Parent and Teacher
Posted in Daily Focus on Sunday, March 23, 2014
"For whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth" (Hebrews 12:6).
Like most homeschoolers, the first few years were a struggle as I taught my children at home. The initial problems were not from a lack of quality curriculum, lesson planning, or teaching methods. Rather, the problems that tempted me to quit came from poor parenting skills. My children had the upper hand. I was bombarded with laziness, silliness, selfishness, and uncooperative spirits, and unfortunately, there was no super nanny to call to set things right. I needed to enforce the rules, so my children could learn to the best of their abilities. Boundaries needed to be set with a firm, but loving hand of correction. When I finally realized that parenting and teaching were synonymous, our homeschooling changed for the better.
Many times Christians slide backwards in their faith because they fail to understand God's nature as both a loving, heavenly Father (1 John 4:8) and a lover of justice (Psalm 37:28). We quickly see God as "the big meanie" when He corrects us in our foolishness and sin. Wanting to bask in His love as friend and Abba Father, we forget that God is also holy and just. When we realize God is all powerful and disciplines us because He wants us to share in His holiness (Hebrews 12:10), our spiritual understanding of God's love changes for the better.
What about you? Do you doubt God's love because you're suffering from the consequences of a past sin? God cares more about making you more like Christ than letting you have your own selfish way. Why not turn to Him and learn the lesson He is setting before you today? "For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness" (Hebrews 12:10).
Lord, You hate sin, and I know You want me to be more like Christ. Work in my heart and change my bitterness and doubt to praise and trust in Your goodness and love. In Jesus' name, Amen.
Comments(10 comments)
NANETTE W 03/23/2010 05:46:20
DailyFocus is a great way for me to connect with God and His desires on a daily basis. It has truly been a help to me as a homeschool mom, and I just needed to say "Thank you" for this wonderful gift that you give every day!
TAMMY H 03/23/2010 06:14:04
DailyFocus has been a huge blessing to me as a home school mom. It is although the Lord knows exactly what I need to hear each day to encourage me to run the race. This particular subject has been very difficult for me. I truly feel like I do not know how to mix the two elements properly...teaching / parenting. I have four young children and I just can't seem to get a grip on their behavior issues. Any recommendations would be appreciated.
THAIS C 03/23/2010 10:25:24
I'm glad to know I am not alone in this, just recently I had to make the tough decision not to let my son "give me rules". It seems the older they get, the more they want to give you instruction, and sometimes it sounds logical. But as Sebastian said," give them an inch, and they'll swim all over you".
GINGER W 03/23/2010 11:16:08
Boy can I relate to your words! Can you pls point me in the right direction for additional material for ACT prep vocab and math? I am looking to start working a little harder in this area and really need some assistance.
Thank you,
Ginger
CARL V 03/23/2010 11:33:22
Ginger,
ACT\'s website offers a full set of sample test questions, as well as links to printed resources. http://www.act.org/path/secondary/testprep.html.
Hope you find this helpful.
ELAINE P 03/23/2011 06:11:02
Today\'s devotional could not have arrived at a better time for me and my kids. This is our first year of home school and on top of that, we are now immersed in re-location proceedings because my husband\'s employer sent him to their MN location. Our schedule has been disrupted first from the announcement of the move, and now with a flurry of activity of preparing the house for painters, realtors, inspectors, etc. We have called this past week \"Spring Break\" because there was no good time to do lessons or even lesson plans. Hoping to get back to a normal or somewhat normal routine next week. It\'s been a very strange and unsettling time and I have asked the Lord for emotional strength and patience many times this past 11 days.
LETEYA M 03/23/2011 07:11:00
This was a great help to me, but I have one question what do you do when a child just doesn\'t want to learn. We havehad him tested for learning disabillites he has none. He does great in the subjects he liks and will tell you I don\'t care about this stuff so why learn it. He is my step son 14 years old. Have been homeschooling for 2 years.
JANET T 03/23/2011 07:21:47
Leteya -
This short video may help motivate your child\'s desire to learn. http://www.aophomeschooling.com/blog/homeschoolview.tv/homeschooling-the-reluctant-learner/
You might also glean some ideas from this helpful article - http://www.aophomeschooling.com/blog/homeschool-view/ten-year-end-homeschooling-secrets/
KATHY S 03/23/2012 05:18:26
\"Suffering the consequence of a past sin\". What does this mean ?
Generally I understand everything the Author writes, for some reason I have a block or am unclear in this one.
I know God doesn\'t cause sickness or illness, I am told he will sometimes allow it, perhaps in the case of someone needing to recieve Salvation.
I truly believe that our God is merciful and forgiving.
Anyway, I do understand the parent/teacher dual role.
In my case, I have this wonderful son that suffered so much in the school system, when I grade his work, and I hate to mark anything wrong ! So as a parent/teacher, my heart is kind of \"soft\" I guess.
He doesn\'t really mind, (well, sometimes I think he feels like he\'s not smart when he gets things wrong) but I feel as though he tries so hard, and his self esteem from previous bullying is so damaged, I just want him to feel great about himself and his schoolwork.
I do mark his work accordingly. (which is hard for me !)
But, if he has something wrong, I also give him the chance to re-do it.
This way he learns the work he didn\'t know, and..the questions he got wrong, he does get a little credit for re-doing the work, it\'s alot of time and effort on his part.
My son is so happy and thankful that we started homeschool this year, he will do any schoolwork that I ask of him.
The only other issue we have is our starting school times vary, which, I like being flexible, sometimes it just seems like it takes a while to get going.
Each day we each have things that may have us start a little later than desired, but I guess that\'s o.k., as long as the work gets done, really I shouldn\'t worry. There\'s only the 2 of us here, I guess the flexibility is another perk of homeschooling!
Have a Blessed Day ! :)
VANESSA W 03/23/2012 16:11:48
Wow! This sure came at a great time. I have been toying with the idea of putting ours in Private School. My oldest is so smart but refuses to do work. It\'s so hard when there\'s so little support around you. But with prayer God seems to continue to nudge us. April 13 is a Homeschool convention. We are going and pray God will continue to lead and give us wisdom with our children.