Weekly Homeschool Wrap-up–January 10, 2010

I’m baaacccck!  

 I was chatting with Karen for a minute on last night, and tried to pen, with onsetting fatigue (sorry, K!), how glad I was to be back on the routine of the meme.      At any rate, 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…

don’t have time to be sick!!    Nevertheless, that’s where I am, or at least, it’s where I was.   I lost my voice on New Year’s Day, and as it’s come back, it brought with it a dry cough that acts up whenever I use it too much.   Not a good time to have to teach at a brick-and-mortar campus.   My poor students are writing more so that I can save my voice, so I know they’re thrilled to be in my class right now.

As a wife and homemaker, I…

am really in love with my husband.   Not that I don’t always love him, but on some days you just feel it more than others, you know?   As we near our 18^th wedding anniversary, and as we are seeing more and more marriages crumble all around us, it’s occurring to me how special this relationship has been.   A dear sister in Christ and homeschooling friend of mine told me Sunday after service to be in prayer for her.    “My husband moved out on last summer,“ she said, “and I thought if I did nothing (as in pressing him for a decision one way or the other), he wouldn’t go through with a divorce.   He filed on last week.”   She went on to talk about how she felt as if she was losing the fight against depression, how her dream of going to nursing school would have to wait—she needs a job.   I offered what help I could, but mostly, she just wanted prayer.    As we parted, however, she talked about our marriage—the partnership that she saw, the support, and the mutual love and respect.    Though my heart hurt for her plight, I also realize what a testimony we are to those around us.   I have often said that I believe we have something special in our ability to be naked and unashamed before one another, but there are times when it hits you square in the face that you’ve been blessed.   My husband says the same when he returns from the monthly men’s meetings, in which many speak of impending separations, addictions to various destructive elements, and just plain weariness of feeling like their prayers are in vain.  There’s nothing special about us; I praise God for what we have.   Funny, my in-laws will celebrate their 50^th wedding anniversary about the time that we’re celebrating our 20^th.    My MIL doesn’t want to do anything because she doesn’t want people to know her age .    As for us, we’re planning already to do something special on this special milestone.

As a mom and homeschooling parent, I…

blew the dust off the planners and schoolbooks and got us going this morning.   I can safely say that our start was less than lackluster.   The older two (and my husband) are also in some phase of this cough/ sore throat malady that’s being passed around our home.   This incident is perhaps the epitome of our day: the youngest constantly complained about her stomach hurting.   A brief rest, an extended bathroom stay, nor a little medicine worked.   By mid-morning, her once-full stomach was empty, and the empty bathroom floor and walls were now full.   In Forrest Gump-ese, that’s all I have to say about that.

Other highlights, you ask?

Three weeks with no math for my three was a bit too long.   The oldest had to relearn how to solve for x.   

Our son couldn’t remember the rules for adding or multiplying decimals.  

The youngest struggled with subtraction, and can’t find her crayons to save her life, so she had to resort to colored pencils—they all needed sharpening.  

I think what the kids struggled with most was just getting up and moving once again.   One of their biggest treats during extended breaks is to stay up late and just hang out.   They’re not necessarily doing anything; there’s just something that feels so grown up about not being told that it’s time for bed.   Normally I would start reigning them back into somewhat of a schedule in the last week, but I felt my worst this past week, and it was all I could do to get myself to bed.    Then for some strange reason, I’d wake up in the middle of the night, and couldn’t fall asleep until almost morning, so I’d sleep until 10 a.m. or after each morning.   The same thing happened on last night, but I had to get up this morning.   So like I said, we all needed some propping up.      Somehow, we still managed to finish relatively early and even enjoy our reading of the back-and-forth riddle exchange between Gollum and Bilbo Baggins of The Hobbit.

Oh, did I mention the emergency trip to the library?    During the Christmas break, I returned Tales of a Korean Grandmother to our public library thinking that I’d avoid any potential late fees by just checking it out once again right before school.   So today when our son sits down to read, he says, “Do you know where my book is?”    After mentally giving myself a rap across the old noggin, I said, “Yes, son, I sure do.”    Hilarious.   I wonder if anyone else ever has those moments where they’re just a little too ahead of the game—even for themselves.

As a business owner, I…

continue edits on the elementary series.   I’ve wrapped up what needs to be done, so it’s just a matter of putting the remaining items to paper.    My graphic designer has disappeared.   Not good.     I’ll be speaking at two virtual conferences for A Woman Inspired this year, and I’m very excited about that.    I also wrote an article, and am busily penning and preparing for another next month.

  May the Lord bless your week as well.