We do something at our house called a "WAM" (since Q-dawg creates
acronyms of everything): a "Weekly Accountability Meeting" where weekly
(or monthly or bi-annually :)...) we get together with our older
children one on one, look at their overall goals and encourage them to
set weekly goals and commitments to achieve those goals. We call it a
"running partner" arrangement, as we are there for them to encourage and
support them, not dictate what those goals should be.
Anyway, I am not so good and doing them consistently, but like with so many of those things that we try to do consistently (like Family Home Evening and scripture study), you've got to start somewhere and somehow, even the inconsistent ones are still effective. (And make you want to do more :)!)
Back to the WAM: I had one on Sunday with the Goob, and it was one of those magical ones. I saw his mind open to the possibilities as he really started to grasp that what I do in our homeschooling is to help him fulfill his dreams...not just fill his life with busy-work and guilt :). He planned some great goals, one of which I wanted to share.
We do a youth group called Vanguard, a group with the express mission to help youth (and everyone!) realize that they each have a God-given mission and as they seek for truth and to serve and really work at it, they will come to know what that mission is. I believe they are missions that include strengths and passions that they have right now, coupled with interests, depth, and skills that they will develop through God-inspired education. There is a weekly base of knowledge we ask them to study and then they are free to take it from there, internalize/study it out to create understanding, and then apply it to their lives to make it stick deeper...to create intelligence.
Well, we are studying having courage in the face of uncertainty this week, and for part of that are reading a section of C. S. Lewis's "The Last Battle." The Goob really wants to be what he calls a "media-maker," so with his goals for preparation for Vanguard this week, I suggested he make a Lego-animation of something out of the Last Battle this week or an example in the life of someone who showed courage in the face of uncertainty. He loved the idea!
Last night, before going to bed and after getting home from a wonderful Family Home Evening with our friends, the Tindalls (amazing family!!), the Goob came to me and said, "Mom, I didn't get to my movie today. Will you tell me when it is 10? I'll be in the other room working on it." 10 came and went and, over 1500 pictures later, the Goob came into where Q-dawg and I were watching "Man of Steel" and showed us his film.
That kid is amazing. The things he can do with Legos, a video camera, and clay! I will have to see if there is a way to post it, but I wanted to record this cool moment in our homeschooling. If only all of our kids could own and realize a personalized education like this all the time! The older ones are catching the idea and I am excited to see it spread on down the ranks :). These kids are all unique for a reason and I hope that they (and everyone else I can get this to!) can realize that we are all born for a specific reason...that God enjoys and uses our unique strengths to change the world and make it better!
It is an amazing feeling to be spirit-led in your education and see the benefits as you read "as much as you can" for this project, "just happen" to watch a certain clip, a person "just happens" to mention something...and have them all come together, overlapping, to create an epiphany and be just what I need for a particular teaching moment or personal life lesson. I am definitely not the pro at this, but am so grateful that, as I have sought truth and tried to be humble and open to it, the lessons I have learned have been personally life-changing and brought such joy.
This reminds me of an "ah-hah!" I had:
I have been slowly and steadily working my way through the Gospels of the Bible on the advice of a friend, who "just happened" to say that she had done the same, looking for ways that the Master Teacher, our Savior Jesus Christ, taught those around him. It has taken me a long time for, in the middle of reading it, trying to methodically push myself through to "get it done," something I "just happened" to be reading suggested that slowly savoring and pondering was more effective than charging through to the end.
So as I was applying these two gems, I came across John 18:11 and have been slowly savoring a verse. The Savior just emerged from the Garden of Gethsemane and is facing the mob. Peter has just cut off the ear of the servant, whom we miraculously know the name of...Malchus.
We will never know the capacity of our incredible, godly and divine spiritual heritage that is present within each of us until we are stretched. The Lord "chasteneth those he loveth," the scriptures say. Our capacity, our greatness, our individual potential is beyond our imagination. Our loving "Heavenly Coach" wants us to see it...and we can only see it as we are pushed, encouraged, and stretched to our current capacity...and then made to go just a little bit further.
Shall we drink our individual cups? I am grateful I don't know what my full cup looks like yet. I am sure I would say, as did the Savior, "let this cup pass." But on the other side of that cup is everything our Father hath for us: eternal life, families being together forever, eternal peace and the amazing joy that I have only captured a glimpse of those precious times when I am truly an instrument in the Lord's hand. There is nothing like it. Week by week, day by day, hour by hour, if I can only seek to trust my personal spiritual Olympic trainer and put my education and life in His hands, I am sure I will have the most challenging, and yet the most rewarding life that I can personally experience.
Anyway, I am not so good and doing them consistently, but like with so many of those things that we try to do consistently (like Family Home Evening and scripture study), you've got to start somewhere and somehow, even the inconsistent ones are still effective. (And make you want to do more :)!)
Back to the WAM: I had one on Sunday with the Goob, and it was one of those magical ones. I saw his mind open to the possibilities as he really started to grasp that what I do in our homeschooling is to help him fulfill his dreams...not just fill his life with busy-work and guilt :). He planned some great goals, one of which I wanted to share.
We do a youth group called Vanguard, a group with the express mission to help youth (and everyone!) realize that they each have a God-given mission and as they seek for truth and to serve and really work at it, they will come to know what that mission is. I believe they are missions that include strengths and passions that they have right now, coupled with interests, depth, and skills that they will develop through God-inspired education. There is a weekly base of knowledge we ask them to study and then they are free to take it from there, internalize/study it out to create understanding, and then apply it to their lives to make it stick deeper...to create intelligence.
Well, we are studying having courage in the face of uncertainty this week, and for part of that are reading a section of C. S. Lewis's "The Last Battle." The Goob really wants to be what he calls a "media-maker," so with his goals for preparation for Vanguard this week, I suggested he make a Lego-animation of something out of the Last Battle this week or an example in the life of someone who showed courage in the face of uncertainty. He loved the idea!
Last night, before going to bed and after getting home from a wonderful Family Home Evening with our friends, the Tindalls (amazing family!!), the Goob came to me and said, "Mom, I didn't get to my movie today. Will you tell me when it is 10? I'll be in the other room working on it." 10 came and went and, over 1500 pictures later, the Goob came into where Q-dawg and I were watching "Man of Steel" and showed us his film.
That kid is amazing. The things he can do with Legos, a video camera, and clay! I will have to see if there is a way to post it, but I wanted to record this cool moment in our homeschooling. If only all of our kids could own and realize a personalized education like this all the time! The older ones are catching the idea and I am excited to see it spread on down the ranks :). These kids are all unique for a reason and I hope that they (and everyone else I can get this to!) can realize that we are all born for a specific reason...that God enjoys and uses our unique strengths to change the world and make it better!
It is an amazing feeling to be spirit-led in your education and see the benefits as you read "as much as you can" for this project, "just happen" to watch a certain clip, a person "just happens" to mention something...and have them all come together, overlapping, to create an epiphany and be just what I need for a particular teaching moment or personal life lesson. I am definitely not the pro at this, but am so grateful that, as I have sought truth and tried to be humble and open to it, the lessons I have learned have been personally life-changing and brought such joy.
This reminds me of an "ah-hah!" I had:
I have been slowly and steadily working my way through the Gospels of the Bible on the advice of a friend, who "just happened" to say that she had done the same, looking for ways that the Master Teacher, our Savior Jesus Christ, taught those around him. It has taken me a long time for, in the middle of reading it, trying to methodically push myself through to "get it done," something I "just happened" to be reading suggested that slowly savoring and pondering was more effective than charging through to the end.
So as I was applying these two gems, I came across John 18:11 and have been slowly savoring a verse. The Savior just emerged from the Garden of Gethsemane and is facing the mob. Peter has just cut off the ear of the servant, whom we miraculously know the name of...Malchus.
11: Then said Jesus unto Peter, Put up thy sword into the sheath: the cup which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it?Shall I not drink what God has given me? The life, blessings, and challenges that are uniquely mine? It reminded me yesterday, as I was pondering, of an Olympic coach and athlete. The coach doesn't coddle, doesn't pamper. He pushes, he encourages, he demands...knowing that the athlete cannot truly find what his capacity is until he is pushed, encouraged, or demanded.
We will never know the capacity of our incredible, godly and divine spiritual heritage that is present within each of us until we are stretched. The Lord "chasteneth those he loveth," the scriptures say. Our capacity, our greatness, our individual potential is beyond our imagination. Our loving "Heavenly Coach" wants us to see it...and we can only see it as we are pushed, encouraged, and stretched to our current capacity...and then made to go just a little bit further.
Shall we drink our individual cups? I am grateful I don't know what my full cup looks like yet. I am sure I would say, as did the Savior, "let this cup pass." But on the other side of that cup is everything our Father hath for us: eternal life, families being together forever, eternal peace and the amazing joy that I have only captured a glimpse of those precious times when I am truly an instrument in the Lord's hand. There is nothing like it. Week by week, day by day, hour by hour, if I can only seek to trust my personal spiritual Olympic trainer and put my education and life in His hands, I am sure I will have the most challenging, and yet the most rewarding life that I can personally experience.
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