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Monday, September 8, 2008

the journey begins

Our butterflies came out of their chrysalis on Friday morning (both of them within an hour of each other!) It is such an incredible experience to watch them come out, dry their wings and then fly away. We waited for Hannah to come over to share the experience of letting them go. We let them crawl onto our fingers and waited patiently for them to fly away. Everyone got a turn to hold one one before they both departed for their journey south.







Last year this experience was especially poignant for me because as we were observing and learning about this amazing change of life we were experiencing one ourselves. We were getting ready to move and we were starting our homeschool journey. It was very symbolic and meaningful to me. Letting them go this year sparked a time of reflection. This time last year was just so overwhelming and emotional with the move and all. It is amazing that we got any schoolwork done at all... It made me realize though, how natural the whole process of homeschooling is. It didn't take eons of planning and structure, it just happened. Don't get me wrong, I planned a lot once we were settled and things got very structured because that is how I am by nature, but I realized that its not necessarily necessary. Ironically I came to this realization after spending two solid weeks planning and printing all of my lessons from now until December as well as creating and laminating all of the things for my walls and bulletin board. I nearly drove myself, and everyone around me, crazy with all of my preparations! I was stressing over the whole process and this new realization was very welcomed. I am glad that I organized and planned the way I did. I know it will make the next few months much less stressful but I am also grateful to have things in perspective...learning is a natural process, kids are doing it all of the time and for me, teaching is a very natural process too. Its the way God intended it. I feel blessed to be able to serve God by teaching His children.


So this is the perspective that i approached the first day of school with...which was today!!!!!! It went so well! Part of the reason that I was trying to be so organized is that we have others joining us for school 3 days a week. Hannah is doing 2nd grade with Bella, Nova is doing kindergarten with Isaac and Mika is here to become a genius with Ian as they soak in everything going on around them.
This morning, as Isaac came downstairs for breakfast, I excitedly told him that it was officially his first day of school!! (even though he did school with us most of last year) I dressed him in a nice shirt (well, it had a collar, that means it's nicer than most of his others lol)and took his first day of school picture . He was so cute. Again it made me reflect. I remembered Bella's first day of kindergarten and how I cried and cried. I was so sad that my baby was growing up and I would be letting someone else teach her. I was happy not to experience any of that nonsense with Isaac. He's a big boy and we were both excited that he was starting school today. No tears for anyone.

The whole day went off without a hitch. We finished everything I had planned with time to spare and I even managed to get the dishes done, the bathrooms cleaned and two loads of laundry washed before school was out. Everyone worked very hard but we still had lots of fun too.
As usual there have been plenty of other things going on besides school too. We had a lovely labor day picnic at my Aunt Roberta's (by the way, for those of you at the family party who were interested in seeing Crystal's blog click on her name ). The kids had so much fun fishing and swinging (ok, it was really me who had so much fun swinging and snuggling with Madi lol).


The boys started Soccer this weekend. Jason is coaching their team. They are just too cute! I didn't even know they made shin guards that small! The team impressed me on Saturday, they all understood which goal to head toward and which one to protect and for the most part no one used their hands and all after just one practice! Jason is a great coach.




So we are plowing ahead toward fall with lots to accomplish. Dance class starts tomorrow. We will be starting our study of China next week and taking our yearly trip to the Big E. Stay tuned...

2 comments:

Conepines said...

HAHAHAHA mika and ian will be geniuses who can rule the world side by side
muahahaa

can't you imagine mika's face on a flag?

thanks for throwing in a link to my blog =]

Anonymous said...

Glad to hear things are going well! Can't believe Isaac is starting Kindergarten. I've got another year before I send Jack off - that will be tough. Jack is now going to preschool three days a week while I'm working at the library and Alex will be joining him for two mornings soon - he is so excited. Definately harder to let him go since he is my baby. Hope you all have a great trip to the Big E and enjoy all the fall has to offer!
love
Jenn