(He also had a hot wheel with a black square taped to it, which was all taped to the window itself.)He made a toy store. In his little fifteen minutes of spare time, I am always most impressed with what he does. I guess maybe he is tired of these toys and saw a potential profit. Or maybe he just likes the idea of numbers and coins. But he had a good store going by the time we sat down for school. This is why I am struggling with what activities to choose for next year. This year we have done very, very little things. I think of Boy Scouts and piano and karate and tennis and all that we are not doing. But then again, sometimes it IS a really good thing to get a little "bored"!
2 comments:
Hey Renee-
I was in your neck of the woods the other day, doing some garage saleing, and almost was totally rude and stopped by! Couldn't bring myself to do that on a Saturday, unannounced, with it being a family day:). Would you guys like to do a park day once school is out? We are done as of May 30th!
Maryanne Helms
Sounds familiar...
we could really have a good, long conversation these days, I'll bet.
I wanted to email you about some of these things, because for some reason I continued to think of you through the process! Maybe it's the ballet that triggered that.
I won't go into great detail but I will note this, and we can "chat" more later via email (but I've lost your address, so hopefully you have mine if you want to follow up!).
Claire had a WONDERFUL year of ballet - she excelled and her teacher was SO encouraging and nurturing and kind. She worked so hard, and the effort really paid off.
At the same time, it was a stretch and a challenge for us both. She did a lot of maturing this year, and I'm so proud of her.
However - long story short - we have decided not to go back to ballet in the fall. There are many reasons for this, too great to mention here, but ONE of them (not the defining one, but a significant one nonetheless) was the intensity of time commitment. We have friends with girls in the apprentice division and there is simply no time left for them to attend church activities... and one mom told me how they eat out every night of the week. (her husband, standing next to her, did NOT seem thrilled about that...)
I see these girls having trouble connecting and making friendships in our youth group, and I hear their moms bemoaning lack of time, lack of Christian relationships, lack of family time. It makes me wonder about how that will play out in the adult years... But they seem locked in, afraid to let go. And I can CERTAINLY understand that - I got a taste of it over the last few weeks, myself. Fear is strangling!
(note: these girls are great kids, though - and they do have friendships at the studio that I'm sure are strong and healthy. The girls at the studio seem very sweet and disciplined. I'm not making an argument that they SHOULD quit, I'm just saying that this was all part of my decision making process!)
But anyway, Claire was not begging or crying to continue, which made my decision much easier. In fact, she was interested in other things, like the Georgia Youth Symphony Orchestra's new youth chorus, which was out of the question if she continued to dance.
And strangely, EVERYONE, including the kids, are excited about having more time at home together - and dinnertimes before 8 or 8:30 at night, ha ha! Whadya know. ;)
Her last class was Thursday and that was an emotional day for us both. But still, she is excited about next year and its coming changes. And if she wants to go back, there are always "teen classes" two days a week, strictly for "life enhancement" purposes, as they say. :) And she could still dance with her pointe shoes! So, we'll see.
She's 12, and as incredibly difficult as it was for me to let her stop dancing, it seemed ridiculous to make her choose ONE THING for the rest of her life. :)
The choices were stressful for her and for myself... there was MUCH prayer going on, and lots of tears. But I do believe God has prepared the way for us, and I'm choosing to not live in fear of the future. What she needs will be provided, I have to believe that!
And of course on top of this huge decision there are also 2 other children with continuing issues and choices to make for now and later. When John came home saying, "Jack needs SOMETHING..." one night, I felt officially "done in." :)
These are the things that plague homeschooling moms, especially in spring! But once again, God's grace was sufficient. I think we're getting there. ;) It has happened every year for 5 years, why am I always surprised?
Well this wasn't the short version, after all! But hopefully it explains some stuff, answers your question, and provided a bit of encouragement, anyway. :)
Have a great weekend!
Jen
p.s. - this is so long, feel free to not publish if you'd rather not. :) Sorry about that... I had planned to email you, but then couldn't find the address!
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