Moral Teaching: a Personal Testimony

But I don't want to!

image from: planetpov.com

How many times have we said this growing up? And now, as mothers, how many times shall we hear it again? 

Not long ago, in my young adult life, I said this over and over again to the urging of my mother to get my teaching degree. Then after college I wandered aimlessly about for a couple of years with no real purpose on this earth but to seek my own pleasure and find my own way.

I returned home after a few months out of the country...lost, confused and spiritually barren. What was I doing? Where was I going? Why was God absent?

Then after a series of circumstances, the main one being that I began to relinquish my own desires for what the Lord might have for me, I began to draw nigh to the Lord and seek His will over mine. 

Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. -James 4:7-8

After this (and getting married), I needed to find a job...no, a career, to support my husband through Seminary. Well guess what? I felt the holy nudge to interview for a junior high Spanish teaching position. During the interview, for the first time in my life I had the overwhelmingly clear sensation ... like a peace wash over me ... that this is what God wanted me to do. I was offered the job without having any teaching certificate on the condition I would work towards and acquire it during the following 3 years. 

I accepted.

I tell this very condensed version of my life story only to give a living example of "But I don't want to!" ... followed by several years of living in confusion and spiritual torment ... to "But I ought to...and I will." I finally came to the place where I was tired of being selfish and decided to let God prove Himself to be all He said He is. And I would obey and follow Him, as I ought. If I say with my mouth that He is my Lord, then I owe it to Him to show that I believe it by following and serving Him in obedience.

'Ought' is part of the verb 'to owe,' and that which we owe is a personal debt to a Lawgiver and Ruler. -Vol 3, p 126

Was I forced to accept the teaching position? Of course not. But had I disobeyed (or ignored) God's urging Spirit, I would not have experienced first-hand His power working through me during the following 5 years of teaching...nor would I have been as prepared for the next steps of obedience that would come after this.

Even the divine authority does not compel. It indicates the way and protects the wayfarer, and strengthens and directs self-compelling power. It permits a man to make free choice of obedience rather than compels him to obey. -Vol 3, pp 127-128

So what wisdom can we impart to our precious children from our own experiences of choosing "ought" over "want" and willing ourselves to submit to our Higher Authority? Or maybe the opposite: choosing "want" over "ought" and falling into the dregs of stubbornness and selfishness? I can testify that it brings many an opportunity to share with my children in both instances! 

So when I hear, "But I don't want to!" when I ask my daughter to clean the table or my son to pick up toys, I remind them that it is their duty... that I still have to do things I do not feel like doing, but must (like wash the dishes and change dirty diapers)... that they also must learn to do things that are right and necessary even if they don't feel like it ...

because this is just the beginning of learning to obey the Lord.

Horns and Antlers

Recently our family had the opportunity to enjoy a wildlife tour near our home. Besides the thrill of seeing so many non-native animals to Texas (many of them from Africa and India) as we drove through the 1800-acre park, we were able to learn so many interesting things about these animals.

One little tidbit that stood out to me was the explanation of the difference between horns and antlers.

Which is which?

On the left is the horn. On the right is the antler.

I was so intrigued at being able to hold and feel these in my own hands and get a good look at the cross-section. The horn felt just like a piece of sanded wood. It was dense, with the outer coating like the fine bark of a tree. The antler was more like what I would expect, being also visibly porous: bony. However, they are both bone!

Take a look at this quick video for a super-simplified (and somewhat entertaining) explanation:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OM7WJpVDi8E

Some basic differences are...

HORNS:

• Bone core with keratin coating
• If broken, will not grow back (permanent)
• Never branched

Gemsbok

ANTLERS:

• Begin as cartilage, then through ossification turn to bone
• Shed and grow back yearly (not permanent)
• Branched

Fallow Deer

For more in-depth information and scientific reading, visit here. I found this very helpful ... and it has pictures! (always a plus)

Gecko: A Quick Study!

Mediterranean house gecko

Hubby spotted this little guy on a family nature walk recently.

Apparently, there are two species of introduced house geckos in Texas. This is one of them. The Mediterranean house gecko (or Turkish gecko), Hemidactylus turcicus, and the Common house gecko, Hemidactylus frenatus. Supposedly these little guys are nocturnal, but this sighting was in mid-afternoon. And the introduction of this particular gecko probably happened as a result of being stowed away on ships coming from Europe.

How amazing to see the shedding in process and get to explain this bit of science to our little academians :-)

It kept trying to hide from us, but once in this position with his head nestled in the shale, he kept still and we were even able to pet him!

Reflections of our First AO Exam

Yes, we just finished Term ONE. I feel very tired when I think about TWENTY-FOUR more weeks of this year's work, while some of you are well into your second (even third!) term.

HOWEVER!

I am so thankful we can do school at our own pace and on our own schedule.

During the last couple of weeks of Term 1, I began to ponder the benefits of giving an exam. (I didn't do exams in AOy1). As I had read in other blogs about the good things (and ugly things) that can be revealed as a result of testing, I figured I'd best take the plunge now before I get either a) too cocky about my child's education, or b) too worried that I am making a horrible mess of it.

I needed to know! ... And I also wanted Royal to begin getting acquainted with the idea that this whole school-thing isn't just here today and gone tomorrow...that what he is learning is important enough to really know and remember for a lifetime.

So I just nabbed the AO exam sample for Year 2 and used it word-for-word. And I am so thankful for this resource. I feel like it should be called Ambleside's Exam-Writing for Dummies. It was concise, yet very telling of what my young learner knows. I have to say I was extremely impressed with his memory!

On the morning of testing, I recalled how others had said they recorded their students to listen to again later (and type up answers), so I quickly decided to see if there was an app for recording. And I found one that was FREE with excellent reviews, aptly named Voice Recorder. It's great too because I can just record the different sections of the exam at different times, then put them all into one folder, which I named AOy2 Term 1 Exam. I can also transfer these files to my laptop's hard drive to keep for posterity's sake :-)

All-in-all, my entire first-time exam proctoring was a satisfying experience ... and quite a relief as well. Apparently, Royal is being educated. 

And I am not teaching him anything!

No one knoweth the things of a man but the spirit of a man which is in him; therefore, there is no education but self-education, and as soon as a young child begins his education he does so as a student. -Vol 6, p.26

AOy2, Term 1 Artist Study: Renoir

Pierre-Auguste Renoir

 As we read through Getting to Know the World's Greatest Artists, we learned that Renoir and Monet were quite good friends and painted a lot together. They actually worked together, along with a handful of others, to invent impressionism, where they would use quick brush strokes and would incorporate the natural light in the out-of-doors. Although this style of painting was not well-received at first, obviously it has become widely regarded as one of the most enjoyable genres of painting. 

We focused on several weeks of picture study, looking at and getting familiar with a few selected prints, the heart of our artist study. I agree with, and am always amazed at, Miss Mason's wisdom in her method of teaching...a short, focused time of study proves most fruitful in education. And in studying art, we should do just that: study the art! 

We recognise that the power of appreciating art and of producing to some extent an interpretation of what one sees is as universal as intelligence, imagination, nay speech, the power of producing words. But there must be knowledge...of what has been produced; that is, children should learn pictures ... by reading, not books, but pictures themselves. -Vol 6, p. 214

We tried free-hand drawing...

watercolors... 

drawing markers...

and map pencils to color in the famous work: Luncheon of the Boating Party.

And isn't it always interesting to discover, of the feast we present to our young learners, what little morsels they take away and enjoy for themselves the most? Royal, on his Term 1 Exam, after being asked to describe his favorite painting from the past 12 weeks, answered with this:

The Clown

He described it quite simply with the description of color; however, he also noted the boy's expression because we had read a little of the story behind this painting. He latched onto the fact that Claude (this young boy who is Renoir's son), was not in a happy mood because his dad was making him wear this hideous clown costume!

As in a worthy book we leave the author to tell his own tale, so do we trust a picture to tell its tale through the medium the artist gave it. -Vol 6, p.216