1st Corinthians 13 for Moms

If my child speaks in the tongues of men or of angels, masters sign language at six months and Spanish and Mandrin Chinese by six years, but does not learn to love, she is only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If he has the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge-ABCs at a year, reading by two, writing chapter books in Kindergarten-but does not have love, he is nothing. If I volunteer for every mommy ministry-MOPS, AWANA, Sunday School, and if I give all I possess to the poor (or at least bring loads of groceries to the foodbank), but do not have love, I gain nothing. 

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy other mother's lifestyle choices or possessions, it does not boast in the areas of my children’s natural strengths (while covering for their faults), it is not proud of the way my child potty trained before your child. It does not dishonor others by insisting that my method of parenting is the best, it is not self-seeking-hoping that you’ll notice how smart, talented or well rounded I am raising my child to be. It is not easily angered by perceived slights or misjudgments, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth that all of parenting is fueled and driven by God’s grace. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Love never fails-even where I have fallen painfully short of God’s best for my children. But where there are competitions to see whose body bounces back best after childbirth, they will cease; where there are verbal fights over the correct methods of discipline, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge about the best way to feed and clothe and nurture a child, it will pass away. For we know in part and we parent incompletely, but when they are fully grown, what we thought we knew about raising our children will disappear. When I was a new parent, I thought, spoke and reasoned with immaturity and without grace. As my children grew, I asked God to give me the wisdom to put these childish ways behind me. For now we see our children’s future as only a reflection as in a mirror; one day we will behold their adults selves face to face. Now I know in part; then we shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

Author unknown

Lessons Learned from Observing Birds

This is a post written by my Aunt Evie in which she shares lessons that she has gleaned by observing birds.  Her article can be used as a mini unit study, encompassing the subjects of character development and science.  Character qualities are shown below in italics and are linked to a description of the character quality being discussed.  Each type of bird discussed is linked to a page that tells shares a picture, habitat, and qualities of the bird.  These can be shared with children and discussed while reading Aunt Evie’s story.  To add language arts to this bird unit study, lists of spelling words can be created from this post and writing assignments given.  To include art, assign sketching or watercolor projects of the birds discussed.  An energetic bird watching hike fits into the subject of physical education. I hope you enjoy her thoughts.

Just as the Bible uses many chapters, all different so God’s second book also has many chapters, and each one is full of character building lessons for those who look for them.  One of my favorite chapters deals with birds and I would like to share a few of the lessons they have taught me.

From the common robins I have learned diligence.  Early in the spring while other birds are just flitting about choosing nesting sites and going through their courting antics, the robins are busily building their nests.  They have no time for nonsense!  They are the first ones up in the morning and the last to retire at night.  Their sturdy mud and grass nest is quickly finished.  By the time most of the other birds have settled down to start making their nests, the robin’s babies are almost ready to fly.

In the killdeer I have observed courage and perseverance.  One hot day in late spring I watched a brave little mother killdeer standing over her eggs which were laid among the rocks on the edge of a sunny parking lot.  There was no need to sit on her eggs to keep them warm.  Instead, she stood beside them to shade them from the burning sun  Cars came and went on the lot but she would not leave her eggs.  Even when I walked up to her nest to look at the eggs, she stayed at her post of duty, though she was obviously upset by my nearness.

The lovely cedar waxwings have taught me refinement and good taste.  They do not go in for flashy colors like some birds do, but in their quiet way they are as beautiful as any of the more showy birds.  Every feather is always sleek and perfectly groomed and their soft conservative colors look so neat and smart.  Their voices are as gentle and harmonious as their colors, and their family life seems to go on without any scrapping or fussing,  They will sometimes sit side by side on a branch and pass berries to one another.

From the beautiful yellow warbler, I learned something about the meaning of this text from God’s first book.  “Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.”  A pair of these sweet singing birds had just nicely finished building their nest when along came a mother cowbird and aid an egg in it.  She expected that her egg would hatch before the yellow warblers eggs did and then her larger baby would crowd the others out and get all the food.  Many little birds are thus forced to raise baby cowbirds which are bigger than themselves, instead of raising their own babies.  But the yellow warblers have found a way to overcome this problem.  I once found a very interesting nest that showed me how they do it.  It seemed to be a very deep nest but when I began to take it apart, I found that it was three stories high and the first and second stories each had a large speckled egg in them.  The cowbird had laid her egg in the first nest and the warblers had simply built another nest over top of the first one, covering the unwanted egg.  Then the persistent cowbird had returned and laid another egg in the second nest.  But the yellow warblers still did not give up.  They built a third nest over the second one and laid their eggs in it.  How often we try to do right only to find that something spoils all our plans  Can be learn from these little birds to keep on trying and “overcome evil with good”?  Next time someone spoils something you were trying to do, see if you can find a way to overcome evil with good.

Patience was the lesson that an Oregon junco taught me one summer day.  He was just getting ready to take a nice refreshing dip in our bird bath when an old robin hopped in and started splashing around.  Since the pool was not big enough for two, the junco flew to a nearby rock and patiently waited his turn.  The robin took his time, splashing and splashing, then just when at least he seemed to be finished he started all over again.  he took so long that the patient junco finally fell asleep while he was waiting.  Still the robin continued to splash.  At last he flew to a branch to preen himself, but the junco did not notice  he was too sound asleep.  Suddenly, with a start, he woke up and seeing the pool empty at last he hopped in for his long delayed bath.

A western wood pewee once taught me a very striking lesson:  dare to be different.  I watched him taking a bath at the edge of a lovely wooded lake.  But he was not content to just wade into the water and splash around like other birds do.  He had a style all his own.  From the top of a post at the waters edge, he darted at the water, hitting it a glancing blow with his chest, just before he swooped upward again.  Water splashed in every direction as he struck it.  he repeated this several times until he was thoroughly wet, then he settled on the post to preen himself.  Sometimes we need to have the courage to be different, not just for the sake of being different, but because it is the right thing to do.

Last but not least, I have learned from my pet chickadees.  They have taught me to trust.  Birds generally do not trust anyone.  Especially do they fear the human hand.  It could close on them and take away their freedom and to a wild bird, freedom means  more than any delicacy.  But chickadees can be taught to be more trusting.  As I held out to them my hand, filled with seeds, I thought of how our heavenly Father holds out his hands to us and calls us to come to Him.  But we are so afraid that He might take away our freedom to do what we want to do, that we refuse to trust Him.  But the chickadees learned one winter day that they could trust and eat from my hand and still be free.  In fact, they were more free than ever.  The rich food that I was offering them kept them warmer and better nourished than the meager food that they were finding for themselves and they did not have to work so hard to try to survive in the cold.  So it is with us.  If we will learn to trust our heavenly Father we will find more real freedom and satisfaction than we ever thought possible.

In an Audubon’s Nature Encyclopedia I found an interesting note about chickadees.  It said that if you want to find birds in the wintertime, listen for chickadees.  They have an air of confidence about them that leads other birds to follow them.  I have found this to be very true.  Wherever there is a band of chickadees, there will usually be other birds close by.

Those who learn to trust also develop an unconscious air of confidence in God that leads others to follow them.  Would you like to lead others to your heavenly Father?  Then first learn to trust and eat fro His hand, and your life will attract others and you will be able to teach them to trust your God.  “And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men”.  Matthew 4:19.

To continue this study, click here.
Copyright EvelynS@2014

Preschooling

It’s natural for parents to have role models; someone who is an expert in a field or who has experienced something before us and shares their experience with others. These mentors are important in helping us as we experience things in life that are new to us. During my children’s early years, Dr. Kay Kuzma was one of my role models.  I loved her enthusiastic and positive outlook. Always positive, her energy and knowledge was contagious! I read all her books and listened to as many of her audio presentations as I could find. Recently I found my copy of her book, Living with God’s Kids. As I scanned its pages again, I was immediately transported back in time; a time when my children were young and when we were starting our homeschool journey. The words of Dr. Kuzma reminded me of the role model she was to me. When it comes to teaching preschool children, she believes that they learn best through play. Having freedom to choose the activities that they enjoy the most and being able to spend lots of time outdoors are two of her core values. She also believes that children can be guided and given activities that will help them with their development. Giving them daily home duties, lessons from nature, and reading Bible stories rounds out their early childhood days. Play, chores, nature study, and Bible stories established the core of her preschool curriculum.  Knowing that Dr. Kuzma has a PhD in early childhood education, yet chose to teach her own children by such a natural method, encouraged me to focus my homeschool curriculum on the core values that she felt were most important.

Here is an example of the preschool schedule that Dr. Kuzma prepared for her children.

• She wrote down the things she wanted her children to learn during the year.
• Then she printed each activity that would help her children learn these things on a 3 x 5 card.
• She thought up about ten things she wanted the children to learn about on the first day.
• Each day after that she thought of several more things to add to the list.
• An example of a day’s list looked like this:  1) go to the library and get 25 books; 2) clean room; 3) learn telephone number; 4) make bird feeder; 5) fold clothes; 6) make a picture book and tell stories about each picture; 7) learn A, B, and C on the piano; 8) listen to a story about honesty; 9) make granola; 10) practice roller skating.
• Each day the children would sort through the cards and choose which activity they wanted to do that day.
• Cards for some activities that happened daily (like cleaning their room) were left in the pile each day.
• The activities that were a one-time deal were put in a special box after the children signed the back of the card.
• If the children were not interested in anything on any of the cards, she would ask them what they would like to have added and then she would write up their ideas on new cards for them to choose from.
• The cards are only a jumping off point and should not limit learning.  Every effort should be made throughout the day to use teachable moments as they happen.  Common sense and taking advantage of things that happen in life should be utilized.

Dr. Kuzma says that she got most of her ideas for activities by listening to the children express what they wanted to do or what they wanted to learn about. Other ideas came from children’s activity books that she had in her personal library. This method of preschool learning motivates children because it is truly one that follows the interest of the children being taught.

I found it encouraging that this method of instruction allows children to learn purposefully, but without forcing them into early, structured education.  Instead of workbooks and copy work, her children were allowed to grow and develop naturally, learning about daily life at their mother’s knee.  Dr. Kuzma’s approach allowed her to listen to the needs of her children and to establish routines and activities that expanded her children’s world and allowed them to learn much more than if they had been confined to a workbook each day.

She ends her comments on preschool education with this sentence:  ”If I can do it, you can!”  Now, go take on the day!

[Information from Living with God's Kids by Dr. Kay Kuzma, chapter 4]

How to Start Homeschooling

The decision to homeschool is usually made with a lot of enthusiasm, but may also create a few feelings of anxiety and concern. The big picture can be overwhelming! By organizing your thoughts and gathering resources, the journey can be enjoyable and workable. Here are some tips that may help you as you begin the rewarding journey into homeschooling.

• Develop your family’s homeschool philosophy. Reading books about homeschooling and the reasons for doing it is a good place to start. After learning about the perks of schooling your children at home, you’ll be ready to draw up your own philosophy. Writing it onto a document that you can re-read when you need re-evaluate can help you keep on track. Two excellent resources that will help you establish your personal philosophy are books by Ellen White and Dr. Raymond Moore. Both are Seventh-day Adventist pioneers: one in Adventist church history and the other who is known as the grandfather of homeschooling in America. Other Christian homeschool educators and some secular educators also have helpful ideas related to homeschooling and their books could be helpful as you develop your educational platform. This platform contains the principles that best help you achieve your educational goals and they become the core of your homeschool lifestyle.
• Research homeschooling laws for your state. Some may require that you take a “how to” class if you don’t have some college credits. Others may require a cover school or specify how records are kept. Here is a link that tells about thelaws by state. The link also shares a listing of nationwide homeschool support groups by state. Most states require that you register with the local school district, completing an “intent to homeschool” form. It is a simple document that helps you meet local compliance regulations and will keep your child from being declared truant. This is only necessary after your child has reached the designated age required for enrollment.
• Research legal defense organizations that assist homeschoolers. Decide if this is something that would benefit your family and then follow through to sign-up for the service you choose. This can create peace of mind and membership helps support the larger community of home educators throughout America. One such organization is the Home School Legal Defense Association.
• Set up a space for your children to learn. A relaxed approach could simply mean a bookcase, bean bag chairs, and a low table. Some like a more formal classroom set up with desks, chairs, and marker boards. Then, name your school. This is helpful for your children, as it gives them a school to name when they are out and about in the community and they are asked where they go to school. It gives them a sense of place and belonging.
• Plan your course of study; a list of subjects that your student is to investigate. Your plan should include the subject matter, curriculum requirements and standards that you want your children to meet by the time the school year is over. World Book offers recommendations for a typical course of study on their website. Standards are outlined for preschool through grade 12. Additionally, your course of study can be expanded to include other aspects of the wholistic education that Ellen White outlines in her book, Education. This would include the additional study of the scriptures, work, service and nature.
• Start planning how you will implement your course of study. Choose resources, textbooks, and learning materials that will help you achieve your goals. A teacher lesson plan book, a journal, and a calendar are helpful tools. Some parents like to plan an entire school year in advance, yet others prefer to divide the school year into smaller segments, either quarter or semester. Allow yourself space to be flexible, as your homeschool should meet the individual needs of your children. Resources are available from your local teacher supply store, from curriculum companies online, and from your Adventist Book Center.
• Attend a local or statewide curriculum fair. This is highly recommended, as they are a great gathering place for vendors of educational materials designed specifically for homeschool families.
• Find or create a support group so that you and your children can interact and enjoy the companionship of like-minded individuals. Field trips, playdates, music recitals, science fairs, and art exhibits are some of the things that homeschool families can do in conjunction with other homeschoolers. Likewise, join online homeschool support groups such as SDA Homeschool Families on Facebook. They provide a safe place to ask questions, share concerns, and learn about resources that are specific to Adventist homeschool families. Additionally, some communities have a homeschool resource center or lending library where they can cooperatively share science equipment, physical education gear, resource and textbooks, musical instruments, and more. Reach out to others for support. Be a part of a larger community and make homeschooling a cooperative effort. Finding a mentor who is experienced in homeschooling can also be helpful. Their expertise can help you move forward in a positive way, avoiding the pitfalls that they may have faced.