Teaching the Teacher

Two weeks of homeschooling down...both kids still alive, house still standing. We're calling it a success. Granted, making sure we have the same number of kids that we started with and keeping the house intact are pretty low minimum standards, but you have to start somewhere.

So here's what I've have learned in my vast homeschooling experience. All two weeks of it.

1) Pray. God wants to shower us with His grace and His blessings. The Holy Spirit is always ready to fill us, guide us and lead us, but we have to be willing to humble ourselves before Him and say, "I can't do this on my own." When we give up our pride and our vain grasping at control then we make the room for God's grace to come in and give us everything we need for every challenge we face.

2) Be willing to learn. Yep, I'm the parent and now the teacher too. But I am also a student in so many ways. I'm learning more about my children...how they learn, how they think, what they respond to, what drives them absolutely monkey nuts. I'm learning what I am good at teaching, what I stink at teaching and I'm learning that there is A LOT of stuff I don't know.

3) Ask for help. I have two good Christian homeschooling friends on speed dial...and I'm not afraid to use it.

4) Not all teaching moments are written in the books. So have a plan, but be prepared to toss it out the window when the snow starts falling. Which leads nicely to the next note...

5) Keep it in perspective. I'm learning to stop judging the kids' work by whether or not Harvard has called for their early applications. If the schedule gets wonky or things go haywire, it's probably not the end of the world. And if it is the end of the world, well...then we have other things to worry about anyway.

6) Teach love first. Yes, I want them to be ridiculously smart and successful. I want Ella to be the figure skating, veterinarian she dreams of becoming and I want Jack to be...well whatever block building, daredevil career he chooses (sounds like another Marine to me). But before all that, I want them to be good people.

7) Pray more. Bottom line, God gave me these two amazing little people to mold and shape and train up in they way they should go. God has already numbered their days and He has a place for them in His plan for this world. So, I need His guidance much more than I need my own resources, brains or plans.

Anyway, that was a little deeper than I originally planned. Go figure. Happy weekend!