Home schooling with WISDOM

Supporting traditional home schooling, where parents have control over what is taught to their children, how it is taught, and when it is taught.

ken marlane It was with the support of their local school principal that Ken and Marlane Noster brought home their eldest child, half way through grade 3. The superintendent threatened to charge them with truancy. The late 80’s were rife with inconsistencies in treatment of home schoolers.

In response to the first Alberta Home Education Regulation of 1989, Ken was invited to help a school board develop its program for administrating home schooling. He and Marlane began to pray for an answer to two burning questions: how can a board designed to administrate schools administrate home schooling? and what am I being called to do?

May/June 2025 - 30th Anniversary Special Edition

March/April 2025

May/June 2023

The WISDOM Family Magazine is a bi-monthly publication, free to WISDOM home schoolers and available for a small subscription fee to non-WISDOM families.

This great resource is full of information, inspiration and ideas. You will find encouraging and uplifting articles, curriculum reviews, success stories, and "how-to's" from homeschooling professionals and veterans.

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How many containers do you need to fill a science program?  Peculiar question, huh?  Perhaps I should ask:  How many weekends does it take to fill your science program containers? 

By this time of year you will likely have developed a pattern or routine in your home-school day to accomplish your selected program of studies.  Your children engage themselves with the various subjects that you assign them, most often with the help of a text book or other written resource.  Depending on your child’s age and ability, the reading in these books may be done by your child, or you may be the one to read and explain the material to your eager learner. 

Welcome to the first edition of Terry’s “Terrific Learning Connections” (and Tender Loving Care, too) for WISDOM Families.

I’ll share great links, contests and connection opportunities for WISDOM Families and Students monthly. I usually share a lot of these ideas on Facebook but want to open it up to the entire Family of WISDOM Home Schoolers.

I'd like to pass on a very helpful book, that has brought some variety, fun, and creativity to our writing. It is called, "If You Are Trying to Teach Kids How to Write You've Gotta Have This Book". There are endless ideas.

One thing Marjorie Frank (author) recommends in her book is to sit with the children and write when they write. They're more interested in writing when we partake as well. I break from our "Understanding Writing" program on Fridays to insert an assignment from this book. I find my 8 year old, 11 year old, and I can all do the same assignment. It's generally lighthearted and refreshing. I highly recommend it.

Eye On Curriculum
FEATURED PROGRAM:
EXCELLENCE IN WRITING
1-877-825-7414
www.excellentresources.net

For some reason, teaching writing is or has been perceived to be an arduous and formidable task for most. I recall, with dread, introducing my classroom students to the Writing Process - a nebulous construct that was meaningless and impractical for many students. Planning (mapping), prewriting, revising, editing, and finalizing the draft seemed to be a logical and systematic approach, but unfortunately it lacked the elements of a scheme or strategy a child could easily follow without constant supervision and continual qualification. Will the frustration ever end?

There exists constant pressure in our society to adapt to a way of thinking.  Webster’s dictionary defines ‘adapt’ as “to modify (oneself) to conform to a circumstance or environment” or alternatively “to become adjusted to a circumstance or environment.”  When studying and researching in the sciences, the student will eventually (if not immediately) encounter the evolution perspective.  Whether it is biology, geology or astronomy, the processes of evolution will be applied to living and non-living objects.  When something evolves, it is believed to have changed from a less complex form to a higher order of complexity.  Ignoring this perspective will not make it disappear.  But remember… it is only a perspective.Webster’s dictionary describes evolution as a doctrine.  Yes, a doctrine! 

 
 
 
 
Part of The Gilbertine Institute