Curriculum or Character

First, tell me you are glad I didn't post this in Webdings (I have that option you know!) Would you know how to translate it?

Meg, tell me if I used ; and , right in this first sentence:

No pictures today; although, I should have taken some as L worked with lumber scraps from our neighbor's new deck building furniture for his fort! Oh I hope DH doesn't grow tired of it for many years! I also should have photographed the bug M brought in. He and L thought it was a spider with claws. HOH cleared the confusion: it was a wheel bug! (HOH declared he doesn't like DH, so until he comes up with a better acronym, he's HOH.)

OK, now you get an internet photo of what the kids found: After reading about the "bite" of the wheel bug, I'm very glad L was there to send M up for a glass jar with a lid and that L knew to handle all things with care and not touch them with his own hands! (I got the picture from here.) I didn't complete their survey as I have grown weary of doing them with no reward/benefit to myself or my family!


Onto the real reason for this post:
When I started on this road called homeschooling after our first was born, I received some sage advice from veterans. This is how I now summarize it:



If you have all the right curriculum but you have not character you are but a struggling mother working very hard at nothing.



Yes, I stole the structure from I Corinthians 13 and I mean it. I use that structure frequently. I find myself looking at my kids and wondering if they'll ever conjugate verbs in foreign languages or solve quadratic equations or just read what they've been assigned. Then I remember, do I want sounding brass and tinkling cymbals (OK, just tinkling on the potty would be nice!) or do I want love?

I want my kids to learn all that they need, but before all the weariness of mind I really want to instill that God is #1 (paraphrase of Commandment #1! for kids).

Here are some off the cuff ideas I have for making God #1:

• Read the Bible every day.


• Talk about what you read (even if all you do is recount the significant verse you read).


• Pray.


• Let my kids know for whom they should pray. (I fail in this often, I get the message, but fail to pass it on. It's a genetic deficiency I got from my parents - I'll not say which one!).


• Write down what you believe, then teach your kids. (I'm cheating on this, I'm using a Catechism -this is not just for Catholics- study, but I am in the process of writing down what I believe.

Training up kids is very difficult, in case you didn't already know. But I serve God who knows them better than I do. He leads me to the curriculum that is best for my boys. So, as you scour the internet (or FPEA or any other Homeschool Convention!) be on the look out for God's best. He goes for the package deal. You may speak with tongues of men and angels and have love as well! Paul just said he'd rather love above all!



Sincerely tired...