| | | The Everyday Educator
22 May 2013
In This Issue
- Letter from Janice
- How to Create a Lifestyle of Learning
- Summer Sale: Homeschool Through High School with Confidence Set
- Donna Beth Update
- A Mathematician's Lament by Paul Lockhart
- Christian Content or Christian Worldview: Which do you want?
- Start Planning Your Summer Reading!
- Books Boys Like link
- Conference Schedule
- Contests and awards for students
- Subscription information: Make changes here!
| | "The important thing is not so much that every child should be taught, as that every child should be given the wish to learn."
~ John Lubbock
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Dear Friend,
It has been quite a month since I last wrote. My sweet grandmother stepped across the threshold of eternity on April 27. She was 100 years old, and ready to go, but it isn't easy to say goodbye. You can read a bit more and see a few historic photos on my blog at http://www.janice-campbell.com/2013/04/29/ellen-potter-well-say-good-night-here/.
So far this month, we have enjoyed meeting some of you at INCH in Michigan and ENOCH in New Jersey. We leave this evening for NCHE in North Caroline, and are looking forward to TPA in Wichita next weekend. The following weekend, we will be at HEAV in Richmond, then home for a whole week. If you make it to one of these conferences, please be sure to stop by and say hello!
May you each have a wonderful spring (or autumn, depending on where you are).
Blessings,
Janice Campbell
Everyday-Education.com
Excellence in Literature |
| Summer Sale!
"Homeschool Through High School with Confidence" Set
Purchase Transcripts Made Easy AND Get a Jump Start on College!
plus two FREE instantly downloadable audio workshops from my archives:- Homeschool Through High School: There's Joy in the Journey
- Transcript-Building Workshop
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| From the Blog
How to Create a Lifestyle of LearningSummer is coming soon, and although formal class time may end for some homeschoolers, it’s easy to keep minds active if you create a lifestyle of learning. This is a wonderful season to tackle outdoor projects and learn practical skills, as well as have free time to read and contemplate. Downtime is important for many reasons (a Sabbath wouldn’t have been part of the law if resting wasn’t a good thing), so I hope you’ll be able to enjoy a great deal of unstructured time.
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| Conference Slides
If you have requested copies of my slides from one of the conferences, I've discovered how to send even the larger files. If you requested a PDF of the slides and haven't yet received it, please feel free to e-mail again with "slide request" in the subject line, and remind me which slides you wanted and what conference you were at. It may be a few days before I can respond, but I'll do my best. Thank you for being so patient! |
| | | Donna Beth Update
Last month, I requested prayer for my friend, Donna Beth, a 45-year-old homeschooling mom of three who was a candlelighter at our wedding over 30 years ago. She was diagnosed a couple months ago with Stage IV cancer, and had been in the hospital with considerable pain.
I am thankful to report that after being placed on a new cancer treatment and a month spent in rehab, she has been able to return to her parents home where she and her family are staying during this time. DB has been a blessing to so many in this trial, and continues to offer praise to her loving heavenly father. She's even been able to share her favorite song, "I Believe in Miracles," with many of the nurses and doctors.
We don't know what the outcome will be, but I ask that you'll continue to remember Donna Beth and her family in your prayers. |
| | "Every act of conscious learning requires the
willingness to suffer injury to our self-esteem. That is why young
children, before they are aware of their self-importance, learn so
easily; and why older people, especially if vain or arrogant, cannot
learn at all."
~Thomas Szasz. |
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A Mathematician's Lament by Paul Lockhart
As most of you know, I'm not a math person. When I saw this article, however, I began to see why. It's well worth reading if you've always wondered why math makes no sense at all. I encourage you to read the entire article if you have been considering working through the summer on math just in case you're not doing enough.
Here is how it begins:
"A musician wakes from a terrible nightmare. In his dream he finds himself in a society where music education has been made mandatory. “We are helping our students become more competitive in an increasingly sound-filled world.” Educators, school systems, and the state are put in charge of this vital project. Studies are commissioned, committees are formed, and
decisions are made— all without the advice or participation of a single working musician or composer.
"Since musicians are known to set down their ideas in the form of sheet music, these curious black dots and lines must constitute the “language of music.” It is imperative that students become fluent in this language if they are to attain any degree of musical competence; indeed, it would be ludicrous to expect a child to sing a song or play an instrument without having a thorough grounding in music notation and theory. Playing and listening to music, let alone composing an original piece, are considered very advanced topics and are generally put off until college, and more often graduate school . . . |
| | From the Archives
Q: I was recently asked whether Excellence in Literature had Christian content, and since I know it’s a question that others may have, I thought I’d share my answer here.
A: EiL is written from a solidly Christian worldview . . .
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| | | | | | On Reading
Start planning your summer reading!
Other than gardening, there’s no more satisfactory activity for springtime than planning summer reading. The stack by my reading chair is already teetering, but here are the first three things I plan to read: Read more . . .
On my Pinterest page, I've been pinning a list of Books Boys Like, among other things. If you're looking for summer reading, I suggest you check these out! I've just begun the list recently, so if you have other recommendations, please feel free to share! Here's the link to that board: |
| Join us at the conferences this year!
Here's the schedule:
INCH: Lansing, MI: May 9-11
ENOCH: Edison, NJ: May 17-18
NCHE: Winston-Salem, NC, Booth 25: May 23-25
The Old Schoolhouse Online Expo: May 28
TPA: Wichita, KS, Booth 42: May 31-June 1
HEAV: Richmond, VA (Exhibiting only) June 6-8JCHE: Johnson County, NC: June 22 As you can see, we'll be in a lot of places this spring. I hope we can be a blessing to you. Please pray that our strength holds out for all of this! When doors open, we walk through, and are grateful for the opportunity, but this is most packed May we've ever experienced. I'm thankful, and look forward to meeting you. Please stop by the Everyday Education Booth to see us. |
| | | Although
we aren't able to screen all the contests that come across our desks, we are
sharing them here so you'll be able to check them out yourself. Contests can be
a useful motivational tool, so be sure to check them out! |
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If you haven't yet seen the new Excellence in Literature website, I think you'll enjoy it. If you're using the curriculum, you'll find that we've hosted many of the context resources on the site, organized by level so you can easily find them. Even if you're not using EIL, you'll find good resources for literature and history study, including source documents, poetry, and more. I hope the new site makes using EIL even simpler!
You'll find posts on entrepreneurship, microbusiness, and marketing at Do What Matters, Make it Pay. www.DoingWhatMatters.comIf you work with words, or want to, you need to get "The Edge: Success Strategies for People Who Work With Words," a free newsletter from the National Association of Independent Writers and Editors at www.NAIWE.com. *SAT, CLEP, AP, and PSAT/NMSQT are registered trademarks of the College Board and/or National Merit Scholarship Corporation, which are were not involved with the production of this email. Update Subscription Information Below |
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