So often I find myself completely overwhelmed with how quickly time is flying by, yet in the mundane of it all I am still so amazed how long I can let my thoughts ponder on things beyond my control. It is almost as if in the presence of the mind, time actually does stand still. Sometimes, I wish my mind would move along faster while my moments would slow down. Then I wouldn’t have time to sit in self pity or day to day worries that can so quickly take complete control of my life, while secretly stealing away the precious time I have for things that actually matter most.
This week was filled with some amazing highs, and definitely a few lows. I don’t think I realized how much weight I would feel responsible for by simply deciding to homeschool my kids. Responsible for the their education, their social life, their spiritual walks, their need for physical activity, and so much more. Sometimes it almost feels to heavy to carry alone! The start of this week was filled with a lot of those feelings accompanied by self doubt. Do you ever notice that when one simple thing in your life is off or not going as expected, that suddenly our minds can trick us into believing that everything else is falling apart too! That was this week! I started off the week feeling lonely and uninspired. Looking back, it was probably because our family just got over a long bout of the flu and all I was needing was some time out of the house. But rather than thinking rationally, those feelings of self doubt slowly took over my thoughts until I felt like everything was falling apart. I was overwhelmed with my kids, with teaching, with cleaning and pretty much anything else that I wanted to accomplish. And yet just when I was feeling at my lowest point and almost enjoying my grinch like pity-party, God sent over just the perfect friends to say just the right thing that turned it all around. I love how He does that time and time again! On two separate occasions this week, I had two friends (completely unrelated to each other) who were able to encourage me with their words without even knowing that I was needing encouragement. Those are the true blessings that we can never discount in our lives! God always cares for us and looks out for us even in the most simplest of circumstances. I am so thankful for that!
As far as our “school” went this week, we had a fairly typical week. All of our kids completed another week of Math-U-See. Warren is working through multiplying fractions this week and he is actually really enjoying it. He keeps on saying he finds this year of math better than last year. We will see if that momentum keeps up! Monty is working on his 9x tables this week and loving the fact that the 9x table has so many patterns and tricks to help him remember. Gracia is working on regrouping and Lottie is working on adding while using the math blocks. All of the kids have made their math goals for November which means that they can take the month of December off for math which they are completely ecstatic about. (Me too!)
The boys completed their Brave Writer Arrow Guide and read aloud of “The Wild Robot” and Warren completed a scavenger hunt as his final writing assignment for the month. The girls are working through their reading and phonics books and Gracia is also preparing for her busking piano event at Shoppers Drugmart.
We completed a unit study on famous artists and dove deep into the lives of Henri Matisse, Claude Monet, Edgar Degas and Jackson Pollock. We ended off the week with an art exhibit on Friday which we invited a family from our co-op over to participate in. I love our homeschool co-op days for so many reasons, even when only one family is able to make it out! All of the kids love spending time together with their friends whether it is learning together, eating together, or lingering through the bush for hours and hours with hatchets and tools! This group has become such a blessing to our family!
Our family has just started reading through the Chronicles of Narnia as our evening read aloud which I am very excited about! I wanted to read through this series a few years ago but I decided to wait until the girls were also a bit older. We took the kids to the Western Development Museum for the Festival of Trees which is always a favourite outing for our family. Nathan also took the kids to Apex (a trampoline park) one afternoon to give me a break and some quiet time which was exactly what I needed. I am so thankful that this is his slow season and he is able to help out at home more! I also gave Brooks his first haircut and can not believe how big my little baby is becoming. Time, please slow down!
I am thankful this month is over! The kids have worked really hard this year and I think we are all ready to slow things down for the Christmas season. Last year we put away most of the curriculum for the month of December and simply spent time reading together as a family. I look back at that month as one of our favourite homeschool seasons and I am really hoping to replicate that again this year.
For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; ~ Ecclesiastes 3:1-22
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