Week One

Or should I say week "won"?

Off to a bumpy start, grant you, but it got better. I switched some things around, got rid of a few things, added more reading time. And I'm still considering getting rid of some more things.

I'm finding myself constantly reevaluating my goals for my children. My goals for the school year have undergone constant change for the last 5 years, so this year was no exception. But have I really thought about my goals for my kids? Or what my kids' goals might be?

By Friday, Jeremy was totally into the reading time. We're reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. A movie they have seen countless times. But the book obviously has some differences. And I'm having fun coming up with weird voices for the characters. Kylie isn't so enthused. But I'm hoping before too much longer she'll find interest in it. Maybe with the next book, as this one was Jeremy's choice.

I've also noticed that Kylie has no problem getting to work on the worksheets and workbooks and getting it done. But she doesn't read all of the directions and sometimes I want us to work together and she wants to move ahead. Jeremy, on the other hand, hates writing with a passion. He can't stand worksheets, and he doesn't like his workbooks. I have yet to find an answer to this dilemma.

We're off to a bit of a slow start with our Ancient History study. But I know things will pick up soon. I'm really excited about it. I love history, and I hope they will pick up on it and find a love of history themselves. It's really very interesting seeing history unfold from the Bible and see how it fits together with the "World" History texts. Because the world assumes the Big Bang Theory is no longer a theory, the texts no longer present it as such. And the texts no longer present Creation either. So it's quite a challenge using secular texts for history. I just leave things out or I let them know that unbelievers think theory "x" is true, while as believers, we believe creation is true. As we continue on, I'm sure they'll have a great many questions about this.

In the next month or so, I'm hoping to start adding in field trips. I really want us to start a nature journal. And as we start doing some of these other things, the amount of "bookwork" will be reduced. I want to implement more learning by reading and research than filling out worksheets. I want them to find the answers to their questions and really learn.

So while week one didn't get off to a great start, I still think we've won something in the process. So let's just call this week WON!