In His Time

God makes all things new in His perfect timing. I know this. I've said this over and over in my walk as a Christian. It is a foundational truth of the Bible. Lately, I have been rushing God though instead of resting in His peace and timing. I am fundamentally flawed, selfish and want our life back. Did I say that? Yes...

It's been 8 months since our life was upended and frankly, I'm tired. This journey has been an emotional roller coaster for all of us. We have that one last angiogram looming over us. I really wanted to stomp my foot like my five year old yesterday when the angiogram was post-poned a week. "God.... I really wanted to spend Thanksgiving thanking you for David's healing". Ugh! I am so selfish! How could I react with disappointment knowing how precisely God has managed David's healing?

Behold, I make all things new.--Revelations 21:5 God, I want the new- now! But the truth is I want our life back the way it was. Will it be calmer, hopefully. But God has made us all new. We understand our interdependence on one another; just as we have interdependence on the community of Christ. Yes, David is healing and continuing to make progress. Truly he is 100% better than he was in April. It amazing how David's health affects everything in our family. God truly has designed the roles of fathers in His infinite wisdom. I am no substitute for a Godly strong father. Out of necessity I have had to be disciplinarian during this time. This is not the way God designed a family to operate. Don't get me wrong, I am a strong, strict disciplinarian but I am not strong like my husband. He provides a quiet, calm, unwavering God given strength. He is the rock in our family. I am thankful beyond measure that God spared him for I am not adequate. I need him. My kids need him.

I saw the end of the line and started sprinting. I lost focus on God's truth. Just when I thought I couldn't make it one more day without Dr. Morsi giving us an all clear.... God says, "wait". God is reminding me to let go that He is still in control. To live my life waiting on Him.... that is the goal.

Do not worry about anything; instead pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank Him for all He has done.--Phillipians 4:6

Faith

The Lord is good, a Strength and Stronghold in the day of trouble; He knows those who take refuge and trust in Him.--Nahum 1:7 April 1st, 2010 was the beginning of "our day of trouble." My husband and our precious daddy was at first diagnosed with two torn carotid arteries and Horner's Syndrome. He had years of migraine headaches with increasing frequency over the previous six months. We were surprised to hear that he had torn arteries and even more surprised that the doctors recommended treatment was Plavix and rest. God, our Jehovah Rapha, had different plans.

As we drove up to our house from receiving this news, our neighbor who is an MD, told us to take David to the ER immediately; as did the two doctors in our family and David's personal physician. We began to feel the gravity of the situation and David asked me to call our friends to get the number of the cardiologist they see in Houston. We left for the hospital and as we walked through the ER doors my friend called back with the cell phone number for the chief physician of the Texas Heart Institute in Houston.

Our doctor was baffled that David had "TWO" torn carotid arteries. He was not comfortable recommending treatment. The two specialist he talked with at hospital had conflicting opinions for treatment. We were reeling from the commotion and news that no one clearly knew what to do. With no other options David asked our doctor to call the specialist in Houston. With one phone call David was placed in the best, most capable hands for receiving treatment. Needless to say Dr. Frazier gave specific instructions on how to treat David through the night until he could be transferred to St Luke's Hospital the following day.

Dr. Morsi, "the best " Neuro Radiologist according to Dr. Frazier would perform David's angiogram. Before the angiogram Dr. Morsi told us David had a 60% of his left artery needing a stint because it was larger than the tear on the right. To clarify, David entered surgery thinking he "might" need one stint on his left carotid artery to strengthen the artery wall. We were prayerful, concerned and at the same time knew that God had directed David's path to this very capable and specialized doctor.

After 45 minutes of waiting they called me and David's parents back into the surgery area. Several doctors gathered around the computer screens full of black and white squiggly lines that made no sense to me at all. We were told that David two torn carotid arteries, plus a torn veterbral artery and an aneurism on the right side of his brain.

My world froze as I digested what Dr. Morsi told me. I needed to consent on what steps the medical team would take next. Thoughts don't come to my mind when I look back. Just images, stillness, and black. David's right carotid had to be stinted to fix the aneurysm. However, in my mind this left the larger tear untreated. Stinting both carotids and the veterbral was not an option. If anything went wrong with the stints he would have no blood supply to his brain. The team of doctors decided to stint the right carotid with the recommendation of another angiogram in 6 weeks to see how the left side was healing. He would be on medical leave for 8 weeks and strict physical limitations during that time.

We all talk about prayer, the power of prayer and God working in our lives. We truly believe the power of prayer placed David with the right doctors in the right place at the right time. The timing and accuracy of what occurred leaves no room for doubt in our minds. Just as with the adoption of our children, God's hand was moving and more was visible than the invisible in every facet of our lives. I know that the prayers of our family, friends and many that we do not even know sustained me and kept me going when we hit a brick wall.

Prayers sustained me when I had to tell my high school sweetheart that he had an aneurysm and three stints on his right carotid artery and that we would have to come back in six weeks to repeat the angiogram to check on the left & veterbral arteries. This was hard to explain and hard accept since all of his pain was on the left side of his head and eye socket. He desperately wanted to be out of pain and migraine free. There were many unknowns the first hours and days after his surgery. God carried us through those unknowns with the knowledge that he had carried us through many trials before.

We spent five days in a hospital. Day 1 was April Fool's Day. Day 5 was Easter Sunday. Tell me there is not a God who loves us, cares for us and makes a mockery of those who doubt. Faith is not faith when it's easy, fun and you have all the answers. Faith is being absolutely sure of what you do not see. Faith is when life has blacked out and Jesus Christ is leading you through the darkness because He has gone before you. "In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world"... John 16:33. Faith is when you know that no matter what happens... life, death, or something in between... you will be held in God's hands. Faith is knowing that life is not always fair, good, or easy, but God will sustain you and give you peace in the midst of battle. He provides! Faith is Hebrews Chapter 11. Beginning in verse 1, "Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." I love reading stories about ancient's faith. "This is what the ancients were commended for"...verse 2.

Oswald Chambers beautifully sums up our journey, "God does not give us overcoming life: He gives us life as we overcome. The strain is the strength. If there is no strain, there is no strength. Are you asking God to give you life and liberty and joy? He cannot, unless you will accept the strain. Immediately you face the strain, you will get the strength. Overcome your own timidity and take the step, and God will give you to eat of the tree of life and you will get nourishment."

Speed of Light Blogging--((NOT!!))

**August 7, 2010**

I originally wrote the following blog post on March 17, 2010. It never made it past editing. I must admit I am a bit sad to say there will be no super speedy blogging. The Spring semester of homeschool blog bit the dust officially on April 1st, 2o10.

Well, I guess I've taken enough of a hiatus in blogging about our homeschool adventure to propel me into a "speed of light" blogging rampage. I have so much to catch up on, weed out and decide what is most important.

We had a bit of a setback with my "day surgery" in January which turned into an almost 5 hour surgery, 4 days in the hospital, 2 weeks with a cath bag and plenty of reasons to keep me out of bloggyland. When a crisis hits you have to prioritize and this went way down to the bottom of the list!

I will post two or three more updates and then we will be off to our new school year.... "Good Lord willin' and the creek don't rise!" ;-)

Thankful

December 2nd may seem a bit late to blog about what I am thankful for. But, since I was fortunate enough to have all of last week off from my teaching duties I spent the entire week not worrying about any academic responsibilities. My focus was getting the house in order, ready for the Christmas season and spending time with family. Since all of this blog is being compiled for the kids to reflect upon someday I thought it appropriate for them to know what I am most thankful for this year.

I am fortunate for many things in my life and my list could go deep and philosophical. But this year it is simply for the time I have had to homeschool my children. Lilly and Zane, I love you more than I ever knew was possible for someone to love. There seem no words adequate enough to describe the love I have for both of you and our precious family. I am thankful that God choose me to be your mommy. And I am thankful that God choose your Dad to be my husband and your Daddy!

I am thankful for two pairs of beautiful brown eyes that have taught me to see and love the world in a new way. I am thankful for all the muddy shoes that get piled on our shoe rack in the garage. I am thankful for the handprints on the window in the dining room. Sometimes, it's hard for me to clean them off because I know someday I will be wiping away your last handprint without even knowing it. I am thankful for the crayon mark on the wall beside the staircase. For these are all evidence of God's providence in my life. I am thankful for the giggles I hear in the "under stairs", watching you jump endlessly on the trampoline together, sharing books in your living room "forts" and building mud pies on the back porch. I love to hear you "play school" and try to juggle. Lilly, I love listening to you read to Zane. You are always patient and kind. And Zane, I love hearing Zane ask "Where is Lilly?". I would say that is one of your most often asked questions.

Zane I am thankful that you can beat me on just about every Wii game we own. I love to watch you drive your tractor like a race car driver and ride your bike so fast that I can barely keep up. I love it when you snuggle in my neck and kiss me one more time! I love your giant colorful paintings that you bring home from St. Thomas School. I am thankful that you brought me a big baseball bat and remained calm when mommy killed that big snake. I love that you already seem to have that "man gene" and kept your cool when mommy found all those rats and ran screaming in the backyard. I love to watch you sing to Tobymac and dance like Michael Jackson.

Lilly, am thankful that Mimi has taught you to play the piano so beautifully. I love to listen to you play "Zum Golly Golly" up and down the piano keys. I love the way you the way you stand up for others when they have been hurt or misunderstood. l love the way you make hot tea so graciously for us all. I am thankful that you have the best memory and keep me on my toes. I cherish all the sweet stories you have written and beautiful art work that you have made. I love all your ideas and your creative imagination. God has blessed you with a beautiful, unique way of putting colors and shapes together to make truly great art.

I am thankful to be blessed with two beautiful and precious children. Both of you are the best gifts from God your Daddy and I could have ever dreamed for. God is truly the great provider. I am thankful that He is both omnipotent and gracious. I love that that He chose to bless our lives and marriage with both of you. Thank you Lilly and Zane for being such great kids and for all the joy you have brought to my life.

Turkish Tea Party

Yesterday we celebrated the conclusion of our geography study on Turkey with a Turkish "tea party". We invited Oma, Zane and one of Lilly's friends whom we affectionately call "Tickle". Oma and Zane arrived a little late but still experienced the Turkish Delights and Black Tea. Remember Edmond in the movie Narnia? He couldn't quit eating the Turkish Delights given to him by the Ice Queen.

Lilly made the Black Tea, a favorite in Turkey. We purchased the Turkish Delights at World Market. They were like powdered sugar coated gummies with a tiny seed in the middle. We still don't know what the seed was. I'm assuming it added a little flavor. These Turkish Delights were actually made in Istanbul, Turkey which is located on the Bosphorous Strait between the Black Sea and the Sea of Marma which lies on the west coast of Turkey. On the eastern side of Turkey lies Mount Ararat which is the supposed resting place of Noah's ark.

Turkey is not only historically significant it is also a fascinating place. Turkey is famous for beautiful rugs called Kilim's, whirling Dervishes, beehive houses, Cleopatra's gate and even Swimming Cats called van kedi's in Turk. Biblically significant places include Mount Ararat, the ancient city of Ephesus; home of the Ephesians. The Tigris & Euphrates rivers begin in Turkey. The Garden of Eden is believed to possibly be in Turkey somewhere north of these two famous rivers. (Genesis 2:10,14). The Hagia Sophia built by the Christian Roman Emperor Justinain in 537 A.D. contains 30 million tiny gold tiles and is now one of the most famous places in Turkey to visit. Just watch the videos in the link included with this post to get a taste of this beautiful land... quite possibly the birth place of the human race!

We Finally Have a World Map!

I finally bought a very large world map. I looked and looked all over the internet and could never decide on the "perfect" map. Hmmm.... is there such a thing as perfect? I was in Office Max, saw the large rolled up world and United States maps bundled together for $6.95 and decided... perfect-o! Up until now we've used Google Earth and small maps provided with our texts.

We rolled out the huge World Map and located our geographical points of study. On current versions of world maps this area is Turkey, Lebanon, Iraq and Israel. We found Turkey....check. Where was Israel?.... Israel?....Israel?---Whoa! Look at how small it is compared to the rest of the world! Oh my.... look at where it is compared to the rest of the world's land masses. Hmmm... pretty interesting! None of this was in our books we are using to study geography and history. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves. You can click on each picture to enlarge them. To quote one of the books we're studying. "...the Israelites left a legacy unlike any other in the world. Instead of riches, knowledge, or fine art, their legacy was a religious one. Thousands of years later, people across the world would know about the Israelites' God."--Ancient Israelites and Their Neighbors.

Ancient Egypt ROCKS!

We've been studying Ancient Civilizations this year. Lilly and

Zane really enjoyed making the crowns that represent both

upper and lower Egypt & learning basic facts about the ancient

Egyptians from the song, "Strut King Tut". Very silly but fun!

Poems and Bible Recitations

Last week was the end of our first twelve weeks of homeschooling. Lilly learned My Kingdom by Robert Louis Stevenson and The Lord's Prayer. Zane decided on Time to Rise, Rain and The Swing--all by Stevenson as well. We posted My Kingdom by Lilly and Time to Rise by Zane. These are the final recitings of their memory work for the last twelve weeks. Enjoy!

Celebrating Susan

Lilly's friend Susan had her story and drawing published in the kids magazine Clubhouse Jr by Focus on the family. She sent in her work to the magazine and it was chosen to be published. Lilly and Susan have been life long friends and both of them love to create, draw and write stories. Below you will find the picture in the magazine of the request for drawings and stories of what the puppy is doing and what Susan drew and wrote. Way to go Susan!

History Highway

The history of ancient civilizations has turned out to be a fascinating subject for all of us. I'm having to do a lot of digging and researching because this was not an area that interested me in school or that was taught in depth. My goal is to give Lilly and Zane a good grasp of the span of mankind from Adam through the birth of Jesus this year with our History Highway and the various texts we are reading. We found this little road and mini-cars at Lakeshore along with the cardstock notebook cards. We are using these to post important dates along our highway. So far, we have made it up to Nimrod attempting to build the Tower of Babel. I thought you might enjoy seeing the pictures they both drew depicting various scenes. Lilly was a little perplexed as to how to draw Adam & Eve in the garden of Eden. She finally decided on hiding them behind some beautiful flowers. I loved Z's drawing of God on day 7 resting on a bed. His simple stick figure of God laying on His bed makes me smile every time I look at it. Another cute drawing is of Eve picking the apple from the Tree of Knowledge. I don't know if you can tell in the picture but she has quite a loooooong arm. Lilly's depiction of Cain killing Abel is fascinating. Cain has his sword drawn up high in the air and Abel is bent over backwards. Notice the lightening bolt in the background. That is "God's anger". The yellow cars driving on the bottom of the highway have the dates, as near as possible written on them. The pictures are attached with paperclips so we can take them off and have the kids put them in chronological order as a way to test what they remember. This is a very fun way to learn about the history of the world!

We are using A Child's History of the World by Hillyer as a broad overview to world history and The Story of the Ancient World by Miller for more specific dates. We have several geography books that we are using alongside our history lessons. More on geography later...

Mulitplication In Nature

We love Math U See. It's a math curriculum for homeschoolers. As Z says... "It's math, you see mommie!".It comes with the standard math manipulatives but with a "twist", visuals, etc. But, it just put's things together both visually and mentally in a way that helps children (and mommies) not rely on their fingers so much. After all, ten fingers and ten toes can only take you so far. Right?

We reviewed addition, subtraction, graphs, place value and a few other things until our curriculum arrived at the end of September. Then, we began getting familiar with the Math U See way of learning. We began learning our multiplication facts or "fast adding" about two weeks ago. We've also been listening to all the songs... if you could only hear the teacher explain one-"tee" one. It's really quite comical but very sensible.

Today, we started skip counting by 2's, 5's and 10's. This helps the kids learn their multiplication facts. So we began "building" our counting with the colored blocks provided with the curriculum. As we built, Lilly first noticed that it looked like a staircase. I showed her how each step grew by two steps. Thus, counting by 2's. She agreed except for the "blue steps" looked bigger to her. I took the orange 2 block (every number 1-10 is represented by the same color... two is always 2 orange blocks stuck together) and started showing her that even the blue steps were two steps up. We began discussing why the blue steps (at 10, 20 & 30) visually looked bigger. I explained that it was a optical illusion. She was seeing more of the blue color thus her mind told her the blue steps were bigger. This makes me wonder if she is a visual learner.

Next we noticed the pattern that emerged. Orange, yellow, purple, brown and blue or 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10. To explain a little further... once you get to the blue 10 bar you add a 2, then 4, then 6, and then 8 to make the corresponding numbers. Again, the number 2 is always represented by an orange bar, the number 4 is always a yellow bar, and so on. So a blue 10 bar plus an orange 2 bar represents the number 12... and so on. Then, I asked her if she thought all of our stairs in our house were the same height. "Nope!" she said and repeated the blue stairs represented in the staircase she built was bigger. So, again I showed her with another orange 2 bar that they ALL increased by 2. This seemed to sink in and we began to discuss other patterns represented by numbers in the world.

It was time for our nature walk so encouraged her to look for patterns in nature today. She was so excited she began by examining the pot plants in our house before I could get my shoes on. Wow... excitement about math, patterns and multiplication!

We went on our nature walk behind our house. We found so many representations of numbers, patterns and multiplication facts we were amazed. Here are a few examples of the "Math We Saw":

From left to right, top to bottom...

• Picture 1: Three points on the leaves counted four times. (3x4=12)
• Picture 2: There are actually 5 points on these leaves. Five counted three times. (5x3=15)
• Picture 3: Six petals counted two times. (6x2=12)
• Picture 4: Six petals counted 3 times. (6x3=18)

We started by simple skip counting and ended finding patterns in nature which led to multiplication problems. Wow! I have so many new word problems to use. God is good.

Two Joyfully Reciting Their Poems

Charlotte Mason couldn't have been more accurate in her assessment of having children memorize and recite poems and scripture. This is Zane reciting his poem "Time to Rise" and Lilly with a more polished recitation of "My Kingdom" both by Robert Louis Stevenson. With these memorized we moved on today to their next assignments. Zane will be learning "Rain" by Stevenson as well. Lilly will memorize the Lord's Prayer. Both of them almost could recite these after just a few tries. I guess as Ms. Mason states and they have so quickly proven, I should expect more from them. Thanks for all the comments. Lilly was thrilled and much encouraged.

"My Kingdom" by Robert Louis Stevenson

Down by a shining water well I found a very little dell, no higher than my head.

The heather and the gorse about in summer bloom were coming out, some yellow and some red.

I called the little pool a sea; the little hills were big to me; For I am very small.

I made a boat, I made a town,I searched the caverns up and down, and named them one and all.

And all about was mine, I said, the little sparrows overhead,the little minnows too.

This was the world and I was king; for me the bees came by to sing, for me the swallows flew.

I played there were no deeper seas, nor any wider plains than these, nor other kings than me.

At last I heard my mother call, out from the house at evenfall to call me home to tea. And I must rise and leave my dell. And leave my dimpled water well, and leave my heather blooms.

Alas! and as my home I neared, how very big my nurse appeared. How great and cool the rooms!

Our first 12 weeks of school we are focusing on the author Robert Louis Stevenson. Lilly chose this poem out of the book A Child's Garden of Verses by Stevenson. She also choose for us to read aloud to her the classic Treasure Island by Stevenson. This video was taken about a week and a half ago and we may decide to update it if she'd like to do another video. Our next memory work will be The Lord's Prayer. Please comment....for Lilly! She's been a little shy about performing this in front of others. Hopefully, she'll gain more confidence. This is her first poem to memorize.

Imposing Our Will

Another idea of the CM Method of learning is not overly imposing our wishes or ideas on children. We are to have "influence" but not dictate everything about what and how a child learns or make them into who we want them to be instead of who God intends for them to be. I found this a bit of a paradox at first. I am after all the parent which is my God given role. I began to understand this the more I implemented the idea slowly in areas I found myself trying to influence my idea of what would be fun or good in little things.

As Lilly's birthday neared I knew she wanted to have a sleep-over. I am not a big fan of sleep-over's. I remember some of the craziness that occurred when I was a child at all night extravaganzas. But, Lilly "reeeeaaalllllyyyyyy" wanted to have a sleep over and I figured 3rd grade was better than 7th or 8th grade. So, I decided to let go and listen to her ideas.

After discussing this with her I was a bit concerned. First, she wanted a "nature party". Lilly loves all the things we learn and do in nature. This is all wonderful for us. But, considering the exposure other kids may or may not have had I worried about how well this idea would be received by her friends. Would they make fun of the different ideas she had, etc? I found myself asking these types of questions.... imposing my ideas. I stopped myself and let her enthusiastically tell me all her ideas. As I listened, I realized her ideas were much more in-line with what I would think of as a "proper sleep-over". It really sounded more like a camp-out. This sounded much better to me than Hannah Montana movies, popcorn everywhere and staying up until the wee hours of the morning. My one rule set in stone was--lights out at 10:30p.m..

She decided on 13 friends. Ten of which showed up the day of the party. I made out a schedule and included it in the invitation. As a parent, I knew I would appreciate knowing all the details. I also didn't want the kids expecting to stay up all night. Our schedule was: Come over after school, play and get to know one another, make crafts, go on a nature walk, dinner, movie, roast marshmallows, tell nature stories by the fire and then lights out by 10:30. I really doubted they'd be asleep by 11:00. But I was determined to give it a shot.

We made riddles instead of going on a scavenger hunt--Lilly's idea. All of the items we made riddles for were the party favors as well as things we used on our nature walk--a compass, a magnifying glass, bubbles (told us which way the wind was blowing), flashlight, pencil for taking notes, a watch, a whistle and a penny--to use as a guide to find something small enough to fit under the microscope. We also made a nature guide and titled it "Lilly's Nature Guide". We slathered ourselves in bug spray and headed out to the field behind our house. I was amazed at all the things the kids spotted. Baby frogs, purple flowers, mushrooms, cactus, just to name a few. The kids had a blast and some enjoyed looking at items under the microscope in between playing in the tent and blowing bubbles when we got back.

By the time we completed all the activities... it was 10:00. Just enough time to get everyone in their P.J.'s and set up sleeping bags. With everyone settled by 10:30 I began to read. Almost every child was asleep by 11:00. Lilly was so excited she couldn't sleep and finally decided to go to her room to sleep. Overall, the party was a huge success. The kids had fun and maybe even learned a few things as well. Allowing kids more freedom to fulfill their ideas in life can be truly rewarding.... even if it's a simple sleep-over.

Me? I could never homeschool!

We've officially been "homeschooling" for three weeks now. All of our curriculum still hasn't arrived but I have been supplementing with other supplies and books from the library. Our math curriculum may not be here for another two weeks! A good thing to remember next year--order early.

My main focus has been getting into a routine and forming those "habits". The first two weeks were a little difficult. Zane hadn't started school, we were still recovering from vacation and the death of our precious Uncle David. I can't believe how much has changed and what homeschooling has brought to fruition in our lives in a mere three weeks!

The first week we just got our feet wet so speak. We began with our habit goals of getting up, having devotion time, making our bed and getting dressed with no reminders. Pocahontas is doing great with this. In fact, I may add a chore to her daily habit forming routine next week. Z is doing good as well considering his age and the fact that he started school this week. He told me after his open house that he wants to go to school "EVERY DAY and WITHOUT me"! This is a night and day change from last year. So, Lilly and I have the mornings to accomplish any school that needs to be one-on-one. We pick Zane up at 11:30, have lunch, play, read together then have nap and independent reading. We started this routine on Wednesday. Next week we will start our "regular schedule" and hopefully get into a good "rut" (forming those habits).

One thing I LOVE about homeschooling is the idea of getting to know each child individually--deeply. Not that we didn't want or do this before homeschool. This is just taking it to a new level. Learning their strengths and weaknesses on a level that allows you to discuss and formulate a plan with them that helps them succeed. For example Miss Pocahontas does not enjoy writing in the least. I've struggled with getting her to write neatly for years--I'm a Kindergarten teacher for heavens sake! I finally made a break through today--I listened to her complaints without judgement. We went to Hobby Lobby and got some cool multicolored pencils, made a plan for her to proactively take control her frustrations. Then, discussed perseverance and began our "Handwriting Without Tears" lesson with lots of praise. We ended dancing, singing and laughing. Yesterday and many days before it ended with tears and frustration. YEA!

The kids have also started a prayer journal along with their daily devotionals. They can write or draw in as much detail as they feel comfortable. They know they are writing to God and should do their best. Of course Z and I share devotional time and I write what he says and he draws a simple picture--I also add comments for him to read when he's older. I thought I'd include this example to show how his little mind is learning to relate his world to God and lean on Him--I hope you can read the words. His little drawing is of him on a trail at a local birding park. Z is so precious during these times. His questions are priceless and his comments are both childlike and profound.

Did I ever say "I could NEVER homeschool!" ?

Looking up

As the afternoon came to a close, I began thinking about our day and today felt like a total failure. A big part of Charlotte Mason homeschooling is "habit training". Reflecting on our day my mind immediately went to the negative--"Ugh!...no habits formed today." I let Pocahontas sleep in because she had a homeschool swim party until 8:30 last night. So, naturally after our normal bedtime routine it was 10 pm--before they got into bed. Gee, only two hours late! She woke up grumpy and tired. But somehow she made her bed & did her devotional. We did math, recitations, hymns, reading & nature all by 1:00. Next, a little playtime & then upstairs for nap & independent reading. Narrations will be done at dinner for dad. I walked upstairs to check on the kids. First I peak in Pocahontas' room. Her bed is made, her room is clean and her blanket is even folded nicely on the bed. On to Z's room, as I walk I'm thinking "Why are they so quiet? This is not normal."! I opened the door to find P singing Z songs. She had already read him two nap time stories. She loves being a big sister...most of the time. :)

Wow! Time to reevaluate the day. Another one of CM's philosophy is baby steps. It all takes time. Why do we tend to think first of the negative? Yes, I need to do about 4 loads of laundry, clean the kitchen & water the yard. I also need to make dinner and probably 4,000 other things. But, I no longer think today was mostly a loss & that I've failed. Thank you Lord.

My goal for our 1st term was for the kids to independently get up, make their bed, get dressed & "P" to do her devotional before coming down to breakfast. Hmmm... maybe we can actually make this work.

New Horizons

We've taken a HUGE leap of faith and with much prayer have decided to homeschool our kids this year. "Pocahontas" turns nine next month and Big Z is four. Z will be attending his regular preschool on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Most of Pocahontas' schooling will take place while Z is in school with Z joining us in our studies on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Thursdays will be our extra-curricular outings.

Our homeschool is taking on a "Charlotte Mason" educational model. In short, teaching kids to be life long learners. My favorite Charlotte Mason website is written by another homeschool mom--Linda Fay. You can find her websitehere: http://www.charlottemasonhelp.com/2009/07/cm-education_22.html . I love the way she has outlined the basic principals and then describes how she puts this into effect in her homeschool.

This is a completely new journey for me coming from a public education background. It challenges many of the ways I used to teach. I have found this new way of teaching and learning to be refreshing and insightful; yet challenging in every aspect. In many ways it takes me out of the the role of "front and center". I do the planning, observing and gentle guidance, coming along side of the kids when they need help.

One of my main roles is establishing "habits". "Habit Training" on the above mentioned website is a wonderful read. I love the freedom of homeschooling yet it is not the freedom to do as we please everyday. This is challenging us as a family and as parents. God is growing us too as we learn to say no the pressures of the outside world and our previous family motto.... "Let's go!" Our journey together should be interesting to say the least. Please keep us in your prayers and visit often to see what's going on in our little world. God bless!