EDUCATION RELAXATION

One of my friends asked how our school year was going. This was my answer to her...

I had grand visions for this school year which have not panned out due to health issues and other stresses. But that’s OK.. After 8 years of homeschooling I have learned to be about as relaxed as one could be without actually being asleep…..( if only I could sleep I might not be dealing with the aforementions health issues!) I have learned to not fret about grade level.. I am more concerned about Cody level and Dillon level. If they are working hard and progressing, I can’t ask anything more. I have learned not to fret about missing anything. I know that learning takes place 24/7.. (yes, even while we sleep we can learn.. The Bible says Young men will dream dreams… I wish I could dream dreams.. sleep deprivation hurts…) There is not a magic window where we have to cram everything we can down their throats or else it will be lost forever never to be learned. No, in some ways, I feel as if my job is done… Our home has an atmosphere that has instilled an excitement for learning and with that, nothing can be missed. If they run into something they don’t know, they know how to find out more. If they don’t run into it, it was never worth fretting over. Now, all I have to do is continue to expose them to new and wonderful things and see what happens. It’s like fireworks. Some things might be duds… but something might spark a brilliant explosion full of color! The chemistry just has to be right.

My relaxed ways have really paid off this year. Dillon, who has had such a hard time learning to read, suddenly blossomed. I cannot take any credit for it other than not making a big deal about his not being on grade level. Suddenly, he just began to read. I wish I could say it was because we finally started a new program, or we stopped using that curriculum.. No, he just got ready and he did it. And he owns it. It’s his accomplishment, not mine. He is so proud he reads everything he can. When we go out, he reads every sign along the way. And it is beautiful music to drive to. Dillon is also making headway with his speech. He started a pretty intensive speech therapy regimen through Children’s Medical Center. He loves it and looks forward to it every week.

Cody.. what can I say about Cody. He is doing well in school, but still frustrates me quite a bit because he ssems to get so easily distracted. His math papers are 25% answers, 75% doodles. But, the thing is.. with the doodles he gets his answers right. Without the doodles, he can’t answer one question. So it's a case of the right brain working to wake the left brain up to get going. I guess it’s not really distraction after all. This is something we might have to work on soon. I’m not sure his boss in the future will appreciate little doodled robots all over his reports… unless of course.. he designs robots for a living! Right now, he is busy trying to figure out how to make New Orleans a floating city. He is quite concerned that history will repeat itself if they just fix the levees and let everyone come back home. He has an idea that if the water level rises, so should the city. It’s been very interesting to hear his ideas on the subject. Some are quite cartoonish but others could actually be viable with a little tweaking.

Well, that's a little bit about our year so far… It’s kind of fun to go back and re-read and see what has gone right. Some days my mindset is stuck on what’s going wrong.. but the truth is, it’s not really going wrong.. it’s just a part of the journey!

PERSPECTIVE

I complained that I had no shoes, until I met a man with no feet.

~Irish Proverb

What a lousy week… It was the kind of week where the simple act of waking up was a cardio workout. As soon as my feet hit the floor I remembered what bills were due and how there was no way to pay them. My heart would race, I would break out in a sweat and I would begin to feel breathless and lightheaded. As good as any workout.. except I don’t know how many calories I actually burned.

It came down to priorities…. Which bill was attached to the biggest threat? If I didn’t pay the electric bill, we would lose our electricity… not too pleasant with 98% humidity at 90 degrees. If I didn’t’ pay the cable bill we would lose cable, internet AND telephone… I don’t think so. This triple threat would knock out our home business and any chance at all to get enough money to ever get anything turned on again. If I didn’t make the final payment in our mortgage repayment plan we would lose the house to foreclosure. Not an option. Of course there was the credit card. It had actually already been paid by a check by phone three months ago. Three payments had been scheduled to come out each month and this was the final month. I called the company and told them I had no choice but to stop payment on the check. I was threatened with a $25 service charge. I am pretty sure I said something like “bring it on” and left for the bank to sign the stop payment papers.

I figured everything out, and miraculously enough, just enough money trickled in to pay all the bills.. well, except for the credit card. I lamented and complained my way through the week and then, like being whacked with a sledgehammer, I was hit with a brand new perspective.

Just a few states away, tens of thousands of people lost their electricity, businesses, and homes. They were not able to call anyone and plead for an extension. Daddy’s have lost children, children have lost Mommy’s, Husbands have lost wives. There is not one story that has come from the South that doesn’t tear at the heart.

It seems like just a few days ago my world was falling in… I thought I was about to lose everything. The truth is, I have never REALLY experienced loss. I type this while tucked into bed with my 9 year old lying next to me reading a book. He can’t sleep. Neither can I. He suggests I count sheep. I think I’m just going to count my blessings.