Everyday Education

 Contents

May 26, 2010

-Greetings

-Caregiving for Homeschoolers: Some Questions to Consider

-The Power of Copying a Text

-New Articles

-Teens & Real-World Finances by Rebecca Shealy

-High School Elective Options

News:

ENOCH Attendees: The box of Transcripts Made Easy that didn't make it to the conference has apparently been touring New Jersey. We hope to have it back in the next couple of days and will ship your orders immediately. I'm sorry for the delay!

We'll be at the HEAV Convention in Richmond, VA, June 10-12. I hope to see you there! 

What I'm Reading:

Because He Loves Me by Elyse Fitzpatrick

Social Media for Dummies

Several other items...

I invite you to make time for things that matter- family, home, good books, and spiritual growth. 

I had the nicest surprise in the garden yesterday. I went out to pick lettuce for supper, and discovered that the black raspberries were just getting ripe. We ended up adding a nice big handful of berries to the salad, and it tasted just like spring. 

When things start blooming outside, I can hardly concentrate on things indoors, so I bring a bit of spring in with me, like the bouquet you see at left. If you have daughters, it's nice to help them learn how to work with flowers and bring beauty indoors. It's all about creating a beautiful, serene home!

This issue of the newsletter touches on the issue of caregiving for homeschool families, copywork, and two new articles on the website. I hope you enjoy it all, and will pass along the newsletter if it was a blessing to you.

Blessings,

Janice Campbell

P.S. We have beta copies of Spelling Made Easy, Connie Schenkelberg's two-year spelling program, left over from the ENOCH conference (that was a wonderful convention, by the way-- if you live nearby, I recommend attending it next year).

Connie is busy tweaking puzzles and adding a few extra things, so you may want to wait for the final version to order it. If you just can't wait, you can find the beta version here:

http://everyday-education.com/spelling/index.shtml

Caregiving isn't something I've written a lot about-- everyone seems to have an opinion and I don't always have to put in my two cents worth. However, several people have asked Donald and me about it in recent months, and I know that many of you are probably moving toward a time in life when you'll need to consider it. We've been doing it for many years, so it seemed like the right time to post some things to think about. 

This article is written with the assumption that you are just beginning to consider caregiving, and that you have alternative options available. If that's not exactly your situation, perhaps you'll still be able to glean from the things posted.

You'll find the entire article on my blog:

http://www.janice-campbell.com/2010/05/26/caregiving-for-homeschool-families-dont-go-into-it-lightly/

I have two other posts on this topic tentatively scheduled for next week, so check back if you're interested in either of these two topics:

• Can Learning Go On While Caregiving?
• Advice for Friends of Caregivers

The Power of Copying a Text

Charlotte Mason recommended copywork as part of the language arts curriculum, and I second that suggestion. Copying a text is a powerful way, not only to practice writing mechanics, but also to absorb the cadence of an author’s prose, the fluidity of each sentence, and most of all, the deep meaning of the passage. If you want your students to commit anything to memory, the first place to begin is by having them copy it.

I learned the power of copying when I did calligraphy for hire. Writing out a text gave me time to reflect on meaning, prose style, and more. Poetry and verses that I copied have remained with me, even decades later. Copying is a relatively simple activity that can make your student a better writer. I hope you’ll try it!

The power of a text is different when it is read from when it is copied out.

Only the copied text thus commands the soul of him who is occupied with it,

whereas the mere reader never discovers the new aspects of his inner self that are opened by the text,

that road cut through the interior jungle forever closing behind it:

because the reader follows the movement of his mind in the free flight of day-dreaming,

whereas the copier submits it to command.

Walter Benjamin

In the last issue, I invited readers to submit articles for the Life Management section of the Everyday Education website. Homeschooling is so much more than just academic lessons, and I felt that it would be helpful to address some of the real-life areas you want to train your children in. 

Rebecca Shealy, a homeschool graduate and one of my former literature students, graciously shared Teens and the Real World of Finance: Tips to Avoid Catastrophe and Come Out on Top-- a wonderfully practical article on budgeting

http://www.everyday-education.com/articles/teen-budget.shtml

James Peters, head of Giant Campus Academy, contributed an article on high school electives. "High School Electives: New Class Options Turning Throw-Away Classes Into Enriching Experiences for Students" is an interesting look at how uniquely selected electives can enrich your student's high school experience.

http://www.everyday-education.com/articles/electives.shtml

Invitation to Write for the Everyday Education Website

One of the things I want to do in 2010 is to expand the website to embrace more of the learning areas I believe to be important. For this purpose, we've created a new section on the Everyday Education website, and it's called "Life Management." It's designed to encompass all those things  that round out a learning lifestyle, including:

    * Home
    * Garden
    * Time
    * Money
    * Meals
    * Weight
    * Clothing
    * Travel
    * Arts and Crafts
    * Caregiving

I have many articles I want to write for this section, but I know that there is a great deal of accumlated wisdom and knowlege among my readers. I'd like to offer you and your older students the opportunity to contribute articles, recipes, patterns, book reviews, or other helpful information to the Life Management section. Think of things that would be helpful to others and are in keeping with home and family values, and submit them, following the guidelines below. We'll publish as many items as possible.

http://www.everyday-education.com/life/index.shtml

Submission Guidelines

Articles can be of any length, but I ask that they be spell-checked and proofread before submission. Please submit in .rtf or plain text format, or even pasted into an e-mail message. Please do not submit anything in Microsoft Word. Format should be web-style, with a space between paragraphs, rather than an indention. As always, there should be only one space after each sentence.

If you would like to submit a photo with your article, recipe, pattern, book review, or other submission, please save it as a .jpeg or .gif and attach it to your e-mail submission. At the end of each submission, please include a brief bio of yourself with a link to your blog or website if you have one, and if you like, a small photo. As a sample, here's the bio I include at the end of my articles:

Janice Campbell homeschooled her four sons from preschool into college. She is the author of Transcripts Made Easy, Get a Jump Start on College, and Evaluate Writing the Easy Way, as well as the Excellence in Literature curriculum for grades 8-12. Be sure to visit her website, www.Everyday-Education.com, to get a free writing evaluation rubric and sign up for her free, twice-monthly e-zine.

I hope you've enjoyed this edition of the e-zine. Please feel free to share it in its entirety with others, and invite them to subscribe.