just another update

I wrote this on Wednesday or Thursday of last week:
Hi, everyone. It's a cold, rainy day out here in the country. I just finished school with the girls. Lara did a little writing in her day-journal, practiced handwriting, and did a project that combined letter sounds, cutting, and gluing. Afterward, we tried to make snowflakes. Lara is now mopping the kitchen floor after Claire (deliberately, I am pretty sure) spilled her milk on the floor. In a little bit, we'll sit down on the couch and read a book together.

I love homeschooling. A lot of parents don't do it because they don't feel enjoyment out of teaching. Of course, I do, so I am lucky in this respect. But I have actually found that there isn't a lot of "teaching" in homeschool after all. You read a lot and explain a lot...just like you explain to your child how to wash their body in the bath or how to hold their pencil. It's mostly a lot of activities that parents are already doing with their kids. I.e. we played Monopoly Junior the other day to help Lara's math skills. And parents worry about frustration. Believe me, I understand this! But it's simple. When you or the child gets frustrated, you close the book immediately, and say, "Let's take a break. Our brains our tired, we'll come back later." You want to help your child work through their frustrations, but if when the parent gets frustrated, you stop. It is still a struggle sometimes dealing with Claire during school times. Lately, however, Claire has started sitting down with us at the table, and she will paint with watercolors. When Lara is working on her day-journal, or another activity that she does quietly on her own, Claire and I will sit in the rocking chair and read books together. It might sound stressful, but it is not. It is nice to do productive things together as a family, rather than play 21 games of Hide-n-Seek or Baby in the Belly or princesses, princesses, princesses.

I think it's a blessing to both parent and child. 5 or 6 years ago, Dustin and I were in disagreement about homeschooling. I had problems with it, but Dustin was insisting that we do it. Now, here we are, on the same page. And Dustin plays a part in it, too. He does science lessons with Lara (we only do them once or twice a week), Bible lessons, and he made a list of all the curricula we need for this fall. We have decided not to go with a particular curriculum, but instead will be purchasing bits and pieces here and there that tie into the classical education approach.

Dustin came home from work early today to check on me. I felt pretty sick that last night, with congestion, fevers, achy-ness, etc. I am just really tired today, but otherwise not too bad off. He went to bed early and will wake up to make us dinner. I am happy about that. :)

Claire is a little stinker. She is having problems with pooping just like Lara did at this age. I am not as stressed this time around, though, because I know she will one day magically grow out of it like Lara did. .

Claire does, however, like to go into the bathroom to play in the water. She will fill the sink up with water and float her rubber duckies over the water. Dustin doesn't like all the water on the bathroom floor that happens as a result, but it's just water. It dries.

Today:

Today, we took Lara to the chiropractor. She has been going twice a week now. We take her to Branson Chiropractic in St.Joe. They have been really good to us so far. The chiropractor wrote up a 90-day treatment plan for Lara, and it's quite expensive. It is expensive because we have to take her so often at the beginning to deal with her subluxations (about 20 sessions in 90 days). Once they are dealt with, we only have to go in once a month. However, the chiropractor gave us a 50% discount!! I went in to make a payment today on the plan, and they told me only to pay whatever I could, whenever I could. I am jealous of Lara. During a session, she has heat applied to her back, a massager applied, then she is popped. Lara seems to like it, and she definitely likes the chiropractor. When he asked if she would come back and seem him a lot more often, she grinned, and gave him a big hug. We've planned one of the sessions to take place right after therapy, so we can hit it on our way home from Champaign.

After the chiropractor, we had an ice cream treat and played at the park-it was 50 degrees!

Have a good weekend.