5 Things You Must Teach Your Children

Have you ever stopped and thought about 5 things that you must teach your children before they leave home? I say "must" because these 5 things will probably be so important to you that you couldn't imagine NOT teaching them to your children.

One of the beauties of homeschooling is being able to look back over everything you were taught, not taught, and life experiences and compile a list of "must-knows".

Einstein and I discussed some of the waste of time topics we were taught in every school we attended (middle school, high school, undergrad and doctorate!). How about the Kreb's Cycle? Ya, I've referred back to that a whole bunch in life.

Or how about the fact that every stinkin' math teacher in response to "when will we ever use this?" reduntantly repeated "oh, you'll use it every day." True, I use math in some form everyday but it's never the way they taught it. It's in the form of fractions (cooking) or the basic skills (addition, subtraction, multiplication and division).

I don't often (all though I have) solve for some unknown variable or compute the area of a nonagon.

Knowing what it is that you want you children to be equipped with as they leave the nest is hugely important. Perhaps I may sound like I have had this list filled out for a while now...no. Last night Einstein asked me and I was forced to thoughtfully come up with an answer.

Here are the 5 topics my children will learn from me before they graduate:
1) How to persuasively write.
2) How to defend their position on anything (debate).
3) How to create a healthy, balanced menu and cook those items with little effort. (girls)
4) Reasons why our family makes the choices we do: homebirths, breastfeeding, chiropractic, awareness of environmental toxins, ... Teaching them these things is probably my #1. They not only affect them but their children and so on.
5) How to budget. We follow Dave Ramsey and they are already familiar with him.

Einstein's list is similar, here is his:

1. About God. This includes prayer, what the Scriptures teach us, the Gospel, theology, and NT Greek to read the original NT language.

2. Love for learning through books.

3. How to start, grow and run a business successfully. (Preferably a home-based business.)

4. True health. How the body works and heals, and what can be used naturally to assist it's healing.

5. How to write and speak persuasively. (The better one is at this, the easier it will be to accomplish #3 above.)

6. Family Values. Includes marriage, kids, modesty, etc. (basically a subsection of #1 above.)

I didn't include a thorough working knowledge and understanding of the Bible in mine because I thought it was too obvious. But it is the #1 priority we work towards every day. ;)

I encourage you to prayerfully create your own list. It's never too early to start working towards those goals. Actually it makes them much easier to accomplish the earlier you start.

Yummy baked goodies

I loooooove to bake. Not just the occasional batch of cookies. I'm talking every day- cookies, cakes, brownies, anything!

I say every day but that is really my wishful thinking. My husband has limited me (meanie). He would be happy, as would his waistline, if I baked only once a week. I can usually squeeze in a good 3 desserts.

When one loves to bake and one has a limit on the number of times this hobby can be practiced, one has to be more creative than baking the nightly dessert . So, this morning I made homemade pancakes with homemade chocolate syrup. So lovely.

None of that Bisquick bunk. Bah! Would I dare lower myself to buy Hershey's chocolate syrup. Nay!

Only real sugar in this house lol.

Being a lover of all things baked I tend to be a bit selfish. Not just in eating the goodies but sharing my kitchen to create them. I've had to pray that I will be more open to allowing my children to bake with me.

Like many moms, that thought "I can get it done quicker if I just do it myself" always infiltrates my mind. But this morning when Cha-hisser said she wanted to make the pancakes because she "loves to cook", I was happy to indulge her desire.

They turned out fabulous if you don't count the fact that I couldn't remember the exact oil measurement so they were a tad dry. But who the heck cares when you have homemade chocolate syrup!

Along with the chocolate syrup I pulled out the honey (what we usually use). When Einstein asked everyone what they wanted I laughed at the thought of anyone refusing chocolate!

The chocolate syrup recipe I used was from Hillbilly Housewife. The pancake recipe is one my mom taught me and if I shared it with you I'd have to ... well maybe if you beg I'll share. After all, every kid deserves real pancakes ;)


Cooking with your children is an excellent way to incorporate learning into everyday living. Cha-hisser understands that 3tsp make a tablespoon**, 4- 1/4 cups equals a cup, and so on.

It is so much more impressionable when a child learns measurements and fractions in a fun setting as opposed to sitting at the table with felt pie pieces (just an example).

**Cha-hisser did not learn this lesson until she made homemade cornbread the other day. I told her to put in 2tsp of baking powder while I went out to do laundry. Afterwards, I asked her why the Tablespoon was out. I made her figure out how many teaspoons she actually put in. The cornbread was still plenty good!

Greek, anyone?

Since June our family has been learning how to read Greek (Biblical Greek). It has been such an amazing experience! It's something we ALL do together. Yes, even the 2 year old!

We do everything else together so why not Greek?

When we started out we simply made notecards and memorized the symbols. After we had a good knowledge of them we began with the worksheets. We use the system by Harvey Bluedorn. Besides disagreeing with Harvey on the pronunciation on many of the English words, I am very pleased with this program.

Einstein prints out the appropriate pages for him, me, Cha-hisser and Jack Jalapeno. I then change the Greek letters to a corresponding English letter for Jack Jalapeno. That way he is involved and learning English first ;) Grace "writes" her ABCs on paper while begging for her own praise.

We are only up to Lambda, but already we feel so intelligent! There is something about learning a foreign language to boost your self-confidence.

As far as schedule goes, we were doing Greek after dinner and before family worship. But, that was making the evenings so crunched. We've moved it to after breakfast (and the reading of Proverbs) and it really sets a great tone for learning with all the kids.

I am so proud of Cha-hisser. She is the most brilliant 7 year old I've ever spoken with. She keeps right up with Einstein and I and often corrects me.

Our long term goal is to read the New Testament in Greek. I can't wait!

Our Daily Schedule

Over the past few weeks, life in the our house has changed dramatically. I am so humbled by God's ever present hand in my life.

For years we have known of the book Teaching the Trivium by Bluedorn. We knew of this book because we homeschool using the Classical Christian approach.

After seeing it go on sale I purchased it for Einstein and once he cracked the book life as we knew it changed. It's not like we were living a bad life, God just had bigger plans for us.

Have you ever known that you believed in something or knew something but couldn't quite put it into words? Then when you read it in print the huge lightbulb flicks on and you have that moment of suspended motion. A moment when you say "finally! Someone else thinks like I do."

Well, Teaching the Trivium provided that moment for Einstein. I love to see this fire in my husband. He can't stop devouring new information (if you know Einstein you're probably thinking that he's always been this way. he has but now it's multiplied exponentially!).

If you are completely clueless on what classical christian homeschooling is or what the heck Teaching the Trivium is about, here is a synopsis:

The Trivium In a Capsule

The Trivium consists of the first three formal subjects of the seven liberal arts: Grammar, Logic, and Rhetoric. This is the formal Trivium in the classical sense. This formal Trivium is an academic reflection of the more basic Biblical Trivium, the mental capacities of Knowledge, Understanding, and Wisdom. (See the list of references at the end of this article.) The classical style of education is built upon these three mental or intellectual capacities:

1. The first, for receiving and gathering up information - Knowledge.


2. The second, for arranging and connecting the information in a logical order - Understanding.


3. The third, for putting this gathered and ordered information into practical expression - Wisdom.

Children are continually developing in Knowledge, Understanding, and Wisdom. Though these three capacities are mutually dependent upon each other, and the capacities are developing in the child from before birth, nevertheless, children pass through several developmental stages, or levels of learning, where one capacity experiences rapid growth. We will describe these stages below. Keep in mind that our age divisions are not meant as nice neat little cubicles. They are only arbitrary approximations, and they may vary greatly from child to child.

...
In summary, the capacities for Knowledge, Understanding, and Wisdom are not neat little compartments with sealed doors between them. Rather, they all develop at the same time from the very beginning, yet they each pass through successive periods of intensive development, until they finally catch up with each other and work harmoniously together. These ages are only approximate, and your child may be on either side of the line.

To summarize it all in one sentence: we first instruct the child in Knowledge; then we guide the youth in Understanding; then we challenge the older youth in Wisdom.

*Exodus 31:3; 35:31; 36:1; Deuteronomy 1:13,15; First Kings 7:14; Job 15:8-9; Proverbs 2:6; 3:19,20; 5:1,2; 8:12; 18:15; 23:23; 24:3,4; Daniel 1:4,17; 5:14; Ephesians 1:8,9,17,18; Colossians 1:9,10; 2:2,3; and many other places.

Peruse that site for more information on the Trivium and Classical Education.

Now, as my title eluded to, here is our daily schedule. Einstein feared I would push-back (as I often do with change) and that the kids would resist. However, like all things God designed "the cards fell into place". Life has been much easier, less chaotic and abundantly rich since implementing this schedule.

7:00 am Wake Up. Breakfast. Chores (I will add this chart in another post)
8:00 am Bible time/Family worship/Prayer
8:30-9:30 am General meeting

1. Recite memory work- Bible verses, alphabet (eng., latin, greek, hebrew)


2. Reading- children read (Bible history, Constitution, poetry, etc.)


3. Practice narration- Cha-hisser or Mommy reads, Jack Jalapeno and Cha-hisser narrate back

9:30-10:15 am Mommy reads. May ask questions to children about what was read. Can do art or crafts but must be quiet! (the littles may busy their hands but must listen)

10:15-11:30am

1. Phonics for Jack Jalapeno - English notebook


2. Copywork- minimum 15-20 minutes (Bible, history, poetry, quotes, speeches, latin, greek) - can combine w/ artwork and draw pictures of what is being copied - put in English notebook


3. History and Timeline

11:30-1:00pm

1. Prepare and eat lunch


2. chores


3. clean house

1:00-2:00pm Naps.

2:00-2:45pm Mommy reads aloud (same system as 9:30)

2:45-4:30pm nature walks, play outside, library, volunteer work, field trips, museums, fairs, workplaces, ....

4:30-5:00pm Mommy works out

5:00-6:30pm Dinner and chores. Bible reading and questions w/ daddy.
6:30-7:30pm Daddy reads. Latin or Greek work.