Click

Click. I love that sound. It's the sound little brains make when they finally "get" something. Click. There it is again! Did you hear it? I'll bet you hear it in your house all the time. I love it. I love the sunshine on their faces when they get it and the glow of pleasure when they do something independently that wasn't assigned to them because they are so extremely excited that they understood it, or that they could use what they've learned outside the school portion of our day. Gosh, I love that. I'm so grateful that I don't have to miss those moments.

This week, Ava has had a new thing click for her. She's writing, and she's doing it for fun on her own time rather than during the school day. Until this point, I hadn't asked her to do any writing on her own. She dictates stories to me,and they are so imaginative and creative. These sentences that she has written this week are her first sentences, and she did it without my help! I'm so proud of her! Here are a couple sentences out of the probably 50 she has written in the past 2 or 3 days. She's calling them poems, which makes me giggle. The first one actually rhymes, so I guess that qualifies it to be a poem when you are 6. Here is Ava's "poetry" for your enjoyment (and for mine).

Bat, cat on the mat.

Ava sed Lukas y dot u sit wif me so wr u go it wil be a sigses.

Ava sed Lukas sat. Lukas sed Mom y dot u sit wif me?

Translation for the last two sentences:

Ava said, "Lukas, why don't you sit with me so where you go it will be a success."

Ava said, "Lukas sat." Lukas said, "Mom, why don't you sit with me?"

It's kind of fun to see inside her little mind isn't it? The second sentence is my favorite. Apparently, Lukas really needs his little sister in order to become a success! Heehee!

Lukas has had a few things click lately too. He's been learning to multiply with regrouping this week, and it has been quite challenging for him.We had a couple meltdowns yesterday, but we pushed through. Today, he re-watched the lesson on DVD, and Eric did several practice problems with him. The thing is, I did several practice problems with him yesterday, and he got them all right, just like today, but it wasn't translating to the page. So, I took Steve Demme's advice and had Lukas use notebook paper. He turned it sideways, and, voila, we had columns. It made all the difference. Between that and Eric helping him, he's got it! He missed 2 problems today, but the mistakes were because of multiplying one basic fact incorrectly and adding incorrectly once, not because he didn't understand or was forgetting steps. Yay! Click, click, click!

I am most proud of  how helpful Lukas has been to me this week. He's fetching ice packs for me, filling my glass when I need a drink, helping his sister with all sorts of things, cleaning up and doing things without being asked, and he hasn't complained about any of it even once. He is serving whole-heartedly, something we've talked a lot about in the past couple months. He is an amazing kid. I'm so proud of him and all that God is obviously doing within him right now. In the past 8 or  9 months, I have watched as Jesus went from being someone Lukas knew lived in his heart to someone Lukas is truly seeking to know. Jesus is a part of his life now! It's been amazing to watch this transformation take place in him. I don't know what I would do without him right now! He's doing more than any 8 year old should have to do for his mama. He needs a few extra hugs and lots of thank yous!

Since I'm bragging about my kids, let me throw in a little husband praise too. Eric is working two jobs temporarily. He's been working part-time at UDF since July, but he has not had a full-time job since October. Right now, he is blessed to be a census worker for at least a few weeks(and he is actually loving this job). We don't know how long it will last (3-7 weeks is what we're told, and this is week 3). He's working a lot of hours between both jobs, and, on top of that, he's doing so much for me as well. He's working in our neighborhood for the census, so he has stopped at home to make sure I didn't have to try to make lunch or dinner each day since my back went out. He is also trying to keep the house straightened up a little, doing the dishes, washing laundry (because I had a meltdown over the laundry the other day) and more. I love him. I appreciate him so much.

It's time to move onto the next part of our school day. It's kind of a reverse day. Most of the table work is done. Now it's time for our "morning routine" at 1:30 in the afternoon. Heehee! This is what happens when mama has a chiro appointment and daddy helps with math before leaving to work and then, well, it's lunch time, of course. It is the flexibility which homeschooling allows us. This is another thing that I love. Sigh...Even in the midst of many trials, I have many, many blessings.