If you'd been a fly on the wall in my home today, there is no doubt that you would have cringed.
"K, don't swerve your bike in front of that car!" (K continued to whine and fuss the remainder of the day.)
"T, keep your focus on your own work and not your brother's!" (T twiddled his thumbs for a while longer, but eventually completed his math worksheet.)
"L, stop yelling at me this instant!" (She continued to yell, fuss, and whine for the rest of the morning, but thankfully by afternoon had decided to cooperate.)
It was not, to say the least, a good day for any of us. I'm really praying that all of our neighbors were at work and couldn't hear the frustration that was evident in us all. Despite the rough school day, however, I suddenly realized something very important, even though I am sure the kids gleaned nothing of value from the day.
The toughest subject for me to teach is not the one I anticipated. It's not math, even though I struggled with Calculus in high school. It's not English, even though the concepts are difficult to convey to a 6-year-old.
Kindness is, by far, the toughest subject for me to teach.
Why? Not only is it something that I struggle with on a daily basis, but it's also something that I do not live out in front of my children. Added to that is the fact that it's a very difficult concept for a child to grasp (well, it's difficult for my kids, anyway).
And if I cannot demonstrate how keep the law of kindness on their tongues, I won't be very good at teaching them anything else, either. It all comes back to me: am I willing to humble myself and ask their forgiveness, to set aside my short temper in order to be a living example of Christ?
More often than not, I'm unwilling to do this. I let my sin nature set the course for the day. I do not fully rely on the power of God to overcome my failings. This wasn't easy for me to learn, but as I listened to myself today - almost as though I were watching all of us from a different vantage point - I realized that I still have a lot of learning and growing to.
In a way, it's exciting. I still have time to teach them what I'm currently learning. And I can trust in God to round out my weak areas, because even though I am responsible for my actions, my children will be responsible for theirs. He can complete my incomplete model, and He can instruct them in the areas where I have failed.
Perhaps this wasn't a completely wasted day, after all!
Friday, April 22, 2011
Monday, April 4, 2011
Nothing's New Under the Sun
Nearly everything I've learned about home schooling comes from someone else - nothing's really original with me. But as we plug along at our work, I'm learning new things to incorporate into our routines. The end result is that the kids are loving school work more and more, and I'm finding easier ways of doing things! In that light, I thought I'd share a few.
I pulled out some math worksheets for the boys today, and on a whim I grabbed colored pencils for them to use when filling them out (K had a crayon in his hand, which is what gave me the idea). They were thrilled with the "fancy" pencils and were very motivated to finish their work. Although colored pencil lead is more difficult to erase, the motivation it provided was well worth the extra erasing effort.
A friend mentioned that Mr. Clean Magic Erasers worked well on a white board. Since ours had gathered several "permanent" marks on it, I gave it a try. Wow! It now looks great. I keep it right next to the board and use it instead of the dry-erase one. If the board gets extra dirty, I just add water to the sponge and it takes it right off. What a great tip!
I don't remember how I learned to add and subtract, but I did know that I wanted the boys to visualize calculations rather than simply memorize addition and subtraction flash cards (that's not to say that flash cards don't have a valuable use at times). When my mom gave me several sets of manipulatives, I was really excited! I rotate the sets - some are colorful bears, some are various shapes, and some are little houses and characters - and the boys can use them to see exactly why 7+2=9 by setting up the manipulatives. Eventually they'll be able to do their math lessons without this aid, but right now we're working on the "why" instead of simply the end result. Thanks, Mom!
My mom-in-law recommended that we try a new curriculum next year - one that's based on hands-on unit studies, and the same curriculum she used for Jon. Since I learned via workbooks and loved that method, I was a little uncertain about teaching something out of my comfort zone. I'm realizing, though, that the kids LOVE hands-on training. It only makes sense that they would learn the same way Jon did! As hard as it will be for me to step out of my comfort zone, I think it will work really well for us. I'm really excited! Prior to her suggestion, though, I didn't even know what unit studies were, or that I could teach the same core curriculum to multiple grades and then assign age/grade-appropriate activities.
Everything we do comes from others' tips and suggestions. I'm okay with that; I've always been the type of learner who can copy someone else's ideas but who cannot come up with them on my own. I'm very thankful to everyone who offers ideas and help, because I'd be lost without them!
I pulled out some math worksheets for the boys today, and on a whim I grabbed colored pencils for them to use when filling them out (K had a crayon in his hand, which is what gave me the idea). They were thrilled with the "fancy" pencils and were very motivated to finish their work. Although colored pencil lead is more difficult to erase, the motivation it provided was well worth the extra erasing effort.
A friend mentioned that Mr. Clean Magic Erasers worked well on a white board. Since ours had gathered several "permanent" marks on it, I gave it a try. Wow! It now looks great. I keep it right next to the board and use it instead of the dry-erase one. If the board gets extra dirty, I just add water to the sponge and it takes it right off. What a great tip!
I don't remember how I learned to add and subtract, but I did know that I wanted the boys to visualize calculations rather than simply memorize addition and subtraction flash cards (that's not to say that flash cards don't have a valuable use at times). When my mom gave me several sets of manipulatives, I was really excited! I rotate the sets - some are colorful bears, some are various shapes, and some are little houses and characters - and the boys can use them to see exactly why 7+2=9 by setting up the manipulatives. Eventually they'll be able to do their math lessons without this aid, but right now we're working on the "why" instead of simply the end result. Thanks, Mom!
My mom-in-law recommended that we try a new curriculum next year - one that's based on hands-on unit studies, and the same curriculum she used for Jon. Since I learned via workbooks and loved that method, I was a little uncertain about teaching something out of my comfort zone. I'm realizing, though, that the kids LOVE hands-on training. It only makes sense that they would learn the same way Jon did! As hard as it will be for me to step out of my comfort zone, I think it will work really well for us. I'm really excited! Prior to her suggestion, though, I didn't even know what unit studies were, or that I could teach the same core curriculum to multiple grades and then assign age/grade-appropriate activities.
Everything we do comes from others' tips and suggestions. I'm okay with that; I've always been the type of learner who can copy someone else's ideas but who cannot come up with them on my own. I'm very thankful to everyone who offers ideas and help, because I'd be lost without them!
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