The Spirit of the (ND Homeschool) Law

This past Sunday Pastor Brad concluded his series of sermons on The Sermon on the Mount. Jesus' point in his sermon in Matthew was that the pharisees had adhered only to the letter of the law and had lost the spirit of the law. And my mind wandered briefly to our school year.

The letter of the law says we need to do four hours of school per day for 180 days in a year and pass standardized tests. The spirit of the law, in my understanding, is that children are given adequate study time to fully grasp the concepts of their grade level, which is proven by their passing standardized tests. And here, too, the spirit of the law is more important than the letter.

Now, as a Christian, I am called to the highest standard of obedience, first to God, and also to my government. And so I struggle with this question: If I fulfill the spirit of the law (their comprehension), am I obligated to meet the letter of the law as well (days and hours)?

My heart says yes, rise to the highest standard, go the extra mile, strive toward perfection, give no one room to question my integrity, keep going through all 180 days. My head says oh good grief, just wrap up the school year when we finish our books.

What would Jesus have to say about this? Sigh. I think I already know.

The Abundant Life

"The Testosterhome Lady," as she is known in our house, posted an article yesterday that struck a chord with me, and so I'm sharing a link to her blog here.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

http://www.testosterhome.net/2010/11/in-gratitude-for-so-many-things.html

All Boy

Isaac quote number one, to one of his brothers: "Which one do you want to be first? The who gets hit, or the one who does the hitting?"

Isaac quote number two, as he engages Dad in a game of bloody knuckles (which Mom refuses to play!): "Girls are missing out. OUCH!!!"

Art

I know, I've been slacking on the blogging, which isn't for lack of content as much as lack of time (or lack of taking time), but I'm taking a moment right now to share something that's been sitting in the "to blog" queue for several weeks, a fabulous piece of artwork that Luke drew free-hand and that I felt compelled to share because I'm that kind of a mother who thinks her children are just the most artistic and smart and fabulous kids ever to grace God's good earth, and I thought I'd try to play a little catch-up with the blog thingy. So if you haven't passed out from trying to read that whole sentence in one breath, here is a little something special for you to enjoy.


~ by Luke, age 7