Base board heaters are so much easier to pick out than curtains. They are all white. They are all 240 volts. The only choice you have is 8 foot, 6 foot, or 4 foot. Lucky for us we needed an 8 foot and a 6 foot. Lucky us.
The dogs came away from their vet appointments with flying colors. Silas' only issues are senior related. I'm going to start him on a joint supplement to ease his aches. Charlie's only issue is being too darn cute. Ok, I made that part up. He got his ears cleaned. While the vet stuck a giant Q-tip in his ear he wrinkled up his face in such a contortion as I'd never seen. He looked like a wrinkly old man holding his breath. Each pup got a rabies shot and a pretty gold tag. From there I went to City Hall and got each dog licensed. Now everybody is legal.
I may have forgot to mention that our Austin made it onto the Rifle (Marksmanship) Team!!!! Silly me, how could I neglect such a thing? His coach has nicknamed him "Ranger" which he thinks is pretty cool. He's one of the best shots on the team, second among Freshman to a GIRL. ; ) Now if we can just get him as excited about his schoolwork as he is about shooting we'll be doing good.
This week I am supplementing his work with some penmanship practice. Somewhere between the years he learned penmanship and now his handwriting skill has fallen off a cliff. As his teacher I cannot place into society a product that has such poor handwriting. So, supplements; some worksheets to regain the skills he learned eons ago. I told him that when the handwriting in his schoolwork shows great improvement he can discontinue the supplemental worksheets, whether that be two days or two months is up to him.
Maybe I've mentioned it here before or maybe I just whisper it under my breath but homeschooling is one of the hardest things I've ever done. It takes serious WORK. It takes DEDICATION. It takes SACRIFICE. But, it is also one of the most rewarding things I've ever done. Not that I am in this alone. My husband has really taken on this yoke too and it lifted such a burden off of me that I really feel that we can continue on. Each day is different. Tomorrow I may be ready to throw in the towel again or it may pass by so smoothly that I want to do it all again the next day. Just when I think we've got it all figured out life changes, or someone reaches a new level, or an emotional/spiritual hurdle. It happens. It's life. And we labor on together.
Someday I could probably write a book. I feel so strongly about homeschooling, about educating minds, about learning in general. It's all there in my heart but on those difficult days when my eldest son turns in schoolwork that is illegible or the youngest son forgets the skill we spent hours on just last week, it's then that I feel that I'm in over my head. Shouldn't I just trust this stuff to the professionals? Good days show me the fruits of the efforts though. I see the product of the hours, the tears, the prayers, the pleas
One day this homeschooling journey will be over and into the world will venture a man that was molded in part around the dining room table, struggling through math with his under qualified mom late into the evening hours. I'll probably miss all those hours of correcting, all those hours of one on one trying to figure out if a prepositional phrase is modifying an adjective or an adverb, trying to drill the importance of doing your best, looking ahead and realizing that we're getting into square roots and trigonometry next week (where do I opt out of this one?).
Sigh.
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