An Important Lesson

Our day today went well, it was very productive. We finished our read alouds in history and then the girls worked on their maps and Sky did a small sketch on a missionary named Jacques Marquette 1637-1675. We had never heard of him before, we are learning about a lot of people we had never heard of before.

Below is a picture of Meadow working on her own. I love the image of her working at her desk. She is completing her math, Sing Spell Read and Write worksheets and her Spelling from Rod and Staff.


This is a picture of Sky's and Meadow's maps and the sketch that Sky drew. The little books above the maps are replicas (not exact) of the New England Primer that was commonly used by homes and school in New England and other areas. It was printed in 1690 and widely used through the 1800's. It was a simple project but a good one that also showed the girls how different the language was then. They are creating very nice, full notebooks this year.


For me the real learning came tonight. I'm a planner, I love learning about different curriculum and figuring out what we will cover for the year, but in times past we haven't always completed everything. For the most part it was because I would tend to get lazy. The Lord dealt with me a lot on this last year so this year I seen a great need for a schedule. In my zeal I have plunged into My Father's World head on and added a few things of my own. Our days aren't what I would call strenuous but sometimes I believe my attitude is. I want things to go smoothly, which means no interruptions. I want them to listen and learn. I want to get it done.

So tonight we had a science lesson we hadn't gotten to today. I planned to use the hour before Meadow's bedtime to finish it with her. We are using God's Design For Life the Animal Kingdom.

So we pile up on the couch along with The World of Animals which we add in mostly for nice pictures and I begin to read. Meadow doesn't want to sit still, she keeps pointing to pictures in the The World of Animals making comments about this amphibian and that reptile. I started to fuss at her and all of a sudden I thought to myself, "What are you doing?" I closed my mouth and I let Meadow show me, I let her talk. Then she informed me that she wanted to read the science lesson for tonight. So she took The Animal Kingdom and she began to read. I was blown away. What had I thought? That this book was too hard for her? That she wasn't capable of reading and comprehending what she read? Yes she stumbled on a few words. Yes she asked the meanings of a few words, but I'm willing to say that she learned more tonight about amphibians and reptiles than she would have remembered had she been forced to sit and listen.

It wasn't that I'd never read about this, or heard about it. It wasn't that I had never followed their lead before. Its just that somewhere along the way I became so focused in getting school done that I had lost how real learning occurs.

Today was a good day. Thank-you Father, I pray that You continue to reveal to me and teach ME.