Live like you mean it...and show your kids

So I am a part time teacher.  I substitute teach at a local private school and teach Kindergarten Sunday School at my church.  I was talking to the Director of Children's Ministry at my church about our teaching methods (my husband teaches with me).  She told me that she thinks the way we do it (which is not really planned but more intuitive on my part) is the right teaching method.

We teach a concept, check for comprehension, repeat and check again.  I think the reason I keep repeating and checking is because I believe in what I'm teaching.  Sure, we teach the kids the Bible stories that go along with the curriculum,  but at the beginning of the year, I thought to myself....what do I want these kids to KNOW when they leave my class.  The answer was easy...Love God, love others.  Each week we talk about who "others" are and how to love them.  We talk about loving our parents by obeying them.  We talk about loving our siblings by getting along with them,  our friends by sharing, neighbors by saying "hi", teachers by respecting, and so on and so on.

This model of teaching is something my husband and I have tried to do in our home.  We talked a long time ago about what we want the ultimate outcome to be.  Sure we would like for them to be successful, happy, and well taken care of, but really what are we about?  We need something to measure our decisions by.  How will we know when it's ok to stay up late or skip school? What will the exceptions be?

It's the same thing as our Sunday School class.  Love others as yourself.  By this we have found true happiness.  Only by giving ourselves to others and being selfless can we be happy.  I know this means we are getting something and true selflessness does not exist...but that's another philosophical discussion.

By this we measure everything.  How we spend our time, who lives here and where we go depends a lot upon who needs us.  We built a bar in the backyard before High School youth group started meeting here this summer.  We worked long hours to get our bathroom ready for a bride.  Our largest bedroom has been lived in by 4 different young men. The kids stay up on Sunday nights when the young people who work at the church come over for dinner.

My kids are starting to realize that we don't just live here for us.  We've tried to make this giant remodel project bigger than us.  It keeps me going.  When I have a long day, like today, pruning in the front yard for 6 hours...I know that the next time we have the "Young Married Dinner", the front will look great.  When the girls have to bring down their sheets to be washed before a bridesmaid that they've never met sleeps in their bed, they don't complain.  It feels good and it's right.

Teach, model, check for comprehension and reteach.