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Teaching Tips August 2011 |
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I love black and white photography. Maybe it’s because it reminds me of the old days when color photography didn’t exist and the pace of life seemed slower.
Or maybe it’s because it slurs together all the details into one gray scale, drawing your eye to one element that stands out. It has a way of capturing that
moment in time in a distinctive way.
We need more still photography in our lives. Those quiet moments when movement is suspended for a moment and we relish the break. Where we can stop and see our lives from a slightly different perspective. God’s perspective. Margin is a must, not only in our personal lives but in our home training. How often do we max out our children’s schedules with schoolwork, community service, reading lists, church involvement, sports, music lessons, co-op enrichment classes, and other sundry extra-curricular activities? Our families barely have time to breath and eat, let alone think, ponder, and know God (Psalm 46:10). Swenson’s book has been around for a while and has circulated through the homeschooling community. I suspect most of us know we need more margin in our lives, even if we don’t call it that. One concerned mother (Charlene B.) wrote:
We all seem to recognize the problem yet are too conditioned to deal with it. This section of the newsletter tries to offer practical tips. What can we do practically to keep from running off the edge? We’ve discussed the need for priorities, goals, and objectives often on this website and you can check the archives for suggestions on how to do that. Here’s another tip: use the eraser earlier. Debbie Rossi, a homeschool support group leader, suggested a technique that is used by time management consultants, dieticians, and physical fitness experts. Take a snapshot of how you spend your time (or what you do or eat). Write down everything you do for a specified period of time. Probably three days is manageable; a week at the most. I suspect most of us would be surprised at the results. The point of this exercise is not to discourage us but to encourage us to be very, very aware of our time – a precious resource given to us by the Creator. Once we know how we spend our time, we can evaluate it. Can we lump similar activities together? Are we allowing unnecessary distractions? Are we spending the bulk of our time on the things that matter most to us? Are we reacting to circumstances instead of directing them to the extent possible? Can we build in time-saving routines? The next step is discipline. Discipline means learning. We learn from our evaluation a better way to spend our time. We purposely schedule everything in our day – not to be etched in stone and followed to the letter, sapping the spirit out of our living – but to keep us aware of our time resource. Debbie is reverting back to using her Franklin planner. She gave up on it when their extended family life got crazy. Life happens. But the key is to not give up. We must find a way to erase some of the unnecessary, unproductive, unfulfilling clutter we fill our lives with. Whatever type of planner works for you, use it. Use it as a guideline, as a way to insert margin lines on the pages of your life. Use it to add some still photography to your life. Be still, and know that He is God.
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