Deschooling

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We have one more day of school left!  We are all looking forward to not rushing.  In the homeschool community, when you pull a kid from school in the middle of the year or after a turbulent time there is a period of “not doing anything” and it’s call Deschooling.   I’m sure others have a different definition but I think that sums it up.
Deschooling is training your body not be in school.  I think at the beginning of summer vacation parents and students alike need that time to deschool.  A time not to think about packing lunches, clean clothes/uniforms, getting homework completed or anything related to school.  I would think it would be easy to just stop but it isn’t–it is hard to go slow.
So many camps, retreats, vacations and events to go to I wonder how slow the summer will really be?  How slow does it need to be?
When we brought my son home to be homeschooled, we ended up “deschooling” for about 2 months.  During that time we had a schedule and I still had babies so we had 2 nap times to work around but it was very unstructured time.  Then one day my son decided that he wanted to go to the library and we were on our way to learning in a different way.  We gradually moved from “deschooling” to “unschooling” then back to a more traditional “homeschool”.  The months that this took place the kids found true joy in learning and discovered a new found joy in being with each other.  It was amazingly easy to teach.
So for our family we will have Monday at school for the morning, then celebrate Last Day of School with gifts for each child, Tuesday is Lego Discovery Center, the rest of the week will be the Waterpark, hanging out and getting the new Heartlake City built with Legos.
I’m looking forward to having some lazy days where I can start a knitting project, the kids can play for an entire day on whatever makes their hearts sing, listen to the basketball bounce and the soccer balls hitting the fence!  We all need time to decompress and slow down.   We all need time to just be.
We will plant our garden, can our food, bake lots of fresh bread, nap, take lots of field trips, go to the cabin, fish, camp out, build fires, harvest our crops, and have a great time TOGETHER.
The kids will be able to explore, build and read.  I will be able to write and knit.
I.can’t.wait.
Thank you God for times of feast and times of famine.  We learn to appreciate the seasons of our lives as you guide us, challenge us, and give us a purpose to do your will.

God’s Toolbox

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God’s Gift

Children’s Adoration May 2012

At our baptism God gave us a gift.  God is so generous that he gave us a “toolbox” so that no matter what comes up in life we will have the right tools to do His work and serve him.  God gave us ALL the SAME toolbox.  Remember, God knows us and he has planned our life and he knows how we will have times of greatness and times when we struggle (Psalm 139-again).  The tools that he gave us are the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit.

  1. Wisdom
  2. Understanding
  3. Counsel
  4. Fortitude
  5. Knowledge
  6. Piety
  7. Fear of the Lord.

All of these gifts work through the power of Grace.  What is Grace again?  Grace is the God given power in your soul.  Grace is the spot in our soul this is filled by the Holy Spirit.

A hammer looks easy enough to use–hammer, nail, WHACK, but it isn’t that simple is it.  You can hit to hard and the nail bends or to soft and it takes forever or you can hit your hand–a hurtful reminder that we aren’t using the tool correctly.  God’s tool box is no different.

Wisdom is given so that we can look at all of our options and chose the ones that bring us closer to God.

Understanding our faith so that we can choices based on Godly ideas not worldly ideas.

Counsel or right judgment is given to us so that we might be able to tell if our chosen actions match up with God’s honor.

Fortitude is what God gives us to keep going, and going and going to serve him and do his work.

Knowledge of what is pleasing to God and to turn from what is not pleasing.

Piety means to come back to God whenever we find ourselves doing things that might not be quite the best choice.

Fear of the Lord is to be in awe of God’s work.  To see the beauty in flowers, your teachers smile, a beautiful singing voice, how eggs hatch and all the million things that need to happen perfectly–God made that.  God made you–different from everyone else–how incredibly amazing is that?  Stop and think about it–that is why you are here!

God gave you this toolbox so that you would have what you need as life comes up.  At different times we may need to rely more on Wisdom or when summer is coming and we just want to be outside playing–Fortitude might be our tool.