We officially started our lessons the last week in July so we have now finished our first 6 weeks…and I feel sooooo behind!!! I have not accomplished(academically) what I set out to accomplish in my schedule but we trudge along day by day getting thru our daily schedule (which I think I need to revise). Most days I get the skill areas done and am able to do some History and Science on alternating days but not like I want it..but u see therein lies the trap I fell into that I MUST stay out of….making MY plans, setting MY schedule and NOT relying on the Lord. At the same time that I go thru these feelings of inadequacy and feeling like I’m not accomplishing what I need to we have the smoothest flow in our homeschool this year!! I am learning in so many ways to just TRUST THE LORD…with EVERYTHING!!!!!

I‘m learning to trust Him with our daily schedule. When I made my plans back in July and set our schedule I had Bible, Math, Orthography, Oral Reading, English, Music, History, Independent Reading, PE, Read Aloud scheduled for everyday for 2 children. That proved to be too much. My dc didn’t complain though…I was just tired…several nights we finished up at 10:30pm…granted we didn’t start until 1pm…I know I know…..so I think that schedule was overkill…this is my first year hsing 2 children … so now what I plan to do is to do the skill areas(Bible, Math, Orthography, Oral Reading) with each child on alternating days…so 6yob will be on Monday, Wed, Thurs….8yog will be on Tues, Wed, Fri. or something like that. I even try to be sensitive as to which child I work with first in the week. 6yob may not be on Mondays every week but whatever day I work with him, I work with her the next day. On days where I’m not working with one child I have a folder that I fill up with independent work they can work on without me so much…we are all in the same room so if they need me I’m there but I try to gear these assigments to where my involvement is not so intense so that one child can work by themselves while I work with the other child…. and then for content areas(History, Science) we do every afternoon after our skill areas are done. I alternate History and Science from M-Th afternoons…Friday afternoons are free or they can do enrichment lessons on the computers with Reader Rabbit math or phonics or geography, typing, etc. I try to get in some read aloud time in the afternoon also…doesn’t always happen. We are currently reading Little Pilgrim’s Progress. Also, right before bedtime 8yog has her assigned independent reading to do. I made a log for her to mark down the date for each chapter she reads and she is to write 2-3 sentences about what she read about in that chapter and/or write what she felt about what she read. Music seems to get done without any prompting from me(could that be the Lord orchestrating things, hmmm…) b/c my dc see it as a ‘break’ from our lessons so when we have our breaks I’ll hear my 8yog practice the songs she has taught herself. Then of course her younger brother wants to do everything she does so at some point during the day I’ll hear him playing the pieces of songs that he knows how to play(that she has taught him!!). I have not even started teaching English yet!!!!!!!!!! So where does trusting God come in? I have seen times when if my schedule wasn’t working I would be so stressed. But since God is working in me to trust Him with my planning and our entire homeschool I find that the little bumps along the way don’t stress me like they used to . I decided to make the changes in our schedule and I am at peace about it…thank You Jesus!!! The fact that I have not covered Englislh yet surprisingly is not bothering me either. It will get in there at some point. I’m using SWR and once we start our spelling diictation she will get her grammar activities. I do plan on starting her on the basics on composition writing sometime soon. The one thing that I do wish is that we might start at like 8:00am in the morning so at 12noon I can be done with at least one child’s skill area but I’m finding that our ‘natural’ flow is to wake up late and go to bed late (10-11pm, sometimes 12am) so we are working into the evening. I’ve contemplated trying to change our wake up time but for now I think I’ll leave it alone and keep trusting God with our start time and our schedule…things are getting done … it just seems like it is ever so slowly.

I’m learning to trust God with my the content of our lessons and the EXECUTION of them!! I am seeing such a change in the flow of our homeschool and our daily lessons. I think I may have mentioned before that my dc don’t really balk too much at doing lessons. What makes this year different than last year? The major difference is that God is THE FOCUS… not MORE of the focus but THE focus. I decided to ditch the workbooks(as far as relying on them for my lesson plans) and trust God to guide me in writing my own lessons and in putting my own curriculum together in subjects where the lessons are already written. I am making more of an effort to have a principle or idea that I want to teach. Lisa Hodgen’s post on teaching ideas versus just teaching facts has really put into words what my heart’s desire is. I want to teach God’s truths and principles and I’m doing more of that than I used to. Not that it is an extraordinary amount but there were some days where we spent so much time talking, reasoning, discussing scripture and trying to arrive at the principles and then talking about how it applies to our lives and the purposes for why God set things the way they are took the whole lesson time. This has got to be my favoritest(is that a word) time in our day. I think my dc enjoy it also.  They are always interjecting questions and more questions about God.  These have been some blessed times for us.  Sometimes I think we take too long talking about these things b/c then we end up not recording it in our books or doing any math problems…I’d have to finish up that day’s lesson the next day and give it as independent work(that is how our Independent Work folders got started)…u know what I mean? Another book that has helped me to focus more on structuring my lessons on biblical principles is Mathematics Is God Silent. The principles that are shared in that book can be used thruout life and certainly in other subjects. My thinking has been revolutionized and I have been changed just from what was shared in that book. I see God even more clearer and I find that the fear that I used to be in re: the state and their requirements is fading. But the whole focus of our lessons is different than last year hence the whole flow of our homeschool is different this year. That is what I attribute that to..our focus. The flow is sooo sweet..it’s like we are walking around in warm honey. The Spirit of the Lord is so sweet. Now I don’t want u to think that we don’t have our scolding moments and times of discipline but the times that we do have together are sweet on a whole…and that is causing me to relax more and more in the arms of God. I’m seeing that the more we focus our lessons on God..making Him the reason for why we study what we study and making glorifying Him the end-result of why we live out His principles … the more He blesses us with more and more of Himself. How awesome is He!!!!

I guess I’m saying that even though it may feel or seem like we are not moving along with our ‘academics’ like I had planned I find that we are talking about God and the His truths from His Word more. I definitely do have a peaceful, satisfied, ‘warm-fuzzy’ feeling inside when I think about how we have progressed in our discovery of God and how His truths undergird and shape our everyday life. I was especially blessed to be able to see Him in math(see previous post on The joy of Math). I am pleased with our how and what we are learning about God and how we have found that that does not end with bible study; obtaining knowledge of the Holy One carries over into every subject we study. I try to keep the focus of our lessons not on academics but on knowledge of Him, first and then learning the rudiments of each subject and how to apply to our lives so that we may glorify God. We may reason thru some scriptures on Monday but I find if we do not reference that scripture and our conclusions thruout the week then the ‘academics’ tend to take over, at least in my mind. So once I’ve introduced a principle and scripture we review them and our conclusions of the principles and their application thruout the week briefly before we do math drills, for instance. I do praise the Lord for that and for helping me to document our progress in ‘educationese’ for our state b/c as we all know they care nothing about what we are learning about God

I guess I can look at it like this:

If He can hold all things together like it says in Col 1:16 and keep this universe and everything in it running in sync, then surely He can hold our little homeschool together and keep us on track … HIS track…not my track…not necessarily my schedule…but if I trust Him surely He’ll make sure that my children learn what they need, have what they need and get them to where He has destined for them to be in this life He has given them; surely He will see to their development so that they won’t be lacking in anything…surely He’ll give them understanding in the subject areas they need as I feebly attempt to explain something that I struggle with….surely He will be mine and their Teacher…surely they’ll pass whatever tests they are to take when it comes time,,,surely He’ll save them and bring them into close, intimate relationship with Himself….surely they will proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ and be vessels of character and honor unto God their Maker…. and surely, at last, He’ll bring us all Home to live with Him forever and ever and ever worshipping the Lover of Our Souls….so I MUST trust that God can and will do this for us…and that is what I’m learning to do!!!