Order

“Let all things be done decently and in order” (1 Corinthians 14:40).  God is a God of order and all things move under His divine direction.  We see an example of this in Ezekiel, chapter one.  At the very hub of the universe is God’s throne – all moves in an orderly fashion around His dwelling place.  Subjection and discipline mark the movements of the heavenly host, each one doing his appointed work.  Success can attend order and harmonious actions.

“Order is heaven’s first law.”  As we copy the divine example, let us also have order in our homeschool.  Order begins by starting school at the appointed time.  Allow no interruptions to divert you from this most important task.  Phones can be unplugged (or put on an answering machine); friends can be encouraged to visit at other times in the day.

Have a place for everything,

and put everything in its place!

Order means to have a regular arrangement.  An arrangement in our time, person, place, and character.

  • Order of time to carry out what God requires of us – we need a clearly defined schedule that we keep to.  “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven” (Ecclesiastes 3:1).
  • Order of our person – always dressed, hair combed as if we are going to meet an important appointment.  Having a crisp freshness about us, with a smile on our faces as we begin our day of educating.
  • Order of our place – the home and the room we use for school has an order.  A cluttered place has a tendency to encourage a cluttered mind or a sloppy paper.  Provide a place for your school supplies – even if it is only a box arranged orderly under the corner of the table.  “For the Lord thy God walketh in the midst of thy camp, to deliver thee, and to give up thine enemies before thee; therefore shall thy camp be holy: that he see no unclean thing in thee, and turn away from thee” (Deuteronomy 23:14).
  • Order of our character – having spent your quiet time early that morning in Bible study and prayer you will be prepared to meet the many challenges of the day.  “The king’s daughter is all glorious within:  her clothing is of wrought gold” (Psalm 45:13).

Before God met with Israel on Mount Sinai to give them the law, the children of Israel were required to have clean clothing (Exodus 19:10).  The children of Israel were to do all within their power to cleanse themselves from inward and outward defilement.  It may be a struggle for us to come up to God’s high standard of inward and outward cleansing, but our human efforts United with God’s divine power will succeed.

An early start each day in our schedule is sometimes a problem because of lack of order and discipline.  Children many times have no rules as to when to go to bed and when to arise.  The birds of nature teach us when it is time to go to bed and when to arise.  When the precious habits of order are broken and time thus wasted in the early mornings, things are set out of course for the whole day.  Remember, God wills us to bring ourselves into order.  Let us go to bed early, and use the fresh hours of the morning to form habits of regularity and order.  We will improve in health, spirit, memory, and disposition.

“The king’s daughter is all glorious within: her clothing is of wrought gold.” Psalm 45:13

 

Excerpt from Ten Principles of True Education p. 4, 5.

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Do you have disorder in your home?  Take this week to think about ways you can improve order in your home and develop a plan to put it in order.

Still need help?  There are good resources for learning cleaning, order, etc.

A Virtuous Woman –  This is an SDA resource.  Melissa Ringstaff provides free printables for cleaning and organizing your home on her website.

Family Boot Camp – This is offered by one of SonLight’s counselors, Yolanda Pugh.  This has a more simple approach than some of the other plans offered, but sometimes simple is easier to accomplish.  I encourage you to check it out!

Fly Lady – is a cleaning/organizing program.  They have created a schedule for you, reminders, etc.  I’m not sure if it is all free anymore, as they have added apps and other resources, but I believe you can do the basics for free.  Just realize this is not an SDA resource and you may need to tweak the schedule accordingly to work around the Sabbath.  It is a highly intensive program, but it starts with Baby Steps and creating habits that maybe you missed growing up.  I have found this program helpful in simply learning how to clean and clean in a manner that I never learned growing up.

Life as a Mama– Cleaning schedules, free printables. This is not an SDA resource, so you will need to make changes to accommodate Sabbath on some things.  🙂

Have a resource that you enjoy?  Please share it below in the comments!

An Example

“And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom; and the grace of God was upon him.” Luke 2:40

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As a child, Jesus lived within the laws of mankind. “And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom and the grace of God was upon him.” He learned as children need to learn today. His mathematics study was taught through the practical duties of life. He learned mathematics through the things His own hands had in the beginning created in nature and the work he did in the carpenter’s shop. As He recreated things of wood (from trees He had created) with mathematical calculations, so He would recreate men who would cooperate with Him.

Excerpt from Grades 2-8 / Lesson 1: What Is Mathematics?

Where to Learn Mathematics

gabriel-jimenez-jin4W1HqgL4-unsplashHave you noticed how Jesus almost always used an outdoor or country setting for most of His teachings when He lived on Earth? In the very beginning, He chose to have man till the soil which offered experience in using mathematics, such as:

  1. the increase of one seed to many
  2. the size of space needed to plant
  3. when to plant
  4. calculating straight rows
  5. the amount of space growing plants will need
  6. to know what is the best way to use the produce of the garden in glorifying God

Excerpt from Grades 2-8 / Lesson 1: What Is Mathematics

The Outdoor Classroom

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  1.  As much as possible, weather permitting, your classroom should be outside in natural surroundings.  Use a table or home-type desk for the student to work at when inside.  (You will need a place to store books and materials.)  Use a chalkboard that is of medium size and portable.  It can be used for illustrations when cooking, canning, meal planning, doing science experiments, mathematics problems, etc. Actually, the entire house is to be used for your teaching experiences. Homeschooling is meant to be done in natural surroundings where children learn “naturally.”
  2. Use clipboards and small hand blackboards for writing on when outside.
  3.  A picnic table is nice for outside school.
  4. Teaching outside will keep younger children better occupied while you teach the older ones.
  5. Teaching outside tends to quiet hyperactive, nervous, or restless-type students.  At first, there may be moments of distraction, like watching every bug or turning away at every sound, but these moments will pass as the student becomes accustomed to being outside.  Even these distractions can often be turned into lessons.
  6. Teaching outside opens to the students what should have been their very first lesson book – the lesson book of nature – the wonders of God’s creativity in land, water, and sky!
  7. Teaching outside will improve the five senses.  Students will improve the five senses.  Students will become more sensitive to seeing detail, hearing quiet sounds, smelling fragrances, feeling breezes and changes in temperature, and tasting nature through its smells.  This will help develop in them a sensitivity to people, their needs, their loneliness, and their fears.  It will also help them develop a discernment of people’s faces as they pay attention to details in nature.  In their time of trouble it will be the little things that will help them to know how to respond to a friend or an enemy.
  8. Teaching outside offers time for personal prayer, thoughts, and meditation.  It offers opportunity for the Holy Spirit to speak gently to students through nature.

 

Excerpt from Ten Principles of True Education, pp. 2-3

Reflect: One Sin

“If one note in the organ be out of key, or harsh in tone, it mars the whole tune. All the other reeds may be in harmony; but the one defective reed destroys the sweetness of all the rest. In every tune it makes discord somewhere. Its noise jars out into every other note. And so one sin destroys the harmony of a whole life. A boy or girl may be obedient, industrious, and honest; but ill-temper is a jarring reed that touches every grace with chill and discord. Let every affection and every thought and every word and every action, be right; then there is music in the life.” —Unknown

Excerpt from Grades 2-8 / Lesson 1: What Is Music?