"In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace
that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding." Ephesians 1:7-8

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Calling all observers??

A friend of mine who is considering home schooling asked if she could come observe some of our school day on Monday. I was a little nervous for a couple reasons:
1) It felt a little risky... would the boys behavior reflect poorly on me? (Obviously that is wrong thinking, but that is where my brain went.) We've had some rough days... would it be one of those days?
2) We still have so much to learn about schooling at home. I wouldn't want to present an inaccurate picture.  Every family does things differently. 
3) Would I try to "perform" in order to impress her? I'm such an approval addict -- YUCK! 

So God took care of #3 for me. This weekend seemed to fly by allowing little time for "over planning." I barely scraped together my plans for the week on Sunday evening, which is not the norm. I put a little extra care into some activities for Aaron, but went to bed without doing much on my "to do" list.  I intended to wake early and get a few more things done before school since I wasn't planning to exercise. (It was my "rest" day in my 1/2 marathon training program.) 

7:22am... that is the time on my clock when I awoke! If you know me, that is completely shocking. I'm usually up by 5:50am and if for some reason I'm still in bed after that time the boys surely wake me by 6:30. In hindsight, all of this was a blessing from God. No time to over plan. No time to try to impress. No time to bribe the boys to behave well so it reflected back on me. :) No time to be self-centered and I got good rest that my body needed. ahh...

By 9:00 we were off and running with school. 
Ethan is our Student of the Week. 
I couldn't resist taking this picture of him in his patriotic outfit holding the flag. 
Aaron stayed VERY busy this morning in a good and quiet way. 
He played with these beads for quite a while. 
My friend arrived around 9:45. Although, I'm not sure exactly of the time. 
I was so stunned by such a smooth Monday morning. The boys were
excited about our special visitor and more cooperative then usual. 

She sat in the hallway watching and listening while she did her own "homework." 
A few times she walked around to sneak a peek at what the boys were doing.  
Aaron asked me to take the picture above after he sorted his bears. 

I was so grateful for Aaron's focus because it helped me get so much more work done with his brothers. I love that he decided on his own to line up all the bears facing the same way by color. 
(Didn't get to take a photo but he continued with each color.)

She left a little after 11:00 with the bulk of our school work completed. 
What a delightful way to start the week!
(We've been studying George Washington and Luke enjoyed making this tricorn hat.)

After she left, we did a little science, music and then some letter T movement... touching our toes!
All glory be to God for this sweet blessing of a school morning. 

Anyone else want to come observe? (Just kidding!)
I think my friends quiet presence changed the tone of our school day. Thank you TP!!

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