Summer, Week 1

It seems as if I always want to begin each post with "Wow, time sure is flying!" And while I hate to be repetitive...it really does seem that time is speeding by. Our first week of summer was a fairly good mix of fun and friends, as well as some work. Our fun included a few bike rides, going to a park with a water play area to picnic and play with friends, visiting the library, shopping at the dollar store, and hosting our family community Friday night. I found myself on the floor playing with Lucan, reading and cuddling with Kenna, playing chess with Tobin and Arden, attempting to play badminton with Charis, and standing just out of sight, watching my children at various times, listening to their sweet voices, marveling at how they've grown in 1, 3, 6, 8, or 9 years.

We fumbled our way through Week 1 of the National Bible Bee study, somewhat figuring out how we want to tackle this huge project. I've learned that while Charis is perfectly capable of (and happy with) independent study--she disappears for an hour to a quiet nook and works thoroughly on her 4 pages for the day--Tobin and Arden need a LOT more guidance. We now work through the first two pages together, all three of us, and then I may or may not have them do the rest independently, depending on how focused they seem to be at the time! The Bible memory passages for last week were:

Genesis 1:1-2 (They've all memorized verse 1 in AWANA.)
Genesis 1:26-28
Genesis 2:15-17
Genesis 12:1-3
Exodus 20:3-12

Charis knows them all, Tobin knows most of them, and Arden knows 5. But it's OK! Arden is doing the Timothy track, which means he is "supposed" to learn 100 verses to Charis and Tobin's 250. And honestly? If they don't get through the whole list, why worry? They are learning God's Word! Any of His Truth that they put in their hearts is bonus, I say! After a whole school year of memorizing various Scripture for AWANA, Sonlight, and my own character education emphases, I know they have a great store of truth already hidden in their hearts. The fact that we are intensely studying the book of Colossians as a family is just exciting in and of itself!

Summer is also, in my mind, a perfect time to ORGANIZE this HOUSE!! Last week we tackled the armoire where the boys keep their school supplies. Much trash was collected and disposed of, and we now have LOTS of space. I'm sure that will not last long, LOL. And while I had hoped to also tackle the school desk (which is currently in my room, sigh) and put away our finished Sonlight supplies, that, alas, did not happen. So it remains on the to-do list, along with organizing my closet (namely the Operation Christmas Child supplies that are stacking up in bags). The kids did get their rooms pretty clean, but since I wasn't directly overseeing that work, it probably is not done to my standards, i.e. I'm sure there are still little (and big) pieces of whatever lurking behind dressers and in closets.

Week 2 of Summer begins tomorrow...and ideally, it will come with a bit more structure. I'm not sure I can handle having kids eating breakfast from 7:00 (Kenna) - 10:00 (Charis, my sleeper-inner)! And we MUST continue with at least some math work. Charis's long division skills are fairly precarious, and I want her to keep working on it so she can be confident in knowing that she can do it. But...we do have a full line-up of fun activities, so we'll see how much work actually happens!