Today’s Divine Appointment

I love it when that happens!

Early in the morning at 9:00, (for a homeschool mom anyway!) I was sitting in my van outside the house where Nora has a class for an hour. My computer was open and I was proofreading a PowerPoint for a seminar I give on choosing homeschool curriculum. I came to a slide where I have photos of different unit studies for comparison. One photo was the sole example I could find online of the contents of a unit study on Obedience by my all time favorite curriculum, Konos. The photo was blurry and pathetic, however I justified it by noting how many different colored blurry indistinguishable items there were… showing volume…. not detail… AT ALL. I recalled scouring the web for a better picture to no avail. Small size it is almost clear, but blown up on a big screen, it’s horrid. That’s the gospel truth. Here it is:

When Nora was done, we drove downtown and visited my friend, Ana, who is the kind soul who processes all the homeschool affidavits for Maricopa County. (Can I just say that the view from her 12th story office facing north was FANTASTIC including a community garden, three beautiful brick Catholic schools and Camelback Mountain! WOW!) As we were chatting I noticed a brochure on her desk for the Covenant Homeschool Resource Center, which I knew was also downtown. Mentioning that I had never been there (not mentioning that this is my 15th year homeschooling) she drew me a map and insisted that I go, as it was only three blocks away. Perfect!

Nora and I found the little hole-in-a-wall resource center and ventured inside. To say that it is crammed to capacity of curriculum and books and resources is the understatement of the century. Fuller than a centipede’s sock drawer.

Right away we found Nora’s science books for next year and then I started chatting with my friend, Janet, who runs the place. (She’s probably the one who crams all the books on those sagging shelves!) I inquired about her married daughter and come to find out, her and her new husband are living in Lynden, WA. Being very familiar with Lynden as we used to live right across the border in Canada, I remarked about how beautiful it is there. But that’s not all, Janet’s son-in-law is working at Trinity Western University… where Rick and I met and went to college. What a small world. (Sing with me, “It’s a small world after all… It’s a small world after all…)

Oh, it even gets better. As we were commenting about the coincidence of that, over her shoulder I spied the curriculum box for Obedience… the one in my blurry photo from earlier that morning! I promise you, I heard angels singing. She let me take it down and set it all up pretty and she even took the photo with her camera and emailed it to me. Here it is:

I love it when that happens! Thank you, God, for answering a prayer that was a desire of my heart, that I didn’t even pray. Amen and amen.

HOW 1 ~ and HOW I’m Doing

HOW1 stands for History of the World and the 1 is the first of 4, making this Ancient History.  It is a homeschool High School course by Konos that includes History (duh!), English and Art.  Even though I’m feeling quite inadequate to teach this… I am.  I’m actually quite enjoying it… so far so good.  I have four students, all freshman, including my lovely daughter.  We have only made it through the four week introduction at this point.  Paleolithic… Neolithic…. AND next week is our first people group….  ooooooh.

Part of the reason I teach kids is because of the thrill of having them learn by doing.  I’ve read studies that show children remember 10% of what they read after two weeks, 30% of what they see and hear, and 90% of what they say and do.  I didn’t believe it seven years ago, but now I most certainly do. 

My children have been taught at home with Konos curriculum unit studies for seven years, so they think nothing of me announcing, “Today we are taping our thumbs to our hands for the whole day,”  or  “Today the boys of the family will be blind and the girls will help them,” or “We will be spending four hours in the playhouse as if it were the Mayflower.  Remember to bring rations,” or “Find the measuring tape, we’re marking off a runway at the park,” or “Make a medieval costume for yourself.”  You get the idea.  Not much rote book learning goes on here.  They have created Olympic events with skateboards and jumpropes.  They have floated out on a lake and taken soundings with their homemade equipment.  They have climbed through a WW2 B-52 Bomber and toured a tower at Sky Harbor Airport.  They have replicated every bodily function and noise with straws, balloons and tissue paper.  (My boys LOVED the Systems of the Body unit.)

Back to HOW1, not all of these kids have done this type of learning.  So last week I had them paint terracotta pots in some ancient art design.  They were so careful and turned out the prettiest pots.  Two days later I smashed them to bits and buried them in my backyard… for archaeological excavation, of course.  When they figured out what I had done, the shocked looks on their faces today were priceless!  I sent them out with brushes, dustpans, small hand tools and rubber gloves to excavate the flower beds.  They whined a bit about the heat, and it was a mere 95 degrees today.  I explained that in the regions we were studying it was hotter than Phoenix and those digging projects were years long… not 20 minutes.  Not air conditioned.  No breeze.  Just you and the paintbrush, lots of dirt, old bones and pots.  It’s not a pretty job, but some history-loving-nut has to do it.  The kids did make it fun, as highschoolers are known to do.

 I found ONE!

 I found FOUR!

 Am I in the right spot?

 I’m diggin’ this!

I’m not sure which brought more joy to my heart, the initial looks on their faces when they discovered potsherds or the final looks of disbelief when I told them to take them home and glue them back together for next week’s class.  Muuhuhuhhhaahahahahaha!  Archeology ROCKS!