What's New?

Hey there Friends!

I just thought I would drop you a short note (for once) to invite you to come on over and visit my newly refreshed website, www.mapletreepublications.ca.  While this "work in progress" is still likely to morph and change over the next few months, we hope that we can use it to be useful to you.  The resources page will contain more and updated links and likes lists.  The link back here to the blog is prominent.  We also hope that, though our product list is still small, you will consider buying some of your homeschooling resources through Maple Tree. 

At Maple Tree we would love to become Canada's Charlotte Mason resource provider and so please let me know if there are resources that you would like to see us carry and we will try to get them in for you.  For now, being a cheap homeschooler, I am trying to focus our product list first, of course, on the spectacular resources that we publish and secondly on the most essential learning tools that we homeschooler all have to invest it. 

For now, since there is so much out there that is cheap or freely available for our kids to learn from so I would rather help you to find where you can get free ebooks than to try to sell you reprints.  I love the idea of borrowing books that will only be used for a short time from a library rather than cluttering your house up with them even though they may be very good.  So if you take a look around at the website now, you will find that there are a lot of parent resources, math, reading, science and history curriculums but not so much the typical cornucopia of Charlotte Mason style wonderful novels and other books to read.  In time...  it will come.

One thing that I do want to point out though before you toddle of to peruse the dusty shelves of my little store is that the last of the Life of Fred Elementary Series is now racing across the United States in a FedEx truck toward my door!  That means that if you are interested in using this most engaging and entertaining of math curriculums then you can now order them on my website.  Need more information about Life of Fred?  Check it out here.  Updated pricing that includes the newest books can be found at www.mapletreepublications.ca under products.

Thanks for checking us out!

Peace,

Cori

Busy Days

You know some days I think that I have some sort of mommy superpower.  That happened just yesterday.  I kept all of the juggling balls in the air without flinching.  At one point I was loading a computer programme onto the computer, while cleaning pee off the floor (yes, the toddler is still struggling with this concept) and giving spelling dictation all while discussing the concept of reducing fractions with my oldest student.  I could see my cape fluttering in the breeze behind me though it did of course have little baby boogies on the shoulder and a tear that will wait for years to be mended.  It fit though.  Yesterday.

Today was a different mess all together.  I found myself wondering what my little cherubs must be destroying in the basement when they should have been listening to good books on the couch.  The reason why they were on their own covert operations: I was sequestered in my room trying to make my own clandestine moves and schedule a dentist appointment that one daughter in particular is terrified to deal with.  Because I didn’t want her to hear what atrocities I was planning for her, something that looked like a nuclear bomb was in the midst of going off in the basement.

It occurred to me then that not only are days like this not ideal school days but they are so counter productive.  In those 10 minutes yesterday when I was supermom, in tights (that of course didn’t accentuate the curves that were out of place) and a cape, we probably got about an hour and a half’s worth of work done as everyone industriously multitasked, all working in coordination, all doing their part and contributing to the family unit as a whole and to health and well being of us all.  Five people, each working away for a good fifteen minutes, and all was bliss. 

Then today – not only did they not get the science fair project worked on nor the chapter of Robin Hood read to them nor the last story told in the book on New France, but, in the time that they should have, I also didn’t make any lunch and someone made a huge mess in the basement.  Yesterday, 10 minutes got 90 minutes of work tucked away and today 10 minutes charted out enough work to do for the rest of the day – now there is a mess to clean, assignments that aren’t done, and the usual gamut of tidyings and helpings out that had been neglected.  Oh yeah, and all that after the squabbling pair has to take the time to expresses their love for one another and their horrible regret at what was said and done while Mamma was on the phone.

Sigh, some days are better than others, aren’t they?  I really do love my job – partly because of days like this.  It is good to be learning right along side of my girlies like this.  They are a forgiving group.  Tomorrow, I hope for a better day.  Knowing that God is good is good enough.  All the rest will work itself out in the wash (even if I am eight loads behind.)

May the Lord bless you with Peace, dear Friends, as you seek quite moments in your busy days.

Cori

Mother Culture: Chapter 4 - Home Discipleship

{Alright, first I must apologize for not keeping up to date with my notes on the Charlotte Mason meetings that we have had.  It is so spectacular to get together for encouragement and learning with likeminded parents and so, for those of you who haven't been able to join us, I'm sorry that I dropped the ball.  Hopefully, I will be able to catch up over the next little bit on some of the notes I've taken and on the ideas that we have dicussed.  This past week we got together and discussed chapter 7 (on creating a home learning environment) and part of chapter 12 (on reading and narration).  I hope you are keeping up with the readings better than I am keeping up on posting my notes.  Please join the discussion and let me know how these readings have impacted you.}

If you are just joining our little, virtual Charlotte Mason reading group then welcome to Mother Culture.  For more details about the book and the reading schedule please see this post.

Chapter 4 - Home Discipleship

At it’s core discipleship is about a relationship – with Jesus.  Our greatest goal in teaching and training our kids at home in our families is that they will know and love Jesus.

As such we approach discipleship from three ways: giving direction (so that they will know the way to go), giving correction (to bring them back if they wander off of the path) and giving protection (from temptations and unrighteous influences).

Direction – To properly “train up a child in the way he should go” we need to know the way laid out in the Bible.  Giving direction is shaped by the four qualities of leadership: sympathy, encouragement, love and instruction.

            Sympathy (vs. Strictness) is love focused on the present, is not time efficient (that is hard for me!)  Sympathy is not about permissiveness!

            Encouragement (vs. Guilt) is love focused on the future. We need to affirm our children to help them to grow in confidence.  Let them know that you see their potential.

            {What do you think of the word potential?  I know that it should mean that we see how amazing a person can grow to be but often I have seen it mean how amazing they are not now!  “Potential” has the potential to be a very negative word, doesn’t it?}

            Love (vs. Neglect).  Give them a reason to follow you!

            Instruction (vs. Information).  Giving instruction goes beyond information giving in that it leads to personal transformation.

“It has been said that the essence of teaching is causing another to know.  It may similarly be said that the essence of training is causing another to do.  Teaching gives knowledge.  Training gives skill.  Teaching fills the mind.  Training shapes the habits…  The parent who does not recognize the possibility of training his children as well as instructing them, misses one of his highest privileges as a parent, and fails of his most important work for his children.” – H. Clay Trumbull, Hints on Child Training, 1890

Correction is getting back on the path.  We need to be careful not to be harsh while still using appropriate methods for correcting.  They suggest four methods:

            First is Training with Spiritual Discipline.  This involves choosing to parent by faith.  Not by flesh, fear, feeling or formula.  We need to rely on God’s leading through his word and prayer to help us to properly parent.

            Second is Training with Verbal Discipline.  We need to ask ourselves, “What would Jesus say?”  He would be “gentle, but authoritative”; “loving, but truthful”; “gracious, but firm”.

            Third is Training with Behavioural Discipline.  We need to use appropriately both natural and logical consequences.  Letting our kids fail is a natural consequence that we are so apt to protect them from.  Logical consequences are ones that don’t necessarily arise directly out of their actions but which our children need to expect to bear as a result of their behaviour.  In our home, we remind the kids that they have chosen any consequences that they have since they make their own decisions about how they will behave.  Logical consequences might, for example, be doing extra chores to “practice” getting them done more efficiently when they have been goofing around during working together time.

            Fourth is Training with Physical Discipline.  While there is a lot of debate about whether spanking is ever appropriate there is no doubt that any physical discipline must be used as a last resort and only be done when we are certain that we are acting in love and guided by God’s grace.

Protection is about helping our children to stay safe on the path of life.

We need to protect our children’s appetites for our desires lead our hearts.  We need to help to protect them against unwise relationships and against ungodly media as well.

{What do you think about your children’s ability to choose friends?  Should they stay away from all “unsavoury” characters?  Or should they, in as far as we know that they are safe, be able to befriend peers with lesser morals or behaviours?  How can we hope that our children will influence others for eternity if we engineer all of their interactions to avoid people who might lead them astray?  Would it not be better to, instead, train them to be strong leaders and not followers?  I am, of course, being something of a devil’s advocate but I do want to know how you strike a balance between being over protective and leaving your kids unprotected at all.}

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts on the reading and on discipling your children, Friends. 

Blessings,

Cori

Celebrating

Dear Friends,

I trust that the holidays were kind to you.  For us, it was, as usual, a busy time of hustle and bustle.  We enjoyed sharing gifts with our kids, and blessing the rest of our family too.  At first, I struggled this year with even wanting to give gifts to everyone and with scrimping to spend money that was tight.  As we contemplated it, we wanted to give to Jesus on his birthday but did that mean buying lots for everyone but him? 

But then, I realized that He said, “whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.” (Matthew 25:40)  So we were pleased to be able to make efforts for his birthday and others did the same for us.  Some wonderful “Santa Claus” left gifts for our family at our home just before Christmas.  What a touching treat!  That experience helped me to realize that we wanted to make sure that our family, our kids know that they are our first priority in sharing the love of God. 

So in addition to our traditional stockings and gifts and turkey comas with several different family groups, we enjoyed a couple of neat activities that were new:

We enjoyed a wonderful gathering of friends in which we got to sing some old fashioned Christmas carols to get us “in the mood” to celebrate the coming of the Saviour.  That was so refreshing.  Thank you, Friends!

As well, our oldest daughter made a birthday cake for Jesus and we all sang Happy Birthday to Him.  Then each of us gave a gift of praise to Jesus and blew out one candle.  Afterwards, we each chose a gift from the Samaritan’s Purse catalogue for him.  An excellent birthday party on Christmas day!

What old and new traditions highlighted your holidays, friends?

And what are you looking forward to you for the New Year?

Soon I will post some of the exciting things that I am looking forward to for 2012…  I will resume the Mother Culture posts and am getting into the readings for the next Charlotte Mason meeting…  Then, ever so quickly, homeschool conference season will be upon us and I will look forward to seeing many of you in person at one or another….

Until then…  wishing you all a (belated) Merry Christmas and a Blessed New Year.

Blessings,

Cori