My blog Title

I just don't have much to write about. We're trying to get back into our routines, get the house cleaned up and laundry done, get everything unpacked and put away, and find places for all the new stuff we got. Anyway, when I first started this blog, I thought I would devote an entry to how I chose the title for my blog. So, since I never have done that, I thought this might be a good opportunity. The title of my blog comes from a verse in the Bible:

We know that we all possess knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. The man who thinks he knows something does not yet know as he ought to know. But the man who loves God is known by God. 1 Corinthians 8:1-3 (NIV)

When we first began homeschooling, this was a verse that we wanted to live out in our homeschool. John and I both felt that knowledge for the sake of knowledge does little more than create pride... it puffs up. It is easy to ace a test and think you are smart, but have little lasting wisdom. I'm proof enough of that when it comes to history and literature. I don't mean to imply that we don't do any teaching in our homeschool. Of course we do. And there are certainly things that we learn and then later forget. And that's okay. But the end goal of learning should not be to impress others or to fill in the right bubbles on a test or to get away with doing as little as possible and still "make the grade". We want to learn for the joy of learning. We want to understand the world with an understanding that God created it and everything in it. We want to read history with the understanding that it is God's story, that men are fallen, that God redeems. We learn to write as a means of communicating with others. We learn to read so we can continue learning long after school books are closed. I want our homeschool to encourage and spur us on to learn new things and not compare who's smarter or are we better than so-and-so in public school (or are they better than us).

A parallel passage is found in 1 Thessalonians 5:11:

Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing. (NIV)

I want our home to be full of words which build each other up. I fail at this often, like everday. I'm not a good encourager (of others or myself). I'm a much better critic and in most cases, criticism is not what my kids need. It's something God still has to refine in me. I'm glad he's not done with me yet. (...he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. Phil. 1:6 ...my favorite Bible verse) And that is encouraging, is it not?