My Education on Anger.

What makes you angry?

I mean, outside of the big ones
like criminals getting away with crime;
abuse of the innocent, especially children;
being falsely accused or misunderstood and then unforgiven for something you didn't do;
or the raging woes of government politics.


There are little things in my life that tend to make me angry.
One recently took all my energy away,
consumed me,
left me fighting, raging, furious,

until I finally gave up,
prayed for forgiveness for my childish temper tantrums
and just let it go.

 It was this guy, right here.
No, not Benjamin Franklin
or the Pilgrim,
or the Viking in the ship.

It was this book.



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I went to college for the sole purpose of learning how to teach,
so I would feel ready to teach my own children,

and so that I had a profession if I ever needed or wanted to enter the working world.

Fast-forward about a dozen years after I was handed that teaching degree,
and I'm looking at curriculum and preparing to do what all that time and money had prepared me to do.

 After discussions with my knowledgeable mother and sister
who both have seemed to have tried or looked over every curriculum imaginable,
and asking friends what they are using and why,
I finally settled on a hodge-podge of what I thought would work best,
not just for Violet, but for Levi as well,
as he seems to be the one who is more easily distracted.


Here they are: the books we use.
I really love school this year.
I feel like it is exactly what Violet needed,
covers a good amount of important information,
and takes a reasonable amount of time but not too overwhelming.



"Horizons" math is colorful and utilizes a lot of variety and practice in each front/back page lesson.
Violet struggles with math, but she is able to do this in about a half hour to an hour,
depending on how motivated she is.





For spelling, phonics, music, poetry, and Bible we use "Rod and Staff."


I love what we're doing for Bible.
It is perfect for both Violet and Levi.


 

I read them one of these stories or one from a couple other books like it several times a week,
often during breakfast or lunch.

Even on days when we don't do school, Violet asks me to read one.
This book has a verse and story to go with each letter of the alphabet.

This one is
"Rejoice with them that do rejoice." Romans 12:15,
teaching the simple lesson through the use of a short story
of being happy for somebody else when good comes their way, instead of being jealous.



We do memory work several times each week,
learning different Psalms using these fun coloring books,
as well as the verses that came with the main curriculum,
"My Father's World,"
(the one whose book I had the anger issue at).


This is the inside of the Psalm memory books.
Violet enjoys coloring in a page each day,
although she leaves the pictures and just colors the letters.

Levi has learned some of them just from listening to us.



I appreciate the poetry book
Lessons from the Clock.



Violet and I aren't always in the best of moods when we start out the schooling.
But reciting the above poem always does the trick.






The book has 54 poems in its 76 illustrated pictures,
simple poems,
but full of meaning and good reminders that can be carried throughout their lives.

I remember learning Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's "Hiawatha's Childhood" when I was a kid,

"By the shores of Gitche Gumee
By the shining Big-Sea-Water,
Stood the wigwam of Nokomis,
Daughter of the Moon, Nokomis..."

Yes, I still remember parts of it.
I impress the pigs in the barn with it sometimes.

I know classics are important and I'm not knocking them,
but I know how short childhood is,
and I'd rather use our memory time to instill things that will help my kids make wise decisions.

No offense,

Mr. Longfellow.

(If they find an interest, I'm sure they'll grow to love you in college.

And when they do have to memorize your work,

the poem that they learned with me about smiling will help them through).

For history, reading, supplemental Bible, and science,
we use "My Father's World."
I liked this curriculum because eventually when I'm homeschooling 2 of the kids,
I can teach them the same subject matter for these,
and they will have worksheets/books in their own level to go along.

There are optional, fun supplemental projects:
hands-on and book variety appeal to Violet.

Example:
The Bible lessons they provide for this year are based on the many names of Jesus.
We've been learning verses about how He is the light, the bread, etc.

One of the first days of school, they suggested an activity of writing a letter to your child about the meaning of their name, why you chose it, why it is special; and then they could make a name bracelet or key chain.

 Violet really enjoyed doing this and I could hear her reading the letter over several times.
She was very proud to show her dad the bracelet when he got home.



All of the information on what to teach
and when
and all the supplemental projects are in here...









and two weeks ago,
this book disappeared.

I had read through what needed to be done that first week,
and the following week (the week after Christmas)
we were taking off,
so I didn't think about it too much at first.

I figured it would show up, since I NEVER allowed myself to take it ANYWHERE other than the kitchen or living room.

You see, I am incredibly ditzy, and the more children I've had, the more it has compounded;
so I have to make rules like this for myself in order to prevent outrageous frustration which could lead to possible insanity.

And what stinks is that everyone who knows me,
knows I'm terrible at being organized.

So I never get any sympathy.
Poor me.

This alone kept me from mentioning the missing book to my husband.
I didn't want to hear his frustration of how forgetful I am.
True, yes.
  I agree whole-heartedly.
  Find me a cure and I will gladly undergo treatments;
but reminding me of my ditziness never does any good to remedy my brain.

After the initial week faded and Christmas passed and the knot in my stomach was starting to grow and I'd said about a million prayers for the blessed pages of truth to turn up,

I admitted to my husband the situation at hand
and heard the expected diagnosis of the problem from him.
He joined the search and rummaged through several trash bags,
but,

as much as I wanted it to,
it didn't make the book turn up.

I was really beginning to panic now.

I knew school was to start again soon.
The ONLY thing I could remember is seeing it and thinking,
"Now that's a dumb place for that to be.  I better put that back or I'll probably never remember where it is."

That's it.
That's all my brain would do for me.
Empty.
Nothing.

So I began the ransacking in great effect:
nothing was off limits:
couches were moved,
all shelving was cleaned, sorted, checked behind,
every cupboard in the kitchen rummaged through,
under every piece of furniture thoroughly examined
(Oh, the many lost and molding things I did find - SCARY!)

Nothing.

I even adventured up to the attic and began rooting through all the empty Christmas boxes, and storage bins.
Anything that had been taken up there in the last month was dug out.

Nothing.

Then the tears came,
not that they helped any.

I checked the price list of the book:
nearly $100.

Now I felt like I'd be physically sick.

$100 is a lot of money for me,
especially when I know the book is lurking
somewhere.

I decided that maybe it had gotten into one of the boxes I took to the charity store, so I headed over there and looked in their curriculum sections.  I saw my other old books there, but not the one I was hoping for.

I don't need to mention that amidst all this searching,
I was getting more and more angry.

Why am I so stupid?

Who can I blame for this humongous waste of time besides just me?

Yes, me, because I'm so ditzy,
but certainly I can take out my anger on someone else for a moment while I search the shed.

I wanted to blame the way I was brought up.
Isn't it great the way we blame somebody else, anybody else,
even our parents,
as if we are perfect?
Funny, especially since my mom is the "Queen of Clean"
and my father keeps one pencil in his lonely desk drawer.

Will Violet blame me
and her daughters blame her?

I realized quickly if I was going to do that,
I may as well just skip all the extras and head straight back to Eve.
After all, she must have messed up with her daughters
which spread on down to me.

This was clearly a case of futility wrapped in pride.


So I looked up to the ceiling.

"God, why have you made me so stupid?"

Hot tears spilled from my angry eyes.
I just wanted to lie on the ground and kick and scream until I was too exhausted to do anymore.

"And then what?" I thought.
No book was going to drop out of the sky.

Only silence.

And then I realized that's what was wanted.
"Okay, God.  I give up.  If you want me to try to figure out what to do with the lessons from here on out, I can do it.  It will take time, but I know this will pass.
I know my attitude stinks
and has so for the last week or so, every time I call myself names and get angry...
I'm basically grumbling at You.

I'm really sorry and I'm just going to clean up this mess and see what can logically be done."

I began putting the pieces back together.

Things were getting cleaned up and sorted and tossed.
Good was coming out of this chaos.

I remembered how I was supposed to be thankful for 1000 things.
Wow, I sure had forgotten about that in all this upheaval.


#11 Thank you, Father, for organization:
for puzzles in a nice pile,
colorful papers in a stack,
dog treats in a tin.







#12.  Thank you for toys that are put away...



 
#13 Thank you for toys that are well used.

 #14 Thank you, God, for baskets up high that hold fun things for our use...

 

 #15 and baskets on the floor which hold fun things for Your use.

 #16. Thank you, even when I don't want to be thankful, for baskets that have been accidentally broken.

 17. Thank you for a husband who shows me he loves me by trying to fix the things that get accidentally broken.

 

 #18 Thank you for sparkly nail polishes to start our first day back to school with fun.

 #19 Thank You for the privilege of teaching such a sparkly, fun student.

#20  Thank you for allowing me to clean out the Playdough box...

 which held the lost book under many containers of Playdough.

Luke 15:8-10
"...what woman having ten pieces of silver, if she lose one piece,
doth not light a candle,
and sweep the house,
and seek diligently till she find it?
And when she hath found it,
she calleth her friends and her neighbors together,
saying,
'Rejoice with me;
for I have found the piece which I had lost.'
Likewise, I say unto you,
there is joy in the presence of the angels of God
over one sinner that repenteth."

linked to A Holy Experience

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