Precious Gifts

Let's start with a little science fun...
As a gift, This year our family received passes to the Boonshoft Museum in Dayton (see links at end of post). This has been one of the best gifts our family has received. Thank You, MOM!

But of course, James 1:17 says that "Every good thing bestowed and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of Lights, with whom there is no variation, or shifting shadow."
Recently, we went to The Museum Of Natural History. The children have been begging me to take them to see the dinosaurs. The children had a blast. Plan to spend a few hours there because there is so much to see. With the few dollars I had on me, I bought a little souvenir to take home and remember our time there. Just a little plastic tube that you fasten between two 2 Liter bottles. This little invention is genius. When you put water in one bottle and seal the bottle with the tube and another bottle...amazingly, when you turn it upside down and swirl the bottles it creates a funnel in the water.



The children were so excited at the Museum, but the cyclone tube came in as a close second.


They were unable to get the cyclone to work at first, but with a little coaching it got easier for them. Even the little ones kept asking the older boys to do it again. I think Samuel had the most fun though. He asked me if it was a real tornado and how a tornado works? What a wonderful teaching moment. He was asking the questions. He wanted to know how it works. I could see his little brain working through the information.

I think that is one of the things a Homeschooling mom really looks for in their homeschooling experience. Yes, there are times of instruction. There are times when we make them sit down against their will and make them do work. But isn't the experience so much easier when they are the initiator of their learning? Someone explained that to me once. ( Thanks, Mary.) But it has taken all this time to really understand. I had to see it happening a few times to really get it. Like when I made them clean their own toys outside as a lesson their first week of school this year. (see previous post: 9/03/09) They wanted to bring their outdoor toys into the house for the winter. I was against it at first because they were so dirty and bug filled. But I let them under the condition that they would need to clean them and de-bug them for the transfer. At first they didn't really want to do it, but that quickly changed when they found out that they could get into their swim clothes to do it. That made the experience more fun. They even took pictures with the camera of their accomplishment.

My point is that learning can be easy or it can be hard. Why do we have to make it more difficult than it has to be. What a precious blessing my children are to me. The Lord has made it so I can apply that thinking to my own life.

Now a little application...
I believe our Heavenly Father feels the same way about us. He wants us to grow. But he wants us to want to grow. Sometimes he will instruct us...but He waits for the growth. He puts a desire into our hearts for Him. Then patiently and gracefully He watches our growth. He plants the seed with His Word. And He waits. He may add some water. And He waits. We have such a patient and loving Father!

Isaiah 30:18 says, "Therefore the Lord longs to be gracious to you, and therefore He waits on high to have compassion on you. For the Lord is a God of justice; How blessed are all those who long for Him."

He knows that we all learn in different ways. And we all struggle with different sins that keep us from developing a relationship with Him. So The Almighty will allow us to be in various situations to teach us the lessons that we need to learn. So in that sense, our walk with Him will look different. My relationship with Him will look different than that of my children. But ultimately the goal is the same. Our Heavenly Father desires to form us into the image of His son.

Ephesians 5:1-2 says, "Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love, just as Christ loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma."

The whole chapter is good, but this particular verse not only commands us to be like God, but also tells us the "how" and "why". We are to "walk in love". And we do that because He loved us. He gave us the most precious gift of all. He gave Himself. And that is the most anyone can give. It's everything you got. And that is the goal.

Valuable Information with Links:

With our Boonshoft passes, not only do we get entry into this great enormous museum, but we also have admission to a lot of the museums located in Ohio. This summer we went to the Cleveland Zoo (clemetzoo.com/) a handful of times and once to the GreatLakes Science Center(www.glsc.org/) , and The Museum of Natural History (www. amnh.org/). Both were a wonderful blessing to our homeschooling experience. The cost of the Boonshoft pass is more than worth the amount you would pay for admission at any of these places. It pays for itself in the first use. Friends of ours went to Dayton to see the Boonshoft Museum (http://boonshoftmuseum.org/). And if one makes a family trip out of it, They could also make time to visit the Creation Museum (http://creationmuseum.org/) which is also in the in that direction, Petersberg,KT. Unfortunately, The Creation Museum is NOT on the list of museums included in the pass. We have not made it to the Boonshoft Museum or The Creation Museum yet. But someday, we plan to make the trip. From what I hear, they are well worth time.