I don't know about you but my favorite days of "real public school" were the first and the last. The first because I got to wear new clothes and see my friends and the last because that meant summer vacation!!!! I don't want it to be the same with my kids. I want them to have fun learning. Yes, actually learning, not regurgitating facts that do them absolutely no good. Often times, we as homeschooling moms just do what we were taught to do in public school. We buy workbooks, sit our kids down and make them as bored as we were, resulting in a hatred for learning. Are workbooks bad? That's not what I'm saying, but are they just public school formalities reproduced in pretty christian packages?
There's also the issue of pride; pride in ourselves, resulting in pride in our children. As homeschooling moms, we often times want our children to be the smartest, to have the most head knowlege so they make us look good. When we have that as the purpose and focus for teaching our children, we begin to sow seeds of pride, arrogance and scorn into the hearts of our children. (Psalm 1:1-3, Proverbs 16:8) Not good.
One of the questions we should be asking is, do they REALLY understand what they are learning? Do the things we are teaching make sense to them? Can our children pull out a yummy cake recipe, see that it's not nearly enough to feed a family of 11, double it and use fractions to find out that 1/2 cup + 1/2 cup = 1 whole cup or are we just teaching facts in a workbook that are not applicable to life?
You see, life IS learning. Every minute of everyday is an opportunity for learning. Your kids want to be right by your side doing what you are doing. They want to pull out change, learn how to count it, put it in a baby food jar and go buy some ice cream. They want to be your helper in the kitchen while you're cooking dinner. They want you to read exciting stories to them to feed their imaginations. They want to learn by seeing, touching, tasting, feeling, singing, drawing and painting. Sound exhausting? Absolutely, but that is when we need to draw our strength from the LORD. He has called us to this high and holy calling of motherhood, therefore He expects us to call on him for the strength and wisdom to do it for HIS glory.
Which brings me to the last, most important point. The reason we as Christians homeschool (or it should be) is to teach our children for the glory of God only. Soli Deo Gloria is a latin term meaning Glory to God alone. It is a term used by artists like Johann Sebastian Bach and George Frideric Handel to signify that the work was produced for the sake of praising God. However, we lose sight of that focus and we get so busy "DOING SCHOOL" that we don't have enough time to open the Bible and teach them about the very One we are supposed to be doing it for, JESUS CHRIST! Better yet, we rant and rave, scream and yell, get on the phone and talk bad about others in front our children, then we sit down to Bible time with a gentle and quiet, but extremely fake spirit and expect them to listen to us teach on humility. It doesn't work, trust me. They see right through it and they will begin to despise God's word.
The things that are important to you will be important to your children. The Bible says, "Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it." Proverbs 22:6. If the only thing that you can accomplish for the day is to sit down with your kids and read them the story of Jesus feeding the five thousand, then do it and show them how mighty and powerful He is.
I once heard someone teach on the story of Jesus feeding the 5,000 and it encouraged me so much as a mom. Just imagining the scenario and without reading into scripture, this teacher said it was very possible that some mom got up one day and did what most would consider the very unimportant, mundane job of packing her little boys lunch. She faithfully did what God called her to do, packed up his five loaves and two little fish and sent him off to learn from the Saviour. Little did she know that Jesus would take those five loaves and two little fish and feed 5,000 men (that's not counting the women and children). God, Himself, took that little, seemingly unimportant task of making lunch for her son and used it to perform a MIRACLE THAT STILL AMAZES US TODAY! Now that's MOMMY MATH!
Momma, being a mommy is the most important job in the world, none others even come close. It's also the hardest job in the world. My wonderful hubby often tells me when it gets too hard, "If it were easy, everybody would be doing it." God has chosen you for such a time as this. Your life is very important to Him. Are you exhausted, discouraged, blundering, thinking it's all in vain? Call on Him, ask Him to give you a vision, a love for learning, a love for teaching your kids the way He wants you to teach them. One of the mistakes I made as a young homeschooling mom was to follow what others were doing. Big mistake! I was miserable trying to make what they did for their child work for my child and my child was miserable as well.They were not teaching my kids, I needed to seek the Lord for what He wanted for me and the children He had given me, not what the magazines said were the best curricula or the book fairs or even well meaning peers.
As the Lord begins to transform your heart, be faithful and joyful in the little, everyday tasks He has called you to, then wait and watch, you might just be able to see Him do some Mommy Math! Praying you have a blessed year. Soli Deo Gloria!
And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him. Colossians 3:17
No comments:
Post a Comment