Our
day begins with our more formal "school" time. We do not have a school
room. We don't even have a kitchen table. What we have is a comfy
couch good for snuggling on. Here, I read to the children, listen to
my daughter read and go over new concepts...always starting with nice,
biblical principles, of course. Right now, we are beginning with the
principle of Christian self-government (hence the recurrent theme in
recent postings). We are working on the parable of the sower and how
to prepare our hearts for the Word of the Lord.
Copy work,
writing and drawing are done at our little coffee table. Not the best
for posture, I suppose, but the world did without desks for millenia.
Then
it is time for real life. What I do in the morning varies, but it
encompasses those things taught best through direct instruction.
Afternoons are for discovery and application. My daughter helps a lot
in the kitchen and it is amazing the amount of math and science which
can be incorporated into normal cooking tasks once you get into that
frame of mind. But right now we are talking about gardens. Here is
the herb garden she and her brother planted. The point of the lesson
was mostly reading and following instructions. We examined the seed
packet, deduced its text structure and followed its instructions.
The kids love the sage. I hope there is some wonderful healthy benefit to picking the leaves to suck on every day.
As
part of our study, we are preparing soil for a garden. Up until now,
this has all been very practical and concrete. We have been examining
soil, talking about nutrients and digging in the dirt. Mouse and Bear
followed the instructions carefully to prepare the soil properly for
our little Jiffy greenhouse. They must have done a good job, because
we have a surplus of tomatoes, banana peppers and pumpkins. Later, we
will make the leap to the abstract and begin talking about how to
prepare our hearts to receive instruction.
Any garden requires planning. We learned about measurement earlier. We talked about how we aren't to have divers measures,
but to treat all men fairly. We focused a lot on non-standard measures
the first time around, along with the history of measurement. Now,
we've joined the modern world and are using feet and inches.
(Sorry...no metric at this point.). They had to measure the boards,
the lawn mower and sections of the yard to see where it our garden
would fit and still be able to mow around it. They also needed to make
some observations about how much sun the garden would get at different
times of the day.
A
little involvement from dad for some simple carpentry work is always a
plus. While they put this together, we talked about boundaries. These
wooden boundaries will help keep the grass and weeds from pushing into
the garden. They will also protect the young seedlings from being
trampled while we are playing outside. We applied this to the
spiritual by noting who sets the boundaries for our lives. God set
boundaries in Eden. He sets boundaries for us now. And they are
there, in part, to help keep our hearts from being overgrown by "weeds."
Here
are the finished boxes, waiting to be filled with fresh, nutritious
soil for our earthly garden. Throughout the summer, as we tend this
garden, we will be learning practical biology, math and anything else I
can dream up to apply. But I will also take care to guide my daughter
to think in a spiritual sense as well. Jesus taught by analogy...he
took the everyday experiences of His listeners to demonstrate spiritual
truths. Many of the metaphors are nearly lost in our culture of
"instant gratification," but we can take special care to give our
children some of these experiences which will help to deepen their
knowledge of and appreciation for the truths of scripture.
Updates for homeschoolers living in or moving to Nebraska.
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I applied mine heart to know, and to search, and to seek out wisdom, and the reason of things, and to know the wickedness of folly, even of foolishness and madness
--Ecclesisates 7:25
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And ye shall teach them your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.
--Deu 11:19
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Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come
--Eph 1:21
But I have said unto you, Ye shall inherit their land, and I will give it unto you to possess it, a land that floweth with milk and honey: I am the LORD your God, which have separated you from other people.
--Leviticus 20:24
By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise: For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.
--Heb 11:9-10
Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbour unto him that fell among the thieves? And he said, He that shewed mercy on him. Then said Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise.
--Luke 10:36-37
