When you think of your child’s future, do you wonder what it’ll be like?
Will she lead a happy, inspired & productive life?
If more than 65% of future careers don’t even exist yet, how can you prepare
him to excel in this unimaginable world?
What if I told you that the way forward is to look back, way back into
time – to the beginnings of humankind?!?
To a time when people worked with their hands to make
beautiful & useful things for themselves & others.
In our world, much of our days are spent interacting with screens &
virtual images. They provide information, inspiration & entertainment.
As wonderful as they are, there are some fundamental ingredients
necessary for a well-balanced life that don’t need to be plugged in or
switched on….
.
A Little Light Neuroscientific Research
with your Tea, Madame?
A couple of weeks ago I was in Paris & what do you think I was doing?
As I told my elder daughter, “a little light neuroscientific research”.
What else ?
Lest you feel too sorry for me, I did eventually close my books & take
a stroll by the Seine. It’s easy to get drawn down a twisty rabbit hole &
lose track of what you’re looking for if you don’t take a break here & there!
Taking time to let ideas settle in, always gives you more clarity.
That’s one the reasons I’m such a big fan of “slow learning”!
Perhaps, learning about how your child’s brain works or
the best ways to quickly embed information there aren’t your
cup of tea (or thé) but they should be if you have
dreams of raising your child to do well in the future.
When I first started teaching handwork online,
created Handwork Homeschool
& designed The MAKING Lessons
– I thought :
I’m good at handwork & I enjoy teaching so I’ll show other mother’s
how to do it. It’ll give them something to do with their kids once their
academic lessons are finished for the day.
.
In essence, I figured I was just going to design some patterns,
create a few tutorials & that’d be that!
Well, as is the case when you’re inexplicably attracted to something,
when it surfaces everywhere you look & even though you do it all the time
– you still want to do more – I started to piece together some very
interesting facts & information.
The exciting part is that I found answers to some of my deepest handwork questions
& they are WAY more profound than I could have ever dreamt!
We’re talking mind-bendingly wild!
.
Wild Handwork Doesn’t Mean
Knitting Outside (although it could …!)
.
.
How do you define wild?
Untamed, outrageous, fierce are all in my thesaurus – so is revolutionary.
That’s how I want my kids to live & think – when I imagine them all grown up
I envision them as living on the wild side – being super creative, great problem
solvers, happily connected to themselves & those they love.
Thinking about the fact that so many 21st century careers haven’t even been
thought up yet, got me to wondering why so many women teach their children
using 19th century production-line methods.
You know – memorize the facts, tick the box, trace this, follow that & repeat.
If you’re good & finish your homework, you can watch a movie someone else
wrote or play a digital game that 100,000’s of other kids are playing
at the same time all over the world..
Making your own path in the world isn’t easy but I’d settle for
the challenge any day.
And I’m preparing my kids to go their own ways, too.
In fact, I’m proud to tell you that they’ve already started.
.
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Where Does Handwork Come Into
This Grand Scheme?
.
At first, I was a good girl & kept handwork where it was “supposed” to be
– crammed into the afternoon after lunch & before the late day snack attack.
Of course, it often got forgotten or overlooked, especially if we had somewhere
to go or somebody was cranky.
As I read & discovered how effective the handwork arts can be for calming
& centring my kids, in improving their handwriting & lengthening their attention
span, I started to re-think our days.
.
- Did you know a knitting child will retain more details from the story
you’re reading to them?
. - How quickly do you think your child will learn her times table
if she counts her stitches by 2’s or 3’s?
. - What about the many neural pathways that are being built & strengthened
with each careful movement he makes while fingerknitting or crocheting?
. - Want to engage your kids in a fairytale? Or create their own?
Let them make the props & figures & act it out. They’ll never forget it!
. - Concerned about the amount of time they spend in front of screens?
It would feel a lot better if they had something to show for it than just
knowing all the jingles, eh?.
And Just How Do You Bring
Handwork To Your Kids
– So They’ll Enjoy It & Feel Confident Doing It?
.
It’s taken me 5 years to create my master course, The MAKING Lessons.
It’s easy to think about the fibre arts & conjure up a plain knit hat or
kitschy crocheted potholder.
There is SO much more to them that!
Every human civilization has practiced some form of handwork & I’ll tell you why.
These lessons are a virtual exploration of the handwork arts which will take
you back in history & forward in time.
You’ll begin by discovering just what handwork is & what it can do for you
& your child.
Then you’ll collect ideas & inspiration – the things that “call” to you & your
babes – that will make your projects – yours.
Along the way you’ll connect with other mothers who long to see their
children flourish now & in the coming years, some ahead of you in your
homeschooling journey& others just setting foot at the very beginning
of this challenging path.
At the end, you’ll emerge with the ability to see exactly which
handwork project you want to put where, how to weave your lessons
together & what to do next.
Why Handwork In These Modern Times?
.
You’re teaching your children because you want them to have the best education you can give them.
One that is customized to highlight their strengths & shore up their weaknesses.
Right ?
When you envision them as adults, what do you hope that they have…?
A creative, beautiful, happy & healthy life.
Think about that for a minute…
If you nurture your child’s creativity, she can make beautiful things &/or
experiences for herself & others.
When she has beautiful things, experiences & people (for people are drawn
to those who express themselves freely & joyfully) in her life, she’ll feel happy.
When she feels happy she enjoys what she does everyday & does it well.
When she’s happy & feeling fulfilled (in her career & personal life) she’s
more likely to be healthy.
See?
.
I get so excited when things tie together so perfectly !
To add a bit more excitement, I must say that I am very pleased to announce ….
(Drum roll please….)
The 2015 session of
.
What’s NEW ?
.
I’ve run The MAKING Lessons 3 times before & made many changes &
adjustments along the way. So let me tell you about those now…
First,
this master course is LIVE for 5 weeks plus when you enroll you’ll get
PERPETUAL access to the course site & all materials. If you want
to re-watch a video or see what some of the other mother’s are doing with
their kids, you can pop back into the site whenever you want.
.
Second,
there will be a Facebook forum for everyone to ask questions
(& receive answers), get to know each other & swap ideas.
We’ll be an international group – so this will be fun!
I’ll even have office hours once a week when you can ask me anything about
handwork or homeschooling (or living in France!)
.
Third,
I’ll be adding a new BONUS section to The Making Lessons for everyone
who enrolls before August 30 th, in which I’ll share my notes from my top 7
most inspiring books & of course, my insights!
Seriously, it’s taken me hours to read & re-read them & every time I do,
I discover something fresh & amazing!
You can think of these as your Handwork Quick Notes – you’ll only get
the good stuff – a taster of some of the best thinking about how working
with your hands shapes your life & glimpses into what the world will be
like for your kids.
.
.
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Helping Children Make Their World
.
I’ve opened the doors & am
offering you an Early Bird price
as well as the
Handwork Quick Notes
ONLY until August 30 th
2015
***
5 weeks of
Live, Easy & Inspiring Lessons
+
Perpetual Access to
All Course Materials
.
Enroll NOW
Early Bird Price
$100
* before August 30 then $150 US *
(SAVE 33%)
.
.
You’ll Receive Full Access To:
A Whole New Way of
Creating Unique Handwork Experiences
for your child
AND
* 7 multi-media lessons
* the best & most useful printables
* a private Making Lessons forum
* my “office” hours = semi-private coaching
* 30+ years of real handwork experience & insight
PLUS
* the one & only
Handwork Quick Notes
series
.
You’ll get all the virtual hand-holding you need,
& to start, send me an EMAIL if you have any questions
or click HERE to get all the details.
.
If you’re looking for a new & different way to
give your child a
calm, creative & connected life,
now’s the time to get started.
.
.
During the course, you’ll observe your child (& take a look at yourself, too)
then pick the right handwork skills to teach & learn this year – those that
will help lay solid foundations for future academic studies & advanced social skills.
.
I’ll show you step-by-step how to teach a new skill, reinforce current
ones & know when it’s time to move onto the next.
It’s like having a really good reference book that you can talk to
(& who can answer YOUR questions not give you some generic response…).
As in any good handwork project –
Customization is the name of this game!
.
.
You’ll be amazed how a few well-chosen handwork projects can change how
your children see themselves & the world! It’s a lot easier than you might think.
.
Along the way, you’ll also:
- assemble your own inspiration files – for handwork & academic lessons
- develop your own homeschooling timetable
- brainstorm ways to tweak a commercial curriculum OR…
- invent your own custom curriculum !.
.
Is this the year you pull all the threads of
your homeschool together?
.
The Making Lessons can help you do it
– click HERE to learn more & enroll!
I look forward to meeting you in “class”.
Happy Making!
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** Please NOTE **
This year, I’m only offering The Making Lessons once & then
I’ll be re-building the course for 2016. The new version will be offered at a
higher price, so jump in now at the 2015 price & “make” your year different!
