By Word of Mouth
Ishi blessed me with two beautiful children. They are both very gentle souls. Over the years we’ve had some challenges with their path of education. Ishi just blew those challenges out of the water.
Let’s start with the oldest. My son, Dimitri, is 16 years
old. He sincerely smiles all the time and never means any harm. Dimitri lives
in freedom through the blessing of Ishi- my son is medically categorized and
name tagged as autistic. He is also considered as non-verbal and not self-directing.
These are some of the names within the umbrella that my son has lived under all
of his life.
The challenges we have faced over the years have been
brutal in a world that seeks to devour the very existence of compassion. Yet,
we have been graced with extended therapy efforts from the state and public
school systems and for that we are grateful.
Dimitri has worked very hard all of his life. He realized
something was different about himself when he was two years old. My son wanted
to speak. Staring up at me as I speak, he would reach his hand into my mouth to
feel what was happening in there to produce the words. He was studying speech
this way.
At first, I told him to stop because I didn’t want his hand
in my mouth and I did not understand why he wanted to do this; but when I heard
how he cried and saw his face, I understood what he needed from me. I would
enunciate the alphabet to him and my son would reach his hand to feel the
placement of my tongue. He then began to try to say “a, b, c”.
We moved to the south just in time for the schools to shut
down all over the world for Corona. By then Dimitri, at 12 years of age, had
been accustomed to an additional 2 ½ hours of intense in home training by a
therapist everyday after school for 10 years. He went to summer school every
single summer and continued in home therapy even when school was out. I watched
my son try very hard for very many hours of his life.
My son, Dimitri, achieved a lot of enormous gains through
this process; however, the battle was still up hill.
When the schools reopened with new measures taken to escape
illness, I prayed for guidance. My son’s natural behavior already does not
comply with the usual social requirements- let alone “Corona Virus Safety
Measures”. We’ll have to sit this school year out as a matter of choosing
battles.
Ishi answered my prayers and showed me what to do. I
instantly became a homeschool teacher. Ishi provided the curriculum for both of
my children.
Would you believe me if I told you I had a slight feeling
of stage fright on the first day? Well, I did. I didn’t know if I would measure
up to be an adequate teacher for them. Therefore, I prayed some more. Ishi
always shows me what to do.
As much as I would like to detail every nook and cranny of
my son’s learning process (and I will, if anyone asks me personally) I will try
to briefly describe what happened here: Both of my kid’s lesson plans have been
biblically based. Ishi prescribed them 1 chapter per day beginning with
Genesis. My son, Dimitri, has now learned how to read, write and speak the
Word. His vocabulary is formed of the book of Proverbs.
Dimitri has also learned to identify and transliterate the
Hebrew Aleph Bet and utter sentences in Hebrew. Math and science are also
subjects in which Dimitri has made considerable gains as Ishi has guided me on
how to instruct my son.
Furthermore, he is not taking any medications whatsoever.
There was a behavioral concern at home when Dimitri turned 13. He was becoming
overwhelmed with frustration and was experiencing apparent difficulty with
managing his feelings. The regimen that Ishi prescribed to my son was one
chapter of the Bible each day in order starting with Genesis. I had to improve
in consistency- no more missing days of reading.
Much patience was required to get this done for Ishi.
Dimitri needed significant improvement on extending the duration in which he
could focus on what is being said to him. We would sit hip to hip with the
bible between us. Using a pencil, I would point to every word as I read to him.
He would watch what the pencil pointed to for a few words and then lose focus
altogether.
To regain my son’s focus, I would pause on a very easy word
(such as “and” or “it”) and have him read the word. The goal was for him to
hear and see the Word simultaneously for an entire chapter each day.
Once we began to read about Abraham, Ishi touched my heart-
Dimitri needed to know that Abraham is important. Therefore, I had Dimitri say
Abraham every time his name showed up. While continuing with our “hear and see”
goal, he also quickly began to understand what was expected of Him when he saw
the name “Abraham”. We then added Isaac, Jacob, Israel when they came up also.
Dimitri would recognize the Words that he was responsible
for each time they came up. I still remember most of the Words that were his in
Genesis and Exodus: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, God, Lord, Israel, Moses, Aaron, The
Children of Israel, Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Zebulun, Gad, Issachar,
Naphtali, Asher, Dan, Joseph, Ephraim, Menasseh, Benjamin, Covenant,
Commandment, and Tabernacle.
While building upon site Words, Dimitri began to be able to
read fragments of sentences. He knew when he would hear me pause for a few
seconds that he should read where the pencil is pointing.
Very soon, Dimitri began read full verses and then multiple
consecutive verses. He likes the number of the verse read aloud, too.
The bible we were using belonged to my late father. It is
the same copy that I grew up learning in as a child. My father’s writing is on
a few of the pages and his thumb print is embedded on the page of his dear
favorite Psalm 23.
One day I opened the bible to prepare the reading. Dimitri
took the bible and the pencil from me and opened it to the book and chapter we
were on, 2 Samuel Chapter 16. The date was March 26, 2022. I wrote this note on
the page: Dimitri read along by himself!
My son Dimitri can now stay seated, focused, and read the
bible. He can even keep up and participate in a group setting and will offer to
correct me if I overlook something while I am reading aloud.
Remember I told you we had to stop skipping days of reading
as a theraputic method prescribed by Ishi? Well we did get back on track and
those issues no longer exist! Three years have now past with this regimen in
practice. Dimitri has absolutely no (as in zero, nada, zilch, abyss, negative
infinity) negative behavioral issues.
Our children need the Word from our mouth. My daughter
Leela is who first told me this. What she said was right, so I listened to her
and hearkened to my daughter’s voice- because she spoke what was right.
Leela’s reading regimen began some months before the
homeschooling began. She was nine years old. The wording of the King James
Version Bible was a bit challenging, however we went slow. We talked about the
meaning of every two or three verses as we read.
The stories in Genesis were very fun to share with both of
my children and perfectly establishes a foundation for the mind to build upon.
The reading became easier for Leela to understand verse by verse. I would
search my daughter’s eyes for understanding- and there it was. Understanding
was apparent in my child’s eyes.
We read from Genesis to 2 Kings. Following 2 Kings, we
began to read the prophets (Isaiah to Malachi) this is to pair the prophecies
with the Kings that were reigning during the time of that prophet.
My daughter Leela began to demonstrate an understanding of
the prophets as we continued in our journey of discussing every 2 to 3 verses.
She also loves the duty of pronouncing the Hebrew names. We made a game out of
it. She won. My daughter read the entire book of 1 Chronicles to me with
unfailing enthusiasm!
When we read the book of Proverbs, I checked Leela’s eyes
for nearly every precept and asked her to verbally explain 1 or 2 of them in
her own words, per chapter. Glory be to Ishi, she nailed it. The POWER is in
His WORD!
Dimitri and Leela have also learned all of their school subjects with the
foundation of their studies firmly built upon understanding biblical principles. Their studies have ranged from government and economics to math and science.
Jesus has shown me how to instruct them this way. They have also studied the art
of music and dance, geography, Spanish, and Hebrew. This list keeps going on. My children have excelled in skill development in every subject that has been placed
before them while in Bible-Homeschool.
We all study together. As we studied the Word, we
practiced what we learned in the Word together as we learned the Word. We have
also prayed together daily.
Wanna hear something too cute? Our little dog began to join
us for each bible study and each prayer- and learned how to behave at these
times, also.
My friends, this experience is among the top of the list of the
greatest experiences in my life. I am hopeful that this tender piece of my
Heart inspires at least one parent to connect with their children in the Word.
My son's favorite book in the bible is Exodus.
That's what he chooses on the audio Bible every time hands down. My daughter has had a few favorites. She's liked 1 Samuel, Amos, Obediah, Jonah,
Song of Solomon, and Revelation as intermittent favorites. What's your
children's favorite Bible book(s)?
Precepts to Consider
Deuteronomy 11:18-21 Therefore
shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul, and bind them
for a sign upon your hand, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes.
And ye shall teach them your children, speaking of them
when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou
liest down, and when thou risest up.
And thou shalt write them upon the door posts of thine
house, and upon thy gates:
That your days may be multiplied, and the days of your
children, in the land which the Lord sware unto your fathers to give
them, as the days of heaven upon the earth.
Isaiah 34:16 Seek
ye out of the book of the LORD, and read: no one of these shall fail, none
shall want her mate: for my mouth it hath commanded, and his spirit it hath
gathered them.
John 5:39 Search
the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they
which testify of me.
2 Timothy 2:15 Study
to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed,
rightly dividing the word of truth.
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