Everyone “Knows” Shakespeare- Or Do They?

Posted on July 1, 2008 
Filed Under Reading, Teaching Literature | Leave a Comment

“O, like a book of sport thou’lt read me o’er;
But there’s more in me than thou understand’st.”
~ William Shakespeare, Troilus and Cressida

The balcony scene in Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth’s fateful meeting with the three witches on the moor, and Brutus’s betrayal of Julius Caesar are just a few of the unforgettable scenes in William Shakespeare’s masterpieces. If you know Shakespeare, you will see echoes of his work everywhere; if you haven’t studied him, you will probably miss the significance of many of the allusions that have infiltrated our language and literature. Next to the Bible, the works of Shakespeare are the most necessary reading for cultural literacy.

Like any rich and worthwhile text, a Shakespeare play is challenging. Not only is the language and vocabulary archaic, the plays themselves brim with a multitude of characters, with plots, subplots, and counterplots. Shakespeare packs a lot into a single story! However, there is a way to approach the plays so you can understand and enjoy them. Here is a simple four-step plan:

1- Read a plot summary of the play, so you will know who the characters are, and how they fit into the events of the play. You can find plot summaries in Eyewitness: Shakespeare, along with a lot of information on the historical context in which Shakespeare wrote.
2- Watch the play, either live or on video. I recommend the BBC productions.
3- Read the play. It can be helpful to have an annotated edition, such as the Norton Shakespeare anthology, to define archaic words and clarify historic events.
4- Finally, watch and read the play once more. You’ll find that you get a lot more out of it than you did the first time.

The wonderful thing about Shakespeare is that the more you read each play, the more you will enjoy it. Take time to understand his works, and you’ll find them unforgettable. And you’ll really “know” Shakespeare!

Announcements

Beat-the-Clock Essay Workshop- July 18. I will post more details at www.EssayWorkshop.com when they are available.

Overstuffed School Schedules vs. The Learning Lifestyle

Posted on June 17, 2008 
Filed Under Homeschool, Learning Lifestyle | Leave a Comment

There’s a new school year coming up, and as you plan, it can be tempting to create a school schedule that would stagger a grad student. I know- I’ve been there. I’ve started school years with so many classes planned for my boys that we would have been at the table for most of the daylight hours if we’d done it all.

Fortunately, I always got a reality check. It usually arrived around lunchtime of the first day or so, with the realization that we’d finished only about 2/3 of the essentials, and there was absolutely no way that anyone’s attention span was going to last through the fourteen electives I’d planned.

Over time, I learned that we could study any number of topics without weariness if we did two essential things:

  1. Eliminate busywork
  2. Live a learning lifestyle

Eliminate Busywork

Busywork, in my opinion, kills the joy of learning for most children. There are always a few students who seem to enjoy filling in blanks in workbooks or writing answers to all the review questions in a chapter before taking the test. However, time spent doing those things is often time wasted.

I would much rather see young people reading attentively, annotating the text and taking notes, than filling in blanks. If they must take a test, have them take it after careful reading of the material covered. If they pass the test, they move on; if they don’t pass, they can do the relevant review questions.

This encourages students to pay attention the first time through, and to work efficiently so that they can progress more quickly. In math, it works well to have the student do all the odd-numbered problems. If he does them correctly, he can move to the next lesson, if not, he can go back and do the even problems.

There is no virtue in wasting time pumping out page after page of busywork when a concept is understood. It stifles natural curiosity, and wastes time that could be better spent reading classics, building relationships, or even playing outside. Gifted children can experience extreme frustration and burnout when they cannot move at their natural pace, and this is a miserable, pointless experience that can negatively affect them for many years.

Live a Learning Lifestyle

Rather than isolating learning in a daily four-hour block of time Monday through Friday, be willing to spread learning throughout the day. We listened to Lyrical Life Science, grammar, Spanish, and other song tapes while fixing dinner, read great books at bedtime, listened to classical music or audiobooks while cleaning house or riding in the car, looked at fine art and practiced drawing or painting on rainy days, and generally made educational activities a natural, enjoyable part of our life together.

We found that if study materials for those fourteen electives were in the house, they would usually be used. Not during the scheduled school day, and not always together, but someone would eventually settle down with the French-language Tin-Tin books, or get out the knot-tying or wood-carving kits and try something new. We read Macbeth together when the power went out and a storm howled around the eaves, and kept journals when we traveled. We never did the entire geography curriculum, but it was a fascinating supplement whenever we needed more information.

A lifestyle of learning means that resources are available when the time, interest, and circumstances are right. If students find that it’s safe to explore a new subject without suddenly being assigned an entire unit study on the topic (I’ve heard of that happening!), they will be much more likely to embrace the learning lifestyle and learn on their own.

Leave Time for Things That Matter

There is much to learn in order to be literate, and the school years can provide only a beginning. A lifestyle of learning can strengthen relationships, make family time more interesting, and build a strong foundation for future learning. Best of all, it won’t stifle curiosity and squelch delight in learning because you accomplish more in much less formally-structured time. Charlotte Mason was a strong advocate for keeping formal lessons short, while living a balanced life with time spent indoors and out, reading, learning, and playing, and I’ve seen firsthand that the learning lifestyle works well. I recommend it!

Announcements

BIG Birthday Sale-

We have four birthdays in our immediate family this month (the other two just had to be different!). In honor of these, we’re having a sale on a set of our two most popular books- Transcripts Made Easy and Get a Jump Start on College. I even plan to offer a discount on the new Conquer the Test! SAT* Prep audio workshop with worktext and two limited edition “master sets.” Be sure to stop by- we’ve never done this before, and don’t know if we’ll do it again, so if you’ve been waiting to make a purchase, now is the time! (I’m getting the page up as soon as I post this, and the sale will run through the end of June.)

On the NAIWE NewsWire blog of the National Association of Independent Writing Evaluators, I posted “An Elegy for Copy Editors: Is It Time?”. Do you think the era of precision in writing has passed? A New York Times opinion piece worries that it has, but I’m not so sure.

The Literary Traveler is a growing resource that offers essays on literature and writers. You may read or even submit professionally-written essays. It’s well worth visiting!

* SAT is a trademark of the College Entrance Examination Board, which was not involved in the production of, and does not endorse, this website or product

Summertime- Blake, Rilke, Sandburg, Shakespeare

Posted on June 10, 2008 
Filed Under Home & Garden, Inspiration, Poetry | Leave a Comment

Summer has begun– a slower, sweeter time of year for many families. I enjoy each month of the year as it arrives, but the lushness of summer greens is a special delight. Each time I pick roses, I gather a variety of lovely foliage to complement them- hostas, crimson barberry, several types of ferns, a bit of lemon balm for extra fragrance, and whatever else strikes my fancy. The cool green, gray, and burgundy shades frame the lush roses beautifully. Roses, like most stars, are loveliest with a supporting cast!

It’s time for summer poems, and I’ve tried to choose three you may not know, plus a Shakespearean sonnet that always rewards another reading. These are lovely for copywork, or simply for reading and savoring. Enjoy!

To Summer by William Blake
O thou who passest thro’ our valleys in
Thy strength, curb thy fierce steeds, allay the heat
That flames from their large nostrils! thou, O Summer,
Oft pitched’st here thy golden tent, and oft
Beneath our oaks hast slept, while we beheld
With joy thy ruddy limbs and flourishing hair. Read more

Should Mom and Pop Stores Be Illegal?

Posted on June 4, 2008 
Filed Under Homeschool, News | 4 Comments

In its “Intelligence Report,” the weekly tabloid, Parade, posed the question, “Should homeschooling be illegal?” as its weekly poll, and the query sparked a few thoughts. Aside from wondering if the name of the report is an intentional malapropism, the question caused me to consider whether mom and pop stores should be illegal. After all, now that Walmart has ridden onto the retail scene, consumers can have all their needs met in one tidy big box.

Unlike Walmart, mom and pop stores tend to be highly individual and focused directly on the needs of their own small target market. They don’t carry 47 brands of cereal or 18 kinds of ant poison– they just carry the things they believe to be best. Mom and pop stores may not be open at 2 a.m. for those late-running party needs, and worse yet, they may not offer the economies of scale that are available to a global behemoth.

Of course, I realize that family-owned businesses are traditional, and have been around many centuries longer than Walmart, but they simply aren’t efficient. Walmart’s big box business model is doubtless the wave of the future, and consumers should probably just accept that. Old fashioned consumers who feel entitled to customer service and a personal touch when they shop must be forced to adapt, and perhaps the best way to hasten the process would be to make mom and pop stores illegal.

If homeschooling and small, family-owned businesses are made illegal, society would be on its way to genuine assembly-line living. The overwhelming quality and efficiency of institutional schooling and big-box retailing are apparent. Even though they are both relatively recent historical innovations (it’s hard to believe that society bumbled on without them for thousands of years), they have immeasurably advanced the cause of mediocrity.

Therefore, if it would be a good idea to make homeschooling illegal, it would probably be a good idea to do the same for those outside-the-box mom and pop stores. After all, who needs quality, personal attention, or customized curriculum/inventory when they could have a virtually unlimited selection of cheap, mass-produced products that almost work?

There’s still time to vote in the Parade poll, if you’d like to do so.

Announcements

HEAV’s 25th anniversary convention begins on Thursday with some excellent free workshops. They’ve also provided discount coupons in the Richmond Times Dispatch. Convention is always an educational, inspiring experience- I hope to see you there! We will be in booth 403 in the exhibitor hall.

The Homeschool Carnival is being hosted this week on Tami Fox’s blog, and there are many interesting posts, all neatly organized in academic categories.

Evaluating Writing the Easy Way! is going to be ready in time for the convention this weekend (and available at the website soon after)! I haven’t seen it yet, but the printer called this morning to tell me it was printing nicely, and would be ready.

This is a topic that’s close to my heart, and I wanted to make the book short and accessible enough that it would be read and used, rather than placed on a shelf and forgotten. I’ve covered the basics in just 32 information-packed pages, with plenty of links and resources to help you become a better writing evaluator. I hope you’ll find it helpful!

SAT* Workshop and Teenage Proofreaders

Posted on May 27, 2008 
Filed Under Evaluating Writing, Homeschool, News, SAT Prep, Teaching Writing | 2 Comments

I’ve been putting together a worktext to go with the three-hour audio workshop I recorded in April, and all the pieces are finally coming together. The thing that has taken the longest is getting the live audio mastered into the proper format, but it’s happening today, and I believe I’ll have it duplicated and ready to go for the HEAV convention, which is less than two weeks away!

One thing I discovered- or actually re-discovered– I realize it every time I write a book or article- is that it’s nearly impossible to proofread my own work. Because I know the material so well, I tend to read what I think I wrote. Someone with a fresh eye can catch small typos and transpositions that I’ve overlooked, just as I can catch the errors in other people’s writing.

My first choice for front-line proofreading is always one of my own boys. If you write anything at all, I suggest that you ask one of your students to proofread it for you. They may or may not be naturally gifted in English, but it’s amazing how much they can catch. I am always touched by the amount of care and thought they put into the process. Even if the subject isn’t intrinsically interesting (66 pages of test prep tips, techniques, and strategies for the SAT isn’t exactly Lord of the Rings!) they know it’s important to me, and they invest the time to do their best.

Of course, as always, there’s a method in my madness. If it’s hard for me to catch typos in my writing, despite decades of experience, how much harder must it be for a teenager to catch the errors in his own writing? Therefore, because they need to learn to be good writing evaluators, it makes sense to let them practice on my work.

One of the benefits of letting a teenager proof my writing is that they sometimes discover phrases or concepts that may not be entirely clear to a younger person. This is especially important when I’m writing something such as the SAT-prep worktext that is meant for teens. Usually an extra word or two, or the addition of an explanatory phrase, will clarify the sentence, but sometimes, I find that I’ve wandered into a thicket of obfuscation, and just need to back out and take a clearer path.

The lesson my boys take away from this exercise is simply that writing is never perfect the first time through- even when a “writer” is doing it, and that it’s both normal and necessary to go back through and improve the first draft. We have never played “gotcha” with writing evaluations- we know that mistakes and typographical errors happen, and that fixing them is part of the writing process.

I highly recommend that you try letting your teenager proofread for you. It can be helpful to both of you, and working together is one of the greatest pleasures of being part of a family.

Announcements

Conquer the Test! Tips, Techniques, and Strategies for Getting the SAT* Score You Need will be available on my website at www.SAT-Workshop.com within the next three weeks (I’m not sure if I can get it up before the convention, but it will definitely be up soon.)

Do you get the Circe Institute newsletter from Andrew Kern? He had an excellent guest article on “The Picture of Dorian Gray” or “The Picture of Oscar Wilde”? in the current issue. I recommend that you check it out!

Finally, I’m working my little booklet, Evaluating Writing: The Easy Way. Do you have any questions on writing evaluation that you’d like to have answered? If so, please ask them in a comment or via e-mail, and I’ll try to make sure they are covered. My goal for this little volume is to have something basic, approachable, and not overwhelming for parents to use- maybe even by the convention!

*SAT is a registered trademark of the College Entrance Examination Board, which has not endorsed this publication.

What Should You Buy at the Homeschool Convention?

Posted on May 20, 2008 
Filed Under Homeschool, Learning Lifestyle, Organization / Time Management | Leave a Comment

Will you be going to a homeschool conference this summer? If you’re teaching your children at home,  I highly recommend taking the time to do this– it will be a source of education and encouragement that can keep you inspired for the entire year (if you bring home the right things). Investing in “mommy education and inspiration” is one of the very best things you can do for your children.

What are the top five things you need to provide an excellent education?

  1. A vision for what you want to accomplish
  2. A plan for moving toward the goal
  3. The best resources available
  4. Wise counsel
  5. Supportive family and friends

Do you have all these ingredients? If not, a trip to a homeschool convention can help. If you can’t make it to a physical convention, a virtual convention such as the Ultimate Home School Expo is a good alternative. Of course, you won’t be able to purchase the supportive family and friends, but by sharing what you learn, you may be able to inspire them with a vision for the future that will help them move forward as well.

When I suggest that you may find much of what you need at a convention, I’m not suggesting that you spend a lot of money and drag home boxes of textbooks and workbooks for your children. If you’ve read my writings for any length of time, you probably already knew that;-)! What I’m suggesting is that you invest in some foundational resources that you can use again and again with your entire family.

Here are just a few of the books I’ve found inspiring and helpful. I consider many of these authors to be the wise counselors that can be so difficult to find in everyday life, and I recommend each of them without hesitation.

For Defining a Vision
A Thomas Jefferson Education (Oliver Van DeMille)
A Thomas Jefferson Education Home Companion (DeMille & Jeppson)
For the Children’s Sake (Susan Schaeffer MacCauley)
The Charlotte Mason Education Series (Mason)
Cultural Literacy (Hirsch)
Writing to Learn (Zinnsser)
The Marva Collins Way
C.S. Lewis- all

For Creating a Plan
Seven Habits of Highly Effective People (Covey)
Homeschooling at the Speed of Life (Rockett)
Getting Things Done (David Allen)
Time Management from the Inside Out (Morganstern)
Purposeful Planning (Phyllis Sather)

The Best Resources
Classic literature (you’ll find excellent lists of classics in all subjects in the TJ Education books listed above).
Reference materials from Dorling Kindersley, Usborne, and other sources.
Hands-on resources such as art supplies, musical instruments, and sports equipment.
Specific ‘how-to’ resources for tasks such as creating the high school transcript (my own Transcripts Made Easy, of course!) or building a gazebo.

Wise Counsel
See the resources above, and seek out local mentors who can inspire you and be faithful to you.

I hope you didn’t think I’d tell you exactly what curriculum items to buy– I don’t know your family, so I wouldn’t even think of trying to do that! The resources above will help you discover the best learning materials for each individual student, and that’s the way that learning works best. If you feel overwhelmed at the number of choices at the convention, remember that you can always pick up a catalog and order later. For the moment, just focus on the basics.

True education- the kind that transforms and endures– is not an assembly line process, but a sharing of the joy of learning. As Oliver Van DeMille writes in A Thomas Jefferson Education, “Wise parents and teachers learn to inspire their students to intensive self-study, instead of requiring them to follow a pre-formulated curriculum… Force in learning kills the spirit, dampens the passion and destroys the zest and life of learning. Force trains followers, not leaders” (42).

As you browse the aisles of your homeschool convention, I hope you’ll see some of the inspiring works I’ve listed above, and take a few home with you. The time and resources you invest in your own education will be reflected in everything your children learn, so the return on your investment will be far greater than you imagine. Enjoy the convention!

Announcements

Congratulations to the Home Educators Association of Virginia on 25 years of serving homeschoolers in Virginia! If you haven’t registered for their very excellent convention which will be held in Richmond on June 5-7, 2008, I recommend doing so as soon as possible. I’d like to meet you there!

How to Manage Withdrawal from Excessive Media Exposure

Posted on May 13, 2008 
Filed Under Homeschool, Learning Lifestyle | 1 Comment

Changing a bad habit isn’t the easiest thing you’ll ever do, but it can be done. If you’d like to help your family withdraw from the daily media barrage, it will help if you have a specific plan for how to do it.

One of the easiest ways to begin is to wait for a natural transition time– the end of the school year, a family wedding or house move, a vacation, or anything that breaks into the normal routine. Have a family meeting and let everyone know that a change is coming, when it will arrive, and what you expect life to look like once the change occurs.

In A Thomas Jefferson Education, Oliver DeMille suggests a useful method for “detoxing” the family when switching from institutional education to something more nurturing. It seems equally applicable to the process of withdrawing from excessive media exposure as well. He suggests instituting “a careful program of family activity… which emphasizes wholesome activity that does not reward conformity but the attention of the individuals. Some examples include hiking, hands-on art creation, service projects, travel, etc.” (94)

He cautions that change can be stressful, but by “over-programming family time with wholesome and constructive projects, the family can ease off” gently and move into a lifestyle more conducive to learning. This aligns nicely with my favorite admonishment to “do and be; don’t sit and stare!”

It’s rewarding to see each family member gradually develop genuine interests in constructive activities and the reading of good books. Some will take longer than others, but no matter what anyone says, the effort is truly worth it.

*****

If you’re not familiar with A Thomas Jefferson Education, by Oliver Van DeMille, it’s one of the books I recommend most highly, along with its companion, A Thomas Jefferson Education Home Companion. My copies flutter with sticky tags and the text is underlined and annotated all the way through.

TJ Education tidily encapsulates the type of learning I’ve shared with my children and with those of you who have heard me speak (and it’s compatible with much of what Charlotte Mason teaches). I wish I’d had these books in the beginning– they would have made my path much clearer. They are worth having at any point, though, because the knowledge they provide will help you step away from the “conveyor belt” style of education and create a lifestyle of learning that can bless and enrich your family for generations.

The Core Curriculum Teaches Connections

Posted on May 6, 2008 
Filed Under Homeschool, Learning Lifestyle, Reading | 2 Comments

Whenever the weather permits, I eat lunch outside on the patio in the edge of the woodland. At this time of year, there are spiderwebs everywhere. It doesn’t matter that I come out every day and sit in the same chair, I still have to brush away an accumulation of delicate webs each day.

I hadn’t been sitting there for more than a minute or two today when I noticed that one fine strand of web had already been spun from arm to arm on my chair, rather like an airy version of the festive ribbon that outlines special seating sections at a wedding. Inevitably, my thoughts turned to the gossamer threads that link ideas and subjects, and from there to the single greatest benefit of the classic core curriculum.

Although many students never suspect it while they are in school, knowledge is not naturally divided into separate subjects. Math walks hand in hand with science, and both affect the course of history. Literature and the arts both reflect and forecast trends in the culture from which they arise, creating an enduring portrait of what is, and sometimes, what is to come.

The core curriculum, defined as the organized exposure of students to the basics in and the links between each knowledge area- history, literature, the arts, science, mathematics, language; touches the young person’s palate with variety, and ideally, introduces great ideas. Like a healthy diet, the core curriculum offers a varied smörgåsbord of intellectual nourishment, resulting in a healthy, robust mind. Read more

Limiting Negative Input Creates a Healthy Learning Atmosphere

Posted on April 29, 2008 
Filed Under Homeschool, Inspiration, Learning Lifestyle, Observations | 9 Comments

Last week, I wrote about how turning off television can improve your quality of life. However, negative influences don’t come only from television– they can come from many sources. While some sources of negativity may be hard to avoid, such as family members who sport a perpetual bad attitude, there’s no reason to actively seek out and give attention to media personalities who thrive on creating fear and controversy.

Have you ever reproved your children for speaking rudely to a friend or sibling, or wondered where they learned to use ridicule in an effort to make someone else look or feel bad? You may find the answer in the rude rantings of radio talk-show hosts who use ad hominem attacks and ridicule, rather than serious, intelligent communication, to gain support from an unthinking audience. If your children hear these “adults” communicating with name-calling, insults, and mocking, you needn’t be surprised when they try these tactics at home.

If you don’t listen to talk radio, but have news on during the day, you’re likely to find that constant repetition of bad news– rising prices, falling wages, home foreclosures, murders, random crimes, natural disasters– leaves everyone stressed and on edge. Children don’t necessarily listen to what is said, but they definitely understand the tone of concern and alarm, and feel the stress.

There are many valid reasons for living a quiet and peaceable life, but it’s particularly important for homeschooling families. Fear and stress are emotions that short-circuit the learning process, and noise, all by itself, has been proven to dramatically increase stress and reduce the ability to think clearly (visit the Noise Pollution Clearinghouse for detailed information). If your goal is to create a home where learning happens, it’s a good idea to limit noise, particularly negative noise.

I have discovered that our home is more serene and happy when the only news source is the newspaper. It’s quiet, easily portable, and doesn’t assault us with excessive drama and repetition. We can read it at our leisure, and put it down when someone more important (such as one of our dear children) wants to talk with us. We don’t have shush them in order not to miss anything. Frankly, I’ve heard very few things in the news that would be worth ignoring my family to hear, and it seems a bit odd to think of placing a disembodied radio voice at a higher level of priority than people I love!

Is there a chance that you’ll miss something important? It’s highly unlikely. By the time the second plane struck the World Trade Center, I had already heard about it. Even if you’re not in on breaking news, anything of importance will show up in the newspaper, and is likely to have the virtue of being edited and placed into historic context. You won’t have to waste time listening to news people talking to one another, repeating the same facts and figures over and over while waiting for something new to happen.

If you’ve been in the habit of having something on all day, I suggest reading about the harmful effects of constant noise, and reconsidering your habit. If you must have something, or you want to substitute something positive for negative radio shows and news, choose something without words such as a CD or DVD of nature sounds (water sounds are particularly soothing and thought-friendly) or gentle classical music. These are easy to find and usually inexpensive. However, if you have any space at all around your home, you may enjoy planting bird-friendly shrubs and trees to encourage your very own nature sounds.

Your children will absorb what they hear. There’s absolutely no need to serve up dark messages of impending disaster or crude, rude ridicule as a substitute for warm, loving, intelligent conversation. Remember– what goes in is what comes out.

If you’ve unthinkingly permitted rude and negative voices to invade your home or car, you can expect to hear those thoughts and speech patterns reflected in your dear little ones. I recommend the better way found in Philippians 4:8- Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.

Announcements

The Ultimate Homeschool Expo is going strong this week! Join Cindy Rushton and her remarkable line-up of speakers for a huge dose of education and encouragement that you can enjoy from the comfort of home. There is at least a year’s worth of good listening and reading packed into the member website, and you’ll have a whole year to download and listen to your heart’s content– I encourage you to go right over and sign up!

Today’s Carnival of Homeschooling is hosted at the Homeschool Buzz site, with a theme of Visions of the Future. Be sure to visit!

TV Turnoff Week: Fast, Cheap, & Easy Life Enhancement!

Posted on April 21, 2008 
Filed Under Homeschool, Inspiration, News, Poetry | Leave a Comment

Why not live a little this week? The Center for Screen Time Awareness is once again sponsoring the ever-timely TV Turnoff Week. Pointing out that “television cuts into family time, harms our children’s ability to read and succeed in school, and contributes to unhealthy lifestyles and obesity” (though otherwise, it’s not so bad?!), the Center suggests that during the week of April 21-27, families keep the television OFF.

They suggest that “Turning off the television gives us a chance to think, read, create, and do. To connect with our families and engage in our communities. To turn off TV and turn on life.” We always learn more when we choose to do and be, rather than sit and stare.

If your family usually watches a ball game, try playing a game outside. If you enjoy cooking shows, try cooking instead! If your children like to watch cartoon, introduce them to the comics, and try drawing a few. Do and be, don’t sit and stare! The key is to live, rather than watching someone else pretend to live. Read more

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