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Monday, December 12, 2016

Teach Them to Read

One of my nightly dad duties is bath and bedtime.  I enjoy this time.  It allows me to turn the busyness of life off and pay full attention to Sawyer.  Each night before bed we do the same routine of reading stories and singing a song.  

As of late, Sawyer wants to always sing Jesus Loves Me, or as he calls it, Jesus Bible.  The books he has been most interested in for the past couple months are related to the alphabet.  You remember what these books are like, every page has a letter on it and that letter is connected to a word.  “A” is for apple.  It’s pretty amazing to see his knowledge grow in regards to identifying letters and make their corresponding sound.  At some point he will learn to take this basic knowledge and will begin reading these books to me.

Reading is one of the most important, fundamental skills our children learn in their early education.  Once a child learns to read, their capacity for learning is almost limitless.  They can teach themselves almost anything they want to learn.  Because of this, I’m convinced the most important thing we do at Oklahoma Christian Academy is teaching students to read.

Dr. Chris King, president of a Christian school in Texas, is a close friend of mine.  This summer we discussed this topic and the fact that literacy is the beginning of all knowledge.  I will take this a step further and argue that in Christian education we teach our students to read something far greater than words. We teach our students to read culture and faith.  

Being intentional about this is more important now than ever.

Here’s why:

Speed, accumulation, instant gratification, and technology are just a few words that sum up the American culture in which our children are being raised.  None of these things are inherently bad, but we must remember that it’s our job to not let the hearts of our children be taken by the things of this world.

Country music group Lady Antebellum sings a song called Compass (2013) which highlights a interesting perspective of our culture.

“So let your heart sweetheart be your compass when you're lost
And you should follow it wherever it may go.
When it's all said and done you can walk instead of run
'Cause no matter what you'll never be alone”

The most significant deception our culture tells our children is to let their heart be their compass for life.

PROBLEM:
Whether we want to admit it or not, at a foundational level we are all driven by our emotions, feelings, and desires.  This is why many of us continue to do things we know we shouldn’t do.  I know I should never eat the Chicka Chicka Boom Boom from Chuy’s Tex Mex because I KNOW it is bad for me, but I love it too much!  We all have these things we know we ought not do but we do them anyways. Right? At a basic level this is okay, but if not kept in check it can create devastating consequences.

SOLUTION:  
We know two things: (1) We know our emotions, feelings, and desires play a pivotal role in our actions. (2) We know we live in a culture that encourages our children to be led by their hearts.  So, instead of resisting this let’s use this to our advantage in helping our children read culture and faith.  Let’s provide our children with experiences that continue to mold who they are.

In last month’s blog I wrote about the value of experience creation in the lives of our children.  This is why I wrote that we as parents and educators are in the business of creating memories.  Our experiences form internal desires and creates a piggy bank of memories that we draw upon when making current decisions.  Through the experiences of life we can help form and shape the actions of tomorrow.  Let’s continue to work together to form and shape the hearts of our children into the likeness of Christ.

As educators, parents, grandparents, and friends we can raise children whose hearts do not fall in love with things of our culture, but rather use their hearts to navigate this culture through the lens of their faith. Can I get an AMEN?

I look forward to the day when Sawyer will be able to read a book to me at night, but I long for the day that Sawyer uses his heart as as compass to align his actions with those of Jesus.