Week One: Better Late Than Never

It took us a while while to get going this year. In nine years of homeschooling, it is the first time we have ever started later than the public schools started. Normally we start a week or two or even three before, depending on how organized I am.

This year was a combination of factors, not the least of which was my preoccupation with my Mom's health. In addition to that we had the added complication of our group co-op situation changing completely.  Finding ourselves completely on our own, we had to make adjustments.

One of the things I felt I HAD to get done before starting school was a good, thorough cleaning of our  basement--the toys, the carpet, the upholstery. I'm not completely OCD, but I know a dirty room when I see it and it becomes depressing to me after a time. We've had a couple years of playing friends, school, family movie nights and general traffic without a sound carpet scrub and I was ready to get it spruced up. So I did. Beautifully.

Monday I was ready to roll and was surprised to discover how ready the kids were, as well. They dove back into their work with real gusto and by Wednesday I was amazed to find that we had found a nice groove already. By today (Thursday) we had our first meltdown, and well...the beginning of the school year is complete!

The 8th grader's week included grammar, latin, spelling, vocabulary, literature, algebra I, science, history, and geography, sign language, mandolin, and piano.

The 4th Grader's week was full of Math, spelling, literature, science, history, art, geography, sign language and piano.

My basement family room / school room / play room / art studio / computer lab / where we live was clean, bright, and full of life (and cats) this week. This is reason #438 to homeschool. Home is the best.

We usually have to negotiate with the cats for table space...

see?

comfy reading spot...

our work desk...

at the opposite end the kids have a computer that they share and a big desk which is used when more desk space is required.

The kids decided to set up all the play mobile sets in the clean, open floor space!

"I heard there's a zoo here?"

Thoughts of the Moment...

There are so many things on my mind. Here's a random treatise about it all. (Okay, not quite a treatise--it's a little shorter.)

Time Flies, Kids Grow

A Job Well Done

My son turned 12 on Friday. He knows this is significant, and we have spoken to him about the transition to manhood--we don't believe in "adolescence." You are a child, then you become a young man. Jesus was in his Father's house at 12, learning and becoming a man. You will learn to behave as a man should behave. That means start saving for your first car, your phone and any other thing you think you will need to get around and exercise some independence once we really start getting on your nerves. We will help you look for opportunities to work and earn money so that you can save for said items, because men don't ask their mommies for stuff. But don't worry, I'll still lie down with you and snuggle and chat when it all gets too overwhelming. I'm still your mom. You're still my little guy...

What Stresses Me Out
I may becoming agoraphobic. Or I may be an introvert. I may be some combination of the two, but there is also this: I really like being at home. I dislike traffic. I dislike most people until I meet them. Then I really like them and that stresses me out because then I feel like I'm making too many friends and won't have time for them all because...I really like being at home. Texting stresses me out because all those new friends text. a lot. But yay! New friends!

What Makes Me Happy

Hearing my children laugh and giggle makes me happy. Watching my daughter climb onto the lap of her dad or brother and snuggle her little nose into them and kiss them unabashedly makes my heart swell with joy. The fact that they really don't mind her doing this also pleases me greatly. I love it when the cat sits on my hand while I'm trying to type, like right now. I love it when I throw massive amounts of stuff away because it's all junk and stuff and doesn't mean much in the grand scheme of things. I love hearing my children pray...really pray. I love the way it feels to exercise really hard and feel like I can't go for another second or die. I love good, real food eaten with my family and good friends who also share this appreciation. I also like lining up the school books and laying out a really good plan for the year...even though I rarely end up following the plan exactly. Later on in the year it will make me happy to ditch the plan, so it all works out.

Our happy-clean school room...

Okay, and I have to say it...I love a clean house. That makes me really happy. It may seem shallow but it is important to me. That is all.

What Makes Me Sad
When my kids cry, I feel sad. I cannot bear to see them suffer...but even more in this season, I find that there are many people who are suffering far greater trials than we are. I have a friend whose vibrant little boy has been diagnosed with AML Leukemia and will be in the hospital for 6 months. My heart is breaking for them, and I am constantly in prayer for this family, though I have completely run out of words to say on their behalf. I have another friend whose daughter has been suffering from a devastating case of Lyme disease for a year and will have to endure a crazy amount of treatment. This is crushing...how do I pray? But I keep doing it, hoping that the noise we make in God's ears will move heaven to help her. I have to believe it will...When I think of all these things in perspective all the small stuff is just--small stuff. Things fall into place of their own accord--the lessons, the cleaning, the life, the list of to-dos. Jesus tells us not to worry about tomorrow because tomorrow has enough trouble of its own. Amen, and amen. It makes me sad when I worry and stress about things that just don't matter. Lord, help me keep it all in your eternal perspective.

As I prepare to start my 8th school term of educating my children, it is my prayer that I can humbly submit each day to the Lord and remember the "happy," prayerfully consider the sad, not dwell on the stress, and cherish each day with my children who are growing so quickly.

What gain has the worker from his toil? I have seen the business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with. He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man's heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. I perceived that there is nothing better for them than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live; also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil--this is God's gift to man. (Ecclesiastes 3:9-13)

typical...

Update on the List...

The kiddos went off to day-camp this week for the first time ever. They left me ALONE in the house. For five whole days. That was both a strange and wonderful feeling, and it allowed me to do things that I would not otherwise have been able to accomplish. I was tempted by day two to register them for school, and then by day three each of them had dealt with things in their respective camps that reminded me of why we do this. It's a no-brainer. We're forging ahead.

Okay, so you saw the state of the basement and my office "before"--As of today, the school room is ready. The office, well, remains in a state of disarray, but actually it almost always is a weekend cleanup job. Here is the school room, open for business. I really need to deep clean it more than once a year. It is such a gratifying accomplishment! It is also the one day of the year that I could land a spot in the Ikea catalog since 90% of our basement furnishings are from there...

From the south end of the basement, looking toward the play area

From the north end looking toward the school area

Our reading / media corner. We spend a lot of time snuggling on this sofa and chair.
The Wii is off-limits until all the school work is checked off for the day!
The Maps are from Geography Matters.

And this is where the magic happens...ROFL

The kiddos were stoked to get their own separate cubbies in the play area.
I was overjoyed to sort their toys and tell them that if they ever
want to get a new anything they needed to get rid of stuff.
Then we organized what remained into "his" and "hers."
Want to guess whose is whose?

This weekend I will finish up the rest of the house, put the finishing touches on the lessons for next week, plan some menus and I will feel satisfied. In case you were wondering-- I did trim the cats' claws, and the storage room is not my department. Planting the new lawn is not my department either. I technically should not have added those to my list.

Finally! The Redecorated Learning Space!

I'm so excited--not to mention a geek. What began as me rearranging the furniture one day turned into a near-total redecoration effort.  We have painted our entire basement this nice cheery yellow, revamped our white-board space with a huge 4x6 ft white-board, some new cubbies, a rearranged play space (unfortunately the kids have to share a bit of space with the elliptical for now), and a new drawing board for Mom's artwork and a computer desk where both kiddos can sit at the same time and not fuss over who has more space in front of the screen.  It took a good month, but everything that needed to go has been thinned out, sold in yard sales, delivered to Goodwill or pitched. The school books are neatly placed in their cubbies, awaiting our first week of school, which will begin Monday.  Last night I enjoyed stocking the kids' pencil boxes with new writing tools, a roll of tape for each of them (why do kids love tape so much?), sticky notes, silly putty (to keep idle hands busy during read-aloud time), scissors and erasers.  I will look back on this week with a certain wonder...I don't think my house has ever been, or ever again will be this clean and organized.  I knew I had better get photos as proof!