Twaddle? Or Learning That Makes a Difference?
My heart was bubbling over by the time I left the homeschooling convention in Nashville, Tennessee, this past weekend — so many wonderful mamas and daddies and children and so many stories. A precious highlight for me was meeting several of you. Thank you for honoring me by introducing yourselves.
One sweet story I heard from a mama was about her son who is a military sergeant. She told me what he does when one of the men under his command messes up, as they inevitably do. Instead of 100 push-ups or ten laps around the camp, he is apt to make them write a paper or read the U.S. Constitution. How can you defend the Constitution, he asks them, if you don’t know what it says?
This mama’s son is wise — no twaddle for his charges but rather an assignment with significance; no busywork to fill their time but activities that actually make a difference. His is a wise educational model.
Give instruction to a wise man
and he will be still wiser,
Teach a righteous man
and he will increase his learning.
Proverbs 9:9