Addicted to Blogging Blog Hop!

Hi, everyone - Heart of the Matter is having a blog hop, today.  The subject is "Addicted to Blogging and Facebook."  It's a pretty humorous look at how you know if you're addicted to social media!  So, I have decided that I'm not addicted, yet.  Actually, I'm barely even on Facebook - I kind of cheat and have my blog uploaded as my update, so I only have to write once!  However, I think I'm definitely following too many blogs! I am also a little addicted to comments, because then I know I'm not just shouting into cyberspace...if a tree falls in the forest and no one hears it, does it make a sound?

Redeeming the Time

"See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, Redeeming the time, because the days are evil," Ephesians 5:15-16.  


Have you ever thought - "I don't have time for all the things I have to do"?  Believe me, I think that all the time.  I always feel like I'm behind.  There are things that just never seem to get accomplished.  As I go to bed each night, I have two mental lists.  One list of things that were supposed to get done today, but didn't, and another list of things that I'm supposed to get done tomorrow, but probably won't.  Some of the things are just in my head, and some are extremely visible, like the pile of papers on my desk and the dishes in the sink.  Homeschooling exacerbates this problem in some ways, because it adds to my list of things that take time to do.  Also, during the time that I am teaching Rory, Lily is generally trashing some other area of the house, as only a two-year-old can do.  I have found that I need to stay near Rory even when he is doing independent work, or he is likely to daydream and get absolutely nothing accomplished.

So, what is the answer?  I think it is in setting priorities.  As Americans, we are taught that our first priority is to ourselves.  "Take care of yourself, first, or you won't be able to take care of anyone else."  Of course, this is true to some degree.  If I never took time to eat or sleep, I would soon be sick, and would need to be taken care of, myself.  However, I think that this "me, first" mentality is in reality one of the evils mentioned in the scripture.  I have had many people say that they don't know how I can stay home with the children all the time.  They suggest that I need to get away, and have time for myself.  However, I really don't think I would be any happier if I spent more time away from my family.  I really enjoy my husband and kids - they are some of my favorite people!  They entertain me and make me reach outside of myself.  Thinking about myself and my wants and needs all the time is really a path to depression and discontentment.  Trying to "escape" through entertainment media such as music, TV, or my personal favorite, books, is never going to make life better.  It will just delay the inevitable.  So, here is my priority list:

1.  God - I know that I have to spend more time with Him, and make sure that I am introducing my children to Him any chance I can get.

2.  Family - This includes taking care of my immediate family, and also connecting more with my extended family.


3.  God's Family - Making time for my church family, and other Christian friends.


4.  Neighbors - Jesus' definition, basically caring for everyone who doesn't fall into one of the two previous categories, and sharing God's love with everyone I meet.


5.  God's possessions - Basically, this includes everything I think I own.  God has been reminding me lately that I am only a steward, and that I am really responsible for taking care of the stuff he gives me.  I don't get to break it, waste it, or lose it.  I need to use it carefully, and be ready to return it to him the minute he asks for it, with a thank-you note for loaning it to me for all that time!


6.  Maybe I should put myself here, but I have a feeling that if I spend my time on the first five priorities, my life will be so full and purposeful, that I won't even notice the omission!  

"I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me." Galatians 2:20

Balancing

I never really liked gym class.  Probably because I was never very good at any of the sports.  Yes, I really was one of the last kids picked for any team, and with good reason.  I wouldn't have picked me, either.  However, I absolutely LOVED the balance beam!  When I was in middle school, a part of each year was spent on gymnastics.  We would have to learn how to use all of the different equipment, but would then get to choose which one we wanted to develop a routine for.  I always chose the balance beam.  For some reason, I felt more coordinated there than on the floor!  I don't remember ever falling off.  I was very sad when I moved to the high school and realized that my gymnastics time was over.

Fast forward 20-something years.  I'm still searching for that feeling I had on the balance beam.  The feeling that I could do anything, as long as I stayed on that slim piece of wood several feet in the air.  The feeling that I couldn't fall off.  That I understood the rules.  That I knew what to do.  Once I had a routine, it was set.  The same thing over and over until it was perfect.  But life seems to be so unpredictable.  It's more like Dodgeball (shudder!)  Anyone can throw a ball at you at any time, from any direction, and you can't run away.  You know you're going to get hit sometime.  You just don't know when.  Or maybe it's like the trampoline, where every time you think you're going to land on your feet, you bounce back up out of control again.

A few weeks ago, our pastor gave us a challenge to give it up to God for one month.  I'm really trying.  I find it hard, when I want to write my own routine, and include only the things I know how to do well, and then just keep repeating it.  I don't want to be at the mercy of the balls or the rubber floor.  It feels so out of control!  But I'm trying.  I have been praying more, and reading the Bible more, and really listening for that "still, small voice."  The really scary thing is that I've heard it, and it said "wait."  I laid out all of my issues, and was ready for them to be fixed, but all I heard was "wait."  It feels too much like Dodgeball.  I don't know where the balls are coming from, or when they're going to get here.  I want to run.  I want to pick up all the balls and hold on to them so I know where they are and they can't hit me.  It's like being picked last again.  Waiting while all the other kids go to their teams, wondering who will have to end up with me.

I know these feelings are not of God.  Satan is the father of lies, and he's oh, so good at them!  This need for control is the devil's own sin, and his downfall.  God is not picking all the other kids ahead of me, and He's not sneaking up on me with ball in hand.  In fact, He's standing between me and the balls, taking all of the hits, himself.  He's getting my team together.  He's writing the perfect routine for me.  His Cross gives me that solid piece of wood to stand on, and His Word has the list of acceptable moves.  "And therefore will the LORD wait, that he may be gracious unto you, and therefore will he be exalted, that he may have mercy upon you; for the LORD is a God of judgement; blessed are all they that wait for him.  And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, and when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left."  Isaiah 30:  18, 21.  So, I will wait.  I will trust.  I will have faith that my Heavenly Father will not let me fall.  He has my life in balance.  I just have to keep my feet on the cross, and follow His rule book.  Maybe it's not so hard, after all.

Come on, Fall!

Sorry about the short post yesterday.  It was all I had to say!  This is the problem.  For some reason, at this time of year, all of the bugs in the world come to our house.  We have bugs in our garden, bugs on our cat, bugs in the flour, bugs dive-bombing me in my own house.  Now, I know that bugs can be fascinating creatures, they were created by God, and some can be very beneficial.  However, there is definitely a limit to my admiration.  Especially when they bite me.  Or the kids.  Or make homes in my grains.  Or my cat.  Or eat my tomato plants.  Or my flowers.  One even got in our science experiment, so that instead of making salt crystals, we are apparently making bug crystals.  EEEWWW!  So, while summer can be a nice season, I am not too happy with it at the moment.  Bring on the Fall!

The Four Seasons

FALL


WINTER


SPRING


BUG!

Teaching the Teacher

We've been at school for roughly a week.  Yes, I really mean WE.  Rory is trying to learn his lessons, and I am trying to learn how to teach him.  Last year, we had a lot of trouble with writing.  Not creative writing, but physical writing.  Although he has very neat handwriting, Rory was determined that he didn't want to do it.  By the end of the year, he was doing much better, and I was feeling pretty confident that he would be able to manage this year.  Not so much.  He has spent a lot of time sitting and not writing.  I can't understand why he would rather sit and do absolutely nothing (not even making paper clip sculptures!) instead of getting to do the stuff he really likes, like riding his bike (new tricks include taking his hands off the handlebars, and looking backward) or building with Lego's.  He can't, either, and gets a very thoughtful look when I ask him.  It would be humorous if I was not so frustrated at the time!  He claims that he can't keep his mind on it because there are songs running through his head.   So, we're using silly bands as rewards.  He gets as many silly bands as he has writing assignments.  He gets to keep any that he finishes in a timely manner.  Yesterday, he kept 2 out of 2.  Today, 1 out of 3.  It was not such a good day.  The worst thing is that I know he CAN do it.  It has nothing to do with actual ability.  There are those times that he can whiz his way through an assignment like he whizzes around on his bicycle.  Then there is today.  He did okay with his math assignment (which for some reason usually falls under the same not wanting to write umbrella), but couldn't manage the copywork.  He had to copy a bible verse, and the last stanza of a poem he's been working on.  Yesterday, he had to write sentences using his spelling words.  He did fine.  He did manage to get some copying done today by talking his way through it.  Eventually, I tried dictating it after having him read it for himself.  That worked pretty well, too.  Here are my theories.  First, he seems to be what is called an auditory learner.  He loves to be read to, and tends to read aloud to himself.  His speaking skills have always been very good, and he seems to have a knack for language.  This would explain why talking himself through the assignment helped.  It drowned out the music in his head.  The other thing I deduced was that he needs to have something to think about, or his mind will wander.  Pure copywork isn't very interesting, and gives him nothing to think about.  Dictation makes him have to think about how to spell the words, rather than just writing what he sees.  That may be why he did better with the spelling word activity yesterday.  It gave him something to think about.  I had not started dictation with him, assuming that if he was having trouble with the copywork, which is supposed to be easier, he would have more trouble with dictation.  I have to remember that Rory doesn't do anything well if he's bored.  The other thing I've noticed is that he can be paying attention when he doesn't seem to be.  Sometimes when I read to him, he is looking in the other direction and humming.  This makes me assume that he is not listening.  However, when I ask him what I just read, he usually can repeat it back to me.  The biggest issue is that his humming distracts ME from reading!  The good thing is, that he is really enjoying the curriculum, other than the writing parts.  We are currently studying about Columbus.  Today, we were reading about how he sailed to Iceland, and Rory ran to get the globe and figure out where Iceland was!  He even found Genoa, Italy, and traced the route to Iceland to find out how Columbus got there.  There was a discussion question based on the reading which I forgot to do until a couple hours later, and Rory was still able to narrate back what he had read in his reader and what I had read to him from the read-aloud.  He likes the geography, science, history, and art activities, and we added in his Nature Reader because he wanted to.  So far, he's doing well with his math book, also.

 I am working on the sixth book in Charlotte Mason's Homeschool series.  I have read the first and third already.  I am starting with those, because they are most related to teaching techniques and theories.  When I first heard about her, I was puzzled that I didn't remember hearing about her theories in any of my education classes in college, especially since there are still schools following her methods, today.  As I read her books, I think I know why.  She repeatedly connects education with religion, and specifically with Christianity.  Since I went to a state school, it would probably have been against the separation of church and state to teach about her.  I am finding that she makes quite a bit of sense, however, and am trying to apply her principles as far as I understand them.  I specifically picked a curriculum that followed many of the same techniques.  So, all in all, it's not a bad start.  I think we'll get it together.

Ones and Twos

Today was Rory's official first day of second grade!  Yes, we started our curriculum.  I think it's going to be a good fit.  It will take a bit of getting used to, as we worked off of our own curriculum last year, but it seems very well put together, and is easy to follow.  Today was also the first day the chickens laid eggs - Two, to be exact!  I was so excited!  Actually, Rory, Lily and I were all excited, and in our excitement we managed to let the chickens loose, but they came back.  When I tucked the kids in tonight, I told Rory I'd see him for his second day of second grade, and Lily that I would see her for the second day of...whatever.  Rory informed me that she is in second grade, also.  I guess she would graduate at age 12, then?  She did listen to "Dr. Seuss's ABC's" and put together her number puzzle, which I thought was quite scholarly of her.  She also got all the games out of the game drawers and mixed up the pieces all over the floor, but maybe she was showing creativity?  Yesterday, we visited my in-laws at their house on the lake.  Rory was so excited, because he has a rowboat that is kept at their house.  Grandpa took him out and taught him to row, and he rowed that boat all over the lake and back again!  I would have had sore arms after that, but it didn't seem to phase him a bit.  (I also would have rowed in circles, as per prior experience, but we won't talk about that!)  He also caught his first fish all by himself - he put the worm on the hook, cast out, and pulled it in all by himself.  He was so proud!  Lily sat on the end of the dock and splashed her feet and hands in the water and got soaked, and then ate 2 1/2 hot dogs.  Yep.  She's gifted.  Definitely ready for second grade.