Home Education and Drive

I have come to believe a person’s drive is God given. Each of my children has a different drive. It is part of their emotional makeup, their personality.

I believe the way we plan their education is in part affected by their drive.

This is what I have observed amongst the boys in our home

Type A : The Gifted and Motivated High achiever: This son is motivated by his success. He seems thirsty for knowledge. He is often easily bored because his appetite is so large. A few days ago this boy finished his Saxon book (in 5 months instead of the usual year) but he declared that he was a bit bored and was looking forward to starting the next book. (The reward in our home is a couple of weeks free of Maths and a monetary price). He wasn’t bored because there is nothing to do but because he enjoys the mental stimulation. He has elected use his free days one day a week over the coming 12 weeks.

My job is to find him good self teaching material. I have to be careful that this appetite for knowledge (or some might call it being easily bored) is not satisfied with electronic media like computer games, television etc. He is easily over stimulated and can burn out because it is hard for him to know that he needs to stop and recharge.

2. 2. The child with drive but differently gifted.

I have one son that finds reading/writing difficult so he easily runs out of steam ie the cycle of motivation is easily broken ( see) in this area. However he has passion and gifting in other areas: he could read and play music before he could read a book, he loves making things, painting miniatures, Lord of the Rings etc. He finds joy in these things and the joy he find is sufficient to motivate him to overcome the difficulties for example He wanted to read his LOTR rule book  so he got through the reading part so he could play the game well. He will sit for 2 hours painting miniatures, putting on tiny details. I am not concerned about his education even though he is achieving below grade in some areas because I know if there is something that he wants to do, he is able and willing to overcome any difficulties.

I find him material that will develop his gifts but is not so dependent on his weaknesses. I also have a good routine for working on his weaknesses so they will hopefully not stop him achieving. I think this
is important to continue to require this child to work on his weaknesses at a level he can gain some satisfaction.

*But* I have a son who is not driven, he is not passionate about anything in particular: he is Mr. Steady.

For a long time I had been searching for something that would excite my Mr. Steady son. I have now realized that I am looking for something that
isn’t there. A steady routine is most important for this child. Drive may be a hindrance but it need not be a permanent roadblock.

Therefore I have an achievable daily routine. I do not choose the most challenging books, for slow and steady pace is important. Mastery
learning is important and sometimes a slower pace is best. I do find that it is easy for me to be frustrated with this child, sometimes I mistake laziness for lack of drive.

It is a little like going up a steep hill : my high achiever is driven to run to the top, Mr Steady son would rather walk round and round
slowly going up the hill. Does this make sense?

I have a daily routine of work for him which must be completed but it is at a level that I would consider easy for him but he does it everyday.

An young man that is diligent will always be a blessing to his employer.

Books to read

Started another blog

www.bookstoread.co.nz

For New Zealand readers the children’s books are linked to the National Library and Auckland Library catalogues  for those that might like to borrow the books.

Greek Alphabet

I am moving all my Koine Greek to another blog here

Koine Greek Beginner Reader Lesson 2

I am moving all my Koine Greek to another blog here

Greek Story 1 translation

I am moving all my Koine Greek to another blog here

Greek Story 1

We are learning Koine Greek.

I am moving all my Koine Greek to another blog here

Planning

Psalm 90:12 So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts to wisdom.

Within the first fortnight at Bible College, I experienced an overwhelming sense of failing. I had part time work commitments, full time study, I was newly married. None of them I felt I was doing well. I had made decision to stop a number of volunteer projects which made me feel guilty and this seems to increase my sense of failing.   I went to seek counsel before it all fell apart. I did however do one thing right, I had timed my crisis well. Usually students waited a little longer before falling apart and so when I enquired about whether there was anyone in the pastoral care team I could talk to, I was asked if I would like to talk now.
I wasn’t given a time management book, or a planner, the counselor listened to me and then he read from the Bible and explained the scriptures by asked me a few questions:

Jesus was able to say to His Heavenly Father that he had done that all that His Father had given him to do.
Had Jesus done it all?
Jesus was perfect and he had done amazing things, I reflected. But, I smiled, to my way of thinking there were still hungry people in Israel, still sick people, still people who did not know the way of salvation. My wisdom had not been God’s wisdom.   My tasks were not everything I could see.  It was another example of God really does know best. My wordly wisdom would have had me burnt out and in the end unable to do anything.
The weight was lifted. What had my Heavenly Father had given me to do? I  knew the tasks that I had been given. It was the others that I need to give to God.

It was a joy to me to reflect on this some months later: those things that I left in his hands were either picked up by others or in the end were better left undone. God was gracious to reinforce the lesson to me.
There are many unmet needs in the world, some that seem better not left undone: I am going to have trust God with those. I must seek Him for my calling and  how I He would have me fulfil it.

In my home there are things that I feel should be done: the house could be cleaner, the meals better, more learning, more…
I remind myself, am I  doing the tasks I have been given? Did I seek him with the way my time is allocated? Will my Heavenly Father say well done good and faithful servant. Or will I be like Martha running around being very busy, busy doing things that may not be the most important things. Things that were better left undone. Will I be like Martha, who was told Mary had chosen the better way? For all her work and effort, it was Mary who had chosen well.
Matthew 11: 28-30 “Come to me, all of you who are weary and loaded down with burdens, and I will give you rest. Place my yoke on you and learn from me, because I am gentle and humble, and you will find rest for your souls, because my yoke is pleasant, and my burden is light.”

Here is a  selection of quotes from
www.earlytorise.com/archive/z_archive/120501.htm

which may help you with the practical outworking of leaving somethings undone that seem urgent or pressing.

“The secret to effective planning and prioritizing is to have a daily schedule that is limited to a number of tasks that you can realistically accomplish that day. The priority-pile system gives you the feeling that you are in control, but ultimately fails because it allows you to put tasks in your “to-do” pile that you have no realistic chance of accomplishing.”

“This is a very difficult thing to do. Most people won’t do it because it forces them, first thing in the morning, to recognize the fact that there are certain urgencies that they simply won’t handle.

“But unless you recognize that reality, you’ll be forever working for your in box and will never be truly in charge of your own life.

An update on Progressing through Saxon Math

Here is an update on what has worked well amongst all the different things we have tried to improve the children’s math error rates and progress through the Saxon math books.

Lecturing to yourself
Art Robinson had one of his sons teach/lecture his physics book to himself aloud when his error rate got too high. We applied this to Saxon for a younger child.  I have  the child read aloud to me the teacher’s section of the text book and “teach”  me the examples. When working alone a child will read the teacher’s section but not attend carefully to all the examples. Perhaps they are able to do the examples given in their head so they see no need to attend to the method the book suggests. This means when the questions get a little harder and they are no long able to do the sums in their head and they don’t have a method which they understand and have been practicing with easier numbers.

Perhaps they don’t even read the teacher’s section because they are in a hurry to do something else. Some children do not see that by not attending to the teacher’s section they are making more work for themselves in the end. However it is not unusual  (1 Cor10:13) for children to shirk their duty. One of my children was in one Saxon book for almost 3 years. It was not because of lack of ability: they were not attending to the teacher’s section and endlessly repeating the same lessons was not sufficient to motivate them to do so. They were in bondage hating their failure to succeed but not having the motivation to do anything about changing the situation.

Discernment and wisdom is required : it may be  that they did not have the  skills to find a way to succeed and they are not shirking at all.

[As an aside, I give an example

I remember studying French at school and although I studied hard I did not succeed.  I was learning French as if I was deaf: I did not know the sound of the letters nor how  the words sounded. This makes language learning very difficult but not impossible. I learned the French words like Chinese symbols, the letters having nothing to do with how they were pronounced. I knew  for example the tree was l'arbre, not how to say l'arbre and if someone said "l'arbre " in French I may or may not have recognised it as the French word for tree.  I was able to memorise several sample essays, I was able to do written translation, so in my school certificate exam I received 20/20 for the essay, 14/20 for the translation but 4/20 for the oral comprehension multi-choice section. I can't remember the rest of the marks but I managed to pass the exam with a B. At that time I did not know the English vowel sounds, ( I knew the long vowels because they are also the letter names, but not the short vowel sounds, nor diphthongs).  I learned them when I taught my own children to read.   I  recently read a autobiography of a person who received a scholarship to Cambridge but who had reached an impasse in his high school Math. His father gave his some tutoring and discovered that he did not understand that the = sign is like the balance between a pair of scales.  Suddenly Maths made sense, you can do the same thing to both sides and the "=" will still hold true. Of course this person knew that 2+2 =4. Just like I could read the word "pet" and yet I could not tell you what sound that letter e made. My dear mother in an attempt to help me with my French even hired a private tutor and sent me on a holiday French course but no-one went back to how to sound out words, a skill I never learned.

You may discover that your child is not moving on in Maths because they have a hole in their understanding or a blockage somewhere. Try and find it. Prehaps  if you listen to them teach back the chapters of a Saxon book you might find it. Can they explain it in their own words, can they apply it to real life.  ]
More Maths.

Jonny neared the end of a Saxon text and decided to speed up to hasten receiving the prize for completing a Saxon textbook, the other children were spurred on. Rachel who was only ½ way through the text and does not find Math easy decided that it would be possible to complete the book within a short time. We made out a schedule with 2 -3 lessons daily. I agreed that s/he could leave aside all other school work and just do Maths. I also said that at any time she was free to abandon the plan.  S/he found that Maths became easier when they were immersed in it morning noon and night! Something I did not expect. I am not suggesting that you inflict this on a child but perhaps if you have a child that feels they could be doing better might consider this strategy. Rachel was spurred on by the encouragement that it was becoming easier the more she did.
Push On

I think it is probably better for a child to push on when the error rate gets a little  high. To do supplementary lessons rather than going back in the book. Employ reading aloud/teaching math to yourself ( for an older student) or Mum ( for a younger student or for older students that have come to an impasse) to get over this hump.  Require them to explain each error and how they corrected it. This will be time better spent than repeating the lesson or going back in the book. Saxon has enough repetition that a child will not miss something if they keep going especially if you employ the explaining the error so you are checking for major misunderstandings/holes. I am also assuming that you have placed them in the correct book in the first place. (  I would  lean towards the easier book if the placement results are marginal). Do remember that most key concepts in Saxon 54 are reviewed in first 40 chapters of Saxon 65, and all the way up the chain.
Make a Schedule

We found it helpful to make a schedule for Math lessons that included the date and the exercise number. I discussed with each child the rate at which they felt they could complete the book, including a schedule for a once a week day of rest. The maximum length of time for completing a book being 1 year (I understand Saxon Calculus is a 2 year book but we have no-one in Calculus yet). I schedule the next 3 months include a free spare extra “free”days which could be employed anywhere within the time period for such things as  offers of fishing with Grandpa etc.

Getting Help?

I hold to the self teaching philosophy meaning teaching children to teach themselves. However, like my French example it might take a while to work out what is the problem and how to fix it. So if a child is “stuck”  in our home they are able to buy a tutor (me) by doing housework. Most of my children find that the I am reasonably expensive to hire but the offer is there and is sometimes taken. The fact it “costs” is sufficient incentive to keep it to a minimum and for the most part they are teaching themselves using books as their teachers.

Biscuits, Welfare and Charity

A friend and I were discussing politics.
 “For a party to have 10% unemployment as a policy (to “stimulate the economy’ by creating a desperate workforce), and simultaneously cut welfare (to make them even more desperate) was utterly appalling to me.

Imagine having only 7 biscuits (jobs) to give to your 8 children. Then when 1 of them misses out, you say “Well, if you’d been faster, or wanted it more, you could have had one too, but to make you faster next time, you can’t have anything at all for afternoon tea…” But the truth is that no matter how fast they try, there will always be one kid going hungry, and to act like it’s their fault, rather than government policy, is hideous.”

When I evaluate economics I begin with the Bible for it is the framework, the glasses I wear in order to decide cause and effect. Others will come to different conclusions because of a different world view or even different hermeneutics. The Bible teaches me that God gave Adam and Eve a garden to tend. After the fall, weeds and thistles would make this work harder, but somehow there is something that is good for a person to work if he is able.
“Having only 7 biscuits (jobs) to give to your 8 children.” ( For the purpose of this example let us assume that 1/2 a biscuit is adequate to sustain life).
Ingrained in the NZ worldview is “fairness”. But fairness is not a Biblical principle, do not confuse justice with fairness. My children have eyes that see, your child may not. My children have legs and arms that work well, their brains are growing and developing normally. God does not dish out his gifts “fairly”, they are given out as He in his wisdom chooses.
So when I have 7 biscuits and I ask for labour to be done to earn the biscuits, each one of my children with the unique gifts and abilities will have different earning potential. No1. Child is especially gifted who could earn 3 biscuits in a morning. This gifted child is not highly motivated. He works and earns 2 and is content and has a rest. No. 2 is highly motivated but not so gifted , she works much harder and longer and earns 2 as well. Several of my children though have gifts but will have to labour all morning to earn ½ a biscuit. AHH.. but the government has decided a minimum wage of 1 biscuit. Now what will happen? This child’s productivity is only ½ a biscuit. He can not achieve 1 biscuit yet. I know many people like this. It will be possible perhaps given time, they will gain a productivity of 1 biscuit. But they are NEVER given the chance. There are no ½ biscuit jobs, they are illegal. But in my house there are ½ biscuit jobs. Then there is the baby, she is not able to work.
In my house this is what happens
No. 1 Paid 2 biscuits
No2. Paid 2 biscuits
No. 3 4 5 6 7 ½ biscuit each
No.8 paid nothing
With ½ biscuit left over for capital investment ( this is sold by the capitalist owner (me) to purchase some seed to grow more wheat so later there will be more biscuits
Then comes the eating: The baby is feed because she belongs to a family and each child gives a portion to the baby. Probably No 1 child will happily give a 1/4 , he is not that attached to biscuits and the others give a crumb or 2. Knowing she can not work means there is no resentment. Some will have more, others less. 

In a socialist house this is what happens
No. 1 earns 1 biscuits- This not very motivated child, knowing that 1/3 of his efforts are going to taken by force from him works less. He eats 2/3 of a biscuit
No 2. Highly motived child that he is, altruist and a “good” citizen, works and still earns 2 biscuits, 1 1/3 he get to keep
No 3,4,5,6 have no jobs
No 8 has no job.
4 1/3 biscuits are left now
1 of which is consumed by No.7 who is the Government employee in charge of distribution and taxation. He takes the last 3 1/3 and divides them between 5 children. No.3,4,5,6 having nothing to do all morning, form a gang and destroy the oven. There is no left over biscuit for buying seed. After several weeks No. 2, gives up earns only 1 biscuit… Overall productivity declines now the economy is only earning 6 biscuits. No one loves the baby as much either. She receives her biscuit from the Governement employed brother not from the hand of each of her brothers who love her.

Welfare destroys the work ethic. It robs the fruit of a person’s labours and destroys the family. It removes opportunities for the less productive in society. 

Have you read Cheaper by the Dozen? In the Gilbraith household lived a man ( sorry I can’t remember his name, let’s call him John). John was quite a character, he loved cats. He used to give the children large doses of caster oil when they were ill. He did odd jobs around the house, badly. He cooked meals although he mostly burnt them.  After Mr. Gilbraith died and Mrs. Gilbreth worked full time he took on the laundry and many other chores. He was an adult that there to greet the children if Mrs. Gilbraith had to be away when the children came home from school.  John was loved by all those children. His pay was  board and lodging and some spending money – all of which I think he drank on his day free once a week. That man would be on welfare if he lived today and Mrs. Gilbreth on the widows benefit. John would be lonely and feeling useless. He would be a drunk. Mrs. Gilbraith would never have achieved all she did. 

Some of us on the political right, care greatly for the poor, we see that welfare is doing nothing to help. In fact we see it is a disease which rots at the very core of a person. 

You can read more about the effects of minimum wage law at Mises.org

To be humble

Proverbs 29:23 “A man’s pride brings him low, but a man of lowly spirit gains honor.”

Jamie Oliver thanked the man who had his prepared his lunch. This miner who had cooked for Jamie was among only 5 other people who have cooked for Jamie in their own homes in the last 10 years. 

“Everyone,” Jamie said, ” wanted him to cook for them.”

 Jamie Oliver is an excellent cook, and I do not think his friends are lazy. I think there is another factor at play, common to the human condition. They were concerned what Jamie would think of their cooking. 

When I observed the miner he was not an arrogant man: he did not think that Jamie would learn from him. He fact he has been learning from Jamie through some kind of course. But he was not afraid that Jamie would see what he was: a moderately good cook. 

This miner was a humble man. He was able to make a sober judgement of his own abilites and he was lifted up. What an encouragement to have Jamie Oliver ask for seconds His family were encouraging too. I noticed his son saying that there was no better food. That boys statement did not come out of the blue. He must live in an enviroment of encouragement. Indeed it was more than good food they were dining on.