Success & Peer Groups

“I can't think of one great human being in the arts, or in history generally, who conformed, who succeeded, as educational experts tell us children must succeed, with his peer group...If a child in their classrooms does not succeed with his peer group, then it would seem to many that both child and teacher have failed. Have they? If we ever, God forbid, manage to make each child succeed with his peer group, we will produce a race of bland and faceless nonentities, and all poetry and mystery will vanish from the face of the earth.”

― Madeleine L'Engle, A Circle of Quiet

Recipe for Genius

The Whole Child

‘The popular method of filling the student’s mind with that which is not practical and hurrying him through a certain course, in order that he may obtain a diploma, is not true education. True education begins on the inside, at the core, with that which is practical.’

Goodloe Harper Bell, Review December 26, 1882

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I love this quote because it exhibits the need to develop the whole child.  Too many times parents and educators compartmentalize a child's development, keeping intellectual learning separate from vocational skills, musical expression or physical ability.  Seeing the child as a whole person and helping them develop in all facets of their being establishes the core of what true education really is.

String Theory

I have always appreciated Dr. Kay Kuzma's string theory for promoting obedience and good behavior in children. Here it is:

"Children are like strings; they tend to resist when they feel pushed or forced into doing something. Once they start to resist, the tendency of most parents it to push them all the more, to threaten, to manipulate, to force, and to punish. And the consequence is, the more you push, the more powerless the child feels, and therefore more rebellious."

"There may be times you think pushing or forcing a child results in compliance. But in too many cases it's like the little boy whose dad told him to sit down in church. When the boy kept jumping up, his dad physically pushed the kid into his seat with the command 'I said to sit down!' The little boy sat there, but a few minutes later he could be heart muttering, 'I may be sitting on the outside, but I'm standing on the inside!'"

"Outward compliance accomplished by force doesn't necessarily mean inner compliance, and sooner or later inner defiance causes outward defiance!"

"The key to diminishing a child's stubborn resistance is to remember just how much children and strings are alike. If you push them in the direction you want them to go, they won't do it."

Kay Kuzma, Easy Obedience
page 50

Give it a try! Use the string strategy and don't push. Pull them along by encouraging words instead!

Consistency

"Children are unpredictable. You never know what inconsistency they're going to catch you in next."

Franklin P. Jones

Fostering Independence

"The fastest road to furthering independence in your children is total attention to the needs of your children in their dependent years."

Herbert Ratner

A Sense of Wonder

If a child is to keep alive his inborn sense of wonder, he needs the companionship of at least one adult who can share it, rediscovering with him the joy, excitement and mystery of the world we live in.

One way to open your eyes is to ask yourself, "What if I had never seen this before? What if I knew I would never see it again?"

The more clearly we can focus our attention on the wonders and realities of the universe about us, the less taste we shall have for destruction.

Rachel Carson

Teachable Parents

"Blessed are those parents who are teachable, for knowledge brings understanding, and understanding brings love."

Old Union Reminder

Furthering Independence

"The fastest road to furthering independence in your children is total attention to the needs of your children in their dependent years."

Herbert Ratner

Quality of Family Life

"Parents must decide what quality of family life they will have and then use the necessary discipline to accomplish this. Otherwise life will push the family in diverse directions, and they will be victims rather than disciples.

Gladys Hunt
Hondy for a Child's Heart

Read God Directly

"Man's thinking must not be subdued by his instruments. Books are for the scholar's idle times. When he can read God directly, the hour is too precious to be wasted in other men's transcripts of their readings." 

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Homeschooling Naturally

"Homeschooling naturally is natural. Don't work too hard on making it artificially schoolish."

Dr. Ruth Beechick

Cupboard Door Learning

Alice Chapin has written a book filled with creative ways to stimulate interest in Bible study.  She includes many encouraging and practical suggestions for creating a nurturing home environment.  Many of her ideas teach not only Biblical truths, but encompass daily life and learning.  Here's one of her ideas that can help encourage learning on all levels.


"Keep a constant round of new things posted on the cupboard or refrigerator door.  Quotes from the Bible or well-known Christian leaders human interest items, and cartoons all work well.  As long as you keep changing them, your family will keep noticing." 


Great idea!  Post it notes and a marker, magnetized letters used to create words, or letters and words cut out of a magazine and glued onto construction paper to express a thought can provide colorful, attention capturing verses and quotes that will help you to instruct and teach.  Spark an interest by using words posted in strategic places throughout your home.

*Building your Child's Faith by Alice Chapin

A Creature of the Creator

"Man was created in the image of a Creator.  Man was created that he might create.  It is not a waste of man's time to be creative.  It is not a waste to pursue artistic or scientific pursuits in creativity, because this is what man was made to be able to do.  He was made in the image of a Creator, and given the capacity to create - on a finite level of course, needing to use the materials already created - but he is still the creature of a Creator."

~Edith Schaeffer ~  

Nature and Creativity

"It is in nature, among the things which God has created, designed and brought forth himself, that we are in the most natural atmosphere to be inspired. Creative ideas are apt to flow in the midst of the creativity expressed in God's creation, as one is temporarily from the confusion of conflicting voices..." 

The Hidden Art of Homemaking Page 169 - 170

The Powerhouse

"The body is the powerhouse for the young child's brain and central nervous system.  A sound body and stable emotions provide a strong foundation for mental and social maturity.  Without this soundness and stability, the child will not realize his greatest potential."


Home Grown Kids, page 9

Truths from Kids

Great Truths that Little Children Have Learned

No matter how hard you try, you cannot baptize cats.

When your Mom is mad at your Dad, don't let her brush your hair.

If your sister hits you, don't hit her back.  They always catch the second person.

Never ask your 3-year old brother to hold a tomato.

You can't trust dogs to watch your food.

Don't sneeze when someone is cutting your hair.

Never hold a Dust-Buster and a cat at the same time.

You can't hide a piece of broccoli in a glass of milk.

Don't wear polka-dot underwear under white shorts.

The best place to be when you're sad is Grandma's lap.

A Gift to Treasure

Happy are the parents whose lives are a true reflection of the divine, so that the promises and commands of God awaken in the child gratitude and reverence; the parents whose tenderness and justice and long-suffering of God; and who, by teaching the child to love and trust and obey them, are teaching him to love and trust and obey his father in heaven.  Parents who impart to a child such a gift have endowed him with a treasure more precious than the wealth of all the ages --- a treasure as enduring as eternity.

Ministry of Healing, page 375

Encouraging Words

Give the young and struggling a word of encouragement when you can.  You would not leave those plants in your window boxes without water, nor refuse to open the shutters that the sunlight might fall upon them; but you would leave some human flower to suffer from want of appreciation or the sunlight of encouragement.  There are a few hardy souls that can struggle along on stony soil --- shrubs that can wait for the dews and sunbeams --- vines that climb without kindly training; but only a few.  Utter the kind word when you can see that it is deserved. The thought that "no one cares and no one knows" blights many a bud of promise.  Be it the young artist at his easel, the young preacher at his pulpit, the workman at his bench, the boy at his mathematical problems, or your little girl at the piano, give what praise you can.

Signs magazine
September 14, 1882

The World, a Book

“The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only one page.”

~ Saint Augustine ~