All books are available in South Africa at LOOT or otherwise at AMAZON.
These books are also available from Oikos Ministries in SA.
Ruth Beechick is one of those easy-reading practical writers to help you along in your homeschool how-to’s.
Her books are the answers on
It is not too full of philosophy and can be applied as a curriculum although it is not a curriculum itself.
Her main point is to approach homeschooling more naturally and use whatever life offers as teaching opportunities for educating your children.
It is not difficult and it is worthwhile.
| The three R’s (Grades K-3) |
These three little books was one of my best buys at the start of my homeschool journey, when my oldest was starting the Foundation phase.
Each of the books helped me to relax and take a more natural, less pressured approach to the primary phase’s core skills.
In “A Home start in Reading” the phases of reading, namely
are explained in detail.
The vowel and consonant charts for the English language is also given. One understands then that to learn to read, one must read….there is no other magic formula for reading.
She also explains that reading skill and writing skill grow together and must be encouraged as such.
This means that it is a good thing to let your child read and write every day – just a little each day, but every day.
Writing can be learned very effectively by copying and later on by dictation.
The book also helps one to understand that the Fluency stage is something that will differ for each child individually and cannot be hurried; it can take weeks, months or even years.
In the book “A strong start in Language” she helps us moms to know that all over the world children will sometimes complain about writing, because writing is hard work.
She highlights that knowing grammar does not imply good writing, but students who are good writers can learn grammar better than poor writers.
Creative writing is encouraged as a child has something to write about, but it is specifically stated that it is not a good idea to require too much original writing too often.
Some grade level guidelines are provided (Gr1-3) for language skills. Spelling is also discussed and advice given on how to approach spelling in the primary years.
For me the best thing about “An easy start in Arithmetic” was to learn about the modes of learning mathematics – growing from the manipulative mode to mental image mode to symbolic (abstract) mode.
We are usually forcing children to ‘do maths’ too quickly in the symbolic mode, without a good foundation being laid in the manipulative mode.
She strongly advises parents to be more patient with their children and not rush them in this important skill.
The good news is that maths is all around us and it is very easy to let a child do manipulative maths in and around the house.
Games is also a great, easy way to let a child develop his manipulative and later on, symbolic modes.
Grade level guidelines are provided for Grades 1 to 3.
| You can teach your child successfully (Grades 4-8) |
Ruth Beechick continues her natural learning philosophy in this book.
She guides you to understand that it is not difficult to continue teaching your own child after s/he can read fluently.
As the child is now entering the Information stage of reading, one is advised to provide all sorts of reading experiences:
which include both fiction and whole lot of non-fiction reading.
Narration and conversation (with adults) should happen regularly so as to encourage thinking skills to develop.
Writing is explained as a clarification of thoughts, which is also why writing is effort.
It requires thinking and should therefore be encouraged often!
She does, however, not advise using the typical fill-in-the-blank workbook type of writing but rather learning to write from real good books by copying and dictation.
Writing lessons are included in this book and four kinds of writing (describing, narrating, explaining and reasoning) are described and practice exercises given.
Chapters on writing mechanics, grammar and spelling are also given.
Arithmetic is dealt with quite extensively in a few chapters, and Grade level general guidelines are given for arithmetic from grades 4 to 8.
In the chapters on Social Studies and Science, a good case for not using textbooks are given as it usually treats most topics very superficial.
Instead of opening children’s minds to the richness of these subject areas and learning them to think, their minds are closed.
She specifically states that there is no agreement to what content should be taught when, so you can feel comfortable in compiling your own curriculum choices for these subject areas anyway.
She explains the different types of curriculum plans and highlights the problems there is with each of them. It was also interesting to read that most successful science students usually followed a hands-on practical approach, only supplementing it with a textbook.
Real thinking, observation and reasoning skills should be developed when doing science, and not just learning facts to be able to pass a test.
Finally she highlights the fact that you must also let your children learn about the big ideas that form society’s thinking such as biblical creation vs evolutionism, uniformitarianism vs catastrophism and entropy.
It is also necessary to point out to students that all history and science books will have been written with a bias towards some concept, nothing is unbiased.
Students should learn to recognize books as such to be able to interpret the information correctly.
Lastly there is a very interesting chapter on why the bible should be included in a curriculum, not only for religious purposes, but because it is an excellent source of literature.
People who know the bible well have a far better understanding of world history, cultures and the relations of nations than those who overlook the bible’s importance.
It is also to be noted that history and science taught from an evolutionary point of view tend to disagree with the bible.
Ironically, most archaeological, geological, scientific and even linguistic discoveries tend to uphold the bible history rather than contradict it.
She states (and I agree with her) that the message of a Creator God is needed more than ever, before a Savior can be preached.
Today’s western society is like the Greeks of old and sadly most Christians do not seem to understand how fundamental the creation-evolution issue is.
It is necessary to educate ourselves about this issue and teach it to our children as they grow up in a society more and more saturated with an anti-God message.
By teaching your children at home you are helping the Message to spread.
| A biblical home education |
In this book Ruth Beechick focuses one’s attention back to the bible , and specifically how content subjects (such as Social studies and Science) can be brought back, to closely relate to the bible.
This is in contrast to what is done in public (and even private Christian) schools where the content subjects are separated from the bible.
“It banishes every thought of God working in the world or of God making the world.”
The first few chapters provide an overview of curriculum areas from a biblical perspective to be better able to choose curriculum material.
In the content subject chapters, Beechick highlights mistakes made in textbooks in order to fit political correctness or what the committee deemed necessary at the point of decision.
She encourages all Christian homeschoolers to take a definite stance on the creation vs evolution debate – with enough reading and discussion being done.
Today there is a lot of creation material available which can lead one through the maze of issues one has to deal with. Learning about biblical creation is also a good view of learning about evolution, since it almost always explains the evolution side as well. This in contrast with public school textbooks that usually present only the onesided evolution theory.
Evolution is so commonly presented as ‘factual science’ whereas in truth there is not one shred of evidence anywhere for either biological or botanical evolution. Therefore it is not being real science at all. And all the textbooks fail to mention that it is therefore only speculation, theory and belief at best.
Another important aspect to give attention to in your homeschool is to educate your children on the worldviews apparent in society today:
These are all big issues that one needs to address, since children will be faced with these.
A chapter on thinking skills reminds us to develop that skill in our children by discussion, and not to rely on some curriculum to do that for us.
Included in the book are a few chapters in language development (reading, grammar, writing), and a useful chapter on study skills.
A chapter on beginning homeschooling with young children is very useful for parents with small children already too concerned about ‘getting a curriculum’.
And lastly, a very useful chapter on various curriculum materials out there in the homeschool environment, and her opinion on how to view that.
She strongly advises against getting too much curriculum too soon, and reminds us that materials are much less important to our success in homeschooling than we think. They do not make or break your homeschool!
This book is a must read for all serious believing Christian homeschoolers. Get this book and be informed.
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