Ten Shekels and a Shirt

Rev. Paris Reidhead, Pastor

A clarion call to repent and live for God's glory alone. How to avoid the trap of humanism! The following link (below) is one of the most well-known sermons of the 20th Century by Paris Reidhead, "Promoting Genuine Biblical Revival".  This sermon is about 52 minutes long but well worth listening to with an open heart!



Ten Shekels and a Shirt

Large family dynamics

Time to declutter!

Yesterday I did some major purging of my earthly goods. I had been inspired by reading through posts on the Organizing Junkie blog, and so I went through my house feeling the boost of some "organizing vitamins".


This time I wasn't sorting through seasonal clothing or kitchen cupboards; I was sorting through books, toys and my homeschooling materials stored in the basement. Even the best bound books, after years of use, can become worn—there were just too many bound with packing tape (even duct tape). I had too many pages printed up from old message boards in my file cabinet—they will be cut into fourths for scratch and scribble paper. About in the middle of this chore (did I mention I absolutely LOVE decluttering?), as I was going down memory lane, reading excerpts of original poetry and viewing colorful creations in various mediums, I suddenly came to the realization that I have raised six children! 


This first "set" of children were born between the years of 1983 and 1991—and the average time between births then was 15 months. This means they were quite close together in age, so when the ball started rolling and they began to leave, it was all over fairly quickly.


Some left well, others not so well, but they are all pretty good kids. Even though I am not there to oversee things, I am confident they are still under God's care, and I still see evidences of His working in their lives.

Let's get organized

Unlike the majority mothers who have raised six children, I still have nine at home. It's our "second set". Our 18-year-old daughter is the oldest now—she is the one who gets to enjoy the responsibility without the respect or authority—it just goes with the territory! She considers it her chance to shine and learn until she should become a wife and mother with a home of her own to manage.


I am so thrilled to have these children here with me—I didn't realize so many years ago just how much having them would bless me at this age, a time of life associated with emptiness in our culture.


But my life is so full! My house is not silent, it is animated and flourishing. There are towels on the bathroom floor, shoes in the hallway and countless fingerprints on the stairway. I've found an open jar of peanut butter in the cupboard, and muddy sneakers are drying in the garage. Some are playing lively games of Uno, two are teaming up to do some blogging, still others are reading or sewing. The baby is twirling and singing Cinderella songs, a toothbrush in each hand, all this magnificent activity surrounds me as I write this post.


I get to sing old songs to sweet children who don't criticize my voice, dance and play with vigor, smile and laugh at the same jokes I have heard for more than 25 years. I have of course, along the way, enjoyed memorizing more stories from Dr. Seuss and classic fairy tales, not to mention discovering entirely new works.

A wonderful gift from God!

And, as a bonus, I also have grandchildren! I am learning how to delicately balance being the mother of young children, and a grandmother all at the same time. The understanding as to the why's and how's of the journey of motherhood (or fatherhood for that matter) is being much more appreciated by my grown daughters and sons each passing day—this adds a new dimension to our relationships.


I know that many years ago, when I was young and not so sure of myself, I stumbled along and coped with all sorts of immaturities. But one thing I know, I always loved my babies! Not one of them can say I neglected them, or that I was distant and detached, not one can say that I failed to show them wholehearted love and affection. I have some regrets, but not those of putting my little ones to the side in favor of "more important things". No matter who said what, I stuck to my guns and made mothering my ardent profession; a life-long commitment!


I'm still employed in this awesome undertaking, only the children I am presently raising enjoy the benefit of having an experienced mother at the helm. I am not as capricious as I used to be, or naive for that matter. I also can spot a lie or a "fudge" a mile away—something I remind them all of quite frequently!


I'm older now and tire a little more easily, but I never tire of them.

Little princesses

The other day, when the little girls were happily scribbling together, I just had to have them explain their pictures. I truly think each of them is better than the greatest artist ever born—they are so unique and creative (and sometimes I can actually decipher what they have drawn before they tell me).


I treasure watching them discover new things. I witness the changes their bodies go through. I'm observing strong young men and beautiful young women grow up before my very eyes. How fleeting the time has been!


In the wisdom of this age, I am considered a backward woman. I am supposed to be thinking of "myself", all of the things I could be accomplishing and doing, etc.


But, thanks be to God, I don't have to—I choose to continue to embrace the call of motherhood!


—This will be my last post for three or four weeks as my family and I will be taking some much needed vacation time. I should be back after the middle of July.


Sherry 

Fear is a bully

There was no escape!

Daniel was not very big for his age. He was one of those fellows who loved school, and he loved to read. For whatever reason, George, tall for his age, began to target Daniel. He pestered him every day on their way home from school. 


Daniel tried everything to avoid a confrontation. He took different routes home, waited after school, stayed inside whenever George was outside hanging around for him. 


The day came when there was no choice; George cornered Daniel. There was no escape! 


But George had misjudged the other young man. Within a few moments it was clear who was going to go home crying to his mama, and it was Daniel who had reluctantly, yet, finally faced his fears. The table was suddenly turned and George would never be the same. From that day forward George left Daniel alone.


Fear sometimes finds its root deep within our souls. It is the "bully" we carry within—intimidating us with the "facts". It is the voice that makes us question whether or not God will really take care of us.


The Israelites were way-laid by it on their journey to the Promised Land. Ten of the twelve spies sent out by Joshua came back from Canaan with a factual, yet, evil report—the cities were fortified, the men were giants. No matter that God had proven time and again he was able to overcome any obstacle, the recently freed slaves could not see beyond the "reality" of the situation—to mix the promise of God with faith in His word!


It was this fatal flaw that threatened their very existence as their reluctance to trust the Lord brought about His fierce wrath. Rather than looking past the giants to the God of the promise, they instead, allowed fear to win and bully them across the desert as they wandered endlessly for 40 years until that faithless generation finally all perished in the wilderness.

Israel crossing the Jordan

As the next generation crossed the Jordan River, God reminded Joshua repeatedly, "Be strong and of good courage." In fact, He says, "Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the LORD thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest."


God knew the intimidating power of fear, so He actually commanded Joshua not to pay attention to it, but rather look to and depend upon His great power.


David was not free from fear. At one time, while being chased without cause by an furious King Saul, he escape his grasp by pressing into close proximity with his mortal enemies, the Philistines, and to save his life feigned madness himself. He describes his plight with distress in the Psalm 88:

O lord God of my salvation, I have cried day and night before thee:Let my prayer come before thee: incline thine ear unto my cry; For my soul is full of troubles: and my life draweth nigh unto the grave. 

I am counted with them that go down into the pit: I am as a man that hath no strength: 

Free among the dead, like the slain that lie in the grave, whom thou rememberest no more: and they are cut off from thy hand. 

Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit, in darkness, in the deeps. Thy wrath lieth hard upon me, and thou hast afflicted me with all thy waves. Selah. 

Thou hast put away mine acquaintance far from me; thou hast made me an abomination unto them: I am shut up, and I cannot come forth. 

Mine eye mourneth by reason of affliction: LORD, I have called daily upon thee, I have stretched out my hands unto thee. 

Wilt thou shew wonders to the dead? shall the dead arise and praise thee? Selah. 

Shall thy lovingkindness be declared in the grave? or thy faithfulness in destruction? 

Shall thy wonders be known in the dark? and thy righteousness in the land of forgetfulness? 

But unto thee have I cried, O LORD; and in the morning shall my prayer prevent thee. 

LORD, why castest thou off my soul? why hidest thou thy face from me? 

I am afflicted and ready to die from my youth up: while I suffer thy terrors I am distracted. 

Thy fierce wrath goeth over me; thy terrors have cut me off. They came round about me daily like water; they compassed me about together. 

Lover and friend hast thou put far from me, and mine acquaintance into darkness.

King Saul attacks young David

But David also knew where to go for help—not to the advisers and soothsayers. There was certainly no solace to be found in the temples of foreign gods. He didn't hide by imbibing in much wine or personal diversion. No, he pleaded his case before the Almighty—he learned to hide in a place no enemy could reach. 

He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. 

I will say of the LORD, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust. 

Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence. 

He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler. 

Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day. (Psalm 91: 1-5)

As Christians, we are not immune to difficulties and hardships any more than King David was. There is no amount of preparedness that will in the end keep us from the perils of this life. Our best hope is to learn to dwell in that place David found—abiding under the shadow of the Almighty.

It is in a surrendered life that we find true peace.

Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the LORD delivereth him out of them all. (Psalm 34:19)

Caleb claims his inheritance

Caleb, at the ripe old age of 85, finally got his chance to stand up against the giants of Canaan and conquer his mountain. His faith had ensured that, even as an old man, his strength was not abated.  

Forty years old was I when Moses the servant of the LORD sent me from Kadesh Barnea to espy out the land; and I brought him word again as it was in mine heart. 

Nevertheless my brethren that went up with me made the heart of the people melt: but I wholly followed the LORD my God. 

And Moses sware on that day, saying, Surely the land whereon thy feet have trodden shall be thine inheritance, and thy children's for ever, because thou hast wholly followed the LORD my God. 

And now, behold, the LORD hath kept me alive, as he said, these forty and five years, even since the LORD spake this word unto Moses, while the children of Israel wandered in the wilderness: and now, lo, I am this day fourscore and five years old. 

As yet I am as strong this day as I was in the day that Moses sent me: as my strength was then, even so is my strength now, for war, both to go out, and to come in. 

Now therefore give me this mountain, whereof the LORD spake in that day; for thou heardest in that day how the Anakims were there, and that the cities were great and fenced: if so be the LORD will be with me, then I shall be able to drive them out, as the LORD said. (Numbers 14:7-14)

And it happened just as he said. 


To become overcomers we must face our fears straight-on. A young David, too small to fit into the King's armor, faced his giant with a few stones and a sling in the name of the Lord Almighty. 

18 yo Oklahoma mom during the Depression

Warriors are not the only ones who become distressed and overwhelmed. We mothers face mountains every day that loom over us. Keeping a home together and blessed is no job for the faint of heart. The mother of many children often finds herself with more challenges than she has resources to deal with! A new, fussy infant; a child with special needs; a entire family ill with the flu, a reduction in finances due to extended unemployment—these are just some of the situations we can find ourselves in today. It seems so tempting to allow our knees to buckle and give in to those that would wag their fingers at us and mock us with their tongues!


I have stood at the foot of so many giants over the years. I have faced poverty, loneliness, illness, sleep-deprivation, depression and discouraging company. By God I was able to stand strong and hold fast. Each time I saw Him work all things out for the good, my strength through faith was increased. As I release, submit and surrender to Him, it is becoming easier to stare down the devil, with all his clever disguises, until he backs off and flees!

The Giant 

There came a giant to my door, 
A giant, fierce and strong. 
His step was heavy on the floor, 
His arms were ten yards long.


He scowled and frowned: He shook the ground: 
I trembled through and through; 
At length I looked him in the face, 
And cried, "Who cares for you?"


The mighty giant, as I spoke, 
Grew pale, and thin, and small;
And through his body, as 't were smoke, 
I saw the sunshine fall.


His blood-red eyes turned blue as skies, 
He whispered soft and low. 
"Is this," I cried, with growing pride,
"Is this the mighty foe?"


He sank before my earnest face, 
He vanished quite away, 
And left no shadow in his place 
Between me and the day.


Such giants come to strike us dumb; 
But, weak in every part, 
They melt before the strong man's eyes, 
And fly the true of heart.


Taken from McGuffey's Juvenile Reader

Strive not

St. Teresa of Avila

I was reading recently about St. Teresa of Avila—a woman devoted to prayer who is known for her great works among the poor.


I found it very interesting that the greatest volume of her labors were not done when she was young and vibrant. In actual fact, it was not until she was well into her 40's, suffering with heart disease, that she was able to make any headway.


It is not in our strength and vigor that God's purposes are accomplished. It is in our weakness that His strength is made perfect.

And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 

Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong. (2 Corinthians 12:9-10)

I am finding this theme repeatedly wherever I turn lately.

For thus saith the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel; In returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength: and ye would not. (Isaiah 30:15)

Jesus receives a child

In the above passage, God is speaking to the Israelites as they were striving to keep from being over-run by their enemies. They had abandoned waiting upon the Lord and were instead enlisting the help of the Egyptians (plan of man). God kept calling them to rest in Him; to allow Him to protect them just as He had demonstrated in the past that He could and would do.


But resting is not comfortable, because it is not self-willed. It causes us to lay down our aspirations and plans. It demands that we place all of our uncertainty into His hands. It doesn't make sense to our carnal minds.


In trusting God we are releasing to Him our very future—is He able? Is He faithful? We must decide. Is He a harsh task-master, or a kindly Father?


God did not allow Teresa of Avila to accomplish anything of significance until she became incapable of doing very much on her own. It was during the furnace and travail of her seasons in prayer and meditation that God's purposes were wrought forth, not in her vigorous striving.


We have all experienced those days when things just seem to "come together", and so many other times when things simply "fall apart". The plans may have been exactly the same, yet the outcomes were different.

A time to explore

People have asked me what it was like to have so many little children in such a close succession—at one point I had seven under ten. I always point to the sufficiency of Christ.


In those days it was impossible to have lists or plans of any sort. There were just too many variables. Little children just don't perform on queue—they get sick, teethe and have earaches at the most inconvenient times!


It was through the prompting of the Lord that I learned to turn my "to do" lists into "prayer lists". Instead of making plans, I would write down things I would like to see happen and then turn them over to the Lord, trusting Him to bring them to pass. The change was not in the paper or the way I listed the items, no, it was in my heart. Instead of being weighed down by my lists, I found there was a way I could lay down the burdens of the day and find release. I was always open to any changes God might make in my day, trusting that the most worrisome things either weren't that important after all, or He would ensure that they would be accomplished in His timing.


I also made it a priority to have a quiet time every day with the Lord, first by enforcing a quiet time for the children. I sometimes found myself laying on the floor of a naughty toddler's room, making sure he stayed in his bed, nursing a tiny infant, with Bible in hand, meditating and feasting on the Word.


Often, when I took these times of quiet, there was still laundry, dishes, etc. awaiting me. It was always amazing to me how much I could get done when I gave God His time first.


Even today I can get all caught up in "doing" (like Martha). Work is an important part of life, but without God's direction it is all vanity. It's in sitting at Jesus' feet that the greatest and lasting things are achieved!

Some trust in chariots, and some in horses: but we will remember the name of the LORD our God. (Psalm 20:7)

If you have been on a treadmill lately, and you are being moved more by adrenaline than by the Holy Spirit, here is a prescription for you.
Read and meditate (ponder in your mind) on the following verses:


Psalm 33
Psalm 91
Matthew 11:29-30


Pipe this playlist throughout your house for a few days (or another quiet one filled with scripture that feeds you)


John Michael Talbot playlist
Here is just a sample:

Home book-binding and Dollar Homeschool review



A day at a frontier school.

I am always looking for better ways to help my readers discover the simple, wonderful world of 19^th century learning. I have recommended all sorts of resources, from the high-end, hard-bound sets of reprints in these blessed materials, to downloading free eBooks from Internet Archive and Google Books.


I love all types—I have three sets of hard-bound McGuffey's Readers, Harvey’s Grammars, Ray’s Arithmetics, etc., besides having downloaded, printed and comb-bound a number of these books and other resources which my children are using (Once I did 12 books at one time—my dining room looked like a publishing house!—HP loves me).


Recently I received a number of CD’s containing what was entitled "The Eclectic Learning Series" published from the 1830's to the early 20th century in the mail from Dollar Homeschool. I was curious as to how user-friendly and useful these collected works would be for myself and others, so Aaron Jagt sent me a copy of the set so that I could review them.


Aaron has done a great job of putting a pretty comprehensive compilation of these old tomes together. I was pleasantly surprised to find much more was included than is listed on his website. Each disk was like opening a present at Christmas!


For instance, I wasn’t expecting to find sound recordings of lectures on the godly nature of mathematics. I can imagine hours sitting and listening to these while the children are sketching or doodling on a hot summer’s afternoon.


Also included is a series of books which attempt to teach grammar and composition through literature, using both copy work and dictation. I had just been researching such an approach among the free books online, so it was such a relief to find that one had already been included!


There is enough material in the history section for copy work, narration, timelines, etc. to last many years—including poetry.


I have become an enthusiast of 19^th century learning materials because they were formulated and used during a time our society was greatly influenced by Biblical Christianity. Professor McGuffey himself was a Presbyterian minister. Also, to a great extent, these materials were created before many of the most radical “reforms” of Horace Mann and John Dewey were accepted "at-large" and implemented (although their eroding influence is evident even in the revised McGuffey readers of the 1880’s).


I get excited when we use these materials because of the clarity of thought, and the respect paid to the learner. No dumbed-down content here—economy was a necessity of the past, when paper and ink were precious, especially in the frontier schools. Each word, each number problem, was well-thought out and meaningful. The curricula of the age were free of “busy work”, making them just perfect for application in homeschools and tutoring programs where consistent, concentrated instruction is the preferred method.


I know many of these books are available for free online, but I also know the sites on which they are offered are not always reliable, and I have recently found it difficult to find many of the titles necessary for a well-rounded Eclectic Series education (discovering the entire set of revised McGuffey’s editions can be like chasing a snake through the grass). It can also be confusing with all of the different versions of each of the Ray’s Arithmetics, for instance. I could see spending a bit of money in order to own this compilation for the duration of my children’s homeschooling educational years.

I did some figuring to help show the actual costs of these materials. I found there were 109 books total included in this package (if I have not missed any). This does not include the audio CD. If the asking price is $160, this makes the books cost approximately $1.47 each!


Of course, these are “digital” books—not easy to take to one’s room and study, unless you happen to have a number of computers for each child or a few of those nifty “reader” devices or an iPad. These devices would make the use of these excellent "digital" books much more “portable”.


For myself, I prefer to have the “tangible” form of books. I like turning pages and making places for more books on my library shelves. This is why I am planning on printing and binding a number of these books.


I figure that, on my little ink-jet, I should get about (700-800) pages per cartridge, that is using the “economical, black-only” setting. If I select "two-to-a-page" printing, this means I should be able to print about 15, 90-page books or seven to eight, 150-page books per cartridge (at $26 per cartridge). This makes it approximately $1.73 - 3.46 per book (or twice that for a three-hundred page book).


The paper is not very expensive, since I purchase it in ten-ream boxes from either Sam’s Club (free shipping) or a local office supply store where it was on sale (I noticed a ten-ream box on sale at Office Depot for about $25). This keeps my paper for a 90-page book (with the “two-pages-to-a-sheet” mode selected) at about $0.27!


Dollar Homeschool’s agreement states a person can print up to four copies of each book for personal use, which is plenty.


So here’s the breakdown in current prices for binding a 150-page book, using the “economy” and “Two-pages-per-sheet” settings:


$1.47—average cost of digital book
$3.46—ink
$0.54—paper
$2.00—comb-binding
$0.50—miscellaneous expenses
$7.97 per book! (or $0.03 - 0.05 per page)


This is such a frugal way to go, even if one has to put in a little “sweat-equity” in binding the books, especially when compared to other curriculum options. Even finding these materials is challenging.

These books are non-consumable, so they can be passed down from child-to-child, making this a one-time purchase for many years’ worth of learning.


I went on line and compared the costs of a popular mathematics curriculum to what’s included here—an entire elementary course in mathematics would cost upwards of $600—and then there would be the expense of replenishing some of the consumable workbooks required for the course.


Printing the books included on the Ray’s Arithmetics Dollar Homeschool CD, that is all 39 of them, would equal about $348 (and you probably wouldn’t want nor need to print out all 39).

Printing and binding all of the basic McGuffey readers, at the $0.03 - 0.05 per page rate, would cost approximately $51.94 - $84.30.

For our little homeschool group, I am considering purchasing my own manual comb-binding apparatus. I am looking seriously at the Fellowes Star for about $55 on this site. It would make sense for us, since I love binding up books and booklets and should make it worth the initial investment in little or no time!


My oldest daughter is looking into the “click and print” option which is being offered by a number of printing houses. I will try and post her findings at a later date.


I am also considering printing up “booklets” of assigned material printed from the digitized books and catered to each child, which might include some note booking pages. In my thought processes are some extra practice booklets compiled from the White's and Dubb's math books. It would also be fun to create note booking pages for the Nature Study book.


It must be obvious that these materials would have to be supplemented with more up-to-date publications as well. A good set of encyclopedias and the Internet are a good start, and a library card would be a frugal way to round-out and complete a good education with these "digital" books as the foundation. Still, for the cost of just one year’s curriculum for one child, it is nice to own materials enough for many years (for example, Rod and Staff complete 1st grade, reading and math, costs $132)!


In case you feel as lost as I did when I began my homeschooling journey, Dollar Homeschool offers a Yahoo discussion forum with a number of archived discussions which helped me enormously when I began this review.


I do wish that the Manual of Methods was included on the McGuffey’s CD, as it really helps to clarify the use of these books in teaching reading—even takes one through the different methods in a more succinct way than I have ever read it expressed. I’m going to suggest this to Aaron Jagt so this may be changed in the near future.


If you are like me, prone to “creative meanderings”, then these materials are for you. Using these books allows me to enjoy my creative side, while giving me a basic structure that is sound and Biblically-based, free of a lot of the nonsense found in so many of the expensive alternatives of our present day.

My Ray's Arithmetics and McGuffey's Primer Helps go perfectly with this set for teaching basic math and beginning phonics and reading! 

Finding McGuffey on Our Homeschool Journey—guest post

Today's post is written by a guest and "McGuffey veteran": 

In 2006 when my daughter Natalie was finishing up her Traditional Textbook kindergarten curriculum I began to look for other cheaper options for homeschooling. That year we combined a textbook phonics, language arts and math with the Five in  a Row book I found second hand. I just LOVED the literary education Natalie was getting. We had a blast reading great books, looking places up on our map, and doing crafts things to go along with it. Basically that year we did the workbooks, memorized some scripture and read! I look back fondly on that school year. The following year I looked into other high end curricula that followed the same literary bent. Since I couldn't afford that curriculum I began researching cheaper options. That's when I came across McGuffey's while researching Charlotte Mason. 

I loved the simple appeal of the books. Cute, moral stories with sweet pictures that weren't offensive to the intellect nor unappealing to the eye. That year we read them for fun! We ditched the textbook readers and just did McGuffey's with another workbook for phonics. I had discovered copy work by then so we alternated between a sentence or so of a McGuffey's lesson and the bible memory verses we were using. I did not know much about copy work at the time so I would pick a selection and write it out on paper making a space between lines for Natalie to copy underneath. I didn't pick out grammar or spelling nor did I do dictation. I just selected wonderful quotes, wrote them out and she copied.


A few years later when Natalie was in 2nd grade my son Logan began to use McGuffey much in the same way. We read them aloud, we read them silently, we read them for fun. We just enjoyed McGuffey! My son especially enjoyed the stories and often read them for fun.


This last school year a friend sent me a copy of Beechicks Parents Guide to the readers. I had read Beechick before and LOVED her ideas. Not being a teacher myself I had a hard time implementing them but for some reason this year it all clicked!      So I began using McGuffey's again with my second son Benjamin. I'm still using other phonics and language arts programs at the moment but the more I get into McGuffey's with the help of Beechick, the more I understand how the Eclectic series really can replace your phonics, spelling, grammar and writing programs.


Usually what I do is sit down with my "student" and listen to them read or narrate what they have read. Natalie, age 9,  would be narrating at this point from the second reader. Logan (8) and Benjamin (5 and an early reader) reading aloud from the first and primer readers. As I sit down and before they begin reading I quickly glance at my Parent guide and discuss anything she mentions or that I see needs mentioning. Things like phonics rules, vocabulary or new punctuation. I write those things on the white board and we make a word list (either for new phonics rules or for vocabulary) to write in our notebooks later. I listen to the lesson or narration and then we discuss the moral or idea in the lesson. Then I will assign the white board work to be copied in their notebooks and will assign another task to go deeper for them.

For example lesson XI in the first reader is about boys flying a kite. Beechick suggests the word "rude" for vocabulary. I might point out the word rude and write it on the white board as we are reading.  The end of the lesson McGuffey's draws your attention to "bad words" and how God doesn't want us to use "bad words". Then I might talk a little bit about words that aren't acceptable to use and why (also a Beechick suggestion). Then I might find a scripture that goes nicely (Romans 5:8 or one about the tongue) and we might write that on the board for copying. The assignment for the day would be looking up the word "rude" in the dictionary and copying the definition, then copying the Bible verse we found. Sometimes I will have Logan narrate to me his lesson and I would write it down for him. Then tomorrow we might orally test the vocabulary word, dictate the memory verse and then have Logan copy his own narration in his notebook. And maybe on  the third day we might correct the dictation and rewrite it if need be. This way we only do one or two lessons a week leaving more time for leisure reading for fun, except Ben who needs daily instruction in reading as he is just in the decoding stage. Natalie's instruction might include some more intense writing and revision. Ben's might just include phonics and some copy work. Occasionally Beechick suggests   some further study in a topic and I will include by utilizing the Internet.


McGuffey's readers are such a great resource. I cant imagine why they took them    out of the schools. Except maybe that they take a wee bit more time to use then say a ready to go workbook. We like them and find them a very useful and frugal addition to our school.

About the author:

Vicki is Mother of 6, Wifey to 1, Daughter of the King, keeper of the Home, and all around frugalista! (not in that order). You really should pop over to her blog,

Joy Homeliving, and read more!