Donna's Journey

“All meaningful and lasting change starts first in your imagination and then works its way out” Albert Einstein

These classes are designed for children 8-12+ and those who are young at heart. Picasso said, “all children are born artists, the problem is to remain and artist when we grow up.” Most children develop drawing fear by the time they are eight or nine. This class is designed to help children and adults to overcome that fear and begin using more of their right brain. Art is a gateway to love learning. You do not need to be an artist to take this class.

Artist:
Donna Goff

Foundations Level I – classes will include:
* Study of great artists and their contributions, as well as, art and literature, math, and science.
* The Hand and Eye- Visual Forms, Artist Tools and Artist Tao- each class building on the last
* Calligraphy- Italics
* Hands On! Explorations in: paper making, printmaking, garden mosaics, sandblasting and more…

Dates:
Foundations Level I is an eight week course. Classes meet Thursdays.
February- 4, 11, 18, 25
March- 4, 11, 18, 25

Time:
We offer the choice of morning classes or afternoon classes.
Morning classes meet from 9-11:30 am
OR
Afternoon classes meet from 12:30- 3:00pm

Tuition:
Classes are $12.50 each week.
Save 10% by paying $45 per month, in advance.
Family discount- each additional family member enrolled is $10 per class.

Exhibit:
We are planning an outdoor exhibit to be held in June.

Contact:
donna@moorhouseacademy.org

Blog:
Art:Gateway to Love Learning I invite you to join me and keep up to date on offerings by “following” the blog!

Foundations Level II classes Begin 8 April. This class will include taking our skills out doors through nature studies!

> Our home has gone back to the Daily Dozen and Simple Things lists. They have helped us get on track…Now that my son is nearing High school, my question is this: I let him chose his topics of study, and the books we use, how much direction or assistance do you give?

What are his hopes and aspirations for his future? If he is not ready for that yet, talk to him about what interests him now. Take strides to expose him to possibilities. Do you do family reading? Read about interesting people. Look for inspiring current events and articles. They do exist!

If he is interested in an area: What kind of preparations are needed? Where is he now? Let him create a plan to get there. Ask him what he needs from you to assist in that journey. He gets to plan, commit, do and return and report.

> How do you record the progress for transcripts for college?

I created a Personal Scholar portfolio for my young scholars and adult scholars in my cyber cottage school- Moor House Academy. It is a way to set learning goal-getters, make scholar contracts, and track progress. It also includes a process for experiments whether they be natural science, social, or spiritual and this is tied to discovering eternal principles.

For youth about junior high school age, there are scholar projects, as well. These are where one goes in depth and breadth within an area of learning. I have three available:
The Joseph Smith Independent Scholar- This is an where the student designs his own project an an area of interest.
Ezra Taft Benson Constitutional Scholar- Studies in American Government
Gordon B. Hinckley Gospel Scholar- In depth advanced religious studies scholar project.
(Brigham Young Cultured Scholar, Bezaleel Fine Arts Scholar, Eliza R. Snow Literature Scholar, Spencer W. Kimball Shakespearean Scholar, John A. Widtsoe Math-Science Scholar– Coming Soon!)
Each project requires:
* 3- 5 Classic readings or study of classic works related to the topic of study
* Memory work and recitations
* Technical vocabulary related to the area of study
* Attendance at events related to the Young Scholar’s chosen area of study
* Annotated Notes
* A written paper summarizing the project
* A 15-minute live presentation to other youths or families. Which for some would include a recital, one-man show, demonstration, or a lecture sharing what was learned
* Oral Board. For those using my cottage school the oral board is through Moor House Academy

Projects are a great way to go into depth in an area. Projects are great for youth junior high age. However, once they get older they will need a more broad and deep approach.
I would also suggest that they read the following books that demonstrate how youth sought and obtained a broad education for life and how that education served them.
1. Read
- Diary of an a Wandering Man by Louis L’amour
- Carry On Mr. Bowditch by Jean Lee Latham
- The Real Thomas Jefferson by Andrew Allison
2. Write down 3-10 questions a chapter
3. Lead a colloquia with those questions

Then learn a way to study a subject:
1. Spend an hour or two doing a broad search on a topic of choice, on the internet or at the library
2. Make a time line of the subject
3. List of resources they plan to use
4. Study and annotate at least three resources
5. Prepare a presentation of the subject, create a notebook, or write and article on the subject.

Of course, some people would say just pick a text book on that subject. Textbooks are a survey of a subject but are no substitute for real study. Remember, textbooks are usually created by a committee, those committees usually have agendas and are from a limited, unified perspective. The above method will jump-start you into any subject. This will give the scholar ideas about micro studies, as well. Lets say the macro study was on the US Civil War. In creating the resource list and time line, the student became intrigued by Lincoln, Stonewall Jackson, Robert E. Lee, Andersonville, or Gettysburg. The micro study could be on any of those. The macro gives breadth, micro brings depth. Sometimes a scholar will be inspired into doing several micro studies, based off the original macro study.

One last thought. No matter what field of interest, I feel that each child that graduates to adult life needs to have certain skills and knowledge for a whole life. Besides having developed character and values, I feel they should have developed the ability to:
* Convey their thoughts through clear writing
* Read, comprehend, question, and discuss ideas and current events
* Use and apply math for daily living, including understanding how statistics can be manipulated
* Act as a citizen- they should know the founding documents of American Government, the history behind them, and have the skills to participate in local to national government- caucuses, city council, school board. They need to understand how to use parliamentary procedure/ Robert’s Rules of Order. I feel that it is pathetic that most youth graduate from American Schools without an understanding of our form of government and how to participate effectively. They are left to feel that all they can do is vote, write letters, and go to protest rallies. Our power as citizens is magnified in the caucuses, city council, and school board meetings.
* Study any subject from macro to micro level
There are other important skills, but I feel these are foundational to them. Whether they decide to go on to a professional degree, go on to be an entrepreneur, work in skilled labor, and/or raise a family, I feel the above skills will serve them well.

— In LDS-CMers@yahoogroups.com, Michele
I’m wondering what everyone is using for history. I’ve tried Story of the World, & “Shores of the Great Sea”. But I’m frustrated with both. I don’t feel like the stories are coming alive for my son.

That is the challenge with surveys of history. They are more useful as road maps suggesting time periods, people, and events.

My entire curriculum is based on a four year cycle, tied to the scriptures. I created a Book of Centuries that I use to chart where we have been. I did not create the idea, but my format was my design. I was inspired by Charlotte Mason.
Cycles of History provide a systematic integration of spiritual and secular learning activities covering the following:
* Cycle I– Old Testament, Book of Moses, and Book of Abraham/ Ancient Times:
Pre-Mortal Existence to 1 AD/ Introduction to Beginning Hebrew.
* Cycle II– New Testament/ Birth of Christianity, the Apostasy, and Medieval Times: 1 AD to 1500 AD/ Introduction to Beginning Greek and Greek Roots.
* Cycle III– Book of Mormon/ Age of Exploration , Migrations, the Foundations of Liberty, and the Restoration: 1500 to 1820/ Introduction to Latin Roots.
* Cycle IV– Doctrine and Covenants and Joseph Smith History/ The Fullness of Times: 1820 to the present/ Melting Pot Approach to Foreign Language.
I call it Stepping Into Character: I came up with lists of notable people to study in every time period. One can check out children’s books, search an encyclopedia, are search the web to learn about the individual. This can be done as a group thing with several children in the family. As children grow older they keep their own book. They can also do a presentation to other children by dressing up as the individual and pretending by sharing from first person. If the person they studied was evil, they can come as a reporter and report on the evil person. “This is Jared James reporting from Moscow on Ivan the Terrible, and boy was he terrible!…” Here are the areas covered:
* Artists Whose Works Depict this Period, or Artists Born During the time Period – Four Art pieces for each artist. I do Refrigerator Culture.
* Musicians Whose Works Depict this Period, and Other Musicians
* Mathematicians / Explorers / Inventors / Scientists / Philosophers
* Statesmen / Rulers / Writers / Dramatists / Prophets
* Book lists for family reading for each period of History. Some are biographical books or historical fiction. Fiction written during or placed in a time period can give insight into how people lived.

I wrote this article

I also created a book of Nations to study physical and political geography. There are 198 countries in the world. I designed these for my children. We also do Dinning Table Geography.

Interesting history like Troy is being just summed up. He’s not getting immersed in the story, or excited by it, & not remembering it a few days later. History is so interesting if you really get into the stories. Does anyone have some other suggestions?

We use all kinds of things to study history including: visiting museums, visiting historical sites (and living history sites), reading autobiography, biographies, even videos. We have read pioneer stories and then we traveled to Church History sites. We have camped across the US and visited family history and American History sites.

We moved to Utah when my children were young. We go to the Beehive House every year. My children love Cove Fort and Jacob Hamblin’s home. We go to the BYU MOA and the Bean Museum. When we lived in Denver we went to the Denver Mint, the Denver Art Museum, the zoo, State Capitol, etc. In Detroit we loved Cranbrook and going to Dearborn the Henry Ford/Greenfield Village…

There are excellent stories in different areas of history. I bought a booklet “History and Geography… the Natural Way” by Tina Crowder and the booklet is 47 pages of resources. She has been homeschooling since 1987. The book had booklist for different time periods. She calls them “Books that Bring History to Life!”

Here are some my children loved:
Childhood Biographies of Famous Americas
Benjamin West and Grimalkin His Cat by Marguarite Henry
Carry On Mr. Bowditch by Jean Lee Latham
The Children’s Shakespeare by Mary and Charles Lamb
The Children’s Homer: The Adventures of Odysseus and the Tale of Troy by Padraic Colum and Willy Pogany (This one is a classic-1918)
The Story of Liberty by Charles Coffin – He was a Civil War Corespondent and this is a survey of history but fascinating.
There are lots of engaging books from history

I saw this post on TJEdMUSE@yahoogroups.com and decided to answer it here–
Carrie P. wrote:
>
> Hi All,
> I am hoping to get some input on inspiring my daughter. Maybe I just need someone to tell me what I am doing with her is > OK.

Carrie, some times we need reassurance, other times we may need clarity.

> It has been difficult to get her inspired to learn about anything lately. I do not require anything of her except that she be > doing something that uses her brain during study hours – usually 2 to 4 hours a day.

These two sentences conflict. Inspiring and requiring are two different things. I feel that solo is for when youth get into projects and more seriously when they get into self directed scholar phase. She is eight and is probably still more core than love of learning. There is more exposure, exploration, and experimentation with many different experiences in the early part of love of learning. As children develop breadth and depth they begin to embrace more and delve deeper and dance into projects and out of them. Again, how can they be interested in lots of things otherwise. It can take a long period of various exposures and opportunities before a child may initiate independent investigations.

Your daughter is eight. She may not be ready to transition into love of learning yet. You may have to do more preparation of yourself for transition.

> Reading and crafts are about all the interest her. I do read aloud to her about one hour a day. Her independent reading is > all fiction – things like Judy Moody & Clarice Bean books. I am glad she is reading but she balks at reading anything > informational.

She may not be developmentally ready for that yet.

> Math holds no interest for her so it is rarely done and is usually a game – no worksheets.

Math is a language and is highly symbolic. Some kids play the game and memorize the facts and work through the books. However, because of its symbolic nature, she may not be ready for math. A math rich living math environment keeps them learning math as she cooks, sews, gardens, shops and lives from day to day. In the 1800s many country schools did not teach math until children were 10 or older. Then they got all the operations of math we take eight years to teach and they did it on one school year. Children in the country had tons of life experience living math. That made it easier to then learn the notation.

> She also has a way of starting projects and not finishing them.
Most people are great starters and terrible finishers. Finishing is taught in the core phase. We teach it as we train them and work with them to get the work done in the home and in the daily rhythms. She is probably still more core phase. So, now would be a good time to learn in all aspects to be a finisher or completer of tasks by working with her and guiding the way. Your example while engaged in a relationship and working together will go a long way. This was not supposed to be a quick lesson, but a drip by drip over time. It takes time to really do a core phase and we really never leave a phase we just add more dimensions as we develop.

> Her writing is mainly done in her many blank books – journal type writing with atrocious spelling which she says frustrates > her yet she is not willing to do the work it takes to become a better speller.

Journaling is great! I had the Eagle’s wings phonics book. In it was a list of the 600 most commonly used words. I copied it and placed it on the outside cover of the binder for each of my children. They could then look up the word and did not have to stop and ask for help. At some point they usually grew into the idea of maybe it would be easier to memorize the word sections. A great book is Any Child Can Write by Harvey S. Wiener, Ph.D. Oxford University Press.

> Is this what Love of Learning looks like? Where is the learning?

I do not feel like this is love of learning, yet. She may be starting the dance, but she may still be core phase. Love of learning is not independent learning, though it may spark independent learning. When I think of inspire, I think of actions I need to take. When I think of require, I think of demands I make. Then I think, “which would engage me and take me further?

> I run a history club for girls based on the American Girl time periods. She likes the club but has no desire to further explore > these ideas – unless it is cooking or craft related and she has a hard time finishing what she starts.

I created Princess Academies when my youngest of three daughters just turned eight. She did not want to study about American Girls, though both older sisters had American Girl stuff. She wanted to study real people. I created a new group with that in mind. Our group is not a drop off group and the girls are not expected to read the books alone. We have the mothers and daughters share the journey, both in coming to the monthly meetings, in reading the book, and taking the Hope Chest Journey together. Moms seldom finished the books on their own when they handed the books to their daughters to read independently. I feel this is a great loss to both of them. Moments for discussion and mentoring arise while reading together that would not happen otherwise.

> Should I leave her alone?

I would say no. No, if she is in core phase. No, if she is transitioning into Love of learning. No, if she is in love of learning. I am not saying that she need no alone time. However, I would not expect her to be an autodidact at age eight. I had a child passionate about flags at eight and that is all he wanted to study. I gave him time for that, but I felt the need to inspire more.

> Require more?

A parent inspiring a child does not happen when a child is left to himself. The child alone may stumble on something of interest, or not. Mom has a broader and deeper life experience than the child and this is why I think that lead me, guide, me walk beside me, is the way to go.

> Any insight into LOL and what it really looks like would be helpful.

I had a mom who mentored me and that made it so much easier to do so with my children. Sometimes we have a picture of what we think a child needs to be doing that we forget to find out what they want to learn and what we have to offer. We also can have such a narrow view of what essentials are that we fret over the essentials and miss an opportunity to expand horizons.

My daughter is 11 now and as we take our Hope Chest Journey together she is developing those basic areas of reading, writing, and arithmetic and becoming more independent. Ah, but she is beginning to move toward puberty and that cognitive development is beginning to unfold. On Sunday evening she came to me and said it was about time she took more responsibility for her own education. A new dance is beginning. I do not expect her to go solo yet. She will have days where the Hokie Pokie will cause her to put her right foot in, other days when her right foot will be pulled out, other days when she shakes it all about it, then one day she will put her foot in and she will be a young scholar. It won’t look like a classroom model of scope and sequence. However, experience with her six older siblings tells me that she is about to learn some new steps .

This was a question posted to TJEdMUSE- a yahoo group
HI everyone. My husband and I are needing advice about how to guide our 8 year old son. He’s a wonderful child with a lot of strengths, but one huge glaring weakness that worries us.

Thanks so much.
Julie in CA

We do not do allowance either. We wanted to avoid the sense on entitlement, as well as, the “earn and spend” mentality
and the internal economy that goes with it. We feel that it is very important for children to work and gain a work ethic in their earlier years, before they earn money for their work. Which means we do not pay children to do work in our home. All work in the home is family work and is about serving each other, relationships, developing values, and habitudes. It is through family work that they learn concepts such as stick-to-it-tiveness, completing, quality, joy in the work, contribution, self worth, to value others, and more. So, family work becomes one major facet of character training.

I, nor my husband get paid money by my family for the work and sacrifices we make. If we need to earn money, we must look outside the home to do so. We also consider home a place to learn and polish our skills that would be used in the marketplace of goods, services, and ideas. Home is a great opportunity for field experience. For example, a child wanting to earn money mowing lawns, weeding, window washing etc., would need to first learn and then demonstrate quality work before we would consider them ready to work for others and be paid for it. Their work reflects on our family.

We do not feel that young children have any business on ebay. We do not do Santa lists/Christmas lists. We instead put the focus on developing skills through making gifts for each other, taking away the entitlement aspect of Christmas. When you are making gifts, you are less likely to get bent out of shape because you were given the wrong action figure or piece of electronics.

If children have “needs” or “wants” they are part of the family and it all gets evaluated. We endeavor to meet needs and wants, prudently. I do not get everything I want and I try not to foster that in my children. Even if I had all the money in the world I would not want to foster it. I also do not want to encourage the “things as gods” concept or work to get. I want to cultivate what Bastiat called the “Long View.” That includes tithing, short term, and long term savings before needs, and needs before self gratification.

Call me a stick in the mud. Fiscal responsibility is developed in early childhood in how and what we learn about our labors and the things of the world.

Re Mom Schools on TJEdMUSE yahoo

I followed this discussion and thought I would respond here.
> I have 2 sons 14 and 17. At this age do you consider it appropriate to have a mixed lit club? A couple years ago I started a > boys lit club, but found it difficult to get boys in the community on board. We did speech for many years, but looking for > something new.

> Would love your suggestions on what you do for clubs.
>
> Thanks!
> Diane
~~~
> Brenda …responded.
> btw-I am assuming that by “mixed lit club” you are referring to a mixed gender, literature club.

> Ahh, and I was assuming you meant a mixed-age group. Either way I agree that mixed groups work well. I have led a > number of them over the last 10 years and I agree with Brenda that it great to watch their brains at work.
~~
The Dance- Right foot in, right foot out, right foot in and slide……………………………
Core-transition-LOL-transition (practice)-Project/Apprentice-transition-Self Directed-transition-Mentored-transition-Depth…

Thoughts to ponder: Where on the spectrum are your boys? Is a class what they need at this point? Is it time to check the pulse (evaluate) and refine your MAP (master actuallization plan)?

I too have been doing mixed group, both age and gender, for nearly a decade. However, mine was not a club but a class. I also did my Sons of Valor class for boys and my Princess Academies for girls and their moms. There are pluses and minuses of both. I love the dynamics of the mixed class. However, there are important focuses that can take place in a single gender class. I have not done a single age group because that does not reflect development. I have had a wide swing in ages of children that were in project scholar phase.

I interview the youths that want to be in my class to see if they are really ready for a project scholar class. Too often I find anxious parents that want to get their boys in a project scholar class when their sons have not really developed a love of learning. I find many boys are eager at 10 to learn, but by 12 are in shut down because their parents “only required” a little each day of certain repetitive worksheets, or text books for math, hand writing, grammar etc. I do not really fault parents. Many have no idea what love of learning can be.

Also, every year when I have taught a youth class I have had a parent’s class as a requirement for class entry. Why? I have found, all too often that parents did not understand the phases. Working with the parents in a group study of the phases, TJEd, etc. increased the likelihood of their understanding and support of their young scholar.

Some have found that in all girl schools and all boy schools the students excel. They tend to not be distracted by gender issues like- “What will the guys think?” “What will the girls think?” Over my lifetime our culture has encouraged men and women to compete against each other and their own gender, where community once existed. I am not against competition, but I feel that reducing relationships and learning environments to competition, is not always healthy for our society.

Question posted to: Classical-LDS-hs Yahoo group:

> My son spent an extra semester on Saxon’s Algebra 2, and though he’s always been an excellent math student, has really struggled this past year and a half. We need to move on to a different program now, rather than going into Saxon’s Advanced Math, but aren’t sure what to do – if we should go with a particular Geometry program, or something else, since Saxon’s Algebra 2 incorporated geometry into it.
>
> Anybody have any thoughts or recommendations??

Christie,

Your son is not alone.

Many children in America learn math operations or processes and even memorize the facts. Where they struggle is application. Many American children tend not to do well on word problems.

Algebra is abstract and most, but not all, children are not cognitively ready to think abstractly until they have entered puberty.

Sometimes children have difficulty with upper math because, though their fact knowledge may be great, their applicational understanding is not as good as grades and tests suggest. Sometimes this is because the student does not understand English grammar or struggles with reading comprehension, and therefore misreads the word problems. Other times, the person that wrote the text is not very clear or has poor word choice. Sometimes the teacher does not thoroughly understand the subject and therefore relies too heavily on the text book and is unable to help the child understand through explaining it differently. Text book answer sections can have glaring errors.

What can you do?
1. Encourage reading with the three reads: Being read to, independent reading, and reading aloud, each develops different skills. Scripture study is a good place to start. You would be surprised how much math is actually in the scriptures! Read great books as a family. Reading comprehension and language development have more impact on math than you might think.

2. Learn about Living Math. Live it!

3. Be aware of the child’s practical applicational understanding of all the foundational operational principles of arithmetic. All too often children can do well on a test because they just learned the process. Their lack of mastering the facts and their lack of applicational understanding can result it roadblocks at the next level. Upper math has many steps. If a child has to figure out basic things just to do the steps or if they are sloppy with their work, they may have trouble grasping and doing well in algebra.

4. Be attuned to your child’s developmental readiness, which is not about his brightness, but about when the child is emotionally and mentally ready. usually, with puberty children develop cognitive abilities to grasp more abstract concepts like upper math. Many boys tend to be late bloomer into puberty compared with the average girl.

A fun introduction to geometry is “String, Straightedge and Shadow The Story of Geometry” by Julia E. Diggins. I like to read a section then live it. It is fascinating how with these three things men were able to discover principles of geometry. This a fun book and gets into experiments.

Wow! Time sure flies. Six years ago I became a grandma. I was there for the birth of Jarom Matthew Goff, born at 21 weeks gestation. He was with us long enough to feel our love, receive a name and a blessing, and be released from mortality. Oh so brief was his visit, but what an impact he has made!