Monday, August 15, 2011
School Room
Simple. Windows. Natural light. Space on bookshelves to collect more books along the way. Big table and chairs. Little table and chairs. Close to the kitchen ... the heart of our home. Cozy.
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| Art nook & Book basket |
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| Mama's desk |
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| Gus the Mascot |
How is your home school space arranged? What is your favorite spot? Mine is the nook of arts and crafts goodies and books. The start of a new school year is one of the best times for us home schooling moms (and dads) to peek around blogs at how others organize their spaces, well, that and curriculum hunting for us junkies.
Sunday, August 14, 2011
The Plan ...
We are ONE week out from boarding a plane to Addis Ababa to bring home Zeb and I am ecstatic to say that I have our weekly schedule ready and raring to go ... last year I really only had Mae for true schooltime, but this year that multiplies by three with Mae in 2nd and Viola and Zeb in Kinder/PreK, and of course Jack is tagging along. I am a very relaxed homeschooler when it comes to the flow of our days, but this handy little chart will help keep me on task to hopefully remember to accomplish my other duties ... you know, meals, dishes, laundry, washing floors, ballet lessons ... all the glamour. I'm kidding. I adore my ministry.
So, what am I missing? What have I overlooked? (In truth this was my first time converting a doc into a jpeg to upload to blogger ... it stretched me. You should be able to click on each picture and it will open a bit larger.) I'd be so grateful to read your impressions or to learn how I might make the plan better. This is just a guide for me to look to when I need to corral the troops and redirect our attention to more thoughtful things.
The three r's are completed by lunch, and while the boys nap, the girls and I will work on Adv History and some Charlotte Mason studies that Zeb will not yet be ready for and that Jack will not yet sit still for ... yet. :) When the boys are up, or at least when Zeb is awake, we'll wind down our day with Adv Science and Drawing. Fridays will be our lite day ... reading, writing, math, and nature nature nature. In keeping with Charlotte Mason's thoughts on child development, the kids will all have hours in the out-of-doors each day.
It's a work in progress and I am hoping to keep this fluid so that we are not boxed into these little boxes, but it surely feels like a good place to start with our new dynamic school year.
Friday, August 12, 2011
Simplify
That's it. Just what I needed to do to finish this last week before next week unfolds with packing for Ethiopia and final school-year preparations for all four bugs. This meant 1) revamping and finalizing our curriculum and 2) migrating this blog from WordPress to Blogger.
Done and done.
Every curriculum detail is ironed out (praising the Lord for My Father's World, again), my core book is ready for week 1, I have memorable first-day-of-home-school ideas ready to create next week, and I have set myself aside and listened carefully to God whispering exactly what to do with my very unique learners in this year ahead.
I have included our plans on the right sidebar under each of my children's darn cute photos. I'd *love* to read your thoughts and comments.
Miraculously, I was able to import my WordPress blog into my new (well, actually it's an old) blogger domain here all by my computer-illiterate self. Sadly, I lost some of my slideshows and galleries that are specific to WordPress, but in all of my free time (read ... probably never) I will snazzy it up here and insert the photos and videos that are missing.
Have a beautiful weekend!
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Twofold Adventures
This year we are going back to our roots and studying Adventures in My Father's World with Mae. This will be our third year with MFW and after a summer of soul-searching (and here daddy would chime in ... summer of late nights pouring over every.curriculum.ever.published and then buying every.curriculum.ever.published and then returning every.curriculum.ever.published) I could not be more at peace with where we are at as this new school year begins with Adventures at our core. MFW is so lovingly and thoughtfully created that my 5-year-old Viola will be able to tagalong *and* glean quite a lot.
We leave in ELEVEN days to bring home Zeb. Surreal. I still feel like I am swimming in a bliss-filled bubble ... but, *I've pinched me* and it's true! ELEVEN days.
This means we are staring school a little bit later than I had hoped, but Zeb is of utmost priority. Our first day back to school, as a family of SIX is September 5!
This year I will again be dazzled by the tremendous homeschooling mamas and daddies on the MFW blog roll and I'm humbled to be a part, once again.
I'd love for you to stop by my little pocket of the web again to peek into our homeschool ... my intent is to write a weekly post wrapping up our adventure ... both with MFW and with our sweet, newly-home Zeb.
Happy Almost Fall!
We leave in ELEVEN days to bring home Zeb. Surreal. I still feel like I am swimming in a bliss-filled bubble ... but, *I've pinched me* and it's true! ELEVEN days.
This means we are staring school a little bit later than I had hoped, but Zeb is of utmost priority. Our first day back to school, as a family of SIX is September 5!
This year I will again be dazzled by the tremendous homeschooling mamas and daddies on the MFW blog roll and I'm humbled to be a part, once again.
I'd love for you to stop by my little pocket of the web again to peek into our homeschool ... my intent is to write a weekly post wrapping up our adventure ... both with MFW and with our sweet, newly-home Zeb.
Happy Almost Fall!
Monday, August 8, 2011
Put on Your Sunglasses
I have this amazing friend who has been
walking
trudging along this adoption journey with us ... we accepted our referrals last September and October, we were submitted to court together, we flew together to Ethiopia, we survived court together, we passed court the same week, we were submitted to Embassy together, and now we've both cleared and are just weeks away from bringing home our children forever.
A while back she made a comment that still makes me giggle and sometimes really stop and think a while ... it may have been when we passed court ... she said, "Get your sunglasses, I see the light at the end of the tunnel."
Wise girl. I love her.
I tell ya, we signed with our agency in February 2010 and on August 24 we will stand before the United States Embassy and our adoption will be full and final in both Africa and the US. We will forever be changed in indescribable ways. In two weeks from this very moment, the sun will be rising in Addis and Atticus will wake up for the last time in an orphanage. He will wake for the last time in the same clothes he has worn for days prior, and slept in. He will wake for the last time without sheets and blankets and pillows. He will eat his last meal among his closest friends and "family" of nannies and playmates. He will anticipate our arrival and we will drive that bumpy road to the maroon gates and wait with anticipation ... the sort of anticipation that steals your breath, rocks your heart, and floods your eyes. We will scoop him up and praise God for his safekeeping and for the mountains He moved that brought us another 8,000 miles around the world to this one little person. Then we will usher him through yet another tumultuous and heartbreaking series of goodbyes. How much can one child grapple with and still trust? It breaks me. Already.
It will be a juxtaposition of emotions that I cannot fathom. Leaving all he knows ... friends, caregivers, sights, smells, foods, routine, home for us. Just us. How truly blessed are we to be hand-chosen by God to be entrusted with this child. In Atticus's weakest moments I pray that Jesus fills me with courage and wisdom to be the mama that Atticus needs, to be his safe harbor in yet one more storm within his five short years. His birth father touched my arm when we met and told me that Atticus loved his mama so much and that he misses her terribly. I could see how deeply she was loved and it bruised my core but at the same time filled me with this aspiration to make her proud as she watches me raise her little boy. He has lost in ways that no child should ever lose. His cautious eyes, the tilt of his head, and the way he holds his hands reveal sorrow that I treasure as my own now and that emboldens me to live my everyday helping him to heal.
I may just bring him his very own pair of sunglasses. There is a light at the end of this tunnel and even though the tunnel has been long, dark, and scary, he now has my hand to hold and somehow I will prove to him that I will never ever let go.
walking
trudging along this adoption journey with us ... we accepted our referrals last September and October, we were submitted to court together, we flew together to Ethiopia, we survived court together, we passed court the same week, we were submitted to Embassy together, and now we've both cleared and are just weeks away from bringing home our children forever.
A while back she made a comment that still makes me giggle and sometimes really stop and think a while ... it may have been when we passed court ... she said, "Get your sunglasses, I see the light at the end of the tunnel."
Wise girl. I love her.
I tell ya, we signed with our agency in February 2010 and on August 24 we will stand before the United States Embassy and our adoption will be full and final in both Africa and the US. We will forever be changed in indescribable ways. In two weeks from this very moment, the sun will be rising in Addis and Atticus will wake up for the last time in an orphanage. He will wake for the last time in the same clothes he has worn for days prior, and slept in. He will wake for the last time without sheets and blankets and pillows. He will eat his last meal among his closest friends and "family" of nannies and playmates. He will anticipate our arrival and we will drive that bumpy road to the maroon gates and wait with anticipation ... the sort of anticipation that steals your breath, rocks your heart, and floods your eyes. We will scoop him up and praise God for his safekeeping and for the mountains He moved that brought us another 8,000 miles around the world to this one little person. Then we will usher him through yet another tumultuous and heartbreaking series of goodbyes. How much can one child grapple with and still trust? It breaks me. Already.
It will be a juxtaposition of emotions that I cannot fathom. Leaving all he knows ... friends, caregivers, sights, smells, foods, routine, home for us. Just us. How truly blessed are we to be hand-chosen by God to be entrusted with this child. In Atticus's weakest moments I pray that Jesus fills me with courage and wisdom to be the mama that Atticus needs, to be his safe harbor in yet one more storm within his five short years. His birth father touched my arm when we met and told me that Atticus loved his mama so much and that he misses her terribly. I could see how deeply she was loved and it bruised my core but at the same time filled me with this aspiration to make her proud as she watches me raise her little boy. He has lost in ways that no child should ever lose. His cautious eyes, the tilt of his head, and the way he holds his hands reveal sorrow that I treasure as my own now and that emboldens me to live my everyday helping him to heal.
I may just bring him his very own pair of sunglasses. There is a light at the end of this tunnel and even though the tunnel has been long, dark, and scary, he now has my hand to hold and somehow I will prove to him that I will never ever let go.
"By adopting a child and helping them reach their potential, they help us reach ours. An adopted child is not an unwanted child; to the contrary. He or she is a child who was searched for, prayed for, cried for, begged for; received by arms that ached, making empty hearts full. Love is meant to be shared."--Vickie Barber Henley
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