Cartographic Memories

Lucie Rose has become enthralled with maps.  She is just certain that if we have a map, we can go anywhere.  Her friend Kara moved away a few months ago and she told me the other day that we needed to make a map to Kansas because she wanted to go visit her.  She was asking Jamie about Heaven the other day and he was talking to her.  At the end of their conversation she looked at him and said, "Well Daddy, where is our map to Heaven."  She knows that Eli lives in Heaven and she wanted to go visit.  She thinks that if we have been there before, we do not need a map.  If it is a new place we should just get a map and go. 
Cartography is the art of making maps.  Oh how I wish that we could just make a map and go places sometimes. I would love nothing more that to just take out a map, mark all of the places we would like to learn about or see, and go.  What a load of lessons that would be.

Homeshooling, teaching, even parenting makes us cartopgraphers.  We make maps in our kiddos minds.  Maps that will be a guide for them all of their lives.

Proverbs 22:6
Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.

As parents we have a responsibility to our children to provide them with an accurate roadmap to this thing we call life.  As a homeschooling mama, my responsibilities are 24 hours a day 7 days a week.  Part of my responsibility, a huge part of it, is teaching right from wrong, correcting them when they do wrong, and loving them through the no so fun parts of life. I always love my children and one of my least favorite parts of being a mama is correcting bad behavior.  It must be done and some days it seems it must be done over and over again.  Classroom management in a homeschool situation is still challenge from time to time. I'm learning what works and what does not work. I recently learned with Cooper that if I send him to his room for 10 minutes he will come back to class a different person.  He does not like to be set apart from what is going on.  I never would have figured that about him because he typically does not mind a little alone time.  But, for whatever reason it just works for him.  Jay, well I'll have to get back to you on that one.  Different things work on different days for him.  One thing I started to provide some motivation for both boys is to give them bucks for good behavior.  If they are at school on time, they get a buck.  If they keep their area clean, they get a buck.  If they complete their work in a timely manner with out whining, they get a buck.  You get the picture.  When they get 250 bucks, they get to go to the treasure chest that is Wally World.  250 bucks sounds like a lot of work, I know, but they have lots of opportunities to get bucks. Their reward will be worth their efforts.  Am I bribing them?  Probably, but it is also a life lesson.  When they are gainfully employed, they will be paid for their work.  I have no problem with it.  It works for us. I like to try and use positive motivation although sometimes that is not possible.  Sometimes I have to be the mean old mama/teacher. Sometimes their daddy has to provide reinforcement.

Correction is never fun but sometimes necessary.  I want my sweetlings to have every opportunity available to them in life.  They need a map to these opportunities.  It is our (Jamie and I) responsibility to provide them with this map.  This is certainly one of those things I bath in prayer and ask for God's guidance in.  I am not a great cartographer.  My Father is the best.  His steady hand will guide my shakey hand in making the best map possible for my children. 

Oh, and Jamie's answer to Lucie about the map to Heaven was...

The bible is our map to Heaven.

Much love,