In my life this week…
Another busy week! Mother’s Day was nice. My family treated me very nicely with gifts, breakfast from Einstein Bagels, Chinese food with my mother-in-law, and a surprise gift from my hubby – a night to plan at a bed and breakfast!
My baby’s tooth has finally emerged, so things have been a bit better. She actually slept a seven hour stretch for a few nights in a row – something that has not happened regularly since she was a few months old!!
I’m continually evaluating, paring down, and trying to bring more focus and order to my life…. day by day…
In our homeschool this week…
I took some time to “survey the land”. I actually created a survey and asked the kids to fill it out. I wanted to figure out, in their minds, what was going well and not so well. Then I could adjust accordingly. Their answers actually surprised me a bit, and it was helpful to see how they are thinking.
We also had a discussion about how we want the summer to go. We school all year round with summers being lighter and less with more time off. That gives me freedom throughout the year to be more flexible and also keeps my kids’ brains fresh throughout the summer. I don’t really think my children need nearly three months of “lazy” days every day, so school and other planned activities provide some general structure for us. The kids expressed how they would like to have some free time, of course, and also some time to do some fun projects and crafts. I am hoping we can set some goals for ourselves! I know I have some projects I would love to do!
Places we’re going and people we’re seeing…
We went rollerskating on Friday with our church’s school. The kids enjoyed that. Yesterday we celebrated Mother’s Day with my mom and sister and the rest of the crew. Today we had our last core group (potluck) at church. My oldest son was supposed to have a soccer game today but it got canceled due to the pouring rain and drenched fields.
My favorite thing this week was…
I went out with a friend to Starbucks Friday night, and that was very enjoyable. We hadn’t had a good talk in months. It was refreshing, relaxing, and encouraging. I hesitated to go out with my friend because of my busyness, but my husband prodded me to go. He reminded me that I need to protect my time with friends since it doesn’t always come so easily. He was right!
Homeschool questions/thoughts I have…
This week I am going to simplify and focus as much as possible for the kids by reviewing their curriculum and see what I really want them to learn over the next couple weeks before we, hopefully, take a chunk of a break. All of us need it! In schools everywhere, they are winding down and having fun a bit – field trips, watching movies, and not finishing every ounce of the curriculum. I am trying to do similarly without feeling so pressured to be perfect.
A photo, video, link, or quote to share…
Blueberry smoothies make great detective mustaches!
I like the font. It gives it a feel of being handwritten. :-)
ReplyDeleteI'm also very glad you took time out with a friend recently. No one benefits when we don't have time for ourselves to regroup and refresh and replenish!
And the survey idea is a great one! I'm reminded of the Scripture (can't remember where) about taking stock of one's flocks. And I found over the years that children don't always just share things like that without some prompting, and a survey makes it a 'safer' type of dialog and maybe easier for them to share how they really feel.
Paring down is a great idea! Glad you are working on that. Perfect is a myth. No one achieves it in this life although many die trying. . .
For what it's worth, Lisa, I think you are doing a great job!!!
I think the font is pretty. It goes well with your blog design. It is a bit hard for me to read though, maybe if you made it bigger?
ReplyDeleteWe are winding things down in school too. We are still about two months behind so I will finish it up throughout the summer and hopefully have a break before it starts all over in the fall!!
Miss you!
Love, Leslie
Thanks ladies! I had the same thoughts about the font. I liked it but thought it was a bit hard to read. I changed it to something similar. Hopefully this is good now. :-)
ReplyDelete