Saturday 28 February 2015

It's been a slow week {HSMJ}

 In my life this week…
  • I am one happy Mom.  I have finally moved my homeschool goodies into one room and got it into a mostly workable space.  It needs some finishing off touches but I'm looking forward to homeschooling in there this year.  
  • I was sick from Monday to Thursday and am so very pleased that I'm feeling so much better now.
  • I was a little surprised at a spike in traffic to my blog this week and discovered it came from this post about my Bread Bag Clip Cable Labels post.
Helpful homeschooling tips or advice to share…

In our home school this week…
  • We spent the week cuddled on the couch reading.

Places we’re going and people we’re seeing…
  • Due to me not feeling well this week we stayed home
My favourite thing this week was…
  • I received an email from a blogging buddy who is coming to Melbourne so we are going to meet in person hopefully after four years of cyber friendship.  Counting the days ...
  • I've so enjoyed watching the Gardener Quad Squads progress.  This week they have three of their four girls home and have been sharing on their blog too.

 Things I’m working on…
  • I'm contemplating adding drop down menus to my blog.  What do you think ?
  • Paul and I really enjoyed watching IndoctriNation this week along with some friends.  I think you will find this documentary a very interesting watch.

 On the WWW I’m reading…

 A photo, video, link, or quote to share…


Blessings
Chareen


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A Week In Review Link UP

Join Lisa and I each week and share your week in review.  We look forward to reading about your

  • Week in Review
  • Field Trips
  • School Work 
  • Homeschool projects
  • And anything homeschool related.
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Wednesday 25 February 2015

IndoctriNation {Review}

The new Schoolhouse Review Crew year kicks off with a DVD review from Great Commission Films.  They have blessed me with a copy of their new documentary DVD IndoctriNation.

Have you ever stopped to ask yourself "What are my children being taught during their 8 hour day at school ?"  Is it purely academics or not ?  If not just what is being allowed to be spoken about in class ?  For that matter most parents happily entrust their children to total strangers for 12 years of their lives never knowing who these people are, what their beliefs are or what they are being asked to teach our children.

IndoctriNation is a documentary that en devours to uncover the historical nature of the school system along with the consequences of the voices of those who have influenced the shaping of the school system as we know it today.  Colin and his family travel across the USA interviewing over 25 people on the differing aspects of the current educational system and uncovering some interesting historical information on the why behind the how of the current schooling system. 


What we received
  • Physical DVD of IndoctiriNation.
  • Duration: 1 hour 46 minutes
  • Availability: Worldwide 
  • The DVD contains the full length documentary, six deleted scenes,  a word from each sponsor (2) and a special interview with David and Kim D'Escoto (Author, "The Little Book of Big Reasons to Homeschool").
  • The DVD features a cast of 27 people from all walks of life, preachers, historians, authors, school teachers, school principle, lawyers, educators and educational policy experts, administrators, political leader, economist and others.
  • IndoctriNation has been awarded several awards.

How we used it
Paul and I spent an evening watching IndoctriNation together, we paused and discussed parts of the video as we watched. One of the first statements in the documentary that grabbed my attention was this:
 "I don't think that there is anything else that 90 % of Christians do, together. Fight to the death over which bible you're going to use.. which denomination you're going to be a part of... 'Duke it out' there too ...
but 90% make the exact same educational choice, and nobody can point to book, chapter and verse to justify it. - Voddie Bacham, Jr., D.Min"
The more I thought about it the more I realised that in general this is a very true statement of the church today. I had never ever thought of education from a biblical perspective until we moved to New Zealand 19 years ago.  When we got married and were blessed with children we both assumed that when the time came they would attend the local government school.  It's got me wondering why do we as Christians make our educational choices exempt from our doctrinal beliefs ?
 
" This is the debate we need to settle. With sincere Christians on both sides asking: Should we protect our children by withdrawing them from the public schools OR should we leave them in the system to try to influence the schools for the better?  - Colin Gunn"
 We were both surprised at the history of education and recognised a few strategies we both experienced at school and did not realise were used on us and how that had shaped our perspectives.
We enjoyed the scripture document which represented the biblical view of the training and education of our children.

The DVD is now being shared out among our homeschool group and I will come back and edit with their perspectives and response to IndoctriNation here
  • "90 % of Christians send their children to school. 80% of those children walk away from their faith! Definitely an eye-opener for Christian parents everywhere, who would wish to see their children in service for God as adults." - Belinda 

Interesting glimpses of IndoctriNation


Cost* of IndoctriNation
  • Rent it on demand  $ 4.95 (48-hour streaming period)
  • Buy it for $12.95 (Stream + download anytime)
  • Physical DVD $19.95 (discount pricing available for quantity purchasing.)
  • IndoctriNation Book (372 pages)  $14.95
  • DVD & Book Bundle $24.95
Available from the IndoctriNation store.
*Cost is in US $ and correct as at February 2015 and is subject to change without notice.  Please check the price BEFORE purchasing the item.


Connect with IndoctriNation

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Final Thoughts

I really enjoyed watching IndoctriNation.  I found it thought provoking and interesting.  I loved the historical background on the structure of the school system as it gave me a better perspective of the why behind the how at school.

I especially enjoyed the questions that were both asked and answered throughout the documentary. I highly recommend this insightful thought provoking look at the educational system.

Blessings
Chareen

You can watch a long version {First 30 min of the documentary}or short trailor {2:42} of IndoctriNation on vimeo, or the first 30 min FREE on YouTube.

Click to read Crew Reviews

Saturday 21 February 2015

It's about ancient history and interviews {HSMJ}


 In my life this week…
  • I'm in the process of rearranging our Learning Space in order for today's show and tell in the Not Back to School Party.
  •  I was interviewed over at FinchNWren this week. If you would like to know things like
  1. How I got started in my blogging adventure ?
  2. Why is my blog called Every Bed of Roses ?
  3. Do I have a favourite topic ?
  4. How did Paul and I meet ?
  5. Why did we decide to home educate ?
Then grab a cuppa and pop on over to FinchNWren  and read  Family, Fun & Homeschooling! Featuring Chareen from Every Bed of Roses

Helpful homeschooling tips or advice to share…


In our home School this week…


My favourite thing this week was…

 Things I’m working on…
  • I am contemplating joining in Sketch Tuesday over at Harmony Fine Arts Mom.

 On the WWW I’m reading…
 I’m cooking…


Blessings
Chareen


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A Week In Review Link UP

Join Lisa and I each week and share your week in review.  We look forward to reading about your

  • Week in Review
  • Field Trips
  • School Work 
  • Homeschool projects
  • And anything homeschool related.
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Monday 16 February 2015

Getting to know me {Guest Blogging}

I love getting to know you posts it's so much fun learning the back stories that are behind every amazing blog out there.

Last week I was interviewed over at FinchNWren as part of their Family, Fun and Homeschooling! series.

If you would like to know things like
  1. How I got started in my blogging adventure ?
  2. Why is my blog called Every Bed of Roses ?
  3. Do I have a favourite topic ?
  4. How did Paul and I meet ?
  5. Why did we decide to home educate ?
Then grab a cuppa and pop on over to FinchNWren  and read  Family, Fun & Homeschooling! Featuring Chareen from Every Bed of Roses

Thank you so much FinchNWren for the opportunity to be featured in your new series
Blessings
Chareen

I love this clip from The King and I sung by Julie Andrews - Getting to Know You

Saturday 14 February 2015

A Day in Our Lives {NBTS}

Welcome to week three of the annual Not Back to School Party, I'm co-hosting this event with Kylie over at Our WorldWide Classroom.  I love meeting new home educating families and find inspiration in knowing how their days go and what they do.  I'd love to hear more about your day.  If you have a blog please come and link up your post us and if you don't blog I would love to hear about your day in the comments.

Daily Schedules I've found to be a bit of a hotly debated topic among home educating families. There are so many opinions and some families schedules can leave you feeling overwhelmed and inadequate for the job of home education.  You can read some of my thoughts on scheduling here: Our Rhythm - Year Round Schooling and Homeschool Daily Schedules

I've done both.  I've scheduled every minute of every day and done no scheduling what-so-ever. Neither options lasted very long for us.  I've avoided writing down a schedule for Nathaniel as it seems to cause him a lot of stress if we don't do something at a scheduled time of the day. As a result I have a rough schedule in my head which is flexible around the things we need to get done or field trips we are booked into attending.  Over the last few years I have come to value Field Trips and I am appreciating more and more the impact they have on our students educational experiences.

In this way: give your a child a single valuable idea, and you have done more for his education than if you had laid upon his mind the burden of bushels of information. - Charlotte Mason

Alas I digress ...

What does our day look like ?
In an ideal world I would love to have a very strict schedule.  I also know that that is not real life.

  • We get up and share a cup of tea each morning to start our day.  On days when I need the car I take Paul to work and we have breakfast when we get home.
  • After breakfast we do a couple of household chores (generally we hang washing and unpack the dishwasher)
  • Nathaniel and I then spend some time reading read alouds
  • We have morning tea and do some seat work at the table. (Math, LA, Notebooking etc)
  • By then it's lunch time.
  • After lunch we either go to afternoon activities or we cuddle on the couch and enjoy more read aloud time together
  • Sometimes we watch documentaries on demand TV.  I prefer SBS Documentaries for these.

"Every lesson must have its own time, and no other time in this world is there for it. The sense of the preciousness of time, of the irreparable loss when a ten minutes' lesson is thrown away must be brought home." - Charlotte Mason Companion page 93

Homeschool Adventures
You can follow our day to day adventures on Instagram via ChareenR



Looking forward to reading about your days come and link up with us

Blessings
Chareen

Second Week Back {HSMJ}


 In my life this week…
  • We are trying to get back into the swing of things ... 
  • I am rearranging my library of books.
Helpful homeschooling tips or advice to share…

In our home school this week…
  • .We have continued reading The Wizard of Oz.
  • Enjoyed learning about the Greek and Roman gods in a Child's History of the World.  
  • Read about the Illiad and the Odessey
  • Made a Valentine's Angel
  • Commenced recorder lessons for 2015
  • Practiced catching a tennis ball for the upcoming Boys Brigade International Games
  • Continued reading the orginal Hans Christian Anderson stories.  
  • Recommenced our art drawing technique class.
  • We've been reading Dinosaurs of Eden in preparation of our trip to see Walking with Dinosaurs in March.
  • Continued with our science studies of the planets.



Places we’re going and people we’re seeing…
  • This week was considerably quieter than last week!
  • We had recorder and art lessons.

My favourite thing this week was…

 Things I’m working on…
A Question to Ask
  • Do you keep a Common Place Book ?  IF so why ?  What is it ?  I want to know more ...
  • I started researching it 

 On the WWW I’m reading…
  A photo, video, link, or quote to share…

Geelong Waterfront

Blessings
Chareen


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Linking to
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Photo collages made with: Photoscape a FREE photo editor


A Week In Review Link UP

Join Lisa and I each week and share your week in review.  We look forward to reading about your

  • Week in Review
  • Field Trips
  • School Work 
  • Homeschool projects
  • And anything homeschool related.
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My Week in Review Link UP