... why I want to homeschool?
Every day I ask my kids what their "high" and their "sigh" of the day is. Good points, not so good points... we talk it out. I have found that many a potential "melt down moment" is averted through this conversation starter. There is no opportunity for my little blessings to harbor any emotions they don't understand and cannot compute on their own. (Eph 4:26) I have found out more information with the game "Highs and Sighs" than asking the question "How was your day?"
Tonight at the dinner table was no exception... I found out more information than I anticipated, and am beyond grateful to God for His grace in keeping me calm and preventing an overreaction. My 2nd grader was talking about learning a new subject... "Visual Media". He was explaining how the students use "T-Charts" to compare and contrast real life with the fiction seen on television / media (in general). So far, so good. Next I asked him what example was used for comparison. He said a television show was shown and it was contrasted with real life. Hmm... my curiosity is peaked... mostly because I'm pretty particular about what my kids' eyes view and what their ears hear. I am teaching them to guard their hearts.
(Side note: the school has a policy that no permission slips need to be sent home to watch anything the school chooses as educational as long as it's rated G. I have a policy that I don't send my children to school to watch movies / TV shows. We agree to disagree on each others policies).
I probe further and ask my 2nd grader what TV show was shown to his class. It was a Disney show, but one that is really too "mature" for the little minds I am protecting. By the worlds standards it is a perfectly acceptable show. But we don't live by the worlds standards. (NOTE: here is where I'm grateful for exercising self-control and not freaking out... and God blessed it and allowed my child to open up further). I asked what was shown in the film that he was able to fill up his T-chart with. His answer was simple - "in the show they played with water guns in the house. In real life, that doesn't happen. Water guns are played with outside so the house doesn't get wet." Excellent comprehension. He's a genius. :-)
"And then you know what happened, Mommy?? The grandpa was at a soccer game and he got mad at the coach and turned around and faced his bottom toward the coach on the field and he pulled his pants down and showed the coach his bottom." Yep - you read that correctly. MOONING on a child's program. Ugh.
Finally I asked my 2nd grader (as I'm silently thanking the Lord that there are only 5 more days of school left this year) what he thought of that. He admitted he laughed (and was currently laughing) but he thought it was inappropriate for him to be watching, so he told his teacher he didn't want to see anymore. His teacher told him he could play a math game (mother-approved, at that!) on the computer instead of finishing the TV show. I have no right to be proud of my child... but in my sinful humanness, I am. Proud. Of. Him. He chose to honor the Lord today, and not his own desire for entertainment.
I have no right to be blessed. But I am. Blessed. Immeasurably.
Train up a child in the way he should go;
even when he is old he will not depart from it.
~ Proverbs 22:6
And that's why I desire to homeschool. To give more to my children of the Lord than they can possibly receive when not in my care. I am charged to train them up. And I want to. More and more.
