Week two of school is winding up. This week held a special day – Tuesday was our bookclub meeting with a few other homeschool families. This book club has been the sweetest addition to our lives. We meet quarterly to celebrate a predetermined book. It is so beautiful. This times book was Homer Price and the celebration involved fun activities and an all American picnic style lunch. There is a mix of kids from baby age up to 12 and they all get along so well together. The mama’s are pretty fond of each other, too. I had arranged our weekly schedule to make Tuesday a very light school day (as in, we covered our morning routine at the breakfast table and they each had one reading assignment) and it was so nice to not have to squeeze more into that beautiful day, but rather savor the loveliness of it.
School went smoothly this week. We introduced dictation for the first time this year and last week when it came time for me to dictate and them to spell it went terribly wrong – the single sentence had many spelling errors! The idea is the child is not to be allowed to spell the word in error, keeping their mind from making an incorrect connection. I puzzled this out over the weekend as to how to approach it this week, and determined to just be straightforward and tell them nicely but firmly they had to do better. I explained that while it might feel silly to read the same thing every day and it might feel silly to sit with their eyes closed envisioning how to spell the words that I was pretty sure it would work and they’d be well on their way to becoming better spellers. They took my chat seriously and improved immensely! Yay!
Everything on our schedule has been completed save for the lip balm I plan on us making this afternoon – using beeswax from our bees! Their handicraft and nature study is all being combined with our family’s new beekeeping hobby.
I shared this on Instagram this week (follow me here!) and wanted to share here, too.
These two pictures were taken 12 hours apart. With the only difference being a single cup of water poured out on the neglected plant.
And it’s ironic because just this past week I had been talking with a friend about how Jesus talked about the significance of giving “even a cup of water” and how it feels so minuscule to do just that, that we often don’t do anything at all because we see the “the big stuff” that we aren’t able to do. But there is no denying the life giving power of an ordinary cup of water, regardless of how simple a thing we consider it to be. And neglecting such a simple thing is, obviously, detrimental.
Friends, there are many, many people hurting and longing for something as small as a cup of water. A hug. A genuine ‘how are things going?’. An encouraging word. A card in the mail. Even sometimes a literal cup of water to the mail man or outdoor worker. Let us not grow weary in doing good nor forget the hope that is in us.
Homeschool mama’s – we can offer this cup of water to our children, too. I know how all consuming it can feel when we are the managers of our home and homeschooling and all of the other responsibilities that fall on our shoulders. But God isn’t asking us to do more or to perform more. We can find rest in His promises and we can love others because He has loved us. And loving others – loving our children – is done in the simple, small acts.
I created a collection of free printable verses as this weeks free download – 4 per 8.5×11 sheet. It has it’s own post and you can read it and download the verses here. These are made to be taped to lunches, slipped into books, taped on the mirror – used somewhere to encourage your child throughout their day.
Apart from direct school related books I have not done a good job at reading aloud to my boys lately and I am missing it something bad. Today we started The Wheel on the School and it’s so charming and sweet so far.
We are members at an outdoor pool that has just a few short weeks left until they close for the season, so we may try to spend time at the pool this weekend – do you have any fun plans for the weekend?
