My Thoughtful Spot

I've hardly had time to be online lately. I rather miss it but life is just so full. My little 'uns take up so much of my time these days! Schooling is a big endeavor no matter how one goes about it. Some have assumed that unschooling takes less time, that child led learning means the kids do it and all I have to do is make sure they have educational stuff around them. Oh if only it were that easy.. well, it is that EASY, but it's time consuming too. James has discovered numbers and loves them dearly. He's found letters and everything containing a letter must be read to him - including the codes on fruit in the supermarket! "Thats not a word honey, it's just a code" ... it's not good enough. it has to mean SOMETHING! He's a little sponge. He is learning simple adding and it's just so much fun - and yet I'm telling you there are SO MANY questions.

And Katie. She's old enough she'd be doing her work on her own - only instead she's following me around talking to me. She learns so much and wants to show me every cool thing she's learning and finding. She still struggles in some areas, traditional learning is tough for her, but she's blossoming and becoming such an individual with a strong mind of her own. We have so many games we play - I am not a games person really but it helps her learn and she loves it. So... what to do! Spelling puzzles are great fun, tho difficult for even me. I've never been great with scrambled words but with plastic letters to arrange and rearrange we finally get the answers. In fact, I bought more plastic letters today becasue I am sick of using an "n" upside down as a "u"! LOL Pathetic? Perhaps but ask me if I care.

Brianna is a challenge right accrossed the board. She's entering those wonderful years of moods and emotions and all without speech. We'll all need your prayers! yet it's amazing what she can learn. I bought her some Dora early readers, I'll bet she'll be reading them in no time. It will take yet more of my time and attention, but I believe thats what I'm here for. I can't imagine saying to any of my children "no, I'm sorry, you have to learn that on your own". I LIKE learning with them, spending my days with them, finding new and creative ways to help them past their struggles. It's what I do best, what I enjoy, what fulfills me.

Ben is writing exams in HS this week, his graduating year. It's odd not having him home with us, but i guess we're getting used to it a bit at a time for next year. I dont see as much of him, but he still finds time to show me cool things and share strange little tidbits he learns with me. he just has less time to find those things now.

It's quiet here and I hate to go to bed. Quiet is unheard of for me these here days. But, i have to get up at 6 am to take Mark to work so I can have the vehicle and get Brianna to respite care, James and katie and myself to Cubbies, and then Bria and I to Awana. I get to take pics of all the kids at awana tomorrow night - I'm looking forward to that. I should get my stuff packed up and ready tomorrow and get there early to set up.

My house is slightly chaotic. Ok, so more than slightly. I'm working on it. Other things are just more important right now! Thats my excuse and I'm sticking to it!

My daughter has a 14th birthday coming up and is inviting 13 friends to a party. Ok, so maybe we do need to tidy up a little.... up to 4 of those friends are staying overnight. Oh what a night THAT should be. I'm glad my room is far away from where they are sleeping. She'll have fun as will the girls and thats what really counts. I've also given her use of my (old) digital for the night. That alone was pretty exciting.

I guess I have to go to bed. I just figured I should post before my sister starts counting again!

Goodnight all... sweetest of dreams to each of you.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 23rd, 2007 at 10:34 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.