First Lessons

It's been a season of learning obedience in our home - most specifically with our 2.5 year old.  Opportunity to learn obedience arise at every, single nap and bed time.  His smiling face emerges from his room - full of giggles, sure that we will make an exception and allow him to forgo a nap or bedtime, just this once.  I am amazed at how adamant he is about this.  I sat in my oldest's room for one nap and one bedtime before he quickly learned that when we put him in bed, he was to stay put.  The second one took a little over a week of consistently sitting outside his room to insure that he stayed in bed.  All-in-all, relatively painless.


And then there was Trey.  It's been almost 2 months and we still have to be vigilant.

He continues to test us in other areas as well.  He is trying to figure out if we will be flexible on who's in charge.  What this strong-willed little boy does not realize is that he had to get that will from somewhere...  I love him far too much to let him head down this path.

With this season of learning in full swing, I'm reminded of what my mom used to remind parents about all the time:

You can't teach what you can't control. 

If you, as the parent, aren't in charge and if your children don't respect and respond to your authority it will be impossible to homeschool them.  

I was so thankful to come across this wonderful post that served as an excellent reminder and pep talk to lovingly stay true to this very important first homeschool lesson.

Diane from Heart to Heart starts out by saying:

The very first lesson in homeschool is not how to write your name or recognize your ABC’s.  The very first lesson is obedience, because without it, no other lesson works very well... 

If you have young children, I encourage you to read the rest of her article.