A Week, Briefly (12/2/19)
Wednesday was hard, but also filled with the tender mercies of God.
One of those was an impromptu visit from a precious friend who pulled her kids out of school this year in order to homeschool them.
I have been filled with insecurity about our homeschooling this semester. I'm just not certain I'm serving my kids the way they need to be served educationally.
My friend looked me in the eye and said, "They are so much better off at home. They are so much better where they are. Even doing less than what you're used to, you're doing more."
My poor older kids had bags under their eyes and slumped shoulders from trying to corral the younger kids while I visited, but that visit buoyed my spirit more than I can describe. I thanked my children profusely for serving me by letting me have that visit.
(And I made cookies for my exhausted older kids.)
We're still doing about half of the school that we're used to, and we're doing only about 10% of the Advent activities we're used to.
But it's what we can do.
So it is enough.
As far as preparing to celebrate the birth of our Savior, we've put up the tree.
And we've had our lighting ceremony. It was a mild night, so we played outside for quite a while, and Belle took lots of pictures of the kids posing in front of our front window.
(I'm only posting 2 of them.)
The teens completed Unit 5 of The Good and the Beautiful Language Arts with flying colors.
In spite of near-daily tantrums of defiance, Ladybug completed her first of 3 planned arithmetic workbooks for the school year.
And I was able to start Jr. Kindergarten back up again.
The blessing it is for these two littles to get 1/2 an hour of Mommy's attention is beyond description. One night Baymax was crying and fussing, and I remembered that we hadn't managed to get to Jr. K. I threw routine out the window and said we'd do one worksheet page together before bedtime, and suddenly the sun came out.
They were so, so, so happy!
And everyone got to bed with only a few hiccups.
Brother and Beowulf had 5 great school days this week (It was lovely that Brother's behaviors didn't interrupt school time!). They're both making nice progress in reading, writing, and 'rithmetic.
Mister Man is only doing reading and arithmetic each day. And the free time is allowing his gift for teaching to emerge. Every time I turn around, he's reading to someone, listening to them read, or teaching something he's recently learned.
It am charmed every time . . . even though it is commonplace.
We're working our way through The Jesus Storybook Bible during Morning Meeting. Every time I pull it off the shelf, the kids cheer. Then they listen with wide eyes and open ears to the message that God loves them unstoppingly.
In another unrelated-to-homeschooling photo and merely because it struck my fancy one morning, here's breakfast ready to be passed out around the table:
One of those was an impromptu visit from a precious friend who pulled her kids out of school this year in order to homeschool them.
I have been filled with insecurity about our homeschooling this semester. I'm just not certain I'm serving my kids the way they need to be served educationally.
My friend looked me in the eye and said, "They are so much better off at home. They are so much better where they are. Even doing less than what you're used to, you're doing more."
My poor older kids had bags under their eyes and slumped shoulders from trying to corral the younger kids while I visited, but that visit buoyed my spirit more than I can describe. I thanked my children profusely for serving me by letting me have that visit.
(And I made cookies for my exhausted older kids.)
We're still doing about half of the school that we're used to, and we're doing only about 10% of the Advent activities we're used to.
But it's what we can do.
So it is enough.
As far as preparing to celebrate the birth of our Savior, we've put up the tree.
 |
| As long as I'm posting about Christmas traditions, I'm throwing this photo in for good measure! Photo credit: Little Princess |
And we've had our lighting ceremony. It was a mild night, so we played outside for quite a while, and Belle took lots of pictures of the kids posing in front of our front window.
(I'm only posting 2 of them.)
The teens completed Unit 5 of The Good and the Beautiful Language Arts with flying colors.
 |
| Belle's art project |
 |
| Super Star's art project |
And I was able to start Jr. Kindergarten back up again.
The blessing it is for these two littles to get 1/2 an hour of Mommy's attention is beyond description. One night Baymax was crying and fussing, and I remembered that we hadn't managed to get to Jr. K. I threw routine out the window and said we'd do one worksheet page together before bedtime, and suddenly the sun came out.
They were so, so, so happy!
And everyone got to bed with only a few hiccups.
Brother and Beowulf had 5 great school days this week (It was lovely that Brother's behaviors didn't interrupt school time!). They're both making nice progress in reading, writing, and 'rithmetic.
Mister Man is only doing reading and arithmetic each day. And the free time is allowing his gift for teaching to emerge. Every time I turn around, he's reading to someone, listening to them read, or teaching something he's recently learned.
It am charmed every time . . . even though it is commonplace.
We're working our way through The Jesus Storybook Bible during Morning Meeting. Every time I pull it off the shelf, the kids cheer. Then they listen with wide eyes and open ears to the message that God loves them unstoppingly.
In another unrelated-to-homeschooling photo and merely because it struck my fancy one morning, here's breakfast ready to be passed out around the table:
I am so glad you had that encouraging visit! You really are doing enough in this season!!
ReplyDeleteBlessings, Dawn
Glad you found a bit of peace. You are doing so much in the eternal scheme of things.
ReplyDeleteI think moms (especially homeschool moms) can be so good at encouraging others but so hard on themselves. I know I am. I am so glad you had someone to encourage you this week.
ReplyDeleteOh, I remember the years of having the tree in the playpen! <3 Now it's just the cat harassing the tree, lol. The cacti pictures turned out great! Glad you got a recharge.
ReplyDelete