The Power of Thought

March 24, 2013 in homeschooling, psychology

power-of-thought

 

If someone told you that merely thinking about playing a scale on the piano could in any way approximate physically practicing it, would you believe it? Watch the video below to see what studies have shown about the power of thought and how far it goes to re-wiring the brain in very similar fashion to the new neuron tracks that are formed when physically doing something.

I can imagine all sorts of practical applications to this idea, and it might encourage your kids to use thinking to reinforce something they are trying to learn–guitar chords, basketball lay ups, you name it. Of course, I can hear it now, “Mom, don’t worry–I’m thinking about doing my chores!”  The video also made me think about Jesus’s words on the similarity of thinking about sinning and actually doing the sin. This video adds scientific evidence for his assertions. Not that we needed it. :)

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Check out Professor Elliot Engel

March 20, 2013 in English, homeschooling

LemonStand

If you don’t know about Professor Elliot Engel, check him out! He has audios and videos on famous authors and a few historical figures that are quintessentially some of the best homeschooling supplements you will find anywhere! I promise. His talks are usually around 50 min. and he always includes humor and details that you simply won’t hear anywhere else. My kids still refer to tidbits they learned from his audio talks on Shakespeare. Do you know why a box office is called a box office? It goes back to the 1600′s! And his lecture on Robert E. Lee is eye-opening. — at http://www.authorsink.com/.

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Southeast Homeschool Convention

March 2, 2013 in homeschooling

I’ll be speaking at the Southeast Homeschool Convention in Greenville, S.C. in less than two weeks. The convention is being held March 14-16. In case you’re going to attend, my topics and times are listed below.  I would really love to meet anyone who gets my tweets or reads this blog!

I was interested to see that Dr. John Rosemond will be among the speakers. He is one of my personal heroes and mentors on child discipline. When my kids were young, I had a VHS tape of some talks he did on PBS. I watched that tape over and over. He saved me untold stress and mistakes! He’s just one of many speakers and performers –like Tim Hawkins– who will be entertaining and encouraging and informing homeschooling families over the course of these 3 days. The video clip they have on the page for Tim Hawkins is funny–go watch it and see. The list of speakers and topics is truly wonderful. If you cannot get to one of these conventions (there’s one in Cincinnati 4/4-6 too), you might keep an eye out for mp3 downloads of seminars that may be offered post convention.

I will also be manning a booth for The Shorter Word with copies of my books going cheap! If you’re there, please look me up.

Below are my seminar descriptions from the convention catalog–

Friday 8:30 a.m., room 100AB
TOPIC: The Pack of Tricks

In this session, Laurie White will walk you through her Pack of Tricks, a unique approach to memorizing a simplified framework for western world history. The tricks include memory devices, dates that do double duty, and easily associated key events or people. There are 15 tricks in all. Laurie will expand the significance of each item in history, fleshing out interesting background on some of the people and events, and helping you see how the big pieces fit together in a way you never saw before. By the end of the session attendees will have the 5 most central tricks memorized—even down to giving the dates for events you never thought you’d remember.

Saturday 2:30 p.m., room 100AB
TOPIC: A Little About Language

Ever heard of Frenglish? You’ll find out what that is if you come along with Laurie White, author of the fun and popular text King Alfred’s English, as she introduces you to some principles of language and grammar which have shaped English into what it is today.

  • Where do languages come from in the first place?
  • Shakespeare and Jane Austin could say “ain’t,” so why can’t I?
  • Who makes up those grammar rules anyway?
  • Why is English spelling so incredibly difficult?
  • Why does it increase your child’s English vocabulary to learn Greek and Latin roots?
  • In what way do language changes provide evidence for special creation?

Come learn the answers to these questions and more, and find out how English is becoming the first truly global language in history.

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Deep Learning

January 31, 2013 in homeschooling

I caught a segment of the PBS News Hour last night (1/30/13) that was really interesting. The title of the segment was “Teachers Embrace ‘Deep Learning’–Translating Lessons into Practical Skills.” And do you know what these teachers were doing? Well it seemed to me that they were basically imitating homeschooling techniques. The emphasis was simply on doing stuff that expanded the lessons.  Hands-on applications, getting the students out of the classroom, and projects–isn’t that homeschooling 101? So, now you know: we homeschoolers have been doing “Deep Learning” and didn’t even know it. The segment is inspiring and might give you some ideas. At the very least, it is certainly affirming of what  we homeschoolers are all about.

Here’s the segment (just 9 min.)

 

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The True Story Behind the X in X-Mas

December 14, 2012 in Christianity, language

When I was a little girl in the 1950’s, I remember one of the stores in our small Georgia town having a sign outside that said “X-MAS SALE.” My mom hated that sign. She pointed it out every time we went shopping making sure we knew how terrible it was for “someone to take the ‘Christ’ out of Christmas.” Of course, my sisters and I agreed. So I was very surprised to find out years later from a history teacher in college what that “X” really stood for. Turns out the X isn’t an X at all but rather it’s the Greek letter “Chi” (X) which has the sound of our letter K. It also just happens to be the first letter in the Greek word for “Christ.”  So the X is an initial, an abbreviation, for Christ and not an X-ing out at all. In fact, using the chi symbol to stand for Christ has a very long history. It goes back at least to the time of Constantine, the first Christian emperor of the Roman Empire. Upon his conversion to Christianity, he began using the symbols of both X (chi) and P (rho), the first two letters in the word “Christ,” to stand for his new faith. In the Catholic Church, the priest’s robe is decorated with the XP symbol at Christmas. Many Protestant churches have traditionally used the symbol as well, sometimes on their altar cloth or on the mantle of the pastor’s robe. So letting an X stand for Christ has been going on for a very long time–way before the 1950’s.

Admittedly, today is a different story. Christians are swimming against a tide of new and often fervent atheists and secularists who are, either figuratively or literally, attempting to take the “Christ” out of a lot more than just the word Christmas. Most of us are familiar with many of the modern battlefields, from courthouses where 100-year-old engraved copies of the Ten Commandments have had to be removed, to high school ball games where prayers “in Jesus name” are no longer allowed. At Christmas time the struggle becomes front stage and center because, of course, Christ is naturally right there at the heart of it all. He’s the babe in the manger, the inspiration for heavenly choirs of angels, “the reason for the season,” and the name that is and should remain smack in the forefront of what we as Christians have for centuries called this wonderful, mid-December holy day: Christmas–the celebration of the Christ Mass. Yet now we must put up with store clerks who will only say “happy holidays,” schools who let children out for “winter break,” and a deluge of media hype and advertising that is also sidestepping the forbidden word in favor of the same or similar bland holiday greetings. It’s as if they are all saying, “Whatever you do, don’t mention Christmas!” Everyone knows it’s all about Christmas, but they refuse to say it. Makes you feel crazy sometimes, doesn’t it?

So how should we respond to the attempts to de-Christianize Christmas, and more specifically, what should we do about this X business? If the X is Greek for the first letter of Christ,  should we struggle against it? Well, whatever we say or do, it should be filled with grace and respect. Trying to get tired and overworked sales clerks to say “Merry Christmas” instead of “Happy Holidays” really isn’t the point, is it? Shouldn’t we just be patient and understanding, perhaps praying for them as we wait in line? ( If I were working retail at Christmas I’d sure need people praying for me.) Of course, whenever we do have the power or influence to change a sign, a brochure, or a banner, we should put the Christ back in Christmas however and whenever we can.

But as far as the X goes, we can have fun enlightening people about this letter’s true origin. We can teach our children that nothing has been X’ed out after all. In fact, the X is a witness to the very roots of Christianity itself, a  testimony to the antiquity of our faith and to the death-defying efforts of the early Christians to get the message out. The first Christians were all Palestinian Jews living in Aramaic-speaking communities, yet they did not write down the gospel story in their own local native tongue. Why? Because they couldn’t rest until the whole world knew of a savior who had died for everyone. So they chose instead to write in the trade language of the Roman Empire, the language that the greatest number of people would be able to read and understand. They wrote in Greek. Thus we got the X for Christ.

So instead of fighting “X-Mas,” perhaps we should start a campaign among our fellow believers to use it every chance we get! Think of what a great conversation starter that could be. So here’s to putting Christ back into the “holiday season” and to wishing everyone a very merry X-Mas!

roman-coin-x
An early Roman coin showing the emperor on one side and on the other side the Greek letter X(chi) layered over the letter P(rho) on the back of the coin.

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Is Santa Real?

December 8, 2012 in Christianity, homeschooling

Here’s my perennial post on Santa originally written in 1992 and back by popular demand. :)  My kids were 9, 7, and 6 at the time of writing.

                  Is Santa… Real?  

“Is Santa real?” my four-year-old Rebecca asked as she looked up at me with a serious, studied look. I had to pause a minute before I could answer. It was just after Thanksgiving and we had begun to get the Christmas ornaments out. The manger scene was her favorite item. Like most children she loved the small figures of the shepherds, Mary, Joseph, and especially the tiny baby Jesus. We had gone over the story of the angels and shepherds and the wise men from the East and, as always, she asked her usual question about those events: “Did it really happen?” Much of the business of childhood, I was beginning to learn, was sorting out the real from the unreal.

So, I wasn’t exactly caught off-guard with her question about Santa. It was predictable. What I hadn’t predicted were my own feelings of awkwardness and insecurity when she asked. I was rather overwhelmed with a realization that I was departing from the mainstream of tradition as well as from my own upbringing as I responded.

“Rebecca, Santa isn’t like Jesus. Jesus is real. Santa is pretend. But because almost everyone everywhere pretends that Santa is real, he seems real. It’s like a wonderful game that all the grown ups and all the children join into at Christmas time. That’s what makes Santa Claus so much fun.”

Rebecca was content with that, and so was I as it turns out. Now, looking back six years later, my awkwardness has vanished and it is with confidence that my husband and I recommend the “pretend Santa” idea to other parents looking for an answer to Mr. Claus.

What’s the Big Deal Anyway?

Some may ask, “What’s the big deal anyway? Let the little ones believe that Santa is true. The harsh realities of growing up come soon enough. Let them believe while they can.” Indeed, I felt those harsh realities descend heavily on me as a child when I discovered Santa was not true. I used to sit on my bed and ponder how totally wonderful it was to live in a world in which angels, Jesus and Santa were all realities. The shock of the truth hit hard when it finally broke in on me, and I immediately questioned the veracity of the other two entities along with St. Nick. It was years before I finally began to recapture some of that lost joy over Christmas. My husband had experienced an equally intense and lasting disappointment about Santa when he was growing up. We knew we wanted to avoid that for our children. Besides, reality isn’t just harsh. It’s both harsh and full of wonder. And the Wonder is going to win! Children must be grounded in the wonders of the Truth first… with no lies mixed in. Then as the harder parts of reality begin to present themselves, there is no rug for someone to pull out from under them, just the rock-solid base of God’s true love and His incredible plan for this world.

 Jesus versus the Bag Full of Toys

We have heard other objections to telling young children the truth about Santa. Most of them boil down to general feelings parents have that they would somehow be cheating their children out of the joy they themselves experienced in childhood on Christmas morning. Children can’t fully appreciate what Christmas is all about, the argument sometimes goes, so let them have something they can enjoy at their own level. But no one appreciates the story of Jesus’ birth better than a child! Mature understanding is lacking, of course, but not wonder, awe, and a pure, total ability to trust that those incredible events really happened… that same trust which makes them so susceptible to Santa Claus. Their awe and joy over choirs of angels and a King born in a stable are only dwarfed by us when we ourselves build-up the Santa myth to its full extent, give it the honored place in their hearts as truth, and then have Santa bring all the neatest “stuff” to them. We twentieth century parents have unwittingly blown Santa out of proportion by our sheer prosperity. Laura Ingalls’ Jesus had only to compete with a Santa who brought a candy cane and a rag doll. But look with what our Jesus has to compete. Jesus himself walking through the door can’t top that bag full of toys. Our children get the bag full of toys, too (more or less), but they know, now, it comes with love and sacrifice from us.

The most delightful thing to us about this venture is that the “pretend Santa” idea worked even better than we thought it would. When Rebecca at age five wanted to know who brought the toys if it wasn’t really Santa, I said that it might spoil some of the fun if I told her. She accepted that for another year or two and then, when she really wanted to know in the worst of ways, I told her. She felt she had been let in on a great secret and was careful not to tell her little sister or brother. They eventually plied the truth out of her, of course, at various ages and when they wanted to know badly enough. But there was never any question that Santa was pretend. He was lots of fun, but he was in an entirely different camp in their minds from the person of Christ. The great intrigue was only “How do the toys get here?” not, “Is there really a Santa Claus?”

Keeping the Magic

Now, we are all in cahoots together keeping our secret from other children who “might think Santa is real.” We have had some good discussions about allowing other families to keep traditions in their own way, from those who present Santa Claus as the truth, to those who leave out Santa altogether from their celebrations. During the holidays, we conspire not to mention that Santa is pretend because that would spoil the fun. The children leave out cookies and milk for Santa on Christmas Eve every year, but it is with added humor and hidden giggles. Last Christmas, they left hilariously funny notes for Santa thanking him for their gifts and asking for a response. Each child got an equally funny note from Santa scrawled at the bottom of his letter which was read aloud to the family next morning on Christmas–a new tradition was born. We read “The Night Before Christmas” on Christmas Eve each year, and we can feely talk about the wonderful legend of the actual Saint Nicholas without causing confusion for them. We ride together in our imaginations on the Polar Express. We alternately laugh till it hurts and get goose bumps over Santa in Ernest Saves Christmas. We feel we’ve missed none of the magic. In fact, we all love Santa! Is there any other time of the year when everyone in the country and practically the world joins together in a mutual game of pretending, even down to the TV news anchor on Christmas eve? But legends remain legends, and the startling beauty and real “magic” of the Christmas story has remained central. No contest. It holds a greater charm and engenders supreme awe in their thinking by simple virtue of its having really happened. That one’s the true story, and they know it.

Two years ago when our daughter Hetty was five, she secretly wrapped her doll in “swaddling clothes” and put it on the sofa for us to find on Christmas morning. She had composed a story explaining how every year Santa and God get together and make Jesus a baby again and give him to a family to keep for the whole day, “and,” she exclaimed, “this year they picked us!” So, we got the baby Jesus right in the middle of our living room for the whole day, and right in the center of Christmas for always.

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Can You Teach Innovative Thinking To Your Kids?

November 16, 2012 in culture, psychology

A new book The Innovator’s DNA by Jeff Dyer, Hal Gregersen, and Clayton M. Christensen, challenges the old assumption that innovative thinking is something you’re born with rather than something you can learn. Studies have shown that only around 25-40% of innovative thinking is genetic, but that leaves room for lots of environmental input to have an effect. But how would you go about instilling this type of creative mindset in your child? And admittedly, we all know, some children are just more rigid in their thought processes than others. But the premise of this book is that even these people can be helped to loosen up a little and think outside the box.

The book is aimed primarily at companies who want to encourage innovation in their employees, but it’s easy to see how you can extrapolate the lessons to a classroom or a family that’s homeschooling. I haven’t read the book as yet, but this article about the book by Erica Swallow is excellent in homing in on the key ingredients you would want to encourage. She says the authors “have boiled the formula of innovation down to five key skills:”

  • Questioning allows innovators to challenge the status quo and consider new possibilities;
  • Observing helps innovators detect small details — in the activities of customers, suppliers and other companies — that suggest new ways of doing things;
  • Networking permits innovators to gain radically different perspectives from individuals with diverse backgrounds;
  • Experimenting prompts innovators to relentlessly try out new experiences, take things apart and test new ideas;
  • Associational thinking — drawing connections among questions, problems or ideas from unrelated fields — is triggered by questioning, observing, networking and experimenting and is the catalyst for creative ideas.

As a former homeschooling mom, I know it would have helped me just to have had these posted on my refrigerator door! Perhaps I would have spotted an innovative moment in the mind of a child more readily and encouraged it sooner. Sometimes the temptation is to squelch innovation because it may appear to be disruptive at times to the normal routine or schedule. I’m all for kids having to behave themselves, but I did try to allow for a good bit of flexibility if a child got off the beaten path (my plan for him that day) as long as it seemed productive. But these guidelines give me all sorts of ideas for ways I might have encouraged innovation to a greater degree in my kids’ thinking. I might have had a broader view of what was “productive” too.

I especially liked the premise that networking “permits innovators to gain radically different perspectives from individuals with diverse backgrounds.” I know in my own life I have especially enjoyed meeting or reading about people who live or think in ways I have never seen before. That’s one reason why I’ve always been drawn to missionary stories such as Bruce Olson’s Bruchko–it catapulted my thinking so totally beyond the borders of my white, Anglo-Saxon, American bubble. It confronted me with a more radical approach to trusting God. Christians are often needing to let God shake them up a bit, sift their ideas, winnow their ways. After all, becoming innovative thinkers is actually our calling in Christ–”…and do not be conformed to the world but be transformed by the renewing of your minds.” I might put that list up on my refrigerator after all even if my kids aren’t around to see it!

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