At dinner this evening, Scott was asking the kids what they learned today and just getting up to date on the happenings during the day. We were talking about Bible for the day and Scott asked, "What is the Word of God"?
Caileigh looked at him incredulously and said, " Dad, you don't know what the word of God is? It's the Bible!"
It just cracked me up!
Categories: parenting
We've managed to survive the first month of school, which any homeschool Mom will tell you is a feat of mass determination and sheer will power. It actually hasn't been bad at all, we must be getting the hang of this after 7 years. One thing I have really noticed is that the goal setting has really worked this year. The kids have taken the goals that Scott and I set up and ran with them. Connor has really stepped it up. One of his goals was to look for ways to help Mom and very rarely do I even have to ask for help to put away dishes, start the laundry or take out trash. It's been wonderful! (No, we are not taking offers of marriage yet - he is only 10)
The twins have been a little slower on the buy in but I can see a major difference in them as well. Caileigh is talking more respectfully to her brothers and Collin is trying hard to be more gentle.
I think kids like goals, they need them and they like to be noticed when they achieve them - even tiny kids. Goals can be as simple as , "Mommy would like you to work on Obeying Right Away." or "We're going to work on doing everything without whining and complaining." Make sure and set the expectations ahead of time and tell them why you want this done. "God wants you to obey Mommy. " Read Eph 5:1 to them and have them memorize it. The why is important! The Why is vital! Make sure to teach the behavior before you expect it and what's more important what God says about it. Have positive reinforcement when they achieve the goal (and discipline when they don't).
I have to say that although this season in life is the busiest I've ever been (and that includes newborn twins) it's also one of the most rewarding. I love being with my kids and seeing their hearts move daily towards God's. I hope you are seeing it in yours!
Categories: parenting, goals, homeschooling
School has started!
You can see all three kids have grown by leaps and bounds in the past year. The first and last day of school we measure their height and take pictures of where they are on the chart and put it up next to last years pictures to show how much they've grown and matured.
Above you'll see the classroom and all of us in our tye-dye that we made for our first day of school.
Oh and the picture of the timeline is for Paige. Sorry, it's taken me so long but you'll see that I bought a Bible timeline and then a history timeline and put the kids cumulative timeline pieces underneath. They each pick out a 1/3 of their own to add to the chart , that way they all have some pieces on the wall.
It amazes me that even though I spend all of my days with my kids how much more I learn about them in school - good and bad. I think it's that I never spend 3-4 hours straight in the same room testing, teaching, and training at any other time of the year. For those that don't home school, you should pick a project a couple times of months to teach your child and spend several hours with them - you'll learn tons! Some about yourself, ( patience is a virtue) and so much about your kids temperament, learning style, communication, and my favorite - meltdown points! I've had to re-think and re-train my kids in several areas after a week of school. Whew!Categories: parenting
