A STRONG FOUNDATION

I am committed!!  I told my Dad that I would try and do one post per week on my blog, and so here I go.

What a better place to start than with the Core Phase.

Build a strong foundation???

On what???

What is a strong foundation???

Well,  this is the Core Phase.  The foundation of a family, a person, of anything that we are trying to create and grow.  Everything needs a strong foundation,  even the center of the earth.  If the earth did not have a rock solid core, what would happen to our earth?

If we look at the patterns that Heavenly Father has provided for us and the many examples that Heavenly Father gives us in the scriptures,  we will see that he cares about having a strong foundation.

So, why not give our family a strong foundation.  The foundation that will not fall should be as follows: 

We should have our families foundation on Christ.  It is not easy to do this when there are so many distractions and things that get in the way, so the best way that I feel is to spend as much time as you can as a family building the strong foundation while you work, play, and read.  

How can we do this??...

"And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up." (Deuteronomy 6:7)

I feel in a loving family and home setting is the best place for a foundation to be built.  No where else do people care more about children than their parents. 

When I fell upon "The Thomas Jefferson Education"  it rang true to me when the author described a core phase as being what is lacking in today's modern educational world. 

" During core phase, critical lessons of life are learned and assumptions made that define the individual's concept of self, family, and the beginnings of their broader worldview... This should occur roughly between the ages of 0-8.  Home is the ideal venue for core phase, and "homeschool"  in the core is a product of the structure and flow of family life. This consists of the lessons of good/bad, right/wrong, true/false and is accomplished through work/play....during this phase the biggest need is a rich learning environment and culture of self-education"  (A Thomas Jefferson Education, Oliver Demille p.32)

I love this last part from this paragraph it says during this phase we need a  rich learning environment and a culture of self education.

To me this means that if we want our kids to learn something or to value something,  we need to make this part of our family culture.  This is just what the Core Phase is,  setting up a family culture.  Not sending the kids off to work on individual tasks or to go play with friends,  but to learn to work together as a family, play together, learn together.  As these things are developed and cultivated in a loving home,  then our kids are ready to progress onto a different phase.  
We had a pretty good core phase,  but as we started homeschooling we had to go back and re-define our family culture and we are still doing this.

Our Family's Goals during Core Phase:

Now we are working on making Christ the center of our home through the scriptures.
Becoming best friends as a family through activities, games, family projects as well as learning to work together
Making a culture of learning in our home,  creating a house of learning through reading and family projects
Working together to keep our house clean and organized
Creating a culture of service by serving our neighbors and in our church callings as well as in our family.
Eating healthy foods and getting enough exercise in order to keep our body and minds healthy and strong.  
We are also working on developing strong family relationships and strong family ties that are the ones that last (not just friendships made at school that we never see again). 
We as the parents are working on our parenting skills as well as our relationship with eachother and God so that we can give our kids a solid core phase.
Helping each child feel valued and of worth and to recognize their divine potential. 
Setting Rules and Boundaries that help us learn how to use time wisely.
Sharing stories through movies and books that reinforce good values and solid principles that lead to eternal happiness.
Establishing solid family routines of learning, work, service and play.
 Oh and most importantly  
SETTING THE EXAMPLE BY LEARNING AND WORKING ON PROGRESSING IN OUR OWN INDVIDUAL MISSIONS AS PARENTS

When I first started homeschooling  the above picture shows what I thought homeschooling should look like.  Now, after studying a "Thomas Jefferson Education".  This is what I think a homeschool should look like...

I believe that as we teach our children of Christ through our many activites throughout the day, then all things shall be added unto us that the Lord has in store for us.

Instead of running to school, sports, so many extracurricular activities that take us away from home we decided to stay home and build a core a "Strong Foundation" for our family and it has been great.

I also love this description of developing the inner core from Donna Goff at Moorhousehomeschool.blogspot.com.  

Developing the Inner Core

Children under eight, and those over eight that were never trained, need to develop their inner core.  That core is their relationships and values.  During those early years are when they develop trust and the ability to form attachments.  They develop their identity, as well as, relationships with God, family and community. This is when they learn to discern right from wrong, good from evil, and truth from error. Basically, all the time.  Children learn values and relationship to God, as they work along side their parents, worship together, serve together, play together, and develop a family culture of learning together. Yet, in our current culture this is the time little children are focused on them doing academics at a very young age and also in being entertained and kept busy, rather than them developing as a whole person. 

(from moorhousehomeschool.blogspot.com)

I am so glad that we discovered that having a strong family foundation is the most important education that we can receive.  It has truly been a blessing to our family and will give us many happy memories as a family that will last forever.  We love Core Phase!!!!