I'm very frustrated because I can't get the Cutest Blog on the Block backgrounds to work with the changes that have been made to Blogger. Technology has passed me by. Now I know how my mom feels. Not fun.
We have finished 4 weeks of homeschooling this year. These first 4 weeks have been much better than last year. The main reason for the improvement is simple. Bill has been praying for me and I've been praying for me. Thankfully, I have found when I ask God for help, he gives it.
The first thing most people say when I tell them we homeschool is, "I don't have the patience for that." Well, guess what....I don't either, but praise the Lord for giving us what we need when we ask. I have this handy dandy homeschool planner. It has a lot of stuff in it I never use. Before school started this year I ran across some words of wisdom entitled, "5 Things I'd Wish I'd Known Before I Started Homeschooling" by Heidi St. John. I don't think I read the whole thing but what my eyes landed on was exactly what I needed to read. Here is the quote, "If I could start over (which I can, each year, by the way!), I would have spent more time praying and preparing for the manner in which I would be known for teaching our children rather than the method I chose. At the end of the day, our kids remember much more about how I taught them rather than what I taught them." That was profound for me. My tears were flowing as my thoughts backtracked over the past year. I certainly did not want to make the same mistakes another year. There had been too much yelling which resulted in crying children which was just plain terrible. I told Bill what I had read and that I had to be different this year in order for this to work. I knew the girls didn't enjoy having me as a teacher and I can't say I blame them. We still have the occasional moment when they say, "Here comes mean mama," and I ask them to examine the behavior they were exhibiting that was tempting mean mama to rear her ugly head. Then they get the drift and we move past that point without the drama.
The second thing people say is, "Why are you homeschooling?" There are many reasons, but to sum it up, right now we feel it will give our children a great Christ centered education and at the same time we have control of our own schedule. Are we doing this forever? Only time will tell.
It is the hardest job I've ever signed on to, but there are some things I really love about it. So I'll list some that I can refer to when we are having a subpar day.
Things I love about homeschooling:
- We read books that support our Christian worldview in every subject
- Praying with them
- Not having to rush my children out of the house every morning to be at a place that feels like an institution, earlier than they would ever wake up on their own because the government and society decided it should be that way
- Getting to be the one to answer their questions about everything under the sun
- We don't have to worry about getting homework done at night when we really just want to hang out together or play sports
- Not having to complete crazy projects assigned by teachers who know it is just going to be done by the parent in the end
- We can spend time with our out of state relatives when it works for them to come visit without worrying about going over the 5 day excused absence limit
- Learning right along with my children about this wonderful world God created, saying, "Wow" at the same time over new cool things we never knew before
- Watching them have imaginative play, something there wasn't much time for with a traditional school schedule
- Field trips to places that are not crowded
- Getting to have lunch with my children every day
- Hugs, Kisses and lots of laughs
- Reading out loud to them on cozy couches everyday
- Not having to wonder if some crazy person is going to target my chid's school today for some unspeakable evil plot
- Sleeping in a little later on Thursday because we were at church late on Wednesday night
Bill's requirement is for me to blog once a week. And I learned the hard way, the most important requirement for myself is to spend time with the Father each day, so He can prepare me for the job He has given me. It truly is a blessing. They grow up so fast and I'm blessed to have this precious time with them, right now.
