Unfortunately, almost all of us take our definition of "school" from the limited experience of our own schooling. Whether or not we actually acknowledge it, the public school system becomes our model of how things should actually work. We presume learning is best broken up into defined subjects, that tests are the best measure of learning, that we should finish the math book each year, and most of all, that school is work...
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!
Happy Home Schooling! This eLetter (Terry’s Terrific Learning Connections or Terry’s Tender Loving Care) is meant to encourage and inspire families homeschooling their children.
I hope you had a lovely Christmas and break with your family. Many of us are back at homeschooling now and perhaps some are wondering what to do. (What to do with the kids, what to do with homeschooling, what to do as a couple, what to do with current events, what to do with life, and more….)
My best advice is just to keep going. Pull yourself up and just keep going. Don’t make permanent decisions in troubled times. If you are tired, rest. If you are discouraged, look for encouragement everywhere you can. If you are anxious, quit worrying and trust God for each day. Easier said than done, I know. Try going on a media fast - even for a few hours a day - and reading your Bible more. I do like to keep up with Current Events, but I also know Who is in control and I will continue to trust Him.
One thing I learned years ago is that the *official* Homeschool Year is half over at the end of January. You still have another five months to go and so much homeschooling can still be accomplished. (And I homeschooled unofficially through the summer most years, too. It’s not the same *heavy* homeschooling, but a lot can get accomplished then, too. Homeschooling quickly became our life – 24/7 – and it was so good. I hope it is good for your family, too!)
So, this is the Official FUN TLC of the year. I love homeschooling and I love having fun – AND I love combining the two! What better time of the year to focus on fun than right now?
Observations of a Large Adoptive Family
In May 2005, having an approved international home assessment in hand and seeking God about international adoption, we connected with a relief organization (WACSN: West African Children Support Network) working in Liberia, West Africa. Their work involves, among other things, finding homes and processing adoptions for abandoned/orphaned children living at the WACSN orphanage in Monrovia.
Happy Home Schooling to all of you – especially to the families new to WISDOM. This eLetter (Terry’s Terrific Learning Connections or Terry’s Tender Loving Care) is meant to encourage and inspire families homeschooling their children.
We are living in uncertain times. Some of us have homeschooled for years, while others leaped into homeschooling this September. No matter what lies ahead of us, homeschooling our children is a great choice! There were times when I got distracted by academics or parenting issues and those were what I focused on.
Today I encourage you to focus on your relationship with your child / children. Why not add relationship building activities to your daily / weekly plant?
Make a list of what each child loves and try to include that in your homeschool week / life as much as possible. Talk often. Eat good food together slowly. Play games. Go for walks. Read great books aloud. Read the Bible and pray together to relieve stress and anxiety. Hug often.
Do whatever builds your relationship with your child as much as possible. Our days together might seem long, but the years are so short.
Most forms of celebration consist of giving thanks and giving credit. When people celebrate, they don't usually apply the celebration to something outside their experience. Rather, they take a realistic look at what is normal in their life and recognize in it the great gifts.
The world of education (at least the professional world, where people make money at it) is continually looking toward more and more avant garde and sophisticated ways of delivering education. If a masters or doctoral student of education wishes to amount to anything, he had better come up with at least one new idea. The result is a constantly shifting plethora of pedagogical ideas loaded with eloquent terminology and backed by volumes of research.
When people seek more information about the science and technology event, one of the first questions that I hear – with a tone of apprehension in their voice – is: “Is this a science fair?” The answer I give is “no” – to which I hear a sigh of relief.
Find out more about how WISDOM can be part of your home school journey.
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.
It should be noted that some solutions for signing a PDF are about putting your actual, visual signature (or something that is good enough to be one) on the file, while others are about adding a digital "signature" in a different sense to the file to show that it was you who signed it. Sometimes one or the other is what's needed and you'll want to make sure you've picked the right one.
On computers
While Adobe Reader might be treated as an industry standard, there are other options.
- Foxit has a free reader with signing capability.
- On macOS, the built-in Preview app, which is the default app for opening a PDF file, has an option add visual signatures and few handy ways to create them that are easier than clicking and dragging with your mouse.
- Open the file
- In the menu bar, go Tools > Annotate > Signature.
- From there you can pick an existing signture, or add a new one with a simple webcam scanning process to digitise one written on paper, or finger-draw one on the laptop trackpad or a connected phone. (This is also where you'd remove existing saved signatures.)
On mobile phones & tablets
Here are a few suggested apps for filling out and signing PDF documents while on the go!
iOS
- pdfFiller
- PDF Expert (a bit more advanced/complicated)
Android:
- DocuSign
- Adobe Scan (thanks Peter!)