Homeschool Discipline:Importance of the Four Temperaments
Homeschool discipline is essential to homeschooling...and understanding the four temperaments is of tremendous help. To know and understand the four temperaments and how they relate to our family members and close associates is extremely important. To gain this insight into our child (because homeschooling our children is our focus here) enables us to discipline more effectively, understand more correctly, bear with him more patiently and, most importantly, better aid him in living his faith. Just a few points need to be addressed before we discuss the specifics. Temperament can be defined as a pattern of inclination in the soul. In other words, it means how a person is pre-disposed to act. Additionally, it is inherited and innate. Therefore, it cannot be changed. However, the good points can and must be encouraged. The bad--reduced or eliminated. One inclination is no better or worse than another. Great and holy people are identified with each category...conversely, so are evildoers. Rarely is a person of a pure type. There will be a mix, however, one temperament will almost always be dominant and identifiable. It is character that can be formed. Character can be defined as the pattern of habits which are the result of education, personal effort and environmental effects. In her address at a homeschool conference regarding the relationship between homeschool discipline and the temperaments, Dr. Marian Horvat reiterated the importance of the following statement: The two factors in determining temperament are 1) a person's reaction to stimulus and 2) the duration of the impression. Keep in mind it is not one's characteristics or actions that give clues to identification; it is the reactions . Think of how the child responds to external stimuli or thought/imagination. Consider his reactions in a bad storm, when he is rebuked or receives new information. Not too long ago, in our family, the different reactions were strikingly evident. Our oldest daughter announced that she and her husband were expecting their first child. Two of the siblings started shouting, jabbering a mile a minute, then immediately launched into a thousand questions and plans. The two others had very subdued responses. They sat and contemplated the idea. Without understanding, one may have jumped to the conclusion that they were not interested. Of course, this would have been false. Eventually, the two brothers began issuing orders about baby names and leaped into gift buying with frightening aplomb. They grew as pesky as everyone else. Finally, with the rest of the family, they waited anxiously in the hospital for hours--just without the hand-wringing, pacing and continual inquiries to the nurse. Thus is an illustration of the reactions of sanguines and melancholics. For effective homeschool discipline understand the following four types:
Typically, the choleric and sanguine are extroverts and outgoing. The melancholic and phlegmatic are introverts and reserved. As parents, really knowing our child is vital. Sometimes it is difficult. It can be hard to implement homeschool discipline and nurture and teach. Hopefully, knowing about and understanding the temperaments will be a help and a comfort. We need to pray for assistance with discernment.
God will surely grant the grace of enlightenment for the benefit of the child, the people he is to serve and for the
greater glory of God.
The Choleric The Sanguine The Melancholic The Phlegmatic Steps to Discipline Return from Homeschool Discipline to Home
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