After reading a ton about all our different education options we're still undecided, but I've been impressed with all the early childhood information out there! I'm going to start working with my 2 1/2 year old a bit each day just to learn more about the world. We're going to start with learning about the ocean because we are taking a trip to the ocean in May. I have several little activities planned, and I think it will be fun for him. His little brain is so organized and he acquires new information like crazy, so I think this will help keep him busy.
I'm putting together some coloring sheets, and we're going to make a big ocean on the wall. I'm loving this! I hope he does too. I'm also looking into doing Five in a Row literature since he loves reading so much. I'm excited to get started!
Thursday, April 3, 2008
Changing
About a month ago, the mother of one of my students shared with me something that I feel is going to change my life.
I have been teaching her pre-teen daughter for about 2 years now, and just started teaching her early elementary aged son this winter. They are a sweet homeschooling family and I have enjoyed getting to know them over the last few years. Ever since I have known them both the mother and the daughter always wear skirts or dresses. I have never asked them about this practice; I knew homeschoolers that were that conservative when I was growing up, so I assumed that they were part of that segment of the homeschooling population.
One day about a month ago, this mother saw that I had a copy of A Wife After God's Own Heart by Elizabeth George on my desk. I had just purchased it for when I finished the study I was working on, so I had not started it yet. She commented on it and said she had really appreciated that book when she read it a few years ago. Then she said, "You know what really changed our relationship for the better? I gave my husband back the pants in our family." She laughed, then said, "Literally!" She went on to tell me about how she is such a dominant personality that wearing a dress or a skirt each day is a literal reminder for her that she is to be a helper to her husband rather than being in charge. "It seemed like a very extreme change, but for me and for our family, it was worth it." She told me that it is not just that reminder to keep her personality in check that has blessed her family, but that her husband became more affectionate with her, treated her even more like a lady than he had before, and that she feels more feminine when she is in a skirt or a dress. In turn, she works hard to not nitpick her husband, to think before she says everything on her mind, and to approach her husband with respect rather than accusations.
What spoke to me about her story, was how she made this change for herself-- it was not something that her husband asked of her, or that her church suggested, or anything like that. She was working on the part of her personality that she felt held her back in her relationships with God, her husband and her family, and she made a step that she felt would genuinely work for her, and it did. Drastic, yes, but it definitely yielded the results she wanted, plus some.
One of the main reasons I started this blog was to have a place to hash out the various parts of my life that I try to balance. I have two growing active boys with their own individual needs, my husband who is working a crazy overnight schedule so that he can go back to college but still help to provide for our family, my desire to be the homemaker for our family, my business and taking care of myself.
I am working to make changes in myself and some of them may be drastic, but my prayers are that they will be the right things to bless my family, my husband, myself, and my relationship with God. I am a Work in Progress.
I have been teaching her pre-teen daughter for about 2 years now, and just started teaching her early elementary aged son this winter. They are a sweet homeschooling family and I have enjoyed getting to know them over the last few years. Ever since I have known them both the mother and the daughter always wear skirts or dresses. I have never asked them about this practice; I knew homeschoolers that were that conservative when I was growing up, so I assumed that they were part of that segment of the homeschooling population.
One day about a month ago, this mother saw that I had a copy of A Wife After God's Own Heart by Elizabeth George on my desk. I had just purchased it for when I finished the study I was working on, so I had not started it yet. She commented on it and said she had really appreciated that book when she read it a few years ago. Then she said, "You know what really changed our relationship for the better? I gave my husband back the pants in our family." She laughed, then said, "Literally!" She went on to tell me about how she is such a dominant personality that wearing a dress or a skirt each day is a literal reminder for her that she is to be a helper to her husband rather than being in charge. "It seemed like a very extreme change, but for me and for our family, it was worth it." She told me that it is not just that reminder to keep her personality in check that has blessed her family, but that her husband became more affectionate with her, treated her even more like a lady than he had before, and that she feels more feminine when she is in a skirt or a dress. In turn, she works hard to not nitpick her husband, to think before she says everything on her mind, and to approach her husband with respect rather than accusations.
What spoke to me about her story, was how she made this change for herself-- it was not something that her husband asked of her, or that her church suggested, or anything like that. She was working on the part of her personality that she felt held her back in her relationships with God, her husband and her family, and she made a step that she felt would genuinely work for her, and it did. Drastic, yes, but it definitely yielded the results she wanted, plus some.
One of the main reasons I started this blog was to have a place to hash out the various parts of my life that I try to balance. I have two growing active boys with their own individual needs, my husband who is working a crazy overnight schedule so that he can go back to college but still help to provide for our family, my desire to be the homemaker for our family, my business and taking care of myself.
I am working to make changes in myself and some of them may be drastic, but my prayers are that they will be the right things to bless my family, my husband, myself, and my relationship with God. I am a Work in Progress.
Sunday, March 30, 2008
On the Move
We are in the process of moving this week, one load at a time. We spent a lot of time in the new house this weekend fixing a few minor things- installing a new overhead light in the dining room, fixing a few doors that were loose, replacing old broken closet doors, general cleaning and putting together a few pieces of furniture. I hurt my back sometime on Saturday - I'm not sure how since there was no specific moment that I felt hurt, and nothing hurt until this morning when I got up bright and early with my boys.
Because of my back I was of little use today- I did laundry at our current house (my sister- an amazing blessing!- did all the hard work of getting clothes through the washing and drying cycles- I just folded it while lying on the couch) and I took care of my boys with the aid of my blessed sister. You never realize how many times a day you lift your kids until you aren't able to lift them, you know? I don't know how we would have gotten through the day if my sister hadn't been here to help out. I got a few computer projects done- menu planning for next week, lesson planning for next week in the studio, an updated moving list, and I did some research on closet systems for the boys new rooms. The closets in the new house have hanging bars and shelving that are all badly warped and broken in some places so my husband spent most of this afternoon ripping those things out. I need to figure out how best to organize the boys closets. The rooms are small, so I'm putting all of their clothes in the closets since there is no space for dressers in either room. I'm trying to find shelving or something to store their clothes well and I'm a little overwhelmed with that.
Because of the move I will have several massive home projects over the next several weeks. At first we're putting things away just to get boxes out of the way- the move is on Saturday the 5th, and my first student of the week will be on Monday afternoon the 7th, so the house has to be decently presentable by then! My goal is to take before-and-after pictures to share here in an effort to keep myself on task and to keep from getting overwhelmed by all this as I so often do. Any moving suggestions are welcome!
We're moving one load per day in our minivan until Friday when we will move all but the truly heavy stuff (like my piano!). That will be done Saturday when we have several guys here just for the 3-5 big things we need to move. I'm praying that everything will go well!
Because of my back I was of little use today- I did laundry at our current house (my sister- an amazing blessing!- did all the hard work of getting clothes through the washing and drying cycles- I just folded it while lying on the couch) and I took care of my boys with the aid of my blessed sister. You never realize how many times a day you lift your kids until you aren't able to lift them, you know? I don't know how we would have gotten through the day if my sister hadn't been here to help out. I got a few computer projects done- menu planning for next week, lesson planning for next week in the studio, an updated moving list, and I did some research on closet systems for the boys new rooms. The closets in the new house have hanging bars and shelving that are all badly warped and broken in some places so my husband spent most of this afternoon ripping those things out. I need to figure out how best to organize the boys closets. The rooms are small, so I'm putting all of their clothes in the closets since there is no space for dressers in either room. I'm trying to find shelving or something to store their clothes well and I'm a little overwhelmed with that.
Because of the move I will have several massive home projects over the next several weeks. At first we're putting things away just to get boxes out of the way- the move is on Saturday the 5th, and my first student of the week will be on Monday afternoon the 7th, so the house has to be decently presentable by then! My goal is to take before-and-after pictures to share here in an effort to keep myself on task and to keep from getting overwhelmed by all this as I so often do. Any moving suggestions are welcome!
We're moving one load per day in our minivan until Friday when we will move all but the truly heavy stuff (like my piano!). That will be done Saturday when we have several guys here just for the 3-5 big things we need to move. I'm praying that everything will go well!
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