Teachable Moments

A great advantage to homeschooling is having opportunities for extra teachable moments.
On the drive to take my son to work, I saw a woman, perhaps in her 80's, struggling to rake the leaves in her yard.  After dropping my son off at work, I stopped and asked if we (my daughter and I) could help.

Yes!

I quickly raked up the other half of her yard and filled two huge garbage bags with the leaves. Meanwhile, my 8 y.o.  willingly raked the sidewalk and the dwindling piles.  The woman asked me to stop after the second bag because she didn't have money to pay me.

No, no, no! That wasn't the point!

I told her I appreciated the opportunity to show my daughter that some things we do just because it's the right thing to do. I also told her that I hoped my MIL's neighbor-kids would help her.

All of the above only took 25 minutes - not a significant part of our day.  However, the warmth of having done a random act of kindness is still with us.

Colossians 3: 23-24 "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving."

After a year-and-one-half, I decided it was time to start blogging again.  Much has happened in that time, but I'll probably start with the most recent events and go backwards as I see fit.

When I was between 8-10, my mother (who was an excellent seamstress - but who didn't have the patience to teach) had my sister and I get sewing lessons.  Over the years, I've made clothes for myself and many craft projects.  I decided it was time to start my 8 y.o. on a sewing project.  Yesterday, we made a pair of "lounge pants." They were too big, but they are comfy for her... and it was a good beginning project.

Lots of hidden schooling was part of the lesson... reading (directions), math (measurements), listening (to instructions), patience, and satisfaction (in a job well done)!

This morning, before school started, we made a skirt...

Proverbs 31:13 "She seeketh wool, and flax, and worketh willingly with her hands."

A Time of Rest

This past summer was not a productive one for me writing-wise.  It culminated with my having surgery a month ago.  I thought I could work on several projects while recuperating, but didn't have the energy for it.

I really like the home-school program we purchased for our 6 y.o. daughter.  It is A Beka Academy's 1st grade program.  Our 6 y.o. watches a teacher and participates with her classroom online and then has lots of workbook pages to complete each day.  My daughter is writing in cursive and reading two-vowel words.  Quite an accomplishment this young.  (Perhaps "normal" for this day and age, but above normal compared to when I was in 1st grade many moons ago!)

In the last few days, I was able to revise a children's nonfiction magazine article that had gotten rejected back in June. My critique group tore it apart and I've incorporated the suggested changes.  Today I need to print off the manuscript and bibliography and then label the photographs that go with it.

After I've mailed off that submission, I can get started on revisions for an historic picture book I wrote at the beginning of the year. I have done a lot of research in order to make it historically accurate and plausible.

On the farm-front, harvest has started. We are praying for a better harvest than this year's weather conditions warrant.

Hopefully this period of enforced rest will result not only in a healthy body, but renewed writing projects.

Psalm 34:8 "O taste and see that the LORD is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him."

Good day

Today ended up a good day - even though a certain person (me) was a little moody, but I won't go into that!

3 y.o. and I went outside and drew pictures with sidewalk chalk, blew bubbles, played with the barn cats (although, why I call them barn cats when I seldom see them in the barn, I don't know.), and enjoyed the great weather.

16 y.o. got his homeschooling done faster than usual - with good grades. Red-letter day.

Husband couldn't be in the fields today harvesting, so he did business in town after he helped me with some laundry - big kudos to him. Later in the afternoon, I went to an organic dairy and got milk. 3 y.o. insisted that her Daddy needed to take her fishing. I came home and snapped a picture right before they finished. The only catch today was some pond weeds. Several fish got away. We have some really big bass in the pond as well as some crappie (to those of you who are not from the Midwest or the South, it's pronounced croppie - I've mispronounced it before to much laughter.) :o)

After the kids got to bed, I did some research for my young adult novel. Got some great information; had some inspiration for a direction to go in for the ending of the book and thought up a great line or two for the beginning of the book. (I guess they will be "great" lines if they end up in the final draft!) All in all, a very productive, satisfying day.

Chinese Proverb: Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.

In John 21:24-25, John says, "This is the disciple who testifies to these things and who wrote them down. We know that his testimony is true. Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written." This was after Jesus had performed the miracle of filling the fishing nets with fish and then "reinstating" Peter. Verse 14 of the same chapter says: "This was now the third time Jesus appeared to his disciples after he was raised from the dead."

Rain, rain

I woke up to a sound I love.... rain on the window. Unfortunately, rain is not conducive to harvesting. Since we planted winter wheat the other day, I guess it will be good for that.

About a month ago, we had 7 inches in a 24 hour period. That's a lot of rain. I won't even talk about this Spring's rain. Whew!

Since it was such a dreary day, I didn't get much accomplished. Homeschooling for 16 y.o., some housework, and some reading.

Supposed to be cool tonight. The leaves are turning on the trees. The sumac is a bright red on the side of the road. Nice time of year.

“May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer.”- Psalm 19:14