February 21st...”WHAT WAS THE BIGGEST PROBLEM YOU REMEMBER HAVING IN GRADE SCHOOL?”
My school grades were similar to the “grade” of the local gravel roads in our area…….low and rough! School was never easy for me. One of the reasons, besides my own failures as a person, was the inconsistency of teacher modeling and the mode in which they each chose to educate by. For some school years, I’d get a darling lady who was so kind, gentle and inspirational in her teaching methods. I was very eager to please her because of my admiration and respect for her as that year’s adult role model.
Sadly, though, the next year would advance me to another teacher with an entirely different spectrum of personality, traits and expectations. That type of scene often resulted in nine months of hell for me being under her heel and derogatory accusations.
I’d like to present the analogy of education being like fishing. An angler wants to ATTRACT fish to his fishing spot and onto his hook via methods that are colorful, intriguing and even “tasty” for the fish to nibble on. The same thing goes for a child in the educational setting. Thankfully, I DID have some educators that emulated the great fishing skills of getting my attention in the vibrant and desirable scope of education. For those fine educators, I was “hooked” on wanting to learn from their colorful style of teaching. Alas, though, other teachers used the “club” method of fishing for my attention and “bashed” me over the head with uncaring facts and figures without any inkling of passion or compassion.
After prayer and consensus within our hearts, the mother of my children and I decided that we were going to make a change for OUR children’s education needs. Therefore, we decided to teach our children within our home……..also known as “Home Schooling”. We felt that within the walls of our home, the grand lady who gave these children birth and love would be a consistent teaching model for our little ones, year after year. We saw parallels of education from the Bible as God’s Word says in Deuteronomy 6: 6 & 7….“And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart; And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shall talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.” Education, for our family, would happen throughout every day and in every way as we lived out our lives and love for God and the children He bestowed upon our lives.
True, no mother is perfect, but, at least in our children’s younger years we wanted to “see their roots established before we set them out in the world to grow”. Life is always a learning experience, especially for this Norwegian Farmer’s Son.
Norwegian Farmer's Son 