Today was our first day back at school since before Thanksgiving. I would like to say it went smoothly, but it did not. Benjamin is having surgery this week, and we had pre-op stuff at 9am. I tried to make sure the kids knew exactly what they were supposed to do while I was gone, but apparently they didn't. Mikayla has forgotten how to subtract, but she did remember what a verb was. :-) Devin had way too much free time after he was done with his work. Me thinks I need to schedule more. Katie thought that doing everything but write a thank you note and read was acceptable. In her defense, she did ponder the lay-out of the thank-you note. Benjamin came home and declared he didn't have to do school because he went to the doctors. He did complete handwriting and two math pages. Atleast we made some progress, eh? I don't imagine we'll be back into the full swing of things until next week.
I've done much thinking about what I want 2008 to be like for us. I can honestly say, good riddance to 2007. Not that some wonderful things haven't happened to our family this year, I'm just glad it's done. It'll be nice to not have to say that it'll be next YEAR before my dh comes home again. :-) I want this to be the year of the Happy House. I remember my Grandmother telling me she loved the house my parents used to live in so much, because it was the "Happy House" to her. She said that was the only time all of her kids got along. Of course, if you ask my Dad, he says it's because they were all toddlers/babies when they lived there. heehee. Anyway, I want this to be the year of the "Happy House." I'm tired of fighting kids all.the.time. I'm tired of no one talking nicely to each other. I'm tired of the selfishness. I guess I'm just plain tired. So, in order to get the changes I want, I need to focus on Character Training. I'm including myself in this, because I can see where I definitely need some character training. This is the book I'm thinking of purchasing. I'm waiting for dh to check it out before I order it. Knowing him, he'll say, "It looks fine Babe." :-) One more thing I'm going to do is put a lot more focus on Bible work in our homeschool. I'm currently trying to design a Bible Notebook that'll work for us. Stay tuned on that. :-) Of course, I've got the ever popular "lose weight" goals too. Who wants to hear about those though. lol.
Knitting....I have started the heel on the second sock, finally. I will be spending about 6 hours at the hospital on Friday, so maybe I'll have a nearly finished or completely finished sock by then! I have a couple of larger items I would like to knit this year, but I'll save that for another post.
One thing we do for our son JD for Bible is Catechisms( not just for Catholics .) Also, we have a rule for all gaming systems. You must read a Proverbs and Judges(the chapter goes w/ the day of the month.)before you can play any games. No exceptions. I try to lead by example. I love to read Beverly Lewis books. I can't read unless I read my Bible. If our kids see us doing a rule we've laid out for them, they are more likely to do it also.
ReplyDeleteWe all have struggles w/ being "nice." It's called the flesh. I've seen some people that think they're nice, treat their kids so badly. I try to use the word respect. JD now comes and apologizes to me. I have to catch myself before I start coming down on him. I have asked the Lord to help me with that. I think we should treat our kids the way the Lord treats us. He doesn't scold or scream at us. He works in our hearts. It's been amazing seeing the change. I attribute some of it to a church where there is also preaching to the youth, and the youth have an active, concerned youth director that cares about each and everyone of his youth.
Keep being strong for those kids. That has to be a huge blessing to your husband.
Lynn