Mom2bee,
I have read many of your posts and continue to be impressed & inspired by all that you have planned for your future children. They are indeed blessed to have u as a mom.
Let us keep in mind the ultimate goal beyond "education" subjects. I'd want my son to also be academically advanced and provide him with a lifetime of opportunities to thrive.
Most importantly to be kind, to freely love others without expecting anything in return, to contribute to society & humanity, to leave our world better than it was before he arrived in it. That is my ultimate goal.
No one will ask you if you aced A.P. Calculus before they first read into your character.
What sort of individuals are we raising?
What are we raising them for?
What is the purpose of education?
These are the questions we must address.
Yes, character development is something I have also given a great deal of thought to also. I have such mixed feelings about it sometime I'm not sure I've been able to sort all my thoughts in a way that I can make a coherent statement about it...
I want to help my children grow into strong, confident individuals and I want them to give and always leave more good than they take, but I also want to emphasis balance. I myself still struggle between being a doormat and being a service to people, sometimes I overdo being kind and find that I have been left with nothing for myself. I'm trying to figure out if people are really more callous or what. In my little bubble right now, it seems like the jerks are breeding by the dozen or something and I feel strained just interacting with the world.
I intend to do my absolute best to instill a sense of community and service in my children. Chivalry may be on life support, but it isn't dead yet. I consciously try and do kind things for others every day, even little things, and I figure that my children will learn and pick up on that from me and their father.
I have already decided that my children will be required to do community service and volunteer work every week from very early on. There are some nursing homes that like to have young children come in and visit with the elderly, I think thats a great early learning service project for children to grow up doing, spending time with elderly people, reading and talking. Visiting sick children in hospitals, raising money, passing out water at sports events, etc. Giving gifts to others on their birthdays, and donating regularly to less fortunate. These are all some basic tasks I want to raise my children doing to help instill a sense of giving in them. I have all sorts of character building plans in mind for them, but I dont talk about them as much, simply because there isn't much to say about about this topic that I feel I can put coherently the first time around.
I pray and hope for healthy, strong, amiable, compassionate and giving children. I will do my best to teach my children things about charity, compassion, empathy, respect, sharing, caring, love for others and all that good stuff, but in the end I can only hope that they will actually absorb the lessons and take them into their hearts for their own sake. I dont know how to teach others not to give up or be discouraged because I feel discouraged a lot some times and I haven't figured it out for myself.
Starting at about 4 or 5, my children will be required to do 1-2-hours of volunteering each week. Once they get into grade school, they will be expected to do 2-3 hours a week of what ever opportunities arise. I can only hope that my children absorb lessons and make the things they learn from me a part of their life for their own sake.
I know that I want the greatest emphasis in all that my children do be about them doing their personal best. Not about grades or competing with others to the acknowledgement or approval of others. I want my children to play sports competitively, but I want their emphasis to always, always, always, be on doing their personal best.