Week one--check!

Look at me, finding time to blog! :)
I've been trying to find a way to evaluate our first week of school. I could say we had good days and bad days, but it would be more accurate to say we had good moments and bad moments. Poor Mike and Rebecca, having to live with two adolescent girls and one pre-menopausal woman! Let's just say they put up with a little moodiness. There were moments when I was filled with gratitude at being allowed to home school my beloved children...and moments when I wanted to drop them off at the nearest school. Times when I loved our curriculum and thought "what a good job we're all doing!" ...and times when I thought  the biggest mistake I ever made was when I decided to home school and ruin their lives forever..
My mood may have been affected by the loss of a friend. Mike Holton was minster of education and then administration at the church I went to in Fort Worth--where Mike and I met. I was single for 4 of my years there, and he took our singles group on mission trips to California and to West Virginia, and one of my roommates was his secretary personal assistant. He was a really good man, and a lot of fun, and I'm sad for his family.
Another part of my own personal moodiness stems from the fact that I was trained as an early childhood educator. I taught kindergarten through 2nd grade. I am now teaching 3rd, 7th, and 9th...and they don't always respond to some of my ideas with the enthusiasm of a 5- or 6-year-old! I just have to remember that, and cater my plans and ideas to a little more mature tastes.
When I look at the week rationally and objectively, I see how good it was. How good my children are. We really are loving our new math and writing curricula, working hard, and having fun. And definitely staying busy! Here's a picture of our first day fun:

On Tuesday Rebecca went to Walmart with me, and saw a big, beautiful pink bouncy ball which she begged  to have. I was happy to buy it for her, and that night after supper we had a family kickball game in the back yard!  We are having an amazingly mild August, by South Arkansas standards, and I've been loving my time outside. The next day we used it to play four-square.

And then it got a leak. Oh well!
On Wednesday the college students started to come back! We had the leadership team over for lasagna and games. Thursday night we swam with them at our friends' house and had pork BBQ. Friday night we had some family time, watching a movie. On Saturday I planted some chrysanthemums and picked some carrots and cucumbers from our garden! And ironed. But the outside stuff was much more fun. :)
This morning we had an on-campus worship service for the freshmen who arrived yesterday. Both of our local supporting churches provided lunch and introduced themselves, our new worship team led worship, and Mike preached full of the Spirit. We had over 100 people there, probably 80 of which were students. It is one of my favorite days of the year!
Now Jessica and Mikayla are at the church--it is Mikayla's first time in the signing/creative movement group and in the student choir. It's amazing how they're growing up! And that's a good thing.