Wow, I can't believe it's almost time for another school year to begin! 2 in school this year is pretty exciting for me and if I am honest, a little intimidating...So knowing myself, I prepared EARLY this year, and started major organization...the more organized I am in the beginning, the easier and more smooth things will go throughout the year, right?! :) I can hope! I absolutely loved homeschooling last year, the time spent with my kids and the opportunities I have had to teach Kolby not only "school" stuff but also life lessons...and most importantly God was in every subject and lesson. School was out in June but the lessons haven't stopped! I think the biggest lesson we are working on right now is greed/discontentment with what we have, our circumstances, and our choices or lack there of...the only thing we ever always have a choice of is our attitude and unfortunately too often I see my kids choosing a negative attitude with TOO much complaining. I have been studying Ecclesiastes this summer and one point Solomon makes is that we need to watch out for our love of money (and "Stuff") because it won't make us happy, it will only encourage us to want more and more (GREED/COVETING)...nothing ever satisfies, it's all
vanity. While self examining my own desires and attachments to things, I realized that we breed greed in America. We have SO much stuff, excess in pretty much every area of our lives, and we continue to want more! I am guilty of this at times and my children are definitely guilty as well. So how do we teach our kids and raise them to NOT be this way in a society and culture that breed this greed? I have no idea, but Im going to try and battle it because it only creates unthankful hearts which is the exact opposite of what we are supposed to have...we are supposed to be filled with thanksgiving and praise to God in EVERY circumstance. So here is what I have done, and I am praying fervently that it will help!
1.) Had a chat with my kids, told them my concerns and shared with them how fortunate we are, I showed them a touching video of kids in Africa, who have nothing, not even clean water, yet they wore the most beautiful smiles on their faces- this actually worked how I had hoped it would...it gave the kids a visual and a better understanding of who these "kids" are when I tell them there are kids in the world who have nothing...and now they want us to adopt one of the kids ;) So as a compromise, we will be "adopting" a child and sending money each month...They are very excited!
2.) we went through ALL their toys and they were allowed to keep 10 items/types of toy. We got rid of everything else. Kamryn has barbies and was allowed to keep 5 (as "one" toy) and got rid of 8 just like Kolby was allowed to keep all his millions of legos :) You know, they honestly haven't missed anything...
3.) We went through ALL of their clothes...They were allowed to keep a certain number of each type of clothing (ie. Kam loves dresses so she got to keep 7...mind you we got rid of about 10) I let them pick out what they wanted to keep and they did SO good with it...if they had me their number but came across a few more items, they just traded what they would rather have. I was seriously SO proud of them. We donated 3/4 of their clothes and they were very happy to do so...
4.) Thankful wall- They can add daily to it with things they are thankful for...I haven't got this up yet but we will be starting this Monday when we start school!
5.) Once a week, we write a thoughtful note or thank you note to someone of their choice.
6.)We will be doing a character study this year in homeschool!
Now before you start to judge me for being "mean" to my kids, know that I TOO went through ALL of my stuff and got rid of 3/4 of my clothes as well...It was very easy for me to do theirs and to expect them to do it with a good attitude which they did, but when I came to my room, I had such a sinful heart and did not want to do it...but about halfway through, God changed my heart and I was SO happy to get rid of my excessive clothes and God really opened my eyes to see how I am my children's example...I can do all those things that I wrote about above but what will make the biggest difference in their lives is how I live my life not just in words but in deeds. God is so good and I seem to always learn such amazing lessons myself, when I am trying to teach my children...
Here's ALL our bags of clothes!
Now beyond those HUGE lessons for me and the kids, as I said before, I started getting organized for homeschool in July and I am so glad I did because I am READY for school to start next week :) Woohoo! I am so excited about our curriculum this next year! We are studying the human body in Science, the Mystery of History-Creation to the Crucifixion, Spanish, Language arts and of course good old Math! I am using a workbox system this year and I have my calendar organized for school up through December! Yay me! (Ill post some pics of our school area another time) And I decided to go back to monthly meal planning! I literally have it planned out for every meal/snack...I know that seems like a lot and for some people that would be absurd, but I work SO much better being organized, the less organized, the more stressed I get and so I am being proactive...but I am also very ok with NOT following all my calendars and schedules to the T...life happens and I am ok with that...I think that's another huge lesson I am currently learning and I can say with God's help, I am learning to let things go, and let the Spirit lead me...Praise God for that...I am also learning to say no to doing things...this all may seem like a lot to some of you reading this but to me, it's not...I often do WAY too much and lose my peace...in bible study, I read this quote that John Wesley said and it is something that I try to remember daily... " Though I am always in haste, I am never in a hurry, because I never undertake more work than I can go through with calmness of spirit." It might seem like a "duh" kinda statement but I had never realized that...now I have been really trying to examine and consider all I put on my plate, if I feel like it will take away my calmness, I say no or I let go of something else so I can do it. Again, I want to be an example to my kids and this world is all about keeping busy and I really dislike being busy, when it comes to running around and such...so keeping a balanced plate is good for me and my family and being wise about what activities we do is also very important. We haven't done sports yet and I am thinking this year will be our first...and I am ok with that but will not let it become an idol in our lives (when I was a kid, sports was my idol-I played sports every weekend on traveling teams) With God's help, we will put sports and any other extra curricular activity in its proper place: after God, church and family...Well I want to leave you with some mom encouragement from one of my favorite blogs (confessionsofahomeschooler.com) , this chart on Super mom vs Abiding mom...it blesses me everytime I read it..and I hope it does you too!
Kolby and Kamryn had their first day of school today at Lynden Academy! God was so good today and so faithful in answering my prayers. All week Kamryn was full of mixed emotions. One minute she was excited for school and the next she was scared and didn't want to go. I was unsure how today would go and a little nervous for her. Kamryn may seem like a loud crazy kid but that's only when she's comfortable :) She needs a good 15-20 min to warm up to new environments or to adjust to a new situation (even if its a familiar place with people she knows) I know it's wrong but I used to get irritated and frustrated because I can't relate to how she is, but thankfully, God has been working on my heart and I have learned to have compassion and understanding...I give her the time she needs but try not to coddle her too much. Anyway, I was concerned she might lose it when I left, so I have been praying fervently this week for her and myself. We arrived 15 min early, got her situated and I stood on the side until class started, she got a little emotional and clingy as I expected but she did good when I left, praise God for that! She wanted me to come for lunch so I did and I was filled with JOY when I saw her sitting eating her lunch with a bunch of little girls. I sat at a table with Kolyn and Kam stayed with the girls but kept giving me sweet smiles as she ate her lunch. She was very quiet but said she was having a great day and really liked school. My heart was so emotional seeing my little girl, growing up before my eyes...and I thank God so much for blessing her with a great first day. I also thank God for softening my heart towards her...as a mom I think one of the hardest things for me is to figure out how to be an understanding mom who has compassion for my kids when I really can't understand or relate to them at all with some things...Kamryn and I are so different, but I love her so much and want to have a close relationship with her, where she can trust me, and know that I am there for her regardless of how different we may be. I know God will continue to help me and give me insight and understanding, I know what it comes down to is loving her like He does and appreciating how He made her.
KOlby, AKA Mr. Social, had a great day too, and he loved being at school again.
Homeschool went great this week too, lots of learning! It didn't begin how I had planned which I find funny because a few posts ago, I wrote about all my planning and also that I was ok with "life" happening! Well "life" sure happened Monday morning. Sunday night, Ace (our puppy) got his ear swiped by a cat...we thought by morning the bleeding would stop, well I let him go to the bathroom at 7am and he got his bandage off and got blood all over again. I was holding him because if he shook his head, blood went everywhere...Kolby and kam were up and then I heard kolyn crying in her room but I couldn't let the dog go,so kolby went to get her... I called my mom and she came over, God bless her! I got him wrapped up and took him to the vet, long story short, they couldn't get it to stop with a stitch and glue so I left him at the vet for the day...that was my morning...then we were about to start homeschool and I ran upstairs to find my dishwasher didn't seal closed and there was water over half the kitchen floor! AHHHH!!! At this point I was laughing, saying "ok God, I get it" I can plan all I want, but really I have no control over anything. It really was a great reminder for me...to my surprise I handled Monday pretty well, I only cried for minute in the craziness of things and I didn't even snap at my kids even though it was stressful (I don't know about you but that's something I struggle with too, letting my stress out on my poor kids sometimes)...we started school 2 hours late but we did it!
Here are a couple comparison pics of the kids from last year...They have grown up so much in a year! I pray God helps me treasure these moments!
