Heart of the Matter

Loree’ Pettit is a wife and homeschooling mother to 3 children. Loree’ developed a love of geography and history as child traveling throughout the United States and Europe with her family. In 2001, she translated that interest into a geography based unit study for her own children. That unit study went into publication the following year as Galloping the Globe, Cantering the Country, and Eat Your Way through the USA followed two years later. Come and “meet” Loree’ at the Heart of the Matter Online Conference. She will encourage and inspire you with her two talks titled Learning and Having Fun with Your Children and Give Your Child the World: Integrating Travel Into the Homeschool.

Where is your favorite place to visit?
Domestically, we love Washington, DC and Plymouth, MA. They are both just so rich in history. (And there is a little lunch counter in Plymouth right across from Plymouth Rock that has the best clams I have ever eaten!)

In February, we traveled overseas for the first time as a family when we were given the opportunity to go to Germany and Austria. All of us fell in love with Salzburg, Austria! Originally, we were only going to spend one day in Salzburg, but there was so much that we still wanted to see that we spent two extra nights.

You wrote Galloping the Globe based on geography unit studies for your children. What was the most difficult location to get your children interested in?
Back in 2001 when I wrote GtG, we spent the least amount of time on South American countries. The boys simply were not interested at the time. Fast forward a few years and we were doing units that I wrote using the biographies written by Geoff and Janet Benge and published by YWAM. We spent two months learning about a few South American countries while studying the biographies of Nate Saint and Jim Elliot. The boys loved it! This summer we will be doing our traditional Olympic study. Every Olympics the boys each choose a country to learn about and cheer for during the games. This year Aaron has chosen Brazil as the country that he wants to learn more about. So don’t get discouraged if your child isn’t interested when you first introduce a location. It may not happen today or tomorrow, but at some point down the road, they might just surprise you.

Eat Your Way through the USA sounds so yummy! What made you decide to write about food and traveling?
Cooking has always been a lot of fun for me. I love to cook! From the very first unit study we ever did, bringing foods from geographic locations and historic time periods has always been a part of the adventure. When we travel or go to an ethnic festival, I don’t want food that I can get at home; I want authentic foods from that culture.

I love the phrase that my publisher, Cindy Wiggers of Geography Matters, coined. It’s taste buds on learning!

You will be talking about “Learning and Having Fun with Your Children”. What’s your fondest memory of learning and having fun with your children?
Oh, my! There are so many. Curling up on the couch with a child snuggled up on either side for read aloud time are the warmest memories. Travel and field trips to see and touch what we’ve been learning are definite highlights. But one of my fondest memories would have to be the day my younger son grasped the concept of time and seasons.

Learning about seasons was the first unit that I planned myself. The boys were in kindergarten and first grade so it wasn’t going to be a long unit, only a week. That Monday was the last day of winter so we learned about winter and made a big deal about it being the last day of winter. Tuesday was the first day of spring. We learned about what makes spring special and made a big deal about it being the first day of spring. Wednesday we learned about summer. Nothing was ever said about it being summer. Thursday morning Aaron, who was 5 at the time, asked, “Are we still doing summer today?” I said, “No, today we get to learn about fall.” Aaron threw his hands out and exclaimed, “What! Only one day of summer? We didn’t get to go swimmin’ or nothin’!” I grabbed that teachable moment and pulled out a calendar to show him that we would have plenty of time to go swimming.

Another fond memory is the evening that we did a hands on project to replicate digestion. I’m the squeamish one so we waited until after supper to do this project so that my husband could be there to help. Without going into a lot of detail, just imagine pulverized banana, crackers, & lemon juice being squeezed through a pantyhose leg. Surprisingly, I was fine; it was Ralph and the boys that were about to puke. None of us will ever forget how digestion works!

How would you integrate travel into homeschooling on a budget?
With gas at over $4 a gallon and prices on everything else rising, traveling cheap is a bigger challenge today than it was a year ago. A large part of the workshop, Give Your Child the World, covers ways that our family saves money when we travel and ways that we save money to go on our trips.

Traveling with children can be a chore! Any tips?
Travel games and toys that are only played with while traveling help keep younger ones entertained. Books on CD can keep the whole family engrossed for hours.

Loree’ Pettit is a wife and homeschooling mother to 3 children. Loree’ developed a love of geography and history as child traveling throughout the United States and Europe with her family. In 2001, she translated that interest into a geography based unit study for her own children. That unit study went into publication the following year as Galloping the Globe, Cantering the Country, and Eat Your Way through the USA followed two years later. Come and “meet” Loree’ at the Heart of the Matter Online Conference. She will encourage and inspire you with her two talks titled Learning and Having Fun with Your Children and Give Your Child the World: Integrating Travel Into the Homeschool.

Where is your favorite place to visit?
Domestically, we love Washington, DC and Plymouth, MA. They are both just so rich in history. (And there is a little lunch counter in Plymouth right across from Plymouth Rock that has the best clams I have ever eaten!)

In February, we traveled overseas for the first time as a family when we were given the opportunity to go to Germany and Austria. All of us fell in love with Salzburg, Austria! Originally, we were only going to spend one day in Salzburg, but there was so much that we still wanted to see that we spent two extra nights.

You wrote Galloping the Globe based on geography unit studies for your children. What was the most difficult location to get your children interested in?
Back in 2001 when I wrote GtG, we spent the least amount of time on South American countries. The boys simply were not interested at the time. Fast forward a few years and we were doing units that I wrote using the biographies written by Geoff and Janet Benge and published by YWAM. We spent two months learning about a few South American countries while studying the biographies of Nate Saint and Jim Elliot. The boys loved it! This summer we will be doing our traditional Olympic study. Every Olympics the boys each choose a country to learn about and cheer for during the games. This year Aaron has chosen Brazil as the country that he wants to learn more about. So don’t get discouraged if your child isn’t interested when you first introduce a location. It may not happen today or tomorrow, but at some point down the road, they might just surprise you.

Eat Your Way through the USA sounds so yummy! What made you decide to write about food and traveling?
Cooking has always been a lot of fun for me. I love to cook! From the very first unit study we ever did, bringing foods from geographic locations and historic time periods has always been a part of the adventure. When we travel or go to an ethnic festival, I don’t want food that I can get at home; I want authentic foods from that culture.

I love the phrase that my publisher, Cindy Wiggers of Geography Matters, coined. It’s taste buds on learning!

You will be talking about “Learning and Having Fun with Your Children”. What’s your fondest memory of learning and having fun with your children?
Oh, my! There are so many. Curling up on the couch with a child snuggled up on either side for read aloud time are the warmest memories. Travel and field trips to see and touch what we’ve been learning are definite highlights. But one of my fondest memories would have to be the day my younger son grasped the concept of time and seasons.

Learning about seasons was the first unit that I planned myself. The boys were in kindergarten and first grade so it wasn’t going to be a long unit, only a week. That Monday was the last day of winter so we learned about winter and made a big deal about it being the last day of winter. Tuesday was the first day of spring. We learned about what makes spring special and made a big deal about it being the first day of spring. Wednesday we learned about summer. Nothing was ever said about it being summer. Thursday morning Aaron, who was 5 at the time, asked, “Are we still doing summer today?” I said, “No, today we get to learn about fall.” Aaron threw his hands out and exclaimed, “What! Only one day of summer? We didn’t get to go swimmin’ or nothin’!” I grabbed that teachable moment and pulled out a calendar to show him that we would have plenty of time to go swimming.

Another fond memory is the evening that we did a hands on project to replicate digestion. I’m the squeamish one so we waited until after supper to do this project so that my husband could be there to help. Without going into a lot of detail, just imagine pulverized banana, crackers, & lemon juice being squeezed through a pantyhose leg. Surprisingly, I was fine; it was Ralph and the boys that were about to puke. None of us will ever forget how digestion works!

How would you integrate travel into homeschooling on a budget?
With gas at over $4 a gallon and prices on everything else rising, traveling cheap is a bigger challenge today than it was a year ago. A large part of the workshop, Give Your Child the World, covers ways that our family saves money when we travel and ways that we save money to go on our trips.

Traveling with children can be a chore! Any tips?
Travel games and toys that are only played with while traveling help keep younger ones entertained. Books on CD can keep the whole family engrossed for hours.

Amy Grant Bayliss is a wife and mother to 3 young boys. In addition to being the co-founder of Heart of the Matter, she blogs at In Pursuit of Proverbs 31, designs blogs and hosts tutorials at Split Decisionz, and is co-owner and a contributing writer to Internet Cafe Devotions. She is a writer and speaker who has a desire to help women fulfill the call of God on their life. Come and listen to Amy at the Heart of the Matter Online Conference, as she inspires and encourages with her talks on Simplifing Your Homeschool; and Homeschooling for Beginners.

You’re a very busy woman! What do you do for yourself?
I like hot bubble baths and while I relax I like to read. That soothes me more than anything. I also like to have coffee with friends and just relax for an hour or so without the demands of day to day life.

Tell us about the beginnings of Heart of the Matter and Internet Café Devotions.
Heart of the Matter was first birthed in the heart of Amy S and I just came along and shared some ideas with her. I had just kept all of these ideas I had in a notebook and when Amy asked for some ways to improve her concept, I unloaded them on her. I guess she liked them because she asked if I could help implement them and that is when I came on board. That was in January of this year. It is hard to believe that it has only been six months because it has grown so much. It is just amazing!

I have been a part of the Internet Café for a while. Darlene Schacht from CWO is the founder of the devotional site and she brought me on board over a year ago. As her online magazine grew so did the time required maintaining it and that is when she decided to take her hand off of the Café and she handed it over. Lori MacMath and I have been running the site since May 1st and I am so pleased with what God is doing there. We get dozens of emails from women who are returning to Christ or who would like to know more about a relationship with Christ as a result of reading through the site.

I feel blessed that I get to serve people in this capacity.

You also design blogs and host tutorials-is there anything you can’t do?
I can’t sew or knit or crochet. In fact, aren’t they all the same thing? Shows you what I know. I can’t craft like my sister can. She can make an indoor garden out of string and hot glue and I can’t keep my artificial houseplants in shape. There are so many things I can’t do that I would love to. I’m a big learner. I would be a professional college student if it didn’t cost so much. I just love to learn all I can about things that interest me. My passion though is writing. I am also into anything that requires creativity along the lines of color and texture.

Share with us your homeschooling journey.
My children attended a private Christian school until my oldest completed second grade. It was then that the school closed its doors due to financial problems. I had worked for the ministry and received a discount. Without that luxury I was unable to afford to place them in another private Christian school. So, I made a horrible mistake; I put them in the local public school.

Academically everything seemed fine to me. Everyone was making good grades. Homework was tedious but we made it through the 2+ hours every night. I met with the teacher and principal so things seemed to be on the up and up. But, sooner or later the ugly truth reveals itself. Most of the school systems here simply aren’t acceptable. Numerous things happened to my children while there and I tolerated it as long as I could.

All the while God had been prompting me to homeschool and I was fighting Him every step of the way. I did not want to. I thought I would lose my personal time, that it would be too hard having them home all day, and that I would fail miserably. Once I listened to God and brought them home and found that my fears were unmerited and that my children actually had better behavior and we developed a closer bond with each other. It has been amazing. I love it and as long as God says so I’m in it for the long haul.

How do you keep everything in perspective with God’s desire for your life?
I do what He tells me! What He wants me to do today may not necessarily be a priority tomorrow. I try my best to listen to His voice and follow it. Seriously, I know that if I do what He says then things will flow the way He intended it to and we will be blessed. I also know when I’m being disobedient that my life becomes remarkably unstable. I don’t like living that way. It isn’t the abundant way of life that God promised us and so I try to seek Him and find an answer and quickly repent. I mess up a lot but I am so thankful that I can depend on Him to get me back on track. I have to do it all for Him or not at all.

What’s your favorite Bible verse?
Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. 12 In those days when you pray, I will listen. 13 If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me. 14 I will be found by you,” says the Lord.

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!