May. 24, 2006 - New Schedules New Learnings

It's always good to have time be on your side. Thank God for breakthroughs in learning for children. God lets them grow and all of a sudden they get it when they didn't get it before. I've had even more breakthroughs. I've simplified our schedule and included beach time. We have 1.5 hours of Bible and Math and then either go to the beach or have read aloud time. Spelling and English are done sometime later during the day or after dinner, which is working out so great. I'm getting regular exercise and loosing weight and they're being more diligent and focused. It's too good to be true. We've been going through Proverbs in Bible and it's amazing how applicable they are. Through our daily contrast of the wise child and the foolish child our study is proving to be a great learning experience as they get older too. They also are used to the read aloud and are beginning to just sit and listen and enjoy the books we're reading. We just finished Benjamin Franklin and they loved it. We're going to have a special day of science related experiments wth our other Principle Approach families. For summer, we're going to keep learning since I have more I'd like to cover and both my husband and I want to keep them engaged. They do get a week or two off here and there, but want to keep the routines. I want to make sure Isaac gets through 2nd grade math before the new year starts. He's a little behind and Isabel gets to catch up to him so in the fall I'll teach one grade (3rd) for math and all other subjects too. I'm thinking of conducting a 1st/2nd grade daily math and spelling class for a new homeschool mom I've become friends with. My kids are excited to help teach (which is another shocker; I've only dreamed of  having kids who love to teach as I do). Neat to see God work in my life and my kids life. This year has been a challenge for me, but God has granted me so much peace about homeschooling. I don't feel pulled by anxiety about teaching at a regular school to be around more people. God is blessing me with a little/non-regular school community that is not so presurresome. I like this!