Kids Teach Mom Day-Learning an Important Lesson

I had such high hopes for this day.  I had planned to have the kids teach me today, an idea I heard from a lovely mom during the Heart of the Matter Conference.  What a great way for me to see what the kids have learned all year, as well as reinforcing what they know.

They excitedly planned their lessons yesterday and really were anxious.  This morning they were so funny as they said, “Fifteen minutes until school Mommy…”


The excitement was building…

We started out with Bible/worship time.  Grace read some Psalms and then they all chose songs to sing for worship.  We had a really sweet time together.

Next up was John teaching me.  Maybe I overestimated how this would work…after all he is in kindergarten.  I think my expectations were too high.  But overall, he did his best and smiled through the whole thing!  I also realized some areas that he needs to work on, so that was good for me to know.

Then Luke taught me his lessons.  I was actually surprised at how well he did.  He explained everything so throughly in math. What a relief! He really has been learning all along! 🙂

Then it was Grace’s turn.  Here is where things started to fall apart.  She was teaching me her math, and making some mistakes, so I began to help her.  Then the tears started flowing…“I’M Supposed to teach YOU!” she said.  Lots of stress, lots of tears.

I began to second guess this whole thing.  I told her we needed to take a break.  So we did.

After a bit we gathered back together, and all 3 kids had planned the history and science lessons.  This went much more smoothly.

I realized my mistakes in this day.  I never made clear that I wanted them to teach me things from the year that they had already mastered.  So part of the problem was that they were teaching me things that were either new or not quite mastered.  Next time (if there is one), we will make that more clear.

I also realized my expectations were too high. I needed to let them have the freedom of teaching me without me correcting through the whole lesson.

I also realized the most important thing.  When God called me to homeschool, I decided my main goal was to raise godly children who know and love the Lord first and foremost.  The academics are important, but are nothing without a knowledge of God, and a relationship with Him.

This is when, God reminded me of this.  Grace had to write an apologia in her science notebook about her faith….that is when she wrote this: