{"id":206,"date":"2021-08-20T17:13:15","date_gmt":"2021-08-20T17:13:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/homeschoolblogger.com\/therestfulhomeschool\/?p=206"},"modified":"2021-08-20T17:13:16","modified_gmt":"2021-08-20T17:13:16","slug":"i-am-the-very-model-of-a-modern-major-general","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/homeschoolblogger.com\/therestfulhomeschool\/2021\/08\/20\/i-am-the-very-model-of-a-modern-major-general\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cI Am the Very Model of a Modern Major-General!\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

(Originally posted at my Strength for Today<\/a> blog 2\/17\/15) <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thursday I was in military mode for our schooling. In case you wondered, this journey is not as easy as it seems. By itself, the concept of schooling at home is daunting\u2026I mean, you are trying to teach\u00a0your own<\/em>\u00a0kids, all day. Enough said.\u00a0\u00a0I share today\u2019s skirmishes to perhaps give someone hope, who is plugging along wondering if they will survive. You will. I\u2019ve been at this over a decade, and I\u2019m still kicking. I was sharing this adventure with some fellow homeschool moms at\u00a0Schoolin\u2019 Swag<\/a>\u00a0today, because being transparent is how we learn, and how we receive the help and support we need:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"katielist2\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

1pm (after repeated stops and starts): \u201cThis has been an uphill, both ways, through molasses in winter kind of week. Lots of \u201cI was just\u2026\u201d excuses for not following through, for walking away from lessons, for getting a million drinks of water, for sharpening the pencil down to a ridiculous nub. Oy. So, I decided to use the spiral notebook approach today and give her more control over her own destiny. lol Handed it to her this morning, with a folder containing her worksheets. And, since it is in print, there is no question about what is being asked of her. If she neglects her work, it\u2019s all her. Yep, it\u2019s \u201cMean Mom\u201d Day. I\u2019ll letcha know how it goes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1:30: \u201cI\u2019ve also resorted to having her raise her hand to step away from her work. Even so, a drink of water is requiring time for digestion, apparently. Yes, I\u2019m trying to keep my sense of humor\u2026though I don\u2019t feel very funny. Ordinarily I am all about having a relaxed atmosphere, being spontaneous, having the cat on her lap for reading etc., but \u201cToday is not that day!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2:00: \u201cShe is eagerly checking off boxes. I have Vivaldi playing for her writing\/copy work time, which always makes things happier and more productive. And she got 100% on her spelling, which is a huge milestone for her. So grateful to be finally conquering my insomnia\/chronic pain issues so that I can have more stick-to-it-iveness, and focus!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3:00: \u201cAnd, for those continuing this journey with me\u2026she\u2019s jumping to check off boxes, but still positively dragging her feet with things she knows how to do, just choosing not to do them. So, we had a discussion about choices\u2026that this is a matter of \u201cI won\u2019t\u201d\u2026not \u201cI can\u2019t\u201d. I apologized that part of this has been my fault\u2026I was so tired, so distracted by health issues, that I got lazy, and she learned to respond accordingly. This is a new day. She was rested, and had a good, balanced protein breakfast. She is hydrated. I have my Jeddy\u2019s Blend<\/a> in the diffuser. And, we delay lunch yet again (for both<\/em> of us\u2026she needs to see that her actions affect others), until an item is expedited in a timely and excellent fashion, with a right attitude. These are bigger lessons to learn than times tables\u2026these are life lessons which will shape her adulthood. I\u2019m in it for the long haul, and thankful that I get to do this.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3:30: \u201cAnd now we are working on the flash cards\u2026each one requires a fan fare prior to the answer\u2026and periodically it is essential to count the \u201cdone\u201d pile and the \u201cto do\u201d pile to ascertain how many are finished and how many are left. Oh, and on occasion there is a little monster in her pocket who needs to converse with her about the problem. And then there is the shuffling. I didn\u2019t pray for patience today\u2026\u00a0\u00a0\u201c<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Precocious, curious, bright, passionate, with a strong sense of resolve. Our Katherine. Love her so much.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3:45: \u201cKatie is very bright, a quick study, memorizes like crazy, does educational stuff for her play time. Some of this is tedious to her, I know\u2026but that is the stuff of real life. We all need to discipline ourselves to push through things which are not fun. I think we\u2019ve seen a not-so-great trend in recent years, where kid\u2019s school stuff has to involve stickers, prizes, incentives, and fun fun fun every day. Those kids make lousy employees.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4:30: \u201cThe end of today\u2019s story. We finally finished school, at nearly 5pm. She got all her boxes checked off, and I asked her to draw a picture at the bottom of the page, depicting what the next school day *could* look like with a right heart attitude. She liked the idea\u2026it seemed to give her hope. She finished it, handed it to me in tears, apologized, and sat here in my lap for some time. I explained to her the potential I see in her, but she needs to choose wisely. Reminded her that her school matters to God. All of her choices do. Told her I want so much more for her than the direction her current choices would take her in. Made sure she knew that I want her best work\u2026which may or may not be \u201cA\u2019s\u201d. She\u2019s smiling. All\u2019s right with the world.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These are teachable moments. Her tender heart always wins out in the end, and I am so grateful that I know that. The Holy Spirit in her life eventually helps her sort things out, when she puts her bellowing emotions aside. So true of all of us, right?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Truly, this is messy parenting. But I would much rather have a child who struggles and understands what it looks like to face and conquer self (for another day, or hour, or moment) , than have a kid who conforms out of sheer fear of discipline, tows the line without any friction, but is not aware at all that there is a battle for her soul<\/em> going on, even during the mundane responsibilities of the school day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was a hard day. It was a good day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Keep pluggin\u2019, homeschool mom!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(Originally posted at my Strength for Today blog 2\/17\/15) Thursday I was in military mode for our schooling. In case you wondered, this journey is not as easy as it seems. By itself, the concept of schooling at home is daunting\u2026I mean, you are trying to teach\u00a0your own\u00a0kids, all day. Enough said.\u00a0\u00a0I share today\u2019s skirmishes…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":155,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[2,185,184,5],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/homeschoolblogger.com\/therestfulhomeschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/homeschoolblogger.com\/therestfulhomeschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/homeschoolblogger.com\/therestfulhomeschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/homeschoolblogger.com\/therestfulhomeschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/155"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/homeschoolblogger.com\/therestfulhomeschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=206"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/homeschoolblogger.com\/therestfulhomeschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":207,"href":"https:\/\/homeschoolblogger.com\/therestfulhomeschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206\/revisions\/207"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/homeschoolblogger.com\/therestfulhomeschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=206"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/homeschoolblogger.com\/therestfulhomeschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=206"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/homeschoolblogger.com\/therestfulhomeschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=206"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}