Sonlight Homeschooling Blog

Oct. 7, 2013

You Feeling Totally Paralyzed?

By Luke

I hear her bang her computer mouse repeatedly against the desk. My wife is usually an incredibly patient and relaxed person, but every now and again she'll snap. Not to worry, she still has nothing on me in the lose-it department. But as much as she loves computer/video games, they can frustrate her to the point of irrationality. "This stupid level!" she yells.

"Why don't you take a break?" I offer, because I'm all about fixing things.

"I can't," she wails at me as her eyes snap back to the computer screen and the source of her needless angst.

'Gaming is supposed to be fun,' I tell myself. I once made the mistake of reminding her of that fact.

It's so easy to see it in others. "Just take a break. Life will be so much better." And, for whatever the psychological reason, I can't seem to see the obvious in my own life. There was that time I refused to stop working on the shelf I was building. And all those times I did not to listen to my wife who gently tried to encourage me to stop beating my head against my film projects. Of course I've had my own needless repetitions in a game that long ago ceased to be enjoyable. Then there's the school work, the chores, and the arguments that I should have walked away from to come back to later. But I didn't.

Try Again Later

Why do we get totally paralyzed with this kind of stuff? I'm pretty sure I do it because to "give up" would be to fail. And fail I must not.

Such thinking ignores the fact that often we need fresh perspective and a chance to look at things clearly again. My wife is all too familiar with the blind rage that seeps into the corners of my eyes when a task is paralyzing me.

Please, don't be like me.

If something has you stuck, walk away for a bit. Find something that will help relax you.

I appreciate Robin's post that provides a picture of chickens to help us recover from scary math equations. There are some things that bring us back to feeling paralyzed even years later. Such feelings run counter to a life-long love of learning. So purpose to step back for a while. Before you are unable to break away, decide to take a break.

Regaining perspective by cooling off and watching some chickens is not slacking.

It's a good thing. And something I should do more often than I'd like to admit.

Do you find yourself "pressing on" long after you should have? What helps you remember to come back to something that has you paralyzed with frustration? I'd sure appreciate your tips!

~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Guardian

Tagged fear, frustration, school, work | 2 Comments

Oct. 4, 2013

Prioritize Learning Over Performance

By Luke

The biggest flaw within the public education system, if I had to narrow it down to one thing, would be the natural focus on performance over learning. In school, how much you learn doesn't really matter. What matters is that you succeed in class. And you succeed by doing what is expected of you, regurgitating on a test what you've been told, and participating in discussions and projects. Your grade, and therefore ultimately, graduation, depends on what you can reproduce, not what you have learned.

This actually makes sense.

If I to tell you that it is important to look both ways before your cross the street, I would expect you be able to demonstrate that you do, indeed, check for vehicles before putting your life on the line in a crosswalk. If you had not known about street safety--as most children initially do not--you would have learned something. Should you fail to act on what I had told you, I would reprimand you and reiterate the lesson. Learning a lesson should carry with it some kind of result.
To graduate, you must meet certain proficiencies. If you are not yet able to perform certain tasks, what difference does it make how much you have learned? By age two, kids have learned an incredible amount... but I still wouldn't let them drive my car.
The amount of learning, then, is a rather useless metric... even if it were possible to get such a measurement. When it comes to classwork, you just need to get it done. The kids who do best in school are those who already know the material. Those who are still learning fall behind.

Despite the logical foundation for this Achilles's Heel to mass education, there is considerable danger to this kind of thinking. In fact, it can hold us back from discovering new things:

Hat Tip
Daphne Gray-Grant

This makes so much sense. And it explains why some of the most brilliant people throughout history have been frustrated and bored in school.

A formal education is incredibly important, but it is best if it is built around learning. This means you have time to figure something out. It means you do things until you master them. It means the ultimate goal is understanding, not recall. And it means that a real education is not testable while it's happening. All you can do is sit back and see the results at the end. Indeed, testing while learning is a terrible idea because we don't know it yet.

With a classroom, if a student fails a test, that's it. The student has failed.

With homeschooling, if your student fails a test, that's just the beginning. The student has not yet learned. One of the amazing benefits of educating at home is that we are able to prioritize learning over performance.

~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Guardian

Tagged education, Homeschooling, learning, Testing | 2 Comments

Oct. 3, 2013

Sonlight on the inside

By Sarita

I pray that Sonlight as a company never settles for the status quo. For one, we strive to be an excellent place to work. We also aim to do business in an upright manner with all our vendors, contractors and customers. That's why we wrote about the lemonade stand dilemma and our stewardship practices.

What I see when I enter the Sonlight building – a reminder of who is in charge and whom I serve.

When it comes to how we treat employees and how we view work, we believe:

People matter. That seems obvious, right? But I'm not convinced every company actually believes this. Our conviction comes from our Christian belief that people are created by God and have inherent value and significance. In other words, our employees are important. This is why we seek to provide a comfortable workplace. When we built our building, we put in many windows for natural lighting. We put mats in the warehouse so our employees don't get backaches. We expect our managers to treat employees with respect and dignity. We strive to listen and will implement good suggestions, no matter who offers them.

A worker is worthy of his hire. Some homeschool companies ask their employees to work as a ministry, for very little pay. But we believe that it is a Scriptural principle to pay a worker his or her due. And so we pay our employees very competitively. We provide profit sharing, give bonuses when deserved, and generally seek to take care of our hard-working employees.

Our money is not our own. Sonlight's money is not ours to use however we wish. Instead, we are stewards and caretakers of it. Every time I meet with our CFO to discuss money matters, I pray that we would be as careful as we can be with the money and resources entrusted to us. Our significant financial support of Christian missions is just one aspect of this stewardship.

Work is not a four-letter word. Adam and Eve worked in the Garden of Eden before the Fall. I believe that one day we are going to work in heaven. I believe work is a good thing, but that it's not always easy because of the Fall. Work can be challenging, stressful and hard. But since it's something we were created to do, we find inherent satisfaction in a job well done.

Balance in life is important. Work is surely important, but it is not the only important thing. I base that on the fact that the Bible says there are six days we should work and the seventh we should rest. We discourage employees from putting in many extra hours. We want them to go home at the end of the week and enjoy their families. I often ask employees when their next vacation is, and encourage them to take a break.

Work hard. God sees what I do, and I want to make sure I work as carefully and as well as I can. I pray the same is true for all our employees.

How do you feel about work? Even though homeschooling doesn't earn a paycheck, please know that your hard work will pay dividends for years to come.

In the end, everything we do here at Sonlight is for the sake of serving God and helping you. I count it a privilege to come alongside you as you go about the business of raising and educating your children.

Blessings,
Sarita

Tagged money, priorities, Sonlight, work | 1 Comment

Oct. 2, 2013

Our Apple Tradition...

By Jill

A perfect Day for making Applesauce

This past Saturday dawned with mist rising from the Kentucky River over the Palisades. It was one of those memorable mornings when you just want to stand outside with a cup of coffee and watch the day begin.

But, I don't have time for that. Today, is Applesauce Day, a family holiday garnering as much participation as any other holiday. Today, we make applesauce. As I set up the work stations and haul the bushels and bushels of apples out of the basement and onto the deck to be washed, I can't help thinking about how important family traditions are.

The "Boiler Room" set up for cooking and making the apples into sauce.

My mother taught my sisters and I to can vegetables and fruits as soon as we were old enough to help. Then, when I moved to Kentucky, my mom would bring Michigan apples to me every fall and she and I, my dad and any kids who were old enough would pitch in to make applesauce, canning what we had made. I looked forward to it every fall. I have always loved the smell of cooking apples and the satisfaction of seeing all those jars on my shelves, ready with good food for my children.

After mom died I didn't have the heart to carry on by myself. It made me sad. But, my husband said, "Jill. You are the mom now and you need to carry on the tradition. Maybe ask Jenny to help."

My good friend Jenny manning the upstairs kitchen where we have two canners going full time in order to process all the filled jars of sauce.

So, I called my good friend Jenny, who had a two and a half year old and a baby, and we set the date. My daughter was a great help and with the husbands managing the kids, we had a great day. That was 13 years ago.

Friend Bethel, in charge of the "Boiler Room" where the apples are cooked and sauced.

Every year since, Jenny and I have had Applesauce Day. They went on to have three more children, my older children have little ones now and we have added another young family and a couple of young couples to our applesauce group. It is a day of fun, work, swapping stories, laughing, older kids toting around little ones and of course apples.

At one point on Saturday I went by the picnic table where three men were cutting up apples. I heard them talking about Tesla coils and it made my smile. So that's what guys talk about on Applesauce Day. I never would have guessed.

It is part of what makes us a unique family. My kids talk about Applesauce Day as if it were Christmas. It is a time to connect and to work together. It is a tribute to my mom and to all the women in my family who have come before.

Some of the guys...cutting apples and discussing Kenji's Tesla generator.

What do you like to do? What gives you satisfaction? Is it something you could do on a regular basis and make into a tradition---passing your love for it on to the next generation, and the generation after that?

This year we canned 121 pints and 65 quarts of applesauce. The 16 adults and 11 children ate nearly two gallons of sauce, along with chili, potato soup and whole wheat cinnamon chip bread.

Half way through the day. The literal fruit of our labors.

Dinner time found my husband making a campfire and roasting hot dogs, followed by s'mores. I had to laugh as one of Jenny's children said, "Will there be smore's?" And she said, "It is Aunt Jill and Uncle Bob's farm, what do you think? Of course there will be s'mores."

I guess that is a tradition all by itself.

Take care, Jill

Simple satisfaction of a job well done. I love my jelly cupboard.

If you would like to talk to other homeschooling moms about home and health issues, including food preparation and storage, check out the Home and Health Forum on the Sonlighter Club Forums. I cannot believe how much I have learned from this forum.

Sonlight also has some great apple related books which we always love to read:

Tagged applesauce, canning, Encouragement, extracurricular, family, Happenin' at my House, traditions | Leave a comment

Oct. 1, 2013

How to Grow Spiritually

By Luke

Scripture is amazing. There is so much to discover and uncover within the text. And I absolutely love reading the insights others have gleaned. Mark (aka pastor guy) has a great post about Jacob's spiritual growth that shed new light on a familiar story for me. I had never considered how much Jacob's theology had developed in the twenty years between when he ran away from his brother and headed back to meet him again.

As Mark points out, it's not age that develops you, it's walking through life experiences and learning to look to God in them. His goodness changes us if we let it.

I know I need to acknowledge His provision and respond in thanks to grow. But I have found I can grow when I look to the lives of others as well. When I read Scripture, I have opportunities learn how God has been faithful in the past. I can grow in faith as I see His faithfulness. But it's not just Scripture. My theology developed as I read missionary biographies and saw God work in more recent history as well!

Sometimes we need to learn through the "school of hard knocks" as God sustains us through the dark times. Other times we can travel miles on the backs of those who have gone before us. And I am grateful for all the opportunities I've had to do just that through Sonlight's Core packages. I can't imagine how immature my faith would be if it were not for the great cloud of witnesses I have learned from and about.

I love how the Sonlight Giving Adventures present us with yet another opportunity to walk a few more steps down the road. We get to partner with God in work He is doing on the other side of the globe. We get to see Him move in the lives of others, and us! We can make a difference right now. And the more we follow Christ's lead, the more we will grow closer to Him.

~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Guardian

Tagged Bible, biographies, giving, gratefulness, missionaries | Leave a comment

Sep. 30, 2013

Why Bother Teaching? They'll Forget It All Anyway

By Luke

Last week I mentioned that daily lessons aren't nearly as important as how your children develop. Like you, they will end up forgetting much--most?--of the details of what they learn in school. But this raises a question:

Why bother teaching kids stuff they're going to forget?

Erased Lessons

I'm not an expert. I'm a guy who grew up homeschooling and has succeeded to various degrees in every educational venue I've encountered. My theories and ideas are based on what little I've read and heard, and a lot on my own experiences. That's why I'd love your input on this. But in my estimation...

We use everything we learn. My mom says this often, and it's proven largely true in my life. Spanish? I've forgotten most of it, but I've used it. It's amazing how practical knowledge can be. <smile>

You build off ideas, even if you forget the facts. It's true that I've forgotten things like the Ludlow massacre, but my exposure to such events have helped shape my ideas about business, government, personal responsibility, and economics. The fact that I forget the details of what Brittany and I talked about last week doesn't negate the reality that spending time with my wife strengthens our relationship. Gaining knowledge, even if you "lose it," is a vital part to developing our perspective on the world.

Academics are important. There's a impulse to brush off academic knowledge/skill in favor of character. But this would miss an important nuance of reality: Working to prove ourselves academically is part of building our character. I firmly believe that character is important, but remember that academic excellence is part of that.

We remember more than we let on. Memory is a funny thing. When my pastor asks us to remember something he preached on the week before, I draw a blank. But when he mentions the key idea or one of the stories he told, it all floods back. I don't know the physiology or psychology behind this phenomenon, but I see a distinction between recall and retention. In school, the focus is regurgitation (recall) so you can reproduce on a test what you were shown in class. But when I fail--yet again--to bring to mind how many tablespoons are in a cup, it's an indication that I haven't used it enough to have it in that part of my mind. When I verify that it is, indeed, 16, I'm not surprised. Instead, I find myself saying, "Oh, that's right."

Learning builds pathways. I've been told that learning a second language helps you think better. Learning a third increases your creativity of thought even more. By the time you hit eight, you're, like, amazing. Or something like that. And this model works for all knowledge. Learning math helps with music. Building things helps with math. Music helps with writing. And on and on the various disciplines connect and intersect. Even if you forget "everything," your brain has developed a new way of seeing the world, and you are able to learn and do more. But since I have yet to master a second language, what do I know?

There are, I'm sure, more reasons to take the time to teach kids stuff. What are your reasons for doing so?

~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Guardian

Tagged education, knowledge, learning | 1 Comment

Sep. 27, 2013

Let's Be Old-Fashioned: Character Over Personality

By Luke

Are you an introvert or an extrovert? What about your kids?

More and more books that discuss the modern bias against introverts are showing up on my radar. There was this one about introverted pastors. The sections I heard were pretty insightful. And then I revisited an old email about Susan Cain's The Power of Introverts. Someone has plagiarized segments of her book and turned them into a rather dry RSA style animation. I was amazed at the portion about the shift from character to personality. Susan traced cultural changes that led us to focus on appearance over substance.

The implications are all around us. The first that springs to mind are the hordes of reprehensible politicians elected again and again for their smooth speech or party affiliation (and this absolutely happens on both sides). But the book digs deeper than all that. In the end, school, prescriptions, leadership, and decision-making are all negatively impacted by this focus. Susan fleshes some of this out in her TED Talk.

As homeschoolers, we have a tremendous advantage here. In many ways we are "old school" with an emphasis on personal growth, familial ties, and real achievements over satiating our peer's demands for the uniformity of "cool." Character is what matters most in our work, not presentation.

Top Hat and Monocle

The more I thought about the disparity between today's classroom and us, the more I realized how it can be a very good thing that we are old-fashioned. May we never cling to the past simply for the sake of tradition, but may we continue to reap the benefits of wisdom undeterred by the latest fads.

~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Guardian

P.S. I'm an extroverted introvert. I'm loud, confident, outgoing, and don't mind speaking to groups. But I prefer to sit at home, write, and have deep conversations. I can't figure out small talk. I loath "networking." I do fine as the host of a party, but I fade into the wallpaper if I'm a guest. And as much as I enjoy helping people, at the end of the day I'd like to sit alone in front of my computer and "just be." So, in many ways, I've got it pretty good. I'm a highly functional leader with an underlying desire to be alone. This means I have opportunity to be creative while also visible in the public sphere.

How about you?

Tagged books, character, peer pressure, private, public, school, socialization | 2 Comments

You Feeling Totally Paralyzed?

Prioritize Learning Over Performance

Sonlight on the inside

Our Apple Tradition...

How to Grow Spiritually

Why Bother Teaching? They'll Forget It All Anyway

Let's Be Old-Fashioned: Character Over Personality

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