Weekly wrap-up - The one in which God showed His grace...again

If you read my wrap up last week, you know that I had come to a realization that I have been failing my family and disobeying God by not forcing myself to be more structured in my homeschool and home life in general.  So, as I sit here on Saturday, I can't help but giggle at the many curve balls that God tossed at me this week that allowed me to test my resolve to stay in a routine but allowed me to still have the flexibility (and later sleep!) that I desired!



I was extremely nervous going into Monday.  I had made a declaration in front of so many people and in front of God that I was going to do better.  I was going to get up early and stay with a schedule and complete everything that we needed to complete to have a successful school day.  I actually had butterflies in my stomach on Sunday night!

Of course I needn't have worried.  Monday went off beautifully!  We had a wonderful day.  The two older kiddos and I started working on a modified version of CC Essentials program.  Bethany and I read through Theodore Geisel's Ten Apples Up on Top, and we continued our reading through the middle ages in Story of the World.  We also began reading the story of Gideon from Judges 6 in the Bible and came to the beginning of the end of The Magician's Nephew.  The day wrapped up with scouts for everyone.  Overall it was a wonderful, if not exhausting, day.

Then came Tuesday.  And with Tuesday came the threat of the polar vortex.  Schools in our area planned to send home kids at noon.  Offices prepared to close at lunch.  None of that would have mattered except that I had a scheduled appointment to have an epidural shot in my neck at 1pm.  Originally I had intended to have all of our together school done before hand since this was my first such shot and I didn't know what to expect.  But with the unknown of the storm, I was afraid that my appointment would be canceled.  So I called to see if they could work me in earlier.  Thankfully they could and did.  So, at 8:30am, I left my house to get an epidural shot in my neck.  When I got home at 10, the kids were up, but all I felt like doing was crawling back into the bed.  So that's exactly what I did.  I gave them instructions to get done what they could do without me, and went to bed for the rest of the day.  And thanks to the list on the board, they did most of what we would have done.  The older two even helped the youngest with her math!

On Wednesday, we had a snow day.  I don't do cold or snow, but Daddy does, and normally I wouldn't let them get away with a total snow day, but Daddy was home all day.  And when Daddy is home all day, no school work gets done.  It just doesn't.  :-)

Thursday and Friday were nice and calm and structured.  We enjoyed reading the story of Gideon together.  In History we moved into the age of exploration and learned why we memorize that Magellan's crew but not Magellan sailed around the globe.  And with a bit of sadness, we finished reading The Magician's Nephew.  It was such fun, though, to see the way the kids, even Bethany, the youngest, were able to clearly connect the dots between this story and The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe which we had read before, as well as to the Biblical story of creation and Adam and Eve and the fall.

All in all, I would say that this week was a success.  I'm grateful for the structure.  But I'm also so grateful that God allowed me to see that I can do structure yet still have some flexibility to breathe.  Which is what I need to feel safe, I think.

How was your week?