My most grateful is our morning time routine has become such a BLESSING! I was inspired by Cindy Rollins who writes about homeschooling her 7 boys and 1 girl in Mere Motherhood. When praying over our school year routine it became so obvious what to do. Each morning we gather for 2 worship songs, bible memory work, writing and a chapter of our group read aloud (Little Britches by Ralph Moody). And, then I make announcements. I love the freedom that homeschooling provides to weave family and educational life together! We were having major communication breakdowns and not relaying important days events to everyone (large family issue?) and this has helped tremendously! Every second spent in scripture memory is a RICH investment. I believe the Bible is inspired by God and as we memorize the precious living and active words, they make their home in our hearts and heads and teach, train and correct us all!
We are so excited about serving on the Preschool Worship Team! All my kids learn the motions and lyrics to a preschool worship song for church and then we meet to have it filmed. Bonus: the song was all about being a happy helper!
And, this was his first official day of 8th grade...
Singing that happy helper song is PAYING off! 3 cheers for 5 year olds that take out the trash!!!
I love the freedom to work on educational goals when interest strikes! An ounce of will goes farther than a pound of drill! This was a Sunday afternoon and he wanted to play with stamps so we turned it into a "word family" game.
The last 2 school starts have been CRAZY. Last fall I was newly pregnant and MOVING. And, the fall before that I was overwhelmed with a part time job I was delaying quitting. But, this fall we finally got to a hot air balloon unit. We read a few Hot air balloon books (Hot Air by Marjorie Priceman was our favorite) and with laundry baskets and helium balloons we made our own hot air balloons and let our imagination take over! "Play is the highest level of child development. It gives joy, freedom, contentment, inner and outer rest, peace with the world!"
Can You Hear It? by William Lach was purely delightful. This picture is terrible but let me explain it. The book merges great works of art and beloved classical music and the questions point out instruments and sound to look for. It inspired spontaneous dancing!
Writing this has been WILDLY encouraging. I thought it would take me a few minutes to share the highlights. And, I barely scratched the surface of the pictures I have taken. Next blog I will share a little more from our Williamsburg/Jamestown/Yorktown trip! And, a little more about Zachary's curriculum!
