Let the Homeschooling Adventure Begin!

Marianna and I are just about to come to the end of our first "school year." Back in August I decided we would start a very loose, very flexible school schedule. She was four when we started, too young to officially be in Kindergarten, but she is a fantastic student and loves to learn so I didn't see any reason to wait. I ordered the Kindergarten curriculum from A Beka Books, and we began working through that at our own pace.

By Christmas, we had pretty much wrapped up all of the K-5 books, so I went ahead and ordered some of the first grade materials, and Marianna has been working her way through those this second semester, completing about 1/3 or her books. She has a passion for reading, a girl after my own heart, and a great love for science, a girl after her daddy's heart as well. We are just about to bring our psuedo school year to a close, but I am already beginning to gear up in earnest for our first real homeschooling year.

Now that is getting close to being official, I'm feeling the pressure of making sure I get her started on the right foot. I love to teach, but I know very little about what is out there and available as far as home school curriculums are concerned. I need to decide fairly soon, but before I order strictly A Beka again, I thought I would see if anyone had any insight into a good program for reading, history, science, math or Bible. I am all ears!

non-verbal communication

Who needs it? Not Graham. He and his sisters tired of that about one week after he was born, so I graciously stepped in to help them out. Graham needed a voice, and I provided it.

It might surprise you to know that Graham is quite the talker indeed. He talks to the girls all day long, and it's getting him to stop that is sometimes the trouble. He tells them what he wants and what he doesn't want. He isn't afraid to ask them for their help with getting him diapers and burp cloths and new clothes. He tells them story and sings silly songs, and he entertains with his antics and jokes. There's pretty much not anything he won't say.

Every once in awhile Graham will wake up and forget to greet the girls, or heaven forbid, sometimes I answer a question directed solely at him. The girls are quick to correct me. After all, it's not me they are wanting to hear from. They want to speak to their brother. And who can blame them? Graham is a charmer, no doubt about it.

The only place Graham seems to be shy is in public, where he typically either whispers or defers conversation to me. Just one of his little quirks I suppose. Marianna and Adrienne are usually understanding of this one shy tendency. Usually.

No, we really can't imagine Graham using strictly non-verbal communication skills around here. He simply has too much to say to wait til he's one!

The Contentment Killer

Today is my birthday. I guess all the kids remembered, because they are starting out the day by sleeping in. What a nice present! That sleeping in has given me time this morning to sit quietly, drink my chai, and think.

As I've been pondering, it has occurred to me that I have all to often fallen victim to what I will call The Curse of the Birthday (and Other Big Holidays). What is it? Expectation.

It is such a killer. Believe me, I know. I have been the road kill far to often to be able to deny it. When it comes down to it, expectation, whether on a particular day, or toward a particular person, or in a particular situation, is almost always going to end in disappointment. The whole basis of expectation is faulty, so there is no way I can ever expect to build something on top of it, and it stand.

Almost always, expectation is self-focused. It does not spring from love, but from a desire to get what I want. It is the ultimate all-about-me game, and if it is not met, then it usually results in another all-about-me activity, self pity. And self pity is a dangerous thing indeed. It breeds dissatisfaction, and dissatisfaction can mutate into a whole host of ugly things.

Expectation can cripple a marriage, frustrate a parent, and ruin a friendship. It can do so much damage, yet it is so preventable! In so many areas I have learned this the hard way. I have failed at this again, and again, and again. But God is the God who forgives us again, and again, and again. That is something I can expect. I can also expect His help to erase those expectations when I ask Him. And that's really what it comes down to. Asking. Expecting God to help us to find our contentment in Him and not in our expectations of others.

It is in Him, and only Him, that we find our Freedom.

Oh, boy!

Graham, welcome to the world of solids. You love to eat, so this should be a match made in heaven. Believe me when I say, it only gets better from here as most would agree that rice cereal is bottom rung on the taste ladder. Maybe the biggest adventure of all will be your sisters trying to feed you. That will be new territory for us all.

The Party Must Go On

Today was party day for one pint sized three year old. Come Splish, Come Spash! was the first line of Adrienne's birthday party invitation, but if you live in Memphis, you know that the weather wasn't cooperating with the theme. At least one person showed up to the party in a puffer vest, and there were coats and long sleeves all around.

Fortunately the weather man gave me a heads up, so we were able to switch gears earlier in the week and plan accordingly. The water balloons, sprinklers, and super soakers were all stowed away, and instead we celebrated with balloons, hoola hoops, bocce ball, and other equally dry activities. Adrienne loved it, water or no, so we will call it a success and wait a few more weeks yet before we take a dip.

Snake on the Sidewalk

Last night I went out for my run around 7:45, and I planned on winding up right as the sun went down. It was a beautiful night, and with my music up high, the three miles ticked by without event until I got to the homestretch. I was almost insight of my car when my paranoid radar kicked into high gear. Behind me a large red pick up was slowly driving through the neighborhood, so slowly that it was not gaining on me at all. That always strikes me as suspicious, so I began to run at a sprint to cover the short distance remaining. At the same time, I kept looking behind me, hoping the truck would turn into a driveway. I turned my head back to the front, still running full speed, and looked down just in time to avoid stepping on a huge snake that was lying on the sidewalk.

My foot was literally less than two feet away from the two-inch thick body when I registered what was about to happen. I screamed and jumped to the left, and the snake lurched and slithered off to the right. It was horrifying. I have never come so close to stepping on a snake. The snake wasn’t even hiding, but since I hadn’t been looking, I had almost stepped on it anyway. It was a close call.

When my heart rate decelerated enough to think clearly, I was struck by the illustration I had just experienced. You see right before leaving to go on my run, I had been watching the American Idol results show. I’ve hardly watched any of this season, but if I am home and I think about it, I usually turn it on. As I was lacing my shoes, I glanced up to see Lady Gaga's performance filling the screen. I know she has a reputation for doing all that is shocking and outlandish, but last night as I watched her banging on the piano in nothing but her underwear, I felt sick in the pit of my stomach.

The unrest stirred inside of me as I realized that the most main stream show in America, a show targeting a family audience including young children and preteens, was funneling a lewd, demeaning, and immodest message to everyone watching. Under the guise of "entertainment" the young performer was chipping away at the moral center of our culture. She was making a performance in her underwear seem okay, okay enough to be on the most popular show on broadcast t.v.

You might think I'm getting a little too worked up about it. After all, she's a singer. Her currency is shock value, right?

But I think that's what bothers me the most. The danger is no longer the snake in the grass. It's not hiding on porn sites on the internet, or behind closed doors, or on the cable channels. It's the snake on the sidewalk. It's right there in front of us, but if we're not paying attention, we just might step on it anyway. I don't want to be lulled into thinking the danger isn't all around us. I don't want to be tricked into thinking it's okay because it is "entertainment." A snake is a snake, no matter what we call it. I think we all need to keep our eyes open, and our hearts tender to God's spirit. Our children need us to protect them, and to teach them to recognize the snake, hiding in the grass and out in the open.

Donuts for Breakfast

I made the mistake of taking Adrienne to the grocery store with me the other day on her birthday. As a result, pink yogurt pretzels, Pringles, Danininos, and Krispy Kreme powdered donuts all made an unexpected appearance in the cart. Am I weak? Well, it was her birthday after all, and it's not like any of those things were poison ;) Just not the normal grocery store staples.

What I didn't realize while we were in the store was just how many of those powdered donuts are in one of those Krispy Kreme bags. The daunting number of those powdered minis has left me with quite a cunundrum. I don't want them, and Nathan is cutting back on sugar, which leaves two little girls to tackle the whole bag by themselves. I'm not sure about the shelf life, but I'm guessing it's not in the 1 donut a day range. I hate for them to go bad which would mean we were wasteful, but I'm also not fond of the alternative, namely sugar injected wild women.

After very briefly thinking it over (because, in reality, I'm not losing sleep over this), I've decided on giving each girl two of the mini donuts for breakfast for the next few days. This morning I presented Adrienne with her plate, and was met with a pair of rather incredulous eyes. She looked up at me and said, "But Mom, I want SO many." It appears that Adrienne had been doing some calculations of her own and my math wasn't adding up. I guess now that she's three I won't be pulling any fast ones by her.