Simply Convivial: Organization & Mindset for Home & Homeschool

Organizing your attitude begins with self-control - the ability to change what you're thinking about. You can set your mind where it should be: on truth.

Welcome to a new year and a new plan for the Simply Convivial Audio blog – also known as the Simplified Organization and the Convivial Homeschool audio blogs. Last year I merged my two blogs into one and so it seems fitting that this year I merge the two podcasts into one. Every week a new audio blog post will publish on Mondays – no seasons, no themes, just another 10ish minute short but meaty focus session to help you keep your head in the game as a homeschool mom who is juggling many plates while wearing many hats. No matter what the topic each week, you’ll be redirected to focus your attention on Christ, on faithful stewardship and obedience, and on doing the right next thing – whether that’s in your own head, in your homeschool, or in your house. But we’re kicking off the year with a conversation Virginia Lee Rogers and I had about keeping our attitudes organized in the midst of real life. Enjoy!   Thank you for joining me for this session of the Simply Convivial Audio Blog. Start reclaiming your attitude with the all new, redesigned brain dump guide that will walk you through regaining calm clarity inside your own head. Sarah Mackenzie called it a brilliant hack and I think you’ll agree. Remember: Life is for sanctification. Repent. Rejoice. Repeat.

Season 12: Finding Rest as a Homeschool Mom This season of the Simplified Organization Audio Blog is excerpts from an hour-long live chat all about resting as a homeschool mom. Find the link below to access the replay in its entirety! Decision fatigue is super real, and it’s not just our kids pestering that puts us over the edge, it’s ourselves also. Our own minds are always going, going, going. And that’s one reason why we’re brain dumping, we’re getting it out of our heads so that our own head is not pestering us. So, we have to find ways because, I think, we also might find a way to arrange for the kids to give us 30 minutes of not talking to us and then we find that didn’t help as much as I thought it would because the distraction mode is still here. Even if we turn the phone off, even if we send the kids away, then we find the problem’s still here. Brain dump, brain dump, brain dump, organization can bring more peace. A lot of the ways you see organization on Pinterest or that kind of thing where it means label makers and matching containers and a perfect cleaning schedule where you take all the buckets out and wipe down the inside of the cabinet every month that increases our feelings of obligation and increases our feelings of inadequacy – like, that’s just not going to work in my life, what do I do now because I’m incompetent on so many levels? When this is the problem, when it’s in our heads, it’s one of three things (and these are the last three things on my list I was telling you about). We need peace from three things. So this is our own internal problems that are giving us unrest. One is anxiety, and I feel completely unable to really deeply address that one because I know so many people struggle with anxiety as a real, deep-seated, maybe even chemical issue, but anxiety is going to steal your peace and steal your rest. It makes rest impossible so we have to address it, we can’t just live with it, we have to address it. Isaiah 40 for anxiety, Philippians 4. Anxiety is actually a sin and we need to repent and then we need to rejoice and then we need to do it over and over again. So, sometimes we think that because if we keep doing it then I’m either off the hook or I’m a lost case but it’s just something that we have to keep doing. And then the peace of God is given to us when we pray with thanksgiving. Like, actually repenting instead of just feeling bad. Sometimes just feeling bad is us laying ourselves off the hook, but actually calling it a sin, asking God to help us, and Philippians 4 says “with gratitude,” and that doesn’t mean so I’m thankful for fluffy kittens and blue skies, it’s be grateful in the situation that you’re in because you can always be thankful for Jesus, right? So, be thankful even within the situation where you are, not for things outside your situation, but for inside your situation, prayer, with thanksgiving, making your requests know then the peace of God that surpasses all understanding. It’s a pretty clear verse, and we can keep coming back to it. That’s why it’s repent, rejoice, repeat. It’s not a once and done thing and now we’re never going to have this problem again. It’s going to keep being an ongoing problem but every time it is it’s like, ‘oh, I know what to do’ and it’s that knowing what to do that brings us rest. So, it’s not even about an escape from it or solving it, it’s knowing what to do that brings the peace. Well, God brings the peace but that’s a big part of it. OK, but the two big ones … that one’s like it’s own big huge category … and the two every day peace stealers and unrest creators are decision fatigue and the feeling of vague obligation. There are so many things I should be doing I don’t even know what they all are. How many people have ever felt like that? I have so many things I don’t even know what they all are, vague obligation.

Season 12: Classical Voices on Classical Education Seneca here warns us of two opposing dangers, two ditches on either side of our right path: either building resentment and anger in our children (how he says this happens might surprise you) or by stifling and smashing their personalities and energy. In our talk of classical education or a liberal arts education, we must keep our definitions and our aim in view. The liberal arts boil down to studying wisdom. Wisdom comes to us in many forms, and the liberal arts are concerned with wisdom in all its forms – not mere information or raw skills. It is knowledge with purpose, knowledge with application for all of life. The result of an education in wisdom is a resilient integrity which knows what should be done and has the strength of mind and body to do it. Read the original posts: * Taking Pains to Educate * Wisdom Leading to Virtue is the Only Liberal Art Listen: Simple Sanity Saver: Math-U-See Tips Math-U-See begins with the concept of place value and returns to place value to teach every new function. Without place value, you can’t understand why numbers do what they do when you start combining them, so it is important. Math-U-See has some handy sayings for learning place value – like “Every number has a place” and “place means value.” The numeral 9, for example, means 9 units if it’s in the unit place, but it means 9 tens if it’s in the tens place. It has been quite helpful to have this vocabulary to show my beginning-regroupers that 12 + 8 does not equal 2. Without the zero, that means 2 units, not two tens – you need the zero to put the 2 in the ten place. Place value is also helpful when they want to work equations from left to right, like reading and writing. No, with math you have to start at the unit place and move up the “street” from there. Place value brings greater clarity to long division, too. And when you hand your student graph paper on which to do his figuring (highly recommended), you can always remind him, “Keep each number in its right place!” and he might sigh and slump, but he knows what you’re talking about.
 So here is my 4th tip for MUS users that is actually applicable regardless of program. I got this tip from Mr. Demme himself. Place value in Math-U-See is important. Keeping numbers straight and in their right place is critical, no matter which math program you use. My older students use graph paper to show their work, but that seems a bit excessive (and also not large enough squares) for the elementary students. Once they get into carrying or borrowing, though, it’s super handy and leads to fewer place-value flubs if you simply turn a lined piece of notebook paper on the side to help you keep the numbers in their right place. Spread the word! Leaving a review on Apple Podcasts will help other homeschooling moms discover this podcast!

Season 12: Classical Voices on Classical Education The classical tradition does not see itself as a new thing, but as part of the stream of Western civilization that started in Greece, grew in the middle ages, has suffered much recently, but still exists, particularly if we educate our children in its gifts and blessings and warnings. It is the culture of a people who sought truth, of a people then who met Truth, of a people who tried – though messily and often wrongly – to make truth the basis of their state and kingdoms, and always of a people who wanted truth more than anything else. Yet another definition of education, fully in line with so many others: Knowing Truth + conforming ourselves to Truth = wisdom. It has been said in a variety of ways by a variety of people, but that is the essence of a classical education. Education that aims at anything less than soul-formation aims too low. Read the original posts: * Why Classical? Why Pagan Philosophy? * Christ Leads Us to Virtue Listen: Simple Sanity Saver: Math-U-See Tips I am so glad that when my oldest was 4 or 5, I had two real-life friends rave about Math-U-See. Not only did they rave, but one of them sat me down and had me watch the “adding 9s” lesson. I was sold then and there. Perhaps part of the reason I like Math-U-See is that it is pretty much the opposite of Saxon, and I hated Saxon as a homeschooled student. MUS has short lessons, focuses on mastery, and uses manipulatives to teach, even in 5th & 6th & 7th grade, making math very concrete. MUS also has no instruction in the student text, instead parent & student are supposed to view the DVD instruction together and the teacher’s manual gives suggestions for teaching the concept to the student (without a script). I appreciate and value the mastery approach of Math-U-See, and they emphasize knowing the facts perfectly before moving on. However, if they don’t use them, they lose them, and knowing the facts isn’t the same as being able to do them quickly. So we add drill practice to our daily math routine, at least for the elementary students. I use both xtramath.org (love it!) and Calculadder. We’ve also added times table chanting to Morning Time before because those facts needed review. No matter what program you’re using, we as the homeschool mom need to be alert and wise in applying it and adding in supplements or taking a break or pausing to review based on what each child needs to make progress. When I see a specific skill needs to be reviewed, we take a break from the current lesson and go back to practicing the foundational skill that is causing the errors – yes, sometimes that’s even meant practicing number formation because 4s look like 9s or 6s look like 0s. This approach does require teacher awareness and involvement. Welcome to homeschooling – we signed up for this gig.
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Season 12: Finding Rest as a Homeschool Mom This season of the Simplified Organization Audio Blog is excerpts from an hour-long live chat all about resting as a homeschool mom. Find the link below to access the replay in its entirety! Transcript Finally, we have mental rest. And I think this is the category that we are least aware of, but that is actually tripping us up the most. I’m currently reading the book Deep Work by Cal Newport and I wasn’t even expecting it to tie into these ideas that I was having about rest and what we need to do and all that, but it does. So, when we are tempted to zone out it’s because we are overwhelmed, right? We are overwhelmed by all the details, all the distractions, all the things going on in our life, all the people asking us questions all the time, and even sometimes we’re asking ourselves questions all the time. We don’t know what we’re supposed to be doing, we don’t know where the thing is; everything feels like a scramble. Am I right? And, sometimes it’s not because you need physical rest, and it’s not because you need spiritual rest. Sometimes it’s just because life is full of all these inputs and it’s chaotic and overwhelming, and we don’t have what it takes to order it all, to put it into order. It’s all coming out of us and it’s all chaotic and messy, and we don’t know what to do. And then we feel worse because we don’t know what to do with it all. It’s just all coming at us. And, all I can think to do is to just turn it all off. So, I think if you’re feeling of ‘I need rest’ comes out as ‘turn it all off’ then this is where you need to really start brain dumping and applying and thinking. You don’t necessarily have to assume you have a spiritual problem. We have to make sure that that’s in order first, but it doesn’t necessarily … feeling like you just need to turn it all off, you just can’t handle it anymore, it’s not necessarily a spiritual problem. It’s partly the way our current world is running with the priority on distraction mode, and when we’re in a distracted state that is the opposite of peace. We don’t know how to get to peace. If we are functioning completely in distracted mode all the time we actually lose the ability to basically think in a straight line. And, unless we can think in a straight line we aren’t going to be able to problem solve, we aren’t going to be able to provide the counseling and parenting that our children really need, because it’s so hard to pay attention. So, distraction is the opposite of attention, and attentiveness is the ability to pay attention is sometimes what we actually are needing when we feel like we need rest. It’s a feeling of ‘I need to turn off this distraction mode and have a time where I can actually have a complete thought and move forward with that complete thought.’ So, that’s one reason why taking a walk helps (yes, walking in a straight line physically helps the brain feel more linear – that’s perfect). So, in the book Deep Work, Cal Newport is talking about how we need to set aside undistracted time, and you know, pretty much his only solution is just turn the internet off, like how hard, just do it. And have one project that you just work on. And it’s like, well, yeah, that’d be nice if I had an office door I could close and just turn off the internet connection – that would turn off all the distractions, not. The internet might provide another layer of distractions but we’ve got so many things coming at us all the time that you could take a step and do the easy things like turning the notifications on your phone off (that’s a good one) but we can find times like this even in a house full of children who need us all day. One of the things that we need to do is to realize that we have to. So when we feel … we feel guilty if we feel like we just have to shut this all off. So we have all these distractions,

Season 12: Classical Voices on Classical Education General and wide knowledge is the foundation of the educated mind, the roots that nourish it and cause it to grow. It is only from a wealth of learning, and a multitude of accomplishments, and a knowledge that is universal that his marvelous eloquence wells forth like a mighty stream. For The acquisition of all the preliminary branches of education is wholly necessary [to attain virtue]. In order to bear fruit, we must learn and know. Read the original posts: * Knowledge Bears Fruit * A Liberal Education Starts at Home Listen: Simple Sanity Saver: Math-U-See Tips I am not a math person. Math has been the subject that daunts me most when I think about the big picture of homeschooling. Or, at least, it did. Now that I’m 9 years into this gig (if you start counting with Kindergarten) and I have an 8th grader who is about to finish Algebra, I’m neither daunted nor worried. Math-U-See Tip #3: Pull out the pages, use clipboards, have a “turn in” container This Math-U-See workflow is probably my best tip. First, I tear out the math page to be completed each day from the workbook. The kids do not handle the workbooks themselves directly. If they did, the covers would be torn in no time and I’d have a headache figuring out what I’m supposed to be assigning and checking in each of the 4 books that won’t stay open to be checked. After all, Math-U-See is a mastery-based program. My kids never do all the pages in the book and sometimes they need more pages than are included in the book (we use the tests as extra work pages and also print extra practice off their website). When I tear out their workpages and stick them on their color-coded clipboards, it doesn’t matter whether I pulled the page from the workbook, the test book, or off the printer – they know and I know their math for the day is on their clipboard. Plus, we make them correct their work until they get 100% – mastery approach, right? So if a page wasn’t 100%, it goes back to the clipboard. Whatever is on the clipboard is the work to be done. And where does it go when it’s done? At one point they were supposed to put it onto my clipboard when they were finished so I could check. However, my clipboard could be anywhere and it always had other things I wanted to see on top, too. They couldn’t always find it and I didn’t really want those extra pages cluttering it up. So, I bought a mail sorter and it lives on the counter. When they finish their math, it goes into the mail sorter to be checked. If it’s all correct, the page goes into the trash or fire-starter bin. If it needs another attempt, it goes back on the clipboard. Now that my husband checks the math, this process also makes it obvious to him when there’s math to correct. If it’s in the mail sorter, he knows it’s his to-do. Figuring out a workflow process so everyone knows exactly what needs to be done with the least amount of rifling and questioning is the goal. Spread the word! Leaving a review on Apple Podcasts will help other homeschooling moms discover this podcast!

Season 12: Finding Rest as a Homeschool Mom This season of the Simplified Organization Audio Blog is excerpts from an hour-long live chat all about resting as a homeschool mom. Find the link below to access the replay in its entirety! Transcript So, an example is our family’s EHAP. So, EHAP is one of those things, it’s part of Sweep and Smile, it’s a part of the Simplified Organization Course that means Everything Has A Place. Sometimes everything doesn’t have a place, that’s why there’s more decision fatigue because you’re like, where do I put this thing? Giving things a home is one way we eliminate decision fatigue. So, it’s a project. It’s something that we do that’s going to have the payoff of rest after it’s done. EHAP is the time to put things back where they belong and it has a time and it has a place every day. At our house it’s about five o’clock most evenings. Not every single evening but most evenings at five o’clock is EHAP. That means at three o’clock when the house is a wreck and I feel like “AHHH, I’ve got to do something about this now,” take a deep breath, and we don’t have to do something about this now, we’re going to do something about it at five, so right now I can let the kids be doing their thing and not interrupt them because I feel crazy. I’m the one that has to take a deep breath and say, “We’ve got this handled, it’s OK.” There’s a time for everything and everything in its time. So, everything in its home and everything in its time that’s when we can take that breath and know that the decision then has been made, it’s not an immediate problem, it’s not a vague problem. So, we have to systematically work through our responsibilities and our obligations and our time and our home, and in various ways put things in their home. That is how we then build the mental rest in our own heads. And yes, we can then, also, build time where we aren’t being interrupted and asked a million questions. But, here’s another thing to add to your brain dump. Throughout the week, write down the various kinds or maybe even specific questions your kids are asking. And maybe there are decisions that can be made upfront. Like, are they asking questions because they really want to know what’s happening because it’s always up in the air? Like, the more things that are always up in the air the more chatter there’s going to be from the kids and from your own head. But, if breakfast is always oatmeal because no one asks, “What’s for breakfast?” One of my favorites is if the kids ask what’s for dinner? I say, “Food.” I don’t have to think about it. I might have my menu planned but sometimes, ask me at a certain time and I don’t know, we’re going to have something or sometimes I’m just making something and it doesn’t have a name, so then you’re thinking ‘food, we’re going to have food.’ Finding those little things that just turn off the stress response is the distraction looking for an answer that is where we’re going to start finding mental peace and clarity. So, maybe pay attention to the questions that you’re asked this week and see if there’s a common thread or note which ones are most draining to you, and is there a way that you can arrange the day or just have a pat answer that eliminates the stress that comes when the question comes. Sometimes these are really easy, really simple if we look intentionally at it, but when we get into distracted mode it takes work and intention to get out of it, and that’s where I am right now in the Deep Work book, I’m in the rules section. But he’s really developing how hard it is to move from distracted to thinking in a straight line again. And how intentional we have to be and that it’s really like a muscle that we have to grow. So, if we’ve been in distracted mode for a really long time it’s not going to be abo...

Season 12: Classical Voices on Classical Education So, Quintilian wants us to know it’s important what kind of teacher we give our children over to. Do we think this matters less because the teacher is ourselves? No, if we choose to be the teachers ourselves, we must also choose to be the sort of person we would entrust our children to. Nor is it sufficient that he should merely set an example of the highest personal self-control; he must also be able to govern the behavior of his pupils by the strictness of his discipline. There must be encouragement and praise that is sincere and honest. I think this is a huge part of our children enjoying the process and their days of “great industry” at home. As it is the duty of the master to teach, so it is the duty of the pupil to show himself teachable. The two obligations are mutually indispensable. […] Eloquence [completion of education] can never come to maturity unless teacher and taught are in perfect sympathy. Quintilian wants young children to be exposed to literary thought and literary quality, because they are naturally receptive and retentive at this age – so what they are exposed to will matter to their entire course of life. Read the original posts: * The Tone of the Teacher * What Would Classical Preschool Look Like? Listen: Simple Sanity Saver: Math-U-See Tips It’s possible to wing math in the early years, but because math is a consecutive skill, where one concept builds upon another, it’s best to choose a program and stick with it. Different programs use different vocabulary. Different programs teach concepts in different orders, but different logical, step-by-step orders – so skipping around between programs can lead to gaps and confusion more than in any other subject. In the last almost-decade of sticking with the same program and walking 4 students (and soon starting my 5th) through the process, these are my top 5 tips for using and organizing Math-U-See. Math-U-See Tip #2: Reserved Crayons In Primer and Alpha, kids do quite a bit of coloring with their math. As they learn the blocks in the first few lessons, they’re supposed to color the blocks the right color. With my first student, we hunted around the crayon bin every time, with my son constantly asking, “Is this an ok color? Is this one ok?” When I ordered Primer for my third, knowing I had at least 2 more after her, I got smart and set aside hand-picked crayons. I pulled out the colors that best matched the blocks and stuck them in a small container that lives in our math book bin. When she sat down with her lesson page, she had the little container with just 10 crayons, and it was clear which color was intended. Spread the word! Leaving a review on Apple Podcasts will help other homeschooling moms discover this podcast!

Season 12: Finding Rest as a Homeschool Mom This season of the Simplified Organization Audio Blog is excerpts from an hour-long live chat all about resting as a homeschool mom. Find the link below to access the replay in its entirety! Transcript So, start off by listing the things that you currently do for rest. What do you currently do when you feel like you need a break? Of those things that you do for rest which ones do you feel rested after doing? Because not everything that we do to take a break helps us feel better afterwards. So, if we don’t feel better afterwards, if we don’t feel rested and restored after doing it, it’s not a break. Maybe it’s stopping doing our work but it’s not rest. We have to be examining what we’re doing and whether or not it’s what we should be doing and perhaps there’s guilt involved because what we’re doing for rest isn’t restful so it doesn’t help so our anxiety and our stress is actually building instead of releasing. It just kind of builds and is a mess. We’re going to be taking a step back. Let’s talk about the goal for rest. So, Erika says, “Everything I do to rest I do restful during I but I feel guilty afterwards.’ So, maybe after reading a book you do feel rested and maybe after reading a book you don’t. It can depend on the situation and what else is going on or the kind of book. There are multiple things going on pretty much all the time so that’s why we have to brain dump and really start following those connections and like, ‘what’s the difference between this time where I felt rested after reading a book or maybe even after watching a TV show and this time where it wasn’t?’ Sometimes you’re even too tired to read so we need to figure out the kind of rest that we need, the kind of tired that we are so that we know what to build more of into our life. So, what’s the goal for resting? If we step back and look at the end – keep the end in mind – that will help us not feel guilty when we are legitimately resting, and it will help us recognize true rest from fake rest. So, the goal for resting is to be rested. This isn’t super deep. The goal of resting is peace and restoration/refreshment. If we go into rest as leisure and scholé (Peiper’s book, “The Basis of Culture” takes us on a journey on exploring leisure and its purpose) and it goes toward worship. And I think that is a good insight for us as we think about rest. Of course, the Bible talks about rest as connected to the Sabbath a lot. And, the point of the Sabbath is worship. When we have a mind and a soul at peace we can be grateful, we can be attentive even to God, and attentive to what He is doing in our life right now instead of, maybe, what we’re trying to do in our life. We can be more open and receptive when our minds and our souls and our bodies are at peace. But when our bodies are tired and fatigued, when our mind is distracted, and when we haven’t been spending any time in God’s Word, with God’s people, worshiping then these are all blocks, blockage, obstacles to finding rest which is from God – real rest is from God – even if it comes after a novel, it’s a blessing that we can have and that is good for us because God rested on the seventh day not because He needed a break but because that is the end of work, that’s enjoying the work, that’s what He did. He didn’t go find entertainment he was taking enjoyment from His work and that was how He rested. He wasn’t doing work but He was enjoying the fruits of His work and that was rest, and so that’s why then there’s the Sabbath (it follows this model). God was modeling a pattern that He wanted us to follow: work, and then enjoy the work, enjoy the fruits of the work. It’s OK and good and right to not be go, go, go, work, work, work, productive mode all the time. That is not God’s will for us. It is God’s will for us to do our duty and part of our duty ...

Season 12: Classical Voices on Classical Education We can’t simply demand character out of a person, nor can we explain it with abstract and theoretical definitions and expect that to be sufficient. We have to illustrate – model, tell stories, practice, make analogies – if we want to help people (ourselves, our children) change. And doing so is demanding. It’s hard work. It’s good work. It’s necessary work. It is best and easiest to begin how we mean to go on – to start on the path we want to finish – rather than meander aimlessly and then think we can backtrack or fast track to where we want to be later on. Read the original posts: * Parents’ Expectations Matter * Virtue Requires Imagination Listen: Spread the word! Leaving a review on Apple Podcasts will help other homeschooling moms discover this podcast!

Season 12: Finding Rest as a Homeschool Mom This season of the Simplified Organization Audio Blog is excerpts from an hour-long live chat all about resting as a homeschool mom. Find the link below to access the replay in its entirety! Transcript And, thank you all for the participation even before we began on what is rest. I think that we’re all, kind of, on the same page – is what it sounds like because this is what I was thinking, so I’m glad to see that we are not alone, right? It’s easy to think that when we’re at home just doing our thing, that it’s like, ‘I must be the only one that struggles with this,’ but, you’re not. This is life and it’s part of our sanctification and you’re not alone. We all have these struggles. This is just the struggle of being human and of trying to live out God’s will for us, cheerfully, and gracefully, and repent-fully. What’s the adverb form of repentance? So, you’re going to get a lot more out of this if you follow along with pen and paper. So, even if you are folding laundry – doing something – grab a notebook, grab a pen, and work through this exercise with me. This is going to be brain dumping. As we put things onto paper it helps us collect ourselves, collect our thoughts, and achieve more calm, rather than letting all the thoughts jumble up in our heads that’s distracting and we’re trying to hold all the things in our heads we can’t use our heads to think things through, to think things out, and to come up with creative solutions to have just the mental space to problem solve. When we put the details and our thoughts and our connections and our troubles – all those things that pop into our head – instead of letting them just keep popping into our head, if we put them down onto paper it helps us think about them, instead of just the thoughts popping up we can think about them and start to figure things out. Distraction really drains us and that’s one of the things we’ll be talking about. When we can just collect those random thoughts that pop in it helps us remain calm and clear and not worry about forgetting the needful things, even if it’s ‘I need to buy milk at the grocery store’ – it’s amazing how much those little thoughts can collect and build and really clutter up our heads. I really hope that you get a lot of actionable ideas out of this, not necessarily because it’s advice from me but because through the process of thinking about the different categories and really doing some self-examination and some life-examination you can figure out a change that works for you and your life and your needs right now because it’s going to be different for each person – what you need to focus on and what you need to do. There’s not one right way. There’s not a one-size fits all solution at all. So, we have to be able to take responsibility for our own selves and our own lives and prayerfully and repentantly (I think that’s right) move forward from where we are to the next step that is part of our sanctification. OK, I have three different kinds of rest that we need and then three things that we need rest from. So, we’re going to start with the different kinds of rests that we need because I think that sometimes we’re so jumbled and we’re so distracted and we’re so tired and fatigued that it feels like any rest is the right rest or a good rest. And we do need rest and some of it is good but we need to figure out the kind of rest that we are lacking and maybe it will be all three kinds but they are different types of rest. So, we have to build in these three different types of rest to our lives. And, one kind – they’ll build on each other and they’ll help each other but they’re different aspects of our lives that we do need to take and we can take them intentionally without guilt because these are clearly good things. Rest is a good thing.

Season 12: Classical Voices on Classical Education Listen: Transcript Mystie: Alright, well, welcome to season 12. I’m so excited to get this season started, and I’m here today with Virginia Lee to start our season off. Virginia Lee: Hi, everyone. Mystie: For the podcast this season the Simple Sanity Saver is Math-U-See tips. Even if you don’t use Math-U-See I think you’ll still be able to pick up some ideas, some tips, some things to think about. So, what ages and grades do you have, Virginia Lee? Virginia Lee: I have a 13 year old son and I have a 10 year old daughter, I have an 8 year old daughter, I have a 5 year old son, and a 2 year old daughter. The only ones, obviously my younger ones are not doing math yet, everyone who is doing math is using Math-U-See. Mystie: And us, too. And my oldest has actually just started Algebra 2 so we’re, kind of, getting into the program. Virginia Lee: So, I have to ask – Algebra 2 – then he’s pretty good at math for high school years, I’m assuming, with that, seeing as he’s 15 and he’s in Algebra 2? Mystie: Yes, that is ahead of the scope and sequence, I think, which is really interesting to me because for several years in elementary he was actually behind. Virginia Lee: It just goes to show the great part about mastery with Math-U-See then. Mystie: I think it just started clicking, maybe about 12, but it took a little bit more than two years to get through Alpha. Virginia Lee: OK. Mystie: And then it took about two years to get through Beta. It felt like, ‘Oh man – OK, we’ll just do it.’ Virginia Lee: You know what though? I’m glad you brought that up because that’s actually one of the things I really like about Math-U-See, is that it is mastery based, so it’s OK if it takes longer for your kiddos to go through Alpha or Beta or wherever they are because it’s not grade levels. It’s just levels of math that are not hooked to a grade and you do not move forward until you’ve mastered one concept. And, I think that has a lot to do why when later on, things start clicking for our kiddos. It can do that because you really have mastered everything before that point. And, I’m also just a big believer in as long as you’re moving forward that’s what counts. Mystie: And that really helped me at one point when I had all young elementary and it didn’t seem like we were making that great of progress, being behind in math as homeschoolers was one of my fears, because it seems kind of … Virginia Lee: Yes. Mystie: Well, it was true for myself and several of my siblings and that was something I didn’t want to continue. So, I was starting to get a little nervous and I actually found YouTube videos by Steve Demme – they must have … I don’t know if they’re around anymore because I’ve tried several times to find them again and I have not found them – they were like Q&A videos so, of course, they were pretty much all questions like, “My son’s behind what do I do?” Virginia Lee: Yes, the homeschool mom panic questions. Mystie: “We stayed in this lesson for f-o-r-e-v-e-r.” And, yet he did that. You’re never behind, you’re where you are, math is progressive, you can’t skip anything. And, if they haven’t mastered it you, basically, are skipping ahead and you’re going to get burned in the end, so just stick with it and when things click everything else is going to smooth the way later and their mind will be free from the arithmetic part of the math to think about the concepts. Virginia Lee: Yes, and I like that about Math-U-See also that they take really important basic math concepts and they start from the concrete and build to the abstract so that as you’re being introduced to something that’s very important for understanding math but that’s new to the child (and sometimes the mom) … Mystie: Definitely!

SO068: Realistic Ways to Rest for Moms with Virginia Lee

Season 11 : Good Books to Read Somehow, Berry makes you feel affection for all mankind, even those who aren’t likable and maybe even those who are wicked but especially for those who are foolish — which is each one of us. “Membership” with one another is the underlying thread in them both, and these novels have given that word much more depth and richness than I had ever seen in it. Read the original post: * Jayber Crow by Wendell Berry * Hannah Coulter by Wendell Berry Listen: Simple Sanity Saver: Scholé Cindy Rollins used to say that she taught her boys the humanities so that when the rats were nibbling their toes in prison (where they were thrown for their faith, hopefully, and not for wrongdoing, but either way) they’d have an interesting place to spend their time: their own minds. This was years and years ago, so that is a rough paraphrase, of course, but she got me with that one. The leisure that classical education prepares you for is not the leisure of “the leisure class” – although it began that way historically. Rather, classical education furnishes the mind so that when we have leisure – which we can have in our current society without resorting to slave labor – we can actually enjoy it. Rather than being bored and wishing we were back at work or resorting to mindless entertainment to fill our time, we can enjoy ourselves. With a fully furnished and active mind, down time, time alone, quiet spaces of time, are a treasure not to be filled idly. We’re able to enjoy contemplative time because we have things to contemplate. Aristotle was, not surprisingly, the primary source for this concept of scholé education. We should be able, not only to work well, but to use leisure well. –Aristotle It does not have to be one or the other, work or rest. Both have a place in the well-ordered life. What ought we to do when at leisure? Clearly we ought not to be amusing ourselves, for then amusement would be the end of life. – Aristotle Now, Aristotle does justify a little amusement – we don’t need to shun amusement altogether – but it is to be used sparingly as a remedy and relief for over-busy-ness, not as a habit. Rather, we should arrange to have spare time, and to use it for leisure: Leisure of itself gives pleasure and happiness and enjoyment of life, which are experienced, not by the busy man, but by those who have leisure. -Aristotle And, the education we pursue helps us enjoy our leisure and use it well: It is clear then that there are branches of learning and education which we must study with a view to the enjoyment of leisure, and these are to be valued for their own sake; whereas those kinds of knowledge which are useful in business are to be deemed necessary, and exist for the sake of other things. -Aristotle One subject in particular is aimed at promoting a mind that can enjoy leisure: And therefore our fathers admitted music into education, not on the ground either of its necessity or utility; […] the use of music [is] for intellectual enjoyment in leisure […] this being one of the ways in which it is thought that a freeman should pass his leisure. Therefore, Aristotle claims: It is evident, then, that there is a sort of education in which parents should train their sons, not as being useful or necessary, but because it is liberal or noble. This is an education of and for scholé. Spread the word! Leaving a review o...