JP just got accepted for a new position at work, which may not start for a little while. But when it does, our schedule will be turned upside down for who knows how long as he trains. We are so thankful and proud of him, but change is and will be hard. My extended family is having a hard time right now...lots of circumstances like health issues, relationships and job changes. It makes it hard to be so far away and not be able to help with the burdens that come along with changes. I hold onto this scripture: James 1:17: "Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows." So no matter what circumstances come our way, God has gone before us and is going with us through them. He and, He alone will guide us. We shouldn't let fear overtake us when we are not sure of the future or how to handle situations because He is there. What comfort to know that!
I was putting off planning for next year, because frankly I was a bit nervous and overwhelmed officially moving into the middle school years. I had a nice conversation with a home schooler mom who has children a considerable amount older than mine. She gave me such comforting advice and it felt so right for our family. I am now so relaxed and so excited about this new frontier that's really not new, but just an extension of what we've already been doing. When I look at it that way, I breathe a big sigh of relief.
I need to brag on my daughter for a minute...hope you don't mind. Since we are registered with the local school system, our children are required to take the TCAP in 5th and 7th grade. Although, I looked at the standards in advance, I have to admit I was nervous going into this. We just got the call a couple of weeks ago saying the results were in...she got a 5 out of 6 for the writing portion; Social Studies- 98, Math- 92; Science-90; Reading- 89. We are ecstatic for her. I know standardized testing never tells the whole picture, but I'm glad she did well. Daniel's will be in 5th next year, Tera in 7th the next, then Daniel in 7th the year after that....4 years of testing in a row...
I've been spending time supervising fair projects....We are scheduled to do a project a week for the rest of our summer, so we'll be done by the time school starts.
Daniel's hand puppet made from a box.
It's so hard sometimes (well, all the time to be more exact) to find balance in our lives. Balancing chores, taking care of our children (devotions, baths, summer school work, discipline), running errands, indulging in too much down time, etc. It's so easy to let exercise, our own personal devotions, planning time for co-op and next school year, blogging, instrument practice, and anything else we want to do for our own personal development get pushed aside. So this summer, I'm working on getting those things into my schedule. I'm finding that I need to be home to actually have time to accomplish my goals and (most days I don't meet all my goals, but at least I have some direction) So, we've been staying close to home this summer and I really like it. I'll probably be spoiled when co-op and school and Monday Fun start.
We've almost finished the diy play area for the kids (we still need to secure the balance beam and add mulch) hope they'll enjoy many hours of play outside. The tarp is covering the sand box for now until we do a lid in the future. I've found some more ideas on pinterest for natural playscapes that eventually I'll add into this area...fun, imagination building things.
Our garden's doing good--no harvests yet but we've got 5-6 different kinds of squash, 4-5 different kinds of tomatoes, eggplant, hot peppers, several kinds of green peppers, cabbage, beans, herbs galore, cucumber---all growing. My grandma would be shocked if she saw me planting away.
Tera and Daniel have been reading tons and are even planning on entering the edible book contest at our local library.
Well, that's our news, most of it anyway! Forgive any typos or grammatical errors, this was a long update. :)
