The Wellyboots Tribe Step Forth - again!!

Nov 15, 2005 at 01:47 o\clock

Post-Script...

by: pcjjap

Mood: guided!

 I just want to add as this post script to todays blog. This is the 'spiritual' bit! Whilst we were making this decision we really felt God's hand in it. The sermon on the Sunday just after I had made my phone-calls I was feeling as if I had failed Jacob and I was giving up too easily (not exactly the first hurdle, but still...). I love collecting resources and relish planning for the forthcoming year - I was grieving the loss of that and the resources I have that will go untouched for another two years now (until Joel needs them). The sermon was about 'giving up your Isaac' - a different slant on the Abraham & Isaac story, but basically the gist was that there are times when God does call us to give BACK to him the blessings, promises, giftings, ministries, etc... that he has given to us and WE should not hold them too tightly. SOMETIMES He then chooses to return them to us again, other times he chooses not too - that's His prerogative. Schooling is definitely my Isaac!! I am hoping that Jacob will be ready to come home again by the time we reach Senior years (yr7), but I leave that to God's prompting. In the meantime I KNOW this has been the right decision for us here in the Hampton household - for Jacob, for myself and for our other children it has brought freshness back into the house. I also know that it is right to continue h'schooling my other children and this is a decision made purely for Jacob - treating each child as an individual is sometimes tough! God has seen to all the finer details of this change and I can honestly testify to his faithfulness in this had decision. Now I have to stick with it for the next 2.5 yrs! We have made it clear to Jacob that decision made it sticks and it's up to himself, us as parents and the school to make it work. We are not chopping and changing. He is there now until the end of Yr6. And if school can't work for him where he is it's not likely to work anywhere else any better - it's a small village school of less than 90 children. There is a classroom assistant and a special needs assistant in every class and then student teachers aswell at times!

Nov 15, 2005 at 00:06 o\clock

Long Awaited Update...!

by: pcjjap

Mood: breathing fresh air!
Listening to: casting crown - lifesong

Jacob has now been at school since last Wednesday and, much as I hate to say it, I think it has possibly been one of the best decisions I have ever made. The atmosphere in our home has been instantly transformed from fraught & tense with the constant worry of a potential explosion just around the corner, to one of calm & inducive to learning! I can't explain what it is about the relationship that Jake & I have that simply doesn't work when we are together 24/7 and that was one of the main reasons I decided to send him. I have always found him difficult - even as a baby he was demanding and challenging. I love him dearly, but he is incredibly like my Mum - who I also love dearly, but bicker & fight with constantly. My relationship with Jake was going down much the same road and I wanted to stop that happening. We just seem to be able to rub each other up the wrong way in less than an instant. All this coupled with Jacob's attention problems and inability/unwillingness to work or learn without my constant supervison - AND the knowledge that I have another child about to start 'school' with us after Christmas just made me reconsider again my whole situation. Sending Jacob to school has always been a possibilty - right from very early on I have found it tough with him - but having the conviction that it was RIGHT for us to homeschool I just clung to that conviction and plodded on through - term in, term out struggling constantly and frequently reaching crisis point, losing my temper and 'threating' him with school, etc, etc...

At the end of last year I had really had enough, but Jacob pleaded for another (YET another) chance to show he could change. SO I gave him one. I told him that I wanted to see a marked change in attitude and aptidtude by half term. I wanted to see him trying to work more independently and concentrating better at given tasks. Then of course we moved house, so I decided to give him a couple of weeks in the new house - now that the added distraction of being sat at a table that looked out onto a constant stream of 'cool cars' passing by was removed and replaced by a garden with nothing going on! But of course, nothing changed. In fact it possibly got worse with the boys only now having each other to distract! So  I decided I'd had enough and rang around to find a school with a place in Yr4. Jacob & I both wanted to find a 'Christian' school if possible and I believe I have got about as close to that as I'm going to find in the state system. The headmistress is definitely a Christian and holds a Christian assembly every morning - with Christian songs like "Seek Ye first" (not the most up-to-date songs, but it's better than most I'd say!). The children pray at the start and end of each day and before Lunch. In the reception area there is a display about "Shine as lights in the world" with little candles showing ways the children had thought of that they could be lights - "helping Mummy with the dishes" - that kind of thing. Jacob has settled in well it seems and is loving it so far, despite last week being a bad week to start, with his usual teacher off sick and Thursday being a 'power out' day and the whole school tranferring to another just down the road for a good part of the day! He has also settled into the routine really well. I made him a checklist for the mornings and he has managed so far to get himself ready and do his Bible study before breakfast. Have breakfast and watch 15 minutes(ish) of TV before the taxi arrives at 8.30am. I am SO impressed with him - he has never been as organised over anything else as he is over this. He even did his homework on Friday with little fuss, in no time at all & with minimal assistance (once I'd helped him understand the task). He's not too challenged by the work either, in fact it's a bit easy for him atm I think. In literacy today, he said they covered short and long vowel sounds and adding 'ing' to words - he was "shocked" (his words) because he couldn't believe this was Yr3/4 work when he covered it so long ago. I think they were just re-enforcing the doubling  letter after short vowel & drop the 'e' after long vowel rules, but still that was easy for him. Numeracy was mental maths - he's usually good at that, so we'll see. He said it was times tables. Then they did 'vibrations' in science and he could tell me everything that happened - facts, fact, facts!! To be honest though, the academics of school are not the reason he is going. He is going becasue I want to still be friends with him and have a relationship worth having with him by the time he reaches the end of his primary years. The rate we were going we would have lost that I think. I didn't want him to grow up saying "I was homeschooled, but Mum & I fought and argued all the time - I really didn't enjoy it that much and I have a poor relationship with my Mum because of it." With him at school I am more able to feed my other children's needs. Then by the time Jake comes home they have had their fill and I am more able to give him the time he needs to 'download' his day - which he does for about 20 minutes before he vegitates with the box/PS for a bit, prior to doing any h/w he needs to do.

On Mondays & Thursday's of course the girls go to playgroup. I couldn't believe how peaceful the house was on Thursday - I got SO much done! But I have decided these are days I should make the most of with Joel (until January) to do things I can't do with littler ones around, so today, as  I had the added bonus of very tired babies after a hectic weekend, Joel & I had the morning entirely to ourselves - WOW - what to do?! We thought of cooking, but I was out of eggs and chocolate, so we couldn't make the 'brownies' Joel wanted to - save that for another day. We opted for painting instead. I am no artist, but I have a book, so I grabbed it and gleaned an idea while Joel did his own thing for a bit.

"Our Street" by Joel - the house on the right is a good representation of ours.

 Then we 'took a line for a walk' and did some colour work. Producing these pieces of work;

 

(mine - "shades of red")

 

 

(Joel's "shades of Blue")

 

 

(mine - Jester/teapot)

 

 

(Joel's line walk)

 

Joel is SO chuffed with his masterpieces and was so thankful for the time.

So that's us and where we're at and I am "'lovin' it!!"

On another subject: The weekend was so busy because it was Paul's graduation service on the Saturday

and Caleb's dedication service on the Sunday.

Nanny with cousin Josiah(L) & Caleb (R)

Both of the above events went very well and were thoroughly enjoyable. We had masses of family staying Saturday night (an extra 4 adults an 4 kids!) and even more around on Sunday - 22 people I think for Sunday lunch!! The house was spic & span on Friday morning and now I need to start again. Why do we do that - clean up before a hoard of people arrive, in full knowledge that our hard-worked for almost-perfection will be altogether distroyed about 5 minutes after the visitors arrive?!! Aah well - gives me something (else) to do this week