Teaching and Learning

 I’m a pretty subpar mom.  I have SO much to learn.  I’m not awesome or amazing in any ways.  I turn into “screamy mommy” more days than I care to admit, there are mountains of laundry that are undone, I’m not the queen of healthy meals, and my two year old doesn’t do any cool academic tricks.  (a) was doing math homework at 8:30 one night this week because I forgot to check his backpack before that point.  (lk) has spent the first five months of her life strapped to me in a kangaroo pouch while I tend to her brothers (sorry to break it to those who thought that she would be spoiled since she is our last and a girl- spoiled she is not, tough however she will be).  (b) is often covered in bug bites because he lives outside but I’m not good at remembering the bug spray.  I could go on and on and on in the ways I do not measure up as any kind of an amazing mom and all the things I still need to learn to be better.

 

But we are trying really hard to raise kids that are better humans than we are (shouldn’t that always be the goal?).  I’m constantly hammering the boys on their manners and the way they treat others.  I worry often about their listening skills (or lack thereof), and work daily to instill work ethic, independence, and persistence.  With (a), I have also been trying to help him memorize several scriptures.  I have explained that it is important, because when you have God’s Word in your heart you carry it with you always and have it when you need it for any situation, even if your Bible isn’t handy.  Teaching this concept to a kindergartener has not been easy.  One day he informed me the only thing in his heart was “the bump-bump” pounding (and he wasn’t trying to be a smartypants).  As I’m teaching him, I’m learning a lot.  I’m learning that some concepts are very hard to grasp when you are young and that as the teacher, I need to have better explanations.  Each morning on our way to school we try to work on a memory verse, but this has also taught me so much about how I grasp God’s Word and pass it on- some days I find myself struggling to explain the verse in a way that can be understood by a five-year-old.  Then I wonder if I really understand it if I can’t explain it.

 The more I teach, the more I realize I have to learn.  Whether it is with my kids, in my classroom, or preparing to teach for speaking engagements- I always find myself learning the most, or being the most challenged in my learning, when I teach.  This week I’m teaching what are (in my opinion) the two hardest lesson of common core math that exist in my 4^th grade curriculum.  This week they have gone better than any other year I have taught them, and I realized something, as I have worked at learning how to teach them more effectively, students are catching on to them more easily.  I am preparing for a speaking engagement this weekend, and the more I prep to teach and lead, the more Biblical truths I’m discovering for my own heart. 

 

I still have so much to learn. Thank you God, for your “on the job” teacher training for this mom (and in so many areas of my life).

 

“Keep this book of the law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it.  Then you will be prosperous and successful.” Joshua 1:8