The Four Moms Answer Questions

 The Four Moms are: 


Kim at Life in a Shoe

Kimberly at Raising Olives

Connie, at Smockity Frocks




And, of course, me.=)
Without further adieu, here are the questions:

What do you recommend for penmanship? 


We use a program called A Reasong for Handwriting  
The student works on parts of a different Bible verse each week and at the end of the week, does the full verse on a border sheet they can decorate and give to others.
For those who are past this and still struggle, Cursive Success will help you assess readiness and devise activities to move your young scholar toward cursive, and various books in the same series by the same author are also useful.
Write Now: The Complete Program For Better Handwriting is also good for older students however, the bottom line (barring actual problems) is they have to care. It takes time to write well, especially when one has been sloppy. Some kids feel they have better things to do.

Emily asked: How do we go about raising strong girls who know who they are amid a culture that tells them their worth comes from their looks, outside accomplishments, etc. We do plan to homeschool, and the only tv they watch are cooking shows or that kind of thing, but I still cringe when I see bits creeping in. It's the random strangers in line at the store who say, 'what a pretty princess!' or those who say 'I bet your favorite color is pink!' (not that there's anything wrong with pink, but the way that is used in our culture I feel is a way to define a certain type of feminism, not true womanhood).

That's a great question, and I just passed it on to the other three moms last night.  I think we just did what we did naturally, without thinking about it that much.  We read good books, when we did see things in movies come up that indicated what made a woman important were her looks or career, we mocked it. I am a strong proponent of a little gentle laughter and tart humour going a long way to repel that kind of silliness- not harsh and mean, but definitely fun-making.
We also do have a relative who has persistantly suggested that I go back to college and become a 'real' teacher, or a 'real' something or other, as though what I do is not real.The suggestions have not been subtle and they have been discussed in the home.  I prefer to become real the same way the Veleveteen Rabbit did, thank-you very much. 


Here's one Cindee asked a while ago, and I answered in the comments of the post where she asked, but some others who might wonder possibly missed it,: 
Can you expand on why you'd like your girls to remain at home until they marry but rather that your son moved out?

Probably not. I don't think have enough mental clarity, and at any rate, it's a preference, not a conviction. I don't expect any of the girls will be here past 30 if they are still single;-D, but I could be mistaken.

I think mostly it boils down to the fact that I think it would be very bad for my son's character to stay at home, and I haven't seen signs that it would bad for the girls.

A mother of many sons told me she thought that boys who didn't have a lot of financial responsibilities when young tended to have problems later as breadwinners- they resented doing without man-toys to buy the baby new shoes, they struggled more with selfishness. 

In response to this post: How do you implement the "yes, ma'am" responce? Our three year old foster son started with the "Why?" a few months ago, and now does it automatically, even if he doesn't really want to know. Then his two year old brother picked it up. It is a habit, not an actual question and I don't know how to break it. Thought perhaps the "yes, ma'am" requirement would help. Thanks.

 Y'all really force me to strain my brain, you know?  As I recall, we just steadfastly, consistently reminded the child- 'Stop. Remember? You need to say "Yes, Ma'am" first before we can talk about why or why not."
An alternative is something my grandfather used to say when asked a question he didn't believe required a response (like an unthinking, automatic 'why'):
"Why?"
"Oh, Cat fur to make kitten britches."
What does it mean? Nothing. That's the beauty of it.


How do you work with and train everyone and keep them all on task all at the same time. My children are 7, 6, 3 and 3, so all old enough to help but all young enough to still need constant supervision and direction (except the 7yo at some tasks). I appreciate the energy of getting everyone to work together, but by the time I've dealt first with getting everyone switched into helping mode, then making sure the 3yos aren't dropping the dishes they're clearing, the 6yo has help putting the food things he can't reach away, and the 7yo isn't flooding the floor with the dishwater, after five minutes of that I'm not just done having them help for the day, I'd rather not speak to another human being for another three hours. And that's before any attitude issues or emergency potty breaks. And then after they leave I notice all the problems that I overlooked that should have been corrected on the spot.

You don't.  There is a time for busy work- for giving the smallest children a rag with some scented water on it and letting them wipe whatever they want, or their own little basket of wash clothes and rags to 'fold' while you focus on teaching and training the older kids.
 Give them a little child sized broom (or the dust broom) and let them 'sweep' with that.  Then you finish up later (or have one of the older kids do that.
there's also nothing wrong with setting the three year olds on the couch with books and insisting they stay there while the rest of you clean the living room.
Once the 7 and 6 year old get really proficient at a chore, the younger siblings become the apprentices- sometimes they apprentice to the older sibling, who teaches them the right way to do the task.

How do you throw a hymn sing?

1. Short answer: In our case, be part of a church with a long tradition of acapella singing in homes.=) Or get to know people who like to or want to like to sing.

two
three
four
five
six
seven
eight