TOO BUSY TO BLOG
Hello to anyone who still checks this blog! Ha, ha. I'm still alive; just too busy to write anything or go blog hopping. So to those faithful blog sisters out there (Roberta, Karen, Lis, etc.) please forgive me for not visiting you. Humor me by considering a few things I've been pondering.
#1 A question.
Do you homeschoolers out there go through periodic fits of feeling like a failure (whether that be in sticking to a schedule or consistently carving out time for the little ones) or being afraid that your 3rd grader will never write neatly? I just need some confirmation out there that most homeschools are not perfect. OK?
#2 Acceptance
Getting to a place of perfect contentment in God's acceptance of me in Christ without being ruffled by other people's opinions of me or treatment of me is something God's been working in me.
#3 Beautiful Idaho
Most of our time this past week has been spent in studying Idaho. Our homeschool group put on a National Fair where each family chose a state to showcase. Roberta, please feel free to invite us anytime! *big grin* I made a cake called Wet Chocolate L'Orange Pound Cake. Strange name, delicious cake. And of course it has mashed potatoes in it!
#4 Another recipe to share
This one has potatoes in it too. I got it out of this great cookbook for very beginner cooks. It's called Learning to Cook with Marion Cunningham . The recipe is for Leek and Potato Soup. It's so easy and very comforting. All you need to do is put some butter in a stockpot and then add 5-6 chopped baking potatoes and 2-3 chopped leeks. Stir that around for five minutes and then add 6 cups of chicken broth. If you don't have enough broth you can use water to make up the difference. Simmer this until the potatoes are tender and then use a stick blender to puree it to the desired consistency. Make sure you add salt and pepper to taste and then enjoy. I just enjoyed some leftovers on this chilly Georgia Sunday afternoon. Chilly means 50 degrees or so. I know, I'm a wimp.
Blessings to all. Pray for me as I finish this busy weekend with a Cobb Symphony concert tonight.
16 comments:
Meredith~
You are so dear. This will be a quick comment (well, it's intended to be, well see if it is).
First, you are a smart woman...Go to Jesus...not blogs. It's ALL about and for Him.:) (I still feel loved!)
and You are so NOT alone...failures and contenment.
You are MOST welcome here...I'd love to here more about your fair.
I'll check back tomorrow.
Blessings~
Roberta :)
I got to thinking how easy it would be to hear part of what I said in a very different tone than was meant. When I said:
"First, you are a smart woman...Go to Jesus...not blogs. It's ALL about and for Him.:)" (To be read in an affirming manner of what you have already decided to do, not a flippant statement of advice.) Just wanted to clarify especially since this a tender area for most of us. :)
Thank you Roberta!! You are much appreciated. I would love to tell you more about the fair but I was hardly there before I had to leave for a rehearsal. ARGH! This weekend was one of those couldn't be helped mega busy, too scheduled weekends. You commit to a couple different things and only realize later, probably because of poor planning on my part :) that all three things will be coming to a head on the same weekend. Plus my kids all got minor illnesses this past week and it's a very important two weeks for my husband at his job. WHEW! I need to sit down but it isn't done yet. My oldest is participating in a churchwide Bible Drill tonight and we're expecting he'll go on to the next level.
Oh well, I really appreciate your encouragement. We need more of that around the blogosphere. Actually, I've been thinking about an idea and maybe you can give me some input. Would you be interested in doing a post that chronicles a typical day in your homeschool? I thought we could get a couple gals together and do this all on the same day. I think it would be encouraging and help us to stop having these outrageous expectations of ourselves. What do you think?
Blessings.
"Would you be interested in doing a post that chronicles a typical day in your homeschool?"
Hmmm...been pondering this. I feel like such an atypical type of person...remember I'm working on self-discipline :).
I did write what we use in the comments box of my daffodowndilly post if you want to see...no schedule though.
Is there a particular aspect of your homescool day that you would like encouragement in? If it is helpful my son, same age as yours, is not doing cursive yet. He is using a book one grade behind, but that seems best for him. His printing is legible and very neat when he tries. Because he is our firstborn he has both his Dad's and My perfectionist tendencies (God have mercy!!) and tears will flow when effort has to be put forth. His and mine! ;) I am trying to teach him that learning is a step by step process...it all doesn't happen at once...and I say it to my *all or nothing* self as well.
My only concern is that we would compare ourselves to one another rather than the plan He has for each of our individual families and individual children.
Anyway...blessings~
Roberta :)
Oh, Meredith, I think we all try to put our sweetest, most intelligent foot forward on our blogs (and in folks' articles and such that they write), but we are all REAL. We all do have times of failure, times of comparison (yuck - I despise it), and times of just gutting our way through a day.
One of my least favorite questions is, "What curriculum are you using for...?" It always makes me feel like I've chosen the wrong one. We are so eclectic, that when I read that Roberta's still working on her son with writing cursive, my first thought is, "Gee...my 12 and 13 year old daughters are finally just now getting it 'down'...I haven't even started on the boys yet!" (No offense, Roberta...just showing how sensitive and thin-skinned I am...*sigh*).
I agree that true encouragement would be a boon in our lives - may we strive to perfect it with each other, and spur one another on toward love and good deeds!
Blessings,
Karen
Thanks Karen and Roberta for your input. I often fall into the trap of trying to emulate other people. What works for them must work for me too! Not always. I have the perfectionist tendencies and find it hard to keep from pushing myself and my children too hard and expecting it all to look a certain way. The thing I am most confused about is scheduling. If I schedule a certain amount of time for a subject but the child daydreams half of that time away while I'm trying to work with the other children, should I assign the rest of the work for later or just grin and bear it? I like sticking to a schedule but feel like the children won't get enough work done or I'll constantly be nagging them to focus and work. Does this make sense?
The reason I had the idea to do a "typical day" was that I read something like that on Susan Wise Bauer's website. I was greatly encouraged when I read about her day and how many distractions and interruptions there were.
Thanks for the encouragement not to compare. I'm very guilty of that.
Karen, I can't wait to see that baby of yours when he/she comes. How are you feeling?
Karen...I actually wrote "NOT doing cursive"...haven't tried, totally doing printing. (see, and I felt a bit guilty for admitting that...aren't we funny.)
I see what you're saying Meredith...kindof pick one day...and do a journalled breakdown of the "after it happened" not the idealized version. I'd be willing. I have thought about doing this for myself anyway just for the sake of seeing how we *actually* use our time.
Let me know. :)
Soooo...are we gonna do it? Let me know what you're thinking and when so I can post it also.
Blessings~
Roberta :)
In our schedule, the "Dreamer" gets to finish his/her work during his/her free time. Sorry Charlie Tuna...
:-)
Meredith - I'm feeling READY. I think. And then when labor starts, I'm sure I'll say, "Aack! I'm not ready for THIS!"
:-)
I'm pretty sure we should do it. A couple days ago I picked up a book that chronicled a day in the life of 30 different homeschool families. Just reading the first one made me feel better. I can't get over this need for regimentation and also a nagging feeling of guilt that I can't stick to a schedule like I had planned to after reading MOTH. Have you guys read this? As with other things, I was really excited and went through with the whole thing but couldn't keep it up. Kind of like Flylady. Oh well.
I'll let you know soon when we should do it. I guess I want to do it for a feeling of encouragement and reassurance. I don't think that's necessarily bad but I can slip into a bad habit of unconsciously wanting the approval of people.
One thing's for sure. We need to do it soon, before that precious baby arrives Karen! I'm so excited.
Sounds good. Are you looking for somekind of incrimental breakdown, like every minute...15...1/2 hour or just the highlights of the day. (Do we include bathroom breaks? ;))
And yes...Karen's due in a week...you don't go early do you? :) (not that you wouldn't mind I'm sure.)
Yes, Meredith I have the MOTH book, it bucks against my more carefree nature (read: disorganized), but as my children grow, and I grow the need for schedule really does show itself to be necessary as we are accountable for our days. (did I just change verb tenses?) *More Character building*!
I think the encouragement is a good thing. There is a freedom that does come from sharing, since like you said we can put expectations on ourselves just by what we "think" others are doing and comparing ourselves with that lofty ideal.
And I'm going to guess that being musically talented and in a symphony you must be disciplined. I peeked at the link btw and was soooo curious if you were in any of the photos.
Whoo Hoo! This'll be great! :)
I meant "persons" not verb tenses. (SEE! The pressure!!!)
Wow quite a little discussion going on here.
I'm not sure I'm up for a post that chronicles hourly a typical day of our homeschooling. I can say that there are days I'm close to the goals I have and day, well, like today. I didn't really do school. My younger two (9 and 7) did a page of math (without my help). Dad was home during the day (his schedule varies) so they each read to him, not me. My older girls (14 and 11) did homework assignments from a co-op we are a part of, so again I wasn't involved. In the afternoon daddy took them all down for awalk on the beach. I stayed home and read Honey for a Teen's Heart, which I got in the mail today. Tomorrow will be different. We are moving ahead slowly sometime but moving none the less.
I'm sure you are progressing too!!
sorry if this comment is too long.
Hello Meredith,
This is Karen from NY! :o) I came over from Roberta's blog.
I've been homeschooling for 13 years. My oldest will be going to college this fall and I want to encourage you that there have been alot of ups and downs. The one thing to keep in mind is that when it is all said and done, that the Lord wants our chldren to glorfy Him.
My husband is one of those PhD guys. He is very smart, my children have some of his tendencies.
The Lord knew that they would need me! :o) I was not a good student, but in the Lord's great mercy, He knew that there were other things beside academics!
We stay-at-home, homeschooling mom's are on the front lines. We need to look at the discouragement as from the enemy and start looking at what the Lord says in Psalm 23
"The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want"
I have been meditating on this lately. What an awesome thing! Because the Lord is my shepherd, I have no wants! He provides it all. He wants to be my everything. He encourages us in James 1 about asking for wisdom and promises to give it "liberally".
When I'm discouraged and needing some affirmation, I lay that at the Father's feet and lo and behold, someone comes along and tells me how something I said or did encouraged them....wow...they didn't know how much I needed that, but our Wonderful Father did! It can lead us into worship.
I believe that He is fine tuning and stirring us to love Him and glorify Him, not be perfectionists (I am one too!) but to enjoy our husbands, children and purposefully look for His fingerprints during the day and lift up thanksgiving to Him.
Be encouraged dear Sister! You aren't alone! :o)
Wow, thanks so much Karen from NY. I really appreciated your comment. It encouraged me a lot.
Blessings to you and thanks for visiting.
Roberta, I forgot to answer your question about the symphony. Yes, I am in a couple pictures. If you go to this link http://www.cobbsymphony.com/orchestrapersonnel.html
and look you'll see a small picture in the upper left corner. I am in the lower left corner of that picture. I have blonde hair and glasses. Happy searching!
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