Ballet Begins Again

Rachel took ballet for a couple of years when she was very young. Today, we started ballet lessons for Abigail and Susannah with one of our favorite friends. Mary Margaret has been close friends with Mary for so many years and has agreed to teach Abigail and Susannah at our home. My face hurts from smiling so much while watching these two little beauties dance with her. They looked at her like she was a queen and she treated them like little princesses.

We haven't been able to figure out a good schedule for each child to do a sport and a music or art class. With so many daughters, it's really impossible for everyone to get to do all they want. We feel like sports, music and art are all important, but it's  impossible to do everything. It takes a lot of creativity and organization to get homeschooling done as well as extra curricular activities.

We have grappled with this topic for many years as the older girls grew. I'm sure there are gaps in a lot of their learnings, but so far they seem to be doing okay. There are no easy answers to growing healthy, well-rounded, contributors to society that love and honor God. Today, we got to enjoy a little bit of the process.

Josiah watched in amazement the whole time.

Mary and Lydia

These two beauties are growing so quickly. They have proven over and over that God is gracious to my failings. It would be easy for them to check out of life and be like the rest of the world.  My heart is often divided and parenting children such vast ages, the middle girls too often get slighted. Mary and Lydia have taken over nearly all of the household chores, all of their school, music and jobs. I rarely hear a complaint.

If you were ever at our house during the morning basket time, you may or may not see something like this.  The "spanish game" gets out of  hand sometimes and one or the other needs to use drastic measures to win. Clearly, they aren't having much fun at school. (Just kidding, but they aren't going to like these pictures being posted.)

Pennsylvania

We spent our Winter break with the Jarrard family in Pennsylvania. We are so grateful for their friendship and hospitality. This is definitely the best way to learn history!

Not much history here but we had a blast snow tubing!

The James River

Abi confused George Washington with George Bush, oops!

Independence Hall - Hannah wondered how anyone could not be moved to tears by visiting such palace.

Midtown Scholar in Harrisburg is the coolest bookstore we've been in.  Mary got lost in a beautiful copy of  Les Miserables.

She wanted to carry her pencil and paper and draw everything she saw. The Liberty Bell is truly beautiful in person.

"Rocky steps" lead to the Art Museum. Now that was amazing!  We saw one of the original Van Gogh Sunflowers and countless works of Monet.

On the way we stopped at a "random" church for worship. We were reminded of God's sovereignty and it was a great service.

The Amish Farms are humbling. But this peacock was "Just Plain Fancy."  Did you notice the reference to one our favorite children's books?

Long-Term Parenting

"Am I living with eternity stamped on my eyes or am I living for this very moment?"

This quote is written in my prayer journal to remind me to live for eternity. I hear the mantra to live in the moment, stop and enjoy the moment, etc. That's good advice, but it's easy to look at each moment and believe that's all there is.

Parenting and homeschooling is all about eternity. It must be!

We are planning for next year and my heart was thankful to God for the men who lead the families of our group as they prayed over us. The prayers were definitely for strength and wisdom now, but also focused on the long term vision of raising children who love the One True God and will be launched out to serve Him alone.

 Raising children to become adults is hard! It's a long term job and must me seen with eternity in view.  So as I grapple with day in and day out decisions, I need to remember the long term.

These pictures of Ray and Abigail are from a wedding this past weekend. She loves her daddy!

Ten Ways To Destroy the Imagination of Your Child

It has been a long time since I've read a book that has challenged me so. I don't know who Anthony Esolen is but I suspect our theology is a bit different. For several reasons, his book on parenting has kept me awake recently.

The style- 

I'm sure there is a literary term for the style of the book, but I don't know what it is, however, the title kind of gives it away. It is written in the opposite of what would actually be helpful to training a child. So when the author says to keep your child indoors all of the time, he actually means to keep them outside. Having so many things written in the negative, I have to stay on guard while I'm reading, asking myself, "Is this what he thinks parents should or should not do?"

The subject-

The author deals with serious pieces of literature, works of art, many languages, random types of government, and scientific methods. He gives a complete run down on how a car works using words like - cylinders, differential, universal joint. He introduces Greek gods and obscure characters in literature like they are well known friends. He discusses poetry of every genre, Augustine, and Scripture alongside Chopin and Beethoven. He makes a fine argument against organized sports and programs, but for gangs of kids playing in the streets. My brain is stretched! 

The guilt- 

I should have been doing some of this all along. Sometimes I mourn for the older girls' losses because of my lack of wisdom. As a parent, I didn't know what I was supposed to be doing. I know that God takes us where we are and uses us in His own plan, but I do wish I hadn't been so ignorant when Rachel was born. I nearly starved the poor child and then gave her straight apple juice out of a bottle. God's grace and mercy to us is so obvious through those days. Now, I haven't near the wisdom that I need to continue parenting, but at least I know that I don't know what I'm doing.

*Don't worry, I'm not about to sit Abigail out the back door and make her stay for twelve hours on her own, nor am I removing her from her formal music lessons. I can't throw all safety to the wind but I am trying to consciously build her imagination.

Homeschool Goals

I'm really trying to get homeschool planned for next year so that I'm not scrambling at the last minute. I have learned that I have to have my homeschooling vision and goals before me to keep moving forward. The logistics and curriculum take a lot of time and effort to plan successfully. But I think the vision and goals of homeschooling are more important.

I read over a lot of things that I had written in the past about homeschool. Some days it was funny, some days I wondered who those kids are that I teach. But I noticed a common theme, homeschooling is hard. I would like to place before my family the vision and goals for our family to keep us all focused to carry on.

Now if I can just figure out what they are...

But looking back at pictures, I realized that we did do a few good things.  Below are a few snapshots from our end of the year celebration.

All of our children had to memorize a major portion of scripture, song or written work. Mary read The Confessions of Augustine and wrote a paper to present to the families that gathered. Some of the other things presented were -

• 10 Commandments
• The Athanasian Creed
• Proverbs 3
• Come Thou Fount
• And about a million (jk) verses from our unit studies

a newspaper by the writing class

I don't know if this was the cutest thing we did all year but it was pretty close to the top. These beautiful faces dressed up as forest friends and acted out the book Very Special Friends by Jane Chapman.

This is part of the Spanish class after acting out something about an elephant and a flight attendant. I'm not a Spanish speaker but what I understood was hilarious.

On the last day of classes, our favorite history teacher returned from a deployment to Jordan. All of the kids were surprised and lots of happy tears flowed. 

Field Trip Day 2016

Greek goddess

"We're finally doing what my friends think all homeschoolers do - Only go on field trips." Like a lot of the general public, many of Lydia's friends who attend traditional private Christian school have the idea that all homeschoolers just go on field trips, never do any real work, and do school in their pajamas. Well, they do actually wear their pajamas all day, if they don't have to leave the house.

Our history, literature, and Bible curriculum focused on early civilizations this year so we went to the Michael C. Carlos Museum at Emory University. It's a great museum for kids. The staff is comfortable with children talking out loud and seem eager to tell them about the exhibits. And it was fun to go with friends who knew more about the exhibits than we do and were actually excited about them too.

It's sand!

The High Museum was great on a Tuesday afternoon. There was almost no one there and it was perfect for my talkative four year old. I could've spent hours there but I was also there with my four year old.

selfie

Lydia was surprised by how much she enjoyed the museum too.

Mary loved the urban art.

The Eric Carle exhibit was perfect Abigail

We became part of the art.

Mary's Final Final Paper

Yes, that's supposed to read her final final paper. She thought that writing a major paper on the Confessions of Augustine was her final paper, but for several reasons I decided it shouldn't be. This was the last minute assignment I gave her and Lydia -

Final paper

Titled- What Did I Actually Learn?

Rough draft completed by bedtime tonight
Short
Creative but Informative
Include some subjects studied, scripture learned
Be specific, but don't get bogged down by specifics
Don't be afraid to use big words and to make it fun

This is what I received (way before bedtime). I just wish all of the girls' schoolwork was so fun to receive.

What I’ve Actually Learned This Year

            In the duration of this past rotation of the earth around the sun, I have been truly blessed to have much new and valuable information imparted upon me. I have learned much of the days from yesteryear, such as the contrivance of the complex for the disposal of excretion in ancient cities.  This data will be monumentally important for me as I pursue a career in the medicinal field. I have also burned the midnight oil in order to peruse the volume containing the Confessions of Saint Augustine, and committing to memory passages of the Holy Bible. I have performed electron configurations, trend analyses on the periodic table, and attained the information and skills to utilize burettes for the purpose of titration. I have robbed friends of punch lines; I have provided ample entertainment for the entirety of my class. However, the aforementioned activities, however epoch making they may have been for my life and the lives of everyone around me, were not the most important of the year.

            This past span of one hundred and eighty school days have taught me to exert myself in order to produce the optimal results in everything I do. I have acquired the experiences necessary to succeed in school. I am able to do what is necessary to truly fathom the information imparted to me, not just recall it for the period of time necessary to pass an exam. I have (necessarily) learned to keep my mandible bone raised to the heavens even in times of trial and tribulation. I have learned that humor is necessary to the existence of humankind. I have learned fighting for what I believe is not always necessarily quite the spanking notion I would think. Sometimes it is necessary to keep one's trap shut in order to abstain from causing conflict in the mind of someone convinced of their conjectures. However, most importantly, I have stumbled upon the way to remember the way to spell “necessary.” A shirt necessarily has one Collar, and two Sleeves!

It's Official!

I'm the worst mother ever! This week, I've earned the title. I have-

And there's this...
Vacuuming!

• Made my kids do school while I laid down.
• Made one wash the cat food bowls even though her greatest fear is tiny worms and spiders.
• Failed to remind one enough times that a bill was coming due, so it was late getting mailed.
• Allowed one of them to keep doing school past five, even though they are supposed to stop at three.
• Made them memorize two verses this week instead of one because it was too easy.
• Had one ask me, "How long does menopause last?" That was in the middle of her two hour cleaning chores.
• Punished one because she "just felt like" telling another sister how awful and spoiled she was.
• Insisted my girls tell me EVERY time they leave who they are riding with. (Yes, I know bad grammar, but you can't use bad grammar and be mad, can you?)

But the best was when-

I ruined one of my girls' life because I wouldn't let her swim before breakfast. She actually said, "Well, thanks for ruining my life!"

At least I've been appreciated this week....

Back to School

Abigail was bright and ready to start very early today. Who wouldn't be ready with a large pan of plastic lemons, eggs, and playhouse people? I never got to do any school with her, but that's okay. She is only three. Notice that Mary was not ready!

The first day of school usually isn't very pretty, but today was a ugly as it gets. The bright spot was a successful recipe for mocha frappuccino. My friend Kelly keeps telling me that we will have to give our kids lots of extra grace through this start up. But it's my kids who are giving me grace. By 11:30, I was hurting so bad that I had to go lay down. I took a two hour nap before I could do anything else with them. Eventually, I'll get back enough strength to be running through the house again, but until then, we are extending much grace.

The school desk at the beginning of the day was a shambles. The girls had started cleaning up when we snapped this picture.

When I told Lydia to pull down her science book, she sighed and said, "I sure do miss Jeanie Fulbright."

I kept the school planning table set up in the den since I wasn't running up and down stairs. I'm sad to say that looked like this for weeks, except of course, for the chocolate. That came and went very quickly. 

Pay Attention

I was bragging to a friend last week about how great our system of keeping up with library books was working. We've had almost no overdue fines and no lost books in a very long time. 

Well, I opened our library account yesterday morning and nearly cried. There was big red letters that said they had stopped adding up the fines because there is a limit as to how much they charge you. Did you know that the library puts a limit on its overdue fines? I was ever so grateful to learn that! I tried to renew our books, but it just said that I must bring everything to the library immediately. It was embarrassing and aggravating and frustrating and expensive and well..., you get the point, I'm sure. 

So, the whole day I was running errands and kicking myself for such negligence and ... get this, avoiding wrecks. I had three very near wrecks in the same day, all due to other people not paying attention. One was an eighteen wheeler, another the vehicle was completely in my lane coming at me head on.

I could easily get on my high horse and say I would never do such a thing. But then I remember that blinking red dollar sign. We all get distracted, these days more than ever. An unmanned car isn't nearly as bad as a maxed out library card, but it's still a bad sign, a sign of distraction. 

Lydia returning our massive load of books.

Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood. (Acts 20:28 ESV)

I need this reminder today as much as anyone! The end of the school year is approaching quickly and I'm having trouble focussing on that too.

New Year's Has to Wait

Two weeks of sickness really brings out who we really are... sinners.

We have to be careful not to sin. Everyone is tired, feels bad and bored. Life and any semblance of routine is nonexistent. Placing one foot in front of the other is a chore, not to mention the mounds of dishes and laundry.

My goal for Christmas decorations every year is to have everything down and put away before Mary's birthday on the third. We were so far behind that we actually didn't even celebrate her birthday until the fifth.... And the decorations are still up and shining brightly, well, not too bright, they are covered in dust now. You know your Christmas decorations have been up too long if they need dusting this badly.

So, now that we have mostly recovered, I am trying to retrain an especially spoiled three year old. Abigail has been to two birthday parties in the past few days and revealed a serious sin nature! Having spent the past two weeks "Christmasing" and doing whatever it takes to survive, child training has been lacking here!

But not only is my three year in need of remembering how to behave, I am too. I have to keep reminding myself that just because I feel bad, I do not have permission to sin. The dishes can wait, I need to recover. The girls have felt bad too, they can wear wrinkled clothes.

The temptation is to feel sorry for myself when I look at how far I am behind. I'm not allowed to be grumpy and irritable about getting back to the routine. Tempers can easily get out of hand and the blame game could escalate.

Knowing these things, I decided to unplug my Christmas lights and let them continue gathering dust for a while longer. I am spending the afternoon looking at where we are in school and praying through those needs and other New Year's goals.


Here is the best picture I got of Mary blowing out the candles on her lame birthday cookie cake. (Much of the cake spilled all over the oven and is still there.) Maybe one of my New Year's goals should be to clean the oven....

Occupied With Joy?

... because God keeps him occupied with joy in his heart. (Ecclesiastes 5:20 ESV)

How can I be occupied with joy if I can't catch my breath? I'm over committed and feel like I am not  doing anything really well.  Haven't I said this before? Where is that promise to myself that I will learn to slow down and purposefully enjoy the gifts that God has given me?

Well meaning people (ahem, my family) will have some great ideas of how I should spend my days. If I'm not careful, I could be running back and forth from one to the other, not completing anything and not helping anyone. Oh, wait! That's how I feel most times at the the end of the day.

Behold, what I have seen to be good and fitting is to eat and drink and find enjoyment in all the toil with which one toils under the sun the few days of his life that God has given him, for this is his lot. Everyone also to whom God has given wealth and possessions and power to enjoy them, and to accept his lot and rejoice in his toil—this is the gift of God. For he will not much remember the days of his life because God keeps him occupied with joy in his heart. (Ecclesiastes 5:18-20 ESV)

This is my life, my toil... to love and serve my family.

It is good to find enjoyment in my toil. It is amusing to see my two year old playing in a sink of dirty dishes. It is satisfying to hear my eleven year old explain what communism means. I can even feel somewhat accomplished to explain a little algebra to my fourteen year old.

Abigail and Susannah "helping" in the kitchen actually brought much joy, and a lot of mess!

Knowing that this is the "lot" that God has given me, helps to keep my perspective. I don't really have wealth and possessions, but I can enjoy what I have.

Homeschooling Is Not My Savior

It's coming along slowly.

It is my job.  With the changes to our homeschool this year I have been reduced to tears and felt like a "newbie". Our girls will be meeting once a week with two other families. While commiserating on all that we have to do, my friend reminded me that every year school is difficult for the first few weeks. It takes a while to get back to the routine and adjust to the growing lives around us. I was encouraged to keep going.

I don't want our home and lives to be about homeschool, even though that's the way it has seemed lately. I want our lives to be about Christ. When others see us, I want them to think "Christ, godliness, holiness, servant-like, etc." It would be easy to give others the impression that we are that family that "home schools, has six daughters, the dad is a pastor, etc."

So with all the talk of the changes in homeschool and such, please remember that it isn't who I am, who we are, or what we worship.

This was not the way to start the year, a crashed chair on top of Abigail.