Mar. 21, 2007
March Catalog Madness
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Its the time of year when catalogs arrive and the imaginings of next year seem so much more possible than the reality of this year. Highly intuitive, I find the planning, imagining, and visualizing our home-school much easier and exciting than actually making sure grammar, bed-making, and long division are learned. The catalogs and wonderful books almost never address sibling squabbling, getting out of bed struggles, or the constant pull of the internet community over our own children. Each family schooling at home deals with their own unique challenges and dynamics, I'm sure. Mine involve more boys than girls, a strong reader and a weak reader, and at least six years of difference in academic levels of work between the oldest and the youngest. Working with this reality looks a number of different ways, none of which I really like. When we work together, the oldest isn't as challenged. When we don't, he works alone and while the work is completed, I'm not sure it's enjoyed. And I find myself stretched between trying to teach the five-year old to count in 5s to 100 with chocolate chips, dealing with my extremely bright but struggling eight-year old's frustration levels, and following the 11-year olds narration and fascination with electro-magnetism. Some days, its exhausting and far from the imagining of dynamic history lessons with colored time-line figures, cuddling during long reads of Little House books, and deep Bible discipleship. Part of our reality is that "school", the academic subjects aren't given enough time which I think means MORE discipline and LESS involvement in other things...neither of which are my natural strengths. However, I will say, its amazing how grading lousy high school writing motivates me to tackle grammar each day. Happy 38th birthday to me! This Friday Plays with Fire and I are getting out of town together, the same weekend BOTH sets of grandparents decided to leave town (how could they?). Between the three children and two nights we've coordinated with four families which means in order for the two of us to get away, twenty-two people need to stay healthy. That's worth a prayer, don't you think? |
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Mar. 26, 2007 - Happy Birthday!!
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