I have added a new link to one of my favorite sites in the Oh the Places You Will Go section. Titled, Make Toys with Your Printer, it will take you to the Toymaker! This is a website where you can print out all sorts of unique and original paper projects that turn into neat toys when you cut glue and bend them into their proper proportions. I love paper and I love toys and gadgets so this is a perfect combination for me.
I have enjoyed Marilyn's creations over the years and I hope you who are reading this page will have fun with it too. Browse around, read her journal, and if you enjoy her toys tell her "thanks." Of course you can always buy her book... maybe a nice gift for a printerless friend. I found the site one day, long ago, when I came across the Esther puppet show material.
I really enjoyed the paper puppets and dolls and the little peek a boo scene in a box. For puppets and dolls there is the Three Billy Goats Gruff and The Three Bears, the bears look more like clowns, so when I made them I cut off the hats. I like the panda palace, wind boats and spinners too. There really is so much here to like. I appreciate this lady's creativity, her use of color and her generosity in making such cool little things available... for free. You can always send her money of course... but she really does offer it all for free and for your enjoyment. You may need to purchase some cardstock for some projects.
For grown up toys she offers some pretty gift boxes and various holiday goods...(Note: for all religious persuasions.) She is into dragony things too, (as you will see.)
I do not know Marilyn personally, but I have emailed her a few" thank you"s over the years. She often writes back too. I like that she is personable and I am on her mailing list too, which often has some artsy surprises for readers. She only sends them out from time to time.
My printer is broken at the moment so I am a little jealous as I write this... ENJOY!
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Freedom to Homeschool
I have a young homeschooling friend who takes a class at the public school, an advanced placement class. We were chatting a bit and I felt like it was a very interesting conversation... he told me several very interesting things, and so I thought I would post some thoughts on that conversation here for consideration. It is about homeschooling, public school and freedom of the mind to actually think.
In this particular class, (note: at this time is had only been about two weeks into the school year) they happened to be studying the Bible as literature. and this young man, a Christian young man, is rather bold in his beliefs. Having the opportunity to give a talk before the class he told them that he was a Christian and that he believed the Bible to be literally true.
Imagine that. He reminded me that this was something the teacher could never do without loosing her job, but as a student it was something he could do. Needless to say, he then continued to tell me about various encounters with people in school and what being in school was like. He said it is oppressive, much like a prison.
He told me how he had been to Russia as a visitor last year and he compared the look and feel of the people there to the look and feel of the people "stuck" in school...
Now I have not been to school recently myself, but I have known people who went to Russia, even the same cities that this boy had been. They saw what he saw in Russia. They explained it the same way. How interesting that he saw this same dynamic in his experience at the school.
Homeschooling is freedom exercised. Freedom to choose the kind of education you have and use... freedom from the clock, freedom in how you spent or do not spend your day, your week, your calendar of things to do. It is also freedom of the mind to think, observe and question, to seek answers and to gain an understanding of the more important things in life, your family, yourself, your world and your creator, the one who loved you and gave his life so that you might live eternally in freedom from sin and death, Jesus Christ, (and you can even talk about him freely.) Public Schools, they are like "a prison." Truth is, if the son sets you free, you are free indeed! Homeschooling in America is the free exercise of many freedoms.
Yet there is school, mandatory school, we are told, a person "has to "get an education.
This all has me curious. What does one learn in school? and...Who exactly runs the classroom?
Is it law? Is it the NEA? The Union? MacGraw Hill or whatever textbook manufacturer has given the US government the lowest common denominator.. I mean, bid? If not the Bible in American schools... then what morals and values are upheld in school who decides? Who manages what is thought... and NOT? What is the "plumbline" or "objective" of public education, concerning morals, stealing... respecting authority... assault... cheating... swearing... and what will happen when you break the rule or fail to learn what IS (or maybe is NOT) being taught? What in a classroom makes right right and makes wrong wrong? Is it the textbook? The teacher?
In this case the textbook just so happened to be the Bible, but they were not looking at it as truth... and the teacher, was not the teacher but the student was giving credence to the book. A homeschooling student, a student on loan to the public school from a local homeschool at that!
This student all his life had not been to a public school. He was homeschooled, where his teachers at home were actually free to teach him things that are true and right, noble and good. Free people in the USA, free to talk about, to believe and teach their son about something better than anything he would ever learn in school, the true and living God.
Amazing.
So he told me too.. (and keep in mind this is a smart young man. He has not only been around the block, but around the world. He knows his history, his knows his English pretty well, he reads and writes and is not afraid to speak out or speak up in a class...) He told me that after he had been in school a couple of days he was called into the principals office.
He was not in trouble or anything. The principal simply asked him, "Who are you?"
It reminded me of this verse:
Phi 2:15 That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world.
In this particular class, (note: at this time is had only been about two weeks into the school year) they happened to be studying the Bible as literature. and this young man, a Christian young man, is rather bold in his beliefs. Having the opportunity to give a talk before the class he told them that he was a Christian and that he believed the Bible to be literally true.
Imagine that. He reminded me that this was something the teacher could never do without loosing her job, but as a student it was something he could do. Needless to say, he then continued to tell me about various encounters with people in school and what being in school was like. He said it is oppressive, much like a prison.
He told me how he had been to Russia as a visitor last year and he compared the look and feel of the people there to the look and feel of the people "stuck" in school...
Now I have not been to school recently myself, but I have known people who went to Russia, even the same cities that this boy had been. They saw what he saw in Russia. They explained it the same way. How interesting that he saw this same dynamic in his experience at the school.
Homeschooling is freedom exercised. Freedom to choose the kind of education you have and use... freedom from the clock, freedom in how you spent or do not spend your day, your week, your calendar of things to do. It is also freedom of the mind to think, observe and question, to seek answers and to gain an understanding of the more important things in life, your family, yourself, your world and your creator, the one who loved you and gave his life so that you might live eternally in freedom from sin and death, Jesus Christ, (and you can even talk about him freely.) Public Schools, they are like "a prison." Truth is, if the son sets you free, you are free indeed! Homeschooling in America is the free exercise of many freedoms.
Yet there is school, mandatory school, we are told, a person "has to "get an education.
This all has me curious. What does one learn in school? and...Who exactly runs the classroom?
Is it law? Is it the NEA? The Union? MacGraw Hill or whatever textbook manufacturer has given the US government the lowest common denominator.. I mean, bid? If not the Bible in American schools... then what morals and values are upheld in school who decides? Who manages what is thought... and NOT? What is the "plumbline" or "objective" of public education, concerning morals, stealing... respecting authority... assault... cheating... swearing... and what will happen when you break the rule or fail to learn what IS (or maybe is NOT) being taught? What in a classroom makes right right and makes wrong wrong? Is it the textbook? The teacher?
In this case the textbook just so happened to be the Bible, but they were not looking at it as truth... and the teacher, was not the teacher but the student was giving credence to the book. A homeschooling student, a student on loan to the public school from a local homeschool at that!
This student all his life had not been to a public school. He was homeschooled, where his teachers at home were actually free to teach him things that are true and right, noble and good. Free people in the USA, free to talk about, to believe and teach their son about something better than anything he would ever learn in school, the true and living God.
Amazing.
So he told me too.. (and keep in mind this is a smart young man. He has not only been around the block, but around the world. He knows his history, his knows his English pretty well, he reads and writes and is not afraid to speak out or speak up in a class...) He told me that after he had been in school a couple of days he was called into the principals office.
He was not in trouble or anything. The principal simply asked him, "Who are you?"
It reminded me of this verse:
Phi 2:15 That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world.
Saturday, September 12, 2009
A lot of good things this year...
Homeschooling is always a challenge, but as I look to this year I can see that we have the opportunity to do a lot of cool things. It's just me and my high schooler, which equates to me being a tugboat managing a huge ship in the harbor helping him dock and go to sea again. I kinda love it, but then it's a but of a love/hate deal at times; sometimes the rough seas are not very cooperative... I am so glad to have my confidence in the Lord. He is the true overseer of it all, even teaching me things through it.
Math is a biggie this year and for the first time, my son is doing math with a real math instructor. This is very cool for him and me. We have done some textbooks, a few computer programs, and even a video math class over the years, but this is different. It's a textbook with an instructor on-line who delegates assignments and introduces lessons. Also it's a "class" made up of students in different time zones. It's been only two classes, but already I like the dimension it adds to our homeschooling day and life.
Writing is in the scope of things as well. This year my son will be writing his own book. This is being done as a video course. I am thinking that maybe I will get in on it too and have some fun learning and writing myself.
We are still reading through the Bible. This is really good. I love it and am glad to be back into the swing of doing it regularly. We never planned to stop, but it really takes up such a big chunk of time to sit and read aloud and so it fell by the wayside. Seems summer just draws you away from books if you let it, and we did, so we stopped reading daily for a while. Also he wants to go more to youth group, and of course, church is a very much a part of our community life. It is a great learning time too as our pastor teaches a lot about history (and life in general) not to mention God's word, so I pretty much think it's a huge part of the learning that goes on in our lives, for both of us.
Spelling would be good. I always say we will do spelling but it seems so tedious. I have always heard that readers become good spellers, so I hope he does a lot of reading.... and that some spelling will come in so he can improve in this area. I just have to make it happen... (tug tug tug)
Another of our great learning adventures this year will be a a sort of philosophy class tied into the film industry. We will be looking at movies comparatively and reading the book, The Universe Next Door, a worldview catalog. We are doing this as a discussion group, "a class." I am very excited about this venture too.
Then of course there is our favorite sport of all... fencing, and all that entails being part of a fantastic fencing club.
and this really is only the beginning.... their is internet stuff like graphic art pages and webpages and facebook and blogspot and technical stuff for the theater and personal gizmos and gadgets, TYPING for sure.
It is bound to be a busy year... and it's here!
Math is a biggie this year and for the first time, my son is doing math with a real math instructor. This is very cool for him and me. We have done some textbooks, a few computer programs, and even a video math class over the years, but this is different. It's a textbook with an instructor on-line who delegates assignments and introduces lessons. Also it's a "class" made up of students in different time zones. It's been only two classes, but already I like the dimension it adds to our homeschooling day and life.
Writing is in the scope of things as well. This year my son will be writing his own book. This is being done as a video course. I am thinking that maybe I will get in on it too and have some fun learning and writing myself.
We are still reading through the Bible. This is really good. I love it and am glad to be back into the swing of doing it regularly. We never planned to stop, but it really takes up such a big chunk of time to sit and read aloud and so it fell by the wayside. Seems summer just draws you away from books if you let it, and we did, so we stopped reading daily for a while. Also he wants to go more to youth group, and of course, church is a very much a part of our community life. It is a great learning time too as our pastor teaches a lot about history (and life in general) not to mention God's word, so I pretty much think it's a huge part of the learning that goes on in our lives, for both of us.
Spelling would be good. I always say we will do spelling but it seems so tedious. I have always heard that readers become good spellers, so I hope he does a lot of reading.... and that some spelling will come in so he can improve in this area. I just have to make it happen... (tug tug tug)
Another of our great learning adventures this year will be a a sort of philosophy class tied into the film industry. We will be looking at movies comparatively and reading the book, The Universe Next Door, a worldview catalog. We are doing this as a discussion group, "a class." I am very excited about this venture too.
Then of course there is our favorite sport of all... fencing, and all that entails being part of a fantastic fencing club.
and this really is only the beginning.... their is internet stuff like graphic art pages and webpages and facebook and blogspot and technical stuff for the theater and personal gizmos and gadgets, TYPING for sure.
It is bound to be a busy year... and it's here!
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