Christmas Season Homeschooling

 I am finally starting to make it through a whole day without needing a nap, and actually being productive around the house!  Being sick made it feel like we missed most of the Christmas season.  So, this coming week, we're not going to get back to our school routine, we are going to spend the week enjoying time together and making some Christmas memories!

We haven't done our usual curriculum at all this month, but by counting what we did do that can count for learning,  we have still done enough activities to count for 5 days of school, so we're only missing one week instead of two.  I might even count some of our days this week depending on how things go.

And that is the beauty of homeschool.  We're not "behind" and needing to catch up on 2-weeks worth of work.  We just change up what school work consists of. 

Instead of our math program, I counted the times the girls used their math skills to play games or cook a supper when I couldn't.

Instead of our typical history, I counted the conversations with Dad we had -he's a history buff anyway and loves to share what he knows!

Instead of our marine science theme, we counted projects and creative endeavors that used scientific concepts to accomplish.  Applied science!

Instead of our grammar and writing program, we counted letters, diary entries, and time spent reading.

We still have to ensure we meet our state's requirement for days of school, but we have the glorious flexibility to change up our learning activities to meet our needs.  I also got to schedule our first field trip of the year.  We're going to go to the aquarium next month as we finish up our marine science study.  I'm looking forward to seeing the boys' excitement, it's been a few years since we last went.  My girls are signed up to take a class on how the aquarium works from the inside: ways they care for the animals, keeping the water habitable for all those critters, etc.  

Learning is so much fun!

Catching a Healing: Covid-19

 Our entire family has come down with covid...or at least we believe that to be true.  Only one of us has been tested and that was all we needed to know what it is we were dealing with.  

I haven't been tracking days, but I would guess we are around days 4-6 based on the first person's symptoms appearing.

It has been so long since I've been sick, that I forgot how miserable it can be.  The first few days I just had that sick sensation in my chest and had some slight congestion and sneezing.  Definitely different than the normal congestion and sneezing I have with my allergic rhinitis.  I could tell my body was fighting something.

Tonight has been the most miserable.  I have such pressure in my sinuses that my head hurts and if I bend down, it multiplies exponentially.  A steam and hot soak in the bath helped to clear some of it.  I had a slight fever prior to the soak, but afterwards it had gone down a little.  

Each of us takes turns helping with the responsibilities around the house.  For example, while my little guy takes his afternoon nap, my older kiddos will hang out and watch a movie while I try and take a nap.  My hubby has been stoically working full days at home still despite my pressure on him to take it easy.  He plans to...love my stubborn man!

We thankfully had a lot of leftovers from Thanksgiving to get us through the first few days, and I've been stocking up on our staples the last couple months so we are able to use what we have.  My friend has insisted on making us soup and salad, and bought us some fresh apples and cuties.  She doesn't take no for an answer sometimes, although she does it in the sweetest way.  She'll drop it off tomorrow and while she doesn't know the kids are already tired of soup (I had made some in the beginning and we've been drinking bone broth daily too), I am looking forward to not having to think about supper for one night, and very grateful for her.

We've also been taking our supplements that my mom gave us, she also told me how to make the bone broth.  I can't take the essential oil pill because it is made with olive oil, but I've been using the roller version of it on my lymph nodes where it hurts.  It has been helping.  Having family and friends who care for us is so nice.

Maturing, Pondering.

We survived hosting Thanksgiving twice this year.  Twice wasn't the plan, but it was how life happened.  And in all honesty, although it was a challenge, I'm so thankful to be done with the major hosting responsibilities and just enjoy the rest of the Christmas season.  We'll have a small get together with my family that lives close by, but none of the crazy stress of hosting a big hullabaloo.

I got to see my brother and meet his girlfriend.  It feels weird to call her his girlfriend, because they seemed to know each other so well it would be so easy to say wife.  No pressure intended for them, just my brain processing in its own way.  

I've always been protective of my brother.  When we were kids, he got teased mercilessly by all of us older sisters.  Being the only boy and the youngest, it was easy and mostly not malicious.  I don't know exactly when, but somewhere along the way I noticed the negative effect it was having on him, and decided from then on, he was going to be my best buddy.  We spent a lot of time together and I stood up for him.  I still teased him, but I tried not to take it too far.  

Being adults hasn't changed that part our relationship for me.  I still want to make sure he is treated well and walking wisely in the ways of God.  However, it isn't my place anymore.  So I pray and hope that he finds true joy in his life, and seeks the Lord first and foremost.  Because God will and can do all that I cannot do for him.

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I've also been pondering different concepts lately.  I had to google what "my truth" means.  I've heard it here and there, but was reading about someone who was using that phrase as a way to explain and celebrate their choices.  The words just didn't match with the definition of "truth" in my own little brain, so I had to look it up.  According to the dictionary, it is a way of sharing one's perspective or feelings, stating it in a way that refuses argument.  And I can understand it from that definition.

It also was analyzed by my "spiritual lens" for a lack of a better term.  I've noticed in my ponderings I take in a new idea to mull over and decide what I think of it or try to understand it, and I always end up looking at it from an eternal perspective.

So, I have come to the conclusion, that the term "my truth", for me, is one that needs to come from a spiritual perspective as well.  When I look at my own "truth"  I define it by my identity, and my identity ultimately comes from God.  I am His, and He has a plan for me.  A plan that I don't fully understand and I want Him to take the lead because He knows what I do not.  

I am wife, mother, woman, teacher, etc..  I am not my own.  Many times when priorities are messed up or my walk with God has been on the back burner, I have felt lost in who I am and have struggled to find myself.  Each time over the years, I have withdrawn, not neglecting my responsibilities, but simplifying them so that I can focus more on where I am with God.  Once I start to get right with the Lord, little by little, I find my place again.  My value, my worth, doesn't come from anyone, not even myself.  My value, and yours, comes from the Lord.