Do you have something you'd like to share with the whole class?

"Let the message of Christ 

dwell among you richly as you teach"

Colossians 3:16

Well, it may not technically be Autumn, but it feels like it.  The summertime routine has ended, and the school year routine has begun.  We're about two weeks in now, and my Amazing, Awesome kids and I are settling into our new schedule.   Here's one thing I've learned about homeschooling:  Every year is remarkably the same; and every year is totally unlike the one that came before...

So by now I'm pretty much organized with the lesson planning; they're pretty much organized about the homework-doing.  And as they get older, I'm realizing that my part in their education doesn't get less, like I thought it would.  I thought that as they got more independent, I'd take more of a supervisory role.  They'd read the books, and answer questions; I'd administer tests, and be more of a guide than a teacher.

I should have read the fine print.  As their schooling gets more difficult, it also gets more important.  The subjects ask more of them, and if I'm not paying close attention, they could wander down a path of bad habits, or misunderstanding of a subject.  So I read what they're reading, and then I discuss it with them.  I keep up with French, so I can keep up with her.  Sometimes I write the follow-up questions or the quizzes. If I don't stay ahead of them, I'm liable to hold them back.

So as I sat down at my computer in the late afternoon, I realized it was the first time all day I could take my mind of off teaching, and put it on other things in my life.  Like tidying up the living room, and thinking about dinner.   Little things like that...

Along with the end of summer, comes the beginning of the Bible Study class that I'm involved in.  Tomorrow evening is the first meeting of the year, and it's just fellowship {and food} and fun {and food} but starting next week, we'll get back into study.   While I do read the Bible, and devotionals over the summer, it's not as focused and, well, studious as the class I'm in.

I'm reminded that while none of us is ever done being a student, we are also expected to be a teacher, as well.  I wore my "teacher" hat almost exclusively today, but I can't let that make me forget about my "student" hat.  I have much more to learn ~ about the Bible, about French, and about living a life for Him.  And the more I learn, the more I'm expected to teach.  My kids, my friends, someone.  "From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked." (Luke 12:48)

Though I don't know you, I pray for each of you every day.   And today I pray that He is teaching you something every day, and calling you to share with someone else.

Teach, and be taught.

~ "Let my teaching fall like rain, 

and my words descend like dew; 

like raindrops on the tender herb, 

and as showers in the grass." ~

Deuteronomy 32:2