It's panic time again... perfectly normal

I miss school. I want to sit the kids at the table for several hours a day and see them working diligently from textbooks, filling workbooks, and creating meaningful artwork. I want a big fat grade book full of wonderful grades, a calendar marking our progress, and lists full of checkmarks to let me know we've done everything we're supposed to do.

I told this to Toby and Lynae. They chuckled. They scrunched up their faces. They can't imagine where I'd get such silly notions. I'm sure they will be much better homeschooling parents than I.

I need to regain my focus and be content with my children's actual education in this weird season of our life. Michael can copy Loren's handwriting while reading it upside down from across the table. He says he wants to be a writer like John Boy Walton. Jon, in his own drawn out Jon way, can read two passages of scripture and write a comparison.* Lynae understands what it takes to clean the house to show it, shows admirable initiative, handles laundry for a family of seven, helps me cook creative and nutritious meals, blogs, and connects the dots regarding various historical figures from books she's read and songs we know. Toby can keep the yard, garage, and vehicles maintained, take care of the animals, do all sorts of home repairs, and I'm about to teach him how to do interior painting... well. Learning attention to detail is more important than algebra right now. Although, wonder of wonders, he told me this morning that he misses math!

He also wrote me a book report today, after reading (for fun) a book on hunting. In it, he wrote, "That is why Robin Hood was an outlaw, because he hunted with his illegal but nonetheless merry men." I must count my blessings, having a son who enjoys reading and writing and has such a great sense of humor!

Here's what else he's done this weekend:



*(sigh) Jon has reached that (predictable) point in his work -- about 85% completed -- when he erases all he's done and makes up silly interpretations of what the assignment really was, pretending not to remember what he should be doing. And it doesn't matter what it is... copying a sentence, writing his name, writing numbers, drawing a circle... he always reaches this point.

Excedrin is my friend.