Leading By Example

A couple of weeks ago I had the honor of talking with Jane Lambert (Author and Owner Of Five In A Row Unit Study Curriculum) for a very long time. She and her husband Steve are coming to do a weekend conference for my support group and we are working out flight details, hotel arrangements and such. As Jane and I spoke about the workshops she will be doing for our weekend conference, I shared with her how much I LOVE lapbooks, but how I’m not very good at doing them with my kids. She asked why I didn’t do the lapbook myself? I paused, not sure what she meant.

We ended up having a very long talk about how powerful leading by example can be. If I am interested in lapbooking she encouraged me to lapbook something I want to teach my kids and use “my” lapbook as a teaching tool. If any of my children seem to really get excited then I can include them when we do our next one. What a GREAT idea! That was so freeing to me.

So fast forward to this week when some dear friends invited me over for a gingerbread house party. No KIDS! She put on music, laid out a gourmet feast and filled the table with all kinds of candies. As I sat down and began to work I found myself relaxing and enjoying each moment more than I ever thought possible. When we were done I looked down on my creation with pride and a sense of accomplishment, but it wasn’t until I got home that my conversation with Jane Lambert came vividly back into my mind.

As I walked in the door my children fell over themselves to see my gingerbread house. They couldn’t wait to look at every nook and cranny. “Mom, how did you put the candies on the roof?”, "Mom, how did you put the wreath above the door?" Question after question after question came tumbling out until finally I had three eager faces begging me to let them do their own gingerbread house. I could hear Jane's voice encouraging me to "Lead by example".

Modeling for our children is a POWERFUL teaching tool. How do you “model” teaching for your children OR how would you like to model teaching for your children?