Homeschooling with a MISSION

From labor party riots in the 1800s to lazin’ on the river in 2015, America has “progressed” in many degrees from if you work you eat to a don’t work we’ll feed you society. Our family has personally experienced first-hand those, who with great needs in life, receive innumerable incentives from local, state, and federal agencies to stay in the gutter and take the hand-out instead of striving to rise above to develop a work ethic and personal achievement. Well, let it be known, that this house LABORS and a lot of times we LOVE it! On Friday, we had a fun activity planned that needed to start about mid-morning, so AbiNoelle hopped out of bed a little after 7am, pulled on her clothes, and ran into the school room to get started, you’ll never believe the next-day follow-up!

We had a great time Friday after school (by the way, according to AbiNoelle, the highlight of Friday morning’s school was that she got to eat breakfast at her desk while listening to Mrs. Wasser’s Bible Time!). Saturday morning arrived with breakfast and the start of many household chores. By mid-morning, with many tasks complete, Mommy and AbiNoelle prepared to head into town for groceries, until the conversation took a drastic turn.

“But, Mommy, what about school?”

“Today is Saturday, AbiNoelle. We don’t do school on Saturdays.”

“But, Mommy, I. Have. To. Do. Kindergarten!”

After trying again to explain that Saturday was not a school day, we left for the store with the promise that maybe she could do some school upon our return home.

With groceries in the car, we were close to home, when….[you got it]….”Mommy, I can do school when we get home, right?”

So home we went with groceries in hand, and off she went to the schoolroom. Thank goodness, Mrs. Pintar was amiable and provided two wonderful lessons.

No doubt, you have heard like we have, the many groans and sighs of students who are being FORCED to “do school.” What a labor! How laBORious! We are so glad that school is fun and learning enjoyable for AbiNoelle. Yes, it is a labor – for AbiNoelle as she strives to learn those blends and carefully practices cursive writing – for Mommy as she organizes, plans, and prepares for each day. But, around here, it’s a labor OF love and a labor WE love!

What about those blends! Reading is such fun! AbiNoelle has learned her vowels and consonants, and now, the reward is blend ladders. She gets so excited when it is time to use the pointer with Mrs. Pintar and read the blend ladders. Game time is a blast –

she is very competitive and it has been a big lesson to learn to congratulate the boys when they win instead of the girls!

Music time has been filled with many new songs, but this week, the Indian drums played in our classroom along with all the instruments in the K4 class to make a Merry Melody!

Poetry, Drama, and Story Time bring a buzz with a commotion and lots of emotion. Mrs. Pintar’s stories keep you on the edge of your seat, dressing up and acting our the stories is even better, and poetry many times carries over into “rest-time” when AbiNoelle can be heard quoting everything so knows instead of resting.

School, School – we can’t get enough around here. There is something that can be learned everyday. AbiNoelle’s most recent lesson was the idea of a holiday. Uh-oh! – a no-school day? Yuck! She was not thrilled at this new idea. Labor Day was our first holiday. Holiday – an interesting concept to learn; however, it was a very successful day with extra special time together as a family getting lots of work accomplished. Yes, we labored on Labor Day (more on that in another post) and we even took time out for a yummy ice cream treat. Who would have thought that holiday would have to be taught and learned.  At least we’ve got the labor part down. After all, God did set the pattern of working six days and then resting on the seventh. Humorous but true, it has been said that “A lot of people quit looking for work as soon as they find a job.” Well, AbiNoelle has found her job in schoolwork and is continually working hard at it!