A Great Surprise

 

School is back in session!!  

We began our seventh year of homeschooling last week and for the first time I wasn’t excited to get started.

I have three boys who are happiest when they are outside being boys.  Building, fishing, hunting, climbing, swinging… they’re all over that.  Sitting still, listening, paying attention, not talking at the top of their lungs… not so much.

My middle son threw a fit at the end of his first year of school when he realized that he had to do school again the next year… his exact words were “Can’t you just tell people I’ve graduated?”  He still asks me at least once a week when he can quit.

They would be ecstatic if we used a multiple choice, plug in the right answer and move on, type of curriculum.  Unfortunately for them… I’m their teacher!

This year we are doing A LOT of reading.  We started a new writing program and are learning to read a paragraph or passage or book and isolate the main ideas and write a concise summary. We do plenty of hands on learning, too… but the bulk or our education is coming from reading, reading, reading and then discussing, summarizing and writing.

So I was very hesitant to get started this year.  My expectation going in was that they were going to balk… and balk big time.

I have to say…. they have blown me away!  They are doing an awesome job!!

I love when they exceed my expectations.  Being with them all day, every day it can be really easy to just focus in on the areas that need improvement.  They’re in my face constantly so every little thing becomes magnified… it’s good to step back and realize that they are really great kids! 

The Thing About Schooling at Home….

 

Is that you’re AT HOME!

What’s the big deal about that??

I’ll tell you…

Today was our first day of school.  I had vague plans for how it would go.  Unfortunately the rest of the world wasn’t clued in on my plans.

First Travis asked to go check his live traps.  No biggie… until he came in shouting that he’d caught something.  So then everyone had to go rushing outside to check it out.

Okay… that’s okay… all part of the joy of homeschooling… right?

Then they come in and I hear them setting up to play Aggravation with Brian.

I remind myself that this is making memories… and tell them it better be the fastest game ever!

We finally get down to business… and my phone rings.

I ignore it.

So they come to the house… Brian’s parents wanting Jake to come play with his cousin.

Right about then is when I decide schedules just make me crazy…

 

Good news is we did get everything finished that I had planned.

And, thanks to the menu I worked up Saturday night and my handy-dandy Crock Pot, we even had a hot, home-cooked meal ready when we got through!!

Seeing as God Sees

 

 “For the LORD sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart." 1 Samuel 16:7

My father-in-law gave Travis a jar of old lead nail heads the other day.  All Travis could talk about was melting them down to make fishing weights. 

If I was any kind of blogger at all I would have thought to take pictures of the process… but I didn’t.  I could go take after pictures now… but that would involve getting up off my rear and I don’t want to do that.  So you’ll just have to use your imagination!

They set everything up outside and by the time I made it out to watch they already had a few made.  Brian had a tin can heating on the grill burner to melt the lead in while they got the mold ready.  But when I looked in the can the nail heads were just sitting there, not changed at all.  It took them a few minutes to get the mold fixed just right and I kept checking on the lead waiting on it to melt, but it still looked the same… 4 or 5 dirty, old nail heads in the bottom of the can.

Finally they had it all ready.  Then Brian took a stick and poked at the nail heads… and suddenly instead of dirty, ugly nail heads there was bright, shiny melted lead in the bottom of the can.

I was thinking about that later and got to thinking about people.  Often we get so frustrated with people, we look at them and think they’re never going to change.  Sometimes months, or even years, can go by and they still seem like the same old person.  We might get fed up and want to give up on them.  Or, we might be tempted to do God’s job for Him and tell them all the ways they should be changing.

But, we can only look on the outside… we can’t see the work God is doing on the inside.  Sometimes it takes a while for those inward changes to be manifested outwardly.  If we’ll just be patient, when the time is right, God will give that one last nudge and that one we thought would never change… WILL.

I’m Back!!!

 

Wow…. It’s been so long since I’ve blogged that I’d forgotten what program I use!

What a summer… 2 boys played baseball. That’s always fun!

We opened the produce stand for the month of June and made enough to more than pay for all the expenses of the garden, so that was a success!

I canned… purple hull peas, cream peas, green beans, pinto beans, tomatoes, rotel tomatoes, spaghetti sauce, V-8 juice, vegetable soup, tomato sauce, dill pickles, corn, salsa, grape jelly, plum jelly, dill relish, barbeque sauce, and… I think that’s all!

I froze… corn on the cob, squash, green beans, okra, and peppers.

Then I had to clean house all last week to make up for only spot cleaning for a month and a half.  I wish it was still clean this week!

There are a few things I’m pondering that I may blog about soon… on the other hand I started planning for school this week so that may be all I think about for a while… either way hopefully it won’t be another month (or two!) before I blog!

What’s up?

 

Seeking God’s face….Baseball games…. Heart shaping…. A very weedy garden… Baseball practice…. Stepping way out of my comfort zone to boldly follow God’s will… Rethinking education style…. Character training….

That’s what I’ve been up to… how ‘bout you?

Thoughts…

 

Spring in East Texas… it’s my favorite time of year!

Right now I’m sitting in my swing, listening to the birds sing and watching the boys fish.  They’ve been out there for hours, we had to make a special Wal-Mart run this morning for stink bait and worms!

My garden is planted… it took four days but I finally finished up today.  Now I’m just praying that another flood doesn’t come along and wash it away again.  We lost about half our potatoes the last time in rained but thankfully we had planted a lot so we still have plenty.

Last night’s sermon was on having a teachable spirit and letting Jesus be our teacher.  There are so many things the Spirit wants to teach us, so many things He would do through us, so many things He would do for us… if we would just be willing.  Not dig in our heels because we’re afraid of what He might ask from us.  Lord help me to be willing.

Never Give Up

 

Wow… long time no blog, huh?!!  I know it’s only March but we’re gearing up for summer already and all the busyness that goes along with it!

 

And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not. Galatians 6:9

I’ve been meditating on that verse a lot the last few weeks.  Mostly, I’ve been thinking about it in relation to my boys… how I pour in patience, mercy, gentleness and often those are NOT the things I get back.  Not always, but it’s been those kinds of weeks!

But today, I was thinking about my own walk and how I fight the same battles over and over again without seeming to make any progress.  And how wily the enemy is to come in when we’re down and whisper there’s no point in getting up when we’re just going to fall again.  This verse came back to me again…  Don’t give up on doing what’s right, don’t become discouraged,  because when the time comes we will be rewarded if we don’t give up!

How great is our God!