Do we (students and parents) more fully appreciate the value of natural learning once we have experienced the force feeding of academics? In fact, is it a prerequisite to fully appreciating the beauty of natural learning?

When we first started the home based learning journey, we started with a school-at-home approach. That is what I knew so I tried to reproduce it. As is often par for the course, I started studying educational philosophies and learned about unschooling and natural learning. As I learned concepts and heard ideas I shared them with the girls. They embraced the notion of Natural Learning very well and to this day are still self directed, natural learners.

We decided not to use the same approach with the boys, allowing them the freedom to learn naturally, preferring to focus more heavily on training their character and life skills. We knew there would come a time when academics would need to become of greater importance- we weren’t dissing it, rather trying to balance it in a wholistic way. I’ll admit, it wasn’t (or isn’t) an easy task to teach the boys self direction or self discipline. Even at their ages, it is constant. Periodically I raise the bar with regard to their academic requirements. Just recently I have been motivated to raise the bar much higher, to the extent that the workload is quite confronting for them.

They boys grew up with natural learning and unschooling being a part of their lives. This rigorous season of academics is something new to them. You might think they are bucking against it, but they aren’t. Not at all. In fact, Master J and I had a great discussion recently on the human brain and its capabilities. We spoke about how we learn and how revision is so important. Bearing in mind that most young people change their minds about career choices (as they should- it’s all part of learning about new interests and discovering new experiences) he exclaimed that he might want to be a doctor! Previously he has shied away from things requiring so much academic disciplne because he didn’t think he  was able to achieve. But I’ve changed a few things in the home and this change in attitude and thought has been one of the results. (I hope it continues!)

Getting back to my point… Master J has had a lightbulb moment! He says that he can see the value in delight-directed education and the value of academics and trying hard. Prior to this season, he hasn’t really appreciated his [natural learning/unschooling] childhood to this extent… I wonder if it is because he has also experienced the rigors of academic study.

What do you think? What is your experience?

The post Appreciating the value of natural learning first appeared on Simply Susan.

I want to be a happy mum. A spontaneous mum. A gentle mum. An encouraging mum. A loving mum.  I want to open the door for my children.

It’s all too easy for me to say ‘no’. No, no, no! I don’t want my children to remember me as a ‘no mum’. “No” closes doors whereas “yes” opens the door, giving loads of opportunity! Opening the door is like igniting a flame… we never know where it will lead or brightly it will burn. I desire to create an environment that is conducive to pursuing delights, to shape and develop the character traits necessary for a lifelong habit of learning and provide the fuel or rich ideas to stimulate an interest.

Education is not the filling of a pail, rather the lighting of a fire.
~William Butler Yeats

I try to open doors for my children in the following ways:

• Exposing my children to various subjects and exploring them together. The topic may not be an interest of mine, but I never know what might catch their interest. The library, wildlife parks, sport games, the theatre, musicals, art gallery, arts & craft activities, games (chess, etc.) movies and vacations are a few ways to provide a rich, interesting environment.

• Teach perseverance. Some children tend to naturally be ‘dabblers’. That is they like to try their hand at everything but don’t stick with a topic or an activity long enough to master it or gain a decent understanding of it. Whilst I understand that this is a personality trait and it’s not all bad I do think it is important to learn stickability.

• Give encouragement and support when their interest begins to wane. All of us experience frustration, tiredness or weariness and so do my children. This is a sign that I need to become a little more involved and help them regain their enthusiasm.

• As much as I like to teach perseverance, there is also merit in learning to let go in order to move on. As children get older and their focus can begin to narrow in on selected activities or topics, it is helpful to reassess the necessity of their other activities. Sometimes an activity or subject will need to be let go so that the child can fully move forward in pursuit of their interests.

• I constantly nag er, gently remind my children that their interests may very well be given to them by God and are to be used for His glory and for His purpose.

He is the God who made the world and everything in it.
Acts 17:24a

I want to ignite a fire in the hearts and lives of my children. The interest they have today could be their occupation, their area of expertise, their hobby, their lifelong passion or a ministry in the years to come!

Will you share how you open doors for your children.

The post Opening Doors first appeared on Simply Susan.

If you have been a recipient of my eNewsletter or if you have heard me speak at a conference you know that I have a concern about the shift I have seen in the reasons families choose to homeschool. I would like to take this opportunity to bring us back to what I perceive to be the reason God began this movement over 20 years ago.

Our good friend Rob Shearer once told me something which I will paraphrase as follows:

About 20 years ago, a group of parents began to feel a deep desire to have their children grow up at home rather than in an institutional setting. Thus began what is now referred to as the Homeschooling Movement. These early “homeschoolers” my friend refers to as Pioneers: parents who knew God wanted them to take total responsibility for raising (including educating) their own children. These Pioneers were determined to have their children home during the day in spite of the difficulties (and sometimes the dangers) this decision created.

During this Pioneer stage, there was another group of parents who heard about the benefits of homeschooling, but who decided to wait to see if the Pioneers would be successful before becoming homeschoolers themselves. These my friend called Settlers. Once the Settlers were convinced of the benefits of homeschooling, they joined in. However, unlike the Pioneers, many Settlers weren’t sure they would homeschool for the long term so they simply copied the public schools’ curricula and sequencing methods just in case it turned out that homeschooling didn’t work for them. And, if it didn’t, their children could be mainstreamed back into “school.”

By the late 1990’s public schools were receiving such negative publicity, and homeschooling such positive publicity, many more parents began to consider homeschooling as a viable alternative. They knew little about homeschooling except that it had to be better than the public school. These families my friend called Refugees: parents who were escaping a negative situation, but with no real understanding of what they were doing or why; nor did many of them want to know. They simply wanted their children to be educated as if the children were “in school” but without the negative context they perceived existed in the public school setting.

As I have described the three kinds of homeschoolers above, you may have noticed a very subtle, yet most important, difference between the Pioneers’ main desire (to have their children grow up at home) and the main desire of the other two groups (to provide a better education, or a less negative context for their children).

The reason I entitled this article, Homeschooling Is Not About Education is because I think we have a tendency to lose sight of or, perhaps, we have never really understood why we were led to homeschool. I draw this conclusion because what I hear as most homeschooling parents’ primary concerns are issues such as, “Will this be the best curriculum for my child?” or “How do I know I’m going to cover it all?”

Let’s take another look at this thing called “Homeschooling.” We all know one or more families whose children would greatly benefit if their children were not in a public school setting. Yet, these families don’t bring their children home. We feel truly blessed to believe in homeschooling and we don’t understand why everyone doesn’t see the obvious benefits. Why do friends and relatives keep sending their children to “school”, anyway? Why do we seem to be among so few who are willing to do this?

I would like to offer my opinion as to why we have become “homeschoolers” and so many others have not: I have a conviction that a historical time is approaching for which a certain “kind” of person will be needed in this nation; indeed, in the world. When this time will come, I don’t know, but my sense is that it will come soon. What I do believe is that God has needed a very specific context within which He can grow up this particular kind of person. And, since a lot of these “persons” are needed, God has asked a lot of us to become homeschoolers. What is this context? It is simply a place where the hearts of the fathers have been turned toward their children and the hearts of the children have been turned toward their fathers. It is a place where children are raised to become proficient at the specific giftings, talents, and callings God has placed within them since their creation.

This is the context which every homeschooling family has the opportunity to create. Yet, what disturbs me is that homes-SCHOOLING has become the primary focus of so many of these families. Homeschooling parents are prioritizing something quite different than what was in the heart of God as expressed in the hearts of those early Pioneers when they brought (or kept) their children home during the day.

For those of you who have “brought the school home,” let me suggest that you rethink what you are really doing with your children. Do you ever consider what kind of person this little boy or girl is to become by the time he or she leaves your home? Have you ever wondered if God Himself, has placed some very specific talents, giftings and callings in this youngster that He expects you to discover and promote during the child’s stay with you? Do such things determine your family’s priorities, weekly schedule or the curricula you purchase?

Or as you look toward the “finish line” of your child’s time at home, do you simply buy a graded curricula and spend your days plowing through it, because you think the highest purpose of your parenting is to see that your child receives the best education you can provide so you can one day say, “My son has a good job.”

If the answers to these questions are something like, “I don’t know”, or, “I don’t want to think about it,” then you may be a “homeschooler”, but I think you’ve missed the point.

Even Pioneers can slowly become Refugees. The very word “homeschooling” can cause us all to forget that what we are doing is not about home-SCHOOLING but about creating that context in which we assist God in raising the little ones in our homes to become His men and women who are truly prepared for what is going to happen in their own generation. To be like King David whom God did not identify as a man “with a good job;” but as a man who “served his generation well.”

The post Homeschooling Isn't About Education first appeared on Simply Susan.

However, there have been times in my life, especially during periods of stress and busyness, where I’ve questioned whether or not I should continue to pursue my delight or interest.  I mean, wouldn’t it be selfish of me to do so? But my husband disagrees! So do I, when I think about it sensibly. Of course for the believer, spending time in God’s word will come first but is it healthy for a mum to serve the family to the exclusion of her own needs? Some mums can develop a type of martyrdom complex which is really not healthy at all. Pursuing a delight, a passion, an interest, can give mum the refreshment she needs to continue on with her wifely, motherly and house managing duties with vigor. Working within your delight may also keep you feeling younger! Psalm 103:4-5 What a great living example to the whole family! A refreshing atmosphere of renewal, joy, satisfaction, vigor…

…who satisfies you with good
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
Psalm 103:5

Sometimes, a mother’s passion or delight can be something that the Lord places on your heart…maybe it will grow to be something that will serve others and bring glory to the Father.

I have delights and interests…and my family knows all about it, as do regular readers of my blog. :laugh: Sometimes it is health and green smoothies, other times it is exercising and getting fit, but a lot of the time it is website development. Whenever I’m pursuing an interest I read, read, and read all about it. I make copious notes and I talk about it. I collect ingredients or equipment. I research! I unknowingly use the 4 step process. And yes, at times my learning becomes infectious- the whole family catches on! And yes, currently the family has ‘caught’ my current fitness/exercising interest! 😉 I unconsciously go through all the stages of learning about that interest and I tend to use varied means to express myself. This is true learning. This is the style of learning I want my children to pick up on, for it is lifelong learning- not relegated to one book, one subject or one grade level…rather it is life! Throughout, my mind is refreshed and renewed and nourished- what better than to give to my family from a full well?

Okay, let’s look at  it this way. If you had 45 minutes for yourself, what would you like to do? Sew, knit, garden, paint, write, take photo’s, scrapbook, cook, decorate, do hair, make soap, make perfume, play an instrument, read, write poetry, exercise, embroider…pitch a softball, design a website…the list goes on- it’s endless.  (However, catching up on housework or sleep is not what I’m talking about, okay?)

It doesn’t have to take hours per week. There’s no ‘delight directed police’ who will tell you you’re doing it wrong. The only criteria is that it is something that you are interested in…something that you would like to try. It doesn’t have to be bigger than Ben Hur…you just have to start.

Will you? Start today?

Will you then share it with me? I’d love to hear of your delight directed learning.

The post Delight Directed Learning first appeared on Simply Susan.

Friends of mine (IRL and online) will know that I have often talked about parenting our children as God parents us. God is The Ultimate Parent…we do well to model our parenting methods after Him.

I’ve often hear and have used the phrase ‘ pleasing unto the Lord’ or that which ‘pleases God’. I try to live by it…knowing that of myself I cannot earn God’s favour, but to do those things which please Him, not to earn salvation but because His love, His grace compels me to do those things which please Him. For those readers who might be thinking that I’m  steering toward a ‘works based’ mentality- I’m not. Not at all…I’m still very much aware of Isaiah 64:6

One of my children struggles with the sin of perfectionism. This leads to much frustration on their part (and ours). This child grumps and humphs in frustration or anger or impatience…and I’ve realised that I do not like being around them when they choose to display that behaviour! Their behaviour doesn’t give me pleasure…I don’t take delight in being with them at that time.

I’m not a parent who takes joy in only singing hymns, nor do we have special ‘approved’ activities which sit well with my moral compass and make me happy. For me, there are no activities that are more spiritual than others. One child plays softball with her whole heart, as unto the Lord. She works at every aspect of it and has experienced a lot of growth through the sport. For her, playing softball is an act of worship (her words). She plays like she was born to play softball. I LOVE watching her play. I get great delight in watching her play.

My son has recently started at Cadets. He practices his drill daily. He researches. He talks with his younger brother about it. He takes part in all the activities with gusto. He enjoys it. I LOVE watching him ‘do his thing’. I take pleasure in watching him do his Cadets thing.

Worship is an attitude, an act, a thought.

It isn’t something we just ‘put on’, it is a lifestyle. Worship isn’t just lighting candles, jumping up and down, singing or kneeling although all those things can be an act of worship. I’ve been learning how worship is all this – not just a prescribed set of actions.

Knowing that God is The Ultimate Parent, I’ll venture on…I’m trying to find a point here somewhere.

If I take pleasure watching my child partake in an activity with their whole heart (as unto the Lord), and they are enjoying themselves and have a good attitude, does God take pleasure in watching me as I go about my daily activities with joy? As much as I don’t take great pleasure in being with a child who is choosing to stomp around, maybe it doesn’t give God pleasure when I’m stomping around or thinking negatively or nastily. Can I do these things? Yup! (Does my freedom that allows me to do them make it beneficial or right?) Does it give God pleasure? Does He delight in seeing me act that way?

So what does God delight in?

And how does this affect my parenting- the way I interact with my children?  I’m not talking about living a just, honest life and all those good things. As a parent I want to see my children living according to biblical guidelines but that isn’t what I’m trying to get at. My children each have unique interests and different abilities. I love to watch them as they discover those abilities and even more as they learn to grow and mature those abilities. It’s not just a ‘fun’ type of pleasure, it’s a deeper type of joyous, satisfying delight. To see them live out those interests with their unique abilities, seeking only to glorify the father gives me pleasure. I don’t see playing an instrument in church any more ‘spiritual’ than playing softball or painting. The activity itself isn’t the major point, it’s the heart attitude. (Obviously this is not a theological essay so I’m sure you’ll bear with my inconsistent thoughts).

As I’ve watched one of my children, trying to run away from God, I am learning a lot about the fatherly nature of God. On the other hand, as I’ve watched another child I and also learning a lot about his nature. This child has given their whole life to the Lord, to be in His service. They discovered an ability, they grow and mature that ability, all the while giving glory to God. During all this, their heart is turned toward their father and I. We know this child and have a good relationship with them. We cry with them and we laugh with them. We share in their ups and downs. They  desire to do that which pleases us, as we are the child’s parents. We know that they respect, honour and love us. When this child embraces their ability and participates in it, it feels natural…we love to watch and be a part of it. It doesn’t give us any more pleasure than an activity that is more ‘socially acceptable’ as a form of worship. Yet this is worship- real life, total worship of the Creator, The Father, God.

What do I delight in seeing in my children?

A heart that will ‘toe the line’ with following our guidelines… A heart that doesn’t *delight* in our relationship or a relationship with my child that allows them to make mistakes…knowing that they desire to please me out of love, gratitude and relationship not in order to ‘look good’ or appearing to be obedient or trying to win my approval?

I don’t mind when my children make mistakes, if their heart is filled with love and is turned toward me. A mistake is a mistake. But there are some children who want to live life all their own way – not in relationship – living purely by the rules – nothing more, nothing less. This type of obedience fills me with sorrow as they are missing out on so much – relationship. I love my children. I want to have a deep, real, honest relationship with each one of them…I haven’t stopped loving them. I haven’t set my face to turn against them. I have forgiven. I haven’t moved away. But they don’t always want that. They sometimes want to walk their own road by themselves, regardless of what it may bring.:::: sigh ::::

Is God like that with me, I wonder?

Does He delight in me, does He smile, when watching me partaking in activities and using the gifts that He has given me? I have a relationship with Him…my heart and life is His.

Our view of God will affect the way we parent our children.

So, if we want to do a good job of parenting then we need to know what it is to be a child. We need to know who the Ultimate Parent is.

I’m not trying to put the cart before the horse, nor am I getting into heresy. I’m simply seeing another side to my relationship with the Father – how a father delights in His children. Here we have what pleases the Lord: Psalm 147:10-11

His delight is not in the strength of the horse,
nor his pleasure in the legs of a man;
but the Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him,
in those who hope in his steadfast love.

Delight.

What a word…delight. Jesus is a delight to the Father. He delighted in His Son. Through being born again, we have been adopted into God’s family and we are His sons and daughters. He delights in you. He delights in me.

Again, I’m not trying to compare my parenting practices to God. I learn more about the nature of God through being a parent. I’m sure some will have issues with this post but I hope you will hear my heart and not just my words. I know this post doesn’t have all its theological ducks in a row but I do hope and pray that you can read the ethos of it.

The post Delighting in our children first appeared on Simply Susan.

On a delightful forum that I visit, another homeschool mum asked about her child’s pastime and questioned if it is worthwhile…should she encourage it, institute rules for it or discourage it. Having used a delight directed, relaxed, identity-directed, Spirit led, Bible-First approach for a few years I wrote in with my 2c worth, which I’ll copy and paste below.

I wonder if many relaxed or delight directed home schoolers face this…it strikes at the nature of homeschooling, doesn’t it? This is an issue that we have faced with at least 2 of our children so far…especially the two children who are the most intense in their personality. But this can be a good thing – as they mature, they can tend to approach all their work and efforts with passion, working hard at it, focusing on it and giving their best.

Everybody is a genius. But, if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will spend its whole life believing that it is stupid. -Albert Einstein

Rather than try to look at the product of those activities, be it comic books, softball, computers, games or drawing…I’ve tried to focus on The Process. Now I still want it to be enjoyable for them. I don’t want to make it a school lesson and suck all the joy from it but as a Christian who also sees the value of natural learning I want them to live by Christian principles as well.

So I allow them to take after me!!! Eek, now that’s a scary thought! (Truly, the heart and soul of the learning at home lifestyle) I love web design and could easily spend 14 hours a day on my computer, building and designing as well as writing. I enjoy doing many things, which may or may not become productive one day. In fact, I’m quite sure it is productive but that still doesn’t mean that there are no guidelines. There are still chores, errands and duties that I must tend to first.

I also see the academic/spiritual/mental and /or physical nature in the activities I pursue. This helps me to focus on the process, not just the product.

I actually find it easier to parent the child who does have these interests – there is something to ‘work with’. For I can help this child to learn the value of self discipline, diligence, patience, sowing/reaping, etc within and throughout their journey with their ‘obsession’. An ‘obsession’ or interest gives me opportunity to teach many worthwhile life skills. Yahoo!

Teach them of the pitfalls of their interest. If the child is a boy, teach him of your concerns, so he may be educated about it. Teach him that a possible pitfall is that it can be an expensive hobby, addictive, take time away from family (and in the future his wife), contain anti Christian thought and other political/socio propaganda. As you go through each day, walking, sitting, reading, driving, talk to him about it .I tell my children everything – every thought that pops into my head! (Poor kids) I tell them of the possible pitfalls but also of the positives that they can learn throughout it all.

Who knows what skills can be learned throughout this interest? Talk to your husband about it. Who knows where it will lead? Even if it doesn’t lead anywhere, what valuable skills can be learned throughout it? Giving our children the freedom to pursue their interests is one of the greatest gifts we can give them.

You could try and fit it into lessons- so he can earn credits for it. I have made up a few notebooks for our interests (softball and coffee). These allow the parent to ‘see’ productivity and maybe one day go toward a credit as it can go into their portfolio. How fantastic would this be for an employer- if a prospective employee turned in a huge notebook of his work, relating to his interest even in a vague way? It shows a lot about the person’s character.

My notebooks go into everything from the history, rules, types, skills, political, social, geographical information as well as reading biographies or doing biographical sketches of notable people with that field. I’d just say not to focus too heavily on this part. If you have a funday or a light day in your homeschool, you could ask him to do some work on this project on that day – once a week. Who knows where it will lead?

Lastly, I have taught my children about true education. if I think they are spending too much time on something I may ask them what they are learning or working on. Tehee, this usually gets them thinking- if they can’t think of anything useful, educational or productive then I suggest that maybe they need to devote the morning to something more worthwhile. This is important to me because I don’t just want to teach my children academics at home – I want them to learn about education, so they can truly know what is education and what is ‘busy work’. This is part of a life skill – learning to discern the root thought of an attitude and make a decision whether or not it is worthy to participate in.

See also:

• A Lifestyle of Learning post and Lifestyle of Learning page (some links still need updating)

• Lifestyle of Learning category, which contains many posts.

• Delight Directed posts are tagged here

• Identity Directed Approach

The post Worthwhile Pastimes – Discerning the Value in Hobbies first appeared on Simply Susan.

Oops! I had intended to pop back earlier with our exciting news but the days just seemed to skip ahead of me. Last week, we attended the local (State) Barista Championships where our 17yodd was competing in the Latte Art section.

She was up against two former Australian Champions and others who were veteran barista’s and competitors. She was the only female competing in that category and by far the youngest barista.

She placed 3rd! How absolutely exciting! 3rd in this state! We were so ridiculously excited and happy for her. Actually she finished equal 2nd but they went decided to count back and go into percentages (which is odd as they don’t do that for the general barista comp but who’s complaining?) and she ended up placing 3rd- one point behind the 2nd place-getter.

Well, hasn’t she just had a full-on week since?  She has had various photo shoots (including a hair and make-up session)  for the paper, and then centre where she works. She feels a little odd as they want to put her photo around various places in the mall- congratulations and a form of advertisement. She received a RB tamper worth over $100 so she is totally chuffed. She also won some prize money, a trophy and was presented with a sash. A tamp is a tool used in the making of espresso. She’s being interviewed for another paper and has also been contacted by Master Roasters (official name for those who roast beans) and CoffeeHouses. Whew, what a whirlwind week.

However, as parents, none of that has been as impressive as seeing our child work hard and apply themselves, focus on the process and not the outcome and then try something new that takes them out of their comfort zone. Miss17 was as nervous as anything for the week before the competition. She purchased all her own table setting and practiced on us for some time. However, she has never even been to a Barista Championship before let alone competed in one so didn’t have a clue what to do or expect. She has told me that she just kept her eyes and ears open to learn from those more experienced and that she kept learning right up and during her performance! She said she learnt from the barista’s who went before her and incorporated some new things into her routine. This is a sign of a lifestyle of learning- her [delight-directed education] homeschooling years have prepared her well. It wouldn’t have bothered us one bit had she not have placed, even if she had come last! What mattered to us was the whole process- the working, the attitude, the attempts, the learning, the failing, the trying again, the attitude, etc. Oh, did I mention attitude? 😉

Barista Championships

So the HUGE expensive espresso machine is now gone from our kitchen and I’m back to our small but trusty Sunbeam. But it’s so much easier to keep clean. The other $5000 (yes, five thousand dollars worth of coffee machine has been in our kitchen for the last month!) was so large it overtook the whole kitchen! It was also messier. But really, who’s complaining?

I wonder what’s next?

The post Delight Directed Education wins 3rd place! first appeared on Simply Susan.

Here are a few resources that we are currently using in our home-based studies.

BIBLE ‘Miss A’ is reading through a chronological Bible plus various other books like, ‘Case for Easter’, ‘Case for Christ‘ by Lee Strobel. ‘Miss R’ is going through ‘Genesis, Finding Our Roots‘ by Ruth Beechick plus various other books like, ‘Prayer is an Adventure‘ and ‘Young Person?s Guide to Knowing God‘ by Patricia St. John. John is just starting to learn to read his Bible for himself. Our devotions are not daily- we do not have rigid or regular devotion times.

MATHS ‘Miss A’ and ‘Miss R’ use Saxon and John and ‘Master C’ are using Singapore Maths.

ENGLISH ‘Miss A’ uses LLATL, and some units from ‘Write With the Best‘ along with Copywork, and Wordly Wise. ‘Miss R’ does a unit from WWtB here and there and Copywork and WW. John & ‘Master C’ are using Rod & Staff and John is doing Wordly Wise plus Copywork.

SCIENCE ‘Miss A’ is going through all of the John Tiner books and is currently working through ‘Exploring the World of Chemistry‘ along with the ‘Mystery of the Periodic Table‘. When she finishes this, she will go back to Apologia General. ‘Miss R’ does various living books and will soon be starting the ‘High School Science Mysteries‘ by John Tiner. John and ‘Master C’ read (or are read to) various books from *living* to a little twaddly but they love them. Some in the Horrible Science series and John Tiner’s biography books. Plus, ‘Wonderland of Nature‘ by Nuri Mass.

GEOGRAPHY John & ‘Master C’ are being helped by ‘Miss R’ using Leagues & Legends and the accompanying workbook. And I read ‘Exploring Planet Earth‘ (Tiner) to the three of them. ‘Miss A’ is nearly finished EPE so she does that by herself. After that, we will go on to ‘Exploring the World Around Us‘, yep, also by Tiner.

CHURCH HISTORY ‘Mr. Pipes & the Hymns of the Reformation‘. Selected chapters from ?Trial & Triumph? and the ?One Year Book of Christian History? and ?100 Most Important Events in Christian History?.

POETRY Each child reads poetry about twice a week from their poetry book that I made from from suggestions from AmblesideOnline. ‘Miss A’ & ‘Miss R’ do a poet or poem synopsis occasionally, just so I know how they’re going.

AUSTRALIAN STUDIES Each child has been working through an Australian Society and Environment workbook and doing assignments using this book as a spine.

SHAKESPEARE Both girls choose 2 plays per year and explore them- starting with easy stories such as Lamb, Nesbit or Mee, then the unabridged play (or even excerpts are fine with me) and then a movie.

LITERATURE ‘Miss A’ is reading through Arthur Mee’s writings to gain an overview of English Literature. Other than that I don’t have much of a formal list anymore as the girls are so very good at choosing their own good literature. Plus, they read a lot for their history studies as well.

HISTORY We are taking a break from history at the moment while we finish some Aust studies and then we will finish a *modified* version of SL 5- Eastern Hemisphere Studies.

ART Just hasn’t happened this year so far.

MUSIC Formally? Hasn’t happened yet. Informally? All the time!

We use movies, TV, the newspaper and discussion * a lot* in our home too. As to a schedule- argh, one isn’t happening here at the moment! We try to get up, have brekky, do chores and all head into the book room but even that simple routine has been all over the place this year. I have a ‘Course of Study’ that I have mapped out for each child but it doesn’t need to be done in one year, rather over the 4 – 10 years.While it isn’t happening for us at the moment as I’d like it to, we just keep plodding along knowing that life has its different seasons and that one day, we will bog in and hit the books again. I don’t worry or stress (Well, sometimes I do) but just keep plodding along when I can.

The post Delight-Directed Education- Resources For Each Child first appeared on Simply Susan.