Less is More – Really

I know you’ve heard this one before, but have you ever tried it out? Let me lay one guiding principle on you. How many birthday gifts did Christ receive on the occasion of His birth? Do your children need more?

I’m sure you could punch all sorts of theological holes in my logic, here. But, don’t. It’s reasonably sound.

I’m not saying that if you give your child one gift, and Grammy gives him one, and Other Grammy gives him one, that you make him refuse any more gifts. Don’t be silly.

What I am saying is, less is more. If you’ve fallen into the trap of over-indulging your children, STOP IT! Just STOP IT RIGHT NOW! Being over-indulged causes sinful attitudes, before, during and after the receiving of gifts. Why would any parent bring that down on their child.

You’ve got to cultivate a sense of thankfulness in their hearts. If you’ve over-indulged in the past, you can’t just scale down with no explanation. But, neither do you have to go gradually. Just be sure and TALK TO YOUR CHILDREN.

Clearly this advice applies to more than just birthdays. But, since we have 2 Pirates applying for age promotion this week, I’ll share what we’re doing.

Billy Bones is thinking about turning 12. I’ve hidden away an astronomy book for him, he asked for it specifically, I got it through Paperback Swap (free, of course).

Cannonball Jack thinks he should be allowed to turn 10. He has asked for a flashlight. I’ll get him a durable one from StuffMart.

While I’m at StuffMart I’ll get them each 1 set of summer jammies, under $10 ea.

They will both, also receive a Mountain Ocarina that we’ve purchased at Vision Forum. Billy Bones gave me one for Mother’s Day, and my Very Dear Hubby gave me the Learning to Play book and CD set. I look forward to learning to play our Ocarinas together this summer.

And this will, of course, be Music Instruction, on the “Official Homeschool Ledger.”

I hope they don’t read this before Saturday.

The Homeschool Stuff

How does this apply to homeschooling? Think outside the “Christian Home Education Curriculum” box. What do you want to teach your children? What is it they should learn? Why should they learn these things?

I always hated those questions when I first started “homeschooling” my children. Due to my government school background, I thought those questions were designed to make me come up with my own SCOPE & SEQUENCE for my “school in my house.” I always wanted to just substitute someone else’s SCOPE & SEQUENCE plan. Really, why should I do all that work when ABeka just gives that booklet away?

Here’s the rub. That’s not what the questions are about.

Get out your Bible again. Read through Deuteronomy chapter 6 again. Now, really think about those questions.

The answers to those questions are not in the box of workbooks the UPS man has left on your front porch.

You already have the Text Book that God intended for you to teach your children from. Get busy with that. Read it to them. Talk to them about what you read. Explain it to them. Ask them to explain it to you. One of the most powerful Bible learning activities we have done is to read our daily chapter in Proverbs (by the way, that’s why there are 31 chapters there) and then go around the table and have each child re-read and explain one verse (two, if they go together), and also have them tell us a practical application of that verse. So simple, yet so powerful.

Language Arts

Math

Science

History

Art

Music

Yup I’m gonna get to that, too. Just not today.

The folks from AT&T are coming today, early. So, I’ve got to move some furniture and put some stuff away and sweep, alot. And, of course, when I say, “I’ve got to…..” , what I really mean is, “The Pirates have got to……”

Related posts:

1. Homeschooling back at the ranch
2. Homeschooling Times Five
3. The Plan – part 2 – Homeschool
4. My Dyslexia Tears