2011-2012 homeschool kickoff!

Each year, we begin school going over rules.  They really haven't changed much over the years, but I like to sort of revamp, and remind everyone of what we're trying to accomplish here.  One of the things that I am required to teach by the state, and one of the things I feel that I fall short in, is good citizenship.  Especially this year, with a tween and a teenage girl, I want to focus on attitude, which can, even on the best of days, go south in a hurry.

1) Treat others the way you want to be treated.

Matthew 7:12

So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.

2) Respect your teacher.

Deuteronomy 5:16

Honor your father and your mother, as the LORD your God has commanded you, so that you may live long and that it may go well with you in the land the LORD your God is giving you.

3) Do your best work.

1 Corinthians 10:31

So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.

4) Do your chores cheerfully.

John 13:4-5

so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him. 

I wasn't able to find a verse really applicable to doing household chores, but if Jesus can wash his disciples smelly feet, then NO ONE is too good to pick up around the house a bit!

And that, dear friends, is the summation of our rules.  I, of course, have little specifics for how I want work completed and organised, but it all boils down to those four rules.  I'm seriously considering printing them out in a pretty font and framing them in the hallway where we keep some of our visuals for school.

So what exactly have we done on this, our first week of homeschool for the year?  Well, chores, of course. I've implemented a new system that I stole from my pastor's wife.  I am not a naturally neat person, so I need all the help I can get!  Each room has its own card, and everyone has to choose a chore card to complete that day.  So far it's working pretty well.

We use a literature based curriculum for most everything, so there's been a lot of reading, a bit of science, some math...

copywork...

music theory...

music appreciation, and composer studies...

and we died some formerly natural coloured wool longies for Zachariah a pretty purple, because the natural gets really grungy.

And what has Zachariah been doing during all this?  Eating is always a big favourite...

And Tatiana made him a transmogrifier.

All things considered, the first week back in school went pretty well.  We had a few meltdowns the first couple of days, but once we got rolling, there weren't too many problems.

Happy Good Friday. Happy Earth Day.

The following is going to be a little out there for some of you.  It's a little out there for me.  I usually keep politics and religion off my blog.  Not today.  You have been warned.

Today is Good Friday.  And Earth Day.  As someone who cares deeply about the planet and conservation, but who is also a Christian, I am often conflicted.  It would seem that many of the Christians I know believe that conservationism is best left to the democrats.  And of course you can't be a Christian and a democrat.  (That was sarcasm, by the way.)  Most of the time I feel like I don't fit in anywhere, but that's a story for another day.  I find it interesting though that we need Earth Day for the very reason that we need Jesus and Good Friday.  Stick with me, here.

After the fall in the garden, God punished Adam and Eve
Genesis 3:16-19
¹⁶ To the woman he said,
   “I will make your pains in childbearing very severe;
   with painful labor you will give birth to children.
Your desire will be for your husband,
   and he will rule over you.”
 ¹⁷ To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’
   “Cursed is the ground because of you;
   through painful toil you will eat food from it
   all the days of your life.
¹⁸ It will produce thorns and thistles for you,
   and you will eat the plants of the field.
¹⁹ By the sweat of your brow
   you will eat your food
until you return to the ground,
   since from it you were taken;
for dust you are
   and to dust you will return.”

So what have we done?  Everything in our power to escape the consequences of being being kicked out of the garden.  Chemical fertilizers pollute our water supplies.  We've covered our crops in pesticides to make them easier to grow.  The suffix -icide means someone or something that kills a particular person or thing, or the act of killing.  I don't know about you, but I don't really want poison on my food.  We eat an awful lot of produce in our household, as I only cook vegetarian.  Even if you don't eat as much produce as we do, your meat does.  I have to think that all that poison is going to catch up with us eventually.  We buy organic as much as possible but there is a vast price difference.

And oh, how we've (literally) butchered childbirth!  What should be a lovely, natural experience has turned into an emotionally traumatic event for so many women.  All because we were trying to escape the pain.  I won't say more, because this one is still very raw for me.

So I think it's appropriate that we should remember the sacrifice that Jesus made for us on a day when we also consider the planet that He created for us.  Because really, if we were still living in the garden, Christ would never have needed to make that sacrifice.  If we were still living in the garden, caring for the Earth would be what we naturally did.  Today, when you're thanking God for the price that He paid for us, maybe you could take a moment to thank him for the beautiful Earth He made for us to live in.  Or maybe you could hug a tree and remember that lonely cross that the Lord hung on to save us.