Last night was not a good night. I went to bed too late. And after a wordless argument with Matt, I was definitely out of sorts when my head hit the pillow. Then Pepper woke up screaming at 2 a.m. Matt, who is able to go back to sleep right away after a sleep interruption (unlike me, who will lie awake for hours), got up to comfort Pepper. Daddy can solve every nighttime problem...usually. Not last night. Pepper wanted MOMMY. Matt tried for 15 minutes before I joined him him Pepper's room. After a heated exchange of words between Matt and me, he agreed to bring Pepper into our room. I cuddled the wound-up little guy for a couple of minutes, then settled him into a little bed on the floor beside our bed. I don't think more than 5 seconds passed before Pepper was asleep again. It was only 5 seconds more before Matt was snoring. And there I was, wide awake and grumpy as a bear in January. I don't know what time I finally drifted back off, but it was a whole lot longer than 10 seconds.
I woke up at 7:30 this morning. My eyelids weighed 50 pounds and my behind had bricks stuck to it. I dragged myself to the computer, and made my to-do list, trying to muster enough motivation to haul my heavy backside and eyelids downstairs to eat some breakfast. I didn't want to go down there because I knew what was waiting: a mountain of dishes, dirty, sticky floors, 6 loads of laundry, and a bunch of clutter from the weekend. Add Snapper's schoolwork to the list and it is kind of a daunting sight first thing on a Monday morning. I could not stop the tears that flowed in that moment. Since I could not bring myself to go downstairs, I decided to ease myself into the day by checking my blogroll. Sarah Mae at Like A Warm Cup of Coffee had a new post: Motivate Me Monday: Reclaim Your Life--A Challenge. That sounded like exactly what I needed to hear! So I read it.
First of all, Sarah Mae reminded me that the Holy Spirit is alive and well in me--therefore, I have the power to do the things I need to do. Second, she reminded me that my children and home are not a burden. Wow!
I bowed my head right there at the computer desk and asked God to forgive me for my selfishness and peevish attitude. I cried some more, and asked God to energize me, to lift the weights from my eyelids, and to demolish the load of bricks that is seeking to anchor me to my chair all day. I asked God to give me fresh perspective and to face the day with a cheerful heart. God is faithful. It is no coincidence that the next blog I read was this post on perspective from my friend Stef. Once again, Wow!
I am coming back to life. Here are my thoughts about what is coming today.
Task: Mountain of dishes in the sink
Waking thoughts: I hate doing dishes! It is messy and stinky. And the mountain never really goes away. I should just go buy paper plates.
Fresh perspective: The mountain of dishes in the sink is the result of having cherished friends spend the weekend with us. The dishes are dirty because I had the food necessary to prepare a delicious meal. There are approximately 40,000 children in Central Arkansas (www.ricedepot.org) who live in poverty and are likely to go without food every night and weekend. Why is it I'm complaining about dishes again?
Task: Dirty, sticky floors
Waking thoughts: It is so gross to walk across crunchy floors. I can't even go barefoot in my own kitchen! Why can't people wipe up the sticky messes they make? If Snapper hadn't left the broom outside on a rainy night, I wouldn't even have this problem. (My broom is in the trash, completely coated with mildew). I hate cleaning dirty floors. I should just leave this chore for Matt.
Fresh perspective: The floors are dirty because I have healthy children who eat in the kitchen--not on our new carpet, and who track dirt in from their delightful playtimes in our big, beautiful backyard. I'm sure my friend Rachael would love to clean up a mess made by her baby daughter Mia...because Mia can't eat or even breathe on her own due to an as-of-yet undiagnosed problem with her brain. I know Rachael hopes to one day see Mia living a healthy, normal life, able to eat on her own and play in the back yard. Why am I complaining about dirty floors again?
Task: 6 loads of laundry
Waking thoughts: GROAN! More laundry...Does it ever end? Will I ever make headway in my battle against the laundry monster?
Fresh perspective: Yesterday was cool, so we all wore long pants and sweatshirts. Today I'm at home so I'm wearing velour lounge pants and my Jimmie Johnson hoodie. Tomorrow I'll be at work so I'll be wearing a cute shirt and my black pants. Wednesday should be warm so I'll wear shorts and a tank top. Which comfy pair of pajamas will I wear tonight? Matt and I have plenty of clothing options. The kids both have full dressers. We have a great washer and dryer in a very spacious laundry room in our home. How many people don't have enough clothes? How many have to use a shared laundry room, or go to the laundromat? Why am I complaining about laundry again?
Task: Clutter clean-up
Waking thoughts: Clutter busting has to be the most annoying chore ever! I hate cleaning up after people. Why can't they just put away their stuff?
Fresh perspective: The clutter around the whole downstairs area is evidence of a weekend spent focusing on something eternal. While Frank and Tammy were here, none of us wasted time cleaning up anything. Our time was much better spent! Why am I complaining about the clutter again?
Task: Snapper's schoolwork
Waking thoughts: Three weeks and counting!
Fresh perspective: I live in a country in which I have the freedom to homeschool my child. I can teach her about God without living in fear. Snapper is a very intelligent child, and she learns quickly. Yes, she resists doing writing assignments. But she is able to learn with ease. I watch the struggles of friends whose children have learning disabilities. I know I have friends who would give anything to be able to stay home with their kids and homeschool, but they have to work full-time outside the home just to make ends meet. Why am I complaining about Snapper's schoolwork again?
Once again I say WOW! When I look at things this way, I realize how self-centered and negative I have been recently. I also remember that motherhood is a high and worthy calling. The tasks on my plate each day are a privilege, not drudgery. Once I post this, I will stop again and humbly ask God's forgiveness. I will go back and read this post...a reminder of my true job title. And then I will head downstairs, put on a fun playlist on my iPod, and tackle the tasks of serving my family, and making our home a clean, peaceful place. You'd better believe my attitude is miles higher than it was just 2 hours ago!
I will give myself additional incentive, too. A few months back, I posted a series of blogs on our home makeover. That makeover was completed a month ago, but I still haven't posted pictures. When my tasks for today are done, I will take pictures of our completed (except for the baseboards) home makeover projects and I will post them for you. That will be very fun! So off I go! God grant me energy and strength, and to Him be the glory!
Showing posts with label homeschooling. Show all posts
Showing posts with label homeschooling. Show all posts
Monday, May 4, 2009
Sunday, April 19, 2009
It's A God Thing
My mom was the most wonderful, devoted mom a girl could ever want. One of the main ways she showed her love was through homeschooling my sister and me. She was amazing. You can read my memories of my homeschooling experiences in this post. When God called me to homeschool Snapper for 1st grade, I was full of grand plans of how I would be just like my mom in homeschooling. I would work hard to mold a child who has an above average understanding of grade level concepts, and who is a lover of learning. It hasn't worked out quite the way I wanted it to, and back in November I accepted that. I decided I would do homeschooling my way, to the best of my ability, and utilizing the resources available to me. I feel I've done a good job. I've got a little girl who is reading well above grade level, who can compose an organized, 7-sentence writing assignment, who spells really well, and who is fantastic with math. So I've accomplished that goal.
What I wasn't counting on was the personality of my child and the effects that personality would have on our homeschooling experience. My Snapper is a girl who feeds off other people, and thrives in a highly social environment with lots of stimulation. The one-on-one attention is not as important to her as being with a group. It is the mold she is cut out of. It has taken me a long time to figure this out. Homeschooling may actually not be a good fit for her! As the school year has progressed, schoolwork has become more and more of a struggle for Snapper--not because it is difficult, but because of other factors. Work that should take 1 1/2 hours takes 3-4 hours...of my undivided attention. I know I just said she doesn't need one-on-one. She doesn't...in a traditional classroom environment. The other day, Snapper told me in complete frustration that when she's at home trying to do school, all she can think about are the other things she would rather be doing. And Pepper’s frequent interruptions drive her nuts. She told me she misses being in school, and had a much easier time staying focused last year at her old school. I know this is true because I watched her in action. I don’t fully understand how a classroom full of kids can be less distracting than one small brother and 3 cats, but it is a proven fact in our case. I have not met the goal of helping her become a lover of learning. Instead, school has become a time of frustration for her. This is not what Matt and I want for her.
So we went back to the drawing board and began looking at other options. We fall just outside the income bracket that would qualify us for significant financial aid for a private school, so that option is void. The public school we’re zoned for is overcrowded, is low performing, and has some other major issues. Out of the question. The other awesome public elementary close to our house is only accepting transfers from ethnic minorities, which rules us out. So we did some research on the other schools in our area. We found a few other schools that met our standards for Snapper and her needs. We filled out applications and submitted them to the school district.
One conversation with the district shot our hopes. All the schools had open enrollment while we were in California in January and February. We had missed the deadlines, and found ourselves way down the waiting lists. They told us not to expect to get into any of the schools, and if by some miracle we did, it likely would not be until the week before school starts, or possibly even part way into the school year. At that point we left it with the Lord. We would leave our applications in, but not pursue other schools. We want an excellent school for Snapper, and we won’t settle for less. If God wanted us to stop homeschooling, He would open the door at one of the few schools we had chosen. We made this decision last week.
Day before yesterday Matt called the district office to check in and find out where Snapper was on the waiting lists. The answer was what we expected: WAY, WAY DOWN THERE! But oh, wait! Let’s look at this school (our #2 choice) again. What do you know…they have an opening! Would Snapper like to attend this school?
Wow…Hi God!
Less than a week after our paperwork was turned in, less than a week after being told we would not get in, there “happened” to be an opening. And guess what? One of my closest friends' son was accepted at the same school too!!!
The school is 20 minutes from our house with no traffic. BUT…it is a fantastic school that will be a perfect fit for Snapper. The class sizes are small, and there are lots of enrichment opportunities. We’ve heard rave reviews about the principal, and about the school as a whole, from several people--including teachers who send their own kids there!
We feel this is a huge, and very direct, answer to our prayers. An impossible door has swung open. The school meets our requirements. And God gave us a close friend to walk into this with.
Isn’t God good?
Snapper is SO excited! She is counting down the days until school starts in the fall. If you want more info about the school, email me and I’ll tell you more. I don’t want to post any identifying info on the school here in cyberspace.
What I wasn't counting on was the personality of my child and the effects that personality would have on our homeschooling experience. My Snapper is a girl who feeds off other people, and thrives in a highly social environment with lots of stimulation. The one-on-one attention is not as important to her as being with a group. It is the mold she is cut out of. It has taken me a long time to figure this out. Homeschooling may actually not be a good fit for her! As the school year has progressed, schoolwork has become more and more of a struggle for Snapper--not because it is difficult, but because of other factors. Work that should take 1 1/2 hours takes 3-4 hours...of my undivided attention. I know I just said she doesn't need one-on-one. She doesn't...in a traditional classroom environment. The other day, Snapper told me in complete frustration that when she's at home trying to do school, all she can think about are the other things she would rather be doing. And Pepper’s frequent interruptions drive her nuts. She told me she misses being in school, and had a much easier time staying focused last year at her old school. I know this is true because I watched her in action. I don’t fully understand how a classroom full of kids can be less distracting than one small brother and 3 cats, but it is a proven fact in our case. I have not met the goal of helping her become a lover of learning. Instead, school has become a time of frustration for her. This is not what Matt and I want for her.
So we went back to the drawing board and began looking at other options. We fall just outside the income bracket that would qualify us for significant financial aid for a private school, so that option is void. The public school we’re zoned for is overcrowded, is low performing, and has some other major issues. Out of the question. The other awesome public elementary close to our house is only accepting transfers from ethnic minorities, which rules us out. So we did some research on the other schools in our area. We found a few other schools that met our standards for Snapper and her needs. We filled out applications and submitted them to the school district.
One conversation with the district shot our hopes. All the schools had open enrollment while we were in California in January and February. We had missed the deadlines, and found ourselves way down the waiting lists. They told us not to expect to get into any of the schools, and if by some miracle we did, it likely would not be until the week before school starts, or possibly even part way into the school year. At that point we left it with the Lord. We would leave our applications in, but not pursue other schools. We want an excellent school for Snapper, and we won’t settle for less. If God wanted us to stop homeschooling, He would open the door at one of the few schools we had chosen. We made this decision last week.
Day before yesterday Matt called the district office to check in and find out where Snapper was on the waiting lists. The answer was what we expected: WAY, WAY DOWN THERE! But oh, wait! Let’s look at this school (our #2 choice) again. What do you know…they have an opening! Would Snapper like to attend this school?
Wow…Hi God!
Less than a week after our paperwork was turned in, less than a week after being told we would not get in, there “happened” to be an opening. And guess what? One of my closest friends' son was accepted at the same school too!!!
The school is 20 minutes from our house with no traffic. BUT…it is a fantastic school that will be a perfect fit for Snapper. The class sizes are small, and there are lots of enrichment opportunities. We’ve heard rave reviews about the principal, and about the school as a whole, from several people--including teachers who send their own kids there!
We feel this is a huge, and very direct, answer to our prayers. An impossible door has swung open. The school meets our requirements. And God gave us a close friend to walk into this with.
Isn’t God good?
Snapper is SO excited! She is counting down the days until school starts in the fall. If you want more info about the school, email me and I’ll tell you more. I don’t want to post any identifying info on the school here in cyberspace.
Monday, March 30, 2009
French Toast Resapy
All throughout this school year, I have had trouble trying to get Snapper to write. She loves spelling, and writes dictated sentences beautifully. But when it comes to trying to get her to write a composition of any sort, she digs in her feet, crosses her arms, and balks. Snapper hates writing. I've tried all sorts of differnt types of writing assignments, ranging from story writing, poetry, reports, letters, and even simple journals about her life. She has not liked any of it. Then today, I decided to have her write her own recipe. Bingo! For the first time this school year, Snapper's eyes lit up with excitement at the prospect of writing. Here is her original, uncorrected "resapy."
French Toast Resapy
First, you put a gallan of milk in a big bowl. Then you put three eggs in the bowl. Then you put one shake of sinamin in the bowl. Then you mix the stuff together. Then you poor the stuff on a lofe of bread. Put a pan on a hot stove and put the bread on the pan. Set the timer for one hour. Serve the toast on a plate with butter and serrup.
Remind me to have dinner plans with friends on the night Snapper is cooking French Toast. Ha ha!
French Toast Resapy
First, you put a gallan of milk in a big bowl. Then you put three eggs in the bowl. Then you put one shake of sinamin in the bowl. Then you mix the stuff together. Then you poor the stuff on a lofe of bread. Put a pan on a hot stove and put the bread on the pan. Set the timer for one hour. Serve the toast on a plate with butter and serrup.
Remind me to have dinner plans with friends on the night Snapper is cooking French Toast. Ha ha!
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Proud Mama
Homeschooling has its challenges. Surprisingly for me, the biggest challenge of homeschooling hasn't been the schooling part of it. It has been the Snapper-at-home-24/7 part of it. For those of you who know Snapper, you understand exactly what I'm saying. She is so intense...all the time! And now that she has outgrown her nap, I get no break from the intensity. By the time Matt gets home, I'm all worn out, often ready to run for the hills. But we're working on creative solutions for that, including a 1-hour book rest every afternoon (which she loves), and putting the X-Box and a dvd player upstairs in the schoolroom. There's nothing like a movie or an hour of X-Box time for Snapper, to give me a bit of peace and quiet. And when I climb into bed at night, I know with confidence that should the funds suddenly appear for me to put her back at her old school, or should the public school we tried to transfer her into suddenly call me with an opening for her, I would still keep her home.
The proud mama part of this thing comes from the schooling. Snapper is so easy to teach! She is flying through her first grade work, soaking up information like a sponge. I'm amazed at how quickly she grasps concepts that I thought would be difficult for her. It's also really fun to watch her apply the concepts in her daily life. She adds and subtracts her toys without even thinking about it when she's cleaning her room. She is using some of her new vocabulary in regular conversation. She talks with me about the Bible stories we read together, and quotes her Awana verses as she encounters situations where the verses apply. I love it, love it, love it! But probably the coolest thing of all is seeing the fruit of the hours I spent learning our Spalding launguage arts curriculum, and even more hours writing lesson plans for it.
Spalding is built on the rules of the English language. There are 70 letters and combinations of letters that represent the spoken sounds of English. (e.g. sh, ey, th, eigh, ai, oy). The Spalding student memorizes these 70 phonograms and their sounds, and learns the rules for when to apply them. After 2 months of school, Whitney recognizes all 70 phonograms by sight, and can write them as I dictate them to her. I've taught her about syllables, and we have broken hundreds of spoken words into their syllables. Now Snapper has the tools to decode just about any word, and can easily spell words that I didn't spell until 4th or 5th grade. She uses the rules she has learned, and spells each word one syllable at a time.
I am teaching her how to outline her thoughts on a topic, and how to organize them into a logical order. She dictates sentences to me. I write them down. She numbers the sentence order, and I dictate them back for her to write. When she writes, we talk about grammar and punctuation. I don't correct any of her grammar, puncutation, or spelling. When she finishes writing, she reads back through it and corrects any mistakes she sees. Then we leave it "as is." Her writing assignnments go into a binder. She has already had fun comparing her writing from the first week of school to what she is writing now. The improvements are very visible.
Here's a sample of her writing. I can hardly wait to see what she can do at the end of the year. I'm one proud mama, so proud of my girl.
The proud mama part of this thing comes from the schooling. Snapper is so easy to teach! She is flying through her first grade work, soaking up information like a sponge. I'm amazed at how quickly she grasps concepts that I thought would be difficult for her. It's also really fun to watch her apply the concepts in her daily life. She adds and subtracts her toys without even thinking about it when she's cleaning her room. She is using some of her new vocabulary in regular conversation. She talks with me about the Bible stories we read together, and quotes her Awana verses as she encounters situations where the verses apply. I love it, love it, love it! But probably the coolest thing of all is seeing the fruit of the hours I spent learning our Spalding launguage arts curriculum, and even more hours writing lesson plans for it.
Spalding is built on the rules of the English language. There are 70 letters and combinations of letters that represent the spoken sounds of English. (e.g. sh, ey, th, eigh, ai, oy). The Spalding student memorizes these 70 phonograms and their sounds, and learns the rules for when to apply them. After 2 months of school, Whitney recognizes all 70 phonograms by sight, and can write them as I dictate them to her. I've taught her about syllables, and we have broken hundreds of spoken words into their syllables. Now Snapper has the tools to decode just about any word, and can easily spell words that I didn't spell until 4th or 5th grade. She uses the rules she has learned, and spells each word one syllable at a time.
I am teaching her how to outline her thoughts on a topic, and how to organize them into a logical order. She dictates sentences to me. I write them down. She numbers the sentence order, and I dictate them back for her to write. When she writes, we talk about grammar and punctuation. I don't correct any of her grammar, puncutation, or spelling. When she finishes writing, she reads back through it and corrects any mistakes she sees. Then we leave it "as is." Her writing assignnments go into a binder. She has already had fun comparing her writing from the first week of school to what she is writing now. The improvements are very visible.
Here's a sample of her writing. I can hardly wait to see what she can do at the end of the year. I'm one proud mama, so proud of my girl.
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