Homeschooling at its "worst"...

And after such a meaningful day yesterday, today was oh so very meaningful -- but in a completely opposite way! Before my husband left for work, I mentioned to him that with the weather being so gorgeous that maybe it would be a great day to spend at the beach. It seemed like a great opportunity to make some memories outdoors splashing in the creek, collecting rocks, and sliding down the sand dunes. So, as Daddy left for work, my plans were formulating of how to make it a surprise and connect it to the school day in the form of a history lesson. The encyclopedia article on Captain Cook seemed to be the perfect jumping off point and after reading a little about his explorations and such, I would suddenly drop the book down and look at them and say, "Hey, let's go see what he saw!"
Well, that was the plan anyway......
After some major bumps at breakfast with arguing amongst the kiddos and 2 kiddos with major attitude issues shortly thereafter, it became clear to me that rewarding bad behavior was not an option. I was extremely disappointed, but thought that it would still make a great teaching lesson. So, pulling the 2 biggest offenders aside, I told them that today is much like our lives. God is waiting to richly bless us more than we can possibly imagine and sometimes the "extra treats" of life have to be withheld until our attitudes clear up. When we are obedient to Him and faithful to follow, He enjoys surprising us with extra blessings along the way. Today was one of those days for me as a parent and I was able to see a little into my Father's heart. I get so bogged down with the day and so selfish about my way of doing things that I don't realize how it's taking away from my own joy and the even bigger things just waiting to be poured out into my life!
The sad thing for the homeschooling day is that the story isn't over. Later on after the dust had settled, I thought that we could have another chance at doing something together and still salvage the "school" part of the day. While reading the story, 2 of the kiddos began to fight quite viciously over the colored pencils. That was it -- I ripped the story out of the book and crumpled it up mid-sentence. After that I told them that we are just being hypocrites if we put on the "church face" and act all loving and spiritual at church and then turn around and fight so terribly at home. I had had it! I slammed through the house with my own fit of anger and tore out of the house, marching down to the pond for a respite. Sitting at the edge of the pond, tears streaming down my cheeks, I opened my eyes and looked around. What extreme beauty surrounded me! The dragonflys were dodging about eating the pesty bugs and ducks were swimming around. The sun was shining and the light breeze made everything just perfect for a few moments of reflection.
After praying and asking God to give me strength to make it through another school year and realizing that there is no way I could ever do this without Him, I resolved to try again tomorrow and just "call it a day". Within 5 minutes, the girls timidly made their way down the path offering me a bowl of carrots from our neighbor's garden. We stood and ate fresh carrots while watching the dragonflys swooping down to drop eggs onto the pond. Oh, wait.....there's plenty of schooling goin' around here.....just in a different package!!! :)
Tomorrow's another day full of grace and mercy ("with no mistakes in it"--Miss Stacey from Anne of Green Gables).