Finding our groove

Here we are...three weeks in!  It takes time but we're finding our groove as we start week 4.  This adventure is not for the meek or the easily frustrated.  I've found myself wanting to give up at least twice but even then it wasn't that I wanted to give up schooling, it was more of a complete personal meltdown that really just required a "Mommy Time Out" - even if that just meant time by myself to go brush the horses, or take a shower, or read a few pages in a book without the fighting.

Fighting.  Well, there's a bit of crazy.  Lately it seems I'm always fighting with someone, for someone.  Epiphany finally hit.  The boys aren't really naughty all the time.  They just do such a good job of taking turns being naughty and spacing it just right that it SEEMS like I'm always in conflict about something with someone.  Truth is they are very sweet and loving and just when I want to run screaming down the driveway begging a passerby to take me away, they do something amazing.  It's a big brother helping build a cool Lego car for a little brother.  It's boys with heads together looking in a exploration book.  It's a 4 year old snuggled with a puppy, head on his big brother's lap, sleeping.

So I learn.  To breathe in and breathe out.  To soak up the moments when there is peace and unpack them as a good memory when the tired overwhelms a boy.  When the tears start.  When a fist is raised.  

We've made it this far.  We are learning.  Learning to be content and at peace with each other.  Learning to be partners.  Friends.  Companions.  We are finding the joy of coming back together after having visited a friend for there really is no place like home.  We can share.  We can work together.  We can still love  - even in anger.  We can forgive when the anger passes.  Math, English, Science...yes, important to know but it's the character development that we most need.  THIS is why we are here.

A Journey Starts with a Single Step...

We made it through our first week!  We did it!  Organized and without huge trouble!

Learning is happening here and it is good!

The Rubber Meets the Road...and the Tire Pops!

I knew the day would come but I can't believe it's already hit me this quick. The "CHALLENGE" day.  The day when the boys are deciding to be really obnoxious to each other as they sit across the table from each other, books open and pencils engaged in war.  Rage against the system boys! Rage against each other!  

Pencils poke.  Feet kick.  Scream and make faces.  Mom buries face in hands.

No, I won't give up.  I won't let us quit.  I won't let them quit.  I won't quit.  Some semblance of assignments will be done today.  

Separation.  One at the computer doing math games while the other grumbles because "That's not the way Mrs. Nichols does it."

Enter the 4 year old who is no longer content to do his puzzle with his auntie.  Demands. Playdough...appeased.

Here's the headache I've been feeling tingle at the edge of my brain.  Full force and ouch, I just want to go to bed for a while but there are these children to teach, laundry to do, jelly to be finished and my mind is elsewhere thinking of my mother and the task that she has to do today.  Her burden so much larger than mine.  

"Go easy.  Rest in Me.  There will be these days but I am working in them and in you and through you.  Rest in Me."

Break time declared. We've struggled through our math and English but they are done.  Lessons have been absorbed.  Children are separated to play for a while and I hear the buds of laughter starting to bloom as the washer chugs happily.  All will be accomplished...in time.

It's a Whole New World...

Fast forward to July 9, 2013...

We've been through a devastating F5 tornado which took our home and most of our "stuff."  We've rebuilt and replanted and are still recovering in so many areas but God is still good and faithful.  So here we are...back in our home for just over a year now and taming the wild back into a bit of manageable chaos.  We've added horses to the mix. We've gained land.  We've changed and grown.

This year's big adventure is the addition of home-schooling to our family.  Yep, we finally did it.  We pulled the boys at the end of their 2012-2013 school year and have just started our first 2 days of school after many family meetings, hours of research and sore knees from prayer.  That is where we'll be now on this blog...chronicling the journey of our school.  Lessons learned.  Lessons relearned.  Grace granted.  Tears poured out and then dried.  Here we are.  Let the fun begin!

To read more on our tornado and recovery please visit our page Beyond the Storm