Enforced Idleness or masterly inactivity??

Have you ever heard of this? It's a first for me too. "Enforced Idleness or Masterly Inactivity", it's all the talk in the homeschool world, it's making your kids do things like play outside, read a book, make a craft, chop wood, garden, play board games, play with dolls, or play with Legos.

LOL.......ok, I thought all those things were just about being a kid? I am so excited now and I can even relax over the fact that we now have a technical name for it, I fretted for years wondering what on earth to call it........LOL.

Though idleness is a topic that does need some looking into to make sure we know what our kids are doing during these idle times, because being idle or having inactivity can cause serious issues in the middle school and teen years  :) Three Bible verses come to mind when I think of Idleness.

1. Proverbs 31:27
   She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness.
2. Ecclesiastes 10:18
   By much slothfulness the building decayeth; and through idleness of the hands the house droppeth through.
    
3. Ezekiel 16:49
   Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy.

I think Enforced Idleness is not a good term, it should be called "Kids Playing."

Growing, Growing, Growing!!

One week ago today we planted our garden seeds in our little planters and they are really growing! WOW!!  Even our store bought broccoli and lettuce plants have been revived after the chickens feasted on them last week.

We have carrots, zucchini, pole beans, bush beans, cantaloupe, snow peas, lettuce, spinach, beets,  and maybe something else? I can't remember. We usually do pretty well but then around mid season we get behind on the weeds  :O(    So our goal this year is to go out and weed a little bit each day. With my mother coming to visit that should be easy, she will sit outside and visit with us while our son and I weed.

Weeds in the garden are like sin in our lives, we let a little bit go, like daily devotions, prayer meeting, Sunday night service or heeding the call of the Holy Spirit to do something, and then it snowballs. A little sin here, a little sin there and before you know it you are entangled in some nasty foliage. Daily seek the Father for forgiveness of sins big and small.

I got some heirloom seeds this year, so can't wait to see how those turn out. It's so exciting to see the plant growth from day to day. I am going to have our son keep a notebook on the changes that he sees in them. Penmanship & spelling work.

What are you plating in your garden this year?

Have a wonderful rest of the week.
Moe

Teaching kids survival skills

I came across this great blog article and thought I would share it.  I run into so many moms that have kids in public or private schools who say that they can't teach their kids anything because there is no time with them being gone all day at school. This article has some neat ways to teach these things even if your kids are gone all day. Survival Skills for kids helped me to see the importance of these things and how they can be worked in to the lives of our children.

4-H is something that has helped us to, our son can read the 4-H books about the subject we are looking at tackling and then we put our hands and feet to work on it. 4-H is free in most areas and "It's Not Just For Farm Kids Anymore!" Many inner city clubs have popped up across the country. Most clubs meet 1x per month for a meeting. 4-H is a great way to learn new skills that will be used for a lifetime and it also helps us get something out of our tax dollars that we pay in as 4-H is part of the US Department of Agriculture.

Have you taught your kids any survival skills? Share with us.
Moe