Doing it with your friends.

A world-wide outreach of Samaritan’s Purse, Operation Christmas Child distributes shoeboxes full of necessities and toys to children across the globe. Each year, thousands of families wrap shoeboxes and fill them with items such as socks, toothbrushes, dolls, t-shirts, and toy cars, and bring the finished boxes to their church to be sent to Samaritan’s Purse’s processing center.

While we found packing shoeboxes as a family to be fun, we wanted a way to include our friends.

Now for the second year we are packing the shoeboxes as a Bible study. How do we do it?

Step 1: Determine how many shoeboxes we will be doing, and of what age and gender.

Step 2: Write all of the needed items out on post-it notes.

Step 3: Place the post-it notes on windows. Each person or family can select what items they want to purchase and bring.

Step 4: A week before Thanksgiving, get together and eat Thanksgiving dinner. Then lay out the boxes on tables. Have a team wrap them, and the rest of the group can fill them. You can have teams in charge of each age group, or a person in charge of each item. You can get your children involved, too – “take these washcloths and put one in each box.”

Step 5: Take the boxes to your church, or a church that is collecting them. You’re done!

For more information about Operation Christmas Child, you can visit: http://www.samaritanspurse.org/index.php/occ/

What a fascinating observation! We actually have quite a few reasons for selling independent learning tools and after a little discussion here, these are what we see as the most important factors in that decision.

Avoid Burn Out
One-on-one teaching is critical to the success of any student, and homeschoolers are no exception to that. Our concern is that we have seen moms who overdo it and become helicopter moms, micromanaging every detail of their students’ education. Is it any wonder that these moms burn out? Independent learning tools provide a natural transition from the one-on-one of early childhood to less mom-intense educational approach.

Cultivate Responsible Learners
There is a lot of (dare we say it?) fun in teaching. But it is better for your student to learn on their own at times. After all, if you think about it, when they are adults you’ll want them to have the ability to pick up any skill they want and learn it on their own if needed. Structuring their education to be more and more self-taught helps them to become a responsible self-learner.

Special Needs, Illness and Newborns
Not all moms have the same amount of teaching time. Whether they are doing therapy for a child with autism, dealing with their own chronic illness or are blessed with a newborn, there are seasons when homeschooling needs to be more independent simply for mom’s sanity!

You Don’t Have To Love Teaching
As much as no one wants to mention this, we all know moms who really struggle to teach. They love their kids and feel strongly about homeschooling, but when it actually comes down to teaching they are easily overwhelmed and intimidated. If it is an area they are not gifted/trained in, then of course teaching is scary. Independent learning tools can be the step-stool that gets them comfortable in their role, but even if they never love teaching they can still reap the benefits of giving their children a superior education at home.

Timberdoodle’s Purpose: We are Here to Make Giving Your Children a Superior Education at Home Enjoyable
Here at Timberdoodle, amid the catalogs, sales, blog posts, vodcasts, Facebook giveaways… we have one primary goal. That goal is to make it possible for parents to enjoy giving their children a superior education at home. We aren’t here to sell you stuff, (though we wouldn’t exist if you didn’t shop!) which is why we have been known to send you to our “competitors” when their product would work better for you. We really just want you to be a happy homeschool family. When that happens, we feel successful! Independent learning is simply a tool in your toolbox. It is a valuable one, so use it where it works best for you.

Not Either/Or
You don’t have to pick between independent and group learning across the board. The example of spelling is a good one. Many families would find it easier and less work to have the entire family simply work through the Sequential Spelling books all together. However, some families are blessed with a tremendous age range, and everyone working on the same list really isn’t feasible. That’s where the DVDs come in. Or take Fallacy Detective for instance, it is designed to be suitable for a student to pick up and read, learning a lot. Instead our family did it as a read-aloud and took turns answering the questions. The result? Not only did we have a blast but we were also all on the same page regarding logical fallacies. Bumper stickers and ads we came across in daily life were fodder for vigorous discussions about the underlying fallacies in ways that would never have happened if we each studied it alone.

Our Family
The rule of thumb in our house was that as soon as a child could read they were responsible for their own education. We each had an annual conference with Mom to set learning goals for the year, then we were given the books for the year, often including the teacher’s manuals. Mom gave us each a weekly checklist to complete before Friday Family Night. If we needed help, we were to ask for it. Otherwise the responsibility was ours. This freed us up to do the truly important things (devotions, service, Timberdoodle work, babysitting, elder care, church projects, hospitality, farming…) as a family.

Does that help at all? We’d love to answer any questions you might have, and would especially love to hear how your family handles independent learning!

Like all businesses, Timberdoodle had to work harder in 2002 than we had in a long time. God was gracious though, and time and time again we saw Him at work. In August we were even able to take Grandma and Grandpa up to Alaska, where they had wanted to visit for years and years. This was even more of a blessing to them because they were taking care of Grandpa’s Mom, Grammy. While this was truly an amazing blessing for all of us, it was also a lot of work, as anyone who has done elder-care can attest! The break in the routine was blessing for all, and our Alaska trip is one we look back on with lots of good memories!

Grammy was born on the Isle of Mann and her family of 12 actually crossed the USA as part of a wagon train. After losing her husband, she lived alone until the year 2000 when she moved in with Grandpa and Grandma just after her 101st birthday. By 2002 her memory was failing a little, and she really couldn’t be left alone – meaning that Grandma retired from Timberdoodle work in order to be home with Grammy. Grammy was as spunky as ever though as she embarked on a cover-to-cover read-through of the Bible at 102. Despite being quite familiar with the New Testament and having much of John 14 memorized she couldn’t remember having read all the way through the Old Testament before and simply set out to do so!

Soon our family was down there every week for a hymn sing-along, and the richness of those hymns soaked into our bones. Eventually we took turns ‘babysitting’ every Sunday so Grandma & Grandpa could get to church. Grammy’s abundant stories were memorable and amusing, though I think the one we laugh about most was the time she told about her big family shooting a bird for Thanksgiving dinner – “a canary,” she said! We knew she probably meant turkey, but that didn’t stop us from laughing later, trying to imagine 12 people sharing a canary dinner!

Grammy never lost her affinity for sweets. One Thanksgiving we had a large chocolate turkey as a centerpiece and she couldn’t stop marveling over it. She also informed us that she would consider using a lift chair later, “When I am old!” The best thing about Grammy though? She was sweet, gracious and caring, long after her hearing and mental abilities diminished. Every time we helped out, from watching her for a few hours to the around-the-clock care of hospice, she smiled and thanked us. What an encouragement!

Grammy shaped us in ways we could never have imagined. I really don’t think I would be an EMT today if not for the time spent caring for Grammy and even bandaging up her fragile skin. Much more importantly, her gracious spirit even when dementia set in makes me want to be molding my character now so that when all the pretense that memory gives me is pulled away the “real me” that comes out is one that loves and reflects Jesus. At the same time, I am encouraged to know Grammy didn’t have to get there on her own. The same God who carried her through the loss of a daughter, widowhood and so much more, was faithful to carry her through old age as well, and will be faithful to us.

About Today’s Giveaway Collection
Elder care is demanding, often overwhelming, and yet watching Grandpa and Grandma care for Grammy was a tremendous demonstration of Christ’s love. For today’s prize we have assembled our favorite tools, books and games to serve those of you in this role. Don’t think you have a use for them? I’m sure you know someone who would be delighted to know that someone is thinking of them as they serve the “least of these.”

Thinking Putty
We have used Thinking Putty to build hand strength by squeezing, or you could put marbles in it for him to find and remove. Or for cold hands, microwave Thinking Putty until it is warm and then knead.

Cling Thing
We used this with my other Grandpa, as a place for displaying the grandkids’ pictures, his birthday cards, etc.

Gobblet
A 3D version of Tic Tac Toe, most grandparents will find this game easy to learn and great for playing even with young grandkids.

Upturn
If your grandparents are into number games, as mine are, this game is perfect. Complex enough to work everyone’s memory, but intuitive enough that everyone can play. A personal favorite.

Paperback Lightwedge with case
For easier reading in poorly lit places.

Valley of Vision
A poignant treasury of prayers to help us draw close to Jesus.

Sunsets
This is the one book I really wish we’d had while doing hospice care for Grammy. We didn’t know what to expect or how to help her, and this would have been an invaluable resource.

When I read this post from Renee last week, her perspective was refreshingly honest.
Take heart homeschoolers no one is perfect, that’s why we need a Savior!

Don’t sweat the small things, your children’s hearts are what is most important! Enjoy your time with your kids, focus on the eternal!!

Read Baker’s Dozen – Plan B here

“Today, I quit being a Christian.”

With those words last week on Facebook, Anne Rice delivered a wake-up call for organized religion. The question is whether it will be recognized as such.

“I remain committed to Christ as always,” she wrote, “but not to being ‘Christian’ or to being part of Christianity. It’s simply impossible for me to ‘belong’ to this…”

Continue reading here.

How much time do/will your children devote to absorbing what is ultimately a covetous, and idolatrous attitude of consumerism? Although admittedly none of us want our children to develop the health risks that this film implied are linked to consumerism, it seems to me that this trailer brings up a higher danger at stake: an attitude of cruise ship living rather than wartime field survival.

Our gospel community group is currently working through a series on the sovereignty of God in suffering, the content of which goes against all that consumerism promises. Consumerism preaches that it is all about you, what you want, and how to get others to worship you, but the call of Scripture speaks of higher things, “that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and may share His sufferings, becoming like Him in his death,” and “For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in Him but also suffer for His sake.”

For some this trailer will invoke feelings of self-righteousness and condemnation, “That is why we never let our children watch ____.” Others may find it irritating, “Here we go again on another rant about how parents are failing again.” But in the hopes that it may serve as warning, revelation, or source of further study to some of you, I will re-post it here.

P.S. I should note that not all of the clips in this trailer are appropriate for young children. It may be what some of your children’s peers are viewing but it is not suitable for all. You’ve been forewarned.

If after reading this article you are as disturbed as I was, then you may find these resources helpful:

CHASK (Christian Homes and Special Kids) – A wonderful resource both for families who cannot care for a special needs child and for the families who would love to.

The Works Of God (The volunteer disability ministry blog for Bethlehem Baptist Church) - John Knight shares an honest, practical, personal, and God-centered view of caring for those with special needs.

If God is Good by Randy Alcorn – for all the questions that articles like this cause: Why is there suffering? Where is God in all of this? How should we think about suffering? What is the point of all this? Etc, etc.