"Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.
And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart.
You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise."
Deuteronomy 6:4-7
And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart.
You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise."
Deuteronomy 6:4-7
To Serve Him
I want Teeny Tiny, #2 and any other children Ha Shem has planned (yikes) to know what it is to serve Him. I want to give them every opportunity possible to know Him. I say it that way because I am acutely aware that I cannot make them know Him. Ultimately, their salvation is between Him and them. But His word makes it very obvious that I have a huge, huge, huge role in this.
I am to teach His word diligently. When I sit in my house, which I take to mean in every thought, action, job, chore, reaction and action of everyday life. When I walk by the way, which I take to mean who I am at home is who I am to be outside these doors, so above description applies here too. When I lie down and when I arise. Yeah, that would be emphasizing the "you need to live my word every second of every breathing moment." Whew.
That is where I am thankful that much of His word is about forgiveness and grace. Meaning by my children having me as a teacher of His word, they will most likely have many opportunities to work on accepting apologies, and hopefully will offer grace and forgiveness :0)
Here is a snippet from an article by Tim Hegg that I really appreciated:
So there you have it. In short form, for me, I hope to raise servants of HaShem who can help their neighbor, husband, wife and kids with the so-called-drudgery of life (scooping poop without too much gagging) and the miracle of His ways. All without having to add on their fingers. Shouldn't be too hard...ha!
*Arrgh! Blogger is putting their address at the begining of all my links and it won't go away. So you can't go to them from my page. So here is the real address, sorry for its length, just copy and paste I guess: www.torahresource.com/EnglishArticles/Why%20Homeschool.pdf
I want Teeny Tiny, #2 and any other children Ha Shem has planned (yikes) to know what it is to serve Him. I want to give them every opportunity possible to know Him. I say it that way because I am acutely aware that I cannot make them know Him. Ultimately, their salvation is between Him and them. But His word makes it very obvious that I have a huge, huge, huge role in this.
I am to teach His word diligently. When I sit in my house, which I take to mean in every thought, action, job, chore, reaction and action of everyday life. When I walk by the way, which I take to mean who I am at home is who I am to be outside these doors, so above description applies here too. When I lie down and when I arise. Yeah, that would be emphasizing the "you need to live my word every second of every breathing moment." Whew.
That is where I am thankful that much of His word is about forgiveness and grace. Meaning by my children having me as a teacher of His word, they will most likely have many opportunities to work on accepting apologies, and hopefully will offer grace and forgiveness :0)
Here is a snippet from an article by Tim Hegg that I really appreciated:
"I would much rather have my son spend his life in the service of HaShem at the corner gas station and be greeted by the Almighty with “well done, good and faithful servant” than to have him making a six-figure salary and end life wondering if he really did anything that could be characterized as having eternal value."
From Why Homeschool?*
From Why Homeschool?*
To Serve Others (and themselves)
Yeah, I said others and themselves. I'll get to explaining it in a second.
Part of teaching HaShem's word to them will obviously work on teaching them to serve others. Whether it be the widows, orphans, strangers, neighbors or enemies He brings in our life, His word addresses all the others we could ever think of and then some. Of course, a lot of this is fuzzy to me now that I am attempting to balance all the duties of wife and mother, (others? I can't even keep the kitchen clean!) but I am confident that He will help me work it out.
By "themselves" I am thinking of more practical, everyday skills. I do not know how to sew, or keep organized, and can barely cook (My Favorite is very patient with me. He, on the other hand, is a very good cook). Whether I only have girls, or HaShem graces us with a boy (please at least one?), I think everyone needs to know how to clean up after themselves, manage time, keep organized, manage His money, boil water, follow a recipe, scrub a toilet, do laundry, work in the dirt, and change a diaper.
If they are girls, I believe many of these to be the exact job skills they will desperately need as wife and, hopefully, mother. I could have used a bit more confidence and comfort in many of these areas. If there are some boys, yeah, same thing. Whether a son marries or not, he needs clean clothes and a debt free life. And if he does marry, his wife might need some assistance from time to time (not like me of course :0) and I would like to do my best to make that possible for him to do. Without being able to try the "I did it wrong so now she won't ask me to do it ever again" tactic. I appreciate that of my Favorite, a huge thank you going out to his mom.
Knowledge of all the other stuff
The math, reading, science, history, swimming, flying and dog training is all on my to do list as well. But without the above categories, none of this will mean anything.
Yeah, I said others and themselves. I'll get to explaining it in a second.
Part of teaching HaShem's word to them will obviously work on teaching them to serve others. Whether it be the widows, orphans, strangers, neighbors or enemies He brings in our life, His word addresses all the others we could ever think of and then some. Of course, a lot of this is fuzzy to me now that I am attempting to balance all the duties of wife and mother, (others? I can't even keep the kitchen clean!) but I am confident that He will help me work it out.
By "themselves" I am thinking of more practical, everyday skills. I do not know how to sew, or keep organized, and can barely cook (My Favorite is very patient with me. He, on the other hand, is a very good cook). Whether I only have girls, or HaShem graces us with a boy (please at least one?), I think everyone needs to know how to clean up after themselves, manage time, keep organized, manage His money, boil water, follow a recipe, scrub a toilet, do laundry, work in the dirt, and change a diaper.
If they are girls, I believe many of these to be the exact job skills they will desperately need as wife and, hopefully, mother. I could have used a bit more confidence and comfort in many of these areas. If there are some boys, yeah, same thing. Whether a son marries or not, he needs clean clothes and a debt free life. And if he does marry, his wife might need some assistance from time to time (not like me of course :0) and I would like to do my best to make that possible for him to do. Without being able to try the "I did it wrong so now she won't ask me to do it ever again" tactic. I appreciate that of my Favorite, a huge thank you going out to his mom.
Knowledge of all the other stuff
The math, reading, science, history, swimming, flying and dog training is all on my to do list as well. But without the above categories, none of this will mean anything.
So there you have it. In short form, for me, I hope to raise servants of HaShem who can help their neighbor, husband, wife and kids with the so-called-drudgery of life (scooping poop without too much gagging) and the miracle of His ways. All without having to add on their fingers. Shouldn't be too hard...ha!
*Arrgh! Blogger is putting their address at the begining of all my links and it won't go away. So you can't go to them from my page. So here is the real address, sorry for its length, just copy and paste I guess: www.torahresource.com/
2 comments:
Now, those are noble goals! And quite appropriate for one of that age. It is interesting how our culture reinforces those parental tendencies to push children into certain fields. But they can serve Him in any field, I believe.
Thank you! And it is interesting isn't it? Pushing them into a certain field that is. When I was in college, the phrase to be told was "don't worry about your major, most students change it 5 times before they graduate." Maybe we should let our toddlers be toddlers since our college students can't even stick to one thing!
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