Thursday Musings: Fifteen Minute Freewrite

I suppose I don't really have a ton of time to do this, but I haven't posted a "musing" here in a while. Last time I posted was November 4. This is definitely the blog I post to the least.

What a whirlwind month November has been. Is it really Thanksgiving in a week? Where did the time go?  I think six days in Phoenix made for a big cut in the month, but it was so worth it. I went there and spent time with many like-hearted people. It was great. I made some new friends, and I saw an old one: Sue Brock. It was fun to see that history plays a big part in who we are, and she was a huge part of my history. It felt really intuitive to be with her, as though I had known her my whole life. Well, that is because I have or at least since we were five years old. She might have even been four when we first met, but the cut off date in California schools was December 1, and she was born on November 21st. So, she probably was four at the beginning of the school year.  She was always smart though. So, I am sure she had no problem keeping up with the older people in the class.

Today, I get back to teaching on the Iliad. I thought I had prepared todays stuff at the end of the last class, but I think I just sent out Study Guide Questions and didn't prepare the quizzes and do the lecture outline for "The Embassy of Achilles."  Oh, one thing I did do is preview the whole movie of Troy to see where it lined up with the parts of the books we are reading. I was going to show the whole movie at the end, but I think it is very effective to show it in pieces as we read it. They really did destroy the book, but I still think it is interesting to compare and contrast the book and movie.

We also do the physiology of the circulatory system today. This is more laid back since it is just Nathan and Paul. I like this.

Overall, I am spending about 1/4 of the time for two classes that I did for just one class the last two years. I love the more laid back pace of reading The Iliad too. I am still debating about having Paul do the classical literature class and just starting in after Thelma is done with The Iliad and the Odyssey since we already covered it. We will see. He also might go to LBCC full time by then. I am taking that slow because I would like him to get a little bit farther along in his writing abilities.

Michael seems to be holding his own at LBCC. I think he is getting A's and B's this term. He seems to be learning and enjoying the classes too. His persuasive writing class seems to be the most labor intensive, but he seems to really "get it" which is an answer to prayer.

Today is Paul's birthday. I can't believe my youngest is 16 years old today. In two more years, I will have two adult children. That is so weird. Over the next year, I will probably be transitioning out of homeschooling, which just blows me away, no end. I have never tired of the journey. It was born to homeschool, and I praise God that my kids were just as passionate about it as I have been. They always enjoyed it as much as I did. It breaks my heart to see so many former homeschoolers tell me that they don't miss it and are glad they are in public school. I don't have anything against public school though. I just see it wouldn't have been the right choice for our family, and I am so glad we had the lovely pace and rhythm of learning that homeschooling allows. The goal was to create a lifelong love for the Lord, learning, and literature, and I think that we have see that in our kids, and I am grateful for being able to be a part of that journey with them.

As I look to the future and an empty nest, I wonder where God will take us? I wonder what my kids will be when they grow up? I wonder what I will be when I grow up?

I know God knows, and that is all I need to know.

I think the timer will be going off any minute, and I feel like I am at a stop from all of this. There is goes. Stopping with no proofreading. Excuse the typos. It keeps me humble.