Another month ends...

And so another month ends. This month has brought abut some beautiful and challenging changes for me. I am still struggling with a great deal of emotional issues, which I don't think will cease any time soon. While that seems daunting and negative, alas! it is not (all anyway). I am learning about letting go and trying "to be present" everyday with the kids. There are lots of things of which I must let go and not just the obvious.
The kids were playing at the park on an unseasonably warm day last week and I was reflecting back over the past year and what a difference a year can make. I was thinking that this time last year I was getting a group of third graders to achieve in state testing. Everyone in education knows that after Christmas comes test prep!Now, I am teaching college students! Still teaching reading (my favorite) and even still teaching it to struggling students. While I miss many things about the classroom, I feel that this is where I am supposed to be. Clearly God's hand has been in evident in my life. What a blessing it has been to be home with the twinkies during this transition and move. I am just starting to really feel it and relish in the enjoyment of having the time to read books, watch movies, sew, and cook! All of which I do after I have spent the day teaching and playing with my own children (because I'm not falling in the bed exhausted-well, most days anyway).

At church, we have been working on a series about Games and how we need to stop playing games with God and His church. It's time to step over the line and be fully committed to giving, growing, and serving. This is a time of growth for me and clearly God has put me in this place to grow closer to Him. In time's of loneliness, God is often crying out for a relationship with me (when it should be ME crying out for that relationship). It's my hope this year will be a year of growth and release for me. I'm hoping for growth in the Lord and release from the anchors that weigh heavy and me and keep me grounded in this world. (If you're interested, watch this HILARIOUS video-If you grew up on Nintendo and Mario, you'll love it!)
I've made several personal goals this year (perhaps I'll share more in a less winded post) one of which is to read more books. My goal is to read 52 (one each week) which should be easy-I hope! I just finished Eat, Pray, Love and what a relevant book it was for me in my life right now. I didn't always agree with everything in it and our beliefs are quite different, but just as I teach my students about the value in all literature, I did manage to glean the desire for God, enjoying what he has giving me, and finding balance in this crazy hectic life!

And enough of the waxing poetic.....

Here is the completed January Homeschool Plan that I posted at the beginning of the month. I have done a little color coding on this chart. Anything that is yellow did not get accomplished. Anything that is pink was added and not on the first chart. Anything in blue or pink was done! I thought it would be neat to see how much we actually got accomplished. Call it the "data driven" teacher in me, but I want to see some growth!


And here is the new calendar for February. Of course, we're doing Valentine's for the first half of the month. My plan is to do some activities about dinosaurs for the second half of the month!

If you have hung in with this post for this long, you deserve a treat! I wish I could have you click a link and get a Target Giftcard, or chocolate chip cookie, or whatever it is you like! But, I cannot do such fancy HTML coding. I can give you a penguin and fish rhyming game to play. If you would like it, just click Penguin Rhyme Time.

Happy End of January-
K

PS. Our January Book list is completed! We read something all but two days this month, for a total of 75 books read and 51 different titles read! That's pretty exciting (I think anyway-I know, I'm a nerd!)