Teaching

Lee and I have been getting up at 6 a couple mornings a week and walking the Ring Road.  It is already humid, but not too hot yet, so just perfect.  I am a little tired right now, but have found it actually gives me energy the rest of the day.

Last night, I started working with Erika just a little bit, teaching her to read.  I think in the states, she would have learned to read in Kindergarten, but the curriculum we use, she will learn in First Grade.  But as I have shared before, she is really needing more of a challenge.  We have spent this whole year ingraining in her phonics. It was so cool as she was putting simple words together last night.  And she was so excited to be reading.  I am so anxious for her to really be able to read.  It will open up so much more independence for her. She already gets up each morning, makes her bed, gets dressed, brushes her hair and attempts to make her own breakfast.  She is so independent and I look forward to that added independence of reading by herself.

Teaching homeschool these past two years has been such a neat experience.  We are in our last week and a half.  But it is amazing process actually watching your children learn.  Actually seeing first hand their strengths and weaknesses.  I have always been an involved parent, but being with them all the time, grading their work...gives me a new perspective.  To see my children reach obstacles, then work through them, and come out the other side.  And this curriculum is quite challenging.  They must make an 80 on their test or must repeat the Pace.  There is no slipping through.

I love correcting when my children write.  Their personalities really come out.  Josh will intentionally write funny things for me to read when he writes for English.  Knowing it will crack me up.  Tori shares her passion for animals in her writing.  And I see how much my children have an understanding of God's word and principles...now that I am the one grading their work.

Trust me, we have rough days with homeschooling sometimes.  But there are so many rewards to it as well.

For example, Monday is their day off anyway...but we had to take Paul back to the airport.  The ride there, they were pretty quiet.  Erika slept, the older kids listened to their itouchs.  But the way home, we really connected and laughed all the way home.  It was so much fun and made me so thankful for the closeness of our family.  These are things we missed a little when our kids were gone to school outside the home all day.

God did some neat things yesterday that I want to share...

First of all, we have longed for a good friend for Tori...who is a strong believer and her same age.  Well, recently, we have connected with a missionary couple that lives two streets over from us.  Their oldest and youngest daughters are the exact ages of my girls...and have connected beautifully.  The whole family stopped by yesterday afternoon so the two youngest could play.  As we visited, the other woman confirmed what I was already feeling...that God not only brought our girls together, but was also connecting her and I.  I am so thankful to have someone close, that I can really connect with.  She is from Texas, they pastored a church in Florida for 12 years before God calling them here.  And the list goes on.  We just really have connected. And what a blessing that our children already love each other so much too.  I didn't hear from Erika the two hours they were here...she was having the time of her life with little Hailey...who, I might add...is just like ERIKA.  

Secondly, there was something that Tori really wanted to do yesterday morning.  But there were several reasons that I just did not feel it was a safe scenario for her to go.  We told her no.  She was disappointed because it involved a horse.  But she did not respond in rebellion.  She accepted what we said and that was that.  And you know what God did?  He rewarded her by the above family offering to take her to see their horse...that very day.  (yesterday was a holiday here in Belize).  So, she got to encounter an even better scenario in the long run.  God is faithful and cares for the smallest desires of our hearts.  And as a parent, that is such a blessing.