Adventures in Homeschooling
We did a full day of school today! Yahoo! This was probably the first time in about 2 weeks.
I'm really starting to enjoy the time after our devotions in the morning when we read from the Child's Story Bible (Vos). It is refreshing to re-hear those stories from the Old Testament. It's been a while since I've read them, and to read them as presented to children makes them stick much better in MY mind (no jokes, please). We've recently read about the Amalekites, Gibeonites, Moabites, etc. I'm also benifitting tremendously from our Bible memory program. We've done the first 5 verses of Genesis, and the first 8 commandments so far. I think it's true that you learn more when you are the teacher than when you're the student.
On another, separate school note, I've decided that PRAGMATISM DOESN'T WORK. It sounds strange to say that, because the definition of pragmatism is that you do whatever works. However, to be pragmatic about something means that you have to have a goal - that you are using whatever means required - to reach. In homeschooling, if I have set a goal for the day, and I decide that I will use whatever method I need to in order to reach that goal, by the end of the day I will be a STRESSED person. Discipline is required, and to-do lists are important, but with young children you have to seize those "kairos" moments with them when you can, and not lose focus when they are doing what they do best, which is mainly BEING SLOW ABOUT EVERYTHING YOU WANT THEM TO DO! If it takes 50 minutes in the morning to pick up their toys and we run out of time to do handwriting and phonics, then that's OK. We'll work on our morning routine until we are able to do it quickly, smoothly, and CHEERFULLY (I put cheerfully in CAPS mainly for my own benefit).
I'm really starting to enjoy the time after our devotions in the morning when we read from the Child's Story Bible (Vos). It is refreshing to re-hear those stories from the Old Testament. It's been a while since I've read them, and to read them as presented to children makes them stick much better in MY mind (no jokes, please). We've recently read about the Amalekites, Gibeonites, Moabites, etc. I'm also benifitting tremendously from our Bible memory program. We've done the first 5 verses of Genesis, and the first 8 commandments so far. I think it's true that you learn more when you are the teacher than when you're the student.
On another, separate school note, I've decided that PRAGMATISM DOESN'T WORK. It sounds strange to say that, because the definition of pragmatism is that you do whatever works. However, to be pragmatic about something means that you have to have a goal - that you are using whatever means required - to reach. In homeschooling, if I have set a goal for the day, and I decide that I will use whatever method I need to in order to reach that goal, by the end of the day I will be a STRESSED person. Discipline is required, and to-do lists are important, but with young children you have to seize those "kairos" moments with them when you can, and not lose focus when they are doing what they do best, which is mainly BEING SLOW ABOUT EVERYTHING YOU WANT THEM TO DO! If it takes 50 minutes in the morning to pick up their toys and we run out of time to do handwriting and phonics, then that's OK. We'll work on our morning routine until we are able to do it quickly, smoothly, and CHEERFULLY (I put cheerfully in CAPS mainly for my own benefit).
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