Teach Them Diligently

Deuteronomy 11:18-21 Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes. And ye shall teach them your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. And thou shalt write them upon the door posts of thine house, and upon thy gates: That your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children, in the land which the LORD swore unto your fathers to give them, as the days of heaven upon the earth.
Keeping in the spirit of conviction (what a weekend, I think I have knots on my head), this verse has hit me square between the eyes. Do I really teach my children diligently? Do I really impart the most important knowledge to them? Do all our conversations revolve around the most important things?
As a homeschool mom, I constantly assess whether or not our curriculum is working for each child. We've grown and changed through the years. And we have studied the Bible, but I really had to step back and take a long, hard look at things. We recite part of this Scripture every Friday night, but I really started questioning myself this weekend on whether or not I am fulfilling this command. Am I diligent to teach the commandments to my children?
I believe that Scripture and the application thereof is the most important thing, but I've not been applying that to our schooling. Our curriculum has evolved over the last years, and continues to change each year to compliment each child's learning styles and needs. However, it's about to change once again. I'm not exactly sure about the logistics and intricate workings yet, but we are going to begin using the Torah portion as our curriculum guide. I will be pulling most/all of our lessons from the week's reading--history, science, language arts, math. My thought process is that since G-d created everything in the beginning, then all knowledge stems from creation. And since the Torah (books of the Law) contain all the information we need to live G-dly lives, then all knowledge should be taught from there.
Now, before you get your jumper in a bunch, I do understand that higher skills will need direct teaching. (I didn't loose my mind...well, any MORE of my mind, anyway.) But I will use the Scripture reading as a starting place and branch out from there.
I also am going to start incorporating more memorization.
Psalms 119:10-11  With my whole heart have I sought thee: O let me not wander from thy commandments. Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.
The Psalmist, David, understood how essential it is to KNOW His Word to keep us from committing sin. Memorization has also been proven to sharpen the mind and hone study skills.
Word studies will be the other new addition--which will also support etymology.
Proverbs 2:1-  My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee; So that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding; Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding; If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures; Then shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God.
These Scriptures indicate that wisdom and knowledge is something you have to go after, seek out, find. Verbs. You must DO something--receive, hide, incline, apply. So, we begin a new chapter of schooling. We will receive His instruction, hide His Word in our hearts, incline our ear to His Voice, and apply His commands to our daily life.
~Shalom!
Matthew 12:36  But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.

FREE Curriculum

While reading a lesson in the history book, I came across an article telling about the beginning of Montgomery Wards and Sears. What caught my attention was that teachers of yore (had to use that word, it's been so long) used the catalogs to teach Language Arts and Math. Much of the time it was the only book available. So I pondered that and realized you really *can* teach from catalogs--which are FREE by the DOZENS!
I got kinda excited about it. Think of the possibilities: letters/sounds, numbers, addition, subtraction, percents, ad writing, taxes, lists....on and on I could go. The really cool thing is you can get a catalog of stuff your kid loves the most. So I need a horse catalog (well, she may have to suffice with horse *stuff*), legos, and building supplies.
Really, you could do the whole year's curriculum (especially LA and Math) from catalogs. And the best part is: it's FREE. :oD

Teaching Writing

So I looked and the last post was June 20. Now I know you're thinking that there's no excuse now. But honestly, the truth is, I spend every moment I can with Dimples. I also know that sounds extremely cheesy, but it's true. He's home all day and night now, and I can't get enough of him. I love having him here all day. I never thought I could spend all day, every day with my partner, but after two years of seperation....
But that's not what this blog is about.
I decided (was that a good idea??) to take a workshop on teaching writing. I have known that writing, or rather teaching it, is my weak spot. That and history. *bleh* Ok, see the deal is, I'm a reading teacher. And I LOVE math. (Yes, I'm weird.) And science is so FUN!!! Writing is natural to me (maybe genetic??) but I really didn't know how to tackle beginning writing. We've kept journals, answered prompts, written reports, but nothing really WOW. And I want my kids to write WOW. It IS genetic since they come from a line of newpaper writers/editors. They *should* be able to just write (and the youngest is looking like a potential song-writer.) But the boys.....well, boys will be boys. And I think it might be genetic to  dislike, hate  loathe school. So anyway, I went to this workshop and have to tell you about the 6+1 Traits of Writing.
http://educationnorthwest.org/traits
Very excited with my newfound knowledge and much more sure of my ability to teach, I mentioned it to a friend. She jumped on it. Or rather me. Now I have a student for the summer. He and Justice Seeker are learning the Traits. Of course, teaching writing requires some good literature (I could have told you that) so I *needed* to buy some new books. One in particular I have to mention is Chris Van Allsburg's "The Mystery of Harris Burdick." ("Jumunji", "The Z Got Zapped") It's a wordless book, but I don't want to spoil it so look it up. There's also a portfolio (which is what I got) of the pictures.
http://www.houghtonmifflinbooks.com/features/harrisburdick/
Armed with my new (to me) books and the portfolio, we've been writing our hearts out. Nothing WOW yet, but it's sure to get there. And still reading, reading, reading. Justice Seeker went to the library twice today. Because he finished the book he'd gotten. At 7 pm. Then went back just before they closed at 9. I do so love being a block from the library.