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ABC's of Homeschooling - A for . . .

ABCs of Homeschooling

Dawn over at 5 Kids and a Dog is staring a weekly ABC's of Homeschooling. The idea is to come up with a word about homeschooling using the letter of the alphabet for that week, and write a post about it.

For the first week of course, we are staring with the letter A. It took me awhile to come up with mine and then this word came to mind:  ATTENTION or ATTENTIVENESS.

Attentiveness is knowing what is going on instead of not going what is going on. It is also Listening with the Ears, Eyes, and Heart.

In homeschooling this is a very important trait to have and cultivate, both in the parents and in the children. How many times have I heard myself say  "I guess I was not paying attention.", or said to the kids  "You were not paying attention.",  "What did I say?"  or "Focus!" etc . . .

We all need to learn to be attentive:

  • I need to know and pay attention to my boys. I need to know where they are at both physically and spiritually. I need to be aware of their needs,as well as their thoughts and feelings towards things. I need to give them undivided attention so that they can know that I care and love them. It can be difficult as there are so many things that need to be done, but it is necessary. One blessing of homeschooling is the privilege and responsibility to attend to our kids' need as they show up, as I like to call it "in the moment". However, if I am not attentive I will miss golden opportunities to teach the valuable lessons about God's love, and about wisdom and right choices.



  • As for the kids they need to know and pay attention to what mom and dad say. They need to put their minds in whatever subject we are studying. Multitasking can be good but it can also be bad as it can foster inattentiveness (that is being oblivious to others' needs, and doing our jobs sloppily). The kids need to learn to focus on what they are doing so as to learn better and work well. Attentiveness and closely related to diligence. They go hand in hand.  Keeping kids' attention is one of the hardest things to do, especially mine, as their minds tend to wonder so quickly to something they love better, but I must teach them, as I must learn myself. We all need to learn to be deliberate about things, and that demands focus and attention.


Above all we all must learn to be attentive and heed to God's Word and voice. The book of Proverbs is full with verses about the need to listen to God's Words and the voice of Wisdom. May the LORD help us to be attentive and deliberately live life for His glory.

My son, pay attention to what I say;
turn your ear to my words.
Do not let them out of your sight,
keep them within your heart;


Proverbs 4:20-21


 




 
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Comments

Mary said…
I love that verse from Proverbs. Thanks for such an inspiring post. Stopping by from HHH!
April 12, 2011 at 11:43 AM
Dawn @ 5 Kids and a Dog said…
Attention is SO important, not only for our kids but for us too! I can't count how many times I have gone into autopilot mode when one of my kids is telling me something, and my uh-huh or yes/no answers end up being totally OFF topic or give away the fact that I'm not really listening. We just can't get away with it, and we have to teach our kids how important it is too.
Thanks for linking up today! :)
April 12, 2011 at 7:50 PM
Becky said…
I agree! Paying attention to God, to others, and to school work is so difficult to cultivate. I'm with Dawn... I find myself spacing off when things start to get monotonous. It is such a hard thing to instill in ourselves and our kids.
April 12, 2011 at 9:21 PM
Amber @ClassicHousewife said…
Well said! I'm guilty of often asking my children to repeat themselves because I wasn't paying attention. (To be fair, I'm trying to teach them to GET my attention before they start talking. I don't always know they're talking to ME until I hear "Mom -- MOM -- did you hear what I said?") =p
April 13, 2011 at 4:20 PM
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