Hey y'all,

Well, after much pleading, we decided to start school today.  No, the children were pleading to START lol, ~I~ was pleading to wait.  "No, really, Mom's not ready!" lolol  Oh well, seize the day, right?

We decided, at my 13-yo son's request, to just read the Bible together and discuss it for this year's Bible study.  I had thought to use one of those 'read the Bible through' charts, but they list several chapters per day and that would be overwhelming to the children, I think.  The boy child here wants to start in Genesis (he's much more organized and methodical than his mother lol), so I guess that's what we'll do.  However, today we began with II Timothy 3:15-17 and reminded ourselves that we must always begin our day with our Bible study, as it is THE most important lesson that we have!  One thing that really made an impression on me is a statement I read in 1998, our first year of homeschooling, that went something like "Ultimately, we learn to read so that we will be able to read the Scriptures for ourselves."  I've never forgotten it, nor the recommendation of always having Bible study be the first lesson of each day.

Otherwise, my son started Learning Language Arts through Literature this year, 8th grade; it seemed to be a lot of work, but he loved it.  He didn't even fuss at all the writing, and he detests writing lol.  In fact, he has asked if he can continue by himself this afternoon!  Abeka pre-algebra and health, Spelling Power for him.  For the girlie (3rd grade) we have BJU spelling, Draw Write Now for handwriting, Abeka health and eventually Saxon math, but she's not quite ready for that yet, so we're still working through a 2nd grade workbook that we used last year.  Together we will do Mystery of History, Considering God's Creation, spanish lessons on cassette that I forget the name of at the moment lol, and their dad will lead them in Georgia history lessons at night. 

I have some issues to resolve about needing to be with both of them for their lessons, I felt very pulled-here-and-there this morning.  Their age difference causes some of that I think, and of course they both want Mama's attention.  I try to remind myself, when they are talking incessantly and I can't hear myself think , that there are parents all over the world who are clueless about their children's thoughts and activities and wish that their child WOULD talk to them.  Then I take a breath, smile into my child's eyes and try to figure out what in the world Chipper Jones' batting average has to do with the tacos for lunch that we were just discussing! 

Parenting is not for cowards and I love it!  See y'all...:)