Another summer is slipping away, while a new school year has now begun (and Sophie is still holding the Preschool sign. Next year... kindergarten!) The summer has flown all too quickly with little accomplished projects to show for it. Yet time has been well spent meeting new friends, catching up with old ones, road tripping with my girls, and simply enjoying the lazy days of summer. No regrets.
As we begin our sixth year of homeschooling, I'm still just as terrified as the first. Over the summer, feelings of guilt, second guessing myself, and rethinking much of our curriculum and our schedule has consumed my mind. Homeschooling is hard, but there is nothing sacred about it. There is not an extra measure of patience given to those of us who choose this nor a shiny halo over our heads. This is just a choice our family has made for now.
It can become mundane and we get stuck doing it the way we started or just because we've always done it that way. But I've discovered by allowing the mundane to consume me, I lose my joy in teaching my children. Homeschooling is a gift. It is daily growing alongside our children. It is finding beauty at the breakfast table and eating lunch outside with great men and women of history. It's talking about Jesus and those who are spreading the Word in His name.
My baby is no longer a baby. That hurts my heart, yet excites me to have a house full of big girls. She loves doing school alongside her older sisters, but grows weary quickly. So my goal is to be much more prepared on a weekly basis to not just entertain her, but encourage and enable her to grasp the beginnings of learning to read.
My little middle is starting off on the right foot this year. I pray daily that she'll grasp some concepts that we struggled over last year and that I will have enough patience and discernment to challenge her, yet cultivate a love for learning.
My girls have grown so big and time is passing all too quickly. My oldest reminds me often that middle school is on the horizon. I'm not exactly sure how that changes her daily life, but it does thrill her to think of going to youth group soon. Our study of North Carolina as well as East Asia excites both of us and I look forward to watching her skills refine in many areas in the upcoming year.
Even though I woke up on the wrong side of the bed on our first day back, God quickly changed my moodiness to a measure of peacefulness through the thoughtfulness of others. Talking on the phone to my mama on the other side of the world, our principal (aka. Daddy) taking the pupils out to doughnuts for breakfast, and a special basket from a sweet friend full of notes and treats would make anyone's first day back a success. My girls dove into their books with no tears till early evening (which one did bawl like a baby). A picnic at the park and a trip to the library completed the day. Ready or not, here we go again...
No comments:
Post a Comment