Another year in the one-room-school-house has begun...
How do we home school with five kids under the age of 8 in the farm house???
Only by the truth on the wall... Without Him, truly I have no idea how people home school. :)
We do academics,
&
We do life...
We"re trying out a new system this year. I love this lady. She's loaded with great ideas and free (or crazy cheap) printables.
We have a few first-day-of-school traditions... They might be kind of cheezy, but we like them...
Each year I hang a sign on the school room doors and everyone gets to cut the string before they enter into another year of learning. :)
Each year we take "first day of school" pictures.
I can hardly believe that this amazing girl is already in second grade...
Each kiddo has a few personal goals for the year. It help me as a Mama to know how to encourage their hearts to grow. It also reminds me that we all have stuff to work on and there is a difference between actions and attitudes that need discipline and actions and attitudes that simply need training. These goals for Hal, fall in the training department.
My Dancing Girl is praying that the Lord would help her to persevere when an assignment seems to hard. She's striving to try new things and to improve on her reading skills this year.
And this monkey... He seriously talks ALL_THE_TIME... He's got a wee bit of an attitude going on these days but we're working diligently on it. He's got some goals for this year...
1. Listen the first time.
2. Use words, don't whine.
3. Obey quickly and JOYFULLY...Often times he'll obey, but he'll make this face at me... I know he's overwhelmingly cute, but this three-year old "tude" has got to go! :)
I remember walking through this season with one or two of the older kids. It's hard to stay on top of things with little guy when I'm trying to do stuff with the older kids, but I keep trying to remind myself that it's worth the few minutes that it takes to correct his little heart to the point of repentance and restoration. I'm not 100% consistent, but I'm praying ferevently throughout these days that the Lord would help me to follow through as often as I possibly can. Training him in joyful, first-time obedience is an endeavor worthy of my love and my time. :)
And my firstborn... He has become so independent over the past 3 years. There are a lot of subjects that he is willing and able to do on his own. I am so incredibly proud of this little man. He has three goals for the year...
1. To receive correction with joy.
2. To take responsibility for his actions, especially when he's wronged someone.
3. And to speak kind words with the help of the Holy Spirit in his heart. I'm excited to see what the Lord does in this amazing little boy's heart this year.
And my Spunky Girl... She's thrilled to be starting Kindergarten. I just love her zest for all of life. I bought her one new skirt for school and I bought her sister a handful of things because she has grown out of so many of her clothes and my spunky girl has all her sister's hand-me downs. I was thinking that she might be sad at the store because her sister got more but you know what she did? She walked right up to the checkout lady and told her that she was five and starting kindergarden and that she couldn't wait to put on that new skirt when she got home... and then she started jumping up and down and litterally saying "woot, woot!" and clapping because she was so beyond thrilled. Man, this girl is awesome!!!
She has some goals too.
She tends to tell her Mama what to do... we're gonna work on that.
She's going to work on listening the first time.
And she's going to work on not whining at her brothers when they are bothering her, but instead she's going to use a self controlled voice to tell them what she needs.
And the Mama... I have some goals of my own.
They are all things that I just can't do in my own strength.
1. I long to speak words that make their souls stronger, words that build them up.
2. I pray for patience, the kind that can only be put in a Mama of five by the grace of the Holy Spirit.
3. And I'm asking that He would allow me to know how to pour into each treasure individually, as my temptation is to put them all in a bunch because that's what's easiest for me.
And this cute monkey...
Well he's got some goals of his own...
1. Eat well
2. Potty often
3. Sleep long
That's all.
Maybe someday soon I'll post our curriculum choices for the year. But it's been a long day at the school house, so that's all for now. :)
