My So-Called Homeschool

Yikes, has it been over a week already?!  I did survive VBS, in case you were wondering.  It was great, although our numbers were down from the last couple of years.  Still, we had around 350 including workers, not too bad.  It was called Trading Places, and was about  how different countries worship and how Jesus is a name of power and salvation in any language.  The girls got so many compliments on their singing with the VBS praise team, and we got so many nice comments on how it gave it just the right “VBS sound”.  Of course, there were several kids who wondered “Why do THOSE girls get to be on stage and I don’t!”.  I told Squid — I guess it’s just the law of performing very early on — it’s not about how good you are, it’s who you know!  Actually, if other kids had volunteered and put in the rehearsal time, we would have tried to include them as well (we only have so many microphones).  Now that it’s been done, I guess maybe some will ask for next year too.  But that will be up to the leader for next year, as Squid has already told them he won’t be heading up the music next time.

The girls also went to the Lutheran church’s VBS, so they got double the lessons.  That one was really cute too — it was called FruitWorks and was on the fruits of the Spirit (that’s actually fruit, isn’t it?).  There was a really catchy tune they sang listing all the fruit — I’ve implemented it in our everyday dealings.  Say Jasmine starts to get bossy or ugly with Pink Pixie.  Mommy starts quietly singing “I’m talking ’bout Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness and Self-Control”.  It usually stops them in their tracks.  If necessary, I’ll remind them “Which of those do you think you should be using now?”  Or if I miss the confrontation and just get the back end of it, I’ll ask them which one they should have used and which one is needed now.   It’s been fairly effective, although I get lots of eye-rolling along with the response.  I’m really working hard at pro-active parenting instead of reactive (yelling).  I’ll keep you updated my progress — I usually regress into yelling at least a couple of times a day, but I’m getting better.

Well, that was about it for this week.  August is pretty busy, but at least we don’t have to deal with a “get it all done before school starts” rush.  I’ll post later about our homeschooling plans for this year — this IS an hs blog after all, lol!