Adolescence...?

We have recently been preparing for our oldest daughter’s 13th birthday. Part of this preparation was watching a DVD entitled "Bar Barakah" by Craig Hill. In his book Bar Barakah: A Parent's Guide to a Christian Bar Mitzvah Mr Hill states: “100 years ago parents prepared their children to discover a calling and fulfill a destiny. Today most parents set their sights no higher than getting their children to find a good job.”

Is adolescence a time that places our children in a limbo period until the hit the magical age of adulthood? Is there such a thing as adolescence or have we in the 21st century settled for a lie that the ages of 13 – 19 are a time for our offspring to sleep, eat, play with cell phones, Ipods, listen to loud music and generally hang out until they go to college? It is my opinion that we are selling out our children by accepting these thoughts. It is a very sad day when we as parents accept the 21st Century thought that our teens are nothing more than a bundle of misguided hormones.

How should we view and interact with our children during these years? Alex and Brett Harris have an article entitled The Myth of Adolescence which I recommend to parents as a starting point as they consider the teen years. You may also be interested in the new book reviews on Christian parenting on my website.

Charlotte Mason

Charlotte Mason placed emphasis on the formation of character in parents and children to bring about a healthy family life and a healthy individuals. This was to be implemented at nursery level buy teaching little ones not to pout, to train them in good habits, in their duty to God and in not giving in to bad humors and sulking.

When we get these characters in place in their young years, the platform of relationship is there for meaningful open relationship to continue in the teen years. Developing relationship with our children, living our lives out before them and training them, through turning their hearts towards their Savior, is the most valuable aspect of homeschooling.

Family and Sibling Relationships

There comes an age where our children are able to notice any hypocritical behavior in us as parents. Yelling at children, and then telling them to speak nicely to one another…showing a lack of honor to a child, then demanding they show honor to their sibling…having sloppy household habits and then expecting them to maintain their areas neatly…

Perhaps you find yourself in one of these situations or a similar one. How do you start to turn the tide? The first step is a decision to not give in to that kind of behavior any more. Yes, exercise self control and do not yell, not at your preschooler, not at your teen. Second, realize that the closer you are to the Lord, the more you will be equipped to love your children – tiny tot to adult child. Third, start to choose relationship above activity and busy-ness.

Organizational Tip

One of the most valuable times in a day is meal times when your family can sit together, talk, encourage and share. A magazine article recently quoted these statistics: “Research in the United States has found that teenagers who have dinner with their families five to six times a week are less likely to take drugs, smoke, abuse alcohol...” While the author of this article may attribute it to the meal times, I believe it is because the teenagers will be encouraged in building valuable relationships within their home.

As homeschoolers we have the wonderful blessing of spending much more time together than meal times. But this does not discount the fact that many homeschooling families are often too busy to make time for decent meals due to cram packed schedules.

My challenge to all on this mailing list is: Make time by eradicating unnecessary busy-ness from your own and your children’s schedules. Assess this carefully by looking at each activity that you are involved in, and then replace it with valuable family times.

Romantic Ideas

Over the last few weeks my husband and I have been planning our itinery for our visit to London. We are being shameless tourists and are going to love our six days away, knowing that our children are lovingly cared for by my parents. It is a little daunting to think that this is the first time in 12 years that we will be alone for more than one night.

Have you ever planned a shameless indulgence with your husband? Often wives wait for their husband to be the one to initiate romantic events. Have you ever thought about “kidnapping” your husband for a night? Ensure that your children will be cared for by a trustworthy friend or relative (you could return the favor) and fetch your husband from work on a Friday then take him to a romantic inn for dinner or a night. Perhaps you may need to budget for this over a few months, but do give it a try.

Quote

“It’s human nature to be self-occupied...When we continually think only of ourselves, it’s stamped on our face and heart, the way a coin is minted. It’s the print of God I see on the face of the child who is learning to care for others.” Ms. Leistner, visitor to a Charlotte Mason school.

Living books

While this book is on my biography page, we have just finished reading it for the third time and I feel it needs special mention. Carry on Mr Bowditch is about one of America’s heroes - Nathaniel Bowditch. He was responsible for saving many sailor's lives by using his remarkable self taught maths and navigational skills to revolutionize sailing in the 1700‘s. The most remarkable thing about his life was his ability to rise up out of poverty and his determination not to allow his circumstances to trap him. He was passionate about learning foreign languages and loved knowledge. A stirring story for child and parent.

Other updates to Homeschool Curriculum for Life

My daughter is learning the basics of building a content based business on the web and this month she typed up some horse jokes for her horse pages.

Coming soon is an exciting new e-course on how to create a Charlotte Mason homeschool curriculum as well as two new e-books.

Take care until next time,
God’s richest blessings to you as you homeschool,
Wendy
Please “pay it forward” and send this E-zine on to anyone who you feel can be encouraged by it. If you received this from a friend, sign up here.