Miscellany :: A Hodgepodge of Happenings

This week Royal has been at RA Camp, which turned out to be wonderful timing in our school year since last week he had his Exam, which left my schedule more open. I had the whole week to do all sorts of things I have been needing to do, and even some things I have missed doing for awhile, namely getting outside with my camera.

:: I gave Alice her Term 2 Exam, so now when we jump into Term 3 in August everyone will start off at Week 1 together :-). I just love it when things work out neatly like that!

:: Speaking of Term 3, I was able to hunker down and spend some much-needed time firming up plans for the fall. It will be a trial Term with this schedule, but I am hoping to glean some benefits with a time-based schedule rather than a check-list only schedule. Maybe it will help keep me from feeling pressured to get it all done and just enjoy the learning journey more.

:: As part of this new schedule, I also hope to get outside for a short bit once a week (aside from our Nature Walk time) during the morning with the kids and just begin to open our senses to all the beautiful sights and sounds this time of day beholds. I feel I have been in a dry spell as far as nature observation and study is concerned. I think part of that is due to a little school-life burnout, which is another plus for having this week off from normal school routines. And just look at a few of the things we experienced when we got outdoors this week:

     ~I took Alice and Almanzo down to the river for an hour one morning just to play in the water and see what we could see.

The sand bar is pretty barren as far as greenery goes; however, as I was sitting and looking around at the rocks in the sand, I spied a small caterpillar. Then another. And another. And another! They were everywhere!!! So I called the kids over to see, and of course they had to hold them.

   























~Alice happened to look through our kitchen window one afternoon at our empty Cardinal nest ... except that it wasn't empty. But it wasn't a Cardinal (or any winged creature for that matter). It was a frog! I guess he just wanted some alone time in a cool, shady place for awhile. Maybe even frogs need a break from the routine?

     ~We still get lots of visits from our Cardinal friends. They come to our feeder daily. We have noticed various juveniles in the mix as well. It is interesting because we hear their high-pitched chirps, see their tousled coiffure and observe them still being fed from time to time by their mother and wonder if they are our Cardinal babies. Yet they are obviously not babies. They are quite big now. We even see the juvenile males, their coloring mottled ... somewhat like an adult female; however, their breast has reddish hues, altogether different than the opposing sex. 

     ~Oh, and a cool dragonfly. We have seen numerous of these this month! The common whitetail, I just found out.

This is a female. The male actually has a white tail.

:: Purging & prepping for a garage sale has also been going on around here. I am motivated to trim down on our stuff. Less can be so much more satisfying. 

:: Next week will also be another week off from our school-life routine. I am looking forward to it. We will be traveling to Wimberley and I will be attending the wonderfully planned retreat that Silvia and Heather {et al} have been working on over the past several weeks. I pray it is refreshing to us all and a blessed time with new friends.

Alice's Exam :: Year 1, Term 2

As discouraged as I caught myself being after last term's Exam with Alice, I am pleased to say that I see progress in her narrations and recall of information! It really is a joy to be a first-hand witness to your child's educational development that homeschooling affords, and the day-by-day process of reading and narrating definitely shows dividends if we parents just hang in there long enough to take notice.

Bible

1. Tell about the crossing of the Red Sea OR how the Israelites were fed in the Wilderness. (could not recall)
2. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego: They wouldn’t bow down to this statue and he said, “if you don’t bow down to this statue you will be thrown into this fiery furnace.” And they said they were gonna do it one more time and if they didn’t bow down, they would be thrown into the fiery furnace. And then they didn’t bow down to the statue so they got thrown into the fiery furnace and then when they saw them in the furnace they said, “didn’t they throw three people in?” Then they said, “yes”, then  he said, “why do I see four?” And then Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego stepped out of the furnace and they didn’t even see a burn on their skin. 
3. The Good Samaritan: This is Jesus telling it. There was this preacher that passed by him and when he saw him he just went away. And then another preacher passed by and he saw him and he just went away. And then this Samaritan came by and saw him and then put him on his donkey and then he went home and took care of him. 

Writing/Penmanship

Copy “The boy took the gold, and thanked the giver.”

History

1. Tell about how Arthur became King: Everybody tried to pull the sword out of the rock, but they couldn’t, and then Arthur said, “Let me try.” And then he tried and he pulled it out like it wasn’t even hard.
2. Tell about Gregory and the pretty children: There was this guy called Gregory walking through the town and he saw three pretty children running around and so he was thinking. Then he saw the chains around their neck and then he decided to buy those children. And so he took them home with him and then he taught them about Jesus and then they were going to go home and they were going to teach their brothers and sisters about Jesus, but the other people wouldn’t let them. But then he sent them to this other guy and he took them there and then they arrived at an island, but that wasn’t it. And then they went to another place and when they got to that place, that was it. What’s "it"? England? (LOL!)

Tales

1. The Monkey and the Cat: There was nuts in the fire and then the monkey wanted the cat to take them out and so she reached her paw in there and took one out very fast. And then she kept doing that and then the monkey kept sneaking and sneaking all the nuts and the monkey kept letting the poor little cat’s paws get all burnt. That was a mean little monkey!
2. The story of Grace Darling: Grace Darling lived in a lighthouse and she was in a storm and there was people on a wrecked ship out on a big rock. And she wanted to go save them but her father said no. And she kept saying please until her father said ok. So then they took a little boat and they went out to the rock and got the people who were half drowned and then they got back to the shore safely and went back to the lighthouse and the people who were on the wrecked ship stayed there until the storm went away and then they could all go back to their own homes.

Geography

1. Find Lake Michigan on a map. Can you show where Gary is?
2. Label the Great Lakes region on the map.
3. Talk about how we have daytime and nighttime. Use balls if you like. 
   
   
   

Natural History & General Science

1. Describe something you found on a walk: Down at the lower pond of the dining hall there is a fossilized shell in a rock. It felt like a rock because the shell was out. The fossilized shell was bumpy.
2. Tell what you know about the Great Blue Heron: Whenever he flies he folds his neck up. When he is not flying, his neck is out and his neck is very, very long. It could be as long as my mom’s arm. Not the bird, its neck. His beak isn’t slippery because if it was slippery, he couldn’t catch the fish. We’ve seen them at Big Rocks Park.
3. Tell what you know about Cardinals, their nests and their babies: The first time we’ve ever seen baby birds is when we saw a mama Cardinal making her nest and then she laid 3 eggs and the first egg that the mama had laid hatched. The first day we saw a crack in the egg and the birdie was so cute! And then the next day we saw another baby bird and then the day after that we saw the other baby bird. It was so cute. When the baby Cardinals had been set free when we see other baby Cardinals they have red blotches all over them. And the daddies are all red with orange beaks and the mamas are grey with orange beaks.

Math

1. Mom buys a bag of 10 apples. You, Bethany & Mackenzie each eat one apple. How many are left? __7__
2. In a fish tank, you count 3 goldfish, 3 angelfish and 3 guppies. How many fish are there altogether? __9__
3. A dime = __?___ cents
4. A penny = __?___ cents 
5. How much would 2 dimes and 3 pennies be? __23 cents___ (after a quick reminder of a dime & penny, she was able to answer this easily)

Spanish

1. Name each room of the house: el garaje, la cocina, el comedor, la sala, el dormitorio, el baño
2. Choose one of the following rooms & tell me what you do there: (She ended up saying what she did in each room)

1. the bathroom - Me quito la ropa. Me ducha. (ducho). Me seco con la toalla. Me pongo los pijamas.
2. the bedroom - Me quito la ropa. Me pongo los pijamas. Me meto en la cama. Duermo.
3. the living room - Me siento en el sofá. Prendo la lámpara. Leo el libro.

Free Reads

Choose one of the books we read together this term & draw a scene from the story; explain.

Alice in Wonderland - Alice is sleeping and the leaves are attacking her. Then she woke up and then her big sister fell asleep. Now it’s, “Who in wonderland?”

Composer Study

Draw a scene from on of the following & talk about it:

1. Peter and the Wolf
2. The Sorcerer’s Apprentice
3. Hansel & Gretel - Hansel is picking up strawberries. Remember that time that he dropped the strawberries? So he’s picking them up. And there’s a big pile of rocks behind them. Right beside Gretel is a big rock and there was a witch out in the woods trying to find people. And Gretel told Hansel to pick up the strawberries because he had dropped them.
   

Picture Study

Haystacks - There’s these haystacks and there’s little piles of hay around them because some of the hay slipped off. The haystacks look like little houses, but they’re really not. It looks like there’s a house in the background and there’s another house over in the trees and where one of the houses is there’s a fence and a tree hanging over the fence and it looks like it is summer and it is very grassy and it could be spring. It’s very sunny and the sun is shining right on the haystacks and there’s trees in the background and also a mountain.

My Best Laid Plans

Well I feel as if my brain and the computer have been having a discussion now for several weeks on how to better a working (yet not quite perfect) schedule. (Is there such a thing, though?) I am on the hunt for it and will let you know if I find it! I also suppose that what may work right now may not work in a Term or two... we will see. Things always change and education is a life, as you know. It grows right along with us. And if there is one thing (out of just a handful) that is certain in life...it is change.

Ok, all that said... back to the conversations between brain and computer. I actually love plans. I love planning, so I really don't mind all this labor so much - except when I have a deadline in my sights. And I really want to start this next term with a fresh start. It will be Term 3 of Years 1 and 3. So perhaps this is a good "test tube" to see if a decent rhythm can be achieved before more change comes when I begin Form II (Year 4) towards the end of 2015.

So I really want to thank all you that have been posting your own plans and how you hope to work through your school days! It is a tremendous help to so many :-)

:: This last term I have employed the idea of scheduling by week that Celeste over at Joyous Lessons uses. This has helped a lot. Oh, and I just love filling all those bubbles in :-)

:: This summer I also read through Brandy's summer loop schedules on her Afterthoughts. I had desperately been needing to do some house cleaning. Ahem. And *I* don't want to do it, so I was looking for a good way to get my kids teamed up with me on this not-so-likable task and just GET.'ER.DONE! 

:: Finally...such a timely post at A Sabbath Mood. Thank you, Nicole!!! I so needed to be reminded of working, not only on a weekly schedule, but on a time-based one. As mentioned above, I love filling in bubbles ... which also translates to checking things off lists ... which can lead to GMS (Grumpy Mama Syndrome) if things *don't* get checked off (or I keep pushing to finish it all), which tends to make the environment of education not so educational. Hmmmm...

So for those of you that like to look at schedules and other people's ideas, I post mine here. Maybe you are like me. Maybe you need inspiration from without to muster up the inspiration from within.

Starting with Nicole's time-based weekly schedule inspiration, I have worked out the following:




This is the sheet I will print out for myself to have for the week in my binder. A few notes:
:: You may notice the circled numbers. This actually corresponds to the following Weekly Worksheet in a couple of categories, as there are choices for Alice in Year 1 under Natural History and Literature. Here she may choose which reading, if more than one is scheduled for the week.
:: There is also a Key of sorts on the right, grayed area. In addition to this being (hopefully) more of a day to do nature-focused things, I also wanted to provide myself with a list of the Clean Zones for the month as well as to note that (E) means information can be found on Evernote and (K) signifies a Kindle book.
:: The Spanish cells are for me to plan out language activities for the week. If I don't write it down, I have no idea what I'm doing!
:: Focus on Nature (under Day 1) is something I would like to start incorporating into our mornings once a week ... basically just a time for each of us to sit still for awhile (alone) with our eyes and ears attuned to the sights and sounds around us. This can be entered into a Nature Journal or not at this point. I just want to start encouraging more opportunities to find "friends" in nature. We'll see how this goes!
:: Under the days' headings are Handicraft, Drawing and Nature Study. This reminds me of our afternoon focus (since I ran out of space at the bottom!)
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Now the Weekly Worksheet is what the kids see, and hopefully they can become more and more independent in reading, doing and checking off what they've completed as the days go by.


This sheet will hang on a clipboard for the kids to check off as we go along. A few notes:
:: Titles with bubbles are readings to be completed as per the Weekly Schedule. 
:: Titles with the # sign are books scheduled throughout the term; however, they are not in the current week's assignments. This way I can just change bubbles to # (or vise versa) and not have to re-type things.
:: Math is at the bottom. I really need space to write out assignments. (Again, if I don't write it down, I don't know what I'm doing)! This seemed the most logical place. The kids can see it also and know what to expect.
------------------------
Finally, here is a closer look at our Cleaning Charts. I have printed these, cut them into strips, laminated them and hung them under a light switch in one of the Zones. Kids (minus Almanzo) can read what his or her work is for that area and continue to work until they finish their jobs or the time is up. (Scroll down to see page 2)

Now, after all this brain-stretching work, I hope that at least something is a wonderful addition to our life as a family and as students in general. I do know that the hardest part of making this work is ME. I have to be the one to get things going and *keep* them going. 
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Philippians 4:13
And I like what Silvia mentions at the end of this post: "if you are learning, your children will too."

Royal's Exam :: Year 3, Term 2

Royal has just completed his 2nd term of Year 3. This go-round I decided to type it up as he spoke because last term I recorded him and never mustered up the energy to go back through it and type it out. This manner of recording seemed to work out quite well. After a little bit of a rough start (mostly me trying to keep up with his speech), we both fell into a groove of him speaking, noticing what I was writing and pausing until I caught up. Now I've got it all ready to print, store for record-keeping, and post!

If you are so inclined, you may read through all of this. If not, no hurt feelings here! 

I pretty much took the Exam from the Ambleside Online website, only with a few minor adjustments. We spread this exam over 3 days, about an hour at a time. I know there are a small amount of mistakes in his remembering certain details; however, this is part of finding out what our children are (or are not) remembering. I am usually WAY more impressed with what they *do* remember than what they don't!

Bible

1. How the Israelites were fed in the Wilderness: One day God since the Israelites had starved, so God put out whatever it was called (manna) and He kept feeding them this for about 7 days. (afterwards I reminded him it was 40 years and not 7 days!)
2. Shadrach, Meshach & Abednego: One day the king decided to make a statue of himself and said everybody should bow down to it whenever they heard the instruments, but Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego would not do this. So they were brought before the king and he said, "Why have you not bowed down to the statue?" and Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego said, "We will not bow down to it because there is only one true God". So the king said, "I will give you one more chance and if you do not bow down to it I will throw you into the furnace", so they heard the instruments but they did not bow down to the statue. So they were thrown into the furnace. The men who had thrown them in had died from the heat. But then the king said to his men, "Didn’t we put three men in the furnace?" His men said, "yes we did, sire". The king said, "Well why do we see four men? And the fourth man looks bright and looks like a god". Then all the of the sudden he was filled with terror for that shining person was Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego's God and so he said, "Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, come out of there!" And so they came out and he said everyone should obey Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego's God for he is the one true God!
3. The Parable of the Mustard Seed (Mt 13:31-32) & explanation: The Kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed planted in a field. It is the smallest of all seeds, but it becomes the largest of garden plants. It grows branches and birds come and make nests in its branches. … The mustard seed is like the tiny little beginning of something and then it grows into something bigger and it makes you kinder. It’s like growing in God.
4. The story of the Good Samaritan: One day a man was robbed and was left half dead on the side of the road. Then a priest came by and looked at the man and passed by. Then another man came by and looked at the man and passed by. Then a Samaritan passed by and looked at the man and had pity upon him and so he put him on his mule and took him to an inn and gave the hurt man all his money and some good clothes and sent him on his way.

Writing/Penmanship:

Copy "Edward walked on without making any reply" in print, then in cursive (as much as you remember):

Free Read:

Choose one of the following books we read together this term. Draw a scene from the story & explain.

     *Alice in Wonderland

     *The Water-Babies

     *Mary Poppins

     *The Door in the Wall

     *The Bears of Blue River: This is after they had made the tree house and the bear had come in and slept with them. On the right Balser is trying to aim at the bear, and under the bear is Tom being attacked. Jim with Tom’s hatchet is whacking violently at the bear.

History

1. What do you know about Sir Walter Raleigh? One day Queen Elizabeth was walking through the streets and in those days people didn’t take good care of the streets so she was coming upon a huge mud puddle that she would have to cross in her nice shoes. So a guy came up named Sir Walter Raleigh and took off his beautiful coat and put it over the mud puddle so that the queen could cross. After that the queen started to like Sir Walter Raleigh and gave him a high position in the castle. Until one day he did something against the queen and was put in the Tower of London and was put to death.
2. Tell about how London was burned: One day a fire started in a bakery and spread through London and burned most of the houses to the ground. This was called the Great Fire of London. Many people died and when the workers started to rebuild the houses the fire came too fast so they had to run away from their work and their work was burned to the ground.
3. Talk about the Knights of the Golden Horseshoe: One day a Scottish colonist from Virginia decided to see what was over those mountains so he took a couple of men and set out on his long journey over the mountains. When he got to the top of the mountains where he could get a good view, he gave each of his men a golden horseshoe so they could remember him and called them the Knights of the Golden Horseshoe. 

Math

        1. Use < or > : 53 __>__ 37

        2. If a trucker drives 231 miles on Friday and 172 miles on Saturday, how much farther did he drive on Friday than on Saturday? _313_ miles. (had to go back and talk through why this is subtraction and not addition)

        3. You, Heath and Andrew each have 6 knives. How many do you have altogether? _18_ 

            If you have 12 sticks to whittle, how many will each of you do so everyone whittles the same number of sticks? _4_ sticks each

Tales

1. Tell about Edward Beverley & King Charles: As the king was walking through the streets with his soldiers behind him and Edward at his side, Edward spotted two young ladies looking out the window at him.And then one of them shouted out, “Edward!” and said it so loud that the king and all his men heard her. And the king said, “Are these your sisters, Edward?” And Edward said, “Yes, they are, Your Majesty.” And the king said, “Well, we’ll have a couple of court beauties, won’t we?” 
2. Tell a story about Davy Crockett: One day while Mr. Miller was asleep, Davy Crockett decided to sneak away to his home because Miller had been so cruel to him. So Davy Crockett traveled for about two years when he finally came to his home and at first he did not tell his name when all of a sudden his sister recognized him and said, “This is my long lost brother!” And his pa said, “How did you get here so fast?” And Davy Crockett said, “Well, I just saw a comet coming by and grabbed it by the tail and it took me here.” … He like to make up stories alot, but his pa never like them. He just frowned.

Map Skills:

Choose to label one of the following maps:

     *Great Lakes Region (He pointed and I labeled)

     *Oceans & Continents

Geography

1. Describe the beautiful city of Cambalu: It is a huge mass of land and has beautiful lakes with boats on them. And it has flowers and lots of gold writings and beautiful fields and hills, but centuries later it just crumbled to pieces. And today you will find stone pieces with still some writings on them.
2. Talk about the Khan's great hunts during the spring months: They hunted geese, cranes, tigers, lions, bears, elephants, hawks. They would hunt with their pet hawks and the Khan, to amuse himself, would let his hawk go attack a crane while getting fish. And they stayed there for about 6 months and then went back to Cathay and in their hunts they stayed in huge tents and the Khan had one big tent with a little tent on the side. They had dogs that would hunt wild boar and while the dogs were attacking the boar, the hunters would come up and spear the boar and kill it.
3. What causes the change of day and night? When the earth is turned away from the sun it’s dark. (ended up doing a physical demonstration with balls and body spinning)

Composer Study:

Draw a scene from one of the following works & talk about it:

     *The Sorcerer's Apprentice

     *Hansel & Gretel

     *Peter and the Wolf: Peter has gotten out of the house without his grandfather knowing. And in the pond the duck is swimming, and on the branch of a tree there’s Peter’s friend, the bird. And in the background is the woods. And in the front is the gate. And Peter is playing around in the yard. 

Natural History & General Science

1. Tell what you know about hermit crab homes: When it is born, it is as small as a pencil dot. If you put it in a upside down beer cap, it would be like an ocean to a newborn Pagoo. And then it keeps shedding skins until it is big enough to find a shell. It is hard to find a shell sometimes. Many hermit crabs fight over shells. And at one point in a hermit crab's life, it looks just like a crawfish. 
2. What do you know about Tookhees the wood mouse? Tookhees the wood mouse peeks out of its home and checks for danger, then goes back in. And it keeps doing this for a couple of times and then it finally comes out all the way and starts wandering around the woods. It’s predator is fox, bear, bobcat, and mountain lion. And the moment it sees a predator it scurries back to its hiding place. When a wood mouse is swimming across the river, it can get caught in a current and if a trout is hungry enough it will come up and devour the mouse. 
3. Talk about one of the entries in your nature journal: The copperhead grows up to 2 1/2’. It has dark brown spots along its back and the rest is a coppery color. It likes to eat frogs and toads. And you can step on it without knowing because they are very stealthy. They are the least poisonous of the vipers.

Spanish

        1. Take me on a tour of the house, telling me what each room is and some things found in each room. (I noticed this was a bit difficult and only got mutterings or one-word tellings)

        2. Choose one of the following rooms and tell me what you do here: (These were series we have completed and ended up being a nice narration of actions and vocabulary that were apparently more difficult to recall in the context of a list, as in question #1. Interesting!)

            a. the bathroom

            b. the bedroom: Me quito la ropa; Me pongo los piyamas; Me meto en la cama; Duermo.

            c. the living room

Picture Study:

Choose one of Monet's paintings we studied to describe in detail: Woman with a Parasol

This painting is by Monet. There is a woman. It is Monet’s wife and his son, Jean. And Monet’s wife has a parasol and her son has a sailor suit. And there are flowers and they’re on the top of a hill. And it is a sunny day in France. And his wife is wearing a purple dress and a hat with a flower on it. The sky is blue with white, puffy clouds.

Recitation with Alice

1. the Parable of the Mustard Seed

2. Twilight, by Sara Teasdale

3. Ephesians 2:8-9

4. Joshua 1:9

Singing with Alice

1. The Ballad of Davy Crockett

2. de colores, by José Luis Orozco

3. Let us with a Gladsome Mind

{Keeping} :: June's Firsts

I feel as if lazy summer days are getting me. I have been so behind on things!
So, now mid-July, I am just getting around to posting our June Firsts.

1     - identified lemon-mint

2     - wonderful aroma of the basket flower at the state park

3     - identified meadow pink and mountain pink. 
         First 90 degree day.


5     - mosquito larva
         Giant swallowtail butterfly

6     - saw a beaver down at the river!


8     - mosquito pupa

10   - mosquito adult

11   - four o'clock flower buds

14   - first rain of the month


21   - cedar waxwings spotted


24   - copperheads starting to appear in the area ...Needless to say, our time outside (especially in the evenings) is very monitored and limited!...

Treasures at the Museum

Another great traveling exhibit is in our area for awhile, so we just had to get over there to see these treasures from abroad! 
Several impressionist paintings were on view, and as we have been studying Monet this term, we were eager to see if we could spot his works as well as previous artists we have studied.

Again, I asked the kids to keep their eye out for artists they know. (See our previous successful museum visit here)

In addition, we played a game. After viewing all the works in the exhibit hall, we gathered on one of the benches to tell each other of our favorite piece of the day. 
After each description, we went on a "treasure" hunt to try and spy the painting. 
This was fun for the family and also was good practice for capturing the image in our mind's eye and narrating to others who have not really seen the painting. 

Then we went to a separate room to relax and sketch these treasures.

Sir Henry Raeburn
Colonel Alastair Ranaldson Macdonell,
15th Chief of Glengarry

Georges Seurat
La Luzerne, Saint-Denis

Alice's rendition of Seurat's work:                                                                                                                                    Royal's sketch of Raeburn's painting:

Oh, and we also happened to see a couple of Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot's paintings today, so I made sure to point those out to the kids as we will be studying him next!

Ville-d'Avray, Entrance to the Wood

The Stonecutters

As we left the paid exhibit, we wandered over to the permanent collection. 
We have visited this portion several times before; however, we noticed different works this time in addition to our usual favorites ... Another of Monet's train paintings (see this post about Alice's eye for Monet's trains), some beautiful Van Gogh's, and lo, an Antonio Canova! 
For those of you who have been through Year 1 (Term 2), do you remember Canova's tale in 50 Famous Stories? 
This was an unexpected gem as I noticed the artist's name under the sculpture. I snapped the picture, then today on our scheduled reading list was this very story. So Alice was drawn more intimately into the story as I read because she had actually seen one of his works yesterday! 

Ideal Head of a Woman

Wow. 

All I have to say is:

I {heart} Charlotte Mason!

The Mind of a Child & His Will

No sooner doth the truth...come into the soul's sight, 

but the soul knows her to be her first and old acquaintance.*

I have been trying to finish up reading Volume 6. I am so close, but at the same time wanted to go back through and re-read things I have highlighted in order to start preparing a little for the Texas Hill Country Retreat coming up at the end of the month.

So here are just some thoughts...my reflections from “A Philosophy of Education” (volume 6, Chapter II, pp33-44)

He has a will of his own.

He is strong-willed.

Do you have a child like I do that falls into this category?

Would you say this child’s will is difficult to deal with at times?

What is will?

When you think about it more reflectively, is will that the child is opinionated, or stubborn, or just wants his own way?

Or would you say that actually the will is very weak because of the refusal to make oneself do what one ought?

It is when the little boy is able to stop all these and restrain himself with quivering lip that his will comes into play; for he has a conscience too.

No one can make a child obey unless he wills to do so.

Vol 6, p37

I think when we say “he has a will of his own” or “he is strong-willed”, what we actually are referring to is that the child does not submit to obedience easily.

So are will and obedience different?

One can be forced to obey by use of threats or strength of the commander.

However, once left to their own devices, many previously “obedient” children rebel as a result of their freedom to choose for themselves.

Will comes into play when we find ourselves faced with a choice of doing right or wrong. It is a fight within us at times (between flesh and right behavior), but as we choose the right, however difficult it may be, we are willing. As we will to do right more and more often, it tends to become easier, don't you think? 

And when we realize that we are under the authority of the Almighty, as we grow in our faith, this is where tests of obedience present themselves and our will is the chief responder.

I am thinking about all this in light of a surprise “attack” by my 3-year-old today. Our children are in the "training program" to become obedient Jesus-followers. Today’s incident was a teachable moment for the littlest soldier. He learned a lesson, a stern reminder and chiding of what is acceptable and what is not. 

The consequence of truth is great; therefore the judgment of it must not be negligent.

*-Whichcote

As I lead and teach my little ones, I pray that as I strive to instruct them in the way of the Lord, 

by degrees as he is trained, his will comes to his aid and he learns to order his life.

 Vol 6, p44