I don't know what week we're supposed to be on anymore. I'm pretty sure somewhere between 7 and 9. It would take too much effort to figure it out, and since I don't really care because none of our curriculum is counted by weeks I'm just going to let it go. We're on track, that's all I care about right now!
We only did school 2 days this week because we were traveling back from OK Monday and Tuesday. I suppose that technically we could have done school on Friday as well. But I don't see the need for that. We're getting done what we need to get done. Having Fridays off to spend with Hubby and Daddy are more important than making sure every science lesson is completed. I did manage to learn a couple of things this week though.
Number one, I still have control issues. I know, I know. If you know me you're probably rolling your eyes. I'm working on my control issues. I don't feel bad about them anymore. I get a lot accomplished on time and correctly done because of my personality. But I also understand that I can be more relaxed about some things. Our homeschool for example. I was labeling the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers on our wall map yesterday. As I was standing there labeling them and talking about the lesson, #1 pipes up and says that she thinks that is the fertile crescent. Then #2 chimes in and agrees and they began to talk about what they remembered about it. Instead of letting them talk it out and taking two stinking minutes to stop what I was doing and just go with the flow of learning, I jumped all over them for talking while I was trying to teach them. No, the irony is not lost on me. *Sigh* In my defense, I did catch myself fairly quickly so there was no yelling involved, but the moment was lost. One of these days I'll learn to let go of having to have everything perfect.
I was also reminded of the tender heart of my oldest. Her latest book study was The Bronze Bow. I don't remember having read it myself, but the teacher's book sums it up pretty well for me. One of the questions was if stealing was OK in God's eyes for any reason. As we were talking about it we talked about how in many countries and even here in the US people steal because they are hungry and have no money to buy food. And we discussed that even though those situations are extremely sad that God has said that stealing is a sin in any situation. She was tearing up throughout this conversation. When I asked her what was upsetting her she just said that is was so sad that people didn't have money for food. My sweet, sweet girl. If all of us had the compassion of an 11 year old, we could change the world.
On a slightly funnier note, I got several comments from family members this last week that my comments about wanting to stab my eye out with a pencil while listening to #3 read seemed overly harsh. I lovingly reminded them that none of them have to listen to her on a daily basis. I will also mention that no one who has a 1st grader has taken offense to my comments. I'll let you draw your own conclusions about that! I will also state that listening to her is no longer quite the torture it was a few months ago. It's almost fun. Almost.
The time finally arrived that #2 had to be talked to about her independent work. She was leaving it until later and later in the day to where she would be doing school work at 4 and then she would "forget" about her chores. If things follow like they normally do, she'll probably have to be talked to a couple more times, but she'll get it eventually. She's just got to find her balance between work and play.
So that was our short week. Next week will be short too since we're going camping. But learning about nature is so much more fun when you're out in it! Can't wait!
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