Activities that Work Now

In this season, there are some activities that seem to be working well for our family.

The 8, 6, and 4 year old are taking swimming lessons at the YMCA once a week for the next six weeks. They LOVE it. We are able to use some gift money they were given, and it really is wonderful to see their smiles in the pool. (Granted, the entire day leading up to swimming lessons is just TOO much excitement!) I think R smiled during his whole lesson this week.

All four kids are in Pioneers Club on Sunday evenings through our church. Again, they love it and look forward to this time. I'm still adjusting to having an hour and a half without any children, but have found that time valuable for planning my week or spending time with B.

Joint schooling with another family that lives close. The big boys have memory, math, and Spell to Write and Read with the G girls on Tuesday mornings at their house. On Wednesdays, 3 of the G girls come here for science, memory, and history with us. Friday mornings we meet again to recap the week, test for spelling, put another math lesson under our belt, and complete a fun history project. Overall, this has been a great blessing! My boys seem to thrive with the challenge of same-age competition, and Mrs G has fun systems in place that are highly motivating (tickets for prizes and ice cream, for example).

Friday nights are family worship night. We gather for dinner with a few other families, then spend time in the Word as families. This is important to us, and we are enjoying the fellowship of believers.

When I type it out, it looks like a lot! Especially for this happy-at-home mother. But it's for this season, and I know that things will slow down again once the baby comes. We will do a lot of school for the next several months so that we can do less school while we adjust our lives again and focus on different things through the summer.