Sunday, August 27, 2006

Late night reflections...

It's about 1:10 am and I can't sleep. Not out of anxiety, although I am concerned about our Sunday services this morning - I'm still without a song for our offering time, and the dancers sprung a new song on me at the last minute. My Ipod and new Bose headphones are probably contributing to my insomnia. Today was a good day, so it's not the feeling of incompleteness. I'm actually feeling quite grateful. A great dinner with the kids and wife (hot dogs and chips - can't get much easier clean up than that), and home movies of the kids 5 years ago remind me how wonderful it is to be free of devestating tragedies, things that can stop you dead in your tracks. Everyday that is free of such things is a day to be grateful to God.

As far as our homeschooling goes, we're easing into the year. My most exciting idea is our podcast - appropriately named "homeschooldaddy' like this blog. In this I think the kids will find a voice for all the learning they will be doing. The idea is that all learning is useless unless it is shared in some form - either by teaching, inventing, creating, or some other form of sharing. I know there are hundreds of thousands of podcasts now, but I also feel like there's a uniqueness in the experience of day - to - day homeschooling that is hard to catch in a more 'acedemic' setting. I hope to avoid the jargon and let the kids create a show that will be accessible to both adults and kids. (Big shout out to "Homeschool Habitat" - I miss you guys - and I hope to produce a show as well thought out as yours was.)
I'm still searching out a curriculum for language arts - I want Naomi and Marcus to have a better handle on the mechanics of language, even as their creative skills increase and are better utilized. Marcus is so creative with his stories, but I'm looking at him writing more non - fiction and reporting style articles this year. Naomi is always nervous about creative writing. She's the one that follows her brother's lead, but wants to find her own voice. With a better understanding of language, I hope she'll feel more comfortable with expressing herself in her own way.
That's enough for tonite - bet this becomes my nightly ritual. Helps to center my mind on what's already on my mind - make sense?

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