Socialization? To School or Not to School?

I was recently inspired to blog about the whole "Socialization" controversy that tends to "attack" home schooling families.  Its always funny to me when I get asked why do we home school?  I have to laugh; because, if you have home schooled for any amount of time at all... boy... that question is opening a whole can of worms... isn't it!  It is not a simple answer, at all.  In fact, its probably one of the hardest questions my husband and I have ever made... or at least it seemed like it at the time.  Now home schooling is just our way of life.  It's part of our family culture... part of our identity if you will.  

So to start of this concise opinion on socialization here is my disclaimer... remember this is merely my opinion, based on observation, experience, research & reading... but still just my opinion.

Here's the definition of Socialization from Dictionary.com:

so·cial·i·za·tion

Leaving a Legacy: Teaching our kids about Pregnancy and Childbirth

Leaving a Legacy: Teaching our kids about Pregnancy and Childbirth

Get Wisdom

Get Wisdom
by Ruth Younts

This is such a sweet little devotional handbook on the topic of God's Wisdom.
One of my favorite things is finding new devotionals to teach the kids about our Lord Jesus. This little book is so handy at lunch time or whenever for teaching on a topic like "Mercy" or "Obedience." You can read it directly and ask the heart probing questions, have a child read the bible verse and pray together, or you can take it and expand on it.

Just thought I would share this great resource!
God Bless!
Go to Get Wisdom for more info or Christianbook.com has it for $7.19

CAUGHT NOT TAUGHT- THE LOVE FOR READING

"CAUGHT NOT TAUGHT"

That's right... Reading time! As a home school mother I have been convicted lately and I thought I would share. As I have been planning the new years activities, curriculum and those sort of things... I felt a conviction to change up the schedule. You see while we read a ton at our house... there hasn't ever been a need for a "scheduled time where everyone just sits down to read for a chunk of time, all at once. I usually find my reading time early in the morning or late at night after most of my chores are done... which isn't every day... depending on how the day went. Got to be flexible over here at the Tolpin House since we've got 6 kids under 11 over here! :) It's a good challenge for a control- freak like me! The kids have reading time throughout the day. They read of course when they are doing school work and when we do our Bible time, stuff like that. And I have a daughter who is ADDICTED to reading, which is great except that when I need her to be helping with other things, she is usually off reading somewhere and then finds herself in trouble for reading... crazy isn't it... I know!
So I have been feeling a conviction for a while now to dedicate an hour to just reading. All of us at the same time. We can all be in the same room, but we don't have to. This is a separate time from doing our devotion time... it is dedicated to just reading... whatever they want to read. If they want to read the Bible more, great, that is FANTASTIC. But this way it will force me to read during the day with them.
One of my favorite quotes is this:
"It's CAUGHT, not TAUGHT"

December Home School...

December at the Tolpins

Many people have been asking me what we do for home school the month of December...
A typical December at our house looks like this:
We take the month off from most "typical school subjects" to learn more about Jesus, focus on Jesus, celebrate Jesus, and bless family and friends through hospitality & special gift making.

I am a CRAFT ADDICT... I love doing hands on activities with the kids so here are some
Gift Making for Kids...
Here are a few ideas of things we have done this year...
If your family sorry if you see your gift before Christmas...
but so many friends have been asking for ideas...

Painting Terra Cotta Flower pots for those garden enthusiasts in the family! Ceramic Coasters from the ceramic cafe... each kid paints one! So much fun!Drew made ceramic magnets! Mix, bake, paint!
Megan painted a glass picture frame~

The big kids embroidered towels! Yep even boys need to know how to sew!
Little ones Painting Wooden treasures from Craft store!







Babies helped me make special memories plaques!

Drew made Luke a yellow ducky for Christmas! All the kids enjoyed candle making & soap making~





Other gift ideas we have made successfully:
~Harvesting herbs and giving them in beautiful green glass bottles bought from Mountain Rose Herb Store. Lavender, Chamomile, Rosemary, Dill, Thyme, Oregano & Peppermint are our favorites for cooking and teas!
~Making bracelets, key chains out of bottle caps
~ Magnet making
~Making Coasters with Modge Podge
~Photo crafts such as calenders, mouse pads, mugs, ornaments, magnets,etc...
~Making cement mosaic stepping stones
~knitting scarves
~pot holder loom kit
~tie-knot blankets
~sewing baby doll blankets
~cookie, muffin, soup mixes in a jar- we have been making these for years for neighbors... since before I had kids and people LOVE them
~Cookies in a tin can of course!
~ Canvas painting for Grandparents
~Potpourri Sachets

Many ideas come from just walking through the craft store. So when all else fails I go there and walk around to get ideas. Some great websites for activities if you don't want to put the craft supplies together.... Creativity for Kids & of course Timberdoodle has boxed craft ideas too!

May you, as a mother embrace the time you have with your kids and enjoy them as you create together...

Productive Play

Toys for Birthdays, Toys for Christmas,

Toys for Education???

After being at the local toy store and being over whelmed by the quantity of junk they call toys as well as the lack of quality toys I have decided to awaken my blog from a deep sleep.

Toys, there are many different ideas and theories out there about them. In sharing some I have encountered, you may be surprised. Hopefully challenged and led to think deeply about what toys you are purchasing this holiday season!

When I first got married, I thought, we wouldn't "waste" money on toys! Have you ever thought that? Wow have we come a long way! Then as my daughter got older, I was introduced to the idea that "a child's play is their work." Wanting to "invest" in their education and keep the children stimulated I decided to try to purchase and encourage family members to give gifts that were proper play that would also educate.

Then as the family grew larger and the amount of toys grew larger, I wanted to simplify... so we buckled down and donated massive quantities of toys. It felt so good! And it forced me to have to start putting tools in my children's hands more often, rather than just toys. We're taking about a broom rather than a buzz lighter year action figure!

I have heard older women give talks on this topic, some even encouraging to not have any toys at all, rather have tools appropriate for children to use. Help them to contribute, be productive! Now, do my kids have toys? Oh yes they do! But the toys are a reward to be played with when their work is done.

Most of our toys (most of them) have purposes. I feel like I am constantly weeding out toys that seem to have no point-- as you know it could be a full time job. The kids are aware of their purposes. For example, stuffed animals... recently I heard a talk given on this topic of dolls vs. stuffed animals... I thought it was so insightful I want to share it with you.

In our current society there is a huge push for a humanistic view of animals. People view their dogs and cats as their children in some cases. Now, let me just say if I offend you here I am sorry... but dogs and cats aren't human. They are dogs and cats, not babies. We have a dog, we love Moses, but he is a dog. So lets relate stuffed animals to dolls in the same sense we do dogs to babies. Are they ok for kids to play with, for sure, but as a dog. If a child's play is their work, I believe it is also an element of education. I propose a child's every day play trains them for their every day life as an adult. If they play with stuffed animals as people, then there is a chance they will have a humanistic world view when they are older. If a little girl plays with a dolly, she is practicing being a mommy. If she plays "house," she is praticing being a home maker. If a boy starts making guns out of his legos its because God created little boys to grow into men who have an innate desire to protect and provide for a family; which is also a good thing.

So let me encourage you, as the holiday shopping begins, pray about what gifts you buy your children and other peoples children. Be purposeful and think about what the toy is really going to teach them. Is it going to teach them productive play or will it end up in next years donation box? I have been down this road enough times to know how easy it is to make mistakes in gift buying.

Here are a few websites to help you out:

Plus online shopping is so much faster and easier!

Timberdoodle

MindWare

Montessori Services

Magic Cabin

Vision Forum

Back to Basics

HearthSong

Lego.com

Lamplighter Books

Keepers of the Faith-- this is a new company I just discovered and LOVE it- go here first

These are the main companies we like to support and enjoy being blessed by the products they sell.

Learning to Quilt w/ Gramma

While we were in "Waiting" for Ethan to be born...
Isaac's Mom came to help out.
While she was here she taught Kelsey how to quilt!
Here she is at 10 quilting, when her own mom has not even done by 31 years of age!

Thanks for coming Sarah, you were a huge help...

I still can't believe you and Kelsey got it done in 3 days!

A Special Date with Megan

Megan is my little artist at heart...as well as my lovey girl!

She is the kid in the house that needs more affection and attention at times lately.She used to be so "easy"... never really had tantrums... which I thought was b/c of child training, but have realized after having more than 3, that I was just very blessed with having a gentle quiet spirited daughter. Now that she is 5 and a half ( which is so shocking to me), I am feeling this urgency to "know" her better and bring her under my wing, as I did her older sister.
Megan is our middle child in the bunch; she is also directly in the middle of a bunch of boys. Most people would think, wow, she must be tough to be in the middle of so many boys. Many have asked "is she a Tom-Boy?" Nope- not my Megan. She is VERY Feminine! She is a little girly girl that loves to wear pink, dance with her big sister, cook in the kitchen with mommy, play the piano (which she loves doing 5-6 times a day--making her music up now- and its really good), and do any kind of craft or art.
I am very aware that being the middle of 5-6 kids she could possibly "fall through the cracks" and so I am purposefully pursuing bringing her up under my wing. I decided a couple weeks ago to reassign the buddy system to the kids. Megan gets to be the new baby's buddy!
She is SO excited and this is a way to make sure I spend more purposeful time with her like I did the others. This may be her last chance to see mommy give birth so she is excited to experience that with me, learn how to change a newborns diapers, help with baths, help keep him "happy" when he gets older, etc...When Kelsey & Austin went to Art Camp 2 weeks ago, she was pretty upset she wasn't old enough to go... so one of the days we they were gone I took her on a date to the Ceramic Cafe. We had so much fun just talking and making Kelsey's birthday present together!
Here she is painting a tea cup and saucer for her sister's 10th birthday.

Masters School of Art Camp

Last Week Austin & Kelsey attended "Art Camp" for the first time. I first learned about MSOA 3 years ago at one of the home school conferences. I was so impressed by their approach of teaching technique and variety of classes, but my children were not yet old enough. Well they have expanded, they are closer now.... meeting in the downstairs of Sunnyside Foursquare Church. They have classes starting in the fall... everything from Celtic & Hebrew Dancing to Choir & Guitar. Their Art classes are what they are "known" for though... Painting... Portrait Drawing... and so much more.Here are some of the fun things the kids came home with after just 4 days.

We were astonished!
Go check out there website...
these home schooled kids are doing some pretty amazing Art!
And learning more about Jesus through devotionals while they are there!

These are from their Cartooning Class...

Kelsey's Painting from a picture!Austin with his painting!

For more info on MSOA go to www.msoaonline.com
Go to there "art Gallery" tab and check out the amazing Art these young people are doing!

Lamplighter Radio Theatre

Here is an awesome Resource from the Home School Conference last weekend:
Go to Lamplighter Publishing to purchase this great deal!

There are many deals on their website... this is just one... please go check them out!

We have invested in some lamplighter books over the years and they quickly won their way into my heart and my children's. Most of the literature was written in the 1800-1900s and has a uniqueness to it that today's literature has, in my opinion, lost.

Some of our favorite books are:
Hedge of Thorns
Basket of Flowers
Teddy's Button
The Three Weavers
Little threads
Boys of Grit Series
Titus: A Comrade of the Cross
Mothers of Famous Men- very encouraging read for moms
Legend of the Easter Egg

We have many more, but those are our favorite so far...
So when I saw they had come out with Radio Theatre versions of some of the books... I thought we would try them out.

This week we listened to "Sir, Malcom and the Missing Prince".... it was hands down the best radio theatre I have ever heard. My kids LOVED it!
Kelsey and Isaac listened to "The Captive" on their way to his Seattle Conference Tuesday and she gave her 2 thumbs up on that one as well!

So I can say without a doubt they are a good investment.
A great way to introduce classical literature to your children.

Gleanings from Home School Conference

June 25 Home School Conference Highlights


For those of you that could not make it to the OCEAN Conference on the 25th,
Here are some quick nuggets of wisdom and encouraging humor I gleaned from the Key Note Speaker, Rick Boyer & his wife Marilyn.

I just enjoy hearing new speakers on the topic of the education system and raising a family on purpose. It gives me new energy and feeds my vision for what we are striving to accomplish with our little lambs God has blessed us with.

It is so refreshing to sit in a room full of like-minded believers who are really trying to be the light and teach their children, to be the light being a part of their education through enjoying learning with them. Rick & Marilyn have a ministry called the “The Learning Parent.”

Here are the Nuggets:
(things we have all heard many times…. But I am in a stage in life I find them humorously obvious)

Public School- Why it doesn’t work- differently people learn differently- if you have ever had more than one child you know how unique God has designed them… obviously they have their learning strengths and weaknesses- which are unique to them. Public School puts them in a room and expects all the kids to learn the same way and the same thing… like little robots.

Did you know that 80% of children diagnosed with learning disabilities are BOYS?
I had not heard that before, totally makes sense… boys learn differently than boys.

“School & Education is not the same thing”
“Learning is not memorizing, it’s becoming”
“The great achievers in life are not great memorizers, they are great dreamers”
Education is the byproduct of real learning, not regurgitated, inaccurate and blasphemous knowledge

“School can make you knowledgeable, but it can not make you wise”

School interfered with Louis Braille’s education…. He came home and told his mother that school was taking too much time and interfering with his learning… she took him out and home educated him from then on…

“School and Education aren’t the same thing.”

“Knowledge and Wisdom aren’t the same thing.”

“Design a lifestyle of service- oriented learning, take your child by the hand and walk with them through it”… allowing God to teach you in the process.-- I love this b/c whenever people ask me what I teach or how do I teach my response is that life is education… we are constantly teaching our children and embracing learning as well as personal spiritual growth. You put in what you get out of it. Life is an unlimited resource of learning, knowledge, and gaining as well as gleaning of wisdom.

For the argument of socialization Rick made me laugh:

“Socialization is for socialists” - I do not claim this statement, its a quote...

Ben Franklin said, “Learn from the skillful”

Schools age segregate, how are children learning from the skillful when they are only socializing with their own age?

When Rick was asked why they don’t do Sunday school and youth group with their children, he answered plainly…. “they group youth. The family is God’s chosen youth group! “

When asked “Don’t you want your kids to fit it?” His reply and ours as well has been, “Absolutely not, I want my children to be leaders, not followers.”

Our children learn more about building relationships with their siblings then children who go to school eight hours a day and “Change cells at the sound of a Gong.”

Get your Priorities Right:

“You can’t home educate if you are never home.”
“Do fall into societies trap of getting over committed with extra- recreational activities.”
“It takes time to build relationships with your kids… it takes time to teach reading… it takes time to read a book.”
“You can’t get your hands dirty in no books”- there is a value in experiencing the trade of interest from apprenticing with a real live person
I have been bothered for a long time by the lack of work ethic of the young people in this country… when I went to college I had a trust fund, but I did my best not to use it. I worked hard, got scholarships, so I could save that money, which now is split up in trust accounts for my children’s futures. I served the Lord in between academic years on the mission field and then came home to work hard and make money for school. I had 6 weeks. Did I get just one job? No, I had 3 jobs! I worked early in the morning at the pool, some afternoons as a receptionsist at my mom’s work, and sold knives as a sales rep for Cutco (doing around 30-40 presentations a week). I wanted something, to go back to school. So I worked for it. I didn’t want hand me outs. Today though it seems kids not only want hand me outs, they expect it from their parents and others. They think they should get paid more for less work. They want free education, free health care, on and on. They want no responsibility. If that is the typical reality of most of this generation my children are going to be sharing the future with… I have to be proactive about teaching strong work ethic. How do you teach work ethic? Get your hands dirty… have the kids work. God created us for work, work is good. If you delight in your work, so will your children. Get in the dirt and get your hands dirty with them.

“Books are canned experience”
I like this quote a lot!!! There are people out there today that believe the only way to gain knowledge and understanding is through going to a class, getting a degree, going to a counselor… While all of those things are highly valuable and good, I believe it is small-minded thinking to believe that is the “only” way to learn. This way of thinking comes from their own experience of standardized education. There has been a belief in the past that you need only a degree to get a job. This kind of thinking is proving to be very inaccurate. While certain professions do require and need specialized training (brain surgeon, engineering, etc), the reality is that in today’s world if you need a resume, you are already done interviewing. Experience, intelligence and having the right contacts are where it is at in these days. Now, are you going to have the right kind of networking contacts if you are lazy and never work, or if you spend ten years continuing your “education” by just going to school and never getting experience in the work world? The answer is unlikely no. Oh you might find a job, but you may have to settle for a lot less than you think you deserve b/c you spent so much time following the advice of what our education system gives… go spend more money on a higher education… that is where the value is. The reality is… books are others people’s canned experience and well as great resources for knowledge. You can glean so much wisdom and learn so much from books. They are a treasure trove of knowledge. And what is great is that you can pick what you want knowledge on. Experiences can also teach wisdom or the lack of it. This is the difference between the thinking of a follower and the thinking of a leader- dreamer/innovator.
Do kids today value reading and learning? Or do they do it because they “have to?” In today’s fast paced technological world…. Sitting to read a book has become a “waste of time” to so many. I didn’t grow up reading books. I got through high school with a 3.85 gpa having only read “All Quiet on the Western Front” all the way through. I was able to get the info needed to regurgitate for tests and do great through reading cliff notes and watching the movie versions of Great Gatsby, Oliver Twist, and Fahrenheit 421. Then I went to University in a different country and soon learned how low the standards were at the school I went to. The University I went to in Canada had such higher standards, that cliff notes would not even pass. I realized I didn’t even know how to study a topic and think independently from the material. No in the public school I was scared to share my opinion b/c I disagreed with some of the underlying beliefs of thought. Once at a Christian school, one that wanted their students to be independent thinkers, not just believing what the teachers say… I grew, grew in love with reading and thinking. I am so thankful that Isaac, my husband, was so into growing and reading. He brought reading, non-school related books to life for me 12 years ago. Since home educating my children I have grown more and more over the years… realizing that in order for my kids to love reading and learning it is something you as a parent have to do with them. It is not something you can do just once and then check off your list. No building a relationship with learning and reading has to become a lifestyle. Your children have to see you doing it, regularly, sometimes instead of doing other busy things. Then they need you to be reading to them a good amount every day. It is the same thing with loving the Lord and the word of God. They have to see you reading and praying often and experience you doing it with them throughout the day as well. If you aren’t, you can’t expect your children to just become Christians. Children learn more from what they see and do than what they hear and are preached. So be encouraged, if you are walking the talk… chances are your kids will walk the talk with their children. It is a purposeful legacy one has to work at leading. It takes work ethic as well. Any discipline in life has to be taught… that is why it is called a discipline. I was so encouraged to hear from Marilyn Boyer that all 14 of her children managed to have their own special quiet times, and they aren’t at the same time of day… it is scheduled so that they don’t get asked to do something else during their time with the Lord, but how neat to see that the nine they still have living at home all have a time that is where they can give their best to God. For some who are morning people it is the morning, for others who are not they do it later in the day.

Afton Field Farm Field Trip

Saturday we went to Afton Field Farms in Corvallis Oregon
with our friends the Scotts

Afton Filed Farms is an Sustainable Living Farm.

We got a hay ride out to see there Broiler Chickens.

They only take 8 weeks to raise before butcher so they have a fast turn over!They house 80 chickens per pen!

We saw...
Honey BeesThey had a huge number of layer hens!
Here are the kids running around with them.
Amazingly they figured out how to have this many chickens without the fear of airborne predators. The have owls and chicken hawks, and used to have a problem, but since they added a few geese to the flock they have had no problems.
Apparently geese can be pretty aggressive and the hawks and owls don't want to mess with them.


BIG PIGS!

Piano Recital

The Kids had their piano recital on Sunday!
They had so much fun performing the music they had been working so hard on.
This was Kelsey's forth year, Austin & Megan's first year.
Good Job Kiddos!
If you quickly scroll down to the bottom of the blog you can pause the music... then hear the piano recital pieces by clicking play on the picture.

Fun Things the Tolpin Kids have been up to!

Getting down & dirty making our own seed starting mix.
Recipe: Equal parts
-organic compost
-perilite
-spahgmum moss (optional)

cheaper when doing a lot of seeds... makes more! Bonus: Fun for kids to "cook" soil!
Water and let sit for 12-24 hours before using...
-potting soil

After scarifying seeds & soaking others for a week and a half... we transplanted the seeds into our homemade seedling mix!

Silly times between doing school work... Enjoying one another!

The past 2 weeks have been busy but fun!

What have we been up to?
Friends brought their new bunnies over for a visit!
Thanks for sharing them with us Scott Family!


The boys have been busy trapping rats... that is farm life! I will spare you the icky details... just know it has been a time consuming "adventure."

We went to see the play "Estranged Identity" about Mary Magdalene with our friends the Behnke's. We took the oldest daughters on a date together... it was a spectacular event!








Austin had to have 2 teeth pulled, but he was so tough! Now he is missing four int he front! Yep! He is almost 7 years old alright!
Playing in the Park on a nice Sunny Day!

Easter Resources

Many have asked what kind of books and resources we use with the kids to teach the Death, Burial & Resurrection to the kids. Well here is what we utilize:

The Word of God first and foremost:


Resurrection Eggs with these books
Benjamin's Box & The Resurrection Egg w/Ms. Patty Cake (great for little kids)

Beginning Reader Arch Books"He Is Risen"
"The Parable of the Lily"
"The Sunflower Parable"
"The Easter Story"
"Easter Memories"
"The Legend of the Easter Egg"Video/ DVDs
The Animated Passion for Kids
The Story Keepers "Easter Story"
The Easter Promise and The Witness


Teaching about Passover:
Rose Publishing
"Christ in the Passover"
"Praise Adonai"
Messianic Worship with Paul Wilbur
"Celebrating Biblical Feasts" by Martha Zimmerman
"The Messianic Haggadah"
"The Secret Seder"
Family Resource for Lent/Messianic Passover/Easter
"Christ in Easter"
A Family Celebration of Holy Week
by Charles Colson, Billy Graham & Max Lucado

Hope this Helps.... I know there is really a ton more resources out there... if you have any other suggestions please leave a comment so others can get more ideas!

Blessings,
Angie