Happy Friday folks!! Just a friendly reminder: clean the lint trap of your drier and the dryer vent cover at the exhaust. You don’t want to burn out your heating coil/element like we did a couple of weeks ago. Drying clothes ‘old school’ sure does take a while when you have a house full 😉
This week we learned about the Patriarchs of the faith. Starting with the calling 
of Abram, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph. Our readings came from the Bible and our ‘literature’ came from the Turner movie series that we happen to already own (the Joseph movie is EXCELLENT). So I sort of felt like I was cheating this week, really, because I had all this time while they were watching their history movies to sort through dressers and clothing bins. We had a crazy cold snap here in MD, so the winter stuff came out and I cleared out small clothes from the kids’ rooms. I love getting projects done, but clothing swap is not one of my favorites to do. Bins everywhere and multiple trips on stairs 😦
My 4 yr old brought this to me for translation, so if any of you are gifted in foreign languages, feel free to help out!! He placed it on my desk and asked me to read it 😉
“EFC3456. W.W.JM34982456”
I can’t help but feel a bit proud of my daughter this week. I was typing up a test on the computer while I had a mix of country music on the computer. Zach Brown Band came on with ‘Walking Away’ and my daughter said, “That’s a stupid song, how can he fall in love when he doesn’t know anything about her?”
Of course, the very next day this is the child who wanted to argue with me about the directions on her workbook pages 😦 Today (Friday) she chose to argue with me about Abraham and his sons. She said that Ishmael was not of Abraham’s blood. I know she was trying to get at the concept that he was not the chosen line of God’s covenant, but she chose to continue raising her voice about Ishmael NOT being Abraham’s blood son. Do you have a strong-willed child in your homeschool? Any pointers here?
A friend of mine sent me this link for a fun PBS game where you can actually upload a pic of your own dog to play with in the game. My kids loved it!! It’s called Dogtags.
It ended up being a very tense week when I found that my oldest had chosen to just blow through his math, not asking for help, guessing what instructions said, and skipping what he didn’t ‘get’. I spent an hour on Wednesday because of this. Very unhappy mommy.
We are also struggling through that phase of the 6 yr old boy’s school life where he would rather draw little ditties in the margins of his paper instead of actually doing his work. It was no fun to get my oldest through those years, I should have known it was coming, but was still not prepared.
I am looking forward to reading how school is going with you all too!!
Homeschooling 
I do have a strong-willed child. My seven-year-old told me the other day that he couldn’t make his own decisions because God already knew what decisions he was going to make. He thought his future was already written, so why try to do anything about it? Isn’t that weird thinking for that age? We’re not Calvinists or even Presbyterians. I’m sure he had never heard the word predestination in his life! Besides, just because God knows everything doesn’t mean we don’t make our own decisions. It was really hard explaining all this to him because he was so proud of his “deep” thinking skills!
Also, if you have any tips on how to get him to stop dooling and do his work instead, I’m starving for answers in that department. It doesn’t seem to matter to him how many hours he wastes by sitting and doing nothing. I love your tag line by the way…I don’t want the village to raise my child either; I just wish I were doing a better job!
Hahahaha, on the drooling!!! My 4yr old does that and we have been working on that for at least a year. He has a little friend now who also tells him to stop drooling, she is a bigger help than we are 😉
Ah, deep thinking. Yea. I was a strong willed child and my mother keep telling me that as long as I am guiding that will in the right direction, it will grasp truth and hang on with stubbornness. They are so challenging though, right???
One of the tactics I did use for the oldest in 3rd grade was having a handful of candy on the table. If he finished his page in the allotted time (generously given) then he got a handful of candy. I can’t do that with #3, he doesn’t care for candy like his older brother. Maybe I will do that with his PS game?? On the board, tick off his goals and allow time on his game for work completed on time?? Hmmmm, maybe. I wish you the best!!
Thanks for your tips! I need to sit down and brainstorm ways to motivate him. Gametime would work, but he’s not into a game at the moment. He usually gets one, plays it like crazy and beats it a week later, and then doesn’t play at all for months until he really finds another game he likes. I can’t use candy either, because he is already off-the-wall hyper. Discipline doesn’t seem to be doing the trick either, so I’m thinking it may be some sort of disorder, but I would never, ever, ever consider putting him on drugs. So glad he’s homeschooled. I don’t know what the schools would do with him!
I have a very strong willed daughter too! She is in her last year of public school and will be home with me next year (for 2nd grade). I have to say that I am a little bit nervous …
I am definitely going to check out that website! My daughter would love it!
Stopping by from THMJ.