This post will continue to address some of the questions one of our List\u00a0Moms asked.<\/p>\n
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<\/em><\/p>\n Times of Refreshing – Part 2<\/p>\n In Part 1 of this article I gave some ideas for coming to a place of Peace Lord of the Sabbath – Redeemer How does this apply to what to do with our children all day? Basically I doubt that while you spend time seeking God for His Peace and direction It’s like when you don’t have time to stop and ask directions. You spend a So, you could just let your children keep doing what they’re doing. But 1) If you have children age 3 and under, they probably can’t do any *better* 2) Ages (aprox.) 4-7 or 8 should be able to spend their time I think household chores are ideal for this age group, that has so much This age group can, unsupervised, do things like: put away their own things, They can also listen to a Bible story on tape and pray for their own Quiet 3) Ages 8-12 or 13 can do all of the above plus much harder chores. If they What about children that are more activity-oriented than bookworms, whose 4) Ages 13 or so and on up, can continue all the things listed for ages What about you? Set no expectations for “school” at this time, other than them spending time Sound too idealistic? Perhaps it is, but this is the atmosphere and goal Begin the day with your children, after you’ve had your private time with Then spend some time with your children, as mentioned above, and do what’s required in your home. Then perhaps you can get them all involved in their quiet, private projects and you can steal away to spend more time with the Lord, in prayer or the Word, or even seeking Him through other resources.<\/p>\n If you have not read much on home education philosophy and you need this Don’t look at your children’s needs during this time as “interruptions”, but As your day winds down, spend some time putting projects away, putting the In the future, I will present more on Routine – ordering your day, after your Season of Renewal. You may be able to add more things than what I’ve presented here and still keep things running peaceful and smoothly, but this is a good place to start.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" This post will continue to address some of the questions one of our List\u00a0Moms asked. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Times of Refreshing – Part 2 In Part 1 of this article I gave some ideas for coming to a place of Peace and Rest in God’s presence before attempting to do anything else. \u2026 Continue reading
\nand Rest in God’s presence before attempting to do anything else. One of
\nLM’s main questions was what to do with her children all day as she is going
\nthrough this Season of Renewing and finding God’s direction that leads to
\nlasting peace and implementation.<\/p>\n
\nI’m a great believer in the Sabbath. Not the Pharisaical legalism of what
\ncan and can’t be done on the Seventh day, but rather the Spirit behind the
\nLaw; the benefit and redemption that comes from spending time resting in the Lord; how we accomplish more in 6 days, than working all 7, by spending the 7th in His Rest; how we accomplish more in 24 hours by giving the first hour or two to seeking Him. He is truly our Redeemer, not only of our souls, but also of our time.<\/p>\n
\nbecause I believe God redeems that time that we spend resting in and seeking Him. What are your children doing all day *now,* while you’re “spinning your wheels”? Are you spending all your time working with them but accomplishing nothing? Are they sitting in front of the TV or playing
\ncomputer games? Or, more than likely, somewhere inbetween?<\/p>\n
\nfor them, they will do any *worse* than they’re doing now. AND your time
\nwill not be wasted. Although, you may have been wasting your time while
\nthey were doing these things before, you aren’t anymore. Your time is in
\nthe Redeemer’s hands. And He will now make up lost time for you after you
\nfind His true direction.<\/p>\n
\nlot of time driving up and down streets that get you nowhere, and probably
\nend up arriving late. But when you stop and take time to ask directions and
\ncarefully listen, for however long it takes, rather than dashing out
\nhalf-way through, although it leaves you less time to get where you’re
\ngoing, you don’t need as much time, because you know how to get there – and you may even get there ahead of schedule.<\/p>\n
\nlet’s see if we can come up with some creative ways of helping them be more
\nproductive, especially if they’ve been destroying your house, fighting with
\ntheir siblings, or vegging out on electronics all day.<\/p>\n
\nwithout some help with them.<\/p>\n
\nconstructively – OK, at least not DE-structively. I don’t *expect* *ANY*
\nacademic work from this age group, so the key is just finding them anything
\nnon-destructive to do – until you can train them to be con<\/strong>structive.<\/p>\n
\nenergy. They are usually eager to help do “big people” work. This is not
\nthe time (during your Season of Renewal) to teach them heavy-duty cleaning, nor to expect perfection out of them. And, yes they will need direction from someone for each task. You can’t just give them a list and say, “Do this today.” But, you or someone else can say, “Empty the trash cans in
\neach room into the big one in the kitchen, then report back to me when
\nyou’re done,” then give them another task.<\/p>\n
\npick up their room, sort clean laundry by who it belongs to, fold towels,
\nsocks, underwear, and probably their own clothes, (but not MINE :- ), put
\nclothes from the washer into the dryer and start it, (toward the older end
\nof this) start clothes in the washer that are already sorted. They can set
\nand clear dishes from the table, collect “stray” dishes from around the
\nhouse, and perhaps put away clean dishes. They can sweep or wipe up small areas\/ messes. They can feed and water pets. They can dust furniture, if you don’t have a lot of breakables. And there are so many more as they get
\nto the older end, and if you’ve already been training them.<\/p>\n
\nTime\/ Devotions. They can draw and color pictures, and put together
\npuzzles. They can play quietly in a designated place – like your playroom,
\nor backyard, if it’s safe. And, if they are used to electronics time, you
\ncan “reward” them for doing the above, with a *short* amount of time for an
\neducational but fun computer game, or Christian video.<\/p>\n
\nare reading on their own, most are at some point in this age range, they
\nshould be reading the Word and praying in their private time with God. I
\nstill don’t pursue *formal* academics with this age. But some quiet “Table
\nTime” projects they can work on by themselves are: Copywork – from the Bible and\/or good literature; Reading – series like Trailblazers or Christian
\nHeros Then and Now, or The Light and the Glory and Sea to Shining Sea for
\nchildren, or classic children’s literature – Charlotte’s Web, Little House
\non the Prairie series, etc. Further Math, Spelling, and Grammar skills
\nwill have to wait until you can spend more concentrated teaching time, and
\nperhaps have further direction on how to best teach these. But these are
\nskills that can be learned in a fairly short time when the student is ready
\nand mom is at peace.<\/p>\n
\nquiet reading and copywork time has quickly reached its limit? And, even
\nthe bookworm needs some activity. Shooting hoops, roller blading, and bike
\nriding are all activities this age group can do on their own, if you live in
\na safe place. In addition, your children can work on creative projects of
\ninterest to themselves. What are they interested in doing creatively – as
\nproducers, not consumers? Take them to the library. Buy them a few
\nsupplies. And let them go at it, on their own (which means the project
\ncannot be dangerous, or require further skill training first). Do they like
\nto build or make things? Cook or sew? Write? Scrapbook? Garden? Play an
\ninstrument? Do they love the computer? Let them design and produce
\nsomething, not just play. This is their chance to do something they’re
\ninterested in, not just what you direct them to do – although obviously,
\ntheir choices must be within boundaries you set.<\/p>\n
\n8 -12 on a higher level. They should be able to research and self-learn new
\nskills, as well as supervise and direct younger siblings. They can oversee
\nbasic household needs, fix meals, do all daily household chores. They can
\n(learn how to) seek and find God, and enter His presence in their Devotional
\ntime. They can do Copywork, Writing, Reading, Documenting\/ Notebooking,
\nScience experiments, and perhaps learn further math skills on their own.<\/p>\n
\nIn this Season of seeking God for direction and gaining peace, you may spend a day or two completely locked away by yourself, but realistically, on most of your days, and probably not even *every*day, this time will only be an hour or two. The rest of your day will be devoted to caring for your
\nchildren and going about your daily duties, walking in the Peace you’ve
\nfound in Him. Don’t step out of His presence and out of His Peace when you
\nstep out of your quiet, private place. Stay in His Peace and the atmosphere
\nwill begin to rub off on your children.<\/p>\n
\non the above mentioned ideas – whichever of them will work without stress in your family. Spend time just enjoying being with your children, accomplishing whatever you do and no more. Not working on anything that stresses either of you, just enjoying each other, perhaps not accomplishing anything more than minimum maintenance on the housework.<\/p>\n
\nyou are looking for. Do some things together that will promote Relationship
\nand Peace, perhaps some outings, perhaps some projects at home, perhaps
\nreading to them. Try to work in some individual time for each child.<\/p>\n
\nthe Lord, with Family Worship. This doesn’t have to be a highly structured
\nor long time. It is a time where your children are learning that worshiping
\nand seeking God are top priority for your family, not just individually but
\nalso as a family, not just on Sunday but everyday. This time can be as
\nsimple as putting a Praise and Worship CD on as breakfast is being fixed and everyone’s gathering together and while you’re eating. Just filling the
\natmosphere with Praise to God really helps set the tone of the home.
\nConsider leaving it going softly all day. Perhaps you want to all stand and
\nsing together after you finish eating. We’ve done this as training for
\nchurch worship service, when our children were younger. Then read the Word and Pray together.<\/p>\n
\ninfo, I can recommend several resources compatible with L.E.D.’s philosophy, as well as our own materials. If you’re already “hearing too many voices” – you’ve read so much, you’re confused – it’s probably best that you just sit at Jesus’ feet, perhaps reading books about drawing nearer to Him (which is *THE* place to start even you if need to read the home ed philosophy and principles books too.) I firmly believe that the Holy Spirit is our teacher, and we are to, as individual families, follow Him in His direction
\nfor *our family*. But I also believe that others have blazed the way after
\nHim that can be Mentors for us – as Paul said, “you follow me as I follow
\nChrist.” We can learn much from Godly pioneers, although we still have to
\ngo back and seek the Lord for *exactly* how he wants us to implement
\nspecific principles into our family.<\/p>\n
\nas opportunities to build relationship with them. They still need you, and
\nyou are still responsible for them, even as you seek the Lord. He made you
\na mother, and He has given you the grace necessary for a mother. He
\nunderstands your needs, and your children’s and will see you both through.
\nJust DON’T LOSE HIS PEACE in the midst of everyday life. You’ve heard it
\nfrom me before and will continue to hear it, RELATIONSHIP IS EVERYTHING!!!!<\/p>\n
\nhouse in order, and preparing to serve your husband. Homeschool isn’t
\neverything, RELATIONSHIP IS!!!<\/p>\n