Knowing God

Tonight I attended Philip’s Stockade Achievement Ceremony at our church.  I am so proud of Philip.  Just a couple years ago, I would have never imagined Philip would be standing next to his peers at church receiving badges and the Sentinel pin for his achievements in memorizing scripture verses, Bible study, and good citizenship.  The thought of even bringing him to a meeting back then seemed an impossibility.  But here he was participating in the ceremony like everyone else, and even honored as one of the top Stockaders of the year.  As Ranger Daryl called the boys up for their badges, he gave special mention to Philip as having a heart and knowledge for God’s word.  As we finished the ceremony with refreshments, Philip spelled for his teachers Ranger Bob and Ranger Tim, “I am happy to have had you as my teachers.”  They in turn told Philip how much he has taught them.  These Stockade leaders have truly enriched Philip’s life by accepting him as he is, recognizing his contributions, and teaching him every week about the character of God in the Bible.  

As I look on my church family both in Miami and Buffalo, I see what a blessing it has been in bringing up Philip to know God.  Just recently, Philip has been writing about some of his early memories.  We lived in Miami when Philip was between 15 months and 6 years old.  We attended a small neighborhood church First Presbyterian of Miami Springs where we knew everyone and everyone looked after one another.  Every Wednesday night we had dinner and Bible study at church.  Between dinner and study we sang praise songs together from a video with lyrics displayed on a big screen.  The kids, including Philip, would often dance freely or sway to the music as we sang.  I never knew the impact of these moments on my son who could not communicate yet.  Philip recently recalled, “I could not speak my thoughts.  I understood everything going on around me.  I loved to learn songs.  At my church they played videos of worship songs.  I used to match the words on the screen with the words sang.  I learned to read.  I understood God from these songs.”

Philip has continued to learn of God at our church in Buffalo, Randall Baptist.  About Stockade he once wrote, “I like Stockade.  It is a good worker of teaching God’s truths.  Today I went to church and learned about armor of help from God.  I am lucky to believe in Jesus.  No one defeats the devil without Him.  Each day I worship God.  I am tons of rough edges needing God to smoothen me out.  Each day I hope so much to soften up so I can be used by God.”  

I have found that Philip not only can memorize Bible verses, he uses them to guide him, much like Jesus did during his temptation in the wilderness.  In a previous post, The Difficulty of Self-Control, Philip addressed the problems he had in controlling impulses, difficult emotions, and a body that is often in rebellion to his brain.  He wrote, “I am most in control when I take some words and try to get me to follow it.  I understand a lot of verses from the Bible.  They help me touch mountains of depression and tossed wind of seeking out help.  The adamant art of each day is addressing my self-control by praying to God.”  One Sunday before church, a week after he had had a particularly rough week in Children’s Church, I asked him how he will try to avoid the meltdown of the previous week.  He spelled, “I am a new creation.  The old is gone.  The new has come.”  (2 Corinthians 5:17)  A day after having memorized the verse Ephesians 2:8-10 (vs 10 reads For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.), Philip spelled, “ I am tomorrow one day closer to my destiny.  I am happy to have a purpose.”  Another time, inspired by the story of Moses, Philip wrote his pen pal regarding fears, “You should sometimes try so much to face a fear.  Try thinking of God catching your Amens and not letting you fail.”

Today I was so proud of Philip’s achievements in Stockade, but I am even more proud of the man of God he is becoming and the way he teaches me daily about our great God.

*As always, Philip gave approval of all his quotes and the final draft of this post.

 Receiving his badges from Rangers Daryl and Miller

 Top Stockaders

Sentinel pin on Philip's backpack

 Philip and Ranger Bob

   

Lessons from National Geographic

Since starting RPM a year and a half ago, my way of teaching Philip has evolved and expanded.  In the beginning, I didn’t really know where to start.  Philip would have been in the fourth grade, but at his school, they did not have grade levels and he was still trying to identify coins and match digits 1-5 with the corresponding number of blocks.  I did not know what he knew.  I started by using my second grade daughter’s take-home papers from school.  I taught Philip about habitats and communities and had him complete fill-in-the-blank vocabulary sheets.  From my friend Susan, I learned about some good curriculum guides which I started one year below grade level and quickly got him caught up to grade level.  I used What Your Third Grader Needs to Know by E.D. Hirsch, Steck-Vaughn Focus on Science, and McGraw Hill U.S. History.  For the longest time I could not get Philip to answer simple math questions like “what comes after 21?” or “how do we write 16?”  Susan gave me a tip she learned from her son Michael who is 4 years older than Philip and also learned from Soma.  He told his mom, “Start at a high level and then bring it down if necessary.”  When I expressed my frustration with Philip’s inability to do math, she suggested I put a handful of coins on the table and ask him to show me the value.  I thought there was no way he would be able to.  That night I tried it and lo and behold, we had our math breakthrough as he pointed on the letterboard the correct amount to the penny.

As Philip moved beyond just answering academic questions to being able to answer open ended questions and give his opinions, I started trying to pick topics that were more relevant to what was going on in the moment like the Olympics or the Oscars.  Oftentimes when there was a day off from school, it would be a holiday like Columbus Day or Martin Luther King Jr. Day.  It gave me a reason to teach him about these historical figures and their significance.  I learned about the iPad app called Brain Pop from another blog of a parent called Emma’s Hope Book.  I began expanding on lessons with Brain Pop to fill in the gaps about interesting subjects related to what we were studying.  For example, Philip and I got into reading all sorts of biographies.  After reading a biography on Jonas Salk who developed the polio vaccine, we did Brain Pop lessons on vaccines and the immune system.  I was learning right alongside him.  It was fun! 

Another source of teaching has been through our church’s Stockade program.  Similar to Boy Scouts, Philip earns badges for achievements.  I help Philip do his achievements which range from learning how to take care of the environment, Biblical studies, going to Dad’s workplace, and knowing our rights and responsibilities as citizens.  Philip is so proud each time he gets a badge or a treat from the prizebox.    

  

Recently we have been making good use of the National Geographic subscription we got for Christmas from Philip’s grandparents.  Before Philip gets home from school, I preselect a few interesting pictures from the magazine that Philip will have the opportunity to write about, whether a story, poem, or essay.  After choosing the picture, I read him excerpts of the article related to the picture and do an academic lesson.  At the end he writes his piece about the photograph.  Today Philip chose this photo of flood zone squatters in Manila:

      

The corresponding article was entitled “Rising Seas.”  We talked about global warming and its causes, how sea levels rise, and the possible consequences.   We particularly looked at Miami, where we used to live, and how the rising sea levels has been posing a threat to Florida’s freshwater supply.  After Philip answered some questions on the reading, he wrote this poem based on the picture.

I Know a Plan

My family is poor.

I plan to venture to the States of America.

We live in slums overlooking the sea.

The sea releases each sort of debris.

It stinks.

Son to mean world

I rinse myself to wash away the torment of each day.

I wash away my past

like the rising tide swallowing our land.

I kiss this life goodbye.

I know a plan.

Dream to make haste to a kind, gentle world.

I leave now.

I won’t look back.