SHOWDOWN: Silas Kirkman vs. his HEELYS...

Yes, this is what I do in ALL my spare time.





This one is kinda random, but I thought it might go well with the music...



My Teacher Strike didn't really pan out...
Okay so in the end (thursday) I didn't have the heart to actually go on strike like the teachers on the news. Wednesday had gone really well. We started to finally hit our groove, Eli had some really fun lightbulb moments in phonics and couldn't bear to tear himself away, I was too anxious to read the rest of the Crusades, and then there was that grinning euphoric prayer that poured sweetly from Silas' lips at the lunch table...
"...and God, please help Mom never ever ever to stop doin phonics...."

I guess I discovered another angle and advantage to homeschooling that I hadn't considered. When it is your own little ones under your charge, you don't have to worry about things like teacher strikes. I guess that is also why it is so sanctifying for the one who at times may feel the temptation! Mom and Dad have to learn to agree on and surrender up to the Lord things like budget, overcrowding-- and the number of "students" Mom thinks she can handle. I think it's rather tragic that the school system has to use the actual students as leverage in the struggle to get things to where they feel it needs to be. What in the world is it going to take to get there when there are now thirty some different families represented within just one classroom of kids with 30 different belief systems, religions, circumstances, budgets, learning levels, teaching abilities, etc...

Thankfully I don't have the (I will call it luxury) of going on strike. I love my students. They are my beloved children that I will continue to lay down my own life for. When I doubt and become overwhelmed with my own academic inabilities, my time constraints, and I feel ready to throw in the towel...there is one thing I am very confident in- I love my children. God has given them to my husband and I, and has promised He doesn't give us what we cannot bear. He will also ultimately hold us responsible. Not the teachers who do need to make a living for their own families. Quite possibly they need to be on strike. I don't really know. I just know I wouldn't want my own kids being at the mercy of the whole issue.

Yesterday while entreating the kids to do better in the area of seeing a need and just doing it without being asked, I explained that our family is like a great big ship sailing out alone in the deep. Daddy is the Captain, they are the crew and I am...well I am just about everything else! I said "We need all hands on deck because we are all sailing together towards God's glory in the same ship! Nobody else is responsible for our ship but us!" They are familiar with the danger to the whole ship if just one deck hand shirks his responsibility.

This idea may seem frightful to some until you consider that we serve the Master of the wind and waves. Daddy may be standing at the wheel, and Mommy may be barking out orders, but the Lord directs the course of the ship. All we need to do is be ready with the sails when that great big glorious gust comes and lifts us up, up and away! Amen to that eh Mommies?

But anyway, onto lighter things and what I like to call...

HOMESCHOOL GEEK HUMOR...

My kids are really intrigued with homophones right now--even down to four year old Essie. And I mean intrigued! They can't speak or listen to the english language right now without being absolutely distracted with the whole idea. We had a great moment while in California...

Essie had apparently had "too much vacation" and thought she would pull what is typical lunchtime behavior with many four year olds but which does not fly in our home.

She was unhappy with tuna fish sandwiches for lunch again and was having an ungrateful heart. Silas (who often does tend to forget that he is not in fact the Holy Spirit) belts out
"Ethie! You should be thankful for your lunch and should not be havin a fit! ...and by the way...'fit', is a homophone."

Essie's eyes light up and the ungrateful heart is gone in a flash.
"Hey yeah Si! 'Fit' like...somesing fits through a teeny tiny leetle hole... and 'fit' like 'waaahaaa....wahhhaaaaaa....waaaaaaaaaahaaaaa."

And then there was yesterday when we were reading in the "Reconquest of Spain" about a young Muslim king and his tutor. Silas was unsure of the meaning of "tutor" and requested the definition. I said "A tutor is a teacher. More specifically your own private specialized teacher." Silas lit up at this and replied (with smirk of all smirks)
"Well then, Mom... (smirk) ...you sure are a homophone today because you are a Tutor...and you suuuuure are a TOOTER!"

The meaning of this was obvious since my darling boy was plugging his nose as he delivered the punch line.

See what I would've missed if I had gone on that strike?