Speaker Spotlight: Amy Pak

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Amy Pak of Home School in the Woods, is the author of History Through the Ages, Hands on History, and Time Travelers. She is a wife and homeschooling mom to 6 kiddos. Well, come and “meet” Amy at the Heart of the Matter Online Conference, and listened to her inspiring talks on Teaching With Timelines; and Hands on History.

1. You wrote *Time Travelers*. If you could travel to any time in History, what would it be and why?

I have two answers to that question! If I could travel back in time “to live,” I’d probably have to say it would have to be the Colonial period of American history. I’ve always been told I’m living in the wrong century! There was lots of hard work, but their priorities were generally in good order and faith in God had a prominent place in the majority of the families. Life was simpler, rotated around the family, and people knew and depended on each other.

If I could travel back “to visit,” I’d have to say Israel at the time of Christ–who wouldn’t want to meet Him face to face, sit at His feet, and walk in His steps? The great thing is, I (we) do get to do that! But that Time Travel will be in the future!

2. You said you grew up disliking History. How did you get over your initial dread of teaching History?

That’s easy–by HOMESCHOOLING! Part of why we dread is because we don’t understand…there’s a saying, “We fear what we don’t understand.” There are two components to this that apply to teaching history. My first revelation was that the homeschool is a FAR CRY from the public school class room–we don’t have to follow any rigid text book, stick to their rules, memorize names/dates/places, and regurgitate the information on a test, just to promptly forget it. I immediately glommed onto reading from living books and interesting sources, and incorporating projects and fun activities relating to what we were studying. When I understood that we could learn through LIVING it (much differently than I did in public school!), it immediately sparked a fire.

My second revelation came as I began to understand the flow of history.
This took grasping hold of “where” and “when”– something accomplished through maps and timelines. I am highly visual, and if I can anchor a time in history like a puzzle piece, I can find other puzzle pieces that fit in before, after, and during that time. Eventually a bigger picture takes place. And with God’s providence INCLUDED (unlike the school setting I grew up in), there were no gaping “potholes” to trip through leaving history so disconnected. Instead, His providence showed connections and His relationship to His creation all throughout the centuries!

3. What’s your best tip for making History fun?

LIVE IT! And follow your desires! Greg Harris calls it “delight directed study” and it is so true–a child can not learn all of history in 12 years; take advantage of a desire when it happens! Follow a plan, but don’t be afraid to diverge from it once in a while! If you are studying Ancient Egypt and your child just HAS to know more about mummification, take the extra time to travel down that path! You don’t want to squelch a desire that may not return.

ALSO, and this is a biggie–children have to focus so much on the three R’s in the elementary levels. Much of that is through text books and such.

Try to keep any history text books to a minimum–perhaps for you, the teacher, as a spine. Too much text book learning burns out a child by high school, and isn’t it our goal to ignite a passion to learn in our children, that even goes beyond their school years? History is rife with opportunity to make it fun! And what mom doesn’t want to hear their child say, “I can’t wait to do school!”

4. I bet it’s fun with so many history themes in your house. What does a typical day look like?

Wow, this is a loaded question! I’ll try to give it to you in a nutshell.
We start our school day with the basic three R’s as I have their focusing attention the best at that time. Our goal is to get those subjects done by lunch time so we can relax and have fun in the afternoon with our other subjects, which the boys gladly focus on with no problem!

There are almost always projects strewn all over the house, whether in process or on display. Sometimes dinner is designed around what we are learning, so if it’s a day of cooking, we’ll have the smells and music playing of the era/country, etc. Our house is generally a hub that friends end up at, and just about everyone who comes gets exposed to history in some form! There are so many fantastic history stories that dinner conversations often rotate around many of them, and after all, it is our history that often influences who we are today, so even current events are continuously connecting to other times we’ve learned about! (By the way, with our Latin household, dinner conversations are an experience in themselves–loud, exciting, and sometimes overwhelming!) Our garage, front porch, and basement have costumes and accoutrements of all kinds ready for play at a moment’s notice. A common scene in our afternoon will be children running through the woods in attire of any specific era, or all at once! Imagine looking out your window to see Roman soldiers, Union and Confederate soldiers, French Foreign Legion, Medieval knights, WWII soldiers, and Patriots or British running helter-skelter with some plan of attack, or encamping down by our creek! Talk about being caught in a time warp! But whether reenacting Burnside’s Bridge or Market Garden, or coming up with new plans of their own, the children love to live out history!

5. How do you do it all? (Teaching, writing books, role playing, keeping up a website, etc.)

I don’t sleep. No, just kidding! However I have learned to get by on about 6 hours of sleep. The answer is “BALANCE.” We have family pow-wows to make sure that I am not getting too absorbed in the work (which I can tend to do), and neglecting the role I cherish most–wife and mom. We get e-mails daily asking to put out more and more resources. Being that we strive for quality and much of what we do we create from scratch (illustrations and such), our resources take a while to produce and we just can’t put out as many as we’d like.

We do all of it in our home–my oldest son is a history magnet, who has an amazing gift of seeing the whole picture and absorbing facts and details. He also has a talent at writing, so we have delegated the copy writing to him. My husband is the business administrator and technical guru, so computer and CD related issues go to him, as well as anything with numbers. I can’t dial a phone without getting it mixed up–math is NOT my thing! My daughter is also learning the business and helps with fulfillment, but most of all, is training in the role of wife and mom by taking on some of my jobs. She is in charge of weekly menus, shopping, and cooking. She will also be taking on the household bills, and often assists
in teaching her younger brothers. Chores are divided by all who live here. I try to do much of my creative work at night with little disruption, and rarely get to bed before 3:00 a.m., but that is my best time, being a night owl!

Our house is not perfect, nor always as organized as I’d like it to be, but it’s filled with laughter and love and friends! …some who never seem to leave! lol! And I wouldn’t want it any other way.

6. Your timeline figures are amazing…how long have you been an artist, and where did you learn to draw?

I have been drawing since my mother put crayons in my hand as an infant in a highchair. I come from a family of artists, and have been involved in competitions since the first grade. I have worked for printing firms, newspapers, and eventually in a graphics agency as a designer and illustrator. I also free-lanced for several years. However, I left the world of “employment” to raise my “four masterpieces” at home. The need to create is in the blood and by our sixth year of homeschooling (2002), I was itching to create timeline figures that would meet my needs–classic illustrations with text definitions. With the blessing the Lord and my family, we embarked on our first timeline set, not realizing what a need in the homeschool world there was to fulfill this gap. And Home School in the Woods began. …And the rest, as they say, is history!