Winter is hard for me.  January and February always seem to be the most difficult to plow through.  Yesterday, I had one of those moments when hope glimmers and you can see that winter doesn't last forever.

DD6 finished with ballet class and we all exited the building.  For a while now, we've been leaving her class in the dark.  The first night that happened, I remember feeling that sense of 'ugh'.  Last night, when we left, there was still some daylight in the sky!  Not bright sun, mind you.  But, light nonetheless.  It surprised me and I felt a surge of hope.  Spring WILL come.  Long days of darkness really don't last forever.  I can keep going.

Right now, the sun is peeking through my window for a brief moment.  Oh, the feeling of light.  How much you miss it when it isn't there.  And how we take it for granted when it is.  I'll just soak in each of those little sun-peek moments and store them up until we get more regular appearances.

I have been struck by something lately.  I am amazed at how quickly my 5 month old dd is growing.   Five months ago she was able to do so little.  Today, she pushes with her arms when she is on her tummy and gets her chest all the way off the floor.  And she is scooting!

It didn't happen overnight. 

What strikes me is how the movements they make at each stage of development are getting them ready for the next stage.  At one point, it took a lot of effort to lift her head up off that blanket when she was having tummy time.  So, we'd put her on her tummy a few minutes at a time.  But, you know, every time she lifted that head, she was growing stronger.  Next time, it was a little easier.

All of that kicking and wiggling in the early months is building muscle in the arms and legs.   And she doesn't even know she's doing it.

Now, every time she pushes her chest up off the floor, she is giving those arms a workout.  All the better to crawl with, my dear!

Now, I think all of this is sinking into my thinking because of my own goals.  I really want to add some strength training to my routine.  Exercise, too, for that matter.  It is funny, but strength training really doesn't require a huge amount of time each day.  Even 10 minutes a day is enough to make a big difference in our fmuscles.  It just takes a little bit at a time.  But, it takes consistency.

Why wouldn't I be willing to take a few extra minutes a day to become stronger?

What other areas can this apply to?  How about Bible reading?  This is another area I want to strengthen.  Sometimes, the absence of an uninterrupted chunk of time causes me to do no reading at all.  Wouldn't a little bit each day be better than none at all?

Something to think about.  What other things could we be doing today that would make us stronger tomorrow?

Do you ever learn things just from listening to what you tell your children?   It happens to me every once in a while.

On Monday, it happened as I was talking to a discouraged daughter.  She has some learning struggles.  On this particular day, she was working on spelling.  We've been working daily on phonics rules, and these spelling words were applying some of the rules we've been working on.  She was forgetting to apply some of the things she'd been working on.

I could see her begin to droop.  'Why can't I remember these?  Why am I not good at this?'  I reminded her to just keep going and think ahead to the next word.  By the time she finished and sat down, I could see her discouragement in the form of the tears running down her cheek.

I reminded her that she is still learning, and that she is doing fine.  I told her it was all right if she didn't remember everything every day.  I was telling her not to let a few mistakes keep her from moving forward and working on the next subject on our agenda.  'Put it behind you and keep moving ahead to the next thing.'

As I was talking to her, I realized I was talking to myself, too.  Be it a new schedule, keeping up with the house, exercise goals, Bible reading, or anything else.  I need to remember not to give up after one bad day.  But, instead, to pick up right where I left off the next day.  Keep getting back up on the horse. 

Yes, I tend to think in the same exact way my daughter was thinking.  After one missed day, I tell myself, "I can't.'  I want to throw up my hands and give up.  But, it is so important to keep moving forward.  I know it gets quoted a lot, but it is still a good truth to ponder for our daily responsibilities and ambitions in the home:

"Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.  Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it.  But one thing I do:  Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus."  Phillipians 3:12-14

My husband was reading a copy of our homeschool support group newsletter the other night.  After finishing, he commented on how good it was to be reminded of that academics aren't the 'only' thing in homeschooling.  The article talked about how much learning is happening through just living life with our kids.   Then, my husband reminded me that much of what our kids learn isn't going to be measured on any test - but WILL be recognized one day by the One who can give rewards that truly last.

This was such a good reminder.  After a season of worrying about how one of our children was doing academically, it is good to remember what other qualities are being 'measured' - if you will.  While this one child may struggle with certain academic areas, she also has the most willing helper-heart of anyone in the family.  She is always looking out for others and is a wonderful caretaker of younger children.  These outward fruits of a tender-hearted child will one day be what is recognized.  On that day, it won't really matter how long it took to learn to spell word XYZ, or at what age multiplication was introduced.

It is good to make our best effort in teaching our kids, and to always encourage them to keep striving as well.  But, it is good to keep it in perspective, too.  It is far too easy for homeschooling moms to get discouraged and feel like we are not measuring up to some 'imaginary standard'.  On those days, we need to take a deep breath and remember to focus on what is important.

"Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord,

 because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain."

I Corinthians 15:59b

"Let us not become weary in doing good,

for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up."

Galatians 6:9

Today, we had to step back briefly with a couple of my children.  I caught some errors in these two childrens' work yesterday that showed they hadn't fully caught on to some of the things we had been working on in math.  So today, we backed up slightly and reviewed those troublesome areas.  (Different areas for each child)  And we will keep going over it until I'm sure their lightbulbs have fully lit!

I was thinking last night how wonderful it is that we are able to do adjust what we are doing to fit what the children need.   I have had times, like today, when it was necessary to step back and go over what we've been working on.  I've also had times when we side-step and take a completely different approach to the same concept - as in using totally different material until we find an approach that really makes sense for that child.  I've also chosen to completely drop a topic for a while, only to return to it a few months later, when the child has hit a point where they are suddenly able to understand it.  In another direction, this year I've had a child who easily grasped certain material.  In that case, we have been able to skip redundant pages and move through the concepts at a quicker pace.

It seems so natural to approach learning this way.  I'm glad we are able to follow the ebb and flow of their understanding and adjust accordingly.  Thinking about it just made me feel thankful for that opportunity. 

I was loading the dishwasher with the hub-bub of the house happening all around me.  Prior to entering the kitchen, I had to weave my way through cardboard 'boats' being captained by children 'floating' down the hallway 'river'.  The staircase landing, I was told, was the dock.  There was even a poster taped to the hallway wall announcing a "dock party" at 6:00.  

Toward the end of my kitchen clean-up, we were down to two children rowing down the hallway.  Dd9 had stopped to explain something to dd4, drawing on a whiteboard to demonstrate her point.  I thought how rewarding it was for my younger ones to have the priviledge of spending the day mixing with their older siblings.  The older ones aren't away at school, they are at home, exercising their imaginations, and interacting with all of their siblings.

I glanced down at drawings my dd7 had made using pastels.  Vivid colors blended together on colored paper, creating a bright, sunny scene.  She had done these in her free time earlier today.

Yes, it is good to be home.