Thursday, January 6, 2011

New Year - New School

This year has started out with some pretty major changes. Mary was so excited to learn just after Christmas that she had been accepted at a small Christian school starting this month. This is the school that she has been asking everyone to pray that she would get into. It was a huge surprise for her to learn that we had been looking into it for this year instead of next school year. She has been there for 2 days now and seems to be loving it! I know that the honeymoon period will wear off and there will be days that she doesn't enjoy it so much. But we are so thankful for the opportunity to have her in that small environment, and pray that she thrives there.

One of the things that is different with her new school is the homework load. We expected that there would be more and we are more than willing to work with her on it. She is not so excited about that aspect but has been diligent in doing her best and getting the work done. As I was sitting at the table with her last night helping her through the problems, it dawned on me... when did learning become such a chore? Didn't God make our brains to love learning? How boring it would be if we never learned anything new in our lives! Why can't learning be fun, like God intended it to be? The answer of course is because of our sin nature. We want things to be easy and without hard work. Often learning new things is hard work so therefor we decide it is not fun. I want to change that thought pattern in my children. I want them to love learning new things. So that is my prayer for them this year... that God would bring forth in them (and me) a love for learning.

4 comments:

  1. oh so good! that is definitely one of the goals at dcca...for our kids to enjoy learning!! i hope mary's transition continues to go well and that it will be such a huge help to her heart (and brain!!).

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  2. This was the strongest draw that DCCA had for us - to instill a lifelong love of learning - not for the sake of achievement or rewards, but simply for the joy of learning. Kids seem to naturally have that at a young age.

    As you probably know, I did a book challenge last year. I ended up reading a lot of contmporary fiction. This year I'm doing the same challenge, and I'll probably still read a lot of fiction, but I'm also embarking on a mini "Well-Trained Mind" challenge to read at least 15 classic works. It's taken from the list of books in Susan Wise Bauer's "A Well-Trained Mind" book for adults who want to embark on a classical education for themselves.

    So glad Mary's enjoying DCCA!

    Debbie

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  3. I am so glad to hear Mary was accepted! My daughter is currently on home bound and I am so very disappointed in the program. She sees her new pdoc tomorrow. After that I think we'll be able to start looking forward and deciding what changes we need to make.
    Things are picking up over in the group, stop in and see us.
    ((hugs))

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  4. What a great prayer for your family!

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