The Stuff of Life

After being sick all last weekend, I had a busy week catching up from behind. I have been trying to reestablish our “anchors” so that things can run somewhat smoothly even if something unexpected comes along. (Anchors are those things that remain the same every day, day in and day out.) It has gone okay. The kids are finding that they have a lot more free time than they realized was available to them. This is so different than the survival mode we’re used to when The Dad is away.

Dub received a word of encouragement from his guitar teacher the other day. When he arrived for his lesson, one of the first things his teacher asked was how much practice time he got in since the previous lesson. Dub said, “Not very much. I think I only practiced about twice.” I didn’t catch what the teacher said, but I did catch what he said later, after he and Dub played one of the pieces Dub was supposed to have practiced. He said, “Wow. I would give you an A on that, if I gave grades! If you had told me you practiced every day, I would’ve believed you!” That was really nice to hear. He didn’t have a great practice week last week, but in general, he has been practicing more consistently, and it shows.

One of the things I’ve been trying to emphasize with the boys, something that has been sadly lacking for way too long, is the fact that God has a plan for each of them, and they need to work hard so they can be ready to do whatever it is that He has for them. You might be amazed at the difference in attitudes when I remind them of the eternal perspective. They are no longer striving after things that aren’t going to matter in a hundred years, but are more contentedly working toward something that has eternal value. I have got to work on helping them keep that perspective in focus. I’m not sure when I slacked off on that, but I did, and now I pray that God will help me get back on track. Time is going so fast and before I know it, these men-in-training will be all grown up and these prime opportunities will be gone. But let’s move on to slightly less heavy things …

Some of us in this family have weight issues. A while back, I had a great menu/grocery shopping/cooking system that worked well for us. Somehow we got into shopping in such a way that I can’t make a menu ahead of time. Women who are more culinarily talented than I could throw a two week menu together in 5 minutes, but I am not one of those women, so, when someone in this house decides to try to improve upon what works for me in the kitchen, that usually throws things into a state of chaos, and several waistlines tend to suffer. Tomorrow, I’m going to sit down and straighten this mess out. [whine] Oh, how I hate almost everything involved in meal planning with food issues! It’s soooo confusing and frustrating and discouraging and haaaaaaard!! [/whine]

I can’t remember, at this late hour in which I can hardly keep my eyes open, if I’ve shared about my attempt to read through the Bible in a year. If not, this time I’m using The Daily Bible. It is a chronological reading of the Bible. The format is similar to a “regular” book. Each chapter and verse is not numbered the way that it is in most Bibles, but the references are for a range of verses and are located in the margins next to the corresponding passages. There is some commentary and background information within each day’s reading for added insight.

Most Bible reading plans that get through the whole Bible in a year have the reader reading from 3 or 4 different books of the Bible each day. The Daily Bible sticks with the chronology and doesn’t skip around. For me, this has been a really good thing. In the past, I have had a very hard time sticking with Bible reading plans that have you read from multiple books at once. Maybe it’s just me, but I like the way The Daily Bible is set up, in that it’s read like a book, and I highly recommend it.

It seems like there was something else, but I’m going cross eyed, so I’ll just have to share whatever profound and utterly important thing it was some other time.

Good night!

Homeschooling Blogs

Here’s a great blog title:  Anecdotal Evidence.  It seems interesting.  I look forward to clicking around there when I’m wide awake.

I appreciate the idea behind this post on the Life Without School blog. I tend to panic when I look at what every other homeschooler on the face of the earth is doing.  I struggle regularly with bouts of feeling inferior when I hear about what everyone else is doing or when a curriculum catalog comes in the mail.  I really appreciate the Shay quote (Shay of Anecdotal Evidence), “There are no educational emergencies.”  I think everyone would do well to know that, especially those who would teach boys, who learn at a different pace in general than girls and born geniuses.  They’re just plain wired differently.  While I don’t agree that we should be quite so … child-led and maybe … hmmm … “blown and tossed by the wind”, I agree with the idea that there is no urgency to teach academics to kids who enjoy learning.  I have squelched my child’s desire to learn from an early age and now that he is in his teen years, I have to admit to a regular feeling of panic regarding his education.  We’re rehabilitating, though, and trying to be more God led instead of constantly comparing our homeschool with that of the Jonses.

Tomorrow when I am wide awake, I hope to read Waiting for Unschooling to Work.  Relaxed homeschoolers or unschoolers, feel free to read it for me and post a summary.

The First Day of School

… for everyone else, anyway. Poor saps! I can remember the mornings of all of those first days of school and only one of them was pleasant, and then I arrived at school.

We have been going at a fairly steady clip for a couple of chunks of the summer with a tonsillectomy in the middle. We didn’t accomplish as much as I had hoped over all but there was improvement in a couple of significant areas so I’m pleased with our starting point today.

This morning was a beautiful, sunshiny morning. It was a pleasant 72 degrees and there was a slight breeze. It was definitely one of those mornings when I was reminded of the sweetness of central air and ceiling fans.

We have been working throughout the summer, as I already said, but today was the first day of No More Goof Off Days until the public schools’ regularly scheduled Goof Off Days. We’re hoping for next summer to be free of catch-up work if we stick with the p.s. schedule.

Today was most decidedly free of Goofing Off for the most part. I was very proud of these kids. Nobody was really jumping at the chance to do schoolwork but they recognize that there is freedom when the work is finished. Attitudes were great if enthusiasm was lacking and everyone stayed on task. Mostly.

Highlights

The Little Guy, we’ll call him *Gabe, started out the day doing my quiet time with me. He has been very interested in some spiritual things lately and we have had some interesting discussions. He was talking to his Dad about the Big Bang Theory yesterday and then he brought up aliens with me. (No, I do not think there are aliens, but that’s for another post.) We didn’t really discuss much this morning but he sat and listened. (We read John 8.) I treasure those times. These kids are growing up so fast. Two out of three are almost as tall as or taller than I am.

I have Dub helping Gabe with Spanish. They are so funny! They work together for about 45 minutes to an hour on Rosetta Stone and they get downright theatrical about it. Dub has been good about helping Gabe get his pronunciation down. Dub is very … dedicated to get certain things “just so”, so he is a good fit to tutor Gabe while I get Homer on to other things.

Homer worked really hard on the subject that “so easily besets” him. I think the tonsillectomy did what we had hoped it would do and he is not [I meant NOW] sleeping well and that is effecting his concentration. He did a great job and there is a bright light at the end of the mathematical tunnel.

*That is his real name.

We were finished with school stuff by 5:00 and the boys were thrilled to have free time. It was a good and productive day.

After dinner, I attempted to make some popcorn balls but that didn’t turn out. I wonder if I’ll ever figure out the whole confectionery boiling thing. *sigh* Oh well. The kids liked it. I guess that’s what matters since it was for them as a reward for jobs well done.

Now to do it again tomorrow, only better.

Feeling Overwhelmed?

I sure have been lately. It seems like all I can see is everything that I do wrong. I have gotten into the habit of looking inward rather than upward. That can be a real drain on anyone, but the Christian has no business taking her eyes of Jesus. I worry a lot and don’t trust God to take care of things. I feel like I have failed in a couple of areas and it has been weighing me down. I came across the following passages this morning and was reminded that it ain’t over ’til it’s over; God’s reach does not stop just short of me.

Romans 8:31-39

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us?

He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?

Who will bring a charge against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies;

who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us

Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril or sword?

Just as it is written, ” For Your sake we are being put to death all day long; We were considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”

But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us.

For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is n Christ Jesus our Lord.

Philippians 1:6

For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.

The Vernal Equinox

Spring is here!  Yay!!! Whether or not it snows again makes little difference to me.  The days are going to be longer than the nights now!!  Woo hoo!!!

In honor of such a fabulous occasion, here are several links to information about the Vernal Equinox (in the northern hemisphere “when night and day are nearly the same length and Sun crosses the celestial equator (i.e., declination 0) moving northward”).

Vernal Equinox - from Eric Weisstein’s World of Astronomy     The above quote in parentheses is taken from this site.

Rite of Spring  I have wondered how it is decided which Sunday Easter will be on.  Now I know.  This site says that Easter is always on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the Vernal Equinox.  Interesting.

Standing an Egg on End During the Vernal Equinox   I’ve heard since I was a kid that you could do this on this day.  Read more about this myth here.

Genesis 1:14-19

14 And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years, 15 and let them be lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth.” And it was so. 16 God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. 17 God set them in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth, 18 to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19 And there was evening, and there was morning—the fourth day.

Genesis 8:22

22 “As long as the earth endures,
seedtime and harvest,
cold and heat,
summer and winter,
day and night
will never cease.”