Weekly Homeschool Wrap-up–July 19, 2009

Konnichiwa!

This is the word that the six-year-old read by herself this morning on the way to church!   She began sounding it out phonetically, but then recognized it from a favorite children’s show.    What a way to begin a day!

If you want to participate in this meme, please visit Carol atThreeLittleLadies, and be sure to link your post to her Mr. Linky so that we can all see what life has in store for you.   From where I sat this past week,

As an individual, I…

am tired after a fairly busy week, and flirting very seriously with a nap.   VBS was a smashing success with 200+ kids and 97 volunteer helpers, so no one missed my husband and me.  I’ll hopefully post pictures soon.  However, we still played taxi the whole week, and Friday was a blur as we prepared the kids for the closing program and celebrated the (now) six-year-old’s birthday.   Saturday was a stay-at-home day, but the normal cooking, cleaning, and working took me until almost midnight.   6:30 a.m. came early this morning, and now this Cinderella is turning back into a pumpkin.   Most exciting for me was that the oldest taught her Sunday school class today.    She danced for the group, a beautifully upbeat ballet performance to Mary Mary’s “Get Up,” and then led a 30-minute lesson on getting out and reaching people for Jesus.    After I talked about our newest teacher in my June 21^st blog entry, I should perhaps recant some of my original comments about her not teaching the kids anything.   A retired drama teacher (w/ a natural flair for the job, if you know what I mean), she allows one of the children to teach each month instead of teaching herself.   I could look at this from either of two perspectives, but I choose to view it as her way of developing the kids’ talents and leadership abilities.   The kids need encouragement and a place to feel proud.   In the last month, one of our kids was transferred to a new foster home, and I’ve continuously prayed as I am concerned about him.    This transfer came after a brief stay in a mental hospital.    The new resident in this foster home, now a Sunday school student of ours, has the friendliest little smile and handshake.      Then, he says nothing.   I mean, he won’t even tell us his name.   His “brothers” (as they call themselves) had to do that for him.

I did not work out last week at all.   In trying to spend more time with the hubby and getting the kids back and forth, my evenings went by quick, fast, and in a hurry.   Prayerfully this week I’ll get back on track, although I’m dreading seeing the Wii announce how many days it has been since I’ve been there.

As a wife and homemaker, I…

miss my husband as he left for a short stay out-of-town.   He’ll unfortunately be away for his birthday, but the oldest surprised him with a new set of sneakers before he left.   His old ones had seen better days, but he wouldn’t complain.    So many times as parents, we sacrifice so much in order that the kids can have, and so it felt good to do something for him that was totally unexpected, but much appreciated.

It occurs to me that one of the many blessings of our time alone was that we had the chance to say things to one another without all of the distractions that normally present themselves in any given day.   When we dated, we would often snuggle and talk about how we felt, but it’s amazing how the responsibilities of life can snatch certain treasures away from you.   Often those words now get said as we dose off to sleep…

As a mom and homeschooling parent, I…

got a wealth of work done in preparation for this year.   I did, by the way, back our start up by one week.   It meant that we will not take the entire week off during Thanksgiving, but instead take off that Thursday and Friday.   As anal-retentive as that probably makes me sound, we’ve always eased into a full week, so we will begin on Wednesday, August 12^th.    It’s so funny because the girls will attend a day camp on the 13^th.    In essence, we’ll have two days of school (three for our son) as our “first week.”   It occurred to me to push the date back yet again, but that would jeopardize the three-week break that becomes a necessity at Christmas time.   Talk about playing mind games, I’m the one who needs to see the school kids headed back in January as I roll over; this is somehow energizing for me going into the second semester.

I was able to buy the kids’ planners this week and begin to document assignments in them—well, at least for the oldest.   Last year was my first year doing this, and it was well worth the duplication in some cases.    The kids bought into having personal records of their daily work and used them effectively, and I found quickly that my morning went much smoother without as many questions because of these little gems.   Previously, I had my own master planner—overwhelming for the kids, undoubtedly, and so I’d have to lay out work or verbally tell them what to complete.    This latter option often ended in a later discussion that began with, “What’d you say to do?”

My journey to find a planner for our son has led me to one of two conclusions: either we don’t expect much of boys, or we feel no need to make tasks like planning and scheduling the least bit interesting for boys.   After the oldest sorted through a possibility of several different designs, our son struggled to find something other than brown or black with white pages.   Even these were more expensive than I wanted to pay.   So I got home and went searching online–beautiful school planners, outrageous prices.   There are some free do-it-yourself planner templates available, but honestly, the binding and cover design would be more of a time investment than I wanted for something that will be tossed after the school year.   Finally, I found that several of the companies that sell customized planners as a school fundraiser offer a free sample planner with a catalog.   Hopefully, this will give us something that encourages him to plan as well as to value the act of keeping track of his time and activities.

The kids completed no work last week, and we only read one day.   I’m trying to wrap up The Home Ranch, if only for the sake of completing what I started.   None of us have really gotten excited about Ralph Moody’s life on the ranch, so this book is not what Little Britches or Man of the Family were for us.   When we finished Man of the Family, the Moodys were sneaking on a train to travel back east after one of those early 19^th -century experiences in Colorado that you could feel as you turned the pages.   The Home Ranch details young Ralph’s experience while in Colorado working on a horse and cattle ranch.   The only part I found intriguing was the potential of puppy love between he and one of the daughters of the rancher, but as we near the end of the book, I’m thinking I’ll be disappointed yet again.    Sally at diamondsintherough has me convinced that Mary Emma and Company, which continues the Moody’s story once they are back east, is worth picking up, so we’ll continue it at some point—maybe next summer?

We promised the six-year-old for forever that we would buy more fish once we settled down for the summer, so she and her brother bought a couple of male betas in one of those special tanks where they see each other occasionally, but there is a divider preventing them from full access to each other.    The kids named them—and I promise this was with no prompting from me or the superhero—Michael and Jackson.   I guess everybody was feeling the loss in their own way.

As a business owner, I…

am rejoicing over a blessing of an increased voice in the homeschooling community and free advertising that came my way quite unexpectedly.   I believe without doubt that the Lord is honoring my increased prayer time, and I’m so very thankful.   I laid down the Christian character project for most of last week, but will pick it up again this week. 

May the Lord bless your week as well.