediately knew what I had learned more than anything else this year—how much older children (ages 16 to 21, 23, whenever) need their parents in their lives.

For years, I have said that to me one of the most critical time periods of our child raising is from ages sixteen to twenty. Right at the time when we rush our children through graduation (“let’s graduate early”) and onto a college campus (at age 17) is the very time that our children need the most guidance and input into their lives. And instead of getting it from us, they are often getting it from other sixteen to twenty year olds who also need the most guidance and input in their lives. Talk about the blind leading the blind!

This year Ray and I have found ourselves immersed in mentoring, at various levels, five “children”—ages 16, 18, 21, 23, and 26. (And we’ve just added a new “mentor-ee” in the fall with our new son-in-law.) It has dawned on both of us the vast need that these sons and daughters have for their parents. While we have always talked a lot to our kids, it has become so important to us that we each have felt led to set aside one to two hours nearly every day (“more often than not”) to do nothing but talk to the kids.

It hasn’t been a scheduled, legalistic “I don’t have my hour or two in yet today” kind of thing. It is just something that we had to admit needed put into our schedule on a nearly daily basis. (I had to quit freaking out about not getting very much done in the evenings!) It might be talking with the boys for thirty minutes after morning reading about what happened at the disability ministry last night; then a quick lunch with Joshua (26 year old married son) in town; followed by twenty minutes on the phone to Kayla (23) in between her classes; then a lengthy phone call with Cami (21) after she gets home from work; and a midnight snuggle and “dream” with Kara before I finally kick her out of my room. Ray’s days are similar—and just like he did with Joshua when he was sixteen, Ray finds himself out in the driveway shooting baskets and talking to Jonathan nearly every night (after our dancing, of course!).

There are so many important, no crucial, decisions made during this time period of our children’s lives. We have to “let go of the good in order to focus on the best.” We believe the best we can do right now is to spend the time needed to help our teens and young adults become what God has planned for them. (Note: This isn’t planning it for them—it is helping to guide them in the dreams God has given to them. We are talking about giving up our time to help guide them, not make them do what we want them to do with their lives.)

Going on a Budget--a Time Budget, That Is

Time is just like money—once it’s gone, it’s gone. There is only so much of it. You can’t manufacture any more of it. We often look back and wish we hadn’t “spent” it on what we spent it on. It is even like money in that if it is used wisely, it can yield a great return. Invested money returns more money (usually!), but invested time returns other blessings, like relationships, love, friendship, etc.

And just like we often have to put ourselves on a budget to stop wasting money—so it is with time. I am a time police, of sorts. (I prefer, with the father, Frank Bunker Gilbreth, in the original Cheaper By the Dozen movie, to call myself an efficiency expert!) Don’t get me wrong, I can play a game, watch a movie, or ballroom dance for a couple of hours without any qualms. But only after I spend my time prior to that wisely.

I love to get things done! I love the feeling of controlling my time—and ending up with accomplishments (even if it is as simple as a clean refrigerator, organized file cabinet, or happy children because Momma just played “hillbilly golf” for an hour with them). However, all of us could benefit from a time budget—and a reality check as to where we truly spend our time and how we can “get more time” to spend in the heart training of our children.

So how does one create a time budget? I have several ideas that we have used through the years:

Figure out where your time is going right now. Just like *diet experts* tell dieters to record every morsel that goes into the dieter’s mouth, so we should do with our time if we truly want an accurate picture of where our time is going—and why we do not seem to have enough of it for the most important things in our lives. We have done this ourselves through the years, but more recently, we have used this approach with our teen children to help them accomplish more in a day. We have our son or daughter record his daily schedule for a few days in fifteen minute increments—not what he wants to do or plans to do, but rather what he did do. It’s amazing to our teen how a fifteen minute laundry job ends up taking thirty or forty-five minutes when a sibling sidetracks him or he stops to check the weather and looks up movie reviews too! From this list, the “time police” can discover where all of the time is going and how to reclaim that lost time.
Decide where you want your time to go. What do you truly want to do each month, each week, each day? Put these things in your schedule and take the mediocre things out.
Allow for “flex time.” Ray has been after me ever since I can remember to allow extra time for interruptions in my day. I always plan more than I can get done in a certain time period. For a while, I was really good at planning for interruptions from the little kids—and stopping to meet their needs. Now I am needing to use that same approach to be available for my older kids.
Make your recreation, relaxation, and entertainment time count. We are a passive people. We watch, play, and “veg” without even realizing that time has gone by—and sometimes a lot of it. There is nothing wrong with relaxing and even being entertained—but I prefer to have my “down time” be purposeful—time that I plan to spend relaxing, not just a time period that happens because I wasn’t industrious or organized enough to get anything done. I know it doesn’t sound very recreational or relaxing to have “scheduled” down time, but just like our children have time limits each day on their free time (i.e. after school is done; so much computer time, etc.), it would help us adults to do likewise.
Get rid of the time wasters. Once you have decided what you truly want to spend your time on—budgeted your time for that. Then you have decided what you have to spend your time on—whether you want to or not (chores, cleaning, errands, etc.). Then, it is time to plan for recreational or relaxation time—the purposeful times that you set aside to do what you enjoy, or to relax. But in between the “want to do,” “need to do,” and “planned recreation” comes the time that is just eaten away—five minutes to check email that turned in to thirty minutes of following links, a quick solitaire game that became an hour long “tourney,” a short movie time that turned into an evening of mindless television viewing. These are the things that often eat up the time that we could have to train our sons and daughters, seek the Lord, enrich our marriage, serve others, or deepen relationships. Don’t let your time get stolen from you—or don’t give it away without thinking!
Be proactive in meeting your time goals. I am a planner by nature, so most days are completely planned out—school with the boys in the mornings (they mostly do independent work in the afternoons); editing, writing, and tutoring in the afternoons; desk work such as meal, lesson, or project planning, etc. Planning your time and schedule allows you to meet your goals—and gives you more time for spending with your children (you wouldn’t purposely make a plan that excludes them!). There are other ways to be proactive in your time planning. One of these is to get rid of things that control you—things that you cannot control yourself. For us, this has meant going twenty-seven out of the twenty-eight years we have been married without cable or a way to get television stations easily. (I say easily because over the past five years or so the kids discovered that the old television in the garage schoolroom that is used for school video teaching can be brought in the house, hooked up with rabbit ears, and wahla—three or four stations can be watched! We do let them do this several times a year for Colts’ games (but definitely much less than once a month on the average). Sure, we watch dvd’s on a station-less television or computer. We even go to movies at the movie theatre—but those are controlled or planned free time activities. Ray and I have both felt that over the past twenty-eight years of marriage we would not control television if we had it. (This was confirmed one year that we tried it about twenty years ago.) For you, maybe something else is controlling you instead of you controlling it—and interfering with the heart training of your children (and possibly interfering in God’s heart training of you). Recent statistics show that a person will watch fourteen full years of television by the time he or she dies. And that teens today have thirty-three hours a week of “screen time.” Take control of things that are controlling you—even if it means getting rid of them.

Just Do It!

Start immediately. Don’t delay another week. Get control of your time—and leave plenty for the heart training and relationship building of your children. You might have to help your kids narrow down their schedules so they have time for you!Whatever it takes to do whatever it is that you know you should do, just do it!

Section III: CQLA, Meaningful Composition, and Language Arts Helps

Meaningful Composition Maze:

There is a reason to our madness with Meaningful Composition books! Here is a mini-MC education for you:

MC is simply the writing portions of CQLA pulled out to be composition-only books. Thus, the passages, writing exercises, outlining, assignments, teaching text, Checklist Challenge, etc.—anything that has to do with composition—are all found in MC (but not grammar instruction, vocabulary, spelling, copying, dictation, Editor Duty, etc. etc.).
You do not need CQLA and MC. MC is for parents who want our directed writing approach for their students, but do not want an all-in-one language arts program.
If your student is especially heavy in grammar and spelling but lacking in composition—and you want to bridge the gap between the subjects—MC is the answer! Many students who are at higher levels in grammar and spelling, use MC for a year or a semester to catch up their composition skills, then move into CQLA.
Some folks have asked us if MC’s are just books of Key Word Outline essays, and the answer to that is no. MC (just like CQLA) contains a wide variety of writing projects. Some assignments are KWO essays and reports over given material since that approach works well with short passages of material that a student may desire to write from (especially when that material is given to the student). However, each outline or pre-writing assignment is based on the type of writing for that assignment. For example:
1. Formal outline for middle school and beyond biographies and upper level informative/research based reports (since students use a variety of sources in these—and the KWO approach is primarily good for small snatches of material from one source)
2. Sentence-by-Sentence outline for upper elementary and middle school informative writing and all essay or personal writing
3. Split paper technique for comparing/contrasting reports and essays.
4. Mapping for elementary reports and essays
5. The paragraph house for elementary beginning paragraph writing of many types
6. Question and answer outlines for younger students retelling assignments
7. Brainstorming for many types
8. Paragraph by paragraph planning for story writing and upper level personal writing
9. And much more!
In a nutshell, the various MC books will be as follows (with the ones currently available for order indicated in bold fonting):
1. MC 2+, 4+, 6+, and 8+ will all be general writing books for students at those grade levels—and potential remediation books for those students in a couple of grades above each book that still need remediation in writing. They will be all types of writing—creative, KWO, essays, reports, etc.—based on each book’s grade level. (These are also called + books because they are good for remediation as well as for the grade levels they were written for.) MC 4+, 6+, and 8+ are now available for order.
2. MC 3 II, 5 II, 7 II, and 9 II (second semesters) are all creative writing books. These books include story writing, fun and creative essays, etc. They are all real writing, and some still have more “creative” KWO essays in them (i.e. retelling stories and events, etc.)—but they are not research based, for the most part. Only MC 5 II is available right now out of those books.
3. Other semester books are various types of essays and reports—much like 4+, 6+, and 8+ but without as much “remediation” help.

i. MC 4 II More Paragraph Fun follows MC 4 I and is more fourth grade level writing, including KWO, beginning research writing, essays, creative, etc. etc. It is available for order now.

ii. MC 5 I Put Those Paragraphs Together—takes off where 4 I and 4 II left off with more challenging writing projects—four to six paragraphs in length, etc. It is available for order now.

iii. MC 6 II follows 6 I with more sixth grade writing of all types. MC 7 I follows 6 I and 6 II with more junior high writing of all types.

iv. MC 8 II Writing for High School follows 8 I and is high school level introductory writing of all types

High school MC books are all “specialty” books—

i. MC 9 I is five research-based reports with increasingly difficult MLA formatting and research skills in each one. This is our newest book and got rave reviews with our testing students. It is tough—all research-based, but its incremental approach to each report seems to really be working with students. It is available for order now too.

ii. MC 9 II will be creative (as mentioned above).

iii. MC 10 I will be five paragraph essays only—not necessarily timed like test situations—but all the basics of five paragraph writing—the various types; types of openers; etc. etc. It is not very research based except for facts, quotes, etc. that students are encouraged to memorize to prepare for timed writing (in 10 II).

iv. MC 10 II will be timed essays and will take off where 10 I left off. This will be good for test preps.

v. MC 11 I and 11 II will both be story writing—writing a complete short story in each book.

vi. MC 12 I is The Research Paper—a 20-30 page full length, MLA formatted research paper book for upper level high school students. Very directed, very incremental. It has been in the making (and testing) for six years by Kayla and me. (We co-authored this book.) I have looked at dozens of research paper books over the past years of writing this—and none is as user friendly or step by step as ours.  It is available for order now.

vii. MC 12 II will be our final one. It is going to be called Writing for the Real World—and I am excited about the potential of this book—writing lists and priorities; developing study and time management skills; writing testimonials; writing for children; writing devotionals to be read; writing devotionals to share aloud; writing recipes and how to’s; writing a personal constitution; writing letters to the editor; writing with care; and more. This will be a while in the making, but it will be my heart for the student leaving high school home school—a “consumer writing” of sorts.

Section IV: In the Kitchen This Month

Shower Recipes

My friend Lilli is a master at hospitality. She (along with other friends and relatives) has hosted literally dozens of showers, moms only’s, support group meetings, and more over the past few years. I have been on the receiving end of her hospitality many, many times—and especially for the wedding showers for my married kids that she co-hosted.

Specifically, she hosts beautiful brunches. She has a beautiful food table, delicious food, and meaningful activities. It is a joy to be invited to Lilli’s! I asked Lilli to share her brunch recipes with us this month, and she did. Please click the link in the margin to get her fabulous brunch shower ideas—which are easily adapted to any type of tea, shower, party, moms time out, etc.

Section V: Article from Training for Triumph

"Creating a Love for Learning in Your Homeschool" (cont.)

Part II of III (Jan. 2005) by Donna Reish

I. Effect of Reading on Love of Learning

Read aloud from the begining

If you have not been a read-aloud home schooler, it is never too late to begin. If your students are older (junior high and high school), you might have to dangle a deeper colored orange carrot (along with some ranch dip) in front of them to get them to enjoy reading aloud together, but it won’t take long…and it will certainly be worth it!

There are complete books available telling how to begin reading aloud, good books to choose at various ages and stages, and more (such as The Read Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease or Honey for a Child’s Heart), so I won’t go into much detail here; however, if you have boys and/or older children, start with adventure---educational can come later! The first goal in reading aloud is to make your children love reading aloud. If they don’t love read aloud time, you will not do it regularly—and all of the great goals and objectives of reading aloud will never be seen anyway.

Some people ruin “read aloud” by trying to make it too “schoolish.” I can remember when, fresh out of teacher’s college, every part of my little two year old’s story time became a possible “reading comprehension lesson.” (Of course, I have since learned that those are not true reading comprehension lessons but rather just “quizzing sessions”---which have their place to “assess” or “test” comprehension—but they definitely do not “teach” comprehension---unless they are followed by discussion.) Anyway, my little guy just wanted me to read the story already! He didn’t care if he knew the minor character’s name—nor if he knew the motivation (for a two year old!?) of the major character. Enjoy the process. Yes, discuss it (far better for building comprehension than simply quizzing your students). Yes, talk about why this happened or that happened, cause and effect, how the character felt, whether his responses were biblical, etc.---but not all the time—and certainly not after each paragraph! These things will usually come naturally if your children are enjoying their read aloud time. It will become just like a good movie---everyone discussing it around the dinner table, in the car, or at Grandma’s.

If it’s just adventure you’re after (with a good dose of Christianity thrown in), you might start with Frank Peretti’s junior novels, Cooper Kids Adventure Series---an Indiana Jones-style Christian family series. If you have boys ages six to fourteen, it’s never the wrong decade for The Sugar Creek Gang series---a series of very Christian, very adventuresome books set in the 1930’s and 1940’s. If you have reluctant female read-alouders, you might try Grandma’s Attic books—sort of a Christian Anne of Green Gables style series. For younger listeners, our personal favorite is The Boxcar Children, in which a secular family of four parentless siblings live with their grandfather and show more character than most “Christian” children’s books. If you want your read aloud time to be more academic, you might try the G.A. Henty books---historical fiction; more spiritual, try God’s Smuggler, The Hiding Place, or Joni. (I highly recommend the last three for family devotions, assignments for high school students, etc.)

If the thought of sitting still while Mom reads aloud makes everyone feel a boredom attack (or in Dad, a sleeping attack) coming on, you might consider allowing your children to do something quiet while you read. Our older children often quilt, do handwork, or other non-thinking activities while I read. Our little guys usually do puzzles, build with Legoes, or sort Legoes. Many times, Dad will do something quietly with the little ones while we read, so their hands and minds are engaged in something. (Currently, this is a one thousand piece Civil War puzzle.)

Build strong and enjoyable reading skills

Recently Cami was typing an outline for a presentation I was giving about language arts. When she got to a certain point about building a love for reading—and the portions that described “rewarding”—and even bribing—your children to get them to love reading, she nearly had a fit. “Mom, your parenting standards are really getting low here….I mean, bribing your children to read!!!” Then I reminded her of how she went from reading picture books to chapter books. She smiled, nodded, and went back to her typing.

There have been many turning points in our children’s reading processes here at the Reishes. One of these was Cami going from picture books to chapter books. She loved for me to read aloud to her—we literally read (aloud) every American Girl, Boxcar Children, Three Cousins’ Detective, Cul-De-Sac Kids, Sugar Creek Gang, Ellie (Amish series), Cooper Family, Josh Ladd, Baker Streets Sports Club, Kayla O’Brien, and Sadie Rose book ever printed---I mean hundreds of them. However, when it came time for her to move from picture books to chapter books, she was sure that she could not do it. I tried timing her, alternating reading with her, etc. etc. But she was sure that she could not get through an entire chapter book by herself. I knew the importance of building a love for reading in my kids—and I did what any desperate homeschooling mama would do—I paid her. I paid her $5 for the first chapter book she read herself—and $1 per book for the entire summer. She hunkered down with her little forty page chapter book (Three Cousins’ Detective book) and earned her five dollars. Before she knew it, she had read several chapter books—and absolutely loved it.

It might seem extreme—and it is somewhat out of my character to pay my children to do something I want them to do—but reading was so important to me, that I often did so. (Note: I never paid for daily chores or good behavior. Those were “freebies”—expected, not just preferred.) Each time one of our kids learned to read, I enrolled him or her in a “book of the month” club. As he was learning to read, he received a book in the mail each month. When my kids took part in summer reading programs, they would receive the rewards from the library—and from home. I often doubled what the library gave, or offered them “extra credit” prizes (Chuck E Cheese’s, Build a Bear clothes, etc.) for doing above and beyond the library program.

Whenever I felt that there was a critical point or important milestone to cross in a child’s reading development, I made sure that happened—even if it cost me a few bucks or several hours of “trading reading” (“for every hour you read, I’ll read aloud an extra hour to you”).

Of course, many of the tips throughout this article aid in building a love for reading—especially reading aloud. Reading aloud, paying the kids, trips to bookstores, and even McDonald’s (!)—all show our children that reading is important and fun. That it can provide them with hours and hours of fun, entertainment, and learning--while we know that it also opens the door to a life of learning and education.

II. Prioritize Learning

Make time for important things

Sometimes the difference between read aloud success and failure is timing. The same is true of many home learning adventures. We learned fifteen years ago from Gregg Harris at one of his workshops that the way to be sure something is done in your school is to attach it to something you always do. Of course, his main suggestion here was attaching things to mealtimes, since seldom do we miss that event! Anyway, attach your family read aloud time---or any important learning or devotional activity---- to something already in your schedule all of the time: rising time, breakfast, lunch, dinner, or bedtime are all good choices.

We began following Mr. Harris’ rule of thumb when our first couple of children were little, and soon had attached everything important to something in their schedule, then had attachments to our attachments until each day was one big, well, attachment. It was a great rule of thumb for us as new parents, and it provided a stable, scheduled environment for our preschoolers, toddlers, and babies. They always knew what to expect.

For added incentive, you might follow our family’s more-often-than-not rule: If an activity is important to us (devotions, memory work, discipleship meetings with children, read aloud time, etc.), we should do that activity more often than we do not. If our occurrences of an event do not exceed our skipped times of an event, then it isn’t very important to us (if we plan to do something four times a week but only do it once).It’s not a real priority in our lives. It either needs moved up in our priority list or dropped—and we need to be honest with ourselves that it really isn’t a priority.

This guideline has become especially important to us as our children have gotten older, and they are away from home more and more for college classes, music lessons, and other special classes (foreign languages, debate, etc.). It is so easy during these years to just give up “family learning together” time---simply because it seems impossible with everyone’s busy schedules. “More often than not” has given us the security that we are, indeed, doing what is important to us, but yet it is not legalistic or burdensome. (I might note here that many things that are important to us are now done in a moving vehicle going to and from church, potlucks, debate and speech tournaments, conventions, visiting relatives, etc.!)

Evaluate Often

A big part of creating a love for learning is evaluating what works and what doesn’t work for your family. For years and year, I wanted to do everything just like other successful families I saw. While I believe that copying after someone else is the highest form of admiration, and I believe that we can learn a lot by emulating others, we cannot get stuck in the rut of doing what others do regardless of whether it works for our particular family or not.

Specifically, I remember putting a lot of pressure on my husband to get up earlier and do more school with the children, especially Bible studies and character studies, since that is what I saw other families doing. Never mind the fact that he was nearly always up late one-on-one with our older children, discipling and mentoring them. Never mind the fact that he worked sixty hours a week at his job. He wasn’t doing things the way I wanted him to do them and the way I saw others doing them.

Thus, we need to evaluate often. Is what we are doing here really working? Is this causing our children to learn---and love to learn? Could something else work better? Am I trying to make my school like someone else’s—even if it is not the best for us? Of course, part of that evaluation may be observing another family, asking questions, and trying something new that you think will work. However, if it doesn’t work, be willing to re-evaluate and try something else.

I have since learned that yes, I can gain much from observing and modeling after others who are successful in various areas of parenting and home schooling, but if it doesn’t work for our family (due to time constraints, job restrictions, ages of children, interests of children, etc.), then it just isn’t for us. I don’t have to make my husband fit into a mold of what I see someone else’s husband doing. I don’t have to schedule my school day just like another mom does. And my children do not have to be just like other children.

Skip the good to do the best

With that evaluation process comes what to do once you have evaluated something: skipping the good to do the best. Twenty-one years ago when I began home schooling my sister, home schooling was in its infancy in Indiana. We attended the first state convention with just a handful of us. We could only get materials from Dr. Raymond Moore—or leftover from a Christian school. You whispered the answer when someone asked you where your children went to school. And, we had visits from those people most Hoosier home schoolers never see today---social worker, principal, school counselor, and more.

Yet there were many positive aspects of those early days of home schooling---deep camaraderie among the few brave home schoolers who existed, long days at home (without dozens of activities screaming at me to participate!), a more laid back approach (since there was no “parental peer pressure” to be or do more and more), etc. Even having a small number of choices wasn’t always bad.

Now, nearly daily, we home schoolers (especially in such a home school-friendly state as Indiana) are faced with so many choices. Activities, sports, and curricula abound. It is very difficult to decide (especially with many children of many ages) what is the very best for our families.

Today, more than ever, it is vital that we evaluate our school, extra curricular, sports, church, youth, and music activities. We could easily spend every day running only a couple of children to activities, much less the six I have in school this year! We can (and I have) easily “school” until five or six each evening, trying to fit in all the wonderful materials available.

I realize this evaluation process is highly personal; however, we have found some methodology to our evaluation process that others (especially large families) may benefit from as well. One of our first benchmarks for evaluation is, of course, our relationship with the Lord. Does this activity/curriculum enhance our relationship with the Lord? Obviously, there are many things that must be learned that do not have much spiritual content---math, foreign languages, etc. If those things do not interfere with our walks with the Lord by consuming too much time away from Him or our family and they fall under another criterion we have developed (such as preparing for the future), then, of course, we include those things.

Secondly, does it benefit a large number of our family? I realize those with less children may not need to ask this question, but for us, when we had six children twelve and under, each child got to be in one thing (basketball and piano, at that time), and other than that, we did things the whole family could do—such as family roller skating, field trips, hospitality with whole families, etc. It was a wonderful time for our family that I look back on with fond memories. Now, with older children, we are somewhat divided in this area. We still try to do things altogether whenever possible, but we prefer to do many things that at least our three teenage daughters can do together (they love learning together!) or that our three young sons can be in together.

Thirdly, does it build or tear down family unity? This goes somewhat with the second benchmark and may not have a lot to do with a love of learning (although I could probably easily find many connections if I pondered it long enough), but it has always been an important benchmark for us. Too many outside influences, too much peer interaction (especially too early), and too much busy-ness away from the family seems to pull our children away from us and their siblings. We also watch out for these things.

Next, does it prepare our children for a future we think God is leading them into? A few years ago, I jumped on the musical bandwagon. Our daughters all played piano, and each of them took at least one more instrument. Now, don’t get me wrong. Music playing is great, but it is definitely not for everyone. I saw successful families around me all playing instruments together, and I thought we had to do the same thing. We spent a lot of time and a lot of money pursuing something that the girls really weren’t interested in (violin, viola, and flute). This activity did not prepare them for their futures; it didn’t give them an area of education they really needed (since it wasn’t in their skill areas); and it didn’t increase family unity. Our daughters are writers, speakers, and two pianists. We now put our time and effort into those areas as we feel that those things help prepare them for the futures God has for them. (For others, it will not be writing or speaking, but it might be violin, viola, or flute.)

Lastly, is it something our students are interested in? I know for us, our children’s love of learning has always increased when we studied things they were interested in learning. (See next month for more on this!) Every family’s priorities and circumstances will be different---and each family’s “good” and “best” will be different, but we all need to be in the evaluation process at all times. Here at the Reish home, we often find ourselves immersed in “good” things instead of the “best” things. Our evaluation benchmarks help us narrow down our curricula, activities, family life, and more to be focused on the “best”!

III. Make Learning Fun--When Possible

Use non-book teaching tools whenever possible

One thing that I do for my kids to help them love to learn is keep us well-stocked (often from the library) on non-book items. I have our children listen to presidents’ speeches while they clean, science tapes while they peel potatoes, fiction books on tape (especially historical fiction like Amos Fortune, Free Man or Across Five Aprils) while they are doing “handy” school like sewing, crafting, etc. (Alright, your son might not like sewing or crafting. My little guys welcome a few hours to sort Legos for their next project or color in their educational coloring books while listening to talking books.) If you do not have access to a big library, you might want to go to another library's website to look up non-book items, and order them from your local library through inter-library loan. That is a free service at our library. Also, the local home school group here is big enough to have a good library of materials to check out.

When my three oldest children were little, they were read to by me or Ray three to five hours everyday, five days a week or more. Ray read the Bible and character-related materials to them in the mornings and after dinner. He read again to at least one of them before bed. Usually throughout the short evening he had at home with them, he ended up reading something else to them. In between, I read to them every chance I got. (At that time, Ray worked twelve hour days five days a week and most of Saturday. I had too many little kids to go anywhere (and no help anyway), so I did what I loved the most during all the time I had: school the children!). We had special names for all of our special reading times that my older children still remember fondly---morning Bible, content study reading, chapter book read aloud, afternoon Bible, Bible story time, story time, big kids’ reading time, matching-sweat-suit-read-aloud-time, (no kidding! I know it’s corny, but it makes me smile!) and more.

Nowadays, life isn’t quite so simple around the Reish home. Some days I am blessed if I get to read for thirty minutes to my little guys; and Ray usually only gets to read once a day with them. I use non-book teaching tools to take the place of Mom and Dad. (I know, instead of electronic babysitters, I am using electronic home school teachers—but it works for me at this stage in my life, which is what all of us home school mothers need to learn to do—what works for each one of us.)

On any given day, my three little guys, ages twelve, nine, and six, (not all of these for one little guy!) may be assigned the following: 1) Do math drill on Mathsafari; 2) Do geography on Geosafari; 3) Do reading comprehension fun activities on Geosafari; 4) Listen to George Sarris dramatize/read the Bible on cassette; 5) Watch a Magic School Bus science video; 6) Do Saxon Math DIVE cd; 7) Do Math U See video; 8) Watch a Reading Rainbow program from the library over a book we are reading; 9) Listen to a Diana Waring cassette about something historical we are studying in history; 10) Listen to a cassette of a famous composer from the period of time we are studying while coloring a coloring page that goes with the cassette; 11) Watch a Ken Ham creation science video that goes with our Bible study; 12) Do story book and tape sets from the library (while Mom works with older sister on her research paper and skips out on story time!); 13) Listen to a Sugar Creek Gang chapter book tape (while Mom helps older brother with his speeches for the upcoming tournament and skips out on afternoon read aloud time---there’s only so much time in a day!); and more. The point to this lengthy discourse is to show that non-book teaching items can be valuable additions to your home school---and even substitute for Mom to ensure that learning takes place when Mom can’t be the “teacher”! Not to mention, they truly help my children have a love for learning---and utilize different learning styles.

Make home school memories

One of our favorite pastimes for the two weeks prior to my son’s wedding last summer was for the older four children (Joshua, the soon-to-be groom at that time, and our three teenage daughters) to gather in our bedroom until the wee hours of the night and talk about memories. One of them would get started on something….the most fun vacation, the best field trip, the day one of the little boys was born, when I used to threaten to send them to school (!), when we moved to near Fort Wayne, etc. etc. We laughed until we cried (then I cried for real when they all went to bed because I miss those times so much sometimes—and my first born was about to get married and move out!). I was amazed during those “memory sessions” how many field trips, “family vacation ‘field trips,’” and other educational opportunities came up in the conversation. Experts tell us that it is important for family unity and children’s self-esteem that we build family memories; this non-expert says that it is important for love of learning---and family unity---that we build home school memories.

Do you remember the old saying “Tell me and I'll forget. Show me and I may remember. Involve me and I'll understand"? I think building home school memories falls under the last part of that quote. Children understand (and remember!) what they do---whether it is digging for earthworms in the “bug room” at the zoo, getting the maple sugar from the maple tree at the sugar bush, taking their fingerprints at the science museum, or guarding the fort from invaders at the old fort. Building home school memories builds a love for learning.

It has been my experience through my twenty plus years of “field tripping,” that the more unusual the field trip or event (or activities at the field trip), the more my children remember it—and the more home school memories are made. It is not normal for Mom to get up in the morning and announce to the children that school today will only consist of eating finger foods and reading together on the sofa all day. It is unusual for Mom to tell the children they have to go to bed early tonight because tomorrow we spend the school day at the state park. It is rare for a child to get to have a “day away” with Mom to do whatever he wants. It is unusual to be able to tap a sugar maple tree, fill a bucket with maple syrup sugar, carry it to the sugar house, and watch maple syrup being made (and eat it on pancakes that you cook over a fire). It is unique to go on a field trip where you are in a slave’s role for the day. (I know, why do the things kids like the most have to require so much of parents?)

Even harder to accept for me and Ray as home school parents who have hit the forty-mark is the fact that our oldest children’s three favorite field trips hands-down involve major discomfort for those of us who are…well, seasoned home schoolers: sleeping at the top of the jungle gym at Science Central; sleeping on the straw cots at the old fort; and sleeping in the snake room at the zoo. (Did I say “sleeping”? Well, “staying overnight” in those locations might more accurately describe what we did there.) Yes, we paid the price of a night in a comfortable Holiday Inn to sleep in uncomfortable, and I mean, very uncomfortable, quarters at the museum, the fort, and the zoo. But we paid for much, much more than a room and a “continental” breakfast. We paid for home school memories that will last a lifetime. Home school memories that make me cry as I type this. Home school memories that cause my older children to tell my younger children, “You’ve got to have Mom and Dad take you there! It was the BEST!”

**Watch this spot next month for the final installment of “Creating a Love for Learning in Your Homeschool.”