Have You Asked Them?

Have you ever asked your kids what their favorite part of school is? I just asked Brody. His response... "I like that you're learning something, the point of something that God did, that God wants you to know." I like that response.

I also asked him if he liked homeschooling. Turns out, he likes that he doesn't have to sit at a desk all day or ride the bus. Hmmm... ok.

After asking Brody and writing it down, I went to the other children where they are hanging out in their rooms and asked them. This is what I learned.

Maggie said she likes learning things, figuring things out. She likes the hands-on stuff, like the dissections. She likes that moment of discovery when she finally understands.

Gracie said she likes learning about stuff she's interested in. She likes that she can explore stuff.

Ty said he likes figuring things out and finding out new things. He likes having the knowledge of new things and sometimes knowing things that other people don't know. He likes knowing how things work.

Then I asked John, who is our dear friend. He goes to a prep school. He said his favorite thing about school is being able to bounce ideas off of classmates who are of the same mindset. I think that's interesting. I don't really know what to make of it, but it's cool.

Turns out, that my objective of ten years has, to a certain extent, been realized. I have always wanted my children to love learning. I've taught them that learning is an act of glorifying God because he is the maker of all things. Kepler said that to try to discover/understand new things is to try to know the mind of God. That's awesome. For real.

Why do you homeschool? Is it so your children will be happy or successful? Is it because you are afraid of the alternative? Whatever your motivation, that is what you will teach them. They learn what we REALLY believe; not what we SAY we believe. Actual theology vs  Verbalized theology.

Inspirational Quote

"The mind has 3 aspects: the intellectual, which gives us truth; the ethical, which gives us nobility; and the aesthetic, which gives us beauty. It is really impossible to seperate one of these things from the other entirely; but we may say that in science we have intellectual, or truth; in religion nothing but the ethical, or nobility; and in art nothing but the aesthetic, or beauty. But as a religion without truth or beauty would be a very poor affair, so art without truth or nobility would be almost inconceivable."

- The Art of Writing and Speaking the English Language
              published in 1906