It can be overwhelming; a home to care for, meals to prepare, laundry, errands. Then there are the children that you feel convicted to educate at home. How do you get it all done?
You don’t. Meaning, YOU- the mother, should not bear the burden of “getting it all done” alone. Children are the junior partners in the home, and as such, must learn to take on a portion of the responsibility of keeping the family firm running smoothly.
“God wants the children of all believers to be trained from their earliest years to share the burdens that their parents must bear in caring for them.” AH, 238
We as parents take great care in planning an excellent curriculum for our children, but often forget an important detail: True Education involves not only the head, but also the hands. Teaching our children to participate in the running of the household is just as much a part of True Education as is scripture memory, or nature study or mathematics.
“Children and youth should take pleasure in making lighter the cares of father and mother, showing an unselfish interest in the home. As they cheerfully lift the burdens that fall to their share, they are receiving a training which will fit them for positions of trust and usefulness. Each year they are to make steady advancement, gradually but surely laying aside the inexperience of boyhood and girlhood for the experience of manhood and womanhood. In the faithful performance of the simple duties of the home boys and girls lay the foundation for mental, moral, and spiritual excellence” AH 288
Is there a simple task that your younger child could do with a little training? Sweeping, folding laundry, collecting the trash? What simple meal that your older child could learn to prepare independently? Do your children rinse their own plates and stack them in the dishwasher after each meal? Have you taught ironing so that your child can prepare everyone’s clothes for Sabbath? As you consider your lessons for the coming weeks, remember to include lessons on appropriate homemaking skills for your children. True Education is educating the whole child.
“The Saviour’s early years were useful years. He was His mother’s helper in the home; and He was just as verily fulfilling His commission when performing the duties of the home and working at the carpenter’s bench as when He engaged in His public work of ministry. In His earth life Christ was an example to all the human family, and He was obedient and helpful in the home. He learned the carpenter’s trade and worked with His own hands in the little shop at Nazareth…. As He worked in childhood and youth, mind and body were developed. He did not use His physical powers recklessly, but in such a way as to keep them in health, that He might do the best work in every line.” AH, 290
The Adventist Home Educator 