Epiphany

God is so good!

I have been praying about a school related issue for a couple weeks, having to do with the tension between holding our children accountable to complete their work with excellence, and having their content areas of study (history and science) be fun and enjoyable for them.

Our daughter has been at the dialectic level of history for two years and is now starting her third. Our son G is also transitioning to this level. The dialectic level is basically middle school age in cognitive development. At this level in Tapestry of Grace students have several questions to answer each week as they do their history reading. Some of the questions are deeper level ones that require thought and the putting together of information they knew previously with information they just learned. In other words, it's work.

I helped our daughter learn how to answer these two years ago when she first started at this level, as I am doing now with our son G. But since then she has been working mostly on her own. Some weeks the reading is heavier than others, and some weeks there are more questions than others. Some weeks she was still answering questions after youth group on Wed night, in preparation for virtual co-op the next morning. It felt to her like sloughing through a swamp all week long and never quite reaching the other side.

Over the past two years I have watched our daughter learn how to think. But I have also watched her enjoy history less. I became increasingly concerned about this and began to pray and ask God for wisdom in this area. I wasn't really willing to not require answers to these questions, and every student has to realize at some point that they need to do the work because it needs to be done whether they like it or not. But what could I do differently to ensure the best possible chance that she'd enjoy, and maybe even love, history?

As an aside to my fellow TOG moms, our daughter has always loved the hands on aspect of history, and the read alouds, and the other "fun" parts. It has just been since starting the dialectic level and having to answer the questions each week that a cloud has fallen over her previous love of history. And it's hard to watch someone who used to love it begin to resent it! What to do??

I had a long talk with my husband about it on Tuesday night, and woke up Wednesday morning with a plan. God literally gave it to me while I slept!

I told G and G that we were starting a new thing. Each Wed afternoon at 3:00 the three of us will have a history meeting. At this time, all history reading and the answering of questions will STOP. No more is required after our meeting, even if they didn't get them all done. We will discuss all the questions they have not yet been able to answer. I told them that they know a lot more than they think they know, and discussing together will prove this. They are welcome to jot down in outline form any answers that reveal themselves during our discussion, but if they still have blanks on their paper after the meeting that is okay.

In my desire to hold them accountable to their work, I have inadvertently been teaching them that answering every single question on paper is the goal. And that is not the goal! The goal is knowing facts and concepts and making connections in their heads. If I can show them this through the course of a weekly "mini discussion" (before their "big" discussion during virtual co-op) I think they will be encouraged with all they are truly learning and enjoy the process more.

This will also make Wed afternoons and evenings much less stressful, and there is already enough happening on Wednesdays this fall to induce stress! So, it has only been one week, but we had a great time during our discussion this past Wed, and even though they both had a few blanks on their papers, I think they totally got the gist of what our virtual co-op was all about on Thursday morning. After our discussion on Wed, son G said to me "well this is great! I only have to finish my questions and I am completely done with school today!" And I said, "no, you are done." Which got me a glowing smile. :0)

This will work with these particular children because I know they will have been working diligently since the previous Friday to accomplish their daily reading and answer as many questions as possible. If they were slackers I would have to have a different plan.

I share all this for two reasons. One, to show that God cares about even this. I prayed and He answered! Nothing about your school day is too small to bring before the Lord. And two, even a 5 year Tapestry veteran and a 9 year homeschooling veteran can learn new things! (actually, I learn new things every single day!! One thing I love about homeschooling!)