Day # Airplane Engineering!

Airplane Engineering

                                                  Schoolwork in a tree fort!

                                                                  Fun Memories!

Emma’s plant! 

Day # Hmmm....no idea! This is my 29th day of consecutively writing on the blog! If  you’ve been following along with us, you know we haven’t gone crazy yet! Or have we?!  I remind myself often that God is still good. He is still faithful. He is still on the throne. I choose to rejoice in that today!

It only rained for about half of the day today, so we took advantage of getting outside this morning. Wednesdays are always a little bit crazy as we try to navigate through google meets, school assignments,  and life at home. Travis and Wyatt both are in the same class, so that helps eliminate a google meet. But with five kids in school, and myself helping with the two pre-school classes, I find myself still looking at my appointment book to remember who has a meeting when and what time! So far, I think I’ve managed to send out the right preschool video lessons to the right classes, and we’ve made it to all our google meets. I know that each school is doing things differently and has a different approach to remote learning, but this mama is so thankful that our children don’t have actual classes to sit in every day! I think children can teach themselves a lot on their own in this season of their education just by being outside. We’ve had wood-cutting lessons, tree fort building, target practice, trenches dug for water drainage, and airplanes made out of foam board for just a few of our “out-of school” lessons. My favorite part about this kind of learning is that it is totally student led! I have spent some extra time cautioning our children lately that this is not a good time to go to the emergency room, so please use some extra caution! We’ve had a few splinters, needed a few baid-aids, and have used a lot of soap and water, but so far it’s going quite well!

Today the boys made airplanes out of foam board. They spent much of the day creating and crafting airplanes by using hot glue guns, wood skewers, small weights, tape and foam boards. The basement is a bit messier than this mama likes it to be, but the lessons learned have been very productive. Garett is not a fan of math, but he didn’t realize how much math he used today to measure wings, add weights and balances, and cut angles! I absolute think that we need to use paper and pencils in school, but I also think that hands on learning also has a place in learning. It’s about balance! I remember years ago when we were just starting out on home-schooling hearing one mom tell me,
“Oh, we don’t school our children. We believe in un-schooling.” I was like, “What?!” Apparently it’s a type of learning where the children learn only what they are interested in, and they spend most of their time doing whatever they want to do. It sounded terribly undisciplined to me, and I couldn’t imagine that chaos that could come from letting four young boys “un-school” themselves. I’m pretty sure that I would still have a child or two that wouldn’t know how to read or do math, and they wouldn’t be bothered in the least about that! I am certainly not being negative if that is how you choose to school your children -that’s your choice. But I know that for myself and our family, I don’t see that as being a wise or good choice for our children. The truth is that we all need to learn to do things that we don’t like as it is a part of life! I think learning should be “fun” yes, but the truth of the matter is that not all of life is “fun”. Sometimes we need to teach our children to stick with hard things, and to be disciplined and have the self-control to finish the task in front of them even if it’s not their favorite! I still have to do that in my own life, and I bet you do too!

Roger had the day off today, so that is always helpful for the Wednesday craziness. He was able to listen to Emma read, and that is very helpful. Chandler took his school work out to his tree fort this morning, as he said that it was nice and quiet out there!

Our van was having some trouble with running smoothly, so Roger and I dropped it off at the mechanic shop a few days ago. We are thankful that Roger’s boss had an extra vehicle that we can use. We were able to get the van picked back up today, and while vehicle repairs are never pleasant, I am thankful for a vehicle that is running smoothly again.

Maine news: The number of corona cases has reached to 770 and an additional four people have died from corona. 305 people have recovered from the virus, and that is good news! We are trying to wait patiently, and I’d highly encourage you to turn off the news and spend some time praying. This is a difficult time for so, so many people, but I want to encourage you that God sees the storm from the other side. God didn’t wonder what He was going to do. He has not faltered or failed, and while our spirits may be weary, let’s continue to stay faithful to pray and to fast. God can send revival across our land, and I want it to start in my own heart and life.