Thursday, September 27, 2007

Sickness

It has begun! We left our homeschool co-op on Monday to Isaac saying he was about to die. We get home to discover he had a temperature of 103. Wednesday Zach woke up with it. Wednesday night Sarah went to bed with a headache and woke up with a fever. I keep checking on Jack, but so far so good. It always seems as though from October to March someone is sick. AGH!!! Anyway, that is how our week is going. How is yours?

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

She Ate the Ring!!

The children were outside playing while eating pretzels in the shape of a ring. The nine year old comes in irate because "She ate the ring!!!" I calmly explain it is only a pretzel everything is okay. The three year old in tears now says,"No, we are playing Lord of the Rings and Sarah(6)ate the ring!" I look to my husband to give some sort of lecture on arguing and being hateful with one another. His response,"What? They are playing Lord of the Rings at 9, 6, and 3. YES!!" That is what I get being married to an Omnibus teacher! Anything having to do with Literature, History, or Theology is great whether the get along or not!

Biblical Worldview

I am reading through the book Family Driven Faith. Very good book. It is an easy read, something good for those who are new to the concept of training your children to have a Biblical worldview.

Here is a quote from the book:

A proper understanding of biblical love is the foundation upon which a child's spiritual life is built. However, that foundation is only the first step. If biblical love is the foundation, a biblical worldview is the frame. It is imperative that we prepare children to think biblically. A child without a biblical worldview is like a ballplayer without a playbook. He may have spectacular abilities that will allow him to make the occasional jaw dropping play, but more often than not he will end up at the wrong place at the wrong time, and worse, not knowing how he got there or how to get back.

Thursday, September 13, 2007

So this is What it is All About

One of the concerns we had about our son was his desire to be with his friends. I am not saying we are opposed to friendships, but when a child only shows contempt for his siblings and is continually pleading to be with friends from school, there is a problem. One of our goals for this school year is to teach our son to love his siblings. So, I had some errands to run today that could not wait until after school. The teacher in me was anxious because we were missing out on school work. I was mentally reworking my plans to make up the work. As we were going about our errands I saw a transformation taking place in my eldest. He ASKED to carry his 1 year old brother as we walked through the store. It was very cute. The baby laid his head on his brother's shoulder the entire time. My son was a great help. So much so that it was not a burden to have the baby with us. When we were in the car Isaac made the comment that Jack is becoming attached to him. When I asked why he thought that was so, his reply was, "when I am at school all day he does not know me. Now he knows me and likes me and I am realizing that my little brothers can be fun sometimes." YES!! I know it is only a small part of one day, but it gives me enough hope to keep going. It is also encouraging to see he realizes what we are trying to achieve.

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

First Week Down

Well, we did it! We finished our first week and actually completed all of the lessons. He is doing better with it. I do not think he will ever say he loves being home schooled, but he is finding some things cool about being at home. Any suggestions on what to do with a 1 year old while teaching? The 3 year old I can keep busy, but the 1 year old, another story!

Wednesday, September 5, 2007

Reading. Writing , and Tarantulas

So we started our schooling yesterday. We had mixed reactions. He was excited at first. We went out to breakfast and then came home to start. After about and hour he was picked up by some friends to go and buy a pet tarantula!! According to them every child has to have a tarantula when they read Charlotte's Web. I am learning that it is okay to sleep in a house with a pet spider and a 3 year old who is determined to hold it. I was counting on my husband to help take care of this thing. But, looks as though he has the same feeling about spiders as me. The only good spider is a dead spider. Please tell me homeschooling will not require me to conquer every phobia I have.

Things continued well until the afternoon. While doing history he just started crying because he missed his friends. He was imagining for most of the day what they wee doing at certain times. That was hard. I know he will adjust, it just may be a hard road.

So, here's to another day!