Week 3: Lessons in Flexibility

On Wednesday my neighbor needed help. I mean really. needed. help. The kind that involves taking a sick kid to the e.r. and could you watch the baby and the 3-year-old for me? Husband is away and won't be home for several days. Again on Thursday, too...but this time it was she who really needed to go to the e.r...I pulled some strings and found a babysitter for her (thank GOD for that dear woman!) and she and I went to the e.r. to get her some help.

I was so happy to help, but needless to say, Thursday I was just a little tired and the best-laid plans for school were a bit disheveled. We did get a lot done, just not in the way I would have expected. But that is life, isn't it? God is faithful when we are faithful, and the next morning when my son came in to greet me I told him I missed him and was sorry I was out so late the previous night, and his response was, "But you were helping someone else, Mom--that's more important." Right. Sometimes as homeschoolers we get so focused on the fact that we are doing this so that we can keep our families close-knit, etc., that we forget that the time we choose to spend away also teaches. Where do we focus our energy? Do we serve others, pray for others, build up the church? Do we feed the poor, care for the sick, and practice the "pure religion" that the Bible talks about?

James 1:27
Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

So yes, I suppose I'm tired in body, but the lessons that came from helping and serving will not soon be forgotten. They are life lessons--lessons in flexibility.

In lessons this week we covered quite a bit. I am excited for the things we are getting done, in spite of the hiccups along the way.

On Monday we had a wonderful Tapestry of Grace meeting with our group. We painted salt dough maps that we had formed the previous week, had lively discussions about the week's readings and had a Napoleonic relay, which involved loading kids down with gear and making them "cross the Alps" (sorry no photos!) as a relay race. They loved it, and it was quite hilarious to watch! I am finding that the group experience along with the Tapestry of Grace curriculum is exactly what I have been looking for. The accountability to keep up with the work combined with the relationships that we have with these families make it a rich and wonderful experience.

At home we covered math, science, a read-aloud, grammar, phonics, and writing. All in all it was a busy, productive week, and flexibility was the primary lesson!