So often at the end of our homeschool day I ask the question that many homeschool Mom’s ask, “Did I do enough?” Sometimes my friend and homeschool mentor will call me and ask “Did you have a good school day today?” As we sit at the dinner table my dear husband will often ask our boys “What did you learn today?”
So often I think about what we did not get done. Let me see….we did not get to our Apologia Science today. Oh dear, we did not get to our “Jump In” writing program. We did not write our vocabulary sentences today….and we did not do our copywork. Oops, we did not get to our “Daily Grams.” Yikes! I did not listen to them read aloud today!
What did we do….how did we spend our time today and did we learn anything at all? Would my boys have accomplished more if they were in a classroom?
Inspite of our schedule, my heart is full tonight. As I write, I feel as though we had a really good day, even though our list was not completed. We talked a lot today. We talked about the Founding Fathers and how they shared the Gospel and spoke of the Savior in their last Will and Testaments. We learned that most were devout Christians. We discussed what revisionist history meant. We watched a video on the founding fathers.
During our Math lesson we talked about patience. I was able to talk about my own frustrations when I was a math student and that I had to learn to manage my lack of patience. We talked about how we all have different temperaments and that we have to manage them with prayer and perseverance. We talked about “walking away” when we feel as though we are going to get angry. This talk was rich….my son opened his heart to me. He said that math is becoming “sort of ” fun.
We snuggled on the couch today and read a chapter from Little Britches by Ralph Moody. We talked about how poor the family was compared to us and how they were so grateful for even the simplest things. We named a bunch of characters from books we had read and decided which one we would like to be….Would we rather be Johnny Tremain, Travis (from Old Yeller), Fritz, Ernest or Francis (From Swiss Family Robinson) or Ralph Moody (from Little Britches). I think we all agreed that Travis from Old Yeller had the best life even though he had to shoot his dog.
We worked on our Bible chapters and have three chapters memorized. I Cor 13, Eph 6, Psalm 1 and now we are memorizing Romans 12.
We talked a lot about the Bible today and how it is God’s chosen way to reveal his thoughts. It is our final authority when we study science. We talked about how Archeology supports the Bible and not the other way around. We read about some of the ways in which archeology is of great value to students of the Bible but that the Bible always trumps science.
The best part of our day for me is when I’m able to give my boys a hug and kiss on the top of their shiny black hair and tell them how proud I am of them. My youngest surprised me by folding the laundry that was piled on the couch. My oldest heated up my heating pad for my aching back and brought the mail in for me.
In the afternoon my oldest son and I had a contest on the recumbent bike. He won as he rode longer than I did.
My boys played the piano for me today and my youngest worked on a new worship song he’s learning called In Christ Alone. My oldest played his Clemente Sonatina as fast as he could.
When Dad came home we all rejoiced….including our jumping Maltese dog “Betty.” We ate spaghetti for dinner and thanked God for our day and the yummy food. It was a good homeschool day.
~Anne
