Learning in our Life  – Tuesday 9^th May 2006 

Late this afternoon I had a phone call from a friend whose little boy asked “Who made God?”  Later on I opened this question up to Josh and Jess – their answers came from the perspective that the Bible says God is eternal / forever meaning going both ways in time.   Another thought was the fact that He is the same yesterday, today and forever.   Though I am not quoting the scriptures here, they were able to verbalise, not necessarily quote word for word, a scripture to support their thoughts.  The last thought we discussed was John 1:1, if Jesus (the Word) was with God in the beginning beginning, then God was just there too!  To wrap up this thought process up,  I later shared with them verse the Mum of this little boy had found in her study…Ps 90:2  Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.

I often miss recording such discussions but they are an important part of our learning.  In this discussion there was the skill of being able to defend your faith, of admitting you didn’t know the answers, of memorising scripture, of putting words together that make sense, of being able to discuss something backwards and forwards with a group of people; many skills that are a necessary part of our learning. 

In “Education Speak” these areas would cover English/Speaking, Listening, Society & Environment (for beliefs), Health (for your personal beliefs and interpersonal relationships) When we look at it this way, why is it that I don’t remember to record such times as they are obviously vital learning opportunities (and it happened while I was cooking pasta for dinner!)

Earlier in the day, the children listened to another large dose of Narnia.  Josh and Jess completed their Math U See lessons.  Nomi and Daniel played a string of games; Dominoes, Pickup Sticks and Ludo as well as having a lot of time together with the Lego.

Jessica started her piano practice again today – she played for an extra time, enjoying it.

Joshua spent a couple of blocks of time with the Domino the dog.  She is still a mischievous puppy (either that or very very naughty!!)  His time with her included going for a bike ride, which of course benefits him too!

We did our 2^nd Dependability lesson looking at what could motivate us to be dependable.  Jess, Nomi and Daniel completed their copywork for today in making a poster / memory work Phil 4:13.  Joshua though, read through a section of “Power for True Success” assessed himself and wrote some goals to “up” his dependability in his own life.

They had another ½ hour of Table Time where Joshua worked on his Chemistry reading.  Jess, Nomi and Daniel completed some “worksheet” style activities I had prepared for them.  TOPScience Animal – an observation and recording activity.  Anti-Colouring in Book – designing a postage stamp.  Daniel completed a worksheet “What is your favourite animal” which really turned out to be a dictated narration from listening to Narnia.

I’ve set them all a task to draw a “Narnia” picture in Chalk Pastels while they are listening.  This will take them over a couple of days.  I have asked them to use Chalk Pastels as a challenge as it is a medium they haven’t used much of.  It will be a undertaking for them to keep their fingers clean!

As far as my goals go for the day: 

Discipleship – Dependability, Belief discussion: tick, 

Discipline studies – writing, math:  tick

Discussion – RA (aka Narnia on tape!) and Chemistry:  tick, 

Discovery/Discretionary – art, games, piano, filing, dog training: tick!

So while I felt it was a very relaxed, slow pace (due to my flu) we achieved a lot!  I make note of  this to encourage myself, and others, that when we look at our whole life as a learning opportunity, when we look at discipling our children as our priority we really do achieve a lot of educational goals.