Saturday, December 7, 2013

Homeschooling Goodness and the Grace to See it All

He's climbing the walls again, but not like you'd think. It's a brain break of sorts and not necessarily one of Heather Haupt's  (which we love) but it works for him. She cuts and glues her next Advent day's Scripture and reaches for another slice of apple. He races outside in the cold without proper, warm clothes because he forgot he threw on shorts that morning to do his schoolwork. I call him back in to layer up. Sometimes they present projects with other homeschoolers and swim with even more of them. They knit while I read aloud. They interrupt me to fix dropped stitches. The cat cries and she jumps up to see if Clementine needs her bowl filled. They work through science experiments alongside cousins and later they bound out of the truck into the church down the road for co-op once a week. This is what school looks like for us and it's all goodness.
climbing the walls
 
We're catching on in the midst of a lost math book and piles of dishes and a squabble over chores that this is truly a blessed life. We do our best to remember to praise and thank the One who makes it possible, the One who gives us immeasurably more than we deserve. Once in awhile, I look around the room and I get it. I can be so thick in my perfectionism. Yesterday I sat in the driveway and cried because the house was a mess and the kids weren't being helpful and the dishwasher service technician arrived before I could get home in time to be prepared. At that moment, my cell phone rang in my hand and a friend encouraged me and my husband sent a text telling me I had qualities that were more important than keeping things somewhat presentable. Goodness--all of it.
 
Advent books
highschool work
recess
making bird feeders with pinecones
favourite reading chair
knitting begins again--this year Oliver tries his hand at it
trying to figure out a new type of baby booties
favourite Christmas storybook
helping her sister figure out a math story problem
Caleb's loveable cameleon
experiment at Auntie Hilary's
 
singing the Books of the Old Testament at our homeschool group meeting
 
My plan is to blog Thirty-One Days Of Homeschooling Goodness in January--Lord willing. Please join me as I use my blog as a bit of an accountability for gratitude and praise, for self-discipline and consistency. May God grant us all the grace to see His goodness in our lives, whether we homeschool, work, study or care for others around us.
 

1 comment:

Heather@Cultivated Lives said...

Oh that picture of Oliver scaling your fire-place... :) I can't wait to see your 31 days of Homeschooling Goodness. I'll be using it to keep myself accountable.