During the Covid-19 period of emergency home-schooling, Christina Eastwood and I put together several months of free lessons for Christian home-educators. As these were well received, we thought that we would make them available permanently, and add to them (D.V.) until we have a free lesson for every day of the year. The result is a new website: |
I will paraphrase the text, with actual quotations in italics. I pray that it may be a blessing to all young men who read it.
He becometh poor that dealeth with a slack hand: but the hand of the diligent maketh rich.
Proverbs 10:4
In the day of prosperity be joyful, but in the day of adversity consider
Eccliesiastes 7:14
Imagine two young men setting out in life with equal advantages, money, connections and prospects. They have studied and trained and are about to start work. One of them succeeds, a propitious gale seems to fill his sails and a favourable tide to flow in, to help him onward in his course from the very time of sailing. He makes a prosperous voyage and enters safely into harbour with a rich cargo. He does well, enjoys promotion and is paid well. He has good standing in society.
But there is a reverse side to this - early failure.
In this case, the vessel has no sooner left port than it encounters unfavourable winds, is tossed upon the billows by tempests and dashed upon the rock, or stranded upon the shore, becomes a wreck. The young man started out with big ambitions, but they terminate in disappointment and he is soon left without an income. This is a very common situation in the UK.
May it young men never be yours.
We must ask what made the difference between success and failure. At this point we must quite squarely put aside chance or luck as some may call it. For the Christian, there is no such thing as luck. God is over all and rules all in and through his Providence. Providence no doubt gives advantages to some which it does not bestow upon others. Scripture is full of instances of this kind: how conspicuous was Providence in the history of Joseph. How manifest in the life of Moses and so on.
Let us then examine the causes of the two different results of success and failure.
1) The possession or want of ability, cleverness, good judgement and tact in business will often account for success or failure.
Success in any department of life, without a competent knowledge of the means of obtaining it, cannot be expected, and ordinarily is not obtained. Some do seemingly 'land on their feet', but they are the exception to the rule and the hoping to follow suit is not a method to be relied upon. A man must at all times, especially in this age of competition, (1800's and no less true today, if not more so!) know how to buy and sell. He must be a judge of articles and prices, thoroughly know not only his own trade but the principles of trade in general. Business is an art and a science too, and he must be acquainted with both. He must know the markets and the times. How do you learn these things: You must be thoughtful, observant, diligent, both in training and once trained. You must be neither lovers of pleasure, nor companions of those who are such. Next to being right with God, it should be your aim to gain a complete mastery of your trade.
Who are the men who succeed? Not the dolts, the ill-informed or the half-informed, but the well informed. Who are the men who fail? Usually you will find them not the well informed, but the half informed, or the ill-informed.
Your faith in God cannot, however eminent, cannot supply the want of the knowledge and the habits of a good workman. Godliness it is true, is profitable for all things, having the promise of the life that is now and of that which is to come. But then it is not godliness without other things but with them.
A good and holy young man is not to expect to succeed by the favour of God, without either hard work or ability. We must not expect God's blessing as a substitute for these things. God does not bless pious dolts who are ignorant due to their own neglect. God will not set aside the general laws by which he governs the social world in favour of religion, any more than he will those of the natural world.
Beware of over-stocking and trading beyond your capital; a very frequent source of ruin to young tradesman is allowing commercial travellers to force upon them too large purchases.
A good point to remember - don't spend what you haven't got or get in stock too much of what you may not sell. Make it a rule never to buy using credit that you can't pay off immediately the bill arrives..
Lesson: Learn your business well - study hard at school, and later in your job. True learning begins once school work is left behind. Read, read, and read.
2) Success or failure depends a great deal upon a good start.
Bad beginnings can be repaired, but they are not usually. A first wrong step is often, if not always, the beginning of a series of steps all wrong. Great care, caution, circumspection, and forethought therefore are necessary. Many begin too soon: they are impatient to be masters before they are prepared for it. They are unwilling to bide their time, and often mis-calculate their ability.
The most successful business men have been both careful as well as able. Creep before you try to walk. Walk before you run and run before you flee!
Let there then be much reflection, counsel, much prayer in such an important step as setting out in working life. As this, like marriage is a step for life, let it be taken with care, and think no time lost, or too long, which is necessary, to enable you to tread firmly and steadily at the outset. For every person that has repented of starting too late, ten have repented of starting too early! Next to seeking counsel from God, by earnest and believing prayer, seek the advice of disinterested wise and experienced people. Do not be like some who have made up their mind as to the outcome, then seek advice, and when it is contrary to that which they wish to hear, reject the advice given and follow their first proposed course of action. This is the sure way to ruin.
Lesson: Count the cost: don't rush in to things. Pray.
3) Success of failure are dependent upon diligence on the one hand, or neglect or indolence on the other.
We read in Proverbs: The blessing of the Lord maketh rich. And then: The hand of the diligent maketh rich.
Both are true and they stand related to each other. Our hard work cannot be fruitful without God's blessing and God's blessing is not bestowed without man's industry. The Lord's providential visits are never granted to loiterers. Moses, David, and the shepherds at Bethlehem, were all keeping their flocks, and Gideon was at his threshing floor, when God's revelations were made to them. How laziness is exposed, condemned, branded, in God's book! Let a man have ever so good a knowledge of his business; let him begin with all the advantages of capital, connections and situation; yet if he be of an indolent and self-indulgent habit, a late-riser, a lover of pleasure; a gossiping neighbour, he will soon furnish another evidence of the truth of Solomon's words, "He becometh poor that dealeth with a slack hand."
Be diligent! Be like Henry Martyn the affirmed and holy missionary of whom it was said, “That he was known as the man who never lost an hour."
Lesson: count every minute as precious. Think how many we waste on idle pleasures. Be careful who you spend time with as your companions can influence you more than you can imagine. If you profess to be a Christian, then flee from the world and everything that belongs to it - love of self (selfies included), ungodly entertainment, be it worldly music (including addictive 'Christian rock' which is no better for its Christian words), films/theatre. Give every minute to serving the Lord.
4) Method and system have much to do with failure or success.
In this I include promptness as opposed to procrastination. No habit can be more fatal to success then the wretched disposition of postponing until another time that which ought to be done, and can be done, at once. Procrastination has ruined millions for both this world and the next. There is a class of adverbs which some young men seem not to have studied, but which are of immense importance in all the affairs both of time and eternity. I mean the words, “instantly," immediately," "at once," "now," for which they unhappily substitute "presently," "by and by," "tomorrow," "at some future time,". Young men, catch the inspiration of that weighty monosyllable "now". Yield to the potency of that word "instantly" and to use a still more business like term, acquire a habit of "dispatch". To do this, do not only do the thing that should be done, but the thing that ought to be done next!
Be punctual. Punctuality is of immense consequence. It has been humorously said, "Some people seem to have been born half an hour after their time, and they never fetch it up all their lives!"
Lateness is not only a vice on the one being late, but also on those waiting for him. "You have caused us to lose an hour," said a gentleman to another, for whose appearance twelve men had been waiting.
"Oh, that is impossible," replied the guilty man, "for it is only five minutes after the time."
"Very true," was the rejoinder, "but there are twelve of us, each of whom has lost five minutes."
Lesson to learn: Do not keep anyone waiting - be it for an appointment or for payment if you wish to prosper. Do not put off those things that need doing now. This needs practice and it will sometimes be hard to fight against natural inclinations towards ease, especially in a day and age that so promotes care of 'self'.
The Scriptures exhort us to "redeem the time." Order is no less essential to system and success than promptness and punctuality. A disorderly man wastes not only his own time, but that of others who are dependent upon, and waiting for him; nor does the waste stop here, for what a useless expenditure of energy and a painful sacrifice of comfort are ever going on with him!
Lesson: Look at the different areas of your life. Which are disorderly? Start working now to address these areas and bring about changes which will stand you in good stead in years to come. Others call disorder a peace stealer - as we cannot enjoy peace if we are forever in a tiz over what we have lost, or for being late.
5. Economy has a most powerful influence in determining the failure or success of a young business man.
This applies equally to personal, domestic and business trade and the man who would succeed in life must reduce them all to the lowest prudent level. In order to keep down the expenses of the trade, he must do with as little purchased help as he can; and to accomplish this, he must be hard working and ready to learn. As to personal expenses, let him avoid all unnecessary consumption of money in dress and ornaments. Let it be no part of your ambition young men, to be noticed and admired for that with which the clothing retailer, and the jeweller may bedizen (to dress or adorn in a showy, gaudy, or tasteless manner) the veriest fool in existence. How mean and petty is foppery (affected and excessive concern with one's clothes and appearance), compared with an enlightened mind, a dignified character, and the beauties of holiness! I am not an advocate for either meanness or slovenliness. Cleanliness and neatness border upon virtue, as excessive foppery and expensiveness do upon vice. It is unworthy of a female to be inordinately fond of dress: but for a man to love finery is despicable indeed.
Avoid also the love of pleasure. The man who is bent upon enjoying himself who will have his amusements and companions and frequent sessions of recreation; who is fond of parties and entertainments, the gaming table, the dance hall, the concert and the theatre is on the high road to poverty in this world and to hell in the next. Let the lover of pleasure read of Samson in the Old Testament and of the Prodigal in the New. If you would have economical habits as a master, cultivate them as a servant. Begin then now and persevere.
You must carry out the principle of economy in your home also. Frugality in the home is a virtue and extravagance a vice. If you wish to have comfort at the end of life, be content with necessities at the start. Let your furniture, your style of living, your whole domestic establishment, be all arranged upon the principle of a rigid, though not mean, economy. The basis of living in credit is to live simply, not in substantial splendour; just as the foundation of a house consists of unadorned bricks and uncultured stone, and not of carved and gilded wood. It is the diligent and frugal man who is considered the trustworthy one. (And this is still true today. Diligence and frugality are rare traits these days. We are all encouraged to expect everything we want to make life pleasurable. Rare is the man who works hard with his eye on a better goal - His Masters' approval.)
However, while I recommend economy I equally condemn meanness. There have been men of high standing and otherwise excellent character who have well-nigh ruined themselves by a spirit of meanness. It is the meanest of all vices, the most despicable of all passions and it stems from the most insatiable (not able to satisfy) of appetites, an excessive love of money. It is very striking to observe how seemingly opposite dispositions are balanced in the Word of God. Industry is commended and slothfulness condemned; and yet in the same book it says "Labour not to be rich;" "Labour not for the bread that perisheth;" "Lay not up for yourselves treasures on earth;" "They that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts which drown men in destruction; for the love of money is the root of all evil, which while some have coveted after, that have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows." This might look like contradiction, but it is not so in reality. These passages teach us that we are neither to despise money, not to be fond of it. I know it is difficult to draw a line between idolatry and contempt of wealth; and to state that exact regard to money which industry requires to stimulate and rewards its energies, and which both reason and revelation justify. When however wealth is considered the chief end of life, and is sought exclusively to the entire neglect of religion; when it is pursued at the expense of principle and honour; when it is the first thing coveted, and the last thing relinquished; when it is loved for its own sake of mere accumulation, instead of being diffused for God’s glory and man’s benefit; when it is regarded as the standard of individual importance both for ourselves and others; it has become the tyrant of the soul, which it has enslaved, may be with fetters of silver and gold - good things - but such being no less a miserable master because of their splendour.
Lesson:
- Do not be a lover of clothes and fashion - It will drain your purse. Seek to develop rather a godly character - honest, upright, diligent, trustworthy etc...
- Avoid the love of pleasure - do not be found gaming, watching films or engaging in other profitless forms of entertainment, Seek instead to study to inform your mind. Study first and foremost God's Word the Bible.
- Do not seek to have every luxury in your home. Choose those things that are essential and learn contentment. Live simply.
6) Perseverance is also necessary to success.
Without this nothing good or great can be achieved in our world.
Success is not something achieved quickly, but rather as a gradual formation, a slow deposit. In business it usually proceeds on the principles of arithmetic progression. The ascent in life is usually the opposite of a mountain. In the latter case the steepest part is near the summit; in life, it is at the start. Both however require perseverance.
The one who would be successful must not expect to reach his goal by a light, easy and elastic bound, but rather by many successive and weary steps, and occasionally perhaps, by a backward step. Such a one must go on sometimes amidst discouragement, and always with labour.
There are some however who cannot succeed because they will not wait to do so. If success does not come at first, they will not follow after it. They are as impatient as the foolish child that sowed his seed in the morning, and went to bed hopeless and crying because he did not see it springing up before sunset.
Lesson: be ever hopeful, prayerful and persevering.
This does not mean that all religious people will be prosperous and all irreligious ones will fail. It means that piety contains most of those qualities which tend towards success, while sin, where it leads on (as it frequently does) tends to ruin. God does not promise wealth and honour to His people on earth, but much more, glory everlasting. But, godliness as I have said, has the promise of the life that now is and that which is to come. Wisdom as we read in Proverbs has riches and honour in her right hand for many who submit to her ways. It is quite certain that those who have come to poverty have been dragged down by iniquity and that those who have succeeded owe their success to piety. Scripture is full of examples: Joseph in the house of Potiphar, David, Daniel, and Nehemiah to name but a few.
Although we should not be pious just for the gain it can bring us, godliness is the parent of virtue, the protector of health, the nurse of economy, the patron of industry, the guardian of integrity, the prompter of knowledge and the helper of prosperity.
Lesson: 'Choose you this day whom ye will serve' (Joshua 24:15)
I do not put these matters before you to excite you to fear, but rather to encourage you to take stock of your life. Prevention is better than cure. It is easier to avert ruin by industry and economy than to bring back prosperity when it has once departed. Make this easier task your first care and endeavour. You are young and your life is before you. Ruin may seem only something in your imagination. Though it is not good to fill your mind with dark thoughts, lest such thoughts lead to reality, yet it is well to take a long enough glance to be sure that you never want to be in that state. This will have the effect of bringing your mind to this determination:
Dr. Martyn Lloyd Jones as preached in 1956, (Taken from: Saved by Grace Alone, The Banner of Truth Trust, 2018, p.156)
Should we be concerned - or is this people just being people and never being satisfied?
I would suggest to you that a brief look back at past O level papers and even the education of youngsters back in history will show that our expectations of young people are very low. One hears of young children in days gone by, being fluent in several languages at an early age. Children were taught and expected to learn. Of course, this is a very general summary and you will always find exceptions, but I think it is fair to say that we have lost the rigours of teaching and learning that marked former years. The GCSE English Language exam syllabi are written expecting our young people to have done little other than watch TV, visit the theatre/theme parks, game, go to pop concerts and read low-level trivial books. The exam boards are proud of their courses that prepare youths for the modern world. Need I say any more?
Dr. Robinson
Why do we have low educational standards?
Not least, they have encouraged us to please ourselves. This is endemic throughout all society as we bear the fruit of several decades of such teaching that life centres around 'me'! Sadly the fact that it doesn't and that we all have responsibilities towards God and others has been left unsaid. However, it has left a spiritual vacuum, a devastating trail of low educational standards, low levels of attainment along with low morals. Even more sadly, most parents and teachers these days are products themselves of a humanistic education and do not recognize it in themselves. They seem content with the low standards (which they consider to be high), and may even think that because of society's seeming 'intelligence', with information available so easily on tap through the internet, that there is no problem.
We live in an entertainment driven society
When it comes to education, children's educational materials these days (we are told) must be:
- fun
- not too demanding
- centred around the child's interests
- good-feeling orientated
Correction is seen as damaging
Bad behavior does not need discipline we are told, but rather encouraging and guiding.
Yes there is room for both of these sometimes, but the biblical pattern is that children do need disciplining:
Entertainment style education does not encourage children to think - to grapple with a subject
The trouble is - if we know nothing, how will we know if what we are being told is true or not? This is not the route for the God-fearing to take. The Christian must know what God's Word says. He must study it diligently. This requires time, commitment and self-denial. Are we training our children towards these things by allowing them to have easy access to computers, mobiles and games?
I strongly advise against the use of television/computers/apps/games, even for educational purposes for as along as you can hold off of them. It needs to be the parents decision as to when they are allowed, if ever, in the home or used by children. Let children see you using technology profitably and not for entertainment, for example for accounts, writing, research, business.
Are our children less intelligent now?
We think it's cute and our children 'bright' when they can do remarkable things on our mobiles at a young age. However, we do not generally expect much of them when it comes to academic ability.
Young children are capable of amazing things. The Robinson Curriculum expects them to learn all of their number bonds, for all four operations to 12x12 by the age of seven - as normal This is more than possible - I proved it - even with a child with a severe language delay. It wasn't easy - it required daily practice and yes, sometimes it was boring. But we seem these days to buy into the thought that all education needs to be entertaining. This is of course - the natural fruit of a child-centred philosophy - which sadly, many Christian parents do not recognise. We are apt to blindly follow the world as long as they don't try and teach our children evolution.
Dr. Martyn Lloyd Jones as preached in 1956, (Taken from: Saved by Grace Alone, The Banner of Truth Trust, 2018, p.155)
Should I make my child do something boring?
Obviously our teaching must be sensitive to the pupil, that is, appropriate to his/her stage of development. The good teacher will try and make the subject come alive, but this is not always possible: routine drill for reading/spelling/handwriting and maths is hard work, and often boring. Later it's revision for exams. We need to instill good habits from day one.
We must be aware of our child's moods and temperament and seek to train them to do work first time of asking and willingly. It is as much 'education' to address these issues as it is to address academic learning.
Proverbs 1:7
How do we raise educational standards?
Four markers
- A good environment free from distractions and with good role-models.
- The instilling of good habits
- A good course of study
- High quality books
- pleasure
- least effort
- no correction
1. Parents set the home-school 'tone'
How do we spend our time?
The desire for activity is echoed in our home life with constant social engagements and cries of 'I'm too busy', because actually - it makes us feel important to be busy. How the devil deceives! Even as home-educators we can convince ourselves that we need to be taking our children to social engagements frequently, giving them plenty of 'fun'. Or maybe we are tempted to give our children's computer games, thinking they will encourage them to think. Be not deceived - computer games are a snare to the mind and soul and are best avoided by all. They are addictive time and brain wasting activities.
As Christian mothers, we are to be home based. We will want to encourage our daughters to be home-based too - not flitting here, there and everywhere seeking entertainment - or 'out of the home' on social media or anything else. We will want our young men to be responsible men - ready to take on the leadership of a family and to be home to support his wife and take an interest in his children whenever he can. And then to be leadership material for church responsibilities.
2. Character traits to instill if we want high standards
- obedience to parents - first time of asking and cheerfully with no back chat - the pre-cursor to obedience to God and authority in general. Parents we cannot fall short on this one!
- the desire/willingness to grapple with something - even when it's hard going - until you reach the conclusion. This will include both perseverance and diligence.
- a sense of 'seriousness': a sense that learning is serious, leading to a sense of responsibility.
This doesn't mean no fun. It means that hard work is expected, even when it isn't fun. We should not encourage our children to give up when the 'fun' of starting something turns into the inevitable 'hard-work' stage. However 'fun' you dress up learning, it can't go on long before the child ceases to find it fun and wants to give up. This is true of activities such as learning to play an instrument, or any other aspect of life. All too often parents let the child give up. Think hard before you let your child start something, and make it hard for him/her to give up: you decide, not him/her. Obviously there are always going to be times when we make mistakes - we realise our child really does hate piano lessons (and has low talent) and we make them continue a while until we choose for them to stop - not let him/her stop the minute s/he complains. It means having confidence in a maths curriculum and making it work for your child, rather than buying a new one the minute the child says that it is 'boring'.
3. A good course of study
See this post for how to choose a home-school curiculum and this one to see the choice of best curriculums available.
It is best if we use a curriculum that is God-centred. I do not recommend using books written for the National Curriculum as they are based on humanistic ideas - even the methodology of teaching Maths and English.
4 High quality books
Parents - let us not take these things lightly
Let us pray for each other and for Christian families that they may be built up in the faith.
collossians 2:7
In this post we will explore the main change that took place in education in the early 1900's and that is still rampant in schools today. I briefly made mention of this in this post, but will look in further detail here. It has far reaching consequences.
Changing educational aims and objectives
Traditional teaching v. progressive
Progressivism has invaded all government departments and authorities. They give lip-service to ‘traditionalist methods’ to appease public opinion, but however much things seem to be swinging towards a more traditional approach (as they keep saying is so in the UK at present), the truth is the opposite. At its core, education (and society) is still very much progressive.
What is 'traditional' education?
What is 'progressive' education?
Progressive education is based around the perceived needs of the child and individual learning styles. It was brought in gradually as a result of findings by psychologists. For example, Friederich Froebel (1782–1852) believed that the teacher's role was not to indoctrinate but to encourage self-expression through play. It was not so much what a child 'ought' to know, but what would a child like to know. Instruction was seen as interfering with a child's development.
It brought about a new way of teaching. Instead of traditional forms of education which involved a teacher teaching, it introduced (among others) the use of techniques such as problem solving and experiental learning.
Making the world a better place
Educational reformers claimed that a natural educational methodology could free humanity by creating a better world. It was seen as a means by which humans, using reason and science, could shape their environment (Gerald Gutek, A History of the Western Educational Experience, p. 486)
According to John Dewey (1859 -1952) education is the "participation of the individual in the social consciousness of the race" (Dewey, 1897, para. 1). He saw education as being concerned with the psychological and social aspects of a child, with psychology at the base. For him, education was better if it focused on the child's powers and natural interests.
And so we see that the aim of those who shaped progressive education, was the reconstruction of society.
Other names of those who form part of the history of this movement include: Rudolf Steiner and even Baden Powell and Charlotte Mason and Maria Montessori. Maria Montessori is a little of an exception, as although classed by many as being progressive, she was rejected by the progressives who did not agree with some of her more formal methods of teaching.
As far as I can see it is fair to say that progressive educators see the child as innately perfect and see outside influences as damaging. When progressivism took off, of course, Darwin's evolutionary theories were just beginning to gain ground and were having a huge impact on how people thought and acted.
An on going battle
An example - Reading:
For example, the government has introduced phonics as the main means by which reading must be taught in schools. Now phonics is a traditional method; the progressive teachers favour ‘Look and say’ and ‘Whole Word methods’ or better still ‘Natural language’ methods which is a nice way to put the previous two! Phonics works with the brain – we build up skills gradually from the bottom, letters to words to sentences, whereas progressive methods work backwards against the brain. Imagine being given a book and being asked to read it when you couldn’t read a single word: what would do? You would start to look at the pictures for clues. This is what ‘real books’ are like. Children are expected to learnt to read by acting as a reader, using context to guess words and picture cues and these are all labelled legitimate ‘reading strategies’.
Facts v. feelings
The process matters more that the product, assessment replaces testing and group work replaces competition. Entitlement replaces choice.
Teachers or social workers?
Many 'social work' activities in school are justified as being in the children's best interests; to help them cope in the present age. It has always been the way - break it, and then suggest measures to help cope with the damage, but with no intention to 'fix-it'!
Cognitive v. Affective
Psychological techniques and peer pressure
Make parents feel inferior
No absolute values
The value of circle time in modern education
So where does circle time fits into all this? Well, you may have seen for yourself by now! It is merely one of the many techniques used by progressives to imbibe their values in children. It is usually directed at children in preschool and 5 to 11. The teacher should be in the circle too, and in theory, no-one's beliefs or values should be more important than anyone else’s. It sounds nice, doesn’t it? Cosy even – all sitting in a circle. It sounds appealing: to be accepting of all, everyone matters, everyone’s views count. Mrs Mosely (a leading proponent of circle time) admits that it is a form of therapy intended to promote change and make children ‘powerful’. It is often promoted as a way of dealing with deviant behaviour. Circles are powerful! Teachers very often do not know why they do it. It is sold to them as the way to teach and manage children's behaviour. This is not however the same as getting children into a circle to teach them – as a way to make sure each child can see the teacher and has a good space to sit in. Circle Time sessions are planned sessions – the teacher has a focus for the session - so that circle time is not ‘valueless’ despite the claims to be neutral. Nothing is neutral – ever. God did not make our world that way.
The fruit of progressive methods
- They bring about low academic standards.
- There is no rigour, or competition to improve oneself.
- All are brought to the same level. All must have prizes.
- Sadly, despite the appearance of being tolerant, progressives are anything but – they will be very ruthless to any who oppose them. Tolerance is fine until you suggest something they don't agree with. Then they reserve the right to be intolerant. You however have no right to intolerance - only to do as you are told. Rememeber - children are being brought up as progressive - and have been for many years and these methods now permeate our society.
- Despite aiming to improve society, by removing the imparting of knowledge, mankind has been left to work it out for himself, with tragic consequences to our nation. The mess we are currently in stems from the disregard for God's truths. True knowledge imparted from above has gradually been replaced over the years with man's wisdom.
Where does the Christian stand?
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding. Proverbs 9:10
As followers of Christ, we will want our children to learn facts - first of all facts about God, from His word, then fact about the world He has made - His Word helps us to interpret the world around us, not our ideas shaping the world. Absolute truths that are not dependent upon man's feelings. Things that need learing whether we feel like it or not. Lessons that do not pander to the sinful nature. We know that our children need teaching, and that truth is not in them just needing to be encouraged out. We know that without teaching they will not discover God's ways for themselves. Similarly, left to themselves, they will not learn the essential things that are needed for life.
You musn't say people are sinful
A new gospel
The fruit of God's wisdom
Jeremiah 6:16
In conclusion - do we need to abandon all modern methods?
I think that we need to evaluate the materials and methods that we use to educate our children and make sure that we agree with the philosophy behind them/it - including IGCSE/A level courses. We can no longer say 'This is Christian, it must be OK.' Much of what goes for Christian these days, has been influenced by a progressive mindset. Having said that - most standard Christian homeschool curriculums appear to be based on a traditional style of education -though that per-se does not make them 'good'. They still need evaluating carefully against your family's aims for your child.
IGCSE/GCSE curriculums are the end goal of a mainly progressive education. We may need to use them - but use them with your eyes open wide so that you can make sure that your children learn the truth and much more than is contained in these very narrow curriculums.
Individual Learning styles
I would be wary of overly worrying about my child's learning style - these are linked to a progressive outlook. It is true that how learning is presented to a child can make a great difference to whether the child learns or not, but that is not the same as needing to overly concern ourselves with how the child learns best. What more is needed is intuitive parents, who watch the child's response to each lesson carefully and ask 'How can I help this child learn this?' What is needed will vary from day to day according to what is needed to be learned.
Values Education: a brief guide for Parents, Teachers and Policy Makers, Nick Seaton, 2001
Phillipians 4:8
In an evolutionary age BEAUTY is sadly lacking. Evolutionists cannot explain beauty and therefore they place low emphasis on it and even try and remove it.
We were created beautiful, for a beautiful world, and beauty is what we all long for and yet we no longer know what it looks like. We think beauty is coloured hair and clothes so skimpy they are hardly called clothes. We pride ourselves these days on being free and easy - casual dress, casual language, casual relationships, fast food with no nutritional content, constant music with a beat to try and liven ourselves up out of our dull stupor and dragging ourselves further into the mire the longer we listen to it. We like cartoons to make us laugh and 'easy-reads' which require no thought and a constant barage of noise from the TV/radio to numb our minds. We speak using the barest minimum of words with slang interjected with every other word. Children are fed stories aimed at entertaining rather than aspiring them to greater things. The illustrations in the books we give them are less than beautiful, demeaning the human image. Art itself has become a vehicle of self-expression rather than an appreciation of beauty. We see knowledge as something you acquire in order to pass an exam and no further. We don't expect anything to last, so we rarely value anything - including life which is seen as something that can be easily disposed of if it proves inconvenient to us. We don't stop and think about it anymore, and sadly our churches are joining in in greater numbers: pop music in church, casual dress, lack of reverence, cartoon pictures in children's books and youth work materials. Our children know nothing better than this world stripped of beauty. Such has been the impact of evolutionary thinking on our lives.
Does it matter? I believe it does. I believe that when the Scriptures exhort us to think on 'Whatsoever things are lovely' etc.. it does so for a reason. Our Creator God knows us better than we know ourselves. He knows that it is for our greater good to fill our minds with beautiful things. The beauty of the world around us brings honour and glory to Him. Our faith in Him should make us more and more beautiful. Let us flee the things of this world and teach our children to do the same, if they will listen.
This website exists to try and help parents to re-navigate education - to find beautiful resources with which to teach their children and to encourage our children to create beautiful things themselves. To recognise the need for beautiful books, language, art, music; and to aspire them to greater knowledge, not merely to jump a hoop and pass an examination. To aspire them to reach for better than they see around them - not for self-gratification, but to bring honour and glory to God - the creator of all things good.
There are 'beautiful' resources available to us: the Authorised Version being an example of excellent language - simple, with a rhythm that makes it esily memorised and written by scholars who paid great attention to detail, resulting in it becoming the most accurate translation available to us in English; books with God-honouring illustrations by artists who seek to do justice to the beauty of the world around them; music that is written carefully according to the rules of good harmony, without a back beat distorting the tune with its message of rebellion; people taking care with their dress and spoken language; relationships that are not treated lightly - but rather seen as something beautiful; beautiful behaviour which is taught and encouraged; food, lovingly created with lovely ingredients, rather than foods which are no more than a bunch of chemicals mixed together and packaged 'attractively'; good quality, beautifully hand-crafted products that will last for a long time; the acquisition of real knowledge; the sanctity of life.
I aim to help you seek out these better things for your children. To that end, many of the resources will appear 'old-fashioned' as there are few being produced these days. Please do not despise them for this. To find beautiful resources we will need to be discerning and to know what we are looking for. We need to reawaken our sense of beauty, teach it to our children and step forwards together armed with beautiful tools to live and work with.
Ecclesiastes 3:11
Mathew Henry commenting on Ecclesiastes 3:11
Other posts you may like:
...Yes, there were “ordinary” children's history books and yes, there
were books that told history from a Christian perspective – for adults or for
Americans!
(Mothers' Companion)
History is learning how God has dealt with nations and our nation in particular. History is very important and cannot be left to chance.
...our history is not only part of our culture, it is the road map to our identity. More, it tells us who we are. Ignorance of our national history – national amnesia – exposes us to those who wish to change this country forever. Furthermore, ignorance of the past means we are condemned to repeat it. Nick Seaton July 2004
It would be worth reading the rest of the article quoted above here, as history is a contentious subject. It has been subject to much change in fairly recent years and as this change is subtle in nature, many parents may be ignorant of it. Recent changes in the National curriculum and exams may have gone some way to address the content of the history curriculum, but it still doesn't address the spiritual aspect.
How do we give our children a truly Christian education in history?
I would suggest that it doesn't lie in the giving of numerous worksheets, museum visits and historic craft activites, and least of all in the sitting of a GCSE History exam (though that may have its place in due time). Although these may have their place there needs to be more. Mainly, the answer, I believe, lies in the reading material we give our children. It also lies in the many discussions that are held in Bible time, or around the dinner table as the children mature. We need to be thinking parents, aware of these things for ourselves, and ever seeking to learn. This will give our children a role model. Of course there is always the place for, "Well, I don't know! Let's go look for an answer."
To be honest, I am disappointed with many of the museums we have visited, especially ones that I remembered from my own childhood which I expected to be the same as I remembered them. Most had succumbed to entertainment style teaching, with little real information. Museums used to be places for serious study. It seems that few are interested in serious study these days. Perhaps if you know of a good museum that does have serious material on display you could let me know and I can start a list for the benefit of us all.
So what books should we use?
Aim that your children should see the Bible as their main history textbook. Aim for them to know their Bible history very well. How you do this is up to you, but one thing we learnt early on is that if you want to know what the Bible says, you should read it, using the most reliable version available to you! In the UK this is the KJV, considered by many to be archaic. However its language is actually very simple and clear as well as beautiful and easily memorised. To this end, once our children could read the KJV, we bought them one for their birthday (one started age 4) and from about the age of 8 they were expected to read one chapter every day, 352 days of the year, as part of their school work. If you would like to know why we consider the KJV the best version of the Bible to use, read this article here. This is in addition to family Bible time. As a result they have read their Bibles through several times and have a very good grasp of its history. Do not underestimate young childrens' ability to do this. A young child properly taught to read can read the KJV. It has been proved many times. No, reading the Bible will not save them, but God's Word is imprinted in their minds. Try not to use entertainment to teach children what it says in God's Word, or they will 'grow out of it'. Try to avoid Sunday Schools and youth groups. These may be fine for the children of the unconverted, but are not suited to the children of Christians. Help your children to see the study of God's Word as serious, urgent and relevant. The best way to do this is to have this attitude yourself. Let them see you reading your Bible. Let them hear you talking about it together. Yes, the day to day application of Scripture is vital too, but they also need to know how all the books of the Bible fit together, Genesis to Revelation and all the bits in between. They need to see the relevance of it to TODAY. Let your family become its own little 'Bible School'.
Apart from reading the Bible, we started with Little Arthur's History of England which is suitable for very young children (KS1). Once they were ten, we moved onto Christina Eastwood's The Story of God's Dealings with Our Nation, sold by Icthus Resources (Both of these books are included in the Mothers' Companion curriculum, along with a treasure trove of other delights, for just £20 on a flashdrive - ready to print out). As our children got older and had also read things like Our Island Story, they learnt most of their history by reading as accurate as possible historical fiction titles, such as GA Henty, or Ballantyne as well as through conversation (as above). Rather than giving them lots of dates to learn they absorbed the details while enjoying a story. It's amazing how good their history is as a result - far better than mine! They have taken ownership of their learning and the knowledge has stuck, rather than having it imposed upon them.
A time line
A time line on the wall (or make your own!) has been a useful resource as has been good an atlas, as of course history does not exist in isolation - it is very much linked to geography. By teaching in this way we do not compartmentalise subjects, but they are rather seen as they relate to the whole.
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See our History Resources page for a list of helpful resources, compiled by a number of Christian, home-educating families.
I have sought the views of several Christian home-educating families and combine them in this post. I hope you find it helpful.
It's a question we would have been well to have considered before setting out on the road of bravely educating our children ourselves (or even having children), but usually such questions get lost amongst the other things that occupy our thoughts at that time... curriculums, explaining to others what we are doing and trying to justify our actions along with just coping with having young children around. That was certainly our case!
Many parents will be happy if their offspring produce them a nice set of good exam results and may-be that could be used to measure the success of a child's education. There are obvious flaws in this of course. Not all will produce good results. Does that mean the child is a failure? Many will try and tell us of course 'No it doesn't,' and they are right, but for the child whose education has been heading up to these exams all along, reality may be otherwise and I think the number of calls to 'Childline' and the like, when results come out gives testimony to this.
There is another question which is 'Do these results actually reflect a 'good' education'? The answer to this will depend upon your confidence in the body that set the knowledge to be learnt to pass the exam. Few consider this question, but Christian parents would do well to think about it.
However I presume that as home-educators and Christian ones at that, we have not just thought of education in mere academic terms. I think to be fair most of us do want our children to succeed as best they can, but we realise that education is more than just pure academic success. There is the mind, the body and the soul to be considered. And yet, when many around us are telling of their child's academic success it is sometimes extremely difficult to persuade ourselves that it is not the only thing that matters, especially when our child may not have gained high grades, or we may even have chosen not to major on exams at all, for whatever reason.
So what should be our end goal?
Obviously, as Christians we desire for our children to learn God's will for their lives and to live in obedience to Him. God's Word will be central to all that we teach and all t hings will be evaluated against god's Word. As parents we need to be 'people of the Book'.
After that, I have no definitive answer, just a few thoughts to help you consider this question for yourself, whatever the age of your children.
I'd like to start by asking you to imagine what sort of a person you would like your son/daughter to be when they become and adult.
I came up with this list - you may think of other things:
Godly men and women. Hard workers. Truthful employees. Loyal to company and friends. Upright in all their dealings. Faithful to their spouses. Men equipped to be Heads of their families and Ladies to be 'helpmeets'. Committed people: committed to their families, to their churches (where applicable) and to their place of employment. Caring, compassionate people. Serving people. Useful members of their communities. Men and Women who can think for themselves and can evaluate all through the lens of God's word. And so on.
So how do we achieve our end goal?
First off, we need to work from the bottom up. We need to make Scripture our bottom line for understanding anything. Scripture needs to underpin the reasons why we do/say anything in our homes - as after all, our school is 24 hours a day, seven days a week and even if you send your children to school, your home sets the tone. I think sometimes we are prone to forget this and think that it is only in our family Bible-times, or school time that we must consider our reasons for doing things, but it applies to the whole way we live life before our children, from the things we enjoy, to our attiutudes and everything in between. Of course this does apply very much to our curriculum too as we must learn, ourselves first in many cases, how every subject must be built upon God's Word. The Bible will lay the foundation for our understanding of everything we teach and want our pupil's to learn. Even maths calls for a clear understanding that 2 + 2 only equals 4 ALWAYS because of the unchanging nature of the God who set out the laws by which the universe is governed. Academic work is not a separate compartment where we can tack Christianity on to a “secular” model – there is no such thing as “secular” in a way the whole of the universe belongs to God and is under his sovereign control. This is not possible for us fallen creatures to do perfectly, of course, we are constantly trying to work from own fallen presuppositions and to tack on the “Christian perspective” – if necessary by adapting it (although we don't notice we are doing this!) to what we think ought to be right. We can still keep checking ourselves though and prayerfully ask to be directed back to seeing the whole world through the lens of Scripture.
Obviously, ultimately we pray that our children will accept the offer of salvation and come to know the Lord Jesus Christ personally. This is not something we can make happen, however we can bring them up in the 'nurture and admonition of the Lord' (Ephesians 6:4) and that must certainly be our main objective.
Along with this will be instruction in righteousness. We can't make our children righteous but we can train them in Christian virtues such as honesty, truthfulness, modesty, humility, perseverance, gentleness, respect for those in authority over them, pure, moral etc.. These are considered old fashioned nowadays but are so desperately lacking in our society. Obviously our children will follow our example and we must be careful to live godly lives before them as well as teach them these truths. These are lifelong things to learn which can't be learnt in a few hours cramming for an exam! All children learn something of them, and their opposites, whether it is directly taught or otherwise, but Christian parents will look to deliberately train their children in these things and look for evidence of them in their children's lives.
We can train our children to work hard and enjoy learning. This is in stark contrast to the education of most, which trains them to a life of entertainment and ease. Unfortunately this has overspilled into our churches where few are now prepared to take on any responsibility, wanting instead plentiful children's entertaining activities and worship that makes them 'feel good'. We will want to potray learning as a life-long adventure, rather than a childish thing that our children will leave behind when they leave school.
We can raise them to be happy in themselves and confident. In contrast to many youngsters these days who judge their value by how many 'likes' they have on social media, our children will judge their worth by healthier standards - preferably God's standards. We do this by grounding them in good biblical teaching so that they understand the way the world works, and how they fit into it, and then by taking a vested interest in them, not just during school time but out of it as well, right into adulthood. See my post on socialising children. Contentment is also a good thing - though this is something we need lots of practice to acquire! Let us seek to model it to our children.
They will understand that rights come with responsibilities. Again this is in contrast to the world where many youngsters think they have rights with no responsibilties. Let us seek to train our children to embrace responsibilites as opportunites to serve, within the family to begin with.
They will have learnt that all behaviour has consequences. How our flesh recoils from having to live with the consequences of our wrong behaviour, and yet how many these days (including sadly ourselves) will try and justify their actions and claim their right to behave in such a way. Let us not be parents who protect our children while young from the due reward of their wrong behaviour and thereby do great damage to the health of their souls.
We will seek to educate our children in running a household, organising, supervising, working with others (teamwork), leading (where applicable), manage a budget, and so on. We will teach daughters to be submissive wives and our lads to be godly husbands - through imitation and teaching.
We will want to guard against anything that might take our children away from the Lord. Sunday sports activities comes to mind, but this could include things like the entertainment provided in the home (including the type of toys)/social media/out-of-home activites etc... Any activity that consumes large amounts of our/our children's time and consumes our passions can easily take the place of God in our lives. We need to watch and be vigilant and be ready to re-address the balance when needed as be sure, these things will come - often! Watch out too, for activities that take your child out of the house, away from your instruction. We will want to be parents who evaluate all things as to their spiritual worth to us as individuals and also to our family, measured by God's Word - not just do them because 'that's what everyone else is doing'. Not even if that's what everyone else in your church is doing!
What will our children not necessarily be?
They may not necessarily be rich or clever. Be careful, as many secretly if not overtly these days want their children to be 'top'. The world's pressure is for our children to 'succeed' and it is so easy to succumb, though it often doesn't really know what it is looking for or why. We need to be different. I was challenged recently by reading the questions: 'Would you be upset if your child became a minister (or minsiter's wife), on a low income? Or even if s/he gave up all to become a missionary?' Good questions to ask as they reveal our heart motives for our children.
Can we do this?
Ok, I have painted a perfect picture! It will not be this easy and the end result will not be perfect. This too, we must grasp, as it is easy to fall prey to thinking that 'our-way' (whether home-educating or sending to school) will produce the perfect result. It won't. There is no such thing and this knowledge will help keep us from judging Christians who do differently to us (which is easy to do in self-defence when we feel pressurised). However, let us get it into our heads and hearts that as Christians we have a different end goal to the world. Let us not be ashamed of our endeavours. We may not be 'successful' whatever that means, however the Lord sees our hearts and knows our intentions. Let them be to do all for His glory.
How do we begin?
Obviously, we start with obedience to God's Word. Then alongside our OBEDIENCE in bringing up our children we need TRUST. We must be careful not to take on ourselves more than the Lord has required.
We must remember that ultimately it is God's work in our children. We do not have responsibility for producing the end product, however we are called to be faithful to our Lord and bring our children up in the 'nurture and admonition of the Lord' (Ephesians 6:4). The end product could be good character or poor. As we look to the Lord in ALL things and faithfully bring up our children according to HIS word then we can have peace even in difficult times - not just when we see these goals becoming a reality, either educational or spiritual. We must aim for obedience, which will of course be imperfect, and learn to trust. Whatever the outcome, or the opinion of others (and they will have one!) we can be joyful in seeing the Lord's plan unfold for our family. Of course, we must always mourn over sin and were a child to rebel we would be pleading the Lord to turn his/her heart to Him in salvation.
When we have prayerfully done our best we must leave it with our gracious heavenly Father. If we have trusted Him, then The Lord will overrule our mistakes and use even them to His praise and glory.
It's a tall order - let us not grow faint-hearted! May we ever encourage each other!
May I reccomend a book to you?
'Not Without Tears' is a biography of Mrs Favell Lee Mortimer, who was home-educated, and later in life became a pioneer of Bible teaching for the very young with publications such as 'Peep of Day' and 'Line Upon Line' which you can find still in print today.
This is an amazing story of her life, sharing how an ordinary mother, possibly with an unconverted husband, sought to home-educate her children. The book highlights the mother's frailties, her (well intentioned) 'mistakes', children who want the pleasures of the world and find life at home restricting, lack of good teaching at church, and through all these things, shows how the Lord so graciously worked in Favell, from a young age, long before she sought the Lord for herself, and prepared her to do a great work for Him.
It gave me great hope and encouragement.
The book has been written by Chris Eastwood, who has home-educated her three grown children and who will be familiar to many as the author of 'God's dealing with our Nation' volumes 1 and 2 and the supplier of the Mothers Companion.
Click on the picture to view.
So many parents seem at a loss as to what to teach their teens and turn to the GCSE curriculums with relief. Please can I say respectfully - be careful! The exam curricums are not Christian. Read the books with your children, never just hand them the books to self-teach. They come from a different mind-set and world-view. Read the books your self first and then be prepared to discuss everything from a Christian perspective. From contraception in Geography, to evolution in English, there are many traps for the unwary. In addition, please be aware that the curriculums are very narrow. There is SO much more to teach and learn about each subject and so many more opportunities to learn from in general.
Before you jump into lots of GCSE's, can I encourage you stop once more and renew your family vision for education. The teen years are great years. Your young person will be blossoming from your previous good training and their minds alert. They are keen to feel like they are entering the adult world and they are full of potential. Make use of this and steer them further than a GCSE curriculum. If you have always home-educated your child, then it is quite probable that your child is educated beyond the average school student. If you choose to sit GCSE's, then don't stop there - aim to give them a much broader and higher education. Do they like Science - then buy them university level science books to study - written from a godly perspective. I recommend Apologia books as a step in the right direction. These will give more than is needed for a GCSE. Do they like history? Then encourage them to read widely - find them the best God-centred books to read at the highest level they can take. Study church history as well. English - find an excellent curriculum and take it to the highest level your student can reach. Dreaming Spires aims to teach beyond the English exam curriculum for example. Whatever the subject, aim to teach your child the subject to the highest level they can go, in a God-honouring way, and as broadly as you can, rather than just teaching them to cram, to jump through a hoop to pass an exam.
If all they learn is the GCSE subject as per the GCSE curriculum for an exam they are likely to forget most of what they have learnt after the exam and come away with a bit of paper, but no real understanding of the subject. Some teachers say - 'I can teach the exam or the subject but not both.' Aim to help your child learn the subject - really learn it! If your child is self-learning so much the better as that is the true test of a good education. If not, then use these years to encourage self study. The key way to do this is to keep academic work to the bare minimum, but to expect lots of reading from books you have chosen (with their input). Once again, steer away from entertainment. Help them to find a real purpose in life. Look for volunteering opportunities (of which there are many, especially once they reach 16). Encourage them in their interests. Get a subscription to a good magazine in the area they are interested. Feed their interests, go places with them. These are just ideas - there are other things to do, but then step back and watch them bloom!
If you do plan to do GCSE's, then bear in mind that home-educated children will not necessarily need ten subjects. If they know what they want to do then check the necessary qualifications needed. Five are usually sufficient. English Language and Maths are essential, and then Geography/History, a Science and a language provide a good balance, but others will do just as well. Use the rest of the time to encourage your youngster to use their time profitably -volunteering, helping the elderly with gardening, learning a craft or skill, etc... which will all serve to develop character as well as knowledge and skills. There is SO much to learn!!
If your child doesn't know what they want to do then study them. See what they are naturally good at. List these things. Then look at their character. Would they cope in an office - or are they the sort that can't sit still and must be outdoors being active. Are they 'people' orientated, or do they prefer their own company - it's no good doing a job on a desert island so to speak if they couldn't survive two minutes without someone to talk to! Then talk to your child about what you have discovered about them and start scouring the internet to find out what jobs are available and what you need to apply. Very often you will find that there are various routes to the same job.
Let's set a new standard. Let's not get drawn down to the average level, but rise above it - as children are far more capable than we usually assume and when encouraged to do so, can do amazing things. Have vision! Have confidence in what you have taught them!
Not all children sit GCSE's or A levels. Next time we will explore other alternatives.
Transitioning to secondary years education
http://www.dreamingspireshomelearning.co.uk/2015/03/transitioning-your-teen-to-secondary.html
Importance of routine:http://www.dreamingspireshomelearning.co.uk/2015/03/transition-your-teen-to-secondary.html
http://www.dreamingspireshomelearning.co.uk/2015/04/the-vision-thing-part-3-of.html
http://www.dreamingspireshomelearning.co.uk/2015/06/getting-to-destination-part-4-of.html
Blog About Britain Geography in bitesize chunks
by Sandra of Icthus Resources
My name is Sandra. Christian, wife, mother, ex-home-educator and passionate geographer.
Many times I have been asked to write a geography book for home educators. Well a book feels like too big a project, but I wanted to do something and the result is Blog About Britain. http://blogaboutbritain.co.uk/
The British Isles contains a wide variety of landscapes and environments. You can study lots of different geography without needing to leave home territory. So Blog About Britain is visiting lots of locations and looking at many different topics. I’m hoping I’ll inspire you to get out and about and see new things in familiar areas, as well as discovering new places.
Posts are short, usually less than 300 words and there is something there each day, Monday to Friday. There are three new geography posts each week, Monday, Wednesday and Friday, with each day being a separate series which continues week by week. Follow them all, just pick one or two or check out the archived categories for particular locations or topics and dive in wherever you like. On Thursday I re-run a previous series, which leaves Tuesday for something a bit different: “Tales on Tuesday” - the retelling of legends, linking them to their locations.
If you want to entrust me with your email address then you can sign up for my newsletter, which gives a weekly summary of posts with all the links. You can also opt to receive worksheets and ideas for further study. I send out something most weeks – maps, teaching notes…that kind of thing.
So do check out Blog About Britain. I hope you find something useful. I’m certainly enjoying researching, writing and publishing and eventually I might even have enough for a book. http://blogaboutbritain.co.uk/
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Have you seen our home-ed Geography resources page here?
Welcome!
After studying for an Early Years Specialism degree (B.Ed. Hons), and teaching in mainstream education, I home-educated my own children, after my husband and I were persuaded of the need to take responsibility for bringing up our children 'in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.' (Ephesians 6:4)
Our children are now grown and I help home-educating parents teach reading and writing, especially to those with special needs. Please contact me if you think I might be able to help you.
In addition I help my son to write the Nature Observations magazines and helping Chris Eastwood with her FREE Christian Home Education daily lessons.
This costs the purchaser nothing extra.
In this way I can continue to provide free resources.
Thank you for your support.
Here's one I heartlily reccomend for ages 10 +.
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