So far, so good!

So far, so good with the gardens unit study. Granted, we're only done with day two. But still. One thing I'm learning is that my perfectionist firstborn is very straight-laced. Everything must be in order and by the book. I feel a real stirring in me to mix things up for him, so I've been giving him more out of the box questions. I've changed up everything he is doing except math. I can see the struggle in him over it, and I hear (often) the whining and disapproval that he feels. But when I am directed by Yahweh, I will obey, and He has told me to mix it up for him. I have such a heart to guide my children to think beyond what they are reading and learning. Millie has absolutely no problem doing this. The child needs to be reeled in, to learn to follow directions. It is exactly the opposite with Caleb.


At church and homeschool activities Caleb is the one who has a hard time if rules are changed or bent. In his mind, rules are to be followed. Exactly. No deviation. And when the contrary happens, it shakes his world. As he is getting older, I'm feeling more and more compelled to help him learn to adapt and be more flexible. Guess that's why I felt so strongly about doing this Gardens study with him.


Oh, and he HATES to draw. Have I ever mentioned that? It ain't pretty. Today he was supposed to draw a picture of Monet's gardens, and that just about did him in. Because he isn't the greatest at drawing things *exactly* as they look, he has a meltdown. When I guide him to be more abstract, to not worry that it isn't exactly right, he just can't go there in his mind. It has to be perfect or nothing. So, we'll just keep working on it.


Things are going so well with my weight loss! I'm being very rigid with weighing foods and counting points, writing down every bite. The fruit of that is being down 9.3 pounds, 4.2 of it this week alone. Yay for me! This is it for me. Yahweh said to go back to the beginning, what He originally told me to do, and I did. He is so faithful!!!!!!!

Gardening

I am so, so excited! We're going to do a garden! We bought some little organic seed starter pots and fertilizer soil as well as some seeds. After we get the plants growing, we're going to use some old tires we have and fill them up with soil. Voila! Raised gardening. :)


Of course, being a homeschooler, I need to follow this rabbit trail, right? I purchased this Amanda Bennett unit study on Gardens and will row Miss Rumphius from FIAR Vol. 2. I am so, so excited! I think I'll do The Secret Garden as a read-aloud.


Caleb is going to plant and tend to the vegetables, and Millie is going to do the flowers. It should be fun to see how they do. We've never gardened in Florida, so it's going to take some researching and trial and error to figure out what works best and how. I think I'll let Caleb do some of that research as a project.


I've also ordered the Spring Hill Nursery catalog. My mom used to let my sister and me pick out plants every year to order when were still living at home. I think I'll continue that tradition and let my kids choose one or two.


Just wanted to give a quick update. I'll try to take some pictures this week while we finish up Ping and maybe some of our Mystery of History projects.


Thanks for reading! :)

Choices

I've learned something key to life. It's all about the choices. Standing in front of the pantry, I can choose to snack on processed, nutritionless junk or I can choose to eat fruit. Or cottage cheese. Or vegetables. Or hummus with whole grain crackers. Even then, the choices are there: I can grab a handful of something and eat mindlessly without knowing what I'm putting in my mouth, or I can measure my food, write it down, and take control of how I am fueling my body.


It's not easy. Sometimes I just want to crumble. It's as if I can literally feel my soul crying out for love when I make the right choices. In those instances, I have to turn to the One from whom my love comes. I have to know who I am and what He wants of me.


Apostle Steve spoke something a couple of weeks back that I received as truth in my life. It has caused me to make some changes. When Yahweh speaks something, when a direction is given as word and spirit for my life, why would he change that direction the next week? Or the next year? Or....? If the goal is not met, why would He tell me to change courses?


I've known for a long, long time that Weight Watchers is a key for me. Yet I get full of myself, or perhaps I fall off the wagon and am ashamed of what the scale says, and I leave the program self-righteously, as if it's the "right" thing for me to do because I can do it on my own. (Sure, how is that working out for me?) But is that truly Word and Spirit to me? Or is that my own free will? Yeah, it's not rocket science.


So I've repented and have gone back to the beginning. Sometimes we have to go back to the beginning and take the right path. I was able to join WW Online through Dave's work for a fraction of the yearly cost, and I am back at it. Yahweh also brought to me an amazing online group of ladies to join myself to for the journey. We weigh in on Mondays. Today, I weighed in, and I've lost 7.5 pounds so far in the 10 days I've been doing it! When it's right, it's right. And this is right. It's life to me. And I choose life. Because it IS my choice.


I'll do an update later on how homeschool is going (very, very well!), but for now, this was on my heart so I wanted to share.