Summer School

Today my eldest son and I were going over the history of the church. We are studying ancient Rome and the Apostolic times together. Today's lesson made me realize what assumptions I make as a teacher. My son kept saying he didn't understand his assignment. It seemed straight forward to me. "Make a list of the apostles that preached the Gospel to the Gentiles, and where they travelled to do so."

I looked over the text with him, and there was paragraph after paragraph about the Apostles and disciples encountering non-Jews and sharing the news of Christ and His message.

"Son, did you read this?"

"Yes."

"What exactly is the problem then."

"It doesn't say they shared the Gospel. They just told people about Jesus, and told them His message. Where does the book mention the Gospels?"

So I asked him what Gospel means (he knew) and when the first New Testament bible was compiled (he didn't know). Then, eyes sqint ever so slightly, and he says, "Oh. I get it, okay. Thanks."

There was a day when he would have said, "OOOHHHH, III Gettttt it!!!!!!!" with gratitude and enthusiasm. He's too cool for that, but I can still tell he is quite pleased when a connection is made.

We went over a few lessons of his math today too. I haven't done pre-algebra for, ummmmm... a long time. Kind of fun, actually. He seemed pleased to have my time, which is one of the reasons I like doing relaxed school over summer.

Tomorrow I am working with my second son on reading. He actually asked everyone in the family to pray for him tonight, that he will learn to read this summer. If I could, I would like to extend that request to you all. Thanks!

Blessings!