A few years ago I shared the following thoughts with a homeschool group I co-lead with another homeschooling mom.  I found this today as I was looking for something else, and thought I would share it now as many of us are  taking some time to write out goals, and re-evaluate the things we are doing.  Perhaps it would benefit someone.

I wrote the following in April 2005:

Here is a quote from the book, Home Built Discipline, by the late Dr. Raymond and Dorothy Moore:

"In 1960 Horizon magazine published the Smithsonian Institution report on the development of genius, authored by North Carolina University psychologist, Harold McCurdy, who studied characteristics of great geniuses and leaders through the ages.  The Smithsonian recipe for genius includes (1) "a high degree of attention focused upon the child by parents and other adults, expressed in intensive educational measures and, usually, abundant love" ; (2) isolation from other children, especially outside the family; and (3) free exploration under parental guidance (in the sand pile, in encyclopedias, in scientific experiments, in music, arts, history, social service) instead of slavery to adult imagination.*  The parental example and response reign as constructive and preventive influences in family discipline."  (p.106)

*Harold G. McCurdy, "The Childhood Pattern of Genius," Horizon 3 (May 1960): 33-8.

Other quotes taken from the book Home Built Discipline:

"Play is to children what work is to adults, and most often their play copies adults' work." p. 107

"When you are building great character in your children, you might consider which house can better stand in a storm:  one that was built deliberately with careful planning - on concrete that was dry, with wood that was well seasoned, and all finished out with loving care - or one that was built in a rush - on uncured concrete, with green, warping wood, by speculators, in a hurry.  It never pays to rush children." p. 109.

"Parenting is a daily testing process.  And this is good.  It challenges you to be a better person, for you are under scrutiny.  In a sense your children are testing you in one way or another every moment." p. 133.

THINGS TO FOCUS ON AS WE LOVE AND NURTURE OUR CHILDREN

1. Seek the Lord first, and then bring to Him everything that concerns you and your family.  Do this continually, on your own and with your family.

2. Meet your family's needs by establishing order and discipline with heavy, heavy, heavy doses of love and forgiveness.  Work on establishing good habits!  Don't get discouraged!  When you have disaster days or even disaster weeks, don't give up and quit.  Keep at it.  This is how you become an overcomer and you learn to be patient and persevere.

3. Model kindness and service, and teach your children to do this, too, first with you and then on his/her own.

4. Feed your family the best food you possibly can. Watch over their health and pray over their health, too.

5. Enjoy being a wife, enjoy being a mother and enjoy homeschooling.  The Lord wants us to be joyful!

6. Incorporate beauty into your life.  When you put classical music on in the background and look at pictures of great works of art with your child, you are teaching music and art appreciation.  Expose children to beautiful, well-made things and works of art and you are helping them to appreciate excellence.

7. Cultivate encouragement.  Appreciate your child and be complimentary of his/her efforts.  Also be thankful for efforts your child makes, even if there is much room for improvement.

NURTURING NUTRITION IDEAS:

1. If you have never eaten brown rice, try it.  A rice cooker helps to make fluffier brown rice.  Add lots of butter and sea salt or other seasonings and you will like it!

2. Use butter, olive oil, and coconut oil liberally.  Also use whole milk and whole milk products.  Children especially need good saturated fats, and contray to popular opinion, saturated fat does not clog your arteries.  Hydrogenated and partially hydrogenated vegetable oils and lots of refined carbohydrates and sugar does contribute to plaque.

3. Eating whole grains like soaked beans, freshly ground wheat and brown rice give you many more vitamins and mineral and also fiber.  Adding freshly ground flax seed to muffins, breads and biscuits also greatly boosts the nutritional value and is good for digestion.

4. The less additives, colorings and preservatives in food, the better.  Sometimes people have hidden allergies to these things, and it causes behavior problems and health problems.  When they avoid these things, the problem goes away or is greatly reduced.

5. Eat as much raw and cooked vegetables and fruits as you like.  Some vegetables such as spinach are actually better cooked because the minerals become more absorbable. (And make sure you add some butter!)

6. Eat full-fat yogurt or take a probiotic (such as acidophilus) supplement if you have ever in your life had antibiotics.  This helps to balance your good bacteria with the yeast in your body. A really yummy thing to do is to make or buy plain yogurt, then add frozen blueberries and maple syrup (grade B is best as it has more minerals and is less refined).  Talk about delicious, plus blueberries are one of the highest anti-oxident fruits there is!

7. Consider a good multi-vitamin for yourself and your child.  Also consider giving cod liver oil to your child and take it yourself!  It is rich in omega 3 essential fatty acids, EPA and DHA, vitamins A and D.  Children need these and so do adults to help ward off diseases.  We take our cod liver oil (Carlson's Cod Liver Oil with lemon in the green bottle) in a little bit of fruit juice made with fruit juice concentrates and no added sugar).  My children drink it willingly and it does not taste fishy.

8. Get exercise and fresh air and sunshine as often as possible.  Walking is a fantastic, whole body exercise.

9. Get plenty of sleep.  This is often easier said than done, but do make the effort and ask the Lord to help you.  Take time to relax!

And finally, dwell on these verses from Ephesians:

"For this reason, I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man; so that Christ may dwell in your hearts though faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.  Now to Him who is able to do exceeding abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever.  Amen."

~Ephesians 3: 14-21

May you be richly blessed as you seek to serve the Lord by serving your family and educating your children.

Chris