Ever Changing

   I consider myself to be a pretty determined focused person but at times I feel very indecisive.  I'm learning it's not me... it's life!  Darn those kids, they are ever changing.  What worked for awhile suddenly doesn't.  What wasn't working before suddenly fits.  What brought this on??

   Well, we are about a month into school and I remembering quickly why I chose Sonlight last year.  I like having a plan to follow.  However, we did tire of it by year end and it was too pricey for us this year. Regardless of price (or boredom for mom) I do function better with a plan and preferably a plan that doesn't rely completely on me to come up with topics and activities everyday!

 After some frustration and thinking I remembered my girlfriend has a copy of Konos curriculum and I knew she wasn't using it because she is involved in a co-op.  I called her to see if I could look at it and she told me I could HAVE it!  Woo hooo!  We did Konos years ago with this family and loved it but it was a little too much with all littles.  We did it when the boys were like 8, 6 and 3.  Not really an age you can set free to build things without help.  Now I know it will be right on for where we are.  The great thing is I don't really have to change what we're doing for our main 3 R's.  That will all stay the same.  I really didn't have a program for the younger kids for science, art etc we were just heading to the library.  Now I will head to the library with a purpose and some help.  We'll see how it works when we put it into place but I'm excited to do some discovery learning again.  Sonlight had great books but we didn't do a lot of dramatizing or trying out ideas we read.  My kids use to do that naturally but as they're getting older they need some shoving help.

  What I find the most... confusing, is how in parenting, teaching and just plain ol' life with kids you can take something that completely DIDN'T work a few years ago and now suddenly it's a perfect fit!  I find that in discipline, schedules, curriculum, everything really!  I remember buying a copy of Lisa Welchel's Creative Correction when I had two or three young boys.  I was so excited for ideas and then so disappointed that they were too little for a lot of them.  Then a few years later while struggling with some issue I pulled it back out and it was as if angels were singing as I opened the book!  It was just what I needed at that time.  I love how God places things in our hands right when we need them, but I'm also seeing as I grow that sometimes he lets us see or touch things that are for later.  The hard part is having the discernment and courage to say, "This is REALLY good BUT this is not for us or at least not for us right now."  That's hard!  But there is such wisdom in not trying to make something fit that doesn't! Remember Cinderella's sisters and that shoe?!  Ouch!