Weekly Homeschool Report–December 6, 2009

 It is far too late to write this, but I was determined to not wake up in the a.m. with it still left on my weekend platter of “to dos”.   As I’m somewhere between awake and dozing, I’ll make it brief.   If you want to participate in this meme, please visit Carol at ThreeLittleLadies, 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…

continue to enjoy our pastor’s series on laying aside weights.   He wrapped up this sermon on Haman with this thought: we must carry our crosses.    We do not have to carry the weight.   Haman could not help the fact that the Agagites were slaughtered hundreds of years ago.   This act, now in his past, was his cross.    His trouble was that he carried around the weight—the hatred, the self-absorption, the thirst for revenge—and it cost him his life.    In listening to our pastor, and in being ministered to, it occurred to me that I’ve been blessed to sit under some great teaching through the years.    I’ve joined two churches since moving here after college, one as a single lady, and then our current church, where we’ve worshipped for a little over 10 years.   When I think back, in both cases these were not the most prayed-upon decisions; a friend or acquaintance would suggest that we go, and we went and liked what we saw.  I even had initial reservations about joining our current church.    I am so glad that God sees so much farther than we see, and in spite of my lack of prayer in joining, He knew where we needed to be.   Our church plans to relocate within the next two years—a drive that will be even farther for us.   We’re still trying to decide what is our place once the building is completed, and of course, that needs prayer.   It may be time to move, but I would sure miss the richness of the Word delivered by our current pastor.   Oh, my friends, that we would let go of some of life’s clutter (hurts, disappointments, negativity) and embrace the freedom of a Messiah who wants to move us forward…

As a wife and homemaker, I…

am getting more and more excited about this season.   I called myself getting ahead of the kids and buying some surprises, only to realize as they form their lists that I didn’t buy much of what they wanted.   Oh, well, what are gift cards for, right?   At any rate, we’ll miss the church’s annual family concert, which has become a tradition for us.    The oldest has two parades in which she’ll participate, and with our snow day on last week, they are now both rescheduled for this weekend.    I think that by Sunday we will need to rest and relax as a family.  I’m envisioning pizza(smile).    My husband and I will also fast after Christmas and into the new year, which has always been a tremendous source of restoration and renewal for us.   To say that this year has had its challenges would be an understatement.   Yet, for every trial I could list, I could immediately list God’s faithfulness to us.   As much as I enjoy eating when I want, I look forward to time with the Father.

As a mom and homeschooling parent, I…

have been a student myself this week.   As a part of my ongoing training for college instructing, I had three days of learning about why college students get off to a poor start academically, which in many cases has nothing to do with academics.   The university will introduce new introductory classes that will focus more on the intangibles—time management, study skills, etc.   Obviously, it makes me think about what we are doing here beyond completion of assignments.    As kids get older, I am amazed at how much how they are learning becomes as critical as what they are learning.     Once they’re away, they no longer have the benefit of you to guide and direct their studies, so these components of learning have to somehow be incorporated into what they do, even with Mom in the same house.    It’s like pretending you’re not there, even though you are.

We’ve had lots of laughs poking fun at Homer this week while reading.   It intrigues me that while Homer is considered a classic historian, he would probably fail any modern-day composition class.   Why?   Because of his overuse of extended metaphors, leading to run-on sentencing.    Check this out:

As gale-winds swirl and shatter under the shrilling gusts on days when drifts of dust lie piled thick on the roads and winds whip up the dirt in a dense whirling cloud—so the battle broke, storming chaos, troops inflamed, slashing each other with bronze, carnage mounting, manslaughtering combat bristling with rangy spears, the honed lances brandished in hand and ripping flesh and the eyes dazzled now, blind with the glare of bronze, glittering helmets flashing, breastplates freshly burnished, shields fiery in sunlight, fighters plowing on in a mass… (Fagles’ translation of Homer’s Iliad, (lost the page number!))

We’ve come up with some analogies of our own, like the ‘night, dark as burnt toast, hot from the toaster, which Mom lifts, to the tenderness of her caramel-colored fingertips, now singed and longing for the sensation of cool water running from the faucet, like…’     I thought it was funny, anyway.   The oldest asked, “Did people actually listen to this?”    I went on to talk about all the pastime activities that probably didn’t exist thousands of years before Christ, and how you had to envision people sitting by fires listening to someone tell the story.   My daughter’s response was, “I envision a bunch of people falling asleep.”    As much as I try to convey the gravity of these stories and why we read them, I had to admit this was hilarious.   We’re deep into the 400+ pages, and should wrap this up in the next few weeks at around 600 pages.   Whew!

Our son is wrapping up his last elementary Apologia series—my, how quickly they grow.   He will begin the same series with the older, twice-as-thick general science text in January.   I mentioned buying Live and Learn’s Apologia lapbook guide to help him, but I am spending the bulk of my planning time just growing into a comfort level with who each child is, how they learn, successes and shortcomings, and what all this means for me as mom and teacher.   Cathy over at Basketflat had the neatest post about finding your own voice—both in blogging and in homeschooling.   I am amazed at a mom who’s so young in her homeschooling journey having such wisdom about her studies, her children, and the God who is Lord over it all.   After seven years, I’m finally reaching that level of comfort, amidst all the theories, that says somewhere deep within, “This is who we are.”   Others may have a different testimony, but for me, that comfort level hasn’t always come easy.

The youngest has relocated to the bigger table—totally inconvenient for me, but I wouldn’t dare crush her confidence about being ready for more.    We are currently following Tanglewood’s 1^st grade reading selections, and sharing Five Children and It.    Though there is a powerful lesson here about being careful what you wish for, I have to say that this has not been one of my favorite books.   The author’s voice changes fairly regularly between telling the story in 3^rd person to talking to the reader in 2^nd person, which, I think, confuses the storyline for a 1^st grader.   There’s also the non-standard accent in which she shares exactly how townspeople react to the five lead characters.   It’s a dialect that I don’t replicate well, making the book even more difficult to share with a six-year-old.   The result is that we leave a number of parts out.   I’m looking forward to moving on to Bambi, if I can find it.   There seem to be very few copies in print of the original story.

As a business owner, I…

am still waiting on the book order.   In the meantime, I wrote a couple of articles.   I’m also praying about making the right changes for the right reasons, and I continue to edit.   My superhero is also penning some of the science/ Sunday School lessons that we’ve shared with our class over the years, and I’m editing his work, too.   Much prayer needed on where the Lord wants to take these efforts.

Well, after all of that, I did wind up finishing on Monday morning.   I just didn’t have the strength to stay up and complete the job on last night (or earlier this morning, I should say).   May the Lord bless your week as well.