Thank God It's Thursday

TGIT. As in, "Thank God it's Thursday." My "work week" (haha) is finished. All the mini English lessons for the week are wrapped up. Actually, I really love getting to do English with Mattie and my cousins and the Crowes, and being at the Crowes' in the mornings. I just discovered suddenly this afternoon that I was tired. So droopingly tired. Maybe it's the new schedule, late nights, or an extra dose of wacky, unpredictable emotions (as in, more than usual).

I realized just now that I did seven writing lessons this week between five different kids...and considering that I didn't prepare for it much at all and teaching them writing like that is pretty new, I guess that did take a lot out of me. I was happy about all the practice though. I feel like I'll be able to get in a groove of some sort before too long.

Everything feels like a big experiment, like a cat testing the way in the dark with its whiskers. Each of the kids is smart and shows signs of "getting" the things I'm doing with them though, and a get the sense that its "working." Only time will tell, I guess. That seems like it would be the scariest thing for homeschool moms-- the idea that only time can show if the kids are actually "getting educated." Since every family is different, school is an experiment. What if you wake up one day to find that whatever you've been trying to teach them for the past three years didn't take? AHHHHH!!!! Ok, I know that's a little exaggerated. I can tell that they are learning something.

Perhaps, I tell myself, my brain wouldn't be spread so thin if I had just taught my "students" together instead to privately tutoring each one of them. The only "class" lesson was with Mattie, Jane, and Catherine today when we went out in the woods and wrote poems about fall. (Since it mercifully dipped into the 50's last night.) But no. I try to teach them several at a time, but their individualness pops out everywhere and grabs at me...not to mention that they're different ages and levels. Each one has different needs, and, though I may be an audacious little pipsqueak still wet behind the ears, my greatest desire in teaching them is to meet and help them where they are personally. I feel like I'm accomplishing so much more when I work with them one at a time! Emotionally I can't seem to deal with more than one person at a time. That goes for mentally in a lot of cases, too!

Although the "teaching thing" is taking some adjusting right now, I am having fun with the variety I'm getting to experience this year. Here's what the teaching week looked like...

Tuesday: Counting, Robert Louis Stevenson, reviewing phonics cards, getting writing assignment started, telling time, 5x's table, poetry appreciation at the library.

Wednesday: More numbers practice (involving sidewalk chalk), Jack and the Beanstalk, two separate writing assignments, spelling lesson.

Thursday: A spot of geography, phonics, counting, Rumplestiltskin, reading about heliocopters and making model rotor blades (which flew beautifully from the top of the stairs when twisted properly), spelling lesson, writing fall poetry, revising writing assignment.

Ages 4 to 14. I guess it sounds kind of like a homeschooling Mom's day only minus the responsibilities of housework, cooking, being a wife, and taking care of the rest of the kid's overall school work, health, and wellbeing. Ok, so maybe I'm not as tired as I thought I was. Think I'll go give my Mom a hug :)

"Bless the Lord, oh my soul, and forget none of his benefits; who pardons our iniqities, who heals all our diseases, who redeems our life from the pit, who crowns us with lovingkindness and compassion..." Ps. 103