What not to do...

• I've been thinking about this lately.  Ever since I've had kids, I've eaten some leftovers from their plates.  A piece of fruit, a slice of meat, a french fry after they were done eating.  Well, I guess since I don't have a baby AND a 2 year old, I have some extra time to watch more of what my 2 yo does.  Suffice to say that I don't think I'll be eating leftovers from his plate any more after seeing some of the things he's done to/with the food on his plate.  Yuck.  I won't give you details, just a mild version of what is possible on something that  WASN'T HIS plate.  There was a bowl of grapes by him at the dinner table.  He was eating some grapes and proceeded to take the whole stalk out, lay it on the table, and then coyly asked me if he could "drink it" while pointing at the bowl's interior.  I nodded, yes.  He drank the water out and then proceeded to put the grapes back in.  Soon after that, Luke asked for the grapes.  I handed the bowl to him and told him that Levi just drank the water out of the bottom of the bowl.  Astutely, he refused to eat them.

• This school year is going well.  I've rarely, if ever, said that.  One reason it's going well, or better than before,  is because I have Luke and Josh doing their history and literature in an online class.  It's the same curriculum that I use/used, but someone else is doing the lecture/discussion with them.  That alleviates alot of time it took for me to prepare for school last year.  It's also VERY difficult to have a discussion with a 2 yo going, "Mom.  Mom."  every three seconds.  

• And, I've changed the younger kids' history.  Although still using Tapestry of Grace, I'm using Story of the World as the spine history book and I don't have to do all the preparation I did before.  And, Jesse is doing sooooo much better this year!  He likes history and spelling and math....I'm not sure how much I gained, though, because now I'm spending time almost daily blogging!  But it's so exciting to have a homeschooling year of memories captured for posterity.  If not for posterity, then for me in my really old age. ( I would say for me in my retirement years, but I am already retired.  Or, I would say in my old age, but I'm pretty close to that right now.)  

 

               Todd Wilson has a cartoon depicting a(his) wife right after childbirth, crying.  

               Not tears of joy.  Tears of sadness, knowing that now she has 18 more years of homeschooling.....

• It's really exciting to get comments from people actually reading my blog!!  Please put comments on the blog itself so they are there for posterity also...or for Hollywood when they make this into a movie (: 

• Random thought:  Here is something I read in Home School Legal Defense Association's  (HSLDA) magazine in an article proporting that parents can be their child's reading specialist, "If you are a Christian, also remember that God in His Word commands parents to instruct their children diligently in His ways, which includes reading His Word.  And those He calls, He always equips!"  (Sep/Oct 2011)  

Nuff said.

• I don't by any means homeschool because I have something against the public schools...but look at this from HSLDA's publication (Sep/Oct 2011).  "A friend of mine, a public school principle,taught his daughter at home for six weeks when she was ill.  He went by her school every day and got her material and taught her at home at night.  He kept track of the time.  Six minutes a day.  That was how long it took him to teach her the first grade material she missed."  Even I can do that!  Whew.