Matthew Goes to "School"

As I mentioned in a previous post, this season there are few areas of life that are a clear focus for my time and energy . Thinking this way helps me stay on track, and not get distracted by other opportunities or projects that look interesting. It also helps me feel better about all those unfinished projects that haunt me. I fully believe in and am excited about the areas I AM focusing on and that helps me feel ok about the stuff I'm not getting to.

Though not listed in order of importance, I already posted about two of my focus areas: MOPS leadership and my little photography business, both of which are going great and are a blessing in my life. Another area is unofficially homeschooling Matthew this year.

Some of the kids his age are in year 1 of pre-school this fall, but we decided not to send him, partially because we do not yet know at what age we will send him to kindergarten. To be honest, I had these novel ideas about "homeschooling" him this year. I thought about all the wonderful and insightful time we would spend together, how easy-breezy it would be as I spouted out wisdom for my so to absorb, etc. etc. I quickly realized that's not how it works, and even at this age, it takes planning, and preparation to homeschool! Sooooo, we got started a few weeks late :-), but now we spend about an hour a day learning our letters, numbers, shapes, and M1's personal favorite,- doing crafts!!!! I have no education background and fear I'd make a miserable teacher, so anytime he actually learns something, I'm quite thrilled :-) We also have a spiritual component. I was inspired by a cirriculum I saw at The Homespun Heart, to teach him the Fruits of the Spirit. Though we are not really following her cirriculum, I took on the challenge and that is going really well! Matthew knows all but two by heart, (and c'mon, don't we all get those middle ones a little mixed up?) and we are now able to talk about them during our daily interactions (moments of praise, instruction, and discipline). Most of all, I believe M1 really enjoys this time alone with me. He seems to have responded to the one-on-one attention, and likes to learn new things. Although at times it means even less time to get to the "things" on my list, I enjoy the time together and am so blessed to watch him grow.

Extra bonus: at dinner each night, Matthew tell's his dad what he learned at "school" today :-)