Trump Rescues Us From Terrorism
Trump Will Cause Terrorism
Trump's Wall Is Unconstitutional
Actually, Killing Babies is Unconstitutional
1000 State Employees Issue Dissent
20,000 State Employees Don't Issue Dissent
DeVoss Wants To Decentralize the Education Department
DeVoss Hates Grizzlies
DeVoss is A Grizzly
I feel bipolar reading through my newsfeed. Imagine if Christians spent as much time talking about Scripture as they do about politics! We might come close to the Lord's exhortation in Deuteronomy 6:4.
“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up."
We talk about politics the way we were meant to talk about God's word. Politics is consuming us! Whether it is defending ourselves or bracing ourselves or seeking to disrupt the system or worse, destroy the legitimacy of a fairly elected President, we are all consumed. It is what is in our heart. How can I tell? Because out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. (Matt 12:34) Yikes.
Psalm 119:165 Great peace have they who love your law: and nothing shall offend them.
Ok? Ok. We all need to pull ourselves together and get our heads in the game. You didn't come here for politics. You came here to see pictures of my kids and to read funny stories. Danny's working the midnight shift this month. Our church has been so gracious to pray fervently for Danny's sleep. This shift is hard on us. Last time he worked it, he was averaging 5 hours of sleep per day. This time, God has been so faithful to answer our prayers, Danny is averaging 7 hours a day. Those two hours make a big difference. We still have our struggles. My bed is never made. Danny rarely makes it to church. I have to keep eyes on Gigi all the time. (A few days ago she was caught picking the bedroom lock with a Lego light-saber.) With this success, I feel like cheering, "We're going to make it!" And then I realize I still have 3 weeks to go...
Last month, school was going great. I was thinking I had finally mastered this homeschool thing. Between the number of books I have read on educational philosophy, pedagogy, and curricula; plus classroom and home experience; and discussion and debate; I felt I had half-way earned my way to a master's degree in education. I had recently read another powerful book on education, titled Teaching the Trivium: Christian Homeschooling in a Classical Style. This book aligned itself beautifully with some of the other classics: Gatto's Dumbing Us Down on the inherent deficiencies and corruption of compulsory, state-run conveyor-belt education; Raymond Moore's Better Late Than Early, a research-heavy treatise on the physiological and cognitive damage incurred by flawed educational policies and directives; Susan Wise-Bauer's A Well Trained Mind that makes classical education accessible and affordable; and my most recent find, DeMille's Thomas Jefferson Education which challenges the reader to critically assess their educational philosophy and methodology to extend beyond "schooling" and into life itself.... All books that have profoundly shaped the way I think about education. Or perhaps it would be better to say that they have un-shaped the way I think about education. Each one revealed that my thinking was limited, trapped inside a"box." And with my newest find, I felt that I had reached the zenith of home-education wisdom.
But then came the midnight shift. And here I am, yet again, tweaking the program. Our homeschool has always been somewhat amorphous in that way- when I discover I am in a box, I break it, and our routines or assignments ooze into the new space that is freed up. For instance, we had been working on making a "book" of information with U.S. state pages. The information sheets the kids had to fill out were tedious. Every time I pulled out the worksheets the kids would stifle groans and cries of despair. Have you every tried to draw the state flag of Pennsylvania freehand? Holy guacamole. And the state flower of Arkansas is of little value to our current lives much less to eternity. Fifteen reports in, it was glaringly obvious that this assignment was not what God intended when he directed us to this adventure of homeschooling. So we just scratched it. Instead, we wrote out the lyrics to the Animaniac's States and Capitals song in our penmanship, one verse at a time... Two birds with one stone and the assignments take a fraction of the time. We morphed again. But for all our smooth sailing since the restart of the year, the past week something was amiss. I haven't quite put my finger on it yet, but I have to figure out why Toby spent so much time under the table whining, and Gigi only got one reading lesson in.
Overall, we have had a wonderful school year so far. The kids are blossoming in their intellect, growing in knowledge in history and math and beginning to grapple with grammar and research writing. Our days have been orderly, with scheduled breaks, "field trips," life-skill building opportunities, and low stress. Dominic has also grown in maturity and is developing a greater sense of responsibility. This is to say, he's starting to "step up" and help me a little more. He spun Noemie too many times on the playground spinny-majiggy a few weeks ago. When Noemie consequently lost her lunch on the way to choir practice, he dutifully helped me wipe down the side of the car. It was thirty degrees as we shivered in the waning daylight, with giant wads of wet paper towels, running from the church bathroom to the parking lot. When all was said and done, he took out the church bathroom trash and replaced the bag while I ran in for the last few minutes of rehearsal. It was gross, and hopefully, a singular occasion, but it was one instance in what has become a trend of Dominic stepping up at home and making me one proud mama. Tonight, we played Jeopardy after dinner- Dominic vs. Noemie. Dominic lost the game and fought back tears. I caught him sneaking off with our history text on his way to bed. Score! (It was a pretty awesome game. You can try your hand at some of the "$500 questions" at the end of this post.)
Noemie decided ballet wasn't her thing so she didn't return to her classes when Christmas break was over. I was a little heart broken but I suppose she doesn't have to be a star at EVERYthing and I am sure her time as a gymnast and ballerina laid a foundation for physical skills such as balance, coordination, and maybe not falling so often down the stairs. I passed her off as a piano student to a local professional. My favorite new skill she has begun to develop is sewing. A woman at my church made doll clothes as a hobby. She overheard me talking about the prohibitive cost of sewing schools and she offered to teach Noemie. Noemie doesn't own any dolls but I think Ms. Joyce was so eager for the company that she decided that she would teach Noemie to sew clothes for real people. That weekend Noemie and I hit up Joann Fabrics which had all its McCalls patterns for $2 each (normally priced at about $15) and we banked! Best of all, this lady is 86 years old. She enjoys teaching and assigns little homework assignments like "watch a video on Youtube about industrial weaving." Ah! A teacher after my own heart! She says things like, "This is my modern iron." Noemie finds this amusing. Last time we were there, Noemie's fourth class, she was almost done with her first project- a bright teal, fur-trimmed, fleece hooded cape. They were using words like "basting" and "bias tape" and other things I'd never heard of before. I'm so proud I could cry.
As for Toby and Gigi, I can sum up the past few weeks by saying that Toby is more ornery than ever and Gigi is moving along in her reading lessons. I will have to say more another time as the kids are down with 7 minutes left before my own bedtime and I might be able to add another photo or two to our 2013 scrapbook. I'm only 4 years behind! Making progress!
Our Highest Point Jeopardy Answers on our Feb 4th Match:
- Ancient city that was home to the University of Sankore
- Invertebrate class that includes the sea creature that attacked Captain Nemo's submarine
- The capital of the country that is west of Nicolas Copernicus' home country
- A list of U.S. States whose first letters combine to form the name of Frodo's sword
-The area of a rectangle whose side lengths are equal to the number of wives of King Henry VIII, and the atomic number of Helium
I wrote these questions while playing Scrabble with Danny at midnight. And I lost the game because I thought I was winning. I was so mad. But. I have great peace because I love God's law and it didn't offend me. I am however anticipating a rematch, like a decent civilized person.
But then came the midnight shift. And here I am, yet again, tweaking the program. Our homeschool has always been somewhat amorphous in that way- when I discover I am in a box, I break it, and our routines or assignments ooze into the new space that is freed up. For instance, we had been working on making a "book" of information with U.S. state pages. The information sheets the kids had to fill out were tedious. Every time I pulled out the worksheets the kids would stifle groans and cries of despair. Have you every tried to draw the state flag of Pennsylvania freehand? Holy guacamole. And the state flower of Arkansas is of little value to our current lives much less to eternity. Fifteen reports in, it was glaringly obvious that this assignment was not what God intended when he directed us to this adventure of homeschooling. So we just scratched it. Instead, we wrote out the lyrics to the Animaniac's States and Capitals song in our penmanship, one verse at a time... Two birds with one stone and the assignments take a fraction of the time. We morphed again. But for all our smooth sailing since the restart of the year, the past week something was amiss. I haven't quite put my finger on it yet, but I have to figure out why Toby spent so much time under the table whining, and Gigi only got one reading lesson in.
Overall, we have had a wonderful school year so far. The kids are blossoming in their intellect, growing in knowledge in history and math and beginning to grapple with grammar and research writing. Our days have been orderly, with scheduled breaks, "field trips," life-skill building opportunities, and low stress. Dominic has also grown in maturity and is developing a greater sense of responsibility. This is to say, he's starting to "step up" and help me a little more. He spun Noemie too many times on the playground spinny-majiggy a few weeks ago. When Noemie consequently lost her lunch on the way to choir practice, he dutifully helped me wipe down the side of the car. It was thirty degrees as we shivered in the waning daylight, with giant wads of wet paper towels, running from the church bathroom to the parking lot. When all was said and done, he took out the church bathroom trash and replaced the bag while I ran in for the last few minutes of rehearsal. It was gross, and hopefully, a singular occasion, but it was one instance in what has become a trend of Dominic stepping up at home and making me one proud mama. Tonight, we played Jeopardy after dinner- Dominic vs. Noemie. Dominic lost the game and fought back tears. I caught him sneaking off with our history text on his way to bed. Score! (It was a pretty awesome game. You can try your hand at some of the "$500 questions" at the end of this post.)
Noemie decided ballet wasn't her thing so she didn't return to her classes when Christmas break was over. I was a little heart broken but I suppose she doesn't have to be a star at EVERYthing and I am sure her time as a gymnast and ballerina laid a foundation for physical skills such as balance, coordination, and maybe not falling so often down the stairs. I passed her off as a piano student to a local professional. My favorite new skill she has begun to develop is sewing. A woman at my church made doll clothes as a hobby. She overheard me talking about the prohibitive cost of sewing schools and she offered to teach Noemie. Noemie doesn't own any dolls but I think Ms. Joyce was so eager for the company that she decided that she would teach Noemie to sew clothes for real people. That weekend Noemie and I hit up Joann Fabrics which had all its McCalls patterns for $2 each (normally priced at about $15) and we banked! Best of all, this lady is 86 years old. She enjoys teaching and assigns little homework assignments like "watch a video on Youtube about industrial weaving." Ah! A teacher after my own heart! She says things like, "This is my modern iron." Noemie finds this amusing. Last time we were there, Noemie's fourth class, she was almost done with her first project- a bright teal, fur-trimmed, fleece hooded cape. They were using words like "basting" and "bias tape" and other things I'd never heard of before. I'm so proud I could cry.
As for Toby and Gigi, I can sum up the past few weeks by saying that Toby is more ornery than ever and Gigi is moving along in her reading lessons. I will have to say more another time as the kids are down with 7 minutes left before my own bedtime and I might be able to add another photo or two to our 2013 scrapbook. I'm only 4 years behind! Making progress!
______________________________________
Our Highest Point Jeopardy Answers on our Feb 4th Match:
- Ancient city that was home to the University of Sankore
- Invertebrate class that includes the sea creature that attacked Captain Nemo's submarine
- The capital of the country that is west of Nicolas Copernicus' home country
- A list of U.S. States whose first letters combine to form the name of Frodo's sword
-The area of a rectangle whose side lengths are equal to the number of wives of King Henry VIII, and the atomic number of Helium
I wrote these questions while playing Scrabble with Danny at midnight. And I lost the game because I thought I was winning. I was so mad. But. I have great peace because I love God's law and it didn't offend me. I am however anticipating a rematch, like a decent civilized person.
No comments:
Post a Comment