The Best-Laid Plans

Hooray! All of the homeschooling books and materials are finally here. My best-laid plans are made. The notebooks are organized. The school room is on its way to being finished and ready with the correct books on the shelves, while I weed out a few extraneous things as I settle finally on what we will use this year in our studies.

I have high hopes for the coming school year, like I do every year. This year, though I have put much more time into planning, and my biggest goal for the year is to bring more diligence to our daily work. Diligence in myself is going to be the biggest hurdle of all, I think.  I know that our plans will not be followed to the letter, since there really is never a "typical" week with four children all learning at home, a pastor's unpredictable schedule, and the knowledge that there will be areas where we will have to re-evaluate and make adjustments to our plans.  But, grace.

With grace and diligence at the forefront of my mind, here are my grand plans for the coming year.

Morning Time

I've been doing a lot of reading and listening to podcasts about adding a regular morning time with the children all together to do the things that instill honor, beauty, and truth into our hearts.  So we will begin each day with a rotating basket-full of things to do together.

Bible reading
Poetry memorization using IEW's Linguistic Development through Poetry Memorization
Working through A Midsummer Night's Dream using How to Teach Your Children Shakespeare, and moving on to other Shakespeare plays as we finish.
Artist and Musician Studies
Nature Walks


The Eighth-Grader

Our eighth-grade son will continue his work on becoming more diligent in his studies, while also delving deeper into his areas of passion.  He is a big chemistry buff, so he will finish working through Ellen McHenry's The Elements and Carbon Chemistry.  And he is currently reading some works of fiction about an element hunter named Itch.

He will continue using the Life of Fred series for mathematics. He is about mid-way through Beginning Algebra, and will move on to Advanced Algebra when he finishes that.  We may revisit the Elementary Physics book as well, if he finishes his chemistry work early.

He will be focusing on the Middle Ages in history this year, using the resources from History Odyssey for the logic stage.

He will begin a high-school vocabulary textbook and move away from simply spelling words, as well as continuing his study of Latin using First Form Latin from Memoria Press.  We will also use Fix-It Grammar from IEW to reinforce grammar and good writing form with the two older kids working together.

We will also spend the first semester working hard at the free Mensa for Kids writing resource, aiming for competence in writing essays and reports.

The second semester will be spent delving into logic using the resource The Art of Argument. (Though I'm not sure I want to teach him to argue any more than he already does!)

He will continue his study of martial arts, specifically Shuri-Ryu Karate and Weapons classes, as well as some reading on the topic and working on learning more Japanese. (We may ask for Uncle Marc's help, here!)  He will also attend the local middle school every day to play trombone with the eighth-grade band.

The Fourth/Fifth-Grader

Our almost-ten-year-old daughter will be working this year on continuing the basics, and moving into more in-depth studies.  She will be doing her first year of in-depth history study of the Middle Ages, also using History Odyssey, but at the grammar level.

Science will be done together with her younger sister, studying zoology and anatomy using Elemental Science's living book series called Sassafras Science.  I'm pretty sure she will take a detour to spend some extra time on marine mammals, since that is one of her passions.

She will begin using the Phonetic Zoo for spelling, work with her brother on the IEW grammar books, and continue daily writing assignments while she works diligently to master the basics of language.

She will begin the upper-level Life of Fred math books beginning with Fractions. She's a mathy girl, so I believe she'll work quickly through them.

She will continue competitive swimming through the Toledo YMCA. She has made some great friends, and is in excellent condition from all that time in the pool!

The First-Grader

Our seven-year-old will continue to build upon her basic skills, focusing on reading fluency by reading lots of fun books together.  She will probably begin formal spelling this year, but we won't be sure which resources we will use until we try a couple to see which fits best between All About Spelling and Spelling Workout.  She will finish the second half of Peace Hill Press's First Language Lessons.  We still use the older version that is a non-consumable book containing the first two years of grammar basics.

She will begin Math U See Alpha this year, with the hope that using more hands-on manipulatives and video instruction will help get her over the hump with basic math.

We will add in studies in Middle Ages history with The Story of the World, and working with her older sister on life science activities.

She will also continue taking karate lessons like her brother, but is still at the age where we like to let them experiment with different extracurriculars to find the one that they like best.


It sounds like a lot, and it is!  You can see, though, that as each child gets older and more capable of independent work, we can add more and still enjoy time together in the afternoons before the evening rush to activities begins.

Monday is the day!  Here's to the best school year we can have.

Grace, Grace, Grace

   There's nothing like opening my dusty blog titled, "Growing in Grace" to start a new school year with high hopes for resurrecting this space, only to remember suddenly that I have a son who needed to be picked up at the high school!  Grace, grace. I made it on time just to see him walking out the door. Grace, grace.

   Normally, I would have been beating myself up for my forgetful, distracted ways, but today, I chose grace.  Really.  This is a new thing.  Maybe I am growing. I'm not saying that I shouldn't set myself an alarm every day so I don't do it again, but today I chose to remember that it's only the second day of this new schedule, that it's totally OK not to be perfect.  I am working on that perfection idea. God doesn't ask me to be perfect, just to be faithful.

    This is not the post I came here to write.  I came to write up my plan for the coming homeschool year.  And I will do that.  I will do it imperfectly.  The school year will not go perfectly according to my hard work of planning the curricula, the schedule, the speed at which we will move and learn.  And hopefully, I will continue to choose grace for myself and for my children as we begin this year with a first-grader, fifth-grader and eighth-grader.  Grace, grace, grace.

   If you're looking for encouragement for the coming homeschool season, you must read the book Teaching from Rest by Sarah Mackenzie.  It is transforming my thinking about teaching my children.

Restart

Here goes nothing. Years ago, I started this blog, hoping that I would have some helpful things to say and that someone might read them and find them edifying.  Obviously, I couldn't keep up with it.  So, here I am again a few years and one more child later, trying to restart.  Currently, I'm really looking for a way to keep track of what our children are doing in their home learning. I am honestly horrible about writing down and keeping track of what we do each day. Since, I usually hop on the computer anyway, I thought it might be handy to just keep track here, and maybe someone else will enjoy seeing what we are doing.

I'm hoping that this will be a mix of our homeschooling life (crazy as it is), my thoughts on parenting and home-keeping, and ponderings on theology and faith.  I miss writing on a regular basis; and I hope that this will start to be a nice outlet for this stay-at-home mom.

Light

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

John 1:5

In these short, short days of winter, when there is so much more darkness than light, we stop. We ponder. We wonder at the mystery of the unimaginable light of God coming into the world, covered in skin and bones and hair and that sweet, sweet newborn baby smell. We stop to consider the great love of our Creator who loves the creation so much that he sent his only Son into the darkness to bring about everlasting light among the people.

Come, Lord Jesus, come. Usher in the final coming of your Light, when we will no longer need sun or moon or stars, but only the glow of your face. Illumine our hearts to bear your light to this world in all that we do. Come, Lord Jesus, come.

Humble Parenting

Mark 9 (NRSV)

³⁵[Jesus] sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, “Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.” ³⁶Then he took a little child and put it among them; and taking it in his arms, he said to them, ³⁷“Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me.”

So today, as I read the new Advent-Nativity devotional book that Matt gave me as an early gift, the above passage was part of the Gospel reading. Somehow, as many times as I’ve read and heard these verses, I never really put verses 35-37 together in my mind. Somehow they always seemed separate to me. You know, if you want to be first, then be a servant. OK. Got that. (Not that I do it all that well, but I understand, you know?) Then, it seemed like a separate thing to me…welcome everyone in Jesus’ name, even little children. Well, that seems obvious. Who wouldn’t want to welcome children, right?

Here’s the thing, though. When I read it this morning, I thought about what it means to be a mother in Jesus’ eyes. It’s putting myself even after my children. Serving THEM means welcoming them. It means being last, even behind my children. In my sinful, false-martyr-like mind, I often hear myself saying, “When do I get to…” Fill in the blank: eat a hot dinner, have a career that gains me some kind of recognition, get to sleep a whole night without waking up, wear nice clothes that don’t have rice krispies stuck to them, have a house that is clean and tastefully decorated, worship without having to leave the sanctuary with a child screaming for Elmo, and the list goes on and on and on and… Wow, I really do think about myself way too much.

What would it look like if instead, I spent my mental energy in prayer and humility, asking how I can serve Jesus by serving my children instead of wondering when I get my share. The faces of my children are the faces of the God who loves and who not only gave up a hot meal, but gave up his glory and honor to come into this world as…a child. I imagine Mary, nursing her newborn baby, chasing after him as a toddler, searching for him when he was in the Temple, all the while serving humbly the God of the Universe.

So, I’m going to pray for the humility and patience I need to remember that in serving my own family, I am serving the God of the Universe. I might not miss that hot dinner quite so much…

Keeping the Sabbath

So, I’ve been doing some thinking and praying about what it really means for a mother to keep the Sabbath.  As a stay-at-home mother to three beautiful, energetic, and often needy children, I struggle over how exactly it is that I can cease my work for a day each week.  On Sundays, I groggily roll out of bed a full hour or so earlier than usual, drag myself to the shower thinking about the coming hour during which I will try to keep the three of them in the pew, quiet, not dropping something loudly which will roll down the sloped floor to the front of the sanctuary, not scream in frustration with the brother or sister who is bugging them, not expose myself while trying to nurse the youngest (Seriously, who can get out of the sanctuary to nurse privately when you’re solo with three young children?), not draw on the hymnal, not throw the cheerios on the floor and then step on them, not draw Pokemon characters when I’d rather have him focusing on the worship service…and on, and on, and on. 

 

After contemplating (read: dreading) all of this, I have to wake them up.  My children are not morning people.  I hear my friends saying that their children wake up happily at 6am ready for the day.  That does not happen in our house (thankfully, since I am not a morning person, either).  I have tried to think of gentle ways of waking them on Sundays, trying to make the day’s happenings more appealing so they’ll want to get out of bed and get dressed.  I have finally resorted to bribery with frozen waffles (only available on Sunday mornings here) and TV while they get dressed. 

 

Needless to say, all of these happenings before 7:45am do not in any way seem to me as though I am ceasing my work.  Actually, it seems an increase of it the vast majority of the time.  In the last year, I also began fasting on Sunday mornings until after the Eucharist, a discipline I have grown to love, but which can also make me more crabby than usual.  But this one thing, this one small thing of purposely not eating or drinking anything until I’ve partaken of THE feast has made my Sunday stand a bit more apart from the rest of my week.  It has helped me to focus on just why it is that I put myself and my children through this nutty Sunday morning ritual.  It’s because I am hungry.  I am hungry for communion with God and the communion of saints.  I am hungry for peace and deep, meaningful worship.  I am hungry for connection with my husband and children.  I am hungry for a slower, simpler life.

 

I am so not there yet.  I have so far to go in this journey. I have a lot to learn about preparing for the Sabbath so that I can actually rest, as God intends as a gracious gift and way of life.  But I figure, if I can continue to change just one little thing at a time, praying for grace and help from God all along the way, I will at least be on the way (The Way?) toward living as God commands us, a people who know that God is God and we are not.  My dirty kitchen will have to wait; it’s a day of rest to the LORD.

Slowing Down Time

Well, we did it. We celebrated our baby's first birthday. We made it through the early days of getting to know this new little stranger in the house. We made it through the bleary-eyed days following the long sleepless nights. We made it through 6 months of me living dairy-free, and without ice cream, Mama is not a happy camper. We made it through one week of hell when we feared for her life while she battled a dangerous strain of influenza in the intensive care unit. We made it through the myriad worries of a mother concerned over every bite of new foods she ate, every new milestone reached on time or late, every new tooth, and every encounter with her older siblings who think she's more of a toy than a complete human being.

I never knew, before having children, that making it through each and every day was a victory, that just marking the passing of time was an accomplishment. A member of our congregation recently celebrated his 100th birthday, and Matt and I were talking about what you say to someone who has reached that elusive milestone birthday. "Congratulations for still being here!" "You're still breathing! Hooray!" But seriously, those are the things I want to say to our dear daughter. We made it, baby girl! Hooray!

And aren't we all thankful for that? That we are each still breathing, still here, still alive and kicking... I am so grateful for every day that I have another chance to do things right, even though on every other day I've messed something up. Another day to pray for faithfulness and for good work. Another year to grow and serve. Another decade to become more of what God has intended for us: to be in relationship with Jesus and with one another.

So, thank God that we are all still here, still breathing, and alive in Christ. Now, if only he could slow down time a little...