Homeschooling with a MISSION

“Mommy, why don’t I have a recess like they do?”

AbiNoelle is such a logophile! You know, a person who likes words! She didn’t realize, that for her, playtime is synonymous with recess! Why, just the other day, from out of the clear blue, she says, “What does the word indignant mean?”

“Indignant? Use it in a sentence,” I prodded.

“She gave her teacher a very indignant look. That was what Amy said to her schoolteacher,” she explained.

Then, I knew…

sometimes, while playing in her room, she turns on an audio story – one of those being Little Women. Hence, the indignant question, for, you see, Amy in the Little Women story had been quite upset with her school teacher.  I explained indignant and AbiNoelle even practiced giving Mommy an indignant look. (Not much practice needed there!) We fully expect this new-found word to be popping up in our daily communications.

Recently, I was reading about the different types of learning modes – the verbal learner being one of those – and I smirked to myself that AbiNoelle truly enjoyed that type of learning. The author went on to challenge teachers to channel and further develop those God-given traits in an acceptable manner. For instance, the verbal learner could become quite the eloquent speaker or writer given her ease with words and vivid imagination. Another author even detailed Benjamin Franklin’s process of refining his writing style by dedicating time to reading fine manuscripts and then endeavoring to recreate the prose in his own thoughts but with a similar word usage and style as the accomplished author. No doubt, AbiNoelle’s love of words comes in part from her enjoyment of audio stories and subsequent imitation of that language. Minutes and then hours each day offer a feast of learning, and her little mind, still at four, studies and gobbles and savours every morsel.

From her directed learning with Mrs. Reese in the mornings to “recess” time on the swing, stories in her room, or the new found hobby of drawing the sunset, learning is the priority. Many psycologists defiantly shove the books away and taut that learning at this age is best accomplished through play. While imaginative play generates much interest and discovery, the Christian best remember that all knowledge is found in the Creator God and is communicated to us through His written Word, the Bible. Knowledge is not created or determined in the minds of men, but absolutely established and must be directly taught at a young age. Through teacher-led  instruction as opposed to the progressive emergent-style student led approach, the student’s learning is established upon a solid foundation of authoritative absolutes. Susannah Wesley, mother of Charles and John Wesley, great songwriters and preachers for Christ, dedicated one precious hour each week to personally and individually discipling her 19 children. The results speak loudly in that not only did they grow to become useful persons for God, but that each child was able to read the Holy Scriptures at five years, which surely gave a ROCK-solid foundation for growth. Think how many words they must have known by age 5! It seems that today’s society  gives in to self more frequently than not with each “break-time,” Me-time,” “down-time,” and selfie pose. Perhaps even our elections would have more to offer if we had a generation of logophiles like ole’ Ben, John and Charles!

Yes, AbiNoelle loves recess everyday and it contributes greatly, no doubt, to her growth and development. Yet, purposefully, we choose to complete fun-filled, teacher-directed learning in the morning prior to playtime to ensure that the ABCs will be well established  in order to be effectively used by the imaginative, verbal world that she so innately possesses. Order was instituted first by God at the Creation, so with this example, we have established an order for our typical homeschool day.

Lately our homeschool days have been filled with routine yet surrounded by the unusual.

We wrapped up the Community Helpers study with a special visitor – Mrs. Reese’s son, the fireman, came to class in all his gear. AbiNoelle loved “shaking his hand” and learning all about his responsibilities.

The conclusion of the Community Helpers section challenged each child to think of what they might want to do for God when they grew up. As widespread as her vocabulary, so are her desires for service.

No, not a …. cowgirl.

No, not a …..fire lady.

No, not a …. policewoman.

But, a….. mother, teacher, preacher’s wife, missionary – and – maybe a nurse!

In the midst of all this came Daddy’s missions trip to Colombia. So before we took him to the airport for his morning flight, he spent a few minutes visiting K5.

Each day, of course, has been filled with exciting learning. Bobbing for apples, cotton candy time, and clown day made for great fun around reading words and learning addition, clocks and much more.

Mrs. Reese’s “brain sprinkles even helped out learning one day!

And, AbiNoelle even managed to put together a whole pile of preacher’s packets for The Voice in the Wilderness and travel to special meetings to introduce the ministry to the new pastors. But, don’t worry, DVDs travel well, so during the morning sessions at the conference, our display area converted to a perfect classroom! (And Daddy even took a break to check on Grandma and Grandpa who both had medical emergencies and hospital stays – we are thankful they are now recovering!)

And so, for us, learning continues and words abound – everywhere!