One common thread among all of us as moms, is how often we feel inadequate for the job of educating our kids. Most of us aren’t teachers, some of us didn’t like school, some of us didn’t do well in school, some learned to bluff our way through, and some didn’t go to college. Yet we know God is leading us to homeschool our kids. Isn’t it like God to call the ill-equipped? He always uses the least likely to that He can get the glory.
Some times my tendency, and that of others I have talked to, is to feel stupid as I teach some of the subjects. I feel unsure of how to go about this task of giving our kids what they need. It seems as if some one else is always teaching more or doing things better. More than likely, they are looking at you thinking you are doing things in a better manner than they are.
Phil. 4:4 says: Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
This is an amazing verse, especially when things are going well; when everyone can find each of their books, when they listen and understand what you are saying, and when they do what you ask them to. But, it is so hard to rejoice when they cry because, “it’s too hard”, or maybe they didn’t do it the right way. The, ‘rejoice and let your gentleness be known to all,’ can be so hard when they don’t listen, when you’ve looked for the grammar book for an hour, or when they are fighting. Be anxious for nothing? But Lord, the thought comes, what if this isn’t enough? Will we ever feel like we’re doing enough? Present your requests and cares to God; He asks us to, He wants to encourage us, and He will give us peace and guard our hearts in Christ Jesus.
We have to remember that: in our weakness is Christ’s strength; in our inability is His wisdom; in our lack of anything, He is our sufficiency. I encourage you as this school year comes to an end, to press on toward your goal, as Phil. 3:12 call us to do. If you are still discouraged, get out your ‘Pillars of Remembrance’ so that you can go back over the reasons you are doing this. Some times we need a daily reminder. Compare yourself only to Jesus, who rights all of our wrongs, gives grace in abundance, shelters us in the shadow of His wings, and is a very present help to each of us in our troubles.
Maybe we need to LIGHTEN UP, IT IS APRIL. The end is in sight. A favorite prayer of mine, other than “Help!” or “Encourage me!” is “Help me be creative, Lord.” We have the Creator of the entire universe to inspire us in how we convey information to our kids. Ask Him to help you and inspire you! After all, He paints the sunsets, gives the starts their twinkle, and adorns our world with such beauty!
Ideas to hopefully help you get through the next two months:
Learn about someone in history by having one of your kids, or yourself, learn about a character without telling anyone else in your family. (Such as George Washington, Betsy Ross, etc…) Then have a tea party, or dinner party, and tell the rest of the family someone special is coming to visit. The person portraying the guest can dress up as that person and come to the party, and everyone can try to figure out who they are by asking lots of questions. Treat them like the special guest they are, so everyone can learn about manners too.
Get together with another home school family to do art, read a book, do a science experiment, or to go to the park.
Make feet shapes out of paper and put either numbers or letters on them. Place them in order on the floor around the house, with some that aren’t in the right order. Then have them jump over the ones that are in the wrong order in order to follow the ‘alphabet or number path’. This will help them learn the alphabet or their numbers.
Find a great book to read aloud each day. My kids loved that. There are so many stories that teach all about character, courage, and other qualities you would love your kids to emulate. It may sound corny, but we did that even in high school. The kids would put together puzzles, do a craft, or draw while they listened. We learned about many amazing people, and incredible times in history, using this method throughout their school years. There are so many books that make life and learning exciting!
Make cookies. (It' math you know.)
Write a note to each of your kids to tell them why they are so great; bless their day!
Create a scavenger hunt that includes words you are trying to teach them to read. Sometimes they are more willing to read for a scavenger hunt than a book.
To get them to write, show them a picture and have them write a story about it. If they are too young to write, they can do it orally. Or, put an unusual object on the table and have them make up a story about it.
Konos is a curriculum that teaches unit studies. It includes all the subjects except math, which it touches on lightly. It suggests the following for a spring activity: (This is a partial view only)
Start a unit on patience or Spring. Talk about Ecc. 13:1-8 where it talks about how there is a time for everything… a time to plant, and a time to uproot what is planted.
Plant some seeds
Read about George Washington Carver. He overcame so many obstacles in his life, and he was a botanist.
Learn about different kinds of plants and photosynthesis
Check out all the books about plants
Identify plant parts
Grow bean sprouts (they grow fast)
Let the older children read THE GIVING TREE by Shel Silverstein and A TREE IS NICE by Janice Urdy to their brothers and sisters
Draw plants
Have a picnic and see how many different kinds of plants you see
Write a paper on a particular plant you use (coffee, Cotton, etc…) from the field to our house and all the different steps in the process
The Konos process can be used to learn about anything. They have come up with so many ideas, it is impossible to relay all of them to you, even just the ones about plants. It makes things fun for the kids, giving an amazing variation to the many ways kids learn. There are lots of choices for you to be able to map out a fun way to learn about a particular topic.
School doesn’t have to look like school as we experienced it. Have fun with it!! We want our kids to love learning, and not feel as if they are missing out by not going to school. W.B.Yeats (who ever that may be) said, “Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.” May we allow the Lord to help us to “Rejoice in all things.” He is near. Good or bad, we can with thanksgiving present our requests to Him, so that His peace will guard our hearts and minds in Chris Jesus each day, as He gives us what He has set before us. You are adequate because of Him, and the job you are doing is sufficient because of Him.
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