Baptism

My middle child, Reanna, was baptized yesterday! She asked Jesus into her heart over a year ago, but she was not ready to be baptized then. Over this past summer, she started asking more questions about it, and by this fall, was more than ready to be baptized. We met with the children's minister at church, and she agreed that Reanna understood quite a bit, and knew the significance of baptism - that it was to show others that she had already accepted Jesus as her Lord, and had asked Him to be her Savior.

So, a week after turning 7, she was baptized. She was so excited that morning! We got there plenty early, and stood waiting in the dressing room behind the baptistery (she was too excited to sit).

She had wanted the children's minister, Karen, to baptize her. Reanna was all eager to get started, but when the time came to step into the water, she turned a little hesitant. The water was deep for this little below-average-height child! But she made it down close enough to grab Karen's hand, and floated the rest of the way to the brick to stand on.

I think she was a bit distracted, and thinking a million thoughts, and so had to be asked twice if she had asked Jesus into her heart, but then she answered with a quite loud, "Yes!" to the amusement of the congregation.

She held her nose, and was dipped below the water, and came up spouting water with a slightly panicked look on her face, but after a few seconds, that bright smile popped out, and she was grinning ear to ear. She talked non-stop after that, while I dried her off and got her changed.

The children's minister also gave us a good idea to help us remember this day. Many times, when children are baptized this young, they don't retain a solid memory of the day. I know I don't have too many memories of my own baptism, when I was 5 or 6, though I do remember some moments. Karen suggested that we make a celebration of this day every year, like a second birthday. Celebrate with some sort of gift that has spiritual significance, like a prayer book, or Bible verse bookmark, or something similar that is age appropriate. Then, this day, and the exact date, will be remembered much more easily. So, for Reanna, this will be easy to remember - her baptism day, or her spiritual birthday, however we decide to call it, is just one week past her regular birthday. What a wonderful way to celebrate her new life in Christ!

Getting Into the Groove of Things

My “resistant” students (see my last post) have gotten better over the past week or two. We are getting into our schedule fairly well, and are managing to get everything done within a fairly reasonable time, with minimal whining and pouting. Our days (or at least, my days) are longer than last year, due to having an additional student (my youngest), and due to my 4th grader having more work to do this year. On Mondays and Tuesdays, we tend to not finish until close to 3pm or so, after starting around 8:30 (but taking a long lunch break). Wednesdays and Fridays are a little shorter, since I put several of the “once a week” topics (piano lessons, geography and health for the littles) on the first days, to get them over with. Science with my oldest is only M/Tu/W. We have modified a few things, and streamlined the schedule, and I’m sure we’ll do more of that as the year passes, but things are pretty good right now.

On Thursdays (today), all 3 kids go to a once-a-week Academy that has recently started up in our area, offering a variety of elective classes in one location from different teachers in the area. My youngest goes to a K-1st enrichment class, mostly dealing with science and animals. My girls go to several 2nd-4th grade classes, including geography, art, and science. They all have lunch there, and my youngest also has an hour of recess/playtime with other kids his age. And I get a break!

This is just our 2nd week of this Academy, but my youngest is still quite resistant to it. He has cried both times I’ve left him there. I’m hoping he grows to like it, since I hate leaving a crying child for the teacher to deal with. He was happy when I picked him up last week, though he still said later that he didn’t like it. I pick him up right after playtime, at 12:30, so it’s not really that long of a time for him, but he feels that it is. It might also be hard for him since he’s also started several new classes at church, and it just takes him a while to get comfortable with new situations.

Anyway, so today I have time to write, though I’m hanging out at church instead of going home. Our church and the Academy are both about 35 minutes away from our house, so instead of driving so much, I figured I’d try staying in the area until I pick them up after lunch. We will see how it goes!

Resistant Students

This past Monday, we started up with our full load for this school year. I had already started the full load with my younger two a couple weeks ago. But now we're doing the full load with my 4th grader too. And it has been a difficult week. Is it only Wednesday still?

I have 2 rather resistant students - my youngest and my oldest. They both would really rather just play. We have had a number of talks these past few days, about the rules for when we're doing school (like no electronics, no talking or sound effects while I'm reading aloud, no pestering me with questions about what time we eat lunch while I'm in the middle of a lesson with another child, etc.), about the value of education, about the value of persistence, about obeying your parents....

My youngest is having adjustment issues since this is his first year of homeschooling. He went to preschool 3 days a week last year (and loved it), but has been very insistent that he wants to be homeschooled for kindergarten. I'm not sure he understood that this involves doing actual work at home, and not just perpetual playtime. We are mostly working on learning to read this year, but he struggles with blending. I've tried (over the summer and up til now) All About Reading (not quite ready for level 1, I don't think), and A Beka (not sure the consonant-vowel blend ladders are as intuitive as word families for him), and now we're taking a break and trying Reading Eggs, with him sitting on my lap in front of the computer as he does the lessons. He is ok with this, though not too happy. We'll see. The only other main things I'm doing with him are math (using MathSeeds for that right now, again sitting on my lap), and Sonlight Core A for Bible/literature/history/science. He likes the Sonlight stuff best, and it only takes 15-20 minutes, but he still has to be scolded almost every time for playing (noisily) with his toys while I read. His full load is not that long - maybe an hour altogether - so hopefully he'll settle into it soon. Once reading starts to "click," I think it will be better too.

My oldest is having adjustment issues since 4th grade is requiring a bit more work than 3rd grade. I'm trying to push things a bit more this year. She's way ahead in reading ability, history, science - but still struggles with handwriting, writing, spelling, and math. So, that's the work she resists doing, of course. In the past, I have let her drop some things that she struggled with, thinking that at her grade level, it wasn't that much of a big deal. But this year, I'm not planning on letting her drop much at all. So, our days are rather long (due to all the scolding and "pep talks" I'm having to give, and having to re-do some things when she wasn't paying attention). But I am hopeful that once we get into the schedule a few more days, she will get used to it, and things will go more smoothly. Today was already quite a bit better.

So, it's been a tough few days, but we're still going, despite my threats of packing them off to "big school." My middle child is my inspiration. She is eager, happy, and determined to do whatever I ask her to do. She loves worksheets, she loves reading, she loves math - she just loves school. She is a joy to teach. Of course, she's not perfect either, but she is an encouragement. And the other two have their moments of teaching joy too - my youngest's giggles of happiness when he recognizes a rhyme, and my oldest's amazing inventions she comes up with, with intricate detail and surprising links to what we've been studying (when I didn't think she was listening).

Your new school year may be starting out tough too, but try to find the high points, no matter how rare. It will get better. Just keep at it.