I Promise...

...I will not always post about homeschooling. It's just new and novel and wonderful and it's the main thing going on in our family right now. BUT, I still have much to say about marriage, the Bible, parenting, women's roles, church, and all the other things I usually write about. So, for those of you who are not homeschoolers...bear with me. However, this IS one of the biggest revisions God has made with our family so far. It's worth posting about!

By the way, Jess over at Making Home put into words what I was trying to say when I posted this and also this. The last 2 paragraphs that she wrote was what I have been thinking for a few months. She said it very well. Please go read the post (it's a good one), but here is the part that put my recent thoughts into words:

"As a peculiar people (1 Pet 2:9), as aliens (1 Pet 2:11), as strangers in this land (1 Pet 1:1), as pilgrims (Heb 11:13), as people who are called to be separate (1 Pet 2: 9-10) and different from the world in which we live, our lives should look different from the world. People ought to see the differences in how we live and ask, "what is the reason for the hope that is within you?" (1 Pet 3:15) But as John Piper has said, all too often, they aren't asking, because "we look like we're hoping in the same things THEY'RE hoping in!"We need to consider the advice that we give, whether to other Christians or to our children, and examine whether it lines up with the Bible or with society. The two are not always at odds, but in this instance, and on many of these issues, our ideals and "dreams" ought to look different than the world's. It should be clear that our goals for our children are not the same as theirs. It should be clear that our methods for raising our children are not the same as theirs. It should be clear that our hope is in something other than the "American Dream". It should be clear that we differ from the society around us in meaningful ways- that we are not self-focused, that we do not look down on marriage, children, or the family in any way, and that we are not willing to sacrifice all things at the altar of self-promotion and career."

Good job, Jess.

But NONE of this is what I intended to post today! What I intended to write about is one thing I learned from homeschooling this morning. Here: I'll give it a new title.

Today I Learned...

...that I affect my children's attitude towards learning. I kind of knew that, but today it really hit me. Sweetheart was trying to write her name in cursive. I wrote her name at the top of the paper for her to look at while she tried this new thing.

She said, "I can't write that part. This is going to be hard. Mom, you write this part for me and I'll do the rest."

I said, "Yeah, my 3rd graders used to crack up the first time they tried writing in cursive because it was so bad and it didn't look right at all. I told them not to worry, I would teach them how."

A few minutes later I hear her cracking up. She tried, it didn't look right, and she cracked up. Just like I said. Now, she could have gotten really frustrated and decided cursive is too hard, etc. But she didn't. A few minutes later, Little Bit ran to get paper and "wrote cursive" all over it and also cracked up.

Isn't learning fun?

And don't I have a big responsibility in how I approach every new thing we do? Every. Thing.

Wow.