In the beginning my oldest two girls could not spell beginning. In the beginning our school books, our supplies, everything were upstairs. In the beginning the downstairs area was toy cluttered and not a great place to be unless I'd just cleaned. This week is the beginning. July, 2010 we gave ourselves a new beginning. I decided that the basement would be ever so much cooler than the upstairs. So one load at a time we transferred our homeschool books, binders, papers, and other supplies into the basement.
The first day doing school here in the basement I noticed something amazing. I opened Sequential Spelling, and we started at lesson 2, where we'd left off. Instead of sighs and moans I was met with, "Okay, cool!" With one girl at the purple desk and one on the couch I started writing their spelling words on the board. They were smiling, cheering, or moaning depending on how the word went. But no one was complaining! Day two repeated the behaviour (behavior for those of you in the States.) Today it continued and, oh bliss! they both spelled beginnings correctly!
I visit a women's board daily called Heart's At Home. Earlier this week I posted a thread titled "The Basement Chronicles" and someone said it sounded like a blog. That thought has been ricocheting through my head and tonight, while my lovely girls and their daddy are at VBS I am beginning this blog.
The floor of the basement is vacuumed. The whiteboard is wiped clean. The books are neatly on the bookshelf waiting for tomorrow. I love neatness and order!! But even more, I love that the girls are enjoying using this space for school.
The basement chronicles began on Monday and we'll see how long our school stays in the basement. I love sunshine and during the winter when it is rare I want to be as close to the windows as possible in case it happens! Also, I love being warm, and those same windows and that same sun that makes the upstairs hot in July makes it warm and welcoming in January. So our learning may just move itself back upstairs once the cold hits, we'll see!
Let me tell you about my girls. Longlegs is 11. She loves to be outside, to be active, or even be still and reading a book. Her favorite colors right now are bright orange and lime green. She is growing into a young woman and I love watching her bloom! Math is the bane of her existance followed very closely or depending on the day exceeded by Writing. She comes by it honestly as her dad doesn't enjoy writing either. I am however baffled as to how my child could not enjoy writing! Maybe this is one of those things she'll grow into. Her heart for others and desire to serve God and bring him glory shines through in almost everything she does.
Cookie is 8. She has a smile that makes you smile if you're looking at her, and a laugh that if you hear it will make you laugh too. She is slowly coming into a love of reading and is naturally good at spelling, when she puts her mind to it. She'd rather not do any work and will sometimes drag it on and on rather than just get it done. She loves to give gifts to people and you will often find her making something for someone or drawing a picture to give away. She also loves to talk and will talk to pretty much anyone about anything. I love her boldness and her sweet heart. Lately especially I've noticed her reading her Bible, working hard to control her temper, and obeying with a good attitude.
MissChevious is 5. When she was very small if you didn't know where she was you were in trouble! She is maturing and growing into a lovely young girl but still has her moments, like yesterday when she managed to get artists quality acrylic paint on our nice yellow chair. She is smart. Very smart. Going to give her mom a run for her money, smart. With her older sisters leading the way (and they are smart too by the way!) she's already leaps ahead of where I thought she'd be at 5. This year we will be working through Sonlight Core 1. She is already reading well, and spelling well too. Math so far is a breeze. She loves her stuffies, doing puzzles, and playing with horses and Barbies. I love to be nearby when she's playing because often she'll start to sing a hymn. There's not much sweeter than hearing your little girl singing, "Oh the blood of Jesus!" or "Rock of ages, cleft for me. Let me hide myself in thee."
All that is good in our home, in our homeschool is a blessing from God. He lifts me up daily, even when I forget to ask him too! I'm looking forward to this year. Looking forward to Sonlight Core 3/4 and Core 1!
In the beginning. . . . . the basement chronicles of a homeschool mom. . . . .
