From Stressed out Maniac to Satisfied Soul Mama, All in a Week's Work...

How the first few week have been going...
     I have had many people ask how our first few weeks of home school have gone, especially those who know that I have dramatically switched things up this year. I left the "system" I have relied on for the past 7 years, to "change it up". (Read blog post from July 23rd, 2014) This year we are focusing on Scripture, memorizing it, living it, and loving it.
     The first few weeks are always SUPER FUN. Getting kids back in the habit of waking up earlier, and getting to work. We have had maybe two mornings so far where we started on time. We are starting our day, every day, with Bible time together. I purchased composition books for all the kids to use as Bible/prayer journals. Each day, we write what we have read, and some important thoughts about it, or verses to memorize. We have enjoyed drawing some fun pictures, like Jesus and Peter walking on the water. We have had some great discussions during this time. It's awesome to have a high schooler, all the way down to preschoolers in the room, and hear the comments. My 4 year old raises her hand each day with what we have dubbed "Deep Thoughts with Khloe". They are hilarious. It's usually something like, "I am going to make up a Bible verse." The other kids tell her that she can't. She then says, "It will say that God loves us and He loves us very much." Love it.
     We are working on memorizing the Lord's Prayer from Matthew 6, in an effort to learn to pray more effectively. I made this poster on my Heritage Maker's site to help us.

 We have traced our hands, and we are learning this visual with our fingers to help us learn the prayer, and how to pray.

     The rest of our "schooling" is progressing. It's tough getting used to sitting and concentrating. The biggest challenge we face is the 2 year old. She is a HOT MESS!  She is either standing ON the school table, drawing all over herself with marker or eating glue sticks, or she is climbing on my back as I bend over to help someone with math. If she is not right there, we need to be afraid, VERY AFRAID. Here are some example from the last 2 weeks:

Yes, she covered the kitchen with soapy water, had some fun with chocolate syrup, painted my bathroom mirror using my make up brushes with toothpaste, colored with markers all over the floor, cut her shirt to pieces with scissors, and broke ALL of the eggs in the fridge. So fun. Good thing she is so dang cute.

     But on the flip side, THIS HAPPENED: My three big kids got baptized! Oh, how my soul sings!

 In the last few weeks of more deep conversations of faith and prayer, three of them decided it was time to make a public proclamation of their faith. It has all been worth it already. Fruit is showing. So midst the hard days, I can remember that His mercies are NEW EVERY MORNING! Praise the Lord!

'Twas the Night Before Homeschool.......

'Twas the night before home school, and all through the home,

Mom was  going over new curriculum with a fine-toothed comb.

The pencils, markers, and crayons were laid out with care,

and Mom hoped that in the morning they'd still be there.

The children were jumping on top of their beds,

refusing the new bedtime and giggling instead.

Mama was stressed out about starting again,

but Dad said not to worry, as he kissed the baby's chin.

But how will she do it? She thought with a fright,

As the older kids were still not down for the night.

There's math, and reading, and grammar to teach,

Maybe she could just run away to the beach?

And Bible, science, and history, too!

A huge responsibility, that much is true.

The days will be busy, with school and just "life",

Some days with triumph, some days with strife.

But she has been called to this job, whether she is ready or not,

and God will equip her, for He loves her a lot!

He reminds her it's more about discipleship than a grade,

And this time when they are little will so quickly fade.

Just love them, He says, and I will supply new grace each day,

You are doing this for me, just trust and obey.

So she shut all her books, and climbed in bed for the night,

And prayed to her Father will all of her might.

"Lord, bless this new year, and teach us your way."

And now she felt ready to face the next day.

    So, it has started. School has started in the Wright household. As many of you know, we are doing things a bit differently this year, and I invite you all along on this journey. It is always scary to implement "change", and this is kind of a big one around here. I have always leaned on Classical Conversations' curriculum for most of what I do, so going a different route feels strange and unknown. I am hoping some of my ideas might work, yet I know that some will massively fail. 

    I have totally revamped our curriculum and "school day" this year in an attempt to return to my original reasons for homeschooling. I want to focus on "hiding God's word in their hearts", and learning together to pray more, and love God in all we do. 

     So, what does that look like? First, I bought them all journals for Bible/prayer time. (I just got those composition notebooks). Each morning, we begin all together with a time of Bible reading and discussion. In their journal, they are writing down the passage we read, and a short summary of what was read. Obviously, I help the littles with this part, and only have them write a few key words themselves. If we come across a verse we want to memorize, we write that down as well. We are shooting for one memory verse each week for this. I have also picked a few larger Scripture passages to memorize in addition to these weekly verses. I am making posters of these to hang around the house, to help with the memorization. The first passage we are working on is the Lord's Prayer, as I am going to use that as a basis of learning HOW to pray. In the back part of our Bible journal, we have made a "Prayer Journal" section. We are writing down prayer requests and answers. 

     A few years ago, at a homeschool convention, I purchased two Bible studies by "Explorer's Bible Study." I never implemented them (remember, that is the reason for this change- never feeling I had the "time" to get beyond Math and reading skills). This year, we are doing them! For the preschooler and 1st grader, we are doing "Jesus, My Shepherd." Each day there is a short reading, and simple questions for them to answer. For the older children, we are doing "God's Perfect Plan- Exploring Bible Prophecy From Genesis to Revelation." There are verses to look up each day, and more in depth questions for them to answer.

     I am also planning on using Bible verses as copywork for handwriting. Why buy a handwriting curriculum? We will also use verses and passages for grammar work. We can parse the verses and diagram them. We can rewrite passages in our own words, using the stylistic techniques we learned in the Institute for Excellence in Writing course. (CC Essentials program)

     On top of all this Bible, of course we are still doing math, reading, and the other major subjects.We just aren't going to stress about them as much this year. They are all ahead in their work, so it will be refreshing to have a different focus. If we don't get to much history or science this year- oh well!  We will still sing our CC timeline song and history/science sentences (just at home, instead). These give them plenty of history and science education, even if all they do is sing them once in awhile this year. The older kids have already done this CC Cycle, and the littles will get it later when we are back.

     There you have it, that is the plan. I invite you to follow this blog and our journey. I am praying that I see an amazing move of God on my children's hearts this year~