The Great Shalom Podcast : Overcoming Learning Problems

Great topic for back to school! Confidence for overcoming school challenges is a vital issue for the student who has some sort of learning problem. First, one must start with the right identity or self concept. Then one must say, enunciate positive confessions (both good self-talk and appropriate words in social context.) This is fundamental. Almost always, the process of diagnosis and the school situation gives the bright student the idea that he or she is stupid. From that perspective, they do not find the solutions for overcoming that they need. Faith, here, finds the grace available. The first -- and last word -- for helping the student with LD/learning problems.

Quick link to the help page on our website. How to get saved is the top audio listing.

Martin Seligman Raising Optimistic Kids http://martinseligman.net/uncategorized/optimistic-child-martin-seligman/ Scientific book that shows how building self-esteem really works -- in contrast to the counterproductive, psuedo-scientific ideas taught for decades. Many other books on well-being, being happy, etc.

Daniel Goleman https://www.danielgoleman.info/ Emotional Intelligence

It used to be a rallying cry in education that we should teach students how to think rather than what to think. Looks like it was honored in the breach, doesn't it? When educators today do attempt to teach thinking skills, it is called "critical thinking." Why not analytical and synthetic thinking? Analytical thinking could sort through claims to find which are true/factual. Synthetic could build arguments and create in whatever topic area. Critical thinking sounds negative. It sounds destructive. It sounds anti-traditional. It sounds like "critical race theory." All of that is for good reason -- it is.

"Critical thinking" was supposed to be superior to traditional thinking that merely accepted what was taught. It is a synonym for more sophisticated, less moral and less traditional thinking. Unfortunately, many people learned this anti-God content, pride, and a false sense themselves as sophisticated in college -- and then promptly stopped learning, or continuing to critique what they were taught, and indeed maybe stopped cognizing at all! Maybe that is harsh? Check out the sophomoric discussions of undergrads in the coffee house.

Worst of all, plainly, it was teaching what to think. And the results have not been good. Not for anyone.

Take a look at the resources for teaching "critical thinking skills" that come, unbidden, into faculty mailboxes and you will find an anti-traditional, anti-God bias. However, good I find that good logic skills can often be used in arguing for God and evangelism. Logic, as contrasted with "critical thinking" should be taught, and used -- practiced in practical ways.

It is up to you parents to teach thinking skills. I doubt that a title "Logic" would be appealing except to a few parents home school in the classical method. Good titles are important. Feel free to suggest some.

Next week, we will begin a teach-in on thinking skills and statistics for citizens applied to the current concern. Nearly everyone's attention is STILL on the subject. There is considerable doubling down on lies and malfeasance and a nascent uprising of informed citizens. Hope you find this helpful. Please share.

As the end of summer is in sight, please spend some quality time with your children. Here are some ideas.

Soon, we will come up with some pointers on how to help your child think, learn, and sort out truth from lies.

Still, we have a document that helps you sort out what is true and what is false -- in any situation. Simply use these 20 questions. To get it, simply sign up for announcements on the form beside this post on the right hand column of our website www.greatshalom.org. Fake emails are ignored.

July is already ending. Some of us are realizing that we haven't done what we wanted to do with the kids this summer. Others are running out of ideas. LOL Anyway, the episodes that I share about activities are always popular, so I'll include one or two now.

Just having fun is of real value for children who are drilled mercilessly on their weaknesses during school-time. Use the summer as fun time, and some of that fun can be very educative. Further their strengths. Do something multi-sensory and non-school-like that strengthens the deficits. Rythmn. Ordering. Coordination. Just don't make it like school. Learning and school are NOT synonymous.

IDEA FOR IMPORTANT FUN LESSONS

There are some learning opportunities, however, outside of school, that I think we really need to focus on providing.

What I hear on the news media is maddening. Obviously, people have lost their reasoning powers. Or else, and more likely as the Bible says, some "are deceiving and being deceived." It is evident that the accusations are projections, and the propaganda is an exact inversion of the truth. Please sign up for announcements and get our document "Twenty Questions to Ask Yourself to Tell What is True in All Circumstances." We don't share your info; we don't sell your info; and we don't send it out fast. (And I won't send it out to any no-name strange email. It has to look real.)

Critical thinking exercises and even direct lessons on logic could be some summertime fun, too. Unless your child is privately educated, then he or she is almost certainly not getting logic lessons at school. My parents' direct teaching on how to deconstruct advertising we very helpful. Obviously, most parents are teaching their children these things because lying advertising continues --- because it makes money. Today, lessons in how to avoid distractions is even more important than in those days. When I was young the conversation was how horrible it was to advertise sugary boxed cereals during the Saturday morning children's programming. So, I was never attracted or distracted by that sort of advertisement. I was, by contrast, impressed with the Olympic athletes on the Wheaties box. Hmm.... an implicit inference that Wheaties was more healthful than.... some other cereal. Are you having these conversations with your children?

Now, these sorts of inferences, along with outright lies are coming directly from what purports to be authoritative sources. Simple math. Basic statistics. Common sense would eradicate such fear mongering genocidal assault. Are you confused? Do you need help in how to teach your child? Let me know.

In the mean time, sign up for our Tribe or Pride. Get ready for the coming school year. Oh, sorry. No, enjoy your summer.

Third in our series on healing. Nearly everyone needs a healing. Here we have lots of mothers who are praying for healing for their children. Among the grandparent generation, healing is top priority, top of mind.

So far, we have established that healing is in the atonement. So, it is not a matter of getting God to heal us, but to receive the healing that he has already provided. Firstly, people seem not to know that healing is available. Often, when they first find out, they see miraculous recoveries. Then, for those who have known for many years, after some disappointments, some doubts creep in. So, more than the basic announcement is needed at that point. Next we need to see what blocks healing. There are some things, and we will see those right from Scripture today. Jems 4

God does what you and especially your child healed. Your offspring shall be taught of the Lord, and great shall be, (strongly: shall be), their shalom, their total well-being. Isaiah 54:13

Second in our little teaching on healing. We went thru the meaning of the Hebrew in Isaiah 53: "He took away our griefs" meaning he carried away our sickness. Now, we can hear what Matthew records as Jesus' teaching on the subject. You will see that Jesus, too, thought that you are already healed by the Messiah's work on the cross. Because Matthew wrote it down, you can also tell that this is what the first church understood to be Jesus' teaching and work.

This is not just a history lesson or just an exercise in Bible exegesis. This is the basic reality of what Jesus came to do as Christ/Messiah. Healing is provided, just like forgiveness of sins. It is part of salvation. But just like we had to learn to believe and receive justification/salvation, so we have to learn to believe and receive sozo/healing . Did you know that even 150 years ago, people were not sure that God would forgive their sins? There was a "mourners' bench" in services where people who were anxious about their salvation would sit and cry. There was great rejoicing when one finally felt the witness in his or her spirit that they were saved. John Wesley himself went through years of not knowing -- which we know because he kept a journal. Then one night, when someone was reading an explanation of Romans, he felt a strange warming of the heart." This meant that finally, what he knew was good theology he then knew and felt applied to him. He was learning about what we call salvation, but which is just that first step of salvation, knowing you are forgiven of your sins.

It has been maybe as long as 100 years or maybe not even that long that we have known that healing is in the atonement. But we individually have to come to know that it is applied to us. That is what this teaching aims at.

Of course, any parent can believe for their child. And should! It's is not just that God wants to heal you child, but that Jesus has already done the work. What we need to do is to receive it. It is like the download is waiting. That is good news! Healing is waiting for you and your child. Understanding the Bible is part of the path toward downloading it.

Let's review our understanding about healing. I am meeting so many who are sick and resigned to being sick. some don't know. Some have forgotten. Some know, but getting tired, are taking on stories about why God is making them sick. Let's not make up stories. No matter how much God may use what satan does, it is not God making you sick.

Let's go right to the Scripture and see what it says. Time to get it right. Time to remember. time to get sorted out. Isaiah 53 says healing is available and Isaiah says it is for your children.

And that is just as true for your children and grandchildren as it is for you. For more information, come to the store for getting a series to download. Also, sign up to be in the pride for a month by month process for your children.

We are coming up to our Independence Day Celebration, July the 4th.

Given the severe trials our nation is undergoing, it is a good time to consider our national heritage in godliness. Not just the founders, but leading clergy and thinkers for the next century said that they didn't think that a democratic republic would stand without having first stood on the virtuous character created by Biblical godliness. This is clearly controversial today. The controversy demonstrates its truth.

This year, let's celebrate with more gusto. Let's add prayers of repentance and thanksgiving to our usual celebration. This, not fireworks, were the center of the celebration during the founders' time. Let's pray in faith and eat cake!

Let\s be sure we also consider our children. Let's take time to talk about our nation with our children. While we are waiting for those awesome firework, let's talk about what we are celebrating. What we fear and what we hope for. Much of our problem stems from lack of conversation between the generations - and lack of responsibility, as economic pressure has encouraged us to leave our children to the care of others.

Today we will re-air a popular episode on how we, not the government, are the village that children need. of course, God planned for a mother and a father to rear children. But an extended family and a congregation help, too, don't they? In Mayberry, the whole city might help, but no one hopes for that today. so, let's work to make our extended families and congregations work. And maybe, just maybe, we could extend ourselves to helping those children who don't have parents, much family, or a congregation -- yet.

As we celebrate our national heritage, let's also spark a legacy in our children.

We hope to offer hope and faith to mothers (and fathers and teachers and caregivers) of children who have learning problems. We preach faith. (Never give up. Reach until you have a testimony!)

We believe in healing and we will take it any way it comes. Miraculous. Healings. Innovative educational techniques. Better health. Because all truth is God's.

The percentage of children who have some sort of learning problem is enormous. But each parent feels alone.

There ARE answers. Some of those answers are natural and pedestrian. It is important to know those. So we don't perish. We need to know how to cook, how to teach, how to learn.

It is also important that we share factual, scientific information so we can prevent these problems in the future. God did not make this earth in this broken manner. It is not somehow holy to just submit to the brokennes.

Nor is it somehow more holy to ignore practical things that could and should be done. As long as we have bodies, we will have to do normal things. Let's do them appropriately.

For some, it is a calling to work in occupations of wellness toward healings or politics for prevention.

Still, the miraculous power exists. A power of Resurrection. The same power that created all that is.

No one else has ever had a ministry of healing for children. For reasonable reasons. We are that. But we are a teaching ministry. Every parent must learn to pray and must learn to provide a healthful lifestyle and must choose any other help that might be needed. We will help in that first step: hope and faith.

PS. Don't forget to sign up in the form to the right and get our document on how to tell what is true -- in all circumstances.