MORNING SCHOOL - THE FIRST MONTH

We started "Morning School" - our family's version of homeschool preschool on August 11th - Brian's first day back to work for the school year.

I attempted to do something similar with Sam more than a year ago and the plan bombed quickly.  He wasn't interested.  This time around, we're really doing it AND really enjoying it.

At the end of this first month, here are my observations:

Success is unpredictable.  When I expect them to embrace an activity, they often don't.  And vice versa.  The amount of interest and time that they give each activity is not something I can know in advance.  

Eli is only marginally interested in pretty much everything.  I think he is just a bit too young to really care.  Still, he asks to "do Morning School" and wants to be involved at least a little bit.  

Sam is great at memory work.  He has already memorized five Bible verses (Psalm 37:4, Romans 12:12, Phillipians 4:13, Colossians 3:2 and 1 Chronicles 16:11).  So far, I have been choosing verses from this list of "short verses."  But I think we are ready to branch out and tackle a few longer pieces.  (To note: I intend to include some poetry or other non-Bible passages for some of his future memory work, but decided to start with these.)

Eli's pretty great, too.  He knows the entire Lord's Prayer and can say many of our memory work verses, but just won't do it on demand.

Sam loves structure.  I already knew that.  This confirms it, once again.  To keep him happy without having to do the exact same thing every day, we have a schedule that allows for flexibility.  For example, we do "table time" every day, but do something different at Table Time each day.  

I need to spend some alone  time at the library.  The fourth item on our schedule is "pictures."  This is intended to be an art study section.  Our first artist was Georges Seurat.  We had a wonderful reference book from the library with big pictures and just fifteen or so pieces of artwork featured.  We also read this children's book that included many of the same paintings and the boys were very interested.  When we moved onto Paul Cezanne, I tried to find a similar reference book in our library catalog - without actually going to the library.  I did some cross checking of ISBNs and publishers between the library catalog and Amazon, but ended up with books that just haven't quite worked for us.  So, all of that to say, I need to spend some time in the artists section at the library and make myself a list of good (and available) books we can check out for future artist studies.  

I love my local library system.  It's great all around.  We stopped in one day last week at the same time that several other toddler / preschoolers happened to be there.  The librarian, who even knows my kids by name, did an impromptu Story Time since so many kids were there at the same time.  How great is that?  I also love, love, love the ability to put books on hold and pick them up at my convenience.  

Craft time is not particularly artsy.  It makes me kind of nuts.  I want to be able to give them some art supplies and let them have at it.  I want them to use their brains and their imaginations to come up with their own masterpieces.  No such luck.  Maybe they are too young.  Maybe it's just not part of their nature.  Either way, I'm trying to be happy with the construction paper animals that they seem to want to glue together each and every day.  To note: they are very happy with this plan and anxiously ask what we are making for craft each day.   It's just mama who is less than thrilled.

Morning School is good.  It gives us an extended routine to follow each morning - preventing free play that too often leads to fights over toys or general boredom that leads to discontented naughtiness.  I'm giving a big "Woohoo!" for that.

If you are interested in seeing more of what we've been doing, I started a separate Instagram account  that is dedicated to our Morning School related photos.  

MY BIG GOALS

My goal is to be a stay-at-home mama before Sam turns four.  My goal is to homeschool Sam and any future children that we welcome into our family.  These two goals/dreams/hopes/desires have been steadily growing in my heart over the past several years and I firmly believe that they represent God's will for our family. 

My theme for 2013 is "Do something today that will make tomorrow better."  When I think about this figurative "tomorrow," I think about spending my days with my kiddos, serving my family.  Turning this dream into a reality is something that I strive to work on every day. 

I realize that my theme may seem broad and a bit vague.  The phrase, "Do something today that will make tomorrow better" doesn't really lend itself to a clear and focused mental picture of what one can actually do on a daily basis to improve their future.

So what do I really mean when I say that I am working toward this goal?

I mean that I:

• Pray.  God is my best and biggest ally and through Him all things are possible.  Amidst other topics, I always pray for direction and to be led by His will.
• Economize.  I am a conscientious spender and put a lot of effort into making our money stretch and work in our favor.
• Save.  All of our extra income is being funneled into extra principal payments on our mortgage.  The equity that we have in our house is steadily growing and will translate into a hefty down payment for our next (less expensive) home.
• Plan on downsizing.  To live as a one-income family (and still be able to easily pay all of our bills) we are planning to sell our current house sometime in 2015.  We plan to purchase a more affordable home that will hopefully have the added bonus of a bigger yard...and maybe even a few trees.
• Work hard.  I put effort into being a good employee at my current job.  I am also working to build my blog and shop in hopes of creating a space to share the tidbits of my life and a source of supplemental income for our family.
• Enjoy today.  I am blessed with a work schedule that allows me to fit my full time hours into a three day work week.  That means that I already get to stay home four days a week.  I try really hard to fully enjoy that blessing.  I don't want to be so focused on our future, that I forget to appreciate what I have right now.

I am so thankful to have a husband who is on board with this plan and so excited to see how the next few years unfold for us.