It's My Job to Get You to Heaven

In our house, we disregard any comments thrown our way when the "socialization" issue is brought up. We don't believe that public school is the be all, end all to a way for a child to have peers. We attend church three times a week, and we have monthly fellowship groups with a few families, including children in a similar age group as our kids. We frequent Barnes & Noble, and the kids tend to share books and trains fairly well with the other kids around--as well as a three and one year old do--and Samantha almost always has an older girl following her around and keeping her entertained and busy. When our children are older, we hope that they are interested in scouts. My sister and her husband are "band geeks" and I hope that that too will rub off on Joshua and Samantha.

But, today we were at the library picking up the books that we reserved to begin the letter A unit next week, and we just so happened to stumble into Baby Storytime. At first Samantha wanted to go in, but quickly changed her mind as we entered the room. Joshua, however, wanted nothing to do with any of it. When he was Samantha's age, we tried the Music and Storytime stuff and he did not like it then either. I suppose it is mostly that he is unwilling to quickly adapt to new environments--he likes to ease into his surroundings. At birthday parties, he is usually the last to join in, but he has a blast once he does. At the library, he loves playing with the toys in the lobby, but the transition is too quick into the reading room. I have filled in as a helper in his class at church and until recently, he did not pipe up much when singing songs and helping to recite stories. I pray that his reaction to new, unfamiliar situations grows better with time, but even more so that it will not become a thorn in my side when it comes to the "S" issue and onlookers of homeschooling progress.

Now, I do realize that all children develop at different rates and different personalities, but I feel being a minority to the way today's society views what makes a kid well-rounded socially, and the fact that my Munchkin is a bit shy, will ultimately call for discussion in many situations. I hope that at the those times, I will remember to take a breath, ask the Lord for strength, and point to the Imp that is holding hands with a little girl that she probably met two mintues ago. I pray that the life we strive to model for them is worthy of God and his grace, but I have to remember that I must be understanding of the thoughts and views of others, without judging their character and motives for their comments.

A good friend of mine introduced me to a phrase that she heard growing up and now uses with her three daughters. When put in a situation that usually amounts to a "that's not fair" response from one of her girls, she reminds them, "It's not my job to be fair; it's my job to get you to heaven." I always have this thought at the back of my mind--I think that it is a good way to reach decisions and goals. Is that going to ultimately get me closer to God's will? I think that our choice to homeschool is just simply another way that we can provide unending support to our children by teaching them God's will and using the world as an example for all the blessings that he gives us. They don't need a "storytime room" for that.

Writing the Word on Little Hearts

This past Sunday I filled in as teacher in the Kindergarten class at church. One of the young men in that class is homeschooled--he and his brother attend a classical Christian academy where they study two days a week, and are at home the other three working with the curriculum that the school provides. Anyhow, the class has been studying David and Jonathan and I was reviewing the story with one of the children's Bibles kept in the class. Of course, these Bibles tend to be more story-oriented with a note of which scriptures to refer to for the "whole" story (1 Samuel 20). I was astounded when this young man piped-up explaining to me how Jonathan told David to go and hide and about the arrows that he would shoot and tell a boy to retrieve, letting David know whether he should run away or stay. The other children sat fairly still with blank faces while he explained all of this. I happened to sit in front of him and his dad during worship later that morning, and asked his dad about how he studied with his boys.

It really makes a difference in our children to take the time and focus on the Lord. On Monday, I sought out a book that I bought months ago when John and I first decided to homeschool. The title is Teaching Children Memory Verses, Ages 2 & 3 by Rainbow Publishers. Each lesson has an age-appropriate memory verse, Bible story, Bible truth, and step-by-step instructions for the activity. I copied the coloring sheet for the first lesson in the book (the lessons are in order based on the books of the Bible), and other than the fact that the verse is listed incorrectly for the topic covered (The verse is "God created the heavens and the earth" which is Genesis 1:1, but is listed in the book as Genesis 4:7. I have checked several of the other verses, which are all correct, therefore I am guessing this was an editing mistake) I was excited about helping Joshua write the Word of God on his little heart (Deut. 11:18-21).

We gathered around the pillows in our reading corner of our classroom and began by singing some of our favorite songs. Samantha was not entirely excited about having to share the pillow corner with her brother--she thinks that if she and I are there, Joshua should be doing something else somewhere else. However, after the songs, she relaxed a bit and was not thoroughly put out by her brother. We shared a prayer and then I read the story of Creation. When we were finished I recited the verse (well, partial verse as most of these are in this book) to Joshua and we practiced saying it over and over. While we colored our pictures , I quizzed him on things that God made for us. Since he has been studying Creation since birth, he has it down pretty good, but never has he known an actual scripture, just the stories that scripture tells. I followed him around all day saying "God..." and he would recite "...created the whole earth" to which I would ask "created what?" and he would reply "the heavens and the earth, Genesis one one."

By this morning, I could ask him "Joshua, what does Genesis 1:1 say?" and he would carefully respond "God created the heavens and the earth." Praise God for his Word.

The Beginning

After weeks of reading other blogs, I have decided that I am going to give it a shot. I love that so many of you have shared your thoughts and ideas about my two passions right now--homeschooling and scrapbooking. Of course, these two passions encompass my greater life-loves: my God, children, and family. I hope that you all continue to share and encourage me, and that I too can be an encouragement to others.

I plan to post most about these areas of my life on a weekly basis--of course I would love to post daily, but as a mother of two toddlers, I don't want to make that promise to myself.

Since the Munchkin is literally standing on my chair waiting for his computer-time, I will have to post more later!