How lovely it is to have spring upon us. Green everywhere and warm breezes makes me heart happy. We had interactions with wildlife today too! I went out this morning to put some mail in the mailbox, and when I looked down I spotted a little turtle. Normally I would have the kids come outside for this, but Mr. Turtle was right on the edge of the sidewalk of our busy street. So I grabbed a dish and brought him inside for awhile. We gave him some water and spinach, and afterwhile he was ready to leave (attempting to escape). I brought him back out to the spot where I found him and he went on his merry way. In the backyard this evening, Hannah spotted a tiny frog sitting on our swingset slide, and Andrew spotted a small brown toad in some leaves by the house.
Speaking of Ben's baseball, he's had a lot of practices and one game so far. He absolutely loves it and we were excited to find out another homeschool family we know is on the team as well!
We're still in school mode. Classical Conversations is over for the year, but we continue on with just about all of our subjects until the boys hit their 1000 hours each and/or finish books. We've been enjoying time at local parks with and without friends, hanging out in the backyard, and being leisurely at the library.
I am intentionally moving slowly. Taking time. Savoring moments. Andrew and I so deeply value (and require) a family lifestyle where we don't rush off every single weeknight and on the weekends too. During this time of year, the calendar fills up quickly with Andrew's school events and Ben's baseball obligations. We aren't legalistic about Sabbath rest, but we are careful to slow down after a stretch of busy to decompress and refuel. I often feel the twinges of guilt about not running our kids to and fro every day for playdates and classes and activities, but in this world where busy-ness and stress are almost status symbols, I realize I don't want that at all. I want our kids to be content without constant to-dos. And I know that one of our goals of homeschooling is to develop deep sibling bonds. Don't get me wrong; life in this house is not pretty and picturesque. Most days there is sibling strife!! But they are learning how to love when they don't feel like it and be kind when another person doesn't deserve it. And evening obligations have meant later nights, and later nights have yielded children who are sleeping late! Hannah crawled out of bed at 8:45 today and Ben at 9:00 (6 am for Joey; I'm trying to convince him otherwise).
I am intentionally moving slowly. Taking time. Savoring moments. Andrew and I so deeply value (and require) a family lifestyle where we don't rush off every single weeknight and on the weekends too. During this time of year, the calendar fills up quickly with Andrew's school events and Ben's baseball obligations. We aren't legalistic about Sabbath rest, but we are careful to slow down after a stretch of busy to decompress and refuel. I often feel the twinges of guilt about not running our kids to and fro every day for playdates and classes and activities, but in this world where busy-ness and stress are almost status symbols, I realize I don't want that at all. I want our kids to be content without constant to-dos. And I know that one of our goals of homeschooling is to develop deep sibling bonds. Don't get me wrong; life in this house is not pretty and picturesque. Most days there is sibling strife!! But they are learning how to love when they don't feel like it and be kind when another person doesn't deserve it. And evening obligations have meant later nights, and later nights have yielded children who are sleeping late! Hannah crawled out of bed at 8:45 today and Ben at 9:00 (6 am for Joey; I'm trying to convince him otherwise).
Speaking of Ben's baseball, he's had a lot of practices and one game so far. He absolutely loves it and we were excited to find out another homeschool family we know is on the team as well!
As we look forward to summer, we know that schoolwork will still be going on whenever we're not traveling. Last year we did zero math all summer and it made for an awful start to our school year. I told Andrew never to let me do that again!! So we'll continue with about 2 lessons a week, some Essentials (our CC language arts program) review for Ben, maybe some Latin review so we don't lose that either, and lots of reading. We'll visit our IL families, Minnesota, and redecorate Hannah's bedroom (I hope!). And I'll be directing our CC community now instead of tutoring, so I'll have to do administrative tasks like invoicing and buying supplies and all that good stuff. :-)
After tonight we have obligations every evening, so I'm going to wrap this up and cozy up in bed with a book. Good sleep is such wonderful preventative maintenance.
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