A Week in Review and A Look Ahead...

Looking back, it's been another amazing week...  The Lord is ever faithful and the physical evidence of His tender mercies on His children never cease to amaze me.

Your steadfast love, O LORD, extends to the heavens, Your faithfulness to the clouds. ~Psalm 36:5

I purposely scheduled a light school week for the boys, mostly because I knew that I'd be a little stressed with my Mother's surgery this week and would have some added responsibilities.  So, they had a 3-day week of Math, Writing and Language Arts, and Reading time and that's it... actually, it was good timing for a long weekend for all of us even though we're coming up on Thanksgiving and Christmas. 

So that was our early part of the week.  Thursday found me unrested, but with enough energy to deliver my dear Mother to the hospital safely.  I have to admit that I was hoping to find a nook or cranny w/ a couch so I could take a nap, but that was not to be.  :(   I was very thankful to our awesome Pastors who came up and visited w/ Mother and me and prayed over her.... I just can't wait until I'm standing before the Lord and He shows me all the ways prayer impacted my life either directly or indirectly...  I ended up leaving the hospital around 4p.m. or so, after Mother was snugly tucked in her bed and ready for a rest..one would have thought I would have slept well that night, but not so... I ended up with a terrible migraine- truly I thought my head was going to explode.  Anyway, Friday morning, was a quick throw together dinner in the crock-pot for my Step-dad & his mother (who lives with them), then back up to the hospital (an hour away) to bring Mother home...  Saturday was a fun-filled day, our 8y/o had football at the Y, grocery shopping, and then a few awesome games of Settlers of Catan w/ friends.  All in all it was a good, yet very busy, week.

A look ahead...

I'm looking forward to this being a much more relaxed week... or at least 'normal' (whatever that means).  :)  Mother isn't supposed to drive for the next couple of weeks, so I offered to come and get her if she needed to head to church to get some work done (I'm really hoping she doesn't try to drive) which would probably be Wednesday...did I say 'normal'?   :)

Blessings

 

Amazing...

It's going to be amazing (to say the least) someday standing before the Lord when He reveals to us all the wonderful prayers He's answered... all the disasters we were protected from...all the sweet blessings He's bestowed upon us just because He can...
Mom had her back surgery today, went through it wonderfully, and was doing very well after she was taken to her room  - all of which she attributed to the many prayers on her behalf...

Women Shouldn't be President...

What?!?!?!????  In today's world who would actually have the audacity to say/think such a thing???  Well, let me tell you a little story...

This year for history we're studying early American History up through roughly 1865 (though we seem to be stuck in the 1700s and just can't break into the 1800s as of yet... HELP!!) with TruthQuest History.  I'm loving the relaxed schedule TQH provides.  Anyway, I digress.  During lunch we were reading "So You Want to be President", which is a children's book covering our many Presidents and their many differences and similarities.  Toward the end of the book, it said that there have been no women that have run for/been elected President.  True, though Hilary attempted in 2008.

Enter my Dear Son #1 who is 10 years old...

"Yeah... I agree with that... I don't think it would be a good idea for a woman to be President."

Now, realize that I was raised in a single-parent home during the 70's and 80's at the height of 'girls can do anything boys can do and do it better,' and I believed it through and through.  A femi-Nazi is what I guess you would have called me.  (I've been a recovered femi-Nazi for 13 years now, bye the by.)  But in that moment, when my precious 10y/o son said that he didn't think women should be President, that old femi-Nazi started to rear her ugly head!  I don't know what surprised me more, that or my 10 y/o's very definite ideas of gender roles.  Anyway, I very calmly asked him why he thought that.  (I also don't think a woman would be a good choice for President, but that's a discussion for a different day.) 

"Well, Mom, because they need to stay home and do the dishes and cook and stuff like that." 

'Is that all he thinks I do all day?' I thought as I resisted the temptation to give him my laundry-list of "accomplishments". 
But what I said was, "But what if the woman didn't have a family to take care of?"  Thinking that might change his mind just a little (of course I was wrong about that). 

"She'd still have to do all those things..." he said nonchalantly. 

At this point I realized that my intelligence was at risk of being insulted, so I asked him, "So, do you think a woman is smart enough to be President?"  (That was really the root of my issues with all this.) 
To which he replied, 'yes, I just don't think it's a good idea.'  Phew!! 

As I was sharing this conversation with my dear husband, I was marvelling at the power of the home atmosphere and how that impacts our children's outlooks... I mean, it's not like we've ever discussed Biblical authority in terms of whether or not a female should or should not be elected President.  But somewhere along the way, in our day to day homeschooling lives, those unspoken things shine through...  now I'm wondering just what other things are 'shining through'....    :)

Grace and Peace

Wendy

Week in Review and A Look Ahead...

This has been quite a week.  It seems that no matter how I try to keep a 'normal' schedule, it just doesn't happen... actually, something happens... LIFE...  The week started normally, Monday was a great day with our morning and afternoon lessons and a break for lunch.  I have to confess that those days when all I have to worry about is school, meals, and household chores are my very most favorite...no place to go, no outside responsibilities, just hanging out with my guys.  Tuesday I took my older son back to the doctor to get his ears flushed out (poor kid had major issues), Wednesday it was Young People's Theatre Series day!  We'd been looking forward to this  for quite a while- the musical group Song of the Lakes performed an adaptation of H.C. Holling's Paddle to the Sea, and it was awesome!  Thursday was cleaning day at Mother's and Piano Lesson day, and Friday we took the day off in celebration of Daddy having a day off... 

So, it's Saturday and I forgot about Jacob D.'s football class at the Y...  >:(   He's so gracious and quick to forgive me for it without expressing his deep disappointment at having missed his class- he really loves it so very much.  But on the bright side, we went shopping for new shoes for the boys.  Caleb busted out of his tennies (I am amazed at how quickly he's growing!) and literally had a huge hole in the bottom of his shoe....  sigh....

Looking ahead to next week, I've scheduled a very light week for school- just the basics.  Math, Language Arts, Writing, and Reading.  Mother is having her back surgery on Thursday and I'm going to take her up to the hospital (an hour away) either the night before or that morning (depending on what time she's scheduled).  My continued dilemma is, as always, child care for the kiddos while my hubby is working.  I really don't want to take the boys to hang out in the hospital all day Thursday.  That means probably no school Thursday for the boys, and maybe Friday, too.... although I may assign them a couple of writing projects, but we'll see how the week shapes up.  I love that with homeschooling we have the flexibility to be there for our family members when they are in need of help, that with a little extra work we can keep caught up with our lesson plans.  Truthfully, I'm looking forward to a lighter schedule this week.  It will provide me with the opportunity to focus on spelling for one of my guys.  For some reason, my creative, right-brained child has a difficult time with spelling, and the traditional method of teaching spelling really doesn't work for him.  At any rate, a while ago I listened to a presentation from Diane Craft, who specializes in teaching children who have mild to severe learning glitches, dyslexia, dysgraphia, or just are right-brained enough to need to be taught differently.  She had some really great and creative ideas for teaching children things like spelling, math facts and the like which I am excited about working into our daily routine... all that to say this will be a great week for putting some  of those things together...  :)

How was your week?

Many blessings ~

Wendy

Three Cups...

We've been teaching it to our boys (now 10 and 8) for years... everything they 'have' really belongs to the Lord, he blesses us with many different types of things from money to toys and clothing, to food, shelter, and transportation that we may take care of it, use it and bless others as He would have us do.  We've taught them that when they receive a monetary gift, earn money from odd jobs, or receive an allowance, they are to give back to God first, then to their savings fund, and lastly to their spending fund. 

I was so excited when I had the opportunity to review the book "Three Cups, A Lesson in Life and Money for Children" by Tony Townsley and Mark St. Germain.  This story is a great and gentle way to introduce the concept of Godly money management, both for parents and for children.  The beautiful illustrations are sure to keep children engaged as they learn these important financial principles.  The story centers around a 5-year-old boy who receives 'an adventure' for his birthday...imagine his confusion when he opens his gift to find three ordinary old cups-from their own cupboard, no less.  His parents then explain to him the adventures would come in time...and they did.

One of my favorite features of this book is the Getting Started Parent's Guide at the end.  It takes the principle of the "Three Cups" and breaks it down into 10 easy steps for getting started.  I would highly recommend this book for all families with younger children, or even older children... it will be well worth the investment.   :)

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising

The Future...

This morning was one of those blessed mornings when my husband was home (he works late tonight), so Jacob and I had a date.  So we went out to breakfast and then to the Y to play a little together.  While we were there, a lady came up to me and asked if I homeschool;  of course I said yes, and she went on to share that she homeschooled her children until the mid-highschool years when she felt she couldn't do it any longer.  She shared that she loved the relationship she had with her children during those homeschooling years... But what she said next pained me greatly... she said that once her children (who are now grown with children of their own) went to traditional school, their relationship changed dramatically, she's never been able to gain it back, and how much she missed it.  I see this woman quite often around the Y and typically she's with her daughter, so I know there's a relationship there, but apparently it's just not the same type of closeness as they once shared. 

As our children grow from boys to men I know our relationship will change and grow as we do, but I always want the closeness my husband and I share with our boys to remain the same.  I've often thought about what we'll do in the highschool years, if we'll put them in a traditional school (whether public or private) so they can benefit from the music and/or sports programs, mainly;  or if we'll keep them home their entire schooling career.  While that remains to be seen, one thing I know for sure is that I will always remember that conversation and take her testimony into consideration when the time comes...

Good, Better, Best...

I loved the following post from the Homeschool Classroom website.  If I didn't know better, I would think she was looking in my windows observing our life here in Fulton-land...  I recently have been thinking over the concept of 'Good, Better, Best'... like what's Good Enough for our family, what's the Better part and what's the Best that I can give in the areas of being the wife God intends me to be, schooling and parenting our boys, creating relationships with them, and homemaking.  Anyhow, I hope you enjoy this article as much as I did... lots of food for thought...

http://www.hsclassroom.net/2011/10/good-better-best/

Grace and Peace

Wendy