I have a cousin who does a wonderful thing on her blog. Each Thursday, she has a "Thankful Thursday" entry where she tells what she has to be thankful for. Because I love to read her thankful tidbits, my "Complaint Cure" will be a takeoff of her "Thankful Thursday".
One thing we've always tried to do as parents is to instill an attitude of thankfulness in our children. We often have days when they get rather cranky and begin to whine. One of our tried and true cures is to play a little game with them. We begin by saying something like, "I'm thankful for our house. What are you thankful for?" The child then has to come up with something and the game takes off. It only takes a few rounds before the kids get really into and start trying to out-do mom and dad with their creative answers. Needless to say, our children soon forget why they were whining and are soon laughing and ready to go play.
I've found that I often have to play this little game with myself. Too frequently I find myself cranky and whining. I forget to be thankful for the many ways in which God provides and even blesses beyond what I need or want! So, to that end, I will be writing a "complaint cure" entry each week. I hope to do this on Sundays or Mondays in order to get the week started off right. I'm hoping that if I begin my week by focusing on God's goodness, I will be less likely to complain throughout the week.
This week I'm thankful for ...
... beautiful sunsets even while the rain falls
... milkshakes and sprite
... time shopping with just Abby - a little special girl time. :)
... hospitable and flexible family and friends
... the faithful preaching of God's Word each and every Sunday
... a husband who thinks I'm great even after 10 years of marriage
... a husband who is beyond GREAT!!
... a roof over my head and the comfort of a sweater
... the ability to homeschool
... thunder
... a relatively fast computer
... friends to chat with during soccer
... digital cameras
... the adorable things that toddlers say
... the beauty of creation that I see every single day
... our flag and all that it stands for
... those who do mission work in far away places
... beautiful dishes
... the ability to drive cars and get here and there quickly whenever I want
... grace
Here's wishing you a week full of thankfulness and minimal complaining!
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Good, Bad and Ugly
Oh the glories of going to the second service at church! I find that I have an hour and a half more time than usual to get moving this morning! Of course, the kids didn't expect this, so they are dressed and ready as usual and now have time to play which leaves me with a little bit of blessed peace.
I need that peace today. It has been a busy and difficult week. We're all fully into the routine of homeschooling now and the attitudes are starting to surface. The honeymoon feeling has worn off and left some of us cranky. I even had to deal with a four hour tantrum this week from one who ought to know a whole lot better. Sure did make school a nightmare for that day! I'm proud of myself though, because I dealt with it and didn't call Josh for reinforcements or even for a phone conference with the errant child. :) Way to go me!
In retrospect, I can see that the week was also busier because we added in a bunch of things. We had all gone on Saturday to purchase a bushel of apples. Yum! But, my main purpose in buying them was to make applesauce. Of course, you can't do that without taking the time involved to make it! And here I am, thinking of going to get another bushel this week. I must have lost my mind. The applesauce has turned out awesome though and I'll share the recipe in a future blog.
Another problem was that I decided I should plan ahead for school since I have the church Women's Fall Tea this weekend. I do all the planning for it and am housing the speaker this coming weekend, so not only do I need to have everything ready for the event, but also a clean house. Well, housekeeping has slipped a bit on my list of priorities since we started homeschooling, so there is much to be done. But, I can say that I have planned ahead for school at least. I typically plan during the school week for the week to follow. This week I decided to plan out the next three! So that took a whole lot of time too.
We also decided last weekend to plan a 2 week vacation beginning in four weeks. This is no ordinary vacation where you go to one place and stay for the duration. No, we like to complicate things and have decided to head from WI to MO to GA to FL to TN to OH and back home. All in the car, all staying with family and friends - who need to coordinate around us and vice versa. It'll be a terrific vacation if I can survive until it! :)
Lest you think the week was only bad, there were some fun highlights. The kids got to dissect owl pellets in science. They loved it! However, for anyone out there who hopes to do this, I'd suggest NOT doing it just before dinner. It does have the ability to kill the appetite!
Gabe also had the opportunity to cook with Daddy this week. They made a wonderful dinner of mac and cheese, kielbasa and rice krispy treats. Gabe was so proud. We've started letting each of the kids have a week in the month that is their turn to cook one night with mom or dad. They love this idea and I look forward to the day when it'll pay off and they can cook for me. :)
And lastly, on Friday we parked the car on the street just opposite a house that was having it's foundation re-done. The house was up on stilts and we watched for an hour as little Bobcats went underneath the house to bring up dirt and concrete. We saw several different kinds of trucks and had lots of "construction conversation". Which I figure is educational too!
Well, there it is. The good the bad and the ugly of our week. We're learning - not only how to do school, but also how to love each other. And that is a definite highlight!
I need that peace today. It has been a busy and difficult week. We're all fully into the routine of homeschooling now and the attitudes are starting to surface. The honeymoon feeling has worn off and left some of us cranky. I even had to deal with a four hour tantrum this week from one who ought to know a whole lot better. Sure did make school a nightmare for that day! I'm proud of myself though, because I dealt with it and didn't call Josh for reinforcements or even for a phone conference with the errant child. :) Way to go me!
In retrospect, I can see that the week was also busier because we added in a bunch of things. We had all gone on Saturday to purchase a bushel of apples. Yum! But, my main purpose in buying them was to make applesauce. Of course, you can't do that without taking the time involved to make it! And here I am, thinking of going to get another bushel this week. I must have lost my mind. The applesauce has turned out awesome though and I'll share the recipe in a future blog.
Another problem was that I decided I should plan ahead for school since I have the church Women's Fall Tea this weekend. I do all the planning for it and am housing the speaker this coming weekend, so not only do I need to have everything ready for the event, but also a clean house. Well, housekeeping has slipped a bit on my list of priorities since we started homeschooling, so there is much to be done. But, I can say that I have planned ahead for school at least. I typically plan during the school week for the week to follow. This week I decided to plan out the next three! So that took a whole lot of time too.
We also decided last weekend to plan a 2 week vacation beginning in four weeks. This is no ordinary vacation where you go to one place and stay for the duration. No, we like to complicate things and have decided to head from WI to MO to GA to FL to TN to OH and back home. All in the car, all staying with family and friends - who need to coordinate around us and vice versa. It'll be a terrific vacation if I can survive until it! :)
Lest you think the week was only bad, there were some fun highlights. The kids got to dissect owl pellets in science. They loved it! However, for anyone out there who hopes to do this, I'd suggest NOT doing it just before dinner. It does have the ability to kill the appetite!
Gabe also had the opportunity to cook with Daddy this week. They made a wonderful dinner of mac and cheese, kielbasa and rice krispy treats. Gabe was so proud. We've started letting each of the kids have a week in the month that is their turn to cook one night with mom or dad. They love this idea and I look forward to the day when it'll pay off and they can cook for me. :)
And lastly, on Friday we parked the car on the street just opposite a house that was having it's foundation re-done. The house was up on stilts and we watched for an hour as little Bobcats went underneath the house to bring up dirt and concrete. We saw several different kinds of trucks and had lots of "construction conversation". Which I figure is educational too!
Well, there it is. The good the bad and the ugly of our week. We're learning - not only how to do school, but also how to love each other. And that is a definite highlight!
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Tripping down memory lane!
I just took a wonderful 2 decade trip down memory lane! My mom handed me a box yesterday and said, "this is all your stuff". Normally I'm not so thrilled to get boxes of stuff to fill my house, but this one was pretty neat. It was all the old programs and papers my mom had saved from my growing up years.
I had no idea that I had been in that many concerts, recitals and plays. It certainly does make sense, since violin was such a constant in my life. But, when you look at the huge stack of papers all put together, it's a bit overwhelming! To think of all the time and practice those papers represent.
There were a few highlights among those programs. Several names that bring back great memories, duets with Jeanette, Ryan and Katie, Lakeside talent shows, middle and high school graduations, school plays, the UConn Orchestra, playing "Nola" with the high school choir, etc. And, oh the memories brought back by the middle school gymnastics show programs. Ugh. I wish I didn't have that memory! I can remember doing the floor routine with Lena and Carrie. We thought we were so cool dressing in leotards with turtlenecks and tights underneath and shorts and socks overtop. (Hey, it was the 80s!!) I do vividly remember being unsure of my kartwheels. For some reason I thought it would be less embarrasing to do sommersaults while everyone else kartwheeled. Oh my. Top that off with my balance beam and parrallel bar routines and you have a pretty lame show! Oy.
Of course, there were other things in the box too. My mom had saved all the newspaper clippings from when I made honor or high honor roll. Let's just say, it's pretty obvious that I didn't really do my best until junior year started. Yikes!
There are lots of little cards and drawings that I did for my parents. One letter to my brother, "Timmy" shows off my cursive skills and poor spelling. A typed (yes on a typewriter) letter to my parents just before Christmas tells them that they need to hurry up and get my gifts under the tree so I can look at them and that they had better let me know if my hair is a mess on Christmas morning. I can only guess that my hope was to "look good" in the pictures that year!
Oh, the fun of that box! And, the many things I had forgotten! I've learned that my drawing skills peaked at about 1990. I showed Josh a drawing I had done of our cat and he didn't believe it was mine! He said, "What happened? You used to draw well!" Thanks.
Although I have no idea what to do with the box now that I have gone through it and enjoyed the contents, I do have to say thanks to mom for finding it. And the silly thing is - I already have at least that many papers for each of my children saved up. Oh the fun they'll have someday going through their own boxes. But I can guarantee that those boxes will be leaving my houe before my children reach age 31! I'm sure they'll thank me for it though ... :)
I had no idea that I had been in that many concerts, recitals and plays. It certainly does make sense, since violin was such a constant in my life. But, when you look at the huge stack of papers all put together, it's a bit overwhelming! To think of all the time and practice those papers represent.
There were a few highlights among those programs. Several names that bring back great memories, duets with Jeanette, Ryan and Katie, Lakeside talent shows, middle and high school graduations, school plays, the UConn Orchestra, playing "Nola" with the high school choir, etc. And, oh the memories brought back by the middle school gymnastics show programs. Ugh. I wish I didn't have that memory! I can remember doing the floor routine with Lena and Carrie. We thought we were so cool dressing in leotards with turtlenecks and tights underneath and shorts and socks overtop. (Hey, it was the 80s!!) I do vividly remember being unsure of my kartwheels. For some reason I thought it would be less embarrasing to do sommersaults while everyone else kartwheeled. Oh my. Top that off with my balance beam and parrallel bar routines and you have a pretty lame show! Oy.
Of course, there were other things in the box too. My mom had saved all the newspaper clippings from when I made honor or high honor roll. Let's just say, it's pretty obvious that I didn't really do my best until junior year started. Yikes!
There are lots of little cards and drawings that I did for my parents. One letter to my brother, "Timmy" shows off my cursive skills and poor spelling. A typed (yes on a typewriter) letter to my parents just before Christmas tells them that they need to hurry up and get my gifts under the tree so I can look at them and that they had better let me know if my hair is a mess on Christmas morning. I can only guess that my hope was to "look good" in the pictures that year!
Oh, the fun of that box! And, the many things I had forgotten! I've learned that my drawing skills peaked at about 1990. I showed Josh a drawing I had done of our cat and he didn't believe it was mine! He said, "What happened? You used to draw well!" Thanks.
Although I have no idea what to do with the box now that I have gone through it and enjoyed the contents, I do have to say thanks to mom for finding it. And the silly thing is - I already have at least that many papers for each of my children saved up. Oh the fun they'll have someday going through their own boxes. But I can guarantee that those boxes will be leaving my houe before my children reach age 31! I'm sure they'll thank me for it though ... :)
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Today is the day
Well, today I'm finally going to do it. I've threatened this several times, but in our three weeks of homeschooling, I have yet to resort to taking a partial holiday.
Sounds pretty fun. Let the kids have more time to play or even watch a movie. And today is just perfect for it! It's rainy and gross and I'm quite sure that soccer will be cancelled this evening.
Now, you may ask, what is a partial holiday? Well, in our day today there are some school things I'm not willing to forego. For instance, Tuesdays are history days. So, we'll do our history. And we'll probably do math too. However, we will just forget about language for today. That's what takes the most time anyway and is the most frustrating to the kids. They'll be thrilled when I tell them! Today, I can play good cop instead of bad cop (or teacher as the case may be!).
Now, before I start getting comments saying how it's too easy to slack off when homeschooling, let me put your mind at ease by saying that we are AHEAD in language already. In fact, several days ahead of schedule. So, missing one day is not going throw us off schedule or cause the children's education to suffer. They'll be fine. And frankly, I might as well term this a mental health day for me since I think I need it most.
I've been hearing from people lately (who don't know me or my homeschooling methods) that I must be approaching things in a stressful way. For instance, I met a woman recently who shoved this exact opinion on me. Although she knows nothing of me or my children or even how we homeschool (in fact, we had met that very day), she proceeded to tell me that I needed to start doing things her way. Her way is VERY different from ours and in fact, she would leave out a majority of the things I am teaching my children. I don't agree with her approach at all (which I have kindly listened to without critique). I will grant that her children seem very nice and from what I've heard they are well educated. But not everything that works for one family, will work for another! What irritates me is that someone who does not know me thinks that she can just tell me how I'm doing things wrong and why her way is the only way. Oh, and as of yet, she has only asked one question about the way we homeschool and that was just pertaining to what curriculum we use. Which really says nothing about how we approach homeschooling - especially since she didn't wait for a full answer.
I beg to differ with this woman. I think our homeschooling experience has been great so far! If you ask the kids, they'll tell you that they love it! They don't complain about science and social studies (2 things this woman would leave out) because it's some of their favorite stuff to study. Science with Dad is a blast and my kids have always had an interest in history. And since we always get a bunch of books out of the library that can supplement what we're learning in these areas, the kids are having a good time just reading at their own pace and recalling the instruction they have received. It works well.
I don't see the point of pushing one type of homeschooling on someone just because it works for you. Sure, tell me about it, but don't attack the way I do things. Especially if there is nothing wrong with it. I'm sure I have let this bother me too much, but that's just how it is.
As you can tell, this riled me up quite a bit. I've run into this one person two days in a row and twice she has attacked my teaching style. Now that my feathers are all ruffled, I need a little time to cool off. So, thank you pushy lady. Because of your influence (which pushed me over the edge), we are taking a partial day off! And I intend to enjoy it!! So there.
Sounds pretty fun. Let the kids have more time to play or even watch a movie. And today is just perfect for it! It's rainy and gross and I'm quite sure that soccer will be cancelled this evening.
Now, you may ask, what is a partial holiday? Well, in our day today there are some school things I'm not willing to forego. For instance, Tuesdays are history days. So, we'll do our history. And we'll probably do math too. However, we will just forget about language for today. That's what takes the most time anyway and is the most frustrating to the kids. They'll be thrilled when I tell them! Today, I can play good cop instead of bad cop (or teacher as the case may be!).
Now, before I start getting comments saying how it's too easy to slack off when homeschooling, let me put your mind at ease by saying that we are AHEAD in language already. In fact, several days ahead of schedule. So, missing one day is not going throw us off schedule or cause the children's education to suffer. They'll be fine. And frankly, I might as well term this a mental health day for me since I think I need it most.
I've been hearing from people lately (who don't know me or my homeschooling methods) that I must be approaching things in a stressful way. For instance, I met a woman recently who shoved this exact opinion on me. Although she knows nothing of me or my children or even how we homeschool (in fact, we had met that very day), she proceeded to tell me that I needed to start doing things her way. Her way is VERY different from ours and in fact, she would leave out a majority of the things I am teaching my children. I don't agree with her approach at all (which I have kindly listened to without critique). I will grant that her children seem very nice and from what I've heard they are well educated. But not everything that works for one family, will work for another! What irritates me is that someone who does not know me thinks that she can just tell me how I'm doing things wrong and why her way is the only way. Oh, and as of yet, she has only asked one question about the way we homeschool and that was just pertaining to what curriculum we use. Which really says nothing about how we approach homeschooling - especially since she didn't wait for a full answer.
I beg to differ with this woman. I think our homeschooling experience has been great so far! If you ask the kids, they'll tell you that they love it! They don't complain about science and social studies (2 things this woman would leave out) because it's some of their favorite stuff to study. Science with Dad is a blast and my kids have always had an interest in history. And since we always get a bunch of books out of the library that can supplement what we're learning in these areas, the kids are having a good time just reading at their own pace and recalling the instruction they have received. It works well.
I don't see the point of pushing one type of homeschooling on someone just because it works for you. Sure, tell me about it, but don't attack the way I do things. Especially if there is nothing wrong with it. I'm sure I have let this bother me too much, but that's just how it is.
As you can tell, this riled me up quite a bit. I've run into this one person two days in a row and twice she has attacked my teaching style. Now that my feathers are all ruffled, I need a little time to cool off. So, thank you pushy lady. Because of your influence (which pushed me over the edge), we are taking a partial day off! And I intend to enjoy it!! So there.
Monday, September 21, 2009
A Discovered Downside
I have a new revelation about homeschooling.
While school has been going really well and we're getting a lot done, almost nothing is getting done around the house. I find that I'm beat after we finish school - which means that I have no desire to start laundry. And even if I do start it, I often get distracted and forget to switch it to the dryer - which means I have to rewash it the next day.
Beyond that, I have forgotten several days in the past week to defrost meat for dinner. Which means that we have had a few really skimpy meals. Oops. I can say that at least the bathrooms are staying clean - but only because the kids have that responsibility!
I honestly didn't foresee this. I expected that we'd finish school and I'd still have tons of energy and be able to spend the majority of the afternoon cleaning house and being domestic. I am trying to exercise to boost my energy level a bit, but if I can't find time to clean, it's unlikely that I'll be very consistent in exercising either.
Please don't think I'm complaining. I knew that homeschooling would take awhile to get used to. I just didn't realize that the normal, everyday life stuff would be cast aside in the name of homeschooling. Josh has been very patient in dealing with our messy house and poor dinners. In fact, he helps out as much as he can by doing dishes and cleaning up. But, I'm hoping that I can soon figure out how to be a bit more efficient at things.
My goal in this blog is to provide a realistic view of homeschooling - good and bad. Well, there it is. A definite downside. But, I keep asking myself: What is more important? My kids' education or my clean house? If I'm honest with myself, I can recognize that I've never been able to keep a really clean house. But even if I could, the answer isn't hard to come to: My kids always come first!
While school has been going really well and we're getting a lot done, almost nothing is getting done around the house. I find that I'm beat after we finish school - which means that I have no desire to start laundry. And even if I do start it, I often get distracted and forget to switch it to the dryer - which means I have to rewash it the next day.
Beyond that, I have forgotten several days in the past week to defrost meat for dinner. Which means that we have had a few really skimpy meals. Oops. I can say that at least the bathrooms are staying clean - but only because the kids have that responsibility!
I honestly didn't foresee this. I expected that we'd finish school and I'd still have tons of energy and be able to spend the majority of the afternoon cleaning house and being domestic. I am trying to exercise to boost my energy level a bit, but if I can't find time to clean, it's unlikely that I'll be very consistent in exercising either.
Please don't think I'm complaining. I knew that homeschooling would take awhile to get used to. I just didn't realize that the normal, everyday life stuff would be cast aside in the name of homeschooling. Josh has been very patient in dealing with our messy house and poor dinners. In fact, he helps out as much as he can by doing dishes and cleaning up. But, I'm hoping that I can soon figure out how to be a bit more efficient at things.
My goal in this blog is to provide a realistic view of homeschooling - good and bad. Well, there it is. A definite downside. But, I keep asking myself: What is more important? My kids' education or my clean house? If I'm honest with myself, I can recognize that I've never been able to keep a really clean house. But even if I could, the answer isn't hard to come to: My kids always come first!
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