Tuesday, January 12, 2010

If i can just survive...

This has been my thoughts for today: If I can just survive (dot.dot.dot).

I think most of it centers around homeschooling. I think.

Jorge is 4 1/2. We have done some pre-school stuff and he loves to learn. We did figure out that he is color deficient. Not color blind, but he can't determine yellow and blue very well. I was so thankful to be the one to figure this out and not some frustrated teacher in a classroom with 20 other 4 year olds wondering why this boy "won't focus." Needless to say, I wasn't any better because I thought he wasn't paying attention, but then God put in my mind/heart, "Rachel, he may not actually understand the difference. he could be color blind/deficient." So to the Internet we went and found some ways to "diagnose" it. Oddly enough, it was through the came Candyland that we figured all this out.

With that behind us. I now have to make a plan for when we start Kindergarten. I think I've decided to go with My Father's World Curriculum (feel free to let me know of any others you might suggest). With that, I feel very confident to start this coming September. The only thing that scares me.. well the three things that make me tremble and think.. If I can just survive are:

THIS...

THIS....

and this...

Well I don't actually have a picture of the little butter bean.. Isaac.

Come September I will have a fourth baby that will be four months old, a 2 yr old , an almost 4 yr old and 5 year old. Okay, Im not whining.. Just stating the facts.

The reason this makes me wonder my stats on survival is that today I had to lay down the law and put up a baby gate to keep Eva out of the schoolroom. Which she obviously did not like. The reason.. She will get into everything and will absolutely keep me from being able to focus on what I am trying to do with the boys. So come September I will have two little ones that will need to have something to do while I do school with Jorge. Well, actually i know that we will do his school in the afternoon while the other three are napping. But Alex will have to do school in the morning with the baby gate up.

Seriously, I am not complaining.. just wondering if I will survive it.

;-P

5 comments:

Lindsay said...

Totally understandable. The thought of homeschooling seems so daunting to me, especially if we decide to have more children. I want to do it, but I often wonder if I "have what it takes". I feel like I second guess everything I do now, and then wonder how in the world I'm going to effectively manage their ENTIRE edcucation. But then I remind myself that if this is what God calls us to do, then He'll give me what it takes and the resources I need to handle all the difficulties.

Leslie said...

You will do great. It won't be easy but it will be worth it! And remember part of their learning process is dealing with a momma who is dealing with other babies! We do, and I love, Classical Education method through the Well Trained Mind book. It doesn't suit everyone I know but it does produce thinkers. Happy homeschooling! :)

Leslie said...

Oh! and to Lindsay up top there, you do and don't have what it takes. You do because these are your children God has entrusted you with and you don't because non of do apart from divine intervention. Be encouraged! One thing God pointed out to me a while back is that I am the best suited person to teach my children. Who else knows them like you or loves them like you? No one.

Anonymous said...

There is a very easy way to survive this.....it's called school. Public School with people there who have spent years being educated to teach your children the 3 R's leaving you free to teach them how to be good citizens and human beings. Is it really fair to the younger children you are spending so much of your time being a teacher instead of a mother?

Rachel Garcia, CD(DONA) said...

Dear Anonymous..

That cracks me up. First, please come back and feel the freedom to talk with me with out the hiding behind "anonymous."

Let me ask you this: if public school is on average 7 hours a day, and I can do all of our kindergarten school work in an hour and a half at home, then wouldn't i then be neglecting my oldest son by not being able to be with him the other six hours?

Now whether you think I am qualified to teach my children or not, that's another story. I don't know your educational background.. but I feel pretty confident in my abilities to teach my child his ABC's and 123's and how to read. What he won't get at public school is the most important: the freedom to learn about the great living Lord, Jesus Christ, that we, as a family, serve. He is not welcome in the public school.

So, with that in mind, if you judge being a good mother based on how much time I spend with, not only my younger children, but all my children then you will also have to acknowledge that any child you yourself send to school is being neglected by you and that you don't feel confident in your own abilities to teach your children anything.

Is that the point you were trying to make