Collaboration

There are many important milestones in parents’ lives with their children. It starts when the couple discovers that the wife is pregnant and continues with the birth of the child. There are the noteworthy events of the first smile, the first word, the first step, and many others including a first car and a first job. Some firsts are easier on the father than on the mother, and vice versa. What is universal is the tension that arises when the parents view their children as youngsters, when they are young men and young women.

This was driven home to me three years ago when my “baby” was fourteen years old. From the outside she was anything but a baby, since she measured at least 5’9” in stature. Nonetheless, she was still my youngest, my “baby.” Then, my son and daughter-in-law presented us with a “for real” baby in the person of my grandson. Witnessing my daughter hold her nephew for the first time changed my image of her radically.

Older children often feel as though their parents “baby” them. They recognize that they still have much to learn, but they wish they could alter the perception their parents have of them.

An effective way to bridge this transition is for parents and children to get involved in a collaborative effort. By taking on a joint project, they learn to see each other as associates rather than parent and child. Having the opportunity to see each other work under the pressure of deadlines, deal with unexpected outcomes, or share success, make each recognize the others’ strengths and weaknesses. Each learns how to be gracious with each other as their relationship matures.

Currently my daughter and I are working on a graduation project because she will complete high school next spring. This project has taken planning and vision. We have had to work together to schedule, determine production costs, select materials etc. In the process, I have discovered that many of her ideas and skills are superior to mine. She has found out that her mother has talents and abilities that she does not. We make a good team.

Long after our children establish themselves with their own families and callings, these kinds of activities allow for a smooth transition into the adult-to-adult relationship that many children desire with their parents. For me, one of the best “payoffs” to homeschooling is having children I can go to to help me think through personal problems and concerns because I have established a mature relationship with them, and know the foundations on which they were raised.

That Slippery Slope You've Heard About

A young mother watched her baby son die in her arms after doctors refused to help because he was born two days too soon and therefore ‘just a foetus’.

Sarah Capewell gave birth to Jayden after 21 weeks and five days of pregnancy.

But doctors refused her desperate pleas to place him in intensive care because medical guidelines state that under 22 weeks a baby is a foetus and does not qualify for intensive care treatment. (more)

From Hearers to Doers: The Alpha and Omega of Faith

The book of Ecclesiastes ends with a straightforward directive,

Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.
Eccl. 12:13–14

This statement presupposes that God’s law-word is the rule for all areas of life and thought, and calls us to obedience to it as a duty. Anyone who takes this admonition seriously will naturally need and want to know, how do we go from being hearers of the Word to being doers of the Word? Read the rest of this article...

Mistakes, Blunders, Oversights, and Errors

Homeschooling moms need to run a tight ship. If a woman is going to succeed in the varied roles she fulfills (wife, mom, teacher, chauffer, medical liaison, social coordinator, etc.) she needs to have control of her domain. It is not unrealistic or unreasonable to expect everyone to do his or her job and conform to a schedule that allows all priorities and expectations to be met. But…

There is a danger in being regimental. It can lead to overlooking the reality that people (especially husbands and children) have flaws, and that mistakes, blunders, oversights, and errors can and will happen. In short, as homeschooling moms rise on the efficiency meter, it is possible, and likely, that they fall on the mercy meter.

Nothing remedies this tendency like personal, humbling experiences that reveal to us that we, too, fall short of God’s glory and need to rethink our harsh grading of those we teach and with whom we live. Yesterday, I had such an experience, the details of which don’t mean much to anyone but me. Suffice it to say, when we go through the “valley of humiliation,” we see how good our God truly is, and how we would be nothing without Him.

Excellence, efficiency, competence, and diligence are vital components to serving the Kingdom of God. Similarly, mercy, patience, understanding, compassion, and longsuffering are the God-ordained means by which we become more like His Son.

What Homeschooled and Christian School Children Are Missing