Planning 2008-2009: Preface
I am going to make a series of posts about my plans for this coming year. Before I do so, I want to explain where I am at this point.
First, Hans is only five. I believe the best preschool is simply reading aloud and allowing free, imaginative play. I also think that Kindergarten is not necessary. I don’t feel obligated to begin “doing school” simply because Hans has reached the magical age of five. A five-year-old might yet be pre-school — before formal, curricular instruction — and not be ready for school — having a formal, curricular instruction. That shift should be made when the child is ready for it. That said, Hans is learning to read and is ready — physically, emotionally, mentally — to begin a more systematic approach to his education. His education began when he was born, his training began with the first “no” reinforced by a hand-slap, and every second that I do and do not spend with him has contributed to make him into the person that he is. And that whole-person education continues to be my primary focus, with some formal “school” instruction added in.
Indeed, who I am will make the biggest impact on who he — and all my children — will be. Therefore, this year — an “optional” year in my book — is more about my habits than any content he does or does not learn. I am a creature of habit, and I have very bad habits. Not only that, I have a very weak will and tend toward selfishness and slothfulness. You can flatter me, you can imagine I am exaggerate, you can do anything but believe me, yet it is true. My default mode is in serious need of renovation.
This isn’t a “solas bootstapas” pep talk for myself, though I have tried that in the past. This is honest acknowledgment of my own personal weaknesses, and a desire to grow and not be content with the status quo. I know God has called me to these particular good works, and thus I will walk in them as a matter of obedience — and I pray that willingness and delight will follow from obedience. But I will wait no longer for desire — nor urgent necessity — to precede obedience.
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.
She looks well to the ways of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness.
This is my own year of self-discipline, of self-governance, of doing what I know I need to do and doing it regardless of whether or not it is convenient. It will be a process, it will not happen overnight, and it will probably not be pleasant, but I long for that peaceful fruit.
For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.
So my plans have altered from those I made two months ago. They are not radically different; the format and flow has worked well the last month that I have been doing it. And I have certainly observed that doing it gets easier with each passing day of consistency — and harder the more days pass in which I willfully choose not to do school simply because I don’t feel like it. My feelings are not a good judge. I hope that a year of vigilance will train and habituate my feelings to feel and desire what is good and just.
When dealing with the theoretical, the philosophical, and the coming times, my attitude is joyful, expectant, and pristine. When dealing with the in-my-face present moment, my attitude stinks. But I can have no real joyful expectation for the coming times without a godly fortitude in the demanding present moment. And I cannot do only those things I enjoy doing. It means turning my philosophical assent into practical daily life. It means not doing only what comes easily, but doing what I know I should do.
That being said, know that what I should do is not necessarily what you should do. My conscience, my plans, my desires, my aspirations, are not the best ones out there. They are mine, they come from knowing the direction God is leading our family, and that may not be where He is leading yours. I don’t care if you — whoever you are — are doing school this year or not, if you’re homeschooling or not, if your dishes are washed or not. That’s not my business. You are responsible for yourself and for your family, and not in any way to me. Make deliberate choices, move the direction you are being called, and work out your own salvation with fear and trembling — those are the principles, and what happens because of them will be unique to each person and situation.
Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master that he stands or falls. And he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand. … Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. The one who observes the day, observes it in honor of the Lord. The one who eats, eats in honor of the Lord, since he gives thanks to God, while the one who abstains, abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God. … So then each of us will give an account of himself to God. Therefore let us not pass judgment on one another any longer, but rather decide never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother. I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself, but it is unclean for anyone who thinks it unclean. … For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Whoever thus serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men. So then let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding. … The faith that you have, keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the one who has no reason to pass judgment on himself for what he approves. 23 But whoever has doubts is condemned if he eats, because the eating is not from faith. For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.
That being clarified, I will post my plans and thoughts, because this is my blog. Take them, read them, use them toward your own ends as they are useful, get to know me better through them, but they are not meant to be any standard whatsoever, or any guide for anyone but myself, and if they are in any way a stumbling block, a source of stress or guilt or anxiety — turn off the computer and forget about it. They are not at all important.
