Pace

“After this weekend things should slow down a bit.”

I’ve said this for years. Even my older kids call me out on it now. To be honest, I’m really sick of saying it. It is so hard to budget space into life these days.

Homeschooling, work, church, side jobs, home repairs, home admin, birthdays, sleepless nights with a baby, heck even just the laundry….everything seems to be a neverending to do list require the pace of an Olympian to accomplish. But even an Olympian budgets rest somewhere right?

I use the term budget sincerely. Our time, like our money, is going to go somewhere and if we don’t tell it where to go, we lose it. Some days I find myself spending more time looking at what needs to be done than actually doing anything. I imagine the exhaustion ahead, staring wide eyed into a day full of tasks that seem impossible. All the while the minutes tick by.

I don’t ‘worry’ about tomorrow too often. I’ve lived through quite a few today’s and seen God’s provision, strength and care show up in plenty. I don’t doubt for a second that He will do it again tomorrow and today too!

Occasionally though, I look at the week, internally scream, determine I’m becoming a hermit, living of the land, foraging for our next meal and everyone is getting two changes of clothing each for the remainder of their lives. Then I realize that gopher stew doesn’t sound all that appealing, foraging is hard, as is isolation and I actually like clothes, so that’s all out.

The song “One day at a time” brings a little comfort and a good reminder.

"I'm only human.
I'm just a woman. 
Lord help me believe in what I could be and all that I am. 
Show me the stairway. 
That I need to climb. 
And Lord for my sake 
help me to take 
just one day at a time.   

One day at a time sweet Jesus, that's all I'm asking of you.
Just give me the strength 
to do everyday 
what I need to do. 
Yesterday's gone, sweet Jesus 
and tomorrow may never be mine. God help me today, 
show me the way, 
one day at a time."

Listen to it https://youtu.be/H2ceLwudqqg

One thing my mom told me years ago is “rest is a state of mind.” She’s right. You can be extremely busy and still in a mindset of rest. I practiced this with my kids. I declared a mid week day of rest. We still did chores but we made it a point to maintain our peace and not allow anything to stress us out. To slow down and take time to be aware of our time, the rest available to us and our state of mind.

So, “after this weekend things will slow down a bit.” And eventually they will. Until then, while I’m in this busy season of child rearing and life – Lord Jesus, help me to walk in the rest that’s available from You today. Amen.

28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

Matt 11:28-30

My Fathers World ECC – 2022

After many years (15) of using other curriculums we have come back to My Fathers World. We found MFW when I was trying to teach, my now 16 year old, to read.

I’d tried several programs, it wasn’t sticking and I was feeling like a total failure. I’d always wanted to homeschool my children but even at the very beginning of that journey, there I was proving to myself I was in no way qualified for the task.

Lots of online research led me to MFW. At the time the K level was around $99 and I took the plunge. I think they played a big part in teaching me to teach. I learned lots of extras to help reinforce letter shapes and sounds, to have fun with learning and take some pressure off both me and my son! I couldn’t afford the curriculum the following year so ended up doing some other things. Why it took me 15 years to come back to, I’ll never know. We are LOVING IT!!

We did several unit studies prior and the kids enjoyed them but they also got bored with covering so much of the same topic. They love the variety with MFW! It’s themed which helps with teaching but they do a phenomenal job of keeping it exciting and engaging.

Our days look something like this:

  • 8:15 – kids up, breakfast, read aloud
  • 8:30 – morning chores, fowl, garden, get dressed, clean rooms, etc
  • 9:00 – Spelling
  • 9:15 – Language Lessons for each child individually- others finish chores or do independent work between.
  • 10:00 – Break
  • 10:15 – Group Studies – Bible, Geography, Science
  • 11:00 Math done individually. I start with the oldest and work my way down getting them going. Book Basket time for those waiting
  • 12:00 Lunch. (We’re usually done by this point but sometimes we pick up after lunch for a bit)
  • 2:00 art or music if we have it. (I like doing this in the afternoon after everyone has had some free time. It let’s us regroup as a family for a bit and do something fun together.)
  • 6:00 evening chores
  • 6:30-8 dinner together and a devotional/read aloud.

We’re also wrapping up our first tiny term this week. Our schedule this year is 3 weeks on and 1 week off. I really liked the flow for the first round. Three weeks is long enough to have some intense focus but also short enough that we can see the light at the end of tunnel. The kids (and mom) stayed committed fairly easily knowing that a week off was right around the corner.

Often times we would get behind on other life tasks and take a day off sporadically. Knowing we will be able tend to whatever soon takes some pressure off as well. The downside is, this week off FLEW by!

Our favorite thing this past few weeks has been the read aloud “Kingdom Tales”. We began reading them with the entire family around dinner time. I read through one of them in a puddle of tears. Haha. Very powerful stories and beautifully done. I’ve been impressed with how well the questions have been understood and answered by the kids as well.

I’ve read through some Facebook groups and many families didn’t care for the first few weeks of ECC but say it gets really good after that. We already love it so I’m excited to see what the rest brings! A little bummed we waited so long to try it again. Next year will be Danica’s last year to do the family cycle style with us since she’ll be starting highschool the following year. As the years to sow into my babies before they take on the world shorten, I’m very thankful this year is becomimg full of expectation, sweet memories and times together.