Well, I made it to Christmas Break as my childrens' primary educator. At the end of the summer as I was making this big decision, I remember asking the vice principal of their old school if they could come back in January if this all failed miserably. He laughed and told me that preferably I made it until the end of the school year, but absolutely they'd take them back happily anytime...even if it was going to be a few months down the road. I told myself that I would take an honest assessment of how it was going and how they were doing and adjust the plan accordingly. Because this decision was God-breathed, it's not really about me at all. I want to do what He wants us to do as a family.

We're officially on Christmas Break. I'm looking at this time as a time of rest, of planning, and getting organized for our next semester here at home. It's a lot of work to homeschool. It takes a lot of time and care to teach my kids. We're in the comfort of our home and with that comes distractions of all sorts- the t.v., the housework, the doorbell. There are many times we are interrupted and I have to try to reign back in the little learners. We are enjoying it, though. I'm going to spend some time thinking about how we can make school better in 2019 and implement new routines or curriculum that we've slacked on. I'm feeling good about what we have done, though! 

We joined a book club this year, but sadly weren't able to make the meeting to discuss the book. Still, it was a great experience to read, craft, talk, and create memories together around this story. I love how my kids are going to recall a story later on in life and remember that their mama read that to them as they scarfed down cookies we had made or while we enjoyed our first fire of the cold season. I like how the stories evolve into conversations to be had and brain synapses to connect. I know I won't regret all the time we spend reading out loud as a family so that is one thing that we will most definitely continue and hopefully increase this next year. 

Here's a brief synopsis of the book in case you might be interested in it for your child(ren):

Christmas has come, and with it a sparkling white winterfrost over the countryside. But twelve-year-old Bettina’s parents have been called away unexpectedly, leaving her in charge of the house, the farm, and baby Pia. In all the confusion, Bettina’s family neglects to set out the traditional bowl of Christmas rice pudding for the tiny nisse who are rumored to look after the family and their livestock. No one besides her grandfather ever believed the nisse were real, so what harm could there be in forgetting this silly custom? But when baby Pia disappears during a nap, the magic of the nisse makes itself known. To find her sister and set things right, Bettina must venture into the miniature world of these usually helpful, but sometimes mischievous folk. A delightful winter adventure for lovers of the legendary and miraculous.

Looking out the window today, I'd rather see a blanket of white frost or snow instead of the cold rain pouring out of the clouds, but for now we have our story of Winterfrost that we can visit in our minds any ole time we want!

Do you have any book recommendations for us?

High Tea

It's easy to forget how incredibly important it is to simply play. I've been guilty of this myself, especially when one of my children was diagnosed as deaf. I immediately forgot all that I knew to be true about childhood and I turned myself into the flashcard mom. I'm not knocking flashcards per se but research shows us over and over that most kids do not truly learn that way. I knew that, but I became overwhelmed with the feeling of being "behind" and I wanted Abel to rise to the top of his class and show everyone that deaf people truly can do anything. He attended every therapy, sometimes to the detriment of the rest of us. I felt guilty for carting my kids around in seat belts that equaled up to hours because of the commute. I also felt guilty if I didn't go. 

This homeschooling adventure was born out of many different reasons, but one of them was a desire to let go of what the world (or the state) tells me is normal for my child. This is a daily struggle for me. At moments, I can remove my mom brain from this situation and see that Abel (and all of my kids) do some things at a higher level than their peers. I can also see that their peers do some tasks better than each of them. That's just part of life, right? With them at home, I can monitor their frustration and plan our learning accordingly. The tea party day was a great reminder of that. We had started off the day with a lot of "work" and I hadn't structured it very well. It was too much at once and I knew I was losing them. We still had more language arts to focus on, but the struggle was evident so I told them all to go out to play and that I was planning a party for them that afternoon. In the back of my mind, I remembered my mom had gotten Saylor a tea set and I thought that would be a fun memory for them while I snuck in some read-aloud time.

I grabbed our stack of poetry books I've collected over the years and a book that Dolly Parton sent us- Chimpanzees For Tea- and began to set up a dainty little front porch oasis for the five of us. I almost told them to put on their Sunday bests, but I came back to reality really quickly with that thought. I mean, my kids are almost always barefoot and barely clothed.

People ask me how I get my children to listen to stories without pictures and I've learned a few tips, but you should know that I'm often trying to talk over them. They're still young (at least that's what I tell myself) and so they often break into what I'm saying with questions or completely random remarks. Still, we press on. My kids get at least thirty minutes of read aloud time a day. It's a stretch to force story time, especially if I'm reading poetry so I needed something where they were using their hands. If you give the children something to do quietly while you are reading to them, you'll likely have more success. Another obvious time passer is to provide food. Children learn when their bodies are fed as well as their minds. I don't worry if they're kicking their little legs, chewing obnoxiously, or giggling to one another while I read. Boys especially are known to learn better when they're moving. 

Peep those crusts in Saylor's tasting picture above. Mama has to get in on the PB&J action, too!

Anyway, this activity last week held their attention for awhile. We discussed fancy tea parties and I managed to get most of them to try green tea for the first time. We sweetened with sugar cubes and honey and devoured poems like Over Hill, Over Dale (Shakespeare), Stars (Sara Teasdale), and Casey At The Bat (Thayer). We thought about how wild it would be to forget an entire grocery list and accidentally invite monkeys over for tea. We laughed and we were together.

And we forgot all about correct pencil grasps and sounding out letters. 

We saved those for another day.

It was high tea time and thirty minutes passed time to PLAY!