It's helpful to take a little bit of time each week to remember our successes. The people at Faith and Family do just that. To see more small succcesses click on the link above.
My small successes for the week:
1. Finally read my Honey for A Child's Heart book. I bought it years ago simply for the book lists, I never knew what treasure I had sitting on my book shelf until now. It encouraged me to, once again, request some library books to provide part of the Honey for my children's lives. (Milk symbolizes the care given to the physical needs of our children, Honey symbolizes the sweetness of life). The author quotes Erich Fromm as saying, "Most parents are capable of giving milk, but only a minority of giving honey too." I know from my own experience that the Milk just happens. The Honey takes effort and is soooo worth it.
I also requested some library books from my Five in a Row lists and intend to start that up again this quarter. Some things had to take a break during Advent and Christmas. But, my kids LOVE Five in a Row and I LOVE doing it with them.
2. Changed our school schedule to be a 4 day schedule of classes (well, a couple things are still scheduled for Friday). We will still have school every Friday because we will be doing everything we didn't get done the other days. I am trying this in an attempt to be better able to attend to my younger kids' needs during the day. Now I can tell my older kids we won't get to history or I won't be able to help them understand their grammar assignment, etc. because my little ones need me to play with them a bit, instead of feeling the pressure to keep them entertained on the sidelines while I work on something with the older kids. And the older kids will still get everything done they need to during the week. ALL this excludes my high schooler. She's pretty much on her own and busy all day every day.
3. Decided to take my own advice and slow down schooling with my kindergartner. He catches onto things so easily and is already finished with 3/4 of his math book and is well into his reading. But, getting him to sit still for more than writing a handwriting page is torture for both of us. I don't want to let him "win" and only do his schoolwork when he wants. So, instead I am going to do 1/2 a reading lesson, 1 of 2 math pages, etc. Maybe we'll do this the rest of K, maybe he'll be ready to move back into whole lessons in a few weeks. We'll see how it goes. I think right now he needs more Honey (see #1).
5 comments:
Hey!
Ok - I love this post!
1 - I obviously need to read this book! I also need to talk to a friend about getting her FIAR materials so I can do that with my younger one as I homeschool the other one next fall. Can FIAR be adapted for a 2 year old?
2 - I also will be aiming for a 4 day week - so the 4th day is a catch up day, field trip day, or day off if we can manage it!
3 - I'll have to remember this...I think another friend let her K level son finish his books, then got him some new ones to let him review with, but I like your idea too!! Gotta love the Honey :)
GREAT post!!!
My family and I have been doing a four day week from the get-go. What a blessing it is! My daughter is going to be a freshman next year and I am still going with a four day week. It is the only way I can stay sane! It just keeps things going smoothly for us. I really need Fridays for running errands, catching up around the house, or just plain relaxing! Praying for you to have good results from this!
Ah! I do a 4 day lesson plan too! Except I take Thursdays off (needing a mid-week break more than looking forward to Friday). It's so much better for us than 5 long days.
Sounds like an awesome week!! Thanks for inspiring!
It can be so tempting to do to much when it comes to school. They are learning so much just from life at that age!
Hi Violin Mama!
Yes, all kids are different, and if you can get a hold of a copy of your friend's FIAR to look at I would - maybe your 2 year old could do it.
But, at least with my kids.....I wouldn't get the FIAR for my 2 year old - I include them as much as they are interested when doing FIAR with my other kids - but I have never had a 2 year old sit still long enough to really enjoy those books.
I have never used it but they do have something called BEFORE FIAR for kids 2-4. If I was getting it for my 2 year old I would go this route. If you go to their website http://www.fiveinarow.com/
you can see the listing of books for each.
If you are looking at doing it with Lovely I would just include Valiant as you read. But, like I said, if our looking for your 2 year old, you might have better luck with the younger set. GOOD LUCK!
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