Homeschool Chores En Mi Casa
The title of this blog entry is also the title of one of my earliest YouTube videos. It means “in my house.” The subject: chores, rooms, and colors. We cover colors in the fourth and final unit of my Spanish 1 class, which focuses on shopping (clothing, colors, foods, and drinks). Chores and rooms appear in the first unit of my Spanish 2 class on Lernsys.com. Students learn how to share information about their homes, morning and nighttime routines, and chores. As I’ve mentioned in previous blogs, it amazes me how many students never do any chores. The amount of chores that students do often coincides quite nicely with the work ethic that they have in the classroom. No chores = no homework + no studying for tests and quizzes. What’s the point? The things that kids learn at home affect many other aspects of their lives. Do you put God and His Church first in your life? Chances are that your kids will too. Do you put work and sports in front of time spent with God’s Church? Most likely, so will your kids. When I was growing up, my parents told me that I could play any sport that I wanted to play, but that sport practices and games would never interfere with time that I should be spending with God’s Church. This is a lesson that I have remembered and apply to my kids and their extra-curricular activities. While some kids I know have been punished by coaches for skipping practices to participate in church activities, we have never had that problem. In fact, some coaches agreed that spending time with the Church was more important.
Think about the following verses:
Matthew 6:33 – But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be provided to you.
Colossians 3:1-3 – Therefore, if you have been raised with Christ, keep seeking the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on the things that are above, not on the things that are on earth. 3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
Matthew 6:19-21 – Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; 21 for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
What is God trying to teach us through these passages? We need to focus on Him, His Word, His will, and His kingdom (the Church). We can’t let Satan distract us from spiritual, godly things by filling our lives and schedules with earthly things or filling our hearts with worldly desires. In my time as a preacher, I’ve come across people who claim that they miss Church assemblies to work in order to pay for their expensive vehicles…vehicles that cost more than my house! I ask them why they need such expensive vehicles. Their response? For their jobs! So, they need to work a lot to afford their expensive vehicles, and they need expensive vehicles for their jobs. They see both as necessities. I see a situation where changing one of the two, their jobs or their vehicles, would eliminate the need for the other.
What is Jesus trying to teach us in the following passage?
Luke 12:16-21: And He told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man was very productive. 17 And he began thinking to himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, since I have no place to store my crops?’ 18 And he said, ‘This is what I will do: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and I will store all my grain and my goods there. 19 And I will say to [l]myself, “You have many goods stored up for many years to come; relax, eat, drink, and enjoy yourself!”’ 20 But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night [m]your soul is demanded of you; and as for all that you have prepared, who will own it now?’ 21 Such is the one who stores up treasure for himself, and is not rich in relation to God.
Too many of us are too concerned with “building bigger barns” instead of growing in our relationship to God, our knowledge of His Word, and our submission to His will. When your kids use your life as their model and guide for how they should live, where will it lead them?
Dan Hildebrand, Lernsys.com Spanish 2 creator
https://lernsys.com/en/spanish-2-task-based-lessons
