Worth the Dedication of Years

This is a snippit from Diana Waring, inspired while touring a castle in Toronto. She writes:

>> This spectacular building had equally spectacular furnishings, the work of many master craftsmen who had labored long and lovingly over wood or stone or canvas. In a later blog, I wrote:

". . . as I considered the rare beauty of the handcrafted piece before me, the Lord gave me a precious insight--this was a marvelous depiction of what homeschooling is all about! Our children are NOT taught in a factory-type environment when we homeschool. Neither are we looking for "instant" results. Instead, we have taken the stand that this child and that child are worth the dedication of years of our lives. We have committed ourselves to patiently handcrafting their education and their character training. We carefully seek to discover the giftings, talents and passions of our precious and unique children. We prayerfully consider the right path to take with each one. Just as the master craftsman works with the individual strengths and weaknesses of a piece of wood that he is fashioning, so we work with the individual strengths and weaknesses of each of our children, lovingly building them up as we recognize and work with their uniqueness." <<

A well-stated mission statement for home-educating!

Learning (and re-learning)

Another aspect I love about homeschooling is learning things with my son (or, re-learning things that I probably already learned at some point).  I suppose I had little interest in subjects like science or history when I was young... perhaps just not enough life experience or understanding of the world around me to put it into perspective.......

So here's today's experimental science project: How far are the planets from the sun?

As a kid I was like, "Oh. Ok."  (ho hum)  As an adult, I'm like, "WOW! Can you believe that???  Look how far Neptune is from the sun!!!!!!!!"

Hard to believe

Hard to believe that on the 23rd day of April, I would be able to take a picture of my hooligans like this:

(What's up with all that snow, right?  And this is new snow, after all the stuff from my last post had melted!)

Well, they sure enjoyed one last morning of the white stuff.  (It is the last time this spring, right??)

Also enjoyed the pretty view from the couch as we homeschooled...

Mid-morning break

Today's mid-morning homeschool break included watching a ninja video on YouTube [note to self: preview all YouTube videos before allowing children to view] followed by some wrestling with Mom.  Brandon threw a few karate chops at me, so I flipped him upside down and gently tossed him onto the couch where tickling ensued.

Amid his cries of laughter he sputtered,

"Ninjas do NOT like to be tickled!"

Take five!

When it comes to raising young men, this mom is getting more "with the program" all the time. :)  I got a tip that—especially for boys—having a brief interlude between school subjects can be quite beneficial, particularly as it relates to attention span.  So today's activity, between math and reading, was shooting hoops in the basement ala Nerf!