A few weeks ago I wrote about our kindergarten dilemma for next year.
After months of praying, discussing, putting of decision making, visiting, observing, and more discussing, I found it refreshing to have it out of my hands.
Last week my son graduated from preschool. At the class picnic I was bombarded with questions about where he would go to school in the fall. I was telling one friend about our situation and she responded, “Well, it sounds like one of those things that will obviously be God working.”
To be honest, I really felt like he’d end up attending our local public school.
And maybe part of me wanted that to be the answer b/c I was afraid of the other option. If confronted I wouldn’t have admitted it, but when my husband pointed it out, I realized he was right.
Homeschooling does scare me a little. What if I mess up? What if I fail? I’m great at setting goals, but often not so good with the follow through. How will I make time for cleaning, laundry, lesson planning, grocery shopping, the girls, and teaching? And what will my neighbors think? We are already that family with all the little kids that goes to church on Sunday morning, now we’ll home school too. I wasn’t so sure I was ready for the stereotypes and assumptions that come with being a home school mom.
So last Saturday, when I got the call from the tutorial director telling me they had a spot open up for my son, I was a little surprised.
I wasn’t quite gearing up for that answer, even though it was what I knew Scott and I felt was right for our family.
And yet, even though it wasn’t in the way I anticipated, just like my friend said, it was so obvious to me to see God working. I was prepared to send him to our local elementary school. I figured if a spot didn’t open by June, we’d register him with the county. And a spot opened up just 3 weeks after we were put on the waiting list! I have all summer to prepare my son for the new routine, and to prepare my house, to look at curriculum, to make a schedule for our family…and as I think about it more and more, I can’t help but get excited.
I can’t wait to teach my son to read! I am excited about having circle time with all three kids. I am eager to do some of the things I’ve been wanting to do with the kids but haven’t stopped to make the time for. I can’t wait to give it a try.
And I know that, for next year, this is what God wants our family to do. I don’t know about first grade yet. I am not worrying about first grade. Today, I am preparing for kindergarten.
Matthew 6:34
Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
I gotta tell you, I find great peace in taking it a day at a time.
How about you? What’s been on your mind this week? Read something in a Bible study that got you thinking? Heard a song lyric that touched your heart? Realized something about yourself that maybe you hadn’t thought of before? Have a great “aha” moment? Please share. I’d love to sit and have a heart to heart with you dear friend. And thanks to this world wide web, I can. So do tell, either by linking up below or posting a comment. I’d love to hear your thoughts this weekend.
1) Muthering Heights
2) Closing Time
3) Home Grown Strawberries
4) Everyday Becky
5) The Train to Crazy
Note: Mr. Linky is not working today. I have my hubby on the job and he is trying to find something to work but in the mean time, leave a comment on the blog and I will move your link into the post. Thanks so much…..
Just a friendly reminder to link up late tonight or tomorrow morning with your weekend thought. You can write something new or link up a thoughtful post from earlier in the week! I’m eager to read your thoughts!!
My kids each have a blanket that their grandma made for them before they were born. Being the creative individuals that they are, they call them their “grandma blankets.” I know, ingenious, huh?
The other day I was laying on my daughter’s bed when I had a realization. “Hey”, I said, “this blanket is my grandma blanket.” She laughed and thought I was joking.
“No,” I said, “this blanket right here was made for me by my grandma when I was a little girl, so it is my grandma blanket.”
Later that day I came into my room and saw this.
Seems she realizes how special a grandma blanket is and thought I should sleep with mine.
My oldest son is five. He’s gotten to the point where he wants things. And his birthday and Christmas are over. He’s already proven that he has the self control and discipline to save up for things.
But he has no income.
I would like to start developing in him the discipline to save and to choose wisely how to spend his money.
So, I was wondering, do any of you give your children allowances?
If so, at what age did you start?
Did you have your child do chores to earn the allowance?
How much did you give?
And what do you do about the younger siblings? Do they all start getting an allowance now?
I’d love to hear your thoughts on this, so please share!!
Each May the Blue Angels do an air show at the Naval Academy as part of the commencement week celebrations. It is practically a holiday around here. (If you don’t believe me, check the sign out sheets that afternoon at the local schools). Scott actually saves half a vacation day each year so we can enjoy them as a family.
Hmm, do you think we enjoyed ourselves?
Check out 5M4M and 7 Clown Circus for more fun with pics!
Mudpies
Slugs
Puddle Jumping
We’ve had plenty of baths at the circus this weekend. But the extra laundry and baths are totally worth it to see my kids truly delighting in the simplest of pleasures and enjoying the world around them.
Mud, and slugs, and puddles…giggles, wonder, and smiles…
Something happened to my baby girl.
Seems she was just learning to crawl.
How is that she’s running around, skinning her knees and swinging beside the big kids?
Didn’t she know she wasn’t supposed to grow up so fast?
She’s my baby.
What is she doing conversing and counting and going on the potty?
Where did my baby go?
And who is this pig tailed princess that’s serenading us in the morning with her sweet cherub voice?
I’m trying to cultivate my garden so I did a lot of weeding this past week. And as I did I found there are two ways to weed. You can pick each individual weed out by hand, or you can whack them all with a hoe. Both are effective and appropriate methods for weeding.
But, each has an appropriate time and place. In my old garden which was empty of any vegetation except for weeds, the hoe was the method of choice. I was able to whack out those weeds in about 25 min.
But in my flower beds, I had to take a different approach. If I whacked, I would have killed the plants right along with the weeds. And what good would that be?
Another thing I got to think about while weeding (much more then I would have liked), is how to go about disciplining my children. When I catch my older two spreading sand throughout the yard like “mulch,” in spite of our consistent instruction to keep all sand in the sandbox, let’s just say it’s easy to overreact. It’s true there are times in life that sin needs to be cleaned right out, fast and furiously, kinda like weeding with a hoe. It’s true that intentional disobedience is a sin that dishonors our God, more so then it dishonors the parents (Ephesians 6:1). But the truth is, only Jesus can make this happen. Only he can wash us clean and make us new.
And thankfully, more often then not He is gentle. He’s using me as a parent to, “train them up in the way they should go”. We aren’t supposed to overreact. My children are a garden full of weeds but, I trust that inside those gardens the Lord has planted beautiful flowers that I would like to see bloom. A hoe is not the right tool. I can help to guide, correct, and discipline them. But, I gotta tread carefully. I need to get down on my knees (in prayer) and on their eye level and I need to speak with them calmly. I need to point out their sinful behavior, explain why it is wrong, and walk them through processing how to better handle the situation. I need to not only point out what is wrong, I need to teach them what the proper behavior is. And sometimes they need to face consequences. Because sin has consequence. But they need it explained to them. The goal is to give them the tool to know when they have done wrong, to know whats a weed and whats a flower. Punishment isn’t as effective as discipline.
I pray that someday, when I look at my children, I’ll see a beautiful garden.
How about you? What’s been on your mind this week? Read something in a Bible study that got you thinking? Heard a song lyric that touched your heart? Realized something about yourself that maybe you hadn’t thought of before? Have a great “aha” moment? Please share. I’d love to sit and have a heart to heart with you dear friend. And thanks to this world wide web, I can. So do tell, either by linking up below or posting a comment. I’d love to hear your thoughts this weekend.
1) Muthering Heights
2) Erin @ Closing Time
3) Everyday Becky
4) Home Grown Strawberries
5) The Train to Crazy
I can’t believe the school year is over all ready. More than that I can’t believe my little guy is going to be a kindergartener next fall. Where did the time go? It truly seems like it wasn’t that long ago when he was taking his first steps. And now he’ll be stepping across the stage…ready to commence a new stage of life.
He is no longer a preschooler.
I’m so proud of him. I love the way his little mind works, always processing, always questioning. He’s got his Daddy’s logical brain. I look forward to watching him continue to grow and develop through the years. And yet, I wish I could freeze time right now, right where he is. I love that he still loves to snuggle. And I dread the day when he doesn’t want to curl up on my lap on the couch anymore.
There’s going to be a ceremony and performance at his school this morning. He’s been talking about it all week. I can’t wait to see him sing his songs with his classmates. He told me tonight he gets to wear a special vest and hat too. I’ll be bringing my tissues.
Afterwards there’s going to be celebration for the families. So, I made these little grad caps for the picnic.
They were super easy to make and I think they’ll provide a cute touch to the festivities.
For more moments, you don’t wanna miss, click here.
Ever watched one of those food network shows? Paula Dean, Giada, Rachel Ray, Emeril… funny how different their kitchens look from mine….I’ve got kids fighting, the dog barking, and one hand balancing my toddler on my hip, while the other puts dinner in the oven and calls Scott to find out what time he’ll be leaving work. Meanwhile I am emptying the dish washer, wiping up spills, and maybe.. maybe checking face book.
For those of you that have watched a cooking show and thought, “if only”
This ones for you…
Thanks to Becky and her super fun WOW (within one week) carnival, I managed to tackle my overgrown flower beds and get them spruced up in time for summer. I realize many of you did your spring planting early this spring, but I already told you yesterday, I am not always timely.
Check out the before and after.
Flower Bed #1:
I’d still like to cut my rose bushes down some, but I think you will agree it looks MUCH better than it did last week.
Flowerbed #2:
I grabbed our shepherd’s hook out of our shed and added a wind chime from our deck and a new hanging basket. It’s my favorite part of the bed.
Flowerbed #3:
A close up of the plants. I added some Impatients in between each of the hostas. Impatients work well in shade which defines my front yard. And it seemed an appropriate plant for the circus…cause we needs lots of patience here!
Flower Bed #4
Note the watering can—my kids favorite part of the project!
Flowerbed #5: The Garden
Despite my lack of follow through last year, I am going to try again with a small vegetable garden. I purchased a tomato plant, 2 red pepper plants, some squash, zucchini, and some pumpkin seeds. I got the garden weeded and a weed tarp laid down. I didn’t get the vegetables planted yet. I hope to tomorrow morning. I am also hoping to tear out some day lilies (read get my husband to dig out the day lilies) in the side bed in front of the fence, to plant more vegetables if needed. I am thinking about plating some lettuce seeds in a big flower pot to sit on my sidewalk. I’d also like to plant some sunflower seeds along my fence.
Check out the improvement (and my neighbor’s dog)!
I am really thankful to Becky for hosting this carnival. Without it I am not sure I would have made the very concerted effort to tackle our flower beds (at least not in the last 5 days). I am so happy with the curb appeal it has provided to our home. And now that I’ve gotten started, I think I may have forgotten about my not so green thumb and I am eager to tackle some veggies!
Visit Becky to cheer on some other productive bloggers who tackled projects this past week.
Last week my son graduated from preschool. At the class picnic I was bombarded with questions about where he would go to school in the fall. I was telling one friend about our situation and she responded, “Well, it sounds like one of those things that will obviously be God working.”
