Christmas

Finally, we have completed the school day that officially ends 2011.  We will pick it up again in 2012 with new ideas, new classes, and hopefully new enthusiasm. 
This year our holidays will be a little different.  Mom is celebrating in heaven.  Our family gatherings are getting fewer, making it time to start some new traditions like meeting with siblings, with cousins, with church friends, with other families that are alone and have some extra time on their hands.  Although I began thinking about this several months ago, I really hadn't come up with anything that would mark a new beginning to our holidays.   When one suffers, the entire family suffers, and this holiday we have one who is not right with life.  I thought our family would be exempt from this, but not so.  Here we are....held captive by sadness and fairly unable to celebrate with freedom.  No one can take our joy away. 
My goal for school is to find things that will continue to grow in life, so that when I trace our thoughts, our faith, our interests back to their root, we will be contented to know that they started with a very small thought, or idea, and grew into a large tree that can withstand the winds of distress, the droughts of love, and the weariness of the daily motions of life. 
Many of the roots that hold me today began in the past twenty years of reading, thinking, reasoning, contemplating, wrestling with a situation I didn't want in my life; I wonder where my thoughts of today will lead.
He is able to do all that I cannot do, all to a purpose, all to His glory.  Amazing.

Back to School

In a few days I will be starting my 20th year of home schooling.  I wasn't sure I'd make it one year at first, and then with fear and trepidation I went at it a-year-at-a-time for several years before finally committing to home schooling for all the way through twelfth grade.  What helped me make that decision?  I was hard-pressed:  what other reasonable options were there?!  I was unimpressed:  I was looking for good results in our outside options...and found them worse than I first imagined.  Pride.  Self-absorbed.  Unforgiving.  Condemning.  Greedy.  Small-minded.  Could I do worse than these?  If God is for us, who can be against us?  Putting aside my options, I pressed ahead for the goal. 

Psalm 40:4-5  Blessed is the man who makes the LORD his trust, who does not look to the proud, to those who turn aside to false gods.  Many O LORD my God, are the wonders You have done.  The things You planned for us no one can recount to You; were I to speak and tell of them, they would be too many to declare.

So, what is on the curriculum page for this year?

• High School Chemistry
• Statistics
• Writing and Speaking
• World War II History based literature
• Shakespeare
• Church History
• Poetry
• Architecture and Art
• and other books for a full range of ideas

All this is with my son that wasn't ready to learn until about 5th grade, and didn't read or spell well until 10th grade!  O, the faithfulness of God and the results of perseverance! 

19 Hard Earned Lessons in 19 Years of Homeschooling

Things I have learned because I homeschool:

1. how to prepare a lesson
2. how to slow down and enjoy the moment
3. how to formulate thoughts into an opinion
4. how to pray for others
5. how to recognize the difference between disobedience and needing some space
6. how to let my kids run with a subject that I'm slowing them down on
7. how to prioritize my days
8. that I need to have my quiet time each day- not minutes, but hours.
9. that my children will be grown and gone before I figure life out
10. choosing to love the friends I have, when I can't choose who my friends will be
11. life is really very simple
12. I will always be a learner
13. I like Shakespeare, classical music and history
14. I understand math...and it helps me understand God
15. I love words, books, lists, and ideas
16. who I am, when I am at my worst, is actually who I am
17. foundational joy is more valuable than being the life of the party
18. serious conversations are satisfying...whether with a four year old or an adult
19. I wouldn't trade my scars and the knowledge that came with them for an easier life

 

It's Snowing...and snowing...and snowing!

We are home for Christmas this year afterall! The snow started to pile up yesterday, and today it is snowing again. The storm is supposed to last days! We opened gifts last night with Seth, Mary, Bryce and Brennan. It was so fun! After our family picture, we ate snacky-type foods, and then savored the gift-opening for a couple of hours. So nice. More later on the storm.

Soon These Days Will be Memories

Today is the day to enjoy whatever we are doing, for tomorrow that opportunity is no longer here. What keeps us from enjoying our "present"? For me, it's my thoughts about the future!

"A sluggard does not plow in season; so at harvest time he looks but finds nothing."
Proverbs 20:4.