Last time we introduced “observe, think, do.”

Today I would like to clarify this concept and suggest there is a better framework than the one we have come to believe is “normal” for child development and education.

Right here I am not going to compartmentalize.

This is what materialist-social engineers have been doing for almost two centuries, and the results of their inhumane tinkerings are what we are having to deal with today in our decaying society.

Instead of compartmentalizing, I am going to share with you some of what I have learned from the personal observations of our 15 children over the last 42 years.

It was when I was in the midst of it all that I was introduced to the classical educational trivium nonsense. I remember feeling overwhelmed as I was reading about it.

For one thing, it was contrary to what I witnessed in my own children.

I had learned I was not just “educating” them; I was discipling them. While it may seem these to ideals are similar, I believe they are directly opposed to one another.

“Education” has more to do with the intellect; shoving facts in and then thoroughly training a child in how to use their own noodles to figure things out.

This would work if human beings were primarily intellect.

But they are not.

Human beings are not primarily brains; they are primarily spirits, that is, their spiritual Worth far outweighs their physical and intellectual worth.

This very idea flummoxes social engineers. In their flawed worldview “education” should solve every ill, from drug abuse to teen pregnancy, but it never does because it is addressing the wrong problem.

As people, specifically, children, are spirits; they have bodies and use their minds. Their souls are accessed via body and mind, and they express their souls via body and mind.

So, if we are going to properly “disciple” a child we need to address all three parts of him—body, soul, and spirit.

Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

1 Thessalonians 5:23

In the above passage, we find three distinct words used to represent the different parts of the whole of a person:

Spirit=pneuma—the spirit, or breath, often used when naming the Holy spirit

Soul=psyche—the soulish part, the heart (mind, will, and emotions)

Body=soma—the physical body

Unfortunately, the old Greek guys did not have a grasp on this concept. They were aware of the body and the soul but were uncertain of the spirit.

But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

1 Corinthians 2:14

All they had were their fallible noodles to figure everything out. So, they did the best they could and came up with a generalization of how all children develop:

Grammar
Logic
Rhetoric

I think there is just a smidgen of truth in their ideas, but then there is a bunch missing.

In our modern day, as conservatives put their children in Classical Education schools, they are doing so because, although they don’t realize it, they have been steeped in Greek culture their entire lives. Our entire mass compulsory education scheme is already based on the trivium; we even call the places our young children learn “grammar schools.” Also, the idea of using the trivium is pretty messy unless you resort to the public-school structure of separating children according to age grades and incorporate a lot of obedience to bells and administrative procedures.

In other words, we are willing to run from the rotting corps of public education to Classical Education because we’ve been schooled.

It’s more comfortable to believe that the schools are bad because of the curriculum, not the foundational mindset of humanism.

But, if we are willing to pitch the trivium and all its trappings, we can view things from a different angle, as I did with my own children.

This is the common-sense view that most parents who are directly involved in their children’s lives discover, but they don’t know how or are afraid to express it.

I want to lay this out for you, but first I want to share some details about what I presented in my last video:

Observe

Think

This is very close to that “trivium” idea, but in that one the process is split over a number of years, which is pretty silly in my estimation.

But observe, think, and do is not according to the trivium, but basic to the procedure of all human beings, and it happens in rapid succession from infancy.

I watch it when I have facetime with our newest grandbaby. She is just now two-months-old, and yet you can see her work through the process in just a few moments.

She observes me talking and cooing at her, and then her tiny brow furrows as she thinks through what I am doing and putting into thought how she could do it, too. Then she wriggles her fists and body as if working up some great effort. After a few seconds of this she is able to make some sounds in response, and she seems both surprised and pleased at the same time.

I see this process even today in our teens and grown children.

Let’s define what each word means in relation to learning:

OBSERVING: Gathering information. This can be done via the five senses directly or indirectly via reading and media consumption.

THINKING: Taking all the information and putting it into order in one’s mind; evaluating and analyzing information and reforming it into original thought.

DOING: Taking the thought and translating it into ACTION. For little Ara, it means attempting to coo; for an older child, it may be playing house, climbing a tree, starting a business, or applying to become a missionary.

While this idea can be found all over in the Word, here is our anchor passage:

Go to the ant, you sluggard!
Consider her ways and be wise,

Proverbs 6:6

In this verse we are told to “go to” the ant. This is the part of observing. Then we are told to “consider.” This is the thinking part. Finally, we are told to “be wise.” This is when we take what we have observed and thought about and put it into action.

This system works amazingly well in children when we allow it to. The sad thing is that we interrupt it with all of our “schooling.”

Folks are all up and about claiming we need to stop teaching children what to think, but how to think.

I don’t see any value in this train of thought.

For one thing, you can’t help but give children things to think about, it’s just the bias that can be wicked. For another thing, no child has ever needed to be taught how to think; they are thinking machines and often outdo their teachers in this respect.

There is something higher than bandying about these semantics.

Jesus knew it. He simply presented facts (most that they already knew) and led them to follow Observe, Think and Do as they obey THE Truth.

Over and over the Apostle Paul directs the Hellenized mind of his day to do the same.

Consider this: You could fill a child’s mind with the best information you can find; teach him the most impeccable logic and reasoning, and he could become the most learned despot in the history of the world, able to refute any argument brought against himself with tightly honed debate skills.

Or, your child could observe you following the leading of the Holy Spirit, think about it, and do the same, ending up as a choice vessel for the Master’s use.

I’m afraid I began my own homeschooling journey as a Greek. I trained my children with materialistic information and praised their intellectual abilities (with some Bible stories mixed in, of course).

But I didn’t like the results.

In these later years of homeschooling, God has shifted my thinking.

I have thrown out my role as “teacher” and embraced my role as “discipler”–funneling it all into a Spirit-led desire for wisdom as defined by God.

Of course, I am not perfect at it, and there are nuances along the way I am still learning. While I have not arrived, I am at least on the journey, and so are you.

I hope this has helped clarify some things. I know this is a new concept, but I hope you are sensing that it is not a foreign one. I think you are going to be looking for this process as you go throughout your day. Sorry for doing that to you!

I want to share more, but this will be best discussed with a brand-new post.

Here’s the links for the podcast: