That's what this week will be, a full slate. I took extra time to get the girls lesson plans done and I loaded them down. I gave them more to do than will get done. I am trying to motivate them to overachieve. I am mean. At least that is what they tell me. But I am sure that one day they will thank me for pushing them for making them to do more than what they think they can do. I had several teachers in my life that motivated me to keep pushing and always reach for the top! I would list them, but I know that I would leave someone off. I would like to thank each of these teachers from junior high school and high school for giving me permission to be the best student and person that I could be. I have thanked a few of them in person when the chance has arisen.
Now back to my kids. They have had various life lessons about keeping your head above water, doing your best in all situations and beating the odds. I like to think that I have been a good role model for all of these things. Elizabeth and Emma are old enough to remember the time when I was sick, in a wheel chair and couldn't walk or talk. They have seen me at this point and they saw all of the hard work that I had to do to be the person I am today. They along with Mary saw all of the doubts, shame, and fear that I had to overcome from the state that illness had put me in. I am positive that the lessons I learned from my teachers and lessons that I learned in Church about the life of Jesus combined to give me the motivation to get out of my hospital bed and walk again.
This brings me to this week. I realized that I have to be the kind of home school teacher that instills this motivation to always do better. I pray that I can do this for them. I pray that all teachers, whether home school, public or private schools, guide and teach their students not only the subjects they teach but to give them a legacy for achievement that goes beyond the school book and shows them a good way to live their lives.
I am thankful for the teachers that have done this for me. Are you? And now, most of all, I want my kids, my students to look at me this way someday.
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2 comments:
They will, Steve. This is a good turning point for you in the homeschool venture. This is truly inspiring, and I want to thank you for teaching our children. I love you plenty.
Mary
The thing about giving extra work or "more than they THINK they can handle" is all about teaching self discipline. I promise you, when they get to college or go to grad school after, the professors will not care how much work they have in their other classes. I find in today's society, self discipline is vacant and it has become a "this is someone else's fault" type society. The work force is another example. If you want to be successful, you need to be able to manage, balance, and do work at the same time. My job is a prime example of needed to do 100 things at once. If you instill this into your children now, life will be much easier for them down the road.
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