If at first you don't succeed...

...try, try again.  *Sigh*

It seems poignant to get this up and active right now, though....it is Sarah's senior year after all.  While I wasn't actively blogging for a few years, rest assured, learning was taking place, classes were completed, books were read, grades were issued.  A graduation will indeed take place next year!  Yikes!!

Also, my desire to return to my blog resurfaced this summer after my dad died.  He was a very cerebral man, always searching, always thinking, always reading, always discussing, always debating.  I think my dad wanted to be the next great philosopher of our time.  He actually started his own blog entitled "The Polemicist".  And in case you aren't familiar with that term...

A polemicist is a person who attacks someone else with written or spoken words. A heated debate is the perfect venue for a polemicist. If you're a polemicist, you have very strong opinions, and you're not afraid to state them — even if they hurt other people.

Now, I would argue that my dad wasn't really the attacking type.  He wasn't a "in your face" type of guy.  He did have strong opinions, and, boy oh boy, he sure wasn't afraid to state them.  And he did love to push the envelope.  Yes, indeed, he did!!  He just considered himself as the one to make other people seriously think about their beliefs; and he loved to challenge everyone that would listen about EVERYTHING that was newsworthy or pertinent at the time (well, and not so pertinent sometimes). 

He never did post anything.  I kind of wish he had, for a couple of reasons.  I would then have some writings of his to look back on; also, then maybe we, his family, wouldn't have had to endure so many in person debates and discussions!  :)  No....it was all good.  Bless his heart.

At the end of the day, here is what I think my dad was trying to do.  He had such a zeal and zest for life; he was a joyful person, never down in the dumps or bummed.  And certainly he never had a 'woe is me' kind of outlook.  It was infectious.  He desperately wanted everyone else to do life like him.  I think he was confused why everyone DIDN'T operate this way.  But he made it look easy.

He wanted all of humanity to get along, even amidst all of the varied and challenging differences that exist.  He didn't understand why our differences had to cause so much trouble and be the stuff of headlines.    He was on a mission to spread his way of life, this philosophy.  That's why he did what he did.

So in honor of my philosopher dad, here I go.  I did inherit his reflecting nature.  I will miss our discussions.  I will miss being challenged.  

I miss my dad.

  

Do Re Mi

Do you remember "The Sound of Music" movie?  Of course you do!!  Who doesn't know that movie, right???

Well, recall the "Do Re Mi" scene....you know the one.  The song actually opens with these words: "Let's start at the very beginning/It's a very fine place to start".  I can't recall exactly how the scene evolves into the singing of this very infamous song, but I'm sure it had something to do with Julie Andrews discussing the kids singing; perhaps the build up to the performance during which they escape from the Nazis. 

Why on earth am I bringing this up?  Well, those are apt words for me right now.  You see, I haven't been really sure how to dive back into blogging. 

Do I just start blogging about daily homeschooling life around here, pretend 2 years hasn't gone by???  Act as if you know all that we've been up to???

So I thought a good place to start would be, well, at the "very beginning".  The Do Re Mi, so to speak, of our homeschooling life.

Rest assured, Friends, I'm not about to roll into the old "I was born in a log cabin...." type of thing.  I'm not talking about THAT beginning.

The beginning I mean is sort of the roots, the foundation of us.  The Nuts and Bolts.

The Who, What, Where, When, Why and How of our homeschooling family and life.

Seems like the perfect place to start, don't you think?  I do.  And I think Julie Andrews would approve too.

Well, Hello There

That will teach me. 

Note to self.....after a LONG hiatus from blogging, do NOT, and I repeat, DO NOT mess with the template of your blog as the first task you tackle.  WHEW.

Leave well enough alone and just tackle blogging again.  That alone is a hurdle, a large hurdle, to jump over. 

But I am an over-achiever when it comes to things like this, and I thought, well, let's just freshen things up a bit.  Mistake.  Big mistake.  That was not the reason I left blogging a couple of years ago.  And that is not the reason that I am taking this up again.  But I did it....it's about an hour that I can never get back though.  Ugh.

So here it goes....blogging. 

We'll see how this goes.

I hope you are well.  Welcome back to me and welcome back to you.

P.S.  Would love feedback on the new look.  Don't be afraid....tell me like it is.  You won't hurt my feelings.  Maybe.

A Blog Worth Your Time

I love to read blogs about other homeschooling families; and I also love, love blogs about books.  I need to know that I'm not the only book geek around.

But if it's a blog written by a homeschooling family that loves, loves books as much as I do?  Well, that's just perfect in my opinion!!  No better combo out there.

Here is one blog that I always read with rapt attention; it should also be read with pen and paper nearby, as there is always.....I mean always.....a good book title that shouldn't be missed:

http://sageparnassus.blogspot.com/

To boot, Nancy has started a consulting venture:

http://sageparnassus.blogspot.com/p/consulting.html

I would pay money just to browse (and drool over) their family's book collection!!  :)

Thank you, Nancy, for your widsom and passion with respect to homeschooling and books!  Keep up the good work!

Happy 2012

What I want to do more of:

Pray
Read my Bible
Serve others
Worship
Praise
Laugh
Read, read, read
Hug
Love

What I want to do less of:

Watch TV
Be self-absorbed
Complain
Nag

The Nose Knows

I've come to realize something about myself that's rather quirky:  certain smells make me super-abundantly happy.  Sure, I love to watch a pretty sunset, I love to taste great food, I've cherished the ever-so-soft skin of my three kids when they were babies, and there's no other sound I love best, I think, than the sound of ocean waves crashing on a beach (although, listening to my toddler breathe while he sucks his thumb is pure heaven).

However, while all well and good, and admittedly these things make me very, very contented, nothing comes close to invoking such strong reactions in me than certain aromas.  Good reactions.  And those reactions happen quickly.  I smell, I smile, I'm exultant.  My olfactory sense must dominate the others, I guess (hey.....no jokes about my nose being big!).  

Here are a few of my favorite smells:  pine at Christmas time (thus, nothing but a live tree in this household!), sheets after hanging outside to dry (one of my favs), sauteing onions and garlic, freshly mowed grass, the ocean, fresh-baked goods, my first cup of strong black coffee in the morning, my toddler's head (he's outgrown the baby smell, but has developed a 4-year old smell that only his Mama could appreciate :).)

What does all of this have to do with homeschooling, you might ask?  This is supposed to be a blog about our homeschooling days, right??!  Well, even if it had nothing at all to do with homeschooling, I'd still want to blog about it.  Just typing all those decriptions out made me smile; I think I perceptibly inhaled with each and every keystroke.

This has EVERYTHING to do with homeschooling because my favorite euphoria-invoking smell has to do with.....BOOKS.  Surprised???  :)

I love the smell of new books, I especially love the smell of OLD books (yes, I'm one of those geeks that opens old books to the middle, shoves my nose in and inhales.....and sighs).

I love the smell of a room in our house that we have dubbed the "library".  It is a long "room" that houses our sump pump at the end and around the corner.  It has built in bookshelves.....oh what bliss for a homeschooling family to find when househunting!  The smell, believe it or not, actually is a result of two runner-style rugs we have put down to cover the cement.  It's an odd smell to relish in, but I do.  Because that smell means "books" to me.  I inhale EACH AND EVERY TIME I walk in that "library".....I love it.

I also inhale each and every time I first walk into Barnes & Noble.  Ahhhhhhh.....the smell of coffee AND books, mingled into one.  What could be better?  The aroma portends a wonderful time ahead:  wandering, browsing, dreaming, most likely while holding a yummy cup of brewed goodness.

Boy, I am a geek, aren't I??  (don't answer that)

A Minor Victory, or So Far, So Good

Sarah is currently working through Saxon's Algebra I text.  She's doing well.  It's one of two courses she's taking this year that will earn her high school credit.  Whew!  It's started!  Kind of daunting!

I loved Algebra in school.  I was pretty smart in math, getting bumped up a year ahead at some point in my schooling (don't remember what grade that was).  So when I was an 8th Grader, I, along with three other students, got bussed to the high school to take Algebra with the 9th graders (back in the day, Algebra was a 9th grade subject; seems like everything has been bumped up a year nowadays).  I loved it!  Fun, like a game or puzzle.

One big question that comes up when discussing homeschooling high school is how I might manage the upper level subjects (chemistry, calculus, trig).  I always say that my desire to homeschool the kids through high school is not a declaration of my possessing infinite stores of knowledge; I don't pretend to know everything about every subject they'll encounter through high school.  However, I can help them find the answers, or reach out to people who do know those subjects.  But one day, and it will be sooner rather than later, I will have to throw up my hands and say, "That's it.  I don't know this stuff.  Let's go find someone who does."

Well, I'm many years removed from my math successes in junior high/high school!  Before Sarah started Algebra this year, I admit to being a bit nervous and queasy about fielding a question to which I didn't know the answer.  But, boy oh boy, did I hope and pray that I could at least get her through this year's math!  As a fallback, though, we do own the Saxon Teacher DVDs that will work out every problem in every lesson and test.  So far, we have not had to pull those out!  :)

So my minor victory occurred on Thursday morning, as Sarah was reading her Algebra lesson for the day.  She looked up, had a bit of a frustrated and blank look on her face, and asked if we could go over the lesson together; she wasn't understanding one particular concept of the lesson.  Well, my heart kind of skipped a beat, and my mind reeled and queried, "Is this the moment?  Will I get this stuff?  Will we have to get out the DVDs?  Or, even more drastic, will we have to call someone and get help?"

I read the text, looked at an example, looked at the answer to the example, looked at the example again, pondered, thought, panicked, thought some more, and then the light bulb went off!!  Aha!  I got this!  I can do this!  But, wait......I still have to "teach" this to Sarah, I have to explain this in a way as to get her 13-year old math light bulb to go off.  Aha!  I did that, too!  Whew!

Yes, so far, so good, indeed.

P.S.  In case you're wondering, and want a heads up on what you're in for when YOU have to teach Algebra to your child, the concept was adding and subtracting fractions with unlike denominators, with the unlike denominators being unknown terms with exponents (having to determine the LCM of those algebraic terms).    

Sunday Evening Musings

I'm supposed to be prepping; prepping for our homeschool co-op tomorrow.  I teach the 6th and 7th grade book club, and we're reading Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson right now.

I've gotten side-tracked.  Read a couple of e-mails (B&N and Amazon e-mails that I get detailing the "Best Books of the Week"; this one from Amazon, though, was the "Best Books of the Year"........wouldn't that sidetrack you, too??!); from those e-mails stumbled on a few blogs about books; from there spent some time adding a silhouette picture of our family to the bottom of my blog (isn't it cute?).

*SIGH* (not in a good way)

I ALWAYS dread Sundays because invariably I have put off planning for our book club class.  I shouldn't admit that publicly, that I go into planning kind of dreading it.  But I also want to share the rush I get as I start to delve into the assigned chapters, and begin jotting down notes and questions (with the help of a couple of free, on-line teachers' guides).  I start to envision the lively discussions we will have, the quoting of the book that will occur as support for an answer to a question, the analyzation of characters.  I love this! 

This class has been a lot of work, but I really, honestly, and truly love to teach a book this way.  Never done this before, so went into it with quite a bit of trepidation.  Each and every Monday actually produces a bit of anxiety.  But then something happens......class begins, we get in a groove, and then, class is over!  It flies by!  Great discussions (mostly with my 7th graders), good times, laughter, ponderings.

*SIGH* (in a good way)

So after I finish this post, I'll get back at it; I'll have to face the prepping, the anxiety, the work.  But rest assured, that rush will come, the anticipation of a great class day will see me through yet another Sunday night.

More book recommendations

A couple of books the kids and I have shared recently:

         

Also, Master Cornhill by Eloise Jarvis McGraw.

We currently are reading:



Jeremy is reading:

         

And Sarah just read:

Keep it going

So, I thought about my blog earlier today, and as usual, I felt panic about it.  Had the same pattern of thoughts:  "you should really give it a go today", "come on you can do it"; then the anxiety about blogging, then the negative self-talk:  "you're going to skip today....AGAIN; you're a putz."

But then I got to experience sheer bliss when this thought hit me:  I had blogged last night!  Nah-nah-nah, boo boo!  (wait.......who am I telling off with that juvenile refrain???!!  MYSELF?)

And all of this occurred within a nanosecond.  But I really did enjoy the bliss.  It was heaven.

But then I had to face the thought that I had to blog TODAY.  Well, I didn't have to.  But I am really trying to tackle this "practice makes perfect" thing that I'm so good at spouting to my kids, but rarely exhibit myself.  So new anxiety.

But here I am......I really think it has boiled down to this:  I just don't feel like I have much to say on a daily basis.  So what do I blog about today?

When in doubt, blog about books!  :)

So my latest obsession is reading books about how reading and books have influenced others.  Like I'm way crazy about this right now.  Here's a couple I've read recently:

   

Both fabulous.  Highly recommended.  

Let's Try Again

Okay, so apparently I'm not so good at this blogging thing.  I REALLY WANT TO BE.  Don't know why I can't pull this off.

Why am I intimidated by blogging?  Yeah, I guess that's what I feel when I think about sitting down every day and blogging.  Truth be told, I would love to be a writer, a pontificator, a say-er of all things mundane; kind of like that guy on "Northern Exposure."  You remember that show about the smarty-pants doctor that ends up in Alaska for his residency (or something like that)?  Do you remember the radio DJ guy that used to "ramble" over the airwaves about everything and nothing....at the same time? 

Like, I was in awe of him (his character), his job; I thought, "I'd love to do that!"  I did grow up wanting to be a DJ, and nowadays, I realize I couldn't pull off that kind of DJ-ing.  I'd ramble too much (as my friends can attest to!), my thoughts are too scattered.  And, anyways, as I've grown, as much as I enjoy conversing and speaking about all matters in life, I do much prefer the written word.

But what I've come to learn about myself is that I love the printed word more than I thought I did.  Of course, it goes without saying.....I love books.  Yes, I said it yet again.  I probably can't go a day without thinking that thought.  But I've recently discovered that my amorousness goes beyond books per se.  It is the written word, the expression of thought, the expertly crafted sentence/paragraph/publication.  It is the time, energy, love, blood, sweat, tears that I can tell an author has put into his work; I am left so humbled by that effort.  And I am utterly grateful to be the Dear Reader that gets to inhale the finished product.

Some people are naturally gifted by God with this ability to wow with words; for these lucky ducks, the writing process is like walking or breathing.  For most of us, not so much.  But that doesn't mean we can't creep towards that goal.

It's like I tell Jeremy all the time about art.  You see, Jeremy wants so bad to be good at drawing.  But he's impatient; he wants to be good RIGHT NOW.  He hasn't really been naturally gifted by God with drawing talent, but I keep trying to get him to see it's a process.  It's a training of the brain; like his co-op art teacher has said, it's training yourself to see in a new/different way.  It's the long exercise of getting your hand to draw what the eye and brain see.  AND IT DOES TAKE TIME.  And practice.  And sweat.  And patience.

And so it goes with writing, I think.  I certaily have not been naturally gifted as a writer.  I think I'm decent, but I ramble (have I mentioned that already?)  So I will end now, realizing that I need to take my own advice.  I have been caught in a "Do as I say, not as I do" moment.  With my desire to write/blog more, to create well-crafted sentences/paragraphs, Jeremy could easily say, "But, Mama, you just need to practice.  It takes time.  Like you've always told me.........right?"

"Yes, Jeremy."

Happy Mother's Day

Mercy Every Minute


Deborah Wuehler, TOS Senior Editor

I have a splitting headache, yet I have three sick children to care for. I have a child who is not cooperating whom I have to deal with. I have a toddler who wants me to play baseball and teenagers who want to talk. I have to make dinner and it is after 7 p.m., I have a house that looks like a tornado, and I don't know where to start, let alone when. I certainly don't feel very virtuous. And, nobody cares about it all but me. At least that's how it feels sometimes, doesn't it? It feels like nobody cares about all that I do, about how I feel, or when I'll ever get rest. Welcome to motherhood. Doesn't sound all that glorious, does it?

The functions of motherhood are obviously important, but the main thing is that we give all glory to our God by how we respond to all these things that press on us. Giving Him glory in our everyday lives is what our children will remember and what matters for eternity. God will not say, "Well done-you were a good mother." But He will hopefully say, "Well done, you were a good and faithful servant and made my Son known to those I gave you."

Whenever we place too much importance on our office as mothers and our sacrificial tasks, the danger is that our focus becomes skewed and our emotions entangled. We begin to feel we deserve to be treated well, rather than the better focus of treating others well. We feel we deserve recognition for our sacrifices, rather than laying down our lives in response to the One who was made of no reputation and laid down His life for us. We feel we deserve celebration rather than pointing heavenward and saying that all glory must belong to Him, for there is no one good, not even one.

If we make it through one day in our own strength, we feel the right to shout, "Bravo!" But more often than not, our strength fails and we come to the end of our resources before we come to the end of the day. But if His strength is made perfect in our weaknesses and the excellence of His power has filled our earthen vessels so that we can not only make it through a day but come out victorious, we can shout "Hallelujah!"

So what is the danger of just one day of focusing on ourselves? For one thing, if all of these earthly "rights" of celebration are not met satisfactorily in our eyes, we are disappointed and sometimes even angry with those we are called to love and serve. However, if all is done for Him and through Him and with Him, then any day is worthy of celebration because it is He whom we celebrate. We can avoid all the trappings of anger and disappointment when we are not celebrated as we think we ought to be, and all the glory that rightly belongs to God is rightly given Him. For truly, without Him, we can do nothing.

This country applauds mothers once a year. But does heaven applaud mothers? Yes, it does, especially when mothers applaud heaven first. Does anyone really care? Yes, our Father in heaven cares tremendously and continually implores us to come to Him and find rest for our weary souls. But we must come.

A friend said to me today, "Plan the calm," and I couldn't agree more: Plan the calm by planning to spend time with your Father. Then, you will be the virtuous mother you desire to be, and God will get the glory.

~Deborah

The Streak

I've been wanting to blog about books for a while.  I love books.  If you visit here often, you better get used to that phrase.  I'm like way wacky about books.  Reading them myself (when I can), reading them to my kids, owning them, browsing through them at B&N, collecting them some day, screaming from the rooftops that EVERYONE needs to be reading books.  And reading them to their kids.

For now, besides the above, I'll share this:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/21/fashion/21GenB.html

And the daughter wrote a book about The Streak:

http://www.makeareadingpromise.com/

We have started our own "Streak" with Matthew......Friday, February 18 was our start day.  Going to have to get fancy and come up with something other than "The Streak", though, to make it our own.  Right now he's actually letting us read "Stuart Little" to him.  I've wanted to start "Charlotte's Web" for a long time, and he's made a fuss about it.  So not sure why he's tolerating "Stuart", but he is, and I'm not complaining. 

I even bought a blank notebook to write about our own little "Streak".  I'll post updates here, too.

13 days and counting....

A Walk, an Oh-So-Glorious Walk

We have had amazing weather lately.  Not a negative kind of amazing; the wonderful, here's a reminder that spring will come kind of amazing.  What's the big deal?  Well, pretty much everyone in the Continental U.S. would have to agree that this winter has been downright almost too much to handle.  Snow storm after snow storm (you poor Easterners!), and lately the down-to-the-bone type of cold.....I mean, COLD.  So these past few days, with their upper-30 to mid-40 temps, (and today with its 50-ish temp) the kind of temps that is producing much melting, have been simply heavenly.

Given that, I took a walk last Friday.  That day it was only in the mid-30s, but I thought, I'm going to do it.  I'm going to take advantage of this and get out there.  So I donned my snow pants, my Keen hiking shoes (waterproof and cold proof), had my wool socks on already (a staple for me ALL winter), my heavy gloves, a head band thing to protect my ears, and my Titanium Columbia jacket.  And away I went.

Well, within minutes it was clear that this idea was simply brilliant.  I was invigorated from just the first few steps.  Why?  Well, I looked up and the bright, blue sky was right there before me.  Nothing was between me and it; only the clear, crisp air that I was inhaling with great glee.  No kitchen window or car windshield was impeding my view of this sky.  I was out there, looking at it and really seeing it in its full glory for the first time in months.

And the sounds were glorious too.  Birds chirping, the gurgle sound because of the melting.  Oh, it was music to my ears, and a small glimpse of what will come full blast in March and April.

The trail that I was on was not fully cleared of snow and slush, so I had to pay attention to every step.  But that necessity to focus on my steps did not at all take away from the joy that I was experiencing, and that was building with each step. 

I was convinced that I was going to encounter at least a couple of people who had the same conviction as I did to take advantage of this weather.  I thought for sure I'd hear someone coming up from behind either running or on a bike.  But I got about half-way through my walk and I actually started hoping I WOULDN'T encounter anybody.  This walk and this experience I wanted to be all mine.  I wanted to own this 2-mile path and the joy I was getting from it; I wanted to be selfish about this adventure. 

I wanted to revel in the fact that this time I was being active.  I wasn't lazy this time.  I was out there, walking away, gradually feeling warmth and perhaps a fine layer of sweat.  I had so often glimpsed runners, even in the depths of winter, running on this same path.  I admired their courage to run during the coldest of cold days, fighting through the burn in the chest that they most surely were experiencing; I always saw these runners as better than I....they were out there.....they did it.....good for them.

Well, last Friday I did it.  I got out there.  I was being glimpsed, perhaps, by someone ELSE through THEIR kitchen window.  Maybe someone else was saying, "Good for her"........about me.

I should clarify.  I saw no HUMANS on my walk.  Three deer were out there that day, a ways ahead of me, but I most surely got a good glimpse.  I love deer.  They are beautiful.  We get about 5 or 6 that walk the same self-made path in our backyard every night.  And because we have motion lights out back, we are made aware of their presence.  It's fun.  Must've been the same deer that crossed the trail while I was walking.  Simply icing on the cake.

Yes, by the time I got home, I couldn't wait to shed my layers of clothing.  I was a bit sweaty, but, man oh man, did it feel good.  And I walked the next day, and also the next.    4 of 5 days I made it out there because the weather cooperated that long.  I'm about to go again in a few minutes with my husband.  He's the only human I'll gladly allow to impede this joy. 

To panic or not to panic....

.....that is the question.

If you were to ask me on any given day how I felt about homeschooling my kids all the way through high school, I'd give you my answer.  But, beware.  If you ask me again on a different day, you'd probably get a different answer.  And if it was the day that I wasn't so sure about it, you might even get weepiness.  And a woman on the verge of an anxiety attack.  And hyperventilation.  And.....well, I'll stop being dramatic.  I think I've made my point.

It's true.  I'm kind of a spaz about this; kind of Jekyll and Hyde-ish about the subject.  I've flip-flopped on this so much.  And just recently I flip-flopped within one week.  And I don't think I'm done.  Not by a long shot.

A few years ago, as I contemplated my oldest in high school, I thought, no way, Jose!  I can't do that.  Then I went to the Midwest Homeschool Conference in Cincinnati, OH, when we were living in Columbus.  Fabulous!  If you ever have the chance to go, do it!  I promise you won't be disappointed.  I went to a workshop by Dr. Wile, of Apologia Science fame.  Again, fabulous!  I attended with a friend of mine, and we both left feeling refreshed, renewed, and firmly convicted that we, indeed, COULD do this.  And I really mean that.  It was an amazing feeling.  And I stayed that way for some time.

Now Sarah is in 7th grade, time to really start researching EVERYTHING high school.  And, boy oh boy, did I do a doozy on that conviction.  Well, I should say that Satan did a doozy on that conviction.  I really have felt attacked by Satan on this level.  He wants nothing more than to convince me I can't do this; that my kids would be better off in public school.  Then I wouldn't have as much opportunity to disciple them within our Christian faith. 

But then I had a great conversation with a friend of mine, really a wonderful mentor for me on these matters.  And actually her daughter participated, my friend's oldest who graduated from their homeschool a few years ago.  They encouraged me, they hugged me, they pooh-poohed my anxiety, but gently and with grace.  I felt uplifted and back in that place where I can scoff at Satan's attempts to derail my convictions.

Where am I now?  Well, we've had a bad couple of days, where I think I want them out of my hair, and wouldn't my stress level go way down, and wouldn't life be more convenient with them in school???  Yeah, it's been tough lately, but we also had a wonderful afternoon in front of a roaring fire because the temperature refused, simply refused, to climb into double digits.  We got to read a book that we have simply savored for the past few months.  Love it.  Let me repeat...love it.

So for now, I'm not panicking.  But reader beware.....who knows what my next blog will bring!  

Planning

So I sat huddled with our homeschooling books and papers and planners for about three days last week.  Weather was iffy, New Year's weekend, no plans; time to snuggle up and get ourselves ready to hit the books this week.  I was feeling so good about tackling it all.  Correcting, planning, filing, thinking, straightening. 

So Monday comes, and I realize that for all that planning and scheduling, I STILL was not totally prepared for Monday's school day.  And I was no where near to being completely caught up on correcting and filing.  But didn't I just sit with everything for three straight days?  Weren't we inseparable, me and all those books and papers?  What happened?

Kind of disheartening.  Will I ever get caught up?  Hardly seems so anymore.  But my New Year's mantra is, if you've not read my previous post:  PROGRESS, NOT PERFECTION.  Trying to grip that real close these days.  Or it would be real easy to slip back into my, "Why try?" mode.

And then even with all the stuff I did get written down and planned, life happened.  I had to go to the doctor to get a cough checked out.  Jeremy had an appointment.  Has another one tomorrow.  *SIGH* 

PROGRESS, NOT PERFECTION, DANI...

Happy 2011

A new year.  New hopes.  New goals.  New resolve.  New schedule.  New mindset.  New attitudes.  New habits.

Got an e-mail recently from one of the many lists I belong to.  Can't find it now, but it's focus was the New Year and it focused on this phrase/sentiment:  Progress, not perfection.  This may not be anything new to many, many people, but I had not really heard that phrase before.  And it is particularly poignant for me at this time of year, at THIS PARTICULAR NEW YEAR.  Three simple words that I will hold close to my heart in 2011 as I try to shake things up around here.  It's so easy for me, with my personality, to try to maintain perfection.....right away!  Not possible.  Never will be.  Not God's will.  If perfection were attainable, then we wouldn't need Him and would never seek Him.

No, I will shoot for Progress this Year.  I truly desire for change in a lot of ways.  First and foremost is me.  Change from within will make outside change possible.  Then it will truly be a..........

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

My Kids' Veteran's Day Essays

My husband was off work today because of Veteran's Day.  He is employed by the Federal Government, so ergo, holiday for him today.  He put on the teacher hat, and asked if he could assign the kids an essay.  I had a brief moment where I wanted to say "No", not in our schedule for the day.  But these once-in-a-while essays seem important to my husband.  He's done this before, and, okay, I'm all for having my kids write and write and write. 

So he asked Sarah and Jeremy to write an essay on "What is Veteran's Day?" and "Why do we celebrate it?"  Reprinted below are their completed work, exactly as they wrote it:

by Jeremy

Veteran's Day is a holiday where we celebrate those who have given their lives for our country. Although quite a lot of soldiers died in the wars we won the battles that we fought. Many soldiers probably got an award for there deeds of fighting. Through the battles of World War I and World War II there were great losses in soldiers, but our soldiers came through and won. It must have been a terrible fight, but our soldiers kept fighting and resisted. And that is why we have this holiday, Veteran's Day.

by Sarah

Veterans' Day is a federal holiday when we recognize all soldiers who have served in the army. It is a great chance to show our appreciation for men and women who have fought for our country's freedom. War is a dirty business and I don't think it is very pleasant. What is the most amazing thing about soldiers? It is the fact that they sign-up for the army of their own freewill! They aren't drafted by the government, soldiers do it simply out of love for our sweet country and for our liberty.

So there you have it.  I admit that I'm especially proud of Jeremy's.  His writing has come a long way, and Tom and I both thought it was pretty darn good!  And Sarah's......"War is a dirty business"....I mean, come on.....that's just priceless.

Tom posted these on his Facebook page, which tells you how proud he is.  Just putting them out there, in all their unedited glory.  I'm glad he did, and I'm proud to post them here.

P.S.  I admit that I asked Tom if he thought their essays made me look like a good homeschooling Mama.  He said Yes.  Whew.

Trees

Jeremy got a perfect score on his math test this morning (as a side note, he was up just before 7 A.M. to get a jump on his schoolwork!).  Yes, this is something to praise and he should certainly be proud.  But, why blog about it?  And what on earth does it have to do with "Trees"????

Be patient, Dear Reader; I'll make my case my blog's end.

I'm in my eighth year of homeschooling.  Wow!!!!  I've completed seven years of educating my kids at home.  I say "Wow" not at all because I'm patting myself on my back for this.  It's just that it seems like I just started yesterday......where has the time gone?  And why don't I have more figured out with this homeschooling thing?  One would think I'd be better at this.....but, alas, I've learned it doesn't quite work that way.

In fact, I would liken my homeschooling-mama journey with my Faith journey, my walk with Christ.  These two things aren't at all like learning to ride a bike, or finishing a Sudoku puzzle.  With the bike and the puzzle, there's a goal, an end in sight.  With patience and perseverance (and, unfortunately perhaps, after many scrapes and tears), one soon is pedaling away down the street amidst cheers and applause from mom and dad; big grin ensues from child.  Then that skill is with the child forever and ever.  So, too, with the puzzle.....think hard, analyze, erase (perhaps), and lo and behold, you have the whole grid filled in with numbers and a sense of accomplishment follows.  Task done.  On to the next thing in your day.

Homeschooling and following Jesus???  Not so much.

We never "arrive" with homeschooling or our Faith-walk; they are never "done".  They both are journeys with varying "goals", but we're always tweaking, we're always trying to do better.  And, boy oh boy, could I do better with both!!!!  I guess one could say that the end-goal with my homeschooling is to graduate my kids successfully.  This is true (if I don't first enroll them in school in a fit of frustration!).  :-)  The process by which I help them receive their diploma is not clear-cut, though; there's not going to be an ah-ha moment where I get to then sit back and be done, and watch them learn.  Always tweaking, always evolving.....And with my Faith?  Well, perhaps that's better left for another blog post....

"Wait....what about those trees???"

Well, there's one thing I am certain of in this homeschooling thing.  One key to success for any homeschooling Mama is to strike the right balance between the forest and the trees.  Have I found the right balance???  HA!!!  Surely you jest.  Are you kidding?  Heck no!  And I probably won't EVER, even if I reach the "goal" of graduating my youngest (which will be in the year 2025....GASP!!!).  What do I mean by the trees and forest metaphor, then?

I've got to see the big picture, the forest, as I homeschool my kids.  I've got to step back and remember the big goal here.  I get to spend inordinate amounts of time with my precious gifts from God.  While I do need a break often, and tons of coffee, I plain and simple enjoy my kids' company.  As goofy as this sounds, I'd miss them if they were in school all day!!!  And we wouldn't have gotten to enjoy all these great books together that we've read over these seven years.  Not reading to my older two for a couple of hours every afternoon would make me sad.  The big picture is discipling them at home, in addition to educating them and preparing them to contribute to society.

But seeing the bigger picture doesn't mean that I ignore the trees in our forest. 

So here come the trees and what it has to do with Jeremy acing his math test.  We recently took a step back with J's math.  He was struggling.  Not his best subject.  He was getting way too many wrong on each lesson, and it was time to stop and review, and build a stronger math platform.  That's my job.  Making sure my kids get this stuff sufficiently.  I HAD TO STOP AND SEE THIS PARTICULAR TREE IN OUR HOMESCHOOLING FOREST.  THIS TREE WAS SAGGING AND IN DESPERATE NEED OF ATTENTION.  But, I confess that it took me a bit too long to recognize this issue.  I shouldn't have let him go that far with that many errors in his lessons.   

So we went back about 20-odd lessons, and quite simply, J redid them.  I retaught each concept, and we discussed problems with which he particularly struggles (story problems, for example).  We're seeing the fruits of this methodical review.  Case in point, this morning's math test.  J's math "tree" is growing stronger, and more importantly, he is gaining math confidence.  Awesome to witness!!!  Fist-pumping as we correct his lessons is now a common occurrence!  :-)

So we've come full circle (well, if I did my blog-writing job well, that is).  I will always struggle with our family's forest and trees.  Right now, I whine and rant and stomp about trees, and I am neglecting to remember the bigger picture.  See????  I told you I didn't have this figured out.  What I DO have figured out, though, is that God has called me to do this.  And He won't forsake me in this.  He will carry me, and He will forgive me when I make mistakes (and, boy, will there be many).  And the Holy Spirit will convict me when either the forest gets or the trees get forgotten.  I am thankful for that.   

"Let's Give Her Something to Blog About"

(The above blog title should be sung to Bonnie Raitt's "Let's Give 'Em Something to Talk About")  :-)

I would like to be a blogger that blogs every day.  However, a lot of the time, when I reflect upon our day, I am uninspired; nothing stands out as blog-worthy.  Such was not the case yesterday!  Several things occurred after which I thought, "Oh....I gotta blog about that."; it was a blog-worthy Thursday.

1)  EARLY BIRD:  When I staggered downstairs to get my much-needed morning coffee going, Jeremy, my 5th grader, was laying on the couch.  When he saw me, he bounded up and said, "Mama, I got my math, my Rod & Staff (grammar), my Latin, my Roots of English and my critical thinking done."  The clock said 8:15 am-ish!!!  I asked him what time he got up.  He said 7:15 am.  I asked, "Why?"  (wouldn't you if your adolescent voluntarily got up that early???).  He said so that he could get his work done.  Well, bless your little heart, Jeremy.  I was proud of him.  And I was amused because he was so proud of himself.  Then my thoughts turned to Sarah, my not-so-perky-in-the- morning 7th grader.  Why, oh why, does it take her one hour to complete ONE subject, and her "little" brother can complete almost his entire day of school in roughly that same amount of time??  *Deep breath*  (see above blog post)  I feel slightly ashamed, though, too.  I think my kids are pretty sick of me ranting and raving (sometimes a little too loudly) about us not getting our work done every day.

2)  A SIGN OF THE TIMES:   I was making my bed, and picking up a pile of clothes my husband had left on the floor by his side of the bed (not an irritant to me; I do it too).  I noticed that he had two different styles of socks that he'd worn the night before with his evening lounge clothes.  I knew exactly why.  *SIGH*  It wasn't because he's a poor sock matcher.  It's because he thought I was behind in washing whites; he felt compelled to grab whatever white socks were in his sock bin, regardless of their length (one was a sock that came to mid-calf, the other was a bootie-style of sock).  I'm sure he was fearful of asking whether there were any clean socks around so that he could have a matching pair.  He was fearful of me yelling, "No!  So I'm behind in the wash?  So sue me!!!" (or something like that)  Oh, no, dear husband, I'm caught up on the WASHING, thank you very much.  :-)  I'm just not caught up on the sorting, folding and putting away of it all.  Doesn't he know by now that when in doubt, look for a basket of clean laundry somewhere in the house, that you're sure to find what you're looking for?? 

3)  A BURST OF CREATIVENESS:  The kids and I played Matthew's I Spy Bingo game yesterday afternoon.  Matthew knows his letters, and even the sounds they make.  So, I'm trying to take him to the next level.  We're working on writing his letters.  We're even working on blending simple, short vowel words (bat, hat, sat, etc.).  He needs work on recognizing beginning sounds, ending sounds, etc., so that's the twist I put on the game for Matthew.  I drew a card and said, "I spy a letter that starts the word ______."  And in order to be able to place the tile on that space, if his board showed that letter, he'd have to correctly tell me the letter that makes that beginning sound of the word I said.  He did very well.  What about for the older kids?  They are WAY beyond letter sounds, etc.  How do I make this game educational?  Normally I'd sit there for a long time, pondering this.  But an answer came to me right away.  Sarah and Jeremy, in order to be able to cover up the letter on their board, had to give me a term from our history studies that begins with that letter.  For example, when the letter "D" was drawn, Sarah blurted out "Diocletian", the Roman emperor that divided the Roman Empire in two when it got too big for just him to rule.  So fun!!!  I fudged on a few things; like the letter "X"......YOU try to come up with a historical term that starts with the letter X.  Anyway, it was a good time, and a display of creativeness that is few and far between with me.