“Does it fit under the ‘nutritional’ part of our food budget? Dark chocolate and hazelnuts–I’m thinking ‘yes’.”
He smiled–tossed it in our shopping cart.
Our “date” this week was getting groceries together…with three little ones in tow 
Those three little girls–the physical reminder of the love we’ve made…that’s romantic enough for me.
I go ahead to the car to nurse the baby before our next stop. He loads the groceries in the trunk.
(I stick my head out of the door….) “Oh, did you get my chocolate out?” (It’s ridiculous how much I love dark chocolate and he knows it.)
He pauses, lowers his head and eyes, holds it up with a smile.
I give him the wide-grin thumbs-up.
“Do I look like a newlywed?” He asked.
We both take a bite together–“Oh my goodness, I didn’t know how good it was going to be.” I said. (Ridiculous, I tell you.)
“You want me to go get more?” He had a questioning tone, but not really.
My smile was returned by his and he was headed back inside the store.
I am either spoiled or loved.
Or both.
There are deeply stabbing lessons of motherhood….
This one hit me in a split second. In one instance I refused the apology. Not completely refused, but a “I’m still very upset with you and you apologize for the same thing over and over and over, and I just want to see change instead of another apol—”
Heart sank. I was spouting the very words I hoped I would never hear my Father say. And I feel sure I will not.
Stopped mid-sentence…tears streaming down both our faces.
“No…
I’m so sorry. I beg God to forgive me for the same things over and over and–by His grace–I will continue to forgive you over and over as long as I live.”
Relief broke across the face…relief that could only come after such a terrifying thought that Mother had “met her forgiveness quota.”
Perhaps you are encouraged.
Yep, this is pretty much the extent of our vocabulary curriculum. Actually, I would consider this “extra”. Good conversation is all that’s really necessary for a substantial vocabulary. As someone mentioned in the last comment thread, if parents simply speak deliberately–enunciating clearly and being liberal with the words they use, even with the youngest children, there’s no need, as far as I can see, for a formal vocabulary curriculum.
Remember, your children began learning an entire language at birth, and you were their primary teacher. Their vocabulary continues to grow and I submit it can continue to be taught in the same way you’ve been teaching it since birth. (If your vocabulary is limited, you can learn alongside them with this small idea.)
Words used throughout the normal flow of the day are much more likely to “stick” than 15 random words on a sheet of paper that the student is supposed to memorize. It goes the same with any piece of information: experience creates context in which information is best retained.
So back to our board: this contains our WOD (word of the day). Sometimes I leave it for a couple of days. The challenge is to use the word as often as possible in the correct way. Sometimes we have a contest to see who can find the most uses for it.
Fun, simple, quick.
A good place from which to glean WODs is your read-alouds as you come across words that may not be understood. Context is best.
Relaxed homeschooling, for us, doesn’t mean we don’t sit down and do “school work”. It just means that we also “think outside the classroom” and text books and worksheets are tools, while our education extends far beyond them.
A lifestyle of learning seems to me not only more natural and comprehensive, but easier to implement as a busy mom.
Mary Hood said: “God didn’t create classrooms, He created families.”
The sensibility in that statement meets me as a mom. Mothers are often overwhelmed by the task of homeschooling because they are trying to run both a family and a school.
What if much of the education of children just happened naturally inside family life?
Especially for little ones, there are many things that can be taught in casual conversation, multi-tasking during a chore, etc.
A few random things we do:
- Sing learning songs together during chores or play time. We’ve been singing the “Months of the Year Song”. We also enjoy singing Scripture this way as well.
- LISTEN. God bestowed the wonderful gift of curiosity into children which, if we are available and ready, can be an important key to knowledge. Hear their questions and be ready to help them find answers, even if you plant seeds by giving them an overview of what you know. I said the word “electricity” yesterday, and my 4-year-old asked, “Who’s ‘Tricity’ “? She wasn’t really interested in electricity, but she listened intently as I explained how it was responsible for turning on things.
- Ask questions. Whatever is in front of us, I try to get into the habit of asking, “Do you know why ……?”
- Do math. Math is everywhere and it makes better sense when it is taught in the context of real life. Even the rote stuff–multiplication tables, for example, can be practiced while we fold laundry or do dishes together. It just takes remembering to “redeem the time”.
- Make good use of writing opportunities. A card or thank-you note makes a great use of time and energy and can double as language, writing and grammar. It makes better sense to have a reason for writing when possible. After all, the only reason grammar, spelling and language matter is so we can communicate our thoughts to others.
Sometimes I just need to revisit the reasons we educate in the first place. Learning can take many forms. Don’t be afraid to tailor it to your season of life, not only giving yourself a break if you can’t duplicate a classroom, but possibly even finding that it’s better that way.
What are some of your “real-life” learning strategies?
“If you read history you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were precisely those who thought most of the next. It is since Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world that they have become so ineffective in this.”
C. S. Lewis
Geoff Botkin writes on the societal implications of 50 years on birth control…buckle up.
“Fifty-nine modern nations are plagued by the high-tech benefits of birth-control pills. Each of them have waged a cultural war against babies. Each of them suffer below-replacement birthrates. Each of them face potential extinction. But concerns such as national suffering, dangerous international geopolitics and the disappearance of entire nations are matters that would require mature thinking – something that was successfully bred-out of the American people when they accepted the pill as, in the words of Hugh Hefner, the greatest invention of the 20th century.”
Read How ‘The Pill’ Led to Societal Infantilism
Uncategorized | Word Warrior | 
March 13, 2010 10:39 am | 
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