Back to school

I love to scroll through the blogs I follow during the fall because most of them are headed "back to school." Homeschooling, that is. And I love hearing all of the fabulous things they are doing in their home classrooms. Truly, I can't wait to do this with Sweet P (ok, I can wait, because that would mean she'd be older and I just want to freeze her at this age).

I have a couple of questions for you veteran homeschooling mamas out there (for us "newbies" to homeschooling).

1) How long do you typically spend on school work each day? (or does it depend on the day)?

2) Do you use one curriculum for your entire family or dabble in different curriculums for different children?

3) What do you do on days when you lack motivation to teach/school?

4) Do your children ever ask about "going" to school?

5) And last, do you have any ideas for a child who has a hard time doing what you ask of him/her?

I'd love to hear some answers from you mamas out there! If you'd like to share your thoughts with me, please leave your answers in the comments section.

AFTER THOUGHTS: Thank you to those who have responded! You have great ideas and suggestions! The Farmer and I have enjoyed reading your thoughts and responses. Keep em coming!

Wordless Wednesday

She just couldn't stop eating that lemon.

Selfishness

I'm in the midst of finishing up Beth Moore's Daniel series at a local church. Today was on Chapter 11 of Daniel and Beth talked a lot about selfishness. Oh how selfishness hits home. A friend once told the Farmer and I that marriage teaches you that we are selfish beings. He then said, having a child teaches you that you are even more selfish than you thought. So true, so true. But we're even more selfish outside the home. We want to be first, we don't want to wait and we (think we) matter more than anyone else.

She centered on selfishness vs. sacrifice and told us that Satan tries to make us takers instead of givers and oh, how we take. and take. and take. Instead of give. and give. and give. We give when it's convenient, when there's overabundance, when we can eke out a few minutes in our busy schedule, but God calls us to be givers, to be living sacrifices. To give up what we have and follow him. To feed the hungry, cloth the poor, support those who are in despair, cry with friends, and what do we do? Well, we often wonder how it's going to benefit us. Or we worry about our problems, or why no one called to console us or see how we were doing and say we have our own financial problems or we don't have time. And do you hear that? It all comes back to me, me, me. Selfishness. And like Beth said, "It's not all about you." And it's not. In fact, NOTHING is about me. It's about Him. It's ALL about Him.

I pray that I choose sacrifice over selfishness, that I stop worrying about me and start caring about her or him and especially, Him. Because if I don't, who will?