CJ's Preschool

I am so blessed and give thanks to God for his grace in it all. My 2 year old CJ goes to "preschool at Grandma's" almost every morning while we homeschool. It is truly a blessing to have her living downstairs. Our routine is that after breakfast and chores, we take coffee down to Grandma, and CJ brings his "Sloan" (his stuffed elephant that he is very attached to) and his drink, and he goes down to play with Grandma for a couple hours while we get the bulk of our school finished. He plays with blocks, matches shapes & colors, does puzzles, plays with cars, has a snack, sits in Grandma's lap and reads books, and most of all gets undivided attention from someone who loves him. What 2 year old could ask for anything more than that? He loves his Grandma, and so do we. He is also potty trained! We started with him right around Christmas, and he took to it very quickly. He got big boy underwear in his stocking to spark interest. Now 3 weeks later, he is telling me when he needs to go and even stayed dry during his nap today. He is so funny about it - I was in hysterics this morning as he sat on the potty saying to me in his cute CJ way, "Mom, do you hear it?" He was talking about what was going in the potty, of course! This kid is really funny.

Back to school growing pains

As a kid, I remember the first week back after a holiday being difficult. It can be hard to get back in a routine. As much as I had hoped that my son would be jumping up and down at the thought of new workbooks and a new beginning to school, it didn't quite go that way. Today, in our language lesson we were talking about days of the week and what we do each day. As I was writing down on the whiteboard what we do on Monday - school/ Tuesday- gymnastics and school, he came to the board and crossed out all the "school" words. I asked him how he was going to learn to read and write if he didn't go to school. I never did get a good answer, just that he didn't like school. Of course, I shouldn't really care if he doesn't like school, but if he doesn't like learning, then that is another matter. I should change my approach if the later is true.

Tuesday it took us 1 1/2 hours just to get through our Saxon 1 Math lesson. Of course, partly this was due to the fact that we were playing store part of the lesson. They eagerly stretched this part of the lesson out as long as possible, but it was a lot of fun. Nevertheless, I was a bit frustrated at having taken so much time for Math when we still had Phonics, Handwriting, Bible, and a Language lesson to go. So, the next morning, we skipped Saxon altogether and played Swamp Sum for math. It was apparent that he had forgotten most of his simple math sums over the holidays anyways. There is something to be said for year-round schooling.

Rachel is eager to start preschool. Since she will be 4 in just a matter of weeks, I decided to begin instructing her in her letters and sounds and teaching her to write her capitals this Spring. She was very excited about this, and we have been using a combination of Rod and Staff preschool workbooks, online letter print-outs, and Handwriting without Tears chalkboard and wooden letter pieces. It makes her feel grown up to have her own school stuff to do. I think she will like "school" a lot more than her brother ever will.

Back to School

I spent yesterday taking down our Christmas decorations and our tree from our homeschool room in preparation for next week. Like most of you, we are winding down from the holidays and going back to school. My 6 year old doesn't think that is such a great idea; after all, who would after being surrounded by family, vacation, Daddy off work, presents and Christmas cookies for 2 weeks? My idea was that I would get to spend most of a day in preparation for our 2nd semester. This ended up being a couple of hours yesterday and last night going through our curriculum and making sure that we have enough days allotted to get through the material. My 1st grader doesn't know it yet, but his life is about to get harder. Of course, he doesn't know what hard is. My goal is that this Spring we will add Spelling 3 x a week and be more diligent about getting in Science & History at least once a week, preferably twice. For those of you who do homeschool, you will relate to me when I say that we have a few distractions around the house. Not only is my son of the ADHD variety, we have a preschooler, toddler and a baby which all adds up to lots of interruptions and distractions during our "school time". My challenge is to view those distractions as teachable moments and to help my younger children feel loved and included while making sure my 6 year old actually does learn how to read and write! (and prepare home-cooked meals, do the laundry, keep the house clean, and the myriad of other responsibilities). It can be at times a bit overwhelming. So in light of that, what do I desire this new year? I desire to understand more of the Gospel and how that plays out in my life and our family.

Just as it so happens, I was watching a video series of a Bible study we are about to begin this January at our church. The gal on the video, Tara Barthel, is speaking right to me. We believe in the sovereignty of God, and so it is no accident that I am supposed to be "leading" this Bible study. Surely I need this message more than anyone else. It is all about keeping the gospel central in our relationships. Sounds simple, right? I was convicted that I have not been doing this especially towards my children. When they do good, I praise them. When they do wrong, I scold them. I hear myself telling them, "Be kind. Love your brother. Obey your parents." These are all good things, but this is only part of what I should teach them. These things represent the law. She says the law is the "should" in Scripture, the "imperative". The Gospel is the "indicative" - "who God is and what He has already done for us in Christ." She gave the example of Colossians 3:12-14. Funny because I recently read that to my children in one of our devotions and was focusing on the law all the while without realizing it. It says "Clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience..." But then, she asks where the Gospel is in all this. I looked at the verse and could not see it at first. Then I saw it in the beginning of the verse. "Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved..." That is who we are as believers. We are his people, holy and dearly loved. How powerful! We cannot put on compassion, kindness and the like until we rest in the first part of the verse. I have been focusing with myself and my children on the "ought to's" and not on what God has already done for me. This is my prayer - that our family and homeschool will be characterized by the Gospel this Spring and not so much on the "ought to's". I will keep you posted.