Good Resources.

Really enjoyed this post by Ann Dunagon, author of the Mission-Minded Family and the Mission-Minded Child. Free pdf. print-out file and great idea! Check it out!  http://missionmindedlife.blogspot.com/2008/08/getting-ready-for-teaching-with-gods.html

Also, print out these free lessons on teaching your kids to have a heart for the nations. I may combine them with geography: http://www.harvestreport.net/resources.htm

The book, Different Children, Different Needs: Understanding the Unique Personality of Your Child by Dr. Charles F. Boyd has been a great tool in knowing what motivates my boys.  It takes some of the mystery out of interaction. God has designed and gifted them very differently than Ben or I and we need to be educated about their unique bend and affirming of such. 

The book uses the DISC personality profile. There are many profiles out their such as the Myers-Briggs and the 4 Temperments and such.  I have always been fasinated by these and how we all manage to live in the same world! I don’t think anyone falls completely into one type, but there are definite tendencies.  I have witnessed some use these tests to be an excuse not to grow.  But, the book has been helpful in instructing more on affirming and correcting them in ways that are appropriate to who they are without trying to make them into who we are. 

Lars is a soft-hearted “S”, which means he is slow-paced and people-oriented and such.  His mother is strong “C” with “D” tendencies which explains how me, being task-oriented and a perfectionist can really come at him wrong in home education!  Ben is an “I/C” (which explains how he can come home and throw our calm day into upheavel within 2 minutes!) and Anders seems to lean towards an “I/D” (which is why he enjoys the upheavel!), though he is so young it is hard to tell. 

Very insightful and will change a bit how I parent and teach Lars especially.  Interesting how we all recharge differently. Ben needs physical activity, I need private time. Lars needs nothing time and Anders seems to need social time.  Our idea of a day of rest is quite diverse!