Lessons in Generosity Today....

Last night I was relating to a friend how homeschooling just really seemed to help bond my two darling children together...when all of a sudden loud shrieks arose, and then wailing. Cleaning the kitchen together was never my idea of fun as a kid and apparently it isn't my kids' either. They were so mean to each other, but mostly selfish, that after talking it over with Martin we decided to have a character lesson. The kids were told they would need to find a way to work together in the morning doing something generous...and that was it for the time being.
I thought things were great this morning when one brought me a breakfast burrito they had made together. Wonderful! Unfortunately it was freezing cold, so I asked if she could please heat it up for a few seconds in the microwave first. She brought it back to her sister and rudely announced the problem, which was rebutted with "IF YOU WEREN'T SO SLOW, IT WOULDN'T BE COLD!"
After we ate, I got out the "Growing Seasons for Little Characters" book. I read a story and object lesson about "Unselfish Choices". It was based on Genesis 13 or 14 from the Bible, when Abraham lets Lot pick which land, and Lot picks the green, leaving Abraham with the desert. Lesson being that God blesses Abraham whereas Lot runs into problems later. We read some more, had discussion and made up a silly fill-in-the-blank story about a family. Then we played a silly dress up game. I had 2 articles of clothing from each member of the family out on the sofa. They drew names and acted out the person, with all their personality and characteristics. Interesting discussion afterwards: the girls noticed mom and dad were diligent and helpful, whereas the 2 kids were lazy and selfish. Hmm...Their words. They were humbled and wrote a page about what they learned about being generous with their actions.
Unfortunately, later this same day, one of them completely missed an opportunity to display generosity. So there are consequences- the one who was generous this afternoon was blessed (which did not go unnoticed). They both have priveleges to earn back as a result of last night and this morning, and I think they're trying to be more generous with their actions....I hope so. I don't expect them to play and work together perfectly all the time but when even they recognized a pattern of not being generous to one another.....
But hey! That's home ec, teamwork, reading, writing, character trait, and drama that we accomplished through this. We had mental math practice at the store later...I think we're good for the day.