Daybreak

• Aug. 13, 2006 - An encouraging thought...

• Jun. 25, 2006 - Excitedly preparing!

God is so good. He leads us beside still waters, He restores our souls.  This summer I've been in the midst of a cross-country move, enjoying my second pregnancy and preparing for my son to begin first grade homeschool.  Crazy?  Yes.  But God is so good.  I was struggling with just what to do with my son in the midst of all this--He'll be six in the fall, but is he and am I ready for Ambleside YR1?  Do I agree with their choice of history layout?  Can I do it with having a baby this year?  What to do? God has led me to a great resource--LindaFay's blog--Higher Up and Further In.  Also, I've been studying online CM's Volume 6 book to get a grip on the whole philosophy.  I know God has called me to educate my son with CM's method/way.  I just haven't been sure quite how or what it will look like. As I mull and study and prepare myself, these are some things I've concluded.  I'm beginning to understand the need to "feed the mind."  And my son is ready for that and for brief narrations.  So we will start Year1 in the fall.   HOWEVER, because of how his birthday falls, and the baby arriving in December, I am planning on Year1 taking 1 1/2-2 years to complete, so we don't overwhelm ourselves.  It will also give me time to understand and work out the kinks in our homeschooltime, and for him to mature for the later academic years. I'm especially excited about how God is leading our nature study.  This year we find ourselves living in a coastal community in an amazing area of America--less than 2 hours from Point Reyes National Park, Big Sur, and Monterey, with a tide pool preserve within walking distance to our home.  We've seen pelicans and seals just in our few brief forays, and have the ability to see Elephant Seals, Sea Lions, Whales, anemonies, starfish and much more in their natural environs this year.  Can ya see where I'm going with this?  We're going to study coastal and ocean life this year!  What a once in a lifetime opportunity.  I'm not going to pass it up! Well, I've got a lot more to learn and prepare before the fall.  But I'm excited with what's ahead.

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• Jun. 12, 2006 - Mullings and Musings

Well, it's been an interesting several months. "School" has been hit-or-miss, but I think Zoomer and I are learning a lot.  One thing that was quite interesting was how reading changed over this season.  I had been working through a phonics program with him very systematically and he was progressing, but struggling and not enjoying reading.  So we backed off (a lot!) and didn't do much while we were moving (about 2 months).  Well, my sister-in-law gave him an easy reader as a gift--level two which was much more reading than he'd been used to--and he blew right through it!!!  It seems that for him, after "learning" so much phonics, his little brain needed a good season off to digest it and for the info to gel.  Now he reads those easy readers with ease!  I think we will eventually go back and finish his phonics lessons to give him a solid foundation, but for now, he's taken off. In a totally different area, I've been learning and growing, but it affects my homeschooling in a profound way.  I've always been very serious about my responsibilities, and I feel very responsible for raising my son up to be the person God created him to be, and to love and serve and worship God with his whole heart. That's an overwhelming undertaking and as we've proceeded along I've felt much fear and trepidation.  I know I'm not wise enough, creative enough, just enough, to be the mom I want to be.  So I've struggled with fear, self-doubt, and anxiety about a lot of things. Recently, I've been participating in a bible study called Believing God, by Beth Moore.  And somewhere along the line, it's becoming clearer that my problem isn't my overwhelming task, but my lack of trust in the One who gave it to me.  I'm realizing that "the cares and worries of this world", including my fears for my son's future and development and character, are like the thorns which choke the Word making it fruitless.  When I am able to trust God with it all, including showing me daily what I need to do as a mom and teacher, I don't live in fear.  And when I don't live in fear and worry, I have more energy and creativity and God's love and wisdom and power can flow much more freely through me.  How exciting!!!! I really feel like this is a major breakthrough for me, setting me free to be the homeschool mom that God has created ME to be.    Yay God! It'll be interesting to see where we go from here!

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• Apr. 22, 2006 - Homeschooling in the Whirlwind

I was so delighted to check my blog and see that a cyberfriend (Elizabeth Joy) took the time to post a comment wondering how I was since I hadn't been posting...Thanks! I have just sat down to post, since live has settled to a momentary dull roar.  It's been quite an active few months.  Not that I'm complaining.  It's all been pretty good.  Well, let me open a window on our recent life.  In March, our house was on the market, my husband had received notice that as of mid-May he wouldn't have a job, and we were rebuilding our fence from the posts up!  The following week, we got an offer on the house, my hubby had 2 West Coast job interviews, and I discovered I was pregnant!  In April we've been preparing the house for moving, deciding on a job, and trying to figure out long-distance travel plans for a dad, a dog, two gerbils, a kindergarten and a pregnant mama.  All is well!  Praise God!  We have been trying to conceive a child for 3 years--looks like all we needed was enough stress!  LOL.  Actually, prayer, a gluten-free diet, two surgeries, vitamins and yoga probably helped too!  A baby is always a miracle straight from God, in my book. So how does homeschooling fit into our life right now?  I've asked myself the same question.  I'm really glad Zoomer is 5, so the pressure isn't on me so much, especially with CM style homeschool.  We've continued some things on and off.  Cards, writing, and reading stories of the early settlers (Jamestown and Plymouth).  But mostly, he's been learning about friendship, as he's been spending a lot of time with his buddies on the street and in the neighborhood.  It's been really good as he comes home and tries to verbally process relationships.  What to do when someone is mean?  How about when friends are excluding someone and want you to also?  Things like that.  These are good lessons for an only child (soon to have a sibling!). Another lesson he's been able to observe is how his parents handle stress.  There was a lot of uncertainty there for a while and sometimes I didn't handle it so well. But through it all, I was learning and growing to trust in and believe God to take care of us, as well as give me the strength and power to do what needed to be done.  I shared my struggles--"Mommy was very grumpy because I was stressed out and not trusting God to help me."  and "I'm learning to believe God and trust Him--that helps me relax and be a loving mommy while we go through this."  and "I can't make it all better right now, but I love you, even when we're having a hard time."  And I hear him absorbing it--"We need to believe God, Mama." As well as experiencing answers to prayer and hearing us thank God for them! I am excited about some living history we will get to experience during our time of transition!  While my husband finishes the job here in TX, Zoomer and I will fly to the NorthEast to visit family and friends.  While we're there, we will visit Plimouth settlement, a reconstruction of the Mayflower, and Jamestown, Va and those ships as well.  We may even jump a century and check out Williamsburg.  I'm excited for him to be able to walk the ground and see the way those early settlers lived, bringing our history stories and studies to life.  I bought a slide-in photo album--the kind where you can write notes on the side--for Zoomer and index cards the size of photos.  We are going to make little pictures and narrations to stick in there while we travel and our visits to these places are fresh in our minds....Also, I'm thinking we can add postcards and photos and such.  The beginnings of a travel book for a little historian.  Who knows what will impact him the most?  In a month or so, we'll be in the San Francisco Bay area where nature abounds, and I'm excited to spend a few months just out in nature with him, learning to observe, be aware and just delight in God's creation again.

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• Apr. 2, 2006 - Misadventures in Roller Skating

It's easy to write about the great things that happen in our homeschooling, but it would be a false picture if that's all I wrote about.  I'd love feedback to this one, if you have positive, constructive things to say. The other day Zoomer and I went roller skating.  Now, Zoomer is 5 and 1/2 and it was his second time on skates.  It was homeschool skate session, very uncrowded, Christian music, low-key.  I wore skates and skated backwards in front of him as he "skated towards Mama."  We had a fantastic time.  The rink offers Saturday morning lessons, inexpensive, and it would be a good chance for Daddio to see Zoomer skate--Zoomer was so excited!  Before the lesson Zoomer skated to Daddio and loved it.  Then Daddio had to leave for work (overtime).  Once the lesson started he began to fall apart. It's not that it was too hard for him, it really wasn't.  But his perception was that he couldn't do it, that he was falling a lot (he wasn't) and each time they taught a new thing, he became more and more reticent and reverted to babyishness and started to fall apart.  I was encouraging him that he was doing great, I was in there saying you can do it, but it went from bad to worse.  I finally ended his lesson early (he was bawling) and took him to the car.  He was nasty and screaming at me.  I was crying because I'm hormonal and I really was surprised, I expected he would enjoy this!  He's been in group activities before--gymnastics, art, a few weeklong morning camps last summer.  He's always been fine, although he's never LOVED group activities--he's more like his dad, an introvert.  But his attitude at the roller skating lesson was terrible!  I'm thinking (after reading some developmental books about 5-6 year olds) that he's going through a stage and right now can't really handle feeling "challenged" in a group setting.  Has anyone gone through anything similar with a 5 1/2 year old?  I do plan on taking him skating again next week with just me during the homeschool skate session. No lessons though this time!

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• Mar. 25, 2006 - Spooky Forest Bayou Adventure (from Joy in the Journey Blog)

• Mar. 15, 2006 - Have School...Will Travel!

• Mar. 9, 2006 - Revolutionary Community

• Mar. 9, 2006 - A New Beginning...yet again!

• Mar. 9, 2006 - Relax.....