In my life this week…
For those who were expecting a Journal entry last week, my appologies as we were quite busy. So my weekly recap for this week will cover two weeks! First off the pnemonia seems to have better over the first and second week since my diagnosis, however this week has been challenging once again. Although I still have more energy, I seem to be having sporatic coughing fits. The coughing fits really are not overly terrible either, except they irritate my sensitive lungs and I tend to react with an asthma attack. I have a mandatory follow up with the radiologist in another couple of weeks, and I just keep praying that it clears up before then.
In our home school this week…
I have started reading a new book this week, which I will cover here in a moment. The book has been perfectly timed to help me realize what it is that I have been lacking in our homeschool experience the past serveral weeks. So the past two weeks I have shifted gears, left off a lot of forced learning exercises and played with my children. That is right! We have played games, we have played computer games, we have cuddled and played library games, we have done crafts as learning experiences rather than reading and writing. Now do not (PLEASE) get me wrong, reading and writing are very VERY valued in our home. We just needed some time to remember how to have fun with each other, and make learning experiences out of things we (by that I mean I) have been forgetting about.
Helpful homeschooling tips or advice to share…
I think as a reflection of the past two weeks my advice is to remember that learning comes in all sorts of shapes and forms, and often we learn to depend on a set schedule, text, or program to make sure all of the gaps are filled in. However, there is so much more that does not come this way that we can utilize to fill in those gaps, as well as developing great and stronger relationships with our children and family.
I am inspired by…
I am so inspired by those moms and dads that fought the system for something they believed in, which today gives me the freedom to home educate my children. They stuck to their guns when faced with jail time as well as public and family humileation all to achieve their goals and what they felt was right for them and their children.
Places we’re going and people we’re seeing…
We have been shut up in the house a great deal these past few weeks. However, attending our traditional Thanksgiving dinner at my parents house was a special treat. We had a wonderful time eating, visiting, playing games which of course brought about a good deal of laughter, and of course watching the kiddos run and scream through their grandparents house.
Things I’m working on…
One of the things that being cooped up in our home has brought about is more time to actually work on the declutter project. Although taken at very small baby steps I have managed to rid our home of more excess and non-essentials the past two weeks. I am left feeling relief but also a certain amount of grief in knowing that there is so much more until I am satisfied with my project!
I’m reading…
My girlfriend is a pro at handing me a stack of books at just the right time. Of the stack she handed me a couple of weeks ago, “I Saw The Angel in The Marble” by Chris and Ellyn Davis stuck out to me. Of course the curiosity of why it caught my attention in the first place was enough for me to delve in. I am not too far into the book as of yet because of a heavy reading load in my American Literature course, but what I have read has been very well articulated, organized, and indeed left an impact.
I’m cooking…
My cooking this week has been a bit stretched as I have not made my normal shopping trips. So the frugal genes have kicked in and we are using things in creative ways, reusing things in creative ways, and suprisingly coming up with some great recipes that I would not mind creating (and recreating) again!
I’m grateful for…
I am grateful for the project we did two weeks ago. The kids and I cut strips of fall colored construction paper. On each strip we wrote something we were thankful for. The project turned into a great demonstration of how when we focus on the good things they add up to a great big wonderful thing. Before long we had a long chain that we decorated a door frame with, of things we were thankful for.
A photo, video, link, or quote to share
“Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.”
― Mark Twain
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