Thursday, April 19, 2012

First Things First

Arden and I hang out while the older kids do math every morning. We usually have an hour. Sometimes we read books. Sometimes we do a little math. Most days we play games. We play Teddy Mix and Match. We play Sorry. We play Rivers Roads and Rails. We play Little Trackers, Three of a Crime, Candyland, and dominos.

Yesterday Arden brought his Bible downstairs. We gave him a Bible for his birthday; large print and in the same version the rest of the family uses. The Bible was a gift that looked forward to the day he would be able to read it himself. He cannot read it yet, but he carries it around  in the box. He brings it to family Bible time. We read to him from its pages every night before bed. Yesterday he carried his Bible downstairs in the morning.

After we finished family Bible time and chores, the older kids cracked open the Saxon math books. Coffee in hand, I asked Arden, "What will we do?"

"Well," said forcefully and so very matter-of-factly, "we have to read the Bible and play Othello." Aha, never mind that an extra chapter of Bible reading isn't in the routine. And which one first? I let Arden pick. "Let's read the Bible first because it's more important."

We read of King David on his death bed, Adonijah's struggle to be king, and Solomon being anointed for the throne. Then we played a hotly contested game of Othello. Then we hung laundry on the line and read Moccasin Trail aloud, with Kara, outside in the sunshine.

But we had done the most important thing first.

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