{journey on, men}

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life's adventure Last Monday we began.  With a handful of excitement and a whole truck load of begrudged emotions as summer closed its party.all.night.doors of freedom.  Each new year of teaching the boys it helps to have an overall theme to nestle into.  I say nestle, because those winter months of home & school can get taxing.  About early December, the days become L  O  N  G.  The attitudes H  E  A  V  Y.  We all just want to throw in the towel. But, you know, that silly little state mandated rule on schooling your children kinda trumps our dilapidated spirits.  Man up takes on a whole new meaning.  Rules.  Sheesh.

I knew about mid-summer what our theme would be.  The central idea for a full year of all systems go isn't so much academically based as it is emotionally charged.  The academics find a way of folding into this big idea notion if the theme fits the students just right.

We began with a hike.  This hike was to a place we frequent for rhythm and all things unwinding.  It is the perfect stroll through for parent & child {ren}.  Just enough looksees to talk about and take note of together, but the precise amount of space for breaks and ventures off allowing kiddos to rummage through woods and dirty themselves up a bit.  For the Mama, it's peaceful and load lifting.

I took my camera, and we were off. I asked them to guide me as to what needed to be photographed.  The entire trip we collaborated on images captured.  They immersed themselves in mud.  Had a rock skipping contest.  Climbed over streams.  Knocked down dead trees.  Splashed. Expended energy O  U  T.  Yet another KEY element to homeschooling teaching.  Children gotta move.

supplies

Just yesterday I pulled out the images from our hike.

eli sort

casey-sort

I asked the boys to spread the printed images of our hike together out on the kitchen floor.  I then gave them a handful of 3 x5 cards with words written on them.  The boys were to work collaboratively to make connections with the images & word cards.

e & c sort

It was so fulfilling to see them make immediate connections with their captured images and these printed words.  With little to no guidance from me, they had them matched.

attitude with words

c write

I then asked the boys to consider these words and what the mean to them.  As in, how do these fit into your life?  Or what are some examples of these words in which you can relate?

e write

The boys had zero struggle with attaching their experiences to these words and images.  In essence, they were producing a living metaphor right before my eyes.  This Mama loves her a good metaphor.

Below are their correlations in print.  Profound I tell you. Absolutely beautiful things can happen when you listen to your children.  I'll save my observations until after you've had the opportunity to read their journaled attachments to this hike in reference to their lives.

beauty write

challenges write

color write

enjoyment write

growing write

hard times write

path

rest write

roots write

surprises

courage

Some Mama Observations:

  • They get the hurts as much as they do the happy.  They sense balance.
  • The Great Blue Herron served as the surprise on our hike. We rounded a tiny bend on the trail, and BOOM, there it was.  Up close & personal.  I love that one chronicled "answered prayers" as a surprise.  It spoke truth & reality in my human walk with Christ.  I don't how many times His answered prayers are just exactly a surprise to me even when I know He has the plan and the answer will come in time.
  • I love that Eli texted his Pa with a picture of the bird inquiring what species it was.  I want to remember that.
  • My boys are different.  I am to parent them that way.  Not with favoritism, but with respect with who they are.  Scrolling through the experiences each boy journaled to the image/word combo, you can see.  
  • Perspective.  It's there.  {Courage to climb the hill.  For one boy, that looks like making friends.}
  • I also love that with the mud puddle/hard times set, you saw that death is something they foresee as "hard".  And you also get a peak at a 9 1/2 year old beginning to feel the manifestation of growing up,
  • Color in your life: I have an extrovert and an introvert.
  • I gleaned from their lesson.  I needed to read their words on "rest".  I neglect this part of my journey far too much.
  • And last but not least, can I get a hallelujah for the "pissing hard tims" {passing hard times} when it is time to use courage?  Oh my sweet boy couldn't have said it any better.  Courage.  It can piss you off to have to use it sometimes, no?

write with words

This lesson took about 30 minutes.  It was our movement for the end of the day yesterday.  I added a final note to them as we wrapped up that the attitude we bring to our individual journey has huge impact on how our adventures play out. "Journey On, Men" was ignited.

I hope to instruct these growing misters in what it means to experience this Earthly life a little more.  Of what it means to take responsibility for the who God made you to be as well as the who you can invest in outside of yourself.  Of what it means to be a man.  Chivalry is a dying trait.  One I don't want my boys to be void of.  I want my boys to be believers.  In themselves. In the movement of hope.  In respect & manners.  And in showing up for a cause worth fighting for.  At 9 & 7 years of age, it is time we work a little more towards becoming men of character. We journey on this year.

.mac :)

journey on, men title

my boys, teachingMeghan CobbleComment