Today was a day to stop procrastinating and start planning and accomplishing.We cleaned, organized and moved furniture to get set up for school.
Let me just be honest enough to say, homeschooling is not my favorite thing and the discipline it requires of me is a big stretch. The 4 year olds and 2 year old stress me out when I want to focus on the 11 year old. That is not cool.
We have some plans in place to help alleviate meltdowns and freak-outs and the kids might benefit from those plans as well. ;-)
Anyone who thinks homeschooling is just for rebels or uni-bombers who don't like to play by the rules, has it all wrong. People who choose to homeschool are not nuts because they pulled their kids out of school. They are nuts because they signed up willingly to do a butt-load of work. If the truth were told, and I had the option, I think I would be using the services of a a qualified LaDigue area school. (Homeschooling crusaders are collectively gasping.) I am up for it though, really I am. The fact is, I cannot do it unless I go to God everyday and ask Him to do it for me, through me, with me. I am a miserable failure without His leading.
Half of the battle for me is just getting started. We organized and went through our curriculum and made our plan, we'll start tomorrow. A one day school week is a good way to start. Overachievers, we are not. Paige is starting 6th grade and Isaac and Hope are going to do some pre-school stuff for a couple hours a day.
Britt has much of her work on-line and some of it independent study.She has a computer in her room now as a way to escape the noisy end of the house. She is all but ready to go. We ran into one glitch when the Chemistry kit showed up in Minnesota and we realized that the airlines and federal agents might not be too keen on the explosives being in our checked luggage. Dad has mailed it and we are hoping for delivery by next Saturday. Pray that no one takes it from us in customs.The girl needs some science credits.
My prayer is that we find a groove fast and we all keep loving (and liking) each other just as much as we do during the summer. It would be good if they all learn something too.
Other Random Things
Peanut grew a lot while we are gone. She is the size of a lion now. She is going to go into heat soon. I find myself questioning the wisdom behind not getting her fixed. I have nightmarish visions of Peanut getting knocked-up by some nasty scrawny little disease infested Haitian dog. If you have been here, you know of what I speak. Suffice it to say, Peanut's days of romping around are over for a while. If we are dealing with puppies, it will be in the distant future, and not with a Dingo for a dad.
A conversation overheard on the porch this afternoon: Isaac and Hope, often like a little old married couple with the way they gripe and pick on each other, were cleaning up toys and chatting. Hope started counting. She does not count with as much authority or speed as her brother, but she can count. So, she was kind of sauntering through her numbers "13 .............14.................15..........." when Isaac could no longer take it he said "16-17-18-19-20!!!!!" as fast as a human can rattle those numbers off. Hope's response to his hijacking of her counting: "Isaac, I CAN HANDLE IT!"
Troy worked on the Lifeline accounting stuff and installed a fan in our bathroom. It is nice but it is really going to mess with the mold-growing experiment I had going on in there. There is a tri-pod on our porch now. In the evening we hear geeky things like "uh-oh, uh-oh we have good light ... we have a sun event ... this is perfect..." Then he is dashing out the door as if someone has yelled "FIRE!" I have officially lost my lover to the Nikon D70. How easy it was for him to let me go.
We listened to Phil Visher's sermon from Okoboji on DVD today. He is the creator of Veggie Tales and a generally cool guy from what I know of him. I grew up going to the same Bible conference as him but always thought of him as the crazy/funny/too cool-for-me older guy. He shared about his experience of having a dream, God blessing it and realizing that dream and then losing it all.(He no longer holds the rights to the company he created.) He talked about the importance of keeping your dreams from replacing God. Even if your dream is ministry and serving Him ... it is still possible to lose sight of God and His desire for relationship with us. He said anything that you pursue more than God is an idol and pursuing impact for the Kingdom still counts as idolatry if it is first in your life. The best line in the entire sermon:
"Impact does not occur pursuing impact, it occurs when we're pursuing God."
The boys all got green shirts. They were compliant enough to wear them on the same day. Check out the pet lion in the doorway.
The photo to the right is of Paige trying to get her friend and Tipap to teach her how to sing Amazing Grace in Creole.
Last, but not least. Thanks for calling, Dianne, it brightened our day. Thanks for the e-mail Meg, sometimes hearing, or reading, the things you said are just what the Dr. ordered. Off to bed, hoping to wake up transformed into Haiti's future teacher of the year ... or at least a person more patient and much kinder than I am. Kris, I have you to blame if it goes poorly ... or thank when it goes WONDERFULLY. :)
Love to all of you, Tara
