Bible Based House Rules and Homeschool Mission Statement

HOUSE RULES

　
LOVE OTHERS ABOVE SELF
Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves.
-Romans 12:10

SHARE
They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share
-1 Timothy 6:18

FORGIVE
Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.
-Ephesians 4:32

NO UNWHOLESOME TALK
Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.
-Ephesians 4:29

ENCOURAGE ONE ANOTHER
Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.
-1 Thessalonians 5:11

NO LYING
The LORD detests lying lips, but he delights in men who are truthful.
-Proverbs 12:22

GLORIFY GOD IN YOUR WORK
Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.
-Colossians 3:23-24

ONLY SAY WHAT YOU MEAN
Simply let your 'Yes' be 'Yes,' and your 'No,' 'No'; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.
-Matthew 5:37

DO NOT STRESS- TRUST GOD
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.
-Philippians 4:6
COMPASSION AND MERCY
Finally, all of you, live in harmony with one another; be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble. Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing.
-1 Peter 3:8-9

NO COMPLAINING, MOANING OR GROANING
Do all things without complaining and disputing.
Philippians 2:14

TREAT OTHERS AS YOU WANT TO BE TREATED
Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law of the Prophets.
Matthew 7:12

BE CAREFUL WHO YOUR FRIENDS ARE
Make no friendship with an angry man, And with a furious man do not go, Lest you learn his ways And set a snare for your soul.
Proverbs 22:24-25

LISTEN QUICKLY, SPEAK SLOWLY AND DO NOT REACT IN ANGER
So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath;
James 1:19　

　

　

Home-school Mission Statement

And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

Deuteronomy 6:6-9

Priorities

Our church is having vacation bible school (vbs) this week. My husband, oldest daughter and myself are all volunteers and our younger 3 are all taking part in the fun. Every night we get to the church by 5pm and don't get home until about 8:30pm. My youngest son, Tyler is part of a little league baseball team in our community and actually has 2 games scheduled for this week during the same time as vbs. Many people have asked us what message we feel it sends him that we are having him miss his games to be apart of vbs. Many have stated they feel we are teaching him to let his team mates down. This has been my answer...

It is our job as parents to teach our children priorities. Obviously God is number 1 in our lives and always should be. Then comes family, community, friends, etc! From our belief system we feel our church is where we celebrate God with our family in Christ. Our church family counts on the members of the congregation to not only be apart of vbs but to spread the great news of God's word through vbs! We are all essentially apart of the same team, God's team. When you look at the priorities list God and church family already both outrank sports. In addition we have a duty to our church family to not let down our team. Do I worry that one day my son will feel he did wrong by putting God, church or family above little league? Absolutely not! I am teaching him now that sometimes you have to make sacrafices. Sometimes you have to let others down, not because you don't care about your team mates, but because you are ultimately here to serve God and spread His word!

Busy Kids, Taking Time For LOVE?

I don't understand why people find it so important to completely overbook their children nowadays. What's worse is they see it as quality time with their kids! I see it every single day. Exhausted children running from school to dance class then a quick bite to eat, off to a little league game, home in hardly enough time to slip into bed only to wake up exhausted the next day and do it all over again. When is their time to have deep conversation's or even just snuggle up with their mom and dad? Do parents really think their child is better off being so mentally and physically exhausted? From a biblical stand point is any of it at all necessary?

Don't get me wrong, I am all for children learning new things and having adventures. But why do these things have to consume their lives? If you have 4 children and all 4 play softball, your summer is past the point of overbooked, then what if your kids decide to do soccer and basketball too! When is their down time. They're so busy running from one sport to the next, trying to be the best at each of them. In the end their confidence and self image get confused! They disconnect from their parents or may even start to think their value is in how good they are at each sport.

When having multiple children, you're pretty much guaranteed to be stretched thin as it is. So why not have each child choose different sports? As adults you won't always get your first choice, they're going to learn this lesson sooner or later. And who knows, maybe in the end they will learn more from choosing a different sport. Maybe freeing up your time a little more will give them that extra time to discover who they are as a person, not just as an athlete.

Of course, it's always an option just to forget about sports all together. To be honest, children don't NEED to do any sports or activities outside the home at all. You can learn good sportsmanship from playing board games, you can learn team work by taking on a community service project with your family, not to mention the important moral lessons we get from the Bible itself! Most of the value of playing sports can be learned better from mom and dad as well. Also, most of our children are not going to grow up to be professional athletes anyway. They are going to be repair men, doctors, lawyers, teachers, salesmen, law enforcement, house keepers, business owners, etc. Regardless of what future career they choose the most important thing that you can give them, next to faith of course, is LOVE! Whether you let them play sports or not, just be sure you're taking time for love. If your kids feel loved they will feel confident and if they feel confident they can truly do anything!!!