Mercy..................
Probably the biggest thing that came to light for me over the last couple of days during the wake and funeral service for our nephew was just how much God gives us his mercy for the things we do and the decisions we make. I never realized just how much He loves us and forgives us for the things we do. I used to wonder if people who took their own lives went to heaven, because what they did was certainly not Gods will for their lives, right? Now I know that God forgives us and gives us His mercy for SO much that we do. WE are our worst judge, not God. God is all merciful and all loving!
So how does that relate to homeschooling our kids? In the same exact way. God is the ultimate example of the love and mercy we should be showing our kids as well. No one is perfect and everyone makes mistakes, it is our reaction to what is going on that makes the difference in the learning experience for them. Do we blow up at them because we ourselves are so frustrated (and never make mistakes ourselves, lol)? Do we stop loving them for what they have done? Or, do we just love them and take them under our wing to teach them what is right, teach them how to do something well.
There is a fine line in finding a happy medium in this quest for creating independent thinkers................for myself, I think, would God just put me into a situation I had never encountered and say "Good luck with that, let me know when you figure out the answer" or would he gently guide me through it and give me lots of support, encouragement and His love along the way, without exactly giving me the answer. How do we accomplish this in homeschooling our children? What do you guys think this would look like? How do you think God would run his homeschool?
I would love to hear your answers on this because I don't know about you but I have got a long way to go in finding this happy medium in homeschooling and independent thinking/learning. I think that I value education so much that I am just so afraid to take my hands off of "Gods wheel" here and let Him take control.
What are your thoughts?
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First - Let me say we do understand with your nephew - my Sister In Law took her life 5 years ago. It will continue to be a crazy walk of emotions and thought for quite a while for you. One thought that came to me - or that I read - "We are saved by His righteousness and not our own." "We are saved by His Character and not our Own." Praise God that nothing I can perform can bring me to salvation, and nothing I can perform can take it away. :)
ReplyDeleteIt is the same for the kiddos, as you have seen.
I am learning, especially in academics how to walk that line. My boys are getting older. They need to be discovering alot of things, figuring them out. We just purchased 3 books to help with math, so that when he hits words he doesn't remember (quotient) then he has a handy math dictionary to look them up. When he can't remember which way to move the decimal, he can look up in his "Basic Math and PreAlgebra for Dummies" book and see a clear example. I am trying to keep track of how many times I spurt the answer, instead of stopping for a moment to consider a directed question. And yet, frustrating the child to no end by never helping with an answer is a sad case too. :) We'll keep learning. :) (and so will they)