Heard This Week; and Some Thoughts

The kids were all around the table as we studied Vertebrates and Invertebrates in our Weaver science class. I asked the boys to name some common vertebrates. Luci (Luci! I didn't think she was listening) pipes up with, "Horses." Mom, directing her question to Luci: "Can you name an invertebrate? That's an animal without a backbone." Luci: "Butterflies! God made butterflies." Bryan: "What about spiders?" Luci: "Nope. God didn't make those." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ It is simply amazing how happy de-cluttered kitchen counters make me feel. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ John sleeps better when his daddy is doing well. Dad W. went home from the hospital today, with a brand new pacemaker. Thank you for your prayers for him. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ AT&T DSL internet connection is wonderful! Much faster than the Hughesnet connection we've had for the last four years. And we've got it bundled with our telephone, so we are actually saving some money. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Parenting Is Your Highest Calling" and 8 Other Myths That Trap Us in Worry and Guilt by Leslie Leyland Fields is a good book! Thanks, Amanda, for suggesting it to me.

Some School

I am loving the Weaver curriculum. We have covered more history and science than ever. And even Luci can take part in the lessons! That is fun. We try to start out with things nice and tidy, but "stuff" takes over. Here on the table is Luci's lunch, the map pencils and markers, school papers and books. This isn't school, but I thought it was cute. Luci watching TV.

Christmas Mini-Study

We have not gotten back into our Weaver studies yet. We'll dive back into that in January. During the holidays, it is nice to ease up and study Christmas, make holiday gifts and cookies, all that sort of thing. Today the kids and I worked on a little-bitty unit study on Christmas Symbols. It was a mixture of history and language arts, with some drawing thrown in. Here's the site I used for information: Christmas Symbols.

As usual, Luci spent her time un-doing things. She has taken everything off the lower shelf of her closet and it is a total wreck!

Tomorrow John flies out from Georgia, headed to Kuwait (commercial flight) and then Afghanistan (lovely military transport). Prayers for his safety are appreciated.

Weaving!

"Weaving" is what families who use Weaver curriculum call "using the curriculum." So now we are actually Weaving! I was pretty excited about today (always have been excited about a new school year--part of the reason I wanted to be a school teacher). The boys had other ideas, however. Did you hear the gnashing of teeth? That was JT. Bryan pretty much buckles down and does what he has to do to get back to his computer games. Luci might be my shining star as a student. She loves getting to "do school," and she loves reading already. The boys were not eager at all when they were 3 years old.

Here's Luci "reading" from the Bible (notice how good she is at it--she can read the Book upside down!). I won't tell you what the story was. She made it up and, although it did have Jesus as the subject, it also had Barbie in there somewhere. Maybe she's going to be a fiction writer when she grows up. Two good things about having Luci join us for lessons: 1) she can make even the grumpiest 7th grader smile, and 2) she can get the boys to sing her Bible songs (real ones, not made up by her!) when I can't. (Don't worry--that mayonnaise jar holding crayons is made of plastic.) JT looking up definitions on my laptop. Next time, he gets the dictionary instead. I go kind of easy on them at first (but JT would tell you that I am tough right from the start!). Dad gave me this advice when I started teaching: 1) Be nice to the janitor, she's your best friend in that school! and 2) Don't smile until Christmas. So, I am nice to myself, but the second piece of advice I have changed to, "Don't smile between breakfast and the end of vocabulary work." (JT needs that toughness, or he won't do anything.)
Bryan looking up geographical locations on the computer, to mark on his maps.

Home Education Week

It was Home Education Week last week. I missed it! That's the story of me--finding out about things late. Find out about the whole deal here.



I am taking the April Fool's idea from Principled's site as my springboard for this post. Share your greatest challenge. Or one of those terrible, horrible no good, very bad days where the only thing there is to do seems to involve moving to Australia.



This past year has been our greatest challenge as a homeschooling family. We've had our years where things didn't go as we planned:

• September 11 brought a year of uncertainty as John volunteered to "go" and go he did--in March, for a 12 month stint with Enduring Freedom. Big, Wild Year for us. But school was not the challenge.


• When that year finished, surprise! baby #3 was on the way, then miscarried. Shock, depression, but school carried on.


• The next school year was John's 6 month tour to Afghanistan. Scary, but school carried on--this was school year #3 messed up because of terrorists. But school went on, and went on well.


• The year after that, we paper-chased for Luci and got our house ready to sell.


• Next school year, got Luci, sold the house, moved to an apartment. No big deal for school.


• Stayed in apartment until Thanksgiving the following year, then moved into new house, school was fine!

Then this year hit: No new wars for John to go to, no new baby in the house, no new house to build. But--The 15-year old all of a sudden has Plans for his future, he knows More than we do, and Disciplining him is all different. And the Plans he has involve mathematics that is looking like he might not ever understand!

Homeschooling this year has been one big fight after another--mostly between the boys. FIGHT. FIGHT. I hate it! I saw my brothers act this way (like brothers) and it was rough. My boys are carrying on in that family tradition. Nothing seems to help. The 3 year old thinks her job is to tear the house apart while the rest of us try to learn something. She'll learn some with us and play learning games, and color, but she's just as likely to be climbing and getting markers (Have you seen Luci? Find her!) and grabbing the safety scissors and cutting her hair (did you know that safety scissors can cut HAIR?). This is not what I envisioned homeschooling to be like.

What I thought it would be: I'd have my beloved children cocooned with me on the couch, listening with rapture, their adoring eyes drinking me in while I read Classics to them. Then they would gather their writing books and pencils and write me a story to rival the one I'd just read. With perfect penmanship. Then we'd all go outside and marvel at God's handiwork and draw the minutest detail of the wild violets in our biology notebooks, and sketch that lovely bird we just saw soar overhead. Then the boys would write (in that gorgeous penmanship) the Latin name for the bird. Afterwards, we'd luncheon on my homemade bread, which was slathered with organic peanut butter and homemade mango jam.

WHAT?! Life's not like that?!

It's more like a three-ring circus. John knows that I can either teach the kids well, make a grand dinner (called supper at our house) or clean the house. Sometimes, if he's lucky, he'll get two of those. Almost Never have all three happened in the same day. And homemade bread? Pullease! Never.

After lots of soul-searching this year, we've found a new approach to learning for our family. It's just new to us, as it's been around for quite a while. Weaver Unit studies. They begin with the Bible, and all things are built around the Scriptures. First and foremost is Bible study. We are not out to build boys (and Luci!) who are grand test-takers. We are out to build men and a young lady who love God. We will, of course, guide them towards the career that we think (and they think) God is calling them to do. That might involve needing to be the best test-taker in town. That is super, for that one winner, but usually life goes on for the rest of the population.

I am excited about next school year. Getting to spend the time we have left with Bryan and JT before they fly out of our nest, doing fun things together (science experiments, field trips, maybe even sketching that bird!) and reading lots of books that go right along with Scripture, instead of trying to fit the Holy Word into what we are studying. Luci has a while with us yet, and I am hopeful that this is a going to be a great way for her to learn about God and His world.